An embroidered gift for my cousin Rebecca...

My cousin, Rebecca is a certified Yoga teacher. She loves Yoga and truely embodies the spirituality of it. "Sat Nam" means "I am Truth", I embroidered this small pattern for her and framed it in a 5x7 frame. She can either place it on her desk or hang it on a wall. The pattern comes from part of a royalty free design I pulled from dunmanidesigns.co.uk. Rebecca loves anything that comes from the heart, this should brighten her week.

A peek at some black work in progress...

I am working on a black work piece using my "free" embroidery floss that I received from my sister's mother-in-law. I'm excited because I chose the colors based on the fact that I just wanted to try them. It was something different. I don't really have much in my house that is turquoise, so I'm not really sure where I will display it when it is complete. But I am really enjoying stitching it. I'm stitching on 14 count Aida. I did try this on 32 count cashel linen but the eye strain was killing me and my stitching suffered considerably. So, until I get more practice, I will be doing black work on Aida fabric!

Sweet Birthday Goodies...

Alexa's third birthday was this past Saturday. The little diva that she is, she wanted a birthday cake with lots of "sparkles". She wanted a Barbie princess cake. I did not get a picture of the whole cake (to wrapped up in playing host to take a picture!), but I did get this shot of all of the sparkles. There was also a tiera on this cake that was topped off with three pink sparkly cupcakes. My father was taking all kinds of pictures, if he has one of the whole cake I will be sure to post it. The marshmellow skewers were something different. I usually make cookie lollipops but I saw these on Kristen's blog at graceviolet.blogspot.com. They just looked too good to pass up and they were so easy to make! The kids loved them and I think they actually had less sugar in them than the cookie lollipops. I don't claim to be a cake decorator by far, but my girls always seem to love their birthday cakes and I have a lot of fun making them. I will keep making them until they tell me to stop! I hope everyone has a great week.

Introducing Nonnie's Great Grandchildren...

My Aunt Diane, (my mother's only sister) and my cousin Rebecca, and her little boy Morgan, surprised us with a visit to Cleveland late Friday night. My aunt makes several trips here a year to visit my mom and the rest of the family, but Rebecca and her husband have not been here since my sister's wedding in 2000. This past Saturday was the first time that all four of my Nonnie's great grandchildren were together. Alexa and Fiona are on the ends, Morgan is in the middle, and Giada is in Fiona's lap. This was taken on my parent's screened in back porch. The wheather was beautiful and the girls and Morgan played all day long. They all got along so well, no one fought, or cried or whined. My grandmother would've been tickled to death to have been there. I know she was watching and grinning from ear to ear.

Lots and lots of embroidery floss...

My sister's mother-n-law loves to shop garage sales and church sales. Being that she is retired, she has lots of time to look for good stuff. Last weekend, at our Halloween camp out, she presented me with two bags full of embroidery floss! A total of 105 skeins! I was like a little kid who got an early Christmas present. Later that night, while the girls slept next to me in the camper, I sat with a little flashlight and went through all those wonderful skeins of floss. Most of them are J & P Coats deluxe. (Also DMC and a French brand) Now I am not positive, but I believe J & P Coats is now Coats and Clark. I'm not sure how old any of it is but it is all wonderful! I am currently starting a Black work project that I am using the turquoise thread for. I will show pictures in a few days. I also have finished a small project for my cousin Rebecca. I am framing it tonight and will take pictures of it before I mail it to Oklahoma tomorrow. Have a great week.

Lots of Halloween fun and some embroidery...

When Fiona was two years old, we were camping with my parents one fall weekend. It was time for bed and dark, my mother was coming across the campsite and approaching the camper door when Fiona got scared. She thought something was coming up to the door but she didn't know what it was. When my mother opened the door Fiona yelled "It's not a monster it's just Grandma!" I made this embroidery for my mother in honor of that occasion. We had a great time on our Halloween camp out. All of the camp sites were decorated, trails were lit with jack-o-lanterns, and everyone dressed up. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

I make lollipop cookies for the girl's birthdays every year. One year I made flower shaped ones, last year for Alexa's they were hearts. Fiona asked me if I would make them for the Halloween camp out. These are pumpkin shaped, some have faces on them and some are just decorated in Halloween colors. All are very sweet and gooey! Excuse the photo; it is not the best picture I have ever taken but the whole weekend was basically ordered chaos. (This was a good thing though as everyone had a wonderful time.)