Sister, sister...

Hi Stitchy Friends!

The weekend has gone sailing by again.  Why do those days seem to go by so fast?  Since Mike and I don't work on Mondays our weekend is ending tonight. 

As I mentioned before we have been working on getting our house painted.  The paid laborers finished today.  There is just some miscellaneous details left to be painted.  I have a lot of wooden porch spindles to paint, porch railings, cellar doors and porch and deck floors.  But, there is no big rush.  The house looks so much better.  I'm still not totally in love with the main color, but I think it will be ok.  It's a little more yellow than tan.  I did match the blue trim with DMC 931.  I took my bobbin of floss to the paint store counter and said, this is the color I want for the trim.  So, the house is kind of a tan/cream/yellow tone with white around windows, on corner boards, eaves etc.  The blue accent is just at the bottom of the windows, front door, mailbox, etc.

Here is a shot of the front door.  It will need a second coat, since I painted this blue over black.  But I think it is going to look good.

Now, onto the fun stuff...  My sister and brother-in-law were here for a short visit from Sunday evening through lunch time today.  They stopped on their way home from their vacation in Nashville while driving back to Minnesota.  My sister is an excellent seamstress and brought me a surprise.  She made a project bag for my stitching.  I've been admiring the wonderful project bags I've seen online for awhile.  *hint *hint...ha!  Well, she took my hinting and came up with her own design. 

I love the fabric she chose. 

There are mesh pouches inside, and then she embroidered a design and my initials as you can see in the photo above.

There is also a removable project bag that you can tuck inside.  I am looking forward to using this!
Thanks, Karen!

We also had a fun time on Saturday, when we went to a first birthday party of a friend.  His Mom had used the theme of A Very Hungry Caterpillar.  She had so many cute ideas with food and decorations!

All in all, it was another full weekend.  Now, just to get ready for the work week to start tomorrow.  I haven't had much stitching time this weekend at all.  But, I had to post pictures of the cute project pouch.  I'm really pleased with it. 

Hope you are all finding time for some Spring stitching!

Sailing..sailing

Hello Stitching Friends!

I have been busy stitching away on Shores of Hawks Run Hollow.  I am now on the big block and am busily stitching sails...

Sorry for the crummy photo.  If Mike were here, he would make me take a better one.  But since he's not, you'll have to make do... ha! 

This is the previous block, all finished.  I do really like this one.  Love the house with the widow's walk.  It reminds me of Nantucket.  I visited there once many years ago, and have loved all things nautical for as long as I can remember.  It was always a dream of mine to live somewhere near the ocean, or near the water.  Instead, I'm still in central Illinois.  Not quite the same.  Oh well, I've enjoyed many vacations to water filled destinations. 

We had a lovely Easter here at home.  I didn't take the time to take any photos of the food, but it all turned out very good, and was enjoyed by all.  Then in the afternoon, our daughter, myself and our son's girlfriend enjoyed margeritas on the deck.  It was a beautiful day.  The flowers have all been blooming early here in the Midwest.  Actually I think this has been an exceptionally beautiful Spring.

I placed some pansies in an antique nail box, that was my Dad's, on the deck.  We have been enjoying them. However, I've had to take things in and cover others the last two nights, since we've had frost warnings. 

The lilacs have been really pretty too, but are almost over now.  However, the early tree peony is blooming.

The blooms are really big.  I picked these last evening after I got home from work.  I wasn't sure if the frost predictions would hurt the blooms or not.  And, I haven't had time today to go outside to check.  Hopefully they survived the cold night.

We have been busy working on scraping paint, priming and painting the outside of our house.  I have to admit Mike and our son's friend have been doing most of the work.  I will most likely be painting porch spindles and our outdoor shed in the near future tho.  We were very happy to be able to hire a friend of our son's that is fearless on a ladder to assist.  Mike is not overly fond of heights, and it seems to run in the family...ha! 

It seems like the days are whirling by at a fast pace.  But, we've been busy I guess.  We would like to get out to Pella, Iowa to see the tulips, but haven't found the time for that yet.  It's about a 3 1/2 hr. drive from here, so it will be a long day.  Not sure if we will find the time or not. 

I hope all of you had a good Easter holiday; and are enjoying the Spring weather. 

I've been busy reading also.  You can see in my sidebar some of my lastest finishes.  Some of my favorite mystery authors are releasing new titles this Spring.  So, I'm trying my best to keep up.  When is your favorite time to read?  I always take a book along to bed with me, and read until my eyes are too tired to read any more. 

I think I need to post more frequently and do shorter posts.  Sorry this one seems to have gotten long.  Happy Stitching!