Stitching and Stuff

It's been jam packed lately; I've been finishing some exchange items and stitching fiendishly on a needleroll project for an upcoming trip. More on that later. But time is running out and I need to finish this up and stitch another heart for the RR before I leave.
Also helped my youngest DD move into her first apartment this weekend. My DS who works for a moving company (still looking for an engineering job....no luck so far) helped load up her truck, etc. He's being paid for it, but not with money. :)

I do have some stitching finishes; some haven't been received yet, so they'll be posted later.
First is the bookmark I sent to Shelley for the ILCS exchange; she loves lighthouses and burgundy, hence.....

Look what Shelley sent to me for our bookmark exchange. It's adorable......

Finished a pinkeep for a birthday exchange.....


A scissor fob for another BD exchange......


Some of the ladies in our Monday night stitching group are going on a XS tour to England with Susan Greening Davis. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. My DH gave this to me as a BD present well over a year ago, before we knew about the second wedding, my mom's eyes, FL wedding, etc. But such is life; you make plans and you never know what comes up. Everyone is doing fine at the moment, praise God. So I take off for 2 1/2 weeks of travel this Friday. We're leaving early to take in a few more places before the actual tour begins. Does anyone know of a good LNS in London, Paris, or Scotland (closer to London)? We're hoping to have a chance to get to some.
For my BD and Mother's Day, my youngest DD gave me this bag to take with me to hold my XS. It just came in the other day. Isn't it lovely?

My DS had given me flowers and my other DD gave me a small Ipod Shuffle. Now if I can take the time to put the music on it, I'll be set. :) Needless to say, they were all so thoughtful. Think maybe I'll keep them......LOL
We were out in the yard the other day and saw these two baby bunnies playing in our neighbor's backyard. They look like they are playing Follow the Leader. We get them every so often. Aren't they the cutest things?

And look at this fantastic sky; reminds me of the old sailor's warning...Red sky at night; sailor's delight. Red sky at morning; sailor's warning.

And lastly, our sweet Montana in his favorite position (when he actually quits moving, that is...)

Still looks a frog to me. He's six months old and weighs ~55 pounds. And yes, he does have a tail - must be underneath him. I'm beginning to think he might not be as big as everyone thought. OK by me - he's strong as an ox now. You ought to see him go after a butterfly - too cute.
Everyone have a great day!

Now We're Done....for a while

One more wedding this weekend. Sue and I have been friends for twenty-five years, starting with the birth of our children. They grew up together, went to school together, stayed in touch, and my DF's son was married here this weekend. It was a lovely outdoor wedding by the sound in Corolla, NC. While there, we took advantage of the weekend to throw in some activities.


We went on a jeep ride to see the wild horses around this area of Carova (Carolina-Virginia) up from Corolla. Highly recommend Wild Horse Adventures for this if you ever go to there.

Some big Monster Truck dude lives out here and posted this sign. Click to read - rather humorous. If you live up here beyond Corolla, it requires a 4-wheel drive. Be prepared to have what you need with you; it takes a while to get to any store. If you want to truly get away from it all, this is the place to be, though it's pricey. It's just sand and houses miles away from any roads, even though I've been assured they're listed with GPS.

Currituck.....


Bodie Island.....


Cape Hatteras.....

Climbed 400+ steps in lighthouses and saw gorgeous views. This view is from Cape Hatteras; if you ever look at a US map, you'll see the Outer Banks right off the NC coast. Note where that sharp hook is in the banks; this is it.

While riding down #12 on the Outer Banks, you blink and miss this. Anyone recognize this house? It's from the movie "Nights in Rodanthe." Too bad it's condemned; there were six houses around that all looked that way; I guess they couldn't be saved. Time and erosion do take their toll at the beach.

And lastly, for all of you frog lovers or haters, I couldn't resist taking a pic of this sign on #12. Too funny. Can't imagine where the name came from; I don't think I want to know......LOL

Stitching was non-existent; but I'm hoping to stitch this week. I'm working on three little gifts and finished a bookmark, but can't show anything yet. Everyone take care.

All is Well

First and foremost, thank you all so much for your continued prayers for my friend Terry. She is doing great - in fact, she should be going back to work tomorrow. We are all truly grateful she is still with us; a few more hours and the end result could very well have been different. No news on the heart yet, though it appears to be ok so far.
My youngest DD had her wisdom teeth removed right after I got back, so it's still been busy. She's just about back to normal and will be heading off to her job for the summer tomorrow. I haven't stitched too much, but I do have a few updates.


Next in the Friendship Sampler RR was for Karen's RR. There's a lull in the next two rotations, as two of the RR's are delayed for the moment. Hopefully, they'll be returning to the fold soon.
Isn't this a beautiful fabric? I believe Karen hand-dyed this herself.

Quilting - LHN/CC is normally one of my Monday night stitching rotations. Hope to go ahead and finish this one up, so I can continue the series.

And lastly, I put some stitches in Mom's Travel Sampler. Didn't get to my HAED this week, but hopefully the next.
I hope everyone had a relaxing Mother's Day. Ours was fun, as my DD and DSIL and youngest DD were here for lunch, along with my mother. She doesn't often get to my house, so it was a nice treat for us all. DS and DDIL were here Sat. night and left to see her mother on Sun. Beautiful weather and everyone else did most of the work, so it was great!
On a more somber note, as we all know, what can bring pleasure to some can bring pain to others. Some mothers are no longer with them or their children aren't, so please keep them in mind and prayer. Hugs to all. :)

Pretty Darn Wicked Stuff

We had a scare last weekend; one of our dearest friends in the world contracted Bacterial Meningitis and it was pretty serious. We went down to FL, came home Wed. night and I'm going back down Fri. AM to stay for a few days. She is doing much better and came home from the hospital today. It was determined that her ear infection developed into bact. meningitis from the strep bacteria, so in essence she got it from herself. It's not common, but it's not that rare, either. Tons of people have ear infections, and only a few become this serious.
I would appreciate your prayers for my friend's continued recovery, as it sometimes affects the heart, too. She has to see a cardiologist in a month to determine if there are any issues there, but hopefully not. We are truly grateful to God to have her back home and on the mend.
Hope to be back to blog land fairly soon - everyone, please take care.

UFO's, WIP's, etc.

There's a new UFO blog, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm not setting lofty goals, just slow and steady. I have a multitude of projects to choose from whether they be WIP's or UFO's , but I chose two I really want to work on at least one day a month. Jen is running the blog - check it out here if you're interested - really cute name. I chose two - Drawn Thread's Souvenir Sampler and my mom's Travel Sampler from Nouveau Encore.

Drawn Thread......


I have to frog it because it's way off -must have been asleep when I started it, so it'll be like a new start.

Progress on the Travel Sampler, right where I left off......


This week I stitched and gridded more on Secret Garden 3; have a few more curliques done.....


and finished another heart for BW's Friendship RR....


This next one is April's from the mailing before.....




Aren't the colors in both of these luscious? Next one is already here and waiting to be stitched.
And of course, on this absolutely gorgeous spring day (it's going to be 87 by this weekend), I had to include a progress pic of Montana's growth. :)
Four and a half months.....

Winners, Stitching, and an Award

Hope your tax day is a super fantastic day. The random number generator picked #17 and #19 respectively as the winners for the giveaway. So congratulations to Carissa and Emily! Hope you enjoy your prizes. Thanks to everyone for joining in. :)

I did get a little stitching in this week. I finished these two scissor fobs for the giveaway; both are My Aunt's Attic designs using Silkweaver and Picture This Plus fabrics and Silk N' Colors threads.






I can also post this little BD gift for Mary now, as part of our ILCS Birthday Club. I love how it turned out. She said she liked animal prints, so this design was perfect. The design is from Cross Stitch Happy, compliments of Sharon. She has tons of wonderful freebies on her blog, so I'd encourage anyone to check it out. I changed this a little by just incorporating the design onto the type of needle book I wanted to stitch.


And lastly for today,Carolyn gave me an award; thank you, Carolyn!
"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. "

I'm passing this award on to five others.....

Meari
Rene
Nancy M.
Kelly
Deborah M

Thanks for spending your valuable time here. It's much appreciated. :)

Absolutely Awesome

This is one of the coolest videos I've seen in a long time - definitely a pick-me-up and a breath of fresh air, especially for those of us old enough to remember the music! It's from Improv Everywhere - they're hoping to make it into a reality show. Now this is one reality show I would really watch! Look for the elderly woman's face when she realizes what's going on - very sweet, unguarded moment. Enjoy.

Sound of Music Train Station @ Yahoo! Video

Stitching and a Giveaway

The newlyweds are back, slightly burned, and happy as a lark. Does my heart good, I tell you...

I have been stitching, but can't show all yet. I did finish up the heart for April's RR....
I love stitching these hearts for the Friendship
round robin. Each one has such pretty colors and
they're all so different. Some have sent journals for us to tell a little about ourselves. Others sent
cardstock to write a little note on. Some want the
dates, town or country, some the full name.
Hopefully when we're all done (within 8-9 months), we can post them all on one place for everyone to see. That would be really cool. I'm getting ready to stitch BJ's and she has luscious colors!

Got a start on Secret Garden 3....
It has a wild color (just one stitch) that doesn't go with anything in this motif - I'm still trying to figure if it's a typo or what, but I seriously may remove it. If you click the picture, you'll see this bluish, purplish, gray and then this one stitch of stark brown. This probably doesn't seem like much stitching, but it's mostly confetti stitches and took me awhile. At this rate, I figure it might resemble this picture by 2025. LOL
In honor of my blogaversary at some point in time earlier this year and my BD last month, or for whatever reason I can dream up, I'm going to give away some items; winner gets their choice of whichever chart, fabric, and small stitched item (no pics of this yet). Second winner gets their choice after that. Winners will be announced on April 15; what better day to win anything than on TAX day?! Picture is clickable for a better view.

If you are interested, please leave a comment and your e-mail. If you're not interested in the drawing, but want to leave a comment, by all means, please do so. You know how we bloggers cherish our comments! (so true) No e-mail addy means you don't want to be in the drawing - this should make it pretty easy. :)
And lastly, since I've posted a few shoe pictures, I thought I'd show the lastest in fur ware...

Does this look like 4 months old to you? It reminds me of the tweenage boys with the gangling feet we always teased them about. Don't know if you can see this, but I'm telling you this dog is slew-footed just like me - I have the perfect ballerina feet. Too bad that's all....sigh. LOL