June Weather

I promise I will not complain about June in Kansas ever again.

We are in vacation in Duluth, Minnesota, where the WIND CHILL today was 36 degrees.  WIND CHILL - IT'S JUNE 11 for goodness sake!

Brisk isn't the word for it.  The wind is sustained at 20mph with gusts up to 40mph and a driving rain off the lake.  Unbelievable - and miserable if you're out in it.  

Instead of the outside activities we had planned with our friends, I'm taking the little boys to a movie while everyone else huddles around the fireplace in the lodge trying to stay warm.

At least I'm getting in lots of stitching!

Four States, Four Storms

Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota - nothing but wind, rain and storms.  Who thought June could be this windy and wet?  (Well, I should expect it after three decades in Kansas).

We headed out of town for our June vacation this morning - Kansas and Missouri had consistent 30-40 mph winds with a severe storm forecast for the afternoon.  Iowa had the severe storms.  Minnesota - just rain but great clouds.  

Looks like Duluth is going to be windy and rainy all week.  Hopefully we can find lots of fun stuff to do indoors! 

I did manage to get some serious cross stitching in, though - except when it got too dark because of the storms.  Here's my progress on Quaker Virtues (the photo's not great but it's what you get when you're taking pictures in a vehicle!):

Tomorrow:  the Mall of America, Stitchville USA in Minnetonka, and then off to Duluth.

Here's a lovely upside down and backwards photo of my first day's progress on Quaker Virtues.  I decided to start June 1 with the SAL and I'm really enjoying this so far.

The colors so far are SNC Heritage Blue, Sea Heather and Green Leaves Lt. and AVAS Blanc 1 x 1 on 28ct Platinum Jubilee.

The usual summertime stitching slump seems to be in full swing.  I am trying to rehabilitate the back garden - now "Weed Central" since it was so neglected last summer.  We spread 30 bags of mulch last weekend and only managed to cover half the beds around the deck.  So, between the rest of the beds around the deck and  the beds that run all along the back fence and the sides, we'll be spreading many, many more bags.

I did manage to get some stitching in this week, however.  I am still plugging away at Permin's Museum Celle 1826 - somehow I can't seem to do anything in monochrome.  Here's my progress as of this weekend.  The picture is very washed out - the colors are much more vibrant in person.  

I finally received the chart for Ink Circles Garden Stars this week and, of course, just had to get that started as well.  I am using Vikki Clayton's May Floss of the Month assortment over one on 28ct Waterlily linen (one of my favorite linen colors).  I am really liking how it looks so far - if only linen weren't such a pain for over-one stitching!

And today I started Quaker Virtues using Silk'n Colors in about six shakes of pale blues and greens on 28ct Platinum Jubilee.  I'm using the excuse that the Quaker Virtues Stitch-A-Long started today but the truth is that I just wanted to start it!  I haven't done enough to merit a picture but I'm sure I'll be posting as I make progress.

I also made more progress on my never-ending stash organization project.  My second order of Annie's Keepers arrived Friday and I spent Friday night and Saturday morning getting all my silks on the keepers, the keepers labeled and put into storage slides.  They fit nicely into a plastic file box.  I used almost 500 keepers to get my AVAS, HDF, Caron and Silk'n Colors organized but I really like the system!  Here's a picture of a finished slide on top of the plastic file box of storage slides.

I am very proud of my labels - the little circular labels that came with the system just didn't work for me.  I couldn't find 1/2" x 1/2" square labels, so I bought 1" x 1/2" and print 2 thread labels up, slicing them apart with an Exacto knife.

This will be a crazy week for us.  We're going to an indoor water park - Great Wolf Lodge - overnight on Thursday for Taylor's birthday.  Taylor is inviting a friend and my oldest, Quintin, and his girlfriend are going along as well.  Ian is still a little young to invite a friend but he usually has no trouble finding new friends wherever we go.  Hopefully the weather will hold out - they're predicting severe storms again for Thursday and Friday.  

My husband is taking Friday off so he'll stay overnight with us and then help set up for his club's car show at Cabela's - just across the street from Great Wolf.  We'll be at the show all-day Saturday and Sunday morning and then are leaving around noon to head up to Lake Superior for the national meet of another of his clubs.  (I'll have to find time to pack and load the car sometime!)  On the way to Duluth, we're taking the boys to the Mall of America and detouring to Minnetonka so I can go to Stitchville USA.  I'll post pictures when we return!

Have a great, safe, and productive week!