Catching up

Like most of you, summer blog posting seems to take a back seat......

Here's a quick catch up...

The pool cover was put on yesterday which always signals the :-( ending to summer.   I did so well dieting this summer and lost 10 lbs. in 8 weeks.   Mr. W. comes home and the lbs. are starting to pile back on!   Rats!  Oh well, it was a crappy summer weather wise with all the rain and I am a lover of the changing of seasons so bring on the fall!

We had a great Labor Day weekend with both my daughters and family and friends to enjoy crabs, corn on the cob,  all the salads, and other fixings.   It is always nice to have my daughter from New England come home for a few days.   Each time she comes home she teaches me something techie I didn't know.   This time she hooked me up with HBO to GO which I didn't even know I had! Duh!   I have been stitching while watching the last three seasons of Boardwalk Empire!   My sister had told me about the show a few years ago and it reminds us of our dad.  He ran away from home in Pittsburgh PA at 17 and landed in Atlantic City in 1925 and as the story goes, was a numbers runner for a few years!

I have been concentrating my stitching on my class piece to be done before my September guild meeting.   I am close.  I have until Thursday so I am pretty positive I can do it.  Just need to complete the red on the bunting and fill in the last 3 motifs and puritan blue triangles above the bunting.   I hope to post a completed final reveal next weekend and more pix and info will definitely follow when I am finished.

The non-profit board I sit on has changed their mission statement and will be taking a new direction the first of January.  Lots to do during the transition including preparing for a yard a sale of 25 years of stage props and costumes and stuff.

Going house shopping today!  OMGosh    I have been ready to downsize for quite a while.  I am ready to be done with maintaining a yard, gardens (I created!!) and house.   We have an entire second floor we don't use now that the kids are gone.  I want to simplify!  Our first home was 60 years old when we moved in and my current home now is 57 years old.  It would be nice to have everything new.  Mr. W. (up until 3 days ago) was only going to move out of this house feet first.   I even have him considering a move to LSD aka Lower Slower Delaware near the beach.   *Heaven*  I don't know what changed.   A mention of moving into a 55+ community, looking at websites and floor plans and I am off  today to an informational meeting and tour.   Perhaps it was the thought of  him getting a golf cart to cruise a new neighborhood that swayed him.   I am sure any move will is four or five years away (not until retirement) but it is something to look forward to and gives time to de-clutter and empty the closets.

Here's the furry guy I hope to see today.

I have been trying to adopt a kitten/cat but have not been successful.   I went to the local shelter and was deemed not a good candidate!   Mr. W. met me at the door one evening and said the SPCA had left a message.   Before he gave me their message, he asked, "What exactly did you say on the application".......Me - "I told the truth and I listed all the cats we have ever had"....seems honesty is not the best quality..... Let's just say that cats  I have had have never had the named "Lucky!".   Seven cats in 38 years did not bode well for me as a good home provider.   So today, I hope to visit the friend of a friend to get a new cat.   

Weekend Update

Lunch hours at work are rough.   I feel more like I am sitting
at a Marriott then three short flights of stairs from my office!

Progress has been slow on my Jeannette Douglas piece. A sorry state of affairs when I share that this is the only project I am currently stitching on.   I have fallen into the method of only stitching on one project at a time....so unlike Side Track Robin.  It really does make completion so much faster, but one does need to take time to put needle and thread to fabric if you wish to see progress.  I am enjoying the different stitches in this piece but have not spent much time stitching except for a half hour at lunch most days and during my Thursday night stitching group which sometimes means I rip just as much as I stitch once we get chatting away!  

Needing a couple of extra hands to hold this flat to photograph I grabbed a few of my scissors to help.

Called into service - not getting much use since I got my Dovos!

A favorite.  Even got my kids hooked on this game.

Little stitching going on since I've had a couple weeks with early morning meetings and late nights at work.  The mornings I am not going in early I seem to be just a vegetable sipping my first cuppa of the day and playing Words with Friends or Seven Little Words.

Come to think of it, I think I have been tired since Mr. W. returned home......hmmm, does the mean he makes work?   Not really, he is pretty self-sufficient.  I think it is sharing the bed, the covers and the snoring.......hmmm, twin beds or separate bedroom in the future?  Maybe just be the dog days of summer.  

Where I will be spending the afternoon (hopefully)
stitching but first housework and laundry.

Today is certainly not one of those dog days of summer.....we have a beautiful weekend of almost early fall like weather ahead of us.   I am going to have to see what I can get into outside!  To that point, I need to share a website I found.   It is called My Fairs and Festivals.   Enter the date, enter the state (or zip) and viola' you get a list of all the fairs, festivals and events for that day/weekend in that area.  Imagine you are traveling and will be in Soddy Daisy, TN (Hi! Diane) for the week and want to know what is going on.....pretty cool.   So many times there are things going on just around the corner that I never know about until I read about it in the Monday morning paper.   It was just a stroke of luck to find the site and you be sure I have bookmarked it.

OK, folks, sun is shining and the humidity low and I need to get a move on.   Happy stitching all!

Closet Clean - out

Pardon the wrinkles.  Just popped this off the Q-snaps long enough to take a picture.

I stitched a bit this morning......I am over half way on my class piece.   Yeah!   I really hope to get this completed by mid-to-end of September.   Retreat is the first weekend of October and I already have a piece in mind I want to start!!   And then there is Grace Mason of course that I need to stitch on and then the stitch-a-long with guild....of my!  Too much to stitch and not enough hours in a day. As I stitched this morning, I was watching House of Cards (thanks Pat!!)  Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright and others....really quite excellent. Talk about corruption in government.   This show is really quite believable and frightening at the same time when you realize this probably only scratches the surface of the secrets, favors, personal agendas, wheelings and dealings that actually go on.    I understand there is a British version too for those folks on the other side of the pond! Anyway,  after three episodes I needed to get up and get moving so I could justify a good sit 'n stitch later today.

I decided I needed to tackle my closet today since it is a kind of showery, gray, misty sort of I don't want to be outside kind of day.    So to the closet I went........this is what the the floor usually looks like by the end of the week (the part I am willing to show you).

Mr. W. gets in bed at 8.   Heck, I
am mostly likely not even home yet or if I am, I am not inside yet, so it makes keeping the closet neat difficult.   By the time I decide to get undressed for the night he is in dreamland and I need to be quiet so I just kick off the shoes, etc., etc.  This of course has lead to a grand sort out of all things in the closet today.   It is kind of the August ritual that developed when I used to have to assess who had what and who needed what to start school....but enough.

More important, I  did just want to share this trick for cleaning and sorting out clothes in the closet.  I read this somewhere.....here's what you do......for one year every time you wear something you hang the hanger backwards on the rod.  At the end of one year, you know you have not worn the article of clothing in over a year and therefore, can chuck it!  I choose April Fools Day as my start date since I am foolish to think that I will even fit back into some of the things I 'save'.

On that note, happy stitching all......may your stitches be many and your frogs few and I will return to start sorting the drawers in the closet!

My Folly is Over...

Mr. W.  will be rolling in sometime tomorrow afternoon following eight weeks on the road......

So let's have a catch up on what I have been up to!   My daughter gave me this adorable squirrel sweater.   My family has this crazy obsession with squirrels.  It is what all the best dressed teddy bears will be wearing this season!

 I took a vacation day Friday and my sister and I went "junking".    It is always fun for sisters to get together and share and laugh.    I found this adorable miniature dress form.   I have no idea what I will do with it but it was one of those things that I knew if I didn't buy it, I would regret it.

 OMG!  Got this Christmas table runner for $4!!!   This is how it was folded on the table in the consignment store.   Being a stitcher, I knew without peaking what the other side would look like.

 Not only that, I am a sucker for needlework I find in consignment stores.....I know how much time and effort I put into my pieces so I know someone did the same here.

Overall it is 48 inches long.

Another $4 find!  This is about 11 x 18.    Couldn't find this when I was looking.   Back then, all I saw were tons of January and no July (birth month)

And a $1 find.   This chicken wire shoe.   The bow and flowers will come out and I am not sure what I am going to do with it but it was another too good of a bargain to pass up.

Today I managed to make my monthly guild meeting.....I have missed the last three months and even though it was just  stitch in it was so good to go and see everyone.   I've been doing a lot with my non-profit board so little stitching has been going on.  It's minimal but here's my progress on my class piece.

I am going to have to frog a teeny tiny bit.   I put in two too many stitches in the center of the heart below the flag.   Not a terrible amount of frogging.  I think I will survive.

After my guild meeting I picked up my BFF and we went to a local guild's quilting show.   Of course, I needed nothing but got this R-W-B fabric for a table runner pattern my sister gave me.  The show was not as nice as the bigger shows but I think it is important to support the local guilds.  Beside some of the bigger national shows can be overwhelming.

 I got this fabric last weekend in Lancaster PA with my daughter.    I am so drawn to 1930's retro fabrics.    I think I finally have more than enough to complete the string quilt I started.

I ended my jammed packed day with the afternoon and evening at the Havre de Grace Seafood Festival.   Yummo!  Seafood sampler platter, corn on the cob, crabs, cold beer, live bands, craft vendors.....it was a fun afternoon and evening for Deb and I.

I got some great shots of the lighthouse, the park and the water on my phone.

We strolled the promenade along the river.   I love exploring new towns and cities and finding their hidden gems.  Things the locals probably take for granted.

Check this out.   I bought this fab messenger bag.

 Close up of the button decoration.

Look when you flip up the front flap!!  Double wow.    It is made from real jeans.   The pockets will hold my favorite pen and cell phone and my keys are on the belt loop.   Inside it is super roomy.   There is room for my pocketbook, my lunch and a place for files but it will house a zipper mesh bag with a stitching project for me.  Perfect for work.

I am off to rearrange everything from my old tote bag to my new messenger bag.

Gadgets

I had a question about my last post......Nancy in NY asked me about the needle keep I had in one of the photos........

Here you go.   This is a Needle Park Avenue.  Not sure if I bought it at a trade show or online or a shop.  

 You are supposed to be able to write-on and wipe-off the symbols.    

Hmm......I had to resort to using a post-it to mark with the current symbols.

You secure it in place with the magnet back.

My needles are loaded and ready.

My friends know I am all about gadgets......don't even invite me to a Pampered Chef Party I just may win the game they play about who owns the gadget! I am discriminating though, is has to be useful.  I really need to know I am going to give it the college try to make it a favorite.  And I just don't buy it because it is just something pretty to look at.  

Isn't it always about having the right tools?   The right tools make the job easier.    That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Do you have a special tool or gadget you use?

Teeny Tiny Progress

I've been stitching but the going is slow.

I calculate that once I finish the numbers out to under the letter "M" as well as the red band under them, I will be 1/12 complete!  Next up I will continue the top border and the rest of the alphabet as my focus area.  Oh joy, more four-sided stitching.  I might have to relook at the pattern to see if there is more further down the sampler.

The other gals stitching along with this have lamented about the four-sided stitch taking so long.......What?   A four-sided stitch is simple.  I didn't get it until I started doing the four-sided stitch.   The stitch in itself is not difficult however, what was Grace thinking with soooooo much four-sided stitching!

I am pleased so far.   I think it will be neat to photograph all the samplers together when all seven of us are completed.   Sorry girls, but at this rate, it won't be until next summer for me!

Stitching Progress

Not much stitching going on here.  We are suffering from the heat wave that has the east coast in its hold and quite frankly, I come home and jump in the pool each night and let the cool water ease the tension of the day.  This heat has surely taken the starch out of me.

 Progress on my Jeannette Douglas class piece.....love the bunting.

 Not a whole lot to show here either but slow and steady wins the race.  Good thing, I am not as overwhelmed (so far) with these piece as I feared.

I am enjoying the differences in these two and it makes it an easy transition to change from one to the other.  For now, both are 'parked' until this evening and whichever strikes from fancy at that time.   Seems we might we getting a break in the weather a bit and I sure need to tidy up my craft room, weed my flower beds and maybe I should consider vacuuming the pool instead of cooling off by lounging on a float.

That does it. I need a cat!

When I returned home last weekend I found find yet another animal invasion!    All my fish in my pond ARE GONE!   I texted Mr. Wonderful who was home during the week I was away.....

"Where's the fish?"  
His reply:   "A bird swooped in and got them one at a time."

Some persistent bird.  Probably the red tailed hawk seen a few weeks ago or the blue heron that was circling overhead just the weekend before last.    T

There were 10 fish that have lived in my pond for more than a decade hibernating and wintering just fine.  Even Bubba the oldest and biggest fish (no fish story - he was 10 to 12 inches long) is gone.

 

Cat shopping will commence shortly! Maybe I will get a Savannah and keep everyone in place!  Next spring it will be back to Walmart for some more hearty $1.99 goldfish.