Oops..

I meant to update last weekend, and again, time got away from me.  Today I had some quality stitching time with the ladies at the Thistle Bee Quilt Shoppe.  Made quite a bit of progress on my friend's project, which was good because I haven't been making time to stitch like I should. Here is my progress- keep in mind this is since my last post, not just today! ;)

I plan to work on it some more tonight, if all goes as planned. I really need to start setting a timer when I get on my computer at night, I sure would get more stitching done!

I think I mentioned Sneak Peeq in one of my last posts, and the bracelet you could get for free- I got mine yesterday and I really like it-

They aren't selling these currently as their deals only last for a limited time, but they have tons of other really fun and unique, and useful! items.

We had lots of rain this past week, and some neat storm clouds-

And here's a pretty little cup I found at a friend's yard sale.. she is so sweet, she was nearing the end of her sale, and let me have a bunch of things and wouldn't take any money for them.  This was one of the things. :)

Sorry for the dark photo!I think it is inspired by something at the Biltmore mansion- there was something about Biltmore on the bottom of the mug.


Here is a picture I took of Ginger the other day- I have some really tall Cosmos in the concrete garden and they were bending over far enough that she could reach them- and it was such a sweet picture-

No flowers were eaten in the making of this picture. hee hee..

Well that's enough of my randomness for now-hope everyone has (or had , if you are reading this after the fact) a great Memorial Day weekend! :)

I haven't forgotten..

Sorry it's been a long time! I'm not even going to give you my excuses.. you don't want to hear them anyway! :) Stitching-wise, I have mostly been plugging away on the project for my friend.. I did finally take a picture of my progress, now that I hopefully won't have to do anymore frogging. :) I'm currently working on the right side of the window frame.

In the wooded area behind my house, we have been having all kinds of flowers growing.. some come for a few weeks, then different ones come out- first we had these- I'm not sure what they are-

 

Now we have lots and lots of honeysuckle, and it smells so nice!

 

Not sure what these are but they are pretty!

                                                    And some wild berries growing too!

My garden has been growing a little bit- not as much as I'd like- I do need to go buy some more plants- but here's a few-

Baby's breath, sorry the pic is not so good-

 

Some sage.

And mums, believe it or not!
Touched this picture up with Instagram- I love that app!

I also came across a really fun site for unique items at great prices- I think this site will come in handy with gift giving! It's called Sneak Peeq and when you sign up(it's free!) you get a $10 credit! I got one of these bracelets(don't know which one yet) free!! You can too if you hurry and sign up, and click the "Style" link, then "bohemian fantasy." Click above to sign up or here. UPDATE:  I believe you must share site (on facebook? can't remember for sure) with at least three friends to unlock additional discounts that will make the bracelet free. :)

 Ginger is growing like a weed- and is silly as ever!

Well, I think that's sufficiently caught you up! I will try not to take so long in the future! :)

I've been awarded, and would like to pass it on :)

Sue from Berkshire Cottage has so graciously awarded me a Liebster Blog award! This award is geared toward blogs with 200 or less followers.  Liebster in German means favorite. :) When accepting the award, there are a few things that must be done.

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs(with less than 200 followers) to pass the award on to. Here are my five-

Joyce's Love of Life Joyce updates weekly and does beautiful work, always has several things going at once!

Reading and Stitching Vickie does wonderful stitching, interesting book reviews, and chats about life in general!

 The Happy Stitcher  Deb has beautiful stitching and talks a little about life too. :)

 Boo's Mummy Jo's a stitcher from "across the pond" with lovely stitching and fun life updates! I personally love the insight of what life is like in the U.K!

 Diamondc Gorgeous finishes and a little of life in general!


2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3.Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

This is the tough part for me- I am an open book! lol

1. I was not a "dog person" until I saw, then got, a Corgi. Although now I joke that I am not a dog person, I am a Corgi person! ;)

2. I am a "pastor's kid."

3. I like the smell of diesel exhaust cause it reminds me of my visits to England in the fall and winter. ( I know, weird association- and please don't take offense my UK friends! It is not meant to be an insult! :) )

4. When I was in Junior High I had a crush on the boy band Menudo and bought their albums even though I didn't know a lick of Spanish.

5. I am named after two students my mom taught when she was a teacher.

Phew that was hard! ;)

Not much to show stitching-wise.. I am re-stitching some of the areas I pulled out on my friend's project, and working on a birthday card so I can't post that either.. but hopefully will have something  to show soon! In the meantime here is some local nature-

A giveaway!

Babara is having a wonderful giveaway at her blog- click here to check it out! To Stitch or Not To Stitch

Will post again later.. :)

If you have been thinking about signing up for swagbucks-

Now is the time! Not only will you get 30 swagbucks just for signing up, but use the code MARCHSWAG and get an additional 70 swagbucks!! The code is good for one use until April 2nd at 11:59PST.  If you want to check it out, click here.  It is free to sign up, free to win swagbucks, and free to turn in swagbucks for free stuff! I personally get their Amazon gift cards- and gotten so many things free from Amazon! It's great for getting gifts for people and there are many ways to earn! If you have any questions feel free to post a comment on the post, just make sure you have an email address where I can answer you. :)  Thanks for letting me take a break from the usual stuff to tell you about this great opportunity. :)

OH- and right now they are running  "March Swagness" (like March Madness?) but it has nothing to do with basketball.  Simply earn the daily goal posted on your swagbucks home page and get bonus swagbucks! At the end of the promotion, if you have reached your goal every day, they will double your bonus bucks! I think it's fun trying to reach my goal and it has helped me earn more than usual. 
OK, infomercial is over. ;)

Beach Cottage is finished!

Yippee! I finished it last night- it took me so much longer than it should have, but I do like the way it turned out.

Please excuse the less-than-stellar photo and the wrinkles! I would really like to frame this one in a rustic white frame.. we'll see what I can find!

We had a good weekend- I tried to get a little housework done Saturday while Rob was at work, then took David to the library and the park.

We are really blessed to have such a lovely park, with a mini-train for the kids to ride and lots of blooming shrubs and trees! Not many were in bloom yet though.

Then later David and I met Rob for lunch(Hanna was at a friend's) and did some running around. First stop was to the pet store to see Ginger's grandma(the lady who owns Ginger's mama and who sold Ginger to us).  Ginger was so excited to see her and always loves the attention she gets from the staff and customers at the pet store. :)  We ran a couple of errands and I stayed with her in the car, then we went to see my friend Diana, who had seen her pictures online but never met her before. :) It was quite a day for Ginjy and wore her out! Here is a pic from the car- it was a bit hot on Saturday.

LOL! Her tongue is almost as big as she is.

Sunday was a nice day too-unfortunately David was not feeling so great- had an on-again off-again temperature, scratchy throat, stuffy nose.. :(.  So he stayed home with Rob and Hanna and I went to church and Sunday School/Bible Class, then came home.  I ate some lunch and took a nap, got up and watched a movie, did some stitching, etc.  I won't bore you! I have been starting to train Ginger to come when called, now that the weather is nice.  We have to do it on a long leash cause we don't have a fenced in yard.. she's catching on quick (partly cause she likes the treats.) Tonight I made a little video cause I think she's cute when she runs.  Well, I think she's cute all the time. lol

And here's a couple pics of some flowers growing wild in our yard-

I am a little sad we didn't have snow this winter, but I do love spring flowers!

Busy, busy...

Thought I would post quick before bed- things have been pretty busy here lately.  It seems our weeknights are all full of places to be and the weekends are playing catch-up on housework and other things I've been meaning to do.  I have been squeezing in a little stitching time here and there. I've been working on my friends projects most nights, when I have the itch to stitch.. some nights I just sit and watch TV cause I'm pooped! And been working on Beach Cottage some mornings between Hanna and David going to school.. there is a 40 minute in-between time.  I will post progress pics on my friends project soon- right now it doesn't look much different cause I am filling in where I had to frog before- except I do have the window frame at least one row around on the sides that hadn't been started yet.  Here is my progress on Beach Cottage- just the top of the tree and a little backstitching to go- hooray!

I have been a bad girl in the stash-buying department lately- I said I would try not to buy any for a while and just stitch what I already had, since I had so much- but I got an itch to try to find some OOP Blackbird Designs patterns- so I hit ebay and then found others I liked/wanted too.. also caught a good sale at an ONS here and there- so here is what I have acquired. I was super excited to get "Flea Market Souvenir"- I have been looking for it for a while and found a needlework shop in MI that had it- I think it may have been her last one because when I went back to see if she still had it posted after I ordred(so I could tell others that wanted it), it was no longer listed.

Unfortunately I found an LNS that had gone out of business in my search- Needle Delights-she had some clearance posted on her site(www.needledelights.com) and I came across it in my search. It's where I got BBD's "Trifle from a Friend." It makes me sad so see so many LNS's going out of business.

I took Ginger for a walk today and we saw some signs of spring already-

These little violets(at least I think that's what they are) are growing randomly in my lawn!

And Ginger was so tired from our walk, she eventually fell asleep, while playing no less. I thought it was so funny and cute. :)

Night night!

Been meaning to blog all week..

Since last Sunday actually! Time seems to get away from me.  Last weekend we took a trip up to Raleigh, to go to Trader Joe's, do some other things, so I got quite a bit done on "Beach Cottage!"

Can't say I got much done on it this week though- so this is progress as of today. I have also been working on my friend's project, I'll post a picture of that soon. 

I finished a good book today- A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. It was my first(and the first!) Kinsey Millhone book I've read. I enjoyed it! It wasn't s super pageturner, but sometimes that's ok. Easier to put down when something else needs to be done.  Now reading another of the Virgin River series- Temptation Ridge.  I'm going to see how this one goes. I enjoy the series, but sometimes it's a bit too unrealistic to me-the men are all  so sweet to their wives, all the people in town seem to be good looking.. granted I read books to "get away", and they don't have to be very realistic all the time, but it seemed the last one I read was just a little too sticky sweet. Like I said, we'll see how it goes.

We spent quite a bit of time at the mall this weekend, off and on.  Hanna's school collected over 1200 pairs of jeans for "Teens for Jeans"- they give gently used jeans to less fortunate kids.  Aeropostale was running a deal on this, so every kid at her school got a coupon for 25 % off a pair of jeans.  She needed some so we went yesterday to look- got her a pair of clearance jeans and a second pair on sale, which was the pair we used the coupon on. I love a good deal. :) I went back today to the mall with the kids; I had to get a gift for a friend that I forgot to get yesterday.  While there I saw the cutest purse, a little different from the ones I usually use.  It was on clearance and I picked it up, carried it around for a bit then talked myself out of it.. but I am still thinking about it.. I really don't need another purse but it was sooo cute. What would you do?

Ginger is doing well. :) Still have a couple issues we are working on but overall she is a good little puppy.. she has been very snuggly this weekend which has been nice. :)

Had her playful moments too!

Oh, and I forgot my TUSAL update.. here it is.. not much different from last time but I have been stitching, I promise!

I will be listing several older kits and cross stitch items over the next week or so, including some P. Buckley Moss ornament kits, so if you are interested please check them out! My seller ID is hannasmom1198. :)

a lovely giveaway, and some other goodies too!

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having another fabulous giveaway! Click here!

Today was a good mail day- I got a free shopping tote from Country Living magazine (got a free subscription with my Coke Rewards points), and my Victoria magazine. I looooove this magazine- my mom got me a subscription for Christmas. :)

And I stopped by my friend Diana's house and she had this for me-

She subbed to World of Cross Stitching and then decided she wasn't going to stitch anymore, and instead of cancelling it she is giving me her magazines. :) She is such a sweetheart.

No stitching yet tonight. :( Hoping to get a few stitches in but it's getting late- we'll see..

Time flies..

Didn't mean to wait this long to post! I haven't been making too much progress on my stitching, I feel like kind of a failure in that department! And I have no one to blame but myself-stay on the computer too long, snuggle with Ginger, etc.   But anyway.. I didn't mean to start off on such a downer! Here is my progress on Beach Cottage- I have made some...

I've been reading a really good suspense book lately-it had me hooked from chapter 2- I would say chapter one but I am still trying to figure out how it fits in to the story. lol It's The Innocent by Harlan Coben, it's excellent so far!

Speaking of books, my hubby watched a chick flick with me last night- "Something Borrowed". Originally I wasn't so sure about it, seeing as how the whole plot revolves around people cheating on their significant others, but it was surprisingly good! I was thinking about reading the book, but I am on the fence- most of my friends gave it really good reviews, but a lot of people didn't (on goodreads) so I don't know..

Here is a pic I took of Ginger today, outside she looks so small, but in the house she looks big- hee hee..

I got her with her tongue out, can't believe I caught it! And it wasn't even on purpose! :)

Giveaway winner for the towel leaflet..

Was Judith(Musicwoman)-Judith please email me your address again- I don't think I kept it. Thanks! Email link is in my profile.  Thanks! Stay tuned for another giveaway soon everyone!

Happy dancing.. I finally finished something!

This ornament has taken me forever- it was my lunchtime project- and after a while it seemed I was always running errands at lunch, then we got Ginger so I started coming home at lunch to feed her and take her outside(not that I'm complaining) so my stitching time has been limited. I have found a few minutes here and there, and today, thanks to the stitching group that meets at our local quilt shop once a month, I finally made some real progress.  So tonight I was determined to finish it! I'm not sure I am real happy with the beading, it's not the way I usually do them.. but I really don't want to re-do them either. I don't know.  I don't remember the fabric I stitched it on but I did substitute some colors -CC Desert Mesquite for Olde Willow English Ivy, WDW Hazelnut for Olde Willow Quaker Churchyard Adobe, and I think all the othe colors I used were the recommended ones. This is from either the 2002 or 2003 JCS Ornament issue I think- all I have is my working copy handy right now and it doesn't say on there.. but the copyright on the pattern is 2002.  Well I better get to bed, it's getting late- just had to share!

Finally finished the tree!

I know, it's not much of an accomplishment, but it seems like it has taken me forever to finish the tree- I'd start falling asleep, it would be time for bed, Ginger would want some attention... finally I am moving on to the roof!

And now I would like to share some info, especially with my readers in the CT area- via different Corgi communities I have come across a family whose Corgi has run away.  They were visiting in CT for the new year, and on New Year's Eve he was scared by the fireworks and ran off. There have been many sightings of him since but no one has been able to catch him.  Please keep an eye out for him if you live in this area, his name is Andy and there is a $2000 reward for his return.  Here is a poster-

and here is the website for more info, including a map of sightings, etc- http://bringandyhome.wordpress.com/ .And those of you who live to far away, like me, please say prayers that he will be brought home safely.  It has got to be so horrible for this family- I can imagine what it would be like for me if Ginger was out there.  Thanks so much!

And please don't forget to check out my giveaway in my previous post-I will draw a winner sometime this weekend.

Oh and almost forgot my TUSAL update! I am going to try to be better about it this year- but I must admit most of this thread has been from frogged stitches on the project I have been working on for my friend..

A little progress , a giveaway winner, and another giveaway!

No stitching done yet this weekend(hoping to remedy that in a few minutes!) but here is my progress on Beach House as of right now- just some progress on the tree- maybe I will finish it up tonight.

Hoping for a better stitching week this week.. I am still frogging on the other project..

And now for the Dawna Barton leaflet winner- Tracy! Congrats! There were only two takers on this one so I made slips of paper with each lady's name on them, shook them in my hands, and let one drop out. :)

Here is my next giveaway- I will draw a winner next Sunday, since that seems to be the day I can remember to do it. lol  It's for the Leisure Arts leaflet "Floral Trims for Fingertips". Please comment on this post only if you'd like a chance, and remember to leave an email address if you don't have a link to your email in your blogger profile.

Sorry the photo is a little blurry!

And here is a picture of Ginger I took this weekend. I love how she looks in natural light. :)

I almost forgot!

To pick a giveaway winner - so sorry!  I took an idea from Edgar and let Ginger pick the winner.  I had no BOD(bowl of destiny) handy, so I put them in front of her and mixed them up a bit and you know it only took a couple of seconds for her to bite one- as she loves putting EVERYTHING in her mouth(I think maybe she is part goat)- and she picked... Kimberly R! Kimberly, I will be emailing you shortly if you have an email link in your blogger profile- if you don't please email me at angelrose1108 @ yahoo.com.  Congratulations!

and without further delay here is my next giveaway-

This leaflet by Dawna Barton.  Please leave a comment on this post and make sure you mention you want to be in the giveaway.. thanks!

No real stitching done this weekend- I had good intentions- I got caught up in frogging.  Hope to make more progress on Beach House this week.