a little history

Weekend stitching with an old fashioned feel – from Blackbird Designs and Beehive Needleworks

Some weekend sewing with a little nostalgia on back.

Some pictures, quite old in fact.  Yesterday was my youngest sister’s birthday she is thirty-something, closer to 40 than 29 these days.  Tomorrow is my other sister’s 25th wedding anniversary.  Here we are 25 years ago.  That’s me with the hanky, I think you can figure out who my sisters are.  The other two ladies are my mom and my grandma.  My grandma passed away 14 summers ago. 

This much older picture is my grandma’s wedding portrait.  That’s Grandma and Grandpa  (Ella & Otto) sitting down.  The man standing between them is my Great Uncle Julius (Grandma’s brother).  No one can remember who the other girl is here.  I have my great grandparent’s (Ella & Julius’ parents) wedding photo hanging on the wall with this one which you can see here.

A few other old fashioned activities this weekend included making pickles and raspberry jam – both very yummy but not intended to be eaten together of course.

I’ll leave you with this little bit of weather history for our area from 1875 -

August 19-30, 1875… grasshoppers appeared in great numbers at 10:00 am
        on the 19th. Thousands landed on the ground. The streets
        were literally covered with them. Swarms of grasshoppers
        were seen on each day. All gardens in the city were
        devastated… and in the Countryside the grasshoppers were
        very destructive to ripened grain. On the 30th the
        grasshoppers were so numerous as to almost darken the sun.

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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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weekend stitches

Jerry really wanted me to try not to work this weekend. He took care of all the kids activities, cooking, and shopping and after a bit of work I couldn’t put off Saturday morning I spent the rest of the weekend stitching. I made some nice progress on Red House Sampler by Brenda Keyes at The Sampler Company. Got a decent start on LHN’s Alphabet Rhyme, and even put a few stitches in Primitive Wizard of Oz Sampler from Midsummer Night Designs (nothing worth showing just yet).

A few goodies that came in the mail, a pincushion I bought on Etsy Day from the Daily Pincushion and a new book by Joanna Figueroa. Lovely!

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a sweet weekend

My family treated me like a queen this weekend (for my birthday). The best part was that Jerry flew home for two days (he’s been gone for 4 weeks). He is working not too far from the Shepherd Bush shop in Utah so guess what I got in my birthday basket!!?? (Also some scrumptious truffles from Starbucks). I plan to stitch 2 of these up for the master bath which you can see a bit of here (ignore that dirty mirror please).

Jerry and I paid a visit to Borders too and I picked up a darling book, I hope to work my way through some of my fabric very soon.  I made some good progress (despite having to remove some of my incorrect stitches) on Nature’s Beauty, I’ll be sharing that soon.  I’m feeling a little sad since Jerry flew back to Utah this afternoon, but I’m so glad he was here for my birthday.

Thank you for all the messages on the Yahoo groups, and for your Quarterback Sale orders!

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soft things

Please excuse the knitting needle this is hanging on, I need to buy a dowel.

I finished my wall hanging finish of The Angels Sang from Little House Needleworks, I may keep this up all year in my workroom. I think this goes very well with Holly & Ivy Sampler from Country Cottage Needleworks (I finished this last Christmas).

I’ve been doing lot of sewing and really needed a second pincushion, I fiddled with some fabric scraps and came up with this. It sort of coordinates with my old pincushion (I wish the boys would stop pushing the pins all the way in).

A few more of my Christmas decorations for you (on one of the high ledges) ~

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PS – the webshop sale ends tonight (Tuesday, December 2nd).

a bit of stress

It has been a crazy few days here. Ethan ran a 103 temp for 2 days with strep throat, he is definitely on the mend now, but Jerry and I shared a couple of sleepless nights up with our little guy. I did finish my final exam on time in the midst of this. Friends from out of town surprised us with a visit, and my website crashed. I think that covers it.

My server is working on the problem (something is wrong at their end) in the mean time I’m shopping for a new server. Please contact me at petermkp@gmail.com if you need anything.

Some stress relief – stitching & sewing, and a little book shopping in Boulder. First of all I’m making a frog pillow for my mom (mother’s day gift). She doesn’t read this so I’m safe sharing. This is an image I printed onto the fabric with my ink-jet printer. I ironed the fabric to freezer paper and then ran it through the printer. She collects froggie things so I though I would make her an little elegant frog pillow.

Second, a bit of stitching! I actually sat down and stitched for about 2 hours this weekend, it has been ages it seems since I’ve even had time. Cottage Garden (from Country Cottage Needleworks & Crescent Colours) is pictured on a table cloth I’m making with some April Cornell fabric. Some other sewing has been going on for a certain designer – more on that in a week or so after she gets to see her new pillows. These little Prairie Schooler birds were the squares I sent Vicki last month in the Fair & Square exchange, and here is the book I picked up while Jerry and I were out browsing at bookshops today. A little cocoa and animal crackers and I should be completely de-stressed!

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my spinach puffs are burning!

Party Food!

Actually Tyler made Kung Pao chicken last night – and decided to add extra Kung or maybe it was Pao, anyway we were all in tears and running for water! Our second dinner choice was shrimp that I put a little cumin and paprika on and cooked in a bit of oil.

Jerry brought home strawberries and we are having them with dip tonight – Sunday night is Family Pasta Night, Amber and Eric brought berry cheesecake for 2nd dessert – we have a theme going on.

I’ve been testing the Singer Simple – a really nice little machine! I can’t get the button holer to work quite right. The work light is very weak and I am getting used to not being able to adjust the needle position, but otherwise I’m very impressed. I took apart a quilt I had pieced (with charm packs) and made it rectangular to cover the cedar chest (just trying it on for size in this picture, it isn’t quite finished). This is where Ethan keeps his toys – inside, on top, and underneath, actually they were pushed under when I asked Tyler to clean and vacuum the living room – we’ll have a redo on that tomorrow.

Finally, thank you so much for all your wonderful posts for the drawing – I feel overwhelmingly appreciated. Here is a little sneak peak at prize number 4. Please comment to the Kuczotopia post to be entered in the drawing, entries close at 5pm (mountain time) Wednesday, April 30th.

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