Weekend in Branson!

We spent last weekend in Branson, Mo! We loaded our RV and took off last Thurs for the Ozarks. The ride was pretty bumpy so I put my cross stitching away and knitted on a potholder. We stayed at a secluded little RV park just a couple of blocks off of the famous busy highway 76. We love this park as it has terraced spots and is like a little town, in fact, we were on Yes, Deer Drive!

Friday am we headed to Cecilia's Needlework! Of course I had to add to my stash with some things on my list, and many things that weren't!

My wish list included the JBW Birds and Berries Antique Alphabet. I picked Irish Cream fabric for it and GAST Mulberry for the floss. JN's Bluebird Alphabet caught my eye as did the stitcher hornbook. The chart was a freebie so I bought the hornbook to finish it. I also got another Button Up Birdies chart, 3, love these birds! Are you seeing a pattern here with birds?? Anyway, I also added the ornament preview Just Cross Stitch magazine to my pile. Oh, and the little box was in the half price bin so I couldn't come home without it! Great stashing, huh? And to make it even more fun, Cecilia's were having a 4th of July Sale, everything was 25% off!

That evening my DH and I went here:

We'd heard only good things about it, especially the food, so decided to try it! We certainly weren't disappointed!

First there was a preshow. We had yummy fruit drinks served in the little boots below. A juggler performed, and then he brought up his 15 yr old stepson to juggle! He was amazing! His juggling and tricks were astounding!

Then we went to our seats in the arena. It was divided between the "North" and the "South", we were "Northerners"!

While we were being served our drinks and food the show started, and what a spectacle it was! There were competitions between the "North" and the "South", horseback riding and cattle roping and even buffalo herding! And some audience members participated in some of the contests. It was all very entertaining and the food was scrumptious! I highly recommend the Dixie Stampede!

I tried to do some stitching when we were relaxing in the RV, and did make some progress on my mystery sampler part 2. Here's where I am so far!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing and fun 4th of July!

Mystery Sampler Border is finished!

I finished stitching the border for the With Thy Needle and Thread Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler last week! Whew! That was a mouthful! I loved the colors and the flowers. I will get the second part tomorrow and hopefully start stitching on it again. The snippet that I've seen of it shows an alphabet, tree and birds. Can't wait to see the whole section!

So, here's my sampler so far:

Stitching

I picked up a couple of stitched pieces from the framer recently. The first is a Blue Ribbon freebie called Little Blue Bungalow. I think the plain blue frame complements it so well. I love this piece and it was alot of fun to stitch!



Next is Valentine Rose by Blackbird Designs. I showed this previously and still is the only Anniversaries of the Heart that I've completed so far. I picked the brown frame to use for all of the designs so will pop them in and out.

Lastly I wanted to show you my latest treasure! I found this sampler at an antique show called Bottoms Up, which is only open the first weekend of every month here in Kansas City. We went for the first time yesterday and were impressed by the quality and prices of the antiques. This piece is from the '50's so not very old. However, I like all of the little motifs. It does show you want glue can do to a piece! Wish I knew its history!

Does anyone recognize the design or have any ideas of who designed it?

A Lot of Pictures to Share!

These are my wonderful grandchildren! We were together for our Easter celebration and they had just finished the Egg Hunt! We like to pose them in stairsteps....so from the left is Nathan, 10, Addie, 9, Elizabeth, 9 in June, Kelsey, 6, and Joshua, 6 end of May! They are, of course, my pride and joy!

This is the Edible Arrangement my DD Sarah and family gave me for Mother's Day! It even had chocolate covered strawberries! Yum, yum!

Above is the block I stitched for my stitch group exchange. It's by Carriage House and called Alphabet Sampler! Below is the one I received! I was the lucky one who received mine finished into a pincushion! My friend also made the pins! Isn't it lovely?

The piece above is Americana Samplings by Little House Needleworks. I stitched this last year and recently took advantage of the framing sale at my LNS. The same with the piece below............it's Quaker Style Friendship Sampler by Samplers and Such. I participated in an online Round Robin in 2009. We each chose our own fabric and floss and it was fun to see the different samplers that we stitched on. I love how mine turned out!

This picture of Addie was taken yesterday at her softball game. We are experiencing some unusually cool temps right now so she was bundled up and all suited up in the catcher's gear!

And last, but certainly not least is the latest picture of our baby birds! This was hard to get! Mama has been very protective, any sound from our house and she is swooping toward the windows! I was somewhat hesitant to even take another picture, but my DH wanted to try. He finally got this great shot of all three and you can see that they now have feathers!

Thanks for stopping by!

We Have Babies!!

Yes, while we were out camping over the weekend, three baby robins were born!

You can clearly see the 3 in the mirror! Aren't they something, with their little mouths open wide?!

Mama or Papa was quite distressed that we were near the nest so we took the picture and quickly retreated into the house!

I hope we will be able to take more pictures to show you as they grow!

We're Expecting......!!!

Remember the first Robin of Spring?

She's going to be a mother!!! (At least I like to think it's the same Robin!)



We discovered a mud and grass nest tucked behind our front porch light fixture last week!

We noticed that a Robin was flying into the nest alot so when she flew off, my DH put a mirror up behind the nest, I got the camera and this is the picture of the contents!!

Three pretty blue eggs!!!

I was fearful that Mama wouldn't return, but she did. She faithfully sits up there unless we disturb her!! I tried to take a picture from inside the house, but she'd have none of that and
flew off.... then stared at the house from a nearby branch for awhile!

Robins can have around 4 eggs in a nest or as many as will fill the nest so we are wondering if she's laid more. At any rate, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the babies!

Finished!

Well, Friends, here we are at the end of another week. And here's what I finally finished! This is the second chart of Blackbird's Anniversaries of the Heart series. In other words, it's the February chart. I chose to dedicate it to my maternal grandmother Ina Leive. Her birthday was Feb 6th, 1892. She was so special to me because she made me feel special, and anyone that she came in contact with. She'd greet me with, " How's my Sharyn today?" I, in turn, have followed her example when greeting my grandchildren. Grandma was a petite lady with a smile that would make her eyes twinkle. She was a fantastic storyteller and we grandchildren would love to hear her tell her wonderful stories about homesteading in Montana, and adventures with her 3 children on the Kansas farm. I so wish that we'd recorded these stories or someone would have written them down. I never tired of hearing them. This design provided quite a challenge to me. I have never seen myself as a bricklayer, but feel pretty experienced now after building this house! Thanks for visiting. I always appreciate your comments. I hope everyone has a stitchy weekend!