Remembrance

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. “
- President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001


Please, never forget.

Otherwise Engaged.....

I so have not been stitching. Yeah, I know, I promised. But Summer kind of got all busy on me, and I haven't made much time for it at all.

I saw Adam, again, in concert this past Friday. This one was even MORE incredible than the first one I went to back in June. My mom bought me a new camera just for the occasion! My sister and I were right up front, with only one or two people in front of us. Unbelievable. The whole night was a glorious adventure.

Adam has had my heart from day one, as anyone who has been following this blog for any amount of time knows. To see him TWICE this summer has really just been an incredible experience. My husband fully supports this obsession, which I'm very thankful for. :-p

Oh, and in between, we also saw The Black Eyed Peas! WOW, it was like a club party up in there, multiplied by 100!!! Before this summer, I had nearly forgotten how wonderful it felt to feel your heart and stomach pounding to the beat of great music, as loud as it can be, in person. It's addictive really.

I hope you guys are settling in for Fall and wrapped up Summer nicely. My boy is now in high school and it's a whole new ball game for us. Work will start for me soon, and Halloween is well on it's frightening way!

Cleaning out and cleaning up is high on my list of priorities for Fall. I just feel like I need to. For some reason, I don't get the Spring cleaning bug - it's definitely Fall for me. And I do have lots more to do before the harvest season. Do you?

Have a wonderful week, whether you stitch or not!

Beach, Stash, and Bubblings from the Cauldron!

Beach is over again? It was fun while it lasted. Just a few pics below. I need to live there I tell ya.
I'm really in my happy place when at the beach. The fox photo was taken behind an amusement park. There were lots of them back there, and it was a real treat to catch them watching everyone. It was late at night and they were right under the lights, just hanging out!

Boardwalk and amusement park pics - also a view from our condo.

I bought so little stash this year. I decided I really need to concentrate on what I have, but I did give in to temptation for these. In case you can't see it, they are Plum Street Samplers Hare's Christmas, and Brightneedle's Under the Sea here.....

And Blackbird Designs Bittersweet Moon, Cricket Collection's Regatta, and Plum Pudding's Bridget Bishop here.

Finally, a little sneak peek of what I'm stitching now. It's a new design and I hope to have it done in the next couple of weeks. That'll be a record for me I know. I think I have the name for it, but I'll decide for sure when it's done.


Does anyone know what the heck is up with the Japanese and Chinese language comments I have on my blog? Is it spam? Are they really comments? I notice that someone likes to just put random quotes. There are more of these every time I make a post and I'm not getting it. The commenters don't appear to have "real" blogs, and the curiosity is killing me, lol. If you have any tips, please do share!

Until next time, have a fabulous stitchy week and I'll be back soon with a sneak peek update! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

Me, Adam, and Fireworks

OK, so I know it's 4th of July and all - well, actually the 5th. And as grateful as I am to live in the land of the free, home of the brave, I also cannot seem to set aside thinking about where I was last Sunday, the 27th. I spent the evening with:

...mmm hmmm. Yep, I spent the evening with Adam Lambert. And it was everything I thought it could be, lol. His CD is incredible, and hearing those songs right from his lips was perfection. Oh yeah, I know I'm like a schoolgirl over everything Adam, and he did not dissapoint. At all.

I took that photo myself, that's how close we were - maybe 10-15 feet from him! In fact, he was so fabulous, I'm going again in August! Time for another can of glitter hairspray, people. The only person more glittered up than me in that joint was Adam. :-p No kidding. Wow. I feel now is a good time to mention that my awesome husband accompanied to this concert and he enjoyed it too, though he doesn't really rock out like you'd think. He parties on the inside. Ha.

I have many, many more photos of him, rest assured. :-)

Spent a wonderful day Saturday with my hubs and my awesome kid. Caution: my nose appears larger here than in real life. Maybe not.

Our little town put on a great fireworks show. Luckily, we only have to drive to the top of our subdivision to see it! It's always awe-inspiring to see fireworks on a large scale.

We're looking forward to heading to Ocean City, MD on Saturday and I need to pick out my stitching to take. For some reason, I still haven't felt like stitching - especially my own stuff!! What's up with that? GAH! I want to take something fun, for myself for vacation. I think I'm suffering from severe loss of mojo. Where did my mojo fairy go for goodness sake? She needs to come back and sit on my shoulder, very soon. Stitching makes me so happy and relaxed, so why is it that I avoid it sometimes? How stupidly weird is that? Regardless, I will have some stitching hopefully done while out of town and have something to show next time.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. We have so much more to enjoy. The days are hot, the flags are out, and the insects are eating me up. Have a great stitchy week and enjoy yourselves!

Peeking back in with a new design!

Wow, where did the time go? I've never not updated for this long! As I mentioned previously, I had some family responsibilities to attend to, and that is wrapping up now, thank goodness. :-)

So, here's the design I've recently sent out - Wynter Sampler. And yes, I know the correct spelling of "Winter", but wanted to spell this a little differently. Just for fun, you know? I'm stitching another design now as well. Hopefully this one won't be 6 months in the making (finishing), lol.

So, what's everyone been up to? I've lost touch a bit with blogging and need to get back into it! It keeps me stitching, that's for sure. I'm sure everyone has been doing alot more stitching than I have lately. Gotta get in gear!

Thanks for stopping in and have a safe and stitchy Memorial Day weekend!!

Woodlawn Plantation Visit

They wouldn't let me take pics! I can totally understand why, however. There were some great original pieces, and as sad as it is, I can see someone taking a pic and ripping it off. :( So, I happily obliged, but WOW are you missing out on the great photos in my head right now! If you live locally (NOVA area), I recommend going if you can. Even if you don't see the needlework, it's a great historical area, and the artwork in the home is magnificent. Read more here: Woodlawn.

What a terrible photo! But you get the idea.

They had a room devoted entirely to Japanese embroidery, and I was captivated by it. The sheen of the silk, the texture, and the movement depicted in the designs was incredible. There was a lady there demonstrating, and I can tell you right now, there's no way am I attempting that. So gorgeous though!

And what's a visit to Woodlawn without a visit to In Stitches? I just love that store. SO many great things to look at. And today was just one of those perfect and crisp clear Spring days, and it made the leisurely shopping that much more enjoyable. I went with my mom and we spent the whole day together and it was really, really nice. I love to have some great quality time with my mom. She's an awesome lady. Smart, funny...hey, I know someone else like that. ;)

Here's what I came home with.

No, it's not you--those ARE craptastic photos. I was off my game today and it was dusk when I got home and I just couldn't seem to get a good photo, lol. Enjoy! I didn't get the latest and greatest designs, but these really appealed to me. I also ordered something, but even they didn't know who the designer was. It's a pretty little series of about 5 trees, one of them has beads. I'll let you know when I get it. I hope everyone is doing great, and I'll be catching up to all of you in the next day or so! Till next time,

Never Too Early for Halloween

This is Jolly Jack, by All Through The Night. Isn't he awesomely cute? He's a must have for me.

Well, this is a kind of drive by post. No updates from me. I'm kind of overwhelmed with work and family stuff and I just am feeling a bit boxed in by it all. Boy, it really puts the whammy on creativity. I truly have no idea how some of these people have full time jobs and do all this cross stitch designing too-churning out charts left and right. I just can't seem to manage, lol. However no fear! My second design is nearly ready to frame and get out there. Meanwhile, I see many things I want to start (or finish!) and I need to focus.

Random thought for this week : Finding old friends via the internet, Facebook, etc. is a wondrous thing. I mean, I went to bed this week thinking "internet reunions are AWESOME!" If you haven't had one, I highly recommend it. Nothing like finding those few people in your life that never failed you, and never failed to make you smile. Welcoming them back into your world again is such a great feeling, even if it's only occasionally or through email. If you're lucky, you can reconnect over lunch and get to know one another's families. Sometimes, life is really good.

I hope everyone out there has a great stitching week, and please, no one remind me that it is the ides of March and I've yet to have a finish, OK? :-p Until next time my friends,

Want to LAUGH hard?

So, it's not like me to post twice in one week, but I'm telling you, this is THE funniest commercial I've seen in forever and had to share. Of course, not stitching related, but if you want to laugh really hard, just watch.

I Survived My Trip, oh and some stash.....

Back from NY and had a blast. Here's what we did in two and a half days: Ripley's Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Empire State Building, Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center), Staten Island Ferry, Ground Zero, Bodies Exhibit, dinner in Little Italy, The Guggenheim (hated it!), and Museum of Natural History. WHEW. It was so much fun. We stayed at the Westin in Times Square and it was so comfortable and clean and just awesome.

The plane ride...well, I apparently was the only one crying during takeoff (so says my sister), but I don't believe it, lol. No crying on the way home though, so I'm pretty proud about that. Both flights were great and without incident. It was so smooth getting into and around the airports and on the flights. I was surprised. I have hope I may go somewhere else on a plane someday. Yaaayy me! Here's proof I was there:

Ground Zero-lots of construction happening!

Overlooking the Hudson

View from Top of the Rock

I have lots more pics, but most are from the Metropolitan Museum and the Natural History Museum. I didn't think you'd want tons of Greek Statuary and funerary steles, so I'll save those! But I must say, it's the most magnificent art museum I've ever been too. The people we came into contact with, in all our ventures, were the friendliest, most helpful, ever. With the exception of the creepy guy in the Lincoln Town Car who tried to pick us up and take us who knows where--uh NO WAY buddy!!, I highly recommend NYC!

OK, enough vacation ramblings. I picked up a few stash items this past weekend from my LNS, and here they are:

I WILL have stitching updates very soon. Don't you hate when people say "I've been busy"? I mean, whose not busy, right? So I hate saying that. Life gets in the way of stitching sometimes, and that's where I've been the past week. I hope your week has gone better and you've been more productive than me in the stitchy arena! Thank you all for your comments and encouragement-it helped so much! Until next time,

Uh Oh Snow!

There's a Winter Storm Warning for my area. We're supposed to be getting 16-24 inches between Friday and Saturday. I picked a great weekend to fly to NYC, didn't I? I haven't flown since 1988---FOR A REASON. I'm terrified, lol. My sister talked me into a whirlwind trip and even extended it for a day because I was going. The woman would NOT leave me alone until I said yes. Everytime I said "No", she said "So, that's a yes??!!" Wish me luck, people. It's only an hour flight, but holy moly.....we leave Friday morning at 9:15am, and come back late Sunday night. I should have asked my doc for a tranquilizer!

And speaking of SNOW, here's a tiny more progress on Green Snowman:

And here's a little sneak peek at a project that is almost ready. I'll have it done next week sometime, when I get back. I WILL be coming back--right? Sure, right, of course Tammy. Don't be riduculous! It's not like a flock of geese ever brought down a jet! And no one would ever get on a plane with an underwear bomb!! Don't be silly!! GAH!

Enjoy your weekends, and do something fun (stitching included)! Until next time,

Shepherd's Bush Green Snowman, etc.

What? You thought it was done? *insert maniacal laughter here* Nah, just a little progress, that's all. Just wait though. When work is done April 1, things are gonna bust loose up in this joint. :p

I've made my peace with the loosey goosey fabric. I'm not pulling tight at all, yet still have the dreaded holes. Guess what? I'm gonna live with it. I like him so far. Now, if I can just finish him before he melts this Spring.....

I picked up a little Trail Creek Farm chart. It's a witch. It was a given. I posted about this when it first came out, but it was a kit for a treat bag and I didn't want to make a treat bag. Thankfully, you can now just buy the chartpak. Awesome!

Boy, those pics are really no-frills, aren't they? Sorry 'bout that.

All's well in my little corner of the globe, and for that, I'm supremely thankful. It's a beautiful 55 degrees right now and we may be getting some snow this weekend. VA is like that. Have a wonderful week, and I'll be catching up on blogging in the next day or so. I have a few new followers. How nice is that? Very nice I say! I'll be adding all of you to the blog roll asap! Thank you so much for all your comments previously and until next time,

A Nose By Any Other Name...

I'm working on two projects at one time, so I don't have tons of progress. BUT, the snowman has taken shape! If anyone else has done this one, did you find the fabric a bit "loose"? It seems to pull more than the red fabric did, so there are little "holes" in between all the stitches. I don't like that! Maybe when it's all done, it'll be OK? I'm IN LOVE with his nose however.

Someone asked about the button switch-a-roonie I wanted to do on this. I think I will replace the original buttons with some tiny rose buttons. At least that's the plan right now. And hopefully I'll have a new design ready to go in another week or so. Stay tuned!

I hope everyone is having a great stitchy week! We are slowly getting the house back in order after the holidays and I hate doing it. You'd think with a small house it'd take no time whatsoever. WRONG!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

A New Year and a New Start !

Have I been phoning it in or what? It's OK, I can take it. :) I have been phoning it in, but need to get back to my blog. It is what kept me stitching last year and the year before, so I *need* to do this. Excuses, be gone!

So, I started stitching up Shepherd's Bush Green Snowman. A bit of a misnomer, because he's not actually green. But the fabby is! I hope this goes as quickly as the Red Snowman did for me! One thing I'll miss is that there is no sweet little sheep on this one. I've already decided to swap the buttons out for something else. We'll see how that works out.

I have one new little purchase. My friend got me a gift certifcate to my LNS and I treated myself to this one. It's a Christmas design, but the colors are oh so pretty! They didn't have the bluish purplish color (the wording is done in that), so I'll have to pick that up later. Thanks Julie! By the way, this is a SamSarah design.

I trust everyone had a lovely and wonderful holiday season! Thank you for the comments to the Jack/Christmas video. I totally swiped that from my cousin because I loved it so much! Thanks Kim!

My husband is the best. He got me a new Nikon D3000. I love this camera. Not too steep a learning curve for the auto features. I plan to really learn more about this camera in the coming months. Thanks hubby!

And thanks to anyone out there still listening and reading and commenting. I'm keenly aware of the time it takes to do so, and I appreciate when you can---and even when you can't! 'till next time,