The Small Things

Ornaments aren't very big, aren't very hard to stitch.  So, June and I decided to support each other this year in the goal of one ornament a month.

I am happy to say that I completed, the stitching and finishing, on the first of what I hope will be twelve new ornaments for Christmas this year! 

Jenny Bean's Christmas Ornament 2010

Stitched on 40ct PTP Legacy

Using GAST ~ Oatmeal, Bayberry, Grecian Gold, Butternut Squash, Brick Path, Forest Glade, Endive, and Garden Gate.

You can see June's finish at Butterfly Wings.  She is actually participating in another monthly ornament group as well, so she has two finishes to show!

We have chosen our ornaments for February and I have decided on one of the BBD December Stockings ~ Deer in the Meadow.

Another small thing...but not really so small...

Do you remember this from last fall?

My little guy entered the PTA Reflections art program and came in third in visual arts.  His piece then went on to the Council level.  The theme was "Diversity Means".  He chose to draw an ocean scene.

I received a call Friday night that his piece placed at the Council level, moved on to Regionals, placed there, and is now at the State level!  It's a proud mommy moment.  I have to thank my friend Brett for encouraging my little guy to participate.  Funny how sometimes someone else can get our kids to do something! 

“Sometimes,' said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
― A.A. Milne

Boxes and Dreams

Snail mail??  I am amazed at how fast the boxes from Daffycat arrived at my door!!  She must have an "in" at the post office!  I was like a kid on Christmas morning going through all the goodies.  And to top it off, I was contacted directly by some who are sending their contributions directly!  Many thanks, again, to all of you that contributed to the Tusal prize!  Here are all the goodies ~

It's going to take a while to organize it all! (Hey Peggy, when you get done organizing yours, maybe you can take a road trip and help me!)

Speaking of boxes.  Remember I stitched the couple from the February Wordplay?

Well, Molly and Beth from the Strawberry Sampler worked their magic and just look at it now ~

Can't you just see it filled with some candies and given to your special valentine? 

Many of you suggested that I should run out and buy a lottery ticket.  Well, here it is....

Sadly, my luck didn't carry over to the numbers.  If I ever do win, watch out!  I plan on taking a trip around the world to meet my blogging friends ~ I might just be knockin' on your door!  A girl can dream, can't she?

 “I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

Lucky Streak and a Tusal

Where to start?  There has been much going on and many things keeping me busy.  Do you all remember my last giveaway?  Well, after emailing back and forth with CalamityJr, I decided to send her the 272 Words pattern with the DMC.  I had never seen this pattern before, and have to say, it is an ambitious project, something like 24 pages ambitious!!

It is the Gettysburg Address!  Looks like she and Denise from Riverside Stitching will be doing a SAL later this year.  And even better, perhaps we can all convince CalamityJr to start a blog so we can see her progress!  I'm sure many of you have seen her comments on your blogs, so perhaps you could leave her some encouragement in my comment section!

I have been stitching, but can't show the projects just yet.  The first of what I hope to be twelve new ornaments, is stitched and needs to be finished.  I'll be able to show you all next week.  I am working away on an exchange piece as well.  After that, it will be back to the Humility Sampler.  It calls to me whenever I sit in my chair!

I do have some stitching to show you.  My friend picked up stitching about 16 months ago....and not just stitching, but stitching on linen!  She's currently working on a project using 40 count ~ I'll show that when it's done, but in the meantime....feast your eyes on this!

She's a natural!!  She wanted to use her name instead of the wording that was graphed, and wouldn't you know that Paulette from Plum Street Samplers was kind enough to graph it out for her!  How awesome is that?

In other news, we had just enough snow for the boys to try out their new sleds and for hubby to try out his new toy ~ the snow blower!  It's all gone already and I am more than ready for spring!

It's time to post for the TUSAL!  If you aren't sure what this is all about and would like to join, just click on the link:  TUSAL.  Here is my January jar...can you find it?

I thought if I distracted you with the "Dirty Snowmen", that you wouldn't notice how empty the jar looks....

There has been a jump in the number of my followers (Welcome!) and I think it may be due to a very lucky streak that I had this week!  Last year, the hostess of the TUSAL, Daffycat, collected donations throughout the year for a giveaway for those that posted their updates every month.  I was shocked to see my name announced as the winner!  It will be like Christmas all over again when the box arrives!  Thank you to all that contributed and to Daffycat for hosting.  Then, Valerie from Fog City Dweller, let me know that I was the winner of her beautiful giveaway ~ she suggested I go buy a lottery ticket, I may just do that today!

In the spirit of the recent snow, and being that we haven't had an earthquake since August, I'll leave you with another Pooh quote...

“It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately.”
― A.A. Milne

"Friendship"

Do you ever blink and find yourself wondering what happened?  Time has been passing faster than I'd like...I need it to slow down a little bit.

Before anything else, I have to say thank you to a couple of fellow bloggers.
  First is Denise from Riverside Stitching.  She decided to pick one of her followers and send them a surprise!

Her husband insisted on including the German paper star.  Isn't it cool? I see star making in my future.  I can picture a bunch of them on the Christmas tree next year.  Thanks so much Denise, I love everything!  It was fun to receive something unexpected ~ perhaps I will surprise a few people this year!

Next up is Heidi from All My Scattering Moments.  She makes some amazing things to keep oneself warm.  I was lucky enough to win one of her giveaways in December and have to say, it couldn't have come at a better time...right when we are having some cold weather!

It's so very warm and the touch of the added flower makes it so fun!

Thank you so much Heidi, I love it!

I've stitched a little on the Humility Sampler. I'm just loving the colors and the border.

A couple from the February Word Play Chart ~ from With thy Needle and Thread.

This is currently at the Strawberry Sampler.  Molly is painting a box to match.  Won't it make a sweet Valentine's gift ~ of course, the box will be filled with chocolates! 

Speaking of strawberries, just look at this one my little guy found in the strawberry bowl!

He thought it looked like a butterfly.

Do you remember our sunflower from the seeds Myra sent to us? 

I left if alone for our feathered friends and now, it looks like this...

The birds have been feasting!

I'm still working on my ornament for the month.  The pressure is on ~ June has finished hers already!  I'm also working on a piece for the next Stitched With Love Exchanges. 

Today is Winnie the Pooh Day....the birthday of A.A. Milne.  I just love all of the Winnie the Pooh stories and Milne's collections of poems...so many great quotes...

I chose this one today for all of my friends that I have "met" through this blog.

 “Friendship," said Christopher Robin, "is a very comforting thing to have.”   
~A.A. Milne

Until next time....

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to my newest followers.  May 2012 be a year of love, laughter, happiness, good health and of course lots of stitchiness!

We had a wonderful Christmas.  The boys were home and hubby had the week off.  Despite our best laid plans, we still did not accomplish everything that we thought we would.  Christmas morning we opened all our presents and had our traditional cinnamon rolls.  Yummy!

Gotta love the smiles! 

Time to eat!

My mom really surprised me with one of her gifts.  She handed me a box that was heavy.  When I opened it, I found that it was filled with frogs!  I began a frog hunting mission this past year and she really helped me out.  She found a great little antique place and throughout the summer/fall went back a few times and found all of these!  Now I need to go in search of some scissors to fill all of these!

During the week, we took the boys to the Turkey Hill Experience.  For those of you not familiar with Turkey Hill, it is a very popular dairy in PA.  They are known for their ice creams and iced teas.  The most favorite part of the tour was the free ice cream and tea samples - all you wanted!  Yes, we got back in line a few times in between the activities.

Of course, you have to try your hand at milking a cow!

And driving the delivery truck. 

And standing in the ice cream container while sampling the goods. 

When we were leaving, we stumbled across this place:

Very pretty glass!  I was good and didn't buy anything, but can see visiting here again.

I snapped these pictures on the way home.  It was snowing just a bit, but not enough for the boys to use their new sleds yet!

We ended the day with our traditional pork, sauerkraut and dumplings for good luck in the new year.

I'm now ready to get back into a routine!

There was not a whole lot of stitching going on during Christmas break.  I started this before Christmas and only worked on it a little this past week.  It's the Humility Sampler by Heartstring Samplery.  So sweet!  I love the colors and the saying.

June from Butterfly Wings mentioned a few weeks back that she wanted to try and stitch an ornament a month during 2012.  I wanted to do this as well, so we decided that during the first week of every month, we will post a picture of the ornament we will be stitching.  And during the last week, we will post our finish.  The finish could be either just the stitched finish or the completed ornament.  If anyone else would like to play along, feel free!

I went through some of my stash today and found this one.

It's a Jenny Bean ornament from Shakespeare's Peddler.  I pulled the DMC colors and converted them to my own choices of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads.  I hope to start stitching this one either tonight or tomorrow night.  You can pop on over to June's blog to see what ornament she chose.

Thanks as always for stopping by.  I really appreciate reading all of your comments!