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

Another great contest at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Nancy's having another great giveaway of some of her beautiful floss on her blog.  Go here for details:

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe giveaway

Busy but very little (if any) stitching....picture heavy

End of the school year and senior year activities are in full swing so not much stitching being done around here.  I hope to get a good start on a new model this weekend now that I've caught up on some rest from the activities below.

First off, last weekend DH and I chaperoned the band's spring trip to Dallas.  The bands participated in a competition at the Majestic Theater and pretty much blew away the competition.  We came home with 10 trophies, including one of our bands winning overall.

Other activities included hanging out at the Galleria (and ice skating....first time this century I've ice skated.  It's like "riding a bike" once you get started), Six Flags (I LOVE coasters!), Medieval Times, breakfast and music at House of Blues, dinner at Bucco di Beppo (sp?), lunch at the West End,  and Perot Museum.  A good time was had by all.

We arrived home from Dallas Monday night.  Then our symphonic band traveled to Austin Thursday to be honored by the Texas state legislature with a proclamation read on the House floor by our State Rep.  They also had a picture taken with him on the stairway and played a concert at an outdoor rotunda.  It was a long day starting at 4:45 am but a very fun day.  I'm so proud of our band kids and directors for all their hard work for earning this honor!

What a fun week!  Hopefully next time, I'll have some stitching to share.

Happy stitching!

Rita

Heartbreaking week

This week's events of the bombing in Boston (and the aftermath...I'm still glued to the news watching the unfolding events), the ricin letters, and the explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas just breaks my heart.

 I will never understand the hate that flourishes in some people's hearts as to the man made/intended events.

I'm trying to focus on the good deeds/actions that come from so many after events such as this.  Really, when you think about it, there's so much more good in the world than the bad...both in the reactions to these events and also in day-to-day life.


Still, so many people are in my prayers today...the victims of the violent acts and the people affected by the accident in West.  So many people's lives will never be the same.

 I also pray for those whose hearts are filled with hate....that their hearts will soften.

On the stitching front....

Diane from Little House Needleworks released a model I stitched for her, Miss Peepers.  It was a FUN stitch and stitched up quickly:

You can also see it (along with other recent releases) here:

Little House Needleworks

I've also finished and sent another model so picked up my wip of LK A Good Marriage to stitch.

Another last....T's last band UIL competition was yesterday afternoon.  They did an amazing job and earned Sweepstakes for their concert and sight reading...the highest score possible.

I probably should get going on T's graduation piece.  Time's a'wastin'!  lol!

Happy stitching!

Prom

Another last.....last prom.

The kids looked fantastic.  I loved the colorful dresses the girls were wearing.

It sounds like they had a great time too...a great group of young people.

I'm still model stitching (2nd of 3) so can't show stitching pics, of course.  I'll be sure to share with you once they've been revealed by the designers.  I love model stitching!

HS Graduation Quickly Approaching

Our "baby" graduates from HS this spring.  I knew this year would go by quickly but things seem to have gone into hyper speed.  Some "last times" this week...his last band concert, last drum line gig, last prom tomorrow night. He turned 18 last Friday and his graduation announcements have arrived.

The picture above is from a photo shoot for his senior piano recital coming up next month.

Most of the drum line seniors at last Sat's gig.  They're missing one who was at a jazz band competition. These kids have been drumming together since 6th grade and are like brothers and sisters to one another.

He's SO excited to be moving on to college next fall and we're excited for him, but all you parents know this time is bittersweet.  Our oldest child is in her early 30's so we've had children in the house for a long time.  Empty nest will be an adjustment to say the least...but a natural and desired outcome.  While I'll miss having kids at home, I have some things to look forward to doing too.

On the stitching front, I finished a model and started another so no pictures.  I have another model coming after the one I'm working on now.  I have so much fun model stitching--it's fun to be "in on" a secret and so fun to see the models I've stitched being released by the designers.

Happy stitching!

Rita

A Right Spirit----Finished!

I loved stitching this one!  I changed it slightly, thanks to my friend Sherre and her DD.  The cabin was changed to a house and I stitched the name of the verse on the bottom.  I hope this one doesn't spend too much time "ripening" before I frame it.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter.  Ours was a little nontraditional.  We spent the weekend visiting our DS at UT Austin.  We took his 2 roomies and a friend of our other DS's out to dinner Sat. night...with me checking the score of the OSU basketball game every few minutes.  Let's not talk about the outcome of that game.  :-(

Yesterday we went out for subs for lunch before heading back home.  The boys weren't too thrilled having their picture taken.  ("We're eating, Mom!")

From the "simple pleasures" department....We use lemons quite a bit in cooking (and DH's lemon mint sorbet).  I think I mentioned before that we planted a Meyer lemon tree this year.  We were introduced to this lemon juicer while visiting our DD a couple of years ago:

I have a fancy juicing machine but this is great to use when you just have 1-2 lemons to squeeze.  DD sent DH  a lime squeezer like it recently.  (He likes to drink soda water with a little lime juice.)  Since I've been making Cranberry Orange Scones lately, I've been looking unsuccessfully for the orange squeezer version.  I finally found it at Central Market in Austin so we now have a full set.  WOO HOO!  I'll have to bake some more scones this week to try it out.

  The trip home took >2 hours longer than usual because of several accidents along the way.  A couple looked pretty serious.

We enjoyed seeing the bluebonnets along the highway though.  Pictures just don't do them justice!

I've found myself lately checking ebay often for samplers...and have bought a few.  This one was "getting up there" on ebay so I checked to see if it was available at a more reasonable price at an ONS.  As luck would have it, it was on sale at 123 Stitch.  I believe I was meant to obtain it.  Isn't it a beauty?!  Ginger's in Austin has been closed for a while but there's a needlepoint store in Austin that sells some of the same fibers we stitchers use so I stopped by and bought the GAST needed for this one.  She'll have to wait a bit....I'm model stitching for a while.

Prom is coming up so we ordered DS's tux last week and one of my Monday errands is to order flowers today.  This will be DS's last school formal dance which makes me a little sad.  Graduation is right around the corner!  Life will certainly be different after DS graduates!  We've had children in school since the mid 1980's.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Happy stitching!