Enough, already!

It is snowing ... again. I wouldn't mind, except we had to head to Alexandria to pick up my pillow from the finisher. We took it in in December ... about the 18th. It came back in late January, but wasn't done the way I had asked for it to be done. So, it had to be redone. We got a call over the weekend that it was ready, again. Since no needlework shop in the history of needlework shops is open every Sunday or Monday, we had to wait until today to get it. The snow made for an interesting drive. The trees, shrubs and grass were all covered with a fluffy coat of beautiful snow. The roads had some snow, making it a little tricky for driving, but since I wasn't the one driving, it went well.

Here is the pillow, still wrapped in the plastic cover to get it home in the weather. My grandson and his parents had been to dinner in a 'sports bar' restaurant. The booth had a tapestry like covering that include scenes from pretty much any sport that used a ball. He took pictures of the baseball segment and asked me to make him a pillow ... a lot easier said than done, but finally DONE! I did a bit of personalizing ... since his favorite had just won the World Series when I started designing the pillow, I include a reference to them ..  and made the stripes on the batter match their uniforms. 

The Tuesday stitch group has a day off. Our hostess is visiting her brother whose wife was readmitted to the hospital. We are all hoping and praying that all goes well.

The Car is Back

Well, the car survived the trip to the repair shop. But the bank account didn't. A lot of money later, it works like new. Which is a silly statement because we didn't know it had a problem when it went in for an oil change.

I have been working on the Lizzie Kate Jingles. I am doing it as a long banner.

I actually have one more segment done, but the picture left a lot to be desired ... like clarity. It was so blurred I must have sneezed when it finally took.

I am using a very nice pure white fabric that the snow disappeared into. I decided that wasn't going to work because Lizzie*Kate used a lot of snow in this one. So, I tea dyed it. Twice. It still is very light, but at least now you can see the various bits of snow - flakes, snow men, etc.

I have been trying to stitching during the Olympics. Not so much happening in my stitching, but a lot going on on the TV. I don't really like Bob Costas, but he is an Olympic standard. I did like the way he started the broadcast the other night ... Hi, I'm Bob Costas, standing in tonight for Matt Lauer and Meredith Vierea.

We celebrated a 50th birthday at the stitch group yesterday. One of our members turned 50 on Valentine's day. Funny thing is, we have two people with a Valentine's day birthday ... out of 16. We had a potluck. Lot of good food. Our hostess went all out. She had an appetizer - homemade cheese crackers, a casserole - not sure of its name, but it was loaded with broccoli and cheese and a dessert - a Raspberry cake. Our birthday girl brought a tea mix for us to share - coincidentally, it also contained Raspberries.

We were a very small group on Tuesday - only 4 of us counting the hostess, and a friend dropped in for lunch. In spite of the smallness of the group, we didn't stitch much. One of our members has just moved and we heard moving tales and stories of the snow at her new home.

I did get to Woodlawn and entered A Story From The Past. I was entry #503. I was there early Saturday morning, and there was a crowd with entries when I left. They were going to be taking in entries Saturday and Sunday, and had also schedule time on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week because of the expected snow for the weekend.

I had a gyn appointment this week. All is well on that front.

We were supposed to head up to Long Island this weekend. That has been cancelled - not because of the approaching snow, but because our car has decided that it needs more attention. . . Like $3000 worth attention. And the part won't come in until Friday - if the snow doesn't come. If the snow slows down delivery, well who knows when we will see the car again. They have given us a loaner. But, we aren't really supposed to take it out of the state. sigh.  So far, February has been a very expensive month.

No pictures today. I will aim for a picture next week - probably of the Lizzie Kate I am working on. The Red and the Black still doesn't have enough stitches to warrant taking its picture.

Stay warm and out of the snow if you can.

Looks Like it Will Be Wednesdays ...

I managed to pick up a bug or two, so I missed stitching on Tuesday. And didn't get a note posted here either. Sorry.

I did get A Story From the Past back from the framer ...

Now, if I could just learn how to take a picture without that glare.

I think they did a beautiful job framing. The particular frame seems to make it POP! I liked it before framing, but now I love it.

I have decided that A Mon Ami Pierre is one of my new favorite designers (I have many - everything I do comes from a favorite designer). I purchased two charts from Jackye over the weekend, but I don't think I will get to them anytime soon. I am currently working on Black and Red - it is my Tuesday stitch, and Lizzie-Kate's Jingles banner. I have several projects in my to-do bag. I just need 48 or so hours each day and a right thumb that is NOT arthritic.

Unscheduled Post

I'm just grousing. We got a repairman to come out on Wednesday. He looked over the dryer AND the washer. His verdict - they aren't worth fixing. You can replace them for about $400 each and it will cost almost that to repair them. Well, I don't know where he shops, but it isn't anywhere I have found. We couldn't find any washer or dryer, much less ones that fit the area they have to fit, for under $700. Still, it seems like it is a better deal to go ahead and replace them. Oh, lucky us. They will be here on February 27th. And Not A Day Before!

I am so thrilled to have to cart the laundry elsewhere.

When we bought the new ones, we took out the extra warranty that we usually don't get because the washer has been repaired several times and the dryer had been acting up for a long time before it finally stopped. Watch the new ones work perfectly throughout the warranty period.:-{

Back to your regularly scheduled programming .....