Two More Exchanges

I received delivery confirmation on two other exchanges that I mailed out on Monday. I thought I'd share pictures of them.

The first was for a mailart exchange that I was in. The theme was birdhouses. I stitched a portion of The Prairie Schooler's Birdhouse Sampler from the leaflet Garden Samplers.


This is the ornament that I sent to Meghan. It is from The Prairie Schooler's Cranberry Christmas leaflet.


Thanks for stopping by.

Spring Showers

We have been having our fair share of spring showers here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was pouring when I drove my daughter to school this morning. I couldn't get Owen to go out in the stuff. Fortunately, when I got home the rain had stopped and I took the dogs on a long walk.

I heard from Becky K. that she received the Easter exchange that I sent to her. Here is a picture of the pinkeep that I made for her. It is one of the designs from The Prairie Schooler's new leaflet Signs of Spring.


Thanks so much for stopping by.

An Oily Situation

I had another Owen mishap this past Saturday. Owen is our adopted ex-racing greyhound. Here he is with his famous crocodile grin.


DH had used a frying pot to cook something and then he told me he was going out to the grocery store. Well, he didn't tell me that he didn't put the frying pot in a place where Owen couldn't reach it.

I was upstairs when I heard a crash and I went running downstairs to find that Owen had pulled the pot over. There was cooking oil running everywhere! I stripped off most of my clothes (what a sight!) and started to clean up the mess. There was no way that I was going to risk ruining my clothes with stains from cooking oil. So there I stood, working for what seemed like an eternity in my underwear, cleaning up oil that covered the floor, cabinets, and countertop.

I came away with some positive thoughts from the experience. Here is a list of them:

1) Owen was not injured because the oil was already cooled
2) The floor, cabinets and countertops received a deep conditioning from all of the oil
3) My old kitchen rugs were ruined so I was finally able to justify throwing them out.
4) I got some good exercise from all the bending and stooping
5) I'm really thankful for paper towels. They were invaluable for cleaning up the mess. Can you imagine life without them?

Pretty in Pink

I received a wonderful surprise in my mailbox on Tuesday. Mylene sent me this lovely scissor fob as a Valentine's Day gift. I'm just thrilled to have another beautifully stitched and finished piece from Mylene. What a sweetheart she is!



My baby turned 18 on Tuesday. This is a candid shot of Andrea taken by one of her friends. Is this a foreshadowing of things to come when she goes off to college this fall? With a major in Chemistry, I don't think she'll have too much time for partying.

Gifts from My Best Friend

It's been ages since I've posted to my blog. My mother became ill very suddenly in early November and came very close to saying goodbye to us. We are so thankful that she is getting stronger despite her acute kidney failure.

I received some lovely handmade gifts from good friends over Christmas. I will share pictures of all of them, but today I wanted to start off by showing you the gifts that my dear friend Arcadia made for me.

Here are the gifts that she made me for Christmas. The little bag with the sunbonnet girl with two dogs is all hand-appliqued by Arcadia. The other heart drawstring pouch is hand embroidered. I've given you a close-up of it below.



With this green shopping basket I'm all set to go to the outdoor market and do it in style as the European's do. This is a popular product in Europe.


This is actually a bag that Arcadia made me quite awhile ago but I never shared it on my blog. When I saw that many ladies in France were making these bags, I asked Arcadia is she could make me one as a birthday gift. Its creation was no small feat of sewing talent. I think it's assembly nearly drove her mad but she did an outstanding job! I love the pockets all around the exterior and the interior of this bag. They are wonderful pockets to use for storage of needles and other stitching necessities.

Thanks so much for paying me a visit. I promise I'll try to be a better blogger.

Christmas Ornaments on Halloween

I'm in the second round of Becky's Christmas Ornament Exchange Group. We are exchanging every other month which makes the pace a little easier.

I never posted the ornament I stitched for the first round. This one was for Carol and I thought she would like the nautical theme.


This one was for the second round and for Roberta, I'm hoping that she likes it.

13 Days from CA to TX?

The squares that I stitched for the F&S Halloween round were sent on the 13th, and arrived yesterday (the 26th) Wow, I could have practically walked there faster. Anyway, I'm sure happy that they finally showed up.



This is from one of The Prairie Schooler's newest leaflets "Boo To You"

I hope you all have a fun Halloween.

My Gift for Linette

My friend Linette celebrated her birthday on September 25th. I was a little late in getting a birthday package off to her, but I finally got it in the mail to her on the 6th. She finally got it today.

I guess the package went on vacation to Canada before it finally made its way to her in France. I'm so relieved that it finally reached her.

Here is what I stitched for her

Thank you for paying me a visit. I've been a pretty poor blogger lately. I just have not had the desire to post.

I hope you are enjoying the cooler weather and perhaps some pre-Christmas stitching and crafting.

Shepherd's Bush SAL

Several months ago, Becky posted her beautiful finish of SB Sail Away. I liked it so much that I e-mailed her and asked if I could borrow the pattern for it. Well if you have the pleasure of knowing Becky, you know that she is a very generous person. A week or two later, I received a surprise gift in the mail from Becky. She had gone ahead and purchased the kit for me, and had Shepherd's Bush ship it to me.

When Becky mentioned that she was going to be stitching a Shepherd's Bush piece, I suggested that we do a SAL. Yesterday was our first day; we'll be stitching on Tuesdays. Here is a picture (clickable) of what I accomplished.



Today's mail brought a lovely ornament from Donna for our first round of our Christmas Ornament Exchange Group. I think you'll agree that Donna's stitching and finishing are perfect. I'm looking forward to hanging this beauty on my tree.



Thank you so much for paying me a visit. I hope you have a safe, and relaxing Labor Day holiday.

The "Dog" Days of Summer

Over a year ago, I joined a now defunct Yahoo group to stitch a wreath by The Prairie Schooler. I chose the leaflet Barnyard Christmas and just a few minutes ago I finished the sixth design out of eight. With two more to stitch, I might actually have a wreath hanging in my home this Christmas.




Thanks for dropping by to pay me a visit.