Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Hope everyone is having a nice long weekend. We are having lovely weather, it's been about 65-70, but it's been raining overnight .. silly weather. I had lots of plans for this weekend, but another headcold has me coughing so hard I've had a headache for a few days. So other than laundry and stitching I haven't done much at all .. what a waste of a good long weekend :( I even missed going with the family to the new Indiana Jones movie Friday night .. guess I'd better be calling my dr .. I've had a few too many of these colds and nothing seems to touch it for any lenght of time. Although NightQuil capsuls do let me sleep through most of the night.

I got my biscornu finished and mailed to my exchange partner. I'll post a picture when she receives it .. it turned out ok .. but not as wonderful as the biscornu I received from Malinda ... look at this lovely biscornu she stitched for me, with red flowers even! lol

stitched on the back of the biscornu is Pals (the message board for the exchange), our names and the year ... don't you love the buttons she found :)

and here's the other goodies she sent .. tea from her recent Bahama's vacation, a chart by Praiseworthy Stitches (my first!) and two fun Lizzie*Kate charts .. see, there's a reindeer! lol Thanks Malinda for stitching this biscornu for me, I love everything .. you should have an email from me too :)

I've beeen stitching on my 4th of July F&S exchange and a beach fob exchange so there's no pictures to share ... yet. Hope everyone gets to put in a few x's this weekend :)

I'm grateful for learning a new finishing techinque ...

Where do I start ..

Lots of things going on this week and weekend and yes some of it was stitching too! I think I'll leave the stitching for another post.

Last Monday the sink was finally installed .. I can't believe what a hassle it was but now that it's in ... I'm soo pleased with how the kitchen turned out. Here are a couple of before pictures ...



And the after ...

On Wednesday two of my stitching friends arrived in town. Laurie from NY and Char from OH. They left this afternoon on an Alaska Cruise. But before leaving I got to spend a couple of days playing tour guide and showing off my city. We had a lot of fun .. the weather was incredible, actually too hot on Saturday, it hit 90! I took them to the Pike Place Market, we went up the Space Needle, enjoyed a ferry ride, visited one of the last cross stitch shops in Washington and saw Snoqaulmie Falls in all its glory. Oh and inbetween all that we made a few trips to the airport to pick up other stitcher's that are on the cruise too. The cruise was being sponsored by Char's LNS. By Saturday there were 7 of us cruising around the Seattle sites. We had some great meals, lots of laughs, a few wrong turns and we even stitched! Here's a few pictures of our adventures ...

Here's Char, Laurie and Maddie in our family room ...

One view from the Space Needle ...

Another view ...

and another one from the Needle

This is the Space Needle taken from the ferry ...

great day for a sailboat ride ...

and here's me, Laurie and Char on the ferry ...

We ferried to Bainbridge Island. We all just fell in love with this Church ...

I hadn't been to the falls in a few years .. still takes my breath away ...

And here's a group picture from the falls ..

front row is Chris (OH), Char (OH), Laurie (NY)

back row is Susan (TN), Rita (KY), Me (WA) and Patty (OH)


I forget how much I love living here, until I spend a few days showing it off to friends .. it really is a wonderful place to live.

I hope everyone had a great week and weekend! I'm a bit behind on reading blogs ... I'm lookng forward to reading about what you are all up to.

Thanks for all the your comments .. you all never cease to make me laugh and smile :) oh and I did get my biscornu finished .. dammm little stitches! lol

I'm grateful for time with dear friends ...

Great weekend and a finish ...

Happy Belated Mother's Day. I hope all the mom's had a lovely day!

My weekend was great .. long and busy and full of family .. just how they should be .. well not all the time, but a weekend like that every once in a while is nice.

Friday was Chris' birthday (thank you for all the nice birthday wishes in my last post). We took him to Tony Roma's .. had a wonderful meal with the 5 of us and my Dad and his girlfriend.

Saturday was very lazy for me .. Robert and Terry worked outside on the deck and I attempted to do housework but ended up spending most of my day playing on the computer and stitching. I finished Country Cottage Needlework's Sunshine Sampler. I just love this piece ... I think I might send this off to Vonna .. don't you think it would make a cute pillow?



Saturday night we went to our neighbors for tuna tacos and tequila tasting. They just got back from a 2 week vacation in a small village outside of Ixtapa, Mexico. They brought back 3 tequilas and 2 dessert tequilas. We had a great time .. and ya know there really are differences in tequilas! lol .. and the dessert ones were awesome if you like Kahula type liquors.

Sunday the kids, Chris, Monica and Robert, cooked brunch for me. It was a yummy brunch of fruit salad (strawberries, raspberries and blackberries), sticky buns, hashbrowns and a lovely baked egg dish. Robert burned me a cd of music .. all kinds, there's the Chili Peppers, Feist and Yael Naim just to name a few. Chris and Monica got me a new frying pan and some new kitchen towels. I had thrown out so many of my old crusty pots and pans, it was fun to get a new one .. and it's red! lol

We started watching the 2nd Indiana Jones movie while having brunch. After the movie was over, we went for a nice long walk and came back to watch the 3rd IJ .. all of a sudden it 6:30 and everyone was hungry again .. of course I wasn't going to cook lol so off to Chipotle. It derfinately was a nice Mother's day :)

I also stitched on my biscornu and started sewing it together .. found a button I really like for the middle .. but now I'm nervous that all fit together .. should have it done tomorrow. Ohhhh and how come no one told me how fun it is trying to pick up those dammm little backstitches when you are sewing it together! arrrgghhhh lol

Ok .. I'm off to do a little stitching before bed. Hope every had a good monday .. or as good as they can be .. after all they are Monday! lol Thanks for all your comments ... I really enjoy hearing from you all.

I'm grateful for walks with my family ...

Happy Birthday Christopher ...

It hardly seems possible that my oldest son is 26 years old today. I'm so proud of the young man he's become. Below are a few photos I thought I would share you all of you ... the first two are scanned images and I had a tough time trying to size them :(

Chris was born in the early morning (1:10am) on Mother's Day (1982). What a wonderful Mother's Day present he was!! I have to share one of my favorite stories of that day with you. My parents invited Terry, back to their house for breakfast that morning. They were sitting and chatting about Chris when I mom said Terry got a very strange look on his face. Mom asked him if he was ok .. Terry turned to my dad and said, It's Mother's Day and I have got to get flowers for Michele. Dad looked at Terry and told him that all the florists would be closed, it was Sunday and if they were open it was because they were delivering flowers on that busy day, besides, you know Michele will understand. Terry was just not buying it. Mom looked at Dad and said Can you please just take him somewhere so he can get some flowers. Dad took him to the local florist, which was indeed closed .. but there were a bunch of employees inside putting together deliveries. Terry walked up to the door and kept knocking on it until the manager came to the door. He explained they weren't open for business. Terry explained that his wife had just had their first son and he really needed flowers. Dad said the look on Terry's face was priceless and the manager opened up so he could purchase flowers for me. I was very surprised when he brought in the flowers and loved hearing the story later from my mom .. it was such a sweet thing for them to do.

This is my mil, Gin, with Chris when he was just a few days old. Chris was the first grandchild on both sides of the family. He had four very loving fun grandparents that he was able to spend time with throughout his growing up. Both grandmom's are gone now .. but Chris was very blessed to have had lots of years with both women. They were a very important part of his life.

Here's a picture of Chris and I taken at his first visit to Disneyland .. what fun times :)

Legos and cars .. all boy .. and his love of both never lessoned over the years. I didn't have a dining room because a lego town started to grow and continued to live on the dining room table until he was about 13. After that the lego town moved to the finished den, where even at 14 or 15, Chris and his friends could be found upgrading lego town.

From little boy to a senior in high school, almost over night! Besides cars and legos, Chris has always had a passion for music and books. From fifth grade through his senior year in high school he played the violin. He has a wide range of music he enjoys, from the classics to ska and everything in between.

I really like this picture of Chris and Monica, taken a couple of years ago. Chris met Monica at Washington State University (WSU). Chris was lucky to find a girl that understood his car obsession and actually learned a lot about cars while dating him. They both enjoy the outdoors, camping and hiking.

This motely crew are 3 of Chris' best friends .. I think these 4 will be friends throughout the years. They have all been through a lot together, and separately, but still remain very close. Chris has know Derek (far left) the longest. Derek was 2 when we moved in across the street from his family, Chris was 5 at the time. Jay (next to Chris) and Sean (far right) are friends Chris met in high school, in the music program. I love that my son has learned to cultivate good friends .. it's not always easy for guys, or for girls for that matter. These 4 definately have a lot of history together .. the older they get the more we learn about what they really did when they were in high school! Sure glad I didn't know a lot of that back then! lol

The other love of Chris' life .. his car. A 1986 Subaru wagon that my dad sold him when he was 16. We sure didn't know at the time what a monster was being created .. Chris went from a kid with some interests in cars, to a boy totally consumed with all the modifications he could do to the car. Within a year of purchasing the Subbie, he lifted it, joined an off-road Subaru club and has enjoyed the mud ever since! lol At the current time he also has a Subaru turbo WRX 1993 (I think), and a Subaru Brat (can't remember the year) that he has stripped down and is rebuilding (in our garage cause they don't have one! lol).

and when the Subbie isn't off-roading in tons of mud .. it gets cleaned up all pretty for car shows.


Happy Birthday Chris

Love, Mom :)

I'm grateful for my son ...

Stash and Wips and Stuff ...

Happy Monday ... my week was good and my weekend was better. Saturday was full of housework, a few errands, stitching, nascar racing and after all that we rented Michael Clayton. If you haven't seen it, I would really recommend the movie .. but don't expect to stitch during it! lol .. I tried for the first hour, but keep getting lost so I put the needle down and enjoyed the rest of the movie. Sunday was a beautiful day here. DH worked on the deck and I opened up all the windows and putz around outside. I also spent some time cleaning up my stitching room ... started reorganizing charts and putting threads away so I could find them again! I do enjoying playing with my stash .. it's almost as fun as stitching! lol

Speaking of stash .. a few of you asked were I ordered Stash Keep by Homespun Elegance. I found it on this website ... The Stitch and Frame Shop. Peggy was really nice and I would definately order from her again. I've also seen it on Skakespeare's Peddler site. Maybe we should have a little fun SAL with this one .. quick stitch and fun too!

Look what arrived in the mail today! I have got to stop buying stash! argh .. but darn it's all sooo cute! The first picture is stash from Monsterbubble .. thanks Anna for enabling me! lol life's a stitch, and then you dye" came with kool aide to dye the fabric! what fun is that :) I'm really looking forward to a cup of coffee and some time to look through her book .. looks like fun too!




This stash came from DSL .. now I'm about 7 words behind on the L*K doubles .. gotta get stitching!


Here's what I've been stitching on last week and over the weekend. This is CCN's Sunflower Sampler. I just love this sweet pattern. The fabric is a very pretty blue and lovely to stitch on.


and here's my progress on BC's Joy. I need to get a better picture of this in the sunshine ... this picture just doesn't show how deep and warm this piece is.


And I haven't forgotten about kitchen pictures .. but the sink is not here yet .. it is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and if all goes well the plumber will be here on Thursday .. we'll see lol

Hope everyone has a great week!!

I'm grateful for my laptop working again ...

Almost done ...

Finally there's an end in sight with the kitchen remodel. Sure has been a long couple of weeks but finally the new countertops were delivered and installed on Tuesday and the kitchen refacing started on Wednesday and was done by Friday ... well almost done. The plumber came to hook up the new sink and we found out the sink was a bit warped, and we needed 5 holes instead of 4 because of the way the dishwasher vents. We've order a new one and hopefully it will be here early next week .. it had better get here fast! I think I have missed having a kitchen sink more than the counters or the stovetop. We are really pleased with how the refacing and the countertops turned out. But I'm not taking any pictures of it until the sink is in :)

Now with the kitchen done it was time to move everything back into the kitchen. Perfect time to reoganize and throw things away, don't you think? I was looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time .. dammm we have to much stuff! Well, Chris and Monica came over Friday night to check out the kitchen .. we were visiting and talking about the new kitchen and I mentioned that I was going to spend all weekend putting the chaos back together. Monica said well why don't we start tonight and so we did! lol .. we really had a fun time .. Chris and Terry installed some new pull out racks while Monica and I cleaned out the cabinets and started putting things away. They left about midnight (yes we are all pretty much night owls! lol) and we had about 3/4 of the kitchen put away. And yes, I got rid of a large amount of stuff, but only 6 coffee cups! lol

Since we got so much done Friday night, I took a few hours and went shopping with Monica. I just had to get a couple of new things for the kitchen *smile* I got some new red and blue towels (we decorate with primary colors in much of the house). I also got a new kitchen spoon holder and a cool brushed stainless steel fruit bowl. After shopping I spent the rest of the day finishing up putting the kitchen all back together. I really am in love with it and can't wait until the sink is installed! I promise to take lots of pictures soon.

I didn't get much stitching done last week .. couldn't seem to concentrate on anything much. I did work on my biscornu design, but ran out of silk before I got it done :( I've order more, should be here this weekend. It's a really pretty color, Dinky Dyes Ocean Grove. I've really enjoyed the design ...


And I got some stash in the mail .. has anyone seen this before? Stash Keep by Homespun Elegance. I just feel in love! It's a lovely made tin box that opens up. You stitch the design on top .. I'm going to use the suggested color, Moss by Belle Soie ... here's some pictures ...





Thank you for all your comments, I really do enjoy them! I hope everyone had a great week and a wonderful weekend .. can't wait to read blogs and see what you all were up to!

I'm grateful for new things ...

Monday Monday ...

I just love the Mama's and Paps's ... I've had this song in my head since this morning, just work up with it! lol

We survived the snow over the weekend. Most was gone by late Saturday night, but it remains very cold here, I think the high will be 50, with a low of 35. I'm sure Spring is out there somewhere .. at least the flowers are trying to bloom.

I spent Saturday cleaning house in the am with DH, some laundry and grocery shopping and then settled in for some stitching. I worked on L*K double flipits, finished Remember last week and Give this weekend, and started Listen. I'm really enjoying this project. I think I'm going to give it to Chris and Monica .. maybe as an anniversary gift in September. I also worked on my biscornu, hopefully I'll have it done next weekend. I need some time to learn to put it together and the exchange is due 5/10. No pressure here! lol I also worked on my new Bent Creek start. I couldn't get a good picture of it last night .. I'll try again .. I just love the fabric and the colors :)



Sunday we went out to breakfast with the kids. DH and I were going to run some errands after dropping Robert back at the house .. but DH and I started fighting on the way home, over something sooo stupid .. I got pissy and said I didn't want to go anywhere .. changed into my comfy clothes, put laundry away and stitched. I also rented a wonderful movie .. Martian Child with John Cusack. Has anyone seen it? OMGosh it was good .. I just love John. I don't think I've seen a movie with him in it that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. I'd recommend it to anyone. Sunday night one of my favorite shows was back .. Brothers and Sisters .. anyone else watch this? I love it and last night was a great episode!

I really enjoyed all the comments about snow in April .. this is really out of the norm for us! But the skiers and snowboarders are really enjoying it! lol

I had a couple of comments about the pin tins in my last post .. she's an ebay seller .. her ebay store is Calico Cottage Crafts. She's really nice, responds back quickly and I was very happy with the products .. however, she's in Australia so shipping is a bit costly. Didn't wany anyone to be "surprised".

I'm grateful for productive stitching weekends ...