Finis!

I turned my needle roll into a needle roll today!  :-)  I filled it full of emery and it weights about a half a pound.  It's just what I needed.  The ruler case is all hooped up but I haven't started stitching yet.  Hopefully tonight. 

what a streak!

I finished stitching up my Shepherd's Bush, Shepherd's Fold needleroll on Saturday.  And it's almost finished in it's final form!  I ordered white emery to fill it with as I needed a needle sharpener and as soon as it arrives, I'll totally complete it.  Next up - the ruler case.  :-)  I still have the first piece to start also, it's the lid of the pretty wood box but I'll just buy a paper mache one and paint it purple like the wood one.

I spent most of my weekend working on my koi pond.  It was so nice outside!  I started working on it last year from March to July and managed to get all the guts in and the koi rehomed from my parents house and about a month ago, my loving Lab, Ben ate three huge holes in the liner - non reparable holes. 

To replace the liner, everything needed to be removed.  That included two tons of pea gravel that made up the bog and two tons of boulders that made up the waterfall.  It's a good thing I hated how the waterfall turned out.  I was planning on redoing it no matter what this year.   

Oh the mess! 

 

Here is the temporary home for my koi as I replace the liner - a 1,000 gallon kiddy pool in the garage.  In a perfect world they will only be in there 24 to 72 hours.  Hoping I have no huge issues.  I don't have to replace all the guts I removed over the past weekend, just enough to start the some of the filters again.   I will pull the liner this Friday or Saturday depending on the weather.

 

Here is the lab himself - Benito.  I foster labs for Chicagoland Lab Rescue and this guy crossed our paths last September.  He's from Puerto Rico.  Isabelle fell in love with him and we kept him.  Unfortunately....  Not only has he eaten my pond liner, but also my $3,000 couch and all my outside cushions.  He's lucky Isabelle loves him so much...

 

 

So that was the start of my spring home repairs.  Also up this year is replanting my entire backyard with grass.  It got so messed up with the digging of the pond and I've made this my priority.  The mud since the fall has been so bad.  I'm going to hire someone to come in and level out the soil so I can replant it with a mix of northern hardy grass, clover and northern super short wild flowers.  Hoping to also find some cash to work on all the pavers I want to put around the outside of my pond.  But that's $$$.  I need to work on my deck also so we'll see what happens. 

Loving this stitch!

I so loving stitching this little needleroll.  This is what gets me, I love the stitching so why can't I just do it?  I shake my head and feel that the pressure I've put on myself to start work on my casket is holding me back.  I fellow stitcher had some sage advice for me. 

She said "One foot in front of another, Margie. It's a matter of one small problem to solve, followed by another small problem. It's looking at the over-all picture that leads to paralysis. What the casket taught me is that I could solve one problem-just one. After that, just one more small problem. It's amazing how that starts to add up, and pretty soon, the whole thing is completed. Just one small problem after another. Don't think of the entire thing or it overwhelms you."

Now to take her advice!  Have a great weekend!

and poof! It's done

It only took a little time last night to finish up my Berry Bandit by Barbara Jackson last night and even less time today to finish it off.  It's a cute little thing and I turned mine into a frame weight by adding shot to it.  This was a fun project and it was good to try my hand again at crewel embroidery after so many years off.

Here is the entire piece before finishing.

A nice size for a frame weight!

not sure where the time goes

I was totally going to work on these two projects and get them done super fast.  The somehow I get derailed.  Not sure how that happens.  :-)  Liking my bullion flowers.  I practiced a couple before I started them for real.  I want to get some better needles.  I've been using milliners like it was recommended on a couple of websites but I'm still not liking the feel of them.  I think I saw somewhere once there are actually bullion needles.  I think I'll go look for them.   

I'm still plugging away at my Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Fold Needle Roll.  These little things go so fast. 

Looking forward to real spring - I've go so much to do in my yard this year.  The koi pond needs some upgrades and the lawn in the back is a mess.  It's a combination of the dogs and the construction of the pond that I never finished last year.  I swear it will never been the same.