It's FINALLY Done!

My daughter Sherrie got married 1 year ago this coming June.  When she got engaged I promised to stitch her a wedding sampler.  Well, she chose 1st Corinthians 13 from My Big Toe.  I finally finished it earlier this week.  I hadn't realized that it would take me a year and a half to stitch it.  I stitched it over one on 25 count ivory lugana with the suggested Weeks Dye Works threads.  I had to be extra careful not make any mistakes because ripping them out caused a shadow of the wrong stitch to show up on the fabric.  So I marked up my chart like crazy and counted the border stitches several times to make sure everything lined up perfectly.  I also had to chart their names and the date and then figure out how it worked in the border.  I even hid a little capitol A in the center medallion.  I am so pleased with how it turned out. 

Completed Wedding Sampler for Sherrie & Eric

Secret A

Perfectly Centered Personalization ;-)

I'm really quite proud of how this all came together.  I had my doubts that I could add the personalization so that it was centered in the border but it turned out just as I planned. 

I'm So Over This!

 I am so over winter.  These photos were taken today out my front and back doors.  It's the middle of May, not January.  I am so sick of snow.  I want my sunshine and my heat.  I want flowers and birds and bunnies.  I'm a hot weather kind of gal.  On Monday I was wearing shorts; today I'm out trying to save my trees from losing limbs due to the wet, heavy snow.  All I got for my efforts was big clumps of snow plopping down on my head.  I have been babying a rose bush in the back yard for almost three years now.  Last year it actually had buds before a tremendous hail storm stripped it of both its buds and leaves.  I had a stick bush for most of the summer.  Yesterday it actually had two blooms on it before all this heavy snow was dumped on it.  I know we need the moisture but rain works too.  Oh well, I think I'll go stitch something.

Who Knew?

Now I've lived here in Colorado for almost three years.  I've heard it said that it has a high desert climate.  I never believed it because I was used to the desert in Arizona.  The Sonoran Desert to be exact.  Now there's a desert!  But much to my surprise, I discovered something today.  We have cacti in Colorado! 

It was such a beautiful day (compared to last week when we had a snowstorm in April - I don't think I'll ever get used to that!) that Dave and I decided to take a hike.  Now I'm not a mountain climber.  I like my hikes on flat, stable ground.  Our favorite place to hike here in the Denver area is at a park called Platt River Park in Littleton.  They have a trail that both hikers and bikers can use together but they also have a trail that's strictly for hikers.  It winds through the wetlands and it's like a peaceful oasis in the middle of town.  It travels by the river and you can often see birds and beavers in their natural habitat.  We saw a beautiful little mallard duck just a swimming along and lots of butterflies.   Even the dandelions are pretty here.  I like to think of them as wildflowers but Dave just calls them weeds.  Today I noticed something I had not seen before.  In one area of the park were these lovely little patches of cacti.  They may be prickly pear cactus but don't quote me on that.  It was like having a little piece of Phoenix here.  Here's a couple more photos of our wonderful day.

Dandelions Along the Trail

Dandelions and Butterfly