The last Sunday of 2013 - Stitching Post

Today is the last Sunday of 2013. Strange, huh? It is hard to believe that another year has come and is going...fleeting fast in front of our eyes. Is it me, or is it the fact that the older we get the faster time goes.

Anyway, yesterday while at the hockey rink, with strong stitching mojo, I made some X's in the following projects...

First up, I started my Torah portion - actually got in the first two hebrew words:

Torah Portion - Exodus 4:12-15
International Torah Stitch By Stitch Project

 וְעַתָּה, לֵךְ - this are the words with the vowels (the dashes and the dots below the letters). In the Torah, the scribes do not include the vowels. These two words are pronounced: Ve'atah lech and mean "Now therefore go". G-d is speaking to Moses

Let's set up my portion that I am stitching...In the chapter 3, the chapter before mine, Moses is tending his flock and sees the famous burning bush [An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush]. G-d is instructing Moses to free the slaves of Egypt. But Moses seems to doubt that anyone would listen to him. The Lord tries to convince Moses that they will and shows him signs [a rod that turns into a snake] to take with him in which will convince the people. But, Moses, still not sure he is the man for the job, questions the Lord about his speech...for Moses was said to stutter or have some type of speech defect, which wouldn't allow him to speak clearly or to be taken seriously. This gets us to my portion and the first two words: 

וְעַתָּה, לֵךְ...Now therefore go...

It took me a little while to get up the confidence to stitch those first letters...I guess I was lacking confidence in my stitching ability like Moses was lacking confidence that he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt and take them to the promised land of "milk and honey". But after a read the section on how to start 2-3 times yesterday, I counted down 18 holes and over 14 from the right and put in my needle...and off I went.

So after a while of stitching black X's, it was time to turn to something that had a little color...so out I pulled:

"Seven Pines"
Complimentary design from Little House Needleworks

This was a freebie on the Little House Needleworks blog in November. I thought it was really cute and it definitely called out to me "Stitch Me, Stitch Me!" You know how that goes, right :)

Well, time to close out this post. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday! Until next time, take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

My Torah Portion Arrived

Last month, I wrote a post about a HUGE international project that I registered for called: Torah Stitch By Stitch. Well, yesterday I received the supplies for my portion of the torah I am stitching...

The supply package for my torah portion for the International Project called: Torah Stitch By Stitch
It includes: DMC 310, 24 Tapestry Needle and 14-ct Aida (14" x 14") as well as the patter for my portion

I am so excited! However, in my last post about this project I stated that I was assigned Exodus 5:12-15. However, there was a typo in the email that I receive for my torah portion I am stitching is Exodus 4:12-15, which is:

Exodus 4:12-15

King James Version (KJV)

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

I look forward to stitching this, although given the size of the project (I am 1 of 1463 people from all over the world)  and what I will be stitching (a part of the torah, a part of the Five Books of Moses) it is a little daunting. Yet, at the same time I feel honored to be a part of this project.

Well, time to throw my jogging/walking clothes on and get my butt outside....in the beautiful Northern California weather, which happens to be clear, cold (37 degrees right now, with a forecast of 68 degree temps later today). Definitely can't complain.

Until next time, remember to take care and...

Love, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

The day after...

Well, I guess it is back to a "somewhat" normal routine.

Had to get up and go into the store to do a little dipping. While we really aren't too busy today, there are the...what we call..."left over" holiday arrangements to make. See, in order to make sure that we can deliver all the arrangements on time, we limit the amount of deliveries on Christmas Eve based on the amount of delivery drivers we have. Once we turn off deliveries, many of the new delivery orders get moved to the 26th. So we started today with a few more than a "normal" non-holiday day.

But I was able to leave the store by 10:30am to get home in order to catch up on some of the laundry as well as get the boys ready for hockey practice. Yes, that is right, they have practice today. :)

So, how was your Christmas holiday? Did Santa get you want you wanted, needed or deserved? Well, I got exactly what I wanted...a wonderful day at home with my family. Everyone was here...my loving husband and my two boys. Everyone slept in, had a late breakfast, went to the movies (we saw The Hobbit movie), enjoyed a nice Chinese meal out and then napped the rest of the day. It was perfect!

Well, got to start packing up my stuff and head out to the rink.

Until next time, take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

It's getting to look a little like Christmas...and it is :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas, 

Happy Holidays, 

Happy Hump Day!

The holiday is here and it is a day off for me! 

My loving husband and I really enjoy having our own business, but these holidays are killlers. For the last week, I have been getting up at 3am in order to be at the store dipping strawberries, apples, bananas and pineapple reindeer shapes in chocolate by 3:30am so that our wonderful staff can get going on making the beautiful arrangements when they come in at 8am that look like this...

Or this...

And for Christmas...these was this bouquet...

Once the last delivery was made yesterday and the last bouquet was picked up, the store was closed and Christmas 2013 was in the books. And for the first time in over a week we were all home for dinner...Robert (older son), Matthew (younger son), Loving Husband and I. It was nice to be home all together and today it is nice to be lazy, to have slept in until 7:45am.

So, to you, my dear stitching friends from all over - I wish you a Merry Christmas...a Happy Holiday. May love and peace fill your hearts!

Until next time, take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

I know what I really want for Christmas.

I want my childhood back.

Nobody is going to give me that. I might give at least the memory of it to myself if I try. I know it doesn't make sense, but since when is Christmas about sense, anyway? It is about a child, of long ago and far away, and it is about the child of now. In you and me. Waiting behind the door of our hearts for something wonderful to happen. A child who is impractical, unrealistic, simpleminded and terribly vulnerable to joy.

~ROBERT FULGHUM

_______________________________________________________________

(below is a post I started on December 13 and never posted...

oh my, it has been a little crazy around here!)

Well, I suppose when the temps start heading back up to the mid-sixties it is hard to get into the Christmas spirit...and when you are a small business owner and have to work from sun up to sun down (plus organize your sons' carpools to and from the hockey rink), it is hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

So to help bring in some spirit, I finally took down the faux Christmas tree box from the top shelf in the garage and got it unpacked...

But wait...what are those things in the box with the 22 year old faux tree?

Could that be...Hockey Pucks?????? Guess I shouldn't be too surprised to find hockey pucks in the box...for that explains the nice hole that was ripped in the side of the poor old box. Nevertheless, the faux tree my DH and I purchased our first Christmas together as husband and wife, was unharmed and went up in no time.

A sprinkling of white lights...all of my wonderful Xstitched ornaments from many of you from over the years placed around the tree...Snowden the Snowman, lay underneath guarding the stockings. And to top things off...the styrofoam angel Matthew made when he was in preschool (he is now a freshman in high school). Now, it is beginning to look like Christmas!

And soon, I will have a new ornament to place on our tree. For last night, while sitting in a rink, watching my older son's practice....

I put the last final stitches into my Prairie Schooler 2009....

I hope to find time to finish it off and hang it on the Christmas tree...however, it is highly doubtful. Maybe it will be on the tree next year :)

Anyway, time to head off to the store. Until next time...remember,

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Thursday's Glitz

Glorious morning walk...frosty grass on glistening in the morning sun. Gotta love the California chilly winter weather.

Last weekend both boys travelled to opposite ends of the Mid-West and experienced extreme winter weather. Robert was in Minnesota for a hockey tournament where the temps were hoving around 0. And Matthew was down in Texas where they were dealing with an ice storm. I don't know if Matthew's team was doing more skating in a hockey rink or outside in the hotel parking lot. Both boys did well over the weekend. Matthew's team won all their games.

While they were out of town, I found some time to sit and stitch...and out came an UFO:

2009 Schooler Santa - The Prairie Schooler
Stitched one over one

I started this several years ago and then it just got lost in the Project Black Hole; so I just pulled it out last weekend and did a little (I stress "little") work on it. I would love to finish this up and put it on the Christmas tree this year. So send some stitching mojo my way and maybe I can get it done!

Well...time to get to the store. Until next time, remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

Crazy Crazy morning and an exciting stitching project called the Torah Stitch by Stitch

A day in the life of a hockey team manager...6am, my alarm goes off...time to get up in order to get everyone around. No, the boys aren't going to school today for both have a hockey tournament in opposite directions of the US. Robert going to Minnesota and Matthew flying off to Texas. 

But wait...my email box is filled with emails. Not all are ads for holiday savings at local stores and internet website...there is one from VirginAmerican...Matthew's flight to Dallas is cancelled due to forecasted winter weather coming. Ugh!

Not only does this affect him, but all 15 of his teammates, 2 coaches and 5 chaperones. So many phone calls, emails, texts...researching other options...talking to the tournament director...the decision was made to change the flight to tomorrow in hopes that things will be fine. Emails sent out to all the players' families to alert them regarding the flight change (they all were able to change and get on the early Friday flight - yeah!)...phone call to the hotel to change reservation for arrival tomorrow...phone call to the van rental to change the reservations for the team vans...all done.

Now we wait to see what transpires with the Dallas weather and if it will affect our early morning Friday flight. 

Nothing like a little scramble of chaos to start one's Thursday morning. None of the players were happy, of course, because they had to go to school today..ha, ha, ha.

__________________________________

On another note, something much more exciting...

A few months back, one of my stitching Facebook friends posted information about a really neat cross stitch project called the Torah Stitch by Stitch - an international project. She posted a photo of herself, sitting in her favorite stitching chair stitching hebrew letters on a piece of fabric. Intrigued, I followed the link and read about this international project and was totally fascinated...so I registered to be one of the stitchers. 

When I registered, I received confirmation of my registration which stated that "...I was in the queue". As soon  as soon as my 4-verse section from the Torah (the Old Testament - the 5 Books of Moses) was formatted (pattern created, converted to a pdf and formatted), I would be sent an email with instructions for payment. As soon as payment is received (via paypal) I would be sent all the materials and the pattern. 

Well, yesterday I received the email with payment instructions and notification of the verse I will be stitching in Hebrew. Payment has been made...now I am just waiting. In the meantime, my Torah/Bible portion is Exodus 5:12-15:

12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.” 14 And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?”

15 Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you treat your servants like this?

So, as soon as I receive my materials I will be stitching these verses in Hebrew and be one of 1463 stitchers from all over the world. How cool will that be. I will keep you posted :)

Well, got to go. Until next time remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Winter Windy December Day

My parents called from Minnesota to let me know that it has snowed and it is cold, so I guess I don't have anything to complain about when it is 50 degrees here in the Bay Area of Northern California...but the winds are beginning to howl and the forecast is for dropping temps to the scheduled nightly lows of 28-35 degrees. Although, I guess I still don't have too much to complain about :)

I had a nice 9 mile walk/jog this morning. The wind wasn't quite in my favor today as it was hitting me in the face when I was going up hill and pushing my behind when I was going down. But it felt good to get outdoors; something that I really haven't been able to do for about 2 weeks due to business.

Walking exercises the whole person.  It exercises the body-- it gives the arms and legs a workout.  It stimulates the flow of blood; expands the lungs.  It is gentle and relaxing.  It exercises the mind-- it shakes up the brain cells.  It fills them with oxygen;  drives out the cobwebs.  A famous scientist says he does his best thinking on the two miles of sidewalk between his home and office.  Walking exercises the emotions.  It gives you a chance to observe and enjoy the world.  Open your eyes to beauty.  See the homes, the trees, the gardens.  See the shining faces of little children.  Listen for the church chimes, singing birds and the laughter of happy people.                ~ Wilferd A. Peterson

 Nothing else really exciting here, so I won't bore you too much!

Until next time, remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

Happy December

Wow...I haven't been very good about posting this year and we have just entered December, the last month of the year. Holidays, school vacations, hockey weekends and lots of busy business days. All good stuff, but just hard to believe that we are already facing the end of the year. I had a feeling that this year would fly by fast. Mainly because my older son is a senior in high school...the last year that he is at home for it will either be college, a post-grad prep school or playing jr hockey somewhere else. Well, can't start thinking along those lines year...we still have from now until June, when he graduates from high school and then a few months of summer.

Anyway...how was your Thanksgiving holiday. Mine was pretty good. My time was mainly spent in one of our stores, making sure that all the chocolate dipping of strawberries, apples and pineapples got done so that the fruit arrangements were able to be delivered for everyone's Thanksgiving get-togethers. I did manage to make our own homemade pumpkin pies for our dinner:

I make the crust from scratch (for that is the only way to go, according to my great-great grandmother. I remember watching her make the crust from scratch when I was a little girl. I still remember her cussing under her breathe when the crust would crack a little when she put it in the pan. I watched her patch up the cracks with a little water and dough plugs). The pumpkin pie filling is from my mother-in-law's recipe...for my husband is the only one who eats the pie...gotta please him :)

Anyway, aside from baking and working, I did manage to get in some stitching over the holiday weekend...I have started "April" (Monthly Samplers from LHN) - please excuse the bad lighting and the wrinkly appearance:

I, also, have pulled out an old piece of 25ct fabric and have been "messing around". Sometimes I like to just play with colored floss and little designs, kind of making a sampler of my own. I find going through old magazines, stitching books and different websites and just picking a color or colors and making x's without worrying about placement on the fabric relaxing. Here is what I am talking about...

It is just a hodge-podge of random designs, shapes and colors. No rhyme and no reason. Just things that peak my interest when looking through my plethora of stitching stash...and different color combinations.

We will see where this takes us and what other things I can find to add to my sampler.

Well, time to take the kids to school.

Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa