Endings, beginnings, a trunk show and a stitchy finish

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

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

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

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

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

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

Till next time!

Julie

Framed Finishes!!

Good Evening!

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

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

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


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



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

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

A New Start, a framed finish, and other stuff

Hello!!

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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



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


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


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

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Julie

A New Start and Prom pics

Good Morning!!

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


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

With the boy:

the 4 girls in the group:

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

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

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

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

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

Take care,

Julie

Confessions, WIP, and a framing disaster!

What a wonderful weekend! The weather was gorgeous, I stitched with friends, went grocery shopping and worked outside. Okay, I confess, mostly Dan and Adam did the work but I supervised and that counts as it was like supervising dumb and dumber at times. What person in their right mind would be standing on the top of a ladder, a ladder that is leaning against the tree you are trying to cut down mind you, and while standing on the top of that ladder, be trying to start the chain saw???? The ladder is swaying all over the place as Dan is tugging on the pull cord, the saw part of the saw is kicking up and Adam is standing right underneath it looking up at his father. Can anyone say "Accident waiting to happen?"" I must have yelled at him at least 4-5 different times that he needed to get down off the ladder to start the saw. One would think that after I yelled at him about it once that he wouldn't try the same thing again but he did. MEN!! No common sense whatsoever! The job did not get finished though. The chain saw gave up the ghost before the boys could cut the trunk down. God only knows how long it will take for the trunk to disappear. This dead pine tree, the second one of three, has been in the process of being chopped down for a year now. The last tree is just starting to show signs of the Pine Mold that will eventually kill it. I don't plan to wait that long. The dead pine needles are wicked evil sharp and the dogs are constantly bringing them in the house. No this is a project that needs to have a definite end and soon!

We added an extra stitching session at the shop this month since we were at retreat on our normal Saturday in March. We'd had several ladies ask if we would mind and of course we didn't but in a strange twist of fate, the ones that requested it were not able to make it. We missed them but it didn't stop us from having a good time.

Mary shared a finish with us. LHN The Library. Just beautiful. I must confess this is in my to do pile. I need to stitch this, sooner I hope rather than later.

I am still working on my Erica Michaels Papillon project but can see the end in site.


Being sick, and boy was I sick, put me a bit behind in my stitching. It was just too much effort to pick the needle up. Not to mention to keep my eyes open. Tuesday, I slept most of the day away in my chair. And I have to confess I don't remember the drive I made taking Amy to school that morning. Not a good thing! By Thursday though I felt like I could rejoin the land of the living and I went to work. And what I found when I went back to work was enough to bring me to tears. A soldier just back from Afghanistan had shipped a shadowbox stateside before he came home. The shadowbox did not make the trip in good condition and he brought it in to us to repair or re-do if necessary. As it turns out, this was a very good thing. The shadowbox had a folded flag, a certificate, and a couple of medals in it.


This is after I cleaned up all the broken glass, doesn't look too bad, frame is beat up pretty good and the joints were all loose, fillets are all scraped up, one medal has fallen off the other was rattling around in the back of the frame but all in all, not a complete disaster.

My first clue that things were going to be bad was the backside of the frame. It was cardboard held on with packing tape and a few staples. My antennae went up. I cut the tape and peeled the cardboard back to find more packing tape....wait for it....keep waiting....holding the triangular flag in place!!! You could barely see the flag through all the packing tape. The soldier had explained to Mary Ann how much this flag meant to him. Had it been left in the frame with all that tape, it would have been ruined. Maybe not next week, next month or even next year, but mark my words, it would have ruined the flag. Unless.....and this is a good possibility too, the tape dried out and then it would have fallen inside the frame and would have had to be re-done anyway but damage would still have been done to the flag. The next thing I found was hot melt glue. Really? Hot melt glue? Who framed this thing anyway? This explained why the medals were falling off. Hot melt is not a good option in framing. Ever. Add to this, acid mats, regular glass and a certificate that was taped all the way around to another piece of cardboard which was causing it to ripple ( the taping all the way around, not the cardboard) and you have a recipe for disaster! We needed to start this project from scratch. I put together a quote and we called the guy, explained everything that was wrong and the consequences of leaving it that way and gave him the price. As I suspected, it was going to be more than he could afford. He said he would have to wait until he was paid his extra pay for being in Afghanistan before he could afford it. He was clearly upset. I asked him who had done the framing in the first place. It was framed on base in Afghanistan. All I can say is I hope that isn't how they do things in all the base frame shops. Anyway, Mary Ann talked things over with her partner and they decided to give the guy a break on the price. He was so happy and grateful and so shocked by what he saw in the picture. I think he'll be happy with his piece when I am finished with it. I hope so anyway. Here's what I found in the frame when I opened it up.

And people pay good money for something like this.....makes me sick to see it.

Well folks, I need to eat my breakfast, brush my teethies and head to work. I want to thank everyone for all the get well wishes last week. I was feeling the love! Thanks also for stopping in, reading and commenting.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Easter illness, library paint and a new start!

Good Evening!!

I hope everyone had a terrific Easter weekend! I was supposed to have the whole family over for Easter yesterday but when I woke up Sunday morning I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen. I was sick. Fever, stuffy and runny nose. Sore throat, headache. Yep, I was most definitely sick. This was going to be a major problem for the rest of the family as I was making the majority of the food due to the diabetics and celiac members. I knew no one else would have the makings for Easter dinner in their cupboards. Guilt was eating away at me. Maybe I should just drug myself up and not tell them I was sick. No, that wouldn't work, then I'd feel guilty when everyone else got sick. My first call was to my mom. I'm sick mom. She said oh, that's not good. What are you going to do? Well gee, that's why I'm calling. Do I cancel or give people the option of coming anyway? After a bit of discussion, it was decided I should call my younger sister and see what she said. She answered the phone and I said I'm sick. She responded with, we won't be there then. I can't blame her, her kids are healthy for the first time since winter started. Next I called my brother. His wife answered. I told her I was sick but they were still welcome to come if they wanted, I'd wear a mask. She hemmed and hawed and finally said, I'll call you back. She called back and said, no one wants to come. Called my older sister after that. She was worried about the 2 gluten free peanut butter pies she had made. How were they going to eat both of them? No problem, Abby will come pick one up and she'll do it with a smile on her face because she loves loves loves peanut butter pie. Big sis declined to come also. I called my mom back. No one is coming I told her. Well, your father and I don't need to get sick so we aren't coming either. Good lord, you would think I had the plague! So now I had a marinated pork roast and a large ham, potato casserole, double batch of oreo fluff, and more strawberries than I could eat in a month because I had planned strawberry shortcake for dessert. Big sis dropped the pie off and I pawned a large bag of strawberries off on her. Dan took the pork roast over to little sis and she cooked it for mom and dad and big sis' family. Brother and family did their own thing. So I guess it turned out okay for everyone but this makes 3 holidays in a row that we have been unable to get together. Kind of strange for us.

In the process of getting ready for the Easter that wasn't, I've been nagging encouraging Dan to get the new cherry trim up in the library so I could re-hang the drapes and get them off the floor. He finished this task at about 10:00p.m. Saturday night. I took pics this morning so I could share the new paint color with you all.


I haven't decided whether I will change the drapes at this point. Most likely after getting the quotes today for a new garage door, I will be keeping them.

I started a new project last week. Erica Michaels Papillon. 40 count gauze. Teeny tiny continental stitches. I'm not gonna lie. This is hard!! And it doesn't photograph well at all but here is what I have done so far.


I saw this stitched up at Market and it is gorgeous when done and there is a definite learning curve to it! It's getting easier now but there was a lot of cursing at first!

Amy went to Lincoln today to shadow a journalism student and sit in on a class. She said she learned a lot and it was worth the trip. Dan left for Arizona today. His parents are ready to come home and we didn't think his dad should be driving and his mom didn't want to so he will be on the road driving them home all week. Abby is on her last week of the Council Bluffs/Mercy Hospital rotation and then she will change to Immanual Hospital in Omaha. Adam is busy with work and his diabetic class. He's doing pretty good with following his meal plan. He's still cranky though. Can't say as I blame him. I'd be cranky too and it's nothing compared to how Abby was when she was diagnosed with Celiacs.

Well, my fever is up so I need to go take some meds and then I'm going to go plop my behind in my chair.

Have a great evening, thanks for all the comments on retreat. We really had a great time!

Take care!

Julie

Retreat part II and some finishes

Happy Saturday!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and Dan is hard at work putting the new trim up in the library. What more could a girl ask for?? How about kids that are actually helping with the cleaning, the poop scooping and the grocery shopping. Yep, I have that too!! It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood folks and I am loving it!!

When last I posted, Mary had decided to stay at the retreat and everyone was up either eating breakfast or stitching and chatting. Poor Doreen was supposed to have been with us on Friday night but her plane was delayed coming home from California so she arrived early Saturday and then 3 other stitchers arrived to stitch with us just for the day. Here's the whole lot of us:

Front Row L to R: Julie, Merrilyn, Sue
Middle Row L to R: Stephanie, Mary, Lois
Back Row L to R: Mary Ann, Doreen, Sandy, Karen, Carole, Deb, Patty, Connie

Sue and Sandy stitching the day away!

As the day progressed, stitcher's started to finish their WIP's and cheering and clapping became a common occurrence.

Mary finished her Ink Circles project:

I finished Quaker Diamonds:
Merrilyn finished a Just Nan:
Mary Ann finished a Sweetheart Tree:

Carole finished a Lizzie Kate:

And although Patty didn't finish or even work on this project she did share it with us and I thought it deserved a picture too:

I thought she said it was a Carriage House Samplings but I don't remember for sure. What I do remember for sure is she is stitching it on 40 count linen!

We had Nora our innkeeper take small group pictures of everyone with our projects, both finished and those in progress.

Supper time came all too soon, some ordered out for Chinese and others opted to have a croissant sandwich.

Doreen celebrated her birthday on the Thursday before retreat so we had a cake for her. She's 29. Again.

The day ended slightly earlier than the previous night. Most were tucked into their beds by midnight. Sunday morning everyone was up early. Gotta get that last hour or so of stitching in before it was time to check out at 11:00! I think everyone had a great time and several expressed the desire to do it again in the fall. It was sad to see everyone pack up and head home but I know it won't be long before we do it all over again!

After I finished up Quaker Diamonds I started Antique Locks and Keys by Shakespeare's Peddler. I didn't care for the fabric and floss that they used so I picked something more to my taste. I chose Belle Soie Briar Patch for the floss and for the fabric, I chose Brash, one of the new fabric colors from Picture This Plus
This piece stitched up quickly and I finished it up the day after retreat ended.


I plan to have Dan make a frame for it with a wide bottom so i can hang keys from it, an idea I will happily admit I got from my friend Connie! It was brilliant of her!!

I also want to share a finish by Mary Ann. She stitched up Lizzie Kate's Chicks Rule before we went to retreat and then I finished it into a flat fold. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. We used it for the centerpiece at retreat.


And that pretty much finishes our adventure. We arrived home tired but happy with the weekend. Mary Ann and I talked all the way home about what to do to make it even better next time. The chair situation was BAD!! We'll have to have everyone bring a chair or perhaps rent some more comfortable chairs. We will book both houses next time as several who were unable to go this time would like to go next time. We have a couple of other ideas we're pondering too. We are working on something else for next April but I'll keep that to myself until we know what is going to happen for sure.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter tomorrow!

Till next time, keep the needles flying!

Julie