I finished up this jigsaw puzzle this week.  I am in winter mode already.  Yardwork is done and I have all of my indoor activities to do.  Which include house work but who wants to see pictures of that.  lol

I worked on Surely Goodness and Mercy this week.  The alphabet is done.  Next time it is up I will remove the scroll rods and start on adding the details and backstitching.  This one should be my next finished project.  I have picked 5 projects I want to start in 2014.  Need to get them all kitted up.

I have 3 days off work this coming week.  I am just burning vacation time since it cannot be rolled over.  I hope to finish my Christmas shopping and get alot of progress in on the next piece in my rotation - Fairies at Play.  Maybe I will be lucky and finish page 4.

 This week I worked on my Cat Cushion.  Two cats complete and working on the third one.  Then I just need to finish the background and do back stitching and it will be done.   That sounds quick and easy but it will take a bit and will probably be a finish for 2014.

I cat sat for my sister-in-law while they were in Florida.  They brought me back this mug because I collect frogs.  But what they didn't know is that when my sister was little she could not pronounce Cathy and call me Cha Cha.  She still does.  So this mug is especially nice.

On Thanksgiving, my brother and his wife hosted at their house.  Part of our Thanksgiving tradition is to after lunch do some kind of craft project with my brothers kids.  He has 9.  Now only the little girls do the crafts (I did have one nephew stop and make one this year).  We made beaded candy cane ornaments for the tree.  I bought the kit at Hobby Lobby and it said it made 24.  I think we got that many as each of the girls made at least 5.  This picture is missing one of my nieces who also made ornaments.  Anna the youngest kept beading away.  She lasted the longest.

My sister and I also ran the Galloping Gobbler Thanksgiving morning with a group of her friends she works with.  It was cold!  26 degrees.  It was 4 hilly miles from St. Francis University thru the cemetery and back.  About mile 3 I met up with two ladies I work with and we finished the race together.  I did it in 49 min and 32 seconds.  Not bad for me.

 I worked on Little Fairies at Play this week.  1,020 stitches completed and still on page 4.

Here is my house with my new windows and garage door.  The garage door man has to come back out to adjust the door as it is not sitting on the ground.  Otherwise it is all good.  The weather has turned cold and my house is nice and snug.

I baked 4 dozen cookies yesterday for church.  I am signed up to bake pies to take to Thanksgiving at my Brother's house.  I will whip them up Wednesday.

Looking forward to the short work week!

WIPocalypse November

I worked on all three of my projects this past month and made good progress on each.  I am glad to see that Measi will be hosting the WIPocalypse again in 2014 as it does help to keep me motivated.  I enjoy looking at everyone's progress.

 I am dog sitting my daughter's dog Daphne this weekend.  They had halloween costumes on clearance and I picked up this Spider outfit for $2.50  I had to get Daphne to model it.  She just wanted to chew on the legs.  She finally calmed down and I was able to get her picture.

I worked on Surely Goodness and Mercy this past week.  Up to the letter R.  But then Daphne came so no stitching Saturday.  She is a ball of energy and always wants to be on your lap licking you.

I worked on my Cat Cushion this past week.  I did move the scroll rods and this is the bottom of the piece.  No more need to move the scroll rods again until it is finished.  I made ok progress this week considering the other interruptions in my stitching time.  I got the call Wednesday that my new windows were in and they would be installed Friday!  That meant moving furniture out of the way and taking down curtains.  All of which revealed more dirt and clutter that needed cleaning.

It took them 4 hours to put in my windows Friday.  I spent that time outside with my son raking leaves.  We filled 10 bags.  I then began once again cutting down the grape vine that runs along my back fence.  I cleared 2 fence sections.  Once the window men left I began washing down the kitchen walls.  I decided to multi task and threw my living room curtains into the wash.  When I removed them from the dryer (delicate cycle) they had melted together.  So Saturday was spent with my daughter shopping for new curtains.  I ended up with new curtains for the living room, kitchen and my bedroom.

I am now waiting on my new garage door.  The rest of the winter months will be filled with indoor cleaning.  Lots of walls to wash and more junk to clear.

 I was off work Monday and the weather was beautiful.  I took a walk around the neighborhood and this is one of the beautiful trees I saw.  Then the rainy weather moved in for Halloween.  The trees that were green on Monday have now changed to their fall colors.  The hard rains and wind have blown down alot of leaves.  I hope to spend this afternoon out raking the leaves in my backyard.  Still plenty more to come down.

I worked on Little Fairies at Play this week.  I was really in the zone and did 1900 stitches.  Page 4 is half way done.  I hope to be able to move my scroll rods next time.  I really feel like keeping it out and working on it for another week.  I am the master of my rotation so I guess I will wait and see what I decide to do.