It's Spring Break and . . .

for the second time this week, we woke up to snow!!  So typical!  

Or course it's gone now and sun is out, but it's definitely March-like weather.  Dan and I have laughed today over memories of the year we got up to several inches on June 10, the first official day of summer vacation when I was still teaching.  Ah, life in the mountains. 

Meanwhile we've been enjoying going to Keaton's basketball games (his school is competing in a spring league for middle schoolers).  Here he is going for the score!

And here's a photo of Cameron all dressed up for his school's spring formal.  I'd show one with his date, but I'm not certain if it would be okay with her parents.  

And finally, here's one of the Daniel, adding his bag of corn to his pre-school's pot of "stone soup." It's been a busy month for the boys.  

Ann and I had a fun morning on Tuesday when she showed up with her niece Elizabeth (Eric's brother's daughter) and we taught her to use my quilting machine.  For her last birthday Elizabeth had asked for quilting lessons from Auntie Ann and they spent the summer piecing a top.  Of course, then school got in the way, but with this being spring break, it offered the perfect opportunity to quilt it. Elizabeth, who will turn just ten next month, did a fabulous job with the machine and got the whole top quilted.  Just the binding left to be fitted into the schedule, hopefully soon.  A whole new generation quilter!  

Oh, and happy St. Paddy's day!  ♥

Stitch, Stitch

I've decided counted cross stitch is the perfect antidote to soggy late winter days.  The steady in and out of the needle is soothing and the whole process is somewhat like painting a picture.  A boon for those of us with absolutely no talent in the painting department.  The fabric is blank, like a canvas, and as the thread colors fill in the squares, the picture emerges.  The picture just keeps growing, and in the end, I'll have a new piece of art to display.

Happy soggy day!  ♥

Another Tiny Book Review

I just finished a book that I couldn't put down.  It's by an author I've enjoyed before and came recommended by Ann so I knew I would probably enjoy it, but it truly was a page turner. And more than that, it was the first book in a long time that I didn't peek at the end somewhere along the line to see if I liked the ending and if it was worth my time to finish.  (Yes, I'm a peeker...)

The book?  Secrets of a Charmed Life  by Susan Meissner.  It's a story set in England during the Second World War and features two sisters caught in the blitz, Hitler's Luftwaffe's devastating bombing of London in 1940.  I love history and I love novels set in England so I was pulled in immediately.   The story is presented in an unusual way, and I'm really not saying anything more.  

I know all readers don't always like the same type of book, but I think most people will be drawn into this book and, like me, be pulled in all the way to the end. Enjoy!  ♥

Christmas...in February

I used to do a lot of counted cross stitching.  Then as time went on and I started having less energy when I got home from teaching, things began to fall by the wayside, and cross stitching was one.  A few weeks before last Christmas, something spurred me to dig into a basket and pull out a tin I knew contained little cards for St. Nicholas type Santas.  And there I found one in process, started I don't know when.  I decided it would be a good TV project and began to stitch again.  

Counted cross stitch is another area where I prefer primitive type projects, and a company called The Prairie Schooler was the source of my favorite St. Nicholas designs.  They published a card every year with a new design and somewhere back in the '90's, I chanced upon them and began collecting. I don't have them all, but I have quite a few!

I have several framed that I have used for probably at least twenty Christmases, but in the tin I also found two completed St. Nick's in addition to the one I began working on.  They are the two on the bottom and I finished the top one today.

I've discovered two things.  My eyes are older!!  I need to use reading glasses and take out my contacts.  If I do that, the stitching is easy; if I don't, not so much.  And the fabric I use, 18 count Davos in khaki, is proving very hard to  find.  I have enough for one more, but there are all those others!  I've found one source on line, but I've not taken the plunge yet.  Scratch that.  With Dan's blessing, I just ordered a yard.  A very expensive yard.  

Merry Christmas!  ♥

A Short Ponder

Every year as part of my Christmas presents, Dan buys me a Mary Engelbreit page-a-day calendar.  I enjoy looking at each day's art and often there is a quote of some kind.  Yesterday's art (which I just read due to yesterday's busy schedule) showed a woman with huge, startled eyes reading a newspaper and the quote was: "If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."  It was attributed to Mark Twain.  When I read it, I laughed out loud.  It's so true!  Anytime I know anything about an article in the paper, I can usually find at least one major error, and often more.  

So my question (ponder) is, why do we ever believe what we read in the paper??  ♥

The Sun is Shining!

I know it's still February, but having blue sky and sunshine today has been a wonderful harbinger of spring.  Caveat:  it's cold!  But it is sunny!  

I've been doing a little hand stitching.  When we were at Bruder Bear's last fall, I made my yearly stop at a wonderful quilt shop in a neighboring town and was attracted to several primitive framed stitcheries.  I tend more to classic decorating items, but I do like a smattering of primitive decorations.  I bought two patterns and settled in to stitch one out several weeks ago.  The process was rather new to me because I had to trace the design on my Osnaburg fabric and it was a learning experience.  I was thankful Dan had made me a light box years ago--it was the perfect thing to use.

The little project is still in progess as a frame needs to be made by my handi-man, who is otherwise engaged with a bathroom remodel, so the picture below just shows the stitched fabric laying on a piece of batting with the buttons in position to be stitched on later.

The pattern was actually created by a lady who works at the quilt shop and she also makes the buttons.  Talk about a crafty lady!  I bought another of her patterns and look forward to starting on it. The colored parts are done with chalk, but I think I will applique with wool instead.  

The pieces of felted wool in the photo were gifts from Ann a few years ago and I think the red will be perfect for the mittens and scarf and the blue for the mug.  Now we'll see if I can be clever enough to do this!

I left my last post with a paragraph about our friend Steve.  We were able to spend a few minutes with him on Friday morning the 12th, and then on Valentine's morning he left us for a new life free from the cancer that had ravaged his body.  We and so many others miss him but rest in the assurance that we'll meet again.

Lifting a coffee cup to you, Steve!  Your super power was indeed love.  ♥

Happy Valentine's Eve...and Other Stuff

Here we are, almost half way through February, and tomorrow is Valentine's Day. The only room where I have Valentine's decorations is the dining room.  I did add a thing or two this year, though. On the table is this little setting:

The hearts on a stick in the vase were a gift from Daniel last year.  He bought them on the day we spent together while Ann took her friend Dayna on a round of doctors and hospitals.  Every time I look at those four hearts, I smile.  And I'm smiling, too, because Dayna's latest MRI showed further shrinkage of her brain tumor and a PET scan showed no active cancer cells!  Her doctor told her she's in uncharted territory and gave her three weeks off of her chemo.  She's enjoying renewed energy and a trip to Mexico with her sisters and mom as I type.  

I liked the leaves I made for the knob of the china hutch last fall so much that I was inspired to stitch out a Mary Engelbreit heart for this season.  Such a simple addition sure adds a lot:

Here's a bigger view of the whole hutch including a candle with a seasonal wrap:

Several years ago I created a banner for the embroidery club I taught at the quilt shop.  There's no mantle over our fireplace to place it under, and I couldn't figure out where else to put the banner, so I'm embarrassed to say I never put it up. This year I had an idea and it worked--under the dining room window:

Here's a longer range view showing the banner, the table, and the ultimate Valentine's decorating essential, a bowl of appropriately colored Peanut M&Ms:

Meanwhile, our hearts have been heavy this week as our friend, Steve, seems to be losing his battle with cancer. Steve, just a few years older than our kids, has been a good buddy of Dan's, is one of the pastors at our church, and with his wife, Tina, has provided us and many others, with an end of the holidays party known as Italian New Year's for a number of years.  As a couple, they have touched many lives near and far. We and hundreds of others are in prayer for this family that includes two young sons.  ♥