How about a Give-a-way????

9/11/01.  For all those who lost their lives, all those who lost loved ones, all the heroes who gave all, I remember you and I will never forget.

This past July marked five years of blogging for me.  My blog is not "out there" like many blogs.  It's a quiet, not well known blog, without a lot of followers......kind of representative of my real life.  I enjoy blogging.  I can look back over my posts of the last 5 years and be reminded of things I had forgotten.  It's like a journal.  So I enjoy blogging, with or without readers/followers.  That said.....I am so honored and amazed that I have 29 followers!  Thank you so much for taking the time to be interested in what I have to say.  In the 5 years that I have been blogging I have never had a giveaway.  It seemed kind of silly to do so if you didn't think you'd have anyone enter.  I also struggled with what to "give a way".  I think it's time for me to give it a try.  I'm going to put together something and have a giveway!  I'll announce the giveaway when follower number 30 arrives.  I'm really going out on a limb here, self esteem wise, because I still fear I'll have no entries.  Please prove me wrong ok???  =)

On a stitching note, I set aside RHS briefly.  Not because of the HUGE mistake but because last year I bought the booklet "Tis Halloween by Blackbird Designs.  It's filled with charts of Halloween stockings.  I had to break my vow of not starting anything until RHS is done.  Seasonal stuff doesn't count, right?
Here's what I whipped up in just two nights:

Do you like my haunted house votive candle holder from Yankee Candle?  It has a twirly thing with dangling bats above the candle that spins from the heat of the candle.  It's so freakin' cute!  Oh, I was showing you the Halloween stocking.  I didn't have the called for fabric so I grabbed a small piece of 28ct from my stash.  Later today or tomorrow I am going to soak it in coffee and see what happens.  I bet you are supposed to try dyeing the fabric BEFORE you do the stitching?  Well, I'm a little backwards.  It's just DMC so I'll give it a go.

Today is the Nascar race at Richmond.  DH and I are always at that event.  This year we decided not to go and to put the money towards a return trip to PA for some furniture we saw in an Amish shop.  It was handcrafted and reasonably priced, VERY reasonably priced.  I'll watch the race on tv for the first time in several years.  The last two races at RIR have stunk anyway. 

I HAVE to finish RHS soon!!!  I swore it would be my last large project but that was until LHN came out with Family Sampler.  I also joined the LHN Yahoo group so I could be a part of the SAL which will begin soon.  Even if I don't start right away, I can be a part of the discussion so when I do start I'll have some insight of the project.
Well, that's all for now.  I'm thinking about what I'll do/where I'll go today.  I have new tires on my Yukon so I need to test them out!  CIAO!

It's late so I have to be brief. Saturday I took two pieces to a local frame shop to have them framed. DH told me about the place. This shop is located behind the man's house. He does great work. He spent over an hour with me. I had so much trouble picking mats and in hindsight I would have use no mats. Less decisions and when I got home and looked at the pic one the chart, I noticed the model picture used no mats. Oh well. Mats aren't that expensive. I found out it's the frame. I'll probably get more pieces done but I'll be more careful selecting my frames. At $9 a foot it gets expensive!! They should be ready in two weeks. I can't wait to post pics.

Monday Holiday

Here's Evergreen! My first 2007 finish. Later today I am going to try to find a frame. There's a sale at Michael's on frames so I'm taking several finished pieces with me. DD only has 1/2 day of school so DH decided to come home early and take us "to town".


I've started a new project. A quickie. It's called Faith, Hope, Love by Cedar Hill.

First 2007 Finish

I am very happy to announce that I finished Evergreen tonight (I'll post a pic tomorrow).
I started a new project too. Something quick and easy. Evergreen should have been quick and easy but I'm a slow stitcher with limited stitching time and trouble staying focused. I need to go back to my archive to check for sure but I think I started it in August. I have not worked on it completely since starting it. I've worked on ornaments and I have crocheted an afghan.

I've had a tough weekend. My nerves are tore up. Can't talk about it now but I will eventually (maybe). I could use some prayers for strength and wisdom.

This is a three day weekend, last one until Memorial Day except for using a vacation day. DD has a half day of school tomorrow. I'll spend the morning working on figures to give to our accountant. DH owns his own business so tax time is a little more complicated. I'll make time to stitch too!

Border Stitching Plan

Here's my plan for future border stitching:
On my working copy of the chart, I am going to mark at least 12 points on the border. That's at least 3 points on each side. I'm sure I will mark more than 12. By "marking points" I mean I am going to take a highlighter and highlight an area of the border AND an area of stitching so that while I am stitching the border as I come to one of the highlighted areas I can make sure I am still on track. This way if I miscount I'll catch it a lot sooner!
On Evergeen, I noticed about half way that my border was a bit off. It was near a flower and I assumed that the flower must be off instead of checking to see if my border was off.
I can't tell you how many times I have stitched a border that didn't meet up at the end. Actually I'm not sure that I have ever stitched a border that matched up the first time. OK, maybe on an ornament. LOL!
If anyone has any border stitching pointers, I 'd love to hear them.
Happy Stitching!

Evergreen Progress

This was my progress on Evergreen. Along the right border near the top of the X is where the border did NOT MEET!! ARG!! I was so frustrated. I quickly found my screw up but it was made so early on. DH suggested I fudge a bit but NO CAN DO. I frogged the whole border.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday so I'm planning to stitch during the game. This is the progress I have made on restitching the border. I have a new method of stitching borders from now on. No more borders that don't match up at the end of the stitching!!