Monday, April 26, 2010

Cat in a Bag, Flowers, Flowers, Flowers and Stitching


This is the back half and tail of Lucky, the kitten we rescued from the shelter in October 2009.  You can read his story here.  DH stopped at McDonald's the other night after work.  Guess the empty sack just smelled too enticing; Lucky did his best to get his entire body inside the paper bag.  Maybe DH should have asked for the bag to be 'super-sized' as well as his beverage! 

SPRING HAS DEFINITELY SPRUNG!

I am so excited.  While our Colorado spring weather has included warm days, windy days, rainy days, and even some snowy days; spring is definitely my favorite season.  When we redid our backyard a couple of years ago, we planted a lot of tulips and daffodils.  Last year, just as they were getting to the point of blooming, we had a really nasty storm that annialated them...no flowers to speak of.  I was so bummed!  This year, they have been blooming like crazy!  Here's a bunch of photos for your enjoyment.





There was a story in our local newspaper last week about a woman who lives just a few blocks from us.  She has planted over 5,000 tulips in her yard!  She was welcoming people to come this past weekend to see them in full bloom.  I would have loved to see that, but one thing led to another and we never made it there.

STITCHING UPDATE

I don't have a huge amount of stitching to show this time.  I found myself with very good intentions, but little time spent with the needle in my hand.  If everyone would stop talking so much on the lists and stop writing and posting such wonderful things on their blogs, I'd get a lot more stitching accomplished!

TUSAL

I'm very late in posting my TUSAL for the month.  Ooops!  It looks like there is some green floss trying to escape from the jar. 


OAKHAVEN DIVA SAL

Here's my stitching on this new project as of April 18.  This photo is kind of dark.  Sorry.  Believe it or not, the red on the left will be a cat.  Once again, I used artistic license with my choice of floss colors.


OAKHAVEN 2010 MONTHS SAL

I finished April on Sunday, but not before doing a bit of ripping!  I was stitching along and before I knew it, I'd put a leg on the 'P' and made it an 'R' so had to take that out.  The month of May should be a really quick stitch.


Bride's Tree SAL - April Stitching Finished

The stitching is finished, but I still need to get the ornament put together.  The background is the fabric I'm using for the back.  I got the pins as a freebie in 'Cross Stitcher' magazine, Issue 224 that I picked up at Borders bookstore recently.  The ribbon is from Michael's.  I'll post another photo once it's all finished. 


Wiehenburg Spring Quaker SAL

I simply couldn't resist this SAL!  Her quaker designs are just lovely.  I decided to go a bit outside the box with my fabric and stitching.  The border all around is shown stitched in green.  I simply could NOT bring myself to stitch the tulips in one of the motifs in green; so my tulips are pink.  I'm using DMC floss and Silkweaver 28 ct Cashel Linen called Serenade.  

 

This is what the sampler will look like when it's finished. 


Counted Blessings - A New Project!!

Check out my new blog, Counted Blessings.  I started this blog to record my progress on a project count my blessings.  This will be done by stitching 100 - 1" squares.  Each square will signify and illustrate one of the blessings in my life.  It's not too late to join in this new endeavor.  Check out Amy's Blog, Counting My Blessings to learn more about this project. 

I'm still in the beginning stages of planning my project.  I think I'm going to use a 28 ct Lugana from Enchanted Fabrics.  It is called Mystique Bubblegum, a very nice, lightly marbled pink.  It's my intention to use a variety of threads, buttons, beads, and other embellishments on this project.  It will be quite a challenge to stitch 100 different blocks that are only 1" in size!  Besides that, I've done very little embroidery, so that will definitely be a stretch for me.  But, I hope I'm up for the challenge.  

There are lots of other things I could share with you, but I think I'll call it quits for this entry.  If you've read this far, I commend you, and appreciate you, as well as your comments, very very much! 

I'll leave you with a couple photos of my 'stitching kitty' - Oreo Cookie.  She is always wherever I am in the house, 'helping' me with my stitching every chance she gets.  Unfortunately, her idea of helping is grabbing the floss and eating it.  


Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO







15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos and wonderful updates. The flowers are bright and cheery and the stitching is always inspirational. Your kitty sure is a ham for the camera too! Cats...gotta love 'em!
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii

Carolyn NC said...

Your WIP's and finish look great! Love all the beautiful flowers and pics of your kitties!

Kay said...

The stitching you did get done is looking great! All the photos are beautiful of all the wonderful flowers in full bloom! Your kitty is adorable! Reminds me of a few of mine and the antics they like to do here!

Vicky L said...

I dont know why cats loves to get into bags and boxes. I love the pictures of your cats and enjoy the stories. Your quaker is going to look awesome. You have a great start. Rest of your stitching is coming along great. I just love that bunny. He is the cutest bunny I ever saw.

Katrien said...

Your SAL's look great. Lovely flowers! And lol, cat in the bag :)

Meari said...

Your stitching is coming along nicely. I really like your brides tree ornie. Can't wait to see it all finished up.

Cute photos of Oreo :)

And lovely flowers.

Shelley said...

I love, love, love the pics of your flowers. Reminds me of when we lived in Holland. I miss the tulips so much. They are by far one of my fav flowers.

All of your WIPs and finishes look awesome.

Hug the kitties for me.

Nancy M said...

So glad that Spring cooperated with you this year so you could enjoy your beautiful tulips! We have a Holland MI and they have a tulip festival this weekend or next and there are thousands of them! I don't know what you mean about no stitching! You've worked on so many projects....I feel like such a slacker! Cute kitty! I'll have photos of my new dog this Sunday I hope!

Carol said...

The cat in the bag would make a great sampler :)

Looking forward to seeing how your little project is finished off.

How do you do the fuzzy edged photographs?

Unknown said...

What a lot of beautiful WIPs. The kitties are beautiful too - there's something about a kitty and McDonalds - here's mine a number of years ago:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/graceann1968/625000621/in/set-72157600489758336/

DUSTY said...

nice long entry Vicki, your tulips are lovely. Your WIP's are coming along nicely. I love the "cat in the bag", looks like quite a character.

Jodie said...

I really like the months sampler! Not usually my thing, but this one has a cool elegance to it.

Count your blessings sounds like a really great project, I'm heading over to check it out :-)

Carin said...

I love the cat photo's and your stitching is great !!
I send you a reply to your email you send to me about the iron and village sampler. Hope you got it otherwise just let me know.

Bette said...

Your kitty is beautiful. And your WIP's are as well. You've been very busy.

Rene la Frog said...

Great stitching as usual. Love all the flowers.