#5 in the finishing frenzy

Here is the 2004 Glory Bee JCS ornament. He is quite cute.

I worked until 6pm. Rich and I had dinner. Made 1 last batch of pesto and I baked a loaf of pumpkin bread. Trader Joe's has a great pumpkin bread mix that they sell this time of year. I had gotten some last year and have been waiting for it's return. Yum :) Much easier than dealing with  canned pumpkin.

I am continuing to work on finishing. I really want to get the stack of stitched pieces cleaned out. Then I can go back to a sampler. I got my birthday coupon from Needlecraft Corner so I am starting to compile a list. I need to get the last Prarie Schooler charts and I am liking the new Jenny Bean Friendship sampler.
The backing fabric that I used for this ornament is really cute but Blogger isn't letting me load another pic :(
I will try again tomorrow.

Sleep tight.

Chris

Happy Halloween! & the chart winner of the week.

Good Morning Blog Buddies!
I hope that everyone is having a great weekend. We had our 1 trick or treater last night. The house is in the woods off a private drive so we only see our neighbor further up the drive.

This week's chart giveaway winner is....Carol! Please send me your address info and I will get this in the mail to you.

Off to work this morning.
Have a great Sunday.

Chris

#4... new technique

So, the day didn't go quite the way I planned. Rich and I headed out to hike to find the parking area full...full of trucks.. Today is the first day of deer season and we thought it might be better to walk up and down the driveway instead of out in the woods with a bunch of enthusiastic hunters.

Rich and I took a ride in search of some fabric. We ended up in Burlington. I got some fabric that I am pretty happy with. We had lunch at Red Robin( I had my free burger coupon for my upcoming birthday) and walked around the shopping center. I picked up one present for my MIL. I am trying to get started so that I don't have to fight the crowds during the holiday season.

Once home I tried my hand at ruching. This is a Paige Dorsey ornament from the 2004 JCS ornament issue.




The ribbon I used is not an exact match but I think it came out well.



I am going to go prep some more pieces for finishing. I hope that everyone had a great Saturday.


Chris

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#3 pic...Experiencing technical difficulties....

Threads Through Time 2005 JCS ornament



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#3

Here is completion #3. It is the Threads Thru Time ornament from the 2005 JCS ornament issue.



I have a stash of fabric for backing ornaments and of store bought cording. I will make my own cording if I want a specific color that I can't find but I had a good match in my stash.



I think this ornament is going to my Mom. She likes angels and her tree has been red and white recently.

Now to continue with my finishing I am going to have to do some more mounting the stitching and backing fabric onto Bristol board. I also need to take some ornaments to a decent fabric store to find some matches. I don't have many options here in town. It's a process...

Thank you Myra, Kat, Carol, Blu, Patty and all my other blog friends for your comments. You are keeping me motivated!

To bed now, so we can hike in the morning.

Chris
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#2 pic

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#2

Yes...stitched in 2008.....finished today. This is one of Blue Ribbon Designs ornaments for the JCS ornament issue...probably 2007.

Finishing is not my favorite thing... I do ok but I have to make myself do it. I learned to finish in some Jane Timmers ( Fancy Work ) classes. I have also taken some classes with CA Wells, but her pieces have pretty elaborate designs and construction that I probably wouldn't apply to my ornaments. I don't sew so that type of finishing is out. I will stitch bit sides of an ornament and then back stitch around the designs then whip stitch them together and stuff them.




What is your favorite type of finishing? Where did you learn finishing? What is your best finishing tip? These are things that I think about in the middle of the night...lol



My week has been pretty busy. Monday, dinner with some friends. Tuesday, movie night with Rich( saw RED, very cute). Wednesday, work second job, tonight haircut and some grocery shopping.



A little stitching...this is Angel Stitchin's 2005 JCS ornament.
I have also wasted a good amount of time playing games on my Ipad. I spent my whole lunch hour playing Plants vs. Zombies!



There has been some nice things going on at work this week. Tuesday the 26th was Pharmacy Technician day so at work they had bagels and Chick-fill-a and a nice treat bag. Then for the United Way Campaign they sold Boo-grams that you could send to your friends and colleagues. They got delivered today. Fun!

Well, that's the update here! I hope that everyone has been having a great week & has a great weekend planned.

Chris

PIF Monday

I must have really liked this chart, since I had 2 copies of it in my stash. I have not stitched it yet, so this is the pic from the chart pack. It by Ewe & Eye & Friends. This is going to be the last of the giveaways for a little while until I have the chance to go through some more of my stash.

If you would like to give this chart a new home, please leave a comment on this post.



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It's a start...

This is an ornament I stitched this year. It is a freebie from Erica Michaels. It was kitted for me as part of the exchange that I was involved in for a couple of years. I really didn't know if I liked it that much, but now that it is finished I like it a lot.



The backing fabric was something I had in my stash..



1 down, a few more to go!

I think that I am going to have to go to a good fabric store to match up some other ornies.

Rich and I went for a 3 hour hike this morning. There is some color, mostly brown and yellow and still lots of green.



I hope that everyone has a good week, hopefully I will make some more finishing progress.


Good night!


Chris
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Chart Winner

Faye is the winner of the Purple Heart chart. I will get this out in the mail to you tomorrow :)

Off for a hike...more of an update later :)

Date nite

Yea, the weekend is here!
Last night Rich and I went out for dinner after work. We had a nice Greek meal then went to see Easy A. Cute movie, I loved 16 Candles and the other John Hughes movies growing up and this was kind of an ode to those movies. After the movie it was off to Maxie B.s for a slice of cake. This is raspberry lady cake. Yum! Tastes best when you share it with your best buddy.



Today the morning temps were in the upper 30s. I could have stayed in bed under my heavy covers. Of course, I still have my window open. It got up to the mid 70s today so the house stays pretty warm still.

So this morning to was off to Cary to meet one of my friends. Susan, is one of my Sampler friends that I go to lots of seminars with. Today we went to the NC Museum of History to see the George Washington exhibit. It is based on the new exhibits at Mt. Vernon. After that it was off to a nice long lunch to talk about stitching, the holidays, work, etc. Then back to Trader Joe's to stock up and then back home.

Tonight I tried out a new recipe for dinner, unstuffed cabbage rolls. Kind of a on large skillet meal, tomato paste, stewed tomatos, ground beef, chopped cabbage and spices. It turned out pretty yummy, a good cooler weather dish. I also mad a loaf of banana bread and then ....finally started to work on some finishing...



I hope that everyone has had a great Saturday! Check back tomorrow to see who will receive the EEF Purple Heart chart :)
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Another for the pile...no finishing in sight

This is the 2005 JCS ornament from Threads Through time. I have all these ornament kits from an exchange based on the ornament issue. I am trying to work on those, right now I am working on the 2005 issue. Compared to some of the other issues I have to say 2005 was not a stellar year, but I still love them.

I went back to the foot Dr. today and even though i think that it is much improved I got another cortisone shot and I have a new torture device to put on the foot for a couple hours a day.


I hope that everyone is having a great week so far... I'll keep you posted on that finishing thing....

Chris

Let's try again.....

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PIF Monday

This chart is another Ewe & Eye & Friends chart, Purple Heart. I stitched it in 2001. It is one of their Black Sheep charts.
If you would like this chart, please leave a comment on this post. I will draw the recipient on Sunday. Thanks for giving these charts a new home :)



Have a good week.


Chris
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Sunday Chart Winner

This week's chart winner is Pumpkin! Please send me your mailing address and I will send the chart out.
Check back tomorrow for another chart!



Thanks everyone for all your kind comments. You guys inspire me every day!



Here's another small finish for my pile:)
Have a great Sunday. I have to get ready to go to work.

Chris

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Thinking about finishing....

That's it....just thinking about it.

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Mid-week

I finished stitching this small Trilogy piece. I am adding it to the stack of items to do the finishing on. I am hoping to get organized and get the stuff I need this weekend to get started.

I hope that every one's week is going well. I am trying to get back into the swing of things after vacation. I had to go to the Dr. yesterday and have a cortisone shot in my foot. I have never had one of those before...ouch. The foot is much better today and I am walking more like my normal self :)

Rich and I went to see Secretariat last night. I enjoyed it.. Rich enjoyed seeing Diane Lane :)
I work both jobs tomorrow and I am working this Sunday so not much other fun time in the schedule :) I will try and make the most of what I have. Rich is usually off on Fridays so he will drive me too and from work so that afterwards we can have dinner and run any errands we need to in Greensboro. I have my list for this Friday.
  I started another ornament from my stash of 2005 kits based on the JCS issue. It is the Brittercup kitty. I was going to attach a picture but Blogger is not cooperating :(

I hope that everyone has a great rest of the week!


Chris

PIF Monday

This is another Ewe & Eye & friends chart, the Big Flower Scissor Companion. The picture is of my stitched version. If you would like this chart please leave a comment on this post. I will draw the winner on Sunday.

Happy Monday

Chris

Progress & Pesto!

I have made a little progress on this Trilogy piece that I am stitching. Rich and I got home yesterday afternoon. The drive took us most of the day. We stopped at the Green Valley Book Fair to check out if there was anything we "needed." Rich found a couple of books so that made it worth the stop. I am trying not to bring more books into the house and to use the library so the things I picked up I talked myself into putting back down. Yea for me!


This morning Rich and I ran some errands and then finally got some pesto made!

Beautiful basil!!

Pine nuts and garlic!

Add some olive oil and presto change-o!!
Now it gets put into ice cube trays to freeze and then taken out a few cubes at a time for pesto based pizza. The wonderful taste of summer in the middle of January :)

I will be starting to work on finishing this week. I try to do my ornament finishing in October and November. This worked for me last year, hopefully I will be able to accomplish a lot this year. I need to go get a sheet of Bristol board for some of the ornament forms. First I need to pull everything out and look thru my fabric stash for backing material. I need to get motivated! Check back dear readers for progress updates! I hope!! LOL!

Have a nice evening.

Chris

PIF Winner- EEF charts

The winner of the 2 Ewe & Eye & Friends chart is....Gwen!!
Gwen, please send me your mailing info and these will go out to you the end of the week.

Thanks everyone for your interest and comments on these charts. I am glad that they are finding new homes.

Please check back tomorrow for another chart giveaway.

Chris

Blast from the past......

You never know where Zips is going to take us...



Rich really wanted to stop...



It was very kitschy...



And I have to say kind of fun...



It was a beautiful day out...



I hope that you all had time for some fun too!

Chris

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Packing up

We are packing up to leave Alexandria. This is a picture of a man who plays on the street corner by the Torpedo factory in Old Town. It is amazing to hear him.this time he played the theme to Star Wars. If you are ever in Alexandria I hope that you will have the chance to hear him.


Yesterday was a laid back day. First stop was to pick up some soda and some colossal donuts from one of the supermarkets here. They don't have donuts like these in Asheboro.



Our next stop was In Stitches in Alexandria. This is an amazing store. They have just about anything you could ask for.



I have really been trying to work on stitching from my stash but I picked up a few small things.



I always like to buy something. There are a couple of other things on my wish list but I will probably order them in November for my birthday.
After the needlework store we headed over to Gunston Hall.



This was the home of George Mason. He was a great contributor to our current form of government. Rich and I walked around the property, we didn't go on a tour of the house since we have done that before.
After that we headed back to the hotel and took a nap. Then it was back to the
Pita House.




There was a little stitching. This is another piece that was in my stash.
Now we are paving up.

Thanks everyone for the anniversary wishes an comments!

Have a great Thursday!

Chris

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Anniversary & a small finish

I finally finished stitching this Primitve Needle design. Yesterday it rained so Rich and I drove out to the air museum at Dulles.



Rich and I looked around. They have the Enterprise and a conord jet here.




Rich went on the guided tour and I went up to the cafe, McDonalds, and stitched, played with my iPad, and watched Grey's Anatomy.

Today is our 19th anniversary. The rain went away so we took the metro into DC. First stop was the Castle. The current exhibit is Read My Pins, Madeline Albright's pin collection. I read the book last winter when it came out so I was glad to have the chance to see the pins in person.
Next was the museum of American history. The Star Spangled Banner exhibit makes me cry. We spent some time looking at some of the other exhibits and then headed out to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. These make me cry too. The exhibit was amazing. Now I have to get my tickets to the Norman Rockwell exhibit that is going to be at the NC museum of art.
After that we headed back to the hotel in Alexandria, hung out and then walked into Old Town for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Pita House.



They have great Lebanese food. All in all a pretty great day.

I hope that everyone's week is going well!

Chris
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Busy Sunday

Rich & I drove over to Georgetown this morning to go to the C & O canal national park. In the middle of DC here is a calm quiet spot.



We walked around georgetown for awhile before our ride on the canal.



Here is the canal boat. Molly and Nell were the mules towing us.




It was an interesting ride with a tour guide telling us the history of the canal and the lives of the people who worked on the canal.
After our ride we walked around Georgetown. For lunch we split a burger and fries at Five Guys and people watched.


We thought about going by Georgetown Cupcakes but the line was all the way down the block...



So, we walked some more, went back to the hotel for a nap and we are just kind of taking it easy.
Tomorrow it is off to the air museum at Dulles since it is going to rain. Maybe I will get some stitching done. Not much progress this week!




I hope that everyone has a good week. Back ti some stitching.

Chris