Harry Potter tree & Sojourner

Hello Friends! It's crazy that's its the end of September. It gets darker earlier and so far we are still having HOT weather. Hope it changes soon. But I knew to get a jump on and decorate - our Halloween/Fall tree is up.  First I am sharing with you my progress on Sojourner sampler.

This top I'm sharing with you for a reason. Back in the late 1970's my parents took our family to Mexico. My mom bought me this blouse. I loved it for all the embroidered flowers stitched in different colors. This was my inspiration for my next band on Sojourner.

 I finished the last band. This is a traditional Mexican band with Satin stitches & Rhodes stitch details.
It was charted in green and white. But for me I wanted more color. Took me forever to think.... and then it hit me. I remembered the beautiful top mom had bought me.

 I'm so happy how it turned out. Both my parents are gone. This is a special meaning to me so when I look at this I instantly think of the fun vacation with my family from waaaaay back when.

 There is still lots of this sampler to be stitched. Like the strawberries (Queen stitches) and more satin stitches that will fill in the saw tooth border all around the bands. Now I'm stitching the left side of the floral's.

 Harry Potter Tree - for Halloween & Fall. 

I finally put up the Harry Potter tree. I know I have talked about it before in the past and now its up.

Our son had been a fan of the Harry Potter books since the very first one came out. Then as the years went by HP products came out. I saved lots of stuff and many many shopping trips collecting ornaments. 

In the first HP movie there's a scene where in the great hall it shows floating candles and pumpkins for their Halloween feast. SO I have added pumpkins to the tree. 

 There's Harry's trunk that I filled with large jewels (remember the houses were tallied with jewels), Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Hedwig, Hogwarts Castle that plays the movies theme song, sleds that were in the film used for students in the Winter time.

 No matter where you look at the tree there are lots of different ornaments to see.

 I love Harry with his Chocolate Frogs! 

 Do you see Ron and Hermoine?

There's also Harry flying on his Nimbus 2000 broom, Gringott's bank, the Mirror of Erased, Harry and his invisible cloak and candles that flicker on and off. At night the tree is really beautiful all lit up.

I have a new stitching project that I will be starting tomorrow for our sweet friend Mouse. She will be making a Memory Quilt and asked if anyone would like to stitch a block for her. I said YES right away. So off to study some charts. If you would like to learn more of her project you can read it on her post HERE.
Thank you for stopping by!
With my love and appreciation - Annette

Sweet token gift & The Top Five

Hello lovely friends! Our weather was very hot since last week and over the weekend. Today we had a bit of rain but our windows and door has been open the whole time - humid! Have been praying for all the people who lost their homes and for the firefighters. I was told by my aunt that my cousins godfather lost his home in the fire. He and his family lived right there in Cobb. Just horrible. He, his wife and their dog had just gotten in their truck and drove away & in his review mirror saw his 2 propane tanks explode along with their home. They had just barely made it out. The fire is still not all contained. Asking for your prayers please!

Well this post is inspired by our friend Vickie! Vickie surprised me with a card and darling envelope letter fob. I LOVE it! I have it on my planner where I get to see it all the time:)
Thank you for your Thank you sweet Vickie!

Vickie had shared her top five ornaments from this years JCS 2015 Ornament Magazine.
There are so many  cute and beautiful ornaments that I can see myself stitching.  Hope you can share also what your top 5 are:)
Here are mine:

 "Hope" by Lone Elm Lane #1

"Merry Christmas With Love" by Tempting Tangles Designs #7. Now I can see different variations of this ornament stitched by changing the fabric color & threads. I just think this is very cute.

 "Gingerbread Quilt" by The Victoria Sampler #3. This ornament is a quilt done on Gingerbread fabric to match her new Gingerbread Quilters cottage which hasn't been released yet.

 "Plenty" by Hands on Design #8.
and "Merry Christmas" by Samplers Not Forgotten #10.  Okay there's five right there but......

 "Joyful Santa" by Homespun Elegance #4.  I need a Santa for this years tree!
SO there are my top 6 but there are soooo many more pretty ornaments in this years magazine.

Progress on Sojourner - Finished several more bands.
- The Chinese band is in recognition of the thousands of Chinese who traveled East across the Pacific Ocean to find their fortune in California Gold. This Chinese band was charted all in red motifs and black accents. I made a few of the motifs to gold.
- Between the Chinese and Russian band is a dividing band all done in Montenegrin stitches - Chester's Blue Classic Colorworks silk.
- The Russian band (with the birds) - is a band commonly found in Russian folk art garments. I alternated two blue threads for the motifs in this band, Presidential Blue Sampler threads GA & Pacific Blue by Gloriana silk.
- another dividing band under the Russian band is done in Montenegrin stitches - Chester's Blue Classic Colorworks silk.

Well that's it for now. Hope our weather gets cooler. Right now they really need rain where there are fighting fires. I'm ready for Fall! I have noticed that it's getting darker much earlier now.
With my Love and Appreciation - Annette