Reflections Retreat Recap and an addition to the family

Happy Halloween!

Let me begin by saying that my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by Hurricane Sandy.  I am lucky that everyone I know was spared the worst of Sandy's wrath.  I know that the days and weeks to come will not be easy but I also know that we as a people are at our best when things are at their worst.  I pray the road to recovery will be as smooth and as quick as possible.

Meanwhile, back in Nebraska,  things are as dry as they have been all summer.  The weather has turned cool and downright nipply at times.  More so than I would like but we at least have power to keep us warm and our homes are not flooded.

The McConnell house is in it's usual state of home improvement.  Dan has Abby's room painted and will hopefully finish the headboard tonight.  I found one nightstand today while I was out thrifting and hopefully I will find something similar in style sometime soon!  Adam will arrive on Sunday and although I doubt the room will be completely finished, it should at least have a bed in it by then!  

I was away over the weekend at our Falls No Frills Retreat.  We had 27 attend this year which is up from last years 15!  As this is our No Frills Retreat we try to keep it low key and just have a weekend of stitching with friends.  Me, being me, couldn't quite make it entirely no frills though.  Several months back I was at Michaels and spotted some unfinished wood coffins.  I looked at Dan and said, I bet I could do something with those and he said yep, I bet you could!  So we bought 30 of them and hauled them home.  I had a vague idea in the back of my mind but it didn't become fully formed until Connie said something to me about putting a name on the front of the coffin.  After that it was just a question of pulling it all together and figuring out the best way to get the writing on the coffin.  It took Dan and I several false starts but eventually we were able to get a system down and we got them all finished the week before retreat.  Here's what they look like.

Connie added peanut butter eyeballs and gummy body parts to them and we put one on the bed of each person that attended.

I don't have too many pictures to show you from retreat.  My camera battery died and I forgot to pack my spare but here are a few of the ladies enjoying their weekend.

One of the gals that came brought a metal spooky tree that her neighbor welded for her.  It was way cool and many of the ladies wanted one so she took names and email addresses and was going to check with the neighbor to see if he was willing to make more.  Awesome, isn't it?

Cathi does such a good job with her finishing too.  Each item was  perfect!      

We also decided to have an ornament exchange this year.  Only 14 of us participated but it was quite fun and everyone did an amazing job!  Here's a shot of all the ornaments together:

This is the ornament I made:

This is the ornament I received.  Isn't it adorable?  The gal responsible for this one finished it up at 5 o'clock in the morning the day of the exchange!!  Nothing like a bit of procrastination to add to the fun of retreat!

I started 3 projects over the weekend.  Didn't get too far on any of them cuz I was too busy looking at what everyone else was doing and talking.  Lots and lots of talking.

I began the weekend with Peace by A Stitcher's Hands.  I'm stitching it on cream 40 ct linen over one using the tent stitch.  Doesn't look like much but I'm proud of how far I got.  The colors are gorgeous!

Next I worked some on Plum Street Sampler's 2012 Hare's Halloween Freebie.  I'm stitching this one on Picture this Plus 32 ct Dusk using the called for fibers except I am changing the hare color.  My skein of the color for the Hare's is pretty green and I only see green rabbits when I've been drinking too much.  No wait that's 6 foot Pooka Rabbits I see when I drink too much and that's only happened a couple of times.  

And the last project is Strawberry Hill Sampler from With Thy Needle.  I'm doing this one as called for except we didn't have Park City Blend so I had to use 35ct  Abecedarian.

One of the  gals attending Retreat for the first time was also cross stitching for the first time.  Usually Margaret crochets when she comes to our Saturday Stitching.  But she wanted to learn to cross stitch so Connie hung out with her and taught her how to stitch.  I think they both did an awesome job, Connie at teaching and Margaret at learning!  I'm cheating with this picture, Margaret lives across the street from me so I trotted my happy hiney over there tonight and took this picture!     It's a freebie pattern from The Workbasket I believe but don't quote me on that!

One final thought on retreat and then I will move on...Thanks to the staff at Calvin Crest for making us feel so welcome.  Retreat wouldn't be as great as it is without the wonderful facility we stay in and the good food they feed us.  The scones were awesome and I tried Curried chicken for the first time and actually enjoyed it!  Those that know me know what a rare event it is for me to try a new food, much less to like it!  Kudos to you all!  See ya in the Spring!!

And now I would like for you to meet Rags.

Rags is a rescue pup that Dan and I are pretty sure we will be adopting.  She has been staying with us the last couple of days and so far so good.  No dog fights with the other 2 dogs, no love yet either but no fighting is good and we'll take that. Yesterday as I got ready to leave for work I decided to put Rags in the bathroom and put the baby gate up so she could have more room to move around in than she would have in the kennel.  She could also see the other dogs so she wouldn't feel so isolated.  I put her food in there, her water, a chew bone and a blanket, put the gate up and placed her on the other side of the gate, turned around to get my purse off the table and turned back to head to the door and there was Rags, sitting behind me, tail wagging, looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.  I didn't even hear her jump that gate.  Poor Rags was then banished to the kennel for the day.  Silly puppy!

I think that's all I have for today.  Thanks for visiting with me today and take care till next time!

Julie

      

What has been keeping me away

Hey all!

Sorry to have been absent for so long. With both girls moving out this summer, their bedrooms were left a bit empty.   Adam and his fiancee are arriving for a visit in November so we needed to get the rooms fixed up and beds in them.  Wait a minute...did she say fiancee?  Yes indeed I did.  Adam proposed this weekend and Marcia said yes.  No idea when the wedding will be yet.  Anyway, back to the bedroom situation.  We decided to start with Amy's since she actually took her bed with her and the room was empty.  Our plan is to move the double bed Abby left into Amy's room and get a queen set for Abby's so when Adam and Marcia come they can have a queen bed instead of a double. More comfortable that way.  I took some before pics but my camera ate them so I have almost before pics.  Amy had this lovely fuchsia wall in her room.  It was not my favorite.  After much thought, I had my plan in place and we started the transformation.

It was quite a job to paint the woodwork and  the book case white.  Glad Dan was the one doing all the hard labor!  Notice that lovely white and gold fan on the ceiling?  That's gone and replaced with this one.

The room is very hot in the summer as it gets the west sun. I wanted a chandelier but practicality won out.

After the painting was done we addressed the window coverings.  I originally wanted floor to ceiling white drapes for the window but since I am trying to do the rooms on the cheap so to speak, I nixed that idea when I priced them out.  So white sheers were purchased instead but they don't do anything to block the light.  My one big splurge for the room is this blackout cellular shade.  It will help with the heat issue and keep the room nice and dark in the morning.

We hung the sheers next.

I didn't care for them just hanging there.  I wanted a more romantic/cozy look to the window nook so we added in the tie back pieces.

That was much better and then I had a brilliancy!  I remembered the mini chandeliers that Hobby Lobby sells and as it happens they were 50% off that week.  I think it was the perfect touch and Dan thought so too!

For nightstands, I decided to use the two tables that I bought at the thrift store last year.  I think we paid $30.00 for the pair. They've just been hanging out waiting for me to decide what I wanted to do with them.

For this room they needed to be white.

But I wasn't quite happy with them being all white and I didn't think I should shabby them up so instead I added some fabric under the glass tops.

Next came the lamps.  Originally, I bought 2 lamps from Walmart.  But at $22.00 a piece plus the $15.00 for each shade I was thinking that was more than I wanted to spend.  That's when I ran across 2 crystal lamps at the Goodwill and I got them both for $20.00.  Dan sprayed the gold parts silver and re-wired them and after a good cleaning they just sparkled!

But it was hard to see the black lampshade against the black wall.  We tried a white shade but Dan and I both liked the black lampshade with the crystal lamp better than the white.  So I came up with the idea to put a mirror behind each lamp.  Now Dan wasn't really sure he liked that idea.  I had to convince him.  Finding 2 white mirrors for a price I was willing to pay proved fruitless.  Lucky for me a Kirklands opened up last week and I found 2 mirrors for $16.00/piece that when painted up white would work.  They weren't as fancy as I wanted but sometimes you have to sacrifice the image in your head for the reality that suits your pocket book.  

After seeing the mirrors in place Dan gave me a thumbs up.

And finally, here is the bedding that I got for a very good price.  Again, it was not exactly what I wanted but will do for now.  I may eventually replace it down the road with something a bit more sophisticated.   The white piece above the headboard is temporary.  I had it and when I decide what I want up there I will replace it. I'm thinking maybe a ceiling medallion or an ornate oval frame.  I saw one the other day at the thrift store and I should have bought it.  It would have been perfect.  But as Dan says, you snooze you lose and I am sure it will be gone by the time I can get there again.

I pulled some items from around the house to put on the shelves until I find the perfect pieces.

Here's a final look at the room from the hallway.

There is one corner to the right of the door that I have to decide what I want to do.  I was pondering a chair but a chest of drawers is probably more practical.  I'll let you know when I've figured it out.

So Amy's room is now basically finished.  We will be moving on to Abby's room next.  Have the bedding bought, the paint color chosen and I found a queen size headboard and bed frame for $50.00 on Craigslist last week so we have the basics ready to go.  I can't wait to cover up the purple that Abby had on her walls!!!

Take care till next time!

Julie  

  

A Stitching Post! Lots of pics!

I am so glad  that you all enjoyed my (Dan's) story.  I try not to let him know how big a kick I get out of his antics.  I don't want his head getting too big but I do appreciate him, his humor and the fact that despite all my faults of which there are many he continues to love me and I feel the same way about him.   Oh, and Anna, I wouldn't be too disturbed by your ability to guess a Rhino so quickly and accurately. it just means you have a creative mind and are able to get down to Dan's level easily!  LOL!!   I'm impressed you were able to get that from the picture!

Today was my day off and since my house was clean, my laundry was done and there was nothing pressing that needed doing I decided to go thrifting again.  I hate going alone.  It's just not as much fun without a partner in crime so I called Connie to see if she was free.  Sadly, she was on her way to the vet with her little dog Bella.  Bella hasn't been herself lately and come to find out she has back problems and an infection.  So after getting a negative answer out of Connie, I decided to try the ol' Dan I'm sick can you come home and take care of me trick.  He almost fell for it but then remembered he had a training class this afternoon that he really couldn't miss.  Everyone else I know was working too so I decided to head out by myself.  Found lots of good treasures that I will share with you next time.  I'd like to kick myself for forgetting to take my camera with me as I really wanted to take a picture of this lamp I saw.  Sometimes when one is out thrifting, one sees something that makes you stop and stare.  Today was one of those days.  I was cruising along the aisles trying to stay out of this one old lady's way when I spotted it.  It was so ugly I couldn't help but stare at it in awe.  The first thought that came to my mind was in what world would that lamp have ever looked good.  I must have stood there for 10 minutes looking at it from every angle possible trying to figure out if the thing had any redeeming qualities whatsoever.  That would be a big NOPE!!  NONE.  NADA.  ZIP and every other word for no that you could think of.  I wanted so badly to discuss it's ugliness with someone else that I almost struck up a conversation with the old lady I had been trying to avoid.  But then I thought with my luck she'd think it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen and then she might run over me with her cart so I kept my mouth shut.  I'm going to guess that "the lamp" will still be there the next time I go and if it is I will be sure to take a picture for your viewing pleasure!

And now for the stitching part of this post.  I've been working mostly on small things since I finished the parrot.  I think I needed to have some finishes to make me feel like I had actually gotten some stitching done this year.  And now I need to start my ornament for the exchange we are having at fall retreat or I won't be exchanging.  This will be my very first exchange and I am stressing over what to stitch for it.  Why I do these things to myself is beyond me.  Anyway, let's start with a Jeannette Douglas Quaker design called Mini Quaker Stitches.

I stitched it on Natural Linen on the called for count but I didn't stitch the entire design.  I didn't want my pillow quite so long so I ended it early.  I'm not sure about the little blue thing at the top so I haven't finished it yet and I won't until I decide if I like it or not.  Perhaps I should have stitched it in the white.  What do you think?

I also started and finished Autumn Majesty Needleroll from Theadwork Primitives.  I plan to make it into a pillow using some wool fabric I bought at the Quilt Store.  I changed it up a bit as the top part of the flower and the 2 side flowers were supposed to be Maple Syrup.  I didn't like that so I did them in a mystery overdyed I had in a burgundy color.

I'm working on a Roger Reinardy chart called Red Flag.  Saw the chart on someones for sale blog and fell in love with the barn.  I'm stitching it on PTP Fog 28ct linen over one using one strand of DMC.  I just have the snow left to finish at this point.

Next up is Coverlet Houses.  Not a lot of progress but I have stitched on it a bit.  Here's the before:

and the after:

And finally, I decided that it was time for me to stitch a Prairie Schooler so I chose Christmas Samplers II

 and then because I'm crazy I decided to stitch it on 40ct over 1 using one strand and the tent stitch.  It's really turning out cute and I'm not having any trouble seeing it.

  

I think that's all  of my stitching that I have for you.  I'm itching to start something else but I really should finish up one of my larger WIPS before I go and start another BAP.  But the itch is there and I don't know if I can control it.  We'll have to see.

I do have some other stitching to share.  I think I mentioned that we were planning a Halloween Display at the shop and we had asked our customers to bring in their Halloween stitching so we could display it for the month of September.   I thought I would show you the wonderful things they brought in.  Make sure you click on the pics to make them larger so you can really see them.

 

And that as they say is that!  You all take care till next time and thanks for stopping in!

Julie    

The rest of the story

Sorry for the extended torture session!  I didn't mean for it to continue for such a great amount of time.  The last chance I had to sit down and write out "the story" we had no internet.  But we do today and I have given the main floor a lick and a promise, replenished Dan's unmentionables and might I just say they want an obscene amount of money for a 6 pack of Hanes!! Thank God for buy one, get one half off, a $10.00 off coupon for men's wear and a 30% off entire purchase  flyer!   I've also located the last 2 years worth of tax statements that the bank requires for our furnace loan.  All in all a productive day.  Which means I can sit down guilt free and entertain you with the back story of Dan's find.

Once upon a time when the children were little I bought a bunch of those unpainted ceramic Christmas Ornaments you see at Michaels and Hobby Lobby during the holiday season. I thought it would be a fun project to entertain the kids with and a great keepsake too. Dan being Dan, decided he needed to paint an ornament because after all, he really is a little kid in a grown man's body.  Dan chose a Moose Ornament. With googly eyes.  And while the little kids slathered the paint on their ornaments willy nilly, Dan took his time and in the end he had a very nicely done Moose to hang on the tree.  Being so proud of his accomplishment he decided to gift the ornament to my mother so off we went with his cherished gift to my parents house.   And when he got there he excitedly showed her his treasure.  My mom oohed and ahhed over it like any good mother-in-law would and barely grimaced when Dan announced that he was giving it to her to hang on her tree which he promptly did, front and center.  My mom thanked him for the lovely gift and after a time we departed and went home.  Flash forward to the next visit to my mom's house.  This time the whole family was there and Dan went over to the tree to show them his ornament only to find that it wasn't where he had hung it.  Searching the entire tree he finally located it clear to the back and buried deep in the branches.  He plucked that ornament off the tree, showed it proudly to everyone and then hung it back front and center.  Stopping in a few days later he once again looked for his ornament and found it buried in the back again.  So again he moved it.  Now I get a call from my mom.  Julie, you have to stop him from moving that ugly Moose ornament to the front of the tree.  To which I replied...I have no control over the man but I'll speak to him about it. And I did.  But it didn't do any good.  Every time Dan went over there he moved the ornament, and as soon as he would leave Mom would move it back to the back.  This continued for the entire season.  So the next year, mom just didn't put it on the tree at all.  Dan, seeing that his ornament was not on the tree painted another one and when Mom's back was turned he hung it front and center and didn't say a word.  The phone call came an hour or so after he'd left.  It was my mother.  And she was not happy.  I tried, I really did but despite my efforts the battle of the Moose continued.  Only now Dan decided to escalate it.  He happened to find an ugly Moose soap dispenser at Goodwill.  And I'm talking Ugly with a capital Ugg.  When mom wasn't looking he exchanged her soap dispenser with the moose one.  Mom, not being a stupid woman, decided to leave it and not say anything, thinking that would put a crimp in Dan's tail. But it didn't.  The next year she received a lovely wine rack in the shape of moose antlers. This continued for a number of years with my mother trying her hardest to ignore the items and Dan having a blast finding the ugliest moose things he could.  Mom never knew when or where something would show up.  Finally she decided to get back at him.  She found a pair of men's black thong underwear with some yellowish/green feather trim on them.  She should have left well enough alone.  She thought he would be embarrassed but he wasn't.  Instead he snuck off to the bathroom, put on the underwear and went streaking through the house in them!  With 20 people there!  The shrieks of laughter mingled with the shrieks of horror as everyone processed Dan's bare behind running through the living room, into the dining room, through the kitchen and finally back into the bathroom.  People still talk about that to this day.  I think it left a permanent image burned into their eyeballs that will never go away!  The next year he received a velvet pair of red and green underwear with jingle bells on them.  Luckily he didn't model those for us.  Mom got a moose footstool.  Every freaking year I would beg him to please not buy anymore moose.  Every year some ugly moose thing would show up somewhere in her house or her yard, he'd even have other people deploy them for him because mom would watch him like a hawk whenever he would show up.  She finally gave up trying to get back at him as it always backfired on her.  And then miracle of miracles, a few years back my begging and pleading finally worked and no moose arrived  and I thought maybe, just maybe it was over.  So did my mom.  But we were wrong.   Two years ago he started again.  Which brings me to our last trip to the thrift store.  And to Dan saying Boss, I have something to show you.  

And as I rounded the corner of the aisle I see this....

Seriously?  I mean SERIOUSLY?? No I tell him.  NO NO NO NO NO.

But look...it opens!

No.  Absolutely Not!  To which he sighed heavily and said fine.  And walked away.  I should have known that was too easy.   Way too easy.  When we got home and I was unloading the sacks I found this...

Where did this come from Dan? He just smiled and said isn't it cute?  Look he's using his antler to row the canoe!  And then I remembered being in one of the aisles with him and I remember seeing him messing with something out of the corner of my eye.  When I turned around to see what had caught his attention I thought he looked a bit guilty but I couldn't see anything that would have peaked his interest so I brushed it off as paranoia on my part.  Turns out it wasn't paranoia.  The man is a menace!  I was hoping to make the thing disappear but Dan knows me too well and has put the dang thing somewhere out of my sight.  At some point during the month of December it will show up at my mother's house.  And I'll get a phone call and she'll tell me that my husband needs a swift kick.  But she'll say it with love because despite him being a pain in the behind, you can't help but love him!

Anna, just want you to know that you guessed correctly when you said he was planning to be a Rhino.

Dan  found a couple more trays for me but we haven't had a chance to go looking again.  I had a couple on ebay I was going to bid on but forgot to do it and dang it they went really cheap too!

I'm going to call it good for today.  I will update my stitching next time.  Thanks for sticking with me if you did.  And for commenting.  I appreciate it.  Welcome to the new followers too!

Have a lovely evening everyone!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Was it you?

I hope everyone is enjoying the Labor Day Weekend!  We've been working around the house this weekend but this afternoon we took some time to go out and do a little thrifting.  I was looking for a specific treasure today.  I should never do that to myself because it always always always leads to disappointment.  I'd seen this picture on a blog somewhere (can't remember where, sorry if it belongs to you)

and decided that it was the perfect thing for my dining room wall.  And of course once the thought was in my head I just had to make it happen.  Have I mentioned that patience is not my greatest strength?  So after Dan was done doing this...

sanding the new base boards and door trim

 we went trip trap tripping off to my favorite thrift store where only 2 weeks ago I had seen the perfect trays for this project.  Apparently you've all seen the above picture too and got there before me because there wasn't a single solitary tray to be found.   Not one to be easily discouraged we hopped across the street to the Goodwill where we again found no trays.  NONE!  Now when have you ever gone to 2 different thrift stores and found no silver trays?  I was ready to call it a day but Dan made an executive decision to hit one more Goodwill before calling it quits.  I wouldn't say we scored at that store but we didn't leave empty handed.  We found 2 trays right off the bat.  And that was it for silver trays/dishes.

I saw this sweet little lamp, and she had a sister and I was really tempted to buy them.  Don't ask me why cuz they wouldn't go anywhere in the house but they are still stuck in my head tonight.

I found and bought this nice vintage oil lamp...it has some chipping on the bottom but I don't care about that.  I think it will look great in my bedroom with my new coverlet and the Coverlet Houses I am stitching.  For now it's sitting in the guest room on the antique dresser I blogged about earlier this year.

And finally I picked up this cute little sugar bowl.  I'm sure you've seen the pattern before, it looks like it has cross stitch on it.  I'm hoping to find a flower frog to fit in it.  It was marked $4.98 but it only cost me .98 cents!

If you've been reading my blog for a while you might remember that going thrifting with Dan is something of an adventure.  Sometimes he's funny and sometimes he's embarrassing and today he was both.  I was busy scouring the shelves for silver trays and I hear him say BOSS!  I found my Halloween Costume.  And yes, he does call me Boss. He's done that since our first year of marriage.  It has something to do with a cartoon we used to watch on the 1, yes I said one, channel we could get on our black and white TV.   Can't remember the name of the cartoon but the stupid little toad called the other character Boss and it stuck.  Plus he says he's seen that job and he doesn't want it.  Anyway, I digress.  Getting back to the Boss I found my costume I turn around and what do I see but this...

can you guess what he plans to be for Halloween?  

I just shook my head and went back to my search while trying to ignore the snickers from the people around me.  Dan caught up with me a couple of rows later and I showed him the sweet pink lamps.  And then he said he had something he needed to show me.  I should have faked a headache at that point but I was hoping it was going to be something we were actually looking for.  It wasn't.

I think I'll stop here for now and leave you in suspense.  Not so much to torture you but there is a story behind his find and it will take a bit to share it.  This chapter is already long so really I'm doing it for your own good.  LOL!!  I can remember my mom saying that as she made me eat soap!  

Have a great Labor Day tomorrow!

Take care till next time!

Julie