Let it be recorded officially that this was the first weekend
of this year that I was able to sit outside and stitch. We're
lucky enough to have a house with a West facing front, and
we have a knee high stone wall in a half oval under the den
window (see above picture - upper right corner to see
what I'm talking about) which absorbs the heat from the
sun. (as does the driveway around it) So it's always a good
five degrees warmer then it might be in say the backyard.
I put a blanket on the little wall to give me a softer seat,
and I sat there most of the afternoon yesterday, and for
a few hours today and stitched.

And so I've made good progress on my redwork piece
from Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine. I think that
I'm pretty much half way done at this point. I'm pleased
to be making progress, but sorry to be done with the
wonderful fancy alphabet.

Goodies from Mary Kathryn. The inevitable moment
of weakness when Mary Kathryn has a "free shipping"
announcement on her site, and the resultant delight
when arriving home from a long day at work to find a
parcel or two on the kitchen table from her. The
Milady's Needle chart also came with a little key chain
plastic holder for one of the little designs to go in. If
you click on the picture for a closer look you can see it
on the top right edge of the chart. I also got myself
one of those pretty needleminders, with lily of the
valley on it. Those are the flowers of my birth month,
May.
The Peep chart is a freebie from Prairie Schooler, and
the Lavender and Lace chart Firefly Fairies was actually
a gift from a friend at work who'd bought it years ago
but decided that she'd probably never get around to
stitching it, so gave it to me. Don't know if it's some-
thing I'd be able to stitch with my meager skills, but it
sure is a pretty design. I don't recall seeing it before.

I really love these Lizzie Kate flip-its and I may just
have to get the rest of the series, and of course all
the threads to stitch them with. Took the little charts
to work and used the photocopier to blow up the
designs so they'll be easier to follow when I'm ready to
stitch them.


Signs of Spring in the garden. The crocus is always the
first hearty soul to flower in the garden. Sometimes it's
as early as January when we spot green shoots poking
through the earth. Of course with all the snow we've had
this year there was no chance of that happening. The
snow is just about gone on the grass except where it was
piled high around the driveway and backyard paths.

DH and I stood shoveling snow off of these mini
mountains yesterday and scattering them across the
lawn to get it to melt faster. Right now the grass looks
like shredded wheat with the hot water poured onto it.
It'll be a few more weeks before we might start to see
some greening there.

Heard from my Mom that she and another lady were
out yesterday for a walk in the warm sunshine. Their
place has been in quarantine since Easter because of a
bad cold or virus bug that hit some of the residents
quite hard. Mom didn't catch it, thank goodness.
Quarantine was lifted on Thursday.And finally, here's Rupert enjoying cleaning day and
the blankets from a stripped off bed which had been
tossed on the floor. Rupert's a nester.

Cheers all!