End Of The Year Giveaway

Angela from Hooked On Stitches is having a giveaway for this beautiful box. You only have until December 10th to enter!

Fall FS Round and Christmas Elf

Jeanie C. (no blog) received the Fair and Square Fall Round I sent her. I'm so glad you like it, It was fun to stitch up for you.

Also here is my progress on my Christmas Elf Fairy. I just have her hat, wings and beading to do to complete her plus a small amount of back stitching. But for now she will be set aside as I have my final round for the fair and square exchange for the year to do up and get mailed out so i can concentrate on getting things in my house packed up. I leave in just 4.5 weeks!

My Very first Mailart!

I heard from Dawn today that she has received my mail art exchange so I can finally show it. So here are pics of the front, back and even the fabric for the inside. It was a teddy bear theme. I also included the remaining fabric in her envelope and a Halloween pencil too. I wanted to include some other teddy themed items but couldn't get a hold of any over here. I'm so glad you like it Dawn. It was fun to make too so I may enter into more MA exchanges when I get settled in Colorado.

EDITED: OK address thing fixed. Sorry had a mommy brain moment and completely spaced about the addresses.  Thanks everyone for the reminder. :)

Crochet Happy Dance!

Mesh Long Sleeve Sweater
Herrschners Whisper Soft Yarn
Color #: 0020 Color Name: FR PK MULT
Designed and Crocheted by Heidi B.
Completed: November 04, 2009

Some stitching and some crocheting plus Halloween

Here are our costumes for Halloween night. It was so much fun going out but oh so cold so DH and I were nearly frozen when we came home. I wore 6 inch heels that blinked pink and got lots of compliments though i was in so much pain halfway home that my legs gave out and I fell down. Luckily i didn't get seriously injured though i walked home the rest of the way barefoot and the cold felt soo good on my aching feet. We forgot to carve our pumpkin too, any ideas what to do with it now?
Here are the oh so cute buttons I bought from Anita. I love getting stash from her, she has such awesome service and what great prices! She had to mail this to me 3 times! She said the post office kept returning it to her and eventually had her fill out a different customs form and she had to use a different post office but I do appreciate her service! Thank you Anita!
Here is the very soft sweater I am crocheting for Destiny. I'm proud to say its my own pattern! And its nearly finished though Destiny asked for me to add a turtle neck to it to help keep her neck warm.
My Fairy Elf as of last night. She is going rather quickly and I am so excited! I am hoping to have her completed in the next few weeks.
I got my JCS ornament issue in today! My sister Lynnette got hers in yesterday and I was sad that it was taking so long for mine. Now I can't wait to finish up a few things so I can stitch a few ornies from this issue.
And last but not least I have received my Fair and Square Halloween round from Sharon V. Cute huh? Thank you Sharon!

DH is home!

Tuesday morning i got a phone call saying my husband was coming home and will be here at command in about 6 hours! So i ran to the store for a decent meal and came home to clean and organize what i thought i had a week to do still and tried to get it done in a few hours. I grabbed the girls an hour early and head to command where we then found out that they didnt realize our soldiers had bags and equipment so we will be waiting longer. he finally arrived at 1600. I cried all morning long, happy tears of course!

I have been stitching on my fairy and even crocheting on a sweater for Destiny, my pattern of course, lol. I'll share these two things with you later on today or tomorrow even.

Christmas elf fairy Day 3

Here she is after 3 days of stitching now. I am surprised how much I was able to get done on her yesterday though it helps that I am enjoying this one a lot so it keeps me motivated. I don't know that I will get a lot done today as my kids are up for a big unhappy surprise for them when they come home today from school so I will be doing that today. I'll explain about it more later.

Happy Stitching!

TUSAL and a Christmas Elf fairy

Here is my TUSAL for this new moon, well OK I'm two days late in posting this and i won't make any excuses, its pure laziness lol. So i snapped one with my webcam this morning so i apologize for the bad picture. The only added things in here that I can tell you about is some excess fabric from Poe's curtains and some reds from my Christmas elf fairy that I am currently working on. All the other tidbits that I added this month are from exchanges that I am still waiting on to arrive at their destinations. Also if your interested in joining this just click the link in my sidebar under SAL's


Yesterday I was able to sit and stitch for a good 4 hours! OK I admit I watched TV shows too while I stitched this. But I am happy with my progress and plan to work on her some more today. Names were sent out to for the fair and square round 16 so soon i will have to set my fairy aside to complete MY last exchange for the year. Once I am moved into my new place I will start doing the fair and square exchange again.

Penguins

Christmas Ornament Kit of the month
Painting penguins
Oct 18, 2009

This is what I did on Sunday The girls tried to help me out but it ended up being messy and i had to do fix ups on them. So they ventured off to pain on their own and ended up getting it all over my hard wood floors and now there's a spot of pink dried on my floor where Kiley laid her paper to dry. Hmmm I don't think we will be pulling the paint out anytime soon again with them home. Next painting kit that arrives, I'm doing it while they are at school lol.

I did crochet on Saturday but then on Sunday decided I wasn't happy with the way it was turning out and I set it aside. I unravel it today I think and just sit and go back to my love of cross stitch.

Happy Stitching!

Curtains, bowls and an adventure at the post office

NON STITCHING NEWS:

DH got to re up in Romania! I'm so proud of him! And Fort Carson is in his contract! WooHoo!! Congrats babe!

STITCHING NEWS
Here are the curtains I made for my darling nephew Poe's room. I stayed up till midnight on the 14th to get them completed for mailing on the 15th. They are Precious Moments and if you recall they match the quilt I made him, in fact this is the same fabric that was used for the back of his quilt. I just had to order more. If you don't remember the post I am talking about then click here
And these two little things are small Halloween bowls. I actually used a free pattern for a bag and just went up to Row 9 before stopping. I may fill them with candy....any ideas? They are sitting on my coffee table right now. Free pattern is here
And here are my squares for Fair and Square Round 15 from Peg! They will make a great addition to my friendship quilt. To see the post of my quilt click here. I don't think they have my fabric anymore either so I will just use what I can for now and leave it smaller than planned if I can't get more from Joann's.

So I went to the post office on the 15th with the intent of mailing off 4 packages, one to Lynnette filled with baby things, a few gifts for family sent to my mom, my fall F&S exchange to Jeanie C in Singapore, AND my very first MA to Dawn. So I go to the guy I know and my husband and him are friends and he sees my MA and is like

him: "this is so nice! Are you sure you don't want to put it into an envelope?"
Me: Nope please put actual stamps on it and all
him: you want me to stamp on your fabric? what is this? hemp?
Me: no its linen and yes stamp on it
him: hey (guys name next to him) look at this! Isn't it nice?
Guy: Yea that's nice! Did you make that?
Me: Yes I did (beaming with pride)
Guy: is that knitting or what is it
Me: (looking at him like he's crazy) No its cross stitch
Guy: oh OK (then precedes to ask me about myself blah blah blah)
him: I'm not sure if I can mail it like this, let me check with my manager (checks & yes he can)
Me: (Rolls eyes) You can mail it this way. People do it all the time
OK so the stamps are on there, are you sure you don't want to put it into something else? I worry it will get dirty
Me: No please just mail it like it is
him: OK ready (he positions the black time date stamp over the proper place and gives me an are you sure look and when I give him a blank stare he stamps it) I have to put tape over this to ensure they stay, OK?
Me: OK that's fine.

Then I was able to pay. I left kind of laughing at how many postal workers/stitchers have gone through this same conversation. If you made it this far, congrats to you and thanks for reading through my post!

The Monster Mash!

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He has arrived!!!!

Poe Byron Jones
October 13, 2009
9:19 P.M.
6 lbs 8.7 oz
20.75 Inches long

My sister Lynnette had her baby last night!!! Poe Byron Jones was born at 9:19 P.M. on October 13, 2009 He has blue eyes and black hair. No height, weight or pics yet but I'll post as soon as I get them all! He didn't even cry his daddy told me, he just cooed. So cute! He had some issues breathing when he came out but is fine now, they are just keeping him for a bit for observation. Mommy is doing good too. CONGRATS LYNNETTE AND SHAWN!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!

I'm kind of laughing too, his due date was Oct 31st, yep Halloween and he decides to show up early on the 13th LOL definitely Lynnette's son.

I do have a few crochet finishes but today is Poe's day so you can see my finishes tomorrow.

Mirabilia Christmas Elf

Yep I decided its time to start something! I have had this kit in my stash for a few years now and I finally decided its time to pull her out and stitch her up, maybe with any luck she will be my first cross stitch piece I hang up in our new home.

Sue: No Batista wouldn't need any shots as they do the same ones here as they do in the states. Unfortunately we had some problems that I just couldn't fix with Batista. He would steal the girls toys and then growl and snap at the girls when they would try to get them back. He kept getting closer and closer to their hands and I found out he has an authority issue with the girls and so we tried everything we could think of and nothing worked. I knew if he bit one of the girls he would have to be put down so rather than risk scarring my kids or having an innocent puppy put down, I found him a childless home where he will be loved and well taken care of.

Stitched On: Fair and Square Autumn Round and Completed it! Also started Mirabilia Christmas Elf

Stitching and life in general

I heard from Sharon today that she has received the Fair and Square Halloween squares I sent her. She said its her daughters birthday this month so she will be turning them into an ornament for her. This was a krienik freebie if anyone is interested. I did change the ghost colors so its glow in the dark thread so he will glow for her daughter at night! :)

I have completed most of my MA exchange, i want to add something to the envelope flap and am also not sure how i can close it up. Until I send it and its received I can't show it to you. It's taken me longer than expected as Batista ate the first one i had going! Sneaky little guy. I can definitly say that it has given me new experiences and challenges but I am happy with it!

I am currently working on my Fair and square Autumn exchange so I am afraid i still have nothing to show you all. But after this is finished i can then actually do some stuff for about a week or so until Round 16 starts. And that will be the end of my Fair and square exchanges for the year. Not because that's all of them but because I have a huge move coming up! We are finally moving back overseas and to the USA in December and I have 4 years worth of household things to go through and discard excess junk. DH won't be returning now until Nov 4th, basically 5 weeks before we move leaving me to do a whole bunch of prep things that have to be done before he comes home.

I have had to force myself to slow down too, turns out i made myself sick by being too busy! LOL so you know what that means? My kids have 4 days off this weekend and other than i have to run to the store for a few hours on Saturday I plan to sit and stitch!

In the meantime I found a few completed cross stitch pieces on ebay that caught my eye and I just had to buy so I did! two of these pieces will be given away as gifts and the other one I plan to frame and hang up.

First day of fall

Today is the first official day of Fall!

a whole lotta nuttin'

That's what my last several days have been like. I thought that starting Monday i could drop off the kids, come home to my empty house and stitch away the day! Instead all last week i was out all day everyday running errands or cleaning my house. I just couldn't for the life of me make myself sit down! It was driving me crazy, every little thing!

So then today I had planned to go workout at the gym for two hours, come home shower and stitch. I have this MA just screaming at me to get working on it. But i ran into the school nurse who gabbed at me about her life till 11 am! I just about fainted when i saw the time. So i say a quick goodbye and rush on home. I figure ill go to the gym tomorrow right?

DH appeared only mere minutes after i walk in the front door so i said hello and did up a load of dishes and spot checked the front of the house (though 8 hours later you wouldn't have known it was ever clean) Dh demanded more of my attention so thats where I was tillit was time to pick up the kids.

I get to the school and run into my friend who's dog i am watching for two days while she goes and sees her DH graduate SGT training school. Turns out this chihuahua (sp?) is pregnant and literally due any day now! So yes I may be delivering puppies! They are mixed puppies though and she is not sure who the daddy is. Anyway I get one in exchange for watching her. I don't mind really but when i was a sophmore in high school my cat gave birth in my room and when that first kitten came out I ran screaming and crying out of my room thinking she was going to die! My older sister was laughing her ass off at me the entire time. Yes it was the first time i had seen an animal give birth.

Sooo tomorrow i get to figure out how to put Batista's kennel into the office so i can close him in there so he will not bother the itty bitty dog who will look like a noon day snack to him or a rather big chew toy. How fun will that be huh? NOT! I can only hope that tomorrow i can truly sit and stitch. I have a few thoughts on the design so its not like i haven't been working on it, lol.

Happy Stitching!

Suburban Housewife - too funny!

Fair and Square Round 15 and TUSAL

Here is my TUSAL for this month. I sure feel like the new moon comes sooner and sooner, lol. So added to this for the month is two exchange pieces plus some Halloween stitching as well. there's some pinks, greens, oranges, and white glow in the dark.
Here is my Fair and Square Round 15 to Peg H. She was on vacation so it took longer to hear she received it. But its OK I am just thankful it got there safely and that she likes them. Its another freebie I did. Its from four seasons, its the spring season. You can click here.

New stash and 1st day of Sure start

So here she is when we were walking to school, please ignore the trash, thats our recycling area and some neighbors are so lazy about putting it into the bin leaving the workers to clean it up.
And we made it to class! Though later she escaped the classroom and no one knew she did till I brought her back which she then attached herself to my leg and cried. She wanted mommy to stay. It took her teacher holding onto her so i could leave and yes my heart broke into a million pieces. Though today was so much better, no crying our clinging!
And since I cannot show you the two completed exchanges until they are received I thought i would show you what I bought from Anita's. I got a pair of green scissors plus a little stitching kit, a pink storage bag, 2 fabrics for exchanges, and summer retreats by country cottage needlework's, plus the new "chair" by Cat's Whiskers. I had bought a few other things but they went to DD so I'll let her update her blog with those.

Happy Stitching!

It's a baby shower!

Today is Lynnette's baby shower for Baby Poe Byron Jones (PB&J)! I'm sorry I can't be there for the obvious reasons you know why sis. But Mom has my baby shower gifts for you already plus today I bought you a Precious Moments Baby crib bumper and Precious Moments light switch and outlet covers. Oh! Did I mention I bought her this bassinet too?Sorry Shawn (baby's daddy) that you had to drive to wally world (walmart) to pick it up but with site to store and save $30 in shipping, I just had too! But am thrilled you all like it and my 2nd nephew has something adorable to sleep in.

Anyway tomorrow ill include some pics of the shower that mom is taking and will email me later on. Plus my Fair and Square round 15 SHOULD have reached its destination in the USA. I mailed it out 2 weeks ago and it has never taken more than 10 days so yes I am getting worried though i did email my partner for this exchange a few days ago and no answer yet.

Sometimes its fun to be the bad guy

Here is DH and another soldier who got to play the bad guys this morning during training. I was laughing, how funny do these guys look? They are suppose to be the Iraqi's

Happy 29th Birthday sis!

Today yes on September 11th, 1980 my mom gave birth to my older and head strong sister Lynnette! Happy birthday sis!

Another Year I’m wishing you another year
Of laughter, joy and fun,
Surprises, love and happiness,
And when your birthday’s done, I hope you feel deep in your heart,
As your birthdays come and go,
How very much you mean to me,
More than you can know. By Joanna Fuchs

It's clean! Here's proof!

I had Sure Start orientation at 0900 got home at 1130 and had 2 hours to clean all these rooms before my Sure Start home visit. And i did it! I also got several loads of laundry put into the washer down in the basement. Kiley didn't help LOL. She played My Sims Kingdom on the wii and then followed me from room to room as you can tell as I took pics as proof that yes I do clean!

Now off to work on my Halloween fair and square round before I go to open house tonight at 1730. I plan to do the mommy thing and take pics. ;)

A rainy day in Germany and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pattern

This week has been a rainy one. I always open this back window as Batista loves to look out it but this week I found Kiley and Batista just watching the rain for hours, it was cute. And Romania is having some nice weather don't you think? DH went jet skiing this past weekend and he fell in love with it! Just helps my cause of wanting to get a house near the beach, lol.

***************************************************************************
Jill has completed the Sisterhood of the traveling pattern so now she is going to draw a lucky person's name on the 13th so if you want a chance at this pattern then pop over to her blog and leave a comment!

FS Rnd 15 and some pics!

So I completed my Fair and Square Round 15 squares and mailed them out yesterday so as soon as she lets me know she has received them then I'll share them with you guys. It was another fun freebie design.
In the meantime. Destiny learned to ride her two wheeler! She is now training wheel less! She and I are both so happy! We were charging her scooter nightly before so she could have power the next day and she always eventually whined that even us on slow peddling were going too fast for her. Thankfully she had enough motivation to try her bike again. She was screaming with joy so loud our whole building heard her lol
And above is Kiley on her bike as well. You know if you take a picture of one child the other needs her picture taken too. :)

And here are my girls on Destiny's first day of school. I found out yesterday that Kiley was approved for Sure Start (pre-K) and will attend from 0900 to 1435 so I can pick up both girls at the same time. I will finally be childless for about 5 1/2 hrs 5 days a week! I do plan to go to the gym each day after dropping Kiley off. And we finally found Jenga in our PX! Do any of you remember this game as kids? I do, I loved playing with my dad as he always made the thing wobbly making it a bigger challenge to get a piece and not knock it over. Although the container says ages 6 and up, I thought this was a good game for the girls and I to play together. They both caught on really quickly and fell in love with the game too. I'm so glad we have another thing we can enjoy together. I hope we can get DH to play with us when he returns.