Chugging Along!

Happy Monday to everyone!  I hope that your weekend was just as cozy and relaxing as mine was.  DH is back on night shift again, so that gives me a really good excuse to take looong naps in the middle of the day during the weekends.  It is so nice just to sleep next to each other - it is surprising how many of the things that we would probably label "smaller" that I find out I miss once they are not there.  Yesterday was really wonderful, with a nice lunch out at the local "luxury fish place", a stroll through the book-store, and some mending of torn and worn clothes in front of the adventures at Downtown Abbey in the evening.  Add to that that DH and I found a new British TV series that I am in love with - The Midsummer Murders.  Wow, oh wow - they are great!!!!   I am thrilled.  I have already worked myself through three mysteries and I can't wait to get back from work so that I can continue.  Life is good - doesn't take a whole lot to keep me content...

I did also do some limited shopping at Silverneedle during their Superbowl sale.  Very, very minor!  Is it bad when you feel like you already have everything that you want!?  LOL

Anyway... I have had these pictures uploaded on the blogger page for ages now, but finding the time to actually write a bit to go with all the photos has been trickier.  Too many things to do!  You know the feeling, I am sure!  LOL

Here is the first sampler that accidentally got added to the list of 2012 projects after I had constructed my WIPoclaypse list.  This is the Ellen Maurer-Stroh sampler that I mentioned in a previous post or two, stitched on a antique white 40-st linen over two with one strand of DMC.  Since I am one of the most impatient people in the world, I decided to stitch on the pretty bluebell border as far as I could.  It was easy to memorize, which makes it a quick stitch.  I did switch out a couple of the blues to darker shades and I like how it is turning out.  I am thinking that I may switch out the colors completely on the right-hand side border and stitch pink blue-bells there instead.  Thoughts?

The February part has already been posted, so I have it printed and ready to go.  Right now, I am devoted to the upper flower border and I have stitched 5 of the 10 repeats that make up the full border.  This one is not a border that you can really memorize, but it is lovely!  She has a unique way to play with colors and the light pink flowers look almost transparent, like really fine china!  Very skillfully done.  The February assignment contains a rose sprig and half of a very pretty fruit basket.  Can't wait to get working on them!!!  (Still not too late to jump over to her site and download these pretty charts - they are in color and very easy to read.  And let me tell you, they stitch up much quicker than you would ever believe!)

This is the current state of the Scarlet Letter EH sampler.  My favorite part is stitched up, even though many areas are meant to be filled in with trellis stitch.  Since the instructions in the pattern are pitiful, I will have to root around in my stitch-room and to to get out the Proper Stitch book by Darlene O-Steen.  I really hope that trellis stitch is in there (I am pretty sure that it is...).  On to a more narrow border where a lot is going on - carnations and knot-work - very pretty!  I think after that boder is done, the half-point is met...

Excuse the wrinkles - I only iron when my life depends on it! ;-)

I pulled Snapperville back out last week too.  Only one more square to go, plus the border around the little scenes.  This is an easy stitch, but somewhat boring and surprisingly slow, I think.  I guess that I am not thrilled because I have a hard time imagining that I will actually hang it somewhere.  The colors are pretty though - I am not following the colors at all, since I am too cheap to expand my already pretty significant overdyed thread collection.  I just pick colors from the existing bundle and go with that.  Don't you like my blond horse?  :-)

I am currently thinking about some alternate verse for the bottom border, since I am not thrilled about the original; "Teach us that we may learn the importance of every day. . .of every hour as it passes".  I found Kim's very pretty finished SV for inspiration: "North or South, East or West, Farm or Town, Home is Best" here.  I like how she made her "swirlies" in the lighter color too!  I am shamelessly copying that, once I get there!!! 

Here is another oldie that has been lying on the "almost finished" pile for ages now.  I only needed to add the text and then do the actual finishing work...  The chart is from a vintage German Burda magazine, so I needed to translate Frohe Weihnachten to Swedish and English.  To fit in the text, I had to stitch it over one.  Isn't is just amazing how you (as in I) can count something 100 times and still have it end up off-center!?  Rather than ripping up the entire Merry Christmas row, I decided to add a little sprig of something...  I think that it worked out all right, so next up is tracking down a backing fabric and some time to sit down and sew it all up.  I think that I will finish it as a wall-pocket that I can collect Xmas cards in (I should be ashamed of that though, since I don't send out Xmas cards myself).  Or I could have some pretty branches of seasonal plants.  We'll see - maybe even this Christmas!  (Yeah, right!)

There is a Valentine heart from the same (two-part) series that would be fun to stitch.  We'll see - maybe in 2013?

I went through a serious finishing kick a week ago and got a few projects completely finished.

Here is my Christmas Tree from Fremme.  The little picture is based on the pretty sad story by the Danish author H. C. Andersen; The fir Tree.  I love the little bunny jumping over the tree in the upper corner!

On display with the Swedish flag!

I did finally manage to do right by the nephew.  Nephew's "First Xmas" ornament and birth sampler in progress:

The ornament is a sweet little freebie by Brookes Books Designs.  I switched some of the colors to make it less pink and I tried to place the beads in the border on the side to create a lace effect.  That didn't really work out as well as I had hoped, but it is finished!

The birth sampler got framed.  I got the matting and frame from Michales general framing area.  No specialty materials or measures needed - don't you love when that happens!?  DH helped me pick out the frame.  It's a lot of fun - he had planned to run over to the pet-store right next-doors to Michaels, but decided to come with me instead.  I think that he knows that he is really good at helping me pick out stuff, so he enjoys it - as do I .  (No worries, we did hit the pet-store afterwards, so all our critters got fed this week too....) 

My parents are coming to visit in May, so my mom offered to bring everything back to Sweden in their luggage.  That will work out really well!  Last time I shipped a framed piece over to Sweden, the glass shattered on the way over.  Not so good....  I am really glad that Littlest Sis didn't get hurt when she unwrapped that package!

And finally, here is my "just for fun" project (it was not on any of my start-of-the-year lists...): Jenny Bean's Pin Tuffet from Shakespeare's Peddler.  Quick and fun and finished with the Sudberry House Shaker Round Pincushion. 

I switched out every single color for this piece, I think.  I went for purples instead of rusts and I am really pretty delighted with how it turned out.  My inspiration was the checkered flower in the bottom right.  It is black and white in the original, but it still reminded me about the Snakes Head lily, a very pretty Fritillary that is the landscape flower of Uppland, Sweden.  Since that is the landscape I come from, I felt that it was a fitting change and I switched the rest of the colors to go with the lily. 

If I would change anything with this project, it would be the foam that came with the Sudberry piece.  It is a polymer foam that has high friction, so it is hard to stick your pins into the cushion.  I should probably have switched out the foam for several layers of batting or maybe made an inner cushion filled with some other type of material.  Oh well, now I know for next time.

I am finishing this post with some amusing craft.  This Princess Leia hat from Bleu Arts at Etsy reminds me of a favorite scene from 30 Rock.

Liz Lemon is trying to get out of jury-duty by pretending that she is more than less peculiar -  this video is a shout out to my buddy Hip^Hip^Happy, who is on call for jury duty right now.... you go get'em girl!  :-)

Take care and Happy Stitching!  I will try my best to swing by all your blogs out there. it's been a while.

PS We had a mega-frost over night here - hope that all my spring-bulbs made it...  :-(

Spoiled Rotten!

Hi all and thanks so much for all your comments and for all the congratulations on my birthday! Today I realized that I have another reason to celebrate - I have 75 followers! I can not believe it!!! I am so humbled and so glad that so many old and new friends have chosen to stay in touch through this blog.
I have said it it in the past, but I'd like to say it again; if you are a follower on my blog and you have a blog that I have yet to become a follower of, please let me know and I will sign up ASAP! It is so much more fun to have a two-sided blogship going, don't you think?

Since my last post, I have gotten spoiled about 100 times over. The girls at work took me out for lunch on Tuesday and one of them, The Barbarian, even took a break in her vacation to come over and eat, talk and laugh with the rest of us.
These ladies are such a wonderful group. I know that I have written about them before; many of them are now converted to "the dark side:" and we try to meet and have stitch-lunches a few times per week. Hip*Hip gave me a wonderful stained glass frame and she had the really cool idea to take a photo of the lunch group, so that I can have a framed memento. Love it! She also made me a super-sweet birthday card that spelled out "Happy Bird-day" - how cute is that!?
The Barbarian gave me Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon, a super-size Hershey chocolate bar (that did not make it back home in one piece), and a funny card that made me laugh out loud. I am really looking forward to watch the movie in peace and quiet next weekend.
P.Snickety spoiled me with a gift-card for Starbucks that I already managed to use up! I bought my favorite drink and a really nice mermaid tumbler, which I am thrilled about! I mean, gold and brown mermaids and coffee, who can say no to taht combination?
Here are a couple of shots showing the goodies:

When I came home after work, DH was already up and waiting for me. I almost passed out when I saw the display that he had set up for me. He is pretty incredible! (I feel very intimidated right now. The pressure is on; his birthday is on the 25th and I am already worried about what to get him... any tips out there? Please - sniffle!? LOL) The flower arrangement still looks fabulous and the scent is so strong in the late evenings that I almost have to open the windows!
Here are a couple of photos showing the "spoiling-the-wife-rotten" arrangement:
As you can see, plenty of chocolate, candy, tea and other goodies together with the purse and wallet from one of the latest Vera Bradley collection, "Happy Snails". And - sweetest of all - a nice cozy fabric basket for Bubba! Bubba seems to really like this one, so we all got spoiled... (Believe me, the birds have had more almonds and sunflower-seeds than they have in months! A bit hard to flap off the couch after all that feasting on assorted seeds and nuts... LOL)

I am proud to say that I have yet to touch the candy. Normally that would be gone in a week or so, but I have been pretty good (I guess that the gigantic Hershey bar took care of some of the more urgent chocolate needs....)
Here is Bubba letting me know that he would like to get out of jail so that he can snuggle with his bunny-basket.

Henny rubs it in by eating some of Bubba's hay rioght in fromt of him:

Don't feel too sorry for him, though; right now he is down here in the basement with me and a big plate of fresh lettuce and carrots. He eats a bit and then he hides for a while, and then he does the "crazy racing and jumping" thing. He looks pretty content with life right about now!

So, on Wednesday I come home and find a slip from the Post Office in the mail-box telling me to come on by and pick up a package from Littlest Sis in Sweden. Wow, oh wow - was I excited! I am almost embarrassed to show you all this stuff, since there is not a chance that I deserve half of everything that I already got. I had to pick my jaw up from the floor many times while unwrapping all the gifts - yes, most of them were actually meticulously wrapped in a pretty orange flower paper, can you believe it!?
I got an enamel pot and saucer with a modern take on the 70:s patterns that I love! It is just too cool for words! Littlest Sis really have my taste down to a T. A bunch of Swedish goodies were cleverly hidden in the little saucer - almost all of it is salt liquorice, so I am in heaven (a couple of the candy bars didn't even make the photo - DH laughed at me when I was sitting on the bed, eating salty liquorice ropes and singing to myself. i know that he thinks I am goofy, but that's all right - salty liquorice, yeah!!!)
She also sent me three books that I am very excited about! Especially the Norwegian criminal novels will be a treat to read! Scandinavian thriller, criminal, and mystery novel writers are quite talented and this author is new to me. I have read a lot of reviews that sings her praises, so it will be great to read over the winter months. Note that she also sent me the little "birds on a string" display, so not I have two. Awesome! That opens up an endless amount of combinations, so the pressure is on!

But best of all was this little purse, which I am sure that she made for me. The ribbons are too cute with one of the most well-known Swedish symbols; dalahäst. (DH can't stand them, but I think that they are really neat. Fore more info, check out Wikipedia here.)

Thank you so much LS - love you and miss you every day! Puss, puss!

One can wonder whether the spoil-fest is done for this year... Well, it's not! As I probably have written about recently, we are going out to the Indiana forest to sit in a cabin and stitch for a few days. I am planning to get there around 3 o'clock or so tomorrow. I could drive up earlier, but DH and I have a hot date down at the County Clerk's office to pay our car taxes and I need to renew my drivers license. It'll be nice to get all that jazz over with, so that I can really enjoy the stitching! L-Bug and Big Dog have already e-mailed me to let me know that they have surprises for me too, so I am thrilled about that! I am sure that these surprises are stitch-related, so I am really looking forward to see what they have come up with.
And best of all, the ladies that arrange the entire weekend got a couple of masseuses to come and take care of us on Saturday! Can you believe it!? The timing could not be any better for me. i have had a weird and pretty unpleasant nerve-problem this past week. I have these pains shooting all the way from my neck down to my calf on my right side. I thought that I had maybe slept wrong or something, but finally today it broke out - an eye-infection. I get these a few times per year and they are always announced by nerve-pains a few days ahead. It is not actually an eye-infection as much as an eye-lid infection. Hopefully the nerves will calm down now that my eye is getting bigger. As long as I can see enough to stitch, I'm happy! LOL

So, have I done anything else, besides getting too spoiled for my own good lately? Yes, I have! I got a couple of quickies done for some instant gratifications and I did also diligently stick to my Hare Pyns. I have even told myself that I am only allowed to bring 2 projects to the stitch weekend. Gasp! That will be a new experience for me... I generally haul about 10 WIPs with me "just in case"... (in case of what? That we get stuck in the forest for about 2 years, I guess...)
Here is the progress of Hare Pyns. Note all the "invisible stitching" in the zig-zag border on the pocket panel. Note also that the entire area on that panel will be covered with twill stitch... I am already excited about that, can you tell? Sigh...

The linen is nice and stiff, so I am not even using stretcher-bars for the Bargello section! See, laziness works, if you only put some effort into it! LOL

This is a tiny kit that I picked up at Shepherd's Bush last year: Easter Basket. Super-quick and easy to finish. I did opt to use a lining fabric instead of glue a felt-circle on the back, which was what was instructed.

The other quickie is a freebie from Le Chalet des Perelles blog called Les Temps de Cerises. I have admired this little chart before, but when I saw Serendipitous Stitching Jo's version with the tiny jewelry cherries, here (scroll down), I was in awe. So I copied her idea straight off - shamelessly!
Our closest Michaels is located smack next to the pet store (which we seem to visit quite often, wonder why...?) so I often convince DH that I need to pass through Michaels real quick, since we pretty much are there anyway... We have had a lot of fun looking through all the beads together lately. I usually describe to him what I think that I need and we spit up and start looking as a team. A lot of fun and let me tell you - he is good! It is so much fun to learn new things about the people you love. This hidden talent is completely new to me, and to him too, I expect.
My beads are not as wonderful as Jo's are, but I am still pretty pleased with my light-red cherries, that are flat stone beads. I framed the pic in my second free frame from Jill Rensel's Studio, so I have now completed my home work!
Here are a couple of pics, since I have no idea where to display this baby:

I love the gingham type linens! I have been thinking that I really need to use the small cuts that I have collected from several stores scrap-cut bins more often.

The weather has been pretty dreary since Sunday. Constant rain pretty much, but not anywhere close to as bad as it has been and continues to be in other places around the country. We are thinking of you and hoping that everything will get a lot better for you very soon!
I should have known that it would start raining on Sunday, since I spent a good 30 minutes watering all the withering plants in my front yard. Less than 1 hr after I was finally done, it starts pouring and doesn't end until 6 inches later... I can tell you that the sun-flower garden looks absolutely terrible. I really should be embarrassed about how it looks, but I am too tired to do something about it right now. I guess I'll just leave town tomorrow... LOL

I have another general piece of news, too cool not to share. Not more than 5 minutes from our house, we have a brand new type of intersection. A double crossover diamond interchange! Here are some photos illustrating the concept:

This is seriously the coolest thing I have ever seen! The team that came up with this solution really did some thinking outside the box! You are driving along in peace and quiet and all of the sudden you are driving on the left side of the road!!!! I almost flipped the first time DH took me through (luckily he was driving, or I would have stopped just to drop my jaw and take it all in....) When Pink and I met to stitch yesterday, we decided to go to that side of town just to get to go through the DCDI. This will probably be a place that people will come to, just to drive through, for months. I know that I will.... :-)

Well, it is probably time for Bubba and me to go to bed. I can't wait to see what size my eye is tomorrow...
Talk with you in a bit and hope that you get a lot of stitching in this weekend!