At Long Last

I'm embarrassed to admit I've owed Lelia this prize for two years. She told me not to rush, so I didn't. Anyway, I am relieved that it is in her hands, and that she loves it!

Here's the package:


I sent a few extras since she's waited so patiently. From the left, two packages of pearl-head pins, a mini quilt, a spool of mini-pom pom trim, It's Berry Time pattern, the Souvenir de France freebie, and a quilt pin. You can adjust the pin to make different patterns. As Lelia would say, "kewl." And thus you know how it was when I saw a "Kwilt" pin, I knew it should be hers.

This was the promised piece. It is Blackbird's Souvenir de France. It's stitched with Rainbow Gallery's cashmere. I think it's violet.

This is what took so long...Okay, it's part of the delay. I had this Blackbird fabric, but couldn't find it for the longest time. I knew I wanted to finish it like this with this fabric. I'm going to pat myself on the back here. Just look at how I matched up the fabric! I was nervous about that. So that's another part of the delay.

Here's a little close-up of the quilt. I wish I could say that someone I knew made it. I do know that my mother bought it on one of her quilting expeditions. It is dated 1985. Does that make it vintage? 

Anyway, this package is vintage in blog years. I have such a sense of relief. And if I ever decide to have a giveaway for a blogiversary again...What? It's next week? What shall I send you? {wink}.

I'm so glad you liked it, Lelia!

Summer of Love: Trilogy

As the final Summer of Love giveaway--say it ain't so!--how is it that time marches on so quickly?--we have a collection of charts from the fabulous gals who bring you the Trilogy.

Heart in Hand: Wool Whimsy, Angelica * Let it Snow * Wee Chicken * 2001 Collectors Heart * Mother's Day Roundabout ** Bent Creek: Posey Angel * Wooly Ewe ** Twisted Threads: Itty Bitty Trio of Hearts * Fishing Fools ** Trilogy: Blossom

Note that last one was finished on my honeymoon, when we got socked in with fog and had to wait for the float plane to be able to take off. I may have doodled on the pattern. (Socked in with fog a whole extra day!)

To win, tell me what you'd do if you were socked in with fog. If you link back to this post, I'll give you a second entry. Drawing Tuesday.

runningrunningrunningrunningrunningrunning

I am getting ready for our trip to Maine, so I haven't been stitching. I have a giant list of things to do that seems to be getting longer instead of shorter. Sigh.

Thank you so much for your good wishes for my sister. We're so happy! We've heard talk that it may be a destination wedding. Preliminary destination: Grand Cayman (click on the "photo tour" and then "weddings and events"; some destination!). But they haven't even decided on a date, so deciding what to do on my Grand Cayman vacation might be premature.

And thank you for the warm reception for my grandmother's movie reviews. Don't forget--I'll see her next Monday, and I'm bringing your questions!

Finally, I've got some charts for...

Miss Quoted! Please send me blah blah blah.

The giveaways will be on hold while we vacation in Maine and will return August 26th. Thanks for playing.

Summer of Love: Random Sample

Did you think I forgot? The weather here has been poopy, so Stella and I couldn't go to the dog park. Usually, wrestling with Max and Shakespeare burns off her energy, so we needed a new diversion. We took a little trip to Petsmart. I let her sniff every bag of food, including the bird seed and crickets. Her head was accosted by strangers on several occasions, and she handled herself very well. Anyway, my blogging time was interrupted.

Hillside Samplings Animal Samplings * Hillside Samplings Queen of Fragrance * Jean Farish Cottage Rose Sampler * Spirit of Cross Stitch 1995 Commemorative Sampler * SOCS 1994 Commemorative Sampler

The commemorative samplers quotes read "My Sampler 'tis of myself a part/It opens the gateway to my heart" and "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." The Cottage Rose sampler says, "And I shall build myself a cottage home and tend my garden of roses." And the Queen of Fragrance has this little ditty: "Queen of fragrance/lovely Rose/the beauty of thy/Leaves disclose."

I remember when I bought that last one, I was in the most depressing mall in America (actually Baldwinsville, NY) (actually located on Downer Street) where, in the center of the mall, where most places have those carts, they had used furniture for sale. The cross-stitch store was one of the most successful-seeming places in the whole mall. Anyway, they had stitched it on gray Jobelin with what I have noted right on the chart was 520s and mauve instead of...520 and 300s. (Not sure what the note means now.) But their version was lovely.

What the hell was I doing in Baldwinsville, NY you may ask? I needed to do some research in the Syracuse archives and Best Pal offered to drive me from DC to Syracuse for you know, the fun of being in Syracuse in March with a B&B proprietor who thinks we're a couple. (But who also made us fantastic pancakes and waffles.) On the way home, we stopped at three cross-stitch shops. It turned out to be a good trip.

To win, tell me, have you ever taken an unplanned side trip to stitching stores that turned out to be more fun than your main road trip? Drawing Tuesday.

A Matter of Style

We have a grammar question! Mary in Tennessee asks, "which is correct: Forward and backward or forwards and backwards? Do I go toward something or towards something?"

And the answer is "yes."

All are correct. (Do note that there are a few phrases that require certain versions. We "step forward." We experience "forward motion." And in some places you might still label a "backward child" though, wow, people really still say that? Maybe we should not worry about that one.)

When you have more than one correct answer, the question usually becomes a matter of style. Take for example, the serial comma. It is correct to write:

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue.

It is also correct to write:

Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

I'm personally a fan of the serial comma (the former example), so you should always see it here. Journalists hate me; it's just not their style. (This was actually one of the first questions I got two jobs ago when I was hired as the associate director of communications. The interlocutor was pissed when I told her both were correct. {I think she was hoping the director was wrong; frankly, he was the kind of schmuck that elicited that response.} People don't want the answer to be "it's a matter of style"; that's too frustrating.)

So the real question is does your company have a style guide? If they use a particular style guide (whether in house or AP or Chicago Manual of Style), you'll have to go along with that. If they don't have one, don't complain because you'll end up writing it yourself.

Otherwise, as long as you are consistent, you can't go wrong. (Some people do say that the "S" versions are more widely used in Britain, but that's neither here nor there.)

Speaking of style, those Victorian ribbon embroidery kits aren't going to give themselves away. The winner is...

Kat! Please send me your snail mail address.

Summer of Love: Mill Hill II

Three Mill Hill Beaded Sylk Ribbon Pin Kits (complete).

I bought these to make for my grandmother who is into all that Victorian hoo-ha, and I don't mean vagina. She gets Victoria magazine, and her house makes me nervous because it's filled with stuff like tassels, dolls, china, and kitschy odds and ends. My mother's house is also filled with stuff, but it's not so froufrou. Our house is more tailored with occasionally empty flat surfaces. We have stuff, probably too much of it, but it's not everywhere. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Some people feel grounded by their stuff and others feel oppressed by it. So, you? (I know these kits aren't for everyone, so do tell me if you want in on the drawing.)

Drawing next Tuesday.

Mill Hill Drawing

Sorry I'm late today. Had to have a Dexa scan in the city, and it's thrown off my whole day. It turns out, I have the bones of a younger, stronger woman who actually drank milk in her childhood.

Our winner is Real Live Woman! Shoot me an e-mail with your snail mail and you will be stitching on perforated paper in no time!

Summer of Love: Mill Hill Kits

I love stitching on perforated paper. But sometimes you just have to admit that you aren't going to do something even though it is quick and easy, or good for you, or enjoyable, or will result in a cute product. I've decided I'm not going to make these kits, so I should pass them on to someone who will.

Mill Hill kits: Buttoned and Beaded Country Magnet Kit Watermelon For Sale * Spring Bouquet III Beehive * Spring Bouquet VII Buzzing Bee * Country Magnet Kit Cheery Cherries * Spring Bouquet Pins VIII Guiding Light (not pictured)

All kits are complete and unopened.

To enter, admit it: what will you never do that you had hoped to or planned on doing?

Almost Forgot...

The Drawn Thread drawing.

And the winner is Billie from Germany!

Summer of Love: Drawn Threads Drawing

Question: How come you (I) can never get out of Costco for under $200?
Question: Why is there West Nile virus in my county, when I finally put a birdbath in my garden, a birdbath that must remain empty to discourage mosquitoes?
Question: Why do the English bitch more about their hot weather and their snowy weather than we do (not that we don't bitch) when our weather is hotter and our snow deeper?
Question: What am I going to serve the picky eaters who are coming here on Sunday? I'm looking for something that is good hot weather food but doesn't necessitate buying a grill.

Question: Who wants this?

Drawn Thread: Birth Band * Alpine Garden

Both have bits of silk floss left in the kits as well, if you want them. I don't think there's really enough to use, and I should just let the neighborhood birds line their nests with it. You decide.

To enter, answer one of the first four questions. This post only. Drawing Tuesday.

A Note to the Clafouti-googlers: Clafouti, flaugnarde, crisp, crumble, cobbler, buckle, Betty, slump, grunt, and pandowdies are all variations on a theme: fruit dessert with some sort of batter or dough. Where you put the fruit, how you cook it, and what kind of batter/dough define which dessert you are making. Of course it is complicated by the fact that English is spoken around the world. (You say cobbler and mean meat pie, I say cobbler and mean dessert.)

clafouti -- cherries, with pits, over a thin layer of batter and under a thick layer or the same batter. It is described as being flan-like, but I don't like flan. I eat clafouti.

flaugnarde -- the clafouti with fruit that is not cherries. Most English speakers I've run across don't make this distinction.

crisp -- fruit under a crumbly topping made usually from flour, oats, and sugar (sometimes nuts). Oh, don't forget the butter.

crumble -- a crisp without the oats (or nuts)

cobbler -- deep dish of fruit under biscuit topping

buckle -- cake on the bottom, fruit on the top

Betty -- sort of a bread pudding with serious fruit

slump -- fruit (sometimes stewed rather than fresh) under a biscuit dough, somewhere between a cobbler and a pie, baked

grunt -- similar to a slump; steamed instead of baked

pandowdies -- dough on top of fruit, with the dough being broken up and partly pressed into the fruit goo before serving

I'm sure you disagree with one or more of the definitions but the point was "eh, you haven't heard of a clafouti; you've eaten something similar for sure."

Tuesday Already?

Where does time go? I don't have much to show on the stitching front. Today I made a clafouti with the leftover blackberries. Technically, it's a flaugnarde because of the blackberries. The rest of the berries went into the dude's frozen treats: blackberry sorbet and blackberry swirl ice cream. We haven't tried them yet. Don't know what we're waiting for... but the blackberry sorbet is a beautiful color, photos when we eat.

What I can show you is what the List Randomizer gave me this time around:

Wendy! Shoot me an e-mail with your snail mail address. And you'll be stiching up words in no time.

Finally, Christmas in July

Today the dude and I picked peaches for salsa and also blackberries for cobbler. You know how messy those suckers are? I looked like I stabbed someone in the blackberry fields. (No one else looked this way...no one else over four.)

It would have been easy to do...I was working a row of blackberry bushes, and on the other side was a couple who were unaware of me.

The woman: "There's a big animal in these bushes with me."
Man: "Like a python?"*

Woman: "I hear sticks breaking."

Me: "Like a human?"

Woman: "Oh my God, I didn't know you were there! I'm sorry I called you a big animal."

Me: "It's been a long time since anyone called me a big animal."

Man cracks up.

The dude and I are still laughing.

Last night was stitching with the Strawberry Girls. I finished another alphabet. It was nice to meet some new people as well as seeing old friends. (Keep checking on Jenna--she finished something!)

In the morning my library stitching was curtailed because one of the old ladies had to show her photos from her trip to work with orphans in El Salvador. Of course the curtains had to be closed and the lights turned off. She was going on and on about the torture, rape, and murder of nuns in the 1980s (anyone who was in Catholic school in the early 80s will remember; it's all the nuns could talk about). Unfortunately, one of the member's grandsons had been killed this past week. It was a real cheery morning. But I did stitch a bit on my Miribilia Christmas Fairy.

---

NB: I once watched a documentary where they tested people to see how they performed in groups. For example, they told a group of people to wait in a room until someone came to get them. Then they started shooting smoke in the room to see if anyone would leave because, you know, the building seemed to be on fire. People didn't leave. And the length of time they stayed? Had it been a real fire, they would have died of smoke inhalation. People behave the way they see other people behave, it turns out.

I'm not calling you lemmings. It's just that I asked you to list three charts that typified your family (and even gave you the link to the charts) and everyone chose "beer." You read the word "OF" where it was not written. Almost as interesting as watching people sit in a burning building. (I don't usually perform a lot of close reading of blogs myself so it's a gentle chiding rather than a, speaking of nuns, knuckle rapping.) I'm still going to enter those who chose beer, but the rest of you will be held to a higher standard. ;)

Also, Barbara's giving away one of the La D Da charts I sent her.

*A python? Your girlfriend says "big animal" and you think python...in southeastern Pennsylvania? At a pick-your-own farm?

Summer of Love: Hinzeit is 20-20

Thank you for the anniversary wishes and for seeing how truly wonderful the dude is. (And bestpal, of course he kept me, he put me in a pumpkin shell.) We went to Simon Pearce for dinner last night and though we didn't buy the hand-blown water pitcher we both admired, we did see Simon himself having dinner with some minions. (When you are the namesake of the restaurant, do you pay? At least tip, right?) (FYI: I wore these shoes and a sexy white, orange, and brown wrap dress.)

And because it's Thursday and we love us a craft room clear out:

More charts I have written on.
Hinzeit, Shoes * Beer * Family Matters (please note none of these patterns contain the charms)

This selection gives you a little insight into my family. My mom is a shoe collector, or was because now all she owns are flip flops and sandals. My dad is a retired beer wholesaler. And to all of us "family matters." You can see that I did some math on "shoes" because finding a piece of scrap paper was too much work.

To win, tell me which three Hinzeit charts typify your family? This post only. Drawn next Tuesday.

It's Tuesday! (Again)

Tuesdays have special significance for us because of the street parking situation in our old neighborhood, but I've told you that story before. Hang around with me long enough, and you'll die from boredom as I repeat the same stories over and over again. (Pity the dude.)

Tuesdays are the day I pack the garbage from my craft room my not-very-gently-used charts into an envelope and well, I don't really ship them because I have a stack that need to go out...I do, however, draw the name. Today's winner is Kathryn, who alleges never to win anything. There, I've made a liar of her.

Tomorrow is the dude's and my 9th anniversary. We've now been married as long as we dated. I'll have a photo of his anniversary present--whether it's done or not--and a list of the nine reasons he can't shake me I love him.

Oh, and I do usually share my answer to the question, don't I? My favorite Christmas tradition...oh, is it opening all my presents before Christmas and rewrapping them? Lobster stew? New jammies on Christmas eve? Waking everyone up first thing so we can unwrap the stockings? (We have no children in our nuclear family so someone has to do it.) I think it's our Christmas Eve celebration with my mother's family--the food, the gifts, the traditions, the jokes, even complaining about my grandmother*. My family does accuse me of unwrapping slowest so I have "more" to unwrap than my sister, but honestly I am not conscious of this behavior. Remind me in December, I have to rip through them all faster than anyone. I'm not kidding. I'm tired of the ribbing for my unintentional behavior.

*She really does rip through her presents, throws back a couple of martinis, straps on the feedbag then asks to be taken home. No kidding. Like spending time with us is a punishment.

Summer of Love: Christmas in July

Today's installment of beat up charts reflects my focus on Christmas in July:

Heartstrings, Magic and Moonbeams * Heart in Hand, 2002 Christmas Keepsake * Lizzie Kate, Ho Ho Ho * Silver Needle Secret Needle Night, Hatty Holidays

Both the 2002 Christmas Keepsake and Hatty Holidays have some leftover threads if you want them. The former has enough silk 'n colors to stitch the hat.

To win, tell me What's your favorite Christmas tradition? This post only. Winner drawn next Tuesday.

Summer of Love: La D Da Winner

Barbara! Seems somehow appropriate that the Netherlands advances to the World Cup final today and Barbara wins the giveaway...even if her husband is one of the two European men who aren't following the soccer.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their wonderful stories of the nice things people say about their stitching. When I was in Vegas, I showed my mother the Erica Michael's Petite that I am working on. She seemed indifferent. I asked her why she was so unimpressed. "I've just come to expect amazing things from you."

New giveaway Thursday.

Summer of Love: Baby!

And the Winner is...

Jennifer H, who needs these baby charts because she's "going to start trying." I made the name of the photo "baby" and it appeared on blogger as "baby.bmp." That's a sign for sure.

Jennifer, please send an e-mail.

Summer of Love: La D Da La Dee Dee

Today's well-loved charts are from La D Da. I do want to emphasize well-loved here. These all spent significant time in my travel bag.

La D Da: My Sunshine * A to Z and Between * Sweet Dreams

Oh goodness, what can I ask you about? What's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about your stitching?

Summer of Love: Then Comes the Baby Carriage

Mosey N Me, Love Blocks * Bent Creek, You are My Sunshine * Leisure Arts, Big Book of Baby Bibs

To win, answer this question honestly: Is there such a thing as an ugly baby?

Title Goes Here*

On Friday morning, I worked on the Las Vegas piece. Which is due Sunday. I have no idea how I am going to finish it. It will be complete, but I had hoped to put it in a box. A box I haven't purchased yet. {Sigh} I could do a pillow or wall hanging in this amount of time, but I really wanted to do the box. Maybe I'll go look for one tomorrow. Anyway, on Friday morning, the old lady conversation ranged from how fabulous Kobe Bryant is (when Mabel's holding forth, you don't really want to mention rape accusations) to retirement homes and long term care. It's wonderful and remarkable to be around people so different from myself. I will show this piece when it's complete.

In the evening, I went to stitch night with my Strawberry girls. This week, I was one of the younger ones again. I guess all the young hipsters have weddings and graduations and children's baseball games to attend. I worked as usual on the marquoir while wearing a shirt that matched my stitching. This is what it looked like last time. I thought I had gotten more done. I'm going to blame Stella. First, she made me late (I was home alone and had to walk and feed her before I left.) Then, we spent an inordinate amount of time talking about Stella. But I did get a good tip about helping her sleep through the night. I will be so happy when we're sleeping through the night!

I know what you're thinking, shut up already and tell us who won the charts! That honor goes to Jane, and her husband's ill-fitting tux.

* Did you see this? It's every editor's nightmare.