Just do it

Hello people.  Got snow?  Good grief!  Some areas have been hit hard so am I going to accept my few inches with a smile and be thankful?  Hell no.  I'm crabby and will stay that way.  It's the nature of the bitch beast.  Temps are supposed to rise which is good because every morning my pounding head has to search the house for escaped brats.

 

Yesterday I received a note from Jean at The Attic and the Nash bag is traveling to Mesa as we speak.  It was very quick, not much time to say goodbye, but I'm OK with it.  Adios!  You were a lovely visitor but a little too good looking and neat for me.  So here's the thing - I had a little pang of panic when I realized that really experienced and serious stitchers will see it, maybe look closely.  I think we all feel that our work is never quite as perfect as we would like, our errors are sometimes left in, our placement a few stitches off, the finished seams maybe not be straight.  Let it go.  It's from our hands and no one's hands are the same.  Never be embarrassed or feel it's not good enough.  There's nothing wrong with striving for needlework perfection and many of you achieve it, enjoy competing, and are very proud of your work.  Me?  When it's for my own pleasure, I could care less.  I drop it on the floor, eat while stitching, threaten it with flame, my threads are very uneven and twisted, tension depends on hot flashes......but it's me.  My handwork.  A reflection of my attitude toward stitching?  Yes.  I don't take it too seriously.  A reflection of my style?  Yes.  I prefer things that look old and used.  I've said before, the benefit of primitive pieces is that people don't know if your house is really dusty or if those pieces are old and actually look like that.  Same with my stitchery.  If anyone would criticize your work, just tell them you strive to be as perfect as they are but aren't there yet.

 

If your stitching pleases you - perfect.  If you would like it to be better - go for it.  But if you hesitate because you think it won't be as good as other's - let it go and just do it.  Don't ever think that it's not good enough because as with any work of hands, it will always be different than others.  With many reproductions having error after error of all sorts, we still celebrate it!  Were their stitches perfect?  No.  Maybe after many years they became so, but it didn't make their first pieces any less important. 

 Just do it.  Have fun.  Keep a match handy.

Box blahs

Greetings from a very cold and snow covered street on which a crabby sick lady lives. 

 

 I should have had boxes ready for shipping by now but it's not happening.  One reason is being ill, the other is the dwindling supply of boxes except for a few with warped lids sitting on the shelves.  My dozens of tall ovals are not what I expected, no longer available, and the reason I don't order online any longer.  For the few I have, I went Antrim nuts, modifying to fit shapes (you can see them under the Box tab). The other two are 5" squares with two lid designs.  If a sale will be offered, I will do a blog post with the date and time along with prices before listing them.

The 8" square and 6" round are not in stock at my local supplier and I'm still waiting.  Hobby Lobby breaks the sets apart and sells them individually, will not break open another set for just one or two and I need way too many of one size.  Aren't you tired of these anyway?  I want to do something different and when my brain is no longer fogged, I may come up with an idea.  Because of Jamie at Cricket Bug the only idea in my head right now is peanut butter pie.  I've gained over 5 pounds because ice cream melting in my mouth was the only thing I could swallow.  And I did!  Many half gallons of it but it really did help with the throat pain and burning. 

 

I emailed The Attic a while ago asking if they wanted the Nash bag or my Christmas pear for the auction but never received a reply.  Their newsletter said they were taking donations but I preferred getting the OK from them first before mailing.  They always have such lovely items from their generous customers and stitchers offered for bid .

 

 Time to drink another shot of bad tasting medicine and find a roaming brat.  I heard her jump the barrier so the hunt is on. 

Hope you stay well and have an enjoyable week.

Thanks for visiting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Still waiting

to breathe normally, have my voice return, for tooth and cheek pounding to stop, for reduction of the two cold sores inside my bloated nose, to stop wearing three layers of sweats, to sleep through the night.  A trip to Urgent Care this morning yielded an Rx that makes you vomit.  Oh goody.  I'll have to do that standing up because the pounding pressure will create an explosion if I bend my head down.  Hopefully will start feeling better in a few days.  

 

 

 

Haven't done much at all including stitching.

 

We've had light snow and cold temps so naturally the brats want to spend all their time inside.  I forgot about how they cause a sore throat and sniffles since I was already experiencing much more.  My Land's End order makes me as happy as the Land's End box makes them.  Even more so when I crush catnip in the bottom.

I haven't been reading but did catch a few blogs once in a while.  Hope the week went well for everyone and the upcoming one will be even better. 


The wonderful show in Peninsula Ohio is today and looks like a fabulous gathering of talent.  If you haven't viewed the blog, take a minute to browse some of the showcased artists here.

Enjoy your weekend!


Thanks for visiting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

THANK YOU

to all Veterans, to all who served then and now, and their families that support them.

 

Losing the WWII generation is one of our greatest losses.

 

I will be gone for the week.  I am so sick I can't swallow.  My glands are so swollen I no longer have a neck.  My husband is keeping the ice cream stocked.

 

Later.......

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not much progress on anything

Hello people.  It's a spaghetti and sausage Sunday afternoon for my tired old body.  Exhausted is more like it. My carpet machine is really hard to push and pull and it made no difference in the heavily soiled traffic areas in Carole's upstairs.  It all needs replaced.  I told her to let it go since it's only storage and she can't get up there anyway.  I will have to hire out the first floor including walls because I'm just spinning my wheels.  Her very limited income doesn't allow for a cleaning service.  If she can't get it in order for them to come, then it doesn't get done.  This isn't the first time I've gone through this.

 

My progress on Mary Lamina..

I will be working on boxes this afternoon and will not have as many as I did before along with a few mini, medium, and large journals.  This was an order for Mary Antrim and I only have one more box for this one.  The sampler sold for over a million and the image is in public domain.

 

 

Spaghetti is one of my favorite meals, but I already ate two donuts and a bunch of ranch Doritos.  Such a pig.  I've been talking about seriously trying to lose weight but always put it off for tomorrow.  Mark and I just cleaned the yard of leaves again but there's no calorie burn calculator on the rake handle or blower.  No idea if it cancelled out a donut.

 

Hope your week will be a good one.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Got mail?

Greetings!  The weekend is already here - hope it's a good one for you.

Just wanted to share a few crappy beat up items I found.  The first is a slanted old wooden mail box with full lid and rusted strap hinges.  Probably not too old but I like it anyway.  I have a thing for boxes.

 

Naturally I thought about adding one of my unframed samplers to it.  One fits perfectly.  The inside of the lid has white stains from a previous paint job or what?  I could sand it off I guess.

  While I was playing with it, I thought the sampler might look better on the underside of the lid, and the box filled with smaller pieces, dried oranges, or gourds.  I also found this very long and thin sliding lid box that had a label at one time. Another dirty crappy piece that makes my sister nuts. Really? I've seen your upstairs lady!!

 

I was upset to learn that my favorite quilt shop in New Wilmington is closing.  Very surprised.  I purchased all my fabrics there and she carried the styles and patterns I love.  The other local shop is mostly bright calico, batiks, and nothing I can use.  So disappointed.  Many of the fabrics were already gone because of the closeout sale but I managed to find a few.

 

 My husband is at a retirement get together for a co-worker.  The man owns a large piece of property and like many around here, became an overnight millionaire.  His royalties alone on the ten gas wells will be anywhere from $100 to $1000 per well per day.  They told him to expect around $3000 - $5000 per day but he turned 65 and was planning to retire regardless. 

As for the bag I showed last post, I may email The Attic and see if they would like it for their breast cancer auction. The samplers I no longer cared for and sold, were stitched on linen and custom framed.  One went for $10.  I should have kept the frames!

 

Lots of rain and darkness added to the cold temps and yep, possible snow showers. 

I'll be working on boxes this weekend for sure!

 

Have a good one!

Thanks for visiting.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~