Final 2009 Wordless Wednesday

Even though I know it's Wordless Wednesday, today is my mom's birthday, the 13th one she's spending in heaven with Jesus.


Mom-1954

Mom & Dad-June, 1994
Happy Birthday, Mom!
December 30, 1937-December 13, 1996
I love you and miss you everyday!

Let There Be Birds!

I've been stitching on PSS's "Give" the past 2 days. Here's an update of my progress.


In real life, the birds aren't as dark as they appear in the picture. Okay, the whole piece isn't as dark as in the pic! The birds aren't as big as I thought they were going to be either. For some reason, by looking at the pic on the chart, the birds appear huge, but they're not too stitching intensive and they really stitch up fairly quickly. They don't take a ton of floss either, another good thing. I'm going to start working on the wings, which are a lighter orange. I need to figure out what color to do the eyes, too. I'm thinking either the darkest part of the Tortoiseshell, which is what the border is done in, or even the darkest part of whatever that color is that the smaller nuts are stitched in. Can you tell my mind is going?!? Maybe I'll stitch one in each color and leave it just to see if anyone notices! LOL

We're expecting more SNOW today. Blech! I'm really not happy about that since I have to go to work and possibly drive home in the slop. Texas just isn't prepared for snow. We don't have snow plows and we don't have the equipment to keep the roadways clear and safe. I really would like to stay home today if it's going to snow. It's so much prettier to watch it from the inside while sipping on my mug of hot chocolate than it is to be out in it.

Until next time...keep stitching!

:o)

Emmanuel is Finished!

I put the finishing stitches in Emmanuel a couple of days ago. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, even with all the frogging I had to do.


Emmanuel by Plum Street Samplers
Fabric: 28 ct. Myrtle linen from Woven Workes
Fibers: DMC
You can download the pattern from Paulette's blog, Plum Street Samplers' blog freebies.

We've had 3 days of sunshine and the snow still hasn't melted from my backyard. How strange!! Off to find something else to stitch!

Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

What a glorious day it's been here in my part of Texas! I wasn't dreaming of a white Christmas, but I got one anyway. It's the first white Christmas in North Texas since 1926! The snow started coming down yesterday morning and didn't stop until sometime last night. It was certainly pretty to watch from inside the store at work, but it wasn't fun to drive home in. I made it home safely, even though I had to drive about 20 mph on the highway. I opted for the highway, even with having to cross over a few bridges, because I figured it had been more traveled than the side streets I would need to take to get home. I was right, but it was still a frightening drive. Once I exited the highway, it got even worse because the streets I travel hadn't been driven on much. This morning, this is what I saw out my back door:

The garden beds (and dead tomato plants) are covered over with the white stuff.

The potted plants I moved up to the side of the sunroom for protection from the elements. Guess I should've covered them with a sheet or something, huh? LOL They'll survive and be fine in a few days.

Christmas dinner is in the making. The rolls are rising on the stove. I've picked some fresh rosemary from my garden for the tops of the rolls. The ham is in the crock pot. I did discover this morning that my ham was too tall for the crock pot. I was so concerned with it being able to sit in the bottom of the crock pot that I didn't even worry about whether or not I could get the lid on it! So, it's now sitting on the counter with my improvised lid. I must say it's quite attractive! LOL LOL

(You know you want one just like it!)

To top it off (no pun intended), the husband broke the handle on the real lid to this crock pot while trying to tighten the screw that secures the handle to the lid. *sigh* Now I have to see if I can secure a replacement. The improvised lid seems to be working since the liquid is boiling in the crock pot.

Off to finish the rest of dinner and then settle in for some stitching! May you truly have a blessed Christmas!

:o)

What Were Those Pictures?

The lettuce bed with several different types of lettuces. We cover it up when it gets below freezing (or if it snows!) and uncover it during the day so it can get some sun. We've been enjoying the various types of lettuces and they're all quite tasty! (Please disregard the dead tomato plants in the background! LOL)

Our lone cabbage plant. It's doing fairly well considering it was just a wee delicate sprout when we stuck it in the ground. I had the top half of a water bottle over it to protect it from the monsoons we had because the poor little thing would get beaten down into the ground when it would rain.

Fudge! The folks at work have been eating this for the past 3 days.

The Lizzie Kate "Joy" ornie that I stitched several years ago and finished rather primitively. It *was* hanging on the tree. Found it like this on Tuesday evening. Wonder how it got there?!?

The pretty ornament my friend Robin stitched and sent to me for Christmas. I absolutely love it and it looks so lovely on my tree. I don't remember who the designer is, though it looks like either Bent Creek or Heart in Hand, but it's on blue fabric. She also sent me several other goodies including two other ornaments (not stitched), a little book on friendship, a mini Longaberger basket, and a beautiful piece of fabric. Wooohoo! Stitchin' friends are the best!

:)

Wordless Wednesday

You'd Also Get These

I made these this morning for the crew. I also have some fudge, but I have to get the husband to cut it for me. I have no upper arm strength and can't cut it! I'm taking it ALL to work today!!

If You Worked With Me This Week...

...you'd be enjoying these goodies!






...and fudge, which hasn't set yet, but is in the process.

I'm tired and heading to my stitching spot!

Progress on Emmanuel

I know I said that the next pic I showed of Emmanuel would be of it finished, but alas, I lied. (Sorry!) I didn't get as much stitching time in this week because my Christmas life got in the way. LOL I did stitch on it for my Saturday Night Stitch project and got much accomplished.

Here is where I started on it last night:


I was watching the Cowboys-Saints game on TV while stitching and had to put my stitching down during the 4th quarter because I was jumping up and down and yelling at the TV too much. My husband thought I'd either lose my needle or sit on it or poke myself with it, so I obliged and put the needle down. (It was an AWESOME game, though!!)

Here is where I stopped:



I'll continue stitching on Emmanuel this week, but tonight, after my baking is finished for the evening, I'll work on Give, my incentive piece. I really need to get back on track with that project if I'm to finish it before the deadline.

Until next time...don't eat too many Christmas goodies!

It Was all about the Cats Yesterday

Since the weather's turned colder, we don't let the cats out into the sunroom because it's just too cold for them. Hannah enjoys sleeping in the "big green ball" during the afternoons. I open up the bedroom blinds so she can catch a few rays. She spends many hours in her ball basking in the sun.

The Christmas tree skirt has been of great interest to Callie this year. I have to straighten the tree skirt DAILY, and sometimes more than once a day!! The cats have been playing under and near the tree and Callie has been playing UNDER the tree skirt. *Sigh* She's never paid attention to the tree in years previous, so this year it's a whole new experience for us all. This picture is mild to how I've found the tree skirt at other times.

Callie has a new napping spot. I put this old afghan on the back of the couch in the living room and Callie's claimed it as "her" spot. She prefers to sleep on it in the evenings, but I have found her in there during the morning hours as well. Callie loves a comfy afghan! I have another one that we got as a wedding present from a lady in our church and whenever I pull it out, Callie is on it immediately.

I'm making progress on my Emmanuel ornie! I'll have it finished soon, so be watching this spot!

Wordless Wednesday

I Little of This, A Little of That, and An Itty Bitty Finish

The Christmas season is in full swing at work and so I come home exhausted with no desire to do anything except sit and veg out in front of the TV or the computer. All the hustle and bustle does provide for some interesting stories, though. Take for instance the woman who wanted to return some items she purchased mid-November so she could use her $10 off coupon on Dec. 11th. (Uhhhh....no, ma'am!) There's also the individual who called and asked if we'd found her child's "very special" blue plastic pencil sharpener. (They sell those really cheap at Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store.) And there was the woman who acted put out that I'd called to let her know that she'd left her American Express card at our store and that we were holding it in the safe for her. Then, yesterday, we had a very arrogant man come in and want a specific bible in a different translation, but at the sale price of the other Bible. (Ummm...NO!!!!) Then there are the older ladies who come in wearing TONS of perfume, enough that you can smell them at 30 feet and still sneeze. Tis the season for the crazy people to come out of the woodwork!!!

The husband has been so wonderful, making dinner and helping out in the kitchen. Okay, he wasn't quite so wonderful the night I came home and he was extremely grumpy, but that was only once and then he came down with a bad head cold. I have no compassion for him and he wants me to baby him. That doesn't go over too well! LOL

The Christmas tree is up and in the process of being decorated. I had to stop hanging ornaments on it because I couldn't find my ornament hangers. You know, I put them "somewhere I'd remember them" while packing up the decorations last year. Last year was the year I moved the Christmas decorations from the 15,000 cardboard boxes they'd been in for the past 20 years to plastic totes. It was a moment of brilliance, except the part where I didn't put the ornament hangers with the ornaments. Very late on Sunday night when I should've been in bed, I was digging through one of the totes still in the closet, without a light bulb, I might add, when I found a brand new package of 150 ornament hangers. Woohoo!! Do I have 150 ornaments that need hangers? I doubt it, but one can never have too many ornament hangers. Then, Monday morning while laying over The Bean and stretching my back, I found the stupid bag or ornament hanger I spent half the previous evening looking for as well as....you guessed it!...another brand new, unopened package of 150 ornament hangers!! I am so set for life on ornament hangers!

In the midst of all the chaos and fun of the season, I've been doing a bit of stitching. Not much, but some. On the SanMan message board, Sandy is hosting an ornament SAL with a new complimentary (for members of the board only) ornament each week. I managed to finish up this little cutie posted 2 weeks ago this past Sunday. (Have I been stitching on my incentive piece on Sundays??? Noooooooooo! LOL) Please excuse its unironed-ness. I was just happy to get the thing finished.



Itty Bitty Star
Design by SanMan Originals (complimentary for board members only)
Stitched on 28 ct. Autumn Fields linen using DMC fibers

I have now moved on to the Emmanuel ornament from Plum Street Samplers that's been a pain in my side since I started stitching it! Here's the latest progress scan I have of it.



If I remember correctly, I had already frogged part of the dove and restarted it. Then I had to frog some of the viney stuff. I put it down and didn't work on it again until this week. I'm happy to say that I finished that blasted dove yesterday! I did have to frog a little bit again, but nothing like the last time! I must be dyslexic or ADD when it comes to stitching because it's obvious I can't follow a pattern for long. LOL When next you see this, it will be finished.

Lastly, in closing, if you haven't seen it yet, I added snow to my blog. We don't get too much snow here. We get ice. I figured this was the only way I'd get a decent amount of snow. Plus, it's been like the frozen tundra down here lately. What is up with this frigid weather in Texas?!?

Until next time, I wish you a joyous Christmas season!

Wordless Wednesday 12.02.09

Happy 4th Gotcha Day to Hannah Grace!

Four years ago today, the husband and I went to the pound and rescued a malnourished, skinny, flea-infested waif of a kitten. They told us at the pound that she was approximately 7 months old and she only weighed 4 pounds. She was quiet on the ride home, which was a good sign since she was in a cardboard carrier. We didn't expect to adopt, we only went to look so we didn't have an appropriate carrier for her. Even when we brought her home, she was a little love bug. I think she knew she'd found her forever people and that she was greatly loved. She's provided us so much love, laughter, and silliness in her four short years with us. It's hard to imagine our home without her.

Here are some then and now pics of her.

Then~on her first day home and then more a few weeks later.


Now~As an adult, several pics over the past couple of years.



Love this Hannah-bug!

:o)

Happy Thanksgiving and Exchanges Sent & Received

A very Happy Thanksgiving to you! I pray that your day is filled with many blessings and wonderful memories today.

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, mainly because it's the day we name our blessings and count the many things for which we are thankful. It's also the last holiday my family spent together with my mom in 1996. It's been almost 13 years since she passed away, but I'm so thankful for the many happy family memories I have. She was an awesome mom! Today, I'm thankful for loving parents who taught me the importance of family and sticking together through thick and thin, good times and bad, times of plenty and when times were lean. I'm thankful for my loving husband of 9 years. It's been a tough couple of years for him, and therefore us, but I am thankful that we're together, we have food on the table, and a place to call our home. I'm thankful for all the love he's brought to my life and the ways I've grown since meeting him. I'm thankful for my kitties who provide unconditional love (as long as I feed them!), lots of silliness and laughter, and lots of snuggles, cuddles, and purrs. I'm thankful for the many friends God's blessed me with and the various ways they show His love in my life. I'm thankful for the health I have and a job I enjoy with great co-workers. I'm thankful for God and the gift of His son that allows me to be called a child of the King, secure in His love forever. I'm thankful that I've got an inheritance in heaven and a mansion waiting for me. I'm thankful for God's forgiveness and grace in my life. I'm thankful for the many blessings He's bestowed upon me. I'm thankful.

Yesterday, I posted a few pics for you. The first picture is the piece my friend Robin stitched and sent to me. Isn't her stitching awesome and isn't the finishing just perfect?!? With the cube, she also sent some luscious hand-dyed silks and some overdyed cotton fibers which you see in the second picture. The next couple of pics are fall at my house. The big oak tree in our backyard is turning colors and the Savannah Holly tree has put its berries on for the birds this winter. The sunset pic is actually one I took on our way home from my dad's last Thanksgiving.

Robin's received her box! Now I can show you what was in the box. Mostly, there were books, but this little exchange piece was tucked in the box as well.




Sampler Winter
Designer: Marika Belfiori
Fabric: 32 ct. Sugared Coffee from Sassy's Fabrics
Fibers: Crescent Colours
Design available on her blog
This is the cute little exchange piece I received from Donna in the Brr...It's Cold! exchange. He is absolutely adorable, isn't he?!? This is "Feeling Frosty", a complimentary design from Val's Stitching Stuff. (I just love her snowmen!) He's stitched on 32 ct. Olive linen using DMC, Week's Dye Works, and Needle Necessities fibers.



Until next time! Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

:o)

Wordless Wednesday 11.25.09