May Smalls SAL, WIPocalypse, and Holiday Weekend Update

Pull up a chair I have a long update ahead. First things first it was time for the Smalls SAL update Friday. I hope everything is okay with our wonderful hostess she hasn't posted the check in for April or May. I have been keeping up though. The idea for this fun SAL is to do a small piece each month. I've been using this SAL as an excuse to do a monthly piece since I've joined. Here is my May finished pillow from the Durene Jones Calendar Freebie...

Sunday was check in time for the WIPocalypse. This SAL is pushing us to finish all our WIPs before the apocalypse. Yeah Right! Like that would ever happen. I enjoy using this as an excuse to keep track of what I've worked on during the time span. So let's see what I've been working on since my last check on April 30th...

Ocean in a Bottle -- 5 Days. Here I was last time...

Here I am now...

Durene Jones Calendar -- I finished the May pillow at the top in 3 Days.

Cabin Fever MH -- 1 Day. Here is my progress on this Mill Hill kit now...

Spring Bell Pull -- 3 Days. I've been working on the N block. Here it was before...

Here it is now...

August Snapshot -- 3 Days. I started another one of the Pine Mountain Snapshots. I need to finish this one, Sept, and Oct to finish up my monthly pieces from last year's Smalls SAL. Here is my progress so far on August...

Here is what it will look like when finished up...

I've had 13 days of no stitching. Mostly because of working on our cabin so that's a great reason to miss stitching at least.

Over Memorial Day weekend we had a different kind of camping planned...

We went up to a friend's house in Michigan and had a rustic weekend of camping in our tent. Boy we missed our cabin but we had a blast with friends. It was crazy hot. Low 90's. We didn't do anything other than be lazy and relax. It was great. We told stories and just got to know one another even better. It was a great recharge for the brain. Now to get back to all the hustle and bustle of life.

Monday Stitching and Cabin Update

Last week I got 4 days of stitching into Ocean in a Bottle. Here it was before...

Here it is now...

I have 15 days into this one now.

Over the weekend we were back to work on our cabin. We went down Friday night so we could have some extra time. It ended up being only us and we had a fun time. It was raining really hard on our trip down and we kept saying Wohoo we don't have to setup our tent. This cabin is sure a wonderful thing! We got our beds setup and ready for the night and then we pulled out a table and some chairs, turned on the radio, and played Skip-bo for awhile...

Saturday we worked on more insulation and getting the front wall electricity finished up. One time it was just pouring down rain and the 5 of us had a dry spot sitting in our cabin continuing our work. Yet another benefit of our nice big cabin. We could all be inside out of the rain safe and sound with room to spare. Sunday off we went shopping. This time Uncle Marty and Dad came along. It was time to get our wall and ceiling panels. Fred and I had fallen in love with this one when we first seen it. We checked another store with even more options and yet that first panel was in our mind as the one we wanted. So we bought them all and got to work. Here is finished left wall...

LOVE it. It looks like a real log cabin now. Yet it's smooth to the touch. So happy with how it's turning out. It was time to call it quits for the day then. We had a lovely meal and had fun visiting with everyone. Then too fast it was time to head home. We have plans for the Memorial Day weekend so we will be back to work in June. Can't wait! We just get so excited with our progress and can't wait to see what we get done next. We are literally happy campers haha.

Have a great week! Lots of plans and things to do but hope to squeeze in some X's too.

May Gifted Gorgeousness

I'm a few days late but here is my May Gifted Gorgeousness check in. The idea for this fun blog SAL is to share things we are either stitching as a gift or things we have received as a gift. Stop over at Jo's blog to see who has joined in this month.

I looked back on what I've stitched on since April 15th and I'm going to have to use a shoehorn this month. The only thing I've stitched that fits this category is the Spring Bell Pull. The reason it fits is I won the money to pay for all 4 seasons from doing online surveys. 

Here is what Spring will look like...

The set I'm doing is from the Stoney Creek Magazine. I think they are releasing them as leaflets now too but I haven't checked to see if they are exactly the same or not. The fabric, threads, and buttons were gifts from my winnings. I really would like to finish this one off this year so I can get a start on another season. This was the least favorite of the 4 seasons I figured I better get it out of the way first. Here is where I am as of May 11th on the N block...

 Here is my last WIP picture of the whole piece before I made the progress on N...

By the way I've also been putting a few days this week into Ocean in a Bottle. I will have an update on that Monday. We are heading down to the cabin tomorrow for another weekend of progress. It's IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend) too. Will you please put in some X's for me. Once we get the work done I will be able to get a stitching area setup but not yet. Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday Stitching Update

Hey last week I did get some stitching time in too. I pulled out Spring Bell Pull again. Here is where it was last time...

Now I have 5 days into the N block...

I hope everyone has a great week.

Cabin Update

We went back down to work on our cabin Saturday and Sunday. We got there just in time to watch this monster...

We had a lot of brush that needed to be cleared. It would have taken us so much time. Dad saw an advertisement for this guy to come and help do the clearing with this monster machine. He did an area dad wants to put a pond in. Then he cleared out an area behind our cabin we wanted cleared...

Above is the before and after photo if you can't tell. He took out at least 50 feet of brush. All that's left is the fence line and that's exactly what Dad wanted. Dad said it was easily a few months work done in 1 hour. So worth the rental charge. After watching that it was time to get back to work inside our cabin...

We needed to finish up the insulation. Jeremiah was supervising. For the night we put up our cots and a small camping bed for Jeremiah and stayed our first night in the cabin...

It's far from finished but already so much more nice then just our tent. We stayed up late giggling and talking telling stories about how exciting this whole process is. Sunday we helped with taking down an old barn and getting it cleaned up a bit. Then Fred, my Dad, my Uncle, and Jeremiah got back to work in the cabin...

The right wall, back wall, left wall is all finished with insulation plus the electric is ran for the left wall. The front wall is framed up and ready for insulation and electric now. So the front wall and the ceiling insulation is next. Then we can start the paneling. We are planning to go down Friday and stay both Friday and Saturday so we can get more done.

I do have to share my favorite photo for this weekend...

This is why I just can't stop smiling. Jeremiah is learning so much from all this. My dad is taking time in this photo to show Jeremiah step by step on how to hook up an outlet. Jeremiah can't stop talking about how cool it was. We can't wait for it to be done but the process has been so much fun. If you have Facebook and are interested I have posted more photos there too.

Monday Update (A Day Late)

Yesterday we went to visit a family member in the hospital. She has made the decision to end treatments and we wanted to say our goodbyes. She has always been a special person in Jeremiah's life and makes a point to see him when we are camping. She is my Dad's Aunt and we will miss her dearly. That damn cancer is claiming another wonderful person. Please send my family any spare thoughts/prayers.

Onto better news...Tuesday the 1st was my Mom's birthday. We had a very nice day together at the outdoor flea market she used to sell at. It opens on the first Tuesday of the month of May and just happened to be her birthday this year so we of course had to go up. The weather was beautiful. Never know with early May one year we had snow even. We had a fantastic time. Then in the afternoon my cabin got delivered which I shared more details in my post before this one. It was a long day but it was a great day. We got home late and slid into bed.

Wednesday I started the May Durene Jones Calendar piece. Friday I was able to get it finished up...

(Finish #15) May 4th, 2018
  May from Durene Jones Calendar
Freebie available on her FB Group
Stitched on 14ct Ecru Aida
Threads are suggested DMC
Started May 2nd. Took 3 Days.

I had to laugh when I noticed there are 13 flowers on this one. My birthday is May 13th. How perfect. Plus I'm a major dog lover. Meant to be! 

Saturday we worked on the cabin as I said in the post below. Sunday Fred had a radio event so I used that excuse to put my feet up and stitch the day away. I pulled out a Mill Hill kit that will be displayed in my cabin sometime soon hopefully...

This kit is called Cabin Fever. Perfect right? I had one day into it but just the little block in the middle with the marshmallows. Sunday I added the little cabin...

I hope everyone has a great week. We have a lot of plans but I hope to sneak in some stitching too of course. Hope you do too.

FYI I'm in the process of changing my email address so if you see a new address that's why. Changing to gmail instead of using my frontier one.

Our Cabin Update

Last Tuesday we hoped our cabin would be delivered right the 2nd time around. Fred was able to get out of work a few hours early. We headed down. We were close to arriving and my phone rang. I swear we all stopped breathing. It was the delivery man saying he was picking it up and on the way. *deep breath* Everyone was there...again and guess what this time it was the right size!!!

Look at the difference in the first one on the left and the correct one on the right. 8 feet really makes a large difference doesn't it? We sure think so. Here is the inside on the day it was delivered...

 

This is our 12x24 home away from home. The hole in the back wall is for the AC that is sitting on the floor. Now it's time for us to finish the inside the way we want. We went down Saturday and started on the work...

I was trying to help my dad with the trench for the underground electric to our cabin. I got fired. I was taking too long, not going straight, and not going deep enough. So Dad took back over. But...

I did fill in the trench and received an A for that work haha. I do try I really do. Jeremiah has had so much fun. We've been making sure he is included in all the work so he can learn about what it takes to make a home a home. We went shopping with my Dad and got 3 carts worth of goodies. Insulation, electrical outlets and all the things connected with making our cabin have power, and 2x4s for reinforcing the front and back wall. Jeremiah said we take for granted walking into a place and it has a plug that works. Boy I didn't realize everything it takes either. Here are some of our work pictures...

 

We are having a blast making it ours and boy we learning a lot. I'm so thankful my Dad and Uncle know how to teach us how to do this. They both worked building houses for many many years. We have a lot more work to do but we are really enjoying each moment. What memories we are making. We will be going back down this weekend and are planning on throwing in cots and staying for our first night. We can't wait!