Baker Beach has been getting some love.

I had a whole lot of time last weekend and yesterday to work on Baker Beach. The fifth page is well under way. I feel guilty that I am not washing windows or planting flowers (not that I have bought any yet), but not that guilty.

Here is where I was last week. 

This is my progress since then.

I have also been working bit by bit on the pup. You can see just a little bit of a darker brown color on the right side of the tale and underside of the belly.

This should be going faster, but I am not motivated.

Isn't this a great book that I received from my son for Mother's Day. 

I can't wait to have the time this summer to buy some fabric and get a start on one of these 3-D quilts. I have always wanted to make a tumbling blocks quilt, but I may start on one of the beautiful variations. 

This is amazing. 

I will be joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. On Monday I will join the Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by! 

4 down 6 to go

Yes!!!! I came home from work on Friday and set to work on Baker Beach. It turns out that there was one color of floss that covered the majority of the confetti stitches. Once that color was done there were less than 10 stitches to fill in with a variety of colors. The fourth page is now officially finished. 

I had already started on the fifth page, but I did add some more stitches today. You can see my progress in the upper right-hand corner. This page and the next are only 20 stitches wide, so they shouldn't take that long to complete....at least I hope they don't. Once this fifth page is completed I will be halfway finished with this project.

 I will have two more afternoons free each week starting mid-May. I hope to devote at least some of that time to stitching. 

I have to share this picture.

 Right outside my mother's front door is a somewhat overgrown bush that has now become home to a pair of robins. This is their nest with 4 beautiful blue eggs. I really hope that the baby birds will be safe from the neighborhood cats once they hatch. The bush is easily accessed from the handrail on the front entrance. (I could have reached in and touched those eggs when taking the picture). 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. On Monday I will join the Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stitching Along

I have been spending some of my time this "vacation" stitching along. You can see the most progress on the pup.

I finally spent some stitching time on Baker Beach. Here is where it was when I last touched it.

This is where I am now. You can see the progress in the lower right corner.

 Every time I sit down with it I plan to fill in all those confetti stitches, but I leave it an hour later and there is still more to stitch. There are more than five colors that still need to be stitched in the sand and rocks on the bottom. I will spend some time on it on this rainy spring Sunday. Maybe I can finish this page. I really want to get started on the fifth page. Once that is finished I will finally be halfway done with this project.

I am so happy to report that I have finished writing all of my lectures and even my final exam for my university course. I have two more lecture sessions this week and the final the following Monday and then all that I will have to do is grade the final. I really love teaching my university students, but I will enjoy the break and having my Monday and Wednesday afternoons free again. I need to start getting some walking in.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. On Monday I will join the Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are up to.

I did a little reading this week also. I read an older Nora Roberts romance novel (no picture) and then I picked up this.

A teacher at the high school where I work brought in over a dozen books that they no longer wanted. This was one of a few that I picked up. I really thought this would be a highly inspiring book especially when the date of the author's death was the date of my son's birth. I was amazed by the coincidence. Unfortunately, although there are inspiring stories of faith and the power of prayer throughout the book, I wasn't as moved as I am by some other stories. This is a true story of agony, despair, faith and hope, but it was not at all uplifting or inspiring for me. I will be returning it to the break-room for someone else to have the opportunity to read it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Semi-vacation

As some of you know, I work as a math teaching assistant in a local school district. This week we have our Spring break (usually near Easter, but this year for Passover as the two holidays were so far apart). What that means is that I don't have to get up early for 6 weekdays, but I still have two evenings of teaching my university class and one afternoon/evening of tutoring as those students go to a private school that had its break at Easter. So I am on semi-vacation. I hope to finish all my prep for my university class and have some time to craft and maybe even read. Ahhhh!

I took some pictures of the tulips at the university where I teach. Each year they have a Dutch Festival where the tulips around campus are one of the attractions. Here are some examples.

 I love all the different shapes that you can see below.

These are all just on the short walk from the parking lot to my office.

Each one has a name label.

These yellow tulips reminded me of roses.

I also have some of my own tulips blooming. I absolutely love purple flowers.

Each of these have come from Easter planters that I subsequently plant in my garden.

 The pink ones below will hopefully look better next year. I know they were in last year's Easter bucket. They are quite short.

I have made some progress on the pup.

 I am finding the printed pattern difficult to follow some evenings. I think it is more the pattern and less my eyes as the symbols are very similar, fairly light and all are covered with the hammock lines that must be stitched at the end. Even during the day I have to take a break from looking at the pattern.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. I think I might work on Baker Beach a little bit. I really want to get that 4th page finished. Tomorrow I will join the Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are up to. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Weather

We are finally having some Spring weather! I have uncovered the table and chairs on my front porch and potted my pansies. 

Looking around my yard I found some pretty pink hyacinths that I planted last year. 

I also found some white daffodils 

and one with a really deep orange center. 

I love seeing my daffodils bloom each year. The flowers are almost done, but they managed to survive some freezing temperatures and still look very pretty.

I am looking forward to getting some stitching done this weekend. It is not as hectic as some other recent weekends. I have been working on the pup for a few minutes in the evenings. 

He is looking good. I am making progress on his tail.

Yesterday, I was somewhat tired so I decided to pick this stamped cross-stitch back up because it has fairly large swaths of single colors. I didn't want to make any mistakes on one of my more detailed projects so I worked on the light orange and dark yellow at the top near the printed brown. This is a long-term WIP that my mom gave up on and that I had to frog before restarting. It is a fall scene with a church from Dimensions that is quite old. I don't think that I have worked on it in over a year. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. On Monday, I will join the Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are up to.

Thanks for stopping by!

The pup is growing

No we don't have a puppy in our house. We don't have the time or the energy for that right now. I am working on my puppy cross-stitch though. 

I hope to work on this cutie a little more this evening. I have spent almost all of today writing an exam and a review sheet for my university class. 

 I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. On Monday I will join the Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. Pop on over to these sites to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Finish and a Start

I finally finished stitching Spring Angel on Friday night. I am truly hoping to be able to make the flat-fold some time soon. 

At least my home will feel like Spring, because the weather certainly isn't cooperating. We are expecting temps in the low 30s today with fierce wind, rain and maybe even snow. It is supposed to be fairly cold a good portion of this week too. 

I doubt that my daffodils will last very long. They look so pretty too. 

These tulips were Easter gifts. 

Normally, I would put them out on the front porch, but in between the wind and cold they wouldn't be pretty for long. 

Hubby and I were watching curling and the World Figure Skating Championships when I started stitching this adorable little pup. 

This kit was given to me by my son for Christmas. I am hoping this will stitch up quickly. I feel like I have already made a decent start. 

I'm joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. Maybe I will get a chance to work a little bit on Baker Beach today.

Thanks for stopping by!