Now you see it...

Now you don't...


R.I.P. 10410 Harwood Lake!

Happy Home Progress

I didn't end up having as much time to stitch as I would have liked on Thursday. Isn't that always how it goes? I did make a little progress on my Happy Home Sampler, working on the alphabet some more and starting the green vine below it.

It's prettier in real life! I swear!

My week has gotten off to a slow start due to a headache and overall cruddy feeling. I think I just wore myself out over the weekend. I need to not do that, LOL!

We are planning on going to the local county fair sometime this week, probably tomorrow evening. I'm looking forward to seeing what's been entered in the cross stitch category of the home arts competition! Then there's a flea market I want to visit on Sunday. Should be fun!

We've been meeting with builders and contractors concerning our next steps with the house at the lake. Our plan was to leave the existing house standing (making it a huge remodeling project) and build an addition onto it. Turns out the structure isn't as sound as we thought it was and it's been recommended by several people that we just tear it down and start fresh. We got some quotes, mulled over our options, and made the decision to go ahead with the demolition. The crew we hired said they could probably get to it next week, so sometime soon we need to get over there and rescue anything we want to keep!

I'm going to have some amazing before and after pictures next week, haha!

This & That

I've been working on the Fixer-Upper almost every day, but I did find a little time to stitch and made some progress on Spring Has Come by Prairie Schooler.I'm really feeling the need for a stitchy break! We're planning to grill hamburgers out at the lake for dinner tomorrow night so maybe I'll just take the whole day off!

Because I've been working so hard at the house, I treated myself to a Vera Bradley laptop case. This color (Mesa Red) is being retired so the case was 25% off. Gotta love a sale!
You wouldn't believe the HUGE box this was shipped in! I was hoping I'd won some secret Vera Bradley lottery, but nope, just the one bag. Drats!

We've been finding odd things in the house as we're tearing it apart. This envelope fell out of the bathroom cabinet when we tore it down...It says it's made of real human hair. Now isn't that just creepy? And no, I haven't opened the envelope to take a look!
We found this in the kitchen...Quite dirty, but way less creepy than the hair net, IMO! It reads: These coupons can be exchanged for handsome imported China premiums like samples on exhibition. Think it's still valid? Should I go get my china?

Hope everyone is having a great week and finding plenty of time to stitch!

I Believe

Believe by Lizzie Kate
stitched on 32-count linen with WDW and GAST
Seven down, five to go! Here's what the whole thing looks like so far...

Hello, It's Me!

At last! I have settled on a stitching spot in this teeny tiny house! This teeny tiny house that has only seven electric outlets! I never realized just how dependent on electricity we are! Or how many things we have that need to be plugged in or charged! We are constantly asking each other questions like, "Do you need to charge your phone, or can we have the lamp on tonight?" "Are you done with the curling iron so I can finish charging my toothbrush?" We're using those splitter things in three places but I'm afraid we'll blow a fuse or something worse just because I wanted the fan on while I was drying my hair!

So my stitching spot is at the kitchen table. My Ott Lite shares an outlet with two laptop chargers, the iron, and a fan. There's a big window over the table and usually a kitty or two will be sitting on the sill, watching the birds hopping around in the neighbor's yard. My daughter will sit across the table from me, tapping away on her laptop, while mine is tuned in to KLUV in Dallas. With our IM's blooping and familiar voices on the 'radio', we don't feel so far from home.

I've been working on my LK Double Flip piece. This month is "Believe". It's a bit rumpled and the picture is dark, but here is my progress so far...
You finally get to see "Learn" from last month, too, since I never posted a picture of that finish!

We've been busy working on House #2 aka The Fixer-Upper. The kids and I spent a day over there cleaning up cobwebs and all sorts of dust and crud. Next on the list, we're completely re-doing the bathroom, ripping out all the fixtures and tearing out walls to open it up a bit more. The before pictures are on my other computer or I'd show you why it had to be gutted, LOL! I'd also show you the floor tile that's been glued to the kitchen counter and the "popcorn" texture that was sprayed on the walls as well as the ceiling. Most of it I can only stare at, completely bewildered. Who were these people and what were they thinking??? I may have to devote a whole other blog to this project!

Other than working on the house and doing the "plug shuffle", we've been spending some time out at the lake. The Fourth of July was amazing, with tons of fireworks being set off. It was quite a show and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Jim (my sweetie) spoiled them with a generous assortment of things that went BOOM!

Yesterday morning we ventured out to a local U-Pick farm and filled up several buckets with fat, juicy blueberries. It was a gorgeous day, and we couldn't have found a more perfect way to spend it.

Yummy!

Me? Act normal? Never!

Before and After

Our 26' Penske rental was packed to the gills. The good news is I didn't have to leave behind one bit of stash! I even packed my orts!
Six of us worked for about four hours to get everything unloaded. It was a bumpy trip and a few things were damaged in transit, but my Ott Lite made it through unharmed! Woohoo! Now, if I could find my stitching bag I'd be in good shape!

We're slowly settling into a routine here. I found a fabric shop during one of our explores and there's a Michael's a couple of towns north of us, but I'll need to check online to see if there are any needlework shops nearby. Keeping my fingers crossed that there is something not too too far away since gas is over $4.00/gallon here.

Our internet was hooked up this morning so I'll be catching up on my blog reading over the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on lately!

We're Here!

Woohoo! I finally arrived in Michigan, along with two children, six pets, two cars, and a 26' truck full of all our worldly possessions. Tired does not even begin to describe how I'm feeling at the moment! Tomorrow we'll start unloading and deciding what needs to go where. We will be living in Temporary House #1 before we can move into Temporary House #2, which turned out to need more work than we originally thought it would. Heck, this whole move turned out to be 100 times more work than I thought it would, LOL! But I had some great helpers and things went reasonably smoothly. And I honestly believe in time I will get over having to give away my patio furniture... and my dining room set... and my Christmas china... and my filing cabinet... and my vacuum cleaner...

Okay, maybe not the vacuum cleaner so much.

Checking In

Just a quick post to say I'M STILL HERE! And I am never, ever doing my own packing again! We've been in this house over 15 years and have accumulated so much STUFF! It's unreal! Most of it hasn't seen the light of day in several years but for some reason my logical brain can't persuade my sentimental brain to toss it! We did have some success in getting rid of 90% of what was in my garage. Some ex-relations came by with a rental truck this morning and I pretty much let them have whatever they wanted. To me, most of it was junk, but they were more than happy to take it off my hands.

Sadly, I haven't picked up a needle in at least a week. I did manage to finish my Lizzie Kate Double Flip for the month, but for the life of me I can't find it to take a picture to post. My house is a maze of boxes so that's understandable!

Off to watch Hell's Kitchen and then I'm hitting the hot tub for some relaxin'!

Progress Pictures

Some proof that I am still finding time to stitch despite the packing!

Thursday was the Happy Home Sampler SAL. I finished the top row of flowers and got started on the alphabet. It's a little tedious with the three different blues but the result is quite pretty.

Block 3 of VoHRH is coming along slow but steady. This is the City Hall. The windows are all but finished and there's steps leading up to the door now. I can't decide whether to start laying bricks next or work on getting the sign hung.

I started my LK Double Flip for the month. I'll have it finished soon if I can sit still long enough. I seem to have a lot of nervous energy these days!

Thank you for the comments on my Fiestaware collection! I had quite an obsession with it (and Bauer, too!) several years ago! I wish I had taken a picture of the whole cabinet before I started packing. I'll never remember where I had everything!

Goals

I didn't do too bad in May:

1. Work on VoHRH. Check!
2. Work on Spring Has Come! Check!
3. Start and finish Listen (the next Lizzie Kate Double Flip). Check!
4. Start and finish May Woolly Tyme Blanket. Check!
5. UFOs! Nope, they're still UFOing!

I've decided not to make any goals for June because I'll be doing a lot of this:
I love my mummified dishes!

I would like to at least do my monthy projects, the LK series and my sheep blanket. And I'll be working on my Happy Home Sampler each Thursday for the SAL. Other than that it's gonna be slim stitchin' here for a while.

May Sheep Blanket Finish

May Woolly Tyme Sheep Blanket by Homespun Elegance
Stitched with WDW and DMC on 28-count linen
Charlotte was thrilled that her blanket was finished in time for the Sheep Social. It's hard to tell, but that's her happy face.

Can you believe it's June? The year just started and it's already almost half over!

SAL Progress

Here is my progress so far on my Happy Home Sampler, plus a glimpse of what's to come. Constant interruptions kept me from getting as much done as I would have liked. There's always next week, right? Maybe I'll get smart and take the phone off the hook, haha!

Everything regarding the house repairs has been worked out with the buyers and soon I'll be in packing mode. We are trying to do as much as we can ourselves, but I'm still looking at options. Moving is expensive!

Oh my!

That's a lot of orts, ladies!

Update on the house: We had the inspection on Friday. They were here over four hours! We came back to find little orange stickers stuck all over the house. They irritated the heck out of me so I removed them. Saturday I met with my realtor to go over the list of repairs they'd like me to make. Considering the stickers, it was a relatively short list. I agreed to all but four of them, and we were pretty satisfied that they wouldn't object. So I get a call yesterday evening from my realtor saying they realllly want one of the items taken care of. This just happens to be one of those things that you just can't repair and have it be right. The whole thing would have to be replaced which I'm told they don't expect me to do. My response was no, based on the fact that I know they won't be satisfied with the repair. I haven't heard anything back, which I find odd considering everything has been rush, rush, rush up to this point.

Anyway, I have a certain sheep's blanket calling my name. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Poor Charlotte

She's not very happy with me. Just look at that face.If I don't get busy, this is what she'll be stuck wearing to the monthly Sheep Social & Fashion Show.

I swear, that face! If she were a pig she'd be disgruntled.

Emotional Rescue

Things went well with yesterday's negotiations. We spit and shook hands on a selling price, and I initialed this and signed that until it was all official. We're having a home inspection tomorrow... cringe! Think they'll notice the crack in the kitchen light cover we just put there while changing the silly lightbulb? The inspection will take 3-4 hours so I'm planning to head out to a movie and make myself sick on "buttered" popcorn. Don't even try to stop me!

I had such an emotional crash and burn this morning. If there's such a thing as seller's remorse I had an acute case of it. So I did the only thing I could possibly do to feel better... I started a new project! I decided I'd join in the Happy Home Sampler SAL that BeckySC started on her blog. Even though I'm behind on my May goals, I needed something new to take my mind off this incredibly stupid thing I've just done (haha!). All that counting and recounting proved to be just the therapy I needed! Here's my start: I haven't done a stitch-a-long in ages, so this will be fun for me. I'm already looking forward to next Thursday, and to watching everyone's progress!

I Feel Like Singing!

Got an offer! Got an offer!
Got an offer just now!
Just now we got an offer!
Got an offer just now!

The last few days have been crazy and I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I think we may have finally sold the house!

WOOHOO!!

I've Been Spoiled!

There's been no stitching for me the last couple of days. Why? Because I received the most wonderful Mother's Day present from my children! A laptop! I have no clue what I did to derserve this amazing gift but I am just tickled about it!! It's been so much fun learning how to use it, setting things up, making it my laptop. And I'm WIRELESS!! The freedom!! Now tell me why I haven't moved more than six feet away from the router?

I do have a finish the share! I put the last stitches in Lizzie Kate's "Listen" Saturday night after dinner.

I made a small boo-boo on the letter S, but I've left it for now. If I correct it I'll have to restitch the T-E-N as well. I'm thinking I can live it. Here's a photo of the whole thing so far...

Oh my! The wrinkles! Is there Botox for linen?

Enjoy your special day, Moms!

C-O-F-F-E-E!

I had to share this for any coffee drinkers out there!

Goals

Can you believe it's May?? Where did April go?? It seemed to blow through here so quickly, but I did manage to get a little stitching done! Here are my goals for April and how I did on them:

1. Finish "Season of Hope" by LHN. Check!

2. Start and finish "Give" by LK. Check!

3. Work on "Spring Has Come" by PS. Check!

4. Start "Village of Hawk Run Hollow" by CHS!!! Check!

5. One more attempt at the UFOs! Whoops! Forgot about this one!

Here are a couple of progress pictures that I've been meaning to post.

Spring Has Come! by Prairie Schooler

I have quite a ways to go on this one, but it's a nice break from the tiny stitching on VoHRH! I plan to keep working on it this month, so we'll see how much more I get done. These big projects kinda scare me but I'd hate to see this one become a UFO!

Village of Hawk Run Hollow (Block 3) by Carriage House Samplings

I started on Block 3 because I was initially stiching it without the Q-Snaps and I didn't want to be wadding up blocks 1 & 2 in my sweaty hand. I'm using Vikki Clayton silks and so far I love them! It's been a little rough working on the 40-ct. linen but my light and magnifier help tremendously. I'm taking it slow!

On to May goals!

1. Work on VoHRH.
2. Work on Spring Has Come!
3. Start and finish Listen (the next Lizzie Kate Double Flip).
4. Start and finish May Woolly Tyme Blanket.
5. UFOs!

Two littles, and two bigs! Perfect for me! And I can't forget my UFOs this month! They're getting sad!