Curveballs and finishing… oh joy!

I’m not sure what happens when I enter my office. I had a simple plan for the day: I was going to input records into my library catalog. Sure there would be little pop ups here and there, but basically the day was going to be spent with me and my catalog. I should know better. I’ve always explained my job as “triage,” but does *every* day have to be an example of it? Here I am at the end of the day and not a single record got in the catalog. And, considering the follow-ups that I know are coming tomorrow morning, I’d be willing to bet the chances of entering data tomorrow are slim too. Sigh.

On a nicer front -- how amazing is this?! I have stitching to show, but no stash. Hmmm. I was beginning to think it was one of those immutable laws of nature: stitch=fresh stash. Oh well.

This to-be-humbug is made up of motifs from a Drawn Thread sampler ornie from the 1999 JCS issue.

It’s done in DMCs save for the trees which are Needle Necessities. I obviously haven’t put it together yet, and this will be my first one. On the surface it looks quite easy so I hold out high hopes for humbug making to be one of my favored finishing techniques. I would like to put in a word with fabric manufacturers that we could really use some more options for banding though. Yeah, yeah. I know. I could seam the edges of the humbug, but why bother when there is banding????

This little darling is to be a pendibule. It’s made of one of the corner motifs from Debbie Draper’s Little Book of Stitches from one of the Gift of Stitching issues:

It’s done in Needle Necessities and a little DMC 321. And, Michele, can you tell it's destined for the Pals ornament raffle/pile/swap???

I’m sensing my ornie fervor waning however. The problem is that I have about 3 more to do before I head to Myrtle Beach for the Cross Stitch Pals Reunion. Certainly I can manage not to loose my enthusiasm for red and green before then, right? Fingers crossed! If I get through those 3 then I can begin (gulp! Why did I wait so long????) my center bit for the Pals “signature piece.” Mind you I still need to finish the designing on the wording and all the backstitching on a long overdue RR. Sigh. If only I was of independent means.

You know the next problem with all these finished ornies is the finishing. I think I am going to designate this weekend as Finishing Weekend. I’ll plow through the pile of ornies awaiting backing, stuffing, trimming, ribbons, etc like a hot knife through butter! Hah! Hope springs eternal. Anyway, I figure there are other in my boat – lots of stuff done, but no energy for sewing and stuffing and stuff. So who’s with me? Want to join me for Finishing Weekend? It coincides with the Ornament SAL so you’ll have lots to post on Monday! lol

Some days the mail bin is my friend.....

Hee heee. I got more stash. I also did a little more stitching so, once again, I guess I earned the stash. I’ll have to show you the stitching tomorrow since I left my camera at home for a change. I can show off the stash though—






You really should see these sheep in person! OMG One of them is wearing a traditionally-patterned wool sweater! lol

The threads are from Crescent Colors -- the nearly black is for Mirabilia's Halloween Fairy and the limey green may be a replacement shade for the same piece. I'm sorry Mirabilia Co, but the color included as the main one for the wings in the kit was ugly.


Now, please go forth and have a lovely rest of your day. Tomorrow, if we're both lucky, I'll have TWO ornament pictures to share! Cross your fingers!!!!

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Quote of the day: from the documentary/review of Halo3 on SciFi last night (sorry I can't remember which geek said it)-- "We've had as many as 120,000 simultaneous players at the same time." -- Sorry, I couldn't help it; it made me laugh until I cried.

Things to be thankful for: That it's close enough timewise to begin making lists of things to remember to do before/pack for the 2007 Cross Stitch Pals Reunion in Myrtle Beach!!! Wooo Hoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even if you're not on the Pals BB (www.crossstitchpals.com if you can make it, you should try. It is so very, very, very fun!

Stitching and stash

I stitched! Therefore I deserve the stash I got! Well, maybe not, but that’s what I’m going with…..

The over-one Quaker on the left is what I completed on the train out to mom’s for Cleaning Time. The backstitched one…… is a mystery because I forgot to bring the pattern in to label it. Sigh. Tomorrow is another day.


Yes, i know. It's not much in the stitching front, but it *is* stitching and I am sooooo slow I think I deserve to be proud. So, since I stitched, here’s the stash:
From Vicki Clayton – Heavens I love her silks!!!!!!


From Carrie’s Creation – the close up hopefully conveys how completely yummy these colors are



I also just got in some of Wichelt's Vintage Country Mocha. It's "patterned" not hand-dyed. What do you think? I think it should work just fine as a reasonable substitute for some of the pricier hand-dyes:



They'll be more stash to show tomorrow or the next day. I got a little pile in today. It's so exciting! The joys of fresh stash are innumerable.

Oooo, go see the wonderful free Sampler Du Dico at: http://motifs-marquoirs.over-blog.com/ Hmmmm, just what I need, another thing for my want-to-do-list.

The continuing saga --

Thank you all for your kind comments. I appreciate you dropping by.

The cleaning and sorting continued through dawn on Sunday. We’re ready for the estate agents to take over and we only have a few bits of our stuff to deal with. It was a very-productive, extra-long weekend. Trust me, fellow hoarders, throw it away now.

We had saved some of the coolest goodies for last – namely the great grandmothers’ needlework. Here’s a close up of that one I said looked like a cobweb. It’s made out of sewing thread and Grandma Rosemary probably did it in her 80s!



Further goodies (primarily by Grandma Rosemary):









Sure, this was not handmade, but how pretty is this memento of the 1922 California Orange Show. There were two of these. My sister picked this one and I haven’t taken a pic of mine yet.


Quilting was a talent of my grandma, both of her grandmothers, and both of my grandpa’s grandmothers. The first few pictures (of the fan pattern in silks) are by one of the grandmothers and were part of a show at the Worchester Art Museum in the 1970s:





And you deserve a pic of the true funny—

At some point we left the aluminum lounger in that corner of the yard, and apparently we neglected to move it before the trees developed. Lol


For the record, after exiting the train, I didn't get a single bit of stitching in! Not a single stitch. But I was calculating my stitching needs last night. I have to get to work on the Fair Square for Vicki :) I hope she like it. I spent part of last night adjusting a pattern that I think will work out right well. I'd like it anyway. And I recalculated my ornie needs and upped my total still to do to 15. I have all the patterns picked out and I schemed a campaign. If nothing gets in thge way, I'll have them done by next Friday. Ok, so they aren't the largest stitching blocks in the world -- I still think they're cool. Just wait and see.

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Currently reading: Sharyn McCrumb. Bimbos of the Death Sun (if you haven't experienced McCrumb's Bimbos, then you need to. I know there's a little debate on her and her take on fandom, but frankly I think she has us scfi folks down quite well-- damn, I know some of her characters all too well!); Pratchett Carpe Jugulm; and Simon Green The Man with the Golden Torc
Recently finished: Pratchett Guards! Guards! (I love Captain Vimes!)
Must do: Try and negotiate BBC America out of my #@&*(^@*^%# cable company. I ***need*** "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures"
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Things to be thankful for: audible.com :) That's where Bimbos of the Death Sun is

Sorting and cleaning. Cleaning and sorting.

So we dealt with some of the antique needlework this afternoon --

The one in the lower right corner of the above pic is one I chose . It's made out of sewing thread. It really feels like you are holding a cobweb! What can I say, my great grandmother was good!


These pics are a very tiny representation of the "non-fancy" work. Heck, they are also representative of a small amount of the really fancy work. Yeah, I have a big pile to store.

We also cleaned the cast iron stove which was for most of my growing up, the primary heat source in the house


And we tackled the picking of the trunks. The ones shown here are the ones we're going to sell. Yeah, I know. I owe pics of the ones we're going to keep.







And, just for ducks, here's a shot of my dad's field phone from WWII --


Ok, I'm taking my darn tried fanny to bed. Well, first I have to pack some stuff so I can use the bed, but you get the idea. Pleasant dreams!

Things to be thankful for: That my BIL invented Triple Sec chicken this evening -- OMG it was good.

Life might suck. I'm not sure.

I'm in "glorious" cleaning and packing mode. Really and truly we're down to misc bits (those awkward things that don't really seem to go with anything else) and cleaning. I arrived Tuesday at mom's house as the advance guard for my sister's whirlwind plans for the weekend.

So far I've done battle with a small forest of black walnut tree saplings, dusted and scrubbed both floors of my old room (I even washed the staircase) and the bathroom, boxed up 4 sets of cut crystal stemware, moved some furniture around, begun the living room dusting in prep for tomorrow morning's primary cleaning adventure in here, and I even managed a minor foothill of office work. I've been kept company through most of it by bevies of calls asking how to deal with lost/injured birds (we've tried and tired to get the Humane Society to stop referring people to us to no avail) and some misc video tapes I brought along. I've run out of video tapes and now I'm being kept company by the DVDs of Timothy Hutton's Nero Wolfe-- he's the best Archie. Actually the whole cast of A&E's Nero Wolfe was outstanding. I mourned the end of its run.

During tonight's adventures I ran across these:

They all come from the same something or another, they're all related to/from the Field Museum in Chicago, and some of them are ads for taking the "Illinois Central" to the Field. Since I'm a fan of the Field, I am intrigued. I'll have to do some calling on them to find out what they are:



Here's what I'm working on this evening (I consider it evening until I go to bed-- no bed, no morning)



What do I really want to be doing instead --

Or one of the dozen or so ornies I still need to do. Sigh.
If I had them along I'd like to be working on --









Quotes of the Day--yeah, yeah, I know, you can tell what I'm watching:
"It was nice, not dying with you."
Martha -- Doctor Who -- "42"

"And the scientific name for the disease you got is acute malignant optimism."
Archie Goodwin -- Nero Wolfe -- "The Silent Speaker"

"Don't hurry me; I'm nervous. I have the brains of a mollusk."
Archie Goodwin -- Nero Wolfe -- "The Silent Speaker"

"Admit no more displaced persons to this house. Two is enough."
Nero Wolfe -- Cop Killer

"If you shot her, send her brain to Johns Hopkins."
Archie Goodwin -- "The Silent Speaker"

Things to be thankful for: those "magnetic"/miracle dust cloths. God bless that inventor!!!!!!