End of the year already..........

My oh my!!!! I can't believe it's the end of the year already and Sleeping Beauty and Mother's Arms are still waiting to get off the WIP's list in my sidebar....

Happy New Year all and thanks for visiting and commenting as much as you did! I so appreciate it! I have a few pictures to share this post. So here goes...

The first is of our Christmas tree which we managed to finish decorating on Christmas morning. I am so pleased with it and find myself just staring at it especially at night with the lights on! and I am glad we did up the tree! It makes Christmas extra special. I made a special dinner including pecan pie and we celebrated by ourselves which was so sweet since it was our first time being home and celebrating together. Dh did confess that it felt weird not being around a lot of people but it made it special. We opened presents Christmas night along with Storm. She liked her biscuits but was slightly put off by the size of this rawhide....it's peanut butter flavored and she has yet to touch it.... She usually loves peanut butter flavored treats.....Behind her you can see my craft bag and basket of cross-stitch.......

I have made significant progress on Cinderella sampler having completed the border all around and I looked at it again and really love this piece!!! I was given the great idea of personalizing it for my DH and me as a wedding piece and that's what will happen. I am going to put our initials in the box at the top with the year we started dating and on the bottom the date of our wedding!!!! It'll make more sense when you see it all done! Here are some updated pictures without the completed border. I just finished that tonight after working today. I find that even if I put a few stitches in it relaxes me after working 12 hrs..... and I am halfway done already!!!! The fabric is a Silkweaver solo 36ct and is just perfect! The border was off by one but unless you look closely or know where to look you wouldn't be able to tell. But I am sure some of you will be able to tell.........Amazingly I am okay with it and since it's for me and DH it'll work!

I hope everyone has their New Years starts all kitted up!!!! I have mine almost all together...I will do that later today. My start is still Holly by Nora Corbett . My fabric is Boo opalescent 32ct by Silkweaver. Well I'm off to bed now I have Pilates at 8am and then it's off to SP for stitching and then another quiet night with DH. I am working New Years Day so our celebrating will be low key.

I am grateful for family and friends and the joy they bring to my life........

With a week to spare

Amazing as this is...my third post in 2 days or so. But I have good reasons!!!!! First I must say thanks to all who commented and wished the Christmas spirit to visit! It seems that I was not alone in my lack of Christmas spirit!!!! It is getting hold of me slowly but surely! Dh and I went and got our tree last night and I am starting the decorating tonight!!! First the white lights tonight and then tomorrow the ornaments which we will put on together! We are stitching tomorrow at SP but only for a few hours or so. I am liking the idea of decorating on Christmas Eve!!! I may have stumbled on a new tradition for hubby and me! I am planning Christmas dinner as well along with another pecan pie.....might have to get some vanilla ice cream too!!!! I want to have a quiet day with DH since in years past we were either rushing to NY for a few days or going to a friends house. We never had just a quiet celebration so I am looking forward to that!!!! Then it's off to the movies to see Marley and me!!!! I have always always wanted to go to the movies on Christmas day it just seemed so decadent!!!!!! Maybe another tradition. Thank you all again for the well wishes and friendship!!!!

Now I have my final finish of 2008!!!! Yes CdC is done as of 2am this morning!!!!! Here are the pictures I took last night under my Ott light!!!! and and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you say love!!! I am totally in love with this finish!! It is such an accomplishment! It is done on 32ct Silvery Moon linen using The Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors in Desert Sunset!!!!! I llove the color variation that it acheived!!!! I have already submitted it to Tracy at Ink Circles to be added to her Cercles page!!!!! And since I always sign my pieces but didn't want to ruin the line at the bottom I found the perfect spot within the design to sign it!!!! Can you find it??? I've already added it to my sidebar 2008 finishes!!!!!

Now I'm off to decorate the tree and have a cup of tea.

PS dear Storm is now confused as to why a tree is in the house but is being good about it!!!!

I am grateful for friends near and far online and off.......

Mery Merry Happy Happy

I truly can't remember not feeling the Christmas spirit this badly in a very long while......I love Christmas but this year just seems to be leaving me blah. I spent a very lazy day yesterday not moving from the house and today I must get things done! We are planning on getting our tree this evening but even that doesn't excite me. I must shake this mood. I think my mother's visit just exhausted me plus the unusual snow we had...it was my first time driving in it! I never had a car in NY ..I took mass transit everywhere so it was unnerving to actually drive in it. But on to better things....

I received a most lovely gift from Sally for her recent blogaversary and here it is.....

I absolutely love it!!!!! The chocolate was so delicious and is gone though I did share with DH! More pictures......
and The finishing is perfect and everyone at my wednesday stitching group was in love with it also!!!!!

Now some pictures of our snow here in Las Vegas....and yes my dear Storm is confused and eventually refused to go out at all. I always wondered how she'd react and now I know!!!
"What is this white stuff and why is it in my yard!!!" I believe that what she must have been thinking....




This is of the front of our house...the flakes were huge!!!


The last picture is of my patio and pool including the firepit...just completely covered in the white stuff!!!! Let's remember I moved to sunny Las Vegas to get away from the snow and cold!!!!!





Now if you are still with me ...I have an annoucement!!! I thank all who voted in my poll to decide my Jan 1st start but I changed my mind once again. It is going to be Holly by Nora Corbett I received the perfect fabric for her from my Silkweavers FOTM . It is an opalescent lugana called Boo..... The reason for this change of heart was simply that I have too many BAP's already going and was afraid of feeling overwhelmed...which may explain a lot these days......So Holly will be my new start...going to get the threads today!!!!

In case I don't get to post again before the big day...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!! Stay safe and warm and may your needle fly through your fabric!!!!!




I am grateful for our fireplace ......

My Ideal tree!

First I want to say Thank you for all of the well wishes and good thoughts for my upcoming surgery!!! Thank you all so very much! This truly is a wonderful community which I am blessed to be a part of !!!!! My surgery is scheduled for this tuesday at 7am (PST). I am not feeling so nervous about it at the moment which is a good thing I guess! Part of the reason maybe because my niece and two of her friends are visiting and we are just having fun!!! Although tonight I must admit that I am feeling my age! They invited me out to the "clubs" with them but all I truly wanted to do was to come home and get into my pj's and stitch.......does that make me old???? LOL. Oh and I want to add that my niece just loves Daisy!!! She noticed the hand dyed material right away and was speechless!!!!! I am absolutely thrilled that she had the reaction that she did!!!!!!

Today I took down our real Christmas tree. It is always so sad to take the tree down but I really wanted to do it before the surgery as I need to rest and recover afterwards. And the tree was looking sad and so dry that I had no choice. But all is done with the help of my niece. But I found my ideal tree a Pink one! DH thinks I'm crazy but I truly want an all pink Christmas tree! Here it is .....I am hoping for next Christmas and the cleanup will be so much easier!!! What do think....nice isn't it!!!!!!

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I am grateful for so much ....not really sure where to begin.....

A Finish

It seems like Christmas rolls around faster and faster every year! In addition I'm working what seems like nonstop through Christmas and New Years......there is a reason but I know I didn't schedule myself that way but I must remind myself that it's just a "wishlist". I keep saying to myself that I will get through it and then my niece is visiting from New York for 4 days!!!!! She is bringing 2 friends along and I am off the whole time !!!!!!! I am thrilled about her visit since this year we aren't going to New York for Christmas. Our tree is up and I just have a few stocking stuffers to get and then the wrapping and I am done! Here's a picture of our tree...

And I am thrilled to report that I have finished Daisy in just a month!!!!! Which is really good since I got her to the framer's in time to have her framed for my niece when she visits!!!!! Here she is and another The fabric is lighter and brighter IRL. It's a Silkweaver Solo and I added 2 crystal beads to her hands!!!! I really loved working on her. I picked a silvertone frame and no matting. I'll be sure to take a picture when I pick her up from the shop!

I will post again before Christmas and until then everyone be safe and get some well needed rest!!!!

I am grateful for the goodness in my life.........

:( No pictures.....

It seems I manage to post weekly..not good!!! So tonight's will be short since I am aching to stitch! I want to thank everyone for their kind and thoughtful sentiments over the last few weeks! We may not have met in person but I cherish each and everyone of you as a dear and genuine friend! And I know when I come here that the love and support is so amazing that I am astounded! I feel so lucky to "know" so many of you! I may not be commenting the way I should or even want to but know that I am reading your blogs faithfully!



I went to stitching group at SP today as is usual for my Wednesday and once again I had so much fun! I definitely feel the love and support there! And of course I came home with stash.......no surprise there!!!! I actually got a chart that fits a piece of my fotm club Ptplus material !!! I am working on 4-5 designs in a really loose rotation basically what or who calls my name the loudest. Today it was a Christmas tree that I have yet to get a picture of ......I will take one this weekend. It's done on 40ct linen supposed to be 1 over 1 but I knew it would remain a UFO so I am working it 1 over 2 and loving every minute of it! A picture will be coming soon so stay tuned!!!!



I am grateful for my friends and the joy they bring me ..........