IHSW Weekend

This was my very first IHSW weekend and the fact that it was rainy made it even easier to stitch. I did a little planning for this weekend and began Saturday morning with starting up a pot of beef vegetable soup. It turned out yummy. On Friday night, I stopped off at a local vegetable stand and picked up broccoli, green beans, little round zucchinis, tiny red potatoes, tiny sweet potatoes, ridiculously large carrots, and a tiny head of red cabbage. I had leftover corn and pot roast from earlier in the week, added some beef broth, a pack of onion soup mix, 2 cups of water and the rest of the red wine that was in the fridge. Several hours later and it was yummy for my tummy.

Before I start on my IHSW stitching, I want to share a RAK from Friday. The plan Friday evening was to pick mom up, take her to the veggie stand and then out to dinner.  I knew I also needed to get gas but didn't realize how desperately. As I am driving, I purposely pass a gas station because the owner's are horrible price gougers. I am positive that I have enough gas to make it one more mile.  All of sudden, the car begins to slow down and stops. Luckily, I was able to pull out of the 60+mph traffic. As I was leaving my almost 80 year old mother in the car, a very nice lady, Jenny, pulls over from the other direction. She had seen me pull over and turned around to make sure everything was okay. She drove me back to the gas station that I had passed, agreeing that yes, they are horrible price gougers. After paying $18 for a 5 gallon gas can (the only one in the store), I then filled it up. Thank goodness for Jenny, can you imagine having to haul several gallons of gas down the road. After taking me back to my car, Jenny waited while I gassed up. Well, I was having just the most horrible time figuring out this gas can. It had some weird funnel that had to be pushed in to work. It was ridiculous. Well, Jenny helped me figure it out and we finally got some gas in the tank. She then followed me to the gas station I had originally intended to stop at to make sure that I got there with no problems. Jenny was wonderful. Moments like give a reaffirmation that there are still really nice people. 

On Friday night I got some SOSADS work done and I've posted those pics on the SOSADS page. I did work on BAP-T but not on Friday night. I got home late after taking mom to dinner and just did some SOSADS. Here are the pics of BAP-T, I was hoping to get an entire row done, but didn't quite manage it.

Before I started stitching

Saturday night

Sunday night

I also did some HoHoS and posted pics to that page. On Saturday, I completed a blue bunny, a la Marshmallow Bunnies,  for Easter. It is a DMC freebie and will eventually have a yellow and a pink bunny. Sunday went into a different holiday week, which is 4th of July. I am working on another freebie from Erica Michaels "Liberty Star". This pattern is a freebie from Rainbow Gallery and originally called for all kinds of fun fibers. Well, I didn't have any of the fun fibers in my stash, so I am using WDW threads instead.

The other thing I remembered was my son, Jason, and his fiancee, Jenny, are getting married this December. So, yes I have another December deadline. Jason is a huge fan of all things Irish and I promised him years ago that I would stitch the Irish Wedding Blessing for him. I am using a pattern from D J Dreams, Irish Wedding Blessing Sampler, which I purchased years ago from Patterns Online. I was hoping that I would have a green opalescent fabric in my stash, which I did, but it wasn't big enough. I did find a very nice 32 count which I am happy with. I had mom help me pick some overdyes, which I am hoping will look as good as I hope. Using overdyed fabric (wandering ivy - Zwiegart, I think from Silkweaver Fabrics)and overdyed thread (WDW - Emerald and Gentle Art - Grape Leave) might be a lot overdone. But I hope it will work out. I am going to add a celtic knot to the side because I want to be able to put their names on the sampler and the pattern does not allow for that. Here is a pic of the fabric and thread:

The pic doesn't due it justice as it is a much brighter green. 

I still need to sit down and play with the fabric to see what orientation I want it to lie in when I stitch. I want to make sure that I display the fabric to it's best effect. I guess I will have to add Wedding Wednesday to my line up to ensure that this thing gets stitched in time. I think it will be a quick stitch because the majority is backstitching. I almost forgot that the pattern calls for Japan thread which I do not have. I do have a very nice Sulky gold which I am going to see if it will work. If not, I will get the Japan thread.

All in all, I had a fun, cold, rainy, north central Florida weekend!