UGH

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!

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!   

Quick post

It's a rushy rushy sort of day.  Snow and ice (ICE!!) expected tomorrow so a quick grocery trip has already been done.  MLK day so no school today.  Mia has already managed to knock my stitching and my water bottle on the ground -- thank goodness the water that spread all over the floor didn't get to my stitching! 

Anyway, been crazily working on Jane.  Here she is.  Just one more color of green to fill in on the grass (lots of it too!) and I'm done!

I love all the animals!  Don't you?

Whoops!  I guess that's a person.  lol!

That red cow is my favorite! 

I've really been enjoying all the crazy 15 challenge projects.  I don't know how all of you who are participating do it.  I'd go mad!   lol!  And of course Nashville market is coming up.  I know I'm going to be in trouble -- and I need to be good too!  I guess if I manage to be good, I'll just have a very very long wish list.  Sigh.

Australian Open started last night.  Yay!!!  It was good to see the fund raising event for the terrible floods in Queensland the tennis players participated in. 

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Sorry to run but it's that sort of day!  Have a great week, everyone!  Let's hope for no more snow and ice!  lol!

back to routine

Well things have gotten back to normal around here.  Just the addition of having to worry about snow every few days.  Grumble grumble.

Frances Eden got a lot of attention this past week.  Here she is.

 

Her colors are so funky and fun.  I'm really loving her.  And that weird bunny with the huge feet -- pretty far out!

By Saturday, I was feeling sorry for Jane Tindall, so I worked on her over the weekend.  This is what I got done on her.

She's a pretty one for sure!

I received a lovely present in the mail from a blogging friend, Marilyn.   We were worried for a while because the package took a long time to come all the way from France.  But it finally arrived and what a treat was inside!

Such a sweet ornament!  And a little Santa too!  Thank you so much, Marilyn!  Thank you for your friendship as well!

Last post, I neglected to post any pictures of Mia.  So for her fans out there, here she is playing with some packaging that came the other day.  She's getting big!

Here she is in a typical pose with the boy child.

Another typical pose.

Oh, and in case you're wondering why the boy child has a Kansas State sweatshirt, it's because my father is a professor there.  Purple pride!  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi!  Here's hoping no one has really bad weather to deal with.  I have a feeling that isn't happening.  Ah well!  Be careful out there, everyone!  Have a great week!

Last of 2010, new and old starts, and some jazz

Stitchy news first.  I promised to show you my progress on Jane Tindall, so here she is. 

She's a pretty one!  I'm using the recommended WDW 40ct Confederate Gray, AVAS and Gloriana Filomel fibers.

And then on a total whim thanks to Katrina and Laurie, I started Frances Eden for a New Year's start.

I'm using 40ct Vintage Examplar and DMC threads.  The colors are so fun -- I'm loving it!  Here's a pic of what Frances Eden looks like.

The piece is by Handwork Samplers.  And yes, it's another Adam and Eve sampler.  Of course!

I've also won a couple more prizes recently.  From Melanie at Moonraker Lampwerks, I won a couple of ornaments.

Aren't they cute?  I did have them on my Christmas tree, but stupidly didn't take a pic of them there before the tree came down.  Thank you so much, Melanie!  I love them!  (Melanie makes the cutest blown glass beads too.  I have a set and I love it!)

 And from Carmen Sutton of Cardan Antiques and Needlework, I won this adorable Santa clip.  Carmen also included some walnut dye so I could dye things myself, and some wonderful smelling lovelies to make things smell so good!  Thanks so much, Carmen!  I love my prize!

I decided to join the Totally Useless SAL this year, better known as the TUSAL.  I always collect my orts anyway, and save the year's orts in a box somewhere every year.  Here's my ort jar, all ready for 2011.  It already has a few orts in it as you can see.

Please note -- I'm one of those stitchers who use the thread down to the last possible millimeter.  So don't expect long pieces of thread in my ort jar.  lol!

Finally, yes, the father type made it home on Thursday.  It's so nice to have him home!  The FIL is doing nicely and we're all very happy about that! 

The girl child had to head back to college yesterday evening.  Here she is just about ready to head out to the train.

(I know I will get asked, so.....   The quilt hanging on the wall is the baby quilt my quilt group buddies from years back made for me when I was pregnant with the girl child.  The quilt hanging on the foot of the girl child's bed is a quilt I won from a raffle from the Attic's annual breast cancer auction and fund raiser.  I don't remember which year it was I won, but I was amazed when I won!)

Finally, one of the events that the father type missed while he was helping FIL cope with everything was the boy child's school concert.  Normally this isn't a big miss.  But this year's concert was the boy child's first time playing bass for the school's jazz ensemble.  I had to tape at least a part of the concert just so the father type could hear his son.  Unfortunately the memory chip was full so I only got little bits of the concert.  Now I know some of you have asked to hear the boy child play.  Soooooo, here's a little clip of the high school jazz ensemble.  (It's hard to tell how good they are from the video.  They're really good!  It's always so enjoyable to hear them, even if your son isn't a member.)

The song is "In the Stone" by Earth, Wind and Fire.  Sorry it's only a little bit of the piece.  I wish I could have gotten the whole thing.  I hope you like it!

We first saw the high school jazz ensemble (an extra curricular, audition-to-get-in group) way back when the girl child was a freshman.  I guess the boy child must have been in 5th grade?  From the first time the boy child saw them play, he wanted to be in the ensemble.  And now he's met his goal.  :D  We're so proud of him!

Back to the ole routine this week.  The boy child went back to school this morning and has orchestra tonight as usual.  The father type is working as I type -- albeit from home, which is nice.  The girl child was probably up all night finishing an assignment that was due today from what I hear.  She has class during the prep time for exams, then  finals coming up too.  (Which is why she's back at college already.)  Poor kid.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi!  Sorry for such a long post this time.  I guess 2010 didn't want to say goodbye.  lol!  I always enjoy visiting with you all!  Have a great week!