Loooooooong post -- stitching, finishing, prizes, concerts

First off, Ann Rayner.  If that's all you care to see, you can skip the rest.  :D  I've added Ann Rayner as a BAP challenge piece as part of BeckySC's BAP challenge.

She is so much fun to stitch, now that I'm in the good part.

Love this little house.

Next up, I sent some of my pieces off to Faye of Carolina Stitcher to be finished.   Here's the first piece.  It's Beneath the Waters by Carriage House Samplings.  I asked Faye to mount it on the front of this cool wooden box in the shape of a book that I got from the Attic a couple of years back.

And then there were all these pieces Faye made into pillows for me.

They are: the bottom left is In the Sweet By and By by La D Da (Faye used the finishing materials provided on this one), the bottom right is the Margaret Harris Sampler from the Honeysuckle Manor book by BBD, and the large pillow on top is the limited edition piece released at Nashville this year by BBD.

I'm keeping all these pillows along with the pinkeep I received from Anne in this souvenir bowl from Emma Bridgewater of the wedding of Prince William and Kate (Middleton).  Thanks so much for your great finishing, Faye!  I love it all!

Then I won a few things as well!  I won this lovely Jane Austen book from Edgar of Blacksheep fame.  It's a wonderful book, Edgar.  Thanks so much!

From Carol of Stitching Dreams, I won this adorable bunny chart.  I love it Carol!  Thanks!

And from BeckySC of Becky Bee's Stitching Hive, I received this lovely RAK of the Peter and Peep chart I've been coveting.  Thank you so much Becky!

Finally, this past weekend seemed to be music weekend.  First off, the boy child was the bass player for a show put on at a local jazz cafe by his jazz teacher and his teacher's wife, both professional musicians/singers.  There were a few high school musicians taking part.  Here is a pic of the scene.  You can see the boy child behind the piano there.

Then Sunday was the boy child's last non-school orchestra concert, at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC.  Last one!  Never again.  So weird to think after 6 years being with this orchestra group.

The famous Lincoln Center.

(All these pics were taken with my iPhone.  Not bad, huh?)

Inside Avery Fisher Hall, right before they started playing.

Don't you love how they remind you to turn off your cell phones and electronic devices?

The boy child playing.

He's first bass of course.  :D

And after the concert, in front of Avery Fisher.

Don't you love the pose?  The boy child was not thrilled about the photo taking.

Facing the other direction now.  The boy child was pointing at the moon.

When we got home, Mia had to get in the act.  Here she is, snuggled in the boy child's suit jacket.  The boy child has yet to clean the hair off his jacket from this episode.  lol!

Silly Mia!

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

O-K-L-A...... Ann

It was a very busy week last week.  H** week for rehearsals for the high school musical, plus various doctor appointments for me.  So not as much stitching as I would have liked.  Poor Ann.

This is all I got done on her.  Plus I did finish the border.

Oh well.  At least I'm down to the juicy part of the sampler now.  :D

I did take my TUSAL picture for this month too.

Sorry -- a bit blurry.  My ort jar is sitting next to something I just couldn't resist getting.  It's a little thimble holder I ordered from the Scarlet Letter.  Yes, Marsha tempts me with more than just beautiful reproduction samplers.

This weekend was the boy child's last high school musical.  They did Oklahoma this time, a very ambitious project.  And they did a great job!  The boy child had a small part, Cord Elam, the Federal Marshall.  Here he is on stage.

He got to wear a gun belt with a gun too.  Excitement!

Here he is after the show.  (Oh yeah, there's me too.  Bleagh.)

And here's a pic taken by the professional photographers.  I scanned it and it seems to have gotten blurry in the process.  Oh well.

I will say one thing.  Have you ever tried to buy cowboy boots in this part of the country?  Nope, can't do it.  lol!  Good ole Ebay to the rescue.

Anyway, the kids did a great job.  I got all teary eyed of course.  So many of these kids are graduating and moving on to college, like the boy child.  Their last production.  So many lasts coming fast and furious now.

Of course, Mia has been happy at home.  The other day, she decided she needed to see what was going on at the table, so she climbed up onto the chair the father type was sitting in and proceeded to join the family at table.

Such a silly cat!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.   I hope everyone has a great week!  I also hope those in the path of that heavy, wet snow are ok and the storm took it easy on you.  Yuck!

No more blahs? And decisions

Well, I did wander a bit more before settling down stitching-wise.  I started Sarah Seifer by the Good Huswife, which I love.  And I will get back to it sometime, I'm sure!  (And no, this is not a picture of Sarah Seifer.)

 But in the midst of stitching Sarah, I realized that what I was having a hankering for was one specific design.  The problem was, I couldn't find the chart anywhere in my stash.  Sigh.  After searching everywhere frantically, I settled down to Sarah.  But couldn't get this other piece out of my mind.  So I tried looking in one more place.  And I found it!!   Can you tell which design it is??

It's Ann Rayner by Threads Through Time.  I've been seeing her on various of my favorite blogs, and I just couldn't stop thinking about her.  As soon as I found the chart -- yay!  -- I dashed off to get the DMC I needed.  I'm using 40ct vintage Buttercream with DMC.  Aren't the colors pretty?  And that's just the first alphabet!

I spent most of my time this past week on the border.  I'm satisfied cause the border meets up, and most of it is done.  Just some of the berries on the bottom border to finish.  But I couldn't stand to finish the border -- I needed to go for that color.  Ahhhhh.  Color!!!!

So I think I'm happy now.  :D

It's a nerve wracking time in the family right now, mainly because the boy child has finally decided on which college he is going to.  Yes, the boy child is going to that big name music college in Boston.  Time to freak out.  lol!  This will be a new experience for all of us, but most especially, of course, for the boy child.  I'm happy and excited for him, and he's on cloud nine.  Now we have to keep our fingers crossed that he gets a dorm room.  There is only limited availability, so we just have to hope!  Otherwise there will be some apartment hunting in our future.

Oh, and yes, the two still have their nap times together.

Sorry, it's a bit blurry, isn't it?

In the midst of all this excitement, Mia just goes on, doing her own thing.  She took a snuggle in the father type's pants the other day.

Silly baby!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  It's going to be a hot one today -- 86 degrees!  Yuck.  Luckily it won't last long.

Hope everyone has a great week!

showing off some model stitching, and continued blahs

A blogging friend pointed out to me that I hadn't shown any of my model stitching despite talking about doing model stitching.  So I thought I would remedy that situation.

I did show off one of the models I worked on -- Brother's Keeper by Plum Street Samplers.  

(Thanks again for the pic, Paulette!)

But I haven't shown off any of the stitching I've done for Vickie Jennett of Needlework Press.  So here goes.

First I stitched some pieces for a symposium at the Attic in Mesa, Arizona that Vickie offered as part of her class to the attendees.  

(Yes, I stitched the same piece twice but with different letters/words.)

These were both based on a piece that was later released at Nashville market, The Alsap Family Record Sampler.  (No, I didn't stitch the model for that.)

I also stitched a little piece that I believe was offered as a freebie at Nashville market.

(No, I didn't do any of the finishing on any of these pieces.  :D  )

And finally, I stitched this piece which was also released at Nashville.

The latest model I've stitched I can't show off yet since it hasn't been released yet.  But when it is, I will try to show it to you.

My stitching blahs continue.  I tried to start a new piece.  In fact, I tried twice.  First, I tried the Jenny Bean Sampler from Scarlet Letter.  I do love this one, but I just can't deal with the dark, almost black fabric right now.  Then I tried starting Dona Dorothea Gazano y Garcia, also by the Scarlet Letter.  I got a bit farther with it, but I'm just not enjoying it right now.

Ugh.

Hopefully I'll get back to these someday, but not for now.  My friend Katrina suggested one or two other pieces to try so that's what I'm going to try next.  The stitching blahs have hit hard!

We did have a nice Easter dinner yesterday, but sadly the girl child couldn't come home.  She's working hard on her senior thesis, poor thing.  Here's the spread.

Yum yum!  Since the father type had baked some Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies a day or two before,  that was our dessert.  Thanks again to Katrina for pointing out the recipe.  So good!

The boy child is still trying to decide on which college to go to.  It's down to this college that he really likes or the music college he really likes.  Tough decision -- he's deciding between two very different experiences.  I hope he decides soon......

Here's something fun for you to watch if you're interested.  This indie group, OK Go, has inspired the boy child quite a bit recently.  They are really creative!  I especially recommend the Needing/Getting video.  And apparently this video was quite a sensation a while ago, Here It Goes Again.  Love it!  And yes, somehow things like this are a part of the boy child's decision making process.  Hard to explain.  :D

Mia seemed to sleep a lot for Easter.  Here she is with the boy child's Easter basket of goodies.

Here she is later in the day.  Can you see her?  lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I love to visit with you all!  I hope everyone has a great week!

A lovely surprise, and stitching blahs

I had to stitch a model this past week so not as much time for my own stitching.  White waiting for the model supplies to come, I worked on two things.  First, And They Sinned.

Just got a bit more done.  Here's the part I'm working on.

Loraine and I also worked on the next page for our SAL on the Toy Chest Etui.  This time it was the drum waxer.  So cute!

Then came the model stitching.  And now I'm having the stitching blahs.  lol!  I think model stitching is bad for my stitching health.  :D

I got a lovely surprise in the mail from Anne of Doll's Musings.  Totally unexpected, and what a way to brighten my day!  Here's what came.

And here is what was inside the package.

Isn't it lovely?  I was so touched by Anne's gift.  And Anne, the chocolates made it in fine shape -- and disappeared fast.  lol!  Thank you so much, Anne!  I've so enjoyed getting to know you through our blogging!  And I think Mia is enjoying finding out about Titus through smelling my little pinpillow.  :D  Mia says hello!

The boy child has heard from all the colleges he applied to now.  He got accepted to eight out of ten schools, including the music school he wants to go to.  But he also got into one of the colleges he really wants to go to as well.  So now he has to make a decision -- music college or regular college?  We are on pins and needles waiting for his decision.  It's a tough choice.

A while back we got Mia a new scratching post.  It's nice and tall and has a great sisal surface that she loves to use.  Well, it turns out she also likes to perch on it sometimes.

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