Marvelous Monday Update 3/30/09

First It Was Lost.... Then It Was Lost Again...
About two weeks before my last class ended, I lost my USB memory stick that contained notes and information for practically every class I'd ever taken. Luckily, only the "diary" portion of my class project was on there (because it's all we had done at that point). I even told a coworker that I'd lost it.


Last Tuesday, a man came into the office asking for me. Apparently, he had found my memory stick in the parking lot. He put it in his coat pocket and then it fell out and behind the seat in his work truck, LOL. So it was lost again! He found it, took it home, looked at my Excel files (every file is created with a user name embedded in properties), found out who's stick it was, GOOGLED me, found out where I worked, and dropped it off! While it was great he returned it, it's kinda scary how quickly one can be found. And I tell ya what... I would've totally freaked if he showed up at my house! So, Charlie Brown... There are nice people out there. LOL


Weather
March came in like a lamb and is going out like a lion! Saturday afternoon was met with 2" diameter snowflakes! Following was sleet and rain. So when I woke up yesterday morning, there was about 2" of crunchy snow/ice mix on my driveway and yard. Hopefully, this will be the last winter storm warning of the season!


Stitchy Stuff
Several weeks ago, Kelly from WI offered a bunch of magazines. I offered to give her something to at least pay for postage since I knew it would cost a small fortune. She suggested a couple of wishlist charts, so that's what I ordered for her. Here's what came to me in the mail last week:

7 Issues of Britain's Cross Stitcher
7 Issues of Stoney Creek
I had so much fun looking through them and picking projects to add to my "To-Do" list, LOL! Thanks again, Kelly!


America's Hottest Husband
There's been a bit of excitement in my neck of the woods. One of the top 25 finalists for Redbook's America's Hottest Husband contest hails from one of my childhood hometowns! Pearl City, Illinois ... population 600. His name is David Tessendorf. He was interviewed on this morning's news show and I got the biggest kick out of him. Coincidentally, he's related to my hairdresser! I'm asking you to vote for him. Voting ends tomorrow. The link is HERE. Thanks!

What Is This 3/23/09 - The Answer

I've had this item for about 4 years. Every year, I take pleasure in bringing it back to life during the cold winter months and watching it bring a little "spring" into the cold, gray days.

What Is It?

AMARYLLIS!


Out of all the guesses, only 3 people were correct. I put the names in a bowl and drew a name. This winning guess was from....


Mary, please send me your snail mail address and I'll get a little stitchy something out to you! Thanks to everyone for playing :)

Marvelous Monday 3/23/09

Monday is half over, and I know you all are wondering "Where IS Meari's Marvelous Monday post?!" LOL, OK maybe not... I'm late in getting this out, so here goes:


Two Awards!
Sadie of UK gave me two awards:



Brilliante Award








Special Friends Award






I've been awarded and given both these awards so I'm going to defer to those posts HERE and HERE. Thank you, Sadie! I was really amused by your comments about "Cute Lube Guy" LOL!


Spring is Officially Here!
The long awaited event has finally happened. Spring officially arrived last Friday. Signs of it are all over the place. Squirrels are frolicking... which my sister will be *thrilled* to know. (Can you say squirrel phobia??) LOL Flowers and greenery are popping up everywhere, and temps are getting warmer. In addition, sneezing, sniffling, and itchy nose has plagued me this past week. Ahhhh, the wonders and joys of spring!

The weather was really nice this weekend so I managed to get the rest of the leaves raked, flower beds cleaned up, -and- I created two portable clothes lines to hang laundry out. I am so excited about it because I LOVE laundry dried in the fresh air! I even got to hang a load out. :)


Stitchy Stuff
In addition to finishing the mail art piece in the previous blog entry, I spent a few hours stitching on Quakers Rule. Here's what it looks like after 14.25 hours:



I spent a good amount of time going through charts and kits, and have uploaded a bunch to my Stash for Sale blog.

Last but not least, the winner of last weeks drawing for the alphabet charts is....

Valerie, the Fogcity Dweller!

Please email me with your snail mail addy and I'll get these out to you this week.


Giveaway
This time it's not from me, but Ginny over at Ginny's Quilts. It's her birthday this week and she has a fabulous giveaway on her blog, if you're into quilting/sewing.


What IS this?
I haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought it'd be fun. If you think you know, put a comment on this post. The winner will receive something from my stash pile. I can't tell you what because I haven't figured that part out yet! If more than one person guesses the right answer, I'll put the names in a "hat" and draw one.


Oh, and no generic answers either! For instance, if you think it's a dog I don't want "dog" as an answer. You have to tell me what kind of dog! Toughie, eh?

My Very First Mail Art

This was sent to Lillie in Malaysia for a Coffee & Tea Mail Art Exchange.

Design: Tea Crazy*
Designer: Lizzie Kate
Fabric: 32ct Antique White Monoco Evenweave
Fibers: DMC Linen Floss
Time: It took about 2 weeks to plan the
envelope design, and 2 weeks of stitching.

*Design and colors were altered according to my whim, LOL.

Marvelous Monday Update 3/16/09

Spring Has Sprung!
It was 55F on Sunday so I took advantage of the glorious day to clean and organize the garage a bit more. Then I cleaned out the planters I didn't have a chance to do last fall. After that I did some raking and look what I found:

Periwinkle
Ferns
Tulips





School
Last night, I received an email from my instructor and it said I received an "A" for the class. Woo Hoo! One more week of "vacation" and I'll be hitting the books again for the next class.





Stitchy Stuff
A while back Suzanne finished stitching "Mad Bluebird", which is a kit by Bucilla. I've always thought this was a cute chart. Guess what? Suzanne RAK'd it to me!






I did a little research on this mad little bird and found out that the chart/kit is based on a photograph captured by Wildlife photographer, Michael Smith. Being the photographer I am, I think this bit of information is really interesting!




Ever have one of those heart-touching "awwww" moments? I really need to pay attention to where I'm at when I say "awwwww...."! Waiting for me at the PO on Friday was an envelope with just a return address. No name. What could it be? I opened it up and there was a sweet card and three charts from my wishlist from Becky J in MI. How thoughtful of her to write what she did and to take time to send me not just one, but 3 charts from my wishlist! Thank you, Becky!




I finally got around to ordering the floss I needed to finish up Quaker Rule. Don't ask me why I procrastinated! I even spent time stitching on QR.









I decided to take a better photo of the scissor fob I finished stitching last week. This one shows the colors better, as well as the crystals.




Giveway
Up for grabs is 6 alphabet charts by DMC. These came with the Color Variations floss in my recent grab bag. Anyone interested? Leave me a comment saying you're interested in the giveaway. If more than one is interested, I'll put all the names in a 'hat' and pull one out.