The Week In Review
This week was a humdinger. It started out like any other week. Nothing special, nothing big planned. Just work, work, and more work and the usual family/home commitments. So imagine my surprise when I am an on my home with DS#1 and DS#3 along for the ride, we're going to pick up Chinese for supper, and my truck starts making this jingle-jangle-jingle noise. I turn down the Green Day CD blaring from the CD player and ask DS#1, "Is that the song or the truck." DS#1 responds with, "I'm pretty sure it's the truck." Well I turn the truck around, well order pizza for supper, and head home. I begin to smell this burning smell and my "check gages" light popped on. Well I had been checking my gages since the first sound, nothing, then all of a sudden the truck begins to overheat, steam coming out from under the hood, making this horrible noise. I'm still three blocks from the highway and one right turn and one left turn from home. Not good. I get to the highway, the car in front of me apparently doesn't feel comfortable turning unless there is absolutely nothing visible in either lane for about a mile in each direction, I try to keep from cussing, yelling and flashing a few hand signals, but finally they determine that it's safe to turn, I pull up and begin my right turn, the steering wheel doesn't want to submit to my directions and I have to force it into that right turn, not good, things are getting much worse. I get on the highway, fly to my road, make a hard left turn, the steering wheel is so uncooperative at this moment, I try not to go over 30 on my road but I sure want to be in the driveway. Finally I'm there. I pop the hood, an act my DH has been trying to do for the last year. The main drive belt is shredded under my hood, all over the engine. Did I mention I've DH on the cell phone and here's what I've been told, "Get home, I'll be there after the game, I can't talk any more I'm on second base". Gee babe thanks for caring.
So fast forward a couple of hours. DH gets home with the new belt and proceeds in the dark to fix the truck. I am walking to the house to get my keys and for absolutely no reason under the sun or moon rather, I fall. I don't trip, I just FALL! And boy did I ever fall. My nose slammed into the front door, blood gushed every where, I fall on my knees, they are skinned up pretty good. I look like a kid who's been playing duck, duck, goose on the play ground and losing, and I thought I had rebroken my left wrist. So I'm on the front porch screaming, "MY NOSE, MY NOSE!" DH is trying to figure out what the hell happened, and the DS#1 opens the front door and yells out, "OMG! Your nose! Mom your nose is broke!!!" I get in the house, throw a towel over my nose and start sobbing. Fortunately my nose isn't broken. I felt very fortunate when I woke up Thursday morning, checked the mirror and other than being a tad swollen, my nose was intact and I had no black eyes. My knees another story. I can't remember the last time I had skinned knees. It's so humiliating. My wrist, very lucky, it ached some Thursday and Friday but seems to just have a minor sprain. DH asked me how I managed to fall for no good reason and I told him it was like some invisible hand shoved me to the ground. I'm a klutz, there's no denying it, but, let me tell ya, I can't for the life of me come up with a reasonable solution for how and why I fell. Just one of those questions that will never be answered.
On a positive note my truck is now running. Go DH! He broke two socket wrenches and ended up having to buy a truck part but all in all it worked out a lot cheaper than I thought it would. Usually when one of our vehicles breaks down it usually cost $1500 to repair. No matter what it is, it always cost $1500 to fix. So less than $100 rocks!
Crafty Endeavors
I've been working on Fairy Grandmother. No reason to take a new picture because it doesn't look much different than the last one. It's slow going, I'm really having to pay attention to the area I'm stitching in, lots of marking on the chart and double checking my fabric. It's possible that my grandmother has lung cancer, LUNG CANCER, and the woman has never smoked a day in her life. So I need to get this finished. It represents who she is in my life. My Fairy Grandmother. She made my life bareable when I was a kid. She was the one constant while my parents were both a little nuts. She gave me love and guidance. She loves me for who I am. She wishes I'd go to church but that's another discussion.
I'm also dreaming of quilts. I would really like to finish a few quilts in this lifetime. *insert whiney southern drawl* But they take soooooo looooooong! So I'm taking a page from
Doodle-blog's book and trying to work out a project rotation. I have too many things I want to do and I have got to take control.
Do you, dear reader, have any idea how many projects I have floating around in my brain? I have a mile long list of cross stitch projects I want to start, add to that the mile long list I have started, and then the next mile long list of projects I want to kit up. It's a never ending cycle. Then the crochet basket is getting pretty full. I've been buying some yarn for afghans. I love Maxine's house on Judging Amy. Afghans everywhere. It just looks warm and cozy. It also comforts me to see Amy wrapped up in a crocheted afghan instead of a quilt. It seems like on tv everyone has a beautiful quilt to seek comfort in, it's nice to see someone wrapped up in a good old 70s era acrylic afghan. It's more real. At least from my viewpoint. We didn't have a house full of quilts, for that matter we didn't have a house full of afghans either, but there were one or two nice scratchy acrylic afghans that someone's sister's cousin made way back when and somehow ended up in our house on the back of the couch. But I digress, I've been stocking up on yarn, yep, acrylic. I can't help it, it's cheap, it comes in lots of colors and feeds my stashing need. It comforts me to know it's here when I get inspired to crochet and start yet another new project. Also anyone notice that acrylic yarn isn't near as scratchy as it used to be? After a couple of washings the few afghans I've finished are so soft. I do think I'm going to start splurging on Caron Simply Soft for afghans. It's harder to find around here but I like the feel of it better than RH's SuperSaver acrylic. Not being a snob, when I want to crochet I'm grateful for whatever I have on hand, but it really is nice to be able to work with nicer yarn. I'm really in love with LionBrand Woolease and have an afghan pattern here that's kitted up with the Woolease, can't wait until I have time to start it. It's just a little pricier to kit up afghans using the Woolease but I see myself reaching for it more and more and it's not like it's outrageously priced, I just have to plan to take a little longer gathering supplies when I want to use it for an afghan. The one thing about the readily available acrylic yarn at the store who shall not be named, it's easy to get, easy on the budget and as I mentioned before comes in so many colors. Oh and now I'm hoarding up #10 thread for thread crochet when I have time to sit down and work on my advanced crocheting skills.
But now on to quilting. I have a plan. I'm going to start buying a couple of yards of fabric every week. Yes, I've mentioned this before and didn't follow through. Now I'm going to. I'm going to create a fabric stash beyond belief, ok, I'm exaggerating, but I am going to start buying a yard of fabric I like just because I like it, not because I have a plan for it. I've been fairly good over the years about not hoarding up fabric. I try to buy everything in yard cuts if possible even if a fat quarter would do just because I like the idea of having left over fabric for something else and might as well have enough to actually do something with, than to just have enough to make me kick myself and say, "Why didn't I just buy a yard?" Don't get me wrong, when I was buying fabric for DS#3's 9 Patch I Spy I wouldn't buy anything but 1/4 yd cuts of novelty fabrics. I'm not crazy or independently wealthy but for the most part I do prefer to buy a yard instead of smaller cuts. I'm just weird that way. I have quite a few quilts on the drawing board and will hopefully bring them to life when I break down and fork over the big bucks for EQ5. The Electric Quilt software. If anyone around here carried it locally I'd have it in my hot little hands right now but no one seems to stock it. It's $110 from Keepsake Quilting. Normally I wouldn't even consider buying this, this talk about a luxury item, but I've been wanting it for about 2 yrs now, one of those things I just won't let go of so I'm planning on ordering it next week. I would have ordered it this week but the whole truck thing kind of threw me for a loop emotionally and financially so what's one more week after waiting for 2 years? Although I'm pretty sure once I get the EQ5 I'll spend more time designing fabulous quilts than actually creating them but maybe it'll be just the motivation I need to really throw myself into quilting. I'm planning on cutting out DS#1's Ohio Star Quilt this weekend. My one hold up you might ask? I have lost two boxes of quilting pins. You know the ones with the big white ball on top so you can easily see it when it drops on the floor? Two flippin' boxes! That is the very same reason I have not finished DS#3's quilt top. I have no way of pinning the sashing to the quilt to sew them on. My sewing machine is threaded ready to go but nope, no freakin' pins! I spent most of Thursday looking for them. I thought I really might know where they were but the joke was on me. They were no where to be found. I gave up after about three hours of organizing and cleaning and a spider momma and her thousand babies came running out of their house after me. YIKES!
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
Is it Friday Yet?
This has been a long week. I hate those weeks when every day feels like several all lumped in together. Not sure what the problem has been.
On Monday I somehow managed to misplace my $34 CHS Houses of Hawk Run Hollow chart. There was absolutely no reason for it not to be on my stitching chair along with the floss box and Qsnaps but somehow it vanished. After searching one spot no less than 4 times yesterday there it was. No explanation, no way I could have missed it during the previous searches but hey, I found it, that's all that matters. I haven't stitched too much this week, too tired, not a lot of time and my 9 yr old has been a little more needy than usual. Not sure what's up with that but I figure pretty soon he won't want any thing to do with his old mom so I'm enjoying the hugs and reading together before going to sleep. He's discovered the Artemis Fowl books and I've bought three of them for him. He's also into Lemony Snicket these days too. I tried to get him into those books last year but he's reading now and that's all that matters right?
Yesterday at Target I found Phillippa Gregory's book The Other Boelyn Girl. I've been wanting to read this for ages and for some reason have never been able to find it at BooksAMillion or Barnes & Noble, so to just come across it at Target, I took that as a sign that I had to buy it. Also treated myself to .38 Special's "Best Of" CD and Green Day's American Idiot.
I have been stockpiling books lately, never have time to read these days, but I keep buying books here and there adding them to the "To Be Read" pile. One day I'll have time to read and so many books to choose from I won't know what to do. Sure I can go to the library but somehow I never manage to get around to reading the books from the library so I find it's easier to just pick up a book here and there, add it to the pile and hope that I get around to reading them one day.
I've been compiling a lot of my reading list from girlreaction.
Tuesday I took my cat Sabrina to the vet to be fixed. Bless her heart she had a belly full of kittens and since we're up to 9 cats, more kittens were just out of the question. I hadn't worried too much about getting my cats fixed because they are indoor cats, no chance for outside contact, but my Sabrina is too smart for her own good. We woke up several nights to let the dog out and the front door was standing wide open. We have these lever type door handles, the cat flings herself at the handle, pulls it down, opens the door and off she goes. So now we always have to lock the deadbolts to make sure she stays in. I struggled with the decision to get her fixed when I knew she was pregnant. It just seemed wrong but I had a heart to heart with the vet and it was just the best decision since we have a full house as it is.
The next month any extra money I have will go to getting Hermoine and Holly fixed then the kittens should be old enough to be fixed too. I will be so glad when when every one is fixed and we can all be happy and I can have stash money again.
Speaking of stash, there's a knitting store in Pensacola and they sell spinning wheels. How cool is that? I see a major spinning wheel purchase in my future. I think a spinning wheel will be my kids back to school gift to myself come August.
I'm getting the itch to quilt. Over at girlreaction there are pictures posted from the Chicago Quilt show, the ones on page 4 have got me so inspired. I love the colors in Pacific Garden, I think that's the right name, and there was another one, Flowers and Fruits something or other, so bright and wild. Just love it! I've been staring at the Flowers and Fruit quilt trying to figure out the wave rim around one of the flowers and if it's pieced or if it's cut out that way and appliqued. Very cool! I like the more traditional quilts too. There's a Goose in a Pond quilt that's your basic flying geese pattern but the "pond" in the middle looks like a handdyed or batik, really gives that pattern some motion. Yes, I can see myself stock piling some fabric in the not too distant future. I still need to finish up my 9 yr old's I Spy 9-Patch and force myself to sit down for a while and cut out the blocks for DS#1's Ohio Star. Lime green is the background color for this quilt per DS#1's instructions. I'm using other bright colors to make this into a tropical Ohio Star quilt. I just don't have the patience to sit down and cut out all those blocks. Yes, I do it the old school way, trace the pattern onto the fabric then cut it out. I've tried using the rotary cutter method and every time I do that my blocks are never the same size. So for me the old way is the best way but so freakin' slow! Once I finally sit down to do it I enjoy it but it's making myself take the time away from other projects to sit down and trace and cut for a few hours. Some friends have said to me that if I have the patience to cross stitch, which to them is the most boring thing in the world, why can't I sit and cut out fabric pieces for a while? Not sure what the difference is, because trust me I have plenty of cross stitch projects that I can stith away on for hours and not see much progress. At least after a few hours of cutting fabric you do have the makings from some quilt blocks. Very obvious progress.
Yesterday I picked up a couple more used DVDs from the local video store's previously viewed bin. I came home with Wimbledon and Shark Tales on DVD and DodgeBall and Anchorman on VHS. Thanks to my weekly stops by the used DVD bin we're building up a pretty decent DVD collection of movies we haven't seen yet. Sometimes we can score pretty good movies in the $5.50 bin at the store who shall not be named. A few weeks ago it was The Replacement Killers and Lake Placid. I love both of these movies. I also gave in and bought St. Elmo's Fire. What is it about those 80s brat pack movies that I love so much? St. Elmo's Fire, The Breakfast Club, movies I can't help but love and watch over and over. Another 80s movie I never outgrow, FlashDance. Why? I don't know. But I love it and always will. Oh and An Officer and A Gentleman. Can't get enough of Richard Gere and Debra Winger. DH and I watched Bull Durham last weekend and that's another movie I absolutely adore.
This has been a long week. I hate those weeks when every day feels like several all lumped in together. Not sure what the problem has been.
On Monday I somehow managed to misplace my $34 CHS Houses of Hawk Run Hollow chart. There was absolutely no reason for it not to be on my stitching chair along with the floss box and Qsnaps but somehow it vanished. After searching one spot no less than 4 times yesterday there it was. No explanation, no way I could have missed it during the previous searches but hey, I found it, that's all that matters. I haven't stitched too much this week, too tired, not a lot of time and my 9 yr old has been a little more needy than usual. Not sure what's up with that but I figure pretty soon he won't want any thing to do with his old mom so I'm enjoying the hugs and reading together before going to sleep. He's discovered the Artemis Fowl books and I've bought three of them for him. He's also into Lemony Snicket these days too. I tried to get him into those books last year but he's reading now and that's all that matters right?
Yesterday at Target I found Phillippa Gregory's book The Other Boelyn Girl. I've been wanting to read this for ages and for some reason have never been able to find it at BooksAMillion or Barnes & Noble, so to just come across it at Target, I took that as a sign that I had to buy it. Also treated myself to .38 Special's "Best Of" CD and Green Day's American Idiot.
I have been stockpiling books lately, never have time to read these days, but I keep buying books here and there adding them to the "To Be Read" pile. One day I'll have time to read and so many books to choose from I won't know what to do. Sure I can go to the library but somehow I never manage to get around to reading the books from the library so I find it's easier to just pick up a book here and there, add it to the pile and hope that I get around to reading them one day.
I've been compiling a lot of my reading list from girlreaction.
Tuesday I took my cat Sabrina to the vet to be fixed. Bless her heart she had a belly full of kittens and since we're up to 9 cats, more kittens were just out of the question. I hadn't worried too much about getting my cats fixed because they are indoor cats, no chance for outside contact, but my Sabrina is too smart for her own good. We woke up several nights to let the dog out and the front door was standing wide open. We have these lever type door handles, the cat flings herself at the handle, pulls it down, opens the door and off she goes. So now we always have to lock the deadbolts to make sure she stays in. I struggled with the decision to get her fixed when I knew she was pregnant. It just seemed wrong but I had a heart to heart with the vet and it was just the best decision since we have a full house as it is.
The next month any extra money I have will go to getting Hermoine and Holly fixed then the kittens should be old enough to be fixed too. I will be so glad when when every one is fixed and we can all be happy and I can have stash money again.
Speaking of stash, there's a knitting store in Pensacola and they sell spinning wheels. How cool is that? I see a major spinning wheel purchase in my future. I think a spinning wheel will be my kids back to school gift to myself come August.
I'm getting the itch to quilt. Over at girlreaction there are pictures posted from the Chicago Quilt show, the ones on page 4 have got me so inspired. I love the colors in Pacific Garden, I think that's the right name, and there was another one, Flowers and Fruits something or other, so bright and wild. Just love it! I've been staring at the Flowers and Fruit quilt trying to figure out the wave rim around one of the flowers and if it's pieced or if it's cut out that way and appliqued. Very cool! I like the more traditional quilts too. There's a Goose in a Pond quilt that's your basic flying geese pattern but the "pond" in the middle looks like a handdyed or batik, really gives that pattern some motion. Yes, I can see myself stock piling some fabric in the not too distant future. I still need to finish up my 9 yr old's I Spy 9-Patch and force myself to sit down for a while and cut out the blocks for DS#1's Ohio Star. Lime green is the background color for this quilt per DS#1's instructions. I'm using other bright colors to make this into a tropical Ohio Star quilt. I just don't have the patience to sit down and cut out all those blocks. Yes, I do it the old school way, trace the pattern onto the fabric then cut it out. I've tried using the rotary cutter method and every time I do that my blocks are never the same size. So for me the old way is the best way but so freakin' slow! Once I finally sit down to do it I enjoy it but it's making myself take the time away from other projects to sit down and trace and cut for a few hours. Some friends have said to me that if I have the patience to cross stitch, which to them is the most boring thing in the world, why can't I sit and cut out fabric pieces for a while? Not sure what the difference is, because trust me I have plenty of cross stitch projects that I can stith away on for hours and not see much progress. At least after a few hours of cutting fabric you do have the makings from some quilt blocks. Very obvious progress.
Yesterday I picked up a couple more used DVDs from the local video store's previously viewed bin. I came home with Wimbledon and Shark Tales on DVD and DodgeBall and Anchorman on VHS. Thanks to my weekly stops by the used DVD bin we're building up a pretty decent DVD collection of movies we haven't seen yet. Sometimes we can score pretty good movies in the $5.50 bin at the store who shall not be named. A few weeks ago it was The Replacement Killers and Lake Placid. I love both of these movies. I also gave in and bought St. Elmo's Fire. What is it about those 80s brat pack movies that I love so much? St. Elmo's Fire, The Breakfast Club, movies I can't help but love and watch over and over. Another 80s movie I never outgrow, FlashDance. Why? I don't know. But I love it and always will. Oh and An Officer and A Gentleman. Can't get enough of Richard Gere and Debra Winger. DH and I watched Bull Durham last weekend and that's another movie I absolutely adore.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Sweet Monday Morning
This morning my neighbor, who is terribly amused at my "crazy cat lady" persona stopped by while waiting on the school bus and gifted me with this:
Inside the purple saran wrap was this:
The wording on the mug reads:
"People who don't like cats must have been mice in a previous life"
It was filled with Hershey's kisses and Special Dark mini bars. What a sweet start to usually icky Monday.
Yes, I do need to learn how to take better pics.
I picked this up from the framer's on Saturday:
It's Lizzie Kate's Summer. I stitched this ages ago. Probably the summer of 2000 or 2001. I stitched it on a fabric remnant I had tucked away and used a mix of DMC and GAST. I don't know that I'm 100% happy with the frame choice but DH thought it looked good so I'm going to quit second guessing myself.
Speaking of Cats
Tomorrow I take Miss Sabrina to the vets to get fixed. No more kittens in this house. I can't give them up. No more animals can give birth under my roof. So the next few months the stash money will be spent on the fixing of several cats. Sabrina this month, Hermoine next month, then new momma Holly. Then I have to focus on the kittens.
Work Decisions
Today the girls I work with were discussing the summer schedule. I'm seriously thinking about working evenings this summer. That would give me most of the day with the boys, we close at 8:00 during the summer, maybe 9:00 pm. I can't remember at the moment, but I think I might spend more productive time with them if I have them to myself during the day, and then going in at 3:00pm. We could go to the beach every morning before it gets unbearably hot. I missed a lot of time with them last summer, so I don't know, I may just have to mix up my hours a bit and see how it goes. The girls are flexible and want all the hours I can give them which right now I'm happy to do. I know I may regret it but since I started working the DH and I don't budget like we used to and it seems like we have even less money. So over the next few weeks I'm setting up a budget, seeing how much of my money I can actually hold on to, and live like we did before we had my few extra $$$ coming in. I want to save for my own laptop and if I could hold on to all my paychecks for the next couple of months I'd easily have enough money to purchase one.
I also miss creative writing. I never seem to have time for short stories any more much less a novel. Of course I'm the Queen of Imcomplete Thoughts so it's not like I actually managed to write a novel when I was a SAHM so now why I am so driven to write, to complete the elusive novel.
Another reason to cut back on some hours in the summer, my house is a disaster. No, I'm not just saying that. It's a mess. I need a week off just to devote to cleaning and stitching. Have to have a little stitching time, that whole all housework and no play thing.
New Dryer
How do I love thee? I love thee like I never dreamed I could love an appliance. The dishwasher is still #1 but baby you totally rock my world! Who knew a large load of clothes, denim no less, could dry in under 60 mins? I thought everyone spent 4 hours trying to dry jeans. What a miracle modern appliances are. I *heart* you my precious!
This morning my neighbor, who is terribly amused at my "crazy cat lady" persona stopped by while waiting on the school bus and gifted me with this:
Inside the purple saran wrap was this:
The wording on the mug reads:
"People who don't like cats must have been mice in a previous life"
It was filled with Hershey's kisses and Special Dark mini bars. What a sweet start to usually icky Monday.
Yes, I do need to learn how to take better pics.
I picked this up from the framer's on Saturday:
It's Lizzie Kate's Summer. I stitched this ages ago. Probably the summer of 2000 or 2001. I stitched it on a fabric remnant I had tucked away and used a mix of DMC and GAST. I don't know that I'm 100% happy with the frame choice but DH thought it looked good so I'm going to quit second guessing myself.
Speaking of Cats
Tomorrow I take Miss Sabrina to the vets to get fixed. No more kittens in this house. I can't give them up. No more animals can give birth under my roof. So the next few months the stash money will be spent on the fixing of several cats. Sabrina this month, Hermoine next month, then new momma Holly. Then I have to focus on the kittens.
Work Decisions
Today the girls I work with were discussing the summer schedule. I'm seriously thinking about working evenings this summer. That would give me most of the day with the boys, we close at 8:00 during the summer, maybe 9:00 pm. I can't remember at the moment, but I think I might spend more productive time with them if I have them to myself during the day, and then going in at 3:00pm. We could go to the beach every morning before it gets unbearably hot. I missed a lot of time with them last summer, so I don't know, I may just have to mix up my hours a bit and see how it goes. The girls are flexible and want all the hours I can give them which right now I'm happy to do. I know I may regret it but since I started working the DH and I don't budget like we used to and it seems like we have even less money. So over the next few weeks I'm setting up a budget, seeing how much of my money I can actually hold on to, and live like we did before we had my few extra $$$ coming in. I want to save for my own laptop and if I could hold on to all my paychecks for the next couple of months I'd easily have enough money to purchase one.
I also miss creative writing. I never seem to have time for short stories any more much less a novel. Of course I'm the Queen of Imcomplete Thoughts so it's not like I actually managed to write a novel when I was a SAHM so now why I am so driven to write, to complete the elusive novel.
Another reason to cut back on some hours in the summer, my house is a disaster. No, I'm not just saying that. It's a mess. I need a week off just to devote to cleaning and stitching. Have to have a little stitching time, that whole all housework and no play thing.
New Dryer
How do I love thee? I love thee like I never dreamed I could love an appliance. The dishwasher is still #1 but baby you totally rock my world! Who knew a large load of clothes, denim no less, could dry in under 60 mins? I thought everyone spent 4 hours trying to dry jeans. What a miracle modern appliances are. I *heart* you my precious!
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Today's Musings
While reading Lake Stitcher I thought I'd borrow her topic, My Stitching History. While I'm 100% sure I've touched on this subject in past on the blog I owe my love of all kinds of handwork to quite a few women.
Way back when, when Little House on the Prairie books were my daily entertainment, before the TV show, I wanted to learn to knit and crochet like Laura and Mary. One of my dad's cousins lived down the street and she always had a knitting or crochet project going, as I got older I was also the very happy recipient of her Harlequin romance novels that she faithfully purchased every month. Doris was always a mystery to me. She worked with my mom but she spent her time away from work crocheting and knitting and my mom spent her time cleaning or going on and on about how much housework she had to do and smoking lots of cigarettes. Doris smoked too and still had time to crochet or knit. So when I decide I want to channel Laura Ingalls, I walked down to Doris' house and asked her if she would teach me to crochet and knit. She very happily provides me and my bestfriend Linette with hooks, needles and yarn. We spend hours sitting on the steps leading up to Linette's apartment knitting very long endless rectangles. That was as far as we got with our knitting. Crochet, ah, the wonder of the granny square and the ripple stitch. We crocheted a mile high stack of multi colored granny squares and crocheted our way into ripple ecstasy using all of the yarn Doris would give us. Of course this phase of my needlework life lasted a summer and then school started and I got my Little House on the Prairie fix by watching TV but only after reading each book 10 times.
The next stage was my aunt's mother. My aunt married my dad's brother which is how she became my aunt. Her mother was amazing. She sewed, she knit, she crocheted and she reintroduced knitting and crocheting to me a few years after my cousin taught me. This was probably 6th or 7th grade. We crocheted several vests and funky hats. It was fun and creative.
My aunt begged me to let her teach me how to sew. She taught clothing and textile services at a local vo-tech school. I refused. I was going to be a Cosmo girl. Wear haute couture. There was not one good reason for me to learn to sew. But I embraced the crocheting. Knitting, well purling was and still is my albatross, but I loved to crochet.
At this time I was also cross stitching a lot. My grandmother used to keep me stocked up on latchhook rug kits, plenty of squares of fabric to handsew together to help her with her quilts-not tradtional 100% cotton quilts, scraps of polyester cut in 5 inch squares that we sewed in strips, then sewed together and viola, a quilt, and one day while in Woolworth's I found my first cross stitch kit. I'm not sure how old I was, probably 4th grade. My grandmother knew nothing about counted cross stitch but my neighbor did. She was a friend of my mom's and I took my little kit over to her house and she helped me get started. I finished the little rose in about a day. My grandmother always had some kind of handwork project going but it was embrodiery. The iron on designs that one then stitches over. Doralyn on the other hand stitched gorgeous cross stitch models for the LNS. She loved reproduction samplers and Paula Vaughn designs. This stitching connection made me fall in love with the history of the women creating these samplers. I couldn't believe 5 yr old and 6 yr old girls stitched these gorgeous samplers. At this time I was a one project at a time girl and would stitch something, finish it and then start something else. Like most girls at that age, school and a social life were the most important things and stitching got placed on the backburner for a while.
Then my best friend's mom started stitching. She got into crewel and counted cross stitch. She did the neatest stuff. Different than my neighbor. She also made things for my best friend. I thought that was so cool. So because of her I became addicted to cross stitch again and other than a three year break when I just couldn't make myself pick up a needle I've been addicted to cross stitching for the past 20 years. Of course I knew one could create art with cross stitch because my neighbor stitched Paula Vaughn designs but I didn't realize at the time how varied the designs were in cross stitch until my best friend's mom took me to the Needlework Shoppe. It was here that I discovered that there was more to cross stitch than what was in the aisle at Woolworth's. This was back in the 80s now the cross stitch market is overflowing with designs for every taste. I tried to get all my girlfriends cross stitching and while they stitched for a brief period it just never hooked them. They all think I'm nuts. After all these years I still find time to stitch. Stitching is like breathing. I have to have a project going. It will always be my first love. Crochet is a very close second. It's a different kind of creativity. It's also, for what it's worth, much more practical than cross stitch. My aunt that begged to teach me to sew never understood my love for cross stitch, it was too slow and while she never let her mother teach her to crochet or knit that made sense to her because it created something useful. Cross stitch just wasn't a practical skill in her mind. I think that's why I love cross stitch so much. It's art. It's not practical. It's luxury, it's for hanging on the wall and just looking damn good! Sure you can cross stitch table cloths, linens but hey is that really practical? Spill some wine or coffee or koolaid on those and well you have heartache.
My quilting adventure started when I was pregnant with DS#1 living near Amish country in Ohio and too poor to afford quilts made by someone else. What does one do in this position? One sucks it up and takes a quilting class. Calls the aunt that begged to teach her how to sew for tips and after hearing "I told you so" a hundred times starts trying to piece her class quilt. That quilt is still sitting unfinished in a rubbermaid bucket. I think I managed to finish 5 blocks then gave birth to DS#1, that act alone put quilting on the backburner. It was hard, time consuming, cross stitch was easy, ready to go, no cutting out a gazillion pieces of fabric, pinning them together, then sewing them all together. Cross stitch was always ready to go if only for a few stolen moments. Since quilting was a necessity, in my mind, I never enjoyed it too much. Sewing just isn't my thing. I want to learn to do it well. I do want to make quilts. I get so inspired by the magazines and quilters blogs, I'm just not organized. It's just I sought out quilt making not because of a love of sewing but a love of the finished project. Melissa over at the
Doodle-blog manages to organize her time so that she's able to stitch, quilt, crochet and knit. How does she do that? I'm hoping to eventually get to that point but I'm such a screaming crafter, I pull out whatever project screams the loudest, that while I manage to start a bunch of projects I only finish a few and those finishes are few and far between.
Yes, this has been a bit of rambling post, like my stitching history. I'm so thankful for the crafty women in my life who instilled in me a love for needlework of all kinds. In a drawer the other day I ran across the stainless steel hoop my grandmother gave me when I was about five, it was my greatgrandmother's. I cherish it. In her Bible she has a little piece of fabric that I stitched a "J" on for her first initial. It was a pathetic attempt at the satin stitch when I barely knew how to hold a needle, much less knew what a satin stitch was, I just wanted to make her initial on the fabric. The fabric I stitched it on was a piece of blue print fabric. I used this hoop. I think back to that, I remember sitting on the counter of the Salvage store where she worked, working on this little project while she waited on customers. It's one of my best memories.
I also want say how thankful I am for the great community of stitchers out there in the blogosphere. You all make me feel normal. All my life the people I came in contact with who stitched, knit, crocheted, quilted, they were an oddity. The older I got the more I realized that needleworkers of all kinds were rare. To be able to hook up with such a large community, to be inspired daily by all of you, what a great place to be and what lucky chick I am.
While reading Lake Stitcher I thought I'd borrow her topic, My Stitching History. While I'm 100% sure I've touched on this subject in past on the blog I owe my love of all kinds of handwork to quite a few women.
Way back when, when Little House on the Prairie books were my daily entertainment, before the TV show, I wanted to learn to knit and crochet like Laura and Mary. One of my dad's cousins lived down the street and she always had a knitting or crochet project going, as I got older I was also the very happy recipient of her Harlequin romance novels that she faithfully purchased every month. Doris was always a mystery to me. She worked with my mom but she spent her time away from work crocheting and knitting and my mom spent her time cleaning or going on and on about how much housework she had to do and smoking lots of cigarettes. Doris smoked too and still had time to crochet or knit. So when I decide I want to channel Laura Ingalls, I walked down to Doris' house and asked her if she would teach me to crochet and knit. She very happily provides me and my bestfriend Linette with hooks, needles and yarn. We spend hours sitting on the steps leading up to Linette's apartment knitting very long endless rectangles. That was as far as we got with our knitting. Crochet, ah, the wonder of the granny square and the ripple stitch. We crocheted a mile high stack of multi colored granny squares and crocheted our way into ripple ecstasy using all of the yarn Doris would give us. Of course this phase of my needlework life lasted a summer and then school started and I got my Little House on the Prairie fix by watching TV but only after reading each book 10 times.
The next stage was my aunt's mother. My aunt married my dad's brother which is how she became my aunt. Her mother was amazing. She sewed, she knit, she crocheted and she reintroduced knitting and crocheting to me a few years after my cousin taught me. This was probably 6th or 7th grade. We crocheted several vests and funky hats. It was fun and creative.
My aunt begged me to let her teach me how to sew. She taught clothing and textile services at a local vo-tech school. I refused. I was going to be a Cosmo girl. Wear haute couture. There was not one good reason for me to learn to sew. But I embraced the crocheting. Knitting, well purling was and still is my albatross, but I loved to crochet.
At this time I was also cross stitching a lot. My grandmother used to keep me stocked up on latchhook rug kits, plenty of squares of fabric to handsew together to help her with her quilts-not tradtional 100% cotton quilts, scraps of polyester cut in 5 inch squares that we sewed in strips, then sewed together and viola, a quilt, and one day while in Woolworth's I found my first cross stitch kit. I'm not sure how old I was, probably 4th grade. My grandmother knew nothing about counted cross stitch but my neighbor did. She was a friend of my mom's and I took my little kit over to her house and she helped me get started. I finished the little rose in about a day. My grandmother always had some kind of handwork project going but it was embrodiery. The iron on designs that one then stitches over. Doralyn on the other hand stitched gorgeous cross stitch models for the LNS. She loved reproduction samplers and Paula Vaughn designs. This stitching connection made me fall in love with the history of the women creating these samplers. I couldn't believe 5 yr old and 6 yr old girls stitched these gorgeous samplers. At this time I was a one project at a time girl and would stitch something, finish it and then start something else. Like most girls at that age, school and a social life were the most important things and stitching got placed on the backburner for a while.
Then my best friend's mom started stitching. She got into crewel and counted cross stitch. She did the neatest stuff. Different than my neighbor. She also made things for my best friend. I thought that was so cool. So because of her I became addicted to cross stitch again and other than a three year break when I just couldn't make myself pick up a needle I've been addicted to cross stitching for the past 20 years. Of course I knew one could create art with cross stitch because my neighbor stitched Paula Vaughn designs but I didn't realize at the time how varied the designs were in cross stitch until my best friend's mom took me to the Needlework Shoppe. It was here that I discovered that there was more to cross stitch than what was in the aisle at Woolworth's. This was back in the 80s now the cross stitch market is overflowing with designs for every taste. I tried to get all my girlfriends cross stitching and while they stitched for a brief period it just never hooked them. They all think I'm nuts. After all these years I still find time to stitch. Stitching is like breathing. I have to have a project going. It will always be my first love. Crochet is a very close second. It's a different kind of creativity. It's also, for what it's worth, much more practical than cross stitch. My aunt that begged to teach me to sew never understood my love for cross stitch, it was too slow and while she never let her mother teach her to crochet or knit that made sense to her because it created something useful. Cross stitch just wasn't a practical skill in her mind. I think that's why I love cross stitch so much. It's art. It's not practical. It's luxury, it's for hanging on the wall and just looking damn good! Sure you can cross stitch table cloths, linens but hey is that really practical? Spill some wine or coffee or koolaid on those and well you have heartache.
My quilting adventure started when I was pregnant with DS#1 living near Amish country in Ohio and too poor to afford quilts made by someone else. What does one do in this position? One sucks it up and takes a quilting class. Calls the aunt that begged to teach her how to sew for tips and after hearing "I told you so" a hundred times starts trying to piece her class quilt. That quilt is still sitting unfinished in a rubbermaid bucket. I think I managed to finish 5 blocks then gave birth to DS#1, that act alone put quilting on the backburner. It was hard, time consuming, cross stitch was easy, ready to go, no cutting out a gazillion pieces of fabric, pinning them together, then sewing them all together. Cross stitch was always ready to go if only for a few stolen moments. Since quilting was a necessity, in my mind, I never enjoyed it too much. Sewing just isn't my thing. I want to learn to do it well. I do want to make quilts. I get so inspired by the magazines and quilters blogs, I'm just not organized. It's just I sought out quilt making not because of a love of sewing but a love of the finished project. Melissa over at the
Doodle-blog manages to organize her time so that she's able to stitch, quilt, crochet and knit. How does she do that? I'm hoping to eventually get to that point but I'm such a screaming crafter, I pull out whatever project screams the loudest, that while I manage to start a bunch of projects I only finish a few and those finishes are few and far between.
Yes, this has been a bit of rambling post, like my stitching history. I'm so thankful for the crafty women in my life who instilled in me a love for needlework of all kinds. In a drawer the other day I ran across the stainless steel hoop my grandmother gave me when I was about five, it was my greatgrandmother's. I cherish it. In her Bible she has a little piece of fabric that I stitched a "J" on for her first initial. It was a pathetic attempt at the satin stitch when I barely knew how to hold a needle, much less knew what a satin stitch was, I just wanted to make her initial on the fabric. The fabric I stitched it on was a piece of blue print fabric. I used this hoop. I think back to that, I remember sitting on the counter of the Salvage store where she worked, working on this little project while she waited on customers. It's one of my best memories.
I also want say how thankful I am for the great community of stitchers out there in the blogosphere. You all make me feel normal. All my life the people I came in contact with who stitched, knit, crocheted, quilted, they were an oddity. The older I got the more I realized that needleworkers of all kinds were rare. To be able to hook up with such a large community, to be inspired daily by all of you, what a great place to be and what lucky chick I am.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
$319 Later
I have a new dryer. What a waste of good stash money but I'm sure my neighbors are happy to not look out their windows and see my laundry hanging from the swing frame. How hillbilly can I get? Desperate housewives resort to desperate measures. Looking hillbilly is a small price to pay for clean and dry clothes.
Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
After a slow start I managed to finish House #1 on Carriage House Samplings Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I'm using DMC floss for my piece.
RR Finish
Here's a pic of a long overdue RR. It's from Prairie Schooler's Woodland Samplings leaflet. This particular leaflet went for major bucks on eBay not too long ago. This will be on it's way to England hopefully tomorrow.
Harlot's BookBookBook
At my local BooksAMillion I managed to score a copy of the Yarn Harlot's book, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much. The sticker on the back of the book I purchased said 2 of three. I never found 1 or 3 so some people scooped up their own copies before me.
And Finally.....
My order from NordicNeedle arrived yesterday. I was able to use a coupon and purchase this book that I've been jonesing for for a very long time:
Every time I want a particular needlework book I find it's out of print. I was not going to let this happen with this book.
There are several on my list that I plan to order from The Scarlet Letter - Samplers, Needlework, Reproduction Samplers, Historic Sam but they are kind of out of my price range at the moment since having to fork over $319 for a new dryer.
I have a new dryer. What a waste of good stash money but I'm sure my neighbors are happy to not look out their windows and see my laundry hanging from the swing frame. How hillbilly can I get? Desperate housewives resort to desperate measures. Looking hillbilly is a small price to pay for clean and dry clothes.
Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
After a slow start I managed to finish House #1 on Carriage House Samplings Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I'm using DMC floss for my piece.
RR Finish
Here's a pic of a long overdue RR. It's from Prairie Schooler's Woodland Samplings leaflet. This particular leaflet went for major bucks on eBay not too long ago. This will be on it's way to England hopefully tomorrow.
Harlot's BookBookBook
At my local BooksAMillion I managed to score a copy of the Yarn Harlot's book, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much. The sticker on the back of the book I purchased said 2 of three. I never found 1 or 3 so some people scooped up their own copies before me.
And Finally.....
My order from NordicNeedle arrived yesterday. I was able to use a coupon and purchase this book that I've been jonesing for for a very long time:
Every time I want a particular needlework book I find it's out of print. I was not going to let this happen with this book.
There are several on my list that I plan to order from The Scarlet Letter - Samplers, Needlework, Reproduction Samplers, Historic Sam but they are kind of out of my price range at the moment since having to fork over $319 for a new dryer.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Update from the land of wild Spring Breakers
Not much going on here in my world. Work is busy which is a good thing, the property is on the market which is a bad thing, but I'm in for the long haul. As long as I have a job I'm there, when it's over I go back to the world of SAHMs. I'm looking forward to visiting there hopefully in the not so distant future. Yes, we'll miss the extra money but I'm tired. I don't remember ever being this tired. I'm PMSing, BIG TIME. This month is the worst round of PMS I've had in a long, long time. Seriously. I feel the hormones taking over all rational thought. Scary stuff. The only thing keeping me the least bit sane is knowing that it should all end in the next 3-5 days.
Good News From the Workbasket
I finished up my long overdue RR. I'll scan it before it's sent on it's merry way. Just haven't had the time to scan it yet.
I'm very close now to having House #1 on Carriage House Samplings Houses of Hawk Run Hollow finished. If I'm a good girl maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow before work. If not I have Thursday off and really don't plan to leave the house. Chances are that plan will change but if I stay in the same mood I'm in now, I'm getting the kids out the door to school and crawling back under the covers and hiding there all day. It's a safe place. I may come out for necessities like chocolate which I will purchase on my way home from work Wednesday. I'm telling ya, this week is BAD.
It would make me feel good to get House #1 finished so I can move on to House #5. Not sure it will alleviate any hormonal imbalances but it would definitely lift my spirits.
I'm getting ready to work on some Granny Squares. I need to figure out how many of each color scheme I need. At one time I had all the info written down and I thought stored with the already crocheted granny squares in their plastic shoe box but nope, not there. So I need to sit down, refigure how many squares I need to crochet and in what mix of colors. I think it's like 104 but I don't think I want the afghan that big. I'm in the need of some bright cheery colors so my wild, tropical, peyote, & groovy granny square afghan might fill that need.
Kitten Sadness
Ok my momma cat had kittens about 5 weeks ago. How can I give them away? There is no one that will love them as much as we do. Last night I woke to a pile of kittens next to me in the bed. I gently put them in the kitty condo, they all came back curled up next to me. I gently put them all on the floor, an hour later they are back in the bed with me. They are so sweet. It would break my heart to find out their lives weren't as happy somewhere else. What am I going to do? I can't keep nine cats. It's insane. They break my heart. They warm my heart. What if their momma misses them? I never thought it was possible, I never dreamed cats felt like family but the stray momma cat I took in a year ago along with her two kittens, she still gives one of the kittens a bath every day. This kitten is over a year old. They love each other, the mother cat still sees Sabrina as her baby. It moves me every time. What if Holly aches for her children? She won't have more because she's getting fixed as soon as they are finished nursing but I can't separate this family. I know I'm a nut. Unfortunately these feelings have nothing to do with PMS. They have to do with me being a crazy animal lover who takes in any stray and then can't part with them. My kids say we aren't giving them away either and in the same breath call me the crazy cat lady. I say they are the crazy cat kids.
Not much going on here in my world. Work is busy which is a good thing, the property is on the market which is a bad thing, but I'm in for the long haul. As long as I have a job I'm there, when it's over I go back to the world of SAHMs. I'm looking forward to visiting there hopefully in the not so distant future. Yes, we'll miss the extra money but I'm tired. I don't remember ever being this tired. I'm PMSing, BIG TIME. This month is the worst round of PMS I've had in a long, long time. Seriously. I feel the hormones taking over all rational thought. Scary stuff. The only thing keeping me the least bit sane is knowing that it should all end in the next 3-5 days.
Good News From the Workbasket
I finished up my long overdue RR. I'll scan it before it's sent on it's merry way. Just haven't had the time to scan it yet.
I'm very close now to having House #1 on Carriage House Samplings Houses of Hawk Run Hollow finished. If I'm a good girl maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow before work. If not I have Thursday off and really don't plan to leave the house. Chances are that plan will change but if I stay in the same mood I'm in now, I'm getting the kids out the door to school and crawling back under the covers and hiding there all day. It's a safe place. I may come out for necessities like chocolate which I will purchase on my way home from work Wednesday. I'm telling ya, this week is BAD.
It would make me feel good to get House #1 finished so I can move on to House #5. Not sure it will alleviate any hormonal imbalances but it would definitely lift my spirits.
I'm getting ready to work on some Granny Squares. I need to figure out how many of each color scheme I need. At one time I had all the info written down and I thought stored with the already crocheted granny squares in their plastic shoe box but nope, not there. So I need to sit down, refigure how many squares I need to crochet and in what mix of colors. I think it's like 104 but I don't think I want the afghan that big. I'm in the need of some bright cheery colors so my wild, tropical, peyote, & groovy granny square afghan might fill that need.
Kitten Sadness
Ok my momma cat had kittens about 5 weeks ago. How can I give them away? There is no one that will love them as much as we do. Last night I woke to a pile of kittens next to me in the bed. I gently put them in the kitty condo, they all came back curled up next to me. I gently put them all on the floor, an hour later they are back in the bed with me. They are so sweet. It would break my heart to find out their lives weren't as happy somewhere else. What am I going to do? I can't keep nine cats. It's insane. They break my heart. They warm my heart. What if their momma misses them? I never thought it was possible, I never dreamed cats felt like family but the stray momma cat I took in a year ago along with her two kittens, she still gives one of the kittens a bath every day. This kitten is over a year old. They love each other, the mother cat still sees Sabrina as her baby. It moves me every time. What if Holly aches for her children? She won't have more because she's getting fixed as soon as they are finished nursing but I can't separate this family. I know I'm a nut. Unfortunately these feelings have nothing to do with PMS. They have to do with me being a crazy animal lover who takes in any stray and then can't part with them. My kids say we aren't giving them away either and in the same breath call me the crazy cat lady. I say they are the crazy cat kids.
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