Good Grief Charlie Brown...oh and February Gifted Gorgeousness

It's been a while since I posted any updates on my stitching.  It's been a while since I had a really good all day stitch fest.  I'm working on it folks, honest!!  But we are here today to update our Gifted Gorgeousness challenge.  If you don't know what that is then you should bop over to Jo's blog, Serendipitous Stitching, and see what all the buzz is about.  You can learn about it and sign up if you want to here.  If you want to see what everyone is doing for their Gifted Gorgeousness, you can link to their pages here.  Briefly, we showcase on the 15th of the month, the projects that were gifted to us...the patterns, fabric and/or floss...OR...the projects we are making as gifts to someone else!  It keeps me stitching, that's for sure!!

I know I haven't updated in a while....it's been a bit on the crazy side here at DJ's Domicile.  When I'm not running in circles, I've been snuggled in my bed nursing some crazy headaches that I think I figured they came from some boxes falling on my noggin in my closet.  They have finally gone, hopefully for good!  And I'm a lot more careful how I stack those boxes now!!  haha

First up is my biggest UFO for the moment.  This is Sweet Nectar, and I've been working on this for a few  years.  It's a Dimensions kit and this is a gift for my Mom.  It's big, and cumbersome, has metallic threads and blended needles and hard to work on so it's slow going.

I've made some exchange pieces, I'm going to show a little corner of each, changing the color and after the recipient gets hers, I'll show the whole thing...

I offered, on Facebook, to make Christmas ornaments for 5 folks, but more than 5 signed up (either they can't read, or I can't count...haha) so I'm going to be busy making ornaments.  Here are a couple I've finished so far.  I'll show them again when I have made them into ornaments.  First up is "Mine" I found in a JCS magazine, designed by Brittercup Designs.

Second is by Blackberry Lane and was found in a JCS Christmas Ornament magazine.

I'm a bit behind in a couple of Tempting Tangles SALs that DH bought me for my birthday but still have stitched more than I have shown before.  Here are Wildflower Woodland Quaker Mystery SAL

and Springtime Easter Delight Mystery SAL.

I have finished the February installment of the Ship's Manor SAL Through the Window so I'm caught up on that one!  This was a Christmas gift from DH.

I finished Gaspar from the Mill Hills series and now all my Nativity pieces are complete!!  These were a Christmas gift a few years ago from DH.  Once they are all finally finished I'll show them again, but this is one of the goals I had set for myself this year!  So excited to have them finished!!

I also finished the Serenity Sampler Katie had given me for my birthday.  While I enjoyed stitching it, it was heartbreaking to work on.  I miss that kid like crazy!  Not a day goes by I don't think of her.  I think I'm going to wait a bit to get it framed.  I just need a little time before I have it where I can see it daily.

Last, I'm going to show you a picture of a gift I received from some truly lovely ladies in a yahoo group I belong to, Friendly Stitchers.  It's been one thing after another for months now, and they knew I needed a little sweet surprise to lift my spirits.  This was the perfect thing to send me!!  Four of the ladies stitched on it, two from England and two from the states and framed it in an antique frame.  I have it sitting in my dining area where I see it daily to remind me I'm not in this crazy mess called life alone.  Where would I be without my stitching buds?  Thank you, ladies, you mean the world to me!!

I'm off to get more stitching done before the rest of my week goes off the rails.  Just a side note here...we made a late night run to the emergency room with DH a few weeks back.  Since then we have been inundated with medical tests, Dr. appointments and a few procedures.  While the tests have come back with fairly livable news, he's still working through some other issues.  I'm counting my blessings as everything seems to be fixable or things he can live with with a few minor changes in his daily life.  It's hard not to have a knee jerk reaction considering what our life was like last year.  We've grown closer as a family and rely on one another pretty heavily at the moment.  It's painfully clear to us now that life is so fragile.  Hold your loved ones close, tomorrow isn't guaranteed.   

Happy Stitching everyone!