A surprise and another wip

Just a quick posting to show you the pretty pattern I got from my secret sister from one of my Yahoo groups, ILCS. I like the saying. I found the package in my mailbox when I got home from a hard days work yesterday. What a lovely surprise! Thank you SS.

I also forgot to include a photo of one of my works in progress. Since I finish Gentleness last week this one has become my train piece. I haven't gotten to far but it is a quick stitch.

I know there's an error there somewhere in the wording. I have to figure that out tonight. Then maybe the frogs would take off and bother someone else. :)

Well, back to work for me. Until next time..........
Love and stithes
Kathy

Daffodils and finishes

It does my heart good to finally see real signs of spring. The earth awakens after a long winter's sleep. While most of the flowers in my gardens are just an inch or two high these mini-daffodils are blooming already! We needed the rain but the rains yesterday were more like monsoons. If you look closely you can see the puddle the daffys are in. I know we needed the rain but geez, not all at once.

The rain did mean I had no excuse not to get some work done. Work, work not houswork. It is deadline time at work and that means working at home on the weekend. I do try to find a little time to relax. And nothing is more theraputic for me than working outside in the gardens and stitching. I can't wait until May, June when I can do both! Stitch outside!

It has been a really good stitching week. I finished "Coming to America" by Little House Needleworks. Stitched on 28 ct mocha Lakeside linen using the called for floss. I love how it turned out. I changed the dates on the bottom to reflect the dates that I know my ancestors were here in America and the second date is the date my great-grandmother came to New York. (Note: on family line probably came earlier than 1750 but I haven't found that information yet.) Sorry that the photo is a little crooked.

My second finish of the week is also my 5th finish for March! WoooHooooo. This one was a really quick stitch and as soon as I find the right frame it will go next to the one I finished earlier, "Stitching Mends the Soul". They will look great together since I stitched this on the same fabric as the other. This is "My Needle and My Floss" by Waxing Moon. Stitched on 14 ct blue marbled aida by DMC. Using DMC and Weeks dye works floss.

With two more finishes for the week it's time for a few more starts and wips updates.

The photo to the left is one I started a month or so ago and decided to get some more work done on it. I love this saying. And when the border is done it will be pretty on the gold flecked fabric.

The design is by the Sunflower Seed.

I have two more projects started but I can't show them yet. Both are gifts.

Next up is the newest of my WIP. I started this one yesterday afternoon while takinga break from work to watch L'il Abner on TMC. (Love those old musicals. And I was in this one when I was doing community theater years ago!) Can you guess what pattern this is???

Well, it's back to work. Until next time......................

Love and stitches

Kathy

One, Two, Three

The title of my post today. One is for the lovely sweet RAK sent to me by my dear friend, Trecie. Two is for the not one but TWO finishes I had this past week. And three is for my WIP photos. (There are way more than three WIP's but these three are the ones I worked on during the previous week.)
Now for the photos. Trecie sent me the cutest ever tissue case, a mitten pattern and a card that made me cry. Trecie, you are one the most talented, kindest people. There is a special place in heaven for people like you who know just the right time and words to help someone in need. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. (PS. Rosie sends purrs and chirps to her furry fan club. LOL) Early in the week I finished one of my older WIPs. This is one I started last summer. I love the saying and the colors. I need to get to Joanns for fabric because I think this one will be perfect as a flat fold.
Thursday night was the sit and stitch at my not-so-local LNS. (It's a 45 minute drive but well worth it!) I had planned on working on the LHN Coming to America since it is soooooooo close to being finished. Well, I reach in my bag and find I left the pattern home! Sigh. Thank goodness I had a back up. Which I finished!

And since that one finished quickly I also had time to start My Needle, my Floss. Here is my progress after working on it Friday and Saturday. There would have been even more progress except for a while it was a bit chilly in my house. Thursday night I get home to find I had no heat! I had run out of oil. (The oil company seems to let this happen at least twice every winter.) I waited until well after midnight Thursday for the oil service to call. They never did so I bundled under a couple of extra blankets and another comforter. And since it is deadline time for me at work I couldn't stay home. I did get home early Friday to find that they did deliver oil. I called the service people to come turn the furnace back on. Finally. HEAT. All I can say is thank goodness, it wasn't freezing. But it is hard to stitch when your hands are that cold.
Okay, time for my WIP's photos. Above you can see Coming to America is almost finished. I hope I get it done this week. My Needle, My Floss is moving along. This is a really quick stitch. And The Traveling Stitcher has been a joy. I should have a couple more finishes and starts by next week. Well, I hope so.
The weekend itself was busy, busy, busy. The weather was perfect for working outside which is what I did. Of course my muscle are letting me know about the work I did. You can barely see the progress so no photo. maybe next week. 20 bags of leaves and debris barely touch the surface. Guess what I'll be doing every weekend? It's what I call my "down to earth therapy."

I hope everyone has a great week with more finishes every where. Until next time...........

Love and stitches

Kathy

Another Monday update

Hope

Busy, busy, busy. That descibes the past few days and the next few weeks!

Last Friday I attended a reading and signing of one of my favorite authors. Laura Lippman is a fantastic writer. She write a series that features a private dectective, Tess Monaghan, in Baltimore, as well as some non-series books. I love them all! Her newest, Life Sentences, is wonderful. I'm almost finished.

I enjoy going to signings. Especially when I have met the author in the past and/or adore their books. But it will be a while before I go to the bookstore this signing was held at! Not a store that was located here in Mahattan but off the "beaten path" in Brooklyn. The subway directions looked pretty easy.

Yes, you guessed it. Not easy AT ALL! It took almost 30 minutes on what was supposed to be a 5 minute walk from the subway station to the bookstore!! Except for the fact that it was getting darker and after 20 minutes I had absolutely no idea where the subway station was I would have given up. Oh, I eventually found the place but not before missing the first part of Laura's reading. But I did get to chat with Laura and get my book signed. AND got better directions to a closer subway station to get back.

Saturday looked to be another busy day. I ran to the grocery store to get that done. Then home to change and head over to one of the local St. Patrick's Day parades. Where I was to meet my Uncle, Aunt and cousins for the day.

The pre-parade Mass was bittersweet for me. The last time I was at a pre-parade Mass was the year my Uncle was one of the aides to the grand marshall in THE St. Patrick's Day parade in New York. I took Mom in to see him march and we made a day of it starting with Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. So of course that memory was going 'round my mind and then the choir went and sang one of my Mom's most favorite Irish songs, Our Lady of Knock. Do you know how hard it is to sing and cry at the same time? Not easy but I did it. For you, Mom.

Aidan, 4 months old

Following Mass (which was a standing room only.) I met up with my Aunt and cousins. One of them being one of the youngest members of the family. Little Aidan was born in November to my cousin, an Army nurse stationed in Texas. So except for photos I hadn't seen my newest little cousin. He's a real cutie. Well, I think so. The parade was fun. Being with my cousins was wonderful and by the time it was over I was numb from the cold wind that had been blowing and tired. Unlike many of the other parade watchers I knew I was driving so liquid warmth wasn't a good idea. :) It was time to find a comfortable seat and a hot cup of tea. I didn't care which came first.

Wearing the green and getting windburn. :)

Sunday was another busy day. Catching up on chores, laundry, vacuuming and all that fun stuff. (I so wish the dust would just disappear on its own. The cat hair too!) I also wanted to cook my corned beef and cabbage dinner. Since it takes a while it's not the kind of dinner I can make during the week. But the leftovers are wonderful Home-made hash. Yummmmmmmm.

A view of my backyard

The weather was cooperating and while the sun never came out it wasn't as windy and it did get to the 50s. Perfect weather to work out side in the gardens. As you will see in the photos there is plenty of yard work to keep me busy. And I did make a pretty good start yesterday. I know you can't really see it. I also discovered a bunch of crocus blooming and the daffodills are growing. Spring really is coming. Gotta get those gardening muscles back in working order.

One gardening dilema that I have before me is the neighborhood feral cats. They have broken into my shed and used my wheelbarrow and gardening gloves, bags and anything on the floor as a toilet and nursery. I have repaired the hole in both the backwall and the door numerous times but nothing helps. I so wish I could find a sure fire method to keep them out. I have tried a number of different agencies. "You trap em" "We'll trap them and you pay for the neutering and we'll bring them back and release them" and various other answers in that vein. I DO NOT want them in my yard! And I can't afford to pay for their neutering. Nothing else for me to do except trap them and turn them to the local shelter. Unfortunately the trap waiting list is months long. Oh well this is an on going problem. It just gives me something to complain about. :)

As for stitching, I didn't get much of that done this week. No finishes and not a lot of progress. And now that I can spend more time outside my stitching will slow down for a little while. But I do have one stitchy photo to share. My partner in the ILCS "Color my World" exchange, Renae B in New Zealand, sent me some lovely things. Isn't the little kit and stuffed bird cute? Thank you Renae. I hope mine to you has arrived?

Until next time......................

Love and stitches

Kathy

A lovely weekend.

What a lovely weekend!

The snow is gone. The temps were in the upper 50s-low 60s, and the sun was shining. Well, it was on Saturday. :) In any case it was perfect for sitting on the deck with my coffee, my book and my stitching. Listening to the birds and watching the squirrels chase each other up and down the trees. In my opinion it was a perfect morning! Soon it will be time to get my hands dirty in the gardens. I can't wait! A little walk around the yard brought me this little surprise! The snowdrops are coming up and starting to bloom! Yippee! Spring isn't just a myth. :)

Next up for the weekend was a finish. Yup, a finish. It is one of the patterns from Little House Needleworks Dear Diary series. I left off the name and year and added some seagulls and another cloud. I am planning on this being a Christmas gift for one of my brothers.

I've also made lots of progress on my other projects in the past week or so since I updated my wips.
"Coming to America" by Little House Needleworks. This will be the largest piece I have ever done on linen. I find that I am a little slower at stitching on linen but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. With time I hope I can gain a little speed. If not? That's okay.

I've been working on this one on Monday and Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday and Thursday evenings I have been working on another Little House pattern, "The Traveling Stitcher". This time the linen is 32ct.

Gee, do you think I like the patterns of Little House Needleworks? :)

Well, yes, I do love the patterns from this designer. So here is another WIP. This piece is so close to being finished. I'll probably get it done this week. This one is my train project. Since I spend over an hour on the train commuting I always have some stitching with me. I don't work on it every day. Sometimes I read and sometimes I nap. :) But I have been working on this one for the last month and it's almost done.

This is one of the thread packs from the inspirational series. You can see them here.

Since I have had a finish I now need a start or two. What do you all think of this one?

Once again I thank all of you who leave me a comment. I enjoy reading them very, very much. Especially on those days when I'm feeling down. I thank you dear friends for your love and support. Like the song says, "You lift me up."

Until next time............

Love and stitches

Kathy

Friday, March 6th

It has been a long week. Work is starting to get busy and I have just been feeling tired. But I do have some photos I'd like to share. Monday, March 2nd, was the "snowstorm" of the winter. The photo above was taken at 9 in the morning. We got another 4 inches after this photo. the next shows where I spent a hour or so shoveling and it was beginning to fill in again.



In total we got close to 14 inches on Long Island. Now I don't mind snow in December, January and even February BUT I HATE March snowstorms. By now the weather should be warming and I should be able to see plants starting to sprout in the gardens. At this rate I won't see the gardens until June!

Rosie kept me entertained for most of the morning.


This window in my kitchen is her favorite perch to watch the birds.

I am glad I had filled the feeders before the snow. Rosie spent 4 hours chirping (a funny noise like a soft meow and a clicking sound) at the birds and occasionally pouncing at the window at those birds who sat on the deck rail close to the window.

If you look closely you can see a cardinal trying to find the seed on the tray under the snow. I notice that the feeder is crooked but it will have to wait until the snows melt before I go straighten it. :)

This is another feeder right outside my kitchen window and the feeder that attracts all the birds that tease poor Rosie. Look and you can see a sparrow feeding.

I spent lots of time last weekend stitching and have made tons of progress on all my pieces. No new starts but no progress photos either. My computer was not behaving and took forever to upload the photos in this post! So more stitchy pictures next time.

Except for this. A week or so ago I won a giveway on Edgar's blog. It arrived on Friday. Floss, floss and more floss. All on bobbins and some are marked with a brand I've never heard of. But that's fine. A lot of times when I stitching up a fob or other small I need a color to go with another over-dyed and these will come in handy for that kind of thing. After all one can never have too much floss. :)

Here is the box of floss with the cutest card.

Of course Miss Rose had to give her seal of approval. :)

Today is the third month since my Mom passed away. So if I don't seem my cheery self I apologize. I've been kind of blue for a few days now. Last month at this time it hit me too. I guess it will for awhile. :(

I'll spend the weekend stitching my blues away. I hope.

Until next time......

Love and stitches

Short update

I had plans to update with photos of the BIG snow here in New York. 14 plus inches! But my computer is taking forever to download them. I'll post more tomorrow. After 3 plus hours of shoveling I think I'm going to go take some advil and sit in a soft comfortable chair and stitch for a while.

Until tomorrow..........

Love and stitches
Kathy