Never Enough Tyme

Crazy 2012 Challenge-Days 1-5

2012-01-06T13:45:00.001-05:00

Just stopping by with a quick update on my Crazy 15 Challenge. So far, I have had a new start every day, plus have stitched 30 minutes every day on my Village of Hawk Run Hollow Block 9, and have started my next Hawk Run project, Shores. I did cheat a little and already had the black outlining of the blocks done. Just like coloring inside the lines! I have just got to say, Shores is SO MUCH FUN!!!! My goal is to work on it 1 hour each day. It's going to be such a joy to work on! Needless to say, with trying to squeeze in a little work on 3 projects every day, plus put in 40 hours a week at that pesky job, I won't be sharing my challenge progress every day. I think I'll plan to split it up into 3-5 day segments. So, without further ado...

First, VoHRH:

Completed Block 6!

1 week's work on Block 9, 30 minutes per day.

Almost there! Please try to ignore the fact that I photographed this on the bathroom counter ( note potty in background!) What can say, the lighting was good!

Next, 5 hours worth of progress on SoHRH:

Now, Challenge Day 1:

Blackbird Designs "Anniversaries of the Heart" started "Happy Birthday"

Day 2:

started Shepherd's Bush ornament from Just Cross Stitch Special Ornaments Issue 2001

Day 3:

Stacy Nash Girls' Club kit "To My Sweet Pinkeep"

Day 4:

Started Blackbird Designs "Autumn" Loosefeathers on piece already in progress:

Day 5:

Started Shepherd's Bush "Snow Hill"

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T21:31:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy New Year, full of good health, happiness, and lots and lots of stitching!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

Hope you've had a wonderful Christmas season! Mine has been hectic, as usual...it's so hard to try juggling a full time job, and having so many things you want to do to celebrate the season. Oh well, it has come, and is almost gone.
In between all the madness, I've been trying SO hard to finish my 2 main project goals for the year...Carriage House Samplings' Village of Hawk Run Hollow, and Carriage House's alphabet sampler. Thankfully, the alphabet sampler was finished Thursday. I also wanted to work on something Christmas-y last night on Christmas Eve, while watching Miracle on 34th Street. I finished Sampler Girl's "Bedford Falls 1946". It is adorable, can' t wait to do the ornament finishing, and have it ready for next year's tree! Now, if only I can get Village finished this week. I have a sinking feeling that it won't happen. My heart isn't in it right now. I have been going through my stash planning my projects for 2012, and see too many other things I'd rather be working on! But , I'll do my best.
Once again, I've joined the Crazy January Challenge for 2012, as well as WIPacolypse 2012, and a Blackbird Designs Challenge. I love any excuse to play in my stash, start new projects, and make lists, haha!
So, here are pictures of my finishes, they are pretty self-explanatory!

Hope to be back this week with Christmas pictures, as well as Village of Hawk Run Hollow photos! And if not, Happy New Year!

Finishes and Progress

2011-11-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

Hi, just popping in to fnally share some photos of what I've been working on (and finishing) in recent months. WARNING* this will be PHOTO HEAVY! And awful photography, as usual, ;)

First is my finished Mystery Sampler. When I last mentioned this one, I was sweating over the leaves. Proud to say, I not only made it through te leaves, but perservered, and finished! Sorry about the wrinkles...

Next will be recently stitched blocks on Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I have 1 1/2 blocks to go before I'm done, which WILL BE by December 31 of this year :))

My other piece that WILL BE finished by December 31, 2011, :), is my Carriage House Samplers alphabet sampler. I have stitched 2 letters every month this year, still have G, I, N, T and Z to do. I don't remember where I left off sharing my progress months ago, but I'll bore you with a few recent finishes.

Can't neglect showing my Anniversaries of the Heart. It's been pretty slow-going, but with these other 2, much older projects out of the way, this will move to the top of the heap as my big @#$, priority project of 2012. I was having a really tough time coming up with someone to honor in my Farm House (May) block I was pretty sure my great aunt Vivian from Tennessee was born in May. I had 3 childless great aunts, so we were their surrogate grandchildren, and they are all 3 included in my AotH. Anyway, I did some online research, and lo and behold, found Vivian, and was corrrect, she was born May 29, 1916, so she has earned her rightful place of honor on Farm House. I skipped down to row 3 to work on Pumpkin Farm during October and November.

Last, but not least, I've accomplished a wee bit on the newest Loose Feathers, Summer and Autumn. And, I muddled through the dreaded band block of Casting a Spell. I got a late start on that for this year, but have my wooden box, and everything needed in order to work on this in the coming months, and have it ready for next fall.

So, that's about it...yes, I know, it's quite enough for one post! I don't know about you, but I'm already daydreaming about future projects and mapping out my stitching plans and goals for next year.

Hope you're having a wonderful fall!

Adopting a New Habit

2011-10-12T13:19:00.000-04:00

Just a quick little post to share something I have started today...maybe it would be something that might work for some of my stitching friends trying to work through slumps, or large, tedious or less-than-favorite projects. As I've mentioned before, I have collected all of the Prairie Schooler Santa cards, since the first in 1984. For whatever reason, I get really bogged down when it comes to working on them. I don't know why. They are fairly small designs, so you'd think they'd work up pretty quickly. But, for me, they don't. I think part of it has to do with the Davos cloth I am stitching them on. They have to be worked with the over-one, stick and stab method rather than sewing method.

Anyway, I would estimate that I put in @ 20 hours on each of the santas I've completed so far. So, in an effort to work my way through them, I have come up with a new habit that I'm planning to adopt...I plan to work on a santa for 30 minutes each day, every day, until they are done. Otherwise, I will go days, weeks, months, even years without putting even one stitch in one. A little time spent every day will net me more results than not working on them at all, right? And, who doesn't fiddle away 30 minutes a day?

I have worked the santas in order, and have completed 1984-1993 so far. This morning, I set my kitchen timer for 30 minutes, got out my 1994 santa, and got started. Here is my progress:

I keep all of my santa cards, pre-cut fabric pieces, threads, scissors, even a little Q-Snap, all packed in a cosmetic travel bag, so I can grab it and go anywhere. I can even do 10-15 minutes here and there a couple of times a day, while I'm waiting for dinner to cook, or sitting in my car on my lunch break. And once I've gotten in my santa time every day, then I can work on whatever other project I want . Wish me luck!

How Pathetic is This~ A UFO Story

2011-10-09T13:22:00.000-04:00

Hi there~Happy Fall! I know, it's been a while....I've had a lot going on, mostly work...between being very under-staffed, we've all taken turns being sick, and have been covering for one another. I have actually kept up with my stitching and reading, though, just haven't made time for sharing. I actually have had several finishes, and will share photos soon. But today, I felt the need to come clean publicly about some personal atrocities...specifically, the number of projects I have taken the time and trouble to stitch, then have never framed, or made into ornaments, wall hangings, scissor fobs, etc.
Today, I thought I would share one of the most horrendous examples. At one point, up until maybe 8 years ago, I was OBSESSED with Shepherd's Bush designs. Loved the pretty colors, the pudgies, the beautiful threads and fabrics, everything. Then, I started finding more and more of the primitive and antique designs that really touched my soul. I'm not saying I didn't like Shepherds Bush anymore, just there was so much of what I liked better to be had. So, I haven't touched a Shepherds Bush design for years. Last month, I was at my guild meeting, and 2 ladies had brought finished and framed Shepherds Bush halloween samplers for show and tell, and my heart absolutely melted. So, I have decided it's ok for me to like SB again, lol!
This leads up to what I'm about to share. I think the year 2000 was a banner Shepherds Bush stitching year for me. Among other finishes, I stitched the 4 seasons series. These are adorable, each season stitched on a large count linen, with wool threads, now I can't remember what those threads were...and embellished with ceramic buttons, mostly Debbie Mumm, I think. Then, you could buy the hand painted sort of barnwood Jill Rensel frames for each. I stitched all 4, sewed the buttons on Spring, Summer and Winter, somehow, never bought the buttons for Autumn, and am missing one button on Summer. And, I bought frames for Spring and Summer.
My master bedroom is done with muted taupe, ivory and seafoam green, and the walls are pretty much bare, so I have decided to pull out all of my Shepherds Bush UFOS and charts, finish them, and proudly hang them in my bedroom. Starting with the 4 seasons set. I had forgotten how MUCH SB stash, UFO's and finishes I had...it's mind-boggling, to say the least!
I called Shepherds Bush this week to inquire about the button set for Autumn, and they had a set left, so I ordered those. I called Jill Rensel, talked to her in person, and I have to say, she's about the nicest person ever! She knew exactly which frames I was talking about, said she didn't have any made, but thought she had enough of the moulding to make me the 2 missing frames. She went and checked, called me back, and said yes, I can make them for you, and will have them ready to ship to you early next week! I got out the finished pieces and the 2 frames I had. I am baffled by the one missing button on Summer. Although, I seem to recall my set either missing a button, or having a broken button. So, I may have gotten it and just never sewed it on. If not, I hope SB can find me one of those. Now, to force myself to mount and lace the stitched pieces, and take them somewhere to have spacers and glass cut.
Now, without further ado...Notice I have also photographed the finishing dates I stitched on each.

This brings me to a couple of goals for next year's stitching...I plan to set aside one day a week to tackle my pile of stitched pieces, turn them into ornaments or whatever. And to allow a framing budget with a goal of one item framed per month. What's the point of having these beautiful things just to have them tossed in a drawer not being looked at and admired every day?
Enjoy this beautiful Sunday!

The Day of the Leaf

2011-07-30T15:21:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post before going off to do some stitching. Tomorrow is the end of the month, and I had set some goals for myself. One was to have Block 2 of Village of Hawk Run Hollow done, and another was to have Part 2 of the Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler finished. I am at a place with both pieces where I need to stitch leaves, lots and lots of leaves. Leaves and stems are right up there with alphabets as far as I'm concerned...they all give me the heebie-jeebies. So, I have decided to sit down today and face my fears, and stitch each and every one of those leaves! Here are a couple of pictures I took a few minutes ago of both pieces "before leaves". I hope to be able to show a picture tomorrow "with leaves".

Wish me luck ! Hope you're staying cool!

Stay-Cation equals Stitch-Cation

2011-07-20T19:17:00.000-04:00

Hello, fellow stitchers! I am enjoying a much needed week away from work. This week was supposed to be our annual trip to the Outer Banks. But, unexpected car repairs, refrigerator replacement, plumbing repairs, and the never-ending tuition bills for the girls pretty much wiped out our travel funds. Sooooo, here I am taking a stay-cation. All is not lost, though! I have managed to do some things around the house that I've been putting off, and I've gotten a LOT of stitching done!
Allow me to share! First will be some shots of a UFO I finished Monday. And, no, it's not the style you normally would associate with me. This is a design by Corner Stitch and Frame. We have been going to the Outer Banks for @ 30 years. Up until around 2005 or 2006, there was an adorable cross stitch shop at the beach. It was always a highlight of my trip to shop there while on vacation. The shop closed around 2005-'06. The shop was also called Corner Stitch and Frame. The owner has a line of designs by the same name, mostly Outer Banks related. I bought this chart there and started it on our vacation in 2005. For whatever reason, it ended up in the UFO pile. My guess is that it was no longer so much my taste, although I do love the design. I took it out recently, and looked at it, and realized it had AT MOST, 30 minutes of backstitching left to do. So, Monday, I got it out and finished it. My downstairs bathroom is my "Cape Hatteras Lighthouse" room, so once framed, this will hang there.

"Seaside Sampler"
By Corner Stitch and Frame

Next, I will share a photo of my progress on Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler. First, I have to say, alphabets give me the heebie-jeebies...I don't know why, they just do. With this in mind, I knew that starting part 2, it was imperative for me to get that pesky alphabet out of the way first. So, last night, I sat myself down and made myself finish it. Here it is-now I can move on to the tree and birds!

"Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler"
by
With My Needle

For the past couple of days, I have started and completed not only 2 blocks of my Carriage House Samplings alphabet sampler, but the last 32 flowers of the border...so glad to have that out of the way! My goal has been 2 blocks per month, which will have it finished by the end of the year. I have been remiss in sharing recent progress. Since February, I have stitched E, F, H, L, P, R, X, W, U and Y.. Here are some photos: I think I'm missing "W is for Willow", I'll add that later.

I finished Blackbird Designs "Pink House Manor" last week, all but the personalization.

Last, but not least, is my progress on Villages of Hawk Run Hollow. I am juggling 2 blocks right now. My goal had been to devote about 6 weeks to each remaining block, in order to have this finished in 2011. Block 6 was supposed to have been finished in June, but for some reason, I have really struggled with that one. I was planning to work on Block 2 in July, it was partially done from a while back. So, I am working on both, hope to have them finished this week. I also have a picture of Block 8, which I finished in May, but never shared.

As usual, my photography leaves so much to be desired!

Hope you're managing to stay cool!
Until next time...

Christmas in July

2011-07-03T21:41:00.000-04:00

I am on day 4 of a 5 day mini-vacation from work. I had so many plans to get all this stitching done, and work on cleaning and organizing my sewing room. I did finish part 1 of my Mystery Sampler. I have worked on a couple of letters of my Carriage House Samplings Alphabet Sampler. Mostly, I've struggled to finish this santa. I almost titled this post "Bah-Humbug". As dear as the Prairie Schoolers are, and since I have collected each yearly chart since the beginning-1984-, I have to say, I love them, and plan to stitch all of them, but, they are really tedious to stitch, in my opinion. I think probably due to the fact that they are stitched on Davos. Working on Davos means you ae basically stitching over one. In order to keep the x's from sliding underneath the fabric threads, you have to use the over one method of starting the second "leg" in the northwest corner rather than the southeast corner. And, you must use the stab method rather than the sewing method. To look at these little santas, you would think they would take no time at all. Perhaps if I were to stitch them on linen, they would work up much more quickly. Anyway, I have worked on this one for 3 months. My goal was to do one per month. Maybe if I worked on nothing else.
I think I'm going to take the santas out of my regular rotaion, and turn them into a 15 minute a day project. Just do a wee bit of work on them each day and see how that goes.
Anyway, as frustrated as I get, I love them, and they are pretty breathtaking when finished. Here is my latest, 1993.

I am embarrassed to admit, I have now 10 of these stitched, and have not done the finishing on a single one. I am planning to turn them all into ornaments. I even bought one of those grungy, primitive trees to devote to just these santas. With that said, I have decided to challenge myself to a little "Christmas in July" project~get these things done! Wish me luck!

Anniversaries of the Heart Progress

2011-07-01T15:37:00.002-04:00

I don't think I ever shared a picture of my finished "Valentine Rose". I haven't personalized this one yet, except for the letter "S" on the door, for my mom. My mom, Suzanne aka Suzie, was born February 3, so I will have her name and birthdate. My husband was born February 2, so I will toss his initials in there somewhere-I need to figure out where they'll fit. As usual, my photography doesn't do this justice...but I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the little chain stitched edging on the flowers, it just adds the perfect vintage touch.

Here is my finished "A Wish for You". I dedicated this block to my great aunt Hazel, who was also my surrogate grandmother after my own grandmother (her sister Gladys) died suddenly at a fairly young age. Hazel was born on March 14. The "M" on the door is for Hazel's last name, which is Matthews, and for my dad's only sister, and therefore my only paternal aunt, Martha, who was born on March 12.

And, here is Bonus Block One. I liked that I didn't have to do any decision making as to whom I should dedicate this block to!

And, here is how it looks so far!

I'm really excited about the Loose Feathers 2011 series! I am registered on automatic at one of my favorite online shops, and can't wait to receive my first shipment. The shop owner recommended going with the linen used for the model, which is 30 count Irish Cream, so I went with that. I've been stitching on nothing larger than 36 count in recent years, and using one strand of thread, so this will likely take some getting used to on my part!

I also managed to find a copy of the July issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine(at KMart, of all places!), which features an article about Barb and Alma, along with a wonderful patriotic chart, "Land of the Free". I ordered the "Days Gone By" linen for this, in 40 count, and am hoping to put in the first stitches in honor of Independence Day.

And, in reply to Ruth's comment RE: my Aunt Martha....Ruth, you said Martha must have been pretty nifty, well, she was, and still is, she's only 74 years old, and drop-dead gorgeous, she doesn't looks a day over 50! And, we're from the south, so to pronounce her name like my grandmother did, it's Maahwtha. Here is her picture:

Hope you're staying cool, wherever you are! And, have a safe and fun-filled Fourth of July!

Mermaids~ A Finish and a Start

2011-06-25T20:33:00.000-04:00

As promised, I'm sharing a small bit more of my stitching progress. A little about me...I am a mermaid lover...as well as peacocks, pink flamingoes and roosters! I am slowly getting around to re-decorating my master bath with new paint, and my mermaid collection displayed. As a good bit of my mermaid collection consists of cross stitch charts, not yet stitched, I decided that if I ever want to have the bathroom of my dreams, I need to at all times have a mermaid in progress in my rotation. Having said that, here is my most recent finished mermaid stitchery:

Cape Cod's Girls by The Primitive Needle

And the start of my next mermaid, Quaker Gone Tropic, by Michelle Ink.

A picture of the Quaker Gone Tropic chart.

Once again, I apologize for my terrible photography.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Mystery Sampler Progress

2011-06-23T20:15:00.000-04:00

I know I have been very lax about posting in recent months. So as not to overload with tons of pictures of all I've been working on, I'm just going to feature one project at a time. Today I'm featuring my progress on Brenda Gervais' Mystery Sampler. I belong to an automatic shipment club through Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin. If you are interested, I'm pretty sure they still have some spacees available in the club.

My first shipment included chart for part 1, the fabric and threads. I am using the linen called for, "Confederate Gray", only I am using 40 count, one thread over 2. My second shipment arrived yesterday, and consists of just the chart for part 2.

I have to say, this is a brilliant marketing concept. And, I am finding myself working on this to the neglect of the other projects in my rotation, just because there is no picture of the finished sampler. So, I just keep on stitching in order to solve the mystery of what it looks like!

My plan is to finish part 1 by July 1, then to use the month of July, 30 minutes a day, to do part 2, and the month of August, 30 minutes a day, to do part 3. This way, I will get it finished, and still have some time each day to get back to my other projects.

Hope you're having a happy summer so far!

Not a Stitching Post, but...

2011-05-18T12:31:00.000-04:00

a proud Momma post.
My poor laptop is still clinging to a thread, I haven't been able to bring myself to pay $300 to get the hard drive replaced, so I have done a backup, and just keep using it. So, I think I will start posting again, have been trying to use the laptop as little as I can get away with, but I'm either going to have to pay a lot to fix or replace, so why not just keep on using it?
Sorry to stray...as for me being a proud parent...my oldest had her third graduation in 5 years last Friday. She graduated from Virginia Tech last May, (2010), and went on to earn her Master's in a year's time!
Here are a few snapshots from the day. I feel very bad, though, we never stopped to pose for a family photo. :(

In this shot, Meredith is just coming out of the tunnel, and onto the coliseum floor.

Here, she has just received her "pseudo-diploma" from VT President Charles Steger. They will mail the "real" diploma.

This is Meredith with her boyfriend Ryan. He is a former Tech football player, and is also in grad school, has one more year.

The back of her gown, showing the beautiful hood.

Cake for Meredith and her roommate and best friend Rachel, who also graduated.

My 3 kids under a canopy in the pouring rain!

Hunter standing beside my old dorm room window...my husband and I went to Virginia Tech as well, that's where we met!

My girls!

Thanks for checking in! Will be back soon!

Technical Difficulties

2011-03-27T20:44:00.000-04:00

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

2011-03-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

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!

These jars are made from antique Ball jars. There were about 6 to choose from, it was a really difficult decision!

Up close of the tags and charms

These lids are specially made to fit the antique Ball jars, have the slot cut into the top for inserting ORTS into the jar.

I bought this yesterday at the March Loudoun Sampler Guild meeting. I am doubly excited, because the lovely lady that makes these jars is also going to be my new framer! Those of us who live in the Northern Shenandoah Valley no longer have a local needlework shop/ needlework framing shop. I recently asked my local stitching friend Carol Sims if she had found a decent new framer, since ours closed. She recommended Total Crafts and Framing in Fairfax. So, lo and behold, I go to guild meeting yesterday, and sit with this delightful lady selling these awesome ORT jars, and come to find out she is the framer at Total Crafts! I feel like I can now sleep at night, knowing I will have a person to properly frame my treasures, lol! I already showed her a couple of things I'm working on, and discussed what knid of frames I want on them, and she has what I want ! More incentive to get some of my projects finished!

I also registered yesterday to take a class with Ellen Chester of "With My Needle" at the April meeting. I am taking the "Call of the Sea" class. I really love this piece, because it will be a companion to my Maidens of the Sea needlecase and fob. Now, to get them (needlecase and fob) put together to show Ellen next month! Here is a link to a picture of what we'll be doing in class. http://www.withmyneedle.com/teaching.html#COTS

I hope you all have a wonderful 23 hour Sunday!

Fwee Wee Wittle Finishes

2011-03-08T08:59:00.000-05:00

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

2011-03-04T17:03:00.000-05:00

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!

Since We Last Visited...

2011-02-16T09:46:00.000-05:00

I know I promised to post more often, and I apologize that my posts end up being rather, um, lengthy. I will try harder to post shorter, more frequent "articles", rather than entire "magazines"! But, here goes...you might want to pack a lunch!

Here is what the inside of Greg's birthday cake looked like. Looks better than it tastes. The recipe on the box that the pans came in turns out VERY dry, so I tried a new recipe this year, and it is no better. I have now gone online and found a couple of "moist" checkerboard cake recipes, so more experimentation to be inflicted on family!

And, a belated Happy Valentine's Day. Here is what my little tree looks like, when transformed from a snowman tree into a Valentine tree.

This is just a little vignette I enjoy doing...it's a wonderful piece of fabric printed with vintage valentine cards, and a neat book of reproduction vintage valentines.

This is an old Shepherd's Bush door heart.

Here is my progress on the second sock of my first pair of knitted socks.

Here is the first sock. And, yes, I know, it's pretty homely. You may ask, why did she switch to a different yarn halfway down the foot? And, my answer is this: I ordered the striped yarn from KnitPicks several years ago, and for whatever reason, thought that one ball was enough for a pair of socks. Probably would be for kids socks. But, after checking the yards in the ball of yarn against the pattern, I realized it wasn't enough. So, I called KnitPicks, and was told that this color had since been discontinued, and there was not a single ball left anywhere. But, I REALLY wanted to try knitting a pair of socks with THIS yarn. So, I decided to find a solid color to use for the heels and toes. I think I got a little carried away with the toe part on this one...I was so worried that I would run out of the striped yarn for the second sock, that I extended the toe all the way up to where the sock would be covered by a shoe. I figure, these are for me, they are a learning tool, just don't worry too much about it.

A new book I ordered arrived last week...on the recommendation of my friend Tanya. Can't wait to read it!

Progress on Primitive Needle's "Cape Cod's Girls".

Progress on Carriage House Samplings' "Elizabeth". I really need to give this poor girl a face!

A finish! Carriage House Samplings' "D is for Deer".

And, another finish, "V is for Valentine"

Progress on Blocks 4 and 5 of Carriage House Samplings' "Village of Hawk Run Hollow".

Progress on Prairie Schooler's 1992 Santa.

I tried my hand at Chinese cooking last weekend, this is Kung Pao Chicken, it was really, really quite good.

And. homemade fried rice to go with...also great!

Lastly, a sign of hope for things to come...daffodils poking through the soil!

Spring is just around the corner! AMEN!

All in All, a Pretty Good Week

2011-02-04T17:59:00.003-05:00

I'm making a real effort to post at least once a week. Just a quicky to share some highlights of my week.

My family has a bunch of January/February birthdays...my husband's was Wednesday, February 2. His favorite cake is yellow cake with chocolate icing. I have a checkerboard cake pan that I usually use to make him something special. Unfortunately, I was so busy with work, his cake was just done today, so we are still celebrating 2 days later. This is a picture of the whole cake, we haven't cut into it yet, I'll share a picture of the inside later. We did take him to Outback Steakhouse for dinner on his day, and it was fabulous, as always!

Today is National Wear Red Day, to focus attention on womens' heart health. This was the best photo I could take of myself, lol, of my arm, wearing a red Life is Good shirt...a muted red, but still red.

And, my shoes have red yarns on them!

I've had such an enjoyable stitching week. This is my completed Black Bird Designs "Snow Garden". The only thing I haven't finished is the personalization. The main initials and date are the initials of my grandfather, Shannon French Hollingsworth. I chose to feature his as the large initials and birth year, because he was such a large part of who I am, and I spent a great deal of my life with him. He died the day before my 18th birthday. I didn't finish the date yet, because I need to ask my mom if he was born in 1909 or 1910. All 4 of my grandparents were born around the same time, and I get confused about the year. Anyway, I do know that he was born on January 6, which was the day I chose to start Snow Garden. My other grandfather, one grandmother, and my sister were also born in January, so their initials will be the smaller ones scattered throughout the design

And, this is my big piece of Exemplar, with Snow Garden, and the start of "Valentine Rose", which I started last night, on my mom's birthday, February 3. I will stitch her name and birth year under the house.

This is Lizzie Kate's "Winter Fab Fob", which I finished over the weekend. I used to buy practically every Lizzie Kate design that came out, but my tastes have changed, and I hadn't bought one for years. This one was just so cute, with the little scissors that came with the kit, and the way it was finished in the picture. I admit to being disappointed when the kit arrived, and all it had was the chart, fabric, scissors and beads, NO thread. For such a tiny amount of each of the colors that was used, and the $20 cost of the kit, you would think they would have been included. Of course, I didn't have a single thread called for, so I ordered all of them, so close to another $20. Then, I looked around for the ribbon that was used on the model and couldn't find it anywhere. But, on the chart is the name of a lady that put together finishing kits. I contacted her re: the kit-for $14, you get the much coveted ribbon, plus the pre-cut boards, instructions, and some other supplies like a cord to attach the scissors with. So, what the heck, I ordered it. I can't believe I have sunk nearly $55 into this silly scissors fob. I will call it "Cindy's Folly". Please don't tell my husband.

This arrived in the mail today. I ordered it from Border's using a discount coupon, and some "Border's Bucks" I had earned through my Borders rewards card. Can't wait to try knitting a pair of these socks!
I have also made a lot of progress on Blocks 4 and 5 of Carriage House Samplings "Village of Hawks Run Hollow", "Elizabeth", and "D is for Deer" on my alphabet sampler...in fact, I will likely finish it tonight. More pictures later!
Wow, what started out as a quick post has become pretty long-winded, lol!
And, now it is Friday evening, and my husband is treating us to Chipotle for dinner, which will be followed by birthday cake...what the hey, we only live once!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Snow-At Last!

2011-01-27T15:18:00.000-05:00

We finally got a decent snowfall yesterday...thankfully, I was sceduled for a day off today, as was Greg, and Hunter's school was closed, so we have had a wonderful time today! We got up, shoveled the driveway, took the perfunctory pictures, and then went out for brunch at IHOP. Taking it easy this afternoon with some stitching. Just wanted to share my snow pictures...the 2 close-ups of Greg and Hunter were what I got when I asked them to pose for me!

Hope you enjoy your day as much as we've enjoyed ours!

Finishes!

2011-01-21T17:35:00.004-05:00

I had a day off from work today, they were actually calling for snow last night...I had myself all geared up for a snow day, went to the store and got fixins for a big pot of vegetable soup AND a big pot of chili... had the day all planned, lots of warm soup, lots of stitching, some good old movies, you know. But, no snow. Not a flake. Anyway, all is not lost, I did the soup and chili, and the stitching, and the movie watching, all without snow.

I thought I would share some pictures of some winter stitching and my snowman tree.

This is a Lizzie Kate oldie. I think it's called Winter Button-Up. I stitched all 4 seasons, and hand painted one frame, left the back open. I laced and mounted each finished piece, and pop them in and out of the frame each season.

This is a very old Shepherd's Bush.

This is a Bent Creek, Swirly Snow, or something like that. The frame was handpainted by the very talented framer at my now defunct LNS. Gosh, I miss that place~ mail order is great, but there's nothing like getting to play with the merchandise!

And, this is my snowman tree. I have a small, skinny "Alpine" tree in my foyer, which stays up from early September through April. In September, I decorate it for football season, with ornaments and school colors of my alma mater, Virginia Tech. It stays that way until after the bowl game, early January, at which time it becomes my snowman tree. Then, Valentine's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, and Easter. Here are several shots of the tree:

Last, but not least, I have finished 2 projects this week, and may possibly finish a third tonight. I'm so pleased to have my stitching Mojo back! This one above is one of the Stacy Nash Country Sampler Girls' Club kits called Mitten Pinkeep.

And, this one is a free chart from Homespun Elegance called "Boo Tyme". I know these are very small projects, but instant gratification is really good medicine for a stitching slump such as I have been in.

Happy Weekend, and stay warm!

2010 Finishes

2011-01-16T21:00:00.005-05:00

While I'm in a posting mood, I thought I may as well go ahead and share pictures of my few 2010 finishes.

These are the bottom 3 panels of With My Needle's "Maidens of the Sea".

These are 2 of the top 3 panels of Maidens. The first panel is blank. The panels fold a certain way to make a needle book. So, I'm not completely finished with this.

The 2 panels to the Maidens scissor fob.

Maidens of the Sea in one piece.

This is one of the Stacy Nash Girls Club kits, #4 from 2010, it is to be made into a pinkeep drum.

Another Stacy Nash Girls Club kit, this was #3 from 2009.

1991 Prairie Schooler Santa. This one took FOREVER! I guess all the color changes. But, it is my favorite so far, and it is GORGEOUS!

Not a productive year, but, I am out of my slump, and am very pleased with the things I did manage to finish. Oh, and I did knit one sock of the first pair I've ever knitted, sock # 2 is about halfway done. I will get a picture of the sock on here later.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of my posts!

Last, But Not Least

2011-01-16T20:41:00.003-05:00

My progress to date on Carriage House Samplings Alphabet sampler.

My most recent block on the alphabet sampler, started last week.

A design by my dear friend Tracy, of Hands to Work, called "This is the Day". I started this last year, had only done a little of the house. I finished the house last week, as part of my Challenge.

My progress so far on Carriage House Sampling's "Village of Hawk Run Hollow". I started this in 2007...really hope I can finish it this year..I still have 4 other Hawk Run Hollow designs to stitch!

And this is block 5 of VOHRH, which was the new block I started for the Challenge.

And that is how I spent the first 15 days of the new year.

Challenge Photos , Part 3

2011-01-16T20:25:00.002-05:00

Free chart "Boo Thyme", by Homespun Elegance, this chart, the fabric, thread and charm, were all brought to me by my sweet friend Lisa, who was fortunate enough to attend the Shepherd's Bush retreat in Utah this past fall. If I'd had another hour to stitch the other day, I'd have finished this one!

"Winter Fab Fob" by Lizzie Kate. Adorable chart, which comes with fabric, tiny little scissors, and beads and a special charm, but no thread! Kind of disappointing, to pay $20 for the kit, not have any of the threads called for, then have to turn around and spend almost another $20 for the threads. For the small amount of each thread used, they could have put them in...just saying...

My sweet friend Tanya, aka the "Sampler Girl", designed this ornament chart, "Bedford Falls Ornament".. I could have finished this one at one sitting as well, but needed threads.

Close up of work on "Coasting Day 1911".

Sampler Girl's "Coasting Day 1911". Another really fun one to work on, I didn't want to put this one away.

One more post, and you'll have seen all of my Challenge progress.

More Challenge Photos

2011-01-16T20:05:00.003-05:00

" Friends Nantucket Basket" by Historic Needlework Guild.

" Elizabeth" by Carriage House Samplings

A closer shot of Elizabeth. I started this a couple of years ago-Siobhan and I were stitching together-of course, I'm quite certain her girls are all finished, framed and hanging in her house! And, I had so much fun working on this last week, I have no idea why I ever put it down!

"Cape Cod's Girls" by The Primitive Needle...got a good bit of the border done. I always tend to start with the border if a design has one...I think this goes back to my coloring book days, and my desire to color within the lines, lol! This picture does not do justice to the really cool looking fabric.

This is one of the Stacy Nash Girls Club kits from a shop in Wisconsin called "The Country Sampler". There are 4 kits a year, this was the 4th kit from 2009.

Well, I'm only allowed to upload 5 pictures at a time, and I have 20 pictures of my Challenge pieces, so I'm halfway there!

Pictures! We Have Pictures! Part One

2011-01-16T17:48:00.009-05:00

After a very amateur photo session this afternoon, followed by a good bit of time spent updating my very much neglected Photobucket album, I am ready to innundate my fellow stitchers with tons of photos that only a fellow stitcher would appreciate. These are pictures of my Crazy January 2011 Stitching Challenge projects.

This is the start to Blackbird Designs' "Snow Garden", the first chart in the Anniversaries of the Heart series. I am stitching the entire series on a large piece of 40 count "Exemplar" linen.

Another shot of "Snow Garden".

This is 1992 Prairie Schooler Santa, I have already stitched years 1984-1991, and yes, I am a bit behind!

This is the 2011 Blackbird Designs journal, I am using it to record my daily stitching. The pictures in it are gorgeous.

This is the only project in my Challenge list that hasn't been started yet, but I plan to at least put a few stitches tonight, and will then just be a day behind. It is a Sue Hillis Design, I saw the model at my former LNS, Scarlet Thread, and thought my daughters would both love to have one for their walls, so I have the supplies for two of them.

I have 15 more photos from my Challenge, but need to go fix dinner, so will post more later!

Meeting my Challenge...One Thread at a Time!

2011-01-14T11:31:00.002-05:00

No pictures to share yet, but I just wanted to share my Crazy 2011 Stitching Challenge progress, as the 15 day time frame draws near. I am so happy to have heard about the challenge, having the goal of starting or working on 15 different projects during the first 15 days of 2011 has gotten me back in stitching mode full-blast. I have pulled out some much-neglected projects, and devoted time to them, which has been just like putting in the first stitch. I have started a couple of new projects by designers whose charts I have collected, but never stitched. Several of the projects are so much fun to work on, that I really hate putting them away. An added bonus, I have the 2011 Blackbird Designs journal that I got for my birthday last year, have saved it all these months. Every day, I have written in it what I have worked on. What a treasure that will be to look back on!
I have rediscovered a little stitching habit I used to use back when I first started cross-stitching, and that is to cut a length of floss roughly the length from fingertips to elbow. I sit and work until that legth of thread is used up, for me, usually 30-minutes to an hour, depending on the project. It's amazing how much progress I can make in that time...even if I can only squeeze in "1 thread" a day, it's progress! And, it's more than doing nothing!
I'll get some pictures in here this weekend, when I have a little more time.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T11:15:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year to you, if you happen to read this! I am a day behind with my New Year's rituals, having spent January 1 in the throes of menopause HELL! That is kind of a "lost" day as far as I'm concerned, and today is the start of my new year. I finally got around to composing my Crazy January 2011 Stitching Challenge list, and it's posted to the left. I need to get someone to teach me how to draw lines through the items as I complete them...crossing them off my list, in other words.
I hope we all have a year full of stitching finishes!

A Lazy Monday Morning

2010-12-27T13:22:00.004-05:00

I have just been plain lazy today, and have enjoyed every minute of it! Not something I have the luxury of doing very often. Such a pleasant time for contemplating, planning, reading blogs and checking up on needlework friends. We spent a fairly quiet Christmas...thankfully, all 3 kids were home for a couple of days. As in recent years, since we've been staying at home for Christmas, rather than going to Roanoke to spend the day with our families, we've opted to enjoy a spread of "finger" foods, rather than a Christmas meal. I am pretty sure I spend more time cooking the "finger" foods than I would cooking a large meal. And, we still have SO many leftovers...if only they would keep for a week until time for bowl game watching! Here was my menu:

Ham biscuits

Crockpot meatballs

Pineapple Cheese Ball w/ crackers

Bleu Cheese/Pecan cheese ball w/ crackers

Hot Virginia Dip w/ crackers

Vegetable tray

Assorted cheese cubes

Crab Ball w/ crackers

Chex mix

Assorted cookies

Eggnog

Oh, and then there was the Christmas morning breakfast:

Breakfast Casserole (hash browns, eggs, cheddar cheese, and Bacon)

Biscuits

Sausage Gravy

No surprise here, Weight Watchers starts back next Tuesday-after the Orange Bowl on Monday night, tee-hee!

Lastly, for this post, I have to mention how excited I am to have found a new online discussion board for sampler lovers.. I visited this morning, saw lots of familiar cross stitch friends there. Especially excited to have read about the Crazy January Challenge 2011...start a new project every day for the first 15 days of the month, with good intentions of finishing those projects in 2011. Just the incentive I need to get my stitching groove back! I need to spend some time tomorrow going through my stash and deciding which 15 projects to start. I will post my list when I have made my mind up. All for now, must go to work.

Making a Comeback

2010-02-07T21:14:00.006-05:00

I see I haven't posted since last May-9 months, wow! Our old desktop computer just couldn't withstand all the new-fangled things like blogs and Facebook, and my camera had died, so I gave up for a while. I bought a new laptop in November, and a new camera last summer, so I'm going to give this another shot.

We've had a tremendous snowstorm this weekend, Meredith came home from Tech for the weekend, she couldn't bear the thought of being cooped up in the sorority house for the weekend. She came home Thursday before the storm began, and will be heading back tomorrow. Thus, she is in my photos of the snow.

New Books

2009-05-10T15:48:00.004-04:00

Gotta love Borders Books, and their Rewards club. I get coupons every week, for anywhere from 25-40% off of one item. I also got a birthday coupon that expired yesterday, so I made a trip to Borders Friday, and used the birthday coupon on this WONDERFUL little book:

And, back again yesterday to use this week's coupon on this book, to read for a group discussion with a yahoo group I belong to. I've read the first book in this series, and usually will only read series books in chronological order, so I'm walking on the wild side and jumping ahead to the 9th in the series with this one.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T10:33:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post to wish all of you a wonderful Mother's Day. I started celebrating Friday...first off, I only worked until 1:00, and am now on VACATION until Tuesday the 19th. I had over 200 hours of leave to use, and so much to do at home, so I am taking some time off to catch up with housework, hopefully finish stripping wallpaper in the kid's bathroom, get my tomato garden planted, start on new curtains for the family room, you get the picture...not to mention, large blocks of stitching time. And, soon after I arrived home Friday, the FedEx guy showed up with a ProFlower box. My husband sent me 2 dozen of the most amazing roses, all different beautiful colors, pinks, oranges, whites, yellows, corals, with a box of beautiful chocolates. The roses have all opened beautifully. I started my day off with an hour of stitching before getting out of bed, I got a lot done on my new Stacy Nash club kit from Country Sampler. I'm going to watch Mildred Pierce from 11:00-1:00 on TCM. Then, this afternoon, I am going to get my tomatoes planted. I think the family (with the exception of Meredith, who is in the midst of finals) is taking me to Red, Hot and Blue for dinner.
Hope you all have a wonderful day!

New Look

2009-05-04T20:35:00.002-04:00

I don't have a lot to talk about, I've been work, work, workin' too much. I have a day off tomorrow, and hope to get plenty of stiching, reading and relaxing done. I have spent some time this evening fooling around with the looks of my blog, and I must say, I am quite pleased.
My husband's 95 year old grandmother died Thursday, her funeral was today. It is so sad, but she had been going downhill for a few months, she is no longer suffering, which is a blessing.
I did receive a wee bit of stash last week, my birthday order from Colonial Crafts arrived Tuesday, and my Stacy Nash kit from Country Sampler arrived the next day. I managed to sneak in some starting stitches on the Stacy Nash chart last night. I can't wait to see it finished, I'm excited about using all of Stacy's aging techniques to make it looked well-used and worn. Tomorrow I will take pictures to post.
I found out Friday that my LNS, Scarlet Thread, is planning to close in June. This distresses me so. My other LNS, We Keep You in Stitches, closed a few months ago. It's hard when you run out of a thread, and can't just hop in your car and run to the shop to pick up another skein. I love the online shops, but there is nothing like having a real bricks and mortar shop to go to, not only to have the opportunity to hold the merchandise in your hands, but for the comaraderie of the other stitchers.
Rachel is home for the summer. She was craving vegetable soup last night, it was such a rainy, bone-chilling day. I made her a list, and she went to the store, then asked if she could try her hand at making the soup. She made a gigantic pot of it, and it turned out really well, we ate it again tonight. Best part, no cooking for me! She's pretty proud of herself, she's been going around saying "just call me Rachel Ray".
Meredith came home for the weekend for the Apple Blossom Festival, then went back to Blacksburg yesterday. Her boyfriend had his mini-camp with the Green Bay Packers over the weekend, unfortunately (or fortunately), he didn't get picked for the team, so he goes to the New York Giants mini-camp this week.
Enough of my rambling, hope to post some pictures tomorrow, finally. I'm off to work on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, watch a movie, and put my feet up.

A Whole Lot of Nothing Going On

2009-04-27T19:12:00.003-04:00

Not a whole heck of a lot going on in my neck of the woods, I've barely lifted a needle in the past 2 weeks, I've been more in a spring cleaning, reading, gardening mode. I did finish a great book, "Being the First Jane Austen Mystery: Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor" by Stephanie Barron, and started another "Death was the Other Woman" by Linda L Richards. Getting the house sort of ready for the girls' arrival for summer-Rachel has her final exam tomorrow morning at 8:00, and will be home tomorrow afternoon. Meredith has until about May 15. She is having a little bit of a rough spell at the moment--she has not dated very much, she's only been out with maybe 5 boys ever (both of my girls are over 6 feet tall, I think boys are a little intimidated by them). Her last date was almost 18 months ago. So, 2 weeks ago she and some sorority sisters were at karaoke night, and some members of the Tech football team showed up. One of the players took a particular interest in her, and had a mutual friend introduce them. They have become inseperable, and are just head over heels for each other. Sounds wonderful, but there is a catch. He was in the NFL draft over the weekend, and signed with the Green Bay Packers. Needless to say, things are kind of stressful in that department.
My husband, aka Edward Scissorhands--this is the man who has never until recent weeks had any interest in the yard whatsoever--has been seeing this tomato planter thing on TV called "Topsy Turvy", and declared that he must try one. So, I called around to the local nurseries, and found 2 left at one store, I went and bought those yesterday. I guess it's the little things that make men happy, you'd think my husband had won the lottery, he's so happy with his Topsy Turvies. The nursery lady says she's heard good things, so we'll give them a shot.
Hunter has his spring chorus concert Wednesday night, a production called "The Music Man, Junior".
Our house is practically infested with these giant horse-flies--they don't seem to have come from outdoors, we can only assume that one laid eggs in the house and they have recently hatched, it's gross, I guess we are going to have to call in an exterminator, nuff said. My husband says one of his co-workers is having the same problem, it's very strange.
I had a birthday Friday, all in all a pretty pleasant day. I took the day off from work, got taken out to dinner at Glory Days Grill, and ordered a couple of things with my birthday discount from Colonial Crafts.
The town we live in now is called Winchester, it is at the very tip-top of Virginia. They have a huge week-long celebration here every year called the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. During the week, there is a carnival, a circus, later in the week there are luncheons and dances, the kids have no school Friday. the week is topped off by a Firefighter's Parade, followed by fireworks, on Friday night, and a huge Grand Feature Parade on Saturday. Each year, a famous celebrity is the Grand Marshall of the parade, this year it is Eric Estrada. There is also a Queen Shenandoah each year, she is always the 17-22 year old daughter of a famous celebrity, somehow I've missed out on who the queen is this year, I need to find out. That is all going on this week. Here is a link to the website, just in case you're ever in the area and want something different to do http://www.thebloom.com . Oh, and the official colors of "The Bloom" are pink and green, so if you come, dress appropriately ;))
I think I probably should change the title of my post.
Have a great week!

A Day of Remembrance

2009-04-15T09:09:00.015-04:00

Tomorrow will be a difficult day for the Hokie nation, of which I am a member. It will mark the anniversary of the horrific events that took place at our beloved university, Virginia Tech, on April 16, 2007. Tech has been a part of me my entire life. I truly bleed orange and maroon. My grandmother used to tell me wonderful stories about going to dances at Tech in the 1920's with members of the Corps of Cadets. My dad was an engineering student there when I was born, I have a little baby bib - my first piece of Tech apparel- that has a picture of the Gobbler--now known as "Hokie Bird" with the caption VA Tech Class of 19?? on it. That caption on my bib became a reality when I entered as a student in September of 1974. My first dorm room was on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston, right down the hall from where the first shootings occurred on that day in April. I met my now husband at the Hokie House on my first night as a freshman. Not only are my dad, my husband and I alumni, but my 2 uncles, one cousin, several second cousins, my husband's 2 brothers, 4 nephews and one niece are as well. We took our kids to football games in Lane Stadium from the time they were old enough, and we sent them to Hokie basketball camps in the summers. Now, our oldest daughter is a 3rd year student there. She was a freshman when the shootings occurred, living in West A J, just like her mom 32 years earlier, and living in the room directly above where the first shootings occurred.
That day, and the week that followed are permanently etched in my memory. The day began like any other, it was a Monday, I was at work. My daughter called me the first time at around 8:15, saying that she was upset, because she had a test in her first class, which was at 9:00, and she had tried to go out of her room to go down the hall to the bathroom, and there were FBI agents and police all over the place, they escorted her to the bathroom, then back to her room, told her to stay in there with the door locked until further notice--don't open the door for anyone, and stay away from the window. She was worried about missing her test. She said at the time she had been told by her RA that the girl in the room directly beneath her, and the RA on that floor, had been shot, that they thought it was a domestic dispute, with the girl being shot by her jilted boyfriend, and that the RA got in the way trying to protect her.
Then, Meredith called back later and said that there had been more shootings across campus in one of the class buildings, they thought the guy had gone looking for the girl's new boyfriend, and shot other people trying to get to him. We now know that that was not really the case.
Meredith was finally cleared to leave her room around 1:00 PM, but she was afraid and eventually one of her off-campus friends came and convinced her that it was ok to come out of her room, they went to Roanoke for the night, and stayed with members of my family.
I think what has probably haunted me the most is that the girl that was the first victim, Emily, had stayed at her boyfriend's apartment Sunday night, and was just coming in to her dorm Monday morning. Apparently, Cho, (the shooter) was hanging around the entrance to the dorm, just waiting to gain access, and he saw his chance and followed her in. His dorm was across the way from Meredith's dorm, and he supposedly would stare at her dorm out of his window. So, what if my daughter had gone to breakfast that morning, or had stayed at a friend's house the night before, and had been the one coming in the building at that moment? It could so easily have been her. Or, what if she had just been coming out of her room to go to the bathroom, and he had chosen to go on his rampage up one floor? Meredith had a class in one of those rooms on Tuesday-Thursdays, what if he had chosen Tuesday instead of Monday? All of these "what-if's"...
Then, of course, there are the thoughts of what must the families of the victims being going through, I can't imagine having lost my daughter at all, much less in such an awful way. And, what about those students and professors who got up that morning and went to class, not knowing that for some of them, it would be their last day on Earth, and for those who were wounded or were in the classrooms where the shootings took place, but weren't killed, I think about the scars on their bodies and in their minds forever. I was lucky enough to have heard from my daughter numerous times during that day. I heard that one of the most upsetting things mentioned by the officers that went in after the massacre, was the eerie sound of all the cell phones going off, frantic loved ones on the other end, trying to locate the victims.

That week, all of the tributes, memorial services, and outpouring of caring from people around the world were truly touching. Although I was not a family member of one of the actual victims, anyone who ever stepped foot on that campus forever became a member of the "Hokie Nation", and was affected. To see your beloved, picturesque campus on TV as the background for all of the horrible images we were seeing, and being able to place yourself back in that dorm, and in those very classrooms where all of that violence took place is unfathomable.
As author (and alum) Nikki Giovanni stated in her moving speech at the university convocation April 17, 2007, "we will prevail". And, we have. Meredith dealt with a lot of post traumatic stress in the months that followed, but has overcome and prevailed, for the most part. The campus has gone on about their business, many of the students have graduated. Meredith's class will be seniors next year, and they were the youngest on campus at the time, so soon, the majority of students will not have been involved at all with the tragedy.
I would like to share the link to a special memorial edition of Virginia Tech Magazine, alumni receive this magazine several times a year, I have the actual hard copy which was published shortly after the tragedy. Two of my favorite things in the magazine were a beautiful picture of Niagara Falls with maroon and orange lights shining over it. And, a very moving article by an alumnus entitled "Choose One". That article touched me so deeply, it basically urged alumni and students to choose one of these victims, for whatever reason(s) you choose, and more or less "adopt" their spirit, then as you go through life, remember this person as you watch a VA Tech football game, think of that person being able to watch and enjoy that game, or next time you walk around campus, or just anything, think of the Hokie you have chosen, and have their spirit walking beside you as you do the things they might have been doing had their life not been cut short. I have done that, the person I chose is Austin Cloyd, I think I chose her because she was the same age as Meredith, and she had the most beautiful red hair. Her dad is a math professor at Tech. One day last year, Meredith was sitting in a hallway of one of the math buildings studying, and Austin's dad came over and just started talking to her, asking if she needed help or anything. In my mind, I think Austin knows I think of her all the time, even though I never knew her, and that her spirit told her dad to go and spend some time with Meredith.
Here is the link to that magazine:
http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/memorial07/index.html
So, tomorrow, members of the Hokie Nation will remember that day in many ways. Our local alumni chapter is sponsoring a blood drive, so I will be donating blood. Meredith will be attending memorial events around campus. Rachel, who attends Roanoke College 30 miles away from Blacksburg, will spend the night with Meredith tonight, and run in a memorial 10K tomorrow.
I have so many more thoughts and feelings rolling around in my head, but have probably taken up enough space.

I would like to share some photos taken 2 weeks after the shootings, on the day that I went to move Meredith out at the end of the school year. We were very proud of Meredith, students were given the option of not staying to finish out the year, and just taking whatever grade they had as of April 16, or, staying, finishing out the year, and taking exams. Meredith chose to stay and finish out the year, and go through with exams, and made the dean's list.

Here is a picture right outside of Meredith's dorm, West Ambler Johnston:

Here is a picture of my girls looking at the objects inside the memorial tent that was set up on the Drill Field to hold all of the remembrances that were sent to the school.

This was a temporary, makeshift memorial set up on the drillfield, in which there was a marker of Hokie stone-which is the stone that all of the buildings on campus are made of-for each of the victims. People left mostly flowers and candles here.

A close-up of one of the markers, this particular one being for Ryan, who was the R A that was killed in Meredith's building, and the only one of the victims that she knew:

A view of the memorial tent from the area where the stone markers were:

My girls standing in a grove of trees on the Drill Field, the trees had big black ribbons tied around their trunks.

Sloth Day

2009-04-14T17:53:00.002-04:00

After working 9 straight days, and I mean 8-10 hour days, then having 3 days off to catch up on errands, grocery shopping, etc, not to mention preparing our Easter meal, and spending time with my kids, I have today and tomorrow OFF! I made up my mind last night that I would do NOTHING but stitch and be lazy all day. And, this is one goal I have successfully met! I have puttered around the house a bit, and worked on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, still working on the black border. Hunter was still on spring break today, and the little ghoul has become hooked on CSI, he has watched back-to-back episodes all day, so I've sort of listened along. The weather here today has been pretty glum, drizzly and cold, so a perfect day for being lazy. My husband even ordered pizza for dinner! Those Easter leftovers can definitely wait another day! And Gone With The Wind is on TCM tonight! Perfect end to a perfect day.

Where Does the Time Go?

2009-04-08T21:51:00.002-04:00

Tonight was the parent information meeting at my son's future school--he is in 5th grade, and will be attending middle school in the fall. It's unfathomable that he is this old, where does the time go? I worry about him in a way I never worried about the girls, he is the classic example of a little nerd, and after hearing a lot of horror stories about other boys being bullied in middle school, I am so apprehensive about letting him go.

My husband is going through something, I don't know what you would call it, possibly Edward Scissorhands Syndrome. For all these years, his only contribution to the yardwork has been mowing, and for the past couple of years, he's tried pawning that one off on the kids. I've been the one to do the weeding, planting, and grooming. So, last fall, he bought a chainsaw and went around cutting limbs off of trees, and even cut down a tree. That was like his first taste of blood. Then, he bought a new string trimmer and last week went hacking around with that. So, I come home from work today, he'd gotten out my electric hedgeclippers and had not only gone after the boxwoods, which I had worked very hard to keep in a nice shape, they are a mess, I now have one more thing to do on my already full Easter weekend-I have to re-shape the boxwoods. But, if that wasn't enough, he "trimmed" my lilac bushes, which means he took out more than he left, and THEY HAVEN'T EVEN BLOOMED YET! Yes, that was the scream heard round the world at about 5:45 this afternoon. All my beautiful lilac buds laying in a rubbish heap in the back yard. You can't even imagine the brick I've been carrying around in the pit of my stomach since then.

I heard some good news about my still-phoneless oldest through the sister-grapevine, she found out today that she got an internship for the summer with Belk, which is a pretty large department store chain here in Virginia-North Carolina. Not sure yet if it's a paying internship, but regardless, it will look great on her resume. I can only assume they contacted her via email :)) She does have a real telephone in her dorm room, which is included in her room and board, but I feel quite certain she probably wouldn't know how to make a long distance call home on it.

Tomorrow is day 9 in a 9 day work stretch for me, 5:30 can't come fast enough. My girls will be home tomorrow night for the weekend and I have 3 days off. Friday, everyone is getting a chore list, and we are doing some spring cleaning.

I'm off to put a few lengths of thread in "Elizabeth". Once my techno-teens come home and get my new camera downloading stuff figured out, I'll share some pictures of my progress on my projects.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday. I am just hoping for a simple day, with no more drama.

Kids, do they ever grow up?

2009-04-07T16:02:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days you have with your kids... you moms know what I'm talking about, although sometimes I feel like I seem to have more of them than some of the other moms I know. My husband called me at work and says "have you talked to Meredith today?" To which I replied, "no", I sent her a text message, and hadn't heard back. He informs me that there was a reason for this, because her phone had been stolen. He found out because she used her laptop to go on Facebook to let her sister know that her phone had been stolen, and would she let mom and dad know PUUUUULEAAAASSSEEE! This girl graduated at the top of her high school class, and is on the dean's list at VA Tech, book smart, a virtual genius, but she doesn't have the common sense God gave a rock. Seems she was in the library and saw a friend across the way, left her phone on the table to run over and speak to her friend, comes back, and lo and behold, her phone was gone! So, being the good, yet over-indulgent parents that we tend to be, we called Sprint and had her phone suspended so that we wouldn't be getting charged for calls to who-knows-where, then managed to have them work out something to where we were able to replace the phone for $30. The new phone was already delivered here this afternoon, but we are making her sweat it out and not have it until she comes home Thursday for Easter weekend. She borrowed someone's phone to call me yesterday for a minute, and my comment to her was "Oh, my gosh, what did we do before we had cell phones?" after hearing her frantically worrying about how was she going to survive without her phone. To which she replied that she didn't know, she doesn't remember life before she had her cell phone! And, she said, now here's a thought, you guys could just overnight me one of your phones to use until I get my replacement! Don't get me wrong, she is such a good and hard-working girl, and we love her and are so proud of her accomplishments, but what a ditz she can be, we just wish there was a little more balance going on with the distribution of her brain cells. Such is the spice of life, I guess!

We love you, Mom!

Yesterday was not a complete disaster, though--at work we found out that the Chipotle up the street is having "medical Mondays" in April--every Monday in April, if you come in and show your hospital badge, you get a free meal! Guess you know what we all had for lunch!
Happy Tuesday!

March-In Like a Lion, Out Like A Lamb

2009-04-01T11:52:00.004-04:00

Yesterday's weather was stupendous, definitely a "lamb" of a day! Lucky me had a day off from work. We did a lot of cleaning up around the yard, blowing and mulching leaves, trimming back last year's ornamental grasses, that sort of thing. I took a few pictures of nature's beauty in my yard, and as soon as I can figure out how to get them out of my new camera, and onto my computer, I will share;)) Today, we are back to cold and dreary. Typical spring.

I have started back with my old project-a-day rotation since last Wednesday, and am much happier as far as my stitching goes. I have managed to get in at least a few stitches on each of the projects in my rotation, I figure a little progress is better than none at all. I didn't have any complete finishes for March, although I am within an hour or so of having 1990 Prairie Schooler Santa finished. I have filling in of his red suit to complete, and he'll be done. I think I'll carry him in my purse with me, and maybe eat my lunch in my car and work on him for a few minutes each day until he is done. I don't think it's possible for me to stitch one of those per month, 6 weeks is probably more realistic. They would go really quickly if I were stitching them on linen, but I am using the khaki Davos called for, which requires stitching with the over-one method, and it is just very tedious. But, they are gorgeous on the Davos, and worth the frustration. I will be able to share my Santa in a few days.
Yesterday was my day to work on Village of Hawk Run Hollow, I am working on block 8 right now. I am working the blocks in random order. I was having so much fun on that last night, I hated to put it away and go to bed at 1:15 this morning! Today, I am working on Carriage House's "Elizabeth", which is also a lot of fun. I started her last Wednesday, and am loving the large blocks of color, and not a lot of color changes. I am getting her dress outlined, so I will have a reference point for stitching her head, and THAT HAIR-I have a thing about wanting to get the faces stitched ASAP when I work on projects that have faces. I guess it sort of brings the project to life.
Enough for now, I have to get ready for work. Enjoy your Wednesday, and hope you don't have too many April Fool's jokes played on you.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2009-03-29T14:35:00.003-04:00

Not much going on around here, I've had a pretty lazy weekend. I had good intentions of getting a lot of spring cleaning done, but haven't done a lot. I think I'm getting too old to be working full time, all I want to do when I'm not at work is stitch or relax or putter around. I'm just plain tired!
I did do a little Easter decorating, and did get a new camera yesterday. I got an updated version of the Sony Cybershot, my old one that is 3 years old is a 5.1 megapixel, the new one is a 7.2. I promise to be taking lots and lots of pictures, I am charging the battery pack right now.
As for my ongoing quest for the perfect stitching rotation, let's just say the 10-hour rotation didn't work for me. I spent most of the month of March stitching on 2 projects, not touching the other 5 in my rotation. I think if I weren't employed outside the home, it would be an excellent option--or, if I didn't have SO many things I want to stitch. I am back to a different project each day of the week, but changed the days a little. The one thing I really want to finish each month is a Prairie Schooler santa every month or 6 weeks at the most. Having logged my stitching time this month on the santa I've been working on, It has taken me about 22hours to stitch the 1990 santa. I was doing these on Mondays. The day of the week in which I tend to do the most stitching tends to be Saturday, so I am now going to devote Saturdays to the Prairie Schooler Santas. I also tend to get a lot done on Sundays, so I thought that where I used to work on a small project on Tuesdays, that by moving those to Sundays, I would get more done in a shorter period of time, thus some instant gratification. Then , Mondays, Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, Tuesdays, Village of Hawk Run Hollow, Wednesdays, Elizabeth, Thursdays, This is the Day, and Fridays, Carriage House alphabet. I think even getting a few stitches done on each project every week will be better than not doing anything on some of them for a month. I miss all of my Carriage House projects that haven't been touched since February!
This week is National Physician's Appreciation Week. We're having a potluck luncheon for the doctors at work tomorrow. I'm making a fruit tart using a Paula Deen recipe. Maybe I'll take a picture of it with my new camera!
Have a great week everyone!

This week, lots of pictures, etc

2009-03-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, a 3 day weekend, what a great way to end a week. It's been a pretty pleasant week, all in all. Meredith went back to Blacksburg Monday morning, we had a wonderful time with the girls home for their spring breaks. Not a lot of stitching got done, and the house looks like a tornado blew through, but nice all the same. Saint Patrick's day was fun, I don't know why that is just one of my favorite days of the year. I started the day with our traditional favorite green bagels. We do Reubens for dinner, corned beef and cabbage in it's traditional form is not well received by this bunch. I found some really yummy pumpernickel sub rolls at Walmart this year, so we had Reuben subs!
Here is a picture of my Saint Patrick's tree:

I finished the sorority shirts for Meredith's little-sis/big-sis unveiling which was Friday. I finished these Wednesday morning and we mailed them to her. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished shirts all folded and lined up on Meredith's bed, with my lovely assistant Bob helping with the photo shoot.

Yesterday was the first day of spring!!! It was also the day I joined Hunter's entire 5th grade as a chaperone for a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Thankfully, I was responsible for Hunter and 2 other quiet and well behaved little boys, Stefan and Jordan. They were a delight, and we had a wonderful day! Here are a few pictures:

Here are pictures of some recent finishes, just got around to doing some picture-taking!
First is my Stacy Nash Primitives Heart Pin Cushion and Strawberry Emery, which Bob has decided makes a good toy, I had to put it away after I photographed it.

Here is the Bent Creek monthly Snapper sampler I have worked on with Kathie B's group for quite a long time, I finally have finished it and taken it out of UFO status. I have some little buttons to add to the border, and I have a frame , I just need to mount it, and will take it to Michaels to have it put in the frame with the glass and spacers.

Here is 1989 Prairie Schooler Santa, and then a picture of the PS santas I've finished up to now. I should probably start doing the finishing work on these before I get so many that it becomes overwhelming.

As for my new stitching rotation, I am not 100% happy with it, and maybe I should just blame it on having all of my kids home, and not making the time to stitch, but somehow, the 10 hours of stitching I had alloted to "Maidens of the Sea" ended up stretching out over 2 weeks, this week, I have been working on 1990 PS santa, so March is pretty much shot, and I haven't touched the other 5 projects in my rotation yet this month. So, my next experiment will be to work on each project for 4 days in a row. I'm thinking that by knowing I have a finite time to work on each thing, I will trick myself into getting more done. We'll see.

Well, I think I've probably taken up enough of everyone's time, hope you have a wonderful weekend! I am off to clean house.

By the way, check my last post, I added pictures of Maidens of the Sea to it!

One monkey off my back!

2009-03-10T21:42:00.000-04:00

"Mom, my FAFSA deadline is March 11"....Here it is the 11th hour, and I just finished submitting the girls' FAFSA applications for 2009-2010, whew! I know why I wait until the last minute every year, because it's a pain. But, I sure am happy I did it when the girls get their Federal Student Aid $$ every year!
Now, for the fun stuff. Last week, after some conversations with some friends got me to thinking, I decided to re-think my current stitching rotation. I have enjoyed working on a different project every day of the week, but on weeks when I may not find but 15 minutes on one day of the week, and maybe 2 hours another day, not all projects were receiving equal time. So, starting last week, I am trying a 10-hour rule...I am devoting 10 hours to a project, then after the 10 hours, I move on to another project. Last week, I decided to start by working on With My Needle's "Maidens of the Sea". I bought this chart and all the related threads, linen, etc., last summer before we went to the beach. Each summer, I like to take a new "beachy" project with me on vacation, and start on it at the beach, as sort of a memento of my vacation. I have so many happy memories of sitting in the sun and stitching at the beach. Anyway, I didn't get a lot done on it last year, and had kind of abandoned it, so I decided I needed to devote some time to it. I have to say, this 10 hour thing is GREAT! In the past week, I've had days where I've had 15 minutes to stitch, and days where I've had 3 hours to stitch, so it's alleviated the guilt I've felt on days where I haven't had the time to work on something. Now, if it doesn't get done today, hey, there's always tomorrow. And, even a few minutes a day eventually adds up to 10 hours. I have really accomplished quite a bit on "Maidens", and will not feel at all guilty when it's time to put it away until the next time.
We're in the midst of the girls' spring break, actually, Rachel had her's last week, and went back to school Sunday, Meredith came home last Thursday, and goes back this coming Sunday. In her ongoing quest to find ways to monopolize my time, Meredith has decided that I need to make t shirts and sweatshirts with her sorority letters appliqued on the fronts for herself and her 2 new little sisters and big sister. So, this week, I have 4 sweatshirts and 4 t shirts to applique. Oh, and I have to help her paint wine glasses with the sorority letters, as well. I think I need a spring break!

Here are some pictures of my progress on "Maidens of the Sea".

March is Here!

2009-03-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

I am so excited that March is here. Every year, I feel so relieved when March has arrived, it's almost like Wednesday in a week, you've made it over the hump, and it's downhill from here. I know I will only have to put up with the cold weather for a little while longer--I don't mind being hot, but I can't tolerate the cold. Don't get me wrong, there are things I like about winter, but there are lots more things I like about spring--St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite days of the year, I guess it's the Irish in me, and the fact that green is my favorite color. I also love Easter, and my birthday is in April. I think the main thing I love about spring though, is the flowers--hyacinths are my very favorite, along with lilacs, daffodils. tulips, pansies and forsythias. Knowing that getting to enjoy all of this in only a matter of weeks makes me smile.

Today also marks the beginning of 2 stitchalongs I am participating in with some online friends. One, is Carriage House Samplings Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, and the other is Carriage House Samplings "girls" series, I am starting with Elizabeth. Today I plan to get started on "Shores", since I have all of the supplies ready to go, my chart finally arrived in the mail on Friday. I have ordered the linen for all 4 of the "girls" from my favorite online shop Elegant Stitch, and will start on Elizabeth as soon as the linen arrives.

Belated photo of my Valentine Tree

2009-02-23T17:22:00.001-05:00

Picture of And They Sinned

2009-02-23T16:54:00.001-05:00

Picture of And They Sinned (maybe)

2009-02-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

Trying my hand at posting a picture, here is one of my And They Sinned, which I just picked up from the framer's Saturday. I worked on it from August, 2002, until November, 2005, and I'm not really sure why I waited until now to get it framed.

TGIF

2009-01-16T19:41:00.000-05:00

Finally, I have a little time off, I feel like I've done nothing but work lately. I was off yesterday, worked 7:30-4:00 today, then get the weekend off, work Monday, and have Tuesday off. I feel so out of touch with my home and the people and things that are important to me.
I FINALLLYY got my Christmas tree(s) un-decorated yesterday, altough I haven't finished taking apart the big tree yet. I took the Hokie ornaments off the small tree, and then put snowmen on the tree for the rest of January, then I will decorate it for Valentine's day, and after that St. Patrick's day and then Easter. I know......
It is so blasted cold here, I am wearing gloves for typing. Rachel injured her knee in practice last night. We were planning to drive to Lexington to Washington and Lee University for her game tonight, but decided it wasn't worth it to drive 2 hours to get there, to watch her sit on the bench, then drive 2 more hours home.
I have put myself back on a stitching schedule of sorts, which really has seemed to keep me focused and on-track in the past. I just have SO many projects I want to do, and so little time to work on them. So, by having a plan for every day, I can focus on working on whatever I have planned for the day. Otherwise, I will sit and play with my stash and not know what I want to work on and end up doing nothing. My plan is: Sundays, I work on a medium sized piece, and have a list of about 6-8 of them I would like to stitch this year. Mondays, I work on my Prairie Schooler santas. Tuesdays, I work on small projects, with a list of about 12 projects I would like to complete this year. Wednesdays, I work on Carriage House Samplings' "Village of Hawk Run Hollow". Thursdays and Fridays, I work on UFO's and finishing already stitched projects. Saturdays, I am working on my Carriage House Samplings' alphabet sampler. I implemented my plan last week, and am feeling good about seeing progress on so many pieces-and, it prevents boredom.
Now, time to get off of here, and go put my plan into action!

It was fun while it lasted...

2008-10-14T13:02:00.000-04:00

Here it is Tuesday, where did my weekend go? I was so excited last week, anticipating both of my girls coming home for fall break from their respective colleges. Meredith had Friday off from classes (VA Tech), carpooled home Thursday night with a friend, and left yesterday morning to go back. She turns 21 tomorrow--where does the time go? While she was home, she requested that instead of a regular birthday cake, that I make one of Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake's for her birthday. Sinfully good...

Rachel had a volleyball tournament in DC Saturday, at Catholic University. Roanoke beat both Catholic and Stephenson. after the tournament, we got to bring Rachel home with us. Her fall break is this whole week, only the volleyball team has to report back by 4:30 today, for practice. The dh has driven her back to school today. The down side of collegiate sports...

It was wonderful having the girls home, if only for a short time.

Meanwhile, went for the fall parent-teacher conference for my 5th grade son, Hunter. His teacher says Hunter "confuses" her...I am confused, too! She says she did a reading assessment at the beginning of the year, he had the highest score in the class--he can read at 12th grade reading level! Yet, right now, he has got a C+ in class! He has never had a C in his life! We have to figure out what's going on here.

Not much to report in the stitching department. Although, I did start knitting a sweater last week with some 25 year old electric blue mohair that has been knit into 2 sweaters previously, and ripped out both times. I really hope this one turns out to my satisfaction, as I would love to be able to wear and enjoy this sweater some time before I die!

2008-09-30T23:43:00.000-04:00

I like the way my blog is looking so far...I found a great website for free blog background graphics. Other than working a little on the blog tonight, I enjoyed watching my daughter, Rachel play volleyball on the web. She plays on the Roanoke College volleyball team, as well as their basketball team. They have a very cool "live feed" feature, that allows you to watch home games live on the internet, great for out of town parents that are unable to attend the games. I also worked a little on my Carriage House Samplings' "Village of Hawk Run Hollow".

2008-09-30T17:52:00.000-04:00

My first attempt at blogging! I love reading the blogs of all my internet friends, and decided it was time for me to start one of my own, to talk about all the things I love to do, but never have as much time as I would love to spend doing them--needlework, knitting, reading, gardening, sewing...