Busy, busy, busy...

This month has been very hectic. I am teaching two five week Human Anatomy and Physiology classes. The students are unbelievable though. Super smart and hard workers. It has been a lot of work, but very rewarding. This group will make very good nurses, radiology techs, etc. Also, I had to finish revising three chapters for our book. Got that finished Friday. So, I finally had a chance to do some stitching this weekend. I worked on the Pooh piece for one of the Cole's quilts. I am very close to finishing, hopefully will be done at the end of the week. I can't wait to start some new projects. Plus, I have a gift certificate to Shakespeare's Peddler, so I can't wait to spend that at her wonderful shop. Sorry for the long delay in posting. I hope to read all of the blogs and comment soon. This summer has just flown by and I still have two weeks of class.

We are home!!!

Patrick, Nicholas and Jennifer in the Box Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

Nicholas, Patrick and Hobbie at the top of Capulin, New Mexico

Hobbie in the pool at the Amarillo, TX campsite. Isn't he a hottie!

What a trip! We drove over 3000 miles, passed through 13 different states and took over 400 photos of the beauty of America. I love this country, but have a much better appreciation of how lucky I am to live here after seeing what a lovely country we have and the freedom to just drive, and drive, and drive some more. The boys had a great time and were very good the whole trip. Hobbie (my husband) and I are very lucky to have such well-behaved young men. We camped 6 of the eight nights and stayed in hotels the last two. Overall, it was such a wonderful vacation.


I did do some stitching. I completed a new project I purchased at Shakespeare's Peddler just before we left. It is HIH's Study Hard. Since I am an instructor at JCJC, I thought this would be great to hang in my office.


I also completed C and D in the Erica Michael's freebie series. I selected DMC colors to substitute for the RG threads and think they look really nice. I can't wait to complete the entire alphabet and make the sampler book.


Finally, I worked on a piece by Paula Vaughan. I love violets and the color purple. This piece is coming along slowly, but I think it will be so beautiful when I finish. The fabric is a solo piece from Silkweaver. The colors are perfect for the piece. I can't wait to finish it and hang it in my craft room. Speaking of which, I have to share some photos of my room soon.

It seems that I have missed quite a bit in the past week. I hope to catch up with reading all of my favorite blogs and making comments. I also need to check in with RR and exchange groups on yahoo. I have two notices in my mailbox for packages, so I assume these are from the yahoo groups. Of course, I have to wait until tomorrow to see.

Family Vacation

The guys and I are leaving this morning for our family road trip. We have loaded our little Scion xA down with camping equipment and we are off for a week's trip west. We are camping in Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, and Utah. Very exciting. I am taking lots of little projects to work on, so I should have some finished projects to show off when I get back.

A quick finish...

Isn't this a cute little project? I decided I wanted to do something that I could complete very quickly and use some of my new fabric while doing it. I had downloaded a bunch of Erica Michael's freebies off Rainbow Gallery web page last summer. I wanted to stitch the month charts and use them to make magnets for my refrigerator to hold a custom calendar with our families activities. So, I decided to start in the middle of the year and stitch July, since I can use it in a few weeks. The charts use Rainbow Gallery threads, which I do not have, so I changed it using the colors I had on hand. I stitched it on a piece of Silkweaver Dusty Blue linen (32 ct). I just received this piece last week in my Surprise Me! Fabric of the Month package. I love the fabric. It was very easy to stitch on and very soft.



I finished the piece as a magnet, backing it with some of the fabric I bought last week. It was really easy, but you can see that I need a little more practice to make it look perfect. This was a really fun project and I am really excited about completing the whole set.

The Beginning of a Fabric Stash

After looking at so many beautiful finished projects, particularly Becky's, I decided I needed to start collecting different fabrics that I thought would look good with some of the projects I hope to stitch soon. So, today, my mother and I went fabric shopping. We went to Hancock Fabrics, Hobby Lobby and Walmart. I picked out lots of different fabrics I thought were pretty and purchased a 1/4 yard of each. I also picked out a few from the remnants baskets. Luckily Hancock Fabrics and Hobby Lobby had calico prints on sale this week. I ended the day with 40 pieces of fabric and a few packs of buttons. I am so excited and can't wait to use these beautiful fabrics to finish some of the many stitching projects I have also collected.

I'm home... and received my May SS...

Well, I am home from a week's stay in San Diego, California. It was a wonderful trip, but it is so good to be home with my boys. I also was so happy to receive my wonderful package for the May SS exchange from Judy. She sent me some really nice items. I can't wait to stitch the LK Christmas pattern. I also am excited about using the different threads that she sent. Thank you, Judy.

Also, I was happy to get home to read everyone's blogs. I didn't take any stitching with me because I knew there wasn't any time. I was going through major withdrawals. I really needed some inspiration to get me going again. Becky always has the ability to awe and inspire me with her creativity. Other blogs that frequently visited (list to the right) also had many wonderful projects to show and inspire. Thanks ladies. Hopefully, I will have some stitching pictures to show later in the week.

California-bound

Hi everyone! I am going to be out of pocket for the next week. I am going to a conference in San Diego. I was really excited about it earlier this year, but now I just want to stay home with my boys. They completed the school year today and I am leaving tomorrow. Of course, since they are spending the week at the grandparents, they are really excited. I will miss reading everyone's post. Enjoy the week.

O, Starry Night is completed at last!!!

Finally!! I finished this project. I started this at the beginning of the year and have slowly completed it. I think it looks beautiful. The fabric is Forest Haven from Silkweaver. I really like the sparkle in the fabric and the sparkle in the pattern. One more Santa completed, so many more to go.

French Country Cat

I purchased the chart for the French Country Cat Thursday at Shakespeare's Peddler. I love the look of these pieces and was excited to find the cat. So, Friday, I stitched it up really quickly on an piece of Silkweaver fabric using GAST Purple Iris. Becky has been such an inspiration to me for trying different finishing techniques, so I decided to finish it as needlebook. I picked out several different fabrics, but finally decided on a very simple pattern similar to the color of the linen. I am keeping this one for myself. It matches my craft room.

As for my WIPs, I am almost finished with OSN, should have that one done Monday. The Mill Hill Gingerbread Village is going to have to wait a bit. I ran out of some beads and had to ask Theresa at Shakespeare's Peddler to order some for me. I should have those next week.

Well, off to work on some stitching...

So close to finishing...

I have worked very hard on two of my oldest WIPs this week. I have all but the backstitching on O, Starry Night. Santa looks so nice! I will be very happy to finish this one soon.




Now, the Mill Hill Gingerbread Village is not quite finished. I was really struggling with this one for a while. It seemed I would stitch for an hour and accomplish nothing. I decided to just work on the snow for one evening and get as much done as possible. What a difference. Once I finished the majority of the snow, the next house (Toy Store) stitched up pretty quickly. I still have a bit more to work on to complete the Toy Store, but it is so close. I hope to have these two completed by the end of next week.

I have the next 6 weeks off!! This is the first time I have had summer vacation since I was in high school. My new teaching position allows me to take off during the summer if I want. I will be teaching in July, two classes, but that is 6 weeks away. I am so excited. I plan to accomplish a lot. I do have 4 chapters to revise for our textbook, but I can still spend some free time stitching and scrapbooking.

Thanks to all of you wonderful stitchers out there sharing your ideas on blogs. I have so many more projects I want to do now.

What Happens at Grandma's...

I have finished a piece finally. I feel like I haven't been very productive in my crafting lately. My textbook writing has been taking alot of my time. But I was able to complete a really cute piece for my mother for Mother's Day. This is so appropriate for her. My boys love to visit Grandma's because they can eat anything they want.


I have also worked a bit on the projects in my rotation. I am so very close to finishing O Starry Night. Just a bit more work and he is done.



I have also worked on Gingerbread Village. This one seems to be taking so long. The beading is what is slowing me down. I have just a little bit left on the middle house and then one more house to go. It is going to be so pretty when I am finished though. I can't wait to display at Christmas this year.

And finally, I have started a square for Cole's Quilts. I am stitching for a very young little boy. I decided on this really cute Pooh pattern. Instead of using it as a clock face, I will just omit the numbers and complete it as a square for the quilt. I am really excited about this one.

My prize package came in...

My package from Silkweaver came in yesterday. I am so happy!! Lots of beautiful fabrics. Each one is 13 X 18 piece of 28 ct. Cashel Linen. I have to decide what to do with each one, but I have plenty of time for that. I also received my FOTM club fabric from Silkweaver (not pictured) the same day. I really enjoy this club. Each month I receive a beautiful selection of fabrics. I have always selected the Surprise me package and have never been disappointed.

I had planned to post my WIPs earlier this week but haven't had the chance. Here is the progress on the only one I have been able to stitch on. This is Leisure Arts O, Starry Night. I am more than half way with this one. I hope to have him finished in the next week or two. I have also decided to skip the Cat Welcome for a couple of weeks. I really do not enjoy working on it, so I'm going to ignore it on purpose.

Finally, I have decided to volunteer to stitch a square for a Cole's quilt. I read about this on the 123 stitch message board and spent one evening reading about the project and crying alot. I am so blessed with two healthy boys and two healthy nephews. It breaks my heart that these families have to suffer such a heartbreak. I have taught genetics at the university for years and one of the things I stress to my students is the heartbreak of knowing why someone is ill but not having the ability to fix it. I want to do something for these families and would love to help, so I sent a message to the moderator of the project asking for the chance to stitch a square for one of the children. It's such a little thing, but I hope it will make someone feel happy.

Goals for April

I am having a bit of trouble clearing out my rotation, so I have decided to try Leslie's approach and set goals for the month. Hopefully, this will help me work a little harder. Of course, we have just ramped up the work on the textbook, so that is taking away some of my stitching time. Here are my goals for April:

1. Finish O, Starry Night
2. Finish Cat Welcome (I am really struggling with this one.)
3. Stitch on MH Gingerbread Village
4. Stitch on PV Sweet Violets
5. Stitch two of the Erica Michaels Letters
6. Complete my section of the RR pieces
7. Start Tucker's pillow
8. Start TW pieces for Patrick and Nicholas (my boys).

That is not an extremely long list, but it is quite ambitious for me. Let's see how well I do on this first month.

Thanks for the comments on my nephew and his pillow. He is a cutie! I am starting a new piece for my other nephew. I found one of the dinosaurs from the same designer and will make it into a pillow for Tucker.

Also, while shopping at Hobby Lobby I found two TW kits of a dragon and castle. These are perfect for my two boys. I am going to start these this month. Both Patrick and Nicholas are excited about these projects.

I'll try to post update pictures of my current WIPs tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

He loved his Boris Bat pillow!

Well, I finished the pillow today and delivered it to my 3 year old nephew. He really liked it. "Thank you Aunt Jen. I needed a pillow." What a sweet little boy! I was very happy with the fabric and how it turned out. Thanks to all of you for inspiring me to try new techniques for finishing my stitching projects.

Boris Bat is complete!

Just finished this project. I stitched this cute little piece for my three year old nephew. I am going to finish it as a pillow. I bought the fabric today and think it is perfect. When I return from my vacation at the end of the week I will complete the pillow. We are going away for a few days so I won't have a chance to stitch much.

Shepherd's Bush Red Snowman

Another finish for 2007. This was a pretty quick stitch. I usually don't like the Shepherd's Bush projects that much, but I just loved this one when I saw it at Shakespeare's Peddler. The photo actually looks very good. I'm not sure what I am going to do with this one, probably frame it. Now to decide on the next project. I decided to do the 10 project challenge, so I need to finish about 8 more projects before I can do any shopping for myself. I need to choose some really quick projects.

My First Try at the No Sew Cube

I found the instructions to the No Sew Cube online and decided to try it out. I finished this Bent Creek pattern yesterday and thought it would be great for this particular type of finish. I went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon and bought some jelly bean fabric and pretty ribbon. I was very, very easy. I think it is going to be a great addition to my Easter decorations this year.

Bent Creek Hip Hop

Okay, I have finished my first piece for the 10 project challenge. Just 9 more to go. This was a really easy piece and it was so much fun to stitch. I used a piece of really pretty fabric from Silkweaver (28 ct. Solo Lugana). I also used the GAST threads called for in the pattern. Very nice. I plan to finish this piece as one of the decorative blocks I have seen on several other stitchers' blogs.

10 Project Challenge

Okay! I am joining the insanity of the Stash Reduction Challenge. Of course, I'm a lightweight and am only commiting to the 10 Project Challenge. Even though I have completed 3 projects this year, I am starting fresh with this challenge. I will not purchase new projects, fabric, floss until I have completed 10 projects that I already have.

I won First Prize with the Halloween Fairy!!!!

I entered my completed Mirabilia Halloween Fairy in the Silkweaver Showcase competition and won 1st place!! I am so excited. There were lots of entries, including one from my sister Sharon. I can't believe I actually won. The prize is wonderful, 20 pieces of hand-dyed fabric. I am having such a hard time choosing, Silkweaver fabric is so wonderful and she has so many beautiful colors from which to choose.