My oldest turned 16 on the 24th!

How can it be possible that 16 years have passed already! My oldest son, Jonathan, is now 16 and will soon be taking drivers-ed. He can't wait to get his driver's license. I for one, am very happy that the state has enacted certain restrictions on drivers under 18.

Here is a picture of Jonathan blowing out the candles on his cake :)

Well, it looks like I have some catching up to do!

Gee, time flies when you're busy LOL.

My boys are back in school; in fact, they are almost through their first quarter.

Work has been work. I have been at this particular company for 4 years now--it's funny, I didn't think I would stay past two :) I enjoy what I do, I just don't always enjoy all of the junk that goes along with it. I suppose a person would encounter "junk" no matter where they work. I just have to remind myself not to get swallowed up in all of the stuff.

I have been keeping up with my stitching and crocheting. The afghan pictured below is one I made for my great-nephew. It's a simple double crochet stitch done in rows:

This next photo is from a Halloween Exchange I was in. I stitched this for Christina; the pattern is from Blackbird Designs Halloween booklet. I don't have the name of the fabric since it was a mystery fabric from Silkweavers and I used Weeks Caper and Onyx for the floss:

Fall is my favorite time of year and today is my favorite type of fall day: blustery and over-cast. I will leave you with some photos of the leaves that have fallen in my yard...

Setting Goals

One of the message boards that I post to regularly has a fourm titled "Monthly Goals". Since joining the board, I have set goals and self challenges almost every month. Sometimes I feel hemmed in by my goals...my thoughts being stitching should be fun and not something I feel compelled to do and other times, I like the goals list...it helps me stay on track and actually get things accomplished.

So my question to you (if anyone besides myself reads my blog :) is>>> Do you set monthly or even yearly goals for yourself?

Here is what I have put down for wanting to accomplish in August:

**Goals**
1) Finish ornament for exchange
2) Finish Autumn Exchange
3) Work next two sections of DT's Alpine Garden
4) Get Red Thread SAL back out and finish up May square and get June started
5) 10 hours on Multiplication Table


**Challenges**
1) Read at least 3 books
2) Stitch at least 30 hours
3) Find and make some good tasting economical meals
4) Post to my blog at least 3 times a week

Exchanges I received this week...

This first item was sent to me by Stephanie. We participated in a Complimentary exchange...we had to choose from freebie charts that we have on hand and she stitched "Stitching Buds" by My Big Toe...

This second design is from a year long ornament exchange I am in. Every other month we send a finished ornament to our recipient. Shirley stitched this for me this month...it's a freebie chart from Primrose Promise...

I love them both!! Thanks ladies :)

A question and some thoughts

I was reading an e-mail from a stitching friend and she mentioned her stitching group brings "show and tell" items each time they meet. She also mentioned that an item is not considered finished until it is "finished"...either framed, stuffed, pillowed, etc. This is an incentive for them to finish their stitching into a completed item.

I have many, many, many unfinished items...the below is just a small sampling of what I have finished stitching, but as yet left uncompleted. So my question is...do you routinely complete your stitching into finished pieces? Do you consider your stitching finished once all of the stitching is done or once it's completed into a wall hanging, etc? Am I in the minority of having more "unfinished" stitching than "finished" stitching?

When I start to feel guilty over all of the items that I have finished, but not completed, I tell myself that I stitch more for the enjoyment of the process rather than the end result. Something akin to "it's not the destination it''s the journey" that matters :) While a good bit of that philosophy is true, I also think it's my defense mechanism for being too lazy to complete my stitching into finished goods :) Since we did the renovation three years ago, I have a ton of wall space so that is not the reason for not framing my items...

And here I thought...

I figured when I started my blog that I would have to wrack my brain for things to write about...HA!

Last night round about 10:00 I went upstairs to get my clothes ironed for the next morning. I started to smell this smell...SKUNK. That's when I remembered that the dogs were outside and I *knew* one or both of them got sprayed.

I came running down the stairs and my Mother had let the dogs in...along with the pungent odor of eau de skunk. My little Lucy got socked right in the face. Ethel, her smarter younger sister managed to side step the whole debacle.

So instead of ironing my clothes I was giving Lucy a bath in vinegar and then in shampoo. She still stinks so tonight I am going to try a remedy that my co-worker gave me...douche. Hmmm, I am not quite sure about this method, but I am willing to give anything a try right about now.

The little cutie pie sitting oh so pretty in this photo is my stinky Lucy and Ethel is the little cutie pie laying on the rug.

Jumping right in with the photos

I got some of my pictures off of our other computer that I wanted to share.

1) This is my most recent update on DT's Alpine Garden. I really love this design and the stitching goes quick...I don't know why I haven't picked it up lately.



2) This is my last "monthly" ornament that I completed. The designer is Midsummer Night Designs and this was from the JSC 2007 Ornie issue...I made some modifications :) Don't mind the date in this photo; my boys made some "modifications to my camera :/



3) Lastly is a gift I made for my girlfriend. The stitched part is a freebie from Lizzie Kate and I attached it to a pre-made tote bag I found a AC Moore. It's a neat little way to finish a gift. I could have added some trim if I had been so inclined LOL.

Ah finally!!!

My mother, who lives with us, and my boys are traveling back from Georgia today.

They left on June 15th to spend several weeks with my Aunt and my brother who both live outside of Atlanta. It has been a long 5 weeks...who would have thought that my house would seem so quiet and empty without the boys!

I have been very productive with my "empty nest" time. I have managed to stitch almost all of the exchange pieces I needed to get done and I have read about 25 books. I won't be able to post photos of the exchange items until they have been received, but not to worry, I will be sure to put pictures on my blog.

I have been reading a variey of books lately--Romance, Mystery and Paranormal. I found a great new to me author...Patty Briggs. The book I read is MOON CALLED and is the fist book in the Mercy Thompson series. Mercy is a shapeshifter and owns an garage where she specializes in fixing Volkswagon's. It was a very good read and I can't wait to get to the other two in my TBR mountain.

On the stitching front, I have been working on exchange items and have made a list of WIPs that I want to complete this year. I have so many wonderful patterns that are in an incomplete state that guilt is prompting me to make a dent in the WIP pile before starting something new.
Here is a photo of my Alpine Garden WIP...it's a Drawn Thread pattern:

I do have a more recent photo, but it's on the upstairs computer so this will do for now :)