I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

Sorry I've been absent for several weeks...life just gets in the way sometimes. Don't ya' just hate that? ;-) There hasn't been much time for stitching lately but I have been working on the top-secret gift for a friend and a Pine Mountain pillow. I finished the pillow just minutes ago:

That is Pine Mountain Designs' "Winter Foursome" pillow that now resides...yep, you guessed it -- on my year-'round snowman shelves. *big, cheesy grin*

While I was away, I managed to do some major stash enchancement. Here's a picture:

Meanwhile, back to my stitching on the top-secret project. It has been a goal of mine for three months to get this done and in the mail. I am determined to be done with it so I'd better get busy. I promise to catch up on reading your blogs and updating mine soon. Bye for now, happy stitching, and keep the frog away! :-)

Tractor magnet

Let's try this again...Blogger already ate my first post. *grrrrrrrr*

That's a little tractor magnet I started and finished this afternoon. It's on the refrigerator in our kitchen which has a John Deere theme. Guess I felt like a quick little finish, so there it is. :-)

Now, back to stitching that gift for a friend...

"Noah's Sub"

It's been well over a year since I worked on "Noah's Sub". I managed to pull it out within the last week and have spent some quality time with Noah. Here's my latest WIP (work in progress) picture:

Summer baseball is over -- woo hoo! Even the boys are glad to have a break. We will spend next week getting all our duckies in a row because we hope to take a vacation the following week. :-)

Meanwhile, I am trying really hard to not start new projects. I'm weak...WEAK, I tell you!

Lisa/Texan - I plead the Fifth about the number of remaining Pine Mountain pillow kits in my stash. I also refuse to admit how many I have on my wishlist that will probably get ordered soon. Hah! ;-)

Thanks to everyone for all the comments. Have a wonderful Fourth of July...and be safe! Happy stitching!

A patriotic finish, courtesy of Pine Mountain

It's dangerous to go through your stash when you already have too many WIPs. Trust me on this.

Last night, I started and finished my first ornament-type thingamajig. Tonight, I brought out another Pine Mountain pillow kit from my stash and got it done. When I saw the pillow's patriotic fabric, the firecracker button, and the saying "God Bless America", I figured it was just too perfect since the Fourth of July is just days away.

Tomorrow I have promised myself that I will work on that gift for a friend. I might not stick with it all day and all evening, but I will make some killer progress.

Many, many thanks to everyone for their comments! I LOVE seeing what y'all have to say. It truly tickles me to find comments, compliments, questions...whatever is on the reader's mind. It also gives me great pleasure to surf everyone else's blogs, too. It is at other stitcher's blogs that I find some laughter, tons of motivation, inspiration, and living proof that cross-stitch is NOT dying.

To Lisa/Texan (but everyone can read this...if it was private, I would have e-mailed her...LOL) -- To answer your question, I got my Mill Hill "On the Range" kit at Cross Stitch Haven in Oklahoma City. I didn't buy the extra kit (the little turquoise boot). Also, I had it custom-framed instead of using the recommended frame. If you can't find the kit, lemme know and I'll be glad to enable. Er, I mean...help you find it. *angelic smile* And about those Redbird Designs...ohhhhhhh man, aren't they great? We have good taste. *hee hee* I also have their alphabet quilt patterns and the Texas Montly Minis, as well as a few other single, small designs.

To Julie (again, everyone can read this...LOL) -- I will gladly post an updated picture of my year-'round snowman/winter display as soon as I get my shelves dusted. Hahahahaha! That might happen tomorrow...it might happen in a week. Who knows? ;-) Meanwhile, there is a fairly recent picture in my Photobucket album. Scroll down and look on the right side of your screen while at my blog and you'll see a link to "LoriRay's Photobucket Albums". After clicking that link, you will see a list of sub-albums. Click on "Home" and somewhere in there are a few pics of my snowman shelves. :-) I promise to post pics on my blog soon, just because you asked. Don't go gettin' a big head now. *snort* ;-)

Once again, I've stayed up almost an hour past my self-promised deadline. It was worth it -- stitching, watching Forensic Files, and getting a little quiet "me" time. *deep breath* Yeah, that was nice. *big grin*

Meanwhile, wish us luck for my oldest son's baseball tournament this week. The tournament will end Wednesday or Thursday, depending on if we win or lose our scheduled games. The first game is Tuesday evening at 6 PM. Win or lose, we'll play Wednesday evening. At least these are single games and not double-headers like in the regular season. This is really it this time -- after the tournament this week, there is no more baseball for the rest of July. Coach will start calling practice sometime in August before school starts.

We all need a break and are trying to schedule a vacation around mid-July. That was before one of our employees got himself a DUI last Saturday night and was also charged with an open container. Sheesh. How utterly stupid!!! I think his girlfriend wanted us to bail him out. As if! Let him sit and rot until his sentencing July 29th. See if I care. He shouldn't have been drinking and driving. When it comes to drinking and driving, I have ZERO tolerance and ZERO patience. (Betcha already had that figured out.) My point is that I am hoping we can still schedule a vacation. If not, then we MUST take one in August before school starts, even if it's not as long or as far as we had originally planned.

ANYway, my gosh, I have rambled forever. If you've made it this far, come back another time and re-read this entire post if you need help falling asleep. I won't even bill you for the assistance. If you didn't make it this far, well, thanks for lookin' at the pictures. ;-) Nite nite to everyone. *doing my Miss America wave which Carolyn knows all-too-well*