Excuses con't

Excuse #9
My third year helping out at the SHINEfm Sharathon!

I normally help out by answering the phone, but this year I was more behind the scenes. This was my partner in crime and we had to sort out all the donations as they came in. In the beginning it was slow, but it got pretty busy at the end of the week.

And one of the perks? The view of the DJ's at work!
The morning crew - Mike, Tracey and Dave.

Tracey is the sunshine in the morning!

This was Tiffanie and John in the afternoon.

Another sweetheart!

Erin is writing thank you notes before going on the air.

Here she is with Jack.

Christina in the evenings did her share of thank you notes too, and Tara was busy all day!

I did get to spend a little bit of time helping out on the phones, sitting next to Pastor Jim - always fun!

A great group of people to be volunteering with!

And if you'd like to listen... SHINEfm

I did get more months finished, here's September. I used the colours I had for the flowers, but I think they're a little too bright. But not bright enough to change! 

For October, I tried to stitch a glow in the dark ghost next to the pumpkins but didn't like the ghost pattern I found. So until something comes up, the ghost button will do.

More excuses to come...

Excuses, excuses...

 No way has it been over four months since my last post! I meant to update my blog, but life seems to have gotten in the way.
Ready for the excuses?...

#1
We celebrated our 20th anniversary a little early in Dubai. What a trip of a lifetime, we were totally spoiled - beautiful hotels, camel ride in the desert, helicopter tour of Dubai, and even the World Cup Races!

 I was able to stitch a little bit and even shopped for fabric in Old Dubai.

 Our last evening was a soiree at Sheikh Mohammed's beach palace, just beautiful.

#2
Baseball season - he loved it!

#3
Celebrating birthdays!
The gmen's, Cori, and Nana.

#4

Bring your child to work day, I helped out.

#5
Prom!
The boys didn't realize they picked out the exact same colour shirt and vest, but one wore a tie and the other a bow tie!

#6
Nathan's 1st Communion

#7
Mother's Day

#8
2nd grade goes to the zoo

to be continued... more excuses

BUT wait, I did get some stitching done!

Nathan's piece for the 1st Communion Quilt.

My gift to Cori for her bday, I made it into a mason jar lid.

My 20th anniversary gift to DH (not quite finished). He likes pandas and 20th is supposed to be China!

The card I made for Nathan's baseball team to give the coach.  

There's more, but I don't have pictures yet.

Frozen delay

I did actually pick my Grow Your Blog winner last month (oh my!) on the 15th, I'm just now getting around to posting it.  I'm gonna blame it on the freezing cold weather that's going on here, it's been darn cold!

I had my helper pick a name out the flower pot - I thought it was appropriate for the growing of the blog.

 So my helper (and Iron Man) picked... 
Sue @ SuZeQ Creations!
Congratulations, Sue, just sorry it's so late!  I know you make beautiful cards, so if you have a favourite shop either online or a shop, please let me know.

See, it really has been snowy and cold here, although nothing like Boston!

 mom - by Nathan

School is already delayed tomorrow by two hours because of the ice we had today.  The boys have had five snow days so far and tomorrow makes eleven delays this year.  Crazy!

Feeling the summer in February!

Ah, the thoughts of the beach this cold February!

Especially tonight with the snow earlier and wind gusts of over 40mph... brr!

While DH and I were out to dinner this evening for Valentine's Day, this was sitting in the parking garage.  What a sweet thing to do!  I picked a pink one and added it to the beautiful flowers DH gave me earlier.

This was his gift from me, although it's kind of for both of us.  The dragon for me and the coffee for him.  I still need a proper frame, it will be hung by the coffee/tea area.

This is what I decided to do with the leftover hearts I cut out for Karen - I made 50 Valentine's for Nathan's classes.  He added stickers and signed his name...

and this is what I put inside the card.  Thanks for the suggestion, DJ!

I started September, with some help of course!

The Grow Your Blog winner will be chosen on Sunday sometime, my assistant isn't here.  He's taking a break and spending the night at his Great Grandmother's (Nana's) house, with his Gammy.

 I know I still owe responses for comments left on my last post.  Sorry for the delay, I'm working on it!

Last finish for January

I'm on a roll, here's July!

I finished it earlier in the week, it helped having a couple snow days and no lunch duty!

I changed the colours again with what I had and I like it.  I just had to search for substitutions... 

My DMC floss is all nice and tidy, but my other threads are a mess!  That will have to wait for another day.

Taking a stitching break, I made some paper hearts for my CS, Karen.  She sent me paper and I also used some of mine.  She's going to make a heart garland with them and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

So now I have all these leftovers and I'm hoping to be able to use them somehow to make Nathan's Valentine's cards for school.  Any suggestions?

 Nathan's been busy reading his Beano and Dandy books and he's even picked up some British slang, I love it!  No more trash, it's rubbish now!

He's also been busy in scouts, making this great box which he has decided he's going to put his school papers in for me.

Yesterday he joined his den for the Klondike Derby.  Way too cold for me, so it was a father/son day!

August has been started, with my helpers of course!  Hopefully this will be another quick one.

Today I'm meeting DJ and Denise for lunch, then we're off to the Stitching Post for their Superbowl sale.  I only need some thread that I ran out of, or at least that's my plan.

On a side note, I've been watching Grey's Anatomy from the beginning since I hadn't seen it before.  This episode is where the cast sings and I can't stand it!  I don't want to fast forward it because I don't want to miss anything, but I don't know how much more I can take!

Grow Your Blog 2015

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. ~ Douglas Pagels

It's that time again, thanks to Vicki @ 2 Bags Full!

My name is Astrid and this is my fifth year blogging.  It started out as cross stitching and then went on from there - family, friends, testing Pinterest recipes, blog hops, and even Scenes from a ...car/train/boat/plane/whatever.
Here's a little bit about me ~

Here's a sample of some cross stitch, appropriate at the moment with the snow we are supposed to be getting!

Scenes from a ... ferry

Family

And now for the fun part, the give-a-way!  This is not a requirement of Grow Your Blog, just a suggestion.  So please leave me a comment telling me your favourite drink, and if it's a mixed drink please share the recipe!  On Feb 15th, I'll pick a winner.  A winner of what?  I'm not sure, but I'll find something you'll like.  It might be a stitchy piece or a gift card?
BTW, right now my favourite drink is my morning mocha peppermint coffee or even my white chocolate raspberry coffee, yum!

I don't know how long it's going to take me to look at over 400 blogs, but I'll do my best!  I hope YOU meet some new friends along the way, that's my plan!


And just in case you're really bored interested, here are my two prior Grow Your Blog posts from 2013 and 2014.

Gasp, another finish!

I finally finished Mary's Sampler by Plum Street Samplers!  I really should have finished it Christmas 2013, but I got lazy with the stars.  I decided not to add the flowers around the border, it was too much for me.  Now I just need to frame it and then it will be ready to give to my Mom THIS Christmas!

How cool is this bedspread?!

My MIL had it made for us by an Amish woman in Pennsylvania.  She picked out the colours and chose the design.  I think it looks 3D in the picture, but not while actually looking at it.  It really is beautiful and such a wonderful surprise.

 Unfortunately, it's in the guest room at the moment until we get our bedroom furniture - it's too big for our bed without a bed frame.

My craft room is somewhat organized, this is one corner of it.  Once we get a new kitchen table, I'll be able to put our old one in here.  I'm hoping the old couch will fit in here too once we get a new one, but that might be pushing it.

My stand is just waiting for my HAED piece to be placed in it, hopefully soon.  I still have to put away the Christmas decorations!

Summer in January

It's only been two years since I started this, but hey, I finished June!!!

It might have been the kitties helping me, or maybe because I was sick with vertigo and couldn't do anything else but sit!

This only took me ten days - I've never done that before!  I changed some of the colours with what I had and I think it worked out fine.

 

So here they are so far, just waiting to be finished and put in a journal of some sort.

And here starts July...