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

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.....

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

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

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?!

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!