Becoming an expert at Queen Stitches.....

Yes, I feel I'm becoming an expert at queen stitches.  And the Richmond Sampler is the reason why.  I will only show you the interesting parts of the sampler -- you won't see much progress from last week there.

Just know that that straight (or zig zag depending on how you look at it) border is full of queen stitches.  (The baskets are queen stitches too.)  And I've made the border meet all the way around and am working on the last side with the queen stitches.  So yes, I feel I'm becoming an expert at the darned things.  lol!  I'm looking forward to finishing the ones in that border at least.   Then I can approach the queen stitches in the baskets one basket at a time!

My better queen stitches are along the bottom and the other side.  lol!

I was sure that Mia wasn't going to let me take pictures of my sampler in peace, but she was a good girl.  This is what she was doing while I was snapping pics.  (She's a bit sleepy I think.)

Such a good girl!  And here she is in her favorite perch.

I wish I could leave the window open year round for her to enjoy.  She so loves looking outside and watching (and smelling) the world go by. 

In other news, the boy child had a bit of a bug this weekend.  Not sure if it is just a cold or perhaps a bit more than that.  If it's just a cold, it's a nasty one.  He was definitely not feeling well Friday or Saturday.  Luckily Sunday he was doing better and was ready to go to school this morning.  I hope he's still feeling good now that he's at school!

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Have a great week, everyone!

My guy

What can I say about my guy?  He's a wonderful husband, father, man, and boy all rolled into one.

He's the love of my life and always will be.

We've lived over half our lives together and I've loved every minute.

We're both turning a bit grey and are a bit more "prosperous," as my godmother would say.

But he's still the same guy I married.

And I wouldn't change him one bit.

Happy birthday, my love.  You're wonderful.

(And thank you, my girl child, for the great pictures.)

Back to routine

It's been back to the old routine for about a week now.  Girl child back at college, boy child getting into even more activities at school, Mia and I settling down to learn how to deal with each other habits.  :D  Mia has been a good girl as far as letting me follow my stitching habit goes.  Here's the proof.

Can I just say there are way too many queen stitches in this piece?  I'm dealing with it though.  And hopefully they don't look too awful.

The colors in this piece are so much my favorite colors -- before I became a red sampler person.  Blue and green -- ah, they still grab my heart!

In other news, the boy child had his jazz ensemble auditions on Tuesday -- and went to the first rehearsal that evening.  So I guess he's in!  :D   The child has way too much going on.  Did I mention that he's now decided to do pit duties for the high school musical as well?  He'll play bass guitar for their show, Little Shop of Horrors.   Argh!  I just hope he can pull it all off!

Mia likes to snuggle down wherever she thinks I'll be settling in.  Here she is in my stitching chair fast asleep.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi!  I love being a part of this stitching community of ours!  Have a great week!

Oh my goodness, Mia! (And All State!!!!!)

Ok, so this post isn't just about Mia.  But I've been wanting to use that for the title of a post for a while now.  After all, I keep finding myself saying it to Mia.  lol!

Ok, first off, I finished the Family Sampler.  It's on silk gauze over one with Belle Soie silks.

I included all of the family's initials at the bottom and the year of our wedding.  Mia's initial is in the upper left hand corner.  :D

I'm going to be taking the Richmond Sampler (Anne Maria Clarke) online class from the Essamplaire.  The online class starts September 15, but I couldn't resist starting it just a tad.  I asked for 40ct fabric, so I'm using everything provided by the class.

This is what the piece will look like.

So gorgeous!!

In other news, we took the girl child back to college on Saturday.  All in all, it was a pretty smooth drop off.  The girl child managed to forget her pillows this time so I just sent them off to her this morning.  (Last time it was the blankets -- and some underwear.)   We forgot the camera yet again, so no pics of her dorm room.

It was weird as it always is to leave the girl child behind.  But it sounds like she's having a good time before classes start.  She's a junior -- unbelievable!

And another piece of news.  I can't believe I forgot to mention it here before now!  When we got back from vacation, a nice big envelope was waiting for the boy child.  He got into the All State Symphony Orchestra!  It's such a huge honor and I'm so proud of him.  He will be performing at the Area All State concert first, and then he will perform in the All State Orchestra in December.  Up in Rochester!  Never been there before, and neither has he!  It will be an adventure!  Of course, the boy child will be all orchestra-ed out by the end of that particular week.  The day after his All State concert, he will have his last non-school orchestra rehearsal, and the day after that (a Tuesday!!) is the actual concert.  Argh!  So he will have a busy time!

I'm actually a bit worried about the boy child's schedule this year.  Not only does he have his class work, his non-school orchestra, Area All State, All State, and his bass guitar lessons.  He also has the EMS Youth Corps (which he joined this summer), and he's auditioning for the bassist for the school's jazz ensemble (which is really good!).  Oh, and he's in a band that he's formed with 2 other kids from school (as the bass player).  Ahem.  I hope he can handle all that!  Of course since he's a junior, there's also the little matter of tests like the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT, the SAT subject tests, -- can you tell I'm worrying?  lol!   Ok, I'll stop now.

Now for the pictures you've probably been waiting for.  No?  Well you'll have to suffer through a couple anyway.  :D

Here's Mia with the girl child before she left for college.  I think Mia is going to miss the girl child very much.  As will we all.

And here's Mia in her favorite place.  Too bad the weather won't allow for the window to be open all the time.

BTW, third year in a row -- US Open men's finals postponed till today, Monday, cause of rain.  Can't wait!  I know I shouldn't say this, but it's rather a relief not to have to sit through a Federer/Nadal match.  :D  I know, sacrilege coming from a Federer fan.  But I can't take the stress.  lol!  I missed most of the semifinal where Federer lost.

Quickly -- forgot to say that the sampler in my header pic is Charlotte Clayton, released by the Northwest Sampler Guild.  I got my chart from Attic Needlework in Mesa, Arizona.   I think they still have the chart available there.

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

Framing, progress, and of course, Mia

My friend Kathy (no blog) and I managed to go to our LNS to pick up framing and do a bit of shopping.  (Keep in mind that the framing was finished way back in June, but a certain boy child neglected to deliver the phone message that this was so.  Urgh!!)  I was so happy to see these pieces all finished!   Here is Sarah Woodham (by Shakespeare's Peddler).

And here is a closeup of the frame.  The inner part of the frame matches the color in the piece beautifully.

Next, here is Margaret Pence.

And the frame.

And finally, the La D Da A&E, Know Ye.

I'm very proud of myself for charting my initials in that style.  :D 

Here is my A&E wall.  (Unfortunately there's no room for Jane Atkinson when she comes home.)

Isn't it great?  :D  I have to get to some more A&E's now -- small ones.   lol!  Although there are some large ones on my list as well.  The one on the top left is Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers.  The top right is Margaret Pence.  Then there's Know Ye, and the top middle small one is Sarah Esh by Carriage House Samplings.  The bottom middle small one is Fruit of the Spirit by Plum Street Samplers (it's not really an A&E, but hey, it has a little boy and a little girl in it, right?).  And finally the one on the right with the big cats is the piece in my header pic, Charlotte Clayton by the Northwest Sampler Guild.

I've been stitching this week on the Family Sampler while watching the US Open -- Mia has been very good about my stitching!  The fill in has been perfect for watching and stitching.

I just have the bottom portion to do now!  Oh, and yes, I can see the carried threads too.  A bit disappointing.  It's not quite that bad in person.

Finally, I have to show some pictures of Mia, of course.  She's still growing like a weed, and is insatiably curious about everything.  Here she is with the girl child.

Mia loves to sleep as close to one as possible.  lol!

And here are the boy child and Mia snoozing together.  You can see how much Mia has grown.

Here's Mia next to the boy child.

And here is Mia enjoying the lovely, cooler weather we've had since Hurricane Earl moved by.

She loves her newly discovered perch in the window!  The poor thing has a hard time landing on the window sill when the window is closed.

In other news, the boy child started his junior year of high school on Thursday.  He had a 2 day week last week and will have another 2 day week this week -- no school today (Labor Day) or Thursday and Friday (Rosh Hashanah).  Pretty luxurious, except for the 60 page packet he has to do an outline on.  Geez! 

The girl child is enjoying her last days of freedom before heading back to college this coming Saturday.  Her classes don't start till the 16th.  She has reached another milestone: after years of not wanting to bother with a driver's license, she has finally gone for her license and passed with flying colors.  And she has taken advantage of this fact big time.  The poor father type has been deprived of his new car quite a bit recently.  :D  The girl child prefers the small, zippy, new car to the old, decrepit, large minivan (or the double bass carrier as it's now thought of).  Smart girl!

The US Open has been very entertaining so far.  (I was sad to see both Roddick and Murray get eliminated.)  This time of year always has the US Open and tennis woven right in.  It's a good predictor of the weather -- almost without fail, the first week of the US Open is hot and sticky while the second week is beautiful and cooler.  Interesting, huh?  Who would have thought the weather could follow such a predictable pattern year after year?

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  Hope you are all enjoying the approach of fall or spring depending on where you are.  Happy Labor Day to all my US friends.  Enjoy your week!

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.