The Train they Call the City of New Orleans

Like a lot of people, I'm watching the news of the storm headed for New Orleans tonight and hoping fervently that no one is harmed--that somehow the storm misses everyone. We went to N.O. in 2005, a few months before Katrina; BF's company paid for the trip. We went because we were expected to and hadn't planned to like it much, especially since it was already steamy. It was an incredibly interesting and charming and dangerous place. Even back before the flood, it was an unsafe place to be; I'm comfortable, if aware, in cities--New York and DC in particular (notwithstanding the dead body they found in the parking garage of my office building last week)--but there are some small cities like N.O. and Providence in particular, that raise the hair on the back of my neck. But good heavens, the art galleries, and the music and the food. Oh, the food...

This has been a spectacularly unproductive weekend for pretty much everything but needlework. I woke up yesterday realizing that I'd forgotten a small but crucial task at work, so we dashed into DC so I could complete it. I tried to talk BF into hitting a museum or a good restaurant, but it was hot, so we headed back to VA, stopping at the new Wegmans. Wegmans is an amazing store--more food court than grocery store. They had Wianno Cape Cod oysters at the oyster bar (I mostly don't take a chance with oysters on the half shell--if you've ever gotten a bad piece of raw seafood I don't have to tell you about the violence of that particular sickness. Besides, there's no "r" in August.) There was Indian food and Thai food and every kind of seafood, baked good and pizza by the slice. It was crowded, and we were overwhelmed, so we limited ourselves to a few treats: some good bagels and cream cheese and nova for me; some sake and ale for BF.
Other than those things, we've stayed indoors mostly and puttered in the house. I've entertained myself by vacuuming under the sofa where Little Friend seems to live and retiring to the bedroom to stitch and nap. Little Friend sheds like a bear.

Lemon Tree is coming along.

And I stitched until 3 a.m. on this last night.

I also placed an order with Attic Needlework in Arizona for Scarlet Letter's "Country Life." I've been meaning to buy it for years. I think I will plan to start it at Christmas. Or Thanksgiving. Or maybe my vacation in October. It's only 9 inches high, but it's 36 inches long. How cool would it be to have the 4-foot vertical ATS and the 3-foot horizontal Country Life? Yeah, I should live so long.

Happy Labor Day, all!

Sheepish Sunday

I have acquired a ridiculous amount of stash lately, but here's something I'd like to get just as soon as I finish one of the projects I'm currently working on--probably "Lemon Tree." This is Shepard's Care, designed by Little by Little. As Edgar once noted about L by L, their designs are generally a little "off" in an interesting and charming way. I think I would have to correct the spelling of "shepherd" though.

The design reminds me of friend I made when I was on the Isle of Skye. In many cases there, the sheep aren't fenced--I don't know if people don't worry about their sheep wandering away, or if the sheep get out. Certainly there aren't many cars on the road on Skye. Skye is wonderful, and very worth visiting. I mentioned how much I've missed going to Scotland, in part because there are many places you can go (especially off season when we tend to travel) that are unspoiled and lightly traveled. We're planning a vacation for late spring next year though, and it looks like we'll be going to Wales. It's thanks to this woman's wonderful blog called We Three Ginger Cats Tales, that we'll be spending some time in St. Davids. She writes a lovely blog and photographs her cats, who seem to enjoy going for walks along the wild Welsh coast. It's a mystical-looking place. She's a children's book illustrator; be sure to look at her illustrations and her art, which is sold by a gallery in Wales.

Here's my progress on "Lemon Tree Sampler."

And here are the guys, having a nice nap together. There are two boxes, but they prefer to share one at all times. They do that no matter where they choose to sleep: the open cage, the bath rug, one box or the other--they are always tucked around each other.

Off to roast a chicken and see what I can do about bringing some order to the house. Have a lovely week.

Lemon Tree Very Pretty and the Lemon Flower is Sweet

That song going through my head, unfortunately, despite my being around when Peter, Paul and Mary sang it, is from the Pledge commercial, and now it's stuck. It's because I felt the urge, despite all the delightful other projects I have, to pick up Lemon Tree Sampler again and work on it.

What we have a lot of around here these days is not lemons, but cherry tomatoes. And regular tomatoes too. We've eaten tomatoes plain, with blue cheese dressing, with balsamic vinaigrette, with vidalia dressing, on sandwiches (with and without bacon or ham or toasted cheese or mayo), I've made sauces and salsas mild and hot, with little mystery peppers that burn your mouth, and I'm getting ready to make tomato bisque, which might be nice with the addition of a little shrimp. And we're still not sick of them. Unfortunately, they're beginning to play out just a bit, and despite watering and feeding the leaves are growing sparse and crispy. Some critter bellies up to the big heavy tomatoes at night and takes a nice round bite of them and leaves them on the vine, then bites a different one the next night. Want mayo with that, critter?

Here's Pink, caught in mid-hop, as he bustles over to say hello. He also says hello (and Elvis does too, from a distant room where he's busily dooting on magazine covers) to Nachtegaal in the Netherlands.

Mama Has a Brand New Bag

Yesterday I took my final exams. The exam in advanced algebra was at 9 a.m., and the exam in business law was at 2 p.m. I finished the algebra exam at 10:30, so I had time to kill until 2. So I went out and bought myself a new vehicle because I figured I deserved a treat. It's sleek, sporty, German engineering, with accessories and horsepower, and it turns on a dime. It handles like a dream.




My new ride--the Dootmobile:


Not a car! I am not excited by cars; I buy one every 7 or 8 years, generally used, and then I drive it until it is ready for the scrap heap. I'm a vacuum cleaner fiend! Well, who wouldn't be with 6 cats and 2 rabbits, all of them shedding, shedding, shedding? Which is probably just an excuse. I love vacuums of all types, but especially the German ones. I literally vacuum some room every day. BF rolled his eyes when he saw it, but even he admits it's pretty cool. And it's not like I came home with a Porsche, is it?

I was shattered by the end of my exams, and came home and had myself a nice four-hour nap. I got up around 9 p.m. and puttered and did needlework until 2 a.m., and then I slept another 8 hours or so. Today I felt almost human, although school starts again in a little under three weeks, and next semester may well be rougher, since I'll be commuting to Maryland on Saturdays. But that's another day. In the meantime, I spent a leisurely day stitching...and vacuuming!

Here's some progress on "Dorothy's Garden," which is done on 34 count Legacy linen in cafe au lait, using Au Ver a Soie silks. The designer of this is A Stitcher's Hand, and I can't say enough good things about the charting. Each page is clear, and it's immediately obvious what part of the design you need next when you finish a page. The symbols are large and clear.

"Yazziebear called me the little dummy sidekick dooter. I am not a dummy!"

Edited to add, because of the question about what kind of vacuum it is: it's a Miele, and it'd be considered a stick vac, although it's heavier duty than most sticks. We have a half-dozen vacuums, and my very favorite for carpet is a big upright Sebo (also a German machine). It's very powerful, very smooth, and relatively quiet, plus it does not have a belt, so there's no belt to break. We have a large Miele canister vac, which has a power head as an attachment, with a beater bar for rugs. It's also quite powerful and relatively quiet and has a long, long retractable cord. I use it mostly for uncarpeted floors. I have been using a Eureka Mini Mite for stairs, bathrooms, little places, because it's light and has pretty good suction. The big cleaners are wonderful, but they're heavy (metal parts instead of plastic ones mean they're not as easy to take from floor to floor). The Mini Mite has a high-pitched scream and a short cord, so it's deafening, plus I constantly have to unplug and replug. The new small Miele stick is to replace the Mini Mite--it is much quieter, has a bigger bag, isn't much heavier, and its cord is about 3 times as long. They're more expensive up front, but they have lasted longer than my U.S. vacuums, and all have been trouble-free. The bags are more expensive too and you need a big vacuum center to stock them (although you can probably get them online), so I don't recommend them in terms of cost, but I do in terms of getting something that does a really good job and will last with daily use on all the hair and tracked cat litter.

Guest Post Wednesday (Giving Free Rein to My Attention Deficit Disorder)

Hi--I'm Yazziebear, and I'll be your guest blog narrator tonight, since Mom is busy studying for her finals on Saturday and grumbling over the graphing calculator.

Here's the sampler she calls "Pets." I call it the Yazziebear Sampler because it has cats, but there isn't any blue thread in the project for stitching my eyes. She's going to have to fix that, isn't she?

And here's a new start, which she's been doing instead of studying. It's "Dorothy's Garden," and here's a picture of the project. Think she'll ever finish it? I don't.



I'm supposed to show you a picture of the Pink Dooter and the Little Dummy Sidekick Dooter, but I couldn't find a good one, so Mom will have to show you one later in the week.
Cheers, your pal, Yazziebear.

Sunday Samplers

I did a fair amount of stitching the last few days after rushing through my last remaining homework assignments, and even had time to help clean out the garage and weed out the garden. I also started a new sampler, which I'll show you later in the week. Here's some work on Charlotte Clayton, which I think of as "Pets."

Some progress on ATS--I'm working on the cloud section that no one seems to enjoy much. The cloud is huge and tedious. I try to stitch a few rows at a time and then put it away and pick up something else.

I can't believe we're on the last round of the RR. This is Wendy's. I had fun going to the needlework shop yesterday to pick out something that complements everyone's beautifully done squares.

I sent this off a bit late to Wendy, who fortunately is on vacation (hopefully getting lots of stitching done). I'm crossing my fingers it reaches her on the day she gets back so she's not held up by my tardiness. This is Deb's; she selected lots of Workbasket designs, including the Pithies, for us to stitch, and even sent along all the possible fibers to stitch them. Edited to add: Do not ask me what this pithy means--I haven't the slightest idea.

"Why do you have so many magazines stacked over here, and why are the bindings all chewed on them?" Also edited to add, after Freckles and Deb's comment: for whatever reason, they love to rip up BF's issues of Corvette Fever. Because they like to go fast? They leave my issues of Traditional Home, House Beautiful and Metropolitan Home alone, indicating to me they do not have a clear preference on the style of furniture we buy.

"I don't approve of your choice of bedside reading matter. There's nothing here about rabbits."

Sail

I started "Sail Away," stitching at lunch at work for the first time in a long time, since there's just a small amount of homework left and studying for finals. I finished Deb's RR block also, but Blogger won't let me post the photo.

And here are the buns, draped over each other, napping. Although we run the A/C, it's still warm upstairs, so you'd think they wouldn't want to be all curled up together. Do you suppose bunnies sweat through their feet? These cage doors stay open, since there's a baby gate up to this room, but they seem to prefer napping in their cage.

Berries

I got up early yesterday to go to the farmer's market and bought these:

I made jam with the raspberries and I made a cobbler with the blackberries. I'll make muffins with the blueberries, for lunches. That's probably all we'll have this week, since we didn't bother going to the grocery store this weekend. Frankly, I'm tired of the grocery store. I'd rather spend my money at the needlework store, which I did today. I went to Everything Cross Stitch and bought "Sail Away." Hah! You knew I was going to do that, didn't you? Did you think "And They Sinned" would occupy me for long? I figure I've got about 5 cylinders of oatmeal in the closet. A quick stop at Wa-wa for bread and milk, and we've got dinner for a week, especially since I now have all that raspberry jam.

Because I was thinking about berries, I pulled this out--LHN's "Morning Berries."

The color in the lady's dress is called "Berry Cobbler"; it's a GAST color.

"I'm a Pink Berry. You should go visit Cadbury at Bunny Girl's Website. She just adopted him, and he's cute as a button."

The Lost Weekend

I lost a weekend somewhere, and it made me sad not to post on Sunday as I normally would. I spent both days working on my paper and finalizing it. I barely left the house, other than to go to the pet store and buy cat litter, and to pick up a few things at the store. I didn't do my normal ride to Fredericksburg on Saturday to go to the farmer's market (duing peak tomato season!), so I didn't get to visit with my peeps at Everything Cross Stitch. A truly dismal weekend.

As you might expect, I did crack open ATS:


Here's some Monday Bunday. Although the staple of their diet is timothy, they enjoy their crunchies. They get two bowls, but they seem to prefer to share one.


I'm down to two weeks of school before finals, and then I'm free for a few weeks. I can't wait...have a great week!

Now I've Really Done It

I had to take a day off today to wait for a repair guy, and then go to a doctor's appointment in Arlington. In the spirit of saving gas by consolidating errands, on my way back home from Arlington I stopped by In Stitches to buy a few fibers that I'm missing on projects. And maybe pick up a piece of fabric or two for future projects. And take a look around at what's new. And maybe get Sail Away by Shepherd's Bush.

This is what I found instead (I abandoned all thoughts of the other stuff when I saw it, although they did indeed have Sail Away): "And they Sinned" by Examplar Dames. I'd seen it a few places on the net and had been contemplating it. It's huge: 809 stitches high x 169 wide, long and narrow. The piece of fabric I bought (Edinboro Sand, 36 ct) is 54 inches long--about four feet of stitching. I was aided and abetted by Patricia at In Stiches (Hi, Patricia!) in kitting it all up.


This should give you an idea of the size. "Let's Dance" (don't you think of David Bowie with that?) (with a little bit of progress)


is swallowed up by ATS' fabric, laid out on the sofa below. I have a lot of two-story walls in my house though; wouldn't a four-foot needlework look amazing on one of them?

"Those walls may well have sunk into the earth and been covered by the dust of the ages before you finish that project. Now let me out of my cage so I can run around and doot under the bed."

Last but not least, thank you, Jan, at Stitching Cats for the Kreativ award! When I get a few more minutes this weekend I'll follow the directions. Have a wonderful time with your dad in Roanoke!

Slog-Along Sunday

Today has been full of questions for my classes, on top of the dull paper that I'm writing.
Question 1: If a yacht purchased in Connecticut in October of 1980 isn't delivered until May of 1981, and it is delivered to Rhode Island to someone who has paid cash for it back in October and received a marine bill of sale at that time, when does the title pass and does the seller owe the state of CT sales tax in October, May or not at all?
Answer: this chart looks Connecticut-y to me. It's "Let's Dance by the Light of the Moon" by Primitive Traditions. Let's get it out and start it instead of answering the stupid question about yachts and sales taxes.



I'm stitching it on 36 count pearl gray Edinburgh using Crescent Colors. The designer's picture doesn't do it justice (nor does mine). Her picture though shows a darker blue fabric. I looked and looked and didn't see anything I liked quite as well without changing the floss colors, so I went with the silvery gray instead. I love this designer and hope to see more from her; in fact, I love her Nantucket sewing chest--the chart is amazing, but I simply can't spring for such an expensive project right now, and unfortunately, it comes as a kit with the box and a lot of nice goodies. I tried to talk her into selling me just the chart, but although she was quite nice about it, she didn't want to split up the kit pieces. Understandable but oh, so regrettable. Speaking of regrettable, what's been troubling me about Charlotte Clayton I think I will fix. I'm a bit confused about which kind of silk the new version of the chart intended to use. I think there are a couple of options. Most of the colors I'm using seem pretty true to the photograph, but I think the teal color I'm using is just wrong. It's jarring. So I'm going to frog it out and use a yellowy-greener color instead. I hate frogging, but better to do it now and not feel antsy about the mismatch every time I pick the project up.


Question 2: which scenarios constitute a breach of implied warranty of fitness for human consumption in a restaurant meal: glass in soup; an olive pit in an olive; an olive pit in the mashed potatoes, a chicken foot in the chicken salad, a cow bone in the ice cream, and some fish bones in a fileted fish? This question made me queasy, so I moved on to Deb's Neighborhood RR:



Question: The current I in an electrical conductor varies inversely as the resistance R of the conductor. The current is 6 amperes when the resistance is 800 ohms. What is the current when the resistance is 358 ohms?

"Oh! I know! I know!"

The Oysters of Longhorn

Have you seen this? It's from the Stitching Parlor, and it's called the Daughters of Longbourn (from Pride and Prejudice). My LNS labeled the fabric as being for the Daughters of Longhorn; for some reason it's rattling around in my head as the Oysters of Longhorn. Silliness--I'm tired and should go to bed early tonight, but I've been working on a term paper today on qui tam (whistleblower) litigation and have been pushing to get a fair amount done this weekend. That paper is the reason I've gotten a good bit of stitching done also--procrastination. Anyway, DoL is the first in a series of five samplers. I've kitted it up, although I'm deep into "Charlotte Clayton," "Peaceful Paradise," Deb's Neighborhood RR and the usual cast of unfinished characters.

Here's Charlotte so far. I did change to 32 count fabric to make it easier on my eyes, but I got lucky and found a piece of Lakeside linen very similar to the pretty cut I received from Attic Needlework when I ordered the project. The colors in this project are a bit odd, I think, as were the colors in the original. I have a few reservations about it--it was recharted with great skill from the original, which is an amazing bit of work, but I'd have to say I like contemporary interpretations of samplers, with their crisp designs and large assortment of complementary colors, a bit better. We'll see--it is interesting--even if I don't like all the colors that well (and gee, there's a lot of red and pink in it).

The buns have bonded finally after eight months. A few weeks ago I noticed a thaw in their relations: less peeing on each other and more nuzzling. When we moved them to the bathroom while their room was being refloored, they completed the bonding (shared stress perhaps), and became the best of friends. They snuggle together when they nap and groom each other when awake.

"I'm glad he's stopped peeing on my head."

Speaking of bonding, Scratchy and Shy Tabby are the best of napping friends. She snuggles in, and he puts one arm over her; we're not sure why. Affection? He's got to find someplace to put his elbow when she crowds in so close? (Note the needlework project bags to the right of them.)

Graybeard and His Grandbaby

Still here! I didn't go to the Cape after all. I realized, when I gashed my knee (nothing serious) and it was bleeding all down my leg and the kitchen floor and I couldn't find a bandaid and couldn't get it to stop and I was thinking furiously "there's no TIME for mopping up blood" the evening before I was to leave early in the a.m. that I just had no more energy for anything. That even on my vacation I was burning the candle at both ends and multitasking and that I was just depleted. So I called my mom and now I'll be going next month sometime between semesters and not wedging it in between 5 other things. I was disappointed but also relieved as I unwound all my various reservations.

So guess what came in the mail yesterday? Charlotte Clayton! I'm missing a few skeins of the NPI, which I'm going to go buy today (they warned me at the shop and being impatient to get it, I said "don't wait, just ship it" and I'll kit up the rest. I'm having reservations about the fabric. They chose the most wonderful Lakeside Linen, carefully choosing gentle mottling, and it's a beautiful piece of fabric. But it's 40 count (my request), and I'm wondering, since there's a little over-one stitching, if I should go to 32 or 34 count.

And the plane is there, behind the cat. I've decided it's the 7Bunny7 returning from the Oxbow Hay company in Nebraska. I've also decided that I'll add a few more small frolicking bunnies in the background to commemorate the little lives of Archi Ann, Stanley, Tidbit and my own Bunnyman. May they frolic together in a big field of timothy.

I got a little done over the last couple of days on Deb's RR:

And here's a picture of Graybeard. He's a bit scarred up looking. He's been around for quite a while. His favorite snack is my lilies and roses in the little flower patch out back. He can have them--I enjoy seeing him show up in the evening and early morning.

Graybeard seems to have a big family; I found one of his (great, great) grandbabies in my front garden under the fading stems of the bleeding heart bush. I didn't touch him, of course, although it's such a temptation to pick them up and cup them in your hand. After taking these pics, I left him alone.