The Beat Goes On

La-dee-da-dee-dee, la-dee-da-dee-da. I'm still working on Spring Has Come, but you can see I'm getting close to the end. I'm holding off on filling in the house for now. It's supposed to be white but I'm considering going with something that will add a little more color to the piece. Besides, I'll go cross-eyed trying to stitch white on white and end up in bed with a migraine for two days while they uncross!

Last night's dinner was homemade pizza. Food pictures have always been a challenge for me, but Phil got me a fancy pants camera for Christmas and I think I'm getting better results with it. My son was the 'photog of record' for this one here. He was also the executive pizza maker so I had a night off from kitchen duties. Woohoo!

Looks like today is going to be a errand running, taking care of business kind of day. We have rain in the forecast so I'm hoping it holds off until I'm back home and safely tucked into my stitching chair. I love a good storm as long as I don't have to be out in it!

Thanks for popping in to visit! It was great seein' ya!

My First IHSW

I had some extra time on Friday so I decided to participate in the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. Don't you just love Hermie!

My project of choice for the stitch-a-long was naturally Prairie Schooler's Spring Has Come. My time Friday was spent stitching those floating trees to the right of the floating roof. I had more stitching time on Sunday while watching the season finale of Downton Abbey (Am I the only one who wants a Chatty Dowager Countess doll? Snarky remarks at the pull of a string! I love me some Maggie Smith!) and was able to get those long brown stringy bits to the left of the roof done. I am very tree-challenged but I think it's a willow tree?

My other sewing task on Sunday was re-stitching a pocket onto one of my daughter's sweaters. I was so happy with how perfectly aligned and unpuckered I got it despite the stretchiness of the material, and then I realized I'd sewed the front and back of the sweater together! At least I got a good laugh when my daughter went to try it on! (And after spilling an entire spaghetti pot full of water into my kitchen utensil drawer, I needed a good laugh!)

Can you believe it snowed this morning? I realize it's February and I live in Michigan but still... snow?? Color me spoiled by this mild winter! Happily, it's already melting and I won't have to dig my ugly snow boots out of the closet!

Phil and I are going to make our final flooring selections for the house this afternoon. I keep thinking we're at the end of all this picking and choosing and matching but then we'll get a call asking for grout color choices or which switch plate covers do we want and we're back to debating and second guessing. Phil is adamant that we never build another house!

That's about it for my Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by and a big Howdy! to any new folks who have found my blog through the WIPocolypse or IHSW! I sincerely appreciate your comments and look forward to getting to know some new-to-me stitchers!

PS Progress

Despite some snow and cooler temps this last week, I'm still thinking Spring here! The bunnies and birds are just about done on Spring Has Come, and I'm working my way down to the big house at the bottom. It's almost solid stitching down there so it's going to take me a while to finish. There's an alphabet scattered in the house's 'front lawn' which means I'm going to have to start paying attention to what I'm stitching! I do love the splashes of lavender and turquoise in this sampler... very Springy!

Thank you all for visiting and have a grrrrrrreat weekend!!

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope your day is filled with love and all things sweet!

February WIPocolypse Report

Can you believe a month has passed and it's time for another WIPocolypse report?? I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode! I just home some creepy kid doesn't decide to wish me out into the corn field! (Although, if I can take my stitching with me and there's good lighting out there, it might not be so bad!)

Now on with the shoo...

I have one finish to share for the month... Block One of my Village of Hawk Run Hollow was completed on January 26!
Can I get a woohoo?!?! This is more of a finish within what will hopefully be a much LARGER finish by the end of the year. I have nine more blocks to go, but plenty of time to twiddle my thumbs and toes until it's the end of summer when panic sets in and I start making unrealistic stitchy schedules and planning rotations. Stay tuned!

Now, in my last report I said I wanted to finish up all the Garnet stitching on one page of Peppermint Twist. There honestly isn't much of it left, but did I finish it?
Of course not! I was distracted by the stars (oooh... shiny!) and wanted to get those done. Ever the futzy stitcher, I thought one of them looked like it was a different color than the rest so I ripped it out and restitched it. That made the next star look a little off-color so I re-stitched that one as well. Wash, rinse, repeat. Then it dawned on me I was using an overdyed thread which has a lot of variation in the color. I might be super dense but at least my stars match.

Feeling my progress on PT was much too slow (go figure!) I decided to pull something else out of my WIP basket. Considering our mild weather this winter I decided some Spring stitching would be appropriate, so here is Spring Has Come.
I've been working on the block with the house and bunnies and totally loving the 28-count linen after stitching on 40-count for so long. Plus Prairie Schooler is always a favorite!

We had an absolute blast watching the Super Bowl last night! Or the commercials, I should say. I made up Bingo cards with typical (and some not so typical) things you might see in a Super Bowl commercial. Think "girl in bikini" or "talking animal". It's utterly hilarious to have a group of people yelling "Come on! Say something!" at every dog or horse that shows up on the TV screen! I think we cheered louder when we finally saw a penguin than we did for any touchdown! (We are definitely an odd lot here!)

Thank you for the nice comments on Phil's house. His previous home was completely destroyed in a fire so the process of rebuilding has been bittersweet for him. It's looking more like April before it's finished but that'll be in time for summer on the lake. Let's get another woohoo!

And now it's time to kick back and enjoy the evening! Leftover enchiladas from last night for dinner, some Netflix on the TV, and my stitching! Sounds marvelous!

A Stitchless Week

I seem to have lost my stitchy mojo this week so I'll just share the latest pictures of the house.

The exterior stone is up and we're super happy with how it looks. Trying to get all the different elements to come together and look good is turning into a real challenge but we seem to have nailed this one. Woohoo!


Here's a view of the back of the house, deck railings and stairs in progress:

View of the lake, ducks, and one pesky, wire-chewing muskrat if you look close:

All the drywall is done inside and they've started painting. On the main floor we have the Great Room:

Kitchen:

Dining room:

Master bedroom:

Master bathroom:

Some views of the basement:



Looking down from upstairs:


At the risk of boring you further, I won't report on the weather or my recent trip to the gynecologist! But I swear if I don't find something on my WIP list that gets my stitchy motor running, I'm starting a new project!!