Lots Going On

No really, there has been. There was the Clay County Fair, two Jacksonville Symphony concerts, a quick visit from my aunt & uncle on their way to summer in Michigan, oh and I got an offer for a contract through the end of the year that sounded very interesting and I've been getting all the paperwork for that done. But ya'll just want to see pictures.

Let's start with how mom and dad's anniversary sampler turned out when framed.

An Emblem of Love by Ellen Chester of With My Needle

It's so hard to get a really good picture of this since I ended up putting it under glass. The colors really don't show through in this picture as deep and beautiful as they really are. There was a small problem with the frame so it was ready until the Tuesday before our county fair started, which was the last day you could enter things in for showing. Mom, Dad and I went to the framers to pick it up and then take it directly to the fair grounds. Mom said she almost cried then, but didn't thinking if she did I would as well as the mother and daughter team that do our framing. It's now hanging on a wall in our house and they both really love it. Plus I did manage to keep it a secret, neither of them knew I was working on it.

Speaking of the fair, I took a few other things and did well in the ribbon department.

Left: Entries and ribbons awarded, Right: in exhibit hall

As you can see I took Traditional Elegance, Little Green Acorns, An Emblem of Love, Peacock Pinkeep Drum and Linen Sewing Book (entered as one item) and my Traveling Woman shawl. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Since I last posted I also finished La-D-Da's Briar Rabbit.

I love how this turned out and can't wait to decide on a frame. I think I know what I want but not positive. It will end up on the same wall as A Stitcher's Row. I finished this in record time, mainly because that's all I stitched on. I started on March 28th and finished it on April 7th. Crazy right? And I had to stitch the majority of the bunny twice since I messed it up and couldn't figure out how to make it work without ripping and restitching.

I'm not sure why I'm on the kick to only stitch on one thing at a time but it's continuing with HallowEden. I'm really close to having it finished and picked it back up after I finished Briar Rabbit. Here's a peek as of this morning.

I hope to get this one finished at least by the end of this week. We'll see. Last week I was asked to return to ING as a contractor and jumped at the opportunity. It's with the same group I worked with last and I'll be doing something a bit different. I am hoping all the paperwork gets completed and my computer arrives soon so I can start working. Yep, I'll be mainly working from home again which is another reason I jumped at this job. I like working from home, I have a home office so it all works out really well. Plus have you seen the price of gas? It's 33 miles from my house to the office in Jacksonville and my truck gets like 15 mpg on that trip. Ugh! Not having to go into the office every day is really nice, not just because it saves me some money, but time as well, those 33 miles take almost an hour to drive. So I don't have almost 2 hours of drive time every day or the expense of the gas plus a job that sounds interesting with a group of people I like. Just a great blessing.

I'd like to also thank Lee for including me in her March Favorite Posts. What an honor and so unexpected. If you've never checked out her blog run right over there and enjoy. And be sure to see what other bog entries were her favorites last month, she always finds some great posts!

That's all for now, I'm headed to a meeting a church that I'm hoping won't last too long. Hope everyone has had a great week and has been getting some time with your fiber project of choice!