LHN Moon and Stars Finish

Moon and Stars

Little House Needleworks

32 count Pewter Lugana over 2 threads

colors as charted

I'm so happy to finish this! I started it at the beginning of July after a long stitching slump. It's really lovely and will look wonderful on the stitching shelf after it is framed.

In other news - I'm on vacation until August 11! I'm picking up Cheese from Boy Scout camp tomorrow night and we'll have a whole week to goof off and have fun. I'm so looking forward to spending time with my main man.

Thanks for visiting!

Finished Ornament

This is the completed ornament for the Christmas in July exchange. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. It is a design by Nikkie Leeman at Country Cottage Needleworks that is found in the August 2008 JCS Christmas Ornament Preview magazine.

I stitched over one on 28 count Mushroom Lugana using DMC 869, 3362, white Marlitt, Dark Blue from The Dye Shop, and Kreinik Very Fine Braid 002. I love the way the finished product sparkles, but I'm not eager to stitch over 1 with Kreinik again. I do hope my pal likes it!

Weekend Laziness

I spent this weekend doing next to nothing because I've done something to my back. I had grand plans of finishing the painting in Cheese's room, but it wasn't to be. I have been stitching an ornament for an exchange on one of the message boards. It's not finished yet and I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing. My pal is such a talented stitcher and I afraid my stitching pales in comparison to hers. I gave it my best shot though and stitched this piece from JCS Ornament preview magazine. It is CCN's Silver and Blue, although mine is gold and blue over one on 28 count linen. I will finish it into a little pillow with complimentary blue fabric on the back. I'll post more photos when it is finished - this is just a quick snap with the wrong lens on the camera.

Cheese is away at Boy Scout camp until Friday, so I'm adding cat pictures for fill. :-) The first one is Star, Shadow's mom, lounging on the running board of my car. She was born under our porch last May and she isn't too tame. She will let us pet her and feed her of course. We did capture her and had her spayed at the vet. Now she's one of our outdoor cats and keeps the mice away. The second is Shadow, of course. Isn't he getting big?

Sister's Choice

In Richards's latest stand-alone Shenandoah Album saga, childless Kendra Taylor and husband Isaac accept an offer from Kendra's younger sister—single mom Jamie—to conceive and carry a child for them. The sisters have recently inherited money from their father, so it's no hassle for architect-in-training Jamie, who is not quite 30, to come with her daughters, Alison and Hannah, to live in nearby Toms Brook, Va. Pregnant Jamie can be on-site while the house that Jamie designs for Kendra and Isaac is built—on Isaac's family property in the Shenandoah River Valley—by the extraordinarily handsome Cash Rosslyn. For her part, Kendra keeps tabs on Jamie, whose misspent youth had previously estranged the sisters, as Jamie carries Kendra's family's future. Cash's grandmother Grace, meanwhile, has plans for Cash and Jamie, and Grace's love of quilting, and especially her own touching love story from another era, draws these women of different generations together. Richards should've included a special pull-out hanky insert, but readers looking for positive resolutions won't be disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book. It is quite long and I was reading in every spare moment I had - I just didn't want to put it down. Jamie is the kind of mom I want to be, but I identified more with Kendra and her constant worrying. Book #32 for 2008!

****Edited to add: I just found out that this is the latest book in a series. I hate it when I read out of order! All books have a little bit about quilting in them and I'm excited to read the others. Check out the author's website at www.emilierichards.com.

Home Run!

Cheese hit his first career home run Saturday at the first All Star game. We pulled out a win during an extra inning. It was a great game - all the boys have come so far this year. We lost last night's game after an amazing comeback that fell short. 3rd game is Wednesday against the team we beat Saturday. Switching sports tonight for a soccer game. I don't know how he does it - I'm exhausted just watching!

Moon and Stars WIP

I spent the 4th of July weekend on the couch with a nasty summer cold. I'm not much for sitting and doing nothing, so I stitched on Moon and Stars from LHN. I'm a little further now and hope to finish this up this month to add to the shelf in the dining room.

I'll also share a partial picture of the plate rail in my dining room that I will eventually fill with needlework. This rail/shelf is along 2 walls of the dining room. Oh yeah, I sewed the curtains for the dining room this weekend too, but need to get weights for the corners so it will be straight across the top. (The candles really don't belong there, but I was using the table and that's the only place I could think to put them so Shadow wouldn't eat them.)

Jump Start

I thought I would get the blog rolling again with a picture of our newest addition - Shadow.

Shadow and a brother and sister were born in our garage in April and we decided to keep one of the kittens. Cheese chose this one because he looks like a previous Shadow that escaped from the house and was hit by a car.

We are enjoying him, but Libby (our 6 year old cat) is not too fond of him yet. I'm sure they will get along eventually.

I'll also share a picture of Cheese on his last day at the Elementary school. He'll be starting 6th grade in the Fall at the Middle/High School Building. Time really flies!