The boat people

Hello everyone!  The sun is out, it's not snowing, the rain is over, and I'm finally having time to stitch.   The boxes are all completed and packed - I really hope you will be happy with them.  I know it's hard to purchase from a photo so I appreciate your confidence that they will be worthwhile. 

Not much progress since I've been busy, but I have done a little stitching and should finish the motifs this evening on the Woodlawn (Virginie Cochepin).  I have to say, I've seen a few ugly Adam & Eve figures, but this armless big white woman gives me the creeps.

  Can't wait to start the alphabet, which I prefer to stitch.  I know it's boring, but it requires less patience, a virtue I sorely lack.  Another would be restraint.  I ate an entire bag of Bliss chocolates this morning.   It seems when I'm busy, concentrating, relaxing, moping, crying, distracted, sitting, driving, cleaning, sewing, stitching, painting, blog watching, shopping online, or watching TV, I grab one.  Only those times, though. 

I was gifted with the chart I have been waiting for - Overshot Heart - and I so love it and plan on starting it as soon as Black Santa is completed.  I will sew it into the heart shape instead of framing.  Maybe do a few in different colors and sizes.  Just love it.  Thank you gifter!

A few other things you may not be interested in.  I've made several of those standard benches we all see but decided I needed a place to keep the growing collection of recipes so -

this one has a hinged lid with file hangers.  When I worked in the doc office, we had so many magazines for the waiting room and I copied thousands of recipes.  This is what's left and I need to sort and rid this pile again.  They are categorized of course!

When I took apart my samplers to photograph, I was surprised to find this..

Do you see the marks on the glass where the floss was touching?  It's pretty dirty in there, even though they had the back dust cover on.  Just to show you it's all inside, I made an X on the inside of the glass.  Granted, I smoked like a chimney for years and although I quit over 10 years ago, these were on my walls at that time.   Would that be the cause?  I'm sure it doesn't hurt the sampler, but I found it interesting.  So if you are cleaning your framed glass and it never looks sparkly, this may be why.

This little devil is the one that tore into my hand.  She's in the cat condo styrofoam cooler, napping with her mom.  They are both pregnant I'm sure, since there were several males attacking them a few days ago.  I have to take them in within two weeks and will use a net and gloves if I have to.

Finally, there's this..

Just what I need after a bag of chocolates.  But, there's always a bright side - I am so hyped up right now that I should be able to dust and sweep the entire house in record time.  Greek stew for supper is already done so I will be stitching away shortly!

Have a great week everyone!  Thank you again for visiting and another thank you to new followers.  I have a one year anniversary coming up, and if it wasn't for the encouragement I receive from you, I would have given up long ago.  I can't tell you how much this experience has helped me regain my stitching mojo, and also lift me out of the grief fog.  But it hasn't helped a bit with menopause - so people ..... work on it.  Sooooo......

does this mean there will be a giveaway?  We'll see!!

Box sale tonight

Hi all.  I just posted the page with box photos.  Click on "sampler boxes" in the tab bar under the header photo.  They aren't as nice as I would have liked, but it's been dark and rainy for two days so I apologize for the crap pics.  You can browse all day, and if you would like to make a purchase, I am opening the page for comments at 7:30 this evening.  Again, to purchase, enter a comment with the box # you would like.  If you see that number in a previous comment, it has sold.   I took off the word verification and made the comments visible (fingers crossed) so you should be able to see what has sold without opening any additional windows.  The first comment for a particular box # will own it and I will try to update the photos with that info.  Let's all hope it works!

Box update

Hey.   How are you?   Did you know today was Sunday?  I didn't.   It wasn't until I was snarling about not receiving any mail that my husband said - there never was delivery on Sunday.   I got several emails about the sampler boxes so I wanted to update.   I couldn't figure out how to do this on a blog but did come up with an idea.  I plan on posting a number and photo for each box on a separate page tab (right under the header photo) and you can view to see what is available.  When all are listed to the page, I will post the time for the sale and comments on the page will be allowed at that time.  If you want to purchase a box, leave the box number you would like in a comment ON THAT PAGE, which will also allow you to see if that number was purchased before you.  I will update the page as needed when an item sells.  The photos I took today were really poor so I will try again tomorrow.   Here's a preview so you can see if there's anything you may be interested in beforehand.

Small 4" round boxes

Tall 6" rounds and large, medium, and small ovals

Hopefully I will start the listing tomorrow with decent photos.  Please let me know of any questions you may have before you purchase.  Prices range from $12 to $25.  Paypal, money order or check is fine. 

That's it!  I'm going to stitch the rest of the evening.  Hope everyone has a good evening.  Later...
Edited to add - I didn't state the details clearly.  I will start listing the photos tomorrow and will let you know when the actual sale will start.  It WON'T be tomorrow.  Probably Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday after all photos are listed and numbered and I will post the date & time before the sale begins.

Making progress

Hi everybody.  Thanks for directing me to Mozilla's Firefox.  Quicker, smoother, and I can view Amazon.  Haven't had too much extra time to view blogs today.  I finally, after weeks, have the labels photographed, clipped, cut, copied, pasted, moved, resized, yadda yadda.  Now I have to get my samplers back in their frames with new dust covers.  So this is what I got done today..

Postage is going up on the 22nd of this month or something close to that date.  I couldn't believe what it will cost to ship these lightweight boxes!  Oh well, maybe I'm wasting my time, but I think I will create a page on this blog to see if they would sell.  Probably Friday or Saturday.

I've also been working on the Woodlawn little by little.  I had a neck flare up last weekend and the tingling in my arms is finally better.  Here's my stitching progress.

I got a few emails about the Bird's of a Feather Santas.  You can find them

here.   Except of course for the Gold one.  I have no idea why it's not carried along with the others, but I emailed Attic Needlework and they were great as usual, and had what I wanted.    I had something else to report......but can't think of it.  Oh well.  I want to get some heat on my neck and get off the computer so this was to be short anyway.   Aren't you glad???  No ramblings!

Thanks for visiting and commenting and emailing and reading and following and making a menopausal maniac smile!

Sampler, santa, stash, shrivels, scarves, surprise, scratches

Hiya people.  This post will be all over the place, from stitching to scarf holders to dried oranges to brat cats to stash!  First up, the Woodlawn sampler I'm working on and the color changes.

The alphabet is charted for 223 which is also used in the motifs, and I changed that to 632.  The vine in the border was to be 3045 with 501 and 822 leaves, but I've changed 3045 to 3021, and decided all the leaves will be 501.  Those two color changes will be throughout the entire piece and all others will be as charted.

I also started the Birds of a Feather's Black Santa, and received my Gold Santa!!!  He is done in metallic gold which I will substitute with cotton floss.   Maybe 3045 since it was kicked off the Woodlawn team. 

These are the other charts from one order.  I've always loved the Tulip Heart so decided to try punch needle, and the other charts are mostly alphabet, which I prefer.  The miniature ABCD is done over one but I plan on stitching it over two.   The simple Hannah Haines from Hands to Work may end up on a basket.

 I've had several requests for information on how to dry oranges/lemons.   Here's how it started....I forgot about them in the fruit keeper.  One day I starting cleaning the fridge and found these rock hard orange balls stuffed in the back.  The left one has been drying (unbagged) in the fridge, the right one just sitting out, and either way works.   The one on the right has shrunk considerably and is already hard.  The center of the fruit takes quite a while to eventually lose all moisture.  If you try this, keep in mind that some will be wonky, shriveled, splotchy, and misshapen.  Unless they mold, just keep turning them.  Here are three from the same batch, and one that dried funky, which I don't mind.

 Now for the scarves.  I have a bunch so to keep them handy, I got a small towel rod to fit inside the closet door.  Hollow core doors only have 1 1/2 inches of support around the edge.  If your rod doesn't end in that area, screw it to a 1x4 board and attach that board 1/2" in from the door edge. I plan on a length of loose cord or elastic attached much lower so I can tuck the scarf ends behind it, keeping them from flying around when the door is slammed shut. 

And while putting away the Christmas trees, covered with huge black plastic bags and looking like pod storage from a horror movie, I was surprised at finding a box containing this...

Remember when I showed the original box, but couldn't find the contents?  Well, I found the little Singer, but now can't find the box.  I also found a little quilt that I did along with a bunch of precut squares and strips that I have no use for. 

And finally, the surgery day for the female brat cats hasn't happened, but I came close!  A little too close.  These brats won't set foot in the trap or a carrier (yet they love their cat boxes!), so I grabbed the little one.  The little devil lets me pet her but when I picked her up, she tore into me so fast I never had a chance to wrap the towel around.  I'll keep trying.

That's about it.  I've been working on the sampler labels for the boxes and will have them ready soon.  And something tells me I should be looking at new laptops.  I'm having more problems viewing blogs, freezing screens, and have tried unloading, reloading, update removals, update renewals, tight security, no security, and nothing is making me happy.  I bought a stick-in-the-side-thingamabob and downloaded my photos to it just to be safe.  I asked the Staples guy if any were menopause-proof and he said not to his knowledge.  So until next time, if there is a next time, stay safe, thank you for visiting, and have a great week! 

Winner!

Hi all! Here's the Random Generator's number assignment to the 37 participants, and the number drawn out of those 37....... and it's Peggy Lee!

She was hesitant about being the first entrant, but everyone is mixed together for the drawing so it didn't matter.   Her blog is Kentucky Sampler, so maybe we'll get to see the finished bag one day.  But of course, no pressure Peggy Lee!

I started on the Woodlawn piece tonight with help from Lauren.  I had much difficulty re-charting and trying to determine which yellow was which shade!  She sent me a photo of her finished piece and it really helped.  After all that, I decided to change the color in the border to a brown vine instead of the gold, with all green leaves instead of green and beige.  I got one side completed, and then ripped half out because of a major error.  Not a good start!  I chose a darker unbleached linen.  Well, let's tell the truth here.  There is no piece of linen in my cupboard that is the same as I received it.  They have all been bleached, dried, dyed, bleached again, dried, stained, dipped again, dried, shrunk, pressed, and stored.  Poor things.  The only ones that are untouched are the small pieces of the linen I love the texture, weight, and color of which probably isn't identifiable or made anymore.   I did accomplish something I had planned for today without incident....

Straight from the freezer to hot pan, quickly making a thin crunch of glazing....oh baby.  Almost makes up for the border incident and the fact that Woody Wood****** is back.  Obviously, he's done with football season because he's making the hole large enough now for a basketball. 

This chart has nothing to do with anything but I found it in the linens tonight and think he's a cute fellow. 

 He could be pretty handsome on a nice shade of linen.  I gave away a bunch of these designs with my Ebay sales, but somehow he managed to hide and stick around.  I'm glad he did.  I get rid of too much and then I'm sorry later.

That's it for now.

Enjoy the rest of your week, stay safe, and thank you thank you to new followers!