Cloves and comments

Greetings!  First off - answers to several emails about studding pears. I buy my cloves in small bottles at my local grocery.  The name is Spice Supreme and you can find them online by searching Spice Supreme Whole Cloves.  To make it easier, I'll give the link to one online grocery company where you can order these.  You may need three jars since they reduced the size again to 1.75 ounces, but maybe two is enough for one large pear.  Many have the heads missing which is common unless you order the top quality super pricey.  Those cloves are used on the pear's bottom and I also keep them in a bowl which the pomanders sit in since they are just for decoration.  I only use Bosc pears (or oranges and lemons) and I don't coat with spices.  If you want to, don't until it's completely dried.  The other thing I wanted to mention is if you are asking a question, I'm more than happy to reply. Except you may not realize when commenting or clicking to email, your Blogger settings apply.  Here's two ways to change that if you would like.  First - if you want your comments/emails available for replies, click on your name in the top right corner of the dashboard, then click Blogger Profile (or just go to your Profile page).  When the page opens, click the orange Edit Profile on the top right.  Check Show my email address.  Make sure you hit Save at the bottom. That's it!  Another way to have your email available in your profile - click your name, then Account Settings. Click Edit profile directly under your name, then Change contact settings, check Allow for email/messages from your profile page. Since we're talking computers, the tech came and I'm really happy with him. I have a clean slate, no additional programs, and none of my files could be recovered.  My fault since I tried a recovery disc when he failed to show for the first appointment. Pear charts are lost, all Favorites, photos, blogs, emails, scans and labels.  I may still change Mr. Smarty pain-in-the-pants 7 to Vista.  A very simple trick he showed me to correct the viewing size of blogs and webpages.  You probably know this but I'll tell you anyway.  On your Menu bar at the top, click View, go to Zoom, and make sure it is 100% or increase to whatever % you want.  It stays that way!  No menu bar?  Right click the very top and check Menu Bar.  Now that it's over, again, I'm sorry if I missed a request, failed to post your finished Pear photos, or haven't visited your blog.  It will take a very long while to build up my bookmarks again.  I relied on those easy clicks and can't possible remember all the blog names - I stored hundreds!

Here's the link to the cloves - sorry - got off track. 

http://www.groceries-express.com/default.asp?UPC=7611438025
You can find them in bulk on Amazon and other sites too.

I did get a little stitching time and need to decide on what to have in the bottom vines.  It is charted for your name on the left, and "her work" on the right.  I don't like to have pieces other than samplers with names and it would be a difficult fit anyway.  Because of the lamb and lion at the bottom, I'd like to use Peace, so maybe Peace Love on one side, and Unity Hope on the other.  Same amount of letters so it should balance and fit.  Well I'm glad that just popped into my head because I've been wracking the brain for a while and couldn't come up with anything!  

I hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful day with family and friends.  There will only be a few of us, which means - more pie per person!!!

Thanks for visiting - stay safe!

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Look what I got!

Hello people!  The sun is still shining and the tech kid is coming this afternoon.  Thought I better do a post to let you know.  The next post, whenever it may be, could be from my yard while sitting in broken glass.  Nah.  I'm still in a good mood.  Yesterday, Mark took me to various shops we never visited before, all a disappointment, and I yakked the whole way.  Never shut up.  He just kept looking over at me and saying "uh-huh".  When we came home, look what I found in my mailbox.

I absolutely love it!  Loraine from Sew Be It won the pink giveaway and made this for me.  Because of my computer problems I haven't been visiting blogs and didn't see her photos of the others until today.  Aren't they fabulous?  Thank you so much Loraine!  It's now in a bowl of gourds and walnuts but I really like it against the black plate too.

Here's my meager stitching progress.  My brain is already trying to process the task of making this into a wreath.  The pattern has a button in the center, but I'm removing the center to make a wreath. 

Anyone that is drying pears with me - here's mine.  Already hardened and almost completely dried.  These were more ripe when I studded than usual and they dried faster than ever.  Not sure if that was the reason, but I found a few more nicely shaped (taller and thinner) to work on this week.  Hmmmm.   Maybe one of these would be a nice offering?  Better yet - get the damn programs back to what I understand so I can redo the pear charts!

That's it!  I'm hoping this young man techie knows what he's doing.  Lots of horror stories out there about computer repair.  I'm going to have him work on this one - my only one left - to change the OS so if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why!

Enjoy your Sunday, stay safe, a big welcome to new followers, and happy stitching!

Thank you for visiting!

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What a difference a day makes

Greetings!  I just wanted to tell you something that is a little different.  I'm in a good mood.  Really.  The tech never showed or called, my computer is gone, no recovery yet, but I did make an apple pie and eat half of it last night.  That's when the euphoria started.  I'm sure the pie wasn't the reason and I'm assuming it's just the other side of the menopausal mountain.  Maybe looking at things in another light helps too.  For instance - my loss of all emails, contacts, files, and photos is something that a few generals and the CIA would have given anything for.  Yet it happened to little ole me instead of a few powerful men!  It's all in the way we view events.  So I'm sharing my good mood with you in a little offering.

 These are 66 five meter skeins of YLI silk floss, a few opened, but the majority are not.  I rarely stitch over one or on higher linen counts and won't ever use these.  Not a popular brand, but they are very old and maybe not even available.  Regardless, if you're interested, please leave a comment on this post only, and I will receive them through Mr. Smarty Pants 7.  I plan on giving it a week and then either upgrading to 8 or downgrading to Vista.  Changing the font's size for viewing in Control Panel's Display didn't seem to help with internet sites.  I found a little trick online that helps a great deal.  Hitting the control button along with the + will enlarge the page I'm viewing and using control with - will reduce it.  There's already chocolate smears on the control key so it must be getting a lot of use.   I haven't been stitching since I've been fiddling with the laptops but hope to this evening. The sun is shining, I have half of a pie, a bag of chocolates, and a lot of work to do on labels.  A lot.  But work is good for the soul and being able to do it is a blessing.

Please leave a comment ONLY if you are interested in the floss.  A name will be drawn in one week on Friday the 23rd at 8pm.  Thanks for visiting!

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I am woman, hear me whine

Hi everyone.  Hope you're all doing well.  Several things happening here that have me snarky.  One is the wrist, which was healed and doing well!  The other day...boom.  Worse than ever for no apparent reason.  But what has me even more ticked is the computer crash.  Complete and absolute with no chance of being healed.  Unfortunately, I was almost done with all the new labels after many hours of work over several days, and it failed before the backup.  I lost all recent photos, all emails, the new labels, and the next four pear designs.  Charted, not printed, and not stitched.  

 

This was to be January's and it's all I have left.  If I can recall the Christmas Pear and stitch it in time, I would rather offer that one first.  A tech is coming this evening to attempt file recovery but the HDD is gone for good so it may not be possible. 

We're still doing chores that are interfering with my bench and floss box being built.  One that was not planned and I thought would not take long, was removing the 5 outdoor lights which had faded to a light gray, and repainting.  Wrong.  Took much longer than I expected, but now they show up nicely instead of blending in.  And of course, I'm tired of them and would like something else, but these puppies were costly.  That's why I prefer to buy cheap.  For as often as I change my mind or tire of items, it allows me to give things away instead of holding on because of the loss.

I'm on the Windows 7 and really can't get used to it.  The display is either huge or tiny, the colors are masked by the stupid filter, and my printer will still not work even though the correct driver is installed.  The preview of my post is tiny and I can't get the Papyrus font to show.  Why?  Because it's not installed!  I have to go to those wonderful free font sites and download all my favorites that Mr. 7 doesn't include.  And everything has a pink cast!  I don't understand why I can't open a window from the top tab, why all of a sudden the entire page changes size, and so many other bugs.  Hitting the backspace key wiped out the whole post.  I really dislike it.   I am woman, hear me whine.  I wanted a Galaxy Note or Tab in the 10" but it looks like the $$$ will be going for this crash and attempt at file recovery. 

You know, for a woman that constantly changes, you would think that the program changes would be welcomed. If I had my way, I'd still be using XP!!!  This tech will be sorry he came to my door because I'm asking him to change everything that bugs me. 

So that's all I have and I'm sorry about losing my mail.  If you had requested a box or I was planning to email you with updates, I may ask you to do so again if he can't recover my files.  Ditto with any questions that I haven't answered.   We'll know tonight! 

Thanks for visiting, stay safe, talk to you soon.  And uh.....say a prayer for the tech.

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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.

 If you ever need to translate a blog that doesn't offer it, click on this site and save it to your Favorites.  Just copy and paste the web address you'd like to read and you're good!

  

To translate text only, go to 

http://itools.com/tool/google-translate-text-translator 

to translate an entire website or blog, go to

 http://itools.com/tool/google-translate-web-page-translator.

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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