Unconfined: Pear Tree Court

I escaped my confining chores today and zipped up north to Pear Tree Court (In Stitches in Alexandria), where I met two famous bloggers: Tanya, of the Sampler Girl (having a trunk show and debuting a new design), and Siobhan, all the way from Ireland, who was, as I was, talking and shopping. Here's just part of Tanya's beautiful layout, full of charts and models and with a Jane Austen movie running in the background. I'm sort of kicking myself for not insisting on a photo of the two ladies-but I hate shoving a camera in someone's face, especially when that picture's going to wind up in cyberspace, and although the photo doesn't show it, the shop was extremely busy with stitchers shopping the sale and meeting the designer, so I contented myself with the display. I'm also not showing you Tanya's new design, since she was waiting until after the trunk show to reveal it, I believe.

I bought the new design, and also this, one of my favorites, Mrs. Lincoln.

I worked a little on Tea Party today. Of course, it is your fault that I started it, since I'm going to be reporting on its difficulty considering the embroidery. So far, so good--pretty standard bargello stitch for the grass, then ccs on the woman's dress, with some french knots. I've nicknamed her the headless hussy for the moment.

On the way home, I stopped at Lowe's to pick up some stuff and spotted this gentleman and his bird checking out. Amazing that the bird doesn't need to be confined!

"Humph! You got to fly north, the bird at Lowe's isn't caged, but I'm stuck in this old room! But never you mind, I'm chewing my way out."

Happy week!

Distracted

I am supposed to be working on midterm exams for my two classes, but I've been taking regular little blocks of time to stitch. Progress on "July":

I ordered this from 123stitch, and it came very quickly, as do all of my orders from them. It's charted for DMC, but I subbed AVAS because I prefer it. I started it. Frankly, although I said I was going to devote July to patriotic stitching, my interest in that (I now have about 8 patriotic charts waiting in the wings) has begun to...er...flag. I'm pretty distractable--but needlework is about the only thing I have any control over. Schoolwork, the work grind, the commute, a certain basic level of personal and household hygiene, all pretty non-negotiable. Needlework? I give myself permission to do anything I want.

Then there's this. Wow, what colors. And a departure for The Victoria Sampler, I think, because there's not a band in sight. There is some surface embroidery, some beading, some specialty stitches, and some ribbon work. But it's not too large, so it's not terribly daunting. It came with a thread pack (NIP, AVAS, Kreinik Mori, Kreinik braid, silk ribbon, GAST and beads) and I bought the recommended color of linen: Vintage cashel in "country mocha," only I got the 32 ct. instead of the recommended 28.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get up to meet the Sampler Girl and see her trunk show, so I'd better get back to my exams. Later!
"I disapprove of rigid schedules."

"July," Sort of

I didn't finish "July," but I made pretty good progress considering my homework. In the meantime, a few more patriotic charts arrived and I made a tiny start in one of them, which I'll show you when it looks like something.

I went to a 4th of July party at my sister's, and we had great food and played with sparklers. The flame on the left is a mosquito lantern, which I highly recommend.

[Edited to add photos of family members who were disappointed to see nothing but a disembodied hand holding a sparkler in this blog entry.]
It's impossible not to cackle gleefully while holding a sparkler. Also impossible not to swish it around, even if you're (sort of) an adult. My sis:

Bug spray. Necessary when stepping away from the tiki torches. Sis's BF, a fun guy who showed us how to season a grill with an onion.

Contemplating eating the last deviled egg:


I picked up Shepherd's Bush "Tiny Flag" at the framer's.

I had to show you this house. It's sampler-worthy. I went for a walk through F-burg with my camera and stopped to stare at this house; there's something going on with the color in the bright sunlight. I went back today because it was drizzling and I figured the effect would be gone, but it wasn't entirely. Here's the house: a nice Queen Anne Victorian, circa 1890. There's something electric about the color though.

Look at the front porch. See the spring green ceiling and floor? It's hard to do show with the camera but it positively shimmers in the sun. If you live in the area, it's on Fauquier Street, and it's very worth the drive. I'd love to buy this house, and tragically for me, it's for sale--such bad timing, since we couldn't unload our current house (not that I really want to--but still--a special house like this comes on the market but once in a blue moon. Or in a green porch.) It's renovated and looks to be in very good condition; the real estate photos show a nice interior renovation that modernizes the kitchen but doesn't destroy the nice old features of this period home.

Here's a group snorgle. Pink, Elvis and Peaches are concerned this evening about their friend, Fats, who was wounded and has gotten some vet care and needs some medicine his mom (who's a glassblower) can't afford. If you want purchase some beautiful art glass, make a little donation or just wish Fats well, please go here.

Happy week ahead, all!

Almost July

It's nearly July, the month in which I've got a little self-challenge to stitch as many summery/beachy/patriotic themes as possible. How many can I do? I went to Fredericksburg yesterday to visit the LNS and pick up a chart I'd ordered, and on the way, stopped to take a picture of this bunting-bedecked Victorian. Very patriotic-looking. It's actually a local business--a florist operates out of there, so I've been inside, and it has a lot of nicely decorated rooms used as showrooms. [Edited to add: note the swing on the right-hand section of porch. What a perfect place to stitch and gaze at the garden!]
Here's the window of Everything Cross Stitch. I couldn't get all the pictures, plus there's a lot of reflection, so it's a little hard to see, but IRL it's a very pretty patriotic-themed window.

Here's my progress on "July." I have Friday off, so I should be able to finish by next weekend.

Then it will be on to this design: LHN's "Brave Hearts." I'm doing all of these on 40 ct, although while I was at the LNS, I picked up some 45 ct. And I took "America" to the framer yesterday; it should be back in 3 weeks. I bought a red frame with a blue mat--I will go with a similar approach on all of the patriotic pieces. I'm planning to hang them all in the kitchen which is all white cabinetry, white counters and stainless stuff--sort of looks like a laboratory or a morgue, so those colors should warm it up. I'm seriously considering leaving them up year-round. A former co-worker did gorgeous cross stitch Santa Clauses, and left them up year-round, and they looked just right, if quirky, even in the dead of summer.

I've ordered this. It's called "Flag Day," and it's by "With Thy Needle." Check out her website--she has other cute designs.

Peaches decided to go for a little jaunt on the side of the tub today; she's calculating the best way to get down. Happy week ahead--may things not be precarious, says Peaches!

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy

I feel like stitching patriotic/summer themes (for my separate, also imaginary, patriotic themed sampler wall) around Independence Day. It's sort of a race to see how much I can get accomplished before the end of July. I started this on Friday evening, after tearing apart my stitching room looking for this Shepherd's Bush chart, which I knew I'd purchased from Ebay sometime last year. It came with the remnants of the original stitcher's fibers (mostly Silk 'n Colors), so I was able to use the ones I liked, and substituted other SnC from my stash when I ran short. I finished it yesterday--such a feeling of satisfaction to start and finish something all in one weekend, even if it is this tiny. SB's "Tiny Flag" stitched on 32 ct Lakeside Linen in lentil, stitched over 2 and also over one in the "America" line. I'm actually going to get it framed, because I like it so much. It calls for a charm to be attached on the blue field at top left, and I thought of looking for one when I was at the LNS yesterday, but decided to let it go. The suggested charm is a little pewter colored shield with "US" on it. Doesn't do anything for the design, I think, although I thought of subbing a gold or red star button.

That done, on to other things! I've started "July" from Prairie Schooler on 40 ct Ricamo linen and DMC from my stash. I'm missing just three colors, so I'll need to pick those up somewhere. I like PS designs, but I prefer them (and LH designs also) on a high count fabric or over one. It sharpens them, somehow. I didn't need to start in the upper left-hand corner of this, but I find myself doing it more and more because, like a lot of us, I prefer stitching top-down/left-right, and if you start in the center, a certain amount is always going to be up and right-left. I also subbed brighter colors of the red, since IRL the DMC colors were a little duller than the photo.

The question is...should it hang on my imaginary beach-and-maritime sampler themed wall, or on my imaginary patriotic sampler themed wall?

When I was at the LNS yesterday, I picked up this hilariously perfect chart. I pulled the called for fibers (GAST) and then subbed AVAS for them--I thought the GAST colors were a little subdued. I'm going to stitch it on 40 ct Ricamo also. It's called "If I Can't Stitch," by The Sunflower Seed.

I spent a good bit of time on Christinia as well. I had a small disappointment when one page of the chart disappeared--page 1 (of 12), where I had about 15 lines of stitching to go, but those lines started a new part of the design that wasn't readily readable either from other pages or from the tiny photo of this sampler on the cover. I had been stitching on the bus, and realized that my stop was coming up quickly, so I stuffed everything in my bag, and it must not have made it off the bus with me. Bummer. I felt bad about it--I pictured it shouting to me in a tiny voice as I went down the aisle--"waaaaiiit....come back!" Someone at the bus company probably picked it up and threw it in the trash when they cleaned out the bus overnight. Deciding it was gone for good, I ordered the whole darned thing over again from Homespun Samplar. Fortunately, it's not an expensive chart, and it's still in stock, and I got to discover a couple of new designs that jumped into my cart when I ordered Christinia. Note to self: make a working copy, Dummy! This is page two. When the chart comes in the mail, I'll finish page one.

Here's a two-fer of dandies saying happy Father's Day, happy week ahead, and always check the seat before you get off the bus!

Color My World

I love the colors in Christinia. They're bright enough to put out your eye. The designer says the original is like this--that it's common for Scottish samplers of the time to use these bright colors. I got some more done this week. Definitely you can't be gloomy while working on it.

I worked on Product of My Needle also--lots of black and yellow. Also a bright sampler.

There's been some talk among needleworkers about getting out their WIP "Bay Samplers." Here's mine. I'm not sure why I set it aside, especially since it uses--yikes--18 different skeins of Silk n Colors, a commodity that has performed better than most stocks, and much better than real estate. It's roughly doubled in price the three or four years since I started the project. I don't dislike the design, although I'm not in love with the fabric. I'm forgetting what I'm using, but it has a muddy mottling that I'm not fond of. And the design's a little too...what? Rudimentary? It's almost as if there was a lot of effort put into the ship and the flags and the rigging and the seven sailors, and then a bunch of other elements were sort of plopped in there. I particularly dislike the mermaid (not shown here) shaped like a kazoo, and also the kazoo-shaped purple-striped fish. But I'm going to finish the darned thing, because it has cute aspects, and the silk is so darned nice, and in my head (only) I have a sampler wall devoted to maritime and beach themes.


Once again, the soundtrack in my head began running when I thought about all the colorful samplers I'm working on these days. "Color My World" was my high school prom's theme (and probably Chicago's worst and sappiest song). What was our other song? Michael Jackson, singing "Ben" I think. Hah! A prom with a rat theme would have been perfect. I didn't go to the prom; it wasn't cool to go to the prom in those days and one certainly didn't DANCE--hard to believe in these days of over the top proms: revealing gowns (in our day prom gowns were pink or blue and long and not form fitting. The sleeves might have been see-through, but the bodice wouldn't have been. We looked more like Doris Day than Beyonce.) I can see my parents' faces if I'd asked for money to rent a hummer limo, and none of us had our own cars either. If you were lucky and old enough, you could borrow the family car; otherwise, someone's mom would drive you to the prom. Anyway, my boyfriend and I skipped the prom and went to the beach and parked in his car. This was his car. My parents disliked him for that car, and also because he had long hair, and they believed he had only one thing on his mind. Ahem. They were right about that of course.

Yesterday when I went to the store, on the way home I passed no fewer than 20 houses in my neighborhood with graduation balloons and parties in progress. Apparently the local high school graduation was yesterday. My next door neighbor hosted a graduation party for their son. We have met the son's girlfriend, who came to our back door at 12:30 a.m. one night, and stealthily tried to enter our house, thinking she was next door. She was surprised when we answered the door (we knew he was hosting a little party while his parents were out of town because we saw the kids sneaking across the back lawn so the neighbors wouldn't notice). We thought it might be fun to stock the end table down there with brochures on contraception and health warnings about STDs for future visits. His parents think he's an angel, of course. They hosted the party yesterday, so we didn't have to pick the beer cans off our lawn this time.

Man, I miss bench seats. I think we can pinpoint the end of civilization at the point that bucket seats were introduced.

Car photos borrowed from Allpar.com.
Mom, can I borrow the car? Sure, Peachy--be home by ten.

I'm off to make Ina's pastitsio. Happy week ahead!

Sugar Magnolia

Yesterday I went to the farmer's market for veggies, and paid a visit to the little Masonic cemetery nearby. It's in a little brick-walled area behind some modern buildings, and it's very old. Many of the headstones are cracked or rubbed smooth by the weather. It's cool and mossy and green inside. Most of the graves date to the early-mid-1800s. Pre-civil war. The local Civil War dead are in some larger cemeteries nearby, including a bunch of the Green Mountain Volunteers, 600 miles from Vermont, who are spinning in their graves as Walmart tries to build yet another store on--or too close to--a Civil War battlefield.

I spied this pair of gravestones: "My Mother's Grave" and "My Father's Grave." I looked around for "My Grave" but didn't see it. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be humorous; probably the person who purchased the stones couldn't afford individual carving. Interesting that you could get a generic gravestone then. I work with someone whose dad has a monument business; now all the carving is done with machines, and it's all set up on a computer screen. Photographs of the departed can be screened onto the stones. I like the old way better; it's hard to imagine a photo of someone wearing their favorite Grateful Dead tee shirt weathering gracefully and looking anything but odd in 200 years. A lot of the headstones in the cemetery had willow imagery and carvings of weeping women that looked a lot like the samplers we do. There are some things computers just don't improve, unless it's just the bottom line. I wonder if you could get a hand-carved stone if you tried.

There was a large magnolia tree in the cemetery. I have no idea if it's a sugar magnolia, but the song just popped into my head while I was looking at it. So comforting to have a dumb soundtrack to accompany everything I do; I suppose it's a function of age.

I finished the "Z" on Alphabetissimo, and now I move on. Most of the remaining letters and motifs are smaller, so it will feel as if I am picking up speed, even if I'm not. I worked some more on Christinia, but not enough to show.

I'm kitting "Betsy" up. My LNS only had a few of the NPI silks I needed, so I sent an email to Jan at Only One Ewe Needlework, she responded immediately, pulled the fibers I needed (psst--on sale!) and popped them in the mail to me the same afternoon, along with a CC skein I was missing to kit up Country Cottage's "She Sells Seashells." Wonderful--thanks so much, Jan! I'd love to start this before 4th of July, although I can only say that I might be done by NEXT Independence day. Jan has also done the conversion to NPI for the Mary Wigham Ackworth Quaker sampler. I remain on the fence about that sampler. I love how it looks, and it would be fun to join the stitch-along, but I've got so many other things going or in the wings...

Here's my sugar magnolia, looking stern. Pink: "You'd better get back to your homework or that "Z" will be the grade you get!"

Happy week!