Sweet Liberty

Greetings!  This is the second day of sun, followed by more rain tomorrow.  Mark was golfing all afternoon and I was looking forward to quiet time on my swing.  I finally went outside at 4:15 with an aching neck, sore foot, and dirty mouth.  I made my first needle book following a tutorial I found online, which started about 12:30.  How the hell can such a little item cause me this much aggravation and time?  I will tell you about it tomorrow. 

The winner of the Liberty sack - and this is a real fluke - is  Joanie.  She wrote in her comment that today is her birthday and it would be a nice present...well Random agreed with you!   How's that for coincidence?  Thank you to everyone that participated.  If you'd like to stitch the sack, I posted the chart under the FREE tab.  I wanted a bronzey color and on my linen the 831 looked good.  You can adjust to any golds or browns that suit your fabric.  I also used GAST Uniform Blue instead of 3768 but either are good. 

If you don't want a sewn finish, you can move the border to the bottom and fringe it, hem the edges and stick it on the wall or a basket.

For myself, I would have just sewn the sides, fringed 1 1/2" on the top, pressed it over and tacked it down, added a jute hanger.  I wanted another long thin sack to go with Hannah Haines.  Homespun Elegance has a new design that will go great with this one too.   I prefer it to mine.  Much more my style.  You can find it on her Etsy site here.

 

 

 

 

 I asked Sandra if she objected to this freebie since it has a similar element but she was fine with it.
  

 

 

I plan on stitching the same design I just finished into the needle book.  Originally, it was to be a gift, but I think the second one will just be a little pillow.  I'll also explain why it's not the full design and a lesson I learned.  Not a smidgen as bad as the construction of the !#*&$! book.   Better keep the kids away.   Here's a sneak peek...

 
And....  I'm seeing spots!

 

I hope outdated protein drinks don't give you the trots.  I have lots to do tomorrow.   My stupor of frustration dulled my brain and I didn't look at the date on the bottle until now.

Enjoy the last of what June is offering.  For us, it's water.

Thanks for visiting.

p.s.  Hi Martha!  Thank you!

 

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Sun? What is that?

Good day to you!  Hub and I are exhausted after power washing, scrubbing concrete, cleaning gutters, removing dead plants, repotting others.  Still lots of work to be done but today was the first day in a long while that we had sun and no rain forecast.  That will change again starting tomorrow.  So many of my flowers are dying from the water.  I drilled holes in the bottom of the plastic pots because the drainage holes are deeply indented which creates a 1" water reservoir at the bottom.  No removable tray like the old pots and with 10 days of torrential rain,  there's no chance to dry out.

 

I'm still entertaining the neighbors in my husband's shoes early morning and dusk and there is a big reduction in my slug population.  I'm sure they have figured out by now what I've been doing.  I was surprised to find the creatures in my buckets and containers that hold the pots.  What's left of the flowers and garden is infested with aphids and other pests, destroying all the leaves.

 

I started this project on 36 count (changed every color) and ran into a big problem.  You can probably see it.  But I'll yak about that next time.  My arthritis is screaming from holding that pressure washer wand for hours and even typing is difficult.  It sure seems like this went from mild to dammit quickly.  Is it because I added another year to my "number"?   Regardless, I'm crabby.  Before I was just flashing and bitchy with no patience but now I am flashing and crabby.  The difference?  Bitchy is usually an attitude in response to a question or act.  Crabby is 24/7 sourpuss.  When I get relief from medication, I'm a little nicer, if you give me sweets. 

I was furious with Nit yesterday after I saw him running with a baby squirrel in his mouth.  I tried going into the woods after him but I can't run in Mark's shoes.  I can get Missy to drop the chipmunks and then take them to a safe place, but not Nit.  I know he was raised in the wild but I still get upset.  And I think I'm going to stop washing their water dish because they prefer drinking rain water from a dirty puddle.

 

For those of you trying Affresh, shake it, cover your stains or smear it around, let it sit for at least 5 minutes before removing.  I use a $1 microfiber cloth from Staples (the best!) to dry after rinsing.

 

Time to hit the shower and get the leg up. 

 

Hope your days have sunshine.

 

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Here 'ya go

Not my style, but I hope you like the offer for this giveaway. 

 

 

 

Lined with stars on dark red,

 

 

backed with stars on navy, interfaced for stiffness. 

 

 

 

Drop a weight inside to balance if the fill doesn't allow a straight hang.

 

The chart will be posted when I draw the winner.  But you can leave a comment on this post if you would like to be entered for this finished piece (the flag isn't included).  Make sure you include your initials since so many of you have become no-reply.

 

As for the jelly in the yard, it is called Nostoc.  Harmless but creepy stuff created when your soil can't drain.

 

The winner will be drawn on Wednesday 6/24 at 6pm EST.

Enjoy the weekend as we close in on the end of June.  WHAT???

 

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Wait!!

Not yet.  Forgot about the driver license expiring and need to make a trip tomorrow.  Refrigerator died yesterday, repairman coming tomorrow.  Morning trip to the doc because my foot is like a balloon and so swollen it is almost numb.  New compression and instructions to stay off it for a few days.  Not sure when I will get upstairs to make this into the sack.  Doesn't look bad as a banner with bottom fringe to hang from a rod either.  However I finish it, it may not be listed for entries until the weekend, chart to follow.

 

To no-reply Diane P., yes the nun stitch would definitely stop any raveling edges, and I've also used a plain whipstitch without a problem, using floss or a pulled out linen thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a mystery.  Can anyone tell me what this clear amber gelatinous substance is that appeared in numerous little piles over my yard?  Aliens?  It's not as firm as Jell-O but holds together, and we have no idea where it came from.  Creepy.

 

Busy busy - be back soon with the official entry post.

 

Thanks for your patience!  Listen to me.  Like everyone is waiting on the edge of their seat because this is just so fabulous. 

 

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Almost done

Closing in on the finish - just the light threads to do and then the sewing.  Sewn into what?  A skinny sack of course.  Hopefully offered Wednesday evening, Thursday for sure.  Hope you'll like it!

 

 

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Barometric pressure and minutia

..minutia - you know...trivial crap. 

Hello people.  How's your weather?  We have and will continue to have, high humidity, heat, storms, and rain.  That means the barometric pressure is falling....and my joints are terrible.  Dr. James Fant (University Specialty Clinics) stated  "if the barometric pressure is decreased, then that would allow the inflamed tissue to swell more, simply because there is less atmospheric pressure holding the tissue back. If there are nerves in that tissue, then those nerves would be stimulated by that swelling and that would translate into pain."  Well la-d-da.  Sounds science fictiony but the size of my swollen foot/ankle and my right index finger joints prove his point. 

 

That's not the only reason I didn't get the project done that I wanted to share today, but a big contributor.   I am planning a giveaway of a little design I worked up and wanted to stitch it as the offer.  I would have finished it before this front came in, but I changed it four times.  I have four different ways to stitch it, except for one element.  So I will yak about other things. 

Remember the post on how I stabilize the top edge of samplers when hanging unframed?  I used horsehair braid from JoAnn's.  It's in the boxes on the bottom shelf, notions wall.  Well I bought something else this time, flexible boning.  The traditional boning is not flat and much stiffer.  This is also very stiff, narrow, and there is no way it will allow anything to sag.  

 

 

I put it out in the sun with weights on the ends to get rid of the roll shape from the box.  The much flatter horsehair is perfect for small and medium samplers, but for big girls like Lucy and Eliza, I will slip it out and insert this boning.  Both had double strips and held up well, but I want to test this.

 

I've had this dried grapefruit for a few years, thinking it would make a great pumpkin head for a sewn figure.  Look at the nose on this guy.  Paint the eyes, drill for a neck pole and give him a hat.  But I never will.  Would dried fruit crack if drilled?  It's really hard and thick so I doubt it but who knows.

For those of you with smooth cooktops, I've tried the homemade concoctions for cleaning and they were a pain without great results.  Bought all the top names and did not like the waxy feel left behind or the cleaning power.  Until I tried Affresh.  Oh my.  Shake it, a few drops smeared onto the burned area, five minutes later it is easily wiped off.  They don't carry it locally so I ordered online through Home Depot and had them ship it to my local store free.  Great great stuff.

And if anyone has soapstone water spots, placements rings, all the marks left from anything set on it, let me know how you get rid of them.  It's been waxed and cleaned many many times, tried the oil, it's always looking like a mess.  I thought it may be our water, but distilled, spring, bottled, all do the same.  It looks fabulous when first waxed or oiled, but it needs to be done every three days and you can still see the outline of the ever increasing spots.

Since Budman likes to be enclosed, I threw a rug over the bench to create a little shady cave for him.  He's a happy guy.  So much rain that I had to remove the flower pot from the blue pan that had filled with several inches of water.  I think that's it.  Will pop some Advil and see if I can get this done in the next few days.  If not, I will come up with something else for the offer.  Until then, be safe!

Thanks for visiting.

 

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