It's SAT Night!

I'm going to continue working on my Lizzie Kate piece during tonight's Stitch-a-Thon. Next up is "Laugh" and it looks like it'll stitch up pretty quick. (I hope!)

Here's a (wrinkly) photo of how it looks so far: I had to stand on a chair to fit it all in! It's sooo looong!

Easy as Pie!

I was going to show you the apple crisp I made for tonight's dessert but every picture I took had that 70s "Harvest Gold" kind of tint to it. It was quite delicious, however, so I will share the link to the recipe I used. It's an Everyday Food recipe from Martha Stewart, and you can check it out here.

My other source of inspiration was this video from StartCooking.com:

Such an easy dessert to throw together, and it really was yummy. Using the MS recipe with the oatmeal in the topping made me feel like I was eating something good for me, too! Not to mention the house smelled DEVINE!

Time for a Happy Dance!

Woohoo! Here's Encourage, hot off the Q-Snaps! It didn't take too long to finish it up. Next on the list is Laugh.

Now I hear that Lizzie Kate will be doing a Halloween Double Flip series next year! I can't wait to see them!

Thank you for your good wishes for Spitz! He continues to improve and is acting more and more like his old self! He sends kitty kisses to everyone!

Miracle of Miracles

Look who's home!

My baby Spitz!

He went from kidney failure to having difficulty breathing, but I told the vet we weren't going to give up on him. We visited him at the animal hospital like you would any family member, and held him and loved on him and talked to him and told him we wanted him home. And here he is! Very thin and still weak, but he's eating and drinking again and hopefully he'll be back to his old self soon.

What's on your Google Reader?

One of my favorite non-stitchy blogs is Cake Wrecks.

You'll see a lot of this:

But there's also some pretty amazing ones, like this: It's a Corpse Bride wedding cake! How cool is that?

Weekend Stitching

Yep, that's it. The only stitching I did this weekend was N-C-O-U-R-A and part of G. A little disappointing, but then this was one of those weekends I felt like I was being pulled in a hundred different directions. When I did have some time to myself, I just wanted to VEG! I'm sure you all know how that is!

Our snow flurries continue, and it's even sticking here and there! I got my daughter an ice scraper for her car when I ventured out for 'provisions' today. I know she'll be thrilled, haha!

We've had one of our kitties (Spitz) at the vet over the weekend, being treated for kidney failure. Poor little guy is so sick but we are still hoping and praying for the best. Any happy thoughts/prayers you could send his way would be much appreciated!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Thank you so much for the comments on my "view"! I really can't wait to have our house done so I can sit and stare out the window at the water!

Baby It's Cold Outside

We had our first snow today. Nothing major, and it didn't stick, but it was still exciting for us southerners to see some "white stuff" falling from the sky. Now, was I inside all warm and cozy, tucked into my chair with a hot cup of coffee and my cross stitch? Of course not! I was outside lugging these things around:
(This picture was taken back when it was a steamy 71 degrees outside!)

Those are our floor trusses, and we have about forty some odd of these to nail in place. Let me tell you, they are HEAVY! Fortunately, we had some help moving them. Unfortunately, the gorgeous weather we had earlier this week didn't hold out until the weekend.

Here's a list of what I was wearing but any northerners have to promise not to laugh! From bottom to top: two pairs of socks, tennis shoes, jeans, long sleeved t-shirt, sweat shirt, fleece jacket, coat, gloves, work gloves, two scarves, and a hat. I think that's all. I told everyone I'd almost be comfortable if I had a pair of long johns on under my jeans.

Okay, fine! You can laugh now!

Stitch-a-Thon Tonight!

Woohoo! Tonight is the weekly Stitch-a-Thon for the Let's Stitch blog. I so look forward to Friday nights! I will be working on Encourage from the Lizzie Kate Double Flip series.
(I made a tiny start on it just so there'd be something to take a picture of!)
I'm still hoping to get all twelve of these done by the end of the year. Only four more to go!

Becky has had such an overwhelming response to the Let's Stitch blog that she has started a second one called Let's Stitch TOO! Head on over if you're interested in joining the fun!

A Room With A View

Here is what I will see when I look out the window of my future stitching room. It's a little barren this time of year, but I know I'll enjoy watching the seasons change. Now, if only we could get the darn house built!

Too tired...

...to post, so here's a pretty picture instead.
My son took a bunch of pictures out at the lake yesterday and this one was my favorite.

It's been absolutely gorgeous here the last few days, but I think I'm suffering from too much fresh air! Early bedtime tonight, for certain!

Who Will Win?

Polls are closing and the votes are being counted! Who will be our next president?

We were lucky here and only had to wait a minute or two to vote this morning. And I have to admit, I got a bit misty watching my son and daughter vote for the very first time. Not quite like the first day of school, but still a milestone for them. Daughter got a hug and son got a pat on the back. Mom got two pairs of eyes rolled at her!

Off to watch CNN!

Some Enabling

What would a stitchy blog be without a little enabling now and then? This is courtesy of my House of Stitches newsletter so maybe I'm just enabling by proxy?

A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite books. I read it every year at Christmas time, aloud to anyone who cares to listen. (I also make sure we watch The Muppets Christmas Carol every year, because Kermit as Bob Cratchit is just too perfect!) So today I learned The Cricket Collection has designed a set of mitten ornaments, one for each of the main characters! Dickens' Mittens, Chapter OneDickens' Mittens, Chapter TwoDickens' Mittens, The Last Word
We have Scrooge, Marley, and Kermit... I mean Bob... and all three of the Christmas ghosts! Last but not least is Tiny Tim's mitten! God bless me! I need these charts!

November Goals

November Goals:

1. Start & finish Encourage (LK Double Flip)
2. Start & finish Laugh (LK Double Flip)
3. Start & finish November Monthly Mania (Heart in Hand)
4. Finish October Monthly Mania (waiting for thread)
5. Finish Into the Night (Shepherd's Bush kit)
6. Continue to work on VoHRH on Tuesdays

I got behind with my Lizzie Kate Double Flips so I'll be trying to catch up. I'm still aiming to finish all 12 by the end of the year. The Montly Manias are a project I started back in 2000. It was my first "one-a-month" type project, but I lost interest in it (surprise!) and never finished. With only 2.25 months left to stitch, this is the year I get 'er done! (Really!) Into the Night has been such a fun stitch, I can't imagine not finishing it soon. And VoHRH... oy! That one will be listed in my goals for the rest of my stitching life!

Now can someone please tell me why, with an extra hour in the day due to "falling back", I still feel like I'm running behind??

It's that time of year again!

Time for National Blog Posting Month! Yep! Once again I will be attempting to post every single day for the month of November! This will be quite a challenge for someone who has become a once-a-weeker at best! So every day I will be stretching my wee brain, trying to come up with something blogworthy. My goal is to come out the other side a better blogger, and be able to yell YATTA! I DID IT!

A gypsy fire is on the hearth!

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Check out Tales of the Burbs for what has to be the funniest Halloween project I've ever seen!

Progress Pics

First we have my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. This has become my regular Tuesday project. I would like to at least get this one block done before having to resort to teaching my daughter to stitch in the hopes that this project is completed before I expire. Then we have Into the Night. My little sheep is no longer invisible but you may still have to squint to see him. He's a bit of a camo-sheep, blending in with the fabric. He'll need some reflective tape stuck to his little mutton butt if he's planning on going out trick or treating.

And in other news: This goober......is back from his tour in Korea! I wish I could have been in El Paso to welcome him home. He's going to try to take some leave at Christmas so hopefully we'll get to see him in a couple of months. I talked to him on the phone earrrrrrrrly Tuesday morning and he told me the first thing he was going to do was get something to eat at Sonic!

That's my boy!

Oh Happy Day!

Sonic drive-in restaurant to open in Portage by Christmas

My prayers have been answered!

Stitchy Progress Report

I've been working on Into the Night from Shepherd's Bush. I still don't think I have my green and orange threads sorted right, but I'll just make adjustments as I go along. My moon was waaay orange, so I ripped it out and used another color and I think it's much better now. I'm almost done with the sheep's cape, which is more like a 'cloak of invisibility' at the moment!
Sheep?? What sheep??
I hope everyone had a splendid weekend! The weather here in SW Michigan has been phenomenal, with sunny skies and temps in the low 80s. We're back to Fall tomorrow!

Thank you for the comments on Hocus Pocus! That green linen is such a kick!

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus by Lizzie Kate
stitched with Weeks Dye Works on 30-count Guacamole linen
I love the fun colors used for this design! I'll have to look for another project I can use my leftover linen for. I can't let that fabulous green go to waste!

Tonight is my Stitch-a-Thon night but we're going out to dinner with friends so I won't get as much stitching time in. I wasn't thinking when I said Friday night was fine with me, LOL! I have Into the Night from Shepherd's Bush all ready to go so maybe I can get it started before we go out. (I'll be the one with orts clinging to her clothes!)

Chick Flicks & Bricks

Been meaning to post a picture of how VoHRH is coming along. This is my progress after last Friday's Stitch-a-Thon. You can see how it looked a couple of weeks ago in my last post. It's really starting to look more like a house with all those bricks done. Maybe the roof won't come crashing down now!

I really enjoy the Friday night SAT's. At 6:00 the stitching comes out and everything else goes on hold. I change into some comfy clothes, pour myself a Pepsi, pop a movie like Legally Blonde into the DVD player, and spend several guilt-free hours doing what I love!