Incense & Peppermints

This has been a week of finishing, completing, and wrapping things up.  Last Saturday was another fun Saturday Stitch In at The Stitch Store and I finally finished "Joyful Summer".  I love the way it turned out and can't wait to give it to my nieces for their room.  Now to frame it.  What kind of frame?:  white?  light wood?  silver?  Opinions?  The little turtle is not part of this stitched piece.  He was just too cute to leave out.

We also got some no-so-much-fun things sorted out and wrapped up.  And hopefully we won't have to think about them for a while.

There was a pretty surprise in our yard when our gardenia bush decided to give us one more beautiful, perfect flower before resting for the rest of the year.  This shrub flowers in May and June, so it's kind of unusual to see one of these little blooms now.

Also, this week there was some sad news in the stitching/blogging community.  Gazette94 has decided to stop her blog.  This talented blogger and designer has been posting her lovely cross stitch designs for several years.  And what's more, she was generously offering these designs free for the downloading.  The blog is a treasure trove of hundreds of charts.  I had just started following her blog a couple of weeks ago, and had been looking forward to what we would be seeing in the future  So she will be missed.  As she said on her final post:  "Au revoir".

I'm continuing to work on my current project - Val's Stuff Kitty Kalendar.  I am so glad that I stitched all of the little boxes first.  Now that the measury-fussy part of it is done, I can just enjoy filling each one in.  It just makes me smile and I have the perfect place in the craft room to hang it.  Hopefully, this doesn't certify me as a crazy cat lady.  It doesn't, does it?  Because I'm not.

Wait!  This is the only project I'm actively working on right now!  My "serial starter" side says I must start a new one.

My blog now has 24 followers, and I am grateful for each one.  Give me a comment once in a while and let me know how I'm doing.  And for those of you who aren't followers yet, go ahead and follow!  There is no cost or obligation.

Oh, and the "Incense & Peppermints" thing?  That is just the song that has been stuck in my head for the past couple of days since I was on YouTube viewing 60's songs.  It's not a bad song, but it's stuck and won't leave.  And one word of warning:  if you decide to watch and listen to this on YouTube, and if you choose the one with the peace symbol, be careful looking at that crazy color-strobing peacock that appears.  It will make your eyes go wonky.  And you may get this song stuck in your head.