o' mice an' men

Mr. Burns (Robert not the Simpson version) had it right on best laid schemes and all.  Miss one weekend of blogging and suddenly it's a month later.

On the non-stitching front, my trip to Michigan was wonderful.  Grady is as cute and amazing as I thought he would be.  There is something so soothing about holding a baby (as long as you can hand them off to someone else when they need changing or get fussy).  Here's a picture of him from this morning:

Doesn't that smile just melt you?  You can't tell from the picture but he's got the deepest blue eyes.  Everyone is hoping that he keeps them.

After visiting Grady, my sister and I headed up to my mom's house.  Had a fun weekend there as not only was mom there but Jack and his dad were too.  Jack is doing (and into) so much.  So much fun to watch him discover and learn. Many opportunities to try really hard not to laugh or smile when he did something he wasn't supposed to do because he's just so darn cute while doing it.  He got to try out his new sled (Dad was a great draft horse):

and make a snowman with Dad and Oma:

All in all it was a very enjoyable trip.

It's all a blur of work and weekends since I got home. :-)  On the stitching front:

Yes, I have another finish!

Magic Dream by Cute Patterns by Maria is done.  It is stitched on a 32-count Midnight Tryst from Fabrics by Stephanie with the called for DMC.  I did substitute white Etoile for some of the white in the stars and moon.  It was sent off to Rensel Studios this morning and I can't wait to see what they come up with for it.

I then started Candy Nutcracker Stocking by Barbara Baatz Hillman for Kooler Design Studios.

The contrast of the very bright, primary colors on the black makes it very hard to get a decent picture.  The fabric is a 28-count black (very much darker than in the picture) Jobelan and I'm using the called for DMCs.  I'm stitching with the called for 3 strands of floss.  If I were stitching on white I think 2 strands would work, but trying to get good coverage on black is tough.  Once I get that row of berries(?) done, I'll go back and put Grady's name in.

I just looked at the date - besides being Pi day, it's the day before .  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is a way to thank people for stitching gifts (and what better way then using them) or to show stitching that are gifts (see the two above) or anything else you can shoehorn into the theme.

I also did a bit of stitching on Temperature Tree from Stitchin' Mommy on Etsy.

Finished all the February leaves and have May's branch almost done. 

I swear I stitched on more, but guess I didn't take any pictures. 

With all the coronavirus prep that's going on - I'm not panicked but I'd rather we look back on it and say we were over-prepared - I did some stocking up:

Priorities right?

I plan to stitch once the housework is done.  I'm making tentative stitching plans in the event we go to full-time telework - I'll have hours in the evening so need to figure how best to use them!  Schools in Virginia, Maryland and DC are closed for at least the next two weeks (three if you add in spring breaks) so I suspect it's just a matter of time before we get the go for full-time telework, at least I hope so - I'm not so much concerned about catching anything in the building but the train is a whole 'nother story.  Despite all the warnings about staying home if you don't feel well, there will be a group of "dedicated" folks that will battle their way to work when obviously sick - we have a quiet car on the train, maybe we could have a sick car too - and I'd just as soon avoid them.  Hope everyone is well and stays that way.