Stitchers Box with Pinkeep

Debbi contacted me and let me know that she received the exchange I made for her for the USEBB Easter Exchange. I made her a Stitchers Covered Box with a Pinkeep in the lid. This is my own original design :)

Design: Prairie Schooler ~ April Bunny ~ Prairie Year
Fabric: Hand stained 28 ct. linen
DMC Fibers my own Color combination
Box lined inside/outside with padded bottom inside

Pinkeep Inside Lid *closed*

Pinkeep inside lid *open*

Outside Beaded fringe embellishment

I had a good time figuring a plan out for this one :) I sure do hope that Debbi enjoyed her first exchange with us on the USEBB board. I wanted to do something original and special for her because this was her first exchange! If anyone is interested in the tutorial on this Stitchers Box...please go HERE!

Thanks again for all my visitors and comments!! I love reading them all and am so happy that you take time to come and visit me! Please come again soon! Until next time.....BIG {{hugs}} to you all!!!

RAK'd by Donna!!

Hello Everyone and Happy Hump Day!!

First off: Do you know Donna? You really need to go over and check her blog out. She's got a super personality and it shines throughout her posts :) She recently was asking on her blog if anyone knew which designer did the freebie "Groundhog Day" because she really liked it. Well I happened to know it was Waxing Moon Designs and I had it so I snail mailed it to her a week or so ago. No biggie - just wanted to help out a fellow stitcher. Well you can imagine my surprise when I went to the mailbox yesterday and found this:

It was a Random Act of Kindness from Donna because I had taken the time to send her a pattern that she asked about...isn't that sweet? She sent me a cute little kit called "How Does Your Garden Glow?" It has litte fireflies all along the top...CUTE! And then she sent me a piece of linen and the Marchblows Snapper from Bent Creek! WOW! Sure wasn't expecting anything like this and it was so darn nice of Donna to do that for me. Go on over and give her a "Howdy-doo!", she's a sweetie :)

Next Up: Home of a Needleworker ~ Here it is in all it's glory....I'm still kind of up in the air about the looks of my changes...but I think it will be ok once its all finished. *maybe*...

Designer: Little House Needleworks Fabric: 28 ct. evenweave

Threads: DMC as charted

Changes: instead of the alphabet I put "When this you see..." and then Prov. 31:13

The little flower with leaves on either side of the sayings....is from another Diane Williams pattern from long ago....and I stiched 1 over 1 on those flowers and the Prov. verse.

Then I started:

Designer: Hillside Sampling ~ "Be You To Others"

Fabric: 28 ct - Antique Lace linen

Threads: DMC as charted; stitching 1 over 1

I don't know what it is about this sampler....honestly, I really don't but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it from the Nashville releases. I'm going to be putting a picture up in my sidebar hopefully of it soon...but I just really *really* love it. Some of you may be asking what's up with all the 1 over 1? Well I have found a new stitching friend inSusan. She is a stitching wizard and stitches the majority of her things 1 over 1. Her things are *Beautiful* I mean...wow!!, (as I wipe the slobber off my keyboard). You really need to go on over and give her a "Howdy-doo" too! So anyway, I found Susan's blog, or she found me, and then I went to hers :) ... and I was reading and looking at all her projects and they seemed small and so beautifully delicate...so I just brazenly e-mailed her and asked her if she stitched over 1. She kindly e-mailed me back and then we got to e-mailing and I found out her secrets ;) and off I went...thinking I could do the same thing......See the problem was: I was stitching over 1 with 2 threads...this, I felt, didn't allow the thread to "lay" right...and when I got done I always thought it looked sloppy. Well Susan told me she did it using 1 thread...well....so...
Now some of you may be thinking that "Hey I do over 1 with 1 thread all the time" and probably most do, however I asked at my LNS a couple of times do you do over 1 with 1 or 2 threads, they always told me 2. So I "thought" that was the way to do it....
But let me tell you ~ since I've been using 1 thread, I've found it to be: ECONOMICAL! WOW....you sure do get a lot of "bang" for your buck on overdyes, etc. and EASY!!! WOW!....I've never had so much fun stitching over 1 before!! So my best advice is: "give 'r a try"!

Well I guess that's all the foaming at the keyboard I have today....hopefully soon, I'll get some more stitching done and I'll have more to show! An exchange piece goes out this week...so I'll get to post about that sometime next week. Until the next time, {{{BIG}}} hugs my friends!

Easter Parade

Happy Wednesday! The Pfeiffer Clan has been a busy bunch the last four days! What I thought was going to be a quiet weekend turned into shopping/cleaning/cooking on Saturday, the Indianapolis Zoo and Indianapolis Gardens (the butterflies were hatching - very cool!) on Sunday...finally a"down" day on Monday - I watched 5 episodes of Grey's Anatomy...Man I LOVE this show! I've never watched it on television..I don't have time...rather I've bought season 1 & 2 and watch it when I get a chance. I'm addicted. I love George O'Malley and Dr. Burke, YUM-O! Anyway.... Monday I stitched while the kids romped outside with the neighborhood gang. Then Tuesday we went to the Indy Children's Museum, which I had already told you about. Two major attractions in three days means "Mommy's tail is drooping" on Wednesday.... But I've got to clean upstairs today...so I must get to it!

SO on to what I stitched on Monday....I purchased Easter Parade by Blackbird Designs thinking I would stitch it for an exchange. I did a floss toss and fell in love with the colors/fabric and design so much...I scrapped it for an exchange and stitched it for myself. I don't do that often, so I'm not going to feel bad about it. Here' s my progress so far:

WORK IN PROGRESS - Easter Parade by Blackbird Designs

Stitched on 28 ct. linen hand-stained by "me" using the baking and basting method

Threads: Called for WDW except I substituted English Heather for the purple/pink color rather than Berry Cobbler...I liked the Heather color better :)

In the picture it looks a little bit darker than what it really is...but I like the overall look of stained fabric with the colors/design...what do you think?!

Well that's all I have to share today, now it's off to changing bed sheets and scrubbing toilets...FUN-O!

Have a great rest of the week...maybe I'll squeeze some stitching in *hopefully* and get to share it on Friday....keep your fingers crossed ;)

Thanks for visiting me! Hugs until next time......

Friday Findings

Happy Friday! Thank HEAVENS it is here :)

I've got a newsy and picture filled post so without further ado....I'll get right to it.

Yesterday I saw the postman come so out I dashed of the house to get our mail. Lo and behold...inside was a package...I wasn't expecting anything...so what was it?! Well I saw it was from CAROL and I thought, "Now what would she be sending me? Well I ripped that puppy open and here it is....in ALL it's GLORY!

Pay It Forward Biscornu

Pattern Name: The Three Emblems

Designer: Papillon Creations

Fabric: Dirty Belfast

Thread: DMC Variations 4150 - Desert Sand

Now how special is that? Carol told me that "Yvonne" put it on her website. I had no clue who "Yvonne" was, but I thought I wonder if it is the desinger. So I popped right over to Papillon Creations and right under the Photo Gallery Heading about 3/4 of the way down the page are three pictures of Carol's exquisite cross stitching gifts. Two fobs and then my beautiful biscornu. How special is that?! My sincerest thanks Carol. I have envied all these people getting gifts from you and now I have my very own to display and slobber over :) THANK YOU dear friend :)

Ok, so now...what have I been up to the last week? Well wonder no longer....HERE is my Little House Needlework's rendition of Home of a Needleworker. For those of you that have stitched it you will see I continue to change just about everything on the pattern....what has made me so brazen....I'll never know, but I think it's looking rather good, myself...good thing, huh?!

You will notice that instead of the upper/lower case alphabets, I put the verse, "When this you see remember me." and then...I absolutely love the Proverbs verse 31:13 so I thought..."Why NOT?!" It's mine anyway....so I stitched over 1 the verse, "She seeks wool and flax and works willingly with her hands." I LOVE IT! You will see to the upper left between the two verses...I stitched, a small flower/leaves this is also stitched over 1 and comes from a motif on "Joy in the Journey" also from Diane Williams. I think it will look better once the vine below the crow is finished and I have the house on it. I may frog the When this you see... and stitch it over one too, I'm undecided as yet....

Finally, I was partnered with Cathy for the Robin's Nest Biscornu exchange. This is what I stitched up for her....

Biscornu Robin's Nest Exchange

Design: Freebie from Aurelle Overblog

Threads: DMC Varigated 50 - violet

Fabric: Lavender Mist Belfast

Finished with antique seed bead edging

I also sent Cathy some DMC threads from her wishlist including 4 of the threads that she had listed that were no longer available in Australia, plus a really pretty postcard of spring in Indiana.

Speaking of spring in Indiana...it has been a GLORIOUS week here! The sun has been shining brightly for the past 5 days! It's not all that warm, I think the highs have still been only in the 40's, lows in the 20's, but let me tell you...to have that sun shining on my face and through my windows is a blessing! I bet my daffodils at my old house is popping through the ground...I didn't get any put out last fall at our new house. So, I'll have to just live vicariously through other people's gardens this spring. Daffodils are my absolute favorite flower, along with peonys, hydrangeas and lilacs...all so pretty :) My 3 big kids are out of school next week for Spring Break. We're planning on going to the Indianapolis Children's Museum on Tuesday, and then I hope to take the kids to a couple of other local attractions to round out the week. It is my hope that I can stay in my PJ's at least 3 days of the upcoming 9 :) I don't have to work this weekend, so that will be at least 1 day in PJ's! AND I'm hoping to get a LOT of stitching done this next week. I need to finish up on quite a few exchanges :)

Well I again want to thank every single one of you for visiting my blog. I appreciate your visit and especially LOVE to read your comments. If you visit my blog, I put you on my bloglines and visit you too....that is why my bloglines is over 100 blogs :) Until next time, keep your head above water and put a great big smile on your face :) {{{hugs}}}

Biscornu for me!

Look at this lovely biscornu that Judith stitched for me in the Robin's Nest Biscornu Exchange.

side 1 of Biscornu

Judith does extremely lovely work and the design of this little Biscornu is just lovely :) It's the first one that I own too! I've made 2 Biscornu but I gave them away. So Judith's lovely biscornu is a welcome addition to my smalls :) She stitched it in one of my favorite colors too! I love greens/yellows/blues and this is a lovely sea foam type green. THANK YOU so much Judith for a lovely exchange!

side 2 of Biscornu

On a closing note: Thanks for all the kind words you had for the loss of my Uncle. He was a dear, kind man and will be sadly missed. It is comforting to know that so many people took the trouble to leave me a note. I appreciated them so much!