Welcome September! Long Post

The first part of September is usually a busy time for us. We celebrated our 44th anniversary! I remember when I was in first grade we had a class on promises. Promises we made to other people, to God and even to ourselves. I was very moved by this lesson and  I made some promises to myself about my life. Over the years I have honored these promises and tried to live my life based on them. I have even added a few over the years. So far, I have not broken one promise. Pretty good for a first grader, huh? One of them was about marriage. We had a nice day and went out for a special dinner.

 

I recently got a phone call about the kidney transplant program!  There are 3-5 steps to be fully accepted. I have passed step 1. I answered the phone! LOL. Talk about being surprised and overwhelmed at the same time. I attended my first class. Very strict rules. I don't know how long I would have to wait for the organ ( or if I will ever get one) but for now I am not worried about it. I am just really honored to be considered. I will probably find out around the end of this month if I have been accepted.

 

Several days later, the Grumpy Ol Gazer will have a birthday (it falls on Labor Day this year). I used to always make him two German Chocolate cakes for his special day. One for home and one to take to work. I stopped making his cakes for several years (because of health reason and life in general)  but I redeemed myself by making one for him this year and it turned out good! He will still get two GC cakes though. He finally quit smoking while he was in the hospital several months ago. I promised him I would make a GC cake for him on his quit anniversary each year if he stuck with it!

 

It has always seemed as though once Labor Day makes it's appearance on the calendar, the rest of the year just flies by! That is fine with me this year!

 

I did not get much stitching done this week because of everything I mentioned above! We have several more appointments this month but nothing back to back. I did go through my stash again. I had fewer WIPs than I thought. That is always a nice surprise!  I decided to work on another WIP as well. I had to dig it out of the WIP pile then I wanted to order some threads. What piece am I talking about? And A Forest Grew by Rosewood Manor. I have been working on this piece for OVER ten years! Time to finish it up!

 

While going through my WIP drawer, I found so many suprises! Fabrics, threads, patterns and other stitching supplies, all unopened! It was better than a Happy Mail day because I was not expecting it! 

 

I also picked up my framing! I had taken it all in on June 16th which was the last day of the sale. Her sale was such a big success this year with everyone staying home due to the Covid virus and stitching more. I will share a few this post and some more next time!

 

It has been hard for me to do much the past few weeks (stitching, cooking, taking out trash) because of my shoulder. I don't know if it is just a persistent case of bursitis or a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder. I am rooting for bursitis so I can just get an injection instead of out patient surgery. I could not get an appointment with him until the 15th of this month!

 

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well.

I'm Late. I'm Late.

I am late with my post out of laziness. I kept forgetting to take the pictures I needed. We had a week of big thunderstorms each evening. I love when it rains at night. I sleep so good! Back on topic, after all that rain we are now having a week long preview of Fall weather! Love it! After taking a break from stitching over last weekend, I decided to start the week off with a new start but my threads had not arrived.

I spent the first several days working on AAFG. I am almost finished with section 8! Only 5 more sections to go! Maybe I will finish it up by the end of the year (no promises) if I stick with it. A reader suggested that after I finish with it, I could coffee stain it to hide those old age stains! Good idea!

I usually like to begin my infusion project about the time I go in to see the doctor which won't be until mid November so I have plenty of time for a new start.  I decided to do something smaller and on the simple side so I chose A Sister's Garden by La D Da so it does not cross over into the infusion project. The colors are so pretty. Hopefully I will start on it soon.

On the home front, I noticed that my wild rose is blooming again! Our oldest has taken over the yard work and he keeps my bushes trimmed back nicely. Of course my Grandma would probably have a heart attack if she knew how he does it -- with a machete! But it works! LOL.

He trimmed my pyracantha bushes way back. We actually thought they were dead (which is why he trimmed them back) but they are coming back and hopefully they will have some yummy berries for the birds this Fall.

I am already planning my garden for next year. I have a blueberry bush, blackberry bush (both self pollinating) and a butterfly bush ordered. The Grumpy Ol Gazer said "but the birds will get all the berries" Exactly! And I am already looking at tomato plants along with several other veggies and fruits to put out.

I have stayed indoors as much as possible lately since we have had some terrible heat and air quality warnings.

Until next time may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

HAPPY DANCE

Creation Sampler is a finish! Yea! I can now consider this infusion project #5. I finished minutes before my I posted my blog. Below is my final picture (excuse the wrinkles). What you don't see is the second bird at the bottom and I have also added the year under my initials. I prefer to work on just one piece at a time but once in a while I will make an exception and work on two but no more.

I had planned to start a piece earlier this week but with errands and some left over side effects from the last infusion I did not pick up any stitching. I did go through my stash and kitted up designs that had not been kitted yet. I always like knowing that I can just pull a design out and be ready to stitch.

I realized that there are less than 5 months left in this year and I really have not stitched that much! Well, I have stitched but few finishes. I decided to make a plan for the remainder of this year and take it on into next year.

I pulled out And A Forest Grew by Rosewood Manor. This is my longest running WIP to date! I try to work some on it at least once a year but one of my plans will be to TRY to work on this piece at least two days a week until I finish it (good intentions). It has been stained over the years from taking it out and putting it back up. I will have to decide how to work around these battle scars.

Do you have any WIPs? What is your longest running WIP and how long how you been working on it?

Until next time may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

More Trees And a Few Birds!

Well, here it is another new month. Another new week. Another new blog post. And I still have my trusty coffee with me through it all! I am feeling pretty good about myself and the fact that I have been keeping up with my blogging after that long lull. I realize just how much I enjoy it.

I have had trouble with my email and have been getting a lot of notices that people are sending me emails that cannot be delivered. So I sent each person an email explaining the problem. THEN I find out that Blogger or Google is trying to send me a copy of the comments I leave on other blogs and THAT is the email that cannot be delivered! Pssst. So to those of you who got a strange email from me, I wish I had found this out sooner. To Blogger and/or Google, cut it out!

I was able to get some stitching done on AAFG. I was a little more careful this time and stopped working on it when the hand cramps started instead of pushing myself onward and making them worse.  

I got some stitching time in on And Heaven and Nature Sing. I am enjoying stitching this design!

 A surprise to myself, I pulled out Backyard Birds by La D Da and got some more done on it also! A wonderful Springtime piece.

We had some lovely weather last weekend and the first part of the week. There are buds on the trees and the birds were singing like it was Spring! I loved it. The feeders were empty from the birds gathering for food during the snow storm we had a couple of weeks ago. Before I could get myself up and out the door to fill them all up again, my husband comes in and tells me that he has already done it for me! It's those little things..........  

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

Snow Days are for Stitching

Is it Monday again already? Time certainly does fly!  We have had some extra cold weather lately considering the mild temperatures we were having.  We even had a little bit of snow around the mid part of last week. Nothing to get panicky about. There was no accumulation but it was pretty coming down. Then we got hit hard by a bigger storm several days later! A lot of ice and snow! Very pretty if you could stay indoors and watch it but a real mess to get out in! In anticipation of the storm, I filled up my bird feeders the day before.  

While we were stuck in the house because of the storm (did I mention that I was not going to try to go out in that mess?) I got a little bit done on AAFG. I am almost finished with the last part of the top section then I will move on to the bottom half. Half way finished on this monster! I can honestly say that I will think MORE than twice before taking on another BAP again! lol.

 

Speaking of AAFG. This was one of the charts that had mysteriously disappeared and I had searched for it everywhere I could think of. I finally reordered it. The day before the new chart arrived, I found the original one in my closet!!!! If I had not re-ordered it though I would probably still be looking for the original! 

 I joined the Joyful World SAL at The Snowflower Diaries blog (link in my sidebar). I had seen this little fox and blackbird floating around the internet on various blogs  that I follow. I thought he was adorable but I kept telling myself that I had enough to work on. And I do. But I finally caved. I have the fabric, some of the threads and I still need to print out the chart. If and when I decide to pick it up, I can. It might be nice to have a smaller project to work on so I can see a finish more often while working on these larger ones.

 This will probably be the last picture of the Our Father by My Big Toe that I post until after I have it framed this Spring! I finished it up this past week! It is not finished in this picture but close enough. I really did not want to work on other projects until I got this one finished up and set aside! Now I can start working on some of these others!

I am working on gathering some of my charts that I am either finished with or know I will never get around to stitching. I will be putting them on my Sale and Trade blog soon. I will let you know when they are up and ready!

Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart!

My Favorite Things

Even though it is still Winter, the Bluebirds are already shopping for a suitable place to raise a family! I always keep my fingers crossed that at least one couple will choose one of the birdhouses in our yard!  

I decided that it was time to pull some of those WIPs  out and work on them some even if each one only gets several hours a month. I do this every year then I get tired of working on them but this year I am going to do my very best to stay strong! I really don't like to use the term WIP. I prefer to refer to them as "in my hoop". Some of these have sat around so long because the charts mysteriously disappeared! I got tired of looking for them and just reordered the ones that were still available!  Among the ones I pulled out was And A Forest Grew by Rosewood Manor. This is my oldest WIP. There a few others that I will share as I work on them.

I was able to get some more stitched on the Our Father by My Big Toe. I am pleased with my progress on it and how it is turning out. The Our Father and the Apostle's Creed are basically the same design so I wanted to make them look alike by using similar colors but I also wanted each to be different in it's way so I used different fabrics. Who knows, I may finish this one up before my next round of infusions!  

I noticed that I have some new followers! Fun! I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy posting on it. Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

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!

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.

Solutions

I have made plans to get a 15 drawer organizer like the one Vonna showed on her blog. I just love it and I know it will help organize and unclutter my craft supply area a lot! I also informed Harold that I want a floor stand , also like Vonna's. I told him I could wait if need be and let that be a Mother's Day or Christmas gift. I think that will help my hands a lot when stitching. Sometimes I will notice that I have a death grip on the frame in my hand as I stitch without meaning to. Not good and probably why my hands give me such problems from time to time.

Our cold weather came back! We have had some very cold and very windy days. The kind of wind that just cuts right through you! The forecast is calling for possible snow, freezing rain plus lots and lots of cold weather. I guess our poor ol' yard is never going to dry up. As long as I can stay inside where it's warm and stitch, I'm happy.
No progress pictures of "A Mind..." this time around. I would like to get the entire zig zaggy divider completed before posting another photo.

I have a plan for both "A Mind...." and AAFG that should allow me to work on them regularly, post update photos and finish by the end of the year with no burnout on either one. When I saw that I had two big pieces in progress, my heart sort of got stuck in my throat! Now I feel like I can breathe again. Oh and my plan will allow me to work on smaller pieces for those feel good finishes. No, it's not a true rotation schedule but I think it will work for me!

For those of you interested in AAFG, the picture shows where I was when I stopped working on it (I should have pressed it but was lazy). I really don't know why I stopped other than the fact that life got really hectic and emotional for me last year. There are 14 sections (pages) and I am almost finished with #6 so I was right in saying I was about half finished.

Thanks for stopping by again! I always enjoy your visits. Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

I was Framed!

I went out this weekend to take a finished piece to the framers for the first time in many years. Oh my gosh! I almost had a heart attack when they gave me the price and that price included the 50% off coupon I had!

The gal that frames it all was real nice and showed me what they use and how they do the framing so I could buy what I need and hopefully do it myself. If I can do it like I am hoping, that will be a big money saver. I know there will be a few pieces I will want professionally framed which is fine but I will be looking for another framer in my area to do the job! I am not looking for super cheap. Just reasonable.
On one of the yahoo groups I am a member of, there was a discussion about the price of framing. Everyone was pretty much disgusted with the rates these days!

I love a nice pillow or ornament but nothing says "homey warmth" to me more than a wall full of framed needlework!

I did get to stitch on AAFG some on Friday for the weekly Let's Stitch SAT. I think everyone is a bit behind on their SAT, SAL and challenge stitching this month with all the busy-ness in the air! I know I am but as long as I can keep stitching on these a little, I won't feel that I have totally neglected them!

I have been making my 2009 stitching list complete with a few quilting goals. I am being fairly easy on myself this month so that I can get rested up and ready for the New Year! I have quite a few cross stitching and quilting projects I would like to get done this coming year. The actual list will be for my eyes only since it is fairly long but I will post progress on projects and also a list of finished pieces!

I am also thinking that 2009 just might be the year I learn to knit! I have thought about for a long time. Even as a child. I would love to make some yummy soft afghans to snuggle up with on a cold evening!

The Legend of the Carrot
A long time ago, the carrot ornament was very popular in Germany as a traditional gift for new brides. The carrot was believed to bring the bride luck in the kitchen when she would cook meals for her family, and when she was entertaining company.

*I would love to find a woodpecker birdhouse in my stocking!* (I will need a much bigger stocking this year! LOL)

Spring forward. Fall back. Daylight Savings Time has come to an end for yet another year! How I will miss it! I always enjoy it that extra bit of daylight! But it will return again in March!

Last week was a busy one so my blog suffered a bit. Halloween was a nice evening but we only got a handful of trick or treaters. We just don't get many anymore. Sad but still understandable!

I managed to get some more done on AAFG for the Halloween SAT at Let's Stitch. I have already signed up for the next SAT and this week's challenge.

Ours is one of the states allowing Early Voting this year and we were able to get out to take advantage of it over the weekend. We stood in a long line but I imagine it will be a lot longer on Tuesday!

Once again, it is time for monthly goals!

October Goals

1. Continue to work on quitting smoking - YES and doing good!
2. Stitch on WIPs - YES
3. Continue to build thread stash - YES
4. Start a new stitch - YES
5. Start some smalls - YES
6. Keep my blog current - YES
7. Exercise - YES
8. Continue to build fabric stash - YES
9. Place stitching order - YES and last one for awhile
10. Eat Healthy - YES
11. Finish up at least 1 WIP - YES
12. Join the challenges and SAT at Let's Stitch - YES

October Focus WIPs

1. And A Forest Grew
2. Little House Nieghborhood

NOVEMBER GOALS

1. Continue to build thread stash
2. Continue to remain smoke free
3. Stitch on WIPs
4. Keep my blog current
5. Exercise
6. Join challenges and SAT at Let's Stitch
7. Start a new stitch
8. Stitch on Primitives
9. Build fabric stash
10. Build thread stash
11. Get ready for Thanksgiving
12. work on some of my freebies

NOVEMBER FOCUS WIP
1. And A Forest Grew
2. Victoria's Quaker

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me again! Come back soon!

Cooler Days a coming!

I am behind many other bloggers in acknowledging October as Breast Cancer Month. My aunt is a survivor of it and I have a friend who was diagnosed. Earlier this year, I was afraid I would join the ranks of women diagnosed every day when they found a lump. I went in my for my test (digital) and had the results before I left the building. I was fine but at that moment it hit home just how terribly important is to be tested each year! Please get checked!

I was so happy when I decided on my theme for the MM&I SAL. I wanted my neighborhood to just ooze folk art. I really have no worries that I will get what I need before the designated time but I am already working on LHN Little House Neighborhood and HOHRH and want to start on VOHRH in the future. Where in heaven's name would I put yet another neighborhood? After all, our house isn't all that big! We have a limited amount of wall space and I still have so many other goodies waiting to be stitched and framed to hang! Then I read about Lisa's theme! Basket houses! I was kicking myself for not thinking of this sooner! I am notorious for putting little pillows and other goodies in baskets or bowls to set around the house! She has given me the green light to use her idea and I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted! I can stitch each folk art house, make a tiny pillow out of it and display it all in a lovely basket if I choose to go this way!

I decided to count my unstitched charts last night. The grand total is 87 which includes the new ones coming in but doesn't include all the freebies, magazine charts or the mounds of Christmas ornament chart books I have accumulated! I know I won't be able to make much of a dent by the end of 2008, but my goal is to steadily see this number get lower! I have 30 of these on a list that I am really interested in working on first and foremost. As they say, slow and steady wins the race! So this will definitely mean that procrastinating must be a thing of the past!

Today I wanted to show off a bit of progress I am making on AAFG. It is coming along so much more smoothly now and I am really enjoying working on it again!