Finish, new never-ending WIP, and new start

Yes, I finished all that grass.  Don't know how to take pics of the whole piece though, so you get to piece it together.

And They Sinned by Examplars from the Heart

40ct unknown fabric

GAST threads called for

Whew!  That was harder than I thought it would be!  Oh, some have asked how the stripy effect was achieved in the grass.  It was just stitched on the diagonal with two different thread colors.  I really love the way it looks!  I have the feeling I was supposed to do the same thing with the lake.  Oh well.

Now that And They Sinned is finally done, I have another long running WIP that might or might not get done someday.  ATS was the first long running WIP that I've picked up here and there and then actually finished.  Well, here's the next one.  I started And All Was for an Appil (by the Scarlet Letter, using DMC on 40ct R&R mystery linen) I don't remember when.  (I should just look back on my blog entries and I would see!)  For some reason, I can never get into this one!  But I did accomplish a bit more on it at least.

Hopefully I'll pick it up again sometime.

In the meantime, I started a new project.

Dames Boarding School by Examplars from the Heart

40ct PTP Legacy linen

WDW threads called for

I have one more rose to stitch in the top border and then I can start the insides.  (The one that's on the right is supposed to be like that for some reason.)  If you'd like to see a finished piece, go to Marsha's blog here.  She's the one who inspired me to want to stitch this one.  So beautiful!  (Scroll down and you'll see it!)

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes for both kids.  The girl child has been busy furnishing her new digs on a tight budget, and has done a great job!  The boy child is getting better all the time, but the healing process will take quite a while yet.  

Mia has been very aware that something is up with her boy.  She watches the dressing changes very carefully, and always avoids the wound area, not even coming close to it.  But she still likes to cuddle up to her boy, nevertheless.

She especially likes being on that pillow.  lol!  And yes, some of this takes place as well.

Aren't they cute?  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  It's always wonderful to visit with you.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

So close! Also moving and early TUSAL

Well, I was going to wait to post till I finished all that blasted grass on ATS, but I decided it was too much pressure.  I'm so close!!

We'll do that pretend thing again.  Much better.  (once the grass is done, ATS is all done!)

I also want to post my TUSAL for this month since it's due on Thursday.

Sorry it always looks the same.  I should start keeping the ORTs for the month in one container and then add them to this one.

Lots of busy stuff going on here as usual.  The boy child is now laid up for the summer after having some minor surgery on Tuesday.  The healing process will be long and not much fun, but he's happy to get it done and out of the way so he's ready for college.  He's currently hoping his schedule for the fall will arrive today.  Fingers crossed!

The girl child came home over the weekend.  She and I packed and packed on Saturday, the father type and the girl child and I did some moving into a U-Haul, and Sunday the father type and the girl child headed down to her new apartment and moved her in officially!  Yay!  I think she's pretty happy with her new digs.  Here are a few pictures.

And relaxing in a restaurant after.  The girl child changed into a vintage 80's Laura Ashley jumper of mine that she found while digging through a closet instead of packing.  lol!  She also took my vintage 80's Laura Ashley bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding.  (Good thing she didn't find my vintage Laura Ashley wedding dress.  :D   )

Girl child is happy with her vintage clothing and her new apartment!

The boy child and I stayed home since the boy child is laid up recuperating and I'm his nurse.  The father type and girl child had a lot to move, but I think the father type loved it -- he had his girl all to himself.  He doesn't get enough father-daughter time.

Mia has been doing her usual thing all this time.  Some bubble wrap was left lying around and guess who decided it was great for a bed?  Silly girl!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I always love visiting with you.  Have a great week!

Another Monday.....

And the grass is growing slowly.

Maybe it helped a bit to have all the grass of Wimbledon to watch as I stitched.  lol!  Now, if you look at it this way, it looks much better!

Oh, and yes, I probably jinxed myself by stitching in the date.  We'll hope I can finish by the end of this month.

It's another Monday, but it's also the start of my emptying nest.  The girl child left for her new apartment and job yesterday -- she starts her job today.  She's not quite moved out yet though.  The moving seems to be happening in phases.  Phase 2 is this coming weekend.  We shall see how much gets moved to her apartment then!  It's weird to think that the girl child is now an independent adult starting her own life.  I'm finding it hard to let go.

In the meantime, here are the two youngest of the family.

(Ignore the mess in the background -- that's part of the girl child's packing going on.)

Mia seems to love my various pillows.

The other day, she curled up right beside me and purred away.  This while I was in bed.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Hope everyone who watches Wimbledon enjoyed it.  (I was so sad for Murray......  but also happy for Federer.  It was a dream final for me.)  Keep cool and have a great week!

Continued hot and crazy.....

In between tons of errands and doctors appointments for the boy child (playing catch up), I managed to watch some Wimbledon (crazy first week!!!) and stitch.  Here is ATS so far.

The bottom pic is the area where I'm going to have to fill in the grass in the whole background.  Oh boy!  Lots more animals and a tree to add in yet.  I have to say this is a fun stitch.  We'll just not think about all that grass.  lol!

Lots of catch up stuff for the boy child, but he's all set, and he even has his driver's permit now -- finally!!  What is it about my children that they are in no hurry to learn to drive?  lol!  The girl child didn't get her driver's license until the summer before her junior year of college.  Looks like the boy child is following suit.  I do have to say it was nice not to have to worry about the driving, though, for both kids.  Now I have to worry about the girl child driving all the time.

The girl child is back from her celebratory cruise to Bermuda as of yesterday.  Mia the diva immediately started hissing and growling at her as usual.  Sigh.  And yet, she also does stuff like this.

Just settles right in next to the girl child as if they're friends.  I just don't get it.  Oh well.

Still waiting to hear about the girl child's apartment situation.  Fingers crossed we'll hear today!

So Wimbledon.  Crazy, right?  :D  And now another twist in the plot today so far.  We shall see......

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone in Canada had a great Canada Day.  And for those in the US, happy 4th!!!  My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the terrible fires out in Colorado.  And for those in the Mid Atlantic, I hope you are not affected by the storm damage and have your electricity soon.

I'll leave you with a little furry one hiding under a certain graduation gown.

Our graduate

There's a lot to cover in this post, so I'll just dive in.  First, the stitching.  Here's And They Sinned up to current progress.

I love the lion!

And I forgot to do my TUSAL report last week.   Here it is, in front of my Emma Bridgewater souvenir Jubilee tin.

I also received a lovely present from Mindi of Joie de Vivre.   She gifted me with her Jenny Bean Spring Sampler chart, which she recently finished (you can see her finish on her blog header).  And she also sent me one of her handmade needleminders!!!

Isn't the needleminder wonderful?!  I love it!  Thank you soooo much, Mindi!  You're a sweetheart!

Now to family stuff.  The boy child had his last week of high school celebrations.  He had his prom on Thursday.  Here are a couple of pictures -- it was a big group of kids!

And the guys.

(Keep in mind, this was on a 97 degree day.  Poor guys!)

Saturday was the boy child's high school graduation.  And yes, he performed with his bass guitar and sang with the chorus even at the graduation ceremony.

(His mother is sad that the boy child didn't get his gold cords (the ones the other kids are wearing).  He should have had those gold cords too since he was in the National Honor Society.  But they didn't give them to him, and I didn't realize he should have had them and didn't complain and demand them.  Sigh.)

Here are more pics, one of the boy child with his dad, and one of the boy child with the principal.  (The principal made us very happy by managing to speak about the terrible results of how kids learn due to the No Child Left Behind law.  Such a terrible law!!  The boy child's class was the first to be affected every year of the class's career.)

(Pretend the boy child is wearing those NHS gold cords.  lol!)  The boy child tossed his cap at the end of graduation so he lost that (he held onto the tassle though).

There were many other pictures taken, but I won't bore you with endless pics.  

Mia had to participate too, of course.  Here she is, cuddled up in the boy child's graduation gown.

The girl child is still up in the air about apartments.  We are hoping she will get a certain one, but still haven't heard yet.  In the meantime, the girl child is off on her celebratory cruise with friends for the week.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week.  I hope TS Debby isn't too brutal to those in her path either.

For tennis fans -- yay!!!!  WIMBLEDON!!!!!!!  The best slam of the year IMO.  :D  Enjoy!

Blog? What's a blog?

The title of this post is just to show about how I'm feeling right now -- rather discombobulated.  lol!  It's been busy busy busy around here!  I have been stitching here and there though, so I will show what I've been working on first.  Remember this piece?

It's And They Sinned, of course.  Here's the part I've been working on recently.

I'm so happy to be getting to the fun parts of this one!

So there's been a lot of activity around here with the kids.  The girl child is apartment hunting, the 21st century way, online.  So far, no luck.  Bummer.

The boy child -- well, we headed off to Boston this past weekend.  Stayed with my sister and her family -- they live close by Boston, which is a real boon for us.  Friday was the placement tests at the boy child's future music college, which is in the heart of Boston.  A very exciting day, full of tests and auditions for the boy child, and talks for the parents for the father type and I.  Here is the father type waiting with me for the boy child.

Saturday was a busy day.  We headed into Boston with my sister and her family for dim sum (yum!!!), and even managed to do a bit of grocery shopping at the Chinese grocery (I'd been neglecting that at home).  Then it was off to do some apartment hunting for the boy child.  We lucked out and found a really nice apartment for him very close to what one would call the college's campus (the college has buildings scattered throughout one area of Boston).  The boy child loves it, and he's very excited about starting out at his music college in the fall.  Here is the door to his apartment building.

So exciting!  And very scary for his mom.  lol!

Sunday was Father's Day, of course.  (Happy Father's Day, daddy and father type!)  We drove home, but did manage a nice stop at a Cracker Barrel on the way home for lunch.  The boys played a couple of games of checkers while we waited for a table.

And then we were home after a long drive.  Yay!  We were very happy to have things even more settled for the boy child's start at college.  Furniture shopping and stocking the apartment will be in the future.  Ugh.

Mia was resigned to being alone with the girl child at home this past weekend.  Mia has a thing against the girl child, sadly.  But it sounds like they basically avoided each other most of the time, so that's good.  Here is Mia before we left.  Such a life of luxury.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!  (If you're wondering what that is on Mia's back, it's a Reese's miniature pb cup wrapper -- the boy child put it there, of course.  lol!)

ps.  Happy 70th birthday to Sir Paul McCartney!