On My Mind

Because I'm not on my feet. Actually that's a lie, I managed to make it out the front door, oooohhhh scary front porch step, and sit on the porch yesterday afternoon and it was pretty much Heaven. Then this morning I made it out the back door(ooohhhh, scary patio step) and watched the Spousal Unit rake the yard.

I'm currently obsessed with this blog:

These Days in French Life

Her flickr photostream:


Flickr: These Days in French Life's Photostream

and her cooking blog:

Garlic Breath

Maybe I need to try to get out of the house more, but I'm enjoying reading about the school year committment to not buying anything, even groceries, although they did use Christmas money to restock their freezer with meat. I've been trying hard to keep my pantry somewhat stocked but if something major happened in our world and we couldn't leave our house for say a month, we'd probably starve because I'm not that prepared. We might make it two weeks before we started looking at each other and seeing hamburgers and hot dogs, LOL. But I do want to do better, I'm trying to grow more of our own food although my attempts this spring are late, but fortunately Florida has a fairly long growing season.

I'm kind of freaked out at her mention of nettle soup and nettle tea. Those things grown in my yard and hurt like the dickens when I step on them the thought of using them for food, well I'd have to be pretty darn hungry to resort to that but maybe they are quite tasty and I'm really missing out.

Another thing I'm fixated on at the moment is making my own:


Recipe for Kombucha Tea & Learn How to Make Kombucha

This is supposed to be some kind of healthy alternative for people who like Coca~cola but I've read mixed reviews about the taste, like it tastes like urine or dirty socks but then when you read about it on Garlic Breath or maybe her other blog she makes it sound quite tasty. It's also supposed to be some kind of miracle drink, even to the point that it could cure cancer. Google it see what all you can find. Interesting but the taste reviews have me wanting to try it just out of curiousity.

I've been doing a little stitching and thinking about making some skirts but I missed the Simplicity pattern sale at JoAnns and I need some summery fabrics for a few skirts and also have to figure out how to make a skirt that doesn't ride up my butt. My back is always shorter than my front and I need to figure out how to tailor it. I want a dress form but that is not in the budget.

I do have all the squares cut out for my red & white quilt and may try piecing them together tonight, maybe.

If I can find my camera cord I'll take some updated pics.

Thank you all for all the get well wishes and sharing your most embarassing moment stories! They made me feel like I'm not the only one who has had an epic public fall.

Hope all you mother readers out there have a very Happy Mother's Day.

If You Want to Dance

You have to pay the fiddler. Well Saturday I'm minding my own business, run into the store to purchase a small bottle of tequila to make a Margarita-it had been a tough week. I go in the store, can't find small bottles of tequila, go up to the cash register and proceed to purchase two of those airplane sized bottles then I see the $6 bottle of Cuervo waving at me from the shelf so I say, "oh I'd like to get that instead." We're talking, no problem-I have consumed nothing stronger than coffee at this point. I turn to walk out of the store and am getting my keys out of my purse and since I'm walking right straight to the door I don't look down. All of a sudden I start falling. While falling I'm thinking to myself did I fall into that display of Jagger? WTF did I fall on? KERTHUNK. I'm laying out in the front of the store, I seriously can't move and I know that about 20 people are standing in line at the registers and I'm processing what just happened, very slowly, but I finally sit up and see one of those handheld carry baskets right there at my feet. The GOOBER DOOFUS behind me in line put his basket right at my feet, I mean I seriously didn't take two steps on my way to the door when I wiped out. I was thinking to myself how did that get there, why was it on my left side in the of the path to the door instead of on the right, how did I miss it? Then I slowly look around and I'm sitting right in the path to the door, a crowd there, we're talking stadium numbers, and I try to get up. Uh at this point I realize my right leg is not going to go anywhere. So I scootch on my butt out of the main flow of traffic and everyone is trying to look like they aren't looking at me and also some are offering help and the store manager is trying to collect that money and help her customers and make sure I'm not dead all at the same time. They do offer to call an ambulance and always the optimist I think if I can just get to my truck I'll be fine. The solitude and safety of my truck and all will be well. Well there was no getting there. That pesky kink in my leg and foot was just getting worse. I finally brokedown, called my friend Pam to come and get me and she took me to the ER where I turned down the lortabs, they make me psychotic-the last time I was on them for a broken wrist the boys refer to as the time I was on drugs. Anyway, they took a gazillion xrays and sent me on my way with a knee stabilizer(something out of SAW I tell you) and a big very attractive boot that you can see in the picture below: Apologies for the picture, took it with my Blackberry while waiting on my perscription to be filled. I got a call on Monday that my foot is indeed fractured.

A few things I've learned. I'm not the hermit I like to think I am, I do way more around the house than my family ever dreamed I did, and I'm having anxiety attacks because my friend Pam is doing my carpool duty and I feel awful because it's such a stupid thing and all for a Margarita which I haven't even had yet.

In more pleasant news below you can see my new gardening style:


I bought two of these a couple of weeks ago when my friend told me she saw them at Walgreens, once again a picture from the Blackberry. I have a Roma tomato on the left and a Pink Brandywine tomato on the right. At the moment they are hanging from a double shepherd's hook but the spousal unit is going to hang them from one end of our swing out back, the swing is broken so this would be a perfect spot to hang them in. I think they'll get enough sun. I want to get another one for cucumbers and maybe one for zucchini. I do have a pot of cilantro and one of basil started. I want to plant some jalapenos and bell peppers too. Looks like I won't be doing that any time soon though.

I have done absolutely no stitching at all. Sunday and Monday I was under the influence of painkillers and yesterday I decided it was time to wash my hair and maybe change my shirt that took a couple of hours. Oh yes, I've been real pleasant to be around. Biggest discovery, one cannot carry a glass of water while using crutches. DUH. Oh yeah, I just knew there was a way.

So that's the excitement around here at the moment. To quote Roseann Roseanna Danna, "It's always something."

Would anyone else like to share their most embarassing moment?

Ye've Plundered My Heart(with apologies to Sue Hillis)

On Sunday I started cutting out all the different red fabrics I've been gathering up for the past year or so, one fat 1/4 here, one fat 1/4 there and I ended up with a pile of 4 inch squares and some 4 1/2 or 5 inch strips. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do with the strips. I'm thinking maybe a pillow or two. Or if I don't have enough squares I can cut them up for more. Yes I'm aware that some of the reds clash, I was just buying the odd red fat 1/4 not really paying attention to the reds actually matching, if they don't work in this quilt I'll find another use for them, really. The fabric will not go to waste! Once my wrist feels a little better after the hours of rotary cutting I'll tackle my white fabrics. I have some skull and cross bone fabrics in red, black and gray and the intention was to sneak the odd block in on the quilt, hence the quilt name, "Ye've Plundered My Heart" totally ripped off from the Sue Hillis cross stitch design of the same name. I may still add one sneaky skull block just to add some quirkiness to the top but I'm thinking that the skull and cross bone fabrics might be good for the back of the quilt. I can pick up more between now and when I get to that point so I might just have a patchwork work back of assorted skulls. Yeah, I'm 12, OK.

In the cross stitch department I started The Primitive Needle's Salem Remembered:

And from the Island of UFOs I picked up Sonne Spotte. Sorry the picture isn't any better. Next time I'll just focus on the area of stitching I'm focused on.

That's it from here. Next time maybe a quilt top, or not!

All Powerful and Knowing Ouija

Primitive Needle

The Talking Board

1x2 36ct Relic PTP linen

WDW Charcoal

WDW Bark

DMC 535

Oh wise Ouija--will a publishing company sign me to a three book deal?

Will Hollywood buy the movie rights to my series?

Will I be able to finally buy that dream house in Topanga Canyon?

Will I ever get all the cat and dog hair out of the house? Will I ever get the pile of laundry off the kitchen table? Will anyone in my family pick up after themselves?

I guess I can live with that! I love Ouija boards, always have. My friend Linette and I would spend hours asking it questions. This was a fun stitch and quick for me. I think I started it on Sunday and finished it this morning. It was designed by The Primitive Needle' Check out more of her designs. Salem Remembered is up next in my to stitch pile. I should mention that there are two mistakes in this piece, all my fault, not the chart's. I ripped back three times and could find my mistake or I more than likely kept making the same mistake over and over. I decided late last night I could live with that. I seriously doubt anyone but me knows they are there. I also made one other change because I ran out of WDW's Charcoal and used DMC 535 for the stars at the bottom. I'm debating whether to coffee stain those stars to make them match better. I wish I had thought to just toss the whole skein of DMC in the coffee pot but when I originally compared the colors I thought they were a better match, but I'm happy with the results and I started out with a partial skein of the Charcoal so I'm pretty sure one full skein would be enough.

P.S. Thank you all for the sweet comments about my Papaw.

29 Years Ago Today

I attended my Papaw's funeral. This was the first time in my life that death really touched me. My Papaw passed away on March 31, 1980. I remember every moment of that day. He had been in the hospital, being a self absorbed 11th grader, I had no idea they had sent him home to die. That his heart, at the very young age of 60 just didn't have that many more beats left. I got up that Sunday morning, got dressed for church. I had on a blue shirt with trim that matched my red skirt. I walked across the road to my grandparents house to see if they were ready and my Mamaw told me that they weren't going to church Papaw didn't feel like it but she'd run me up there. Mamaw didn't want me to miss church but I said, "No that's ok, I have a term paper to work on. It was a paper on the treatment of the mentally ill in the 1800s. Yes, 11th grade, bizarre subject matter, that's just how I roll. I did write another paper that same year on Eliabeth Barret and Robert Browning and I used Virginia Woolf's book Flush as a source. Anyway, I walked back across the road, I went into my bedroom, turned up the stereo, Jackson Browne's The Pretender, and started sorting 3x5 index cards. The phone rang, I ignored it. The phone kept ringing, no one answered it. Then I get up answer the phone and it's my Mamaw yelling that Brooks is dying. I run for my dad. We both fly across the road, my dad does CPR until the ambulance arrives but it was too late. For 29 years I've wondered if I had answered the phone on the first ring as I normally would have, would anything had been different. I know it wouldn't have but what if....


By the time the ambulance arrived the whole neighborhood and most of the church was on my grandparents' carport. I remember sitting and sobbing, I remember someone(I think it was Donna Graves) telling me he was with God and I remember looking at her and telling her, "I can't listen to that right now, all I know is he's not here so I don't really care about God right now."

There are people that are such a powerful force in our lives that when they are no longer there it leaves a hole the size of the Grand Canyon. That was my papaw. He was bigger than life. You know how AIG is too big to fail, I always thought my Papaw was too big to die. How could the world keep turning if he wasn't here? How would the Bartlett Masonic Lodge continue on with him gone? How would my family hold it together with him no longer there to keep everyone together? He was the one person on the face of the earth my dad would listen to.

My Papaw would have been amused that his funeral was held on April Fool's Day. No one loved a prank better than him. He was wicked. I don't know anyone that ever had a bad word to say about Brooks Gibson. That Randy Travis song "He Walked on Water" that suits my papaw.

He was always there for me and my brother. When my parents bought the house across the road from my grandparents my mother told us we couldn't spend all our time over there and we had to be invited. My little brother would go out to edge of the driveway, wave at my Papaw sitting on the carport and yell over to Papaw, "Hey Papaw do this" and he'd wave his arms like Papaw would if he was motioning for him to come over. Papaw would wave, James would squeal and run in the house and say "Momma, Papaw did this" and he'd wave his arm, "can I go see him?" This happened every single day of my brother's life. We spent a lot of time sitting on that carport with Papaw and Mamaw. We ate popcorn and dranks cokes in the bottle. We sat on the picnic table covered in newspapers and ate watermelon with juice dripping down our arms. We sat and watched my papaw build bicycles for us and every other kid in Ellendale.

In the summer I would put on my bathing suit, slather on the Johnson's baby oil, take a stack of Harlequins, my radio and go "lay out" on my grandparents lounge chair. No sooner did I get all situated when Papaw would come out of the house and say, "Missy, get Buddy(my little brother who was also James, and oh yeah, Little James) and let's go to Baskin Robbins." Papaw always got French Vanilla.

March 31st is always a rough day for me, but April 1st. I remember the funeral like it was five minutes ago. I wore a blue skirt, a blue and white polkadot shirt, it was my favorite outfit. I remember just sitting and crying and my uncle hugging me close. I remember there were so many flowers. I mean wall to wall. I remember that Papaw was buried in his favorite blue leisure suit.

My papaw was a great story teller. He would sit for hours telling family stories, stories that would have us laughing so hard.

I wanted all my friends to meet my papaw. How many teenagers drag their friends to their grandparents house because they think their grandparents are the coolest people on the planet? Well this one did.

I wish my husband and kids could have known him. They would have thought he rocked. My oldest son has his eyes. My papaw had these blue eyes that just glowed and Ryne's eyes are the same.


Brooks Gibson was one of the most important people in my life, and even now 29 years later when I have a tough decision to make or I behave badly, I ask myself what would Papaw think of you?

You would think 29 years would soften the feeling of loss and emptiness but it doesn't. I'm not home to put flowers on his grave, so I'm writing my memories here.

What I Did on My Spring Break

I would love to tell you all that Spring Break was a whirlwind of travel, Paris, Barcelona, London, Ireland, NYC, Chicago, LA, but no spring break was spent in my messy house listening to almost grown kids whine about the nasty weather. I've apparently done a very good job convincing them that I have superpowers because they acted like I could do something about the deluge of rain falling from the sky. Like I was totally connected to the clouds and could blink my eyes, twitch my nose and the clouds would part, the sun would shine and life would be good. Uh no. So we spent the better part of last week listening to thunder, watching the lightening, and visiting the video store as much as humanly possible.

Of all the movies we watched over the week The Mist was the best. That's not saying a lot. Man are there some baaaaaad movies on the video store shelves these days. Avoid Mirrors. Yes it's got Keifer Sutherland but I so completely didn't get it. I mean I did get it, I understood it, but still that is two hours of my life I will never get back. We watched W. Josh Brolin is going to be the next great actor. He's wonderful. Whatever your politics this movie is worth watching just to see Josh Brolin. We watched Quantum of Solace, James Bond, Daniel Craig, 'nuff said.

I also watched A History of Violence a gazillion times. I love me some Viggo. If you haven't seen it's great on so many levels.

What did I do while watching all those movies? Well cross stitching was out because it's easy to make mistakes when someone is in your face whining for eight straight hours so I decided to spend some quality time with the 63 Squares afghan I'm making for my oldest son. The colors are his choice--I played with different shades of green, blue and yellow and these were just the ones that looked the best together. I added the variegated for some pizazz and well I like those variegated yarns. I can't help it. I always have, always will. I love them and pop them in when I can. I am crocheting this with good old inexpensive Red Heart, that staple of yarn baskets everywhere. I would love to make one of these in real wool. Really, I would but I have a few issues.

1) This is for my 21 yr old son, I hope he loves it so much that when he moves out one day when he's like 40(I wish that wasn't a joke, LOL) that he will want to take it with him. This means that if he ever washes it, it will go in the washer and the dryer and that means it will felt and be a doll blanket. Not good.

2) Since he's a guy and has a wild streak, I can only imagine what he will put this afghan through, so that means even if he doesn't want to wash it he will, eventually, which means if I crochet it with wool, it will felt--see reason 1.

So good old Red Heart it is. Below you can see the first 5 of 7 squares of Row 1. I had hoped to complete the row this weekend but had huge gauge issues and as you can see from the last square there I still have a gauge issue but I said screw this I'll make it work. The next smallest crochet hook was too small for the worsted weight, the E hook I think, so I just went with the F and left it as is. I will work it out later. My goal is to crochet this row by row instead of 1-63 and then assemble each row as it's completed and then sew the rows together as I finish them and it should make assembly much more enjoyable and not as overwhelming if I waited until all the blocks were done.

Here you see them piled up showing that nifty variegated. I can't help it. I love that Red Heart Bananaberry. It's a happy mix of colors. Every attempt I've made before on the 63 Squares afghan has ended up looking really sad. No matter what colors I chose, bright, dark, classy, they all looked uninspired, but these seem to be coming together ok. Or maybe it's just me being full of hope and all.

And the squares from a different angle because that's just how I roll:

Here is some progress on my HAED Dark Waters:

This project will be a lifetime commitment and I try to work on it when I can. I'm stitching it 2x1 on 22ct aida. It's a combination of Selena Fenech's Dark Waters(the mermaids) and across the top will be her Bright Skies which is an angel panel. I'm almost to the center panel of water and sky. I love this project so much. I can't imagine ever actually finishing it so that means when I sit down to work on it, I don't see the finished project, I just see little Xs. There is no pressure, I can just stitch and get lost in the story my mind makes up about these swimming mermaids and the shenanigans they are off to get into. Since I don't think like an angel I'm not sure what I might be dreaming about when I get to that part of the design but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

And below you see my start on The Primitive Needle's Talking Board. I thought I'd have this finished by now but got side tracked by spring break and that whole family thing and crocheting takes less concentration. I'm stitching it 1x2 on 36ct Relic from Picture This Plus.

Today I'm going to play around with my Patternmaker software and see if I can get a pattern for Kudzu out of it. I have to use the other laptop with missing keys because the CD drive in this one is fried and I need to look for one of those external drives because I want to buy one of these for myself:

Walmart.com: Acer Blue Aspire One ACA150-1447 Mini Laptop PC Netbook with Inte

I'd prefer the HP Mini but only because the keyboard is almost normal size. Everything I've read about the Acer with the 6 cell battery is that you can get up to 3 1/2 hours of battery life. I love that, makes it great for taking it places, although if I want to write on it I need to figure out the whole Barbie sized keyboard. I'm really tired of fighting for computer time so I've told the spousal unit when that money tree sprouts up in the backyard I want one of these. Of course I have a never ending wish list of things I want--this is a necessity but the others? Total luxury items. Want a peak?

SpinBlessing.com Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel, $425.00 A few things we'll ignore: I live in Florida and have no need to learn to spin wool but I want to. I really, really want to. I mean with climate change and all, Florida's weather could be like Montana's one day. Seriously. Learning to spin might be good knowledge to have one day.

Ashford Joy Spinning Wheel with free shipping and free fiber Add to that, I rarely travel and can think of no reason why I need a spinning wheel that I can fling over my shoulder but I do. I can't imagine a situation where I'd ever take a spinning wheel with me but for some reason I want this wheel, I dream about this wheel.

Amazon.com: Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) We will ignore the fact that I seem to get most of my books at the library these days or the used bookstore. That doesn't matter I want a Kindle!

I also want a Serger--uh I don't sew but I've decided it'd be cool to make some exercise clothes and the serger will make finishing them nicer. I also won't add that fabric to make my own exercise clothes is more expensive than buying the clothes off the rack, and again I don't SEW! But a Serger it's a necessity.

I also want a set of Knit Picks' Harmony Interchangeable Needles and a set of the Options Interchangeable needles, and a set of the Harmony DPNs and the Harmony straights. No--I am not a passionate knitter, I play at knitting, I am slowly teaching myself and plan to take a sock knitting class in the not so distant future none of that matters, I want, I want, I want. Once again with climate change knitting might be a skill that's kind of important.

And I also want one of these quilting frames:

Honey Fork Fabrics So we won't mention how I've never completed a quilt. That doesn't matter. I would have this when the time came.

And do I mention here how I want tons of fabric? Kaffe Fossett, Anna Marie Horner, Amy Butler, BBD and oh so many more? Lots and lots of fabric.

I would also love a room full of Picture This Plus fabrics, all the floss I could ever need, and could just walk in the room, pull out what I need for a project and BAM, I could start it right then and there.

I know, I'm insane. Does anyone else have these unrealistic wishlists? Like you want things, you don't need them, you just want them so that one day when you get around to whatever they are there waiting on you?

Rainy days really gets me list making, dreaming, planning.

I won't mention the raised beds that didn't get built because they would have floated away, that'll be a job for this coming weekend. Because I want to grow lots and lots of tomatoes and can homemade salsa and tomato sauce this fall.

I'm thinking about getting several of these and hanging two of them on my front porch:

Topsy Turvy Hanging Tomatoes Official Site - Upside Down Planter

That's kind of decorative don't you think? We get western exposure, my front yard is the perfect place for a garden but I don't think the neighbors would appreciate me plowing up the yard, it wouldn't fit in the HOA code. But wouldn't these look like maybe viney party lanterns? I'm also thinking about hanging them from shepherd's hooks in the backyard. I'm going to grow tomatoes in the ground and in containers and in every free spot that gets sun because we use a lot of tomatoes around here. We eat a ton of salsa so canning my own might be a good thing or we could all die of botchulism which is my biggest fear about home canning but I want to try it this year.

So this is what I've been up to this week. Now to go fight with the ancient laptop and the Patternmaker sofware and see if I can work out a pattern for kudzu for My

21st Century Sampler Project. And for those of y'all that don't what kudzu is here are some links:

The Amazing Story of Kudzu and Kudzu-The Vine

And also, note to self, when bored quit doing searches on flickr for quilts. My brain goes into overload and I want to make everything I see. It's TOO MUCH!

New Project

This morning I created a new blog for a new project I'm getting ready to start.

I hope other stitchers will join me in this journey. Yes, the post is long and there are no pictures yet, but I wanted to explain exactly what inspired me and what I hope to accomplish.


21st Century Sampler Project