Thanksgiving

Hello Stitching Friends.

I am up early here this morning.  Getting ready to put the turkey in the oven.  We are having an early dinner, since Mike has to go to work this afternoon.  But, I wanted to post and wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for all of you online stitching friends, you have truly enriched my life. 

Hope you find some quiet time to spend doing what you love the most! 

RAK received

Hello stitching friends!

I just have to share the lovely surprise I received in the mail today.

I am a lucky recipient of a RAK from Andrea.




This is such a pretty ornament.



She even included a handmade card. I feel so lucky to be a recipient of her beautiful stitching and finishing!!

Thank you Andrea.

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Foggy night

Hello stitchy friends.

I have been busy around here today. I've done a major amount of laundry... Then I had some help from Holly to help rearrange furniture in our living room.

I washed the curtains in the living room and Mike washed the windows. So we have a much cleaner house for the holidays.

I am ready to start Christmas decorating. Although I am going to hold off until after thanksgiving.

Tomorrow I will have to spend some time in the kitchen doing some advance work before the big meal.

I have also done a major clean out of my needlework fabric. I pulled all my Aida cloth and have stored it in a separate container. How many of you still use Aida cloth? I am curious. I don't use it any more.




I thought I would share a picture of a couple of favorite pieces that are framed in the living room.

Also I will have to share a cute picture of our only male cat, Simon.




I have done some more stitching on 'reindeer roundup'.




Well it is getting late and I should be heading off to bed soon.
Happy Stitching!

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Happy Dance

Hello stitchy Friends,

I am happy to report Rest and Be Thankful is finished! I was getting close last night, so I stayed up late and put in the last of the back stitching. I haven't had a chance to wash it and press it as yet. I will post a picture after I have.

So, I sorted through my stitching bag this evening. I put the floss away from that project, and put some other charts away that are more fall themed. Then I looked through some my basket of newer charts and pulled Christmas themed pieces.

I have one ornament kitted up ready to start.



I will probably start this soon.




I also have a small start on a Prairie Schooler piece. 'Reindeer Roundup'.

I have this coming week off work. So I hope to start doing some Christmas decorating after Thanksgiving. We will have Thanksgiving dinner here at home. I will be cooking. Mike and the kids are good about helping with the last minute details.

I still have to go to the grocery store for a few items necessary for the meal. Our son especially, wants the same favorite items on the menu. He's ok with me adding something new, but not replacing. Ha!

Well guess it's time to wrap this post up for now.

Happy stitching!

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early November morning

Hello Stitchy Friends.

It is early morning hours here on a cold Friday in mid-November.  The sun isn't even up yet.  However, I woke up early and since I couldn't go back to sleep, I finished my current book.  The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell.  It just occurred to me I don't often talk about what I'm reading on my blog.  Maybe, it's because I talk and write about books so much at work....  I write a newspaper column every other week for our small local newspaper, and then talk about books so much in work related ways as well. 

I have always worked in a library, even in high school.  I did work for a local optometrist while I was in high school, but other than that, it's all been about the library.  I do love my job.  It's scary when you think back how many years I've been working.  Guess these early morning hours are making me reflect. 

Well, nevertheless, I did enjoy Cornwell's newest book.  She is getting better again.  She had a rough spell in the middle of this series where I didn't think the books were as good as they should have been. 

Now, it's on to the next book on my shelf waiting to be read.  I always have a book in progress as well as a stitching project or two.  I haven't decided what I will read next.  If you are a reader, and haven't found goodreads.com yet, I encourage you to check it out.  A great website to interact with fellow friends, and if nothing else, to keep track of what you are reading, and what you've read.  Several of my online stitching blog friends are also friends on goodreads, which I think is very cool.

I have been slogging away on this Cricket, Rest and Be Thankful piece.  I am getting close to the finish line.  I don't want to abandon it now since it is so close to being done.  But I do seriously need to do some more ornament stitching for our exchange in our stitching group and for some other small gifts. 

I don't like it that the photo I just uploaded is sideways.  But you can see that I've made quite a bit of progress...  Not too much left.  The row of checkerboard border at the top and then I think just the birds in the sky and backstitching. 

Well, it's time to put the coffee on, then head to the shower and work.  I have a meeting this morning in a town about 40 miles away.  So, I best get going.

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away!

Hope you are all finding time to stitch!
 

Election Day

Hello fellow Stitchy Friends!

Just wanted to say hello on Election Day.  We have done our civic duty and voted.  It was our daughter's first time to vote, and she was pretty excited.  I have to say, I've been proud of her for doing her research on the election and voting with some knowledge of the issues.

The best part of Election Day, besides the pride in doing your duty, is that the political ads will finally be over!

I am working at the library until 8 tonight, but after work, I am looking forward to watching some election returns with our daughter, and possibly doing some stitching....  :)

 

November already?

Hello Stitching Friends

Well Halloween has come and gone. We only had about five trick or treaters. I resisted buying any candy until the afternoon hours of Halloween. Then I selected some candy I knew I wasn't particularly fond of. So it was all good. I indulged in one chocolate tootsie pop sucker. So, I didn't sabotage my week with weight watchers.

I have been on vacation this week, I've been working on cleaning out our big walk in closet. Holly has been very helpful with sorting my clothes especially. She has even been rather tactful, which if you saw the 'vintage' clothes that came out of my closet, you'd be amazed at her restraint! It was good to see them bagged up and gone. I'm still struggling with sorting some of the other accumulations of crap...

I'm embarrassed to admit I found a collection of 'artwork' that the kids brought home from elementary school. They have been out f elementary school many years. I plan on bringing it downstairs to the kitchen table and let them take a look at it before it heads to the garbage can.

Have you ever watched those episodes of Hoarders on television? Whenever I've seen one of those I have the strong urge to clean. But, I digress. You aren't interested in reading more about cleaning...on to the stitching.

I tend to be a one project at a time stitcher with a few exceptions. While sorting through some stitchy stuff a couple of weeks ago I unearthed something I had started a few years ago and then abandoned.

Since I had been stitching mostly small things of late I decided to pull it out and work on it for the rest of the evening. Well, that was probably 2 weeks ago, and I'm still plugging away on it. I'm rather ambivalent about it. I realize I'm not 'in love' with it, but I don't hate it either.




Sorry for the sideways picture. It is a Cricket design. When I picked it up two weeks ago, the words at bottom were stitched and the door to the house as well as a small area to the left of the door. So I have made a lot of progress.




This is what the completed design looks like. So, I don't have a huge amount left to finish. It would be a nice fall thanksgiving design to have done. And actually as I type this I am telling myself to stick with it and finish it. What do you think?

I have some other things recently purchased that are calling my name...




This is probably my favorite new chart. I haven't ever stitched one by this designer.




It is almost getting too late in the season to get excited about stitching this design. But I have the other three seasons stitched in this series. And actually, two of the three are framed, which is pretty darn good for me...




Then I was looking at Christmas charts the other day, and have been thinking of tis one. I have it all kitted up, ready to go.




Then lastly, this is a cute recent Little House Needleworks chart I picked up earlier this summer. Again, it's all kitted up, and ready to go.

Well, enough about projects in the wings... I know I will never lack for something to stitch...

I do want to stitch and finish a few more ornaments this month. I haven't decided what I want to stitch for our ornament exchange yet in our stitchers group. But then the Christmas party isn't until December 10. It would be nice not to be gluing an ornament together the night before though... So, choices need to be made and stitched!

Nancy, at Victorian Motto sampler Shoppe is going to be having a wonderful giveaway in December. You need to take a look and sign up! ( I'm sorry I haven't figured out how to do a hyper link on my iPad.)

Hope this finds all of you happily stitching away, on something you love.