Champions...Again!

Can I be a proud momma for a moment?? Last year when my DS college golf team won the Carolina's regionals, I was proud.....And, since they were regional winners, they were one of thirteen teams who qualified for the National Golf finals in Chautauqua, NY...Man, I was so proud of them for their accomplishments!    Well.....They have done it again~~~

Way to go Phillip and the Sandhills Community College Mens Golf team for winning regionals again and qualifying for the Junior College National Golf  Finals~~  I plan on begging my principal for 3 days off from school so I can go up to New York and watch these very deserving young men play their hearts out and who knows, they may win the National title this year!!!  Way to go guys!

 Hard work DOES pay off~~ (Phillip is on the far right)

Oh, and Happy Birthday yesterday Phillip~~~ My "baby" is now 20....Where did the time go???

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On the stitchy front this week, I have been busy stitching 2 exchange pieces that are due out in June... Looking at the calendar, I can't believe it will be May tomorrow!! So, I knew I needed to get busy! But, I did have a couple deliveries land on my front porch this week....I love seeing the postal truck these days~

First, I was one of Amy of FL's  five giveaway winners......Man, o man, did she hook me up, or what/???  Check out the array of charts she gifted me!!! Don't look too close, because MANY of these designs will be stitched and gifted back to you guys in way of exchange pieces and RAKs....Thanks so VERY much Amy~~ I love everything you had in my giveaway win!!

~~Giveaway 5 winnings~~

Also, I was gifted a wonderful package from my generous friend Marylin of France!! Marylin has become a wonderful blogging friend and she knows I love French designs.....!! My box from her overfloweth with not only an awesome cross stitch book filled with 10 French samplers, but she also included some glorious smelling French perfume and 2 bags of French coffee.....Can I just tell you, this French coffee is heavenly!!!  And, I am smelling like a rose blossom now thanks to Marylin!!

I am so excited today because I plan on finally meeting Myra~~ Many of you follow her blog and know her as the accomplished stitcher she is....Well, we live relatively near one another here in North Carolina...And, after several previous attempts, we are finally meeting today! I feel like I "know" so many of you through blogging but it is so nice to put a face with a name.....

In closing, I want to extend words of support to many of you out there who have been in the line of these awful storms this spring. Although you may have not had a direct impact, many of you have friends or family who might have been affected. Times are tough right now with all the devastation  brought on by Mother Natures wrath....I plan on going through all my closets tomorrow and coming up with a trunkful of items I can donate, so hopefully those who have lost it all, will soon be able to recieve needed items to start over..... Won't you consider doing the same???

Have a safe weekend my friends,

Faye

~~Make it Do~~Thank you Beth Twist~~

Many of us are living our lives by the motto of "making do with what you've got!"... When I saw this freebie listed on Beth Twists blog Friday, I felt like it really must be my weekend project....  Beth stressed that everyone should be creative with their colorways, using threads we had on hand and just putting our own spin on her design....Here is my interpretation....

Make it Do....Heartstring Samplery

36 ct coffee dyed linen

threads listed below

I did end up changing threads and here is what I went with...

Called for                                        I used

GAST Pumpkin Patch                   CC Pumpkin Harvest

GAST Daffodil                              GAST ButterCrunch

GAST Adobe                                 GAST Adobe

GAST Fishermans Wharf             GAST Portabella

GAST Woodrose                          GAST Woodrose

GAST Pomegranate                      GAST Holly Berry

GAST Butternut Squash               CC Gingersnap

GAST Mustard Seed                     CC Ye Old Gold

GAST Baby Spinach                      GAST Endive

WDW Havana                               WDW Havana

WDW Red Pear                            WDW Red Pear

The point is to use what you have on hand, so use whatever you feel is right for you~~

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I did want to share my exchange piece to Pat (no blog)from a couple weeks ago...She and I had a private exchange and I posted the beautiful BBD piece she stitched for me a couple posts ago.... She notified me that she received my exchange package and here is a peak of what I mailed to her....

 Summer Star Pincushion and mini pincushion

A Stitchers Journey

Blackbird Designs

The smaller initial pincushion is for Pat to use in her traveling stitch bag...It is small and just the right size to toss into her bag and have a little something to plant that needle in when changing thread colors... Both are filled with crushed walnut shells...I wanted to show the rickrack detail on the edges...The Robins Egg Blue hand-dyed trims by Victorian Motto matches the BBD designs so well.... I also included one of my homemade pins....

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Hope everyone had a great Easter and got back in the routine today....I had alot of fun with family and these two sweeties.....

 Have a great week everyone and Happy Stitching...........

Faye

Bloom Sampler~~ Thank you Nan!

When Nan of Threadwork Primitives designs these lovely charts of hers, they just SPEAK to me~~ I really, really wanted to stitch this little bunny of a design and was able to do so over the last couple nights...

Bloom Sampler

Threadwork Primitives

32 ct flax linen

Specified DMC threads

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My "finished stitches" pile has started growing again, so next week I will need to get on with finishing off some of them....AND, I am thinking I just might need to devoting one of them to a giveaway...hmmm, which will it be?...... My 2 year blogaversary is coming up in May...hmmmm, We will see!!!

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Secondly, I wanted to say a big thank to Fiona~~~ WOW, I have been showered again with a package of goodies!!!!.....Unexpected gifties just make my day!!! Thanks so much Fiona.. This darling pillow is looking wonderful in my pink basket....( And the chocolate WAS awesome!!)

Goodies from Fiona

Faith, Hope, Peace

~~~May all your families be blessed this Easter season..~~~

Faye



Gifties and a finish....

I am starting to think I am the luckiest girl alive!!! Look what all came in the mail the last couple days~~~

Feast your eyes on this beautiful, and I mean beautiful, sampler that was sent to me by Mary Kathryn... She is in the process of relocating and I was fortunate to have my name drawn~~~ How cool is that???

I dont have the details, but I do know I cannot wait to have this baby framed!! Thanks so much Mary Kathryn....

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And, when I go home today, I had the most wonderful package in the mail from Pat (no blog)...Pat and I have been emailing for a while now and we decided to do a private exchange.... I LOVE the red BBD pillow she made for me!!!  The overdyed thread and red chenille are a perfect match!!!  Pat I truly LOVE this design and your stitching is gorgeous~~  And, the extra goodies....well, I am surely going to smell good~~  Thanks so much!

This treasure will look perfect in my red basket~~~

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As for my stitching this week,  well,  since I have been in a SamSarah/LizzieKate state of mind lately, I decided to stitch up this quickie that my dear friend Karen sent to me....It speaks to my repurposing/frugal/using whatcha got/ kind of buckling down side...Something I ALWAYS need to be doing and I can honestly say, am getting BETTER at doing....

More on this little goodie in a future post......

Well, I better get busy in the kitchen so I can get in the craft room and finish sewing up a couple exchanges that I need to get in the mail~~~

Happy stitching everyone,

Faye

These made me smile....

I have been putting a little more spring decorations out this week and when I married up my FAVORITE design by Tanya the Sampler Girl with my new little SamSarah carrots, I thought they married up perfectly.... Makes me want to steam up some carrots for dinner tonight!!

"eat your carrots" The Sampler Girl freebie

"Harried Hare" carrots SamSarah Designs

Last year when I made this pinkeep, I thought a little pocket on the backside would be perfect for needles, scissors or just a sweet message....

And, this weeks sewing task produced a new  pillow made from another finished stitch from my box of springy finishes....somehow I manage to cross stitch and set the finishes aside until ready to sew them up when the mood strikes... This design is actually another freebie that Cross-Eyed Cricket put out in either 2009 or 2010...

Cross Eyed Cricket freebie

28 ct pale yellow linen

DMC threads

The design is actually about 7 inches long when stitched on 28 ct, so I sewed up a tall pillow....perfect for tucking into a basket among some smaller pillows....

And, lastly, I did manage to finish up one more square "Moonlight Visitor" on my Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart project.....Soon, that last chart will be on the shelves and I will be on a mission to get this  lovely done....Stretched over many months, this has been alot of fun~~~

36 ct Winter Frost by R & R Linens

GAST, CC, WDW overdye threads

Moonlight Garden block

I have not added the personalization on this square yet...I thought I would add that to several of them once I was completed with the entire piece.....

Okay, got to head out the door for work soon.....Yippee, its Thursday and that can only mean one thing....Tomorrow's Friday!!!   Living for the weekend~~~

Have a great day,

Faye

Please pass the carrots~~~~

I thought these little darlings were the cutest things I had ever seen when SamSarah's "Harried Hare" was published this spring..... Thanks to my stash of overdyed oranges, I was able to stitch these babies up and today I finished my stitched finishes into these dainty little baby carrots...

 32 ct sage linen

specified overdyed threads

I did not do the edged stitching on the carrot tops, rather I sewed a green fabric to my linen and frayed the edges that way.....Whether you do it my way, or the way explained in the chart, you still have carrot tops attached these yummy carrots~~~

Thanks SamSarah for helping me add to my juicy spring collection of goodies.... tomorrow we get to decorate the craft room tree with more springtime treasures~~

Until then, Happy stitching~~

Faye

L' R de rein ornies....

This is a freebie design I had run across by L'R de rien and had actually stitched it in December... I liked it so much that I decided to, yep, stitch it again in March .... Just getting around to finishing my finishes...You know how that goes...right???

I love the narrow red chenille trim....Thank you very much Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe!... And, there is one side note: I put a small "10" in the top left corner of each because I want my boys to have these ornaments one day as a momento of the year their grandmother passed away....2010... She would have like these ornaments so much since she loved about anything that had a redbird on it...

That's it for now....I have been busy in the craft room with a couple surprise goodies that have gone out in the mail...so, once I know the packages have been received in the mail, I'll give you a glimpse...

Hey~~Tomorrow is Friday... Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! 

Faye

7 Red Silks and more....

Good morning to everyone in blogland~~  Its a beautiful day here in the Carolinas....

I wanted to share with you a little experiment I embarked on the last few days.... Sweet Marylin who has showered me with goodies from France, inpired me to make a "practice" band sampler from the recent edition of Broderie Creative magazine she had sent me. I so admire the bands and bands of alphabets and floral designs, but knew before I embark on such a large project, I would need to practice a few of those lovely specialty stitches....  Here is what I came up with....

And, to also satisfy my curiosity, I pulled 7 of my red silk threads from various manufacturers to see how they vary as well.... I have NPI, Atalie, Splendor, HDF, Belle Soie Cranberry and Sister Scarlett and Carries silk threads.... Quite the array of reds...

The Fantail and Rhodes stitches were among those I knew I needed to practice the most... It is still a work in progress, however since the 36 ct linen took me to a design size of approx 8 x 10, I think I will stop and frame this in one of my frames already on hand....

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And, I have had the chance to complete the beautiful red sampler that Carol most graciously lent me...

This sampler was a absolute joy to stitch up....I loved using the Belle Soie silk Sister Scarlett on this 36 ct creme linen....Very French...Oui??

I even took to opportunity to customize things by adding "in her world" above the botton alphabet... Don't we all feel like we get into our own little world when it comes to stitching time?  I know I do..

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I also wanted to share with you a few items from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe that I recently purchased....Let me tell you, this photo in no way does this chenille, rick-rack and hand dyed buttons justice....Take it from me, this is quality merchandise!!! I cannot wait to get busy using this...Truly, her colorways will be perfect with all the new Blackbird Designs and many, many more!

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And, finally, Danielle, has given me the awesome opportunity to try more of the HDF silk threads....Can you believe what she sent me????  I could not believe all the luscious shades!!  Thank you so very very much Danielle!! I am keeping to my word and will soon be stitching a RAK and passing on some of these beauties to share with others!!!

Hand Dye Fibers

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I am thinking a giveaway will be in order soon....With all the generosity that has touched me and many of you out there, I think I will have to host a little something as soon as I get back home...hmmmmmm....Look for more details to come~ It has been a wonderful 3 week intercession from school....I love the Year-Round calendar since it allows us to be in the classroom for 9 weeks and then out 3 weeks to recharge our batteries...MUCH needed recharging has been going on here!

Hope everyone has a great week and take time to smile on others every chance you get~~

Faye