Almost Friday!

Whoohoo! It is almost Friday! Granted, I have to work a special event on Saturday, but only for a few hours. A very nice person at work always brings donuts on Friday, which kind of makes the day celebratory. Since I am dieting, it is only once in a while that I actually have a donut, but it is the knowing that they are there...

I got down to stitching a little earlier tonight. This was in addition to the stitching I got to do at lunch so I was able to accomplish quite a bit. I only have three more words to go and the middle part of the blessing will be done, so I can move up to the top. I feel pretty confidently that if I stitch during the races this weekend, I should have the piece finished and ready for framing. I really love how it is turning out.

I really wish I had enough time to make a couple of necklaces this weekend. With my extra work responsibilities this weekend, I will need to focus more on taking care of the household chores. I can stitch during the races. Plus the stitching will be where I put my craft energy this weekend.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow. It is very late in the season, but we really need it. I am secretly hoping it rains like crazy tomorrow night as it will make it extra cozy for stitching. I would love to have a nice quiet and cozy kick off to the weekend.

Have a great Friday.

I always have the best laid plans as I am driving home of eating a quick dinner, then getting right down to stitching. Next thing you know, it is 8:30 and I am just pulling out my stitchy bag. I end up coming home, playing on the computer, and piddling around winding down from the day. Then bedtime comes and I wish that I would have gotten an earlier start.

I did get some stitching in tonight. I was working on the verse this evening. It goes quickly, but it is over one, so I have some major magnifiers on. I was sitting in my bed, because I have a great lamp by my bedside and seriously, I am tired. I had my legs all roasty, toasty under the blankets, my stitching stuff spread perfectly across my lap and beside me. That was when I felt it-foot cramp. I tried to flex my foot in hopes that I could ward off the full blown footie cramp, therefore not having to readjust my stitching stuff. But alas, it was one of those doozies when you have to get up and push your foot on the floor and it still does not go away for awhile and you end up hobbling around until you get the all clear to sit down again. I hate foot cramps. Hate 'em, I tell you.

After a cramp of that magnitude, it sort of kills your enthusiasm for readjusting your stitchy space. I ended up putting my stuff away, lest the cramp return. Tomorrow night will be much better.

Tomorrow at work we have our first mandatory Swine Flu meeting. My job does a great job of disaster preparedness and has contingency plans for a multitude of issues, including pandemics. This includes cots, food and water in case we can not get out. Quite frankly, it makes me feel really safe as an employee. It also makes me feel good that that my employer cares so much about us that they have prepared for our care in case of emergency. They have a series of steps that we follow. When the Level went to the 5 out of a possible 6 today, it triggered the next level in our plans, so we have the meeting tomorrow to inform the employees of the next possible steps. It takes a lot of worry away to know what we have to do next.

Stay safe, everyone and wash hands constantly.

Monday Night Stitching

Today was one of my typical payroll Mondays. I am a bit obsessive about always making sure the payroll is right because I know how demoralizing it can be when your check is wrong. So, I do tend to stress out because I was want to make sure that I get everything input correctly. Plus the payroll system is still a bit new to me so I am still learning some of the system's "quirks." All in all, it is pretty satisfying when the output is letter perfect. I put a lot of pressure on myself every other Monday.

To relax a bit, I came home and stitched. I am happy to say that I finished the bottom band at lunch today. When I got home I moved my Q-snaps up so that I could finish up the band above it. I only have a few more Smyrna Crosses to do and that band will be done, too. Then I can concentrate on the upper half of the piece. I am just itching to do my favorite, scotch stitch in yellow. The Smyrna Crosses, not so much. My stitches do not look uniform as I would like, and I just feel like it covers too much space with the thread, so there is more space for the thread to do what it wants.

As I indicated earlier, I got to move the Q-snaps up so that I can stitch in a new area. I seem to be Q-snap challenged. I can not seem to put the piece on the frame thingy without the fabric going on all wupperjod (crooked.) My stitching all seems to be done on a slant. I am wondering why it always looks so pretty in other people's pictures and mine looks kinda sad. I would do anything to become master of the Q-snap.

It is really cold here. I got all excited last week during our mini-heatwace, but, alas, it did not stay. It is just plain frigid and I find myself wanting soup and hot tea. Oh, by the way, this is normal stuff for the Central Coast of California. It can be hot one day, but then you are in for 10 days of cold. It is really cold in June, July and August. It follows that saying by Mark Twain, "The coldest winter I ever spent, was a summer in San Francisco." Although we are several hours south of San Francisco, we share the same weather pattern. I may have to make hot stew for the 4th of July. LOL

Bargain Of The Weekend

I love a bargain. Yesterday, whilst grocery shopping I wandered over into the floral section of Safeway. I never go to that particular department. However, for several weeks they had been carrying cut daffodils for $1.99 a bunch. They were gorgeous and smelled heavenly. They did not have daffodils, however, they had these gorgeous glads for 2.99 for a 5 stem bunch. We got two bunches. They are about 3 1/2 - 4 ft tall and filled my back seat of my PT Cruiser. Yikes! They were actually a bit weighty and awkward to carry to the car. I did not want the wind to break them.

I can not believe how gorgeous they are for a total of less than $6. They filled a (very heavy!) vase. They will bloom for days to come. I can not believe my luck. One bunch is a pinky lavendar. The others, which happen to be my favorite are a variegated cream and salmon. I have a thing for variegated flowers.

Today was one huge crash after another at Talledega. It was actually a bit scary. I can not imagine what it would be like to have your family member in one of those cars. I really hope no one was hurt, particularly any fans or Carl Edwards in that last crash. I do not think I have ever seen anything like that. I thought it was a bit cool when he just ran across the finish line. He had a lot of class, as always, about the whole thing. The race was ridiculously long, so I got to stitch for quite a long time. I am on another row of scotch stitch so you know I am happy dancing!

I am holding our country and our world in my prayers right now as we continue to receive news about the possible pandemic. I pray for the weak, the sick, and for all to be protected. This is a very scary situation.

Wishing you a happy week.

Work In Progress

I am making progess on my Aaronic Blessing. The scotch stitching goes way too fast for me. I just have so much fun with that stitch. I started with the bottom half of the piece and will be heading towards the top within the next few days. It is really a fun stitch and I am enjoying it immensely. It is one of those really fun stitches. The other one that I had a lot of fun with was the Celtic Banner. It was a blast to stitch and one that I did purely for the fun of it. It matched nothing in my home. I ended up giving it to a very dear friend who was moving away a few years ago.

It was a quiet day around here. Other than a little grocery shopping, I got to stay home. There was a Nationwide race on. They are at Talledega this weekend, which is probably my most favorite track. It is a wild one, that is for sure. Tomorrow should be really interesting! My friend and I at work were talking the other day about what we love about NASCAR. For me, it is the teamwork, the strategy of the temperatures, the light, the gasoline and tires. It is amazing to me the kinds of decisions that go into winning a race. It is very cool.

I am planning on making my famous lasagna tomorrow. The sauce takes 2 1/2 hours to simmer and is so delicious. Since I do not know how to cook in small portions, we will be having this for lunch for weeks. LOL Actually, we will probably freeze half of it. It is so yummy and I only make it once every few years now.

I was a little worried about little Miss Liesl earlier. She had the chills and was shivering. Then she got pretty sick to her stomach. Poor little girl. She fell asleep in my arms and slept until my hand was getting numb from being in the same position. Then I covered her up on the sofa and she slept the afternoon away. She is back to her usual sparkly and mischevious self, thank goodness.

I Am Having An Awesome Week!

This has totally been my lucky week! On Saturday Bob had to go to the Post Office, and while he was there he found a matted Tony Stewart Daytona Postmarked photo grouping from 2007. He said usually the pile has names that he does not recognize, but this day he was lucky and found a Tony with the #20 Home Depot car. Awesome. He brought it home for me. I need to get a cool frame for it. I am still deciding if I need to hang it in my home or office.

On Monday, my very cool co-worker who is a bigger NASCAR fan than I, came in all excited. (She is a fan of Jr.) She had been to the race in Phoenix, and had taken lots of photos. Quite a few of them were of Tony and his #14 Office Depot Car. She handed me a few of them like the one above that he had taken in the Paddock area. The picture above is of Tony himself in his car! How awesome is that! I was just so excited to talk to her about the races and felt so lucky that she shared her snapshots with me. It was awesome.

Today was totally cool. I started the day with such a sweet note from my boss saying that she really appreciates my work, and that she is glad that I am part of the team. I nearly started to cry! It meant so much to me. Then about an hour later, my coworker walked in with another handful of photos of Tony's car and a Hot Wheel type version of Tony's car! She said that she was buying one for her daughter and picked one up for me.

I am one of the truly fortunate ones. First of all, I have a job. Secondly, I have a job that I love and that does a lot of good work in our community that I am really proud of. Best of all, I get to work with really incredible people, who are so caring and so much fun to be around. I love getting up in the morning. I am so grateful to be so fortunate.

I came home from work and my favorite food was being prepared. I am truly a conniseur of the BLT and will order it as my sandwich of choice and when others are having egg breakfasts (I do not like eggs, except on rare occasions.) I was just telling my hubby last night that my favorite food in the whole world used to be pepperoni pizza, but now it is truly the BLT. There is something magical about the bread, mayo, bacon and tomato combo. I can take or leave the lettuce. Anyhoosky, I came in and Bob was in the process of putting BLT's together on his homemade bread.

This was so totally an awesome day. Oh, and I got to scotch stitch for a whole hour today at lunch! In green, my favorite color.

Heatwave, Day Two!

95 today. No lie. It was like walking into a wall of heat when you opened the door. I threw caution to the wind and wore some cute opened toed shoes to work. The heat was making everyone's feet swell, so I eventually switched to flip flop's with my dress. I was walking around in with my Bilbo Baggins' looking feet, and decided it was time. Winter needed to be removed from my feet. I called my DH and told him I was going to be an hour late. The I called my DD and told her the that the time had come. We needed our toes done. We met up at the mall and I am proud to say that I have fire engine red toes. Yay!

I am happy to say that the temperature has dropped since nightfall and I am wearing a polarfleece jacket. Last night was so hot. We had all of the windows open. The racoons or some critter decided to throw a party in the yard, which woke me up at 1:30. I did not get back to sleep until 4:48. I was up between 5:15 and 5:30. I was regally bummed. I love my little dog and love it when she decides to cuddle. However, last night, in the heat of the night, she decided that she loved her momma so much that she should cuddle her and add her little radiant heat body to the already hot air of the night. I guess this is a small price to pay for that unconditional adoration. I am thinking we should all take our hugs wherever we can get them.

I was so tired today that I did not get to stitch. I got home feeling pretty mellow from the foot massage portion of my pedicure. We had crab louie for dinner, then Liesie and I came into the bedroom to watch Deadliest Catch. She is sleeping so soundly and so sweetly.

My stitching bag is calling to me, but I am so overly tired that I just know I would end up frogging anything I stitch. I really wanted to get a few stitches in. Plus it is so much fun to stitch, so I feel a little lost not playing with it tonight.

Holy Cow! It Is Hot!

Last week at this time it was COLD and we had those wind storms that caused a multitude of issues here. Today it was in the 90's and almost miserable. Don't get me wrong, I love the hot weather and prefer it quite a bit over being cold. But today crossed that line, when you catch you breath when you walk outside, the dog is panting and your feet are burning in your shoes. All I could think about was getting home and having a cold diet Dr. Pepper. Liesie got to have her very special treat, "Frosty Paws" peanut butter dog ice cream. I also drizzled cool water over her forehead and snout to try to cool her down. Every window in the house was opened. I am regretting not getting that pedicure last week, because I would love to wear sandals to work tomorrow, but my feet bear all of the signs of having been in shoes and sneakers all winter. 'Tis not a pretty sight.

I got to stitch for just a few minutes this evening. It was really too hot to concentrate. I had been looking forward to working on my piece, but just could not pull it together. Perhaps while we are in the midst of this heatwave I should work on making my cute necklaces with the adorable beads I have in my collection. Or maybe I can start my Chrismons...

Happy stitching!

Where Did The Weekend Go?!

This weekend totally flew by! The weather was absolutely beautiful and I got so much done. My house is super clean, Bob worked in the garden, and I got some stitching done. I even got all of the mountains of paperwork cleared off the work table/desk and filed. It's a good thing. Now I am looking at the curtains and I am thinking they do not look good yellow like they did in the old house. Perhaps because of the small size of the room or the window shape being different. In any case, I think I am going to buy some RIT dye and dye them a pretty shade of red. Kind of a yellow red, and then put some ribbon on them as a nice enhancement. I was thinking about buying new curtains, but I am watching my pennies, and I really like these curtains. They are just faded and the wrong color for the room. I think the red dye will perk them right up.

I have made some progress on my Aaronic Blessing. The lettering is done one over one. As soon as I finish that last line, I will get to stitch another line of scotch stitch. I have always loved the Aaronic Blessing. It is my favorite part of the church service and gives me the strength to face the week ahead.

Now that I got my craft room cleaned up, I am looking forward to cataloging my stuff. I have an old Excel workbook that I put together years ago that I am thinking I could use so that I do not have to retype alot of stuff. I have looked at that software for doing this same thing and that you can even scan photos of the stash into, but darn the luck, I do not think it works with Vista. Bummer.

I am starting up my walking regimen again in the morning, walking for a half hour before work. I was doing really well for a while but a few things came up like rotten, cold weather, so I put it on the back burner. I am looking forward to the walk, it really does help me start my day with a clearer head.

Wishing everyone a great week!

I'm A Baaad Girl!

But not too bad. It was calling to me. It has the colors that I love and the German/Scandanavian style that I love. It is just lovely and I had to have it. I love the border around each motif. I am eager to start it. I have two pieces in the works, so it will have to simmer on a back burner for a while, but it will be coming up soon. It would look so perfect in my entry.

It bugs me to waste postage and all so I went ahead and purchased another pattern that was on clearance. I have been looking at it for a while. Although I am still very much a novice, I love stitching hardanger pieces. I love the hardanger edging on a couple of the pieces pictured. I also like the colonial look.

There was a great race on tonight. Tony Stewart came in second and is knocking on the door for a win. Mark Martin won his first race since 2005 at age 50 tonight. It was such a great race and I did not stitch much during it. In fact, I did not stitch much at all today. As much as I wanted to, there were so many chores to get done. Plus I was getting my domestic on and ended up baking cookies and making a splendid dinner. It was really sunny and warm and my little puppy girl kept finding a sunbeam to sleep in through most of the afternoon. It was a very cozy day. It is funny how just puttering around the house can be so fulfilling and fill one with joy.

I did not get the craft room totally cleaned today. I wanted to file all of our tax stuff and get my craft area ready to start my Chrismons for this year. I still have a bunch of paper on the desk, but I feel pretty confident that it will be done tomorrow after church. I am excited about the Chrismons as I was able to pick up supplies after Christmas super cheap. Nice! In addition to my Chrismons, one of my next project will be to finally catalog my stitching supplies and organize them a little more efficiently. Now that all of the receipts and paperwork will be put away, I want to spend more time in the craft room working on several creative projects. It is a lot smaller than my old craft room but it is really cozy.

I forgot to mention the other day that Bob got the hummingbird feeders up last weekend. We have a regular coming now to the one right outside of our dining room window. Our feeder has the little rungs where the hummingbirds can stand while they feed. We are so excited to have diners at the feeder and look forward to the word spreading so that we get lots of them coming by the window. They are so beautiful.

Hurray! It's Friday!

Yay! It's the weekend and the weather forecast states that we will have temps in the 80's. This is sort of funny since earlier this week it was just as cold as it could be. But, I digress... This weekend will be totally awesome!

Bob and I had planned on going out for dinner, but by the time we got home, we both had a case of the "I don't want tos." Traffic was crazy going into town, we were both tired, and we were both looking home to a nice evening at home, watching the race. Liesie had been to the groomers and was feeling pretty tired, too. We decided on take out fish and chips from a small restaurant five minutes away and came home, changed into sweats and ate our yummy seafood. We then moved our party to the living room where Liesie promptly fell asleep and we watched the race. I got to stitch during most of it, which was totally nice and peaceful.

Liesl did go to the new groomer today. The lady was so very nice. We are so pleased with the way Liesl was groomed. It was her best cut ever. She looks so pretty and schnauzer-like. Whenever she gets groomed, she just looks so tiny. We took a picture this afternoon because she looks so pretty. Tomorrow her beard will probably not be that white anymore. LOL

I got to stitch on my Aaronic Blessing tonight as well as at lunch today. I will post a picture tomorrow. It is really fun to stitch. There is really nothing like stitching with silk. It is so unbelievable how soft it is and how it just slips through the fabric. I have been doing my chores over the past week, so that I do not have so many things to do tomorrow. This will leave me more time to stitch. I may have to put on a chick-flick, have my diet Dr. Pepper next to me, a small cute dog snuggling next to me and my stitching. It sounds like a perfect afternoon. Wish me luck on the speed cleaning of my shower!

Happy Weekend!

Everyone Knows It's Windy!

Whoa, Nelly! The weather is totally wild here. We have had really high winds all day! In fact, they were clocked at 61 mph at SFO today. The wind was accompanied by really chilly temperatures so that we could be really miserable. I swear it got worse and worse all day. The forecast was even threatening thunderstorms and the lights have been flickering all day and evening. The cherry on the ice cream sundae of the day was that a tree was blown down on the highway I take home, prompting closure. It took forever to get home tonight. There is a branch or something hitting the house. It is going to be a long night. Plus it is really, really cold.

I had another responsibility tonight, but with the threat of power outages, etc., we decided it was best to stay in rather than driving in the high winds. I got to watch the season premiere of Deadliest Catch, which totally rocked. I also got to work on my Aaronic Blessing. I just love the colors and there is a certain rhythm and logic of the piece that makes it a joy to work on. I am working on one of the panels and it really is flying by. I am enjoying the stitching of the piece which also makes it fly by.

It is blowing so hard right now, and whatever is hitting the roof is making it sound like the roof is coming off. It is going to be a really long and noise night. I am wondering how I will get any sleep. I fell asleep last night before I could read my catalogs. I may be up tonight with Nordic Needle.

Just Another Manic Monday!

Hooboy! What a day! It was a wild ride and I was so grateful for the time I got to spend in my car and quietly stitch. I got to put a few more stitches in my Aaronic Blessing. I swear the Northern Lights silk floss is the softest I have ever stitched with. The colors are so very pretty. This piece actually looks like it has the possibility to be a quick stitch. I really wanted to come home and stitch, but I was totally out of energy, and besides my second favorite thing to do is here-

Looking at pictures of cross stitch! Whoohoo, the new Stitchery and Nordic Needle catalogs came in the mail today. OMG! I was like Steve Martin in the Jerk with the new phone books when I opened the mailbox. One catalog is cool but both, wow! I plan on putting on my jammies and reading the catalogs cover to cover.

Liesie has been really cuddly the past couple of days. Usually she is too busy, and does not like to be disturbed while she is sleeping (she actually sighs loudly like she is bothered. LOL) The past couple of days she has napped right up against her momma. It is really nice. She is such a sweet little girl.

I am really excited because I have been searching for a long time for a good groomer for her. I have had two bad experiences with groomers (one of which hurt her to the point where she was walking weird and licking her legs where the fur had been pulled while they were getting out mats. Totally not cool with me!) For some reason, it is hard to find someone who can groom schnauzers. Today, we followed up on a referral to a sole proprietor who specializes in schnauzers, and has owned mini schnauzers herself for over 30 years. She asked a lot of questions about my furgirl before we decided to proceed with setting an appointment. I am just hoping this works out. I would really like to find someone we can stick with and that Liesie will feel comfortable going to.

I am off to play catalogs!

Happy Easter!

I was weak. I caved. I wanted to stitch this afternoon, but realized that if I took out one more strand of olive green floss, that I would most definitely go mad. I like to see one project through to the end, but I truly needed a break. So I watched the Deadliest Catch marathon, and got started in on my reverse scotch stitch with my nice Northern Lights silk floss. It was a lot of fun, except for the guilt...

It was a lovely day here. We started at church this morning. I was the assistant minister and my hubby played his trumpet, so we were pretty busy during the service. It was a truly beautiful and moving service. Afterward, Bob took me (and Liesl) out on a date for lunch at one of our favorite little places (which also caters to dogs.) It has a caribbean theme. I had terriyaki flank steak, DH had the pan seared mahi mahi and Liesie had the chicken breast. It ended up being a nice afternoon. Liesl always sleeps pretty hard after she has chicken breast. We refer to it as "her chicken coma." We were pretty tired too, so it was nice to be able to stitch and just have some down time.

I am pretty darn excited that the new season of Deadliest Catch starts this Tuesday. We alway say that after you watch that show for a while, you have no problem paying $12.99 a pound. Sheesh. It is hard to believe what those guys put on the line in order to put food on the table.

The Aaronic Blessing looks like it will be a lot of fun to stitch. I really like scotch stitches. They really jazz up a piece and they go really quickly. The colors all go together really nicely. Plus the silk feels so nice in the hand. I will work on this for a while and then go back to stitching on the Lady. Both projects are in my stitching case, so I should be able to go back and forth between them.

Easter Vigil

Okay, so I did not get a chance to stitch last night or today. I was a bit sleepy last night and ended up going to sleep. Today, I needed to make my house super clean, as well as taking care of a plethora of other tasks. I have been hoppin' all day!

Bob has been working in the garden all afternoon. He went over to OSH and bought a few veggie plants for the garden and has been working on the sprinkler/irrigation thingy. When he walks by the window he does that old act like he is walking down stairs. It just never gets old. LOL

I got to watch the race out of the corner of my eye while I did my chores today. I was thrilled for Joey Logano who won his second career Nationwide race today. It was him and Kyle Busch all day, and I was so glad to see him come out ahead.

I am posting early tonight because Bob and I are going to eat dinner, then engage ourselves in some intellectual expansion in the form of watching "Kung Fu Panda." LOL. I think I have mentioned in the past that DH and I love animated Pixar type films. DH got a few of them on a get-down sale the other day, so we are set for Saturday night movie time for a while. I will get to stitch while I view the movie. I am hoping to finish the lady tonight so that I can start on the fruit border which I have been itching to do.

The Aaronic Blessing is still sitting in my carrying case, and I look at it longingly every day. Hopefully, I will get to it before too long. If only there were more stitchy hours in the day...

Wishing you and your family a joyous Easter!

Good Friday

There is something about the Good Friday service that makes me feel very sad and quiet. I have been known to cry during the service in past years. This year I had to work very hard to not get weepy because DH and I did a Bach piece as the special music. I was afraid that it would make my voice shakey.

I have not had a chance to stitch yet tonight. We came home from church tired, so I took a little nap, ate and started poking around online while Liesie cuddled up on the bed. I love the WIP and Finished Projects threads on 123stitch on Fridays. I get so inspired. There are such really gifted stitchers out there. I also love looking at the two blogs for the World's Largest Collection of Smalls. There are some really amazing posts there!

I am probably going to pull out my stitching in the next few minutes, if for no other reason than to just look how much I have gotten done. Hopefully, that will get me to speed through chores tomorrow so I can sit and stitch. There is only one race this weekend, the Nationwide on Saturday. So that is about four hours of stitching time right there. I do not think Tony is racing this weekend so I can remain neutral during the race. LOL

Have a good evening.

Maundy (Holy) Thursday

I was thrilled to be able to stitch today at lunch. It was sprinkly out all day and I had one of those rain headaches that come with the air being cold and damp. I went out to my car, put my Garrison Keillor podcast on my Ipod and stitched away. It was delightful. I am able to put my stitching case up against the steering wheel so that I can see my pattern. I have one of those DMC stitching cases that look kind of like a Trapper Keeper. It has the Stitchbow system, which I do not use because I wound all of my DMC onto cards a long, long time ago. I put my patterns into sheet protectors, hook my thread seperators onto the looseleaf rings, and keep my scissors in a pocket. It is just right for stitching in the car. It is not the prettiest carrying case, but it is really functional. In any case, it appears that I am about to finish the green in her dress. So far as I can determine, the mistake that I made was a result of the grayed out two lines that they put on the edge of the pattern to show where one page ends and the overlap on another page. Grrrr. I hate the gray lines. It looks like it may not be too terrible of a job of "unstitching."

I have not had a chance to stitch tonight. I had planned to but we had church services at 7. We got back home after 8 and had dessert. (Creampuffs, yum!) Liesie had some puppy dessert (69 cents a can at Petsmart) which she eats very politely off a spoon. She only gets one, once every few months and eats it off of a spoon. She likes the whole experience, because, of course, she is just like people. LOL If she could have a chair and plate at the table, she would totally be into it.

I probably will not get much stitching done this weekend. We have services again tomorrow night, chores on Saturday, then I am the assistant minister for the Easter service at church so I need to be really prepared. The following weekend though, it will be a stitchy marathon. I may have to stay up late next Friday and stitch way into the night. In the meantime, this is a good weekend to reflect on all of the blessings in my life.

Hope everyone has a good end of the week!

Another Evening In

Here it is Monday night again, which means that it is Liesl and I for the evening. DH had his band rehearsal so it was just us girls. I really wanted to come home and stitch but I had some paperwork and things to take care of tonight. I ate leftovers for dinner, standing over the sink, then played with Liesl for a while. Liesl loves to do two things more than anything-play with her squeaky toys and be chased. If she can combine these things, she is over the top excited. She loves to be chased through the hallway and around the living room while she is squeaking her squeaky toy. I get a good workout and the admiration of a sweet little dog. Add this up and you get a good day!

After we were both tired, I went into the craftroom to take care of some paperwork while Liesie slept in the easy chair. I think we were both relieved when it was time to settle into my room, which is the warmest room in the house. Here, I was able to sit and stitch. I really love sitting quietly and stitching. I have gotten pretty good at turning off the television where is nothing on that is really interesting. So I get to listen to the needle and floss making a quiet noise going through the fabric. I made a little progress up towards the sleeve. It actually seems to be going a little quicker now.

I was thinking tonight how lucky I am to have such a fulfilling hobby. I favor really big projects like L&L angels, and large samplers and it is a joy to walk through my house and look at some of the pieces I have had the pleasure of stitching. I tend to think of the framed pieces as byproducts though. I really just enjoy the experience of stitching them and looking at all the different colors and textures of flosses and fabrics. I like do other crafts but it tends to be to make something specific. Cross stitch is more about the journey.

End of the Weekend

I finished the skirt and border this afternoon. Whoohoo! Now I am moving in the direction of the mistake. So far, things are lining up. Hopefully, it is just a small booboo and will not take a lot of frogging. I am really glad that I got to finish it. It is so lovely. It was such a large area so it really feels like I have accomplished alot.

I really did not stitch very much today. I came home from church feeling terrible, so I changed into sweats, got my down blanket and set up camp on the sofa in front of the race. My head was throbbing so hard, my chest was hurting and I felt really cold. So I wrapped myself up in my blanket and dozed on and off on the sofa. I never just lay in front of the television, so I must really be sick. I always have some project in my hands. I just did not feel well enough to sit up until late this afternoon.

The race was a good one and I was happy for Jeff Gordon today. Tony came in 4th but just did a phenomenal job all day in his Old Spice Car. This season just seems to get better and better.

My hubby worked on the garden today. He got some of our flowers into the ground, fixed the sprinkler system, and planted some really pretty nasturtium and ornamental cabbage seeds. It looks like he is going to build a couple small window boxes to put along the gray fence (boring) outside of our dining area that we will fill with geraniums, lobelia and alyssum. This should bring the dining area to life and create something beautiful for us to look at while we eat our dinner. These plants do so well here. I think we may try to procure some cyclamen, too. While Bob was outside, one of our neighbors that told us that this house used to have such a gorgeous garden said that she was so happy to see him working to restore the garden. It is going to take a lot of work. Hubby seemed pretty excited, but a bit tired. I can't wait to take pictures. He really got so much done.

We have been really thrilled because we are sighting finches in our garden. Bob said there were quite a few pretty little finches in the yard today. How lucky are we! Plus we have quite a few hummingbirds. They are so pretty to look at, but I am a little afraid of the ones that have buzzed my head in the past.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Making Progress

I seem to be making progress. As you can see, she now has a border on her skirt. The skirt itself has a couple more rows to go on the right side there, but I wanted to get a photo taken before it got too dark in here. She is coming along nicely. I am really looking forward to that fruit border now because as I look at the pattern it looks like the fruit is comprised of really big blocks of the same color throughout. This makes me happy.

It looks like I will be going to bed early tonight. I was sitting here minding my own business, stitching happily, when all of the sudden I felt that I had a fever, my throat started hurting, my chest started hurting, and my head started throbbing. I am kind of tired of fighting these cold/flu things and take great strides to avoid them. Hopefully, if I get enough sleep it will fend off whatever little buggie this is. Luckily, it is about Liesie's self imposed bedtime so she should be coming along to cuddle any time now, too.

I made the mistake of looking at the new items that came in over at 123stitch last week. There is a beautiful new pattern by Rosewood Manor called, "Wilkommen." It is really beautiful and would look fabulous in my entry. I love that it is so symetrical. What I found really surprising is that it calls for good ol' DMC floss. The colors make it appear that there are hand-dyed silk floss so I kind of held my breath as I looked at the supply list. I was so happy to see that it calls for cotton. Right now it is just on my wish list. It truly is beautiful.

Oh, nearly forgot to mention that Tony Stewart came in second at Texas today! That was a nice treat. He was driving Kevin Harvick's car and just did a fantastic job. It made my day to see him do so well. I'll be watching again tomorrow as he drives one of the Stewart-Haas cars. Go Smoke!

TGIF!

Whadda week! It was busy, busy all week long. I was really looking forward to coming home to one of Liesie's fabulous greetings. It is really wonderful to be greeted by your dog. It makes me feel pretty special the way that Liesie gets so excited to see me.

I got home and found that Bob was working on a project, so I got out my stitching and settled in for a stitchy night. I am getting pretty close to finishing that border. It was so nice after a busy week to just sit quietly with the cute little puppygirl next to me. We had a late dinner, which was delicious. I then got to sit back down with my stitching. It was heavenly.

I really need to get to work in my craft room this weekend. I have been collecting pretty beads over the past couple of years, but have not made anything. I have been thinking that I need a nice sparkly necklace for a couple of outfits that I have, and I have just the beads in my collection. I have some really pretty red sparkly ones that would make a fabulous necklace with a few accent beads. I hope I have all of the fixin's in my collection.

Other than my jewelry making adventure, I just plan on stitching. I would like to get a few stitches into the Aaronic Blessing, just to get a little variety in my stitching. However, right now I am on a roll with the Lady. I will post a picture this weekend of my progress.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

The Border Is Almost Done...

Whoohoo! The skirt border is just about done. If I work on it tomorrow night, it should be totally done. I am thrilled. There was quite a bit of counting involved, but it is really coming together. It is amazing how just getting the end of a section gives you that little push to keep working on a project.

It was a good evening to stitch. Today a cold front moved into town. It was gosh darn cold today. I kept my jacket on all day, and never really felt like I warmed up. After Bob left for his band rehearsal, I did the dinner dishes, got on my jammies, rounded up my cute little dog, and got under the blankets. I was able to spread all of my stitching stuff out and stay warm.

I am looking forward to the weekend. We have a few things we have to do, but I plan on watching the Nascar race (cheering on Tony!) in Texas and working on the Lady. I would like to get the herb garden started, too. We left the other one intact at the old house, and I am so missing fresh herbs. I love the way they smell and taste. We are planting the herbs in an old wine half barrel. I am really looking forward to having the plants in.

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!

Wild Wednesday!

'Twas a whirlwind day again today. Our server was down at work, which made life a bit interesting. I am happy to say that I got my work done though.

Tonight was our last Wednesday Lenten service. Bob and I have been leading the Holden Evening Prayer Service all through Lent. It is such a beautiful service. We both felt a little tug at our hearts that it was over. Next week is Holy Week so we do not have a Wednesday service. There will be a Thursday, Friday and Easter Sunday service. It is hard to believe it is time for Easter.

I got to come home and stitch a bit tonight. I am still working on the border of her dress. The border really makes the skirt pop a bit. It really adds a touch of elegance and regality to the dress. I am looking forward to getting a lot more done this weekend. I may just stay up one night until at least 10, (LOL) stitching away. I always talk big, but maybe I can pull it off on Friday.

Well, I am off to read my book. Hope everyone has a good evening! Oh, and if you can find the Coconut Creme Hershey Kisses (Target), they are SO worth the calories!