Life and Stitching

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Ours was busy as we have somewhere in the neighborhood of a million projects going on right now and all of them need to be finished before Adam and his girlfriend arrive in 2 weeks.  One of the projects that was forced upon us was the replacement of the moulded fiberglass tub/shower combo in the hall/guest bath.  Something caused a crack in the tub which is in turn causing water to leak into the ceiling of the kitchen leaving water spots all over it.  Can't leave it go or we'll get mold growing and rotting wood and then the ceiling will fall down and and and...well you get the idea.  The plumbers will be here on Wednesday to replace the tub but we are opting to have a porcelain tile surround this time.  Have you ever tried to get a tile guy to do tile in a short amount of time??  I had a guy come out tonight to give us a bid but he isn't making any promises as to when he can get to it. This is not good since 6 of us trying to get ready in one bathroom is not my idea of a good time!  We'll make it work if we have to but I don't want to have to.

We have finally come to an accord with the Furniture mart regarding our kitchen flooring.  They're going to be here a week from Wednesday to remove the defective floor, level it the way it should have been leveled in the first place and then lay the same type of  floor as what we have now.  I'm not completely happy with this outcome but at least it won't cost us another $500.00-$1000.00.  This will be a 3 day process and it had better go without a hitch or there will be some serious hurt happening at the Mart.

In my last post I alluded to some other charts that have come into my possession in the last couple of weeks. HA!  Doesn't that make it sound like I inherited them or picked them up on the side of the road somewhere? That's not really how it happened but that's just between you and me and the fence post, Dan doesn't need to know.  Anyway, one of these recently acquired charts is Coverlet Houses from The Scarlet House.

I'm stitching it on 40ct. French Vanilla linen using Carries Creation Silks in Rusty Nail,  Tiger Eye and Multi Grain.  The colors are not as dark as what it looks in my picture.

When I saw this chart I knew it would be perfect with my new bedding.  I decided quite some time ago that I needed to get some bedding I could wash.  Kallie sheds all over my current comforter and she licks her feet while laying on it so it gets all goobery and the darn thing has to be dry cleaned.  It hasn't actually been on the bed for a year.  So I've been looking for a washable bedspread or coverlet at a price I didn't mind paying if it didn't hold up with repeated washings.  I happened upon a sale at Kohl's a while back and found an ivory coverlet with the shams and by the time I used a  couple of coupons it only cost me just over $50.00 for the King size set.  Here's a pic from the Kohl's website.

I'll share pictures of the actual room once  I've got it all stitched and the room put together.  It'll be a while before the stitching is finished since I'm devoting most of my time to stitching my parrot.  

Speaking of my parrot, here's an update on him. I love this piece!!  The colors are to die for and Dan says it's his favorite thing I have ever stitched.

That's all Folks!  I'm going to go stitch the evening away and watch some mindless TV.

Take care till next time!

Julie

 

Insanity

The Dictionary defines the word insanity as:

in-san-i-ty
noun, plural in-san-i-ties

     the condition of being insane:  a derangement of the mind.

     Psychiatry
       a.   extreme foolishness;  folly; senselessness; foolhardiness;
       b.   a foolish or senseless action, policy, statement, etc.

Ben Franklin described it like this:

     Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Julie, why are you looking up the definition of insanity?  It's because I think I have a problem.  No...I know I have a problem.  And it's becoming somewhat more obvious to me and to those around me.  Especially in the last 2 weeks or so.  I have tried to justify this issue  by saying it was someone else's doing but I have to able to look myself in the mirror every day and by blaming Doreen I was really not able to do that.  Although I do believe she was a trigger, even if she wasn't aware that she was a trigger.  I did however inform her of this at the time and instead of telling me she thought I should seek help, she just laughed.   One should never laugh at a person teetering on the edge.  It only tips them over that edge they were teetering on and puts them into full blown  I.N.S.A.N.I.T.Y.

It all started on a perfectly normal day.  I was talking to Doreen and we were having a lovely conversation about life and in the middle of this conversation she informs me that Heaven and Earth Designs was having a  sale.  A 50% off sale.  And she had purchased 2 charts during this sale.  I replied with enthusiasm and she said the sale is still going on.  Really?  I'll have to check it out I answered.  Now keep in mind, I had managed to avoid HAED's website for quite some time after the 12 Dancing Princesses debacle and if I wasn't mentally off I would have never even thought of going there again.  After all, it would be extreme foolishness to do so since I swore I would never buy one of those charts ever, ever again.  But Doreen's words just hung there in my head.  Taunting me.  So throwing caution to the wind, I trip trapped tripped over the computer keys and landed on HAED's website, signed myself in and went to look at the charts Doreen had bought.  Cute charts D!  At this point I should have backed slowly and quietly out of the website so that it didn't know I was ever there.  But NOOOOOO, I had to have a little look see while I was there and before I knew it I had charts in my shopping cart.  Not 1 chart....not 2 charts...hell, not even 3 charts.  No, not me...I had FOUR, count 'em FOUR charts in  that shopping cart.  And then a miracle happened, the promo code Doreen had given me didn't work!  The sale had ended and I was not going to pay full price for these charts.  I was able to breathe a deep sigh of regret mixed with a healthy dose of relief and leave the site without completely losing my sanity.  But the thought of those charts was now embedded deeply in my brain and last week when I received an email (because of course I signed up for email notifications while I was there before) that they were having a Memorial Day sale, the voices in my head started whispering to me.  And they got louder with every passing minute.  And I was weak and signed back in and put those charts back in my cart.  And then I sat there, staring at the computer screen, finger hovering over the buy now button.  When Dan walked over half an hour later I was still there, wrestling with myself.  Why would I buy these charts that I will probably never ever ever stitch?  What is wrong with me???? You have 2 of them downstairs in the basement, taunting you every time you go down there!  So why would anyone in their right mind buy more?????  And then it hit me.  I'm not in my right mind.  I can't be.  No sane person does this.  And then Dan asks me what I'm doing.  And I tell him I'm trying not to push the buy now button.  And he asks what I'm trying not to buy.  And I tell him.  And I show him the first chart.

Bellezza Fiero

And he thinks it's cool.

I show him the second chart and he screws up his face and says what the the heck is it?  I see Satan!  Why are you buying a chart of Satan??  And I say it's a horse you idiot!  And he says I don't see a horse, I see Satan.

Equus

So I show him the 3rd chart and he says that it's pretty.

Garden of Delight

And finally I show him the last one and he thinks it's awesome and wants to know why I'm hesitating.

Sanctuary of Knowledge

So I tell him my dilemma and he says, if you like them and they are on sale you should buy them. I feel the blood drain our of my face and my eyes grow round and I'm like...are you serious?  He nods his head yes and in an effort to maintain some small grasp on my sanity I prolong the agony with a discussion on whether I should I buy the hard copy or the PDF download version.  And he says, do you save money with the PDF and I say, well there isn't any shipping then and he says go with the PDF and then and BAM!!!  My finger hits buy now and before I know it I have downloaded all 4 onto a memory stick.  And the voices in my head are laughing manically and I know I am lost.  And the next day when Dan came home he had all 4 printed out and in binders.  He set them gently on the table and said...you do know you will never live long enough to finish one of these charts, much less 4 of them.  Do you know how many pages each of these things has????  What were you thinking??

I look at him and give him a sickly grin, shrug my shoulders, shake my head and admit that I have a problem.  They say that's the first step to recovery right?  Admitting I have a problem?  Only that doesn't seem to have helped.  Because in the last week I have acquired 3 more charts.  Not on the scale of the HAED's but still charts and I have a list, a long and growing list of other's that I need, that I want, that I am lusting after.  And the voices are not getting quieter.  So if I disappear suddenly, you'll know that Dan has had me committed.  Do you think they'll let me stitch at the funny farm??

I'll update you on my stitching progress in my next post.  This one has gotten a bit long.  And thanks everyone for the get well wishes from last time.  I'm feeling better but am still a snotty mess with a nasty cough.  At least I have my voice back.  Dan came down with it too and is just now starting to feel a tad better.  It's nasty, that's for sure!

Take care till next time!

Julie        

Pics from Last Saturday Stitching

Happy Hump Day everyone!  Wednesday is my day off and I am celebrating it by being sick!  It sounded like so much fun but turns out it really just sucks all over the place.  I figure this is my punishment for being social this past weekend and going to 3 graduation parties.  I should know better by now.  Stay home...stay healthy.  Go out...get sick.  But enough about that.  Let's move on to better things.  Fun things.  Stitchy things.

A couple weeks back I snapped  pictures of some of the projects being stitched by our stitcher's at the shop.  Thought you might enjoy seeing what they're working on.  Lotsa talent in this group!

We'll start with Jane and Sandy.  They are a mother/daughter duo.  It must be nice to be able to share a hobby with a mom or a daughter.  I'm a tad bit envious.  They brought their Whitman Tins in to show the group as they had just finished them.  Soooo cute!  Sandy said the finishing took a while but I think it was worth it.

Then we have Joyce.  I've heard a rumor she has since finished this beautiful piece but don't hold me to that one.  It's just a rumor at this point.  This is a chart from The Sampler Company.  Can't remember the name right now and I really don't feel like looking it up...sorry, I'm fading fast here.  I have this one on my I need to stitch this list.  It is gorgeous in person!!!!

Next up is Roxy.  Roxy loves to stitch on tiny count fabrics like 40ct and up.  I'm okay with the 40 ct but when I hear 55ct I tend to hyperventilate a bit.  Roxy assures me that it's really not that bad.  But we're talking about the lady that's stitching one of the Hawk Run pieces (the exact one escapes me at the moment) on 40 ct silk gauze over one.  Do we really believe she knows what she's talking about? LOL!!  Anyway, I digress.  This particular day she was working on Bloom by Just Another Button Company.  Love the pretty colors in this one.  A great spring project.

Connie A. showed off her finished Quaker Frog by The Workbasket.  After she finished it she decided he looked a little scary.  Love the green on the black fabric!

Sue and Margaret were talking about the crochet or knitted scarves that are all the rage right now.  Margaret does not cross stitch...yet...so she crochets when she comes.  She makes hats for the babies at the hospital, little net scrubbies, dish clothes etc...

Carole showed the T-shirt that Sue's daughter made for her.  Sue's daughter has a been a very busy girl lately with all the order's the stitcher's have placed lately.  She makes really pretty blingy things like totes, jackets, t-shirts...

Finally we have Deb B.  She does some fabulous counted thread pieces and needlepoint pieces  but was working on the new flag piece by Rosewood Manor this particular Saturday.

And that's all I had time to take pictures of that day.  If you enjoy seeing everyone's projects I will continue to take pics as long as the stitcher's don't mind.

Well, I think that's it for today.  I'm glad you all enjoyed the Little House/Country Cottage display I posted last time.  I thank you for all the great comments and for taking the time to read the blog.  I'm trying to post a bit more often as time permits.  I think the next designer we do will be Blackbird Designs.  We have an actual Trunk Show coming up the end of June...Erica Michaels...love her stuff, so it will probably be sometime in the fall.

Take care till next time!

Julie      

Little House/ Country Cottage Display

This month at work we are featuring the designs by Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks.   The shop sent out a call to all our stitcher's to please loan us any of these designs that they had stitched up and we also offered a discount on the charts and the framing if they hadn't already stitched one but wanted to do so for the display.  As usual, our ladies came through for us in spades and we now have a wonderful display for everyone to enjoy!  I have this insane desire to stitch each and every one of these designs although I have to admit, the pastels used by Country Cottage are not me and I have to WWJD them.   HUH?  What does she mean WWJD them?   Deb, one of our customers, has taken that phrase and changed the J from Jesus to Julie and is always saying I have WWJD'd this or that or she'll ask me to WWJD something for her or she'll tell someone else to have me WWJD something. So it's kinda stuck.  Anyway, I thought I would show you the display in the shop, although you have seen part of it in my previous post already.

It's hard to get good pictures of them but I think you can see them pretty good if you click and enlarge each picture.  We're hoping to do this with other designers that don't have a traditional trunk show too.

Bout time to head to work.  Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Take care till next time!

Julie

    

Stitching Updates

Good Morning!!

It's a beautiful sunny morning here in the Midwest.  It's supposed to get a bit windy though as the day progresses.   I hope where ever you are that the weather is beautiful and you get a chance to get out and enjoy it!

Just a few final thoughts regarding retreat.  I would love to be able to record some of the things said and mash them all together into a video of some kind.  If laughter is the best medicine, the random one liners would cure all the illnesses in the world.  Walking around the stitching area you hear bits and pieces of conversation but not enough to know what they are really talking about.  I heard a few things that had me laughing my fool head off and I would so love to share them somehow.  But hidden microphones and video tapes would probably not go over well with the attendees so I sadly will not be able to cure what ails you at this time.

Also, I wanted to say what a wonderful group of ladies we had attend this year.  Some were what we call the old timers and others were new to us.  Some traveled from as far away as Chicago and others from our own back yard but each and every one of them was wonderful.  Thanks to all the ladies for taking  time out of your busy lives to spend the weekend with us and I for one can't wait to do it again!!

Here's a quick update on my stitching and then I have to eat my breakfast , pack my lunch and head on down the road to work.  I haven't stitched nearly as much as I would have liked but at least some progress has been made.  The flowers are really slowing me down with the constant color changes, but I am really enjoying this project and my husband is in love with it.  The color is more accurate in the first picture but I don't have time to go back and adjust the second one. You get the idea.

And I never showed you my framed Inn at Fox River Mill.  There was supposed to be a fence stitched on either side of the flower/leaf thing at the bottom but I didn't care for it so I left it out.

Gotta scoot!  Have a wonderful day and take care till next time!  And thanks for the comments.  I love comments!

Julie

Fear the Frog part II

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!  We're just putzing around the house today, doing odd jobs like replacing the front door lock as our keys are no longer working right.  Took Amy 15 minutes the other day to get in the house.  I don't want to be the one that can't get in at all!  I hope you all are having a wonderful day!  And now...

Part II of Fear the Frog

If you don't have your speakers on, turn them on for the full retreat experience!

First thing Saturday morning I looked out the sliding glass doors in our room and saw this beautiful sight.

What an awesome way to start the day!  Breakfast was again at 8:00,  followed by the History of Adam and Eve Samplers presentation given by Darlene Andersen.  I completely forgot to take pictures so you will just have to use your imagination.  I learned some interesting things about the history of the samplers and enjoyed seeing the pictures of all the designs in Darlene's collection.  Once the presentation was done we set to work putting out all the goodies for the swap table and when that was done it was time for lunch.

I need to back up a bit now and tell you about the goodie bags the ladies were given.  They included several charts, a little notebook, a microfiber cleaning cloth, sunglasses, a quilted coaster, a pin cushion and several other small items.  All but one of the gals received a pin cushion that looked something like this...

But one lucky lady received a pin cushion that looked like this...

Everyone was told that they could steal or swap the frog pin cushion.  The person that had the pin cushion at the appointed time (9:00p.m. Saturday night) would then have a decision to make.  They could keep the frog cushion or they could choose to pick the mystery box.  The mystery box could contain something better...something worse...Fear the Frog!...or the same thing.

So during everything else that was going on there was a game taking place in the background.  It was fun to watch where the frog would go and how long he would stay before being swiped by someone else.

One other activity that we had at retreat was a display of Little House and Country Cottage Needleworks pieces stitched by our customers.  It's amazing to see them all hanging together in one place and it was amazing that there were not more duplicates amongst the many pieces there.  We've brought them all back to the shop and they will be on display for the entire month of May.  Stop in and take a look if you're in the area! These are just a few of the many that are now on display.

After lunch on Saturday we opened up the swap table and I think everyone that was interested was able to find a treasure or two.  We also provided a masseuse  for the afternoon and those that signed up were in and out  getting their massages.  I have to say it was wonderful!!  Wish I could afford one every day!

Paulette arrived at the tail end of lunch on Saturday and hung out with us until supper.  She signed charts, and the spools for those that wanted them signed and even stitched for a little while.  Everyone was pleased to see her and as usual she was very gracious to everyone.  Thanks again Paulette!

Saturday night after supper we had shop night.  Jim and Mary Ann brought everything out from the shop except for floss and the large cuts of fabric.

The ladies were able to shop for a couple of hours before we closed down for the night at 9:00 and called a halt to the game of pin cushion, pin cushion, who has the pin cushion.  It got a bit aggressive in the last couple of minutes of the game but in the end Deb had the pin cushion in her possession when we yelled GAME OVER!  I wish I had been able to watch the scramble in the last couple of minutes because judging by the laughing going on it must have been hilarious but I was busy watching the clock and missed it.  After consulting with her sisters in crime, she decided to take her chances with the mystery box.

Everyone laughed when she pulled out the pin cushion!  But wait...could there be more??

I didn't remember (do you see a theme here?  I think my brain has turned to mush.) to take a picture of the prize up close so I had to have Deb send me a pic.  She said she loves it and it goes perfectly in her home.

After the game was over we drew numbers and gave out the door prizes and then people started to drift off to bed.  It was probably midnight or so when Connie and  I called it a night.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and then opened up the shop again for an hour or so.  After that people started to pack up and head on down the road.  Some like Shay and Diane had a 3 hour drive ahead of them before one of them hopped a plane back to Chicago, Mary (who came to retreat in spite of having pneumonia) decided to head home and get some much needed rest and Doreen's husband had purchased tickets to Bill Cosby for that day so she left too.  But there were many that stuck around to the bitter end and didn't leave until 3:00.  Thankfully the rain held off that day until about 2 seconds after we were done loading all the cars and were pulling out of the parking lot!  Now that is good timing!!

The group

And that my friends is the end of another fantastic retreat!  At least I think it went well, I can't speak for anyone else.  Our no frills retreat is the last weekend in October if anyone is interested.  Registration will begin in June.  And it looks like our Spring Retreat for 2013 will be the first weekend of May but I'm not 100% sure of that yet.

I've had a couple of folks inquire about the spools and where I found them.  They were not found.  My husband and I made them using this spool table by Ballard Designs as the inspiration.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our retreat.  We, meaning Mary Ann, Connie and I enjoyed it and I hope all the ladies that came to the retreat also had a good time.  And I apologize for the lousy pics.  My camera just does not take good indoor pictures.  I'll blame the camera rather than my poor picture taking skills!  LOL!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Retreat part I

Finally I have time to sit down and tell you all about our Retreat.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks leading up to it and a busy past couple of days catching up somewhat on all the things around the house that were let go while I was getting ready for retreat.  I have a lot to tell you so I'm going to have to do this in several posts or I'll scare all of you away!

Mary Ann, Connie, Carole and I left Papillion last Thursday in three separate cars...all loaded to the top with luggage, food, retreat goodie bags and projects.  Calvin Crest is only an hour away so we timed our arrival in Fremont to coincide with a stop for lunch at Arby's.  Arriving at the retreat center sometime around 12:30, we quickly set to work unloading our cars, setting up the greeting area, assigning rooms and putting chocolates on everyone's pillows.

Chocolates

There were only 9 of us attending Thursday and 4 of those were "staff" so once we had everything set up we sat down to catch our breath and cool off a bit as it was very hot and humid outside.

Connie waiting to scare greet the stitcher's.

 As each attendee arrived, they were greeted by one of us at the curb with a cart to help bring in the massive (some more than others) amounts of stuff each stitcher brought with them.  I'm not going to name names but some of these ladies do not travel light.  Of course I have no room to talk, I had enough stuff with me to last at least a month!

 Linda was the first to arrive.

She was followed by Mary, Pam, Doreen, Stacy and Laurie.    Upon entering the retreat center, they were surrounded by the sound of Frog song in keeping with our theme of Fear the Frog. At this time they were asked to sign up for a massage and the beaded fob class if they were interested.

Then they were given their goodie bag, their Fear the Frog tote if they purchased one and the retreat project.  Each attendee was also given a raffle ticket for the door prizes.  They had to put one half of the ticket into the frog on the desk.  When you opened it's mouth it croaked at you.  Surprised a couple of them!  Fear the Frog!!

Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers once again designed our shop exclusive chart and I must say she did an outstanding job of tying in the theme.  Paulette...you rock!  Thank you so much for helping to make our retreat a success!

Notice the little frog stealing a stitch in the lower right hand corner?  And the lady with the cage trying to catch him?  Too stinking cute!  Some of you might have noticed that there is something missing in this picture.  I didn't notice until I was viewing it on my computer screen that I had completely left out one flower!  Don't worry, I corrected my mistake but by then I had already stitched the ends together and didn't want to take the time to "ripit" so I wasn't able to take another full picture of the piece.

Once stitched the piece would then be placed if the stitcher so desires, around the "spool" that was provided for each person attending retreat.  Like this:

 The lid of the spool lifts off  to store orts or whatever else one might wish to keep in there.  When they received it the floss and fabric were inside along with a thread holder that included fun frog facts

Once the business of retreat was taken care of we showed each person to their room and helped them take their stitching paraphernalia  to the stitching area where they lost no time in getting down to the important business of stitching.  Before we knew it,  it was time for supper.  As it was such a small group Thursday, it was pretty laid back and easy going and after eating we spent the rest of the evening stitching and visiting.  For Connie, Mary Ann and I, it was a nice break from the craziness that would be the rest of the weekend.    Friday morning we had breakfast at 8:00 followed by more stitching until lunch at noon.  After lunch we set everything up to greet the rest of the stitcher's that were scheduled to arrive after 3:00 that afternoon.  Then we all chose our beads for the fob class to be held later that night.  As the rest of the stitcher's arrived and got settled in Carole and Connie helped them choose their beads so that by supper at 6:30 everyone had their beads chosen for their fobs and we were able start class as soon as we got back.

I believe everyone had a good time making their fobs and it was amazing how pretty and unique each persons fobs were.

Here's a close up of mine:

After class there was more stitching until one by one the stitcher's drifted off to their beds.

I hope you are enjoying part one of our retreat recap.  I'll try to post part 2 this weekend if not before.

Take care till next time!!

Julie