Bunnies and stuff

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you've already seen most of these pics, sorry about that. I really LOVE Instagram, so easy to post there, and with so few words, which most times is what keeps me from blogging here, because sometimes I can talk too much.

So anyway, kind of on a bunny kick after seeing some models stitched up at the LNS. Not this first one, just one I happened to like...

Rabbit Folk by Notforgotten Farm. Stitched on 16ct. Picture This Plus Aida (!!!!) Doubloon with called for DMC threads. It was sheer joy to work on that Aida....so soft and the coloring just what I wanted for this piece.

And this one is "Springtime Social" by With Thy Needle & Thread.

Stitched on 16ct Picture This Plus Aida (guess this means I'm no longer a linen snob, ha!) Days Gone By with called for DMC threads. This fabric is just so soft and gorgeous, I couldn't live without it and I love the primitive feel it lends to these pieces :)

My husband mentioned to me after this finish that he thinks I like stitching animals doing "people things" and he's right! Just too cute.

So now, I am working on Blackbird Designs "Dear Daughter", which gave me some trouble in the beginning...the trouble being, I chose 36ct. Creme Brulee fabric and began stitching with two strands of threads, which appeared too thick, so I ripped that out and started again with one strand, which seemed too thin. I was about ready to ditch it completely and posted as much on my IG account, but then decided to give it another day to grow on me, and here's where she stands as of this evening....

Yes, she's growing on me, I admit. My plan is to change the words along the bottom, as I have two daughters and don't want to stitch this twice, and don't want any fights over it after I'm dead, so yeah. Something different will go there. My ongoing joke with my family  is that most of this stitching stuff will end up in a garage sale for 50 cents when I'm gone, I understand that, but please, if you really love me, keep this one in the attic at least. Usually said about my big sampler finishes, though.


Meanwhile...we were gifted with some homegrown Texas tomatoes, some red, some green, and here's what happened with the green ones....

Makes my mouth water just looking at the picture. Good thing we fried them all up or I'd be in the kitchen making more now. Which is not good for the diet....BTW, I've lost a little over 25 pounds since the beginning of April...woo hoo!

The others were made into tomato pie! The crust on this looks awful, it's the "press in the pie plate" type and I was in a big hurry to get it in the oven....and this is before the topping was put on, but this photo also makes me hungry, so there it is.

And somehow this picture ended up down here....

J.M. Garner 1888 sampler from With Thy Needle and Thread. Stitched on called for fabric and threads. I switched one of the flowers on either side of the name and date back the other way as it was on the original sampler, just because I liked it better that way. Very fun to stitch, I LOVE Brenda's designs!

Astro says hi. He says "you can beat the Texas heat if you just find some cool tile to rest on :)

Happy Summer!

framed finish

Hello there,

Anyone still reading? I did not forget this blog of mine, no dears, my friend Patti would not let me ;-)! Lots of things going on, I will try to be brief and list them here:

*tennis elbow which hurts so bad one considers chopping their arm off.
*contemplation of why one would take such drastic measures, maybe reconsider.
*health problems with pugs, one in a cone (again!) for months on end, the other having one problem after another, the last being a tumor and it's removal.
*serious freak out over pug health problems, not to mention husband having issues at the same time.
*work related issues
*too busy stitching with my free time and having no desire to be on computer posting to blog (sorry, just keeping it real!)

Could probably come up with more excuses, but enough of that, here's my recent framing finish!

This design is from The Scarlett Letter chart called "And All Was For An Appil"



stitched on 40 count Natural linen with DMC thread. The last two photos were taken outside, and the true linen color shows better in them.
I could've sworn I took pictures of the bottom half of this, but can't seem to find them!

That's all for now. I will leave you with a picture of the boys sitting with their Dad, one showing his backside, where the tumor was removed and the other, happy to finally be cone free, after seeing a specialist for his eye problems and finally getting some results.

And I'll also leave you with the promise of posting more often....tootles for now!
xoxo

one finish and two wip's

First, the finish:

I Thee Wed by The Goode Huswife

Stitched on 36 ct. Vintage Sienna Night by Lakeside

DMC threads, 2 over 2

The top picture is the truest as far as the color of the linen. I LOVE this linen, it's so easy to see on and not the huge PITA that stitching on black can be. Every stitch on this was a joy.

Now, for my first WIP:

The Charlotte Clayton sampler.

Stitching this on 36 ct. Vintage Sand Dune, with Needlepoint silks.

How appropriate is it, that the last photo, of the doggie, has a DOG HAIR on it? Those pugs, they sure shed a lot ;-)

My second WIP:

THIS BLOG!! Poor Siobhan, first she encourages me, then she has to come to my rescue! She's pretty smart, and thankfully, a sweet friend :) Otherwise, this blog would be toast.

Now, all I'm aiming for here is bigger pictures, less clutter, and a nice blog header picture. Once I get those things in place, I'm never changing anything ever again! Meanwhile, if things look weird, just pretend you don't see anything wrong ;-)...
it takes me a while to do computer stuff!


Thanks for visiting! Happy stitching, and stay cool!

Hello!

Yep, it's me, alive and well!

Not dead, and no major injuries. Puggies are well, fat and happy :-)
Thanks to those of you that have emailed asking if all is well, or to say they missed my posts! You're nice!
I have been stitching, just having several issues of frustration with my blogging experience that have not worked themselves out yet. Mainly because I don't know just how to work them out!

*First of all, Blogger is such a booger for me these days, even to post these pics now took me FORever.

**Then there's my cruddy camera and horrible pictures. Ugh.
***Not liking the looks of the blog, but too lazy or tired or just too inept to change it!

****Tennis elbow! Painful and limits computer time (typing hurts!) Just been to the doctor for it (finally!) and got a cortisone shot and list of exercises to do, so hopefully that's much better soon.
Oh geesh! Sounds like whining, which I'm not, just explaining my absence ;)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Picked up my Mary Beale sampler from the framer today, so I thought I'd share that and then come back later with what I've been stitching.

So here she is, Her Sampler, which is now MY sampler :)

The frame moulding just jumped out at me, as we were mulling over many different ones, I looked over my left shoulder, and spotted this one, and it ended up being the ONE!

So very happy with my framing gals. If you live anywhere in the area, you should check them out! Framing MemorEze in Plano Texas.
They are pretty much the only ones I can trust to do my things right. In fact, I had to take them something to redo, that had been done at another place :( Later on, you will see the before and after pics (some of you have already seen the before....hideous!)

This sampler was framed under museum glass, can you tell? Usually don't put glass on my pieces, but wanted to try out that stuff, and I do like it :)

Stitched on 40 count Park City Blend by R&R
over 2 with one strand DMC thread
Design by Mary Beale, Her Sampler was included in the 1998 Pocketbook Needlework, which is still available for purchase in Mary Beale's online shop.

Well that's all for now my friends. Thanks for visiting and for your friendships, I am very blessed by each one of you! Sorry I have not been commenting on your blogs very much, will try to do better as my elbow/arm pain gets better!

PS. Who's ready for Autumn?
Just wonderin' ;-)

Mary Beale, Her Sampler

She's done!



And what a joy it was to stitch this sampler!



One of those you enjoy working on so much, you almost hate to be done with it!



I had to change the wording along the bottom....my whole name didn't work with the way it was charted, (her sampler, finished in ****), so what you see is my version ;-)

I will miss working on it, but it's headed to the framers soon, so we can enjoy looking at it on the wall :)



Mary Beale, her very ownself, recommended not filling in around the verse, so that's how I left it :)



"Mary Beale, Her Sampler"
Designed by Mary Beale
from the Pocketbook Needlework series, 1998 editionavailable from Mary's online shop (click on link to go there)
Stitched on 40 count Park City Blend by R&R
over 2 with one strand DMC thread

Thank you all for visiting my blog and always saying such nice things. The stitching and blogging community is so wonderful...I'm very grateful to be a part of it.
Have a wonderful week ahead and stitch much!
xox

samplers & pugs & rain, oh my!

Hello my dear and faithful readers! I've thought about you often and wanted to write. Really, I did! But I couldn't think of anything to say and since I'm just working on one project right now, wanted to be further along before posting pictures of it. But time sure is flying, and here we are, in September already, so here's where I am on the Mary Beale sampler (that I still don't know the name of!)



It's kind of big and hard to get a good picture of, so the photo above isn't the best.
But look at this little butterfly, I love it...



and the verse, that I also love. It's just outlined by the green border right now, the chart says to fill in the whole verse area with the same color...but I'm thinking I won't. What do you think?



As there is so much solid stitching around the rest of the sampler...



more grass will fill this area below this blank space (which will have a little couple sitting at a table under some grapevines...



anyway, that's as far as I've gotten on it so far. Almost there!



Some of you that are my Facebook friends will already know about my pug problem, but for those that aren't, here's the problem....Muttley...Munny Pie...Mutt Lee...



It all started when his eyes started looking funny. Cloudy, etc. One eye worse than the other. We took him in to our vet, she did a dye test, which showed a corneal scratch on one eye, and corneal swelling on the other, both due to "injuries" of some sort. All we could figure is, because he's so WILD, he ran into something and scratched it. He loves to bury his face in the carpet or in blankets. So anyway, she prescribes drops, antibiotics and said to come back in a week. TWO DAYS later, the one eye with the scratch turns into the ulcer you see above. How lucky for us it was the holiday weekend, so no going back to the vet until Tuesday, and trust me when I say, it got uglier before Tues. Let me tell you, I pretty much went off the deep end, picturing this little (well, not so little, but you know what I mean), two year old pug, going blind! We've had a bunny rabbit lose an eye, even with excellent specialized medical care, so I knew what it looked like.

But, we made it to Tuesday, took him back in first thing in the morning and now we have this...




The vet made a "patch" over the ulcer, using his extra eye-lid flap, or whatever it's called. It should help speed the healing. It looks seriously gross. He's soooo happy {snort}. It has to stay this way for two weeks, and considering he's WILD, the Cone of Shame must be worn for that amount of time as well, until the stitches come out.
You may notice, the cone is already dented...



He's since figured out that this "Cone of Shame" can be used to his advantage...

*Mom holds his bone for him, so he can get his daily chew on (he chews a LOT on a regular basis, it's his therapy).
*He can terrorize Astro relentlessly (because Astro is terrified of the cone coming at him)
*He can lick food, water and whatever else might get into the cone at his leisure.
*Everyone feels sorry for him when he moans for one solid minute while laying on the couch, so he gets extra treats, rubbin' and kisses.
*If he plants his face straight down on the floor, the cone spreads out and he can pick up miscellaneous crap off said floor.
*He can clear a path really quickly because the humans and other living creatures in the house have figured out that the cone HURTS like h*ll when rammed into their legs, so they get out of the way, and fast!

I'm sure there are other advantages to the cone, but he's only on the first 24 hours, so give him time. Meanwhile, his parents continue to pray really hard that the #1 advantage to all this will be that his eye heals up and when it's opened back up, that ulcer will be much better.

And rain? Yes, lots of it, which normally I love. Except when there's a MONSOON and you're trying to walk doggies with cones on their heads and they are freaking out cause they've never heard all that NOISE before, all around their heads, while they need to peepee reaaaaaaally badly. They hate even getting their feet wet anyway, geesh! (You doggie owners out there know exactly what I'm talking about....don't ya?) I've never been so completely drenched in all of my life, but at least he went potty finally :-)

:::::sigh:::::
Life is good, even when it's nuts! I'm so happy it's the beginning of fall. So happy in fact, that I'm going to have a Fall giveaway very soon, so stay tuned for that. It will be for my loyal blog followers and regular commenting friends only :)

Stay safe! Stay dry! Be happy!

PS. For those that haven't seen the movie UP (such a great movie)...here's a clip about the Cone of Shame:

lots of things...

This post will be all over the place, so consider yourself warned! I guess it's the unbearable heat...maybe other things going on in my life...not sure, but it's very hard for me to focus on anything lately. I've been in a funk, stitching and otherwise....so first, some stitching, which is probably what you came for, right?


In July, still in the patriotic mood, I started on this Blackbird Designs piece, called Summer Souvenir (which is NOT in the book by the same name, so dontcha go looking for it, like I did, or you'll end up scratching your head in wonder...it's in the Tokens of Friendship book).



Then, the heat started getting to me and I started thinking about fall, which led to this finish:




Jingles & Jack from Becky's Boos...stitched on 10 count hand dyed something or other with WDW #5 perle cotton thread. A fast and fun stitch. Be warned...if you stitch it, you will need at least three skeins of the Onyx (the chart only calls for one. I didn't even cross my stitches as I went along, like one normally does with overdyed floss....and I still came pretty close to the end on some of the skeins....

after that, I picked up an old WIP, Be Kind, Be True, another Blackbird Designs:



That was about the third time I've tried working on it, and just can't get into it. Not sure if it's the fabric (35 ct. Marva's Breakfast Blend)...but it always ends up frustrating me so it gets but away. Siobhan gave me the chart a long time ago, because I'd fallen in love with it when seeing her finish, I really do love the design so much....sigh....

My next attempt was the Adam & Eve sampler by The Goode Huswife....meh....



love the fabric, design, etc. but it just caused my shoulder and hand some grief, as it's 40 ct. and sometimes I struggle with that now (which is sad, cause it's always been my favorite)....heavy sigh....

So finally, the past couple of weeks, I've been able to focus on this Mary Beale sampler...just the top left corner flower was done on it when I'd tossed it aside a few years ago, and this is how far along I am on it now (almost halfway)....



I'm a little reluctant to post this when it's finished, as it came from one of her newsletters way back when, only subscribers could get it I think...what were those called? Pocketbook Needlework, something like that? There were several designs in each issue and this one came in installments, over four newsletters? Not sure. A friend gave me the charts when she was done stitching hers. I'm not sure which edition it was in, so maybe I won't post it when it's done since I know so little about it. I get emails all the time about things I've posted here, that are out of print, and I just don't know enough about it to be of any help to anyone. Maybe someone else knows and can fill me in.




Anyway, I love it, and am happy that I've been able to stick with it for so long. So far. LOL. Every time I say "so far" at the end of a sentence like that, I think of a line out of my all time favorite movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"...where Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney are trying to fly and land a plane they get stuck in after the pilot (played by Jim Backus) gets knocked out ("what could happen to an Old Fashion" lol)...they are talking to an air traffic control guy and they're pretty much freaking out and the control officer is trying to calm them down...he's on the radio with them and says "I want to congratulate you men on doing such a great job. So far." Cracks me up every time...because, you know. They're in the air after all and still need to land the plane ;) My hubby and I quote so many lines out of that movie (along with Planes, Trains and Automobiles; The Great Race; The Money Pit...) Pretty silly, huh? :-)

***********************************************************************************

**edited personal details out 08/11/10...thank you SO much to everyone who reached out to me, either in the comments or through emails. You all helped me so much, more than you can know, and I'm forever grateful for your friendships! I have also closed and hidden comments for this post. They are still there, but only I can read them, and I cherish each one. Again, thank you so much!**

sarah esh

Another Sarah, this one from Carriage House Samplings

Stitched on 32 count Picture This Plus Ale...

with two strands DMC thread

a most enjoyable stitch!

It's starting to warm up here. Another good reason to not do housework! Yesterday I vacuumed and swept the whole house in the morning, and was drenched in sweat perspiration by the time it was done. (I wanted to say drenched in sweat, but my Mama always said "Ladies don't sweat, they perspire", so there. ;-) )

Anyway, next time I vacuum I may end up with just a leaf covering me, like Eve!

And yeah, not in the mood to cook either, perspiring over a hot stove is just not my thing! The crockpot comes in handy in the summer, don't you think? Although...it can warm the house up too. At least our house, which is not that big. I am thinking of putting it (the crockpot) out in the sun room and letting it do it's thing out there, we keep the door to that room closed off when it's too hot, or too cold, unless we're sitting out there.

Anyway, here's a good crockpot recipe for you, Shredded Beef for Burritos.

We just tried it last week and it was DELICIOUS! And if you have leftovers, they are even better! We got some freshly made tortillas from Central Market, the butter kind and the southwest kind, which are a little bit spicy, put the meat and some cheese inside and rolled them up. YUM!!

PS. I used the Kroger brand taco sauce, the hot one, 10 oz. It was cheaper than the Ortega brand (which had 8 oz in it) and it turned out perfectly!

Thanks for visiting my blog! I noticed on my stat counter that I'm almost at 70,000 hits, which is BIG for little ol' me ;-) My friend Patti and I were are our LNS last week, Needlework Boutique (which is a dream to shop at, they have everything!) and ran into some sweet ladies who had just read my blog and seen the  BBD piece I'd posted, which was laying there on the table.

Small world, huh?

(Hi Amy, Hi Trish!)

Mary's Best Handework

Here's what I've been working on the past week or so, and managed to finish up the other night...



The design is from With thy Needle & Thread, and is called Mary's Best Handework



it is stitched on 30 count WDW Parchment linen with DMC threads, two over two, and measures around 9.5 by 12.5 inches...



a very enjoyable stitch!



I loved the reds in this the most, followed by the sheep in the grass and the little doggie. (WHICH, by the way, I noticed after I posted this.....is TAIL-LESS!!!! OMG! So, I will have to go back and fix it, because seriously, TAIL-LESS???? No way. Click here to see how he should look!)



I'd love to pass along the chart, which has been gently used of course ;-)
If you'd like to have it, let me know and I'll draw a name for it next Wednesday, May 5th.

Have a great weekend y'all!

Oh, and for those of you wondering, the rosemary plant is still alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)