Friday, March 8, 2013

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!!!
 

16 comments:

  1. Love all of the stitching - that Mystic is just flying along, and LOVE The Halloweenies - I shoulda ordered that when I got all of those Prairie Schoolers last fall :)
    I had fun just reading about your vacation - it sounds & looks like it was a blast! Which is what vacation should be!
    Come on SPRING!

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  2. Wow! You have been a stitching maniac! Love the weenies. America and April both turned out great as well. Will be interesting watching your new Mystic grow. You are making me want to go home and stitch. I haven't picked up a needle for 3 days straight.

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  3. America is gorgeous! And your new wip is going to be incredible. What a lovley pattern. Love all your stitching. Your friends are lucky and will cherish your gifts, I'm sure. sounds like you had a fantastic trip, especially reconnecting with Friends. I enjoyed seeing all your photos Nancy. Thank you for sharing them. I know the time has flown by hasn't it? March already:) Great to see your post. love Annette

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  4. Too funny about your separated-by-decades "brother"... lol I just love the wedding rings. Life's weird, eh.

    Congrats on your stitching -- which is lovely, and also on surviving the flu and missing the snow storm!

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  5. All your stitching is so lovely. I just love the way you finished the April Cottage!
    Thank you for sharing your holiday photos, it looks like you all had a fabulous time!

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  6. some really great pictues. April cottage is realy nice.

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  7. Really very sweet pictures x

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  8. Nancy, your stitching is gorgeous! Looks like you had a great vacation. Being from IL, it had to be very nice to be somewhere warm and miss the biggest snow storm of the season.

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  9. Beautiful finishes and wips.
    Glad you had such a great holiday.

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  10. I love the dogs piece and mystic stitch piece will be amazing . Your vacation pictures are so nice, you must be glad to have missed that storm.

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  11. Oh, your LHN piece for your friend turned out beautifully, Nancy--I do love it on that darker fabric and your color choices are perfect! Cute April cottage and Halloweenies, too--your coworkers will love those since they are Dachshund owners :)

    Your husband and his friend really do look like brothers--amazing!! So glad you all bonded so well and found a great place to visit. I've always wanted to go to Sedona myself...

    Enjoy your Sunday! And stay healthy now...

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  12. Fantastic pictures. Wonderful stitching. You started with a big pattern. I`m looking forward to see more.

    Greetings from Germany, Grit.

    Sorry for my English.

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  13. Oh my how nice is that MS...however I got to think'n and thought,,,why doesn't she put that first picture of Flagstaff to chart and stitch it???? HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?
    Glad you are feeling better and had a nice time away. All of your stitching is wonderful and what fun finishes. I think I may take you up on your idea of working your MS and my NT together and maybe I will make some progress. Well, after the middle of April maybe.
    Cheers to pulling stitches and renewing old friendships. PS does the other wife stitch,,,coz ya know,,,, that would be just one more thing to have in common...

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  14. It looks like you had an absolute blast on vacation - I'm so jealous of you being where it was warm... and so glad that it went so well :).

    Congrats on the stitching - I love the colors that you finished April with. You've been hanging around some of us too long, I think if you're ignoring your "one at a time" tendencies and letting poor CDC linger on... (evil grin)

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  15. Love the little weenies! And your Mystic is coming right along. April is finished really nice, too. Nice vacation pics!..What's that song...sons of different mothers? LOL

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  16. Love all the stitching!!!

    Now, it seems that the boys aren't the only ones who could pass for twins...the ladies look a lot alike as well. Sounds like a match made in friendship heaven, how wonderful for you all! And that vacation sounds like a dream, especially after having the flu. Sedona is a gorgeous place to visit, isn't it? And I love the view from your Mexico hotel...so glad you got to experience it all.

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Thanks for stopping by and finding time for leaving a comment!