Happy 2013!

Hello Dear Friends,
  I hope that you had a wonderful last weekend of 2012.  Rich and I had company, his brother, sister-in-law and their grandson got here late Saturday and left early this morning. It was great to catch up. The cats were a little freaked out, Binx spent the weekend under the quilts on my bed.
  I have not stitched at all. That needs to change soon. I am ready for the New Year to start and to get into a regular schedule again, with work, exercising and stitching.
  Here is a little collage of some of the projects that I completed in 2012. I don't think that it is all of them.

I am looking forward to finishing some WIPs and UFOs in my stash. I added some wonderful projects to that stash this past year and I would love to stitch some of those too.
   New Year's Eve will be quiet for Rich and I. After work we will have some hot appetizers for dinner and will probably be in bed before midnight. For New Year's Day hopefully we will get out and hike and after that there will be some stitching and a laid back day.
   At the close of 2012 I would like to say thank you to all my blog friends. Thank you for the friendship throughout the year, the inspiration and encouragement. I am looking forward to stitching with you in 2013!


Chris

 

Dear Edith

I make some good and some bad shopping decisions early in the morning or late at night. I click buy and can't take it back.

Edith is a good click.



Look at this pretty girl. I had liked her listing and then another early morning I really looked at the price and the buy it now option and BAM!! This pretty girl is now mine.



Look at this fabulous band. Is it bleeding hearts or lily of the valley?



Look how Edith stitched the bottom of the gs over the dividing band.



Sweet verse.



Look at this Gothic alphabet with the straight stitches.

Do you think that 1877 is late for this style sampler? It looks like it is stitched in silk.
I bet the original colors were gorgeous. I might have to chart it out. There is one dividing band of eyelets at the bottom.
The sampler came out of a barn south of Boston. Has anyone else seen a similar sampler anywhere?




It looks like it is mounted on a wood backing. No other clues here.
I am going to treasure this sampler.

Sweet Dreams.

Chris


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Back To It & Pay It Forward

Good Morning Friends!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. This morning I sure feel like I could use one more day off. We are having heavy rain.
I did go through some of my stitching stuff over the holiday. Unfortunately I didn't get much stitching accomplished. I did find this chart.



Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler. If anyone would like this gently used chart please leave a comment on this post. If there is more than one I will draw a name on Sunday.
I received a few more treats in the mail before the holiday...



These sweet beaded counters from Vickie, I love them.



This fabulous snow globe card from my friend Susan.



Some lovely floss and cookies from Weeks.
Here are a couple of pics from the holiday...


My Mom's tree.



Yummy roast beef dinner.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday full of good things!

Hugs!

Chris
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Merry Christmas

Wishing all my friends a fabulous Christmas with the ones they love!

Peace to all.

Chris

More Fun To Be Had

After a slow morning Rich and I headed up to Kernersville, NC to take a tour of Körner's Folly.



This house is actually a big Victorian remuddled house. It is billed as one of the weirdest houses(22 rooms on 7 different levels),it is supposed to be haunted and it contains the first private theater in a home in the US. So on with the tour....



The house was initially a bachelor pad and a carriage way ran through the middle dividing the stables and the house. Then the bachelor settled down and the changed everything over to make one odd house.



These are children's play rooms. Ivan barely stand up!



Beautiful fireplaces. Do you see the bat?



A huge reception room on the second floor.



Here is the theater up on the top floor.



The walls all have painted murals.



It is a very cool space.



Pokey staircases.



The library. Of course everything seemed more cozy since the house was decorate for the holidays.



The 4 seater out back. Lol.
Rich and I really enjoyed the tour. Man, this would be an awesome place to play hide and seek in!
So then we found a great local place for hot dogs, thank you Urban Spoon app for helping me out.



After lunch we headed back towards Greensboro to shop. We timed it right so that we could cross one of the movies we wanted to see off our list. We saw Lincoln. What amazing performances.
So back home again. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It will be quiet here. Rich and I will go to my Mom's on Christmas Day.
I hope that you have wonderful celebrations with family and friends over the next couple of days!

Peace

Chris

Ladies Who Lunch

Hello Friends!
I hope that you have had a stress free last Saturday before Christmas and you can now relax and enjoy the next few days.
After a long week of work it was wonderful to meet up with Myra for lunch. It was great to catch up.
I am so fortunate to have met Myra through the blog community. Of course we had to exchange some holiday gifts.



Look at this wonderful pillow that she made for me. Myra made me wonderful placemats with this same fabric that I use for winter in my table. Look at the tinsel trim. Fabulous!! The pillow is now decorating my bed. She also gave me a yummy candle, yummiest chex mix and the sweet little kit that I can probably do the finishing on myself.



There was also a little bag of treats for the bad boys.



They were met with immediate approval. The boys and I took a nap and one of the toys was with us in the bed. Silly cats!
Thank you Myra for making Christmas extra special for everyone at my house.
I hope that there was some magic and friendship in your Saturday too!

Peace!
Chris
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By The Bay Goodness

 Good Morning Friends,
    I hope that you are having a great week full of holiday preparations and festivities. I am looking forward to fininshing a long day on Friday and then being off for 4 days.
  I have had a wonderful time participating in the By The Bay SALs that Donna has offered on her blog. She designed these sweet pieces to fit in 5X7 frames. I was able to pick up these perfect frames at Hobby Lobby.

 This is the first one that she designed for summer. The flowers have french knots(I used Colonial knots).

And this is the fall piece. I used some Rhodes stitches and some padded satin stitches for the pumpkins. They were both a joy to stitch. Fun colors, dimension, not to big and easy finishing. Thank you Donna!

Donna recently had a giveaway on her blog for a new design. I was fortunate to win a copy of this!

This is White Birch Winter. Aren't the colors wonderful? This one will also fit in a 5X7 frame. I feel a new start coming on. At least if we don't have snow for Christmas, I can stitch some.

Have a great Thursday! Be safe out there.

Chris

 

 



Thank You Shirlee

Another sweet surprise landed in my mailbox this week. I received a lovely card and a sweet stitched piece from Shirlee at The Easily Influenced Stitcher blog.



So sweet. Look at that happy deer and all the prim details.



Here is the backside. So pretty Shirlee! Thank you for this sweet gift and your friendship and humor.
I hope that the holiday is filled with sweet surprises for all of you.

Chris
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Sweet Surprise!

Hello Friends,
A week from now I will be sitting with a cup of chai admiring the Christmas lights. The world will be still as families spend the morning with their families. But until then....
I continue to rush around, work, then a Drs appointment then Zumba. I swung by the post office on the way home and found a package in my box.
My friend Heidi(Heidi Stitches When She Can blog) sent me this years origami ornament.



Heidi is a master at presentation. Hop on over to her blog to see how she packages gifts.



Gorgeous!



Added to my mantle!

Thank you Heidi!
Today is work and dinner with my work colleagues. Me and 3 pharmacists, what kind of pharmacist to tech ratio is that?
Sorry pharmacy humor.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Tuesday and that everything goes your way.

Chris

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Another Weekend Over

December weekends are always so hectic. Saturday night Rich and I headed back up the road to have dinner with a group that I used to work with. It was really great to see everyone.
After that we did some shopping, Target and one of the grocery stores.
We stopped at a place called delicious to check out their baked goods.



Look at all these beautiful cupcakes decorated for the holidays.



I should have gotten closer with these pics. They were beautiful.



Rich and I decided to share a slice of cake. It was a Hawaiian cake with some pineapple. Yum. Thanks Kim for telling me about this place.
After the cake we headed over to one of the Greensboro neighborhoods to check out the Christmas lights. These are not the tacky Christmas lights these are magical.



They are the lighted balls that are suspended in the tree branches. It is magical to drive down a street that has hundred if them.



The pics do not do it justice.
Yesterday was just working around the house. It seems at least one day during the weekend I spend cooking for the upcoming week.



For dinner I made this crockpot beef and barley soup recipe from the Tasty Kitchen. It was perfect for the rainy day we had.
I did stitch a few strands worth last night, but once I finally got settled it was time to go to bed.
Now a busy week begins. I have a Dr. appointment and plans to catch up with friends.
I hope everyone has a great week. Be safe and kind!

Hugs!
Chris
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Lots Of Errands

Hello Friends,
Happy Saturday! So glad I made it to today. How was your week?
My morning started off with an early morning trip to Winston-Salem with my Mom to stock up at Trader Joe's.
There are some things that are always on my list when I go there buy I found a few new things.
First is this..



My Mom love's Harney & Son's cinnamon tea, I usually order her a few bags of the sachets for Xmas and her birthday. On our way to TJ's I was telling her that Target now carries the tins of Harney & Sons tea for $5.99. This one from TJ's is the same type tin and the sachets inside look the same and were $3.99. I am sure that my Mom will let me know if they brew up the same. I wonder if Harney& Son's supplies these for TJs.
I was happy to find this...



I am looking forward to a cup tomorrow am. I love TJ's.
Then it was more errands and grocery shopping. Tonight back up to town for dinner with some work colleague's and a few more errands.
What does all this running around mean? No stitching! That doesn't mean no stashing. I was lucky to win a giveaway over at Nataly's Needlework and I received these wonderful Pickle Barrel Designs.



I love snowmen. Thank you Nataly.
Then I received this in the mail...



And this..



Now I just need a month at home to stitch!

I am so saddened by the tragic events in Newtown. Rich and I lived and worked in the next town. We went to movies in the town hall together. I cannot imagine what the families and the community is going through. There is no way to ease the pain or make things better. My heart aches.

Peace

Chris
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Final 2012 TUSAL

Here it is. Not much has been added the last 2 weeks but it is pretty full for the year.
Now I need to decide which one of my jars to use for 2013!

I hope that everyone is having a great week!

Chris
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By The Bay Fall SAL

Hello Friends and welcome to my new followers. I hope this Monday morning finds everyone well and ready for another busy December week.
I have not been getting any stitching done. There are so many things to do this time if year.
One of the big accomplishments was this..



Most of the Christmas cards are done. Rich did some wrapping. I am not sure if Binx helped him or not.
I did finally get my fall By The Bay SAL piece in a frame.



I love it!
This is another frame that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.



I hung it up over my bed with these others. These are all finishes from this year. I guess that I have gotten more done than I thought.
Well, it is time to go to work.

TTYS

Chris
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