Parrotheads and Margaritaville

I got to go to a Jimmy Buffett concert last weekend, with John Fogarty no less!, and we had a great time! Who wouldn't, with free tickets?!?!   Family and I were in TX for a family wedding and my brother finds out a friend has tickets, and the concert just happens to be the night we were in town. Love it!  John was awesome, Jimmy and band were too cool, the night was a little muggy but a light breeze took care of that, so overall...a GREAT time.  Too much fun walking thru the parking lots to get to the concert. That's where the party(ies) happens... some were tailgating for 2-3 days, just hanging with friends and enjoying the whole thing. That's what the Margaritaville part is all about.
Anyway, I'm glad I now know what it's all about. (I'd share a picture but that would require that I took one. I'll have a new phone some day... :) )

Can't say I've done much stitching. I'm working on a Little House model for the shop, but other than that haven't really done much. The last couple of years I've noticed May and June turn in to my book months. I grab a bunch of light reading and hang out on the porch (but in my mind I'm on the beach!) and enjoy the weather, neighbors and watching the grass grow.

Hope everyone is having a great summer and you're getting your fill of whatever delights you!

lk

Crossstitch Camp 2014

We had a great time this weekend at the Heart's Desire crosstitch camp. We were at Rock Springs  Ranch, close to Junction City, and were all comfy/cozy in the Leadership lodge stitching our little hearts out :)

The camp project was "Love My Stitching" by Hands On Designs.  We had mesh bags made so we could stitch the design and then attach to the bag.  We wouldn't have time to get the project done PLUS sew the bags so we took a different route and it turned out great! I love the bags.

We asked designer Cathy Haberman to create a "small" for us as a special extra project for everyone. We had a cube design and she used the theme of the pattern to make a pattern for us. We kitted them up in a drawstring bag of coordinating fabric (made by Yours Truly!) and they were a huge hit! (where are my project pictures???  Will keep looking for them.)

Here's the crew:

 

And this shows you what happens when you're busy yakking and laughing!

Look closely at the stitching...

Sorry Donna! Got a little ripping out to do there!



Can you tell we had a great time?!?!?

 



March Madness with It's Geek to Me

March Madness in the stitching world!  Combine that with College Basketball and this month has been a blast!

WSU Shockers got to 35-0 before dropping their first game of this year. Too bad it was so early in the NCAA Tourney, but hey...they entertained a lot of people this year and we LOVE THEM!

GO SHOCKERS!!!

I follow a blog called It's Geek to Me  and for the last two years I've tried to (sort of) follow her "Themealicious" monthly themes. I've really had fun with trying to keep up with the March theme of March Madness. She challenges us to "stitch something different every day". Well....drum roll please...

This year I Did It!   

I really did stitch on something different every day this month!

Now, you could say, "Linda, that's ridiculous! Why would you have that many projects at one time?"   And some who know me would say "Why do you have that many unfinished projects sitting around??? let alone all the others you probably have stashed about the house."  Yup...I'm a crazy stitcher. Give me fabric, needle and thread and I'm a happy girl! 

I am also a "Serial Starter". I love new projects and am verrrrry easily distracted from

all the ongoing projects laying about. 

 In my defense...

 

I work part-time at our local LNS, Hearts Desire, and think I need every cute pattern I see!  So, that leads to lots of starts, and lots of UFO's.  And a lot of fun patterns to browse thru on a lazy day when I don't know what I want to do...kinda like browsing thru a lovely magazine. Aaaahhh....relaxing.

I also like to sew, so I have a tiny little fabric addiction, too.  *Happy Sigh* 

I did spend most of my Spring Break sewing things for our camp coming up in April.  Heart's Desire hosts a weekend for a CrossStitch Camp where attendees can stitch and not worry about home, cooking, all that good stuff.  Some also sew, knit, quilt...just whatever floats their boat. We go to a beautiful camp where we have a lodge with bedrooms and a central gathering area all together. We eat at the dining hall and have yummy cinnamon rolls Saturday mornings. We have a project each year, sometimes with the designer, sometimes it's something we create. This year we based our project on a particular design and have all kinds of goodies to go with it. Can't say more...must wait until after camp for the "unveiling". But...gotta say I love it! A lot more of a modern twist than in years past, so I hope everyone loves it.

Well,, anyway, back to March Madness...

It's over, I reached my goal, so now it's on to the next one. April is "stitch something with water". I was worried but, sure enough, I have a pattern (literally only one!) with water in it. The good thing is I will get close to finishing this one since that's the goal of the month.

Plus, it will help me meet my annual goal of finishing some very old projects. So far I've gotten a lot done this year, so give me a WU HOO!!!

For now, I'm a happy girl. Guess I'll sign off and go tell Heather that I follow her, just not on the blog because I'm blog-challenged. And, since I'm spending my (late)evening hours stitching I don't take the time to learn more. Yet. But soon (big cheezy grin here!)

Happy April All!

WSU Basketball...and a little stitchin'

Edit: As of Friday WSU is 35-0 with their first win in the 2014 NCAA Tournament! WU HOO!!!

WSU is 34-0!  Won every game during the regular season, then whooped on'em in the MVC tournament. What a blast it is to watch the guys on this team. They L.O.V.E. this game! And it shows in every game they play...they just have fun.
Coach Greg Marshall is a pretty cool guy, too. A leader that widely respected is pretty hard to come by...glad you came to WSU Coach!

Will this post?

I'm testing a post. I keep getting an error msg but have no idea who in Bloggerville I'm s'posed to send it to.

Olympic Stitching...sort of

Well, my big plan for finishing a long-time WIP kinda fell by the wayside, mostly because I found this little cutey! 

Tomato Pincushion punchneedle pattern by Country Threads.

I found it on sale and couldn't resist sitting right down and punching it. Love It!

OK...at least I did finish something during the Olympics!

Now it's time to get ready for the WSU Basketball game, where NO STITCHING will be accomplished. I'll be toooo busy cheering on the team.  We're 28-0 for the season...cheering for 29-0!

WSU Basketball

Go Shockers!

Wichita State University is having a GREAT Basketball season! 28-0 at this point!
Profile pic is a stitched version of the mascot WUShock. I love that piece!
Congratulations Shockers...and keep it going.

Olympic Stitching

IT'S THE WINTER OLYMPICS!!!

I've always loved the Olympics. When we were kids we would gather in front of the tv and be mesmerized by the athletes and the competitions. (Remember when the Olympics were held every two years, alternating between Summer and Winter competitions? Oh the anticipation that wait brought on.) And isn't the USA Team doing awesome so far!  I love Slopestyle and Snowboarding!  And I'm sorry Evgeny Plushenko from Russia had to withdraw from figure skating. I love watching him.

Blogland has several people talking about their Olympic Stitching projects, so I thought I'd join the fun! My project has been languishing a very long time in my stitching stash, just waiting for more than a once-a-year passing glance. It's Bent Creek's "Glory". Fitting, no?

I love this pattern, but large blocks of color get boring and I go looking for a flower or something else to stitch. BUT...This is the year of finishing - finishing stitching on projects, or turning stitching into a finished ornament, framed picture, etc. So I'll challenge myself to stay with this one to the end!

Glory - Bent Creek design

Happy Stitching everyone! Go USA!

(sing it to Pink Floyd)    School's out for the snow days!

2 days! I consider it a gift! I used that gift to finish Frank! a SamSarah design from the Just CrossStitch Halloween Ornament issue. He is on perforated paper and (finally!) joins the other 3 designs they have published. I love these little characters. Can't wait to see what comes next! 

I did start a few household chores, and that's where it stopped. It's back to work tomorrow, so I guess I better get a few other things finished. Oh, yeah...then shovel the drive. There's always a downside ... ha!
Here's Frank!

Groundhog Day

HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY!

YEA!  My first finish for February. (Bent Creek freebie)  (tiny woo hoo! I'm still on a finishing roll)

Then... well, rats. 

Punxsutawney Phil says 6 more weeks of winter. Not like we didn't know, based on what's coming this week (snow!), but who likes to hear it from the Philster.

And, rats again.

The Super Bowl was a route. Painful from beginning to end. I don't like blow-outs. I'd rather see a good, tight game.  But, hey...Congrats to Seattle Seahawks for playing their game! They did an awesome job.

And that, sadly, is the end to football on Sunday's. Must be time to start thinking about gardening ;-D

January Challenges

Hello 2014!

I spent the holiday break reading blogs. Lots of blogs. Read about Stitching from your Stash, and TUSAL, and It's Geek To Me's Themealicious (love this one. have followed it for a couple years).

They got me excited to try to challenge myself.

I have a bad habit of "almost finishing" projects. Missing a thread? Put it aside and work on something else.  Miscounted and need to rip out some stitching? Blah...ignore...hide it.

Well...How about, instead of ignoring them, let's pull them out and see what I can finish in January?  As in, finish the stitching, or finish the stitched piece (pillow, ornament, etc.). 

 

OK...Challenge On!

The first part of the challenge was to finish some of those 90% done projects. I thought I could do one a day for 3 days. But...I finished a project each day for the FIRST 12 DAYS OF JANUARY!!!  I was having so much fun after the first few I just kept going. Some were new starts...small projects like JABC freebies and Mill Hill ornie kits. (I promise I didn't have that many things 90% done :) ).

WOO HOO!!! WHO KNEW I COULD DO THAT!  20 projects! Finished a stand-up, finished some punchneedle pieces, made a few stitched pieces into pincushions and ornaments. Stitched and finished a few smalls (the sleds were FUN!). I'm not sure why this was such fun, but I'm ready for the next challenge. I need to decide what February will be. Finish a large piece? Continue with my finishing? I have some sewing projects that really need to be on the challenge. We'll see!

Linda
 
Some of my Jan. finishes. Designs include Mosey n Me, JABC, La D Dah, Foxwood Crossings, With Thy Needle & Thread, Twisted Threads, The Primitive Hare, Mill Hill.