crazy is as crazy does

Doesn't Astro look crazy in this picture? It just mades me giggle :)

Anyway, my plan was to post about my stash, and post some pictures of it too, in an attempt to give myself a kick in the pants (you know, about how I should not be buying new stuff when all this other stuff is just waiting for me to stitch it), but when I started adding up the numbers, it was frightful. Downright scary! And then the thought occured to me that if that number (with pictures!) were in evidence, on this here intranets, someone...and I'm not sayin' who...just might have me committed.

And I have way too much stitching to do for that!

I'm sure so many stitchers, and other crafters, out there can relate to this. We all probably have WAY more projects than we'll ever get done in this lifetime.
But as I love to say...it's all good! There are worse things we could be doing, right? hee

So here instead, is just a glimpse into the crazy... my Needlepoint Silk collection, as I was organizing them all a few weeks ago:





What's really shocking, if you must know, is that this does not even represent the whole collection, there are some in floss away bags in the closet. And even MORE shocking, out of the 388 skeins of silk pictured here (and the ones in the closet), there were seven colors I had to go out and buy for a new project!! And the price has gone up from $2.70 a skein to $3.70!! I was not too happy about that, lol!



OK, moving on...my newest project:



Ladybugs and Bumblebees by Country Cottage Needleworks. And I am actually further along now than this picture shows...



Will post a progress pic again soon.

Happy stitching ya'll! And thanks for your sweet comments, which I love and am very thankful for :)

charles has a licking problem

This video is hysterical!! We can't stop watching it! Must be a Pug thing because our two Pugs do this too :)



lick lick

rockin' my world

Here for your viewing pleasure, pictures of my brand new fridge!



There are no words to describe how happy this baby is making me right now.



We moved the essentials into the new fridge and left some stuff in the old one out in the garage.



We have a lot of butter...this is only half of the inventory, ahem.



This pull out deli tray (or whatever it's called)is the best thing invented since cupcakes!



As you can see here, ONLY the VIP food stuff made it into the freezer drawer. hee hee




Thanks for looking at my new love! What more could a girl ask for...a loving husband who indulges his wife in a new fridge we really didn't HAVE to have, a healthy family, good friends and a huge stash to stitch...stay tuned for more on that last subject this weekend. It's truly shocking.

cupcake love

This book title just struck me as funny, but what really got me was the cupcake on the cover.



YUM! Really makes my heart sing, let me tell ya!

again with the peace thing

For some reason I seem to be obsessed with Peace in my stitching...




This time of year has never been my favorite, although my oldest daughter was born in April, some 21 years ago which I am thankful and blessed for. But even that was a traumatic experience for everyone involved...a difficult pregnancy followed by a stressful delivery, and a big brother none too happy about the new addition to boot. Anyway, seems like so many bad things have happened in April. Not to mention the beginning of tornado season in our state...we've already had two big storm systems move through this year and we're not even out of April. So maybe the Peace things I've stitched recently really do reflect what I'd like for this time of year, in my life and in the world. Hmm.

The above sampler is by Birds of a Feather and it was stitched on 32 count BOAF Sandpiper linen over two with GA and WDW threads. It was fun to stitch, but when it was done I was pretty happy about it, lol. Didn't realize just how happy it made me until driving home from work the other night and I thought of what stitching awaited me at home and when I remembered it was a new project, it made me very happy!

Here are two pillow finishes from Tobie. The first one is an old Mosey n Me design, I really can't recall the name of it. It's stitched on a huge count of Tula with Thread Gatherer's Sheeps Straw...it was so expensive and although it was OK to work with, I'll don't foresee ever using it again.



It was a birthday gift for my daughter this year.

This one is from Homespun Elegance...Spring Patchwork pillow or something like that.



It was stitched on several different pieces of fabric and then pieced together instead of the prefinished form pillow that the design called for. Those things were $30 at the time and I thought that was too much!

Do you see the honeysuckle in these pictures? It's taking over some ivy surrounding the tree in our front yard. Somehow it migrated from the trellis in our back yard and I'm having a really hard time getting it out of the ivy...it just keeps popping up!

Anyhoo, here is our Astro Dazzle, tired from a long hard day of entertaining his peoples.



He really does get this tired...so much so that he can't keep his eyes open, lol!
He's 6 months old today, time for a birthday bone!

love the pudge

Here is my finished Shepherd's Bush French Heart, made into a purse by the finisher...




I love it, the design and the finishing! I never get tired of SB's pudgy people and sheep...while not for everyone, and not my "usual" thing, there's a soft spot in my heart for these designs and their soft colors and style.


(if you click on any of the images you will get an "eye popping" closeup)!



This little shoe button sold me by itself!



And the specialty stitches were a lot of fun too.



And here is my Bluebird's Message, which she  made into a date book cover.



And last, a strawberry ornament from Blackbird Designs.



It is from the 2006 JCS Ornament Issue.



Nancy, I stitched the ornament on the linen called for in the magazine, I think it was 30 ct. LaCrosse by R&R.

Thanks for your sweet comments....

whole lotta baking going on

Warning: Image Heavy Post to Follow!


On Friday I made cornbread for the stuffing on Easter Sunday, like to make it up ahead of time, one less thing to worry about then, plus it's better when it's a couple of days old.




The only problem is, when you have a cornbread lovin' husband, you have to hide it or else make something else he loves, to keep his mind off the cornbread.



Which is where the banana bread came into play. With one very ripe banana and one that wasn't nearly as ripe, but it all worked out well.



Using a recipe from Maggie, the best banana bread recipe EVER. Period. And in 20 something years of making banana bread from various recipes, this one's the best, trust me.



I used my new "professional" loaf pans from Williams Sonoma, but didn't like their shape when they came out, so I won't be using these pans again for banana bread. Normally use a glass loaf pan and a Longaberger pottery loaf pan and they turn out beautifully.



The shape didn't affect the taste and husband got one loaf and the other went to work with me that evening, to be scarfed down by all.

Then, there were homemade cookies to be made, these were mostly for a coworker who claims I am his "work wife", but two other coworkers also call me their "work wife" so does that make me a polygamist? Hmmm....




This recipe is also the best chocolate chip recipe I've ever found, it uses real butter, which you melt first and if you've ever tried making CC cookies with real butter that's just been "softened", you know how flat and yucky they can be.




Not these! They are fluffy and chewy and great!



I swear, I only ate one (and counted the points for it in my WW journal) my family had some too and the rest went to one of the work husbands (although he did share with the other employees).


Well, there was much more cooking and baking going on that didn't get photographed, aren't you glad? But then there were strawberries for shortcake on Sunday, which the Astro Dazzle absolutely loved, as you can see...




It's OK for dogs to eat strawberries. I checked before we gave in to the pitiful stares.



Man, that dog is a piece of work!

i am not an animal!!

I AM PUG!

This is the look one gets from the Astro Dazzle after he's gotten his "freak on":



And what pray tell, IS his "freak on"?



He MUST lick your skin after he gets a drink of water. EVERY time. If you are not around, he will find you. Track you down! And if you're wearing long pants he'll sit and wait until you show him some skin, down on his level. Licking level.

What a freak.

And a lazy freak at that.



See what else I have to contend with, while I stitch?

This is one end.



And this is the other.



Makes for some cramped up stitching but it's all good.

Thanks y'all for the comments on my last post, and encouragement...guess I shouldn't let people get to me but sometimes it's hard! I'll remember your words the next time it happens, which it will, it always does.

On a happy, non-Pug licking note, I lost another 3.4 pounds on my second week of Weight Watchers!! Yippee!

peace

Finished this up in a couple of nights:

It's Peace by Birds of a Feather. I didn't have much peace stitching it however, as the chart had some errors in it, so I had to rip out my stitching a couple of times and then improvise in the end with some colors of my own. Then, after I'd stitched the word "peace" I noticed how much darker it is than the words above it, even though all the thread came off the same skein. Ugh. I was too disgusted to rip it out and do it over. Sometimes we just have to live with these little imperfections in our lives and be ok with it, don't you think?

Gosh, I found out after I finished Their Song last week that some people actually get annoyed with you if they think you're finishing stuff too fast. I don't think I'm a fast stitcher at all, but apparently some people do and yes, even seem annoyed by it. But I am gainfully employed outside of the home and I do cook meals and even bake on occasion (which also annoys people) and clean and do laundry and everything else (and even more) that most women do. Yet it seems I don't have a life because of all this free time for stitching that just magically appears, just to piss people off. Geesh. "Get a life?" Indeed.

their song

Here's my latest finish, finally!



(click on image for larger picture)


This is the latest in the Loose Feathers Series by Blackbird Designs and is called Their Song. I used the recommended fabric and threads. It took me so long to finish this one...just couldn't get into my usual stitching groove the past couple of weeks, I think Steve's death has put me in a funk and it's been hard to get things done in other areas as well. But, it was a joy to stitch, one of my all time favorites. Can't wait to see the rest in this series this year, they're all going to be bird related. And I love birds!

edited to add: I had forgotten to do the backstitching on the cherry vines part along the top, DUH! Fixed it though :)