stitchin' along . . .

One more stitchery finished . . .

I was really pleased with this simple stitchery! I finished it out like I've done several in the recent past.  I put it in a bamboo hoop, backed it with felt, and trimmed the rim out.  I took this one to work to enjoy!

Speaking of enjoying things at work, my special order of chai tea, by Samovar, finally arrived!  I enjoyed a nice cuppa Thursday afternoon, along with a shortbread cookie! ♥

SEC football season started up today ... hip, hip, hooray!  Our church is having a Tailgate Party outside tomorrow after services.  

Todd made his famous firehouse chili, and I made frosted brownie bites! Those are what Sandra Lee would call semi-homemade.  *wink*

I prepped two more stitcheries ... both from Kathy Schmitz's Stitches from the Harvest.  This sweet little autumnal piece . . . 

And this cute little Jack O' Lantern:

I'll work on him tonight during the Alabama game and he'll be my slow stitching project for tomorrow evening ... I'll be ready to put my feet up when we get home, I'm sure!  Linking up to Kathy's Quilts and her slow stitching post, first thing Sunday!

Also, for some reason I'm feeling the urge to work in wool and Christmas things.  Perhaps because—

Just keeping it real!!

Have a terrific rest of the weekend.  Roll Tide!!

:)

pumpkins and acorns . . .

So far, so good!  I headed out Thursday, along with some of the other Essential staff wives, for a retreat/conference in Dallas, Georgia; Cultivate 2020.

It was a LOT of fun!  I love road trips in and of themselves, but this retreat was really intended to pamper and encourage the participants and a great job was done of it!

I mean, wow!  Our lunch Friday was served in high—tea time—style! Each of us got our own tiered tray, that then went home with us. We went home with a ton of swag, including the gorgeous (and yummy smelling) soy candles.  We did a little coaster craft project, and even the tables were just set so prettily.  I'm very serious when I say that I would give this retreat a 9.5 out of 10.  From presentation to program and all the little details in between, it was the best!

It's always nice to get back home and sleep in your own bed, though! Saturday I woke up feeling refreshed in body, mind, and spirit. We've been enjoying the sounds of young (and not so young) boys in the camp all weekend, and the smells of campfires. Yay!  After unpacking and house work chores were done, I knew I needed to find something to stitch.  After a short search, I found this simple design:

Yep, used my trusty printer to do the hard work.  Picked my floss palette . . .

Then took a break to make a treat!

Angela over at Tea with Friends had shared a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Shortbread cookies earlier this month, and I wanted to give them a try. I used my pumpkin and acorn cookie cutters, though when (not if) I make these again, I'll go all acorn (and probably a smaller sized cutter).  For the pumpkins I dusted a little edible orange glitter on the creases. With the acorns, though, I went straight up crystal sprinkles on the caps.  Too cute!  And very delicious (especially with a cup of chai)!

As Todd and I sat and talked about the upcoming week and relaxed into the evening, I did manage to get a little work done on my pumpkin . . .

So maybe I'll finish it up this evening when I sit down for some quiet time! 

Linking up with the slow Sunday stitching post on Kathy's Quilts.  Y'all enjoy a lovely day!

:)

happy wednesday . . .

I'm going to start with the big news, right off the bat . . .

One.  Hundred.  Days.  

Can you believe it?!?  How much stitching do you have to do in order to be ready for it? That's the million dollar question, isn't it?  LOL!

Late Sunday afternoon I finally sat down to stitch, but got distracted by a new TeaTime Holidays magazine . . .

Yeah, more Christmas! Though the first tea party they share is a Thanksgiving one! It justified having the pumpkin blondie with my mug of pumpkin spice tea.

I combated Monday work blues by 'fallifying" my office space:

Tea service was swapped out first thing!  I love this miss-matched setting! ♥

I made the leaves with laminated paper and die cuts. Both at work and at home, I'm using more and more hand-crafted seasonal decorations. It makes me smile!

I did get around to finishing my cute little squirrels stitchery . . .

Very pleased with how it turned out!  I'm enjoying the simple hoop finish, too.  I'll back it with felt and maybe embellish the edges with cording.  Happy things.

Now ... what to stitch up next?!  Maybe a pumpkin??!

I'm headed out of town (one state over—Georgia) for a church planting staff wives retreat with several of the staff wives from our current church.  Should be a fun couple of days; these kinds of trips always make for the best of stories!  I'm driving, so I'm really hoping the rain from Hurricane Sally doesn't impede us too much.  Then it's home to a camp full of Boy Scouts!  Yay!   Y'all have a good remainder of the week!

:)

weekend busy happies . . .

I'm going to tell you a true story . . .

I read a quote that caught my attention: "The secret to having everything, is believing you already do." 

Immediately I thought of my current fabric stash and felt a little convicted. Then this verse of scripture popped into my head:  "Lord I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)

Then I ordered this . . .

To go with this . . .

Which it does, and very nicely, I might add.  The end.  No names were changed to protect the not-so-innocent.  

Where do I go from that? It's been a very busy weekend! Of course, mine starts when the workday ends on Thursday, so maybe that's part of it! Thursday evening we celebrated Evey Jade . . .

She's just the kindest, sweetest, most energetic little girl! I still can hardly believe she's already six!

Friday morning, Todd and I headed back to the lake. It really was another beautiful day.

The lake was so smooth!  Todd was determined that we would take the boat through the lock at Guntersville Dam and fish down the other side of the river.  We've never locked through the dam before, and I admit, I was both excited and anxious!  But the lock operator was very kind and when I told him it was our first time, he walked us through the whole thing.

Top left: first started at top-the gate has just finished closing; top right:  the water is draining out of the lock; bottom left: the bottom gates opening up to the river; bottom right: looking back as we exited the lock at the bottom.

It really was fascinating!  We locked down, so we started at fifty-four feet of water and came down to sixteen feet of water.  That's a BIG difference!  It's eerie, too.  Especially listening to the water, which is going or coming from somewhere! 

Last week I told you that this week I'd have one of my own, didn't I??

I DO!!  It was so fun to make!  I bought a $4 doily from Hobby Lobby, and I didn't feel the least bit bad about widening the hole in the center! By the way, On Sutton Place has some cute, vintage pumpkin printables today if you're into that kinda thing.  Like me.  ;)

My fancy pumpkin friend was crying for a companion, so I set her up with Sadie the Spider.  While I was at it, I put out some of last years acorns.  

They're still so cute!  If you're interested, you can check out my tutorial here.  I also got to hang my new wool pumpkin piece for the first time . . . 

I finished it in February.  LOL!  

Just a few little decorations to make me smile and maybe, just maybe, usher in some cooler, fall-like temperatures!!  

I do have a new little stitchery I'm working on.  I printed it off using my "tape a 12-1/2" fabric square to cardstock" method.  I'm still amazed at how nicely it works!  I did learn from the last time, to do a little picture correcting/editing, to make the design a little fainter when it printed.  It printed out very nicely . . .

So this is what I'll be stitching on this slow Sunday afternoon!  

Looking forward to brewing a cup of tea, putting my feet up, and stitching the afternoon away!

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts and the slow Sunday stitching post.  Y'all enjoy a happy day!

:)

splashing into autumn . . .

Hey hey!  Just checking in before we head into the weekend.  We enjoyed a lovely, beautiful day on the lake on Monday.  The weather couldn't have been more cooperative.  We're at that time of the year where sometimes the water, at 85 degrees, is warmer than the air temp!

That means we spend LOTS of time in the water (because it's too cold to come out)!  The girls had a blast splashing and swimming. Edith even decided it was her day to jump off the boat into the water, multiple times.  She was a champ!  But we were all *in* the water already, so no photos of that!

As my Jocey said, it was the perfect way to squeeze one more day out of summer . . .

My signature "sun setting, heading home" photo.  ;)

Now my thoughts are turning to things of fall. Like pumpkins. All the pumpkins. On Sutton Place had this cute idea for a craft pumpkin on her blog today . . .

Isn't that sweet??!! Let me be clear, this is *her* picture, not mine. You can bet that I'll have one next week, though!!  She also had a link to a collection of her pumpkin recipes (Pumpkin Perfection Desserts) you can get.  Do you recall the scene in Forest Gump, where Bubba is talking about the "fruit of the sea"—shrimp—and all the things you can do with it? That is *exactly* how I feel about pumpkin.  Pumpkin scones, pumpkin custard, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin coffee cake, pumpkin doughnuts, spiced pumpkin cookies . . . you get my drift! PLUS you can decorate with them and quilt them and craft with them!  

Pumpkins > Shrimp 

Just sayin.

I did get some diamond EPP pieces whipped up . . .

I did six, satisfied the itch, and moved my attention to the Lucy blocks I got with my estate sale purchase several weeks ago. There were seven or eight POTC blocks in several stages, but this one captured my attention because it was blue.  And sparkly.  

And all the possibilities! I think my favorite is the one of the top right.  You?

Today we celebrate six fabulous years with this precious little girl . . .

Evey Jade is the birthday girl! We're doing a family party tonight and looking forward to it.  This girl is fearless and bright and bubbly and spicy.  We love her so much!

We also celebrate my folks' 60th—SIXTIETH—anniversary!!  Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

And though I'm getting ready to immerse myself in fall, I'm going to leave you with this thought:

Baahahahaaa!

:)

sloooooow stitching . . .

Slow stitching is appropriate.  It feels like it took me *forever* to finish this piece, but finished it is!

I had to take some "staging" pics, too . . .

Heh. So I'm a stitcher, not a photographer. I think one of the reasons I took so much time is that this really was a new style of stitching for me. I'm still not sure if I'd choose to do it again. I like the dimensional aspect of it — but it's all big stitches with six strands of floss ... no delicate stitching for detail. Though I do love the French knots!

On another note, I got a stack of happy in the mail this week:

Meet Moda's Arboretum.  Isn't it yummy?!?? I'm thinking I'll use it in Diane Knott's (Butterfly Threads) mystery block of the month quilt!

For today's slow stitching, I think I'll play around with these . . .

Fun EPP shapes, don't you think?  They make cute hearts.

Right? I don't know what I'll do with them, but I have the desire to stitch up some hexie-like things, so that's how I'll roll.

Warning. This next photo is not for the feint of heart. Travesty of all travesties.

You can't have nuthin.

Not sure what happened to Mr. Pumpkin, but when you hang with foxes, deer, possums, raccoons and who know what else, this is to be expected. *sigh*  ;)

Enjoy the remainder of your Labor Day weekend!  We're taking off on the boat with the kids tomorrow to enjoy the day on the lake. Yay!  

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts and the Slow Sunday Stitching post!

:)

achy breaky head . . .

So.  This was the first morning in sixteen days (sixteen looooong days) that I've woken up without a nagging headache. Bliss! I was so relieved that I didn't even mind going in to work!  LOL! Happy September!!

It's been a long time since I've had a headache that persistent. No one (by that I mean no doctor), has every been able to figure out why I get them, and short of prescribing something that knocks me flat out, no one (see above note) has ever been able to treat them successfully. So yeah, I was really happy this morning!

They aren't migraines (I get those every once in a while), so while it's unpleasant, I can generally power through a day.  Which I did and got some stuff done . . . 

Yeah ... I made about a million sixty cream cheese mints for a "walk by" baby shower I co-hosted this past weekend.

Joc & the girls are coming by today to enjoy the leftovers!

Ann, of On Sutton Place fame, posted a recipe for an Apple Bundt Cake that sounded SO yummy, I had to give it whirl. I used my fun Nordic Ware mini bundt pan (that's actually a four-in-one). 

When you're just two, making a whole cake is problematic.  Because we either end up eating it all (which neither of us really needs) or it spoils.  And I *could* cut a regular sized cake up and send it along, but this way is so much prettier!

Don't you think?!  Joc will take one of these home, along with the mints!  The glaze for these was particularly good.  The end result was like a sophisticated and easier-to-eat version of a caramel apple.  You won't regret giving it a try!

I've done a little work on my embroidery project . . .

It's not coming along too fast, but it was hard to work those stitches with an achy head.

Ellie, on the other hand, has made terrific progress with her latest stitchery project:

Her stitches are so good!  All she has left is the dark brown outline.  Unless she does a little freehand, which she told me she wanted to do; add a few ladybugs up near the branch.  That's my girl!

I pulled the "T" blocks out of their case to line them up on a design wall for placement.  When I opened the case, my eye caught those lantern blocks (which finish out to an odd 7.25").  They were just. sitting. there.  I had an epiphany to use them for a border to the "T" blocks.  That way I could put a solid border of whatever size needed in-between, that would solve the problem of mis-matched block sizes . . .

I'm thinking of "Tea in the Oriental Gardens" or "Oriental Tea Party" or some name along those lines. But I decided I really liked the funkiness of it! Any thoughts?

The girls had their first day of CC (Classical Conversations) last week . . . 

Aren't they darling?! Edie was SO excited to be going to school! 

Earlier in the 'growing season', we weren't sure if we'd accidentally planted a watermelon or a pumpkin in the middle of our squash and cucumbers.

Now we know for sure! Hip hip HURRAH!  My very own home-grown pumpkin!

And speaking of pumpkins, I got in on the Halloween Hoppin Blog Hop, hosted by Marian of Seams to be Sew.

The main criteria is as follows . . . she'd love to see a project with “Purple” in it, but seriously I’ll be happy also if it doesn’t …What’s Halloween tho without a bit of purple? You are free to make something new, or show a past project you’ve created. Tell us a story, or tell us why you love Halloween. What’s your favorite monster?

Purple?  I can do that. [insert wicked grin here] 

Seriously though, there's a lot of wiggle room (I mean, you can share a past project -- it can't get much easier than that), and she's taking signups through September 11!!

My week is nearly halfway finished. I do enjoy that aspect of working four tens!

:)