stitch, therefore i must shop

I hate shopping, but not shopping for stitching essentials, charts, linen, etc., and especially done with friends and/or family. =) Halloween afternoon I played over at my friend Sally’s house. Had so much fun! We went to her LNS which I had never been to. It was a neat little place. It had more than just stitching to glance over, but I stuck to the essentials and bought a little more stash. After wards Sally and I went for a juicy, heart-stopping cheeseburger which was d-lish. The conversation was much needed on my part, and then we headed back to her house for a little Sewing101 on a cute little pumpkin ornament she’s putting together.

Sally reads a lot. I mean A LOT. She has books in relatively every room of her house. I admire a person who reads and reads and reads. She allowed me to take pictures of her cozy library nook which is absolutely adorable and these photos probably won’t do the space any justice. For someone (me) who doesn’t read as much as they should or as much as they really want to I love looking over books. There is just something about reading over the spines and wondering what's inside. Maybe it’s the smell of the paper under the cover. I don’t know, but there is something about looking over shelves upon shelves of literature and storytelling that intrigues me.

I love Sally’s décor too. She has a thing for bunnies as well which are tastefully placed throughout her home. Did you notice her Jane Austen shelf? So cool. Sally wrote the Tennessee Criminal Law Case Finder book. She has two copies, but I had to take a photo as I’m proud to know this about my friend. She’s an attorney and I formerly worked for a criminal defense attorney so these books are intriguing and familiar to me anyway. The light is hand-painted and is really pretty. I just love this space and I enjoy the company I keep when I’m there. Sally, thanks for sharing Saturday with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Good luck with your finishing!

Shopping Saturday…

I plan to finish Bent Creek’s Winter Row into a long pillow and Lizzie*Kate’s November Flip-it into a needle cushion or maybe that’ll just get put into a basket for decorating. No needles required.

I couldn’t believe how many LHN charts this shop had in stock. I love the house series, but really want to stitch the Two White Houses first so that’s the one I purchased. Funny thing is that I’ve never seen Necessities Sampler before. In fact, there were some I had not seen before Saturday. I love it when that happens - it’s like new found treasure. I saw CCN’s Forest Snowfall and had to have it! The verse is so sweet and the little deer-bunny combo sold me. Pretty colors too. You know, you just can’t go wrong with his mother-daughter duo, can you?! Has everyone seen the Ornament of the Month Dianne has designed? These two amaze me with their talent and speed at which they create.

Shopping Sunday…

(L-R) 32 ct. Ice Blue for Winter Row, Bent Creek; 32 ct. Antique Ivory for Clara’s Skating Sampler, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Confederate Grey for Forest Snowfall, Country Cottage Needlework; 32 ct. Flax linen for Rain in the Country, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Vintage Autumn Field for Mr. Darcy, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Raw linen for November Flip-it, Lizzie*Kate.

The best part about all the gorgeous linen is that I shopped at moms for it – LOL. The boys and I went to mom’s house for a French toast breakfast, mixed with fruit and bacon, and coffee. Orange juice for the boys. After cleanup, which I gladly took on, I went through mom’s gobs of linen for these new charts I just bought and ones I received last week. If you can imagine, I’m pretty happy right now. Giddy actually.

Sally allowed me to borrow Little Women. I’ve never read this story. Can you believe that? I know…shame on me. Sally already crossed her fingers at me so I get it – LOL. I read about Louisa May Alcott. What an intriguing and robust woman she was. It makes the temptation to read her novel even more the fancy. So without further ado…Talk soon!

stitching, movies, reading = favorite things

This is such a sweet stitch (frog attack forgotten). I have since started the border and I’m waiting to start the second flower…again. I may start on her blouse next which is done in Old Blue Jeans by CC. It will be so cute and fresh. I’ve been invited to participate by adding photos to this blog so I will be posting there soon.

I am on disc 3 of Whiteout by Ken Follett. The drama began as soon as it started and it continues to grab my attention. I especially like the Scottish accent of the reader because that connects me to the characters. The story does take place in Europe so the accent helps capture the environment. The man nearly drowning was a little hair raising and some of the language used gives a chuckle. It's all good though.

Since Jose has been out for the summer we’ve been watching a lot of movies together. We’ve seen all these movies hundreds of times before, but we’re huge fans so it never gets old or boring watching the same things over and over together. We’ve decided to watch movies that extend the trilogy, more like a series. So far we’ve watched all the Alien movies. We just got done watching all six Star Wars (I always cry at #3) and next on the agenda are the Superman movies. Awhile back it took us a month to watch all ten seasons of Friends, but we had a fabulous time together. We laughed soooo much! Next week me and my son have a movie date. Mom is going to babysit Cameron during the day so we can have an afternoon mother/son date. We’re going to see the new Star Trek movie. Can’t wait!

Talk soon!

frogs stink!

Last night I posted about the frogs attacking The Sampler Lady. Of course, I brought it upon myself by not stitching when I was more coherent, but anyway I started ripping the threads out last night and still wasn't done by morning. Today I spent the afternoon ripping more threads. The entire left side flower is officially ripped out. I had just as much stitching complete on that flower as I have done on the right side. Thankfully the frogs are done ribbitt-ing around my linen. I think the worst part of frogs is the ruined thread. Can't reuse it, for obvious reasons. The thread looks dreadful (photo above). Anyway, I'm done venting about that. Now I can start stitching again.

To make this a more pleasant return, I went to the library this evening (Jose tagged along) and checked out four books on cd. I am getting ready to cozy up in bed and listen to a story. I've never done this before so I'm a little jittery at the anticipation. The audio books I checked out are:

Watchers - Dean Koontz
The Associate - John Grisham
Whiteout - Ken Follet
The Navigator - Clive Cussler

I'm beginning with Whiteout. I also checked out two DVD movies. Rush Hour 3 ("Do you understand the words that are comin' outta my mouth??? - Chris Tucker to Jackie Chan. I love this line.) and Fried Green Tomatoes (This movie is wonderful!). Enjoy your evening. Talk soon!

classroom fun & good friends

Yesterday was such a fun-filled time. As I said, I attended a Susan Greening Davis class. My friends, Sally and Susan, were there and my lovely mother too. There were a couple of new faces. I had the privilege of meeting another Ohioan named Joanie. She was a delight to sit next to. She and her husband recently moved to the area so I felt it only necessary to bring her under my wing and tell her about the upcoming Moonlight Stitching at our LNS.

Joanie, if you’re reading this, I do hope that you will join us. You will have a really fun time and I’d love to see you again. Remember, it’s Saturday, May 30 from 4:00-10:00 pm and BRING STITCHING!!! If you would like to bring your own drink that is fine too. We usually bring our own even though Pat does supply something to drink ~ some of us girls are addicted to Diet Cokes and Diet Dr. Peppers :o). Hope to see you there, girl!

The Three Wise Men Whitman tin is what I picked for my class project. The other option was the traditional yellow Whitman tin. We also were able to choose coordinating colors as well. Those were two spools of perle cotton and one Watercolours thread. I decided to match mine with the robes of the Wise Men since there was already an abundance of blue in the tin. In class we used a doodle cloth for practice as there were stitches some of us have never stitched before or even seen for that matter - like me.

I also bought a few extra items from Susan. She had these really neat books. One was a stitch guide that stands up. Susan is known for her accuracy of the traditional stitch and/or how the stitch originated and not so much how it is taught today, but how it was taught historically in centuries past. It’s amazing what Susan can teach you!

I also picked up the needle index. How many of us have loose needles lying around and we really have no clue what they are??? (C’mon, be honest! We all have them. ;o) This book is a must have. Each page has a picture of every needle one can possibly own. You hold your unnamed needle to the picture and if it matches you’ve found it. On the facing page is a piece of wool felt attached to the book where you can store that needle for safe keeping. It’s an excellent book. I’m looking forward to going through my rogue needles and giving them a proper home.

I also purchased Susan’s “Orts” chart. I have a glass ORTS jar that I hand painted, but I need something to travel with me around the house for when I stitch and need a place to drop my orts temporarily until they find refuge in the ORTS jar. We also got a tote bag too and as a stitcher you know we can’t have too many totes…well, mom has too many totes but that’s another story for another time.

Lastly, my mother was kind enough (as always) to purchase Susan’s Sweet Sarah Doll for me. I love, love, love this prim doll. Inside the bag is a kit to stitch “Sarah” an apron that says I Love Cross Stitch, a chart to make a teeny-tiny biscornu for Sarah to hold, along with a tiny pair of golden scissors. I can’t wait to stitch this little piece. I fell in love with the reproduction fabric of the bag and then the doll's dress. So sweet, I must say!

I had such a nice time. The lunch and desserts were d-lish. Afterwards a lot of us traveled over to the LNS to see what else we could get our hands on. I bought a few more project bags and some Piecemakers. While at the class, my friend Sally had a bag full of books that she thought I would enjoy. We’re not talking just a couple of books. I’m talking like 30 books…TO KEEP!!! I started reading The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb this morning. Such a great time, I had. And then I went home…with a headache.

Winter Love by SamSarah – I love how the scarf flows into the word LOVE. It’s finally taking more of a shape now. I hope I can get this finished next week. My mom came up with a good plan of switching JCS ornament years. This is from 2007 and next ornament will come from the 2008 issue. We belong to a club where we select so many ornaments and then we receive the kitted materials throughout the following year.

I made very little progress on Friday’s rotation project which is my Seahorse Scissor Fob from The Heart’s Content. It’s difficult to see the progress bc of it being over one, but I can show more next week.

Friday afternoon a severe thunderstorm came through. It blew our neighbor’s tree over and thankfully into his own yard. If it had fallen in our yard it would have hit our house and that would have been Jose’s bedroom at risk. Hail accompanied this storm, as well as very strong winds. I got the camera out to capture Mother Nature’s drama, so sorry the photos are a little blurry. The last image is a video of the hail hitting our patio roof. It was extremely loud ~ ear piercing.

Neighbor's tree down, but it took out our fence.

some flooding

hail

I'm off to start stitching on my Susan tin piece. Talk soon!

i'm done

I'M DONE! I’ve read all four Stephanie Meyer Twilight series books. I’m done and now I’m crying. I’m actually crying ~ started crying the last 3 pages. The end was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. I love all four books, but Breaking Dawn is my favorite after Twilight.

Firstly, I am ashamed to say that I skimmed through New Moon a lot of the way and I believe I was unfairly bias through that book. I am going to re-read New Moon so that I can get to know Jacob better because he deserves my attention, every reader’s attention. And secondly, New Moon was really about Bella’s pain; pain so dark and deep that it was difficult to get through because I wanted Edward to return so badly. Meyer did such a tremendous job with yanking my mood from one spot to the other-through all four. I owe it to Meyer and to Jacob Black because I know how hard it was for Meyer to write New Moon. Writing N.M. didn’t come as naturally as Twilight. Jacob was and is such a good and decent friend to Bella. I’m envious of their relationship.

I mention New Moon in a Breaking Dawn review because after reading all four books it’s my opinion that N.M. is the book that catapults this story into what it has become, and then Breaking Dawn solidifies and ties the story together. Because of B.D., N.M. makes more sense. Ah, I just love Meyer for this!

Breaking Dawn, however, is the ultimate novel. I didn’t find this book to be teeny-bopper at all. In fact, it was rather grown up. This book has everything: love and hate, turmoil, lust, death, birth, renewal, trust, loyalty, confrontation, thirst, parentage, and Edward, Edward, Edward. I love him! He will always be one of my favorite characters till the day I die. There is no one sexier than he. I hate Bella for this, but love her because as Meyer writes, “Edward was hers forever.” I love that!

Through all these novels, I love how Meyer kept the dying question askew: Is Bella going to be changed into a vampire? I won’t tell you the answer, but Meyer delivers everything you’ve ever wanted from this story. I’m truly going to miss these characters. Thankfully, I own all the books so I can always go and visit Forks…and I will.

Thanks for listening…talk soon!

reading questions to all

Dear Fellow Stitchers:

I have a question that I'm dying to ask anyone and everyone who reads. I have noticed lots of people that have more than one "currently-reading" book on their shelf. Is that possible? Is that really possible to read more than one book at a time? How? I realize I can stitch on more than one project, but a book?!?! How can you put one down in order to pick another one up? I feel so foolish asking such silly questions since I run through the same motions with stitching, but storytelling is different. I would be afraid I'd get my stories crossed. My peeps mixed up. I'd be afraid I'd lose interest in one story so that I could keep up with another.

How do you do this?

stitching and reading

Second post of the day ~ Yay! Last night I finished assembling My Needle Book by Blackbird Designs and this morning I stained it with walnut crystals and let it dry in the sun for 30 minutes. To finish things off I used a flower eyelet for a closure with a piece of yarn.

I used all the called for supplies with respect to the DMC and 40 ct Antique White linen. I used walnut crystals instead of tan Rit Dye. Since I don’t know how to crochet I used a flower eyelet and a single piece of yarn as the closure. The yarn came from my grandmother’s supplies and I finished it with a buttonhole stitch around the seam. I’m happy with the results.

When I was at my mom’s house on Saturday I went through her bookshelves and picked out some books to read. I am on a reading kick. I’m so motivated to read whatever I can get my hands on. I’m just about finished with Breaking Dawn. I have less than 50 pages to go and I’m really streaming this one along as slowly as I can. I’m going to miss the characters so much.

I have been contemplating joining a book club. It sounds like a lot of fun, and to be able to get away for a girls’ night out book club meeting sounds fun. The group I could join meets at a bookstore in the coffee shop. That just sounds so relaxing.

On a side note…after waiting 2 months I finally received my hand gun carry permit. It came in the mail on Saturday. Today I went to the grocery store and was concealing my gun and I’ll admit it felt kind of strange. I definitely didn’t feel “powerful” as some might feel or think. Instead I felt like everyone was staring and noticing me more, but that wasn’t the case. People really don’t pay that close attention so no one even noticed because they aren’t looking for it. My DH said he felt the same way at first, but then he got over that. Besides, I have the right to carry so enough said.

Me and Cameron are going to mom’s house tomorrow. I don’t have anything else to add right now. I’m sure I’ll come up with something soon. :D Talk soon!

from the babbling brook

Ahhhh!!! I’ve got so much to blab about it isn’t even funny. Ever since last Wednesday I’ve been rather busy and not just with stitching because I really don’t have a whole lot of stitchy-news, but just life in general. My Uncle and grandparents came to town for a visit on Wednesday and just left yesterday morning.

Sunday, April 19 was my Aunt Pam’s birthday and as far as I can tell she received a lot of lovely gifts. My mom sent her a Rascal Flatts CD along with a discontinued Vera Bradley bag called Little Traveler. This bag is genius for stitchers, let me tell you!

30 ct. Straw linen by WDW
DMC threads listed by designer

I stitched and assembled primitivebettys My Favorite Kitten Pinkeep for my aunt. I even added my own personal tag to the side of the kitty. My aunt’s home is a safe haven for cats of all denominations. :o) I think at one point she might have had 12 cats, and she has a dog too. She’s an amazing feline mother and thought it only appropriate for her to have one of “my cats” for her “studio” (as she calls her room). She loved it and I’m happy that she does. It may even be her first “primitive” piece. My aunt’s specialty is samplers. Her walls are like a museum of sampler art from the last 20+ years. She does amazing work. She received other wonderful treats from her friends and daughter too. I think she had an overall fantastic birthday. Happy Birthday, Aunt Pam!!!

28 ct. White Monaco (coffee dyed)
DMC colors of choice

Awhile back I stitched my mom primitivebettys Spring Time tulip freebie design as a just-because-I-love-you gift. I made moms into a wall hanging and used yellow and gold tones as the primary colors. I liked hers so much that I made myself one. I changed the colors just a tad, added some buttons, fabric on the back and made it into a pinkeep. I really like how it turned out. And I must admit that I’m getting better at whip stitching which is a much needed relief . The navy blue, flowery fabric in the background is what I used as the finishing fabric.

4o ct. White linen
DMC threads listed by designer

I have begun a dainty piece from Blackbird Designs called My Needle Book. It’s from the My Heart Is True booklet that was released earlier this year. I decided Tuesday needed to be filled so BBD took its place. Wednesday is still open, can you believe that? In addition to this project I decided to take a stab at the contest piece that Alma and Barb are having. It’s a sweet, sweet piece so go check out the details on their blog.

An outside report ~ Spring is definitely in the air and so are my allergies. I am miserable! Can’t say it enough. When I was younger I used to get shots in both arms twice a week. This went on for sometime, but now I have nothing to help me cope. I need to get on this and soon.

Aside from this, there is a robin that is making quite the home atop one of the columns on our front porch.

Before she accomplished her temporary home she had one hell of a time getting the initial twigs and debris to stay up there. We’ve had many, many storms come through and to say that it hasn’t been windy would be an understatement. As you can see, she made quite the mess on the porch, which I’m leaving there in case she needs extra insulation for her babies, but I believe she’s a good mama. She never quit. She kept on persevering until the job was done. Day in and day out ~ she never stopped gathering whatever she could fit into her mouth and find on the ground to stack up on that column. Yay for mama robin!

On Saturday morning the older boys were doing “manly” things outside while Cameron and I stayed inside. (I could barely take the outside because of my allergies.) It was perfect weather, but I couldn’t handle it. Once I stepped foot outside, it took at least 30 minutes to recover once I returned inside.

Jose mowed the front and backyards. We are almost on a full acre (.79 to be exact) and that may not sound like a lot to some, but when you live within city limits, 8 minutes if that from downtown, that is a gracious amount of property…and we’re paying for every shard and blade of grass too!

DH played with his Cobra Mustang while the child worked his tail off (he did assist though). DH does this every spring because he stores the car through the winter, so it is time to get Sally out and play around with her. He’s had this car a long time and has spent many, many nights, days and mornings with her. She’s been driven like 10,000 horses and treated like a baby all her life. She is a beauty though and she is extremely and violently fast. The torque is insane in this thing. There is some work to be done in the rear so DH is going to sell one of his guns in order to pay for it.

I have really been on a reading kick lately. Ever since I dove into the Twilight saga I have been so curious to read as many novels as I can cram into my life, for the rest of my life. I’ve read books here and there in the past, but never religiously or diligently; not like I have with the Twilight series and not how I want to continue from this day forward. I also met a really neat girl named Annie on Goodreads. She writes and has amazingly articulate reviews to what she reads. She is a read-aholic in my book and I love reading what she has to say. I find her opinions insightful and comprehensive.

my 'to-read' shelf:

I joined Goodreads dot com in October 2008 and have recently added more and more books, especially in the last week. I’ve taken a few quizzes and read reviews. I have found numerous quotes that I simply adore if not stand true to myself. I’m a bit philosophical myself at times. I have a few friends and hope to gain more. I really need help and insight into the storytelling world as I’m fairly new to this arena and wouldn’t know what was good and what isn’t. Tanya is another great source of reading insight too. I don’t know how she crams all this reading into her already abundantly busy life. :D

Anyhoo, I’ve added numerous ‘to-read’ books on my sidebar and quotes that really mean something to me now or struck me when I read them, especially Stephanie Meyer. So far she is my favorite author, and she’ll always be a favorite but there are other favs of mine, but she takes top-spot right now. I love the quotes from Twilight.

I’m nearly finished with Breaking Dawn by Meyer (on page 601) and I believe I’ll pick up The Host by Meyer after BD. I hear The Host is excellent and that Meyer only gets better in tune with her writing. Since I cannot afford to buy all the books, I’ll need to head to the library. Hopefully, it’s available.

Ugh! I’m finished. My babbling brook has arrived at the precipice. Talk soon!