Hermit Weekend..............

WOW...this year is flying by fast.  We are heading into the 3rd weekend of the month and it is time for the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend.  You can click on the little icon to the right and read all about it.
I don't know how much I will get done this weekend and I probably won't be a hermit as the spring weather is beautiful.  Last weekend I weeded my flower bed and this weekend I might plant a few if not as least go and shop for the flowers.  Then there is the garden spot to till up.  Have not done that yet.  Plus we have to work the cows this weekend.  Get ready for hay season here soon.  Man sounds like I won't get any stitching done.  NO I plan on stitching even if I have to stitch in between the cows and the flowers.

I plan on getting the wings done and the flower on the box with "Flowers in the Fall".
I also will work on DT Alpine Garden.  I have gotten the middle done which was very time consuming as there were alot of one color stitches scattered everywhere for flowers.  I am backstitching the trees in the middle and then can start on the next section.  I am on a down hill slide with this piece and if all goes right I could have it done by this weekend.
I do want to put a few stitches in ATS.  I was supposed to do a motiff each night, but that has not been happening.  I have one word for not doing this... "KIDS".

Well will you come and join the Hermit Stitch Weekend with us?
Thank you for visiting.

P.S.  B had ended up in 2nd place with his "Pi" contest.  He got to 94 and drew a blank.  I think the pressure got to him.  The girl who won 1st place got up to 102.  So close.  But great fun was had by all.

Happy "Pi" Day................

We are celebrating "Pi" day.  Not the pie you eat but the number. 
My 6th grader is celebrating too in his advanced math class.
Last week his teacher printed out a whole sheet of the number Pi with a zillion numbers after the decimal point.  She told them that this is a contest to see how many numbers they can memorize after that silly decimal.  All I can remember is 14, but B has memorized over 100 numbers.  I am like WOW.  How are you able to do this.  His teacher told them to break it down into sections.  Like 5 numbers and go from there.  He is excited as he said alot of the kids have given up so he might win.  I asked him what do you win.  Get this............ A "Pie in the Face".  I said you want to win that.  He said yes it will be cool.  Then he went on to say that he would get a whole pie to eat too.  I said ok...bring home the pie to eat and just lick off your face.
So we will wait and see how he did.  I for one can't remember my own phone number what 7 numbers (thank goodness for stored numbers). 

Hope you get some stitching done and some "Pi" eating time as well.

Sunshine one day....rain the next..............

I guess mother nature was teasing us with sunshine an 70 degree temps.  Today it has been rainy and in the 50's.  She is saying..."I am not quite done with winter yet."  I guess we can't really complain about the winter we have had.  Very, mild.  I mean no snow.  Maybe an 1" or less this year.  Last year we had 35" of snow with 24" in one storm.  Our average here in NW Arkansas is 10".  We exceed that and this year nothing.  The only bad thing is the bugs.  We did not get a good hard freeze to kill the bugs.  All I can say is YUCK!

I did stitch yesterday on the La Vie En Rose class piece.  All the stitching is done.  It was just tent stitch so went by very fast, and now just waiting for the finishing to start.  I don't know if I will do the finishing at this time, or will put in on my list of "To Do's".  I will have to see how much time I have.

I guess i will start on the Friesland Thread Winder Keeper.   I want to have it at least started before the finishing class is scheduled to start.  

But for now....I guess I will stitch on DT's Alpine Garden while I watch "The Walking Dead".  I don't know why this show fascinates my husband and I but this is the one show we sit down every Sunday night and watch together.  All other shows we usually Tivo and watch later.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.
Thank you for stopping by.

Beautiful spring day.................

What a beautiful spring day here in NW Arkansas.  Sun is shining, birds are singing, trees are blooming...aaahhhchooo.  Yes allergies, this time of the year.  Not so much me, but my two boys have the sniffles.  The little one more than the older.  Usually a round or two of Zyrtec seems to do the trick.
Very productive day today.  Weeded the front flower bed.  Getting organized to start planting another vegetable garden.  We haven't planted one in a couple of years.  Between the deer, bunnies, and groundhog...we didn't get much of a harvest.  And no, none of the crystals you sprinkle or spray around your garden to keep rodents out works.  We are going to do a fence.  The deer usually don't come down that much into the yard, they just stay on the out skirts.  So we will see what we get this year.
Now doing laundry and settling down to stitch some this afternoon.  I think I will start on the LaVieEnRose class from Jackie.  It should be a quick stitch.

Well I am off....have a great Saturday.

WIPocalypse March Update and TGIF...........................

Hello fellow stitchers...It has been a rough 2 1/2 weeks around our house.  Right after the last post my 2 boys and my husband all came down with this funky virus, bug, flu thing.  My husband was out of town working when he became sick.  My youngest was getting sick in church on Wed. the 22nd and he missed that Thursday and Friday of school.  There goes the perfect attendance he was so trying so hard to get this year.  My oldest got sick right after school on Friday.  I thought Yea.....he will have two days to recouperate and be back on Monday.  So he won't mess up his perfect attendance.  WRONG.  He missed on Monday.  My husband came home from his work trip and litteraly just died.  Went to bed around 6pm Friday night and did not really wake up til Sunday morning.  In between he had a bad case of the stomach bug.  So on Saturday, all 3 "boys" were in bed and I was stitching away watching the TV all to myself.  I did have to get up occassionally and tend to the needs of the sickly.  It seemed though that my husband was the worst of them all.  I don't know if he was actually worse but he sure belly ached the most.

After the "boys" got well, my husband I celebrated our 13th (have been together for over 20yrs. as we dated over 8 years before we got married) anniversay on February 27th at Big Cedar Lodge up by Branson, MO.  Love the private cabins and the atmosphere is wonderful.  We honeymooned there and decided to go back.  We left to come home the morning before the tornados.  It was sad to see the flea market that I had just been in reduced to rumble.

I have been stitching on my WIPS and did get one of the projects "Finished" on my list.  Swan Lake Mending bag.  So glad to have this crossed off my list.  I stitched just a little bit on ATS.  I don't have a picture as it hasn't changed much since the last time I took one.  I am also working on DT's Alpine Garden.  I started this a couple of years ago and just flung it aside.  I had stopped at the section before the Mountain Violets. I am hoping to get this one done by the end of March.  Then on to another one in my list.   (Sorry the picture is dark, I took this on my Iphone and the lighting was not real good.)

Today starts my on-line class through the Shining Needle Society with Jackie DuPlessis of It's Fine-ally Finished.  I am taking the class La Vie En Rose.  (On her site click on Teaching Projects and scroll down to see a picture.)  This should be a fast stitch as it is tent stitch and there is not really much stitching at all.   I know, How am I supposed to get anything done on my WIP's with me taking new on-line classes and then going in November to the Attic for Merry's classes.  All I can say is.................well...................

I also have not started on my other on-line class with Amy Mittern, "Friesland".  We are supposed to be getting the finishing kit after March 25.   I am hoping to maybe start on it this weekend.  I like to take my time and not rush and that is the beauty of doing classes on-line. 

But I guess....I am not bogging myself down as I am so excited for taking another class on-line...Tricia Wilson Nguyen's "Cabinet of Curiosities".  I have always been fascinated with needlework caskets and would love to have one for my own.  (If only I could win the lottery).   It will be an 18 month course.  I have all of these different ideas realing in my head about what I want to put on my casket.  I do not want to over do it with other things as this is what I want to really focus on during this time.   Tricia has already given us little tidbits of information about how the casket class has come about.  You can read up on it on her blog here.   The class starts on May 1st.  So the count down begins. 

Here's a shout out to the Razorback Aquatic Club.  They have their state meet this weekend and I hope they do well.  My son is on this team and he made a qualifying time for state on the 50y breaststroke, but they are not offering this at state.  So we will have to wait and see how he does for long course season this summer. 
GO AQUAHAWGS!!!!

Well I guess I should get going and do something productive today.  Don't know what but something.................
We have had a very mild winter here in NW Arkansas.  Not even one snow day for the kidos.  They will be getting out of school on May 23rd, unlike last year June 10th.
 It has been in the 70's here lately.  But a cold front with rain came in yesterday and it was cold enough that we had rain, hail, sleet and snow.  The sleet and snow didn't amount to anything but was a surprise as we have not seen it this winter.

Thanks for stopping by to visit and hope we all get some stitching done.  I also want to let you know that I do read each an every blog update that I have on the right side of my blog.  I might not respond to everyone but just wanted to know that you all have really inspired me to keep my blog up and to stitch a lot more.  I don't think I would have done as much stitching as I have so far this year if it wasn't for checking the blogs.  Thank you. 

P.S.  Remember to set your clocks "Forward" for Daylight savings time.  I know my husband will be happy that the time will be changing as it means extra daylight time to work on the farm.

Hermit Weekend.............

Just a little up date on my hermit weekend.  I did the finishing on Swan Lake Mending Bag by Merry Cox.  This was an online class that Merry offered in June of 2010. I have had all the smalls done for over a year now.  I take it slow on my finishing and I do not rush.  I have been looking at this bag all pinned up for about 6 months now and decided that it was time to get this done.

So I jumped in sewed the bottom of the bag to the receipe card and then sewed the bag to the outside of stitched piece.  Added the cording.

I then proceeded to make the coil handles.  This was not as easy as it looked.  I needed to take the coils and then tack them to the bag.  It took me 3 hours just to do both handles.

Next step was to stitch the pocket and needle pages to the inside panels.  And Viola....finished.  I was so happy to finally get something done.

Onto my next project of finishing is Merry's "Flowers in the Fall".  I have a good start at the finishing on this project so I am hoping to get this one done soon.

Thank you for stopping by.  Take care and happy stitching.

Another finish...............

Hello stitching friends.  I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.  Made it through the parties at school and then my husband and I will celebrate Valentine's Day around our anniversary, Feb. 27th.  That way it is one big celebration.

This weekend is the 3rd weekend of the month and it is the International Hermit and Stitch weekend.  I did not check in at Random Ramblings  blog, but I am stitching in spirit this weekend.

I did finish SB Tiny Flag.  I am a member at large with the Swan Sampler Guild out of Salt Lake City, Utah.  I have met some of these ladies when I went to the Attic and they are so sweet.  I hope someday that I will be able to go to one of the meetings or classes/retreats that they offer.   For the month of February they were going to stitch SB Tiny Flag.  I had the kit and decided to join them from afar.  I started this on the 7th and finished it up just a little while ago.  You could either frame it or make it into a pin cushion.  I decided to do the pincushion.  So this will go into the pile of finishings.

I have just been plugging away on ATS....I have finally reached the bottom.  So excited that I do see me getting this done by July.  This will be nice to get this BAP done and off my list.

I will be working on Alpine Garden from the DT next.  Hope to get this one done by the end of March.  I will save a picture for next time.

On a different note.  We have a farm and had to buy a tarp for the top of our stock trailer.  I noticed that when I was helping my husband tie it down he was doing some kind of knot.  As I watched him a little bit...I said "Hey"..........."you are doing hedabo".  He said what?  I said Hedabo.  He laughed and told me what kind of knot it was...I laughed and told him that in the stitching world that is known as Hedabo.  I even showed him one of my projects that had a hedabo loop for the closure.  He said yup that is it.  Here is my husband's "Hedabo" stitch.

My little Shadow (min. dachshund) has a friend out in blog land, Ms. Limo.  I always show Shadow Ms. Limo and she seems interested in getting to know Ms. Limo a little bit more.  I know Ms. Limo has not seen a picture of Shadow, so I will share one of her wanting to jump up on my lap and blog with me.  Merumo...to bad we did not live closer..we have a fabulous dog park for play dates.

Well take care everyone.  Thank you all for visiting.  On to some finishing for the rest of the weekend.