The cats are adjusting well!

I know I SHOULD be sharing more honeymoon photos, or wedding photos, and I will.  But today I wanted to share some photos of some of the cats instead.  Everyone seems to be adjusting pretty well to their new home.

Princess likes all the windows that I open every day.  She watches the birds, plots her escape to the outdoors, and enjoys a sunbeam or two:

Spike has discovered that the living room chairs are very comfy, especially when they are covered with a beautiful, handmade afghan knitted by my cousin Kristy.

Scout, on the other hand, prefers Alton's office chair.

And then there's Lucky.  He likes the kitchen window.  I think he is the perfect decoration for it, don't you?

I have decided to try my hand at vegetable gardening.  There's a raised bed in our backyard.  Last week I dug out all the weeds, added some fresh compost, and put in some new plants.  There are zucchini, tomatoes,two kinds of lavender, and cantaloupe.  I have no clue what I'm doing, but so far none of them have died!

Finally, I leave you with a photo of the live plants that I used in the wedding.  These lovelies are all now happily growing in baskets along the porch rail.  And the ferns from the ceremony are hanging on the front porch as well.

Next post, I think I'll be sharing what I did for National Scrapbook Day.  Til next time, happy crafting!

WIPocalypse and BAP challenge updates

Most of this stitching (actually, all of it) took place before I got married. I was just too busy to take the time to post updates on my blog. Things are calming down now. I'm finding time to stitch again, and I'm really looking forward to scrapbooking all day long on National Scrapbook Day.

First up, my WIPocalypse progress. I have been working on Reflets de Soie's "Sous le Soleil de la Lune." In my last update, I was slogging through an endless field of green grass.  I am happy to say that I have finished the grass and moved on to more interesting things.  Here's where I was at my last update:

And here's where I am now:

Not only is the grass done, but all the dark green in the border as well.  And I've added a vase and a pair of pretty blue birds:

You can read more about the WIPocalypse challenge on Measi's blog, here.

I also had a little time to work on my sampler for BeckyBee's BAP challenge.  You can find her blog here.
I've been working on the Gyrafa sampler from SANQ magazine.  Here's where I am now:

This last section has been attacked by frogs, and the frogs have destroyed my desire to work on the project.  This is just a temporary setback.  I'll be back to my dear giraffe in a couple of weeks, I'm sure.  Meanwhile, Saturday is going to be all about the scrapbooking.  Well, the crafty side of the day is going to be about scrapbooking.   My husband and I are planning a walk to the local farmers' market (there'd better be fresh strawberries!) followed by the debut of our fancy schmancy waffle maker.  THEN it's gonna be all about the scrapbooking.  Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I'm baaaack!!!

Hello everyone! I am officially returning to the land of blogging. I am happy to report that the wedding on April 14 was absolutely beautiful (at least from my point of view). The weather was gorgeous, the site was gorgeous, my husband was gorgeous... you get the picture. And speaking of pictures, I will be posting some, but there are something around 800 wedding photos to go through, so it might be a while. In the meantime, I do have a few photos from our honeymoon that I am ready to share. We left for Oahu two weeks ago today (much cheaper to fly on a Tuesday, and we really needed that resting time between the wedding and our trip to rest and pack). What a beautiful part of the world! We were greeted at the plane with beautiful, fragrant leis:

I went into the bathroom immediately after receiving my lei, and heard a voice from a nearby stall, "I smell a bride! Is there a bride in the bathroom?" Although I knew that meant she could smell the fragrance of plumeria wafting from my direction, in retrospect, that is a really awkward question to be asking in a public bathroom! Our hotel was in Waikiki, across the street from the actual beach. After having dinner at the local Hard Rock Cafe (what can I say? I'm in love with their Haystack Chicken Salad!), we wandered along the beach:

Gorgeous, right? We walked around for a bit, then settled in and watched the sun set. It was so relaxing. And yes, very romantic. The next morning, we headed to Pearl Harbor. We were up bright and early to make sure that we got tickets. Turns out, we didn't need to be up quite so early, because it wasn't all that crowded. Pearl Harbor is really a beautiful place. In some ways, that makes the horror of what happened on that December day all the more stark in my mind. It must have been so tranquil until the drones of the Japanese attack planes filled the air. We watched a short film about the attack, walked through several exhibits about what was going during that time period and what led to the Japanese decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, and rode the boat out to the Arizona Memorial. We chose not to pay to see any of the other museums.

From Pearl Harbor, we drove into downtown Honolulu. We visited 'Iolani Palace, where I got a fabulous, up-close view of the Queen's Quilt. No photos allowed, but I did buy a small book lots of detailed information about the crazy quilt. We also wandered around Chinatown, buying our lunch from a stall in one of the open markets. A little grotty, but quite tasty! One of the places that we walked by was the State Supreme Court. Does anyone else start humming the theme to Hawaii 5-O when they see this?

We finished our first day with a short scenic drive up Tantalus Drive. It was an amazing, tropical drive up the mountainside, topped with a beautiful view of the valley and Diamond Head Crater. A good first full day of our honeymoon. Well, that's about it for today. I realize that I've missed both the WIPocalypse and the TUSAL updates for April. Since very little stitching was done, I think I'll just save what little updating I have for May's regular days for updating. I started a new project yesterday (new project for a new marriage, that's my rationalization). I'm going to be working on La-D-Da's "Spot the Cat" for the next little while. I don't have a job right now, so I'm focusing on trying to put our house in order. There are boxes everywhere. The kitchen is almost completely arranged, but that's the only room that's close to done (unless you count the downstairs half bath, which I don't). And my poor craft room is jammed full of boxes. I need to get it at least half sorted out so that I can do some scrapbooking this weekend in honor of National Scrapbooking Day! We'll see if that happens. Til next time, happy creating, everyone!

I'm getting married!

Ha! Not news to anyone who reads this blog regularly, I know. But tomorrow is the big day. And my big excuse for not responding to my noms for the Liebster award (thank you, ladies, I promise to respond as I ought by the end of the month), or posting a WIPocalypse update. This is just a quick post to say that I haven't disappeared, things have just gotten crazy busy. I'll be back before too long with my long overdue updates and photos and stories from the wedding and honeymoon. Til then, I hope everyone has lots and lots of stitching and general creative time!

TUSAL

Good grief, are things getting busy around here! I had a wonderful shower last weekend, and we're heading out for another round of celebration this afternoon. This time, it's a mani/pedi party!

My March TUSAL update is ready, but it looks like I accidentally focused on the bricks instead of the jar. Whoops. I'd redo the photo, but it's raining here. This will be the last update with that brick background. By the time the next update rolls around, I'll be living in my new home with my new name. Actually, I won't even be around for the next update. I may try preloading the update, or I may just have to skip April's update. We'll see. Anyway, here it is:

The newest threads at the top of the jar come from a piece I've been working on this week that arrived in the mail with this lot:

I cracked that BBD Limited Edition box open immediately and set to stitching on it. It suited my springy mood. It's now completely finished except for the button. The holes in the button are so narrow that I need a beading needle to attach it, and I've packed all my beading needles! Fortunately, Mom is supposed to be bringing me a needle so that I can finish the piece later this afternoon. I'll post a photo of my finished stitching with my next post.

I want to thank those of you who shared suggestions for dealing with my worries about running out of thread. I especially loved the idea of blending one length from each skein in order to keep the differences between dye lots from being so noticeable. Unfortunately, I am stitching with one thread. Fortunately, I did have enough to finish the grass. But then I packed the sampler without taking a photo of my progress. Whoops.

I am back to work on my Gyrafa sampler, but I haven't done enough on it to merit a progress photo. Til next time, I hope everyone stays safe from all this crazy weather, and that you have a frog-free week!

As boring as watching grass grow

I know the real phrase actually talks about watching paint dry, but I'm struggling through a massive amount of green grass on my Soleil project. It just goes on and on and on. It's pretty, but not all that interesting to me. The only drama is whether I can make it all the way through that lawn without running out of silk. The chart didn't say I would need more than one skein, but I strongly suspect that I will. Which wouldn't be a big deal if this weren't an overdyed silk. I know I have another piece of a skein in my stash, but I don't know how similar the dye lot will be. And I'm not gonna look til I have to. So here's what I've accomplished since last week's post:

I've also finished all of the darker green in the border. My sides met, although there are two stitching errors. They were so far behind me by the time I realized it that I'm not going to frog back to them. I don't think they will be too obvious. I hope it's not too obvious.

On Saturday, several of my family members, stitching friends, and childhood friends gathered at my mom's house for my first wedding shower. It was so wonderful to get to spend a little time with those who could make it, and I think everyone had a blast. I know I did. I don't have any photos at this point to share, but I will say this: the shower had a Hawaiian theme. My dear, sweet sister tricked me into eating a Spam sandwich (Spam is very popular in Hawaii), and they spiked my tiki drink without telling me. Then they put me in a grass skirt, etc, etc. It was silly, but fun. My mom, sister, and sister in law really knocked it out of the park. And I made them each a little something to thank them for taking the time to celebrate with me:

Each piece is finished with some vintage lace and some Blueberry Crumbcake fabric. Here's the view from the back:

In other news, I am truly having a great time watching the yard at my future home bloom and grow. Alton and I had planted some daffodils and crocus under one of the Bradford pears in the front yard. And hooray, they came up! I have never tried to plant crocuses before, so I was glad those weren't a total bust. And I love daffodils. I planted some at my childhood home, and that first planting is still going mad at the house, all these years later. I'm hoping that these newly planted daffodils will also divide and multiply in the years to come.


I have never had much success growing pansies in pots. Which is ridiculous, because they are supposed to be a super easy plant. I won a yellow pansy at a stitching event last fall. I am pleased (and a little surprised) to see that it is still going strong.


The previous owner must have also been quite fond of flowers. There are a few daffodils blooming that I did not plant, as well as a handful of hyacinth.

I think there are tulips growing in several spots in the yard. The Bradfords are working their way into a full bloom as well.

Gus the cat was able to spend a little time outside on Sunday. I think he was a little jealous earlier in the day when he was stuck inside looking out:

I am on the road to recovery from my throat/cough thingy. Hooray! Now it's on to a busy week of work, and hopefully a good little bit of stitching. Til next time, I hope everyone has lots of creative time on their hands.

March WIPocalypse update and a BAP update too

Where does the time go? This has been a busy month, trying to close things out at work, packing, and planning. And for the past week or so, there hasn't been a ton of time for stitching. I imagine things are going to get even busier for the next month, and then things will hopefully slow down some.

On to my stitching: I had to set aside my BAP Challenge piece about a week and a half ago to work on some gifts, and here's what it looks like so far:


You can finally see where the giraffe's legs are! Hooray, the big blobs of color look like a bit of something. I hope to put in another week's stitching later this month.

I also worked on two WIPs. This first one is a Halloween ornament that I did the actual stitching for last year. I didn't completely finish it, but I did do the outlining of the pillow, cut it free from the larger piece of linen, and cut the backing fabric out as well.

Finally, I picked up Sous le Soleil de la Lune by Reflets de Soie. I bought and started this sampler after seeing progress photos on another blogger's posts. It was just so beautiful that I had to have it for myself. And I am loving all these gorgeous overdye Gloriana silks it is stitched with! Here's what it looked like when I set it aside sometime last year:

And here's where I'm at as of yesterday morning:

I added some more to the green border and worked on the yard and houses. I know these photos aren't very exciting, maybe next month will be better. Maybe.

I'll be posting photos of the gifts that I'm working on after this weekend's shower. Then you can see what I've spent more of my stitching time on! My goals for this month are to put in a week or so on my giraffe sampler, maybe another 2 weeks on Soleil, and to finish at least one pillow (maybe the Halloween one, or maybe one that's non-seasonal).

That's it for today. I hope this post was mostly coherent. I've caught some nasty little bug and I'm feeling a little loopy. And I'm in the process of losing my voice. Hopefully, this won't completely ruin this weekend's shower for me. And maybe this will be my one time to be sick this spring and that I won't be sick next month for my wedding and honeymoon. Til next time, I hope everyone has lots of time to be creative!