Tiny Needle Tuesday 10/10/23

 Hello, Hello

How are you all this morning?  It is a bit warmer this a.m. (46 instead of 42), but kind of cloudy.  Hard to believe, but it was 3 years ago today that C&M tied the knot!

My nephew, Ed, married them.

They will celebrate another day since Mailing flew to London last night for work.

And here we are at yet another Tiny Needle Tuesday.  Progress was made this past week on both pieces!  First up the Cacti Triptych.

Please click to enlarge.  Ocotillo in the middle had the final blooms added and the last of the three, Claret Cup has been started.  Still quite a bit to stitch on this one, but also still fun to do!

The BIG sampler also saw a bit of love.  

Hard to get the whole piece in one picture.  

The last alphabet at the top has been started.  This one is not in one solid color, but rather incorporates all the colors in the sampler.  Also at the bottom a snail was added!  And, the big floral part has begun.  Like the Triptych, there is still lots to stitch, but it is still fun!

My time at the office went smoothly and quickly yesterday.  I was ready to leave by 9:15 a.m.!  I stopped at TJ's on the way home and picked up a few things.  Among those things was this:

These are good!  We had them last night instead of rice or potatoes or whatever!

I successfully managed to avoid all the cleaning chores yesterday.  LOL  Still hoping to wake up and find everything sparkling clean!  Really though, work got a bit busy in the afternoon and then last night we sat out with a fire in the pit (until around 9:30 when it started raining).  I suppose I will need to face those chores today.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone's week is going well.  

Tiny Needle Tuesday 9/5/23

 Good Morning My Lovlies!

How are you?  Today is back to school day around these parts.  And, for me, it is back to the office.  No, no, not permanently...I'm just going in today.  I've a large (60+ people) conference call at 10 and I really need Tom From IT (AKA Jake From State Farm) to look at my laptop.  It started acting up yesterday...in that the power was on but nothing would appear either on the laptop's screen or...when hooked up to the docking station...nothing on my monitor.  And, the laptop was extremely HOT.  Not a good sign.  Finally several hours later it came on.  I did a couple of things and then shut it down completely and unplugged it from the docking station.  It came on fine this morning, so I'm not sure what's up!

I woke up several times last night.  The sky was lit up with the fading full moon (still rather large) and lots of stars in the sky.  Twice I looked out the back bedroom window to see several deer browsing under the apple tree.  You can tell they are very alert - even in the middle of the night!  And then the last time I looked out (around 5:15 or so) there was only one, and she was laying in the grass taking a little rest.

Before my busy day begins, let's jump into TNT - Tiny Needle Tuesday.  Once again there has been progress on both pieces I am stitching.  The Sampler Aux Bouquets continues to grow and grow.

A little tilted, but you get the idea.  The lower right saw a new tree and a bird added.  Here is a close up of that area:

I am moving into the third and final section of this sampler.  There are some new creatures that will be added in the next few weeks.  I'm looking forward to that.  And, of course, another alphabet will be stitched.

Meanwhile, in the desert, the cacti triptych continues to bloom.  The Ocotillo is beginning to show some flowers.  

There are two different greens in the Ocotillo and they are so close in color.  Likewise, the blooms contain three different shades of orange.  It's just about enough to make a person crazy!  LOL

Whatever this Tuesday holds for you, I hope it is a good one.  Have some fun!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 8/15/23

 Good Morning,

It's a little sticky here this a.m.  I woke at 4-ish to very heavy rain.  But it did not last long - not enough to show any measurable amount in the rain gauge.  The street, however, looks polka-dotted in front of our house: between the rain and the wind so many crepe myrtle blossoms are now on the ground.  There are still plenty in the tree, but the street is covered too, as well as part of our front lawn.

And, as long as I'm talking trees, I will show you how our apples are growing this year - at times they look like huge grape clusters.  LOL  I took these pictures because Colin was curious.

It's obvious in the smaller picture that a lot of the apples are already damaged - mis-shapen, bad spots, etc.  But the sheer amount of them is amazing.

And, finally, still on the gardening side of things, Fletch is using some of our bamboo to create hand rails along the top of the garden fence.  He spread wood chips on the walk-ways, but the other day he tripped and almost fell, so decided that handrails were needed.  He just started to install them late yesterday.

I do love the look of bamboo.  Years and years ago, Fletch built a bamboo bridge over our boggy area.  I wish that still existed, but 3 decades took its toll on that!  You can also see the HUGE rhubarb leaves (like platters) in the above picture.  I need to get out and harvest that (again).

OK, time for a Tiny Needle update.  Progress has been made on both the large (very) Sampler Aux Bouquets and the Cacti Triptych.  First up the large piece.

The vase is beginning to fill with flowers and there is even a little bird perched atop!  I would have been much further along, but I had a lot of frogging to do this week...The center stem on the top pink flower was missing some stitches and once I got the flower stitched and then the bird I could see that it was way off, so it all had to be ripped out (tedious work at best) and then re-stitched with a little more length.  Here is where it stands overall:

This does not show all of the empty cloth to the right...there is still a ton of stitching to do on this one!

Yesterday afternoon I was able to spend some time on the cacti triptych that Colin sent me.  It is a bit more detailed than I initially thought, but I am thoroughly enjoying stitching it.  This is the start of the Prickly Pear section.

There are a few more "paddles" to be added as well as more flowers.  The little thorns! - kind of hard to see, but they are there.

Obviously I have lots to fill any free time I may come across in my life!  LOL  Wishing you all a pleasant Tuesday.  May it be a gentle one.