I’ll be LOST….

My favorite TV show is ending tonight. On one hand, i can’t wait to see what happens, on the other, I don’t want it to be over. I guess it’s kind of like Christmas for kids.

So I stitched today:

I love the orange! The moon was supposed to be the inky-green color (same as the tree) but i changed it to orange because I’m adding other highlights in orange as I go.

The little black square with 2 orange spots is supposed to be a spider body & his eyes.

This chart makes me very happy to stitch! I’m this close to yanking Gingerbread Cottage out of my bag to put this one in, and putting Gingerbread Cottage with those dratted Blackbird stockings!

Well, I have to take Chickie for a walk before I settle in for an uninterrupted 4-1/2 hours of TV!

PS:

If you scroll down the page, in the right sidebar is a categorized list of my recipes, for your convenience.

Back from the bayou...

or, well, what seems like the bayou (still).

Bleecchhh!!!!

Did I ever mention that I hate humidity???!!! Supposedly it's going to break at the end of the week and I SO can't wait.

Here's all the stitching I've done in the past week:

As you can see, I'm just about done; I'm trying to decide if I should go back to the BBDamn stockings or dig out the other Snapper project I found when I dug this one out. It's "Barnyard" or some such nonsense; it has a horse, anyway, so it kinda matches.

Em had major horse drama last week; it's been enough elapsed time that my heart doesn't pound when I think about it.

She took Axe swimming and somehow got dismounted. When she tried to get back on, she slipped off her wet back and Axe got away from her, and went all the way back to the barn- about 3 miles, along trails AND roads, having to take several turns. Em was able to phone ahead to my barn owner's husband, who drove up the street about a half mile, heard her clopping down the road, with a nice lady following along behind in a car for protection; she evaded Jim, and proceeded to the barn door all by herself. Em had to carry her saddle all the way back with her heart in her mouth praying nothing horrendous had happened.

Other than being sore for a day, and aggravating her puffy ankles & chipping hooves, she was none worse for the wear- thank goodness for guardian angels in cars.

Damn Stockings!

I'm refusing to go back to the BBD stocking- don't even remember which one it was nor where I left off on it. I made myself 5 minutes late for work this morning by grabbing fabric (and cutting!) & floss for this:

I started it at S & B tonight. I was late for that because Em took Axe on a 3 hour galloping trail ride yesterday and the poor horse was ouchy sore today. So I had to go up after work to poultice her front legs. Hopefully that will help. Poor girl!

Jeanne made this for our snack:  PW Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

If you haven't tried this, you're totally missing out: it was so smooth & creamy & peanut-buttery & cool & summery! Best cream pie I've ever had! And Jeanne said it was easy (as pie!)(I'm so funny!) to make. Can't beat it with a stick.

It Ain't Easy Being...

NO- not "green".....just....being.

My stitching buddies know the long, sad, so sad it's funny story about Bob & his truck and my eyes cross just thinking about it again, so I won't bore you with it.

I meant to post last night but the 2 guacamoles were here lounged all over the living room, so I couldn't take pictures. I couldn't post Thursday night because I'm a crazy sap who can't bear to see them spending money on takeout food, so I offered to go to the supermarket for taco fixings. By the time I washed all the dishes, and listened to Bob's tales of woe, it was 9:30, and they're lounging around the living room.

So without further ado, here is photographic proof of my stitching:

Garden Grew (yay! I LOVE this piece!):

Here's a closeup of the vase of flowers I completed:

I started the next BBD stocking from February:

This is 2 lunch breaks worth of work.

I've been getting progressively more unenthusiastic about these the more I work on them. I don't know why- I love BBD stuff....well... maybe I'm drawn more to their older designs- the ones with the cute houses, for instance. So, anyway, I came across this in Cranberry Cross Stitch (plug for Deb) at stitching night:

"Christmas Sampler" by Ewe & Eye & Friends. It's just a little (5" x 5"-ish) Quaker-like spot sampler. I've been toying with the Mary Wigham SAL project, and Wanda is doing "Spirit of Vierlande"- her colorway is stunning. I figured this little thing will re-boot my stitching mojo, so I can get Garden finished and those damn stockings out of my bag. I kind of want to start one of my Long Dogs and while exiled to my bedroom the other night, I went stash diving and came across this:

I'd get help from the S&B girls about colors- I don't think I want an entirely monochromatic look.

Well, I'm killing time until the farrier ("rockstar" in sing-song voice!) comes this afternoon. Time well spent stitching....

Happy Needles!

Another One Bites the Dust....

The first February BBD stocking is done:

40 ct linen & GAST "Cherry Bark". Call me cwazy, but I think that DMC 4210 would have been much more Valentine-y.

Alphabet...

No "Garden"-ing this week. :^(

But more on the February stocking:

This one is coming along quickly. I'm needing to get back to Garden Grew though. i just love that one. *Sigh*

Emily's been riding her horse. Her ankle doesn't seem to be bothering her, it's just swollen where it shouldn't be. There's no heat in it (no infection) so I'm thinking maybe a bug bite of some kind?

TTFN

Sundry Items...

I finished the 3rd March stocking:

Blackbird Designs March stocking:40ct linen w/ GA & WDW & CC threads

Here's the start of the first February stocking:

I just finished washing my six plastic lawn chairs. I offered to let Jodi borrow them- she's having a bunch of people over Sunday afternoon- her daughter's after wedding/on the way home party.

Why the chairs at the bottom of the stack were filthiest, is beyond me.

Almost done!

I worked on the stocking @ lunch yesterday and I'm almost done:

Just have to finish to 2 large leaves on either side of the stem.

When I got my mail, I found this inside:

I won this from the Online Needlework show last month from The Marking Samplar. It's a reproduction sampler called 'Mary Clark". It calls for 40 ct linen & is about  6" x 9" or so.

Emily says Axe's back ankle was puffy last night. I have to go check today. She may have been inside due to rain all day, and stocked up. I'll have to hose it or ice it today possibly. :^(   Last time it was during the winter & I could use bags of snow- very convenient!

TTFN

As I Live & Breathe!

Some stitchy progress on Garden Grew:

I shifted the scroll, so you won't be seeing the full effect for a while, sorry. But I'm happy because it's nice & taut.

More stocking:

I didn't have the last 2 floss colors on me, but luckily, it was about time to leave. Joanne brought the most luscious pastries from an Italian bakery in Weymouth. I totally inhaled an eclair- a FULL size, regulation, eclair, with real chocolate ganache, thank you very much! Delish, as Rach would exclaim.

I explained at  S & B tonight about my awkward computer set-up for the summer. My system is shoved over in the corner of the living room on what amounts to an end table. It's not the right height & I can't pull my chair directly in front, or set my legs underneath. My elbows are needling into my thighs as I type hunched forward. This & my lack of privacy, and the total disruption of my "schedule" due to the presence of my roommates (who aren't very disruptive, actually, as all things go), has kind of put a crimp in my blogging & stitching. Plus I've been reading like a fiend, which also tends to be to the exclusion of anything else. I've finished my pile of books, though, so maybe I can try to pick up the tail end of the thread, so to speak. I've been toying a little with a blog rotation: quote of the day one day, recipe another, photo of the day, I don't know; maybe it'll rekindle my blogging mojo.

Well, this has been the longest post in quite some time. Thank you for your interest & patience!

TTFN

Some Stitching...

I finally finished page 5, and am officially 25% done with Garden Grew:

Although, there appears to be a wee open area in which to stitch an extra one of those cute ladybugs at the far right.

Here's the start of the third March BBD stocking:

It's the daffodil portion.

Now, off to wash someone's supper dishes that were left in the sink last night after they came home at 9:00 PM hungry.

I must say, the cowboy seems very good at motivating the daughter to pack stuff away. She's actually making progress with all the dorm stuff. My little pathways are actually leading to small open areas! And, she's been very good at riding every day.  I would have even mowed some lawn tonight, except the grass was too damp. Tomorrow will be good for that chore.

March Stocking #2:

Finished:

40 ct. linen w/suggested threads - WDW I think.

The fabric on the left is what I got to do that star.It's a pale blue, and I had Deb order me some blue Thread Gatherer silk, and I got some multi-hued blue beads as well. Photos another time.

Mr.Lawnmower started on the first pull yesterday, so I took that as a sign that I was destined to mow the lawn.

Get with the Program!

Jeesh! I'm turning into the world's worst blogger. And I had all that new traffic from people googling "Sara Boyle" , even though I triple checked that it's "Susan Boyle".

Anyway, without further ado, here is my minute progress on Garden Grew:

It must be waiting for all those April showers to soak in.

Here's what I did last Thursday on the March stocking:

I'm a little bit more along than the mistake one. I just haven't had a stitchy appetite at lunch at work the past 2 weeks.

The dreaded exodus out of Boston is being planned. Her final regular classes are on April 30th. Then another 9 days of study & finals. That's a really short school year for $47000 a year.

Axe felt great tonight. I tried to keep going a bit longer even though my legs were like rubber bands.

LOST recap episode tonight.

TTFN

It's All in the Details....

So I pulled out my second March stocking at work Wednesday, and it suddenly dawned on me that I had teanspoded (OK! I'm leaving that- my fingers were supposed to be typing "transposed" and I was even looking at the keyboard. This is how bad my typing is!!!!)the colors. As Homer says, "DOH!"

So here's my restart:

I was curious why the clovers were a tad dried out looking.....

Can you find the differences between these 2 photos?

       

That's right....not too much.

Jeanne brought in yummy orange bars, or, well, orange cream cheese frosting with some cake underneath to hold it. MMMM-MMmmm-MMMM!  It was difficult restraining myself from flinging my body across the container to barricade them from everyone else.

I wasted LOTS of  work time browsing thru the Online Needlework Show today. I had Deb order me this and this.                                          

Then today I found this, all of these, this could be easily altered to be Axe, this designer, and a few more various designs by various designers. I also found all the answers to the scavenger hunt, because I'm awesome that way.

Illustrations!

Garden Grew update:

Still finishing up on page 4.

Here's a close up of the violet (pansy?)- the leafy stuff I had to move:

I think that's a hybrid bunny/squirrel. There are lots of those little bees all over the design.

Here's the latest on BBD March stocking #2:

I'm stitching it upside down next to the other one because I'm a cheap Yankee bitch.

Emily's new BF out in sunny Californeea made this out of two horse shoes:

Isn't that nice? He should SO sell them & make a fortune.

I went up to ride but had to give Jodi & Ruth a hand with Ruth's horse- they think she has an abscess.  My stomach has been queasy all afternoon, and Axe was napping, and it started raining so I talked myself out of riding.

No Time....

I don't know what I'm doing different this week, but I've had little to no time after getting home from the barn to stitch on Garden Grew. I managed a little last night, but Monday was a bust, and tonight I made some fruit kebabs for stitching tomorrow. I just finished my supper & haven't made lunch and LOST comes on in 20 minutes. Jeesh! And forget about the second stocking- nothing has been done on that since last Thursday.

Axe was good tonight; we managed a canter in each direction. I've determined that she's getting warmed up just as my legs are wearing out. I need to do some yoga to strengthen my core. And get back to walking. And rake the yard. And get the lawn mower tuned up. A vacuum around the house would be nice. And scrub my bathroom down with bleach. And win a gazillion dollars in the lottery. And call my mum. Shit- I could go on forever.

TTFN

Stocking!

Here's my first Black Bird Design stocking completion:

This is on 40 ct. linen with the requested threads (WDW?)

Here's the next March stocking:

That's the toe.

Here's a random shot of Izzie (aka Aslan) who was sleeping behind me in my computer chair:

We nicknamed him Izzie long before that chick on Grey's Anatomy. He's going on 12 years old.

Déjà Vu

It was humid and close to 60 degrees today, so I thought Axe's lined sheet would be a bit too warm for her. I looked at last year's unlined sheet, &  someone, who shall remain nameless, neglected to wash it last fall. (Who, me???) So I found a satin sheet to bring up, the only other clean one being a non-waterproof cotton sheet. Em had spent a lot of time giving Axe a spa day- she was absolutely gleaming, and her mane had been pulled so she didn't look like a Friesian anymore;

( Can you see that?)

I put the satin sheet on (bright red!), told her not to get dirty and headed to the supermarket. I texted Em to get her OK on the sheet- in the back of my mind I was wondering if it would make her too warm due to lack of breathability. So I realize in the store, I had meant to exchange a bottle of mouthwash I had bought last week (wrong kind), and then Em wrote back that the satin sheet is, in fact, the one that makes her sweat bullets. So I get home, drop off the groceries, get the cotton sheet and the mouthwash, and repeat my evening: barn, change sheets, then supermarket.

My, my: someone's packed on a few lbs! The bottom of the sheet barely comes to the bottom of her belly! I don't remember it having such a short drop! Well, it'll have to do for the night. I came home and rummaged thru all my dirty horse laundry. I was going to put a load of 2 appropriate sheets in the wash, but eeeewwww!!!! those crusty leg straps just negated THAT idea! So the 2 worst will go to the horse laundry for professional cleaning, and I put a less dirty one in the machine.

And that is how I spent my evening. Oh and I finished the stocking, but I'll take a picture tomorrow.

So There!

Progress....

I'm entering page 5 territory, with just a couple of partial motifs left on page 4:

I kind of found a way to display it to take a straight-on picture. This'll be a bitch when I'm on page 15.

Here's where I left off on the BBD stocking last week:

I'm liking how this is coming out. Now if I'd devote an hour to it, I could have it finished and start on the next one.

Bob had his surgery Monday to repair his torn Achilles tendon. He was having breathing issues so they gave him an epidural or something similar so he was awake for it. He's in a lot of pain now, and can't get comfortable. He's got good pain drugs, but he says it only gives him about an hour of relief.  His surgeon said "it was a mess in there", but was confident that she was able to repair things satisfactorily. His follow up visit is in 2 weeks, so he's limited until then doing anything. Which is good; sometimes I think he gets impatient & pushes too much, too soon, and has setbacks. PAH! Men!

Stitching

I would have posted these earlier this weekend, but my hands seem to be very chapped or rough from being in water too much. I just didn't feel like touching fabric.

Garden Grew:

I got that pesky violet relocated to where it belongs, but not much else was accomplished.

BBD March Stocking:

I didn't get any time today to stitch- the farrier came at 9:00, and since I have to hold Ms. I-freek-on-the-cross-ties, and I had to discuss her foot; and then the vet was coming between 11 and 12, so I waited for her, for shots and to discuss the foot. The farrier says his gut is telling him it's a bruise; the vet thought it could be a combo of both bruise & abscess- "But if she doesn't improve by this weekend, you may want a couple of x-rays to rule out a fracture..." I had already discussed this option with Ernie and he concurred that she wouldn't be putting her full weight on her foot after only two days of soaking, and 4 doses of bute (one each feeding since Saturday PM) if it was a fracture. He was able to shoe both front feet, with her back sore foot on concrete, with no fidgety- pain issues. That took about a half hour, and she didn't budge the entire time. So the plan is to continue to soak until Saturday when Ernie comes again; cut back on the bute to once a day Wednesday & Thursday, and stop the bute on Friday, so Ernie can judge how well she's tolerating he pain. If he thinks she'll tolerate it, he can put her back shoes on, and I can continue to soak if necessary. Long story short: I didn't get to the office until 12:30- no lunch break. Which reminds me: I'm HUNGRY!

Cute Overload

Have you all seen the new Blackbird Design monthly stockings series? Cute or what??!! It really makes up for that last chart from the last series (aka "Shrek Glove"- kudos to the person who came up with that  name- it's perfect!)

I started one of the March ones, it being March and all:

Close-up of the stitched stuff:

Tonight I'll be working on Garden Grew; no progress since last post (we all snacked & gabbed last Thursday night!).

Oh- PS- I'd REALLY like my one hour back, thank you very much.