Home Coming Queen, Prairie Fairies & Bday gift from Navy Girl

Before the big reveal I thought I would share a scrumptious picture of our first pick of raspberries last Sunday. They were terrific over homemade, from scratch, waffles, oh yea.

Only had one cup of coffee before I set out for FrameWright to pick up BoaF Mystery stitch and my two PS fairies. I am pleased as punch with how they turned out. I just love the frame for the mystery sampler; rustic, subtle gold edges with specs of burgundy. The texture is perfect!!!!

The Dust Bunny is just the cutest design idea; I picked a hunter green for the bunny. But I have to say the Prairie Fairy really pops with the red frame around the golds and browns.

 

Well after that parade of goodness it may a bit of a let down to see my measly progress, but here is the "Governor's Palace". At least the roof is on and the chimneys are up.

Closing with a sweet surprise for my birthday from our Navy Girl. She knows her momma well...This is the cutest little pattern of Old Cape Henry Light in Virginia. I will be making one for me and one for her. :)

Here is a snap of Lady Liberty Bell (Libby) on our way back from picking those raspberries.

She's my sweet pea.

Off to help hubby put the typar wrap on his garage so he can start installing the siding. Hey babe, you picked one of the hottest weekends.... I mowed the yards this morning before it got too hot and did some pruning in the wooded area before lunch. After helping with the wrap I will be retreating to the dark, cool house.

Well in the time it took to load the pictures and write, there was a nasty clap of thunder and an lightening strike nearby. Guess we won't be working on the wrap for now. THAT was close....

Look who went to the framer

I am so excited! I FINISHED my BoaF Mystery sampler. It was dropped off at Framewright this morning. I am very happy with this cheery piece. It has been a while since I finished something for myself and sent off to be framed. Lots of gifts for family and friends. I can't wait to share the framed finish!

I also took these two little gems that I completed in 2009 and 2010. I had a great time with Paulette picking out the frames for all three. I feel so lucky to have found her shop, she is such a joy to visit and her work is fabulous!

PS Prairie Fairy

PS Dust Bunny

More stitching stash from my fiber run. Look what I found in the $1 bucket! Aren't these sweet!

 

I also picked up Around the Robin's Nest by By The Bay. I know it is an older design, but just loved the rich colors!

 

Now I need to get my STASH in gear and get stitching. Need to get needling on my HRH Christmas.

A home improvement update, check out the garage door. Hubby painted the faux hinges and the handles to match our shutters and out lights. I could not wait to take a picture.

The last lilac from my bush and some sunny yellow irises from the front flower bed. Happy flowers.

In closing, hey Peggy Lee it's on the way. FINALLY. :-) Enjoy!

Keep on Stitching!

San Antonio, progress and a WINNER

First I want to send another big THANK YOU to all of my followers, now at 45; welcome Jen. Thank you for a fun filled year, it has been a pleasure meeting all of you through blogging. This is crazy cool! I have to be honest I really considered getting into blogging after wathching Julia Julia! I was like wouldn't it be cool to do that with my stitching. But, I didn't; not until my girlfriend shared with me the blogs she was reading, then it kicked in. I look forward to many more sharing moments for several more years to come. And I hope that I will be able to order a book of my blog as I have seen done on another bloggers page, great idea!

So on to mega photos. I really did keep the San Antonio photos to a few from the over 200 I took. You are welcome. :-) But I did want to share some great shots of our terrific trip to see our Navy Girl.

Me, hubby, Navy Girl, brother, sister-in-law, niece & nephew

At the ALAMO

COUSINS!


We also went to Natural Bridge Caverns.
70* year round 99% humidity, YEP it was HUMID down there.

The River Walk is even better than when I was here in 1988 for my Air Force basic training. And that was 20 years after the 1968 Hemisfair - World's Fair held in San Antonio, the purpose behind most of the development in San Antonio. We learned quite a bit on our River Cruise that we took with hubby's Uncle and Aunt.

Here are a few shots of the River Walk I took throughout our visit.

This is the little Ampitheater on the River Walk at La Villita

They had beautiful dancers here on Cinco De Mayo, but the family was getting tired of my shutter bugitis. Just imagine girls and ladies dressed in beautiful brightly colored Spanish attire, swirling and twirling on the stage. Gorgeous, isn't it. :-)

The night of Cinco De Mayo they had a Light Art festival - Luminaria

This is The Tower of the Americas lit up.

 The lights and colors were moving and constently changing,
 it was a fun challenge to capture this.

Just some funky light art. Overall it was a cool event,
but a bit artsy and deep for me. Glad I saw it, but don't need to do it again.

Lunch with my hubby at Casa Rio on the River Walk.

I was so enamoured by this piece of art, I have many photos at different angles,

but this one was a big winner for me, with the Tower of the Americas in the background.

La Antorcha de la Amistad

(The Torch of Friendship)

Sculpted by Sebastián

Then we sprinted over to Austin to see hubby's other Aunt and Uncle.

They took us out for BBQ at The Salt Lick.

It was PERFECT; great food, great company and some after dinner live music.

 Adios from San Antonio!

Now on to some stitching updates and a Winner. But first a couple of pictures from Mother's Day.
I usually get flowers for my planters for Mother's Day; we can't plant anything until then anyway due to the cold, so it is always a perfect gift I can enjoy all summer and fall long.

And we mulched the flower beds, this is the main bed in the front yard.

And now for what you really came for, stitching updates and a WINNER.
The supsense is killing you I know. Hehehe.

The hill and most of the house

Finished the house and started on the second tree. ALMOST done.


Using the clever and Stinking Cute tool caddy my magnificent mother made I had hubby draw a name.


Drum roll please......

 And the WINNER is.........

 Peggy Lee! Of Kentucky Sampler.

I will get your package in the mail sometime this week, it may be on Saturday depending on my schedule.

Thank you to all that left such nice comments and for following me along the way.

Keep on Stitching.

P.J.

No April Foolin' - progress and peculars

Hello Spring!

This cough is wicked! I had to get out in the sun and fresh air today, so I tended to a couple of my garden chores; dumped my compost, trimmed the raspberry bushes and my very, very old lilac bush of all the dead branches. Whew, I am wore out already. This thang saps ya of all your energy, could hardly catch my breath after gathing all the branches. Only have two windows open to air out the house of my sickness, still a bit of a cool breeze, but refreshing.

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So yesterday morning when I had some energy, I organized my pics, just didnt have it in me to pull out the laptop and type. This will be the most productive I will be today, can feel a nap coming on shortly.

Ta DA!! Here is the grand finish on My Winter House. Please excuse the hoop rings, it has not been visited by the iron yet.

Had fun stitching those teenie, tiny smyrna crosses along the bottom row.

I have been waiting to post my purchases from Carolina Stitcher. I order a set of project pouches for my GF's birthday gift and a set for myself. We LOVE them.

For my GF
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For myself
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Here is the bottom of the hill on my Boaf not-so-mystery stitch. I did get our initials done. I did not put one stitch in at all yesterday.

And here is a couple of shots of my progress on the Governor's Palace in block 2 of HRH, form our S-n-B weekend.

Here is a closer look. I do enjoy building the house. I need to call Heart's Desire this week, Thread Gather's Mint Frost has been on back order since December. Not Heart's Desire's fault, but a little disappointed in TG; four months, REALLY??
It is for the snow and there is a lot of snow in this project.

If I get a pic from Karri on her Autum at HRH I will post it here. I forgot to take a snap shot.

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After seeing Lori's bee chair pad of Notforgotten Farms, loved the colors, I remembered I had a very small rug hook project I picked up several years ago while shopping with my GF. So I pulled my blueberries out of the dark corner of my closet. It did not take long to get back in the loop of things.  I filled in the leaves, curly vine accent and the background this past week.  Karri is working on several designs to be used on the risers of her stairs.  I've asked her if we could plan a hookin' excursion when I come to her place for our next S-n-B weekend. I had picked up a rug hook book by Susie Stephenson. I don't know much about rug hooking and did not know who she was, but loved her book. I came across a tutorial by Susie on the Rug Hooking Magazine website. Who KNEW!  I would love to plan a project of my own design and I am interested in working with yarns. Like I got time for that..... but it is something I can do. I have already sketched out a few designs.

And this is my meager start in the world of HOOKING. :-)

 (Psst yes I did latch hooking when I was a kid, I think there is still bits of yarn in the house on Armstead St.)

Some Peculars...

Here is some stash gifts from my GF. She remembers everything... I have a small collect of Adam & Eve patterns, I know it's a fad but I am liking it. She found the cutest SMALL, the size of a luggage tag. It may be my first start of the collection.

I can't wait to try out the Thread Savers. Thank you Karri!

I have been on an ORT jar obsession lately and found a great jar during our outing last weekend. But I am giving this one to my Mother. Is that not the sassiest ORT jar.

We think it is an old mustard jar, sans lid. The perfect ORT jar.

Speaking of ORTs here is the latest pick of the Candle Stick ORT jar.

 Just a random posting, I can't keep up with the moon.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday afternoon, hopefully with some stitching time involved.

Take care and keep on stitching.

P.J.