*TGIS

As busy and hectic as yesterday was, today was relaxed. Well, mostly,  LOL. I even had a chance to finish my Easter exchange. It’s been so long since I shared any ‘real’ stitching with you that I’m going to show a little peek of this cutie and hope it’s not enough to give it away should my partner read my blog.

The weather’s turned off colder and I was seriously missing that blue sky today, but it was an ideal day to stay inside and stitch. I’ve kept myself wonderful company by following up on a suggestion to try Pandora Radio - you design your own station by entering your favorite singers/songs/composers. It’s free and it’s fabulous.

*Thank Goodness It’s Sunday

tucking in the ends

I remember longing to have perfect backs when I was fairly new to cross stitching. It seemed like when I could do that, I would finally know I’d arrived - you know, become more than just a wannabe stitcher. LOL. My backs are usually pretty neat now, although I never reached the level where my backs could actually be mistaken for the fronts. (And guess what? I don’t care anymore. LOL!)

My True Love Gave To Me freebie from The Sampler Girl
(slightly altered; will put date or initials in blank corner)
stitched on 36 ct HDF cream
GAST Pine and Pomegranate, WDW Whiskey
(cool frame from picnik.com)

But what I’m actually referring to is the tying up of loose ends before our rapidly-approaching departure. One big change will be my email address – what a silly thing to cause such a lot of work! But I used my email address as my user name and contact for almost EVERYTHING I do online (and I have to admit that I do a lot online!). I think I’ve managed to switch everything over to my gmail address, and I’d like to remind anyone who emails me that they will need to make the switch. To keep it simple, my Blogger profile now has an ‘email’ link that you can refer to.

Another big loose end that Niek tied up or tucked under last night was resurrecting my ‘puter, which I’m now calling Lazarus. Yep, he managed to extract nearly all the “lost” information and transfer it to our external backup. Then he magically wiped the Dell clean and then painstakingly re-installed everything. Some things might be missing or might be in a different place but it’ll sort itself out. This should mean that I will have online access after our move. Not at the rental house (it’s taking forever to get that arranged because the house has never been wired for cable) but through the various free hotspots around town where you can get a free internet connection. So … hopefully we’ll be able to stay in contact from next week through the New Year. Hooray!

I’ve visited with several dear friends and family members and said goodbye the best I can (I am really bad at this!). The suitcases are mostly packed. Things are about as orderly as possible and I’m hoping for timely flight connections and clear weather when we arrive in Maine. For those worried about our warmth, the kids will be bundled up to the best of my ability. Shopping trips for real winter boots will be necessary after our arrival, but we have plenty of jackets, scarves, hats & mittens.

the midweek hump

I had a great time chatting online with an old friend on Facebook last night; the downside being that I didn’t do any stitching. LOL. When I finally called it a night, the thought was running through my head, ‘What on earth will I blog about tomorrow?’ After spending all my time in the company of sick kids, I was sure there was nothing to talk about.

But then I got up to this spectacular show from Mother Nature. This picture isn’t edited – that was really what the sky looked like during breakfast this morning. Incredible, huh?

And these were the not-quite-so-sick monkeys I had breakfast with.

Actually, as you can see by this picture snapped before bedtime yesterday, Arden’s mostly recovered. Mozart’s got nothing on him, huh?

Then when I opened my computer, I found that Kirsten has started the biweekly challenge at the Gift of Stitching blog. Go look! Join in!

And for those who just llloooovvve Isa Vautier’s amazing designs (and is there anyone who doesn’t?), go over here to look at an amazing SAL you can join in.

Looks like Wednesday might not be such a bad day after all.

family fun

Did anyone else, as a kid, spend lots of Sundays visiting their grandparents? As I remember it, we spent nearly every Sunday with one set of grandparents or another and it was usually great good fun. (Okay, I will admit that I remember being bored out of my wits from time to time, but my brother and I usually created some adventure if nothing else came up.) Anyway, yesterday we spent a very pleasurable afternoon visiting Niek’s parents and his grandmother. I really love doing family stuff like that. I took over 50 pictures (!) but I’ll spare you and only show one collage.

And, hold on to your hats, some stitching has been done. When I saw this freebie from Plum Street Samplers, I pulled out a piece of linen and my little orts box and got right to work on it. I haven’t stitched the ‘bok bok’ part of the design because I’m thinking of making this into a 2-sided ornament and putting that part on the back. I blended threads to try to create an overdyed look. I’m not sure I really succeeded, but I had fun trying. (Excuse me for not ironing this before taking a photo.)

The linen is white 35 ct HDF linen that I abused first with Chinese herbal dregs and then with a wild concotion that included red onion skins and chestnut shells. It’s dyed, overdyed, and then rinsed out (becasue it came out too dark). The many shades give the larger piece of linen a really nice depth, but I like my smaller, first experiment better. Sigh…

Today’s showing number three on our house. Please cross your fingers and toes for a sale!

by the pricking of my thumbs

Actually, I only pricked one thumb (the left one) but I did it a good many times …. I’ll spare you a picture of the poor little digit. I really should learn how to use a thimble. LOL.

Here’s my version of primitivebetty’s wonderful freebie. I knew I had to stitch this way back when she posted it on her blog, but it took me awhile to get around to it. This little darlin’ stays right here. It’s stitched over one on 32 ct lambswool with OWS Medallion Black. After I stitched it, I distressed it using coffee applied directly to the design side of the linen. The back is a gorgeous overdyed piece of silk that looks dyed-to-match the floss. And a bit of vintage lace finishes it off with a bit more flair than the average prim … but if something’s truly wicked, doesn’t it require a bit of luxury?

I’d like to thank both Betty and Tanya, while I’m at it, for not only being so generous with their freebies, but also for making them so accessible to those of us outside the US. I know that American (and perhaps Canadian?) LNSs offer freebies with purchases, but that’s just  not the case in other areas. So all those great La-D-Da and LHN (among others) freebies are impossible to obtain for the rest of us. It gets pretty frustrating, I’ll tell you! But don’t worry, I’ll get off my soap box now.

I hope your weekend involves a good amount of stitching as well as other happy-making activities. Mine’s been great so far. I actually ordered  new glasses (gasp!) – mine broke back in the early spring and since then I’ve been wearing a pair that dates back more than a decade. Tomorrow we’re off to visit a friend who was recently blessed with twin daughters. And hopefully I’ll soon be paying a visit on another good friend who just moved back to the Netherlands after several years abroad.

in which our heroine takes a day off

After my garden chores yesterday, and catching up on some writing deadlines the day before, and catching up on stitching deadlines a couple of days before that, etcetera, I felt like I deserved a day off.  It’s probably just me looking for an excuse to goof off, but hey, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Naturally on a day off, one wants to craft, right? Well, that’s what I wanted to do. Specifically, I wanted to make a kitty. Last Easter, I made the kids Easter bunnies. Nothing new there, as I make them something for their Easter baskets every year – but last year’s project turned out especially good (even if the photos definitely did not, LOL) and that was really thanks to some excellent instruction and a fool-proof free pattern.

So when I decided that I simply had to make a kitty doll for a friend, and didn’t have time to make one of my own embroidered ones, I turned to the same source hoping for another fool-proof finish: *Wee Wonderfuls.  Tada: Meet Angel Pointy Kitty! She’s guaranteed to help you fly over your problems, rather than getting mired down in them. She has a ready smile for even the dreariest day. She’s such a winsome, sweet little creature that my kids are more than a little upset that she’s destined for a home elsewhere. (To the friend who’s receiving this, I apologize for the sneak preview, but I just had to share!)

While I had fun crafting, Arden got in some quality TV time. I just had to laugh at the poses he struck – the kid cracks me up.

I hope your day included at least a snippet of something that made you happy – or even made you laugh right out loud!

*Wee Wonderfuls offers patterns for sale and also has a blog that has many free download patterns. She has embroidery, paper dolls, and stuffies. Go on, now, get over there and have some fun!

simply be-ing

I’ve found my first victim for the HDF Be-series silks I ordered and wow, am I having fun with this project! This is the freebie that Paulette put on her blog the other day (and just let me add that I like this design so much I have plans to stitch it 3 times!). When I saw it, I ran for my new silks, my Bunny Brown 35 ct linen, and then I got busy. Well, by how little I’ve done, you can see that I couldn’t stay busy with it for too long, but I hope to spend some quality time with it later today.

The reason I couldn’t spend long on it yesterday is two-fold. Yesterday, Niek and I placed a bid on an auction property that we had more or less fallen in love with. It was perfect for us on a number of levels, but we had to submit a fairly low bid to avoid over-extending ourselves. Sadly, the winning bid came in just out of our reach.

The other reason for my lack of stitching is a much happier one – the kids’ school put on a circus yesterday to raise money and the kids had such a fantastic time. I brought my camera and captured parts of their circus performances (despite being in a back row and being about a foot shorter than the average Dutchie, LOL), as well as some other pictures of the younger kids enjoying the post-performance fun. (Max has a weekend with his father, and left the moment the kids were excused, so no extra pictures of him.)

Wishing you a weekend that’s long on health and happiness. Thanks for visiting with me!

fun, fun, fun even if there is no sun

It’s ironic that we had such glorious weather right up until the kids’ school vacation started. LOL. But we’re happy little critters anyway – lots of fun stuff to learn about the beautiful state of Maine! Here’s a little collage of today’s good times.

 

Today is also special because my biological father and his wife are celebrating their third wedding anniversary! Dear Jim and Gaby, I hope your day is special from start to finish!! Thinking of you, as always, with LOTS of love!! Your anniversary gift, I fear, will be late. :0

And finally, Mom’s slated for release from the hospital today. She’s far from her usual confident self, but hopefully once she’s home, she’ll feel more like herself and will start making great gains. I cannot thank you all enough for your wonderfully supportive and encouraging comments. Thank you!!

If you have a few moments, do head over to the super-cool Needleprint blog and check out. Not only are there tons of cool articles, but also some droolworthy freebies!

And now … back to some RR stitching. I hope your week is going great!

a boatload of starts

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic, supportive comments about our upcoming trip to Maine. I am just so excited! It feels like it’s been an eternity since I’ve been home, although in reality it’s ‘only’ been three years. I can hardly wait.

did they happen two-by-two?

I usually manage to avoid startitis. That said, I seem to have come down with at least a mild case recently – I started Mary Garry’s Spring Cookies(not yet finished), began my PS exchange piece (about half done), got side-tracked by a bunch of Easter bunnies (all done), tried to work on my NRR but couldn’t find it (I am not freaking out over that, really), worked a little bit on my ES Spot Sampler, started a bookmark for the Nordic Needle literacy drive, and nearly immediately got distracted by the utterly fabulous Red Sampler freebie from BBD. And what started it all? Well, Noah, of course! Remember my visit with Annemarie, and how although I didn’t stitch much that day, I did come home and make a good start on it? Well, guess what hasn’t been touched since then! Oops. But don’t worry, it will get some attention. Soon. LOL. As it is SAL night, here’s my progress picture.

And since I was talking about the bookmark, here that is (Barbara Ana design). I must finish this up in time for the rapidly-approaching deadline. I was stitching it entirely from orts until I realized that I don’t really have much in the way of orts. So the color scheme is sort of … unplanned. LOL.

Oh, and this is my love-of-the-moment. Isn’t it scrumptious? I’m stitching it on some 28 ct Graziano celery/natural linen that I traded Karen for awhile back, and am using HDF silks Black Iris Bloom, Everlasting, and Dried Roses (all from the Examplar series, which I love).

As soon as I get my current projects done (LOL!) I have lots of great new ones awaiting me. Riona recently sent me two patterns as a blog giveaway (and I can’t wait to start on the Brightneedle one!), and Monique just knocked me for a loop when her package of four My Mark designs arrived. I won a giveaway on her blog, and hoped that maybe she’d send me one … but four?! WOW!

I haven’t stitched much at all – the four free days around Easter were filled with outdoor activities (heavenly weather!) and prior to Easter, I was out-straight with bunnies. This week has been rather consumed by activities related to our upcoming Maine trip (yay!!). Though we won’t be leaving for months yet, some things need immediate attention – notably, our passports. Ugh. Go see Chiloe’s story about how awful this is to arrange when you’re not in your native country. Oh, and I got my hair cut today. It’s a short, layered bob that I hope avoids being frumpy while looking a tad more “put together” than the way I’ve had my hair for some time.

And  now, back to stitching – the elves have done the housework!
Wishing you well!!

bunny parade

So, the Easter crafting for this year is done. Whew, was it fun! Although I make something for the kids’ Easter basket every year, I think I pulled out all the stops this year! The 3 adorable stand-up bunnies are a freebie design made available by the commendable talent of Wee Wonderfuls. Truly, an idiot-proof pattern and one that can be embellished on to suit any occassion. The handcrafted “eggs” hanging in the branches (Paastakken, in Dutch) are also derived from an online source, Making Ends Meet. Max and I made the felt ones (which have a secret pocket to hide a treat in), while Rowen and Nick made the paper ones. (Sorry for the weird colors – late night photography just isn’t my strong suit!)

Wishing everyone a joyous day marked by reflection, growth, and joy.