Happy Anniversary to Us!

Well, I can't let this day go by without saying a very public Happy Anniversary to my very dear husband, Dave. It was 30 years ago today that we got married and what a ride it's been! We've had wonderful times and not-so-wonderful times, but mostly it's been great. He's my best friend and every day I thank God for giving us to each other. So, here's to us, David. May we be truely blessed with another 30 years!

Problem Solved!

Well, I finally figured out a way around my problem with all the quarter stitches in the center portion of this design. I've been in a real slump because I want to finish this but couldn't see a way out. Then it dawned on me. Just don't stitch the little buggers. I think I will determine which color will be in the foreground and then just stitch that color. I doubt anyone will look close enough at the pattern or my stitching, for that matter, to tell that I've done it that way. I have made considerable progress on this piece in just the last week or so. And that's just stitching for an hour in the morning before I go to work. So I can see an end in sight to the center section. The rest should go fairly quickly.

Allow Me To Brag!

Allow me to be a very proud mom for a moment. All music majors at NAU are required to give a junior recital in order to graduate. Sherrie had hers at the end of March. I would have posted sooner but I wanted to get her permission to post a few pictures from it. She was absolutely gorgeous, both in the way she sang and in the way she looked. The students are required to sing in at least 4 different languages, she went with 5 (Latin, French, German, Italian and English). It is a formal affair with a long gown required. She was so stressed for about a month. She was desperate not to get sick, memorized music right up until the week of the recital and don't even get me started on the search for THE DRESS! But she stayed healthy, had all the music down pat and found the perfect dress. We were so proud of her. She sounded like an angel. The first picture is of her proud mom and dad, Sherrie and her oldest brother, Brian. The second picture is of Sherrie and her accompianist and the third is of Sherrie, her recital partner, Joel, both of their accompianists and their voice teacher. And I give a lot of credit to her. When things got rough for Sherrie last year and she couldn't sing for about 1 month (she had a bad throat infection), all the teachers told Mrs. Gunderson to give up. But she stuck with Sherrie and the results were amazing. So now there are no more music lessons (except for piano) and she can concentrate on her education and conducting classes. Oh and singing in the Shrine of the Ages choir. Guess where they're going on tour next summer. South Africa. Oh boy, do I envy her!

A Little More Progress

Well, a little more progress on CDC2 has been made. I've been trying to work my way across the top part of the pattern. It's difficult though cause sometimes you need to go to another page. Then you have to make sure you don't, repeat DON'T, restitch the stitches in gray. I do really like this piece and am anxious to get it finished. The problem is that China (the piece I'm doing for Chris) is sitting on my table patiently waiting for me to finish it. Patiently laughing at me. I can hear it snickering to itself everytime I pass by. I can't imagine what made me decide to stitch it over 1 before I really checked it out and found all those pesky quarter stitches. So consequently I haven't stitched anything in over a week. I've done a little knitting but no stitching. Nope, not nary a stitch has passed my needle. I read about stitching, have done some more decluttering in my craft room, but no stitching. I really miss it too. I just need to gut the rest of China out and get it done. Maybe after I work in my room a little today, I'll pick it up. Nah, it'll still be there tomorrow.

Regrets Part 2

Ok, I've had some time to think about my last post. I left the patterns on my desk at work. You know, the ones I was thinking of adding to my collection. I left them for about a week. I finally came to my senses and decided that, no, they were not going to go home with me. I am still having second thoughts about what I'm getting rid of at home. Here's the issue though. For me to go through all the patterns in the giveaway boxes, I'll need to go out to the garage and wrestle them out of the cabinet. And I do mean wrestle. And they're really heavy. And there's four of them. Are you getting the picture here? This will not be an easy job. So I think for now they will just stay in their boxes until I figure out how to get rid of them. At that time, if I'm still so inclined, I'll go through the box in question and see if I still feel the same about the charts. So for now the decluttering plan is still working. Now if I can just get back to stitching!

Regrets

What's that song by Frank Sinatra? Regrets, I've had a few. Well, I'm really having problems letting go of the stash I culled several months ago. I keep thinking of things I put in the boxes and wanting to rescue them. I see patterns at work and go to buy them only to remember that I already have them in the giveaway boxes at home. Then I want to go get them out of the boxes and put them back in my file cabinets. Excuse me, that is now one file cabinet. The other resides in Brian's old room waiting to be given away. I promised myself I wouldn't go back and retrieve anything out of the boxes. But, man, is it ever hard. In the long run, I know I'm right to get rid of things I haven't used yet in 15-20 years. At that rate, I probably never will. So this is a good thing I'm doing, right?

A Little Nostalgia

Since I haven't made too much progress on my 2 current WIP's, I thought I would show one that I did about 15 years ago. I think the sentiment is very timely for many people. I know this is how we felt when Dave was out of work. We knew God would take care of us in His time. Sometimes though I wished He would hurry up!

This is an old Mosey and Me pattern called Daniel & Friends. Now I very seldom stitch anything like it is charted and this was no exception. I used Medici wool for the lions' coats and Fun Fur for their manes. It's really too bad that fiber isn't available any more (at lease it isn't in that color). I did French knots in Medici for Daniel's hair and a Wildflower for his coat of many colors (why should Jacob have all the fun?). I also added the buttons instead of stitching the hearts.

This is one of my favorite pieces I have stitched. Yes, I've stitched more sophisticated pieces. And I've stitched pieces that were a lot more detailed. But this design just spoke to me, both then and now. And I apologize if I seem irreverant. That is certainly not my intention. I firmly believe that God loves a big belly laugh just as much as we do.