May? Already? Gifted Gorgeousness and more...

Oh goodness, time is marching on isn't it?  I can't believe it's May already, and I'll be leaving for our annual St. Michaels retreat in a few days.  Usually I'm psyched and ready to go.  And while I have all my stitching done for our exchanges, all my gifts are ready to go, and I have a list of projects floating in my head (which changes from day to day)...I'm still not in the right frame of mind.  Hopefully I'll get my act together by next Thursday, wish me luck!

So...if this is the first time visiting my blog, welcome and thanks for dropping by!  First off, on the 15th of the month we showcase our gifts.  They might be  a pattern, fabric of floss that was given to us, or something we are giving to someone else.  If you want to see the "official" rules, you can visit Jo over on Serendipitious Stitching and sign up here...or you can   go to this page and see what everyone else is stitching for Gifted Gorgeousness.  It's never to late to join in the fun!  

A lot of my stitching lately has been for the St. Michaels retreat....so I can't really show too much.  I'll show the back of a few things, and I'll update after the retreat and show you the front of things.  So here are the things I have ready to go...

So....here is the back of a pillow....

Here is the back of two ornaments....

I can't show you the last one, but...soon!  

Now, we are getting ready for a wedding in our family.  Our nephew is getting married in October.  I offered to make a ring pillow for the lovely couple and they said yes!  So....I wen in search of the right beads, the right ribbon, the right sequins etc and the right button for the bottom.  It was fun searching for all that stuff, and it finally came together nicely, or at least I think so.  Haha  This is a pattern from Fab Reilly designs, it is stitch on 28ct. over two.  It's not too big, but I think it's just right for small hands!

I'm also making a wedding sampler, I think will match nicely with the ring pillow.  This came from a magazine (Cross Stitch Gold Durene Jones design) and is stitched on 28 ct. over two on Natural linen.

On to the Christmas gifts.  On Facebook I offered to make some ornaments for folks.  I have a few of them stitched, but recently I was able to finish one off in an ornament.  This is a Mill Hill kit I stitched on fabric, then made into an ornament.  I had some Christmas flat wired ribbon I bought on sale at the end of the year.  I folded it as I went along to make it ruffle (folks have been asking if I stitched the ribbon too...I'm not THAT good...haha).  Here is the front and the back.  This is for my cousin I just recently learned I had.  Long story, but we are happy to have her in our family!

Since I finished Sweet Nectar, I pulled another UFO/WIP out of my closet which was a Christmas gift several years ago from my husband.  I love this piece, but there is a lot of metallic thread and blending filament which really slows the process down.  I hope to finish this one before the end of the year.

My husband gave me this pattern for Christmas this past year.  I am still behind but I have a bit more done than the last time I posted.  This is Blue Poppy Learning Sampler by Tempting Tangles Designs.  This certainly is a challenging piece!!

So that's it for the Gifted Gorgeousness...I'll end here with an ornament I started several years ago, finished stitching it at the beginning of this year and FINALLY finished into an ornament last week.  This was from The Gift of Stitching Nov. 2011 issue.  I think I'm keeping this one for myself as it took so long and has so much effort.  

That's all the news that's fit to print....thanks again for stopping by!  I'll leave you with a parting shot of  some scenes from  Ocean City, MD.   My husband and I went a couple of weeks ago as a quick get away.  Yes, that is a porpoise very close to shore in the one picture....awesome sights!!  Nothing soothes my soul more than a little Vitamin Sea therapy!  Happy Stitching!