Jane retaliates, enlists frogs, triumphs in the end

Well, Jane won her point.  She got all time dedicated to her this past week -- which was considerable with Wimbledon having started.  She did make life interesting though.  Those flowers on either end on the bottom border -- I just wasn't satisfied with that awful new color.  I tried a substitute color on the bottom right flower, but still wasn't happy.  Then I took a look at the model picture and decided to go with a slightly darker color that had been used but sparingly up at the top of the sampler. 

Which of course meant -- Jane got her revenge.  I spent hours frogging those fill in colors on the flowers.  But I think it was worth it.  What do you think?

Yes!  Jane is finished!!!!

Here are the two flowers in question, along with the beautiful middle flower.   Number one,

And number two.

I like this color a lot better than the skin tone color.  The absolutely gorgeous middle flower will forever be remembered by me as the flower that took forever to stitch while watching the forever longest tennis match ever.  Won by American John Isner at Wimbledon, court 18, 70 to 68 in the fifth set over Nicolas Mahut.  Absolutely amazing!  I think there were 109 aces for Isner, 105 for Mahut?  Or something like that.  Geez!  The fifth set was longer than the former longest match in history!

Anyway, here's the rest of the sampler.  I love it so much!  But be forewarned -- the colors were marked incorrectly in more than one place, especially at the bottom border.

Isn't Jane wonderful?  She deserved to retaliate.  :D

Here's the list of colors that went into a second skein.  I used AVAS with 40ct linen.  4136 (marked as such in the chart), 3724, 2636, 2216, 2235, 526, 2611.  I came close to needing another skein with a few other colors as well. 

As I'm typing this, poor Andy Roddick has lost in the round of 16 at Wimbledon to a surprise Chinese player.  I feel so badly for him.  I wanted him to win Wimbledon!  I wouldn't mind Murray winning either.  Or Federer or Nadal.  :D   But it would be fun to have a new winner for a change.  Oh how unfaithful of me to say that!  Wimbledon has been so amazing this time around.  So many surprises and great matches.  The women's side too.  Of course, I love Wimbledon no matter what.  It's my favorite grand slam event.

Big time summer mode going on around here now.  Don't know how that happened.  I feel like it should still be the middle of the school year.  Ah well.

Thanks again for stopping by and saying hi.  It's fun to see what everyone is up to!  Have a great week!

Lucy and Betsy beat up on Jane......

Poor Jane.  Not only is she losing time because of summer and the kids being home, but now Lucy and Betsy are elbowing in on the action.  Only a bit done on poor Jane this week.

Oh, and I take it back.  Two of the colors, not just one, in the new skeins are horrible matches.  See the flower in the bottom left?  That's supposed to be the same color as the skin tone on Adam and Eve.

(The above pic is also the piddling amount I got done this week.)  I'm so glad this wasn't the color of the skein I used for A&E and the rest of the sampler.  It's sooo yellow!  Not sure if I should just try to replace the fill in color on the flower to a different color or just tolerate the glaring new color.  Opinions?

Here's one of the reasons why poor Jane has been neglected this week.  The Lucy Bag, from Attic 24.

I may have created a monster here.  I made the bottom much larger than called for.  We'll see if it's ridiculously so!  The color from about the second beige and light blue rings out are the sides of the bag instead of the bottom.  Boy, does it take a while to go all the way round!

The other thing that's taken away from poor Jane was a class my friend Kathy (no blog) and I took in NJ with Betsy Morgan, the Toy Chest Etui.  It was a two day class, Friday and Saturday.  The first day was dedicated to finishing our pre-stitched piece and the second day to going over the rest of the project.  Here's the class project.

(There are two more "toys" to the piece now than in the picture, one being included with the class and another being an optional kit to buy.  I bought it of course!)  Betsy was a fantastic teacher!  I don't know if you're like me, but whenever I go to a class where there's finishing, I get stressed out and feel like I have to keep up with the teacher and work quickly and and and....   you get the picture.  Well, with Betsy, it was easy -- or at least a lot easier -- to keep up with her than with other teachers.  Her instructions were wonderful, both spoken and written.  By the end of the first day, both Kathy and I had finished our pre-stitched pieces into little thimble holders -- a finished product!  We were both thrilled!

Isn't it cute?  And it's a little thing, just the perfect size to hold a thimble!  All of the smalls that go in the chest are supposed to be toys.  This is a ball and cup -- although there's no ball in reality.

The second day was going over instructions, doing some practice doodling; making a sampler Jacob's Ladder from skirtex, paper and tape; and making the little drumsticks that go on the waxer holder/drum.  And at the end of the day, Betsy showed us how she makes cording and tassels.  I'm so glad she did.  I've made cording before, but her method is sooooo much better!   And I've never made tassels, but now I feel like maybe I can do it!

All I can say is, if you have a chance to take a class from Betsy Morgan, go for it.  She's a great teacher, very laid back and relaxed, and is so clever with her finishing methods too!  And her class pieces are gorgeous!  Well worth it!  Thanks for a wonderful class, Betsy!  And thanks to Diane and the ladies who sponsored it!

Current plan is to get back to Jane and finish her up, throw in some rows of crochet on the bag once in a while, maybe a bit of quilting?  Maybe.  And once Jane is done, hopefully tackle the Toy Chest Etui!  I hope!  We'll see what happens.  lol!

In other news, just one more exam for the boy child to go, tomorrow.  Then he will be done for the year.  He's already gone into summer mode, which isn't a good thing.  Too bad this exam wasn't closer to the rest of the exams.  But today will be his last day of study, tomorrow he'll take the exam, and finis!   The girl child is busy with her friends and boyfriend and her internship.  Which is a good thing!

Thanks again for stopping by and saying hi!  I love to read your comments and visit with you all.  Have a great week!

Poor Jane.....

Poor Jane.  Summer has started -- at least sort of started.  Enough to make the hours dedicated to fun stuff much more limited.  So poor Jane has suffered.  She has progressed, but not as much as in the past.  Ah well.

At least now I know where her bottom limits are and how big she will be when finished. 

Oh, and something you should know if you're planning to stitch Jane.  You will definitely need more than one skein of more than just one color.  Only one color is listed as needing two skeins.  I would say it's much more like 4 or more.  When I finish Jane, I will post which colors I went into for a 2nd skein. 

Since I didn't know I would need more than one skein, I'm going to have dye lot issues with two colors.  One isn't that much of a difference, just slight.   But the other color!  Whoa Nelly!  Huge difference!  Luckily no one but me will know that certain leaves and stems were supposed to be the same color but aren't.

Another reason why poor Jane didn't get as much attention as usual.  I've caught the Attic 24 crochet bug.   I'd been wanting to try my hand at crochet anyway.  But when I saw Lucy's blog, well, I was bowled over to say the least.  So this past weekend, I ventured out to a yarn store that I hadn't known existed, bought a few balls of yarn, plopped myself in front of Youtube, and taught myself to crochet.  By the end of the weekend, I had the beginnings of my Lucy bag to show for it.

Please keep in mind that I've never crocheted before, and then just ignore the flaws.  :D   I'm hoping to make this bag, and then move on to the big goal of learning to make granny squares so I can make beautiful throws and pillows like Lucy has on her blog.

Poor Jane will also have to suffer this week because I need to do some pre-stitching for a class I'm taking this coming weekend.  I'm hoping my friend Kathy (no blog) is right and that it will be a quick stitch since I haven't even started yet!

Becky surprised me by gifting me one of her wonderful pin pillows!  Just out of the blue, for no reason!  I was so thrilled to receive her Hoppity pin pillow.

It is just so amazing!  So perfect in every way!  Becky, thank you soooo much!  I am just so touched by your thoughtfulness and generosity!  I will treasure this forever!

In other news, the boy child just has 4 final exams left and then he will be done with school for the year.  He only goes into school for the exam, so he went in earlier today for his first final and he's home already.  He'll have one a day each day this week except Friday, and then the last exam is next Tuesday.  I know he's looking forward to the end of school.  The girl child is into her second full week of her internship.  Seems like she's enjoying it, which is great!

Thanks to all of you for stopping by and saying hi.  I love hearing from you and visiting with you all!  Hope you have a great week!

Sorry, Jane.....

Jane, I couldn't take those white faces.  In fact, I couldn't take a lot of how you stitched Adam and Eve, but I felt the only thing I could really change was the face color.  I would have liked to get rid of the backstitching, but you foiled me, Jane.  You stitched Adam's arms with backstitch.  So I went ahead and followed your lead and did the backstitch.  I hate backstitching.  Not backstitching itself, but the look of it.  Sigh.  Oh well.  So Jane, I hope you don't mind.  But here is my version of your Adam and Eve.

I think they look at least a bit more normal with faces that match their body skin tones. 

But I tell you.  I find Adam and Eve to be so disappointing next to the rest of the design.  What happened, Jane?  I mean, primitive is good.  But this??   Ah well.  I will try to ignore the poor twosome -- they're going to be kicked out of Paradise soon anyway.

I still have part of the right border to go, plus all of the flowers on the bottom border.  PLUS the verse, which is ongoing, as you can see.  So no end in sight yet.  Plus which it's summer -- or at least it's half summer (boy child is still in school, girl child isn't).  Which means less stitching time.  Sigh.....

I got a lovely prize from Barbara of Mainely Stitching the other day.   Just for answering a question on her blog!

It's all kitted up too!  I was so happy to get this in the mail!  Thank you so much, Barbara!  You're a sweetie!  You all should check out Barbara's blog -- she's been designing some wonderful pieces that are being featured in the Gift of Stitching Magazine.  I love them all so far!

In other news, the girl child started her internship at a NYC publisher last week, and she's off to work today as well.  All I can say is -- there's no way I'd want to do that commute every day!  Drive to the station (that's my part), take train to city, subway to work, then reverse the whole thing for the ride home (father type does picking up).  Bleagh! 

The weather was typically summerish last week, hot and humid.  But some storms blew through Sunday and brought in some lovely, cool weather with no humidity.  Ah!  So refreshing!  I wish it would stay this way!

Did anybody watch the French Open?  All psyched for Wimbledon?  Wimbledon is my favorite slam of the year.  And we finally took the plunge and got the Tennis Channel on TV, so I'll be able to watch the Queens Club tournament before that!  Cool stuff!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I always love to read your comments and visit with you.  Have a great week!

Jane continued

Jane is definitely a long term project.  But I'm so loving her! 

I'm falling behind on the lines of over one verse, but at least I did get one done this week.  And I love the little animals!

I do wonder what that last critter is.  I would say it was a capybara, but I doubt if Jane lived anywhere where she would know what a capybara was.  Also, I don't think capybaras have a tail like that.  lol!  A beaver maybe?  :D

In other news, the kids have been busy with friends.  I think the girl child has been home for dinner maybe once all week.  The boy child went on his annual Memorial Day trip with his school orchestra this past weekend.  I think he had a good time. 

Been watching the French Open.  Pretty exciting and interesting this year.  I do think Rafa will win.  It seems inevitable. 

Thanks again for stopping by and saying hi.  It's so much fun to read your comments and visit with you!  Have a great week!

The gang's all here.....

Before I get to the title of this post, here is my progress on Jane Atkinson.  I finished all those darned leaves!  Yay!  Been neglecting the over one as a result, but hopefully I'll get back to it now.

She's so lovely, Jane is.

In other news, we picked the girl child up from college on Saturday.  Forgot the camera, so no pictures.  But she's home!  Yay!  And not only that, but while we were down there, I managed to get the boy child to shop for the new shoes and summer hat he desperately needed.  And, the boys both got badly needed haircuts!  Remember how long the boy child's hair was in this picture from a few weeks ago?

Well now look at him!  And the length was his choice too!

Pretty amazing difference, huh?  I personally like it somewhere in between the two lengths, but this is good.  Knowing the boy child, he won't get another hair cut till school starts again.  lol!  Or maybe even after that!

Had to put that one in even though it's blurry.  It's hard to catch him smiling!

The two kids have been out with their friends a lot since getting home.  All the college kids are home now, so it's party time!  :D   This time of year is hard on the boy child -- the big kids are all done and home, but he still has school.  It would make it easier if all schools agreed on when to let out!  The boy child's classes don't end till June 11, and then there are 2 weeks of finals. 

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I so enjoy reading your comments and visiting your blogs.  It's a great blogging world!  Enjoy the week!

See Jane's leaves

I decided after a few more flowers to tackle the huge mass of leaves on the tree in the middle of Jane.  I think I was dreading the leaves almost as much as the over one verse.  Huge masses of leaves are not my thing, either with cross stitch or with applique.  But I'm happy to say that the leaves aren't going to defeat me.  I'm currently on the second color of green in the leaves, so I'm getting there!  And I got that evil serpent outlined too.

Jane Atkinson by the Scarlet Letter

40ct Sugared Coffee from Sassy's Fabrics

Au Ver Soie Silks as called for in chart

I will be happy to get the leaves all done.  Once I'm through with them, I can get back to regularly scheduled stitching -- ie flowers, alternating with a line of over one verse.  And other matters too of course.  Like Adam and Eve. 

 

In other news, the boy child was off for part of the weekend on a trip upstate with his good friend and the friend's dad.  They were supposedly inspecting some fields on his friend's family farm up north for possible paintball scenario games in the future, but I think they also just had fun.  The highlight of the trip for the boy child was probably the "quad four" that he got to ride.  

No surprises -- he would love to have one now that he knows how to drive one.  lol!  Thank goodness there isn't anywhere around here that would be good for driving it.  Whoops, I hope the boy child doesn't see that comment.  :D  (Note the vintage Korean War helmet the boy child is sporting.  He got it at a local store.)

I think the boy child didn't get much sleep during all the fun.  Why do I say that?  Well, this picture says it all.

He spent a large part of Sunday sleeping.  lol!  I think he had a great time though.  And he got to experience the country life for a change.  He was amazed at how little traffic there was in that area of the world.  :D  

Thanks again for stopping by and saying hi.  It's always fun to visit with you all.  Hope you have a great week!

Flowers, both stitched and real

Jane Atkinson is coming along.  I'm even doing well on my promise to myself to stitch a line of verse every week. 

In the next picture, the right hand leaf is a problem.  I stitched it in the color marked on the chart, but when I looked at the picture on the cover, I saw the fill in color is actually a light green.  I have yet to decide whether to frog it out and redo it or not.  Sigh.

I got distracted by the ant and the little critter on the right side.   Don't you love them?  I ended up stitching away on the right side because of the cuteness, and then continued on until I decided I'd better catch up on the left side.  Jane was nice to me -- the two sides, although similar, aren't exact copies of each other.  Yay! 

In other news, my father type gave me some wonderful presents for Mother's Day.  He vacuumed and mopped the house for me!  Yay!  And he also gave me some flowers.

If you're wondering about the plastic, it's because there was a freeze warning last night, and there will be another tonight.  Poor father type.  Anyway, these spaces on our front porch are usually empty and nonplanted -- neither the father type nor I are gardener types.  Last year, the areas ended up with long grass in them -- not exactly attractive!  Well, I asked the father type if he could get rid of whatever weeds or grass might be growing in them this year, and he did this!  He told me to come out to the porch to see his handywork, and there were the petunias.  Unbeknownst to him, petunias remind me of my mother, who used to plant petunias on our front porch when I was small.  So it was a nice way to remember my mother.  (It's been almost 30 years since she passed away.)  There's also a hanging basket with what we think are also petunias, but I neglected to take a picture of it.  Hopefully the flowers will survive the cold tonight.

I hope everyone who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a good one.  Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.  I always enjoy reading your comments.  Have a great week!

Blooms and music

Miss Jane is going well.  Except for a few cases of the frogs, which was quite annoying.  I'm trying not to look at how huge this project is!  lol!

Jane Atkinson by the Scarlet Letter

40ct Sugared Coffee by Sassy's Fabrics

AVAS silks

The over one letters are going to be a killer as usual.  I'm hoping to break them up with all the other stitching I have to do.  Hopefully I won't leave them until last like I did with Sarah Woodham!

 

In other news, various of you have been asking if the boy child's 99 NYSSMA score means he'll be going to All State.  Believe it or not, it doesn't guarantee that at all.  Since he has a 99, he will be in consideration for All State automatically, and he should be in Area All State for sure (I think).  But All State is really tough to get into.  For some instruments, even a straight 100 or perfect score doesn't guarantee that you will be in All State.  It will depend on how all the other bassists in the state fared.  We shall see.  The boy child's bass teacher said in all his years of teaching students, he's only had one go to All State.  And he's a good teacher.  But no matter what, I'm so proud of the boy child and his 99 score.  Just one point from a perfect score!

Yesterday was the boy child's non school orchestra concert.  He belongs to this orchestra which pulls talent from the county -- it's impressive when you hear the youth orchestra play.  Every year the orchestra has its final concert somewhere in New York City.  In the past, the boy child has gotten to experience playing at Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall.  This year was the penultimate -- they got to play at Carnegie Hall.  How cool is that!  The boy child got to see the exhibits Carnegie has in their Rose Museum.  There he got to read about and see the program from the Beatles concert that took place in February, 1964 (the boy child is a Beatles fan like his mum, I'm happy to say).  And then of course, he got to play on the same stage that they played, in the original hall, Isaac Stern Hall.  And my gosh, what an experience!  Even the boy child admitted that the acoustics were extraordinary, and that it was a really wonderful experience for him.  And it was a wonderful concert!  It's funny, I had no clue what Carnegie Hall looked like -- it's very different from what I'd pictured!  lol!  But the acoustics!  And when the orchestra played, you could feel the music vibrating in the floor beneath your feet!  Fantastic!!  I was in heaven, and so was the boy child, for once.  Despite it being classical music.  :D  

Before the concert, the father type and I had lots of time to wander in NYC, so we decided to go to the American Folk Art Museum.  I'm so glad we did!  They had an exhibit there called Women Only: Folk Art by Female Hands.  It was a small exhibit (it's a small museum), but oh so spectacular!  I think this was my first time viewing antique samplers, and they were amazing!  There were 2 or 3 Rhode Island style samplers, and various other samplers as well, including a mourning sampler where the embroidery was so fine it was hard to tell it was stitched as opposed to painted!  And there were quilts as well, plus a hooked rug and various other wonderful pieces.  Not everything was needlework, of course.  Just a lovely variety of items done by the hands of women.  Wonderful!  And of course, the museum itself was wonderful too.  I was in heaven there as well.  

We had to wait for the boy child after the Carnegie Hall concert at the back stage entrance.  No cameras were allowed inside, so these are the only pictures we have.  It was the boy child's first bow tie concert.  Very formal!

I think he was ready to go home!  lol!  It was hot outside, but luckily nicely air conditioned in the hall.  All in all, a wonderful day.  And now orchestra is over for another year.  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.  It's lovely being a part of the blogging community.  Have a great week!

The Lovely Jane

Remember how with the lovely Freelove I was dreaming every minute about what to stitch next?  Well, that doesn't happen with every project I do.  Take the lovely Jane for example.  Jane is a piece I luxuriate in.  Ah, the lusciousness of the colors!  The anticipation of seeing what this or that flower looks like in real life.  I love Jane!  Look at this flower, for example.  (Colors are a bit washed out unfortunately.)

Oh my, such gorgeous delectability!  Or this grouping.

To die for!  I love tulips!  And this flower seems tailor made for my mother's love of carnations.  (It might not be a carnation, but it sorta looks like one, right?)

And taken all together, Jane just takes my breath away.

Jane Atkinson by the Scarlet Letter

40ct Sugared Coffee by Sassy's Fabrics

AVAS silks

How can anyone resist that!  Can you tell I'm enjoying the lovely Jane?  She is going to take a long time to stitch, but I don't think I'll be complaining or dreaming about other projects anytime soon.

In other news, I was not a happy camper when the boy child came home Friday saying there had been no orchestra that day at school because of a school assembly.  What?!  Argh!!!  I just knew that he would have gotten his NYSSMA scores if he had had orchestra!  And I was right -- when the boy child had his lessons Saturday, his teacher said everyone else had gotten their scores.   Sigh.  I'm counting on the boy child coming home with NYSSMA scores in hand today.  I'd love to text him right now and ask him what he got, but I don't want to get him in trouble -- they're not supposed to use their cell phones in school.  Ah well.  Come 2:30, I'll be either very happy or not so much so.  lol!   

Thanks  for stopping by and saying hi.  I always enjoy reading your comments!

Anticipation

Have you ever gotten to the point where you are stitching a piece and dreaming about what to stitch next?  Have you gotten down to the last stitches and started auditioning the next piece to stitch as you are putting those last stitches in?  Poor Freelove was an experience like that for me.  As I was stitching the last leafy motif in the bottom right hand corner, I started putting pics up on my computer of each Scarlet Letter piece I was thinking of stitching.  As each was considered for a while, I was feeling that anticipation of starting a new project.  But none of the pieces was totally grabbing me, and I felt I needed that kind of enthusiasm to get me going.  Finally I thought of -- 

But hey, I'm getting ahead of myself here.  I did get those last stitches put into Freelove Hazard.  Here she is.

Freelove Hazard by the Scarlet Letter

45ct Vintage Examplar

AVAS fibers

I must mention that the blue I used wasn't the blue called for on the chart.  It was the blue that was sent to me so I used it.  I must say I like the brightness of it.  I also used a different red for the border around Freelove's age.  I used a brighter red since that was what was used in the picture and I liked that bright red.  Not sure why the bright red wasn't charted.

 

Ok, now back to the story at hand.  As I was putting those last stitches into Freelove, I thought about the fact that I really wanted to stitch more A&E samplers.  And I also decided that even though huge samplers always take such a long time to stitch, I have so many huge samplers I really really want to stitch.  So I started thinking about huge A&E samplers.  And came up with this.

Ah yes!  The lovely Jane Atkinson, from the Scarlet Letter.  Sigh.  I'd forgotten exactly what the border looked like, and looking at it anew, I realized it really didn't look that terrible to stitch.  :D   And I started drooling all over the gorgeous reds in the piece.  So last stitches taken in Freelove, I immediately jumped up with great enthusiasm and pulled Jane from my stash.  I didn't even mind having to audition fabrics for her (which I usually hate).   I was happily stitching away on Jane by the evening.

Jane Atkinson by the Scarlett Letter

40ct Sugared Coffee by Sassy's Fabrics

AVAS fibers

Not much done, but I'm a happy camper!  I think I needed some enthusiasm for what I was stitching.  I'm hoping the enthusiasm stays!

In the past few weeks, I've won a few prizes from other lovely blogging ladies.  One hasn't arrived yet, but the other two are shown here.  First, from Barbara of Mainely Stitching, I won this chart.

 

I love Mary Garry, so I was thrilled to win!  Thanks, Barbara!

Next, I won the quilt prize from Jackie's blog, Jackie's Stitches.  

As you can see, I won a charm pack of the Blessings line from Brannock and Patek -- which I love!   And also a lovely pattern for using charms, which is perfect!  Thank you, Jackie!

Finally, Sherry of Blog It is having a chart giveaway, so go on over and visit her blog.

In other news, the dreaded NYSSMA audition is over and done with.   Found the audition location with no problems and the boy child had plenty of time to warm up and get all psyched for the big audition.  We think the audition went well.  The boy child's piece sounded wonderful and his pianist was great.  There may have been a stumble or two in the scales and the sight reading, but hopefully not majorly so.  And the nice thing -- for once, the adjudicator was friendly, happy, and seemed to be enjoying the whole process.  I'm hoping that means he's not one of those tough judges.  lol!   

Of course, the best part of NYSSMA being done for the boy child is ----   no practicing for a whole week!!  :D   He didn't have lessons this past weekend because of a mock AP exam, so nothing to practice!  He deserves the rest, that's for sure!  And truth to tell, after NYSSMA is over, his teacher usually goes easy on him for a few weeks anyway.  Yay!   We should get the scores back from his audition in a week or two.  From that we might be able to guess whether he made All State or Area All State or nothing at all.  We won't know for sure until the fall -- which is when the actual announcements are made.  Fingers crossed!  

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope you have a great week!