County Fair

Squee!!!  I spent the money on parking and then on entrance fees so I could find out how I did. Well, for a first time entry, I am happy with myself.  Second place! Not too shabby!

Scissor holder

Yet again, I have caved in to "peer" pressure.  I have seen some great scissor holders on Facebook lately, so I decided to check things out for myself.  The insert is called a flower frog - which I found to be very ironic for stitchers since we hate to frog out our work - but nevertheless, the insert has holes to hold flowers, or in our case, scissors.

There are a variety of sizes available, and then there's the vase itself. Many people have gorgeous vintage vases - mostly Depression glass - to hold theirs, but I wanted to have something unique to me. 

Viola!! I remembered that I have 4 candle holders made by my friend's mom for her wedding.  Keri and I have known each other since Jr. High, and her mother is an artist complete with her own kiln in the backyard. I have purchased one of Barbara's pieces that sits on my china hutch in a proud display:

but these wedding decorations had stayed in a cabinet because I didn't know how to display them or use them.  I didn't want candles to get melted inside and not be able to get them out, but then the idea of the scissor holder came to mind.

Like I said, there are four that I have; 2 taller ones and 2 shorter ones. Each have my friend and her husband's names on the back and their wedding date on the bottom.  What a great thing to have!! 

So, I scoured eBay and looked at flower frogs. I figured that a 7 hole frog would fit the taller one, and I placed an order.  It arrived quickly and in wonderful condition.  It had been used, so I had to soak it and clean out the holes, but it was very pretty.

The frog did not fit in the shorter ones because of the unusual opening, but it fit in the taller one perfectly, and now I have a pretty holder for my scissors!

It's prefect!!!  I hated having such pretty scissors kept in my stitching bag, so now they and the jar get to be on display!  Now, I just need to get more scissors to fill up the spaces.......hmmmmmmm, I guess I'll keep finding new ones to purchase!

IHSW For May

Once again, I can't believe that it's already May. Where is time going, and why must it go so quickly?? 

To start this post, here are a couple pics of where I have left off of the baby sampler:

This was the last time I moved things around on the rods (above) and then where 

I finished the giraffe from the back (below)

I was going to rotate back to the Gadsden Flag, but I just don't seem to want to stop the baby sampler.  It's a good thing since it's been on the scroll rods since last August. Wow - that is a long time for a WIP.

And here's where I managed to get by the end of the weekend:

There wasn't a lot of time for me to stitch, but it was fun working on what I did. I did make a change on the block from the letter "B" to "K". I figured that she could either determine it was my first name as the one who stitched it or the letter of our last name. The bunny is coming along nicely, and I'm really excited that I'm almost done with the stitching on the bottom.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend, and I can't wait to see what you all worked on!

May ORT Report

Wow! I'm still trying to figure out where 2013 is going?? It's already May??  I missed the April report as testing and catching up on reports kept me far too busy, but here is my update for May:

You can see all of the yellows, browns and black that I've been working on - between the giraffe from the Baby Sampler and the Gadsden Flag, it's been a LOT of the same colors.

We are getting the pool all set up. The temperature will be in the 90s all weekend, and the girls cannot wait to get in and cool off.  Hubby is completely conspiring with the girls to prepare for tomorrow's Mother's Day celebration. It should be low-key, but I know he's planning on smoking a tri-tip for supper. Yum!

I'm a beach chick by birth and in spirit, so I am incredibly happy that the weather is finally playing along nicely so no one looks at me funny for wearing flip-flops. I'll wear them year-round, but it's nice to not garner funny looks while doing it.  HeeHee.  The toes even got done in honor of the warmer weather.

Finished with Giraffe

Oh.Dear.Gawd! I have realized that I truly have a short attention span. Stitching this giraffe seemed endless to me, and I'm thoroughly done with the color yellow. Whew!

It is very nice to see how far I have come on the Baby Sampler though. I had no intention of taking it off the scroll rods to get a picture, so you are seeing the back see of the giraffe.