October Gifted Gorgeousness and more

I apologize in advance, this is going to be a long one.  And I'm a bit late for Gifted Gorgeousness, seems I've entered a rat race lately and I'm doing my best to keep my head above water!

Where to start?  Hm...Well if you've ever been to my blog before you know the rules for Gifted Gorgeousness (AKA GG).  Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching has been wrangling hosting our little group for a few years now.  I'm ever so grateful because without this challenge, I'm sure I would have given up blogging long ago.  I don't get many comments as I used to, I guess floss tube has become the new "thing to do", but I am grateful for the ones who comment regularly, you know who you are and I truly appreciate you!  If you haven't been here before, WELCOME!!  You can find the rules and sign up to join us here.  And if you want to see what everyone else is doing...you can find the monthly sign up here.  Please visit Jo's blog, she has some phenomenal stitching, I always enjoy a good snoop....she's so good at enabling!  

Basically GG is all about stitching gifts....items such as fabric, floss, patterns, or kits, even things fully finished and sent to us or things we have sent to others.

Many of you already know that October is my birth month....and actually today is my Birthday!  I have been receiving gifts from my pen pals, from Texas and from the UK.  They even BOTH sent gifts to little Miss A.   She's going to be the best dressed baby in town!!  I'm a spoiled stitcher!  AND, my husband took me to a new store last week and I loaded up on goodies as part of my present then too.  Here is what I've been gifted...

From my UK Pen Pal...I received these...a scissor fob and floss keep.  I've been doing a lot of patriotic stitching lately, and bless her, she keeps track of what I've been working on.  I am so behind in sending her the monthly stitching I promised but here is what I've stitched to be sent sometime soon!  Here is what I stitched for her last month (but haven't sent yet)  This is a Little House Needleworks monthly chart for September.  I have October kitted, just haven't found the time to stitch yet...

From my Texas Pal...I received a huge box of goodies.  I have had so much fun stitching for her and our boxes to one another have been a joy to prepare and recieve.  Here is what I stitched for her this past month....I need to get stitching for her for this month, I'm so far behind!  This is what I sent to her last month.

From my husband...here are the goodies I found at Stitches Unlimited.  I can't wait to get started on some of these!

As for gifted stitching...let's see.  I promised I would stitch something for the giveaway this month.  If you haven't heard, I'm having a giveaway at the end of this month to anyone who has commented on any of the posts this month.  The more you comment, the better chance you have!  I've chosen a freebie to stitch by Sue Hillis and I'm stitching it in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness using pink thread.  Here's the beginning....I'm not sure how I'll fully finish it yet, but here's a sneak peek!  Get those exams in ladies, both your own monthly and those periodically suggested by your health care team!

Ok, I consider the Just Cross Stitch charts I stitch to be gifted, because my DH has always gifted me with subscriptions.  I finished these two in September.  This is Snow Day by from the 2016 ornament issue and Santa and Helper from the 2021 ornament issue.

I've been working steadily on the Winter Quaker SAL that was gifted to me last Christmas from DH.  I'm keeping up...miraculously!  

I've been trying to keep up with the Modern Folk Embroidery SAL, but goodness me there is a lot of stitching!  I'm working on the October section, but it's coming along slowly!  This was also a Christmas gift from DH.

I also managed to catch up with Peppermint Purple SAL.  I consider this part of GG because the patterns are free.  If you like blackwork, you can still get in on the SAL as it's going on all year.  Patterns are released once a week and usually only take a few hours to complete.

I've been crocheting a lot lately, and while checking out some crochet sites on the internet, I found this lovely CAL (Crochet a long).  I have seen similar patterns before and dreamed of making one.  Well this one is so well organized, there are pictorial guides, video guides, and written instructions galore!  How could I pass this up?  So as part of my birthday gift, DH drove me to Hobby Lobby and I picked out the yarn I would need.  After a few disastrous starts, I finally got to this point which is only halfway through part one!  Five have been released, there are still 3 more to go.  Hopefully I'll catch up soon...I'm too easily distracted...did someone say Squirrel? 

I'm getting ready for a free Needlepoint Class today via Zoom....here's some of the things I have set aside to start.  More pictures next month!  Wasn't it sweet they started the class on my birthday?  

And lastly I'm going to share a little bit about the trip we took to celebrate my birthday.  If any of you watch Expedition Unknown, or saw Destination Truth, or were entertained by Josh Gates tonight on the Discovery or Travel Channel, you'll know who Josh Gates is.  I've been following his adventures for years now, and we heard he was coming to the Mohecan Sun to give a little talk about his expeditions.  He is so funny and entertaining, we had a really nice time.  I didn't want to pay the extra amount to meet him in person, though that would have been awesome, so no pictures with him, but we did sneak one while he was talking.  I'm not sure I want to join him in any of his travels, but I do enjoy learning about the many different places he goes and things he discovers.  I'm half tempted to pay for the Discovery + streaming just to see back episodes of his travels.

We left there, played a few games of mini golf at a really fabulous course near Lancaster, then took in a performance of Queen Esther at Sight and Sound.  We've been there many times and have never been disappointed.  The costumes and the set designs, the music and those singing it is just phenomenal, and you feel like you're right there in those villages in ancient times.  If you ever have the chance to go....it's an experience you'll never forget.  We already have tickets to see David next year.

Many of you know that we participate in the yearly Baltimore Run Fest in honor of  dear Katie (Ben's first fiance who passed from Cystic Fibrosis).  We were going to be away for the fest this year, but still signed up so the money is donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  We did our 5K virtually and received our medals and t-shirts.   While we adore our Daughter in law, we will always have a special place in our hearts for Katie.  It is the 20th anniversary this year, I'm bummed we weren't able to participate in the excitement of the fest.

Guess that's it for this month.  I hope you all are staying healthy and safe.  Keep on stitching!  And hopefully I'll have a few more posts before the month is over so you'll have a few more chances to win the giveaway.  Happy Stitching!