My oldest baby girl turns 20 today. She's grown into such a lovely, sophisticated young woman.
Well, she could be sophisticated, if she wanted to be.
Happy Birthday, Breanna! I love you so much.
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Finishes!
This is from Becky in Rhode Island, whose friend got married on Halloween, so she stitched Halloween Hornbook as a wedding sampler…
The couple's initials were J and L, so she adapted that block. And I love the date on the bottom!
This one is from Conny, who finished Autumn Blessings into a box.. she stitched it on a 32 ct. vintage orange linen… What a great idea! Love that sunflower yellow ric-rac…
Here is the latest freebie, Adore Him, which was stitched by Noelle and sent to me the day after I posted it. Fast work, Noelle! I LOVE the variegated thread…
My cousin, Rachel, just started stitching, and she chose one of my earlier freebies for her first piece. I'm sooooo proud of you, Rachel!!! Your stitching is perfect! How come you aren't stitching my models for me? 🙂
And finally, here is Carole's version of The Queen's Sampler – Elizabeth I. She used a metallic for the gold, and Caron's "Snow" for Elizabeth's collar. Then she had the fabulous Jill Rensel frame it! It's gorgeous, Carole!
Thank you so much for sharing your finishes with me. I'm honored!
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Home Again
My girl is back home, and that makes me a happy mom. 🙂
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It’s a Wrap!
Friday is here, and I'm spending it drinking hot cranberry tea and wrapping presents while the kids are at school.
Hopefully this one won't leave me any unexpected "presents" on the carpet today.
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Dixit
In case I haven't mentioned it before, I am NOT a fan of bored games.
Not not not.
However, last week Mike suddenly produced a game he felt sure I would love. I told him that if there were game pieces or rules to be read, I wouldn't; he could trust me on that. But he persisted, so I gave in. Besides, he looks so sad when he plays games by himself. I sometimes see him looking around to see if anyone is watching, and when he thinks there isn't, he'll get up from his seat and move to the seat across the table and pretend to be a friendly opponent who just dropped in to enjoy a rousing game of Boardom.
I'm totally kidding. He usually just sets up the game and waits for anyone at all to show up.
Anyway, I gave in to his persuasion, and was introduced to a game I actually liked. It's called Dixit. The game includes the most interesting cards I've ever seen, each one a fragment of different works of art looking like they came from a beautifully-illustrated children's book. Each player gets a hand of cards, and on their turn they choose one of their cards (without showing which one they chose) and describe it to the other players by saying a word, sentence, singing a song, or miming.
After the players consider the clue you've given, they choose a card from their hand that most matches the clue you just gave. The trick is to give a clue that is mysterious to some, yet easily guessed by others. It's an interesting balancing act if you want your little rabbit game piece to move ahead.
Here's a card I played. My hint to Mike and Sophie was this: "I didn't know death would be like this." (I thought the man with the walking stick looked like he had a choice as to whether he wanted to take the stairway up or down, so that's the clue I gave.)
When all the cards were revealed and the play was over, here was the card Sophie played. Remember, my clue was "I didn't know death would be like this."
R O T F L O L.
Brilliant.
At long last, I have a game I could recommend to families. However, much to my husband's chagrin, I am not a converted gamer. As far as his finding friendly opponents, he'll have to continue being his own worst enemy.
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Hopeful
Sophie's school had a Sheridan's Custard Night this past week, so I told her she could invite a friend and we'd go. Back in the summer, we allowed the Chin to come along with us, and she gulped down her doggy-custard in one swallow. (I wonder how brain-freeze feels to a dog.)
This time, it was the Yorkie's turn, and she. was. ecstatic. She could not believe her good fortune at having been invited to come along to Sheridan's in the family car. (She still doesn't understand that if she'd stop her screeching at everything she sees outside the window, she'd be invited to lots more places.)
After we'd placed our orders and drove up to the window, the Yorkie suddenly stopped her screeching and gazed with wonder at something inside…
What was it that held her in such rapture?
Why, it was a wall full of photographs! Photographs of dogs eating custard!
I decided to forego asking the drive-thru girl to take the Yorkie's photo and I took out my phone camera instead.
Here she is, after jumping back to her seat, anxiously waiting for whatever it was she thought she was getting…
The excitement was palpable.
Finally, her prize arrived!
And when she had finished and we drove away, she went back to screeching.
One of these days I'm going to videotape her for you all, bc I have a feeling you don't believe me when I tell you that she is Satan's spawn.
These two can vouch for me.
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Inspired!
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the home of Darlene Andersen, who used to co-own a cross stitch shop called Treasured Stitches. When Breanna was still in her stroller, Mom and I would walk up to the shop and admire all the sampler models on the walls, and then I'd add to my ever-growing collection of Fanci That and Shepherd's Bush patterns.
The shop closed eventually, and Darlene began traveling and lecturing on the history of Adam and Eve samplers (are you hearing this, Siobhan?). She has stitched 55 of them (if I'm not mistaken), and invited me over to take a look. I brought my camera with me, but truly had not realized just how many samplers she had hanging on her walls, or I'd brought a wide-angle lens. Please forgive me for the tight photos – I literally had no more room to back up!
Here are some laying on a bed, waiting for a place to hang…
This one is Darlene's favorite…
And this one was mine…
Hi Darlene! (Darlene was looking upward into her hallway, answering all my questions about her stitching.)
Hey Kim, remember Frances Eden? She's on my list of things I WILL complete for 2011! (Kim let me adopt her half-finished Frances bc she changed her mind on the fabric and fibers. I was more than happy to take it off her hands!)
This is one that Darlene calls her "Bubblegum Adam and Eve" bc of their bright pink complexions! (LOVE this one.)
I was astounded at all the Mary Beale stockings Darlene had stitched! And she did them all in a year!
She also had a gorgeous tree in her sun room, full of all of the ornaments she has stitched over the years. I can't recall how many she said there were, but they are all wonderful…
She had even taken my Eliza Pennance chart and stitched it 4 times, in memory of 4 of her loved ones that had passed. You can see one of them in the bottom left of the photo below…
What a lovely tree!
Darlene, thank you so much for allowing me to take photos of your stunning handwork. Your samplers are beautiful, and I came away feeling completely inspired to stitch and design! Your home truly is filled with treasured stitches.
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How Did She Do That?
Sophie has been terribly under the weather lately, coughing and sneezing and getting more than her share of aww-poor-baby hugs. Since she was tired of laying around, she decided to help out with the Christmas spirit around here and came up with a most beautiful decoration, now hanging from our dining room ceiling…
I love having this little elf around.
Btw, Mike is also really sick, but he doesn't know how to make cool snowflakes. He does, however, remind me of an overgrown elf.
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Tannenbaum Ampelmann and Joe
I finally got into the Christmas decorating mood the other day – despite no snow – and decided to go ahead and make the cinnamon ornaments that Tanya made over at The Scarlett House. I've been wanting to make them for years, but the only recipe I had involved an array of ingredients that were hard to come by, so I gave up on that one. Hers was much simpler, and even though my dough wasn't exactly the same thickness all around, I still enjoyed making them. And the house smelled wonderful!
Remember when Sabrina went to Germany and brought me back some Ampelmann cookie cutters? (Which, btw, are the coolest souvenir I've ever received!) I decided to use them as well as the traditional gingerbread men and stars…
I have a basketfull of ribbon spools, and I thought the red check was perfect.
When I hung them on the tree, I couldn't help but gaze at my favorite ornaments of all…
Magnificent…despite the neverending Japanese Chin hair that finds its way into everything. Grr.
Here is this year's edition…
Hi, Friday! I don't need your help boy, but thank you anyway!
Btw, I've had to move all of my Ampelmann ornaments to the top branches bc the Japanese Chin has decided that they look much better decorating the bottom of her kennel, all chewed into hundreds of pieces.
May your holiday season be filled with cutting cookies, and not cheese.
That wasn't necessary, I know.
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Last Release for 2010
I've had a lot of fun designing this past year, and I love all the people I've met through the process. I had so many ideas swirling around in my head (mostly after a hefty dose of coffee), but only had time to bring a handful to fruition. Which means the rest are either still swirling around in my head or they've been put to paper and stuffed into my "Future Designs" file folder. (Btw, when I've looked through this folder in the past, I've stumbled across many ideas that leave me scratching my head and thinking, "What on earth was I thinking?")
These little ornaments have been finished for quite a while now, but I never got around to releasing them. (Btw, thank you to my mom, who stitched Esther! I love you, Mom!)
Here is We Three…
Enjoy your Wednesday! I'll be busy trying to figure out what to release for market in February!