A Hidden Treasure

While going through some tote bags, I found a CHS design I had been working on and obviously set down and forgot about. I know I wasn't really thrilled with the count size I used for it (Aida 14ct) but look at how much I have done on it! I thought about re-starting on a smaller count but I have way to much done to worry about that now! Now I need to go through and get the threads pulled out again for it so that I can resume working on it and hopefully have another CHS finish very soon!

While I am writing about CHS works in progress, Independent Mind is starting to coming along nicely! I no longer feel like I am stuck in first gear on it. I am almost finished with the divider which will make me very very very happy! I will share a picture as soon as the divider is finished up!

The rest of the week will be spent with stitching, appointments and if the weather permits, Harold and I will probably get busy with some of these projects we need to to take care of.

If I happen to disappear for the remainder of the week, I hope you all have a lovely Easter filled with jelly beans and marshmellow chicks! Thanks for stopping by. Your visits always brighten my day.

Spring Has Sprung!

Our neighbor had the tree guy out last week to take care of several in his yard. He asked me about a tree that sits right on the property line almost split down the middle - half theirs, half ours. The tree was in bad shape and neither of us wanted to see it go but it had become a danger because either way it fell, it would land on one our houses. We all agreed to let them take it out. For the neighbors, it was a sad goodbye because of the shade the tree provided. For us it was a sad goodbye because we have watched woodpeckers make their home it the tree since we first moved here.

Over the weekend, our regular errands took priority. I worked on AAFG and Independent Mind this past week. That zig zaggy divider on Independent Mind is still driving me nuts but I found a solution! I have opted this part for now and started working on the "meat" of the design! Once I started this it felt as though a huge weight had been lifted so now I just do at least one line of the divider each time I pick it and it doesn't seem so tedious! I will share a picture once I get a little further along and I give my hands several days of rest. It sat in my basket feeling neglected for awhile and I am hoping to make up for that. I really want a new start but am holding off now because I would love to finish this piece!

Kathy Barrick has shared some sad news on her blog. After I was able to resume my stitching after years, her designs were one of the first "new to me" that I fell in love with!

Saturday was beautiful. Spring was in the air! Clear blue skies and warm temps. Sunday was a different story with dark gray skies and thunder storms all day.

I wanted to share a picture of one of the walls in our living area. This is the back wall and you can you see my stitching light on the wall that hangs over my chair. Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Better Late than Never!

I don't have any big stitching news to share right now! It feels like a let down of sorts after last week's shower of framed finishes. I have been working on AAFG some more and it is slowly coming along. I don't why I just can't make myself work more on this piece. I am ready to pick up on a new start but I can't decide which one it will be!

While digging through some old boxes in my attempt to do some Spring cleaning and decluttering around the house, I found two older pieces (framed) that I stitched for my son when he around 2 years of age. I loved the verse on the one shown but I don't why there is no design. Was it like this in the pattern or did I just leave it off in an attempt to hurry up and get it done? Afterall, I did have my hands full with 2 little ones wanting my total attention. Either way, I am really thrilled I found these. There is one more older piece that I did for one of my sons that used to hang in his room but he took it down when he got older. I am hoping to find it in one of these boxes. I plan to hang all these older pieces up again but on a different wall.

Sometimes I play around with backgrounds while I have my morning coffee so some of you have seen a lot of changes the past several days. Too much time on my hands! lol.

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Ready or Not!

It's almost the weekend and it's almost officially Spring! I am ready for both!

After seeing AAFG framed and hanging on the wall at my LNS, Harold has taken an interest in my progress on this WIP! I know I will be thrilled once it is done and out of my WIP pile but now his interest gives me even more incentive to get it finished up. I have just finished up Section 6 and have a small start on Section 7 (which is the last section of the top half). Sorry for the messy look but I took the picture right out of the hoop!

Every now and then (just for fun) I will take a look to see how many followers my blog has. I checked this morning and I have 90! I know of many other blogs with so many more followers than this but it totally thrilled me and (at the same time) bowled me over that 90 people actually enjoy reading what I have to say! How neat is that!

Thanks to everyone for the good vibes about the dryer repairman. He came out yesterday morning and was really nice. He showed me some things and even explained it so I could understand. Our dryer is now fixed and since it was nothing major he didn't even charge us!

Thank you all for such a fun week. I enjoyed sharing my framed pieces with you and your comments really brightened my days! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart! Have a wonderful weekend!

Show and Tell #4

Last but not least (for now) is Lauren's Voice by La D Da. This was my first stitch of 2009. I liked the message and decided to use it as my own reminder through out the year. I am sorry the picture is a tad blurry but the light in the room was playing some funny tricks on the camera. I chose a frame with some inner beading that really plays well with the border around the design.

There will be more framing to show off soon when I get Thankful Wheeler back so just hang on to the edge of your seats! lol. I know I am! While I am waiting to get the rest of it back home where it belongs I will be searching for wall space! Goodbye old pictures. Hello samplers!

Yesterday was one of those "I wasn't expecting this to happen" days. Our dryer is on the fritz. The repairman came out and I told him what we thought it was. He was certain it was something else (without even checking the problem we mentioned). He did some work, charged us a nice chunk and left. When I put a load of clothes in the dryer - boom - the same problem was still there! We called him and he is coming out sometime today. I sure hope he listens to me this time!

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by to see me again!

Show and Tell #3

I got a phone call that Margaret was ready early so I picked her up before I had planned to. I am very happy with the framing on this piece - even though they had to re-do it. That's right! The first time around was just awful. Even Harold said it looked sloppy. I took a close up shot of the frame to show it off also.



I appreciate all the wonderful comments about the framing I have shared so far. These are the first in-store framing I have had done since I was able to pick back up on my stitching after a long absence from it because of migrains! Cross stitch was always my favorite hobby and it broke my heart when I had to put it down for years. I was always picking it up again just to see if maybe - just maybe - I could stitch again without a sad ending but it wasn't until around 5 years (or so) ago and the discovery of a new type of magnifier that I was able to make cross stitch a part of my life again! I was thrilled! When I got back into stitching, I was shocked to see how much it all had changed but I was determined to adapt. I was so happy when Harold told me to get all these finished designs framed!

I have found a new love! Usually when we go to the steakhouse, I get steak and the works but since I have been cutting back that just seems like more than I really want. DH and I usually go up there around lunch time sometime over the weekend while doing errands and I have been ordering a special salad on the menu that is too good to describe! Lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken bites, crumbled blue cheese, walnuts, dried cranberries, deviled eggs and more! I could make it but in a house full of "gotta have meat" guys, I don't think anyone would appreciate it as much as I do!

Thanks so much for stopping by again and putting a smile on my face! Have a wonderful day!

Show and Tell #2

Next up on my framed list is Blessed are all the Needleworkers. This was a design in The Gift of Stitching online magazine but I just can't remember which issue without pulling them all out and digging through them! Actually, I liked this piece but was a bit disappointed because I felt it didn't turn out as good as I had thought it would. But now that it is framed, I am completely happy with it! It is everything I wanted it to be and more! I chose a simple frame with a thin gold band around it to pull out the yellows in the design.

I am already getting the itchies for a new start (no matter what I may have said in past posts)! lol. Until I decide what it will be, I have been working on AAFG for awhile. I kitted up several more designs yesterday. I have plenty to choose from, that's for sure!

There really isn't much news right now. I'll be back tomorrow with another framed goodie! Have a good day and thanks for stopping by again!

Show and Tell

I have been watching Who Do You Think You Are on Friday Nights. It's a collaboration between NBC and ancestry.com. It is a journey for well known celebrities to find their family roots. So far, Sarah Jessica Parker and Emmit Smith have studied their family histories. Very interesting and I couldn't help but feel excited and a bit apprehensive for them since I am an on again off again minor league genealogist . This week Lisa Kudrow will take her family history journey. If you don't get a chance to watch or record it, you can go to NBC.com and watch all the full episodes there.

Daylight Savings Time started over the weekend. It will take a couple of days for me to adjust to the change but I do like the longer days once in a while.

Wow! What a great weekend. I picked up three framed designs! I can't wait to share them all with you! This meant a trip to the LNS. I am totally thrilled with them! I told Harold that with the cost of framing, I better be jumping up and down in glee at the results! He agreed since he is paying! lol. One piece was not ready and will be picked up this coming weekend. Oh, I took Thankful Wheeler in for framing as well. This is it for awhile unless I frame it.

I will be sharing one a day so that I can stretch out the anticipation a little more! First up is My Home is Built in Glory. As you recall, I started this right before my Dad got ill and decided to finish it in his memory. I picked it up on the 7 month anniversary of his death. Very fitting, I think. I am 100% thrilled with this framing job! I picked out a nice heavy frame. No frills. Just something good and substantial to bring out the beauty of the design!

One of the charts the LNS ordered for me was in. I ordered the new chart Parting Hour by Beth Twist and an older one, Mary Corey by Threads of Gold. Mary Corey has not arrived yet but I told them to just set it aside for me when it comes. And by the way, these were already ordered before I said I would be good on my stash buying until next Market! I had to stick that bit of FYI in there mainly for my own benefit!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and uncluttered heart!

Happy Dance!

Rainy days have arrived once more. I did enjoy those warm sunny days so much! We even got outside and did some cleaning. DS cleaned around the front bushes while I cleaned out the birdbaths and filled them up with some fresh water. There is a lot more to be done though. DH and I talked about it all one evening and I was pooped by the end of our discussion! lol.

Looky, looky what I finished last night! I was so thrilled. Thankful Wheeler by The Goode Huswife done on 18ct. Aida in Natural with DMC threads. After I took the picture I realized I had forgotten to stitch the bird on the right side of the design. I am thinking I might leave it off and put my initials there instead.

Now to decide which WIP to pick up and work on. I am pretty much on schedule with my stitching. More so than in the past. One week a month for AAFG, one week a month for Independent Mind and the other two weeks of the month for whatever I please (and hopefully a finish). I was thrown a little off kilter last month because of all the excitement around here so I am leaning towards Independent Mind since it missed out on it's turn at the needle last month!

I hope everyone has a great day and thanks so much for stopping by! I always enjoy my regular visitors and it's so much fun to meet new ones! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Orts and Ends

Back in December I said I was going to hold off on buying any more designs for awhile. I did wait awhile - until the end of February! lol. But now it's time to get serious again, I will hold off on buying any new charts until the next Market! *fingers crossed* DMC and fabrics are fine and trading designs is okie dokie too but no buying designs for awhile! I must be strong! *big pout*

Borders. Not the geographical kind but the stitching ones. How do you feel about them? I am not a border person but I will do them depending on how much of the feel of the piece is in the border. Some pieces just aren't complete without the border. Did that make sense?

Over the weekend, I took some of my old orts and scattered them around the yard on tree limbs and bushes for the birds since nesting season is here for them. Nothing like adding a little color to the home! A lot of times I use an old suet feeder to put all my orts and ribbons in for them and that works pretty good too.

Our weather has been beautiful the past few days. Sunny, warm and just a delight to open the windows and air out the musty ol' house that was closed up over the winter! Today's forecast is calling for rain. A good day for stitching and getting even closer to finishing up this current WIP.

The Blahs Can Be Good!

What a nice weekend! Mr. Sun came to visit us and the temps warmed up to early Spring status! The perfect days for getting out. We didn't have any usual errands to run so we just went out and about. We are wanting to do some repairs to the house so we made a visit to our home store to get some ideas on items and prices. I think I found everything I want plus a few extras! Other than that it was nice dull weekend! No hospitals, no ambulances, no excitement and no stress!

It seems like it's been quite awhile since I shared any of my stitching with you and I have been hoping my needle would take on wings so I could soar through the rest of my current WIP but it is just taking longer than I expected especially since my bursitis flare up this weekend. I had to take it easy on the stitching a few days but in the mean time I will give you all a sneak peek! Hopefully I will have a new finish to show off and happy dance around sometime this week! I should be getting a call this week that my orders are in and my framing is ready at the LNS. I am not a patient person so it has seems to take forever! As you can tell, I am expecting this to be a really good week!

Yea, Daylight Savings Time will be starting up again soon. I know a lot of people prefer Standard Time because of the mornings being dark longer but I just love those longer daylight evenings!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your visits and comments really brighten my days! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart!

Nature Tells it All

The trees are beginning to bud which means one thing. We are going to have one more ice storm or a big snow! It seems whenever our trees begin to bud early this is what happens. Some people use Farmer's Almanac to check the weather, others just use the weather forecast. I use the trees and birds! You can always tell if inclement weather is on the horizon if the birds are dashing around almost in panic looking for food. *updated to add* The weather has confirmed that we will get a winter mix today meaning they just don't know for sure how much will be snow and how much will be ice!

I picked up this little table top trunk for keeping some of my WIPs in between working on them. Not really what I was looking for but I couldn't find what I wanted and this was on sale.

Besides the two charts my new LNS has ordered for me, I placed an order for several items online. I am trying to keep it down to a minimum and several are older designs I am finally getting around to adding to my stash. Of course, fabric was a must even though I seem to have more than enough for the moment. On my last visit to the LNS I picked up A&E by Primitive Needle which I have been wanting. I will introduce other things as they come in.

I have my own little yearly goal list and so far, I am doing pretty good despite all the unforseen "life happens" interruptions. I will be picking up A Mind again soon for her week of stitching. I would like to finish up my present WIP first though. I am about half done. I had to make a DMC run over the weekend because this piece really eats up the thread with all the frequent color changes.