Rainy week

It must be spring break for the public schools here...it's been raining every day.  Poor kids! 

A friend's son loves to fish and he occasionally comes here to fish on our lake.  Despite the rain , he was itching to stitch the other day when he had some unexpected time off.  Mostly it was a light rain but suddenly the sky opened up and it started pouring.  Luckily he was dressed appropriately...I think he  had even more fun because of the rain.  Here he is with his catch of that day:

I've mostly been model stitching lately but made so much progress last week that I took one day "off" to work a bit on Hetty Child.  I'm really enjoying this sampler. 

I've become quite a Brenda Keyes (The Sampler Company) fan.  I'd already stitched her Plymouth Sampler.  It's framed now and hangs over my "stitching nest".

I've since acquired several of her books and leaflets.  Just recently purchased one of her books and a sampler (Country House Sampler) on ebay and bought another sampler (Red House Sampler) from Down Sunshine Lane.  My biggest "problem" with these is deciding which one to start next.

I finished the LHN exchange block (Wool Needebook) and sent it off to the exchange co-ordinator.  I'll be stitching another one for me although may choose a blue for the house...or maybe not.  I'd like to finish finish it into a needlebook.  As long as I've been stitching, I need to make nice one for myself.

On the cooking front...we tried out a couple of recipes from the most recent Bon Appetit magazine.  Pork Ragu' with Creamy Polenta and Raspberry-Ricotta cake.  Both dishes were excellent with the bonus that they weren't that hard to prepare.  I loved that the cake satisfied my sweet tooth without being overly sweet as many desserts can be.

Pork Ragu over Creamy Polenta


Raspberry-Ricotta Cake

Here's what ours looked like:

Seeing everyone's stitching has inspired me to buy more designs either on ebay or through the shops.  I need to slow down a little....but I probably won't.  lol!

I hope to finish the model this week or next.  I'll then start the next exchange block (a BBD design) and the next Halloween ornament.  (I've ordered supplies for both.)  I'll also work more on Hetty and then decide on the next sampler start.

Happy stitching!

Getting back to normal

I've taken down the Christmas decorations (although I still need to pack them all away--it's like a puzzle to me getting everything in their little boxes and then fitting them into the bins).  I'll do that next week when I'm here by myself.

One DS has returned to his college apartment.  The other one goes back tomorrow.

DH's care was indeed totalled and we bought him a replacement car last week.  He liked his old one so his new one is just a newer version.  It has a back-up camera, blue tooth (for the phone), and a little plug-in for an mp3 player.  We weren't thinking of it while choosing which color car but DS asked why, when 3 of our sons have attended University of Texas, we chose a maroon car (the color of Texas A+M).  I told him just to squint while looking at it and imagine that it's really scarlet for (The) Ohio State University (my alma mater).

I've been stitching a bit too and managed to finish 2 small LHN designs:

Seven Pines (I stitched this for a snowman themed exchange block.)

Happy Skater (from a JCS ornament issue)

There's a group doing a sal of an ornament each month this year so I'm going to try to keep up.

I also started another small piece, a little bagpiper guy that I was going to stitch for DD's (Scottish) bf, but I ran out of time before Christmas.  If they're still together next year, I'll be all set.  No picture yet but hopefully I'll have it finished next week.

One DS requested that I make "chicken cobbler" for dinner one night.  It's a recipe from Ina Garten and very popular in this household.  Here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-stew-with-biscuits-recipe/index.html

.....and here's a picture of my version:

Until next time......

Happy stitching!!

Long Time, No See

It's been so busy around here with DS's approaching HS graduation that I've been neglecting my poor blog.

There's not been to much stitching going on around here either although I did finish another model for LHN  (top secret) and also a little fruit themed exchange block for one of my groups.  This came from the LHN design fruit bowls:

Some of the recent activities were 2 piano recitals (one was DS's senior recital):

His last Band-o-Rama followed by his last drum line performance:

(That's him on timpani.)

(After this night, it started to "hit him" that, despite being so excited to move on to college, that he'll really miss many of his friends as they scatter off in different directions.  His group of percussion was like a little close-knit family.)

His last band banquet:

Senior Honors Night where he was awarded with a couple of scholarships and picked up his honor cords (from the local college for excelling in dual credit courses and his summa cum laude cord from the HS):

Yesterday was graduating seniors' day at our church and he played Claire de Lune (Debussy) during the service.  Many people graciously complimented him afterwards.  The pastor was blown away by the fact that he plays it from memory instead of having the music in front of him.

His graduation is this coming Friday.  Our older "kids" start arriving tomorrow night and it will be nice having everyone together to celebrate.

We are blessed!

Happy stitching!

Rita

Spring Break week

We've been enjoying a laid back spring break and having our college son here with us.  I've been doing a little more cooking and some baking since he's been home and since we have been doing less running around than usual.

Last night we celebrated St. Pat's Day for dinner last night since DS is leaving for Austin today.  I made corned beef with baby carrots and red onions and some colcannon (a concoction with mashed potatoes, cooked cabbage, green onions, and seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper).  I'd been wanting to try baking apple pies inside hollowed out apples so DS and I made them yesterday.  They're cute and tasted good but more work than I'd have thought just trying to scoop out all the apples.  We both thought making mini pies in muffin tins would be just as cute and probably a little easier to do.

The weather has been gorgeous this week and we've been taking some walks too.

On the stitching front, I finished a cute model for Diane at LHN and she received it yesterday.  (It always feels good to know a model has arrived safely.)  Since then I've been working on La D Da's "Right Spirit".  As you can see, I've changed the cabin originally charted to a saltbox house.  I admired how my friend, Sherre, did this and used her idea.  I'll have another model coming next week.  I sure enjoy model stitching for both Diane and Nikki.  I love their designs!

I finally finished reading Atlas Shrugged.  I really enjoyed reading it but it's a long book and I started it during marching band season.  I'm not sure what I'll read next.  I have the Steve Jobs bio but it's another long one...I'm thinking an "escape" fiction might be just the ticket.  Something less than 1000 pages.

Then I tried making another "books" page on my blog and ended up erasing the ones I already had posted.  Obviously I'm not a computer geek.  Rats!

It occurs to me that I've forgotten for a long time to do labels on my blog posts.

 I'm probably lucky to just remember how to do blog posts.  lol!

Happy stitching!

Final Countdown to the end of the school year

Like it matters!  lol!  Two of our kids are taking summer classes.

Monday I had jury duty.  I brought along my Kindle and finished The Girl Who Played with Fire while sitting there and downloaded The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. ( I love instant gratification!)  I came close but didn't get picked for the jury.

Thursday was another big day at our house because DS got his braces off.  (I read more sitting in the waiting room.  It was a good week for reading.)

There was another band concert last night.  This one called Band-o-Rama where every school band that "feeds" into our high school bands and our high school bands played fun music.  Some bands had costumed characters that went along with the theme of the music and cavorted around.  It's always a fun concert.

This am I spent 5 hours helping measure the kids for next year's badly needed new marching uniforms and loading coolers with pop and bottled water to prepare for the concession stand for next week's graduation.

We're also plodding along preparing for DS's Eagle ceremony.  Next week-end will be fun but very busy.  I'm sure it will fly by.

On the stitching front, I made a bit more progress on LHN's Family Sampler:

I also picked up another little wip, LK's Ride a Bike.  This one will be for my DD who enjoys long distance bicycling.  I hope to finish it as a little doorknob hanger. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Stitching in the month of Mayhem

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

I made a bit of progress on LHN's Family Sampler and also thought I finished a little sal piece...until I looked at the picture and realized I was a little "off" on part of it.  That sneaky frog!  It won't take long to fix and since I'll be here by myself tonight, I hope to fix it then.

We had a storm come through here last night and here's the surprise I found backing out of my driveway this am.  Luckily the tree fell at just the best possible place and no damage was done to the neighbor's house and nobody was hurt.

 The month of May is always crazy with all of the end of the school year activities and this one is no different.  A friend of mine came up with the term Mayhem to describe it...and she's right.

  Last night was the final band concert for DS.  This is Honor Band year for his band in which they have 3 chances to perform their concert pieces and then the directors choose the best performances for each piece and then submit the recordings for judging on the state level.  The "nailed it" last night as far as I was concerned.  I hope the judges agree.

They performed last Sat. in Austin for another competition.  (As many years as I've had kids in band, I can't keep all the competitions straight.)  T came home saying they won 28 medals and dropped one on the kitchen table.  I assumed it was a medal they gave all the kids for competing but thought it was a lot nicer thn past competitions medals were.  I found out yesterday that he won an individual percussion medal and that his name is somewhere on a state (TX) music site for winning it.  (I'll have to do some digging to find out exactly what it means.)  He played a pretty "cool" timpani part on one of their pieces.  (I call it when he goes crazy on the timpani.) and I suspect that's where the judges noticed him.

There are a few more tests and activities yet to come for him/us.

Our DS attending UT has a big paper to turn in today and he'll be coming home for bit until summer session starts.  (Both he and our HS DS will be taking college classes this summer.  They count as dual credit for our HS DS.)

Everyone have a great week!  Happy Mother's Day!

First Friday of Spring

Hi, fellow bloggers!

Yesterday was DH's birthday so I asked him what he'd like to have for dinner...thinking it would be the typical grilled steak, baked potato, etc.  Instead he went through our collection of Cooking Light magazines and came up with 5 possibilities.  I ended up choosing Risotto Primavera.  Aside from deciding and finding which veggies I wanted to use and all the peeling and dicing, it was a pretty easy recipe.  I'm not a big goat cheese fan but used it anyway (it called for goat and Parm cheese) and it had just a hint of that flavor...I really liked it in this recipe.  The guys really liked this too so I'll be sure to make it again.

He prefers pies over cakes so I made him an apple pie.  Instead of rolling the crust, I make a crumb crust that you press into the pie plate...you use the same mixture to crumble over the top.  Yum!

When we visited a LNS last month while visiting DS at college, he picked out a design with TX wildflowers that he'd like me to stitch for him.  I kitted it up in time for his birthday but it might not be finished until next birthday.  lol!

I'm a little sad this am.  My walking buddy is moving far enough away that we can't do our daily weekday walks anymore.  Today's my first day without her and I just couldn't bring myself to do the walk.  Instead I'm reflecting over how blessed I've been to have enjoyed walking with her for so long.  In addition to "keeping me honest" we talked about many various topics during all those miles.  I'll get going again...with my ipod....Monday. 

On the stitching front, I recently won 2 drawings which arrived this week.  It felt like Christmas again!  The first is a Primitive Needle design called "Follow Me".  Every time I think of these designs, I'm reminded of Lisa Roswell's tragic death.  We certainly lost a talented designer.  Thanks, Mamacat!

The other prize blew me away!  It was a bloggoverary drawing from http://morethanjustcrossstitchin.blogspot.com/ .  All I can say is Wow!! And thank you, of course.

I've been diligently stitching a  cute model from Country Cottage Needleworks and am on the home stretch.  It's a good thing b/c another model arrived from Little House Needleworks.  The LHN looks to be another "winner" too.  :-)  I love that I stitch for them since I love their designs.

I also finished a little Santa from Redbird Designs called "Joy Y'all".  He's for a block exchane in one of my groups but I love him so much, I'll stitch another one for us.  I may stitch him for my kids too.  We'll see.

I see I failed miserably at keeping this post brief.  Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week.

A week of stitching, etc.

I seem to have startitis.  I'm working on LHN's Family Sampler (in a remembrance sal), a PS Woodland Santa, a cupcake (freebie from The Floss Box for a block exchange), and today received my floss for Quaker Gone Tropic (another sal).  I'd really like to start LK's Six Fat Men (received the overdyes I ordered for that too.) but maybe should finish something first.  I'm still waiting on a friend to receive an ornament I sent before posting the pic which is my last 2011 finish.  I sure hope it didn't get lost in the mail.

My walking buddy and I decided to increase our mileage so we're up to 4 1/2 miles.  We can hardly tell the difference except that it takes more time than doing the 3 miles.

One DS just finished his last HS final for the semester and I just sent another DS back off to college today. 

I'm helping tomorrow at a bake sale for DS's HS band and also helping in a committee for a judges hospitality room for an upcoming solo/ensemble contest.  Shortly after that, I accompany DS's band on their trip to Disneyworld.  Never a dull moment around here!

I hope everyone has a great week.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

I just have some cooking planned (not too much) and stitching for the first day of 2011.

Here's a picture of the sampler I've been working on...Samplers Remembered Village Town Square. I've stitched a lot on this one but there's still a lot that needs to be done. It's truly a bap! I'm just hoping to finish it in 2011.

I plan to start 2 sals today, LK's "Boo Banner" (with a couple of friends) and LHN's Winter Band Sampler (my Jan 1 project with one of my yahoo groups).

It was supposed to get "cold" here in SE TX but it's still too warm for my tastes this time of the year.

Model

I stitched a model for Diane Williams of Little House Needelworks earlier in the year.

It's just been released.....The Mercantile. You can see it at her website www.littlehouseneedleworks.com under new releases.

It was a joy to stitch as are all her designs. I love the frame she chose for it.

He's a Flake

I'm participating in a sal blog for the monthly LHN ornaments this year. Here's the blog if you're interested in seeing everyone's ornaments:

http://littlehouseornies.blogspot.com/

Here's my version of He's a Flake. He's stitched on some Waterlily 32 ct. linen by Wichelt (in my stash for a while) with the recommended floss/beads.