Halloween Exchange

Worlds Above

This is my latest release, "Worlds Above". The verse is from an old Quaker sampler and I used vintage Tundra 40 ct from Lakeside Linens to stitch it. We just returned from San Francisco where the weather was delightful and I was able to celebrate my birthday and my daughter was able to visit with one of her friends from Japan. The photo of my son was taken at Golden Gate Park.

A couple finishes

I've actually finished a few pieces that aren't my own and am getting ready to start a Merry Cox piece for a class in November. The top is from Birds of a Feather and is for my sister. The bottom is from Ewe and Eye and Friends and is call "Christmas Sampler".

It was a busy September and it's about to get busier so I thought I'd post a few photos before I take off again. The big excitement for me was a trip to Utah with friends. We had a great time in Salt Lake visiting all the sites, the needlework and quilt shops and getting in the mood for fall since the weather cooperated and was beautiful. We spent the first day visiting the Temple, the Tabernacle and Brigham Young's home (bottom photo). I was pleased that the president of the SWANs made time to meet us for lunch and it was great to get to meet her and know her. The next day we made a trip to Ogden and visited Jill Rensel's studio and Shepherd's Bush where I was pleased to see a model of my design "Heaven Above". The witch photo was taken at Gardener Village, a site with restored Utah homes turned into fun little shops. Overall, it was a nice, relaxing getaway with good friends.

A new designer...

Have a look:





This is Annie's first venture into the world of cross stitch and I love what she has produced with her first 3 designs. Have a look at her webpage, she's very accomplished with stitchery and dolls also. http://www.anniebeezfolkart.com/intro.html

Thanks...

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who comments in my blog. I usually try to answer everyone but I have failed miserably at that this summer and I wanted everyone to know I do appreciate all you have to say and love looking at your blogs also.

Just Cross Stitch ornament issue

One of my favorite times of the year is when the new Just Cross Stitch ornament issue arrives. And I am especially excited this year as I am in it for the first time! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Birds and Butterflies...

This morning in the pool, a yellow butterfly came and landed on a bush near the water. I smiled. His wings were the happy color of a child’s crayon and he was very familiar to me. Last summer when I was having a difficult time with my dad’s death, these same yellow butterflies surrounded me wherever I went. Thousands of yellow butterflies. Driving in the car, they’d follow alongside. They’d greet me whenever I went outside. I felt protected, as though little angels were hovering near me.

Around that same time, someone sent me a code I could put into the url of my web page. My web page features a drawing of a girl stitching (me?) My web page also features butterfly graphics you can click on to get to another page. When adding the code to the page, the butterflies flew around the stitching girl. It almost made me want to cry. Was Dad saying hello? Saying I’d be fine?

So this morning in the pool, when I saw the familiar yellow butterfly, I said “hi”. And he circled around the fence and came back and sat on the bush. I said “hi” again. He circled and came back to land on the bush. Again I said “hi” and off he went over the fence and a different, smaller butterfly took his place, looked at me and flew away.

Ten minutes later a dove came and sat on a rock by the pool. I said, “I saw the butterflies, thank you”. Then another dove came to sit on the fence and the first dove started inching his way towards the second smaller dove. Mom? Dad? Strangely, I didn’t feel silly telling the second dove to take the other dove’s wing and fly away. I told her it would be OK, just take his wing… I looked away because the yellow butterfly came into view again. When I looked back, the doves were gone. I smiled at the yellow butterfly and said “thank you” and went inside.

Peaceful Paradise

This is my latest release that I've named "Peaceful Paradise". It's stitched on 40 ct Vintage Examplar from Lakeside Linens. The stitch count is 343 wide x 296 height.
Here is the list of colors:
DMC
676
758

Weeks Dye Works

Whiskey

Gentle Arts Sampler Threads

Hyacinth

Gentle Arts Shaker Threads

Fragrant Cloves, Old Blue Paint, Raven, Dungarees


Crescent Colours

Desert Mesquite, Black Coffee, Cherry Tomato, Eve's Leaves, Khaki Mocha, Blooming Crocus, Wild Berries and Old Oak Tree

Summer Exchange Projects

We just finished a summer exchange and I think all the projects were great!

A small animation from my son...

Best Chocolate Cake Recipe

From my sister and it truly is the best cake and frosting recipe:

Best Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. (Batter will be thin). Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch x 1.5 inch cake pans. OR two 8 inch cake pans and six muffin cups. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool cakes 15 minutes before removing from pans. This also makes about 32 cupcakes.

Favorite Icing

1 cup milk
5 Tbs flour
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the milk and flour in a saucepan. Cook until thick stirring constantly. Cover and refrigerate. In a mixing bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk/flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes. Frost cooled cakes. About 12 serving.

Dancing Through Japan

I've been gone way too long but it's been a hectic month. Our 16 year old daughter(in red) is in Japan this month and the empty nest has hit home (for me anyway). She's having a great time, has Japanese class 3 hours a day and the rest of the time is taken up with tours and exploring. Japan is a very safe country and she and her new friends have made the most of getting out and seeing things and exploring on their own. She's in Tokyo for 3 weeks and then on to Kyoto at the end of this week for another week. The above photo is of her at Harajuku dressed as "Sweet Lolita".
Above is her and her friend who bought identical costumes and when they were shoppping, one of their companions got lost so at dinner they had to dress up and apologize in Japanese.

I also want to say Happy Birthday to my son Nick, above. It's been great having him home this summer to help with the quietness of the house. We love you and are so proud of you.

No other news here for now, but things will be getting busy soon with some great new designs that I'm having photographed right now.

Jane Austen challenge

The theme for April's ornament challenge was Jane Austen.

Lorraine took a Prairie Schooler design and made changes to the verse and a few other things. I designed a lady and used a quote from "Emma". Sorry to be late posting, yikes almost July!

Floral Urn

It's always exciting for me to finally get something framed. This is Floral Urn from Sunflower Samplings. I stitched it in 2004 and finally was inspired to frame it. Below is a close up before framing. It is stitched on Prairie Grain fabric.

A well traveled sampler

Here's a sneak peak of the top of a new sampler I'm stitching. It's so big it won't completely fit in the scanner and should be about 16x16 on 40 ct when complete. I started it last month in Georgia, took it with me to Philadelphia and New Jersey, then back home to Tucson, up to Phoenix, down to Mexico and just got back from California. If I'm still stitching it at the end of the month, it might end up in San Francisco, we'll just have to see how fast I am. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with it now. We were in California for our nephew's wedding. Below is my daughter all dressed for the wedding:
And my son acting goofy during the dancing:
Here's the bride and groom, she's wearing the traditional Vietnamese wedding dress which she changed into after the ceremony:
And then changed back to her white gown once more:

Congratulations Nate and Tana, it was a wonderful wedding.

New Releases

I've just released 3 new designs, Maggie's Sampler, Forget Me Not and Liberty. I'm looking forward to see the other new releases from market also!