Tradition

First off, here is AAWFAA all finished.

And All Was For an Appil by the Scarlet Letter

40ct R&R linen (can't remember what)

DMC fibers

As anyone will tell you who has stitched this piece, those letters were a right pain.

There is so much sadness in my heart for what happened in Newtown.  It made it all the more special when we were given an unexpected gift Sunday of a chance to revel in the company of one of our kids and to enjoy one of our time honored Christmas traditions together.  The girl child unexpectedly came home for the day so that we could go get our Christmas tree.  And here we had thought the two empty nesters would have to fend for themselves, and settle for a pre-cut tree at the local charity tree stand.  But no, our girl child came home!  And off we went!

Here's the tree we picked.  That's the father type on the ground there.  lol!  

The girl child was trying to take pictures of the little "flowers" or beginnings of pine cones on the tree.

We all took turns carrying the tree, but the girl child took the lion's share.  Treating the old folks right.  :D

At the baling shed.  Competing iPhones.  

Father type cutting off the stump.  Want to see our collection of stumps through the years?

Another tradition in our family.  (The girl child laid all the stumps out for display.) It became the tradition for the kids to decorate the stump from the bottom of the tree each year.  The girl child usually did the honors, until she wasn't home for the tree getting when the boy child took over.  When they were tiny, I just wrote the date.  lol!  They usually live on the mantel piece in a big pile.

The first one on the top left is from 1984.  It was the first tree stump from our first tree in the first home we owned.  The tree was taken from the top of the bushes of our house, the house we live in now.  We were (and are) friends with the lovely family who lived in our house back then.

And here is the tree all decorated.

The girl child is a perfectionist -- she made sure each ornament was in its right place to make a beautiful tree.

It was a wonderful day, ending with a  late take out dinner and then the girl child leaving for the train late in the evening.  The boy child was kept informed via text message and pictures.  

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Have a wonderful week.

Make sure to give your kids extra hugs and tell them how much you love them.

Framing, TUSAL, and getting there

First off, the getting there.

Just a bit of grass, some rocks, and the words to go.  Of course, the words are the hardest part.  Oh well.   Did you notice the cat?  I tried to color her to look like Mia.

You can see her better in my TUSAL picture for this month.

Haven't got the head quite right, but it's close.  It's also the last TUSAL of the year.  Unbelievable!

I picked up a framed piece this past Friday as well.  It's Jane Pattison.

Here's a frame detail.

Mia has been enjoying boxes recently.  Both in and on.

Little does she know she's sitting on top of her Christmas present.  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Coloring book

Several of you mentioned how the process of filling in the colors on AAWFAA is much like coloring in a coloring book.  And it certainly feels that way when you look at what has been done.

But if you look at what has to be filled in, you'll see there's more than one color to be done in most spaces.  Still the results are just as satisfying as when one was little and colored carefully inside the lines.

I just love the reds and pinks!  I wasn't happy with the snake's colors, so I substituted a light green for one of the colors.  I always feel a snake needs some green.  :D

I received a prize in the mail from Gabi of Lady of the Floss.  It's this lovely chart with the leftover threads from the project.

It's a perfect way for me to commemorate all of our trips to the tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  Thanks so much, Gabi!

Mia discovered a warm place to sleep yesterday -- under my winter coat and the father type's sweaters.

She was quite content to be all snuggled up warm and cosy.

The boy child has registration for his spring semester classes today.  I hope it goes well and he gets in all the classes he wants.  Fingers crossed!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Feels so good

First off, I'm so excited to be taking part in Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year.  If you look on the sidebar, you'll see a link to the blog where you can find all the details.  It's the perfect thing for me since I love Scarlet Letter, so of course I joined in right away.

And a funny coincidence, since I'm already working on a Scarlet Letter piece!

The fill in is slow going, but I'm enjoying seeing all the various motifs come to life.

Don't you love the parrot and the snail?

There was another reason I might not have gotten as much stitching done as I would have liked.  Thanksgiving!  It was so wonderful to have both my kids back home again.  And I think Mia was happy about it as well.

Although it was hard to tell at times.  She would do things like get as close to the girl child as possible, but also hiss at her.  Such a mixed up kitty!

And of course, there was the cooking.  The girl child took part in the makings this year.  She was in charge of the pecan pie.

We ate of course.

And we played our old favorite game of Apples to Apples.  We even watched a movie on my laptop.

We also managed the next day to see Wreck It Ralph.  In 3D.  Note the father type in his 3D glasses after seeing the movie.

Mia managed to sneak in a bit of a coffee high as well -- she loves coffee!  (And no, she only got to lick the cup.)

We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants too.

We even managed to fit in a yummy breakfast at a new IHop.  And yes, the kids managed to see their friends and hang out with them as well.

It's been a great Thanksgiving.  I think we all appreciate being together more now that we are apart so much.  We're all looking forward to Christmas break already.  It's a bit sad today -- everyone has to leave to go back to college and work soon.  But I'm so grateful for the time we had together this Thanksgiving.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I'm posting a day early today.  Hope everyone who celebrated enjoyed their Thanksgiving as well.  Have a great week!

Almost time....

I've finished all the outlining on AAWFAA.  Even stitched Adam and Eve's hair.

Had to do their hair since it wasn't outlined.  They looked very bald without their hair.

I got a lovely surprise in the mail from Nicola of Stitching by a Cornish Sea, all the way from the UK.  I think Nicola knows what we love in this house!

A very large Cadbury Milk Chocolate bar!  So delicious!  Thank you so much, Nicola!  You are a sweet friend.

It's almost Thanksgiving!  It will be the first time the boy child has come home since he left for college. And the girl child is coming home too, first time since September.  Wish Thanksgiving were longer.  I'm so looking forward to having both the kids home!

I wonder if Mia senses something.  I found her for the first time in the boy child's room.  I think she still misses him.

She got distracted by loud noises outside.

The boy child can't wait to see Mia again.   I hope Mia treats the boy child well.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone who celebrates the holiday has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Have a great week!

stitching post finally....

I finished what I could on that model so far, so I picked up an old WIP to work on.  I don't know why, but whenever I tried to work on this one in the past, it was a complete failure and I would put it away again.  This time, however, I seem to be enjoying it.

It's And All was for an Appil by Scarlet Letter.  I'm using DMC and 40ct linen of some kind.  I think it's an R&R fabric.

Love the colors!

I was so surprised the other day to receive in the mail a gift from my dear friend Laurie of Corgi Cottage.  She sent it just because as a way to cheer me up.  She's so sweet!

Love the t-shirt!  And some Little Gem scissors, a Kelmscott Threadkeep -- so pretty!  And also a Mary Englebreit needle keep.  Love Mary Englebreit!  Thank you so much, my friend!  You are the best!

I also won a prize from Sandra of Homespun Elegance.

And here's what was inside.

Thank you, Sandra.  I love it so much!

I was throwing away a kleenex box, and of course Mia was interested in it.  Then the boy child reminded me (via IM) that she used to play inside kleenex boxes as a kitten.  Well there's no way she would fit inside one anymore!

She's a bit too large to fit now.  lol!  Here's a pic of her inside a Kleenex box as a kitten.

So cute!!

Thank you to everyone for sending such wonderful emails and comments asking after us and how we were doing through Sandy and its aftermath.  I'm still feeling a bit shell shocked, but it's so nice to be getting back to normal again.  We are very lucky in so many ways.  My thoughts and prayers continue to be with those affected by Sandy.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I always appreciate your visits and comments.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

ETA:  Forgot about my TUSAL report.  Here it is.  Doesn't look very different.  :D