Home Sweet Home

It has been sort of boring around here lately and not alot to write about so I thought I would share some pictures of a few things around our house.

Have a wonderful day!

What a Special Day!

Yes, it is indeed a special day for our country and I plan to keep the tv on all day so that I can watch all the inaguration festivities!

I wanted to wait a little while this morning before making my blog post so I could take a picture of the big snow fall we got early this morning! LOL! The weather forecast called for 2" to 5" and was to begin late last night. It didn't begin until the early morning hours and we only got a dusting! *big pout*

Knitting lessons have been cancelled for awhile which in a way is a good thing. I was looking forward to taking them but the closer it got, the more I wondered if I really needed another hobby! I love learning new crafts but I think I have enough on my plate right now. Anything else might keep me from being as productive on my cross stitch as I would like. After all, I am trying to catch up on those almost 20 years that were dormant because of severe eye problems and migraines!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and stays cozy warm!

Monday! Again!

Brrrrrrrr! What a cold weekend! We woke up to temps in the lower to mid teens! Not your typical southern winter! I have seen winters when I didn't have to pull out my coat but it got plenty of use this weekend! LOL! I am still keeping my fingers crossed for snow sometime this winter! We are due for a good one!

Once again, I didn't get any stitching done on AAFG for the Let's Stitch SAT! I am starting to get frustrated about it too. Things like grocery shopping and out of town trips have been getting in the way of stitching on Fridays lately (or rather ever since the holidays)! I didn't do very well on my rotation schedule because once again I didn't get around to working on any Christmas ornaments this weekend! I need to get my chosen Christmas design out along with fabric and threads so I will be ready to go next weekend! I may set AAFG where it is more visible and that might prompt me to pick it up even if only for a short while!

One good thing I did this weekend was get the give a way and two PIFs ready for mailing! Hopefully they will go out by the end of the week if not sooner!

Here is a picture of my stitching progress on Victoria's Quaker from my stitching week (rotation schedule) on it! I got 6 more motifs done! Yea! Now to get the rest of my rotation in gear and moving along!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Hearts and Flowers

It got very hectic around here from the end of the week and all the way into the weekend! Hopefully life will begin to get back to normal a bit now!

I am not much of Valentine's Day or frilly hearts type person but this new design of Beth's has me doing flips! It is a definite must for me to get! I just love this for our bedroom (which I hope to begin re-decorating this year). This design could be given in a romantic nature or just something to give a good friend.

So far I haven't kept up with my 2009 stitching schedule very well. I have the weekends set aside to work on Christmas ornaments and I have yet to even begin on one! It seems like something always keeps me busy. I assigned the second week of each month to work on my WIP, Victoria's Quaker but the week slipped by without my noticing it! Fridays have been set aside as my AAFG SAL day at Let's Stitch and I haven't been able to pull that out yet this year either! I feel like all my good stitching intentions went up in smoke this month! It seems that after the Christmas holidays, it always takes me the month of January (or a least a good chunk of it) to get back my life back on track and back to some of form of normalcy. I put a calendar up on my blog and am hoping that will give me the added nudge or even just an extra reminder that I need!

*edited* I just looked at my calendar again and I haven't missed the second week of the month! So now if I can manage to pull out my VQ sampler, I can work on it as intended this week! Yea!

Mid Week Blahs

Like Vonna, I have a lot of current charts I want to give my attention to this year. I am sure I will buy a few new ones now and then but I hope I don't too caught in the shiny glitz of new designs so I can work on the many others that have been patiently waiting for their turn with the needle!

It has been raining here so much lately and our yard is a virtual swamp area! The weather has been warmer than our usual January days but who can get outside to enjoy it in all this rain and slush! The sun is supposed to show by this weekend and maybe some of this wet mess can begin to dry up a little! And it gets really depressing after awhile too! I know it's good stitching and sleeping weather but I need a little sun! I know we needed rain but not all at once! LOL!

I changed a couple of colors in Lauren's Voice to make it more compatible with my decor. Seems like I have to do that a lot (except with Christmas pieces)! LOL

How do some people manage to stitch up 50 or more pieces a year? Unless it was a lot of extremely simple ornament size pieces, I would have to sit and stitch 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to accomplish a high number like that! I'm just not a fast stitcher which is fine with me because I don't need to finish off that many a year! I would be happy with one framable size (or pillow size) and several ornaments a month though.

Rotation Hokey Pokey

Barbara was talking about rotations and starting them back up. I have found that I don't work well with rotations. I do have a few small ones that I can handle (and am taking with me into 2009) mainly because they don't take up every day of the week or month.

1. AAFG - every Friday for the Let's Stitch SAT. Now and then, I will also give this piece a Thursday when I have the time and/or desire!

2. HOHRH - The third Tuesday of each month (also at Let's Stitch). I am really in no hurry to get this piece finished off but I know I will be jumping up and down when I do!

3. Victoria's Quaker - The second week of each month (Mon-Thurs).

4. Each weekend is put aside for stitching on or finishing up Christmas ornaments.

This rotation will allow me to work on my WIPs while still giving me plenty of time for other designs I want to stitch on!

My coffee maker died on me yesterday so we made a quick dash to the store last night to pick up another one so I wouldn't have to do without my joe this morning! I definitely would not have been a happy person without my morning coffee! LOL! And DH knew it! LOL! We didn't have time to go out and shop leisurely for one so I didn't find what I would have liked but it does brew coffee so it will do just fine for now!

I have mentioned before that I love little pillows or small ornament size pillows. I fill up bowls and baskets with them! These are a few quilty ones that were gifts a while back but I still treasure!

Now that the holidays (and all that yummy food) are over for another year, I will be making more of an effort to make sure my exercising and healthy eating a bigger part of my regular schedule.

Be watching for my next give a way later this month!

Happy New Year

Good Morning and Happy New Year! Time to look over my monthly re-cap from December and list my new goals for January!

DECEMBER GOALS RECAP

1. Remain smoke free - YES
2. Exercise - YES
3. Work on WIPs - YES
4. Start a new stitch- YES
5. Work on primitives - YES
6. Work on some freebies - YES
7. Get BBQ feast for Christmas Day - No, I cooked
8. Work on building fabric stash - YES
9. Work on building Aida stash - YES
10. Work on building thread stash - YES
11. Keep blog updated - YES
12. Remember to rest eyes regularly - YES
13. Go to see my folks for holidays - YES
14. Family holiday get togethers - YES
15. Enjoy my birthday! - It was ok but I've had better!
16. Work on Delectable Mountain quilt - No, still building my fabric stash for it
17. Do at least one ornament for next Christmas - No. Just never got around to it
18. Frame at least one finished piece. - Yes

Focus Stitches
1. Wool and Flax - finished
2. And A Forest Grew - worked on

JANUARY MONTHLY GOALS

1. keep blog updated
2. Stitch on HOHRH
3. Remain smoke free
4. Start a new stitch
5. make my list of 2009 stitching and quilting goals
6. Stitch on AAFG
7. Stitch on Victoria's Quaker
8. Work on Delectable Mountain quilt
9. Stitch on ornaments
10. Eat healthy
11. Build on fabric stash
12. Build Aida stash
13. Build thread stash
14. Finish off a completed stitch
15. Exercise

Focus Pieces
1. Ornaments for 2009
2. And A Forest Grew

Wishing everyone a wonderful and Happy New Year filled with everything good!

I borrowed the PIF image from Lynn's blog. I hope she doesn't mind!

The winners of the drawing for PIF #1 (Notion and Thread PIF) are
1. Roberta
2. Ann

Please post a drawing for your own Notion/Thread PIF (along with the rules) on your blog and contact me with your mailing address so I can mail your PIF out within the next 365 days.

The rules will be as follows.

1. Send no less than 5 items per person.
2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, ect, just use your imagination. You can send a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads.
3. All I ask is that items be in new condition and not used.The rules will be as follows.

The winners of the drawing for PIF #2 (Fat Quarters PIF) are
1. Lynn
2. Mary

You will receive 2 Fat Quarters from me within the next 365 days. Please post a Fat Quarter PIF drawing on your blogs and "pass it forward" for the New Year! Contact me with your mailing address so I can send out your PIF within the year.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful New Year!