boo! bet you didn’t know i was here

Busy, busy, fun, fun. The kids had last week off and we had plans enough to fill the entire summer, let alone one measly week. We had such fun – visited with my mom, dad, and aunt (all separately), had friends over and/or went to friends’ houses, took long walks, instituted Family Game Night (every Friday, heaven help me – I don’t like games), and did approximately one gabillion other fun things together. Toward the end of the week, my asthma kicked up and turned into something that has nearly robbed me of my voice – but there are those who seem to find that an improvement.

Now that things are back to so-called normal, the kids are in school and I’m busy with this and that. I had class yesterday and today I taught a half day workshop on cross stitching at a local high school. I was more than a little nervous going into it, but it went quite well. I’m sure I had the smallest workshop (4 kids, with one wandering off never to return) but they were great kids who really put a massive effort into it and did a great job. While they worked on their projects, I did this Sampler Girl design with some minor changes:

I started a second teeny project with geese, but didn’t get too far. I was doodling the other day, trying to break out of my anti-stitching mojo while Niek drove us to Bangor to belatedly celebrate Max’s birthday. Before I knew it, I’d come up with this:

It needs some sort of  green viney border, don’t you think? I’m also thinking of putting in a segment of the lion and the unicorn poem.

I doodled some more in the car and started this girl, who will be one of … three? … sisters, I think:

And ages ago, I started the Favorite Font Sampler. It got sort of buried under other stuff and slightly forgotten, but here it is again:

I’m using a Gloriana overdyed silk for the lettering and will use ‘plain’ silk for the figures below the verse. Eventually.

It’s a gorgeous sunny late afternoon here. Yesterday at this time it was raining so hard I thought I’d drown while taking care of the animals. No joke! My coat, hung up in front of the woodstove, still isn’t dried out! I had to bring the half-grown chicklets up on to the porch to safeguard them. The other birds stuck out in breeding coops were totally encased in tarps. They didn’t care for that, but it was better than the rain.

I’ve been reading up a storm. I finished and greatly enjoyed The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jane Mayhew and am currently reading Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. I also finished volumes one and two of 1Q84 by Murakami and am wondering where volume three is to be found. Normally one of my all-time favorite authors, I’m withholding judgement on this series until I’ve read the whole thing.

Through it all, I have the most excellent company – as you can see. He’s my calorie saver – he ate the whole donut and drank a substantial portion of my coffee Coolatta.

Thank you for visiting despite my rather lengthy absence. And for all who left tips and suggestions about my terrifying foray into education today, I thank you most kindly. Have a great day – catch some sunshine if you can!

small things

Arden did sleep better last night – he was only up from 2 – 3:30 am. I still feel a bit out of it, but not as wonked as I did yesterday. This morning I tried to build a fire in the wood stove, but must concede that Niek is far, far better at that than I am. However, if you’re after special effects that include lots of inky black smoke, I’m your gal. Flip gave up on me, abandoned his spot by the stove and settled comfortably into … an egg box? Don’t ask me – the animals who live here are weird.

Up through lunch, Arden seemed to making a great recovery. We watched a bit of Diego on the computer, but he mostly wanted to play with his Play-Doh. Here he is, building and eating a birthday cake. (Don’t call Child Services on me – he isn’t really eating it!) (And ignore the mess behind him – that’s our ‘burn box’ and we don’t bother to keep it pretty, LOL.) Unfortunately, around 2 pm he just crashed – the coughing resumed, the snot started coming out of everywhere, and he actually asked to go to bed. I cuddled him up with a blankie on the sofa till dinnertime, but halfway through dinner he said he couldn’t do any more and just wanted to sleep.

I spent the morning racing through the rest of Blackout by Connie Willis, trying to finish before the Kindle’s battery was exhausted. LOL. I’ve just now picked up All Clear (also by Connie Willis) in the old-fashioned book form. While Arden played with Play-Doh, I put a few stitches into an old WIP that actually disappeared on me for several months. No idea where it was hiding, or what seismic shift returned it to the surface, but I’d love to finish this one ASAP and get it hung on the wall. (You must ignore the Q-snap wrinkles!) The last time I posted about it was here.

I’m loving everyone’s WIPocolypse and other challenge photos! Though I didn’t join any, I’m living through them vicariously and feel quite encouraged to catch up on some of these old WIPs that I really love and want to finish. (See Noah peeking out up in the picture of Flip?)

I also did some internet shopping, placing an order for the WDW floss I’ll need for the wonderful Birds of a Feather mystery sampler from Patti. I have some gorgeous Vikki Clayton linen that will sub beautifully for the called-for WDW Confederate Gray, but I wanted to use the suggested fibers because I was so taken with Patti’s finished work. I just caught the tail-end of the Stitching Bits and Bobs sale … which means I probably won’t get the floss till spring, but that’s okay. I might actually be ready for it by then. As soon as I hit the Send button, the mailman dropped off some stash I treated myself to recently during a sale at ABC Stitch Therapy. The WDW linens were on clearance and wow! do I love the straw color!! When I first saw Bent Creek’s Red design, I wanted it immediately but have had to wait weeks for it to show up in shop inventories. I just LOVE this design!!

I also stole a lovely little repro sampler on an eBay auction.

Judging by Arden’s downward spiral this afternoon/evening, tonight will be another one with too little sleep. I understand why we’re biologically programmed to bear children when we are younger … I feel all of my forty two years and then some after the better part of week with insufficient sleep. I’m amazed and humbled by how well Arden’s handling it, though – not a bit of crankiness or unpleasantness. He’s come over to me a bunch of times to give me a hug and tell me he loves me. So I’m trying to live up to his good example.

in which i must admit to being nothing but a large, wobbly pudding

Shh. Please don’t tell my doctor but we seem to all have the flu. Just very, very mild cases, mind you. But I actually got into an argument with her about flu vaccines – I refused to allow her to administer them because I think minor illnesses actually play an important part in keeping us healthy by testing (and improving upon) our immune systems. But for a week now, we’ve been snuffling and hacking and looking at the world through rather bleary eyes. Arden, being youngest, has been hit hardest. He’s had a fever and a very stubborn cough. And I’ve had night duty, so I’m shambling around like a prize-fighter who stayed in the ring too long. Niek’s dashing about making meals, washing dishes, cleaning litter boxes, doing laundry, and taking kids to sporting events. And that’s just what he’s doing today!

I did see Patti in Belfast yesterday, apologizing in advance if I came across a little loopy from sleep deprivation. It was lovely to get out and be a grown up with another grownup that I like very much. And doing pretty much anything at the Belfast Co-op is fun; it just has the greatest vibe. Patti surprised me with all three charts in this series, which I’d been drooling over while she was working on them (you should visit her blog and see her finished version!) and I hopefully did not surprise her with any germs. Still healthy, Patti?

I pulled out this mind-numbingly simple but adorable design to work on. I figured I couldn’t mess it up too badly, LOL. And seeing as how I bought it to make for Arden’s room, I really should finish it before he goes off to college. I didn’t get too far, and I did actually make a mistake, but I don’t think anyone will see it unless they have the pattern in front of them. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) The colors aren’t showing up well in this photo, but here goes.

Once both of my eyes are focusing on the same spot at the same time, I’ll finish up the chicken and horse design I showed you earlier. I need to pick the right shade of blue for the wording at the end, and of course that’ll require some natural sunlight. Mother Nature, that ball is in your court. Today was so overcast and I was feeling so wonky that I thought it must be approaching dinnertime, but when I checked the clock it was only 12:30! I spent most of the day cuddled on the sofa with Arden – he watched TV and snoozed while I read Connie Willis’ Blackout on the Kindle.

For the most part, we’ve been enjoying the chilly weather cuddled up near the wood stove in the kitchen. Here are a couple of snaps I took on Friday. (Arden was watching Dora the Explorer on my laptop behind my stitching.)

And back to tonight, Niek’s dinner worked some kind of magic on Arden, who actually began playing after dinner. That bodes well for a decent night’s sleep, doesn’t it?

my new toy

The mailman made me very happy today by bringing lots of goodies that must’ve been building up in the postal system for awhile.  There were some Fine Lines magazines/reprints with gorgeous projects, a cut of BOAF Sparrow linen, and … this! It’s a Grip It and they aren’t made anymore, which is a mystery to me because it’s fabulous.

And that’s my newest project – a little something I’m putting together for one of the giveaways.

It was a bit of a challenge to get everyone going and get everything done on time today, but I think we pulled it off. Arden was his sweet & silly self:

And I even managed to pull together a pretty decent dinner.

day twenty – new beginnings

How this can be Arden’s fourth birthday is beyond me. The upcoming New Year’s Eve will be the tenth that Niek and I have celebrated under the same roof. Years, and even decades seem to fly by in the wink of an eye. It’s astonishing. Scary, too. But isn’t it an amazing reminder to treat each day as if it were the only one?  I know – that’s just not realistic with all the pressures we’re all under; and if it’s not a critical one-off event, the mundane stuff mires us down. But seizing something from each day and setting it apart will make a difference in keeping  each day unique – maybe it’s the crystal clarity of the moon at night, or a smile from a person you didn’t expect. Whatever it is, hold it fast and try to give these special moments to others, too.

We have a tradition that the birthday kid gets to choose dinner on the Big Day. I thought Arden would choose pizza but instead he asked for popcorn and cocoa. “I don’t know about that,” I said, trying to let him down gently. He took my hand and looked up at me and said, “It’ll be okay, Mom.” I nearly fell over laughing. After a slow stroll together through the supermarket, we came home with a heavenly kids’ feast that included pizza, meatballs, and crackers with “stuff” on top. And of course there was homemade chocolate fudge cake with “every colored sprinkles” at his request. Everything was washed down with cocoa – with extra marshmallows, of course. I think we’ll be eating raw greens and lean meat for the rest of week to make up for this indulgence!

During Arden’s few hours in school, I pulled out Primitive Bird for the neighbor’s intended Christmas gift and put in a little work on that. Tuesdays are usually busy with errands, so I didn’t get as much done as I’d have liked. So instead, I’m sneaking in a picture of a long overdue gift that is making its way (at long last) to its real home in Holland. This is one of The Sampler Girl’s designs, though I went with my own choice of colors. It’s filled with the most heavenly scented mixture of dried flowers that I’ve ever encountered, and shown on the fabric used for the backing. I hope my special friend will love it and not mind that it really should’ve been in her house more than half a year ago.

a dimension of imagination

It must feel like you’ve entered the Twilight Zone – two posts in less than a week and stitching pictures as well! And maybe you have crossed over into that fifth dimension. Who am I to say?

But as the temps cool and we settle into our autumn schedule, I find that I have both time and interest for stitching again. (Let’s be honest – the only reason I “have time” is because I’m a lousy housekeeper; I really should be folding laundry right now.) When the JCS ornament issue hit my doorstop on Saturday, I quickly spotted a couple of small designs that were really appealing and I decided to strike while the iron is hot (note that even my housework-type references do not apply to actual housework, LOL). I started Tanya’s design first, but the lovely linen looked like it was going to be too small after a half hour or so of stitching, so I quickly frogged and started a smaller design that had similar colors (I was not even going to allow myself to become sidetracked by pulling new floss!). That turned out to be Deer in a Forest by Niky’s Creations, and I finished it yesterday. I used a high-count ornament cut that I bought from Karen V a while back that has the look and feel of Lakeside Linens, but I haven’t any idea of the color and I’m far too lazy to check the count.I subbed out all the colors for the Carrie’s Creations: Double Fudge Brownie, Olives, Koala Claw, and Old Salem Red.

Last night I watched Dr Who and Torchwood reruns via Netflix on my computer while stitching Tanya’s contribution to the 2011 JCS ornament issue in my still reasonably-clean library. (The secret to keeping anything tidy in this house is to forbid the children to use it, LOL.)I made decent progress (for me – remember I am a slow stitcher) using those same Carrie’s Creation threads on a big piece of 28 count Vintage Country Mocha from Wichelt. I had to go stash diving to find this because I never stitch on 28 count anymore. But while stitching the tiny deer, I thought to myself how nice it would be to have Tanya’s design big enough to make into a pillow. And wow, that 28 count is easy-going on the peepers! I may pull more of it out of the mothballs! LOL.

I’ve been playing with my birds. Here are two of my opaline Guinea Fowl. They are now about 3 months old and I’m fascinated by them. White and pastel Guineas are rare and I really lucked out int that my original breeding pair (Pearl Grays) had the right genes to produce them. I know, they’re weird-looking things, but I think they’re lovely. There’s an interesting chart on coloration here for any Guinea Geeks out there. (One looks lavender in this photo, but it’s just the shadow and the bird’s dirty feathers making it appear that way. I should pop these guys in the bath, shouldn’t I?)

And hanging out with my not-pregnant goats. Pinto’s non-pregnancy really threw things up in the air, and now I’m stuck with four female goats and not enough money to purchase a buck and build him a house/enclosure. Life sure has a funny sense of humor sometimes. But the girls seem pretty satisfied.

I’ve been playing with Arden, when he’s not in school or trying to drive me to the brink of insanity, LOL. He’s quite the kitchen helper on baking days, and without him it would be so … quiet boring.

But I persevere, and last week I put out about 20 breads and muffins. Taking this week off to enjoy a visit from my dear friend, Sara.

Wishing you all a wonderful week! Thank you for visiting!

finally, some stitching!

I’ve finally stitched something! It’s tiny, but at least it’s something. Actually, I enjoyed this so much that I want to do it again using another colorway. I matched GAST fibers to the called-for DMC  but instead of the pinks shown in the model, I got yellows and browns – I love the look, but I’m really curious why it’s such a drastic difference. This is just a sneak peek, till I get it finish-finished.

Here’s my rather devilish assistant, modeling what he calls his Hawaii shirt. The kid just slays me – he’s such a hoot, and the things he says just have us all rolling.

Baked delicacies have been rolling out of our oven!
Here are some of the breads I made last week:

And cupcakes we enjoyed this weekend:

And an apple pie that Niek made last night:

(Don’t lick the screen!)

On the farming side of life, yesterday I came to the unwelcome realization that my pregnant goat is not pregnant and getting friendlier. She is fat and in heat. Oh joy. I was pretty angry yesterday when I contacted the previous owner and she made up some bullpuck story, but being mad doesn’t accomplish much so I’m now trying to figure out the best way to make lemonade out of the reality of the situation. First off, of course, is cutting the food rations for Miss Plump and Perky. Secondly, I’m tackling the big question of whether to buy a buck this fall and breed the two older does. Originally, I’d planned to keep a buck from whatever kid(s) Pinto Bean had and use him for breeding (to the other three does, not to Pinto Bean). After being “taken in” despite trying to research reputable breeders/farms online, I’m reluctant to go out there and try again. It’s like online dating or something – you have to trust what you’re told to a large extent, and that leaves you wide-open to unscrupulous individuals. But if I don’t breed the does, I’m just feeding them without any return on investment until next autumn when they go into heat again, and that’s not a happy thought, either. So I ponder, weak and weary, wondering which choice is the better one. Do you have any ideas?

I’ve been promising Glenna better pictures of our glorious, gorgeous Silver Fox rabbits for awhile now. I purchased the bunnies after looking high and low for this breed for several months. I had actually given up and was going to wait till next spring and buy from a breeder down in New Hampshire, when I stumbled across a serious breeder down in central Maine. We now have two does and a buck. The buck is still quite young and is only just beginning to get the silver-tipped fur that makes the breed so gorgeous. As with the other animals I’ve been focusing on, Silver Fox rabbits are critically endangered and they are also a heritage breed. I’m very honored to be able to play a small part in preserving this wonderful animal. We’ll be selling babies as pets, show animals, and … dinner, for those so inclined. (Don’t tell Pink, Elvis and Peaches, Glenna!) Here’s our little buck (the kids like the name Hopper, which has me off on all sorts of Dennis Hopper tangents) and one of the does, who is still waiting for her name.

I’m having lunch with my Dad today, who surprised me with a nice long visit this morning. It’s great to soak up as much time as possible with him before he heads down to Florida for the winter. I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful day and that at least part of it is spent with someone you love.

building blocks

It doesn’t look like much, and I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d hoped so you’ll have to trust me that this is an outrageously cute design. It’s called London Zoo and it’s from Art-Stitch. It was an impulsive purchase that I just had to have immediately and of course I was going to whip it up in no time to hang in Arden’s room. But Arden didn’t really have a room (in Holland he slept in our bedroom, and we were in the attic with slanted ceilings that could only hold pictures if you glued them on, LOL) and I obviously got preoccupied with something else and, well, you know how it goes. I remember the last time I worked on this was at Annemarie’s sweet little cottage in the woods. Too long ago!! It’s difficult to see any progress at all on this, but I did a few more bands of black and gold as well as experimenting with the other 3 colors in the piece. I’m stitching it on what I think is a 32 count piece of Silkweaver solo linen using DMC adapted from the key to work better with the linen.

Today was supposed to be a regular work day, but Arden had a terrible night and I’m keeping him home today – I doubt much actual work will get done. Since he got up 20 minutes ago, we’ve managed to break a glass and mix the clean laundry into the dirty laundry, so we’re off to a roaring start.

Thanks again for coming to visit. Your company is great!

a little more progress this time

For Day Two of the challenge, I chose one of my own designs (The Best of Me). I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I started this last spring and it was intended as an anniversary gift for Niek. Oh dear, that is pretty bad. To defend myself just a little bit, it is slow going because I charted the design for DMC but am stitching it using Vikki Clayton’s silks and the back-and-forth that’s necessary to choose the right colors and shades is very time-consuming. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

We got a little bit of snow in the night – just enough to add a bit of freshness to the Great Outdoors and make today’s return to Real Life a little less painful. I was up just after six to tend to the chickens, who were rather surprised to see me so early, and then it was back to the routine of making breakfasts and school lunches and making sure everyone had mittens and snow pants and lunchboxes and that they were all ready when the bus breezed by at 7:15-ish. Arden could sleep in, and he did. He’s still recuperating from his bout of Throatish Yuckiness and sounds like a chain-smoking nightclub singer, but he’s mostly back to normal. He has Elmo accompanying him today, since his brothers and sister are back at school. Our goal is to undecorate the tree today, but I don’t think anyone’s too eager to say goodbye to Christmas.

I’ll be taking my Mom clothes shopping later today. I’m not a big fan of clothes shopping, so how is it that I’ve done that chore twice in a week’s time? But I guess everyone is growing, one way or another. At least the kitties grow their own fur to fit. (I haven’t combed my hair – don’t laugh!)

Wishing you a wonderful day, however you choose to spend it!

and off we go … but first, a little catching up

A couple of days after Christmas, we had a sort of reunion here at Chateau Chaos when my dear friend Erik brought two of his kids over for a long-awaited pizza & movies night. His daughter, Sophie, adopted the brother and sister of our kittens and she brought them along. Before you could say “meow”, all four kittens were curled up on her lap (and Rowen tried to crawl on, too!) for a big family reunion. It was so sweet. Sophie has named her kittens Franklin (the white one) and Gwen (the black one). Niek says he can see a strong likeness between Franklin and Flip.

Although we’d gotten almost no sleep the night before (because of Arden’s discomfort and wakefulness), Niek pulled out all the stops in his preparations for a traditional Dutch New Year’s Eve. Here he is cooking the oliebollen.

And here we all are (I’m waving to you from behind the camera) wishing you a healthy and happy New Year.

The kitties slept through most of the festivities.

And that brings us up to yesterday, sort of. I started my 15 Day WIP Challenge with this wonderful piece by Birds of a Feather (which I really intended to give to the family, all framed, as a Christmas gift – oops). I worked on it last night while we watched Ondine (a really cool film, in my opinion, though Max and Niek didn’t like it as much). The color isn’t quite right in either one, but I guess it’s a tad closer to the ‘after’ shot, which was taken without a flash. Not a whole lot of progress, but at least it’s a start … and that’s sort of what this challenge is all about (for me, anyway).

I’m hoping you’ll bear with me for the following 2 weeks while I work through my WIPs and give short updates here. There probably won’t be any finishes, but it sure will be a relief to shake the dust off some of these projects and remember why I started them in the first place. As for this BOAF, I still plan to present it to the family, but I don’t think I’ll try to time it to coincide with a holiday, LOL!

And to update those who are interested, Arden is feeling a lot better. His voice is still little more than a raspy squeak, but his energy levels are back up near normal and he’s full of sweet mischief again.