Spring in Colorado and a Tale of Two Kitties

FIRST DAY STITCHING OUTSIDE FOR 2010

Last Tuesday, the weather was just beautiful.  When I got home from work, I decided to sit out back on the patio and stitch for a while.  The cool metal sun above hangs on the back wall of the house.  Here's a photo of my stitchin' spot:

We haven't brought out all our patio furniture yet, so I brought out a couple of old pillows from indoors to sit on.  The little dog you can see behind the table is Miss Molly Noritake, our Japanese Chin (a rescue from the Humane Society believe it or not!).  The sliders to the right go into the kitchen, the sliders behind Molly with the mirror finish go into the master bedroom.

I had a great time sitting outside for a while and made a small start on my first SYHO project.  It's by Blue Ribbon Designs and is called Established With Love.  I'm still working on the windows; it will be a while until mine looks likes this.

WEDNESDAY

Remember that 'Spring in Colorado' heading on this post?  Here's why.  This is the sight that greeted me when I looked out back about 6:45 as I was getting ready to head off for work.  What a difference 12 hours can make!  This snow was those big, fat, heavy, wet snowflakes so prominent in spring months.  Oh joy!

And here's what my cozy stitchin' area looked like...

By the time I got home from work that day, we were back to spring (altho not spring temperatures).  It remained fairly cool and windy right through the weekend.  We are supposed to be back to high 60's today and into the 70's tomorrow.  (Until the next cool, wet weather hits again)  :(

GIFT OF A KITTY MUG

This morning, one of the MA's (medical assistant) at the Health Center where I work, brought me a wonderful kitty mug, filled with Starbuck's Chai Tea (my very favorite beverage!)  Isn't this the cutest thing?! 

BLOG GIVEAWAY WIN!

I won a giveaway at Prairie Grove Peddler blog recently.  Look at the great chart she sent me:

She does a weekly giveaway, so you might want to check it out:  Prairie Grove Peddler

NEW STASH!

A while back, I won a giveaway from Evalina's blog---a $20 gift certificate for my favorite ONS (of course I chose 123Stitch).  I finally spent it; I used it to purchase the chart for Quaker Gone Tropic.  At the same time, I ordered the floss and fabric.  Doesn't all this look like a fun and yummy stitch?!  Thanks once again Evalina!!

A FLEA MARKET FIND

Meari move over...for once I found a great deal at a flea market!  Usually I'm reading Meari's blog in disbelief at the incredible deals she finds.  A couple weeks ago, DH and I were trolling for an entirely different item at a flea market/antique shop about 20 miles from home.  DH found the other item I was looking for (more about that in a future blog post). 

Since moving into my new office in the fall, I've been wanting to put a live plant on a little table of some sort in the little alcove area.  So, I was keeping my eyes on the various small tables I saw in the flea market.  Yep, spied a likely candidate buried under a cookie jar, some other dishes, and a plant of some sort.  Looked at the price tag...$14.95.  Hmmm, sounds interesting.  So, I move all the 'stuff' off the top and give it a closer inspection.  It looks brand new! 

When DH picks it up to inspect it further, we discover it is VERY heavy (solid wood), and the bottom is stamped 'Ethan Allen' (a fairly well known and moderately expensive) furniture store.  Doing a search on their website, the closest-looking little table I can find retails for $499!

We found a very nice plant at Lowe's for under $15.  I think it looks quite nice in the alcove at work.  The little mini-quilt hung on the hanger on the wall is one of a series I started making last year.  I need to get moving so June is ready to put up when it's time! 

SMALL STITCHING UPDATE FOR LAST WEEK

I've almost completed Page 1 of the Spring Sampler.  I am just loving this stitch!  While I had full intentions of doing lots of stitching this past weekend, one thing led to another, and I ended up surfing the Internet for most of two days.  Also watched 'Hotel For Dogs' (not nearly as cute as thought it was going to be), and assorted other movies.  Hopefully I'll do much better in the stitching department this coming week.

STITCHING ORGANIZATION IDEA

Last, I wanted to share something I found that works really well for me to organize the stitching chart pages for current projects.  Because I don't want to write on my actual chart, I always make a working copy of the chart.  I actually like to enlarge it (since my eyesight is not great); so I like to scan the chart, make it into a PDF file and then use the Snapshot Tool to highlight a portion of the chart and then print it on a full page (which automatically enlarges the size of the chart grid to fill the page. 

Now before anyone gets upset that I'm violating copyright law or some such; I am NOT sharing the file with anyone.  I'm only enlarging and printing a working copy for my own use.

Anyway, here's a current example.  I'm getting ready to start a LHN design, Coming to America, which comes all on one sheet of paper.  I scanned the chart, made a PDF and broke the chart into SIX sheets for printing.  That makes the chart a size I can see without difficulty.  I also enlarge the key at the same time.  So, now I have 7 sheets to work with for that one chart. 

When picking up a prescription at Target the other day, I was browsing through their office supplies while I was waiting.  I came across a heavy plastic folder that has the metal prongs to hook pages into.  It also has front and back pockets.  So, here's the great organizational tool I came up with from that find:

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover

Inside Pages (I used sheet protectors
to create the inside storage pages)

Inside Back Cover

I purchased a couple of these folders and as I complete a project, I'll just reuse the folder again for another project.  Since they are made of plastic, they should last a long time and they only cost a few dollars.

RHUBARB RUNNING AMUCK

Last spring, DH was moving some plants around in the backyard.  I distinctly remember him saying 'I'll just put the rhubarb in this clay pot 'temporarily' until I decide where to plant it.  Well, look what happened this spring....

You can barely see the red clay pot underneath the leaves.  I think his pot runneth over!  :)

UH OH....WE HAVE A DROWNING VICTIM!  DOES ANYONE KNOW CPR??

This photo doesn't begin to do this crisis justice!  The other day one of my stitching magazines arrived in the mail.  I was holding it under my chin, while standing at the kitchen sink, before retiring to my sewing room to look through the magazine.  Sure enough, next thing I know, the magazine flapped it's wings and flew right into the sink which was full of water at the time!  Let me say, the magazine was dripping; each and every page was well and truly wet.  Not a pretty sight at all.  I nearly cried.  I emailed the company, explained what happened, and a nice lady responded right away, saying she'd send a new copy; no worries.  The new copy arrived in today's mail.

SO, WHAT HAS LUCKY BEEN UP TO NOW??!...THE SCENE OF THE CRIME...

I know I keep whining about how much I want grandchildren.  Well, guess I (almost) got my wish.  Heard this noise in the kitchen the other night (I was sitting on the sofa in the upstairs family room watching TV).  I didn't think too much about it.  A little later, DH comes upstairs (he's watching baseball or some such sport on TV in the downstairs family room).  He comes into the kitchen and wants to know why I left the cabinet door open under the sink?  I say, "I haven't been in the kitchen since dinner." 

He closes the door, and is standing at the fridge, refilling his iced tea glass.  He says, "Come here, you need to see this."  Okay....what do you suppose is going on?  Lucky (the McDonald's bag kitty), is standing on his back feet, stretched up and he opens the cabinet door with his front paws.  Within 10 seconds, Lucky and his pal Doc, are both inside the cabinet; happy as clams, snuggled up to the various bottles of cleanser, dish washing soap, etc.  Good grief.  DH's quick fix to that was the wooden spoon through the handles. 

The next day, he finds them inside the bathroom cabinet (same exact cupboards with double doors).  And a little later that day (you'll LOVE this!), DH opens the bottom drawer in the bathroom vanity (it has double doors and 3 drawers) to find Lucky lounging inside the drawer!  Our guess is, Lucky opened the drawer and climbed in and Doc shut the drawer on him.  

So, wonder if we are going to have to invest in those kid-proof latches for the inside of the doors and drawers once again?!  Thought we were all through with that sort of thing. 

My tale of two kitties draws to a close.  Hopefully next week I'll have a lot more stitching to share.

Until then,

Happy Stitching and Happy Mother's Day! (Our son should be home this week for Mother's Day!)  The sweetie hasn't missed being home for a Mother's Day since he moved away a couple years ago. 

Vicki in CO

The Week in Review

SPRING IN COLORADO

View of our back yard on Tuesday evening about 9 pm:

Before 5 pm on Tuesday, there was not a speck of snow in our yard.  This storm dumped at least 7" in a few hours.  Another winter storm predicted for tomorrow night and into Saturday.  We are now at a snow total of 61.4" so far this year.  An 'average' snow total for winter for our area is 32.6".  We have defiinitely had a banner year for snow this year.  Oh joy. 

Our house is supposed to be re-shingled on Saturday morning.  Maybe next week sometime?  It's supposed to be close to the 70's then.

VISIT WITH OUR SON

We had a very nice visit with our son--we left home last Thursday about noon and returned home on Monday about noon.  We forgot this past weekend was March Madness, which meant DH and DS spent a good deal of the time we were at his house doing some serious male bonding watching basketball and hockey on TV. 

That wasn't ALL bad though, it gave me plenty of stitching time.  I listened to the first in the 'Outlander' series on my IPOD and was a happy camper overall.  Of course, the visit meant I made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for DS (his very favorite). 

LOTS OF STITCHING UPDATES

Bride's Tree SAL - March Finish!

First up is my completed March ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL. I stitched this design on the way to DS's and did the finishing today after work. The background in the photo is the fabric I used on the back of the ornment.

14 ct white AIDA

DMC Floss

Design from free booklet

with Cross Stitch Crazy magazine 

LHN Ornament SAL

I am STILL trying to finish Fa-La-La, the first in this new LHN series.  I tried to work on it at DS's but found myself frogging more than I was stitching, so finally gave up on it for the moment!  That 30 ct linen and I do NOT seem to get along!

Bouquet for Cheryl SAL

This is the project I stitched on the majority of the time we were at our DS's.  I am very close to being half finished now--woo hoo!   

 

Everyone Needs Their Own Space

This one is still my current obsession, but I did NOT take it to DS's, so I haven't stitched on it a great deal this past week.  But, some progress to show from my previous post about it.  I just adore this one!!

HAED Dragon Luck SK SAL

After struggling with doing this one 2 over 1, I finally gave up and frogged the entire thing.  I've started over doing 1 over 1 and it is going SO much better!  This time I started in the center of the design, rather than the top left corner.  Not a tremendous amount of progress to show as of yet, but it's a new start. 

BLOG AWARDS

I received a blog award from Evalina and also from Mare, but will wait to post about that next time.  Thank you both so much for thinking of me!!

GIVEAWAY WIN!

I was the lucky winner of a giveaway that Evalina had on her blog to celebrate her 20th anniversary of living in North America.  The prize was a $20 gift certificate from your favorite ONS; of course I chose 123 Stitch.  I've not decided yet how to spend it; I want the purchase to be something I REALLY want!  Thanks SO much Evalina!!

That's it for this time. 

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010!

FIRST FINISH FOR 2010!

I spent a lot of time the past couple days stitching on my quilt block for the SFAC Quilt, and it is my first fiinish for 2010!  My block is in memory of my grandfather who died from bladder cancer way back in 1976.  I'll be sending this off to Donna next week.

GOODBYE TO 2009

December was definitely a busy month at our house. 

Lots of snow--over 16" of the 39.1" we've had so far this winter. 

I had cataract surgery on December 3 and 10.  I'm now seeing 20/20 in my left eye and 20/25 in my right eye!  I have never seen better than 20/40 in my entire life, even with my coke-bottle thick trifocal glasses!  This had been quite a big change for me.  Now I just need the inexpensive readers available from most any store instead of the old $600+ glasses!

December 14th brought back surgery for me--a laminectomy of L-3 to remove bone spurs from my extensive arthritis and two cysts.  The surgery meant a couple days in the hospital and a couple weeks recovery at home.  It's been a challenge to get back to 'normal' activities, and I'm still struggling with  fatigue and lack of energy some days, but I'lll go back to work at least part-time on January 4th.  The good thing is the surgery seems to have resolved the intense pain I've been experiencing down both legs. 

Look at the absolutely gorgeous crocheted afghan one of my staff, Cece, made for me!  That's our year-old Golden Retriever, Murphy on the right.

Pieceable Friends, the local quilt guild I belong to, brought over a comfort quilt and sent me a nice Get Well card.

Because of my back surgery, we weren't able to go to our son's house (250 miles away) for Christmas.  This was the first Christmas since he was born that we haven't all been together on December 24 and 25.  DH and I spent a quiet day watching movies on TV.  Our wonderful next door neighbors brought us a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Our son WAS able to come home the next week for a couple days, so we actually celebrated Christmas with him on December 29th.  Gifts were very small and inexpensive this year, but that's okay, the important thing is, we were together. 

STITCHING UPDATE

I didn't feel up to stitching for quite a while after my surgery, so didn't finish the Elvis cross stitch I'm working on for DH.  But, here's my progress to date.

I'm trying to catch up on the various lists I'm on, and getting stitching organized for 2010, I'm signed up for several SAL's, as well as have a long list of items I want to stitch.  So, I hope I can be productive this year.

Wishing everyone a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year!

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

Wednesday Updates

It's been a while since I posted an update.  I have several things to talk about, so let's start with today's mail. 

I received my Bingo prize from Shelley for the recent Bingo game I won on ILCS.  It is so cute!  A fall-themed magnetic list pad (going right on the fridge) and an adorable Lizzie Kate 'Boxer Jr'  called 'Autumn.'  I LOVE Lizzie Kate; thanks so much Shelley!  Great choice!  She also included a nice note.

I can see three purchases in my future--so I have the complete set of seasons...they are shown stitched together and put in one frame on the back of the box.

Since I'm hosting the new Bingo round, I need to start thinking about the prize....hmmm....more shopping!

Update on Lucky

As some of you know, our new little furbaby, Lucky, was very ill last week.  Here are a couple of photos I took, that clearly show how his devoted adopted-Mom, Oreo, kept vigil at his side while he was ill.  In this first photo, Lucky is inside the box, sound asleep.  Oreo slept with her head on the edge of the box.

In this one, you can see how Oreo is sleeping with her paw and head up on the edge of the box, just a few inches away from Lucky.  Is that a devoted Mom or what?

I'm happy to say, Lucky seems to be well, altho he'll still be on antibiotics for several more days.  But, he's now racing around the house like a kitten should.  Thank goodness!  We were so worried about him.

Colorado Quilting Council Meeting

Last Saturday, I went to Boulder with a friend from our local Quilt Guild to the monthly meeting of CQC.  The speaker was Nancy Odom of Timid Thimble Creations.  She was an interesting speaker and had lots and lots of quilts to show, which I always enjoy.

I took along my Halloween Kitty wall hanging and my Stitchin' Kitty wall hanging (that hangs above my cutting table), for Show 'n Tell. 

I Have Another Finish!

Well, at least the stitching is finished!  Someone I met on TGOSM list recently (thanks Patti!), mentioned a group called Sampler Guild of the Rockies.  They meet once a month in Denver.  I have exchanged e-mails with the current president of the group, and weather permitting, plan to go to the November 8th meeting. It will be so much fun to meet some other stitchers in person!

They will be working on finishing an Altoid tin.  Since I don't have the design they are stitching, I came up with my own, so I can participate in putting the design on the tin.  It's a simple design--just my initials with a border around it.  I finished stitching it last night.  It's simple, but I'm pleased with how it came out.  I chose a DMC thread color that matches the edge around the top of the tin pretty well. 

First Big Snowstorm of the Season

We had the first big snow of the season today.  From what the National Weather Service was predicting though, it sounds like it could have been much worse than it turned out.  I'll be interested to see the news in a few minutes to see what they say about tonight and tomorrow.  Here's a shot looking out our front door a while ago:

Here's a two photos looking out the back door into the backyard.

I think that's the major updates for the moment.  Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween.  Hopefully our weather will clear up and not be quite so nasty out for those little ghosts and goblins.

I'll leave you with a photo I took of our three dogs last night.  They were all lounging in my office/sewing room.  Of course, as soon as they saw the camera, Max (our Cocker Spaniel) came racing over toward me.  Aren't they quite a trio...small, medium and extra-large!?

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO