Ready for Spring...

Hello Stitching Friends.

I have a finish photo to share! I pressed the Spring sampler so it was photo worthy.




It turned out to be a pretty finish. I have had the chart and linen for several years. I'm glad I got it stitched up.

I am home from work today nursing the nasty cold I have. I don't want to share this with my co-workers. I took some NyQuil before bed, so at least I did sleep last night, even though I'm sure it wasn't pretty! Poor Mike...

Not sure that I will accomplish anything today. We did get a fair amount of snow from yesterday's storm. Probably around 4" I would guess. The wind did pick up in the afternoon as predicted so we had drifting snow on the country roads.

I thought Spring was going to arrive early, but these last two big snows has made it seem farther away.




The birds were busy at the bird feeders yesterday. They are fun to watch.




I did put a few Spring themed stitching items out over the weekend. Easter comes at the end of this month already. Seems early to me. I should get the box of Easter things out, and display them. It's too bad when a holiday slips by without bringing out the seasonal decorations for it....

Well hope you are finding time to stitch!
Take care.

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Marching along

Hello Stitching Friends!

Mike and I took a road trip last weekend to Saint Charles, Missouri. We were celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary. We had a great time. It was good to get away from home for a change of scenery. Saint Charles has a quaint Main Street with brick streets and sidewalks. Lots of cute shops as well. I located the stitching shop there, "Stitches, Etc.". It was fun to look around even though, don't faint, I didn't purchase anything!

I have seen a couple of new releases from Market that I am drooling over....Three tulips

I just love the three tulips design!

This weekend has been more low key. I have been wanting to 'shake things up' around here and rearrange the living room. So my son promised to move furniture for me, so Saturday morning we were the first two up, we proceeded to quickly attack the living room. We moved everything and moved a few things more than once before we settled on the new arrangement. I like rearranging for a fresh new look and the opportunity to clean good under everything. We were almost done before Mike got up, and completely done by the time Holly was up. Which was a good thing because Holly isn't a big fan of our rearranging madness. ;)




Mike and I travelled to Starved Rock State Park today with another photographer friend of ours. The guys hiked a trail into the park to shoot photos of the ice fall formations. I kept myself amused stitching while waiting for them.

I have come down with a crappy cold this week, so have been drinking hot tea and using cough drops. I can't or shouldn't complain it's the first cold I've had this Winter.

We have snow in the forecast again this coming week. We had a snow day last Tuesday, when it was bad enough to close the library for the day. We got about 8" that day. Whoo hoo! Those days are such a guilty pleasure. Especially if the power stays on!

I started this beauty last night


I finished the Prairie Schooler Spring sampler from my last post. I will share a picture next time after it's pressed....




Mike took pictures of this funny looking pelican last weekend. He was posing standing on the frozen river.




In closing this long post I will share a picture of our last snowfall taken from our kitchen door.

Happy stitching everyone!

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Time flies

Hello stitching friends!

It has been almost 3 weeks since I have posted last...don't know where the time has gone...

I have been keeping up with reading blogs and I have done some stitching. I will share photos.

My niece, Barb, was here to visit this past week, so I spent some time with her. We went to see the new Bruce Willis movie the other night. So, that was fun. Then, yesterday we drove up to Orland Park to explore The country cupboard. It was the first time there. We had lunch at Giordano's first. I found out she had never had Chicago style pizza before, so I suggested we stop there for lunch. I think she liked it. I also brought a pizza home for Mike and the kids. They would have disowned me if they found out I had been there for lunch without bringing them home pizza...

We enjoyed the shop. I bought a piece of linen for this



I took advantage of the Super Bowl sale at the Silver Needle and picked up the red cottage chart and got the linen for this







I also picked up this ornament chart.




These two charts are what i purchased yesterday. So, i have no shortage of new beautiful pieces to work on!!

I did finish these two pieces recently





For some reason I had to rip out more mistakes on this design than anything I can remember in a long time. But, in the end it was a pretty finish. Sorry for the sideways picture.




Then, before Valentine's day I stitched up this cute little piece. I added the year of our wedding since we have an anniversary coming up this month.

Then, after that finish I started this one



I have made good progress on it, and it is much cuter than the chart photo.



This weekend Mike and I went for a drive to see if the eagles were still at the lock and dam. There were a few flying around but were really too far away for photos. So, we drove on. We ended up stopping at another spot along the river and Mike spotted this owl sitting in a tree. He was pretty happy about it, since he has been looking for one for quite awhile.



He is a barred owl. The light was great and there weren't any other people around, the owl didn't really care we were there, so Mike was able to get some great pictures. He was pretty happy about our photo outing!

I was able to take an extra day off work this week due to President's Day. So, I am home today catching up on laundry and grocery shopping.

I hope you had a good weekend, and found time to do some stitching! I will be visiting your blogs to see what you have all been up to!


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January almost gone

Looks like we have a chance of freezing rain today. Absolutely my least favorite type of weather forecast. I had to laugh, my daughter and her friend were puzzling over the icon on the weather app for today. The picture I took below is rather fuzzy, but the girls determined it was light bulbs sprouting from the ground, so their thought was today's weather would be very interesting. LOL.


I have been reading your blogs full of stitching inspirations. I am still working on 'baby it's cold outside'. Progress is being made. Although I have probably ripped more on this piece than others in recent memory.... I went over to a friends house last night for a color consultation. I started the green diamonds in the border, but was not happy at all with my choice of floss color. She agreed, so out it came. I don't have enough of the crescent colors spinach to stitch the border, so I am just matching some dmc for the border diamonds. This piece just needs the border and the snowflakes and then it will be done.



I have been thinking about Spring, I have a couple of Spring themed pieces I would like to stitch this year, so I may start one of them next.




I have had this chart for a long time. So I have been thinking maybe this year I will do it. I already have the linen ready for it as well. So, that moves it up even higher in the possibility list.

I have thought about some valentine starts as well....







The birds of a feather isn't really a valentine type piece, but I have liked this one for a long time.


But this birds of a feather piece is valentine themed. Our wedding anniversary in in February. So, I may stitch this up and so some personalization for that. The little couple on the chart are funny...don't resemble Mike and me at all.

The family is stirring around here. I will have to give some thought about cooking later.

Hopefully the freezing rain event won't be anything major. I know if it is, I will elect to stay inside and stitch the day away.

Hope you all enjoy your Sunday, doing something fun!

Happy stitching.

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Wintry Sunday

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I am sitting at the kitchen table thinking about a blog post. It's long overdue. We had some snow overnight. Just enough to make everything white again. The snow from earlier in December had just about disappeared. What's nice about this morning is we had time to leisurely drink our coffee together. Mike has been posted at the back door watching with his camera to capture some of the pretty birds that have been showing up at our feeders.





This male cardinal and his female partner are frequent visitors. They are so pretty, especially against the snow.




This handsome boy is harder to photograph, he doesn't hang around long. I actually got this shot.

Last Saturday we were at lock and dam 14 on the Mississippi River doing some eagle watching. They show up near us every winter during January and February. They are such majestic birds.



You can actually get quite close to them. They seem to be used to the gawkers.




Mike got an action shot of this one catching his fish out of the river. Pretty cool.

Mike is actually in the garage right now cutting a picture frame for me. I have a stash of frames that I've acquired from various places. He is taking one of them apart and recutting it to fit this




I stitched this 'Winter' piece by Cricket probably a couple of years ago, and its been languishing in my drawer of pieces needing frames. Maybe I will be lucky enough to get it finally framed this month....

I also pulled out these beauties.




Winter by Prairie Schooler.




And February also by Prairie Schooler. I have stitched some of the monthly pieces from them but not all by any means.

Mike just came in half frozen from the garage. Had to come in for coffee and to warm up his hands.

Well, hope you are enjoying your Sunday. We will see what the rest of today brings around here. I have promised the family fried chicken for dinner. So I will be cooking dinner later on.

Happy stitching.

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Hello Stitchy Friends!

Wow, another post already, you say?  Well, I was inspired after reading Lynda's post with her clever daybook meme.  But, what inspired me most was that she included a picture of the library where she works. 

I thought, why haven't I shared a photo of our library before?  So, thought I should remedy that.

Our library is a Carnegie as well.  It is pretty evident in the photo.  Naturally this photo was taken in warmer weather than today...

It was back to work for me today. There was lots to do.  Then, I had to take a break this afternoon to accompany our daughter to the doctor.  She found out she has strep throat.  Ugh.  So, off to the pharmacy for penicillin.  I got my flu shot when we were at the dr. office. 

I tend to try to go with our daughter for appointments and things when I can.  It helps her feel more comfortable, since she is mostly deaf.  She reads lips very well. 

I am glad this is going to be a short week.  Ease back into routines.  I did manage to get the Christmas tree taken down yesterday.  What a job.  It seems like it's much more fun to put the decorations out than to put them away.  Hopefully on Saturday I will be able to finish the un-decorating around here.

Well, wish us luck that the strep throat doesn't spread to the rest of us.  I know from many first hand experiences that it's no fun at all.  Fun fact about me,  I had my tonsils out at the ripe age of 42.  Believe me, it's no fun at all when you are that old.  But, the incidents of getting strep throat each winter seemed to increase.  So, I had them removed.  Not a fun 10 days at all.  But, in retrospect, it's a good thing I had it done. (That was over a decade ago, so it gives you an idea of my age...).  :)

Well, hope you are all finding some stitching time in the new year. 

Happy Stitching.
 

Happy New Year!

Hello stitchy friends.

I have spent some time today reading your posts, where many of you have shared your stitching accomplishments from 2012. Impressive one and all. I have not taken a look back to take note of finishes yet.

I do have a new start to share, and an appropriate one since we are experiencing some cold temperatures in our neck of the woods...




'Baby it's cold outside' by heartstring samplery. I liked the verse on this chart, and I'm a sucker for stitching houses... What can I say?

I did finish reindeer roundup around Christmas.



-it turned out cute. Sorry for the wrinkles, I haven't taken it out of my project bag for pressing yet.

New Years Eve was very quiet. Mike had to work, and the kids were off with friends. I spent most of the afternoon and evening reading. I finished the new Monica Ferris book and then read Archie Goodwin Meets Nero Wolfe by Robert Goldsborough. I really enjoyed this one. It was set in time before the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. I have always liked those. I sometimes go back and read one again. Such good characters, and atmosphere.

I did take the tree down this afternoon. I have not brought in the storage tubs to pack away the rest of the holiday decorations yet. Maybe I will tackle that on Saturday. It is back to work tomorrow for me.

Guess the holidays are over. But I am ready for a new year. I read in Tanya's blog (the sampler girl) that she was wanting to rearrange all her furniture. I can totally understand that. Kind of a fresh look for the new year. I don't know that I will be doing that...but guess I am ready to put away those holiday things and shoot for a more 'pared-down' look...

Well, guess I will end this post for tonight. I will be heading to bed earlier tonight than last night....

happy stitching!

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