Halloween Spirit

I just stitched this up from a freebie from Primitive Bettys. She is so generous with her designs. It's on coffee stained 32 ct linen and I used colors from Gentle Art Sampler Threads. It was a quick stitch but I like the simplicity of it. I stitched tiny x's all the way around to finish it off. I just won some wonderful old skeleton keys on ebay and thought it would be fun to add one to this Halloween themed pinkeep. Got lots more to show you in the coming days.
Happy stitching.
Nan

Sewing Pouch

Just a quick post.......cause I'm in the middle of a lot of finishing work, as you know. I got this done today. The pattern is a Stacy Nash and I've stitched it on raw linen and lined it with osnaburg. I also made a matching osnaburg drawstring. I decided to bring the lining over to the front of the bag and used a decorative stitch to finish it off. I am trying new things with the new Brother sewing machine that my husband surprised me with last Christmas. I am new to sewing with a machine, so it takes awhile for me to get up the nerve to try new things on it. I'm a hand sewer at heart, but it does go A LOT quicker on the machine. I'm working on another sewing pouch and I'm liking it but I want to make it a bit more special. So.... I will post some pics of it once done.
Happy stitching.
Nan

Finally A Finish

Well, here is my first finish in a while and it's actually something other than cross stitch. That's a first. I really like how it turned out. I used a reproduction coverlet fabric for the pillow base and stitched on some old crochet that I had in my stash. It's filled with seed cotton, which is some pretty cool stuff, if you can find it. The strawberry is filled with crushed walnuts and the whole thing was aged with some homemade stain.
Thanks for taking a peek. As always, Happy Stitching!
Nan

Autumn Song Pinkeep

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful holiday weekend and taking in the last days of summer. Fall is approaching quickly. But I am looking forward to it since it is my favorite of seasons. Pumpkins and Halloween just can't be beat in my book.
Well, I stitched this up at the end of last year, but just got around to antiquing it with stain. It's a Blackbird Design and I used the WDW floss they suggested. I stained some reproduction fabric for the back and stuffed it with my usual mix of sawdust and wood savings (Courtesy of my wonderful hubby). I added a few blackhead pins to the front for a little added fun !
I think I'll display this on my grain bin till it finds a new owner.
Till next time. Happy stitching.
~Nan

Rough August

I feel very bad that I have neglected my blog for such a long time, but it has been a rough August. We got home from our wonderful vacation in Maui and began to deal with the reality that our 16 year old dog, Shannon, was going blind. She is the love of our life and I had a very hard time dealing with it. In reality we probably had a harder time with it than she did. She is completely blind now. She is such an inspiration and always has a happy wagging tail for us and lots of kisses. She has learned to negotiate the house pretty well, but I still worry quite a bit. This is a picture of her resting on her pillow. How could you resist that face?

Once she was in better spirits and seemed like she was getting back to her old self, I decided it was time to pick up my needle and thread again and start sewing. So, I have been quiet busy cross stitching, but have not found the time to get much of the finishing work done. Here are some of the items that I have stitched up in the last few weeks. Every time I got one project done I immediately started a new one.

Click on the picture to make it bigger and you will get a better view. As I get these items finished into pinkeeps and ditty bags, I will post pictures so that you can see how they came out. Warm wishes to all.
Nan

Maui Up Country

We took a drive up country yesterday and went through Kula and Ulukalapua. It was so lush and the views were heavenly. I just had to post a few pics so you could see the beauty. It's about 10 degrees cooler up here and the gardens up country are just lovely. It makes me think this could be the place for me.

This was our sunset yesterday from the condo. The beauty of Maui always amazes me every time we come here. I love all of this island from the beaches to the mountains.

Aloha !

Aloha from Maui !

Aloha from Maui ! Having a wonderful and relaxing time. Wish you all were here. What a Hoʻolauleʻa (party) that would be. : ) Today was the perfect beach day. We spent the morning at Ulua and Mokapu Beaches in Wailea. The water was a gorgeous blue.
We plan to drive in to Kihei for dinner. A local told us about a really good mexican restaurant that claims to have the best ceviche. Monday, our first night here, we went to Pupu's and had local fish that was just out of this world delicious. Well, Aloha for now. I'll post more pictures soon.