A sweet finish!

Happy March, my stitching friends! Are you all anticipating the advent of spring in just a few weeks as much as I am? Looking around outside my home, it seems that we have a long way to go until the days of green grass, blue skies, and chirping birds appear. We got another six inches of snow on Sunday--heavy, wet snow, I might add. And, wouldn't you know, my husband was away on a ski trip in Colorado so guess who got to shovel our long driveway by herself? Yep... little, old me--and my aching arms are still letting me know that they didn't appreciate those hours of lifting, throwing, and pushing the white stuff! It's snowing as I write this and we are due to get another four inches today-sigh... Oh, well, I shouldn't complain about the weather as I know we've had it so much easier than those of you in the New England states. It was a cold, cold February (the second coldest on record for our area), but winter still hasn't bothered me as much this year as it did last...

So, what did I do while my husband was off enjoying the ski slopes in Colorado? Why I stitched, of course, all snuggled up under my fluffy red-plaid blanket while watching old movies. Is there any better way to spend your time on these cold winter days?

What do you get when you stitch a beautiful pink and white wedding cake...

Add some dark chocolate mini-cakes (with fluffy, white frosting, and pink rosebuds)...

And some tasty muffins sprinkled with raisins...

Add a crusty loaf of warm bread (displayed under a lovely chandelier)...

And two delicate pink cakes iced in white...

And don't forget the cherry pies and dark chocolate cake bedecked with a pink blossom...

I'm sure you've figured it out, by now! Combine all those tasty goodies and you get...

 The Bakery!

Isn't it pretty? This is a bit of an unusual finish for me... I'm not a "pink" girl by any means--never have been, never will be. I'm not into beads or sparkles or frilly dresses. But, I was so tired of winter that I searched through my stash and pulled out the first thing that I came to that made me happy--this old Country Cottage Needleworks chart (from 2005!). It was bright and cheery and somehow--comforting. I just love the lacy edging on the shelves and the black and white checked tablecloth--and I wonder what is in that "pretty in pink" package nestled underneath the wedding cake? Most of you know that I love to bake; in fact creating sweet treats is probably my favorite hobby after stitching and reading!

As much as I loved stitching "The Bakery," it was quite deceiving! I had no idea it would take me so long to finish this one up... Each little motif seemed to take forever for some reason. This one is stitched on 40 ct. raw Newcastle linen with most of the suggested colors, but there were a few changes along the way. The main color change was to the gray in the cake stands and chandelier--the suggested color was just not showing up on the fabric, so I went with DMC 647. The darker brown is Crescent Colors Cocoa Bean--another big change. And for the lighter green I had to use DMC 3052 as the suggested Dandelion Stem wasn't showing up either.

So, what do I plan to do with this finish? Well, at some point, I hope to stitch it's companion piece The Flower Shop and then frame each of them in black frames to hang in my kitchen.  I am SO BAD at getting my larger pieces framed. I have no trouble finishing up my smalls as I stitch them, but I just procrastinate when it comes to framing. Do any of you have that problem, too? I got tired of stuffing my larger pieces into drawers and forgetting about them so I saw an idea on the 123 Stitch Message Board last month which I loved. I purchased an 11" x 14" "Itoya Art Profolio" from Amazon for just a bit over $15.00. It is archival safe and 100% acid free and most of my "larger" finishes fit in it quite nicely and enable me to easily flip through it easily and admire them.

Here are a few photos of the portfolio itself and some of my finishes stored inside. I highly recommend this storage method and I truly think (hope!)  it will inspire me to frame more of my finishes.

My new storage system for my larger stitched finishes

I now have about half of the pages filled with

waiting to be framed finishes--embarrassing!

Why, oh why, haven't I framed these lovely Thanksgiving pieces yet?

Here you see my newest finish patiently 

waiting to be framed and hung on the wall.

My Prairie Schooler Santa Sundays SAL with Melissa and Hilda is going well and I finished up my first Santa. May I present this handsome blue-suited fellow...

This Santa (from Prairie Schooler's "Old World Santas II") was stitched on 32 ct. flax Belfast using DMC threads. I made a few changes (of course!)--the main one being the color of blue. I used DMC 3764 so it would look more like the color on the front of the chart. I also substituted a string of holly for the charted doll and stocking in Santa's left hand and stitched the border in blue. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to finish this one up yet, but I'm so pleased with how he turned out... On to a new Santa for March!

So, what's up next? Well, Spring means rabbits and you all know how much I love stitching bunnies! Here is a sneak peak of what I'm working on right now. Does anyone have a guess as to what design this is?

Belated Birthday Gift... A lovely packaged appeared on my doorstep last week from my dear friend, Mary. She stitched me this darling JBW pillow and finished it so beautifully. I loved the sentiment on it: "Within your heart, keep one secret place where dreams my go." It is just adorable and Mary also added some finishing goodies, a few magnetic bookmarks, and a box of one of my favorite candies (which, by the way is actually empty in the photo as I was a complete piggy and devoured the contents all by myself!!). Thank you, my friend--I will treasure your beautiful gifts!

Birthday gifts from Mary

Valentine's Day gift... I was so surprised to receive this cute Valentine's themed gift from my sweet friend in Germany, Gabi (no blog). Isn't it cute! Perfect for any stitcher with the little bobbin wound with a thread of hearts... Thank you, dear Gabi--I will think of you each time I display it on Valentine's Day!

Valentine's gift from Gabi

More baking... I wanted to make my husband and sons a little treat for Valentine's Day last month, but didn't want to go out in the cold weather to shop for ingredients. So, I simply made these heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies--simple and so tasty. They are even better warmed up, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and smothered in chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and toasted pecans--amazing! Here is the recipe if you care to make some for your next Valentine's Day: Chocolate Chip Cookie Hearts

Email problem! If you are a Yahoo or AOL email user, your comments are not coming through to my gmail account. This just recently became a problem and you can read more about it in this informative post: Yahoo and AOL email user problem. Luckily, they do appear under my blog comments, but they don't come to my email box. It appears to be a problem with gmail thinking this is spam (although, they are not even appearing in my spam folder!). So, this is causing problems for me when you ask questions as there is no way I can reply to you unless I try to track down your email address, which I honestly don't have the time for. It would help--so much--if you Yahoo or AOL users would leave your email address right in your comments if you have a question that you would like me to answer. Or you can always email me directly (my email address is in my "A Bit About Me" profile in my sidebar). 

Well, I've gone on long enough for today, but I can't leave without thanking you for all of your wonderful comments that you left on my last post... I'm so glad you enjoyed reading about "my" cardinal and I loved hearing from you about your own experiences with cardinals (and British robins!). Welcome to each of you who is new to "Stitching Dreams"--I look forward to getting to know you and visiting your blogs, too. Okay, have to run--it's hair cut and color day here and I have to leave a bit early due to the fact that it's snowing once again... Think spring everyone! Bye for now...