Stitching Progress This Week!

I was actually able to make a little bit of stitching progress this week!

First, because I wasn't able to work on A Princess Was Born last week, I worked on that.

Before:

And Now:

The pink is all done for the word Once, and I just need to do the greens in the O. I also started some of the tan half stitches, but I'm only 1 strand in on that so far. Having the open space makes this go so much faster than a full coverage piece, it's kind of crazy to me! I think it's super cute though :)

And my Drawn Thread Sampler.

Before:

And Now:

I know my goal was to just do one band on this per week, but I am really enjoying it. I added the band with the ladder hemstitch (3rd band down) and am almost done with the modified coral knot clusters (Bottom band). I have one more pass to make on that band that will do the opposite 'zig zags' and make them look more like circles. Kind of hard to explain, but you will see what I mean next week when that band is finished.

I am also really excited because I just found out that there is a branch of the Embroiderer's Guild of America that meets really close to me! Actually, they meet just a few blocks from where my husband works. I am going to try and go this next Tuesday and see what it is. They judge the entries in the county fair and I have a few questions about my Beauty and the Beast, since I am entering it this year. I also figure that it will be a great way to get some tips and tricks instead of just looking things up online. I am so excited about it!

Last, I want to show a bit about our big project right now: our backyard. Our dogs had pretty much destroyed the little gardens and all of the grass in our yard, and our shed was FULL of bees. I mean, really full. We decided that it would be best to take out the gardens and tear down the shed (it was pretty much falling apart anyway), put up a new one, and just do grass seed in the yard. We will put in an irrigation system since I am the world's worst lawn-waterer. My goal is for the kids to be able to play in the backyard this summer. I think my little boy especially will need that time outside, and it will be nice not to have to worry about ALL THOSE BEES! I mean, seriously. I had to clean out the shed, and thank God it is still so early and cool out because I counted 35 or 40 wasp nests, and there was a really big (volleyball size) paper nest in one of the cabinets. If I had waited much longer at all it would have been almost too dangerous to do. My husband spent yesterday and tore the thing down, but until we can borrow the trailer from my dad to haul everything to the dump, this is what our yard looks like:

Don't judge me, I know it's really, really bad. No kiddos allowed out there now, that's for sure. But we are trying to fix it and make it better. Our yard is a lot bigger than we thought it was, and I want to be able to use it this year! 

Anyway, until next time, thanks for reading!