Are you happy now?

First let me say I am dedicating this blog post to all the stitchers from our stitching group that dinged me unmercifully all day today. If I heard it once, I heard it a dozen or more times...When are you going to update the blog. Jenny Bean has been done forever! You all know who you are and I hope this makes you happy because God knows I live to make you ladies happy! NOT! LOL!!!

Second, let me apologize to my followers for being absent for so long. Life has a way of taking over and the 21 framing jobs that came in at once certainly took over! I have never in 8 years of framing had 21 jobs at one time and while I am in no way complaining about the workload, it did make it difficult to find the time for blogging. Or cleaning, Or cooking. Add in all the other things going on like surgeries, Dr. appt's., Adam being home, Amy being home, Thanksgiving etc. and of course this time of year there is always the Christmas village to work on before the open house so given all that perhaps you will forgive me. I'll try hard not to let so much time pass between posts.

As my fellow LSS stitcher's pointed out to me today, Jenny Bean Halloween has been finished for quite some time. I changed quite a few of the colors in this as I just wasn't liking the substitutes for the original limited edition thread pack and I'm very pleased with the result. To finish it off I've chosen a sweet little black frame with a raised leaf design on it but the framing will be a while as it has to take a back seat to customer orders, of which I still have 12 in the queue. For now I will just post the unframed finish.

After finishing JB Halloween, I moved on to Jenny Bean's Christmas. I am loving the whole Jenny Bean thing, can you tell?! I'm stitching her on 40 count R & R Americana Blend fabric with the called for fibers. Love this fabric color with the colors of the floss. My picture doesn't show the true color of it, although it's close.

Speaking of true color, have you all seen the new LHN chart called the North Wind? I adore this chart so as soon as the fabric information was released we hopped on the phone and called Lakeside Linens to order the called for Vintage Tundra. It arrived today and looks nothing like the picture. The picture shows a blue fabric and the fabric itself has more green to it than pictured. I have to say I was a bit disappointed, the fabric is beautiful but just not what it looks like in the picture. Just wanted to warn you in case you are planning to stitch this cutie and want it to look like the actual picture.

Finally, I also started the chart called Sweeping Snowflakes. It's by With thy Needle & Thread. Such a cute idea don't ya think?


There is a drawback to this chart though. I hate stitching with white floss. It just never looks good to me and on top of that I get bored stitching so much of it at one time. Needless to say, I am not making a whole lotta progress on it. But here's what I have done so far.


And with that I am going to call it a night. I didn't sleep well last night as I was thinking all night long about what in the world I was going to bring for a snack today at LSS. I just couldn't come up with anything that sounded good. I think maybe because we've had so much food around the house the last few days. Anyway, I'm tired, cold and plan to go crawl under a blanket and veg a bit. Tomorrow will be a very busy day of decorating the house for the Holidays.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend everyone and take care till next time!

Julie

Jenny Bean update!

It's a very windy Wednesday here in the heartland! Lucky for me it's my day off so I don't have to be out in it. I have been keeping myself busy cleaning the house, doing a bit of laundry, the oven is in the middle of a cleaning cycle, the piano man has been here to tune the piano and I made an appt. to have the furnace serviced for winter. A productive day so far but it's all about to come to a screeching halt because when I finish this post I am plopping my behind in a chair and stitching for a while. Later on I'll have to address the supper issue and then I took some frozen zucchini out so I will have to make some zucchini bread too but then I will sit back down and stitch some more!

I want to say Welcome to my new followers! Thanks so much for stopping in and more thanks for commenting if you did. I do appreciate all of my followers and all my comments!

Diane asked me if there was a secret to getting the lint out of a framing package. I don't know if I would call it a secret but I use compressed air and prayer. Toss in a few swear words and that pretty much sums up what I do. I am very picky about lint in my finished framing so depending on the project, I will close it and open it umpteen times until there isn't any left. A royal pain but I figure people are paying good money to have something professionally framed and they deserve the absolute best job I can do. Suede mats are sometimes the exception to that rule. If you only have one teeny tiny speck inside a framing package, and you cannot see it from regular viewing distance it is sometimes better to leave that one speck in there rather than opening the package back up and risking 5 more specks getting in. Love the look of suede, hate that dust and lint love it too!

Not much new going on around here. Abby and the new boyfriend are getting along well. School is going well and work is also going well so we have no complaints there. She's gearing up for Halloween parties this weekend. I had to help her into her peacock costume to make sure it fits okay and I was very pleased to see that all the important body parts are nicely covered. I was a bit concerned judging from the pictures online but it's all good! I'll try to get pictures on Saturday. She's having her makeup done at the M.A.C. counter at the mall. I wouldn't spend the money on that but it will be interesting to see what they do.

Adam is looking forward to coming home in November. He told me last week that his mouth waters every time he thinks about coming home. He got 4 inches of snow in Utah last night. He can keep it! One of his best friends just got engaged and Adam is feeling slightly envious. The boy really wants a girlfriend but I just don't know how that's gonna work when he's working 15 hour days and won't be staying in one place for very long.

Amy called late last week to announce that her senior high school yearbook, of which she was the editor, won the Cornhusker award, which is the highest award a year book can win in the state of Nebraska. She was on cloud 9. She and her staff put a lot of time and effort into that book so I am thrilled that others appreciated all of their hard work. It will hopefully be entered into the National competition but there is a new Journalism teacher at the High School this year and word on the street is, she's not quite with the program. I hope that is incorrect information.

Dan has been busy making Sampler Roundy bases for the shop. I can always count on him to make rough pieces of wood look and feel amazing! He took those cheap pieces of pine, sanded them completely smooth, had me paint them and then sanded some more to distress them a bit and smooth any roughness from the painting and then he applied a lovely coat of paste wax over the top. Awesome job honey! Thanks! See that yummy soft sheen?



Dan has also been working on a table that my girlfriend brought over to be repaired. He's almost finished with it, hopefully by the weekend he says. Wish I had taken a before shot of it but I didn't.

Had to take the baby dog to the vet this week. she was digging at her ear and it was all red and inflamed. We caught it early so she's feeling all better now. Can you tell?


Gracie says, "I would play but my hair is too long and I can't see anything! Please make me an appointment with Ashley."

I have mostly been stitching on Jenny Bean. I am enjoying this piece a lot. Here's my progress as of last night.

Other projects are calling my name but I am trying to stay focused. I'm a bit bummed out about my Chatelaine piece. I discovered a hole in the fabric, a fairly sizable hole, right smack dab in the middle. I have no idea where the hole came from and I haven't decided what I'm going to do about it yet. I have never had that happen to me before. Chaps my behind, I tell ya!!

Last Saturday Stitch is this coming Saturday. We are planning to have our 2nd annual freebie exchange for Christmas this year. We did it last year and everyone had a great time, it didn't cost much as most of us have freebies in our stash and pieces of fabric and enough floss to kit it all up for next to nothing, so we'll be discussing the best time to have the exchange. MaryAnn has removed the gag order regarding a raffle we will be having at spring retreat so I get to announce that also. Should be a great time! Stop in if you are in the area!

Well my stitching is calling my name so I am gonna go get comfortable and relax for a while. Hope you are all having a great week. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Progress, a day I want to forget and football

It's Saturday evening and the last I heard the Huskers were losing against Texas....again. I'm not what you'd call a football fan. My favorite things to do regarding football are...mocking the announcers and rooting for the Cowboys because my husband hates them. Aside from those 2 things, I really could care less about the sport. I don't understand it, and believe me I have had many boyfriends and even 1 husband try to explain it to me. I just don't get it. Why a bunch of grown men would enjoy running after a pigskin ball, smashing anything that gets in their way while running, only to catch the ball and then have a bunch of the men pile on top of him because they didn't catch the ball and apparently they're not happy about it, is just beyond my comprehension. It ranks right up there with golf. If I want to take a walk, I certainly don't need to hit a little white ball 200 yards thataway so I can walk to where I think it might have gone only to find out that nope it's not where I thought it was. I can just step out the front door and go anywhere my little heart desires. No balls in sight! But, I seem to be in the minority so here's my token cheer, Go Huskers! Beat Texas! Football sucks, I want a Lexus!!

Hey don't judge me, not much rhymes with Texas.

We had stitching at the shop today. Had a good time, met some new stitcher's , talked, laughed and ate. All in all a great day! Now I need to get up from the computer and start cleaning. My in-laws are coming down in the morning early so they can leave early. We have my nieces birthday party at 3 at my sister's house. By the time we get home from there my weekend will be over and I haven't managed to recover from the day from hell I had on Friday.

Being sick for 2 weeks put me slightly behind where the framing was concerned. I had my day all planned out, what needed to get done and what could wait. The first thing that needed to get done was a Hole in One Golf layout. The customer had emailed us the day before and I had told him it would be finished by the next day. I had most of it done already, just needed to add the newspaper pieces that told about his hole in one. Everything was going just fine, I was cutting out the newspaper articles I needed for the layout when the phone rang. Now the smart thing to do would have been to step away from the cutter and concentrate on the phone call. But I never claimed to be smart. No I kept cutting while I answered the phone and when the voice identified himself and asked how I was coming on his jersey and would he be able to pick it up that afternoon as his dinner party was that night and he had a big empty spot on his wall....I cut the article in the wrong spot! Right across the man's name as a matter of fact. The man that had a hole in one. You see, jersey's are oversized and require lots of time and concentration and most times 2 people to get them finished. Add to that I had no idea the man needed his jersey finished by a certain date as it wasn't noted on the work order and it came in while I was sick. So instead of concentrating on what I was cutting I was madly trying to figure out whether I was going to be able to do the jersey and have it done by 5, MaryAnn was gone but Connie was there so if I needed 2 people to help hold the frame Connie could handle that, if the golf thing went smoothly I might just be able to pull it off and that was all it took to cause a major disaster! I tried taping the article but that just wasn't going to work. It just didn't pass the Julie test. So then I called the Omaha World Herald to see if I could get a copy of the paper from a month ago. They said sure, come on down. I called my husband to see if he could run downtown to get it. He said he could so I thought great, I'll start the jersey while I'm waiting for Dan. So far so good. Then the phone rang again. Would you believe that of all the issues of the newspaper they have, that particular days newspaper was completely sold out!!!!! They had it on microfiche but it wouldn't look like the paper. My panic mode really kicked in then. I started calling local libraries and was told time and time again that they no longer had that issue. I finally located a library that still had it about a half hour later. Connie volunteered to go make a photo copy of it as they said we couldn't have the actual paper. This was a problem. We needed it to look like the rest of the paper in the collage. So I got on the phone again and called the Papillion paper to see if we could get some newsprint. The lady there was very helpful and said she'd be happy to let us have an end roll. Great! It's just up the road so Connie could run there, get the newsprint and then go halfway across town to the Millard Library and get a copy. Except our local paper apparently moved their offices when I wasn't looking and instead of being just up the street, they were now in Bellevue. The opposite direction from Millard. Nothing is easy. Connie set out on her mission and I went back to the jersey. Things were going well, Connie came back with the newsprint thinking we should cut some pieces to fit in the copier since the newsprint came on a big roll. She left for the library and I continued working on the jersey. Then the phone rang again. It was Connie. The copier wouldn't work with the newsprint. It kept jamming the printer. I'm hearing her words and in my mind I'm thinking Oh shit. I'm toast. After a pause Connie says in this sweet soft voice, so they let me have the paper instead. I'm still stuck on printers and jams so it took me a minute to process what she said and then I wanted to kill her for causing me a heart attack! I think I asked if she was shitting me because I just couldn't believe they would give it to her but it turns out that branch was her local library and they knew her and took pity on her. Said if the paper just happened to disappear while their backs were turned they wouldn't say anything. So Connie arrives back at the shop with the paper, I finish the golf layout, then take it apart because there was a piece of lint in it, put it back together and take it apart again several more times to get lint out and finally it passes the Julie test and I get it done. It's now about 3:30. The jersey is to the point where I need to get it in the frame, make sure it looks good, no wrinkles, nothing touching the glass, no lint, take it apart and put it back together several times doing all that and finally at about 4:45 it's done. The owner shows up we take care of business, he has another jersey and several photographs he wants to do next so we take care of that, he leaves and I am finally able to relax a bit. I go in the back room to clean up the mess I made that day so the food can be put on my work table for Saturday stitching and as I am cleaning up I find......wait for it.......the autographed football card that's supposed to be attached to the front of the jersey I just sent home. I wanted to cry at that point. And I won't repeat the word that came out of my mouth over and over but it wasn't nice. At this point there was nothing I could do about it. I'll just have to call him Monday(if I don't hear from him before then) and tell him to bring the dang thing back in and I'll attach the card but my stomach is now in knots over the whole thing. I hate when I mess up.

I've been stitching some in the evenings. Here's Jenny Bean:

I've had to mess with the colors some to make myself happy but I'm thinking I finally have it figured out.

My Chatelaine is also coming along nicely:


Well, this isn't getting the cleaning done, I've enjoyed it a whole lot more though but I supposed I best get my rear in gear and get something done. I made Cheeseburger soup for stitching today and totally trashed my kitchen in the process so it's going to take some time to put it to rights.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Take care till next time!

Julie

UPDATE: The Huskers lost. Guess my cheer didn't help. :-P

My Sampler Roundy Pics

Hello!!

Gosh you guys didn't have to think at all to guess what my new start was! I'm impressed!

Finally went back to work today. Still trying to cough my lungs up but at least after my Dr. appt. on Tuesday I'm armed with the good cough medicine so I can sleep at night. I was given a different anti-biotic also and it seems to be loosening things up better than the other one was. My voice is still iffy, comes and goes and I kinda sound like a man . Dan is enjoying that as he has always liked Kathleen Turner's voice and I sound more like her now than I do me. He still has to close his eyes though cuz I certainly don't look anything like her!

Anyway, while I was at work I snapped some pics of my version of Shakespeare's Peddler's Sampler Roundy. I used my own selection of colors and I changed the placement of some colors and I moved a couple of letters up or down as I felt necessary. I'm thrilled with the results. This chart is so cute and the base makes the piece!

If anyone is interested in my color choices, please feel free to email and I will let you know what I used.

Got a call from Amy yesterday telling me that once again I was right. God I love hearing those words come out of her mouth! I just can't tell you how much I like to hear them especially from Amy. Earlier in the day she had told me about this boy that kept instant messaging her every time she got on Facebook. It was starting to bother her. I told her I thought perhaps he was interested in her and just hadn't gotten up the nerve to say something. She pooh-poohed that idea. Guys don't like me, she said. I agreed, in High School I think she scared a lot of them but I told her college is a whole new world. Turns out he was interested in her and was hoping to get her phone number. Someday, all of my kids will admit that I'm not dumb. Abby is still the holdout. She may think it, but she will never admit that I might know what I'm talking about.

Speaking of Abby, we had Halloween Costume drama around here the last week or so. She had ordered a costume back in August and needed it her by the 9th of October as she and a friend were renting a party bus and celebrating their birthdays with a costume party. The costume didn't show up or ship by the 25th of Sept. like they said so she called them. The costume was still in China. Not going to get here by the party date. Long story short....she threw a temper tantrum at the shop and was all upset until I suggested she call them back and ask if perhaps a costume she liked more but couldn't afford was available and would they maybe give her a discount since she had ordered way back in August. For $36.00 more she got the costume she really wanted and it arrived in just a couple days. I arrived home from work last week to see the costume on the floor in the entryway, not a good sign. Where's Abby I ask? In her room crying. The costume doesn't fit, she's fat and her life is over. I called her downstairs and asked her to try it on so I could see if it would stretch enough to close but she wouldn't do it. She held it up showed me how it wouldn't even come close to closing (and it was a medium, hence the I'm fat thought process, rolling my eyes here) threw it down and went back upstairs. I thought it best to let her pout and ponder overnight but in the morning I suggested perhaps she could call the tailor she's used in the past and maybe, just maybe she could help Abby with the costume. Muttering under her breath about how that was never going to happen she placed the call. The tailor returned her call Tuesday and asked her to bring the costume and she would look at it. I got a call later that day. The costume fits mom! The costume fits! Great I said, how did the tailor fix it so quickly? She didn't have to. She told me to put it on over my dress and then she just hooked it up in the back. Over my dress!! Oh, I said, you mean it's stretchy? Yes! It fits just fine! You mean you aren't fat??? Oh mom, don't be silly. Now I could have done the same thing with the costume but Abby would never have believed me if I said I thought it would stretch to fit so smart woman that I am, I saved myself some more drama, made Abby feel sheepish and once again proved that I am not as dumb as she thinks I am. I call that a win-win. Oh and guess what? Her bestie decided she didn't want to have to get a costume this early so she made Abby cancel the costume part of the party by saying everyone was complaining. Turns out it was only the bestie that didn't want to wear a costume. But what's done is done. Hopefully Abby will be able to attend some other parties so she can wear the dang thing since it caused so much trouble!

That's all for tonight folks. Thanks for visiting and commenting if you do.

Take care till next time!

Julie

Sick! and a New Start!

Good Morning!

I don't have too much to write about today. I'm still sick and when you spend your days laying around there isn't much interesting to talk about. But I'll give it my best shot.

Our open house on Saturday went very well. I think everyone found something they couldn't live without, with maybe the exception of 1 person. I was a bit surprised by the limited edition scissors we brought back from the Dinky Dyes booth. We brought 10 pairs of them home from market and I think we only had 1 pair left when we closed. Did not expect that! The charts by AuryTM sold very well also, along with Shakespeare's Peddler's Sampler Roundy. I was somewhat surprised that the Jennie Bean Friendship sampler did not sell at all as I think it's a wonderful chart. Her Halloween sampler however, sold out. But that's the nature of the business, it's hard to predict what will sell and what won't. All in all, it was a good day!

Market itself was good. I enjoyed seeing everything in person and meeting all the designers. There were a lot of needlepoint designers there but I never saw many people in those rooms. Doesn't mean there weren't any, I just didn't see them. It didn't seem very crowded to me in the counted stitch rooms either. Which for me was great, it was easier to see everything and to talk to the designers and such but I'm sure it must have disappointed the designers although I have heard from several that they were very happy with the turn out and sales. I was somewhat disappointed to see when we arrived home from Market that almost everything, with a few exceptions, we saw at Market was available already from Hoffmans. If you want more people to attend the Markets, might I suggest you make it worth their time and money by delaying the availability of Market Releases by a week or three to the general public, thus giving those that do make the effort an advantage over those that didn't. I'm just saying...

I had planned to show you my latest finish but I took it to the shop on Saturday and didn't take a picture of it beforehand. I've been home sick since then so I still haven't taken a picture of it. It'll have to wait. I did just get a call from the Dr. with a cancellation for today so hopefully I will be feeling better soon. The cough is gonna be the death of me.

In the meantime...here is a picture of my latest start. Can you guess what it is?

I'm still working on my Chatelaine piece also but haven't taken a picture of it.

In family news....

Amy was home from college this past weekend. She's doing well at school and is settling in quite nicely. She's discovered that she cannot do everything and still keep the 3.5 gpa she needs to keep her scholarship so she has backed off a bit on some extra curricular activities for the school paper but otherwise is managing to study and have a bit of a social life too.

Adam is well from what we hear. He is still super busy at work and as far as I know will still be headed to D.C. after the first of the year. That could still change but it's not looking like it will.

Abby is also doing well with school. She's been doing a lot of tailgating down in Lincoln on the weekends but sticking pretty close to home during the week.

That pretty much catches you up on the goings on in my world. I'm busy working on things for the spring retreat. We're halfway booked now which I think is fabulous. I was getting caught up with the framing at work before I got sick but imagine I will be behind again when I get back. I know I have a graduation collage to design when I get back as it came in Saturday. Oh well, it's better than not being busy at all!

Enjoy this first week of October everyone! We're having beautiful weather here, too bad I haven't been out to enjoy it!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Market Open House is Tomorrow!

Whew! What a week! Between catching up with framing, pricing all the new goodies, getting everything in the computer and being sick since Tuesday, I need a vacation! We finished putting things out for display at 5:45 this evening and I am working feverishly (literally) to finish up a shop model for tomorrows Open House. I had a hard time finding places to display everything but I think we managed to spread it out enough that browsers shouldn't have a problem with, well, browsing! LOL!

I still have 2 paintings to stretch and 2 more cross stitch pictures to frame, plus a golf layout and then I am officially caught up! Should get that finished Monday and then the rest of next week should be cake.

Don't have anything to share stitching wise as I don't want to post the shop model until it's finished and it still needs to be mounted.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and if you live in the area stop by between 10 and 4 tomorrow to see all the stash we brought home!

Take care till next time,

Julie

Back from Market

Happy Monday Everyone!

Got back from market last evening. Had a great time, met some wonderful designers, brought back some great new things! I even went out of my box and am going to give some different techniques a try. Gonna be a busy week getting everything priced and in the computer not to mention displayed so if you are in the neighborhood, we are having a Market Open House this coming Saturday. The shop opens at 10!

Have a great day everyone!

Take care till next time.

Julie