Mother's Day and More

I had a great Mother's Day spending it with No. 1 daughter at her home.   It started with flowers from her.  Her husband made us a delicious brunch and then she and I crafted all day.   A friend of her's joined us....missing her kiddos, ages 6 and 3, because her husband took them camping for the weekend.   Wow, where were dad's like 35 years ago?   At any rate, we laugh and enjoyed the day together.

































This is what I accomplished on Sunday.  At my d-in-l's baby shower, my daughter had guests color pre-cut blocks with baby themes.   She pieced them together for a baby quilt top.   I quilted them up quickly with the help of a new trick my daughter taught me....spray basting.   Life changing product!

I love the little personalized blocks and love the backing fabric she choose.   Her idea really came together.   I washed and dried and packed it up to delivery in person.

Monday morning I was on the road heading west to visit the baby.   I did gramma duty at my son's.  I have been chauffeuring for lacrosse practice,  grocery getting, dinner cooking and laundry doing.    Somewhere I even had some baby time.  I got my craft on while my Little Mr. Wonderful slept.    I quilted this for him.   I had the front and backs already pieced.  Spray basting made this EZ PZ to put together.

Will all snuggled down under the blanket Aunt Amy knitted.

I made progress on my knitted baby blanket.   (oops! too busy with baby pix to snap a photo of the baby blanket)

Stitched my name on my sweatshirt for work - it gets so cold in the office some days - we all went to the uniform clerk and got zip up hoodies.

And last but not least, one of my favorite pix, father and son taking a nap.

Heading home in the morning and knowing I will be missing Little Man.

Fits and Starts

I seem to accomplished not a thing so far this weekend except for balancing my checkbook and cleaning the bathroom.   I have started about a half dozen jobs.  Fits and Starts is what my M-in-L used to call it.   These fits of mine have lead me down the rabbit hole and the oft asked question....what was I thinking when I bought this? what did I plan for this? or why are these bundled  fabrics together?  Not to mention, I seemed to have also lost April!  Where did it go?

I have a week of vacation this week to head west and visit that new grand baby and of course, help my d-in-l.  The new parents are very sleep deprived.....I remember those days.  Somehow we get through it.  Just let grams get there and help.  I am sure I will have a pix or two to share of my Will snuggle time when I return.  As well as I am sure there will be more snuggle time then project work to share.

I finished my pre-stitching which was a breeze.....except for those darned bees!  Three stitches is all they are and I manage to put them two threads too high, or two threads too low or, flying the wrong way.  Frog, frog, frog!  Silly, you can stitch a row of herringbone cross no problem.  I can almost hear the ocean waves and porch rockers calling me from my upcoming June class.

I have moved back to concentrating on my Pining To Stitch smalls as my main stitching project.  The last piece I need to complete is the needle book.  The pattern requires paying attention a little more then the other pieces so it is not  a piece to carry to work.   For this week in Grammy-Land, I am taking my sewing machine and hope to work on completing the fabric pouch the pieces are to be housed in.  Great expectations right?  A group of us are getting together on Memorial Day weekend to work on the actual finishing of the smalls and I'd like to have my bag done, at a minimum,  by then.  I am sure I am being a little over zealous in what I think I can accomplish between laundry, cooking and cleaning for the new parents.

I also started to knit a baby blanket.  Now nothing like waiting until the baby got here.  I did attempt this with several starts, both knitted and

crocheted, and several times of pulling it off the needles and rewinding the yarn.  I sat next to a friend at a guild meeting and she was knitting a baby blanket using the same pattern I use for making wash cloths and it was a light bulb moment!  Why not?  I have spent so much time in the car lately driving here and there that if only I could knit and drive I could've done by now if only.....I guess it is best for everyone that I stick to a book on tape while I drive.   My current read is the second trilogy by Petra Durst-Benning, "While the World Is Still Asleep".  It does make the ride more enjoyable to listen on tape as I go as well as a good read while on the treadmill when at home.  I read her first trilogy last year, "The Glassmaker's Daughter", and enjoyed the series.  It is light, easy reading.

Next up on the stitching front, I am changing out my challenge pieces for my guild challenge.  What was I thinking when I put humongous projects on my list?  Thank goodness we are able to do a  mid-year swap out.   I need to do a little more than a simple stitching bag sorting this weekend as well as craft room sorting.  Not much else one can do on this 13th day of rain here on the east coast.   I think I can almost hear the weeds growing in my gardens.   I already lost an hour in my craft room this morning when I went to put something away.  It is the room where anything I don't know where I want to put gets stashed.  And it seems to squash my creativity when it is out of order.  Having  a grand sort out of my craft room  is a good way to refresh the memory on what may be hiding up there and to spark the creative juices with something that may catch my eye differently this time around.  After spending the day up there I hope to have a new, more manageable lists of challenge pieces ready to switch up at my June meeting but first to tackle the kitchen, dining room and bedroom and get them shipshape before I play in my craft room.

OK, break over, back to work....

May your stitches be many and your frogging be nonexistent! Happy stitching all.

Something I thought would never be

The words me and grandmom in the same sentence.   Little William Geoffrey was born yesterday morning at 10:18 a.m., 8 lbs., 8 oz., 21 1/2 inches long with a healthy set of lungs.

Such joy.  We were making the drive out for (3 1/2 - 4 hours) the scheduled c-section, planning to leave home around 7.  We got a text the she was in labor around 4:45 a.m.   We left a little quicker than intended and arrived to meet our first grandchild.   

Just the whole miracle of life is so mind boggling that two cells join and make this!    This is now my wall paper on my iPad and cell phone.  

OK, I guess I just could continue to gush but I will do my best to suppress it.  Needless to say we are over the moon with little man.   I just wish they didn't live so far away.   I see many a weekend trip in my future.  

To catch up on last weekend, I was at my semi-annual retreat to Salty Yarns in OCMD.   It was another great weekend.   Weather did not allow for stitching on the porch rockers and I really missed that.   However, there was much laughter and fun with friends (24 of us!), great food, good times.   

I picked up my pre-stitching for a Betsy Morgan class in June.   Not much to it and easily doable.    I hope to finish up once I am back home. 

This is the finished piece which I just really liked from the time I saw it on Swan Sampler Guild last summer.  Do I need it, no, but that is a whole other issue.  This will be my first Betsy Morgan class and I have been told it is a real treat to have her as a teacher.   She did speak at my guild earlier this year and I got a preview of her teacher style.   She is a very sweet, talented and sharing lady.    I am looking forward to the June class.

Something else from OCMD.   My friend Diane from Tennessee makes the semi annual trip to meet us at Salty Yarns.  She gifted us with these pretty project bags.  She picked them up at the marketplace at a retreat she attended in Marietta GA.   They are from none other then Faye at the Caroline Stitcher.   I have been a follower of her blog for years.   She does beautiful finishing and  I love the top stitches and embellishments she adds to her finishing.   Each of our bags had different linings and I should have photographed the french seams on the inside.  This present was doubly wonderful to receive.   (Thanks again Diane!  You are the best.)

Finished my second cup of coffee and time to head to the hospital for some more snuggle time with little man. 

Hangin in there

I do love Bleeding Hearts.   This may need
transplanting into a shady spot.

  

What a difference a week makes.   Feeling much more in control of my life.  Spring has sprung and it is so awesome to be able to enjoy the seasons!  Let's see if I can be brief with a catch up on what is up in my neck of the woods.

So enjoying the trees coming into leaf.   Camera doesn't catch the variety of greens I can see from my deck.

I did take a time out from the weed pulling to stitch a bit on Saturday.

This would not be one of the gardens I have cleaned up.
It is begging for my attention.

Got a couple or three flower beds done with my divide and conquer method.  Vegetable garden has been tilled and is ready to plant. Last weekend we had three inches of snow, today I was working in the garden beds.  Go figure!  No where near done getting the yard in shape but it felt good to get my hands in the soil.   Feels good except for how dry my hands are.....you know how the soil just pulls the moisture out of them.




I have also been trying to purge my clothes closet.  (I know, I am spreading myself across half a dozen tasks again.)  I have made walking into the closet miserable  because I refuse to throw anything out just in case I drop five or ten pounds.  Well, I been having that argument with myself long about five years.  It is time.  I just see dollar signs when I fold and bag it up.  But the frustration of not being able to hang everything up and the frustration of so many clothes that don't fit now outweighs any thought of the cost.   I am doing a full top to bottom sort of every drawer and every shelf.....it will feel good to have a nice neat closet/dressing area.  It just might take me a couple of weeks.

I am happy to report as of Sunday night I finished Jeannette Douglas My Stitching Treasures.  I made a vow to myself come heck or high water I would get it done this weekend.   I have been a lazy stitcher this winter.....time to get it in gear.  Good thing I'm done because I will be picking up my pre-stitching for my Betsy Morgan class in June at Salty Yarns at the end of the week.

 I am using the beads and charms I have on hand but may 

need a charm or two more from Salty Yarns.  

A few more beads, mounting on backer board and move this to the completed column.

Mr. W. started a fire for me on Sunday night,  What a nice way to end the weekend.   Fire, 

glass of wine, current book I am reading and Simon and Garfunkel playing in the 

background.  It was a refreshing weekend...

Need to start my list and get packing for OCMD.   Have a couple of little things I want to finish and maybe a new Jeannette Douglas start.....which I hope to adapt to the colors of the My Stitching Treasures box.

Have a great week all.   May your stitches be many and your frogs few.

Feeling Stressed

Just too much to do and not enough time.......maybe I do need to retire.....but I fear so much time home will lead to too much stash enhancement and too many WIP's across all genres of creation!

I think I am still recovering from all the baby shower prep, house guests and hoopla.   We are on a count down now for baby.  It could be anytime and hopefully not the four days I am in OCMD!   It will be a long ride to western PA from Maryland but I'll do it.

It is work too.....changes in personnel.....and we always go backwards before we go forward.   I seem to be the forever 'go to girl' for every new person and for that matter, anyone with a question.   It just makes me fall further behind on my tasks.  The interruptions.  I don't know who answers the endless questions on days I am out of the office.   Oh yeah, they call my cell phone, that's right.  Sorry, just a bit testy about it.   I like helping but sometimes they know the answer and I am their security blanket.   Time to rip off those covers!

And holy moly! when am I going to get some yard work done?   I know.   Calm down.   It is only  April.   But my calendar is filled with weekend trips and baby and stuff!

Sorry, just venting a bit......too much to do and too little stitching time makes me a grump!  I admit, I need that fix at least several times a week to stop the brain from reeling and to just mellow out.  I want to do it all and had to actually hack a few things off my list today.   I know I can do more than one thing at a time but I have not accomplished being in two places at one time.  So instead of joining my guild for lunch and a tour after our regular meeting, I am heading to Philly for the rest of the weekend to help my daughter as I promised.   We will have fun as we always do.

A lot of paperwork (tax returned and annual filings for my non-profit) and website work (for my other blog - DVHSG.blogspot.com) are behind me and that is a big weight that has been hanging over my head.  I need to do the post for sampler guild right away or before I know it it is the eve of the next meeting and I am beating myself up for delaying.

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer.   And so nice to have friends I can unleash on.   Thank you Bloggers!


So what have I stitched with the meager few hows I have eeked out?   Well, stitched a Peacock, frogged a Peacock, restitched a Peacock and am happy with the end result.   The floss for the lighter blue was more of a cord-like thread.   When doing the full cross is was lumpy (technical term) and it actually pushed the threads of the linen out of shape.  Not fun to frog the over one but well worth it.

I ripped it out and restitched in tent stitch and I like the result much better.  I am so close and just need a good old stitching retreat with endless stitching in one of those fabulous porch rockers on the boardwalk to help me round that corner of completion!  I also added some extra stitches to the grapes.   They are stitched in a Rhodes stitch and stitched a standard cross in the blank areas.

Grapes before I added extra stitches.

Coming up I need to make my list for Salty Yarns.   I hope to continue to be more selective with what I buy.   I really am doing a hard look at a pattern and asking if I really am going to stitch it in the next year or two.   What if my taste changes?   What if other new and tempting projects come my way?   What about stitch-a-longs or classes that come my way?  I really think a cold hard look at stash can make one a bit in shock after a gander at all the fibers, floss, fabric and patterns just waiting to be played with.   (big sigh)   Such is life.

We Did It

I am exhausted but I pulled off the baby shower and rave reviews of course.....

The shower wasn't a surprise but mom-to- be didn't know exactly who was coming.    Anytime she asked about a particular person I told her that person had not RSVP'd.....speaking of which, is the courtesy of RSVPing a lost pleasantry?  32 invited, 16 RSVP's, 28 attended, some of which were not even on the invitation list.....makes it very hard to calculate the food.....At any rate, we had people from Connecticut to Maryland show up and delight my D-in-L.

Most left by 5 on Saturday but cousins stayed until the wee hours of the morning playing cards and board games and mixed in much laughter.  They returned on Sunday for more fun and food.  We  cooked and cleaned from the time my daughter arrived early Friday morning.    I thought I'd be able to get some things done today with the shower behind me but silly me.  I love when they visit but the household swells from 2 to 8 plus two large dogs which upset the cat.  The last guests left at 6:30 last night.  I feel like we are the Bumpus's at these times.  I am out of practice....life in the Thompson house used to be like this every day; now it is much more sedate.   It is no wonder we were all so much thinner when we were younger.....the running around never stopped back then.

It is so good to have them all together no matter how exhausting.  Laundry will wait. That said, I am pooped beyond belief.

 A favorite outfit sent by my dear friend Roxanna.

 One of my son's favorite outfits.

They are so happy and so excited about the baby.

 Aven helping Morgan with the unwrapping.

A boy and his dog.   My D-in-L's son talks a well deserved nap.   Gavin was such a big help with the prepping and clean up.   It's hard work getting ready to be a big brother.

And somehow I am getting there with my Jeannette Douglas piece.  These two sections were partially completed and I finished each one up.

I have been working on the over one in the top section.   It is proving not to be nearly as bad as I had thought it would be.

I've was surprise that I actually have made more progress than I realized when I pulled it off the hoop to take the picture.  Here is where I was at my last post.  It is doubtful I will make the self imposed April deadline but it's all good.  Any forward progress is good.   I am looking forward to putting my feet up this evening to get in my much needed stitching therapy.  Problem is I am sure I will be sleeping in the recliner not much longer after I settle into a comfy position.

And one more thing.....I did sign up for the Betsy Morgan class at Salty Yarns in OCMD in June.   I said self, it is time you do something for yourself!  Have a good week all.   May your stitches be many and your frogs be few...........