Gardening "work"...

Maybe you call it "yard work" or perhaps "lawn care" or "gardening". I like to use the gardening word or even just "diggin' in the earth". To me it evokes images of running though the tomato plants as a child, feeling the slightly scratchy plants against my bare legs, or pulling a fresh carrot out of the ground and rinsing it under the hose before eating it raw. Dad used to get so mad that we'd eat all the peas before he had a chance to get at them...

This week I managed to mow the very wet grass. I also did all the trimming work and weeded all the beds. I still have to plant the bulbs and I'll do that the next sunny day. Or Sunday if we haven't had a sunny day before then. I love spring flowers so I have to plan ahead!

Winter is here...

Winter is here in the Pacific Northwest. Of course, we had the lamest.summer.ever so I shouldn't be surprised. It's been wet for weeks and now it's grey, grey, grey. Bleh. I'm fighting the beginnings of a cold and trying to drink lots of juice and taking my echineachea and elderberry.

Travis shoved a popcorn kernel in his ear last night and it's all scraped up along the canal. We sucked the kernel out with a straw so he wouldn't shove it into his eardrum again. I am taking him to the Doctor this morning to make sure he didn't damage his eardrum. I'm pretty relaxed about taking kids to Doctors but I don't mess around with my children's hearing. Brad took the girls to speech therapy so it will just be the two of us at the Doctor's office.

My star quilt is coming along. I almost have all of the 4.5" squares pieced (of which there are hundreds, it feels like). After that are the blocks and then the sashing and then the piecing... Very exciting. I already have my next *two* projects picked out. Although they just go in a bag under my bed until I have the money to get them quilted, it's nice to finish things.

In stitching, I'm working on a drawn thread sampler. It's cream on cream and moving along smoothly. Some bands are quite tedious but it does look stunning.

Yesterday a woman posted (accidentially) the most hate-filled anti-Obama post to the American Needlepoint Guild list. Whew! I'd heard that there was stuff out there like that but had no idea how bad! This election... like all elections... is a mess. Even here we're seeing the ads between Gregoire and Rossi that are just filled with "he said, she said". Like they have to harp on the stuff that isn't important to show that they aren't too extreme on anything that actually matters so they'll appeal to the masses.

Catherine Coleman Ornaments

I stitched these in September 2008. Each took approximately 2 days to stitch. They use Kreinik metallic threads and Mill Hill Sead or Bugle beads. Very fun! I love the way that Catherine layers her stitches.

Pat Mazu Miniature Stocking

This is the canvaswork piece that followed me home from my last guild meeting. It was designed by Pat Mazu. I've finished enough of these now that it was time to stitch one!

Twister Completed...

This beautiful piece was designed by Patricia Spencer. I pretty much tried to stitch it as charted and didn't switch out any stitches. Colors were picked by me and are DMC floss. Many, many, many hours went into this piece. Hurrah!

Some close up pictures:

Mukilteo Library Exhibit...

Because I love all.things.needlework I was able to pull the stuff for this exhibit purely out of the storage bins in my garage. Kind of worrisome when you think about it. I didn't have to take a thing off my walls!

This is at the Mukilteo Library. The three posters detail when appreciate viewers can *join a guild* by coming to ANG or EGA meetings. Truly exciting!

Plaid Pillow

This rectangular needlepoint design was finished with plaid fabric in a mitered fabric-framed front. The twisted cording matches the fabric and the design. Design by Ewe & I.

Pillow finished 10-02-08.