Life With Jules, and other stuff

I’ve been moody, busy, quiet, lazy, angry, sad, and just plain tired! And it’s not even Valentine’s week yet!!! Not to mention that I have had a sinus headache for several days and my left eye has been a bit on the twitchy side! UGH…I would say thank God it’s the weekend, but Monday morning I get to haul my ass butt out of bed at o’dark thirty to get dressed up and be at the courthouse in Dade City, a mere 10 mile north, for JURY DUTY!!!! I have never, ever had the desire to serve and the last time (only 2 times) I was called I was exempt due to being active duty military! What I would give to still be in the Navy, LOL. Hopefully I will be able to get out of it. Now, how did I realize that I received a summons?! It’s only been sitting in my house since the first of the month. Well, I put it aside with other mail stuff, placed all of it in a box, and decided mid-week I better clean it out. I was looking for what I thought was a 1099 from school so I could do my taxes. What it really w

First for the Final Goodbyes. I don’t know if you follow local, national, or international news (depending on where you are in the world) but one of the communities near my town recently lost two police officers. On Monday, Jan 24th, Sgt. Baitinger and Ofc. Yaslowitz lost their lives while assisting a Federal Marshall serve a warrant in St. Petersburg, FL. Today, their funeral service was aired on local news channels and I happened to watch. It was a beautiful tribute to these two fine men and their families left behind. Normally, I don’t cry when sad things are aired like that, but today was different. You see, when the caskets were about to be brought out of the church, Ofc. Yaslowitz’s K9, Ace, was front and center. Ace was not behaving like the other K9’s, you know, sitting quietly while their handlers were at attention. No, Ace was showing his grief over the loss of his human. That brought on the water works for me. I can’t imagine how the families, friends, and fellow officers a

I did a little bit of stitching on Coming Home last night, but not enough to really show a picture of at this time. This afternoon, however, I finally finished Makin’ New Friends into a pillow. The recipient is my step-mom! She made a comment 2 Christmases ago that she loves snowmen and I thought this would make a perfect gift for her, albeit a little late! I am having my dad take it to water aerobics with him tomorrow afternoon to give to her (yes, they have been divorced for 40 years, but they are friends and in an exercise class together, LOL). Anyhoos, here are some pics of the finished product: Makin’ New Friends VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A little late in the day, but here is my post for today’s S & T: Sometimes my sister comes up with the cutest arrangements! I am not sure how she got them to stay on the tulips, but the flowers, but they are either glued on or stuck on with a piece of wire. They sure do make the tulips look fun and cheerful and brings a touch of spring! Hope everyone is having a drier evening than we are. It began to pour about 3 hours ago and has not stopped yet! Our roads are rivers, yards are lakes, and the driving conditions are horrible, but the sound of the rain coming down is wonderful!!!!

…is finished! Yay!!!! Here are some pictures: Cirque des Carreaux, P.1 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL I am so glad to have this page done. I began working on it about a year ago. It should be completed by Summer 2011 and then I will have it professionally framed and shipped to my mother for Christmas this year. Now, I think I may spend the rest of the evening working on the Butterfly Shamrock Wreath      

Well, I finally picked this piece back up the other day and have put quite a few stitches into it. Here is a picture of where I left it when last it was seen: And here is what it looks like today: I am about halfway through page 1. I switched back to the hoop as it is easier to handle, even though there is a lot of excess, soon-to-be stitched, fabric hanging over it.

Well, here are the last two starts of the Challenge . First up is Halloween from Elizabeth’s Needlework Designs. This design is supposed to be stitched over 2 on 35ct Weeks Mocha Linen. I am stitching it over 1 on 18ct Oatmeal Aida. The spiders and birds are supposed to be Smyrna stitches, but since I am not stitching over 2 it is not possible to do the specialty stitching on them. I like the way they are looking anyway, so that’s really all that matters!     Next up is another design from the Posy Collection, Woodrow Wilson’s Birthplace . I had the pleasure of visiting this historic site in Staunton (pronounced Stan-ton), VA while traveling through the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Pkwys in 2009. It’s quite an impressive place to see!     This is a picture of the front that I took while in Staunton. This is pretty much how the design looks as well! I really love the Posy Collection and highly recommend their designs to anyone who has a love for Americana or

Maislin “Maisy” Rosalee!!! Yes, I am a great-aunt once again and probably the last time for a while. Maisy came into this world on Jan 14th at 5lbs 12oz, 19.5” long at 1:26pm. I went with my sister, the proud grandma, to meet her yesterday! Here are some pics I took: Maislin Rosalee VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Well, these are definitely late in getting posted! The first project is Washington Monument from the Posey Collection: Next up is Week-end a Paris : I am not sure how I feel about Paris yet. It looked prettier in the package, but there is still quite a bit to go on it so I may just warm up to it a bit more. I am planning on framing it for my mom as part of her “French” themed wall-art collection. Cirque des Carreaux is the other piece I am stitching for her. I will be picking that one back up next week as time allows. I have gotten a bit done on my day 14 project and will post a pic of that along with day 15 sometime tomorrow evening as I haven’t started working on Day 15’s project yet. I wound up going to Tampa General to meet my newest little grand-niece. So, without further ado, may I introduce to you Maislin Rosalee ! Welcome to the World, Maislin!!!

to let you all know that I will be posting a proper update on the Crazy Challenge later tonight as well as pics of my newest little niece (well, grand-niece). Until then…

Well, I started working on Vibrant Vases last evening for Day 11 of the Challenge! I am just not sure if I like them so far. They are supposed to be stitched on black aida using DMC Light Effects, but I don’t have the right LE colors, so I am using the non-LE colors. I think I may buy the LE colors for the second vase to see which I prefer. What do you think? Until next time…

Wow! I can’t believe there are only 5 days left for the start of this challenge ! I am enjoying it so far and am pretty happy with the designs I chose. I am even more tickled that a couple of them will be completed during next month’s rotation! That said, last evening had me working on Try to Relax . Here is my progress: I am beginning to see a theme emerge from this challenge! I am stitching a lot of cats, LOL… Until next time…

Yes, you read that right! LOL   This park is actually more of a boardwalk over the pond (well, it’s really more of a lake) located in downtown Inverness, FL! I laughed when I saw the name!!! You know you’re in the south when you start seeing places named “Cooter” – tee hee hee.   Anyway, my dad and I took a walk along the boardwalk and I managed to capture some of the wildlife on my camera:   Cooter Pond Park, Inverness VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I am a little late in getting this posted. No excuses, just didn’t feel like it yesterday! LOL  I have been reading through your posts and commenting as the mood inspires me to. Anyway…here are the pictures for Days 8 & 9 of the Crazy Challenge: This one is called The Gardeners by Elsa Williams. As you can see, I haven’t put much into it yet. I think this will wind up being the last one of the 15 finished, lol! I’ve had it in my stash for several years now and can’t figure out why I never started it. Afterall, it is a kit and had everything I needed to get started.   Day 9 is a restart – yes, another one! The Siesta is a pattern based on Gary Patterson’s cartoons. I am almost halfway finished with this one as well, although I will be needing to pick up 2 different floss colors or just make do with what I have on hand. Still debating that one: What’s really cool is this cartoon was also featured in last year’s calendar! I found out when I was visiting my mom last summ

You heard it right! We have a winner for the Combo Giveaway! Would the following person please email (frggygrl at aol) me their snail mail addy so that I may get their winnings out to them: MARCY!!!!! Congratulations on the win and thank you to all who participated! And now, the rest of the story… One of the designs I chose for the Crazy Challenge is Medallions by Rosewood Manor. It is a sampler piece, which I have not done many of. I am stitching it on 28ct White Monaco by Charles Craft using Silk’N Colors’ Aqua Clouds and DMC 747 (for backstitch only). Here are a couple of pictures: The one medallion does have the backstitch portion filled in already, but you can’t really tell. I am thinking about changing it to 2 threads instead of 1 for the BS portions. Until next time…

Well, I found out that I may have a little less stitching time for the next few months. Please keep my boss in your prayers as he recovers from emergency surgery. He was in a car accident right before Christmas – rear-ended – and though he was cleared by the medics that day, he wound up having some rather serious internal injuries. Last night, the surgeons went in and found the need to remove part of the colon, large & small intestines. This means I pick up more hours to cover him in the shop. Now for some stitchy stuff! Last night I spent a couple of hours working on Mabry Mill . Here is where I left off: This is another kit from the Posey Collection. I picked this one up in one of the Eastern National Park shops October 2009 while driving through the Blue Ridge area. I think I may have actually still been in Shenandoah National Parkway. I haven’t actually been to the Mill --- YET! I hope to someday take a good week to travel the length of the Blue Ridge starting at Front Ro

I am so glad I picked this as one of my designs for this challenge! I really like how it’s looking so far. This is Cream for Kitty , a Dimensions kit: As you can see, it was a clearance item at one of those craft stores (Michael’s or Joann’s – can’t remember which one), LOL! There are a lot of half-stitches in this one, so it should stitch up relatively quick! Hard to believe we are 1/3 of the way through the start of this challenge. There are so many wonderful pieces being stitched up. I thought I would share this in general as I may not be able to leave personal comments on everyone’s blog, but I sure am gonna try, lol! ;D I made a decision, that many of you in this Challenge may have already considered, that I am going to set the first 15 days aside each month to work on these pieces. This gives me something to work towards and the remainder of each month to work on other WIPs (like Coming Home for the Holidays, haha). I have also been tossing around the idea of keeping a st

Here’s my start for Day 4: This one is called Colonial Williamsburg Gardens Petite Sampler . I picked it up in October 2009 while on a working vacation (I was en route to DC for a conference and stopped off in Colonial Williamsburg to see what the fees were and such). I actually picked up a few kits at the gift shop while there. You can’t really tell by the pictures, but I am nearly halfway finished stitching it. I really can’t believe how fast this one stitches up! And I am loving it… I haven’t gotten around to starting Day 5 yet, but plan to this evening. I wound up having to work all day. Pretty much the same for tomorrow as well. Until then…

These first three pictures were taken in June 2010 when my sister and I visited my Aunt's job in St. Johns, MI. Cockadoodle doo to you to Mr. Rooster! See how they've grown?! They have been relocated to my Aunt's property and are thriving!

Just a quick visit to share with you my starts on Days 2 and 3 of the Challenge: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace ; purchased at the actual Historical Site in Kentucky; pre-kitted through the Posey Collection . Cat In Chair ; this is actually a re-start as I already started it several years ago and never finished it. I decided to include it in this Challenge and had to use new 14ct White Aida and Floss (the others have long deteriorated or stained). I believe this is a discontinued kit by Janlynn.

It is soooo good to be back home in (not so sunny at the moment) Florida, LOL! Amazing, one week and a day ago I was arriving at my mom's in rain/snow/weather and today we arrive home to rain! At least it's much warmer, a balmy 73' last I checked. Enough on that! Later in the week, I am going to compile all of my photos from vacation and share with you via PhotoBucket. I don't do this too often, but thought I would this time simply because Sandy was a part of the trip and I know you all are dying to see how she fared in a moving vehicle for 4 days of her life (2 there and 2 back), LOL!! I digress... I did promise some pics of my Christmas goodies from In Stitches and here they are: I saw this fabric and just had to get it! I love the pattern it has from the hand-dying. I also want to share with you the first day (well, I cheated a little and started this fella a few days early knowing full and well that I would be on the road on the 1st day of the Challeng