3rd ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY

Hi everyone, life is still crazy, but needed to pop onto my blog because today is my 3rd ANNIVERSARY OF BLOGGING.


I have 3 little gifts to give away.

Black Willow Farm chart - Carriage House Samplings
Sous Le Soleil de la Lune chart - Reflets de Soie
Within My Heart Sewing Case - with my Needle ( I did the finishing of the model for Ellen Chester)

I will post some pictures of these within the next few days.

I wanted to do something to thank those of you who visit and any new visitors that stop by.

Please enter on this entry only so that I will make sure everyone's name will be put into the drawing.

I will pull the winners names on the 31st of May.

Thanks for stopping by, I love blogging and reading everyones blogs - one learns so much about life, stitching, shopping, cooking, gardening, knitting and whatever. I am a sponge and I am a people person so blogging is just a great venue for me.

Have a great day and weekend. ----------- Roberta

Lots to tell - no pictures!!

Hi all, Sorry for not being around and so much for my New Year's Resolution to keep up with my blog weekly!!

April was a busy month spending the weekends at different places = Atlanta with friends to attend a beading gathering, a few days later lunch at the Swan Restaurant and a tour at the History Center with the sampler group. We visited there storage area where antique clothing, furnishings, and some samplers were being preserved. Quite an interesting set up, with the way they do the lighting (low), air conditioning and the wrapping/covering of articles.

Then the next weekend was the neighborhood yard sale, which was a huge success and it was amazing how much of our clothing that sold, usually do not sell that much of that.

Moving onto the 4th weekend of the month was a Stitching Beach Retreat at Santa Rosa Beach in Florida, this was quite a fun event - each stitcher had to bring 4 WIPS and each one was numbered 1-4. Every morning after breakfast you picked a card and whatever number you picked that was the project you stitched on. Then after lunch the same thing. We did have time for shopping - there is a great outlet mall, an outdoor high end mall and many antique shops nearby - way too much to do. No stitching shops, however, but there were 2 knitting shops a bit of a drive away.

Now the nice part about this weekend other than looking out to the Gulf of Mexico, stitching, eating (lots of snacky things), laughing and fellowship, is that each meal is prepared by a small group of the attendees. I was with the 3 gals I drove down with and we prepared Saturday lunch, which was salad with lots of goodies to put into it.

It was a great 4 days and was home long enough to get the laundry done and the house back in order - then off again to Columbus, GA to a workshop with Sherry Jones of Patrick's Wood. We put together the pocket for Hare Pyns and then we prepared part of the finishing for Fair Charlotte which is another little sewing pouch.

In between all of this, we are sitting in the bleachers for our daughter soft ball games - she works at Geico Insurance and is on team.

Today, DH and I head down to Florida to help our friend Diane and her Mom, Mildred, move to Macon. This will be great that they will be close, both are avid stitchers.

So if that was not enough - start work once again at the college bookstore for 3 weeks, which is good!! because after that DH, Terry and I are heading to ITALY AND FRANCE!!!

Yes, we are going to Italy where DH has been invited to make a presentation on "Developing a progressive IT curriculum" for college students. I am so out of control about this and have been this past several weeks.

After the presentation, we will take the train to France and will stop to visit with a dear internet friend in Vichy and then off to Paris for a few days.

We have tapes/CD's on how to learn Italian and French - a quick course - I am hoping this older brain will absorb some of these languages.

Well, I need to go and finish loading the car for out trip to Florida - I hope to pop in now and then with some pictures and some stitching news. I have been good about stitching, beading, quilting, or knitting everyday. I do try to do one of these things daily in hopes that some things will finally get finished!!

If you made it this far - Thank you- I hope to be better at keeping in touch - I have been trying to keep up with my blogger friends, but I have not been leaving messges, but know I do love to read what everyone is doing and working on.

Until next time - Which I am hoping will be my 3 Anniversary Giveaway!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone --- thankyou for visiting. ==== Roberta

A Giveaway and some Thrift Shop Finds

Since I will never stitch the 'spring' chart again and it was something that I found in a closeout basket, I thought maybe someone else would like to stitch this. The chart is a bit beat up, it is how I bought it, but the inside is intact and readable.

If you are interested leave me your name and e-mail addy in this comment section and I will pull names on Monday, April 26th.
Below is a closeup of what the chart looks like stitched, you can order buttons for this piece, if you wish.
Found these little watering cans at a thrift shop.
This one is stamped made in Holland.
This one says made in England. I love them!
I found this at a Habitat for Humanity thrift shop along with some books. This will do nicely, I hope, with my Ikebana flower arranging.
Tomorrow I am heading out to the Panhandle of Florida for a stitcher's beach retreat for the weekend, so I will not be around for a few days. Will catch up when I return on Sunday evening.

Well off to finish packing - have a good day ---------- Roberta

And Yes, more yard pictures and one stitching picture

Here is Sanctuary, I have not been a good stitcher with this piece, but I still hope to get it finished by the end of May!!!
So why haven't I been a good stitcher, you might ask!!??

We have been having lots of work done in our yard. Last year, if you remember, a huge tree fell in our yard, well they finally took it away. We have been having beautiful non rainy weather so the tree removal company was able to come and cut the tree up and move it out of the yard.

Because of all the rain we had, we lost a lot of our lawn on the side of the house and in the backyard.

So without any further ado here is my new backyard, plants are little but they will get big quickly and there is still plenty of room for me to plant more things!! ;o)))
Here is a 'pink knockout rose' up close and personal - isn't she pretty!!
This one is the reddish one.
Here is the pink bush.
This is the front of the house as it goes down the side of the house.
We had the landscaper terrace the side yard and look what they did - they added stairs in the wall and then found large rocks in our back bushy area and made stepping stairs.
I just love this and there is still so much room for planting!!
Here we are at the bottom of the side yard - I just love the look and I know it will look great once the plants become established and when I add new plants.
Found this great 'hose keeper' pot at Sam's Club and thought what a great place for your hose and good looking for the garden!!All and all - DH, DD and I are very pleased with the landscaping job and how nice our yard is starting to look. Still have much to do, but it will have to wait until May.

Thanks for visiting - have a terrific week - Roberta

Some stitching finishes, more flowers and baking!!

Life gets so busy sometimes, what with going out of town (heading out once again this afternoon), working in the yard, cleaning out closets and drawers for the neighborhood yard sale (April 17th)and then just trying to get some stitching and finishing done!! WHEW!!

This is a little scissor fob that was a kit from Ewe and Eye and friends (year 2000).
I think this might be where it will sit as it's new home.
This little pin keep is from Homespun Elegance = Bits and Pieces "Summer Fun"
I am thinking this would be a good spot for this to hang!
Here is "Spring" in a pillow form - I had stitched this about a month or so ago.
Here is the back - I love the fabric that I had found.
I am thinking this would be a good home for 'spring'
So I have had to go to several events and bring food - this is from the Barefoot Contessa - carrot cake - made into mini muffins.
Iced with cream cheese frosting and some sauted carrots sprinkled on top. These were yummy!! today I am making the actual cake to take with me.
Below is a shot of a Dogwood flower from one of the trees in the yard.
And yet another picture of the Dogwood - I love the white Dogwoods, but would love to get a pink one!!
And finally a picture of a wild violet - this is where there should be grass, but with all the rain we had over the past year and especially the last few months - a lot of the grassy area's in the yard are now dirt!!!
Thanks for stopping by --- have a great weekend and week ------ Roberta

Catching up and Getting Ready for Spring and Summer

Hi All, Have been busy getting the yard ready now that the weather has finally warmed up. So between stitching, yard work and cleaning out closets for the neighborhood yard sale, life has been full.

Also, was down in Florida to attend a meeting for the EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) National Seminar 2011 in Naples, Florida. Planned the trip so that I could spend some time with my friend Diane and help her and her Mom, Mildred get packed up. They are moving to Macon. I am so excited that they will be near by - Diane is an incredible stitcher and is very creative, so I am expecting that I will be doing some very different stitching things!!

Here in Macon, spring is just beautiful - this is the home of an incredible display of Cherry Trees, and there is an annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The entire county (Bibb) is just abloom with cherry trees - it is amazing to see. Unfortuately, once again I have missed the Festival, but hopefully next year I will be here.

Below are pictures of my yard - my tulips are coming up.
Here is a flower bed in the front of the garage.
Violets and tulips in a bird bath.
The cherry trees in my yard at full bloom
Can you see how pink the flowers on the tree are?
Well, that is it for now, have more to share later, the daffidols are blooming, need to get some pictures of them. Will hopefully have a stitch finish to share as well.

I am about 10 days behind in my blog reading, so please be patient with me while I try to catch up with you all.

Happy Easter my friends and thank you for stopping by.


Roberta

Spring is here -

Welcome to springtime in Middle Georgia. (we are hoping it stays!!)

Here is my front door with it's springtime wreath, which includes cherry blossom branches that represent the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.
Here is just the beginning of getting my front stoop beautified!!
Look I have a tulip, my daffodils never came up - someone had many a wonderful meals!! The birdbath in the front yard.My Cherry Blossom trees starting to bud out.
Look at how pretty the buds are.And here is a small flower, isn't she sweet!
In closing - here are my plants that I found on the 80% off table at the garden shop (a total of $28 whoo hoo), except for the two in front which are my frost eaten plants from last year that I am hoping will survive!
Hope spring is popping out where you live and that the warmer weather will be here to stay, it is time.

Thanks for stopping by ------------ Roberta

ps - I will be heading to Florida today so may not be on line for a few days, will catch up next week when I return.