Hmmm

I have re-read two of my earlier posts and remembered a few other things.

I have dropped out of  Nutrisystem.  I liked the food but felt that I was missing out on family dinners.  I made my Nutrisystem dinner and then a dinner for the family.  Truth be told, their dinner usually looked better than the Nutrisystem.  When I called to cancel they did offer me some alternatives to the full plan.  I decided that for me this wasn't the way to go. 

My new plan is to record what I eat - something I need to work on since I didn't do the tracking so well with Nutrisystem.  And try to walk 10,000 steps a day.  I have hit that goal a few days and would like to get a nice long streak going.  I bought a Fitbit (the pink one) to help me keep track of my steps.  And it tells me so many other things.  I like it.  What I like best is that it isn't bulky and it stays in place.  I remember that I had a different pedometer for one (yes 1!) day and lost it somewhere - I think in the attic in a box - but still havene't found it all these years later.  Mr. S has devised a trail that goes up the hill in the back of our house, across the top, down the hill into a neighbor's yard, back up and across the top of the hill (actually the top of the grass part - there are woods further up) and then back down to our house.  A good thing is that Fitbit tracks a good portion of that walk as stairs climbed.  Interesting.

I have done some clean up in my stitching room.  And a bit of destashing.  This is a picture of a little chest of drawers that I got at TheContainer Store.  I found that I can house all of my DMC in here.  A great solution for me.  The DMC fits three rows across in the little floss bags.  I used a bit of paper in between the rows to prevent the bags from sliding around and refiling themselves.





I also realize that  I finished the stitching on the Thankful November stockings by Blackbird Designs.  Just have to put those together (along with the other 10 months that I've stitched!)

And in looking around my stitching room I found the nametag I made for the nametag challenge for the retreat.  I used parts of Lizzie Kate's Autumn ABC's for this.  It wasn't what I was originally going to do but the pattern leapt into my hands as I was cleaning up my stitching room.  We were given the fabric and floss to be used in the challenge and were able to add embellishments and finish it any way we chose.  During the retreat there is a point where everyone votes for their favorite.  I liked the one that won much better than my own. 

And finally, a finish.  It's been a while since I've been able to post one of those.  And I mean really finished.  This is my finish of Leaves Grow Old by Lizzie Kate.  I like the way this turned out.  I used lizard litter for the stuffing and am not sure that I'm really happy with it.  I'll have to play with it a bit more.  I wasn't able to make the points on the corners as sharp as I wanted - I think my interfacing was too stiff.  So we'll call this a 'prim' finish and let it go at that.



I hope you have a great day.

Keep on stitching!

Long Time

I've been around just not stitching or blogging.  I have been reading other people's blogs and drooling at their progress on projects.  I haven't made much progress on my own stuff - not really sure why.

I do have a start to share on the Prairie Schooler ABC's.  I am stitching this over one so it doesn't look like a lot, but I can see a little progress each time I pick it up. 

 

 Two weekends ago I attended A Touch of Autumn retreat sponsored by A Stitcher's Garden.  The retreat was held at the Ramada in Syracuse, NY.  A great place for a retreat.  I like the rooms there and the fact that you don't have to move your car all weekend if you don't want to.  Jan and her retreat committee do a wonderful job of making sure that every bit of the retreat is enjoyable.   There is always something to eat in the classroom in addition to the wonderful meals that are part of the weekend.  There was an even an opportunity to get a hand or neck massage for a reasonable fee on Saturday afternoon.  It was wonderful.
This year they had Linda Enbright from Lizzie Kate and Lori Markovic from La-D-Da as the teachers.  What a great time we had with them.  When I read the Lizzie Kate blog I can hear Linda's voice and intonation.

This is La-D-Da's project.  I haven't used waste canvas in ages.  Kudos to Lori for coming up with a great way to use it again. She provided all of the kit materials.  The needlebook and case were provided finished.  We had to do the stitching, iron on some interfacing and voila - a finished project.



I haven't finished the Lizzie Kate piece named Leaves Grow Old.  Here is my progress - I'm almost there.  I decided that I want this over one so that I can put in my little trug (you know the one that's hiding in the attic until I finish my little pillows!)


Linda give us this additional kit which I can't wait to start. She also had a wonderful presentation on Friday night with a powerpoint presentation to show us how and where she designs.  She answered lots of quesitons I've wondered about. So much fun!

I sat near a group of ladies from Ottawa.  They were so much fun.  I liked talking to them about some of the differences in our countries as far as healthcare and taxes.  Very interesting to me.  We hear so many bad things about healthcare in Canada but these ladies haven't experienced that.

Saturday night we all took a field trip to the shop.  Such a nice shop in a charming building.  And so many samples to see.  I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Since I don't have any pictures from the weekend you would think that I forgot my camera.  No, just forgot to use it. 

Mr. S is recovering from rotator cuff and bicep surgery in early March.  He is doing well and doing what he's been told as far as therapy.  I see a lot of progress in the almost six weeks since his surgery.  They say he'll be as good as new when he finishes physical therapy. 

I didn't post pictures of my March stuff of the month.  I'll try to put up pictures of my April things in the next week or so.