Sudberry tray, a table, trees, and frogs

Hello all you wonderful people taking the time to visit with me.  Hope all is well.  My computer died yesterday, blue screen and all, then resurrected with a crazy beeping sound.  Maybe this is why I'm having problems printing.  Still unable to comment the majority of the time, but I think the new router is the culprit since it's claiming I'm offline even though I'm not. I have to make sure all my labels are saved so I'm thankful it's back on.  If you are interested in the Sudberry tray I showed a while back, click on the "for sale" page under the header.  Sorry-sold.

Since Mark is on vacation, we've been working on Fall chores (window washing, spouting clean-up, leaf blowing, grass cutting, furniture storage, yadda yadda) and I'm only stitching in the evening, between Bio-Freeze and heat wraps.  Here's where I am after removing the right side of the wreath's vines TWICE.  Now I can finally move on and get this finished.  

This is the new table I purchased with the wood bowl the other day.  It's had most of the paint scraped from it and I'm glad now that I finally brought it home after three days of indecision.

We had such beautiful weather for two days so I took advantage of the warmth and sprayed Dawn on the grapevine tree and hosed it off.  It's a much darker brown now without all that dust!  I should have made a smaller one.  I originally made this for the front deck, but never did put it out. 

While I was putting pots and tubs away into the garage storage, I decided to bring down a few trees.  I'm giving the others away and only using the small ones.  I decided on these seven.  Yes, seven.  Keep in mind, some are left as is, no lights, no ornaments. and all are small.  I'll be sticking them into baskets and crocks soon.  Mark was golfing and when I was taking the largest one down the steps, I went down two instead of one and got both shins.  Yikes.  Missed the incision by an inch.  I don't know why I'm concerned about the blue bumps from the varicose veins because they always blend nicely with the bruises. 

Our day started with Gas House Eggs.  We toast the bread first, then cut the hole, and spread with melted butter mixed with lots of Worcestershire sauce.  Sprinkled it on the eggs, too.  Our day would have ended with chocolate bars dipped in peanut butter sprinkled with crushed pretzels if a piggy hadn't chowed down all the Halloween candy.

Haircut again tomorrow and hopefully label printing.  I need to devote several days to printing and painting and since it's turning cold and rainy, that may be very soon. 

Have a great start to your week, thank you for visiting, and stay safe!

Progress, purchase, and pears

Hello!  Just a quick post to show you a few things.  I never know how I will come down from a menopausal blitz.  Sometimes it's a calming warm fuzzy feeling, sometimes it's a silly laugh fest, sometimes a boo-hoo day of crying jags.  With the recent upsetting news, this time became an urge to shop.  So I've been ordering more online stitching items and charts, and found a few items at my one and only antique mall. 

Here's two that came home with me.  I also purchased a single drawer little table that I will show next time.   This bowl has a nice lip and the sugar bowl is pewter.

I received an email from Sara, you can visit her blog here, along with a photo of the three pear designs.  Thank you Sara!   The next one is ready and is all verse, but I think I should try a Christmas design, so we'll see what shows up on the 1st. 

She also has a sweet finish of The Little Stitcher's free chart which you can find here or visit The Little Stitcher's great blog here.

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And in case you are interested in studding a few pears, here's the 10 day progress.  You can see it's darkened and shrinking, and at this point still mushy.  It can be gently shaped at this point or even a few days later.

Now for my progress....

The angel's skirt is charted with a U symbol that I couldn't find anywhere.  It appears to be the same 355 that's in the flowers, but I used 3777 for a little more depth.  Real departure for me, but I enjoy these colors.  All in all, going pretty smoothly!  And I love it. 

I had the packing removed from the gum surgery, my ultrasound for the leg showed no clots and a successful surgery.  Now it's just 8 sessions of injections, two weeks apart, so I'm glad this is all behind me.  No change with my cousin, and thank you all for your concern.  She has been transferred to an excellent rehab facility in Roseville, CA, only ten minutes from her brother in Sacramento.

That wraps it up for me. Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.

Thanks for visiting, stay safe!!

Happy stitching.

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Change of plans

Greetings.  VOTE!  For my guy!  Long line early this morning and everyone liked my hoodless hoodie.  My plans for EVLA next week were changed quickly when a slot opened for this morning.  Since my leg was still mapped I was the only one that could be added to the roster.  I jumped at the chance to get it over with and had it done today.   Wasn't as painful as the first leg.  But it is now which is fine with me.

There was also a change in stitching plans.  I finally found the Santa charts that were missing (I forgot I gave a group of PS's away in an offering!) and this was lying beneath.

This kind of fits the bill of wanting to work on a sampler while adding to the Christmas decor.  I had Mary Beale's Sampler Wreath, never stitched it, and I believe it's gone forever.  It's been years since I've seen it.  No longer available but Mary's site still has this one and other ornaments,  I think.  If you've never visited her site, click here and be sure to click on Linda's trees to view the sampler trees.  I can't believe how many floss colors are required for this design but I'm ready to start.

My boxes came in and it's a win/lose situation.  The boxes are perfectly shaped, but they are slightly smaller than the ones I've always used.  Maybe this is why I can't get the others - everything else is being made smaller and this could be the new size.  Even my haircolor is now 1.84 ounces instead of 2.0.  Really?  1.84?  Here they are stacked among the others and you can see the little bit of difference, but they can make a stack of 6 because of the change.

 

I could use the same labels and no one would probably notice the difference if I had shut up.  This is the newest size and I love it.  It's the size of the bottom of the stack as a single and higher.  Can't wait to work on these.  Sending this shipment back would be costly and since I can't find them elsewhere, will probably keep these.

The wireless connection to the printer is still a problem, and if it wasn't so heavy, would have been out the window by now.

I'll work on fixing that or replacing it so I can get to finishing the boxes. 

Hopefully, I won't lose interest in the new stitching project, but lots of color changes make me nuts.  As I've said before, I'm a stitch wimp!

I hope all is well with you and yours. 

 Thank you for visiting.

Stay safe and stitch happy.

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Not more hoodies!

Hi everyone.  I still have continuing computer problems with an uncooperative printer.  My boxes haven't shown up, I'm still unable to comment on many of your blogs, and I'm flunking verification like never before. Then there's Halloween which was to be Wednesday.  Much of the candy was gone before the trick or treat hours, but when no one showed, it was all gone by Saturday.  Which it turns out, was the day of trick or treating since they postponed it from Wednesday and didn't tell me.  I ran out and bought more candy, no one showed, I ate it again.  As for stitching, I completed two more new pear designs which I don't want to show until I post the charts.  I hope you'll like them.

 I decided to work on a Prairie Schooler Santa and will start on him tomorrow, probably the largest design in this leaflet.  I really don't look forward to going through linen for a sampler right now after the problems with the last choices.  What's kept me busy for a day or two is changing my hoodies again.  I didn't use tapes or binding or much time to do this.  SO much better!  No hood in the way of my purse strap and I can wear a scarf if needed.  Here's what I did this time. 

Folded the hood to the inside and started pinning while making sure it lays flat without excess.  This leaves a very short collar at the back which is fine with me.  The neck opening is larger because of the hooded style but I always wear a turtleneck or scarf so it's not a concern.  

Once it's pinned, I machine sewed with matching thread in the ditch on the right side using a basting stitch. Checking to see if it lays OK, I then stitched the top edge.  Using the basting stitch is important for all the areas, and keeping a slight tension on the fabric keeps it smooth.

 Then went back and stitched in the second ditch. Cut off the hood. The End.

Here's the finish and another that had pull ties. 

The neck as I said, is a larger opening with a short back collar.  But it looks neat, is much easier than trying to make a regular collar, and no more hood in the way.  The pullover hoodies I changed last time are working out great, but the pink jacket I changed to a regular collar will be redone to this shorter version.

Mark is off for two weeks and we'll be getting some things done around here, my EVLA surgery is next week, and the second round of injections is this week.   I worked up a plan for a bench that will help with the stitching clutter and am anxious to see it made.

I hope the desperately needed help to Sandy victims starts soon.  What the heck is going on?  All talk and no action?  I understand that not everything can be done at one time but no help at all is unacceptable.  

Thanks for taking the time to visit with me and welcome to new followers.  Sorry for not having more to show.  I'm so disappointed that my sampler start didn't work out.  My mind is also on my dear cousin who suffered a massive stroke last week.  She moved to CA but we talk all the time and laugh much.  My sis and I have so much fun when she visits.  She can't move, can't speak, and our everyday tasks have become a blessing when we realize how lucky we are.  She is aware of what's happened and can do commands with her left hand, but nothing is improving.  Being in pain and able to express that, treat it, or deal with it, is still a blessing compared to being a stroke victim. 

 If the computers and router cooperate, I'll be back in a few days.  Until then, stay safe, be thankful for everything you feel, and every stitch you make.

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Sampler Pear III

Hi everyone.  I may be outside burning linen, charts, and threads tomorrow if things don't improve, so I thought I should post the new month's pear now.  The chart to print is at the bottom of this post and if you don't want to read more of my mood ranting, just scroll down. 

I tried starting a sampler on three  four different pieces of linen and instead of having two rows completed, I don't even have two letters.  I am so disgusted.  The chart is shown on a darker gray/green linen and I dyed several pieces which looked perfect with the light floss colors.  But I can't stitch! 

 One linen is so thick and goofy, I can't even get a needle through easily.  What is this crap?  Look at those thick threads.  I have thinner fringe on my knitted scarf.  I can barely see the thin ones and this yard is gone.  I'm in no mood.  The other three linens are also perfect colors, but I'm having so much trouble. Two are similar and have a weave with very fine threads which are difficult for me to see clearly on a dark fabric.  I'm messing up every few stitches.  Another piece has that honeycomb look to the weave that I have trouble with. They're also too limp, fine, and not what I like to stitch on.  I like heavier, substantial fibers, with an easily recognizable weave.  I don't want to search for that barely seen thread.  It should be enjoyable, not work, not frustrating.  Tomorrow morning, I'm pulling my rough stuff and dyeing a piece and ridding the rest.  No looking back! 

So here's my lastest method on dyeing.  I blend several colors to get a nice shade and instead of it going down the drain, I put it in these wide mouth plastic jars.  So now I just drop in the piece, and shake it.  I even have a few that are just one color.  I store them in a plastic tray and they are ready whenever I need to dip.  So much easier. 

I happened to see this little angel while browsing Mosey 'n Me and thought it was adorable.  I could probably fish those stars out of the trash that I threw them in yesterday!!

And here's the boys coming in for a sip of cream. 

Sorry I'm still bitching.  This mood is a doozie and lasting longer than most.  My wireless printer still isn't working properly with the new router, and neither are the two computers which doesn't help.  My box order is coming in Friday - hope it's a bright spot to end the week on.

Thank you for putting up with my menopausal rants and taking the time to visit.  Still hoping all those affected by Sandy are getting help for their difficult situations.  And here's the chart -

New charts

Hello there.  My Essamplaire order came in!   So here they are - all small to medium, more colorful, most with borders.  My last order from Homespun Samplar contained simpler marking samplers with a few exceptions.  This order is a little different.  When starting Eliza Pumroy, the very bright colors turned me off immediately and those are the threads I dipped into a touch of Pearl Gray dye to tone down.  Well, true to form, I'm doing a 180.  Maybe bright on a darker linen isn't such a bad thing.  I will follow these new charts' recommended colors to have a few bright spots among my pieces.  Borders are not my cup of tea either and although I love the designs, do not like executing the stitches.  Small areas of different colors, stopping and starting, is what bothers me which is probably why I don't stitch motif samplers.  So what did I choose to order?  Designs with borders, just in case.  Changes have become a way of life and preferences, just like the kitchen layout, can't be set in stone.  In fact, I came up with another kitchen layout, completely opposite of all the others.  Glenna said "indecision = paralysis" and it is so true.  Kitchen, paint colors, samplers, fabrics, siding, windows, you name it.  Time flies by and nothing is accomplished.  On to the stash.

And the final chart is not what I ordered, and not to my liking.

I may browse again today and reorder my original choice if I find a few more.  I dyed linen this morning (for the above Betsy Gill) and will show you a few things about that and also post the third pear chart in upcoming posts. 
 Going through the linens I realized that most are unbleached and too gray for me.  Remember this photo of my inventory showing the differences yet they are all unbleached, raw or natural?  I see more bleaching and dyeing in the future, even though I said I was done.  I don't think I have a choice.    

 That's all I used in the early days but prefer the softer tan of the right side or even the center piece.  Belfast's tan is nice but I prefer 28 or 30 count, not 32.
So I'm pitching again.  I gave away basic charts and threads, and selling for 99¢ on Ebay is a waste.  Paypal takes 30¢ per transaction plus a % and there's the selling fee to Ebay so it's really not worth it.  Buttons and charms are already in the trash along with some threads that I will just never use.  I'm getting down to the bare bones and that's fine with me.  Too many things taking up space and adding to choices = indecision = paralysis.  That's all for this post.  Just show and tell.  Well ..... show and gripe. 

Prayers for everyone in Sandy's path.

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