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.

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!