One more day til' vacation starts - woop, woop!

Happy Friday all!

This is a quick drive-by post - the parents are on their way in (less than 24 hrs - yay!) and I really should be cleaning my house instead of getting stuck in the net...
Anyway, I figure that I will be out of touch for the next 10 days while my parents are visiting, so here is a quick Hi and Hello!

Speaking about cleaning, instead of focusing on what I really need to get done, I had bunches of fun with the second Rosenstand bell-pull.  It is completed and I love them together - below a photo before it hit the ironing board.  The piece on the right was stitched back on 2010 - I have done worse than a 2 year gap between companion pieces in the past, I kid you not~!

Here below they are hanging in a door-way so that you can get a better feel for how tall they really are.  I am looking forward to hanging these babies in the house, but not so much to the hours of hem-stitching...

 Here are a few close-ups, just for fun.  The birds were a real joy to stitch!  They look so content and relaxed, don't you think?

I did also manage to start on the fourth segment of the EMS SAL 2012 sampler.  I haven't gotten very far yet, but I am taking my time with this section, since I am contemplating some possible changes.  It'll be interesting to figure things out, I am sure...

I am not sure about the small flower swag thingy at the bottom... they look a bit blah compared to the rest of the motifs.  DH comforted me by saying that it'll probably look better when all the other motifs are in place.  I am not positive that will help with making the relatively bland colors pop.  Oh well.  The berry branches are so sweet and I enjoy working on them.

After a longer dry-spell in the mail-box, I "accidentally" got in some stash this week.  First I got a package from Australia with a few stump-work kits from Jane Nicholas.  Stump-work is something I dream of making one day, but I don't think that day will be tomorrow...  LOL
Her designs are so, so, so pretty!  Well, since the parents are almost here, the bunnies had to move from the guest bed-room to the stitch room, so I can't dig anything out from there, no matter how much I want to show you.  Poor, poor bunnies... ;-) (And poor, poor bunnies' mommy... sniffle)

...so   ...  I'll show you the newly acquired stash on-line instead - I got the tiny Bumble Bee kit, the fun looking Scarab Beetle Pouch and the large & absolutely gorgeous Fritillary, Fennel and Scarab Beetle.  Splurge!!  LOL  I love the Snake's Head Frittilary, so this one was a must.

Today I got a couple of neat surprises, that have not been "locked in" yet.  First off, here is the second kit from the Prim Sister Club.  Maybe not quite as cute as the first kit IMO, but still a real sweet design.

Second, a few charts, charms and linen cuts from the Woolly Tyme Club from Homespun Elegance.  I have kicked myself for not signing up to participate at the time, but I wasn't really into prim yet... On the plus-side, the prices are significantly better now ...  So far, I have managed to scrape up 9 out of 12 months which isn't all that bad.  (Still missing November, October, and July.)   I am planning on making a bunny to display the blankets on, instead of the sheep that they were intended for.  Any thoughts?

Before getting back to the bathroom scrubbing, I just need to share a photo of a real snuggle-bunny with you.  Back when we got Princess, he was such an itty-bitty thing.  Bubba was really very mean to him, but he is kinda' like the nice dog in UP! - he just did not get that she didn't adore him!  Well, they did become really good buddies after a while, which is lucky for Bubba; Princess has grown to become twice Bubba's weight since.  He is now too large to fit in the largest size igloo that the pet-store carries.  That tiny ordeal does not stop him from visiting with Bubba, nope.  Here he is, with his head in the igloo, probably getting licked by Bubba, while the rest of him has to stay outside... like Alice after drinking form the wrong bottle...LOL  He is just too funny and still very, very sweet as you can see!

Well, back to the sponges and buckets with me!
Have a great Friday, an even better weekend and don't forget to stitch!  ;-)