Shepherd's Hill

I was researching soap-making today and ran across this really neat website. Here is a little appetizer:I want to expound a bit on that last statement. How had they caused confusion? Whenever we hold on to things in our lives that have no purpose and no usefulness, they begin to take up the space, time and emotional energy that really are needed for the other things – the necessary things. Once I had removed those unnecessary items from the box there was plenty of room for everything else including the lid!!! But to be completely honest, once I had put everything where it needed to be, we actually didn’t even need the box anymore.


The site has lots of information about farm-living. They are almost completely self-sustaining and that is their goal. When his daughters turn 16, he gives them each a hope chest that he has built and personalized in some way. I thought that was really sweet.

Anyway, if you feel like looking at a new site but along the same lines as the things we discuss here...modest dress,recipes, how to make a plain apron...just go to Shepherd's Hill. Enjoy!

I came back to edit this this morning. I realized as I read over it that we don't actually discuss these things here. LOL They're things that I read about a lot and have discussions going on about in my head all day. There is nothing about embroidery or cross-stitch on that site or even crochet or knitting...at least I haven't found it yet. I was thinking about that as I was nodding off last night. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough. I'm sure it won't be too much of a burden for me to research their site a bit more. :)

Did I mention I love yard sales?

4 baskets
1 shaker type box which once held "Zingerman's Sweet Butter Tea Cakes"
8 plastic tall cups that look like glass
1 framed folksy picture that says "my cat is only an angel but she thinks she's God"
1 book "The Magic of Painting" for my younger artistic teenager
1 rice steamer
1 cigar box for hubby
1 cute little ceramic bunny
2 toss cushions with same check pattern fabric from which I made my bed cushion
1 trash bag FULL of yarn...whole skeins...pounders of Bernat dishcloth yarn and others. She gave me the whole bag for $1.00!

The entire haul=$7.25. I am a happy yard saler.

Needle-shy

I have been looking through my favorite cross stitch blogs and a new blog that has beautiful stitching. I think I'm almost ready to stitch. It seems like everything I've picked up I've ended having to take out more stitches than I got to put in and I'm getting frustrated and discouraged with it. I think it's just because I'm so tired by the time I start that my mind wonders and I miscount. Perhaps I should try to stitch in the mornings.

I have a question for you bigtime stitchers, particularly the ones who do a lot of exchanges. If you were going to receive something from another stitcher, would you prefer they send something that you can stitch or stitch it themselves and then send it to you? I'd appreciate any answers you care to give. :)

I'm going to a big church yard sale this morning. I'm hoping to find some linens and other fabric. They usually have lots of that kind of thing. Maybe they'll have some frames and stitching stuff as well. Another church has a "jumble" sale and I have had lots of good luck with that. Once I was there right before it ended when they said to fill and bag and get whatever you could fit for $2. Well, turned out I had a friend working the jumble sale and she ran and got a bag for me...a huge leaf and lawn type bag. LOL When I got home and counted and did the math, I got everything for .25 cents a piece. I got a lot of nice things, some of which I still use to this day.

My camera is acting wonky again, but if it's working and I get good stuff, I'll put a pic up.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend. (I was going to say Saturday but for some it's closer to Sunday by now) :)

A Hymn

Picture courtesy of Autumnweb.com

Mrs. B. asked us what our favorite going home hymns were yesterday. I commented that Presbies don't sing that many "going home" hymns so I named a few of my other favorites. Some of these were new to some folks so I thought I would offer the words to the hymns here. I'll start with The Church's One Foundation.

The Church's One Foundation
The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.
She is His new creation by water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her to be His Holy bride.
With his own blood he bought her, and for her life He died.

Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation One Lord, One faith, one birth
One Holy name she blesses, Partakes one Holy food
And to one hope she presses, With every grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder this world sees her oppressed,
By schisms torn asunder, by heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping; Their cry goes up, "How Long?"
And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.

Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace forevermore
Till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest
And the great church victorious shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth has union with God the Three in One.
And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly, May live eternally.

(Hmmm, I guess it's sort of a "going home" hymn) :)

It was written in 1864 by Samuel Sebastian Wesley. I guess it's really a Methodist hymn. :::giggle:::

An Article

I just had a new article published on "The Bob" haircut if anyone is interested in reading it. It was an interesting article to research. I wrote it months ago and it finally got purchased this week. It's an article about the history of the bob haircut. In case you wonder when you read it...I do not endorse applying lipstick in public. ;)

A Loaf

Yay! My camera is working. I think it just got hot or something.

This is the beautiful loaf of bread that my machine made today. :)

A Meal

Ah! The wonder of modern conveniences:


(oops, looks like I could detail the crockpot. Don't worry. That part doesn't touch the food. lol)


I am cooking dinner as I sit here typing. Isn't that something? Tim requested split pea soup for tonight. We had some leftover chicken and some carrots, so I put those in and added an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic, some butter, salt and pepper. I'll let you know how it turns out. I decided to break out the bread machine. I haven't used it in probably two years. I hear that gasp. I found a simple sweet bread recipe. Tim was pretty excited to walk in and see that I was making bread.

Since I had trouble finding my teaspoons and whatnot, I decided it was time to clean out that drawer. I wish I had taken a before picture because it turned out so well. I had too many things in there that didn't belong. I washed everything in the drawer, relocated some things, stacked the measuring cups and put all the measuring spoons in a container. Oh yes, I put the cups and spoons back after I cleaned the inside of the drawer with Murphy's Oil Soap. (you heard me right Mrs. B) hehe Soup, bread, Murphy's..my nose is in heaven.

I am so blog-influenced. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I'm currently wearing a skirt, I've blessed my bathroom, rugs are in the washer, and I've joined Mrs. Catherine's yahoo group. She is so wonderful. She makes me feel that I shouldn't give up just because I haven't always done it right...because she admits to her own prior failings. I love that she told us to leave our husband's territory alone. I have wondered what to do about a few things that drove me crazy but I just kept doing my thing without sarcasm (this time) and would you believe, last night he walked through the house with a huge bag of trash and held it up for my inspection. He said "this is all from (that area that concerned me). hehe Thank you God, thank you Tim and thank you Mrs. Catherine.

I think my camera has died. :( Must have been the crockpot pic that did it. Oh well, it was a freebie digital camera that has lasted several years so I guess I can't complain too much. I probably will, anyway, though because I have so been enjoying putting pics on ol groggyfroggy.

Well, have a blessed day. Other than the camera thing, I am having a wonderful day. I think I'll go vacuum the living room and do some cleaning while hubby is at Harbor Freight. :)

A Tiny Stash

My Mill Hill beads and Weeks Dye thread (Meredith's Pink) finally got picked up today. The ladies at the Needle On The Square are so helpful. I picked up a couple of other things, too, but they're a secret. shhhhhh

A Haul

My hubby is so good to me. After lunch I asked if we could stop at this new little shop we keep passing. I was afraid it would close soon. I'm afraid independent little shops don't always last long around here, but she actually just opened so we can keep our fingers crossed. Anyway, it was as if I had clicked on one of the prim sites I love so much and found myself inside the website. It was wonderful. I am definitely going back. It smelled so good and there were so many vintage things. Now all the things I got there today were chosen by my hubby who kept picking things up and asking if I wanted them. lol He loves boxes and containers so I got that beautiful cigar box ($2) and those old Kodak film canisters are like altoid tins on steroids and they were $1 a piece. She had some really nice doilies and one big crochet round that would look pretty in the middle of my dining room table for $10. I may have to go back and get that. :) I wish she had a website just so you could see how many neat things she has. She plans to have one later.

The garden gloves I got at Big Lots for 99cents to replace the ones I got a couple of years ago and have a big hole from lots of fun in the dirt. I got the pink felt(20cents) at A.C. Moore (hubby just drove there, what could I DO?) and the little heart(99cents) came from there as well. I have put it on one of the pegs of the shelf that I hung over the computer desk.

On top of all that we had a wonderful lunch and lots of hand holding and arm-around-my-shouldering so I have been properly loved up this afternoon.

I think I'll go stitch now..or at least look at my floss and stuff. :)

A Quiet Time

This morning as I was driving the kids to school, my step-son asked that we turn on the radio. I was enjoying the quiet. The boys are not very talkative in the morning and I was having a nice "think."

After that, I started thinking about how little quiet there is in this world. Olivia had a post where she talked about there being televisions in the checkout at WalMart and how people can't seem to go anywhere these days without one. I have said the same thing about cell phones. What do these people have to talk about in the grocery store, the car, the mall, at a restaurant? Olivia was observing how far heaven seems from us at noisy times like her time at WalMart. I think that's a profound and remarkable observation.

I really enjoy quiet time. I get very little. My husband goes to work only on weekends. He usually has something playing; the radio or television. His mother lives with us and is bed-ridden for the most part. Her tv plays from the moment she wakes up and into the night...and usually kind of loud.

When I am here alone(once a month when he takes her for her checkup) there is silence. Sweet quiet. I need it and I wonder how others get along without it? Perhaps if there were more quiet, there would be less need for Xanax?

We were told to "Be Still and Know" that I am God. Now, I don't think that means we're supposed to be quiet all the time. It has more to do with the way our minds try so hard to figure things out ourselves or we worry and fret. Being still means to quiet your mind and trust God to guide you. But, I wonder...I wonder if we couldn't perceive God's presence more clearly if we spent more time just being quiet.

I wonder if guilt drives people to want so much noise. We don't like time to think about the choices we've made or perhaps the choices that have been made for us. We drown out our thoughts with the noise of other peoples' thoughts. But we need to think about our choices. Not wallow in them, of course. But in order to repent and seek forgiveness, we must face our sins and mistakes. I think we need quiet to reflect on Christ and His promises and to accept the forgiveness that He is so "faithful and just" to give. We need quiet to put our thoughts in order and thereby put our lives and homes in order.

I love cleaning with no background noise. I like to hear the water swish and the windows squeak. I really enjoy stitching in quiet. Oh, I watch my share of tv when stitching, too, but most of the time it's just really nice to sit and stitch in quiet. It is deeply relaxing.

I listen to the radio in the car sometimes. My pastor just told me about the new country legends station here in town. (104.9 if you want to check it out Cindi hehe)I have been listening to that all week and enjoying the songs from my childhood (and before). I also love "The Lake" at 103 something...they play Al Greene and others.

I enjoy music and some television and I think it's fine to have some noise in our lives. I just think that we also need to be conscious of too much noise. We need to seek quiet to rest our minds and listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We ask for His guidance in our morning devotions and then often drown out the still, small voice with senseless voices who really have nothing to offer us but more stress and worry. (I mean the tv, not our kids and hubby). *smile*

Listen for the quiet in your day today. I will too. :)

A day

I got some stitching done this evening and will go back and do some more in a bit. Nothing pic-worthy, though.

We worked in the yard today. DH put a new blade on the mower and then tried it out (on the worst part of the yard that I hate to mow) :) I picked up twigs and branches. I think I had enough to build a house! Then I raked leaves and more twigs. I then mowed where I had raked...and then raked again. Then I weeded. Whew! I'm so tired. My shoulders got a real workout...who needs a gym?

I also cleaned out the fridge, did 3 loads of laundry (where does it all come from?), hung some curtains in my mud room (which I decluttered and straightened up yesterday) and showered...twice. LOL

My boys bought a wheelbarrow for me for my birthday and this was my first chance to try it out. I loved it! It made my yardwork so much easier. I have a fairly long driveway and would have had to make a lot of trips to get all that stuff out there today. I ♥ my red wheelbarrow and the boys who gave it to me. ☺

I was going to spend 15 minutes with each boy tonight decluttering their room of outgrown clothes and toys but I am so tired that they may get out of it tonight.

Tomorrow is our date day. Tim and I will go out for lunch. It's our one hour a week that we are alone and out of the house at the same time. His mom is fine for an hour alone, plus she always has a request for cookies or something that we can bring back to her. It took us a while to establish this date day. I started wanting it years ago when I was doing Flylady stuff. We couldn't do it on Friday nights so we picked Wednesday, because that's the day my son walks to his dad's after school and I don't have to pick the other two up (the 2 high schoolers) until later, so we are not as rushed and can relax at home a bit (read: nap) before I have to drive. The other days I have to leave over a half hour earlier in order to pick up Michael from middle school and then on to the high school for the other boys.

I always look forward to our date day and I don't plan on getting much done that day so I work on Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday in mind. It's like a reward.

Speaking of rewards, I gave myself the treat of using my dishwasher tonight. I don't usually use it and just wash the dishes by hand but have I mentioned that I'm tired? Plus I cleaned out the fridge and wanted to put the plastic stuff through a nice hot cycle. I sure love to have the option.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. I'm going to go stitch some more if I can stay awake to count.

A Stitchery

It says "He loves me, he loves me not. Doesn't matter. I'm all he's got."

Struck me as funny this morning. I think I may have to stitch it. It can be found at the LilCubbyHole.

A Mystery

I have jumped in "right where I am" with FlyLady again. Things weren't too bad but it's really nice having someone tell me when to do what. One less thing I have to think about. So, the zone we're in this week is the living room and I am doing the detailing. I was cleaning out my bookshelves, which I've been putting off for ever so long. It's a built-in bookshelf with 2 sets of 5 shelves side by side. I completed the left set of 5 shelves and I'll finish the other side here in a minute. I'm taking out each book and cleaning it, then cleaning the shelf and putting the books back. Here is the mystery. Why is it that I have room for 3 to 4 more books per shelf when I go to put them back? LOL It didn't look like books were missing. I didn't notice gaps. Yet, there is all this space when I put the clean books back. (and no, there wasn't THAT much dust on them) It's wonderful because I have books that have needed a home and I thought there was no room for them.

Thanks to all the blogging FLYers, like Susan who made FLYing sound like so much fun that I just had to start getting FLYmail again.

I think with all this FLYing, I may get some good stitching in tonight. I so hope to have some progress pics. Katrina was so sweet to send some charts my way so I think I'll stitch one of those up tonight. Fun!

A Hymn

I just had to share this. This was a hymn that we sang this morning and my mind immediately went to this sweet community of ladies. I hope you enjoy it.

God is here! As we Your people meet to offer praise and prayer, May we find in fuller measure what it is in Christ we share. Here, as in the world around us, All our varied skills and arts wait the coming of the Spirit Into open minds and hearts.

What a Time I'm Having...

Blogger and I are not getting along too well tonight. I had my son take another picture this afternoon. We were able to get out into the sunlight so you can actually see my face. (I say that like it's a good thing lol). I made lots of excuses the first time I posted this but after all I've gone through to post it, I think I'll just have to admit..yeah, that pretty much looks like me. :) Oh, the main thing about this pic is that I'm wearing one of the dresses that I bought at the Discover Shop the other evening.

Pillow

It's around 5 a.m. and I have just finished making a pillow. I don't sleep well when Tim is at work. I figured I may as well make use of my time. Showing this picture is probably pointless. I did lighten it a bit but the lighting in our room is rather dim and it is, of course, still dark outside. I pulled the wider curtain panels together so you can see how they would darken a room. They are almost large enough to be curtains by themselves but I like the look of the different materials together. The toss pillow is just a gingham/homespun-ish material sewn into a round. I stitched onto it a little thing I was practicing crocheting earlier (from the yarn I purchased yesterday when I purchased the pillow fabric). I think I'd like to make a throw by joining a lot of these little things but I need to practice for that round bit is supposed to be a hexagon. At least I got some use from it. Waste not, want not, right?

Btw, have I mentioned that I enjoy comments (good or bad?)? Was that subtle? : )

A picture

My boys took these pictures this afternoon. Nick took the close-up and Mike the full-length. So, you see, it's all Mike's fault that the camera made me look like I need to lose weight. ;) I'm always happy to put a face with a name on other blogs, so here's mine:

I didn't get my stash yesterday. Maybe I'll get it today. I was trying to make my stops as I came to them (to save gas) so by the time I got near the LNS, it had closed. I stopped at Jo-Ann's and got some yarn ($1 a skein..good deal) and some fabric to make new pillows for my bed. It's funny. I used to get flylady email and I stopped. Today after reading through some blogs, I decided to go to her site again. They just happen to be in the Master Bedroom zone right now...well I just happen to be also. I bought the new bedspread and had already cleaned off my dresser and cleaned out my side of the closet (i'm leaving DH's stuff alone this time lol so I don't get blamed for missing stuff). Last night I ironed all my dresses. What? Isn't that what everyone does on a Friday night? My 14 yr old and I had the house to ourselves. It was very quiet. He was playing guitar and I was ironing. Very nice. Anyway, I edited my flylady membership to receive mail again and I can pick right up where they are.

I think I was inspired to iron because I bought two dresses yesterday. Yay! I stopped at the thrift (Discovery Shop) store and tried on jumpers. I was ready to give up and walk away with nothing, again, but I decided to look at the next size up (reality check, Lisa) and I found two lovely long denim dresses. They are both L.L. Bean. I don't give two hoots about brand names, but I know enough about L.L. Bean to assume I will probably have these dresses the rest of my life. I paid $22 for one and $18 for the other. That seems high to me but considering the quality of the material and I am spending the last of my birthday money, I decided to splurge. I now have enough dresses. I never thought I would say that in my life. I stopped going to church for a while a number of years ago (some bad years that I brought upon myself)and so I stopped buying dresses. I had some suits since I started working in an office around the same time but no dresses. Slowly, over the past three years I have been picking up dresses here and there ..even a few never before owned ones LOL..and now I have some lovely linen dresses in different colors and these nice denim ones. That was probably more than you ever wanted to know about my wardrobe, huh?

Anyway, those are the reasons I was late for the LNS, so I may have to go today.

Book Recommendation

I picked up a much-loved book today and was reading the things I had underlined. The book is called Traces of Wisdom and it was written by Louise Stoltzfus. She was raised Amish but left her people, yet she had high regard for their lifestyle and tries to describe and explain it to those of us on the outside. I read online that she passed away a few years ago. I was saddened to hear that.

Here are a couple of things I read today:

"Why not celebrate domesticity? For it is indeed interwoven into the whole cloth of sane living. A home where people share in the regular work of the mundane will no doubt be cleaner and more comfortable. A home where we honor the commonplace as well as the extraordinary will bless us with levels of communion we cannot feel or experience in a similar celebration of escapism, of getting away from it all."

"Rest is, after all, an integral part of a resourceful life. A mind so tired it cannot think will not produce creative labor. A body so tired it cannot go on will not bring the hay into the barn. Rest restores the body and mind and rejuvenates the spirit and soul."

"To them [the Amish]pleasure is not about escape, it is about pleasantness and togetherness. Togetherness with God and friends and family. My people do not imagine pleasure to be synonymous with escape. Honest pleasure touches a place much deeper in the soul, where the spirit finds peace and hope is revived, where the body finds rest and life is sustained."

One more..and one of my favorites...

"The mundane tasks of being a homemaker--making beds, cleaning bathrooms, and dusting furniture--bring a seamless steadiness to their surroundings that moderates the high passion of imagination and invention...................They exercise their gifts as they have time and opportunity [stitching, quilting, cooking, etc], but they rarely put creative work ahead of the mundane tasks of every day. Instead, they appreciate the sanity and singlemindedness that these chores lend their lives."

I think she has a beautiful but simple way of putting things and a way of finding the holiness in the mundane, for which I am grateful.

I've always loved decorating from things I already have. That's true home shopping. ;) I was re-inspired by a couple of blogs (mentioned in earlier posts) so I retrieved this shelf that belongs to Tim's mom but wasn't being used. I bought hardware to hang it and then took a day or so to decide where I wanted it. Finally, I decided to hang it here to cozy up the computer area. On the shelf are a teacup and saucer (also belonging to Tim's mom) that I had stuffed in a shelf, a lace doily (again...Tim's mother's) and a couple of old school books from Tim's grandfather given to us by his sister. That's a lot of history on the wall. :)




The LNS called and I have stash, glorious stash! The special bead for my needleroll is in as is the special thread which I forgot I ordered. lol It's a Weeks dye and she said it is pink so I can't wait to see it. There will be pictures later, for sure.

A ton of pictures. One day I will figure out how to get them where I want them. :) I guess they are rather self-explanatory. The white thing is the baby blanket (did I mention it's my first?) that I made for one of DH's coworkers. I wasn't sure it was good enough to give but he assured me that it was and that he really wants me to give it to them so it is all folded up and ready to go. I washed it in Dreft and it smells like baby.

The other pictures I took because I bought a new bedspread and put it on the bed for the first time today. I will probably get new pillows now. (isn't that how that works?) It's a simple cotton bedspread that is replacing a plaid comforter. I am so happy with it! The curtains in the background I made last year. I had to have something that would allow light yet make the room very dark for DH when he has to sleep during the day on weekends. I made two light beige gingham panels for each side and between the panels is a larger paisley patterned panel (each side). When he needs dark, I can simply pull the two large panels together and the room gets nice and dark.

I've been enjoying the pictures of other people's rooms so I thought I would share a few pictures of mine.

A Few Stitches

I haven't done much stitching today, but here are a couple of photos of what I've been doing the past few days. I still have a good bit to do on both. I'll probably get more stitching in this evening. I've been doing lots of cleaning and reorganizing. I had a long to-do list today and I almost completed it.

After giving DH's mother a shower and walking her back to her freshly "sheeted" bed, I was folding some things and noticed that she had a couple of new sweaters from her daughter which were crocheted and I mentioned that I'd like to able to crochet like that. She started talking about how she used to crochet and she wondered if she could still do it. Her hands are quite wrecked from arthritis. I mentioned that I had hooks and yarn if she'd like to try. Her eyes lit up. I have one very large hook which she could hold on to nicely.

For months (a couple of years, really) the focus of my praying during corporate confession at church has been my relationship with this woman. Honestly, it is very difficult for me to be more than courteous to her. There are a lot of different reasons for this but ultimately it is up to me to be kind no matter what, right? It isn't enough to take care of her, as I have fooled myself into thinking the past few years. It isn't enough to refrain from saying unkind things. I really must put effort into actually being kind. I have made a real effort the past two weeks and prayed a lot. Right when I needed the most help I've run across the most beautiful blogs and I feel they've really helped me to gain a better perspective on my role as this woman's daughter-in-law and the keeper of the home in which she lives. I feel a weight has been lifted and I want to thank all my new cross-stitching acquaintances as well as Mrs. Wilt, Anna, Mrs Catherine , Elizabeth and I'm sure there are so many more that I could name. I feel that there's been real grace extended to my life this past week. I have tried to pass that grace on to my family by doing everything with a loving and joyful attitude. In so doing, I actually feel more joyful and loving.

God is good.

No pictures

I keep putting off blogging because I keep putting off taking pictures. I got some stitching done yesterday on "Ewephoria." I bought DH some magnifiying glasses, 2 pairs that were new (but cheap at a thrift store). They were still in the packaging. They weren't strong enough to make a difference for him so I tried them and they are helping me tremendously with my stitching. It is so much easier to count now. I also got him a book on tape and he's enjoying that a lot. I'll have to go back and get more. I love my thrift store. It's actually called the Discovery Shop and everything is donated (usually Talbot, L.L. Bean and the like) and all the money they receive goes to the Cancer Society so I feel really good about shopping there.

The kids are on Spring Break this week. Today was rainy and I wasn't feeling great (couldn't sleep last night) so instead of the tidying projects I was planning, I just crocheted all day. I'm working on a baby blanket. It will be my first. When I started it, I didn't know anyone who was having a baby (lol) but now two people have had babies. I think I'm going to give it to one of DH's coworkers.

I had a very good and busy Easter morning. Our church has two services and since I sing in the choir, I attended both. There was a breakfast cooked for us by various members and it was so delicious. I hurried and ate a plate of food and then rushed home to give DH's mom a plate (they told me I could take her some of the yummy food). I gave her the food and a cup of coffee, took her to the bathroom and then rushed back to church for the second service. Whew. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home ( I couldn't believe it was open) and bought some lamb steaks and new potatoes and salad. That's what was waiting for DH when I woke him at 4:30pm with his coffee. He always gets supper in bed on weekends. He eats, showers and goes to work for a 12 hour shift.

Boy, I am just all over the place, aren't I? Oh well...I always enjoy hearing a little about people's lives when I'm blog-hopping, so hopefully you guys won't mind hearing a little about mine. :)

I'll try to have some progress pics tomorrow. That Ewephoria is pretty cute.

Yay..it's working.

Picture, picture on the blog....

Ok, let's see if Blogger will post pictures this way. I've tried several.

These pictures are of a needle case I crocheted yesterday. I was just playing around but I was kind of pleased with it. I want to make others in prettier colors but this one is handy. You can see that Reagan (the cat) is just thrilled.


ETA:I suppose I won't get pics this way either. I'm not sure if it's me or blogger but everytime I try to post pictures by uploading, it freezes everything up. If I blog them straight from photobucket, they're huge so I've put them in my little picture cube at the bottom. You can also see my cute dh holding the cushion I made the other day. Hehe..he's a silly man. :)

A finish

Thanks to Dani's tutorial I was able to finish the Love blackwork into a cushion. Thanks Dani. :)

Rambling on and on and on.....

I had hoped to have pictures to post of something or the other, but I didn't get much stitching done. I intended to stitch a bunch tonight but Tim's brother-in-law stopped by unexpectedly. We had a nice visit. I did manage to kit up a new freebie that I found at Moseynme. It's the "Ewephoria" and they leave all the colors up to the stitcher, so I'm going to use some of the dmc I already have and see how it turns out. I'll be stitching it on some leftover jobelin (from the needleroll fabric).

I worked on the stupid horse piece last night. I had miscounted. It's supposed to be 100 stitches across and I had 99. I about had a heart attack until I realized that the right side 100th row was identical to the one preceding it and all the other stitches had been counted from the left. Whew. I thought I was going to have to rip out the whole thing. Instead, I just added a row. lol I have the hardest time counting. I guess I'll have to resort to a magnifier because it never fails that I am almost finished counting when my eyes do their jumpy thing and I lose my place. This piece changes colors alot. I tend to use one needle, so I have to unthread and rethread to make one "x".

Ok...enough grumbling and complaining. lol I'm just aggravated because I didn't get to stitch like I wanted for the past three hours. grumble grumble. Also because I was looking forward to stitching my needleroll this weekend and was reminded that it's only the 2nd weekend of every month. grumble grumble. On the happy side..nothing has ever given me this much pleasure to stitch and I'm really excited to do more samplers now. Even with the flaws, I'm just tickled pink with it.

I think I probably shouldn't post when I'm tired. I'm wandering in the conversational wilderness a bit.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have pics of the Ewephoria piece. It's small and cute and I'm hoping to make a needlebook type thing with it.

Alrighty then, goodnight. :)

I finished stitching the Love blackwork freebie. I did it with a gray/black variegated thread. It's ok but I want to try it again with a more contrasting background. I think I'll finish it into a pillow. I'd like to try a needlebook with this design sometime (when I use enough fabric).

I got a little stitching in on my horse freebie, as well. I can't say I have any great love for this piece. I'm stitching it because we somehow became the owners of this horse sculpture that is made of bronze and it's sort of a misfit in my house, I think. I thought that if I stitched a horse, framed it and hung it somewhere near the sculpture, it might make more sense. We'll see.

I didn't touch the needleroll today. Oops..that is not true. I didn't stitch on it, though! I promise. I did hold it and look at it a number of times.

When I picked up my 16 yr old(Nick) from school today he pointed to his coat lapel which had a set of wings on it. He flew his first solo today! I am so proud of him. He studies flight in school and he's been looking forward to his solo since the first day of the program. He's worked hard and he did it! Yay! I'm very proud.

I think I'll put myself to bed now. We were watching Anthony Bourdain and both dh and I fell asleep. I woke up and came to blog. He is still sleeping. I think I'll join him. Goodnight. :)

Oh, btw..thank you for the sweet comments. You sure know how to make a newcomer feel welcome.

Update

Here's a blurry update. It isn't going to be easy to put this down during the week. :)

I've had a very nice Sunday. My 16 yr old went to church with me this morning and afterwards we went to a little place called "The Mojo Cafe" for coffee and sweets and a nice visit. He's so funny. I probably embarrass him with my laughing but he gets me so tickled that I can't help myself.

After the coffee shop, we made a quick stop at the grocery store. DH had to be at work tonight at 7, so I had to get his dinner ready to eat by 4:30pm and I needed something that would cook quickly..so I did some boneless, skinless chicken with mushroom soup, mushrooms, sour cream and ranch dressing powder all mixed together in the electric skillet (it's even better in the crockpot) and he loved it. I served it with buttery peas that were yummy. I got extra cook compliments tonight. hehe

While that was cooking, I stitched and watched tv with my boys. We watched two episodes of Top Chef.

My boys went to their dad's house tonight. DH is at work. Dishes are done. MIL is fed and has been taken to the bathroom and DSS is wanting the computer to show a guitar riff to his friend...so I am off to stitch some more before I have to put down my fun sampler.

Not much stitching

Didn't get much done this evening. Just as I was about to settle in with "sheep" my DSIL called and we talked for almost 2 hours. We hadn't talked in a long time. Some things I could have stitched while on the phone but I didn't have anything ready...I rarely talk on the phone. I couldn't learn to do algerian eyelet, count and talk at the same time. I had already put in four of the little things and taken them all back out because I just couldn't get them right. Finally, after we hung up I got one in successfully. Yay! Now just six more to go on this row. lol

I decided to hold a pink and a white thread together and it's actually turning out very nicely. Knowing how to make little X's and doing all this other stuff are very different things, huh? Heck, I miscounted and made stitches wrong when they were all X's and the fabric was 14 ct aida. I am definitely in a whole new stitching point in my life.

Tonight my son said he never really saw me as a mom that did cross-stitch (they've already teased me endlessly about knitting). I hadn't really thought about it but as I explained it to him I understood. I've always liked the "idea" of crossstitching. I've bought projects over the years since I was a kid. I have things to this day that I half-finished that were for my kids' nurseries. They're teenagers. I realized tonight that the blogs are what made the difference.

I would stitch stuff just because I wanted to stitch but about half way through, I'd realize that I didn't know what I'd do with it when I finished it because I didn't really like the piece. I made a few things for friends over the years, small things. But when I started following the blogs (which was a spinoff of finding Craftser.org) I realized how many beautiful things are out there now. I also benefitted from the freebies because I could try out a few things to see if I liked them or could do them without spending tons of money. It's more than that, too, though. I have never looked at color the way I do now. I could stare at floss and yarn all day and not get bored just looking at it! Is it that much more beautiful than it used to be? Maybe. My tastes are changing. It seems everything is changing since I turned 40 last year. Surprisingly, most of it is for the better. (except the knees and eyes) lol It also helps to have a group of people who enjoy the same things and are so encouraging and helpful.

I feel kind of sad that my kids find it so shocking. What was I doing all those years when they were watching me? Watching tv? Chatting in Christian chat? ick. probably. Of course...blogging probably looks the same as that. LOL

Well, I'm happy to be a stitching mama now. :)

I think I will retire to my bedroom and try to get in a few more stitches. My son very politely asked if we could turn out the light because there was a glare on his movie, so that ended the stitching I had just picked up after the phone call. LOL So, if I want to stitch I suppose I'll have to take my leave of the living room. I think my dsil used up most of my awake time. I'm starting to fade.

Goodnight. Happy Birthday, Katrina. :) Hope it's a great one. Don't be creeped out. I was scanning your archives for stitching pics and ran across the date. hehe

Update

Here are the progress pics. They're blurry because it's still early and it's rainy so there just wasn't really enough light. I need to get our scanner hooked up. I've put it off because there isn't really room for it where the computer sits. I'm not sure if I should frog the sheep or if it will be ok.I'm still pretty pleased with it.

Sheep

I managed to get some pretty good stitching time in last night. I finished the 1st band of the sheep sampler. For the SAL with Katrina (and I'm not sure who else yet) I picked the Sheep&Rabbit sampler from Elizabeth's Designs. I'm stitching it on 28ct Jobelin.

It was so scary when I first started to handle it. It's so soft and the stitches are teeny tiny for someone who has only stitched on 14 or 18 ct aida. I don't think I'll ever want to stitch on aida again but the linen certainly is more of a challenge. Oh but it feels so good in the hand.

The sampler calls for silks but as my LNS doesn't carry silks, I was convinced that plain ole floss would work just fine. I had to double strand for the sheepy guy though.

I think I'll try to find the Silk 'n Colors, My Heart's Garden thread for the next row before beginning it. I thought about holding a pink and a white together but I don't think it will have the same effect. (Can I use silk and regular floss on the same sampler?)

That sheep was my first satin stitch, other than just playing around, and I can already see that I have lined his little body up with the letters when it was his legs that were to line up. I'll have a pic later. The camera is in the bedroom where Tim is still sleeping. I see her bottom sheep lines up differently than the top. Hmmm, maybe I can leave it.

lol I feel like I'm in cross stitch preschool. :) I'll be back when I have pics.

Now I've Done It

I went and made a stitching blog. Why? Because I joined a SAL for the first time, am stitching on something other than aida for the first time, am stitching a sampler for the first time and am making it into a needleroll for the first time. That's a lot of firsts and I can't run around reporting on everyone's comment logs, now can I? Half the wonderful blogs I stalk have no idea who I am!

I may be talking to myself and that's ok. I just want a good record of my learning progress in cross-stitching, crochet and knitting. (probably more crochet than knitting, actually). Plus, after reading so many blogs, I often find myself wanting to share things from my day as others have shared with me...and here I was without blog. (well, not exactly..I have the blog on which I write about matters of faith but I want to keep it to that topic). On this one, I can just chat and have fun, right? Right. Ok, then. I plan on having lots of pictures. Boy, how I wish there'd been a blogging world when my children were small. I'd have taken so many more pictures and I've a better record of how they went from lying in my arms to looking down at the top of my little pointy head.

Ok..onward. Up top are pictures of my SAL materials. At the bottom are some things I've stitched or am stitching. Some are really bad, some are ok. All were fun. :) When I have better light, I'll take pictures of my first letter (a, as it turns out) on my first sampler done on my first jobelin that will be my first needleroll. There was some question when I first got the jobelin home of whether I would be able to find the first (or any) stitch. I was overwhelmed by the tiny stitches and trying to count "over 2", but I persevered and now I have a proud "a" to signal my needleroll beginning.