Rain, Rain, Go AWAY

It has rained all weekend long. We have had a lot of flash flooding. This was the scene across from our church this morning. This is normally a very grassy pretty park and sod farm. I am starting to wonder about the status of school tomorrow. I am sure we will make every attempt to get there because our state testing starts tomorrow, but there are a lot of people locally whose roads are impassable and are closed.

The rain has given me a lot of time to stitch. While I haven't done all of this over the rainy weekend, this is what I have been up to since the last time I posted....

Love, love, love the colors on Sarah Woodham. This is a fun one to stitch. I think this is probably the first reproduction that I have attempted. I can see why people like to stitch them. :) I am debating though if I want to stitch mine exactly as charted. I am not too crazy about those s's that look like f's, even though I know that is true of the time period. We'll see. I haven't decided for sure what I will do yet. (Please pardon the very crooked photo and wrinkly fabric... I am taking pictures in a hurry tonight).

Rather than banishing Snow Garden to the bottom of the WIP pile as I threatened, I did frog out the border and have recently picked it back up and have started working on it again. The release of #3 has prompted me on as well.

A little more on Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow...

I did not make my self-imposed goal of block 4 being finished by the end of April, but I did work on it some. I will try to double up in May and finish this block and block 5.

I want to thank sweet Jolene for a couple of reasons. She recently nominated me for an award that I have not mentioned here yet. Thank you, Jolene, for the Sweet Friends award.

I am supposed to list 10 things that make me happy. I love making lists like this, so that in itself makes me happy. LOL!!

1. My salvation and faith in Jesus Christ

2. My family... I have the best husband and best son that a girl could ever hope to have.

3. My extended family... my parents, my brother and SIL, and hubby's parents and brother and family

4. Friendships, both in real life and the friends that I have made through blogging

5. Stitching, especially starting and stashing :)

6. Music

7. Reading good books

8. Traveling

9. My home

10. Chocolate

I am supposed to nominate others, but I am going to nominate everyone who takes the time to stop by here and read my drivel. Consider yourself doubly nominated if you take the time to comment. LOL!

I also want to thank Jolene for the sweet gift that I received in the mail on the day before my birthday. She sent me a very sweet card with the BBD Bluebird chart enclosed. I was so surprised. It was so unexpected and undeserved, and she totally made my week. Jolene, you are so sweet and kind, and I appreciate more than you know, that you thought of me. :) I did not have this design, and can't wait to stitch it!! (See #5 on my happiness list and expect a new start pic soon. LOL!)

My blog has been sadly neglected lately. School is wrapping up for the year (19 days left, not that I am counting or anything...). This is one of my busiest times of the school year. Between state testing, end of year grade reporting and wrap up, and scheduling for next year for two elementary schools, I am wiped out by the end of the day. Not that I am complaining... I am grateful for the job that I have, the kids whose lives I get to be a part of... But I am looking forward to those two most blissful words in the English language... "Summer Break."

Have a good one. Hope you are staying dry wherever you may be.

Kellie

THE BEST!

Thank you, my dear blogging friends. You guys are just the BEST people. I texted that little blog post a few minutes before we went in a restaurant to eat dinner. By the time we came back out, I had so many nice comments, replies and offers of help. My husband couldn't believe it. I explained to him that is just the way the stitching blogging community is... kind people.

Thanks to Tanya and Natalie, I was happily stitching Sarah Woodham last night. My progress is not picture worthy so I will save that for another day, but I was so glad to be able to start it. I have been "obsessing" over it for a few weeks now. LOL!

I also appreciate Margaret being willing to help, and the kind comments from Lainey, Jackie, Cari, and Carol. ALL of you are the sweetest. :)

I was feeling the gratitude today... just wanted you to know. :)

The silk threads for this are just beautiful. This sampler would not have caught my eye had I not seen it being stitched on blogs, completed and in process.

I am a little concerned, however, about stitching with the Belle Soie Sister Scarlet. I have had that thread to lightly bleed on my fabric when stitching with it before. I would hate to put all this time, money, and effort into this and that happen. I am not sure what to do, if anything, about it. Do any of you ever run your threads through cold water first? I am wondering how this affects the color and luster, or if that would even be a recommended practice for silk?

I am looking so forward to my stitching time with Sarah again tonight. But in order to make that happen, there are chores to be done. :)

Have a great evening!

I need some help. I received my Sarah Woodham chart, fabric, and threads today in the mail. Unfortunately, the very last page of the chart that has the symbol/thread key is missing. The LNS is mailing that too me, but I would really like to put some stitches in tonight. If you have Sarah Woodham and would be willing to help me, I would greatly appreciate it! I want to start the border and need to know what threads are designated to the following symbols:
Shamrock
Oval
Dot
9
X

If you would be willing to comment or email me, I would be very appreciative. :)

Going Frog Hunting....

I have been happily stitching along on Snow Garden from BBD's Anniversaries of the Heart series. I was even optimistic that I would have a completed first section to show on my blog this weekend. I was rounding the last corner of the two shades of white (!) border when I realized that the stitches were not meeting like they were supposed to. I recounted several times. Everything appeared to be as charted. Then I realized that I was down a row too far. I discovered the mistake at the top of the left side of the border. One tiny stitch too many....

Nothing sends a project to the bottom of the WIP pile faster than a frog on the loose.

Here's the offending portion....

Normally, I would just fudge it and move on. But with this being a multi-part project, the borders need to be uniform, so I will be picking out the border and making the necessary corrections. I think I will go ahead and get the frogging over with tonight and then put this one to rest for a few days and let my frustration ease a bit. LOL!

I finally succumbed to temptation this morning and ordered this (and all the silks and the fabric)....

Isn't she beautiful!!!! I have been drooling over this on so many blogs lately... check here, here, here, and here just to name a few.... (If you notice a lot of visitor activity from Kentucky, ladies, it's just me stalking Sarah Woodham! LOL!). I can't wait to get this in the mail next week and get started. When you think about a certain design so much, surely you are meant to just stitch it already, right? :)

My spring break is coming to an end. Back to work on Monday. It has been a great week though. We went with my parents to Pigeon Forge for a few days (and stash shopping at Dixie Darlin'... more to come next post), celebrated 14 years of marriage on Tuesday, spent some time relaxing and stitching, got a major haircut (went from long shoulder length hair to short...love it).... all in all a really good week. 7 weeks of school left until summer break. This year has went by so fast. I am glad in a way and sad in a way. I will love being off for awhile this summer and all the fun that we have planned, but it also means that my second grader will now be a third grader and that just doesn't seem possible.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your weekend. Hope you have some sunshine. It is a lovely sunny 70 degrees here today, and Jake is having so much fun playing basketball outside with some other boys from the neighborhood.

Catching up...

Hey all,

Quick post to catch up. :)

I finished Easter Parade. Such a cute, fun stitch. I love eyelet stitches, and this design is full of them. I also love the purple border (GAST Berry Cobbler).

I broke down and ordered the rest of the NPIs I needed for CaHRH. I had been trying to order them a block at a time as needed to spread out the cost, but we know from my last post that obviously that wasn't working for me. I finished both blocks 2 and 3 this month. I have started block 4 and would like to complete it and block 5 during April. The bazillion white snowflakes on block 4 are already getting to me however.

I also started a couple of things...

Rise and Shine by Bent Creek. This is a cute little all inclusive kit that came packaged in a coffee bag. This will look cute hanging in my kitchen eventually.

And I started the Blackbird Designs series Anniversaries of the Heart. I am following Nicole's lead and stitching these on 40 ct. Meadow Rue (I hope she doesn't mind me copycatting). I am looking forward to all of the personalizing that I will get to do with this series.

I also rearranged my WIP storage. I had been keeping tons of projects in mesh project bags stored in a basket in my sitting room, which was fine and working, but messy looking. I had so many that I was having a hard time narrowing my focus. So I decided I needed a different solution that would allow me to have variety but not too much as to be overwhelming. I repurposed a little 7-drawer cart that I had been using for scrapbooking. This has been perfect. I have a project per drawer. The drawers are lidded so it is very easy to pull a drawer and go stitch in any room. All the supplies needed for each project are in the drawer, so it stays pretty organized.

If you look carefully in the above picture you will see a cookie sheet next to the drawer unit. I have found that I prefer using these with magnets to hold my charts and keep my place. I have one of the smaller boards that is specifically for stitching, but found I like this better. It looks a little silly, I guess, but it works.

My stitching has taken a backseat lately to reading. Michael surprised me with a nook as an early anniversary gift. I love it. I don't want to put it down. It is so much fun (and a little dangerous!) to be able to shop for books anytime. I have been keeping myself in check though. I am trying to order one book at a time and wait until I have finished it before ordering another one. Currently I am rereading "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon, and I am enjoying it just as much the second time around, as it has been several years since I last read this series. I am really enjoying the free sample feature that you can use with the nook/Barnes and Noble. As I see books that I think I would like to read eventually, I download the sample chapter so that I will remember the book and be able to check it out more in depth before committing to the purchase. I thought I might would miss holding an actual book in my hand and turning the pages, but not a bit. If you have a favorite book that you would recommend, I would love to hear about it. I am always interested in reading new material and new-to-me authors.

One more week of work and then we are off for a week of spring break!! I am hoping to travel a little and do some home improvement projects...more on that later.

Until next time.....

NPI woes...

I would have finished block 2 of CaHRH by the end of last weekend, if I had had NPI 871 like I thought that I did. I thought that I had all of the silks I needed for block 2, but I guess that is what I get for thinking. LOL! So, aggravated but still determined, I dashed off a quick order to Needlecraft Corner and promptly began block 3 which I was sure I had all the supplies for. See that pretty, unfinished pineapple in the picture below. It lacks NPI 313 which I also thought I had. That did me in.

It took me less than 10 seconds after discovering my lack of 313 to chuck that baby into a project bag and put it back into WIP oblivion. To ease my frustration, I promptly started BBD's Easter Parade (which thankfully I seem to have all the threads for...at this point anyway!).

Needless to say, I will be dashing off another quick order to Drema because I am determined to get both of these blocks finished before the end of March and get back on my (self-imposed) schedule.

In other news...

I was recently honored with an award from both Jolene and Faye. I greatly appreciate that both of them thought of me. :)

I am supposed to tell seven little known or unique facts about myself. So here they are, in no particular order...

1. I am a Disney fanatic. I have turned my husband and son into Disney fanatics as well. We try to visit the parks for an extended vacation each year. I scour the internet for tips and trivia. My friends ask for my help in planning their trips. My basement bathroom and one of my school offices is Disney themed, and that decor is starting to leak into other areas of my home as well. I have more Disney art on my walls than cross-stitch.

2. I love electronic equipment--computers, phones, iPods, flat screen TVs, gadgets, etc. I jokingly tell my husband that I would rather have the latest electronic gizmo than jewelry for special occasion gifts. (Honey, if you are reading this, a Nook for my birthday would be fabulous!!).

3. I sing. I am a member of my church's praise team, and I love it. I much prefer singing with a group as opposed to singing solo, however.

4. I've been cross-stitching for 20 years, but feel like I have so little to show for that amount of time. I gave a lot of stuff away, and I have a lot of stuff stored. I have very few stitched pieces hanging in my home, but I am making an effort to change that before the end of the year by either framing some things myself or having them custom framed.

5. I once met John Travolta in a Red Lobster in Florida and got his autograph. I was (am) a huge fan of Grease, so you can imagine how excited I was.

6. My husband's middle name and my first name are the same--Kellie/Kelly.

7. I met my husband on a blind date that I VERY reluctantly agreed to. Almost 14 happy years of marriage and a wonderful eight year old son later, I am so glad I didn't back out.

There you have it... a little glimpse of me that you didn't know previously. LOL! I am supposed to pass this on to seven blogs I love, and there are so many to choose to from that I love. And I am not sure who has been selected already and who hasn't, but here are my nominations...

Natalie - a . stitch . in . time

Doris - A Pause in the Journey

Natasha - A Stitcher's Ramblings

Lainey - Lainey's Stitching Hoose

Nicole - Nicole's Needlework

Siobhan - Notes from Blue Hen Hollow

Melissa - Words and Blooms

If you want to accept this award, the following are the list of rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Paste the award on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself.

5. Nominate 7 blogs and post links.

We are going to see Alice in Wonderland tomorrow night in 3D (refer to #1 in my list above... LOL!). I can't wait!

Well, Survivor and stitching are calling, along with a pan of snickerdoodles....

Kellie

Plugging away...

My stitching has been really scattered lately. I have stitched a lot, but I have picked up and put down so many different projects that I really don't have a lot of progress on anything to show for the last couple of weeks.

However, the last couple of days I have consistently worked on block 2 of CaHRH. I am hoping to have this block finished before the end of the weekend.

I also want to say a big thank you to Lainey. I recently won a giveaway on her blog. The picture below is what it looked like when I first received it. It was like Christmas in an envelope. :) To see what I won, click on her name above. It was very nice and very generous, and I really appreciate all of it... Thank you, Lainey!

Here's hoping all of you have a wonderful weekend full of little x's. :)

Have a good one!