day twenty four – the last surprise on the advent calender

When I started posting this month, my intent was to post every day through the advent, sort of like an advent calender in which the reader gets a little “surprise gift” (LOL) each day. I hoped to stay focused on what was important rather than rush through the month feeling harried and ragged. I wanted to make sure that each day I found something, however small or seemingly insignificant, that struck me as being truly beautiful as well as something I could take from each day and feel grateful for. Some days were more successful than others, but on the average, this little experiment worked out wonderfully. Thanks for sharing it with me. I’d like to do more than just say thank you, so if in your comment you would mention one thing from your month that you feel grateful for – big or small, obvious or subtle – I’ll draw a couple of names at random and send a little holiday piece of holiday cheer that you can look at and hopefully remember your grateful moment.

I did get Primitive Bird by The Goode Huswife finish-finished and delivered to my neighbors. I chose the project because my neighbors have been unbelievably kind about the noise coming from the barn … those roosters do not just crow at sun up. The neighbors were away, so I left it with a few other goodies wrapped and enclosed in a plastic bag stuck between their door and storm door. Maybe they’ll think elves brought it.

I had some real difficulty with my little “Martha Stewart Endorsed” Singer sewing machine in the finishing of this. The darn thing cannot even handle two thin layers of fabric if there’s been iron-on interfacing applied – it sort of chews up the fabric on the back, doesn’t feed through properly, etc. Even after I’ve set the tension looser, made the stitches longer, etc. It just drives me nuts. All my extreme care in measuring and cutting, etc. only to have a finished project that looks so wonky … grrrr! I only need a very basic machine, but I would love one with some ooomph.

I received these stunning flowers from my dear friend Nancy yesterday afternoon. What a special treat! You can’t quite see the bite marks from where Flip sampled one of the lilies – fortunately, he didn’t find it to his taste.

While I was doing some baking for neighbors and other friends, Max was cleaning. And now he’s baking! He’s going to sleep well tonight! The dining room has seldom looked so nice – we tend to use it as a drop zone for things that don’t quite make it to where they belong. Thanks, Max!

An elf’s work is never done (on Christmas Eve), so off I go. There’s a bag of gifts for the animals that I haven’t unearthed yet, as well as reindeer food and a snack tray for Santa to set out, stockings to hang, and after everyone is asleep, gifts to arrange under the tree and elsewhere. No doubt that will reveal gifts I forgot to wrap and I hope it will also show me where those missing animals gifts are.

I sincerely doubt I will be online tomorrow, so I’ll wish you a wonderful day now and I’ll enjoy reading your comments on the 26th.

day eleven – jack frost and finishing

Today was the day that I would whip through my stack of to-be-finished stitching and create wonders of delicacy, creativity, and beauty. Or something like that. But after spending most of the day tackling this:

I only had this:

A mere seven finishes with over 20 (?!) yet to do. Sigh.

***

It was a cold day today so the kids stayed in and got goofier and goofier as the day wore on. By dinnertime, Arden and his pet lizard were wearing pearls:

While Rowen and Nick went from angels -

to … well, I don’t quite know what they became.

***

To answer Riona’s questions in yesterday’s comments, there really was just Winter and Summer with little between for those who lived in Maine – but with global climate changes, the intermediate seasons are stretching out … and out. This November was the warmest on record, I read the other day. When I got up this morning, the temp had dropped to about 25 and Jack Frost had decorated many of the windows (particularly the barn windows), but here we are in December with only two snowstorms so far and – weirdest of all – with green grass showing. It’s not normal. Generally, winter in this part of the world sets in sometime around the end of November and there’s ground cover (aka snow) until the January thaw, when we get a week or ten days of softer weather. Then, winter will resume and we’ll stay bundled up and trudge through the snow until the end of February or early March. Growing up, Mom made us wear our winter coats until the first of April, I remember. There have been snowstorms on Mother’s Day several times that I can remember, but such late snowfalls rarely stay on the ground more than a few hours. So, Riona, how the barnyard animals spend their winter can fluctuate. Last winter, the chickens were barn-bound from that bad snowstorm at the end of December (which knocked down all the fencing) until the beginning of March. But this year, we’ve put up the new fence which will not topple under the weight of any amount of snow, so they’ll be able to get outside all winter.  (Frost photo borrowed from here.)

surprise!

I’m being sneaky and setting this post to show up while I’m actually in Belfast giving Patti her Halloween exchange. Isn’t modern technology cool?

I had visions of stitching a totally unique project of my own devising for this exchange. I spent days daydreaming about it. When I came down to earth about the likelihood of that being ready for this Halloween, I started fishing around for a project in my stash that would work well. Eventually, I decided to start The Talking Board by The Primitive Needle. I spent a day trying to find the perfect dark purple-gray-black spooky silk floss that I just knew I had … but couldn’t find. The next day, I started with Silk N Colors Medieval Mulberry. It’s a great color, but it just wasn’t what I knew was lurking – somewhere – in my stash. By now, my get-together with Patti was beginning to loom instead of beckon. But wait a minute … The Primitive Needle … I’d finished something by her recently that I really liked but hadn’t figured out what to do with it. Oh yeah! The Penny Angel! Well, here she is, looking a little different than the last time you saw her.

Because every crafty witch needs her magicks bag, right?

To get Patti started on some wonderful spells, I filled the bag with fun little finishing bits, pins, floss, and Bent Creek’s Pumpkin Flower Sampler. I hope she likes it!

I had a lot of fun finishing this off in a whimsical prim way with some amazing wool felt (that provides the backing and that funky fringe), some hemp twine, an old button, some rick rack, and so on. The front panel is also a mini pouch – a great place to slip a pair of scissors, as it’s double-sided to keep anything from poking through. The million tiny x’s connecting front to back gave me a cramp in my fingers, but I think it was worth the effort. I thought x’s would look more witchy than a hemstitch.

Not quite as much stitching got done this week, which – for whatever reason – was kind of a tough week. I did finish Tanya’s lovely little freebie and I foolishly bravely started a Fremme kit that I purchased ages ago, but which isn’t really knocking my socks off. I still have Plant Virtue on the Q-Snaps, too. Maybe I’ll pick that one up right now.

Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for visiting!

good things

I was going to name this post “Who’s That Girl” because it’s been so long since I last posted that I thought you might’ve forgotten about me. And because we have some girls in this household who’ve undergone transformations that might make them unrecognizable.

Lola, for example, has been to the beautician. Isn’t she lovely?

But really, the good things outweigh the ‘who’s that girl’ sort of thing, or they overlap. Like Rowen – who became a beautiful fairy princess for her dance recital. Isn’t she something?

There has also been good food in our world. Since the fence has finally been finished, I’ve been baking up a storm – lots and lots of delicious fresh bread. This is a close-up of The Spectacles of St. Lucia. It was delicious!

Some do-gooding has been done – I finally got my little charity square out in the mail (several days late, to my shame). This is a slight adaptation of Love Letters by Papillon Creations.

Other stitching endeavors include good friends. Carol really made Rowen’s recent school project something special, so we both said thank you. Rowen wrote a nice letter and I finished off a small design by Niky’s Creations and filled it with some heavenly-smelling dried flowers.

One of the best good things around Chateau Chaos remains … Arden.

Hoping your little corner of the world is also full of good things.

ignore the typos, please

Arden’s little “bug” transferred itself to my sinuses, so if I miss a typo or two, please ignore it.
Sinus irrigation and all the usual tricks just aren’t doing it for me this time. Ugh!

But there’s a  lot of good stuff to share!! Nick and Rowen have been in school skits this week and they were so much fun to watch! Nick played a hornet (and I had to make his mask in the 10 minutes or so before he got on the bus that morning – nothing like a bit of excitement!) and Rowen played a girl who’d rather read quietly on the sidelines than play in a group. Both skits were about cooperation and friendship, and the kids made up the skits themselves.

With dear friend Tigger, we tapped our big maple tree out front and have been boiling sap to make our own syrup. Oh my gosh is homemade syrup delicious!! Arden got the first taste, but we all enjoyed it.

I received some fabulous stash from Mary Katherine, thanks to the generosity of dear friend Judy. The goodies arrived in two packets, and I unthinkingly put everything away from the first packet, but here’s what arrived in the second packet. And thank you, Mary Katherine, for the additional Dinky Dyes and needles! It wasn’t necessary, but very appreciated! Thank you Judy for a wonderful Christmas gift that I enjoyed to the hilt! I decided on all floss, hoping the beautiful new colors would whisper to my design muse.

I have done a bit of stitching and finishing. Here’s the end result of my Pink Girl with Swan make-do. I think it came out pretty cute. She’s set in the top of a papier-mâché decorative box that I use for storage of stitching supplies.

And here’s Penny Angel, my contribution to the world-wide SAL paying homage to Lisa and expressing sadness at losing her. She’s a woman who touched so many lives …. the void she’s left is just impossible to comprehend.

I’m going to close with a sweet picture I snapped of Rowen cuddling Flip the other day. It can be difficult to see our kids (or other family members) as people independent of our relationship with them … I hope I always honor and respect my kids for the amazing people they are.

the spirit moved me

It’s been a long time since I finish-finished anything. I had visions of a huge pile of stitched goods that would take me all winter to finish-finish … but today I started rummaging around for a substitute fabric for the design I recently finished and one thing led to another.

First &  foremost, here is My Baby Brother. Nicky was the inspiration behind this design – feel free to check over here to read the story behind the design. If ever the Civil War reproduction fabric that I ordered arrives, I’ll change out the homespun check that’s currently backing the design.

While I was rummaging through my fabric stash, I came across several stitched pieces that needed finishing and decided to get busy. We were “stuck” at home today because Rigby’s been sick and required hourly ministrations (I’m glad to say he seems to be nearly back to normal) and it was just the perfect day to do this. Thanks to Niek for giving me the space to do all this!

First up is a Fair Square exchange that I received two years ago – how embarrassing is that?! I absolutely LOVE this design and was delighted when Wendy Jo stitched it for me. I have no reason why it languished so long in a drawer. This is finished with some fabulous Moda charm squares and a bit of ricrak and wee buttons.

Then I finally finished a gift from Niek’s grandmother. She originally gave it to us in a frame that neither fit nor flattered it, and it’s been my intention for a couple of years (!!) to remedy the situation. I love it with the old-fashioned brocade tassel trim.

Finally, I finished a wonderful freebie design from The Sampler Girl that I stitched around this time last summer using my choice of colors. I love the silks I used, but they didn’t stand out enough for my original intent of using this as a sort of banner. The fabric I found in my stash brings out the soft colors, and the fabric roses (from Conny’s farewell gift) added the perfect touch to this simple, whimsical pillow.

It felt great to have such a productive day – and it’s really a joy to finally share some stitching-related photos with you!

a little prim on the side

Today I finish-finished a project (a kit by Niky’s Creations that I stitched before we moved to Maine) as a birthday gift for a relative. I was going for one of my prim-fem finishes and I’m pretty pleased with how it came out.

Then I made a couple of batches of blueberry-pecan muffins. The inspiration for the recipe can be found here, but I did some tinkering to get the measurements into things I could understand, and to reflect the ingredients I have on hand.

My version goes something like this:

Sift together:
1 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Mix in a separate bowl:
1 egg
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c milk
1/4 melted, cooled unsalted butter
1/2 t vanilla

Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ones using a sieve and fold in, stirring as little as possible. Then fold in, again stirring as little as possible:
1 c blueberries
1/2 c pecans (mine were chopped)

Spoon into muffin papers or well-greased muffin tins. Top with:
1/2 c pecans (I used walnuts, as I was out of pecans) mixed with 1/2 c coarse sugar (I used turbinado because I had it on hand).

Bake in a prewarmed 400F oven for about 25 minutes. Double this, as I did, to make 12 regular muffins and 18 mini muffins.

I also stopped back at Berry Vines (where I got my cool Easter stuff) and found this way too adorable stick/make-do ‘doll’. Oh boy am I going to have fun dressing her! Finally, I doll I can get into. (No face. The faces just creep me out! LOL!) Here’s our entry nook now. This decorating stuff is kind of fun.

 

I heard from Kirsten that the chart and the model for my first sampler don’t match up completely. I stitched this in a hurry on vacation last summer because the original start date for the series was several months earlier. Lessons learned: Don’t rush, and don’t stitch important things on family vacations. Please don’t let it put you off the design. Consider it … pre-personalized. Thank you very much for your support and encouragement – your kind words really make my day!

you know it’s cold when …

Yesterday during dinner, Max remembered that he had a package for me from a classmate’s mom. Dawn and I made contact (thanks to FB!) before we actually made it to Maine, but we still haven’t managed a face-to-face meeting. Yesterday she dropped a co-op brochure off at the school for Max to bring home so I could look it over. She surprised me, though, with the extras she’d added into the package: Check out the handmade soap and towels!

While I was exclaiming over the soap and wondering if the yarn could’ve possibly originated with Dawn’s sheep, Niek was eyeing the large bubble-pack envelope it came in. Suddenly, he grabbed it, threw it on the floor, and let out a hugely satisfied sigh. “I’ll share,” he offered. What the heck? I looked under the table and saw he’d used the thick envelope as a sort of tiny area rug for under his feet – those floor tiles sure get cold! LOL!!

eating …

This evening saw the end of my baking days, at least for a little while. The dessert buffet to benefit the local food pantry was held tonight. We went over, joking that now we could eat what I’d been cooking all week. But before we went, I got it into my head that I needed to bake rye bread, white bread, and bagels from scratch. And there’s been soup! I’m calling this one ‘stay healthy in the middle of winter soup’ LOL.

But back to the dessert buffet, it was a lot of fun. We brought my Mom along and when we got there, the kids peeled off in various directions to play or meet up with friends or ogle the dessert buffet. For the first time ever, Max went off with a group of friends and he was right in the middle talking and laughing. This might not seem like much to you, but it nearly made me cry with happiness. Max has always been the kid on the sidelines … it was amazing to see him in a group. Nicky, Rowen, and Arden were, as always, totally fearless and even sat at other tables and chatted up the families sitting there.

stitching …

Staci got an awful idea started in my mind about a holiday/seasonal basket of stitching. Hers looks so nice that I want one, too! I’ve been making Niek a Valentine’s gift pretty much every year for several years, so maybe that’ll be possible once our stuff arrives. Here’s what I’ve made him this year. This is from Midsummer Night Designs, Stitched on 36 or 40 ct Tallahassee Teal Lakeside Linen using Paper Roses premium silk by HDF. I’ve finished it in a sort of prim-fem quilty way that just seemed right. I’m very pleased with the end result, but also very frustrated by my inability to find fiber fill anywhere! This is too big for lavender. Any other ideas??

 

and resting  …

For those looking forward to a 3-day weekend, I hope you enjoy a wonderful chance to rest and recharge. Take care, and thanks for visiting with me!

good stuff in abundance

In my last post, I neglected to mention a wonderful package that Jenna sent to my mom’s address before we arrived in Maine – gorgeous hanks of HDF silk in my colors and a lovely piece of 40 ct Silkweaver linen. I don’t have a photo of the packet, but I loved everything so much that I started stitching with the silks immediately. This is my version of one of Tanya’s lovely Jane Austen freebies and it will go to one of my aunts (a true animal lover, thus the pawprint backing).  Jenna, thank you so much! I can’t wait to use more of these yummy silks or to start in on that lovely linen!

Since I was finish-finishing the Jane Austen ornament, I thought I’d use the lavender I had left to fill this ornament, also for an aunt. I had fun with the trim and was pleased with the whimsical result. The backing is left from the curtains I made for Arden’s room - waste not, want not, right?

Finishing is of course goodness, but so is the fluffy white stuff that Mother Nature keeps sharing with us. When I stepped out of the house at six a.m. on Wednesday morning to walk the dogs, I felt like I’d entered the grandest cathedral ever created – I mean, the snow-covered scene around me was just that awe-inspiring.

The dogs were slightly less impressed, especially Lola – her long fur caught up the damp snow and she was sporting snowball socks after every walk.

But the kids couldn’t get enough of it!

A snowday was called, so the kids had Wednesday free and we decided to go visit my mom (and help her shovel her way out of the house, LOL). We took our dogs, who get on pretty well with her dogs. Although Lola, our baby, might have issues with Molly, my mom’s baby. One wonders what goes through their canine brains….

Another goodness that has been in abundance is delicious home-cooking. No foodie shots, but I made brownies the other day that I am certain would’ve ensured world peace had they been handed out to the right people.

Take care, and thanks so much for spending some time here with me!

resurfacing, with lots to share

Oh, what a week it’s been! Nearly everyone here at Chateau Chaos came down with a stomach bug and some of us still aren’t feeling 100% but we’re all at least feeling better than we did.

Because life doesn’t stop just because you feel awful, a lot was going on during our Sick Week.

The international movers came and took all our good stuff away. (Ugh, I lost the picture of Arden amidst the boxes!)

I finished and posted my Christmas exchange (and my partner has received it). The stitching part of the exchange was pretty skimpy because I just didn’t have any decent finishing  materials and my creativity had fled the scene, so I tried to make up for it by packing in lots of other goodies. Chris assures me she’s happy with it, but I always have such performance anxiety with these things! (This is the Vautier freebie I mentioned recently, btw, stitched in HDF Gandy Dancer silk on HDF 36 ct linen.)

I finished a UFO. This darling design, Fair, Kind, True,  is by Deborah of Midsummer Night Designs. I’ve stitched it on a high count of Lakeside Linens Tallahassee Teal using Paper Roses premium silk by Vikki Clayton. I suspect it will reappear around our wedding anniversary in May, hopefully transformed into something lovely.

I also finished A Winter’s Nap by Erica Michaels. I had to make a few changes to the suggested colors, as they didn’t show up on this ivory banding. The banding was a total PITA to work with and I’m not satisfied with the coverage, although in the end it doesn’t look as bad as I’d feared it would.

And I finished Beth Twist’s adorable A Partrige, A Pare & A Turtledove design. I converted the called-for DMC to HDF silks and stitched it on 36 ct Cream HDF linen. I also corrected the spelling because the deliberate misspelling glared out at me and detracted from my enjoyment of the design. I love this one and plan to keep it.

And last but far from least, we celebrated pakjesavond. It was a quieter affair than usual with fewer gifts, less noise, and Max’s absence was keenly felt, but we had fun anyway.

To catch up on mundane matters, my computer is d-e-a-d. Niek’s taking it work to try to salvage the lost data, but it’s a serious PITA because of course I don’t know all my passwords, usernames, etc. and emailing is a nightmare from Niek’s PC. I haven’t spent much time online due to the frustration of nothing working like I want it to, and of course because I’ve felt sort of craptastic all week.

Niek’s work visa came in and he’s now able to enter the US. He’s booked tickets for himself and the pets and will arrive in time for Christmas. Hooray!

The upcoming week will be filled with the kids’ going-away parties for school and extra-curricular groups, and I’ll hopefully see a last couple of friends (fingers crossed!). I’m cheating and buying treats for the kids’ parties, but I figure this one time it’s okay not to go homemade all the way.

Thanks so much for stopping in to visit with me!