Gardens, Birds, Dragons, Horses, Flowers and Mittens

Well, it has been one very busy week. Remember that oh so overgrown garden. Well, now it looks like a brand new rockery which I think it was in the beginning. Canada Day is tomorrow so you will see all the little Canada flags in my garden.

And, this lovely new garden, needs a guardian. I found this little fella at a local garden center. Now, he needs a name - any suggestions?We also have some new visitors to our neighborhood. We have a family of Purple Martins who have moved in. I have seen three babies but think there may be another. I had to hide amidst my laundry on the line to get some pictures.And I did some stitching. First off, I received my Fair and Square Summer squares from Melissa P. (no blog). They are a Just Nan design - my first ever Just Nan and I just love it!!!!

Here are the squares that I did for her. It is a Marjolein Bastien design and is called Summer.

I also made a little scissor fob taking the butterfly from the design. I loved the look but had some trouble stitching it together.


We have a secret RR going on with my circle of Thursday Stitchers. Since she is not a blog reader, I feel safe in showing you my work on her piece.
And here is the entire RR to this point

My dear friend Ann from Knowledge and Needles figured out how to mirror the JBW mitten I had done and now we have a proper pair. I just love these.Yep, they are sideways. They are right side up in My Pictures but when I import them, for some reason, blogger is randomly flipping them sideways. Go Figure!!!

Not a great week on the weight loss front. I gained 1.5 lbs. this week. I kind of fell off the wagon for a week and it showed on the scale.

I don't know how much stitching I will get done this week. We are taking our grandson Jack to our house for a week to stay and play.

Busy Fingers

It has been a busy week.

I received this lovely package in the mail from Wanda. She and I were partners in Round 7 of the Fair and Square Exchange. The lovely square she stitched is a Quaker motif and the thread is a Thread Gatherers Silk called Peacock. I have never owned a Thread Gatherers silk before and could be found fondling it and admiring the beautiful color for some time much to my DH's despair. Peacock is also the WDW thread I am using on my Book of Stitches although they are not the same color. And here is a photo of the lovely extras she included. She must have known that I like purple and mauve as she picked those colors. Drew was here when I opened the package and tried to convince me the lovely body lotion would smell nicer on her.
I can now share with you the square I stitched for her. It is from Marjolien Bastien's Four Seasons Sampler.Little did I know that Wanda had a bunny!!! And here is a shot of the rest of the package.
We have another of those annoying sideways photos. I went back and checked my original photo and it was turned the right way. Somehow blogger is turning them sideways on me. Any suggestions on how to turn them the right way?

And now my stitching for the week

I finished the JBW mitten over 1 on 25 count fabric. My first over one and I really like how delicate it is. Now, I need to figure how to mirror image the pattern to make a matching mitten.

Next up is the completed page 7 of Little Book of Stitches. Only 2 more pages to go!
And would you believe a completed Page 9 of Paradigm Lost. I told you these fingers had been busy.Again, one of those sideways photos - boy is it annoying. I wish I could turn them once they are loaded on to Blogger. For those who wonder why I went from page 6 to page 9 - I am left handed and work right to left. I think I am well on track to finish this at years end. I have now decided to shoot for a page a month. That should give me plenty of time to complete this in 2008.

And last, but not least - DH and I repainted our bedroom this week. I have been an interior painter (hobby not job) for years and absolutely love redoing a room. This room was originally shades of mauve, yellow and green. Today it is light and dark taupe, and a blue green. The closet doors are not painted yet but they will be the dark taupe of the bed tray and bedroom door. This is the first time DH and I have painted together. It went surprisingly well. He was a great help. As I am getting older, and have developed some back problems I needed the help. Even with his help, I suffered greatly for a couple of days after. My phsiotherapist was not pleased with me and said as much. But, I am so pleased with my new room.
And again - please be patient with me. I am continuing to read all your blogs from my google reader but this very annoying ISP will not allow me to open your comment forms to comment. You are all such wonderful and beautiful stitchers and I so admire all your work. Please don't lose hope. I will return to commenting one day. In the meantime, I will just lurk (isn't that a dreadful word!)

A little stitching, a little gardening and a little weight loss

I managed to get some stitching done this week. First up - Lady Periphaeria Mystery Sampler. Here is part 2. I love the colors in this. For some reason, both my photos of this sampler are sideways. I am having some trouble rotating photos. Back to the book for the camera and a review of rotating photos LOL.Next up, My JBW mitten over 1 on 25 count in DMC 321. I love this red. This is one of my first attempts at over one and I am satisfied with it so far. Look forward to doing more like this.Yesterday, I picked up Paradigm and got some of the work done on the bottom right. Page 9 is full of small motifs and I am enjoying this. The sea horse is just delightful.
I have been watching the mini series - The Tudors - this week and stitching away. What a wonderful series. The scenery and costumes are outstanding. I am a huge history buff and am loving every minute of it. I am on episode 8 of 10.Today, DH and I did some work on our gardens. This garden is original to the neighborhood and has become sadly overgrown. We have decided to tear it up and start again. After 4 hours we have come up with this. I think it looks much better. We are planning to tear up all the garden and have it look fresh and new. The second photo is of the rest of the garden in it's sadly overgrown state.
Another pound gone - 31 lbs. now - YIPEE!!!
I have had a great deal of trouble this week with my internet connection. We had a storm last week that took out the phone lines and since then my connection is not good. I have been reading everyone's posts as they come into google reader but I cannot get the blogs to open and trying to post a comment does not work at all. I am doing the best I can. I may try a new provider and see if things improve. Since we live way out in the country dialup is our only option at the moment. Oh, I miss my wireless in Arizona!!!! Please know, I am reading your blogs and admiring all the wonderful work you do. When I get this straightened out I will pop up again. In the meantime, Happy Stitching everyone.

Antique pincushion and grandchildren visit

This has been a week of secret stitching. My Fair and Square Round 7 was posted off to Wanda today. Will share a photo as soon as it is received. My stitching is finished for Carolien and I need to make it into --------- hopefully this week. My first square is done for Fair and Square Summer Round. I have the back to do and then get my package ready for mailing.
Since I cannot share my stitching for the week I thought I would share something else.
Darn, I just realized these photos are sideways. Okay, everyone turn your head on an angle and look!
This antique pincushion was given to me by some friends who found it in with their family stuff as they cleaned out a home. It had been stitched by a family member as a memento of a soldier sweetheart who went off to WW1. It is a little frail and unstitched in a couple of places but still very lovely. The inside is stuffed with used threads - a new use for orts perhaps? I thought it was so nice of them to give it to me. It is in my basket of smalls - actually the only thing in the basket as I don't have any smalls yet LOL

Our little grandson Jackson was our guest for the week. We visited his parents last week and brought him home with us to spend some quality time with him. We had a great week. Lots of laughter and fun. There is something about grandchildren that is sooo special.

Here he is golfing in our front yard.My two favorite golfers - DH and Jackson.

In the pool with DH and our granddaughter, Drew, who came to visit for the day and joined the two of them.

Our little angel is asleep in Gramma's stitching chair - just had tooo much fun! We returned him to his parents yesterday with great reluctance.

Well, I'm off to stitch some more. Will try to stitch on something that can be shown.

Take care one and all

Reaching the middle!

My stitching this week has been varied and interesting. I have had the opportunity to stitch with Beatrice at her home and with the stitching group at Ann's both Thursday and Friday afternoon. One of my readers commented on having a group to stitch with. I consider myself so fortunate to have a large group of stitching buddies and love them all. We are around 14 on Thursdays, 3 on Friday and growing all the time. I miss them so much when I winter in Arizona and stitch alone. My thanks to Ann for enabling us all.

I have finished page 5 of Little Book of Stitches from The Gift of Stitching magazine. I thought it was time to post the first 5 pages together. The newest finished page is in the top left corner.

I worked a couple of days on Paradigm Lost. I have decided that I want it finished by the end of the year so I need to spend more than one day a week stitching on it. I am happy to report that I finished page 6 and am now officially halfway there. Does that count as a small Happy Dance - or half a dance anyway?

My squares are done for the next Fair and Square round. I have a few things to pick up to put in the package and then it will be ready to ship.

I am busily working away on the gift for Carolien that she won during my Blogaversary contest.

Neither her piece or my Fair Square are available for viewing yet until they are shipped and received by their owners.

On the personal front, I have lost 1.5 lbs. this week. I am slowly trying to slim down. I have some back problems and carrying around an extra 65 lbs. does not help. I have now lost 29.5 lbs. since December 6th. Dani and I are trying to be buddy and cheering section for each other as we travel this path. The biggest lesson for me has been that I am the only one responsible for the food that I put in my mouth. I also recognize that this needs to be a life style change and not a diet in order for this change to be permanent. I have not felt comfortable sharing this for fear of failure but I think I am now more confident of my ability to do this successfully. So, on to the next pound!