Loooooonnnng week...... All State!

First off, let me get any stitchy progress out of the way so those of you who aren't interested in family stuff can be happy.  Not as much progress as I would have liked.  It's been a busy week.  (That's also the reason for a Wednesday posting for a change.)  Anyway, here's Guarding Eden.

I have Siobhan to thank for stitching this before I did.  lol!  I read her description on her blog of how she stitched her grass (in tent) and followed suit.  After all, I had the same problem -- all my shades of yellow are very close and the only way everything would have shown up well was by doing the grass in tent stitch.  Thank you, Siobhan!!!!  :D   I know I would have ended up with more frogging to do if it weren't for you!  (Now I'm looking at my picture and wondering if Siobhan did tent over one.  Did you, Siobhan??  Ugh!)

I haven't decided yet whether to follow Siobhan's lead and not bother to fill in around the verse.  It's very very tempting.  :D

And now for the part that's musical.  Lots and lots of music this week for the boy child.  I took him to the bus for Rochester, NY at 6:30am in the morning Thursday (December 2nd) and he was off to All State!!  With bass shoved into the luggage compartment of the bus.  (The bus was for the kids from our county who were attending All State.)  Sounds like he had a wonderful time there.  He was a member of the symphony orchestra.  (There were around 9 different groups at All State: 2 jazz groups, bands, choruses, a string orchestra and the symphony orchestra.)

The father type and I left for Rochester Saturday morning.  Talk about long drives.  It always amazes me how big the state of New York is!  We stayed in a different hotel that was close to the boy child's and all the All State musicians' hotel.  Here's our view out the window.  (Note the snow.  More on that later.)

 Pretty thrilling, right?  Since we had to rush off to the theater first thing in the morning on Sunday, we splurged and had room service.  Such fun!

The theater that the All State concert was in was really pretty -- the Eastman Theater.  Here's the lobby.

 
Here's the line to get in.  lol!

Here's the proof that it was All State.

Some facts that I got from a very talkative mixed chorus member that sat behind us after his part of the concert was done.  Around 6,000 students from across the state audition for All State.  Only 900 are picked.  Most of them are seniors since it's their last year and preference is given to them over juniors.  The boy child said he was one of the only junior year bassists in the symphony orchestra out of 12 basses.

Blurry pic next, but it's proof he was there.  The boy child was pushed to the back so he's hard to see.  (He wasn't wearing his bow tie.   No one knew how to tie it.  lol!  I've since bought him a pre-tied bow tie.)

More pictures, both of the concert and of the boy child packing up after the concert.  (You can sort of see the boy child there on stage if you look carefully.)

 

 

The ride home was dreadful.  By the time we got on the road mid-afternoon, the snow was pretty bad.  Snow 2/3 of the trip home, spin outs and accidents all over, roadways sometimes pretty awful, visibility poor.   I was so glad to have my father type there to drive through it all.  I had the easy part of the drive home -- the tail end with no snow.  lol!

 

No rest for the weary.  We got home late Sunday night and the next day was school and then the last of the boy child's non-school orchestra rehearsals.  Last night (Tuesday) was his orchestra's winter concert.  (Their concerts are usually on a Sunday, but because of All State, it was on a Tuesday.)  More pics.  Better seats this time in the balcony.  (The boy child is 2nd seat.)

It was a good concert as well.  But we all agreed that All State was the best.  :D  We're hoping that the boy child will make it into All State again next year, but there are no guarantees.  So much depends upon the judge that year.  If it's a hard judge, no matter how good you are, you might not make it.  So fingers crossed!  The boy child loved the experience.  He says he's ready for college now.  lol!

Sorry for the long post and many many pics.  Told you it was a long week.  But I'm so glad to have the big concerts of the year over and done with.  Just the school concert left.  And that one should be fun -- not only will the orchestra perform, but it's the boy child's first year with the Jazz Ensemble.  The ensemble is an extracurricular group made up of a small group of kids that has to audition to get in.  The boy child is the bassist for the group.  They always go last -- and they're sooooo good!  I'm looking forward to hearing them!  (The boy child is getting into jazz now too, which is great!)

No Christmas preparations to speak of yet.  It's been hard to get into the Christmas spirit at this point.  Our poor Mia will be going in for her spaying on Friday.  Not looking forward to that.  Poor baby.  :(

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I love hearing from you!  Happy hump day!

Oh my goodness, Mia! (And All State!!!!!)

Ok, so this post isn't just about Mia.  But I've been wanting to use that for the title of a post for a while now.  After all, I keep finding myself saying it to Mia.  lol!

Ok, first off, I finished the Family Sampler.  It's on silk gauze over one with Belle Soie silks.

I included all of the family's initials at the bottom and the year of our wedding.  Mia's initial is in the upper left hand corner.  :D

I'm going to be taking the Richmond Sampler (Anne Maria Clarke) online class from the Essamplaire.  The online class starts September 15, but I couldn't resist starting it just a tad.  I asked for 40ct fabric, so I'm using everything provided by the class.

This is what the piece will look like.

So gorgeous!!

In other news, we took the girl child back to college on Saturday.  All in all, it was a pretty smooth drop off.  The girl child managed to forget her pillows this time so I just sent them off to her this morning.  (Last time it was the blankets -- and some underwear.)   We forgot the camera yet again, so no pics of her dorm room.

It was weird as it always is to leave the girl child behind.  But it sounds like she's having a good time before classes start.  She's a junior -- unbelievable!

And another piece of news.  I can't believe I forgot to mention it here before now!  When we got back from vacation, a nice big envelope was waiting for the boy child.  He got into the All State Symphony Orchestra!  It's such a huge honor and I'm so proud of him.  He will be performing at the Area All State concert first, and then he will perform in the All State Orchestra in December.  Up in Rochester!  Never been there before, and neither has he!  It will be an adventure!  Of course, the boy child will be all orchestra-ed out by the end of that particular week.  The day after his All State concert, he will have his last non-school orchestra rehearsal, and the day after that (a Tuesday!!) is the actual concert.  Argh!  So he will have a busy time!

I'm actually a bit worried about the boy child's schedule this year.  Not only does he have his class work, his non-school orchestra, Area All State, All State, and his bass guitar lessons.  He also has the EMS Youth Corps (which he joined this summer), and he's auditioning for the bassist for the school's jazz ensemble (which is really good!).  Oh, and he's in a band that he's formed with 2 other kids from school (as the bass player).  Ahem.  I hope he can handle all that!  Of course since he's a junior, there's also the little matter of tests like the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT, the SAT subject tests, -- can you tell I'm worrying?  lol!   Ok, I'll stop now.

Now for the pictures you've probably been waiting for.  No?  Well you'll have to suffer through a couple anyway.  :D

Here's Mia with the girl child before she left for college.  I think Mia is going to miss the girl child very much.  As will we all.

And here's Mia in her favorite place.  Too bad the weather won't allow for the window to be open all the time.

BTW, third year in a row -- US Open men's finals postponed till today, Monday, cause of rain.  Can't wait!  I know I shouldn't say this, but it's rather a relief not to have to sit through a Federer/Nadal match.  :D  I know, sacrilege coming from a Federer fan.  But I can't take the stress.  lol!  I missed most of the semifinal where Federer lost.

Quickly -- forgot to say that the sampler in my header pic is Charlotte Clayton, released by the Northwest Sampler Guild.  I got my chart from Attic Needlework in Mesa, Arizona.   I think they still have the chart available there.

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