I'm Still Here!

Between things getting a little busy around here and a short "stitching slump", I've neglected my blog for a while again.

Our grandbaby is doing very well and we can't wait to see her again.

DH's job is going well except that he's doing more driving back and forth than he ever has before.  So far the work from home deal hasn't materialized except for Fridays.  We're hoping soon that Mondays will also be a work from home day too.  He enjoys the work and the people there so it's all good.

Our DS who's currently living in Denmark was visiting "The States" last month.  He first went to meet his new neice in CA and then came here to TX for a visit.  While he was here, both he and I flew up to OH to visit with my parents.

This summer will be unusual for me. Before becoming an empty nester, I was pretty much tethered to our kids' activities so couldn't plan trips except for family visits and trips with the marching band.  Things have sure changed!   In addition to another trip to visit our little sweetie pie, I'll also travel with DH on one of his work trips to San Diego.  Then later in the summer I'll be going to HI to help my sister with summer child care.  (She recently went back to work and wanted some unscheduled home time for her kids who are in second and 4th grade.)  My brother also lives there (Oahu) and he has a nice sailboat.  I'm hoping we can talk him into taking us sailing at least once while I'm there.  Knowing him, I won't have to do much arm-twisting.

My frugality has caught up with me.  My smart phone is at least 6 years old and I was hoping to stretch it out a little longer before replacing it after buying new phones for other family members...and a car for our youngest son so he can drive back and forth to his summer internship.  I stretched it out a little too long.  My battery is pretty much dead and won't take/keep a charge.  Fortunately I was able to plug it into the computer to retrieve my videos/pictures and contacts.  UNfortunately,  nobody around here has the phone I want in stock and even ordering it has a "waiting time" before it will be shipped.  (Fortunately I checked all the colors and was able to shorten that time by choosing a less popular color.)  In the meantime, I'm using an old "dumb phone" we use for our home phone number.  Isn't it AMAZING how dependent we've become on our smart phones?!  I keep reminding myself of all the years I functioned perfectly well without even a cell phone.

I mentioned a stitching slump.  Instead of stitching, I was doing some reading but now I'm back to stitching and reading.  I'm behind on most of my sal groups and my Calendar Girls but I'll eventually catch up.

Here's a little small by PS.  I have an idea of how to "finish" it but haven't followed through yet.

Next up is Beach Blessings by Erica Michaels.  It's supposed to be stitched on gauze but I used 32 count linen (over 2).  Instead of solidly stitching the sand, I used a piece of fabric that looked to me like sand.

Here's another PS.  I think I'd like to try to "finish" this into a needlebook.

I'm a member of the FB group Sampler Heart which is a group of repro sampler lovers.  One of our members (Inguana Krastina) reproduced an antique sampler and is giving it (in installments) to members of our group as a stitch-along.  Here's my progress so far on that one:

DH suggested that I stitch a small wedding piece for some friends who are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2 weeks.  I'll have to get moving on that if I want to get something done in time!

I also just received another model to stitch that I'll be starting today/tonight.

I guess the slump is over!

Happy stitching!