Maine!!!! Mia and stitching too.

Sorry I missed posting last week.  We were on vacation up in Maine.  Ah, Maine!  We've been going up for the last 11 years.  I can't believe it's been that long, but when I think that the boy child was 5 when we started, well, it makes sense!

Before we get to the Maine pictures, I thought I'd show you my Family Sampler progress.  This is what I accomplished before we left for vacation.  Mia is actually pretty good at letting me stitch this small piece -- as long as she's sleepy.  lol!

I'm filling in the background of the top portion before I tackle the bottom portion.  Once the fill in is done, you won't be able to see the threads that are carried across the back.  :D  It's on 40ct silk gauze over 1 with Belle Soie silks.

While on vacation, I took advantage of having no curious Mia around to start on Ann Pennsylvania Peacock, by Little by Little.  Here's my progress on that.

I'm stitching it on a mystery 36ct fabric using the called for GAST and DMC threads.

I just love the colors in this piece!

You want to see where I did my stitching while on vacation? 

Nice, huh?  We rented a beautiful little house in Boothbay Harbor that was right on the water, literally.  The views were spectacular.

That's the dock connected to the house.  The kids took advantage of the dock for swimming -- some of the grownups did as well.

And after swimming, one could take advantage of the hot tub by the house.  Luxury!

Here's the view of the house from the dock.

The picture was taken at low tide.  The water at high tide goes right up to the house. 

Anyway, we all had a great time.  We rented the house with my sister's family so their kids and our kids got to hang out.  And the girl child got some cooking lessons from her uncle.

Which was great for me -- usually I help the uncle with the cooking, but I got off this time!  :D  And the uncle is a great cook (that's pound cake in the picture there.)

While we were gone, my friend Kathy (no blog) and her son took care of Mia for us, coming over to the house to feed her and play with her.  When we got home, we were amazed at how much Mia had grown!  Her little kitten face even looks more catlike than before.  It's hard to tell from pictures how much she's grown, but I'll show you anyway.  Here she is right before we left, sleeping with the boy child.

And here she is in a picture taken just a few minutes before.  Yes, she's sleeping on my lap right now while I type this.

That's my laptop behind her, and my huge midriff in the foreground.  See how big she is now?

I'll leave you with one more idyllic picture taken from the house.

I miss it already!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I will be stopping by blogs and visiting on a regular basis now that I'm back!  Have a great week!  Don't forget to watch the US Open!!  Tennis -- yay!

A girl and her guys/gal

My girl child is turning twenty today.  How did that happen?  My first child isn't a teenager anymore.

But she still dances.

Which I'm happy about.

She's such an amazing, intelligent, caring, mature young lady.  Her guys and gal can attest to that.

Her guy.

Her pesky brother.

Ok, so since this picture's been taken, the boy child's hair has gotten shorter and the boy friend's hair has gotten longer.  But you get the idea.

And here is the girl child with her new gal.

How cute is that?

The girl child has fallen hard for Mia.  Of course.  She is a sucker for a cute face. :D

The only problem is that the boy friend doesn't like cats.  He's allergic to them.  And just doesn't like them.

So this

And this

don't mix.  But the girl child has enough love for both anyway.

Happy birthday, my bunny.  I love you.

The bosom of my family

Well, with the new kitten around, there hasn't been much time for much else but being with my family and taking care of Mia.  She's settling in nicely though, and growing like a weed.  Mia has been kind enough to take long enough naps while not on my lap that I've been able to start a small piece in hopes of getting her used to fabric and thread.  (No success so far with her napping ON my lap.  lol!)  It's called the Family Sampler.  Here is my progress so far.

It's tent stitch over one on 40ct silk gauze using Belle Soie silks.  I figured the small size would be an advantage with small Mia being interested and curious about what I'm doing. 

Here's a picture of what the piece will look like when finished.

I love the saying by Thomas Jefferson on it.  The whole background is filled in with basketweave stitch.  But it seems to go fast since it's not a whole cross.

I suppose I could show a greatest hits piece as well.  Let's see what's in the vault.

This piece is what first got me back into stitching and started my second stitching life.  It's Paradigm Lost by Long Dog Samplers.  When I stitched it, I didn't know anything about Vierlanden Samplers.  Now that I know about them,  I'd love to do a real Vierlanden someday, but I don't know if I have the patience anymore.  lol!  Monochromatic samplers aren't my cup of tea these days.  Paradigm Lost was stitched on 36ct Antique White with GAST Black Raspberry Jam (I think).  The frame was done by Primitive Traditions.

In other news -- well, there isn't much.  The girl child is finished with her internship for the summer, so it's lazy days right now.  Trying to fit in those last minute doctor appointments before the kids head back to school.  The boy child doesn't go back till September 2.  The girl child has classes starting on September 16.  So a while yet, but it's getting closer!  I'm hoping Mia will settle into a real routine by then.  Mia is over 9 weeks old now!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I really appreciate all your comments.  It might get boring around here stitchingwise, but I'll do my best to entertain you.  Oh, and btw, you might want to check in the comments on my last post.  Terri of Chocolates for Breakfast, Stitching for Lunch made up a poem for me!  I'm so honored!  I love it, Terri!  Thank you!

Have a great week, everyone!

Oh Mia my oh!

Sewing and stitching have come to a complete halt.  My poor clamshell quilt sits neglected exactly where I left it as of the last posting.

No stitching at all -- but for a very good reason.  As of Tuesday, July27, we have a new family member.  Meet Mia.

She's a little over 8 weeks old now.  We got her after a certain boy child fell in love with her while babysitting her for a friend.

See how small she is?   :D   Anyway, the boy child called me (this was the day before we welcomed her to our family) and asked in his boy child way (rather noncommittally but obviously totally smitten) if we could have a certain little kitten.  And so here she is.  She has definitely stolen everyone's hearts.

The boy child's heart.

The girl child's heart.

The father type's heart (although Mia was a bit doubtful about this loud, boisterous fellow at first).

And of course my heart.  (Please ignore the frowsy woman in the picture.)

But of course, having a kitten in the house is like having a baby in the house.  lol!  I am hoping to attempt some stitching soon.  But in the meantime, Samantha P and I have been spending lots of time with each other while a certain kitten sleeps on my lap.

Samantha P

Which reminds me.  "Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English" by Natasha Solomons.  Good read.  I promise.  It might start a bit slowly, but it's worth the read.

Now that I've bored you all with our new family member (who is currently sleeping on my lap and thankfully no longer helping with this blog post), let me see what greatest hit I can come up with for your entertainment.  Ah yes, I'd promised the other Merry Cox piece, hadn't I?

This piece is what prompted me to want to take classes with Merry Cox.  I just love this one so much!  I hope you don't mind a bunch of pictures.

But I do think it's so pretty!

In other news, the girl child is doing the last days of her internship this week.  It sure seems to have gone fast to me.  I think she's enjoyed it, but is tired of the commute -- altogether it takes her about 2 hours one way. 

Mia is keeping us busy day and (parts of the) night.  I was hoping she would grow out of the early risings and the periodic nighttime wakings, but the father type thinks that cats are a bit nocturnal and she'll keep on doing it.  Is this true?  I'd love to hear from you cat people out there.  She loves to sleep with someone (so far she's slept with 3 out of 4 of us), which is a problem since once she wakes up, she thinks the person she's sleeping with should wake up too.  lol!  She is such a sweetie though.  And very smart, IMO.   Can you tell I'm in love?

Well, thanks for stopping by and saying hi as always.  I will do my best to keep you entertained with my greatest hits while the stitchy stoppage continues.  Here's hoping Mia lets me stitch once in a while!

Ho hum.....

Not much to show this week.  I seem to be in a stitchy/sewy slump.  My clamshell quilt doesn't look very different from last time.  Just one more row of the pretty fabrics and one more row of the plain.

I have to admit, I think at least one culprit is my new toy.  I've been spending time reading books and watching things on my iPad.  Has anyone watched Desperate Romantics?  The first season is out finally in the US (it's a BBC series).  It was fun, all about the pre-Raphaelites and their wild lives.   I'm looking forward to the next season.  It's not for kids though!  A bit raunchy.  :D

This past week, I received a nice package in the mail.  I won a giveaway from Jan of Only One Ewe and Tree of Life Samplings!  I won one of her newest designs, The Sparrow, along with the fabric and fibers to stitch it. 

It's such a pretty design!  In fact, all of Jan's designs are pretty!  Thank you, Jan, I'm so thrilled to have won!

I've been trying to decide what to show for my greatest hits this week.  Let's see what I come up with.

Oh, this is a nice one!  Do you know what it is?

A few years ago, I took a couple of classes from Merry Cox down in NJ.  I finished both the pieces that I took too!  This is one of the pieces, A Beautiful Day in Williamsburg.  It is a beautiful tray that you can use to hold all your stitching materials.  It has pockets for some scissors and a ruler and a needlebook.  I of course personalized it with my own information.  I left Williamsburg up at the top though.  I love Williamsburg -- my mom loved it as well.  And I have fond memories of visiting Williamsburg when the kids were small -- the boy child spent the whole time climbing any steps he could find (he was in the cruising-right-before-walking stage of life).

Maybe next time I'll show off my other class project.  :D

In other news -- well, there's not much other news.  It's just full throttle summer mode around here.  The boy child is officially topsy turvy sleepwise.  I discovered him Sunday morning at 6am saying he couldn't sleep so he was taking a walk.  By 9am, he was crashing on my bed.  He slept till 4pm.  Ahem.  Hopefully he'll get un-topsied  today.  He has something to do in the middle of the day today.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  It always makes my day to read your comments and visit with you all.  Have a great week!

Quilty stitchy quilty stitchy ......

I seem to be stuck in a quilty world at the moment.  I did pick one stitchy thing up this week, but nothing seems to have come of that development.  In the meantime, here's my clammy progress.

It's actually getting to look more like a quilt now!  Quite exciting!  Of course, I have a long way to go, but I keep dreaming about having a real quilt, albeit not a bed size quilt, to show for it.  At least I don't think it will be bed size.  Probably bigger than lap quilt size though.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, I'm happy with how it's going.

Here is another greatest hits for you stitchy folks who couldn't care less about quilts.  I did 3 of the Carriage House Samplings Hawk Run Hollow series a while back.  I think it was before I started blogging, so here are my pictures.

This is my Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.  I used AVAS and some 40ct fabric or other.  The wonderful Jill Rensel did the framing.  Look at the mat detail!

Here is my Village of Hawk Run Hollow.  I used the recommended fibers and fabric.  Again, Jill did the framing.

And finally, my Shores of Hawk Run Hollow.  (Recommended fabric and fibers.)  With Jill's amazing artwork.

I love my Hawk Run Hollow pieces!

Lizzie from A House in the Country recently had a giveaway to celebrate her birthday, and I won!  And I received the package yesterday, which was my birthday!  Yay!   Here are all the wonderful goodies Lizzie sent.  I was so thrilled!

So much lovely stash!  A hexie package and some charm packs, pretty little felt flowers and pom poms, and some DMC,  (And some candy to try!)

Also some gorgeous fabrics -- William Morris perhaps?

And some patterns/kits and a quilt magazine all the way from Australia!!

Thank you so much Lizzie!!  I love all my goodies!   I've so enjoyed getting to know you and I always love reading your blog!

Finally, it's been a while since there have been any family pics here, so here's one the father type took of the boy child practicing.

Still can't get used to how tall the child is.

I mentioned that yesterday was my birthday.  Wanna see my birthday present?  :D

I'm so happy!  If you look closely, you can see I'm all set in terms of ereaders -- I have the Kindle app, the Barnes and Noble app, and of course, the ibookstore with its app.  Love it!!!  And going online or checking my mail is a snap.  Watching movies?  Gorgeous!!  The father type is gobsmacked by it.  It says a lot for the ipad that my father type has decided he wants one too.  The father type doesn't say such things but once in a blue moon -- he's too practical to fall for every gadget out there (like me!).  Anyway, I'm thrilled by my present!  Thank you, father type!

The girl child got me a gorgeous tote bag -- which I immediately adopted as my new purse -- and inside was a rain check for the Nonesuch Dickens edition of a set of 3 of Dickens' works: Our Mutual Friend, The Pickwick Papers, and The Old Curiosity Shop.  The set is due out in November.  I'm so impressed that the father type remembered and could advise the girl child on which are my favorite Dickens novels.  Our Mutual Friend has always been my favorite.  And The Pickwick Papers has always held a special place in my heart because of Sam Weller.  To me Sam Weller and Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings have a lot in common.  And the two Sams are two of my favorite characters in the world.  Such a thoughtful girl child!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  It's so lovely being part of the blogging community and getting to know you all, bloggers and nonbloggers alike.