Remembering.....

Has it really been 10 years since that awful day?  I remember it like it was yesterday. I pray for all those who lost loved ones and for all us Americans whose lives were forever changed.  While we mourn all we have lost, let us learn how to live with one another in peace.

This song keeps running in my head as I watch the remembrances on tv this week:

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

(lyrics by Lloyd Stone, Georgia Harkness, music by Jean Sibelius)

A Little Progress

I've had very little stitching time because of  band but did manage to make a little progress on Lizzie Kate's Harvest Blessings.  I'm really enjoying using my new StitchMate stand;  I believe I'm actually stitching a little faster on it than when I'm using Qsnaps (the big ones, anyway).

Previous progress:

The band did very well last night.  They played the first movement and most of the second of their show.  TS (or whatever it's classified as now) Lee slightly lowered our temps and has provided us with an almost steady breeze which really helped.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.  

Ta-Da!! A Finish

I put the final stitches on LHN's Virtue Sampler on Saturday.  This is my first project mostly stitched on my new StitchMate floor frame.  I can say I've fallen in love with this frame and wonder what took me so long to get one.  lol!

Next up is an older Lizzie Kate...I think it's called Harvest Blessings.  With it so hot, I'm thinking maybe thinking of fall might cool me off.  It's worth a try, anyway.

We had our first football game Friday and the band did well.  The football team won the game too.  GO BUCS!  It was so hot that day that we really worried how the kids would tolerate the heat...esp. since they wore those hot uniforms.  Only a couple had problems but we were able to cool them down.  Today the high will be 104 (I don't even want to know the "feels like" temp today as humid as it is.)  UGH!

Catch up

Things have been pretty busy around here lately.  I volunteer a lot with DS's HS marching band.  We've finished our second week of band camp.  I work with some other wonderful women who support the band by trying to keep the kids hydrated, dispensing bandaids, etc., and generally helping out where needed.  We've been under a heat advisory since the beginning of camp and the kids so far are doing pretty well tolerating the heat.  We moms have been "working out" a lot by lugging cooler after cooler of ice water out to their practice field so they can refill their camelbacks.  This week they started putting some music to their drill, always exciting to see it begin.  Go, Buc Band!!

Yesterday we drove to Austin to move DS into his college apartment.  It's almost a 4 hour drive from here so, as you can imagine, it was a long day.  We discovered in Austin that we'd left part of his futon here at home so we'll be making another trip soon.  At least he can sleep on the mattress on the floor until we can make it back.

On the stitching front, a model I stitched for Nikki at http://www.countrycottageneedleworks.blogspot.com/ and http://www.countrycottageneedleworks.com/  has just been released on her blog so I can finally share it.  I loved this one!  My kitchen has an apple theme and I suspect I'll be stitching this one again for me.  Nikki seems to really be "on a roll" lately with lots of beautiful designs.

My birthday gift from DH this year was a StitchMate needlework stand and it just arrived Friday afternoon.  I think I'm going to love this...and wonder what took me so long to ask for it.  You can read about the stand here:  http://www.cozycottage.com/

I also finished and sent another model out to Nikki this week so I'm back to personal stitching (when I have any time or energy left from band.  I'm working on LHN's (Dianne Williams, Nikki's mother) designed this piece, Virtue Sampler:

I finished the Moonwalking with Einstein book (very interesting) and started another Erik Larson book,  IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: LOVE, TERROR, AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HITLER'S BERLIN and am finding it very interesting.

Until next time, happy stitching!

Checking in

I'm stitching a model for CCN so I can't talk about what I'm stitching...except to say that I know you'll like it.

My foot is a lot better.  I reached a milestone in the past few days.  I can now tolerate wearing shoes on that foot and even went out yesterday to run errands wearing shoes.  Yes!!!!!  I still have a bit to go to be back to normal (well, my foot, anyway) but I'm pleased with my current progress.

Since I can't talk about stitching, I'll talk a little about reading.  I LOVE reading a good book.  I just finished one, The Devil in the White City  by Erik Larson.  It's about the Chicago World's Fair, the people and the development/building of it, it's "run", some of the developments introduced at this fair (like the Ferris Wheel), and also some side stories about other things going on about that same time including a serial killer.  The author has a great talent for telling the historical story and making it seem like a good novel.  (I was told there's a name for that writing style but the person telling me didn't remember what that name was.  If you know, I'd love for you to tell me.) 

I also read another of his books, Isaac's Storm  about the 1900 Galveston hurricane.  Unfortunately I read it shortly before moving to the Texas Gulf coast.  It scared the bejeebers out of me.  Larson has at least a couple other books out and I plan to look for them.

Someone in my SS class was talking about a book he's reading, Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer which I'm currently reading.   I remembered the title and author without looking it up.  This is significant because the book is about human memory....about the capacity of humans to remember things, how many of us forget things, about how memories are formed and retrieved, and about "mental athletes".  It could be a rather dry subject but the author makes it interesting...at least most of the time.

I love hearig about what others are reading...and recommendations for good books.

Soon both my stitching and reading will be taking a "back seat".  DS's band will be starting band camp the first week of Aug. and since I volunteer with them nearly every day.......  It's very rewarding though and they're a great group of kids  I also enjoy working with the other adults.  I'm just never ready for band to start yet.  lol!

It's been a while

We returned home a few days ago from spending almost 2 weeks "up North" visiting with friends and family.  We missed going back last year so it was great getting to see everyone again.  It was also great to escape the Texas coast heat and humidity for a while.

Unfortunately just before the trip I bashed my (bare) foot against a basket filled with magazines. (My parents didn't name me Grace for a reason.)  I went along my merry way and it started feeling better until I walked all over the airports on the return trip like nothing had happened.  Turns out I dislocated my (and possibly broke it).  For the most part I was doing what I should have (let's not talk about that 2 mile hike in flip flops).  It's a lot better now but I still can't tolerate a shoe.  Hopefully soon.

Timing of the trip was a little complicated since our older children who live in CA and GA didn't have as much time as we did yet both wanted to visit both sides of the family (OH and PA).  We spent a few days with my parents in OH, drove to PA where the kids flew in to meet us (on different days from one another), spent time with DH's side of the family enjoying wonderful Italian food and wine (and s'mores cooked over a fire pit in the back yard).  Then we drove the whole crew back for few more days in OH.

I also got to spend a day in Columbus to visit with my buddy, Renee.  We had so much fun and the day went by way too quickly.

I spent a lot of time enjoying the weather outside with my foot propped up and got to do some stitching too.  Here's some of my progress on:

Beds of Roses:

CCN's Red, White, and Bloom

Hopefully it won't be so long before I post another blog entry.  Happy July, everyone!

Happy Father's Day and catchup

Happy Father's Day!

Sorry for the silence but I've been working on a couple of models.  I finished the second one yesterday so I've started some personal stitching again....put a few more stitches in Beds of Roses, started CCN Red, White, and Bloom, and kitted up a couple of samplers.  (I've been craving starting another sampler lately.)  No pics yet, but hopefully soon.

I've always been rather klutzy.  Yesterday I stubbed my toe pretty badly and it's so swollen that I can't (at least don't dare) put a shoe on.  I'm trying to look at the positive...enforced sitting with my foot elevated so I just "have to" stitch today.  I'm hoping it will recover enough from my am walk tomorrow.

Since I last posted, I got a new phone.  I've joined the ranks of people with smart phones.  Mine's a droid and I'm still learning how to use it.  It's probably one of those things that I don't really need but once I use it a while, I'll figure that I can't live without it.  I think it will come in very handy especially when traveling.