Stitching Exchanges Recived

Here are 2 exchanges I received in the mail in the past 7 days. The 1st is a Lizzie Kate scissor fob from Kathy K. She even sent these adorable peacock scissors. I just love both items and all those stitches are over 1. Beautiful!

The 2nd item I received was from April. This was the Summer House exchange over at HOE. April made me a pin keep and used the most adorable buttons on this. Thanks to both of these ladies for a great exchange!

Susan

Giveaway At P.S. i Ouilt

Check out this giveaway that Rachel and the Fat Quarter are offering. http://rachel-griffith.blogspot.com/

Check out this Giveaway

Kim's giving away a Charmed Gift Bag...check it out at: http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/

This is what I've been up to lately...plus a quilting/sewing question

To start with here are some photo's of the Lizzie Kate and HOE's Summer House exchanges that I made. I stitched part of LHN's Traveling Stitcher for my partner and decided to turn it into a stitching bag [summer house]. For the LK exchange I did Stitching Friends and made it into a pillow. In the following photos you can see the close ups and back of the pillow.

Next, I have been blog hopping lately and have found a bunch of wonderful blogs about quilting. First I found Moda Bake Shop and they have a bunch of projects that are so easy to understand that I figure ok I can do this and here is my 1st attempt. This is my version the grocery bag dispenser by Rachel at p.s. i quilt I had to shorten it by a row since I had problems trying to quilt it with my sewing machine, but I'm happy with my 1st attempt[ I used some fabric I got at AC Moore since I didn't want to mess up any good fabric]LOL.

Now you need to understand that I have ALWAYS wanted to quilt I even made 1 small blanket for my DD when she was a toddler, but ever since I just didn't feel I could "do it". But with Rachel's help[ she kindly answered my questions about what I needed to get started] and Moda Bake Shop tutorials...not to mention their already cut fabrics I finally feel like I can give it a go. So, I went ahead and ordered some charm packs and am awaiting their arrival so I can

begin a larger project. Now for those of you out there who read this I would love your opinion on a quilting/sewing machine. Right now I have an older Euro-Pro machine which does not have a darning foot. I checked into it and my model doesn't offer one and am still checking to see if I can find a univeral darning foot that'll work on my machine. In the mean time I'm making do...my machine sews fine, so any quilting will have to wait unless I just want to quilt in the ditch or quilt straight lines. I have been checking online for different machines and have come across 2 that have quilting capabilites. They are the Brother XL-3750 and the Singer Confidence Quilter 7469Q. The Brother is less than $150.00 and the Singer around $400.00 . I would love everyone's opinion as my DH has suggested this would be an easy XMAS present for me. I know there are lots of machines out there and I would appreciate all comments. I just don't want to spend too much, so $400.00 would probably be my limit. Thanks for all your help.

And finally here's Anna's RR. I actually did her RR agead of schedule, since it's so small. She just asked us to complete a small section of her wreath. I stitched from the yellow flower on the left hand side down to the blue[next to the empty space]. That way Georgena who stitches on this next only has a small section to stitch since she's been asked to do all the backstitching. So, now I'm back on track and am steadily working on Jackie's RR, which has more details to stitch.

Till next time...

Susan

Happy 4th of July and other stuff

Well, the big concert didn't happen. Seems DH got an email yesterday that it was postponed due to a band members injury. We did tell the kids, so now we'll have to wait till they reschedule to see...Aerosmith. So, with nothing scheduled for today I took the opportunity to finally frame a RR I've had hanging around here for years. I just love how this piece turned out. It was a band sampler RR and I had included tons of Just Nan charts that the different bands were taken from. I don't know why it took me so long to frame it, as I've had the frame and foam board cut for a couple years, though I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted a mat or not. Finally, I decided it looked good enough without the mat. So, it's now proudly hanging in my front hallway.
On the stitching front..I received these 4th of July squares from Ruth yesterday. Aren't they just perfect?! She said she took the idea from of LHN's Abigail Winslow.

On the RR front..I made some progress on the 12 person RR I'm in. This RR was supposed to have been completed 2 years ago, but several of the projects got held up at one lady's house. I finally received 3[including mine] in the mail in May. This RR is Patti's. Her theme is Portraits of the Wild Life. I stitched the Ptarmigan. I taken photo's of my section and the whole project. So, next week I'm mail this off to the last person to stitch on it before it gets mailed home to Patti.

So, now I'm busy stitching on my HOE Summer House exchange and I have a list of stitching I need to complete by the end of August. I have the weekend off and then next saturday I start my next class. I want to thank everyone for their comments about my stitching and life. I appreciate all your words of support. The stitching community is just GREAT! So, many wonderful and helpful people who share a passion for stitching like I do. And finally, I Wish Everyone A Safe and Fabulous 4th of July!

Till next time,

Susan

Finally some photos to share

Well, I finally have some photos to share of what I've been up to. 1st are pictures of a RR I'm in. Barbara's theme is snowmen, so I stitched the one holding the birds. I enjoyed doing this in the summer heat, plus I changed things up a bit and choose my own colors for the vest, scarf and bird. I think it turned out nicely. The snowman was taken from a design by Lois Winston called Some of my Friends that was published in the Feb. 2009 issue of The Cross Stitcher. The snowman RR has now flown from my house to the next stitcher's.

2nd- These are the round #13 F & S squares I stitched for Kathy A. I picked a CCN chart from The JCS 2006 Ornament issue. Once again I changed the colors slightly by using some GAST colors I had, as well as DMC.

And finally these are Lizzie Kate squares that Jayne stitched for me for another F & S round. Somehow they got lost in the shuffle and I forgot to post a photo of them. Thanks so much Jayne I just love them.

School- On the school front I started my 2nd course for the medical billing certification. Am doing this as quickly as possible, with the hopes of starting a new career in the next year...since both my children will be in high school and don't need me hovering as much:) The 2nd class is Intro to Medical billing and I'm taking it over 3 saturdays from 9am-3:30pm. I have completed the first 2 classes and have my final one this coming saturday. So, far so good..it's very interesting and I'm "getting" the material quite easily. My 3rd course starts 2 weeks after the 2nd one ends. That one is called Computerized Medical Billing and also runs for 3 saturdays from 9am-2:30pm. Another marathon day. After that I'll just have the HIPPA and Intro to Coding classes to take. Unfortunately, they aren't available till the Falls session at the college. But I feel good about my progress and hopes for a future job that I'll work year round versus the part time job I have now that I only work for 9 1/2 months and only get paid when I work/no holidays or insurance.

Family/Fun- Last friday we[my husband and I] took our 2 teenager down to Wolftrap, VA for a concert. We kept it a surprise till the day we went. We went to see The Rain Experience. A Beatles tribute band. The kids had a great time, as did we. They were awsome and we'd definetly go see them again. Next week we have tickets to another concert, but we haven't told the kids who yet, so I can't share till they know. But I know the kids will be excited, as are my husband and I.

So, I quess that's all I have to share for now. Till the next time....

Susan

PS Exchange/ F & S Squares

A busy week for me. My last serve day was friday, so I only have to work a 1/2 day on monday to shut down the school kitchen and then I'm out of a job still school starts back up in September. On a good note I received 2 packages in the mail this week! YEAH! The 1st package contained my PS exchange from Rebecca. I just love it and can't wait to hang it in my entrance way.

The 2nd package was my Round #13 squares from Kathy A. She stitched me some summery flowers. Very Pretty! Don't know how I'll finish these up yet. I'm accumulating a pile of sqaures. Need to set aside a day to do some finishing only.

An finally I found out Ruth B. received the 4th of July sqaures I stitched for her. So, I can now show a photo of what I stitched. This chart is from Val's Little Stuff called Long May She Wave.

So, n ow I'm off to my son's ball game. Have A Great Week!

Susan