A New Week, A New Start

Towards the first part of the weekend, we were having usually cool weather lately! It was more like very very chilly and windy March days instead of the unusual September days full of humid heat left over from the summer. But I liked it! For once, it really felt like Fall in the hot south! Now the hot days have returned along with that awful humidity we are so well known for!

Over the weekend was grocery shopping as usual. Ugh! I stopped by the fabric store and picked up some floss and Aida to have when I need it. Friday night was a stitch a thon over at Let's Stitch and I worked on Little House Neighborhood. I have really been enjoying this blog! It gives me exactly the encouragement for my stitching and in a fun way! This week a challenge was issued to stitch on our oldest UFO or WIP. I chose And A Forest Grew which has been sitting in my basket just gathering dust! To the side is a picture of where I left off. I hope to be able to post a picture showing lots of progress later in the week!

So many charts to work on. So little time to do it all in! I wish I could just blink my eyes and have my stitching "to do" list all finished! LOL! After this next order, I am putting myself on a chart diet. I can't just go cold turkey but I must cut back ALOT until I finish off a good bit of my list! Threads and fabrics are necessities so I won't include them in my stash diet! But I must place this next order before I begin! Sort of like having that last place of cheesecake before starting a strict food diet! LOL!

Photo Friday

Yes, I still have some pictures from our Wilmington trip left to show! LOL! I hope you aren't too bored yet!

Another Wednesday

In honor of the wonderful Fall days we have been having, yesterday I made a pot of my favorite flavored coffee for Autumn. Spiced Pumpkin! I don't know which I enjoy more - drinking it or smelling the wonderful aroma as it brews!

It is official! As of now, I have been smoke free for over a month! And this time I intend to keep it that way! I feel so much better!

I am debating about whether or not to add Family Reunion by Rosewood Manor to my upcoming order. What a beautiful piece and I do love family history! I guess I will just flip a coin to decide!

There really isn't a lot of news to post about right now so I will leave you with my progress on Little House Neighborhood.

Stitching and Sweaters

Ah, the cooler days of Autumn have arrived in our area of the south. At least for a little while and I am keeping my fingers crossed it sticks around! It is chilly enough in the mornings and evenings to put on a sweater! The leaves are beginning to change their colors and I see a lone leaf falling to the ground occasionally which means more will follow very soon!

Yesterday I stitched on Little House Neighborhood some more. I picked it up around lunch time and stitched for 20-30 minutes then last night after dinner I worked on it again for about 35 minutes. I was amazed at how much I actually accomplished on it during these short periods. Maybe I should work like this more often (in several short periods instead of one longer one). I seem to get more done by doing it this way.

DH went in yesterday to have the other tests that the doctor ordered for him. They had the results before he left but told him that his doctor could call him with those. They did tell him he could come home and they let him know that if had been anything to worry about, they would have kept him at the hospital. So that part is good news.

I worked on a new stitching order last night! LOL! Like I really need to get anything else right now! But there are a few (clearing my throat!) things I really want and I want to work on building up my fabric stash some more. I have the order ready but am waiting a while longer before placing it.

Everyone have a great day!

After the Weekend

I went out for a few short errands over the weekend. I really didn't want DH driving very much and tried to just keep him at home to get plenty of rest. I bought some more threads and I picked up some things for DH to tinker with over the weekend so he wouldn't get bored.

All in all, it was a just a relaxing stay at home weekend. I managed to get some more done on Little House Neighborhood. I probably could have gotten more done but I had to take time out for taking out a entire row that was off a stitch!

I found "And A Forest Grew" in the bottom of a basket (unfinished of course) so that has been re-added to my WIP list. All these big pieces on my WIP list make me want to start some quick smaller pieces so I won't begin to feel so hopeless about finishing anything!

I worked on organizing my charts. Finally! I used 4 square bins with lids (big enough to store large quilt squares in). One bin holds holiday charts, magazines and small leaflets or books, Bin 2 holds charts I bought and still like but really don't want to stitch on anytime soon. Bin 3 holds charts I want to work on kitting up. Bin 4 holds the ones already kitted up. This system will make finding what I want a lot easier!

Weekend Catch-up

My eyes finally began to feel a little better over the week-end. I just hate it when they give me a hard time. I can't seem to make DH understand that there is no pain involved. It just feels like someone keeps throwing handfuls of sand into my eyes. A very gritty feeling that makes me want to constantly rub them only that gets them more irritated!

On Saturday I worked in the yard for awhile and got some weeding taken care of. Not exactly my favorite thing to do but it was calling to me very loudly! LOL! After this I think I will wait for the weeds to just die back then add some more mulch and/or fallen leaves to the beds which can also be referred to as the lazy way out! I couldn't stay out there long as Harold decided to mow the lawn and all that grass flying around in the air just wasn't agreeing me very well.

I am still trying to debate on my next stitching start. I know I would like to do a few ornaments. Quick and something I have wanted to work on for awhile but I would also like to have a larger WIP. No hurry. I have time to decide!

While we were on our trip I drank my fair share of Micky D's iced coffee! Definitely a refreshing and yummy treat!

No News is Good News

Our yard has berries! The pyracanthas are showing their Fall colors beautifully and the crabapple is bursting with color as well! The mailman should be delivering my order of blueberry bushes this month! I took advantage of a wonderful after season sale and I ordered enough to make the birds very happy and hopefully have some left for us!

No posting for me yesterday. We were without TV, phone and internet for a good part of the day! Yikes! How did we survive? LOL!

Since finishing up on Good Things I haven't started on a new stitch yet! I know I want to start Little House Neighborhood by LHN and restart HOHRH. I am debating on whether to begin a medium or larger piece but it will have to wait a few days. My eyes bothered really bad yesterday and last night. I haven't had that much trouble with them in quite a while! I need to let them rest up a few days more before starting with small detailed work.

I need to go back through patterns and charts for my Neighborhood stitch. I found out that I have a class reunion coming up and I would love to go since I didn't make the last one but in order to do so, I am going to have to refrain from any stitching orders for awhile! So I will just use what I have in my stash for this project!

Time For Stitching

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday! Carol sent me a beautiful PIF floss ring symbolizing September 11th. I just love it so much! Thank you for making my day a little brighter, Carol! We must both like our decks for making pictures because I noticed her pic of the floss ring is almost identical to mine! LOL!



Here is a picture of my finished Good Times that I was able to complete before leaving for the coast! This was one of my focus pieces for September and now with so much of the month still left I feel like I should add another piece to take it's place!



It's a good thing that actual construction does not start on our neighborhoods until December 31st because I promised DH I would slow down on my cross stitch orders for a bit! I don't need many charts but I would hate to have to begin before I have everything!

We had such wonderful Autumn like days for awhile and now the high temps and humidity have returned! Fortunately, it is supposed to cool back down within the next several days! Hopefully those nicer days will stick around next time!

I'm Back!

Good news! I have found the border I want to use for my Neighborhood stitch! I really thought I had this chart in my stash but after digging through several times over and not finding it I just added it to my order list! It is all starting to come together in my mind now. I was going to put the alphabet in the border but that just wouldn't look right in the border I chose to use so I plan to "tuck" portions of the alphabet all through out the neighborhood! I will begin to order the few charts I still need very soon.

Tuesday, I got my hair trimmed up and began to pack for our mini get away to the coast of NC! We haven't been there (by ourselves) since the first few years of our marriage when we were still a twosome instead a busy family of four! Returning again as a twosome seemed to make this perfect anniversary trip!

I finished up Good Times the night before we left and it felt so good to put that last stitch in. Since I had no WIPs to speak of, I left my stitching at home while we were gone! I just love it when we are able to get away! It totally de-stresses me and I come home feeling calm and cleansed!

Since it was just the two of us, we got to re-visit many of the spots we had enjoyed before plus see a lot of new ones. It was a slow comfortable vacation instead of those wild "gotta see and do everything" family vacations when the boys were little! I will spare you all a super duper long post and just share bits and pieces of our trip (along with pictures) over the course of the next week or so!

The picture posted today is one taken while we walked the beach!