It's spruce up time

You know, sometimes you just stitch and stitch and when they are completed  they just go in this big pile and nothing happens with them. Some of us have more of those "piles" than others. I can't stand to have too many because if I take the time to stitch them, I want someone to enjoy them!
Here is May, by Country Cottage Needleworks, that I stitched last year, but needed to finish for this month. I finished it April 30. I just love how it updates my calendar my Dad made for me years ago. I found a cute button in my stash that matched the flowers perfectly.

I stitched this one several years ago......I'm ashamed how long it's been in my "need to do something" with pile. I was planning on getting an orange frame, but that would have to be ordered. Obviously I wasn't doing that, so one day I went to visit my Mom and took it with me. Walked in the local Michael's,  picked out a white ready made frame and decided to just mat it, to give it color. This will go to my husband office, who has the Pistons, Red Wings and U of MI pictures already. Guess I need to find a good Lions one and he'll have all the sports covered.

We've been working outside, like most people this time of year. Just by adding new mulch we went from this:

To this:

I've been having fun seeing what color tulips I planted last fall. You can see some of them around the pond, but here are some close ups.

We've been redoing our front walk too, but I'll save before and after photos when we are done. It won't be until after Memorial Day weekend. Still have lots to do and 2 ton of rock being delivered. We probably underestimated what we need!

I'll leave you with my grand daughter doing her favorite thing and with the piece I made for her. Enjoy the warming weather and try and get some stitching time !

Hot needles

6 weeks from the last post and the trees here still haven't leafed out and maybe only 2 days near or in the 60's. I hope it's not an indication of a cool summer. I have had a few scragglers bloom and I cut these today before the thunderstorm and winds would knock them over anyway! 

Onto the stitching update:
 Right after my last post I received my piece back from Jill Rensel.

I am a Stitcher by Cherrywood Designs

 It now hangs in my craft  room.  I just love how the colors worked and goes so well in my room. 

I didn't really realize it, but I've gotten quite a bit of stitching done in 6 weeks. I had a stitching/friend weekend the end of March and we stopped at Stitching Bits and Bobs. I got fabric for a couple projects. I was really going to town on Balcony View of a Villa (full pages of 2 colors, boring  but fast!!) but wanted to start a pattern for Amberlyn before she outgrows it. I finished this in a few days. The fabric is much more peachy in real life.

Country Cottage Needleworks Princess Parade

 I used mostly Carrie's floss but keep the same color pallet. I will be putting it in an 8X10 frame and giving it to her soon.

 After I finished that, I completed all the rows of 5 complete pages of the Mystic. That's right....5 pages. Here is the progression photos. 

Balcony View of a Villa Mystic Stitch on 22 ct

 I don't think I've flown through one as fast before. It is 20 pages so I am 25% done. After the 5 pages were done I got another small project out and started and finished my June Cottage from Country Cottage Needleworks. I changed a few small things but again, kept the same color pallet. 

 

Country Cottage Needleworks June Cottage

And I leave you with a sketch that the computer did of Amberlyn and a friend that I took to Bounceland ( a large place with all the blow up jumping things and slides!) I thought the computer did a pretty good job for $2!

 

  And another favorite of her up in Papa's tree stand taken this spring, although it doesn't look like April!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what I'm up to. I haven't decided what I'm doing when Google Reader goes under. I hope you all will continue to follow me somehow.

In a few weeks......Spring!!!

Where has the year gone already? It's almost spring and I have lost the first 3 months! After my last post, I got the flu (yes, I had my shot) and it lasted a good 3 weeks. I missed a whole week of work which has never happened in my 30 years working there. I did recoup finally, just in time for a vacation! I'll talk about that later in case you're just here for the stitching! 

First up, I finished the piece for my friend.  I changed most of the colors to go with the darker material I picked out. She likes it and is finishing it in an old window frame & putting this into one of the panes. 

Little House Needleworks - America Stitched on 32 ct Vintage Antique Almond

 

I still didn't have the ambition to put any more beads on my CdC, so it sits in my craft room crying, but I've been pretty good at ignoring it lately. 

After I recouped from the flu I had to start something new! I joined a Mystic SAL that was to start March 1. I would be on vacation then, so I started a week or 2 early. I am tackling it differently than all my other Mystics I have done. I am only doing a 10 X10 row all the way across. When that row is done, I go to the next row. I'm doing that versus stitching where the colors take me. It does help with searching the pattern for the next symbol and so far it's working well. I do go a few stitches into the next row if I see that symbol has only one or two in the next one. Cuts down on confetti for the future. This is a picture of the finished pattern. 

I am using 22 ct Aida with 2 strands. I tried using one, but that first corner with all the black...I just didn't like the coverage, so back to 2 strands. Here is the first row.

And here is the 2nd completed row. I did all this before I went on vacation on Feb 22. It's the most boring part of the pattern, I hope I will stick with this way of tackling it!

I took some stitching with me on vacation, but this is what I accomplished!! Whoop-de-do!! It must mean I had a great vacation though!! LOL

Here is what I did since I've been home this week.

 Plum Street Samplers- Halloweenies on 36 ct Vintage Sand Dune

2 of my co-workers have "weenie dogs" when I saw the pattern, I knew I had to do it.....not once, but twice! So here is my first completed one. I changed most of the colors, the ones charted were way too similar. I'm not sure what they will do to finish them....or have me do something with it. 
And since I only worked 2 days this week after returning from vacation (and realizing how fast the month was going) I decided I better "finish" the April cottage that I stitched last year for my calendar but never completed. So here is April all ready to hang in a few weeks.

Now on to the vacation! My husband reconnected with a friend he hadn't seen since 1974. They invited us to see where they live and vacation with them. I was a bit hesitant since I had only met them for 4 hours last summer when they came to visit. I have to say it was one of the best vacations I have ever had. They were great hosts and the similarities between the 2 are just eery. We have been married the same amount of years (30), have 2 kids, one boy, born first and the 2nd born a girl. (Both within a year of each other) They look similar, act similar, buy the same clothes, the wives have almost IDENTICAL wedding rings and so do the men. We all got along very well and plan on taking vacations with them again if at all possible. It's like they picked up their friendship right where it left off almost 40 years ago. They live in Flagstaff Arizona so we started there and then ended up in Mexico for 4 great days of sun and warmth. Did I mention we missed the biggest snow storm of the season in Michigan??? Yahoo!!! Here are some photos of the scenery and fun we had. 

Flagstaff Arizona

Sedona Arizona

Sedona, snow on the Red Rocks happens about every 20 years.

Cactus and desert driving into Mexico

View from their balcony at Rocky Point Mexico

We climbed this rock mountain in our FLIP FLOPS!

Pomegranate Margarita's!!

Panoramic view of the beach

Just to get the picture of how big these things are!

Brothers???

Getting down the Rocks!

Here's looking at you!! 

Hope you enjoyed coming along with me on my vacation. Thanks for stopping by!!!
 

Beads and a new start

I've slowed down a bit on my Cirque.....after getting all the stitching done,  I needed to start beading. Well the 3 big circles in the middle were no big deal. The first corner?? That's a different story. Even though I'm not using a dyed fabric, the 32 ct is just a bit too small for the Mill Hill beads I picked. So I am having to free hand the pattern to make it fit. I'm not very good at making things up, hence only one corner is done. I still want to add a few beads around the edges, but that corner is almost done. I've looked at the other 3 corners and YES those will all need to be "adjusted".
 Here is the overall

Here is a close up of the 3 big circles beaded

and here is a close up of the beaded corner (still needing a few around the edges)

And I am a member of The Stitchers Village (badge on the right of my blog) and each member is to stitch a piece of ribbon band for a sampler that Patty will then put together. I had a piece picked to stitch but it didn't "feel" like me. So when I saw the JBW design "Mitten" I knew it was meant to be. I stitched it in one day! I changed the "mitten" to say Michigan to personalize it. I did it in Waterlilies Mediterranean silk to symbolize the waters of the Great Lakes.

And I ended up finishing a piece I started a year or 2 ago. I would like to finish it into a rounded flat fold of some kind.....still mulling that finish over......

I'll end with the weather....as you know most of the north has been under a "cold spell" this week. We have not been in the 20's for over a week now, some days were a high of 6F. Here is my pond and waterfall now.......if you are outside, you can still hear the water running over the rock, but you certainly can't see it!

Brrrrrr

So what better to do when it's 6F outside??? Go to the INDOOR water park where it's 87F! Till next time....stay warm!!!

Watch out with the bucket spills!

Going down the big tubes was her favorite thing.

Leap frog on the bouncy "lily pads"