Received a package from The Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange

Bonnie sent me a very nice pinkeep. The backing fabric is blue with stars. Thanks Bonnie! It is very nicely done.We are having another beautiful day in Oregon and I should be outside weeding flower beds (which I actually enjoy doing). Instead I will probably start cleaning out the garage. We are in a constant state of remodelling here. We painted the ceiling in the dining room last night and today will be doing the walls. So far in the last few years we have remodelled the kitchen (ya hoo!), the main bath, put in pergo floors, and more. The house is shaping up slowly but surely.

I'm still waiting to hear from TYLPS exchange partner to whom I sent a package. It has been 3 weeks and I'm getting pretty nervous about it being lost in the mail. I'm going to wait one more week and then start stitching a replacement piece. The piece turned out really cute so I hope it isn't lost in never, never mail land.

Home Alone

This week it is just me and the dog (I try hard to ignore the cat). The dog is great company except for the fact that he was sprayed by a skunk AGAIN. I keep telling him that the cute black and white kitty that comes through the yard does not want to play! So, I'm living with the slight aroma of skunk.

Anyway.....I'm home alone. The husband is off on the east coast for business and the teenager is leading a squadron at Civil Air Patrol encampment. I don't even have baby duties this week. Now, wouldn't you think I'd be stitching my little fingers to the bone? Nope, instead I'm helping the daughter paint her new bedroom at her new apt. I did manage to freeze the peaches I picked the other day so I guess I have accomplished something. It is supposed to be close to 100 degrees tomorrow so I'm thinking that it would be a great day to stitch.

I have worked on a couple of things though. I finished the needle book and somewhere in the process lost the little pair of scissors I was going to attach above the writing.

I will have to find something else to put there. I made a scissor fob to go with it.

I have also worked on the I Wait For The Lord. I need to finish it so it can get framed in the next month. I think it is going to be very nice when it is done.

I finished stitching the LHN exchange piece but haven't done any finishing work on it. I'm still contemplating what to do with it. My exchange piece for TPS exchange is taking forever to arrive. It really turned out cute and I wish I could post a picture of it. I will as soon as I get a message from her that it arrived.

Blogs are interesting things. I'm still trying to figure out how the formatting works. Things just don't seem to end up in the place that I originally put them. Maybe I'm blog challenged!

BBD has arrived at its new home!

Stacy emailed me this morning to let me know that she received it so I can finally post a picture of it. I had never done a finish like this one before. I saw one in our local store (acorns and threads) and came home to recreate it. Before last year I didn't really do these types of finishes. My stitching was always framed pictures, pillows, ornaments, etc. I'm enjoying the world of "smalls" and other finishes.

Here is how it was SUPPOSED to look. We had a slight problem with a water cup left overnight by my grandmother and a teenage boy who wasn't looking at where his feet were residing (NOT supposed to be residing on the coffee table). Needless to say that overnight, nobody noticed that the cup was spilled under the book and it soaked 3/4 quarters of the way up into the journal. The water damage ruined both the book and my coffee table. Luckily I was able to remove the stitching and finish it another way.

I'm glad that Stacy likes her gift. Thanks, Stacy for letting me know you received it.

Berries and more berries plus kids

Every year my neighbor and I head out to the fields for u-pick berries. We freeze them (what we don't eat anyway) for the winter. So far I have some marionberries, raspberries and blueberries stored away. Soon it will be time for blackberries. I also pick apples and pears. I love the smell of apple sauce cooking in the winter!

As for cross stitching.....the packages I sent out for exchanges haven't arrived at their new homes yet so I can't post pictures but I was very pleased with both projects. I'm working on the LHN exchange which should be totally finished in a few weeks.

I can't believe summer is almost finished. I'm not ready!

Since I don't have any pictures of cross stitching right now I thought I would end this with some pictures of my kids. The first picture is my future daredevil. At 7 months he knows what he wants and doesn't mind going to get it. He definitely wanted to play x-box!

I am his surrogate gran'ma and babysit him during the day.

Then comes my newly turned 15 yo son and my soon to be 5 yo. They are best buddies. I have babysat this guy since he was 11 months old. Sadly, he is going to preschool this year and I don't have him full time anymore. It was sorta like losing one of my own. Last is my daughter (age 22) and my other little guy who is 4 months. The babies are first cousins and I have babysat them both this summer but this little guy is headed to a full time permanent sitter closer to home. It has been fun to do babies this summer but very tiring! My daughter loves to come home and play with them. She lives on her own and works as a nanny parttime and also for HeadStart parttime. My son really enjoys the babies too but isn't quite man enough to change a diaper. I'm working on him though.

As soon as the exchanges arrive at their new homes I will post some pictures. I'm thinking it will be soon.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Joined a new exchange and started a new project

Thank you ladies for allowing me to join the Little House Needleworks exchange. I'm already planning and plotting :)

I started a sampler this weekend to give to some friends for their anniversary. I'm enjoying working on it. It is by Hands To Work and titled - I Wait For The Lord. I am not doing the entire design but instead I'm taking out parts in order to have it completed in time. I'm using a hand dyed silk by Silk 'N Colors named Bronze Age Green.

I need to mail my two exchanges that are completed for The Prairie Schooler and Black Bird Designs. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm a bit overzealous and had one of them stitched before I even received my exchange partners name. Now I just need to get them in the mail box.

The weather has been crazy here in Oregon. We definitely aren't used to 104 degree temperatures! It was actually 90 degrees at 10:00 in morning one day and never went under 75 degrees that night. sigh. I'm afraid that I don't do those temperatures very well. Even my dog is going stir crazy. We are on a streak of 8 or 9 days over 90 degrees right now. The weeds are growing wonderfully in all my flower beds and garden but I refuse to go outside until the weather cools down. Good cross stitching weather though!

It was a wonderful weekend at the coast

Life has been very busy in my house. I'm trying to keep up with the vegetable garden, berry bushes, flower gardens and tend babies too. Fitting in cross stitching has been a challenge lately. We went to the coast to ride quads in the sand dunes. We had a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful. My husband rode his dirt bike and our friends brought a quad for me to ride. This has become an annual trip for the four of us and we enjoy "getting away".

As for cross stitching, I have been working on my exchange projects but I can't show them yet. I have also been working on a gift for a lady in Texas. It is a needlebook and fob and I'm almost ready to start the finishing work on the book. I have a bit of stitching left and then I have to attach some felt. It is turning out really nicely. I combined two patterns...one for the stitching and one for the needlebook pattern. The wording on the inside is in spanish and says "needles and pins". I put some small yellow beads in the middle of the flower on the cover and a pair of scissors as a trinket inside.
I have another project that I just started that I'm hoping to finish before November for an anniversary present for some friends. I am also working on the letter J from Nora Corbett for my daughter. When I have to go somewhere I take along my "Schoolgirl Lessons" pattern from Little House Needleworks. I'm getting close to being finished so I will have to find another small project as my "take along" stitching.

Wild weather in Oregon!

We are having the most incredible weather in our normally mild state! Severe thunderstorms, hail the size of pennies, trees limbs coming down. I was driving down a larger highway when it was starting and the radio people were telling everyone to get off of that stretch as fast as possible. That was enough to scare the dickens out of anyone! I have been a very bad blogger lately. Possibly it is because only a handful of people even know I have a blog :) so I don't feel compelled to keep it active. Possibly it is because I have been caring for a 5 month old baby and I have forgotten how very tiring it is! Or, it is because I have been landscaping my front and backyard which are both turning out very nicely.

I have few new pictures. I finished my exchange for the BlackBird exchange and was VERY unhappy with the results.

I also finished the exchange for the Year long Prairie Schooler exchange. Due to circumstances within my control but not heeding my own common sense I had to start all over just 3 days before the deadline. I ended up changing the design a bit due to time but I think it turned out ok in the end.

I received my two exchanges. I have pictures of one of them and will try to do pictures of the other soon. This owl is from the Prairie Schooler exchange. The fabric on the back is adorable.

Right now, I am working on a small piece as a surprise for my grandmother. She has a beautiful cross stitch stand and I found a freebie pattern of a lady stitching at her stand that I thought would be cute. I will post a picture as soon as I get it done.

I am already brainstorming the next round of exchange. It is alot of fun to see everyones designs!