Exchanges, July Goals & a Gift

I sent to Marie for the USEBB Red, White and Blue exchange. I stitched Ewe & Eye & Friends Liberty House and finished it as a pin cushion. It was such a fun design to stitch and I really enjoyed putting together all the other "patriotic" bits and pieces to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Since I am back to setting "milestones" and vague sort of rotation, I thought I'd better post my July goals here. Nothing too specific because that stresses me out :-). The projects in my basket are divided into 4 categories that I rotate through every four weeks, Monday through Friday. On the weekends I will stitch round robins, gifts and exchanges.

Week 1 BAPs: Carriage House Samplings Village of Hawks Run Hollow & Shepherd's
Bush Happy Haunting
Week 2 Bent Creek Snappers and Zippers: Red Thread Snappers & Summer Snappers
Week 3 Whimsical and Small: Midsummer Night Designs Oh Heaven, Barrick Samplers
The Fox and the Hare, Blackbird Designs Their Song, Truly Thine, Bluebird's
Message, Ewe & Eye & Friends Whimsical Heart, Shepherd's Bush Love Letters,
Week 4 Samplers: Drawn Thread Alphabet Sampler, Shepherd's Bush Thoughtful Hearts
& Just Nan Silkwood Manor
Weekends Round Robins, Gifts and Exchanges: I've joined two Neighborhood Round Robins & I participate on two Exchange BBs as well as doing other odd exchanges, gifts and PIFs

I received the most beautiful flowers from my DH this week. He is such a sweetie! I wish I could post the scent, it's wonderful. Every time I walk by the table where they are sitting I can smell them :-). He is home this weekend for the first time in three weeks, woohoo! We are so ready for him to be able to be home. Thankfully we are almost there, by mid-August he should be here a lot more than he is gone. I think we are going to try to go see Ocean's 13 and relax!

Thank you all so much for reading my blog and leaving comments! I hope everyone has a nice weekend and a great 4th of July holiday :-).

A Little Finish and an Exchange!

I decided to stitch a Workbasket freebie that has been languishing in my stash forever. Well not literally, but I've had this piece kitted for at least 6 years. Lois at Elegant Stitch offered it as a part of a finishing class on Cube-Its. I needed some instant gratification today :-). I am really pleased with how it turned out, it was a lot of fun to put together.

I also got a wonderful Fourth of July exchange piece from Chris! I love the Eagle, it's very patriotic and since my DH was in the military it means a lot to me. She also sent some gorgeous threads, buttons, and decorations. It was so much fun to open and see everything. Thank you again Chris!

Hope everyone is having a great week. I am off to work on my round robins :-).

Round Robin and Ramblings

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted. Life has been keeping me busy. I love my new part time job, it's so much fun. I have been a lot more consistent about going to the gym which makes me happy. I am working out with a friend, it's great to have some accountability. I go every morning Monday through Friday and take a yoga class on Saturday. In the midst of everything else our DD graduated high school, woohoo! We are so proud of her, she has a bright future ahead of her. My DH is still in Oklahoma and he's hit crunch time on his project so he won't be home again until the end of the month. We are hopeful by mid-July he will be home more than he is gone :-). I went to visit him again earlier this month which was fun.

The good news is I have managed to get some stitching done. The only thing I can show you right now is my Neighbourhood RR. My theme is Country Manor, i.e., lots of pretty houses, beeskeps, animals, flowers and trees. I am very pleased with my start and I can't wait to see what everyone adds to it. I have also been working on some exchanges. I keep saying I am going to take a little break from them but I can't help myself :-). On top of all that I have another Neighborhood RR to finish that starts 15 July.

Several months ago I posted my conflict about setting goals every month. I have to admit, I haven't set any goals since. I've just sort of stitched on whatever took my fancy and didn't worried about it too much. What I've decided is that's not working for me. I am not getting nearly as much done as I would like and I think it's mostly a lack of focus. I don't want to go back to setting really structured goals each month, too much pressure, so I am going to try for more of a middle ground :-). I spent this week going through my stash and picked out the projects that are calling my name the loudest. I've kitted them and put them in my stitching basket. I chose one BAP and selected projects from a variety of designers. I also kitted all my exchanges and gifts for the rest of the year. I think as I finish a project I will chose a new project to add to my basket in it's place. This way I still have lots of flexibility on which piece I am working on but there's some focus there too. Here's my list:

1. Carriage House Samplings Village of Hawks Run Hollow
2. Drawn Thread Alphabet Sampler
3. Midsummer Night Designs Oh Heaven
4. Barrick Samplers The Fox and the Hare
5. Just Nan Silkwood Manor
6. Blackbird Designs Their Song
7. Blackbird Designs Truly Thine
8. Shepherd's Bush Happy Haunting
9. Ewe & Eye & Friends Whimsical Heart
10. Shepherd's Bush Thoughtful Hearts
11. Shepherd's Bush Love Letters
12. Blackbird Designs Bluebird's Message
13. Bent Creek Red Thread Snappers
14. Bent Creek Summer Snappers

15. Needleprint Ann Trump

16. Round Robins and Exchanges

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am planning on lots of stitching and relaxing :-).