Fond Hearts

Blackbird Designs- FOND HEARTS
July 2- July 6, 2009

What an interesting few days it has been! Village has been put on the back burner for this weekend, I did manage to stitch the 3 squares out on the bottom, so I am ready to go with the last blocks. Alot of ups and downs this weekend, it has been rough. Lots of visiting with family, lots of laughing & lots of crying. I really enjoyed visiting with my extended family, some you see but twice a year. It is great to come and bond together. To celebrate the 4th of July and a Birthday, it was very special.

I have a hard time sitting still, and while with a ton of family, complete concentration is not going to happen. I went into the bucket of fun, and found this Blackbird Designs 'Fond Hearts'. Great little piece right? I was thrilled with my choice until I realized all the words were 'over-1'. What??!! Stitching the heart & Flowers were done on day 1, and the words took me the rest of the time. Stitched on 28ct Creek Bed Brown from R & R Reproductions, with the recommended WDW Floss. I had kitted this up a few years back, and was overjoyed that I found a piece of "burlap" in my stash, LOL!! Having taken this picture at the wee hours of this morning, I tried to be creative with the sun, shading, & without ironing it, you still get a great look at the piece. I will never forget the weekend I had when I look at this on the wall.

Eating out was the staple of the weekend, breakfast, lunch & dinner; which was another bonding time with everyone. Gourmet Coffee for $0.50 cents!! Shopping also made its way in as well. It was kind of fun to go with such a group, 4-6 different people purchasing little goodies, passing out coupons to our favorite places. Food shopping was an adventure, with all of us thrown into the store, and going our different ways with our shopping carts, lists in hand; almost feels like you are on 'Super Market Sweep' LOL!!

Saw a FABULOUS parade on the 4th, even these fighter jets flew right over the parade route, so low you could almost wave to the pilot! Candy was thrown to the kids, ice-pops given out, and a wonderful afternoon picnic. Fireworks were everywhere, some so close and some in the distance over the city. People were lined up on the streets, across bridges, on roofs of apartment buildings. Outstanding!!



Can you believe I received this Blog Award?! What a wonderful surprise. Cristina gave me this award and I am honored that she did. There are so many wonderful blogs, out there that I like to read, I think something like 50, that everyone deserves the award. Life is always throwing something new at you, and it is hard to keep up with these blogs!! Thanks for thinking of me for this! I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer and keeping those needles flying!!

Another day, another stitch!

While stitching the 2nd half of this piece, I was thinking of different initials I could use instead of the charted ones. It was not that hard, although which 7 would I want to use? I came up with 6, and used the year as the 7th. I know it is much more personal, and I should do it more often, but I usually think about changing them when I am good and done...who wants to rip out? Thank you again Brandy for this great piece of linen!!


How many colors do you think that this new piece by Eileen J. Bennett has in it? Looking at the picture, to me there are maybe 4 different DMC colors. There are in fact 12. 12!!! Amazing, the slight variations, so I chose to stick with the suggested colors given on the pattern. They are all really beautiful when I layed them out. I chose 40ct Liberty Gathering Grey linen from R&R. I love the smell of the linen, call me crazy!

Tonight I was invited to my first ever Guild meeting. How fun is this going to be?!!! I can only imagine what I am going to witness. A wonderful group of people, all there for the love of needlework!

This, is what is next!

Happy Monday everyone! How was everyone's weekend? Hope some stitching was involved :). I had a great one, lots of activity and some stitching! Last night after finishing the Black Forest early on, the question was, as it always is... What is next? My friend Brandy gave me this luscious piece of linen on Saturday, and we both decided to stitch a design from CHS- Quaker House Samplers. We changed the colors to WDW thread (Charcoal, Pewter & Whiskey), just to give it a bit of variation. Here is my start!

(PS, a few of you have been asking about this linen, it is an old piece of Birds of the Feather Sparrow, in 28ct. My friend Brandy found it deep in the stash!)

Oldies but Goodies

Last year I completed these cute little Birds of a Feather pieces, the first piece is "Bloom Where you are Planted" done on 28ct Birds of a Feather Meadowlark linen with Weeks & Gentle arts threads. The bottom piece is "Schoolhouse Sampler" done on 32ct Birds of a Feather Onyx linen with Weeks & Gentle arts threads. Both were a nice treat to stitch!!