Busy Holiday

First off - I have some exciting news!  My super-duper buddy and peep L-Bug has finally taken the step into blog land.  Go check out her blog The Inspired Stitcher - I know that she'll love to have you visit her.  she already has  some real beauties posted!
This is the fourth member of "my" guild to have a blog.  Not bad at all, I think - the guild isn't really huge or anything.  The other bloggers are Big Dog (Indigo Rain), Bzz*Bzz*Bee (Everybody Loved Clark), and yours truly.  :-)


Wow, I am exhausted!  The In-Laws sure have some serious energy... hard to keep up!  :-)  They visited with us from Friday 'til Sunday.  After a solo cage-cleaning session on Monday I was pretty much pooped and ready to get back to work, so that I could "rest back up".  I miss them already though!

So, after a very productive holiday weekend, we now have:

• brand new PVC pipes instead of the old, rusted iron pipes(I wish that FIL had not shown me the old ones...  yuck!)
• new break pads on my car (I was told that I did not have a whole lot left to play with...)
• most all flower-beds without weeds and a new set of pretty annuals in the front corner bed
• trees and bushes trimmed and happy
• a dish washer that does not leak (took DH ~4 hrs on Sunday to fix due to a defective part from Home Depot...)
• a beautiful hand-crafted spool cabinet (built by FIL - I bragged about this one in my last post.  I am rubbing my hands while thinking about all the goodies that I can stash away in it!)
• a gorgeous and very cool new seat cushion cover made by MIL.  I picked up the fabric at IKEA.  It is of upholstery quality with a trendy print that I simply love. Check out the serious craftsmanship in the close-up pic!:

 

Well, in all honestly, I really did not work that hard...  see, I still had time to start and finish this pretty kit, Jacaranda (30-6665), from Fremme.  I have another kit from the same series that I hope to pick up soon (Goldcrest, 30-6664).  I am picturing these finished very simply (just laced over cardboard) and resting in frame stands on the living-room mantle.  I hope that it will look as simple and elegant as I am imaging that it will....  Not so sure though - things tend to look quite different in my head than in reality, I have discovered.

 

Aren't these birdies just super-cute!?  I noticed that in the photos, the grey cotton floss almost looks fuzzy, but I don't really think that it appears that way in person.
I love how Fremme's designers manage to get so much detail and beauty in with just a few select floss colors.  I know, I have already said it before a hounded times over!  Anyway, I think that this design only uses 13 colors all together!  I especially love the fresh green shade - very crisp.  I am also a stitcher who enjoys larger fields of the same color.  Confetti is not may idea of fun!  Stitching, that is.
I have probably mentioned it before, but I keep some of my pieces pretty smooth while I stitch by rolling up the linen and holding on to the roll.  It actually works really well!  If you like me, are an in-hand stitcher, this may be something that you could try out.

Yesterday night, I started on Moonriders and Crowjackers from Just Nan.  I have been thinking about starting them for about 4 months or so now, so I just couldn't take delaying it any longer.  I got "Jinx" and "Jasper" stitched up in a couple of evenings and "Jack" will hopefully pop up on the linen tomorrow.  The Crowjackers look a little bit more complex (confetti galore...), so they may take a bit longer.  I may even finish them up as ornies next weekend - only 3 workdays left!!! (Oh, and yes - I know that I am extremely frugal with my linen, but this was one of those "bargain cuts" and I felt that the color was just right; a dusty lavender with a layer of a gray tinge on top.)

Other than that, not much to report.  We finally got some rain here today after being by-passed on Saturday.  We got the thunder, the lightning, the winds, and very long noses (= not a drop of rain).  Today, we got a good much-needed down-pour, so I know that the garden is thrilled!  DH was less than thrilled, since he was scheduled to play a soccer match that got cancelled.

I absolutely love the sound of rain.  That and a bunch of different bird-calls, especially sea-gulls, are my favorite sounds.  I also like the sounds of chickadees and crickets, but I may be in the minority there?
Here are some evening pictures from a freshly washed garden.  Note the butterfly bush that has just started to bloom in the second photo.  After a rough yesteryear in the back yard with DH trimming it down to the ground with the mower on a weekly basis, I felt like this poor fighter deserved something better.  I can almost hear the collected sighs of relief from all the branches....

 

 

 

Check out the sunflower!  It must have been planted there by a friendly critter.  For the longest time, DH asked me whether I was sure that it really was a sun-flower.  "Yes dear", I said over and over.  When I finally started to give up hope and begun to realize that the thing probably was an out-of-control weed, it was too large to pull out.  We laughed about it and then were both pleasantly surprised (as I am sure that the neighbors were too) when we realized that it indeed was a sun-flower after all.....

Well, I can not believe that it is past Midnight.  Again!!!!
Gotta' get ready and jump into bed.
Talk with you in a bit and Happy Sticthing.