Visitng Some Old Friends

After I completed my little Olympic piece, there were still a few days left to the Olympic celebration, so I pulled out this old friend, 4th of July 2011 by Aury TM. It's a complimentary design on her website, one of 4 patriotic designs she's done in this style.

I had originally begun this last year when all my husband's health problems began. I discovered I was off one thread after completing many hours on it. I gave up in disgust and put it away. Several months ago, I pulled it out again and frogged all that I'd stitched and started again. So far, so good!

With the end of summer upon us and football preseason on TV, I decided to pull out Sunflower Garden Sampler by Prairie Schooler. Last night while watching the 2nd half of the Cowboys game, I did the bird after the V & W and finished the pole for the birdhouse. Now, I just hope everything lines up when I get to the bottom of the alphabet!

Our bathroom project is on hold because we have to wait for the plaster to dry. If you think watching and waiting for pain to dry, try being patient while the quick-drying plaster dries!! Of course, having 200% humidity for the past 2 weeks doesn't help matters any. Now, with Isaac heading closer to us than originally predicted, no telling what the weather will be like for the next week. (I'm several hundred miles north and west of the predicted landfall, but our weather pattern will be affected.)

I know I've talked a lot about little Daisy Doodlebug on my blog, but I am amazed at how she is *still* settling into our home. She has finally gotten comfortable coming down into our bedroom. She now spends an enormous amount of time in the window on my side of the bed in the afternoon, much to Mr. Tumbles' dislike. That's *HIS* spot, thank you very much! Daisy also comes down and jumps up on the foot of the bed, walks up Mark's side of the bed, walks onto his nightstand, and then sits on the windowsill every morning before we get out of bed. If we stay in bed longer than she thinks we should, she walks across his chest and up onto either my chest or side where she plops herself down and kneads and purrs. This afternoon, I had just woke up from my nap and she settled herself behind my knees. That's a first for snuggling!! Woohoo!! She has also started to engage Hannah in play, which Hannah doesn't want to partake. LOL Additionally, Daisy will often interfere on Hannah's part when Tumbles starts to get too aggressive and starts to bully Hannah. Hannah is comfortable with Daisy, but they are not friends by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the time everyone lives harmoniously, but there are times when it gets a bit dicey.

I will leave you with some pics from my garden over the past week or so. The cooler temps have brought out lots of blooms!

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.

It's Hump Day!

Means I'm off for the day! How wonderful is that?!? Hope to get lots of resting accomplished today, but before that happens, I thought I'd post the progress that I've made on my February ornie. I hope to finish him today or tomorrow. Here's my headless Santa! LOL



Suzanne has asked me what fabric I'm using. Suzanne, just in case you didn't read my reply to your comment on the comments page, it's a Silkweaver Solo, so there's no name. Sorry! Check their website though as they might have something similar to this one.

Spring is fixin' to (that's Texas-speak for y'all) roar in like a lion. I finally started my winter seed sowing project on Sunday. I planted lots of perennials. I hope this experiment works. Here's the final result of my planting.




I planted:
Balloon Flower
Blanket Flower
Butterfly Weed (orange & pink)
Pink Skullcap
Black-Eyed Susan
Echinacea (purple coneflower)
Red Hummingbird Sage
Pink Hummingbird Sage (but some may be red because I dropped the red seeds into the pink ones on accident...ugh!)
Lemon Mint (monarda)
Blackberry Lilies
Coreopsis (Tickseed)
and...a low-growing mix of wildflowers

Keep tuned to my gardening page for updates!!

Last week while out in the garden, I found a few bloomers. First up is my new, planted last fall, Veronica "Georgia Blue". It's a ground cover than can take our hot Texas sun and should spread nicely in the bed I have it in.



The Four Nerve Daisy has been blooming all winter. It blooms all summer, too! Such a great little plant. I need to figure out how to divide it and/or propagate it.



And then this little thing was blooming. It's some kind of Geranium, but for the life of me right now, I can't remember what it's called. It loves the sun anad blooms like crazy all summer long. Since it's survived the winter, I'm going to divide it and plant it in the ground.



I just love this time of year when there's so much hope for the garden!

(o:

Slow Progress on my February Ornie

I'm slowly, but surely getting closer to finishing my ornament for February, Prairie Schooler's Santa from the November issue of The Gift of Stitching magazine. It's not a difficult stitch, but I'm having a hard time getting into stitching it. I worked on it last night during Saturday Night Stitch time, but didn't seem to make much progress.

Here's before:



After 2 hours of stitching:



I've decided to continue stitching on this next week and try to finish this before the end of February.

In the Last 11 Days

Goodness! Seems like it's been forever since I've posted! I'm feeling so much better and the gunk in my head has all cleared up. Still have 2 days of antibiotics to go, but I think I've finally kicked this sinus infection/cold/crud-going-around-stuff!! I've been having decompression treatments on my back and that is helping tremendously. I'm now able to sit for more than 20 minutes, which definitely improves my stitching time. I'm also continuing my physical therapy treatments, and I will resume my therapeutic massage sessions this coming week. I should be good to go soon!!

I have joined Facebook. Need I say more??? I joined mainly to keep up with current and former co-workers, but a side benefit is that I've been able to reconnect with some high school friends (from back in the dark ages, you know!) as well as a former college roommate! I've also become friends with some cousins, which is nice, since I hardly ever see them or talk to them in real life. Facebook is quite fun, but it can be addicting! If you haven't joined Facebook, you should, especially if you have friends and family spread out all over the place.

My Valentine was so sweet to me yesterday. I received my very own box of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies and a beautifully sappy sweet card!! As a former Girl Scout, I have sold TONS of cookies in my time. The Thin Mints were always the bestest selling cookies for me. I don't particularly care for the chocolate cookie inside and the mint flavoring isn't as strong as when I was younger, but they're still yummy anyway. I think I consumed a whole sleeve of cookies throughout the day yesterday! LOL

On the stitching front, here's what I've managed to accomplish.

I've started stitching LHN's Seasonal Saltbox threadpacks. I'm stitching this series horizontally on one piece of fabric. I've chosen to stitch them on 32 ct. Vintage Maritime White from Lakeside Linens. At least I think it's Lakeside. If not, then it's an R&R color. I'm using the threads in the threadpacks.

Here's the first one, "Blessed are the Meek", which I started this past Monday.



I've also stitched on LHN's "City Stitcher Country Stitcher". I worked on this last Sunday while watching the Pro Bowl. I'll work on this again today so I should have another update coming soon! This is where I'll be starting from today.



Lastly, this month's ornie, the PS Santa from the November, 2008 issue of The Gift of Stitching Magazine. This was my Saturday Night Stitch project for yesterday. I stitched on it while watching a couple of romantic comedies with my husband last night. (o:

Before:



After:



Hope you all have a beautiful day today!! (o: