In the pot

Dinner is in the crock pot! I will probably pull out some corn and cook that to go with the meat and veggies and we will be set! (we put up corn on the cob earlier this summer - yumm)

Michelle - be careful with those LHN charts - they are addictive! Be sure to let me know when you get your blog started!

Claire - Chele has me beat by a long shot in the stash race!

Esther - The food bill is still crazy - the oldest two are still living here! (well, Brian moved to Illinois for 2 1/2 years, but he came back in January)

Melissa - getting them to stand still for that pic was no picnic! As I said it is nearly two years old, so it doesn't happen often!

My Guys

These pictures are nearly two years old (Thanksgiving '05), but getting the three of them in one picture only happens once in a great while! These days it seems the only time they are all three in the same room together is late at night or the wee hours of the morning (when I'm asleep!) or when there are lots of people around and getting pictures gets lost in the confusion until it is too late. Is there anything better than seeing all your kids together and having a good time? As for getting them to stand still long enough to get a picture, well that is an even harder thing to catch. Timothy is the one in the orange shirt. He is the middle child (and hates to have his picture made - takes after his mother!) Black shirt is Brian, the oldest and white shirt is Jason, my baby (who will be 21 in November - how did that happen?) Yes, he is the one who shaved his head back in July.

Baby boy called last night - at midnight, what was he thinking? Auditions for the fall semester are over and he has a part in As You Like It. Show runs Nov 13-17 so if you are reading this from anywhere close to Nacogdoches mark your calendar and come see him on stage!

Stitching, stashing and thanks!

I've been stitching! Here is an updated picture of Ladybugs and bumblebees. I really love the colors in this one. I got a little stash in the mail today. 3 more LHN charts. I think I am addicted! I just love these little charts. I'm having to restrain myself from starting the Home of a Needleworker one. I pulled floss for it over the weekend. I'm changing the colors because my house is yellow. I'm not sure those are the colors I'll end up with, but it is a place to start.

Thanks for the comments and emails about my blog. I'm having fun with it. I would like to post every day, but it just doesn't always work for me. And thanks for the comments on my pitiful looking cake - it tasted good and that is what counts! LOL

Becky - I do have all the DMC, Anchor and GAST colors. I'm working on WDW and Crescent Colors now. :)

Uh-oh

Made a cake for dessert last night. Uh-oh. First it fell in the middle, then I totally missed the plate when I dumped it out of the pan! How did that happen? I followed the directions (I always do when I bake something for the first time) and baked at 325 for 45 minutes - then had to bake 10 more because it wasn't done. Next time, I'll bake at 350 and see if that doesn't work better. It does taste good though!

Ladybugs & Bumblebees

This is my current project - Ladybugs and Bumblebees by Country Cottage Needleworks. I just love the colors. So far it has been a pretty easy stitch (meaning I haven't miscounted and had to frog!) After a bit of housecleaning this morning I'm hoping to have a sit and stitch afternoon. Hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday!

another wagon

This Coke box wagon belonged to my grandmother. I'm sure she got it at some arts & crafts fair somewhere - she loved going to those. My mother has one just like it, so I got this one. It sits in the guest room. Not getting as much done today as I would like - migraines suck. 'nuff said.

In the window

I tried to post this picture yesterday but it wouldn't post. Anywho - this is my kitchen window. I looked for a piece of stained glass to hang there for at least a couple of years before I came across this piece. I knew I wanted blue & yellow but I just couldn't seem to find what I wanted. There used to be a little antique shop in Bullard (blink you miss it - the whole town, not the shop) and I found this at that little shop. Loved that shop! Just 10 minutes up the road. One day I went that way and the shop was GONE! No sign on the door, just gone. Fast forward several months and I was in Mineola and there was my shop! I don't get that way as often as I used to, but I still love this shop. (it takes an hour to get there now) The last time I was there I bought another piece of stained glass but I haven't taken a picture of it yet.

And - on a happy note, I get to pick up my van today! It's been in the shop two weeks and I've been driving my mother's car. While I am extremely grateful to have her car to drive (hubby's truck has no a/c, and this is August in Texas - a/c is required!) I will be really happy to have my mom-mobile back!

Floss storage

Over on the OOE board, the question of how do you store your floss was asked. So... here goes. I have all the Anchor (solid) colors and they are in bags by numbers, all the DMC (solids) are wound on bobbins and stored in a 'jammers' box. All of the colors will fit with some room for extras. Kreiniks are in another jammers box by color number. My GAST and WDW are stored in floss-away boxes in alpha oder. (this pic is the stack of GAST - WDW are on the other end of the shelf. The other boxes have the misc. threads that I don't have many of and I'm not currently in the process of collecting. So - I can pretty much find whatever fiber I'm looking for. Fabric, charts, etc - not so much!

Fresh baked

cookies! Okay - they aren't fresh this morning, but they were yesterday when I took the picture. Pretty slow weekend around here. A little cooking, a little stitching, not much else going on. Looks like Dean is going to stay south enough to not even drop any rain here, so that is a good thing. (we could use a little rain, but not the kids with high winds etc. that knocks out power!) I know it hasn't been as hot this summer as it usually is here, but I'm ready for fall. Not winter - I don't like the really cold weather any more than I like the really hot weather. 70-75 would be just about perfect. Not that I am picky or anything!

scissor fob

Just hanging out not doing a lot today. Kind of nice for a change. (not that I shouldn't be doing any number of things, but they aren't going anywhere!) Yesterday I pulled the beast (aka - sewing machine)out of the closet and sewed up this scissor fob. I finished the stitching a couple of days ago. I think it could stand a little more stuffing, but as it's just for me, I'm not going to take it apart to add any! I have it on my 'Glory' scissors. It is a companion piece to the needleroll we stitched at the get-away in March. Well, some of us started the needleroll in March, but we won't say when we finished it! There is also a pillow that goes with, but I haven't started it yet.

first stitches

I'm not sure if these pillowcases were my very first stitches or not, but they have to have been pretty close. I can remember stitching on them at my great-grandmother's house one summer and giving them to my grandparents for Christmas that year. I know it was before we moved to Texas. I'm guessing I must have been around 10 or 11? I don't think I have stitched another pair of pillowcases until I stitched the ones a month or so ago - at least I don't remember stitching any. While I was stitching that pair, I remembered these. All I could really remember about them was that they had blue birds. My grandparents are no longer living but my uncle is living in their house and he found these for me. I don't know if my grandmother ever used them or not but I hope she did. They look pretty good on the front but we won't show a picture of the backs! I've learned a lot in 30+ years of stitching! (not that I have perfect backs now, but. . .)

I wonder

what she was trying to tell me? My friend Sarah gave me this little lady for my b'day. (I love it!) She said she thought of me when she saw it - is she trying to tell me something? LOL However - I must say this is exactly how I felt by the time I got home from doing errands this afternoon. I have nothing against people meeting up in the grocery store and chatting - I do it myself, but do you have to spread out and block the whole aisle? It is just irritating when you have to go around three aisles to get to the end of the one you wanted something from because there are meet 'n greets going on everywhere! You see people waiting to get by and yet you don't make a move to let anyone pass. Common courtesy people!
Okay - now that that rant is over. . .
Tonight is stitch night. I have finished the last couple of things I was stitching on so I'll have to decide what to stitch on tonight.
So, I think this little lady is a hoot - if I could figure out how to get a picture there, I would use her for my profile pic!
Hope wherever you are it isn't as hot as it is here - it makes people (well, me) cranky!

Sisters

Today is my baby sister's 40th birthday. She will love me for posting this picture, but what are sisters for? (and I can't believe I'm actually posting a picture of myself here) We live in the same town and people are always getting us mixed up - I don't see it but it happens all the time. If nothing else, she is a redhead and I'm not! Not sure how long that red hair will last - she has two teenage daughters and the oldest is starting to drive. Oh how fun!
Happy birthday, Missy!

Framed

I showed you this stitchery a week or so ago, but now it has been framed. As I said before, my friend, Sherry, stitched it for me. I met Sherry when she opened a needlework shop in Mineola about 5 or 6 years ago. I would drive over at least once a month - it was a great shop! Sherry closed the shop almost 2 years ago but we have remained great friends. She is a special person and I am blessed to have her as my friend. Love you, Sherry!

Happy things

This shelf is on the wall above our bed. My hubby built the shelf for me and all the stitched pieces on this shelf were gifts from friends. The blue shirt was my hubby's and the white shirt was mine. The hat and booties were crocheted by my great-grandmother for my oldest son - I'm pretty sure they are the last ones she crocheted. (she never finished the matching blanket) The pictures on the right are my boys - each as they were graduating from high school.

a 'former' cover girl

Well - not me but my stitching! A long time ago (15 years more or less) I stitched models for The Needlecraft Shop. This set of three towels were the first thing that landed on a cover of one of their magazines. (this magazine is the Jan-Feb 1994 issue) They used to publish two cross stitch magazines along with a couple of plastic canvas ones and I think crochet. Sadly, they no longer publish a cross stitch magazine (as far as I know) I would stitch the item and turn them in and most of them I never saw again (except in the magazines!) but this set of towels I did get back to keep. I have them hanging in my bathroom from a shelf my dad built for me several years ago.

Stitch night

Tonight is stitch 'n gritch night and it is my week to cook. I got up early to make chicken salad and brownies http://cherryhillcottage.typepad.com/cherryhill_cottage/ (recipe from Tina's blog - July 15) so that would be out of the way and I could spend some time in Tyler doing errands and shopping after my haircut and not be rushed. Well - my van kept getting hot on the way over so I opted to not chance getting stuck in Tyler traffic and just came straight home. Rats. Oh well - probably saved me money in the long run (assuming replacing the thermostat fixes the problem - if it has to go see a mechanic, probably not!)

The chicken salad recipe is from my friend, Sherry. She used to have wonderful stitching retreats (weekends) at her home and she made this one weekend.

3 chicken breasts, cooked & cubed

3/4 cup diced celery

1 cup seedless grapes, halved

1 can Mandarin oranges, drained

Mix: 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2T. dried parsley

1T. lemon juice

1T. dry ranch dressing mix

Salt, pepper to taste

Pour over chicken & fruit mixture. Chill. Mix in 3/4 cup chopped walnuts. Serve as salad or on croissant rolls.

I will admit I sampled both- yumm - wouldn't want to take anything not fit to eat!

Passion Flowers and missing needles

So, I started these new pillowcases last night. I usually only stitch with one needle, but part of this is stitched with two threads, part with three, so I was going to change needles. When I picked up the package needles flew everywhere! They are NOT secured in the package! I can account for all but one of the needles - I'm not positive how many there were in the package to begin with as it was an already opened package - I know I had taken one out to use on the last set of pillowcases. Oh well - if I end up with a needle in my foot (or behind - some of them landed in my chair) I'll know I was missing one! This orange hoop has stitched many a project over the years. For a long time it was the only one I owned! I stitched everything with this one 6" hoop. That was before the internet came into my home and I learned about Q-snaps and scroll frames. (and linen and hand-dyed fibers, oh my!) Yes, my stash has grown a lot since the internet came to live here.

Finished. . .or no?

I managed to get the rest of the sampler stitched last night (except for the two stitches for the door handle) but I still haven't decided on the band near the bottom (with the 3 flower motifs) Some people were putting their pets there. I can't decide. I guess I will spend a few days looking at it and going through charts to see if I come up with anything. I kind of think it needs a little something there. I'm also thinking it may need a little something at the top between the house and verse - maybe a few simple birds or something. Just looks a little bare to me. (it is still on the scroll rods and hasn't been pressed - how it got that huge wrinkle while on scroll rods, I don't know!)

On a totally different subject - it's my week to cook for stitch night and I have no idea what I want to make. I'm leaning towards brownies for dessert (I always pick dessert first!) but have no idea for the meal. We are stitching on Thursday this week - I need to decide in case I have to pick up anything at the store.

A birthday giftie!

Don't you hate it when the day just gets away from you? I intended to post this pic Friday evening and here it is Monday morning! I had a (belated) birthday lunch with my friend, Sherry, on Friday and she gave me this little stitchery. Isn't it wonderful. She does such beautiful work. I'll be taking it in to pick a frame today and will show it again when it is 'finished'.

We went to see The Bourne Ultimatum on Saturday night. (note to self - when going to a 7pm showing on opening weekend - arrive early!) We both liked it but hubby wants to go again and view it from a better seat. We got there late and ended up sitting on the second row. Not good.

I worked on the Sunday Sampler yesterday afternoon. I didn't get started until late in the afternoon due to a migraine. If I had started earlier, I might have actually finished it but I have one row of specialty stitches to do and I still need to re-stitch that center flower I had to frog. Will see how far I get tonight but I definitely should be able to finish it by the end of the week!

Second Sunday Sampler

Stitch night got postponed at the last minute (we will be stitching tonight) so since I was stitching at home, I worked on the Sunday Sampler a bit. I finished the row of lazy daisy stitches - and not without a few choice words! I always end up with knots in my thread when I do those and since I'm stitching with silk, getting the knots out without ruining the thread was tricky at best. We started this sampler in 2005 at Eye Of The Needle in Mineola, Tx. I think there were about a dozen of us that started it together. Sherry Vaughan (EON owner) designed it and we got a new section at each class (classes were on the second Sunday of each month) We were all doing the same sampler, but they are all different as we each picked our own fabric and threads. One lady even did her sampler horizontal instead of vertical. Unfortunately, EON closed before we finished but after many months we managed to have a couple more classes and we now have all the sampler chart. I'm hoping we get a chance to meet again so we can see how everybody's completed sampler looks. (I'm not sure if anyone has completed yet)

This pic is of the bottom section. Not the best pic - it is still on the scroll frame. I had to frog the middle motif as it was off-center and I haven't put it back in yet. I still have the specialty stitches after some of the poem, then I'll have to decide if I want to add anything else between the flower motifs.

Sherry and I got to be great friends while she had her needlework shop in Mineola. I miss the shop, but I treasure the friendship we have. Life often gets in the way and we don't see each other as often as we would like, but we have a lunch date for tomorrow!

Off to grocery shop - fun, fun.

Little House Needleworks

Got two new threadpacks the other day. These include the Crescent Colors which is a nice way to build CC stash! I seem to have a thing for LHN lately. I think every order/shopping trip has had at least one LHN chart. For some reason, I've yet to stitch one! I think I need to put one in my stitching bag soon.

Saw the new Harry Potter movie last night. I'm not into the whole 'Potter mania' thing. I've not read any of the books, but I've enjoyed the movies.

Tonight is stitch night - still haven't decided which project I'll stitch on. I would like to get some more time in on the Sunday Sampler, but it is on a lap stand and kind of cumbersome to carry around. Several projects in my tote bag, so I guess I'll just see what is calling my name when I get there.