Wow! Long time no see!!  It's been a while since I posted and I hope you are all doing well.  My stitching has continued and I have finished quite a few projects that I will show you a bit later.  Today, I just wanted to show you some Stitch Wallets that I have made and are for sale.  I will be posting new ones from time to time, so stay tunes.  You can see pictures below of the outside and inside of the wallets.  They measure 10x13 and are perfect to carry your stitching project.  They cost $38 plus shipping.  If you are interested, please contact me by clicking the Email Me button on the right side bar.  I hope you like them!!!

Natalia 

From Google to Bloglovin

Yep, as you all know by know Google Reader is going away (BUMMER !!), so I'll be switching to Bloglovin too !!!   I hope to see you all over there :-)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Will be back with a post soon !!!

XXOO

Natalia 

Progress and Pincushions

Hi friends !

Just wanted to show you my progress on Doña Dorotea and a couple of pincushions I finished.

Here is Doña Dorotea... It is coming along nicely.

I love the deer !!

This is a little pincushion I finished.  It is Gathering Basket by BBD.  So cute !

And here is the back...

And another pincushion by BBD.....

And this is the cutest little pincushion that my friend Katrina stitched as a gift for me when I became a US Citizen.  Isn's it the cutest thing ever???

Have a wonderful week !!!

XXOO........ Natalia 

It's Been A While..

Hello stitching friends,

It has been such a long time since I've posted.  The year 2012 didn't end very well for me, as a matter of fact, it was the worse year ever for me.  My mom passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly in October and my world pretty much collapsed.  A month after my mom's death, I had to put my sweet dog of 15 years to sleep.  It has been a slow recovery for me, but thanks to God, family and friends, I am making it through, little by little.

Stitching has really helped me keep my sanity and, I have tried to keep doing it.  Below are some pictures of what I've been up to.  I hope you enjoy them....

As part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter Challenge, I am stitching Dona Dorotea.  It is a fun and easy stitch so far, but I am not looking forward to the satin stitches :-)

Hola amigas y amigos,

Ha pasado una buena temporada desde la ultima vez que escribí algo en este blog.  El año 2012 ha sido el peor de toda mi vida.  My mama murió muy inesperadamente en Octubre y mi mundo se derrumbó por completo.  Ni siquiera un més mas tarde de la muerte de mi madre, mi perra de 15 años tuvo que ser sacrificada.  Me voy recuperando muy lentamente gracias al cariño de familiares, amigos y la misericordia de Dios, pero es un periodo de mi vida muy, muy difícil

He seguido haciendo punto de cruz y la verdad es que es lo que más me mantiene distraida y sin pensar mucho en todo lo que ha pasado.  A continuacion podeis ver algunas fotos de lo que he estado haciendo, espero que os gusten: 

On December 10th, 2012, I became a US Citizen.  In a very nice ceremony, I took the Oath of Allegiance in the company of my husband Brent, our dear friend's Jeff and Katrina and about 70 other people from 27 different countries.  It was a true honor and a very special moment for me.  I now have dual citizenship: Spanish and US.  To honor that, I stitched America The Beautiful by BBD.  I personalized it with the date of my swearing in and changed the little US flag for a flag of Spain.  I love it !!!!

El 10 de Diciembre del 2012 obtuve la ciudadanía Americana en una ceremonia preciosa.  En honor de este acontecimiento, he bordado un diseño llamado America The Beautiful, de Blackbird Designs...  Lo he personalizado con la fecha de mi juramento como ciudadana Americana y he cambiado la bandera pequeñita de la Americana a la Española, ya que tengo doble ciudadanía.  

40ct Confederate Gray

Threads called for except for the red of the flag

That's me in the middle with the purple sweater :-)

Cute hand warmers I got as a gift for Christmas to celebrate my citizenship

I also finished The Shephard and The Shephardess, a design by Examplars From The Heart.  I love this design and what attracted me to it the most was the saying on it.  I am looking forward to get it framed and hang it in my home.  Not the best of pictures, but will have to do :-)

También he terminado The Shepard and The Shephardess, un diseño de Examplars From The Heart.  Me encanta !

Below is a SB stocking I finished for a my sweet Isabela who is very special to me.  I stitched it and Deb from Artistic Needle finished it.  She did such a beautiful job. 

Esta es una media de Navidad (come se dice en Español???) que borde para una niñita muy especial en mi vida que se llama Isabela.  

My mom was a truly remarkable and beautiful woman and she is so missed.  She touched so many people throughout her whole life.  She was giving, generous, wise, stoic, brave and loving towards all.  My life now has two parts, the years with her and the years after her death, and it will never be the same, but I find hope in the knowledge that I will see her in heaven again.  

My mamá fue una persona maravillosa y la echamos tanto de menos.  Generosa, sabia, estoica, valiente y cariñosa.  My vida se divide en dos partes: los años con ella y los años después de su muerte, y nunca será lo mismo.  Me comforta pensar que la veré de nuevo en el cielo :-)

My mom

1930 - 2012

My sweet Nala brought so much joy to our lives and she took a little piece of our heart with her as she went to sleep forever.  I cannot say enough about the great dog she was.  It is hard to be around the house without her and she is very much missed too.  I am a bit jealous of her because I know she is now with my mom who loved her and whom she loved :-)

My dulce Nala nos trajo tanta alegria los años que la tuvimos con nosotros.  Al morir se llevo un trozo de nuestro corazón con ella.  Nala fue el perro ideal y la echamos tanto de menos.  De echo, estoy un poco celosa, porque se que ella esta con mi madre ahora.  Mi madre la quería mucho, y ella a mi madre.  

Nala celebrating her 15th birthday

1997 - 2012

Well friends this is all for now.  Sorry if this post made you a bit sad, it is a very sad time in my life, but with God's grace, I know I will push through.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.  I so enjoy seeing the work you all are doing.

Pues esto es todo de momento.  Espero no haberos entristecido mucho, pero este es un tiempo muy triste y dificil para mi.  Muchas gracias por pasaros por mi blog.  Un beso !!

Natalia 

A Little Peek

Hello blogging friends !

Glad to be here again.  It's been a while and I have been doing quite a lot of stitching.  I'll show you below.  

I have had a great summer so far.  I celebrated my birthday in July with my wonderful stitching friends up in the Colorado mountains and we had a great time.  It is beautiful and peaceful up there... We locked ourselves in a mountain home and stitched and ate all weekend !!!  Does it get any better than that?

Today I am picking up my sister at the airport.  She is visiting from Spain for two weeks and I am so excited.  My nephew (her son) has been living with us in the States since December, so I know he is so happy his mom is coming over.  Tomorrow we are all driving to Jackson Hole, WY for a few days.  Looking forward to that !!

Those are the highlights of my summer :-)  I've also been working on some new wallets and there are some pictures at the end of this blog.  You can visit my Wallet Blog also if you want to see them all. 

Remember my Spanish Mystery Sampler???  Here it is, in all its glory.  I finally got it all framed and I am so happy with the frame I chose.

I also framed My Handworke by Plum Street Samplers.  This was my first try at cutting and assembling the frame and I think I did a decent work, but I need some improvement.  I bought an already made frame at Hobby Lobby for $14 (50% discount), then I cut it to the size of the stitched piece and assembled it.  My corners are not the best, but oh well, I think the frame is perfect for the piece and for $14 who can complain, right?   What do you think?

Another finish is Loureida Geiste 1830 from Notforgotten Farm.  I absolutely love this little piece and it has been so much fun to stitch.  I did age it to give it that primitive look so typical of the Notforgotten Farm designs.  I used the greatest aging method (tip from Paulette from Plum Street Samplers).  It is James Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen.  This is an acid free stamping pad used to create an aged look on papers, photos, cards, etc...  I LOVE it !!!

Love the big house.....

Love the flowers too !!!

I couldn't find a frame I liked for Loureida, so I bough an unfinished one and painted it pulling the green from the border.  Then I aged it a bit..  Now I need to cut it and put it together.  I think it will look good.  

Another finish is my Kingsford Sampler and below is the frame I want to use for it.  I already cut it, but it is too big !!!!  I will have to cut it again.  Yikes !!!

Look at that that corner...  Not the best, huh?  :-)  But I think the frame is perfect for Kingsford

And this is what I am working on right now.  I am loving it too.  It is Shephard and Shephardess by Examplars From The Heart.  What a cute design....

   

And here are some of my newest wallets.  Go to my Wallet Blog to see many more new ones, and let me know if you would like to have any of them :-).  Also, keep in mind that I'll be on vacation all of next week, so it may be a couple of weeks before I can ship the wallets to you.  

Well, this is all for now.  Thanks to all of you for stopping by.  I love to hear from you all !!!!  Enjoy the rest of your summer and stitch a lot :-)

XXOO

And Finally A Finish

Hello friends !!!

Has it ever happened to you that you stitch and stitch but don't really  have much to show for?  Well, that is my case.  I have been stitching, but I only have one finish to show you ! Please see the picture below and let me know if you like it.  It is My Handworke by Plum Street Samplers.  Such a pleasure to stitch...

"My Handworke" by Plum Street Samplers

Stitched on 40ct Newcastle in Terra Cotta

NPI silks called for

The thing that attracted me the most to this little sampler was the verse.  Isn't it just absolutely beautiful and meaningful.  I do hope God will allow us to stitch in heaven, don't you?

There are so many different motifs and below are my favorites.  The peacocks.....

The gentleman with the doggie.....

And my very favorite of all, the lyon and the lamb.....

I am so excited about the next project I am starting.  It is a design that I have always loved.  The picture on the chart doesn't do it justice at all I think, but when I saw the conversion at The Attic, I knew I had to stitch it...,  It is the Kingsford Sampler by Carriage House Samplings.  I am stitching it on 40ct Vintage Pecan Butter with The Attic conversion to Au Ver A Soie.  So excited about this one.  I'll show you a bit of progress as soon as I start.

I am so grateful that tax season is over !!!  It is such a busy time and it really doesn't leave me much time to work on my stitch wallets.  Now that all is quieter, I've been able to make some new stitch wallets.  You can see them below :-)  Let me know if you are interested in any of them...

.... And these are some of the fabric combinations that I have bought to make into wallets.  I have so many beautiful ones.  The outside fabrics are the ones on the top and the inside fabrics are the ones underneath.  I am looking forward to some free time to work on them!!  

Below are the latest fabrics from Blackbird Designs (I think they are the latest ones anyway, I've never seen them before).  They are just so beautiful.  I had to buy some extra fabric to make some wallets for me also !!!  

And last, but not least, I wanted to mention that I was, very graciously offered, the Liebster Blog Award by Betty from Samplers From Spring Creek as well as Jane from Stitching In My Garden.  I was so touched by their thoughtfulness.  The Liebster Blog Award is given to blogs with less than 200 followers and these are the rules (in case you care to know them :-)

    1. I must acknowledge the person(s) who gave me the award by posting a link to their blog (check !)

    2. I must post the award on my blog (check !)

    3. I must pass the award to other five bloggers, post links to their blogs and let them know they are the recipients by commenting on their blog (check !)

    4. Share five random facts about myself (oh boy !) (check !)

So the five bloggers I choose to pass the award to are:

  

Gr8dame's Place

Maude and Mozart

Porcupine Needle

A Stitching Expat Life

Corgi's Cottage

Five random things about me are:

1.  If I were born again, I would be a violoncello player.  I absolutely love the sound of the cello.  

2.  I have fulfilled my dream of swimming with dolphins.

3.  I can't stand the smell of matches.

4.  I played basketball competitively for many years..

5.  I have hiked three mountains over 14,000 feet tall.

Well, this is one very long post, but it is mostly pictures.  Sorry if I bored you to death.  I hope to be back again soon.  Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment.  I really appreciate them !!

XXOO

Natalia