A little bit of everything

Hello everyone.  Easter being  mom's favorite celebration, she's been on my mind more than usual.  Her favorite things are what I've been cooking and her simple food pleasures came to mind also.  One of her favorite snacks was fresh crusty Italian bread dipped in a good sour cream.  She was definitely a bread and sweets girl and I made bread often.  But her favorite (and mine) of store bought has always been King's Hawaiian.  OMG.  THE best for sweet breads and Walmart carries it in their deli section now.  I also came across some of her sweatshirts.  The stains from coffee and pies and chocolate were hard to keep up with and not wanting to discard her comfy tops, I improvised.  I started using fabrics to cover the stains and some really cool shirts were born.  This is all that's left and weren't the best of the bunch.  I've been doing this to my own denim and cloth shirts in addition to sweats.  Butter and grease stains are easily removed with Lestoil but I believe it was taken off the market.  She had matching sweatpants that had coordinating patches, when necessary! 

 Remember the scary armless boat woman from Virginie Cochepin? 

Some inquired about the design and amazingly, I knew where it was.  The magazine photo of the sampler is very dark but something caught my eye that hadn't before.  Take a look at their arms.  They indeed have them!  The scary woman's arms even extend into the apron part.  Here's the chart.

Since it is sewn to a muslin backing, I can remove it and add the arms but hers won't extend into the apron area (it's smaller than the original) and I will try to give the gentleman on the right his appendages also.

While working on Lucy, I made the mistake of not noting my color changes so I am just checking the symbols to the completed stitching to verify the color.  When doing this, I found something that surprised me.  I didn't catch it before, but there are two X symbols, one is darker than the other, but not enough for me to see that difference in the chart itself so I am following the chart's color photo.   

This is all the further I am, mainly because I hate squiggly borders.  I'm really anxious to get back to something smaller but know that if I do, Lucy will be put aside.  I am definitely putting And They Sinned on EBay soon along with a few other charts since I have no desire to tackle a project that size. 

I came to a decision on the kitchen.  After seeing how much I would like to change throughout the house, the logical plan would be to update without an overhaul.  Instead of messing around with layout changes, I think I can get the look I want with added features, such as the bottom trim/legs on the cabinet fronts, changing depth or height, and adding more cabinets.   I do want the door opening enlarged which is still much less costly than moving it. 

Thinking of making the stove area a different color with different cabinets and adding side pieces to mimic a hutch so I added cardboard wings to see if I could live with it.  The left end cabinet will be gone.  See my slot for cutting boards?  I'm a good designer.   Now I just have to rearrange a few cabinets and get the right people to complete it.  Then paint.  Not looking forward to that.  I'm getting a new counter top and vanity top for my sis and it's always easy for me to choose for others, but I'm indecisive for my own home. Hope I don't change my mind again!

Two more things.

 I had a pleasant surprise.  I forgot I recently ordered new sampler charts and came across them yesterday.  This has happened before and I'm sure it will continue, and if I misplace them again, I'll get to exprience new purchase excitement a third time.  That's bang for your buck.

And I'm asking for your prayers for a very sweet friend named Patti.  Thank you!

I'll leave you with the brat family enjoying their daily cream.  Junior is as big as his mom now and although she rubs and purrs, she still draws blood!  She also doesn't like my petting Junior and takes a swipe at him.  My hub says she's right at home here!

 Hello and a big thank you to new followers.  Honestly, if it hadn't started this blog and felt the encouragement to continue, I doubt if I would have started stitching again.  I've got so many projects of various mediums roaming in my head and it's very difficult to focus on one, which means none get accomplished.  Is that a sign of great intelligence or menopausalness?  Can't we have both????

So thank you to all - have a great week!