Stitch Pink

I wanted to mention that there is another chart giveaway contest going on right now at the "Stitch Pink" blog. It is for the new Lizzie Kate chart "Peace Love and a Cure" along with a lovely piece of fabric. This is a great blog to visit and is full of wonderful ideas and ways to increase awareness. Please visit if you haven't already.
http://stitchpink.blogspot.com

Some stitching projects

I've managed to get a little bit of stitching done over the past week or so. The bunny block was for the monthly STO block exchange. It is a design by Mosey 'n Me. I added the border and changed the bunny's color a bit. I'm also working on a scissor fob for an exchange with the Prairie Schooler group, but I'll post a picture of that one once it's been received.
"Quaker Christmas" is coming along as well. I am hoping to get the first page finished this month.
The kitties are a Diane Graebner design..."Ready to Pounce"...that was stitched for a round robin. I fell in love with these designs when I first saw them, but I have to say that the patterns are not very user-friendly! They are very hard to read and I ended up using the color model more that the pattern itself. I like how it turned out though. Two of the participants are using the same patterns for this robin, so we'll get to stitch them twice!
The top photo is a pinkeep that I stitched for a friend that is battling breast cancer. I love the design by Mary Kathryn and was pleased with the way it turned out. It was my first pinkeep finish. I know now that it has been received and my friend has come through the surgery and is ready for the next phase of treatment. She has a wonderful attitude and is truly an inspiration.

Back to blogging

It seems like forever since I've posted here....I have been fighting this cold/flu bug for going on three weeks now and I've had enough already! The worst part now is that it really tires me out so I can't do all the stuff I really want to do. I had to go back to work after the first week and that was probably too soon which is also probably why this is still hanging around. I felt so lousy I couldn't read or stitch...it even hurt to watch tv! What good is being home all day if you can't indulge in your favorite pasttimes?
I did develop a guilty pleasure though...watching "Project Runway"... that show is addictive...they had an all-day marathon the day before the finale so I just TIVO'd the whole thing and watched it all.

I also was lucky enough to receive 2 exchanges in the mail...this beautiful bookmark from Renee and a friendship block from Sherry. These were both exchanges through the STO group.

I stitched up the first two blocks for the Stitcher's Timeout monthly block exchange this weekend. January's theme is "Blue and White" and February is "Friendship". I also did some more work on "Gingerbread Cottage, but it is slow going for some reason. I really like it though. I wanted to start a new project today, but haven't yet. I've been feeling pretty sick all day. We took down all the decorations today. Now I think I'll take a nice long bath and see if I can't put at least a few stitches into something new!

Happy New Year! It's very cold here today, but dry. We spent a quiet New Year's Eve...Chinese dinner out (a tradition) and then we came home and watched the last of the "Pirates" movies. I thought it was fun. And when it was over we had 5 minutes till midnight. Usually we are in bed way before that!

We had a bit of a scare with our dog Boonie last week. He was feeling pretty lousy so I took him to the vet and he was dehydrated and pretty sick. They pumped him full of fluids and antibiotics and "good" bacteria and luckily he bounced right back. I hate it when our furbabies are sick. I don't know what I'd do without them!

Stitching Updates

I haven't been stitching as much as I'd like lately, but I did get a few things finished. One is "Quaker Row" by Midnight Stitching. I love this piece and plan to frame it and "Quaker Floral" in a similar fashion and hang them together. Another piece that I was happy to finish on time is "With the Heart" by Whimsey and Wit. I stitched this for my daughter and her husband for Christmas. The verse is from"The Little Prince" and it is part of the excerpt I read at their wedding. I changed the colors to autumn tones, which is what they also had at the wedding, and personalized it with Celtic lettering on the bottom. They loved it! I also completed stitching the last of my ornies for 2007. It is the first time I have actually kept up and stitched an ornie a month. I did this with the encouragement of the Stitcher's Timeout yahoo group. I'm planning to take a "Christmas in July" break and do all the finishing I neglected to do all year. This way I will have lots of new ornies to hang on next year's tree!

Snow for Christmas

Yes...we actually had snow for Christmas here in the valley. Not much, and it didn't really stick, but it looked so pretty falling from the sky!

Wallowa Lake

Once again, it's been a long time between posts. I'll try to do better in the new year!

Lots of catching up to do:

We were lucky enough to take a few days of our vacation and stay in a cabin at Wallowa Lake. This is way out in Eastern Oregon and we had never been there before. It was beautiful! The dogs got lots of exercise and loved going down to the lake each day. There was an outdoor hot tub and we were able to sit there and watch the snow falling around us. We saw a red fox, bald eagles and lots of deer. They came right up to the cabin. Next time we go, we'll make plans to stay longer!

Well, the dentist appointment I had the other day that was supposed to last for 45 minutes ended up taking 2 1/2 hours...not a pleasant time! I was pretty numbed up so I didn't really feel anything, but why can't someone invent silent dental instruments? That noise drives me nuts!
Haven't done any stitching the past few days so I don't have anything to show today. I am planning on watching the Red Sox/Cleveland game tonight. It's still pretty stormy around here tonight...very high winds and rain...a perfect night for relaxing in front of the fire with a cup of tea. I'm hoping to catch up on some letter writing tonight.

It's very overcast today. I came home a bit early from work...wish I could sit and stitch, but unfortunately I have to go to the dentist. Not my favorite place to be!
I did manage to get some stitching done this weekend though. I finished "Christmas Wish" by Sisters & Best Friends. It is stitched on a sparkly piece of fabric I had from Silkweavers, but that doesn't show up in the picture. It's really pretty though. I also stitched another one of the Prairie Birds for my wreath. This one is called "Bluebirds". I think I will stitch one more, and then I will have eight pieces for the wreath. I am still unsure about finishing them...little pillows with fabric backing or little fringed pillows with linen backing...hopefully I will have decided by the time the eighth bird is done!
The third picture is the Country Cottage Needleworks ornie from the 2006 JCS ornie issue. It's called "Winter's Eve".
I love the soft colors that Nikki uses in her designs. Finally, I was also able to get a bit more stitched on "Quaker Row" by Midnight Stitching. It's almost half-way finished I think.
Guess I can't put off the dentist any longer.....

It's a bright Saturday morning here...even a bit of sun! We have been so busy the last few weeks. Last weekend we were in Boston for my daughter's wedding. It was a beautiful day...the ceremony was perfect, the food at the reception was wonderful...it was great to see family that we haven't seen in ages. And the best part was that my daughter and her new husband really enjoyed their special day. We don't have any photos yet, but I'll post some when we get them.

I hate flying though...so that part wasn't any fun. I think the planes are getting more crowded every time we fly! I was in the middle seat both ways and could barely hold a book let alone try to stitch! Oh well...I'll have to start making up for it now. I am going to try and not buy anything new for awhile...have to pay off those wedding bills after all!...it's not like I don't have anything here to stitch. Of course, my LNS is having their fall open house in a couple of weeks...and I did just get the new CCN flower pack...but other than that...I'll try!

I pulled out a piece I had been working on last year "Christmas Wish" by Sisters & Best Friends to work on. I though I had swapped out the GAST threads for DMC, but after searching for a conversion list and matching up the colors, I took a good look at the piece and realized that I had used the GAST after all! So I pulled those out last night and did a bit...it's actually almost done, so I think I may have a finish before the weekend is over. The picture shows my progress so far.

Haven't done as much stitching as I'd have liked this week. I have finished 2 more of my "Prairie Birds". I am stitching these as part of a PS Wreath SAL and am a bit behind. These two are "Purple Martins" and "Junco". I've just started the sixth today.
I've also been working a bit on "Quaker Row" by Midnight Stitching. I'm stitching it on a blue fabric from Silkweaver using Crescent Colours Tartan Plaid floss.I really like the way it is coming along.

We've been on vacation all week and have been having a great and relaxing time. Tonight we are having some friends over for dinner, so have been cooking Italian food all morning. It smells yummy!
The other night we went to the Aladdin Theater here in town to see Commander Cody and Leon Russell. The Aladdin is one of my favorite places. It is an old movie theater that has been turned into a concert hall. The old lighting fixtures and details are wonderful. Anyway, Commander Cody put on a great show. Wish I could say the same for Leon Russell...for some reason he had all these weird acoustic things happening and it sounded like a really badly scratched old record. Too bad, because his voice still sounded good...when you could hear it! Anyway, we ended up leaving early...but not before buying a Leon bobblehead! This picture isn't too clear, but it is really cool (and it turns out the guy who sold it to us is also the lead guitar player in the band)

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to post. Life has been quite busy around here.
Our library's summer reading program is winding down...only a few more days to go. We had a really successful program this year with lots of children signing up and fun events. But from June through August I don't have much chance to get anything else done besides that, so I'm looking forward to a break!
My daughter and her fiance have been visiting for the past week from Boston. We took them to the airport tonight. The week went by too quickly & I hate that they live so far away, but for now that's the way it is. They will be having their wedding in Boston the first weekend in October, so there has been lots of planning going on. We are all looking forward to a very special day.
I've been getting a little bit of stitching done. I finished "Quaker Floral" which is a design by Midnight Stitching. I really like this design, and have just started a companion piece,"Quaker Row" I have also done a few more blocks for the Stitcher's Timeout group's monthly block exchange. I'm all done through the end of the year. These blocks are fun to stitch. The same group is having a "Think Pink" exchange, and my exchange piece is finished now as well. I stitched the center portion of a design by Knotted Tree called "Pink Ribbon Topiary" and finished it into a needleroll. All of the participants have done such different pieces and I can't wait for the exchange!
I am lucky to still have 2 days off before going back to work so I hope to get some time to just relax and catch up on my stitching. We'll see!
The photos are "Quaker Floral", one of my blocks ("Winter Joy" from this month's JCS issue) and the needleroll. My other stuff is in my cyberstitcher's gallery (link in the sidebar)

Cyberstitcher.com

I had completely forgotten that I had a gallery at Cyberstitchers. Anita was kind enough to send me a message, and I have spent a good part of the last couple of days updating my gallery. The last time I had added anything was in 2005, so there was quite a bit to do, plus I had to crop lots of my pictures because they weren't too neat. Anyway, I think I have most everything loaded now and I will be sure to keep it up to date from now on. There is a link to my gallery in the sidebar.
Cyberstitchers.com is really a wonderful place for stitchers to keep galleries of all their stitched pieces, and there are lots of other cool features there as well, like freebies, message boards and conversion lists. It's a great way to see what projects other stitchers have been working on...

Harry Potter and me

Well, I have a confession to make. I am probably the only children's librarian on the planet who has never read the Harry Potter books. I know...I know...blasphemy! I have seen the first 3 movies though...and enjoyed them.So now that all the books have been written, I've decided to listen to them all at once. I have just gotten through "...the Sorceror's Stone" and have started "...Chamber of Secrets". I am enjoying them very much. Jim Dale is a wonderful reader, and I am really liking the stories as well.So now I guess I understand what all the fuss has been about!

A long time between posts!

It's been nearly 4 months since I last posted here, and to be honest, I don't know where the time has gone! It's been a busy summer...work-wise, there was lots of last minute purchasing done at the end of our fiscal year and then summer reading started and things have been crazy ever since. Our theme this year is "Get a CLue @ Your Library" and the children have been enjoying the programs.
At home, we were busy with family visitors from Arizona and Maine,and my daughter and her fiance will be coming the end of this month. They surprised us with the news that they are getting married...everyone is excited and looking forward to it. They will be getting married "officially" here at the end of the month,and then the "wedding" will be held in October in Boston (where they live) for family and friends. So we will be making a trip back East then.
I've been getting little bits of stitching done, mostly ornies and small blocks and exchange pieces. I did finish "Dragonfly Sampler" and Geranium House" which I spoke of way back in April. I can't seem to make my photos appear here, so I have put a link in the sidebar to photos of these.
I'm currently working on another ornie, "Quaker Floral" by Midnight Stitching, and another exchange piece, but this weekend I've had some bad stitching karma. I realized that I had used a wrong color for part of the ornie, and after I stitched almost half of the exchange piece, I realized that I had miscounted almost at the beginning, so that will all have to be taken out...maybe tonight if I'm not too tired! Maybe I'll have at least one finish by the end of the week!

starting over

Having had trouble with blogging before, I was ready to give up...but I'm going to give it one last try! Hopefully this time will work!

It's supposed to be spring...baseball season...we are having our usual crazy spring weather here in Oregon...warm one minute...rainy the next...cold the next...but at least we don't have snow...unlike in Cleveland, where my Mariners have been snowed out 2 days in a row! Baseball...snowed out??? It's crazy!

One of my stitching goals for 2007 was to try and stitch at least a little bit every day. I've managed to do that, except for maybe a few days when I was too sick to keep my head up. So for a change, I am actually finishing some projects! Thanks to a couple of on-line stitching groups that I belong to, I have been working on some things that I have wanted to get done for ages too.

This week, I've finished a few small pieces...another of the LHN fruit thread packs - "Cherries", a basket block for STO,and also a needlebook for the an exchange in the same group.The design on the needlebook is part of an LHN design called "Stitcher's Prayer".

I'm working on 2 other pieces that I hope to finish this week...CCN's "Geranium House" and Midnight Stitching's "Dragonfly Sampler"...we'll see!