Days of a Sampler Lover

A model is stitched......

2012-02-10T09:48:00.000-08:00

I don't usually post on Fridays, but I just had to make an exception this time. Remember back around the turn of the year when I said I was doing some model stitching? One of the models was for Paulette of Plum Street Samplers.

You already know I love Paulette's designs, right? After all, she is the most represented designer on my A&E wall. (There are 3 out of 12 A&E designs that are hers!) Well, I was thrilled to take over the model stitching for Nicole on this design. I did the majority of the stitching after Nicole's start, and Paulette finished it up. And I just loved stitching on this piece!!!

May I present Brother's Keeper.

Isn't it just gorgeous?? The picture is from Paulette's blog, who takes much better pictures than I do. Paulette is releasing this one at Nashville market, which isn't too far away now!

If you're interested in details on this design, just go to Paulette's blog. She has all the low down there. And take a look at the other design she's releasing too -- love it!!

Thanks so much, Paulette, for trusting me to stitch this piece for you. I still want to stitch it up for myself too!

Ahem. Who said anything about WIPs?

2012-02-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

Um yeah. So I knew the WIP thing wouldn't last. lol! First off, I had to sit down and do some model stitching -- which of course I can't show. Then I knew that this was coming in the mail. And it did. And so I started it. Who could resist?

What is this, you ask? Well, it's an online class being given by the wonderful Amy Mitten. It's the Winders' Keepers class. I chose the Quaker version. There's also a Vierlande version (which I also love) and a Friesland version (which was my third choice). Here is a link if you're interested in seeing what the piece looks like. I provided links to all three if you click on their names.

I love the colors on the Quaker version, so that was the final decision maker for me. Plus the fact that the father type and I used to attend Quaker meeting once upon a time, and the girl child attended a Quaker summer camp in her younger years as well.

Anyway, I still say model stitching is very bad for keeping on task with one's stitching. lol!

I also managed to pick up a framed piece from my LNS. As I've said before, I rely on my talented framer to pick out the frames -- I just stand there and oohh and ahh until we are both satisfied. It's always amazing how fast Don comes up with the perfect choice for a frame. Like this one, for example.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the frame is just perfect -- the colors in the frame compliment the piece to a T! This is Ann Sandles of course. Here's a detail of the frame.

Love it!

On the college front, the boy child has been accepted to three schools so far. He probably won't hear from the rest until more like April. No news on the audition front yet, but that's also to be expected. Fingers crossed!

Mia was doing her ballet exercises this morning.

Actually, she was begging for a good scratch, but it does look rather ballet like, right? Especially this pic.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! I hope everyone has a fantastic week.

Year of WIPs??

2012-01-30T05:50:00.000-08:00

Well so far, 2012 seems to be the year of the WIP or UFO. And They Sinned was a WIP and still is.

I'm happy to say I got the tree out of the way. Now I just have to fill in the leaves and apples, etc. Ugh. Why do I like A&Es when I hate stitching trees? lol!

So far, the tree looks very appropriate for the time of year, yes? :D

And They Sinned is going slowly. I seem to have committed to many things this year, so I haven't been able to concentrate on just one project. I think it's playing with my mind.

Loraine and I have decided to do an SAL on the Betsy Morgan Toy Chest Etui, another of my WIP/UFOs. Do you remember that project??? You have to go back all the way to June 2010 to find when I took the class. That's a long time ago! Loraine took the class more recently, so hopefully she remembers things better than I do. I'll be counting on that, Loraine!

Anyway, we decided to stitch a page a week. Here is this week's SAL, the needlebook.

Isn't it pretty? I love the colors! Betsy says to use just one thread even on the satin stitch. Makes for a rather sparse look, but Loraine said Betsy likes it that way -- makes it look old and well loved.

Our SAL might be a bit hap hazard for a while since I have to do some model stitching again. I hope I manage to keep this SAL going! I'd really love to finish this project!

The boy child had another audition this past weekend. This time it was for what is probably his first choice in colleges, up in Boston. Here is a view from the hotel.

Pretty cool, huh?

The boy child thought he did pretty well at the audition. Fingers crossed he gets in!

With the chilly weather, Mia has been doing her best to burrow into the warmest places she can find. She loves piles of the boy child's laundry.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. It always amazes me how many blogging friends I have and how much of a pleasure it is to talk with you all and to meet new blogging friends as well. I hope everyone has a great week! If you're in a cold area of the world, follow Mia's lead and stay warm!

PS: Did anyone watch the Australian Open final?? WOW!

First finish, first TUSAL of 2012 -- plus prizes too

2012-01-23T07:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, first the first 2012 finish. Yay!

Sarah Elizabeth Brooke

by The Scarlett House

40ct Homespun (?) linen

Belle Soie as called for

Isn't she gorgeous?

I'm in love with her. And all the over one words went really quickly for a change!

I also worked on And They Sinned again on Sunday. Here's where I am now.

Michelle advised me to just work from left to right, top to bottom on those crazy motifs above the tree -- all of which I was dreading stitching. So armed with that advice, I started. And it's really helped! Still a bit more of those motifs in the sky to do. But then I get to work on A&E and the angel and that tree!

And the craziness in the sky is actually quite pretty. :D

I'm also posting my first TUSAL of 2012. Here's where you can sign up if you're interested. It's fun, and no pressure at all.

My ORTs might look a little funny. That's because my sweet boy child had a moment of nostalgia and decided to cut all my ORTs into tiny pieces with my stitching scissors -- just like he used to when he was younger. I added a few more ORTs after his snipping session though. lol!

Oh, and I took the picture of my ORT jar with my new acquisition for the pin cushion collection from Christmas. Isn't it marvelous? It's a reproduction of a sewing caddy from a talented artisan named Richard Hyers. Here is a link to his website. Oh, and thank you to Dawn for posting about his work so I could discover it! Dawn's blog is always full of eye candy.

I have received some lovely prizes in the mail recently as well. First, I won a lovely giveaway from Nicola at Stitching by a Cornish Sea. By the way, her blog is so worth a visit. She lives in the most beautiful area and does a lot of gorgeous stitching! Her ATS is what inspired me to get back to mine.

Anyway, here is the package I got.

And here is the prize in all its glory!

(Sorry for the darkness at the top.) I got a Love kit from the Historical Sampler Company, Plus a whole lot of goodies to go with it! Fabric, lace, trims, beads, a pretty note pad -- and I'm very excited about the purse frame that I can make into a purse. Thank you so much, Nicola! I love my prize, and I so enjoy reading your blog!

I also got a prize from Lizzie of A House in the Country.

It's a beautiful iPhone case for my iPhone! Her talented youngest daughter is an artist, and she designed the art on the case. Isn't it lovely? Thank you so much, Lizzie! Now all I have to do is figure out how to take my other case off my iPhone so I can put this one on. lol!

While I was taking pictures this morning for this post, Mia was watching over the proceedings from above.

She did get distracted though.

Always interesting things out the window. lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I always enjoy our visits. I hope everyone has a great week!

The fun part

2012-01-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

I got over the tedious brickwork on Sarah Elizabeth Brooke. I'm in the midst of the fun part now. Yay!

I just love all the motifs on the sides of the house.

I'm still working on the ones on the right side of the house. Then comes the other stuff -- like the over one words. Ugh.

I also managed to work a bit on And They Sinned on Sunday. I'm hoping to manage Sundays on ATS, but I won't show a pic till it's worthwhile.

The drain work is mostly done. The jack hammering part was just on one day, thankfully. And they were done with the inside work by the end of the second day. They are coming back to do the outside piping on an unspecified day, plus they have to install backup batteries for the system. The electrician is coming tomorrow. The workers also managed to damage a pipe -- luckily the drain company will pay for the work to fix it.

The basement is a mess -- nothing can be moved back into place against the walls until the cement over the new drains is dry. It's interesting trying to do the laundry with the washer and dryer in the middle of the room packed in tightly among the other furniture. I'm hoping we can move things back soon. I'm also hoping we can manage to do it ourselves!

The boy child had his first audition for a college music program this past weekend. 3 more to go! Hopefully the weather will cooperate for all of them -- none are close by. Here is a pic of the boy child warming up for his audition. He looks so refined, doesn't he?

The boy child also had his winter concert for his non-school orchestra. It's always so nice to hear some beautiful music from a live orchestra. Here are a couple of pics.

He is first chair of the bass section, so you can see him on the right there.

Mia has decided it's way too cold for her taste. When the boy child leaves his winter coat at home, she dives in.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. For those who have Martin Luther King Day off, enjoy the 3 day weekend! Have a great week, everyone!

Please pardon the brickwork.....

2012-01-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

There's a problem with posting every Monday. Sometimes you end up with a boring post. I'm afraid this is one of those times.

Yes, I'm afraid And They Sinned got put away for now -- once again I got daunted by the part I was working on and decided not to work on it. Poor thing. I know I will get back to it though.

So instead, I pulled out poor Sarah Elizabeth Brooke (The Scarlett House). Finished all that darned grass. And now I'm in the throes of lots of brickwork. Sigh.

I need a good audiobook to keep me going.

My red floss for the bricks doesn't seem to have as much variegation as Tanya's did. But that's ok. Oh, and btw, if you go to that link, you will see a small correction to the chart for Sarah.

I hope Tanya doesn't mind. I really want to show how pretty this piece is. This is from Tanya's (The Scarlett House) blog.

I will get there someday!

Come the middle of the week, we will be cold and full of awful jackhammering noises in the house. Yes, we are putting a French drain system in the basement. Which means jackhammering, possible dust -- but hopefully the dust will stay down in the basement -- and cold (since we can't use the heat while the jackhammering is going on). I'm so not looking forward to the work, or the expense. But I am definitely looking forward to no more basement flooding. Wish us luck!

Here is a pic of Mia. She has definitely discovered the advantages of down coats. :D

This time, she went for the boy child's coat. (Kim, recognize the quilt? Yes, it's the one I got from you!)

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

First post of 2012

2012-01-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

I did have one last finish in 2011. My Quaker Stocking.

Quaker Stocking by CHS

40ct Meadow Rue

NPI fibers plus one rogue green AVAS

I'm glad to have it done. I'm rather Quaker-ed out stitching wise.

I picked up my And They Sinned after being inspired by Nicola of Stitching by a Cornish Sea. I was horrified to discover that I was still in the midst of that darned cloud. lol! But I managed to finish it, plus the motifs in the cloud as well.

I've decided though, that it's going to take a bit of effort for me to get through the next part of the piece above the tree. Too busy for me! lol! My favorite parts of this piece are farther down.

Our New Years Day always means that it's time to make Chinese dumplings from scratch. It's a New Year's tradition that goes way back to when I was a little girl. It's a lot of work, making the skins from scratch, the meat mixture from scratch, and then sitting down to make the dumplings! But it's also a lot of fun and a great time for the family to sit and talk while our hands are busy making something yummy for our tummies. :D

This is the end result.

Yum!!!

So I'm revealing a secret today. All those pics of the boy child and Mia sleeping together you've seen over the many posts I've made have been on my bed, not his. Want to see his bed? You will see why I tend not to take pics of his bed. lol!

See how well he makes up his bed? lol! And yes, he keeps various items on his bed too. That thing in the foreground is a guitar/bass guitar holder, in case you're wondering. Mia has been enjoying these lazy Christmas break days with her boy child sleeping in. :D

I didn't take a single stitch yesterday on New Year's Day. I hope that's not a bad sign for 2012! I was thinking about starting a new piece for the day, especially since I plan to take part in BeckySC's 2012 BAP challenge. But I decided I really need to at least try to finish Sarah Elizabeth Brooke before starting another BAP. So the challenge will have to wait for now.

One final little thing. Rose Bowl Parade not on New Year's Day?? Ugh! And what's with this horrid opening ceremony thing, all commercial and singing and disgusting? What happened to the plain, simple parade as it was in the old days? Bleagh! Ok, I'll settle for a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with these singing, dancing type pieces. But please don't make my Rose Bowl Parade like that! Thank goodness they've started limiting that stuff just to the opening. Sorry. I've just been watching the parade since I was little and I miss how it used to be. (And I was quite surprised to find that I had to wait till today to watch it!) I even got to go to the parade once for real when I was in elementary school or junior high. It was fun! In case you're wondering, they don't do the Rose Bowl on Sundays. Scares the horses. :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. It's so wonderful to be able to chat with my blogging friends! I will leave you with another pic of the boy child and Mia. Mia was cuddling inside the torn bag, before I took this picture.

Have a great week! And here's wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012 with lots of stitching!

Year in review 2011, another stocking, and a gift

2011-12-26T06:30:00.000-08:00

It seems weird to think 2011 is almost over and that the next time I will post to this blog will be in 2012. Of course that means I have to show what I've stitched this year. If you squint hard, you'll probably be able to see all the pieces in this pic. My sidebar has a list of them if you want to know names. (I've not shown all of SDW, but just two different parts of it.)

It's been a fun year of stitching! Now I just need more funds for framing. lol!

After finishing my Noah stocking, I realized I have 3 stockings all ready and waiting to be finished. But wait, there are 4 members in my family! So of course I had to start a last CHS stocking. The only one I had kitted up was the Quaker Stocking, so that's the one I started.

I'm using 40ct Meadow Rue (one of the last pieces I had from the old days when the color was nice) along with the called for NPI. I did throw in a bit of green though. Couldn't resist.

It's obviously not done yet. I love Quakers, but I've gotten rather sick of stitching them. So this one is a bit of a struggle to get through. I did want to stitch a Quaker stocking though. The father type and I used to attend Quaker meeting once upon a time. And the girl child attended a Quaker summer camp as well. Somehow Quakers have been a part of our lives, and having a stocking to commemorate that is rather nice.

I got another wonderful surprise in the mail the other day from Faye of Carolina Stitcher. I was so surprised and touched!

It's a wallet Faye made herself. Look at the gorgeous fabric! And I love the button and the pretty zip pull charm! Thank you so much, Faye! I will use and treasure this!

Our little Mia does love to get into things. She fell in love with some packing material from a box and just had to play hide and seek in it. Can you see her?

I think she felt nice and safe inside all that stuff. lol! She's been a bit on the grumpy side since the girl child got home. I do wish she would accept the girl child and not be a little meanie.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a good one. I know we did!

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012. Enjoy the last days of 2011!

A final TUSAL, and some music

2011-12-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a rare Saturday post to finish up the TUSAL for the year. Here's a link to the 2012 TUSAL if you're interested. Fun to do, and no stress either!

I thought I'd show my TUSAL in front of the Christmas tree. :D

The boy child's school Christmas concert was on Wednesday. When we got home, I tossed my coat on the ground so I could rush to use the facilities, so to speak. Well, Mia seemed to fall in love with my coat as soon as it touched the ground. Can you see where she is?

Here's another view. She burrowed into the sleeve!

Silly baby!

I'm going to leave you with some music from the boy child's jazz ensemble group. It's not Christmas music, but hopefully you won't mind. I hope you enjoy!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, happy Hanukkah, or whatever you may celebrate.

I love Noah and Nicholas Mosse -- and mail!

2011-12-19T05:40:00.000-08:00

The model stitching is done for now. And so is Noah.

Noah's Stocking by CHS

40ct. Lentil

NPI

I know, I know, he's not finished into a stocking yet. I have to think on that. lol!

(Don't you like the sunrise on Noah?)

Love that ark!

And how cool is that alligator? (Or crocodile.)

I also have been showered with prizes and gifts lately. Christ of Tot Hill Farm Stitches gave me this lovely chart of Jane A. Jackson. Thank you, Chris! I love it! (I took the chart out of the plastic to avoid the glare.)

RuthB of The Musing Badger sent me this wonderful prize of a cache of fibers.

There are a slew of Gentle Arts fibers, a slew of Belle Soie silks, a couple of Waterlilies silks, a few Carrie's Creations, and a Needle Necessities. All so pretty too! Thank you, RuthB!

And BeckySC of Beckybee's Stitching Hive sent me this lovely gift out of the blue. I was so surprised and touched.

It's a beautiful wooden box with Becky's lovely stitching on top. Thank you so much, Becky! You are so sweet! I will treasure this forever!

A blogging friend asked me the other day to show off my Nicholas Mosse pottery collection. Her sharp eyes spotted a few pieces on the table for our Thanksgiving feast, and she asked to see more.

Well, I've been collecting Nicholas Mosse Pottery for years and years. In fact, the pictures of my collection I'm going to show you are from quite a few years back. I took them back when the boy child was in middle school and had braces. (Yes, that's the boy child. lol!)

Isn't he cute? Oh yeah, and that's my pottery collection. A bit much, huh? I'm very good at collecting through the years. lol!

I've added one or two more pieces since those pictures were taken. But we'll ignore that fact. lol! I'm a devoted fan of Nicholas Mosse, in case you couldn't tell. We always use my dishes for the holidays of the year. The kids look forward to choosing which plate they will use.

Sorry for the long post. I just had a backlog of things I've been meaning to post about so I thought I'd do it in one fell swoop.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. And many wishes to everyone for a Happy Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you might celebrate. Enjoy all the festivities and celebrations!

Hi, Noah, and the Christmas tree continued

2011-12-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

So the model supplies didn't arrive until Thursday. (Sometimes I wonder about the USPS.) But I didn't start 3 new projects. Not even one new project. lol! Just stuck with Noah. Here he is so far.

Don't you love his face and beard? I keep thinking he's a young Santa. lol!

I did get going on the models though. And now I'm waiting for one more piece of fabric to arrive so I can stitch the last model.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy seeing where we get our Christmas tree, and our trek to get it home.

This is Abel's Tree Farm up north of us. Such a nice, friendly, family-owned and operated place. (No affiliation with the place, just a happy customer.)

This is the boys with the tree.

Cutting the tree down and lugging it to be baled.

They have very large balers, thank goodness! And golf carts to lug your tree for you if you prefer.

They also have a big barn where you can grab some food or baked treats if you're hungry. Which we were. (The boy child wasn't happy about posing for this picture. lol!)

Here are the boys at home cutting the very bottom off the tree in preparation for putting it in the tree stand. (This is so the tree has a fresh base through which to absorb water.) We have quite a collection of these tree stumps. The girl child used to decorate each stump and put the date on it -- now the boy child does it. They all sit on the mantel piece.

And you already saw the end result.

Little Mia got sick toward the end of the week. We still aren't sure why, although I suspect perhaps she drank some of the tree water (which has tree preservative in it). She seems to be feeling herself again and is hopefully all better.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a great week.

So I was wrong -- or the hazards of model stitching

2011-12-05T05:27:00.001-08:00

So Paulette was kind to me and told me to send her model back even though there was a tiny bit more to stitch. (Hopefully, Paulette thinks it's just a tiny bit too.) And my supplies for stitching the next model hadn't arrived yet. So I had a couple of days to play. So I started something new. A hazard of model stitching -- you figure you only have a bit of time till the next model comes, so you decide to stitch something new on the spur of the moment.

It's the Margaret Cottam mystery sampler by La D Da. I think it's so pretty! And very La D Da as well! I haven't put in the last number on the year yet since I don't know when I'll finish it. (I'm using the called for fabric in 40ct with the called for fibers.)

So then Saturday came and we went off to get our Christmas tree, tramping through the fields of our favorite tree farm up north, and marveling at all the enormously tall trees they had this year. Just to show you how tall the tree is that we chose:

Tall!! (The father type is 6 ft tall.)

So we did our usual cutting, driving home, decorating, etc. And I figured that the model supplies would be waiting for me in the mailbox. No supplies in the mailbox. So what does my little mind say to myself? Ooooh, more playtime! And what kind of mood am I in now? A Christmas one of course! Time for another new start!

(I have to say that this is the first time in at least a couple of years that I've actually been in the mood for Christmas when we've put up our tree. Yay! It's really nice!)

So anyway, some friends were talking about those Carriage House Samplings stockings that we all want to stitch up. And that got me to thinking. Well, I have this one stitched up.

A Virtuous Woman Stocking

from a Hands to Work retreat kit

36ct fabric with NPI fibers

And I have this one stitched up. (Please note: neither one is actually made into a stocking yet. Sadly.)

Sampler Stocking by CHS

40ct Meadow Rue

NPI fibers

And I so want to stitch this one.

(I grabbed the picture from Kathy Barrick's old website. I hope it's ok.)

So guess what I started on Sunday?

Noah's Stocking by CHS

40ct Lentil

NPI fibers

I've had this kitted up and ready to go for years!

I'm already thinking about which other one to stitch. lol! I know I have the Quaker one ready to go (except maybe for fabric). But I do love that Pennsylvania German one. And I don't think I even have the chart. Sigh.

Anyway, now you understand the hazards of model stitching. Since there was another reprieve from the next model, it called for a second start. lol! Not good! Poor Sarah Elizabeth Brooke. (Remember her?) Two starts while waiting for the model supplies. I do know that if the supplies don't arrive today (which I think they will), I won't start another project. I'm in the mood for Christmas stitching!

Mia has been just fine with the Christmas tree. Unlike poor Chris, whose tribulations with her Christmas tree and her two cats can be read here. Mia's reaction to the tree as it arrived was pretty much the same as last year, except for a bit more trepidation this time around. She just didn't like something new to come into her house. lol! But she did sniff around and explore. No real interest in the tree otherwise.

Hopefully, she'll continue to exhibit no interest in the tree. :D

Some blogging friends have left suggestions as to what to show or what to discuss in my blog as I dive into model stitching again. So next week, I will try to get to those suggestions. It's so nice to talk to blogging friends and get ideas and be inspired!

I'll leave you with the picture I used for our annual Apple photo book that we send to our family members each year. (And yes, we get a copy for ourselves as well!) (And yes, I'm an Apple girl, through and through.) Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

TUSAL and no updates??

2011-11-28T05:16:00.001-08:00

First off, my TUSAL.

I'm getting in the mood for Christmas (for a change), so I used my elf as a model for the TUSAL pic. It's by Lori Ann Corelis. A new TUSAL is starting up for 2012. If you're interested, go here for all the details. It's lots of fun.

So now the reason why I have no stitching update for you. I'm afraid I'll be doing model stitching for the foreseeable future. I've taken over the model stitching of a model for Paulette of Plum Street Samplers from Nicole. And I also have a model or two to stitch for Vickie of Needlework Press. So no stitching update -- I've been working my fingers to the bone. lol!

What I will try to do in the next few weeks is show some of my stitching from the past. Hopefully you won't get bored with me as I do these models.

We did have a nice Thanksgiving at our house. The girl child came home for the whole 4 day weekend, which was nice. And the father type did his usual magic in the kitchen. This is only part of the feast.

And my lovely peoples.

Mia got into a bit of mischief over the weekend too. She started exploring the closet -- it's gotten a cleaning recently so she's been enjoying looking around. Then she started climbing.

Methinks she will not be allowed access to the closet anymore. lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a great week! (Here are the two friends, together again.)

Margaret done, Sarah started

2011-11-21T06:07:00.001-08:00

Here is Margaret -- so pretty!

Margaret W. Brown by Milady's Needle

40ct Vintage Palomino

AVAS 100/3

I love the colors!

And I've started something new too. Sarah Elizabeth Brooke by my friend Tanya at The Scarlett House.

I'm using 40ct something -- I think Homespun?? Not sure. And the called for Belle Soie silks.

If you want to see the whole thing, go to Tanya's blog here. It's so pretty, right?

Here's Mia having fun in a box.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone in the US has a wonderful Thanksgiving. And that everyone has a great week!

Big finish, small start, and my cuties

2011-11-14T05:32:00.001-08:00

First off, here's Ann Smith in all her glory.

Ann Smith Sampler by the Scarlet Letter

36ct Light Examplar

AVAS called for

Isn't she pretty? (Sorry I'm a bad photographer.)

I'm so glad I stitched her!

Now I know the question is, what's next? Here she is.

She's Margaret W. Brown by Milady's Needle. I'm using 40ct vintage Palomino and AVAS 100/3. It's my first time using the 100/3 -- nice stuff!

The linen color is washed out in the photos, but hopefully you get the idea.

My stitching sisters have suggested I have a Margaret sampler wall. I may have to do that!

I think the boy child is feeling at loose ends now that the play is over. All this free time! lol! I keep telling him he needs to use that free time to do his college applications and practice for possible auditions. Hopefully he'll listen. The boys did manage to visit another college on Friday, so that's good. So far, the boy child has liked all the colleges we've visited.

I think Mia is very happy to have the boy child around more.

What do you think? :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a great week!

A family post, and a present

2011-11-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

I hope you all don't mind, but since my last post was on Thursday, and I want to save the big reveal of Ann Smith for when I'm actually done with her, this is just going to be a family post. If you're just interested in the stitching, you can skip this post. :D

First off, would you like to see the huge branch on top of my car from the nor'easter?

Please note, all those bush-like things away from the house are not bushes. They are fallen branches and limbs. Get the picture? lol! That's not all the limbs and branches that fell either.

Before I get into the family stuff, I wanted to show you a present I received from Isabelle in France. Isabelle has started a lovely new blog about Japanese embroidery. I'm embarrassed to say I can't find the link right now despite the fact that it should be in my reader. Sigh. But here is the link to Isa's other blog. When I find the right link, I will post it. It's so worth looking at -- Isabelle's Japanese embroidery is so exquisite! And Isa's first blog is wonderful as well!

Edited to insert link to Isabelle's Japanese embroidery blog. Thanks for understanding, Isabelle!

Anyway, I became the first follower of Isa's new Japanese embroidery blog, and she gave me a present just for that! Isn't that amazing? And here is what arrived.

Look what was inside! A lovely note pad made by Isabelle! Isabelle makes the most amazing things.

The inside.

Isn't it wonderful? Thank you so much, Isabelle! You are so sweet to give me such a beautiful gift!

Back to the family.

Now here's what the girl child did for Halloween at college. She was Link from the Legend of Zelda. Cute, huh?

Now for the boy child's school play. The company did Noises Off. It was absolutely wonderful! The cast did a great job, as did the crew. Look at this set! Keep in mind, the whole set has to spin around so you see the back of the set for Act II.

And it was a massive set! I'm going to show lots of pics now, so I hope you enjoy. The boy child, in case you know the play, played Tim Allgood, the stage manager.

Here's the back of the set in Act II.

And the front again. It was fun watching them spin the set around between acts!

The three burglars. :D

The boy child taking his bow.

And the whole cast.

After the show.

And a rare smile.

Congratulations to my boy child. I'm so proud of you!

Sunday was the memorial service for my FIL. It was a moving, special event. It was so nice to see the old Unitarian church again where the Father type went as a child/teen. And the old friends too. FIL was greatly loved, and you could tell by the tributes given at the service.

I hope you didn't mind this family post. I will be back to stitching next time. Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. Hope everyone has a great week!

Now I have to go find the girl child's glasses and overnight them to her. She forgot to take them back to school with her. Silly girl! lol!

(Mia with a face towel from the girl child's room. She loves to rummage through and attack any of the girl child's possessions.)

On shaky ground....

2011-11-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note. If I disappear again, it's because of the internet going away again. Lost it again for a while this morning. And I took a look at the lines to our house -- they were definitely pulled out! Ugh. The cable company won't come out to fix them till next Wednesday. But hopefully we'll stay online! Fingers crossed!

Nor'easter -- power, check. Internet, nope! Agh!

2011-11-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

I should say right up front -- thank God we kept our power. All around us, including people in our neighborhood, power was out. Probably until today. (And it was COLD!) We lost our phones, internet and cable (all through the cable system), but we were with power, which I was sooooo grateful for!

No school for two days. The middle school was being used as a shelter for those without power or heat. And the schools have been on a one hour delay since school started again -- so the bus drivers can see any problems like downed power lines and trees. Downed tree at the top of the street finally got removed last night. Still downed stuff down the street. And our internet is back. Yay!!

Anyway, pictures.

It's amazing what you can accomplish with no internet. lol! You've seen the couple.

But don't you love these trees?

It was such a shock to go back to over two. And a pleasure! So much so that I'm not going to stitch the over one words or the two creatures on the bottom corners till the last.

Back to the nor'easter. We were lucky. We kept our power despite tons and tons of branches down in the yard -- and one leaning on the wires to our house too! A ginormous branch landed on top of my car, but amazingly, there are only two small dents in the roof of the car. I tell you though, it was very scary that day and night! Constant cracks, and thumps and thuds. Argh!

It's going to be a busy weekend here. Step-MIL and the girl child are both arriving tomorrow for the weekend. The boy child is in the midst of "h***" week for his high school play, Noises Off. (The boy child is playing Timothy Allgood.) Performances are tomorrow night and Saturday afternoon and night. StepMIL, the girl child, the father type and I are all set to see the show opening night tomorrow! Sunday is the memorial service for FIL. So it's been crazy with rehearsals, drop off and pick up, cleaning, and more cleaning. lol!

I am still working my way through 691 blog posts in my blog reader. AGH! Amazing what accumulates when you can't get to the internet. So my apologies for not commenting on your blogs this week. I'll be back to normal soon and back to commenting. (I didn't even count the number of emails in my inbox. Cringe....)

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. Thanks also for emails I received asking how we fared through the storm. I hope the rest of the week and the weekend are good for everyone!

Lots of over one! Also framing, animal wall, red walls, TUSAL

2011-10-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe I'm trying to squeeze too much into this post. Maybe I should be spreading things out a bit. Oh well, whatever. I'll just forget to post it if I don't do it now.

First off, Ann Smith. Oh, that over one takes forever! All of the Adam and Eve panel is tent over one. Ugh. But I do have to say, it makes for a nice change.

I think that blue in the tree is brighter than the model shown on the Scarlet Letter site. And A&E were supposed to be in this color that is all wrong with my fibers. So I switched to a more fleshy color for them. I think they're grateful. (Who wants to be dishwater green? lol!)

They're cute, right? Now to do all the grass (tons of grass!), other vegetation, birds, and two more trees. Oh boy!

I also picked up a couple more framed pieces from my framer at my LNS. Here is Susan Rambo.

Here is a closeup of her frame.

This is the one my framer is so proud of. Look at the frame!

And here is a closeup of that amazing frame (it's Ann Grant btw).

I had to use flash for these pics so the color is off, but you get the idea.

Now here is Sarah Rambo with Sarah Woodham (Shakespeare's Peddler).

They're hanging on a wall between two windows. To their left is this -- Ann Grant with the Freds (Frederick and Frederica from CHS).

This area is my red wall grouping. :D

Here is my animal wall.

At the top left is the Richmond Sampler (Anne Maria Clarke) by the Essamplaire, Jane Tindall to her right (Needlework Press), bottom left is Rebecca Robinson by the Scarlet Letter, and then Isabella Johnstone by the Needlework Press and in SANQ. See all the animals? :D

Now can someone give me more wall space? A huge, enormous wall? lol!

It's also time for the TUSAL for the end of October.

Behind are a couple of pieces of pottery made by a good friend of ours. Alongside my ORT jar is another of my pincushions, appropriate for Halloween. This cute bat fellow was made by Susan of Mouse Droppings.

The boy child is still busy with the school play that he's in. Less than 2 more weeks till the show! We've also slowly been visiting colleges for that big college application process. It's been fun seeing various colleges, I have to say. At least one I'd seen before with the girl child.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! I hope everyone has a safe, happy, healthy, and wonderful week. (Mia says hi.)

Did someone say Adam & Eve?

2011-10-17T06:07:00.001-07:00

Yes, Ann Smith is an A&E sampler. Just haven't gotten to the Adam and Eve part yet. It's coming though. Here she is so far.

The A&E part comes after those red words down at the bottom. And it's all over one. Gulp!

In all the excitement of showing off my new framing last week, I forgot to post a pic of my samplers hanging up. Would you like to see my A&E wall? Or rather wall and a bit? Ta da!

Let's see if I can do this. On the wall on the left is the Jenny Bean Creation Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler and under that, Guarding Eden by Examplars from the Heart. Moving to the right, on top is Jane Atkinson by the Scarlet Letter and under it is Frances Eden by Handwork Samplers. To the right of Jane is the Charlotte Clayton Sampler by the Northwest Sampler Guild. Under that is Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers. Under that, on the left is Margaret Pence by the Good Huswife and to the right is Fruit of the Spirit by Plum Street Samplers. To the right of Charlotte is Sarah Esh by Carriage House Samplings. Under that is Know Ye by La D Da. And finally on the bottom right is Hallow Eden by Plum Street Samplers. Whew! And yes, Paulette, you are represented three times up there with your designs!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Finally, some framing. And Ann too

2011-10-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

First, here is Ann Smith.

I am so loving her colors! The words and the cloud parts are all over one. I did what the directions said -- stitched the words in full cross over one, and stitched the motifs in tent over one. Makes it much easier! And it's what the directions said too! (The threadwinders are from a talented artist, Betsy Krieg Salm.)

Such a pretty sampler!!

I forgot to mention last week that it was thanks to a good family friend that I was reminded of Ann Smith sitting in my stash. She suggested I stitch it, so I pulled Ann out of the stash box and decided to go for it. So thanks, Anne!

Another amazing thing about Anne. We know her family and her through their having been family friends with the father type's family. Anne and her siblings grew up with the father type and their parents were all close friends. When I started my blog, Anne emailed me to let me know that she stitches as well. Who knew?! It's nice to have a fellow stitcher and crafter hiding among friends to discover!

This year has been a bad year for many it seems. That includes my poor LNS owner. What with the various issues we've been having and the various issues she and her DH (who does my framing) have been having, I haven't gotten any of my framing for a while. I finally remedied that and picked up three pieces on Friday. Here they are, in no particular order.

Isabella Johnstone. And a closeup of her frame.

Next up, the Jenny Bean Creation Sampler.

And finally, Frances Eden.

It's hard to tell from the pic, but the frame is so perfect for this piece!

The father type helped me unpack all the framing when I got home. He set various boobie traps for poor Mia with the clear tape from the wrapping. (Don't worry, it was a supervised thing and the tape and plastic were eventually thrown away for safety.) I think Mia enjoyed herself, but she didn't like the tape sticking to her various body parts and made sure to shake them off very carefully if they so much as threatened to stick to her. She finally settled down for a nap in the detritus.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone in the States has a great Columbus Day and that everyone in Canada has a great Thanksgiving. Have a great week, everyone!

Mary finished, and two Anns

2011-10-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Here is Mary Allen all finished.

Mary Allen Sampler by Samplers Remembered

40ct RR Creme Brulee

NPI fibers

I'm so happy she's done!

Now for an Ann. Do you remember Ann? Ann Wheatley that is. The SAL for Ann Wheatley at the Attic finished in September, but with all that's been going on, I forgot to post my finish of her on my blog. Well, here she is.

Isn't she lovely?

I love her colors! I used the fabric and fibers provided by the Attic for the SAL.

And now my new start. Does anyone know who she is?

She's Ann Smith from the Scarlet Letter. Here's a link to her full picture. I'm using 36ct Vintage Light Examplar so that I don't go crazy when the over one parts come in. There is a ton of over one. I'm also using the AVAS called for. I love her colors! The inner gold border is supposed to be done in tiny eyelet stitches, but Marsha says you don't have to if you don't want to and I'm not. Too time consuming!

In other news, we managed to go visit a couple of colleges for the boy child this past weekend. Which is a good thing. We visited a massive college in the city, and a very small college north of us. Very good contrasts. The boy child seems to like both, which is great. I'm sure there are more college visits in our future.

The boy child has been going full speed with school stuff, of course. He got a part in the high school fall production of Noises Off, so every day after school has been 3 hours of rehearsal time. Makes for busy times when you throw in his regular non-school orchestra rehearsals and his jazz band rehearsals in the evenings 2 nights a week. Plus homework of course. But he is loving it and that's the important part. Let's just hope he gets all this college application stuff done in time!

Here is the boy child and Mia, sleeping partners once again. The boy child hasn't been getting enough sleep as usual, so a nap happened to make up for it.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I always enjoy visiting with you all!

No more words! And TUSAL

2011-09-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Ah, a sigh of relief. The words are all done.

It actually wasn't all that bad. Most of the words were over two, not over one. And they went quickly and took up a lot of space. :D But I'm glad to be here now.

Instead of here.

I do love the owls though.

It's also TUSAL time.

My ORT jar always looks the same, doesn't it? Oh well. I put my ORT jar with my bear from Lori Ann Corelis.

I will leave you with a picture of Mia playing with a Keurig cup. The father type left a box of Keurig cups for his coffee maker on the bed. Mia loves coffee and will do anything to get some. So of course she plunged into the box of K cups and grabbed one. Such a cute baby.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. And thank you for the sweet words about my FIL and the birthday wishes for the father type. Both were greatly appreciated. I hope everyone has a great week.

Happy belated.....

2011-09-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

What a bad wife I am.

It took a good friend asking if I only did birthday posts for the kids to remind me that I had forgotten to post about a certain important someone's birthday.

Someone who has been going through such a hard time recently and yet been so cheerful and wonderful to everyone around him.

Someone who has always been there for me.

Someone who, poor thing, seems to have caught a cold on his birthday.

But who is still cheerful nevertheless.

Someone who shares my memories with me and marvels with me that our children are seniors and not tiny tots.

What can I say, father type? I've been a forgetful wife. But it doesn't mean you don't mean the world to me.

Happy belated birthday, my love. You know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

A hole in our hearts

2011-09-19T05:29:00.000-07:00

My progress so far on Mary Allen.

I was very happy to get to something besides borders and words. And the cute little owl.

My sweet, gentle, FIL passed away last week.

I still remember when I first met FIL and MIL, how they welcomed me into their lives. Theirs was a special family. They always respected others, they never fought. Never. They didn't raise their voices -- except to tell a funny story or to tell about their day when they got home. FIL was always ready to help out in time of crisis or just to keep someone company. He always thought of others before himself. I can see so much of him in my sweet father type. So much of MIL as well. I could never express in words just how much my FIL will be missed.

The picture above was rescued from the flood waters in our basement. It shows FIL at age 17.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a good week ahead. Hug and kiss your loved ones.

My new start and cleaning up after Irene

2011-09-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Robert, Terri, and Siobhan to start this new project, the Mary Allen Sampler by Samplers Remembered. This is what the piece looks like (or you can take a look at Robert's finish or at Terri's header picture). (This picture courtesy of ABC Stitch Therapy.)

And here is where I am.

Mary Allen Sampler by Samplers Remembered

40ct RR Creme Brulee

NPI fibers

I copied Siobhan's choice of fabric.

I just hope I can make it through all those words and letters. Not my favorite thing. lol!

We had some people come in to clean up the basement and spray antimicrobial stuff to prevent mold and bad things growing. A 30 ft. dumpster was practically filled up by all the stuff that was damaged by the 5 or 6 inches of water we got from Irene.

I couldn't believe that two guys could bring up all that stuff from the basement, but they did. The spraying happened afterwards, and then industrial fans were set up down there to help dry the basement out.

The dumpster should be picked up today (we managed to throw some things into it from the garage too), and I'm calling the basement dry as of today and calling the people to pick up their fans too. It's a good feeling to have that work done.

On Saturday, we helped the girl child move back to college. This involved two cars for a change. The girl child drove her new used car down to college with the father type riding shotgun. She needs a car on campus this year since she will be working part time at the place where she worked for the summer. The boy type rode with me in the minivan packed with the majority of the girl child's stuff. I do have to say things went pretty quickly unloading with 4 people -- and with the girl child having learned what to bring and what not to bother with. After the unloading, we stopped in town for some sushi, teriyaki and tempura at the girl child's favorite sushi place -- soooo good! Then it was goodbye and driving home.

I think this year marks a record -- for the least watched matches at the US Open for me. The first week, we didn't have power until Thursday. The second week, I was busy with the flood guys and various other things -- plus two days were rained out at the Open, on days when I could have watched. Saturday, the boy child kept me informed of the scores at the Djokovic/Federer match while we were doing the college trip. I'm actually grateful to the girl child for keeping me from watching that one. Ouch. I watched the tail end of the Nadal/Murray match when we got home. I will miss large chunks of the men's final tonight as well since the boy child's orchestra starts tonight and I'm on driving duty. Oh well.

But I got to watch the women's final -- congrats to Sam Stosur! Yay! I was so happy for her!

Mia's life hasn't been much affected by all the chaos of Irene, Irene cleanup, packing for college, etc. Here she is sleeping with her boy child during one of their final naps of the summer.

Now the boy child is back in school and Mia won't have a napping buddy. Unless the boy child falls asleep during homework. lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. It's always good to visit with you. Have a great week!

TUSAL and finish, Irene too

2011-09-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

In the midst of all the post Irene mess, I have to show off my SDW finish. Don't think I can get the whole thing in one pic, so you'll have to piece it together from the pics.

SDW Sampler by Scarlet Letter

AVAS fibers

40ct R&R linen

So there she is. Sorry about the weird joints between pics. I did manage to get that gold blackwork border finished at the top too. I'm glad I did it -- it adds a little something.

I'm also late with my TUSAL report, so here it is.

It always looks the same, doesn't it? Oh well. I just keep squishing my fibers down.

We're still in the midst of cleaning up from Irene here. The basement is drying out very slowly. We did a massive amount of getting stuff up from the basement, both salvageable and non-savageable, this weekend. We are waiting to see if we get more flooding from the rain storms for the next few days -- a frontal system first, and then the leftovers from TS Lee. I'm praying that we stay dry down there, but am fearing the worst. Hopefully if there's more flooding, it won't be as much as from Irene.

Once the rain is done, we've hired some flood damage people to come with a dumpster to throw out all the water soaked things down there, dry the basement out, and treat the whole basement with anti-microbial treatment to prevent mold, etc. This is scheduled for Thursday if all goes well. So slowly but surely. (Yes, it's an unfinished basement.)

The boy child starts his senior year of high school tomorrow. Rather unbelievable to me. And over next weekend, the girl child will be taken back to college too. She's also a senior this year, which is also unbelievable.

Some of you asked how Mia did during the hurricane. Truth to tell, she was just fine. I think she might have been a bit scared once or twice, but overall, she was pretty relaxed and dandy. lol!

She was a bit clingy though, wanting to be close to us. I'm wondering if this is a good sign (keep in mind Mia still hisses and bats at the girl child, which is why this is so bizarre).

Mia also cuddled with the boy child a lot.

Once again, I apologize for not answering your comments for a while, and not commenting on your blogs as much. Hopefully I'll be back to normal soon.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a happy, safe, dry week. (Except for those of you who need rain of course.)

That nasty Irene

2011-09-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Just wanted to stick my nose in to say thanks for all the emails and concern about us. We made it through Irene. But we lost power about 5:30pm on Sunday and didn't get it back till noon today. Ugh. And we had 5 1/4" of water in our basement -- more than any time before. With no power. Ugh. (The water didn't start subsiding till late late Monday and wasn't gone till yesterday.) The plumber is currently downstairs installing a new water heater. Everything else down there seems to work, thank God. There will have to be a major basement cleanup at some point, but not sure when that will happen.

I apologize ahead of time if I don't comment on anyone's blogs for a while or answer your comments to my blog. I will do my best to start commenting again. I will also do a TUSAL post soon and a stitching update.

We were lucky when it comes down to it. We're safe and sound, the house is safe and sound, so we're all good! But boy, I hope never to live through another hurricane. lol!

Oh, and a funny thing. The girl child had a vacation down in Myrtle Beach from last Wednesday to yesterday. I was panicking about her going down there with the hurricane coming. Well, of course she came through with hardly any bad weather at all in Myrtle Beach. We were the ones with the hurricane. Wouldn't you know it!

I will post again soon.

stitchiness, the big 21, and more (looooonnnng post)

2011-08-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Firstly, the stitchy stuff. You can skip the rest if that's all you want to see.

SDW so far.

I know, I know. I'm not showing the top part anymore. One of these days I'll try to take a pic of the whole thing.

Pretty, huh?

Love the duck.

And the star section -- so pretty!

Ok, now you can go away if you just wanted to see the stitchy stuff. Long post coming up.

As you know, last Tuesday was the girl child's 21st birthday. A big day here. The girl child wanted to go into the city, but at first we were afraid we were going to be rained out. But we lucked out. The day turned out fine -- once we were out the door sometime past noon.

We started out at our favorite local diner for lunch.

(Note the earring in the girl child's upper ear. She decided to get that done earlier this summer to freak me out. Well, not really.)

Then we headed over to the train station to wait for the train to the city. (Note the date on the sign. It's sort of hard to read, but it's there.)

Once in NYC, we took the subway down to SoHo for some power shopping girl child style.

I tell you, I could never power shop for clothes like this girl child of mine can.

The good news is that while the girl child was shopping, I managed to squeeze in a visit to that greatly lauded land of dreams, Purl Soho. (Photo courtesy of someone online)

Oooooh what loveliness! Fabrics galore, wool fabric too, yarns so luscious, various bits and bobs. I was in heaven. A rushed heaven -- which actually wasn't necessary since the girl child was just leaving the shop as I got back to the gang. But it was a good little stop for me! (Too bad the boy child didn't tag along -- there was a guitar shop a couple of doors down he would have liked.)

While the girl child was power shopping in another store, the boy child, the father type and I went across the street to this interesting store -- which I had heard about before online. Evolution. What a cool store! (Check out the website and you'll see what I mean.) Also a bit creepy.

This is part of their window display. (See what I mean by a bit creepy?)

The boy child perusing the window display.

I offered to buy the boy child a rattle snake rattle. Or a raccoon penis bone. But he took a pass. :D

By the time the girl child was finished power shopping, it was just about 7:30 and we were ready for some yummy food. The girl child loves Italian food, so we headed over to Little Italy and searched Yelp for a good restaurant. We ended up here. Peasant Restaurant.

It was soooooo good! And the atmosphere of the place was wonderful! Look at the back kitchen area.

So cool! It was dark in the restaurant as you can tell by the next pictures. The girl child had her first official glass of wine.

The next pics show off the food a bit. And are from the girl child's pics. (The others are courtesy of the father type and a couple of online sources.)

The yummy ricotta that you spread on the bread.

The girl child's appetizer (can't remember the name of it).

The girl child's main dish -- a yummy gnocchi.

The boy child with his pizza Margherita.

By the time we were done in the restaurant it was quite late. We stopped by Zaro's in Grand Central and got a red velvet cake for the girl child's birthday cake, then plodded home on the 10pm train. Home by 11:30 (waaaay past my bedtime!).

Then it was cake time!

Mia watching the proceedings as the girl child blows out the candles.

Yes, she was sitting on the boy child's lap.

After the candles are out.

Mia doing some advertising for Zaro's bakery.

All in all, I think the girl child had the best kind of 21st birthday. It was a fun day for all.

Today is a glorious day outside after some nasty thunderstorms yesterday (I'm so sick of nasty thunderstorms. How many tornado warnings can we have in NY?) So Mia is enjoying the day.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

21

2011-08-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

How did it happen? So many birthdays gone by. I still think of my girl as being a young thing, more like this.

Or maybe this.

I could swear this just happened.

And I still remember when I was amazed at how grown up she looked here.

She has slowly but surely turned into a young woman, with each passing birthday.

No longer a little girl.

But a grown woman. Happy 21st birthday, my bunny. I love you.

plodding along

2011-08-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

SDW is coming. But it's sooooooo looooong.

I've started rolling the other end up cause it's soooooo looooong.

The alphabet was surprisingly enjoyable. Maybe because each letter was easy to finish in a reasonable amount of time? :D And the little motifs under the alphabet were a pleasure too.

Did you notice? The hunchbacked squirrel seems to be following me around.

I know I was looking forward to the peacock -- turned out pretty nice.

I was afraid the colors were going to be too blase, but I think not in the end.

Girl child is home for a month, except for a week where she will disappear with friends to the beach. It's nice having her home for a little while again. It's also odd to see these two rather grown-up looking people in the house who are supposed to be little kids. But aren't.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Oh cripes -- and an award

2011-08-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

Here is SDW so far.

It's getting so long! Believe it or not, I'm only a bit over halfway done.

Isn't the chapel pretty? I love the trees that surround it.

The whole character of the design is going to change from this point on. You can tell by what I'm stitching now. The letters are quite enjoyable though.

Now for the title of this post. The boy child is going to be a senior in high school this year. So yes, it's that time. Time for the college crunch. And somehow that stress is just starting to dawn on all of us. Cripes. Ugh. Bleagh. 'Nuff said.

Here's the boy child doing one of his favorite things with Mia. Just one of the ways he tortures her. lol!

Mia's only compensation for this unladylike position is that it usually happens when dinner is done. So she gets to sniff at the boy child's plate and lick it if she likes.

It's the girl child's last week of work at her internship. She'll be coming home on Sunday and be home for a month -- except for a week of vacation planned with her friends -- until college starts again. Sounds like she has really enjoyed her job this summer, which is good.

Finally, I received an award from Mouse at Tales of a Stitching Mouse.

It's the stylish blogger award. These are the rules. Thank the person who gave it to you -- thank you, Mouse!! :D Name 7 things about yourself. And give the award to 15 other stylish bloggers. Well, here comes the hardest part. The 7 things. Hmmm.

1. I'm good at remembering numbers. Don't ask me why, I just seem to retain numbers well. For example, I still remember my high school locker combination. And I think I remember my junior high school one too.

2. I love dolls and teddy bears/stuffed animals. I think you might have guessed that one from my pincushion collection.

3. I'm a pack rat. And unfortunately, so is the father type. lol!

4. I've lived in 5 states: Oklahoma, Kansas, California, New Jersey, and now New York.

5. I love tech gadgets. ie iPad, ebooks, -- hey I even get excited when a new handheld gaming system comes out. I don't get excited for me on the gaming systems though, just for the boy child. :D

6. I hate to make phone calls. If I can get away with not doing them, that's a good thing. Email all the way!

7. I want an iPhone. (See no. 5) But I can't justify getting one. Do I need one? No. And it costs more for the plan than my current simple cell phone. So why get one? But still, I'm waiting to see if the iPhone 5 comes out. Just to dream.

I'm afraid I'm chickening out on the giving the award to other bloggers. I enjoy so many blogs and love talking (virtually) to so many other stitchers/quilters that it's impossible for me to name just some of them. So consider yourself awarded if you're a blogger. :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! I hope everyone has a great week.

Stitching and TUSAL

2011-08-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm feeling the summer blahs. What a creative title I've come up with this time! Oh well.

Here's SDW so far.

Pretty, huh? The chapel proper isn't filled in with white yet. In case you're wondering why it looks funny.

I think the chapel is my favorite part though.

These flower motifs are so huge! Took forever!

And the white fill in on the chapel is going to take even more forever. lol!

It's the first of the month (how did that happen?!). So here's the next picture of Ann Wheatley for August.

I love the blues in the piece, don't you? I'm leading the SAL for Ann Wheatley for the Attic. The third part of the SAL is being sent this month. And then the last month will have Adam and Eve! Yay!

The new moon was on July 30, so another TUSAL to show.

My ORT jar always looks the same, doesn't it? I wonder if I should start keeping the ORTS for the month in something else and add it to the year's jar. Hmmmm.

Oh, and yes, that's another of my pincushions. This one was made by Jennifer Murphy. I love her work! Love her mom's work too.

Mia used to "help" all the time when I changed the sheets on our bed. Now she just desultorily helps once in a while. But this past time, she did decide to take advantage of the dirty sheets I had piled on the floor.

She took a nice snooze in them, all comfy and cozy.

Silly girl!

Like I said, I can't believe it's August 1!!! Argh! Have to admit, I'm not ready for school to start! Luckily it doesn't start around here till after Labor Day.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope you all have a great week!

Ugh

2011-07-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

Why ugh, you say? Well, our central air conditioning broke down. On the hottest day of the year (yes, that hottest day. Friday. The day of 100 plus temperatures.). We are hoping to get the new part for a fix today, but I have the feeling it might be tomorrow instead. Sigh. At least it's cooler today.

But enough of ugh. Here's SDW as of now.

It was too hot to stitch a whole lot over the weekend. But I got some done.

These motifs are huge and take forever to finish. The deer and weird fruit looking thing and the crowns were refreshing in comparison.

I also won a prize from Carmen Sutton of Cardan Antiques and Needlework. Carmen was so generous -- she gave out prizes to all who entered the giveaway!

There was the Tennessee Sampler booklet and

A wonderful velvet carrot made by Carmen along with some seeds. Thank you so much, Carmen! I love my prize!

Mia has recently gotten very fond of a Barnes and Noble bag. (Don't worry, she's smart enough not to suffocate in the bag, and the bag doesn't have big handles so she can't get stuck in it either.) For some reason she loves to curl up inside it.

Such a silly girl!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I also hope everyone has a much cooler week! Ugh. (For those on the other side of the world, I hope you get a warmer week!)

Reviving a UFO and more Ann Wheatley

2011-07-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I've stuck with that old WIP. Wasn't sure I would, but I have. So far.

SDW Sampler by Scarlet Letter

40ct RR mystery fabric

AVAS fibers called for

I see by my blog that I started this back in April, 2010. Got the horse and part of the tree done and abandoned it. I got a bit farther this time. lol!

There's also a gold blackwork band on top, but I may rip that out and skip it. I'm not happy with how my stitches are laying.

Kim of Threadheads Unite has been doing a page a month. Her progress inspired me to pick this one up again.

I currently have a very attention-seeking cat on my lap, purring, kneading and love-biting me, trying to take me away from my blog writing. Makes it very difficult! :D

I can't remember if I showed you the second part of the Ann Wheatley SAL for this month. Here it is.

Now to the more interesting parts of the sampler! :D I'm leading the SAL for Ann Wheatley for the Attic. One of these days, I swear I'm going to make it out to Arizona to visit this LNS!

The girl child seems very happy with her summer internship, which is a good thing. The bad thing is she's got a bad cold and of course is worrying her mother by not being home to be taken care of. The boy child seems to be bumming his way through the summer. There is hope that he will at least find some volunteer work to take him through the rest of the summer. Fingers crossed!

Mia says summer is the perfect time to relax.

Oh, and Melissa, you're right -- those are dresden plates quilted onto the antique snowball quilt (the white one).

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. Hope you have a great week!

She's still red -- but I love her!

2011-07-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

And she's all done too!

Ann Sandles by With Thy Needle and Thread

40ct RR Iced Capuchino

called for Gentle Arts threads

Yes, she's still quite red. But she's a pretty one!

The verse doesn't show up that well. Hmmmmmm.

I stuck in some more personalized initials. In addition to my initials and the father type's initials (which were already there anyway) at the top, to the right of the house I stuck in the boy child's and the girl child's initials. And the LS on the left of the house is for my sister and BIL. (It used to be IS.) Otherwise, it's as little Ann stitched it. And as always, I bless any child who is wise enough to stitch her verse over two. lol!

I've picked up a WIP/UFO to stitch on for now. We'll see if I stick with it. (Yes, I do have UFOs. Way too many of them.)

Over the weekend, the father type and I built a chest of drawers from our go to place for cheap yet well built (more or less) furniture, IKEA. It's for the boy child's room (which he wasn't happy about -- didn't think it was needed. But it was.) Mia decided to help with the building.

She liked it even better when it was lying on its front. A nice, cozy, dark place. lol! Eventually she stopped being in the chest of drawers and watched the action from the boy child's bass instead.

Silly girl!

Thanks to everyone who had suggestions for making things better between the girl child and Mia. I'm definitely trying a couple of them when the girl child gets back from her summer job.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a great week!

Boy, is she red!

2011-07-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry, it's just when I took this picture, it made me realize just how red Ann Sandles is.

I guess Ann liked red just as much as I do! I took the liberty of sticking my initials in under the lefthand tree. The father type's initials were already there on the left, so I decided mine should be there too.

Ann is coming along!

Here is my TUSAL for July 1.

Okay, okay, here it really is.

I always squish the orts down as they accumulate -- that's all my orts for this year so far.

If you're wondering, yes, I sneaked in another peak at part of my pincushion collection with the first TUSAL pic. That's a pincushion/doll from Nicol Sayre, one of my favorite doll artists. She's amazing! After these two pincushions, though, my collection really isn't that much more. And no antique pincushions, sadly. I'll show more another time.

The boy child likes to torture Mia, as you know. Here is Mia looking very resigned as she's held captive by the boy child.

Silly boy child!

Well, the girl child is back on her college campus, ready to start her summer job down there. I'm hoping all goes well and she enjoys the job. Poor girl child was held captive in her room by the mean Mia when she was attempting to pack up to leave. I think the poor girl child is very sad about the whole thing with Mia. Wish there was something we could do.

And Wimbledon ended with a new men's and women's champion: Novak Djokovic defeated Rafa Nadal, and Petra Kvitova defeated Maria Sharpova. So many great matches this year -- it was a great Wimbledon! I was sad that Murray lost to Nadal though. Now for some tennis withdrawal. lol!

Hope everyone in the US has a great 4th of July! Mia wishes everyone a great week ahead too. Thanks for stopping by and saying hi!

Another Ann

2011-06-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

I was still doing a lot of that secret stitching last week, but I finally started a new project over the weekend. I was actually feeling overwhelmed by all the choices I had -- it made me realize how much stash I have! But I finally settled on another Ann. Not much to show yet, but I know I'm going to love the colors!

Ann Sandles by With Thy Needle and Thread

40ct RR Iced Capuchino

Called for GAST fibers

Wimbledon has been very entertaining so far. And today is a big day with all the big players playing. Just saw Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge settling down in the royal box to watch Murray. Fingers crossed Murray doesn't get nervous!

Mia has been crazy all week, but slowly settling back down to routine. She's started burrowing under quilts a lot recently.

The boy child has been giving her lots of exercise recently too. I've never seen a cat pant before, but that's exactly what she was doing the other day! Her ears were quite hot too! Here she is after one of her workouts.

She was exhausted!

Summer is really starting now. I have to admit it's nice to have school out.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. Hope everyone has a great week! For you fellow Wimbledon fans -- go fab four! :D (I heard a commentator say that Murray was the equivalent of Ringo. lol!)

Just the family.......

2011-06-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

I am stitching away, but I'm stitching on that secret stitching that I'm not allowed to show you yet. So this post will be boring for stitchers -- sorry!

It's been a family sort of week. The boy child had his school concert, which included more of his jazz ensemble. The girl child actually came too, which was nice. Here are the kids after the concert was over.

We also had the father type's father and stepmother visiting this past week.

Then over the weekend, we went up to my sister's house to visit my father (who was visiting up there) and my sister and her family. No pictures -- I brought the camera, but somehow it was everyone else who got pictures. I'm hoping my BIL will send me some.

Mia and the girl child stayed home for the weekend by themselves. Unfortunately, their relationship -- which has been on shaky ground anyway -- seems to have gotten worse instead of better. Not sure what Mia has against poor girl child.

Mia is good at looking innocent though.

And she takes a lot from the boy child. (lots of indignities!)

At least Mia loves her boy child.

In case you're wondering, the tumbling blocks quilt is one I made. The one underneath it is an antique quilt.

I'm still catching up on chores and stuff from all the activity this past week. Sorry for the boring post. I'll try to make it more interesting next week.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. Don't forget -- WIMBLEDON!!!! And Isner vs Mahut tomorrow. Tennis fans will know what I'm talking about. :D Have a great week!

The cat's out of the bag.....

2011-06-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

Mia begs me to make sure you know I don't mean her. No, I'm referring to the secret stitching I've been doing and referring to for a while now. Those of you who receive the Attic's weekly newsletter may now have figured it out -- I'm leading the SAL for the Ann Wheatley Sampler that the Attic is doing for the summer. The chart is from Needlework Press and is quite lovely. Here is the first installment of the SAL.

Ann Wheatley by Needlework Press

40ct. Vintage Pearled Barley

NPI fibers as called for

There is also a choice of overdyed fibers if you prefer those. But I love me some NPI.

Ann has a very subtle beauty. No reds in sight (as you know, I love red samplers), but she's still pretty.

I'm enjoying being the SAL leader so far!

It's a busy week or two around here. FIL and step-MIL are visiting this week. Then more visiting with my father after that. Not sure why both sets of parentals decided on visits just now. With the boy child's last days of school followed by exams at the same time as their visits, it makes for interesting times.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. Thanks for all the lovely comments about Susan Rambo last week! Hope you all have a great week!

A finish, prizes, and a cat no longer a kitten.....

2011-06-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

Lots to show you today. First off, Susan Rambo is finished!

Susan Rambo

from SANQ, Spring 2011

40ct Meadow Rue linen

called for NPI with substitutions

Ok, so I'm showing you too many pictures. But isn't she pretty?

I'm loving her!

I ordered a cat bead from Melanie of Moonraker Lampwerks and asked Melanie if she could make it look like Mia. She makes such cute beads -- she even has cute full body doggie beads. So I asked her if she could make a full body cat bead of Mia in addition to the cat face bead. Melanie told me that the tail of a cat bead is too weak for any rough treatment, which is why she doesn't make the full body cat beads anymore. But I promised I would take good care of it. Well, Melanie did a great job! I have two cute Mia beads now!

Melanie caught all the little black spots all over Mia perfectly!

The Mia cathead bead fob is now on my scissors. Love it! And the full body bead is proudly on display. Thanks again, Melanie!

I also won a few prizes recently. The nice ladies from In the Company of Friends had a giveaway on their blog and I was one of the winners. I won this wonderful little booklet.

Thank you so much, Julie and Becky! I love it!

Cecelia of the Threadgatherer (who makes those yummy silks and ribbons and such) had a giveaway for some chocolate/brown Silk 'n Colors fibers and some of her German Chocolate Bath Salts. And I won!

Aren't the silks yummy looking? And the bath salts smell good enough to eat! Thank you so much, Cecelia!

And I won a wonderful giveaway from Deborah of Cranberry Samplings! Just look at what I won!

I so enjoyed opening all the packages!

This is the main attraction.

How gorgeous is that! And inside is

Such beautiful lining in the box! And look at all the sewing goodies Deborah gave me too! Plus this

Look at the gorgeous pin pillow! You can see some of the beautiful buttons that Deborah included too!

Thank you so much for my lovely prize, Deborah! I just love it!

Last but not least, guess who turned one year old yesterday? Yup, our little Mia is no longer a kitten. Here is a pic of our Mia when we first got her.

She was so tiny, she could fit into a kleenex box! And now look at her.

Definitely larger than a kleenex box! lol! I can't believe she's a year old! I have to stop calling her baby cat.

Mia definitely has a thing about the girl child. She doesn't know what to think of her. She will hiss at her, even scratch her or growl at her. But she will also settle down and sleep on her. Very puzzling. I have the feeling she vaguely remembers the girl child from when she was tiny, so is confused about who this person is. Poor girl child. Poor Mia.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a great week! Oh, and congrats to Rafael Nadal for equalling my idol Bjorn Borg's record of 6 French Open titles yesterday. Congrats also to Li Na (Li is her last name, you sports broadcasters, you!) for being the first Chinese woman to win a grand slam title. Wimbledon is looking to be a good one this year!

Happy birthday, Mia!

Lots of pictures to bore you with.....

2011-05-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

First off, I got back to Susan Rambo, even with secret stitching going on. I'm pleased -- I really want to finish her up.

Susan Rambo Sampler

40ct Meadow Rue

called for NPI with substitutions

She's soooooo pretty!

I love how she's coming out.

Next, my TUSAL report. The new moon is June 1, so I'm doing it now.

Like my bunny pincushion? I'll have to show you my pincushion collection sometime. This one is by Lori Ann Corelis. I love her work! The antique strawberry hanging from it is from Kathy Barrick. Isn't it cool?

You can see our rhododendrons blooming too!

Remember last week when we helped the girl child move her stuff around at school? Here are some pics she took of our wanderings in town after the move.

At the Indian restaurant.

Yum!

Sated.

Walking around town. (I'm hiding behind the father type.)

Doing some shopping.

Saying goodbye.

Pretty good, huh? Took the girl child a while to send me the pics, so they're a week late.

I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but the boy child got an extreme hair cut. Here he is in all his shorn glory.

(He wasn't cooperating.)

Here are a couple he took of himself. Works much better. (He doesn't like having his pic taken. (Like mother, like son.))

Never thought I'd say this, but I miss his long hair. :D At least his senior pictures have the long hair in them. (Why do they take senior pics at the end of junior year? Is it like that at all high schools?)

I think I've remembered everything. Told you I would bore you with pictures. :D Sorry!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day. Don't forget to remember and honor those who have served and are serving our country.

Mia says to take a nap.

Sorry, Ms Rambo.....

2011-05-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

Poor Susan Rambo has become a neglected piece. I had to work on my Jeannette Douglas class piece. I just had to. It's done, but I'm still not sure I can show it to you. So I'll just show a couple of motifs.

Those are blankets in the middle there. Aren't they cool? Such fun to stitch too! And

I got to try darning for the first time! It was fun! Takes me back to my weaving days. :D

Here is a picture that was taken for my friend Nancy (no blog) with her camera of Nancy, Kathy (no blog) and I with Jeannette. I'm glad one of us remembered a camera!

I so enjoyed this class! And the best part is it's so doable! It's finished! Finished finished even! :D Once Jeannette teaches this piece again, perhaps I can show you the whole thing.

But poor Susan Rambo. I really want to finish her, but I have to do some secret stitching now. I'll be able to tell you about this secret project, but not yet. Sometime next month I'll show you. Hopefully I can work on both the secret project and Ms Rambo. We'll see!

If you want to see a beautiful, finished Susan, go to Tamami's blog. She just finished hers, and it's gorgeous!!!! You can visit Mia's online friend too, Ms Limo. Such a cutie!

In other news, the three of us trekked down to the girl child's college to help her move into another dorm and to take some of her belongings home with us. The girl child is staying at college for the next week and a half so she can work the college reunions. It's always a chore to move her and her stuff around. But it got done in record time. And then we could have some fun -- a late lunch at a yummy Indian restaurant, a wee bit of shopping for some sale sweaters, and a naughty treat at the local ice cream shop. It was weird leaving the girl child behind and yet having lots of her stuff in the back of the car.

The French Open started yesterday. I'm looking forward to being able to sit and stitch and watch the goings on. Unfortunately, Mia isn't used to me sitting in the TV watching chair. (The TV watching chair is usually the father type's territory.) She's taken up residence.

She will not be best pleased with me when I kick her off the chair. lol! Ah well. Such is life!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! It's so much fun to meet new people and chat with friends. Have a great week!

fun, fun, fun!

2011-05-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

First off, here is Susan. She's coming along slowly but surely.

This pic was taken with a flash and the rest were taken with just my ott lite. (It's rainy today.)

She's pretty, isn't she?

I love that duck in the middle!

So is that the fun, you ask? Well, Susan is fun to stitch, but no. That's not what I was referring to in the title. And you will want to throttle me, cause I'm going to tell you about the fun, but I don't have pictures of the fun -- except for a few.

This weekend was a two day class at my LNS with Jeannette Douglas. It was a fun two days too! Jeannette taught us a new piece called the Island of Hope Sampler based on her research of Ellis Island. She requested that we not show too much of the piece since she's hoping to teach it at another location next year.

But I figured I would show you a small part of my sampler to give you a tease.

I think the lovely star quilt motif is one of my favorite parts of this design.

Jeannette is such a lovely person, very fun, and a wonderful teacher too. We got to work our way down the sampler, doing a motif here and a motif there and learning new stitches and techniques along the way. It was great to be able to stitch on the sampler as we went along. Jeannette also showed us a slide show about herself and her family, her designs, and of various places where she has taught. At the end was a lovely slideshow of sampler collections and stitching tool collections she has visited.

Of course we also got to shop. lol! I picked up a few things, of course. I so want to stitch this piece of Jeannette's.

As is so often the case, the picture doesn't do it justice at all. For one thing, it's not stitched on white linen. There are also smalls to go with the piece.

Jeannette showed me how easy it is to do the finishing on the box top and the smalls. She says she is another one of those who would rather be stitching than finishing, so she likes easy finishing. Which is good!

And there was a model of this piece that one of our class mates had stitched and which was framed.

Once again, the picture doesn't do it any justice at all. IRL, it's spectacular! Beautiful colors (red, ladies!), wonderful stitch design. It's so neat! So of course I had to get it as well.

I'm so glad I took this class. Jeannette is a wonderful teacher and so much fun to learn from!

Finally, I won a prize from Catherine of Bramblewood Stitches. She and her family had gone to Williamsburg, and while there, she picked up a cute bag to give away. But she gave me much more than just the bag!

It had goodies in the bag as well!

She gave me some charts -- and she really picked well, she knows my tastes! Also some chocolate (yum!), some stationery, a lovely piece of linen, and some fibers that look very very Williamsburg in color! Thank you so much, Catherine! I feel so spoiled!

I forgot to mention last week that the boy child's NYSSMA score wasn't that great. He got a 95, an A. Not good enough for All State. But that's ok. The boy child doesn't seem to mind. He's just happy to be done with NYSSMA auditions for good. :D

I will close with a picture of the two friends in a position that the boy child seems to enjoy. I think Mia enjoys it much less. lol!

Poor Mia!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! I enjoy our visits. Have a great week!

Happy day after Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day! I did. :D

But first off, let me show you my progress on Susan Rambo.

She's so pretty! Although I do think the squirrels look a bit hunchbacked.

And like they have weird, pointy helmets on.

I used 931a for the color for the squirrels instead of my substitute for 603 (931), since I thought it looked more squirrel-like. (It looks a bit more purple IRL.) I've just about come to the conclusion that I may do the same from now on -- just use 931a for all the places where it calls for 603. I've also discovered to my consternation that the yellow-brown used in the wreath around the parent's names to me should be much greener in color. I get the sinking feeling that the piece shown in the SANQ mag must be the original and not the model? Dunno. Anyway, that same color was used in the grass under the squirrel. I subbed the lighter green from the border instead. I wish I'd realized this before I stitched that wreath. Hate that yellow-brown color on the wreath. But I'm way too lazy to frog it.

As for Mother's Day, it was a gorgeous day here so we took advantage and went wandering around our favorite antiquing town, Cold Spring, NY. (Not Cold Spring Harbor.) The boy child should have been studying for his music theory AP exam, but what the heck. I think he was about as ready as he was going to be. We had fun wandering around and looking at the antiques and the people. Sat by the riverside for a while too, but it was a bit too windy and chilly to stay long by the waterside. We also went to Barnes and Noble to check out the written word, so that was nice.

Guess what the father type got me for Mother's Day? (How did he know what I wanted? :D)

You should be hearing squeals of delight about now. Yes, my very own, antique toy Singer sewing machine! I love it! It's in great shape too! Came with the original box and clamp. Even had a little pack of needles and a little key.

Mia has been very curious about it, as you can see. I think the main attraction for her, though, was the wrapping material the clamp was wrapped in. She thought it was the greatest toy. lol!

I got to talk to the girl child by video chat for Mother's Day as well. She managed to make me cry with her little Mother's Day post that she sent me. She's busy writing final papers for college and worrying about possible summer jobs/internships so no time for her to come home. But at least we got to talk.

Can I just put in a slight off-topic here and say wow? Novak Djokovic is unbeaten so far this year in tennis. He's managed to beat Nadal in their last three meetings (all finals), their last one being on clay, Nadal's surface of choice. Wow. I'm impressed! He's 32 and 0 so far in 2011. The French Open should be interesting this year!

Sorry about that. Now for something more on topic.

Here's the boy child torturing Mia by picking her up in a bag. She'd been doing her usual thing of enjoying hanging out inside the bag. Don't think she was pleased to be up in the air.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. It's a pleasure to read your comments and to talk with you all. Hope you have a great week.

A very musical weekend, framing, TUSAL -- in short, a long post

2011-05-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

Lots to talk about with this post. First off, a Susan Rambo update. The flower borders are finished! Yay!

And I made sure to check to see if the bottom border meets -- it does! Love those little chickens (or whatever they are).

Next, a quick TUSAL report for May's new moon.

Love all the colors!

I forgot to post about my framing in my last post. Duh! Went to my LNS a couple of weeks ago, and got a couple of pieces back. Here is Jane Tindall. Love her!

Here's a detail of the frame.

And here's Guarding Eden.

And a frame detail.

Definitely a senior moment when I forgot to post!

We had a very busy, musical weekend this weekend. Friday was the boy child's final NYSSMA audition. We counted the number of times he's done NYSSMA -- it came out to 7 times, from the first year he took double bass in 5th grade. Pretty amazing! Only two of the years were actual All State auditions, this year and last, as only juniors and seniors are allowed to take part in All State. Both the boy child and I feel he didn't do as well this year in his audition -- he messed up on a scale, and felt he was a bit shaky at the beginning of his audition piece. But it sounded pretty good to me through the door. Of course one can never hear very well through a door. lol! We should hear in a week or so what his score was. Fingers crossed!

Sunday was the boy child's non-orchestra concert in NYC. It was at Avery Fisher Hall -- the second time he's performed with his orchestra there. Here's a very blurry picture taken with my cell phone. (Cameras weren't allowed, despite the fact that cameras were actually everywhere.)

You might recognize the Avery Fisher Hall stage from things like Live at Lincoln Center. The boy child is second from the front of the stage in the bass section. Very successful concert, sounded wonderful as always.

Before the concert, the father type and I got to wander the city a bit. We wandered over to Central Park, and I was thrilled to discover that we were only a little ways down from the Dakota building and Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon in Central Park. So we wandered over there, and of course I had to take a picture. My cell phone did a pretty good job!

If you want to read about Strawberry Fields in Central Park, there's an article about it in Wikipedia. There's also an article about the original Strawberry Field (the one that inspired the song) in Liverpool.
Being a Beatle fan, I was very moved to be at this memorial to John Lennon. When I told the boy child we'd gone there, he was totally jealous. :D (He's a huge Beatle fan too.)

The father type and I also went to the branch of the American Folk Art Museum that is close to Lincoln Center, and I got to see a small quilt exhibit there, which was very enjoyable.

Here's a picture of the boy child in his finery at home before the concert.

He was being silly, in case you can't tell. :D

And finally a couple of pics of the two friends together.

Mia enjoying the open window, and looking back at the boy child through the window.

And the boy child and Mia tussling together on the bed.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I love reading your comments and visiting with you all. Hope you have a great week!

Getting my Rambo on

2011-04-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

Yup, you guessed it. I couldn't resist Susan Rambo's charms. I kept seeing Tamami's gorgeous progress pics of her Susan and I had to start her.

Susan Rambo Sampler

from SANQ Spring 2011

40ct Meadow Rue

NPI fibers with 1 or 2 substitutions

She's so pretty -- again, the colors called to me.

In other news, the boy child had last week off for spring break, so not as much stitching done. He had his rehearsal with his accompanist for his NYSSMA audition last Monday. (This is the audition that determines whether one goes to All State or Area All State or nothing.) The boy child is not as well prepared this year as he was last year -- I think the hs musical took away from his practice too much. :(

Some of you have asked me to post a video of the boy child playing his classical pieces. Well, the boy child refuses to let me do so with this piece since he's not as ready as he'd like to be. But I thought in case you were curious as to what he's playing for his NYSSMA piece, I'd post this -- a youtube video of the piece. The boy child will only have piano accompaniment, not an orchestra as in the video. And he won't be playing the piece as fast either! But you'll get an idea of what he's playing at least.

Hope that works!

We had a nice, quiet Easter. The father type is on antibiotics -- he was forced to go to the doctor kicking and screaming on Friday after resisting the idea all week and was diagnosed with bronchitis and possibly walking pneumonia. Silly boy would have recovered much more quickly if he'd gone sooner! But the father type was up to cooking the ham for Easter, and I did the various side dishes to go with it. The boy child had lots of Easter candy, as did the grownups. :D

Here's Mia looking wary at the foot of the table all set up with Easter dinner. She seemed a bit flustered by all the Easter activity going on.

I hope everyone had a good Easter or passover. Happy Anzac Day (is that what you say?) to those of you on the other side of the world. Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. It's wonderful to be part of our community of stitchers and bloggers!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop.....

2011-04-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the title of this post, I have to say TA DAH!!!

Ann Grant by Shakespeare's Peddler

40ct. Vintage Sand Dune

mix of AVAS, NPI, Gloriana, Threadgatherer, and Belle Soie

(all called for fibers)

Isn't she pretty?

I did use AVAS 3745 for the dark areas of grass instead of Belle Soie Chocolat -- just because they're similar in color anyway, and I hate the striping effect overdyeds give.

And I used Gloriana pecan for the dog and bunny since the Belle Soie Baguette was too close in color to the AVAS 3431 that was used for the pathways. (Also didn't fill in the windows for the same reason.)

But isn't it pretty? :D

I do love her! But I'm also glad to be done with her! She was a big one!

Ok, now to the title of this post. Seems this year has been one thing after another -- power outages, flooding, propane tank problems, -- there must be something I'm forgetting. Well, add this weekend to the list. First off, poor father type is sick. One of his periodic mysterious fevers, along with bad cold symptoms. Ugh.

But then the doozy. We had strong winds and rain on Saturday and overnight into Sunday. After one big gust of wind Saturday, we heard a very very loud crash outside and knew it wasn't a good thing. Well, it turns out one of our neighbor's pines that borders our properties lost a huge part of itself, and the branches/trunks fell directly toward our house. We were extremely lucky -- we only lost a windowsill off one window and the gutter got a bit damaged on the house. We're hoping the AC unit is ok. But the fencing around our old swimming pool and the swimming pool itself are destroyed.

Hard to tell from the pic, but the pool is totally squished. And the fence that the pic is taken through -- well, it's squished too.

See how lucky we were? It could have been a lot worse! So anyway, I have a feeling this whole year I'm going to be holding my breath, waiting for the next thing to happen, whatever it may be. Sigh.

Oh, I forgot to mention -- we were also under a flood warning this weekend. lol! Thank goodness the basement stayed dry. Knock on wood, we won't have anymore flooding down there!!!

In other news, yes, the boy child is still busy. He has his trial run -- or practice session -- with his piano accompanist for his NYSSMA audition later today. I'm hoping it goes well. The boy child isn't as ready as I'd like him to be (his audition is on April 29), but hopefully he's ready enough for the accompanist to be able to rehearse with him! It's spring break this week, but the boy child has to practice, practice, practice! Plus he needs to work on his SAT prep, and study for upcoming AP exams. Argh! His orchestra concert in NYC is the same weekend as his NYYSMA auditions as well. College searches? Visiting colleges? What's that? lol! No time!

Here is the boy child in a contemplative moment with his favorite companion. (Mia is sitting on his leg.)

Aren't they cute? :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I love to read your comments and visit with you! I'll leave you with another pic of Mia.

Have a great week!

Addendum: Forgot to say -- it's a fairly safe bet that you'll need two skeins of AVAS 3745 if you're stitching this project.

One down, 5 million more to go.....

2011-04-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, life continues to be busy here. The high school musical is out of the way with great success, but everything else still to come. And I forgot to add AP tests to the list. Sigh.

Anyway, stitching first. Here's Ann Grant.

Here's another reason I find over dyed silks like Belle Soie frustrating. See the bird below the house and the path from the right door? They're different colors. They're supposed to be very obvious different colors since I'm supposed to fill in the windows with the lighter of the two colors with the darker of the two being the window surround. But my Belle Soie is obviously not different enough from the other (an AVAS) color. Sigh. Well, it saves me having to fill in the windows I guess. The two colors of pink in the large star are different colors too. Hard to tell, huh? These two pinks are Threadgatherer Silk 'n Colors though. Oh well. There's also two different browns in that diamond, one a Belle Soie, one an AVAS. Hard to tell, huh? Sigh.

Whatever. I still love the piece. And I got all the over one words done! Yay!

As I said, the boy child had his musical this past weekend. It was a great success, and left the boy child yearning to do more. Fingers crossed he succeeds in landing a part next year! Here's a picture of the boy child on stage.

The show they did was Anything Goes. They did a great job! The boy child just had a bit part, but he was also in the ensemble singing and -- gulp! -- dancing. He wasn't happy about the dancing part, but I guess he must have been a better dancer than a lot of the boys in the cast since he was chosen to dance as opposed to just waving his arms on the upper deck.

Mia will be happy the boy child is through with the musical. She missed him while he was gone so much. Here she is doing one of those things she does to look out the window. When she was a tiny kitten, she had to leap over to the windowsill -- and it was a loooong leap! Now look at what she does instead.

Pretty cute, huh? She also likes to sit on the windowsill. The good news is she's still nice and petite. I'm hoping she's stopped growing now. She's ten months old!!!

Well, the boy child still has tons to do. Hopefully by mid-May, things will start easing up a bit. I hope!

Oh! I forgot to tell everyone what Mia's new toy was in this post. There were a few who guessed it. It's a bra insert from one of the girl child's swim suits! lol! Mia loves it!

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! One more week to spring break for the boy child! Yay! Have a great week, everyone!

One day at a time

2011-04-04T05:59:00.000-07:00

That's how I'm feeling. With my stitching and with the boy child's activities. Stitching-wise, I have to say I'm quite enamored with Ann Grant -- despite my mind also dreaming about other projects I want to get to. Here she is so far.

I even did one verse of over one stitching, and it wasn't that painful either! (One more verse plus the attribution to go. Sigh.)

The motifs on Ann are so much fun. Too bad the birds are such dull colors.

Here's my TUSAL report for April's new moon. I do love seeing all the colors inside!

(Background provided courtesy of Kleenex (registered trademark).)

The boy child has been so busy with hs musical rehearsals that he's hardly been home. And last week, the father type was away all week on a business trip too. So poor Mia was quite forlorn, missing her menfolk. She was always so happy when the boy child came home late at night. I grabbed some pics of the boy child doing one of his favorite things with Mia. (Note the expression on Mia's face in the first pic. lol!)

I'm not sure this is one of Mia's favorite things to do with the boy child, but the boy child loves it. lol!

Just one more week for the hs musical! Shows are Friday and Saturday. Then the boy child will just have NYSSMA audition preparation, SAT prep, his orchestra rehearsals and concert, jazz (they're going to a festival this Friday, day of the first musical show too), and other things I'm probably forgetting. lol! Argh! Somehow I don't think college visits are going to happen till the summer.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope you have a great week!

I love color

2011-03-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

I do. I love color. I find color is often what draws me to a sampler. And with Ann Grant, that's certainly true. To the extent that I couldn't tell you exactly what is in the sampler, only that it has amazing colors. Here's where I am on Ann right now.

I was going to be brave and do the whole border, inner and outer, before tackling the inside. But then I gave up. Couldn't resist seeing what the inside looks like.

Eyelet letters go slowly, but they are pretty.

See the letter T? It's hard to tell from the picture, but the fiber used for that letter (and the G too, I think) is a new favorite. It's Gloriana Pecan, and has the most amazing shades in it.

I also managed to go to my LNS this past week with friends and pick up one piece of framing. (More to come fairly soon from what I hear.) Here's Hallow Eden.

Don't you love the frame? I stitched it on 40ct River Willow with the called for fibers (except for one DMC color).

Busy week around here. Let me just say that when I said the boy child could do the high school musical on top of SAT prep, preparing for the NYSSMA audition, the usual orchestra stuff, jazz, and of course school work (I'm probably forgetting something else) -- I must have had rocks in my head. I'm having a nervous breakdown just worrying about him getting everything done. Argh! This week and next week are crazy busy, but then the musical will be done and that will help a bit.

Mia on the other hand. Ah, the life of a cat. One of her new favorite things to do is to pull the quilt down from the back of my stitching chair and settle in.

How can one resist that face? She's such a sweetie! But she's a definite "attack cat" when it comes to strangers. lol! She has a reputation, both with strangers to the house, and at the vet's. Knowing that she's been that way since she was tiny reassures me that no matter what I did bringing her up, she would have been an attack cat. But she's a sweetie under all that fierceness.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I so enjoy being a part of the blogging community! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Snowing?!

2011-03-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

Ack! It's snowing outside! NOOOOOO!!!!! They haven't called for much if any accumulation. I hope they're right! It's snowing pretty hard right now!

Anyway, thank you for all the birthday wishes for the boy child. I think he had a good birthday, despite having to do the first session of an online SAT prep course. Poor kid.

I have a finish to show off. Here it is.

Jenny Bean Creation Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler

40ct Vintage Pear (or what was called for)

fibers as called for (GAST)

It was a fun stitch.

And here is my new start. I'm excited, but I'm also thinking -- oh no, it's really big! lol!

It's Ann Grant by Shakespeare's Peddler.

Sorry for the dull pictures -- as I said, it's snowing outside! Anyway, I'm using the called for fabric (Sand Dune) except in 40ct. And I'm using the called for fibers as well (a mix of AVAS, NPI, Belle Soie, Gloriana, and Threadgatherer).

Here's a picture of the boy child contemplating his birthday cake. It's actually a cookie cake -- he's had cookie cake for his birthday for years now.

And here is the furry friend, all comfy and cozy.

That object under her head is one of her new "toys." See if you can figure out what it is. :D Mia claimed it for her own.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I always enjoy visiting with you! The boy child says thank you for all the birthday wishes too! Have a great week!

Quick addendum: Merumo is having a raffle of beautiful miniature quilts on her blog to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Please go to her blog and help out -- you'll get a chance to win a gorgeous quilt in the process!

A boy and his cat

2011-03-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

The boy child got a new friend this year.

She started out very very tiny, but the boy child loved her anyway.

The two friends became very close as the days went on.

And the little tiny one grew

and grew

and grew.

The two friends did lots of sleeping together.

But they did other things together too.

like eating,

opening Christmas stockings,

play fighting,

And just hanging.

I still think their favorite activity is sleeping though.

Happy 17th birthday, Mr. boy child. I love you.

Let there be light

2011-03-14T05:55:00.000-07:00

Actually, I'd love some sunshine. :D Anyway, with flooding issues (twice in one week) and other things going on, I only got a bit done on my JB Creation Sampler.

It's a fun piece to stitch though.

I'll be stitching on something secret for a while so progress will be slow.

The girl child came home yesterday for Spring Break. Not sure how long she'll be here, but we'll take what we can. Here's a poster advertising one of the shows she was in. She's the poster girl!

Pretty cool, huh?

And speaking of performing, remember when the boy child was in Battle of the Bands? Well, he was, with his jazz band -- a little group that the kids formed, not connected to the school's Jazz Ensemble. Here are some clips of them performing. They're not bad!

I hope they work. Don't know how to make them bigger.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I always enjoy our visits. It's almost spring! Yay!

Triple whammy

2011-03-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Please excuse the lateness of this post. You see, we've been busy around here. Our basement is flooding -- second time in 4 years. And it's supposed to rain again Thursday. (Please let the forecasters be wrong.) We don't have a sump pump so we have to go down to drain things ourselves periodically with other kinds of pumps. Ugh. And broomwork. You get the idea.

That's the first whammy. Second whammy: the furnace stopped working again. Yup. In less than a month, I believe. Same day as the flooding. Luckily it was an easy fix, and it was covered by our contract. Whew.

Third whammy: our phone stopped working. Also today. Apparently there's a "major outage" in our area. Uh huh. No comment. (We'll discuss that one another time.)

Ok, enough of the whammies. Let's get to the good stuff, right? What am I working on, you ask? Well, I needed a quick fix. So I stitched this one up. Still need to finish it, but I will some day.

In the Sweet by La D Da

supplies from kit

I stitched it in memory of Lisa Roswell. I didn't know her well and never had the chance to meet her in person. But she was a friend and a sweet, wonderful person. My prayers go out to her family. She will be sorely missed.

Next up is this one.

Jenny Bean Creation Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler

40ct Vintage Pear

GAST fibers as called for

Can you tell I got my market stash this week? I'm enjoying this one, although I'm also yearning to stitch Susan Rambo and Ann Grant.

I won a lovely prize from Sylvia of Running with Needles and Scissors. The lucky woman got to go to that huge French festival in Paris that everyone went to recently. Aiguille en Fetes? Is that right? (Too tired to go look. Sorry.) She brought back a magazine to give away. Well, I won! And guess what? Sylvia sent a lot more than just a magazine. Look at this!

You can see the magazine peeking out there, but you can also see a bunch of wrapped goodies and some linen!

Look at the yummy goodies! Yum! Talk about a chocoholic's dream come true! And then there was the mag and linen.

Look at that! A lovely magazine! And the linen -- Gander linen that I've been dying to try! Two pieces in two different colors!!! In a perfect count for me. And one of them is the perfect color for a project I want to stitch too! Sylvia, thank you soooooo much!!! You have made me very happy! And you also made two boys in the house very happy. lol! They swooped in quickly after the picture session to try out the chocolates. I'm making us go slowly with the chocolates, but they're still going fast!

Finally, the TUSAL. Here's my jar as of today for the March TUSAL.

Pretty, huh? That's all due to Frances Eden, I think. :D A bit of other things too.

Here's Mia relaxing in the father type's t-shirt drawer.

I tell you, she has the life. lol!

Sorry if this post has been all over the place. I'm a bit punchy and exhausted from the basement mess. I hope you all are having a better week than I am so far. Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.

Now what?

2011-02-28T06:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm in a now what phase. Which means that I have to show you why I'm in a now what phase. Here's Frances all completed.

Frances Eden by Handwork Samplers

40ct Vintage Examplar linen

DMC threads called for

I forgot all about the line of over one at the bottom while I was stitching. I was thinking "just this one motif left and I'll be done!" And then it hit me like a rock over the head. Agh! That over one line!!!! ARRRGGGHHH!!!!!

But it's done.

See? Here's the end of the line to prove it.

Why does over one have to take so much longer than anything else? Ah well. A&E and the angels were cheering me on.

Oh, and no, I didn't rip out the FE initials and redo them in eyelet stitch. I suppose I still might. But when both Laurie and Siobhan said they'd done theirs in straight cross stitch -- well, that was enough for me!

The other finish I have is that little knitting project I showed you last time. It's a very simple 1x1 rib knit blanket -- or more of a throw actually. Here's Mia modeling the throw very nicely.

It came out narrower than I would have liked, but I also haven't blocked it yet. (Blocking advice anyone?) I've never blocked anything in my life, believe it or not. I've even finished a sweater or two. Weird, huh? Anyway, I used this amazing (and ridiculously expensive) yarn called Pixie Dust from Knit Collage. I don't normally splurge on yarn like this, but for some reason I did with this. (Sorry, father type!) I did manage to get a bit of a discount on it, but only a bit.

Mia has a morbid fascination for this throw/yarn. While I was knitting it, she was bent on eating some of the yarn. (Not a good thing since that's what caused her emergency visit to the vet when she was a wee thing.) After the throw was done, she was still attempting to nip pieces of the yarn off the blanket. Recently, she's taken to sleeping near/on it. And just now while I was typing this post, she did her kneading behavior on it! I guess she loves it now. lol!

Well, it's raining outside -- hopefully melting more of that snow that's still out there covering most of the ground. I consider that a good excuse to stay inside and stitch. Only problem is -- what to stitch next? Hmmmmmmmm..........

Well, this is what Mia is doing anyway.

Looks like a good thing to do to me!

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! I always enjoy our visits. Have a great week, everyone! Here's hoping Spring is here and we've seen the last of that other S word. :D

Love those funky colors.....

2011-02-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the "warm" wishes last week. Our heat was back on by noon and we warmed up quickly. Which is a good thing -- I was a popsicle by that point!

Frances and her funky colors are going strong here.

Just one more page to go! Yay!

Unfortunately, I stitched the big FE letters before I realized I was supposed to do them in eyelet stitch. Sigh. To rip or not to rip?

Don't you love Adam and Eve? And the serpent?

I've also gotten a bit distracted this week, by more funky color.

I've never worked with such a chunky yarn or such huge needles before. It's a new experience for sure!

We got a fresh dose of snow this morning, nothing too horrible, and no icy stuff involved, which is great. First snow in a couple of weeks -- amazingly. I hope it's the last snow too! lol! Here's Mia enjoying the new snow from her favorite perch for outdoor viewing.

I was hoping to get her in her typical cat crouch pose -- all you cat lovers know the pose I mean -- but she wasn't cooperating. Was sitting instead. Ah well. She's still doing what she usually does -- looking for interesting squirrels and birds. lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! For those in the US, have a great President's Day!

Brrrrrrr.......

2011-02-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

I know, it's warming up. And thank goodness it is. Cause we woke up without heat this morning. Brrrrr!!! We're waiting for the service repair man to come back with a new motor for our furnace. Going to cost a pretty penny -- it's not covered by our service contract. Ouch! Oh well.

Excuse my frost bitten fingers while I show off Frances Eden. Yes, I picked her back up and started stitching away.

Her funky colors are oh so funky! In fact, I didn't like the colors for the right hand house one bit. But it looks fine once you step back and take in the whole thing. Weird, huh?

I'm looking forward to getting back to the top part of the sampler where A&E are. But for now, I'm trying to finish off the part below the grass.

I'm getting there! (I'm using 40ct Vintage Examplar and DMC threads.)

I won a lovely prize from BeckySC and received it in the mail. Look at the lovely Santa!

He is oh so cute and has so many wonderful little details in the finishing! And look at the little bell too!

The fabric on the back is so pretty too! Thank you so much, Becky! You are a wonderful friend!

Ok, I'm too cold to post anymore. lol! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Nothing much will happen around here to celebrate. Just getting a furnace motor, and doing the usual chauffeuring of boy child to orchestra in the evening. That's ok though. Father type and I had a celebration of sorts over the weekend. :D

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! Stay warm! Let's hope the groundhog is right and there's an early spring this year. (Just ignore all the snow on the ground. lol!)

Isabella finished

2011-02-07T06:17:00.000-08:00

You can tell my brain is gone this morning. Not only did I almost forget to do a blog post, but I couldn't think of a better title for this post. Oh well. It gets the job done. Here's Isabella.

Isabella Johnstone

40ct vintage Pearled Barley

called for Belle Soie silks

I followed Tanya's advice and didn't bother with the "use light part of silk for this" and "use dark part of silk for that." And when it called for two different colors of silk at the same time, I did what Tanya suggested again -- I just chose the one I liked best. :D (The other suggestion I've heard is to use one of the colors for the / part of the stitch and the other for the \ part of the stitch. I've heard it works well.)

I think she came out well. But I still don't like overdyeds and variegated threads much.

I got a lovely prize from Karen of Karen's Handiwork. A lovely Christmas ornament! And look at the lovely card she sent as well!

I hope you can see the lovely beaded work she did on the sides of the ornament. Just gorgeous! Thank you so much, Karen! I'm so thrilled!

I think one reason I'm so discombobulated this morning is that for the first time in more than a week, the boy child is at school and the father type is at work, all at the same time. The weeks have been constantly filled with snow days with no school so it's hard to even keep track of what day it is. And the father type has been working from home so much that it's rather disconcerting. lol! But today I have the house to myself till school is over! So this will be short and sweet. I need to enjoy the alone time!

Speaking of sweet, just a quick pic of the cute Mia.

She likes to sleep on my legs when I'm in bed. She looks comfy, no?

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I always enjoy reading your comments and visiting! Have a great week!

UGH

2011-01-31T07:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the title of this post. I will explain later. First, I wanted to show you my new start. Which I shouldn't have started since I already have Frances Eden going. (Not to mention And They Sinned, and -- never mind.)

Yup. Like many others, I've fallen in love with Isabella Johnstone from the Summer 2010 issue of Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly, better known as SANQ. I'm using 40ct Pearled Barley with the called for Belle Soie silks. And I've taken Tanya's advice and not bothered with all that kerfuffle about using the light part of the silk for this and the dark part of the silk for that. Looks fine to me without that.

Love the cow!

One of the blogs I always enjoy reading is Natalia's blog, Stitching-4-Joy. Well of course I fell in love immediately with the wonderful stitching wallets that she makes. I promptly bought one and I'm so happy! Look!

Isn't it pretty? I think it's a Moda fabric. Here's what it looks like opened -- you can see my Isabella chart inside.

It fits my chart with room to spare (the chart is in one of those plastic see through protectors so you can see how big the wallet is), plus my fabric and everything else. I'm loving it! I need the cheerful colors this time of year. (Sorry for that little dot of moisture on the flap. Mia must have snuffled at it or something. Hmmmm.....)

Natalia has other stitching wallets for sale on her flickr page. They're all so pretty! I'm so tempted to get another one. Every girl needs more than one, right? lol! Thanks, Natalia, for the beautiful wallet!

It's also almost time for the TUSAL update. I'm doing mine a few days early. Here's my ORT jar. It's already filling up!

I'm going through my list of items -- seems to be a lot today! I hope you've stuck with me this long because.... TADAH!

It's my Richmond Sampler all framed!!! Isn't it pretty? (Sorry for the reflection on the glass.) Isn't my framer, Don, a genius? I'm so lucky that my LNS owner has a talented husband! Don just looked at my sampler, walked over to some frame samples, grabbed this one and that was it! He was as excited as I was!

Here's a detail of the frame. Isn't it pretty? Thanks again, Don, if you're reading this!

There. I think that's all on the list. Now for the UGH part. If you haven't guessed already, snow. Oh, and a small problem over the weekend -- no propane gas. UGH. Which means no shower, no stove for cooking (don't mind that part. lol!). The shower part is the part that really gets to me. I NEED my shower!!! I've been washing my hair in the kitchen sink in cold water for 3 days now. Brrrrr. I'm sure we're all pretty stinky. Hope not. lol! Can you believe propane people don't believe in fixing gas leaks on the weekend? What is their problem?! How do they expect people to switch to gas heat if they don't do weekend repairs? So now we're waiting -- not patiently -- for the repairman to come fix our leak. I'm not even sure it is a leak. They just let us run out of propane despite being on automatic delivery. Which led to the problem. UGH. Ok, I'll be quiet now.

And yes, snow is on the way. And ICE. UGH. We're supposed to get a good amount of snow (luckily less than double digits) on Tuesday and then up to 1/2" of ice on top of that on Wednesday. Which is worrisome. I've run to the groceries already (after FINALLY getting a hold of the propane company to get on the apparently long list for the service guy -- don't use my propane company). So now we just have to hope we don't lose power on Wednesday. UGH. I am soooooooooooooooooooo sick of this snow/ice thing. This has been the worst winter ever. Ever ever ever. Can you tell I need a shower? lol!

Ok, I'll stop grumbling now. Here's something to cheer us all up.

Can you believe this silly Mia? She loves bags! Bags of all sorts! Whenever she gets into the plastic bags, I always watch her to make sure she doesn't get stuck or anything. Well, the other day, she decided to just settle down inside this one. lol! She even took a bit of a snooze in it! Such a kitten!

Oh, another thing. People keep asking about that quilt on my bed. Nope, didn't make it. I wish! lol! It's a Judy Boisson quilt. I bought it years and years and years ago. Her quilts were always much better made than your average "factory made" quilt. Better hand quilting (although not like real hand quilting), better patterns and designs. Mia is now proceeding to rip the quilt to shreds with her adorable little claws, so I'm not sure how much longer the poor thing is going to last. Makes me sad. I love this quilt.

Sorry to be a grump today. Hopefully I'll be able to shower by the end of the day. Fingers crossed! Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi! I always enjoy reading your comments and visiting with you all! Have a great week! Here's to the ice storm not being as bad as they say for everyone in the affected parts of the country. And to the snow storm not being as bad too for those others! No more snow days please!!!

Yay for Jane!

2011-01-24T06:33:00.000-08:00

Jane Tindall is all finished! Yay!

Jane Tindall by Needlework Press

40ct Confederate Gray linen by Weeks Dye Works

AVAS and Gloriana Florimell fibers as called for

Isn't she pretty?

Please take note if you're planning to stitch Jane. You will definitely need 2 skeins of AVAS 3734 to finish all that grass.

I love her though!

The other day, the boy child settled down on my bed and promptly fell asleep. (This happens a lot since the boy child insists on keeping teenage hours despite having to get up for school at 6am.) Mia decided to settle down on his legs -- one of her favorite places to sleep. She was grooming herself in preparation for a nice snooze, and then.... Well, I guess she wasn't quite finished before she dropped off.

So cute!!

The girl child is home for a few days. She's done with all of her finals and it's finally between semesters. Hopefully she can relax a bit before the next semester starts. She has something to do back at college though, so it won't be a full week of being able to feed her and spoil her. Ah well.

So who's sick of snow? lol! I'm hoping for no big snow storms this week. Knock on wood! It's exam week at the high school so even more reason to hope. Now who is watching the Australian Open? It's good so far, no? As for the football -- sorry, no football watchers in this house. I hope whichever team you're rooting for wins the Super Bowl. :D I'll probably be watching the Jane Austen BBC marathon on PBS instead. lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi. I love reading your comments and catching up with you all. Here's to cold cold temps instead of snow and ice. I'll go for that any day!