Busy Week & Friday Finishes

I've had such a busy week, but oh, it's been fun, and did I say busy? Monday was rest day after Sunday worship day. (Most of you know I have a lung disease that has rendered me unable to do all the things I used to do in a day. Sometimes I feel like I need to explain why I'm so lazy)

On Tuesday my grown son took me to a surprise place for lunch called Curry's downtown. We do not get to see each other much these days since he's in another job that requires a lot of his time and his sweet wife and children need the time that's left over :) But he's been off two weeks and promised to spend a little time with me.

I got the chicken salad on croissant, a sweet broccoli salad and topped it off with strawberry pretzel. The broccoli & pretzel I shared with Jeff.

Then it was to the Friends of the Library book store where everything in there was 50c all week. Then out to Priceville Bookmark, my most favorite used book store. We love James the owner and he's always on the lookout for what we like. He looked really hard in the long while since our last visit..gulp! I found some different stuff i.e. Withering Heights by Dorothy Cannell;

Poisoned Pins by Joan Hess. And then, this little gem by Poppy Adams called The Sister, I found for a dollar at BAM.

Wednesday was stitch-in at LNS. My friends, who have I've missed for a long time now...Vickie, Patti, Gail, Jo and of course, Marlene were there and it was a day full of laughter and fun and just a little bit stitching. We all started "Spring" the first part of LHN's monochromatic seasons. this one is stitched in Belle soie Weathered Vine which is a beautiful dark green...I did say a little bit stitching :)

Yesterday my dd Tami spent a lot of the day here with me at home. I stayed on oxygen and stitched while she played on the computer trying to catch up with all her stuff as they are without internet right now.

And today? Can you believe to the Booklegger in Huntsville with grown grandson Andrew to look for some "antique" books, his favorite thing to do.

My finishes this week are LHN's Strawberry House complete with unfrogged mistakes...had to make it my own :) Stitched with called for thread and fabric plus buttons, no beads. It's my first Up for a challenge finish.

And last is my part 4 on French spring sal. I'm loving this little cutie very much and will make it into a pillow when done to go with spring/Easter display.

Happy Friday!

Babs

the sweetest kind of gift

It's not always something you hold in your hands, but rather in your heart. I have to share this stitching story with my stitching friends.

I started in the cyber world with Cross Stitch Pals with Amy. It was a time of secret pals and I loved making my pals happy with those little surprise gifts for four months until the "unveiling". The time before we knew who our secret pal was.

For some reason that I never really knew I had two pals who got my name and didn't honor the game. I still had a lot of fun sending, but the receiving was another thing. Two times this happened and two times very thoughtful people adopted me.

One was Sally who was so good to me I felt guilty. She sent so many things I will never be able to make it up to her. She and I have become really good friends through our stitching buddy group which she joined after that round of secret pal.

The other one called herself Bo Peep and she began to write me on the board calling me the little lost sheep. I spent so much time and energy trying to find out who she was but no one seemed to know...not even Amy or the other regulars. That round ended with me never knowing who had taken care of me but she crosses my mind from time to time.

I found out today. She was and is my youngest daughter, Karen, who was a part of the secret pal thing both sending and receiving. This is how she knew exactly what to say and what to send. She had her ways of getting things to me from people in other parts of the country so I just stayed confused.

She called me today while I was out and told me just like that. She said "Mom, do you remember Bo Peep who rescued you on secret Pals? That was me" Just like that after all these years. I cried right there in the middle of the bookstore.

That is Karen to the right...she has a tender heart and is always reaching out to help someone. The sparkle left her eyes when her husband died in 08 and I keep waiting for it to return. She always had laughing eyes. She has a weakness for silk threads but doesn't cross stitch anymore.

The few stitches at the top are the few stitches I put into a French sal called Spring Bouquets. I know, I know. I really am going to work on the challenges.

hugs,

Babs

Something about Tuesdays and Rain

It used to be March winds; April Showers; May flowers...but not anymore.
Thank you for every little comment I get! I may not get that many yet, but they mean everything to me!
I pray that none of you have friends and loved ones in the area of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Many of us know missionaries over there and as of Sunday some were unaccounted for. My husband being a nuclear engineer for GE knows many of the people who are at the power plant as they were over there for an outage, a.k.a. regularly scheduled shut down.

When the news media runs with the "nuclear" scare, I call him to get the real story. I've woke him up the last two nights because I hadn't changed my clocks yet and he's an hour later than me anyway, he's been real patient with me though.

Where does time go? The older I get, the faster it flies and the less I can account for.

I did not check in last week with my Heart of America progress, but here it is today. Being in a hurry, the picture didn't turn out too good, but I'll really work on it when the piece is done :)

I am so sorry about the frogs that landed on DJ's HoA, but even with that she still manages to show off :)

DJ also started this little Easter sal going on over at http://novalee02.over-blog.com/g.com/ . She has closed it for new participants, but I'm thinking there will be others. This is part 1 & 2 and I have part 3 to finish by Saturday. Surprise DJ! No more enabling please!

I got a few stitches in my Apple Tree Sampler by Hawkins House, but only a few unless you count that I had to frog the first motif and have stitched it twice now.

A Joanne's opened in Huntsville and my dd and I had a fun time in there Saturday. I've only been in one and that was in St. Louis years ago. Also went in Michaels there. DD was doing the scrapbooking/cards thing and I was looking for fabric and trims for finishing things.

Well, I better see what's going on outside with the weather. We've had so much rain, trees are going to start falling if there's much more before the winds begin.

Bye for now,

Babs

TUSAL little orts and ends and a froggie

On the left is a picture of "little orts" before becoming a part of the "big orts" on the right. I didn't stitch much in February, but the frogging going on was never ending it seemed. That's why the froggie is in the picture...maybe if I'm nice to him, he'll be nice to me ...you think?

Hubby was home for a week with all the doctor appointments, but every thing checked out ok. He left last Sunday, but I haven't gotten it in gear yet. Lazy I am!

DJ, this next one is for you so you can see I at least put a few stitches in since my last show and tell of Heart of America by LHN. (did I mention how lazy I am?) I love this piece and want to see it finished soon, but your enabling has caused me to stop everything and do the little Easter sal you posted on your blog, assuming I can find the threads in my stash...cause I'm not going anywhere. (goodness, that was a long sentence) If ya'll aren't familiar with DJ's blog, do go over there and check out how she's getting so far ahead of me on this sal.

And I did put a few tiny stitches in Jane Atkinson, but not so's you'd notice very much :( The spirit has been willing but my body has been weak, today being the worst day. But I just had to see what my blogging friends have been up to. I decided the more blogs I comment on, the less chance of getting my orts posted on time.

I'll catch up the rest of you tomorrow if I didn't today.

Til then, just going to say bye for now.

Babs