Ratted Out by my 4 Year Old & Loads of Stitchy Goodness

'Sup my homeys? Oh wait... It's St. Patty's Day, let me try again... ahem...

Trathnona maith!! (Don't get too impressed... I Wiki'ed that!)

Well, it's been another busy (but great) week in the Wright household... First up, the stitchy lesson.

Leah and I went over to Jen's house for our "slumber party" Friday night. While the girls played (and wrote a very short play based loosely on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - then performed it for us as well) Jen & I got started on the "everything Robin knows about cross stitching" lesson. Since all I know can barely fill a thimble, it lasted about 30 seconds. Haha, just kidding.

Really all I did was give Jen a few pointers on things that have tripped me up, then she was off to the races. The girls had gone to bed, and we had just started to stitch, when my little bug began having her normal problems with going to sleep (Seriously, I don't know how she doesn't spend her days dropping off to sleep every few minutes. Sometimes I swear the poor child only gets 1/2 hr more sleep than I do.) which were exacerbated by the fact that we were in a different house. I had put in about 5 stitches on my own WIP when she came downstairs for the umpteenth time, and I decided to go lay down with her for a few minutes (assuring Jen that I would be back down very shortly to continue our stitching) to help her settle in. And that was pretty much all she wrote for me, lol! I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. I woke up in the morning, and went downstairs to capture Jen's first ever progress pic! And here it is (Jen said she started nodding off over her stitching and was having to frog a lot, so she pulled out some mistakes then went up to bed herself):



She got a great start, didn't she? Oh, and you may notice something about this photo... This is NOT a Prairie Schooler design. Nope, it's Little House Needleworks' "Blessed are the Peacemakers." I swear some days that if my head weren't attached...

Anywhoze... So we enjoyed breakfast with Jen & her girls (her DH was in GA {I think} to attend some NCAA action), then headed home, then back out again a few hours later to attend what would turn out to be the best young child's birthday party (for a co-worker's son) I've ever been to (keep reading... the event for which this post is named is coming...).

It was at this really great kids' fitness place called Romp n' Roll. It was fantastic, I tell you!! There was fun "equipment" (including short monkey bars, one of those swingy things like trapeze artists use, and a moon bounce), the workers were all high energy, kept the kids involved and having a blast with a mix of self directed play and "organized" activities. They played high energy dance music (but nothing inappropriate for even the tiniest tot) the whole time which the parents and the kids loved. The highlight of the fun was an activity called "Freeze Dance". The worker (I'm sure they had some sort of silly title like "fun director" or something like that, but I have no clue what it was) played some great music and had the kids dance however they wanted, then she'd stop the music and the kids would have to freeze or be tickled.

So! My co-workers & I are standing there while this is happening, chatting and not really paying a whole lot of attention to the kids. One of them looks at the kids and says "Oh my goodness, look at Leah shake her booty, LOLOL!!!" We look over, and sure enough, there she is shaking her bom bom (aka: what her momma gave her) for all she's worth! Of course everyone erupts into laughter and the phrases flying around were along the lines of "I've never seen anything so hilarious in my life" and (lots of this one) "Where on earth did she learn to do that, hahahahaha!!!" I just laughed along with them all (really it was pretty stinkin' adorable) and shook my head and said "Oh wow, I have no idea"! (No way the hours Leah & I have spent gettin' our groove on to the Music Choice dance channel could've rubbed off on her. Uh-uh, no way). So, I had pretty well played it off like "Oh, she was just born that way, I guess", when the little goof ball turned around, looked directly at me, waggled her eyebrows, nodded her head (all the while keepin' her little tooshie shakin', of course!) at me and did the Pulp Fiction!!! Oh, it was all over then. All my co-workers looked over at me and busted out laughing, like - "Now we know what you do, Robin!!!" Ha!!! It wasn't embarassing, just hilarious!

After the party we went home, then my DH (Ken) & I went out on our first date night in probably two years. We saw Alice in Wonderland and it was wonderful. Apparently, about 20 minutes after we left, Leah asked our neighbor "So how long do dates last, anyway??" Hahaha!

Bla blah bla... Let's move on to the "stitchy goodness" portion of this post, shall we?

I've only hit the stitchy chair 3 times in the last 7 days, so there's not a whole lot of progress on Blessing, but here is where I am:

I must admit, I'm still not loving the leaves, and will be very glad to be done with them, which I should be shortly.

The rest of this post is going to be slightly embarassing... you see... I have a problem. My stupid fingers keep adding stash to online carts, and more... and more... and more... Below is what I've gained while waiting on the two items I originally planned to purchase from Market. Good grief, if they don't come in soon, I may need an intervention!!! (All pics should be clickable)

First up is scissors... ah, glorious scissors! I got the Kelmscott 'Steweb' scissors, Kelmscott's 'Tudor Rose' scissors, and the non-shiny ones are the pair I found in my antiquing/ second hand shopping adventures a few weeks ago.


Next up are my BBD acquisitions - an older pattern book (I got it b/c of a gorgeous sampler that's in it that I spotted on Terri's post of her Guild's BBD Day), and several 'newbies' to the BBD line-up:

Next is a random sampling of other miscellaneous patterns, a piece of 36 ct. fabric (which happens to be the exact shade of the walls in my room), and the 'Primitive Little Gems' scissors:

And now for the Christmas patterns I picked up (Really Robin??? I need more of these like I need another hole in my head):

And, my CHS finds (I've already got Frederick, and if I ever actually get the birdie couple stitched, I think they'll go in the Master bedroom):

*Note: The little black and white baby photo in all of these stash shots is Leah when she was... probably 8 or 9 months old...

I have a problem, I know. And, I have more coming!!! The Plum Street Samplers 'Queen' charts, 2 half yd. cuts of LL, another pair of scissors, and some thread. Aaaah!!! If I have a prayer of getting all of this stitched, I'd better live to be a hundred, lol!

I do believe I'm done stash enhancing for a while (...ummm... maybe I should have the stitchy retail sites blocked from my PC), but there is one thing I really want to get sooner rather than later (maybe with some of my refund from Uncle Sam?) - The Needlework System 4 Floor stand. Yup. Serious dough for that puppy. But, I think I need it. I have been noticing some issues with my right hand/ wrist lately. Of course, it might not be from stitching (I do make my living doing a lot of typing), but I feel I 'just can't be too careful'. Plus, I'm hoping it will help me stitch a tad on the more rapid side. So, I know Vonna loves hers... anyone else out there have one and want to add their two cents?

Okay, y'all... I'm going to sign off now. Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments on my last post!! It is always so encouraging to read them, and hear what you all have to say. I really enjoy writing this blog, but it makes it all the more meaningful when people read it and think enough of it to actually comment! I'm going to try to get caught up on my post reading and commenting tonight or tomorrow night (you all are posting so fast I can't keep up, lol!). Until then...

Stitch A$$ to all, and to all a good night!

~Robin