back in my world . . .

I think I posted in February that life had been crazy and the Valentine blog hop post was just the thing I needed to get me going again. Only I didn’t, and life—got crazier. And even a little scary. And again, I’m not going to tell the tale here (though if you know me IRL or we're friends on facebook, you have some ideas), but I will go back and write posts for my lost weeks, because it's cathartic and also helps me track when what happened (and what projects I worked on) down the line. 

For now, let me focus on the here and now of this past weekend, which was pretty full!

Thursday I took off from work. Joc had booked the camp for their CC end of year fun day, and I wanted to be there. 

It was a fun day and I enjoyed hiking Crawdad Creek with the girls and watching them play in the bounce house Joc had rented. 

Friday we'd planned to go to the lake, but the wind was gusting up to 30 mph, so we decided to make it a chore day and hope for better luck on Saturday. I got two big things done….

I changed out the bunnies for stars and stripes in our living area, and depollinated and despiderwebbed the outer room! It was a fulfilling day! 

Saturday was perfect for a lake day….we could tell when we woke up that the winds had calmed significantly, and by 8:30 a.m., we were on the road. By 9:30 we were on the lake!

Todd fished, I stitched. And read. Great day!

And yesterday was a Slow Stitching Sunday. I continue to work on this pretty French General piece.

I'll come back later and include a link to the back story of this piece. I’m going to enjoy stitching this….its like butter! Linking up to Kathy’s Quilts. (Better late than never?) <grin>

Happy Monday!

:)

advent time . . .

Once upon a time there was a blogger who was participating in an online Advent calendar blog hop with Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, but she got her dates mixed up and didn't realize her date was the 20th (instead of the 22nd) until she hopped over to check out today's feature.  

It was me. I'm that blogger. Glad I made the realization before noon (CST)!

This year, Jo, who so graciously hosts this annual hop, has asked participants to share about their Christmas tree traditions!  This is an easy one for me!

Growing up, and even well into adulthood, I always enjoyed a real tree!  I love the trudging out to get it, setting it up, stringing the lights, bringing out the ornaments and enjoying all the memories that they evoked, and then enjoying the tree's grandeur all through the season.  Even though they're work, a live tree just smelled good and made me happy.

Trees of Christmas past.

But when we made the move from the sticks & bricks house to the RV in 2009, we realized there was no bringing a live tree into our living space.  There simply wasn't room. So we purchased a small, artificial tree . . . 

I adore this tree.  We've had it for every year we've been in the RV except one.  But paring down on the tree meant paring down on the ornaments I'd collected over the years, too--though you wouldn't know it, seeing how packed it is! I kept the ones with the most poignant memories (that weren't huge/too big for the tree) and gave my son and daughter their pick from the remainder.  It's fun to visit their homes during the Christmas season and see ornaments I purchased over the years, on their trees! But I know the origin/story/gifter of every single ornament on my RV tree.  It almost makes me a little teary-eyed thinking about it!

I also have a little quilted tree in my mini stand that makes me smile . . .

Ellie saw this one yesterday and decided she'd like to make a Christmas pillow similar to it.  She liked all the beaded 'ornaments' on it!

Our family's favorite Christmas tree story involves a cat.  Gwenevere was full of cattitude.  I'd been holding her in my lap, playing with her, and evidently she got tired of me messing with her.  She escaped from my lap, ran over to the Christmas tree, gave me a look over her shoulder as if to say, "I'll show you," and turned around and BIT a light off the Christmas tree.  I was horrified!  I mean, she could have electrified herself or short circuited the whole house ... or at the very least, cut her mouth! But no, she just ate glass ... kind of like the Grinch ... and sulked under the tree for the rest of the day.

I think we retell that story every year, with more and more hilarity! :)

This season, my stitching has looked very different.  I mentioned in the prior post about the paper ornaments I've been making.  They are hand-stitched down the center.

I think these are so pretty!  The angel is my very favorite.

And I learned how to make these cute little canvas poppers, too . . . 

I taught Ellie to make one yesterday.  They're cute, easy to make, quick to put together, and house a sweet little surprise!

The mouth is just big enough to tuck a Hershey's kiss inside.  Fun!

So there you have it. Just in the (St.) nick of time!  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Jo's page to see all the wonderful participants!

Merry, merry!

:)

happy october . . .

Hello October, I'm so happy that you're here!  It's *birthday* month and it's blog hop month, too!  :)

I finished stitching up Mr. Jack O'Lantern!  

He's such fun.  But I felt he needed something a little more than a hoop or mug rug finish. I think I found (or rather, made) the perfect solution . . .

Yay!  It's a slipcover for a Christmas pillow I've had for ages. I may go back and quilt the face of it later.  Maybe.  Right now, I'm liking is just as it is, where it is!

I got some other stitching finished up and some started this week . . . 

The hexi pumpkin pins are always fun!

This Kathy Schmitz heart has been unfinished for a while ... since March, I think.  Which would be about right.  That's when the world went topsy-turvy, right?

Anyway, it's finished now and ready to display come February!

I stitched up the first of these in May (Mother's Day, to be precise), so it was about time that I worked on a second . . .

There are a total of six. At my current pace, I should have the complete set done by May 2022.  Hahahaha!!!  :)

Today I spent the majority of the day "falling" up the place . . .

While I watched a little SEC football.  There were (are) some good games on today!  Roll Tide!

I'll settle in tomorrow afternoon and pull out some "slow Sunday stitching" . . . 

I've got four of the nine floss colors needed for it.  I'll pick up the rest next week.  This will probably be my last autumn stitchery of the season.  I've got a wool project in the wings! Then I truly do want to get those mittens finished up for this Christmas.  LOL...really!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and her Slow Stitching post.  Y'all have a terrific rest of the weekend!! Oh, and you'll notice ... I'm being sweet ... no Christmas countdown reminder!! 

:)

back in the saddle . . .

I'm just going to go ahead and admit that I had a hard time typing the post title without laughing.  I know me!

December got busy and then January did too, and now look, only two more days and it's February!  Good gravy . . . please don't tell me 2019 is going to move even more quickly than 2018?!

We had a lovely Christmas time. Our office closed midday on the 20th of December and didn't reopen until January 7!  What a smashing break!  We hung out with family and ate out and did Christmas things. Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to church with Joc and her family, and then go out for dinner, and then head back to her house to for desserts and to read the Christmas Story. 

My contribution towards dessert was a traditional Bûche de Noël . . . 

I hadn't made one in ages and it was so fun to do!  It's a very light cake so while it looks really decadent and indulgent, it's really not!  Win, win!  All our desserts that evening looked amazing!

 

Jocelyn made figgy pudding and fudge, the girls made the gingerbread house, and my mom made the cookie platter and the eggnog cake!

And since I'm doing Christmas, here's my Panter kids! ♥

For Christmas, Todd and I had decided to forego getting each other big Christmas, and instead to get ourselves an Opal Nugget countertop ice maker for the RV.  It makes the pellet--sometimes referred to as Sonic--ice.  We have absolutely loved having it and I'm pretty certain it was the first time I've ever had iced tea on Christmas day! LOL! Of course, introducing such a significant countertop appliance to the RV meant we had to do some rearranging . . . 

So that whole end of the RV kitchen/countertop space is now ... a drink station. Haha! The corner space was pretty useless for anything other than decor, anyway, so I'm enjoying having my tea things there. Eventually we'll be a table to go over the trash can and put the Opal on top of that, and give me back some counter space!

I didn't do resolutions this year.  Or even goals.  Instead, after a lot of thought and prayer, I decided to do "disciplines" -- and even made DISCIPLINE my word for 2019.  

My thought is that each month, I'll choose one discipline that I want to focus on, to improve me -- whether physically, mentally or spiritually -- and by the end of the year, I'll have twelve disciplines under my belt and be the better for it. To help me stay focused, I got this cute little bracelet . . . 

I'm sure it'll make all the difference. Stop spending money was obviously not January's discipline. Teehee! :)

New Year's Day I started with my Stitcher's ETC. group ... we annually have breakfast at Cracker Barrel together, and then go on to an LQS to shop the sales.

It was a great group of ladies that morning -- fifteen of us!  Pretty impressive considering the date! These ladies rock!  :)

We celebrated Ellie's SEVENTH birthday on the 10th of this month.  Where has the time gone?  

It seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little baby, I could hold snuggled up to my chest, with her sweet downy little head tucked up under my chin.  Sigh.

I've not done a lot of sewing this month.  Though Todd did break our Christmas gift agreement and bought me a pretty little Janome for traveling!

I did stitch up a seat cover for his recliner . . . and a heart mug rug or two for our guild's February swap . . . but other than that, I've been lax. I'm saving most of my handwork for retreat in February! 

Speaking of stitching related Christmas gifts, Joc and her crew got me a lovely book by Kathy Schmitz,  Stitches from the Yuletide.  I've had her Stitches from the Harvest, and absolutely loved it, so I knew I'd enjoy the whimsy of the Christmas-themed book.  

She also gifted me with a gift certificate to Attic Heirlooms, which I promptly used on some fun things . . . 

And the Panter crew sent me a set of tiny-tipped clips!  

Mary Corbet, of Needle 'N Thread, had talked about using them in her stitching projects and I thought that was a must-have gadget ... for the win!

I also scheduled my left shoulder surgery for the end of February. The right one is back to 98%  and the left one is nagging me to no end, so it's time.  We go on retreat February 20-24, and my surgery is scheduled for the 28th.  Whew!

I can't think of much else to share.  Slowly switching from snowmen to hearts; does that count?

I mean, I'm sure there is tons, but this is only one post (and it's already heavy laden with photos), so I'll behave.  Auld lang syne!

:)

happy sighs . . .

What a great weekend we enjoyed! On Friday, Todd and I were able to take the boat out. The weather was just absolutely perfect for it! We launched at Honeycomb, which is a state campground . . .

Which was full for Easter weekend!

After a bit of cruising around, we finally (aka, Todd finally) found a spot that was very fishy! To the point that I put down my handwork and picked up the fishing rod!

Yup ... that's *my* first catch (to keep) of the day! We ended up catching about 75.  WOW! Yes, a very productive day!

And the ride back to the docks was pretty spectacular, too.

Easter Sunday, after church, my folks and Joc's crew came up to the camp for dinner and baskets and an Easter egg hunt . . .

The girls were both so cute and had a marvelous time. The camp is the perfect place to 'hide' eggs in plain sight.

Both Ellie and Evey were quite happy to sit with Neesey and Pawpaw to check out their haul!

And I even managed to do some slow stitching this weekend, too. I've done all the blanket stitching on my 'card tricks' -- now it's on to the decorative stitching.

I love all these colors!

And I worked on my pretty little orange hexie flowers, too . . .

In fact, I'm nearly finished putting together this second flower -- just six and a half more pieces to stitch down . . .

And I'll be ready to applique these to the runner! I haven't even thought about how I'll quilt this project. But I know where I'll put it!  Linking this up to HeLP at sarah did it!

I've had several folks show interest in our RV living space. I've taken some pictures and uploaded them to the RV Living page on my blog. You can take a little tour of our home, sweet home!

I'm on baby watch for the next week or so . . . so if things are quite here for an extended period of time, I haven't gotten lazy (again) . . . I'm engulfed in Neesey-ness!!

:)