Last Stitches of 2007

Here are my last 2 finishes of 2007. First up is my last ornie, JBW Design's Christmas Motif Sampler stitched on 36 ct linen using Belle Soie Sister Scarlet silk.



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Late last night I put the final stitches in the Wisdom Scripture pack from LHN/CC.



Today, I've returned to my WIP, LHN's City Stitcher, Country Stitcher.

Happy New Year!

The first day of the new year has been a very relaxing day. Watched the Rose Bowl Parade and a couple of college bowl games. Didn't go anywhere or do anything special, except make these:



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I used the recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks website. It was an extremely easy recipe to follow and they taste wonderful!

Over the past week, I've done some other baking as well. I made Peppermint Shortbread Cookies, which were wonderful!



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Other than that, I've been doing some stitching and nursing this pain in my hip. The pain could go away any day and I'd be a happy camper!

Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas be filled with many blessings and good times with family and friends!

Christmas Just Isn't Christmas Without...

...homemade chocolate chip cookies!!!

Here they are waiting to go into the oven...



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And here's the finish product...



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Now all I need is a TALL glass of COLD COLD COLD milk and I'll be set!!

Of course, with all this baking comes memories of my mom who passed away December 13, 1996. She instilled in me a love for baking homemade goodies from scratch, not just during the Christmas season, but all year long. Nothing says lovin' more than something homemade! Most of my holiday memories of my mom involve us baking TONS of cookies together. Every year, we would bake at least 2 double recipes of chocolate chip cookies, Oatmeal "Rocks" for my dad (so dry the only way you can stand to eat them is dunked in coffee!!), Coconut Oatmeal cookies for my brother (just past raw is the way he likes them best), and peanut butter cookies. Momma was always taking cookies to someone or some function during the Christmas season. They were always well received, too!

With the baking of the chocolate chippers came the never-ending argument of how long to bake them. Momma liked them semi-raw and I liked them well done, crunchy well done. We usually compromised and made half the batch her speed and half the batch my speed, but if I was doing the baking, more would be my speed and less her half-baked speed!!

So... the Christmas season is officially underway at my house!

What a Week!

I was doing okay until Wednesday when Trusty Steed died while I was out running errands. Nothing worse than having your vehicle die leaving you stranded!! I called my husband, who's at home recovering from back surgery and not driving yet, to let him know what was going on. He's also my mechanic. (He works cheap, too!) He comes to pick me up. Thankfully, I was only a mile or so away from home and he could drive slowly on the back roads just in case he needed to stop or something. Ends up it wasn't an easy fix, so we had it towed to a shop about 4 blocks from our home. We've never used this shop, but it was a great experience. They had me up and running the next day.

On Friday, I left work early to go to the doctor about my back. Went out to the truck and Trusty Steed was bleeding! There was a puddle of transmission fluid on the ground. Had it towed back to the shop and turns out to be a different problem! Some kind of seal on the back of the engine or something. Anyway, the man who owns the shop came in and told me he'd like to keep it for 20 years he likes it so much! (It's already 16 years old!!) I told him I'd give him visiting rights overnight! LOL Trusty Steed was good to go yesterday afternoon! We're on the road again!

I love my truck!! People ask me why I drive a 16 year old vehicle. I ask them why not?? It's PAID for is the big reason, but it's got a brand new engine in it, a rebuilt transmission (3 years old), a new AC system, and now a new fuel pump! When we have to do work on it, we're out maybe the equivalent of one car payment and insurance payment. If my husband is able to fix the problem, then we're not out the equivalent of one car payment. I'm never worried about it breaking down or quitting on me. It's actually a very reliable vehicle. And I'm thankful we don't have a car payment!

On top of the truck problems lasting from Wednesday to Saturday, my older cat, Callie was sick. She went to the vet on Tuesday. She's got an upper respiratory infection (a head cold) and is on medication. She's not 100% better, but she's getting there. Also on Tuesday, I went for a sonogram on my kidneys (to check for kidney stones) and to have x-rays on my lower back. I've been having some serious back pains and the doctor was thinking I had a kidney stone. My kidneys are FINE, but I have arthritis in my back. I need to make an appointment with the doctor to discuss the "options", but I think I'll continue seeing my chiropractor. I was going to see him on Friday when Trusty Steed started bleeding...

I'm hoping this week will give me more stitching time! I put up my Christmas tree yesterday. Hope to get it all decorated this week. Look for a picture soon!!

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day to Hannah Grace!

Two years ago on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, my DH and I went down to animal control to look at the cats. We weren't intending to come home with a kitty, much less a sick on, but we did. We adopted a cute little malnourished waif of a cat who quickly wormed her way into our hearts.



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Little did we know how sick she was. She spent the first week of her life with us at the vet's with a very nasty upper respiratory infection. They didn't think she would survive the first night, but she did!! And we're ever so thankful. She's brought lots of love and laughter into our lives these past 2 years. She's a little cuddle bug when she's sleepy and full out terror when she's in play mode!

Happy Gotcha Day, Hannah Grace-girl!



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My Two Latest WIPs

First up is Little House Needleworks' City Stitcher, Country Stitcher. I'm stitching this as part of a SAL with some folks from one of the message boards I frequent. There's a bit boo-boo on the house, so when I go back to it, I'm going to start stitching on some other part of the design!! It's stiched on 32 ct. Toasted Almond linen using DMC & Crescent Colours fibers.



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My other WIP is La-D-Da's A Bushel & A Peck. It's stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Fields using Crescent Colours' Belle Soie silks. They are absolutely wonderful to work with!!



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I'm currently stitching on LHN's Wisdom Scripture pack. I'll post a pic of my progress soon.

TFL!!

Thought I Fell off the Face of the Earth??

Sometimes I feel like I have, but I'm still among the living!! Summer and the first part of Autumn have been very hectic! I got into a stitching slump and into a garden frenzy! Here's a pic of one of our flower beds in (almost) all of its glory.



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In October, my hubby fell 12' off a ladder while trimming the tree in our front yard and fractured 2 vertebrae in his back. He spent 15 days in the hospital mainly due to all the pain meds saturating his system. Basically, he had to detox, which was not a fun experience for either of us. He came home the end of October and he's doing splendidly. He just finished a 3-week round of in-home physical therapy. In another 3-4 weeks, he's hoping to start outpatient therapy at a nearby PT clinic.

Understandably, taking care of the husband has been my #1 priority. When he first came home from the hospital, he couldn't do anything for himself. I had to help him do everything...get into bed, out of bed, go to the potty, take a shower, turn over, sit up, sit down, get up, get down, get all his meals ready for him & clean up the dishes. It was exhausting work! I have just recently started sleeping through the night again. What a wonderful thing! I have a whole new appreciation for parenthood!!



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You can't tell it from this picture, but Mark has a hard plastic brace he has to wear. For the first month after surgery, he had to wear it 24/7 unless he was in bed. He couldn't even sit up on the side of the bed without it on! I quickly became proficient in getting that thing on him in the dark! Mark spent lots of nights in the recliner under the heated throw. Hannah soon discovered her a new napping spot! LOL She's not usually a cuddle bug, but I think she knew Mark was hurting and needed a little comforting.

I have done lots of stitching in the interim months. I'll post pics of my finishes in my next post! Or, if you're in a hurry to see them, you can check out my Fotki albums and see them all!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Another Finish!!

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I stitched this Heart in Hand design for Robin in an exchange on the OOE board. It's made it to its new home in Virginia, so I can now share it with you! It's HIH's Liberty House Sampler and I converted the threads to Crescent Colours. It's stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Country Mocha linen. It was a very fun and quick piece to stitch!!

I'm currently working on a little graduation piece for my niece. Her graduation is Saturday, but I don't think I'm going to have it finished by then! LOL

La-D-Da's Bushel and a Peck Progress

I have been stitching exclusively on gifts and exchanges the past 2 months, so yesterday, I decided to work on my incentive piece. Here's my before & afters.

Before:

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After 4 hours yesterday:

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I'm stitching this on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Fields linen using Belle Soie silks from Crescent Colours.

Back to an exchange piece today.....!!!

ABC Exchange Piece

I stitched Bent Creek's Neighborhood Row for my ABC exchange piece at the OOE board. I went with a piece of 32 count linen I found in my stash and GAST, WDW, and a couple of CCs thrown in for good measure. It has safely arrived at its destination, so I can now show it off!!


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A Finish!!

But...I can't show it yet! LOL Just finished an exchange piece (a very late exchange piece) and it looks GREAT! Can't wait to post a pic for everyone to see. Have moved onto another exchange piece.

Still Alive!

I'm still alive and still stitching, just not much. I'm working on an exchange piece and a little gift piece, so I can't post pics yet. I have been spending oodles of time out in my garden, though!! Here's last year's garden with a few new additions for this year.



I added a trailing lantana in front of my butterfly bush, a May Night salvia and a pincushion plant in the front border. Yesterday we raked away all the mulch from last year and put down a layer of compost from last year's compost pile. Then we reapplied the mulch and fed the plants. I need to add some more as some places are a bit thin on the mulch. I also released some ladybugs because I had some aphids on my coreopsis.