Wow! I can't believe it has been two months to the day since I last visited this corner of my world. Here's a quick update on some of what has been going on.
We have all been battling one type of crud or the other off and on, there were family visits, a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday season, job challenges, days of cleaning out closets and rooms, and winter storms! The following are a few of my favorite happenings.....
Panzer loves Christmas.
Panzer loves Christmas.
Although, he was thinking that perhaps Santa should have brought him a bigger stool...
A smaller, simpler Christmas this year, and you know, I think we all actually enjoyed the day more!
Longwood Gardens...floating displays....many, many floating apples....
Floating displays on the pond...
My brother-in-law, his wife and my beautiful nieces...
The cousins all together.....
So proud of these girls...for the oldest, this upcoming Polar Plunge will be her seventh in support of Special Olympics and her sister. The youngest will be plunging as well, as a way to say thank-you to the Special Olympics for giving her so many opportunities. If anyone would care to donate to this cause, please just email me (address is in the profile) and I will send you the link.
Some pics from our winter storms....the birds preparing....
The final total of this last storm....
The middle guy and Panzer...the wind blew snow off of the tree just as I snapped this one, creating a magical photo!
After no significant snow last year, it is safe to say that Panzer loves the snow!
Love the rosy cheeks....
After one boy comes in to warm up, Panzer recruits another to stay outside....
Eating snow from his boy's hands....
Off and running again....
Love the pop of red....
And, there has been stitching!! I am not one to make a resolution, but this year I decided to allow myself time to stitch each day, even if for only a few minutes. And so far, I have stuck to that ~ it is amazing how a few stitches a day can add up. Here is what I have been up to....sorry if the pictures look wonky, on my computer they look fine until I load them into blogger....
the first two pieces are from the Ladies Prim Society Club, hosted by Dyeing to Stitch in VA, and were designed by Threadwork Primitives.
This next one is designed by BBD and is part of the club mentioned above and is my current wip.
The next final two are designed by StitchersAnon. If you aren't familiar with this lovely lady, please pop over, read up on her story, and enjoy her designs ~ some for sale and others for free.
It feels so good to be getting back on a regular stitching schedule ~ hopefully, I can stick to it!
I also have some thank~yous to hand out.
First, I want to thank June, of Butterfly Wings for sending me these goodies back in December..
a sweet little booklet of monthly bookmarks, holiday tissues, an elf ornament and sweet stocking.
Isn't this cute?
And the card is so pretty ~ one I can display year after year.
Thanks, June!!
I received this wonderful magazine from Carmen at Cardan Antiques and Needlework.
It is hard to see, but she also included the booklet on the right about samplers from Middle Tennessee. Both were fun to read and re~read. Thanks, Carmen!
Then, from Marly, over at Samplers and Santas, this wonderful PS Chart. These will make for good Santa Sunday stitching! Thanks, Marly!
And this sweet pin-pillow from Shelly over at Arizona Stitcher. It is adorable and she filled it with balsam, so it smells wonderful! And the reindeer is a refrigerator magnet clip. Thanks, Shelly!
The front...
The back...
A giveaway from Krista over at Just Stitching Along, the chart for Emma Miles. I have had my eye on this chart for some time and will be adding this into my rotation as soon as I can get over to my LNS to choose some fabric. This is the picture from the Scarlett Letter website. I just love that band of holly. Thanks, Krista!
And finally, this was a giveaway from Kim at Wisdom With Needle and Thread. A beautifully hand painted porcelain box and canvas. Thanks, Kim!!
The pictures are borrowed from Kim's blog.
I am very excited about this, as I plan on finishing it for my niece as part of her graduation gift this coming spring. She loves horses ~ so this is perfect! Here is one that Kim finished herself...
Kim is hosting another giveaway for her Blogiversary ~ another hand painted box ~ this time a beautiful butterfly. I know a few of you that love butterflies, so pop on over and enter! She said there will be other goodies as well.
Thanks again to everyone!
So, there it is...my catch~up post. Phew....are you still with me? It is always so hard to know where to begin when one has not posted in so long, so I thought this would be an appropriate quote to leave you with...
“And now all the others are saying, "What about Us?" So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.”
― A.A. Milne, The World of Winnie-the-Pooh
― A.A. Milne, The World of Winnie-the-Pooh
29 comments:
Wow! Great pictures and great to be caught up with you. =)
Wow! Looks you all had lots of great holiday and winter fun! Panzer looks so cute jumping in the snow. What a great photo of that pretty cardinal! All the stitching looks great including the project line up and new patterns.
Love the snow , dog, boys pics ! Such pretties you have been stitching !
Have a great weekend !
I just had to take time to leave a comment about your photos with the cardinal - oh, so bonnie. The colour is just gorgeous.
oooo ellooo was only thinking about you the other day ... love the snow photos :) well done on the stitching front and the wins and goodies too ...
and love that cardinal :) love mouse xxxxx
Nice catch-up post! You've got some great stitching pieces in the works.
Fantastic long post, loved catching up on all your news. Your Christmas sounds amazing! Gorgeous stitching and gifts!
Looks like a most lovely Christmas. Some very very pretty winter pictures too.
Beautiful post love all the photos, looks like you had some great fun.
That red bird is so beautiful I wish we could have them here . Great stitching and gifts, big hugs .
It's great to see all your happenings from the past months. Great stitching too! And lovely gifts from friends. Keep warm! (Panzer must love having 3 boys to choose from!)
Wow you've been busy and gotten lots of wonderful stitching done. I do try to stitch every day!
Oh, great, another update from you. So nice to see through the pictures how you spent the last weeks. And you have been a busy lady, lol. So great that you are back to stitching and to see all your finishes and WIPs here. It's incredible how much we get stitched when we do it regularly, even if only for a couple minutes a day.
I hope that extremely cold weather will soon be over for you.
Wonderful post Catherine! Great to catch up with you! Great stitches and gifts!
A packed post Catherine, I really enjoyed reading it. Looks like you had a fabulous Christmas. Your boys are so tall (and handsome!). Do they tower over you?!
You have done so much stitching in a couple of months, I'm very envious.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the PS Santas progress. I'm not the biggest PS fan, but I love the Santas.
The photos of the cardinal are beautiful. I'd love to see one 'in the flesh'. The most exciting birds we've had in our garden recently are coal tits. They're pretty cute but not as striking as cardinals!
Great storm pictures - I love how the cardinals just pop (never get a bad photo of the males in the winter). Looks like a wonderful Christmas was had by all and Panzer's snow play. Very nice gifts and I agree, the holly in Emma Miles is eye catching. Also eye catching is that pool of apples. I never would have guessed what they were or that they were floating if you hadn't said.
A lovely post. Great pics of Panzer in the snow with his friends!
Your nieces are very beautiful girls, good luck to them for the future events.
Lovely selection of gifts you have received.
Congrats on managing to stitch each and every day so far this year, I hope it continues.
Glad to hear that you've been successful with stitching every day, even if only for a few minutes. I'm trying to use my time more wisely and have definitely improved. In my case, I'm mostly knitting right now.
Love seeing pics of your boys and Panzer. Your photography is always so pretty too so it's always a special treat!
You've been very busy but love the update. Lovely stitching!
Great update Catherine! I love the pics of the boys and Panzer playing in the snow. Great job on knocking out the club pieces. I need to do that.
Stay warm and safe and update again soon!!
I love Panzer, he makes me smile. :-)
As always I enjoy your family photos...Such a good looking group!
I am impressed that those young ladies will do the Polar Plunge, I won't even go outside when it's too cold!
My son volunteered a number of times, while at Villanova, for Special Olympics. That is such a wonderful organization. Sending you an email.
That floating apple display is AMAZING. I would never have guessed those where apples.
I enjoyed the pics of all your stitching projects. Hope you found time for your daily stitch today!
I love your pictures and my Rott loves the snow too although she doesn't get to see much of it down here.
I was motivated to get back into stitching...nothing big to start out as I have so many other WIPs in different venues. It is so nice to see others projects though..very motivating!
So good to catch up on your busy life and your beautiful stitching, Catherine! (Sorry I'm late commenting--just got back from another visit with my parents). First of all--WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING THAT BOY!!! I can't believe how tall he's gotten... Sure wish my guys had even reached normal height! They inherited my short genes, I'm afraid :(
Loved your stitching and you're right, even a half hour a day can produce significant progress. And what nice gifts--I'm sure you love it when your mailman arrives each day :)
Hope you're staying warm and comfy--I don't know about you, but I'm more than ready for this winter to end!! At least we get some beautiful sights now and then like that gorgeous cardinal you photographed. They do help us through these long January days...
Very nice to see an update post pop up from you!
Lots going on in your little corner of the world! That pooch of yours is hilarious. He is one lucky fella to be part of your family.
Gorgeous stitching and gifties.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
Great pic's and sewing progress.
Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing. I am so jealous of these cardinals - we do not have them in the Yukon...
Beautiful gifts and your stitching is lovely. Well done!
What a wonderful catch up post. So lovely to see you posting again. Thank you for sharing all your lovely photos.
Hello. My first time visiting and I'm so glad I did. Looks like you've been VERY busy. LOVE all your snow filled photos.
Doreen
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