A Giveaway for Your Delight!

Today I picked up a cute R and R Reproductions chart pack, called Celebration of 3 designs for Fall. One is a Halloween design and the other more Fallish with pretty leaf changing. You can click on the individual pictures to see an enlarged photo.

I just want to thank all of you that read my blog. Anyone, reader or followers, can submit. Simply put your name and how to reach you, whether that be by blog, email or etc. so that when I draw a name, I can send you your goodie chart pack. The pack comes in a plastic sleeve but I took it out for better pics without a flash. Enjoy!

Again, you do not have to be a follower of my blog, but if you enjoy needleart and want to add a little Fall/Halloween designs to your stash, just add in comment section for a chance to win. The ending day for the drawing will be Friday, August 21st at 12 noon. Then, I will draw a name and announce on Saturday the 22nd. Thanks again for all your comments.

Good luck and hope you enjoy!

Jennifer

Sewing notions and other maladies for the mind

Our stitchy day included a trip to Hawaisee and to our usual stores, or I should say, my usual stores. My honeybuns goes to other guy stores and drops me off at the strip mall of artsie stores there in Hawaisee, including the Dogwood Patch/cross stitch store. I went for 2 colors of Weeks Dye....hmmm....... yeah, right, that's all...... but couldn't resist a few other threads while there to finish the Blue House Sampler by the Sampler Girl and Terrie was having a 65% off of some odd cuts of linen so I grabbed a few of those for my stash. That was a great deal!

Needed some needles so I picked me up 3 little needles. I almost, almost tried those petite ones, the shorter needles, but I think I like to have more to hang onto when stitching so I got the regular ones. Sorry that you have to turn your head sideways for this pic, I tried my best to get it to flip around.....LOL I guess others will think you are just being particularly sweet while you are reading today.....LOL

Here are the Crescent Colors for the Blue House Sampler by the Sampler Girl along with the Vintage Exemplar linen. The colors are beautiful! I love the names of the colors, like Wavy Navy, and so forth.........

And then, by this time the Bodyguard had done all his shopping at the Home Depot and whatever other guy stores he found, and came to pick me up but, I had only been to one store so he sat patiently and waited for me to peruse another Artworks store where there were a variety of homemade goodies from woodwork, to quilts, needleart, jewelry---all local designers.

I picked up 2 cotton crocheted kitchen dishcloths and they were giving away free some wonderful smelling soap rose petals. The rose petal soaps will look beautiful in my bathroom.

And then off to the antique store there we always go to. I found these sewing notions in 2 groups bagged up for a really low price, so low it was unbelieveable. The bags were chock full of needles for pinkeeps, and small mother of pearl buttons and other goodies.

And of course the Quilt Store conveniently located by the Dogwood Patch has the most lovely of Confederate Period Fabrics and I got a few fat quarters in Dutchy colors.

We ate our lunch at Daniels restaurant, where they have a wonderful buffet of fried chicken, brussel sprouts, peas and rice, fresh corn, and stewed tomatoes and okra, cornbread and desserts. Not including a big salad bar. Excellent sweet tea as well. If you go to Hawaisee Georgia, you must try it. And if you are a Gone With the Wind fan, you will also see displays of dolls, pics, oil paintings of "miss scarlett" and "Rhett" all over the restaurant!

Fiddle-de-dee........

Jennifer

Good morning, Saturday!

Good morning, everyone! Today is chock full of plans to be with my honey. We have a few things to take care of local and then, we are going up to Hawaisee to the Dogwood Patch for a few threads I need (of course) and chat with Terrie the owner. This will also include a lunch at one of our most favorite restaurants that has down-home country cooking!

When I get back tonight, back to cleaning out closets. I started that last night as well and the purging of my closets is settling my mind..........

Have a blast of a Saturday today!

Jennifer

Progress on Empty Nest

I'm almost done, but not quite. I will be done tomorrow hopefully and use the fabric in the background to make something of this design called Empty Nest by The Sampler Girl.

New Workshop Finished today!

We finally got the workshop built and delivered today. We have waited so long for this. It looks just like a miniversion of our house. We are so pleased with it. It has rafters inside at the top for extra storage and use.

Of course I can picture some flower pots at the bottom of the windows but let's not get too feminine here.......it is for a guy; however, we will put our big copper star on the left end of it tomorrow. I gave this huge copper star to Bodyguard last anniversary as for the 7th one you give something copper. It's been put away for this day.

The first company we got to build never showed up after 4 weeks and we literally had to stop payment on a check. Then we found someone else comparable and to me it looks much better.

They painted the wood siding just like the house.

He will put his tools and workbenches in here. Maybe, I can convince him to make me some wood frames one day for my stitching projects!

Off to finishing up some chores and then finishing the Empty Nest design by The Sampler Girl and will post it tonight.

Till later at midnight for a post on my stitching progress, Stay cool and safe.......

Jennifer

Good Morning

Just got up and reading through my bloggers lovely stitching blogs. I opened my mail this morning to get this note from Body Guard:

good morning Mrs. Dalenberg I did not disturb you because I know you needed the sleep. I still love you though. I don't think they will try to deliver the shed today, it didn't dry out the ground enough. I'll be thinking about you all day....


Isn't that sweet? That was the best way to wake up this morning.
My to-do list grows and not only do I need a rotation process to get all my WIPS done but also my household cleaning and laundry. One room at a time. My problem is when I'm cleaning one room, I find something that goes into another room, and then I get distracted in that room, and on and on until nothing is accomplished. So, today, I'm aiming at more focus. I know they make Ritalin for this but I decline!!!! LOL

Happy Thursday!

Diagnosis-Carpal Tunnel Syndrome secondary to Website Crash

I'm going to bed soon and try to forget the carpal tunnel syndrome that I have in my right wrist now from clicking and formating my template and rearranging the components of my blog. At one point tonight, I thought I had lost the entire blog. I still don't know what happened today initially to start the confusion but I guess the template changed more than 10 times today! Let's cross my fingers that this stays and doesn't all shift to the left and look like garble again tomorrow.

The day has been long and many things have cut into good stitching time! BUT, the good news is that I'm off tomorrow and hope to get some things done. It's my catch-up day.

Fresh blueberry cobblers tonight. Fresh tomatoes and mozarella cheese on thick slices of sour dough bread too.
Goobledegook is cooking in the slow cooker-----that is a meat and whatever is in the pantry and in the refrig. LOL
Hope you are having a good evening,
Jennifer

Sorry for the Blog Layout confusion today

I cannot adjust my blog but I clicked one little layout button and wham! there goes my blog parts everywhere. I will adjust after work. I just wanted to apologize for the confusion of the layout.........my blog is having a mood swing today evidently. But, I will take care later when I can today.
Thanks for all the readers. I enjoy reading your comments!

Jennifer

Our Steps

Our Steps.....We Lose Them Without a Thought

"Now I am going to reveal to you something which is very pure,

a totally white thought. It is always in my heart; it blooms at each of my steps

The dance is love, it is only love, it alone, and that is enough.......

I, then, it is amorously that I dance to poems, to music,

but how I would like to no longer dance to anything

but the rhythm of my soul"

by Isadora Duncan

Ebay or the Bay of Evil reviews of frame stores

I picked this up today and started The Empty Nest by The Sampler Girl. Man, I've ordered I think every one she has so I thought I would get this one done as well. I changed out the ecru color to a light teal, Dove actually, and it will contrast well with the birds which are Deep Sea.
The saying is so cute.

The mounting boards I use

Ever since Deb called Ebay the Bay of Evil, I think about it every time I go to Ebay. Its gives me something to laugh about! You know Ebay is either really good or not so good.

With trial and error I've found some great used patterns, threads, linen including R and R reproductions, etc, frames, on Ebay.

The frame stores through Ebay I found to be good are :

Custom Framing Factory Outlet
Maintained by:
tabby7 ( 22024)
Custom framing and custom matting here at factory prices. We can save you hundreds of dollars compared to your local custom frame shops. Thanks for making 2008 our best year ever, stay tuned for many more offerings in 2009. The Frame GuysWelcome to The Frame Guys store on Ebay! We have a wide selection of frames with glass, including modern, contemporary, rustic, country, distressed, and more. We also have wide variety of finishes, like mahogany, black, white, oak, walnut, and more. Thanks, and we appreciate your business!Now over ten years here on Ebay, custom making your special sized frames.

Which I ordered the last 2 at 10.99 each, 7 inch square, including glass, solid wood frame, Americana, and hanger included which I thought was a good deal.

After I had my Quaker Christmas one framed last year at .......well lets say at a discount for 170.o0, and after I got over the shock of it, and my husband picked me up off the floor from the shock, I swore I would try my best to frame my own in the future. And these frames are just as good. Not saying anything bad about where I got it framed because I was pleased but oh my goodness, what a savings if you can do your own! I couldn't afford that every time I finished one.

I use the matting board here in the picture picked up at Hobby Lobby. I usually get me several sizes when I'm there and hubby cuts to size with a knife---it just makes him feel manly or something....LOL , just joking. It's acid free and the stickiness is enough to stretch your linen, but at the same time lift and rearrange if needed. Then I lace it in the back. It includes the brads which are already in the frame and you just bend them after you lace and put in and WALAA there you have one done.

Now, the advantage to professional framing is paying extra for UV light protection in the glass. I am glad I got that option with the Quaker Christmas one as it took a whole year to stitch and it's in a part of my family room that gets light daily. I wouldn't know how to add that feature by myself. I guess I could rub a number 30 sunblock on it or something but.........that probably would be a little redneck, so I think I'll stick to holding my breath and framing the smaller ones myself. LOL

The other Ebay Store is:

The Frame Guys

Welcome to The Frame Guys store on Ebay! We have a wide selection of frames with glass, including modern, contemporary, rustic, country, distressed, and more. We also have wide variety of finishes, like mahogany, black, white, oak, walnut, and more. Thanks, and we appreciate your business!

This is the one where I got the New Amsterdam Frame for ? amount but it was comparable. Now I would have reordered from these guys but they did not carry 7 inch square frames and I so happen to find the first one above. Their quality is just as good. Very well shipped, padded, and very pleased. They will make you do a happy dance when the mail comes. The shipping is a little high at 9.99 but each one additional is no xtra cost ( I think) or maybe 1.00 or something. Anyway, still better than taking to a framing store.

Have fun looking through Ebay tonight!

A Monday morning and a Framed Old Finish

In the mornings we have to get Ren out of his blanket to go out and do his business before we kennel him while at work. He had the right idea here to just tuck his head back in the blanket and keep snoozing. He will be 16 soon. He is very antisocial in the mornings but oh, my from supper onward does he whine for any and everything to eat. He had Pizza tonight.
Here are the Twiggs Minatures from The Scarlett Letter

Framed one tonight-the linen is actually more golden yellow than this photo shows.

And the second matching frame ready for me to finish when I complete the second one. At 1 over 1 that may be awhile.

Well, long, long, ago as the story goes in a land far away.......just joking, I finished 1 of the Sarah Twiggs Samplers by The Scarlett Letter. Part 1 and part 2 are framed separately. The website shows the originals in a much whiter background than the actual material that came kitted in this pack. I used the silk floss that was kitted by The Scarlett Letter. I ran out of 3 colors and just notified the website owner and she gladly sent more.

From the Scarlett Letter website is this description quoted ~~~

The Twiggs Minatures, circa 1800

Genuine miniature samplers - not fragments of larger pieces or excerpts from full-size samplers - are relatively rare. The most common sort feature either monochromatic alphabetic and numeric tests, or else a simple short, sentimental verse. The former type, sometimes called "plain work," usually originated in a working class environment where young girls learned the means of self support. Small samplers like this were sometimes bound into small volumes, and today are more often found individually rather than in their original book format. The related pair of miniature samplers reproduced here are very unusual in that they are neither alphabetic exercises nor presentation (gift) pieces. Worked in cross stitch over one thread of linen, Sarah Twigg's totally symmetrical floral sampler has a finely worked vining border reminiscent of a painted border on a china plate. The other sampler, by "LT" (possibly a younger sister) is worked in cross stitch over two threads of linen. Both samplers were found together, in matching period (circa 1800) reeded frames, suggesting their filial connection. Both samplers are included in the kit, along with silk embroidery floss.

from The Scarlett Letter website at http://www.scarlett-letter.com/

The colors for both flow very well together. I finished the first one a year ago and 1/3 of the 2nd one. The 2nd (1st pic) one was completely 1 over 1 and I got eye strain so I put it down to pick up others. Also ran into the problem of finding matching frames and I thought they measured for 6 inch square frames ; however, I ordered 6 inch frames 6 months ago and low and behold, they fit 7 inch frames! I found them through a framing service that sales on Ebay for really good deals. Solid wood frames, any kind of style, color or width of frame for really inexpensive. They come with the glass and hanger if you want to use the glass and for alot of mine I put the glass in.

Well, anyway, I came to use the 6 inch frames for other finishes and just last week found 7 in square Walnut colonial frames which came in the mail today. Same company on Ebay but now offering more sizes. I absolutely can't believe the low prices, fast shipping and the high quality.

I framed the first one tonight and tried to get good pictures but kept getting light flashing off the glass. I really like them alot. This means I just must work some on this second one so I can hang as a pair in my family room. 1 over 1 just wears me out though.

I'm torn between starting a LHN work Heart of America vs. the Twiggs one, vs. another one of the many I got from Tanya, vs. the Prairie Schooler one I got from Michelle! Oh, so little time!

I'm going to have to probably rotate these out. But that requires organization ......LOL I digress.....

Oh, Michelle....hmmmm.......I thought about you tonight when Body Guard was cutting that matting board for me tonight.......I showed him the pic of your table cloth and he said "WOHO" LOL

see Michelle's blog at The Striped Rose..............

Hope you all have a great Monday evening!

Jennifer

A Very Special Week

Tanya Marie Anderson-designer

The Sampler Girl

35 ct linen

DMC and Gentle Art Samplar Threads

buttons with ribbon from Bessie Mae's Cottage

shell hearts from Walmart

This week is very special to me. Most of the time I remember in my own privacy but since I have such good stitching friends I will share.
In a hot summer in 1985 my firstborn son , Aaron, was born in certain circumstances that were in reality a nightmare in and of itself. Without getting into details, I will tell you that the hospital has since changed one of its policies in regards to the delima.
My regret is that I did not get a picture of him. Even to this day, it bothers me greatly.
Aaron weighed 7 lbs, had a headfull of straight black fine hair and was the sweetest site in my whole life. He was 23 inches long, so I think he would have been a tall boy.
To put the long of it short, I arrived at the hospital and because it was the change of shift and other extenuating circumstances, I was tossed off to the side in a room in labor without a monitor. The first person that greeted me got fetal heart tones at 144. I'll never forget that number. I knew it was going to be a boy and happy, so happy. I was actually due the day I went into labor. It seemed everything fell into place. His nursery was explicitly ready and just had a shower so I had everything a new mommy could want for. I had my bags packed and taken to the hospital not knowing he would be buried in them that weekend.


Well, not knowing that I had a cord defect and that when the water was broken the blood supply to the baby stopped, the process kept proceeding as usual. The doctor whisked in the room to break my water with an instrument who ultimately caused Aaron to meet his demise and changed my life forever. I was not on a monitor continuously.

Not long after he shot out of the room, I began to have excruciating pain and I actually felt the baby's head jerk near my pubic bone. I later found out that the child was having a seizure and dying at that time.


It took about 45 minutes for me to crawl from bathroom to bed and try to yell for help. At this point, no heart tones were found and I started to literally bleed to death. I abrupted which is a deadly emergency. I remember them stunned, all the nurses and 2 doctors by my bed when they tried to find a heartbeat on an ultrasound. I couldn't believe what was happening to me.
Because I started basiclly becoming in a serious condition I went out on narcotics listening to them yell about transfusing me as I almost died.


I didn't of course and woke up and saw a very bright light. This part is questionable as in the intensive care unit I brushed death several times. When I was waking up from the medicine and after I had him, there were people everywhere wanting me to look at him and hold him and to this day, I felt bad that I didn't until the funeral day. I buried him in a yellow jumpsuit with a blanket that said "Thank Heavens for Little Boys", a rattle, and even down to his little shoes.

A part of me died this day. A part of me left with him. Every year I celebrate his birthday mostly just myself. Everyone else wants to just brush it under the rug.
This year I thought I would stitch something in honor of him. He would be 24 this year. I have his footprints with my fingerprints right beside. I treasure that piece of paper.
Next weekend is truly his birthday weekend but I stitched it this weekend as it was laying heavy on my mind.


I picked out the two blue crosses and instead of putting OHIO and date, I put the two crosses and his year.
When I saw Tanya introduce this piece I loved it and I'll tell you why I picked it.


Unfortunately my son is buried 3 hours away from us and because it takes thousands of dollars to move him, we have just now started the process. The process is hard. It really is hard. Especially with no family support. But we are determined now more than ever that this is the right place for him to be, right by me as he was always right by my heart.

The piece, Token of Sweetness couldn't have described how I feel. He was the sweetest I have ever known. I loved him alot. And it hurt alot.


The 2 bunnies in the piece reminded me of the ones I saw last April when I went out to the cemetary where he will be moved to. I was walking around as usual out there and contemplating if I was making the right decision as I have a pattern of obviously not making some good ones, so about the time I was going to get back in the car, 2 bunnies appeared and stopped and stared at me. Now I know angels aren't bunnies, but I'm here to tell you that I felt the most peace I have ever felt. I knew my decision was right.


I'm telling you this for no sympathies but to say that life is short. It can be taken at any time.
I'm getting my life in order and just know the amount of peace I will have when he is moved here will be unrelenting. Now, I know there are folks who do not agree and thats fine with me but for me, for my son, we need to be together.
Thank you Tanya, for designing a piece that would remind us all of what is sweet in our life.

I Smell Hamburgers!

I smell hamburgers grilling and I want to know when they will be ready!
We will just sit here and drool until they are done.........