battlecry: retreat . . .

LOL!  Sometimes you just need to retreat . . . on a retreat . . . to a retreat.  That's exactly what I did last weekend! But it was my favorite kind . . . the kind I don't have to drive to.  A Camp MACOBA retreat! This was my Sassy Affirmation Sisterhood Sister's (SASS's) third annual summer retreat at the camp.  It was originally scheduled for July, but Todd's surgery happened, so we pushed it to August.  GOOD thing those cabins have A/C!!

It was Gail's (center) birthday weekend, so of course the appropriate signage was put in place!

I didn't even bring my machine this year.  I worked on getting my two wool tubs and my tub of floss in order, finished up several handwork projects, made some acorns, kitted some wool applique projects for fall, and started *and* finished a delightful Christmas tree cross stitch.

Wool Candy Corn bowl filler (in front of my fabric bouquet)!

 

LOVE this finish!!!

Acorns!!  :)

 

We took a field trip into town on Friday and visited Patches & Stitches and had dinner at a fabulous pizzeria, Sam & Gregs.

Saturday we took a field trip down to the creek! We splashed for a bit and took the requisite "feet in the water" photo!

And we all took a ton of pics of the creek, too!  ;) My idyllic spot!

There are a TON of assorted varieties of mushrooms/fungus around the camp right now . . . it's been so hot and humid! There was one 'shroom that was way bigger than my hand!  But this was a fungi I'd not seen before . . . 

It's called a Wood Ear Fungi. Aptly named, right?  That's exactly what it looked like on the tree bark!  So cool! The woods have ears . . . they're listening all around . . .

Sunday we all felt relaxed and rejuvenated!  It was Gail's actual birthday, and since we'd done the 'feet' shot in the creek, we decided to do a party hat shot parting shot . . .

We're so silly!  I'm glad I have a circle of friends like this.  They're the BEST!  :)

 

I'm ready for another long weekend . . . yay for Labor Day!  We'll try and head out on the boat on Monday, with the Merkel crew.  So look for lake pics next week!

Arrivederci!!

:)

secret stitching sweetheart blog hop . . .

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

I know, I know ... it's been a hot minute (or would it make more sense to say 'a cold minute'?) since I posted . . . I'll get into that in another post.  

This post is all about the L O V E!  Jo, from Serendipitous Stitching, hosts the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop every year, and when she asked if I wanted to participate, I knew it was the nudge I needed!

Here's how it works: all of the participants send Jo a photo of a stitched Valentine . . . and then once she's collected them all, she mixes them all up and sends you someone else's Valentine to post ... and that's your Secret Stitching Sweetheart! Doesn't that sound like fun?! Here's the Valentine from my Secret Stitching Sweetheart:

Isn't that darling?!

Now I'll go visit the list of hop participants (posted on Jo's blog, here), and check in with the recipient of *my* stitched Valentine!  Plus see all the other beautiful Valentine love out there!  You should definitely check it out, too ... see if you can find my Valentine! ♥

:)

celebrate on . . .

I may have shared that I give as much time as my birthday wants to be celebrated. A week where you only work two days and have the next five free is as good a time to continue celebrating as any! I gave a whole post to the Tate Farms fun, but I'll condense the remainder of the long weekend here. Mostly.  I think. 

Thursday, the weather continued to be beautiful, and since a wet, cool front was moving in on Friday, our regular boat day, Todd and I decided to go ahead and get our lake action in a day early.  It was another of those days where Todd was really catching them, so I fished, too.  Another fabulous day -- he caught two to my one, but that's pretty exciting to me, especially since our total was 45! And what do you know, algebra does pay off!  2x + x = 36; solve for x.  Hahaha...I caught 12!

What really captured my attention, though, was the late afternoon sun, and the clouds that were starting to pile up in anticipation of the next day's front . . .

I couldn't stop taking pictures! I think partly because my photo never looks quite as spectacular as what I'm seeing, and I want desperately to capture it that way.

I'd never seen a sun dog before ... it was just beautiful! I had to confirm with the meteorologist of Alabama, James Spann, to make sure it was what I thought it was.  If James says so, it is so!

The combination of the sun setting and the clouds amassing made for fabulous effect. My camera roll has no end of these photos.  Just saying. 

The City of Guntersville finally has a developer working on a spot of land on the lake aimed at boaters/tourists.  It's called City Harbor, and it's supposed to be a great spot for dining and entertainment, once they get it all built.

Not the best pic (this was actually taken 10/8).  We were moving at a pretty good clip!

It's really close to the marina ... it's a pretty spot now; just imagine what it will look like when it's all finished!

Friday I did a couple of things.  I visited Patches & Stitches and picked up some pumpkin oranges and greens (and used my birthday discount) . . .

Quite a nice little haul there, don't you think??

And then I traveled on to a new old shop.  It's an old shop that's been bought and is now being run by a new owner.  Southern Charm Quilting!  The new owner is in my stitch group.  She was having a terrific sale, trying to clear out some old inventory and make room for new fabric lines and wool.

I did very well here, too.  Seven yards of fabric for $36!  You can't beat that!!

From there I headed home and spent a little time in the Nook.  Worked on a mock-up of some pumpkin/jack-o-lantern placemats I wanted to make.  I messed up on the width of my strips, so I ended up with this little cutie instead . . .

I'll keep it for me ... at 12" wide it's too small for a placemat and a little too big for a mug rug ... but perfect as a small topper.  So be it.  I big stitched around the edges and down the lines.  It makes me smile!

Saturday was game day.  I made a double crust pizza and prepped the other two trick or treat bags for stitching . . .

I also finished up (finally) the pineapple block for Hospital Sketches in wool.

I've got two more blocks to finish.  The two most involved.  Go figure!  LOL!

As the evening (and the football) went by, I finished up my stitching . . .

I can't wait to gift these to the girls! 

One final photo.  Joc actually took and sent me this one.  In case you're wondering what Edith thinks about her baby brother . . . 

Baaahaaahaaa!!  As is usual, her face clearly says it all.

:)

moving along . . .

So this morning, I did a thing.  I hid my blog.  Or rather, I made it private.  Who knows ... at some point I may go back and make it public again, but for now, I need the space to write and upload pics, without the need to field comments and return blog views. *Edit* 5/3/21:  I've taken it off private, but eliminated comments.  There, all better!

***Note to self:  DELETE the above, you selfish thing you, if you ever make the blog public again!  

We had a crazy week.  Snow flurries , threat of snow, ice, then real snow meant we had no office hours this week!  

Here's pictures taken Thursday (the morning after), Friday, and finally, this morning.  You can definitely see it fading, but still trying to hang in there!

The girls got some good snow, too!  I was so glad!  This county is so big, we often don't get the same weather.  Point in case, my parents, who live twenty-five miles south of us, got nothing but rain. Boo!

I love this pic with all the tracks in the snow.  NONE of which are human! Such fun! It's cool to see hard evidence of the little feeding station ecosystem we've created!  Ha!!

So anyway, coupled with a short day on the Thursday before Valentine's Day (staff lunch and enrichment), followed by a holiday Monday (President's Day), and I've not worked for nine days. (Okay.  I've not gone *in* to work. I have worked from home, just to be clear.)  Ten days including Sunday, before going back to work on Monday.  LOL!  Then I work two days and am off for the rest of the week to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday with two of my sisters!  We're piling up on my folks and reliving the good ol' days for the long weekend.  Should be fun!

I finished both Christmas table runners, hand quilted and bound ... one for Jules and one for Lar.  I should probably make labels for them, but I'm so lazy.

They're similar but different.  Have no idea which one will get which.  I'll gift them when they arrive on Wednesday; we're going to stop and have a sisters' lunch at Chicken Salad Chick before we head to the folk's house.  :)

I've also been slowly working on stitching down the wool on the Hospital Sketches blocks.  Finished the utilitarian stitching on this one . . . 

I know it needs some embellishment via fancy stitches.  It just *needs* it.  I'll get busy on that.  Eventually.

I also played around in EQ designing a foundational pieced kimono, for a friend, based on a pattern by Betty Blais. 

I just love these fabrics!  It's a blend of Asian prints and batiks. Yum! I upsized it considerably, to make it a wall hanging. It would be a pretty to display in the spring/summer!

I still need to get out in the Nook.  Time wise this would have been the perfect week for it, but it's just been too darn cold out there.  We have been able to get out on the sun porch, with the propane heater going at full blast! 

So glad we've been able to use this into winter.  I'd have hated getting it screened in late November and then not being able to enjoy it until Spring!

Enough for now.  We lost power last night and it didn't come back on until 10:30, so we lost a big part of the day!  Perhaps I'll make this a weekly thing ... to share pics and tidbits of life, so I can recall them when my memory struggles.  Bahahahaha!!!

:)

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!

:)