• New Designs

    Market Releases

    Okay, no more sneaks, since the cat's out of the bag anyway! 🙂 Here are the three releases that will be available at the St. Charles market later on this month…

    Meet Boris; he's Olga's "companion"…

    Boris model email 

    This is Dust of Snow (the poem was written by Robert Frost)…

    Dust of Snow email 

    And finally, here is Sea Hag…

    Sea Hag model email

    I hope you like them!

  • New Designs

    Market Sneak #1

    The St. Charles needlework market is just a couple of weeks away, and I've been printing like mad, mad, mad. I've only got 3 charts to release this time, but it's all I could manage! I showed you a sneak peek at Sea Hag a few weeks ago, and here's another. I had a lot of fun stitching this one…

    Sea hag tp 2 

    The frame, by Valley House Primitives, is outstanding! Janet and Joy are calling this texture "Hag's Hair," which makes me laugh…

    Sea hag tp 1 

    And here's one for my picture-taking friends Robin and Jaime (who needs to take up stitching as well as photography!)…  😉

    Sea hag tp 3 

    I hope you like Sea Hag! I'll have more sneaks soon!

    Sea hag tp 4 

  • Crazy Kids

    ‘Tis the Season!

    I absolutely love the start of football season – high school, college, pro… not necessarily bc I understand the rules of the game very well or I'm ready for Fantasy Football drafting to begin, but rather for the simple excitement it brings to seemingly everyone – young and old alike. Perfect strangers will stand around in the gas station, chatting about this play or that, and sports bars everywhere are filled with menfolk who have donned their favorite jerseys.

    Sophie is a huge fan of football season too, mostly for the hundreds of spicy garlic chicken wings she and her dad will consume at Buffalo Wild Wings during gametime(s). And although the high school games don't offer chicken wings at the concessions stand, there is plenty of popcorn and candy to share with friends – which is exactly what Sophie did last weekend.

    She and two of her gal pals decided they were going to give themselves makeovers and get dressed up in Wildcats colors to cheer on their future high school's team.

    Here is her "before" picture…

    Game tp 12 

    And here is her "after" picture!

    Game tp 11 

    She then realized that tickets cost money, so she sheepishly approached her dad, who is always ready to help his homegirl out…

    Game tp 9 

    However, since Sophie is a sensitive soul, she felt it necessary to ask, "Are you sure, Dad?"

    Game tp 10 

    And since Sophie is a clever child, she never asks a question without first knowing the answer. 😉

    So she happily walked a couple of houses down to meet up with her gal pals, cash in hand.

    Game tp 5

    Game tp 4

    Game tp 2

    Game tp 7

    Game tp 8

    Game tp 3

    Game tp 6

    Watch out, Class of 2018. These girls have spirit, yes they do.

    Game tp 1

  • Holidays,  Stitching

    Love and Joy

    I got my Just Cross Stitch holiday ornament issue yesterday, so I guess that means I can share these now. I really enjoyed designing this ornament, and was very happy to be invited to submit one this year…

    Christmas JCS email 1 

    Christmas JCS email 2 

    Christmas JCS email 3 

    The only problem is, every single time I see it I immediately start singing the Christmas carol in my head, for at least an hour afterward. I suppose that's okay though, bc I really love Christmas carols.

    Love and Joy to you  – and Happy Memorial Day too!

    ETA: Thank you, Bonnie, for pointing out to me that it is NOT Memorial Day today. It's LABOR Day! Oh good grief. See what happens when I blog without caffeine?

  • Crazy Kids,  Saturday Reblog

    Saturday Reblog

    A little while ago I was browsing through my old Xanga blog for a particular picture, and I ran across a couple of Breanna's "Coaster Cams," taken when our family rode roller coasters in Adventureland, Disney World, and Worlds of Fun. As I sat here watching them, I started laughing so hard, remembering what a crazy girl my Breanna can be.

     

    The Mamba Coaster Cam from Paulette Stewart on Vimeo.

    Expedition Everest Coaster Cam from Paulette Stewart on Vimeo.

    Amusement parks are getting much more strict about allowing cameras on board their roller coasters, so I'm not sure I'll have the pleasure of being Bre's coaster companion again.

    But it was a fun ride while it lasted. 😉

    (Btw, I never did find that photo I was looking for.)

  • Crazy Kids

    No, Nein, Non.

    When Breanna and Sabrina were little, they were involved in pretty much everything available to them – soccer, cheerleading, swim team, piano, band, choir, gymnastics, book club, and dance. And I'm sure there were other things. Eventually, I had to start phasing out many of their activities bc I was just plain tired of living in the car, and I'm sure they were too.

    Guess what. It's Sophie's turn. Only this time, I'm actually saying NO to things, and so far Sophie is handling that just fine. Still, her schedule is quite busy, which is something she's not used to. My Sophie has always been a homebody, and very content to be so. But recently, she's decided to add a few things to her daily routine besides snuggling up to her mom on the couch…

    1. She tried out for the school's swing choir and made it! 🙂

    1a. I said NO to piano lessons, bc although she SWORE to me that she'd practice faithfully and never complain about having to go to her lessons, I know this to be false. Experience is the best teacher, and I got plenty of experience last year when I had to drag her to Mrs. Nabel's house every Thursday night.

    2. She is playing soccer for a second season, and moved from a recreational league to a little more challenging one…

    Soccer tp 1

    2a. I said NO to gymnastics, bc the last time she was in gymnastics, she was angry that they expected her to learn a proper somersault instead of getting straight to the heart of why she joined in the first place: to learn a triple round-off backhandspring with a full-out 360 twist at the end. (Breanna, please don't shoot me for not using correct tumbling lingo.)

    3. She joined the YMCA's volleyball team again…

    (There she is, going for the ball in the background.)

    Vball tp 1

    3a. I said NO to cheerleading bc the last time she was in a tumbling class, she was furious that they wanted her to learn a proper somersault instead of getting straight to the heart of why she wanted to be a cheerleader in the first place: to do a quadruple round-off backhandspring while being thrown in the air by her team of bases and landing in an arabesque atop a 4-tiered pyramid. (Again, Breanna, wipe that look off your face.)

    4. She joined band, opting to learn the clarinet…

    Clarinet tp 1

    Clarinet tp 3

    Clarinet tp 2

    4a. I said NO to orchestra bc I already owned a $1200 clarinet and didn't feel like coughing up twice that for a violin. Plus, I feel sorry for the poor horse that gets his tail hairs pulled just to string the instrument.

    5. The reason her hair is in a crazy 'do in her clarinet photos is bc she tried out for the swim team and made it! She's been on the wait list to try out for over a year, and has been practicing as much as she can during that entire time, preparing herself for the one day she'd get a chance to make the team.

    5a. I said NO to horseback riding lessons bc I didn't want her getting any more ideas about violin lessons.

    Btw, Sophie is also in Student Council, which means she has to attend monthly meetings at school. Today she ran for the Student Council President, and had to give a speech in front of 81 students. If I was an eligible voter, I'd have most certainly voted YES for Sophie! (I did ask her if I could come watch her speech, to which she replied, "Well… umm… it's just that… you're a mom."

    So that's what it feels like to be told NO. Okay, I can handle that – no biggie. But if she continues to tell me NO, I'll just tell her how much fun I used to have watching Breanna do those quintuple round-off backhandsprings with double-fulls, landing atop her base's shoulders just after doing an airborne Hercules, all the while playing her violin with a riding crop.

    And then Breanna would have to hurry and get ready for piano lessons.)

  • Stitching

    Finishes!

    These are way overdue… It's always so much fun to get these – I just wish I was quicker about posting them!

    This is Lisa's "Hares' Fathers Day" finish… she made it into an easel to set on her Dad's computer desk (and she said he liked it! I'm so happy!)…

    Hare's Father's Day front

    And here's the side…

    Hare's Father's Day side

    What a great way to finish this, Lisa! (Say hi to your dad for me.)

    This next finish is from Cathy Lloyd, and it took her 6 months to do… but she said she "enjoyed every minute of it," so for that I can breathe a huge sigh of relief. 🙂 I can't remember how long it took me to stitch it, but I do remember going through a lot of audiobooks to reach the end. Here is Cathy's "Paradise Lost," framed by the one-and-only Jill Rensel…

    IMG_6016

    And another view…

    IMG_6019

    Cathy, this is outstanding! Beautiful work!

    And finally we have a "My Pretties" finish by Cathi…I love how she finished this!

    DSC04911

    I never really thought about how this design doesn't have to be Halloween-themed. Cathi, you did a great job of looking at it from a different perspective.. your finishing fabric is so pretty!

    Thank you SO MUCH for sending me your finish photos. I am always humbled when I realize that there are people out there who actually like what I come up with. I am truly blessed.

  • Family,  Good Things

    Viola’s Quilts

    The last time we were in Kansas, we spent the entire week trying to clean out Mike's parents' things, and ended up having a 4-day garage sale for the sheer volume of items that we had no room for in our house. Sophie manned the checkout line, I tried to keep tables and signs organized, and Mike brought out box after box after box after boxboxbox of things, finding storage areas in his parents' home that none of us knew existed.

    Every so often I'd look around the garage to see what new items he had brought out.  And that's when I spotted it: a bulging vinyl bag, stashed in with all of the other clothing and candle holders and dog toys. I pulled out the bag and unzipped it, revealing  – not one – but THREE very old hand-pieced quilts.

    I sputtered and twitched and tried to keep my composure, quite shocked at what I'd found. And even more shocked that Mike had chosen to add that dusty old vinyl bag to the sale without looking inside of it first. When I told my friend Kim about it, she said, "And that's how old quilts end up in garage sales: MEN!"

    All three quilts appeared to have some sort of water damage on them, outside of the regular wear and tear. They were all made by Jimmy's (my father in-law) grandmother, who helped raise him after his mother died when Jimmy was three years old.

    Here is a photograph of Jimmy's grandparents, Homer and Viola…

    Stewart tp 2 

    And here is Jimmy as a baby…

    Stewart tp 3 

    This next photo makes me smile bc Jimmy's father, James Leonard, is hiding behind his son, trying to make it look like Jimmy was in the chair all by himself. (It makes me smile bc I used to do this with my girls when they were babies.)

    Stewart tp 4 

    The three quilts were actually given to Jimmy by his Grandma Viola, Mike explained to me. This one was my very favorite, bc of the happy colors and pattern…

    Quilt tp 2

    Quilt tp 1

    Quilt tp 4

    Quilt tp 3

    I'm so happy these were found before they were sold! (I declined to photograph the other two bc of the obvious water damage and tearing.)

    I never knew Viola, but I imagine she was a wonderfully sweet lady, and I bet she and I would have gotten along just fine. 🙂

    Viola Stewart