Merry Christmas!

From our "backyard" to yours, we wish each of you a very, very Merry Christmas!

(I LOVE my little Charlie Brown tree and couldn't resist sharing it with passers-by today!  I know it seems like I've abandoned my little blog corner but it's been messy, beautiful, crazy, lovely, busy around here and there hasn't been much "free" time.  I'll be back on New Year's Day!)

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - October 2015

I did "pretty good" this month... As in, I stayed within the SFS $25 monthly "allowance" this month.  I spent $10.45  because I caved in at the HAED sale.   I just couldn't resist purchasing this...

These faces and the cute titles of the "books" proved to be too much for my willpower.  This will be my first start for the new year project.  Looks like this one-Wip-at-a-time girl is going to become a rotating fool.  Looks like I'll be working on a Christmas project, my Chatelaine, and this HAED project all at the same time.  Whew!  I think I'm just going to follow my heart in 2016 and just stitch on whatever project calls to me on any given day...   (I'll also have a couple of small projects to carry with me when I'm on the go). I'm excited!     :)

Hugs and Grace,

*Sharon

Catching Up

Sorry I've kind of been neglecting my blog lately.  Lots of "busy-ness" going on. 

My best friend and I have been friends since I was 3 and she was 5.  That's been a LONG time!  We've text every day and talk on the phone quite often.  We kept saying that we really need to get together for some "real" hugs...and we finally made it happen!  We had a blast (acting more like 13-yr olds instead of grown woman who used our AARP cards to get a hotel discount.)  lol.   We both hope that we can meet again on a regular basis.

I received word from Diane (the give-a-way winner) that she received her little gifts.  Here's a pic of what I sent:

Here's a picture of my current WIP:

I'm having fun with this one.  :)

Coming up soon to stitch is my Chatelaine:  (I'll be starting it on November 5th.) 

I'll try to get some Travel/Disney pics up in the next week.  

Hope you're all well and happy!

Hugs and Grace:
*Shaorn

And another one bites the dust...

This is my long-forgotten UFO, "Delicate Beauties" by Paula Vaughn.  I really do love this piece, it just seems that there have been more "important" stitches that needed to be done first.  (Wedding Samplers, Gifts for friends and the Wolf for our son.  Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I thought it was time to pull out my UFO and make it a WIP...alas, when I started to stitch it, I saw MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR (did I mention that there were MAJOR mistakes?)   For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why things weren't lining up or how I could fix them.  I finally tossed it to my hubby and asked him to see if he could see what I was missing.  He found that when the working copy had been made, a few rows had been deleted from each page...therefore, it was disastrous.  He felt so bad because he was the one who had made the copies for me and didn't realize how important it was for lines to "line up" and I just took it for granted that it was right.  My bad...  Bless his heart (and I mean that in the sweetest way, not the other "southern" way).  He feels awful and I am a wee bit sad but hey, today is a new day and I'm sure that there will be MANY other new designs that I will just HAVE to stitch.  And.... some day, I might just decide that I want to give this beautiful Paula Vaughn design another go.

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

And we have a finish!

This is a wedding gift for my son and his fiancé.  They won't be married until next summer but it feels great to have this finished!   This was such a fun stitch.  I LOVE the happy colors (and it matches the bride-to-be's chosen colors!).  This makes the second large (large to me anyway) finish in this year.  First, I finished the wolf design and now this wedding design!  Woot!

Next up is going through my stash and setting up a rotation system of some sort.  I'm going to place a real miss-mash of projects in my 2016 basket.  Some large pieces:   (I'm going to be starting a Chatelaine, a Celtic Angel (done in the alternate autumn colors) and also, a HEAD design).  Some medium-size designs:  (Merry Christmas Y'all), and some small, fun Lizzie Kates, Little House,  Country Cottage and some little freebies.  (And any other goodies I might pick up along the way).   I also want to pull out a couple of UFO's and work towards getting them finished.  I'm telling you, it's going to get downright whacky around here!     :)
Again, I'm going to be giving away some stash as I do my major sorting, so stay tuned!

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - Septmeber

This was a good stash-enhancing month for me.  I bought one chart that I REALLY wanted and I only spent $5.75 for my happiness.  Here's the chart that could not be resisted...

This is SO me!  I say y'all ALL the time!  (even if it's just one other person in the room, I will still say y'all want some lemonade or tea?)  LOL

So, this will go into my happy pile and will be a new start as soon as I pick up the right fabric. 

Amount Spent for September:                 $5.75

Hugs and Grace,
Sharon

Easter - Grand Floridian Style

Okay, you know when you're posting pictures from Easter while you're sipping a pumpkin spice latte', you're REALLY behind on posting pictures.  I think we can look at this in two ways;
on the one hand, we can think, "Holy Cow, this goober is REALLY far behind" OR....we can think, "Holy Cow, this goober is helping us consider travel plans for Spring 2016".
Either way, here we go with the pictures from the Grand Floridian Resort (Disney Property Resort).
All the eggs are completely edible.  The artwork is stunning!

These are just a few of the eggs that were on display.  Each one was just so amazing!

The good news about seeing the eggs - you don't have to be a guest at the Grand Floridian to see the eggs.  (Although, it's a BEAUTIFUL property.  I'm sure anyone would enjoy staying there!)

As long as you have a pass to Disney World, you can hop on the monorail and go from the magic kingdom, make one transfer and you'll be transported straight to the front door of the Grand 

Floridian.  Then, you can hop back on the monorail and go to whatever park you decide to visit.

Another HUGE reason why Easter/Spring is a good time to visit, other than the wonderful weather, is that the Flower Show takes place at Epcot in the spring.  So, if you plan your trip just right, you can enjoy both the egg displays and the flower show!  Some of my up-coming posts will show lots of pictures from the flower show.  

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the eggs... (oh, and it's okay if you think that I'm the goober who's just REALLY far behind!)   :)

Hugs and Grace,

*Sharon

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Thanks go out to everyone who entered the give-away.  I wrote all names on post it notes, folded them all exactly alike and put them into a hat.  Our snarky teenage son pulled the winner's name...
Congratulations to Dizzy!  I wish I could do a give away to everyone, but keep your ears to the ground.  Over the next couple of months, I have committed to being brutally honest with my stash...what do I absolutely love and what do I absolutely know that I will stitch (in THIS lifetime!).  If an item doesn't fit into either category, I'll be giving away some of it here on my blog. If I'm not going to stitch it, I want to make sure it goes to a home of a stitcher who might enjoy it.!
I'll post a picture of what's in the give-away box, once it's been received by Diane.  I don't want to spoil the surprise for her.  Again, nothing fancy, just some small little things that I enjoy.

Travel pictures will be going up in the next couple of days! 

Again, thanks for visiting!

Hugs and Grace!
*Sharon

A give-away and time to roll the scroll...

Sorry I didn't put up my give-away post up earlier.  It's been one of "those" weeks where anybody, everybody and everything has needed (and deserved!) my attention. So, here goes:

I'm doing a drawing for a give-away.  Let's not get our bloomers in a bunch over this...it's a small give-away of some of my favorite things.  These are non-stitchy related items.   It's not an $$$ give-away, so if you're thinking you're going to ebay any of the items for major bucks, you're fresh out of luck.  LOL  These are just some fun things that I love and use on an almost daily basis.  Please toss your hat into the ring in the comments.  I will put all names into a hat (seriously, yes, I'm using a hat!) and our youngest son will draw the winner next Saturday.  I'll post the winner's name immediately thereafter.  Again, If you're here reading, please enter!   :)

I hit the point this morning where my millennium frame needed to roll up a wee bit for me to be able to stitch the bottom part of the wedding stitch for my son and his fiance.  I decided to take it off the scroll and take a picture of the work I have finished so far.  I still have lots of ribbons and stems to stitch and then personalize it, but so far I'm really happy with how it's turning out.
I know you're probably getting pretty tired of seeing the same piece over and over.  I so appreciate your lovely comments you've left for me.
(Again, it's "Cherished Wedding" designed by Ursala Michael, Janlyn Kit)

I've decided that come 2016, I'm going to go all ape-crazy and set up some kind of whacky rotation system.  Hang on kids, it might be a bumpy ride....   :)

I've also been going through our photos and editing a lot of them.  I am so far behind in posting "travel-type" pics.  There are some pretty neat ones that I can't wait to share.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post some in the next couple of weeks.  (you might not be too thrilled with the thought of travel pics, but I can promise a lot are Disney and a LOT are food...hopefully that will tempt you a bit?)  lol

Thank you so much for coming to my little spot in the world. I so appreciate the time that you spend with me.  I hope each of you have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - August 2015

Well, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later.  I fell off the wagon - and not off the wagon onto a gorgeous, soft bed pillow.  I fell off the wagon onto a big 'ole pile of bricks.  I finally caved and bought a chatelaine kit.  I've had the pattern for a couple of years. (I also already have the fabric in my stash, so I "just" bought the kit.  I have been wanting to do one for a long time and since we graduated our youngest from homeschool, I decided that this was as good a time as any.  I have a gut-feeling that this is WAY above my stitching ability but the instructions look fairly clear.  I also have an on-line friend that has promised to hold my hand during the entire stitching process. She's completed many chatelaines, but I don't think she has any idea what she's signed on for....lol.  I won't be starting it until November, so here's hoping that my rad stitching skills will improve by leaps and bounds by then.  I figure at worst, I just won't stitch it at all;  I'll just fondle the beautiful silks and ogle the lovely beads and crystals that come with the kit.  In case you're interested, this is the kit I've chosen....

http://europeanxs.com/cgi-bin/chat_detail.pl?CD022-
So, with all that said, here's my break-down for this month's budget-busting....

Kit                                  
SFS allowance
Money remaining gifted to me for XS (for birthday,Christmas, Anniversary, etc.

$71.75

-25.00

-32.00

So, my grand "out of pocket, over-budget expense" is --------------------------------  $14.75 

(as a side note, I am also supposed to have some extra SFS $ credit for finishing my wolf project but I am totally confused as to how to figure that out, so I'll happily settle for my $14.75 over-spending shame)  lol

So, moving right along,  my #3 son, Matthew, is a biker (as in bicycle, not motorcycle).  He loves it.  It's nothing for him to ride well past 100 miles/week.  On Wednesday, I got this text.....  "I'm okay, but..."

I know that I could have received a much worse text but still, my heart dropped. He wasn't really completely "okay" but he was very blessed that it wasn't as awful as it could have been.   Matt was riding his bike to work and was hit by a "distracted driver".  I thank God that he wasn't more seriously injured but ...   PLEASE DON'T text and drive!!!!!!  I'm climbing off my soapbox, but this is a hot-button issue for me, so no promises that I won't be climbing back up again.  

Little tidbit of "bonus" info: when Matt was little. he was always the ring-leader of trouble.  (every family has one!)

He was the one that repeatedly said "I wonder what would happen if..." or the family favorite...

"Hey,  y'all, watch this!"  His nickname was and still is "Haz-Matt".  Ladies, he's single and minus the bruises, is pretty easy on the eyes. Someone please marry him so that he can be someone else's "problem child"!)  LOL

Here's a picture of my latest progress on the wedding sampler for #5 son and his fiance:

As a reminder, here's the top part:

And here's what it will (hopefully) look like when it's finished:

I appreciate all your responses in regards to rotating projects.  I've decided that I'm going to loosen my reins as far as working on more than one project at a time.  I am going to work on this wedding gift until it's finished but then, I'm going to have an adventure in choosing a few different pieces to work on.  I know that I'll definitely be including some holiday designs in my rotation and some small quick-finish pieces too.  I'm going to wade through my rubbermaid "tote of stash" and see what I come out with!    :)

My non-stitchy give-a-way will start over the Labor-Day weekend.  I'll put up a post that you can comment on and enter.

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - August

Stitch from Stash - July

Happy to report that July has been a penny-free stitching-spending month for me.  I have been so focused on stitching on my son and his fiancée's wedding sampler, I haven't been too tempted to buy anything new.  I have a feeling that this frugal wave will end once the final stitch has been placed in the gift.  I tend to be a one project at a time stitcher, but I have to say, it's starting to get to me.  I keep feeling like I'm stitching the exact same stitch over and over and over again...   Grrr......
Here's where the sampler stands now....

I think 2016 will see me mixing things  up stitching-wise.  Somehow, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I am determined to start some sort of a rotation-system.  I am SO open to hearing any suggestions as to how you deal with rotating/not rotating your projects.  Also, do tend to spend monthly on lots of little projects or do you save up for a few months and the. Go slap-happy with your spending? I have finally convinced all my nearest and dearest that the absolute best gift for me is stitching money.  Thanks to their generosity, I have a tidy little nest egg set aside.  I can't  wait to start spending (hopefully wisely!) when the right project (or 2 or 3!  Lol) pops up and I "gotta" have "it" or "them".
What are some of your "gotta have it" projects?
(Oh and I'm still collecting some goodies for my give-a-way.  I'll try to have it ready to go around the middle of August!  Stay tuned!)

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Making some progress...and proof I'm a goofball!

Thanks to a couple of rainy days in Florida, I've had some unplanned extra stitching time.  (Don't you love when that happens?). I really like this wedding sampler and the colors, so it's a fun stitch.
Now for the "I'm such a doofus" part of this post.  See that wonderful little scissor holder that I bought on my visit to Shepherds Bush?  It's fantastic and I love it!  Except......  I keep forgetting that I have it.  I flip my work over to snip my thread and I actually spend a nano-second wondering what I did with my scissors!  And then I remember....  Duh.......
I am so used to dropping my scissors in between the cushions or having them fall to the floor that I forget that I have the nifty new gadget.  Once I get used to my little sheep holder, it's going to be "da bomb"!!!   Lol.  Happy Stitching!!

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - June

I'm really happy to report that I have successfully been able to avoid all temptation of the stitchy type for the month.  I have been hard at work (or hardly working, on some days, lol)  on the wedding sampler for son #5 and his beautiful bride-to-be.  I really would like to get that finished over the next couple of months because I'd LOVE to start some Christmas stitching.  (From my stash, of course!).
😜

I haven't forgotten about my give-away. I'm thinking of another give-away of "my favorites" which is just an odd assortment of non-stitchy type things that I love.  I LOVE Florida, so a lot of my "favorites" are tied to the "Sunshine State".    Hopefully, I'll be ready to get my give-away up and running in August!  I'll keep you posted.

I hope each of you are well and are enjoying a blessed summer!

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

12 and a Baby!

We were so blessed to meet with family last month.  Somehow, we managed (with not "too much" fighting - lol) to pull together 6 sons, 3 wives, a fiancé, hubby and I and a grandbaby (!) and got them all in one place for pictures!  Whoo hoo!!

These are the boys that melt my heart... Yes, I've noticed that they're all grown men now - but they will forever and always, be my "boys".  I should've made sure that my hubby was in this photo too, but he was the camera guy, plus it was pretty much "uncontrolled chaos" by this point in the day!

This is the whole family, including all the girls who keep my guys happy.  I have been VERY blessed to have wonderful "daughters-in-love"  My guys have GREAT taste.  (Again, hubby isn't pictured.  Sorry, honey!)

Yea, my hubby FINALLY made it into a photo!!!  He's amazing and very much a "keeper!"

Now for some stitching-related pictures!  I just HAD to take a little side-trip to the heavenly shop that is Shepherd's Bush!

I knew it was going to be amazing but it turned out to be AMAZING!!!!!

That's it for the pictures of Shepherds bush, I was just too excited to get busy shopping!  The shop had so much stitchy goodness.  I'd love to be able to name my favorite section, but there was just too much that I loved to just pick one....

I  had to put in this picture of the "and a baby", our grandson, Jackson!!    So hard to believe how fast he is growing.  It was so much fun getting to spoil him and spend precious days with him.  He's our all-time favorite Atlanta Braves fan!

That's it for the boring family photo's, although you might see one or two (or 12 and a baby!) of my nearest and dearest pictured in my next post of the more "touristy" stops that we made.

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - May

Hi there, friends!

Sorry I have sort of "abandoned" my blog for a bit of time.  The family and I took an extended trip to see our entire family and I just didn't think it was a good idea to let it be known that we were going to be abandoning the homestead for a while.

All that to say, I have some pretty nifty stash to share this month.  The good news is that I received some  nice gift cards and a generous amount of money for mother's day, so I didn't spend any of "my" money on my goodies!  ZERO spent form Stitch from Stash money!!

We all decided to meet up in Utah because it's centrally located between where everyone lives (except us!).  Anywho, while I was there, we made a trip to the WONDERFUL shop  - Shepherds Bush!!!
(I'll share MUCH more about my trip in later posts!)
So, here are my treasures from SB...

 Seriously, how cute is this little pin and how gorgeous are the bows that they tied the bag with?

I bought "Count Your Blessings" by La-D-Da

 My Daughter-In-Love picked this one for me to stitch; she said it described me perfectly.

"Silly" by Lizzie Kate

  Mill Hill beads for an Alexandra Adelaide Christmas Tree Pattern

 A scissor sitter.  My scissors are constantly trying to hide from me.

 A pretty Silk 'n Colors Thread.  I love the colors and have a certain freebie in mind to stitch with this floss.

 My sons picked this out for me.  I can't decide whether to wear it or frame it!

I spent $65+ during my wonderful visit.  (I also bought my daughter in love a beginners kit from Shepherds Bush.  I think we just might have a new stitcher in training!!)

As I've said, I had a blast wandering around the Shepherds Bush store.  Saying that Shepherds Bush is a stitcher's paradise seems almost like an under-statement!  Terri was awesome to meet in person!  She even offered brownies to my boys and gently suggested that they might have more fun looking at the train depot down the street than hanging around watching me fondle fabrics, charts and floss.  (God bless her!!  lol)  The guys loved the train depot and I actually finished before they were ready to leave!

So, since I had saved up all the money that I have received from holidays that was specifically earmarked for "stitching money", "techically", I didn't dig into my stitch from stash money.
I could have bought MUCH MUCH more from Shepherds Bush but honestly, Stitch from Stash has really helped me focus in on what I really LOVE (not on what I just "like") and realistically think that I can stitch in my lifetime. 

Here's hoping that you're all well!

Hugs and Grace,
Sharon

Stitch from Stash - April

Time once again to check in with my stitch from stash report.  I "kind of" fell off the wagon again this month but I feel like this purchase was "needful".  :)   My wonderful #5 son asked his sweet and beautiful girlfriend to be his bride and she said yes!  Therefore, this mama had to go into wedding sampler mode.  I searched around and found this little gem.  I'm not normally a "kit" girl, but this one matched my  dear eventual daughter-in-love's  chosen wedding colors really nicely, so I pulled out ye olde visa card and purchased it.  Aren't weddings such happy occasions to stitch for?
(Keeping count?  3 sons are married, 1 is engaged and 2 who are laser-focused on college),    :)

,

I'm planning on blinging this up a bit by adding lots of pearls and beads.  This will be a nice change-up of colors from all the grays and browns from my wolf.  (Exciting news to come on that front shortly!)

I spent $16.19 for the kit, which means that I stayed under the monthly limit for  my SFS budget.  Woot - woot!!!

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon

I think we'll name her "Puffs"**

So, Shelby was happily dozing on our bed.  We left sleeping puppy to her sweet slumber and went to the family room to watch a movie.  About 10 minutes later, hubby walks in to check on said puppy. Through hysterical laughter, he said, "grab your camera".  I was ready for a huge puppy mess.  Instead, I was met with this....goofy puppy has box of tissues on her head.  Funny thing was, she was wagging her tail, not acting like anything was different.  I said "Shelby, what have you done?"  She looked up at me, tail still wagging, like she was saying "What????  Things are good here...nothing to see, move along."  LOL

We love this goofy little girl SO much!!!

Hope this makes you smile!

Hugs and Grace,
Sharon
(**  in case anyone from the company that makes "Puffs tissues" want a new advertising campaign, I'm thinking "Picky puppies choose Puffs".  Have your peeps call Shelby's peeps and we'll make a deal)   Hee hee

Stitch from Stash - March

Well, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later.  I fell of the "Stitch from Stash" wagon this month.  Yup, I caved...

Here are my purchased pretties...

 

Labyrinths and Inlays by Vickery Collections

CT2 by AAN

(I plan to stitch this design on a piece of dark blue fabric w/ white silk and beads that are already in my stash)

My grand total of damage this month is $15.25.  CT2 was $8.50 and Labyrinths was $6.75.

 

Once my wolf gets finished (I still have a boatload of back-stitching to do!), it will be fun to start something new!

 

Hugs and Grace,

*Sharon

Stitch from Stash - February

This has been another "no spend" month for me.  I'm REALLY hoping that before too long, I'll have my wolf finished and then, I'll be treating myself to some NEW stash!  I have some $ that I got for Christmas/My birthday and I'll be very happy to stimulate the stitching economy.   :)
(I've trained my peeps well - they know that I LOVE stash money/gift cards for special occasions.)

Hugs and Grace,
*Sharon