Interruption to Stitchy Schedule...

Life is kind of crazy around here right now for several reasons. The biggest reason is that I sing alto with the Symphony's Chorus. This is our performance weekend. Dress rehearsals started Thursday night, so things are hopping. Our last performance is Monday night. All of this standing on stage, helping to make beautiful music, and much driving to and fro, does not make for a lot of stitchy (and posting) time. I did not make it home from our dress rehearsal until really late last night Thank goodness I was able to sleep in today.

The concerts should be really beautiful. It is alot of fun to be able to perform. Plus I really like a lot of people in the chorus. I have been singing with them for about four years and have had the pleasure of performing some truly beautiful pieces with them. They do go on tour from time to time, but I have not had the chance to go. It would mean time off from work and expenditure of funds that I can not afford.

I wish that I could bring stitching for some of the lags of time between singing on stage. But there is just not the space to do it. I usually end up talking anyway. LOL My friend and I each brought our Kindles, (they fit perfectly in our music folder pockets) but we just ended up talking.

Well, gotta go pretty up for the day! Have a great weekend.

Misplaced My Camera Smartcard Thingy

Grrr. I was stitching as fast as possible tonight so that I could take a picture of my progress on Farmer's Alphabet. I got to the point where I felt that the asparagus actually looked like asparagus, and the beet bore a strong resemblance to a beet. Time for the photo op. It was not to be though, because I can not find the card that goes from my camera to the computer. I think I put it down somewhere in my bedroom. Unfortunately, DH is coming down with something and was feeling terrible and thusly retired for the evening early. I should probably not go flipping on all of the lights and banging around looking for a piece of one inch square plastic. Alas, I am bummed.

Anyway, I LOVE stitching this piece. Just when I think the colors can not get any more perfect, I pull out the next one that is just the most ideal and beautiful color. They are colors a bit off the beaten path, but just work so well in this well orchestrated, amazing piece. I really wish that the photograph could really show how amazingly beautiful it is.

It was a really good day at work. I got a lot accomplished, which always makes me feel good. My cool friend at work, who also loves NASCAR came back from vacation. She was visiting family in North Carolina and got to go the Coca Cola 600 this weekend, as well as visiting the team shops in NC. She told me all about it, then presented me with a photograph from Tony Stewart's shop. It is a really neat picture that I will have to frame. In addition, she brought me a cool nylon bag from the 50th Coca Cola 600 in Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte. Her stories are so great about meeting people and her adventures. I learn alot listening to her.

DH made the most amazing stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. I have not had stuffed peppers in about 30 years. It felt good to have yummy comfort food. It has been so cold in the afternoon and evenings here, so hot meals are a necessity. DH was in Illinois this past weekend and talked about how hot and humid it was there. While we were talking on the phone and he was talking about how miserable the heat was, I was sitting here in sweats, warm fuzzy socks, with a cup of hot tea, the heater running and a fire in the fireplace. It was 48 in the morning on Sunday. Brrr.

Hope it is comfortable where you are.

The End of the Weekend Already?!

Well, today was the last day of my little staycation. It was time to tidy up and get ready for the week ahead. These four day work weeks are always hectic, so I am hoping it does not harsh my vacation mellow.

Liesie and I got to pick up DH at the airport today. He had gone back home to Illinois to spend some time with his dad. Liesie was pretty excited to see her daddy and is glad that everything and everyone in her world are right where they should be. DH arrived around 5:30. I had been simmering a pot of homemade spaghetti sauce all afternoon. All I had to do was toss a salad and boil the spaghetti water when we got back home. DH was happy to have a hot dinner after eating a sandwich on the plane. It takes him 3-4 planes to travel to and from Illinois so he is always happy to be on land and back home in his own bed.

DH totally loved the curtains. He thinks that they look really bright and happy. He also thinks that they turned out to be just the right shade of red.

I have gotten a lot of stitching done over the last few days. I have stitched nine letters to put in the nine boxes from the other day. I also started on a few of the vegetables. I had hoped to post a picture tonight, however, as I have shared in the past, I seem to be Q-snap challenged for I can not seem to put the fabric in the frame straight. It always comes out kind of wonky. I did not want you to have to see such a horrible sight as wonky fabric on Q-snaps, so I figure that I will finish up a bit, then take a picture when I change the position in a few days.

This is really one of the most fun projects to stitch. I really love the colors. It is pretty easy to stitch. As usual, the photograph really does not do it justice. I would highly recommend it to anyone, particularly those who like fruit and veggie designs in their kitchen. I would also suggest that a potential stitcher would consider using the suggest Bay Rum Jobelan. The colors just absolutely pop against it.

Hope you have a fantastic week!

Curtain Project Finished

Dying fabric was much easier than I thought it would be. Whoohoo! I originally bought these curtains about six years ago. They were white with yellow ties. In the last house, DH dyed them yellow for me. (What can I say, he is a Renaissance man.) It was a very bright lemon curd kind of yellow. We had very bright sunlight out there and they were all blotchy and faded when we brought them here. Plus the yellow just did not work in the room. I happen to love red. Plus, as I have shared before, we keep kind of a Scandanavian look in the room and the red just works better.

The dying process was not hard, I used the color remover first, which was somewhat of a misnomer. The curtains still looked to yellow for me. Then I did the red dye. All of this was in the washing machine. I was sweating bullets that the agitator in the washing machine was going to be bright red forever...

The color on the box was more of a blue red. These came out more of a yellow red. I suppose this is due to the yellow shade that they were. But it is no where near orange at all. I followed all of the steps and I am pleased to say that it worked. The instructions said to immediately run the wash cycle afterwards to clean the washing machine. I did not have chlorine bleach on hand like it said to use, so I threw in about 4 scoops of Oxyclean. It looks like brand new.

I did not use my ribbon as I trim like I thought I would orignally. The ribbon I bought is more of a blue tone, so it will not really match. So I will have to find some big buttons or something to break up all of that red. What is really interesting is that the white thread that they used for all of the edging and seams did not dye red. It is totally white. It must be made of nylon or something. But it totally looks like I bought the curtains like they are, brand new.

I recycled today. I am happy. I really like these curtains. (Love the way I can tie them up or leave them down.) Plus I have found that curtains are really expensive. So I saved money. With the color remover and the dye, it came to a grand total of $6.87. I feel like one of those design shows on HGTV. LOL

Vacation, Day 2

I had such a nice, peaceful day. It started with the sleeping in, then heading in the direction of the beach. Liesie and I took an hour long walk. She has been a little overdue for a bath, and it was the primo time to give her one when we returned from the beach. The leftover sand in the bathtub would suggest that she brought half of the beach home with her. Our vet allows her to have one egg a week for her coat, and she usually gets it on Saturday morning. I do not like eggs myself, but there I am, making a perfect poached egg for her. Can you say spoiled? LOL Other than the bath, Liesl thinks that Saturday mornings rock.

I got to stitch quite a bit today. Each letter of the alphabet sits in a little square box outlined in green. I was able to get 9 boxes done. I did something that I have never done before and started in the upper left hand corner. I am a little frustrated by the calculations. First of all their design width and height were backwards. Then when I used an online fabric calculator, I took the stitched area and added three inches all around. I am noticing that the piece is not centered which it should be since I measured down and over three inches. There is a lot more fabric hanging off the bottom than there is at the top. I wonder what I did wrong. I am not too worried about it because the framed piece has to fit between the bottom of the cabinet and the tiled trim in the kitchen. So I really do not need that much fabric on either side. The piece will not be matted, just framed close to the design.

I would like to get my curtains dyed tomorrow. I have not used RIT dyes before so I am a little nervous. I hope I do not make a mess. I would really like to have the curtains hung before I have to go back to work.

Tomorrow is also Nascar Sprint Cup racing. Go Tony! I would totally love to see him repeat his win of last week.

Mini Staycation

I orginally put in for a vacation day about a month ago because I had something on the schedule that had to be taken care of today. That got rescheduled to a day when DH can take care of it, so I had today free. When I put in for the day off, I was unaware that Monday is a holiday, so this has turned into a little vacation for me, which is actually much needed lately. I am blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. This area draws a lot of tourists who want to see the natural beauty. So a staycation here is a pretty wonderful thing.

Today was awesome. We slept in until 7 am. My first order of the day was to get a cup of tea and check my email while still in bed. I felt very luxurious. Then off went Liesie and I for a long leisurely walk to and on the beach. It was a very gray and cold morning, but it was so nice not to have to rush to make it to work on time. It was nice walking on the beach itself. I could feel the salt spray on my face and tasted the salt on my lips. It was awesome.

I spent the rest of the midday doing a bit of housecleaning, laundry and puppy toy surgeries. Around 12:30 I felt really sleepy, so I laid down next to Liesl on the sofa, who was well into her nap. I am a big believer in the power nap of 15-20 minutes, so I figured I would be up pretty quickly. I slept for two glorious hours. First I scolded myself for wasting so much time sleeping, then I remembered this is a vacation day and was grateful for the opportunity to have a nice nap. I celebrated by drinking my last Mexican Coca-Cola straight from the bottle.

I started my Farmer's Alphabet tonight. I am so thrilled that I had that fabric in my collection. It is such a beautiful neutral color. It appears that this will be a pretty easy stitch. The squares are pretty fast to stitch so I have a feeling I could have it done by the end of June. It is also a fun stitch that does not require a lot of thinking and counting, unlike the Lady. I am thinking that I may just stay up a bit later tonight and work on it. Perhaps I will actually make it up to Letterman.

I have been thinking today about how truly fortunate I am. I am so grateful to have a job, particularly one that is so fulfilling. I am grateful that my job has benefits and things like vacation and sick pay. I was so grateful to have such a wonderful day today and still receive compensation for it. I am grateful that I got to spend it with my sweet little dog. I have so many blessings. My cup truly runneth over.

I am kitty sitting tomorrow and Sunday for my DD and DSIL. I have to go feed and play with their kitty cat. Other than that, I may get my hair cut. I am thinking that I need to catch up on some recordings of "Deadliest Catch" and some other cool stuff on my DVR. Right now my only plan includes my cup of tea and taking another walk on the beach with a sweet little dog who thinks the beach is Doggy Disneyland.

Have a safe holiday weekend!

Oy Vey!

With apologies to my little Liesl, I am dog-tired. I had only had about 5 hours of sleep the night before last night because a certain furry person, decided to party all night. It was not entirely her fault. This is still a new house to her and with spring comes a whole new set of night noises which make her curious. Then last night I only got about 4-5 hours because we knew we had to be up really early so that DH would make an important appointment. When you are afraid to oversleep, you end up waking up constantly. Even Liesl was dragging today.

I had every intention of stitching tonight. I had my bag next to me and everything, ready to roll. Here is where it all went so wrong. 123stitch had posted their new patterns and there was a lovely Permin sampler. This sent me off on a tangent of wanting to look at all things Permin and all things samplers. I have actually stitched the Permin Musee Celle 1826. I have a funny story to tell about that later...Anyway, it seems that due to my sleepingess, I ended up looking at pretty stitchy things, not actually stitching. It was kind of therapeutic.

Okay, here is my Permin sampler story. It is actually pictured to the right on my sideboard. I stitched this piece about 4 years ago. Back then, I knew nothing about planning a project and making sure I had enough floss and stuff. I had this grand idea that I was going to stitch this piece using black Gloriana silk floss instead of DMC floss. I ordered two skeins at $6.5o each. It became quickly apparent that two skeins would not be enough. So I went to Wyndham Needleworks and ordered two 40 foot hanks at something like thirty dollars each. Um, yeah, still way not enough. By this time, I was so invested in the piece, that I had to finish. I kept ordering skeins until I was done. In the end, it cost me about $150 in floss over a span of a year. Ouch. I learned a major lesson. In hindsight, DMC would have been fine.

Well, I am off to dreamland. Have a great evening.

Lady of the Thread Progress

It has been a while since I posted a picture of the Lady. I am thinking that I will stitch a little on this tonight. I want to finish the little grape cluster there on the left side of the piece. I came home and did some chores and played with Liesl a little bit. I figure it is a little late for me to get out the measuring and cutting stuff and cutting a piece of fabric this late. I do not trust myself to calculate and cut after a certain point. Tomorrow evening I have choir practice so I really do not see myself being able to start Farmer's Alphabet until Wednesday or Thursday. But that is okay.

DH was working from our home office today, so Liesie did not come to work with me like she usually does on Monday. I really missed her. She is such a great little companion. DH had band rehearsal tonight. There was a lapse of about 30 minutes between him leaving and my getting home so he put her in our room with the baby gate. She just looked so happy when I walked in. She was hopping up and down on her hind legs, looking so excited. Now she is sleeping by my feet and looks extra comfy. DH and I just feel like we really lucked out when she trotted into our lives (and took over our stuff.) LOL

I got to sit and read my Keepsake Needlearts catalog at lunchtime today. Their selection is absolutely beautiful. They seem to carry really high quality items. It really makes me long for the days when we had an LNS here. I really miss being able to see items up close. Most photographs of cross stitch does not do justice to the designs. I miss being able to see the colors up close and really see the textural value of a piece. I have been to two really outstanding LNS in the past few years. One is Thumbelina in Solvang (one of my favorite places to visit.) and Elegant Stitch in Modesto. While they are very different, I love them both. Thumbelina specializes in Danish designs and have everything in stock that they have stitched on the walls. That is so awesome. Elegant Stitch is well stocked, with a great floor plan and just feels so cozy. It is a good thing I do not live closer. LOL

Thank you for stopping by!

Just Like A Bad Penny...I'm Back!

With some major determination, I made it into the craft room today. I took several deep breaths and pulled out the fabric drawer from the bottom of the set of drawers that I keep it in. I am happy to say that I did, in fact, have a really large piece, like two yards of Bay Rum Jobelan. Therefore, I am all ready to start stitching away on my Farmer's Alphabet. I am totally excited.

I did not put the drawer back yet. I figure that one night this week, I will go ahead and inventory what I have in an Excel spreadsheet. This should remove the sense of terror that I feel about having to go into the drawer. Part of the fear comes from the fact that the fabric is labelled with pieces of paper that are attached with stick pins. Today one of the pins stuck me under my fingernail. While the drawer is well organized, those pins have a life of their own.

This was a really busy weekend! Friday night we were so tired from our busy week that we were both asleep by 8:30. Sad, huh. Yesterday, we had many errands to run. We did run by Michaels for a few things. I bought some red RIT dye. I need to dye the curtains in my craft room. In the old house, the yellow tie up curtains worked in the room. In this house, they look out of place. I think the red will be attractive. I also bought some contrasting ribbon to trim them with. My craft room is done in a Scandavian theme. So I bought ribbon with daisies on it so that the curtains will match and to cut down on all that red.

We also had to pick up additional flowers for the garden. We have some bare spots that needed attention. The garden is coming along nicely and we are becoming really proud of it. DH is doing a great job.

I was bummed last night because I do not have the Speed Channel and missed seeing Tony Stewart winning the All-Star Race. I caught up on Nascar.com today. What a win! That was quite a finish and had I been watching the race, I would have been biting my nails like crazy! Go Smoke! In his honor, we did watch Pixar's Cars, which I found to be a truly delightful movie. It was visually beautiful, and had a few really great messages in it.

Wishing you all a happy Monday!

A Week Of Mondays...

This has been a crazy week. We are trying to get the month of April closed in order to meet some critical deadlines. It has been a wild ride. I am pretty tired, but it always feels good to put all of the numbers where they belong and balancing. I really love accounting and the sense of order it brings to my life!

It has been a good evening. It started with taco night. Yum! We have not had taco night in a long, long time. It was so delicious. I had one of my Mexican Coca-Colas with it. I am a happy girl.

After dinner I got to stitch for a little while. I am so tired that I am afraid of making a mistake. I do not want to spend an evening frogging. So I am not stitching for very long at all. I got to watch American Ballroom Dance Challenge on PBS while I stitched. These dancers are so amazing. It really points out the difference between DWTS and the true professionals. The dancers are really incredible. The emcees' banter is a bit cheesy, but overall the show is really entertaining.

I plan on making the foray into the fabric drawer this weekend so that I can pull the fabric for the Farmer's Alphabet. I am really certain that I have some Bay Rum Jobelan from when I stitched the Celtic Banner. I really want to stitch FA, so I am hoping to start it this weekend.

Have a great Friday!

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch...

In what can only be described as an avoidance maneuver, one that steers me clear of having to fight my way to and through my fabric drawer, I picked up the Lady again today. I stitched upon it at lunchtime. I started the fruit border so I am having a little bit of fun. I was able to start the outline of the grapes. They are in a soft mauvy type of color.

I tried to stitch for a little while this evening, but I came home so bone-achingly tired from work that I was not feeling it. The last three days have been really busy at work. Today was really busy, and I left feeling like the only thing I could do was come home and drool. I called DH on my way home to let him know I was on my way and that I just felt exhausted. All I wanted to do was eat a roast beef sandwich in my jammies and go to bed. DH said that he was getting ready to make dinner from some leftovers. He made homemade pasta with a chicken and bacon cream sauce. It must be love because he picked out little pieces of bacon out of his dish and fed them to me. I still got to wear my jammies, so it was all good. Even Liesie was tired and climbed up on her fuzzy blankie to sleep next to me.

It was nice to stitch the Lady again. She really is so pretty. I wonder why I have to like working on BAPs so much. It is such a rare thing for me to stitch smalls. In fact, I do not think I have done a small in years. The Lady is large like all of MLI's angels. MLI really has a way with colors. I love the Victorian look of her pieces. It is sort of funny, because while I am wrestling the BAP, I am thinking that I already have the Angel of Dreams all kitted up and how lovely she would look with my other angels. The thought that I keep having though is that there is a lot of white floss in that piece. Wow.

Well, I think I am going to go to bed. I am wondering if anything that I just wrote makes any sense at all. I will probably be mortified in the morning. LOL

Choosing A New Project

Since I finished the Aaronic Blessing, I have been thinking about what to stitch next. The other day, DH mentioned a blank space under a kitchen cabinet that needed a little color. My colors in my house are more on the Tuscan side, so I though something with a sage green would be nice. Then I remembered the Farmer's Alphabet by Prairie Schooler. I love this little design. Plus it is stitched with good ol' DMC floss. I have to pull my fabric for it then I will be set to jet! I just have to pull the chair away from the set of drawers where I keep my fabric, and then sort through it to find my 32 ct. I think I may actually have some Bay Rum Jobelan, which is what the pattern calls for. Yippee! The squares look pretty easy and basic. I figure if I stitch a square a day, I should have have it completed in less than a month.

Now that I have to go through a production to find my fabric, it is becomine blatantly apparent that I need to catalog my supplies. Perhaps I could break it up and do floss one day, fabric another and then patterns. Then it would not seem like such a job. I must have courage. LOL

The other thought that occurs to me is that I will need to put my floss on a ring while I work on this project. I am sad because I have not made a cute floss tag so that it will look adorable to carry around my stuff. I shall have to put this on my stitchy list of things to do. I shall have to make myself a scissors case, too. Things to do, things to do...

I am actually enjoying taking a couple of days off from stitching. I came home and did some laundry, and played chase the doggie, Liesie's favorite game. She loves to be chased and puts her little ears back because she is so excited. She came to work with me today, so she was ready for her little puppy bedtime at 7:15. She got to play with all of her doggie friends and got treats from her people friends. This sums up to be a most excellent kind of day for her. LOL She looked almost relieved when I pulled out her pink fuzzy blankie for her.

Mexican Coca Cola...Yum!

What can I say, I love the stuff. It is muy bueno. I fell in love with it several years ago on one of our cruise trips south of the border. It is still made with cane sugar in Mexico, rather than high fructose corn syrup. It is delicious. It tastes like the Coca Cola that we had as kids. It comes in the glass bottle and I swear I feel like a kid when I am drinking it. Anyway, they carry a case of Mexican Coca Cola at Costco for $18.99. We bought some today as a special treat and DH and I have had a couple of bottles a piece. It is such a nice treat. Soda tastes so good with cane sugar. There is a delicious Orange Creme soda at Whole Foods that also is made with cane sugar and it tastes just like the old 50-50 bars.

We bought some pretty new bedding today. It is a bed in a bag kit and is a really pretty blue and white ticking stripe. It has pretty machine embroidery along the borders and just is gorgeous. It came with little decorative pillows and everything. All of that for about $80 at Marshalls. Bob is happy because it is blue and a little less girlie than the pink bedding we had. I think it will be nice to decorate with. Plus it is 100% cotton.

Tomorrow we have church and then off to PF Chang's with my DD for Ma Day, as she calls it. We always have a nice celebration of women at church on Mother's Day. There is a Puppy Momma's Day card waiting for me on the dining room table. It is a little chewed in the corners...

I have not stitched at all today. I am thinking about working on the fruit border on the lady for a while and see how it goes. I re-organized my stitchy bag. It was kind of nice to have a little break. Maybe I will just read my book tonight after the race...

Happy Ma Day!

Done!

I finished it a few minutes ago. I put the last Smyrna Cross in and did my little happy dance. Did I mention that I am not a fan of the Smyrna Cross? I think they look a bit sloppy. I am hoping they will straighten out when I iron it. I did not iron it before I posted my pic. It is late at night and I am having a small flu relapse and not feeling up to hauling out the iron.

This was really a fun stitch. I really found it to be quite enjoyable. Now I need to figure out what to do next...As I mentioned in a previous post, I think I will work on a few smalls like Altoid tins. I still have Whitman Sampler tins to put together, too.

In actuality, I have a few projects to do around the house. I want to paint my outdoor wicker furniture white because it will contrast so nicely against the paint on the house. Then I need to deal with cushions. I have old denim ones that I bought at Pier I. I need to find a laundrymat with an industrial washing machine so I can wash them with some hot water and get the mold out of them. Then I think I will cover them. It has been really lovely out of doors here, and I am thinking that it would be so nice to sit outside and drink my coffee. I love those pictures in magazines that make it look like the porch is actually an outdoor living room. But with the sea air and mold, I do not think I could put things out. They would end up as petri dishes. LOL

I am in a real house decorating mood. The last couple of days it seemed like the only thing on daytime TV of interest was HGTV. I saw some ideas that were a bit inspiring and inexpensive. I am always amazed on those shows what they "find by the side of the road." I am a pretty frugal person, so I love the ways they show you to make something out of something that would have ended up in a landfill. Some of the stuff can be outrageous, but I just have to find the bits and pieces that I figure will work for me. It is helpful for me to get ideas how to repurpose or refinish things.

Wishing you a terrific weekend!

A Nasty Flu Bug

The flu bug really got me. Yesterday I ended up being sent home from work. Everyone kept telling me how bad I looked and that I should leave. After a while, the HR director came by my office and told me that I looked really red and that I really needed to go home. I finally agreed with everyone while I was feeling totally rotten on my way to my car, that I was in not so hot shape. I went straight to bed when I got home and went to sleep in my work clothes. DH was great and came home for lunch bearing my favorite soup, Theraflu and my favorite Italian orange-blueberry soda. Yesterday he made me a BLT for dinner and served it with a side of Theraflu. FYI, Theraflu tastes terrible! But my nurse is really cute. Hubba hubba.

I still had a 100 degree temperature when I woke up this morning. DH looked at me and said that I still did not like well. I had already taken my shower, but realized that with a fever, headache and other issues, that I really needed to go back to bed. It makes me feel like a bad person to call in sick. I am glad though that I am feeling much better. My fever went away this afternoon and I am feeling semi normal.

I did pick up my stitching this afternoon. I was a bit bored from laying around. I have just a few more smyrna crosses to put in and I will be done. I will post a photo tomorrow night. I should have it complete by then. By the way, daytime TV is really boring. Oy vey!

I am off to sleep now. I want to be super rested for work tomorrow. I can't wait to get back!

I Have The Flu

Just the seasonal flu, not a swine variety but I feel crummy. My head hurts, my throat hurts and my stomach is all flippy floppy. I have to go to work anyway because I am the money person, and some checks really, truly have to go out this morning. Bob is feeling crummy, too, and also has big responsibilities at work.

Yesterday was our anniversary. We got married two years ago, although we have been together now for six years. Bob went traditional and stayed with the gift of cotton. He bought me a beautiful sweater, some cozy socks (I love socks!) and a cute towel with a funny saying on it. We went to dinner at our favorite local dog friendly restaurant (Liesl ordered the chicken breast again.) We were both exhausted through dinner and could barely stay awake. We thought that we were just overly tired. Now we know that we were both coming down with a flu bug.

I got to stitch for about an hour last night. I have finished all of the verse, so all that I have left are one full band and about half of another. If all goes well, it should be done by the end of the week. It has been such a fun piece to stitch, I am almost sad to be finished with it.

I am thinking that I might stitch a couple of smalls before I return to stitching the Lady of the Thread. I have Altoid tins stacking up that I must do something with.

Well, I must get over to the office. Hope you all have a great day!

Boo Hoo, The Weekend Is Over

Wow! The weekend is over already. I blinked and it was gone. Of course, I did work yesterday so that would account for it really seeming like it went fast.

We spent a nice quiet day at home today. We were both really tired from a long week so it was nice to get some rest. We slept in until 8 with a small, cuddly dog who also was happy to get a little extra sleep. It is hard to get Liesl up in the morning. She just burrows deeper under the blankets while we bump around trying to get ready for work.


While I got down to stitching, Bob went into the kitchen and baked bread and cookies. The bread was a work of art, so I though I would take a photo to share. It is rye bread and is very tender. It will be great for sandwiches this week. He usually makes bread from scratch on the weekends and this is the latest creation.

I got to work quite a bit on my stitching. I got a lot done, but not as much as I had hoped. I am almost finished with it so I am very happy. Someone who understands my great love of animated movies lent me a copy of Wall-E. I stopped stitching so I could concentrate and I am so glad I did. It was a really wonderful, thought provoking movie. I really enjoyed it. After dinner I put on our favorite Brit-com, Keeping Up Appearances, while I stitched. Hubby and I love that show. It makes us laugh totally out loud.

I had a lot of fun this morning. I played a bit online and found all kinds of cross stitch freebies. I even found a beautiful set of ballerinas on a Japanese blog that remind me so much of the ballerina candle holders I used to have on my birthday cakes when I was a kid. I was able to save a lot of beautiful freebies, and look forward to stitching them. It is such a neat thing that designers provide such beautiful gifts to stitchers. Many are the perfect size for making Altoid Tins or scissor keepers or just when you need something for a small space. Plus it does make me interested in looking at designs by designers that I may have been unaware of. It is so cool that they create them for us.

Wishing you a great week!

Hooray for the Weekend!

Oh my goodness, I am sleepy. I could not get to sleep until about midnight last night. Then I had to wake up shortly before 6 this morning to go work our event for work. It was a really great event and we raised a lot of money for a really good cause. It was outdoors and cold. Luckily, the rain stopped last night, but I did catch a chill and have been overly tired today. After I got home we did make it to the grocery store and the doggie boutique. (Yes, doggie boutique!) We went because we were out of Liesie's favorite cookies that they sell by the scoop. She also picked out a new squeaky ball.

I got to work for a while on the Blessing. I only have the first part of the blessing and two color bands to go and then I am done. It is so much fun to stitch. I have a feeling that if I really apply myself, I could finish it tomorrow. I am not sure how I am going to frame it. I shall have to discuss it with my live-in master framer.

I am thinking that tomorrow would be a great stitching day. We still have a chance of showers, so I would be totally thrilled to stitch. There is no race on tomorrow, but I do have a couple of movies to watch. The Sprint race at Richmond was tonight and Tony Stewart came in second! His teammate came in 4th so they are both in the top five, which is outstanding. I have no doubt Tony will be coming in 1st any day now!

I am really excited because I got two free books for my Kindle today. I have a great love of classic literature. I got Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina. This is so cool. I have a few books to read in front of them, but it is like having treasure buried and waiting to be unearthed.

Have a great evening!