A Stitch in Time

Winner!

2012-02-10T13:48:00.001-05:00

No pics this week as I haven't done much stitching, BUT I was a winner!

I received an email earlier this week letting me know that I won a giveaway from Lizzie Kate! Yay!! Its the winter scissor fob kit that comes with tiny, cute scissors. Exciting stuff!

Also this week, I received some materials to stitch a model. No, I can't show you, but its good stuff!

Happy weekend!

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For the Downton Abbey Fans!

2012-02-06T22:25:00.001-05:00

This site is sooo funny! I've missed the last couple weeks of this season, gotta catch up!!

When Dowager Countess Texts

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A New Week

2012-02-06T11:20:00.001-05:00

Another week begins after a great weekend!

Friday night DH worked so I had the house to myself for a bit. I didn't feel all that great so not much stitching was accomplished. Saturday, I didn't feel much better, but I got to enjoy the day with DH and we went to get our superbowl snacks for the big game day.

Yesterday, I met up with the ladies for lunch and then shopping at our lns' big game day sale. I was unable to get the threads I needed for my chatelaine piece, but did pick up the new Lizzie Kate kit. I started working on it last night during the game. I took the day off work today to enjoy a day at home and stitched a bit more this morning.

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Twofer!

2012-02-03T08:27:00.001-05:00

Well, I don't kbow about anyone else but I've seen a few blog posts from people about thread storage. I store all my dmc threads on plastic bobbins and use vonnas method of labelling. I then keep all my bobbins in a box. Well, I have like three or four of those bobbin boxes. Of course, one box I don't count because its all thread for ONE wip that's been in progress....oohhhh...around ten years. Its a Teresa Wentzler, nuff said. Anywho, I've seen posts about these double sided boxes, so last night after work I cruised on down to joann fabrics and found two! Alas, one was broken, so I just purchased the one. It was on sale 40% off so it went into the cart. So I'm down from two boxes of dmc to one half of this box. Yay space savers!

More exciting news when I got home! My order from stitching bits and bobs came! Yay!! I got a few silks for my chatelaine and the february and march cottages from CCN.

A great start to the weekend!!

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Almost There

2012-02-02T10:24:00.001-05:00

The weekend is almost here and I am very ready. My poor hubby is working doubles since Wednesday, no rest for him until Saturday. Sometimes I feel like a big jerk because he works two jobs and I don't. But, I spent all six years of my college days working two and three jobs at a time just to survive, not because it was fun. I know if I went back to that now it would not be healthy for me. Plus, I could just forget I even have a husband to go home to. I worked a second job for a bit when we first started dating, two evenings a week and saturdays. I was always exhausted and DH was always worried about me. So,I have to remind myself of these things when I feel like a big jerk sitting at home one the couch while he is still working. DH doesn't HAVE to work that second job, he continues because he likes the people and its a bit extra cash in his pocket every week. Hes even tried to quit a few times, but the owners always get him to come back. One time they even chased him down in the parking lot and begged him to come back.

Anywho, onto some stitchy things. Last night, I did a bit more border on "growing" (sorry, no picture). I thought it would be boring and slow, but its gone surprisingly fast. I have the one side done on the first page and will be working on the top this weekend.

I've seen alot of stitchers finishes of the Sarah Elizabeth Brook sampler and I've got to say, I've kicked myself a fair number of times for not getting the chart when I had the chance at the retreat this past November. I picked up the darn thing at least three times while I was shopping and put it back on the rack! All that brick seemed so daunting, but I love it more and more everytime I see it in someones blog and the colors are so pretty! Maybe I will find it at the sale this weekend!

If not, its definitely on my wish list!

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Taking It Easy

2012-01-31T17:37:00.001-05:00

Been taking a bit of break lately. Not much stitching going on. Sunday, I got to meet up with a few stitching ladies; Deb, Joann, Astrid, Denise, and Danielle. We met up at Denise's house where she treated us to some yummy food and enjoyed some stitching. Denise has a lovely home! It was great fun to enjoy time stitching and wandering around her house seeing all her wonderful stitching displayed. I got to work a bit on Growing like a tree and started the border.

That night I discovered we had a nasty water leak under our sink. I don't keep much under there so who knows how long it was going on before I noticed. The landlord came Monday to take a look and it was a loose pipe. Luckily, easily fixed by hubby at the landlords direction. Thank goodness!! My wonderful hubby has taken it upon himself to clean up the mess in there and I couldn't be happier about that!

Sunday is the big superbowl sale at my lns and I'm super excited!! I won't be getting much but I'm always excited to visit the shop! I also took off next monday from work so I'm looking forward to a day at home.

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MIA

2012-01-25T09:27:00.001-05:00

Not much to report today. I haven't stitched a bit since Sunday. Guess I needed alittle break! This picture is my progress on A Sweeter Love as of Sunday night. More border, which is boring, but I figure do it now and I won't have to go back later!

I'm looking forward to meeting up with new stitching friends on Sunday and my lns is having a Superbowl sale next Sunday. Hopefully, I will be getting more stash for my chatelaine piece....and maybe one or two other things...

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Happy Dance!!

2012-01-21T21:08:00.001-05:00

While enjoying the snow I finished Quaker Heart by Shepherds Bush. I love this design so much! The specialty stitches are so pretty. I think this design is special enough to warrant some Jill Rensel mats!

Hubby and I were out at Hobby Lobby today and I just had to get a picture of this adorable cupcake cookie jar. And the measuring spoons!

Speaking of adorable, have you seen this new Lizzie Kate kit coming out?! Love it!!

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Do You Hermit?

2012-01-20T16:09:00.001-05:00

I am loving all the new readers to my blog the last couple weeks. I really appreciate everyone who stops by and reads my drivel!

This weekend is ihsw. I never technically sign up with everyone else but I love seeing everyones progress afterwards! Plus, I totally use it as an excuse to hole up in my house and do nothing but stitch all weekend. I tell my DH "its ihsw, I can do no other". Haha!

Tonight, while hubby is at work, I am babysitting. So, no stitching tonight, but we are expecting a bit of snow and ice through tomorrow so good luck prying me off the couch!

Happy weekend! (Finally)

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Shepherds Bush

2012-01-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

I needed alittle break from A Sweeter Love so I started working on Quaker Heart by Shepherds Bush. I love this design and the silks are so pretty and soft.

It wasnt too long ago I would have told you that SB designs just aren't my thing. The colors, the designs, the prices, eh. Then, last year, they started releasing those designs for that circle box. I decided I quite liked the box and the Hold Hope design with that cute little sheep. It was a quick stitch and an easy finish putting it into the top of the box.

After that, I was at In Stitches for a lock in and saw a lady with the CUTEST stitched fob and I had to have it! Another SB quick stitch and finish.

Now, I have quite a list of desired SB kits and patterns. Darn it. ;-)

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New Things

2012-01-18T14:22:00.001-05:00

After I got home last night, I saw that we had received the new Wegmans magazine. It is a nice publication with recipes and meal ideas. Also, a few coupons.

In my perusing of the magazine, I saw this ad for ready made iced coffee. All you do is pour over ice?! Sold! Next time I'm in the store, that is going in my cart!

I also needed alittle break from sweeter love so I made this cute hat to add to my etsy shop and also started working on a small Shepherds Bush kit, Quaker Heart. I am trying to stay away from any new starts right now, but I figure a small thing every now and then won't hurt.

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Full Circle

2012-01-16T22:12:00.001-05:00

Lots if progress on A Sweeter Love this past weekend. I finished the second house and have come full cirlce back to the dreaded swan.

Today was a holiday and after spending all weekend at home, I had to get out and about. I had two full punch cards for my lns so I went and got some more silks and the fabric for my chatelaine. I chose 32 ct mushroom lugana. My punch cards saved me twelve bucks! Yay!

I received a gift card for Michaels for my birthday so I stopped off and got some dmc threads. Plus, they were having a great yarn sale!

After I got home and made dinner I sat right down and started working on that darn swan. I am sure tomorrow I will finish it! I have made so much progress on this piece, I am excited to finish it soon!

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Desk Fairy

2012-01-13T20:20:00.001-05:00

This is a stitching figurine I have on my desk at work. I got it right when I started my job five years ago from keepsake needlearts. I'm not sure if they still sell it. It is a fairy, but well, not long after I got I was a clutz and broke the wings off. Now they rest beside her waiting for some superglue.

Planning some serious marathon stitching this weekend, plus I have off work Monday for the holiday!! Yay!!

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Silky Goodness

2012-01-12T17:29:00.001-05:00

Came home to another sweet package today! My waterlilies order from ebay!

I'm getting so excited about this project! The colors are so amazing!

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Magic....The Gathering

2012-01-10T17:42:00.001-05:00

So begins the gathering of materials for my first Chatelaine piece. I received my first batch today. Dinky Dyes and NPI silks! The colors are sooo beautiful and the sheen of the silk is just magic!

And thanks to Danielle and her genius idea, I made my first ebay purchase in YEARS when I found a seller online offering Carons Waterlilies waaaay below the regular price.

I still have quite a bit to go in completing the gathering. Plus, I still have to pick some fabric! My lns is having a super bowl sale in a few weeks so I will definitely be taking my list and marking off a few more things!

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Tiny Birds

2012-01-09T21:27:00.001-05:00

Birds stitched over one. After the swan debacle, I decided it would better for my sanity to stitch the over one motifs using a half cross stitch. Its worked out very well so far, but I've learned my lesson when it comes to over one stitching and 40 count.

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First Finish of 2012

2012-01-08T22:26:00.001-05:00

Complete with french knots. They aren't perfect, but they're on there!

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Sweet Progress

2012-01-07T23:38:00.001-05:00

I've made a nice bit of progress on A Sweeter Love by Plum Street Samplers. I'm stitching on 40 ct. using the called for silks. I'm really enjoying this stitch and it will be very special for me as I plan to personalize it for our wedding. Above the couple I am planning something along the lines of a rhodes heart with our initials and the in the space between the "bride" and the white house, adding our wedding date.

Last night and today I stitched the flowers in the border, finished another motif and started working on the border around the verse. I found two mistakes in the vines of the border. Too far along to frog, one doesn't really matter but the other puts off my border by one darn stitch. So, I will have to remember that when I do the other side to make sure they line up.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!!

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Birthday Fun -- Part One

2012-01-06T20:15:00.001-05:00

I haven't yet uploaded pictures from my camera yet but I used my phone to take pics of the coolest bday gifts ever!!

Friday, my hubby got home from work and gave me an early gift. This beautiful necklace! I love it sooo much! I showed it to him a few times (and texted him the website link) and he remembered how much I liked it!

The other gift is this super awesome blanket my gf gave me. Dh surprised me by setting up a double dinner date with her and her hubby Friday night and she was waiting outaide the restaurant when we pulled up! I am in love with this blanket, it is so soft and cuddly and cupcakes! She said when she saw it, she knew it was for me.

Funny story of the night....after getting home from dinner that night I sat down to cuddle up with my new blanket and do some late night stitching. Well, the ends of couch recline and as I grabbed the handle on my end to put up the footrest......it broke off in my hand!!! So, no more reclining for this girl. I've spent the last week trying to find the best new way to relax and it is very difficult!

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And Back To Our Regularly Schedule Programming

2012-01-04T09:36:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!! Four days into the new year and it's back to the same old, same old. I had an amazing new years/birthday weekend with my DH. Once I upload pics from the my camera, I will be sure to share the fun with all of you.

Many of my online stitching pals have posted blogs in the last few days about resolutions and goals they have set for myselves. I reviewed my post from last year and some of the goals I had set for myself were kept, and some were not. I won't go into the sad and pathetic details, but this year I decided to take it easy on myself. There is nothing more depressing for a stitcher than to read about another stitching stating that they ONLY had 3, 500, 372 finishes this year, much less than the previous years finishes. Honestly, I might have had a whopping four finishes this year. BUT, after considering that I spent the majority of last year planning one of the most important days of my life (my wedding, duh) and that I STITCHED EVERY FREAKING FLOWER IN MY WEDDING BOUQUET (not to mention my MOH's and the grooms bout)....sooooo thats like a hundred finishes, right? So, boo yah. LOL.

Anyway, I took an extra day for myself yesterday. It was lovely, DH was back to work so I had the house all to myself. I stewed in my own filth and wore my pj's all day while sitting on the couch stitching and watching "The United States of Tara" on Netflix. Wow, thats a wacky show. Funny, though. I worked all day of my January Cottage. Much impressed with my progress!

At some point, I took a small stitching break to go through the pile of stuff that has accumulated at my end of the couch in our living room. In one bag, I packed in all my wip's and kitted projects and left them nicely tidied away. In another bag, I packed miscellaneous things such as threads or random bits of fabric. I also put in a few things I was given or bought that are just no longer my dish or I stitched them and must needs find something to do with them now. I see a giveaway in the future!! Right now though, they are jammed into our spare bedroom where all the other random things in our house gather.

After DH got home and started playing a video game, I trudged upstairs for a light bit of housecleaning and found an old faithful on my desk in our bedroom. Poor 'Sweetest Love', patiently waiting for some attention. I grabbed her up and finished stitching the roof on the white house and this heart and crown motif. I love this motif, it is my favorite on this piece. I think I am having a new found thing for crowns. I also love the key which is in the picure showing all that I have done so far.

So it seems that my goal this year will be to stitch from my stash. I had set the same goal for myself last year and seemed to do very well with it. Most of the stash I purchased last year wase fabric or threads to kit up charts that I already had. This year, I can now spend stitching those kitted up projects. My first Chatelaine chart came in the mail last weekend so I will also slowly, but surely, be gathering the threads and treasures needed for that start. As for now, I have PLENTY to keep me busy!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2011-12-29T13:45:00.001-05:00

Saturday, I will hit the big 3-0! Hubby and I are going to dinner tomorrow night (I have no idea where) and have plans for the big day on Saturday (I have no idea what). DH is very good with the surprises so I have no worries. My.only request was that we not be out and about on Saturday night when all the stupid drunks will be out trying to ruin everyone elses good time.

Today is my Friday at work as my office is closed tomorrow and Monday. I also took an extra day off on Tuesday so I am very much looking forward to this weekend!!

Earlier in the week I was able to make some more progress on "Growing". Almost done the first page of the pattern!

Also, as a birthday treat for myself, I ordered my first Chatelaine Design. Hawaiian Garden Mandala. Love love love! It won't be something I will be able to start anytime soon as I will need some time to gather threads, treasures and such, but its a start! Can't wait to get my hands on that chart and see what I've gotten myself into, lol.

Hope you all have a wonderful new years weekend!

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Last TUSAL of the year

2011-12-27T10:24:00.001-05:00

Here is my last TUSAL picture for the year. Not any different than last month. Didn't get a chance for much stitching this month until yesterday and I've stopped trying to shove more into the jar. Lol!

I am also showing a picture of a Christmas gift from my sweet hubby. Its a qsnap lap frame, I am in looove!! Danielle and I saw a lady using one of these at the retreat we went to in November and thought it was the neatest thing. It is made by a vendor in the UK so it was quite a hunt to find a shop that carried here in the US. I found a shop in Florida and texted the link to DH hoping he got the hint!

It is a wonderful lap frame and offers not one but TWO qsnap sizes for you to use! You just flip it over to use the smaller/larger size. It is extremely light weight and sits on my lap comfortably while I recline on the couch.

I am hoping to soon be able to get better at stitching with both hands, but for now am enjoying having my right hand cramp free since I no longer have to hold my frame!

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Well Then

2011-12-18T02:14:00.001-05:00

I had typed up a nice post and then had to delete it. Now, I just can't be bothered to retype all that stuff.

More progress on "growing", package in the mail from abcstitch.

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Growing

2011-12-11T02:40:00.001-05:00

While the hubby was out doing some Christmas shopping I got to enjoy some time at home. After cleaning a bit, I got to sit for the rest of the evening and indulge myself with stitching and trashy tv.

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McSlackerson

2011-12-06T15:54:00.001-05:00

Yea, I havent made any christmas effort this year. No tree, no decorations. I'm tired. Maybe it will get done this weekend.

I'll make my husband do it.

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Loot

2011-12-03T22:07:00.001-05:00

Today, I visited my lns The Stitching Post. I needed threads and fabric for the new Country Cottage SAL I joined and treated myself to a few other treats.

Shepherds Bush Holy Night chart, a few cuts of fabrics, and some threads. While I was there, I saw a gorgeous and sparkly model of The Victoria Samplers White Christmas. The white on white stitching is so pretty in person with just the right sparkle of pearl beads and silver stitching.

Guess I am a bit late to be picking up Christmas charts, but seeing them definitely put me in the spirit!

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Almost Done!

2011-12-01T18:52:00.001-05:00

This has been a wip for quite awhile, but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! I love the fun design and bright colors. I will probably be able to finish the border tonight! yay!!

Lizzei Kates snowman '10......i wonder what happened to snowman '11?

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A Me Day

2011-11-30T22:13:00.001-05:00

So I was only back to work two days after the holiday and needed to call out today. I was basically told on Tuesday that today I would put in the position of pretty much doing someones elses job and be made to look like a fool because they didn't want to deal with it. I wasnt much interested in "taking one for the team" so I did something I rarely do, and called out for no good reason.

I spent the day straightening up my house and sitting on my couch watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. I did some stitching, but nothing close to a marathon and that's okay with me. It was a good day.

Jobs are stupid.

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Catch Up Time and TUSAL

2011-11-28T22:49:00.001-05:00

Sigh, well that was fun.

Well, not as much as I thought it would be. How could I have five days off work and feel completely exhausted and unaccomplished at the end of it?!?! Oh well, stuff happens!

I got alittle bit of stitching done and here is thia months TUSAL jar!

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Sweet Progress

2011-11-22T09:04:00.001-05:00

Some progress on "A Sweeter Love"

Today is my Friday at work!! Yay!! Bring on the turkey! I'm so thankful for all the blessings in my life!

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Weekend Geeking Out

2011-11-21T09:13:00.001-05:00

Super busy weekend. Hopefully, this weekend, my couch and butt will become familiar with each other once again.

Friday night, my friend and I enjoyed going to the movies to see Breaking Dawn. Lots of fun, and I just HAD to have a souvenir bucket and cup!! Yes, I totally geeked out when I saw them.

I also finally got to see the new releases from Plum Street Samplers! Looove! Definitely going on the wish list!

Its a short work week for me this week, I'm so excited to spend some time at home!

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Crack Me Up

2011-11-18T09:43:00.001-05:00

Saw this picture today. Had a food laugh!

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Waiting...Not My Thing

2011-11-17T08:37:00.001-05:00

Waiting is so not my thing lately.

Waiting for the weekend, waiting for packages to come in the mail. Waiting for Breaking Dawn. Waiting for that sneaky Paulette to show us the rest of those sneak peeks of her new designs!

And for some reason I haven't yet gotten it together enough to post pics of all my goodies from the retreat. They are coming though!

Not much else is going on this week. Just chugging along, as always. Tomorrow night is girls night! Going with my best gf to see the movie and then I'm ready to relax this weekend. Only two work days next week!

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A Great Time!

2011-11-15T10:46:00.001-05:00

I got home from the retreat in Laurel, Md on Sunday. It was nice that it only took an hour to get home!

Danielle and I had a great time!! We got to meet some nice ladies, do some shopping, and see the amazing work at the Montpelier Mansion.

We arrived Friday afternoon and got to get straight to stitching! The hard working organizers of the retreat gifted us with some great goodie bags and door prizes. There was also a yummy dinner provided Friday and Saturday night, along with drinks and snacks available throughout the day.

The stitching lounge closed at 11 pm so we got a nice ten hours of stitching Friday night and enjoyed some tv in our room later. Saturday, we had all day to stitch from 8am to 11 pm so except for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a trip to the mansion....we stitched. It was great!!

I worked mainly on two big projects. Growing like a tree sampler by moira blackburn and a sweeter love by plum street samplers. I got a very good start on growing and after I had burned out on sweeter love a few months ago, Saturday I was able to get back into it and made a lot of progress.

Danielle and I were so excited about our progress on Saturday that after the lounge closed at 11 that night, we went back to our room to continue stitching while watching Saturday Night Live!

I took off work yesterday, so after a busy weekend stitching, I got to enjoy a day at home. Since I had the bug, I did more work on sweeter love! I decided to change the hair color on the lady. It is charted for a brownish red, but since its for Matt and myself, I decided to change the color to closer match my own hair.

Now its back to real life, counting down to the next long weekend!

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Fun Time

2011-11-11T07:04:00.000-05:00

Today is the day I am off to the Montpelier Retreat!! I am so excited!!

I am hoping to get lots and lots of stitching done on some wip's.

In the meantime, have you seen this sneaky peeky from Pauletter over at Plum Street Samplers?! Think those two will be going on my list!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Two Days

2011-11-08T12:32:00.001-05:00

Only two more days of work until freedom!! Lol!

Last night, I started working on lhns bringing home the tree ornament. When I was at my lns last weekend they had the small cuts of fabric called for on the chart. Weeks dye works cocoa in 30 count.

Honestly, I do not like it. Maybe its because its small and I have to stitch in hand (I prefer my qsnaps) or maybe its because, to me, the fabric feels loose and wonky.

Its just not my bag.

I also wanted to share what I am making for dinner in my crockpot tonight! Pepperjack chicken!

1 can cheddar cheese OR nacho cheese soup (I can only find cheddar in my store and its fine)

1 jar of salsa

1 lb chicken breast, cut up

1 of each - green, red, yellow peppers, roughly chopped.

We have a wegmans that just opened up near is and I loooove wegmans!! In the produce section, they have a section where employees chop up fresh veggies and package them for sale. So I got a nice package of red, green, orange and yellow peppers already chopped up and ready to go! Saves me time and I love the smell of fresh peppers!

Anywho, throw everything in the crockpot and set your timer. The first time I made this a couple weeks ago, I set it for fours hours and it was good. Today, since I threw it in this morning before I left for work, I set it for ten. Can't wait to get home and experience that delicious smell!

When you're ready to eat, serve over rice. A yummy meal!

P.s.com does anyone else have an irrational fear of leaving home with the crockpot going. I'm always scared I will come home to a burned down shell of a house or a completely crusted out inedible meal.

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Weekend Fun

2011-11-06T14:38:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got to meet up with Danielle and Denise at a local Panera. It was a lot of fun to lunch and stitch!

The Panera was only a few minutes from our lns The Stitching Post so I decided to make a quick trip. I picked up two lhn ornament charts and fabric cuts, plus the Quaker Hearts kit by Shepherds Bush. I had been eyeing the kit for some time so I just bit the bullet and got it.

Hubby worked last night at his parttime job at our local liqour store. I stopped by for a visit and he showed me they had gotten this Skinny Girl white cranberry cosmo drink. Lucky me, he brought some home with him for me to try later that night! Its delish!

While Matt was at work, I enjoyed a movie and started my new sampler. I watched Water for Elephants. I thought it was good.

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Weekend Ready

2011-11-04T09:07:00.001-04:00

I am definitely ready for the weekend! What a long week. Made even longer for the fact that so many other people said it went by really fast. I beg to differ.

I finished a custom order from my shop. This cute bird hat. I'm currently working on a penguin hat which I designed myself. Its coming out nicely!

I really appreciate all of your compliments on my fob finish! Its a great little stitch and a quick finish. Shepherds Bush really puts out some great kits! Sweet stitches came with everything I needed to make the fob, including the ribbon and beads for the ruched trim, right down to the needles for the stitching and beading. Their smaller kits are definitely travel friendly since everything comes together.

Only one more week until retreat time! I am definitely excited to have alittle get away time.

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Yay Mail!!

2011-11-02T20:57:00.001-04:00

My new Kindle cover came in the mail today. I love it!!

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Ta Da!

2011-11-01T18:35:00.001-04:00

Just finished my scissors fob! Yay!!

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Ruching

2011-11-01T08:40:00.001-04:00

Last night after work I got alittle bit of a start to finishing my scissor fob.

Dang, trying to attach ribbon and beading to this tiny square is some fiddly stuff.

It is my first time using this finishing technique and I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it is slow going. It has to look just so, know what I mean?

My first attempt, I thought I would do the ruching first and then sew it onto the the fob. Well, that didn't quite work out so I took it apart.

Currently, I am ruching and sewing as I go. So, I have two threads and two needles going at the same time. Imagine the ridiculousness of trying to bead and ruche while also keeping the sewing thread from getting tangled in the ruching thread.

I don't know if I like it or not. I got about one and a half sides done and asked my husband what he thought. He said oh, it looks nice. Figures. Lol. So I've decided to just go with it and see how it looks when its all done. If I don't like it, ill just cut it off and do twisted cord for the finishing.

I only got to work on it for about 45 minutes last night before we went to a friends house to hang out and have dinner with her family while her kids were trick or treating. It was a great night!

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Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:22:00.002-04:00

Hope everyone had a fun and safe pre - Halloween weekend!!

Back to the ole' grind tomorrow, boooo!!

Our neighbors had a bit of a get together Saturday night for the holiday. We had a good bit of snow here in Maryland all day Saturday so, sadly, she did not have many people show up, but those of us that lived just a few houses away had a good time!!

My husband decided to be a pirate for the party, so I threw together this hat last week. I was his parrot!

It was fun to make this hat for myself and it will come in handy for work tomorrow. I am not much of a costume person, so this hat was a good go to choice. Plus, its fun and creative!!

I have a Kindle with special offers and I just HAPPENED to check the offers Friday night and with a shriek of joy, got an offer to get 50% off a kindle cover from amazon.com!! I have been patiently waiting as I have been eying the hot pink lighted kindle cover on their site. At a whopping $49.99, I knew I could save some money if I just waited for a special offer to pop onto my Kindle. Saturday, I was able to order my new cover and along with my special offer, I had some money left on a gift card. Got my new cover for $20 and free shipping!! Totally worth the wait! I love my Kindle so much and read it almost every night, so I know this is a worthwhile purchase.

The rest of the weekend I spent working on the super cute Shepherd's Bush scissor fob 'Sweet Stitches' that I got when I was at In Stitches. I just completed the stitching and stitched it together. I have a little mini pillow at this point. I love the flower motif and the colors in the threads, bright and cheery. There was a mother of pearl heart bead that came with it, but it came loose while I was putting it together and manhandling it to put the stuffing in so I just cut it off. Better now than later I guess, haha. Next, I have to add the ruched ribbon to complete the fob. It will my first attempt, so lets hope it goes well!

I also ordered and received my piece of fabric to stitch "Growing Like a Tree"! It is 40 count vintage examplar by Ladeside Linens. I am so excited to get started on this sampler! I think it will pack it up and have it ready to go to retreat in a couple weeks!

Facebook

2011-10-28T10:06:00.001-04:00

So is anyone else kind of over facebook lately?

Yes, the recent changes have been a bit of an adjustment, but I am talking more about the people on facebook than anything else.

I don't know about your friends, but mine?! Omg. What a bunch of whiners. Its a constant barrage of, "oh I have this illness, I'm soo sick. Feel sorry for me", and "oh, my life is so terrible and I sit around and do nothing to improve it. Feel sorry for me." Followed by a cascade of comments from people who are practically strangers to the person who posted it.

I'm annoyed. I mean, what are really you trying to accomplish when you post things like "noone cares about me" or when people post idiotic and demeaning things about their significant other who doesn't even have a facebook. Seriously, why would you do that?!

Facebook is a sad way to attempt to validate your very existence. Its one thing to post every once in awhile that you had a crap day. Everyone does. But a constant public demonstration of your poor decision making just tells me you need some serious help and facebook is not the place to find it.

I like facebook because it has given me a way to reconnect with old friends and distant family members. I have been able to find new friends and discover new resources by connecting with businesses through social networking. I won't stop using it but I am just so over all the drivel.

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TUSAL

2011-10-26T09:51:00.001-04:00

Here is a picture of this months tusal jar. I really don't think it looks any different than last month. How sad.

Last night I paid a visit to Hobby Lobby to get some yarn and also picked up floss for growing like a tree. Loving the colors!

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Some Good Stuff

2011-10-25T09:16:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, Danielle and I met up and made our way to In Stitches for the lock in. It was a good time with yummy food and quality stitching (and shopping)!

As I had been on a bit of a stash diet lately, I went alittle crazy. I have the three charts for the birds of a feather mystery sampler so at the lockin I got all the threads needed. Now, to find the perfect fabric.

I also picked up a pack of needles and quilted garden from blue ribbon designs.

That was my first trip to the register.

See, In Stitches has all their lovely models displayed ALL over the shop. And, I mean all over. There are so many, you see something new everytime you go in.

On a previous trip to the shop to the shop I had admired a lovely sampler that is displayed, in all places, the restroom. But, alas, I was on a stash diet so I didn't ask about it. This time though I just kept telling Danielle how much I liked it, so she had to go in and see for herself. She saw a model she also liked so she went to the counter and the nice lady was able to look up the model numbers and wrote down the names and designers of the pieces we were looking for.

My second trip to the register I purchased growing like a tree by moira blackburn. A beautiful sampler, the cover picture does not do it justice. In Stitches restroom display is way better! Lol!

Well, I finally settled down to some stitching and then I see a nice lady a few chairs down with the cutest scissor fob.

My third and final trip to the register I got shepherds bush sweet stitches fob kit.

Lest you think I got nothing done but shop, I did stitch. I worked on lizzie kates snowman from last year. Almost done!

Next up, in a couple weeks, Danielle and I team back up for the retreat. Yay!!

*Please excuse my crappy pictures taken very late Monday night with my cell phone.

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Secure?

2011-10-19T10:45:00.001-04:00

Be prepared, this is a non stitchy paranoia filled post.

Hubby and I currently rent the house we live in. We are hoping to change that situation in the next year or two. I lived there when we met and he moved in. I've lived there eight years. Good neighbors and not so good neighbors. Its a quiet street in a small town so we've never had much worry when it came to security.

I even lived alone for a time before my husband moved in while we were dating. I didn't worry because I had good neighbors and everyone was in everyones business when there were strangers around making sure there was no trouble.

Well, last week an older ladys family had come over and moved her stuff out. Apparently, within an hour of her stuff being moved out, the apartment she lived in was broken into. It was empty, obviously, so nothing was stolen. Another neighbor said around that time she saw someone looking in her back window. I find my neighbor questionable because she posted on facebook that someone was looking in her window four hours BEFORE the breakin occurred. She then posted Monday that someone was looking in her front window, which would have been difficult for them to do since her front window isn't ground level and they would have had to climb her garden wall to look in it. And why in heck would you post that on facebook and not call the police?! And noone saw this person climbing your garden wall?! Come on now.

Well last night after hubby went to bed, I heard some voices outside late. I looked out and there were two policemen up at our neighbor friends house. I messaged her to make sure she was ok since her bf works at night and she was home alone with her ds. She told me that she came home to her front door open and her next door neighbor had seen someone go by on a bicycle and then heard her door open.

Hubby and I both work during the day which puts a hitch in my step every morning when I have to leave for work. If someone were to break into our home I would be devestated. Setting aside all worries about material things (which we have worked very hard for, thank goodness for rental insurance at least), its very scary to think of someone coming into my home without my knowledge and going through our things. I find it diffucult to believe that I would be comfortable in our home after it had been so violated.

So this morning, I called my mother and asked her to have her husband install an additional lock on our front door. I know its not necessarily a fool proof solution if someone REALLY wanted to get in our house, but it will make me feel better and hopefully will be a deterrent to someone with bad intentions.

I could really use a needle and thread right now.

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An Old Love

2011-10-14T18:21:00.001-04:00

Last night I worked on a wip I hadn't touched in a long time. Nantucket Rose by Lavender and Lace. Its a great stitch! I got her to work on upstairs while I catch up on shows on my computer.

Hopefully, I can make some progress on her!

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Crappity Crap

2011-10-11T22:32:00.001-04:00

Blackbird designs has released the next part of their current loose feathers series. And I thought I was gonna pass on this. Sigh.

I enjoyed having Monday off work for the Columbus Day holiday. I spent some time at home working on venetian opulence and finished another crochet hat. Pics to come!!

Danielle and have both signed up for the next lock in at In Stitches and today, I mailed in my registration for the needlearts weekend retreat! We are both super excited!

Hope everyone is doing well!

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Mind. Blown.

2011-10-05T08:59:00.000-04:00

So during my usual web surfing yesterday evening, I came across a new post by Vonna! I am not going to tell you what it is. I am just hoping you follow the link and experience the wonder of this post she put up.

Do you follow Vonna? Why not? What is wrong with you? Just do it. Best day of your life.

So anyway, Vonna does some of the most amazing finishing work. Plus, she has a separate blog to help all us dummies learn her fabulous finishing methods.

After seeing Vonna's awesome creation yesterday, I fervently wished that anyday I would come upon her finishing blog and there would be a tutorial of this most amazing, awesome thing that she posted about.

Did you see it yet? What are still doing here reading my drivel?!

Finally, last night I just happened to recheck my google reader on my phone and this had been posted.

I will be making one, or five.

Yesterday was also cause for other excitement as Danielle and I finally got the email announcing the next lock in at In Stitches. So dang excited!! The email also opened our eyes to a retreat happening next month in Laurel. It is Friday through Sunday of glorious stitching AND a trip to a needlearts exhibit at Montpelier.

Not much stitching going on, although I did finish one of the cutest crochet hats for a custom order. Looking forward to the end of the week as I approach a holiday weekend!!

TUSAL

2011-10-02T18:19:00.001-04:00

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Newness

2011-09-24T13:46:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post! I loved being able to show some progress on my latest projects instead of just prattling on about other stuff.

I am sure you have notice I have changed the look of my blog! I also have added a sale page. Please check it out and let me know if you anything catches your eye!

Have a great weekend!

Progress!

2011-09-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

I have had some great progress on a few of my projects in the last week!

The one joy of being home sick. During my few days home from work on my couch I was able to get a big chunk stitched on Venetian Opulence.

Yesterday, when I got home, I had this great surprise in the mail!! Awhile ago, I began participating in a round robin board on yuku and sent out Lady of the Mist by Mirabilia. I had put in few stitches when I sent her out and look at all the wonderful progress!! The ladies that participated in the round robin did an awesome job!! Since I had such a great time with the robin that just ended, I decided to join another and just this month sent out a kit that had been sitting in my stash for a couple years. Can't wait to see it get some love!

While working on Venetian, I took a few breaks and worked on my granny squares. They are shaping up very nicely and I love the vibrant colors!

I also made this cute ribbed pumpkin hat to add to my etsy shop. It was so fun to make and even though it looks tiny, the ribbing allows it to stretch quite a bit. I have already had an order from a friend on Facebook for an adult size hat!

Tonight I am so excited because my favorite show is coming back on for the season! Yay!!

Back On The Horse

2011-09-20T11:12:00.001-04:00

After working a half day and staying home sick last Thursday and Friday, I am back at work.

The weekend with hubby was restful and just what I needed. During my time at home I was able to work on my granny squares and also make some progress on Venetian. No pictures yet but I definitely will post some tonight!

I have made zero sales from my etsy page which is disappointing, but I have sold a few things to friends on Facebook.

Also, in the interest of cleaning up a bit, I have decided to set up a sale page here on my blog. I have some charts at home that I've already stitched or just aren't my cup of tea and need to go on to a new home. Hopefully, that is something I can get started in the next day or so.

It is a rainy day here so I'm very sleepy here at work. Hope everyone is well!

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Sicky Sick

2011-09-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

I am home from work today, nursing my sick self. It all started innocently enough. Yesterday, I felt fine, but throughout the day I started to get a bit of a scratchy throat and stuff nose. By the time I got home I was very tired, alittle light headed and my body was just done for the day.

Hubby made me some yummy chicken soup for dinner and sent me to bed at 8 o'clock. Way early for me, I couldn't even keep my eyes open to read for a few minutes.

I may have gone to bed early, but it did not make for a good sleep. This morning I woke up and movement was not happening.

So here I am, home for the day. Maybe I will get something done. Maybe I won't.

Ive Been Hooking All Week

2011-09-09T18:12:00.001-04:00

Busily workin away on my granny squares!!

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I'm Back!

2011-09-07T08:57:00.001-04:00

Back from our trip and back to work. Boo!

At last, a picture of my TUSAL jar.

We had a great time on the beach. The water was so warm, the sun so bright! I enjoyed reading under the umbrella while Matt laid in the sun. We woke up very early one morning to walk on the beach and see the sunrise. We also collected great shells!!

When I got home I found out a Hobby Lobby store had opened near me so Monday I went out and got some of their yummy yarns. I decided to join a crochet along on Facebook. I really love the colors and my granny squares are working up very quickly!

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TUSAL

2011-08-30T17:30:00.001-04:00

Yea that's not my jar, but it is the view from our balcony while we enjoy our honeymoon this week!

Ill make sure to post my jar when I get home!

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Cutie Booties

2011-08-25T13:28:00.001-04:00

I finished my first custom order this week. Yay!

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TGIF!!

2011-08-19T13:16:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted!!

Not much going on, just some busy stuff. Matt had developed a reaction/infection to one of the sutures used in his previous surgery so he had to have another procedure this past Wednesday to remove it. His third procedure in less than a month!!

Since he was so good, afterwards I took him to a new place that just opened up in town. It's called Yogi Castle. It is a frozen yogurt place where you go in and make your own creations, your bowl is then weighed and pay by the ounce. It was fun to pick our own treats and then put some yummy toppings on it.

I also have not been doing very much stitching, but I have been crocheting!! I finally opened up my Etsy shop and although there isnt much listed right now, I am hoping to add a few things as I get them finished.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! I am definitely looking forward to the next few weeks. Hopefully, we will be getting things back to normal in our house and we will be able to enjoy our coming vacation!

My Other Love

2011-08-11T22:05:00.001-04:00

I've put my cross stitching aside for abit to do some crochet. I finished this super cute giraffe hat earlier tonight.

I would love to be able to build up some products in order to open my own etsy shop.

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Lunch Lady

2011-08-10T14:31:00.001-04:00

I've been working on the cupcake during my lunch break at work the last week or so. It is a good traveling project since it is so small and stitched on paper.

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Fresh Start......sigh

2011-08-08T21:14:00.001-04:00

So here it is. I ripped every single thread out. Isnt my pile pretty?!

A lot of you suggested just starting on a new piece of fabric, but this is all I've got and with Matts illness the last couple weeks, ordering something was just not in the budget. Ill be on a stash diet for quite awhile.

Amazingly, I didn't cut one whole in the fabric or rip it to shreds in frustration. Cookie for me! So tomorrow I will start anew. Maybe I won't screw it up, again.

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Help Me Somebody

2011-08-05T20:04:00.001-04:00

This is how much I have done.

This how much I now have to rip out because I didn't leave enough room at the top.

I cry.

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Weekend is Here!

2011-08-05T08:10:00.001-04:00

I got to spend some time on my sampler last night. Almost done another page!

While Matt was working last night, I did some house cleaning and then planted myself on the couch to enjoy my stitching and the Jersey Shore marathon leading up to the premiere last night. That show is a hot mess.

Matt is working again tonight so I am hoping to get more stitching time in.

On another note, how many of you stitch Chatelaine designs? There is a new one being released at the Baltimore market in a couple weeks and, oh, I really like it! I've never stitched one of her designs before so it would be my first one if I get it.

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How YOU Doin?!

2011-08-04T09:23:00.000-04:00

Still no stitchy news today. Matt is working tonight, so hopefully I can have a sit and do some work on my sampler tonight!

No plans as of yet for the weekend, but tonight, I am all about Jersey Shore!!

What is everyone else working on lately? I am loving be able to read everyone's posts and seeing progress.

Variety

2011-08-02T14:45:00.000-04:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled stitching gabfest.

So, Matt and I had this deal when we got married that I would GIVE him all the gift cards we got from the wedding for him to use at Target to buy a PS3. I wanted it for the blu ray capabilities and he in his child like enthusiasm was all about the gaming.

I am not much of a gamer. I like games with a purpose. I totally do not get those strategy games where you more or less walk around in a circle for hours on end and then you mysteriously win. Whatever. I need goals, I need points. I need a map for crying out loud. Hence, kid games are more my speed. They have set goals, you unlock treasures and levels. There are puzzles that make you feel really smart. (Anyone else LOVING garden of time on facebook?!)

I have a Nintendo DS. I love it! I don't play on it as often as I used to and actually "beat" my first game on it a couple years ago. Sims 2 castaway is pretty slammin....OKAY, fine I totally cheated and looked up how to get off that stupid island on the internet. But still, I did it.

We also have a Wii, I really like the movement centered games in which you actually have to get off your butt to do things. The first time I ever played a Raving Rabbids game I almost peed my pants.

I have been pretty blase about the PS3. Matt loves it so thats all that matters. I get to watch fancy movies and stream Netflix to my hearts content. But, over the weekend I found this game in the game store. We have gotten pretty savvy about trading in old DVD's and video games for store credit so we can get new stuff. This game was on sale used for $14.99, a new PS3 game usually costs $60, I was sold.

I don't even know why I like this game. I have it for my DS also. Maybe it is because it is a girl hero with some kick ass guns and big ta ta's. Maybe it's the sweet graphics (yea right, like I care). Or, maybe it's the maps and the directions and oh, find this and find that purpose of each level. I actually GET the story. But, it is pretty fun. For some reason, I totally like these Tomb Raider games.

In other news, I have also been trying to read more. Goodreads has really helped me branch out from the typical and generic romance novel. Anyone else getting tired of those? I am totally bored by them these days. Anyways, I just finished reading this book:

It is quite thrilling with a crazy surprise ending. It is a bit raw and sometimes graphic, so not for the faint of heart, but a good story. Definitely going to be reading the authors next book "Never Knowing" which at this very moment, is waiting for me at my local library.

Since we are talking about books, I have to bring up the whole deal about Borders. I am totally bummed that ALL of their stores are now closing. I haven't spent much money on books in the last year or two. I was getting most of my books from the local library and I did just recently got my Kindle, but there is just something about being in a book store.

TUSAL and Other Fun Stuff!

2011-08-01T20:59:00.001-04:00

First up is my Tusal jar! Its pretty full, the top threads being mostly from my sampler.

I've made progress on my sampler! I call it Matts house because that's where the groom comes from. So, Matts house now has windows! Some people have asked me the name of the sampler. It is "A Sweeter Love" by Plum Street Sampler.

Last but not least are these goodies I got in the mail today from my friend Danielle! She has turned to the dark side of needlepoint amd has passed me some cross stitch stash! Two cute zip bags, a sampler magazine, and two mirabilia charts. Also, some time ago she started working on Peony Garden which I always drooled over when I saw it. She decided to send me her wip, the threads, and beads to finish her!

What a great start to this week!

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Wants and Needs

2011-07-28T16:07:00.001-04:00

The following two things are in my thoughts. Want. Need. Mine.

This lovely and fabulous design is "Quilted Garden" by Blue Ribbon Designs. Belinda posted teasers on Facebook for weeks about this new design and has finally revealed it in all its colorful glory! She also designed several "smalls" to also make. I love the little pin cushion. It should be in shops by the end of August. It will be mine.

And look at this! I am seeing postings all over blog world about the Go! Baby Fabric Cutter. I have been wanting one of these for MONTHS! I have entered every giveaway and every contest to no avail. It is already on my Christmas list! Want! Need!

Sigh.

P.S. Netflix is now available for streaming on my android phone. My life has improved in immeasurable ways because of this.

Progress

2011-07-27T18:09:00.001-04:00

More progress on the sampler!

We were out over the weekend at a new Marshalls store in our area and I saw these cute bowls! I would have bought one or two but I know they wouldn't really GO with anything. Common sense reared its ugly so I just took a picture to share!

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Overwhelmed (please excuse my scatterbrain)

2011-07-26T14:54:00.000-04:00

Its been a few days since my last post. Matt had his gallbladder removed last Thursday and has spent the last fews day recovering. The surgery is much simpler than in the "olden" day when they practically had to cut you in half. Now it is just 3-5 little holes, Matt has three, well, more like two, since one of the "holes" was his belly button. I know more about gallbladder and liver functions than I care to and I could educate a few people if they really want to know. We had a crazy heat wave here in the mid atlantic and with the lack of a/c, Matt and I stayed at his moms house while he was resting and just went home Monday night. Thursday and Friday I took off work to take care of him and make sure he didn't overdo it. I had some time to do some stitching and some reading.

I worked on the round robin piece (sorry, no pic) I had with me and managed to lose one of the threads in the doctors waiting room. Yes, we all know my luck with threads. Luckily, I had the same color in my stash, so I was able to replace it without having to make a special trip to a craft store in the spare time I didn't have.

I also got to inhale the fourth book in the Pretty Little Liars series. Danielle got me started reading them and now I need to get my hands on the next one. Anyone else read this series? I have been reading alot this summer, it has been very enjoyable. Especially since I rekindled my relationship with Goodreads. It is a great site to keep track of books I have read, want to read, and what I am currently reading. I also get to see what my friends are reading. Kind of like Facebook for books....if that makes any sense.

Matts post op appointment was today, and aside from a reaction to the suture glue they used, he should be on the mend! Hopefully, this means that things are getting back to normal soon and we are getting back into the groove of our daily lives (and Matt can go back to work). I won't bore you with all my feelings, but this sick spouse stuff is crazy. It is a constant overflow of emotions, even when you know they are going to be okay. It's leaving them in a hospital room while you drive home to an empty house, the doctor talk, the paperwork, the insurance aholes, the needles. It's the fear, the reassuring smiles, the brave face, those secret tears, and that blissful moment when the nurse comes out to get you and you walk into the recovery room, they smile at you and everything is again right with the world.

I Haz A Howse....Almost

2011-07-19T21:47:00.001-04:00

Worked some more on the sampler the last couple days. Almost done the house, well, one house out of two!

There is also a pic of my new needleminder put to work!

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Lock It In

2011-07-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the fabulous Danielle and myself attended our first lock in at In Stitches needlework shop located in Virginia. One had been at the shop once before back in March during the Woodlawn show and had been planning our next ~~invasion~~ since then. It is such a nice shop, the staff is very friendly and helpful and the shop is chock full of goodies! I have been on a stash diet as of late, so I had no plans for purchasing anything, but had a few pennies to spend in case anything caught my eye.

That Danielle, she is so awesome! Last week she had gone to Bedecked and Beadazzled and got me this super cool gift while she was there!

Isn't it the cutest thing!! It is a cupcake needle minder. I will have to get a better picture of it when I go home tonight, but the pink rhinestones are my favorite! I love pink! I love cupcakes! Danielle also gave me a fantastic bag of stash that included some great threads and nice bags to keep projects in.

While at the lock in, I got the last two patterns in the mystery sampler and also a small chart from Blackbird Designs. If I was smart, I would have gotten the threads while I was there, but my brain stopped working properly the last few days. Haha. The ladies at In Stitches were so generous at this event! Upon check-in, everyone was given a packet that included a free chart and a $10 gift certificate to use during shopping that day! They were also having a Christmas in July sale so their trunk show items were 20% off and everything else in the store (except for a select few things, like framing) was 15% off! Like I said, I have been on a bit of a stash diet lately. There has just been nothing coming out that has given me that "gotta have it" feeling. But, I tried my hardest to find things to buy, honest! With the discounts and the gift certificate, I spent $10 to get the three patterns I picked up, what a steal! The staff also had a lovely spread of food for us to enjoy during a break and also had some great door prizes. Sadly, I did not win any, but it was fun to see what the other ladies won.

Eventually, I settled in to do some stitching and worked on my sampler.

This is the most recent picture I have. Friday night, I finished the empty spaces on the path and while at the lock in I started working on the one of the houses. Promise I will post an updated pic asap! So many ladies present at the lockin were working on wonderful projects. It was nice to see everyones progress!

Speaking of progress, I also have to show you what I was working on Friday while at the hospital while waiting for Matt to be discharged. Danielle and I had a bit of a laugh over it because, well I messed it up, and by the time I noticed it I had made so much progress I couldn't bear to undo it.

This is my progress on one of the new Mill Hill kits, Vanilla Cupcake. So, as you can see, it is stitched on perforated paper. The side I am stitching it on is white. The other side of the paper is blue. Yes, I am stitching it on the wrong side of the paper. Ooops! I was 3/4 of the way across the bottom stitching the blue when I realized it. Obviously, I just said "screw it" and kept going as I have a bit more done than the blue bottom border. Danielle and I both agree that since the background is solidly stitched, the background color of the paper really doesn't make a difference.

It was so nice to spend some time with other "stitchy" ladies yesterday and be able to shop around for some new stash. I am definitely excited to attend their next event!

Recovery

2011-07-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone. Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement over the last few days.

Wednesday, Matt and I went to see a specialist about his condition. Upon arrival at the office, there was some confusion about whether Matt needed a referral from his primary (who never saw him about this), which resulted in me almost breaking bad on the Dr.'s office manager. Matt has never been this sick and never needed surgery so I knew as scared as he was, there were going to be some times I was going to have to step up and advocate for my husband. Not being a confrontational person, I really had to suck it up. Anyways, we were relieved to find that as soon as the doctor came into the exam room she knew exactly what was wrong, how to fix it and what to do. He need to have a endoscopic procedure to remove a gallstone from his common bile duct, which is the tube that delivers bile from the liver to the small intestine (in a nutshell). The blockage that he had was causing his bile to back up into his liver and overflow into his bloodstream, which then caused him to have jaundice.

The jaundice was the scariest part for me. It's one thing to hear your spouse/child SAY they don't feel well, but to see them visibly change before your very eyes is pretty terrifying. His skin was yellow, the whites of his eyes were yellow. Scary stuff. Plus the salt from the bile was rising to the surface of his skin and causing him to be extremely itchy. So, since Matt had eaten breakfast that morning, he was scheduled to go to the hospital the next day as an outpatient to get the blockage removed. Alas, by the time we got home that afternoon his pain was so terrible I called the doctor back and she right away to take him to the emergency room. To the hospital we went and waited.

Long story short, Matt was admitted to the hospital that night so that the doctors could keep an eye on him and manager his pain until his procedure the next day. I had to go home that night as I had none of my nightly provisions (contact solution, medicines) with me to stay with him. It is a terrible thing to walk into a hospital with a loved one and have to walk out alone. I cried the whole way home and slept on the beast of a couch that night. The next morning, I was back at the hospital at 7:30am. Matt was not allowed anything to eat or drink until his procedure Thursday afternoon. It was a successful procedure completed in less than an hour. The doctor who did the endoscopic procedure was not a surgeon so he could not remove his gull bladder while he was there, but gave us the name of one he highly recommended.

Since the procedure occurred so late in the day, the attending physician on the hospital floor where Matt was staying advised him to stay another night and go home Friday. I could not face another night at home without him so I had already brought what I would need. I spend the night in a chair next to his bed, being awakened every two hours by someone checking vitals and asking a sleeping man if he "needed anything".

The hospital we stayed at had an excellent staff and was very kind and caring towards Matt and myself. I think they kind of enjoyed having us there as it seemed that every other patient on the floor was above the age of 60. It was a relief to have such knowledgeable staff to help us through this ordeal. The doctors kept in touch with us to make sure Matt was healing well and there was no question about visiting hours or whether or not I would be staying with him. I was always welcomed and never looked down on when I had a question about what was going on.

Monday, we meet with a surgeon to schedule Matt to get his gallbladder out. Thankfully, this will be an outpatient procedure and he should be in and out in one day. I am so thankful to the good lord and the wonderful doctors we had on our side that my husband was able to come home safely.

Stress

2011-07-13T09:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been around much this week. I also have not been stitching at all. Sunday, Matt complained of some stomach pain around bed time. I thought maybe he had pulled something while helping his mom move some things around earlier in the day. Monday, he texted me out of the blue and said he needed to see a doctor asap. For a man that never complains, it sent me into quite a tailspin. He had his coworker drop him off at my office on their way back through town from a job and I took him to Urgent Care. It was the first time either of us had been to an Urgent Care facility. It was a good experience, a much wiser choice than to go to the emergency room and sit around waiting all night.

The doctor thought as I did that maybe he had pulled a muscle and needed to take a couple days without any heavy lifting to let it heal. He decided to do some bloodwork just in case and, glad we did, as it came back with some abnormalities. We were then sent over to the local hospital for Matt to have an ultrasound. In an attempt to keep it light because we were both freaking out a bit, when the picture popped up I said, "Oh! It's a boy!"

All we know right now is there seems to be a blockage of some sort between the liver and gallbladder. Yesterday, he was supposed to go see a specialist, but of course they rescheduled the appointment for today. So, I have taken off work today in the hopes that when we get there, we can get some answers and solutions to the situation.

If they reschedule this again, I just might have to start throwing some punches.....

Happy Weekend

2011-07-09T13:11:00.001-04:00

So glad the weekend is here! Last night Matt worked so I had some time to myself. After work I went and picked up a few items for a baby shower I'm going to on sunday. I also made a stop at Borders and Best Buy.

Once home, I started stitching and watching a movie I picked up at Best Buy. "The Other Woman" with Natalue Portman. I love everything she is in. I liked the movie very much. I got to work on my sampler and finally finished that darn swan.

That swan doesn't look like much but what a beast! She is stitched over one....on 40 count. A beast.

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It's Getting Hot In Here!!

2011-07-07T11:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry friends, I have no updated stitchy stuff.

Tuesday, I took an extra day off work to recuperate from the holiday. Not that we did much, but sometimes after a holiday taking that extra day helps. It was fun to see all my Facebook friends posting about how they had wished they had taken an extra day and there I was, welded to my couch, laughing at them while they attempted to navigate rush hour traffic. I had told Matt I planned to do nothing, so he shouldn't expect to walk in after work and see a spotless house. I enjoy making sure my husband has low expectations so that when I do wash a dish, he is properly impressed. I stitched the majority of the day and watched movies and reality tv. I didn't get as much stitching done as a I would have liked to. Number one reason: IT IS SOOO HOT IN MY HOUSE!

No sir, we do not have air conditioning. June, not so bad. Sure, there were a couple nights here and there we might have had some trouble sleeping, but with the aid of a few fans in the bedroom it was okay. Then July came. What a biotch! Plus, as I have mentioned in previous posts, our couch....it's leather. Oh yes, which requires me to wear PANTS year round. If not, well, it is a lesson in pain trying to get yourself out of the band aid like clutches of that ~~weapon of torture~~ thing. So, frequent breaks were necessary and interruptive to my stitching process.

Instead of putting Venetian Opulence away, it has become an upstairs/downstairs sort of thing. Last week while Matt was working last night I took my sampler upstairs into the bedroom and worked on it while catching up on Private Practice on the computer. It was a nice break from Venetian, and that evil couch. I've decided to do that for awhile.

Matt is working tonight, so I will be upstairs at my desk stitching away on the sampler in front of a high powered fan. Hopefully, I can make some progess. Let's not talk about stitching over one on 40 count, we will just agree that I was experiencing temporary insanity when I went with that brilliant idea.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

2011-07-05T10:07:00.001-04:00

Well, not chicken, but Denise from Country Stitcher has won my first giveaway!! Yay Denise!!

Thanks to those that entered my first giveaway! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

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TUSAL

2011-07-02T18:18:00.001-04:00

Here is a picture of this months TUSAL! Getting full!

Don't forget to check my previous post and enter my giveaway!

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Giveaway Time!

2011-07-02T18:15:00.001-04:00

Up for grabs are these awesome summer themed Crescent Colours hand dyed cotton flosses!!

All you have to do for a chance to win is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me your favorite summer stitching pattern!!

I will be choosing a winner on Monday, July 4th. Please make sure I can contact you in case you win!!

Happy weekend!

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Bad News!!

2011-06-30T09:23:00.000-04:00

PSYCH!!

I just wanted to get you in here to read this post!!

I spent some time last night working on Venetian. I forgot to get a picture last night. My phone battery was too low to operate the camera and well, I was too lazy to get up and go get the charger to plug it in. Also, I have decided that after today, I will be putting her away for the month of July. I am getting kind of burnt out on her, she is SO big! So for the month of July I will be working on my wedding sampler, A Sweeter Love by Plum Street Samplers.

Also, I will be hosting my VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY! I am hoping the items that I ordered will arrive before the holiday weekend so I can get it posted, but the U.S. postal service can be a very mysterious thing sometimes. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow is TUSAL, see you then!

Discuss

2011-06-28T16:14:00.001-04:00

So while watching those idiots on "The Bachelorette" last night I was vigilantly working on Venetian. Let's discuss this show for a second. I mean, seriously, what are these people going to tell these kids when asked how they met? "Well, son, your mom and I met and fell in love over the course of a few weeks. Oh, and she was dating 20 other dudes." I would be like "Wow, my mom was a s-l-u-t!" I usually don't watch this show or its counterpart "The Bachelor", but I was intrigued by the stupidity of this seasons buxom brunette and how she fell for that loser dude named after a car. I mean, that dude named after a cartoon mouse had a much cooler name AND he was better looking! Then she sits there in Hong freakin' Kong...."oh, poor me, I need closure" and the guy shows up! Of course, I would show up too if I got a free trip to Hong freakin' Kong just to tell some girl I don't like her.

Anyways, so I am watching this train wreck and in an instant, my scissors slide off my lap after I snip a thread and get swallowed by the couch. Now, our couch isn't one of those one piece deals where the cushions come off. It's leather (hating right now) and both ends are recliners. So although our couch is in fact, one piece, the cushions are not, so anything that falls in the cracks falls alllll the way to the floor. Then, in order to get said something that falls through the crack you have to either move the WHOLE couch, or put up one of the recliners and manuever your fat behind underneath it hoping your freakishly short arms and/or fingers are in close enough proximity to reach whatever you were dumb enough to not hold onto for dear life and let fall in the first place.

So, back to the scissors. They slide off the couch, but I do not hear them hit the floor. Where did they go? Where are they? Oh crap. Where are my scissors?! I realize that they have slid behind me and been swallowed by the back of the couch. I gingerly fish around in the seams of the back and seat cushion to avoid getting stabbed and my hand brushes over something smooth. A texture different than that of the couch. At first, in typical girl fashion I think BUG!! but then feel my fingers gently brush over it again and I realize it is plastic. A plastic bag of some sort.

The culprit!

Seriously?! Let me remind you of THIS post. I was in shock, even Matt laughed at my face when I pulled my hand out of the chasm of our couch and this bag was in my hand. And of course, I have to mention that I have replaced this "lost" thread just weeks ago after having "lost" it three months ago! All those weeks of lamenting over being unable to work on my wedding sampler and it was right under my behind...laughing at me. Unbelievable. Oh, and I did find my scissors a few minutes later, without injury.

I leave you with this picture of my living room as I left it the day of my wedding. During the planning process, I called it my "room of creation" as this is where I sat many a night working on all the projects and ~~crap~~...um, stuff. The MORNING of the wedding, my moh and I were at Michaels at the butt crack of dawn to replace a broken scrapbook corner punch that I HAD TO HAVE for my programs. Then we hightailed it back to the house to get all the corners punched.....and well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Matt hadn't been home for about three days before the wedding at this point, so I made sure to text him this very picture that day while he was at is moms house getting ready. He knows me well so his response was "LOL". Smart guy. A month later and I am still finding tiny pieces of paper and vacuuming them up.

Work It!

2011-06-27T22:54:00.001-04:00

I've been making progress on Venetian as you can see. I finished up the green bit while watching Intervention.

Then I realized just how little room is left at the bottom. Oopsies....the design is charted for 32 ct, but me being me, went ahead with the 28 ct. 'Cause that's what I had when I was ready to start stitching her, okay?!

Anyways, after some finagling with the chart and double counting rows on my fabric, I will have about an inch to spare on the bottom when stitching is complete. Whooo! That was a close one!

Tomorrow, we discuss what I found in my couch while watching those dummies on "The Bachelorette".

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A Few More

2011-06-24T09:15:00.000-04:00

Pictures in the chapel before the wedding

Yes, we did a fist bump at the altar, before the big kiss!

Our fancy marriage certificate!

I love this picture. Well, I love any pictures with my bouquet in them. I got so many compliments on it and it made me feel really good that so many people appreciated how hard I worked on it. Plus, it turned out pretty good. :-)

I do have a few more DIY crafty things I did for the wedding that I don't think I shared yet. I will get to those eventually! Thanks for all your wonderful comments on our pictures and the wedding. It truly was a wonderful and amazing day!

Wedding Pics!

2011-06-23T21:56:00.000-04:00

Finally! Here are some pics to please your wedding palate! Our amazing and talented photographer was Erin Keough. She also brought along her friend/assistant Ryne, who is equally amazing! If you live in the Maryland/Pennsylvania area, check her out. She is awesome!! There are a lot of pictures I would like to share with you all so I think I will be splitting it up into two posts! I hope you enjoy!

My bouquet, pictured with my dress and jewelry

Our DIY ring dish with our rings. Instead of having a best man, Matt had a best woman. He had decided early on that he did not want her to carry a bouquet, so instead we decided to have her carry the rings. Ring bearer bowls are becoming quite popular so we went to a pottery shop near us where you can paint your own pottery and whipped this little dish up in about an hour or two. It was a fun project to do together and make our own!

My handsome groom

This picture was taken after our "first look" at each other! Matt had been waiting for me in the living room with the rest of our families while I was getting ready up in the master bedroom. He was so handsome!

This is the chapel where we were married, our pastor was captured walking inside. It was built in 1840 and remodeled in the 1980's. It is one room and has no electricity. No bathroom. I think it seats around 90ish people, but we had around 35 and it was pretty full. I loved it so much, our ceremony was at 8pm so we still had the sun but enjoyed the "romance" of the candlelight!

More to come!

Venetian Update

2011-06-22T09:26:00.001-04:00

Here is my progress on Venetian Opulence!

The first picture was probably taken about a week or two ago and the second picture was taken last night. I've gotten a lot done on her since I picked her back up after the wedding. I am really enjoying her. I was looking at the chart last night and I am almost done her dress!

What is everyone else working on?

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Weekend Fun!

2011-06-21T12:17:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was very nice and relaxing. Friday night, Matt and I went out on our date night! We enjoyed a yummy dinner at The Olive Garden followed by a meandering trip around Target, topped off with a fun movie.

We had some time to kill before our movie so we went over to Target to look around and also to get our candy. Does anyone else do this? Smuggle snacks into the movies? I do it for two reasons 1) The movie theather we were going to does not carry my favorite candy. Can you believe that? Crazy. 2) Have checked the prices at movie theaters lately?! Double crazy! I mean, seriously, we had to spend $22 on tickets alone. In my humble opinion, that should not only include admission BUT ALSO SNACKS at that price!

On a side note: we have found theater near us in Gettysburg that only charges $8 per ticket and is also a very nice theater, but it was a crazy long drive from where we had gone to dinner. Also, after our wedding we went to Berkely Springs, Wv to stay at a bed and breakfast for a couple days. We almost had a heart attack when we went by their movie theater and their ticket prices were $3.75!! O.M.G! They show one movie per week and have showings Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Anywho, back to Friday night!! While everyone else was going to see The Green Lantern, we went and saw Super 8. Boy, we were glad that we did, excellent movie. Ex-cell-ent! The story centers around a group of kids in 1979 that witness something they shouldn't. It very much reminded us of The Goonies. I highly recommend you go see it!

Saturday, we ended up going to Target AGAIN to get some items. We had only purchased our candy for the movies the night before because we didn't want stuff sitting in the car while we were in the theather. I got the 3rd season of True Blood that just came out. I just love that show, it is a bit racy in some parts, but the story line is very entertaining. I just love when Bill says "Sookie", LOL. Matt also worked Saturday night so I was able to hole up in the house and stitch all night. I was up until about 1 in the morning working on Venetian. I don't have a progress pic right now, but I got a big chunk done. Sunday, we hung about the house and then went to the in laws house to have a cookout for Fathers Day. We also did some laundry while we were there.

Yesterday, I had off work so I was able to enjoy some time at home in the morning before going to an appointment and then working my butt off when I got home that afternoon so Matt didn't think I just sat around allll day....he was on to me though. I set aside my stitching and did alot of crocheting on some baby items requested by a friend.

Hopefully, I can get a progress pic of Venetian up soon.

Happy Summer!!

Date Night!

2011-06-17T08:57:00.001-04:00

First, thank you for all your wonderful comments on my finish from last night! It was a great stitch and I finished it in less than a week. It was also my first Shepherd's Bush kit and I definitely will stitch another one in the future. The box was also an easy finish. Just like the directions on the pattern said, I took the glass out of the box, centered it over my stitched piece, traced around it with a pencil and cut. Put everything back in the box the way I wanted and, Voila! Pretty box!

Last night while I was feverishly working away to finish the stitching for my box, Matt was working at is parttime job. He texted me at one point asking if I wanted to do a date night Friday night (tonight). I immediately replied yes! He suggested dinner and a movie. He picked the movie, I got to pick dinner.

Matt: I want to see Super 8. You pick dinner.

Me: Ok, sounds good....hmmm, have to think about dinner.

Matt: The new Red Robin is open.

Me: Oh good, then Olive Garden won't be crowded!

;-)

Hope you all have a good weekend!! I have off work Monday for an appointment so I am definitely looking forward to the extra day off!

A Finish!!

2011-06-16T20:49:00.001-04:00

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A Bit O' Stash

2011-06-14T14:44:00.000-04:00

Last week I received some stash I had ordered from an LNS that I have never ordered from before. They are popular one, I like their website, people talk about them quite frequently. Alas, I will never order from the again, so I shall resist naming names, and they shall be dubbed "the shop who shall not be named". This is my first bit of stash I have ordered since the wedding. I don't really have any MUST HAVES on my list right now. I have put myself on quite the stash diet this year. Yes, these designers keep churning out some lovely patterns that I love, love, love, but my wallet does not. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a fair number of items all kitted and waiting for my lovely attention. Most of them are wip's that just make me feel guilty when I see them. So, it's time to get rid of them!

Whatever, onto the fun stuff, I say! Later, I'll talk smack.

First, I have been eyeing this Shepherds Bush kit since it came out. It doesn't hurt that they modeled it in this super cute little box. As soon I saw it, I knew I wanted it to put beside my bed to hold my wedding rings whenever I don't have them on, which is mostly when I am sleeping (can't bear to sleep with jewelry on, I am so afraid I will lose them in my sleep) or while I am cleaning. It also doesn't hurt that per the instructions, this finish should be easier than tying my shoes and considering that its summer and I no longer wear shoes that tie, thats pretty easy!

Isn't it so cute?!?! I love that little sheep!! It is my first Shepherd's Bush design, but everytime I go to The Stitching Post, I love to look at their kits. The fabric looks blue on the model but it is actually a cream color. The inside of the box and the backing are black so I think it does have some effect on how the fabric color and thread colors look when it is all put together. I also think I am going to leave the words off my piece. I like it with just the stitched motifs...or could I just be that lazy? Nobody will know.....mind you, this is actually two items. The SB kit and the cute white wash box are sold separately. Totally worth it though, and there are other kits available that also fit in the box, plus if you don't like the white you can certainly order the black.

I started stitching it this past Saturday when I met up with Danielle. I probably could have had it done if I had had the time to just sit and stitch it out all weekend, but my so called life kept barging in. The fabric is a small cut so I am stitching it in hand, which I didn't think I would like, but it is not so bad with such a small piece.

Next up, is the Mystery Sampler from With Thy Needle. I am not sure about this one. I got it because I saw some of you other gals stitching it on your blogs and I started liking the colors. I've decided to wait until I have all three charts before I go about getting fabric and threads for it. Under those circumstances, does this really count as stash if you aren't even sure if you are going to be stitching it yet? I think not. The second chart was just released and I do believe I like it.

I like the flowers in the border. I am not fond of the fabric called for in the pattern (or its price) so I will probably use something different (because I am cheap). We shall see. I blame all of you that are currently stitching it for making me buy it, you and your wip pictures.

Now for the smackdown. I am totally disappointed in the online LNS I purchased my items from. These three items were not big at all, but were shipped in a HUGE box. The box they came in was soooo big that more than half of it was filled to the brim with packing peanuts. I loathe packing peanuts. They are a total pain in the arse, not to mention bad for the environment. Did I mention they are a total pain the arse, all their flying around and sticking to things and MAKING A MESS?! So, I open the box and it literally explodes these peanut things. I finally get to the bottom of this box and pull out three measly, small, little things and even Matt goes, "Is that all that was in there?" Myself having made the order, knowing what was in there was also a bit disappointed. I mean, with a box that big, I thought I had won a prize or something.

You may be asking yourself, "big deal, so what if it was a huge box?" Well, lets talk about how much it cost to ship those three small things in that big, huge box....$10. I was shocked, I have never paid that much for shipping when it comes to stash, regardless of how big or small or how many items were inside. Seriously, it cost more to ship than it did to buy the mystery sampler chart, how's that for perspective?! So yea, it gave me pause about that particular online LNS. I hang my head in shame for being unfaithful to my ususal ~~dealer~~...er, shop.

Anyways, lessons learned!! I am thinking about having my first giveaway soon. I need to purge some items from my house so I am thinking a few gently used charts and maybe some other things are in store. You will just have to come back to find out!!

P.S.com We have received our disks with all the pictures from the wedding, can't wait to share some with you!

A Steal of a Deal (and other geek things)

2011-06-08T14:57:00.000-04:00

I have been considering lately subscribing to The Gift of Stitching. It is a wonderinful cross stitch magazine, but, it does not come in the mail and you cannot "buy" it in the a shop. It is an online magazine that you download to your computer monthly. Being the tech savvy girl that I am, this has always appealed to me since I have heard about the magazine. But, since I could never "test drive" the merchandise I was always hesitant about subscribing. Mind you, I've never heard bad things about the magazine, in fact, it has always been good. It's kind of like the whole thing going on with ebooks right now. Some people are all about them, while others refuse to give up their books.

I just recently purchased a Kindle (holla!), it is kind of awesome. I was a holdout on ebooks, though I adore my Overdrive Media app on my phone (more on this later). I still love to go to the library and check out books, and in ever growing terror that my local Borders store will close, I will every once in awhile pop in to use a coupon and buy a latte. The Kindle, though, itsa verra nice, although I still have the problem of dropping it on my face while dozing off in bed (yes, this happens) just like I used to with a regular book.

Anyways! Back to The Gift of Stitching! Yesterday, I was reading on their lovely blog that if you go to their site, you can subscribe to a three month trial for $3!! Holy Cow!! Of course, I hopped right on over and got myself the deal. I am already in love with this months issue and looking forward to July and August....and we shall see if I can deprive myself of a whole year when the time comes to decide if I want to renew or not.

Since we are all about technology today, back to the app I mentioned earlier, its my favorite. The Overdrive Media app is a wonderful app for readers! It allows you to check out books from your library and read them on your mobile device!! It is quite the awesome thing! It has come in handy very often when I have wanted to read in bed and the light was keeping Matt from sleeping. I would just turn the lamp off and still be able to read on my phone without disturbing him! Plus, it is totally free! The app is free, checking out books is free, and no late fees for overdue books! Most libraries have a set time limit for the length of time you can "check out" a book (my library is 7 days), once that time expires the files are no longer available on your phone. It is kind of a bummer if you cant read that fast, but you also have the ability to put books on hold and also create a wish list of books you would like to read later. It is a really nice app, I always tell my friends to download it!

Venetian Progress

2011-06-07T11:18:00.001-04:00

Since picking Venetian back up this past weekend, I have made some decent progress.

The first picture seems to be the last picture I took before wedding madness took over, but I had a lot more stitched before she was put away a couple months ago. This past weekend and last night I worked on the bottom right corner.

I highly recommend this stitch if you are a Mirabilia fan! The colors are so lush and gorgeous!

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Virtues...

2011-06-06T11:47:00.001-04:00

So I've been plodding away on LHN's virtue sampler since the beginning of May, but I can't take it anymore. That darn hill has conquered me at this point in time. So, I put it away, for now, and after being coached by Danielle, got Venetian back out Saturday night.

I made a good bit of progress on her and hopefully will get some more done this week.

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TUSAL

2011-06-01T18:19:00.001-04:00

I'm taking a break from wedding reports to show this months picture of my TUSAL jar. I don't think there is much change from the last report since I barely did any stitching last month. Hopefully in the next few days and weeks I can catch up!!

In other news, our wedding photographer emailed me and our wedding pics were posted online and she will soon be mailing the disk to us! They are so great! I can't wait to share them with all of you!

I also got home today and while putting on on my comfy clothes, found two big bug bites on my left leg. So, of course, now that I know they are there, they itch like crazy!!

Tis the season!!

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Goonies Cufflinks and The Cardbox

2011-05-31T10:52:00.003-04:00

The day of the wedding I had a special surprise for Matt. During my etsy expedition, I had found these awesome cufflinks I wanted to get for him. Granted, he doesn't wear cufflinks often (read never), but this was our special day, and they were so cool!

I did not order them right away, I just tucked them away in my favorites to keep in mind as the day got closer. Imagine my surprise months later when I went to order them and the etsy shop had closed! After some searching I was able to find the seller had gone and set up their own site and I was back in business.

Bella Moda Co. is very cool! They not only do custom cufflinks, but they have also started doing some bridal design. After I started browsing through the site, I almost had a hard time getting Matt just one pair of their cool cufflinks. I was also glad to know that each pair was made to order, so even though I didn't make it myself, it kept in line with the whole diy thing I had going on.

I do believe they are the coolest things I've ever seen. Like I said before, Matt loves all things pirate. The Goonies is one of his favorite movies and the line seemed fitting enough on our wedding day, plus, they matched our black and white color scheme.

Needless to say, he loved them. He was also very surprised, which was the goal. I love surprises!

Next up, the cardbox. I spent weeks trying to figure out how to make this thing. Then one day, I just jumped in. I got paper mache nesting boxes from Michaels, along with some glossy white spray paint, some scrapbook stickers to decorate and black satin ribbon.

Matt first painted the boxes for me using primer, then we spray painted them to make them a pretty glossy white. After I let the paint set for a couple days, I cut holes in the bottom and top of the boxes so the cards would fall to the bottom box. I used Aleenes Tacky Glue to glue the boxes together. At this point, I should tell you that a hot glue gun would have been a wonderful asset to me, but you will be amazed to know I did not own a glue gun until two days before the wedding. Wow, I know, I don't know how I've survived all this time without a glue gun in my life.

After the glue set on the boxes, I got ready to decorate the bugger. First, I used double sided tape around each lid to attach my black satin ribbon. On the middle box, I got some peel n' stick black glitter scrapbook letters and put 'cards'. On the top and bottom boxes I used some fancy swirly things I found in the scrapbook aisle. Again, peel n' stick, all about the peel n' stick!

At this point, I thought I was done. I hadn't planned on doing anything to the sides of the boxes until I noticed a rogue piece of double sided tape. Of course, I had to get it off and crap!, the paint peeled off. In repair mode, I ran double sided tape on all three sides of the boxes and covered up my flub with the same damask sheer ribbon I used in our centerpieces. Crisis averted!

I have to tell you, this box cost maybe ten dollars for me to make. I've seen them online being sold for $100!! Granted, they were probably a bit more fancy than mine, but seriously?!

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Matts Bout....More Felt Flowers!

2011-05-27T23:01:00.001-04:00

I made Matts bout pretty much the same way as my bouquet. He wore a black jacket so I used only white flowers embroidered with black thread. After wrapping the wire stem in black satin ribbon I thought it looked alittle plain. Plus, it would need to stand out from the jacket so I decided to jazz it up with some beads I found in my stash from my trip to Mystic last October. I randomly threaded them onto some beading wire and then just kind of wound them onto the stem until I liked it and then glued it in place with some Aleenes Tacky Glue.

Side note: I didn't finish this until the Thursday before the wedding. I first hot glued the beads in place and the panicked when the hot glue dried and the beads hadn't stuck. The Aleenes worked perfectly but I had to finagle a clamp using a book and a vase (don't ask) so the bead strand would stay in place until the glue dried.

I know you're probably looking at the button going, "what is that?". Well, Matt likes pirates. Loves anything pirate. So, when I found these buttons at Joanns I had to snatch them up! They were the closest thing i could find to pirate and when I showed them to him, he really liked them. Also, it was OUR wedding and I wanted it to reflect both of our tastes.

I think a lot of times weddings are all about the bride and sometimes the groom gets lost in the shuffle. Its even easier to do when you are doing a diy wedding and only one of you is crafty. So, I felt it was really important during the whole process to keep Matt involved in thinking out my ideas, letting him choose things that he liked and making them work even if it wasn't really my taste.

And that's Matts bout! It was one of my favorite projects. Probably because it was one of the easiest for me to do, haha. I really love the beaded stem. Amazing how such a small thing really changed the whole look!

Along with his bout, I got Matt a special gift that I gave him the day of the wedding. Until next time!

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Felt Flower Bouquet Details

2011-05-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone!!

Well, the wedding is over and it was an amazing day/night!! Matt and I had such a wonderful day full of wonderful memories. Thinking back, neither of us could think of one thing that we would have changed or done differently. It was exactly the low key, intimate affair that we wanted from the very beginning and we didn't let anything or anyone deter us from that path.

I have had alot of questions about the materials for my bouquet and where I got my ideas. I owe alot of my inspiration for all my diy projects to etsy.com. This website is chock full of so many talented people, it would take years to muddle through all the amazing things that you can find there. I think the best part about etsy is that no matter the product, pretty much anything can be customized. And every seller I contacted, even if I just had a question, was always nice and helpful. One seller, Really Bad Kitty, was my main inspiration behind my bouquet design. Their creations are sooo amazing and they are even available to do custom work to match your wedding colors and/or themes! I was also awed by this bouquet designer from Australia. Her button bouquets were the first non floral ideas I saw when I started my wedding planning and as soon as I saw her work, I knew that this was the way I wanted to go with my own bouquet. Honestly, if I had had the time or the means (and been less of a control freak), these ladies would have been my top choices in ordering my bouquet.

My bouquet was made up of felt flowers that I ordered from a vendor that already had them die cut. Once they arrived, I got to work hand embroidering each flower. After much experimenting, I realized I had to double the flowers so that they were stable and did not get all floppy when I put them together. After embroidering the flowers, I then assembled them using floral wire, using buttons as the centers. Most of my fancy buttons came from Joann Fabrics, I got lucky alot hitting their buy one, get one free sales.

If you are wondering about the time I spent working on my bouquet, I would have to say, I started planning my bouquet as soon as we got engaged last February. We have always known we would not be having flowers in our wedding, so right away I was trying to think of different materials I could use in my bouquet. I wanted non floral, which also meant no silk. Etsy was my first stop. The first bouquets I saw were the ones made entirely for buttons, oh yea, I could do that! But, you cannot imagine the difficulty it takes to get THAT many buttons together. It was pretty darn impossible for me. I needed, literally, thousands of buttons. It just wasn't happening. So back to Etsy I went, and thats when I found the felt flower bouquets. A lot of people are not in to felt, I am one of them. I have always thought that felt was just a little too kiddish, alittle too hippy, alittle too....bleh, dare I say tacky? But, it was Christmas time now, I was getting down to the wire and didn't have alot of time left to figure this stuff out. So, I just went with it. And, looking back, I do not regret it. The felt I received from the Etsy seller was very nice, easy to work with and looked wonderful when finished! By February, I was in full stitching mode getting all the flowers embroidered and ready for assembly. By the beginning of May, I had started putting flowers together on the wire with the button centers.

The week before the wedding, I had my MOH's bouquet and my own bouquet put together using floral tape. I decided that mine needed alittle something extra so I dug out some white beads and made some wire loops to tape around the outside making a collar. I also had some wide, black wired sheer ribbon that used on both bouquets to make another collar. I just cut a long length of ribbon and on one side, pulled the wire out to make it ruffle up. Then I hot glued it around the handle. I used black satin ribbon to wrap the handle. On the day of the wedding, I borrowed a brooch from my MIL and used it to decorate the handle of my bouquet.

And that's it! Everyone at the wedding really loved my bouquet and I received lots of compliments. It was something that none of them had ever seen and it really fit into our wedding. It was me, it was handmade, it was beautiful, it was different.

I have alot of pictures and ideas that I used in my wedding that I would love to share with everyone!! I realized I have not shared Matts boutonniere, so that is definitely going to be in the next post!! It was actually one of my favorite finished projects!

Hope you all are well and have a great holiday weekend!

Wedding Time!

2011-05-18T18:54:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone!

Just wanted to stop in for a quick hello before the weekend kicks into gear. My wedding is Saturday night!! I've been in work mode for the last week or so trying to get all my diy projects done.

I JUST finished my bouquet and wanted to share it with you. Its been a long work in progress. From spending almost the whole year trying to plan the process and since Christmas, I've been working on embroidering the flowers. I am extremely pleased with the result and will enjoy having it as a reminder of my big day displayed for years to come!

I have off work until next wednesday so I am definitely looking forward to the crazy days ahead followed by relaxing at a lovely b and b with my new husband!

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Alphanet done!

2011-05-13T15:13:00.001-04:00

While watching greys and updating my ipod last night I took some time to put more stitches into virtue.

The alphabet is all done! Now for the fun stuff!

Hopefully this weekend I will be done some of my wedding projects.

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Virtue Sampler

2011-05-11T09:21:00.001-04:00

I started this sampler by LHN on my brunch date with Danielle. I'm stitching it on 32 ct. mushroom lugana. I like it so far, the colors are very nice and I never have any complaints about crescent colours thread!

Probably won't be working on it much for the next week or so with the wedding fast approaching. I have a few projects to wrap up and then I will be free!

Cross some stitches for me!

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TUSAL.....finally

2011-05-06T08:31:00.001-04:00

I kept forgetting to snap a picture of my TUSAL jar the last couple days, so this morning I made it a point to get a quick snap before I left for work.

No stitching so far this week. Last night I was working on my centerpieces. I looove them! They are turning out exactly the way I wanted them to be! But, of course, I got to my last one to assemble and ran out of ribbon AND double sided tape.

Hopefully, this weekend I can give myself a break and put in some stitches.

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