TUSAL Update

Rose Planter This Spring

It's yet another TUSAL update. That's the Totally Useless StitchALong that I'm luckily a part of this year! :)  

It's sponsored by Daffycat. (Please go take a peek!) It's wonderful to see that over 200 people are participating in this event.

This past month has been a big, sad one in our lives, and it has left little time for stitching.  I don't think I've had the chance to stitch even once since I last posted an update. On top of it, I now have yet another miserable cold.

Nonetheless, without further adieu, here is the latest TUSAL update:

Other Spring Loveliness:

Lasting Love Rose

Lilac

Time to Relax on the Patio

Thanks for stopping by here today.  

Spring Flowers

Hi everyone!

I hope you are as happy as I am that the weekend is here again. On top of that, it's springtime!

Thanks for stopping by here today. It's interesting, I added a 'Follower' box in the sidebar awhile back, and I really appreciate that some people have added their names as a 'Follower'. This week I noticed that someone left the 'Follower' box. Sigh. I hope they still come back and visit here once in awhile.

I have been stitching a bit on my sampler lately, I just haven't had time to do an update picture. I promise to post one soon.

Last of all, I want to share some photos from our yard. These were taken in previous summers and springs, and I apologize if you have seen them before. The photos make me smile, and I hope they brighten your day.

Take care, and again...thanks for stopping by here!

First of all, a hydrangea. I love hydrangeas!



A geranium I rewarded myself with when I finished my Master's project a year ago:




A rose from our backyard:





Finally, Scentimental Rose. It's in a pot on our deck:



Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Stitching Stash and an Updated WIP Photo

I went to class today and turned in that huge project I've been working on for the past six months. I had it bound and printed on Thursday (107 pages!), and the final product passed inspection by my professor. Hurrah! Now I just have to take some more classes, and then I'll be done with this program. I wish I'd have done this a few years ago, but that's just the way it is.

After class I was in the general vicinity of a stitching store, so I decided to stop in and check things out. It's located about 20 miles from my home, so I don't get the chance to go there as often as I'd like to go.

Since I was so happy for having finished my big project, I decided to reward myself. I bought a few patterns for my House and Garden Sampler! Up until now I'd only used patterns I had at home in my very large assortment of old magazines and stitching books. I found several I thought could be useful for my sampler. I'll have to draw these onto the graph paper when I get to the next house in my sampler. First of all, I bought this first one as I liked how the trees and hills looked. I also like the borders on these patterns:

There's No Place Like Home! by Sandra Cozzalino



I liked this pattern for the house in the top right corner, although the smaller house looks good as well:

The Prairie Schooler Farm Fresh



Finally, I bought this pattern for the small-sized houses and use of birds. I will try to incorporate those into the design, too. Here it is:

The Prairie Schooler Birdsong II



Here's the previous progress photo I took of my House and Garden Sampler. I took it back in March, so I've done a little bit since then.

In March:


Taken today:


A closer look at the new house:


And one more of the top two houses:


Just for laughs, here's another look at that rough graph paper layout I did back in October. I think I'm going to change the house in the upper right corner (A version of our house) to a different one. I'm also going to add more houses on the bottom of the piece. There will be ten houses all together, I think. Here's that graph:


I'll have to stitch on it later on tonight!

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Tomorrow we are removing some huge, overgrown shrubs from our backyard's far corner. We've lived here for 18 years, but this corner has been awful for ages. I guess I should take some "before" pictures, shouldn't I? Truly I'm ashamed of how bad this corner looks, really.

On a better note, here's a smoke bush (cotinus) that we planted several years ago. Our daughter picked it out as she'd so admired this particular plant at a beautiful gardening center in a different county. It was hard to find one, but we managed to hunt one down and get it planted. I took the photo the other day as I love the purple color of the leaves. It's a decidious shrub, so it's amazing to watch its daily progress in growth and color.



Here's how it looks when it blooms later on in the early summer through fall. The blooms are supposed to look like smoke, hence the name:


It's time to relax some now and celebrate the finish of that huge school project. It's hard to express how elated I am that it's done. Having something like that in your 'to do' list is really a bit much at times.

Thanks for reading my blog,and thanks for your kind comments. I really appreciate your kindness and warmth.

Wednesday...Already!

It's amazing how fast the week goes when you are off work!

It's been a busy week, and I haven't stitched the entire time. No, wait, I did stitch a bit on Monday evening for about 1/2 hour. I haven't posted a progress picture lately as there really hasn't been much change since last time I posted a picture.

Just as I was going to stitch tonight my professor for that project I'm doing called me, and thus my stitching plans were out the window. I ended up edited that 107 page long project, and reprinting the whole thing. I will be so, so glad when this thing is completely done.

I wanted to share a few more yard photos. First of all, about a week ago I noticed a very odd bird at one of our backyard feeders. I'd never seen one like it before, ever! He looked so different than the usual assortment of sparrows at our feeder, and he was much larger. Yesterday morning he returned, and here is his photo:


Another blurry view, so you can see the pattern on its side:


Through some internet and book 'research' I found out that he's a Black-headed Grosbeak, and he winters in Mexico and returns to this area in the summer. I sure hope I see him again!

Tonight after our overnight company went home we sat outside on our deck and enjoyed some reading while sipping on a cool soda. We were amazed that this brave mourning dove ate within about three feet of our ottomans:


My husband went inside to get more soda, and look what showed up on the telephone pole near our back fence:

Yes, it's an Acorn Woodpecker! I've heard him in the morning, but I've never before seen his bright red cap. Actually I must say that I've never seen him before at all, I've only heard him.


A few minutes later, we saw this hummingbird enjoying our orange clock vine that's now blooming:



Finally, here's a few of our backyard plants that make me smile. I love seeing the yard come alive with color in the spring!

These are the geraniums we planted in pots on Sunday to help celebrate the near completion of that huge school project that's bogging me down:


Another view of some of our potted plants from the corner yard:


And finally, here's the first lilac bloom on a shrub we planted just over a year ago. It's amazing to see a lilac in our yard, as they're not that common where we live. My husband is from the midwest and grew up with these wonderful purple springtime blossoms:


Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for your comments.

Last Day of March

First Roses of Spring

It's Monday~where did the weekend go?

Far too much time was spent working on projects for my job, and no time was spent on my Master's project. That is unfortunate and I'll have to make up for that later on this week, or next week.

I did work in the yard for many hours on Saturday, and above you can see a picture of the first roses of spring. These roses were planted three years ago, and they're looking better each year!

I also fixed up the front porch a bit. These colorful pots are very special to me since our daughter painted and decorated them several years ago. One of them even has glitter on it, but that's hard to see in the photo.

Here's how the porch looks now, and the funky mix of color is a fun thing to me but I know that many who see it may cringe at the uncoordinated clash:


I moved the Christmas poinsettias to the backyard patio/deck area:



I don't know what to do with those poinsettias to sustain them until next Christmas. Any ideas? They've been outside since we got them from our son-in-law.

I stitched for about 1/2 hour on Saturday. I will share a photo of that later on this week, but very little progress has been made since the last photo.

It's off to work now. My husband helped me rearrange the classroom late Friday afternoon so I'm prepared for an 'exciting' day. The children react to any small change, so it will be fun to see what they do with the huge changes we made!

I hope you have a great day, and thanks for your comments and visits.

Warmly,
Stitcher S

Yard Before and After

I thought it might be fun to share some before and after photos of a small corner of our oddly-shaped backyard. We bought this house almost 18 years ago, and at this point the home is 51 years old. When we bought it the yard was overgrown here and there, and due to many life circumstances it was never quite the yard we wanted. It still needs some work, but it is better than it was!

A few years ago, this is what the corner of our yard looked like. This area is right behind our garage. We sit at the end of a cul-de-sac with a long, narrow backyard. Please brace yourself for this photo, as it looks so trashy and ugly. I'm a bit ashamed I lived in a home where part of the yard looked like this:

 

The first thing we got was a new wall, and some new more 'neutral' awful fiberglass. Our neighbor insisted on the fiberglass, and I have always disliked it. My husband worked hard at clearing out the weeds and he also rototilled the entire area.

 

After this we added our own lattice to cover up the fiberglass. My daughter and I painted the lattice and the nearby fence. Actually, I did most of it. It's when our daughter was in a law enforcement academy, so I got up and started painting the fence at six o'clock in the morning. I did that in honor of her dedication to the academy!

 

Then we added some plantings along the back fence (photina), some climbing roses along the lattice, and a magnolia tree.

 

About a year later our future son-in-law helped us plant sod:

 

Here's a close-up of the climbing roses and crape myrtle we planted almost three years ago. We took this one last summer, and now they're looking almost overgrown:

 

Here's the area and how it looked last summer. It makes me yearn for relaxing summer months when I look at this photo:

 

That's our before and after story of our little corner of the yard. Somedays I feel as if my wheels spin and I get nothing done. Seeing these photos helps me see that we actually do accomplish a few things around here!

I hope your week is going great. Thanks for all your comments and words of encouragement!

Summer Thoughts and Baked Spaghetti

It's cold and dreary here so I thought I'd post a photo of these flowers taken in the summertime. They are uplifting to me! I have another wretched cold going on--the price one pays for working with the wee ones.

Had to share my niece's Spaghetti recipe--Baked Spaghetti, that is.

Here it is:
Baked Spaghetti

¾ pkg Angel Hair Pasta
4 tbsp butter or marg
1 cup grated parm chs
4 eggs – well beaten
2 cups cottage cheese
¾ lb ground beef or turkey or Italian sausage
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced green pepper
2 cups diced zucchini
2 cups diced fresh mushrooms
2 ½ cups canned diced tomatoes with juice
1 - 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 sm can olives
2 cups mozzarella cheese


Cook spag. Drain and stir in butter, add parm cheese & eggs. Form spag into crust in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Spread cottage cheese over crust. In a very large skillet brown ground beef or sausage. Drain meat if necessary and set aside. Heat same large skillet over med heat and sauté onion, green pepper, mushrooms, & zucchini until tender. Add meat back to skillet with sautéed veggies and stir in tomatoes with juice, tomato paste and all spices. Add drained olives. Spread mixture in baking dish and bake covered for 30 minutes at 350. Sprinkle cheese on top and return to oven for 5 or 10 minutes uncovered until cheese melts. Enjoy!

* This is a great casserole for company or to return half to the freezer and reheat in two weeks. It is also wonderful as leftovers.

Enjoy!