Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello fellow bloggers!
I hope you all had a good week and are enjoying a relaxing weekend!  This is a fun weekend because Sunday is Valentine's Day!  I have always heard teachers say that children really enjoy Valentine's Day more than anything else...they love those silly little cards! I do remember how much fun it was to sit down and fix Valentines for everyone in the class. We would make a Valentine bag from a white paper bag that we decorated! Everyone would walk by the desks and deposit Valentines in all the bags!  Ha!  Such fun!

Of course, it's time to see my Valentine Tree!

I like this shorter tree, that's a little "fatter" than the one I used for Mardi Gras....what can you do when you have two holidays at practically the same time???  Oh, such problems!!

 

I love these fun ornaments!  I probably have more Valentine cross stitch than any of the other holidays.  I love the fun colors!  I also like the pale pink and hot pink filigree heart lights.  They came from Target and are battery operated, so you don't have all those cords everywhere!  I have 3 sweet little furry monkeys--pink, red, and black!  And you might remember that I have quite a few little "antique" Valentines on there.  My cousin was cleaning out her mother-in-law's things and came across these from the early 1930s.  She asked if I wanted them...silly question!  They are so sweet!  I've enjoyed tucking them in empty spots on the tree.

I turned my back for one second, and Omar had to come and check out the tree!  Haha! He loves to be sure he knows exactly what's going on everywhere!

Speaking of Omar, (I think I really need a grandchild to funnel my energy toward!!!) Anyway, you may remember my strange post that he loves to roll around on my bra.....yes, I know this is odd to post!  Anyway, I was changing in the bathroom and dropped my bra and he pounced right on it!  (of course!)  I know it's weird to show, but I think this is so cute!!  (don't think we're strange!!)

He just rolled and rolled!  Doesn't he look happy????  He can pretty much camouflage on that white floor.  He might get stepped on one day!

I hope you have a fun weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and please visit again soon!

Frances

Mardi Gras!!

Well, Mardi Gras is just now over!  And I am just now showing my tree!  haha
This year, I used my super skinny tree, and I think I really prefer a fatter tree for all of my "loot"!!!!  But, this tree had New Years on it, and after I took that stuff off, I just grabbed Mardi Gras and started on that!  I have Valentines on the shorter, fatter tree, which I will show tomorrow!
I have used a parasol on top before, but the skinny little top couldn't handle the parasol, so I just plopped a crown on top and continued to decorate!  It has some cross stitched ornaments, masks, and feathers, as well as several things I have bought through the years when visiting New Orleans.  It also has beads from parades!

Here are a few close up photos!  I like the bright happy colors!

Last year I bought a pack of plastic Mardi Gras ornaments on the deep sale aisle at Walmart! About four or five of them were cracked, so they were pitched a few weeks ago! (maybe a sign that I don't need to buy any!!)   Skinny tree couldn't hold them all, so I put some around the house in jars and bowls.  It spreads the fun and color!

I am so pleased with my sweet cat, Omar!  He has been such a joy!  Here is a photo of me with him, and you can tell that he's really not wanting his photo made!  (yes, that is our Christmas tree, but this was taken a while back...our tree is not still up!!)

He is a mix breed, with Turkish Angora being prominent in his appearance.  I wasn't familiar with the breed, but they have a big mane and chiseled facial bone structure.  I'd say that's a good description!

Lastly, cats do what they do, when they want to!  He knows he's not supposed to get on the kitchen table (or any table) but I caught him in the act!

This was my mother's oak dining set.  She liked antiques and had rust velvet chair bottoms in this.  I selected the leopard with silver piping, and my curtains were finally installed!  They are a silver linen with square silver studs.  The color is off in this photo. The walls are taupe.  But I'm happy with how things are turning out!

Thanks for reading this post, and I hope to have my Valentine tree posted very, very soon!  I also have a few little completed stitches to show!  I've been running around doing all sorts of stuff.  My poor blog has suffered again, but I also have tried to look over yours when I can!  Some of you are stitching such beautiful things!  I am so envious!  I must catch up with you!  haha

Please stop by again soon!
Frances

Another post!

Hello stitching friends!  I hope you are sitting down when you see this, because I have done three posts very close together!  It's been a long while since I've done that!  haha

I am busy taking down Christmas trees, etc.  I always wait until after Epiphany, so that gives me a few extra days to procrastinate!  And it's never as much fun to take down as it was to put it up!!!

I thought I'd show these beautiful beaded Christmas balls, before they go back into their storage box. My mother made these back in the 1960s.  I remember it so vividly!  Since I grew up in SW Mississippi, we went to Mardi Gras each year on Fat Tuesday--for the Rex parade.  It was so much fun!  We had TONS of beads, and my mother got crafty and started using them for craft ideas.  She made these beautiful beaded Christmas balls and hung them on our mantle for years.  I guess you'd say they're made from vintage Mardi Gras beads, even though it doesn't seem like I should remember anything that can be called vintage!!!  I brought them to our house earlier this year, after she died, and I didn't know what to do with them this year, so I just plopped them on a silver tray and let that be it for now!  But they really are pretty, and I will think of something better for next year!

She was very exact in her colors, using ribbon and fabrics, and she even used some tiny silk poinsettias on one of them!  Aren't they fun?  My mother was extremely thrifty, and when those beaded kits came out, she wanted to use her beads and went and bought some longer pins and styrofoam balls at our local TG&Y!  (Do you remember TG&Y?!?!?!)

I've done some stitching!  I did finish this little Prairie Schooler freebie Halloween card!  I always seem to be "off" on Holiday stitching!  haha  It's on a scrap of some hand-dyed linen.  I think it will finish up really cute!

I also finished this precious little music ornament!  It was a little gift from our friend Annette and I just think it's so cute!!  It was a tiny Janlynn kit!  Love it!!   It's on the tree by a precious little felt snowman made by my dear friend Janie!  I love all my treasures!!!

Today would have been my mother's 86th birthday!  I cannot believe she has been gone eight months. Some days it seems like she was just here yesterday, and some days it seems like forever since we've seen her.  Time is so funny that way!
This is a sweet photo of her with our son.

I have joined a SAL from The Snowflower Diaries  You know I have no business trying to do 12 ornaments!!  HAHAHA  But, if I get only part of them done, it will be worth it!  When I saw this cute little fox, I just had to jump in!   AND, on Facebook, there is also a SAL for the 2015 JCS Ornament Issue!!!  I get that magazine each year, and I jumped in on that one, too!  HAHAHA  But, I have to give it a go!

Well, I guess that's all for now!  I hope you have a wonderful day and I also hope I can show some progress on my SAL adventures!!  Thanks for stopping by and do visit again soon!
Frances

Happy New Year!!

Dear Blogging Friends:

I've actually made two posts in less than a week!   YAY!

If you have followed my blog for a while, you might remember that I stitched a few New Year's ornaments right after New Year's 2015!  I guess I didn't think about it until the New Year hit!  Anyway, this is my first time to display a New Year's tree!  I only have my four stitched ornaments, but I did buy some things to fill out the tree!  After Christmas last year, I shopped at our local WalMart, on the 90% off shelf and found some glittery things to use: Stars, Snowflakes, Ornaments, etc!

I used the really skinny tree I have, since I didn't have tons to go on it!

At the top, I placed some gold party horns from WalMart!!

This is from Trail Creek Farm Millennium 3, stitched on Hardanger 22 ct, using gold and silver threads.  I used snowflake fabric and buttons, along with silver metallic trim.

This is from Trail Creek Farm Millennium 2, also stitched in gold and silver.  The fabric has gold dots and I used gold lace for the hanger.

This cute freebie used Crescent Colors Apple Fritter, with red metallic fabric, rick rack, and ribbon.  I thought the little clock charm was so festive, and ready to strike at midnight!  You can find the freebie here.  

I love this cute reindeer with huge antlers!  It's an old freebie that I can't locate online now.  I used beads around it, along with metallic brown ribbon accented with a giant "gemstone"!!

What is this football player doing on my blog, you ask???  Well, this is Dak Prescott, the quarterback from Mississippi State~my husband and son both went to school there and are diehard fans!  We have season tickets, and I suffer through the MS heat for those games!  Anyway, they won the Belk Bowl so things are happy here!!!  You would not believe how pouty they get when things don't go right!!  Dak was also chosen MVP of the game, so we are all smiles tonight!

Thank you for visiting!  In 2016 I am going to try and redeem myself from my lack of posting!  Please check back and see how I'm doing!!

Happy New Year to all of my blogging friends!  You are the best!

Frances

Merry Christmas!!

Dear Blogging Friends:
I have not run away!  I have not been abducted by aliens!  I'm not in hiding!

I've simply been quite busy!

I know all of you are busy, too!  It's just that time of year, and starting a new job as a church organist/choir director on the First Sunday of Advent was rather daunting! However, it all came off without a hitch and our Christmas services were lovely!

Speaking of my new job, you may remember that I am now the Cathedral Organist!  It's been very exciting, and sometimes a little scary!  But all has gone well.  Everyone has been so nice and I think it is going to be a lovely experience.  Below are some pictures of my lovely workplace, all decked out for Christmas!

It is so beautiful!

The ceiling is gilded and stenciled.

 I love the poinsettia trees they use on the back altar!  

The plants are stacked on forms.

The two side altars are beautiful.  One has the antique nativity set.

This is the organ I play, and the choir loft in the back.

The music went beautifully!  I had a little girls' ensemble, a flutist, a brass quintet, and an operatic soprano solo!  Truly lovely!

My blog isn't the only thing that suffered during the holidays!  I did get decorating done at home, but not on the usual level!  I just ran out of time to get my 5 trees up this year!  Oh well, the two that matter most DID get done!

This is our family tree where we open gifts.  You can see that they've all been opened!  

 

We missed my mother this year, but we still managed to have a happy holiday and enjoy each other. The black leather baby shoe was hers.  It has been on my tree for years! The little frilly shoe was mine!  I'm told it was white but now yellowed!

 

My son and his wife gave me two lovely white cat ornaments, in honor of Omar!  I love them!

 

I'm very sentimental, I guess!  The little mermaid ornament is actually a fishing float that was in my father's tackle box!  We used to laugh at it as children, because she doesn't have on a top!!!!  The sweet ceramic Santa was made by my father not long before he died.  My mother loved ceramics and he would go with her, to talk to the husband of the ceramic lady!  He painted this for me and I treasure it.

This is my cross stitch tree in our foyer.  I love the angle where you can see both trees at the same time!

 

I love all my wonderful cross stitched ornaments!  I enjoy stitching and finishing!  I have a few left to finish for next year!  Isn't that always the case??  The beautiful Glad Tidings ornaments was a gift from Andrea last year--I love it!

 

Look closely at the beautiful heart ornaments!  These were a gift from our wonderful Jacquie!  I cannot believe she sent me these beautiful creations!  I was so touched when I went to the mailbox and found a package from England!  And if that's not enough, look at the precious little round felt applique holly ornament!  She sent that, as well!   Thank you so much, sweet Jacquie!  You really made my day and I admire these and think of you each time I look at the tree!

Well, friends, things will slow down dramatically now that Christmas is over!  I will not have to be at the church constantly, and I can get my world back!  In the middle of all of this, the designer has been coming and working on the house.  It's coming together beautifully, and I will show photos of that when it's done.  We finally got gas logs in our fireplace and they are beautiful.  But, it's been close to 80 degrees here, so we haven't enjoyed them yet!!!  We've had rain and hail and hot weather!

I have done some stitching, and intend to show that very soon.  

Speaking of Omar, isn't this too cute?  My husband had been somewhere and took a little zipper bag with him.  Of course, he came home and deposited it on the floor!!!  Well, Mr. Omar decided to check it out!!

I appreciate all of you, and in spite of my lack of activity on my blog, I have tried to keep up with yours and enjoy what all you have been doing!  You all provide sanity in a crazy world and you are most appreciated!  If you are still reading this long post, thank you for sticking with it and know that you are a wonderful part of so many lives online!  

Happy 2016 to everyone and I am looking forward to a new year!

Thanks for stopping by and please come back soon!

Frances