Still sailing along....

Hello Stitchy Friends. 

It's been awhile since my last blog post.  Since my last update on Shores, I have managed to finish the large double block of the ship.  It seemed like it took awhile to fill in all the ocean water at the bottom, but it was mindless stitching where I didn't have to look at a chart.  So it was easy to take along with me. 

You can see at the corner of the picture the start of the next block.  With my shortened version of this piece I am on the home stretch, only two more to do after finishing the one I'm working on now. 

Mike and I travelled up to Minnesota to visit my sister, brother-in-law and family the last weekend of April.  It was nice weather and a great chance to get out of town for a weekend.  We had a good time, as always when we go visit our Minnesota family.  Lots of chances for stitching together with my sister and niece, which is always a good thing. We also had fun playing with the little ones.  Good food also.  My sister is a great cook. 

After returning home, it was back to our routine.  We are busy at the library preparing for the summer reading program.  It is hard to believe it's time for that to roll around again.  The theme is cute this year, 'reading is so delicious'.  So, the staff has been having fun planning decorations and programs.

It is a quiet afternoon here, our daughter is at a wedding of a friend, and Mike is at work.  I'm home alone with these sleepy babies....

  Not sure where the fourth cat, Ranger is.  Most likely upstairs, asleep on our daughter's bed.  Annie is the lilac point siamese at the top, Simon is the white cat in the middle photo, and Joplin is the seal point siamese at the bottom.

Let me tell you, it's rough being a cat at our house....ha! 

Thanks to Joan's blog post about her trip to Osage, Iowa, I was happy to see that a stop there on our trip to MN wouldn't be out of our way.  So, my dear husband agreed to stop there on our way North.  I was pleasantly surprised to see such a nice shop.  The Stitchery Nook is the name of the shop, it's just off route 218 in Osage, Iowa.  I can see this being a good place to stop and stretch our legs on our northern trips..... :) 

Then we took a different route home and drove on route 61 along the Mississippi River.  It is such a pretty drive.  That takes us through La Crosse, WI.  So, of course I scoped out the stitching shop there years ago.... Crosse Stitchery.  I mean, if your town is named LaCrosse, it only stands to reason it should have a cross stitch shop there....right??!    I am going to have to learn how to put links to websites...  but I'm sure you will be able to find the shops etc. online.

I just picked up a few charts at each stop. I forgot to get a picture of those, but will share them with you later. 

Hopefully it won't be such a long time between posts next time.  I will try to do better!  I have been keeping up reading what everyone is doing on their blogs.  Lots of beautiful projects out there!  It keeps me inspired. 

I have been reading also.  It seems like everytime I think I'm getting caught up with the new titles, more come in at the library that I have to bring home to read.  One of my favorite sayings is "So many books...so little time".  I have a poster to that effect in my office.  I've been diligently posting my books on good reads. 

I think I've rambled on long enough, and probably have bored you silly.  But want to close saying hope all of you Moms out there have a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow!

Happy Stitching!