My first finish for the year and daughter stitches

YAY!  I finally managed to finish something! I finished Quaker Welcome by The Stitcherhood. It is for my mother-in-law. I will give it to her for Christmas if I can get it framed by then. Here are some pictures:

Quaker Welcome
© The Stitcherhood
Finished Oct. 2, 2011 on 28ct Silkweaver's Jobelen
DMC 820

The backside

I am very proud of this piece. I did not carry threads between motifs, and I tried hard to keep the back neat. I love the dark blue on the sparkly light blue. Sue, my DMIL, saw it when we visited and it was almost half-way done and she really liked it. It felt so great to finally finish something!

I was stitching with my daughter. She is working on a piece that is a combination of two EMS baby designs. She will add a heart and some words between the two. The piece is for her friends who are engaged to be married. Here are pictures:

Penguin Baby © Ellen Maurer-Stroh
14 ct White Aida with reccomended DMC floss
Stitcher: Sam C.

Turtle Baby © Ellen Maurer-Stroh
14ct Aida DMC Floss
Stitcher: Sam C.

Carnation from book 2011 Cross Stitch Designs
14ct Aida DMC Floss
Stitcher: Sam C.

It was really nice to spend some time stitching and even better was spending that time with my daughter. I've been focusing on spending time with my family. I am once again homeschooling my son Kyle. My daughter Sam and I have been watching DVD's or movies via Netflix, chatting, and stitching. Due to my back not getting any better DH and I can't get out much, so we've also been watching movies and various documentaries on Netflix. So lots of chatting, goofing off, and just enjoying being together and it feels great. I think that is why I was finally able to feel a desire to stitch and enjoy every stitch, instead of just doing a few stitches because I "had" to and not enjoying it. I am hoping to pull out the wedding sampler I started for DH and I and continue working on it. If I remember correctly it is half-way done already and the changes I made to the chart (extending it to fit more words) were all worked out.

Sentimental Sampler
From a magazine

The colors are off on this but hopefully when I get some more done I can get a better picture of it.

Well that's pretty much it for me, hopefully I will have a new update soon!

Items I Have Received (picture heavy)

Over the last couple months I have received some packages in the mail. Prizes from 2 give-aways, items in exchange for one of the kits in my stash, and a RAK. I did thank the senders via email but I didn't post pictures to my blog. Well I finally got my act together and took pictures for the blog, so here we go!

First up from Dusty (at Dusty's Daily Doings ) I received some Anchor floss already on bobbins. Towards the end of 2010 I had mentioned that I was working on acquiring a set of Anchor floss and Dusty said she had some that she wasn't going to use. She offered to send them to me and she did. Thank you very much Dusty I really appreciate it!

Bobbin wound anchor floss from Dusty

I sent one of the kits in my stash to Jane (no blog) in the UK. I'd already had it for a while and did not stitch it. She had been looking for it for a long time. So I offered to send it in exchange for a piece of 28ct evenweave type fabric. Jane was VERY generous! In addition to the fabric she also sent a beautiful brass and enamel bookmark, a dragon needleminder, and a kit for 3 little cards! WOW, Thank you so much Jane I love it all!

closeup to see daetail, isn't this fantastic?

Back in Sept. 2010 Karoline (From Karoline's Corner) held a giveaway to celebrate her 500th post. I was the lucky winner of that giveaway! I was floored when it arrived and I opened it to find a gorgeous stitcher's pocket, package of needles, and stork embroidery scissors! Thank you so much Karoline, it is all wonderful! I will treasure the stitcher's pocket always, you did a fantastic job on it!

closeup of front

full design on back

front open showing needle felt and rings for floss

with the scissors and needles

closed front

Isn't this positively gorgeous? I am floored! Thank you so much Karoline!

Jeanne (Willow Tree Stitcher) held a giveaway for her blogoversary and I was one of the lucky winners! I was so surprised when the package arrived. She made a gorgeous rose project bag and included in it a fantastic needlebook and added a package of needles (Bohin a brand I was wanting to try) and a pair of sheathed Ghinger stork scissors! And the scissors have a fob that match the stitched piece inside the needlebook! Everything is just wonderful! WOW!

Yes, Jeanne it did cheer me up a bit, thank you so very much!

everything together on top of the project pocket

Needlebook open with beautiful stitching and finishing!

needlebook closed with extras showing the fob

project pocket, sewn by Jeanne. Gorgeous roses!

I am so very touched by the generosity of stitchers and I will treasure these items always! Thank you all so very much!

Contest- Winners

Since there has been no correct answer yet, and not a lot of interest, here is a picture that shows the error.

The motif is set to look like steps. The three stitches that the arrow are pointing to, should not be there.

So..there were two people who attempted to answer this, so I will send $25.00 gift certificates to them both for playing along! Thank you Christine and Jo. I hope you get something nice with your prize money!

Thank you both for playing along!