POP! and thoughts on my grey hair

KInda self-explanatory... but super cute, huh?

Right now I'm working on a baseball jersey to take to tomorrow's Stitch and Pitch!  I'm really looking forward to a nice day at the ballpark with some stitching ladies and a few of our husbands.  (We're also bringing a big bag of cash with us so that we can each buy a beer.)

Now, as for the hair:

Some of you may remember that two years ago, I decided to stop coloring my hair.  Since then, I've gone through quite a hair color transition, one of which was an identical match to WDW London Fog floss.  Believe me, it wasn't pretty.  But my hairdresser convinced me to soldier on and not give in to the panicky feeling that starts with looking in the mirror and thinking, "Oh my God, I'm SO grey!"  By now all the dyed parts have been cut from my hair, and the final result is that I'm all grey on top and brown beneath.  But it's mine and I love it.  Usually.

Because sometimes it's not easy.  Like when I'm with my family and I'm the greyest one in the room.  My mother and sisters are blonde.  Not natural blondes, though.  Although it was my mother's fondest wish to have blonde children, she soon discovered that we were all mouse-y brown, so she needed to start using Sun-In on our hair at a crazy-young age.  (yes, they still make it).  And she dyed her lovely, thick, chestnut-colored hair blonde and then never went back. I never understood that, but I suppose I've made hair and fashion choices that puzzle the heck out of my daughter, too.  Anyway, my sisters have kept up the tradition and keep their hair quite blonde.  My brothers are probably grey, too, but they sport buzz cuts, so who the heck knows?  It also doesn't help that actually AM the oldest sibling and my hair absolutely yells that fact.

And then the other day, a woman came into the office at the auto body shop, and none of the fellows recognized her.  She had gone from brown to blonde, but told them she had decided that it was time to stop coloring her hair and look her age, because, after all.....she was 60.  Really?  And suddenly I felt old, because I'm not even on the sidewalk to 60, let alone knocking on that door, and I'm probably much more grey than she is under that blondness.

None the less, just remembering the hassle of hair coloring and looking back at the photo of me with that variety of shades on my head - well, it gives me the shivers.  So I'm going to continue to embrace my grey.  Oldness be damned!

Don't worry, Ryan

I know, I'm late, late, late. The fireworks are over. But this little freebie kit I received from my dear, darlin' Sue was too cute to leave languishing in a WIP box till next year. I've actually finish-finished it as a scissor fob, but who knows what happened to that photo...

LK Freebie on 36 ct red linen with DMC

Summer plods on here at the house near the ex-lake.  We're just back from a trip south to take my son some furniture for his new digs.  It was a nice trip, even if it was to Georgia... in July.  But like most mothers, I'd happily tolerate visiting the surface of the sun a hot climate in the summer to see one of my kids.  Otherwise....Don't even ask me what I'm doing lately.  It's either:  a) too boring for words, or b) totally whiny.  But I'm certainly not getting much good, quality stitching time, that's for sure. 

Ryan would be so upset with me. 

All right Ryan, all right.  I'll stitch a little.  And then maybe while I'm stitching I'll come up with some interesting things to write about. 

Happy 4th!

Happily, I finished this on the 3rd.... Now to finish-finish it!

LK freebie.  Stitched with red and white DMC on 32ct. PTP Twilight linen

July SBQ

It's the first Monday of the month, so it's time for the monthly Stitching Bloggers Question!

Thanks to CinDC over at Pencil Crossings for asking this question and she calls it "July Fireworks"!

This statement is irritating: "Oh, I don't have the patience for stitching/crafting." How do you respond when you get that kind of statement? What's the best response you've ever heard/seen?

Now go to your blog and post an answer!

Hey You Guys!

OK, to clarify my pet "you guys" peeve, I honestly don't mind if a friend is talking and calls a group of us "you guys".  It's casual conversation so it's ok, but It's entirely different than a business or formal interaction.  For me, anyway. 

And because I'm feeling persnickety, I wish that people in the service industry would stop saying, "Not a problem" when you ask them for something.   SO annoying.  It makes me want to keep asking them things until they finally say, "Well...oh my.  That is a problem."  What's wrong with simply saying "yes"?   Or "certainly".  Heck, one time a waiter in Miami said, "Si senora" to me and I almost melted with joy!  I wouldn't go so far as to insist on the Chick-fil-A mantra "It's my pleasure", but even that's infinitely better than "Not a problem".

While I still don't have anything to show you from the weekend's class, I can share a link with you.  Donna over at Needleworker Not in Paradise took the same class in 2010.  Here's her finish.  And now that I'm looking more closely at Donna's version, I see how she added some personalization using two initials, simply by twisting them together.  Way to go Donna!  Only room for one initial?  Feh!  Donna solved that problem!  So you can see the beautiful stitching in my future!

Some progress, a class report and a pet peeve

I spent a wonderful two days taking two EGA sponsored classes from Pamela Darney. I honestly don't know where to begin! Pam teaches sampler making. The designs she brought and used for teaching were mostly all Quaker samplers with a few others tossed in, like a house sampler, a Pennsylvania German sampler and other ones whose names have escaped me. All were lovely to look at (and impossible to resist!), but the joy of the class was learning how to make samplers your very own. And not just Pam's samplers, but any sampler we may stitch by another designer, too. Some stitchers walked away ready to do their very own, start-from-scratch sampler. It was an awesome two days. We stitched, we ate some terrific meals and had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

BUT!  That brings me to my recent pet peeve.  I'm really tired of the whole "you guys" trend.  Arghhhhhh!  I mean, I understand it when people are speaking casually with each other.  As in, among friends.  And I understand it when entertainers use it.  Jimmy Fallon calls his audience "you guys" all the time and that doesn't bug me.  He's there to entertain me, not to interact with me.  But using the phrase "you guys", especially when talking to a group of women and when it's in a business situation....well, it sets my teeth on edge.  It's lazy.  It's sloppy.  It annoys the hell out of me. 

We stitchers - groups of women, with ages ranging from 50 - 70, were out to eat three times over the weekend, and two of those three times we were continually referred to as "you guys".  We were not guys.  Call us ladies.  Call us folks.  Or don't call us anything at all!  You don't need to say, "Are you guys ready to order?"  You can simply say, "Are you ready to order?".  Or "Is everyone ready to order?". 

Sometimes I want to get downright b*tchy and say something to the person who has just called me a guy.  I never do, but I sure do think it in my head. 

Besides that....they'd probably spit in my salad.

Moving on.  I don't have anything to show you from the class - that'll come later.  But Saturday evening after supper I put a few more stitches into LHN's Simple Joys.  It's a nice, simple carry-along project at this point, because I have very little counting left to do.

Maybe not a wannabe any more

I may have turned the corner from being a Wannabe Quaker Sampler stitcher to being a stitcher who actually picks up her needle and stitches them. I'll bet many of us are like that. We luuuuuurve certain designs or themes and we collect them but the actual stitching is only in our imagination.

For instance, I collected botanical designs for a while. Never stitched one. And then I collected bird charts, specifically Crossed Wing Collection charts. If I'm being generous with myself, I could say that I stitched one.  But actually, it was a chart of just a feather.  So, ummm.  Not really a bird.  Just a bird part, really.

Then there were the Cross Eyed Cricket charts that I collected.  The ones with the chubby little angel characters?  To be stitched as an afghan.  Yeah.  No.

But anyway!  Focusing on the positive, here's my fourth Quaker finish! 

Good Huswife's Quaker Four Corners, on PTP's Doubloon, using HDF BeRedded silk.

This was such a relaxing thing to pick up and boy-oh-boy, I've needed something relaxing and orderly to keep me sane lately. And this design is nothing if not orderly.  Except that one smallish corner - the top left one.  But I'm not going to let it bug me.  I'm calling it authentic.

I'll tell you why I crave order. 

We've been emptying my MIL's house and moving furniture and it's more disruptive than I'd like to admit.  Some of the furniture is coming here and I feel like there are so many things in my home that are in a "just waiting" stage.  Clothes that need to be put away are "just waiting" for the dressers to arrive.  Beds are set up and are "just waiting" for mattresses.  Boxes of dishes and kitchenware are stacked in the living room "just waiting" to be delivered to my son and my daughter.  And seriously....that's just the tip of the clutter iceberg.  I long for that feeling when you dust off your hands and say, "Well, that's done!"

Thank goodness for my stitching. 

Working at home

It's a beautiful day and there's a cool breeze blowing and sitting at my desk is killing me.   See - I know I have reports to complete and deposits to make and all kinds of other work nonsense staring me in the face, so what do I do?  Procrastinate.  Upload photos.  Write a blog post.   That'll show 'em.

So!  Last week I picked up some framing.  There's a little guy named Matt at my local* Michael's, and he has a very good eye for color.  I think this frame suited the style and color of this Quaker perfectly.

*(local = within 40 miles)

Mary Garry's "Peace", stitched with GAST Weathered Barn

Frame detail

I'm obviously on a red kick these days!  Dear darling Linda lent me this chart from a pack of charts recently published by Good Huswife.  I'm stitching it on PTP Doubloon Jobelan with HDF silk (BeRedded). What a relaxing design!  And I even stitched the alphabet correctly this time!

And finally, here's my newest start, Moira Blackburn's "Scottish Love" sampler (go here and scroll down), which she calls a "Small Sampler", but really?  It's quite big.  I've changed the fabric from ivory to a PTP color, but I stuck with the good ol' sturdy DMC for stitching. 

Scrumptious colors!

You know, two things have struck me when I've been among stitching friends recently.  I've been thinking about these things a lot lately.  It's been running around in my head, so I'll share them with you.  And because I like lists, here we go:

1.  Stitching is not a race.  Although there are so many beautiful things in my stash that I can't wait to stitch, rushing through one to get to the next does not make me a happy stitcher.  And comparing my productivity to another stitcher's productivity can only make me unhappy.  I've been watching stitchers whose work I admire, and I noticed that they took their time with each and every stitch.  They didn't seem to do it only for the sake of perfectly executed stitches, but also because they were not in a hurry.  They attended every single stitch.  It's the way I want to be. 

2.  Sit back, admire your work and even clap your hands if you want to.  Recently I went to a quilting group, and there was a woman working on a wall hanging.  She was seriously concentrating up to that point and had finally finished cutting her applique pieces and put the pieces where they belonged on her fabric.  Then she stepped back, joyfully clapped her hands and said, "Oh, I love this so much!  I just want to stay up all night and work on it!"  Then recently at a stitching group, the gal sitting next to me had just finished a bit of stitching - a stylized letter stitched in silk.  She held it away from her and I heard her take in her breath and then say, "Oh, I just love this!"  And it was stunning!  I tend to become automated.  I stitch, stitch, stitch and then I wonder why I burn out on a project. I need to sit back and admire the work every now and then!

OK, that's enough procrastinating for one day.  I need to work now.  So I can get paid.  So I can frame some more stuff!

Have a great day, everyone!

My day at the races

Well, I'll start by telling you that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Although maybe not as much as this guy:

After going to Philly for a birthday party last Saturday, we drove to Dover, Delaware on Sunday for the Fedex 400 Autism Speaks race.  As you can see, it was a beautiful and sunny day.  A bit breezy, and that made it perfect.  I wilt in the heat....and whine like a three year old.  So that breeze helped me a lot.

Anyway, I never thought I'd enjoy a Nascar race but thanks to everyone's good advice, I really had fun.  I was diligent with the sunscreen.  I wore my super-awesome beach hat.  I had ear protection (otherwise I would have had to leave....ear protection was absolutely essential).  And I observed the crowds.  People sure are funny.

I think we had very good seats, too and that made it more enjoyable.  They were at the end of a turn and directly across from the pits.  Being at the end of a turn meant that as the race wore on, I'd get sprinkled with tire rubber from time to time.  But being across from the pits was cool, because watching the pit stops was pretty amazing.  Talk about specialized skills!  Wouldn't it be awesome to have that kind of efficient group around when you clean your house?

All in all, a good day!

At the end of the day, we drove to Alexandria, Virginia, where we had an amazing dinner.  Then spent the night in Old Town and went to Woodlawn Plantation for the Needlework Exhibition.

What can I say?  Fabulous!  Interesting!  Inspiring!  But sadly....no photography was allowed.  There were several original works displayed, and although I understand why we couldn't photograph them, I sure wish I could share some of my favorites with you.

You'll just have to suffer through with my inadequate words.

So - You know how I adore samplers and there were plenty of those to drool over.  And some stunning canvas work (which may be in my future - they looked like they were so much fun!)  And smocking and goldwork and Japanese silk embroidery.  Seriously amazing stuff.  And there were guides in each room who pointed out special aspects of the exhibits and answered questions.  They even walked over to the needlework with me and shined flashlights on them to discuss details and techniques.  It made for a delightful experience. 

Oh, and here's something exciting and kind of unusual.  The Best in Show Award?  It was awarded to Karen Phillips-Schwallon, from right here in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.  Years ago, I took several classes from Karen.  She was a quilter and she loved to go nuts and embellish her quilts with all kinds of embroidery.  Her classes were always enjoyable and completely pressure-free. So, congrats to my fellow Fayette County embroideress!  One of these days I'll have to dig out some of the work I did in her class.  In particular, Karen helped me design a "white on white" baby quilt for Colleen.  It's one of the best things I've ever done.

Now, where's that camera?

June SBQ

Ryan needs to know, and wants you to answer this:

Do you stitch patriotic/national pieces (or maybe just pieces that represent a specific place)? What's your favorite?

(Thanks again CinDC!)

A lovely weekend

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I hope you all had a weekend that was a nice as mine.  It certainly started off well, with a visit to the framers' to pick up Antique Sampler.  I had finished this back in March or some time around then.  I went with a very plain frame this time and no mat.  I like the results.

Then I zipped on over to visit with our Friday night Panera stitching group, because there's nothing better than unwrapping your newly framed sampler in front of your stitchy friends!  But wait!  There were other finishes in the group!

If you watch Pimp My Ride (or stitch while your significant other watches it....), you'll recognize Xzibit, the PMR host.  I love what our friend Mary did with this. 

And Nancy finished this beautiful Native American piece.  This photo doesn't do it justice, but I'll tell you that the fabric was a perfect choice for the design.

I had to work on Saturday.  Bleh.  We went garden supply shopping on Sunday.  And I spent some excellent stitching time on Monday.  All in all, a pretty nice weekend.

Oh, but here's something!  Thursday night I was downstairs and Dave was upstairs, when I heard him screech and then I heard pounding feet.  What the....?  I went flying upstairs in time to find him slamming the office door shut as if the devil himself was behind the door.  Well - almost.  There was a bat flying around in the room. 


(I started to write a long story about this bat, but even long after today's storms ended, our electric is still flickering, so I'm going to end here.)

Long story short, the bat is gone, but I'm still feeling a little hinky...

Are you all heartily sick of me yet?

First of all, thanks to all of you for your comments giving advice about my upcoming trip to a Nascar race. 

Earplugs:  Check
Sunscreen and big hat:  Check
Something soft and cushy to sit on:  Check
Things to ponder during the race to keep me interested:  Check.

You all are too good to me.  Now I'm feeling equipped, mentally and physically.

Stitching?  I'm still stitching this lovely, lovely Quaker.  It has three things going for it.  It's a great design.  I love the color of this PTP fabric (Doubloon).  And I love the silk threads. (HDF's Premium Beredded)  I truly can't wait to pick it up each evening.

The colors are actually deeper than this photo shows.  More maroon looking than bright red.

 The upcoming Memorial Day weekend could be a busy one for us, so I may not be online much.  So I'll take time now to wish you all a wonderful weekend as we "officially" start summer here in this part of the world.

And don't  think I'd let Memorial Day pass without a little bit of Hey Girl!

Lucky Me

Why am I lucky? Because Dave "won" two tickets to a Nascar race next weekend. And when I say "won", I mean that he got an email from a car dealer, telling him that if he took a test drive, they'd give him two tickets. And off he went, without a word to me.

So last weekend, as we were heading out for a lovely meal and movie, the conversation in the car went like this.

Dave: Hey, guess what? I won two tickets to a Nascar race!

Me: That's awesome! Who are you going to take?

Dave: Why, you of course.

Me: Not on your life.  Not in a million years.

Dave:  Come on, it'll be fun. 

Me:   Can't you take someone else? Won't it be loud?  Won't the seats be uncomfortable?  Won't it be long?  Will I have to sit in the sun all day? 

Dave:  I promise, if you really hate it, we'll leave.  But we'll slather you up with sunscreen and sit in the stands and it'll be great.

Sigh. I can't wiggle my way out of this one.

Then last night I was talking with some stitching buds and hoping for a bit of commiseration. But no!  The girls said that they actually enjoy the races.  When I asked for things I could do to make me feel, if not happy to be there, at least interested in the goings-on, one of the ladies suggested that I look for cars with sponsors I liked and cheer for them.  (Do Nascar spectators cheer?  That could get really annoying) Anyways, that would make it more engaging than just watching cars "go fast and turn left" over and over.

Great idea, right?  So I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for this car.

Hmmmm.  Who could be our driver?

I don't just sit around and think silly things

I stitch a little, too. At this point, after having a handful of "finishes" last month, I only have "starts" to show you.

Most of these starts are a result of a big....really, really big....craft room clean up day.  I wavered on the side of being mad at myself for accumulating such a mess of stuff, and on the other side of being really pleased with myself for collecting such beautiful stitching projects.

I'm going to stick with being pleased with myself.

First up, I had kitted up LHN's Simple Joys about a year ago.  Such a fun and sweet design.  Working on this is so relaxing.

Next, a Chessie and Me start.  Yeah....it doesn't look like much yet, but it'll be cute soon.

And next is the very definition of the word "start".  Let's just hope it becomes the word "finished" by this time next year.  I love Moira Blackburn.

And if you're going to start a bunch of things, there will always be a friend or two who contributes to your Startitis.  This is the beginning of a Good Huswife Quaker design, loaned to me by Miss Linda.  She's being a troublemaker, now that tax season is more or less over.

And just in case you thought I was done thinking about this:

Time to represent

Hello friends! What a wonderful week I've had. It started with a fabulous Mothers Day in Georgia with my son and husband, and that just set the stage for a terrific seven days. And do you know what happens when I have such good vibes? Yes. My mind starts to wander to silly things.

One of the silly things that caught my eye recently was the whole Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" thing. One day I ran across some pictures (damn you, Pinterest!) and I giggled myself silly. But it seemed that every interest except stitching was represented in a Hey Girl photo. Jeez, there were Hey Girls for crafters, quilters, knitters, bloggers, librarians, Hunger Games fans...but NO stitchers.  That's just wrong. So I got to thinking, what would a stitcher want Ryan Gosling to say to her? I was coming up kind of blank.

But then this weekend I got together with a couple of groups of stitching friends and decided to listen to their conversations and see if I could figure out what was really important to us. What could RG say that would endear him to us because we'd realize that he totally understood us? And what's more sexy than knowing that someone gets you?  Of course, it always helps if he's hot....

So here are my Stitcher's Hey Girl photos.  Oh - - and Hey Girls, I totally pilfered your conversations for these captions.  I'll just say Thanks.

May SBQ

Our Stitching Bloggers Question is all about May Flowers. 

What's your favorite floral piece that you've stitched? Do you prefer your flowers as the centerpiece of the design or as an accent?

Now head on over to your blog and write, write, write!

Thanks again to CinDC of Pencil Crossings for thinking up excellent questions each month!

7 X 27

Last week I picked up this awesome Rosewood Manor chart. Don't you just love the borders and the flowers? I was a little lukewarm on the verse, but I bought it anyway. 

It was the last line, in particular.  A Ruler.  Hmmm.  Nope.  I thought I could substitute some other word there and but now I'm stumped.

Because - my first thought was Lover, but then it made me think of Will Farrell and Rachel Dratch doing the SNL "Lov-ahs" skits.  And now that's all I can think of. 

So maybe one of you can help me.  The word Ruler fills a space 7 stitches high and 27 stitches wide.  Any suggestions?

I don't know, maybe in a few days I'll come up with something, but for right now my brain is trapped in a Will Farrell state!

Back to start

Well, the phase of finishing things is over.  As I look in my stack of WIP's, there's nothing even close to being completely stitched.  Now I have a bunch of projects with a handful of stitches here and a handful there and none of them are turning me on at the moment.

So - - - of course - - - I had to start something new.  I've had this kitted up for a while and I was loving that vase of flowers. 

The fabric isn't really mottled.  I think those are shadows from the tree outside.

And I want to start another BAP soon.  Dave and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in a little more than one year, and I have the perfect Moira Blackburn sampler to stitch for him.  Yes.  For him.  And he will love it and he will lovingly hand over his credit card to have it framed.  That's what's kept me married to him for the past 29 years.  Well, it's one of many things.  But it's an important thing.

Otherwise, I might have to call Ryan Gosling for a date:

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Lee on Pinterest

Jeez, yes, I've become addicted to Pinterest. At least for now...

Another!

I've stumbled and stitched my way into that short period of time each year when all of my WIP's are suddenly finished. So don't think I've been stitching like a mad woman, but more like picking something up and realizing, "Hey...this is almost done!"

Last night I finished ABCD, by La D Da. The original version is black. My version is blue (Belle Soie Mer Blue, to be exact). And I've seen some awesome reds. It's also been my first attempt with 40 ct linen and I have just one word. LOVE. I used 40ct. Examplar linen and it was fabulous.

Stitching this was WAY too much fun.

My personalization:

So, some of you are fans of The Killing, too?  Dave is out of town for a few days, so I DVR'd last night's episode.  I'll wait to watch it with him, so you may not even whisper about it in front of me. 

In the meantime, I've downloaded this photo.  There's no doubt about it.  Move over Justin Timberlake, Joel Kinnaman is my new boyfriend.  My heart just goes pitty pat....

I really should have known better

Because adding a date to any sampler before I've finished it dooms it to a dark place in my closet until that calendar year ends.  Or maybe even the next year.

So last year I was working on this Quaker sampler and I knew I still had some over-one stitching to do, but back in March 2011 I thought it was perfectly reasonable to stitch in the year.  After all....how long could it take?

Ahem.  Evidently until March 2012.

Still, done is done.  Even if I cheated a bit on the date.

Mary Garry's Peace Sampler, stitched on linen with GAST Weathered Barn

My personalization