Happy Easter!

Welcome, Treasurer Hunters! Your letter is L. The pattern for the above chart is available from Free Patterns Online. Your next stop on the hunt is a visit to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study. Want to learn about the Hunt? Visit Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.

A small project I stitched a few years ago.

Frustrating Five

I plan to get back to my Five on Friday, five things that made me smile during the week. First, though, I need to get my Frustrating Five off my chest.

5. Standard Time. I hate the switch from Standard to Savings Time. Now that we're on DST 8 months out of the year, can't we just be on the shifted time all year long? (And shouldn't summertime now be "standard" time and winter be "savings" time?) This week has been particularly tough with getting the girls to bed. All of us have had a hard time waking up.

4. Communication. I feel like the last island in the archipelago when it comes to receiving timely information.

3. Potty training. Just when I think we've progressed to the next stage, some new problem arises.

2. Allergies. This year's wacky winter has released the spring pollens early. I'm suffering greatly, especially on days when I forget to take my medications.

1. Self-flushing toilets. They're never calibrated to flush when I want them to flush, and they scare the girls.

Daffodils

My daffodils bloomed yesterday. Here are photos from last night and today.

Happy Leap Day!

I hope you're all enjoying your leap day. I was hoping to show you a picture of my daffodils in bloom as evidence of what a crazy non-winter we've had in DC, but they've not quite bloomed yet. The buds are on the brink of opening though. The ones by the school across the street are in full bloom. My north-facing yard is always among the last to bloom, but it does mean that I have color in the yard lasting a little later than everyone else. Plus, it's been raining cats and dogs all day, too. I'm very, very grateful that it's rain and not snow, although one work-closing blizzard this winter would have been nice. DDA is sorely disappointed that she wasn't able to create snow angels at all this winter.

There are days when I think I should rename this blog "Stitching 18 inches at a time". That's about all the stitching I did this month - one pull of 18 inches of DMC floss. It's sad.

For your amusement, here are some of the blog posts I starred this month.

Inspirational:

From my friend Michael: No Adventures without Grief

The Happiness Project talked a lot about bed times this month. That's something I need to work on. I have a sticky note at my desk that reads "Eat Well. Sleep Enough. Exercise. Be Creative." These are things that I'm working on, as I know that they will help me feel better and more relaxed and less stressed out about life in general.

Syd talks about some of the things she's doing too.

Coni's 15 minute rule could be applied in many situations, but I love that she's applied it to stitching. Check out her amazing craft room, too.

Recipes:

Homemade Egg Rolls
Easy Meatballs
Power Smoothie (no bananas!)
Curried Butternut Squash Pasta (for DH; I'm no fan of either curry or butternut squash)
This Noodles and Cabbage dish is more my style.
I think these Veggie Nachos or Cauliflower Cheese Fritters would be a hit with the girls.

Crafting:

I love the soft aqua colors in this card.

I seem to like somewhat retro color schemes: here, here, here, and here.

Lisa's use of tone on tone is great. I also like her use of die cuts: flowers and letters.

Especially for Lee, Carrickmacross lace goes runway.

For Valentine's Day:

Stitching Sweethearts
Homemade heart-shaped crayons
Archival valentines

And finally, any suggestions for my friend Christine on a homemade, natural facial scrub?

WIPocalypse

While I'm not joining any of the formal SALs, I was inspired to take stock of where I am with my projects. Here are the projects I have in progress that I hope to finish stitching (and maybe even finish-finish) this year. There are many, many more lurking in the closets still.

• Spring Hare by Erica Michaels (75% stitched) PDF
• Snowdon (sea otter) by Jemini Designs (75%) JCSO '08 - in the top left of the 2nd picture
  
• Buttercup Alphabet by Cathy Jean (50%)
• Lavender Alphabet by Cathy Jean (90%)
  
• Peace 2001 by Hillside Samplings (5%) - fingers crossed that the 3rd time's the charm on this one. This is the piece I'm working on for Lee's Older But Better Challenge from last March!
  
• Sparkling Bluebells by The Sweetheart Tree (0% - This one *was* 30% done, and then I discovered that I cut the fabric wrong, and it's about 6 inches too short. Argh!!!!!)

And I have 3 projects waiting in the wings, all kitted up.

• Dolphin by Alita Designs (a companion for Snowden in my house)
• French Country Bunny by JBW Designs
• French Country Cat by JBW Designs

I also owe a friend a handmade gift from a "pay it forward" I signed up to do last year. I want to stitch her a sheep. I suspect I'll stitch one from the JCSO 2009 issue, since it had a number of cute sheep.

Except for Bluebells (which is a birth sampler I need to do to complete the set for my niephlets), I'm still excited about all of these projects. The Buttercup and Lavender alphabets are birth samplers for my girls, and I need to rechart the alphabets into birth details.

Hmmm. 10 projects. I'll be pleased if I finish 5 and delighted if I reach 8. Plus, I'll probably start another project or two at some point. I'm bad that way.

Favorite Christmas Album

What are your favorite Christmas albums (not songs) by one artist/group? As much as it's not Christmas without hearing Bing croon, I don't actually own an album by him. He's on a number of the compilations I own, though. My top 5 are:

5. Loreena McKennitt, A Winter Garden
4.Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas
3. James Taylor, A Christmas Album
2. Johnny Mathis, Merry Christmas
1. The Beach Boys, The Christmas Album

A Shameful Finish (AMOT)

Dear Loyal Readers,

There I was, doing so well with A Month of Thanks, and then I crashed and burned. Still, I had more posts in November than I've had in quite awhile.

To finish up the series, I give you a week of thanks:

24: Thanksgiving Day: I am thankful that I live in a land of bounty and that we could share some of our bounty with others.

25: Black Friday: Ever so grateful that I didn't need to be anywhere near a store. We had an uneventful flight home. Thankful also for the chauffeur we hired (he drove our car to and from the airport for us), which made the ride home with tired, hungry children more manageable.

26-27: Thankful for days of rest and recuperation. Saturday, we took care of a bunch of errands (groceries, laundry). On Sunday, the weather was nice, so we went outside to do some long overdue yardwork. We accomplished a lot, but we didn't feel rushed, and it was nice to be home for the weekend after travelling.

28: Thankful for our cats. They're little dogs in cat bodies. They were delighted we were home and cuddly for days after our return. They remind me to slow down and enjoy some affection.

29: Thankful for family, immediate and extended. Mine's a real mixed bag of personalities and disfunctions, but they're mine, and they love me. And I love them.

30: Thankful for my spouse. We met 20 years ago, and it always surprises me that we're not completely sick of each other by now. There were times when I wasn't sure we were going to make it, but we found out how to be a team and have made it work. For this, I am truly and completely grateful.