In Loving Memory...

My grandpa...

Richard Elondus Smith

September 4, 1927 ~ January 28, 2010

How is it already almost the end of January??

Hiya peeps!! I hope you all had fabulous holidays and that your new year has gotten off to a great start.

I've been a stranger to blog-land lately, and I'm not going to be bashful about assigning blame. I wish I could say it's b/c I've been so busy stitching (and I have done some in the past week or so - pics later on in this post), or so busy reading & commenting on all your fabulous blogs that I haven't had time to update my own, but I can't say that... It's all Facebook's fault. Well... really Super Poke Pets on Facebook. Never fear, though. I've checked myself into SPP rehab and am happy to say I've been "clean" for over a week now. Wahoo.

So, here I am, back to spending my (oh so abundant) free time on what I really love - stitching! I hope to get caught up on reading and commenting on your posts shortly, and I have a bloggy request for you at the end of this post.

But the most amazing part of this post? I have finishes! Yes, plural!! I know, I know... it's rare, but true.

First up is the Olde World Santa ornament:


Umm... okay, so he's not really finished. I didn't remember that, lol!! I didn't have the pink thread for his cheeks, but got it a couple weeks ago, then forgot to finish him up. Oops! He's not finish finished either - I have a whole 11 months to tackle that fearsome task. Something tells me I won't do it until oh... November or so. :) .

Next up is the Sampler Girl's Emily Dickinson Sampler:




I think it turned out nicely, don't you? Now all she needs is a lovely frame and she'll be ready to go on the wall in Leah's room. I stitched her on 40 ct (not sure what brand and color - I really need to get better about noting that stuff) with DMC threads.

I also got the awesome thread keeper system that I first saw on one of your fabulous blogs - I'm sorry... I can't remember whose blog I saw it on! I really really love this. Admittedly, it takes a while to get the threads hooked up on the little tags, but it is definitely worth it to have all my thread organized and in one place - if nothing else it will keep me from buying duplicates. I haven't gotten all my thread done yet - I've got lots of DMC to put on the keepers. These are called Annie's Thread Keepers, and I got them from Nordic Needle. Here are a couple pics:



And I've begun a new start. It's the Sewing Clamp (Sampler Bits pattern) from the Heart's Content:


It was a Christmas gift from my DH. I chose it to be next because I thought "oh, it's nice and tiny, it should be a super quick finish", and because I looove it. Lo and behold I open up the kit only to discover - it's done over 1 on 40 ct. Ack! Never done that before! So, it won't be done quite as quickly as I anticipated, but I still am excited about it. I don't think I'm going to finish it the way the kit calls for it to be finished, though. I've seen another pincushion finishing technique on a couple of Homespun Elegance pincushions that is more to my taste, so I think I'll give that a shot. Here's where I am with it:


I worked on it for about 45 minutes last night (this gives you an idea why I finish things so slowly!), and am hoping to get quite a bit of stitchy time in this weekend, so you never know - this finish could come pretty quickly.

OK, I have a request - I know I'm missing out on a lot of fabulous blogs, so I was thinking "Self? Maybe your faithful blogging buddies could recommend their favorite 1 or 2 (or 3) stitchy blogs." If you'd like to help a sister out, just leave your recommendations in the comments on this post.

Thanks for reading ladies (& gents?)!! I'll be "seeing" you soon!
Robin

Hiya folks!

Wow... time flies by these days, doesn't it? This is such a busy time of year, but I absolutely love it! I'm sad to admit that I haven't put in a single stitch since my last post, lol!

Lots of Christmas preparation going on... shopping, decorating, and (amazing but true - for this area, anyway) a pretty significant snowfall which enabled me to get out with Leah and act like a kid for a couple hours.

So, in lieu of stitchy pics, I will share "pics of the season". :)

First, house pics - I'm done with the decor... for this year, anyway!

The tree in the living room... I always enjoy decorating the tree! Pulling out all the ornaments - some from before I was born - and recalling how I got them, the stories associated with each one. It's such a wonderful sense of nostalgia. It's especially great to start sharing these stories with Leah now that she's a little bit older. It's adorable to see the reverence she displays towards them after I tell some of the stories (i.e. "Mommy's grandma made that one.").

This is the little sitting area off the kitchen -it feels so cozy with the lights on, and the books all around. I've spent quite a bit of time sitting in here after Leah goes to bed just absorbing the peace.

And my Annalees... I looove these little things! They are so stinking cute!! I've been collecting them for a couple years now - I found them initially at Home Goods at an amaaazing amount off their original prices. 50 - 60% off! They aren't the current year's pieces, but that doesn't matter to me. I just love the nostalgic homey feel they have.

And now for the snowy afternoon pics. Before we went outside, Leah & Roscoe were having a blast watching the snow come down - Roscoe was beginning to get really ticked that he couldn't catch the snowflakes!

Leah and I finally made it outside about mid-afternoon... unfortunately, I don't have many pics, b/c I was afraid my camera would get too wet, and be ruined... Here is one that I thought was particularly cute, though:

Well, that's about all I've got for this go 'round! Thank you all for your comments - you ladies are wonderful! And, Siobhan - thanks for the pointer toward finishing instructions for my ornament! As soon as I get it finished I will hop right over there and check it out.

Have a fabulous week, everyone! With Christmas only 12 days away (Ha!! Really? I feel like breaking into song, now... but I'll restrain myself!), I'm sure we will all be pretty busy. Enjoy the season and make some fabulous new memories!

~Robin

Happy Thanksgiving (and Some Stitchy Stuff)!!

Hi, y'all! Howz it hangin'?

It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks in my neck of the woods... my company had their annual symposium, which went well... but far more exciting than that is - I went to see New Moon with a couple of my friends and maaan did we enjoy it. It had nothing at all to do with a certain Mr. Lautner and his rather amazing body. No, I did NOT just type that about a 17yo kid, lol!! It also had nothing to do with the always dreamy Robert Pattinson... nooo nooo... nothing at all to do with those lads. :) It was good and I did love it - even aside from them. I thought it was far better than the first. One of the more entertaining aspects of the whole experience? All the tweens (literally) screaming their little heads off every time Jacob showed up on screen, lol - my friends and I were cracking up! I can't wait to see Eclipse - I think I read that the release date will be June 2010? Wahoo!

OK, on to stitchy stuff... Stitching time has been rather limited in recent days (or should I say evenings since, unfortunately, I don't get paid to sit at my job and stitch! I wonder if I could work that somehow??) so I still haven't completed the ED Sampler, but here's where I am with it:

I think if I can get a solid few hours of stitching in, I can finish it. I'm really liking the way it is turning out!

And in honor of the Christmas spirit that has overtaken me (earlier than usual, I must say), I've started stitching up ornaments - this is the first one:

It's on 32 ct. linen, with the called for DMC - this is one of the Santas in the Prairie Schooler's Old World Santas II pattern leaflet. I'm not sure if any of these will make it into gifts - I'm actually a little nervous about the finishing (to make them into ornaments) so we'll have to see a) how many I can finish in a reasonable time, and b) if I can manage to not hose them entirely when I attempt to finish finish them

Well, that's all for me for now kids! As always thanks for your comments ladies!! I love getting and reading them!!

I hope you and your families have an absolutely splendid Thanksgiving!!!

~Robin

New Start!

Hi there!

First things first: Thanks so much Deb, Terri, and Siobhan for your wonderful comments on my last two re-start posts. :) You ladies were always my most faithful commenters and it was so lovely to hear from you again right away. Thanks so much for welcoming me back into the bloggy fold so to speak. It's been great to catch up with all of you via reading your recent posts.

OK, on to new things. I worked on piecing my quilt for a while and got all the 4 patch blocks pieced (and all of my corners are perfect I am pleased to say!) but then I had to start the triangle pieces and got frustrated, so I decided I should put it on hold and re-start it at a later date. So, I picked up the Sampler Girl's Emily Dickinson Sampler. I had stitched most of the first two trees up at the top, and here is where I am now: (re-started 11/1):

I think I made a mistake with my fabric selection because unless you're looking at it in bright daylight you can barely see the green on the trees. Oh well... I refuse to frog it, lol!! :) This will go in Leah's room when it's done. I'm stitching it on 40 ct. linen with DMC.

I think the plan until Christmas is going to be to work on ED at home in the evenings after the wee child is in bed, and work on some Christmas ornaments during my lunch hours at work. We'll see how much I get done... then the finish finishing of those will be a whole new adventure, lol!

Not much else going on. I got Leah's Christmas pics done (I took her to a field in our neighborhood and took about 400 shots - overkill do you think?), so now I just have to pick out a couple to get printed up for family and friends. None of them will be posted here (although, my new profile pic is one of them) just in case a picture recipient reads the blog. Can't ruin the surprise, you know.

The weather was absolutely stunning here today and we went to the C&O canal aqueduct and tramped around on the trails and just had a glorious day in the great outdoors. Maybe I'll post a few of those pics in another post, because I did get some really pretty shots. That'll have to wait though at least until I get them off the camera and onto the PC.

This week I'm up for jury duty, and am off the hook for tomorrow, but we'll have to see what happens with the rest of the week. Maybe I'll be able to get caught up on some reading (I don't think I'd be able to take scissors and needle into the courthouse, sigh).

Alrighty kids, that's about all I've got this go 'round... Have a great week!!
Robin

Leah's "First" Halloween

Hi y'all! Sorry, I couldn't resist posting a few pics of Leah in her first Halloween costume. She originally wanted to be a ballerina, but as soon as we got to the store (I love me some TJ Maxx!!) and she saw this, her mind was made up. Thank goodness it fit!

Her reaction to having it on in the dressing room was: "Oh mommy!! It's perfect!! It's like a dream come true!!!" Who could've resisted that?? I tell ya, the kid is too cute for her own good sometimes with the things she says!

Of course, my camera was stuck to my face for this. I got some really cute shots, and these are my three favorites (I decided I need to exercise some restraint and not torture you with alll the pics, lol!):




I hope you've all had a spooktacular Halloween!!!
Robin

It's Been Awhile...

Hi there everyone!

First (and I promise - there is "fun stuff" after this...), thank you all so much for your lovely supportive comments when my husband's mother and brother passed away... As you all know, my MIL was somewhat expected as she had been battling for quite some time. She had contracted MRSA at the end and it was just too much for her body. God really blessed her final day with us... She got her hair done in the morning, ate some ice cream (this was the first thing she had eaten by mouth since she went into the hospital in Feb.), and, most exciting for her - she met Joe Theismann!! He just happened to be in the hospital and my hubby ran into him on the elevator. He told Joe what had been going on and that mom was a HUGE Redskins fan (her blood ran burgundy and gold, I tell you). Joe went by mom's room for a visit and actually spent quite a bit of time chatting with her. She passed peacefully about 2 hours later.

My brother in law was entirely unexpected. He was fine one day - in fact, he went to work the day before he died - and passed away early the next morning. He had begun feeling unwell the night before with stomach flu type symptoms. We still don't have final autopsy results, we only know it wasn't H1N1.

We are starting to get back to normal... the grief is still there, especially for my husband and his siblings... even Leah commented this morning that she is really sad that Memaw is gone. But she's happy that Memaw will be with her in her heart forever. Aww... don't kids just get right down to the bottom line in the sweetest way?

My stitchy/ crafty mojo has been gone until the past week or so. I've finally started slowly piecing that quilt I had cut the fabric for. As soon as I have any real progress to show, I'll post pics.

Now on to the fun stuff!! We went to Orlando in September and had a blast (this is a pic heavy post, I'm afraid)!! We visited Sea World, and all the Disney parks. We rented a house in Kissimmee which was sooo nice. It had a pool & hot tub, and you know we were in them every night. :)

I really put my camera through it's paces while we were there (I took around 2,500 pics - overload, I know) and below are a few of my faves...

I think this is my favorite pic from Sea World:

We loved the Shamu show so much we went to see it twice. It was way better than I remembered it from my last visit to Sea World (an almost embarrassing # of years ago).

Here's a pic of Leah as we left one of the shows there. I just thought it turned out so well, I couldn't resist posting it:


We visited Epcot, which wasn't Leah's favorite but which the grown ups loved. She met a few characters there which made it more bearable for her, I think. There was a really great band there called Off Kilter which we watched a couple times. They are a sort of Celtic Rock band - they're good enough I'd buy their CD. Here's a shot of the golf ball:

And, of course, we went to the Magic Kingdom two days. Leah ADORED the Magic Kingdom. Had an absolute blast meeting princesses, and riding roller coasters. Yep, you read that right, riding roller coasters. She rode the kiddie one first, then decided she wanted to ride Thunder Mtn. I was very uncertain (I want a roller coaster buddy when she's older since my hubby doesn't ride them, so I was afraid it would terrify her, and she'd never set foot on one again), but she loved it so much she rode it twice! That's my girl!!!

We also had breakfast in Cinderella's castle. It was absolutely wonderful... but the best part was Leah's reaction when we gave her her "invitation". Ever seen footage from Beatle's concerts where the girls are just losing it? Well, that's pretty much what Leah did. It was awesome. :) Here are a couple of my favorite shots of the castle.

Here are a few shots of Leah with her favorite Disney characters (she met all the princesses except Pocahontas, but I thought I'd post more variety than just princesses). Note the uptilted "model foot" in the shot below:

Pooh & Tigger spent almost 10 minutes interacting with her - she felt sooo special!

This is Leah meeting Ariel... it was adorable to see her meet all the characters, but this was just classic... she was so excited it was as though she couldn't quite decide what to do with herself. Couldn't smile right, was soooo trying to sit just exactly perfectly. It was fabulous!

And here she is with Mulan - Leah looooves girl power!

Let's see.... not much else going on. Leah has been through and recovered from a bout of pneumonia (seeing her w/ the nebulizer on her face was sooo sad, but she was such a champ!), I've been sucked into the online vortex known as Facebook (If any of you are on there let me know!), and that's about all my news.

I hope to not be such a stranger now that I'm "back"... can't wait to get caught up with what's going on for all of you!

Peace out!!

Robin