Finished Ahead of Time! First Miracle of 2009

Our ANG Guild (Atlanta Chapter) started a service project last November that will result in a beautiful stitched wall hanging for the local Ronald McDonald house. I signed up to be a stitcher because I had recently rejoined the Guild and I really support the mission of Ronald McDonald Houses. The design is beautiful- leaves and background stitched in shades of Splendor with Watercolours accents. The piece I was assigned was long on Splendor and short on Watercolours so you might not get the full effect of the design with my square, but I loved stitching it. You may not agree with me, but mindless basketweave stitching can really fill the bill after a long day at work. There are times when a stitcher needs to be able to pick up the needle and stitch rather than think! Since Splendor is a stranded silk, I did have to dig out my tekobari to lay my stitches. What am I most proud of? The fact that I finished the piece a month and a half before the deadline! There are a few benefits to an empty nest!

Holiday Complete

Where did the time go? College students are headed back to school with CLEAN laundry and full stomachs. Well, full for a minute or two. We cooked all the old favorites and tried a few new ones. (Breakfast Enchiladas: Southern Living Dec. '08 and Italian Chicken Sticks: Paula Deen from the Food Network web site) I really enjoyed this part of Christmas. Actually, the house will be split for a week. Hank is headed back to school for the Interim term and Hughie leaves in a week. I will miss Hank and enjoy time with Hughie. This is the reverse of what we experienced in August. I will head back to work tomorrow after a pleasant two weeks at home. It will be a work day and will help me ease back into a structured routine.

On the knitting front I finished a beautiful pair of Alpaca Sox for my dad- picture after blocking and am working on a pair of socks for a friend of Hughie's . Since he leaves to go back to school in a week, I am under pressure to get this project off the needles. The colors are great and they are working up quickly, so this project is a pleasure not a chore.

When the knitting is done I am turning my attention to a needlepoint square that is part of our ANG community service project- a wall hanging for Ronald McDonald House. I was rolling along on this piece before Christmas, but got sidetracked with the holiday festivities. It needs to be finished by March and has a lot of basketweave so I try to put in 3 lengths of thread per day before working on another project.

The Christmas tree is remarkably fresh and still fragrant. It wasn't completely decorated until the 20th, so I am in no hurry to get it down. Later this week? Next weekend? Time and energy will tell!

Time to work on Chicken and Dumplings- the last of the favorite homemade foods before the dreaded dorm food. I am hanging it out a little bit- Usually I buy frozen dumplings at the grocery store and the results are great. Today I am using homemade pasta. Theoretically it should be better, but ..until the mix is complete, I won't know.....

In the words of Winnie the Pooh..."TTFN" (TaTa for now)