Happy Birthday, Mac!

I actually got a lot of stitching done on Footprints yesterday. You really can't tell in the picture because a lot of it was the satin stitches and back stitching.



I want to thank everybody for their wonderful comments on Footprints. They really help me stay motivated. :)

Today is Mac's 9th birthday. I always get a little sentimental today because of it. One reason is he is my "baby" our last child. But, the main reason is because both he and I had to go through a lot for him to be here today alive, healthy and completely normal.

He was born 11 weeks early weighing 2 pounds 11 ounces. He was so tiny! My thumb was as wide as his leg! I won't bore you with the details but he had to deal with a lot of problems for the first years of his life. Now, he is 9 years old and hasn't been to the Dr for being sick in at least a year or more. Actually, he has seen the doctor for more accidents than illnesses. LOL!! He is all boy. :)

We aren't doing a big celebration tonight. We are having cake and ice cream with some of the neighbor kids. Mac just had to have a '57 Chevy Route 66 birthday cake. We also bought him a new game for his game boy and a new outfit. He was even surprised with the presents this year. He thought I forgot to get his presents because I had them hid good this year. :)

Happy Birthday, Mac!

Busy Weekend

The weekend went by way too fast for me! I spent all day Saturday on the go. I had to pick Mac up from a slumber party, pay bills, do grocery shopping, and go see FIL. I had to get all that done by 5 pm! After that I still had to pick up Allie's friend to spend the night and pick up pizza for dinner. There was no way I was going to find time to cook!

Sunday didn't slow down for me either. I still had to clean the house, finish the laundry and take the girls into town to get a birthday present for Mac. I didn't get to relax until after 8pm each night! Which means I didn't get a lot of stitching done this weekend.



I worked on the border on Footprints. I have about 35 actual stitches left to do on the border and the back stitching. Then I will have all the wording to do which is ALL one over one!

5 Things About Me

5 Things about me that I haven't blogged about:

1. I am "allergic" to the sun. If I stay outside too long I break out in hives or end up with a sunburn with hives. Believe me it isn't fun!

2. I have had my ears pierced 4 times and my cartilage once. I don't wear earrings in them all now, only the first piercings and my cartilage piercings occasionally.

3. I have one tattoo on my shoulder blade. It is a unicorn.

4. I prefer a baths over a showers.

5.I don't like to go barefoot anywhere, even in the house. I always have shoes, slippers, or socks on my feet.

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:

Have you ever been to a stitching retreat?

A retreat, isn't that something like a vacation? :) Sadly, I must admit that I haven't been to one.

I didn't get a lot of stitching done last night. I did finish another stitched piece for my PIF. I have decided that I am going to stitch all the pieces first and then I will finish each of them. So far I have 2 out of the 5 pieces stitched and I have started on the 3 rd piece.

I still have one spot left open on my PIF list if anyone would like it just let me know. :)

Strange Weather

It was a beautiful day here yesterday! The temperature reached 65 degrees! It is hard to believe that a week ago it was below freezing and snowing. All the snow and ice we got has now melted which means there is mud everywhere you step. When Mac got home from school he found out exactly how muddy it is outside. He was walking up the drive from the bus when he stepped into some mud and he literally sank up to his knees! I didn't actually see it happen but when he came into the house he was covered head to toe in mud including his backpack. LOL I guess his shoe got stuck and he tried to yank his leg up and ended up falling over sideways into the mud.

I worked on A Time for Everything Sal with Becky yesterday but I didn't get a lot accomplished. I finished the back stitching and started on the lazy daises. I had put in about 30 of them when I realized I had used the wrong color of green! After frogging them out I just wasn't in the mood to work on it anymore.



I ended up working on Footprints for the rest of the afternoon. I ran out of a few colors so I have to wait to finish the border.



Here is a progress pic of Dani, the Stitching Dragon from Dragon Dreams. I had to put her aside for a bit since I have to order some threads for it. I really like how it looks so far! :)

February Goals

I haven't listed my goals in a long time mainly because I hadn't found my stitching groove since moving. I think I have finally found it and have been doing pretty good so here is what I would like to accomplish this month.


1. Work on Woodland Faerie
2. Work on Footprints
3. Work on A Time For Everything SAL with Becky
4. Mail off Winter Wonderland Exchange for the SBEBB

It not much but I really want to finish one large project because I am really itching to start a new project.

Stitching and More Stitching

I had a wonderful time visiting with Renee while she was here. We had all these plans of going stash shopping but mother nature had other plans! Wednesday we had a pretty good snow storm. The kids were let out of school early on Wed. and didn't have school for the next 2 days. We did manage to visit my LNS before the storm so we did get to a little stash shopping. :)

Since it was cold and snowy we were able to do a fair amount of stitching. I worked on ATFE and finished the spring scarecrow and started the back stitching.



My main focus of the week was Footprints. I stitched the lower border and I am hoping to completely finish the border this week sometime. Sorry the scan is crooked. The fabric kept slipping when I would close the lid so I finally gave up!



I did also started stitching Dani, the Stitching Dragon last week but I had to set it aside since I have to order some silk floss. I will try and remember to bring it with tomorrow to post a picture.

During all that stitching I showed Allie how to stitch on linen. I was astonished at how quickly she picked it up! She stitched a small design up in a single night. Now I really have to keep my stash under lock and key...lol! Krissy even picked up a project and started working on it and so far she hasn't gotten frustrated with it.

SBQ of the Week and PIF

Today's SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:

What company produces your favorite hand-dyed fabric? Are there any companies whose hand-dyed fabric you do not like? If so, why?

I dye most of my own fabrics so I guess I could call it Dawn's Fabrics...lol. When I do buy fabrics I really don't have a preference as long as I love the color. :)

I was able to work on ATFE yesterday. I wanted to get all the scarecrow done so that next week I could start on the backstitching but it didn't work out that way.



The other night when I picked up Mac's prescription I had something totally unexpected happen to me. We have been having some problems with the insurance company so when I went to pay for his prescription the co-pay was more than I had anticipated and I didn't bring enough cash. I told them that I would be back in the morning to pick it up. However, as I was walking away this gentleman came up to me and handed me Mac's prescription. He had paid for it! I was stunned!

I tried to get his name so I could repay him but he insisted that it wasn't necessary. He then told me I could repay him by "Paying it Forward". So, I am going to do as he wished by Paying it Forward.

Since a lot of other stitchers are doing this I am going to do mine just a little different. I will make 5 homemade gifts to send out to different stitchers. If you would like to receive one of these please let me know either by a comment or an email to me at msgal28atgmail.com. If I don't get enough people to sign up I will then draw names from the addresses that I already have and send them out that way. I expect nothing in return but the satisfaction of knowing I put a smile on somebody's face.

**I still have one spot left to fill on the Pay it Forward...come on and sign up! :)**

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Renee would be coming for a visit. She will be arriving here tomorrow night! I am so excited!! I am not sure how much stitching I will get done during that time. I also won't be on the net much either so if you do send me an email don't be worried if I don't answer back until late next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Trip to the ER

I had a very long day and night yesterday. First of all, I have had a head cold for the past few days so I haven't felt the greatest. On top of that the little girl I watch during the day was running a fever most of yesterday. It wasn't a high fever just a low grade one but it was enough to make her clingy all day long. I had planned on stitching that evening but my son had different plans.

We hadn't been home for more than 30 minutes when Mac was playing with the dog's Frisbee and somehow got something in his eye. As soon as I tried to flush his eye out he starting screaming like I had poured acid in his eye. So, now I had to get him calmed down and keep him from rubbing his eye and still try to see what was in his eye. I couldn't see anything but his eye was pure red, too. I had Mike look at his eye and he found a bump on the white of his eye so we decided to head to the Emergency Room.

Emergency Room waiting is enough to drive any sane person insane! I am not kidding when I say we were there from 6 pm until 11 pm!! Agghhh! I would really like to know why does it take forever to be seen in the ER?

Anyways, when Mac was finally seen they had to numb his eye which caused Mac to scream because it burned his eye at first. After that they put some kind of medicine in his eye that turned it florescent yellow. Then they had to use a black light to look at his eye. It was freaky looking! He looked like a zombie with those glow in the dark yellow eyes! Of course Mac being the boy he is thought it was cool...lol.

The final conclusion was that he scraped his eye right across the pupil and iris. The bump Mike saw they "think" is just a bunch of blood vessels bunched up. They didn't think it was anything to be real concerned about but I still should take him to the eye doctor and have it checked out. They went ahead and prescribed him some ointment to put in his eye and finally let us go around 11:00 pm. I still had to get his medicine filled since they wanted me to put it in his eye as soon as we got home. That put us home around 11:30 pm!

I really didn't think Mac would want to go to school today but he wanted to go this morning. I personally think it was to brag to the other kids about his visit to the ER.

As you can probably guess I didn't get to work on my stitching last night. So, I am going to work on ATFE for a little while today and then work on Footprints later this evening.

Footprints Update

I had yesterday's post all ready to go when all of a sudden the computer crashed. Grrr...I was ready to click on save, too! Anyways, to sum it up, we didn't do a lot this weekend because it was cold and rainy. So, I had lots of time to stitch on Footprints. Here was my progress up till Sunday night.



And here is my progress from yesterday.



Today I will be stitching on A Time For Everything SAL with Becky.

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ is:

Have you had a happy dance yet this year? If so, tell us about it! (Or just point to the entry that talks about it.) If not, when do you predict it will be?

I have had 2 finishes this year. My first finish is technically only a half of a happy dance since I haven't finished the finishing. My second finish has to remain a secret until my partner receives it for the Winter Wonderland Exchange(WWE) on the SBEBB.

I had a wonderfully peaceful and relaxing day yesterday. I had no kids to watch from 8 am until 3:30 pm! I took this time to get caught up on some sewing and finished my partner's piece for the WWE. I might add that I am extremely pleased with how it looks, too. :) After having such a good morning I treated myself to one of those rare and precious things in my house called a nap.

We have no plans for this weekend because we could get some more bad weather. We were lucky last storm and didn't lose our power and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we don't lose power with this storm either. If we do lose power, we are lucky enough to be able to to to FIL's house since he has a wood stove.

The thought of a bad snow storm would bring most people's spirits down but not me! The only reason it doesn't is I know that I will get some good stitching done. :) Although, I am not sure if I will get a lot done this weekend since, Krissy, my 13 yr old has decided to try cross stitching again. I can already feel the migraine coming on!

I have been teaching Krissy since she was 5 or 6 but she doesn't have the patience for it. Her main problem is her threads get tangled causing lots of knots. In a normal house, this wouldn't be a major crisis but my house isn't normal! Krissy is a perfectionist. Which means this could end up with Krissy crying and locking herself in her room for hours. The joys of having a teenager! :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Stay safe and warm!

Busy, Busy

It has been a few days since my last post but I have been busy! Friday night I got my hair cut. It wasn't just a little trim either I got 15 inches cut off! For a long time I had been thinking about cutting my hair and going back to my natural hair color. Well, I finally did it and now my hair is short and brown. I love the haircut but I'm still not to sure about my natural hair color after all I had red hair for the last 16 years.

Saturday was extremely busy with Allie's birthday. We ended up having 3 extra kids that night. Which I might add, that won't happen again. I didn't have any problems from the girls but Mac and his friend were being typical 7 and 8 year old boys...annoying and ornery!! On top of all that, the weather started to get bad. Mostly it rained all day long but it was cold which meant the kids had to stay inside the house.

I was woke up Sunday morning to a thin layer of ice. The kids went up the hill in the backyard and slid down on whatever they could use for a sled. All that fun ended when it started to rain again. Mike had to to and check on FIL and make sure he still had power because there were reports of power outages in that area. This of course, mean I was alone with 6 children ages 7-13! By the time Mike got back I felt like Goldie Hawn in Overboard where she was sitting in the corner rocking and the kids were throwing grapes at her....lol. Okay maybe not THAT bad but I was ready to pull my hair out. :)

My only silver lining was on Monday I was going to have the whole house to myself for several hours. My kids didn't have the day off for MLK and the kids I babysit were staying at home with their mom. One look outside Monday morning let me know that I wasn't going to get a day to myself! Over the night we had about 1/4 inch of ice.

I haven't done a lot of stitching in the past few days but I did find time here and there to put a few stitches in Footprints by TW.



Yesterday was my first day to stitch on A Time For Everything SAL with Becky in a long time! I was really excited to start stitching on it again.



I'm not sure if I am going to get any stitching done today as it hasn't been a great day so far. This morning when Mike went to take me to work he discovered something wrong with the clutch in the truck so we were going to have to take the car. No big deal other than it had a layer of ice on it. The doors were frozen shut so I was helping Mike pour water on it when I slipped on the porch and fell. I know it looked hilarious since I ended up dumping the pitcher of water all over myself! Believe me not a great way to start the day!

I'm Such A Flake

Since I decided to go ahead and stitch another pattern I can show you what it looks like. :) I got this pattern from my LNS is a booklet of freebies I was given. It is from Stitchy Kitty and is called I'm Such a Flake. All I have left to do is attach the carrot nose.



The next time I stitch this one I will be sure to use a darker fabric.

A Happy Dance (Somewhat)

I finished my first piece for the year last night. It didn't exactly go as I had planned so its not much of a HD right now. My first problem that I ran into was the color of fabric I used at first. The colors of the design are kind of light and I used an oatmeal colored fabric....what was I thinking! I only got about 20 stitches in before I realized that the fabric was too light. No biggie, I have done that hundreds of times.

The brick wall that I ran into was the fabric I have for the design didn't look so great once it was finished and laying on it. So now I either have to stitch something else or go in search of some fabric that looks better. I have opted for stitching something else. So last night at 11pm, I was matching flosses to the fabric for a new pattern.

It's going to be a busy weekend for us. Allie turns 12 tomorrow. I can't believe that she is almost a teenager! Allie is planning on having a couple of girls spend the night. I am not sure if it will happen because we are expecting some nasty weather this weekend. Right now they are forecasting about an inch of ice between Sat and Sun.

Personally I love the winter time. When I was growing up in Iowa we used to get a lot of snow which meant a lot of snow days for the kids and parents. On those days, my brother and I would go out and have snowball fights usually with me losing and then when we got cold we would run into the house and get warmed by the wood burning stove while drinking hot chocolate. Ah, childhood memories. :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Happy Stitching!!

SBQ of the Week

Do you dream of running your own LNS/ONS? If so, tell us about your dream. If not, tell us about your cross stitch dream… maybe you dream of designing, dyeing your own floss or fabric, etc.

I had to smile at this week's questions because I am constantly pointing out places that would be "perfect" for a cross stitch shop. Here is where is gets a little silly...it would be LNS and a pet shop all in one. I wouldn't have anything exotic just normal kittens and puppies.

I want the atomosphere to be relaxed and fun. I have been to some LNS that are quite stuffy and that makes me uncomfortable. I would also like for it to be somewhat kid friendly. I don't have much of a problem now, but when the kids were younger I always dreaded taking them with to the LNS. It's a dream. lol

I didn't get any fabric dyeing done last night. I forgot to buy some rubber gloves. Bummer! I did get some fabric cut for some other patterns. Yep, the tape measure showed up...in my daughters' room of all places.

I did squeeze in some time to stitch on WF. I didn't get a lot done. I worked on the border on the right side. It's going slow but slow is better than nothing at all!

Christine-I hope you get to stitch on her again soon!

Good News

I was sitting here this morning feeling blah when I got the most uplifting news. My best friend will be coming to visit for a few days at the end of Janurary. I am beyond excited! This of course means we will be going stash shopping. :)

As for stitching, I didn't get any done last night. I was going to cut some fabric for some patterns I have picked out when I couldn't find my mearuring tape. I spent about 30 minutes looking for it when I decided to give up on it. I am sure it will show up...somewhere...sometime. lol

I am hoping to dye some linen tonight. It has been awhile since I have done some fabric dyeing plus my stash pile of dyed fabrics is getting low. If I have time after that I am going to work on WF.

Woodland Faerie Update

We had a pretty nice weekend. Mike had the whole weekend off work. This is the first time in about 2 months he has had more than one day a week off! We didn't do anything Friday night, so I played around with the camera. I am still having a few problems with it but I did manage to get at least one photo that I could post. :)



It is hard to believe that I have been working on this Woodland Faerie for a year now! I am pleased with she looks on the fabric.

A Shocking Present

Last week while talking to my brother, he asked if I would like to have his old (it is only about a year old) digital camera. I told him that I would like it but I didn't give it much thought. I love my brother to death but most of the time when asks if I would like something it never shows up. So later that day, when I got an email from my brother telling me that he had mailed the camera to me I still wasn't going to hold my breath.

When I got home Wednesday night there was a small package waiting for me from my brother. I can not put in words at how shocked I was that my brother actually sent something he said he was going to send! That is when I looked at the handwriting and realized that it was his girlfriends' handwriting. So now I get to tease him that he actually didn't mail it! :)

In the package, he sent some stuff for Mike and the camera. Here is where the "Townsend Luck" begins. My brother had already told me he couldn't find the software for the camera. No biggie I could get that with no problem. What I didn't think about was the cable for the camera. At first Mike thought he had one in his pile of computer stuff. Nope, no such luck. So now I have to make a run to the store to get that.

I did get the software installed and borrowed a cord from a friend and played around for a little while. My balloon burst when I transferred the pictures to the computer and realized that the bottom part of the pictures were either cut off or had a solid color running across the bottom. Grrr..now I have to uninstall and reinstall the program or at least I hope that works! Not my idea of fun. By the time this happened it was late so I just went to bed.

I was really hoping to have some pictures to share with you today but it looks like it will be sometime next week.

New Exchanges

I hope everyone had a good New Year's Eve and Day. We had a nice night. We stayed at home with the kids. Allie had a friend spend the night with her. Everyone stayed up to midnight and celebrated with hot chocolate with marshmallows.

New Year's Day was pretty calm. Allie went to spend the night with her friend. Mike and Mac played their games. Krissy was content to have the bedroom to herself for a day so she could listen to music and read her books. That left me free to stitch for awhile. I worked on WF and got a good chunk of page 3 done.

In the past few days I have gotten my names for the Winter Wonderland Exchange on the SBEBB and the Birthday Exchange on The Robin's Nest. I have been looking in my patterns. I think I have the Winter Exchange pattern picked out but I have to order some threads. Since I haven't had to special order anything from my LNS, I am not sure how long it will take. So to be prepared I have a back up pattern picked out and and kitted up ready to stitch.

The Birthday exchange isn't due until December but one can't start too early...or can you? Anyways, while I won't start the actually stitching I am on the look out for the perfect pattern.

I finally made a linen run last weekend. I was a good girl and didn't go overboard. (only because hubby was with me) I bought a 1/2 yard of 32 count oyster linen. That should be enough to keep me busy for awhile.

2006 Finishes

It's is hard to believe that in a few days it will be 2007. I didn't do too bad this year in my stitching considering I had a 500 mile move last April.

2006 Finishes

1. You're Special-birthday exchange
2. Itching to Stitch-lottery exchange
3. Leaves-RR
4. Winter Arches-RR
5. Unicorn and Fairy Magic-large piece
6. Dance of the Bumblebee-Adopt A Stitcher exchange
7. Teapots-RR
8. Happy Easter-Easter exchange
9. Special Stitcher-birthday exchange
10. Our Days-large piece
11. Night Garden-RR
12. Herbs and Spices-large piece
13. Elemental Dragons-RR
14. Seasonal Chairs-RR
15. You'll Always Be My Best Friend-birthday exchange
16. Deepest Love-large piece
17. (The) Fortunate Traveler-large piece
18. O' Christmas Tree-gift

19. Santa's Unexpected Gift-gift
20. Jeweled Ornament-gift
21. Britty Christmas Kitty-gift
22. Britty Christmas Puppy-gift
23. Love-gift
24. Christmas Mosaic Ornament-gift
25. Paws Off-gift
26. Health and Happiness-gift
27. Forget Love-gift
28. Cottege Garden Fairy-large piece

Right now we don't have any big plans for New Year's Eve. First of all, we live in a dry county which means you can not buy ANY alcohol anywhere within the county lines. If you would like a beer or have a drink at a bar you have to drive at least 40-45 minutes one way!

I had been considering starting a new rotation at the first of the year but I have decided against it. So I will be stitching whatever screams at me to stitch. I have decided that I am not going to start any new large pieces until I have finished Woodland Faerie, Footprints, and A Time For Everything. Right now, I am focused on Woodland Faerie.

Of course, this doesn't mean I won't be participating in a few exchanges. I received my person's name for the Winter Wonderland Exchange on the SBEBB. I am looking forward to doing this exchange. I haven't really done one since the move. At least it gives me a reason to go stash shopping. :)

This will be my last post for 2006 so I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Years.

Happy New Year's!!

A Good Christmas

We had a pretty good Christmas this year. Mike was supposed to have a 3 day weekend but at the last minute (again!) they decided that they needed him to work on Saturday.

Christmas Eve was spent rushing around all day to get things done. I had to drop off presents for some friends. Then we had to go to my FIL's to give presents and to see if he was coming over for dinner on Christmas. After that I was one of the thousands of last minute shoppers trying to pick up the last minute things. It was a mess!

When I got home I still had to finish up the present wrapping and try and keep nosey kids out of my room. I got as much as I could get done with the kids awake so we went and made banana bread for Santa this year.

Finally around 9:00 pm the kids went to bed. The last one didn't fall asleep till around an hour later. It was around midnight before we actually got to bed. At 3:00 am Christmas morning, Mac woke us up because Santa had been there. The kids had a good Christmas. They each got what they really wanted for Christmas this year. I even got presents for the pets. Zoey got a fur mouse filled with catnip and Girly got a new squeak toy shaped like a cheeseburger. I thought Zoey lost her mouse until last night when I took the Christmas tree down. It was in the tree! Grrr...ornery cat!

With all of that going on I did get some time to work on Woodland Faerie. I am now at officially 50 percent done! Whoo-hoo! I probably will work on her for the rest of the week.

Merry Christmas

I wanted to take a quick minute to wish each and everyone a Safe and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Chrismas Party

I survived my hubby's Christmas party for work last night. It was held at a local steakhouse. The food wasn't anything to brag about. First of all, why is it in my salads do I always get a big chunk of the core in my salad? I was looking forward to the steak I had ordered so the salad thing didn't bother me too much. I had ordered a drink when to my amazement I was informed that they were out of daiquiri mix and was there something else I would like? Nope, water would be fine.

So far up to this point I have had a sucky salad and no daiquiri (which I had been looking forward too!). As my side I had ordered french fries to be safe and it was a good thing because the steak wasn't very good. They had used way too much pepper on it and it was too pink for me. The only thing I can say after almost an hour wait at least it was warm when it was served.

The rest of the evening went fine. They did their grab bag. It was left up to you if you wanted to get a gag gift or something useful. We bought a sausage and cheese gift box. We ended up with a bottle of rum! Will most definitely find a use for that. LOL

After 3:45 pm today my world becomes all children. My kids get out for winter break today. I had thought they got out yesterday but that was for the little boy and his sister that I babysit. Of course, that isn't mentioning my daughter's friends that will be coming over for visits and sleep overs. I have one word....HELP!

As a matter of fact, I bet that one of the girls either ask to stay with a friend or wants to have them spend tonight. So I am already prepared, we will do some more holiday baking tonight and possible get a DVD to watch tonight. If the choice is left up to me it will be the original "It's A Wonderful Life" but I probably will be out voted.

Only 6 More Days..

till my kids can quit driving me nuts about presents!! Since I actually got started early on shopping this year I managed to get just about everything the kids wanted this year. We aren't going anywhere for Christmas this year so it will be nice to relax on a holiday. We will be going to see my FIL but that is only about a 30 minute drive.

I didn't make a fabric run again last weekend. I had 2 extra kids staying the night on Saturday so I didn't go anywhere. Which means I didn't get a lot of time to stitch.

I did stitch a bit on Woodland Faerie last night. I have been working on this one for almost a year now and I'm only about 40 percent done! I really like the pattern but I have to admit that this is a pattern I don't foresee myself re-stitching anytime soon.

I signed up for the Winter Wonderland Exchange on the SBEBB. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to stitch but I have to check with my local LNS to see if they have everything I need first. I'm looking forward to getting back into the exchanges. I haven't participated in one since we moved last April. I was trying to wait till things calmed down but I think things are as calm as they are going to be with a teenager in the house.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Do you have any good Internet links to tutorials for your favorite finishing techniques that you would like to share?

I do use some tutorials but then again I don't. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? I will read how to make something but I seldom stick to the tutorial.

I have been working on Woodland Faerie this week. I have made some progress but nothing to get to excited about. I didn't make my fabric run last week so I haven't worked on anymore ornaments. I have enough finished now for my family(mom and brother), friends, and teachers.

I'm not sure how much stitching or baking I will get done for the next few days. Tonight I have to go to a concert for the one of the kids I babysit, Monday night is Mac's Christmas concert, Tuesday night is Mike's Christmas party, and the kids get out for winter break on Tuesday! Somewhere in there I have to finish up the Christmas shopping, too!

I didn't do any ornie stitching this weekend because I didn't get a chance to go to the LNS. I did work on Woodland Faerie last night and have started stitching the mouse. I am going to work on it later today, too.

Saturday was pretty much devoted to cleaning and doing the laundry. I got it all finished in time for Allie to have a friend spend the night and Krissy went to spend the night with her friend.

After Allie's friend arrived we went to town to do some grocery shopping. After dinner I started on Christmas baking. I made another 3 pound batch of fudge. I let the girls make chocolate covered pretzels. Which of course might have been a mistake since it looks like they ate more than they made. LOL

Sunday was my big baking day. I (with on and off assistance from Mac) started around 11 am and finished around 5 pm. I made

3 dzn peanut butter balls
4 dzn snickerdoodles
4 dzn peanut butter cookies
4 dzn chocolate chip
11x9 pan of rice krispy bars

but that isn't what is left! If I have enough time tonight I am going to try a new recipe for Russian Tea Cakes and make some carmel popcorn.

Cooking vs Baking

Here is are the ornies/gifts I have stitched so far for Christmas this year:

O Christmas Tree-Angel Stitchin 2005 JCS
Santa's Unexpected Gift-Dragon Dreams 2006 JCS
Britty Christmas Kitty-Brittercup Designs 2005 JCS
Britty Christmas Puppy-Brittercup Designs 2006 JCS
Jeweled Ornament-Ozark Sampler
Christmas Mosaic-Ornament-M Designs
Paws Off-Dragon-Dreams 2005 JCS
Health/Happiness-Blue Ribbon Designs
Forget Love-Sue Hillis Designs
LOVE-

I have a few more that I want to stitch but I desperately need to make a fabric run to the LNS. Which I have planned for Saturday. :)

I didn't do any stitching last night because we attended Krissy winter band concert. Then after we got home I made some fudge with my son's assistance. It turned out great! Tonight we are making chocolate covered peanut butter balls. They taste like Reese's. Yummy! I find it funny that while I am an okay cook and nothing to brag about but when it comes to baking I do great. What is even funnier is when I was first married I couldn't bake a cookie and could use it for a paperweight but now my cookies disappear before they can even get to the cookie jar.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I got to see snow last week. We got a couple of inches of rain followed by a couple of inches of ice and topped off by a couple of inches of snow. It was a winter wonderland Friday morning. It was bad enough to call of school and hubby's work was closed. The main roads are fine now but the secondary roads are still icy.

Since we were iced in for a couple of days I did get some stitching done. I started and finished Paws Off by Dragon Dreams from the 2005 JCS Ornament issue. I made it into a cute ornament for my brother. I also started working on Christmas Mosaic Ornament from M Designs.

Since we moved I haven't stuck with my rotation and I can tell because it seems like I haven't had as many finishes this year as I normally do. I have 3 large WIP (Woodland Faerie, Footprints, and A Time For Everything) that I need to finish before I start up a new rotation. I do know that I am going to try and get my Christmas ornaments done before December next year instead of waiting until the last minute.

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ is:

How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically, do you or have you ever used a waste knot?

Whenever I can , I use the loop method so I don't have to worry about securing my thread. However, when I have blended flosses or 1 strand of thread I always leave a little extra and work my stitches over it. I trim the excess after I have made sure that the thread is secure.

One of the benefits of moving back to Arkansas was that I would get to see snow in the winter time. According to the forecast I should get to see some by this evening. This time yesterday it was 70 degrees and now it is 34 degrees and falling. It has been raining since 5pm last night and it is supposed to turn to sleet/ice. Then it is supposed to turn to snow and they are saying anywhere from 4-6 inches tonight! I am excited!! Not for the bad weather or problems on the road but to SEE snow! I haven't seen snow in the past 6 years while living in Mississippi.

My kids are looking forward to the snow, too. Except that they are hoping for a snow day tomorrow! I am looking forward to seeing my puppy dog's reaction to the snow. She has never seen snow. She loves to go out and play in the rain and loves to attack the frost on the ground so it could prove to be interesting to see.

I had a good day of stitching yesterday. I worked on Woodland Faerie and got some more of the border done. Then last night I started another ornament. This one is A Christmas Wish of Health and Happiness from Blue Ribbon Designs. I wish I could post some pictures but right now I am camera-less due to some kids (not mine) dropping it.

Today I am hoping to finish the Blue Ribbon Designs. If I have time I would like to start Paws Off from Dragon Dreams.

On To Christmas

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my FIL's house. I still wasn't feeling great but I took some cough medicine and had a nice day. We all ate too much and now can't stand the sight of turkey at least until next Thanksgiving. Now we have to get ready for Christmas!

I didn't do any shopping the day after Thanksgiving mainly because I didn't feel great. I haven't been really sick in about 3 years and so when I do get sick I had to make sure that it was bronchitis. Yuck! I am starting to feel a little better but no where close to normal.

I did finish the beading on Cottege Garden Fairy over the weekend. I am pleased with how it turned out. I also worked on some finishing this weekend. I finished the Britty Kitty and Puppy into ornaments. I also made LOVE into an ornament. I had originally planned on making it into a pillow but I changed my mind at the last minute. I am currently working on finishing Jeweled Ornament from Ozark Sampler. I really like how this one is turning out.

Happy Thanksgiving

I haven't done much stitching the past few days because I have been feeling miserable. I am hoping to feel somewhat better tomorrow since we are going to FIL's house for Thanksgiving.

I wanted to wish all my US friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

Bad Hair Day

The weekend went by too fast leaving me feeling horrible. I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat and headache. I managed to pull myself together and go to town and do my shopping that I needed to do. I even managed to stop by the LNS with Mac and Allie in tow! Okay, so I bribed them with a small toy before we got there but at least I was able to browse in peace.

I didn't get a lot of stitching time this weekend but I did manage to start and finish a small piece. I worked on the 2005 JCS Britty Christmas Kitty and finished it. I also started on the 2006 JCS Britty Christmas Puppy and hopefully I will finish it tonight. These two finishes will be ornaments for my mom and her husband for Christmas this year.

I actually got on the ball this year and have started my Christmas shopping early! I have managed to get just about everything except for Krissy's and Allie's "big" present. We usually buy one expensive gift for each of the kids and then the rest of the presents are usually things that they need. I know what I am getting Allie but I have no clue what to get Krissy. The joys of shopping for a teenage girl.

I have to share this horrible hair story with all of you. I went to pick Krissy up from her friend's house Sunday morning and when I got quite a shock. Krissy hair was down past the middle of her back when I dropped her of the night before and now it was above her shoulders! Oh that isn't the bad part! They had tried to layer it for her! Needless to say it wasn't a pretty sight. When we got home I tried to tell hubby what happened and before I could tell him what happened he took one look at Krissy and said "If you want to go and get it fixed, you can". Krissy took that as an insult and ran to her room and slammed the door shut.

I had to explain to hubby that a girls first really bad haircut is a traumatic experience. About 2 hours later, after hubby explained to Krissy that he didn't mean to hurt her feelings but that if she didn't like it we could get it fixed, we headed into town to get her hair fixed. Believe it or not she still wasn't happy about it when we got home. She has decided that nobody but me gets to cut her hair ever again. At least she did come out of her room and go to school this morning. :)

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ is:

Do you stitch Christmas ornaments? If so, how many do you stitch each year and for whom? If not, why not?

This year I haven't made any ornaments because I haven't had the time. In previous years, I have made them for my family, friends, and teachers. I usually make between five and ten ornaments a year.

I'm glad it is Friday and the end of the week but that doesn't mean I get to relax. Hubby is working OT so that means I get to referee the kids by myself tonight and all day tomorrow. Tomorrow is a full day of running errands. I also need to do laundry (that is a never ending battle in my house!)

Will I learn?

I had planned on having a quiet evening and relaxing last night. You would think by now I wouldn't try and plan for a quiet evening because that just means it won't happen. Anyways, I got home around 4:30 from babysitting. The kids got their snacks and started to pick up and do some laundry. About 15 minutes later my FIL shows up. He is having some computer problems and brought it for Mike to fix. He left around 6pm because Mike had to work late. So with dinner and everything it was around 9 before I actually sat down and relaxed!

I did manage to finish stitching the spot on CGF wings and started the beading last night. I didn't get too far since I only worked on it for an hour before I went to bed. I am not sure how much I will get to work on her in the next few days since Mike has to work late and won't get home until after 8:30pm.

Renee and Jenn-thank you for the cards! They really brightened my day.

Last night I sat down to start the beading on Cottege Garden Fairy but after a minute or two of looking at the fabric I realized I missed stitching the top of her wings! Immidiatley my stitching mood was deflated like a balloon. Needless to say, I didn't get any stitching accomplished last night.

I have been in a blah mood for the past few days and I was going to cheer myself up and go to the LNS. Unfortunately, when I woke up this morning it was raining and is supposed to rain all day. I don't like to drive in the rain and won't unless its neccessary. So now it looks like I won't have a chance to go until Saturday. At least I should get the rest of the stitching done on CGF today!

A Good Laugh

I had a pretty good weekend. I got my house cleaning and laundry done. I didn't make it to the library as I remembered that morning that it was Vetern's Day the library would be closed. That just gave me more time to go to the LNS and see what I could find! I bought the 2006 & 2005 JCS Ornament issues. I also bought a beautiful ornament off the ornament tree and with my donation I received a freebie packet.

I had planned on having a quiet Saturday night but I knew that wasn't going to happen as soon as I pulled into the driveway. I was accosted by 5 girls ranging from 12-14 years old. Apparently, the girls' friends showed up right after I left to go shopping so Mike didn't get his peaceful day either. The day ended up with Allie having one girl spend the night here and Krissy went to her friend's house. We had to run to the girl's house to pick up clothes for her. So, while I am waiting on the girls to get their stuff so we can go back home the girls come up to from behind talking about how cute this pet was(I forget the name) and I needed to see her. I turn around to what I swear was a rat! Yep, I screamed and jumped like a little girl. I was expecting a kitty or a puppy since they have 4 dogs and a couple of cats. The girls were laughing hysterically at me and so were the other adults. I took it all in stride as the girls explained it was a cousin of the gerbil or something like that but they still couldn't talk me into petting it! I just couldn't make myself touch something that looks like a rat. Needless to say that was just the beginning of the sleep over.

I didn't get to relax on Sunday either since we had to go out to FIL's house for a visit. By the time we got back it was time to start supper and then showers for the kids. So today I am going to sit down and stitch this afternoon!

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ was suggested by Jan and is:

How many different brands of "complete" embroidery floss sets do you own? How do you keep track of it? (i.e., spread sheet program, index cards, palm pilot, etc.)

When I first started stitching I only bought the colors that I needed. After several years of stitching I have the complete set of DMC flosses. As for the specialty threads, I only buy them as needed. I keep my flosses in numerical order in plastic craft boxes.

I am so glad that it is Friday. Whoo-hoo!! That means I don't have to get up at 5:30 am to get the kids off to school. Even better is Mike has the day off! He hasn't had a Saturday off in 2 months. I already know he plans on do absolutely nothing. Me, on the other hand, will spend the morning cleaning and doing laundry. Then the kids and I need to go to the library to check out some more books and if I have enough time I am going to stop at LNS to see what goodies I must have. :)

I have decided to start joining in some exchanges again. After the move, I figured it was best that I didn't sign up for any because I had no idea what my schedule would be like. I am still participating in the Adopt-A-Stitcher Exchange. However, I noticed that I haven't been stitching small designs since I moved. That doesn't mean that I stopped buying small patterns...lol.

Have a great weekend!

Playing Catch Up

Some of you may remember before I moved I was working on Deepest Love. I was lucky enough to get a picture before my camera was broken this summer. I am planning on taking her to be framed and kept by me.

Here is my progress for Woodland Faerie in July. I have stitched on her more. I have finished her wings and the right corner. This one seems to be moving slow for me.



Here is my Seasonal Round Robing that Renee, Nicki, and Laurie stitched for me. I love it!



I stitched this little kitty up for my daughter Allie. I am going to make it into a ruffled pillow for her for Christmas.

I actually have some time to sit down and write a somewhat decent entry today. I didn't have to take my FIL or my kids to any doctor appointments for once. Last week I had to take Krissy in to the Dr because she had strep throat and to have her medicine changed since she has not stopped bleeding since she left the hospital. Hopefully, this one will work. I know it has to be hard on her but her mood swings are going to kill us! I know the Dr. is trying his best to this figured out but waiting isn't my best quality.

On the stitching side of things I really haven't gotten much accomlished lately. I am about in the same spot on Woodland Faeire as I was a couple of weeks ago. I had been working on CGF but I am now ready to start putting the beads on and I think it would be best for me (sanity wise) to wait until the weekend to start that so that the little girl I watch doesn't accidently knock them over. As for Footprints I am only about half done with the border so I still have a long ways to go on that one!

Since the move I have pretty much abandoned my stitching rotation so right now I am just stitching what ever screams at me. It just seems like I don't have the time I did before to stitch. Hopefully once the holidays pass I might be able to get back on a rotation.

Crazy Week

It has been a crazy week for me here. I had Parent/Teacher conferences for all 3 kids this week and I am proud to say that all three of them made the honor roll! My son even made it!! I am so happy since last year it was a struggle to get him to do his homework. I even made it thru Halloween night. At first it was looking like we weren't going to go because Mike has been putting in a lot of overtime (about 20 hours a week!) but luckily he didn't have to work late that night. Mac was a quarterback, Allie went as a punk rocker, and Krissy I'm not for sure what she was..LOL. They had a good time even with the cold weather.

I haven't gone back to work so I have started to babysit a 5 year old girl. She is a sweet child but has her moments. I don't think that I am going to go back to property management as most of them want me to live on site and I don't want to do that. I love where we live and would hate to give up my solitude. Plus I would have to give up my dog and my cat. We got a new kitty in June. Her name is Zoey but she get called "Buddy or Super Kitty" more since her and the dog are inseparable. It is so funny to watch them play together since the cat beats the dog up all the time. However, the cat thinks she is more of a dog than a cat.

As for stitching, I am almost done with all the cross stitching on Cottege Garden Fairy (CGF) and will be on the beading by the weekend. I haven't bought really done any stash shopping lately since my birthday is going to be here soon. Although, I have let hubby know exactly what to get me....a day of shopping at the LNS!! :)

I hope everyone is doing great!!

Time Flies...

Wow!! it is hard to believe that it has been 2 months since my last post! Things are going fine here in Arkansas. The only thing that the kids have complained about so far is the chilly weather. It was 35 degrees this morning when we got up. It never got that cold in Mississippi...we probably would still be running our A/C if we were still there...lol.

As for stitching I have been working on 3 different patterns: Woodland Faerie, Footprints, and the Cottage Garden Fairy(Thank you, Annemiek!!). I have also (finally) found 2 LNS for me to go broke. One of them has a monthly stitch in and I am thinking of joining them. I have talked with the owner of the store and she seems like a really nice person. I fell in love with them right away since they do carry some of the dyed threads that I wasn't able to get in Miss.

I really have tons more to say but I have errands I have to go run. I hope everyone is doing great!!

I have a few minutes to post some things so I figured I would. First of all, I miss all of my blogging friends something fierce! I didn't realize how much I looked forward and enjoyed blogging.

We are settled into a nice 3bedroom/2 full bath place in a itty bitty town called Avoca. It is so small that they don't even have a school so my kids go to school in the next town (Rogers). I literally live in the woods. I can't even get a cell phone reception! I love being able to walk outside and not have any neighbors. The drawback is I have to drive for about 20 minutes to get into the next town and even further to get to the grocery store. I haven't found a good LNS yet. There was one here before but I guess it closed down about a year before we moved back. *sigh* just my luck!

I have been stitching a lot since I haven't gone back to work. I finished up The Fortunate Traveler by TW. It turned out awesome! I wish I could post some pics but I forgot to bring them with me to my friends house. I also have completed some small things like Wish Upon A Star by J.Aikmen-Smith and the beginner whitework from TW. I am about 1/2 done with Woodland Faerie by TW. I think my next big project will be Footprints by TW.

As for the daily things in my life things have been okay. Last week Krissy was in the hospital for a blood transfusion. She had uncontrollable vaginal bleeding and passed out 3 times in my bathroom so we flew to the ER. She ended up having 4 pints of blood and 2 pints of plasma. I didn't sleep for about 3 days until she was out of danger. Luckily, she is all better now. She is now on estrogen 3 times a day and iron twice a day. She will be on the iron for at least a year.

Allie and Mac are both doing great. Mac loves living in the woods because he finds all sorts of critters and bugs. We have a constant supply of lizards and tree frogs. All three are looking forward to school starting on Aug. 21. Actually I don't know who is looking forward more them or me! :)

I am going to browse a few blogs before I head out so I not sure when my next post will be but you can be sure all of you are in my thoughts daily.

All is Well

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that we are doing fine in Arkansas. I'm still stitching away. :)

In less than 24 hours we will be on the highway driving to the Ozark Mountains. I still have tons left to do, too! We are picking up the moving truck this morning while the kids are at school. Hopefully we can get the truck loaded before the kids get home from school. I know they want to help but it is just much easier if they don't.

I haven't been stitching a lot in the past few days. I did manage a small start on Renee's Birthday Exchange gift.
While I am on "leave" from the net I am planning on still working on Woodland Faerie on Mondays and Deepest Love on Thursdays.

This will be my final post from Mississippi. Next time you hear from me I will be living in Rogers, Arkansas. I am going to miss blogging and reading everyone's blogs while we are in transition. I didn't realize how much I enjoy blogging until I realized I would be without it for awhile. I want to thank each and everyone of you that have left me comments in the past as they are a real motivator for me.

Night Garden

Last night I finished Laurie's RR for her. It was one of those days that I just needed to sit down and do some stitching to relax me. I stitched Night Garden from The Prairie Schooler. I was surprised on how quick I got this stitched and done. It had a lot to do with no backstitching. :D I was going to wait until after the move to start this one but I couldn't. LOL Now, all I have left to do is go to the P.O. and mail it off.


Later today I am going to kit up my project for Renee for the Birthday Exchange. I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to stitch for her. I finally found something on my last trip to the LNS. I have a tentative idea on how I am going to finish it but I am reserving my woman's right to change my mind. LOL

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ is:

Do you stitch "on the go?" (On the commute to and from work, during your lunch break, waiting for the kids, etc.) If so, do you have a specific "travel" project or do you just grab whatever you happen to be working on and take it with you?

When we went back for MIL funeral I tried to stitch while my hubby was driving. That didn't work out to well! Every time there was a small bump in the road I managed to jab myself with the needle. After about 6 times of that I decided that I can't stitch in a moving vehicle. However, I do manage to get some stitching done when I am waiting in the car pool line for the kids. I usually just grab whatever I am working on that day and bring it with me.

My house is an organized chaos. I have boxes everywhere and piles of things in every room of the house. I am trying to keep things in three different piles: stuff going with us, stuff for the yard sale, and whatever is left I am giving to the church. Of course, the kids are trying to help pack which leads to more work for me since they don't seem to understand that you fill a box full not just with one or two items.

Only 5 days left until we move to Arkansas and I still have tons of things to do!

Last Happy Dance in Mississippi

Late last night I put the final stitches in Our Days for my mom. I am pleased with how it turned out. I always get nervous when I have to center words on the fabric because I usually mess up and get it off centered. I only messed up once on the names and date. Luckily, I caught it rather quickly so I didn't have to rip out a bunch of stitches. I am going to go to the post office and get it mailed off today so I don't have to worry about losing it in the move.


If I get a chance to stitch this evening I am going to start Laurie's house RR. It's not due till May 15 but I know she is looking forward to getting it back so I want to get it finished and mailed back to her as soon as I can. I am hoping to also start working on Renee's Birthday exchange this week, too.

I have decided to put my rotation on hold until things get calmed down. Since my mom's anniversary is on the 17th I really need to get Our Days done for her. I would have had some more of the backstitching done on the wedding bells but I noticed a mistake on the flowers on the "O" and spent the rest of the night frogging and restitching.



Things are moving right along for the move. We have our truck reserved for next Monday. I'm not sure if we will leave that day or the next. I would prefer the next day since I don't like to drive at night. It will be about 9 hours on the interstate. I have to make sure I have a pack of gum in my purse! Once we get close to Ft. Smith my ears will start to pop. I forgot about that when we drove up for MIL's funeral!

The kids are excited about moving. We have family and friends that live there so it makes it easier already knowing people. The kids have a list a mile long of things they want to do when we get there. I can't wait to go to the LNS!! One other thing, that is really neat is we get to visit the park where we got married on our anniversary this year. When we lived there before every year on our anniversary we used to visit the park and ring the bell for the amount of years we were married. We haven't been able to do that for the last 6 years living in Mississippi. All in all everyone is positive about the move. :)

Birthday Exchange for Cathy

The Birthday Exchange I sent to Cathymk arrived safe and sound. I really enjoyed myself stitching this design from Elizabeth's Designs. I made it into a pillow tuck and added some tassels in the corners. Overall I was pleased with how it turned out.



I also sent her some goodies but I forgot to take a picture of them. Hop on over to Cathy's blog to see them.

Total Chaos

Things around my house are in total chaos! Our lives have been turned completely upside down. I had said a while back that some things were happening at my job that were looking positive. That isn't the case now! About 2 months ago my boss told me that the owner was selling the apartments. I was told that if the apartments sold I could either go with the new company or stay with old and transfer to another complex to manage. Either way I would not lose my job and Mike wouldn't lose his job either.

Last Friday I get a phone call from a lady informing me that the take over was going to take place this week or next week. She also informed me that they wanted to do a phone interview with Mike and me on Monday. So for the whole weekend I worried about doing the interview. The interview went fine and we told her we had to think about it. After doing some majoring talking in between Mike and I we decided that it would be better for us just to stay with the old company and transfer across town.

This is where everything started to take a bad turn. We told my boss that we wanted to stay on with him. At that point is when the shoe dropped. That is when I found out that the other property was being sold, too! We had to take a step back and rethink our options. We could either stay here and work for the new company or we could move to NW Arkansas where my husband has a job if he wants it.

We have gone thru and looked at the pros and cons of each job and have decided to move to NW Arkansas. It wasn't a hard choice since my FIL lives in Arkansas. The hard part is getting everything ready to move 500 miles! My stomach is in knots over this whole ordeal. If I make it thru this with all of my hair left on head I will be amazed!

Easter Exchange for Becky

With all the above going on is why I haven't been able to work on my stitching. I did receive word yesterday from Becky that she received my exchange. I stitched the Passione Ricamo freebie on some evenweave that I dyed golden yellow. I made it into a wall hanging and I added some tassels to the corners. I had a wonderful time working on it and only had a few arguements with the tassels. LOL

Easter Exchange From Laurie

I am sorry I haven't been too chatty this week but I have been dealing with some stressful things which is having a direct result on me stitching. So today when I received my Easter Exchange in the mail from Laurie it really brightened my day up!


She stitched Bunny's Tail from Twisted Threads and made it into a beautiful pillow for me. I love it!!



She also included these wonderful goodies for me. Laurie is the sweetest person! She even sent the little treat bags for my kids. Now they think she is the coolest person. Thank you Laurie!! You really spoiled me. :)

It Made It Home!

After the stressful day today I was so happy to see a package in my mailbox. I got my first RR back today! It is really gorgeous! Vash, Jo, Cathy and Renee all did an excellent job on it for me. For my theme I choose the Elemental Dragons freebies from Dragon Dreams. Aren't they adorable?!


I am thinking about having this one framed for myself. :) I just can't get over how beautiful it turned out! Again, thank you ladies for doing such an awesome job for me.

Peace and Quiet

It is Monday and I finally have some peace and quiet time! I was going to work on Laurie's RR yesterday but I decided to work on Our Days some more since I need to have it completely finished and mailed by April 14. (at the very latest!) Tonight I will be working on Woodland Faerie. I am really starting to enjoy working on her now that I am done with the one over one stitching. LOL



Leslie-I used a little of laundry soap and a infants toothbrush with warm water to get the soda stain out of the fabric. When I am finished with a piece (before I add the beads) I also always wash it. Hands get dirty so easy and even if it looks clean to me I still have to wash it.

Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Well, last night didn't go quite as planned. Mac and Allie's friends ended up not being able to come over for the night. Apparently they got into trouble with their mom and got grounded. LOL..I know exactly how that one goes! Krissy did go to the slumber party but this morning before we came to pick her up she sprained her ankle on the trampoline. It's swollen so she is laid up on the couch, foot in the air and controlling the TV.

I forgot to post a progress picture of Deepest Love this week. I am really loving this one and can't wait to see it completed! I am going to work on Our Day some more today. Tomorrow I will be working on Laurie's final square on her RR for the SBEBB.

TGIF

It has been a good but very long day. I had to work at the office all day plus still do my normal running around. It didn't look like it was going to be a good day but it turned out to be a pretty good day. It started with my boss informing me I was staying until close today. Fridays are extremely slow ( I had a total of 2 phone calls) so at least I was going to be able to get some stitching done in peace and quiet. I started working on Our Days until around 1pm when I managed to spill a little of my soda pop on the fabric. I managed to get the spot cleaned but the fabric was wet so I couldn't work on it anymore for the day. This is as far as I got today.



So, I guess the day didn't turn out too bad.

Report Card Time

My kids brought their report cards home yesterday. As a proud Mom I get to brag! All three of my kids made the honor roll. :D It didn't surprise me that Krissy and Allie made the honor roll as they both have always made excellent grades. On the other hand, Mac struggles in Reading and Math so I was just hoping for C's. I nearly fainted when I opened up his report card to see all A's and B, even in Reading and Math!! Last quarter Mac had a 78 % in Reading and brought it up to 92 %.

It looks like I am going to have a full weekend ahead of me. Krissy is going to a slumber/birthday part for her friend tomorrow night. I don't envy her mom either! There are going to be eight 12 year old pre-teens at the slumber party. Mac and Allie are each having a friend spend tomorrow night so hopefully it will be somewhat peaceful so I can get some stitching done.

With all the excitement of the great grades I didn't get a lot of stitching done on Woodland Faerie but some is better than none. :)

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Have you ever participated in a needlework mystery (i.e., a design that you started before knowing how it will look in the end and by which you receive parts of the design via the internet, magazines, or leaflets at spaced intervals)? If so, why did you decide to do the mystery? What appealed to you about it? Did you enjoy it? If you have not done a mystery, would you ever do one?

I have thought about stitching a mystery series but that is as far as I have gotten.


I was able to get a little more stitching done on A Time For Everything last night. Next week I will be able to start stitching on the winter scarecrow. Tonight I will be stitching on Woodland Faerie. Normally, I would be working on The Fortunate Traveler but I missed working on WF Monday night.

A Great Mail Day!

This week is going really great. I opened my mailbox to discover this wonderful hanging from Joanie for the Lottery Exchange. I love it! It is so pretty. She also sent me a small pattern and a notepad which both will get used. :) I love all of it!! Thank you so much, Joanie!


I have been working on A Time For Everything SAL with Becky today. I haven't got a lot done so far but I am planning on working on it some more tonight.

I did it! I finished Herbs & Spices tonight! I was able to get a lot of stitching in today because the kids went back to school and it was raining all day long. It feels good to finish one of my large projects. :) For the time being I am going to work on Our Days on Fridays.



Now I am off to look for a new large project for that spot!

A Glitter Surprise

Friday is my normal day for bill paying, shopping, etc. So when I got to the store I pulled out my shopping list, grabbed a cart, and was ready to deal with the crowds. I needed some body lotion as I had ran out the night before. I go to the usual spot to get it and to my horror there is an empty space with the word "discontinued" on the shelf! Ughh!

I am not one for experimenting on stuff but I decided to ahead and try a new lotion that I have been thinking about trying. Later that night after I took my bath I used the new lotion and was happy with it UNTIL I happened to notice that there is glitter in the lotion!! Double ughh! So it looks like I am going to have to get used to glitter for awhile or just go and buy something else. My girls are hoping I will go and buy some new lotion as they like the glitter lotion.

Yesterday I worked on Herb & Spices and just about done with the backstitching. I still have some straight stitches, lazy daisies, and french knots to do but I should have it done this week. Since I am caught up on my exchanges and RR's I have decided to go ahead and work on HS until it is finished. It shouldn't take me more than a day or two to finish it (I hope ). I am not for sure what I am going to put in the Friday slot yet.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I didn't get a lot of stitching done last night. My boss managed to tick me off so I was in a foul mood last night. What do I do to get myself out of a foul mood? I clean!! When I finished cleaning I finally sat down to do some stitching, I picked up Deepest Love but it just wasn't working so I decided I needed to work on something that is going to help me get in a better mood. I decided since I was so close to finishing Herbs and Spices that I would work on that for the evening.



I am not for sure what I am going to work on this weekend. I am going work on whatever screams at me this weekend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

SBQ of the Week

I worked a little on The Fortunate Traveler today. I finished all the one over one cross stitching so now I am working on the one over one backstitching. I was pretty surprised at how fast I am getting the backstitching done in comparison to the full cross stitches.



Today's SBQ is:

Do you stitch "over one?" If so, describe your experiences. If not,have you considered it?

I have been doing one over one stitching in 2 of my current WIP's (Woodland Faerie and The Fortunate Traveler). I don't mind to stitch over one because the pain is definitely worth the end result. I have found out that if I stitch over one for too long I end up giving myself a headache. So I tend to stitch a lot slower than I normally would.

A Time For Everything

Last night I worked on A Time For Everything SAL with Becky. It doesn't look like I worked on it very much but I actually did! It took me at least an hour to finish the french knots and lazy daisies on the Autumn scarecrow. Then when I was working on the tree I messed up so I ended up ripping most of it out and restitching the tree. Tonight, I will be finishing the one over one stitching on The Fortunate Traveler.

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

She has hair!

I have to say I had a pretty good day of stitching on Woodland Faerie. I got her hair finished and most of her dress done. I didn't want to put her away tonight! I was enjoying stitching on her that I didn't even pick up Our Days. I kept telling myself I can make it up over the weekend. :)

Good Stitching

I got some good stitching time in this evening. This pattern is stitching pretty fast. Since the kids are on Spring Break this week I am hoping to get a good amount of stitching done. I would like to work on this piece just a little each day so I can get it done and sent off in time for my mom's anniversary.



Today I will work on Woodland Faerie with Christine D. I am really looking forward to stitching on her this week since I have all the one over one stitching done. I am not for sure how much I will get done as we are supposed to be getting another round of bad storms sometime today.

My heart and prayers go out to the people of Centerton Arkansas whose homes were destroyed in the storm last night. This hits close to home as we used to live in that area. That is the area where my husband's family lives. I have been able to talk to one of my friend's and her house and vehicle were pretty banged up but they were all fine.

Catching Up

I got some good stitching time in Friday night and yesterday afternoon! Friday was my regular day to work on Herbs & Spices. I finished the cinnamon and cloves and started on the dill. That left me with the dill to finish, garlic and chives. When I got ready to stitch yesterday I decided that I wanted to go ahead and finish the stitching on Herb & Spices and I did! :) Now all I have left to do is the backstitching and it will be done.



After that was done I still had plenty of time to work on Renee's RR. I had started working on this last weekend but I didn't get too far. Isn't this teapot cute? :)



Today I am going to work on Our Days. I really need to get moving on this one since I need to have it done next month.

I stitched on Deepest Love last night until I ran out of DMC 503. Looks like a trip to the LNS sometime this weekend. :D


It was an interesting afternoon yesterday. The kids were let out of school early because a bad storm was headed our way. It finally got here about 3:00 pm and made its presence known. Another reason why I am not fond of spring..Tornadoes! The winds were pretty strong. They were bending the tops of trees, shingles were flying everywhere and it was raining so hard that I couldn't see the office across the street! To top it off the sirens start going off. Luckily the storm didn't do any major damage in our town. Although when we did go out later we discovered that a tree branch had fallen and had missed my daughters' window by inches. Whew, that was a close one!

As of right now we don't have any big plans for this weekend. That could change since once the kids get out of school they will be on Spring Break. I have a feeling my house will be full of kids before the weekend it over.

Have a Great Weekend! :)

So Close..

I was feeling better last evening so I went ahead and worked on The Fortunate Traveler. I finished the verse! I am so close to having all the one over one stitching done. All I have left to do is a vine looking thing at the bottom and it will be done.



Today's SBQ is:

Do you have an organizational system for your patterns? If so, how do you organize them? If not, have you considered organizing them?

Yep, I do but I call it more of an organized chaos. LOL I keep my freebies in 2 binders and right now they are divided by website. However, I am getting ready to re-organize them by their theme. I tend to stitch by season or holiday so it will just be easier for me.

Now my charts I keep them in 2 different file boxes. One box is for already stitched patterns and the other is for new patterns. I find doing it this way has helped me from buying the same pattern twice. I also have the patterns for RR's & Exchanges grouped together by theme. However, on the large patterns I keep them grouped by designer. Like I said, it is an organized chaos but it works for me. :)

Adopt A Stitcher Package

Well, first off I am sad to sad to say that I didn't get any stitching done yesterday. I woke up feeling awful and within minutes I was headed to the bathroom and it wasn't to clean it either! Nothing I ate or drank would stay down so I spent all day in bed dozing on and off. Around 7 pm I was finally able to keep some water down so I didn't push my luck with food besides I really wasn't hungry anyways. I am feeling a little better today but still have a queasy stomach.

Harsha received her Adopt A Stitcher package so I can finally show a picture. I stitched The Dance of the Bumblebee from Bent Creek on some 28 count evenweave that I dyed. I did change the color of the flower from blue to purple so that it match the fabric I picked to use for the finishing. I finished it into a flatfold by using Kim's instructions.

This was my first attempt at a flatfold so I was quite pleased how it turned out. If I hadn't picked this particular piece to stitch for Harsha I would have kept it myself!

One over is Done!

Last night I finished all the one over one stitching! Yippie!! At 11:30 pm I was dancing around the house because I was so happy. I can't wait to work on her next week!



The official countdown has begun for Spring Break. My kids officially start their break Friday afternoon. To be exact they will be home from school for 9 days. It not that they will be home but that Spring Break means the end of the 3rd quarter so they only have 9 weeks of school left before Summer Break! Didn't they just start the school year?

Lazy Day

Yesterday was pretty much a lazy day for me. Which was good since I woke up to a bad sinus headache from allergies. The main thing I did yesterday was a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up some floss and other stuff. Big surprise they didn't have half of the colors I needed. At first I was going to wait till later in the week to make a trip out to the LNS but I changed my mind. I picked up the rest of my floss, 2 packs MH beads for future projects, 2 spools Kreinik BF, box fabric dye, and Dragon of the Summer Sky by Dragon Dreams. I originally only went there for 5 skeins of floss! LOL

I was able to get a good amount done on Our Days.

I worked on Herbs & Spices last evening. I started and finished the red pepper. I would have worked on finishing the cinnamon and cloves but I am out of a color that is needed for it. That is twice that has happened to me this week so I guess I will have to make a run to the LNS for some DMC floss.

My plans for this weekend involve stitching and more stitching! I am planning on working on Our Days for a while today. Tomorrow I plan to start on Renee's RR. Since this is the last round in the RR I would like to get her fabric finished and mailed back to her as soon as I can.

I actually got some decent stitching time in yesterday! I didn't think I was going to be able to do a lot of stitching since Mike and Krissy were both home sick again. I was able to work on her veil some and then realized I had made a mistake in the vines so I ended up ripping out about 30 stitches.



Today I will be working on Herbs & Spices. I am not sure how much time I will get to stitch on her. After I get done at work I have to go to Mac's school and take him to the book fair and buy some new books. After we leave the book fair I am supposed to pick up one of his little friends for a sleep-over. I still have to go do the weekly grocery shopping and clean the house. Looks like it is going to be a busy day for me!

Have a great weekend!

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ was suggested by Cheryl and is:

What cross-stitch magazines or other publications (as opposed to blogs) do you read on a regular basis? What do you like about them?What do you not like? What would your perfect publication include?

When I purchase a stitching magazine I look for at least 2 patterns that I will stitch but if there isn't at least 2 I won't buy it. There are months when I don't purchase any magazine because nothing appealed to me. I love the patterns the most but I also love the finishing ideas/instructions. My "perfect" magazine would be full of patterns with finishing instructions from the front cover to the very last page.

I was all geared up yesterday to finish the verse on The Fortunate Traveler and then I discovered I had ran out of the green I was using! Ugh! I was not making a trip to the store just for one little skein of floss. I did put in a few stitches but nothing really noticeable. I am hoping to work on it some this weekend to make up for yesterday.

Today I will be working on Deepest Love. Yea!! For some reason I find stitching this pattern soothing to stitch. I think it is the combination of the colors that relaxes me so much.

After school was let out the kids and I took our dog outside to play Frisbee when I noticed these flowers on the other side of the fence. Actually, I think they bloomed last week but it was raining most of the time so I couldn't get a good picture.

Spring is Here

Things are starting to look like Spring here in Mississippi. The grass is starting to pop up in patches of green and the trees are starting to get leaves. Out of all the seasons, Spring is my least favorite. There is only one reason why I don't like Spring and it is.....ALLERGIES. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just me dealing with allergies but Mike and the kids have them too!
I had to take Mac to the dr's office yesterday because he has been fighting another ear infection. He has always had problems with his ears ever since he was born. It seems like we get it cleared up only to have it come back worse than before. We have his hearing checked regularly just because he has so many a year. I get to blame Mike's genes on that one! When Mike was growing up he had bad problems with his ears and still does to this day. At one point the dr's put tubes in Mike's ears to help but they didn't help in fact they did more damage than anything. Once the tubes came out Mike had some hearing loss and has never regained his full hearing. So when the dr put the option out for us to have tubes put in Mac's ears Mike said no.
All of this leads to why I didn't get much stitching done yesterday. I backstitched the saying and put in maybe 10 lazy daisies on A Time For Everything. I am planning on at least finishing the verse up tonight on The Fortunate Traveler. :D