Storms, Stitching, and Wedding Prep

We've been experiencing some strong thunderstorms lately in our area.  A week ago Friday, a really violent thunderstorm with torrential rain, hail, and strong winds (up to 72 MPH) came through.  We had a lot of branches and trees down in our yard, the lake behind our house is up into our yard, and our poor PC was fried.  Luckily a friends' DH who, I discovered, is an IT guy was successfully able to diagnose and treat it.  He refused to take any money for helping us so we had him and my friend over for dinner last night.

Wouldn't you know it, another strong storm went through this am too.  This storm wasn't as bad (although I found out after the fact that we were under a tornado warning) and aside from the lake level rising even further, the PC is OK.

Nikki from Country Cottage Needleworks released one of the designs for which I stitched the model...Seasonal Celebrations-Summer.  I really enjoyed stitching this one.

I'm stitching another model now but took a little time out to stitch this cutie from Homespun Elegance...Patriotic Home.  It's a gift to the Star Spangled Stitchers group on Facebook.

Our daughter's wedding is quickly approaching.  I'd been shopping unsuccessfully for a dress and starting to get a little nervous about finding something until Tuesday night when I finally found the dress.  The next day I found shoes and now just looking for accessories.  I'm not much of a shopper so this has been an annoyance for me.  lol!  We're all getting excited for the wedding and looking forward to seeing family we haven't seen for a while.  The groom is from Scotland and will be wearing his kilt.  We "met" his parents (in Scotland) via Skype and are looking forward to meeting them in person.  The week before the wedding, they've invited us for dinner at their airbnb apt and we will be hosting them and their family and ours another night.  DH is "famous" for his pizza so it will be a pizza party.  I'll be making pies....our future son-in-law strongly hinted that they should be lemon meringue so lemon meringue they shall be.  :-)  There will also be a picnic on the beach the day before the wedding, dinner out the night before the wedding with the happy couple, the groom's parents, and DH and me, and a BBQ the day after the wedding.  DD's idea was that the picnic and BBQ will give everyone a relaxed time to spend some time together.  I think it's a great idea!

Happy stitching!

Stitching and a Wedding

I finished my version of CCN's Surfside Cottage.  I say my version bc I decided to leave off the bottom row of flowers so it will fit into a square frame.  I knew the minute I saw this design released that I was fated to stitch it.  The beach near here is named Surfside Beach.  I found a piece of solo Silkweaver's fabric for this one and I really enjoyed stitching it.  The only way I could have enjoyed stitching it more would have been renting a beach cottage and stitching it there.

It turns out that my good buddy, Renee, was stitching hers at the same time....an accidental stitchalong.  What fun!

Now if only I can find the perfect frame that doesn't break the bank.

DS's best friend's wedding was last Saturday;  DS was best man.  What a joyful and beautiful wedding!  I only have one complaint:  it make me feel so old seeing "kids" this age get married and also DS's and the groom's mutual friends, many of whom I had in band and also as house guests, becoming adults.  How could this have happened so fast?!  Seriously, it was nice to catch up with them and really nice hearing about their successes.

DS is sometimes a goofball but he took his best man duties very seriously.  He was practically joined at the hip with the groom for the days leading up to the wedding, was the designated (sober) driver during celebrations, etc.

He even caught the garter----twice!  He threw it back the first time.  I asked him the next day if he knew what it meant and he said that's why he threw it back the first time.  lol!

A few pictures:

Happy stitching!

This week

I always go into summer expecting it to be less hectic...and almost every year I'm proven wrong.

I've been keeping up with my regular morning walks despite the oppressive heat and humidity.  (You know you're in SE TX when the weather guy on the radio says it will "cool off" to the low-mid 90's next week.)

This week started out with my going to the DPS to get my driver's license renewed.  There's an option to renew by mail or online but they sent a letter to me saying I had to go in person this year.  Ugh!  I waited in line >1 1/2 hours to do 5 minutes worth of "business". Ugh!  (I said that already, didn't I?)  At least it's over and I probably won't have to do this in person again until 10 more years....unless we move before then.

Tuesday and Wednesday I had some medical tests done.  Results on both were good, as expected and I won't have to have them redone for a few more years.

Tomorrow, is DS's (#2--the 22 yo) best friend's wedding and DS is serving as best man.  We're all invited to the wedding.  With graduation and our recent trip, this week was the first chance for me to go wedding shopping.  I bought several items for their kitchen from their gift registry.  It was fun shopping for the stuff...and knowing exactly what they wanted including what color.

I DID manage to get some stitching done.  I finished the last little bits of CCN's Red, White, and Bloom:

I've been trying to find CHS' 2000 Christmas Sampler for some time now and someone graciously loaned it to me.  After unsuccessfully trying to stitch it on black linen (can't see it!), I bought some aida and it's working out a lot better:

The minute I saw Nikki's (CCN) design Surfside Cottage, I know I had to stitch it.  You see, the beach near here is called Surfside Beach.  What would REALLY be cool would be to rent a beach cottage and stitch it there..esp. if my stitching, beach-loving buddy from OH could come down to join me.  I can dream!

I was looking around for fabric for this and found this "solo" piece from Silkweavers.  It's not exactly the same shade of blue as the model but I really like how it's looking.

One thing I forgot to mention last week was that I decided to sample a deep fried Oreo at Red, White, and Boom.  I was really expecting it to be "gross" but, to my dismay, I LIKED it.  Luckily there were a lot of us there and I only had one, sharing the rest.

Happy stitching!