Sunday, September 29, 2013

Have you heard?

Yes, it's been awhile, that's all I'll say about that:)

What I really wanted to say though, is 'Have You Heard?' About the freebie? The Christmas sampler?

If you are into cross stitching and you haven't heard about this yet, then you must have been hiding under a rock!! :) I have seen it everywhere lately. But then again, I do visit many stitching blogs and Yahoo groups, and Facebook pages, and.... Yes, I may have a problem with a stitching addiction!! :)

Anyway, just in case you aren't quite as obsessed as I am THIS is what I'm talking about...

Introduction to SMS 1 tp

Paulette from Plum Street Samplers has designed a FREE Christmas Sampler for all to have!! There are even 2 options to stitch and another option for if you'd like to do it on black fabric. But it is also a mystery:) Each Sunday, starting today, for the next 9 weeks she is releasing a portion of the sampler on her blog. I already have my fabric and floss out and have started the first few stitches in it:)

I'm pretty excited, this is the first new start I've had in a while (not that I NEEDED a new start!!), and I'm eager to see how this turns out. Maybe you'll join along?

Thursday, September 12, 2013

'Pin It' Blog Hop - It's My Turn!!!

 
I am having so much fun with these blog hops. Once again Madam Samm has come up with a fun theme for us to work with - PIN Cushions!!! Kristin over at Meadowbrook has been cheering us along - sending daily messages of encouragement!! It has been great fun to work with her for this blog-hop!!
 
The one thing that I really enjoy about these blog hops is seeing what others come up with. It gives me new ideas and stretches me as a crafter to try new things. The last blog hop was all about hexies and I really chickened out, however I found a small project that I didn't have time to get to for the last hop that was perfect for this one!!!
 

 
I love how this turned out, and that I finally got over my fear of hexies!!! The whole front, minus the middle sock monkey part, is made from hexies. The tan colored part is kind of hard to see, but those are hexes too. The middle piece is fussy-cut (something else I had never done) and then sewn on. And I LOVE the sock monkey fabric!! My daughter helped me to choose the fabric for this project and I think she got it spot-on:)

I didn't actually get it all sewn up though. You may be able to see the pins on the bottom of the back side of the fabric? WELL, I was putting the finishing touches on it tonight and couldn't find my batting. So I stuffed it with odds and ends, pinned it up and took pics. I have the walnut hulls I will use to weigh it down, but will have to wait until I can get into town and pick up some batting to sew up the last little bit.

Thanks for coming by and looking!!!

Here is a list of everyone else who is hopping today...

 

Friday, September 6, 2013

Photo session with cats, aka Sept. TUSAL

I think I've mentioned the poor lighting in my house before. It makes taking pictures of my projects while indoors pretty much useless. Sometime (umm, most of the time?) I don't get my projects done until it is already dark, the night they are due to be posted, so I don't have a choice but to take crappy pics.

Today I decided that I... 1. would actually participate in this month's TUSAL and... 2. take pics of my TUSAL project during the daylight hours!!! GO ME!!! Okay, so I took my jar of strings and other bits and pieces with me out to the front porch, decided that it wasn't TOO windy if I took the pics fast and kept my shoes on so I could run after the strays. However the front porch was covered in cats, and that always makes for a fun photo shoot!! :) Here were the results...

They were all walking up to me at this point.

This one is very proud of his tail end:)

This is 'Paws', he is the spoiled one who spends a good bit of his time indoors. He is the only one that gets to do that. Actually, he is currently sleeping on the computer desk next to me right now:)

 
Really I'm only showing you all the pictures with the cats to distract from the fact that even though I haven't shown pics of my TUSAL in a few months, I still don't have hardly anything to show off!! I've been being 'creative' in ways other than stitching here lately, though I have done a little sewing/stitching/crocheting too.
 
If you don't know what TUSAL means and you want to get in on it, go to Daffycat's blog to learn more and join in!! 

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

No longer in a drought :0)

In my last post I mentioned that my dd and I had been stuck at home for about a week a few weeks back due to flooding. We got more rain within a week than I think we have gotten in the past couple years all together. We had been in a pretty severe drought before this. The first day of rain brought 7 inches within about 4 hours and the ground was just too hard to absorb all the water!!!
 
This was just the beginning!!
 

These pictures don't show nearly how bad it ended up getting. Do you see the two power poles way in the distance? Yes, one of them leans over a bit:) That is the end of our driveway. It was completely underwater. And I ended up having to move the car once the water got past the bottom of the hub-caps.

While the water did get higher than we've ever seen it out here, flooding across our driveway isn't uncommon in years of normal rain as all the fields around us drain into our yard and then under the bridge across the road as it heads for the river, it just usually doesn't last very long. And this time we had water within a few feet from the front porch and it actually got into the metal shop building, but not so much to hurt anything.

Unfortunately, my hubby was at work when this all started. I called him to come home as I was pretty sure the road was under water (it was). By the time he got home, the road was partially washed out. It took him about an hour to find a way to drive the last mile to the house. All the roads to the house are dirt and 3 of the 4 ways in had roads that were washed out. So he took his little car and 4-wheeled it down the only road that was super muddy, but not under water. He ended up having to park in the road at the end of our driveway and walk up to the house as the water was knee high and flowing too fast across the driveway.

All would have been fine after that, but my hubby decided later that day to go ahead and get the car up  the house. The water had decended some, but not enough!! He sucked up a bunch of water into the air intake and shelled the engine. So guess what he got to do this past weekend? He 'got' to put another engine in the car!! :)

All-in-all, we needed the rain, and while the flooding can cause some headaches, it is nice to have the wildlife back that comes with the rain. I don't remember the last time the grass/weeds and trees were still green in August/September. We even saw fish swimming 'up-stream' across our driveway!! The bullfrogs could have deafened you, and I wish I could get a picture of the tiny toads that are EVERYWHERE!! Some of them no more than a half inch or so long. They must of come from the river as well.  My hubby said he didn't understand why anyone would live in town when you can have all this fun!!! (he can be a bit sarcastic sometimes!! LOL)