Sweet Little Berries

Those sweet little strawberries should be ripe in a little more than a month from now but until that time I'll gaze on my own sweet finish and dream of the pies to come.

I spent some quality time with this on Friday and had it finished in no time. Would you believe I ran out of the CC Spinach used for the leaves with only 8 stitches to go? I had purchased this as a kit and there was just enough floss needed for the design. For every other colour I had floss left over but in this case I ran short. Now I know I didn't waste any. I made a point of being very frugal so I wouldn't be in this position. When I discovered my dilemma I made a foray into my stash and found some CC Desert Mesquite that appeared very close in colour to the floss in question. I don't think it's all that noticeable. You'll find it in the upper left corner in the dark leaf. For the sake of 8 stitches I was not ordering more floss!

I've decided that this will be a pillow finish. Now I'm on the hunt for some coordinating fabric.

I hope all the Mom's out there had a most enjoyable Mother's Day. My Mom lives 500 miles away so I don't get to see her very often. This photo was taken on the occasion of her 80th birthday this past August and she is surrounded by her three daughters.

My day was a very quiet one. I worked my final weekend at the hospital and upon returning home I had phone conversations with mythree sons who called with their wishes.
We will all be together on the Victoria Day long weekend in 2 weeks to celebrate my belated birthday and my retirement both which take place this week.

With SLB out of the way, I started concentrating on the Wedding Sampler for my cousin's daughter. If you remember, I'd hoped to stitch this in the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses. The dresses are tangerine and I started stitching the piece with a DMC floss which matched. The colour though just didn't suit the design. I talked with my cuz about it and decided to frog out the tangerine and go with something more suitable. The design calls for the use of metallics which I wanted to avoid. Instead I've decided to go with GAST Gold Leaf. I'm happier with it so far.The picture quality isn't the greatest since it was dark by the time I was able to grab a picture. I'll try and get a better one in daylight later in the week.

While shopping last week, I caught the straps of my purse in the shopping cart. Somehow during the process of trying to remove it I managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder. This in turn has aggravated some pre existing bursitis so at this point I'm not able to use my left arm much. I have pain when I lift it past a certain point. It's most definitely annoying. I can't hand my money out the window and grab my coffee at the Tim Horton's drive thru!! This is a major concern, lol!Nor am I able to swipe myself out of the hospital parking lot. I'm having to reach over and use the right arm instead. Consequently it bothers me when I'm holding my stitching in hand for any length of time. I've been icing it in the evenings and it is improving but very slowly. So stitching may have to sit on the back burner for now. I still want to drop by at tomorrow's stitch night though to drop off one of my pieces for our framer John to stretch. This is Cast All Your Cares which I stitched for my friend Priscilla. I told her she wouldn't find anyone better at looking after her piece. Once stretched, she can take it to the framer of her choice.

Now I'm off to get my pants pressed for work tomorrow. I can't believe I'm almost retired.

I hope you all enjoy a great week. The sun is staying with us for the next several days so it should be a good one.