July Fragment

You know BFF Virginia and I exchange embroidery fragments each month.

I finally got mine to her this week.

I made the tree.... saw it somewhere online and this is my effort...

Then just stitched some lace and tatting down!

My daughter gets married this weekend.

I will see you in a few days!

July Storms

They say it's the 4th wettest July in history in Houston! At least that's what my son heard. Saturday night we lost a huge limb in the front yard. It was from a Sweetgum tree.... we need to remove the entire tree. Don't get me started on Sweetgum balls. With the July storms..... we must mention this storm trooper... cute little ole Henry!

Guess what?

He's gotten bigger!

His mommy and daddy went away for the weekend.

So he got to come stay with his paternal grandparents....

It's like having a toddler in the house...

He liked watching grandpa use a chainsaw in the front yard tho!

He's still sweet.....

Unlike a toddler.... when he eats a shoe you don't take him to the doctor.

And when he stands at the window and barks, the law allows you to

squirt large amounts of lime juice in his mouth!

Lime juice is a great training tool.

Kiss the Bride!

Once upon a time there was a little girl that just LOVED candles! And she grew up loving all things sweet!

And she met a sweet guy... And now she gets to have her own cake and candles.... next Saturday! I may be absent for a few days....

A teaser...

The sole purpose of this post is to tantalize Nathalie.

She wants to see how her sampler is coming along,

so I told her I'd take some pictures of it.

So I hope you don't mind looking at her sampler.

I hope I didn't spoil the surprise?

I will try and mail it to Switzerland tomorrow...

three others still to work on it!

What's Your Garden Heritage?

I dooooo like me some metal flowers!

I have some more that never got taken out of the garage after Hurricane Ike.

After hauling all my little goodies out of the yard before Ike blew into Houston,

I vowed I would not put all of it back out there!

But I'm seeing some things online that make me realize I need to do more container gardening.

After my daughter's wedding (two weeks from today), I'm making a fairy garden!

I have a Master Gardener friend, Brenda, that works in a local gardening shop

and Thursday she was making one for a customer.

She knows that I want to make my own

and

she's going to call me when their little chair sets arrive.

They have the most darling little metal structures

(I can't think what you call them...not a pagoda, but a .....)

with a tiny little chandelier hanging inside!

Brenda said "you probably have some moss growing in your yard with all the rain we've had".

Hmmm....haven't seen any....perhaps I will look.

Then I can harvest it for my fairy garden!

This is the one she was working on....

I have decided that my flower leanings go back to my Grandmother Louella.

Her flower gardens are the first I remember

and

I just know she would love all these embellishments.

I also want to make a container junk garden....

Go check out Sassytrash's.

And be sure and go to older posts and see

her May 14 one. My grandmother and most of my heritage is in Georgia...

makes me think there's something to that....

Sassytrash is in Georgia, too.

I like their gardens!

Sunflowers and Sharpies!

Two of my favorite things!

You know I'm in "full wedding mode" right now! Daughter's wedding is 7/31!!! I've been looking EVERYWHERE for white Sharpies for people to sign the black scrapbook pages at the reception... There will be an old timey Photo Booth.... glue photo strips down and write your name and a note...etc.. I told my husband that Sharpie used to make these and I could buy them at Michael's. TODAY I FOUND THEM!!! AT MICHAELS! I shared my excitement with the girl that checked me out. She said they came in last week! Isn't this exciting!!!! I've had them before! But I've NEVER EVER EVER seen them in FINE AND SUPER FINE POINT BEFORE! The one on top is super fine point! They only had one of it.... I got it tho!!!! Go get some! I've got all I need.. you can have the rest!

Shop til you drop!

One day last week my friend Connie called

and said she wanted to go to

Old Town Spring

and did I want to go with her.

Well, it's in the 90's here and we are dodging tropical storms for the last two weeks...

but hey, she NEVER wants to go there...

so I said, "sure give me 10 minutes".

So thought I'd show you some things I saw!

See those books above... we can GLUE something to the spine!!!!

And below are some great boxes.

They were in the shop with the black banner...

a side street close to Thad's....

if you live in Houston you'll appreciate my directions.

Are you inspired yet? Here are the required shots from Thad's.... my favorite shop out there or anywhere near there! Can you find Connie in this picture?

I bought the Papaya Book of Days!

You would LOVE it!

The cowboy is what Connie was looking for.

She's furnishing a ranch house....

...and a parting shot of sweeeeeeet Thad's!

.... spend to the end!

Obsessed Friends

You know from the title of my blog that I have obsessions.

So I see that as a good word!

I mean..... WHO doesn't?

Do you have any friends that have obsessions you can benefit from?

If not... you should find some.

I have a friend that is currently (note these things change) obsessed with embroidery and related stitching.

If you are new to my blog,

I will tell you that during 2010

we have been exchanging what we call "fragments" of stitching.

Whatever that means!

If you go up in the top left corner you can search Embroidery on my blog and see a bunch!

So BFF Virginia (often referred to as BFFV) gave me her piece for July a couple of weeks ago.

So now I have to make my July fragment.

But this is what she gave me for July to satisfy her need to do a white on white piece.

And since my daughter gets married the end of this month...

it is the "bridal fragment"!!!!

Isn't it lovely!!!

And she also gave me a little blank book to sketch in.

We both are always drawing things we want to stitch.

BFFV is all about being able to grab it and take it with her

or keep it in her purse if caught off guard.

We both have several accessories to carry our embroidery stuff around in.

About a week ago I went to pick my car up from a small repair

and ended up having to wait almost 2 hours because I found

something else wrong with it.

OMG!!!

If only I had had my emergency purse sized stitching kit!

I am now in the process of assembling that!

You never know when you might need it.

Doncha love the machine embroidered muslin strip?

Do you have an obsessed friend you can benefit from?

Do your friends benefit from any of your obsessions?

Just asking.......

Fragments and such!

As you know, BFF Virginia and I

exchange stitched fragments

each month this year.

I finally took my June fragment over to her Sunday.

I used Geninne's bird again.

And, yes, I left that button off the bottom....to look like it's lost.

I'm trying to not be so predictable.

Does it bother you that it's not there?

I have this great little beaded flag purse

and

I laid my stitchery on it for the photo op...

July is a big birthday month at BFFV's house.....

and since Sunday was my country's birthday ...

thought I'd take a picture.....

It's a big month!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I made some inchies for a patriotic inchie swap at Christian Paper Artists!

I got carried away and made extras...

Color copied some and made ATCs.

The background on the ATC

and on some of the inchies

is a muffin paper cup I found at Michael's!

Some have a patriotic napkin that I've been using for art projects for years now!

There isn't anything as great as a good napkin!

Celebrate!