Aftermath

There's no hell quite like being the person in the household who nixed the purchase of a whole-house generator while the power is out and the house is heating up and getting unpleasantly sticky. Fortunately, the power, which we lost around midnight last night, is back as of an hour ago, and the A/C is back on and the fridge is humming away. And also fortunately, the same person who nixed the generator, agreed that a water-powered backup sump was a good (and cost-effective) thing, so the basement did not fill up with water even when the electric sump stopped.

We woke up to this today. My neighbor lost one of his bradford pears (we lost one a couple of thunderstorms ago). The pears grow quickly, so they're much loved in suburbia, but they have a heavy canopy and soft wood, so as the saying goes: there are two kinds of bradford pears--the ones that have split and the ones that are about to split.

Tree One to Tree Two: "Let's split."


The weather made me think of my progress on the April Snow Person by Amy Bruecken Designs. This is Lilybell ("Lillybell plays in the rain.")

Here's what Lillybell and her duck look like (she came with a bead and treasures pack):


Because they're cute and whimsical, I've been acquiring all of them. July and August have come out since I purchased this, but my latest is "Robin Beth Rocks a Ruffle." I'll be stitching it on 32 count Lakeside Vintage Lemon Ice (seen to the right of the chart) with the charted Gentle Art, Crescent Colors and WDW overdyed threads.


But mostly I've been stitching on Liz Easdon.


I've eased down onto the lawn and am preparing to stitch the over-one critters. A closeup of the house--looks like the tree on the right has some storm damage.


Here's Elvis, chewing hay this morning. Elvis: "Thank goodness the air conditioning is on because my hair gets frizzy in the humidity."


Happy week ahead, and best of luck to all of you who are about to encounter Irene!

Full House

Hi, everyone!

My banner photo is a little something I ran across when I was looking through my stash for the bag of floss for Dorothy Walpole. I haven't been able to work on Dorothy for a few months since it disappeared. My stash room is in serious disarray, so I took some time to straighten and look through my stuff, and this little gem appeared. I probably stitched it something like 25 years ago, and yes, that's cream colored 14 count aida and DMC. My initials are different now--I shed that "T"--but it's an argument for signing and dating our works, since I'd love to know what year I finished it. Who knows where the chart came from, although I suspect I stitched it from a magazine. All the same, I think I'll take it to In Stitches to frame. It's not as if I finish that many things! All of which leads me to muse on the Woodlawn show coming up in March. Framing is due for that in mid-January, so I've decided that maybe if I set a goal of entering one project (preferably two) in the show, maybe I can finish a couple of things before the year is out. (Let's not talk about the Crazy 15 challenge, shall we?)

My two would be: The Essamplaire's Liz Easdon and Scarlet Letter's Dorothy Walpole. As you can see, I found Dorothy's floss and made some progress working on the flame stitch, the strawberry border and the flowers beneath the flame stitch.


Here she is in her entirety so far (forgive the crookedness and the wrinkles; I try to limit my ironing of projects--too many horrible things can happen):


And here's Liz Easdon with her house complete. There's lots more to stitch, of course. While she'd be easier to finish than Dorothy, there's an awful lot of green in this sampler. Visually it's lovely, but it does get tiresome to work look at as I stitch.


All this dedication to finishing a couple of things means I'm going to have to cut down on new starts, though. Hmmmmm. That's going to be tough, especially since I picked up a couple of new projects at Market Night, including this needlepoint canvas. Something about it spoke to me, you know? (And we won't mention the brand-new Scarlet Letter chart I've ordered...)


"Ahem. You are going to stitch a yellow rabbit?"


Happy week ahead!

Newport Antiques Show

It has been a long and full day! The alarm clock rang at 3:45 this a.m., and I gathered up my suitcase, my computer and my needlework (only three projects with me, since I am flying on this visit--man, it was hard to choose just 3 (Blue Santa, Liz Easdon and Adam's Menagerie). And if I had it to do over again, I'd have chosen one of my Rhode Island samplers, because I'm that inspired. The plane left Baltimore at 8:15 and landed in Providence at 9:45, I collected the rental car and headed to Newport. Lots and lots of people traveled with me today: even at 6:30 a.m. there were enormous lines for security, check-in and then on the road to Newport. Newport itself was crammed full of people. After driving around for quite a while looking for the antiques show (boo to mapquest but yay to the guy I nearly mowed down in a crosswalk to ask for directions and boo to me for being too cheap to rent the GPS. I mean really, Avis--$15 a day?)

But I found it, and my oh my, is all I can say. My only disappointment was that I need to learn to read: the online brochure said that highlights from the 50 samplers would be exhibited, not all 50, so I was expecting more than the 15 or so that I viewed. What wonderful choices they were though! And they were accessible; I was able to get up close and see every stitch, my nose 1 inch from the glass that encased them (but didn't spoil the experience at all). The lighting was very good and everyone was cheerful and kind. However, I didn't take photos, although there were no admonishments anywhere that I could see not to. But it just felt wrong to click away, even if surreptitiously, especially since most museums don't allow it.

I will show you the little catalog though (itself gorgeously photographed):



Do you own the Mary Tillinghast chart? I do; it was a reproduction done by Sheepish Designs in possibly the 80s? 90s? I bought it on ebay. Now I want to kit it up after seeing the original. Although--the "Wisdom" sampler charted by Vermillion Stitchery is virtually the same, and I started it some time ago. There were some nice marking samplers and a few samplers we'd all recognize, but a few that I did not (including the one in the catalog page above).


And oh, my goodness, the dealers. I've been to many an antique show, far and wide, including the famous (Brimfield) and the not-so-famous local run-of-the-mill, and the offerings here knocked my socks off. Pretty much everything I saw was museum quality, as far as I could tell. Some of my favorites: the stitched wool pictures of ships done by sailors; the sailors' valentines using tiny exotic shells to make pictures that looked like samplers, some needle punch, rugs, china and a few samplers. One sampler wowed me--it was probably the nicest antique I've laid eyes on anywhere in terms of quality, color, composition and condition. (It was $8500, which I thought was completely justified. It was perfectly stitched, and the best part was the Adam and Eve figures, which looked a lot like American Indians. One of them appared to be waving.) My very favorite non-stitched objects were the oil paintings brought by William Vareika Fine Arts.


By early afternoon I was tired and hungry and so I headed to the Cape. On the way I stopped and devoured this sub: the "baked stuffed lobster." The crumb topping is graham cracker/butter/lemon rather than Ritz crackers, though, which is my only complaint--it was a bit too sweet, especially since the generous portion of lobster had enough sweetness of its own. It was nearly my downfall on this long, hot, busy day.

I then sat in traffic for quite a while. Tomorrow is the Falmouth Road Race, which attracts tens of thousands of additional visitors to this small town, on top of the already busy late-summer tourism.


Digging their dinner: these folks are digging clams. While the town checks the bacterial count of that water regularly, I would not be interested in eating these guys raw (and I love raw shellfish).

We went out for fried fish tonight, and I sat in the fish place, which was hot and filled with the smell of fish and oil. As I sat there, I noticed a large sailboat bobbing up and down on the wake of the boats coming and going. As I watched, the heat and the smell and my rich lobster lunch and my fatigue combined with the pitching of the boat to create a full-on queasy feeling of stomach-rolling, sweaty seasickness. Please don't let me be sick, I was thinking desperately. Fortunately our order came quickly, and to my parents' surprise, I insisted on eating at home instead of sitting at the harbor, and I rode home with the window down and the cool breeze in my face. And oh heavens, my paernts are in their 80s and therefore always chilly, even though the house is a toasty 80 or so. In fact, hilariously, my mother has just brought me a stack of blankets in case it gets chilly. Please let it get chilly.


My mother has a little outside rabbit guy that she feeds. My dad tells me that these are Canadian cottontails, which unlike my neighborhood's wild bunnies, have long pointy noses, smallish ears and smaller back legs--they don't spring so much as sprint or tear along when startled.


To borrow Michelle's gratitude: I am grateful for an opportunity to view beautiful historic samplers and priceless art. And I am also grateful for not having hurled in the harbor!

Happy week ahead!

The Pompatus of Love

Greetings, all! It's a hot and occasionally thundery Sunday in the Old Dominion.

Because it's been a busy week, I didn't get to stitch a lot, although I made some progress on the house in Elizabeth Easdon.


Because I sensed that you all were probably tired of seeing the house in Elizabeth Easdon, here's something new that I started after spying this new chart at In Stitches on Stitch Night. This is the cutest design, by Tempting Tangles, called "Adam's Menagerie."


I've started it twice now--the first time on a green Lakeside (River Willow) using the called-for DMC (and the recommended fabric is Wichelt Beach Walk linen in 32 count, which is a very pretty pale gray-green. The shop had it, but I like to stitch on 40 count, so I substituted.) Unfortunately, the River Willow was a bit bold and the DMC colors were a bit shy, so today when I worked at the shop I did a conversion to NPI on LL Light Examplar (40 count). Perfection.



A woman came into the shop this afternoon to order Tempting Tangles "Creation." Have you seen it? I've got that on order too; I'm wondering if it might be something that would lend itself to a super large-count fabric with lots of sparkle and bling. I'm picturing flocks of beads, lots of Kreinik. Maybe a 30 or 32 count crystal PTP? Over the top perhaps? I'm really enjoying this designer. And I've provided my conversion for Adam's Menagerie below.

Elvis says hello. "Some call me the gangster of love."


Oh, and I'm having trouble leaving comments on some blogs, which make me sign in again and again and never record my comment. Fab Furs, yours is one that won't let me comment, although I read all the time!

Happy week ahead, and scroll down if you want the conversion.

(DMC to NPI)--*bear in mind, you and I may process color differently and you may not like my choices. If in doubt, I tweak the color up a notch in intensity, but in the case of this chart, I have tried to stay true to the designer's choices.

B5200--991BB; 310-993; 422-693; 502-515; 503-524; 504-511; 612-901; 642-351; 644-981; 677-131; 680-474; 869-973; 924-566; 926-563; 928-876; 3031-953; 3041-781; 3042-604; 3064-206; 3787-964; 3830-635

Another Brick in the Wall

Greetings, all!

This week I spent some time stitching bricks on this house (Elizabeth Easdon from the Essamplaire).


And leaves on the border of Harriot:


And restarted this Halloween quaker by Prairie Moon: "Thine is the Trick and the Treat." The treat for me is having seen the Prairie Moon trunk show a couple of months ago at In Stitches.

This design was stitched on 32 count Camofudge by Stitches and Spice, an Australian company. I can't say enough good things about the color, texture and thickness of this fabric. It's rich. It photographed a bit light, but the fabric is exactly the color of the photo on the chart. I started it when I first got it; it calls for two threads over two of any black floss of your choice, and I was using AVAS noir, and two threads were too thick and fuzzy, so I switched to two threads of NPI silk (993) yesterday.


A certain amount of harmony has been restored to the rabbit family, although I cycle them in and out of cages so the two boys can't get into a fight. Patti is going to help us with a possible rebonding, and I'm showing this photo, Patti, so you can see our current layout. There's a second large dog crate to the right, out of the photo, where Elvis spends his time when it's his turn.


Elvis is spending much less time following Peaches around and humping her, and Peaches is not avoiding him now. Here she's grooming him.

Peaches: "These two are nitwits, but what can you do?"



Oh! I think I'm going to be able to go to Newport, R.I. to see the 50 or so Rhode Island samplers exhibited at the Newport Antiques Show. Is anyone else going? It's on the way to the Cape, and I can visit the samplers and then go on to visit my parents. Many thanks to Needleprint's blog for pointing it out, or I'd have missed it altogther. I'm hoping they'll allow photos so I can share. If I can't take photos of the samplers, I'll take photos of something!

And! I'm over the moon about Blackbird Designs' new book. And I'm excited about Needleprint's new book as well--I can't wait to get my hands on one. And anxious to see what's coming back from the Baltimore Needlework show with Ellen at In Stitches later in August. These are wonderful times for stitchers.
Happy week ahead!

Harriot and Peaches

Peaches and I went to the exotic vet yesterday, where she was given a clean bill of health. On the way home, we dropped by In Stitches to view their new wares. While Peaches was parked in her carrier in the framing room, contentedly chewing on hay, I roamed around, checking out the new goodies and samplers, one of which was this: Harriot Redfearn 1830 from Queenstown Samplers. Once home, an immediate start was called for! I'm stitching Harriot with the called for NPI silks on 40 count Lakeside Meadow Rue.



Aren't her colors grand? Harriot is a reproduction; you know, based on her exuberant design and use of color, that she'd have been a fun (12-year-old) girl.


The vet said there doesn't appear to be anything physically wrong with Peaches, although they ran blood tests to rule out any infection or hormonal abnormality. What that leaves us with is that Elvis is just a pistol who has decided that Peaches is his bunny and that Pink represents competition in that area. Since Peaches seems to prefer Pink, we're having to decide whether to allow one of the boys to shop for a new bunny girlfriend at Bright Eyes (rabbits prefer to choose their own mates, and rabbit dates are set up wherein the suitor declares his/her love--generally at first sight--and if the feeling is reciprocated, the newly bonded bunny comes home and joins the hutch, and second bunny household is set up in a separate space). BF, however, is not in favor of adopting a fourth rabbit, so we are at an impasse.

Peaches: I got a mani-pedi, had lunch and went to the needlework shop--it was a girl's day out.

Happy week ahead!

Fresh from the Lock-In

I spent today at In Stitches' Lock-In, admiring everyone's projects and working on one of mine ("Elizabeth Easdon" by The Essamplaire). The nice thing about this was that I had outlined lots of bricks and the center window, so I could easily talk and rubberneck at other people's projects and not lose my place.


I put a lot of time into my Christmas project this week. I love the bright colors.


A disquieting development in our rabbit family: Elvis has been pestering Peaches, following her around to mount her, although all of the rabbits are neutered. Pink, perhaps to protect Peaches, whom he shields and grooms, has been fighting with Elvis, so the three bunnies who used to sleep in a cozy little heap, now have to be separated. Patti, of Bright Eyes Sanctuary, who was Pink's foster mom, and has seen a ton of bunnies come and go, thinks that Peaches may have an illness that she's been concealing, and that Elvis may sense her weakness--humping among rabbits is about power and domination. So little Peaches is scheduled for an appointment at the exotic pet vet this week. Crossing our paws that all is well with her and that someday the rabbit family can live cozily together once again. In the meantime, Peaches and Pink room together in a large cage while Elvis is out, and Elvis spends time in a cage while they are out. Not perfect, certainly. Elvis is despondent and spends hours lying next to their cage sadly. Of course, when Pink gets close enough, the boys pull each other's hair through the bars. Sigh.

Uncle Ernie: "I can't help myself. But I wish things were the way they used to be."


Happy week ahead.

Cool as a Cucumber

Greetings, all! Long time no post! The last week has been pretty busy, as I accepted a short-term (4-6 month) contract job that started Monday. While the work and experience are good, the commute around the Beltway is not, so I head out of the house by 5:30 to hit the high occupancy vehicle lanes before they shut them down to solo drivers at 6 a.m. The good news is that I get to work almost 2 hours early (and save myself an hour or so of idling in heavy traffic), so I have time to stitch in the morning before work. The company where I'm working has an enormous dining room where I stitch until they serve breakfast at 7:30. After I eat, I go back to stitching. The bad news is that I have to go to bed really early and I miss my days of dancing (or stitching) to my own tune.

It's hotter than heck here, so here's a shot from my garden, where even in the 98 degree sun, the cucumbers are fairly cool. So far it's been a great year for cucumber production and the vines are sprawled everywhere. Cucumbers until recently have been close to $1 apiece (although they've fallen to about 50 cents recently) and I love them, so I'm thrilled. My tomatoes aren't so great; I neglected them somewhat after planting them a bit late, and now the cucumber vines are growing all over them, hard as I try to train them the other direction.


Not so thrilled with this. In fact, it's downright horrifying how quickly they can suck the juice out of a nice firm summer squash, leaving the poor thing deflated and brown. Certain parts of tending a garden are shockingly gross, including pulling a nice tomato of the vine and having it goosh in your hands because the underneath part is rotten or eaten away; then there are the tomato worms and the biting ants, all manner of spiders and creepy crawly things. I try not to reach under leaves and vines without looking. Then there's the massive poison ivy case I got ("gee, I wonder what this vine is; I'll just pull it out and throw it away.")


Since it's so hot, it's been a pleasure to sit in the house with the air conditioning on and the ceiling fans whirling away. I started something new and chilly looking!


I love traditional Santas and have always wanted a few large ones framed and hanging. I was inspired years ago--and about 4 jobs ago--by a co-worker who stitched nothing but elaborate Santas. When they were done and framed she hung them and left them up all year 'round. It sounds weird, but the Santas looked just right, even hanging there in the summer. This is a Dimensions chart (and I love the photograph, which is as clear as can be). I'm stitching it on 34 count white legacy linen using the called-for DMC and Kreinik shiny gold thread. Later there will be gold beads as well.


I spent some time working on Sarah McPhail (made progress on the rose and leaves in the top right corner).


Devoted some time to the border on Catharine Metcalf (Scarlet Letter). I don't like this border, but I love Catherine, so I'm doing it. Granted, it's pretty, and it will look good when it's done, but it's very elaborate with the leaves and the double vine and the sticky-out twiggy green things. It's what short-circuited my progress originally, so I am trying before work to stitch a little on it every day, otherwise, I will just put it way and never work on it again, which would be a shame, because I love the bottom half of this sampler in particular with its duck pond, sheep and brick house, and even like the verse, the birds and the trees.

Just to refresh your memory on what Catharine looks like:


Someone else is cool as a cucumber and having a nice afternoon nap.
Pink: "The end."


Happy Fourth!

Smelling the Roses

Greetings! I just got back from a hot sticky walk. Sundays are a bad time to walk in suburbia; everyone is getting ready for the work week, and the smell of dryer sheets is in the air. Sheesh! It is an incentive to walk farther up the road where you can smell more natural things: honeysuckle; mud in the puddles left by last night's thunderstorm; and a nice, ripe deer carcass being picked apart by turkey buzzards. All the same, the walk is over, and now I can stitch!

I did more eyelets on Dorothy this week, but nothing much to look at there. I also worked on Liz Easdon, finishing the foliage on the big tree (there is another tree just like it to the right of the house), and starting the bricks and windows on the house. Love the green in the bricks!


I've always wanted to stitch this Mary Beale piece, and I picked it up for a reasonable price from an Etsy shop called the Pampered Stitcher. Thanks to Maude and Mozart, who recommended it!


So of course I started it. I'm stitching it on 40 count Lakeside buttercream using the called-for DMC colors. There are about 30 colors of thread in this smallish design! I am not planning to finish it as a wreath. I will finish it as a framed picture and either leave the center circle blank or fill it in with a monogram.


I also started Jane Tindall yesterday. I'm stitching it on 40 count Lakeside tundra, also using DMC. You may have seen my photo of Teresa's finished Jane on the In Stitches Shop blog. I took a look, took some photos, and immediately went to kit it up. I had owned the chart since it came out, but until I saw it IRL, hadn't felt compelled to stitch it.


Pink: I'm just sitting in my hay box, all by myself, because someone is stitching and has no time for me....

Happy week ahead!

Zigzag

Dorothy is zigzagging right along, as you can see. The flamestitched band is time-consuming (each straight stitch is one thread wide and four threads long), but it's a nice little break from the eyelets. So much fun, and a great way to pass the day out of the heat.


Heeeeeere's Elvis! (On the outside, looking in, while I cleaned the rabbits' tile floor. Note the chewed woodwork, by those who who have been inside, looking out.)

Happy rest of the week!

The Missing Sunday Post

It's already Wednesday! It has been hot and sticky here--temps in the 90s already--so I've been getting up early to get in my exercise. Then I come back to the house and work on my so-far fruitless job search, which feels a lot like casting pebbles into a dark well--pebbles that are not going to come flying back up with a dollar bill tied to them. I have found that stitching helps manage my anxiety; as you can see from my stitching pics, I have been extra-anxious lately, and consequently I have gotten quite a lot done. I am hoping that one day in the future, safely re-ensconsed in corporate America, I will look at the walls full of samplers I completed and fondly reminisce about the stomach-clenching angst that drove them.

Progress on Dorothy Walpole. I'm actually enjoying the eyelets, and I've started the flame-stitched band, which is swoon-worthy. And yes, Daffycat, "blefs" seems to be a word.


I reacquainted myself with Christinia Cathcart. I did it to take a break from the eyelets. Hah! These eyelets are twice as much work! Of course, it did make the work on Dorothy seem easy when I went back to it. Christinia's eyelets call for a "ray" on each of 16 threads in a 4x4 square, whereas Dorothy's call only for 8 rays in a 4x4 square.


Here's a shot of the section I've been working on. I'd like to finish to the right-hand edge this week.


And here's a shot of most of the sampler. It is really bright, although Dorothy is no slouch in the brightness department either.


Peaches: "A blefsing on the rest of your week."