A finish and Adventures with Aiden

I finished "Strong and Beautiful" last night! It is really much prettier than the picture. The colors are more vibrant. I started my first ornament for the LHN sal. I am doing the red house in winter first. I am going to have to go to the store and pick up a few dmc threads. I have most that I need for the ornaments but there are a few I don't have. I am doing the ornament on linen. Working with linen is a new experience. It seems to be going okay, but, I don't want to jinx myself!

My little Aiden has had a rough two days, mainly because he doesn't listen! He was outside with his papaw and stuck his hands in a fire ant hill! Even though papaw told him not to. Tim grabbed him quickly but he still got five or six bites on each hand. Today I took Aiden to the park and naturally he got very dirty and got me very dirty too. I brought him home and showered him. Set him on a rug and told him not to move because he was wet while I got a towel, and bam! He slipped on the tiles on the bathroom and busted his lip. My poor little monkey. I sure hope he learns to listen or mamaw is going to be completely gray in a few years!
Thanks again to those of you that leave comments and those of you that are followers. Happy Stitching to all!

The fishing pole.

Tim bought Aiden a toy story fishing pole this evening and it has a rubber fish on the end of it, so that you can practice casting. Aiden has played and played with it. He loves it! His favorite thing is having me cast and laughing when I hit things all over the living room and get it stuck.
I posted a couple of pics of my wip, "Strong and Beautiful." It has been so easy to stitch, I love it! I am really enjoying working on it.
Tomorrow, I am headed to Anna Maria Island for three nights on the beach. Can't wait. I hope the weather cooperates and we have beautiful sunsets. Aiden can't wait to get there to dig in the sand. Thanks again for all the lovely comments. Happy stitching all!

LHN

I have fallen in love with Little House Needleworks. I ordered "Strong and Beautiful" from the women of virtue series. As soon as I saw this piece, I knew that I needed to put my youngest daughter's name on it. She is strong and beautiful. I would like to do the whole series and make one for my oldest daughter and stepdaughter, too. "Strong and Beautiful" is the first time that I have worked with silk thread. I didn't use linen for my piece. I ordered antique white linen aida 14 count. I think that it suits the piece. I got the kit in the mail on Saturday and I am at least a fourth of the way done. I will take a pic and post soon. My Little House mania has caused me to go off the deepend and order the current 8 monthly ornaments and join a SAL to stitch these. The patterns should be here by the end of the week. Then I may get some linen for these. I have stitched for years on aida, so we will see how the linen work goes. I have also signed up for a bookmark exchange on my ILCS group. That should be a lot of fun. I think exchanging items with cross stitchers around the country and around the globe will be exciting. Happy Stitching everyone and thank you for the comments that you leave. I really appreciate them!

Summer

I have really been enjoying my summer. We have been doing a lot of traveling and are getting ready to spend three nights on Anna Maria Island, Fl next week. I have been getting some stitching done and am updating my two wip's with new pics.
Yesterday my stepdaughter surprised me with a beautiful card and three pink long stem roses. She said it was a thank you for all that I do for her! She is a great kid, excuse me, she is 18 now, so I meant to say young lady!

Needlework Shop

I have lived in the Tampa area for six years and I have never been able to find a local needlework shop. I was searching the net looking for one that would be close by and I found one in Lakeland, which is about twenty minutes away from me! I was so excited. I called the shop, Carolyn's Frame Up, and headed to Lakeland. I just returned and I had a marvelous visit with Carolyn. She used to be a teacher, so we talked school and stitching. I took in my "Leanndra" piece and I am having her frame it for me. I will be picking it up in a few weeks and I will definitely be putting up a new pic of it! I am still so excited that I am practically bouncing in my chair!

Key Largo

We have been enjoying ourselves in Key Largo. Tim and Chris have spent a lot of time fishing while Aiden and I have been hanging at the condo enjoying the pool and other amenities. Yesterday morning, Aiden and I saw a mom and baby manatee at the dock. Even though I have seen lots of them at the Manatee Viewing Center at Apollo Beach, I still thought this was pretty cool.
Today we spent the morning at John Pennekamp state park. Aiden had a great time playing on the slides and throwing sand around in the sandbox.
We have ate out quite a bit and had some really great food. Tim had some seafood pasta in a scampi sauce last night that was to die for.
Tomorrow is our last day here. On Saturday, we head back home. The Keys are so enjoyable that I always hate to leave.

Ready for vacation.

The bags are packed and the car is partially loaded. We are headed to Key Largo tomorrow for our family vacation. We are staying at a new place this time and I hope it is as nice as the last.Our condo is on the Gulf side of the key.
Yesterday was the ILCS virtual stitch in. I managed to get three stitches in before Aiden woke from his nap! That was my total accomplishment for the stitch in. I did manage to stitch for an hour today. I am working on Monticello. I would like to get it finished before school starts. I have decided that I am doing a red, white, and blue theme for my class decor and that we will study our first six presidents this school year. I have materials I have collected from my anniversary trip to use in my classroom. One is called "Travelling T.J." "Travelling T. J." is a paper cutout of Thomas Jefferson and you take pictures of him going on field trips with your class and at your school and post them to the website for Monticello. One of the guides I met at Monticello was a retired school teacher and she gave me enough T.J.'s for each of my students. I am looking forward to starting this project with my class. I'll post pics of T.J.'s travels here on my blog when school starts.

Land of Sunshine?

Our weather has not been great the last few days. There have been thunderstorms in the evenings. My land of sunshine has become "the land of gloom." I hope the weather clears up before we leave for Key Largo on Monday.