I really enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States. It's a great time to stop and reflect on what is important in life, and to remember all the things we are thankful for. I'm thankful for my family, that though there are only three of us, we enjoy being together. I'm grateful for friends who have supported us through some tough times in the past few years. I hope that this Thanksgiving finds you happy, healthy and surrounded by the love of friends and family.
Wow, times just seems to fly by, doesn't it? It's time for the November Gifted Gorgeousness already! If you don't know what this is, you can head over to Serendipitous Stitching and read all about it by clicking here. It's our time to share things we have stitched that have been gifted to us, or we are gifting to someone else. It's all hosted by Jo on her blog, and you can click here to go to her blog and see what everyone else is stitching!
I've been busy lately, stitching for Christmas, and since some of them are gifts, I can't really show them to you yet. But...some were gifts for Birthdays, and I can share those with you.
I made this tea cup for a friend who shares my birthday.
I made this for my friend, the lovely Ms. M who was my chemo buddy. She will never know how much I appreciated her accompanying me on the days I had to sit for 4 hours while poison was sent through my veins. Her sense of humor and encouragement helped me get through some tough days. It is a design by the Nebby Needle.
This was a gift from my husband, it was a 13 part SAL through Tempting Tangles called the Blue Poppy Learning Sampler and is patterned after the 17th Century Band Samplers. I learned so many stitches with this, and had a blast. I think it might be something I will frame and enter in the fair next year.
This is another gift from my husband. It's called Through the Window by Ship's Manor. It was a 12 month SAL and I'm patiently (ok not so patiently) waiting for the last installment. I have had a blast stitching this!!
This was a gift from a friend who visited The Silver Needle in Oklahoma. When she told me she was going there, she bought me this pattern. It's a Blackberry Lane design called Stitching in the Garden, and has all my favorite features in it. Purple violets, a lady who stitches, and did I mention the color purple? I finished the front for last month, but I finished the back of the pillow for this month. Hopefully I can get it finished into a pillow soon!
My former college roommate has admired all my Christmas ornaments, but I have never made one for her, because she doesn't celebrate Christmas. She is Jewish, so I made this for her. This was a free chart that was on the Hobby Lobby website at one time and was posted to advertise Sullivan's floss. It is no longer available on their website, unfortunately.
And that is all that I have for this time! Thank you, Jo, for organizing this challenge, you know how much I love participating every month!! Happy Stitching!!
I've been sitting on this sampler for ages. I do mean AGES. I started this as a SAL through the Wiehenburg Yahoo group. It's called the Mystery Spot Sampler and I was keeping up fabulously .... until I made a mistake.
I've stitched this on 36 count fabric, over one, using a silk thread....and when I started one arm of a motif one stitch off, and nearly finished 1/4 of it before I found my mistake, I didn't have the heart to rip it out and try to piece the colors together to make it look "right" to my eye. So I set it aside....for 10 long years!!
I tried making a commitment to myself to finish up some old UFO's and WIP's this year, and while I was searching for something I ran across this one. I am shocked I could find the pattern (all 35 pages!!!) and the thread which were scattered all over the place. Not only that, but I finished it within 2 days of finding it...and that includes frogging the part that had the mistake. Here is my "fix" in progress...
So on that note, I give you the Mystery Spot Sampler by Wiehenburg. I LOVE how this turned out!!
I don't know what has gotten into me, or maybe it's just that most of my Christmas gifts that are being sent away are finished, but I'm on a finishing roll!! I've been pulling some old WIP's out of my closet, and they are getting finished!! Whooo hooo...what a great feeling!
I finally finished Royal Garden, this is a Debbee's Design and one I've been working on for a number of years. I had fun with all these stitches except one, which made me put it aside for a while until I got the courage to finish it up.
I also finished up Orchard Valley Quilting Bee by LHN, which I modified for a Round Robin I was participating in back in 2013. It was mostly finished except for one of the squares and the middle which were not stitched by the participants. It only took a couple days of stitching to finish it up, I don't know why it took so long. I'd like to finish this as a quilted wall hanging. I hope it doesn't take another 5 years! LOL!!
I also finished up this little Mill Hill kit that has been hanging around for years. I decided I really like them stitched on fabric, they are so much easier for me to finish this way! I have a ton more of them in the wings, maybe next year I can get the rest of them stitched!
I just had to show what I've been accomplishing. I have more that I've finished but can't show them just yet. Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stitching!!
I've had some pretty cool adventures lately. My family and I took a bus trip to NYC for the day.
Our main goal was to go and see the 9/11 Memorial and that indeed take most of our time. While it's a sobering experience, it was one we all wanted to share because of it's significance in our lives.
My husband, son and I were living in Germany when the towers were attacked. My husband was serving in the armed forces and our lives dramatically changed that day. My son was at school, it was early afternoon, when one of my friends called to say that America was being attacked, turn on your TV. I turned it on just in time to see the second plane hit the towers. I sat alone, tears running down my face, watching the horror unfold, praying for my friends who lived and worked in NY and the Pentagon. I will never forget that day.
While we toured the Memorial with my son and his girlfriend, we talked about our memories from that day. My son remembers coming home from school and seeing the news reports, then going over to my friend's house to play with her kids while a few wives sat and talked about what this would mean for our families, our country, and our husbands who were all serving in the military. Sobering days were ahead, and indeed our lives were changed forever.
It was noisy as we stood in line to get tickets, and as we stood in line to enter the building. It was a bright, sunny but chilly day. The wind was blowing, and at times spray from the outside fountains would sprinkle us. I imagine it was a little like that September morning when the attack happened. As soon as we stepped inside the building, there was a hush over the crowd. People talked in whispers. You could feel something, I can't quite put into words. It is a reverence, a somber feeling, remembering the souls who were lost, and the bravery of those who rushed to help.
One wall that is left is stained, it looks like the tears of thousands of souls who lost their lives there and their loved ones who grieve them.
What I didn't realize was that there are still parts of the original buildings there. Part of the parking garage underneath the buildings, and a sign showing where the truck bomb was parked during the first attempt to bring down the buildings is marked. A docent told us that if the truck had been parked one parking space over, it would have destroyed the building as intended.
The footprints of the building are still there, with beams and staircases (the one where survivors were found) are still there. There is also a wall where the remains of some of the victims are interred. A video plays continually of voices of people who knew the victims, describing their loved ones, so their stories will never be forgotten.
The beams are marked where each plane hit and are placed in the basement on the side of the building where they hit.
I can't help thinking this one looks like it's reaching out.
There are several memorial there commemorating the first responders who were lost that day.
There are fountains above ground representing the two towers. Names are engraved of those who lost their lives that day. I am glad they chose to memorialize this place this way. A place of reflection and dignity for those of us to come and pay our respects.
I love the new building they erected to replace the original towers. It's a beacon of hope for our country, a show of our strength and resilience, and a symbol of our resolve to come together as a nation no matter what strikes from outside our shores.
We did have a chance to see a few other sites...
Times Square...
And a Christmas Market in Bryant Park....
And a quick stop at a NY Public Library near Bryant Park where they had a little exhibit of the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals.
All in all it was a really nice day. We enjoyed spending time together, and my son even commented that he loved doing stuff with us...and is already planning our next outing...
