As Promised

As promised ... a post full of pictures. First up, DH's stocking. As you can see, I'm almost done with the bottom part of the stocking. I hope to start work on the top part of the stocking before I leave for deployment. I don't think it will be done by this Christmas (I'm not going to take it with me) but it should be done by next Christmas.

Next up, the quilt that my sister made for our wedding. The two middle rows have pictures from our wedding. I will have to get a close up of the square in the bottom corner that has the date embroidered on it. She did a wonderful job and I have finally hung it up in our bedroom.

Wedding Picture Quilt
Made by Brianne with love

Here are the squares that I made for Sue W. for round 7. I decided to go with a nautical theme since I'm in the Navy and Sue works for the VA. The flags in the corners spell out our initials (DM and SW). They are delta, mike, sierra and whiskey. I'm glad to hear that Sue likes them. The ship's wheel in the middle is a modification of a design.

Fair Square Round 7
Design: Inspired by "Signal Flags and Ship's Wheel" (Judith Brown)
Fabric: 32 ct French Country Latte
Fibers: DMC

Here's a non stitching related picture. Last weekend I went to the Surface Warrior Ball in Norfolk, VA. Here is a picture of me and my roommate all dressed up :) I treated myself to having my hair and makeup done.

Yep, I finished it today ... here is "find you song" all complete, signature and all. Now it just needs to go to the framers and then hung on a wall somewhere in my house :)

Design: "find your song" by My Mark Designs
Fabric: 32 ct. Wichelt Natural Linen
Fibers: DMC 806 and WDW Santorini

The last two pictures I'll leave you with are "Liberty Lights" and "Thank You for Serving" all kitted up. I started "Thank You for Serving" tonight, but don't have any progress pics for you. I am stitching it for my Grandfather who served 20 years in the Army. I may stitch it for others as well, I'm liking it so far.

Have a wonderful week! Happy Stitching!

Teaser :)

Well, I have been stitching since my last update ... I just haven't taken any pictures yet. I plan to do a full post with pics tomorrow night. I found out today that Sue W. received her squares for Fair and Square round 7. I can't wait to show them to you ... and explain them. I'm glad to hear that she likes them.

Other than that, I have been working on "find your song" and DH's stocking. I have been rotating between the two for the past week. I have decided what I'm stitching for Monique for the summer round of Fair and Square ... I just need to go pick up the require threads for it. I am almost done with the bottom of the stocking and should be moving up to the top soon. The problem I found with my original way of working on the stocking is that my threads would get mixed up (since I kept what was left over since it would be used again in another part) and the light colors are really hard to distinguish from each other ... even in a great light. That's what I get for the weeks and months in between working on the project.

I'm almost done with "find your song" ... only three more musical motifs and two letters to go. It should be finished by tomorrow and then just needs to go to the LNS for framing. So look out for pics tomorrow! Have a great night!

Songs, stockings and quilts

Well, it has been a little while since I have posted. I haven't been doing a lot of stitching until lately. I did finish my Fair and Square exchange for Sue, just need to get it to the post office and send it to her. I hope she enjoys it ... it should be waiting for her when she returns from her vacation.


I started "find your song" by My Mark Designs on Friday. I finally got the fabric for it. This was the design that I asked for inputs on the fabric due to the floss that I would be using. I decided to go with a natural linen. It's looking great so far (I think). Thanks for all of the inputs. Monique is the designer and also my partner for the summer seasonal Fair and Square exchange. Still trying to work out the design for her squares.


I have also had a chance to work on DH's stocking as well. I have finished up the green in the bottom part of the stocking and started on the yellows. There is some definite progress ... I just need to sit down and designate times to work on this. It has often gotten pushed aside for other projects.

I have two projects that have been kitted up ... "Liberty Lights" designed by Erica Michaels Designs and "Thank You For Serving" by The Sunflower Seed. The first was an extra goodie from Heather as part of our 4th of July F&S exchange. I picked out some linen from my LNS and as I am looking at it realize that I picked out the exact linen that the model was stitched on other than the count (I have 32 rather than the 30ct it was stitched on) - R&R's Dark Expresso. I just realized this today ... though I've had it for over a week. The second design is one that I saw at my LNS on Friday and decided to get everything to stitch it while I was there. I am planning on stitching it for my grandfather ... and probably a few others in my family as well depending on how well the first goes. The model is stitched on a yummy R&R Apply Brown Bindy which is hand dyed. I am looking forward to both of these projects.


Here are the lilies that grow in our front yard. Unfortunately they are past their prime now and are started to drop their flowers. They were pretty while they last thought.


And as a final though ... I wanted to showcase some of my sister's work. She made this quilt for me as a graduation gift when I graduated from college. The picture is from prior to completion but is just missing the outer border. She also made my husband and I a wonderful quilt for our wedding ... unfortunately I don't seem to have a picture of it. I finally bought some hangers for it this weekend and was able to hand it in our room ... so I will get a picture of it in the future and show it to you. Have a great weekend!

Good Mail Day!

Got home from work, open my mail box and this is what I found:

Squares from Sue W., my partner for Round 7 of the Fair Square Exchange
Along with a whole bunch of goodies:
And I also received the threadholder that I ordered from Studio Twenty along with a Vickie Clayton set of silk thread as an extra goodie. Plus I just found out today that Monique (of Studio Twenty) will be my partner for the Summer Season Celebration round of Fair Squares. Can't wait!

Squares, stash and misc stitching

Since I have no desire to post things in any sort of chronological order, I am going to start with the squares I received today. Heather spoiled me rotten with the squares that she sent me for the 4th of July Fair Square Exchange. The squares she stitched were amazing. She also included a great chart, along with some of the floss required and a neat little heart. Here's all of the great goodies and of course the squares themselves.


Since I got those today, I decided to head to my LNS to pick up the other threads required for the piece as well as some DMC that I needed to complete my next set of squares. While there, I picked up some goodies for both Round 7 and the Season Celebration (Summer) exchanges. In the same area, there is also a quilt shop, so I picked up some fabric as well. I was good though and did not enhance my stash at all while I was there. When I came home, I was blessed by the mail. I received two charts that I ordered from a new (to me) ONS that is based in Norfolk. I also received some materials for a surprise that I am working on as well as a picture mug that I ordered for the hubby to take with him on deployment. It was a great mail day :). Here are the new charts that I got. Since I was unable to get all of the Something In Common charts for the Brides Tree, I decided to go with Rosewood Manor Best Wishes. Maybe I can now catch up with that SAL. I also picked up Call of the Ocean by X-Appeal. Here's my new stash:)

Over Memorial Day, I believed I mentioned the entire family (minus my sister) came down to visit. Both my MIL and SIL brought stitching projects along with them. I wasn't really in the mood to pick up DH's stocking to work on, so I decided to stitch up Lizzie*Kate's Work Pray Trust. I made substitutions in the colors since I didn't have the ones called for. I ended up with half the colors as called for and the other half with substitutes (that were somewhat similar). This took me about two days of actual stitching (3 from start to finish).

Work Pray Trust by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 28 ct
Threads: DMC

Here is a picture with the fabric that I picked out to finish this with. I will probably finish it as a pinkeep (my first) when I get a chance. Let me know what you think of the fabric. When I picked this up, I also got some other fabric for my stash: some patriotic and some musical fabric. (all at AC Moore).

Currently I am working on round 7 of Fair Square Exchange. I will probably try to get some stitches in on DH's stocking this weekend as well. Who knows if I'll start another project ... depends on how I'm doing with the stocking. Happy Stitching and enjoy your weekend!

I'm Back :)

Well, it's been awhile since I've been able to post to my blog. I've been able to keep up with others for the most part, but I apologize for the lack of comments recently. When I'm underway, our connectivity is slow and I don't usually have a lot of time for personal web browsing. I was glad to hear that Heather received her squares in a timely fashion. I finished them right before I left to meet up with my ship in FL and had DH drop them off at the post office. Heather and I were partnered up for the Fourth of July holiday round, so I found lots of patriotic goodies for her as well ... some fabric, a few spools of flag ribbon, a Bent Creek pattern and Weeks Dye Works floss called Independence. It was a lot of fun looking for the extra goodies. Here's the whole kit and caboodle and then a picture of the squares themselves. I'm so glad you like them, Heather :)




So what have I been up to while I was gone? My ship was out doing operations with the other ships that will deploy with us as well as the MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) that will embark. Our strike group consists of a large deck amphib (my ship), two other amphibs, two destroyers and a cruiser (oh and there will be a sub that's nominally attached to us). During the past three weeks we did various formations with the other ships and anchored often to do operations with the Marines. We embarked about 2000 Marines on board my ship, both ground troups and the ACE (air combat element). To put the number in perspective, we have about 1100 Sailors permanently attached to my ship. Bringing the Marines on board fills us up to capacity. We did a lot of flight operations for the ACE to get their carrier quals and do some missions as well. The past three weeks were dress rehearsals for when we embark the Marines for deployment later this year. Here are some pics from the last few weeks.

One of the destroyers coming alongside for underway replenishment practice

The "bone yard" - all the ACE's aircraft, CH-46's taking off


Swim call from the stern gate

The best part was coming home yesterday. Our ship organized a family day cruise so our families came out to meet the ship in LCUs (landing craft utility). I spent the day showing my parents, FIL and SIL around the ship. I took them to engineering, the flight deck, my stateroom, the wardroom, the bridge and other various places. We enjoyed the wonderful weather that we were blessed with coming in. Here's one of my favorite pics of the day - me and my mom on the 07 level.


Hope you all have a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. Please remember all those that are serving and have served in the Armed Forces (both in the US and wherever you may be from) this weekend. I'm going to enjoy spending time with my family. Happy Stitching!

Fair Square: Sent and Received

I came back from our anniversary trip to find Laura's squares for me in the mail and to find out that she has received her squares from me as well so I can share both with you.

Here are the squares and the treats I sent along for Laura. I knew that she liked Mary Engelbreit, so found a great design by her. I also included a magnet (it had a friends saying, but I don't remember the exact saying), a journal, some bright fabric, a needle minder and some red hand dyed thread. I'm glad to hear that Laura likes it.

Mary Engelbreit, Cross Stitch for All Seasons
Cheery Cherry Tieback
Thread: DMC
Fabric: 32 ct Country French Latte

Laura spoiled me as well. She sent me a great tin of fruit drops (who knows ... might be used as a finish at some point), some great hand dyed threads and a wonderful flag day/4th of July pattern (too bad I already finished my square for 4th of July or I might have used this one). The squares feature a lighthouse ... one of my favorite things :) Thanks Laura!

"The Lighthouse Sampler" By The Bay Needleart

As I said in my intro, we just got back from spending some time out in South Western VA for our anniversary. DH surprised me with a stay at a wonderful B&B cabin. We enjoyed wine tasting, the mountain air, good food and a wonderful show. It was great to be able to spend our anniversary together (#2) with our schedules. We both took some leave and were able to enjoy time together without any contact (e-mail, cells, etc) with the outside world. I will share some pictures when I get back at the end of the month. Happy Stitching!