Busy busy busy......

I know, I know.  It's been a while.  But it's been busy around here!  For one thing, the girl child was home for a week for her midterm break.  Which always means much more to do, for some reason.  It also makes about $50 difference per week for the grocery bill -- I guess because it means there are two extra mouths to feed?  (No, the girl child doesn't have two mouths, she has a boyfriend.)  Then the boy child was -- well, I'll save that for later. 

Before that news, ta dah!!!  Paradise Lost is finished!!!   Yay!

I'm going to tease you with little pics first.  :D

And finally, a very bad picture of the whole thing.

And yes, I'm very bad about ironing too.  :D   Anyway, I used 40ct Light Examplar from Lakeside Linens with the called for NPI and Gloriana silks.  Oh, and it's by Plum Street Samplers.  And about those trees, Paulette.    The only tree I enjoyed stitching was the one on the right.  That one was fun.  The others were torture.  lol!  Wellllll, I guess the little one wasn't too bad either.   But don't you just love this design?  I do!  I'm very happy to have it all finished too!  Thanks for such a great piece, Paulette!

So back to the busy busy stuff.   The week that the girl child was home was also the week of Halloween.  Here are the boy child and his friend in their Red Bull can costumes.  Unfortunately it was pouring so they had to wear plastic rain capes.  (The father type managed to cut the boy child's head off.)

It's hard to tell, but they did a really good job.  Too bad it was raining.

Also during the week of the girl child's midterm break, the boy child had his final rehearsals and the concert for the Area All State Orchestra.  You may recall that he has to do this NYSSMA audition every year (Yes, little boy, you have to do it every year till you're a senior.  When you're a senior, it won't matter anymore.).   So he did well enough in his audition to be 4th bass (out of 12 basses) in the Area All State Orchestra in our area of NY state.  I think this is a very hard area to compete in -- some of the best musician students in the state, IMO.  And boy, did it show in the concert!  It was definitely the best concert I've heard in a long time -- of the concerts that the boy child has been in that is.  Excellent!  Amazing!  I really enjoyed it.  The concert culminated in movements 11 and 12 (the Lullabye and Final Hym) of Stravinksy's Firebird Suite.  Had to mention that so you'd know just how good these kids were.  So beautiful!

Now to torture you, you get to see pictures of the Area All State Orchestra with the boy child as the featured musician. 

This is the whole orchestra -- 184 members, I think.

Do you see him there?  With his long hair?  lol!  Can you tell I'm proud?   Anyway -- moving on!

So finally, right at the tail end of the girl child's midterm break, the refrigerator stopped working.  Just stopped.  That was it.  The food rotted, and we had a whole slew of garbage bags of untrustworthy food.  So sad.  Now I'm going to sound like an advertisement, but I was astounded to discover that Sears was very efficient for a change.  I called them to see if they had the size of refrigerator we need (we unfortunately have a very tiny area where the fridge goes, so there's no choice -- no fancy fridge for us, just a teeny tiny one).  I was immediately connected to some lady in Alabama (I think that's where she said she was) who knew exactly what was in stock in the local warehouse from which deliveries would be made to us.  She ran through what was available (not much in that size!) and hooked me up with one to be delivered asap -- and on a Sunday too!  I called on Friday late in the afternoon, almost evening, so I was duly impressed.  Refrigerator bought and delivered without having to step outside the house!  So anyway, I spent the better part of this past week stocking the new fridge up with new food.  Fun fun!   It would be so much more enjoyable if it were one of those fancy smancy refrigerators.  And a fridge that was a whole heck of a lot bigger.  Oh well. 

The boy child and his father are currently out in the rain -- well the boy child is anyway.  He and a bunch of friends are at yet another paintball scenario event, this time somewhere up north.  Me being a worrywart momma, I didn't feel safe having the boy child riding in the car being driven by one of the teenage boys who I don't even know.  So the father type generously volunteered to drive the boy child.  I told you he's a wonderful father type!  So I'm here at home by myself.  Which is why I finally got PL finished.  lol! 

I hope you all have a great weekend -- what's left of it.  Thanks for stopping by.  I love reading your comments!

Adam and Eve -- and prizes

I've been working away on Paradise Lost.  I'm still loving it too.  Here's my latest progress.

 
I just love this piece so much!  You probably know it's by Plum Street Samplers.  I'm using 40ct vintage Light Examplar with the called for fibers.

And speaking of Adam and Eve, I just received my new Adam and Eve set from Tanya of the Scarlett House.   I love it! 

And yes, Tanya, I do love Eve's little bitty boobs!  lol!  Thank you!

I've won a few prizes the past few months, but haven't shown them off yet.  First, I won a needle punch kit with a new design from With Thy Needle and Thread.   Not only did I get the pattern with the design predrawn on the fabric, but Brenda also sent me the threads to punch with!

I didn't realize until recently that Brenda is related to Sandy Gervais of quilting fame.  What a talented bunch!  Thank you, Brenda, for my prize!  Now all I have to do is learn how to needle punch.  :D

Barbara of Mainely Stitching recently had a giveaway, and I won this chart.  Thank you, Barbara! 

And finally, Jolene of Dip Diddly Designs has been having a spectacular series of Halloween giveaways on her blog.  And I won one of the prizes!   This is what I received -- a chart with the fibers required to stitch it, a cute little Halloween towel, and a nice Halloween card.  Thank you Jolene!

Jolene's last giveaway is still going on so you should head on over.  It's pretty amazing!

In other news, the girl child is home for her midterm break.  She's been so busy at college that we really haven't heard much from her so far this term.  It'll be nice to have her at home for a week.  Perhaps she'll catch up on her sleep.  lol!

Well, I hope you all have a great Halloween.  Thanks for stopping by!

Warning: lots of pictures!

This past weekend ( last weekend, not this one), a bunch of stitching friends and I got together for a stitching getaway in Cape May, NJ.  We had horrible weather -- 2 nor'easters with tons of wind that made the house groan -- but wonderful times in a pretty Cape May style house in the heart of the historic district in town.  Thanks to Kathy and Lorraine for the Cape May pictures -- I need a small camera to keep in my purse!  Here's the house we stayed in -- enough bedrooms for all!

It was quite luxurious, with a very long dining table where we could stitch and stitch and stitch!  While we were there, we celebrated my friend Kathy's birthday.  I gave her a little present, a needle roll made from a Blackbird Designs chart from their With Thy Needle book.  I hope she doesn't look too closely at the finishing work.  :D

I don't remember what fabric I used except that it was a 40ct fabric.  I used the called for fibers.  I put our initials down at the bottom.

I used a fabric from the BBD Beach House fabric collection for the inside lining.

Lorraine took a picture of the birds on the beach.  Aren't they cute?

If anyone can identify them, Lorraine and I would love to know what they are.

While at Cape May, I got to start a new project.  :D   Yes, I planned it that way. lol!   Anyway, I joined the bandwagon and started Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers.  It really is a fun stitch!  Except for that blasted tree on the left -- somehow that one was intimidating to me!  Here is where I am on it as of today.

I'm using 40ct vintage Light Examplar linen with the called for NPI and Gloriana silks.  The colors are just amazing!  The ladies from the weekend can attest to how I sorted my threads to start the project and discovered I was missing a color -- boy was I an unhappy camper!  But I figured out that I wouldn't be needing the color for a long long time, so I cheered up pretty quickly.  And now that I'm home I've found the color in my stash so I'm even more happy!

Here's a picture of the gang in the house's livingroom.

Thanks for a lovely time, ladies!  And a special thanks to Nancy for arranging the weekend for us!

In other news, my father sent me some pictures of his trip to mainland China.  He got to visit Olympic Park, which is pretty cool!

I hope you've enjoyed this picture intensive post.  Have a great weekend -- and thanks for stopping by!

Small stitching for a change

I'm very happy.  I actually picked something up to stitch and finished it in a few days!  lol!  It was a small piece, the exclusive market kit from Milady's Needle, In the Garden.  Here's the piece that goes on the top of the box that was included in the kit.

 

Isn't it cute?  And here are the front and back of the scissor fob.

Now all I have to do is to actually finish the pieces into a box top and a scissors fob!  :D  BTW, the kit came complete with box, box lining, 40ct fabric and fibers.  Great stuff!

In other news, I seem to have won an award.  Mary at Mary's Craft Nook has kindly given this award to me.  Thank you, Mary!

I'm supposed to pick 15 other blogs that I've recently discovered.  But I have so many blogs that I enjoy and read that it's hard to choose.  I hope you all consider yourselves to be recipients of this award -- I so enjoy reading all my favorite blogs!

I can definitely pass the award on to at least one new blog.  Laurie is one of my online friends -- she stitches models as well as stitching for herself, she quilts, and she has two adorable corgis.  I hope you go visit her new blog, Corgi Cottage.  I know you'll be drooling over her pictures as much as I have!  So I've passed the award on for real to one blog anyway!  lol!  Welcome to blogging, Laurie!

Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate all your comments. 

The Freds are finished -- framed piece -- a present -- and etc

Finally got Fred done to go with his girlfriend.  Here he is in all his glory.

 He's Frederick, of course, by Carriage House Samplings.  Here's his mate, Fredrika.

Both are stitched on 40ct vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens with the called for NPI silks.  I love them!  Aren't they perfect for fall?

I also got my Fruit of the Spirit (Plum Street Samplers) back from my LNS.   I'm really happy with how it came out.  The owner's husband Don does the framing and he's always so helpful with picking out the perfect frame.

Here's a closeup of the frame.  Isn't it perfect?   I love it!

As you may know, I've been participating in the Sail Away SAL which is being lead by Loraine and Terri.   Terri sent all of us SALers a wonderful fob to get us all on our way.  Now that the SAL is ending, Loraine has sent a nice present, a stitching wallet.  I got mine in the mail today -- and I'm so tickled!  Here it is, along with Terri's fob that she made for us.

And here's the other side of the wallet.

She included a wonderful sheet with all of our names on it that also has a space for us to record when we started our stitching journey and when we finished.  Isn't it wonderful?   Thank you, Loraine!  And thank you to both you and Terri for such a great SAL!  

In other news, it seems to be homecoming weekend around the country, including here.  The boy child is in seventh heaven.  Two of his friends who left for college this fall are home for the weekend, so he's off having fun with all his friends.   I know I won't be seeing much of him till Monday night. 

The Father type had to go to a function last weekend up north a bit.  Turns out it had great views of the Hudson River.  Just look at it!

Pretty nice, huh?  They were apparently way up high on some mountain or other.  You can see the Hudson in the distance down there.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Testing, testing.....

I have to test out this supposed new editor in blogger.  Thanks to the help of expert bloggers like Nicole and Siobhan,  I've widened the posting area so as to get bigger pictures.  My dear Father Type has been trying to figure out how to make the lovely background conform to the new shape of things on the blog.  It's not perfect, but it will do for now.  I may end up removing it or just living with it.  :D  So anyway, now you all get to see more pictures of Frederick as part of my testing here.  I'm all set to start Freddie himself.

You can see the bird shape in the middle there.  I've stitched all the motifs around him except for the date (1831) and a tiny flower in the bottom right hand corner.  And of course I need to stitch Fred himself and the two borders that are left.

 Aren't you enjoying the testing?

Now all I have to do is take better pictures.  lol!

Well, here's hoping the larger picture thingie worked.  I guess I'll find out soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

ps -- I may try Flickr next time.  Hmmmmmm........

Frederika and her mate

Frederika is done. She's so pretty, especially for this time of year. I decided since I was already in the Fred mode to continue on to Frederika's mate Frederick.



For both, I'm using the recommended fabric and fibers, 40ct vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside with NPI silks. I just love the colors!



It's interesting to me that Frederick does seem more masculine in his colors. I wonder if Kathy Barrick Dieter did that on purpose?

If you want a chance to win a nice Halloweenie prize, head on over to Jolene's blog. I love her giveaways!

We're settling into the school routine finally. Now that it's more than 3 weeks since school started. Weird that it took so long to get into the swing of things! Haven't heard a peep from the girl child since the first weekend when she said she was going to be much better about keeping in touch. Uh huh. lol! Well, she did email a couple of times when she had to buy more school books and wanted to make sure she had enough money. And she did email to apologize for not calling on the father type's birthday. I guess that's something. :D No news is good news, right? And I should give her credit for saying she would call the next night after the father type's birthday -- I told her not to since the father type was on a business trip that night. Ah well. I know she's happy and busy.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Thanks for stopping by -- I love to read your comments!