Wacky Weather....and some show-n-tell

Is Mother Nature playing tricks on us?
While the calendar gave us a "heads up" that Autumn has begun...Micheals and Jo-Ann craft stores have been filling their aisles with crafty fall projects, Halloween decorations and a sprinkling of holiday decor...I am not sure that we in Northern California know what time of the year it is.

During the summer - from the months of June until mid-September - our average temp must have been between 75 to 80. Which for us in this part of NorCal is very cool (typical summer temps for where we live is mid to upper 90s with several days of 100-112). Our summer was so cool in fact, that we turned off the air conditioning and lived with with windows open from mid-July until recently (gotta love those low energy bills!). Well, we have been experiencing some record breaking temps here lately...99 degrees Saturday and Sunday, 100 yesterday and they are predicting another 100+ degree day.

What is very funny is how everyone reacts to the strange temps........

• Last spring, just as summer was approaching, everyone was walking around making the comment: "I am looking forward to the summer, but I don't care too much for those hot temperature."
• During our cool summer, you heard comments like: "man, it is cold. Where is our summer?"
• As autum has arrived, again the complaint are noted: "wow, it is hotter than hell out here, this is miserable! When is it going to get cooler?"

Boy we are just never satisfied, are we? Guess we better just not complain and whine or we will get what we wish for...remember, you can't fool with Mother Nature :)

Another Package in the mail...
Blogging has shrunk the world for me. It has allowed me to come in contact with so many wonderful people all over the world - many because of our common interest of needlework; some because of our role as a mother and our shared experience of raising kids; others because of a place that we visited or planning to visit; a few because of a life experience and the need for support...there are so many reasons why we follow eachother's lives and feel apart of them.

Just recently I have had some communication with some fellow hockey moms - one in particular who commented on one of my posts was Julie. After a few emails back and forth, we gave the USPS a little business as we did a little swapping of some hockey trading pins for the kids (something that is a collectable in many youth hockey tournaments). Yesterday I received this package from her:

Inside the package was 2 hockey trading pins and a hockey puck with her player's team logo on it (my boys were excited to receive these - Robert not only collects the pins, but also has a shelve of logo'd pucks...and Matthew was equally excited to add this pin to his pin collection, too!)...and there were also a few goodies for me. First is Mill Hill Autumn Harvest III: "Trick or Treat" Counted Glass Bead Kit (despite the temps, I know that Halloween is getting closer - so this will be a fun project and decoration!). Second is a beautiful scissor fob which has a wonderful sunflower on the end. I love it! This is my first beaded scissor fob...which of course I put on my scissors immediately...before packing up my stitching for my night at the hockey rink :)

And what am I stitching now-a-days?

Over the weekend I finished stitching the last ornament for the ornament swap and decided that I would start my new project before doing the finishing work on the ornament. What is my new start? It is The Family Sampler by LHN:

I purchased the pattern from http://www.123stitch.com/ as soon as it was released (the beginning of September), pulled together all the DMC and CC it called for and purchased the fabric at Stitchville USA while I was in Minnesota a couple of weekends ago. So, while at the hockey rink last night (from 7:00pm until 9pm) - here is what I got done...

The fabric I am stitching on is LL Vintage Strawflower 36ct, which is very nice fabric to stitch this. I started in the middle...where do you start your bigger projects?

Well, my blogging friends, it is time for me to sign off. I hope that you all are having a nice start to your week - whether it is the first week of autumn or not :) Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa