Whoo-hoo-ooo!!! I am on a 4 day weekend!!!

Oh and I need it badly.
I have been one crabby person the last few weeks. The work project is gearing up now, it's becoming a reality and it's so stressful!! There's so many personalities involved, drama queens. power plays and naysayers and some cheerleaders, so many that I just want to crawl under my desk and hide from everyone. Today, I literally went down to one of the manufacturing breakrooms with my work just to get away...from the phone and from the noise (I live in a very noisy cube farm) and from the distractions of people stopping.

But...wait...NOW I AM OFFICIALLY ON A 4 DAY RESPITE from my self imposed madness.
Go me.

I plan on doing some stuff around the house, finish putting in my flower bed and stitching until my eyes pop out of my head. I hope to make a lot of progress on My Hometown and maybe a wip or 3. On Saturday, we are going to see the Cadet...did I tell you he bought a motorcycle...??
and he has a cutie patootie girlfriend too?? I hope I get to meet her on Saturday but I doubt it cause it's too early in this blossoming relationship to *meet the 'rents*.

So color me euphoric!!! Cause I am on a holiday weekend!!!

A froggie came a courtin'.....

Here's my progress on A Stitcher's Wallet. I had much more stitched but unfortunately, the froggies came by...so rip, rip, rip!!! After pulling out much of the dark brown motif, I restitched as much as I could but no where near what I had stitched previously.

I spent most of the weekend tending my flowerbed and taking care of one of my horses. Mighty Joe took a mis-step in the pasture and came home limping on 3 legs. He seemed to hurt his right hind leg, just around the fetlock. He favored it most of Sunday but today he's bearing weight on it but he still is a little short on it. It's hard to tell how hurt he really is, he is SUCH A BIG BABY!!! But that's what makes him such a lovable woobie!!!

I have to say that I didn't work on My Hometown like I planned, there was just not enough weekend to do everything I wanted and besides after the quarrel I had with the Stitching Wallet, I just worked on easy stuff and, of course, I surfed everyone's blog!

I hope that everyone had a great day today and a lovely weekend. Thanks for stopping!

For your viewing pleasure

Hey there, thought I'd pop in and show you what I've been up to since the last time I posted pictures. See, this is the proof that, yes, I've been stitching! Not a lot but just a bit to ward off a brewing slump. Today, I took drastic measures to prevent this slump and I walked down to the LNS (it's dangerouly close to work, like a 1/2 block away..yikes!) because I thought that seeing stitching and breathing in all that stitching would scare my slump away. And besides, it was a gorgeous day, perfect for a walk, nevermind I took a side trip to the LNS. Ahem. I came away with stash that was in my folder, The Drawn Thread's, ABC, Little House Needlework's, Nature's Beauty, Week's Dye Work thread for Blackbird Designs, Their Song and a cut of 36 ct.Belfast Linen in Sand to stitch it on. Stitching slump slayed!!!

And, my stitching budget is spent.

Now, on to the pictures:

This is the progress I've made on my Quaker Boxtop. (What do you think, Nancy?) I am very pleased on how it's stitching up, I really want to work on some interior motifs cause I am curious on how they are going to fit. But I told myself that I would stitch the border first and the 1/2 motifs along the sides before I stitched anything in the center area. As it stands now, I may rip out the center motif, I think it's a bit too small. What do you think?


Here's my progress on Carriagehouse Samplings, My Hometown. I'm stitching this with Sue, Vonna and Chelle. We are the Rag-Tag SALer's!

And finally, this is the start of A Stitcher's Wallet. This pattern is from The Gift of Stitching e-magazine. I am stitching this with Patti and Sue and Debby.

I am sorry about the picture quality, my little point-and-shoot digital camera is showing it's age. I would love a digital SLR but that's out of the question now.

I've been reading the blogs about Celebrations! For those who attended, your experience sounded fantastic! Such fun you must have had renewing friendships, visiting, stitching and shopping! Next year, ladies, I want to join you!

So there you have it! I've got to get off the computer now, cause I am procrastinating big time. I have homework, I have to read the user's manual for some of the modules we are bringing on during our conversion. Ugh. I want to stitch.

Hope you are having a wonderful day! Thanks for dropping by!

Saturday

Today in Upstate NY it was a gorgeous Spring Day!! Sunny and breezy. A perfect day to just be outdoors. I spent a little time puttering with the horses, handgrazing them to get them ready to be out in the pasture. I did some heavy housecleaning too, I supercleaned the sunroom. We run a pellet stove and it's the dirtiest form of heat that I know. When you clean the stove (which is daily) a fine layer of black soot settles everywhere. So today, I mopped the floor and wiped down the window sills and the woodwork. I opened the windows to let the fresh breezes in and the stagnant winter air out. And I watched the Derby. I have not missed a Derby in 30 years. I know that I watched it as a girl, I wanted to be a jockey, heck, I wanted to be a horse when I was a little girl. I had an imaginary steed named Lightningbolt. I always knew that I would have a horse one day and today, I am blessed with 3 pasture ornaments.
On the stitching front, I worked on A Stitcher's Wallet, so yes, Sue, I started it. It's a fast stitch. I wasn't sure that I would like the Flower Thread, it's somewhat coarse, but on this fabric, it looks terrific! I don't have much done really, just a couple of the upper motifs on the first pattern.

I think that I am going to put away most of my Wips again, with the stress of work, seeing unfinished stitching is making me anxious. So, I plan on leaving out in plain sight the SAL pieces, My Hometown and the Stitcher's Wallet, the Quaker boxtop and Maria Short. Everything else is going back into the wicker trunk at least for a little while. By putting my unfinished stitching away, I won't be reminded of unfinished projects while I am pre-occupied with work. I am doing this cause I feel a stitching slump brewing. It's just cause I am so wigged out over this work project. It's consuming every waking moment of my life and it's on my mind 24/7. I will be happy when the conversion is over so I can relax just a little. De-cluttering and keeping my house somewhat tidy seems to help keep my anxiety level down. It's a control issue. I don't feel in control at work, so if I keep some control over my house, at least there is something that won't be competing for my attention. I need my house, particularly my family room and bedroom picked up because I need a place to unwind.

I've been reading the blogs that posted about Celebrations. Geez, I wish I were there! Patti, KiwiJo, Carol and Nancy are there and when I saw the pictures of them, all the memories from CATS last September came back. What a fun time that was! I don't know who will be going there in September. I certainly want to go and I hope some of my stitching buddies will join me there.

Well, I've spent enough time on the computer, I think I am going to get ready for bed. I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!!