Where in the World...

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...have I been?? You know, I was wondering why I haven't been blogging, then I started writing this summary and realized how busy my weekends have been, and I remembered why! Of course, that's no excuse for this month, except that maybe I have needed a few weekends of doing nothing to recover. When I looked at all the pictures I'd taken in May, June and July, I felt a little faint, so I told myself I'd do the "pick just one picture" thing again. Maybe if there's some interest, I'll share some more. ;)

So here's what I've been up to...

May

• Took Michael's parents on a Mother's Day tour of gardens, followed by Comedy of Errors at the Shakespeare Tavern

• Had a nice Mother's Day lunch with my family
• Took my niece to see the Atlanta Ballet and the Gardens

June

• Went to Savannah and Amelia Island for our anniversary
Breakfast on our verandah!
• Took Michael's parents to the brand new Delta Flight Museum for Father's Day, followed by my first ever golfing attempt (emphasis on "attempt")
You can't make these people stop for a picture...
• Celebrated Father's Day with my family
• Spent a whirlwind three days at a family wedding event...seeing relatives from all over the country, visiting the World of Coke, the Aquarium, attending a fiesta...and fortunately I was spared the golfing!

July

• Hosted my family for Independence Day, including hot dogs, fireworks and plenty of food!
Yummy salad my sister made...and so festive. ;)
The view from our deck!

I'll try to be a little better about posting!

JiffNotes
Time with family is the theme this summer!!

Theme-a-licious June/July

This month was reallyreally busy, so I did not get as much done as I would have liked! By the time I was done with the Smalls SAL and the Just Nan SAL, there was little time left! I did get some work in on Les Rubans on this ribbon:

I don't think I've ever posted a shot of allllll the fibers used in this piece, so here you go:

There's Petite Very Velvet, Splendor, NPI silks, Kreinik braids, ribbons, beads, and the list goes on!

My only other "bright" piece for the month was a start with the latest Cookie A Sock Club yarn, although I decided to make it into a different pair of socks from a Cookie A book I already had...Pointelle.

You can see that although my yarn is bright, it's not as bright as the yarn in the book! =)

Now let's talk about THIS month, which is...

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Jubilee July

It's time to celebrate! What are you celebrating this year? Stitch on your holiday-related projects, OR find some WIPs you know you'll never finish and set them free.

Dancer's going to be my primary focus, but I'm sure I will come up with some other things to work on as well. =)

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So how was June Jolt? Was your stitching shocking, or did it brighten up your day? What are you going to celebrate (or set free) for Jubilee July? Please add your link below (to your latest Theme-a-licious post), and visit some other Themers if you can (everyone loves comments and encouragement!) Our next post will be on August 1st. And remember, it's never too late to join in or send suggestions for future themes!

June Just Nan SAL Check in

Woo hoo! I actually made some progress this month!

OK, it's not much, but at least it's something. (And, OH MY GOSH, could I possibly have taken a worse, wonkier picture??) The band with the strawberries and the grasshoppers seemed to take FOREVER. It had so many fiddly color changes, and this fabric's weave is so open, I could not really carry the thread across. I actually resorted to taking some tacking stitches on the front that would end up underneath another color, to alter the path of the thread so it wouldn't show from the front!

The good news is, we're halfway through the year, and I'm about halfway through the piece. The bad news is, I was about a third of the way through at the beginning of the year!!! I need to get on the stick, as they say. And by "the stick," I mean, the sticking of the needle into and out of the fabric!!

For more Just Nan loveliness, click on the banner to visit Zeb's site!

June Smalls SAL Check-in

I'm still on track with the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragons of Christmas (technically, they're the 12 Dragons of 2012, but you know we like to keep things current around here...yeah...don't look at my post count for this month).

This is the first month we're not stitching the number of critters that are represented...thank goodness!! Imagine how small they'd be by the time we got to twelve! I made a couple of changes...for the bigger question marks, I did over-one Xs for the dots. This was mainly so I'd have some way to end threads! I also added the big question mark on the right, because I'm not stitching the numbers. I have a vague plan for that, but so far I haven't been able to find what I want while shopping. Hopefully I won't regret my decision!

For more lovely smalls, click on the banner above to visit Stitching Lotus.

Theme-a-licious May/June

Oh, woe is me, due to my work schedule, not a single squirrel appeared during Menagerie May!!!

But seriously, I did get some good progress in on Dancer before work got too crazy.

I also got the bunnies on Spring Garden Gate done...FINALLY!! Stitching with this pale taupe on cream linen really messed with my eyes. I could only work on it during daylight hours with any reasonable success. I also had an unfortunate frogging session!

Now let's talk about THIS month, which is...

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June Jolt

School's out for the summer! Let's work on things with sunshine in them or REALLY bright colors. Summer is here!

OK, some of you "subtly" brought to my attention that this is a very...Northern Hemisphere centric theme. I used Katie's writeup almost verbatim since I could hear Alice Cooper singing in my head while reading it--and believe me, that NEVER happens. Anyway, those of you in the Southern Hemisphere (and those of you whose schools aren't out yet) can still participate in the actual theme stitching...bright colors and sunshine. =) Or even just bright colors, if you're feeling like stitching Autumn projects.

Anyway, I think I need to drag out Les Rubans (my last progress picture was during March Madness here), since it is BY FAR the brightest project I have. Other than that, I don't know what I'm going to do!

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So how was Menagerie May? Did the stampede of projects overwhelm you, or did you train them and teach them some new tricks? What kind of brightness can you find for June Jolt? Please add your link below (to your latest Theme-a-licious post), and visit some other Themers if you can (everyone loves comments and encouragement!) Our next post will be on July 1st. And remember, it's never too late to join in or send suggestions for future themes!