Happiness is...

in the details.

I mean, isn't it? whether it's the fact that someone let you in front of them when you were trying to exit a crowded parking lot or the fact that the hummingbird rested a few moments longer on the feeder so you could get a great picture...or, you found just the right button to add to a project...

Or it's the flower that some artist could create inside a glass marble...


Or the detail of hand-painted roses on a porcelain plate...


Or a beautiful arrangement of flowers and shells for a special book for your Mom...


It's all those little things that bring me moments of happiness. And, moments of happiness lead to days of happiness which leads to a happy life...

I am finding tremendous happiness in stitching the Details for our 100 Details in 200 Days Challenge over on Stitchin' Fingers. I love that a bullion stitch has become a star fish, that feathers can sprout from feather stitch and that everyone thinks my first detail actually looks like fireworks!

Today is Friday Favorites Day where we post one of our own Details that we've stitched in the past that we just love. Here's mine...

I stitched on this seam until it told me it was finished. Now, it makes me smile to look at it.


The detail below (Day 4) looked very "wedding" to me so I added some pale pink beads and few french knots...Still looks like "wedding" but maybe less so...


This detail was one of our first details that we "hi-jacked" from Cobi aka Autumngirl. I can't wait to stitch it again on my 4th of July Block because it looks like fireworks too!


For more thoughts on happiness, check out The Happiness Project where Gretchen is spending a year researching the roots to Happiness and reporting her findings. There's lots of good stuff there.

Day 2 of Details

Here's my detail for Day 2. After yesterday's detail it looks very bare (!) but that's because I have plans for something going over top of it. I don't want to waste my beading until I know what will travel over this seam treatment, so I'll wait to "finish" it.

I also left the one side of the rick rack open because I need to slide another trim under there before I can tack it down. So I just have to be patient before I can "finish" this detai.

Here's a copy of Sharon's detail that inspired mine.

Day 1 of Details...

As mentioned in my last post, there is a group on Stitchin Fingers that have committed to stitching 100 crazy quilt seam treatments in 200 days. Here's my Day 1 and here's a copy of the picture that inspired it, posted and stitched by Sharon Boggon.

An American Thread...

There's nothing more American than a Saturday-morning yard sale where all the neighbors are out and about. It's such a win-win for everyone. My son gets rid of toys he's outgrown, and lucky boys two years younger than he get to buy cool stuff at an allowance-friendly price.

Remember he was hoping to make $108? The end of the day receipts total in at $115!! Now that's awesome...


Notice those paperbacks showed up priced at 50 cents...


And I'm gearing up for the start of our 100 details in 200 days on Stitchin Fingers. We'll be stitching 100 seam treatments every other day for the next 200 days. If you haven't visited Stitchin Fingers, Sharon Boggon has set up a community site for all needlearts. It's growing very rapidly and seems to be a wonderful place where great things might happen so check it out.

Here's a peak at one of the projects I'll be adding my seam treatments to...

I'm heading out of town for a few days to help my Dad who just had surgery in Florida. He had both knees replaced last week--I know, I felt you wince when you read that...I winced when I wrote it...He wants to return to Baltimore as quickly as he can so I'm going down to help him with all of his transitions.

I've set up daily thoughts to automatically be posted on my blog but it's a first for me so we'll see if it works. If it doesn't, I'll be back by the end of the week. See you over at Stitchin Fingers for our first few days of details...

P.S. If you are looking for my review of Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, it's on its way in the next few days.