Flowers for Lindsay :o)

Lindsay wasn't sure what lantana was so here is a close-up. I wouldn't think it is a popular plant in England being a rather cool wet climate. Lantana thrives in hot, dry weather. It attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Some winters are mild enough that it grows back next year but all of mine died out this year. It comes in two different varieties...upright and spreading and several different colors such as white, lavender, pink, yellow and orange. It makes a lovely display in mass plantings. I'll try to remember to take a picture later in the summer after it has filled in.

More garden party

This is the bed we finished this morning. Not much to look at but a baby shrub! There are flowers (moss rose and lantana) scattered about around the baby shrub but they aren't really blooming yet. I also planted some lavender in this one. I've always wanted lavender! Until planting this I never realized that lavender plants smell like lavender, it's not just the flowers!

Here is the rest of the back of the house.
Here is the front of our house. In the circle around the lamp is lantana. I plant flowers that attract butterflies and to survive the Oklahoma heat and drought. My dad asked me last Saturday as we were shopping, "What, more lantana?" I replied, "Yes...I love butterflies!"
By the way, all the pictures should be clickable.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my home!

Garden party

A few photos of what I have been up to since I've been stitching the exchange project and can't show you that...

I've been gardening! Here is Sheba refusing to look at the camera. This is on the back patio where we have been spending a good deal of time; the weather has been lovely!

The view from the dining table on the back patio.

Last Saturday I spent all day in landscaping shops buying plants and flowers! On Sunday Rick and I had a MARATHON gardening session getting them planted. I was so sore afterward but the results are very nice. Above is one bed we completely redid with new shrubs and flowers. I wish I'd thought to take some "before" pictures.
I moved some hosta from another bed into the one along the front of the house and also planted caladium bulbs which are already beginning to sprout up. Rick swears you could go out and measure their growth every hour.

Every garden needs a good guard gnome!

Floss Mom RAK

I have received word the RAK to my flosskid Clare has arrived so I can finally show pictures! I made Clare a scissor fob using designs from Cross Country Stitching magazine. It really turned out sweet. If this didn't have Clare's name on it I would have kept it for myself...lol!

Itching to blog but had nothing to post about lately.

I have been stitching like a fiend on my Fair & Square exchange...can't show that, yet. It should be ready to mail out soon...then I will post some photos when Joan has received it!

RAK from Crazybeads

There was a mysterious envelope with my name on it from 123-Stitch. What could it be? I hadn't ordered anything. Had I? I wouldn't be surprised to find myself ordering something and not remembering! I opened it up to find this...

The Prairie Schooler In The Woods

Barb, my flosskid in Australia, had seen this chart in my wish list and granted my wish! She wrote: "Just because you're my flossmom." I was speechless! How awesome is that? Jessie has already claimed the squirrel if I stitch it.

Thank you very much Barb! You are the greatest!

Fair & Square Exchange

I was starting to fix dinner and Rick came in from the mailbox with what Patternnuts calls a puffy! I had a puffy envelope addressed to me and it was my Fair and Square 4th of July exchange from Joan! Yippee!

Here are the wonderful squares she stitched. Look close at the way she stitched the personalised square...isn't it darling?
Here are all the lovely goodies...Joan made a project bag and tuck pillow with firecrackers. She sent some of the fabric used in these. She also made some teardrop floss holders and the cutest chicken pincushion ever! She sent a holiday pin and a flag-painted bucket, some York mints, sweet holiday ribbon and a sample of lotion.
A close-up of the tuck and chicken. Too cute! Wasn't I spoiled?

Thank you so much, Joan!

I've been working on my return exchange to Joan but I doubt I can top what she has sent to me. Oh...dinner was Chicken Parmigiana with spaghetti and steamed cauliflower. It was late but pretty tasty! Super easy too...email me and I'll send you the recipe.

Our Tulsa Talons won last night against the Manchester Wolves. It was a rough game, a comedy of errors to be exact but we scratched, clawed and bit our way to a last-second victory. Whew, I am too out of shape for that much excitement!

SBQ for 05/14/08

This week's SBQ is:

For seasoned stitchers: Define a stitching term or acronym for new stitchers.

For newbies: What stitching term or acronym would you like defined?

I like the term ORT. This means Old Ratty Threads...you know~the little thread ends you snip off. Some stitchers keep a container of some sort to put their ORTs in. I use a jar. There are even ORT containers on the market now!

Just for fun, that is my ORT jar above!

Do you keep ORTs?

AIRMAIL

I always love seeing AIRMAIL on an envelope! Here is my "floss" Mother's Day card from Barb in Australia. She stitched the card and made a little matching bookmark with the cutest little kitty. Can you see the teeny little bead eyes? It's in my favorite colors too! SWEET!

I really love this! Thank you, Barb!

A Day Off

I had the day off work. I had to visit the dentist but it was just a cleaning so no worries. I've lazed around all day enjoying having little to do! I even had a wee nap.

I've started my Fair & Square exchange piece for Joan S. I hope it stitches up quickly so I can send it soon. I have until June 2nd to send but I'm always too excited to put exchanges off! This ones was driving me batty having to wait until that pinkeep was finished!

Jess was quite miffed that I completely forgot to mention her Mother's Day giftie to me...a gift certificate to The Silver Needle! It's tucked into my purse ready for some stash shopping the next time we go to Tulsa. Which will probably be June 7th for the next Talons game. Who can afford the gas? Can I wait that long? It's burning a hole already!

Speaking of the Talons...we beat the Dorados. They gave us a great game too. Our record is now 7-0!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I've had a fun and busy Mother's Day. I had a card yesterday from Barb in OZ; I'll try to post a picture early tomorrow...it's really cute and I'm eager to share. Barb, I know I owe you an email but every time I think about it I'm already in bed and the computer is turned off! I'm writing myself a note...

I also had ecards and emails from flosskids and I just found out I won the Flossmoms Mother's Day giveaway! I was nominated by my flosskid StressedStitcher AKA Rachael. Thank you, Rachael! You are such a great kid too! Rachael and I both won gift certificates to Patterns Online! How cool is that?

We went to Edmond to visit with family and (of course) see my mom. She loved the pinkeep as I knew she would and we cooked out hamburgers & hotdogs. It was a really fun day.

I hope all you mothers out there had as nice a day as I had!