Sunday, March 22, 2009

Quaker Friendship Sampler

I worked on Quaker Frienship Sampler this past week. This is one of those projects that I started a couple of years ago and stitch on it occasionally. It's really pretty and I love the colors, but for the life of me, I can't seem to stick with it long enough to get it finished. The chart is older and pre-computer generated graphs. The symbols look to be handwritten. It must've been published in the '90s because the date on the center medallion has "199__" on it.

Here's where I stopped after SNS last night:



Now then, just for Suzanne, here's the info on the design:
Title of design: Quaker Style Friendship Sampler
Designer: Samplers and Such

I got my chart from Jan at Only One Ewe Needleworks. You can contact her at her blog, Belfonte Notes or her online shop, Only One Ewe Needleworks. If you read Jan's blog, she's got a picture of her finish using the primitive color scheme. It's absolutely gorgeous!

Now then, if I could just stay out of the garden, I might get more stitching time in!! LOL I love being out in the garden during the spring!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

SNS Progress

I managed to get in a couple of hours stitching on City Stitcher Country Stitcher on Saturday night. I'm getting so close to a finish, I can feel it! LOL Without further ado, here's my progress!



This week, I've decided to work on this:



Be looking for an update at the end of the week.

In other news, spring has arrived in Texas. Woohoo!! That means, I'll be working out in the garden more. This year, we're venturing into veggie gardening which will be fun since I hate all kinds of creepy crawley bugs and worms and such. Veggie gardens just seem to invite such critters, so I'm thinking pest control and monitoring will be the husband's responsibility. :=D LOL We've got 2/3 of our first raised veggie bed built. I hope to have that adventure posted on my gardening blog tomorrow. You can also read about my winter sowing experiment and follow that project's progress there as well.

This year, we're also going to begin transforming the "area behind the rocks". The previous owners of our house erected this lovely wall of natural stone about 5 feet or so from the back fence. I don't know if they ever planted much back there, but there were some attempts at a few plants and shrubs, which we enjoy today. However, it's mostly grass. (Grass=mowing, which I'm trying to cut down on.) This year, we're going to start transforming it into a flower bed. We're going to start with the area we can see from our kitchen window. I'm so excited to think of the prospect of looking out the window while doing dishes and see something other than my neighbor's backyard and back door! LOL I'll chronicle that transformation on my gardening blog as well.

It's going to be a fun spring and summer, so stay tuned!!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Progress

I have made some progress on my former incentive piece, City Stitcher Country Stitcher by Little House Needleworks. Here it is as of yesterday.



I am on day three of a 4-day mini vacation. All I've done is rest! It's been glorious!! I think I need one of these every month. LOL (Not too sure my boss would agree...)

Friday, March 13, 2009

There's a Revolution Brewing



If you're dissatisfied with President B. Hussein Obama's passage of massive pork-filled spending bills, his ideas to take from the wealthy to give to the poor, or his socialistic plan to nationalize healthcare, or his desire to continue to give money to failing companies and banks that need to go out of business, or...., or..., or... (do I really need to go on??), then head over to the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party website to find out if there's a Tea Party protest already organized in your community. If there's not one in your community, it's not too late to organize one! You'll find information on how to organize a Tea Party in your area.

Other websites you might find interesting are:

Michelle Malkin, leading proponent of the Tea Party Movement

Don't Go Movement

Smart Girl Politics

TCOT Report (Top Conservatives on Twitter)

NewsMax.com

TownHall.com

SisterToldjah.com

Sunday, March 08, 2009

An Evening Stroll Through My Flower Beds




The past week, we've had awesome temps, so things are really starting to green up (including the weeds) and I've been itching to get outside and get some dirt on my hands. I'm also gearing up for the spring plant swap. Hope to be able to get some great things as well as give several things away.

The Texas Gold Columbines are really taking off. Starting in February, they start putting out lots of new, green growth in preparation for their annual profusion of blooms. Found my first buds almost ready to pop today! Sorry for the blurry pic, but I was so excited to find the buds!



Among the leaves of covering among the columbines, Pigeonberry is starting to show its leaves.



As always, the Four Nerve Daisies are strutting their stuff.



The daylilies have really leafed out! They look so mature this year, like real clumps! LOL



The poppies are growing. Can't wait for these to set buds and bloom. I threw these out late fall last year. Not even sure how big they get or when they bloom, so it'll be interesting with them. Sometimes the best gardening is trial & error.



This Hummingbird Sage (aka Texas Sage, aka Salvia coccinea) survived the winter and has buds on it. They're about to pop!



This is a very prolific bloomer and seeder, so I got TONS of seeds leftover from last year's harvest. If you're interested, I'm happy to share.

Lastly, my winter sowing project has been a hit! At the beginning of February, I started about 13 milk jugs of seeds outside. I wrote about it on my gardening blog if you want the blow-by-blow description. Out of the 13, only about 4 or 5 don't have anything peeking out yet. I'm most excited about the one pink skullcap seedling I saw today. Here's a peek into a few of the jugs today.

I think these are one of the salvias I planted. These will definitely need to be thinned!



This is a low growing mix from Wildseed Farm. I have no idea what's sprouted in there! LOL



Here's the container of Gaillardia, better known as Blanket Flower.



This is what's been occupying my stitching time as of late. Maybe next week I'll have something stitchy to share!! LOL

Sunday, March 01, 2009

My February Ornie is Finished!!



Designer: The Prairie Schooler
Fabric: A 32 count Silkweaver Solo from Silkweaver Fabrics
Threads: DMC
Changes: I decided not to stitch the backstitched "frame" on the top, left, and bottom of the design.
This design can be found in the November, 2008 issue of the online stitching magazine, The Gift of Stitching.