A Stitch in Time*

Monday, January 26, 2009

Monday

Posing for Cousin Laura
My Great-Niece Hannah on Thanksgiving


I had to put in that photo above for the simple reason that I love the look on Hannah's face. Such joy and pure happiness!


On a similar fun note, I've been tagged by Road Trip with Ruby. I am supposed to list my five addictions. Thanks so much for tagging me! I enjoy your Road Trip blog and your The Scarlett House stitching blog so much. They are both so beautiful and inspirational.

Here are my addictions, and it's hard to limit it to five:

1. coffee--I like it in the morning, and even drink it at times in the evening. It doesn't keep me awake. I can drink a cup in the late evening, and fall asleep right after drinking it. Coffee keeps me alert, content, and quite happy.

2. needlework--I have been stitching for almost 36 years. I wish I had time to do it more often, but that's how it goes. My job is demanding, and I'm just too tired most evenings. Often times I don't pick up a needle for many, many days at a time, but even when I'm not stitching I'm thinking of a project so I still get enjoyment out of this addiction.

3. decorating magazines-- I now subscribe to three of them. They are lying all over my house in strategically placed baskets so I can pick one up to read and enjoy when I have a free minute here or there. I enjoy looking at beautiful rooms, furniture, gardens, and homes. Last night I followed directions in "House Beautiful" as far as rearranging book shelves to look more pleasing. And... they did come out looking better!

4. color- Color has made me happy since I was a kid, whether it be in a flower, fabric, or in the sky. I love to see the contrast of certain colors together, and how certain colors just seem to harmonize and evoke peaceful feelings.

5. music- I love all kinds of music, from choral, opera, and classical to some rap, reggae, and hard rock.

6. cleaning products for the counter- sorry, had to list one more addiction. I like getting the house to smell great with ones like my new one called Lavender Pine, from Williams Sonoma. I also love Rosemary Mint, from Gold Canyon Candles. There are many more of these that I love buying, and using.

It's time for me to tag someone. I will tag these five people: Windy,Margie,Vonna,Susan, and Debi.




If I didn't tag you and you so wish I had, please consider yourself tagged!

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Thanks for stopping by today.

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

This and That

The days have really flown by recently. The weather was crisp today, and we even got a bit of rain a few days ago. It was so refreshing to have our weather be more what one would like it to be in January.

I wish I had some stitching news but on that front I can only share a pattern I really would love to do someday. I first saw this one stitched up at my not-so-local needlework shop. It's called Common Ground by Just Nan.

 
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The colors all look so striking together!


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My great-nephew Ethan continues to grow each day. Here are some photos of him from when I saw him awhile ago:
Ethan James

Mommy and Ethan

I'm sure he'll be going home soon. For more photos and updates, visit Windy's Blog.

Here is a photo of his big sister Hannah(wearing the tiara I bought her) along with my daughter when they came by about a week ago:

Reflection

And another one with my niece Windy reading with her:

Reading with Mommy
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We had a great time yesterday at my brother's house in honor of his wife's birthday. I have a few photos from the festivities but none are truly 'blog material'.

Well, perhaps there are a few of them that might be suitable but that will have to wait.

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About a year ago my husband, our son, and my brother spent a weekend painting our bathroom and bedroom. I hate to admit it, but the wallpaper in that room had hung since we moved into the house in 1990. I am a bit too laid back about getting things done, that's for sure.


I finally bought a few new things for the room. Here's a photo of a pillow I bought that coordinated with the quilt I'd already purchased. Yes, I know I could have stitched one up myself but I thought this was beautiful, and it was already done! The colors of the quilt and pillow make me happy.

Pillow

The weekend seemed to fly by so quickly, and tomorrow it's back to the grind.

Thanks for stopping by here today.

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Monday, January 19, 2009

Nature's Beauty

I got a bit of stitching in this weekend, but not enough to show you any sort of an update since the last one a few weeks ago.

I did have time to make another collage of photographs with some of my favorites from Flickr. These photos were taken all around the world. I love sunsets and sunrises, as you can see.

Mosaic

If you click on the photo you'll see more detail about where they were taken, and who took them.

Enjoy!

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A Bright Surprise

 

On Friday night we were going out for dinner and as I looked to the left of our front porch I saw this banner! My husband put it up there as a complete surprise. It lights up!I didn't even knew he'd bought it, in fact. We haven't had a banner in that holder in years, either.

Our son was mortified when he saw it, but I like the sparkling image of the castle. And... surprises are so much fun!

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Some Needlework Inspiration...

I love to look at needlework photos on Flickr. Here's a collage of some of my needlework Flickr favorites from the past several years.

By clicking below the collage you'll find a direct link to the original stitcher's photo page. Thanks so much to all of you for your inspiration. If you click on the collage itself you'll get a much better view of the needlework on the collage.

Enjoy!

Mosaic of Some Cross Stitch Flickr Favorites of Mine

1. "Mother's Arms" - Mirabilia, 2. "Castle Sampler" - Teresa Wentzler, 3. Sleeping Beauty, 4. Casa, 5. Medieval Town Mandala (Chatelaine), 6. "Bullskin Village", 7. chatmystery8, 8. chatm6fin, 9. Birth Announcement (Teresa Wentzler), 10. The court, 11. Finished Titania, 12. To Everything There Is A Season....., 13. where my heart blooms, 14. Village of Hawk Run Hollow (Carriage House Samplings), 15. Right side, 16. Moira Blackburn Birthday Sampler

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Saturday

I'm so glad it's Saturday. The work week seems to last VERY long. But at this moment the birds are eating heartily from the feeders as I look out the window


Watching The Birdies Out in the Back...Family Room
(ok, I took this in the fall but this is what I'm looking at right now.)

and... the finches are singing a beautiful song.

Lesser Goldfinches

It's been over 80 degrees for five days this month. One day this week it reached 85! I saw lots of folks wearing shorts and t-shirts. Earlier this month we had a high of 58 degrees, so there's a lot of adjusting to do here in a quick time to a span of temperatures. It's morning here now, so it's only 48 degrees. Yes, to those of you in cold climates 48 sounds great. For us it is quite cold.

Personally I wish it were cooler during the day, but I know I shouldn't complain, right?

I hope I have the chance to stitch a bit this weekend. I haven't picked up a needle in two weeks at this point.


Thanks for stopping by on this soon-to-be warm Saturday.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A Quote I really Like...

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

I saw this quotation in a magazine today, and it really struck me. I love it! Maybe I'll incorporate this into my House and Garden Sampler.

I love looking at decorating magazines and seeing beautiful home interiors online. While looking around online I find so many beautiful home photos, and these views are courtesy of Coastal Living online. I love the bright aspects of these rooms:
 
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Thanks for stopping by today.

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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Return Visit

This morning the neighborhood hawk swooped down and sat on our backyard wire for about ten minutes. My husband was able to get a photo of the bird today. What a majestic sight it is to see this creature soar!
Backyard Hawk

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a great weekend. It's 77 degrees here now, so we're elated about that change. The highlight though is that it's Sunday, and we don't have to go to work today.

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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Fun for our Group

Here's a photo from Christmas Day.

This is our family having fun with their cameras. Taking photos of eyes, close-up. What more can I say? Here you see my brother, daughter, son-in-law, and our son.

I haven't uploaded the photo of my eyes close-up. It's rather scary. Can you say, "The old gray mare ain't what she used to be?"


Studies

Does your family do 'unusual' things for entertainment?

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Monday, January 5, 2009

First Day Back

Antique Dishes and Doily

First day back at work after being gone for two weeks officially and another four days due to having to take personal time. In other words, it was my first day working in three entire weeks. I am exhausted, but glad to be back.

I like the idea of January, with its concept of 'fresh start'. We'll see how long it all stays fresh.

I've gone pink now on the blog. I hope you like the new look!

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Update on Sampler

I had the chance to finally organize my embroidery floss in my sampler's thread box. Yippee! No, I didn't take a picture of it but all of you thread lovers will understand my passion for seeing an organized array of threads! I also worked on my 'blueprint' for my sampler for several hours, and I taped it together so now it looks much nicer.

Here's what I've done to the sampler in the last several weeks.


I added a peacock:
House and Garden Sampler Peacock

I'd found an antique freebie pattern online, but it was too large. I shrunk it down and the peacock above is what I came up with in the end. I used DMC variations for much of the feathers.

I also added a cat and some pumpkins:

Cat and Pumpkins Added

I added an apple tree to the chart. I'm using blended threads for the leaves, and DMC color variations for the apples:

House with Apple Tree Emerging

Tree Emerging

I also started working on the border!

Here's the final photo of the entire sampler so far:


House and Garden Sampler WIP

Thanks for stopping by today.

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Happy New Year

Life has been very, very busy lately.

First of all, all the best for a wonderful 2009 to all of you.

I haven't been online at all lately as I had no computer access for weeks. It is odd how quickly one adapts to life without a computer, isn't it?

Here's what's been happening in our lives. On December 15 my niece Windy
Doing some Hosting
Windy, on Thanksgiving at her house

gave birth to Ethan James. He was ten weeks early, and he's doing very well but he'll be in the hospital a bit longer. If you take a peek at her blog you can see his photos and read more about him.

That same evening that Ethan was born my mother became very ill, and she had to go into the hospital (60 miles away from where Ethan is) for four days. We stayed with her the following few weeks until yesterday when we returned home. Our family moved Christmas down to her house, and it was a very low key celebration this year. In an odd way it was rather a relief to have it be this way. I had very little time to shop for anyone. There were no stockings, no stocking stuffers, and it was all just fine. We didn't even have a Christmas tree down at her house, and I never had the chance to put one up here. That's the first time in 28 years that we haven't had a tree! It was fine though just the same. Christmas is about more than the trimmings, and quite frankly it was freeing to do it in such a simple way. I am happy to say that Mom is doing better, and getting stronger each day.

I got some stitching done while at my mom's, so I'll share that in the next post.

On a sad pet note, a few days before Christmas our cat Coco passed away. Our son was 'home alone', and found her in the morning. She'd been fine the night before, so we really don't know what happened. It appeared she died peacefully in her sleep. She was 12 years old and had been with us so long. We still have her mom here along with our other cats, but nonetheless it's sad to lose a kitty! We miss her a lot.

Coco relaxing
Coco 1996-2008

Thanks for stopping by here today.

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