mainely stitching

When he got home from work last night, Niek said how much better I looked after a day off in comparison to a day spent rushing around and doing chores. So I thought I’d kinda-sorta take part of today off, too.

(I have cleaned the bathroom – ugh – and am making the kids’ favorite dinner tonight, so I don’t have to feel too guilty.)

This is a little design I charted and like yesterday’s kitty, it will be going to a friend. I’m “this” close to being done, but if anyone’s getting anything at all for dinner, let alone special dinners, I’ll have to lay down my linen and silk for now. By the way, that’s my new laying tool in the picture. I bought it here, and the seller goes out of her way to make each sale a happy one.

I hope everyone’s enjoying a wonderful midweek!

Another week that’s just flying by ….  Yikes. At this rate, it will be Christmas before I even know what’s going on. But on the bright side, I’ve managed to pretty much catch up on deadlines again, and in a couple of cases I even have a bit of an edge (not that it will last long, LOL). In between raking leaves and visiting friends and lots of other good stuff, I’ve managed to get a few stitches crossed. Here’s one of my designs that I’m pretty pleased with, particularly the delicacy of the colors. This is stitched on Vikki Clayton’s Old Gray Mare (a dark version of it) using her silks. What do you think of my eyelets?

I’ve also started a bit of holiday stitching. Seeing as how the days are whirring by me, I thought perhaps I should get a jump on Christmas stitching and decided to start off with this gorgeous little prim design by Annemiek of The Needle’s Content. This is her January prim floss tag – a year-long group that will soon be coming to an end. If you weren’t lucky enough to get in on the group, don’t despair! Annemiek will be offering these for sale, if I’ve understood correctly. It’s a great series! I’ve stitched my version on 35 ct HDF Old Gray Mare (lighter version) using GAST fibers.

The kids have been so busy. They enjoy every minute of it, but I can see that my little darlings do get tired from time to time. Here are a couple of quick shots of Rowen and Arden enjoying an after-school snack yesterday.

Autumn didn’t creep up on us this year. It plunked down one day and that was simply that. My gardens are full of  fallen leaves, the sky is leaden gray, and we’re all wearing light jackets. I spent my afternoon raking leaves and picking up the last of the windfall apples. It’s invisible work, though – when I asked Niek if he could see what I’d done today, he really had no idea. Sigh.

I have too many friends who are ill or are going through other difficulties, and I just want you to know that I am thinking of you. I’m terribly sorry I don’t write as often as I should, but you really are in my thoughts and I hope you’ll be enjoying sunnier prospects very soon. ((((Hugs!))))

So there are some other sea-lovers out there – I’m glad to be in such good company. Luckily there are a lot of wonderful seaside designs to keep us all from feeling too homesick for the crash of surf. And for those who’ve asked me about Tanya’s freebie (shown in previous post), I’d suggest you contact The Sampler Girl herself.

In addition to soaking up lots of seaside air, sand, and salt, I indulged in a little pre-shopping before we headed to Maine. Taking advantage of some special sale offers and also picking up some things that I really needed and could save something on the shipping … well, you know how it goes, right? I don’t need to make too many excuses for myself, do I? Well, looking at this picture, maybe I do!

Many thanks to Vikki Clayton for her wonderfulness in getting everything to my Mom’s address during the span of our vacation (despite an order that went on to two pages!), to The Sampler Girl for shipping not only my order but that of my friend Conny to my Mom’s address, to Mary Kathryn for getting orders filled even when distributors are a little slower than they should be ( ), and to Tanya of  The Scarlett House for parting with some gently-used designs at wonderfully generous prices.

To show that my purchases really are justified, here’s some of that HDF linen and silk (Oil of Amber 4113, Examplar Dried Roses, and Knucker) already being worked up into a new design.

Here in the Netherlands, autumn is descending – the rains have begun and the temperatures are dropping. It’s still August! But like it or not, Mother Nature’s following her own schedule and I may as well try to go along gracefully. Wishing you and yours a wonderful week!

What a nice weekend! I hope yours was, too! I did indeed finish the stitching on the third gift and, if all goes well, the finish-finishing will be done by the time my head hits the pillow tonight. I’ve managed to pull all the coordinating fabrics, etc. so it’s “just” a matter of assembly. LOL. If only you could see me when I’m putting things together … you’d laugh yourself silly.

While I was stitching, Ash was busy putting a lot of irresistible goodies up on eBay. One of the most talented all-around crafters I’ve ever met – I mean, everything Ash did was drop-dead gorgeous – she’s out of crafts and is clearing out all her remaining stash. You really have to go look. And drool! (And bid, LOL!)

We enjoyed a very laid-back Father’s Day here at Chateau Chaos. No pictures, I’m sorry, though I was tempted to post one of Niek in his special red & white striped apron. He insisted on cooking dinner even though he should’ve had the day off.

While the kids were out playing, I picked up Blessed Be by Stacy Nash. It’s been a long time since this one has seen the light of day. The linen, 40 ct Dark Chino R&R, is very challenging to stitch on and that’s probably why it got shoved to the back of the drawer. But it really is the perfect linen for this project, so I’ll soldier on. Believe it or not, I did the face three times before I was remotely satisfied with it (and even now, I’m not sure …). I’m doing this using my own choice of flosses.

I also picked up Eleanor Spooner’s Spot Sampler, one of my own designs, and put in a few more stitches on this one. I love this project, but because I started it just for myself, it was continually pushed back to make time for other stitching obligations. Since I’ve recently made contact with Eleanor’s youngest daughter, however, I’ve decided to stitch and frame it for her. And now my procrastination is due to worries that my work won’t be good enough. Sigh … I’m my own worst enemy! (Please overlook the creases & wrinkles – because I’m doing this in non-colorfast silks, I’m waiting till the very end to iron it.)

For the next couple of days, I’ll be stitching a quilt square for the breast cancer group. The lady receiving this quilt is an avid horse rider, so I’ve combed through all my old magazines and found some horse-related designs that I’m combining to create her square. I just started it this morning and the first part of the design is from Cross Stitch & Needlework June 1997.

Wishing one and all a most lovely week, full of sunshine and good health!

Last weekend resulted in such a wonderful, productive, “What I did with my weekend” kind of summary. This weekend does not.

I did not weed the garden. It rained and was chilly and dismal all weekend. I thought we’d fast-forwarded to October. Ugh.

I did not repair ‘dog damage’ to the back garden. For those who don’t have dogs and postage-stamp sized backyards, repairing holes and other doggie damage needs to be done on a weekly basis. Especially when combined with ‘kid damage’ LOL!

I did not finish In God We Trust, even though it’s a gorgeous design and I really thought I could stitch it three times before the Fourth of July.

I did not finish my Marjorie Massey project even though it’s a gift and will now arrive late.

I did not put even one stitch in my Dames of the Needle A&E sampler. I did mark the center of the fabric. Big whoop.

I did not go to Harmien’s GTG because I can’t leave the house on Saturdays unless accompanied by my retinue of shorter humans and four-legged hangers-on.

I did not cut the boys’ hair.

I did design, but did not start, a new Dutch Primitive sampler that I’ve named Let My Love. It’s cool. Speaking of cool, you should check out Melissa’s version of Love of Myn. (If you are interested in purchasing a PDF version of Love of Myn, let me know!)

And now it’s Monday and my day is already used up in advance. Boo hoo. I think I would like a working vacation like Barb and Alma’s at the beach. I’m sure they’re working their talented fingers to the bone, but a change of venue (not to mention a brief escape from our daily mess) would be ever so welcome. Only 6 1/2 weeks till we leave for Maine….

And until then, maybe Spin has the right idea…

So what do you do with your weekend after the kids have been home all week and you’ve been sick for half of it? Catch up, of course!

I woke up on Saturday not feeling too spiffy, but eager to get busy with something.

I’d won free tickets to the Handwerkbeurs in Zwolle (a large craft fair) at the last moment and although I’d originally planned not to go, not using a free ticket seemed, well, wasteful. But Zwolle is about 1 1/2 hours from here by car, each way, and I didn’t feel like going alone. Of course, at the last moment, either everyone else had decided not to go or had already gone. So I thought I’d take the train – better for the environment, and I could stitch or read on the way (I hate the wasted time of commuting anywhere!) and checked out the train schedule. To get there by train would take me 2 hours and 15 minutes (as opposed to 1 1/2 hours) and would cost twice as much as going by car. Now seriously, folks, how are we going to get our dependence on fossil fuels under control when it is not only longer and more inconvenient to travel by public transport, but also twice as expensive???  I want to save Mother Earth as much as the next Greenie, but c’mon!!

Anyway, my bubble burst as far as the craft show went, I decided to get cracking with some of that work stuff that’s been accumulating. First thing was to get that *&*)*#@ thesis done for the neighbor’s daughter. I started off as an editor and I do really love it, don’t get me wrong. What I hate is “editing” anything that the writer doesn’t actually want corrected. In this case, I was limited to making sure that the English was correct – the right verb tenses, the correct prepositions, that sort of nuts & bolts thing. It just kills me to leave these mangled sentences when it could be said so much more succinctly or eloquently or … well, plain old better. But those were my instructions, and once the darn thing was done, my debt to my neighbor (for helping out so much when I hurt my foot) would be adequately repaid.  So that was task one and I must say I felt ever so much better when it was done.

So good, in fact, that I dived right in to my next writing assignment which was pushing the deadline and making me nervous anyway. By this time, Arden had gone down for a nap (the first one in days – why do they save their good behavior for their Daddies??) and Niek kindly took the other two whirling dervishes little darlings with him to the supermarket for the things that we always forget when doing the shopping on Friday. So I worked all afternoon and evening – my better half made a delicious dinner and all I had to do was scoot the PC out of the way – and finished the assignment in time to watch “I Am Legend” on DVD as a special treat. With some medicinal spirits to soothe my cough.

Sunday dawned, though of course I missed the actual dawning itself. Still not feeling spectacularly spiffy, I was eager for a day of fun as a reward for working so hard on Saturday. I flirted with the idea of driving to Zwolle, but spending 3+ hours of my hard-earned free time behind the wheel was not appealing. Especially given that the cash situation meant I wouldn’t really be able to buy anything once I was there. So would I stitch, or would I ….

Design! What better to do when you want a new chart but don’t have the money for it? (And truth be told, not many charts are yelling my name these days, as you can read below). I have intended to make a sampler for my Daddy for a couple of years now, based on a really funny-to-me saying that his Mom used when he was growing up. (You know me, I’m a total pushover for odd, old sayings!) The problem was, I didn’t want to chart a traditional sampler. I wanted something quirky.  And, the way these things do, it suddenly came together after years of rattling around in the ol’ cranium. What do you think? (This is just the computer-generated version of the design – it’ll look better once I stitch it.) I’m calling it Your Little Hands.

And speaking of charts, I haven’t said anything about Nashville and you haven’t dragged it out of me, either. First off, I was surprised and delighted to see some funky, surreal stuff coming from The Goode Huswife. I’m not in agreement here with Annemarie, I know, but I actually like The Bird Keeper. Secondly, I was disappointed with Kathy’s offerings from Carriage House Samplings. She should’ve had a little bit of that tea that The Goode Huswife was serving, IMHO.  For  me, the real winner of this year’s Nashville Market was undoubtedly The Primitive Needle. Like Karen, I love Earth Sampler and it’s just a matter of time before it’s tottering on top of my Must Stitch Someday Soon pile. I also love ABC Hornbook (yeah, another BAP is just what I need, seeing how well I’m doing with SOHRH) and Cape Cod Girls. This one in particular gives me a giggle, because of memories growing up. And rounding out my unsollicited opinion of recent releases, what the heck is going on with the BBD Loose Feathers series? Not only is the latest design (IMHO) ugly, it’s actually creepy when you look at it up close. I’m seriously considering cancelling my auto shipment. Any inside news on where they’re going with the series? And to end on a positive note, I really like The Sampler Girl’s latest releases and am eagerly awaiting their appearance on Pattern Mart.

Somehow, somewhere between all the baking, games, party setting-up and party breaking-down, phone calls, visits, and everything else, I managed to squeeze in an hour here and there to work on the Valentine’s sampler I designed for Niek. And ta-da, it’s done! (I have to admit, I’m more than mildly amazed.)

Heart of Myn
35 ct HDF Mushroom linen
HDF silks: light French artichoke, oil of amber 4115, rum cherry, old maid of the vineyard, pressed petals, fried pickles, sea cabbage, primitive black, brown ale, bock, kindling, lager, lark’s tongue, legacy blue
stitched one-over-two

I’d really, really been looking forward to a completely quiet weekend to sort of recuperate from last week and prepare for next week, but it wasn’t meant to be. Today the kids have a performance at Scouting that parents are invited (=expected) to attend and tomorrow my SIL has a birthday party and I’m supposed to begin collecting for the annual Amnesty International door-to-door fundraising. Niek’s suggested I ‘only’ do the collection and let him take the kids to the ILs and at this point, I don’t think he’ll need to twist my arm to get me to agree. I also need to get busy with some writing projects that have pressing deadlines. So keep your fingers crossed!

A few happy party pictures to spread the joy. Wishing everyone aa great weekend!!

… to share, to do, to think & dream!

It’s the eve of Nicky’s birthday, so soon I shall be up to my elbows in flour as it is the custom here that the birthday child brings treats for the entire class. Nick’s requested lemon flavored cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I will be interested to see just what I come up with.

As both Nick and Rowen have birthdays this week and we are just coming out of a terribly hectic period, I opted to forego the usual large family & friends party we have every year. I felt a little guilty about it, but my main emotion was overwhelming relief. So, yay for selfishness! Seriously, it will just make it so much easier to enjoy the kids’ special days without becoming totally overwhelmed by all there is to do. Because we’re skipping the family party, we took the kids to visit their Opa and Oma today. Lots of fun was had by all, and the kids were totally wowed by their gifts.

Meanwhile, I was being wowed by the temporary loan of this family heirloom darning sampler that was stitched by Niek’s great-great-grandmother. Gorgeous, isn’t it? You’ll be seeing more of this in the months to come before it’s returned. We’ve hung it on our wall for now and are thoroughly in love with it.

And Niek’s mother surprised me by giving me a traditional merklap (sampler) stitched by her mother in 1976. We have regular, if infrequent, contact with Niek’s Oma and are fortunate to also have a stitched gift she made for Nicky shortly after his birth.

Now what’s with all this stitching by other people? Haven’t I been doing any? Well, yes. Yesterday afternoon I got it in my head that I simply had to stitch Niek something for Valentine’s Day after all (I’d planned to make a paper gift this year) and that it had to be something totally original (aka a design of my own) rather than using one of the many utterly delightful Valentine-type charts I already own. So I pulled out my recently-purchased 35 ct mushroom HDF linen (have I mentioned how much I absolutely love her linen?!) and a bagful of HDF silks and … started stitching! The phrase, “Love of myn, my heart is thyn” is one that was used on love poseys around 1900.  I’m using one strand of silk over two squares of linen for an antique look. Am I having fun with it … oh yeah!

… make everything lighter. Even me, apparently. After failing to lose a single ounce during the past month (despite a big change in eating habits), today’s visit to the dietitian saw a 1.5 kilo loss. Finally! Now I have something to build some motivation on!

The extra light has also been great for stitching, but unfortunately my hands have been so incredibly dry and chapped that even DMC catches and snags on it. I’m blaming it on having to do dishes by hand – our dishwasher broke at Christmastime and we haven’t gotten a replacement yet. Anyway, here’s my progress with Rowen’s MB birth sampler. Though I haven’t gotten far, it’s a huge pleasure to do something other than borders!

Today’s mail included a card from Cathy B.and a BOAF Gold Santa chart! Thank you so much, Cathy!! You’re so generous and thoughtful! I must also belatedly thank Rachael and Mady for some knitted goodies. I’ve sent them email, but haven’t thanked them publicly for the wonderful handmade hand warmers and socks.

And while calling out to friends over the Internet, I need to spread the word that my friend Connyhas just started her own blog. Good for you, Conny – great to see you in Blogland!

With Nashville on the horizon, I’ve been paying more attention to new releases. Naturally, Tanya has some great ones (when doesn’t she? when does she sleep??) including the second volume of her Sampler Girl Companion Booklet. I also saw something over at Shakespeare’s Peddler that is extremely tempting.  But hey, even if I did figure out how to stitch with my toes, I couldn’t keep up with what I want to stitch this year! And for those who’re watching their pennies, there are some cute freebies here.

When the chimney sweep came along today to perform our yearly cleaning, his assistant was admiring Gil, who loves to be admired. He (Gil) reminded me it’s been too long since he was featured in these pages, so without further ado, here’s the handsomest bird in Gouda.

I’m not sure if needle and linen will meet much in the upcoming week as both Nick and Rowen will be celebrating their birthdays – lots of baking to be done, games to organize, and so on. It’ll be a lot of fun, but it will also be a very busy time. If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know why!

Till next time, wishing you sun-filled days (though not too hot for those down in the Southern Hemisphere!) and happy hours of stitching!