beginnings and ends . . .

I love finishes!  This morning I can share not one, but TWO! Well, perhaps I should clarify. Not two completely finished, ready-to-put-up-and-enjoy-and-never-need-to-be-worked-on-again projects. But two projects on which I've finished the embroidery stitches! I wrapped up my pumpkin piece (by Crabapple Hill Studios):

I just love this sweet stitchery.  I love the character and variety of stitches and colors.  It was truly like painting a scene.  It's so yummy!

And I finished my teapot table topper . . .

I think the last time I shared anything on it, I was still whipping the hexies together! I finished the hexies up during the week, and spent Friday evening and part of Saturday stitching on the teapots.

I don't know what I was thinking, not stitching them up FIRST and then fussy fitting them to the hexie templates.  It made it that much more challenging to stitch!  Especially when driving down bumpy ol' I-65 to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a football game!

(Like that segway?! LOL!) A dear couple had gifted us with tickets to the West Carolina game.  It's the first time I've been to an Alabama game since 1982 (and then I went as an Ole Miss student/fan). We had such a blast!  

The Million Dollar Band was phenomenal.  I adore marching bands, and they do a great presentation.  My favorite formation was when they got into the shape of an elephant (Alabama's mascot):

The stadium is beautiful and it was a fun game to go to.  Even though it was grey and COLD!  

Luckily, though, our seats were both fantastic *and* under cover and we were protected from the wind.  Otherwise it would have been hard to bear!

It was an early game time (11:00 a.m.), so we were home in time (5:30 p.m -- it's a long drive) for me to pick up a new stitchery.  I shared this one by Kathy Schmitz several weeks back . . .

Time to stitch on snowmen! I'd been in a quandary about the type of floss I was going to use.  I finally settled on this really pretty variegated dark blue perle from Valdani.  Another yummy!

I'm going to enjoy working on this sweet piece! But I'm going to admit right up front, that I'll go back forth between it and other stitchery projects.  Mary Corbet has a book of snowflake patterns she's releasing after Thanksgiving, and I'm itching to get my hands on it (so to speak)!

Okay, so that's quite enough from me for the time being.  Except to say that I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for slow stitching.  And also that I'm participating in the Christmas Virtual Cookie Exchange blog hop that's coming up SOON! There are lots of lovely folks participating and it should be a lot of FUN! My day is December 3, and I plan to have some very yummy treats to share!

Happy Sunday! 

:)

teabloom party for five . . .

So, bear with me. Here I am nearly two weeks out from surgery, but still have no use of my right arm/hand. Which means typing is a joy. Not! The easiest way for me to do this was to use my speech to text on my phone, and email it to myself so I could cut and paste it into my blog. LOL!

All in all, though, I'm recovering well and feeling good. Jocelyn and her girls paid me a visit this week and that was such happy medicine! We had a tea party (of course), with a lovely new teapot and tea from a new-to-me company called TeaBloom. 

When I updated/freshened up my blog, I spent a good deal of time checking/adding links and content on my All Things Tea page. Evidently it must have caught the attention of online merchandisers, because TeaBloom contacted me and asked if I'd be willing to try their products and add their link to the tea page. Of course!

Pre-surgery I shared a pic of a pretty glass butterfly....which graced the lid of the teapot I chose....the Wings of Love teapot.

Isn't it pretty? I knew the grandgirls would love it! It came with two blooming flower teas, but it also has a pretty glass infuser for loose teas. 

I showed the ball of tea to Evey and Ellie and they wondered over it and sniffed it (and it had a wonderful 'bouquet')....but let's face it. It was a brown ball and nothing special. 

Until you added hot water. 

The girls were captivated watching it unfurl into a beautiful flower! I have to admit I was pretty captivated, too. 

Not only was it pretty tea, it was tasty tea!  It was a light green tea, but very full flavor and bright. A nice pick-me-up tea! (Plus, it could be re-steeped with fresh hot water.) I highly recommend TeaBloom for their teas and tea wares.  

Even Edith Rose thought it was delicious! And don't let her diminutive size fool you ... girl knows what she wants and she wanted her own cup of tea!

Mind you....neither Jocelyn nor I managed to get any other pics of the girls. My brain was still muddled from surgery. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

No stitching yet...but I do go back to work Monday. I'm doing a lot of blog reading, just not so much commenting/typing. My PT is going well and the therapist tells me I have great range of motion. All positive things! The sling comes off July 30th. I *am* counting days (and it *will* be a JOY)!

Happy tea-drinking and happy weekend!

:)

stash report and *so* much more . . .

This past week has been so busy . . . probably the busiest of the season so far!  And even though today has been busy too, it was good to stop and celebrate my favorite Sunday in Advent . . .

The Sunday of JOY!

My Stitcher, etc. Christmas party was Tuesday evening and that's where the nominal change in my stash report occurred.  (And can you believe we're at week 50?!?)

The bottom line didn't change, because there was an even exchange of fat quarters. We do an ornament exchange and the "wrapping" is a fat quarter of Christmas fabric.  Here's mine ready to go in Christmas plaid (with a bonus yo-yo candy cane ornament):

And here's the pretty fat quarter I received:

I also received a darling little teapot ornament from my darling friend Kari:

Isn't it sweet?!  I opted to 'spruce' up my tea corner with it, instead of putting it on the tree. This sweet little thing may stay out year 'round!

With regard to stash, thanks to all of you who share input on de-stashing.  I've got thirteen days over Christmas, and I have decided for sure to spend at *least* one of those in the Nook, sorting and reorganizing (and de-stashing)!

I had a little time to get in some handwork in spite of the busyness.  For example, the yo-yo candy cane ornie was finished, and I stitched up another wool tree . . . this one in pinks, white and red.

I think I like this one even better!!  The white and blue one I gifted to our hostess on Tuesday.

I also will be working on some more felt poinsettias.

I've always done these in regular craft felt, but I think they'd be pretty in wool felt. I may have to try one out. The hardest part of finishing these is trying to decide which button to use for the center! I'll probably do a little slow stitching on those to carry me through my Sunday evening!

Wednesday we had church and packed Lunches of Love, Thursday we had our MSC missionary Christmas dinner, Friday I finished wrapping anything that had come in late, boxed it all up and got all my out-of-town gifts in the mail!  Whoa!  Is this really me?!?  Ha!  Speaking of gifts for out-of-towners, we also got to do a little FaceTiming with this crew . . .

Their first California Christmas tree!

Sawyer and June were busy 'working' on colorings for us.

Liv was happy to blow kisses to Neesey and Pawpaw!

Saturday was an outing to Miss Mary Bobo's, in Lynchburg, Tennessee.  A group of ladies from Wears Chapel have now made this trip two years in a row!  

The food is always excellent, and it was fun to walk around the square of Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniels), too!

Then today, after church, I met Jocelyn, Ellie and Joc's mother-in-law, Marilyn, at the Von Braun Center for the matinee performance of The Nutcracker!

Ellie was really excited to see it again and told us her favorite part was the Mouse King!  She really was entranced with the ballet and watched through the whole thing quite intently!  I think this year was even more enchanting for her, because she's been taking ballet lessons!

And she was able again this year to wear the pretty little Nutcracker dress that I hand-embroidered the "E" on!  In another year or two, Everley will be able to wear it, too!

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  And I'm off to see what little stitches I can make before bedtime!

Have a fabulous week!

:)