Oh What A Week!

I took a moment tonight as I arrived home to snap a couple shots of the amazingly bright moon with wispy clouds floating by.  Honestly the pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it is out tonight.  I could sit on the porch and just look at if only I had the time.

QUICK UPDATE

I signed up for Carol's (http://istitchaholic.blogspot.com) Christmas SAL.  Starting on December 1 and going through December 24 you will receive a piece of the sampler and at the end of the 24 days you will have a completed sampler.  This year she is stitching along with us so the design is a complete surprise.  I know the end of November she had a few slots left open so there still might be time to participate if you have an interest.

   I've managed to stitch days 1 and 2 on time which with daily trips to the hospital is surprising.  I anticipate a late evening to get day 3's stitching done.  It is really relaxing to sit down and stitch such a small design and have a finish with things being so hectic.

I'm still plugging away on Christmas gift for a friend.  Again disguising the photo so it will still be a surprise for the friend who will receive it.  It is actually stitching up quickly when I do get time to work on it.

These beautiful fabrics will hopefully very soon become some Christmas presents for family and friends.  Thinking a weekend cutting session.

I had a spare 45 minutes yesterday so I did a quick little bit of Christmas decorating.  I put up the little white tree with pink lights that I do in my mom's memory who passed from breast cancer.  She loved the Christmas holidays and her decorations were truly magical.  It is where I acquired my great love of decorating for the Christmas holiday.  I decorated it with things she would have loved and topped it with an Angel.

This little Santa's workshop and white ceramic trees with red lights (my mom's favorites) were made by her.  They are truly treasured pieces for the entire family.

Bill managed to get the outside lights up but I'm not sure when the Christmas tree will make an appearance - maybe over the weekend.

I did manage to finish reading a book.  Yes, I managed to squeeze in my morning workout at the Y and Festive in Death by J.D. Robb was my treadmill book.  I love her series of mysteries with Eve.  

I wish I had time for more but have much more work to do before my day ends.

Happy Stitching!

Happy Thankgsgiving!

THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have had a wonderful day with those you love!  I ended up hosting this year's family get together and it was a special one as all members were in the same place at the same time which hasn't happened in a couple of years.  It really was fun seeing how much the little ones had grown and to catch up with what everyone is doing these days.  After watching the report on the Today Show on the Thanksgiving calories consumed I had a plan for eating this year so as not to over indulge.  I skipped any tasting beforehand and I chose only to eat the things I don't normally cook throughout the year.  I came away from the table feeling very good about my choices.  Thankfully my tooth I broke was permanently fixed yesterday so I didn't have to worry about losing an appliance in my mouth while eating.

I made the time on Saturday to cut out and make a quilt as you sew runner that would fit my entire island.  I used up my stash of French General fabrics and lined it with a thermal cotton batting so all the hot dishes could be placed on it instead of pulling out a variety of trivets.  The completed size is 35 1/2 " by 72".  It was the smartest thing I could have done to simplify.  It was so easy to just move dishes around to make room.  I highly recommend making one to use for large gatherings.    I used the tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt to learn the technique.  

I couldn't resist this photo of the sweet potatoes.  They turned out really yummy this year!

You can see the island is rapidly filling up with foods.

This is the "oh the last bite of french silk pie is gone" look.

Okay, so I'll just get cleaned up.

He is either going to take another bite of his pumpkin bar or is going to squish it in his hands.  Tough call as the look on his face says it could go either way.

SNOW - YIPPEE!

We had a dusting of snow here Tuesday night into Wednesday night.  Officially I think it was a couple of inches but it seemed much less than that to me. 

It did require a bit of shoveling on my part on Wednesday morning and this morning so I at least got some good exercise.  

A YEAR IN THE MAKING

Just like my photo taking trip with my SIL that was scheduled in November 2013 for 2014 my shopping trip for holiday decorations with my brother was scheduled in December 2013 for November 2014.  We have been looking forward to it all year and we settled on Monday this week for this year's trip.  We enjoyed seeing so many decorated trees in the shop and there were so many fun snow globes, music boxes, animated decor, and lighted items.  I know we checked out every single item they had as we were in this store for 2 1/2 hours just looking.  There really was a ton to see.

On our way home we pulled off the highway into Pella for a trip to Jaarsma Bakery to pick up Tuesday's breakfast.  It was a sight to behold all the pastries, cookies and candies.   It was a day filled with so much laughter and catching up and can't wait for our 2015 trip.

Well, off to put a few stitches in my current project. 

Seasons of change....

WEATHER

We had an abrupt change of seasons here in Iowa.  According to the calendar we are not yet into winter but it sure has felt like it.  We went from the lovely green views to the winter white very quickly.  This snow was early for us and you can see the leaves are still falling from the trees.  It has been pretty cool here (others would say freezing cold) and we have had some tremendous winds.  Honestly there has not been such a thing as a good hair day here in a couple of weeks.  Oh and my hornets next - not going anywhere apparently.

HOLIDAYS

With the changing of the temperatures comes the season of the holidays.  Rapidly approaching is Thanksgiving (less than a week away) and I will be acting as hostess for the family gathering again this year.  The entire family will be together and we haven't seen everyone in one place at the same time in 2 years.  

I spent my day yesterday cleaning house (I know I should wait until after everyone leaves but I just like a clean house to start the holiday) and I am hoping to find enough time this weekend to make a table topper/runner to fit my island.  I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years as it would be so much handier than a dozen trivets out for the hot dishes.  One big runner lined and then can be tossed in the washer for clean up.  I think I will take advantage of the quilt as you go method to make it super quick and easy.  I'm think I'm just going to use a color scheme that goes with my decor rather than novelty fabrics for the occasions.  

STITCHING

There has been a bit more progress on July by Prairie Schooler and am loving the piece.  I hated to set it aside but realizing that Christmas is just a short jump from Thanksgiving I decided I better get started on my gift giving stitching.  I have fewer friends/family to make things for this year with some opting not to do exchanges in 2014.  As a couple of items were already made, I would look for a giveaway to start off 2015.

This is my start on one of the pieces.  I know the picture is not good and I had to do some editing to muddy up the picture to disguise the project.  I wouldn't want the person who will get the gift to see it beforehand - and no I'm not going to tell you who gets this one.  Surprisingly it is stitching up very quickly even though I'm stitching on 48 count at night.  I just love it!

I will get serious on my stitching/sewing for the holidays once I get through Thanksgiving.   Hmmm I wonder if one of my friends'  teenagers would want to earn a few bucks helping me get all my Christmas decor done.  I think it would be worth it!

FRIENDSHIPS

I will leave you with this poem written by an unknown author.  It is helpful when experiencing a change in a friendship.

Reason, Season, or Lifetime

When someone is in your life for a REASON, 

it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. 

They come to assist you through a difficulty;

to provide you with guidance and support;

to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend, and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met, 

our desire fulfilled; their work is done.

The prayer your send up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,

because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.

They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

They  may teach you something you have never done.

They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

Believe it.  It is real, But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;

things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,

and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

---Unknown

My Recent Days - Colorful, Fun, Challenging, Relaxing!

COLORFUL

My SIL (Jodi on right) and I spent a fun and relaxing Sunday afternoon at a local park taking pictures of the Fall foliage.  In all honesty the colors this year are not as plentiful as past years but if you look at your surroundings through a lens you can get some wonderful shots.  Interestingly enough I thought the greens were quite vibrant as well.  The pictures below were taken at two different parks  - Yellow Banks and Ewing.  

FUN

My BFF (Rene' who you can see in the next picture checking out the Halloween display) and I managed a day long outing to a town East of us called Oskaloosa (Osky).  We've known each other since the 2nd grade so let's just say a lot of years!  We talked, we laughed, we bought!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of their display of Topsy Turvy mugs.  They are so adorable.  It was close but I managed to leave the store without one. 

Instead I spent my money on a pair of "pricey" ice skate ornaments for my Christmas tree.  You all know I have accumulated over 30 pairs of ornaments for my tree.  Amazingly no two pairs are a like!

Rene' wanted to try one of the new restaurants from the Iowa's Best Bite Restaurant Challenge called On The Green.  We chose to have a lighter lunch of Chicken Tortilla Soup (delicious) and Risotto Tots.  OMG the Risotto Tots were amazing!  When I commented on this on the Challenge Facebook page, they responded that this particular dish was what put them over the top in the challenge.  I can definitely see why.  If you get a chance, you should check out one of the restaurants in the challenge as they are all pretty amazing.

On our way back to the city we stopped long enough to take a couple of snapshots of this Bed and Breakfast along the highway.  Just a beautiful old house!  They don't offer tours but I bet the inside is amazing!

CHALLENGES

I've experienced a few challenges this week.  While some were taken care of pretty easily I'm afraid there will be some carry over to next week for a couple.  

1

My central vacuum just needed some new parts in the components that were transportable and at very little cost.  I was pretty happy about it.

2

I'm afraid my computer crash was a bit more time consuming and costly but still not drastic.  This is one that will carry over into next week.  You wonder what happened - well my computer when you turned it on brought up the Apple logo and just went to a white screen and never changed.  I finally made an appointment at the Genius Bar and an hour into the process I found out that my hard drive was too full.  Who knew you needed to have a certain percentage of your hard drive available based on your storage for your start up software to work.  Apparently I did not!  Another hour later I was able to delete enough documents (freebie cross stitch patterns), movies (just video I took to share what I had done during the day with my son) and photos (did not know that once they are in iPhoto they can be removed from the downloads section as they are duplicates at this point) to get my computer to actually start up.  

It was suggested and as I had wanted to do this for some time I bought an external hard drive to put my photos, music and movies on.  I bought the one with the most storage (2 terra bite) to allow room for growth.  Here is where the carry into next week comes in as I did manage to transfer my photos and home movies but can't quite figure out how to move the iTunes stuff.  Also, before I delete anything from my hard drive I do want to make sure I've really moved it to my external hard drive and how to access.  I'm thinking this will be a much shorter appointment.  Thankfully I did not lose my photos and video of my mom during her last year of life!

3

My dishwasher is making a strange noise when it runs these days and seems to take a bit longer to run through.  The good news is we have time to shop for something new and if worst comes to worst I still know how to do dishes by hand!

4

I was out on Friday enjoying a little shopping and thinking my luck might be turning around.  I've been on the hunt for new jeans as I've lost so many inches exercising I have none that fit.  I was so excited that I actually found a pair that fit and a sweater to boot.  I should have known I was pushing my luck as they only had one pair in my size among all the colors and when they checked online in their computer there were no more to be had.  Grrrr!

5

To end my week of challenges I was eating lunch and all of a sudden something felt different in my mouth.  Yep, you guessed it a piece of my tooth chipped away and is now gone forever.  I was able to talk to my dentist and he gave me tips to keep that tooth safe over the weekend but staff will be calling me with a time to come in on Monday to start the process of repair.  It appears a crown is the fix for this particular problem.  I see $$$$$ flying away!

RELAXING!

Through it all I did manage to find some time to stitch, read and rake leaves to keep my stress level down.  

I did reach my goal of having the Halloween Cubes by Primitive Hare stitched entirely 2 days before Halloween.  Unfortunately, I did not have time to do the finish work.  At least I can take my time and do them up right before next year.

I have now picked back up my WIP  July by Prairie School to continue working on.  It is moving along very quickly and expect a finish before the new year.

Well, I think that is enough for today as this post is rapidly approaching short story stage.  Hope you all are still enjoying some lovely Fall weather and not the early snow I've seen in some regions of the USA.

Might Make It By Halloween!

 STITCHING UPDATE

It is the 10th and I am rapidly approaching the finish of the Halloween Cubes by Primitive Hare.  H-A-L-L-O-W are all complete and I started on the first E last night.  It is moving along very quickly.  I'm finding it kind of funny how when I'm stitching some of the letters they are relating to things in my life.  This "E" I'm working on right now has an owl in it.  Funny that the night before I started stitching it two owls came to sit in the trees out back and hooted all evening long.  The face in the tree on the letter "A".....

Well I have a tree that has a face as well.  Stares at you whenever you are on the front porch.  I've been thinking about painting parts of the eyes with glow in the dark paint to freak out the trick or treaters.

I'm currently thinking about how I'm going to finish these letters and have a couple few ideas in mind.  Decisions, decisions.

My bestie, Harriet had a picture of a design she was trying to find the designer or design name for as she is interested in stitching it.  She knows me well as I love the hunt for those things we can't find.  As it happens, I knew that I recognized the style but could not think of the designer right away.  It was such a coincidence that a WIP that I haven't picked up in awhile has been on my mind the past several days.  Guess what?  Yep, same designer. 

Day 38 - 2 hrs 40 min 

Thanks to Harriet's inquiry I am going to pull out Peacock by Courtney Collection and my hope is to finish it this year.  

Back in 2010 I posted about how many friends/family often ask me how long it takes to stitch a particular project and I can only give them a general a couple days for this, a week for that, 3 months for this.  I've never been one to keep track of how much actual time stitching is in a project.  This is the project I decided to keep an actual log of actual time stitching on a project.  Each and every time I work on this project at the end of stitching for that session I snap a photo and enter the Day Number and amount of stitching time for this photo.  You will notice this photo is Day 38 and I stitched 2 hours and 40 minutes that day.

To date I have worked on this project on 38 different days for a total of 56 1/2 hours of actual stitching time.  It will be fun to have a truly accurate number to give this time.  However, this will be the project that no one will ask the question - LOL!

PLANNED PARENTHOOD BOOK SALE

Today I popped into our local Planned Parenthood book sale and scored some patterns to add to my stash.  There are 2 from Told in a Garden and 1 from Lavender and Lace.  Each cost me 75 cents which was a total bargain.  It looked like someone had donated their entire collection of Told in a Garden and Lavender and Lace as there were about 20 patterns there.

At same book sale I scored 2 books on my wish list to read.

I also picked up a couple of fun recipe card books for the holidays.  The Nestle ones have some ideas for "In a Jar" gifts.  

READING

I did finish Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  I was a good read but I knew where it was heading very early in the book.  Still as I didn't know all the details of the how it was still a good read for me.

I Race.....

RACE FOR CURE

I race...in memory of my mom who was the bravest, strongest woman I've ever known.

I race...in honor of mom's best friend (Betty) who is a 30+ year survivor.

I race...in hopes that a cure will be found so this race will no longer be necessary.

Yesterday was the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure held in Des Moines.  It was a chilly downright cold morning with a temperature of 29 degrees with windchill.  So much for moving it ahead a couple of weeks to hopefully have warmer weather.  Thankfully the sun was shining brightly instead of the foggy damp weather we had been experiencing.  

This is a cause I am passionate about.  I have been participating in the fundraising portion of this race for 14 years (right after mom's first diagnosis with breast cancer) but this was my 6th year walking it.  I started walking this race when my mom was re-diagnosed with breast cancer.  Sadly she lost her battle just 8 months later.  There is not a day that goes by that I don't miss my mom's wisdom,  sense of humor and her ability take you worst day and have you laughing about it by the end of the conversation.  Oh the laughs we have had together!

As it happens, mom and I had lots of conversations during those last 8 months and during one such conversation I promised mom I would continue my endeavors to live a healthier lifestyle.  I even went to far as to tell her I would be running this race one day for her.  To this day I'm not sure what I was thinking when I uttered those words.

I really had no intention for that day to be yesterday.  I had not been training to run at all.  Just doing my usual walking and classes at the Y.  Okay so I found it easier to jog the hills on the trails in the park but would not classify it in any way as training.  It just seems like the stars had aligned for it to be yesterday.  

When we lined up to start, it ended up when they closed the gap between walkers and runners before the starting gun I was in those 2 rows where walkers and runners are shoulder to shoulder.   Well when the gun went off I thought why not see how far I could go totally expecting to go no farther than the first block down the hill.  Imagine my surprise to be all the way to the bottom of the hill and around the corner and still running.  It gave me the encouragement to keep running and managed to run all the way to the halfway point which is where my brother and sister-in-law were providing security (local Harley group provides security along the entire route).  Stopped for my hugs, encouragement and photo with my brother and off I went again still running.  

After making the next turn into the 20 mph winds I ended up alternating walking/running as running into the winds made it hard to breathe.  By the time we reach the last 1/2 mile everyone was walking as we met up with 1 mile walkers and it was just curb to curb people and no way to run through the crowd.  Not to mention the band at the corner many people were stopping at to dance and sing clogging up the street.

I know I did not run the entire 5K but there are some promises that don't have to be kept to the nth degree.    Mom would have considered this a done deal and promise kept as I ran most of the race.

STITCHING

I am continuing to make excellent progress on Halloween Cubes by Primitive Hare.  I am currently on the Letter O and expect to see a finish on it today and a start on W.  It is going to be tight getting them done for display this year but all other stitching projects have been set aside in hopes I will get there sooner than later.

READING

I have also set all other reading aside except for my recent start of Gone Girl by by Gillian Flynn.  I know the movie is set to be released this week and we have date night on Friday night and suspect this will be the movie my husband wants to see.  I want to have the book finished before then.  This also will be a small miracle considering how busy my week is this week.

GRASS IS GROWING

Remember this from 2 weeks ago where we were leveling up the yard and reseeding?

This is what it looks like today.  I am amazed at how quickly it has filled in over the past week.