A froggy makeover and Ornament update

Happy Hump Day!

We had some severe weather blow through last night but today it's sunny, there's a slight breeze and it's absolutely gorgeous out! Not much damage in our part of town but lots of power outages, downed trees etc. across the metro. Abby was driving home, or trying to anyway and she finally called and asked if maybe she should pull over somewhere as she couldn't see. Gee Abs, ya think?? Sometimes, I just gotta wonder about that child! She pulled into a parking lot and sat there for a bit until the tornado sirens went off. Then she called again. What should she do? I had her head to Gram's house as it was closer than home. But I forgot to mention to her that she should not drive through any areas with standing water.....they had been showing lots of cars on the news that tried to drive through water thinking it wasn't very deep and they ended up floating away, flooded or stalled in the middle of the intersection. My bad. She drove through standing water and got some inside the car. At least she didn't get stranded but really, at 22 I shouldn't have to remind her of these things! Haven't checked her car out yet but she says it got hammered by wind driven hail. Never a good thing.

Before I went to Last Saturday Stitching last Saturday, Dan and I went to the thrift store. I had been given a flower frog by a stitching friend quite some time ago and then a week later Dan bought one for me too. But they both needed little containers to go with them and this was the first chance we had to go together. It's always more fun to go thrifting with Dan than without Dan. He's always finds something to get excited about. This time it was the worlds fugliest lamp ever. We're talking so ugly it hurt to look at it. Dan was all, we gotta get this, we can make better, faster stronger than it was before....I just gave him "the LOOK" told him it was the ugliest thing I had ever seen and walked away. Trust me, there was no making this monstrosity better. I found two little vessels that fit my frogs or is it that my frogs would fit, so we bought 'em and then I went off to stitching and he went on home. But as we were leaving the thrift store parking lot, I saw this couple that had been nearby when I told Dan to back away from the ugly lamp leaving the store. You'll never guess what they were carrying......Yep! The fugly lamp. And it took 2 of them to carry it. I wish I had had my camera!! We were laughing hysterically as we left the parking lot!


Stitching was great as always except we had to say goodbye to one of our original stitcher's this month. Her hubby got a new and better job in Peoria and they will be moving there soon. Stacy is/was the youngest member of our group and she found us through Craigslist. I had posted an ad looking for people interested in a stitching group. Her husband was a bit leery of letting her go the first time but Stacy came anyway. Despite being quite a bit younger than us she had a good time and continued to come when the demands of young kids, a part-time job, the husband and going to school would allow. Stacy, it has been an honor getting to know you and teaching you that there are other materials out there than aida and dmc. Corrupting you has been a pleasure. My only regret is that we have not been able to corrupt you so thoroughly that you have stash (seriously, she buys one chart at a time and stitches it) or that you have more than one project going at a time. We failed at absolute corruption. Hopefully we'll do better with the next victim youngster to cross our paths. I wish you and your family great success and happiness in your new life and please come see us when you are in town. We'll miss you.

Returning to the frog story....I wasn't thrilled with the little vessels I found. They worked just fine but I thought they were lacking something. The silver vessel I had Dan paint with brown hammered metal spray paint. that was better but still not quite right. The clear vessel we sprayed with the spray that makes it look frosted. Again, that was better but not perfect. Down the stairs I went to the craft room. Which reminds me, I forgot to mention the movers came Friday and took away all of Adam's stuff so I can get in there again. I was sad his stuff was gone as that meant the move was really permanent but it only lasted about an hour before I was all good. Anyway, to get back to the story...I found some rub-ons in my scrapping supplies that I thought might just do the trick. I think they turned out really cute. How about you?



And here's an update on the Wise Men Ornament. I'm about half done now and thrilled with how it looks. Just too pretty.


That's it for now. Think I'll head outside, pull some weeds and enjoy the nice weather. You all have a great afternoon!

Take care,

Julie

Cool

Good Morning!

I am happy to report that the Gods were smiling on me Monday. Or more likely, my regular heating and cooling people decided that a new a/c unit that is blowing warm air sounded fishy to them and I received a call Monday afternoon saying they had a crew that could come out and check things over. As it turns out, the problem was most likely their fault to begin with. We had NO freon. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Which is strange since we paid for freon last summer. After testing the line and checking out everything else, they determined that there was not a leak anywhere and the most likely culprit for the problem was someone last summer did not tighten some doohickey tight enough and we lost all 4.5 pounds of freon. That's an expensive loss and really bad for the environment. Anyway....the upshot of the whole thing was they didn't charge me full price for the freon, or the labor which tells me they know it was their screw up. Some people have said I shouldn't have had to pay anything. I was just happy to have a cool house so (don't tell them I said this but....) I'd have paid full price just because I didn't have to wait until Friday. Ahhhhh.....life is good!

The moving truck is coming tomorrow morning to pack up Adam's stuff and haul it to Utah. They said he should have it sometime Sat. That's quick! Adam will be thrilled as he has been sleeping on an air mattress for 2 weeks and freezing cuz he's too cheap to buy any blankets and it's been chilly there. Silly boy! After the moving truck is gone I will get to work putting the house back to the way it was before he so rudely moved back in. We have friends coming next week to visit and I need to get things in order before they arrive.

Progress is being made on my ornament. So far, everyone thinks it resembles a moth. I have to agree, it does look like a moth or butterfly from a distance. I am really loving this piece though. The shading is awesome and to watch it develop as I stitch has been a pleasure. Ya'll should run right out and get the chart. It's a beauty!



Our fall retreat was announced in the shop's last newsletter with registration opening last Friday. We booked the last 2 beds yesterday! It's not a large retreat, only 15 beds available and while I'd like to say I can't wait until September, that would be wishing away my summer and I do not want that but I am pleased that everyone enjoyed the last retreat so much that they want to do it again and I am looking forward to it. We are planning a larger retreat for next April. It's a lot of work as I want to make sure everyone has a great time. We are hoping that other stitcher's besides our usual Last Saturday Stitchers will want to come but I worry that they won't. At night I lay in bed and ponder different ideas. For instance, themed retreat or no theme. Classes or no classes. What types of goodies would the stitcher's want in a goodie bag. We will be taking stitching supplies and setting up a small shop there but do we need charts, fabric and floss or just charts and fabric. If we need floss do we bring all the different ones we carry and if so how will we display them. You get the idea. So much to think about.....

Well, I need to get a move on. Still need to eat breakfast, pack a lunch and head off to work. Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I really enjoy all the comments. BTW....I'm happy I am not the only one out there with a left shoulder bra strap slippage problem. I'm still lopsided, haven't had a chance to go shopping yet. But I will and I'll let you know if I find one that prevents the slippage problem. Anyone ever tried the Breezies brand from QVC?? They are supposed to have the straps angled to prevent that slippage but I'm wondering about the support for larger girls. IYKWIM.

Have a great day!!

Julie

Be careful what you wish for.....

I have been wishing and hoping for the last 6 months that hot weather would arrive. This past weekend, it did. With a vengeance. There was only one tiny little problem with the high temps and humidity. When I turned the air conditioner on, it didn't work. Oh it runs just fine. It just isn't cooling. At. All. Dan and the BIL did what they could to try and fix it to no avail. It got up to 90 degrees in the house both Saturday and Sunday. Factor in the humidity and you have all the makings for a thoroughly miserable weekend. I am hoping and praying that I can get someone to come out and fix it. But I am not feeling confident that they will. Most of the heating and cooling places in town have gone to what they call a contract. You pay them a set fee that is usually around $300.00/yr that is supposed to cover your spring and fall tuneups. Those customers with the contract get priority service, meaning they will get help first over those without a contract. Last fall my contract expired. I had requested they bring a contract with them when they came to check the furnace. They forgot. I thought since we had just replaced the inside a/c unit last summer and the outside unit 3 summers ago that it wasn't a big huge deal and we'd just take care of it this spring. See what happens when I think, wish and hope? Now we all suffer.

I have also been wishing and hoping for a weekend that I could just sit and do nothing. I'm happy to report that is exactly what happened this weekend. NOTHING! I couldn't even stitch because my hands were too sweaty to hold the needle. I think I will hold off on the wishing and hoping for a while. It's just not working out very well.

NO progress has been made on Golden Ice. I started an ornament and have been working on that. It's by Blackberry Lane Design. Beautiful ornament. Looks like this:

Of course, my version is not that beautiful yet. I started stitching this as it was called for. 40 ct. linen cross stitched 1 over 1. I did not like it......so I frogged it, and may I just say that was a royal pain in my behind, and then started over using the tent stitch 1 over 1 and I am liking it waaaaay better. Wha'cha think?


Don't go by the colors on the first pic. That lead wise man looks like he'd be fuschia but in reality he is stitched in shades of red/burgundy. Love the shading in this piece. And actually, the 40 count isn't all that bad most of the time!!

Update: I started calling heating and cooling places at 8 a.m. this morning. So far I have a bunch of we can't get to you until Friday or next week. Or leave your name and number and we'll call you back. Or I sat on hold forever. Or a busy signal. Looks like the dogs and I will go to work today. I can't leave them here by themselves. Yesterday it was cooler outside than it was inside.

To top it all off I am feeling very lopsided today. In the midst of all the sweating going on this weekend, I broke the underwire on my last good bra. I hate when that happens. I have very short shoulders and therefore I have a terrible time keeping the straps up on the left side. Don't ask me why only the left side but if one falls down, it's always the left one. Anyway, I happened to find this one bra that this didn't happen so I bought a few of them thinking I would go back and buy a couple more the next time they were on sale. Nope!! Next time Kohl's had bras on sale they no longer had this bra. So over time, one by one the underwire has broken until I was left with this last final bra. And lest you think I have been running around wearing just one bra I do have others, it's just the straps all fall down or the underwire comes up so far on the sides that it pokes me in my fat underarms so I only wear them while the good one is being cleaned. So if you happen to be in Kohl's and see a woman in the bra dept. and one boob is nice and perky and the other is drooping, you'll know who she is and why she's crooked!

Have a great day everyone! Thanks for stopping in and commenting!

Julie

Endings, beginnings, a trunk show and a stitchy finish

My baby graduated this past weekend. For me it was a bittersweet occasion. As I have mentioned before, I'm thrilled to be done with driving kids to school. But it also means she will be heading off to college in the fall and she won't be home in the evenings so we can listen to her complain about being censored or about how dumb the substitute teacher was that day. Or talking about a test she just knows she failed and then later checking her grade online and finding out she aced it. She won't be home to watch our favorite T.V. shows together either. On the other hand, she won't be home complaining about being censored, stupid teachers or flunking tests. But that is not all that is over. Amy had her last piano lesson on Thursday. Her last piano recital on Saturday. While I won't miss the drive to piano lessons, a drive made more stressful this year trying to avoid all the huge potholes, I will miss listening to her learn new songs and mastering new techniques. I'll miss seeing her up on stage nailing that piece that she has worked so hard to perfect. And nail it she did! We are so proud of her. So while I am sad that once again life is changing, I am also looking forward to all the new experiences that are ahead of us. Amy will be the only one of the 3 kids that has gone away to school. She won't be far, only an hour away, but she will be off on her own and that is an exciting and scary prospect. I know she will be just fine, she's a smart and determined young woman. But I will miss her.

Adam is now living in Salt Lake City. Big change for him, big change for us. I've already informed the rest of the family that the large family breakfast we always had on Sunday morning will not happen every weekend anymore. I started that tradition when Adam moved into an apt. It was one way of guaranteeing we would see him at least once a week after he moved out. Somehow, I don't think he's going to come all the way from Salt Lake every Sunday morning for breakfast. The rest of the family would just as soon sleep in and I am good with that. I won't sleep in but I will enjoy a more leisurely Sunday morning. Adam is doing well, he found an apt. yesterday and will let me know when the truck will be coming to move all his stuff. I'll get my craft room back, a bit sooner than expected, I now have a vacation destination and the electrical bill will go back down so there are some pluses to the move. But I will miss him.

We're having a Rosewood Manor Trunk show at the shop this month. The models arrived last week and I must say, it's an impressive display! Stop in if you are in the area.

Not a ton of stitching has been done, cleaning the house and working kind of sucked all my free time up but I did finish Holy Night.

I'm trying to figure out how I want to frame it. I have it narrowed down to 2 different looks but haven't made a final decision yet.

I have a chiropractor appt. this morning so I need to get moving. I see I have almost 100 followers now, might have to have another give away here soon. I hope you all have a great day, thanks for stopping in, double thanks if you take the time to comment. I love comments and the lovely ladies that leave them!

Till next time!

Julie

Framed Finishes!!

Good Evening!

I hope everyone is having a great week. It's been busy around here getting ready for Graduation but I think we're on target to be ready on time.

Just wanted to share a couple more framed finishes with you. The first is Erica Michaels' Papillon. Stitched on 40 count gauze using the called for silks.

and a bit closer. If you click on the pics to make them larger you can see the debossed detail in the mat a little better.


The second finish is Antique Locks and Keys by Shakespeare's Peddler.



and here it is on display at the shop with the chart. Stitched on Brash by Picture this Plus using Briar Patch by Belle Soie.

That's it for tonight folks. Going to go stitch for a while and watch Bones. Have a great night, thanks for stopping by and for commenting.

A New Start, a framed finish, and other stuff

Hello!!

I have so much to talk about today and I know most of it will dribble in your one ear and right out the other but I feel chatty today so I'm going to go for it. I had a busy weekend, starting with Last Saturday Stitching. It was another great time, several of our regulars were unable to make it but we managed (although it was very hard and they better not skip again) to struggle through without them. We welcomed a new stitcher into the group, E. was kind of quiet but I would be too if I was just thrown into the group all at once. We're a wild bunch, that's for sure!!

Sunday Amy and I worked on graduation announcements. Note to self: Ask the in-laws if there are any obscure relatives they feel must get an announcement before you order announcements. Yes, we are short a few announcements. Not sure what to do about it but we'll figure it out. We also worked on printing out her open house invites. We're doing a combined party with my nephew as they attend the same school and Jordan wasn't going to get to have one otherwise. I couldn't believe the amount of ink it took so we ended up removing the blue background and having all black and white. Much more printer friendly!


The next 2 weeks are going to be very busy leading up to graduation. Lots of cleaning, ordering of food, honors night, a journalism luncheon on Saturday, senior breakfast, etc......the best thing that will happen in the next 2 weeks though is.....after 22 years I will finally be done driving kids to school. I have always hated being on such a rigid schedule during the school year. You have to be at school at such and such a time and you have to be back at school to pick them up at such and such a time and when they were in 3 different schools at a time with 3 different start and end times, I thought I would go nuts! When other moms were complaining that they wanted school to start up again in the summer I was dreading the start of school. So for me, I am thrilled to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I know I will be sad that she is graduating and going off to college but there will be a little part of me doing a jig every morning and afternoon because I won't have to be somewhere first thing in the morning, I won' t have to put up with all the dumb drivers out there during rush hour and I won't have to scrape my windshield during the winter at the crack of O dark thirty anymore! The extra hour and 10 minutes in my day will be much appreciated also. It's the little things that make me happy and this is one of them. I will miss seeing the buffalo in the morning but if I get to missing them too much I can always drive out to see them at a time most convenient for me.

Last Friday the garage door installer arrived to install the new garage door. One man. By himself. Double garage door. I was a bit worried about how he was going to manage by himself and in the rain to boot but he did fine and now I don't feel like the slum house of the neighborhood anymore. This was the garage door before:

See the rotting spot at the bottom. Doesn't look as bad in the picture as it did in person. I was embarrassed. And here is the after:

A nice clean, non- rotting raised panel door. It's like jewelry for the house. And for the price we had to pay, I need to think of it as jewelry so I don't cry over what I could have done/bought with that money if my old door hadn't decided to turn ugly.

Abby is going through a tough spot right now. She was seeing a guy that lived 3 hours away in a small town and although she really really liked him, she couldn't see that the relationship was going to go anywhere given that he wasn't going to leave the family business and she couldn't see living in a small town. This weekend they broke up. They will try to remain friends but that's not always easy to do. Both of them are hurting right now but better now than later when the feelings ran deeper.

The exhibition at the shop is coming to a close. We've had a lot of people in to vote and tons of good feedback on it. Here's some of the entries:


I felt the need to start something that wasn't a difficult stitch. The 40 count gauze Papillon project was not an easy stitch and Golden Ice on black is also a challenge. So I looked at all the projects I would like to stitch someday and chose one that I thought would be fun and easy. I picked Sheperd's Bush Holy Night.


I was right. I'm really enjoying the colors and the ease of stitching on 19 count. Not a fabric I would want to stitch on all the time and boy do you use up the floss when you have to stitch with 3 strands but it makes for a nice change.



I wanted to share my framed Quaker Diamonds too. It's currently hanging at the shop but eventually I will bring it home and hang it in the family room. I really would like to change up the decor in the family room but I don't see it happening any time soon so I will settle for new pictures and I think Quaker Diamonds will be one of them.


Finally, here's my progress on Golden Ice. It's coming along nicely I think and although it is stitched on black and my eyes get a bit tired I am still enjoying the process.


I need to quit now, eat some breakfast and take Amy to the Dr. She has not recovered from the virus she had before prom so it's time to take her in and get an anti-biotic I think.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Julie

A New Start and Prom pics

Good Morning!!

Hoping to make this a fairly short post. I finished my Erica Michael's Papillon project but it's at work so I don't have a picture to show you. It's bee-u-ti-ful though. I started a new project, Golden Ice and this is my progress so far. Probably you will have to click on the pictures in order to actually see some of the stitching. Black is crap!! It was much easier back in the day when my eyes were better. That's why I decided now was a good time to do this, if I wait any longer it's not going to happen.


This past weekend was Prom. It was a beautiful day for it, mild temps, not too windy. Amy looked beautiful in her dress and had a great time at the dance in spite of still being sick. Yep, that's right. She got sick long about Tuesday and is still not quite up to par. The group she and the boy went with decided not to go to post prom this year. Last year they had it at Dave and Busters, the kids all had a blast and were looking forward to it again this year. Except some idiot parent complained that there is a bar in Dave and Busters. So the parent association decided to have Post Prom at a local bowling alley instead. Which also has a bar. Seriously. I wouldn't kid about something like that. I'm still trying to figure that one out. So out of the 600 kids that attended prom, 120 tickets were sold for post prom and only about 60 kids actually showed up. So 540 kids were out on the streets doing God knows what because some parent didn't approve of Dave and Busters. So to the parent that complained and the parent association that made the brilliant decision to have post prom at a bowling ally, I say......Way to go! Anyway, here's Amy before the boy arrived.

With the boy:

the 4 girls in the group:

That's all, I don't want to bore anyone!

Last week Abby was also sick. She had gone to visit the new boyfriend over the weekend and on Monday night informed me that she had developed a sore throat and wasn't feeling well that day. Tuesday morning after she left for school, I received a text from her asking if I would make her a Dr. appt. Tuesday afternoon, I received another text.

Abby: I am really sick
Julie: Define really sick
Abby: Like the strep throat, tonsillitis, abscess on my tonsils, shot in my butt sick
Julie: Oh, that doesn't sound good.
Abby: My butt really hurts!
Julie: Best go home and go to bed
Abby: But I don't feel bad
Julie: You are contagious. Go To Bed!

That evening when I arrived home from work, she was in tears because her throat hurt so bad and was so swollen she couldn't swallow her own spit. I hate it when my kids are sick. Got her started gargling with salt water, gave her pain meds and tucked her back into bed. It took 2 days before she was feeling better but by Friday there was no containing her. She felt better could swallow again and needed to get out of the house so off she went to school and out with friends that night. I swear, she was giddy with delight at being able to leave the house!

I need to get my day started so I wish you all a wonderful Tuesday, thanks for stopping in and commenting!

Take care,

Julie