pilgrims, paws, and packing . . .

With VBS in full swing this week, I didn’t have much time to stitch . . . but I did finish all my boat pilgrims!

Whoop, whoop! Next stop: sails. But that’ll have to wait because—Aloha!—I’m headed to Hawaii on Tuesday!  And this boat trip doesn't require sails.  <wink>

Back to this past week—I got some fun, happy snail mail . . .

Don't know how I'd missed this Simply Sweet offering from Kathy Schmitz!

Etsy's Pixie Fibers (aka One of the Flock) is clearing out all of her inventory.  Among other things, I got this darling PRE-cut wool acorn kit!!  It's so cute!

And this cute little sashiko kit from Brooklyn Haberdashery!

A little retail stitching therapy is always good for the soul, right?

And speaking of stitching, I also received my quarterly issue of Needle Arts from EGA.

I joined the national Embroiderers’ Guild of America (along with our local chapter) back in March, and I’ve really enjoyed diving into all the wonderful inspiration and techniques they share. So much great information between the covers!

Now here’s a little before-and-after story that made my stitchy heart happy:

Last week I picked up this lovely hand-stitched table runner. It had been poorly stored—there were food or grease spots, and those pesky little speckles that looked like spider waste. I soaked it in Dawn for a couple of days, but no luck. Then a friend recommended Retro Clean. After soaking the runner in it for 48 hours—voilà!

The stains vanished, and the piece was restored to its former glory. I’m so tickled with how it turned out!

Today would have been my 29th wedding anniversary. I had signed up for a barn quilt workshop to help fill the day, but I woke up nauseous and dizzy, so I ended up back in bed instead. Thankfully, my girls took excellent care of me.

Starry kept checking in like the little nurse she is.

And Celeste was basically a purring hot water bottle for the entire afternoon. They’re such good girls. I’m so thankful for their sweet companionship.

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching post. I’ll be back at the end of the month—hopefully with sails stitched (at least partially) and stories/photos from the islands!

:)

what to do . . .

I've been thinking a lot about my posting frequency.  I love my blogging community and I've made some dear and wonderful friends ... LIFEtime friends, even ... through this medium.  But honestly, I missed *me* when I wasn't blogging.  I love flipping through old posts and reading what I was up to, scrolling through the photos, reminiscing and getting all nostalgic.  I really enjoy writing and this has been my best outlet for that for years!  So frequency . . . 

Weekly would serve me best.  Life is so busy, and because I tend to write about life (because the good Lord knows I don't do enough quilting/stitching/etc. to write a post monthly, much less weekly), weekly posts would be great. Just not sure if I can keep up with that.  Writing a blog post takes time, effort, and energy!  But I think that will be my *goal*.

All that being said, what a week! Tuesday evening was Ellie's band concert.  It was a fabulous evening of fun music.  Ellie is first chair clarinet.  It's fun to hear her each year and appreciate how far she's come.

I brought Edith home with me, and while she was there, this photo came up on my screensaver . . .

That was about six months ago.  Edith and I decided to recreate it for comparison . . .

Starry is a BIG girl kitten!!  We had to laugh!

Wednesday I had some work to take care of at the Camp.  I've got one last Eagle Scout project that I'm managing:  the deconstruction of the turtle sanctuary.  The RV and the Nook have been moved.  It's the first time I've been out there since that happened, and it hit hard . . .

But it's all good. Taking a walk, I spotted a little toad.  I've still got the "eye"!

I had lunch at a new-to-me (and I think, relatively new to Huntsville) restaurant, Tupelo Honey.  It had a really cute vibe, and the food was fabulous.  But what really made me happy was the water glass . . .

Yes, they do sell them, and yes, I did come home with one!

Thursday evening was the end-of-the-year program for the girls' homeschool community, Classical Conversations (which Jocelyn directs). While they'll continue to do math and reading through the summer, their Thursday CC days are done for the summer!

The program was terrific and it was fun seeing each class do a presentation, showing off all they'd learned.

Friday night was a Trash Panda night!  I love baseball games . . . the atmosphere is fantastic!  

And we live less than ten minutes from the Trash Panda Stadium, so we try and do a couple of games during the season–especially on a Friday or Saturday night, when they do fireworks!

Today I hosted a mini stitch-in for my inner circle stitchy girls. I totally meant to get a selfie of us, but got caught up in the cameraderie and it slipped my mind.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  I continued to work on my Coming to America project.  I think I've made good progress!  

This will be my slow Sunday stitching (see the lineup at Kathy's Quilts), if I'm able to do any!

I downloaded and proceeded to 'thumb' through May's Primitive Quilts and Projects, and came across this darling wool project:

If I have time this week, I'll kit it and get started! 

A very Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate! ♥ ♥ ♥

:)