Busy little bee I have been

  Gotta a lot of ground to cover today.

First off, here are my beautiful new kitchen cupboards. I love all the white and the brushed nickel handles. I painted the kitchen walls and the counter tops a couple of years ago. The cupboards were covered with a thin veneer that looked like wood and over the years they had started to show their age. 4 coats of paint and several days later and I love them! Reminds me of a French country kitchen. Leo and I painted together - he did all the doors. We painted the bathroom cupboards the same white. It looks great too.
Please excuse the messy kitchen. I should have made sure everything was back in it's place before I shared this photo.

I have been very fortunate lately and some lovely gifts have made their way to my mailbox.
I won a blogaversary prize from Anne S. back in November. She sent me this beautiful black, white and pink scissor fob. The black center bead has a tiny pink rose inside it.

As I was browsing blogs one evening, I saw these beautiful hand made project bags. Lo and behold, sweet Myra sent me one of my own. She obviously read my blog first because she included some cute buttons that say "I love quilting". Very appropriate. This is the first time I had met Myra and I think I have a new stitchy, blogging friend. Stop by and say hi when you can. She is having a giveaway for one of her lovely bags!!!

Gaby and I worked out a trade. She sent me some lovely old Antique Sampler magazines and I added to her supply of DMC threads.

 I have worked my 4 day rotation and I'm still sticking with it. I have made some wonderful progress on Royal Holiday. I have been working on the bottom of her dress.

I finished up the handwork part of my first exchange - sorry no photos.

I worked my rotation days on Desert Mandala and really enjoyed how it's working up. The silk threads were a joy to work with - the black Marlitt was not!!

All of the blocks are finished for my Mystery Quilt. Tomorrow I get the last set of directions to start putting it together. This has been quite the challenge. My quilting skills are still just above beginner and this quilt has been difficult and frustrating at times. I hope that it will all be worthwhile once it is together.

As a side note, my friend Ann from Knowledge and Needles has a request for threads and needles for a lovely teacher who is teaching cross stitching. You will find the full story on Ann's blog.  I filled a padded envelope with some that I had and it is going in the mail tomorrow. If anyone is interested in helping out - please email me at drewsgrands@hotmail.com and I will give you the address to send off any donated threads or needles. Hey, we need future cross stitchers and what a great way to help them get started.

Leo and I are very excited. Our youngest son, his wife and our two grandsons are arriving on Wednesday. We will be going to Los Angeles - Disneyland, Legoland and Universal Studios. We are looking forward to seeing them and spending some quality time together. Will post some pictures when I can.

Thank you all for being patient and popping by my blog to see if I had posted lately. The cupboards caused an unplanned delay in posting. At the end of each day, vegging on the couch was all I was capable off - and a few stitches.

My google reader says 345 posts. I will do my best to catch up on all your wonderful stitching and comment where I can.

Until next time, take care everyone!