Stitching - what's that?

I'm sorry but I have not a single stitching photo to share. What little bit of stitching I did in the car on our way to Canada's Wonderland has to be redone.
Our youngest son and his family have been here for the week. Well, they went home yesterday. We had a wonderful time with them in spite of the rainy weather. They played on the beach, in the pool and in the lake as much as they could. We had lots of visitors stop by. We took the kids to Canada's Wonderland for a day. What a great time we had. Poppa and I are now exhausted and have been putting our house back in some kind of order.
Here are a few shots of the week.
Hunter and Jackson on the beach with Aunt Sue.

With Mommy on the Carousel at Wonderland.

Hunter at the beginning of the day. Notice he is on the dead run and continued that way for the entire 9 hours we were there. In the background, is DH, DS and DIL discussing where to go next.

And, at the end of the nine hours!!!!

Dani has nominated me for one of the awards that has been floating around lately. I do appreciate the award, but do not wish to nominate any particular blogs. Each and every one of the blogs that I read contribute to my love of stitching and life in general. To all of you, you deserve this award too!!!!

We are off tomorrow to our cottage in Northern Ontario until August 11th. Our cottage is very rustic and very remote. The cell phones work if you stand on a rock overlooking the lake, turn left, then right, cross your right leg over your left, jump up and down three times - in other words, sorta kinda. We do however, have satellite TV. Internet service will be at the local library - 15 miles into town. I will try and pop into town a couple of times a week to check email and to read blogs.

Until we return, enjoy those last days of summer and stitch happy!

Still Sane????

DH and I have survived our week of babysitting our two grandsons - Jackson who is 3 1/2 and Hunter who is 22 months. It was a very busy week for us. The boys are a great joy but also a source of great busyness. I know now why we have our children when we are young. The two boys and their parents have now returned to our home with us where the 6 of us will spend a week. They are all looking forward to playing in the lake and on the sand beach.
Jackson is always delighted when we pay an extended visit and is known to climb into bed with us early morning and go right back to sleep. We just love his slow wake ups and giant hugs.
Hunter has finally clicked in to who we are. Because we are gone for the winter it has taken him a little longer to figure it out. He can now say Gamma and Poppa - I think he is trying to wear it out. He is talking a blue streak and is quite clever. This morning, I told him he was a cute boy and his answer - I no cute boy, I Hunter. Cracked me right up.
You have seen photos of the other two grandchildren so this time we feature Hunter getting his second haircut. Please excuse the runny nose - he has a summer cold. I mentioned that I had finished a lovely bookmark that Clare from Fair and Square had sent me. Here it is:

I reached the halfway point with PS Autumn Leaves - the frogs have obviously moved on to someone's else's house as I was able to accomplish quite a bit. Again, blogger has rotated this photo for it's own reasons. I'm beginning to think it wouldn't be my regular post without at least one sideways photo.

I evened pulled Noddy and Friends from the bottom of my bag and now you can see Noddy's yellow car taking shape. It is colorful and a quick stitch on 14 count aida so I get a lot done when I pull it out.

And my last piece of stitching - the 3rd part of Lady Periphaeria's Mystery Sampler. I had lots of trouble getting this one going again. Even after all mine and Dani's careful counting - it was still off. After three starts, you can see my meager progress. Ah well, onwards and upwards.

Well, that's all the stitching for this week. I did take the opportunity while at my son's and use his wireless to visit all over the stitching blogs. It was such a treat to view everyone's wonderful stitching and catch up on everyone's news. There seems to be a lot of pregnancies popping up all over. Wow, congrats everyone. After this past week, I am indeed glad it is you and not me.

And one final thank you to Dani for joining me for a little shopping and dinner one evening. She and I frequented my favorite restaurant anywhere "The Lone Star Cafe" in Ottawa. They make the BEST fajitas. Their shells are made fresh on site. I can still taste those fajitas and smell the mesquite. It was nice to have an adult conversation and to have a break from the children and grandchildren.

Till next week, take care everyone.

The frogs have landed

This has been a very quiet week on the stitching front. I seem to have stitched lots and accomplished very little.

I did my ornament for July. This lovely piece is called Tudor Rose and it is from Wren Song Designs done on mystery fabric.

I finished my first bookmark - a really cool lighthouse that Clare from my Fair and Square sent me and left it at home - so no photo till next time.

I completed my squares for Round 8 of Fair and Square but no photos until received.

I also worked on Autumn Leaves and this is where the frogs moved in and settled down. I have accomplished very little because my ability to count seems to have deserted me.

And why am I not surprised that this picture is sideways. That seems to be the way things are going with this piece. I still cannot figure out why blogger is flipping my photos sideways sometimes. They are not that way on the camera or when they are downloaded. It seems to be random.

On the dragon front - he now has a name thanks to Judy. His name is Snap. Judy - you really must come and visit the dragon you named. I am sure Snap will guard my garden for many years to come - now I just need to teach him to pull weeds.

I have just signed for a Christmas/Winter neighborhood round robin on the Worldwide RR board starting in September. I think this will be interesting. Now, I have to decide if I want one piece or blocks to make a wallhanging.

Till next time - someone please come and get my frogs!!!!!

A finish, a start, the future and in between

Another week has come and gone. A little news to share - the baby martins have flown the nest. Sad to see them go. They have been so entertaining to watch. My garden dragon still has no name - please keep those ideas coming. We had the best week with our grandson. However, he does limit one's stitching time.
I do have a finish to show though. Here are the last two pages of Little Book of Stitches. This has been such a fun stitch and it has been enjoyable to watch it grow. Here are all 8 pages. Now, I just have to put it together. I may need some help on that front.

On the weekend, my DH and two sons put a new roof on our house. Rather than play GO FOR - I left town. Beatrice and I took a road trip to visit Dani. Christin was there when we arrived. Dani treated us royally. Lynn popped in for most of Saturday. It was so nice to meet her in person. She is even lovelier than her blog. Dani treated us like queens and spoiled us royally. Since she and I are both going to Weight Watchers, all food was geared for that. I sooo appreciated it.

While there, I started a new piece. This is Autumn Leaves by Prairie Schooler. There is a slight shadow above the row of words. I spent the entire evening working on this row and when I was done realized I was way off and had to frog that entire section. My frogs did not stay in their pond. GGGRRRRRR!!!!

My friend Rebecca put a little post on her blog last week just for me. I am a nutcracker collector and when she saw this she knew I had to have it. Here is my brand new purchase. Isn't it gorgeous.

As you know I did my JBW mittens over 1 on 25 count. Well, Beatrice and I started browsing the HAED site and look what I found!!!! It is now in my hot little hands but I'm still thinking I need my head examined for even considering this. It is 50 pages and over 80 colors!!!!! and over 1 on 25. This is my 10 year 0r even 20 year project. You can check out Beatrice blog for the one she selected.

And now, the end. I see by my comments that I have some new readers. Welcome to you and thank you for stopping by. To my regular readers, thanks so much for your lovely comments even when I cannot comment in return. We are heading off on Saturday to babysit our grandsons for a week while their daycare provider is on holidays and my DS has wireless high speed. I will be stopping by blogs and commenting as much as I can. I am looking forward to seeing all your beautiful stitches and my prayer for this week:

PLEASE LORD, KEEP THE FROGS IN THE POND.