April Rain…

It’s that time of the year again, where it has been raining NON-STOP for days… I feel like I shouldn't complain, as we really need the rain here in Taiwan. But I’m so glad to see the sun out again today~ It’s such a nice break from all the wetness~

Another thing that made my day was Melissa’s package~ I was very lucky to win a giveaway from her blog Words and Blooms!! This package had to travel half way across the world and I’m so happy that it arrived safe and sound last week. I absolutely love these two charts, and cannot wait to have my hands on them. Thank you soooo much, Melissa~

But before I can start any new projects, I have to finish my Mary first!!! I did made a little progress on it, finishing another motif. This one is quite challenging, as I had to pay more attention on the rose buds. I love how it turned out, though~

And here is the whole progress of my Mary. It’s such a joy to see the gaps slowly filling in~ (Sorry about the wrinkles!!! I’ll deal with that later!!!)

That’s it for now~ So what do you do on rainy days?

New Start!!

Hello my darling friends, how was your weekend? I was very fortunate to win the traveling pattern from Ellen!!! This is such a cute design that I just couldn’t resist entering!!!! Although it traveled from Singapore, it arrived very quickly – WAY faster then my shipments…. I wanted to start it right away, but all my supplies are still in my shipment boxes. Good news is, the shipping company FINALLY called and told me that my stuff will arrive this Friday!! That was such a good news, not only because I’ll be able to get my stitching supplies, but also my fall/winter clothes, as the temperature has started to fall lately. We only brought summer clothes with us and it is getting chilly at night now. We could really use some light jackets~

I also just started a new job which came very unexpectedly!!! Since there are still so many things to take care of in our new place, I didn’t plan on getting back to work so quickly. I haven’t been working for quite a while now, so there is still lots to get use to. Hopefully I’ll be able to get into a routine soon!!! Thank you all for checking in on me~~

Memories…

Four more days till the big move. I’ve been very busy packing, sorting, selling and cleaning. My apartment is a mess. It has been from this:

To this…

And this:

 

To this…

Although I hate packing, I can’t say that it was all work and no fun. You won’t believe all the things you would dig up during this process. I still have clothes from high school hiding in my closet, and old letters I received when I came to US fourteen years ago. That was when PC was still scarce and e-mail was not a common source of communication, and people still write letters by hand. I went through all the letters from my first year in the US and was so touched by all the encouragement I got from friends and family. Then I remembered what joy it was to receive a letter from overseas. It was these letters that kept me going.

Another thing that kept me going everyday was my car. I just part with it today. It was a bittersweet moment for me. I was happy that I was able to sell it in such a short timeframe, but sad to see it go. This was the first car I bought all by myself and it has been through all the big moves with me. I think no matter how many cars I get later in my life, this one will always have a special place in my heart~

I was very fortunate to have won Mary’s giveaway a while back. I received her package this week and was totally blown away by the pin cushion she made. The stitches are perfect and the finish just gorgeous. I love the saying on the pin cushion, it is so true. Thank you so much, Mary~

So this will be the last post I do from the States!!!! I guess next time I sign in again, I will be in Taiwan. Hopefully it won’t be too long of an absence. See you at the other side~~

Friendship Love~

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!! Any big plans today? Well, I don’t expect my hubby will do anything special today, cause I think he has used up all his romantic quota for this year on my birthday. So my plan is we’ll just have a lovely dinner at home tonight and call it a day~

Although there’s not going to be much love from my hubby, I did receive a nice birthday package from Cindy recently!! Aren’t those buttons cute?! I will definitely put these in good use!! Thank you again for your thoughtfulness, Cindy~

Remember the little preview post I wrote a few weeks ago? Well, here is the final product!!!! There are two showing here but I only made one, the other was made by my stitching friend Claire. We decided to do this together and make it into pot holders as a goodbye gift to a very dear friend of ours who loves to cook~ We will miss her (and her cooking) dearly!!!!

Pattern: from book “Cross Stitch” by Dorothy Wood Pg.100 
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct white linen
Finished Size: 6" x 6" 
Completion Date: 01-30-2012

Before I end this post, please stop by Nancy’s blog and check out the awesome thread giveaway she has been hosting. Nancy have been generously giving away her beautiful hand dyed floss so be sure to check in often~~

Charley Brown is getting some love, I hope you will, too~~  Happy Valentine’s Day!!

This and That

Hello my darling friends~ Sorry I have been absent for over a week. I have been quite busy, and had almost no time for stitching. I managed to put in a few stitches on “Plant Kindness”, which I actually started while on vacation during Christmas. You would think I could get more done while DH was away!!! I’m also working on my tumbling quilt. It is very close to being done and I just want to finish it so I can cross it off my list!!!

Last Friday was my birthday. DH and I went to a steakhouse for dinner, taking advantage of the free steak birthday deal they have going~ They even threw in a free desert, how nice!!

As we were waiting for our meal, DH surprised me with a birthday present he picked up during his business trip~ This kind of thing does not happen much so I was very surprised!! Maybe he should be away more often?! ^^

I saw these giraffe balloons in the mall the other day!!! Aren’t they adorable?! These balloons are quite unusual cause they float low to the ground, so kids can pull them just like they are walking them. I saw a little girl pulling a pig one, sooooo darn cute!!! Don’t you think these giraffes are saying “Pick me!! Pick me!!”?

Seeing Blue…

Are you tired of looking at my Christmas ornaments yet? Well, I have been stitching, but the progress is very slow…. Besides being very busy in the past few weeks, the irregularity of the pattern totally threw me off!! I felt like I’ve spent more time frogging then stitching!!! I actually like this pattern very much, just didn’t expect how time consuming it would be. And I am at a time crunch, too, since this is going to be a gift.

I’m still not entirely done with it yet, but here is a sneak peak of the stitched piece and the fabrics I’m going to use.

Today is also my hubby’s birthday~ Since he will be leaving tomorrow for a business trip, I bought two small cakes for a little celebration. I will miss him while he is away….

May you all have a great weekend~

Presents!!

Hello my darling friends, Happy New Year!!!! I am finally back from my vacation and had so much fun with my family~~ We didn’t do much, mostly lounging around the house and eat lots of food. Now I’m fully recharged  for the new year!!

I know Christmas has long past but still would like to share the presents we exchanged for Christmas. Since my little sister is having a baby, I made some blankets for her. First is a couple of swaddle blankets, each simply made with a yard of flannel!!

Pattern: jcaroline creative "Flannel Receiving Blankets" 
Size: 32” x 32”
Completion Date: 12-16-2011

Then a Ric Rac blanket for play and naps. You know I had to choose a giraffe fabric~~ Isn’t it adorable?! My sister loved it!!

Pattern: Sew Much Ado "Ric Rac Receiving Blanket" 
Size: 42” x 42”
Completion Date: 12-16-2011

Beside a bunch of other goodies I got from my sisters, I also received 2 Lizzie Kate charts for Christmas. For someone who knew little about cross stitching, I so appreciate her making an effort to find these for me. Totally my taste, too!!!

My elder sister is the knitter of the family, so she made this set of hat and shoes for our baby niece~~ Aren’t those shoes adorable?! I want a pair, too!!!!! She also made me a hat but it’s not quite done yet, so I’ll have to wait a bit longer to receive them in mail.

She also make these stylish greyhound sweaters and put them on Etsy~ All the profit goes to Compassion for Greyhounds of Michigan. She also sells the pattern to all you knitters out there~ Here is Nash nosing around the kitchen in his handsome sweater!!

I had such a wonderful time!!! Wish I lived closer to them so we can do this more often… May you all have a wonderful 2012~~~

December~

I can’t believe it’s December already, and Christmas is only 3 weeks away!!! I still have so many project that needed to finish, but someone has been keeping me busy!!! Yup, Elijah was here visiting again~

Elijah: “What are you looking at?! Get that camera out of my face!!”

I have been working on my quilt and snowmen pillow, but don’t have much for show yet. However, I did receive an awesome gift from my friend Tina~ She made this advent calendar!!! Isn’t it gorgeous?!

Did you see that glittery blue background? I love it!!!! She said she got this advent calendar idea from the Stitch, Craft, Create Magazine!! It looks like an awesome magazine full of inspirations!! I might just have to order it~

 

Today is December the 1st so I added a dot. Would you like to count down with me?

Happy crafting~

I did it!!! Well, Sort of….

While I was waiting for the first ornament of this year to come out, I decided to start on some ornaments from last year before I got all the materials I need for the 2011 ornaments, and I finished stitching Fa-La-La last week~~~~ It was such a fun stitch, way haven’t I done it sooner?!

Pattern: Little House Needleworks "Fa-La-La"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Stitch Size: 4" x 4"
Completion Date: 01-13-2011

I know I haven’t finished finished it, but I like to do my finishes all at once, so I've decided to finish them quarterly. On this note, January's ornament – check!! My hands are actually itching to start the next one!!!

I’ve also did a bit of sewing over the weekend. A friend of mine picked out this fabric from a bargain bin and asked me to make it into a scarf for her.

Because the fabric was too wide but wasn’t long enough, I decided to split it length wise and added the extra to the two ends. I then used this cotton lace to cover the seams. This was a simple project, I sure love how it turned out. Most importantly, my dear friend seems to love it, too~~

I was very fortunate to have won Cindy’s New Year giveaway a few weeks ago. Since it was a mystery giveaway, I had no idea what was in the package. When it finally arrived, I was overwhelmed by Cindy’s generosity!!! It was filled with charts, magazines and all sort of goods, plus a lovely ornament she have made!!! Thank you soooo much, Cindy, what a great way to start a year~~

Autumn

For me, loving giraffe is really a blessing. I have been told by many friends that whenever they see something giraffe, they would think of me. I am always touched by this, and forever be grateful for all the friendships connected by this graceful animal. Nicole surprised me by this notebook and card set, with beautiful black and amber beads. They are totally me, and I’m sure every time I look at them, I would be thinking of her. Thank you so much, Nicole~~~

I will be moving again soon. Yes, it seems that I would not escape the fate of moving every year, and I know this move won’t be our last. With only 2 more weeks until the move, I’m still in denial mode – have not even started packing yet. I know I will regret this later, but I just wanted to enjoy a few more days with things in order. So if I do not pop up in blogger land the next few weeks, you know I am buried in boxes and chaos – hopefully won’t be long.

Before I leave, I would like to share with you a little taste of autumn. It’s the time of persimmons again - so sweet, so bountiful~

Enjoy this beautiful season~~

A New Start~

Living in an apartment, there’s not a lot of space to stretch out. So while DH is in Maine right now eating lobster buffet (so envy!!), I thought to myself, what a great opportunity to start a new quilt?! I can take over the dinning table and living room and no one would complain about it!!!! So that’s what I did. I took out the Urban Chiks 1974 Charm Packs I bought a few weeks back and started cutting.

One hundred and eighty blocks and a hand of sore fingers later, I ended up with 5 piles of nicely cut tumbler shapes and a basket full of scraps~~ I love these prints sooooo much that I’m going to save the scrapes for now and think of a way to use them later…

When I bought these charm packs, I already knew I wanted to try this recipe from Moda Bakeshop. Instead of four packs, I used five, and I’m thinking of adding a border around it to expand the final size. I can’t remember how many times I had arranged and rearranged these blocks, but after squatting on the floor for so long, my thigh is still sore even now. I’ve moved onto sewing. Hopefully I can finish piecing them together before DH comes home, and all the pieces will match up nicely…. Fingers crossed.

I was very lucky to win this gorgeous project bag from Susan a few weeks ago!!! It is HUGE and a perfect fit for a bigger project!!!! I place the needle minder on it to give you a sense of the size~~ I love it!! Thank you so much, Susan!!!!

Well, I’m going back to my sewing now. Talk to you all later~~~

I Must Have…

… done something good, cause I have been very fortunate in the past few weeks!!! One day I saw the very talented Annie crocheted 2 little animals and one of them happened to be a giraffe!!! She remembered my obsession of giraffes and was so kind to make me a needlecase with the crocheted giraffe on it!!!! Isn’t this lovely?! And the backing fabric works so well with the whole thing!!! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Annie!!!

And then there was Belinda celebrating her 200 followers milestone giveaway!!!! She made several project bags out of these discontinued Blackbird Design fabric which were super awesome!!!!!! Originally she was only going to pick 3 winners but in the end she generously added 3 more runners up, and I was very fortunate to be one of them!!! Not only did I received the project bag from her, she also included “Established With Love” chart from her Blue Ribbon Designs collection~ Thank you, Belinda, I will put them in good use!!!

Remember way back in March I saw this awesome quilt in San Francisco and found out that its fabric was from Urban Chicks 1974 line? Well, they were quite difficult to find now since it was out a few years back but as I was browsing the web, I came across some charm packs and I was thrilled!!!! I’m not sure what I will be doing with them yet, but I know I’ll think of something good!!! The most important thing is, now I have them in my stash!! HA!!