heart attack...four times over

After picking Jose up from school, me and the two boys went to Kroger to get a few items and a bag of dog food. When we got home I asked Jose to feed the dogs, but he needed to open the new bag bc we were out. Look at what I caught him using in order to get the bag of dog food open. I had a heart attack! Seriously!!! I couldn't believe this child. I nearly died! I ripped those suckers out of his hands (not really but I felt like it) and told him to get the kitchen scissors, not my embroidery scissors...EVER!!!! Ahhhhhhhh...

Today me and Cameron were at mom's house. We haven't been there in nearly 3 weeks so it was time for a day-long visit. I mentioned awhile back that me and mom are participating in a mother-daughter round robin. This is my first one. We decided to share-stitch Shores from Carriage House Samplings.

We are using 40 ct and I'm really excited! I haven't stitched on that high of count before; mom has though. We're using Needlepoint Silks and I've not used those before either; mom has though. Mom's done everything I think. She's such a precise stitcher. Her work is beautiful! If it weren't, she wouldn't be fortunate enough to work for Hoffman. I learned everything about stitching from her. I get to take my stab at this piece and I'm anxiously waiting until I put my needle to fabric on this one. Since I haven't added it to my current rotation I will add this as a "daily stick." I will stitch on this piece at least 1 hour per day. I have the next block to the right.

My mom recently stitched a birth sampler for Cameron's room. The design is from Sisters and Best Friends. It's so precious! I love it! I love how the frame hugs the piece, and I love, love, love that sweet little verse.

While at mom's I went through her quilting fabric stash and she allowed me to borrow some rather large pieces to cut my own from. She's so nice!

Here's where I had heart attack #2. These are full yards of fabric. The red fab belonged to my grandmother so there is no telling how old it is. My Aunt Pam might know the answer-Pam? The sampler fabric feels so soft ~ almost a sheen cotton or flannel; not sure. They are both so pretty. I can't wait to use a piece. :D

These are fat quarters she had. I was really looking for something similar to the red plaid, but came out with so much more. LOL The printed fab is so unique. I might make a pincushion out of this. The style is sewing so how fitting, ugh?!

And heart attack #3...

These 3 containers of "stuff" belonged to my grandmother. My grandma was quite the creative gal. She did everything besides quilt, but she had a ton of fabric. There is a lot of crochet supplies and a nice little collection of needles. I don't crochet, but I think I'll learn. The far right container is bunches of lace, ribbon and whatever else you can think of. This isn't all my mom has either. My mom will never get rid of this stuff, but my mom won't use it either. However, I will find some use and I too will NEVER give this away or get rid of it. It means too much to us. Anyway, the reason for the 3rd heart attack is that my mom let me have ALL this. I'm touched that she was able to part with it. She is so sentimental and it's difficult for her to part with anything that belonged to those that have passed. I am warmed that I get it!

The 4th and final heart attack (well, the first of four) was yesterday morning. We actually got snow! What the ____?!?!?! (pardon me) I was absolutely floored when we woke to this. We never get snow in March ~ not in Nashville, Tennessee. Anyhoo, it didn't last long enough for anyone to enjoy it though. The snow only stuck around for 2 hours and then puff, it was gone. This is about as much enjoyment as we got. Jose got creative for Cameron's sake.

Just a dusting really.

It's been freezing lately. Tonight's overnight low is 18 F and our high was only 35 F. Stay warm where ever you are and stitch til your heart's content. The kiddos are warmly tucked in and I think I'll head to bed and stitch on Monday's piece and maybe squeeze a little Shores in there too. :D

Gnight!

what's up?

What is up these days? I've been watching movies and taking care of household things the last few days, more like this past week, which isn't out of the ordinary for me, but I haven't had a lot of stitching power lately. I stitched a little bit the night before, but not a lot of progress was made on anything. I just finished watching Dexter; 24 started this week; and LOST will be next week. Friday we're going out to dinner with a friend of ours and his daughter. Saturday afternoon we're being visited by a high school buddy of mine along with his ex-wife and their newborn baby. Yes, I said ex-wife and their newborn baby, for a few hours. Afterwards, me and my mom are going to our Moonlight Stitching evening at the LNS. We always attend these stitching nights at the shop. It's so much fun! It's also a nice thing for me so I can get away from ALL the boys and be around stitchers and women. Moonlight Stitching is from 4-10 pm. We eat, stitch, giggle, chat and we get a make-it and take-it project. This time we're making floss ring tags which I will enjoy since I'm familiar with them and have done one myself. It'll be fun!

Then the real exciting news!!! One week from Saturday me and mom will be in St. Augustine, Florida for Susan Greening Davis' stitching retreat at the beach. DH is on mommy-patrol from early Friday morning until late Sunday night. I did this 2 years ago before Cameron was born and I had a really good time. The best was just being with mom away from home and having all that time for ourselves. This year it will be even more fun because 2 of our stitching buddies (Susan and Sally ~ no blogs) will be there and we get along with them so well. They also attend the Moonlight Stitching evenings and we always sit together. They were also at Celebration of Needlework in Louisville, KY and we did a lot together then. In addition, Pat who is the owner of our LNS is there every year. She adds to the stitching dynamic and she does all the cooking, which never disappoints. It's just going to be a lot of stitching fun! Winning prizes! Playing games! Auctions! Buying goodies! Shopping in historic downtown St. Augustine! Oh yeah...and the beach!!! It's really cold right now so the beach will be a very welcoming relief. And just spending time with mom is my favorite part of the whole trip. It's so much fun in our hotel room at night. We stay up late watching Forensic Files and stitching and eating chocolate and downing caffeine drinks ~ nothing sweeter!!!! The only downside to the trip is flying. I used to love flying and now I dread every part of it. I don't mind the checks and waiting in line. It's the flight itself that I'm afraid of. I'll have to take one of those wonderful pills called Xanax! That ought to do the trick. They'll put me out of my misery and I can handle that :o)

I read blogs all the time. Everyone is so neat and everyone inspires me to some degree. I've never been a part of a RR and I'm still intimidated to do an RR with someone that I'm not familiar with. It isn't anything against the other stitcher(s). I don't trust myself. I definitely plan on doing a RR with other stitchers, but it'll have to be in the future. BUT, and that's a big 'but', me and my mom have decided to do a mother-daughter RR, just us, on the Carriage House Samplings Shores of Hawk Run Hollow seen here:

My mom is a model stitcher for the JCS magazine and has recently finished a project for them so a little time as opened for her to stitch on something from her own stash. Mom started on the first block this afternoon and once there is a little more to show for she'll take pictures and I'll post them here. It's going to be a lot of fun stitching this RR with my mama. Besides, it is my first RR, but my mom has done this several times. She's been stitching a long time. I just can't wait until it's my turn at SOHRH! We figure that she can have custody of the finished piece half the year and me the other. Everyone wins!

I said before that I haven't had a lot of stitching power lately. A couple days ago I started on something for Valentine's Day. Well, for me and DH really. One of my goals this year, and for many years to come, is to stitch more pieces with family in mind. I don't stitch enough of those. I went to the library a couple weeks ago and checked out 2 cross stitch pattern books. I found a really cute, quaint pattern called Lovebirds. I don't know who designed it and technically the pattern is done in one color and I'm sticking to that, but I'm using DMC 3685 (I think that's the color); done on 32 ct Antique White linen. The size is small; I think a mere 2.5x2.5 or maybe 3 square. It's small, but my thoughts are to make it into a pinkeep and lay it in my basket. I may try and put our initials with the birds ~ not sure yet. The pattern itself is a bit Quaker/folk artsy. It's cute! I'll post photos when I have a little more done.

Tonight I'm going to try and stitch. I haven't stitched since Monday. I did go through all 10 years of the JCS Christmas Ornament issues to make a list of things to stitch. Not necessarily for this year, but just in general. I got that done at least. I've pretty much organized my WIP and Current Rotation baskets, but I'm still lagging on the stitching goals list for 2009. I need to get this list compiled or I'll lose myself...again!

I'm going to go for now. If me and DH can meet in bed at the same time I think we're going to watch "The Brave One" with Jodi Foster. Hopefully, DH will be able to stay up. He's such a lightweight! LOL

Today's Stitching: nothing yet ~ night is still young :o)