Exchanges and ribbons

Lots of photos today.

It was another busy dog show weekend. Rory had a wonderful time and won his class each time. That meant another four ribbons to add to the collection. And guess what? We have three more shows this weekend. Best thing about them is that they are close to home. I have to finally admit that he is a horrible traveler. He has fun once we get there and loves the attention but He HATES riding in the car. Screams and carries on something awful. Sigh. I do make sure I have plenty of Excedrin on hand.

He looks great to me. But then again I am a bit prejudiced. But a few more months and a bit more coat and maturity and maybe then he'll start winning those points he needs. I hope.

In this photo I was handling Rory because Shelly (in the Red top) was showing Rory's cousin and the woman in beige was showing Rory's sister. All three had won their class and were in for best puppy. Oh, the puppy that Shelly had won Best of Opposite sex.

Rory:

Being silly.

And getting groomed before the show.

This past week also brought some fabulous stitchy mail. Two exchanges and a "make a wish" gift from Angela. I'll start with that.

Angela of Hoooked on Stitches held a "Make a wish" Rak giveaway earlier this year and my name was chosen. She knew that LHN is one of my favorite designers and that I had admired her box finishes so that became my wish. She finished and sent it out earlier this month and all I cam say is WOW!! It is absolutely beautiful. The stitching is perfect. The finishing is fantastic. Even the inside of the box is gorgeous! Isn't it beautiful?

Angela, I can't tell you how much I really love this. Thank you so much.

Next up, is my exchange from the Lizzie Kate exchange blog. Lisa D was my partner and she stitched LK's Live Simply pattern and finished as a pin keep. She did a beautiful job on it. I love the colors and the sentiment. Thank you so much Lisa.

And finally in yesterday mail I received my HoE too early Christmas ornament exchange. This time my partner was Becky K in OK. She stitched and finished not one but TWO ornaments! She picked an older PS Christmas alpha block pattern and stitched up the K (for Kathy) and the R (for Rory). Aren't they just the cutest? I adore them and can't wait to hang them on my tree this year. My only problem (and I have 7 months to solve it) is which tree to hang the R ornament. The stitchy tree or the dog tree?

I have been able to get some stitching done. My HoE ornament is on its way to its new home. And I am still working on a birthday gift and some more exchanges.

Before I go I do want to say thank you to all of you for the wonderful comments you all have been leaving on my last post. Heck, on all my posts. I am overwhelmed and deeply touched with how many have commented on my upcoming giveaways.

Oh, and I just saw that I have over 200 followers!!! WOW. That is so awesome. You all make me feel so special. Heck, I'm blushing. And if I weren't already having a giveaway I would have to do one just for that. But since I am already holding a giveaway, actually two at once, we will add this fabulous milestone to the celebration! Now don't forget to leave me a comment on the "Almost time to Celebrate" posting ONLY if you want a chance to win a gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane or a pin pillow stitched and finished by me.

Until next time..................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Almost time to celebrate!

Watching and waiting.

That means it is time for a giveaway or two.

What giveaway you ask?

Well, my Birthday is on June 1. And I thought it would be nice to hold a "Happy Birthday to me" giveaway. Since I really hate my birthday (well the gifts part is fun but the getting older part sucks) I decided I wanted to do something to make it special. I love to give as much as receive so I am holding a giveaway in my honor. My birthday gift to to one of you.

And the second reason for a giveaway is that one year ago on May 24th my little boy, Rory, came home.

May 24th, 2009

The first giveaway is for a 25 dollar gift certificate to my one of my favorite ONS, Down Sunshine Lane.

The second is for a pin pillow stitched and finished by me. This is the second finish I mentioned in my previous post. Well, the pin pillow will be finished using this finish. As soon as I know who this is going to I will add their initials and finish it off.
The rules are simple.

One comment equals one chance. And those comments are this post only.

If you choose to enter for both the pin pillow and the gc you much comment twice.

One comment for each prize.

You MUST state in your comment which giveaway you are entering.

International and no blog entries are fine as long as I can get in touch with by email.

Rory and I will choose a winner on May 31st and announce the winner on June 2.

This is my way of saying Thank you to all of you who have been following my journey with my Rory for the past year. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for being there.

Until next time...................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

Edited for A quick PS

Rory's birthday was in March. The celebration part of the giveaway that concerns him is the first anniversary of his adoption as my little boy. :) The birthday part of the celebration is mine only. I hope that clears up any confusion.

Two finishes and Five ribbons.

My Mom's snowball bush in bloom.

All bathed, dried and ready to go!

This is my second attempt at posting today. I have no idea what happened to the first one. Oh well.

My first weekend of dog shows and traveling is now behind me. Rory had a blast and so did I. Except for the cold weather and crazy winds of up to 30 miles per hour, thunderstorms and two hours of bumper to bumper traffic.

The first show we attended was an Irish Setter specialty. That means the show was for setters only and there were 45 of them.

While I have been taking Rory in the ring up till now I thought that for these types of shows where there are more dogs and a chance for more points towards his championship that his breeder, who is also a professional handler, would take Rory in to the ring. I will take him in if needed and at smaller shows. Like the one we went to on Sunday. On Saturday both Rory and Shelly's dog won their classes which meant they had to go in again with all the other male winners to see who wins the points for that show. So I took Rory in then. Rory didn't win the points (Shelly's dog did.) and that's fine. He is young and having fun. That's all that matters. Rory still came home with five more ribbons and a new toy. Me? I came home tired and with a banged up knee. At the Saturday show when I took Rory in I slipped on the wet grass and went down on my knee on the way out of the ring. The knee is okay. Just hurts when I bend it.

Mommy where are you?

Two more specialties coming up this weekend. This time we will be in Connecticut.

I have been stitching. Though all of it has been for exchanges and gifts. I do have one of the two finishes that I can show you.

This finish was for the Lizzie Kate exchange blog round four exchange. What a surprise and a pleasure to see that my partner was someone I consider a very dear friend, Mare. I met Mare a number of years ago through the I Love Cross Stitch Yahoo group. We were in an exchange then and found out that we worked a few blocks from each other. Many lunches and phones calls have passed. Mare no longer works so close but she does drive past my house when she goes to visit her mother. I have had the pleasure of her visiting me at home and even spending the weekend with me. When I saw who I had for this LK exchange I knew which patterned I would do. It was the perfect fit. I also like how the finishing on this turned out.

The second finish is, well, a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see.

Until next time.......................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

I'm baaaaaaaaack

Good gracious I have really missed you all. It seems like forever since I have posted or been able to read your blogs. Where have I been? Here, there and no.where. All I can say is that I am sure glad that April is OVER!

The month started off pretty good. The first weekend of the month was the first of three family weddings for 2010. My nephew and his sweet now bride were married at an early evening wedding on the beach! And the beach is on Long Island. Okay it was a bit chilly (about 45 degrees) with a light (HA!) breeze off the water. (Do you here my teeth chattering!) The wedding was absolutely gorgeous! And it was so much fun since many of my siblings, other nieces and nephews all made the trip to celebrate with the new Mr. and Mrs.

Monday to Friday all four weeks of April were just crazy at work. no, I am not in the tax or accounting profession. I am an editor for a small publication and usually my "summer issue" deadline is the end of May. But due to very frustrating (to me) problems not in my control the deadline was pushed to the end of April. After 28 years in this business you would think I were used to this. Never does a deadline come and go without some kind of drama. (Huge sigh.) And this one was no different. Just different kinds of drama.

The second weekend of the month I was pretty sick and pretty much did not much of nothing. The next two weekends were spent working at home. Lots and lots of proof reading. And that sums up April. Exciting? Nope.

Now bring on May. The merry month of May. And the weekend calender is full! This coming weekend is a three day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) dos show weekend. Then Sunday the 16th is another dog show. Followed by three more the following weekend. Whew! The finally it's Memorial day weekend. I think I get to relax a little. Maybe.

As for stitching. I have been getting some done. Most of my stitching for the past month has been for exchanges and a very special birthday gift. I can show you one exchange which reached it home early last month. I love the way it turned out and will definitely be stitching this pattern again. As well as the finishing.

I also managed to finish and frame Little House Needlework's He is Risen. While I didn't get it done for Easter this year I did finished and it will hang on the wall all year as soon as I decide where.

And I started one of the patterns I showed you in the last posting. Stitchers Prayer by Carriage House Samplings. I have the verse done and started the border. With luck I will finish up my exchange stitching and get back to this one.

So now that I have rambled on and on about not much of anything I thought I would mention to those who have lasted this long that I am announcing a special giveaway next week. As soon as I figure out what I want to give away. Any suggestions?

Oh, any special reason for the giveaway? Why yes. Two special reasons and I will also let you know what those are next week. Now I do hope you come back to find out what and why.

It has taken me long enough to finish this post so I'm off to start catching up on what you all have been up too.

Until next time............

Love and stitches

Kathy

licks from Rory

and Rosie is adding her purrs to this posting.

The first Monday of April.

The posting title is a bit lame but I just couldn't think of anything else.

I hope everyone in blogland who celebrates Easter had a joyous and blessed Easter Sunday. And those who don't, well, I hope you too had a beautiful weekend. Mine was mixed. My dear friend and neighbor's DH lost his battle with cancer suddenly on Thursday. So on Friday I attended the viewing and wake and offered my support. Not a great start to the weekend.

Saturday started out sunny and warm. Perfect for some yard work and sitting on the deck stitching and reading. I did a little of both. But when I went to pick up some flowers to plant at the cemetery the sun disappeared and it got down right chilly. But when I got home I pulled up and found the prettiest surprise sitting on my front stoop. My dear brother remembered Easter and sent this gorgeous basket full of flowers to plant in the garden--lilies and tulips and little mums--as well as a cute pink bunny that Rory would just love to rip apart, err, play with. Honest, I think I have the greatest brother ever. Oh, and I LOVE the basket. Just the right size to hold more works in progress or maybe patterns to be kitted or .......................

Last week was also the birthday of a dear friend, Carolyn, and she called to tell me how much she loved the little gift I stitched for her. So here are some photos of my very first attempt at a pin pillow. I must say I just loved the way it turned out. And when it turned out exactly how I envisioned (A very rare occurance!) I whooped and hollered and did a happy dance that had Rory looking at me like I was nuts. I think he was trying to figure out where he could hide.

(The fabric is the back of the pillow.)

I loved doing the little pillow finish so much so that I finished up two more this past weekend. One was for a private pin pillow exchange and is on its way to its new home so no photo yet. And the other is the companion design to the one I did for Carolyn. I am keeping that one. And I have a few more almost ready to be completed. A new finishing technique that my dear stitching friends will probably get tired of. Fobs and pin pillows are now my specialties. :)

Both this little pillow and the one I sent to Carolyn are stitched with the recommended colors. The Pattern is by Raise the Roof.

I didn't do anything really special for Easter. I had hoped to be finished with He is Risen by LHN. Close but not quite. I was so tired Saturday evening that instead of stitching I fell asleep at 8:30 PM! So here is my progress on this one. I have the frame and mat all picked out and not much more to do so I hope to be done by the end of the week.

I have a couple of pieces all lined up for my next start.

I'm not sure which one I'll do first. What do you think?

I also got a couple of patterns in the mail last week. One is a loaner from Missy, called Hearts Left Behind by Hester's Needle. I saw this finish on Jill, the Purple Peacock's blog and it brought tears to my eyes. It reached out to me that I had to find this to stitch in memory of my Mom. It is perfect. So I contacted Missy and she graciously allowed me to borrow it. I am going to order silks from Victoria Clayton for this one and start it as soon as they arrive.

For Easter Rory got a new ball that he had a blast with. Also a couple of frisbies to play with outside with his new baby, uh, puppy sitter. Today is her first day with him so I hope all goes well.

I hope everyone has a wonderful stitchy week.

Until next time...........

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too