California Dreamin' and Pi Day

I just returned Monday night from a 2+ week visit to my DD's family to help out a bit with our sweet granddaughter while DSIL had some trips planned.  I got to pick her up early in the afternoons from day care and either took her to the nearby park or played with her at home.  I also did some kitchen help, ran errands, went to the grocery store, etc.  I stayed long enough (and DH flew in for) her 1st birthday party.  (We helped with the prep for that too.)  I made some play dough for the party.  While the kids enjoyed it, the "big kids" (adults) enjoyed it even more.  The party's theme was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and my DD made the cutest cake.

She's such a sweetie!  I got to see her first steps (walking independently) and DH taught her how to say "uh-oh!".

In the mornings, I would walk down their (steep, .6 mile) hill and over to a nearby park for a nice walk.  I saw deer, bunnies, and lots of birds there.  If you look carefully in the picture below, you can see a deer.

I didn't have time for much stitching but I managed to finish a couple of PS wips I brought with me.

It was really hard to leave (and I'm already thinking about my next visit there) but, I suppose, good to get home and back to "normal".  I have a new model to stitch that looks to be something I'll really enjoy stitching.

We celebrated Pi Day yesterday for dinner by having some of my DH's homemade pizza we'd frozen and a banana cream pie (with rum-soaked golden raisins and toasted almond slivers) that I made from a recipe of my late MIL.  (I'm going to have to do a lot more walking to make up for that meal!)

Happy stitching!

Model finished and other stitching

Can I hear a WOO HOO!!!!!?  I finished and mailed out the model and it has been received by the designer.  I'll let you know when it's been released.  That's always exciting fo me.

I also stitched my heart on a RR and will be sending it to the next stitcher today when I go out.

I stitched my skeleton (a PS design) for the Halloween Ornament themed sal.

I even worked a bit on my Hetty Child (The Sampler Company) sampler but not enough to take a picture yet.

Annnnndddd.......I officially started Bent Creek's "Flowers in the Springtime" for our daughter's upcoming wedding.  I gave her a selection of wedding pieces from which to choose and this is her choice.  It fits them...they love hiking and camping and are pretty low key (liking simple things).  I love what it says.  I'm enjoying stitching it and it's moving along pretty quickly.

It's sad to watch some trees being taken out of "my" walking track at the community college.  They've extended the construction fence line so there's a lot of the track that's closed now.  I suspect that eventually that whole field will be "developed".  I took some pics this am but haven't uploaded to my computer yet.

We enjoy trying new recipes and most of the time they're pretty good ones.  This week, however, we tried some Kale, Potato, Leek soup with bacon.  It was just ok and not very filling.  DH and I decided that it would be best used as an appetizer rather than a main course. Although it wasn't hard, it sure dirtied a lot of dishes.  For the result, I decided it wasn't worth it.  The new recipes can't all be winners, I guess. 

Happy stitching!

Friday update

Creative title, huh?  ;-)

I'm almost finished with the current model so hope to stitch my portion of a round robin, resume stitching Hetty Child, and start DD's wedding project, Bent Creek's "Flowers in the Springtime".

I also have all but the backstitching done on CEC Mitten Mitten for a CEC mitten sal (a very non-stress, year long sal).  I'm hoping to stitch enough of the mittens and then to finish them like real mittens with little hangers  for a mitten tree.  I don't think I'll "sign" them on the front but make little tags with my name and date to attach to the backing fabric.  We'll see.

I tried a new soup recipe from a recent issue of Real Simple magazine...a chicken and barley soup.  It called for using chicken thighs but I don't like dark meat so I used bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.  It was pretty simple and quick to make and both DH and I like it better than my usual chicken soup that I make.

The weather has continued to be nice and warm here although it's cooling down today and we're expecting rain for the weekend.  They're prepping for some kind of construction at my walking track and had part of it fenced off.  It's sad to see something go up there but will be interesting to watch, I guess.

Happy stitching!

Trip to Chicago and Playing Catch-Up

I accompanied DH to Chicago where he was attending the annual RSNA meeting.

RSNA 2014 Annual meeting

He'd eaten at an Italian restaurant on an earlier trip and thought I'd like it too.  I did.  Good food, interesting ambiance, and a waiter who was very friendly and funny.

Pizano's

I also got to have lunch with one of my (axe murderer) friends, Pam.  (DH calls my internet buddies "axe murderer friends).  We enjoyed a great lunch at Park Grill right under The Bean. (I had no idea what The Bean was until I looked it up.)  I don't know if the food tasted so good because it was or if it tasted even better because I got to eat with my friend that I hadn't seen in WAY too long.  (Please forgive my "hat hair".)


Park Grill

Here are a few pictures I took:

The Bean

There's an outdoor ice skating rink just under The Bean.  For some reason, I didn't snap a picture of it with the skaters.  Maybe I was too cold.  ;-)


I've not mastered the art of selfies but here's my reflection in The Bean:

Some cityscape:

Did I mention that it was cold?!  The day we left Texas, it was in the 70's.  We arrived to the 40's in Chicago but the temps plunged down to the low 20's one day and then warmed up to the 30's.  I actually enjoyed walking around in the brisk temps.  Probably knowing that I'd warm up in a few days helped.  (It's in the mid 70's here in Texas now.)

On the stitching front....I'd intended to finish up the model and send it out before we left but I discovered I was one stitch off so had to do some frogging and restitching.  I'm really down to the last little details now and hope to send it out Monday.  THAT will teach me not to push through and stitch when I'm too tired...it was a rookie mistake.  But....I love the design and you will too when it's released.

I worked a bit on a little Christmas piece for myself while in Chicago but haven't taken a picture yet.  Hopefully next time I post here, I'll have a finish pic to share.

I was the lucky winner of one of Nancy's (Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe) recent contests...I won the entire 1795 floss collection.  WOO HOO!!!  I was going to take a picture but Nancy's is all arranged beautifully so I'll borrow it to post here.  Isn't it gorgeous?!

The trip caused me to be late preparing for Christmas so we're hoping to put up the tree and some decorations today.

Happy stitching!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Last Friday we just moved our "baby" into his dorm room at University of Texas.  After having children under our roof for 32 years, we're officially empty nesters now.  I know-that's longer than many parents have children under their roof-- but how did this happen so fast?!

We're in "getting used to this" mode now.  I keep thinking Tony will walk in the door at any time.  lol!  I'll have to adjust from cooking large quantities to cooking for 2.  Etc., etc., etc.  (I won't mind doing less laundry.)

Our son (who just defended his PhD thesis last week) just landed in Denmark this morning.  He's checking out some post-doc fellowship opportunities.  (I guess I should renew my passport.)

Big changes all at once!

On the stitching front, I'm on the home stretch of a model and hope to finish it this week.  It's a cute one!

I also stitched a bit on a (donation) quilt square, HIH Wee Vegetables and here's my progress on that:

While in Austin I had a mini LNS fix.  Ginger's has closed but there's a nice needlework shop not too far from campus that carries a lot of the same threads we cross stitchers use.  Unfortunately I had lots of Crescent Color cottons on my list and they don't carry that line...so I came home with only a few WDWs.

We finally have some rain today.  A sign that I just might be addicted to my morning walk...even though it was raining lightly, I decided to give it a go today. Shortly after I started, it started pouring.  I had my umbrella, so I walked the first loop before giving it up.  It's been raining off and on all day so far.  We really need it!

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

Friday already?

I'm not sure how but I seem to be keeping pretty busy this summer.

I finished and mailed the model and it's been received.  Sending a model out is almsot like dropping a child off at college...by then you've done all you can but your sort of hold your breath.  I'm always a little afraid the PO will lose the package but so far, so good.

My walking buddy is on vacation...so getting myself going (and walking the full distance) has been a struggle, especially because it's been so hot.  So far, so good on that too.  The ipod helps...a little.

I'm back to personal stitching.  I finished a little DMC freebie called Island Stamp.  It had numbers in the corner...like would be on a stamp but I left them out.  I'm thinking of someday finishing it into a little pillow to display in a basket (with other future beach themed little pillows.)

I also started a beach themed wedding piece for a neice who had a beach wedding.  I like the design but am not enjoying stitching it.  I think rather than stitching on it constantly, I'll put it in rotation.

I also put in some more stitches on LHN Family Sampler.  It's not a great pic because I was too lazy to take it off the scroll rods but you get the idea.

On the very day of our anniversary, I was looking at Jill Rensel's blog and found a sampler I just have to stitch....A Sweeter Love by Plum Street Samplers.  It's on its way to me as we speak.  Now to decide if I want to stitch it in silks or DMC conversion.  (I'm leaning towards silks.)

I really have to stop looking at stitching blogs.  I'm so week against the enabling.  lol!

On the reading front....I'm on the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy and really enjoying it.  I should make some time to find an online discussion groups about this series.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

I'm singing an Easter cantata tonight with our church choir which will sure put me in the mood for this holy weekend.

I started another model this week but before I started, I stitched a couple of small spring themed pieces:

Bunny Wabbit by Val's Stuff (love this little guy!)

Spring ABC's by Lizzie Kate

Last night I took a break from model stitching and worked a bit on a (please don't ask me how) old wip that I dug out while watching OSU play in the final 4 of March Madness:

My "baby" celebrated his 17th birthday yesterday by going to the beach with some friends and then having them join us for dinner.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

A little Friday show n tell

I finished the LHN model I was working on the other day so I picked up a couple of personal wips to stitch since then.

Coincidentally, Diane "revealed" a previous design that I model stitched for her, Spring Band Sampler.  You can see it on her blog here:

http://littlehouseneedleworks.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-update.html

I put a few more stitches in LHN Family Sampler:

...and a few more stitches in one of the PS Summer Samplers:

I may have mentioned that one of my DS's was hired as a model once for a drawing class at the community college here.  (It was a very interesting experience for him....a lot harder for him than he'd expected.)  I recently found out that one of the students painted a portrait of one of her sketches from that day and that she decided to give it to us after it was featured in an art exhibit.  I went to pick it up yesterday.  Now we have to figure out where the best place would be to hang it.  Right now "he" sits on my couch and I've startled a few times walking into the room and seeing "him" there.  (The real "he" is away at college.)  I think the artist did a pretty good job except she got his eye color wrong.  It will be a very nice keepsake for him.  (He LOVES playing his bass so he'll really like this.)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Short update

I'm working on a model this week so I can't share about that.

It was another busy week working with DS's marching band.  What a great group of "kids", band directors, and other adult volunteers!

A Finish

I finished LK's Harvest Blessings last night.  Sorry the picture quality isn't that great.  Just in time because I have a new model to  start now.

I'm also working on an ornament for an exchange.

Diane Williams (Little House Needleworks) revealed a model I stitched for her called Autumn Band Sampler.  It was a joy to stitch and I love it so much, I'll have to stitch another for me to keep.  I love how she framed it too.  She previously designed one called Winter Band Sampler that her fans (including me!) love so much that she decided to do a whole series.  I'm anxious to see what she comes up with for Spring and Summer.  Please visit her website at www.littlwhouseneedleworks to see all her beautiful designs.

No football game this week.  I'm very tired so it will nice to have a break.

Happy Friday!

We've had some absolutely gorgeous weather here for the last few days.  I'm trying to drink it in because soon enough it will be way too hot and humid.  My walking buddy is out of town but I've managed to motivate myself to keep up my 3-mile walks this week except for one day when I was a slacker.

I've made progress this week on my Village Square Sampler.  I got the biggest part of the inner border finished as was overjoyed to see everything "met up" the way it was supposed to.  Hopefully it will turn out that way when I get the outer border stitched up.

I also stitched just a bit on ALTWL.  I'm devoting some time on Wednesdays to work on this one along with some stitching buddies who are working on the same project.  I've played around with the colors on this one just a bit.  I was a bit too tired to think much about counting so since I'm playing around with the idea of making the outline of the "boxes" in rows of red, white, and blue, I just worked on getting some of the boxes stitched.  The jury's still out about the colors of the boxes.  I hope to finalize a decision before many more are stitched...esp. if I decide to frog them out.

I saw a sampler on others' blogs last week that I instantly fell in love with.  I didn't have a chance....bought it the same day.  It's an antique repro called Marianne Wenn and available for purchase as a downloadable pdf from Needleprints...if I remember correctly on their blog.

I hope to soon be working on another model.  From the description from the designer, it sounds like I'm really going to like this one.

Until next time, happy stitching!

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.