samplers & such

I finished stitching My Needle Book from the My Heart Is True booklet by Blackbird Designs. In the finishing instructions it mentions crocheting a loop closure, but I don’t crochet. I have some brainstorming to do about how I’ll resolve this.

And I have a decision to make about which fabric to use on the inside of the needle book. Here are the two pieces I’m looking to for finishing but I need to pick one ~ which one?

This BBD piece was parked on Tuesday and right when I had a project chosen for this day I finished it the very next week and have to decide again (maybe I need a bigger project- hmmm) what will take its place. Decisions, decisions, decisions…

Most of you know that Alma and Barbara (BBD creators) started a blog and have listed a freebie called Petites Lettres Rouges so admirers can stitch it and enter into their contest. I’m using DMC and stitching it on 28 ct Antique Ivory. I haven’t decided on the finishing yet; maybe a pillow for my bed. I’m definitely using my late-grandmother’s maiden name and her birth year. Here’s my progress on the piece.

I finally picked a project for Wednesday. I discovered this sampler in the Sampler & Antique Needlework quarterly magazine. It’s amazing what a person can forget about. It’s a Dutch Band Sampler by Katie Trendell.

(I don’t want to mark up the magazine so I made a color-copy.) I have no clue who Katie Trendell is, but the reproduction and design is just lovely. I love all the colors and won’t be changing them. It calls for Gloriana silks, but I don’t have any of those and cannot afford a list of 11 so I’m using DMC. I’m adjusting the fabric though and using 36 ct Flax. I started stitching it on Wednesday night and even though I didn’t get a whole lot of stitching in, frogs descended upon my linen. Ugh!!! What little progress I made has been wasted and now I have to re-start. Is this some kind of omen??? I hope not because I really really like this sampler.

Saturday is going to be a fun-filled day! I’m heading over to moms for an all-day stitching extravaganza with our stitchy gal-pals Sally and Susan (no blogs). It is going to be so much fun. Sally and Susan have not been to my mom’s house and they are going to explode when they see my mom’s room and her stash (they’ve seen a few photos). My mom has everything under the sun ~ I swear!!! It’s like a shoppe. Anyway, I cannot wait. I’m taking a scrumptious dish and I hope they like it. S&S are bringing the dessert and Diet Cokes. :o) And ALL my boys are staying home. Yay for me!!

Talk soon!

one week later...

I am relieved about the progress of Cameron’s eye. His eye is healing so quickly. Every day there is change and improvement, I just can’t believe it. Right now it looks like a mustard stain, but the swelling has completely vanished and there is little evidence of a scab. One week later and his little eye is practically 100% healed!

I got her! I got her! Meaning, I was finally able to get a photo of mama robin perched in her nest. Since her nest is so close to our front door it’s relatively impossible to get a good photo of her outside so I had to improvise and get one through the glass door. I had the curtains drawn and had my camera zoomed and ready for action. Birds must have super sonic hearing because it’s difficult to walk up to the door before she notices and briskly flies away. But I got her this time. I tip-toed to the door and before she really heard me I got my photo of her one week after she began construction of her nest.

One week ago I put in a request to Sandy (she’s family) for a pair of handmade earrings. Sandy owns SLeeK Beaded Jewelry which designs customized jewelry and she’s really, really good at it. Sandy has a keen eye and pays attention to detail. I didn’t have a photo of what I wanted. All I could do was describe to her what I wanted and she pulled it together with such finesse ~ very impressive! Sandy and I went back and forth through email (she lives in Ohio) for a couple days. She had photos of examples to show me and through many questions and answers she pulled this together. I was pleasantly surprised because I didn't see them until they arrived in the mail yesterday. :o)

I absolutely love my earrings! I couldn’t have found anything like this in a store that mean as much and are as perfect as these. These are one of a kind and they are mine, all mine! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Sandy! I love them!

Yesterday, my mother came by for a short visit and with her came Stephanie Meyer's adult novel The Host. My mom was at Target and bought the book for me. I'm not starting The Host until I finish Breaking Dawn. I can't read more than one book at a time. Well, I've never tried to before but I still don't think I can so I'll wait.

That’s it for now. Talk soon!

from the babbling brook

Ahhhh!!! I’ve got so much to blab about it isn’t even funny. Ever since last Wednesday I’ve been rather busy and not just with stitching because I really don’t have a whole lot of stitchy-news, but just life in general. My Uncle and grandparents came to town for a visit on Wednesday and just left yesterday morning.

Sunday, April 19 was my Aunt Pam’s birthday and as far as I can tell she received a lot of lovely gifts. My mom sent her a Rascal Flatts CD along with a discontinued Vera Bradley bag called Little Traveler. This bag is genius for stitchers, let me tell you!

30 ct. Straw linen by WDW
DMC threads listed by designer

I stitched and assembled primitivebettys My Favorite Kitten Pinkeep for my aunt. I even added my own personal tag to the side of the kitty. My aunt’s home is a safe haven for cats of all denominations. :o) I think at one point she might have had 12 cats, and she has a dog too. She’s an amazing feline mother and thought it only appropriate for her to have one of “my cats” for her “studio” (as she calls her room). She loved it and I’m happy that she does. It may even be her first “primitive” piece. My aunt’s specialty is samplers. Her walls are like a museum of sampler art from the last 20+ years. She does amazing work. She received other wonderful treats from her friends and daughter too. I think she had an overall fantastic birthday. Happy Birthday, Aunt Pam!!!

28 ct. White Monaco (coffee dyed)
DMC colors of choice

Awhile back I stitched my mom primitivebettys Spring Time tulip freebie design as a just-because-I-love-you gift. I made moms into a wall hanging and used yellow and gold tones as the primary colors. I liked hers so much that I made myself one. I changed the colors just a tad, added some buttons, fabric on the back and made it into a pinkeep. I really like how it turned out. And I must admit that I’m getting better at whip stitching which is a much needed relief . The navy blue, flowery fabric in the background is what I used as the finishing fabric.

4o ct. White linen
DMC threads listed by designer

I have begun a dainty piece from Blackbird Designs called My Needle Book. It’s from the My Heart Is True booklet that was released earlier this year. I decided Tuesday needed to be filled so BBD took its place. Wednesday is still open, can you believe that? In addition to this project I decided to take a stab at the contest piece that Alma and Barb are having. It’s a sweet, sweet piece so go check out the details on their blog.

An outside report ~ Spring is definitely in the air and so are my allergies. I am miserable! Can’t say it enough. When I was younger I used to get shots in both arms twice a week. This went on for sometime, but now I have nothing to help me cope. I need to get on this and soon.

Aside from this, there is a robin that is making quite the home atop one of the columns on our front porch.

Before she accomplished her temporary home she had one hell of a time getting the initial twigs and debris to stay up there. We’ve had many, many storms come through and to say that it hasn’t been windy would be an understatement. As you can see, she made quite the mess on the porch, which I’m leaving there in case she needs extra insulation for her babies, but I believe she’s a good mama. She never quit. She kept on persevering until the job was done. Day in and day out ~ she never stopped gathering whatever she could fit into her mouth and find on the ground to stack up on that column. Yay for mama robin!

On Saturday morning the older boys were doing “manly” things outside while Cameron and I stayed inside. (I could barely take the outside because of my allergies.) It was perfect weather, but I couldn’t handle it. Once I stepped foot outside, it took at least 30 minutes to recover once I returned inside.

Jose mowed the front and backyards. We are almost on a full acre (.79 to be exact) and that may not sound like a lot to some, but when you live within city limits, 8 minutes if that from downtown, that is a gracious amount of property…and we’re paying for every shard and blade of grass too!

DH played with his Cobra Mustang while the child worked his tail off (he did assist though). DH does this every spring because he stores the car through the winter, so it is time to get Sally out and play around with her. He’s had this car a long time and has spent many, many nights, days and mornings with her. She’s been driven like 10,000 horses and treated like a baby all her life. She is a beauty though and she is extremely and violently fast. The torque is insane in this thing. There is some work to be done in the rear so DH is going to sell one of his guns in order to pay for it.

I have really been on a reading kick lately. Ever since I dove into the Twilight saga I have been so curious to read as many novels as I can cram into my life, for the rest of my life. I’ve read books here and there in the past, but never religiously or diligently; not like I have with the Twilight series and not how I want to continue from this day forward. I also met a really neat girl named Annie on Goodreads. She writes and has amazingly articulate reviews to what she reads. She is a read-aholic in my book and I love reading what she has to say. I find her opinions insightful and comprehensive.

my 'to-read' shelf:

I joined Goodreads dot com in October 2008 and have recently added more and more books, especially in the last week. I’ve taken a few quizzes and read reviews. I have found numerous quotes that I simply adore if not stand true to myself. I’m a bit philosophical myself at times. I have a few friends and hope to gain more. I really need help and insight into the storytelling world as I’m fairly new to this arena and wouldn’t know what was good and what isn’t. Tanya is another great source of reading insight too. I don’t know how she crams all this reading into her already abundantly busy life. :D

Anyhoo, I’ve added numerous ‘to-read’ books on my sidebar and quotes that really mean something to me now or struck me when I read them, especially Stephanie Meyer. So far she is my favorite author, and she’ll always be a favorite but there are other favs of mine, but she takes top-spot right now. I love the quotes from Twilight.

I’m nearly finished with Breaking Dawn by Meyer (on page 601) and I believe I’ll pick up The Host by Meyer after BD. I hear The Host is excellent and that Meyer only gets better in tune with her writing. Since I cannot afford to buy all the books, I’ll need to head to the library. Hopefully, it’s available.

Ugh! I’m finished. My babbling brook has arrived at the precipice. Talk soon!

kindness and thoughtfulness

Yesterday Cameron (me too!) received the kindest gifts from the two loveliest of people on the planet that I haven’t had the privilege of meeting…yet: Zack and Tanya! They felt badly for Cameron’s BIG boo boo and felt determined to make him feel better and they sooooooo did make that happen. They sent him two precious little gifts to cheer up Cameron’s day and it did bring about that distraction that Tanya so desired. Your plan worked. He hasn’t stopped playing with the “milk and cookies.” They were the first things Cameron grabbed when he woke this morning.

I couldn’t open the package fast enough for Cameron. He was trembling he wanted the surprises so much. He received a book called Boo Hoo Bird and it has the most vibrant illustrations I’ve seen in a children’s book. The book is also very appropriate since Cameron did bonk his little head, just like Bird in the story. We had ourselves a giggle at the end when it happened all over again, just like Cameron. I had to laugh at the very beginning, Tanya, because there was a raccoon that was the first to help Bird, and we know how much Tanya loves, loves, loves raccoons. LOL Cameron also got this really cool toy called Milk and Cookies where you put colored cookies into the cookie jar. When its time for the cookies to come out, Cameron can dump the jar and a moo sound occurs – very, very cute!

There was two very cute little notes in there from Zack telling Cameron he hopes he feels better, sorry about his boo boo, and that he has the same toy so he knows Cameron will like it. Ah! Zack is the coolest little 2 year old I know. :D Thank you so much, Zack!!! You are a dear sweet boy! I wish I could just hug you!!!

I said at the beginning that “me too!” received a gift and I physically didn’t get a gift. In fact, I received something better than a material possession. I received continual friendship, kindness, understanding and compassion from a wonderful soul and mother herself. Tanya, you have no earthly idea what this means to me that you and little Zack felt enough to send Cameron along a couple gifts. It did distract Cameron and I think it made me feel better than it did him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget this day.

Since we're on the subject of Cameron, here are a few photos of his eye 2-days after his accident. There is some progress. The swelling has subsided, but it's a bit puffy and getting more discolored by the day. He checks himself out in the mirror from time to time. Where he had bled that has now scabbed over.

Cameron and I are off to Mom's house. Cameron's great-grandma and great-grandpa and Uncle Jimmy are here visiting so we're going to go spend some time with them this afternoon. They arrived Wednesday from Arkansas. I do have other things to share, but I'll save that for another time.

Talk soon!

bbd contest

For all you Blackbird Designs addicts, and I know there are a ton of you, the blog is having a first-time-ever contest in which they have a free chart available (right now!), you stitch it by a certain date, submit a photo of it and they randomly chose a winner. Your gifts are items they pick up from France. Anyhoo, they explain it a lot better than I have so go over and check it out.

Blackbird Designs Blog Contest

cameron and the shiner

I took Cameron to the ENT today thinking that he had an ear infection. We couldn’t get in to see the doctor because he’s booked through May, but they fit us in to see the nurse practitioner instead. Good enough for me. The only good news to come out of this appointment is that he doesn’t have an ear infection. However, he isn’t saying words besides ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ and he should be saying more. They are going to refer us to a speech therapist. I guess that’s good news, but bad too. I hate my child needing more specialty care. But this isn’t the worst of the appointment…

Prior to being seen Cameron tripped, fell to the floor with tremendous force, and cracked his face on the corner of the cabinet. He hit it so hard that he dented the cabinet and even left a scratch on it. Cameron immediately started screaming bloody murder. I picked him up with urgency and when I turned him around he had blood on his face and a massive hematoma around his right eye. The swelling was immediate. He could barely catch his breathe it hurt so much. I took him out of the room and looked for a nurse, which they quickly got us some ice. They even tried to distract him with a lolly pop which actually did help calm him down.

Finally, he stopped crying and I stopped the blood. The doctor left one of his patients and came to exam Cameron himself and make sure he didn’t need x-rays, which he doesn’t. Whew!!!! However, if the white of Cameron’s eye turns to blood at all we have to take him to the ER for a CAT scan. It was all I could do to not cry myself. Once I got into the car I instantly cried. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I had to call my DH to get a hold of myself.

Cameron is pretty miserable. He keeps touching his eye and crying; blinking a lot too. I’ve been trying to put ice on it, but as most of you with children know it’s extremely difficult to hold it there for very long until they start wrestling to get away. I’m doing the best I can. I can only imagine what this shiner is going to look like tomorrow.

Talk soon.

easter weekend

Me and ALL my boys had an uneventful weekend, weather wise. We had a rather gorgeous Easter weekend. The weather was warm and pleasant and the sun was out the entire time. On Saturday, DH and Jose assembled a rocket to launch in the backyard which worked splendidly. They had lots of fun doing this together. And I cannot believe I actually got a snapshot of the rocket taking off. I must have clicked the button at the perfect time (maybe NASA would be interested!).

Easter Sunday was calm and quiet. We hung around the house in the morning and after noon time we headed over to Nana and Papa’s house for Easter baskets and an early dinner. We had baked ham with all sorts of side dishes and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was really, really good!

It was nice watching the boys hunt for their baskets, although it didn’t take much hunting to find them, and by the time they did it was all over. Me and DH even had a basket from my parents which was really cool. My mom got me a bag of Spring Time M&M’s and a chart called Bluebird by The Victoria Sampler. I didn’t get to work on my Long Dog Sampler at all on Sunday, but I did get to work on the Traveling Stitcher by LHN ~ the ‘needles’ portion anyway.

I’m trying to learn how to build my own photo light box so photos of my stitching will look more crisp and clean. My camera’s flash is too much and me trying to manipulate that is not enough, so lighting is my flaw. I just need something that gives an overall even appearance. I like consistency and I’m not achieving that on my own. I’ve done a couple searches and have found at least one helpful tutorial. In case you’re interested click HERE.

That’s it for now. I believe we’re having Hamburger Helper for dinner tonight. Yep, sounds easy enough. 24 is on tonight too. Talk soon!

testing something new

I have noticed some really unique ways that people photograph their work and display those photos on their blogs. Whether that be in digital scrapbooking or a manipulated image software program, I am intrigued to implement this on my own blog. I hate stealing ideas and would never want to offend anyone by all means, but I so admire the softness and creativity that a lot of blogs create with their photo displays. For sometime now I've wanted to take a stab at it myself, but never knowing where to begin, I sought out the advise of some very lovely ladies. Since there are so, so many "spots" out there in blogland, wordpressing and typepads, and to name them all would be impossible for me to do, there are two distinct people that have helped steer me in the exact direction I needed to go in. So, thank you, Barbara and Nina, for being so friendly and helping me with this.

This is just a test, but please let me know what you think ~ all comments are welcome. Thanks Girls!

Talk soon!

happy easter

Here was my funny bunny last year, sleeping away in his swing. Awww, how sweet it is!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter! We are having dinner at my parents' house on Sunday. Me and the boys haven't been there in a couple weeks which is unusual. We are usually there once a week, but lately we've stayed around the house.

A couple years ago I was sent this cute little Easter joke so I'm passing it along to all of you in hopes it'll bring a chuckle or two. Have a Happy Easter everyone!