Guild Anniversary!

My guild celebrated its 10th anniversary last week......while I was at my daughter's, so I missed it.   Look at the lovelies I received this week! 

...a beautiful stitch roll - 66 were made!    Inside, crushed walnut shells for stuffing my next biscournu, a stamped cookie and the cutest little mechanical pencil!  Look at the details in the stamped cookie.......even though I love my cookies and sweets, I just want to save this and look at it.  

My guild ladies are sew talented.

Whew!

EDITED - It has been a busy busy week that ended with a drive to the Boston area on Friday.  I am spending a long weekend with my youngest daughter.   My trip starting by picking up my eldest daughter in Philly first to go with me. 

Yesterday we went to the New England Sheep and Wool Event in Contoocook NH.  It was a miserable day weather-wise.  I sure am glad we all got the brightly colored rubber pull on boots at Target before we went.  Otherwise is that a great day, just me and my girls.   I got this really nice merino-alpaca blend and pattern for a fisherwoman's shawl.  Since we were chilled to the bone, we headed off to Concord to find a place to eat.  

Once we had our lunch, we went off on an explore!  We found ourselves at Center Harbor on Lake Winnepausaki  (sp??)  in New Hampshire.  Of course, we settled into a fabric/quilters heaven.  I picked up some William Morris prints, fat quarters for $1 each and a pattern for a quilt for me called the Hokey Pokey!  Here they are resting in the nesting baskets my daughter gave me for Mother's Day.  There was a cross stitch store and a yarn store...like we hadn't seen enough yarn already.  Then a drive on back roads and a stop in Lake Squam for coffee before we hit the interstate back to Massachusetts.   I think I am in love and could move to this area in a heartbeat.    Thank you Anna for the spelling of Lake  Winnipesaukee.  Anna is originally from NH and commented about the beauty as well.

So scenic, so picturesque, just so gorgeous and peaceful.  It was a pretty as the picture.

Back to my daughter's and snacking on chocolate covered strawberries!  and playing with our purchases.  




I managed to do my quilt class homework and get all my layers arranged and pinned so I will be ready for Tuesday's class.    The other part of our homework this week was to make a label for our quilts.   I declined the piece of the iron on fabric that we were given to write our names on to later iron on.   Silly ladies.....I cross stitched my label!

Today we went to the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Mass.   The featured exhibition was Amish Crib Quilts and it was not a disappointment.  Afterwards, all three of us were ready for naps.    Bought some bobbins for a ridiculous $2.95.   Must be because Lowell was the home to dozens of mills and back in the day probably had a couple hundred thousand bobbins!

There has been a little stitching, a little shopping, a lot of giggles and fun.  The ride home tomorrow and back to work.

My Small Changes - Week 18

This is so silly and so self-indulgent!  But this week I plan to work on my hands and nails each week.  I think I will make it part of my Sunday evening ritual.    There will be no photo of the condition of my hands for sure.   Between working with fabric and working with soil, the moisture is robbed from my hands.   Not only that, my fingers and fingernails are stained for the entire summer from working in the garden.   Wear gloves you say.....it's not the same.   I need to feel the dirt on my hands.   I always think about the trick of dragging you nails over a bar of soap BEFORE starting your garden work AFTER  I have finished and I am using the power of the hose to jet clean under my nails. 

Not only that, I use my hands at work, DUH, we all do!  But seriously, I notarize documents for people, I take minutes, I process petty cash for people so I am putting my hands on the table top for all to see.   Last summer I had my nails done at the salon and I loved the look and the feel.   What I didn't like was having to go every 14 days and the $22 each time.   The original cheapskate, I hate to pay for something I can do myself.   However, that's the problem, I don't do my nails myself.   Now, I don't need to have super shiney red lacquered nails but a little moisturizer and cuticle oil certainly can't hurt.  There may be a few nights when I lather up my hands and sleep with some cotton soaks on my hands to get this kick started.  It sure is a good thing Mr. Wonderful goes to  bed before me or else I would get that all too familiar shake of the head from him.

Getting closer to a new start

OH!!!!! What will it be?   I have a few in my stitching basket that I want to start but not until I fulfill my promised to myself........to complete a thing or two or more!  I have sew many near completion.   You would think it would be sew simple to take the one on my list that is closest to being finished but 10% left to do on one may be more that 50% to complete on a different project.  Oh the decisions. 

This week I finished my Between The Sheets Sampler and promptly took it to be framed without so much as a photo.   I picked up my son-in-law's graduation piece to finish and am making great progress.  I should have this one done before the week is over.   The joke is, my fabulous son-in-law went to night school for 13, yes 13 years! to get his degree, will it take me just as long to complete his graduation sampler?  Also, I took my SB April Showers to work to hang in my cubicle before I photographed it, so here is another recent finish.   Next, will be SB May Flowers to finish; the stitching is complete but I need to create it as a fanfold.

So back to what will be on my list next....

I think I will work on completing this stitchy thing I picked up at the Longaberger Homestead a few years back.   While it is not Cross Stitch! it is stitching.  Once this one is complete, I think I will take on one more quick finish before a start a new project.   Just in time for my May Retreat in OCMD.  Perhaps I can create a rotation of a couple of WIP's and a couple of new items.   hmmm, deserves some thought.  

Wishing all a great week and successful stitching.  I know my week ahead is a busy one with a quilting class, a board meeting, stitching group at my house and leaving Friday morning for Boston.

A lodger for the summer

Seems Mr. Wonderful thought I was a bit ridiculous placing some rocks on top of each other at the corner of my pond.   Oops! HIS pond.   Funny, it was a stupid idea to want to put one in and he offered no assistance - just shook his head at me - but now it is HIS pond and HIS fish and I am not to mess with them......this was all prior to him transformation by alien forces to being Mr. Wonderful.   But I digress, so, he wanted to know why I was placing the rocks there.  Well it seems we have a big old bull frog who has decided to summer in our pond.   Since he is not used to the extra foot traffic of the summer he would try to get out as we would walk in the area and be frantic.  It was like he was doing jumping jacks standing on the submerged ledge and doing his best little frog dance to get out.   So I explained, the rocks were for him to climb on so he could get out and to sun himself on.   Mr. Wonderful thought I have gone round the bend as he does with so many things I do and just shook his head in the all too familiar way....but the proof is in the pix! Mr. Frog is hard to see in this photo; he is to the left of the black hose hiding under the cover of the periwinkle vine.  Below Mr. Frog suns himself on his appointed rock.

I find that as I have gotten older, I need more frequent breaks from the yard work and that is what I am going right now. A big old glass of crystal lite and a Weight Watchers Chocolate Raspberry Popsicle!

I hope everyone is up to their elbows in mulch and yard work and really enjoying this gorgeous first of May.  It is a hard choice to have to make between yard work and stitching but for today the stitching will have to wait until this evening and I fear it will be machine stitching on my quilt top for class on Tuesday.

Enjoy the day and thanks for stopping by.

Just for fun

One Word, No Explanation

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.

Not as easy as you might think...

1. Yourself: overweight
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend husband: husband
3. Your hair: red
4. Your mother/stepmother: deceased
5. Your dog: none
6. Your favorite item: laptop
7. Your dream last night: none
8. Your favorite drink: wine
9. Your dream car:
10. The room you are in: family
12. Your fear: illness
13. What you want to be in 10 years: retired
14. Who you hung out with last night: Geoffrey
15. What you’re not: follower
16. Muffin: banana
17. One of your wish list items: happiness
18. Time: evening
19. The last thing you did: dishes
20. What you are wearing: jammies
21. Your favorite weather: all
22. Your favorite book: autobiography
23. The last thing you ate: pasta
24. Your life: full
25. Your mood: calm
26. Your best friend(S): awesome
27. What are you thinking about right now? stitching
28. Your car: Prius
29. What are you doing at the moment?typing
30. Your summer: busy
31. Your relationship status: married
32. What is on your TV?makeover
33. What is the weather like?: rainy
34. When is the last time you laughed?: tonight

copies from Mare's Runaway Needle

Current read

I am currently reading The Garden of the Last Days.   It is good but I have to keep putting it down.   The central character, April is a dancer at a gentlemen's club.   Single mom, struggling, yada yada yada.   She is forced to take her daughter to work one night and leave her in the office.   One thing leads to another and the little girl, Frannie  (3) wakes up and wonders into the parking lot.   A patron, AJ, a poor confused sap whose wife has a restraining order against him for her and their 3 year old son basically because he drinks and she is high maintenance - puts the Frannie in his truck because he is afraid for her in the parking lot.   Then there is the terrorist freak who has had April in a private room all night.   You don't know what devastation he is planning but he keeps talking about Allah.   AJ now is driving around with the little girl because he was thrown out of the dance club earlier in the evening and he was back there to apologize to the dancer at closing time.  He has had too much to drink and can't go up to the bouncer because they won't listen to him especially remembering throwing him out a few hours earlier.  Thing is, I don't want to see something bad happen to AJ and he is a good guy who is just going down that path of self destruction making bad decisions.   And the terrorist, Bassam, I don't know what he is planning but it is something.   I don't know if I can finish the book right now.   I'd rather be in my Happy Place and this one, although a good book, is not taking me there.

I think I will check out what Sioban is recommending.  She has recommended a few books by first time authors.  First Wendy Webb's "The Tale of Halcyon Crane".  Next "A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True" by Brigid Pasulka.  And last another from new author Beth Hoffman,  "Saving CeeCee Honeycutt".    I haven't checked them out yet but hope to this week and find a page turner......or at minimum, I will pick up another Greg Iles book.  Love him!

My Small Changes - Week 17

This week my small change it to learn to quit when I am ahead.     Hmmmm, brings up thoughts that I might have put my foot in my mouth or something.   Not quite to dramatic.   I seem to get involved in things and rarely include cleanup time when I am finished.   This creates the domino effect and puts me behind the 8 ball on the next task.

When in the yard working, I keep pulling weeds, trimming beds forgetting that I need a half hour to pick up those weed piles and put those tools away properly.   In the morning before I head for the shower, it is just one more row of stitches before I start to get ready for work.   Once I start, I realize it is not just showering and dressing, it is packing lunch and do dishes before I head out the door.

I need to better learn (better enforce!) the best stopping point.  No more......just one more stitch.  (Boo!)  (Disclaimer - photo is a webshot and not from my yard)

Why are some weeks more hectic than others?

Stitching - Not much stitching going on here, or rather not much cross stitching.   Stitching of another kind has been happening.   My second quilting class - Yikes! - talk about precision!  The teacher is great but if we are off more than 1/32 of an inch we need to start over.    All the cutting, measuring, re-squaring, measuring and cutting again all before SEWING.  And then the sewing can but off.    Selecting fabrics was hard enough.  The work is tedious but the rewards are going to be great.   I am not a precise person.  I am organized, neat, anal and an overachiever but not precise.   Fortunately or unfortuately I have been sewing for years with the unfortunate part the potential for years of bad habits.  This is going to be a challenge.  But I am taking this class with two friends from work so it is all good.

Other Stitching - Sew I decided to whip up some cute little card wallets for the girls at work for Secretary's Week.   Here is the first one....still need to slip stitch and get the snap on.   It is too too cute.   I have a bunch cut out and ready to stitch up.   And still more fat quarters picked and ready to cut.    I hope they like them.

And even more Stitching -  I am so close on my Between the Sheets Sampler.   I just need some thread and needle and linen time.   Oops!  It is sideways!

Last week was a series of evening classes, evening meetings and dinners out so it was collapse on the couch time and get the DVR going to catch up when I finally found my way home.  Of course I was either too tired to stitch or promptly fell asleep in the upright position!

Weight Watchers -  Great numbers again this week.   Down 3 pounds.   Unfortunately I went on a food frenzy on Wednesday-Thursday-Friday.   Hopefully I am back on track today and will get in some treadmill time at some point today.  Between my schedule last week and my time being stretched to the limits and Mr. Wonderful being more like Mr. Crab-cake all week I fell into the old habits that helped add those pounds I so deparately want to shed.    I found a really easy reality check......when I sit at my dressing table in the morning (in you know, with next to nothing on) all I need to look to the right at the far end of the walk-in closet and see that ghastly reflection in the full length mirror and I vow - I don't want to look like and feel like that person I see in the reflection.  So today, lots of water, lots of movement.

And if there is not enough news on the stitching front -  I snagged a pattern off my wish list.  It was on back order from Stitching Bits and Bobs and I was excited to find it in my mail.   I have fancied this pattern for years but it seems like everytime I would try to pick it up, it was out of stock at my LNS.   But I have a twist, I want to sew the spools in a variety of pastels.  I have several Christmas pieces and would like to stitch this for my sewing room.  This is one I want to start on my retreat in May on Ocean City, MD so I'd better get moving on my gradulation sampler finish too because I won't start anything new until I have another finish.....sew many sew close!

SEW SEW SEW -  I am wasting precious good weather time outside ........messing about with the internet and blogville.

A new look

As you can see, I deleted my Hot Diggity Blog template.   Something had happened to my title photo and everything was all wonky.  So I thought, hmmmm, my daughter's blog looks crisp and clean, let me try a standard template for a while.  While the online templates you can download are cute, I feel like I am loosing a whole lot of space off to the sides.... but this seems a bit boring to me.    And now my photos in my posts are all wonky.   I am not computer savy enough to type in the html coding to convert to a 3 column blog which is what I really want to do.  It just goes to show, we are never satisfied.    I think I may be tweaking for a few days.   I think I need to get a LIFE!