The fun part

I got over the tedious brickwork on Sarah Elizabeth Brooke.  I'm in the midst of the fun part now.  Yay!

I just love all the motifs on the sides of the house.

I'm still working on the ones on the right side of the house.  Then comes the other stuff -- like the over one words.  Ugh.

I also managed to work a bit on And They Sinned on Sunday.  I'm hoping to manage Sundays on ATS, but I won't show a pic till it's worthwhile.

The drain work is mostly done.  The jack hammering part was just on one day, thankfully.  And they were done with the inside work by the end of the second day.  They are coming back to do the outside piping on an unspecified day, plus they have to install backup batteries for the system.  The electrician is coming tomorrow.  The workers also managed to damage a pipe -- luckily the drain company will pay for the work to fix it.

The basement is a mess -- nothing can be moved back into place against the walls until the cement over the new drains is dry.  It's interesting trying to do the laundry with the washer and dryer in the middle of the room packed in tightly among the other furniture.  I'm hoping we can move things back soon.  I'm also hoping we can manage to do it ourselves!

The boy child had his first audition for a college music program this past weekend.  3 more to go!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate for all of them -- none are close by.  Here is a pic of the boy child warming up for his audition.  He looks so refined, doesn't he?

The boy child also had his winter concert for his non-school orchestra.  It's always so nice to hear some beautiful music from a live orchestra.  Here are a couple of pics.

He is first chair of the bass section, so you can see him on the right there.

Mia has decided it's way too cold for her taste.  When the boy child leaves his winter coat at home, she dives in.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  For those who have Martin Luther King Day off, enjoy the 3 day weekend!  Have a great week, everyone!

Please pardon the brickwork.....

There's a problem with posting every Monday.  Sometimes you end up with a boring post.  I'm afraid this is one of those times.

Yes, I'm afraid And They Sinned got put away for now -- once again I got daunted by the part I was working on and decided not to work on it.  Poor thing.  I know I will get back to it though.

So instead, I pulled out poor Sarah Elizabeth Brooke (The Scarlett House).  Finished all that darned grass.  And now I'm in the throes of lots of brickwork.  Sigh.

I need a good audiobook to keep me going.

My red floss for the bricks doesn't seem to have as much variegation as Tanya's did.  But that's ok.  Oh, and btw, if you go to that link, you will see a small correction to the chart for Sarah.

I hope Tanya doesn't mind.  I really want to show how pretty this piece is.  This is from Tanya's (The Scarlett House) blog.

I will get there someday!

Come the middle of the week, we will be cold and full of awful jackhammering noises in the house.  Yes, we are putting a French drain system in the basement.  Which means jackhammering, possible dust -- but hopefully the dust will stay down in the basement -- and cold (since we can't use the heat while the jackhammering is going on).  I'm so not looking forward to the work, or the expense.  But I am definitely looking forward to no more basement flooding.  Wish us luck!

Here is a pic of Mia.  She has definitely discovered the advantages of down coats.  :D

This time, she went for the boy child's coat.  (Kim, recognize the quilt?  Yes, it's the one I got from you!)

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi!  I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

First post of 2012

I did have one last finish in 2011.  My Quaker Stocking.

Quaker Stocking by CHS

40ct Meadow Rue

NPI fibers plus one rogue green AVAS

I'm glad to have it done.  I'm rather Quaker-ed out stitching wise.

I picked up my And They Sinned after being inspired by Nicola of Stitching by a Cornish Sea.   I was horrified to discover that I was still in the midst of that darned cloud.  lol!  But I managed to finish it, plus the motifs in the cloud as well.

I've decided though, that it's going to take a bit of effort for me to get through the next part of the piece above the tree.  Too busy for me!  lol!  My favorite parts of this piece are farther down.

Our New Years Day always means that it's time to make Chinese dumplings from scratch.  It's a New Year's tradition that goes way back to when I was a little girl.  It's a lot of work, making the skins from scratch, the meat mixture from scratch, and then sitting down to make the dumplings!  But it's also a lot of fun and a great time for the family to sit and talk while our hands are busy making something yummy for our tummies.  :D   

This is the end result.

Yum!!!

So I'm revealing a secret today.  All those pics of the boy child and Mia sleeping together you've seen over the many posts I've made have been on my bed, not his.  Want to see his bed?  You will see why I tend not to take pics of his bed.  lol!

See how well he makes up his bed?  lol!  And yes, he keeps various items on his bed too.  That thing in the foreground is a guitar/bass guitar holder, in case you're wondering.  Mia has been enjoying these lazy Christmas break days with her boy child sleeping in.  :D

I didn't take a single stitch yesterday on New Year's Day.  I hope that's not a bad sign for 2012!  I was thinking about starting a new piece for the day, especially since I plan to take part in BeckySC's 2012 BAP challenge.  But I decided I really need to at least try to finish Sarah Elizabeth Brooke before starting another BAP.  So the challenge will have to wait for now.

One final little thing.  Rose Bowl Parade not on New Year's Day??  Ugh!  And what's with this horrid opening ceremony thing, all commercial and singing and disgusting?  What happened to the plain, simple parade as it was in the old days?  Bleagh!  Ok, I'll settle for a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with these singing, dancing type pieces.  But please don't make my Rose Bowl Parade like that!  Thank goodness they've started limiting that stuff just to the opening.  Sorry.  I've just been watching the parade since I was little and I miss how it used to be.  (And I was quite surprised to find that I had to wait till today to watch it!)  I even got to go to the parade once for real when I was in elementary school or junior high.  It was fun!  In case you're wondering, they don't do the Rose Bowl on Sundays.  Scares the horses.  :D

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  It's so wonderful to be able to chat with my blogging friends!  I will leave you with another pic of the boy child and Mia.  Mia was cuddling inside the torn bag, before I took this picture.

Have a great week!  And here's wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012 with lots of stitching!

Year in review 2011, another stocking, and a gift

It seems weird to think 2011 is almost over and that the next time I will post to this blog will be in 2012.  Of course that means I have to show what I've stitched this year.  If you squint hard, you'll probably be able to see all the pieces in this pic.  My sidebar has a list of them if you want to know names.  (I've not shown all of SDW, but just two different parts of it.)

It's been a fun year of stitching!  Now I just need more funds for framing.  lol!

After finishing my Noah stocking, I realized I have 3 stockings all ready and waiting to be finished.  But wait, there are 4 members in my family!  So of course I had to start a last CHS stocking.  The only one I had kitted up was the Quaker Stocking, so that's the one I started.

I'm using 40ct Meadow Rue (one of the last pieces I had from the old days when the color was nice) along with the called for NPI.  I did throw in a bit of green though.  Couldn't resist.

 It's obviously not done yet.  I love Quakers, but I've gotten rather sick of stitching them.  So this one is a bit of a struggle to get through.  I did want to stitch a Quaker stocking though.  The father type and I used to attend Quaker meeting once upon a time.  And the girl child attended a Quaker summer camp as well.  Somehow Quakers have been a part of our lives, and having a stocking to commemorate that is rather nice.

I got another wonderful surprise in the mail the other day from Faye of Carolina Stitcher.  I was so surprised and touched!

It's a wallet Faye made herself.  Look at the gorgeous fabric!  And I love the button and the pretty zip pull charm!  Thank you so much, Faye!  I will use and treasure this!

Our little Mia does love to get into things.  She fell in love with some packing material from a box and just had to play hide and seek in it.  Can you see her?

I think she felt nice and safe inside all that stuff.  lol!  She's been a bit on the grumpy side since the girl child got home.  I do wish she would accept the girl child and not be a little meanie.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a good one.  I know we did!

 I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012.  Enjoy the last days of 2011!

A final TUSAL, and some music

I'm doing a rare Saturday post to finish up the TUSAL for the year.  Here's a link to the 2012 TUSAL if you're interested.  Fun to do, and no stress either!

I thought I'd show my TUSAL in front of the Christmas tree.  :D

The boy child's school Christmas concert was on Wednesday.  When we got home, I tossed my coat on the ground so I could rush to use the facilities, so to speak.  Well, Mia seemed to fall in love with my coat as soon as it touched the ground.  Can you see where she is?

Here's another view.  She burrowed into the sleeve!

Silly baby!

I'm going to leave you with some music from the boy child's jazz ensemble group.  It's not Christmas music, but hopefully you won't mind.  I hope you enjoy!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, happy Hanukkah, or whatever you may celebrate.

I love Noah and Nicholas Mosse -- and mail!

The model stitching is done for now.  And so is Noah.

Noah's Stocking by CHS

40ct. Lentil

NPI

I know, I know, he's not finished into a stocking yet.  I have to think on that.  lol!

(Don't you like the sunrise on Noah?)

Love that ark!

And how cool is that alligator?  (Or crocodile.)

I also have been showered with prizes and gifts lately.  Christ of Tot Hill Farm Stitches gave me this lovely chart of Jane A. Jackson.  Thank you, Chris!  I love it!  (I took the chart out of the plastic to avoid the glare.)

RuthB of The Musing Badger sent me this wonderful prize of a cache of fibers. 

There are a slew of Gentle Arts fibers, a slew of Belle Soie silks, a couple of Waterlilies silks, a few Carrie's Creations, and a Needle Necessities.  All so pretty too!  Thank you, RuthB!

And BeckySC of Beckybee's Stitching Hive sent me this lovely gift out of the blue.  I was so surprised and touched.

It's a beautiful wooden box with Becky's lovely stitching on top.  Thank you so much, Becky!  You are so sweet!  I will treasure this forever!

A blogging friend asked me the other day to show off my Nicholas Mosse pottery collection.  Her sharp eyes spotted a few pieces on the table for our Thanksgiving feast, and she asked to see more. 

Well, I've been collecting Nicholas Mosse Pottery for years and years.  In fact, the pictures of my collection I'm going to show you are from quite a few years back.  I took them back when the boy child was in middle school and had braces.  (Yes, that's the boy child.  lol!)

Isn't he cute?  Oh yeah, and that's my pottery collection.  A bit much, huh?  I'm very good at collecting through the years.  lol!

I've added one or two more pieces since those pictures were taken.  But we'll ignore that fact.  lol!  I'm a devoted fan of Nicholas Mosse, in case you couldn't tell.  We always use my dishes for the holidays of the year.  The kids look forward to choosing which plate they will use.

Sorry for the long post.  I just had a backlog of things I've been meaning to post about so I thought I'd do it in one fell swoop.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week.  And many wishes to everyone for a Happy Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you might celebrate.  Enjoy all the festivities and celebrations!

Hi, Noah, and the Christmas tree continued

So the model supplies didn't arrive until Thursday.  (Sometimes I wonder about the USPS.)  But I didn't start 3 new projects.  Not even one new project.  lol!  Just stuck with Noah.  Here he is so far.

Don't you love his face and beard?  I keep thinking he's a young Santa.  lol!

I did get going on the models though.  And now I'm waiting for one more piece of fabric to arrive so I can stitch the last model.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy seeing where we get our Christmas tree, and our trek to get it home.

This is Abel's Tree Farm up north of us.  Such a nice, friendly, family-owned and operated place.  (No affiliation with the place, just a happy customer.)

This is the boys with the tree.

Cutting the tree down and lugging it to be baled.

They have very large balers, thank goodness!  And golf carts to lug your tree for you if you prefer.

They also have a big barn where you can grab some food or baked treats if you're hungry.  Which we were.  (The boy child wasn't happy about posing for this picture.  lol!)

Here are the boys at home cutting the very bottom off the tree in preparation for putting it in the tree stand.  (This is so the tree has a fresh base through which to absorb water.)  We have quite a collection of these tree stumps.  The girl child used to decorate each stump and put the date on it -- now the boy child does it.  They all sit on the mantel piece.

And you already saw the end result.

Little Mia got sick toward the end of the week.  We still aren't sure why, although I suspect perhaps she drank some of the tree water (which has tree preservative in it).  She seems to be feeling herself again and is hopefully all better.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week.