Happy Anniversary to Us!

32 years ago today I married my best friend.  I remember the day like it was yesterday.  It had poured down all week (16 inches in 24 hours earlier in the week) but on the morning of our wedding, it was bright and clear.  It was a wonderful day and it was a great preview of what was to come.  Like most couples, we've had good times and not so good times.  We survived a layoff and a cross country move.  We have 3 great kids but even that was not without problems.  We had my dad living with us during the last year of his life and Dave treated him as if he were is own dad.  Through it all, we've stayed best friends and lovers.  If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

David had the flowers waiting for me when I got home yesterday.  The daisies are extra special because they were our wedding flowers.  They're my favorite and I know that's why Dave gave them to me.  The roses are for true love and that's what he is to me. 

I didn't want this to become sappy but I just wanted to let the world know how special he is.  Happy anniversary, David!

Spring Exchange

I recently participated in a Spring Exchange run by Lainey over at Lainey's Stitching House.  It was probably the best run exchange I've ever been in so kudos to Lainey for doing such a great job.  My exchange partner was Sue (http://pointedstitcher.blogspot.com/).  I received a lovely package with some very pretty threads, a lilac candle, some bath fizzies (which I can't wait to use) a notepad and a cute little box of spring tissues.  And of course, before I forget, a lovely stitched cube.  It's a Lizzie Kate pattern called Bloom.  It's my first cube ever and I'm really pleased with it.  Sue did a wonderful job in finishing it.  It's currently residing on my dining room buffet where everyone can admire it. 

This last picture is what I sent to Sue.  Great minds think alike cause I sent her a Lizzie Kate piece as well.  Mine is called Happy Spring from Lizzie Kate's pattern called Spring Things.  The finishing was a flat fold done by Karen over at Stitching and Sharing.  Karen does a wonderful job and I can highly recommend her to anyone who needs finishing done.  This was a great experience and was a fun way to share our love for stitching with someone new.

PIF from Meari

I was very fortunate to win a PIF from Meari at http://meari.blogspot.com. Now I usually don't ever win anything but I got lucky this time. Meari sent me some lovely threads, a Mill Hill bead kit, some needles (something we all need more of) and a lovely little dragonfly scissor fob. Now that gives me a scissor fob on each pair of scissors I own. Two of the threads she sent were by Carrie's Creations. Now I know this is a very popular brand of thread but I have never used it. So I'm excited to get a chance to try this. The colors Meari sent remind me of pansies so I'm going to see if I can find a small pansy pattern to try them out on. So now I'm going to PIF as well. Keep checking back in the next week or so to see when I post my PIF.

Here's Another One!

Here's another piece I picked up from my framer today. It's my little cross stitch hybrid that I recently finished. I really like the way this one turned out. The light gray mat is fabric and I just love the texture of it. This was such a fun piece to stitch. So much so that I have another hybrid lined up and ready to start. But I've promised myself that I would finish up the other UFO's that I've been working on before I start on another new design.

Here It Is!

I have finally been able to have the poppies framed. As you can see, I decided to go with a monochromatic scheme. I figured that would make the poppies really pop (yes, that was a joke!). We tried a set of green mats but they just didn't work in my opinion. My framer came up with this combo and I'm really pleased with it. I just hope Don likes it as well. Oh, the first picture is my sweet kitty, Squeak, investigating the picture. I just had to include it as well. It looks like she approves of it as well!

Poor Me!

Now I fully intended to spend the day stitching. Yes, I had to make a slight detour to go pick out some new floor tile (the one we were going to use has been discontinued - what else is new?) but I really wanted to have a day where I didn't have to do anything but stitch. Well, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. While I was taking things out to the garage, I managed to smash my finger in the door. After I finished thinking all the bad words I knew, I went in to survey the damage. My poor finger is pretty well bruised both front and back and I managed to shave it open as well. It's nothing serious but it's throbbing pretty bad and I just don't think I can hold a needle right now. So I'm just going to have a little pity party for myself and spend the rest of the day sulking.

I did manage another finish before I took out my finger. Blue Gentian Sampler with my variations. I'm really pleased with the way it came out. So far this year I think I've finished as many as I did all last year. I'm on a roll!

New Friends

It's been several weeks (almost 3 to be exact) since I had a wonderful experience of meeting some lovely people from our neighbor to the north. I have been following Dani's blog ( http//tkdchick.blogspot.com/) for a couple of years now and she recently came to Arizona to visit with her friend Kathy in Yuma. They were making a day trip over to Mesa for a trip to The Attic for a stash spree. Dani very kindly invited me to join them so I drove over and met Dani, Kathy and several of their other friends. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning. Not only did I get to add to my already considerable stash, but I got to make some new friends in the process. Phyllis, Judi, Kathy and Dani are all from Canada so it was great to hear about their shops and interests. Annette is from Mesa and met us at The Attic. It's her home shop so she was able to give us inside scoop on what they have available. Now I know I live here as well but The Attic might as well be in another state as often as I go to it. It's a lovely shop but I just can't justify the drive too often when I work at a LNS. Anyway Kathy was very kind to give Annette & I a gift which I love. As you can see from the picture, she gave us the cutest little case with some great goodies in it. I especially love the little scissors. They're so retro and I'm really into retro lately. Can we go back to the 60's? Anyway I loved spending the day with my new friends and meeting fellow stitchers. Now when I read their blogs, I fell like I'm reading a letter from a friend. (Does anyone still write letters??)