No dishes this week but.............

Well, no stacks of dishes to show this week. I managed to avoid most of them. DH and DIL did them all the only night we had a stack.
Our Jackson spent the week with us. What a fun week we had! He is such a cutie. He is trying to test his limits a bit and has learned to argue but all in all it was fun! We are in Ottawa today as we brought him home last night. We have some visits to do while we are here so will stay for several days. I love my son's wireless house - I can be online as much as I like!!!!

There have been lots of stitches lately.

I gave Dani her completed neighborhood last Sunday so I can post photos now. Every kingdom needs a coat of arms and so I added it to finish hers off.

I think her neighborhood is very original and quite attractive finished.


I put some more stitches in my Mirabilia - worked with some silver and grey for a change. It still doesn't look like much but someday.


I backstitched the elephants and around them and Noddy looks more complete.



I received my Round 12 Fair and Squares this week. Poor Nicky. Her first set of squares disappeared into mail neverland and so she graciously stitched me a second set.


I have been stitching or should I say counter-stitching on "Nobody Loves Me" I have restitched "oves me" three times now.I have been off each time. I have left it blank and moved on to a flower pot to give myself a much needed break. I will try the lettering again later! I love the colors in this one and would like to have better progress but those darn frogs!



Melissa's blogaversary gift is complete and will be off in the mail this afternoon. I hope she likes it.

Well folks, I'm off to stitch a bit - don't know what will strike my fancy this week. There is only one good thing about the lousy - rainy, gray, damp - weather we are having these days. I don't have to be outside pulling weeds so I can be inside stitching.

Until next week, I hope all is well and those darn frogs leap off!!!

Stack em high

I thought I would share this photo with you. It made me laugh when I realized what I had done.
Those who know me well, know that I HATE doing dishes!! The home we have now does not have a dishwasher or room for you. One of the things I negotiated with DH when we retired was that he would do the dishes - ALL of the dishes. He agreed. Yesterday he was painting the front deck and I was baking. I ended up with a huge pile of dishes. Well, begrudgingly I washed them - but dry them - absolutely not. And so, I stacked them as high as I could! And then laughed at myself - how foolish is that. But, those dishes stayed there and as one of my friends says "God dried the dishes" LOL.

On the stitching front.

Look what came home this week. My Winter Neighborhood RR. I LOVE IT!!!! I asked that a snowman be included in each square. It is easy to see that each person put some time and thought into their square. I will finish the snowflakes on each side and then make it into a wallhanging.

My Round 13 Fair and Squares have arrived at their home. I chose this design from an old book called 500 Cross Stitch Blocks to Stitch. It had been so dreary here that I wanted to stitch something summery and sunny.


I have added some stitches to my HAED and Mirabilia's Royal Holiday but they still look much like a blob so I will add photos another time.

Noddy came out of the bag and had some serious stitches added to him in the last few days. My friend Ann from Knowledge and Needles decided to give me a little heads up and calculated the stitches in this one - around 45,000 stitches! It is larger in stitch size than Paradigm Lost. What was I thinking! I can see a finish with this one now. I was beginning to despair that I never would.



It has been a busy couple of weeks here so blogging time has been short.

My parents spend the summer in Nova Scotia and left this past weekend. Before they go, I try to spend some quality time with them. They are in their late 70's and I know they won't be around forever. I only see them for a few short months a year - we are gone for 6 months and they are gone for 3 - so I try to squeeze all the time I can when we are together.

My bathroom has been painted and bordered and is looking lovely. It took 5 coats of paint to cover the green I had in the bathroom before. That does not count the coat of paint that I was covered in as I worked. It looks lovely. I did it around a lighthouse theme and am very happy how it turned out. Will post photos another time.

I have over 350 posts in my Google Reader and will do my best to catch up this week. I look forward to seeing what you all have been up to.

Happy Stitching everyone.

Yeah - I ben stitching!

I hope you all had a good week.
I have been putting needle to thread every chance I could. Not much housework got done but that's ok.

My first stitch I can't show you as it is a square on Dani's Neighborhood RR. Beatrice and I finished her last two squares and she has not seen it yet. We will be giving it to her next weekend and I will show photos then.

I stitched a needlebook for the Make A Wish Exchange and have received notice that it had arrived. I have only made one other needlebook for myself and this one I am much happier with.
I understand my recipient liked it.


My Mirabilia RR is finished and ready to go in the mail. Well, except for the $%^%##$ thread that I lost and cannot find anywhere.



I received a package in the mail yesterday from the Netherlands. Annemarie has started a new Sisterhood pattern and I am the second person to receive it.

Heidi (from Holland) was first and she included a lovely piece of hand dyed fabric and a skein of Carrie's Threads - Hot Pink for me.


I also received a lovely RAK from Erin. She has been following our Mirabilia RR exploits and when I said I was low on fairies sent me this pattern as a gift. Thank you Erin. I appreciate it very much and will try to see that it gets used during this RR.


Other than that, I pulled threads for a couple of new starts. Well, I finished Dani's RR so that counts as a finish. I have pulled the fabric and threads for Melissa's blogaversary prize and the fabric and threads for the Sisterhood II.

On the swan front - the first couple who had little ones have no more. Predators have gotten them. The second couple have been sitting on the nest for two weeks now with no luck. So, no new little swans this year.

Thank you to everyone who tossed their name in the cereal bowl for my blogaversary. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by, read my little posts and comment when you can.
Take care one and all.

Oh, and the frogs! I'm hoping by putting them on my blog they will stay away from my stitching.

And the winner is.......................

Missy Ann

I was sitting at the computer having my morning coffee and english muffin when DH walked by. I said draw a name from the bowl. His answer "What for?". So I had to explain the whole blogaversary thing. He didn't get it. "Why would you give something away when it's your anniversary? Shouldn't they be giving you gifts". Men, sometimes they just don't get it.

Now Melissa, I have all the pertinent information. I think I have a lovely lighthouse pattern here somewhere with your name on it. Sorry, couldn't resist!!!!
Please give me some time to stitch your gift. I will let you know when it is ready for mailing.
Congrats my friend!