Ann Medd Framed and an Easter Surprise

Woo Hoo!  Ann Medd is finally framed!  Actually, she was done last week, but between our not so perfect weather around here and getting ready for Easter, I didn't have time to take a picture of her!  So here she is in all her glory:

The frame I chose for her is a very simple one.  After spending an almost an hour throwing frames on her, I kept coming back to this one - simple with not a lot of foo-foo.  I didn't think that Ann needed a lot of fussing.  I suppose I figured that in the 1700's things would be simple, so that's what I did.

Just a little bit of distressing so that it looked a little old and slightly beat up.  I think that it works very well.  Now to get her on the wall with ATS and all the others that I've been working on over the past few years.

No stitching to show this time around, but I am making somewhat good progress on Elizabeth Clayton and should have a finish on her soon.  I've been playing with stash to figure out what the next victim of stitching will be!  It's a hard choice.

But something exciting happened yesterday (at least for me).  The Easter Bunny came to our house.  He comes every year and leaves baskets for the kids.  Even though the biggest kid is getting ready to head off to college, he still wants a basket.  Mom never gets a basket.  I think the Easter Bunny thinks that either Mom is too old or seriously doesn't need the chocolate!!  You know "a moment on your lips, forever on your hips" thing!  Well, I manage to eat a couple things while the Bunny's assistant (me) makes those baskets.  But after the hunt was over, the kids told me that I had to hunt for something.  That perhaps one of the Bunny's assistant's had left something for me.  Of course, the kids can't keep quiet and just make me look for it, they have to hint that it's near something that I had recently done.  So, of course, my first thought is Ann, who was propped up against the wall in the dining room:

So I looked behind Ann.............

And what do I see???????

OMG, OMG, OMG..................

An Ipad!!  The latest one!!!!  I have only wanted one of these since they came out.  Dreamed of one, hinted for one.  I see people working on them at Starbucks, people reading books on them and wanted one......oh, did I want one.  But I never asked.  Seems that with having two kids around and their need to be technologically "with it", I never asked.  But I wanted one so bad!!!  And as you can imagine, when I found this I cried.........cried like a baby, I'll tell you!!  I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough!!!   And what do you think I did????

Yep, you guessed it.  Hit the blogs since I'm so behind on reading.  And what do I see, but Becky talking about an abundance of frogs - flower frogs that is!!  That got my attention wouldn't you know!!  Love, love all those frogs you found Becky!!

So now Mom is "with it".  I can read blogs, emails and troll the net from anywhere.  I can download books, figure out where I'm going with GPS.  It was a little eerie when GPS pinpointed us to the back of our house - kind of like Big Brother watching.  Now, I don't have to spend endless hours at dance lessons staring at four walls when it's too cold to get myself into trouble shopping.  I am just beside myself!!  I was informed by the other Easter Bunny's assistant (that would be my DH) that this would just about cover all those gift giving occasions this year (Mother's Day, my birthday, etc.).  But that's good in my book.  I'm now going to be technologically "with it" like my kids.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter and has a great week.  We're in for some heavy rain this week, but that's okay in my book.  I'm taking the Ipad into the craft room and watching a tutorial on sewing!  Oh happy day!!!!

What Do You Do After Finishing Up a BAP?????

That is what I've been asking myself the past couple weeks.  What do I do after Ann Medd?  But first, I have to thank everyone for all the wonderful comments you made concerning Ann's finish.  I was absolutely overwhelmed!  All your comments made it so worth me finally finishing her up and I thank you so much for each and every one of them.  I was just blown away!  And I hope that maybe one of you will have your own Ann Medd adventure too.  Even though she's large, she was an easy and fun stitch.  I do have her back from the framers, but I can't get a good picture of her and will do that as soon as our crazy, overcast skies clear up and the sun's at the right angle!!   My husband, sampler enthusiast that he is (NOT) asked me where I was going to put her.  HA!  Do you know what I was thinking at that point about where to put her???  You probably do so I won't say it.  LOL  Seriously, she WILL be residing in the stairway with ATS.  Finally some company for ATS!!

After I was finished with Ann, I didn't know what to do.  It's just like reading a really good book, and you don't know what you want to read next.  I really felt like starting something new - I thought that I deserved it!!  Going back to a WIP for me felt like trying to get my kids to eat vegetables - I don't wanna do it. But I did and picked up Ann Grant.  She lasted a night.  I picked up Susanna Lane.  She also lasted a night.  Then I picked up Elizabeth Clayton, and she whispered softly and said, "Pick me - Finish Me!"  So I have worked on Elizabeth.  She's not quite done, but I'm getting to the fun part - Adam and Eve:

Not a lot of progress for a couple weeks - just a lot of wording and the borders.  But now comes the fun part - a little more lettering and then that fun couple in Eden and the scene around them.  Shouldn't take me too long (I hope)!

No sewing has really taken place, unfortunately, - well a little, but I've only completed two blocks out of the 16 required for my Civil War Chronicles BOM, and nothing on the Farmer's Wife.  But a little bit of antiquing has.  A while ago, Terri posted a little sewing machine that she had found in an antique shop.  This made me remember that when I was young I had a small Singer sewing machine, but didn't know where it was.  So the hunt was on.  Did I find it?  No.  I'm sure that it's packed in a box somewhere.  I thought it was in a couple trunks that I had brought from my father's, but I didn't have the keys.  I eventually found the keys stuffed in the back of my husband's workbench (where else?).  But no sewing machine - some cool vintage things that I'll show at some other time, but no sewing machine.  So during this time of trying to figure out where the machine was, I hit the antique store and score!!!!

Not in too bad condition and a good price.  The shop was having Thrifty Tuesdays and 20% off any purchase!!  So this baby came home with me.  Since that time, I've found three more through various places and I'll post those at a later date.  But I thought it would be so much fun to have a variety of these machines lined up in.....where else??  My sewing room!!

I also found another flower frog:

Another amber frog.  This one joins two others in my collection:

My husband just shakes his head every time I come home with another one.

The only other crafty thing that I've come across lately is some wonderful things I found on a blog.  The blog is Me and My Stitches, and the girl that makes these wonderful things is named Julie.  Being a sucker for anything stitchy or quilty, I had to purchase a couple of her things and I love them:

The pendant and earrings I bought for myself, and Julie, sweetheart that she is, sent me the scissor fob as a gift.  There is a link on her blog to her jewelry website and I know that she would love to hear from you.  She has some wonderful things and some quilt patterns too, so give her blog and website a look!! Julie and I have struck up an internet friendship of sorts.  She calls me Satan!  The reason for that is that now I have her on the hunt for little sewing machines!  With her living in Iowa, at least we won't be fighting each other at the antique stores!!

The only other thing that has been going on worth mentioning (you don't want to hear about all the errands I run all the time), is that my daughter finally has been able to give up her glasses (she had a lazy eye which was corrected with glasses) and got her braces off.  This was a monumental day for her because she feels that she is no longer - in her terms - a geek.  I think that she looks so beautiful (and way too old - sigh):

Ignore her attempt at trying to look like she's one of Eminem's possee!  Just look at the smile.  I think it's a gorgeous one!!  And one more picture of her and her favorite canine:

They are great buddies!  He follows her around like a shadow.  And he is looking much better now that his hair has finally grown out a little bit.

Well, that's all I have for now.  Not too much.  But thank you all once again for the wonderful comments you left me.  It really warmed my heart and I think it was because of some of you cheering me on, that finally got me to finish Ann.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!

Ann Medd Finish - Five Years in the Making (Lots of Pics)

WOO HOO!  There is some happy dancing going on around here!!  Ann Medd is finally finished - after five years!  I started her on January 1, 2006 and finished her March 30, 2011.  Better late than never, right?  I would have posted this yesterday, but I was down for the count with a cold/flu/general feeling of crappiness, so here she is!  This qualifies for Finish #2 in the Crazy January Challenge!  Hopefully, I never pick anything this big ever again!  Yeah, like that's going to happen!!  I love me those BAPs!!  I've been eyeballing Dutch Beauty!    Anyway, here she is in all her glory.  Sorry that some of the pictures are not the best, but the light just isn't cooperating and she hasn't been ironed:

Ann Medd

The Scarlett Letter

35 count Elegant Bean and DMC Threads

My daughter (who wished not to have her picture shown due to hair issues, etc. - you know those teens) is about 5'4", so this shows you the size of dear Ann.  Ann Medd has been described as the "Mother of all Samplers" and I would think that description aptly applies.  She's a big one!!  What amazes me is that Ann Medd was 10 years old when this sampler was finished.  If she finished it when she was 10 years old, when exactly did she start it? I'm sure that she wasn't a slacker like I was in stitching this, but I wonder when she did start it.   The whole sampler consists of basically four samplers - each different in their own ways.

Anyway, here are more pictures - I'll let them do most of the talking:

In this first portion there was eyelet stitch, over one, four sided back and a couple other stitches.  I took some creative license and put in the initials of my family in place of Ann's.

In the second section, we have my two favorite people - Adam and Eve:

The next section is described as whimsical with stylized flower-trees and a very fashionably attired couple with their pet, dog, squirrel and deer.

And the last section is considered non-traditional and curious.  A fisherman engaged in hooking a large fish (looks like a salmon to me) while a shepherdess/mermaid tends a flock of sheep.

I liked the notation that Ann made about her teacher, Ann Smith, at the bottom.

All the verses were done in back stitch starting with the letter A and working down through Z.  Although Ann added a little surprise and decided to add in an extra Y.  You probably heard a loud groan in your part of the world when I thought I was going to be stitching the Z and ended up stitching another "Y".

There were a few changes I made to the sampler.  I guess you would call them cheating.  There was a lot of tent stitching done on the faces and a few other places - like the animals.  Most of that I did as charted, but when it came to the last portion, I ended up doing them in regular cross stitch just because I liked the look better.  The gold satin stitch border I also cheated on.  Laying two threads in a satin stitch is hard when on scroll rods, so I substituted a pearl cotton for those stitches and it worked out well.

So there you have her - five years in the making and a labor of love - I think.  Actually, this was a very easy sampler to work on - just very time consuming.

Now, I have no idea what I want to work on now.  Isn't that the way?  We get so caught up in working on something that when it's over - like a really good book - we don't know what direction to go.  So I think that I'm going to take my sniffly self into the craft room and see what else I can come up with.  Just something a little smaller - at least for now!!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a great weekend!