A Christmas Quilt

I hope this post finds you all well and progressing with your holiday plans! Today I decided to share my Christmas quilt with you.  I took a class a few years ago at the local quilt shop.  The class was designed around the Thimbleberries patterns.  Before I became involved with cross stitching, I was a quilter.  My favorite part was the hand quilting.  I might have mentioned that I will never enter a contest with my stitching.  Part of the reason has to do with the quilting.  I allowed my perfectionist tendencies to get the best of me and I realized that I was not enjoying the quilting anymore.  I was so determined to get 10 stitches to the inch. Anyway, I am determined that my stitching will remain a joy not a chore!! I am showing this quilt not because of my work.  I did all the piecing on my machine.  However an amazing lady did the quilting with a long arm. That is worth sharing!!

I tried to give you a view of the quilt on the bed.  My dear father built this beautiful 4-poster colonial bed for us.

This is the border all around the quilt.  It represents a village, trees and all.

There is a big house right in the center.  She stitched the year, my name , and a wreath on the door.

 Notice the shades and the beautiful pine cone wreath.

 Shutters, shades, and stars!

A candle in the window of this house.

 All the inner borders had these stars.

Do you see the deer eating the grass at the bottom?

 Each package is stitched with it's own design. I think you will agree with me that this lady is a wonderful quilter and she quilts with love.

The other morning I was going downstairs and this is what I saw. I thought it was a great shadow!

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope everyone is having a good week!

Things I'm thankful For...

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day at the Simmons house so I decided to do a post today(DH is working in the kitchen right now) I'm thankful for that! We took a beach walk on Sat. and looking at the pictures gave me the idea for this post.  I hope all of you have many things in your life to be thankful for and have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! The following pictures show only  a few of the things I'm thankful for...

  The beautiful Cascade Mountains

 Living so near this lighthouse, I can spend lots of time walking that beach and working at the lighthouse.

Living in a place that has both mountains and water.

My best friend

 Mt. Rainier at sunset.

My beautiful garden.

 Even after a freeze this little rose was still going.

This represents lots of things, my wonderful family, a relaxing hobby like stitching, and all of you good friends out in blogland! Have a wonderful day!!

A Gift and a Cross Stitch Catch-Up!

 This has been a very busy week.  The class where I work as a volunteer had their big play of the year filled with music and dancing.  They are 4th -5th graders so we had lots of practices.  The big performance was Thurs. evening. I'm not used to getting going so quickly in the morning(thanks to retirement!).  All went well and I'm glad it's over for another year.
Fri. was a great day.  I got my pillow from Carol at the blog "Stitching Dreams".  Carol is a wonderful stitcher and her finishing is amazing.  I was so happy to win one of her lovely creations.  Most of you know of her blog but if not you really need to take a look.  Carol does wonderful things with a needle and linen.
I was also lucky to be able to buy one of Marly's boxes.  She is another wonderful blogger who does great things.  Her blog is called "Samplers and Santas."
Good news, the elf is no longer headless.  In fact, I just need to stitch a back , put in the fluffy white, put the ornament together and send it off to Hannah for her first Christmas!!

 The pillow has an honored place on my antique bucket bench with the little raccoon Woolpet!

 The beautiful pillow, perfect for this week!

 Carol does an amazing job stitching on such a small count linen!

 Instead of gold cross stitches , I used little gold beads.  I am going to use fluffy thread on her coat.

 This is my current project.  I wanted a simple sampler that I could finish by Christmas!

I hope all of you have a wonderful week-end.  We are headed off to take a beach walk.  It has been cold but the sun is out and it is suppose to get to 50 this afternoon!

A Wintery Post!

I can't thank you all enough for the very nice things you said about my Thanksgiving decorating.  It must be those 30 years I spent in a classroom that has me decorating for holidays!!
Yesterday and last night we had a storm that brought snow to the mountains.  This morning dawned sunny with blue skies so we went out to take a few pictures of the Olympics with snow.  Then it was off to the grocery store.  I had my handy camera so I decided to give you a tour of winter brews!! I love the packaging!  I do enjoy a beer now and then but on my pre-diabetes diet, they are very rare. 
I am starting the post with my current cross stitch project, a Christmas ornament for sweet little Hannah!

 I have had this chart for a long time.  In fact, I can't remember where or when I bought it.  I do remember thinking the little elves would make cute ornaments.

 Here is the start of Hannah's ornament.  It is the one with the doll.  I hope to do the head tonight.  Right now I call it  the headless elf!

 I get this view going to the grocery store.  One of the countless things in my life that I am thankful for!

 This would be a good time to stop if you are not interested in seeing the amazing beer containers!  Some of the scenes make me want to jump right into them.

 Not sure I agree with this one!

Probably my favorite for color and design!

Thanks so much for joining me.  I hope you are all having an amazing week-end filled with beautiful things!

Thanksgiving Decorating and Cross Stitch

I thought it would be fun to show some Thanksgiving decorating.  I do much less for this holiday than I do for Halloween.  I do think it is an important day but decorating wise, it sort of gets squeezed between Halloween and Christmas. I hope you enjoy this little tour!

 I have owls and acorns on my tree, along with this orange garland that I bought for half price after Halloween.  In fact most of the little ornaments were bought on sale.

 A Woolpets owl tops this tree.

More little owls.  The biggest one is about 1 1/2 inches.

Here is the entire desk top. I mentioned before that this is in the entry to our home. The desk is one of my favorite pieces of furniture!

 A little Woolpets mouse and pumpkin sit on the desk.

 An older BBD design hangs in the antique frame. I like to use this frame for many cross stitches.

This blanket chest also sits in the entry.  the newly finished Turkey Love is sitting there with our collection of antique brass lanterns and a glass pumpkin.

 My favorite Thanksgiving Hymn, Come Ye thankful People come...

 The family room mantel shows the many dried gourds I have collected plus my version of the Autumn At Hawk Run Hollow.  I made it into a 9 block square.

This is a very old design.  My DH made it 2 or 3 pumpkins longer to look good over a door.

I'll end with a picture of this very old wooden bowl.  It has been in my Mom's family for a long time.  It is hand made but I have no idea which of my long ago relatives made the bowl. 

Thanks so much for joining me today!

Happy Veteran's Day!

I would like to take time today to honor two important Veterans. Frst is our son, Jeff.  Jeff has served many years in the Army.  During his early years, he was in a Ranger Battalion.  He served two tours in Iraq as a Blackhawk pilot.  We are thankful every day that he came home safely.  He is a wonderful Dad to our grand children!

 This picture was actually taken in Iraq. Jeff is now in graduate school .  He spends many week-ends caring for our two grandchildren. 

Our second special Veteran is Debbie.  She also served a tour in Iraq.  She is now a busy Mom with a full time job, two young children, and is still serving in the National guard.

Happy Veteran's Day to you both!

A Winner

I hope this has been a restful happy week-end for all of you!  This afternoon my DH pulled a name out of a bowl and Marilyn won the December Word Play.  Congratulations Marilyn. I don't think Marilyn has a blog but she has been a wonderful follower of my blog.  Thanks to all of you who made comments!! Last night I finished Turkey Love by Plum Street Samplers.  Tonight , I'll be adding the next part to Mary's Sampler.  After that I'm planning to stitch an ornament for baby Hannah.  I think that will be my goal for my grand daughter, an ornament each Christmas.

 Here is Turkey Love waiting for a frame. I used the recommended floss in DMC not silk.  The linen is a piece of Antique Ivory either Cashel or Belfast linen.

 I haven't shown a photo of my two little dear grand children for awhile.  It is a big pain living so far from them!

I hope you all have a terrific week!  Thanks for joining me!