I worked on my Cat Cushion this past week.  Another Cat is emerging.  This has been one of those weeks where I kept falling asleep while stitching.  I love this design but must have worked to hard during the day ( or not got enough sleep the night before).

 Then during the last HAED sale (53% off!) I got more patterns. 

This one reminded me of my trip to Arizona.  I haven't checked how many pages it is but it is a thick package.  I keep telling myself that I am buying for when I am retired.  Yeah Right. 

I worked on Little Fairies at Play this past week.  I am almost finished with page 3 and should have it done next rotation.  I have completed 21,326 stitches.  I was bad and ordered two more HAED's during Bob's Birthday sale.  When I get them I will post pictures.  I like mine in the printed format.   I really need to stop buying stash and spend more time stitching.

 While I was in Arizona I bought the blue pendant in the above picture.  It needed a chain so I stopped at Michael's and came out with beads, pendants, cord etc.  These are the 4 necklaces I put together so far.  Putting the clasps on is the tricky part.  I did have to cut the cords to make them the length I wanted.  I have a bunch more beads that just jumped into my basket.  I need more time to do all of the projects I have.

I needed more floss for my Cat Cushion which is up next.  Walmart didn't have the number I needed and Michael's was out (but I bought plenty of beads at Michael's).  So I stopped at Jo Anns.  I was just going to run in and out with the needed floss.  I grabbed two skeins and then saw the above booklet.  I bought it just for the cover pattern by Joan Elliott.  I think I have the rest of the designs in another book already.  I walked thru their bead area as they had different ones than Michael's but I was good and did not pick up any more.

Monday afternoon I will be off to register my son for school.  He will be a senior this year.  I will also take him clothes shopping.  School will start in 2 weeks.  The summer has flown by!

 I did more back stitching on In the Garden.  Not too much more to go.  This will probably be my only finish for 2013.

 I spent 10 days in Arizona with my Sister.  We went to the Painted Deseret/Petrified Forest National Park

 And then spent 5 days hiking/camping in the Grand Canyon.

 The canyon at sunrise.  We were on the trail by 4:30 am in the dark and got to watch the sun come up and the different colors appear.

 More sunrise in the canyon.

 This is in a branch of the Grand Canyon that was on Indian Reservation Land - not part of the National Park.  We went with an outfitter and guide who packed in the tents/food and spent 3 days hiking and camping.

 This part of the canyon had waterfalls and looked almost tropical.  We were able to go swimming at this one.

 Sedona.  Our last stop before flying back home.

Castle Rock in Sedona.  It was a great trip.  We hiked 50 miles all told.  It was 104 down in the canyon.  Met alot of nice people from all over the world.  It was hard to come back to work.

July Wipocalypse

 I worked on Cat Cushion this month and made good progress.

I also worked on Little Fairies at Play and I am looking forward to finishing page 3.

I was at the Grand Canyon for 2 weeks and did not get any more stitching done.  I am going to pick up my In the Garden piece and continue the backstitching until Sunday when I will switch to Little Fairies at Play.

Sunday

I worked on my Cat Cushion this past week and I am happy with the progress I have made. 

Final preparations are underway for Grand Canyon 2013.  Only 5 days until I leave.  Of course work has picked up and I will be working extra hours to get everything ready to leave.  

I probably won't post again until I return in about 2 weeks.

I have been working on Little Fairies at Play this last week.  The end of page 3 is in site.  I really enjoy working on this one.  Good thing as it has been 2 years, I am still on page 3 and there are a total of 28 pages.  I will be working on this one for a while.  That gives me 20,006 stitches complete.

I ran (or jogged/walked) my first 5K yesterday.  It was cross country which I had not practiced for.  But the weather was nice and hot - no rain.  I did not come in last, which is good and I finished under 45 minutes (43:03) which was what I was aiming for.  Lots of room for improvement.  I just don't enjoy running.  Walking/Hiking yes but not running.

Down to 2 weeks til I leave for the Grand Canyon.  They are having record high temps out west.  We are going to take our time hiking and avoid injuries.  Still gathering up all of the small last minute items we need.  Then to start packing and hope I don't forget anything.

This week I dealt with an issue that had been bothering me.  I came right out and asked where I stood in a new relationship.  I got the answer I expected and find myself back in the friend zone/alone.  Good thing I have alot of projects to occupy my time and mind.  I will be concentrating on the Grand Canyon and deal with the aloneness when I return.

I turned 50 this past week.  Time has just flown by.  I still feel like I did at 20.  Workmates decorated my desk and gave me cards and a nice cactus planter.  Then my x sister-in-law and brother-in-law took me out to dinner.  That side of the family still speaks to me even though I am no longer married to her brother.  Today after church my daughter and son-in-law are taking me out for lunch.

It is a short work week as they are giving us Friday off as well as Thursday.  Hope the weather cooperates so I can get alot of yardwork done.

WIPocalypse June

 I didn't get much stitching done this month.  I did work on Cat Cushion which had alot of frogging done.

 And Little Fairies at Play got some attention.

 I was also bad and during the Father's Day sale at HAED bought 2 more patterns - QS Red Maple Fairy and

Faces of Faery 93.  When I will ever have time to stitch all of these I don't know.  But these are much smaller with only 6 pages each.

And I just finished up another week on In the Garden.  The butterfly is back stitched.  Still alot of back stitching to go.  Hope to finish this one this year.