Christmas fun, framed pics, new stitching, etc

Well, the Christmas tree is down, and the holidays are still going.  But first here is what Christmas Day looked like.

The presents all waiting to be opened.  And here are the boy child and girl child.  Can you tell which one was first up?

If you guessed the girl child was first up, you'd be wrong.  Hard to tell from the pictures though, huh?  We had fun opening our presents.  Then it was the lovely father type to cook our Christmas dinner for us.  Here's the table all decked out with food.

It was a great Christmas day.  But the tree was dropping needles at the slightest breath of air.  So it was goodbye tree by the second day of Christmas.  Now everything is back to normal and ready for the New Year!

I said in my last post that I may end up starting something new.  Well, I did.  Here it is.

It's called Beneath the Waters by Carriage House Samplings, although I think it was done when Kathy Barrick was still calling herself Barrick Designs.  Here is what the finished piece will look like.

And if you're interested in getting a copy of the chart, here's the link.   Kathy Barrick sells a lot of her OOP charts now on her etsy site.   I'm stitching mine on the same fabric as my PS Alphabets, 30ct Legacy Custard Creme over one, with the called for NPI fibers.  I want it to fit on a wonderful box that I recently got.

My friend Kathy (no blog) and I went to our favorite LNS on Tuesday, where I picked up two of my framed pieces.  Here they are, Frederick and Frederika, all framed with frames from Valley House Primitives.

And here is a picture of the frame detail.  I just love these frames!

While at our LNS, Kathy and I enjoyed the CHS trunk show that was there.  I ended up picking up the chart for this

(A Mind Independent and Free by CHS). And I was totally awed by all the CHS stockings hanging up -- what a sight!  And Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow was there as well!  Oh my -- to see this in person!  The colors are just stunning!  If you like the piece from what you've seen online, well, let me tell you, it's even better in person!  I am now sorely tempted to start in on that BAP!  But I also want to join in with Laurie of Corgi Cottage on And All Was For an Appil by Scarlet Letter.    All of which is a problem, since I'm in the midst of stitching the PS Alphabets and also Beneath the Waters!   I think all of this nonstitching time with the family is causing a major case of I-wanna-start-itis!  lol!

Well, the father type is still on vacation till the beginning of the New Year.  The boy child is off school till then, and the girl child as well.  The girl child will be going back to college Sunday to prepare for exams -- her college saves the fun of finals till after Christmas, a real bummer.  But until then, we're all snug at home.  Well, except for the occasional trip to the LNS, the kids disappearing with their friends, -- you get the idea.  But it's a pretty blissful, relaxing holiday.  Not much in the way of stitching, but such is life.

I hope you all have a wonderful, happy, and healthy New Year.  Thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing my stitching life with me.  It hasn't been a year yet that I've been blogging, but it's getting there!  Amazing!  It's been fun blogging with you all this year!  See you in 2010!

The Freds are finished -- framed piece -- a present -- and etc

Finally got Fred done to go with his girlfriend.  Here he is in all his glory.

 He's Frederick, of course, by Carriage House Samplings.  Here's his mate, Fredrika.

Both are stitched on 40ct vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens with the called for NPI silks.  I love them!  Aren't they perfect for fall?

I also got my Fruit of the Spirit (Plum Street Samplers) back from my LNS.   I'm really happy with how it came out.  The owner's husband Don does the framing and he's always so helpful with picking out the perfect frame.

Here's a closeup of the frame.  Isn't it perfect?   I love it!

As you may know, I've been participating in the Sail Away SAL which is being lead by Loraine and Terri.   Terri sent all of us SALers a wonderful fob to get us all on our way.  Now that the SAL is ending, Loraine has sent a nice present, a stitching wallet.  I got mine in the mail today -- and I'm so tickled!  Here it is, along with Terri's fob that she made for us.

And here's the other side of the wallet.

She included a wonderful sheet with all of our names on it that also has a space for us to record when we started our stitching journey and when we finished.  Isn't it wonderful?   Thank you, Loraine!  And thank you to both you and Terri for such a great SAL!  

In other news, it seems to be homecoming weekend around the country, including here.  The boy child is in seventh heaven.  Two of his friends who left for college this fall are home for the weekend, so he's off having fun with all his friends.   I know I won't be seeing much of him till Monday night. 

The Father type had to go to a function last weekend up north a bit.  Turns out it had great views of the Hudson River.  Just look at it!

Pretty nice, huh?  They were apparently way up high on some mountain or other.  You can see the Hudson in the distance down there.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Frederika and her mate

Frederika is done. She's so pretty, especially for this time of year. I decided since I was already in the Fred mode to continue on to Frederika's mate Frederick.



For both, I'm using the recommended fabric and fibers, 40ct vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside with NPI silks. I just love the colors!



It's interesting to me that Frederick does seem more masculine in his colors. I wonder if Kathy Barrick Dieter did that on purpose?

If you want a chance to win a nice Halloweenie prize, head on over to Jolene's blog. I love her giveaways!

We're settling into the school routine finally. Now that it's more than 3 weeks since school started. Weird that it took so long to get into the swing of things! Haven't heard a peep from the girl child since the first weekend when she said she was going to be much better about keeping in touch. Uh huh. lol! Well, she did email a couple of times when she had to buy more school books and wanted to make sure she had enough money. And she did email to apologize for not calling on the father type's birthday. I guess that's something. :D No news is good news, right? And I should give her credit for saying she would call the next night after the father type's birthday -- I told her not to since the father type was on a business trip that night. Ah well. I know she's happy and busy.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Thanks for stopping by -- I love to read your comments!

Rambling

I've been stitching away on a new project but have neglected to post any pictures. Here she is in all her unfinished glory, Frederika by Carriage House Samplings.




I love the fall colors! But boy, the border takes a lot longer than you would think! I'm using the recommended NPI fibers and linen (40ct Vintage Pearled Barley).

I also neglected to post the latest picture of my Sail Away. I desperately need to finish it up -- I have only the last lines at the bottom to do.


How many of you are excited about market this weekend? Do I hear a chorus of "me me me!" I know I'm excited! I can't wait to get my hands on so many things, which is not good news for my pocketbook! Ah well.

In other news, I have a few pictures from the father type's birthday. The boy child was good enough to take the pictures.



I should have bought those number candles for the cake to say 50, but I didn't, so I just put 5 candles on instead. Here's an action shot. :D



And then the boy child decided to see how bright the flash was by turning it directly on himself and his eye. Here's the result on camera.



The result for his eye was some blindness for a few minutes. lol! Silly boy!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!