Stitching, bad hair and the tree!

Happy Saturday/Sunday!  Not sure if I will get this done today or not so thought I would cover my bases by addressing both days!  It was second Saturday Stitch at the shop today.  Our group today was a bit larger than we had anticipated!  When I had checked my email for the last time on Friday to see who was coming and who wasn't, there were only 11 that had said they were coming.  We ended up with 16!  It was great!

There was enough food to feed a small army and of course the companionship was the best!  Such a fun group of ladies, each delightful in their own way.  I used the group as guinea pigs today and tried a new recipe for crock pot macaroni and cheese.  Trying a new recipe on people outside your family is not necessarily the smartest thing to do since you never know if it is going to turn out okay or even edible! It was pretty okay and several asked for the recipe.  I still prefer my regular recipe but for a pot luck type of dish  this is something I would make again.  If you are interested you can find the recipe here.   

Since it was a stitching Saturday, I was able to take pictures of the stitch-a-long project Mary Ann, Mary and I are doing.  Mary of course is the furthest along.

I think I might be next but I'm not sure because I discovered something today.  My mind does not work like everyone else.  (Connie, quit rolling your eyes and saying you knew that already!) Mary and Mary Ann are stitching their projects a page at a time.  I am stitching mine in rows.  I thought Mary Ann was the odd one when she said she was doing it that way and now I have to come to grips with the fact that it's me that's the oddball!!!  Inconceivable!

Mary Ann  hasn't had a lot of stitching time the last 2 weeks so she hasn't made much progress.

Crap, I think I have to turn the dang furnace back on.  It's cold in here!  Hold on, I'll brb.

A couple of weeks ago I won a give away from Robin over at Robin Pich    I won this beautiful pincushion made by her own two hands!  Robin makes some wonderful hand made items that she sells on Etsy.  Head on over to her blog if you aren't familiar with it and check it out!  Thanks Robin!  I love my pin cushion!

I've got an update on the take down of the tree.  Dan has most of it down except for the trunk and a little tuft of branches at the very top.  He thinks it's cute and should stay this way.  I think he's  got another think coming!  And tell me, what person in their right mind wears their dress clothes to do this kind of thing?  Does anyone else have a husband that refuses to change into appropriate work clothes to do yard work or painting or any other kind of physical type chore?  Drives me nuts cuz he's forever getting paint on his dress slacks  or tearing holes in his shirt!  

Ewwww, I just noticed my elephant skin in the pics of the pincushion!  When did that happen?  Gross!

Guess I better wrap this up and feed the hubby.  Can't expect him to make birds on an empty stomach! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.  I'll leave you with this final image.  Please don't judge, she was having a rough time of it with the storms! LOL!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Happy Mother's Day! Pine Mold and stitchy update

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

It's a windy but warm Sunday here in the heartland.  My plan for the day is to do nothing that looks anything like work.  I think I'll stitch some, maybe do a bird or two but that's about it.  Dan got up this morning and had breakfast waiting for me when I got downstairs, he made homemade biscuits and gravy with sausage and orange juice.  Very good it was!  (said in my best Yoda voice)

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful day, whether you are a mother or not!

Yesterday, while Dan was teaching, I decided to start taking down the last of 3 dead/dying Evergreen Trees in our back yard. Pine Mold is a bad bad thing! 

I've heard it can spread to other types of trees too and there is nothing you can do for it either.  This tree should have been taken down last fall but Dan kept saying it would "come back".  Yeah, right.  I really think Dan was thinking "I don't want do all that work".  I've done it twice already.  So while the cat was away this mouse decided to take the bull by the horns and get 'er done! 

Here she is after 3 hours of work.

 And after 5 hours of work....

I found some interesting things while I was chopping away.  Garbage bags, wire, cool whip bowl, part of the shed, a golf ball and this little guy!

I think he's been out here a while!  He has an incredibly poopy butt!

Then there was the tragedy.  Now keep in mind, although I am currently not very fond of birds (see previous post) I wouldn't deliberately throw a baby bird to the dogs but sadly that is what happened.  I checked the nest before chopping that branch off and it was empty but apparently, it must have been flung out prior to that without my seeing it because when I found it, it was in Gracie's mouth and she was chomping away.  I screamed and she dropped it only to have Kallie swoop in and pick it up and start chomping.  I yelled SPIT!  (handy thing to teach a dog to do btw) She SPAT but it was too late.  Baby bird did not survive.  Rest in Peace baby bird.  Bad dogs!  Bad Bad Dogs!! 

And after another hour or so of clean-up we have this.

The rest Dan will have to do as my short little self couldn't reach that high up!  I'm hoping it will get finished today.  I must say this was one of dirtiest jobs I've had to do.  I don't even want to know what kind of creepy crawlies were in there.  That's one of the reasons I wanted this done sooner rather than later.  Later gives the creepies time to really settle in and I just can't have that!

After all that work I took a shower and sat down to stitch for the rest of the night.

Just got a Mother's Day call from Adam!  He's planning on doing some sight seeing in Alaska today.  Not much is open up there yet but he wants to see what he can while he's there.  Abby just got home, she gave me a nice card and Amy posted a really nice thing on FB so all my chicks have checked in today.  I'm lucky to have them, they turned out to be good kids.  Even if they do drive me nuts sometimes!

Snapped these pics of Abby yesterday before she headed out for the night.  She said it was her Grunge look.  WTH is a grunge look?  I didn't want her to think I didn't know what she was talking about so I just said cool but inquiring minds would really like to know!

Think I will go do something productive now.  Thanks for stopping by and leaving the great comments on the last post!  I have printed them out to show the ladies that participated!  Keep the comments coming and Welcome to my new followers!  Looks like I am approaching the 200 followers mark.  Best start thinking up a giveaway!

Take care till next time!

Julie


 

Needle Art Exhibit and a stitch a long

Oh gosh, time has slipped away from me again!  I had the best of intentions to post on Saturday but after Last Saturday Stitch at the shop I was pooped and just couldn't do it!  Stitching was tremendous fun as usual although I didn't get the opportunity to stitch at all.  We were on the go the entire day!  I didn't even get to talk to most of the gals that were there.  Saturday we announced the winner of our 3rd annual Needleart Exhibit.  This year we didn't have many entries which completely bummed me out but still it was fun to see the ones that were there.     I have made it known to all that next year I expect better participation and I followed that announcement with "the look" which according to my kids is enough to scare anyone into doing what they are told.  LOL!  I'm a bit sad and confused that none of the guild members brought any of their pieces in for the exhibit.  I know they do fabulous work and I would love to see them in the exhibit.  I don't understand why they didn't participate.   Anyway, here's a pic of the entries for this year...

I was thrilled to see that despite being up against a Lavender & Lace Angel (they always seem to win), One Nation managed to get just enough votes to take the top prize.  It's a beautiful piece, especially when you see it in person.  Congratulations to Mary H. who stitched this wonderful design from Bygone Stitches. 

Second place in case you didn't guess went to Angel of Hope by Lavender & Lace.  This beautiful piece was stitched by Shellie. 

The only Hardanger piece entered won third place.  Kasja was thrilled to hear she won when she stopped in today to pick up her framing.

Honorable mention goes to Connie who couldn't win because we don't allow employees to enter.  Her Jardin Prive Eiffel Tower deserves to be mentioned as it generated the most "do you have that chart" comments!

A little over a week ago I was eyeballing a Sampler Cove chart called Double Dutch.

I mentioned to Mary Ann that it would be cool to have it stitched up in 3 different colorways to which she immediately said she'd stitch one.  Then I wrangled Mary H. into doing a third color and Voila we have a stitch-a-long going!   I am way behind the other 2 though as I started mine and decided I didn't like the colors I'd chosen.  So I started over with new colors.

Mary Ann is doing the chart using Carrie's Creation silks in colors that mimic the called for fibers.

 
Mary H. decided to use Mardi Gras colors again using Carrie's silks.

My second choice of colors were picked to be something different from the other  two also using the Carrie's silks.

I've also stitched on Tuscan Rose some but haven't made much progress since I have had to stitch twice as much on Double Dutch than I should have! I don't care if I like the colors this time, I'm not starting over again.

Think I will stop here for the night and maybe go stitch on TR for a while.  Glee is on and I need to eat some supper yet.  Thanks for stopping in, hope you enjoyed seeing the winners work!   

Take care till next time!

 Julie
   

Squatters, stitching and a scissor fob

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend.  We were supposed to go over to my sister's for Easter but they were all sick so we just stayed home and had a relaxing day.  Ate a non-traditional dinner of steak, garlic bread, fruit salad, baked potatoes and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Easter dinner was delayed quite a bit though due to unexpected visitors.  Adam had a flight to catch and needed to head to the airport by 3:30 so I had planned dinner for 2:00.  Dan went into work and was to be home by 1:30 to start the steaks.  I put the taters in the oven at 1:00 so they would be ready by 2:00, made the fruit salad, cut up the strawberries, buttered the garlic bread and was on target to serve dinner at 2:00 sharp.  Dan arrived home, I gave him the steaks and sent him out back to start grilling.  Only he wasn't out there but a minute before he came back inside, crossed his arms over his chest and said..."You're gonna want to take a picture of this".  I'm thinking, what, a picture of you grilling?  Been there, done that.  So I replied, a picture of what exactly?  "Just get your camera and come out here".  Aw shit.  It can't be anything good and I had a sneaky suspicion I knew what was coming...and I was right.  SQUATTERS!  Damn BIRD squatters!!  Are you freaking kidding me??

First the attic and now our grill.  Between the rabbits eating my car and the birds wanting to co-habitate with us I've about had it with wildlife!  It took us, and by us I mean Dan, an hour to move the nest, clean up all the debris and scrub down the grates. I mean, who wants to eat a steak that's been cooked on a grill full of bird crap and god knows what else!  Gross!! Nasty stuff I tell ya!

Adam had to eat and run due to the delay.  He left in such a hurry that he forgot his last load of laundry in the dryer.  That's nothing new though, he did that the last time too and he wasn't running late that time!  It was wonderful having the boy home but I think he was ready to leave by Sunday. 

Not much to show in the way of progress on Tuscan Rose.  Just more of the same but I will share it anyway. 

I also want to share the beaded scissor fob that was made by Abbie.  She attended our retreat and wanted to make everyone at retreat a scissor fob.  She had us all write down our color preference and address and then shortly after retreat fobs started showing up!  I had requested black and white.  It looks so cute attached to my black and white ginghers which are resting in my black and white shabby chic scissor beak bird! Thanks again Abbie!

I going to go sit down and stitch now since I am temporarily home alone.  Took Amy back to school this morning and Dan is still working.  The puppers are here though so I'm not lonely and they will snuggle up next to me once I am off the computer.  Have a great night everyone!

Take care till next time!

Julie

So far not the best week I've ever had!

What a week and it's only Wednesday!  I started off the week by forgetting to put my car in park, exiting the vehicle and having it roll forward and hit my year old garage door.  Big dent in garage door.  Luckily, not in the car.  But really who does that?  Granted, there is a lot going on in my life right now but boy do I feel stupid!  Dan was good about it and the kids think it's hilarious.  Me?  I'm just pizzed at myself.   Then...Tuesday morning I threw a load of towels into the washer.  Thought it sounded strange, opened it up and yep, the agitator was not agitating.  Great, we stripped out the agitating dogs (that's what they're called, I'm not pulling your leg!) once again. That is twice in less than 4 years.  My old Kenmore washer lasted 27 years and never had a service call on it until it rusted through the bottom.  I miss my old washer!  Finally, last night I went to open the dishwasher and the fricking handle broke off!  Fan Freaking Tastic!  Now it matches the broken handle on the microwave!  Gotta love a matched set!    Luckily, there is enough handle left that I can still open it but I am not sure how long that will be the case.  The stove/oven has issues too so I can see new appliances looming on the horizon.  Normally that would make me happy but we also need a new a new roof.  Hmmmm what to do...at least that should be my three bad things and the rest of the week can only go up from here, right?  Okay everyone, just nod your heads and agree me.  RIGHT?  There, that's better.  Connie, I saw you back there shaking your head no.  Stop that!

Been doing a little stitching in my spare time.  Stitched up BBD's Remember me.  I'm not sure I like it.  I'll reserve judgement until I get the finishing done.  Maybe it will be better then.

Then I stitched some on Tuscan Rose too.  I'm happy to be working on it again.  The colors are so pretty!

FAMILY MATTERS

Adam arrived home last night.  He has some work conference to attend and will be home until Easter.  It'll be nice to have him home for the holiday even though he will have to leave around 3 that day.  I made spaghetti for supper, one of his favorites.  He's always so appreciative of my cooking that it almost makes it fun to cook for him.  Almost.  Dan browned the burger for me but not without supervision.  Ya gotta watch him like a hawk apparently.  At least Gracie thinks so!

 
She literally stood there like that the entire time he was cooking and the meat was frozen so it took a while to brown!  I don't know why she was watching him so intently, it's not like he gives her any bites of meat and she never does it when I cook but for an entire half hour she stayed right there!  Silly pup!

Amy has 3 weeks of school left.  I can't believe how quickly this year has gone.  Neither can she.  She's been bringing stuff home every weekend so that there is just the essentials that will have to be loaded up the last day.  Smart girl!  Her job at the new ball park has been quite the mess.  She actually has yet to work.  She got a call last Wednesday from her boss saying she was scheduled to work the opening game of the season on Friday.  The game  was cancelled due to rain but she never got a call saying not to come in.  She asked me what to do and I said call and ask but they haven't given her a contact number yet so instead she drove out there.  The secretary was snippy about her coming out there, saying she should have received a call not to come in to which Amy replied that she hadn't.  Then the secretary said, well you didn't need to come all the way out here, you could have called to which Amy replied, no one has given me a contact number yet.  Then the secretary checked the schedule and says, you weren't even scheduled to work today to which Amy said her boss had called on Wednesday and told her she was.  Can anyone say...disorganized!!!  After getting a contact number, she left a message for the boss wanting to know if she was to show up on Sunday for the makeup day and never heard from him so she called again.  Got a hold of him and explained everything to which he replied, gosh, I must have forgotten to write you in on the schedule after we talked.  We've got today covered.  I'll call you middle of next week to give you a schedule.  Wanna bet she never hears from him?  Douche bag..

Abby is doing well, she will graduate in July and is chomping at the bit.  She did get a PRN job  so she is picking up hours now and again but really needs to have a full time position so she can fulfill her dream of moving out.  I think moving out would be a great experience for her and that's all I'm saying on that subject!   

Dan has taken on a temporary part time job with his old employers and is working every evening till around 9.  This is slowing production of the birds but for those of you that ordered them, please know he is working on them a little every night.  We haven't forgotten you!

I think that catches everyone up with what is and is not happening around here.  Without going into details I would like to ask for prayers for my sister and my 5 yr. old nephew.  Both are facing serious medical issues right now and your prayers would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Thanks for stopping in and leaving those awesome comments.  Some of you are interested in when our next retreat will be.  I'll keep ya posted through the blog!

Take care till next time!

Julie 

   

Part Two of the Retreat Rehash!

Saturday morning was very foggy but most of us were up and at 'em in time for breakfast.  Shay and Diane opted to sleep in and had told me they would not be at breakfast which was a good thing as I might have knocked on their door otherwise. For breakfast there was a cereal bar that included fresh fruit or you could have the hash brown egg casserole with cheese and salsa, I think there were scones that morning also and let me tell you those scones were delicious! After breakfast was over everyone walked back to our stitching building and got down to the serious business of stitching. 

We also set out the Plum Street Sampler charts in case anyone was interested in purchasing one for Paulette's autograph.  Quite a few were interested and I had to call her to bring a couple of extras.  Calling her was a good idea anyway, I needed to warn her about the road so she didn't freak out. 

At noon it was time to head over for lunch and since Paulette hadn't arrived yet, we left a note on the door telling her where she could find us.  There was a salad bar for lunch along with hamburgers and for dessert we had brownies.   I had just put my tray on the table when my cell phone rang.  It was Paulette, wondering where we were (so much for leaving a note!)  I explained our location to her and stepped outside the building so she could spot me and since she had yet to eat lunch, she grabbed herself a tray and sat right down to join us.

After lunch, I began introducing the ladies to Paulette but it wasn't too long before she just plopped down at a table and people were coming up to her to get their charts signed and to visit with an actual Stitching Celebrity!  Not that Paulette thinks of herself that way because she doesn't.  I think she was more than a bit surprised that everyone was so eager to meet her and get her autograph but she was so gracious to everyone and handled it like a pro!  I have to interject here and say, this woman looks like a freaking 12 yr. old!  If I hadn't met her before, I would have said she sent one of her girls in her place.  I wonder if she keeps a mirror in her attic ala the Portrait of Dorian Grey?  I'm just saying....LOL!!       

Saturday afternoon we also exchanged recipes.  Everyone, including Paulette was asked to bring 30 copies of their favorite recipe to exchange.  I cheated and brought 2 but only because at our last Saturday stitch in March I had made Pizza Soup and everyone wanted a copy of that recipe but I had already done my recipe for the exchange and didn't want to waste them so they got an extra recipe from me.  We also brought a massage therapist in on Saturday afternoon for those that were interested in getting a massage.  It was well worth the $1.00/minute fee, let me tell you!  Throughout the day on Saturday we also sold raffle tickets.  The raffle prize was a tartan plaid pair of Sajou scissors.  The proceeds of the raffle will be donated to a Scholarship Fund for Non-Traditional students.

After autographing the afternoon away, Paulette finally sat down to stitch and she says she did a whole 12 stitches before getting up and wandering around to see what everyone else was stitching but I think she's stretching the truth a little.  I didn't actually see her put needle to fabric so I can't say for sure how much she actually did, but I would guess she did more than I did the entire 3 days.  You won't see a stitching update from me on this post!  At around 3:00, MaryAnn left to come back to town and pack up the store so we could have merchandise night.  She and Jim got back to camp around 5:30 and then it was a mad dash to get everything set up before supper.  After some pondering on Paulette's part she decided to stick around for supper before heading home.  We were happy to have her stay.   Supper that night was Roast beef, potatoes and carrots and lemon cake for dessert.  I inhaled supper quickly and headed back to continue setting up the store.  All too soon the ladies were back and chomping at the bit to shop!  But first, we had Paulette draw the winning Raffle Ticket. 

And the winner is.....ABBIE!!!

She and all the others helped us raise $250.00 for the scholarship fund!  Thank you ladies, you are the best!

Sadly, time was passing and Paulette wanted to be back on familiar ground before dark so everyone said their goodbyes and she set off for home.  Everyone was sad to see her go and we all hope she will join us again for our next retreat. 

Here's what the room looked like before we let people in to shop. 
 

 

And the shoppers browsing the store for goodies...

We closed up the store around 9 and spent the rest of the evening laughing, stitching and talking, the later it got the louder we got. 


I think Shay and Diane were the first to retire for the evening.  They had to get up to leave by 7 or 8 in the morning in order for Shay to catch her flight back to Chicago.  It was 1:00 before the last of us headed to bed.  Waaaay too late for me!

Breakfast Sunday morning was the cereal bar or French Toast and sausage.  After breakfast we opened the store again for those last minute I thought about it and decided I wanted to buy it shoppers. 

I have to tell you a funny story about Carole.  She is the sweetest lady you could ever meet. She's always talking about how bad her memory is anymore and how she no longer needs to buy new books because she doesn't remember reading the ones she has so she just keeps re-reading them.  I personally don't think her memory is as bad as she makes out but Sunday morning I had to wonder.    She supposedly started the retreat chart on Saturday and when she retired Saturday evening she rolled up her piece and left it on the table.  Sunday morning when she unrolled the fabric, there was no stitching on it!  It was a completely blank piece of fabric.    She stood there holding the fabric up as though the stitching would magically appear and protesting that she knew she had started that project on Saturday and what the hell could have happened to her stitching.  The rest of us were practically rolling on the floor by this time because the look on her face was hilarious.    She finally set the blank fabric down and wandered around for a few minutes and lo and behold when she returned to her table the stitching had magically reappeared!  I still don't know who the prankster was in our group and maybe we shouldn't have found the incident funny but we did and Carole was such a good sport about it!  We love you Carole!!

A lot of wonderful projects were worked on during the retreat and I would love to share some of them with you.

Below is Stacy.  She drove all the way from Peoria with 3 kids in the car to attend retreat.  She used to be a regular Last Saturday Stitcher until her husband was transferred.  We miss her.

 Doreen has been struggling with her missing stitching mojo.  She started Rosewood Manors Inspiration while at Retreat.  Hopefully she'll be able to keep the mojo flowing!

Merrilyn's Town & Country Sampler stitched over 1 on 40 ct

2 of Abbie's WIP's

Abbie's other WIP

  

Nancy found a WIP at the stash swap that she fell in love with!

Elaine with her Shores of Hawks Run Hollow

Merry worked on a Just Nan called Crystal Roses

Mary worked on the Retreat Exclusive

Sandy and her Little House  Rosey piece

Lois (our oldest stitcher at 82) and her butterfly

Connie finished her Joyful Summer by CCN

 Shay came to us all the way from Chicago, via Kansas City where she picked up or maybe I should say was picked up by her sister Diane.  Doesn't she have the prettiest smile? 

Diane working on her Fall Leaves picture

Deb is new to our group but seems to be fitting in quite nicely.  She had a heck of a time with her stitching though!  She spent most of her time reverse stitching!

Denise with her finish

 Here's Carol wandering around after her stitching magically became invisible...

She was admiring the Show and Tell that Elaine brought.  The beautiful Houses of Hawks Run Hallow

Taking a break to have some fun!

Connie was working on and actually finished  the Sampler Roundy from Shakespeare's Peddler.

She gets the prize for most readers belonging to one person.  And this is not her entire collection.  She left some at  home. 

And even with all that help from the readers, she still managed to do this...

 Closer...

Seriously, how does that happen?

Laurie finished her Primitive Needle chart  By the Light of the Moon...

 Nancy if you are reading this stop now cuz you can't see the next picture.  Donna said so.  
Donna finished this picture to give to Nancy.  She must like her sister way more than I like my mine!

The morning passed by too quickly and before we knew it, lunch was ready.  We had ham, au gratin potatoes, and jello poke cake.  And then one by one the stitcher's packed up their equipment, loaded their cars and headed on down the road.  The Stitcher's Recipe for Friendship Retreat was over and although everyone was a bit sad to see it end, I think I can speak for the lot of us and say that we all made some wonderful new friends that we will hopefully stay in contact with and perhaps see again in the future.  Maybe at the next retreat! 

And that is the end of my story.  I must apologize for the quality of the pictures.  My camera really does not do a good job indoors.  One of these days, I will upgrade but not any time in the near future.  If you lasted through this entire novel, kudos to you!  Thanks for hanging in there and thanks for the comments!  I appreciate them!

Take care till next time!

Julie