Halloween Stitching!

I can finally show you all the secret Halloween piece I was stitching. I participated in the Fall into Halloween Exchange over at the Stitched with Love Exchange Blog. My recipient was Colleen. I stitched her this. It is one of the designs from the 2011 Just Cross Stitch Magazine. I finished it as a pin keep. His eyes are those googly eyes from the craft store that I just glued on. The pattern called for plastic canvas, but I changed it to a 28 Ct. Linen. (Can't remember the name of the color of this one) My focus was to find a color that the orange looked good on.

The Front

The Back - I loved the bats fabric!

This is a pic of the whole package I sent to Colleen. We were to include 1 Chart and five other items in the package.:

This is the package I received from Vicky. I was so thrilled to receive it. She really went all out for me.

That's all of the stitching updates. I'll be back with a few vacation photos. We went to Disney's Magic Kingdom for the Mickey Halloween Party this weekend. It was wonderful. Disney really does an amazing job with all of their events. They just know how to make things magical for their guests.

Don't forget! The Ghastlie Blog Hop continues through this Friday. My giveaway is staying open till Friday, November 4th. If you would like to enter, a link to the post is at the top of my blog.

Have a Great Week Everyone!

Jen

Ghastlie Blog Hop Day 3 Winners!

We have two winners for the Day 3 Ghastlie Giveaway at Madame Samm's Blog!

A Big Congratulations to Jackie and Sheri for being the lucky recipients of this!

Enjoy your prize Ladies! I also want to thank everyone for the wonderful compliments I have received on my projects for this Blog Hop. They really warm my heart. I couldn't believe the number of comments I received about the Spiders. I enjoyed the few funny stories some of you shared. I actually have a funny story of my own.

I scared myself with these silly spiders if you can believe that. When I was cleaning up the area where I took the pictures, I grabbed the fat quarters without looking at them, totally forgetting a spider was on them. I felt that spider in my hand and jumped back! I think my heart skipped a beat! I started laughing at myself. Those things would be a horrible Halloween prank.

Anyways, thank you again everyone. I'm getting around to e-mailing you all back that left a comment yesterday. If you haven't gotten an e-mail, I either haven't gotten to your message or you are a No Reply Blogger. You might want to fix that.  ;)

Enjoy the rest of the Blog Hop! Don't forget, my giveaway ends Friday, November 4th. Good Luck to all who entered.

Welcome to The Ghastlie Blog Hop!

 Welcome Ghastlie Fans!

Are you all having fun yet? Silly question, I know you are cause I surely am. We are only on Day 3 out of 10 on our Blog Hop and I for one am totally blown away by the projects my Ghastlie Sistahs have made! I am just as surprised as all of you. Our dear Madame Samm wouldn't let us have a peak at what each other made. Such a clever lady she is. I too would like to give her a shout out and a big thank you for all her work in making this blog hop happen. There are so many talented ladies on this blog hop my friends, you definitely will not want to miss a day of it. Have you seen the prize giveaways so far on Madame Samm's blog? Those are some serious prizes. Keep those fingers crossed. You might just be a lucky winner!

Onto my Ghastlie projects! I made three projects for today. None are original designs of mine. I used a pattern I bought from the local fabric store. It is Simplicity Pattern #3776 - Sewing Accessories. All of the projects are made using fat quarters, cotton broadcloth and fleece.

A forewarning...I hope you like Spiders. I personally hate the creepy crawlers, but for Halloween props, they are perfect.

My first project was made using what the pattern called a "Container", but I call it a Bag. A most perfect bag to store my knitting or crochet project in. Gotta love those three knitting sisters, even if they are giving you the evil eye.

Front of the Bag

 

Back of Bag

My Second Project is a Project Organizer. It has many pockets that are conveniently kept together with Velcro Dots. I thought this project was perfect to showcase the different Grey Ghastlie Fabrics.  The spiders just love to crawl all over it and hide in the pockets. Eeekkk!

Organizer Front

Inside of One Side

Pockets on Other Side

Back of Organizer

My Last Project is a Table Top Container featuring Sebastian the Cat. I don't know about you all, but when I sew I accumulate a lot of trash on my table. My seam ripper tends to make an appearance too often sometimes.

One Side

Other Side

Before you continue hopping along, I have one more surprise for you all. As a thank you for participating in the hop, I am offering up a GIVEAWAY to one lucky hopper who comments on my blog during the hop. Here is what I am giving away (spiders excluded!):

My giveaway includes:

~ 4 Fat Quarters of Ghastlie Fabric

~ 1 Fat Quarter of Pink Kona Cotton Fabric

~ 1 Spool of Grey Coats and Clark All Purpose Sewing Thread

~ 1 100 Pin Package of Dritz Straight Pins

~ 1 Package of Schmetz Universal Sewing Machine Needles (These should fit all Machine Brands)

~ 1 Hand Exercise Ball...for those days when nothing you sew seems to be coming out right...The saying on the ball says: " When Life Throws You Scraps, Make a Quilt!"

RULES: To have a chance to win MY GIVEAWAY, you have to indicate in your comment that you are interested. Please put... "Please enter me in your Giveaway" or "Please include me in the drawing for your giveaway"...etc. If you don't mention you are interested in my giveaway, I will not count your name in the final drawing. I want to be able to only count those who are interested. :) My giveaway will be open until the last day of the HOP which is Friday, November 4th. This way, any late hoppers to the party can have a chance too. I will use Random.Org to draw a name and will announce the winner on Saturday, November 5th. 

You DO NOT have to become a follower of my blog to qualify for the drawing. All I ask is that you leave me a way to contact you should you win...an e-mail would be PERFECT. If I can't get a hold of the winner, I will use Random.Org to choose another winner.

**NOTE: Any and all comments to this post will count for Madame Samm's Grand Prize drawing of the day. If you comment, you are entered.**

Thank you for hopping by my friends and I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop. Here is the list of my Ghastlie Sistahs who are showcasing their creations today:

Mrs. Barb Ghastlie

Miss Karen Ghastlie

Ms. Loralynn Ghastlie

 Ms. Jen Ghastlie. **You are Here!**

Ms Penny Ghastlie

Mrs Rhonda Ghastlie

Have a Wonderfully Ghastlie Day!

Ghastlie Blog Hop Starts TODAY!

Welcome GHASTLIE FANS

If you have this thing for Ghastlies

and they have tied you in a knot

and you wish you could get them out of your mind

than this may be a thought.

We heard her plea for a cure

Mdm Samm was pos/it/ively sure

that we could stitch the nights away

in hopes that we MAY----???

( all 54 of us)  

BUT....

The side effects are Ghastlie

there is no mistaking too.

if you don't run this very minute

YOU too will catch the FLU...

We suspected all along 

this was her master plan

she did not want to be alone,

 with all  YOU Ghastlie FANS...

 

 ** Leave it to Madame Samm to think of such a catchy poem to get us all in the mood for a Ghastlie blog hop! She is so creative. The blog hop will be going everyday from Monday, October 24 to Friday, November 4. (There are no blogs to visit on Saturday or Sunday) There will be 5 to 6 blogs per day to visit. Madame Samm is giving away a grand prize each day of the hop. (They are REALLY Nice!)  Some of the ladies will also be giving away some prizes of their own too. You want to make sure to leave a comment at each blog for that day to be able to have an entry for the Grand Prize of the day. Most importantly, please be dears and leave a contact e-mail so you can be contacted in the event you win a prize.

Are you ready? Then you want to start at Madame Samm's blog - www.sewiquiltnow.com If you ever get lost, go back to her blog. The blogs to visit on each day will be listed there.

Have Fun and I will back on Wednesday!

Jen

Mark your Calendars! A Blog-Hop is Coming!

The Ghastlie Blog Hop is starting soon! It starts Monday, October 24 to Friday, November 4th. Prizes will be given away every day. You really don't want to miss this!

I will be unveiling my projects on Wednesday, October 26. I wish I could say what I turned these into...

but I have to keep that a secret till Wednesday. :) I may also have another surprise up my sleeve too for my blogging friends that day so you definitely will want to come back for that.

My First Pinkeep

I can finally show everyone the mysterious exchange project I was working on for the Rotating Designers Exchange blog. It traveled a long way to its recipient. It went to Nina who lives in Turkey. Believe me when I say, I was praying really hard that the post office would not fail me.

This design is from "Pins and Needles" by The Prairie Schooler. I finished it into a pin keep. This was my first time finishing a project in a manner other than a frame. I am very proud of myself that I didn't mess up! The green fabric in the picture is the fabric on the backside. I didn't make the red trim like most instructions say. I bought that trim from the local fabric store. A much easier option.

Now...would you like to know what I received in this Exchange? My mystery stitcher was Mouse. Notice anything familiar with one of the pieces she stitched me?

Now how coincidental is that! She stitched the same design for me that I stitched for Nina. I'll admit I had to do a double take when I opened the package cause at first 1 and 1 didn't make 2 in my mind immediately. I thought that was really cool.

I hope you all had a good start to your week. I'll be back with some more project updates. I've been working on some other projects with deadlines so I had to skip out on this month Hermit and Stitch Weekend. I've actually been playing with beads lately...but that's all I'm gonna say for now. ;)

Happy Crafting!

Jen

Vacation Pics - The Bahamas

Hello Friends!

I have some pics to share with you of my recent vacation. I won't post all of them, but just a few. My boyfriend, son and I went on a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise to the Bahamas two weeks ago. It was only 4 days and 3 nights, but it was wonderful. This was our first cruise. It was such a wonderful experience. We loved it!

I used to be a workaholic. I spent many hours working past the usual office hours and even worked from home, but I have come to realize that working like that is so mentally unhealthy for you. I don't work like that anymore. I have such a different perspective on vacations and time away from work now. I think vacations and time off are so important and necessary. Thankfully, I realized this at 28 instead of 48.

Back to my cruise story! The cruise left Miami, FL (where I live) and ported in Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, and Nassau, Bahamas. For those of you curious about the Bahamas, I will be honest and tell you that Nassau is nothing exciting to see. I was warned by others about that, but I prefer to see something for myself first before deciding. O Man! the island citizens come at the tourists off the ships like bees to honey and that is not even an exaggeration. You get approached for taxi drives, carriage rides, buying knick knacks, hair braiding...etc..from so many people. I was mighty thankful for the souvenir shops around cause you could duck into those and avoid getting approached. My poor boyfriend was a constant target. He is 6'6". You can't really miss him in a crowd. :)

Here we go with the pics:

Bye Bye Miami!

Atrium of the Norwegian Sky Ship

My Son, Christian and Man Child, Brian :)

Our 200 sq ft Balcony Room

The smallest bathroom ever! It is a very strange feeling being in a small shower while you can feel the ship moving.

Sweet Sunset! The ocean is so calming to watch and listen to.

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. This is Norwegian's Cruise Line's private beach island.

This is Christian.

Me and Christian

Isn't this the coolest Towel Animal? It is an Elephant. Our room steward was awesome. Beds were ready every night. If anything was on the floor, he would fold them up neatly or hang them up.

Nassau, Bahamas. (Not too much to see)

Off in the distance is the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island, Bahamas. We didn't go there. The ticket to go there and walk around their resort was $50 a person...not happening! But we are going to make a trip just to go there. It is a really pretty resort just by looking at pictures online.

Even though Nassau is not much to see, I did find some really neat craft items that I just had to have. I love finding arts and crafts from places that I visit. I am a crafter so I have a great appreciation for the work that others do. Check these out!

Basket Weaving is a really popular craft. I was watching some ladies do it. I love the frog and just had to have this bag. It will come in handy for carrying my stitching projects.

And the girl sewed my name on the back...by the way, you should have seen this monster of a needle they use to stitch the designs. It was huge and kind of scary.

I was in a souvenir shop buying a couple items. While at the register, I noticed these pretty dolls right below where I was standing. 

Funny enough, my boyfriend was looking at the doll after I bought it and found it could look like this.

The doll flips inside out! Then I saw the tag...O!...its a flip-flop doll. Very pretty and creative. 

My last picture...A gorgeous horizon that I sat on my balcony and watched as we sailed home.

Now I'm back to reality. Before I go, let me share my most memorable experience of this cruise. In the ship, there is a French restaurant. My boyfriend ordered Escargo (can't remember the spelling). Its a fancy french word for plate of SNAILS. I'm not an adventurous food person, but my boyfriend was really pushy for me to try one. It was actually really DELICIOUS. I was amazed and really surprised at myself for having one.

So, my advice to you friends, make time for vacations. Work is just work. Don't let it get in the way of seeing the world and finding time for yourself and family.

Jen