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 .....

The Best Laid Plans ....

I had hoped to make a post on Tuesday, but ... I got home from stitching and found that our dryer had decided to take a vacation ... in the middle of drying a load of laundry. I got side-tracked.

We were a very small group at stitching on Tuesday ... only 4 of us including the hostess. But, that didn't deter us. We had a marvelous time. Our hostess lives in Greensprings (a retirement community) and her apartment backs up on a wooded area. She finds that to be a blessing - she is a birdwatcher. The birds decided to give us a show ... a pileated woodpecker, a downy woodpecker, a junco, a wren and several others stopped by. She served a Cherry Vanilla Chip cake. With only 4, there was enough that we got doggie bags to go. :-)

I shared my newest finish --- it just happened to be a bird ... Abcedarian Sampler. A Loose Feather design.

I changed the colors on the bird - mostly because I didn't have the grays they called for and, well, I like blue birds.

The snows have slowed everything down. My framer was closed several days during our 'big' snow and I still don't have A Story From the Past back. I am hoping that it will be here soon.

OMG ... almost a year

It has been almost a year since I touched this blog. :-(  No, I didn't forget it, at least not quite. I've thought about it many times - but always when I was doing something else.

I am going to try to put this on a definite schedule. Maybe every Tuesday, after my stitch group meets, or every other Tuesday? Then I would have stitching things on my mind.

I finished and took the the framer A Mon Ami Pierre's A Story from the Past. I did it over one. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it. I will take a picture after I get it back from the framer. With any luck, I will have it back in time to enter it in Woodlawn this year.

I just started Prairie Moon's The Black and The Red. I haven't gotten far enough for a picture, but next week I'll post one.

Our son and his family just got back from Disney World. They stopped here on their way down and again on their way home. It was nice to seem them ... even though they were short visits. We are planning to head that way next month. We will spend a weekend on Long Island. We tend to stay at hotels because with 4 kids in a small house with only 3 bedrooms, well, you get the picture. If we stayed there, no one would have beds.

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!