this and that on Thursday

This is quite a mix….

A little finish from the newest Loose Feather design Summer Basket. A quick stitch and I love the colors, I think I might sub some of them on the Summer Iris project….

…Yzma living it up on my ironing board…

…how I plan to spend the rest of my evening, watching  THE Miss Marple by the way….

Ethan conducting a geography lesson, light sabers are very useful things in the classroom…

…and finally a happy birthday to Jerry’s dad.  Jerry’s sister has been converting old slides to digital photos, I liked this one.

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milestone giveaway

Finished up my little pillow. Used two fabrics from the Moda Hartfield collection (yes, as in Jane Austen’s Hartfield). On the back I used a piece of my all time favorite fabric which I happily found a bit more of in a clearance basket recently, I think this is from the Moda Hannah collection – I might have the wrong line in mind however.

I’ve been trying to match a giveaway with a blog milestone for ages. They keep passing me by so I’ve been waiting for the 700,000 visit to register at my blog. Since I expect that to happen in the next 24 hours or so, here is a little giveaway in honor of that milestone. Please leave a comment here at the ‘milestone giveaway’ post to be entered into a drawing for a Sampler Girl, Hannah’s Spring Sampler 1765 pattern and a little pincushion that matches the fabric I used for my finish. I’ll draw a winner and post it next Monday, August 10th.

A reading note – finished The Guernsey Literary Guild and Potato Peel Pie Society (loved it) and nearly finished A Rambling Fancy (very nice). I’ve passed Guernsey Literary Guild on to Amber and then it will go into Jerry’s bookcase on the ‘books I think you would like’ shelf, I may re-read it first.

Ophelia says, ‘hello’.

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PS – I just read that this is my 750th blog post, so this is really two milestones!

French General, Blackbird, Books and More

Trying to take better pictures = taking lots of pictures, so I hope you don’t mind picture heavy posts…..still not quite happy, I think it’s a summer lighting thing.

First of all, I have two of these gorgeous French General Pincushions and Tape Measure sets I’ll be listing at Etsy.  The pincushion is very large (as you can see) and very heavy – over 2 pounds.  I love the fabric on the back and that wonderful French General Tag!!

I whipped up a little cover for my serger this morning. Yzma likes to unthread the darn thing whenever I’m not looking and if you have a serger like mine you know you need the hands of brain surgeon to get it threaded correctly and if you’re lucky it only takes about 6 attempts. Hopefully this little cover will help.

Made a quick run to Borders with my coupon in hand to pick up a new book I’ve had my eye on for a while now.  I’m half way through this book and enjoying it immensely. Oh, that’s a picture of my lunch…

Here you can see my progress on the Summer SAL over at the Blackbird Yahoo group.  SALs are usually the ‘kiss of death’ when it comes to me ever finishing – we’ll see if I do better this time.

Yzma says ‘Stay Cool’.

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Everything Austen Challenge

A finish!! Jane Austen on the Weather, this is from The Sampler Girl’s Companion Booklet #4. I stitched this on light sand Belfast Linen using Carrie’s Creation Silks. I think these threads are beautiful, and by the way, it is dreadful hot here today!

This is the perfect kickoff for the Everything Austen Challenge! For the challenge you choose 6 Austen ‘projects’ you would like to complete by January 1, 2010. The challenge is mainly about reading and viewing….but I plan to include crafty things in my list as well.  Actually I didn’t include any viewing since I will probably rewatch everything available at least once by 1/1/2010 anyway.

For the challenge I plan 1. to get at least four things framed and hung on my….

…very pitiful Jane Austen Sampler ‘wall’…

2. 3. & 4. Read three Jane Austen-ish books….

and for 5. & 6. finish stitching two Jane Austen projects (at least).

I’m already planning to include  the challenge ‘prize’ to my next Amazon order so I’m only joining for the Austen Fellowship of the challenge but what fun! 

 

 

 

 

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Happy Mother’s Day

Wishing you many hours of what you love best!

My family gave me some old movies and a wonderful enlargement of my great-grandparent’s wedding photo. I plan to spend this cool and cloudy (mostly likely soon to be rainy) day stitching and watching movies. Jerry is making dinner tonight so I hope to make a bit of progress on Red House Sampler.

Here is a photo of last year’s Mother’s Day gift (and her little sister) who were both meowing in my face at 6:45am to let me know that they needed food in their dish.

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a Friday finish!

Just finished!! Another sampler for my growing collection of Austen finishes. You can see more of them here. I polished off these cookies in the process and enjoyed Lost in Austen on DVD. I’m undecided regarding a framed or pillow finish on this one.

My order from the Fat Quarter Shop arrived. I plan to whip up this little quilt in my ‘free time’. Love these soft fabric colors, some of which are used on the new release from Impie, Hattie, & Bea. This is the Rose Thread Pouch (that’s the Rose Sampler from Little House Needleworks I stitched up earlier this week). Feel free to email me about putting your name on the list for these – they are limited in number.

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reading, watching, stitching

I was horrified to look at the clock a few minutes ago and see that it was 5:30. I wanted to post this all day but between classes, lessons, running errands for two businesses (mine and Jerry’s) the day is nearly over and my to do list is barely begun.

The silks for this pack are so pretty. Well they are always pretty but I love the lavender, these are on their way to autoship customers and at the webshop. I’d like to find a moment to stitch but….

I visited Borders twice this weekend with two great coupons. I’m really anxious for this book to come out, but in the meantime…..

Ethan almost had a meltdown trying to choose a book, in the end he picked two off the $4.99 table – it was a close call though.

I need a nap!

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PS – All orders received on March 17th will receive a freee skein of green silk from Carrie’s Threads!!