So...long time, no post...

I think it's only been a week...but it feels like so much longer than that!

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing holiday weekend.  We here in Philly had our first heat wave of the season, and it's not officially summer yet.  It was 96 degrees yesterday.  I hate to say it folks, but I think we're in for another scorcher of a summer.  I am totally ok with this, since I will take the heat over snow and ice and cold ANY DAY of the week.  (Although....the unexpected snow day from work still makes me giddy like a school girl...haha!)  Today was MUCH cooler -- topping off at 76 degrees and breezy.  It was absolutely beautiful out!!

Enough of this boring, old lady talk about the weather.

In the spirit of Memorial Day, Paulette of Plum Street Samplers posted a lovely little freebie in remembrance of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  Visit her post to get your copy!  She always has such lovely graphs :-)

In my week-long absence, I've been working on a few things.  First, I finished the piece that I designed for my friend at work - she had her baby on Friday, and I can't wait to give her the announcement!  I'll post pictures at a later date -- I want her to see it first before I start spreading it all around :-)  I did post a little teeny tiny preview of it way back when -- it's the Irish blessing.  It turned out absolutely amazing, and I can't wait to share it.  I hope you can withstand the anticipation :-)

I showed you last week my finish of "Garden Fresh" by Little House Needleworks.  Well, I couldn't stop there, so I continued right on with the companion piece that comes with the kit -- "A Stitch in Thyme".

I plan on finishing this as a needlebook, just as Diane has the model finished, but mine will be a smidge smaller.  The model was stitched on 32 count linen; I chose 40 count.  My fabric is an overdye from Silkweaver which I absolutely LOVE.  Unfortunately, I cannot give the name of the color, since it was not labeled when I bought it.  I searched the Silkweaver website, but couldn't really find something that resembled it.  I may have missed it.  If any of you can match it, let me know!  It's a really great neutral color, with splotches all over the piece.  (I forgot just how big a fat half is...and of 40 count to boot.  I'll be stitching on this for a looonnnnggggg time.  Be prepared to see this fabric often in my work.  haha!)

I also finished "Pumpkins Three"...but totally forgot to take a picture of it.  It turned out fabulous, and I promise to post a picture of it before the weekend is over.

Just as I was leaving my craft room tonight, I stumbled upon this cute little summer ditty that I did last year --

This one is from Lizzie Kate, and is stitched on 32 count blue overdyed fabric.  Alas, as it's been a year since I finished it, I'm totally cluefree as to what the color name of this fabric is or who makes it.  I believe it's very similar to what I stitched Cricket Collection "Summer" on, but I can't be 100% positive.  I'll be putting some cording around the outer edge and attaching a magnet so I can hang it on my file cabinet at work.  (Yes, I know.  I keep saying I'm going to hang things at my desk at work.  You have NO idea how B-O-R-I-N-G my cube walls are...I have to spice it up with floods of color...and, at the moment, I do that with a myriad of Post-its.  Makes me look like a crazy stationery hoarder.  Wait...)

That's all I have for you today, ladies and gentlemen.  I hope to post again over the weekend -- I'm forcing myself to totally finish the other baby announcement I'm doing, along with maybe some scrapbooking.  Hopefully it'll stay cool enough so I can spend a longer period of time in my craft room than I could when the heat index was that of the surface of the sun.  Fingers crossed.

Do something creative today!