Two days sick and I actually get a little evening stitching time so I have something to show!!

It's been quite some time since I started something new and being sick it had to be something kitted up so I pulled out my Shepherd's Bush Purse kit I bought a while back. I love to work with silks when I can and this piece is so sweet and delicate. I've kind of jumped around and since I'm not doing the beading yet I'm also not doing the flower buds that aren't beads so i can do them all at once. The blank spot is for initials and date and I'll save those until I'm closer to finishing.

It felt SO good to stitch, even if I had to take breaks because it tired me out (i've been really sick) but today i'm feeling much better and i'm at work for the long haul. I think i may take a small lunch break and stitch for 20 minutes! It's been almost a year since I did that :) I need to take care of myself more so we'll see.

Anyway, I'll be working all weekend so there won't be much of a stitching update but maybe i'll have a little free time to start the other halloween costume I'm to make for my other cousin (she wants to be a singer). So maybe pics to come, we'll see.

I apologize for being incommunicato lately -- work has been Busy with a capital B... I've been working 12+ hour days for a week and a half and then two days ago i came down with the horrible cold that's been going around (not surprising with my level of stress!).

So i'm way behind on both blogging and blog reading.. not much to blog about though since i'm working so much. I did cross stitch last night after a day of doing nothing but trying to sleep - started a new piece - pictures coming soon! I didn't get much done but it was something :)

September Goal Wrapup:

1) Finish Leanne's block 7 [YUP!]
2) Finish Neighborhood RR block and mail [YUP!]
3) Finish Leanne's block 8 [nope]
4) Finish piecing Leanne's block 9 [nope]
I also sewed both a skirt for myself and the pirate costume for my young cousin (just turning 8).

I'd say not a bad month considering it was such a busy one work wise!
And now for some new goals: (or more of the same :)

1) Stitch Bine's NRR and mail (I want to get this to Leslie early so she has time before the baby comes!)
2) Finish piecing Leanne's block 9
3) Sew the singer costume for other cousin
4) Start embroidery on block 8

A weekend of Pirate Sewing!

Well the costume was much easier than I was worrying about. Of course it still took all weekend but that's because my fiance and I pulled the tv and dvd player into the sewing room and watched The Office and Firefly on dvd while I sewed. I'd say total it took maybe 12 hours (less than sleeping beauty!). I did not make the jacket (i didn't buy fabric for it) and I think it's fine without. I also did not add the buttons to the vest yet, I may do velcro and just add buttons for show but I have to go buy some suitable buttons still!

Here are some pics!! The costume as a whole:

A better picture of the blouse and knickers. I love the blouse it came out adorable!

And the boots - boy these were a pain to sew. They are pleather and that stuff does not go through the machine well (it catches). It was impossible to just sew regular, finally I got the bright idea to use the extra pieces of pattern paper and sew through that, allowing it to feed easier. Then after completing the first boot and half way through the second I realized I could use my walking foot! Oops. That worked much better and there was no paper ripping to do .. haha -- well I learned!


So that's what my weekend consisted of! Now I'm getting some work done, I wish I had done more work this weekend but I had such a fun weekend instead, all well - that's life!

Now back to work - maybe another hour before bed!

Work and Life.

Well work yesterday was a very bad day. I had a bug and I made no progress at all - I just found and fixed the bug this morning - a serious 24 hours of wasted time later! Yikes and I was already a little behind schedule! But it's working now so hopefully today will be a good day ... fingers crossed.

Let's see ... life .. well I've been RUNNING! 3 miles of running and walking a day (Sun, Mon and Tues) so far! It's great. Tonight I go to my uncle's but i'm hoping to run Thur, Fri and on the weekend!

Monday night I went to Joann's and bought a Pirate costume pattern and most of the needed fabric. What is this you may ask???? Well I've been asked by my cousins for halloween costumes/birthday presents again this year. So the oldest is a pirate and the middle is a singer. The singer is easy, I have some fun fabric for the skirt and i just need some matching top fabric.

The pirate on the other hand... yikes... 70 dollars later (pattern/fabric/accessories) and I'm looking towards an entire weekend of sewing and probably won't get the jacket done (there are boots, pants, shirt, vest and jacket). She may get the jacket after her birthday just before halloween! There are a lot of new things in this costume that i've never done before (elastic, buttons, cuffs etc). It will be interesting and a real learning experience (not a bad thing!)

So hopefully there will be pirate costume pictures come monday! In the meantime that is what I'm devoting any free time to in the evenings so I won't have any other progress pictures.

I mailed out the NRR to Leslie yesterday, thank you for all the wonderful comments on it, I really enjoyed stitching it and each one of these RRs will be so memorable to me because of my love for each house (So far i've stitched very favorite houses I've always wanted to stitch!). I really hope Karen likes what I stitched for her! And soon I'll be getting Bine's and picking out a new house to temporarily stay in :)

Well my code is almost done building so it's back to work!

Karen's RR - Finished late last night :)

I (like Leslie) stitched a variation of Daisy Lane Cottage, although I pretty much stitched all of Daisy Lane and then just added some animals in the yard for fun!
Here is all of the houses that have been stitched to date. I apologize for the picture quality is was late last night and it was very hard to get good lighting. The flash just washes things out :(
I stitched up a turkey family, a bee hive (Carol added some bee's so I thought that would tie it together) and then some robins. This was a real pleasure to stitch and I've always wanted to stitch this chart as well!

This weekend was great. Saturday I cleaned the house then we settled in for some tv/movie watching and I stitched! Sunday I finished reading my book and then after a 3 mile run on the treadmill we went out to lunch and then continued the tv/stitching marathon where I was able to finish the house!

Now for a week of work work work and then next weekend probably some sewing of costumes?? :)

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful comments! When I started blogging a few years ago I never imagined anyone would actually read my blog, I sincerely journal for my own well being but it's so touching that others follow along and even comment! I'm very grateful!

Well the new treadmill arrived yesterday! I'm not sure if I shared this story but our treadmill (almost 2 years old) cracked - the metal frame cracked! It's under extended warranty so we called and they have to replace it (can't repair it). So they gave us credit towards a new machine. Well we looked and looked and finally decided to upgrade! For a few hundred dollars we got a treadmill with a 7" screen! So we bought a $30 dvd player last night and now we can watch DVDs right on the treadmill. This means we don't have to have a treadmill in our livingroom!

This of course doesn't help the current situation since the old treadmill is still in the livingroom (unusable at this point). We're thinking of trying to weld it back together so we have 2 working treadmills. Some day we'll have an actual house and will make a home gym in a basement or back room and we can run side by side.

Anyhow so it was a long night of putting the treadmill together, after which I crashed (long day fighting migraines really wears a girl out!) No stitching :( But I'm really really looking forward to this weekend - we have NO plans and I plan to do a lot of stitching! I hope to finish Karen's NRR and do some embroidery as well! I can't wait! - Man i wish it was friday ;)

As promised here's a progress picture! I finished the actual house on Karen's RR last night and I'm going to be working on the greenery now! I'm doing Daisy Lane cottage with modifications (I notice Leslie is doing the same on Carol's right now - great minds think alike! :) )

And the skirt in it's finished state. I did manage to finish it friday night but I could not wear it saturday as I'd hoped, i have nothing to wear that goes with it! So I bought some patterns of tops I like, but I did not have time to get coordinating fabric as yet. I will do this soon!
The weekend was a good one - Saturday I bought my wedding dress! It was definitely more expensive than I had hoped but I'm very happy with it and I know I made the right decision. So if i can save money by doing alterations myself with a friend I think it will work out.

Plus with the dress done I've now settled on colors for the bridesmaids! We're going with a light honeydue green and lilac accents! So now i'm on the hunt for fabric to make the flower girl dresses (5 of them!).

Sunday and today i've been plagued by migraines but i seem to be doing better now and our new treadmill arrived so it's back to running daily and getting in shape! I hope to post a little more regularly as well. I'm going through my pictures, uploading, ordering prints and planning my scrapbook as well as I've really lagged behind (a year and half behind!) and I don't do that much scrapbooking, just a page per event!

I can't believe I forgot to post this sooner...

So monday night my sister called me and... she's engaged!! YAY! I'm so glad, because now we can plan our weddings together and everything, it's great! Well that put me in a great mood so I went into my sewing room (to kill some energy) and decided to sew a skirt. I have yet to actually finish making something for myself (still) but I have a number of skirt patterns and fabric I like so I picked an easy one.
This is unfinished:
I didn't realize it was a MISS pattern instead of regular so I'm a size 10 instead of 4-6 so I was very doubtful through this whole process, until i talked to my sewing friend who said - oh check, it's probably a MISS's - it is! So it's not finished, I didn't have a zipper lying around so I had to stop when I got to that part, I also think I want to add a lining so I'll pick that up when I get a zipper (tonight?) and then I'll still have to hem.

It's a somewhat thick woolish black/red fabric. The weave is very loose (hence the lining) but it's comfy and a little stretchy and will go great with a black top. When it's really finished I'll post a better picture of it. The above was taken in my hallway mirror at night.

Hmm... the rest of the week was mostly work. Tues I worked till 8:30, Wed I went to my aunt's/uncle's and last night I worked until 7 and then crashed on the couch.

Today however i'm working from home, i'm motivated and really hope to get a lot done and then spend the evening sewing (finishing the skirt) so i can wear it tomorrow? I may need a top to go with it!

Tomorrow I go dress shopping with my mom and sister (we're both trying on dresses!!) and i'm hoping to actually buy mine! Then I can be done with one thing! There's so much left to do and I've been putting it off because I want to do the planning with my sister so I didn't want to "get to far ahead" :) Anyway it should be a really fun weekend!

A great weekend!

And a picture of Leanne's Quilt block 7 finished!


This weekend was really great, I worked late friday night but our tv shows (Psych and House) are on really late so I didn't miss them. Saturday we essentially did nothing, which included going for a run, a quick run to Marshall's (birthday gifts) and then some good old stitching!

I started Karen's Neighborhood RR, I'm starting from Daisy Lane Cottage and have quite a few ideas of other things to add. I have half the fence done and a decent start on the house! This was while watching Pride and Prejudice (favorite all time movie and 5 hours long). Well that lasted well into the night (2am) so it was a nice long day!

Today was a family day, we slept in (I need my 8 hours) and then we went to lunch with the cousins (the middle one just turned 6 yesterday). So it was a fun day out.

And to end it all I came home and re-orged my sewing room to fit the new treadmill coming this week! It's quite large so I really had to be creative but if it's the same size as our current one I think I made room! And I still have an office corner, a sewing corner and now all the scrapbooking stuff is in the closet. I'm very very happy after 2 hours of organizing!

Now I'm logging in to work to get a jump start on tomorrow. I'm really motivated at work right now and need to keep it up. Plus I'd like to leave at a more reasonable time in the evenings this week and squeeze in some stitching on the round robin!

Camping Weekend!

A little touch of Knox, that's what we like at least once a year. My family (parents, sister and her boyfriend, my fiance and I) - my brother could not make it this year... went camping at my parents' property last weekend. Wild flowers were in bloom...
Lots of lively colors in the fields and woods:
These spruce trees were planted by us as children 15 years ago - this is just one field that we lined with 3 rows of spruce, we also lined a second field...
Our bedrooms for the weekend (my sister and I have matching tents and love to do the setup and take down ourselves as tents have come a long way since we started camping!).
Our kitchen area too has come a long way, with a foldup canopy (as opposed to just tarps we have to tie up), and an actual foldup kitchen and table - both new this year - we used to just rely on the picnic tables my dad made! Setup was very easy this year!
The puppy (she's 8) got to do a lot of swimming and tuckered herself out!
This is where we all set pretty much 50% of the time :)And the beaver house (there were actually 2) that is newly built on our old swimming pond. They moved over from the "beaver pond" a few years back and have done some major demolition of the beautiful birches :( My sister's boyfriend got some pictures of the beavers out and working, I'll post those once she gets them online.

All in all we had a fantastic weekend, the weather was better than we could even have hoped for! Lots of good food and much more time to relax than usual. Now that we have two ATV's to help bring the camping stuff from the cars back to the campsite (about a mile in) and to help gather firewood, things go quickly. My dad also bought a brush hog that can be pulled by one of the ATV's so he didn't even have to bring up a tractor to mow!

Oh it was fun - but I honestly didn't touch my stitching! I read quite a bit and we played cards. You're hands are never really clean while camping (no running water and all) so stitching wasn't really desirable. I did however finish the embroidery on Leanne's Block 7 last night! Now onto block 8 after I finish the next Neighborhood RR block!

September Goals:

1) Finish Leanne's block 7
2) Finish Neighborhood RR block and mail
3) Finish Leanne's block 8
4) Finish piecing Leanne's block 9

Keeping it simple this month, obligation stitching does that to me :)

August Wrap up:

1) Finish Page 2 of Celtic Banner [YES!]
2) Finish block 7 of Leanne's Quilt [almost]
3) Piece block 8 and 9 of Leanne's Quilt [8 is pieced!]
4) Start next Neighborhood RR house :) [not yet - plan to start when we get back!]

Long Weekend, short week!
First an update on the long weekend... Saturday and Sunday were regular weekend days, I cleaned the apartment, went shopping then we went over to some friends' house for dinner and cards. Sunday more shopping, then over to my uncle's house to play with the cousins.
Monday and Tuesday however were free days! I did some stitching:

That officially marks the halfway point on Celtic Banner! Page 2 is complete! I was very very excited!
Then I did a little quilting:

That's Leanne's quilt block 8 pieced, ready for applique and embroidery!
And:
I started block 9, just a little piecing. It was so much fun! I've just been working the last three days (today from home). Last night I went to stitch and continued to work on block 7 embroidery which is ALMOST done!

This weekend we are going camping with the familiy, annual thing. I need to stop working at a reasonable time, pack all our camping stuff and drive back to NY. Then tomorrow we head up to the campsite and make camp for saturday-monday. I should get some stitching done but more likely lots of reading.

That's all - hopefully more pics next week!

Embroidery progress...
This is my progress on block 7 of Leanne's Quilt. The basket and tulips have satin stitching for the handle/decoration and stems. This is taking forever!!! I think I'm almost done though but this is wicked hard to get straight nice stems. All well, I've pretty much given up ripping it out and redoing it, I'm just trying to finish it at this point because there's more embroidery in this block after that still!

I've been working on Celtic Banner a little, I only need about 2 1/2 more hours before I have page 2 completely finished which will be the halfway mark!!! I'm working on the quatrefoil motif and completely loving it. Once I finish page 2 of that and the embroidery on block 7 I will start on my next Neighborhood RR house which has been patiently waiting for me!

I know I don't talk about wedding stuff much - pretty much because I don't think about it much but this past weekend my sister and I went wedding dress shopping and it was much more successful. I have some good ideas about what I like now and I'm looking forward to going again and hopefully even choosing one next time!

PS. The wedding is a year away, I promise I won't blog about it for the whole year!

Unmotivated...

That's me.. lately. Of course pair that with a constant allergy attack that started yesterday morning and I'm not getting anything done! The sneezing just started up again a minute ago and I was just starting to think i was doing better today. Ho Hum!

Sorry there's no picture yet of my block 7 -- I will try to remember to take it tonight. I have worked on it a tiny bit lately and I'm starting to get closer to the end of the block! It's a lot of embroidery though!

Well I just thought of a task I wanted to get done quickly so I'm going to do that before I write up my to do list for the day!

Okay i'm back to blogging. I enjoy blogging more when i have a picture to show but alas I don't have time enough to make progress on pieces which I can take a picture of. Surely monday will have pictures from this weekends' progress :)

This week has been rough, the stress of work hit me immediately upon return, I'm having a tough time dealing with it which is very odd because in general I love my job, really do. Lately I'm not feeling it, just anxious and stressed out.
I think I need to get back into an exercise routine, I really think that will help and a fresh week next week as this week was just a bust.

I have done a little stitching. I worked on the next band for Celtic Banner one night, i should be able to finish that band pretty quickly and then there's just one more before I hit the half way mark! Amazing!

I also picked up my embroidery last night! That's Leanne's Quilt block number 7 which I haven't touched in ages. I was running out of DMC last time I worked on it so I kept putting it off but now I'm restocked in colors and working on my basket. This block has the absolute most embroidery just because there's so much satin stitching for tulip stems and basket handles and such. I'll show a progress photo monday for sure!

Well this weekend should be fun, we have our summer outing for work on saturday with all you can eat ice cream and lunch. Then we're driving back to NY and going to Saratoga race track on sunday with friends. We missed out last year but really enjoyed it the year before so that should be fun!

I've finally caught up on blog reading, I apologize I did not comment for the most part because I had so much reading to get through but now I'm caught up and back to a more normal number of posts to read a day!

Pictures!
That's right, i'm actually coming through in a timely manner with pictures! I worked exclusively on Celtic Banner while on vacation and as I stitched along on the large square that follows the alphabet, i filled it in color by color. I got to a point where I decided I preferred the look I had to that of the "finished" look where it's completely filled in (my stitching friend had already finished hers so I had it to compare to). So I stopped and called it done:
That sure made it go faster! Then I continued on and did the next set of motif's - I had a little trouble - okay a LOT of trouble and just as I was finishing up the second one I realized I was a stitch off! And the mistake was in the first one so I had to unstitch the whole second one and part of the first and start over! But I pushed on and with a tiny bit of purple to finish last night here are the next 2 motif's finished:
Also in Maine we made some more tile coasters with our stamp sets. I made 3 sets but only finished one set, the others are yet to be colored in. Here is the finished set I made:
These are a lot of fun to do and really practical as coasters!
So that was pretty much my vacation in Maine! I stitched and we listened to some audiobooks!
Before I went to maine we stayed at my parents' house for a few days and helped out, we demolished an old pheasant coop, staple by staple! And we took down a crab apple tree and did some pruning of trees and bushes. It was hot and sticky out but it was a nice change of pace to work outside for a change! I love vacation and surely wish it was longer!

I'm not feeling very rested actually and that's bothering me. I still feel as I did before I went on vacation and that includes the headaches, they were completely gone for my vacation but came back as soon as I got to work yesterday! It doesn't help that I haven't been sleeping well the last two nights either. I will have to do something about this as soon as I can but for now, work beckons!

August Goals:

1) Finish Page 2 of Celtic Banner
2) Finish block 7 of Leanne's Quilt
3) Piece block 8 and 9 of Leanne's Quilt
4) Start next Neighborhood RR house :)

I don't think I can put Celtic Banner away for a while as I had a blast working on it so that will be my main piece when I'm not working on the round robins!

Back from my vacation! I'll have a full post with pictures maybe tomorrow.. for now I figured I'd do my goal wrap up from July and figure out goals for August!

July Goals:
1) Finish Carol's NRR and mail out! [YES!]
2) Finish Leanne's block 7! [Nope not yet]
3) Finish fishy part of fishy pin [YES!]
Also worked on Celtic banner a LOT and made great progress over vacation!

Vacation..

Well i haven't been posting much because work has been a little crazy - now I won't be posting because I will be on a MUCH needed vacation from work. We're not going anyplace except where we are now - back at my parents' house for a few days and then I head up to Maine for a few days at my friend's family cabin and lots of stitching!

I think this will be a great week off from work, the end of the week will be lots of stitching and the beginning will be some working outside and just relaxing, playing computer games like tonight and reading!

So I'll be offline for about a week - with pictures next week of my Celtic Banner hopefully!!!

As promised - a picture!

Here is Carol's RR with my house all finished. It's Woodland Cottage from Elizabeth's Designs with modifications and of course it's not the entire piece. There are a lot of things I like about this piece, the trees are one of my favorite things.

Well my fiance is off on day one of the Bar Exams!!! I'm up in Concord, NH working from the hotel awaiting his return at 4:30? We watched Dejavu last night which I thought was a pretty good movie. We have Breakfast at Tiffany's tonight. It's been a while since he's been able to sit and watch a movie.

Well back to work, at least it helps pass the time without me worrying :)

Stitchy weekend for sure!!! I can't wait to show pictures - I'm going to try to remember to take them tonight before i head up to Concord.

I FINISHED stitching my house on Carol's RR!! It was such fun and I got to stitch most of one of the charts I really like with some major modifications but still, now I feel like I've stitched the chart and can call it "finished" in my stash :)

I'll probably get that packed up and mailed out by the end of the week to Leslie.. this week is a little busy because the Bar has finally arrived! My fiance has 3 days of 6 hour testing (Tues-Thur) and I'll be staying with him at various hotels to help him get up in the morning for them. Tonight and Tomorrow night are up in Concord, NH so instead of a crazy long drive I'm going to just work from there tomorrow. That way I can be supportive and be there when he gets back from his first day of testing.

It's all over on friday!!! I can't wait and next week I'm taking as vacation time! Very much needed!!!! for both of us :) I will definitely have stitching to show after that!

Still around. I haven't been in the blogging mood, I am trying to stay on top of reading blogs, I apologize if I'm not commenting much but I am reading when i find time! Anyhow, part of the reason I haven't been posting is just lack of material, I pretty much just work lately, not much to talk about.

I have had some time to stitch. Last night would have been great but we lost power for a few hours and I can't stitch on 40ct by candle light so I wound thread on bobbins instead.

I've been working on Carol's Neighborhood Round Robin. The house is almost finished and then I can do the landscaping. I'm not worried about making the deadline at least , even with the small amount of stitching time I've had I've managed to get the bulk of the house done. I'll probably try to post a picture on monday!

This weekend is my last weekend house sitting. I will hopefully relax a bit and stitch - maybe sunday when I get home - and otherwise I have some cleaning to do (both at the house I'm staying at and when I get home). Unfortunately it's going to be just one of those weekends that disappears on me I know it.

I really thought I was going to have stitching every night, with lots of tv shows and/or movies. Boy how things change. The first change is that I've been working every night way more than I had planned - last night I worked till midnight! Secondly, my fiance decided to come down and study for his Bar Exams in the air conditioned house (our A/C is broken) so that limits the tv to his break times which include an hour for dinner and maybe after 9pm if he's gotten studying done for the day.

But that's not the real hold up - it's a new game I found - called Chocolatier - you make chocolates and create a chocolate empire throughout the world. It's SO addicting because it's easy but challenging at the same time. Easy because I never got close to running out of money or not finishing a puzzle but still challenging because there's a lot going on to keep in mind. I have played every free second I do have and I've almost beat the game which just spurs me on to beat it already so I can go back to my normal life - very bad. I'm even considering playing on my lunch break today - bad bad bad!!!

Tonight I am promising myself I will stitch! Maybe I'll start Grey's Anatomy on my laptop or listen to my audiobook, either one would be great. ... can't wait!

Carol's Neighborhood RR start:
Finally a picture! I know it's not much but it's a start, the house is from Elizabeth's Designs "Woodland Cottage" with modifications. The grey is a stone foundation and I decided to stitch the house red (instead of white) and I think I'm going to use black - like wrought iron - in place of the green, not sure yet.

Last night was a long night of working. I worked much later than I had hoped so no stitching. Tonight I plan to do a little work and then get right to stitching. I have a movie I want to watch so I can return it to the library so that's 2 hours of stitching right there!

Story of my life, I forgot to take a picture of my progress.. that's right - I stitched finally!! I don't think I've properly stitched since my Neighborhood RR at the end of May, beginning of june.

I re-started on Carol's Neighborhood RR, got a couple of hours in! I find it difficult changing colors on a pattern but I do not like the house color on the pattern I'm using, even though I like the style house, so I'm trying to change it and hopefully tomorrow I can show a picture!

This weekend was very relaxing, Saturday I spent the morning packing for my 2 weeks of house sitting, then moved my stuff down to my Uncle's. I went out Saturday night to stitch with friends. Sunday I relaxed all day, watching movies, stitching and winding floss. It was great - minus the migraine I got but my medicine worked okay.

Now I'm in for a week of working and hopefully stitching in the evenings! I have movies and tv shows lined up! I sure will miss my fiance though - he's busy studying anyway but still. I can't wait to see him next weekend!

Oh IKEA joy!

That's what I did on the 4th! I went to IKEA! I sure do love that store, we spent about 3 hours walking around. I had a gift card so I guiltlessly bought little kitchen things (including a set of silverware - finally i can get rid of the old mismatched pieces I have).

On the stitching front, while I did pick up "stitching" it was to unstitch what I had started on Carol's NRR. I mentioned before that I had forgotten to leave room for the grass, so I unstitched that last night - no biggie. I'm hoping tomorrow to get to start over, with the grass first this time!

Also starting Saturday I am house sitting for 2 weeks. This means no regular access to my crafty stuff :( Tomorrow will be packing anything I might need ( I can stop home on weekends a bit )... plus it's good timing with the fiance studying for the Bar Exams, it will keep the apartment quieter for him.

I'm hoping to get stitching done - first Carol's RR, then maybe some embroidery on Leanne's Quilt, I sure have missed that one!

Okay back to work - what is up with allergies these past few days - driving me crazy!

July Goals:
Well this will look familiar :)
1) Finish Carol's NRR and mail out!
2) Finish Leanne's block 7!
3) Finish fishy part of fishy pin

June Wrapup:
1) Finish Neighborhood RR and mail out! [YES!]
2) Finish Leanne's block 7! [Haven't touched it :(]
3) Start Carol's NRR [Yup - just a tiny tiny bit]
4) Frame Peaceful Silhouette! [Nope :(]

Evidently the summer is not a great stitching time for me.. but that WILL change! I'll be house sitting for 2 weeks with Central Air and not much else to do (besides work). I plan on watching Gray's Anatomy and stitching on Carol's NRR.

I did start on Carol's NRR this weekend but I think I want to rip out what I did because I forgot to leave room for the grass flowers underneath the house and with the house being short I might need the height. I only stitched one length of grey stone as the base of the house so I'll just pull that out and start over.. probably tomorrow night!

Still alive and kicking... trying to beat the heat .. holy moly it's hot out - and our A/C is not working in the new apartment!!! I basically can't do much at home, i lay there and try to work but I'm too hot for the most part.

And some news .. we bought a "new" car! It's not new new, it's a 2000 BMW 328 with ~ 40,000 miles on it. We're hoping to get it before the end of the week, if we can go sign the paperwork tonight. Yippee - I really like hte BMW 3 series!

Tonight I go over to my aunt's house - and they have A/C so maybe I'll even get a little stitching done. Tomorrow night is stitch night down in Lexington, I'm most likely going to hit that up so I can see all my friends, it's been so long (except for those I saw on Sunday). And this weekend is busy busy - I can't wait!

I love summer, especially the eary summer! The cool mornings - sitting here with the door to the porch open and cool air coming in while I work laying on the couch... ah!

This weekend was great! I got the apartment completely cleaned and organized before my sister even arrived on Saturday so I was stress free! Then she and I went wedding dress shopping!

I tried on 4 dresses and while I really liked 3 of them, 2 of them are in the actual choosing. The one I think I like the best they only had in a size too large so I couldn't get the right idea about how it would look from behind - the front she was able to pull so we could see how that would look. I have a year and 2 months so I'm not in a rush and I really didn't expect to just pick a wedding dress already because I was very very picky about certain things - but it turns out when you go in and say "I want this, this this and none of this, this or this" they can just give you what you want - sometimes!

So that was fun! And when we got back (after doing other shopping as well) we started cutting out ideas and pictures to put in my wedding planning scrapbook. Including pictures of the two dresses, bouquets and cakes.

Enough about that - Sunday was my party and everyone made it - it was great! The only hitch was that the road/complex sign had been taken down for maintenance so everyone had trouble finding the place - what are the chances!!! I swear, I'm cursed, my last party at my old apartment (over a year ago) - they happened to close the roads in town that day and everyone got lost!

The party was fun and I think everyone had a good time, it was done and over with by 5:40 and I was able to clean up and relax by 6! It was great. Then after dinner and some tv I spent a few hours working which has made today stress free because I got my code working last night and now I'm just tweaking things!

Oh what a great weekend. Now back to a normal life with stitching! I can't wait to start Carol's RR this week!

Party!!

I know I've been slacking in the blogging world lately. Things have been busy! And there's no stitching to report, I haven't touched it!

I'm having a party on Sunday! A couple of my friends and a bunch of family are coming over, this party was my incentive to get completely unpacked in a month and I managed to do so! Last night with the bookcase finished I was able to "finish" my craft room! My bedroom is now finished with the new dresser!

I just have to pick up the livingroom and diningroom, move some stuff to the basement and clean! Cleaning will be tomorrow morning and moving things to the basement I'll do today! I'm very excited - can you tell by all my exclamation points :)

The party is 2pm on Sunday and I have some baking and preparing I will be doing tomorrow night and sunday morning. My sister is coming tomorrow and we're going to do some shopping - including shopping for a Bridal Dress! My first official wedding related shopping trip :) So that should be fun too.

Pictures of the craft room and other finished rooms will be coming very soon!

Yeah the dresser is done:
Here's the dresser all done and already in use, although we don't use the tv when we're in bed at least we can now see it (the bottom of our bed is very high).

Last night I put the second coat on the bookcase and I'm hoping tonight to do the last coat on that! That will leave only the sofa table unfinished and maybe by the end of the summer I'll have finished that :)

No stitching or anything to show :( I do hope soon to get back to stitching as I have Carol's RR to start up!!

I forgot to post a picture.. I will post it tomorrow. I finished the dresser this weekend! Knobs and all! And I got one coat of poly on the bookcase which took about 45 minutes so I think I can handle the last two coats Monday and Tuesday this week!

Also this weekend I got some old closet shelves from my dad and sanded and painted them (they were really really old and ratty!) I'm looking forward to adding them to my closet tonight and organizing my craft room closet a little, getting that room a little closer to done!

So pictures coming tomorrow for sure! I hope to have a very productive night!

No news, last night I went to my cousin's middle school graduation, then out to dinner. It was a nice but late evening. We got back around 10:30, after help fix up the new router for my uncle I crashed.

Got in to work early today though and hopefully I'll have a good day, leave at 3:30 to beat traffic, work a bit more from home and then finish the dresser! Then tomorrow we drive back to NY to see family - oh man i have to get some father's day gifts tonight!!!

Well I haven't done anything more with the furniture but I figured I'd show some more pictures. Here are the bookcase and sofa table, first unfinished and second - stained (no poly still).
The shelves are separate.
Here it is stained.
Sofa table - behind the couch where it will stand when it's finished.
And stained. These two pieces are sitting in a dark area indoors waiting to be finished - hopefully this weekend i can start on them. The dresser still needs one coat of poly :( I'm hoping Friday night I'll be motivated enough to finish that and put a coat on one side of the bookcase shelves.

No stitching but I did work on my craft room last night, I unpacked all my stamping supplies and put them in the cubes that I bought at ACMoore. The stamps take up 2 shelves on a bookcase and everything else fits in my organizer cubes. I've rearranged things and made a place for the above bookcase to go. I can't wait to finish this room!

Well that was a busy weekend - didn't really feel like a break. But I did get some stuff done (no stitching) -- here's my finished quilt hanger - please excuse the messy craft room, it's the only room not unpacked yet. And the microwave cart is also finished....
And already put to use!
I also got the dresser almost finished, it needs one more coat of poly tonight, then I have to do all the knobs, which are stained but no poly yet. I want to put them on the drawers sticking out before I poly them.

And lastly I finished staining the sofa table and bookcase last night so they both need 3 coats of poly - this is the last time I buy shaker style furniture UNFINISHED! All those bars are killer! But I will love these pieces when they are done!

More pics as more furniture is finished and hopefully soon I will have time again to stitch. Besides furniture I worked a bit this weekend and I think that's it. Tonight includes a trip to ACMoore to take advantage of some sales! I can't wait!!!

Well with the onset of the diet and exercise again I've started a new work schedule as well. I've decided to work from 8:30-4:30 (with an hour break for the gym) - and then go home to have dinner with my fiance. Then work from home for 2-3 hours in the peace and quiet of my office/sewing room.

This does cut out stitching time a bit but I still get a little time during the dinner break. Last night I pulled out my fishy pin from Celebrations - knotwork and worked on that a bit. I'd like to make some progress on my Celebrations pieces this weekend before starting Carol's RR but we'll see - it's hard to stay away from it!

Well back to work - it's amazing how I can get more work done in 2 hours at home than 4 hours here! Then add in the meetings and the day is just insane!

Wow thanks everyone for the great comments on my RR. I'm very happy with it and I'm very excited to stitch on Carol's next. I think I have a house pattern picked out - I will have to change the colors but that's easy, I just need to figure out the measurements for the house to see what I can fit in a block!

All finished and ready to mail tomorrow!
I ended up doing a lot more landscaping than I had anticipated but I really loved pulling different flowers from different patterns and then making some up (okay I only made one up - the little purple ones and they're just smyrnas). The veggies are all over one (so is the bunny) so that really took me a while.
And here's a picture of most of the layout. It's 10 squares, the last square will either be stitched by a close friend or I'll add a saying of some sort with everyone's names or something at the end. I will also add a title when it comes back home next year.
So this is off tomorrow to Leslie.

All in all my day went okay, I slept through a lot of it, then took some Excedrin migraine and after eating I started feeling better. I did a little unpacking (filled our bookcase) and then sat to stitch and listen to my audiobook around 4. I'm afraid I may have worn myself right back out with that 40ct (my eyes are very sensitive with migraines) so I'm going to relax before bed now.

Oh and even better - Carol's RR arrived today! I can start on that straight away!! Now to go post my pictures on the RR blog!

Out sick...

I woke with a horrible migraine today so I won't be posting my usual monday morning progress pic but i do have progress to share and i'll share tomorrow. I'm hoping to have my neighborhood RR finished up tonight or tomorrow night to mail out and even with the over one stitching in the veggie garden (which is done) i think i can manage!

June Goals:
1) Finish Neighborhood RR and mail out!
2) Finish Leanne's block 7!
3) Start Carol's NRR
4) Frame Peaceful Silhouette!

May Wrapup:
1) Finish Leanne's block 7 [nope]
2) Frame Peaceful Silhouette [nope]
4) Start Neighborhood RR [YUP]
3) Work on Celtic Banner?? [nope]

I tried to keep it light for myself but things at work really got in the way I had absolutely no stitching time this month.. but that is all going to change this month!!!

Am i crazy???

Well I got home kind of late last night but I did manage to stitch a little. No picture though because there isn't much new to see. I finished the second tree, added some grass and added a bunny.

I am hoping to stitch a vegetable garden near the bunny and the pattern I'm using had the bunny 10x10 - that's kind of big so I decided to stitch it over 1 - well now i have to do the whole veggie garden over 1 to match! YIKES! Whatever I do on the other side of the pathway will not be over one, maybe just some bushes or something.. hmm.. I need to plan this out.

Tonight it's unpacking and then relaxing - maybe with some over 1 40ct stitching - hehehe.

A little progress:
I know it isn't much, that pathway took me forever, especially since I was designing it as i went along and had to rip it out a bit. I went with a mosaic stitch, small at first then larger for the second part, then switched to a diamond, alternating diagonal pattern for the part behind the fence. The mosaic stitch was too dense under the fence and took away from it too much and the diamond is kind of hidden inside a mosaic when you stitch 4 mosaic stitches in a square so I went with that.

It came out alright, then I started the two pine trees, I'm making this house similar to the house I grew up in so certain things are key (blue house/pine trees). Tonight I'll finish the tree and put in some grass and then start on the gardens.

Oh it felt so good to be back to stitching! It has felt like forever (I know it was just last week some time!) This weekend - unpack and stitch!!

Holy Moly - I had no idea how much stuff we had! I'm back from the move - officially living in NH now.

Quick recap of this insane "weekend":
Friday - fiance's graduation, drive back to NY for family reunion LATE
Saturday - family reunion
Sunday - recover, drive back to MA, then pack up cars and drive up to NH and clean up new apartment
Monday - go into Boston, get truck and brother, pack truck, move up to NH and unpack, out to dinner and drive back to Boston to drop off brother
Tuesday - unpack and shop for necessities and unpack and unpack

I have a kitchen and diningroom pretty much unpacked but that's it. The furniture elsewhere is all set up but everything is still in boxes and it will stay that way tonight as we're going to my uncle's for a night - much a needed break!

I have unfortunately not touched my stitching, tonight I will work on my Neighborhood RR finally some more but it will definitely be a little late, hoping to finish it up this weekend??

Going to be offline for a short bit...

First - I did get to stitch Tuesday night - I worked on my RR and finished the fence and started the walkway from the house to the fence. I hope to have some more time to work on this during the weekend festivities, but we'll see. I will post a picture as soon as I'm back online..

So why am I offline - well things will be busy -

Friday : Fiance's Graduation
Saturday: Home for Pig Roast
Sunday: Still home - but coming back in afternoon/evening
Monday: MOVING DAY
Tuesday: Unpacking - internet should get hooked up but I won't have time to be online most likely

So I'll be back on Wednesday - driving in to work from NH! Oh there's so much to do still - yikes!

Alas I did not make my stitching goal last night. When I got home we went for a long walk but my headache was already setting in. After some dinner and Law & Order I fell asleep. All well.

On the moving out front, all holes in the walls (from pictures) have been patched and 2 of the 3 colors have been painted leaving just the diningroom/kitchen color left to finish tonight. I'm using the same foam brush so I have to wash it and let it dry between colors.

Tonight I hope to do some more packing, my fiance has some events for graduation going on the next two nights so it will be grilling hamburgers for dinner, packing and stitching!

House Complete:
As I mentioned the actual house is complete and I started the fence. My goal tonight is to finish the fence and figure out what I'm going to do for the path from the door to the fence.
I have lots planned for the landscaping, first a pine tree or two on the right side of the house and gardens in the front, a bunny will be in there someplace too!
I'm very excited, things for the move are working out, I got the cable to transfer the day after we move which is perfect since I have that day off. I'm waiting on the electric still but I've started the process.

With a little more packing to do in the evenings but that's it, I should have some good stitching time in the next 4 nights. I probably can't make the June 1st mailing just because of the packing and unpacking that will happen between now and then but I'm hoping for Monday June 3rd since that gives me the weekend to find the envelopes I have somplace and get everything put together! That's not too bad!

In my neighborhood...

I had some time this weekend to work on my house! I finished up the stitching on the house tonight and started the landscaping, starting with a fence. I have a lot of room for landscaping so this is going to take a little while :)

Luckily I got a lot of packing done this weekend and the website finished! The site isn't live yet but it's tested and working. After the owner has updated all products we can go live with it and I'm all done!! So this week I'll pack a little each night and then stitch. Thursday night I'll probably clean and finish any packing I can since friday is my fiance's graduation!

Oh it feels good to have things finished!

A relaxing night...
Well I worked a little later than planned and traffic was horrible but I got home around 7 and we went out to celebrate because my fiance just finished his very last final exam for law school!!!! Next friday is graduation! I'm so proud of him.

So we went out to Bertucci's, then a quick trip to home depot and then we settled in and watched Pan's Labyrinth which I really enjoyed watching even if I had to cover my eyes for a LOT of scenes! No stitching as planned though because of subtitles.

And today is a free day off from work thank goodness. So I'm about to work on the website and see what I can do as far as that goes and then it's packing time! I'm very excited. Of course my wrist has been bothering me this week and it's really bad today so I have my brace on and I'll have to be careful with lifting and things. I wonder why it's acting up??

Stitching my neighborhood rr finally!
Here's my start, stitching with GAST on 40ct cream linen. It took a while to get started last night as I did a little more basting (still not done basting) but I'm loving it. I can't wait to work on it more tonight! Plus with no work tomorrow I can work tonight until I can't work on it any longer.

Unfortunately my wrist was really bothering me last night -it is again this morning as well. I may need to bring out the brace I have for it for tonight as I need to be functional this weekend to get all my packing done! Can't wait to get back to packing. OH and then there's the website- gotta finish that tomorrow too! Going to be a great day tomorrow. Now.. to get through work.. at least I can leave at 4:30 since I got in early, if I can get everything done that is.

Oh my I have a lot of stuff...

Well I didn't stitch last night, my quick packing of the closet took HOURS! I used up all 6 bins that I had bought plus a few boxes and there's still stuff in my closet!!! I can't believe how much crafting stuff I have.

1 HUGE box with yarn/knitting stuff (and i hardly knit!)
3 boxes of stamping stuff
1 bin with all our framed pieces (mostly cross stitch!) wrapped in fabric
1 bin of fabric (quilting)
2 small bins of sewing/quilting supplies and fabrics and notions
1 bin of cross stitch supplies (not patterns OR fabric! - those aren't packed yet)
1 bin of quilting books and fabric (that's a heavy one)
1 bin of misc. top shelf stuff (scrap books/photo books/stuff to be scrapbooked)

This is a little insane. I'm looking at all the bins and wondering where it all fit in my closet -i'm really good at organizing evidently! My closet is still filled with clothes and my xstitch patterns and fabrics to all be packed. Some are in drawer units I may not remove them from, just use stretch wrap around them and pack that way.

So needless to say I didn't get much stitching done, I did baste a little more on my RR and I hope to start my house tonight at my aunts' where i can't pack :)

Oh and now I'm out of bins - I need to either buy a few more or try to use all boxes for the rest. Bins are nice because you can put heavy things in them with no worries. I planned on using the small boxes I have for all our books (we have SO Many books!) Yikes, deep breaths, no need to feel overwhelmed, I have a whole weekend to pack up books and dvds and such. I CAN do this!

Wow I just noticed I have over 800 posts - that's a lot :)

I started basting my neighborhood RR fabric last night, I got the left and top across done - man that 40 count is hard on the eyes when you have to stay in one row all the way across! I think tonight I'm actually going to start stitching my house before finishing the basting as I have the house picked out and the thread for it.

So hopefully tomorrow there will be a first picture of my RR - maybe, if i actually make progress and don't end up with too much of a headache. 1 more hour at work to go!

Last local shopping trip:
Well with moving to Nashua I'm really going to miss popping over to Lucy's to buy some last minute fabric and threads, and of course some neat charts I find (see above).

So I bought a fat 1/4 of 40 ct linen for the Neighborhood RR. I'm going to sit and start gridding it right now so hopefully by tomorrow night that will be finished and I can maybe start working on my house which I have picked out, thread and all. I'm very excited about this RR and I'd really like to make the first mailing date even with the challenge of moving too...

Oh and I did a little packing tonight: my good pots and pans and my good dishes (these are rarely used) - they are now packed up tight!

CELEBRATIONS (finally) - in order

First off I took a punch needle class - and thursday night when I got home I finished up the little sheep pin which was the practice piece:
Punchneedle was fun and fast but I had even more fun using french knots in the beginner's knotwork class with Teresa Laymen. I worked on this piece in my free time saturday as well:Friday night was the round robin, we got 4 projects and when my friend and I got back to my aunt's I started one of them. The petals are 3-d and i know mine looks like a corn on the cob - it will be ripped and redone a little wider and shorter but it's a really neat weaving technique!
And finally my favorite class with Catherine Strickler - Kate's Necessaire. We worked on one of the pockets for the inside and we made that round pin cushion (not finished yet but it's round at least). This kit comes with all finishing supplies and I can't wait to make the little book!
Celebrations was great. I ended up spending a ton - I didn't get a picture off all the stuff I bought because Sunday I organized it all and put it in my binders before realizing I hadn't taken pictures yet. But I have enough to keep me happy for quite a while!

I've been thinking about the neighborhood RR and I can't wait, i picked out my house pattern and I just have to grid some fabric. I'm going to do a 10 block layout (2 rows of 5) and leave the last block for the names to go in, i'll grid it out to fit the names as well. I'm very excited now and with a June 1st deadline I better be! :)

Stress...
Well the deadline that I was working towards for the last two weeks finally ended Friday at midnight. Has my stress dissipated with it? Of course not - because now I'm 2 weeks behind on my other work project that I was supposed to be working on and got pulled off of and we're moving in 2 weeks and I haven't even really started packing, nor have we signed on an apartment!

But I need to focus on reducing stress because it has been causing physical symptoms for the past month or so that I can no longer deal with. I'm sleeping 10-12 hours some nights (weeknights 9-10 and weekends 11-12), this just causes more stress because it shortens my daytime hours. That's the worst symptom but there are plenty more and now that I know it's stress causing it I'm going to do some things about it.

First off - this week I will leave work by 5pm each night, I will get some exercise in (preferably a nice run outside). I will pack/clean for 30 minutes and then I will relax with some stitching on my Neighborhood RR which I need to start. I'm going to take next Friday off completely to make sure I finish the website, pack and stitch.
Before bed I will do some breathing and relaxing exercises (friday night I took a bath at midnight when I got home which was great) and I will try to get up after only 8 hours of sleep.

It's time to take care of myself a little better because how I'm feeling affects my loved ones and in particular my fiance who has plenty of stress himself with a final this week.

So you will see my posting more often again - and hopefully with some stitching. Tomorrow I will post my Celebrations report finally. I will take those pictures tonight before bed. Now I need to go check out the website and see what I can do in the next 40 minutes before I start "relaxing".

To all my friends - don't forget to take care of yourselves, you can't help those around you if you yourself are not happy and healthy.

I know I owe a Celebrations report - and an apartment report - soon I promise. I'm still working until 9:30/10 each night (maybe later tonight). Last night I got to leave at 6, only because we were going up to look at an apartment. Now I'm crossing my fingers that we get it - getting very close to the deadline!

Please keep you fingers crossed we get this place and then this weekend or monday i promise a proper update is coming!

Celebrations post to come shortly i promise...

Things are crazy hectic at work - I promise to give a proper weekend and Celebrations update either later today or tomorrow when I can add lots of pictures...

What brings me here right now .. I'm getting a little worried about the nieghborhood RR!! I need to start this .. heck I need to pick fabric still! Where has the time gone and when do I get time again??? Yikes. I promise myself that the next stitchy moment I have will be to figure out the dimensions for the fabric I need and to put in a purchase if I need to. I have a local shop I can call, she may have what I need and I can get it, I'm hoping for 36 ct.

Then I guess I need to baste and then figure out what to stitch myself.. yikes - I guess I figured May would be an easy month work wise and that I'd have my apartment situation all figured out at the end of april - neither of those wishes came true.. deep breath!

Okay back to work, I will focus on this later :)

Sorry - I haven't been blogging - that will continue for a short while longer, things at work changed unexpectedly towards the busier side of things so now i have new deadlines that come on fast and I'm working long hours etc...

HOWEVER - today is CELEBRATIONS!! I'm taking a punch needle class at 1! I can't wait - leaving work early to do it. I'm taking a knotwork class tomorrow at 2 (again leaving work early for that) and then I'm taking a class saturday morning.

All i can say is that i can not wait until noon to head north, listening to my audio book and forgetting about work for a few hours!!!

FINISHED!!!
Sorry about the picture, I used my camera last night, if you click on it you can see it a little better. I will be taking a better picture once I frame it anyway which is hopefully very soon. Maybe i'll have time to scan it in today or something then I'll fix the pic.

So I finished Peaceful Silhouette last night! Really I needed to because work has decided to take a turn and it looks like I'm going to continue to be busy for 2 weeks.. but Celebrations is this weekend and there's no missing that!!

A quick wrap up of goals and goals for May below. Happy Beltaine!!!

April Wrap up:
1) Finish Barnabee! Stitching but not beading
2) Finish Peaceful Silhouette! YES!!!
3) Finish Baby Quilt before Easter! YES!!!
4) Start a new xstitch piece! Nope
5) Finish Leanne's block 7 Nope
6) Piece Leanne's block 8 Nope
7) Piece Leanne's block 9 Nope

May Goals:
1) Finish Leann'es block 7
2) Frame Peaceful Silhouette
4) Start Neighborhood RR
3) Work on Celtic Banner??

I'm keeping it very light - with the move at the end of the month and the ongoing search for an apartment who knows what kind of time I will have.

It's all over!
Finally, the presentation is over, it went well and today is back to a normal almost stress free work day. And more importantly - I'm taking tomorrow off completely!

Clarifications -
First off - thank you all for the birthday wishes and the comments on Peaceful Silhouette, I'm really hoping to have time to finish that this weekend!
Secondly - the dragon quilt was a gift from 2 coworkers in our california office. It is so beautiful and generous, I just love it, they are so great.
Thirdly - now that work should be more normal again, no working on weekends, no working until midnight -i should be able to stitch more and I'm really hoping to get started on my neighborhood RR!!! I haven't even picked fabric yet! I have to measure out and figure out what size I need and then see what i might have already. I'm very much looking forward to that.

Oh and then there's the move, I'm going apartment hunting this weekend up in NH, I'm not sure I'll find exactly what i want but I'm hoping so because the closer I get to the move day the more stressed out I will be! Wish me luck!

And tomorrow is a work on the website among other things day - I hope that goes well! And now - back to the lab!

My birthday surprise:
Isn't it just gorgeous! I absolutely love dragons - and I'm in total shock!

And my birthday treat to myself just arrived yesterday from SB&B:
I got Lady Scarlett's Journey (I,II,III), Overdyed Dragon, and ABC and DEF Sampler Stitches! A real treat to myself!

And when I wasn't making myself sick with nerves for the presentations going on at work today and tomorrow I did a little stitching - I finished backstitching the front boat on Peaceful Silhouette so now i Just have the larger boat and then I'll be done - I really can't believe it!!

My presentation should be tomorrow morning at 8, it could be last this afternoon if we run early - and of course I woke up feeling like I'm getting a horrible cold - unbelievable! I will just have to work through it and Friday I had planned on taking off anyway, will just have to be more of a recovery day than a get things done day... all well!

Almost done!!!
Here's Peaceful Silhouette with just backstitching left. I started the backstitching and oh boy does that take forever! Those boats are going to take a long time but the doc and the posts with the bird are all finished! I'm so very excited and I hope to work on this little by little this week and by next week I'll have a finished picture to share!!!!

I also received an AMAZING birthday gift - a quilt! From 2 coworkers, one who moved away a short while ago and now she shares and office with another that I befriended while I was out visiting CA a few years ago. They worked together and made me a quilt - pictures to come tomorrow! It really is amazing and I have no idea what I can do for them that even compares! My idea that I had does not even come close to measuring up!!

On another note - in response to a comment - I did actually make the jewel case boxes as I'd planned - spent a good hour or more and I will take some pictures tonight as well to share, they are just made from an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of card stock. I hope to dress them up a bit more in the future but for now they organize my jewel cases.

what amazing weather! We really enjoyed the weekend and I'm sorry the weather won't last much longer but it's great right now and I just went for a quick walk to enjoy it!