Soldier Kissing Pillows

I have began working on a wonderful little project that any stitcher can participate called the Solder Kissing Pillow. These small pillows are stitched by crafters all around the country and are being handed out to deploying soldiers and their families. The concept is that pillow is kissed and hugged by either the soldier or by his family members and serves as a little piece of "home comfort" for the period of seperation while serving our country. I have read stories where families who received the personal effects of soldiers that gave the ultimate sacrifice found these little pillows returned to them tattered and torn but carried by the soldier day by day providing comfort and solace to all.
This effort was began in 2005 by the Yellow Rose Embrodiery Guild of America in Houston, Texas. Since then, the requests for these little pillows has grown to a nationwide effort of EGA guilds and cross stitch enthusiasts who just want to share their craft with someone and knowing it can bring comfort as well as beauty into their lives.

I am hoping to create 25 of these pillow tops this year to help with this effort. The design is very simple and is stitched on 14 count aida with DMC floss. The pillow has the words "I LOVE YOU" along with two stars of patriotic colors. The stitcher only stitches the top part of the pillow and can send the completed tops to a participating EGA which will then make sure the pillows are finished and deployed. This seems to be wonderful way of giving something back by sharing a craft that I love and enjoy so much.

Here are some links that I found about the effort. Please feel free to google search "Soldier Kissing Pillow" and you will find abundant information on the web. The first link is to the Yellow Rose EGA chapter which started this effort. If you are  interested in helping out with this effort, please leave a comment stating so and I willl reply to your request with an email containing the pattern and where to send the finished stitched tops.Thanks!

http://www.yellowroseega.com/outreach.htm#soldier
http://www.the-signal.com/archives/13293/
 http://wcfcourier.com/lifestyles/article_cd3bd7c4-e670-11de-a931-001cc4c03286.html

School's Out for SUMMER!

Wow ~ another school year is over for my kiddos and life is starting to settle into the long, lazy days of summer around the household. Why would you ask? Both scouting programs for the kids follow the school year so we are no longer having weekly meetings twice a week, I don't have to rush home to try and check homework while cooking up dinner at the same time...... get the picture??? From the end of August until mid-June I fell like a hamster on a exercise wheel that can't take a break. While I start to miss all the activities and fun toward the end of summer, but the end April I am starting to count down to the end of the school year just like the kids. Granted it is for a different reason all together, but it is nice to just hang out at home or take a long bike ride or just go to the park without obligations looming in the background.

I recently had 3 pieces framed at the Stitching Post and I loved how they turned out! My local needlework shop, Stitching Post, offers 10% discount on all your framing during your birthday month so I had taken in these finishes in order to enjoy the savings. I have decided that I will be framing the rest of the Prairie Schooler Country Seasons in the same frame but with their own double matting to compliment the season.

The Lizzie Kate Santa Friends piece with the dreadful Wisper thread for his beard and fur trim also received a double matting since my family helped pick out the finishing and everyone just loved how the double matting made the pieces pop. Let's just say it was a good thing it was my birthday month...... :)

Of course the end of the school year meant recognizing teachers for their efforts throughout the year, at least for the elementary school level. Since Ray is my only one still in elementary school, I only had to complete one handmade present this year. I found these motifs in a 1001 Cross Stitch Motifs book and after putting them together, this was the final result. Of course, I always try to personalize these types of gifts and just finished it in a simple pillow form. The truly amazing story about this piece is that I started and finished it within 2 1/2 days! This is truly a record for me but it just show you what can be accomplished when you put a girl under pressure.

Becky and I am having our annual summertime reading challenge between each other to see who can read the most books. We enjoy weekly trips to the library and participating in the various summer reading programs our county libraries offer. Ray has decided to join us in reading this year and I am overjoyed that he is showing interest in picking up a book to read. So far I have read 15 books and currently am working on the Nora Robert's Circle Trilogy.

Now it is time for me to return to stitching on the Musician, picking up another UFO from the pile and hopefully completing before summer's end. Actually, I have something else up my sleeve but I am planning another posting on that soon so check back!


Until next time, keep your stitching and knitting needles movin', enjoy time with friends and family and most of all enjoy life!

Graduation, Colonial Day and Stitching (oh and a TUSAL too!)

 The beginning of June bought a big moment for this Aunt in her nephew's life. He graduated from high school this year and will be soon embarking on the next chapter of life and college. Moments like these make you realize that life is truly a blink of an eye and it seems like just yesterday I had this young man sitting in my lap while I read him a book. I was very honored to be present as he accepted his diploma and had a tear in my eye thinking of how proud his Grandma would be if she could have been there.

This past Friday, I spent the day with Ray's 4th grade class teaching needlework for Colonial Day. All the students were to dress up as a famous Marylander and report on his accomplishments. Ray chose Peter Cooper, the inventor of the Tom Thumb, which was the first steam locomotive in America. It was so fun seeing each of the student's outfits and hearing what they had learned. Even Mom got in on the fun dressing up as a proper colonial lady for the day complete with mob cap. I worked with about 80 students that day explaining the importanance of needlework in a household and talking about the history of samplers. Then each student worked on on following a stamped pattern of ABC on a piece of muslin. The other stations included colonial dancing, a food station where they tried traditional colonial foods, making colonial manner books, quill writing, also soap and candle making.

Stitching on the Musician is coming right along with over 4000 stitches completed so far. Hopefully I can keep this pace up through the month and before you know it she will be completed. I have started some of the backstitching and it really did make her pop ~ as they say the devil is in the details. The colors on this piece are really keeping me motivated on this stitching project and I am hoping to make lots of stitching progress this weekend during the monthly Red Hot Stitcher's meeting.

I have been making some progress on the lighthouse design for my sister-in-law's birthday present. Right now I am working on Cape Hatteras about once a week but I think I am going to add another night on stitching on this in order to ensure I can make it to the framers in time.

Of course, it is time for another totally useless stitch-a-long with a favorite blogging buddy, Daffycat! Here is my jar which I keep stuffing threads into and hopefully I can add lots more odds and ends by the next update and at the same time have lots more stitching accomplished!