We spent the last few days at a NARFE conference in Richmond, VA. My husband, who worked for the Naval Research Laboratory, was re-elected Secretary of the Virginia Federation of Chapters.

He spent his days in meetings. I got to hang out in the atrium lobby. The lighting is almost perfect ... at least it is when the sun is shining. I brought my cross-stitch with me. I started a new project...and then re-started it. Before we left home, I selected a piece of fabric to use, but I didn't look at it too closely. I picked it from my stash and it didn't have any labels left on it saying what it was, what the count was, etc. But, it was almost a full yard. 

I marked off my three inch top and side margin and started stitching. I stitched the letter A from a small alphabet. It looked enormous. So I started counting ... I had a very nice piece of 28 count fabric. If I had been using 32 count, my project would have been 21 x 20 inches. I decided that I was going to restart it     ... over 1 ... the fabric count being too large to call it a miniature, but a better size for a finished project. Unfortunately, the picture I tried to take of it didn't turn out ... and I still haven't gotten a new memory card. 

I have decided that the last grand kid ornament this year will be a sail boat. His mom reminded me that I have never done one of those for him, and he has been taking sailing lessons for years. So, a sailboat it will be. I will try to incorporate the insignia of the sailing association that is giving him the lessons, but I'm not sure I can fit it in properly.

It's Saturday ...

and I didn't remember Loudoun Sampler Guild this morning ... again  This is getting to be a bad habit. I remembered yesterday. I remember early this morning, just before one of the fans in the family room died with a bit of a splutter and bang, and I promptly forgot about the meeting. We did go get a new fan, not installed yet, but when we got home ... the meeting clicked in. Just a couple of hours too late. If wishes were fishes ... the best laid plans of mice and [wo]men ...

I got my Christmas Rules back, along with 13 Colonies. Here is a photo of Rules ... not the greatest picture I've ever taken. I couldn't get it all in the picture with it laying down, and when I tried standing it up, well, you would have thought I put it on a slide.

I've finished stitching Becca's ornament. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I still need to do one for Bryce. I've pretty much decided on the La Crosse player with the word LaCrosse underneath. I've emailed our daughter to ask if she thinks he would like that. I'm afraid she will say oh do baseball....again.

Mostly Christmas Thoughts

I am continuing to work on the Christmas ornaments. I now have three of the five completely stitched. I finished Eme's Karate Girl yesterday.

Not too bad. If I was starting over, I'd probably change her face, but I'm not starting over. I have Becca's started. Poor Bryce. I still don't have any idea what to do for him. I have a clip-art LaCrosse player, but I'm still not sure about it. Any suggestions?? Please!

I am also working on Meri's Christmas stocking. I am doing Anna's Stocking by Shepherd Bush. With Becca and Bryce now officially into their teens, I am thinking that I should start thinking about some more adult stockings for them. I like the Country Crafts and Cross Stitch Heirloom stockings, but would probably do the wallpaper version instead of the more elaborate version for Becca. Once again, Bryce has me stumped.

The grand-dogs stayed with us an extra two days. Vicki and family decided to extend their vacation and stayed over an extra night with friends in Charlotte. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell us about it. We spent a large part of Easter day worrying about them since they were to have picked up the dogs that day. We finally called them and they were surprised we didn't know they weren't coming until Tuesday!!! Kids ... even when they are 50!

A friend passed away yesterday ... she had been the very first female volunteer firefighter at our local fire department. We will be heading to her funeral on Tuesday. So, I won't make it to my stitch group this week. Last Tuesday, for dessert, our hostess treated us to large cream puffs from Wegman's. They had a whipped cream style filling. Beautiful to look and and wonderful to eat. And did I mention they were huge! Everyone managed to eat the whole thing, but at least for me that almost didn't happen. Huge! Delicious! Yum!