St. Paddy's is coming soon!

Dear Blogging Friends:

I have taken down the Valentine Tree and now have the St. Patrick's tree up!

 

This green tree always makes me happy!  I don't have any new cross stitched ornaments, but I do have a sweet little Lizzie Kate kitted up to do--hopefully before the holiday is over!!!

St. Patrick's Day is such a fun day here.  Jackson has the St. Paddy's Day Parade, and it is so much fun!  Everyone wears green and throws beads and dyed green potatoes!  (not sure about that, but it's always done!).  Many of you may have seen the books about the Sweet Potato Queens.  They were always in the St. Paddy's Day parade, until recently!
They are so funny!  Google them if you aren't familiar!!  A Riot!
Anyway, a local shopping mall used to have a Miss St. Paddy's Day Pageant.  It was a farce--not a real one!  Everyone was silly and dressed up funny!  To make a long story short, a friend of mine posted on Facebook a photo of me from like 1995, when I was Miss St. Paddy's!!!  In the parade, I rode in a golf cart driven by an Elvis Impersonator!  It is such a highlight of my life!  hahaha
My name was Miss Kitty from the City and I wore leopard and tiger print, with large fuzzy tiger slippers with plastic claws!  I teased my hair and wore a Burger King crown!!

Our weather has been so wonderful lately...except for the horrible storms a couple of days ago!  ha
The Canada Geese love to come in our yard and visit.  Here is a sweet couple, just waltzing and honking through the yard!  Look at all those sweet gum balls on the ground! They make such a mess!

I had a wonderful trip to Louisiana last week.  I accompany a friend of mine from when we studied for our Masters Degrees.  She is a wonderful singer.  We presented a program on music from the Harlem Renaissance and it was such a delight!  It was at an art museum--a beautiful setting!

I even have a tiny bit of stitching to show!!!  It's a very tiny bit, but some, at least!  And one is not quite completed!!  I stitched these with some wonderful floss that was sent to me by our sweet friend Annette.  This floss is Cosmo Seasons floss.  It is wonderful!  Egyptian cotton and glides beautifully!  I didn't know about it--we have no local stores--only Michael's and Hobby Lobby, and they only carry DMC.  Thank you again, so much, Annette!!!  I will make these into two sweet little ornaments!  I am getting a bit of a stack for finishing.  I will have to take a day and get it all done!

 

Thank you for visiting by blog, and please stop by again soon!
Frances

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello fellow bloggers!
I hope you all had a good week and are enjoying a relaxing weekend!  This is a fun weekend because Sunday is Valentine's Day!  I have always heard teachers say that children really enjoy Valentine's Day more than anything else...they love those silly little cards! I do remember how much fun it was to sit down and fix Valentines for everyone in the class. We would make a Valentine bag from a white paper bag that we decorated! Everyone would walk by the desks and deposit Valentines in all the bags!  Ha!  Such fun!

Of course, it's time to see my Valentine Tree!

I like this shorter tree, that's a little "fatter" than the one I used for Mardi Gras....what can you do when you have two holidays at practically the same time???  Oh, such problems!!

 

I love these fun ornaments!  I probably have more Valentine cross stitch than any of the other holidays.  I love the fun colors!  I also like the pale pink and hot pink filigree heart lights.  They came from Target and are battery operated, so you don't have all those cords everywhere!  I have 3 sweet little furry monkeys--pink, red, and black!  And you might remember that I have quite a few little "antique" Valentines on there.  My cousin was cleaning out her mother-in-law's things and came across these from the early 1930s.  She asked if I wanted them...silly question!  They are so sweet!  I've enjoyed tucking them in empty spots on the tree.

I turned my back for one second, and Omar had to come and check out the tree!  Haha! He loves to be sure he knows exactly what's going on everywhere!

Speaking of Omar, (I think I really need a grandchild to funnel my energy toward!!!) Anyway, you may remember my strange post that he loves to roll around on my bra.....yes, I know this is odd to post!  Anyway, I was changing in the bathroom and dropped my bra and he pounced right on it!  (of course!)  I know it's weird to show, but I think this is so cute!!  (don't think we're strange!!)

He just rolled and rolled!  Doesn't he look happy????  He can pretty much camouflage on that white floor.  He might get stepped on one day!

I hope you have a fun weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and please visit again soon!

Frances

Mardi Gras!!

Well, Mardi Gras is just now over!  And I am just now showing my tree!  haha
This year, I used my super skinny tree, and I think I really prefer a fatter tree for all of my "loot"!!!!  But, this tree had New Years on it, and after I took that stuff off, I just grabbed Mardi Gras and started on that!  I have Valentines on the shorter, fatter tree, which I will show tomorrow!
I have used a parasol on top before, but the skinny little top couldn't handle the parasol, so I just plopped a crown on top and continued to decorate!  It has some cross stitched ornaments, masks, and feathers, as well as several things I have bought through the years when visiting New Orleans.  It also has beads from parades!

Here are a few close up photos!  I like the bright happy colors!

Last year I bought a pack of plastic Mardi Gras ornaments on the deep sale aisle at Walmart! About four or five of them were cracked, so they were pitched a few weeks ago! (maybe a sign that I don't need to buy any!!)   Skinny tree couldn't hold them all, so I put some around the house in jars and bowls.  It spreads the fun and color!

I am so pleased with my sweet cat, Omar!  He has been such a joy!  Here is a photo of me with him, and you can tell that he's really not wanting his photo made!  (yes, that is our Christmas tree, but this was taken a while back...our tree is not still up!!)

He is a mix breed, with Turkish Angora being prominent in his appearance.  I wasn't familiar with the breed, but they have a big mane and chiseled facial bone structure.  I'd say that's a good description!

Lastly, cats do what they do, when they want to!  He knows he's not supposed to get on the kitchen table (or any table) but I caught him in the act!

This was my mother's oak dining set.  She liked antiques and had rust velvet chair bottoms in this.  I selected the leopard with silver piping, and my curtains were finally installed!  They are a silver linen with square silver studs.  The color is off in this photo. The walls are taupe.  But I'm happy with how things are turning out!

Thanks for reading this post, and I hope to have my Valentine tree posted very, very soon!  I also have a few little completed stitches to show!  I've been running around doing all sorts of stuff.  My poor blog has suffered again, but I also have tried to look over yours when I can!  Some of you are stitching such beautiful things!  I am so envious!  I must catch up with you!  haha

Please stop by again soon!
Frances