Hello Again!

Another hot hot hot week! There were several days when the humidity was a bit lower but not enough to get excited about! LOL. I don't think we even have Spring and Fall anymore. Several weeks of the seasonal weather and then we jump right into Summer or Winter!

Here is a new update on Creation Sampler by Words of Praise. I am loving it although I did not get in as much stitching as I had hoped. I want to get this piece finished up so that I can decide on my infusion project, get everything together and get a head start on it.  I was able to get several more designs kitted up over the week. I like to have everything together and ready to start on but it never fails I will choose a design to work on that I don't even have the threads for yet!

I went through my stash over the long weekend and this past week I pulled out some WIPs that I have tucked away in drawers. I had started on Marianne Wenn a few years ago and was looking forward to working on her some more. I found the chart and the threads but the WIP was GONE!!! I looked in all of my usual hiding places. No Marianne. Ah ha, there was one last place I had forgotten about and there she was!

I pulled her out and instantly remembered why I had stopped stitching on her. I did not like the fabric. I had accidentally stitched on the back side of the fabric (the front side was mottled) and did not notice until I was too far along to frog it all out. I was trying to decided whether to pick up where I left off or start new on fabric I really like. With some advice from my stitcher friends, I have decided to start new.

I found several other WIPs that I will share in a later post. I was able to get several sampler designs to add to my stash as well. Ann Pegg 1877 by The Scarlett House and Summer Beaming Forth by Blackbird Designs. I don't even fight the urge or make excuses anymore. It's a losing battle! LOL

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

I See Fall

Glimpses of red and yellow are showing up in trees. The mornings and evenings are sweater weather cool. The sun is setting earlier and in the mornings I see a new shadow cast by our Japanese Red Maple indicating shifts in the sun by a different season. Fall is on it's way! Time to pull out my cozy flannel lounging PJs.

My dr. seems to agree with my conclusion about the weight loss. Nothing major or life threatening. My orders are to keep eating until I begin to put on the pounds then back to my regular daily diet as I get to my normal weight! So for now, bring on the cakes, the pies, fried foods and all the other yummies!

I finally got the camera back from DH so I could post a picture of my current progress on Marianne. I did make several mistakes on her already but by the time I noticed them, the damage was done. I could frog them out and possibly lose my enthusiasm for stitching on her, chalk them up to uniqueness or even the Amish practice of intentionally inserting a mistake in their work to remind themselves that no one is perfect (a practice I admire). I chose the last option.

I also goofed on several color changes and am just not very pleased with their look but now that I have a "feel" for her, I don't think that will happen again. I hope. I am still debating on whether to frog those out and change the colors. I am hoping once I get more done on her, those colors will not stand out like a sore thumb (to my eyes, anyway).



There isn't a lot of progress to show on the Mother's Tree just yet. Those Old Script letters are taking some time and may not be as quick of a stitch as I had first thought. Especially since I am already longing to get back to Marianne!

For now my plan is to do two lines on the Mother's Tree, go back to Marianne for a while, do two more lines on the Mother's Tree and so on. Eventually they will get finished!

As I show my progress on this piece, I will block out some of the last names for security reasons. I am working from the bottom up which is something I usually don't do or like to do but I am frantically doing some extra last minute family history research for one last name to add at the top. I have 8 names which was my original goal but I just want more! Greedy me!



Since I'm not totally sure of the finished size yet, I am using a really big piece of fabric to play it safe. I have already gone past my anticipated width. Ugh.

I received a suggestion to stitch the names the person went by in a solid color. I liked that idea, so be it. Also, I am stitching the full given names of the ones I know. The rest of the names are stitched as the chart calls for. First letters of each name in a darker green with the remainder in a lighter green. I decided to only switch out two colors. Brown for the tree and my much needed red fix for the dates.

What are you working on or just dying to start on?

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

Long Busy Weekend

I can't believe that it is September! Once this month arrives, the remainder of the year seems to fly by before you know it! This month I will start stocking up on my holiday baking supplies. A few items each trip makes it lot less hectic and doesn't pinch the ol' wallet quite as much.

I hope that everyone on the east coast is safe and sound today after Hurricane Irene. We are far enough inland that we were not touched by her. The winds did kick up a few times during the day. Otherwise it was mild weather in our part of the state. We had our share of damaging storms earlier in the Spring so everyone around here breathed a big sigh of relief. My heart does goes out to the people on the coastline and those close enough to the coast to feel her effects and have to deal with her damaging wrath.

I had every intention of making a post earlier in the week but troubles with our internet connection kept me from doing very much online. Luckily it was just due for an update and not because of Irene. After that was fixed and running good, we had a whopper thunderstorm that knocked our power out for the better part of blogging time.

DH is taking several extra days off making it a nice long weekend. It's nice to have him around for more than just a couple of days. In the evenings, he works on his telescopes while I stitch.

Over the long holiday weekend we will celebrate our 35th anniversary! Wow, does time fly! It doesn't seem like yesterday but certainly not that long! I still remember...

For dinner one night last week I made Brenda's mac and cheese! Scroll down to post on 8/16/2011 on her blog for recipe. Yum! It did not sit around very long as everyone was going back for more! It was a big hit of the meal and I'm sure I will be asked to make it again very soon! I borrowed the picture from her blog but mine looked just as good!

I finished up page 3 on Marianne and was doing some major happy dancing. I still have about 9 pages left to go but the good news is that the last 4 pages are not full pages so that may help. I decided to treat myself to a new start and began my Mother's Tree. It looks really simple but once I realized how long some of our family names are compared to the picture on the chart, uhh, this may be a little more detailed than I had first thought! To quote Ricky Ricardo (remember "I Love Lucy"?) Ei, Yi, Yi. Oh well, it will still be a special piece! Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just start on everything in my stash! Now that would really be a MIP (mess in progress)! LOL.

DH has a birthday coming up! He loves German Chocolate Cake and his mother used to make it for him every year on his special day. After we married, I begged her for the recipe for years to no avail. She would not share it with me (or anyone else). I was sure I could find a recipe else where but this was the one DH loved so I wanted to stick with it. When she got older and tired of the yearly ritual, she gave in and passed the recipe on to me. Now I make two each year for the birthday boy! One for home and one for him to share with guys at work. After my MIL passed away, I got her cookbook that she had put together over the years. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that many of her prized and secret dishes were in there as clippings cut out from the local newspaper!

I am low on pictures this time around because DH borrowed my camera and didn't put it back in it's proper spot so I have to interrogate him later to find out it's current location! I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Monday and All is Well

I am stitching again! And more than just a couple of xx's. The Mother's Tree was calling my name but I still had to gather up all my supplies and several WIPs, supplies and all, were in my basket within reach so I pulled out Marianne Wenn. Terri and I had started this back in January as a private SAL. She finished. I didn't. I do love the design. We both made thread conversions. On the borders and dividers, I stayed with my chosen thread colors but on the alphabets, I have been picking up whatever I think it needs for zing. I will say that I am very happy with my color choices so far. I was lazy and did not press it before taking the picture. Bad me.



I am sure you have been able to tell by now that I am notorious for making color changes. Pinks, Purples and some blues just don't set well with me. Pastels in general (except yellow) make me scrunch up my nose. Those are always the first colors I change out but maybe I am beginning to mellow as I grow older because I am thinking I will begin staying with chosen colors for a lot of designs. Pastels and all. Not all of them, mind you, but more than in the past. You can see that on Marianne, I began tucking more pinks in here and there (her original color chart does call for some pinks) so it would not be such a total shock to my system later.

I gathered up my threads and fabric for The Mother's Tree by Lavender and Lace. It is done in two colors. A dark green and a lighter green. Very pretty but I wanted more color. A special piece like this really needs to stand out! Did I just say I was not going to change colors? LOL. In my defense, I am not changing the colors of green. Just adding some new colors in other spots! I need my reds! I think this should be a quick finish. No borders (yea! They are beautiful I but cringe at stitching them) and only one motif at the top. The rest are words and dates.

Last weekend, we made the trip out of town to visit the cemetery and place new flowers on the graves. It was a hard weekend but there was a certain peace to it this year. Last Friday was the forty second anniversary of my mother's death and (the next day) Saturday was the second anniversary of my father's passing. While in my old home town we ate lunch at my very favorite BBQ place. I grew up loving it and when I would visit, my father always made sure I would get big plate of it before we left. The picture is how it looked back when I was a kid. Does that show my age?



Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post! I did ramble on making it longer than I had intended. I was asked what DH's hobby is. He has loved astronomy since his youth but he bought the Mag Eyes for his side hobby of model trains.
Thank you for stopping by! I enjoy your visits and comments so much! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Better Late Than Never

February is gone and March has arrived! Even though February is the shortest month of the year, it always seems like the longest to me! I really don't know why. It won't be long now before DST begins again and with it comes longer days! Yea! I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. Every night I would remind myself "tomorrow I will take some pictures and update my blog" but the next day would always come and go with no pictures or update.



During the last week of February, there was absolutely no stitching. Things just got away from me around here and my stitching was put on hold. Occasionally I would look at it sitting in the basket by my chair but I was just too tired to pick it up. Here is the picture I have been promising of Marianne. She is moving along. Not quite as fast as I would like but she's getting done and that's what counts. Right? I am thinking that she will be become my year long piece so I don't rushed (which usually leads to a lot of frogging) to finish. I see so many stitchers just zoom through their work and I feel like I am watching my own progress in slow motion!




I also worked on This is the Day a little bit the past few days. Even though I haven't spent as much time with this piece, I feel it moving right along. Harold is enjoying watching the progress on this one since it will be personalized in memory of his father.

Once again we spent a lot of the weekend catching up on errands and chores. Last weekend we made a trip to the Choo Choo Store (yes, that's the name of it) for Harold. It is a haven for all kinds of model train supplies. Then it was time for my fun. We made a trip to the LNS along with several samplers I have been waiting to take in for framing. Last year I took in 5 pieces for framing but this year I only took in 2. I still have some others to frame but I think I may do those myself when I can make myself find the time. I will frame some but if I feel it is special for whatever reason, I like to give it it's just reward and have it framed by someone who can do a much better job than I can. I can't wait for them to be ready to come home where they belong! While we were there, I picked up some threads for another piece! There is nothing like some new stash to lift your spirits.

Our weather has been on the up and down scale lately. The sun shines nice and bright then disappears into the clouds for awhile but I am hoping the terrible cold temps are over for another year! The trees are budding and the birds are singing their mating songs so everything is beginning look and sound like Spring! I am holding my breath because it is still early enough for another storm! *fingers crossed that winter is over here*

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

It's In the Air

It's been fairly dull around here since my last post which as you all know is just fine with me! Drama and disasters don't fit well into the scheme of things for me so I treasure the moments that it stays at a distance.

We had our usual weekend of errands and grocery shopping. Not one of my favorite things to do because as soon as all the bags are brought in, we are pushed aside as two grown bottom pits that we call our sons scour through each one for something to immediately devour as if they haven't eaten in weeks! I have learned to just step aside and let them do their thing before attempting to put everything where it belongs. Otherwise, it could be life threatening!

Our weather has been simply gorgeous! Warmer days, clear skies and sunshine! I call this our Spring teaser because it seldom fails that we get all excited about the nicer days and the trees begin to bud then Winter hits again. I can just hear Mother Nature laughing when this happens and saying "Silly people. Haven't you learned by now that I'm not finished with you".

I have been waking up to the sweet sounds of the birds courting songs. The bluebirds are busy starting on their nests. They often make decoy nests in one of the bird houses as well as the one they plan to use in another house. Time to get the feeders ready and stock up on food to help them out a bit during nesting season. The business of Spring has begun.

My rotation isn't coming along very well at the moment. I keep working on Marianne and saying "when I finish this section I will set it down" but I just can't seem to part with her so I keep on stitching. Whether it is Marianne or another piece, I am just thankful to be stitching since I had to leave her all alone for several days due to an arthritis flare up in my hands and an allergy attack that kept me sneezing constantly. That's never fun!

I am planning to take in several pieces for framing next month and I can't wait to see them hanging on my wall! Along with this, I have gotten the all clear sign to make an order around the same time! Yea! I can't wait to see what kind of goodies I find to toss in my basket but I know that fabrics will be a priority! I really don't need to order any patterns but I'm sure a couple of designs will pop up from Market that I will make an excuse to justify tossing them in as well.

Surprises are always fun and over the weekend, the mailman brought the Guarding Eden pattern I had ordered. It was backordered and I felt like I waited forever for it to arrive but it is here all safe and sound now! I have tucked it safely away for now while I work on Marianne so I am not too distracted by it!

I am not much of a Valentine's person so we never do much for it. Even as a child, all I really cared about was the abundant amounts of candy in the stores. My Grandfather (who I never knew) was born on Halloween and died on Valentine Day. I could always sense my father's sadness around this time. My mother's birthday was just several days off from Valentine's Day and since she passed away, I don't feel much like any celebration around this time of month. When the boys were little, I made a special effort for them but they are past that now. She has been gone over 41 years and it never seems to get any easier for me. There are 4 very hard days for me during the year. My parents birthdays and the dates of their death. I am always a little bit relieved if I can get through these days without remembering what day it is because I remember all year anyway. These days just sting more.

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

Introducing Marianne

I am so sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I keep thinking about it but decided to wait until I get a little bit more done on Marianne first so I will have a good picture for show and tell!

Here is a picture of Marianne. Not much, I know. It seemed like every time I sat down to stitch on her, I would think of something I needed to jump up and take care of! I always hate when this happens. When I sit down to stitch, I want to stay planted in my chair. Other than changing out the fabric I originally chose, I also switched out hoops to use. The one I bought especially for this project was just way too large and I could hardly move around the bigness of it to do my work. So out came my trusty wooden hoop which I seem to prefer most of the time anyway.

My conversion colors were picked for the original fabric I chose and now I am finding that some of them just don't work with this fabric so I am going through threads and switching out some as I go. No real order or planning. Just choosing what I think will look good. The dusky pink I chose (on the crown) seems to cast an orange tint on this fabric so I doubt I use it again. I can see one great big mistake already in Marianne but I am not going to start frogging it all because I would have to totally start over. No thanks. I asked DH if he could see the mistake (without telling him what it was) and he couldn't so I will let it be. Can you see it? One hint - it isn't in the stitching.

I think I learned my lesson on conversions after losing my list for This is the Day. I pulled out an old but unused diary (of sorts) to make into my Conversion Book. From now on when I change colors on a piece, which I am notorious for doing, I will write down all the changes in this book to have for future reference in case the piece lands in my WIP pile. To keep the book safe, it will stay in a drawer with my fabrics.

I revamped my list of pieces to stitch this year with the main ones I want to do taking the top spots. Holy threads and needles, Batman! There are some time consuming pieces on this list!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I always enjoy your visits and comments.

Found!

We have had gloomy weather lately. Very cloudy and overcast. Those clouds are keeping the sun from reaching us and warming temperatures up. At least we are not getting those horrible snow storms hitting the north east. For that I am thankful. For those of you in the path of these storms, stay safe, stay warm and try to stay indoors as much as possible. Good days to stay inside and stitch.

I usually have a first finish for the New Year by now but not this time around. As I mentioned before, I put AWWR away for awhile. I still plan to finish it up this year. I have started on Marianne though. Enough talk about her. Time for some action! Plus I haven't stitched in a while so I was ready. It doesn't look like much right now so I will post a picture of her later but a start is a start. I am working on the upper left side border right now. There are 15 pages but the print is big so I am hoping each page goes quickly.

I had another "what if" moment and wondered about the fabric I chose to use. Would my lighter colors show up good? I pulled some Vintage Country Mocha to compare it with. All the colors seemed to dance on this fabric but I kept thinking that the sampler shown on Needleprint looked to be done on fabric closer to my original choice. What to do? What to do? I hate moments like these. I want to pull my threads, choose my fabric without any doubts and start stitching. With some help, I chose to use the Country Mocha.

Awhile back I mentioned a WIP that I thought was lost. I found it! It was safely tucked away among my fabrics (pictured in here). I was looking for a piece to do in memory of Harold's father and when I remembered this one, I knew it would be perfect for him. Now I can finish it up this year with that intention. I plan to personalize it in my FIL's memory just like I did on The Sparrow for my Dad. Harold seldom pays attention to what I am stitching on at the moment, but he likes to look at pictures of pieces I want to buy, so I think I will just wait till it is finished to show it to him.

Although I tend to shy away from them, I suddenly find myself with a 3 piece rotation. Marianne, This is the Day and Seek Joy. The last two are on my list of pieces I would like to see finished during this year. Once I get to stitching on all of them I plan to give each piece 2 days a week then give my hands a rest on the 7th. I still have to gather up threads for the last two pieces before I can begin a rotation. Should be fun (Not) since I changed a lot of the colors on This is the Day and it seems I have lost my conversion chart! So I will be eyeing the colors then winging it!

Thank you all for stopping by to visit. Until next time, may you have simple days and uncluttered heart.

Conversions and Gizmos

Another weekend has come and (almost) gone and was just as busy as most others but not quite as busy as some I can remember! We got our grocery shopping out of the way and did a few errands. On Saturday, DH went to his yearly Bob Fest (similar to a needlework market but for astronomers and founded by 3 guys all named Bob. Thus the name).

On the weather side, we have had a lovely weekend with pleasant temperatures but just how long will this last during this time of the year. It's like we are getting teased with a taste of early Spring.

Everyone has been showing their conversions for Marianne Wenn so I thought I would join the party. It took awhile to get them all together and feel comfortable with my choices but this is it. Of course, I may toss in an extra color now and then just because I feel it needs something. I have also pulled out Seek Joy by NNF (I might change a few colors on this one too.) to work on as well so that I don't get frustrated with Marianne! I made another run to pick up some more threads for both pieces so I will have plenty. I am hoping to start on her this week.

Here is the conversion I used.

DMC 906 - changed to DMC 471
DMC 725 - changed to DMC 729
DMC 312 - not changed
DMC 3818 - changed to DMC 987
DMC 433 - changed to DMC 839
DMC 844 - changed to 310
DMC 744 - changed to DMC 676
DMC 304 - changed to DMC 815
DMC 890 - not changed
DMC 3761 - changed to DMC 799
DMC 3863 - not changed
DMC 3713 - changed to DMC 152
DMC 3706 - changed to DMC 356
DMC 842 - changed to DMC 372

Once in a while, Harold will see a picture of a sampler and fall in love with it himself. Such was the case when I showed him pictures of Marianne Wenn and Guarding Eden. Usually, he shrugs his shoulders and says "don't you have enough to work on" but this time I could see that special gleam in his eye and the awe in his voice when he asked "you want to do these? How long will they take?" He's hooked!

Luckily Harold is good with computers and gadgets so he spent an evening showing me how to download my pictures to this new computer. Now I can post them on my blog once again! I am still learning all the new gizmos. I'm not big on change but obviously the computer companies are. With my luck, once I get settled in and comfortable, it will time for this one to give out!

When Does It End?

What a long weekend we had! First of all our computer died on us! We took it in to be fixed and they said it was working like new again but when we got home and set it back up, it was a different story! We took it back in and told them to just save a few things on CD for us and we ended up computer shopping! You would think that with no computer I would have spent more time stitching but that didn't happen.

It's been quite awhile since we had a new computer so we are still learning all the new gadgets and gizmos that have been added since then. Not to mention that computers have changed so much since we last bought one that alot of our existing software will not work with the new models! When does this madness end? No pictures on this post because we are still getting everything set up on this computer!

On the weather side, we had several days with temps that were pretty nice for this time of year but the cold is back and they are even calling for more snow early on in the week! Scientists are saying that all this wonky weather is definitely global warming and we can except our current weather conditions to be the new normal! That would mean (for us) longer hotter summers, longer colder winters and very little autumn or spring! I don't think I like that very much.

Market is coming up soon and I have come to realize that I get way too excited over new releases! I am like a child in a candy store running from isle to isle while yelling "I want it. I want it!" so I have decided to let my spurt of wonder and amazement run it's course before ordering! It's either that or we may be forced to move because of the all the charts taking over! *wink* I have already calculated that I will have to live to the age of 150 to complete even part what I now have waiting to be done! lol.

I am so anxious to start on Marianne Wenn from Needleprint! I hate to leave awwr as a WIP but I just have to set it aside for a bit. Maybe it is startitus fever or it could just be feeling antsy but I need something new. I have my fabric and threads for Marianne. I have changed a few colors. Some of the colors were just a little too harsh for me so I made some substitutions. I will be getting a large size Q-snap to accommodate her and hope it arrives soon.

I will be using 18ct. aida which will be make the finished piece 14x13. Not too bad and I hate to stitch on anything out of my comfort zone or I end up putting it down and this piece definitely deserves to be completed in all her glory! I just love everything about this piece! Like Terri, I am going to be switching out some of the colors. I am not very good at rotations but I don't want to get antsy or frustrated while working on Marianne so I may try a small rotation to keep things fresh and moving along.

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

News of Sorts

Our weather is still c-o-l-d with a big fat brrrrrrr on the end! The sun has been melting off some of this ice and snow but a week after the big storm, we still have plenty left and the temps get so low at night that it just freezes right back over again! I am so ready for Spring and warmer days (and nights). Everyone around here is sick of snow and ice after this last storm. We did have a major heatwave over the weekend and reached highs in the high 40's but everyone is waiting to see if it last or we slump back into freezing temps again. Our weekend was nothing out of the ordinary. Grocery shopping and errands. I enjoyed stitching with a nice cozy throw tossed over my lap.

January has not been the best month for us and a really bad way to start off a new year! Two busted pipes and two cars, both needed some major work!

Opportunity knocked at my door and I had the chance to make a stitchy order. Once in a while especially when you feel like everything is falling in around you, it's good to spoil yourself! I had promised myself that I would be good this year and not make many orders but when opportunity knocks........ *wink*

I decided to keep it small or at least not big enough to fill up the Grand Canyon! I knew I could not make it through the year without any orders so I set a limit for myself. If I can keep to that, I will be satisfied.

I knew I needed some fabric and threads. Check. Since these are basically necessities, I don't count them as part of my limit. I would like to make a trip to Mary Jo's fabric store to see what they have available in cross stitch fabric - if anything. Sometimes they have a nice selection.

On to the designs. I am not as big a A&E fan like many people but every now and then one comes along that I really want to do. So was the case with Guarding Eden by Examplars from the Heart. I first saw it stitched up on Siobhan's blog and the more I went back to look at it, the more I wanted it. In the basket and ordered!

Marianne Wenn over at Needleprint (scroll down to January 10, 2011 post) is a stunning piece and and the colors are breath taking! Who wouldn't want this in their stash? Terri has ordered it as well so maybe we can encourage each other to keep those fingers moving. In the basket and ordered (and arrived already).

I saw a sneak peak of Jenny Bean's Creation Sampler by Shakepeare's Peddler and I already know it will be a must have as well but that will after it is released! After this, I will be nearing my limit!

Stitching is moving along slowly on awwr but I still have high hopes of finishing it off very soon. My pie birds sing to me as I stitch! *wink*

I know I signed up for the Crazy January challenge but in all reality I only did it as an incentive to get my hands busy and do more stitching. If I can finish off these this year along with (possibly) another one or two, I will be a very happy person! I applaud and marvel at those of you who stuck by the challenge rules 100%. I have watched your work with eager eyes.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your visits and comments always make my day!