I finally stitched today--for the first time in two and a half months. It was good to break out my projects again. I decided to work on Oberlin's Minnesota Sampler, and will post a photo soon.
I noticed that the last time I posted here I was home with a sore throat. Believe it or not, I was at home again today with a sore throat and virus. I work with small children and sadly I don't seem to fight off their germs very well. Someone is always sick in my classroom, it seems. Any suggestions on building up immunity? Vitamins don't seem to do the trick.
A few weeks ago we went to a beautiful wedding. Our daughter's sister-in-law got married, and our daughter was the matron of honor. Her baby is due in a few weeks, and that is something we're really so excited about! Here are some photos of that beautiful day. Enjoy!
Our daughter with her sister-in-law:
Our daughter and her husband:
Enjoying the reception:
The Happy Newly Married Couple:
Thanks for stopping by today!
It's great to be here and post today.
I still haven't had the chance to stitch in weeks and weeks. Right now I'm home with a horrible cold and sore throat. I seem to get these way more often than I should!
While we were in Minnesota last summer, I took a photo of a piece I stitched for my in-laws about 24 years ago. It is on Aida since it is from my beginning cross stitch phase. I don't recall the name of the leaflet from which I got the pattern. Here it is:
Aren't the colors bright? They are a bit unusual together, but I like the overall effect.
Thanks for stopping by today!
I wish I had more time to stitch, but lately it's just been far too busy. I haven't stitched in almost a month at this point.
Earlier today I did enjoy putting together something called a Flickr "Gallery". It's a collection of photos that I've gathered from my fellow Flickr users. It's titled "Embroidered Houses". I wish I could publish the gallery here, but I can't. I can share the link, so here you are:
Embroidered Houses Gallery by Loves2Stitch2
It's amazing to see the variety of different needlework techniques used to create such a wide variety of cozy homes.
Thanks for stopping by today!
I wish I had some stitching news, but I don't! Instead, I would like to share some photos we took recently.
First of all, it's been so HOT that we were fortunate enough to capture with our camera a hawk standing on our driveway. He was drinking water from our neighbor's sprinklers, and also reaching out to enjoy the sprinkler mist.
We live in an urban area, so we're always a bit surprised to see hawks near us. 
The other evening we drove to a park near my mother's house and took some photos of the sunset. I really love the colors in these! Sadly there is smoke in the air with fires burning some 25 miles away from where we took the photos, so that makes the sunset's colors especially orange. 
I love this one:
Before sunset, and the smoke is visible:
One more with smoky clouds:
Thanks for stopping by today!
Life has gotten extremely busy. After a fairly lazy summer, I'm preparing for another school year. I had to move to a different classroom this year, so it has meant a bit more work in getting ready. School does not start for a few weeks yet, but there is much to do before it can be a smooth start.
On a happy note, I got my sampler back from the framer! I took it to my most local needlework shop, and I am so thrilled with the results. I chose to not mat the piece, and I also chose a wood color that was a bit lighter than I'd anticipated but seemed to go best with the tones of the piece.
Here it is:
A close-up of one side:
I hung it on the wall between or kitchen and family room, and it seems to look all right there.
Thanks for stopping by today!
We're back from another trip to visit my husband and also my aunt in the midwest.
It was a great trip, but it's good to be home.
I have some old stitching and fun stuff about the trip to share, but I'll have to do that later.
Again, it's great to be back! I've missed reading all your blogs, haven't been online in a week.
Until Later... a photo of another beautiful Minnesota sunset- 
I've been working on a project I started about six years ago. I actually started it 'on a whim'. I had the 22 count hardanger in a drawer, and I'd bought Paula Vaughan's pattern at a close-out sale somewhere. It's her "Wedding Ring Bouquet".
I stitched a bit on Paula Vaughan's Wedding Ring Bouquet. I'll post some pictures in a few days. The ones I have now are far too green tinged, for some reason.
Vonna, I am sorry about the sweatshirt statement I made in the last post. I wasn't very clear! I meant there was a time that they were enormously popular here in our very warm area. It was at the time everyone was painting on them, and adding appliques. We wear them still, of course, but not like we did in the 90s. I have a few but I rarely wear them as it's just never cold enough here to warrant one.
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I really love the photo sharing site called Flickr. If you haven't looked at it ever, take a peek. My photos were moved there automatically when Yahoo Photos shut down a few years ago, and I've been posting our photos there ever since.
I love to choose favorite photos on Flickr. Tonight I made this collage at a site called Big Huge Labs. The collage is made up of just a few of my hundreds of favorite photos. These are pictures of places I'd like to go or see, places I've been, or just beautiful places. The young lady is also from one of my favorite Flickr photos, and I just love how she's making a wish. If you wish to see more about the photo, click on the collage and you'll get the link to the page it came from as it's shown right below the photo. (Wow, that was way too wordy.
I 'm sorry.) Thanks to all who took these photos!
One more collage to share:
This is a small pile of photos I've taken of stitching I've done over the years, and also some of the threads I use. 
Thanks for coming by today.
Don't you just love finding a lost treasure? Well, to me it's a treasure although I'm sure to many it wouldn't qualify as such.
When I don't have to trudge off to work every day, I like to spend some time organizing our house a tiny bit. I started the other day in some different rooms, but today I tackled our very old dresser. I've had this dresser for a very long time, so you can imagine how things just kind of find their way in there so easily.
So today I was very happy to find an old finished crosstitched piece in one of the larger drawers. It was tucked away and quite hidden under lots of other old things.
I'd stitched a Frankie Buckley design on the sweatshirt, and it was a design I got from the old "For the Love of Crosstitch" magazine. This was when sweatshirts were popular, and especially ones that were crafted up with some sort of homespun touch. I made it around 1993, I think, for my Mother-in-law. She passed away a long time ago just after I stitched it, and the sweatshirt was passed back to me. I'd hidden it away so carefully that I couldn't even find it! It was my first waste canvas project, and I've done very few since then.
Here are some photos of it: 
I really don't know what to do with the sweatshirt, so I think I'll tuck it away again for more long term safekeeping. If it fit me, I'd wear it on Valentine's Day. Maybe.
Ah, relief. Tomorrow is my last class this summer. It has been a long three weeks, that's for sure. I haven't stitched a bit, but I hope to get to it soon.
Awhile back I saw one of my stitching friend's pieces, and I really liked it. It was not something I probably would have wanted to stitch if I just saw the leaflet, but in person the colors were absolutely beautiful. Here it is:
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