We're Home!

We had such a great time in Tennessee visiting family. It rained for 2 of the days we were there, so we had to stay home and nap. (Shucks! LOL) We did manage to get some pictures of the fall foliage on some of the other days that weren't rained out.

My DH's mom lives in a small town in western TN and these are some of the roads we drove on around her home.









On the way home, we stopped at Big Hill Pond State Park. It's located between Ramer and Memphis. I'll post pictures from that on my next post!

Olivia's Garden Quilt & Other Projects

I'm so close to finishing Olivia's Garden Quilt!! This has been a 2 year WIP and I'll be glad to have it finished. It's so beautiful, especially the middle flower arrangement. The picture really doesn't do it justice.



I made my first flat fold ever! It was really a lot of fun and very easy. I even made the cording for it. That wasn't too horrifying either! LOL The design is a Lizzie*Kate Pocketbook kit, Beware of Cat.

Here's a side view of the flat fold so you can sorta see the fabric I used on the back.



Lastly, the back of the piece.



Now I'm in a finishing frenzy and trying to get stuff finished!!

We're heading to TN to visit my DH's family, so hopefully we'll get to see some pretty autumn sights. Living in north Texas, autumn arrives sometime around Thanksgiving, but I'm ready for a little bit of autumn now!

It's Been Awhile

I've been trying to do more stitching and spend less time on the computer, which means that I've not been updating my blog as much. However, I really miss it, so I'm going to try to remember to update the blog as often as possible. Definitely won't be everyday, but at least once a week or so.

Now then, here are the updates of my current projects!

First up is my Lizzie*Kate Flip-It Block piece. I'm stitching these all on one piece of fabric, 28 count Barley Harvest from Woven Workes. I just finished the August block yesterday morning. I plan on putting a border around them all when finished.

I finished this Little House Needlework complimentary design, Small House Sampler, last weekend. It's stitched on 32 ct. Autumn Blush linen. I stitched it entirely in Crescent Colours fibers. I really like the way it turned out!

My next finish was for a fall exchange on one of the message boards I frequent. It's SanMan Originals' "Sharing Letters". It's stitched on 32 ct. Toasted Pumpkin fabric from R&R Reproductions and uses mainly Crescent Colours, but there are a couple of WDW threads thrown in the mix.



I'm still continuing to stitch one ornie a month. Last month, I stitched Brown House Studio's "Folk Art Topiary" from the 2004 JCS ornie edition. It's stitched on 32 ct. Sprouted Wheat linen from Woven Workes and stitched with Crescent Colours fibers.



That's enough pics for this time! I'll post more in a few days!

Stitching Progress Pics

This is the latest progress pic on this beauty. I'm finished with all the flowers now and just have the borders to go. My plan is to stitch on this one week a month until it's finished, which shouldn't be too much longer. (There's really not a line across the bottom of the fabric like the picture shows. That's just where my imaging program spliced the 2 pics together.)




I've also been stitching on Blessed Are Those by Blue Ribbon Designs. I'm doing this as part of a SAL on a bulletin board I belong to. It's stiched entirely in Crescent Colours on a piece of hand-dyed Sweet Wheat linen from Woven Workes.

SJF

It's August in Texas!

And it's HOT!! It's been so long since I've posted; I'm blaming it on the heat! We've now had 42 days of +100º temps here in Texas, and 18 days straight. That's just downright too many for this native Texan! I'm ready for winter, or to go live in a walk-in refrigerator! The little fan under my desk at work is a favorite hang out spot for my coworkers, since it's just about the coolest place in the building. LOL!

Not much going on in the garden right now. My plants are continuing to grow like weeds, which many could be classified as. I spent a little bit of time out weeding one day last week. Things are just blooming like crazy!



This is my esperanza. It's been blooming like crazy all year. The bright yellow flowers are so cheerful. Even my husband said he likes this plant becuase it's so happy looking! :)

My mystery plant finally bloomed. I need to take a picture of it because it's got white, lavender, and blue blooms on it! It's very pretty and if I knew what it was, I'd get more to plant in the fall.

SJF

Snapperville

I actually started this in January, but put it away for several months. I pulled it out last month and thoroughly enjoyed stitching on it. I might have to pull it out more often!

Quaker Style Friendship Sampler

This is my first quaker type piece and I'm really liking it! I feel like I have a small little finish everytime I finish one of the medallions.

More From My Stitching Basket~Blessed are Those

I've not touched this since April, but it's still beautiful. I love the soft colors of this design. (Click on the picture for a larger, clearer view)

Olivia's Garden Quilt

I've been working on this beauty for about 3 years. I'm down to the last corner!!

I Finally Finished Something!!

Finished this little cutie up over the weekend. It was a pretty quick stitch, but I was one thread off. That played with my mind, but that's okay. I got it finished and that's what matters!! This is Celebrating the Fourth by Glory Bee, www.glorybeestitch.com. I stitched this on 32 ct. Heritage linen from Silkweaver and used those lovely Crescent Colours threads.

Other projects in my stitching basket include a freebie design I'm stitching for a friend. Can't provide any other details yet!

Stitching Slump

I seem to be in a slump right now in my stitching. Not a great place to be especially since I'm stitching a piece with a deadline! I just don't have the energy to stitch and my focus isn't on stitching. I've begun to wonder if the pieces in my current rotation aren't really "me". I like them all and I think they're beautiful, but are they really "me"? Also, most of my projects are larger (at least large for me) projects. I need some that aren't so labor intensive so I can feel a sense of accomplishment. Guess I need a finish "fix"! LOL

Next time, I'll post some pictures of my current projects so you can see what I'm working on.

Mandatory Water Conservation

ince we're in the middle of a drought, the city of Fort Worth has started mandatory water conservation. You can only water your YARD every 5 days before depending on the last number in your address. There's no watering between 10AM and 6PM. You can hand water anytime as well as use your soaker hoses anytime.

Imagine my surprise when I pass my neighbor's house this afternoon at 5:15pm-ish and he's outside with his BOAT in the driveway washing it down!!! Helloooooooooooooooooo!! Number one, that's not your yard. Number two, you're allowing water to run into the street for pete's sake! Get a clue!! Pull the boat into your dead front yard and let the water actually water your yard, but do it after 6PM!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!! What an idiot!

Things are Still Bloomin'

Despite the horrid heat we've been having lately as well as the lack of rain, the perennials are doing great! Of course, that's why I planted them so that they'd continue to do well during the hot, dry times we have. My Striped Mallow, or French Hollyhocks, or Zebrinas, whichever you prefer to call them have started blooming (top pic). I had no idea what they would look like when I planted them so I'm wonderfully surprised at how beautiful they are! I will try to snap a pic of them in full bloom as both plants are loaded with buds.

My white gaura is still blooming like crazy. It closes the flowers at night and reopens them in the morning. I had no idea it did this! My pink guara is putting out flower stalks, so that one should be in bloom soon!

Last night, I fed the bed with some Garrett Juice, a little fish & seaweed mixture, and some earthworm castings. Watered them in well. I need to throw out some molasses as I've seen some ants running around. I also planted a Butterfly Bush that I rescued from the clearance section at Wal-Mart's garden center. We'll see how it fares out in the bed.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Hosted on Fotki


This is my almost perennial flower bed. I say this because almost all the plants in it are perennials, but there are a few annuals. This is our first year to plant a bed and our first year to go organic, so it's a learning experience all the way around. We chose plants that could withstand the hot Texas summers and didn't require loads of water, which is good considering we're already under mandatory water conservation.

We've planted Rock Rose, Guara (white & pink), Veronica Spicata (blue & red), Mexican Petunias, Voodoo Sedum, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Esperanza, French Hollyhocks "Zebrina", Four Nerve Daisy, and Liatris, which is also commonly known as Gayfeather.

Be sure to feed the birds and turn your compost pile!

Hannah Grace

Meet Hannah Grace! Hannah's a one year old tabby cat who came to live with us when she was about 6 months old. We got her from Animal Control the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2005. The day after we brought her home, she got a very nasty upper respiratory infection and stayed in isolation in a spare bedroom for about 5 weeks recovering. She spent the first week of her life with as at the animal hospital, she was so sick. I made daily trips to visit her and love on her. During our visits she mainly slept, but she would also eat for me and she'd drink some water. After she completely recovered, one of the ladies at the vet's office told me she didn't think Hannah would live through the first night she was there. (I'm so glad she didn't tell me that at the time!) Hannah's a fighter and a survivor.

Hannah's also 100% cat! She loves to play with her 'Da Bird toy and begs for us to get it out and play with her all the time. If she had her way, she'd play with it all day long, everyday! She's rough and tumble when she plays, but dainty and prissy the rest of the time. She's also a little purring machine! She loves to be near her humans and enjoys a good snuggle, usually up on my chest like you'd hold a baby. She'll just nap and purr while I hold her. Such a little snuggle-bug! She also likes to sleep with me, but DH doesn't approve of that, so she spends her nights either in her bed or on the couch.

Hannah has absolute trust in us. She's never known fear, abuse, or mistreatment. She is the happiest cat I've ever known, inquisitive and very outgoing. She's a somewhat vocal kitty, purring, meowing, "peep-ing" and trilling. She has lots of different sounds and I'm still learning what they mean.

Hannah is a testament to the healing power of TLC, patience, time spent together hanging out, and trust. Often we want results immediately, but sometimes it just takes time to get well, to get through a situation, or to get over a disappointment. We can take medication to cure illnesses and we can read books to learn how to deal with situations in our lives, but in the end, time and God's TLC is the real key to recovery.

Trusting God to bring us through rocky and difficult times is hard, but so rewarding. It's during those difficult times when we lean on God to take care of us that we develop a real relationship with Him and He develops us into the men & women He needs for us to be to reach a dying world. Sitting in God's lap, listening to His voice, bending our will to His, and just being in His presence all help mold us and shape us into better believers. Let God love on you today and heal your hurts.

Callie

Callie is the first part of "the girls" Callie's a beautiful 10 year old tortie (tortoiseshell) cat. She's my love-bug, my purr-baby, and my Callie-boo. She's got excellent manners, is relatively quiet, and low-maintenance. She's content sleeping out in the sunroom or under the big bay window in the living room. As long as she's got food, water, and a clean box, she's a happy camper.

Callie came to me on a cool, drizzly October day in 1998. I'd recently graduated seminary and had moved into a new apartment. She showed up on the back patio starving, thirsty, and very thin. She then moved into the empty boxes we had stored on the patio. Then she moved into my heart. Since she was a stray for who knows how long, she'd developed some feral cat behaviors and is a very timid and shy kitty who doesn't like loud noises, strangers, or a stressful household. Over the years she's come out of her shell and totally flourished. She's definitely a momma's cat, too!

We've had a rough start to the year with the Callie-bug. She had an upper respiratory infection...twice, which is very unusual since she's never had any kind of illness since I've had her. She's been diagnosed with arthritis. (It's tough getting old!) We now have her on a glucosamine-chondroitin supplement that she gets twice a day and is responding very well to that. Most recently, she had a bladder infection. I've learned the easiest way to collect a urine specimen from a cat is to put them in kitty daycare at the vet and let them collect it! She's over that now and has gotten a clean bill of health from the vet.

With all the change and stress in the house of adding a second kitty, I'm sure that most of Callie's problems except for the arthritis, were due to stress. During all of this, she'd started showing some of her stray/feral behaviors, so I began the very long, slow process of bringing her out of her shell once again. Over the past 2 months or so, Callie's learned to trust again and we're starting to see glimpses of her former self. For example, this morning she was on the perch by the window in our bedroom playing with the blinds. She used to do this every morning to wake me up, but hasn't done it once in the past 4 months. Then, she jumped up on the bed next to me and laid down. She wasn't touching me, but she was laying down by me, purring contentedly. Again, this is something else she's not done in months. I was so happy to awake to her on the perch, playing in the blinds, and purring on the bed next to me. Sometimes it's the small things in life that bring us much joy.

As I sit and reflect on all that Callie's been through these past 5 months and how I've longed to see her wonderful personality and trust in me return, I get a glimpse of how God must feel. Just like I patiently wait for Callie to come out of her shell and into her own again, I am reminded of how patiently God waits for me to turn to Him and to trust Him fully. Just as I celebrate each small accomplishment of Callie in her progress, I am reminded how God celebrates each small step I take back towards Him and the life He has planned for me. As I recall the many times I laid beside Callie over the months, petting her and talking to her, reassuring her of my love, I cannot help but think of the many times God has held me close, reassuring me of His love for me, reminding me that His plan for me is bigger than my immediate situation, His plan is perfect, and I am His.