First Cross Stitched Ornament of the year

DMC Freebie Pattern

DMC floss used

Stitched on Natural Linen

This is the first ornment I have ever made.  I have always admired them but never sewed one together.  After veiwing so many beautiful handstitched ornaments on trees this season on various blogs, I felt I should give it a go.  I have cross stitched ornaments, but I used to put them in tiny small frames and then hang those on the tree.  After seeing Faye's coffee ornament for a friend, I knew it would be a perfect gift for one of my dear friends whose birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. She loves coffee SO much, and I had it in mind that she could hang this off of the doorknob on her pantry door in her kitchen. 

Here is the backing fabric.  I loved the swirls in the design and copied Faye's idea of using a swirl background to back it, and used a silver and copper colored bead at the base of the gingham ribbon.



Here it is hanging on MY closet door!  I did choose other colors for the cup itself, and used two different colors of floss to make the "froth".  Thank you Faye for sharing with us your design!  I just love how it turned out!

This is now my NEW stitching bag!  I get so many complements on it.  My friend Annette, who I made the coffee ornament for, made me this bag for Christmas and I just love it!  It has a padded pocket inside where I place my scissors and it is SO big, I can carry my stitching, graphs, books, even my iPad!  Next I am working on a "LOVE" ornament for another friend.  I do need to make some for me though!  Hopefully soon!

The ABC's of ME

This is a picture of our dog Ozzie (who is mentioned below).  The Rocket Scientist had knee surgery last week and decided to drive himself to work today.  He is doing well, but is on crutches for the week with a bandaged knee and a brace.  Yikes!  After Friday we will see if he has to keep using the crutches or not.

I have been seeing these ABC's of me out in blogland, so I decided to post them for myself here!

A - Age: 48
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Mopping
D - Dog's name: Ozzie (named for the White Sox General Manager)
E - Essential start of the day item: Extra Bold coffee from my Keurig
F - Favorite color: Pink
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'5"
I - Instruments you play: Alto Sax and Organ/piano
J - Job: Bookstore Sales Associate at our church bookstore
K - Kids: 3 Daniel, Alivia and Ryan
L - Living arrangements: Me, Husband, 3 kids, dog and fish all in the same house!
M - Music you love: Pop, Christian and Christmas Music!
N - Nicknames: Mom
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: Yes, when I had my kids
P - Pet Peeve: People driving slow
Q - Quote from a movie: "You should see what it looks like from out here!"
R - Right handed or left: right
S - Siblings: A half brother and a half sister
T - Time you wake up: usually around 5:30
U - Underwear: Yes
V - Vegetable you dislike: Parsnips
W - Workout Style: Just Dance 2 on Nintendo Wii
X - X-rays you've had: teeth, ankle, back, neck
Y - Yummy food you make: cupcakes and fudge
Z - Z best place to visit: Disney World!

Happy New Year, 2011!

Happy New Year!

What does this new year mean to you??  What will it bring??  It is exciting to THINK about the possibilities.  I'm sure there will be good times and ones we hope would never occur.  What about New Years Resolutions?  We hate to make them, but only because we hate to break them!  But you can't help but think about them.  I like the words of that wonderful woman of God, Corrie ten Boom, who said, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

Here are a few things I would like to accomplish this year:

1.  Eat better.  Yep.  I believe for me, sugar and wheat are the culprits in my life that make me unfit when I consume it in excess.  I will try to reduce these two things in my daily food consumption.

2.  Be Fit.  Oh, how I do NOT like to exercise!  I don't want to be exhausted, panting and out of breath.  But to lose these extras pounds, I believe we have to Eat Less and Move More.  That is my husband's diet.  He has always said this, and he is accomplishing it pretty well these last few weeks.  I will have to join him on this one, along with my daughter, who also needs to exercise. 30 minutes 5 days a week.  We will see how that goes.

3.  New Flooring.  The carpet in my house is not in the best shape.  The tile and grout needs some major help.  Enough said. 

4.  Finish the office.  It looks pretty good, but needs organized (ugh) which I do not know how to do.  I am not a decorator or an organizer.  I wish I was, but something happens between my brain and my hands that just does not seem to work.  I will let Pottery Barn Catalogs do that for me.  ;-)

5.  Work with my Hands.  I love to make jewelry and cross stitch.  I would love to find time to do some cross stitching this year.

6.  Read.  I would like to read the Harry Potter Series.  We will see how far I get on that!

That is it!  I do look forward to some things this year.  My Oldest Son graduating COLLEGE (yippee!), my youngest son graduating Kindergarten, and the middle girl -- well, I'm sure she will love getting through 7th grade! I pray I will accomplish some of my goals here.  I will look back to this post over the year and see how I do.  Motivation is key!

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance."—Psalm 65:11

God is in control of your future. He is ready to bless you in this coming year.