Technical Difficulties

Just a quick note from my husband's laptop~my hard drive crashed Thursday.  So, while I am waiting for it to be fixed, no posts with pictures, :(.  I did finish Valentine Rose this past week, and am finishing Block 4 of Village of Hawk Run Hollow today.  Will have photos as soon as I have my own computer back.  I also hope to finish Cape Cod's Girls this week.  I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I have a "days of the week" rotation going, more or less.  I love mermaids, and have my mermaid collection housed in my master bath.  I have lots of mermaid charts waiting to be stitched and hung in the bathroom.  So, in order to get some of these beauties stitched,  I have dedicated Mondays as my mermaid stitching day, or "mermaid Mondays", haha!  I have a gorgeous UFO waiting in the wings for after Cape Cod's girls is finished, it's called "Quaker Gone Tropic" by Michelle Ink.  Can't wait to pick it back up again, but I'm not allowed to until Cape Cod's girls is finished.

I got to visit a REAL LNS yesterday, after not having been to one since Scarlet Thread closed last year.  I went to a shop that has been around for a few years, is maybe 30 miles away.  I had just never been there before.  My oldest, who is in graduate school at VA Tech, was home this weekend for a job interview.  I drove her to the interview, so I could swing by this shop on the way home.  It was very exciting to actually get to have my hands on threads and charts and so forth.  I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed, though.  The shop is mostly a yarn shop, with a limited stock of threads and a few charts.  I went with a list of @ 20 threads needed for my upcoming Anniversaries of the Heart charts, and they only had 4 of them.  So, I got those and 3 packs of needles.  I also ordered Carriage House Samplings' "Garden Glade", along with linen, etc., from The Attic , with plans to stitch it according to their conversion, which uses a green linen, and overdyed silks.  Can't wait to see it!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Ort Jar Love

I wanted to share a few photos of my absolutely amazing new ORT jar.  I LOVE it!  I can't say enough nice things about it, lol!  I love the way it looks, and I love the way it SOUNDS when I pick it up, all the little tags and charms hit against the glass and make the most delightful little tinkly sound.  I am like a kid with a new toy!

Fwee Wee Wittle Finishes

I've finished 3 small things in the past 10 days....not huge, but finishes nevertheless.

Here is 1992 Prairie Schooler Santa, finished yesterday. 

"L is for Lion", by Carriage House Samplers, started and finished Friday, March 4

Another view of "L is for Lion", which is being stitched on one large piece of linen



Block 5 of "Village of Hawk Run Hollow" by Carriage House Samplings



Block 5, along with my progress on Block 4.

"Elizabeth", by Carriage House Samplings-I finally gave her a face!

Total progress on "Elizabeth"

Progress on "Valentine Rose" by Blackbird Designs



"Valentine Rose" and "Snow Garden"


It's Fat Tuesday~  Enjoy!



Old Stash, New Stash

Since our last visit, we had a freaky little snow/ice storm last Tuesday, the 22nd.  I had to capture a couple of shots of my daffodils in the snow.  No harm done, they are thriving, and getting ready to put on their annual show.

 I also wanted to share some pictures of my new stash, all goodies from the Nashville market.

 Above is a picture of a bag full of treasures.  Believe it or not....don't judge a book by it's cover.  I recently started thinking about some UFO's, and charts, and other general stash, and realized that I was missing a bunch of stuff.  So, I tore the house apart and found this tote bag full of goodies down in the basement.  How it got there, I'm not sure.  And, we've had mice in the basement before, so I'm really grateful that everything was in good shape.  I know it looks like a bag full of junk, but believe me, finding it, and digging through it was like Christmas all over!

Here are a couple of pictures of my delightfully tacky Saint Patrick's Day tree.

I will take some progress pictures to share next time, I have not done a huge amout of stitching this past week, I have had a crummy sinus infection, with both ears bulging with fluid=VERTIGO!  Nasty stuff.  Hard to function, much less focus on a needle and thread.  But, things are improving, and I'm back at it.

I can't leave without saying a few words about my sweet friend Lisa Roswell, who passed away Monday in a tragic accident.  Most of you who would be reading this have already heard about Lisa and her car being swept away in a flood.  I never had the good fortune of actually meeting Lisa in person.  I am trying to think back to when we became online stitching friends, I think it's been about 12 years ago.  We met each other in a cross stitch chat board, then participated in some round robins together.  We shared not only our love of stitching, but our love of gardening...I have a bag of some really cool looking wild indigo seed pods Lisa sent me, with a sweet note attached.  I have to admit, I never planted the seeds, because I thought the pods were so neat looking, I wanted to keep them to look at.  Now, even though they are years old, I am going to get the seeds out of the pods and plant them, and keep my fingers crossed that they grow.  And, if I am fortunate enough to have success, they will be planted in a special place in my garden in Lisa's memory.
Lisa and I also shared our love of family, and our kids were roughly the same ages, so we were always talking about our kids.  I can't imagine what her family and friends must be going through.
I am stitching a couple of things in Lisa's honor.  So much irony, it makes me shiver...I have been working on her "Cape Cod's Girls" design as my Monday project this year.  So ironic that she died on a Monday.   And, this past  Monday, the day she died, I didn't work on it, because that was the day I was the sickest with my vertigo. Then, I am trying to do 2 letters of the alphabet per month on my Carriage House Samplings Alphabet Sampler.  The 2 letters I had planned to work on this month were "L is for Lion", and "R is for Rainbow", which are Lisa's initials.  I had chosen them, just because they seemed March-like to me~the lion, for "in like a lion...." and the rainbow for St. Patrick's Day, and leprechauns with their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.  More irony. 
I know that God had a plan for Lisa, but it's just so hard to imagine not having her here. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  I have to work this weekend.  My girls both started their spring breaks today.  Meredith won't actually get her spring break, though, because she is student teaching this semester, and follows the calendar for that school system.  Rachel will be home tomorrow!