Isabella finished

You can tell my brain is gone this morning.  Not only did I almost forget to do a blog post, but I couldn't think of a better title for this post.  Oh well.  It gets the job done.  Here's Isabella.

Isabella Johnstone

40ct vintage Pearled Barley

called for Belle Soie silks

I followed Tanya's advice and didn't bother with the "use light part of silk for this" and "use dark part of silk for that."  And when it called for two different colors of silk at the same time, I did what Tanya suggested again -- I just chose the one I liked best.  :D  (The other suggestion I've heard is to use one of the colors for the / part of the stitch and the other for the \ part of the stitch.  I've heard it works well.)

I think she came out well.  But I still don't like overdyeds and variegated threads much.

I got a lovely prize from Karen of Karen's Handiwork.  A lovely Christmas ornament!  And look at the lovely card she sent as well!

I hope you can see the lovely beaded work she did on the sides of the ornament.  Just gorgeous!  Thank you so much, Karen!  I'm so thrilled! 

I think one reason I'm so discombobulated this morning is that for the first time in more than a week, the boy child is at school and the father type is at work, all at the same time.  The weeks have been constantly filled with snow days with no school so it's hard to even keep track of what day it is.  And the father type has been working from home so much that it's rather disconcerting.  lol!  But today I have the house to myself till school is over!   So this will be short and sweet.  I need to enjoy the alone time!

Speaking of sweet, just a quick pic of the cute Mia.

She likes to sleep on my legs when I'm in bed.  She looks comfy, no?

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

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!!!