Almost!

If I hadn't been tied up with sorting stuffed cabbage for family and freezer, the sack would have been done.  I'm sorry I didn't go brighter on the stars but maybe that would have been too stark.  A darker green on the sack wasn't visible, maybe backstitching will accent them.  Then again, have a piece of candy and don't worry about it.  Wait until it's finished!  May just be enough contrast, muted, not eye-catching. 

 I love dark linens, but doing a design like this can really create problems with color.  In a sampler, anything goes, but I didn't even consider the sack when choosing this linen.  From now on, I will try to choose floss before starting.  Not many color options and this odd Gunmetal blue was a bugger.  Charcoal Belfast would have been a cinch.  His cane will just be a brown of some sort.

Took the laptop back to Staples and a very nice tech checked it and said .... you need a new modem from the cable company.  After hours and hours, no one from any of the other tech help mentioned it.  So I went to TWC and changed to a new modem, the new laptop works.  Unfortunately, I can't receive emails, comments, updates.  The only thing I'm receiving is heartburn.

 

Not one little trick or treater again this year.  We remember when the streets were filled with kids, we saw very few for the last 10 years.  On the way home from getting the modem, we did see a small group in town, a teenage mother was costumed and had an infant in the stroller. 

 

I worked on a few sets, thought I had 10 left but I only have 7.  One is very colorful and being a drabby crabass, you would think I wouldn't like it.  I do.

 

 

 

Hoping to get them attached and sprayed tomorrow but we've got to take Carole to Mercer again and then Apple Castle.  THE best cider.  But we haven't visited White House Fruit Farm in Ohio (http://www.whitehousefruitfarm.com/farm-market) for a few years, maybe they are as good or even better.  Both have apple orchards and make their own, White House is much larger with wonderful varieties of condiments, popcorns, veggies, everything. 

 

Bud's worn out from raking leaves.

 

 

Have a good week. 

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Am I the only one

that's not a big Halloween fan?  Maybe being witchy all year makes the day feel like all the others.  If you have fun and enjoy the "holiday", be safe!

 

From Wikipedia...

Halloween is the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (also known as All Saints' or Hallowmas) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November, thus giving the holiday on 31 October the full name of All Hallows' Eve (meaning the evening before All Hallows' Day).

 

I got the camera hooked up to this old croaking laptop and it worked.  After changes galore, I decided on 3011 and 832 for the bag with stars.  It looks pretty darn good, but horrible in the photo.  Shouldn't take too long to finish now that that is settled.  Lots or errors in the sack so far, so I decided to count/stitch vertical instead of horizontal, which I did to count/stitch the stars.  See how obvious it is when I use two directions?  Too bad.  Not taking it out again and my fault for not remembering that this is bad idea.  Should be finished soon. 

 

It won't be easy because my extra sharp paring knife went into my right thumb when taking the thick rib off the cabbage for this...

 

But I'm anxious to get him off the Magma so I'll take a pill and move on.  Did I ever tell you that I sliced the top of my finger off on a mandoline slicer?  I grabbed the piece and stuck it back on, taped it, babied it, and it stuck!  Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the way the fingerprint lines were positioned.  Looked weird for a few years but eventually, it corrected and except for the perfectly round ring from the scar, my print rows are back in sync.

 

We're going to have a few warmer days this week so I will try to get the corner squares sprayed (outside) and finished.  I only have nine or ten left. 

 

Giving haircuts and rides this week.  I hope the new laptop will be in before Wednesday and the setup will go smoothly.

 

Happy Halloween to all - stay safe.

 

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November?

Are you kidding me?  I've lost too much time with electronic device failures and issues.  I remember changing the desktop to October and in a few days, it will be changed again.  Do you use Circa Home Living's calendar desktops?  Love them.  You can find the current month and all future offers on their blog.  Just click on the photo, then right click, Set as Background.  https://circahomeliving.blogspot.com/

 

After two days of my new computer, trying desperately to get online, hours with Belkin, Microsoft, searching Windows solutions, trying so many different fixes...... none worked.  Staples gives 30 days of free tech service with purchases so I tried them.  He finally gave up and said to return it to the store.  Days wasted.  You have no idea how wild a crabass looks when she is frustrated.  Now that I know I am done spinning my wheels, I can relax a little. 

 

 So what do I do?  Remove Santa's beard and start over with another color.  Much better.  I am having trouble choosing a color for his sack since the dark linen doesn't allow my preferred colors to show.  Burlappy tan would blend with his coat's trim and I am leaning toward a gray green.  I've seen this design completed and all with a lighter linen than I am using.  Looks great.  Hope I didn't make a mistake.  I just ordered two more of her Santa designs, Country Santa and Primitive Santa.

http://teresakogut.com/store/cross-stitch/

 

Everything from October was lost, even what was saved became corrupted, so if there is an order I failed to ship, an email I haven't answered, please let me know.  And I can't remember who it was that offered the address of a stitcher needing supplies.  Could you please send it again?  It pertained to a group on Facebook.  It reminded me that I had requested to join two other sampler groups (Facebook) and .... I guess I'm not wanted!  That's OK.  I'm not that enamored with Facebook and its made up stories and false information and boatload of nasty.

 

November.  Golden Girls and Frazier are gone until January!  Time for channel surfing.

 

Have a good weekend.

Thanks for visiting.

 

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And now....

it's the computer.  Saturday the newer Dell laptop with it's second new hard drive, passed on to the recycle heap at Staples.  So very good of them to offer free recycling for printers, computers, cords, peripherals.  It happened during the work on the latest group of corner labels, and everything in that file became corrupt.  I went back in and retrieved my contact list, pictures, and favorites.  But the computer I am typing this on is emergency backup, not reliable.  No sense transferring anything until I get a new laptop.   I can't email without contact lists and I can't show photos either.  Shopping for another is not something I want to do.  HP is out and that's what the majority of stock is, maybe order another Dell, or get a cheap one since it seems they have all needed drives replaced in short time, paint comes off the keys, and the touchpad bar sinks in and quits working.  Well, that may have something to do with my very light touch from my menomanhands.  I would probably crack a touch screen.

 

Marti has no idea what a blessing her chocolate was!  It never made it to the basement where I keep the stash (pretending that the trips up and down the stairs burn those calories).  The wrappers I thought were brown, are in fact black.  Once I got further into bag, some were orange background.  I have a colorful mess of little red, black, and orange foil balls throughout the first floor which delights those damn cats. 

 

As for the Santa that you can't see, I am disappointed that the thread's shading is not even noticeable in 3/4 of this skein.  It appeared to be on the card, but not so once the thread was laid out.  I like the color, but the areas are too pronounced between very light and very dark.  Removed some, added a darker thread, but it doesn't look random and is a stark contrast.  So I've decided to use the brown Ranger ink pad and get the look I want when his coat is completed, before the beard and lighter threads are stitched.  Just a light touch with a soft artist brush to create a slight variation.  Not sure how it will take on the reds so I'm saving the floss scraps for testing.

 

Have a good week everyone.

 

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The fricking Fall giveaway winner

and a few other things.  First things first.  Paula's name was chosen as the winner, her entry was through email.

I can reply to your entry Paula and will do so soon.  Thanks to everyone that entered.

 

Do you remember the Death By Chocolate Zucchini bread?  Just wanted to tell you that yes indeedy it freezes well.  Came across it while searching for something else and it was wonderful.  Had my doubts about freezing because of the sort of dry and crumbly texture but it thawed moist and luscious.

 

I received two items in my mail today and both were a surprise and a delight.  Just so I don't run out of my stress relievers, Marti filled my jar with dark brown treats.  Packed in orange and black with a matching card!  Don't know what I did to deserve this!  Thank you so much Marti.  I think the dark brown foil wrappers will be less conspicuous than the bright red I leave everywhere.

 

 

And another gift from Lori!  Even though the poor girl had her order switched with another, she's gracious enough to send me this.  My first beaded fob.  Love it!  The sweet owl bead in pink is a reminder of my accomplished stitcher SIL, lover of owls, a pink warrior gone too soon.  Thank you Lori.

 

Two wonderful surprises today!

 

I had a few minutes to peruse The Attic's newsletter and my eyes popped when I spotted this.   This is the Ann Marsh Sewing Roll from The Examplarery.  Kit form and completely filled with stitches.  Absolutely stunning, not something I believe I could stitch.  The kit is pricey because of the materials involved, and for some reason, silk and I do not play well together.  But I just couldn't stop thinking about this remarkable project.  Odd isn't it, when I can't even get a chubby Santa finished?

 

I'm still trying to get the last few (and I mean few) boxes completed, journals, and whatever else is left.  

 

Working on Santa this evening after removing much stitching because of an error.  That's OK, nothing new, and I didn't lose my cool. 

 

Have a great weekend folks.

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Plan B

No sale.  Not enough to fuss with.  I will make more and if they don't all sell, that's OK too.  So instead and until then, if you would like either of these sets, you know the drill.  Leave your initials in a comment on this post to choose ONE of these sets, your choice.  If you are AOL or Yahoo, please email your entry because they do not come through and it takes quite a while to check entries from the blog to see if any are missed. OK?  Email link is at the top right column, if you receive this by email and do not visit the blog, click this to send ....

samplersandsantas@gmail.com

 

Giveaway number ....  ?????  Does it really matter? 

We'll just call this one the Fricking Fall giveaway.  OK?

 

Your choice of the rose color,

or green color, tied with a tan ribbon.
Not shown here because they would be stacked and you couldn't see the squares.  OK?  If you don't want to use them as measures, you can hang one on a basket or stitchery bag, a knob, you get the idea right?  OK.

 

I'll draw a name by Random.org whenever the hell I feel like it.

Sorry.  Today we are showing reruns of Day of the Snark.  I am wearing my Release the Snark bracelet from Lauren and as you can tell, it's working.

 

Let's do Friday night at 8pm. 

Supernatural is on Thursday and I don't want to miss Sam and Dean.  OK?

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