Siren Song, Gracie update and Stitching update

Sorry it's been a week or so.  Gracie has continued to be ill and I have been spending a lot of time taking her to the vet.  We almost lost her Monday night.  When I got home from work she was having difficulty breathing, x-rays revealed she had a dangerous build up of fluid around her bronchials.  This was a new symptom, whether it's related to  everything else or something different we don't know.  Cortisone and Lasix were given and within 30 minutes she was acting like nothing was wrong.  Unfortunately, it didn't last and today found us back at the vet with the fluid building again.   Both vets are confused and have no real answers.  Continued prayers would be appreciated.

Last week I concentrated on The Inn and made quite a bit of progress considering I didn't stitch for more than an hour each night instead of my normal 2-3 hours.  Gotta love a red building!  Looking forward to seeing it all stitched.

This week I've been working on Forest Snowfall.  Shouldn't be too long before it's done.  I really like this one.  The fabric, the softness of the colors, the little deer...fun stitch!

Sometimes, I'm surprised by the patterns/charts that catch my eye.  It's common knowledge amongst my friends that almost anything with a house in it will catch my eye.  Or charts with elegant women like Elizabeth will give me itchy fingers.  But last week when Connie (thanks friend, I hope I can return the favor sometime) brought her spring issue of Just Cross Stitch to work with her, I was taken by surprise by the strength of my reaction to one of the charts in it.  Little drops of drool started forming in the corners of my mouth, my heart started racing and I couldn't quit looking at the picture.  It was not something I would ever have thought would attract me so strongly.  At first I tried to fight it.  I have too many things going right now.  Elizabeth, Tuscan Rose, The Inn and Forest Snowfall.  I had no business lusting after this pattern.  So I walked away and went to the back room to work.  But the image kept flashing before my eyes and before I knew it, there I was thumbing through the magazine again to look at the picture.  Connie was giving me the stink eye, I could tell she wasn't feeling the attraction nor was she hearing the siren song.  Forcing myself back to work I tried to put it out of my head.   But try as I might...every time I went up front I'd look at it and say, I don't know what it is Connie but man do I like this piece.  And she'd just look at me with that are you kidding me look and go on about her work.  As I was framing, I was running different fabrics through my mind, oh that would look awesome, oh no, that wouldn't be right, hmmmm....that could be cool.  AHA!  That's the perfect fabric!  Abandoning my current frame job, I went back to the front and pulled out R & R's Garden State Java.  Yep, it would be awesome.  Then sanity prevailed and I put the fabric back on the shelf and went back to work.  By the end of the day I must have ogled that pattern a hundred times trying to figure out what the attraction was.  It couldn't be the subject matter, I've never been attracted to this particular subject.  The colors are gorgeous but so are the colors for a million other charts. The finishing, while nice wasn't it either.  Finally, at the end of the day, after catching me fondling the magazine again, Connie said..."You know you can have that magazine if you want it.  There's nothing in it I want to stitch."  Squealing with delight I snatched it up, grabbed the fabric and announced that I would be taking both home so I could pull the floss and do a floss toss.  Maybe, just maybe it wouldn't be as beautiful as I was thinking it would be.  Arriving home, I raced downstairs and started pulling floss.  GORGEOUS!!!  The fabric was perfect.  The floss colors were beautiful.  No way was I going to be able to walk away from this piece.  Resigning myself to yet another gotta stitch it before I die project, I took the fabric back to the shop the next day and promptly cut my piece.  Now, lest you think I have absolutely no self control at all, I want you to know that I haven't started the actual stitching of this piece yet.  Yet, being the operative word here.  I am trying very hard to wait until I finish the Little House and Country Cottage pieces.  So far I am keeping to that promise but I won't/can't say how much longer I can wait.  I'm stitching as fast as I can on the other two but dang, that siren song is hard to resist!!!    I suppose I should show you a picture of the chart that has so captivated me.  Maybe one of you can tell me why.  Personally, I think I must have owned something like it or stitched something like it in a past life.  If I had a past life.  :)  Anyway, here it is in all it's splendor, Old World Floral...tada!

Now don't you go giving me the stink eye like Connie and Mary Ann did.   You know you like it.  Just admit it now and heed the Sirens' Song.  I know you can hear it!!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Warning! Nausea ahead!!

Good Sunday Morning!

I had planned to get up and clean this morning and then I remembered I have a wedding reception to go to and if I clean I will have to shower again.  With these darn hot flashes, I am just a mess after I clean anymore. What a great excuse to just play today instead of doing what I should be doing, right?  At least that's what I'm telling myself!  If you think otherwise, do you mind keeping it to yourself?  I don't want my bubble burst when I've gone to so much trouble creating it.

I promised last time that I would show you the other project I am working on.  As you might recall, we're going to have a display of Little House and Country Cottage designs in the shop in May.  I figured I should help to create the best display possible so in the spirit of the things I am stitching one chart from each designer.  I know, I know.  It's a real hardship I tell ya, just finding a cute chart in the hundreds that are available was a chore in itself,  but what's a person supposed to do??  It was my idea after all, so I sucked it up and chose Little House's The Inn at Fox River Mill (seen in my previous post) and Forest Snowfall from Country Cottage.  I'm stitching it on 40ct Pearl Grey linen over 2 using the called for colors except the Deep Fennel has been replaced by Belle Soie Ocean Tide.  Deep Fennel just wasn't cutting it for me.  This is such a soft looking piece, very soothing.  I've just hated every minute of it...NOT!!

Since Gracie has been ill, I have taken to locking the two dogs up in the bathroom when we leave the house.  If there is an accident I can at least find it easily instead of hunting on my hands and knees nose to the floor like a bloodhound scenting it's prey.  Those that actually know me are probably wishing right now that I hadn't put that image in their head...the picture isn't pretty...trust me.   Anyway, I put a baby gate across the opening so they can see out and not get claustrophobic but apparently one of them is not terribly happy with this situation.  Dan came home from work the first night to see this...

When Dan told me about finding Kallie on the counter when he got home he was all concerned about how long she might have been stuck up there.  I, on the other hand was more concerned that she might not be stuck up there.  Kallie has species confusion and has a tendency to think she's a feline instead of a canine.  Cat's do not have a problem jumping and my concern was she might try to jump from the counter over the gate and onto the floor.  But I was hoping she wouldn't be that brave.  I was hoping in vain.  The next day I once again locked them in the bathroom and turned around to get my coat.  Hearing movement behind me I spun around just in time to see Kallie attempting a dive worthy of an Olympic gold medalist!  I swear she did a triple twist with a tuck before losing her form and landing flat on her back only to spring back up and leap into my arms.  I didn't even have time to yell stay at her before this brilliant feat of gymnastics.  I was so worried she might have hurt herself,  but apparently she really is half cat and seems none the worse for wear.  We've now taken to blocking off the toilet (her springboard to the counter) and this seems to be taking care of the problem.  For now.  Until Houdini figures out another way to escape!

Yesterday was Last Saturday Stitching at the shop. We have stitching on the second and last Saturday of every month and our group of ladies has grown from the 4 we started out with in the beginning 2 years ago, to between 20 and 25 now.
 

It's such an awesome group of women, from beginners to experts, some young, some not so young, stitching on such diverse projects. When I look back 2 years to our very humble beginnings and see how much we've grown, I am in awe and I thank God that he brought them all into my life.  I look forward to our stitching days and hate the months that have 5 Saturdays as there is a longer gap between stitching.  Thank you ladies for all of your support over the last couple of years, for taking time out of your busy lives to come and stitch at the shop.  For the awesomely good food you bring, for the laughter, the companionship, and lets face it for the money you spend on supplies and framing.  Without you and your support we wouldn't exist.  And while the shop closing would be a loss...for me, losing all of you would be a tragedy.  You're the best!  SMOOCHES!!!

I hope I haven't nauseated everyone, I rarely get this sappy but I just felt the need to say thanks today.  And while I'm at it. Thanks to all of my wonderful followers that make it a pleasure to sit down at the computer and try to entertain you all with the boring and mundane stories of my life.  I sometimes question whether I should continue or not and then I will receive an email from someone telling me how much they enjoy reading my blog and it makes it all worth while.

Have an awesome Sunday everyone!

Take care till Next time!!

Julie





 

  

 

Can you feel it?

Can you feel the crackle and sizzle of electricity??  That's not static electricity my friends.  No siree bob.  That is lightning striking twice!!!  Two posts from me in the same week??  Inconceivable!  LOL!!  I'm trying to be a better blogger this year.  We'll see how long it lasts before life steps in and blows it all to pieces.

In my last post I spoke of all the preparation that went into getting ready for Adam and his girlfriend.  One thing I didn't mention was the lack of a dresser in the guest room.  My sister needed a chest of drawers for her sons room at least 6 months ago and since we didn't really use the one in the guest room I told her she could have that one.  We'd find something else.  Which we did.  A rough around the edges antique walnut dresser that we fell in love with at the thrift store.  Dan loves walnut and the bones were good, it just needed some love.  A lot of love.   When Adam told me he would be bringing M home after the holidays I told Dan the dresser would need to be done before their arrival.  In typical Dan fashion...he waited until the last minute.  Now in his defense he did have other things going on...like the kitchen and the island.   In fact when I thought he was out in the garage working on the dresser, he was actually working on the island so you can imagine the panic I felt when it was January 1 and the dresser was more or less untouched.  Rising to the challenge, in spite of not understanding why having a dresser in the guest room was necessary, he worked his fingers to the bone and pulled off a miracle.  Literally.  Dan does not ever use an electric sander.  He prefers to do all the sanding by hand.  And it was a lot of sanding to get down to the bare wood.  I only have one before picture to show you but it clearly illustrates the amount of work that needed doing.  The left side Dan has sanded, the right is the original finish.

Wow huh?  He spent hours out in the cold garage sanding and staining and moaning and groaning and cursing, and while he might not agree, I think it was worth it.  What do you think?

It shares the room with an antique walnut bed.  Handmade in the 1800's, I first saw it in a store here in Omaha that was part antiques and part Barbies.  It was covered in Barbies and Barbie paraphernalia.  What a waste that was.  Originally, I bought the bed to go in Amy's Harry Potter bedroom.

It worked quite well in there, but after outgrowing her HP room, she wanted something more modern looking and the bed was moved to the guest room.  I think the two pieces were meant to be together.  What do you think?

The visit with M went well.  She was nervous, we were nervous, but I think she had a nice visit and we look forward to getting to know her better the next time.  It was unfortunate that the coldest weather we have had so far this winter coincided with their visit.  Of course the temps moderated once they left.  At least there wasn't snow while she was visiting!

And on the stitching front...an update of The Inn at Fox River Mill.  I'd say I am almost half done.  I'm also working on another piece but I'll save that for next time.

Thank you to all that posted about Gracie.  She is doing fine at the moment.  Still on the antibiotic though so we won't know if they worked until she is done with it.  I'll keep ya posted.

I need to eat breakfast and round my stuff up for work so I better get my butt up off this chair and get moving.  Thanks for all the comments on my last post!   Have a wonderful day everyone!

Take care till next time!!

Julie

Life

You know that quote by John Lennon that goes "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"?  That sorta describes my world the last 3 weeks.  I'm going to attempt to condense as much as possible the events that have occurred since Christmas but it's still going to be a book!

It all started with Gracie.  She looks innocent enough doesn't she.

Don't let that  sweet face fool you!  She has been nothing but trouble and large amounts of money since right before the holidays when she ate a ton of chicken bones.  Now it could be coincidence that she became sick after that but I'm not sure.  We've been to the vet at least 6 times, had x-rays, blood work, her stools have been checked and her urine has been checked. Anti-biotics have been given, food and water removed, hamburger and rice given, weaned back on regular food and on and on with no real results.  Take her off the drugs and she gets a temp and starts throwing up.  The vets (yes, we've had a second opinion) are somewhat stumped.  She is now on a very strong anti-biotic and we are hoping this will work although the blood work didn't show anything wrong. All this illness has resulted in an extreme loss of sleep for me and lots of cleaning up after her.

During  this same time we were trying to get the house de-Christmased and ready for our son who was bringing his girlfriend home from DC to meet the family.  Naturally, my "everything has to be perfect gene" kicked in and  we have been madly cleaning, repairing and planning to get ready for the visit.  Everything came to a head this past Wednesday.  The new family room carpet was scheduled to be installed that morning...Adam and M were arriving on Thursday evening.  I was fine, had the day planned out, carpet first and then cleaning followed by grocery shopping and cooking.  The day began with Abby coming into the bedroom at 6a.m.  When asked what she was doing she responded with...there's no hot water in my shower, I need to get ready for work.  This was a problem.  Her shower is the shower for guests.  Dan had spent all day on Sunday replacing the shower head and handle in that bathroom and cleaning up all the caulking and such.  But apparently, he never tested to see if it all worked. Dan said he would work on it when he got home from work that night.  Alarm bells and warning lights went off in my head.  I got up, got ready and then Gracie vomited all over the floor before I could get her out the door.  While waiting for the carpet layers to arrive I put in a call to a different vet.  I needed a second opinion.  The receptionist said he would call when he was out of surgery.  The carpet layers arrived and created more problems.  They did not like how the guy that came out to measure instructed us to prepare the floor. When we decided to get new carpet we also decided to remove the railing between the kitchen and the family room.  It served no purpose and was a nuisance when it came to arranging the room.  Dan followed the directions given but the layers said it wasn't right and although they would go ahead and lay the new carpet they were going to make me a sign form saying the carpet would wear poorly and the warranty would not apply.  On top of that, before Missy passed away she apparently had been leaking urine and now with Gracie being sick she was also having issues and they recommended we seal the underlayment with 2 coats of oil based primer before laying the carpet so that further pet damage could be avoided.  I almost started crying.   Instead I called Dan who I might add, was sick as a dog, and asked him what we should do.  After some heated arguments, and an assurance from the layers that they would come at 7a.m. Thursday morning and have the carpet laid by 9:30 so I could be to work by 10, it was decided we would fix the floor to their specifications and we would also seal it.  Dan took the afternoon off  and came home.  Meanwhile, I texted a stitching friend of mine who has a brother that is a plumber and asked if she thought he could help me out with the guest bath.  She responded by giving me her nephew's cell (also a plumber) and calling him to tell him I would be calling. Keep in mind, I was doing this on the sly and hoping I could just present the repaired plumbing to Dan as a fait accompli.  Sadly it was not to be...the plumber was here when Dan arrived and he was not a happy camper.  Chad got the plumbing fixed and it was a good thing that I called him because I am pretty sure if Dan had attempted the repair we'd have had a bigger problem.  Dan and I (mostly Dan) got the floor fixed and painted and I took Gracie to the vet late that afternoon.  No cleaning could be done since the contents of the family room were all over the rest of the house and I was in a panic over how it was going to get done before Adam arrived Thursday night.  But I'm happy to say, the carpet did get laid, I got to work on time, and we cleaned like demons after I got home from work finishing up 20 minutes before he came through the door.  Remind me never to do anything to this house ever, ever again because it's always a disaster when we do!!!!  Here are some updated family room pics for you.

Needless to say, stitching hasn't been a priority the last few weeks but I have gotten some done. I think I will wait and share that on my next post though.

I did want to mention some exciting news regarding our retreat.  Here's an excerpt from our latest newsletter telling all about it.

 "Our “Fear the Frog” Retreat will be held Thursday May 3rd  through Sunday May 6th, 2012.  We are very excited to announce that  Darlene Anderson will present a program on Adam and Eve samplers which will include a powerpoint presentation and a history of each sampler. She will also share her sampler tree ornaments and show a slide  of  each  one.   Darlene   presented   her  program  in  Arizona  at  the  Attic  
Needleworks Sampler Symposium this past weekend to rave reviews.   


Paulette  Stewart  of  Plum  Street  Samplers will once again be designing the shop 
exclusive chart for retreat and hopefully she’ll stop in at some point so you all get a 
chance to visit with her." 

I have never seen Darlene's samplers in person but have heard others talk about them so I was thrilled when she agreed to come to retreat and present her program.
I'm hoping some of you might come too as it would be wonderful to meet you in person!

I need to get caught up on my blog reading and do some planning  for retreat yet today so I will end this sad story now.  I hope to post again in the next couple of days though.  Fingers crossed, knock wood and all that other good stuff.  Thanks for hanging in there and thanks for the comments.  They are much appreciated!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Stitching Progress...finally!

At last the post I have promised for weeks, one about stitching!  I really truly meant to only stitch on Elizabeth and Tuscan Rose.  And I did stitch on Tuscan Rose a bit...See?

But then I had this idea for retreat and the shop.  Wouldn't it be nice to put together an exhibit of Little House and Country Cottage designs using the models we have at the shop and asking our stitcher's and retreater's to bring pieces that they have stitched up and finished.  Can you imagine how incredible a display this might be if we have good participation?   Well, I think it would be incredible anyway so I decided maybe I should stitch up a couple I have in my stash which means that TR and E have to be put to the side temporarily.  After retreat I would like to continue to borrow as many pieces as possible and bring the display to the shop so those that aren't at retreat could enjoy it too.  Of course, those that don't live locally will probably take their pieces home with them but it would still be a neat display in the shop.  I started stitching The Inn at Fox River Mill on Christmas Eve and here is my progress so far.

 

I would have had more done if I hadn't got caught up in watching Beverly Hills Cop last night.  That movie is still able to make me laugh even all these years later.  Amy had never heard of it so I put it in her stocking for Christmas.  Amazingly enough...she liked it!!  We don't often like the same movies so I was relieved at her response.

That's it for today, Amy has an appt. this morning that she needs the car for so I have to go to work early in order for her to make it to her appt. on time.  I must say, sharing a car is the pits.  

Take care till next time!

Julie

Christmas Decorations, Gifts and Retreat Announcement

So how was Christmas for those of you that celebrate it??  Ours was good.  Not without it's share of drama though.  Amy fell down the stairs and has further damaged her already damaged knee.  We're giving it until tomorrow to feel better before we call the Dr.  She said she heard a snap when she fell so I am praying she didn't tear any more ligaments or cartilage in it.  Then Abby called to say we should go ahead and open gifts without her and the boyfriend.  She wouldn't explain any further than that except to say they hadn't left his parents house yet and it is a 2 hour drive from our house.  I told her we wouldn't open without them and if necessary we'd open after we got home from my parents house.  What she didn't want to explain was that Jordan was not feeling good and had thrown up.  Further, several in his family had had the stomach flu in the last couple of days.  BUT, she didn't know if it was the flu or if he was sick due to having a bit  too much to drink the night before.  When they hit town she called to explain what was going on and if it was okay for him to come over and when I said no, she got herself all bent out of shape.  And lets just say the day went downhill from there and I was really happy to get home last night and call the holiday over.  Apparently the boyfriend is feeling better today and they plan to come over tonight but to be really honest with you...I don't want them here.  I'm sure he's still shedding virus and since Abby has been exposed she most likely is percolating it right now and I don't want it!!  Horrible of me I know.

I have some holiday decor to share with you if you are interested.  And if you didn't see the previous post with the link to our Christmas Village, I have put it in my side bar and will keep it there for a while.  I didn't decorate as much as I usually do and I didn't take many pictures but here's what I've got.

Entryway

The Libray

Library Tree

Close Up of Library tree

DiningRoom

Kitchen Hutch

Fireplace in family room

Candles lit up

Family room tree

wall above couch

Nutcracker

Santa Smoker

I hope you enjoyed the decorations.  I meant to post them before the holiday but time just got away from me. The last two pictures are pieces I bought at craft shows.  Both were made by the same lady and the detail is just amazing.  I haven't been to a craft show in several years now so I don't know if she is still making things or not.

I must have been a really good girl this year cuz Santa was very good to me.  I am the proud and thrilled owner of a Kindle Fire and finally I can say I have an app for that!!  It's a pretty cool little toy and if that had been all I received I would have been completely content.  But Santa Dan also built me this:

It has 3 drawers that open which is awesome since I only have 7 drawers in my kitchen and one of those doesn't really count as it's so small.

And in this picture you can see the new curtains too.  That pretty much finishes off the kitchen remodel except for a few little details which knowing my husband the way I do....will never get done.

I received many other nice things too, a new building for the village, some craft stuff, gift cards, a popcorn popper and still more I can't think of right now.  I am a very lucky lady.  Thank you family and friends for all the lovely gifts this year!!

Still not much stitching to show you so I will hold off on that till next time.  Maybe by then I'll actually have something to show you!

I put a link to the shops latest newsletter in my sidebar.  We announced our Spring Retreat and all the pertinent information is in there for those that wanted it.  I do  hope some of you might be able to come!

Gonna end this here.  I'm working on Laundry and my washer just buzzed at me.

Take care till next time!!

Julie  
            

Coming Up for Air and a Christmas Village Slideshow

Good Lord I can't believe the month I have had.  Not that anything momentous occurred  but it has been jam packed full of busy I tell ya.  Some of the highlights include but are not limited to...

1.   Decorating for Christmas
2.   Physical Therapy
3.   Cleaning the house for the open house
4.   The Open House
5.   Christmas Shopping
6.   Orthopedic appt
7.   Gyno appt.
8.   Dental appt.
9.   MRI
10. 400 Christmas framing projects, okay, not that many but you get my drift
11. The Open House part II
12.  Appt with the floor guy to start the claim process on our kitchen floor
13.  Painting the Hallway
 and a million other things too numerous to mention.

Ya know what didn't happen?

1.  Stitching, none, nada, zip,
2.  Blog Reading
3.  Book Reading
4.  Christmas Baking
5.  The watching of my traditional Christmas movies
6.  Talking with friends
7.  Announcing the winner of the first time story teller.

But I am here to rectify that right now.

The winner is....

Sarah from http://kiwigetscrafty.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Sarah and thanks for taking part in the sharing your first time giveaway!  Either people don't remember their first time cross stitching or they were too scared to read what it was all about but there sure weren't many entries.  I did enjoy reading about everyone's first time and wish more had shared theirs.    So Sarah, email me your snail mail address and I will get a little something mailed out to you.

And for those of you who couldn't come to the Village Open House, here's a picture to whet your appetite and  link to a slideshow I was finally able to put together.  The pictures aren't the greatest as my camera hates low light but I hope you can overlook the poor picture quality and enjoy it anyway.

https://picasaweb.google.com/109322071450085611930/ChristmasVillage2011#slideshow/5688228471526248530