A wonderful weekend!

We worked on the house all weekend again, it was great. My husband installed the new bathroom window Saturday while I stripped paint off of the siding we removed. I also vacuumed the basement and sprayed it with a spider deterrent which will *crossing fingers* hopefully work!

Sunday the stripping paint work continued - as well as some sanding of the siding so it's ready for primer. I think I want to run over to buy some Benjamin Moore primer instead of the Behr we bought if I have time tomorrow when I'm working from home. Then we can prime the boards we have stripped so they're ready to go back up.

This week - the main goal is to get the house clean for company, just hitting every room with the vacuum and cleaning the bathroom, nothing fancy but just finding time for that alone will be tough with everything we have going on.

A weekend working on the house, socializing and I think life is back to normal again (after vacation).

Last weekend was very productive, as productive as it could be in sweltering heat and humidity! We removed the siding from the driveway side of the house (first story only) where the windows will be replaced once they arrive. This went pretty well actually and now we just have to strip down all the boards we saved.

I've set aside Celtic banner for now (oh... pictures to come because i worked a little more on it last week) and last night while watching TV I picked up my old Knotwork piece - the fishy! The fish itself is finished, so it's just filling in the background with colonial knots but it's relaxing so I'll try to keep at it in my free time (haha!).

And I can't believe July is almost over! This weekend we're going to my sister's house to help work on HER house for a change, I'm looking forward to that (and to seeing my whole family again). And only 2 1/2 weeks left of work until we take a vacation!!! Really looking forward to that!

Celebrations weekend!

Well it wasn't as big a weekend for me as it usually is but I just bought a house so I have other things to celebrate as well as xstitch :)

Saturday my friends came up to my house, then we went over and shopped. The shopping turnout was actually a little smaller than usual but we each found something we liked. I usually have a hard time not spending too much but it was actually kind of hard to find things I wanted to buy this time unfortunately :( Our favorite shop was not there again :(

I did however buy 3 things - a french book of fantasy patterns which is adorable, a Scandinavian pattern that I've been meaning to get for a couple of years now to do up as a gift, and a kit which wasn't actually in stock but the shop will mail to me this week. It was the only thing I saw that just grabbed me.

Hopefully next year will be bigger but for now it's good I saved some money because this weekend was pretty expensive. We had to buy a lawn mower finally and mowed the lawn. Sunday I did some more work outside, put up our Compost bin I ordered and moved some dirt to our fill area by the foundation. I also cleaned our demo area up a bit and started doing some paint stripping last night.

I'm really looking forward to next weekend, I believe we're doing all house related activities. It may be the only weekend we're both home to get the framing that's left done and maybe start on the electrical. Then I can work on the rest of the electrical next weekend when my husband is away.

Celebrations this weekend!

Due to the new house I did not sign up for any classes this year but I plan to go and shop on Saturday for sure! I can't wait!

My sister's wedding last weekend was great, we had a wonderful time and took the scenic drive through VT home Sunday. This week has been a mixture of work and car appts (new tires and such before my inspection). I really can't wait for the weekend, get some stuff done around the house, get some outdoor work done on Sunday - should be fun!

Only a few more days until my sister's wedding!

As I had planned, I managed to hem the last bridesmaid dress last night. It went very quickly as it was an easy hem. I also restrung the pearls for both my mom's bracelet and a pearl necklace I wore at my wedding reception. I hope to re-knot the bracelet tonight and the necklace soon.

Also tonight I got a new task added, I need to adjust the underskirt from my wedding dress to fit my sister so she can wear it under hers. My dress was an empire style and hers has a waist so I need to take out the zipper and adjust it so the underskirt only comes to the waste, then add elastic or ribbon to secure it on her. It shouldn't be too difficult and it's my last "wedding" project!

Then it's one more day of work (tomorrow), some grocery shopping and then the drive "home" to start the wedding pampering! Nails Friday, Hair and wedding Saturday - I can't wait!!!

Well the month is moving along quickly - Easter is coming this weekend!

We are having all the family up for Easter weekend, going to my Uncle's house for Easter dinner (saturday night actually), but everyone is sleeping at our house to celebrate my husbands' and my birthdays which are next week.

I'm excited to have everyone up, I wish I had more done around the house but time is moving too quickly. We have yet to finish cleaning up the yard, got some good work done on it Sunday but I spent so much time picking up broken glass that I haven't finished raking!

And all the time I spend cleaning for guests means I don't get anything else done around the house. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow I can get some work done though!

Ack and the wedding is fast approaching - luckily I have next weekend off so I'll finish up my sewing that weekend for sure. Plus I'm taking a few vacation days next week to work on the house. I can't wait for the break!

Some more unpacking!

We had a great weekend, we went back to my parents' house, spent time with family. My dad got us looking into spray foam insulation instead of fiberglass for our renovations, it depends on the price (if we can afford it) but we're looking into it now.

Back home on Sunday I started doing some more unpacking (really just moving things around) and we put furniture up in the "office/guest room". I left room for a mattress which we hope to go buy tonight, so we're ready for guests at easter :)

The goal is to get the large red room downstairs cleared out after easter to start demo in there and the bathroom. That way we're doing 3 rooms at once and can maybe afford the spray foam insulation that way. We definitely don't want to do one room at a time with that stuff. So we'll see how this all goes. We'll continue to work on the blue room until we demo the rest after easter.

And in sewing news - both bridesmaid dresses are hemmed! I also strung the pearl necklace for my sister and knotted it. I just have to add the clasp now so I'm very excited! Next on the list is to finish the flower girl dress maybe this weekend and adjust the straps on my dress.

I love spring! (except i wish the sun would come out today...)

Allergy shots...

So it has been determined that allergy shots would be a good course for me since I suffer from allergy attacks (while taking allegra every day) about 80% of the year. Because pollen season is about to kick in, we are starting very aggressively and I go twice a week for 4 shots! Tonight will be my second time going.

I hate needles, i hate shots, but this isn't so bad (yet anyway). The nurse is quick and efficient and the pain is minimal (although the pain isn't what bothers me).

In stitching news - I stitched the rabbits (they just need eyes and tails) on the baby sampler I'm doing. All that I have left is to chart out the baby name/details and stitch those, then figure out how I want to frame it!

In sewing news, I hope to hem my bridesmaid dress tonight and the second one tomorrow night. I marked mine and determined I need to take 5 inches off! So tonight I'll finally cut it (around the 4 1/2 inch mark and try out my rolled hem foot I bought for my machine.

In other news - well there is no other news :) Time to get some work done and have a very busy evening later!

1 more week and we'll be proud (very proud) homeowners! I think we squared away the last of the details (i hope) and we're just waiting to hear for sure if that's the case.

I started the bustle on my sister's wedding dress this week. I added the hooks last night and I'll do the eyes tonight. Then that will be done!

Tomorrow i'll measure the flower girl so I can get a start on her dress this weekend. And I bought my shoes so I can now hem my dress for the wedding. Hopefully I can stay motivated this weekend to get it all done.

Oh and I get to see my niece-puppy this weekend when I go down to bring my sister her dress. Her puppy is getting big and it's been a long time since I saw her (more than a month now!).

Long Leggz progress...

I think I promised a picture.. this is the piece I started to celebrate Mabon 2 fridays ago. She's not getting a lot of attention since I have an RR but she's gotten a little.


Unfortunately I made a boo boo but I think I can work around it so I don't have to undo so any more. I'm okay with leaving mistakes in :)

Now that Brisingr is out I'm re-reading Eragon and Eldest - it's taking up my evening time - but I'm looking forward to getting more and more stitching done as wedding stuff wraps up (last night I finished putting all my photos into albums for wedding and honeymoon) - all I have left is a few more thank you notes to write out!

Greetings from California (again).

Man I get really bad at posting when I’m busy – and things have been busy.

Let’s see – last time I posted was just before Celebrations!! What a great weekend that was!

I’ll have to wait and make a proper Celebrations entry when I’m back home and can take pictures of my class pieces. I took 3 classes in all, the most important one being Beginner Hardanger so that I could then start my ring bearer pillow – which I did!

So since Celebrations I’ve been working on the hardanger pillow and I’ve gotten all pre-stitching done as of tuesday night. Then I even started the cutting just a tiny bit! It’s so addicting! Then last night (wednesday) i finished all the cutting and pulling threads! Here's my progress - estimated around 10 hours of work (loosely):

Also last night I started Wendy’s NRR – I’ve got my house all picked out and all the floss. I just started the grass a bit.

Another project I brought along is the pearl necklaces for the bridesmaids, since I have one completed I strung the other 4 and hung them to stretch the silk, now they’re ready to be knotted! I’ll have to set up a table in my hotel room to work on those a bit each night.

So my 2 weeks in California will hopefully include getting projects done! The ring bearer pillow is coming along so much faster than I thought it would so far – of course after cutting comes all the wrapping and I have no idea how long that will take. We shall see!!!

Goodbye easter, hello weekend at home ... halfway there ;)

Easter weekend was packed - my sister and her fiance came up on Saturday, my sister and I worked on invitations (wedding and shower invites). I've got the wedding invites all cut and folded to size, and then I rolled the swirly stamp in versamark on the front - that took a while but it's all done!

Sunday we went to my uncle's for a large family get together, it was fun but exhausting as usual, the little kids were tired and overly excited (when aren't they!) which made for some interesting moments and not a lot of happy pictures unfortunately.

This week has been crazy at work so far - monday was a very long day and each day feels long by lunch time.. is it only 10:20 now! Last night I punched holes in the centers of all my purple daisies for the invites and thank you notes. So that's one more step done on the invites! Next up is getting the embossing started - this coming weekend hopefully!

Lots to do this weekend since we're home... I have a lamb I need to finish by putting together :) And then some invites to work on.

Some knitting ...

So we went to a Jodi Picoult book signing last night! You can read about it more at my book reading blog: http://nikkistitch-reading.blogspot.com/. Basically it was awesome but between the Q&A and the signing we had some time to kill so I worked on knitting the little lamb. So far I now have the body with the 2 sides of the head done and I've started the tail. I have the gusset and legs left! Not too shabby! I hope to work on him on Sunday in the car on our way out to dinner.

Let's see - nothing else new, I'm looking forward to some sewing this weekend, mostly cutting out patterns and fabric, not actually sewing but still. Next weekend is our 4 day "vacation" to stay home and I plan on working mainly on Deb's NRR while we watch Band of Brothers and other tv shows we have waiting - it will be a great vacation!!

For now, it's work work work and clean tomorrow and squeeze crafts between other commitments :) Fun!

I stitched!

Gosh it's been so long (about 2 months or so!).

I worked on the needlecase from Celebrations 2007. My friend i took the class with has finished all the stitching and is ready to assemble so I figured I should get a move on. I had finished the smaller pocket stitching and the pin cushion and as of last night I'm close to finishing the larger pocket. Then I'll have the outside of the whole thing left which will take a while but not too long. I'm surprised how quickly this moves along and oh how i love silks!

I'll try to remember a picture for tomorrow.

The neighborhood RR is up next in my stitching rotation, i realized I had mailed out at the Dec. 1st deadline so I'm not due to mail until April 1st. I want to mail early so I'll get started on that as soon as I'm either done or bored with this needle case.

And this weekend we drive back to NY for my parents' birthday celebrations - probably do some knitting in the car and lots of fabric shopping saturday! I can't wait :)

More knitting.

I did manage to finish the scarf for Mom on Monday and started the one for myself in bright green. I'll probably start the matching hat for myself to break up the simpleness of the scarf as I did with the ones for mom but I LOVE this yarn and can't wait to wear this hat/scarf pair. Plus gifts for mom's birthday are now done.

Next up on the list is making a robe for dad. I plan on going to Joanns on Sunday to buy fabric and get a good start on it, then i have just evenings next week to finish it. I think the hard part will really be picking the fabric.

Snow Day!

Well not in the day off sense that it used to mean, but I'm working from home today as I didn't want to brave the nasty roads. It works out since I usually work from home on fridays but this friday I need to go into the office, still saving gas on one day this week.

Since I'm home I will try to remember to take pictures later and post them. I have finished up the fuzzy soft hat and scarf for my mom's birthday as well as the wool hat for her. I'm close to finishing the second scarf and then it's on to knitting for myself I guess :)

I need to go to joann's soon too - fabric is needed. I want to make a robe for my dad's birthday and I need to find fabric for the flower girls' dresses for the wedding.. 12 yds of it for 5 dresses! Crazy!

No stitching last night....
because my books arrived from amazon! I read number 5 in the Sookie series - from 8pm-1am and some how still managed to rise this morning.

These books are so great. I also got the Fitzwilliam Darcy trilogy that I can't wait to start this weekend after I've finished all of the current Sookie books that are out.

More info on the sookie books (and others) can be found at my reading blog.

hmm.. it's tuesday, i have a ton of work to do - but all i can think about is reading.. not good!

Oh and I finally started some wedding planning. I won't post anything in this blog about it until I'm actually making things to show (such as flower girl dresses) but it will start taking a bit of free time to do the planning. So far we have a potential list of invitees... step 1!

A reading weekend :) I read the first 4 in the Sookie Stackhouse series and I'm completely addicted. I can't wait to start 5 but I have to be careful, I can't put these books down and I need a good 5 hours to read each. Of course I also don't actually have 5,6,7 in paperback form, I have them all in audiobook form and that goes even slower! I'm considering swinging by the bookstore and getting 5,6 in paperback (7 is only in hardcover) and then doing just 7 in audiobook. It really is a disease!

I did stitch this weekend - Finished all the actual stitching on Shepherds bush purse, just have to do the beading and my date/initials. I'll try to remember to bring it in tomorrow to scan a picture. This was a very relaxing piece and oh i love silks!

Next up in stitching is the neighborhood RR. Time to pull that out and plan what to stitch!

Wow my weekend just changed dramatically...

I got a call from my aunt and there's a stomach bug in their family so they canceled their weekend away and I am no longer watching 3 little girls all weekend. I still have my 14 yr old cousin and my brother and his girlfriend coming up but they are all coming up saturday night instead of saturday morning...

So now i have saturday free. Wow. So I can put cleaning off until tomorrow, spend the day just working and maybe get some sewing done that I need to get done.

So on my lunch break I finished piecing block 9 of Leanne's House BOM!!! They're all pieced now! Check that off the list.

I cleaned up my sewing room then and laid out the fabric for the singer costume so hopefully tonight I can start on that! This is all dependent on how the rest of my afternoon of work goes but hopefully it will go well and now if i need to i can work this weekend some as well.

Work work work... that was my weekend - luckily I'm feeling much better (saturday was a horrible coughing day and i needed a nap just from coughing!).

Anyhow, I stitched a bit more on the Shepherd's Bush purse and hopefully i'll remember it tomorrow to scan in a picture!

With all this working long hours I've decided a few things need to get done this week no matter what -
1) the singer costume - needs to get done this week actually
2) Block 9 of Leanne's Quilt - I need to just piece it already, it's halfway there and I need to get it pieced and out of the way before the little girls all come next weekend.

I'm not sure if i mentioned it but my 3 little cousins will be staying with us this weekend, (ages 8, 6 and 3 1/2) - they're parents have a wedding to attend in PA so we agreed to watch them, so my sewing room will become a little girls' room and i need to pick up!!!

Well back to work so I can work late and figure out how to get all that done at the same time :)