Friendship Bird is almost finished!

I saw this posted on someone's blog and it just said, "You need to stitch me right now"!  I actually had the pattern because it's from the Gift of Stitching magazine (Jan/Feb 2011 issue), so up to my craft room I went.  I pulled out all the necessary threads and even found a light minty green piece of 32 ct Lugana.  Sat down in my comfy chair and stitched it in just a couple of hours.

The colors don't show up as vibrant as they truly are, but it reminds me of the colors from the 60's or 70's.  Now the difficult part -- how do I finish it?  The project in the magazine is finished as a pinkeep, but I was thinking more along the lines of an ornament.  I haven't decided if I want to stitch it again in reverse so the front and back will be the same or just have a plain back side.  I know that I want to make some tassels out of left over thread for the tail. 

My shade gardens are loving the cloudy skies and rain! We had over 6 inches of rain in a 24 hour period from Wednesday morning through Thursday morning.  Hubby and I were driving home during the heaviest rain and had to turn around 3 different times because of flash flooding.  The water was running off the farm fields like raging rivers.

Coral Bells, Hostas and Resurrection Lilies

Astilbe, Hostas and Coral Bells

My iris beds are doing awesome this year also.  I have a blooming bush in the back corner of my yard that is really beautiful too.  I can't remember what kind of bush it is, but I picked it out because it has two of my favorite things -- Flowers and the color Pink!

My smallest Iris bed

Pink flowering bush

Craft Room Organization

When I was at Staples picking up ink for my printer last week, I just HAD to go look at the Really Useful Boxes.  Ended up buying 4 of the 8.1 litre boxes (you can see them here).  The suggested use is for envelopes, and I haven't decided what I'm going to use them for, but it won't be envelopes, lol.  DD#1 had a really hard time convincing me that I don't need the little, itty bitty boxes they also have.  What crafter doesn't need more storage boxes? And the best part - with  my Staples Rewards, I only had to pay the tax!

Until next time,
Happy Stitching!

My Azalea Bush is so Beautiful

I bought this hardy azalea bush many, many years ago ~~ probably at least 15-17 years ago.  It started as a small, houseplant sized "bush".  The instructions said to plant it outside because it was bred to be hardy in my area.  So that's what I did.  The first few years, it just had green leaves and then there was a year that it had just one bloom.  A couple years later, there were three or four blooms.  Now it has hundreds of blooms.  I read somewhere that the only time it should be pruned was right after it was done blooming because it uses the rest of summer to set next year's blooms.  After all this time, it hasn't been pruned to assure I'd get lots of blooms.

My baby graduated from high school tonight and this is the only picture I got!

For whatever reason, DD didn't want pictures taken and made sure we couldn't get any. 

We finally just got the senior pictures done last week.  The guy who was supposed to take them kept having something come up and canceled each appointment we'd had.  Found a wonderful lady right here in our little, itty bitty village who is a photographer.  She has a studio, but also took lots of shots outside and around some of our rustic areas.  She told us that DD was the only client to fill up the memory card because DD is so photogenic.  Out of over 200 images, I've picked a few to share.

I think this one looks like it should be the cover of a country music album.  It also reminds me that she's leaving home in just a few months.

DD loves her cowboy boots!

 
Until next time...
Happy Stitchin!

What is the Hardanger Club?

That was a headline in the local newspaper last week.  Imagine my surprise to learn there is an Hardanger Club in my area and I actually know a few of the members.  You can read about the Hardanger Club Here

Stitching Progress?

Not much stitching happening right now.  I'm working on some Bride's Tree Ornaments and trying to find substitutes for some colors.  I'd like to use some overdyed floss instead of solid DMC colors, but I discovered that it's harder to find a substitute than one would think.  I can find all kinds of brands of fibers and their DMC conversion, but I haven't found any DMC to a particular brand conversion.  It's not so easy to look for the DMC color when the numbers are not in order.

Other Happenings...

My youngest DD turned 18 on the 7th and graduates from high school this Saturday.  The last soccer game was last week and their season ended with only a couple points scored and no wins.  One of DD's teammates didn't have her full uniform and was not allowed to play.  The girl's mother complained to the coach at half time because her daughter wasn't being allowed to play.  It resulted in an argument and the mother pulled her daughter from the team.  The teammate was so angry at her mother that she threw a tantrum on the sidelines just before the second half of the game started.  She threw all the team's gear, kicked the bench, threw the coach's clipboard and files, dumped the cooler and ripped the ball bags.  The mother walked her daughter off the field, but made it a point to stop in front of the bleachers to very loudly tell all of us spectators just how she felt about the coach and that she was going to the school board to have the coach fired and all the way to the Supreme Court to appeal the rule that states a player has to be in full uniform to play any sport.

We attended a scholastic awards program and DD received several awards as well as a nice monetary scholarship.  A week later we attended the sports awards ceremony.  DD said she was sure she wouldn't receive any awards because her teammates were the ones voting on who would win the awards.  She was very surprised to be awarded the Most Valuable Player trophies for both soccer and bowling.  We have always told DD she was the most supportive teammate any team could have, so it was really nice to see that her teammates recognized it too.

My mom has made her spinal fracture worse because she refused to follow doctor's orders and wear the back brace as instructed.  As a result, she will now have to have spinal surgery to stabilize the fracture.  Went for all the pre-op testing and surgery has been put on hold due to abnormal blood test results, severe bladder infection and cardiac irregularities on the EKG.  Now, on top of everything else, mom has to have additional medical treatment for the bladder infection and abnormal blood test results.  She will also need to wear a heart monitor for at least 7 days, have a nuclear stress test and then be evaluated by the cardiologist in order to determine if she is strong enough to make it through surgery.

So much stress and every time the pain gets worse, I panic and think the shingles are flaring up again.  My doctor said I could have the pain for 12 weeks AFTER the rash disappeared.  I looked at the calendar and counted the weeks ~~ and the 12 weeks ends in the middle of June.  I will be one happy camper when the shingles are gone for good.

Hubby is gone this week for training for his job.  Thought I would like not having my sleep disrupted by all of Hubby's "noises", blanket stealing and bed hogging, but I've been waking up every hour all night long, every night since he left.  Having him gone sure makes the week seem so long -- I know, it's only Tuesday!

Until next time,
Happy Stitching!

 

 

Backyard Visitors

I put this feeder up last year and never had a single bird come to it.  Now they are fighting over it!  My pics aren't too good because I have a simple digital camera and I had to take them from inside the house.

Birth Record Finished!

I was able to get alot of stitching done this week and got the Birth Record finished.  My camera doesn't do the colors justice.  The colors are nice and bright and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Prom Weekend #1 

This past Saturday was my youngest daughter's Senior Prom.  Her date is from another school, so his prom is this coming Saturday.  Winds were about 40 mph all day on Saturday and all that kept going through my mind was all the girls going to get their hair done for prom.

It was a long weekend for us parents.  From 5 pm until 1 am on Friday, us parents set up for the Afterglow and set up the decorations in the gym for picture taking before the dinner & dance.  After the dance, around 11 pm, the students come back to the gym for formal introductions and then the students go into another area of the school for the Afterglow, which is a drug free, alcohol free alternative for students.  They are locked in until 3 am and there are prizes, food, music and all sorts of games.  Us parents take down the decorations in the gym and work the games for the Afterglow.  The kids really seem to like the Afterglow and we had 100% participation this year -- meaning all the couples that attended prom also attended the Afterglow.

Daughter and her date

Daughter and her group

Welcome Frog?

I like frogs when they aren't coming to interrupt my stitching progress, but I'm afraid if I had this sitting in my garden or yard, the froggies would never leave.

Happy Stitching, until next time!