Happy Monday

I hope that all of you Mothers had a super day yesterday!!  From what I have read from some of my favorite blogs, there was great fun to be had!!  Excellent :)  I know that my Mother had a great time, my Sister and her Husband went over to the house and brought her- her favorite pie......Chocolate Mousse. 

I was out of town this week and was able to spend some time with my Father & Mother-in-Law, which is always great fun.  We had a big family party early on in the week, with about 45 of our brother and sister in laws, and all the nieces and nephews, and their kids too.  Wow, amazing how many there were of us, and that wasnt even all of them!!!  Huge family my Husband has.....so nice, everyone just loves getting together, enjoying each other and visiting for a few hours, and they all live in the area and visit often.  Still, they get excited to get together again.  How can you complain about that?!

On Saturday I was invited to my nieces bridal shower, who is getting married this coming week.  I was excited to go shopping and check out all of the goodies she had registered for at Target.  You gotta love Target, they have a great selection of household items.  I bought her plates, glasses and silverware.  On the way home I was talking about the wrapping to my MIL and decided I was going to wrap it like a wedding cake.  Now, unfortunately Target nor Box-mart had wedding paper.  Can you imagine?  White is not wedding paper to me...... wedding paper has bells, brides, or beautiful tone on tone flowers.  Very elegant.  They had tons of birthday paper, and tons of baby shower paper, (lets not get ahead of ourselves!!!! LOL) With no time to spare, we chose some fun paper that would work. 

 I was so excited to wrap these up, the men were out on errands, and we had papered the entire family room.  Paper and ribbons and tulle everywhere.  How fun right?  I was thrilled the way it turned out.  The downfall was that it was super heavy, and doing my best to keep them all together was pretty interesting.  The morning of the shower the men loaded up the goodies in to the backseat of the car, and I put a seatbelt on mine!!!!!  LOL.  My MIL bought her a microwave and mixer, so you know the back seat was filled up.  Off we went to the shower and it was an open house sort of bridal shower, people came and went.  Gifts were opened and goodies were had.  Lots of laughing, which I always love to hear.  For me, there isnt much laughter going on, I wish there was more, but I am always so involved with work, and definitely enjoyed all of it this week.

I got in some stitching time this weekend too.  Amazing right?  Here is my Bramble and the Rose......

Alot of progress was made, I am keeping my fingers crossed for this week, but I am back at work so I am not going to hold my breath!!!  LOL.  It sure is beautiful, my Sister-in-Law suggested I make a pillow out of it, while that is a great idea, I am not sure I will go that route.  I am usually a 'frame' type of gal.

Almost 2 years ago, I posted about some cookie cutters that my Grandmother had on her wall, ever since I can remember and was desperate for information.  2009 cookie cutters if you want to see the original post.  But my Husband was in the middle of now-where (center of Kansas) a few weeks back at an antique store and found this for me:

We have been on the hunt for these gems for 7 years.  Looking and looking.   They are solid aluminum, weigh about 3 pounds and they are replicas of old gingerbread cookie cutters from the Virgina Metalcrafters in Williamsburg VA.  This is simply amazing.  Apparently the woman at the antique shop, said that just the night before my Husband had come in, she found it tucked away, like someone had hid it to come back for it.  She found it and hung it front and center.  Sure enough, it was meant to be. When he came back, he said "I bought you something.......oh yeah?.........yes, one of those aluminum molds we have been looking for, like Grandmas"  I had 1 of the 2 I was looking for.  I AM SO EXCITED to have this, it even came with the original gingerbread recipe they sold with it on the back.  I immediately googled to find more information on the item (It is the same one at grandmas, but you dont dare take it off the wall to inspect.......) and sure enough, I found the mate I needed online.  I couldnt believe the luck.  Within 3 weeks, I had both of these Gingerbread cookie cutters, just like Grandma, my Fathers mother.  (A few posts back, I visited my other Grandmother, my Mothers mom) 

There are a handful of things that stick out in her home, that grab me and I have fond memories everytime I see them.  With 7 children in her family, I am not sure my name is on any of these items, so I went ahead and got them myself.  Just as good.  Her home is so classic and timeless, and when I see these treats, I remember visits at her house like it was yesterday.  M & M's in the candy jar, samplers on the wall, baking every week-- a fresh baked cake or pie would always be there on Sunday afternoons, waiting for us to visit. Homemade applesauce, canned jam.  To run in the yard, to chase bunny rabbits, to view the gorgeous azaleas blooming in the spring. Grandma is 83 now, and just as young as she was years ago.  She is a classic woman, one who could have easily gone to the royal wedding, and fit in like a glove.  I look forward to seeing her again soon :)

Thanks again to all of you who read my blog-- who leave comments and those who just enjoy reading it, it means the world to me.  I love connecting with all of you.

Have a wonderful week!

Scattered

Another week and a half has gone by and not much has gotten done on the homefront of stitching.  I mentioned last week that I was going to take some time off this week from both work and activities.....but without working, I feel like I am busier then ever!!!!!  How does that happen?  I was able to catch up on the laundry, and do a little spring cleaning in the basement.  But other then that the time has flown by and before I know it, it is time for bed.

I have been all over the place as far as stitching, I did work on Sunday for a few hours, and when I got back, I pulled alot of stash out, sat on the floor and spread it out, reviewing alot of great items.  I wanted to work on every piece that I started on in January, but I know that 50 stitches a night, nothing was going to ever get done.  So I pulled out a few pieces that had some potential of being completed, and also worked on 2 buddy projects-- those I will share at a later time.

But, what I am happy to share with you today.... are 2 great projects, screaming to be done.

This is a small oldie but goodie from Sheepish Designs called American Beauty.  Stitching on 32ct Raven from Birds of a Feather (I think Raven) with similar cotton overdyes to match the picture.  It called for SNC and even for such a small cute project, I couldnt see spending the $$ on 6 + colors so I adjusted them to GA and WDW.  I think it is turning out terrific.

Next up is Ink Circles Bramble and the Rose, stitched on 40ct Meadow Rue Lakeside with silk gifted from my Friend.  I just love the color combo for this piece.  Every way I have seen this design stitched up, it looks fabulous.  I have seen it done in 1 color, 2 color and even 3 different colors.  All amazing.  I look forward to stitching on this piece and finally putting it to bed.  I think I have been working on this for over 2 years.  Yes, 2 years.

Sorry for such horrid pics today, I slung them both over the couch and took these pics, I really wanted to update this blog, and have 100 things to do today, and no time for ironing.

Some of you have seen the changes that have been taking place on the design side of this blog, and over the weekend I played around with the creme, black and yellow background.  I liked it, but not really......  So, I have this beauty up and I really like it.  So, for a while I will see how it goes.  It takes so much time for me to adjust just a simple background, because then I have to go and adjust all the colors on the blog, so it all blends perfectly.  I suppose that is no surprise, knowing my stitching projects.


I have seen the sun for the last few days and I am enjoying it.  Still colder, and I am not really sure it is May 4th, feels like March. 

 So many great things this week, my favorite is the Royal Wedding, I know, we have read and seen and heard about it for so long now, but I wanted my 2 cents out there as well.  "Just Exquisite" .  Kates dress was so unbelievable, and that wedding impressive.  I didnt get up at the crack of dawn, but when I got up and watched some of the feed and videos, I did well up.  I had tears of joy for sure.  I just love weddings, especially when no detail is missed, and you know they know how to throw a party.  Simply breath-taking.  I would have loved to be on the street watching them drive by.  Oh well, what can you do?!

So another week half done and I better get going.  I have been enjoying all the progress on your blogs that I am continually inspired.  Thank you for all of that!

Have a Happy Wednesday.