I’ve been recovering from surgery I had on the 19th. Despite being in a little pain and uncomfortable, recovery has been quite pleasant.

My mom came to nurse me back to health. It was nice to have her company. My surgery was outpatient; I was home 2 hours after waking up. Bill tucked me into bed and turned on the Cubs game, and my mom curled up in bed next to me since Bill wouldn’t let her help with dinner. Between Mom and Bill, I didn’t have to lift a finger. Mom undertook a project at my request, making me two dresses. And she helped with our laundry too! Thanks, Mom!

My husband went out first thing on the 21st and brought home the final Harry Potter book. Before I could read the book, he made me take a little quiz, which he also answered. I won’t tell you how we did, but I LOVED the book. If I didn’t already have 60+ books in my queue, I would read all the books again right now.

My other big accomplishment during recovery was to finish my canvas from Ellia. Do you remember what the original canvas looked like?

This project was so much fun to work on. I did each square of the “quilt” in a different stitch. I used wool for most of the project, but a fiber with a little metallic for some of the accents. I had fun with the pincushion; I was trying to make it look like it was made of fabric. I’m really pleased with the outcome!

Yay!! Completed projects! It’s taken some time, but I’ve actually finished something!

First to be completed was my Florida Gators needlepoint, for my wall-o-travel. The gators were fun to stitch but the white background was b-o-r-i-n-g. On Saturday afternoon (5pm) I sat down and said “don’t let me get up until this is done.” My husband got a worried look on his face since we had plans to see a movie (10:10 showing of Oceans 13). Well, I wasn’t done at movie time, but I finished shortly after we got back home (1:30am).

That project completed, I tore into my Pirates cross stitch, part of my swap goodness from Ellia. I woke up bright and early (9am) and took my project to the comfy chairs outside and again, didn’t get up until I was done (12:30pm). What a fun way to spend a Sunday morning! It is now hanging in a place of honor, above my tv.

And now a preview of my next project, my 1976 canvas from my swap partner Ellia. As soon as I saw the canvas I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it. On Saturday, I made a trip to the needlepoint store to pull the fibers. As you can see, most of the colors are not in the canvas. Any idea what I have in mind? Well, I’m not going to tell, but it is really coming along! That was my Sunday afternoon project. I’ve a long way to go, buy I’m hoping to take some stuff to be framed next week, and I want this to be one of those projects I take in. I’d better get busy!

As I’ve posted before, Bill and I enjoy driving up to Pittsburgh to catch the Cubs games when they are in town. This trip, we found some free time to enjoy Pittsburgh.

We rode the Duquesne incline and got a beautiful view of the city. Then we went to a needlepoint store (I have the most patient husband in the world). We checked out Needle Point Breeze which was a very cute store with a big selection of handpainted canvases. They had a beautiful selection of bags and purses which I could not resist. We also had time to check out Church Brew Works, a microbrewery in a restored church. The beer was tasty, and they offered a sampler so Bill tried them all. I ate my share of pierogies, which you get IN the ballpark. Pierogies, a Pittsburgh tradition, are pockets full of cheese and potato yummy goodness. You can find them coast to coast in your frozen food aisle (Mrs. T’s Pierogies). I do believe that PNC park has the best food of any ballpark I’ve been too. This year, we noticed they had gourmet food stations which is neat because they can easily change to different kinds of food. Sunday was Irish Day at the ball park and one of the stations was serving corn beef and cabbage.

As for the baseball, we saw a win and a loss on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I would have liked to see the Cubs go into the break with a win but it was not meant to be. We got some autographs. My theory was that the players who slept in on Sunday were more friendly than the players who got to the ballpark early and there did seem to be a correlation. Bill’s theory was that the players arriving later would be in more of a hurry and would be less likely to sign, and that was true for the coaches, but didn’t follow for the players. Can you tell we had a lot of free time to analyze players’ autograph behavior.

All in all, it was a beautiful, relaxing weekend. We may even visit Pittsburgh when the Cubs aren’t in town!

I have been wanting to make these pincushions ever since I read about them on Heather Bailey’s blog. I had cut the fabric a couple of weeks ago, and then I got some new fabric from my swap buddy Ellia.

I spent part of my 4th of July in front of my sewing machine, finally working on the pincushions. I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I want to make more. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them, but I’m on a roll!

The brown fabric with little flowers is the fabric from Ellia. It goes well with some fabric I already had in my stash.

I received my swap package yesterday. My eagerly anticipated swap package from Ellia at Green Bean Baby. There was so much good stuff in the package! Where to start??? My favorite is the wall hanging, made for me by Ellia. I love it! I have hung it in a place where I will be able to admire it frequently (right above the tv!).

And then there was the retro goodness. Some fun pattern books and a cute pattern. I will have to work some of these things into my queue.

There was also some needlework fun. I can’t wait to do the Pirates cross stitch. I think I will gift it to my hubby, though I love Pirates!!! Maybe it will find a place of honor in the TV room. I am very excited about the 1976 needlepoint. I can’t wait to get to my needlepoint store to pick out some wool! The cross stitch projects will be fun too! I think I need to quit my job to have time to work on all these things (hint, hint Bill!).

And lastly, there was a lot of very cool paper and some kitty stickers and a beautiful kitty/angel ornament. I haven’t picked out a good spot for the ornament yet. I have to wait for it to tell me where it wants to hang. But it is so beautiful, designed by Ellia when she worked for a card company. There was also some fabric, which reminds me of a quilt my mom made for me when I was a kid. Lastly, there was some candy which I have taken and hidden at my office. It will make the long days a little more enjoyable.

The swap was so much fun! I loved getting things I wouldn’t normally buy myself, and I love my wallhanging!! Thanks, Ellia!!!