I Like What This Has to Say

I don't know where I found this quote - probably on another blog. 

Each of our lives is like a painting and we are the master.

Each day and each act can be another stroke on the canvas.

If our hearts are in the right place, we will create something

of beauty that will touch peoples lives and be remembered.

Robert Duncan

I found this beautiful blog  Lilac Lane Cottage - not a stitchy one - but definitely eye-candy.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Thank you for the comments on my last post.  They mean so much to me. I am so grateful for my stitching and blogging freinds.

Happy July!

Time continues to fly for me this year.  I'm not stitching as much as I'd like but I have many things to show you this time.

So, be warned, there are lots of pictures in this post.  I think that you can double click on the pictures to make them larger.

I finished stitching The 1892 Pledge by Sam Sarah Designs. I received this at the Stitcher's Garden Retreat in 2010. It is pressed and ready for the framer. One of these days I'll mosey on down there.

I finished Make It Do by Heartstring Samplery into a little pillow. It will live in a little trug with its other friends.

Blue Mountain Bunny by The Sweetheart Tree is stitched and ready for finishing into - are you ready - a little pillow.

The pictures that follow are the result of stitching over a couple of years - and languishing in the box of shame for quite some time waiting for inspiration.  I have probably spent more time thinking about how to finish these babies than it actually took me to put the book together.  I have mounted each of these on scrapbook paper and put them into an 8" x 8" scrapbook.  I apologize for the glare on some of the pictures.  I don't know how to correct it. 

January Tea Pot and January Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

January Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

January Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

February Tea Pot and February Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

February Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

February Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

March Tea Pot and March Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

March Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

March Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

April Tea Pot and April Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company (this is on of my favorites - these are mounted on cork)

April Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

April Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

May Tea Pot and May Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

May Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

May Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

June Tea Pot and June Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

June Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

June Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

July Tea Pot and July Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

July Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

July Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

August Tea Pot and August Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

August Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

August Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

September Tea Pot and September Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

September Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

September Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

October Tea Pot and October Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

October Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

October Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

November Tea Pot and November Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

November Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

November Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

December Tea Pot and December Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

December Tea Pot by Just Another Button Company

December Cup of Tea by Just Another Button Company

A picture of the scrapbook in its spot in the kitchen.

Progress on A-B-C by The Prairie Schooler. I am stitching this over one so it's a bit of slow one. I have found the right strength glasses which is making a difference in how fast I can stitch and the amount of stitching I can accomplish in one sitting.

On the health and wellness front, I manage to get in 10,000 or more steps each day.  Regular, i.e. daily, trips to the gym are helping in this respect.  I am losing weight - slowly - but still losing.

I hope you enjoyed today's post and will come back again soon.

Have you seen this?

I came across this blog of stitching blogs today called Stitching Blogs We All Love To Read here.   I think that a girl could spend hours and hours going through blogs and drooling!  Thanks to Tammy for putting this together!

Oh - Hello

I know it's been a long time!  I can't believe that we are at the end of  May and looking toward Memorial Day that we are in the beginning of June.  I had started this post a week or so ago.  I tried to figure out how to add pictures from the laptop and haven't figured that out yet.  So when I finish with the text I will have to down to the 'dinosaur' and upload the pictures from there since I know how to do that.  I think this laptop is too smart and makes decisions for me and that that is the reason I can't upload the pictures.

I have been trying to clean up the stitching room.  I get so distracted when I go in there.  Several nights I went in to clean up and spent the time stitching on the first thing I picked up.  Kind of like a kid when you send them to clean their rooms.  So I have been playing and do have a few things to show.  I'm still not finished with the clean up but I have cleaned up the pile on the floor.  So I do see progress. I had decided that I need a calendar to keep track of which projects I've been working on so I can do my blog entries a bit more easily.  So I did begin that.  Here are April and May. 

April's Stitching

May's Stitching

In April I attended a class  at Salty Yarns in Ocean City, MD.  It was called   Maritime Sewing Case and taught by  Elizabeth Talledo of  Dames of the Needle/Finger Work fame.  What a wonderful weekend.  I have a few pictures of that to share.  I love the accomodations at the Lankford Hotel.  I managed to do lots of walking while I was there.  It is so easy on the boardwalk - nice and flat!  And the ocean air and breezes can't be beat.

The view from our balcony at the Lankford Hotel.  The first morning we saw dolphins right off the beach!

The living room/dining room/ kitchen combo at the Lankford Hotel.

My bedroom - for a few days at least. 

My progress on the class piece.  The top portion will be the box  to and was pre-stitched so that it could be assembled in class.  We painted the fabric (sounds scarier than it was) and I began the stitching for one of the sides of the box.

I am continuing to work on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  This is my  'car' project and my take along to so many things since I don't need to read directions and don't need a lot of space to spread out.

Be Smart by Shepherd's Bush.  I have since added the buttons and finished the stitching on this one.   I'll post a picture when I've put it together.

Make It Do by Heartstring Samplery.  I have finished the stitching on this.  I'll post another picture of the finish - I have picked out the fabric and one of these nights I will put it together.

Schoolgirl Samplings by Blue Ribbon Designs.  I started working on this in Ocean  City.  I'll have to get this back out again one of these days. 

Personally, it has been a busy time.  My Baby Boy presented his thesis.  We took a day and went to watch him do that.  I didn't understand a lot of what he said but am so impressed with the way he was able to handle himself.   One person asked a really strange question and he handled it with ease.  I was sitting in my chair thinking what the heck did that guy just ask.  Baby Boy had an answer.   Later that week we went back to the college to watch our Baby Boy graduate!  He graduated Magna Cum Laude, with University honors and with departmental honors. Those four years have flown.   It seems like we were just dropping him off for his freshman year.  He has been offered a scholarship and stipend to attend grad school.  He begins that adventure in less than two weeks.  He hasn't had much time off to breathe but seems to be thriving in the midst of all the activity. We have helped him move into his new apartment and I think that he is unpacked and settled enough to start work tomorrow.  It was a lot of driving, moving, and shopping in a few short days.  When we left Kentucky yesterday I was amazed at what three of us were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time.  I will miss having him close but feel good that he has a nice apartment and will be comfortable there.  It felt like a home by the time we were finished.  Mission Accomplished!

Baby Boy and I at his graduation.

Baby Boy and I at the Arboretum in Lexington.

 Baby Girl attended her prom and had a great time with no drama (always a concern.) She will graduate from high school this week.  Where has that 13 years gone since she started Kindergarten.  She will be leaving for college in late August.  So shopping to do for her to get her the things she needs for her dorm.

I'll try to be a little more faithful in my updates.