Such a Wonderful Day~

Oh my!! Another award!!! This time is from Valerie!! It is the Special Friends Award and "Love" Pendant~~ Thank you so much!!

The description for this award reads "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind of writers. When you pass this award along please include these guidelines. I am to choose eight friends to share this with"

My blogging history wasn't very long, but I have met so many lovely people over this short period of time. I've seen many of you have already received this award, so I won't be nominating anyone here. You all are my inspiration and my "go-to" people when I have any question about stitching, and I'm so grateful being able to meet all of you through the cyber space~

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I went to a wonderful nursery today to pick out some plants for my patio, since I gave all of my plants away before I moved and can't bear leaving my patio so empty.... It was a little out of my way but I heard it was pretty nice, so I decided to pay it a visit. And I'm so glad I did, cause boy I had so much fun there!!! They had so many different kinds of plants to choose from, and being indecisive as I am, this just made it harder from me to pick something out. I took my time at the nursery checking out all their plants and wished I had a garden so I can take more plants home...... They even had a mini train area which was sooo cute!!! I can just imagine people bring their kids here and having a wonderful time together!!

After being at the nursery for 2 hours I finally picked out some perennials, a rosemary, a mint, and a lovely lavender to take home with me. I'm so psyched about the lavender cause I always wanted one but the weather was not permitted before. My car smelled so good on my way home!! I can't wait till it flowers so I can dry them out and make sachet out of them~

When I came home today I found a package sitting in front of my door, and I knew that is the package from JoAnn Fabrics with my Q-snap frame!!! And can I order just one thing from JoAnn's? Of course not!!!! So I also got this Holly Hobbie kit and two canvas tote bags which were on sale~~ I'm going to try out the Q-snap frame tonight and I have a feeling I'm going to love it!!

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This has nothing to do with the topic but I've recently discovered the wonderful use of DVR and I'm loving it!!!! Now I can program all the shows I want to watch for the whole season and watch it anytime I want!!! No more crappy VHS tapes!! Oh Yeah!!!!!

I've seen that a few of you have trouble commenting on my blog, in fact I've encountered the same problem on some blogs as well. I think it was a Google blogger problem, maybe they were working on their system at that time or something.... I hope it didn't cause you guys too much trouble, and thank you for commenting on my blog. I love reading them, so keep them coming!!! Cheers!!

An Award!!!

Wow!! I never thought I would receive an award!! Thank you Michelle at Little Rabbit Miniatures for my first ever award (There seems to be a lot of first to me lately~~)!! I think the rule is that I have to name 5 things I am addicted to and then pass the award on to 5 other bloggers.

 

Well, my five additions are:

• Cross stitch - obviously.....
• Read blogs - this is my new found addition, just take a look at my long list of blog lists.....
• Drink tea - got to have a cup everyday or it just don't feel right....
• My pet fish - I can stare at them for hours!!! Looking at them makes me happy~~
• Traveling - haven't been doing this much lately, but I've been discovering new places around my new home, which is quite fun~

It is so difficult to just pick 5 blogs to pass along this award, since I think all your blogs are FABULOUS!!!!! But here are some blogs that I thought are great if you haven't visited them yet:

• Tapestry of Dreams
• The Scarlett House
• Olenka's Stitches Blog
• Eye of the Needle
• Fog City Dweller

Enjoy~~

Treasure Hunting.....

Thank you all for your suggestions regarding the Q-snap. I've put in the order for a 8x8 frame and it is on it way to my house~

I have been pretty busy this past week so not a whole lot of stitching going on.... I did picked out a pattern and material needed for an exchange, but can't really show that yet.....

After getting my new CA plates and passing the writing test for the driver's license at DMV, I decide it should call for a celebration and went to visit a needlework shop (any excuse to go stash shopping~~). There are actually several needlework shops in the San Diego area, and Siticher's Treasures is actually the furthest from me of all of them, but seems to have the most collections. I've actually never step foot in a needlework shop before, and boy I was in haven!!!! There are all kinds of charts, threads, fabrics, and the owner was so nice and showed us all kinds of toys~

Because I wasn't prepared to come here, I didn't get a whole lot of stuff. There were so many charts that I wanted to get, but when I thought of all the ones that I haven't stitch yet at home, I only picked the Pomegranate Sampler to go home with me. I also picked out some fabrics and threads that I know I needed. Believe me, it wasn't easy to cut the wish list down to only these few items!!  But it was so much fun digging through all the stashes and it really felt like a treasure hunt~ I would defiantly come back again, and next time, I will be prepared!!!!!

Q-Snaps.....

Sounds like 8x8 is the way to go!!

Thank you soooo much for all your tips, I really appreciate them all~

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I've heard wonders about Q-Snaps and would like to get one since I'm in need of a new frame and I've got a coupon for Joann's Fabrics right now~ What I'm debating is what size should I get? Will 11x11 be too big to handle or will 8x8 be good enough? I know.... I'm a very indecisive person.....

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!!

First Ever PIF Gift~

Look what came through the mail during the weekend!!!! It's a PIF gift from Elisa!!!!! I was soooo excited to receive this cause this is my first ever PIF gift~

It's a pin pillow with floss rings on 2 ends, and this is a Calico Cat design called Hearts & flowers. It is stitched with Victoria Clayton silks!! Isn't it just lovely? The fabric itself actually has a pink hue to it, but it doesn't show through very well on the photos....

PIF gift from Elisa
Calico Cat design "Hearts & flowers"
Thread: Victoria Clayton silks
Received: 02-07-2009

And here is the whole package!!! The lavender soap smells sooooo good!!! It made the whole package smells good. It fact that is the first thing I noticed before I even opened the package~ Thank you so much Elisa!!!!!

I also got the Heart and Hand framed last Friday~ I went to Michaels and sat on the floor with several frames in front of me for hours and this is my final decision!! I think it fits the design quite well~

Pattern: Willow Hill Samplings "Heart and Hand"
Thread: Recommended cotton floss
Fabric: 28ct DMC linen
Size: 8.25" x 5.25"
Beginning Date: 10-09-2008
Completion Date: 01-30-2009

Thank you all for visiting~ I hope you all will have a wonderful week to come~

First Robin of Spring

Thank you all for your kind comments on the Heart and Hand piece~ You all are my driving force to keep going!!!

To answer Denise's questions, we have finally settled down in our new place, and I'm loving it more and more (despite of the expensive rent, of course...)~ I've visited San Diego a couple times before and had a good very impression. Now that I actually am living here, it proved that my first impressions are quite correct~ The weather is just perfect almost everyday, the people are really friendly, and there are just so many places to go to. What I love the most, though, is that there are quite a few needlework shops in the San Diego area!!! I've checked them up online and had planned to visit each and everyone of them very soon!!!!

While I was digging through my stashes trying to figure out which project I feel like to do next, I realized I'm running out of fabric and threads!!! So before I can kit the bigger projects up, I decided to stitch this cute little design from Elizabeth's Designs~ I know I'm weeks ahead of myself but maybe it's the warm weather here in San Diego made me felt like spring has already arrived~

Pattern: Elizabeth's Designs "First Robin of Spring"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 28ct antique white evenweave fabric
Size: 2.75" x 2.5"
Completion Date: 02-02-2009

Isn't this little robin just adorable? And I just love how the leaves turned out!!

 

I haven't decided how to finish it yet, recently I'm in the all stitch mood and just want to keep going!! So this one will go to the to be finished pile and I'll finish it up in a later date~ Until then, happy stitching~~

Happy Dance~~

I've just finished stitching Willow Hill Samplings "Heart and Hand"~~ So happy!!!! And how appropriate to show this to you all in the month of Valentine~ This is actually a wedding gift for a dear friend, and now I'll have to go find a perfect frame for it!! That means a trip to the craft store~ Happy~

Pattern: Willow Hill Samplings "Heart and Hand"
Thread: Recommended cotton floss
Fabric: 28ct DMC linen
Size: 8.25" x 5.25"
Beginning Date: 10-09-2008
Completion Date: 01-30-2009

I enjoyed stitching this very much!!! Loved the colors and design, especially the border!! I've also learned how to stitch a Lazy Daisy, which I think turned out really cute!!

This is my first time using hand dyed threads, and I have to say they do add a little something to the whole picture. I'll definitely try them out again in the future~

Now the question is, which new project should I start with? :-)