I’m not going to post until I have a picture of part one of Periphaeria Design’s Spanish Mystery Sampler. My silk is due to arrive tomorrow or the day after and the mailman is being stalked! I’ve had quite the time getting my silk fiasco straightened out, but all is well and I hope to soon be stitching and will have a picture for you.
In the meantime, I’ve been stitching Mystery X and something I can’t blog about yet because it’s a birthday present for someone very sweet. It won’t be done in time for her birthday, but it will be done soonish.
So… I’m going to go back to my stalking of the mailman and working on a secret. 
Stitching has been going quite slowly for me as of late, so I’ve been wandering through my WIPS and charts and refinding all sorts of pretty things that I would love to get back to or start. Tomorrow I will be getting back to my Character Creations “Mermaid” who has been sorely neglected and needs some TLC. Rosie is always a good choice with those pretty pinks and “A Pale Comparison” is totally alluring with that biiig red eye and “Black-Winged Angel” is fitting my mood right now along with the monotone colors of “Tomboy” and the pale colors of “Silver Branch.” I’ve not given proper attention to “Sacred Hour” or “Touched By Magic” in a while either. I also have Mystery X and Misty Morning Vineyard to keep me busy. I did some work on Kat’s “Libra” but I am determined to get this block of stitches done before I post another picture. “A Peacock and Doves in a Garden” is also calling… it’s so soothing and I’ve not taken a picture in a while. I need to do that, too. Ohhh… and my Secret Garden from Michael Powell… it’s so whimsical and fun!
So while meandering through my WIPs, I also went through my charts and rediscovered some lovely things that I would be more than happy to stitch such as “Kat,” a Fractal of some sort, “Guardian Angel,” (she’s kitted up in silk), “Magical Bluff” or “Wishing Star” and I’ve always wanted to do one of Lusk’s amazing backgrounds and “Serenity Fairy” is definitely my favorite.
Once Libra is done, I will be doing Sara’s “Blue Angel” and “Red Angel” in silks. I’ve also GOT to make a biscornu. I’ve never made one and just have to. Finally, there’s a large blackwork project in my future… I just have to decide which one.
Isn’t it strange how when you don’t make as much progress stitching that you find yourself itching to work on lots of things at once or worse yet, start new things? *sigh*
Here’s 
the picture which has me giddy with glee for two reasons. First, I got the replacement part for the QSnap attachment for my stand. When the Needlework System 4 folks say a lifetime guarantee, they mean it! I bought my stand urm… a really really long time ago and they bustled a replacement part off to me right away at no charge! My second happiness is, yes, you are seeing correctly, a hoop in my qsnap holder. I’ve been looking for a really good hoop – not the kind made from cheap balsa that splits and gives you splinters, but one of the nicely sanded edge ones that someone took pride in making. I’ve looked in a lot of places and refused to order anything online because I needed to feel it to see if it was right for me. I am now the proud owner of a Hardwicke Manor Hoop. It’s made in Germany of Beech wood and it is, for me, absolutely wonderful! My qsnaps and I have been having lots of disagreements over the past 18 months and I am more than delighted to give them a permanent vacation. My hoop is light, smooth and based on their suggestion of using bias tape or as you can see, rubber shelf liner, tight as a drum if I wish it. I am bouncing off the wall with glee!! Best of all, this hoop did not cost me a fortune… it was a few dollars more than the 11″ qsnap I was using… but it will last me a whole lot longer and not give me attitude when I want to stitch.
That said, I’m off to go work on Kat’s Libra… I just finished up a bunch of confetti and want to enjoy stitching some of the pretty pink cotton candy background!
This 
past weekend was the HAED animal SAL and I pulled out Rosie. I needed some cheer and there’s nothing better than all those pinks and sparkles! Last time I worked on her, Fudgey asked when she’d be peeking at us and I’m proud to say that the time is now! Isn’t that a sophisticated kitty eye? There is one stitch of sparkle in her eye to go with the one stitch of sparkle for the dimple in her cheek. I love my Rosie! Because there is an obvious page division between one of her eyes and the other, I’m not bothered by her only having one eye. I’m strange, I know.
Speaking of Fudgey, has she tempted you with Periphaeria Designs’ Spanish Sampler Mystery SAL yet? She caught me with it and I’m bouncing all over the place fiddling with fabric and silk trying to decide if I should spend my certs now and order things, or wait it out until part 1 comes out March 15th… and then order and then stalk the mailman waiting for my fabric and silk to arrive. I’m torn! I so want to start something new! While I’ve been looking at lots of fabric, this linen is the one that I have always come back to and I’ve been thinking that Vikki Clayton’s Natural silk would go well. Thoughts?
And finally, 
the girls were off from school last Friday thanks to (yet another) “wintery mix” storm. So they rummaged around in the game closet and came out with one of Nikki’s favorite games. No sooner was the lid off of the box when she was right where she wanted to be! Think the mice were scared that lazy afternoon? (And of course we didn’t chase her from the box when we were done playing… we left her there until she was done with her nap and then put the lid back on the box!)
… but not usually.
Last week we had our usual February “wintery mix” weather. This equates to something that starts off as snow and then meanders through snow mixed with sleet, sleet, sleet mixed with freezing rain and then freezing rain. Sometimes we get snow after that. Last year we got a lovely near foot of that stuff and Mike aptly named it concrete as it took over a week for some of us to be able to get out of our driveways! Last week, however, we ended up with freezing rain. This was unfortunate as it my daughter ended up breaking her arm in ballet class that afternoon and we spent several hours in the emergency room only to emerge with her newly splinted arm to find our car completely encased in ice. (the orthopedic doctor she visited on Valentine’s Day had to put a cast on it — she chose bright pink!)
The next morning, Scott risked 
life and limb to take some lovely pictures… this is the part where ice can be lovely. Fortunately, he didn’t need any casts, Ace bandages or other boo-boo mending gear. These are some Crape Myrtles. We live far enough south that they love growing here. Of course, after they burst into bloom, we usually get a wicked windstorm and all the flowers blow down the street… or into the pool. *sigh*
Some of you may recall when the white pine tree fell on our house last year. That was due to wind and shallow tree roots. 
Of course, it doesn’t keep me from worrying that another one of the huge pine trees around will do the same even though the arborist has assured us that the remaining pines are stable. They really droop when weighed down with ice, but in this closeup, they don’t look so menacing. In this area, residential power lines have to be underground, so I don’t have that worry on my property. Whew!
We have a myriad of shrubby 
things around outside and when we built the house, our landscaper was very good about having the tags left on things, but that would still require me to either trapse outside into the cold and try and find the tags on nine year old shrubs or dig out the landscape plan and translate his really long latin-y names into the more common names that we know. So instead you just get my swell description of a hibernating bush with ice-covered berries on it. It’s still quite pretty!
Meanwhile, inside the house, life goes 
on and my Ziggy sleeps through everything without a care in the world… not even that there’s a stuffed bunny (affectionately called “Bun Bun” by Lindsey) perched on his back. Ahhhhh, to be able to relax like my ZigZig! He does curl up next to my head in the morning so I can rest my cheek on him so I have a purring pillow, so life is stripey and purrrrrrfect!
