Hello Stitching Friends

I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish all of you a Merry Christmas.  It is hard to believe it is time for the holidays to be here.  It's like we've all worked like mad getting ready for the big day, and then, here it is.

I have had this week off from work, using up some vacation days.  However, best laid plans and all....I ended up pulling a muscle in my right chest area on Tuesday, so my plans got slowed down.  I have been trying to take it easy in the hopes that it heals quickly.  It is much better than it was earlier in the week, but still such a pain to have this hinder me when I wanted to get things accomplished this week.  Mike told me not to grumble, but be glad I had days off work to take it easy..

I hope all of you have a great holiday for those of you with some time off, and a Merry Christmas!
May you find the joy and magic of the season.

Happy Stitching, dear Friends.

Anyone still there?

Hello fellow stitching friends!

It's been a long time since I've posted last!  This is thanks to my friend Cathy, for inquiries about why I haven't posted in so long.  I guess I was waiting for the weather to be completely opposite of my last post...that was in the middle of a heat wave and today we are in for what will be the coldest we've had in awhile...  wind chills tomorrow morning are expected to be -30!!!

I have been busy stitching, reading, working and spending time playing with our granddaughter.  Addy is going to be 20 months old at the end of the month. It doesn't seem possible.  We enjoy her immensely and get to spend time with her often. She is talking a lot and loves to see her grandma and grandpa.  

She loves books and loves to have me read stories ❤.

I do have some finishes to share

Then this is my current project

I'm sorry for the crappy photos. For the last one Henry our dog, decided it was time to sit on my lap, so I'm rather hampered in my attempts at the moment.

What software are you using to do your posts?  I'm still using Blogger, but it seems to be not working as well as it used to.  I mostly use my iPad to write my posts.  It has become very frustrating since I lose whatever I write or photos I share with no warnings unless I save after every few sentences.

I will try to do another post before too long.  

Happy stitching!

Too hot

Hello friends 

It's a hot and humid afternoon here in the Midwest.  Too hot to be outside working for sure.  At least that's what I'm telling myself when I look at the weeds that need to be pulled. 

I'm doing inside chores instead today with a stitching break in between them.  I like this plan much better. 

I finished up Blackbird Design's "In Full Glory" last night.

I substituted some of the over dyed flosses for some I had from Nancy.  I'm pleased with the look.  I'm not sure if I will find a small frame for it or stitch it into a pillow.

I took the time to put away the flosses from the last two projects before pulling floss for a new small start.  I chose "A little beach" by Lizzie Kate.  My sister stitched this one and gave me her chart to use.  I picked linen the color of sand.

You can see I've barely gotten started. But it's a small design that shouldn't take long.

I did go to stitch group last week. It had been too long since I had attended.  It was nice to see everyone and catch up.

Mike has been working a lot of extra hours the last couple weeks.  They're opening a new casino.  So I've not seen much of him.  

I've been busy at work as well.  The library's air conditioning decided to malfunction. So I've been dealing with repair people.  We should have a new unit ready for installation next week.  I sure hope so anyway!

Well I hope you're staying cool and finding some time for stitching.  I've had a bumper crop of new books to read as well.  So many of them seem to come at once.  

Take care and happy stitching!

Sleepy Saturday

Hi friends!

What's on your agenda this weekend? I'm finding some time for stitching in between laundry loads this afternoon.  The animals around here have decided it's nap time.

Henry has staked out the couch corner.

Simon has claimed the chair, and Ranger the back of my chair.  

Here is the project on my hoop right now

You can see it's In Full Glory by Blackbird Designs.  I decided I was ready for what I'm thinking will be a small project after finishing my last piece.

I did some online shopping after seeing our lovely Vonna's latest purchase...

I haven't started it yet. I'm thinking I'm going to need some stronger magnification to stitch with the linen in this kit🔍. It's stitched on 40 count. I haven't stitched on higher than 32 count before....

I also stitched one other piece but can't share the picture or details with you, since it's a birthday surprise for my sister. I think she still reads my blog from time to time. I will take a picture to share with you after her birthday.

We've made our way into summer temperatures around here this weekend. Good time to enjoy some a/c. 

I will end this post by sharing a picture of my patriotic display.

Happy Stitching!

And... They're hung!

Weird post title but I wanted to share a picture of the birds hanging in the dining room.

I'm happy with how they turned out. It's just what I had in mind when I started stitching them, and that isn't always the case.

You can see to the side, Joe and Holly carried the big cupboard into the dining room for me tonight. I just finished putting the dishes back. It's amazing how much these old cupboards can hold!

It's nice to have everything washed and put away. I have one bag of stuff for goodwill, and a few things for Lauren.

Addy spent the afternoon at our house with me. She wasn't keen on the noisy power tools in use at their house today. 

This Grandma is pooped tonight. Too tired to stitch! Lol

Take care friends and happy stitching!

Where did April go and how can it be this close to the end of May??

Hello Stitchy Friends 

Well I have to admit I am woefully behind on updating my blog.  I just managed to catch up on reading blogs this week.  I'm always happy to catch up with what all is going on with you, and see your beautiful stitches.  I've gotten out of my old routine of reading blogs with morning coffee before work.  Since Henry's arrival my morning routine has altered to taking him outside for that first potty break of the day.  He's doing much better, but he still is a very busy pup that needs supervision.

Things have been busy around here.  The guys decided on doing some home improvement projects that have taken serious chunks of free time.  We decided to fence in our backyard to make it a little easier for Henry's outside enjoyment. (And ours!) We have some much needed improvements scheduled to happen this summer in the backyard.  But, the fence turned out great as a first step.

Our son knew his Mom wanted something a little fancy for a gate so this is what he came up with

Since it's been completed we did get it painted white. It looks good white. Please don't notice the house in need of painting. I'm hoping it will be on next years list.  The yardwork is endless.  It's not one of my favorite things to do.  Our daughter in law, Lauren, loves working in the yard much to my delight. I'm hoping she will work her way to our yard to work some magic.  

Then, we decided the carpet in the dining room had to go.  Too many pet accidents. I honestly don't think shampooing was going to fix it.  So, out came the nasty carpet and in went a laminate floor.  Our son in law, Joe, did this project with help from Mike.

It looks so much better. But, I still have one large cupboard that needs to get unloaded and moved in there.  It seems like the weekends are so packed trying to squeeze stuff in.  So, I guess that brings you current with projects here.  Well to frost the cake even more, so to speak, our son has started a fence project at their house, so I've been helping stain fence boards for that.  Then, our daughter and son in law are rebuilding their downstairs bathroom from scratch.  Mike has helped them some with that too.

It's great that everyone pitches in together to help.  We've worked on David's fence on nice weather weekend hours, and the bathroom on rainy ones.  The projects still have a long way to go.

On the Friday before Mother's Day, Mikes's younger brother passed away.  He had been ill with cancer for the last several months.  Of course we didn't quite expect it to happen as soon as it did.  It was up to us, and his other brother to plan his services.  We also cleaned out his things.  He had been in hospice care the last couple months.  So, it has been difficult dealing with all of this.  Sad times.

On to some stitching news.  I did get to my LNS to pick up some framing.

I was happy with Addy's birth sampler.

I also got my four Prairie Schooler birds framed.  I'm planning to hang them in the dining room.

Then I framed this piece that I had stitched for Mike several years before for our Anniversary.  I haven't decided for sure where to hang it.  But I think it will fit in the bedroom ok.

I picked up Lauren's Mirabella for her.

They promptly hung it up in their living room. They picked out a pretty frame.

I've been stitching on this of late

I have a mirror image of the birds to go on the other side of the verse, then it will be done.  

We celebrated Addy's first birthday with a big party near the end of April.  She had so much fun. I think she liked being the center of attention.

Her Mom, and Aunt Heidi did a great job with a cute theme of Rainbow Fish.

Her shirt was so cute, it said "wild one", then she had cute silver sparkly skirt and shoes.

You notice on her chalkboard sign I get billing with the I love grandma? ❤️

I hope I haven't bored you with the family news.  But I like having my blog share my life happenings as well as my stitching endeavors.

I'm hoping it won't be so long before I do another post. Happy stitching everyone!

Spring....finally

Hi Stitchy Friends 

Well, since my last post we traveled to California for a wonderful two weeks!  Our son, David and his wife, Lauren took us to Chicago to catch our flight. We stayed with family, and had a great time!  My niece, Barb had lots of fun things planned for us.  We had our first ever visit to Disneyland.  We saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time, we drove to Las Vegas, and drove north up the coast to San Clemente and Morro Bay.  We also stopped at Hoover Dam after leaving Vegas.  The weather was perfect.  Mike also experienced his first plane ride.  I realized it had been 33 years since I had taken a plane trip, so it was pretty thrilling for us both.

Mike took lots of pictures.  One of our favorite parts of the trip was seeing the elephant seals near Morro Bay.  

They were so much fun to watch.  I won't bore you with lots of trip pictures, I promise.  I have to say what I liked about Vegas was the cross stitch store we found.  Stitchers Paradise.

Here's Barb and I outside the store.  It was a fun stop.  

 There were lots of great models done in the shop to inspire everyone.  When we returned home and our kids wanted to know if we liked Las Vegas, I said the best thing was finding the cross stitch store, they all laughed and said you might know mom would find a cross stitch shop!  

When we returned home to reality, we both had lots to catch up on at work.  The kids were glad to have us back home I think.  Holly, Joe and Addy picked us up at the airport, so that was pretty exciting.  I should have taken a picture of Addys big smile when she spotted us.  It was great!  

I also have to share an Easter picture of Addy

The photographer had the cutest animals with her to include in the pictures.  She had the bunny, a couple of baby chicks and a kitten.  We will be celebrating Addys first birthday at the end of April.  It doesn't seem like it's been a year already.

I have been working on some stitching.  I also took some things to the framer.  I won't have them back for a month I don't think.  

 I designed and stitched this little piece for Holly. She has always liked the line from Mrs. Doubtfire.  I loved the old button I found to use as an accent.  It was from my Mom's button jar.

I have been working on Phoebe's Forest by The City Stitcher.  It's an old chart I've had for a long time.

 I have decided not to stitch the bottom area with her name, etc.  

What do you think?  I didn't stitch the year either.  Does it look ok, or does it seem like it has too much open space?  I've thought about putting in the year, but would make it 1899, if I did, since that's the birth year of my father.  (I was born after his 58th birthday).  I've let this piece sit a few days while I think about it.  Let me know if you think it looks finished or not... 

Well, I think I have made this post long enough.  Hope you're all finding lots of quality stitching time!

Take care!

Catching up

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I'm so slow in getting posts written!  It seems there is always something else getting in the way.  I can't believe the last post I wrote was before Christmas... Shameful.  We did have a great holiday together.  Since it was Addys first Christmas it was extra fun.  We all had fun watching her open her presents.

Henry, our puppy, you may remember from my previous post keeps us very busy!  We are still working on puppy training.  He's growing fast, and is finally learning some lessons.  We have a ways to go.  I clearly didn't think things through when I decided to get this puppy for Mike near Christmas... It's pretty darn cold standing around outside waiting on him to decide to go potty!  He has grown quite a bit since he came home.  He is hard to get a picture of, he is so busy!

I have been getting some stitching done.  This is my current project, and it's close to being finished.

I apologize for the poor light.  It's been a fun stitch.  I'm doing it on a piece of sparkly linen I had in my stash.  It's Snow Sampler by country cottage needleworks.  I have a few details in some of the squares to do then the pine branch above.  So, I should have a finish before long.

We sure haven't had much snow around here this winter, but we've had some cold temperatures.  This piece is one I enjoy displaying in the winter.

I also completed the piece Holly chose to commerate Addys birth.  It's ready to be dropped off at my LNS for framing.

I'm checking back in to wrap up this post.  In the time since I started this draft, I finished the Snow Sampler

Then started Phoebe's Forest by City Stitcher.  It's an old chart I've had for years.  I decided it was time to give it a go.  I think I will change up the design some.  I will post a photo of it next time.  We are leaving later today to head out to sunny Southern California for some Spring vacation time.  I'm sure my next post will have a few vacation photos to share.  Since I haven't ever travelled West it will be a new and exciting adventure.  Our kids are taking care of the animals.  So they will be in good hands.  

Happy stitching friends!