Still cold

Hello,

Another day of below normal temps is here. No school or library again today. I have kept busy doing calls about wedding details and some cooking. Well, the crockpot is doing the cooking. It's a recipe I found online for beef stroganoff. It smells wonderful at least. You use two cans of golden mushroom soup, and stir in cream cheese near the end of the cooking time. I hope it turns out good.



I spent a couple of evenings taking out the heart and the L on my love piece. Then last night I finished putting the heart back in, in the correct position. I will probably work on this later today.

We were supposed to have stitch group tonight, but it got cancelled due to the extreme cold we are having. The snow and wind was so fierce last night it looked like a snow tornado out the back door. Harry didn't stay out long to do what was necessary!

I have been busy reading some good books. I enjoyed Return to Tradd Street by Karen White. It was the fourth in her series about old houses in Charleston, SC, that seem to be haunted by ghosts. Then, on completely other bent, I've started reading the Prey series by John Sandford. My future DIL recommended that I read them. So, I've been enjoying those too. I'm up to #4 in the series. There are lots of them tho. I will rotate one in along with other new choices. I also have the newest Julie Hyzy book home in her White House chef mystery series. They have all been good as well.

I realized I didn't share a picture of my big surprise from Mike. He gave me this before Christmas, to commemorate our upcoming 30th wedding anniversary.




When he proposed to me 31 years ago, he said one day I will replace this engagement ring with a bigger one. Well he certainly did!

Hope you are keeping warm if you are in the cold, and for those of you that are enjoying Spring.... Good for you!

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Cold cold colder

Hello Stitching Friends.

Greetings from the frigid midwest. This winter is wearing out it's welcome. I will be happy to share snow with those of you that are wishing for more of it! Schools have all cancelled classes today, and the library is closed as well. So I have been staying inside today.

The cats have the right idea...









They have all found cozy nap spots for the afternoon.

We have been busy here making wedding plans... Lord help me the details...the details. I hope we will be able to pull all this together. Our daughter will be getting married in April with a small family wedding, and then the plan is to host a reception in May for extended family and friends. So, planning is underway on two fronts. Both venues out of town. If you don't see many posts from me in the next couple of months you will understand why.

I have to order the wedding sampler she likes and get it going. But, she didn't pick one that will be all that time consuming, so I'm not too concerned about that. We've all been searching Pinterest for ideas. It's great for that and so easy to share ideas with family and friends!

I was woefully behind on blog reading, but am now caught up! (What better use of a snow day??). You have all been busy out there doing some beautiful work! I am just about finished with Love by Cricket. Just the back stitching remains.



I elected to stitch the L the right way instead of the backwards L on the chart cover. I used the graph on the back of the leaflet that charted it correctly. I don't know if it looks right? I can't decide. The colors are very pretty and I like my pale green linen choice. I may have to take another look at the chart, but I don't want to have to rip out the L and do it over. After looking at the picture I think the L looks lower than it should be.

Well, after finishing this yesterday, I wasn't in the mood to Backstitch, so I went looking for another project to start.... I will share a picture even though it doesn't look like much yet.



While I went back to my stitching bag to pull this out for a picture, I took another look at the Love chart.... Not good news to report. I did a major goof, I will have to rip out the heart and the L... The heart should have been up higher. I know where I went astray. I stitched the heart from the chart printed inside, then flipped the chart closed to stitch the alternate L on the chart on the back of the leaflet, not realizing the heart had been repositioned as well. Crap, crap, crap! *sigh. Looks like I have ripping in my future. I'm glad I took a picture for this post, otherwise the back stitching may have been done as well before I realized something was 'off'.

Well so much for nearly having that piece done.

The flu has hit the library staff hard this past week, both of my full time staffers have been off from work with it. So, I have been doing some extra duty as well as my part time person. Luckily we have both avoided it. I had a dream the other night that we had it as well, and I had to post a closed due to illness sign... Not good. To compound things one of my flu sufferers fell putting up her Christmas tree and did a nasty job of breaking her wrist. So, the poor thing not only has the flu but a broken wrist as well. Then, I pulled a muscle in my leg and side, so I've been limping around, smelling like icy hot pain rub. Fun stuff....Not. I'm off to the chiropractor for first time ever to see if he can help. I've been feeling like I'm 100 years old lately. Yuck.

That's about all I know from this neck of the woods for now. Hopefully things will improve around here.

Hope you are staying warm and having some quality stitching time!

Ornaments finished

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I have spent time doing some finishing. Finally. I do put it off longer than I should. I always feel I should do better than I do... I do save pictures of finish ideas I like for inspiration. I was down to the wire tho, as our cross stitch group Christmas party is coming up on Monday.
















I fell back to using my tried and true method for most of the ornaments.



Then after taking a break I did the flat fold finish.



I was pretty happy with this one. I should add a bow or something, perhaps.

I should have taken a picture of the fabrics I used on the back of each one. I also need to try making cording from floss.... I watched it being done at the retreat I went to this summer, but haven't tried it myself yet. We will see how much time I get over next few days to see if I get some made.

I do have two more ornaments that need some personalization and then finishing.

It is going to be a cold upcoming several days. Lows are projected to be below zero a couple of nights.

Hopefully I will have a couple more finishes to share with you soon.

Happy stitching friends!



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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Stitching Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  The turkey is in the oven.  The husband is still asleep, and the kids haven't arrived yet, but it promises to be a good day here.  The sun is shining with a bright blue sky on a chilly November day. 

I have been busy shopping and  making lists for this big cooking day.  The menu hasn't varied much over the last nearly thirty years...  (wow, that seems like a long time!)  There will be six of us for dinner today.  Our son recently proposed to his girlfriend...and she said yes!  They will be here, as well as our daughter and her boyfriend.  We are blessed, in so many ways.

I don't know that much stitching will get done today.  I will probably be too busy in the kitchen, and then after that too tired to do much but relax with everyone.  Mike has today off from work, as well as the rest of the week, so I'm happy for that!  He usually works all holidays, unless they happen to fall on a regular day off.  So, it will be nice not having to hurry through the meal and see him leave for work, missing out on the rest of the family time.  He will get to enjoy leftovers and some football later. 

I have hopes of finding time later this week to do some ornament finishes.  I have a few stitched up ready for a final finish.  I have started the Prairie Schooler Christmas sampler from this year, so I have something to pick up.  I may still do an ornament or two as well.  This time of year gets so busy! 

I hope all of you will be enjoying your holiday today and spending it with those you love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

November Stitching

Hello Stitchy Friends.

I will try this again. I had my post all ready but one final picture to add and lost the whole thing! Very frustrating.

I wanted to share a picture of my finishes for November.




They are all Prairie Schooler designs. I should stitch a couple more small turkeys to round it out. But I doubt that I get to that this month.

It sure feels like November today. When I took Harry out this morning he didn't waste any time doing what was necessary before heading back into our warm house.

I stitched on the snow birds ornament last night and would have had it done, but ran out of white DMC. I didn't want to substitute a different white. I will have to pick some up when I'm out shopping. The nearby quilt store carries DMC, or I can get it when I go to the bigger city about an hour away.

I'm not sure what we are doing today. At least the sun is shining, and the sky is a beautiful blue.

Hope all of you are enjoying a lovely weekend and finding some time for stitching!

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Another ornament

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I am making progress on another ornament. It is from this year's ornament issue. It's called Snow Birds by Country Cottage Needleworks.


I found some light blue linen in my stash. It is working up well. Again, I will have to post another picture later when I sit down to do final finish work on these. I have a few more I would like to get done.

My sister in Minnesota posted pictures on Facebook of snow they received there this week. I am not ready for that yet!

It has been a busy week at the library. I am ready for the weekend. The only bad thing is tomorrow is my Saturday to work...so no early start to the weekend. I can't believe its November already! I still have to get the Halloween decorations put away...

Hope all of you are finding time to enjoy your stitching!

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Ch..ch..changes...

Hello Stitchy Friends.

I have been doing some blog reading on and off this afternoon, in between chores.  I was pleased to see Lee posting again on Lake Stitcher.  She posted some thought provoking comments about her lack of blogging of late.

I know sometimes it's hard to know how much personal news to share as opposed to just keeping it about stitching.  I guess I look at my blog as kind of a journal, and write it for my amusement as well as hopefully keeping some of you entertained....

I have been stitching away, however I had to take a forced week off due to an injury to my thumb.  Somehow it became infected under my thumbnail.  So, I've been on antibiotics for about 10 days with a new round to start tomorrow.  It is much better now, but it was rather nasty.  The doctor thought it became infected through a tear in my cuticle, with bacteria getting in there.  Not fun, rather painful too.  I won't gross you out with a picture.

I have chosen some ornaments that I would like to get stitched up soon.  I would like to do 'Season of Love' by LHN for our son and his girlfriend; as well as do one for our daughter and her boyfriend.  Relationships seem to becoming serious for both of them.  It is going to be an interesting few months ahead I think.  We like both of their partners in the relationships, which is a bonus!

I plan on stitching their names and "Christmas 2013" on the back of each ornament.  I am close to being done with the first one.  I have other ornaments I would like to stitch as well, hopefully I will get time to do a few more. 

Well, hopefully I will find time to post a little more often.  I know I won't be able to keep up with the daily blogging challenge some of you have taken on for November...! 

Happy Stitching!