Here's another reason I love this city

This was the cover photo of the Pittsburgh City Paper this week. 

If you're from This corner of Pennsylvania, you'll love it, too!

A quick answer

A couple of you have asked about the sampler in my last post.  It's a Shakespeare's Peddler chart - Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler.

(Pic borrowed from Pam, whose photo skills are better than mine!)

I wanted to answer you quickly because this morning I just read that Theresa Venette (owner of SP) is offering free shipping on purchases through her Etsy site, Letters Great and Small.  It's only till Sunday, though, so don't dawdle...

Out of Whack

Lately when I see my friends, especially my stitching friends, they often mention that they notice I'm not blogging much anymore.  I rarely have an answer for that, but I think about it long after the conversation has ended.

The simple answer is that I'm spending less time at my home computer and more time in offices.  The  more complicated answer is that for various reasons (I'll spare you the whiney-woe-is-me list) over the past year I often felt out of whack.  Out of whack and overwhelmed and it's hard to write when you are feeling that way.

Nevertheless, I'm taking advice from my good, wise friend Kansas Judy and in 2014 I plan to take small steps to feel less overwhelmed and more in-whack.

One of those steps is to update my blog from time to time  Today is giving me the perfect opportunity.  It's snowy outside, warm inside and I don't need to go to any offices other than my own.

So.  Welcome to my blog...again!

And since this blog has Stitcher in the title, I'll show you at least one project I've been working on since the last time I posted any stitching photos.

One of these Christmases, I'll finish this sampler.  I pull it out every December so it's been in my WIP pile for a few years.  This year I've actually kept at it through January, so maybe by Christmas 2014 it'll be ready to frame.  Sometimes the house is the big hurdle for me when I'm stitching samplers.  Once that's done, it's relatively smooth sailing.

And here's something else...One of the big kerfuffles in my house in November was that we installed carpet through our whole upstairs and that included my office/sewing room.  Every single thing had to be moved out of the office and that meant moving every bit of my quilting and stitching stash  - - - which was NOT fun.  You can only imagine the kinda-started and half-done projects I uncovered.  And the many plans and ideas that had been moved way to the back of the closets!

I also decided that I am not a Quilter anymore, (but that's a story for another day) and decided to donate most of my quilt fabric stash to the Salvation Army.  They hold a huge fabric sale every year and just after my big clean-out I met one of the women who coordinates the donations and it was kismet.  Like it was meant to be.

Anyways, the fabric sorting dredged up a bag.  Actually, a bag of bags.  I admit to being kind of a bag and box hoarder.  And way before we had Vera Bradley and Thirty-One, we stitchers knew the value of a good bag., so if you had one, you didn't foolishly throw it away!  Remember when needlework shops gave us canvas tote bags?  Usually if you bought a lot, you got the bag for free.  Or you could buy one for a couple dollars.  I ate those promos up...

Over the years I know I've thrown several away, but waaaaaaay back in the closet I found a few and I thought I'd share them with you.  Cat hair and all.  And I think all of these shops are gone now, but isn't it kind of interesting that their bags live on?

A trip to the Jersey shore always meant an afternoon shopping in Cape May, so I enjoyed many visits to The Victorian Sampler.  They used to chart the more popular Victorian houses in town and I owned (and even stitched!) a handful of those charted houses.  They'd release a new chart every year and that kept me coming back for more.

It used to be easy finding needlework shops in Philadelphia, and this one was one of my favorites.  My mom (who was stitching at the time) and I spent some nice "girl time" in this shop.

And finally, the Thread Connection, which was my favorite shop in Pittsburgh.  It was super conveniently located on the South Side, with a parking lot close by and they had everything I could have ever wanted in the late 80's and early 90's.  Ahhh.  The good old days... when there was an LNS on every corner.  Like Starbucks.  Well...not exactly, but you know what I mean.

How about some of you?  Does anyone else have bags from old shops? Even current shops?  Come on...I know you have some hiding in that closet of yours!

Till next time,
Lee

Inspired by another blogger

My good friend Pam over at Stitching Between the Lines recently started writing again and published a wonderful post called "Where Are They Now?".  Her blog had been dormant for a while and now she's back (yay!), and she wrote a delightful catch-up post.

Which I will now copy.  Not because I'm unoriginal.  But because she had an awesome idea.

When I first started writing my blog, I wrote about my kids.  A lot.  Maybe ad nauseum.  They were 10 years younger (yes, I've been hanging around here for ten years) and teenagers.  We were all-kinds-of-crazy between school, sports, dances and hormones and teen drama.  So I had lots of great blog fodder as we navigated those waters.

Now?  Not so much.  They've grown and gone and are settling into lives of their own.  I recently realized that from now on I'll mostly see them for "events" (like graduations, holidays, weddings and funerals), and that's if I'm lucky.  But probably not for the day to day casual conversations (and arguments) that we used to have and that I used to love, teen angst and all.

Anyway...

This fellow has just passed his qualifying exams for the doctoral program he's been part of at the University of Georgia since 2011.  He's been doing genetics research and generally making UGA smarter for a couple years and now it looks like they'll keep him for a couple more.  Then maybe back to Pittsburgh for his post-doctoral work?  A mother can hope.

So.  I'll have a few more years of him attempting to explain his research to my feeble mind.  I just nod and look like I understand, but I know he knows that it's all an act.  Luckily, we are both addicted to The Walking Dead, so we have something we can talk about.  And at least I can sound informed about that.

This young lady recently left for a new adventure in Colorado, where she's working hard to make her dreams come true, including running her first marathon last week and working as an intern with Trail Runner Magazine.  They've published some of her articles.  If you like trail running, you can read them here, here , and here.  She's also writing in her own blog frequently.  Soon she'll be getting paychecks from a running store to be able to continue to pay rent, have a car and eat.  And get her mother good shoe discounts.  And she'll continue to write and who knows where that may lead?  Maybe back to Pennsylvania?  Again...that's wishful thinking from her mother.

It's kind of funny how I miss different and particular things about each one of them.  I miss John's noise and his teasing.  I miss Colleen's quiet calm.  But I still have Dave here, who is noisy and teasing and calm - like both kids all rolled into one big ball of husband.  He's working part time as a floating pharmacist for a Large Chain, so while he's more or less based out of a local store, he has the option pick up an open shift and travel to other stores far and wide.  Sometimes it's a great experience.  Sometimes, not so much.

And as for me, I've just been promoted from Bookkeeper to Accounting Assistant, which quite honestly means absolutely nothing. .Although after the workday I had yesterday, I'd happily be demoted to Girl Who Empties the Trash Can.  Simple and stress free and a job I can handle.

I'm still stitching, but not very much.  Sadly, nothing picture worthy.  Maybe next time?

Additional pages?

So...it looks like if I update a page within this blog, it doesn't go through to blog newsreader like Bloglovin or Feedly?  So you don't know about it.  Does anyone have any advice about this?

But in the meantime, I'll use this space to tell you when I update my second page.  Which I did today, so go here.

And them come back, because if you used to like my Prom Gown fails, you'll really enjoy reading this:
http://www.genevievevalentine.com/2013/11/miss-universe-2013/

Why we do what we do

This video is from 2010, but it's new to me. So I'm sharing it with all of you.

I love what Renate Hiller has to say about hand work.  Don't let the spinning and knitting perspective put you off...it applies to all  needleworkers.

I'll bet you're nodding your head in agreement right now and running to get your stitching!

I asked and you answered!

Well, well, well!  It looks like I'm not the only stitcher who has neglected her blog from time to time!  It was super interesting to read your comments or to see what you all wrote in your blogs in response to the question I threw out there about why we stop writing.

And this is what I'm concluding:

1. Time constraints:  Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day to do all the things we want to do, so we have to make choices.  People initially enter the blog world with time to write, but then life happens.  A new job, a new baby, a new health issue - you name it and it eats time.  I just hope that if a blogger really enjoyed writing, he or she will find a way back to us if and when time allows.
2. A change of focus:  Today it's stitching.  Tomorrow it could be skydiving.  And the blog isn't relative to the writer's life anymore.  It happens.
3. Technical issues:  People get sick of the way blog software constantly changes.  Seems like they barely get the hang of their publishing routines and zing...  The software/template/publishing format is updated and seemingly totally different.  I get that.  It could be enough to drive someone away.  
4. They've found other forms of social media that they like better.  Well...to each his own, but I'll take a meaty blog post over a "Like" on Facebook any day.
5. Feeling like nobody reads your blog anyway:   Oh. My. Goodness.  I completely get this one.  And I'm also guilty of causing it.  In fact, I have so much to say about this that I'm going to give it its own section here.
6. You thought no one you knew in real life read your blog, but....Maybe you like to blog anonymously.  It's quite freeing.  And then one day you realize that your family is reading your blog and that creative door just slams shut for you.  So you leave your blog.
7. Once you wrote something and then got slammed for it.  I know bloggers who were writing and enjoying it but stopped because they wrote something sarcastic or controversial and got zapped with nasty comments and emails.  It'll set a blogger back on her heels...and we lose her.  

Why feeling like nobody reads your blog is a bummer and how that happens:

• First of all, there's that whole "Follower" thing.  Although it's meant to be an easy way for people to follow your blog, it often feels like a popularity contest.  Now, I'm not saying that's true, I'm just saying that's how it can feel.  Kind of like class officer elections in high school, where we are constantly reminded that it wasn't a popularity contest...riiiiiiiight.  We have to get past that popularity contest state of mind but sometimes a sensitive soul may feel - I don't know - unread and sad.  I don't consider myself sensitive, but I've been there, too.  I get it.

• Or we may interpret few followers to mean that our blogging skills are inadequate. We worry that our photography isn't good enough.  Our words aren't interesting enough.  So we stop writing. Quite frankly, there are some blogs I've read that have hundreds or thousands of followers and tons of comments.  But I didn't understand it because I thought it was obvious that the writer was completely insane.  Maybe those other followers were like me...following to see how crazy this person could get before a total meltdown.  (And ok, that's not nice, but like I said last week - I'm not self-editing dammit!)  All that is to say - I'd rather read a nice blog with a blurry photo than a blog with professional style pics and crazy writing.

• Some people go to the Page Visits thing on Blogger and see that they have very few visits.  Then we feel really crappy about ourselves and quit.  But here's the thing - I use a reader.  Feedly, to be exact.  Loads of us use blog readers and often don't often leave the reader and visit actual blog sites. And that's especially true if I'm reading from my phone or tablet.  So I don't think we're showing up on your page stats.  Nor do I click to be a follower on a blog, because I'm already following it in my blog reader and  I don't sho up as a follower in your sidebar.  But don't fixate on page visits, unless you're blogging for money or advertising.  Most of us don't fall into that category.

• Then there's the whole Comment thing.  Which also dovetails with the Page Visits.  Writers think that few comments mean few readers. I really wish there was a way to comment within the blog reader software, since (and this is very lazy), I often don't comment because I don't want to switch from the reader to a web page.  So I bookmark your post to go back to later.  And then I forget.  Or too much time passes.  But my point is - few comments does NOT mean few readers.  

So, there's my nickel's worth of conclusions I've drawn from your comments and posts.

And I hope I haven't bored your eyeballs out.  But I hope that if you've stopped writing, maybe something I've said will get you started again.

I'm off to an all-day retreat in Pittsburgh tomorrow.  There'll be stitching, food, stitching, laughing, stitching, shopping, and stitching.  And then we'll do it all over again.  I'll see ladies I haven't seen in a while and I can't wait to get a gander at what they've been up to!  

Maybe I'll take my camera so I can add some gorgeousness to this page.

No, no, NO!

It's not Christmas yet!   It's still.....FALL!

From PS "October".  Finished the stitching during my stay in Erie.

My around-the-corner-neighbors, Jack and Elaine, have already put Christmas decorations on their lawn.  There's a train and a stable scene and a Ferris wheel and all kinds of other cute things that I like to see when I go for an evening walk  IN DECEMBER.    But really....on the lawn by November 2?

They have always been early.  Both of them were school teachers and so they had lots of miscellaneous school days off in the fall, meaning they had more time to get that sort of household thing done. Much more time than those of us in retail.    And now they're both retired, so I foresee the decorations coming out earlier and earlier.

Jack and Elaine at breakfast on July 5

Jack:  Well, that was a rousing fireworks display last night!  I guess it's time to put away the firecrackers and Roman Candles.

Elaine:  And while you're up in the garage attic, you had better bring down Santa and the Baby Jesus!  You can never get them on the lawn too soon.

End Scene

Now listen....this angst I'm expressing absolutely does NOT apply to needlecraft bloggers!  We know that our art is more involved than testing light bulbs and laying extension cords, so post away at any time with your pics of holiday and winter stitching, sewing, quilting, knitting or whatever needlecraft floats your boat.

Just keep the lawn decorations in the house for a little while longer!

Why have we stopped writing?

First of all, I promise I won't go on and on about this.  But why have so many of us let our blogs flounder?  I'm not the only one with a blog that's flopping around on the boat and gasping for air.  (Ewww.  That's a terrible visual image.  And I'd re-write it but I'm NOT self-editing, dammit)

As for me, I'm still stitching and enjoying it more than ever.  I'm enjoying the companionship of fellow stitchers - both online and in real life.  And I'll bet many of you are too.  So why the heck are our blogs sitting idle?

Did some of us go through life changes?  I know that I wrote (probably too much) about my children, but now they're grown and gone and aren't constant fodder for my blog anymore.  So that's a life change.  And I went back to work outside my home.  Yeah....that's an exciting change.  (insert the proper sarcastic tone).  Did I have a joy of life back then that was easy to identify and that I'm searching to identify it now?  Not that I'm not happy...just that I can't articulate it here.

So what are your thoughts?  And if you think about it and come up with an answer and have an idle blog you'd like to kick start, go write them in your blog.

In the meantime, I want to give you all a link to my friend Patricia's blog, Being Boswell.  We've been friends for-almost-ever and a while back  she moved away.  Not far, but far enough.  Well, recently we've reconnected and I realize just how much I missed our long talks and laughs.

Anyway, Patricia's a counselor who specializes in women's issues and she writes a very thoughtful and timely blog.  At least for me, anyway. For instance, Whodathought we'd be redefining ourselves in our 50's?  Evidently it's not uncommon, but still...I felt (and still often feel) rather blindsided.  And Patricia writes about it.

So follow that link up there and poke around on her blog and leave her a comment if you'd like.  I know she'd appreciate it.

Don't be hatin'

Hello and welcome to Lee's World of Outdated Ghetto Language!

And I couldn't come up with a better title.

But I don't want you to be jealous (and all hatin' on me)  because I'm going to tell you that I am just back from another one of those wonderful weekends that I spend in Erie with  four other delightful stitching friends.  Love those ladies!

This was one of our best weekends yet.  The B&B was better than ever, all charmingly decorated for Halloween.  The weather was....reasonable.  (I mean---it IS November and it IS Erie).  The innkeeper always wows us with spectacular three course breakfasts.  Seriously, breakfast is an event.  And this year she also wanted to cook dinner for us one of the evenings and it was spectacular.

Girls...imagine stitching all day in a cozy inn, then meandering into a beautifully set dining room lit by candlelight and being served a gourmet meal.  Yes.  It was that good!

So anyway, besides all the stitching and eating, we laughed a lot and talked a lot and as a result I'm going to try to write here more often.  They've talked me into it.

But in order for me to continue to write, I have to warn you....my self-edit button may need to be switched off.  I think that's why I've had such writer's block for the past year or more.  I started to worry too much about sounding silly or stupid or giving you too much information.  So I began to write...nothing.

So maybe I'll put floss on my head again.  Or maybe I'll tell you about the body parts I see on TV sometimes.  Or maybe I'll tell you about my theories on life in general.  Kind of a Lee On...Whatever.  (LOL).

We'll just see where this goes.

Pumpkins for Cathey!

 A little shout out today!

Next stop...Myrtle Beach!

After my visit to The Stitch and Frame Shop, we hitched up the Flying Cloud and drove from Ebenezer Park to a campground in North Myrtle Beach, aptly named Myrtle Beach Travel Park.  We had vacationed in nearby condominiums before and had always wondered about this campground right on the beach.  So we decided to check it out.  It was nice enough...plenty of amenities, but the campsites closest to the beach really packed us in like sardines. You get to know your neighbors' habits pretty quickly.  And there was no shade...which any fool could've deduced ahead of time, but not this fool.

 Next year I'll opt for a shady spot back from the beach with a little more breathing room.  On the other hand, the beach was only THIS many steps away.  We enjoyed breath-taking sunrises and sunsets all week long.

(I know I said we were tightly parked, so you may think I'm exaggerating when you look at this photo, but those are across the path and were tent-sites.)  

And just as stitchers who meet up and talk about their favorite road trips to shops, fellow campers love to come introduce themselves and talk about their favorite campgrounds.  A camper in Rock Hill told Dave and me about another nice municipal park in High Point NC, so rather than head straight home from Myrtle Beach, we took a brief detour to High Point and spent a night in a beautiful park called Oak Hollow Campground on High Point Lake.  It was just what we needed after a week at the beach.  I welcomed the cool air and green trees.

Took my stitching chair down to the lake's edge and enjoyed its beauty while I stitched.

And the next morning it got a little too chilly for outdoor stitching, so I sat inside and stitched at the kitchen table.

That afternoon we hit the road for home.  Coming home is always a mixed bag...I'm sad to see our trip end, but glad to be back, too.  Anyways, we have some great vacation memories and I even have a little bit of stitching to show for it - in my next post!

Stitch and Frame Shop in Rock Hill

I woke up on the second day of our vacation with just one thing on my mind. Well...two things. Breakfast and visiting The Stitch and Frame Shop.

Just a quick word about breakfast - We ate in a really small restaurant in Rock Hill called The Yolk. We found it through Yelp. It's strictly a breakfast and lunch place, but by its name you can guess its specialty is breakfast (I'd post a link but something's wrong with their website).  I had the best egg white omelet I've ever eaten in my life, (healthy, right?) full of savory fresh herbs, accompanied by creamy and delicious cheese grits (totally unhealthy) (but fabulous).

Dave and I absolutely love Yelp.  We've found some amazing restaurants with just a tap of the finger.

Anyways, then I rolled myself out of that chair and into the car to go around the block to this lovely little shop!

In terms of square footage, it's not a very big shop.  Significant space is devoted to a framing counter, but you may have guessed that from its name.

So beautiful.  What a masterpiece.

And the framed models around the shop really showcased their framing skills.  The walls were covered with gorgeous examples of needlework.  Every single square inch!

So much to look at....some of these would take me a lifetime.

Something for everyone.  Whatever your stitching inclination is, there is a stitched model you'll want to look at more closely.

For you Mill Hill kit enthusiasts:

Look at this very well organized fabric room.  Every color and count under the sun. And more beautiful shop models.

And the thread room. It was a fairly extensive collection. You can definitely find almost everything you'd need. I don't mean to sound blase...Maybe I'm a little spoiled by the amazing selection at Beehive Needlearts in Pittsburgh.



The shop clerks were nice - pleasant enough with their greeting while busy helping a shopper who was new to using beads.  But I really didn't need any help.  I was on a mission for JBW's Reindeer alphabet and it was easy to find.  But when I actually held it in my hand, I discovered that I liked last year's Christmas Tree alphabet more.

The colors are actually much prettier than in this photo.  

Dave came back to pick me up (he had visited a local hobby shop with a big outdoor race track), and we headed back to the park, hitched up the trailer and hit the road for the beach!  Where I've stitched a little...

Recently Dave decided that I needed a break from my obsessive Weeks Dye Works skein-measuring, so he hitched up the trailer and decided we would take a vacation. And by the way, I'll talk more about that in a post later on. So our first stop was in a beautiful West Virginia state park/resort called Stonewall Resort.  The campsites were beautiful.

We spent a wonderful evening having dinner in their spectacular lodge and then paddling around the lake in a canoe.  And then after a quick breakfast, we hit the road for the next leg of our trip - Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Most of my stash shopping friends know that Rock Hill is home to a nice stitching shop, called The Stitch and Frame Shop - it was made kind of famous by one of the Net's most prolific stitchers, BeckyBee.  So you know that I've been panting to go there each time we pass the Rock Hill exit on our way to UGA or Myrtle Beach. And since I married the most patient and wonderful man on earth, we planed a campsite just minutes away from the Shop and then he negotiated the camper through horrendous rush hour traffic in Charlotte NC just to get me there.

That Dave....he's a keeper.

So we camped in a neat little York Township municipal park right on Lake Wylie, called Ebenezer Park.
We had a terrific site with a lovely view of the lake, and nothing could beat sitting on a bench at the edge of the water and watching the sunset.

Well...except the prospect of stash shopping the next morning.  And I'll tell you about that in my next post.

A little nit-picky

Some of you may think this is silly, but here goes:

For a couple of years, I've been doing a seasonal kit exchange with three other stitching girl friends.  It's a lot of fun.  A few times every year we each pick a small, generally ornament sized design.  It's almost always a freebie.  Then we stitch it for ourselves, (like stitching a model) and then we create three kits using those same materials and send them off to each other in the mail.  It's cool to have three different small kits arrive in my mailbox at regular intervals.  And when I need a quick finish, I have a box of them just waiting for me to start - threads, fabric and even sometimes finishing supplies all at my fingertips!

So here's the nit-picky part.  Often we'll take a freebie that uses DMC and make some conversions to overdyeds or silks or whatever to make it more fun for our friends.

When I start stitching my kit, I buy all brand new skeins, because I like to measure my thread use and keep count of the yardage I'm using.  That way I'm sure that I pack enough thread in the kits I send my friends. (It's embarrassing to send a kit with not enough thread!)

My last two kits have used Weeks Dye Works threads and after measuring, I've found that those 5-yard skeins?  Well, they usually don't contain 5 yards.  I used 8 different colors of WDW threads and the skeins are always short.  Sometimes by maybe 6 inches.  No biggie.  But sometimes by 12-18 inches.  Yes.  18 inches.  One-half yard.

Unlike GAST, which comes separated into five 1-yard pieces, WDW is just one continuous length of thread, so unless you were measuring, you'd never notice.  But now I've noticed.

So now you know, too.  And if you're trying to estimate how many skeins of WDW thread you'll need for that gorgeous monochromatic sampler you're planning to stitch....well, you had better add a skein or two.  Because my recent experience has made me think that you won't be getting 5 yards from those brand new skeins you just brought home.

The last time we met here on this old blog, I mentioned that we had a new college graduate in the family.  Those four years flew by, as I knew they would.  We dropped this girl off for cross country camp at the College of Wooster in 2009...

And this is who we got back in 2013.

Except we don't really ever "get them back", do we?  I mean, that's our goal - right?  To give them a firm foundation so they can push off, take their own leap in the air and create new foundations for themselves.  Our Colleen seems poised on that edge, as she waits for her next adventure in life.  I know the leap will come soon.  We couldn't be more proud of her.

So...Another week of summer has come and gone, but it feels more like fall around here than summer.  My Favorite Weatherman tells me that we had some record cold temperatures here in July, with one night hitting a low of 43 degrees. Brrr!  Throw on that extra blanket!  It's been nice to have the A/C off for a couple weeks though.  I need fresh air.

I have a couple new bits of stitching to show you.  The first is from Plum Street Samplers' newest, Betsy's Stockings.  It was super fun to stitch.  And if you buy a fat-eighth, you can fit all three stockings onto it.

On 36 ct. Meadow Rue, with WDW threads

And we made an unexpected trip to Cleveland last weekend, so that always means a stop in Crafty Ewe, where I found this JBW chart.  It's not newly published, but it was new to me and it seemed like Fall was in the air anyway, so I couldn't resist this quick stitch.

On a scrap of light green linen, with WDW threads and Victorian Sampler hand dyed chenille.

Till next time...

Hey, this dusty ol' thing looks familiar!

Well now, wait.  Let's grab a dustcloth and wipe it off.  Is it what I think it is?

Why yes!  It's my blog!

I can't say why, but after almost 10 years of (reasonably) regular writing and general clowning around here, 5 months ago I just couldn't put two sentences together for this blog.  And to tell the truth, I'm struggling right now.

An awful lot has happened since March.  I'll give you the rundown in a list (even after my daughter has complained about the way lists are over-used and are dumbing down the writing profession)

1. I've added yet another bookkeeping job to my bundle of part-time jobs.  I'm working for a local charitable foundation.  It's in their office, two days a week but it's a very intense two days - working with fund accounting is pretty freakin' hard and for the first couple months I was going crazy.  It's better now.
2. Almost in the next minute after I accepted that job, I was asked to add more hours to the auto body shop job, so I went from a measly 4 hours a week to 16.  It's less bookkeeping and more clerical, but it means I had to know more about the day-to-day work of the shop and sheesh... it's really complicated!  I'm still finding my way on that one.
3. So I'm still working from my home office for my husband Dave and for the HOA, but not nearly as much.  
4. And when you're not working from home and working on a computer in someone else's office, for some strange reason they actually expect you to be working on their stuff and not doing your own thing and blogging.  And you can't make them go away and leave you alone by threatening to withhold sex unless they quit bugging you to do your work.  (Poor Dave - I'm a terrible employee.  I'm a good wife.  Terrible employee.)
5. We added a new college graduate to the family and we're super proud of her.  Then she moved back home ...sort of...If your definition of moving home is dropping the cat off with your parents and taking a bunch stuff to a house your boyfriend shares with crazy whitewater raft guides and spending the summer there.  But whatever.
6. And I get terribly distracted by that darn cat.  When he curls up in my lap, it's like I'm hypnotized.  I literally can't move.

And there are other things, too, but they won't fit nicely into a list.  So we'll talk about those things another time.

But how about some stitching to show you?  Because even though I haven't been writing, I have been stitching.  And stash shopping.  And enjoying my stitching friends near and far.

I think we left off here, while I was working on this as a gift for my younger sister, who lost her husband to cancer earlier this year.  I worked like a maniac to have it ready for her visit when she came for graduation in May.  I think she liked it, although I'm not sure.  Nevertheless, I liked it.  It was a pleasure to stitch.

Designed by The Sunflower Seed, on PTP fabric with Valdani silks

This was a finish from last year - finally framed this year.  

LHN Simple Joys

My sweet friend Julie sent me this adorable chart along with its GAST threads, fabric and a button for my birthday this year.  It was a perfect project to chase away the grey winter and a very dreary April this year.  I even had the perfect pompom rickrack in my stash of finishing supplies already.  

Spectacular Spring, by The Sunflower Seed

And this was another quick little kit, sent by my friend Judy to welcome the summer holidays.  It's a great design, but Judy's fabric choice really made it perfect.  It's a PTP fabric called Heroic.

And I still have my Moira Blackburn anniversary sampler in the works, among other things.  Because you all know how it is....the stitching bag is always full of SOMETHING.

Uh.  A bit of housekeeping now that we've lost Google Reader:
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or use Feedly.  That's what I use.

And now I'll finish this up and get outta here. I have more to say, so hopefully I'll be back before another five months pass by.

Till then...

Something pops out

Sometimes a bit of stitching on a blog will just POP out at me and I have to share it with you.

Go over to Tommye's blog and see how she stitched the grass in her latest project.  Wonderful!

Can't show you much today...

...Because I've been working on a gift, so I don't want to give too much of it away. I don't think its recipient reads my blog, but we can never know...

I can show you a little bit without giving the whole thing away, so here are a couple snippets.  I'm using Valdani silks and a Silkweaver overdyed linen.  At least I think it's Silkweaver...if not, it's Lakeside.  And it's a Sunflower Seed design.

Dave and I are getting ready for a trip to Georgia soon.  After the weather we're enduring this week, the thought of traveling south almost 600 miles is really appealing.  I'd love to see some flowers!

But before we go, I have to finish gathering our papers for our tax return.  Yuck.  They're so complicated this year, and where the heck are all those little bits of mail I dutifully filed away?  So now I'm off to hunt...

Nine Inches

Hey - Get your minds out of the gutter!!  And get that dreamy expression off your face...

Sigh.  I haven't seen the sun in over a week now and we've had steady light snow for days.  Dave measured for the weather service this morning and believe it or not, we have nine inches of snow on the ground and more to come.  I sure miss the mild weather of 2012!

So anyway, what's a girl to do to keep her sanity in this world of grey, white and black?  Stitch something springy, of course!  I long for tulips, so this little BBD design was the perfect project for the weekend.

Loved it!  It's a design from A Stitcher's Journey (obviously), stitched on 28ct Antique Ivory Cashel linen, with the recommended GAST threads.  Now I'm waiting for some trim to arrive in the mail.  It'll be my first order from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shop, so how exciting is that??

Enjoy your week everyone!