TUSAL and Kathy on the move

It is TUSAL day. You will love my TUSAL container today - a Ziploc bag. I actually emptied my frog, threw the threads in the bag and added what few threads I have made since then. These threads have travelled all the way to Texas.

I have a few stitches to show but not many.
This is my contribution to the 2012 RR that I am participating in on Facebook. Erica has chosen Ellen Maurer -Stroh flowers and I stitched "Wild Rose". It was my choice for sentimental reasons. When I was a child my grandmother had wild rosebushes in front of the farmhouse. The farmhouse has since fallen down but those rosebushes still remain.

I am also working on a Mirabilia RR. Erin's theme is "Roses". Can you guess what I am stitching? I will tell you when I post the finished stitch.

I am going to include a few pictures of my trip to Texas. So if you only want to look at the stitching, you are done.

Beatrice and I having dinner at The Rusty Bucket in Miamisburg, Ohio

My morning waffle in Nacogdoches, Texas

Kemah Boardwalk near Houston

Galveston

Moody Mansion

Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Bishops Palace

Tree Sculptures

Many of the people who had trees destroyed by Hurricane Ike chose to have sculptures made of the remains. The tourist industry even provides a map so you can see the sculptures. Here are a couple along the way.

 We stopped at the house of the TinMan sculpture and the owner of the house was out front pulling weeds. We stood and had the nicest chat with Lynn. She was so friendly and she let us take a picture of her with her sculpture.

Thank you so much to Ginny for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award. I chose not to get involved in these awards so I will not be passing it on. There are just too many wonderful blogs and stitchers out there to want to pick only a few to list.

That's it for this post everyone. Beatrice and are now in San Antonio and will be off to Dallas tomorrow. Will post when I can.

Count Your Blessings and having too much fun.

Just a brief flyby post.

I got an email from Ariadne today with a photo of her stitch of "Count Your Blessings". She has asked me to post that it is ready for moving on and to please stop by her blog and enter to be the next traveller.

Here is the link http://ariadnefromgreece.blogspot.gr/2012/06/giveaway-win-and-travelling-pattern.html

Here is the photo of her finish.

I am currently on a road trip with my BFF Beatrice. We have arrived in Houston, Texas and are travelling to Galveston, San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth before returning home to Canada. We are having so much fun. Just wait till you see the stash photos ROFL.

And I have to show you this. Yesterday she and I went to the Moody Gardens Rain Forest in Galveston Texas to see Morticia - the corpse flower - in full bloom. You can read all about the corpse flower from the link.

 A wonderful lady by the name of Donnita Brannon gave us the best tour of the rainforest. How wonderful it is to have a guide who knows all about all the different plants that we were viewing and who obviously loves her job.

This is Donnita with my sister Sherry.

Sherry, Beatrice and I with Morticia.

No stitching photos - sorry. Having too much fun.

Until next time I do have something special -  Check out this frog! and Donnita says he is very endangered.

WIPocalypse post and busy needles

What a productive month this WIPocalypse has been for me.

I finished
Malcom the Moose
Night Before Christmas
Point Loma Lighthouse
Just Nan's Summer Stroll
and
Dreaming Fairy on my Mirabilia RR.
I'm quite proud of this past month's accomplishment..

I also completed two travelling patterns
Tending the Blooms and it travelled off.

Travelling Pattern #2
Count Your Blessings was recently won by Ariadne
This is my stitch of the pattern.















Ariadne  is a relatively new blogger and is hoping that people will visit her blog and that she will have a stitcher ready to stitch the design when it is done. The pattern went off in the mail to her today.
I took a photo of the pattern so you can see some of the wonderful ladies who have stitched this one and where I have signed before I sent it off. It is a very well travelled pattern started by It's Dafffycat.

I stitched on a Band Sampler RR. Catherine Stickler of Indigo Rose is the designer for this band sampler.
I struggled a great deal with this one but I am happy with the end result.

I picked up my Desert Mandala and gave it some serious love. I have now completed the cactus all the way around and have started the backstitching.

I did a little stash shopping.

Mirabilia's Summer Queen

and some 9x13 ornament cuts from Silkweaver














I was the recipient of this beautiful piece of cross stitch. My friend Adriana - who is now 95 - stitched this one and gifted it to me this past week. I am so honored to have her stitching in my home.

I was away for the weekend at a stitching retreat. The weather was lousy - pouring rain, windy and black skies. As my BFF Beatrice said "Thank goodness stitching is an indoor sport!" Even the frogs stayed indoors and perched right on my shoulder. The second RR that I spent an entire evening stitching on had to be ripped out as I was one stitch off. I have not had the heart to pick it up and start again.


Here's hoping all those frogs drowned in the pouring rain. Until next time.

Travelling Patterns x 3 and Bathroom Reno complete

This is a prime case of the old adage "It never rains but it pours".
I have been the recipient of three travelling patterns in the past couple of weeks.

#1 is completed.

Name is drawn - Caitlin at mangogirl and it is out in the mail.

#2 Count Your Blessings.

Threads pulled and stitches being made. Please leave your name on this post and I will draw a name on May 31st  to send it out. Please indicate in your comment that you want to be in the draw for the travelling pattern. You MUST have an active blog to enter this one!
 AND THE WINNER IS ------- Ariadne!!!!! It will go out in the mail the first of the week.

#3
 I will post in a week to give #2 time to go out in the mail.

And here finally is our completed bathroom renovation.

The original 1970's bathroom with no shower

New bathtub enclosure

New plumbing  and a shower head!

New floor

New hiboy tiolet

New granite countertop and vanity

New mirror and check out the faucet

New lighting

The New Orleans Mardi Gras Poster that inspired the accent colors

My Claude Theberge prints that work with the color scheme.

The entire room

And every girl needs a rubber ducky. This started with one Halloween ducky in a giveaway from my friend Annette and just grew lol.

The new shower unit and the floor were professionally installed. My DH and I did the rest. I installed the taps and now I can add that to my resume LOL.

Until next time, may all your frogs stay in their pond LOL.

TUSAL, Travelling Pattern and other things

Good morning everyone. This is my TUSAL post. You should see my poor frog. He is overflowing and you can tell by the way he holds his hands he is ready to explode. I have stitched a great deal this past moon phase and he is FULL! He was very happy to be emptied today.

Along with my other stitches this past month I did this little stitch - Malcolm the Moose for my son who is the biggest Dale Earnhardt fan. I think I will make a cube of this one.

I stitched on my latest Twenty-Twelve RR. Elena has chosen the zodiac and since I am a Leo married to Leo I thought he would be a perfect match. I like how he turned out.

In my stash was this little piece - Twas the Night Before Christmas. Lots of special stitches in those trees. I love the silver house.

I received a lovely giveaway in the mail. Nancy from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe sent me these beautiful hand dyed threads. There is 20 yards on a skein - WOW. She has some wonderful charts and threads. Check them out when you can.

I received in the mail this wonderful chart from Sharon of It's Daffycat. She also included this sweet piece of fabric.
This is a travelling pattern. If you are interested, please leave a comment on this post and when I have stitched it I will draw a name and send it on.

NOTE: Stitched, name drawn - Mangogirl - ready for mailing to new home.

Life has been interesting here. We unpacked our house and then headed to spend a week with our handsome grandsons. While there I got laryngitis, a cold and a horrible cough.I still had it when we came back home.
 That cough kept me awake at night for over two weeks. I was just miserable. As well, the doctor has doubled my blood pressure meds and so I am very tired and dragging my butt around. Thank goodness I can still stitch even though tired.

This past week has been spent renovating our master bathroom. We had professionals install the bathtub/shower unit and flooring. The rest has been done by my DH and I. We installed a new highboy tiolet, new vanity, new plumbing, new granite countertop, new taps, new lighting, new mirror, new wainscoting and all the trim. It is looking good. I will post some photos once I get the holes patched and ceiling and walls painted.

It is the May long weekend and Leo's brother and wife are here for a visit. Time to kick back and relax.

 I hope your days are frog free. I had an infestation of them this past week while stitching on my Desert Mandala - oops forgot to take a photo - next time! Thankfully, they have hopped off.