Words That Start with "F"

I know that I've been so remiss with blogging lately and I'm going to try to do better. Every time I turn around I realize that it's been two weeks or so since I last posted.  Always busy, but this past week has been filled with words that start with "F": - Friends, Fun, Fabric, Festivities and Framing!  It's been a great week!!!


I'll start with the framing:

Adam & Eve

The Goode Huswife

40 ct. Daily Grind & DMC Threads

Woo Hoo - another finish for the A&E Wall! I just love the frame for this one - really picks up the blues in the piece - what little there are!!

Last Saturday was a really special day.  Terri and I got to meet up with a dear blogging friend, Robin.  We had such a great time.  You know how it is when you first meet someone - you're nervous, wonder if you'll have things to talk about.  Well, no fears here - Robin got in the car, our mouths started going and we spent the rest of the day jawing to beat the band - I don't think we ever stopped talking - well, except when we were all lost in the antique mall.  We had such a great time!  We hit up two little antique stores, two quilting stores and then a large antique mall.  Such great fun!!!  It was about an hour's drive, but we stocked up with breakfast sandwiches and sweet tea and we hit the road!!

I managed to get a couple pictures of the girls at lunch:

Here's Robin holding up the gift that Terri gave her.  Aren't they cute?  Or for that matter, isn't Robin cute?

And here's Terri showing off the wonderful pincushion that Robin had made her.  Sorry for the glare behind you, Terri. We stopped for a quick lunch at Arby's (a wonder of fine dining) and Terri was sitting near the window.    I think we were going to try for a little fancier place to eat, but we spent so much time shopping, that we had to do a quick lunch.

This is the pinkeep that Robin made for me:

Isn't is wonderful?  I love it Robin and how did you know that blue is my favorite color?  Thank you so much dear friend!!

Now, no pictures of me.  I'm camera shy you see.  I don't like having my picture taken.  Ask anyone that knows me - I run from cameras.  Even my wedding photographer had a lot of issues with me.  I blink, I scowl or just plain close my eyes and grimace.  Both Terri and Robin wanted to post a picture of me and I told them no.  Well, Robin was a little bit concerned about that because if there wasn't a picture of me, then it wouldn't look like I went on this trip.  She asked if she could put a smiley face over my head.  I told her that was fine - or how about someone like Heidi Klum?  Well, I was just kidding, of course.  But lo and behold, Robin came up with my picture:

Okay girls, there I am in startling proportions!  Heidi Klum!  LOL  Is this picture not a riot?  I've been told I have a big head........hmmmmm!!  When I saw this posted on Robin's blog this morning I couldn't stop laughing.  Not good because I had a dentist appointment and all my makeup came completely off and I had to run quick like a bunny and repair it before I left.  I was just about crying I was laughing so hard!  Great job Robin!  

Now truly, I don't look anything like Heidi.  Heck, if I was Heidi Klum I wouldn't have a blog about stitching.  No way!  I'd have a blog telling you all about the new benefits and youthful appearance your breasts would have in the latest Victoria's Secret underwear - how your "girls" would kiss the sunshine, five times bigger than what they are, and your rear would look like two beautifully risen loaves of bread.  All the while telling you how Seal and I are going to have our 15th child tomorrow, and then the next day I'm going to be back into shape prancing down the runway for a VS fashion show!  LOL   Of course, I suppose that I could stitch some cute designs on the backs of the underwear or perhaps come out with a quilted bra!  Can you tell that Robin has a wonderful sense of humor?  I can't wait until I can meet up with her again.

Now, there was some buying going on that day and the charge card was melted - or semi melted.  It melted the rest of the way a couple days later.  Anyway, look at all this wonderful goodness:

For a black, red and white quilt that I want to make.  I forgot to take a picture of the pattern - OOPS.

Some cute trims - the toile box came from another shopping trip I did a couple days later with my girlfriend Diane (more on that later).  It's another one of those wonderful Moda kits I couldn't resist.  I don't know if it was the fabric and pattern (again no pic) or the cute toile box that got me.

More beautiful Moda fabrics - ymmmmm!!

Sorry for the dark photo - but some new patterns which I need like another hole in the head - and some hexagons.  I'd like to try my hand at that one of these days....soon.

And more beautiful fabrics that I still haven't unpacked yet (or at least weren't unpacked at picture time).
We had such a wonderful time.  I did pick up some antiquey finds, but I'll post them later.  

Since Saturday things have been really fast paced.  Monday was my birthday and I'll post one of the highlights.  The cake my kids and DH got me was beautiful, but the camera with the picture in it is nowhere to be seen - probably my daughter took it to school since it's nearing the end of the year.  But one of the gifts that I got that was very special to me was this:

This gift was from my sister.  She loves to paint and she painted this picture for me and I love it.  It reminds me of her place on Long Island that I love to visit.  Not her house exactly, but when you walk out her back yard to the Sound, there is a house to the side that reminds me of this picture.  Then she also sent me a bottle of Ice Wine since Long Island has quite a few vineyards on it - pop that baby in the freezer for a while and enjoy!  Pure heaven.  She also sent me a copy of Barbie Collector.  Yes, I collect Barbies.  Haven't bought any new ones in a while but I have tons of them - from the very first one that came out in the striped bathing suit, to all my dolls and their clothes from when I was growing up.  My collection grew over the years - I guess it helps that my mom used to work for Mattel toys.  But this catalog gives the news on the latest dolls.  And for you Twilight fans - feast your eyes on this:

Yes, now you too can have dolls from the Twilight series.  My daughter's already got her wish list put together!!!

Well, I have a million other things to yak about, but I'll save them for later.  There were more gifts, thrifty purchases and antique finds from last weekend, and of course, dear old Ann Medd and quilt blocks.  I managed to get almost caught up sewing those on by birthday.  That was one of the gifts to myself - spending the day sewing away, plus I bought myself a little present (shhhh, don't tell and I'll post that next time too).  

Thank you again for all your wonderful comments - they truly make me happy.  And I am thankful for all the friendships that I've made through blogging.  I thought it was so wonderful to actually meet a blogging friend this past week, and I hope that I have the opportunity to meet more of you in the future. 

Happy Stitching! 

Adam and Eve Finish

Adam and Eve

The City Stitcher

40ct. Vintage Meadowrue

DMC threads

Well, woo hoo! Adam and Eve is finished! And I'm doing a happy dance because I just never thought I'd get it done. I don't know why, but it seemed like I was stitching this forever, although I really wasn't! Maybe it was the 40 count fabric and the fact that I keep jumping back to Shores. Excuse the pictures though - I just can't get a good close-up shot to save my soul. Perhaps time for a new camera. This one is getting up there in years. But......wait.......OMG! I don't believe it!!!! I'm admiring my handiwork and just noticed that it's not finished! (insert head smack) Seems like I forgot two round thingys next to the word 'disgraced'. Oh good grief! I'm so embarrassed. But obviously not that embarrassed because I'm just going to keep going with this post and worry about those thingys later. HA! But I just don't believe it!

I was so happy last night when I did the last satin stitch at the bottom, that in my exuberance, I took that stinker off the scroll rods so fast and declared another project finished. Well, we'll just count this as a finish, won't we? I'll put the round thingys in later and that will be that! The Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 7 is tonight - GO WINGS! And I'll get some stitching time in then. Not going back to the Shores until next week. I pulled out SB's Queen Bee - should be a quick stitch. Block 5 on Shores seems so stitch intensive, that I need a little play time!

In reading blogs this week (when I could get time for them - and if I missed yours, I'm trying to catch up so bear with me), I was saddened to learn that Jean Hilton passed away. Jean was the designer of some of the most beautiful needlepoint patterns I've ever seen. I have quite a few of her books (not surprising with my stash collection), and I actually did one of her designs called Gleneagle:

I marvel to this day that I ever finished this. It took me nine months of exclusive stitching and I was working full time and had a year old son. I wish that it wasn't behind glass because it really is a beautiful design and some of the blocks warrant a close up shot. She used wonderful stitches and was famous for her use of the Jessica Stitch and I believe she invented one called the Mistake Stitch. So detailed are her designs that in the upper left corner, the middle section is a raised God's Eye, giving that block a 3-Dimensional look. I love all her work so much and am really saddened by the news of her passing.

I have managed to make a couple road trips in the past couple of weeks. I really didn't buy much of anything except an antique looking rooster for my sister's place in Long Island. But I did come across this prim mannequin that will look great in my craft room (still under construction). It's not often you find sewing related things in a prim store:


I also read on Tracy's blog (Passion of the Day), that she has set up two blogs. One for Shepherd's Bush fans, Shepherd's Bush Village, for people to post their SB finishes and another one for the Plantation Sampler, so you may want to check them out.


I have finally decided to do a SAL with Tracy and some others on the Plantation Sampler. I've had this in my stash for 22 years, and last year my Sampler Guild made it one of their projects. I didn't join them at the time because I really stink at SALS. Big Time!!! But then I saw that this blog had been set up and that Margaret has been working on this and I love how hers looks, I figured it was time to bite the bullet. This is going to be a pretty loose SAL, so I think that I can do it. I wouldn't want anyone to put money on my finish of it anytime soon, but I'm going to give it a try.

This week has been busy so there isn't much else going on. Kids got out of school this week, but both are going to summer classes through the end of July - my daughter to a Summer Theater program, and my son wants to knock out two classes so he won't have to take them in the fall - gym (don't we all love gym - LOL), and Economics.

But I do have to tell you about a find my DH came across. My DH is addicted to Sam's Club and Costco. If there was some kind of help group for this addiction he would be a prime candidate (but then again, I have my stash addiction, so we'll just let him have his). I used to love going in there and strolling through the aisles, picking up the latest books, etc. But now DH has this addiction and I don't seem to go but once or twice a year. The kids no longer ask where Dad is on a Saturday morning. My son just says, "Dad must be playing the Hunter/Gatherer role again". LOL It's the truth. He's got it bad. Well, this weekend he came across a real find. At least I think it is. We've been trying to furnish this house since we moved into it 4 years ago. Our family room was just about finished last year (previous post) but we still need a few pieces. DH and my taste are totally different, but he came home and said that he thought he found a table he thought I would like. Well, this is what he found:


He took me back over to the store, I took one look at it and said "SOLD SAYS ME"! The people standing around must have thought I had lost it. I couldn't believe it. Just what I was looking for and without the high cost of a regular furniture store. Our room is gold, black, and red so this fits right in. The top four drawers open individually, and the rest are two doors that open with shelves inside. It's a little less bright red then the picture and distressed. I was besides myself because DH just isn't into that sort of thing, but I had been making noises about filling out the corner. Perhaps he was worried that I would find something expensive, so finding something at Sam's would save himself some moola. I'm sure he'll regret it when the bill comes in that he even showed it to me. He's going to regret it more when I put those decorative touches on it and above it! LOL


Well, that's it for me but I thought I'd post a flower pick (everyone's doing it, so I will too). It's about time for flowers here in Michigan. The way the weather has been I doubt we're actually going to get summer, but I don't mind if it's cooler.

Hope that everyone has a great weekend and gets some stitching time. Again, I really love all the comments and emails that people send. And if I missed your blog this week, I'm getting there. I love reading what everyone is up to and stitching!

Master of Disaster

Does Miss Emmie look disgusted? Well, she does in my opinion. She's my sewing room mascot and has been watching me turn my craft room into a disaster area!

Hence, the name Master of Disaster. Although I guess that should be Mistress of Disaster. You know, you think all this is going to go faster than it does, but then there is all the regular running, cleaning, cooking (why does my family need to eat), gardening (not too much of that - we had a hard frost again last night), etc. So this is a very slow go! Plus, you tend to take your time looking through everything that you've accumulated over a span of years and you come across some charts and wonder to yourself, "What was I thinking!!!!" LOL Then there are those charts you think, "Well, I'll stitch this, won't I"? I finally had to tell myself that with all the charts I love, I'll be stitching for the next bazillion years - so out go the ones that I sit on the fence with. Then there is just the sheer joy of fondling all the stash - looking at all the wonderful things you can stitch - if you only get the time! LOL And all this takes time.

I know that I'm going to be so much happier when this is cleared up. I have cleaned a little bit more since I took this picture. But there is an almost exhilarating feeling to destash the stash, so to speak. I've filled a whole Rubbermaid bin with things that are going to a new home. I'm not sure what to do with this stuff - Ebay or donate to the library for their booksale. I'd love to get some cash for the stuff, but some of these charts date back about 30 years (cutesy geese and bears, etc.), so I don't know if people would really pay money for any of it.

As a result of all the cleaning, very little progress has been on the stitching front.

I've made it over to the right side this week and almost have Eve completed (really need to fill in those leaves on A&E. This is not a hard stitch, except for the fact that there are quarter stitches (can't remember when I did those last), and backstitching in the leaves, etc. So, that, coupled with my not getting to sit down until later in the evening has made for a very slow go. I didn't pick up Shores yet, but I need to so that Block #4 can be finished before the end of the month. Although part of my crazy self has had strange urges to work on VoHRH, HoHRH or Ann Medd. Sticking to one project is something I don't handle well.

Since I've been so stitch-deficient, I thought I'd post a couple more of the quilts that I've done, mainly because one of them hangs in my craft room and since I was taking pictures of the disaster, I thought I'd take a picture of the one in there. I have had a tremendous urge to quilt lately - an overwhelming urge, actually. Probably brought on by all the blogs that I've visited recently. Plus I came across some great homespun and primitive fabrics and a pattern from The Buggy Barn (for those of you who quilt) that I can't wait to take the 'ole rotary cutter to. I'm hoping that my FIL is working on my table as I write this (of course, it would help if the room was painted too).

This is a wallhanging that needs to be backed and bound. I did this for a quilt shop that I practically lived in for a while (they have since gone out of business which makes me sad). I was cranking out quilts right and left and the shop owners asked me if I would do models for their shop. It's a great deal because they supply the pattern, I pick out the fabrics (with their guidance because they want a certain look), I sew it together, and after it hangs in the shop for awhile, it's mine to keep. Free to me except for a little bit of sweat labor!

This is another quilt I did for the shop. It was a Jinny Beyer kit called Mirage and believe me, this was not for the faint hearted. They convinced me that I could do it. Well, I was just stupid enough to believe them, but a couple of the blocks had to be almost all handpieced. Not my favorite thing to do as I've mentioned before. I think I also ran over their deadline by a couple of weeks because it was so complicated. This was a kit that retailed for $200+. Would I have purchased it? Probably not even though I was really drawn to it (I think I was remembering all the quilts I had cut out and that were waiting for me to sew), but since it was "free", except for my labor, I jumped on it. I think it's one of my favorite quilts.

And this is another one I did for the shop. I really like this one a lot. I actually hand stitched the applique onto this which is something I hate doing. It's made with Thimbleberry fabrics which I have a preference for. This is more of a wall hanging size quilt so I basically use it to cover my dining room table on and off during the year.

Well, that's it for now. I doubt I'll get much stitching done this week either. My dental surgery is on Wednesday. I've been told that I can't do much of anything for the next week because of it being a more complicated surgery. Plus I'm not suppose to bend my head for a few days! Now this doesn't bother me from the housework end, but not to be able to stitch! AUGHHH! So I'm on the search today for some things that are small and can be put into the Q-Snaps so I can hold them up and not bend my head. We'll see what happens.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! And thank you again for all your nice comments!

And All I Wanted Was A Flippin' Thread

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a stitchy weekend! I'll explain my title to this entry in a minute! This may be a long entry (with pictures, of course), so grab some coffee (or tea).

It's been a busy week around here! Cleaning, and more cleaning. I actually got to spend more time in my stitching room. I took pictures of the god-awful mess I've made down there, but I'll hold those until I don't have anything to talk about (like that's really going to happen - LOL). Okay, since I know you want to see it - I'll show you a pretty clean closet.

Well, it's prettier and more organized than it was before. I'm kind of hoping that I can convince DH to build shelves in here instead of using the wire shelving, but it works for now. It's been a lot of fun finding things I've completely forgotten about. And also going through some boxes that haven't seen the light of day since we moved almost four years ago. I haven't even started going through the charts yet. DD keeps saying "Oh, I like that Mom", everytime I'd put something in the donation/Ebay pile. Can't get rid of stuff like that!

Anyway, let's get to the stitchy stuff so if you get bored with the rest of my ramblings you can high-tail it off to another blog!

Block #3 is done! YES MAMA! I like this block the best so far! I had the fleeting thought of going on to Block #4 as it doesn't look too stitch intensive, but decided to get out of the water before I turned into a pruney mess. So I picked up The City Stitcher's Adam and Eve and made a little bit more progress on it.

Before:

After:

I absolutely love stitching this. Yes, it was some wonky quarter stitches and backstitching, but I am really enjoying this! I'll probably work on this for a few more days and then put some time into Cape Cod Girls.

Okay, now I'll explain my title to this entry. I needed a thread. Just one stinking thread. Yes, I probably could have subbed in something else, but I'm anal (yes I'm the one with the alphabetized spice rack and my charts alphabetized by designer and then all the designer's charts alphabetized), and I'm damned proud of it. Anyway, I needed the thread so I jumped in my car and drove at least 50 minutes to the LNS. I did try the two needlepoint stores in the area for naught first, though! Anyway, you just can't go into this store (The Rocking Horse) and just buy thread. You just can't. The store has floor to ceiling framed pieces of cross stitch. Next time, I'll take my camera. It's unbelieveable.

Well, you know how it is, you see a chart and think - UGH!!, and then you see it in person - stitched and framed! Well, that's what happened to me.

First off, a couple La-D-Da charts. The Leaping Cat one I saw stitched one-over-one on 40 ct. silk gauze. Now, before you think I'm some kind of nut case, I don't think I'm going to go there, but maybe one-over-one on 32 ct. In The Forest was also hanging there framed and both pictures combined into one. Kind of made me think of Adam and Eve of the rabbit world, so...........need I explain myself here?

After seeing that evil enabler (opps - did I let that fly out of my head), pardon me, Stitching Sister, Siobhan 's Stories to Live By - Eve, I knew that it would be an excellent addition to the A&E wall. But I couldn't stop there, I also got Jonah, because, well......you know.....it goes with the nautical bathroom theme!

Moving right along with the religious theme, I also picked up these two. The one on the right is a book put out by Leisure Arts quite a few years ago, but what makes it cool is that Diane Arthur of LHN did these and for $4.00 and eight designs, I had to have it.

Okay, now this one I ordered from the Online Needlework Show. Sorry the picture isn't better. Have to tell you, that I can't wait to start this - I found a piece of fabric in my stash. But if any of you are familiar with Heaven and Earth Designs, well, that's what the chart is like. But at the rather moderate size of about 5" x 10", it is highly doable. When it's doable is the question.

Then, like I think I'm going to have all the stitching time in the world, I had to pick up these - French Heart and Thoughtful Heart. Mainly because the guest suite is Shepherd's Bush and these are not the normal long samplers. I needed some smaller pieces to balance out the wall. Then there was the To Thine Self Be True by LHN that I just had to have. A quickie is a good thing once in a while! (Okay, get your minds out of the gutter)! DH asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day. No, I didn't tell him a quickie (may hamper my stitching time). I handed him the bag and told him the wrapping paper was in the closet! LOL

This weekend I missed my monthly Guild meeting. Dang, and they had a lot of fun too as Terri mentioned in her blog. Check it out. They had a class project of a Mermaid pinkeep. Our Guild President designed it. It's so sweet! And then one of the women brought her almost completed Dutch Beast, oops, I mean Dutch Beauty. It is truly stunning! But it looks big enough to sleep under. Anyway, the meeting sounds like it was a lot of fun, but I had my reasons for not going. This weekend was the first of my daughter's recitals. She has three.

Here she is in her Jazz costume:

Such a sweetie! That make-up is a little bit over the top though with those cat eyes!

And in her ballet costume. She's been dancing with most of these girls since she was three years old. I remember her with a pull-up on under her tights just in case she got too excited dancing and had an accident! And by the way, for those few that haven't seen her in a while - she's 5"1" tall and her feet are as big as mine! Where did my baby go???

Well, if I haven't bored you enough, I'll probably bore you with this one. It's the continuing saga of my tooth and the cracked root. I finally had my periodontist appointment this week. Prognosis - remove the tooth, do a sinus lift due to bone deterioriation (okay what the heck is a sinus lift - I'd rather have a breast lift, butt lift or face lift - not something that no one is going to see). Then they will implant bone crystals. After a few months, they will put in the implant post so that the new (read: fake tooth) can be put on. Now the total cost of this (and you will understand why I went on the stash splurge now - there will be no money later)- are you sitting down????? $6,700!!!!! For one FREAKIN' Tooth - of which my dental insurance only covers $600. Also, not included in the cost of this is the actual fake tooth that goes on the implanted post! Oh, my aching mouth. Or it will be aching. I'm now on my third round of antibotics and the surgery won't be done until May 20th! Definitely not something I'm looking forward to.

Okay, I hope that I haven't bored you too much. Maybe I should learn to post more often. But I always think that I have nothing to say, and then suddenly it's like I can't stop! Like eating potato chips.

Anyway, hope that everyone has a great, stitchy week! It should be a fun one here - Tuesday DD and I are going to a sheep shearing at a local farm, and Friday I'm meeting up with Terri and a couple of her friends for Girl's Night Out in Holly (antique city). So have a great week and thank you for all your wonderful comments. I love hearing from you and visiting your blogs too!