Almost...

Hiya!

I am pleased to report that me & mine have come through the "one two punch" weather wise with very few battle scars! Man, I love me some snow, but that was just a tad on the ridiculous side, lol!! 30+ inches on Fri/ Sat, then another foot on Wednesday? Yeesh!! Leah's daycare was closed all week last week, as well as today. Which meant she spent the entire day with me at work Friday, and the afternoon there with me today. Poor kid... she is sooo ready to get back to her friends and her regular routine

There were several bright spots though, that more than made up for the hunkered down state we found ourselves in. The main one being we never lost power (thank God for underground power lines!!), not even a flicker!

We got to spend lots of quality time together - Leah and I hung pictures up in her room (that's been waiting to happen for about 2yrs now), which was a lot of fun. It's so cute to see her "design sense" coming out. Of course, she is 4 so her design sense = 1 small picture on each wall, lol. I tried to gently suggest to her that it looked a tad empty that way but she assured me that "Oh no mommy. That's the way it's supposed to be. That way there's plenty of room for you to make beautiful projects for me!" LOLOL I guess she told me, huh?

We played Barbies and Ponies and games and watched movies out the wazoo... I knew she needed a change of scenery Thursday when what she came up with during our play time together was a Barbie/ My Little Pony/ Killer Lambie theme. Not kidding!! Yeah, she was going a little stir crazy... Heeeeeeeeere's Leah!! (Please know I am totally kidding around w/ that last part - she is just about the sweetest kid you could meet - headstrong as all get out [absolutely NO idea where that comes from, BTW] but still sweet as can be).

I was able to keep pretty well on top of commenting on all of your lovely blogs - I think I was even the first commenter (instead of my usual dead last!) on one of your posts.

And, because I was able to do so much during the day, I got pretty consistent time in my stitchy chair in the evenings after my sweet girl went to bed. As a result, this is where I am with Special Delivery:


All I have left to do is finish the flower, do the big & little "T", then chart out and stitch her full name and birth date. I actually think the part that will take the longest (b/c it while drive me straight around the bend every time I look at it if it is not perfectly centered) is charting her name and DOB. I remember now why the birth sampler I did for my friend made me so crazy, lol!! I've really enjoyed this one, and although it will have taken me 3 calendar weeks to finish (That's the plan anyway!! Have it done NLT 2/21.), it feels like it has gone more quickly than almost any other I've done. It's kind of funny - for the first couple sessions with this piece, I found myself checking the fabric against a "this is for sure 40ct" fabric b/c the stitches looked GIGANTIC compared to the last one I did! I was having nightmares about running out of fabric b/c I had pulled the wrong count fabric and calculated "this is how much I need" incorrectly. My eyes have re-adjusted themselves, though :).

Sunday my DH & Leah really blessed me for Valentine's Day - they took me to my (sort of) LNS and let me buy things!! I was very pleased with what I came away with:

The top piece of fabric (all are Lakeside Linens 40ct.) is a stitchers' 1/4 of Pearled Barley; in the middle is a 1/2 of Light Examplar; and on the bottom is a 1/2 of Strawflower. The blue/ cream/ brown threads are Soie D'Alger and are for the Workbasket's "Stitch in Time" chart. I finally found a piece of brown linen that will work for this! Yay! The model was stitched on LL Cattail Brown, but that dye was discontinued and I couldn't find it anywhere (I didn't know this when I bought the chart, of course). While I was at the LNS I saw a piece of LL Nutmeg - score!! It's almost the exact same shade!! The green/ brown/ rust threads are NPI and are for Carriage House Sampling's "The Garden Glade" - they didn't have all the colors I need for the chart in stock, but that's okay. I got what I could b/c all of this was 20% off. They had had to postpone their annual Super Bowl sale due to blizzard #1 - worked out perfectly for me!! There is no way in Hades I would've been able to drag Mr. Money Bags... er... I mean, my DH... out there during the Super Bowl, lol!!

I've also gotten some organizing done in "my room"... bought a couple more drawer bins, hung some pics on the walls... it's looking much more tidy now, but also strangely empty and sterile... hmmm... I feel some trips to Home Goods coming in my future! Still plenty of room on the walls for me to hang the gajillion (cough cough) projects I will complete this year. I'll post some pics of the room as soon as it is looking a bit more cozy.

I am sooo looking forward to the Nashville Market haul that my LNS brings back!! I'm already plotting the sizable dent that will be made in my bank account! I am especially looking forward to the "Elizabethan" pieces from Plum Street Samplers. Liz I is my absolute favorite historical figure, and I cannot wait to get my grubby little paws on those charts (and the supplies to complete them, of course!)!! I also saw a pair of spider web looking scissors that I may need to add to my (still quite small) scissor collection. What are some items you are looking forward to in particular? I'd love to hear your "can't wait for..." items! This way I can be sure I don't miss an opp. to spend my cash, lol!

Well, that's it for me tonight. Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging comments!! I love and appreciate each and every one of them. It's so great to have peeps to "talk to" about this obsession I have with thread and fabric.

Wishing you all numb butts,

Robin