the good, the bad and the stitchy

Ok, which should I start with? I say the good - we got an offer on our house!! Yay!! Now we begin packing in earnest. We've gotten rid of some stuff but not really packed. The next month will be so busy that I am not sure I will be posting much but if you want to see pictures I will post them on my Instagram. I really love that app - I have over 100 followers - something I could not manage to do here. Guess people would rather see pictures than "hear" me blather on about stuff! Anyway - IG is cricketbug33. Another good thing is I got to watch a bird family build a nest, have eggs, hatch them and see the babies fly away. The one ugly spot about it - Ryder smokes but him being outside at all hours of the night has prevented the raccoons from stealing the eggs from the nests on the porch. This is our first and only batch of babies. It has also kept the deer from eating all my flowers - but still, smoking is so bad.



parents feeding



one baby head



getting ready to leave the nest

There were three babies and I got to see two of them leave the nest. They were all sitting out there with just their heads poking up and Scott went out to move the hummingbird feeder and he said - "what are you guys lookin' at?" and they all ducked down - it was super cute!!

I am skipping the bad and going to stitchy - that way if you don't want any part of the bad you can leave after the stitchy. I have a finish



Boo and Baa-bbie With Thy Needle

  I really love this piece. I have Patriotic Poppies - it also has felt flowers on it and I can't wait to start it. I changed the threads - stitch from stash. EXCEPT I didn't change the sheep color - I even ordered the right thread and it hardly shows up - I think I have that problem on every project. blah! I finished the plums on Teresa Wentzler's Fruit Bell Pull





 and started the cherries



I finished page 3 which was the halfway point on Tiramisu and started page 4



Oh I have another finish - it's not ironed - sorry 



Barbara Ana Designs - Autumn Tree 

It was in Cross Stitch and Needlework Nov 2013 issue but you can also buy it online. Now I am on Pleasant Unity by Stoney Creek - I am hating this project. I have a frog sitting right in the middle of that thing. It's an easy - even boring pattern but I am ready to throw it away. With all the things going on on my head I just don't have the patience to deal with this mess. I am plugging on though - I guess I like the torture of stitching it twice.  



BAH

And now the bad. My daughter got married last Sunday and didn't tell us. We found out because her wife posted pictures on Facebook. She had stopped talking to us awhile ago because she says I'm a racist, she had posted this incorrect data on her blog and when my husband told her that wasn't fair nor was it true she opened a new blog so we wouldn't know what she was posting and only answered in one word answers when we would text her. She's been trying to find an excuse to stay away from us for years. We see through her bs and she doesn't want her version of her life story to have any truth shining on it. Her wife - Lindsay invited her parents. I was surprise because Taylor - or as she is now called - Vivian - railed against these people for years, saying they are unclean, drug addicts, kleptos and mean but I guess she could be lying about them too. So, I am going to close the door on the past it's apparently what she wants. Easier said than done. 

So that's it - the good, the bad, and the stitchy. Now I have to pull myself out of this funk and pack a house which is not as easy as it sounds - the packing part is fine but the funky part is a little harder. Hope you are all enjoying the ridiculously hot heat we are now having - uhhhhhhhhh I am a sweaty disgusting mess. Stay cool babies and thanks for stopping by!!        

                                          

I hear....

grumbling in the distance - by the end of this post - you will too! Hello.... hope you are having a good week - wait, it's only Monday.... Yeah, staying home does tend to make you confused as to what day it is. I should have remembered since it was just the weekend. We took Ryder out to dinner at the Oceannaire for his 23rd birthday.

The food was good - the first time Scott and I ate there the food was amazing - this time it was just "good". We heard Mario Andretti was there too - 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 is this year - the city is very busy!! He could have danced on my table and I wouldn't have known who he was though. You know your kid is growing up when he asks for clothes for his birthday - so we bought him some shirts and boots. We also took him with us to see Captain America. The movie was good - 3D is always fun.We even went to the mall - it was a good weekend!! I don't have much to post about this time. I thought a shorter post would be good. I do have a finish - Brenda Gervais - One Starry Christmas Eve

I didn't put the pots or the reindeer. I think the Santa is adorable alone. I did use different colors - as usual I used what I have instead of buying. The belle soie silks are $7.29 a skein and there are 13 of them on this project - ouch. There is a DMC alternative list but I like the variegated look so I used the Classic Colorworks that I have on hand - of course if you want to know what colors I used just email me and I will tell you. My red fabric isn't the called for count because when I bought it 123Stitch only had 36 and 40. So 36 was the winner. I love it - So very cute! I am working on another Brenda Gervais in Santa's spot in the rotation. I got quite a bit done.The white of the sheep isn't showing very well - I always have that problem.  

Boo and Baa-bbie

 I love the felt she added to the flowers - love Brenda Gervais designs!!! I'm pretty sure she is annoyed with me though - I've emailed her several times - yeah I'm that person.  Anyway, I rotate on Sunday so I am actually back to the Teresa Wentzler Fruit bell pull as of last night. Oooh the popcorn stitching - ahhhhh.   Here is the grumbling you heard like thunder in the distance- and up on my soapbox - today's rant is about ebay and other places that sell "used" patterns. I love to acquire patterns - I think we all do. Which is why most of us have SABLE (stash amassed beyond life expectancy). when I sell my patterns on ebay or the other place,  I look up the lowest price on the internet (usually 123 stitch)  and put my starting price at half of that. I am completely irritated that on ebay - and another facebook pattern selling spot that I frequent - people list prices at the highest price - or the price they paid. Yes, we make working copies so our patterns are basically brand new but still. So, I look at what is for sale - I see the price they want and then I find it on the internet - all the patterns I wanted so I don't have to buy one from here and one from there and pay extra shipping. I then buy them all at once - for cheaper - brand new - from a shop.I am basically using the facebook pattern group to see all the different patterns because I certainly can't buy them from there - far too expensive. I feel like my patterns are special and wonderful too - I still sell them for cheap. Ok Mabel - get off the soapbox the quarter is for the beer (that was for my husband - he will appreciate the mix up)  Our house has been on the market 4 days and no showings - Scott says I'm impatient. (he actually said impossible - I am both *shrug* whaddya gonna do?) Oh I almost forgot to talk about the yogurt mom and I made when she was here!! She gave a yogurt incubator last time I was at her house. We were supposed to make some and never got around to it. I used THIS recipe. As usual I was yakking (you think my posts are long you should be here with me -yak yak yak sheesh. My grandmother used to pay me to be quiet. I told my husband he should try it) I used a half a gallon of whole milk and one container of plain Oikos yogurt. I went to put it in the little containers that come with the incubator and I had a half a pot left over. I used a regular stainless steel sauce pan. So I put a lid on the rest - turned on the oven light and put it in the oven for 12 hours - poured off the whey and refrigerated it - it was fantastic!! Both the pan and the incubator yogurts turned out the same! Good to know. I'm adding pictures of the flowers that I planted - and the rose bush. Well, I better get out of here before this gets any longer. Hope you have a great week - thanks for stopping by.      

Now we're cookin'

Today the realtor comes to take pictures and list the house. Now that we've done all this work I'm sad to see it go - but after we've done all this work I am glad to see it go. I'm excited not to have to work so hard on the place I live! So, as soon as I said we never have visitors Ryder came home from school. He has been struggling and needed to come home. Some regular sleep and a few home cooked meals will help get him on the right path. (a bonk on the head might help too) Then my mom came to visit!!  We had so much fun - except the part where I made her work her little fingers to the bone! The first day she was here I took her shopping and then hiking! We actually letterboxed but it was also a 1.8 mile hike. It was fun! The next day I made her help me redo the rocking chair she brought me. It was originally a wedding gift to my grandparents. Then mom redid it for my baby room when I had my first kid. Then it ended up in storage. Now it's back with me

before

during - that's my mom - isn't she a cutie!

after

We used quilt squares my grandmother made - there were only two that matched. I don't know why there were only two but it worked out perfectly. It's a little poofy on the bottom but that wont last long. We had a good time working on it - and only spent $15 on supplies!! Then the next day I put her to work in the garden! She weeded two rows between the bushes and a huge area in the front. We put down black mulch - we only had to go back three times for mulch darn it all!!

I also planted two planters full of flowers but I didn't take a picture. Monday we went letterboxing again but didn't have much luck. We had lunch at a cute tea shop - that was fun!! It was great to have her here and I really appreciate all the help. She left this morning - boo.
 I haven't' stitched much - here is my updated Tiramisu

The Bothy threads kit came - I opened it and accidentally laid it on the sticky strip on the packaging and ripped off part of the pattern - **sigh**

all the way across - grrr

I've emailed them to see if they can send a picture of just that spot. The fabric is lovely and I can't wait to work on it!!

color is brighter in person

The rotation is currently on One Starry Christmas Eve by Brenda Gervais (converted to Crescent Colours)

I have to say I was pretty impressed with the tree removal guys. We had the big tree out front removed - they had to come take some limbs off it first. It was scary because I live on a steep incline. The tallest bucket truck in Indiana (their claim not mine) came out and did as much as they could but couldn't reach the highest limbs - I'm tellin' ya - these trees are monstrous!

The picture doesn't really show you the crazy incline - he said it was scary because of the incline and being on a hill made it seem like he was higher. I really wanted to see the thing come down but I missed it - bummer. They have been logging for 40 years. They have 6 deaf employees - at first I thought they were just signing to each other because it is so loud but one of the guys was talking to me without using his voice - I was impressed.
I want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Shelly at An Arizona Stitcher she sent me her copy of the Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine I was looking for - Thank you Shelly I hope one day I can return the favor!!
Well, I better get ready for the realtor - I hope selling goes quick and easy - exciting!!

awe

this little piggy..

Wanted to put it's house on the market! Today I have workers at my house fixing the walls from the tree falling. We are still waiting on the roof to be repaired and we still have the  HUGE dead tree that needs to come down. Like I said in the last post, we never did much to the kitchen because we were going to remodel it. Above the stove there used to be a microwave - really dumb because there wasn't much clearance between it and the stove. The guy who sold us the house had used that cabinet refinish junk on the cabinets and left it here - so we did that to the microwave hole haha

before

after

Doesn't look bad at all! This weekend Scott and I raked the entire yard and then mowed it. The yard here is huge and bumpy - exhausting!

This is an old picture and snowy - but see how big and steep that yard is? Seriously, almost killed me!

I caught a frog in the yard and this guy. I touched its tail with the rake and it coiled up - I think it bit itself on accident! pretty ferocious! It is now under the porch - as long as it eats mice I'm ok with that! Yard work was just one more thing that had to be done before we could list the house - want nice pictures after all. So, the house is almost ready to go on the market - if we could just get the other people to come do their stuff..... The only stitching I have to show is one week worth on Pleasant Unity

I have taken out almost as many stitches as I have put in. Luckily I am done working on it for 3 weeks. I am anxious to finish it because I will put Bothy Threads - Mad Hatter's Tea Party in it's place.

picture from the internet

 I found the kit on etsy for $36 - with shipping - great price!! Seller is Hixxysoft. Currently I'm working on Glendon Place Tiramisu.
When contemplating packing I look at all the framed things we have on the walls. I love all of it of course. We do have a fun wall called The Wall of Shame. Scott found a folder with all these certificates we had gotten - from as far back as elementary school! We bought a bunch of cheap frames and hung them all up

some of them are awesome!

locks of love - Scott donated hair

Q clearance - ohhhhh

Scott got good citizenship in 1975-1976

Scott was the singer in this band Die Smiley

a bat we adopted at Carlsbad

I love looking at the wall - it's fun.
Does anybody have September 2008 Cross Stitch & Needlework that they are willing to sell to me? I know it's hard to find because of the Nora Corbett in it (which you can buy at Herrschners) - but I need it for the door hangers series. It looks like this....

Well, I guess that is all I have to talk about. Hope you are having a nice Spring. Thanks for stopping by!

bits and bobs

Hello!
 We finally have a contractor coming at the end of this week or the beginning of next week to start working on the tree falling repairs. There are 4 puncture wounds and some cosmetic stuff so it shouldn't take long. There were things around the house we were going to change eventually so we just left them half done - and now we have to finish that stuff. First thing was our fridge didn't fit in the fridge hole.We had a fridge when we lived in Colorado. It broke - we had someone come fix it and it broke again. After several service calls the company we bought the fridge from claimed the fridge was not fixable and we should stop trying - apparently a wire inside broke. We were a month or so outside of the warranty and they said they would do nothing to help except give us 10% off a new fridge. My husband was mad. So every ten days we had to empty the fridge - putting all the stuff in the garage fridge and turn off the fridge for a day then turn it on and move everything back. I put up with this for quite a few months and one day there was water on the floor from the fridge and I said that's it!!! We went and bought a new fridge (not the same brand - we wont buy Frigidaire for our home again)  - a few months later we moved (damn it) the people who bought the house didn't want to pay for the fridge and since we were still paying on it - we brought it to Indiana. Well it's a big one - French doors and bottom freezer. We thought one day we would remodel the kitchen and then our big fridge would fit - so it sat in an awkward spot in the kitchen.

it used to sit there on the right were the cabinet is now. It was awkward because there is a counter between it and the stove - silly.Well, that is what it looks like now - we moved the big fridge to the garage and bought a little fridge for the fridge hole (hee hee)

I also painted all the wood in the stairway - we were going to refinish the wood and put little braided rugs on the steps but it is easier to paint it.

before

after

before

after

 

We have taken several loads to the salvation army. We have made some other repairs - but nothing exciting to look at. Ok, enough about the house. On to stitching...
I got a new pattern - of course I needed it!

Glendon Place - Red Velvet Cake.It will go into the rotation when Glendon Place Tiramisu is done.  I even ordered the called for fabric - yikes it was expensive. I thought I needed a half a yard but I probably could have gotten away with a quarter. It would have been tight to frame but it would have saved me 26 bucks. Oh well. I stalled on my rotation for awhile so I could finish all those pillows. I am back on track. Here is where I am on the Teresa Wentzler fruit bell pull as of Sunday night

sorry about the lighting

I removed the Heaven and Earth Design from my rotation. My WIP box had four things in it. One of those Brooks books angels - which I sent to a friend. She can finish it and will enjoy it more than I would because I just don't know what to do with those angels. Two more Teresa Wentzlers - when the bell pull is done one of those will take it's place. The last WIP is an Amish thing called Pleasant Unity from Stoney Creek I started in 2003. It's cute but I am sure I only started it because of the buttons. There weren't that many patterns with embellishments at the time and I was excited to order them from the back of the magazine and get to do something different. Well, I didn't get very far

So, I added it to the rotation but I don't like the fabric I picked 13 years ago (yikes) so I picked out a new fabric. Look how cute those buttons are!!

It made me think of the first time I ever ordered embellishments from the back of a magazine - before the internet. I was sure it wouldn't work. Now I get stuff in the mail regularly! My first embellishment project was Pageant Kings by Sandy Orton

kreinik braid - I was thrilled! The picture doesn't do it justice - the detail is wonderful! In 2015 I finished Orchard Valley Quilting Bee by Little House Needleworks and Scott made me a beautiful frame. He painted it white and didn't like it - he painted it red and didn't like it - third time is a charm!!

for some weird reason the picture doesn't show the crackle except in two spots - but the whole thing has the crackle and I love it!!

Shepherd's Bush Over the River

 I have a finish!!! It got wrinkled on it's trip to the shop to pick up buttons and  haven't ironed it again.

 I bought these on Amazon - erasable highlighter pens mostly for stitching but also for school. I love the pastels.
Well, I have to go paint another thing in the kitchen - I will show you next time. Hope you are having lovely Spring weather!! Thanks for stopping by!