Jane Plews Sampler Finished....but wait-there's more!

Ta-Da!!

After spending several months and even traveling with Jane, she's finally finished!  I haven't washed/pressed her yet.  She and I have one more trip together so I can show her off "in person" to some other stitchers.  Then I hope to get her prepared and framed.

After I finished Jane, I picked up an almost finished wip of Hinzeit's Harvest Time and now it's finished too.  (I wasn't sure I'd like doing the satin stitches in the basket but they were easy...and I think add an interesting "look" to the basket.)

I finished a couple of small pieces for some ornament sal blogs too.  The first is LHN's Under the Tree.  (I left off the bottom date "band" to make it a smaller ornament.)

The other is a PS design from the Boo to You leaflet.

I picked up another old wip of some Bent Creek snowmen (I forget the name of the design.) that I hope to finish soon and then will start something new.  I'd like to work through some of these wips;  it's embarrassing how many I have.  I'll bet fellow stitchers can say the same.

On the family front, our son who's been living in Denmark the past few years while doing a post doc fellowship just flew back to the US yesterday to start a new job.  We're so glad to have him "home" (Continental US) even though he'll still be living a plane ride away from us.  We're hoping the whole family can be together for Christmas this year.

Happy stitching!

Home Stretch

I'm reaching the end of stitching on Jane Plews sampler.  Hopefully next week I can show a finish picture.

Happy stitching!

Back home from CA....again

My husband was attending a conference in San Diego and since I loved it there the last time we went, I decided to go along with him again.  We were staying in the East Village right up the street from the baseball stadium...and very close to the Gaslamp Quarter where there are a lot of things to do within walking distance.  I loved walking to the other side of the convention center to the harbor area to walk around, watch the boats, and people watch.  This time I walked over to Seaport Village (I think that's the proper name or at least close to it) and browse in the shops there.  We also took the ferry over to Coronado Island and walked around there too.

A friend and her husband were also there (he was also attending meetings) and she and I took a day to drive up the coast just a bit to walk on several beaches, hike at Torrey Pines, and stop in at La Jolla to see the seals at the cove there.  We also stopped for lunch at a little local Mexican place in one of the little towns in the area.  What a fun day!!  (I have the sunburn to prove it.)  I'd definitely go back again, given the chance.

I finished the model and sent it off to the designer before we left for CA and the designer received it.  (I always feel good to know it arrived safely.)  Now I'm working some more on Jane Plews sampler.  Here's my present progress:

Happy stitching!

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!