mrs. rodgers neighborhood...part 1

Tree trimming is complete! I use a pre lit, artificial tree. I once had a nice 7-foot tree, but it was "mistakenly" put out with the trash some years ago. However, when Cameron was born and able to walk, I bought a 4-foot tree (seen below). I decided to put it on a table that continues to work well for us. I store this and all holiday decorations in the attic, but this year was more, shall we say, trying than years before.  

I believe something or someone was looking over me. While getting the boxes down I fell from the attic. I was on the 4^th step from the top and just went backward. Landed on my knee. I was a cross between the bionic woman and some sort of stunt person with a little bit of grace to boot. I managed to do a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar kind of move and turn in mid-air; hence landing on just my knee instead of my back or neck. Did I mention I fell on concrete? Uh, yeah. All I got was a knot and a bruise, believe it or not. I did stay out of the attic the rest of the day and asked for help later on.  

On top of this little chaotic event, more than half my lights didn’t work and I wasn’t about to test every single teeny tiny light bulb! No. No. No. Instead, I just went to Dollar General and bought a strand of white lights and VIOLA! I’m satisfied. This little tree will be purposely put into the trash this year.

Moving along…

Mom and I celebrated our birthdays on the 10th and 11th. Saturday, we had a really nice time with our friends, Sally and Susan, as we always do. We were invited to Sally’s beautiful home for lunch, gift exchanging (for our friendly Christmas exchange too) and some stitching; although we didn’t get to stitch an inch. We did rummage through Sally’s stash, though ;-)

I received these gifts from both my girls. Isn’t that Jane Austen thread keep just to die for?! And we can always use more scissors! Sally stitched this darling little JBW stocking for me and it adorns my tree as we speak. I just love handmade gifts, don’t you? Thank you, Sally and Susan, for being so good to me. I love you both so much!

Hold onto your needles gals…

This is what my mother gave me for my birthday.

This is just the top! Check out the quilting of the spools of thread and needles all around my name. This quilting is done inside and out. The background fabric is a sampler style. It looks like it could be Moda or Blackbird, but mom wasn’t sure. Even I'm not really sure, and I don't really care. She had it made for me. It’s really very pretty.

The trip inside is even better…

Five pockets are crochet serving a purpose for a ruler, scissors (with a built-in magnet), a thread keep (maybe Jane Austen will fit cozily inside), a pencil, and a dainty little cube for Thread Heaven. But of course, the mind is a crazy place and I can designate these cozy nooks for anything I like. I love that it has one massive place for “my project” and the separate areas for all other necessaries. This is one of the best gifts I have ever received. Thank you, Mom!

Sunday was my birthday and I spent it with my parents…

Mom is so funny. She stopped by her local store and saw this cute little elf cake and knew that it was for me.

Like Paulette, I took some photos at my parent’s house. There is just something about mom’s house during winter that just feels like, well, home. I messed played with my photos a bit. Mom really likes nativity scenes. I only took a few photos of two of them. She has a few more scattered around the house that I didn’t capture.

I really played with this next photo. My parents have very high ceilings and mom has Grandma's sleigh on a window ledge far out of reach. Grandma made this Santa and his sleigh of reindeer many, many years ago. She could create anything and was a queen when it came to plastic canvas and yarn, which were the used materials. I thought it would look neat to add snow...so I did.

Later on Saturday night we all met up for our birthday dinner. Hibachi style. And dad had one more gift up his sleeve for me...

Did you think I was kidding about Mrs. Rodgers neighborhood?!?! Nah! I really meant it :-). And you can start calling me that from now on, please..................(j/k).

To be continued...

stitch, therefore i must shop

I hate shopping, but not shopping for stitching essentials, charts, linen, etc., and especially done with friends and/or family. =) Halloween afternoon I played over at my friend Sally’s house. Had so much fun! We went to her LNS which I had never been to. It was a neat little place. It had more than just stitching to glance over, but I stuck to the essentials and bought a little more stash. After wards Sally and I went for a juicy, heart-stopping cheeseburger which was d-lish. The conversation was much needed on my part, and then we headed back to her house for a little Sewing101 on a cute little pumpkin ornament she’s putting together.

Sally reads a lot. I mean A LOT. She has books in relatively every room of her house. I admire a person who reads and reads and reads. She allowed me to take pictures of her cozy library nook which is absolutely adorable and these photos probably won’t do the space any justice. For someone (me) who doesn’t read as much as they should or as much as they really want to I love looking over books. There is just something about reading over the spines and wondering what's inside. Maybe it’s the smell of the paper under the cover. I don’t know, but there is something about looking over shelves upon shelves of literature and storytelling that intrigues me.

I love Sally’s décor too. She has a thing for bunnies as well which are tastefully placed throughout her home. Did you notice her Jane Austen shelf? So cool. Sally wrote the Tennessee Criminal Law Case Finder book. She has two copies, but I had to take a photo as I’m proud to know this about my friend. She’s an attorney and I formerly worked for a criminal defense attorney so these books are intriguing and familiar to me anyway. The light is hand-painted and is really pretty. I just love this space and I enjoy the company I keep when I’m there. Sally, thanks for sharing Saturday with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Good luck with your finishing!

Shopping Saturday…

I plan to finish Bent Creek’s Winter Row into a long pillow and Lizzie*Kate’s November Flip-it into a needle cushion or maybe that’ll just get put into a basket for decorating. No needles required.

I couldn’t believe how many LHN charts this shop had in stock. I love the house series, but really want to stitch the Two White Houses first so that’s the one I purchased. Funny thing is that I’ve never seen Necessities Sampler before. In fact, there were some I had not seen before Saturday. I love it when that happens - it’s like new found treasure. I saw CCN’s Forest Snowfall and had to have it! The verse is so sweet and the little deer-bunny combo sold me. Pretty colors too. You know, you just can’t go wrong with his mother-daughter duo, can you?! Has everyone seen the Ornament of the Month Dianne has designed? These two amaze me with their talent and speed at which they create.

Shopping Sunday…

(L-R) 32 ct. Ice Blue for Winter Row, Bent Creek; 32 ct. Antique Ivory for Clara’s Skating Sampler, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Confederate Grey for Forest Snowfall, Country Cottage Needlework; 32 ct. Flax linen for Rain in the Country, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Vintage Autumn Field for Mr. Darcy, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Raw linen for November Flip-it, Lizzie*Kate.

The best part about all the gorgeous linen is that I shopped at moms for it – LOL. The boys and I went to mom’s house for a French toast breakfast, mixed with fruit and bacon, and coffee. Orange juice for the boys. After cleanup, which I gladly took on, I went through mom’s gobs of linen for these new charts I just bought and ones I received last week. If you can imagine, I’m pretty happy right now. Giddy actually.

Sally allowed me to borrow Little Women. I’ve never read this story. Can you believe that? I know…shame on me. Sally already crossed her fingers at me so I get it – LOL. I read about Louisa May Alcott. What an intriguing and robust woman she was. It makes the temptation to read her novel even more the fancy. So without further ado…Talk soon!

quite a tripp

First, I purposely mispelled "tripp" in my title. My mother's maiden name is Tripp and on our reunion name tags we had "Tripp" labeled on them. Second, let me apologize for any of the photos that might be blurry. (Click on the photos to enlarge.) I did my best, but using a 12-year old kid’s camera isn’t always the best thing. It’s better than nothing at all and I said I would come back with photos to share of the fantastic needlework shop in Cincinnati called Keepsakes. I asked and was granted permission to snap away and I did. I was wrong in thinking they didn’t have a website but they do.

This house is old and is customary to the way homes were made in Cincinnati (brings back memories of Grandma’s and Grandpa’s old house). I’m not sure how old, but I’m pretty sure it dates to before WWII. The garden is very well kept and I believe it is memorialized to a fellow-stitcher – very sweet. That is my Aunt Pam waiting and talking to my mom who is not pictured.

The front porch was covered with 40% sale items. Yeppers! I took advantage of that and got a couple of charts. A shop called Sew-Ezy was conveniently next door, but unfortunately b/c we were in Keepsakes for sooooo long we hadn’t had a bite to eat and needed to fill our bellies. I loved the signage on the front door though.

These photos are of the front room when you walk in. It has an enormous fireplace covered in, well, you can see for yourself…

These are all about going to and up the steps/stairs. This place is covered and no surface is uncovered; literally. Even the floors are adorned with needlework and models…and the freebies are in abundant supply too. Sorry the photo of my mom is blurry.

Now we’re upstairs where there are 4 rooms and again no place is untouched. Even the hallway is adorned with needlework and charts. Even the walls are covered in the most intriguing framework from baseboard to ceiling mold. Ahhh, I could set up a sleeping bag and spend weeks living here. This was 1 of 4 rooms at the top of the stairs.

This is room 2 of 4 which is off the first room and circles back to the hallway. It just has the neatest primitive décor. Unfortunately that isn’t for sale. Poohy!

Room 3 of 4 is the seasonal room. It’s amazing and gives plenty to dwell on to tap the creative senses for any holiday stitching. But I had to take a picture of this hand-drawn piece of artwork that didn’t particularly belong in this room. I have never seen anything like this before though. It was just darling – couldn’t pass it up.

Room 4 of 4 is the floss room. Isn’t that cool? A room totally devoted to ALL-THINGS floss. It still had charts and stuff. I mean, I can’t say it enough. This place is covered. My mom and aunt were in this room for quite some time updating their inventory of floss needs. I did get a few skeins for myself.

We headed back down the hallway towards the stairs. The framing room downstairs was bustling. The shop was bustling as well. At times it was difficult to maneuver the crowd and others we felt like we were being bull dozed, literally. Upon checking out we were notified that everything in the store was 20% off and all molding was half off. Now, if we had known this before coming we would have been more prepared. Oh well…we still went to Keepsakes and came out with goodies to please the heart. :) Plus, I had the best company anyone could ask for: Mom and Aunt Pam.

All the white sheets are the freebies I picked up at Keepsakes which is always a plus, as you know. I fell in love with The Workbasket’s Trees design. They had the model stitched and framed and it was stunning. I even got a few WDW threads I knew I didn’t have in my stash for it. I also had Keepsakes cut a piece of fabric to boot; 32 ct. Vintage Exampler. It’s going to be so pretty and I cannot wait to start this. I also bought Barrick Samplers’s Scrub Pine Sampler and Hands To Work’s The Whisper Girl at Keepsakes. Those were 40% off. What a deal. I really was hooked on starting something new for fall so when I saw Bent Creek’s kit Crows I managed to squeeze that into the shopping bag as well and even managed to stitch a bird already. He’s cute! I bought Plum Street Sampler's Garden of Eerie and Little House Needleworks’s The Library at Market at my LNS here in Nashville. Mom and I drove back to Nashville Sunday morning/afternoon and still had time to swing by Market. We’re silly (and tired) girls!

I went ahead and bought a piece of fabric so I could also start (as if I don’t have enough crossing going on) Garden of Eeerie once I get the floss together. I found a lovely piece of 28 ct (b/c I want this big) Vintage Mocha. I think it’ll work nicely. I also needed a few more Piecemakers and a few skeins of CC for a freebie I got in Cincy. My Aunt Pam was gracious enough to gift fabric to me. The little swatch of fabric was also Aunt Pam’s and I asked to have it so I can locate it at my LQS. That should be fun – heehee! The cork board is something mom and I picked up at Market as something extra. Never can have too much, ugh?!

Reunion speak…

I hope my mother doesn’t kill me for saying this, and I don’t think she will, but we went to her 45th high school reunion in Cincinnati. The reunion was held at a local bar which was pretty cool. I don’t drink and I gave up cigarettes a little over 3 years ago and I survived the elements. No temptations but I wasn’t worried that I would.

Me and mom's classmates

I had a wonderful time. A few of mom’s classmates asked how much she paid me and if I’d rather be somewhere else, but to be quite honest I was perfectly fine where I was. I like hanging out with older people – they joked that I said that, but appreciated I said “older people” and not “old people.” I don’t consider them old anyway. I knew one person there other than mom; my mom’s dearest friend Judy. Judy is a remarkable woman and a beautiful friend. She’s a true gift. I have nothing but the fondest memories of Judy when I was a child. I used to swim in her pool, music pouring from the radio, and nothing but the best of times. Those were very fun summers then and I enjoyed spending time with her at the reunion.

Hanging around my mom and her classmates was an experience I’ll never forget. I found the night very moving actually. To see all these people, 45 years after they graduated high school, some rekindling old friendships and some just picking up right where they left off. I felt like I was in the Peggy Sue Got Married movie. It was just too cool. I would love to time travel. If I could I would love to attend the school my mom and her friends went to so I could watch them and experience their life. What an unforgettable reunion. I was told I was also a better date than my dad. LOL

I’ve never had the opportunity to share photos of my Cousin Kari’s two boys, Austin (4) and Alex (18 months). So, finally, I get to show off my little-little cousins!!! They are the cutest little blonde boys, I swear. That’s Ray, my cousin-in-law, and his son Alex. Cousin Kari isn’t pictured b/c she was at home not feeling well. Austin getting hugs from his Nana. Alex at the window. And Austin giving his bright big smile. Cute little boys!

Sunday, mom and I left Cincinnati early so we could make it in time for our friend, Susan’s, birthday lunch that she had no idea we were “trying” to make. Our friend Sally set this up without Susan knowing. We were to meet them at noon Sunday afternoon in Nashville. It would have worked if mom and I had not been Chatty Cathys and paid better attention to the road. We missed I-71 and we went an hour off route. We were pretty upset with ourselves, but what else could we do but figure our way back, laugh it off, and visit a couple of cute little Kentucky towns along the way. We saw Georgetown and Frankfort. Cute little towns. LOL We ended up being 45 minutes late to Susan’s lunch which we felt real bad about, but we managed to tell our stories tiredly. Afterwards the four of us made it to Market and had fun flipping through the goodies and enjoying each other’s company. :) Then I went home and mom went to the sad Titans football game.

Well, that’s all I have right now. I haven’t posted anything this lengthy in some time, but I’ve been absent lately and a catch up was needed. Maybe not so much for you, but I had lots to say. ;) Thanks for keeping up with this post. Talk soon!



*I want to say thanks to everyone who commented on my “a framed jane” post. I was literally shocked when I returned to find that 19 comments were left. You all make a girl feel so grateful. Thanks for caring enough to take time out of your busy lives to come by for a visit and wish me fun at my mom’s reunion! Hugs to you all!