Life Update

DS#2's basketball team went undefeated this season. Go them! DS#2's basketball skills have greatly improved since the summer and he made quite a few buckets this time around. It's been nice to see this introverted child, walk on to a basketball court with a gym full of people he did not know and attempt to participate in a game he only knew a little about before having to try out for a team. He's grown so much as young man this past year. He's come out of his shell a lot, sometimes I think too much, but I am in awe of him.

Stitching Update

This weekend has been spent working on Lizzie Kate's Welcome All Seasons. It's a cross stitch piece I've had tucked away for quite a while and I decided a few days ago that it would look nice in the kitchen and since it's a somewhat fast stitch, I picked it up again but unfortunately I won't be able to finish it this weekend because my family is making me nuts. DH is sitting in my stitching spot, the kids, for some reason, can't think for themselves and are asking me hundreds of questions. I've given up. Hopefully I can shove the DH off the couch and claim my spot in a little while. I had hoped to not only get it finished this weekend but also frame it. I'm planning to frame it with two little eyebolts hanging from the bottom of the frame and every month I will switch out L*K's monthly Flip-Its. The Flip-It frame will have two hooks on the top so that all I will have to do is change out the Flip-It in the frame for the one of the current month. I plan to be very organized and store my mounted Flip-Its in a plastic shoe box in the hutch in the kitchen. They will always be easily accessible and I shouldn't have to go looking for them. Since I don't really consider them heirlooms I'm just going to mount them on good old sticky board so I can mount them quickly and popping them in and out of the frame should be easy and fast.

I'm also now obsessing over stitching all of L*K's 2004 Block-It Flip It series on one piece of fabric. I wasn't too impressed with these on their own but then I saw this:

http://www.lizziekate.com/debbieboothflipitfinish400.jpg

Now I must stitch this. It would look so nice in the kitchen. If you haven't noticed, I obviously don't have too much hanging in the kitchen right now. Actually the only piece I have in the kitchen at the moment is Bent Creek's Rise & Shine. It's a favorite of mine but it's lonely. Time to stitch a few things to hang in there and brighten up the already bright zesty lime kitchen walls.

Two stitching friends and I are embarking on the mother of all projects in the not too distant future. What do I mean by the mother of all projects you might ask? Well how about a cross stitch piece 2ft(h) x 5ft(w)? Is that big enough for you? Yes we're nuts but so enjoying planning this out and all the personal things we plan to add to it to make this truly our own. It's the first stitching project I've been excited about in a while. Probably won't be able to start for at least a month but that should give me time to get the first three of the 24 charts, the accessory packs and the fabric, oh and grid the fabric for the 24 sections. More info when I get started.

Crochet

I've made a little progress on my granny square afghan and it feels good to make those squares and they all come out correctly after my frustration with the flower block. I'll give that block another try one day down the road.

Today at BooksAMillion I picked up the March issue of Crochet magazine. Some nice projects in there. I love the Irish Hearts afghan. I also like the After Five jacket and wonder if I could work it up in a less bulky summer weight cotton? Maybe Lionbrand Cotton Ease? I think it'd be a fun jacket to wear when it's just a little chilly out. I also can't wait to read the article on stained glass crochet but I'm thinking if I could find a mirror with a skinny frame, I could maybe pop the mirror out, crochet some fun fur around the frame, place the mirror back in the frame and viola a fun funky fur framed mirror. Now this is all speculation from just glancing at the article while in the bookstore. I may not have a clue about what I'm talking about.

Books

Saturday I stopped by the used book store and found three books by Jodi Picoult. Plain Truth, Salem Falls and Second Glance. At BooksAMillion today I picked up Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Lots of good reading in my future. Now to just find the time to read, stitch, and crochet.