Samplers, Stocking, New Floors, Grandchildren, Valentine's Day

January seemed to fly by this year!

I'm enjoying working on 2 samplers....LHN Melicent Turner (participating in a Sampler Sunday sal on the LHN/CCN Facebook group).  I'm stitching her on 32 count (over 2) champagne linen overdyed by Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler and using the called for conversion to Crescent Colour (cotton overdyed floss).

I'm also stitching HATS Jane Marshall sampler.  If you don't know already, Jane was an Australian girl.  HATS released the sampler as a fundraiser for 2 fire brigades in Australia battling the fires there.  I'm stitching Jane on 32 count (over 2) lambswool fabric by Wichelt and using mostly Vonna's DMC conversion.  (The only change I made myself is to use DMC 407 for the lightest pink.)

I've finished the stitching on our daughter's Bent Creek stocking which I'm stitching on 28 count (over 2) Wichelt lambswool.  Because it will be smaller than if I'd used the called-for fabric count, I'm using some buttons in my stash.  Lots of buttons!!  I need to get in gear and stitch them on so I can send it out to be finished.  Next up on the stockings will be another BC stocking in the same series for our son-in-law.  I think it will be one of the snowmen ones but haven't decided for sure yet.

We had our floors replaced in early January from carpeting and wood laminate to tile that looks like hardwood.  It was a lot of work unloading/packing up furniture, moving things around (the floor crew moved the big stuff) and then cleaning up the construction dust and reloading the furniture but it was well worth it!  We both love the floors now and they should be easy to maintain.  They're also waterproof which is a nice feature since we have an elderly dog that often has "accidents".

We also spent about a week in CA visiting our daughter's family and helping out with the kids while our son-in-law was out of town on business.  While there, we celebrated Burns Dinner.  (DSIL is from Scotland and they host a Burns Dinner every year.)  Lucky for me, there was a vegetarian version of haggis that I actually enjoyed.  I don't know what was in it but I know what was NOT in it and that was good enough for me.  ;-)

The "grands" are both doing well and filled with energy which reminded us that it's good that we have our babies when we're young.  Later in the year we get them all to ourselves for about 10 days while our daughter and son-in-law celebrate their anniversary by going on a nice trip.  (DH and I should probably start working out with a physical trainer now to prepare.)

As usual, we have low-key plans for Valentine's Day by having a nice steak dinner at home.  (We've always thought Valentine's Day would be our least favorite day to try to go out to dinner somewhere.)  Weather permitting, we may put a fire in our fire pit and look at the lake that evening.

I'm about to hit my stitching nest and spend some quality time with Melicent.

Happy stitching!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Greetings!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh with my husband's family.  All our kids came along with our 2 grandchildren and also our oldest son's girlfriend.  We had a great time, ate a lot, laughed a lot, and then all made it back to our home destinations with no problems.

Now I'm concentrated on preparing for Christmas.  We'll stay home this year and our 2 youngest children will join us.  I'm getting a late start on decorating because we're replacing our floors in January and had a guy come measure this week.  I'm starting to get excited because we finally decided on what flooring to use, the color, and have nailed down (pardon the pun) the contract.  We even have a tentative date on which to start. 

I also pulled some ornaments out to send to our 2 oldest kids.  I'd collected (either bought or made) ornaments for each of the kids over the years and our oldest asked for some of hers (she's the one who's given us our 2 grandchildren) and our son's girlfriend asked if I'd send some of his to them.  It took longer than I thought it would to go through them and choose a nice assortment that fit in the box.  I had an idea when I was in Hobby Lobby earlier this week that it would be nice to put them in a Christmas box so they can use the same box in which to store them.  They're safely in the mail now and I hope they enjoy using (and storing) them.

On the stitching front, I finished stitching Cat's Meow (Drawn Thread) for my son's girlfriend.  I took the picture before pressing it and the piece is now at the framer.

I also put together a couple of Foxwood Crossings Sled ornaments for this year's ornament and tucked them in the ornament boxes I just sent out.  I'll make 3 more of these this year.  2 are stitched and it won't take long to stitch the last one.  I love how quick and easy they stitch up and taping them onto those little sleds is my kind of finishing.  Quick and easy!

I'm still plugging along on Home for Christmas by Prairie Schooler.  I'm really enjoying this one!

Break's over!  Time to get back to decorating.

Happy stitching!