Mary Engelbreit house

Mary Englebright house
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

I know I haven't been stitching alot, Besides lots of people visiting this summer, I have been concentrating on catching up on my scrapbooking a bit. I was able to finish a first year album for A. kinda a highlights thing. I am pretty happy about that.

I did this quick little stitch, it was a kit rom Bucilla, Mary Engelbreit's Santa's Shop. I removed the aida, and substituted some linen, I want to finish it into a little scissor fob, but I am not sure if I want to find some cute fabric or stitch something else on the back.

Before assembly

Before assembly
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

After assembly
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

I finally finished my Prairie Schooler 4 season block. the first picture shows all 6 sides stitched, and ready for assembly. the bottom picture is the finished product. These were the Four seasons found in last year's issues of Just Cross Stitch, and the small end squares are past freebies. I stitched them on 18 count Aida,and stuffed with matress foam. This came out mostly how i envisioned it , my corners are a bit rough... it is a challenge to not bulk up the corners withe excess fabric but yet not cut too much away and cause fraying.

I am not sure what I will do with it, maybe a show pin cushion.

Updated: Hmmmm cubes must be in the air. Abi posted one too. I have never played Portal, but she put her cube together the same way I did, but I used a ladder stitch in stead of a whip stitch to connect my sides. and i used Heatnbond instead of interfacing.

This place is hoppin!

Mom and daughter on her frst birthday
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

The party was fantastic. The weather was perfect (a bit humid but not deadly). and A. was in a very good mood for most of it. I was running around a bit too much to enjoy it my self but I think everyone had a good time.
A. did not smash her cake. she was very delicate with it, picking off each blob of icing individually, so we had to smash it a bit so she could try the cake part. I think she liked it.
Birthday cake
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

she is now 18 lb 2 oz, and 30 inches long. and she eats like a horse

The big news... Yesterday she figured out how to be mobile. She can now push herself backwards on her butt, in small circles. I am trying to figure out how to post some video of this development.

My inlaws left yesterday, and now we have about 2 weeks of no visitors, but then my mom visits again for a few days. It looks like between now and then, I will finally get to experience the joy of babyproofing the house.

I have not cross stitched a thing in days, I have been reading! First , "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz, I have always loved Dean, so I figure if he puts out 4 books on the same character maybe I should start reading them (good but not his best). Then "things I learned about my dad (in therapy)" a group of essays by bloggers and writers edited by my favorite mommy blogger, Dooce (Heather Armstrong). I liked this book, but am unsure if I want Ian to read it as it seems a source for lots of reasons why you should never have more than one kid. And speaking of ex-Mormons now I am reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakhauer. I am fascinated and horrified by the story of the LDS church, both mainstream and fundamentalist, of which I only had a vague notion prior to this book. But this is not a religious blog so I will leave it at that.

Back to cross stitching. I was almost finished with the Winter block, but realized that i was all out of 3023, so I need to go buy that, in the meantime, have started the last block, spring, but it is nothing to show yet just a blob of red.