Happy 1st day of September!

How can it be September already. 

Summer was a blink of an eye and school just started yesterday right? 

 We are now in the 3rd week of school.

Well we are in full swing with cross country meets and soccer practices for Ryan.

He ran a 15.1 this past Saturday at the practice meet.  He is so happy with that time as he was trying to get between 14-15 minutes.  Last year was the first year he ran and he started out with almost 18 minutes.  So starting out this season with a 15 minute time was great.  His goal is to try to get under or right at 13 minutes.  I think he can do it.  He is working real hard. 

Brandon on the other hand started back swimming with his club.  They were on a 5 week break from long course season which ended the last week of July.  He couldn't wait to get back to swimming and see what he can do this upcoming short course season.  We also had the first meeting and swim practice for high school.  He loves to swim high school as it is a little less stressful.  His goal this year is to try to get his sectional cut times and maybe his junior nationals cuts. 

This picture is Brandon doing the breast stroke (which is his favorite) at the State Meet in July.  

As for me I have started back stitching.  It seems like I don't get much stitching done during the summer.  I need to really change that.  Maybe next year as Brandon is driving and can drive himself to practice then I will have my lunch hour back instead of driving kids here and there. 

I have done a little bit more finishing on "Petite Treasures".  I have lined the tray, and have done the little button bag.  It is so tiny.  I just love it. 

 

 

 

I am working on the scissor case and then the larger bag that the tray and all of the accessories fits into.  I hope to have them done this month.  I have been working on a bit of finishing each night.  Whether it is just cutting out silk or ironing on pellon.  At least something and then it seems like I am getting things done.  Plus boys are doing homework and leaving me along for me to concentrate.  Which is what I need when I am doing some finishing. 

 

In the past I have been doing a rotation with 5 projects (with the exception of the Summers) and it seems to really work well. 

I choose 5 projects and break them down into an acceptable amount of stitching that I can get done in a month. 

Here they are......lets see if I can make these goals for the month of September.

1.  Come Tarry by Shepherd's Bush  --

      Goal:  Down to the hill row.

 

 

2.  May Your Hands/Shady Bower by Thistle Threads  -- 

     Goal:  All of the borders and the verses on the accessories.

 

 

 

3.  Little Paradise Sampler in the SANQ  -- 
     Goal:  The house and the right side with the tree and grass.

 

4.  Thine is the Trick and Treat by Prairie Moon  -- 
     Goal:  The bottom left side motifs.  Spider web and above the Oct. 31

 

5.  Grateful to Thee by Merry Cox  --

     Goal:  Stitch needlebook,  sides of box, little square for scissor holder, and square for needle threader case.

I have also finishing goals.  These will range from finishing projects to framing.  I have tons that need to be framed so maybe if I put that in my goals I might be able to get some of them done along with the smalls.

I would like to at least finish one project a month.  If I get a project done faster then I will go on to the next one and so on.  Here is my list.  I will add more once I get projects done.

1.  Petite Treasures by Merry Cox
 

2.  Table skirt around craft table.

3.  Frame Halloweenies by Plum Street Samplers.

4.  Birds and Berries  by Merry Cox.

5.  Frame monthly Shepherd's Bush Fold.

6.  Refurbish an old night stand for my stitching.  

 

 

 

I will try to get pictures of some of these finishes that I want to do next time around.

I think this will give me a good start for the month of September to get back to my rotation.  And Hopefully my blog will help me stay on track.

I am leaving you with a picture of our cows.  Yes we have a farm and we raise registered black angus cows.  Sometimes it is a pain and sometimes it is fun.  The fun part is in the spring when they are having their babies. 

 

This is LuLu.  She is 3 yrs. old and we got her as a bottle calf.  Sometimes she likes to be petted, sometimes not.  Just depends on what kind of mood she is in. 

 

 

 

 

These two are 4057 in front and 43 in the back. 

 

 

 

Well that about wraps up the first day of September.  Hopefully I can meet some of these goals.

Til we meet again my stitching pals.











All I can say is "WOW it sure has been a long time since I have posted......."

My Dear Friends,

I can't believe that life has gotten away from me once again.  Can't believe that it has been a year and a half since I have last posted. 
A lot has happened since then.  Some good and some bad.

Let's just start with the bad and get that out of the way.
2013 clicked right along.  Stitched was going good, job was going great.  Both boys ended up with straight "A's" (So Proud!) and started summer off.  It was a good summer.  B made State again with 3 events with his competitive swim team.  So summer was great.  Time to get back in to the routine of school, and work.  Two weeks after school started, and the Thursday before Labor Day weekend B broke his right wrist this time.  It happened during while he was swimming.  Long story but needless to say, his coaches were horrified that this had happened on their watch. 
We went to the emergency room and we knew his pinky was dislocated.  You could definitely tell.
They x-rayed his wrist, but the Dr. said it looked fine.  I had asked and both coaches and our Pres. and Vice Pres. of our club had heard the Dr. say it looked fine also.  It was just a sprain.  Thank goodness.  Three weeks into healing, B had a bump on his inner wrist that was not going away.  Took him in to our Pediatrician and he thought it might be fluid or scar tissue that he might need a little bit of physical therapy.  I said ok, but he was have the hospital fax over the diagnosis of the accident.
He read it to me and said the final result was a broken wrist and actually he broke his pinky as well.
I was MAD. No crazy MAD.  I couldn't believe that no one had called us back to let us know when the final report had been made.  So three weeks of healing and the bump was one of his bones sticking out.  So off to the orthopedic surgeon.  We have one thanks to the year before B braking his left arm.
I had gotten the x-rays from the hospital so they could see what it looked like the day of the accident.
He had to have surgery to try to push the bone back into place and then cast it.  So off we went. Dr. came back in right after surgery and said the bone had healed and he was going to have to rebreak and possibly pin it in place.  YUCK.  We would not know about pinning until after the surgery.   Surgery went great and no pinning.  So after about 4 months September - December with several casts on and off and then physical therapy we were able to start swimming again.  It really took a toll on B from school work as he is right handed and to not being able to swim.  So now he is extremely careful about what he does. 
Anyway Christmas came and went with out a hitch and then winter set in for Arkansas.  The last two years kids did not use one snow day.  This year they had 13 snow days and we made all of them up too and got out on June 4th.  We went two Saturdays, used a couple of teacher in service days and also used the Monday and Tuesday of Spring break for make up days.
Kids both made straight "A's" this year as well.  So glad I have good boys who want to go to college and make something of themselves.  Can't wait to see what the future has in store for them.

That was really all the bad news for the past year. It was enough I thought.
On to the good news.  My Husband and I celebrated out 15 year wedding anniversary in February.
We planned on going to Hawaii in June.  Kids were going to go stay in Wyoming with my Mother.
My husband was out of town in meetings and he had texted me that he was awarded a 7 day 6 night trip to Maui, Hawaii all expenses paid.  WOW.  It was in May that we had to take it with 288 other people that were awarded this trip as well in different departments through out the company.  My SIL ended up coming and staying with the boys and loved it.  They don't get to visit with her a lot as she lives in Little Rock.  She has no kids of her own and is not married, so my kids are just like her own.  It turned out great as I my mother could not come down to stay. 
I guess they have been giving these trips away for a long time and it was just this past year that my husbands division was given the opportunity to be apart of this.  His numbers were the best and he got the trip.  It was so beautiful.  We even got to pick one activity to do each day free of charge.
So we went on a rainforest/waterfall hike, deep sea fishing, catamaran/snorkeling adventure, helicopter tour, and tour to the summit.  It was a trip of a life time.  I have to get my pictures together and post them.  We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort.  Let me tell you....I don't stay in that kind of hotel with the kids.  They spared no expense with this trip for us.  We even had a luau, and a recognition dinner that was spectacular.  LOVED everything about our trip.  We do want to go back and take the kids to Honolulu as we were not able to get to Pearl Harbor and the big island with the active volcano.  Hopefully in about 3 years we are planning that. 

So here we are, summer has finally come around and I have been stitching a little bit.  Work has been hectic as we got a new tracking system for our jobs and it has been nightmare.  I am just taking it one day at a time.

For stitching I did get PlumStreet Samplers  Brother's Keeper finished in March. 
I just loved stitching this. 

I used the sampler threads that it called for but I can't think of what I stitched it on. 
I am stitching on a Sampler Maria Dale age 6 out of the 1st Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly magazine.  It is all one color. I will have pictures to show you here next time around and maybe a few of my Hawaii pictures as well while I reminisce about how I wish I was back there lounging on the beach drinking a mai tai.

Til then thank you for visiting and hopefully I won't stay away for that long.
Happy Stitching
P.S. I am so happy that the 2013 banner won't be staring in my face when I come visit my blog to read all the blogs that I follow.  Yeah!!