Life With Jules, and other stuff

During Bible Study conversation this past Sunday, it was brought up about a challenge someone did on reading the book of Proverbs. The idea is to read a chapter each day and repeat each month over the course of the year. Of course, some months will have a day or so with doubled up reading, but it seems doable! The purpose is to see what is learned or derived from our reading that we didn't necessarily "see" before when reading Proverbs. So, I accepted that challenge for myself and my own understanding of the Proverbs. Even though I have read the book several times during my life, most recently earlier this year... ...I started tonight. For the most part, it seems that the Proverbs primarily discuss the topics of wisdom and knowledge. More closely, it's our acceptance of wisdom and knowledge. Closer still, the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. We grow up learning that the Lord is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. The words contained within the Bible are THE word ...

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 lov...

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!!! ...

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…

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 ...

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…

My last post of 2010. I can't believe how fast the year went! It seems they go faster and faster the older we get. Is that because we are busier? LOL...I sure didn't feel THAT busy this year. What, with completing my Master's degree (struggling almost the entire year writing my thesis and feeling like it would never come to an end), two trips to Michigan (one with my sister and the other with my dad and cat), and delivering hundreds of floral arrangements it seems like there is still so much more to accomplish. Alas, time has run short for 2010. I did manage to finish stitching 30-some projects this year. Amazingly, a few were quite large! I managed to accomplish over 200 posts to this here blog, whew! And I even participated in some interesting SAL's/Swaps. The only thing left to do is watch the ball drop tonight at midnight ~ and about a zillion other things I wanted to do but didn't, LOL!!! Tomorrow begins a new year and a new challenge! The Crazy Challenge...