tusal for June

must be all the rain and cooler temperatures .... this poor tusal jar is slow to grow!!

end of May and we're still looking for sunshine ......

the 23rd of May, a long weekend here and the weather ok,... just.  Definitely no heat waves nor air conditioning needed, in fact, had to put the fireplace on this am....9 degrees is cool.   I'd booked off two days from work so I've enjoyed an extra long weekend.  The extra time allowed for some 'spring cleaning'.

Our daughter and grandsons came for lunch today.  It's always good to see them. No new pictures of the boys today though, just enjoyed them.

There is a stitching update, finally on the Tuscan Flavors.  A few days away from stitching and I can now appreciate that the colors look pretty good.

After reading Meari's blog and admiring all her glass frogs, I came up with this one for my pair of scissors...it's amazing what you find in the cupboard.....



The silver polished up pretty good, mind you it still needs some more work.  And some more scissors perhaps!

Lilacs are in bloom and the fragrance, just beautiful.  The mauve ones are from my daughter's garden. 

The white ones, they are the first blooms of "Mayron".   Some years back I was fortunate enought to take one of the starter offshoots from the lilac tree in Ron and Mayann's garden. Ron anad Mayann have since passed on. It is of sentimental value, having babied this shoot for many years.  Now these blooms are a wonderful remembrance of two special people.  And quite fitting, two blooms on the tree.

till next time......

May Tusal and little boys

Well it's a sad jar I must say.   And furthermore I'm late posting this picture, it has been that sort of week.  Stitching was sidelined during April....work does that.  As of May, a couple of small contributions to my jar and tonight is going to be a stitching night!  It's about time.


There is nothing better than spending time with our grandsons. 

Nathan turned one.  He is growing up!  And he really enjoyed his party....

Noah and mom, sharing special moments.

Happy Mother's Day

till next time

tusal for April

progress at last,  the jar is growing!

Flowers from my garden.  It's the second season for these bulbs.

DH brought home the tulips.

   till next time ..............

welcome Spring!

Finally, Spring has arrived....yesterday afternoon we had sunshine and it was wonderful!  DH and I started some outdoor cleanup in the garden.  In the midst of moving containers/plants, I found two ladybugs which I carefully moved to safe garden boxes. 

And the best part, some flowers in bloom.  The fragrance is spring!

till next time ......

March Tusal

Same March photo, just moving things around on my blog.  Contents of my jar are definitely a work in progress.

that lost hour

Daylight savings started today but that hour lost, darn!  Still there is the promise of more daylight hours which will be great for stitching!!

Last weekend we had a visit from our daughter and grandsons.   The boys are growing so fast.

And trying to get pictures of them.....challenging as both are very busy playing.  And a picture of the two of them together, well maybe next time.   Nathan had a great time with the ball.

And Noah loves his cars, including driving them in the dirt in my plants!

The ILCS group recently had a froggy exchange.  This is the bookmark that I stitched for Amy.  The froggy exchange was in memory of Rene who left us far too soon.

My parcel received from Kate is awesome.  She stitched a bookmark, sent beautiful threads and a small ornament frog.   I'll include a picture in my next post.

And about that hour, the computer clock reads 8:42 am so the day is going, bye for now!

February rain, rain go away

Still wet and soggy in these parts, I guess we can't compain as we even had a couple of sunny days earlier this week.

Not too much stitching has been done in the past couple of weeks.  The renos are almost done and then it will be putting rooms back in order again.  As for my TUSAL jar, very sad indeed.


till next time.

Tusal 2011

Here's my jar.

welcome to January 2011

We enjoyed a quiet New Year's Eve with DH, dog and I watching movies and sharing popcorn. 

Over the holidays I've found time to stitch every day.  It is nice, even if just a few stitches.   I guess I call it found moments.   This will be part of my new routine for 2011.

Also, trying new recipes.  There are lots of yet untried recipes so at least once a week I'll try something new.  This week it was cooking fresh guavas.   OK I admit I bought the package of them a week ago but the time got away.   Online I found a recipe/directions for what to do with them.  Peeled first then scooped out the inside seeds and pulp and then  in a pot of water and boil for approximately 1 hour.   With a change or two to the recipe as I was making a small batch, then added sugar and lime juice and continued cooking for another hour.  The liquid had changed to a beautiful deep rose and thickened.  The flavor is yummy.   I plan to use this as a glaze over a white cake.  Definitely will try again to cook something with fresh guavas.

This afternoon it was the stash.... fabric and precuts have a new storage bin so it was time to start on the floss.  Great progress but not nearly done.  I've abandoned winding each skein on a bobbin (at least for now) and have gone with numbered snack baggies. 

It has been a wonderful break between Christmas and New Years.   Work beckons tomorrow.  The evening weather report suggests a new snowfall for the morning commute tomorrow.  

Below are a few pictures of Christmas 2010.

till next time  ...................