Yay for Jane!

Jane Tindall is all finished!  Yay!

Jane Tindall by Needlework Press

40ct Confederate Gray linen by Weeks Dye Works

AVAS and Gloriana Florimell fibers as called for

Isn't she pretty?

Please take note if you're planning to stitch Jane.  You will definitely need 2 skeins of AVAS 3734 to finish all that grass.  

I love her though!  

The other day, the boy child settled down on my bed and promptly fell asleep.  (This happens a lot since the boy child insists on keeping teenage hours despite having to get up for school at 6am.)   Mia decided to settle down on his legs -- one of her favorite places to sleep.  She was grooming herself in preparation for a nice snooze, and then....   Well, I guess she wasn't quite finished before she dropped off.

So cute!!

The girl child is home for a few days.  She's done with all of her finals and it's finally between semesters.  Hopefully she can relax a bit before the next semester starts.  She has something to do back at college though, so it won't be a full week of being able to feed her and spoil her.  Ah well.

So who's sick of snow?  lol!  I'm hoping for no big snow storms this week.  Knock on wood!  It's exam week at the high school so even more reason to hope.  Now who is watching the Australian Open?  It's good so far, no?  As for the football -- sorry, no football watchers in this house.  I hope whichever team you're rooting for wins the Super Bowl.  :D  I'll probably be watching the Jane Austen BBC marathon on PBS instead.  lol!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I love reading your comments and catching up with you all.  Here's to cold cold temps instead of snow and ice.  I'll go for that any day!   

Quick post

It's a rushy rushy sort of day.  Snow and ice (ICE!!) expected tomorrow so a quick grocery trip has already been done.  MLK day so no school today.  Mia has already managed to knock my stitching and my water bottle on the ground -- thank goodness the water that spread all over the floor didn't get to my stitching! 

Anyway, been crazily working on Jane.  Here she is.  Just one more color of green to fill in on the grass (lots of it too!) and I'm done!

I love all the animals!  Don't you?

Whoops!  I guess that's a person.  lol!

That red cow is my favorite! 

I've really been enjoying all the crazy 15 challenge projects.  I don't know how all of you who are participating do it.  I'd go mad!   lol!  And of course Nashville market is coming up.  I know I'm going to be in trouble -- and I need to be good too!  I guess if I manage to be good, I'll just have a very very long wish list.  Sigh.

Australian Open started last night.  Yay!!!  It was good to see the fund raising event for the terrible floods in Queensland the tennis players participated in. 

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Sorry to run but it's that sort of day!  Have a great week, everyone!  Let's hope for no more snow and ice!  lol!

back to routine

Well things have gotten back to normal around here.  Just the addition of having to worry about snow every few days.  Grumble grumble.

Frances Eden got a lot of attention this past week.  Here she is.

 

Her colors are so funky and fun.  I'm really loving her.  And that weird bunny with the huge feet -- pretty far out!

By Saturday, I was feeling sorry for Jane Tindall, so I worked on her over the weekend.  This is what I got done on her.

She's a pretty one for sure!

I received a lovely present in the mail from a blogging friend, Marilyn.   We were worried for a while because the package took a long time to come all the way from France.  But it finally arrived and what a treat was inside!

Such a sweet ornament!  And a little Santa too!  Thank you so much, Marilyn!  Thank you for your friendship as well!

Last post, I neglected to post any pictures of Mia.  So for her fans out there, here she is playing with some packaging that came the other day.  She's getting big!

Here she is in a typical pose with the boy child.

Another typical pose.

Oh, and in case you're wondering why the boy child has a Kansas State sweatshirt, it's because my father is a professor there.  Purple pride!  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi!  Here's hoping no one has really bad weather to deal with.  I have a feeling that isn't happening.  Ah well!  Be careful out there, everyone!  Have a great week!

Last of 2010, new and old starts, and some jazz

Stitchy news first.  I promised to show you my progress on Jane Tindall, so here she is. 

She's a pretty one!  I'm using the recommended WDW 40ct Confederate Gray, AVAS and Gloriana Filomel fibers.

And then on a total whim thanks to Katrina and Laurie, I started Frances Eden for a New Year's start.

I'm using 40ct Vintage Examplar and DMC threads.  The colors are so fun -- I'm loving it!  Here's a pic of what Frances Eden looks like.

The piece is by Handwork Samplers.  And yes, it's another Adam and Eve sampler.  Of course!

I've also won a couple more prizes recently.  From Melanie at Moonraker Lampwerks, I won a couple of ornaments.

Aren't they cute?  I did have them on my Christmas tree, but stupidly didn't take a pic of them there before the tree came down.  Thank you so much, Melanie!  I love them!  (Melanie makes the cutest blown glass beads too.  I have a set and I love it!)

 And from Carmen Sutton of Cardan Antiques and Needlework, I won this adorable Santa clip.  Carmen also included some walnut dye so I could dye things myself, and some wonderful smelling lovelies to make things smell so good!  Thanks so much, Carmen!  I love my prize!

I decided to join the Totally Useless SAL this year, better known as the TUSAL.  I always collect my orts anyway, and save the year's orts in a box somewhere every year.  Here's my ort jar, all ready for 2011.  It already has a few orts in it as you can see.

Please note -- I'm one of those stitchers who use the thread down to the last possible millimeter.  So don't expect long pieces of thread in my ort jar.  lol!

Finally, yes, the father type made it home on Thursday.  It's so nice to have him home!  The FIL is doing nicely and we're all very happy about that! 

The girl child had to head back to college yesterday evening.  Here she is just about ready to head out to the train.

(I know I will get asked, so.....   The quilt hanging on the wall is the baby quilt my quilt group buddies from years back made for me when I was pregnant with the girl child.  The quilt hanging on the foot of the girl child's bed is a quilt I won from a raffle from the Attic's annual breast cancer auction and fund raiser.  I don't remember which year it was I won, but I was amazed when I won!)

Finally, one of the events that the father type missed while he was helping FIL cope with everything was the boy child's school concert.  Normally this isn't a big miss.  But this year's concert was the boy child's first time playing bass for the school's jazz ensemble.  I had to tape at least a part of the concert just so the father type could hear his son.  Unfortunately the memory chip was full so I only got little bits of the concert.  Now I know some of you have asked to hear the boy child play.  Soooooo, here's a little clip of the high school jazz ensemble.  (It's hard to tell how good they are from the video.  They're really good!  It's always so enjoyable to hear them, even if your son isn't a member.)

The song is "In the Stone" by Earth, Wind and Fire.  Sorry it's only a little bit of the piece.  I wish I could have gotten the whole thing.  I hope you like it!

We first saw the high school jazz ensemble (an extra curricular, audition-to-get-in group) way back when the girl child was a freshman.  I guess the boy child must have been in 5th grade?  From the first time the boy child saw them play, he wanted to be in the ensemble.  And now he's met his goal.  :D  We're so proud of him!

Back to the ole routine this week.  The boy child went back to school this morning and has orchestra tonight as usual.  The father type is working as I type -- albeit from home, which is nice.  The girl child was probably up all night finishing an assignment that was due today from what I hear.  She has class during the prep time for exams, then  finals coming up too.  (Which is why she's back at college already.)  Poor kid.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi!  Sorry for such a long post this time.  I guess 2010 didn't want to say goodbye.  lol!  I always enjoy visiting with you all!  Have a great week!

Next?

Yes, I finished Guarding Eden.  I love it too!

Guarding Eden by Examplars from the Heart

40ct Mello from Picture This Plus

called for GAST fibers

I'm happy with how it came out!  

I did start something new as well.  Here it is.  Can't tell much yet.  Do you know what it is?

 

It's Jane Tindall!  I'm using the called for 40ct Confederate Gray fabric from Weeks Dye Works and the called for AVAS and Gloriana Florimell.  I like the Florimell better than the regular Gloriana.  This is a fun stitch so far.  Except for the one stitch off when I got the border to meet at the end when I had to rip a bit.  But the green of the border meets and I'm happy!

Mia is all recovered from her surgery.  It was a gradual process, but by the end of the week, she was back to her usual bouncy, lovely self.  I just hope she doesn't go back to climbing the curtains!  lol!

Mia likes to help with the groceries by checking out what's in the bags when I get home.  She also likes to go in the bags (I use reusable bags) when they're empty -- or not empty.  Here she is helping with the groceries.

Mia also manages to get all her toys stuck under one of my stitching stash drawers.  We always have to retrieve them for her and then she is happy.  After one of these toy recoveries, the boy child decided to put all Mia's toys around her while she slept.

Can you tell she loves balls?  lol!  She has other toys as well, but these are the ones that got lost.  

In other news, the girl child got home last night.  Yay!  We all trooped out to pick her up at the train station, then we were off to her favorite Italian restaurant.  It's a bit dark, but here are the kids at the restaurant.

Aren't they cute?  :D   

I wish everyone a very happy, wonderful Christmas.  Belated happy Hanukkah too!  Thanks for stopping by and saying hi!