My Bourse

I finally did it. Made a bourse. Not sure I'm happy with how it turned out, but now that I know how to do it, I can make another one and omit the obvious mistakes. The fabric I chose was beautiful but unsuitable for this project. It was a patchwork fabric, with a lot of seams, which made it difficult to construct the bourse, and it doesn't gather very well.

The sampler inside was inspired by Shepherd's Bush Pretty Pincushion but I changed it all around, added specialty rows and special stitches, more hearts, even a Rhodes heart in the middle. I picked all my favorite colors of silk and really enjoyed the stitching part. The sewing part, not so much. Its been so long since I sat in front of the machine that I got a bit rusty. As I have a ton of leather scissor sheaths to sew up, I'd better get some practice in.

So, what do YOU think?

Sharing My Gifts

After looking at several blogs which featured gifts the writers had received, I thought I'd do the same. NO, I'm not going to photograph every single gift that I got, just a few special ones.

Most of you don't know that hubby and I collect Boyd's Bears and Hares. This year, we got 4 new ones to add to the collection. Isn't the orangutan cute? His name is Hank. Our eldest son found him. Also from our eldest was a box of stitching tools, which I think are wonderful.

The grandchildren know that Grama loves snowmen. So, everyone of them got me a snowman, of one kind or another. One was a snowman coffee cup which is not pictured.

But, I think one of my favorite gifts was this teddy bear. It was a gift from the eldest son's girlfriend and its a build a bear. She came all dressed up in a lovely red dress with ruby shoes, but came prepared for daily life with this really cute denim skirt, tee shirt and jacket. Looks like she's ready to go for a ride in the truck, doesn't she?

My sister made me a lovely beaded necklace which I'll post about later.

Biscornu # 2

This is my second attempt to make a tuffet, or biscornu. I hope I am spelling that correctly. It was a fun stitch, a design by Indigo Rose, called Mary's Pin Pillow. Took me about three days to stitch and finish. This one was quite a bit easier than the first one, being so much larger. It's not perfect, I found a mistake while attaching the tassels, but I'm proud of it. What do you think?

Next project? I think, finish Jingle and then get busy with some framing should be in order. With January half over, I can breathe a sigh of relief and do what ever I want to do. I'm hoping for a bit of snow, so I can cozy in and stitch by the fire. Not too much snow, with dh on the road, and ds driving to work every day. I want them to be safe, but seeing a bit of white covering the drab grasses still left over from autumn would be really nice. The world looks so new and clean with a light blanket of snow.

Thanks for reading, and I hope all of you are snuggling in by the fire with your stitching, too. Until next time. . . . . . . . .

A Very Small Finish

My very small finish is Shepherd's Bush " Snow for All". The kit came with Heatherfield Stardust, 10 count and cotton floss. Since I love snowmen, I just had to do this one. But working on the Heatherfield just doesn't do anything for me so I opted to work a second "Snow for All" on 32 count linen with the same cotton floss. It made up small enough to make into a scissor fob. Couldn't find a mitten charm/button small enough so I had to substitute a little heart charm/button. I think it turned out really cute. What do you think?

A Brand New Year

It's been nearly two months since I've updated this blog--head hung low in shame. Why, you might ask? It's been crazy around here, starting just after I last wrote. That was two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Just after my last post, hubby and I headed for Cleveland, Tennessee, so he could sign on with a new company. It was supposed to last two days. It ended up lasting five days. I packed for two, of course, and what's a woman to do, when she runs out of clothing? Just had to buy more. We had a good time even though the weather was terribly rainy and dismal. We arrived home on Friday, and I was glad to be there.

That Sunday, I was told about company coming for Thanksgiving, in three days! And it was going to be overnight company. We'd just been gone nearly a week, the house was a wreck, and I hadn't bought the turkey. The rush was on. By Wednesday night, the house was clean, the turkey was defrosting and we were waiting on our company.

Jump to the day after Thanksgiving, and I realize, three weeks until Christmas and I haven't started shopping at all. And. . . . . I have five grandchildren. And hubby just started a new job and paychecks won't start for at least a week. Of course, I panic. So, the rest of the month of December was a blur, a rush, and I don't remember hardly any of it. That might be a blessing. Made it through to Christmas morning, the kids were all happy with their gifts, and grinning when they left. My house was once again a huge disaster but this time, I didn't care. Well, not much anyway. Shopping started the day after Christmas for family gifts, as we were leaving that Thursday for Holland, Michigan. Hubby wasn't working that week so we headed for the most incredible shop for gifts that I've ever been in, the D Shoppe in Wabash, Indiana. That wonderful lady that runs the shop even wrapped the gifts for me, for FREE!

Now the holidays are over, its time to sit back, reflect on the year's happenings, the friends met, emails exchanged, projects stitched, and plan on the coming year. Oh, wait, the new year is already here. And that brings me to my favorite subject--stitching. With all the holiday comings and goings, I've not had a lot of time to stitch and actually get anything done. I knitted 10 hats and three scarves for gifts. I've started three different kits, but until today, hadn't finished one stitching project. Here it is, my finished Vintage Red Whitman Set, designed by Fancy Works. It's also my first biscornu.