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.

It is WIPocalypse time again. I am happy to report that I have two new finishes to add to the list.
I am so excited that I am actually finishing things. What a great idea this WIPocalypse has been for me.

My first finish

Point Loma Lighthouse by Stitchworks - a gift from my BFF

and my second

Just Nan's Summer Stroll - I was gifted this chart many years ago and can finally mark it off my list.
It was such a pretty stitch even with the 112 Algerian eyelets.

Not WIP related but another completed stitch.
This is a joint stitch with some other members of my Thursday stitching group. It will be a surprise gift for a friend. We were each to add something that represented us. Mine is from LHN - The Nutcracker. Isn't just too cute.

And this amazing gift from a friend. Don't you just love it!!! Thanks Barb.

It now hangs off my Ott-lite where I can admire it always!

That's it for this post. Off to read what everyone else has been up too. Till next time

Stay frog free and stitch happy.

TUSAL and Mirabilia Mash

I am adding my TUSAL post a little early as I am on the road home to Canada.
Here is my martini glass before I emptied it for my trip home.

 And here is my jar with my threads since January 1st of this year. I think I like to stitch lol!

We have had quite the start to our trip. We left Yuma and our car broke down in Phoenix. Thank goodness it broke down in a major city and we were able to find a Volkswagen dealer. Our trip since then has been great. Beautiful weather, no crazy traffic problems and a compatible companion.

 We stopped in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum. It was gutwrenching to walk through the museum and experience the bombing and the aftermath. The beautiful tribute to the 168 people who lost their lives with the symbolic chairs and the Survivor tree was so peaceful. There is a wonderful website with the story of the bombing and the memorial. Please, when you have the time take a look at their website. It is so touching.

Now on a lighter note

Before I left Yuma, I had two Mirabilia Round Robin finishes.

First up, is my Mirabilia RR from 2011 that came home and my section was unfinished.
I chose to stitch - Lily of the Woods, the Dreaming Fairy.

Here is my finished RR and the wonderful fairies each person added.


Tea for Two - left

Tea for Two - right

Fairie Treasures

Midsummer Night's Fairy

Fairy Flora

Aida, the Garden Fairy

The Woodland Fairy

I look forward to having this framed and hung with my previous Mirabilia RR. 

I received Karen's beautiful Pixie Round Robin and contributed Tigerlily.

Loved the bright colors in this one.

And here is her Round Robin to date.  The fabric is gorgeous and suits the pixies so well.

We will be in Annapolis, Maryland in the next day or so. We are visiting some friends on our way. I am looking forward to the visit. I have never been to this area before.

And then, on Monday, I will be home in Canada. I am looking forward to hugging and loving my children, grandchildren, parents and friends. It is wonderful to spend the winter in Arizona but there is "No Place Like HOME".

Until next time, stay safe and hug your family please.

Wipocalypse Post - April

I have been MIA for a while. I am struggling with keeping up my blog.
I have so many wonderful bloggers out there that I love to read and see what they are up to. But, I just can't keep up with commenting on them all. I feel that if I am not commenting, I shouldn't be posting and expecting bloggers to read and comment on mine. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing and how do I resolve it?

I do have a couple of commitments for the year - the Wipocalypse and TUSAL.

Today is my Wipocalypse post.

I have been stitching and quilting.

First up, this is the table runner I made for a dear friend of mine who just moved into a new home this winter.
This pattern is done on an onpoint grid and was quite the challenge.

Then, I am working away on my next Band Sampler RR. I really struggled with this one. I added a title and ivy down one side of the RR and then tore it all out. It was just too busy and I did not like the color or title for my RR. I think I will leave that part until I get the RR back.
I have stitched Sweetheart Trees - Blueberry Heart. I have 9 more of these hearts in charts and thought they would make a lovely round robin.

I don't have any of the charms that go in the center of each heart but hope to find some at the end.

I have also made very small progress on Point Loma Lighthouse. I am working on the building itself and think I've done a total of 10 rows.  Well, after looking at the photo - maybe 5 rows LOL

This is my latest stitch for the Facebook 2012 Round Robin.
I am stitching one of the three kings. Here is my progress . When I am finished I will post with the entire round robin to date.

I have framed and gifted Part 1 of Jardin Prive's Sampler aux Bouquets to a friend.

This sweet lady kindly crocheted all 367 - 3" squares for an afghan that I have carried around for at least 12 years figuring I would do one day. I thought she deserved something a little special.

I am starting to pack up for our annual trek home to Canada. We will leave here around the 17th and expect to be home around the 24th.

Until next time, please pray that the frogs do not hop into my car for a ride back to Canada.
Take care all.

TUSAL and why the glass is so empty

My poor TUSAL glass is so very empty this time. There are a few threads from my Mirabilia reindeer and not much else.

And here is why the jar is so empty.


Legoland

Seaworld

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Our youngest son, DIL and two grandsons were here for a two week visit. We had the time of our lives. We laughed and played and cuddled and hugged. It was a very special time for all of us.

And here is my progress on the Mirabilia RR to this point.

 I am stitching "Comet".
And this is what the RR looks like so far.

I have to get my needle smoking. This RR is to be back in the mail by April 9th and I still have many stitches to do.

I also received my UFO RR back this past week.
Here is where it was when I sent it out.

Here is the RR when I received it back.

There were some issues with this RR. I must say I was hoping to have a bit more done on it. It will have to go to the bottom of my WIP drawer until I have time to work on it.

Well, that's it for this posting. I am off to stitch more reindeer.
Until then, I hope the frogs are off having a great time and leaving you all alone.