Slugging away...

Happy Friday, Friends!!!
Another week flies by....and here we are to the weekend. This weekend we will be celebrating my in-law's 40th Anniversary. And I've been running to and fro gathering the items needed for the cake table and ingredients for the punch I'm making....busy, busy, busy. I think it will be a nice day though and we are looking forward to going "home" and visiting with each of our families.

This week....
I did finish my wool fall table runner:

Fall Runner

Designer: Lois Griffith

wool applique using hand dyed wools

Isn't it pretty? I love it! I have it on the table in our entry way with my Prairie Schooler "When Witches Go Riding" framed piece and my La-D-Da "Something Wicked" framed piece flanking each side. It makes me happy to walk past and see the pretty things I've made with my own little paws :)

What else have been up to?
Well I've been busy learning another needlecraft! I just went ahead and bit the bullet and purchased some CTR punch needles and got busy to the learning part. Self teaching is definitely teaching on the "curve" I don't have anything that I want to show you yet...but I must say there is something satisfying in the sound and motion of the "punching" :) Sort of gets your aggression out!

I've also...
looked into possibly doing a wool applique quilt. Now I'm just looking, but the results I've seen on some of the wool quilts makes it pretty doggone tempting. But I'm just in the "thinking about" stages right now. We'll see if I hit the "add to cart" button any time soon ;)

I guess...
that sums up my life over the past week....there's been more, like swabbing the deck (that is now dirty again) and I washed the windows (put they have little finger prints on them already), oh and there were toilets that were scrubbed and polished and beds made, clothes folded...but alas it seems to be a never ending cycle....

In the meantime...
Thank you so much for your friendship and visits! I was overcome with all the nice things said about my Prairie Schooler finish :) I'll be round to your blogs as much as I can in the upcoming days....so keep up the inspiring work!

Until Next time...
Love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours! XXxxxx

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
~~Colossians 3:14~~

Witches and Wool

Hello my dear friends!....
and may you be enjoying a bright and bonny Friday with a wonderful weekend ahead! I have lots of good things to share with you today, so I'm going to cut to the chase and get right to it. This morning at 7 a.m. I put in the last stitches on my Prairie Schooler Design. I framed it up and here it is (pictures are clickable):

Prairie Schooler's "When Witches Go Riding"

Stitched on: 28 ct. Days Go By Linen by Silkweaver

Stitched with: DMC cotton as called for

Framed using Jill Rensel custom designed mats

Pretty smack dab awesome isn't it?!

I'm just thrilled to BITS with how it turned out!!!! I knew as soon as I saw these mats last year on the Bush Blog that I was going to get them. I saved up some Christmas $$$ - I don't usually buy fripperies for myself, rather for my hobby and home - and in February of this year I've had them awaiting my stitching the sampler. I'M. IN. LOVE. with this finish. Last Halloween 2008, I was in love with my La-D-Da's "Something Wicked" finish and frame....this year, I'm in love with my "Witches Go Riding" and the Jill Rensel Mats....PERFECTION!

Remember I told you.....

last time, that I was having a "Mommy's Weekend" at Celebrate Fiber in Terre Haute, IN? Well that was FUN! My Mama and I took a wool applique class and we had a B-L-A-S-T! My Mama's even ordered TWO more kits to come knocking on her door soon....Penny Rugs and Wool Applique are another passion of mine. I think I'm going to learn next to rug hook and needlepunch. Anyway....I don't believe that cross stitch will ever be unseated as my one true love, but these other needlework traditions are also something that call to me :) Here's my Fall Wool Table Runner as it stands today:

I have both sides completed, now I'm just adding the special embroidery stitches to make it all shine!

Like the outline stitch here on the petals of the sunflower....

I also used the outline stitch for the "ridges" on the pumpkin and the chain stitch as the curly-que vines....

the full sunflower....

a leaf with the blanket stitch and outline stitch....the stems are triple running stitches...

To finish this runner, I have to finish all the embroidery stitches, cut out pennies for the end, sew them together, tack them on and then sew on the backing ....then....viola! It shall be finished. I think I'm getting pretty good at wool applique, plus I like it....know what else I've been thinking abou? ...designing my own wool applique penny rug....in fact, I've already drawn out a design....hmmmm.....we'll see!

What's up for the weekend?...

work at the hospital. But I hope to squeeze in some stitching time for myself. I've gotten myself into a couple of personal exchanges, so I need to get hauling some rear on those. Well I better get my patootey off this computer and do some housework, or else my husband will fire me.

Until the next time my friends...

Love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from Our House to Yours!

XXxxxx

Look for heaven here on earth....

it is all around you.

~author unknown~

Whatcha doin'?

Hello Friends!
Time keeps slip slidin' away, doesn't it? My heaven's it seems like I just *blink* and slam bam its Friday...We've had lots of stuff going on over the past week, so I'll get right to the highlights! ;)

Katie....
and her Fast Pitch Softball team won Fall League Championship! I was happy for her as the Summer League team was runner up in Championships this past summer. Although according to her - she "sucked..." last Saturday during the games (she attended a sleep over the night before and her Daddy had to pick her up at 8:00 a.m. to get to the field on time). They played a double header. So being that she "sucked" in her own words, I asked her if the officials during the award ceremony announced her like this, "...and Katie Pfeiffer, who sucked and really doesn't deserve a trophy...will get one anyway." She just laughed at me and posed for her picture...

I've been....
working hard on my Prairie Schooler in betwixt working and driving to and fro around town after the babes....

Not much...

more to go! And wait till you see the frame....oh you'll flip!

"When Witches Go Riding"

By the Prairie Schooler

28 ct. Silkweaver's "Days Gone By" linen

DMC Threads

This weekend....

for the first time in 6 years, this Mama is having a "girls weekend"!!! In Terre Haute, Indiana (about 1.5 hours west of Bloomington), there is a Celebrate Fiber weekend at Sycamore Farm! I'm going and my Mama is going to meet me up there. We're spending the night even! WHOO HOO! We're taking a Wool Applique Class with Lois Griffith (who is a local artisan) and we're making a Fall Table Runner (penny rug). In fact it is this one designed especially for this event!

That's...

pretty doggone exciting isn't it?! I'm just tickled to bits over it! A real night away :) Cool beans! And....guess who's having a booth there at the event? Stacy Nash.... I told my husband to withdraw some money and hand it over quietly and with a smile on his face - Mama's goin' to town!

That does it for me this week.....

I'll be back with a weekend report and hopefully a framed "When Witches Go Riding..."

Until next time....

love and best wishes, as you count your blessings and your stitches, from our house to yours!

XXxxxx

Anything, everything, little or

big becomes an adventure when

the right person shares it.

~Kathleen Norris~

Little Flower...

This post isn't about stitching, but it is about someone and something that makes me "who I am".

When I was a little girl growing up my most favorite Saint was St. Therese of Lisieux. I remember a Nun telling me about the "Little Flower of Jesus" and from thence on, I prayed for her intercession in my life. St. Therese's life was short only 24 years, however she packed so much into that 24 years that I imagine she beat most that would live to 100.

She believed in "little ways". Just little things that she could do to help others. A smile, a kind word, service unto others, joy, humility in the face of anger and bias, basically anything that she could do to help the day of another fellow human being. She wrote:

"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

Today (Oct. 1) is St. Therese's feast day in the Catholic calendar. Today we honor St. Therese as the person she was while here on earth. We lay our eyes on her visage and remember that she was just a human being - just as I (and you) am a human being and what I do during my time here on earth means something and can mean something to someone else too. Little ways....we all have the ability to do these things for ourselves and others. This isn't just for the "believers", it is for all of us. Little ways (little acts of kindness) are something for us all. Little ways.....practice them. They've made a difference in my life. And the next time you unexpectedly receive a flower or see a flower and comment on its beauty ~ think about it....it may be St. Therese's "little way" to you.

"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy; in a word, something noble, supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it to God.... I have not the courage to look through books for beautiful prayers.... I do as a child who has not learned to read, I just tell our Lord all that I want and He understands."

~St. Therese~