I think I might live

Aw geez, I knew it had been a long time since my last post but didn't know it was a month ago! It's been a hectic 4 weeks.  I was ill for two of them.  Started out with a sinus infection which turned into bronchitis that was knocking on the door of pneumonia.  I don't remember ever being quite that ill and I am still not completely well but much better than before.  Had a death in the family.  Abby came home from her trip to Puerto Rico with the beginnings of blood poisoning and if that wasn't enough, she also broke up with her boyfriend. Lots of tears and 2:00a.m. phone calls!  My sister and I both had a breast cancer scare...thank God we are both okay and of course lets not forget that Retreat is just a week and a half away and due to illness, I am not ready yet.  Made some progress on it today but I would guess we'll be finishing things right up until we pull out of the driveway a week from this Thursday!

I have no stitching to show you although I did finish two projects while I was sick.  I took both of them to work though and forgot to take picture.  I'll try to rectify that in my next post. The rest of the things I've been working on are for retreat and if I showed you I would then have to hunt each and every one of you down and kill you and that just sounds like waaaay too much work so a pictureless post it will be.

I want to say Thank You so much for all the wonderful comments you left on my last post.  Seems like my flocked box is very popular! LOL!!   I really do appreciate all the great comments that were left.  Dan ordered the black flocking for the extra box we had.  It didn't take long to get here and Dan has already flocked the drawers.  I still need to do the button tufted top though.

While I was sick I discovered a new show.  Well it was new to me.  I found it on Netflix...Doc Martin.  I am so totally addicted and so is Dan.  We blew through all the episodes they had and now I find out newer ones are being shown on our local PBS.  If you haven't seen this show you should really check it out.  It's full of quirky characters and despite the fact that Doc is oftentimes a total jerk you can't help but like him.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

I think that's about all the news I have for now.  I will make no promises as to when my next post will be but I hope it'll be sooner than a month from now!  I'm so behind reading other folks' blogs that I will never catch up and while I should spend some time on it tonight I think instead I will go sit down and rest.  I'm still waiting for my energy to come back.  So far it's still missing in action.  

Take care till next time!

Julie

Finally...done!

Hello!

Been a while, hasn't it?  Were you thinking I went off to Nashville and never came home??  I came home but   I've been running non-stop since then.  I anticipate the next few weeks being more of the same.

A while back I finished the Strawberry Hill Sampler from With Thy Needle and said I would show it when I was done with the finishing of it.  That finally happened today!  I really like how it turned out so if you hate it, please keep it to yourself!  LOL!!

I found this box at Hobby Lobby some time ago and have been waiting for something to put on the top.  Originally when I was stitching Strawberry Hill I intended to mount it on the candy box it calls for but then I remembered I had this box in the basement and decided to use it instead.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I love it.  Dan sanded the box so it was nice and smooth, primed it and then I painted an undercoat of red followed by black and then a dark gray.  Dan then did a bit of distressing on it.  After that he flocked my drawers or my box, however you wish to call it (we've been having a lot of fun with that one!) and then  I mounted my piece on the top. I wish he could have flocked my box with black but apparently there is a shortage of black flock and I would have had to wait 6 weeks.  Who knew you could have a shortage of flocking???  Being the impatient soul that I am I didn't want to wait so he used the least offensive color he could find.

INSIDE:

The drawers are removable for extra storage

HARDWARE & DISTRESSING

The box originally had a mirror in the inside mounted on the lid but I wasn't feeling it so I covered that up with fabric that I button tufted.  First time I tried that but it was really pretty easy to do.
I added my little bits and bobbles and it's finished and on display at the shop.  We're going to finish a second box in case someone comes into the shop and wants one but I have no clue what to price it at.  I'll have to ponder that one for a while.

I had a bit of a stressful day today and I'm tired so I'm going cut this short.  Hope you are all doing well out there in blogland.

OH!  One last thing...someone asked and I am too lazy to go look now who it was but they wanted to know the designer of the bare butted folks that I showed in the Needleart  Exhibit a post or so ago.  It's a kit from Design Works and can be found on the Herrschners website.  

Take care till next time!

Julie

A Market Song, a new start and my dogs

The following is to be sung to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Oh my bags are packed I'm ready to go.

I'm waiting here beside the door.

I can't wait for my ride to be here.

But that won't be for hours yet

So until then I'll browse the net

Already I'm so anxious I could cry....

So I'll post this song on my blog

Nashville Market here I come

My Dear Hubs had better let me go

Cause I'm leaving in a Blazer 

I'll be in the car for thirteen hours

Oh friends I can't wait to go...  

There's going to be a lot of pretty things

It'll be so hard to pick and choose

I'll tell you now I might keep them for myself

Every place I go I'll think of you

Every chart I buy I'll buy for you

When I get back we'll have a Market night 

So I'll post this song on my blog

Nashville Market here I come

My dear hubs had better let me go

Cause I'm leaving in a Blazer

I'll be in the car for thirteen hours

Oh friends I can't wait to go...

Now the time has come for me to leave you

One more minute and I will post this

Close your eyes and I'll be on my way

Dream about the days to come

The sights, the sounds, the charts galore

About the times I won't have to say

So I'll post this song on my blog

Nashville Market here I come

My dear hubs had better let me go

Cause I'm leaving in a Blazer

I'll be in the car for Thirteen hours

Oh friends I can't wait to go....

Cause I'm leaving in a Blazer

I'll be in the car for thirteen hours

Oh friends I can't wait to go...

Okay, how many of you actually sang that??  I sang it for Dan.  He told me not to quit my day job.  Ouch!!  He's going to miss me while I'm gone the rat bastard. (said with much love and affection) 

I guess you've guessed by now that I am leaving for Nashville in the morning.  My bags are packed and waiting at the front door.  The laundry is done, the house is clean and Amy is coming home for the weekend to help Dan with the dogs.  Not that Dan couldn't take care of them himself but I haven't been away from Rags since we got her and she is very attached to me.  We're not sure how she's going to react to my being gone. Hopefully she'll take it in stride.  I haven't posted a pic of her since right after we adopted her so I snapped a couple of her today.  She always looks like she's just crawled out from under a rug.  That hair is something else!  She's settled in quite nicely and I can't imagine life without her.

Look mom, I killed it dead!

The first year I went to Nashville, Gracie Lou went missing.  They couldn't find her anywhere.  They called and called for her but she was no where to be found.  Where did she turn up you ask?  Somehow she had gotten inside the TV armoire, had crawled over all the dvd's and was cowering in the back.  We've never figured out how she managed that Houdini trick but she handles my absence just fine these days.  She went to the groomer's today and since she's looking so spiffy I'll share a pic of her too.

In stitching news...I finished my Strawberry Hill Sampler but haven't taken a picture of it yet.  I want to finish finish it before I do.  And instead of going back to Holly Berry Farm or one of the other millions of WIP's I have running amok around here I instead started Midnight Watch by BlackBird Designs.  I want to stitch a few Halloween things this year and chose that one to start with.  I haven't gotten too far but I'm pleased with my progress considering the amount of time I've had to stitch.  Sorry for the wrinkles.  No time to iron it.  I'm not sure of the color name but it's on 40ct. over 2 using the called for fibers.

That's all I have for now.  I'm going to go sit and dig through my stuff to see what project I want to take with me to Nashville just in case I actually have some time to stitch. Usually we sit in the lobby and watch everyone come and go on Friday and I generally will do a bit of stitching at that time so if you're heading to Market too and see me sitting there please come over and say hi!

See ya when I get back!

Julie

    

  
  

Warning...Lots of Eye Candy!

Good Morning!

The Midwest is gearing up for what is supposed to be a large winter storm.  I myself am hoping that it's all hype.  But just in case I told Dan to pick up some extra milk at the store tonight on his way home.  I have to have my glass of milk every morning and with my luck I would run out on Thursday when the storm is due to hit.  Otherwise, I'm not going to get too frenzied about the whole thing although the weather guy on TV is already foaming at the mouth over the whole thing.  Really Bill?  It's snow.  We've had snow before.  We've had large snow storms before.  I think we can handle it without all the hype.  Take up cross stitch, it'll calm you down some!

Now that I have that off my chest, I will leave you with pictures of this years Needleart Exhibit at the shop.  They are in no particular order since I am running out of time this morning and I won't comment on any of it for the same reason except to say I hope you enjoy viewing these lovely pieces by our customer's.  I had to beg, plead and threaten to get people to participate this year so we aren't sure we will be doing it next year.
Such a shame as many people love to come in to see them.  So if you find yourself in the Omaha area in the next week or two, stop by and vote for your favorites!  Click on the pictures to view larger!

I tried to get closeups of them all before my battery died but it didn't happen.  Sorry to those that have a piece that did not get a good close up.

Have a great day all!

Take care till next time!

Julie

For Catherine...thanks!

Just a fly by post today.  Dan and I went grocery shopping this morning and while we were there I spotted some Goose Island Orange Cream Soda.  This brought to mind a comment left by Catherine on a previous post where I mentioned Goose Island Rootbeer and how much I love it.  Her comment was...

"Great goodies!  I think I would be afraid of carrying a Coach bag too!.  Have you ever had the Orange Cream soda by Goose Island?  So good to make a float  with vanilla ice cream ~ tastes like an orange creamsicle!"

What was a girl to do but buy a bottle and bring it home to try!  Dan was highly skeptical when I told  him I was going to put the orange soda over vanilla ice cream.  He said he would try it but he thought it sounded nasty!

The verdict?  We both loved it!  Thanks for the recommendation Catherine, I'll think of you every time we indulge!

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

Take care till next time!

Julie  

Nashville Market & Jeans

Good Evening!

I planned to do this earlier but I got distracted by my fireplace mantel.  I've been fussing with it now for over a week, trying to make it look good without spending any money.  Easier said than done but I think it's okay for now.  What do you all think?

click on the pic to view larger

 I imagine I'll end up tweaking it some more after I stare at it for a week.  Do any of you do that?  Fuss with something, stare at it for a week and fuss some more?  Once I get the mantel to my liking I'll move on down to the hearth.  It needs some help too but it's not gonna happen today.

 I had this whole list of things I was going to get done today but I've only managed to accomplish a few of them.  I started out at Kohls this morning.  I needed to buy some new jeans.  I can always tell when Nashville Market is coming up because I feel the need to buy new jeans every year, you know, ones that don't have the hem all messed up because I'm short and always buy my jeans too long.  LOL! One would think I would be smart enough after 53 years to buy jeans that aren't too long but it's hard to find my size in a short length.  It's like they think if you're a certain size you must be tall too.  I got news for them, I'm a short fat woman, not a tall or average fat woman!  Hemming them is not an option.  I don't do hemming. Ever.  I don't suppose that anyone would mind or even notice that the hems of my jeans are worn.  It's not like all the other shop people or the designers are going to stop and point and say EWWW...her hem is all ratty.  At least I hope they wouldn't,  they wouldn't would they?  Nah, they wouldn't.  But then again we are women.  And women can be very catty sometimes.  So I would rather err on the side of new jeans and present a fresh, non-ratty appearance so they all point and say look how nice that short fat woman's jeans are! Her hems hardly look worn at all.  This year I did get lucky though.  Not only did I find the short length I require but I am also down a size from last year!  I'm still fat but now I'm a little less fluffy than before which is nice.

After Kohls, I stopped in at the shop to drop something off for Mary Ann and then I headed to the thrift store.  I was looking for some tins but didn't find the size I needed so I headed on down the street to Weathered and Worn.  My in-laws gave me a gift certificate for Christmas and I thought I might want to use it on some items for the mantel.  I didn't find anything for the mantel but I did find a few things that followed me home.

The bobbins that you see in the picture can be attached to the wall by their bottoms and then be used to hang a kitchen towel or whatever else you might want to hang.  I haven't decided where they will go but there were only 4 of them left so I snagged 2 of them.  I have learned not to snooze and lose when it comes to these things.  The shoe form may go back, I haven't decided about it yet.  The flower pillow was too cute to pass up.  It's small enough to tuck in any number of places.

After Weathered and Worn I intended to go on a shoe  hunt.  But by this time my ankle was squawking at me so I just came on home where I piddle farted my way through the rest of the afternoon with the mantel and now here it is 6:00 in the evening and aside from getting jeans I really didn't accomplish a whole lot. Oh well,   there's always this weekend!

I took a break from Holly Berry Farm this week and went back to With Thy Needle's Strawberry Hill Sampler.  This is such a pretty little piece.

Won't be long now and I'll have her finished and then all I need to do is the finishing.   I don't know about you but I have a terrible time finishing my own stuff.  It's gets done eventually but certainly not in a timely manner!

I think that's all I will cover for today.  I have a ton of pics to share of our annual Needleart Exhibit at the shop but I will save them for the next time.  Thanks so much for the comments, they are much appreciated.

Have wonderful evening!

Take care till next time,

Julie

  

I got nothing...

I'm sorry folks but I have nothing of value to say.  I've been waiting for something to happen that I could talk about but so far nothing has come up. This is not altogether a bad thing.  At least I don't have long horrifying stories about how screwed up everything is!  But it does make for dull blog posts.

I was sick as you know, Amy got sick, then Dan got sick, but we are all in varying stages of recovery.  I don't feel like telling you all about the trials and tribulations of having the flu and really, no one wants to hear about snotty noses anyway as you've probably had your own recently.

I have the retreat project stitched and tweaked finally  but I can't talk about that until May except to say that it's very cute!  So no stitching of my own to talk about at this point.

Other retreat things are taking up my free time and I can't talk about that either!

A commentary on the weather is about as exciting as watching water boil.

I even made a special trip today to the thrift store to see what I could see and I took Dan with me since he's usually good for a laugh or two.  He was not inspired.  I saw nothing of interest with the exception of this big weaving loom that was pretty cool.  Not something I would ever want but still interesting to look at. But it isn't something I can talk about at length.

I did have a birthday during my absence.  The kids gave me a Coach purse.  It's beautiful but to be honest, I'm afraid to carry it around in case someone steals it!

Dan gave me a case of my very favorite Goose Island Root beer.  Now you might think that a case of root beer is a bit strange to receive as a gift.  What you don't know is I love root beer, but it has to be smooth going down.  Goose Island is smoooooooth.  Our local grocery store quit carrying it about a year ago so imagine my surprise over Christmas when I spied a display of it on an end cap.  It wasn't being sold in a 6 pack anymore.  Instead it was being sold by the one liter bottle.  So I bought a bottle.  I hadn't had any root beer in a year or so and it was calling my name.  Oh was it good.  Sadly, when I went back to buy another bottle, they were all gone.  Oh well I thought,  that's 480 calories I didn't really need to be drinking anyway.  Enter my husband. Sneaky little man had already bought a case of it and stashed it under the village in the basement and on the morning of my birthday I came downstairs to find a large wrapped present on the kitchen table with a note attached saying...Have a drink on me!  I was thinking WTH does that mean as I tore off the paper to find my case of Goose Island.  Now i know I should have groaned and cursed the man for bringing an entire case of this crack soda into the house but I gotta be honest and say Damn! I love that man and boy does he know me or what!??  To prevent myself from over indulging I am limiting myself to one bottle per month. I had him take the case to the basement and put it back under the village where it will stay out of sight out of mind until I ask him to bring up a bottle.

February's bottle

My friend Connie must tuck little bits of information away in that maze she calls a brain.  I swear I don't know how she manages to remember some of the things I say but she does and for my birthday she gave me a couple of flea market/vintage decor magazines and Prairie Schooler's Autumn Samplers leaflet.  Something I had mentioned wanting  back in November I believe.  It's OOP so she had to track it down and get it second hand for what she says was a reasonable price.

She also included this sweet pair of  Scissors from Sullivans.  So pretty!

Finally, my friend Mary Ann, owner of Reflections, gave me a gift card to Texas Roadhouse, one of my fave places to eat, some scrumptious chocolate from Stam's (sorry no picture, I ate it already) and some great smelling Bath & Body Works items.

After all that wonderfulness I figured my birthday was over and life would just continue on till next year rolled around.  Not so my friends.  Dan had one more trick up his sleeve.  Arriving home from work 2 days after my birthday, I grabbed the mail and entered the house.  Dan had stayed home that day since he was sick with the crud but he grabbed the mail out of my hands as soon as he saw I had it.  Thumbing through it he pulled a slip of paper out that said there was a package waiting for us at Fed Ex. Putting his coat on he told me he had an errand to run.   I told him he was sick and whatever it was could wait but he wouldn't hear of it so off he went.  When he got back home he handed the package to me and said Happy Birthday.  I was a bit confused but not one to turn down a present I set about opening the package.  Inside was a Millennium Frame!

Frame with what little stitching I have done on it. 

 To say I was surprised was an understatement.  I had mentioned wanting one after Christmas but Dan doesn't order on line so I didn't expect it to happen.  Sometimes he really surprises me and this was one of them!  I haven't had a whole lot of time to use it.  Just a few stitches here and there but I like it.  I think I need to get a smaller set of bars for it and the stand would be awesome too but for now I have figured out a way to hold it and stitch double handed which is something I have been wanting to try.  It's very well made, a bit heavy to hold in this size but still manageable.  Dan said he wanted to order the stand too but the buy button was grayed out so he couldn't.  I told him that was okay, Valentine's Day and Mother's day were just around the corner!!  LOL!!

Well would you look at that!  I did find something to write about after all.  Not the most exciting post in the world but better than a blow by blow of me watching water boil!

I need to get back to working on my projects so will call it a night.  Thanks so much for the comments on my previous post.  I do appreciate knowing that someone somewhere is reading my blog even if I don't write as often as I should.    I think I will work on creating some drama this week so I have something more exciting to talk about in my next post!

Take care till next time!

Julie