Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy Fall, Y'all. This was my favorite time of year when we lived in Michigan. The leaves turning colors. The huge crates of fresh apples in the grocery stores (you could smell them the second you walked in the store!). Raking leaves. I think it is the only season I really miss!

New pictures for your viewing pleasure. As I have mentioned in passing, I have been a huge Big Brother fan since the first season. Am I happy with who won this year? Yes.... and no. I'm not a Dick and Danielle fan, but, they played the game. This mornings e mail brought the first photo. This is my baby brother and BB8 Jessica. She is from Haysville Kansas, which is minutes south of Wichita Kansas (my home town). My baby brother is a member of the Legion Riders. kspatriotguard.org/index.htm
Their mission: The Patriot Guard mission is to stand guard at funerals of our Fallen Soldiers of current wars who were killed in action or are casualties of war.
However, this time, they met Jessica at the airport to escort them and welcome her home, Her brother is a Marine serving in Iraq and he to was escorting her home on the plane along with another soldier.
Thought that was pretty cool. I'm also a huge NASCAR fan & another e mail from my baby brother stated he has 2 extra tickets to the Kansas race next weekend, would I like them..... The answer was yes, I would LOVE to have them, but it's just not anywhere in the budget this year. Oh well. I still love him....

Next picture. I finished the birth sampler! Yippee!!!!! It felt so good to sign the piece when I finised it! Now the big task of making the quilt. I'm so glad I have a dear friend named Eleanor who has offered her expertise!

I played hooky from work yesterday. I'm not one to just call in or take an unplanned day off. I work sick. It's just easier. But... on Thursday I just felt I couldn't do it another day. I asked Jim if he had a preference as to which day in the next 3 I took off. Friday? Monday? Tuesday? He left it up to me! Sooooo Friday it was. Bruce & I took our dear friends Ruby & Bill to Venice for the afternoon. Our first stop was Needlepoint Ivy. www.needlepointivy.com
Cyndi and her husband, the owners, were so nice. We had a great visit with them & found tons of things that we need.... The next 3 pictures are from the trunk show. The designer is Glendon Place. I want them all! I really think I must do Three Kings and Pretty Pumpkins! After Needlepoint Ivy, it was off to lunch at my most favorite restaurant in Florida, Luna's. I had to have one of their signature pasta dishes. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today. Will have more of the leftovers for lunch Monday & Tuesday.... Huge portions and very very yummy! Then it was off to Creative Framing. Linda does an awesome job of framing and needlework is her speciality. Ruby has stitched all the Shepherds Bush pieces from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issues and Linda had great ideas for framing those. On the way home, we stopped at Golden Needle www.goldeneedle.com and looked at all the goodies there. the guys were great, Bill & Bruce didn't complain TOO loudly about all our stops and looky-looky! After all, they got to spend the day with us.

With my finish yesterday morning, I kitted up 6 pieces to take it's place!
A Very Merry Christmas by JBW Designs, stitching on 28 ct Mint Green Lugana.
From The East an OP by Astor Place, stitching on 10 ct black.
Jamaica Deb by The Sunflower Seed, stitching on 28 ct Midas Cashel linen.
Neptune Poseidon by Lynne Nicoletti, stitching on Silkweaver 28 ct Lugana "Splash".
Forever Yours by Cedar Hill, stitching on 28 ct natural linen.
Nautical Fence by Raise the Roof, stitching on 28 count sea water blue (I have no clue what exactly the fabric is, but it has a great hand & color!).

Don't ask when I'm going to do the "other" pieces.... ;^)
I'll post progress photos....

We spent part of the day puppy shopping. Nothing yet. We want a female miniature schnauzer. Black or salt & pepper. We will keep looking... Also did the dreaded yard work. I know come Monday I will wonder why the back of my legs are killing me. The flower beds look very nice now.... Also got some stitching in today and made a big pan of chicken pot pie.

Please keep my neighbors, Bonnie & Stef, in your prayers. Our doorbell rang at 7:30 this morning. It was Stef. He & Bonnie were flying to New York. Bonnie's daughter was killed in an auto accident there late last night. I didn't get the details (I was sound asleep). Stef is from Italy and has a heavy heavy accent & it's very hard to understand him when he is "good". So say a prayer for them please.

Stay safe! Nighty-night.
xoxo

Blabber.....

I hate it when I wake up bright eyed and ready to go at 5:00 a.m...... on a Saturday!
DH wanted to sleep in, soooo, kind hearted me, came to the computer and got lost in the www! You know how it goes..... one click leads to another click to another click to another click.... and when it's all said and done, I've spent my weeks earnings on new stash! Thank goodness I never clicked "check out now"!

First off, as promised, here is a pictures of King Tut! This is Julia's project. All done with delica beads. It's simply wonderful to fondle..... Yes, all the ladies at EGA on Thursday could not stop fondling King Tut.... The overall project is probably 4" x 6" I'm guessing. Its just beautimus! She only has a couple of more rows and he is done. Julia brought this to show & tell at Sunday Stitching and I missed getting a photo then. Which brings me to one of my first clicks this morning.... Julia's next project is going to be "Girl with the Pearl Earring". I'm sure she is doing this with beads too, but I found this really cool site: xs-collectibles.com and I fell in love with Flower Vendor I & II and several of the Fractal pieces. I'm sooooo easy....

Then.... the next picture to share today is also from EGA. Our program was "Color Personalities". Our assignment was to stitch a simple pattern in our favorite fibers/colors on our choice of fabric. Then, using the information from the book "Color Harmony 2" by Bride M Whelan

we all tried to figure out who stitched what. The second photo is my creation. According to the book, my personality is: trendy, youthful, offbeat, energetic, refreshing, soothing, calm, tranquil. I think some of those offset the other..... So of course, I had to put the book in my shopping cart....

Sooo... from there, don't ask me how, but I landed at the website for Ink Circles
www.inkcircles.com
and fall in love with Cirque des Cercles...... why oh why????

Then.... because I'm still being the thoughtful wife and letting DH sleep.... I find myself at www.carriagehousesamplings.com Ok, when I was a little girl, I do not remember what grade it was, but I could not for the life of me master my multiplication and division tables. My father took his Kool cigarette cartons, cut them up and made multiplication and division flash cards for me. We had to go over those things every morning for an hour before he left for work and every evening for an hour before I went to bed. Needless to say, I always hated math.... so while I'm clicking around Carriage House, I find this awesome Multiplication Table Sampler. I think this would be a great thing for the Grandkids.... I justify my "add to cart" with the excuse that it is educational and it is for the Grandkids... While walking up and down the isles, I also found Sampler Folk, Deep Blue Sea and V is for Valentine (to go with all those other unstitched charts that I am going to do for DH each year for Valentines day...)

Then, I end up at another stitchers photo album (I forgot who!) and see the Prairie Schoolar Alphabet. This has been on my wish list for months. Our local Quilt Club has an exhibit every year and at the last one, someone had stitched these as a baby quilt for their grandchild. All done in the beautiful fall colors. I want this book!
wwwstitchesnthings.com/detail.cfm?ID=4139 soooo I start wondering when the next quilt show is and check out Peace River Quilters website.... www.peaceriverquilters.org I do not find the next date, but I do find that beautiful quilt!
www.peaceriverquilters.org/qsmedium58.jpg


Sooooo, that gets me to thinking about the baby quilt I'm doing to Callie, so here is an updated progress photo. I'm almost done with the blue! I'm almost done with the blue! I feel like the "Little Train that Could"! I think I can, I think I can.... Sooooo... that reminded me that I never took the picture of the beautiful afghan my Boss brought me from Scotland. Here it is! I love the colors!

Somewhere along the way, I find this never seen by my eyes chart: And They Sinned. Again, another I gotta have it!

By this time, I'm ready for a nap, DH is still asleep, it's after 8:00a.m.! How does time go so fast? I'm thinking I should eat, but then I remember the new swimsuit I bought last night..... that's the last photo for the day! It's pool time now, so I'm going to go float and, with any luck, take a snooze! We have company coming for dinner tonight. I have the brownies baked, and all the veggies chopped, so I best get moving! Who said I was ADD??

XOXO! Happy Saturday!

More Sunday Pictures

Here's Ruby! She's not really mad..... She actually brought stitching and tools to stitch with. I love her dearly!
Right after everyone left Sunday evening, we had a heavy rain! Right before the rain started, we were treated to a double rainbow! Then the skys opened! We needed the rain! Saved me from having to pay for water to add to the pool for a couple more weeks! The last photo is the sunset from Saturday evening. I just had to share! Enjoy & have a wonderful week~
xoxo

Sunday Stitching

I love my Sunday Stitching Group! We did have a grand time stitching and eating and talking and laughing. It's always fun to see what everyone is working on. The first photo is sisters Edith & Gigi (both are failry new stitchers!) and Sara who does beautiful things with counted canvas and purples! Photo number 2 is Charlotte working on a Just Nan, Queen Patti who is working on a beautiful needlepoint piece. She brought a bag of awesome fibers to fondle....Deb is checking out Julia's piece and Eleanor is working on a old UFO Christmas piece (she needs the scroll frame for another piece and is being a good girl and finishing an old start instead fo buying new scrolls or taking the old piece off! The next picture is Deb (Lavender Rose---see link to her blog on my sidebar) and Patti. Deb is working on her neighborhood round robin & it is soooo pretty! The next picture is Julia who is working on a needlepoint crab that she found while at ANG seminar a couple of weeks ago. This is the first time I have had the pleasure of stitching with Julia. I hope she will come back! The last picture is Cathy from Golden Needle. She was working on getting dear Ruby straightened out.... a full time job! I'll post a picture of Ruby in the next post. I look forward to the next chance to stitch with everyone!

Today was a typical Monday... Only 4 more get-ups till the weekend! Enjoy!
xoxo

Family

I missed my family reunion last weekend, soooo... here is a family picture with out me! Can you figure out which ones are my brothers (3 of them are there, the oldest., like me, was AWOL) and which one is my sister (I only have 1)?

Tomorrow is my Steamy Sunday Stitching group at my house. I can't wait. A lot of stitching, visiting and food! I'll have my camera armed and ready. More later~~~ It's time for NASCAR, which means quality stitching time for me. Go Toooooonnnnyyy!
More tomorrow~
xoxo
Martha

Happy Labor Day Weekend end

I get really sad at the end of the weekend~ I love love love being at home and doing home "stuff". This was a perfect weekend for us. Hubby and I did the yard stuff on Saturday morning, interrupted by a couple of dunks in the pool to cool off. I made a run to WalMart for the essentials Saturday afternoon. I hate shopping at WalMart, but made a swing by their craft department and was surprised to find their DMC floss on clearance for $.10 each! Home to put the stuff up and do a quick inventory and back to WalMart... The clerk was not pleased when she had to scan each skein individually even tho I made every effort to have the upc bar codes all at the same end.... oh well! $16 later and I was home again for the rest of the weekend! Stitching, eating, relaxing, floating in the pool, reading.... doesn't get much better than that!

Here is an updated picture of Callie's baby sampler. I'm on the home stretch and, actually think I will finish this soon! I also finished my EGA color personality piece for the meeting this Thursday and my ornament for the Christmas Ornament exchange. This was a great stitchy weekend! Hope y'all enjoyed yours as much as I did mine! xoxo