I'm Making Good

I have been quietly working on the top-of-the-list August goal, finish-finish five projects. This is Angel Stitchin's O Christmas Tree from the JCO Ornament Issue 2005. I seem to have stitched this in 2005; it's on the "needs finishing" list in January of 2006. I don't think I ever showed you a photo. It's stitched on a random piece of whitish fabric with colors that may not be the called for colors, but they are close.

This Mosey N Me chart "Molly to the Rescue" is from the same ornament issue. I stitched it before Stella was even a glimmer in our eyes. But it kind of looks like her. And they're both rescues! I used the called-for colors on a random white fabric. The star is leftover from my Philly Baseball design. The backing fabric for both this ornament and the one above is in the background. (Yes, it was the wrong fabric for the one above, but it is "good enough.")

Happy Winter by SamSarah Design Studio is from the 2000 JCO Issue. According to my notes I finished it in five days in November of 2001. In my defense, it's a good thing I waited this long to do the finishing work. My finishing skills are so much improved. I'll want to hang this cutie on my tree! (Finishing fabric shown in background. Probably should have used this for the Angel Stitchin' ornament too.)

This was a camp project from April 2010, and the stitching was completed April 25, 2010. Do you know how easy this should have been to finish? I had all the pieces cut, fabric on most of them, all I had to do was assemble the flat fold. I guess I should have just dedicated the time. But it's done now! (Except I do have to find the button which will be the point under the exclamation mark.)

Here's another embarrassing project. I started stitching it in April 2008, and it was on my list of finishes in 2008 though I never reported on that. I started the finishing on March 4, 2009. There were some complications with the cutting, and I needed to make a pillow with a zipper. A zipper! It has been sitting around for forever waiting for me to sew the piece to the pillow and sew on the buttons. Boring stuff, but necessary. And now, complete. I am not counting this toward my goal of five pieces because well...it took two years. It should have already been done.

I do have two more pieces on the workbench. Hinzeit "Shoes" that I stitched for my mother...I don't know when because I can find no reference to it on this blog. I know I picked out the floss on my one and only trip to Elegant Stitch in Modesto. So, well before 2005. Maybe before I started the blog? (Was there such a time?) I am also trying to put together the needlebook from camp in 2009 but whatever notes and photos I had of the finishing are lost. I've emailed Mona, and she's on the case. I should finish soon, since, again, all the pieces are cut and have the fabric on them. I just have to put it together...

And I've just about caught up with my goal of doing the finishing work on one project a month! (Of course that doesn't make a dent in the finishing that needs doing!)

The Wedding

Just back from the wedding.

Thoughts from the trip to Grand Cayman:

• Every wedding should be a destination wedding.
• I should live within walking distance to a beach, with water I can walk right into.
• Stingrays do feel like wet portobello mushrooms.
• The trip home (especially to Philadelphia) is always longer and crappier than the trip out.
• The new immigration regulations--especially for green card holders and their families--s-u-c-k.

Weddings are fun!

Back 40

Sissy and I are driving up to New Hampshire right now to see what treasures we can find in our parents' attic. You may remember the last time we did this. Or the time before that.

Anyway, nothing really to share at the moment, so I thought I'd show you what's going on in the back 40.

We've got hot peppers, squash, basil, parsley, oregano, cilantro, and eggplant. (The tomatoes live on the side of the house where I think they get a bit more sun.) We did a little experiment and put one squash right in the ground. Let's see if we can keep the pennywort off it. (It's looking a little stunted compared to the squash-in-pots, so I've been feeding it special.) The cilantro went NUTS with all the rain we were having.

Hello, beautiful! I love you, future-eggplant, I will be very respectful when I gobble you up. It will be a special recipe, I promise.

And not to be outdone, a little shot from the "mother's garden," the one our mothers helped us dig and plant. So fabulous!

I know this post was a little sillier than usual. But that is exactly how this ride whole weekend is going to be. It's our coping strategy...

Meet the Parents

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends. I think Thanksgiving is a holiday that should be adopted throughout the world. (It turns out several cultures do; when forced to think about it, I knew 5.) You don't have to eat turkey and sweet potatoes to be thankful for what you have. Just take a few minutes to think about those things. Then eat like you will never have them again...

I've been tagged again for 6 Random Things by Jen. I'm not tagging anyone and I'm not putting the rules on the blog again. (Sadie also tagged me for the sixth photo in the sixth file. I'm still looking for the thumb drive for that one.)

Six Random Things, the Thanksgiving Edition
1. I get my love of trying new restaurants and new food from my dad. It was his idea to go to Uzbekistan yesterday. I like how that sounds, “I went to Uzbekistan yesterday.”
2. I get the craft gene from my mom. She used to run the school fair, and turned it from a small fair run by nuns (think plastic bead ornaments) to an event that raised 1000 percent more money. And when I say 1000 percent, I mean 1000 percent.
3. My sister and I share a loud and obnoxious laugh. My mother says it’s like a machine gun. I don’t think it’s that bad. I prefer to call it exuberant.
4. The dude and I have some really horrible trivia in our heads. If we could focus our brain power on good, instead of drivel, we could run the world. But first, we need to find the energy…
5. I’m stubborn like my grandmother. But she gets drunk and says funny things, people, that’s why Jacque loves her so much.
6. I promised my niece we’d take her to a cat show as her Christmas present. Anyone know a good cat show near Philadelphia in January or February? The other niece wants to ride a buggy in Amish country. Oh, what a January we have planned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nothing to Show

I've been working on my birthday exchange piece, so I have nothing to show. But I do need some advice: I think I made the thing I am making too big. So now I have to think about what to do about that. Okay, that's not just vague, it's unintelligible. It's just that my partner reads my blog. Oh, okay. I made a scissor fob but used 28 count fabric instead of 35 count. The original design was kind of big for a fob--but definitely meant for a fob--so now it's huge. Okay, not huge but...well...you'd never lose your scissors with this thing on it! I could just send a huge fob or I could make it into a very small pinkeep. And I'm growing later (not overdue, just...you know..TIME) and I think I should put a lot more in the package. I keep thinking of all these great things I could make but...you know...TIME. I just don't want the poor woman (I don't think I'm giving anything away there!) to feel cheated. Sigh. I have about a week before I have to have to send (and with my luck the mail will take forever because, is it bad to give a really big hint? I always have trouble when I send things to this place.) (Are you starting to feel like Encyclopedia Brown while you read this?)

I should finish up the Family Matters piece for my aunt tonight on the bus ride home. Though the new floss I got is quite a bit darker than the old floss. Fortunately, I am capricious when I stitch, so there's some of the new floss in several spots on the pattern. I'm hoping it blends. I'm so excited to do the finishing on this. It looks fabulous in my mind! I just wish I had about eight more hours in the day.

Craft Corner

Last night I went to the public library's "craft corner." The woman in charge called me the wrong name almost the whole night. I kept repeating my name, but she wasn't getting it. I really have to come up with a polite way of correcting people. Anyway, she finally asked me for my e-mail address, and when she saw it written, she started using the right one. Two librarians, two friends, and I were the only ones in attendance. The two friends were the kind of people that go to a public stitch in and then just talk to each other. Nice. Good thing you left the comfort of your own home. They only stayed for an hour. The librarians were super friendly, so I think I'll go back next week.

We got on the topic of this local yarn store that closed, and one woman said she didn't carry things that were that different from AC Moore. I cannot confirm since I never went to the store, though I meant to. Then they were talking about the bead store and saying they hoped she survived. The woman who said the Technicolor Sheep was like AC Moore said she had been in to the bead store but hadn't bought anything. I told them about the classes I took, and said they had a lot of stuff that you can't get at the craft stores. Which is totally true. It's just more expensive, and I suspect that that is really the underlying reason that these people think that the big box craft stores are good enough. But I am here to shed light not to condemn! Next week, I think I'll bring my beading projects to see if I can get them interested in actually shopping there. I also turned the younger facebooking librarian on to ravelry. It's just one good deed after another.

I ran out of Harvest Basket for my aunt's gift, but I do have some on the way from Jenna so I should finish up soon. I found some fabulous flannel for a pillow finish, but I was thinking I wanted to make a ruffle on the pillow. Then I thought I might use five fabrics (four different ones around the pattern and a fifth for the ruffle) so I've got to get more fabric for finishing it. This may be put off until June (my parents arrive for ten days 4/30 and my MIL for 14 days on 5/16).

I've substituted Curly Q Ewe for my travel project. But people I have just realized that my birthday exchange is rapidly approaching. Yikes! Gotta get on that! (Well, I've been buying things for it, now I've got to get to making things for it.)

---

Challenge
It looks like we have critical mass for the challenge. I'll start looking around for freebie patterns--if you have any ideas, just point me toward them. And I'm thinking about the prize thing. I'm a little wary of collecting money from people, and I thought it might be nice to have prizes for the top three...but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

Family Business

This is what I have been working on lately. It's Hinzeit's Family Matters. My aunt is worried that once my dad sells the family business, she'll never see us again. Granted, we're not very good at keeping in touch with people, but we always fall right back in once we have the opportunity. We're easy going people. She does have a point though, because when the shit hit the fan, she ended up with us. (Her petty, petty sisters chose sides. It's one of those family business things.) Anyway, she wrote me a note telling me that her family matters to her, so this is perfect. She'll cry. My aunt has also recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. (Don't pink me.) Her prognosis is excellent at this time, but you always like to let people know you are thinking of them don't you? (Apparently I'm crap at that too because I only sent my great aunt two notes while she was being treated for ovarian cancer--and I asked her to find the fudge recipe just before her last chemo treatment. So thoughtless.)

I've been kind of down lately. There's the work situation. There's this club I'm involved with that is a mess. People want me to take over but I just want out. I want to go back to camp right now. Really, really badly. Let's try to cheer up. Here's the front door. Look at those happy daffodils! Look at those little pufferball PJM rhododendrons! See the fauxforsythia (fauxsythia) wreath on that beautiful pea green door! Happy, colorful spring!