Daughter in Law's Stocking

I've been working the last couple of weeks composing a Christmas stocking for my daughter in law.  Remember I mentioned that I'd done some of the Sandy Orton stockings from Cross Stitch & Country Crafts (and/or Better Homes & Gardens) - Donna Kooler Studio?  Well, DIL is a teacher so I wanted to do a teacher theme for her. 

 

I took several of the stocking designs and recompiled them.  Then I made the changes necessary to fit my idea.  For instance, the desk - that's from the Holiday Study stocking, I just added more bookshelves above it.  Because that's one thing my DIL does - read - ALOT.  Maybe even more than me!  On the desk I've got a slate, an apple, a hand bell, a pencil cup and a Teacher sign.  Below are the two cats that they have and a coloring book, crayons and crayon box.  Over by the chair, some graded papers and a pot of sunflowers - those are her favorite flowers.   Oh, and up on top of the bookcase - a model school bus!  I threw in some Christmas-y decorations and viola!  To me, the wallpaper makes it look dated.  I mean, we're not really into that 80's country kitsch style anymore, but I didn't know what else to do on the walls; and it will match with all the others that way.  Don't want to have to do solid x's to make it a painted wall.  I think it looks done.  What do you think? 

The BH&G Heirloom Christmas Stockings book is available through Nordic Needle.  It doesn't contain all the designs that were ever done.  I have a collection of my original CC&CC mags that I use to supplement the book.

Hope you enjoyed!

Doing What I Want to Do

I have taken a vacation from my obligations.  Sort of.  Still have a couple of meetings I have to attend, but other than that, I'm doing what I want to do for the next two weeks.  Not going anywhere, just staying home and doing stuff that I've been putting off.

Like this project:

I was watching an episode of Blue Bloods on CBS last year.  Nate Berkus had said once that when he watches T.V. shows, he's always looking at the set design.  Honestly, I think that's way too confusing, especially when you can look at Tom Selleck instead.  But, this particular scene didn't have Selleck in it, so I felt obligated to follow Nate's advice and check out the set design.  And I saw a framed piece hanging on the wall of this victim's apartment and went "Oh, Wow!  That's cool!"  Ever since, I've been gathering up all the old keys I can find around the house (my husband had quite a few) and picked up some at tag sales.  Then I had to look and look for the shadow box I wanted (a long narrow one).  I finally found this one at Joanne's this past weekend.  Regular price was $35 (which I thought was unreasonable), but it happened to be on sale and I had a coupon for an extra 10% off regular and sale price items.  So, I got it for under $20.  Which I thought was very reasonable.
 

To put it all together, I used my drill, with a fine bit.  I put the keys on the display board until I had a layout that I liked.  Then I transferred all the keys off to my work table.  Put a couple of keys back on the display board and drilled holes just above them.  Then I took some fine, vinyl coated wire (in black) that I'd had for a l-o-n-g time; a manageable size, like a foot in length.  I am pretty sure it is some sort of scrapbooking wire.  Keeping a tail of the wire in the back, I poked the wire through a drilled hole and pulled it all the way to the front (except the tail in back) then slid on a key and put the wire back in the same hole to the back.  Then moved on to the next hole.  I repeated with all the drilling and the keys until I had them all attached to the display board.  Used several lengths of wire in this process. The nice thing about the wire is that it doesn't have much of a profile on the back and when you put the display board back in the shadow box frame, and then put the backing on it, there's no difficulty getting it all closed back up.  One thing I made sure to do was if the keys had some cool writing or design on them, that went to the front side.  And I still have plenty of room to add more keys as we find them.

I also have a collection of Patriotic American jewelry due to my DAR membership.  I just love big sparkly flags and red-white-and-blue beads!  I had put it all into a shadow box because it's so pretty it needed to be treated better than just hanging out in a jewelry box.  The only problem with that was the shadow box I used was too small to leave room for expansion and the jewelry had to be put in more permanently so that it would stay in place.  The problem with that is that I wear my jewelry.  I think that I figured out a new way to do it so they can be on display and wearable; I'm going to work on that here during my stay-ca.

Second Thing I did (well, actually I did this before I did the keys, but . . . ) was to finish the blocks for my Julia's Ribbons quilt.  Remember, I began working on this last winter.  I'd really like to finish it before this coming winter ('cause I have other cool stuff that I want to get to!)  So, here are the blocks -

The block here on the left is my favorite one.  I just love the background fabric that is on this one.  Wanted to have more of it!  I went back to the store, but they didn't have anymore left in stock - and you know what that means . . . so, no, I decided I didn't want to spend all that time just to add to my already too-large stash.

Lastly, I've been stitching in the evening on Opus Magnusson.  I now have a complete width of the whole.  Two more rows to go!  That means nine more months of stitching on it!  Yippie!  It will remind me of maternity!

This one has quickly lost it's charm for me.  That tiger should be orange and it really bothers me.  Not enough to unstitch it and restitch it, but it really bothers me.  I'm sure I'll just love it when I'm done - right now I'm just boo-hooing.  Maybe I'll have a better outlook at the end of my vacation. Hope you enjoyed!

End of September Update

I had planned on getting back to Opus Magnusson, after my start on the American Sampler, but, I got so busy and so into AS, that I just never did.  Here is my progress on the sampler -

I am stitching it on Lakeside "Navy Bean" 32 ct. and using the DMC colors.  That house was a bugger to do with all those over-one stitches, so I've begun cheating.  Instead of doing ALL over-ones, where I can, I am doing over-two and then doing the over-ones to complete; like in the sheep.  They were supposed to be done ALL over one.  I looked at that and said "Forgedaboudit!"  (I love the way Hugh Grant says that in Mickey Blue Eyes!)  Also, the windows are all done mostly over-one.  But what I did there was just a half cross stitch.  Got the same coloration I needed and took half the time!  YAY!

Some of you, like Siobhan, have correctly calculated that this is THAT chart that has tons of Queen Stitches.  I really dislike Queens.  I will try and do the thing as charted, but if those Queens give me fits, I will convert those sections over to cross stitch - or some other stitch that will cover; I am not into self-torture.

Husband's car has been repaired, mechanically.  Thanks to all of you who inquired after my son's welfare.  He's absolutely fine.  The judgement of the mechanic (and others he's consulted) is that the value of the car makes it not worth continuing with the major body work that the car will need to be brought back to where it was.  So, looks like we've got to get Husband a new car sometime soonish.  Husband is stubborn, so he's driving car until it falls apart underneath him.  I'm thinking of getting him a kevlar suit for Christmas.

At the same time that the car was wreaked, my dishwasher broke down.  When we bought it, the house had been outfitted with Jen Air appliances.  Except, for some reason, had no fridge.  So, we had to buy our own.  I'm a pretty loyal Kitchenaide/Whirlpool customer, so we bought a KA fridge.  Every single one of the Jen Air appliances have had major problems over time.  The oven door has never shut properly.  We had a repairman out when we moved in and he said, oh, you have that oven.  They know there's a problem, but they don't know how to fix it.  Say what?  I ended up having to put a strip of industrial velcro on it to hold it closed; can you believe that?  One day my husband went to open the oven and the plastic oven handle broke.  One day he left the oven door slightly ajar (you know how you do in the winter to get the residual heat into the house?) and the digital display no longer works.  The dishwasher had a small leak that we'd fixed a couple of times, but one day I opened it and the handle broke off in my hand (I swear we are not a family of Godzillas!)  Soon the delay feature on the dishwasher wasn't working and then it just wouldn't start at all.  My husband said it was some sort of relay switch.

We calculated the time and effort in repairing it versus going out for a new one.  Well, I've found the layout of that dishwasher difficult from day one.  Did some research, came up with a price for a new one and Husband said, let's go shopping.  So, for $449 we got a brand new model Whirlpool.  Even better, they're running a $50 rebate on it, so we end up paying just under $400 for it and got free delivery.  I even saved money by not buying the more expensive "stainless steel" finish.  Black looks just as good - even better since it won't require special cleansers like the SS.   Husband installed it the other night (savind $125) and I ran it for the first time yesterday while I was cooking dinner.  The dishwasher was quieter than the oven.  I am very pleased.  I have decided that if I can put a new oven in the hole for the old one I'm going to treat myself to a new one at Christmas.  I may have trouble because the microwave is over the oven and I'm not sure if they're a two-fer.  Will have to investigate that.

Will begin work on my Anniversaries of the Heart for October tonite or tomorrow so will update soon on that.  Hope you enjoyed!

I'm Not Really Sure About This

So, you know I finished The Chase sampler.  Well, that meant it was time to throw something else into the mix.  I've had this pretty thing from a magazine for a while - called The American Sampler.  I have thoroughly loved this sampler for years and had it on my to-do-someday list.  So, I figured someday was here.  I think ultimately, I will get a start on it, but not finish it for awhile.  Explain that in a minute.  Remember I told you all about my new glasses and everything?  Well, this American Sampler has a lot of over one stitching.  I am stitching it on a piece of 32 count Navy Bean by Lakeside Linens.  And you know what you're doing when you're stitching over one on 32 count linen?  It become 16 count!!! YIKES!!!  I can see it, but I can only do that early in the morning when my eyes are real fresh.  Seeing the chart is diffucult too.  So, I decided to digitally enlarge the charts so that would be easier - wish I could do the same with the linen and then shrink it back down!  In the meantime, I was working on Opus Magnusson (that I wasn't supposed to work on until later this month.  I'm sure the needlework police will be out to get me soon.  So here's progress on that . . .

 

Remember I said I was changing some of the medallions because of a mistake I made I mean, I just decided to?   Well, I've decided to eliminate some and double up on others and change their colors as well.  This is the one that was supposed to be red.  But you can see from the larger picture, that it really stands out.  I'm hoping that as I add more work, it won't continue to stand out like a bloody thumb.  Not pulling it out though; already decided on that, but that's where the blog title comes from - that red medallion that I'm not really sure about.

Now for the reason the American Sampler will probably take me some time to finish.  A long, long time ago, Sandy Orton was designing Christmas Stockings in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts. I have all those patterns.  What I've done is make one for each member of my family - a long long time ago.  One for me, one for Hubby and one for each of the boys.  Well, Oldest Boy is grown, married, has a daughter and one on the way.  Less long ago I started designing one of them for my daughter in law.  This was pre-granddaughter mind you, but I never got it done.  You see, I'm not satisfied with just one design, I have to change them, combine them, morph them.  When I made The Boy's I morphed 3 of the designs together.    And now I have a granddaughter and another boy/girl (I'm betting on boy) on the way.  So I think it's time to get on the stick and crank out a few of those stockings.  

A Universe of Stars - made for my father in law

 Also, I've talked to my daughter in law and she is happy for me to stitch the birth announce- ment.  And I'm happy to do it.  I already have one in mind, but I have to wait to see if it's a boy or a girl before I decide.  Then too, I have to make Christmas prezzies for Emma and also a baby quilt for the new arrival - again, waiting on sex.  My mother didn't wait to find out and she made a quilt for my youngest that is pink, green and white.  It's really pretty.  But, it's pink, green and white.  Everyone has always thought that was a little weird.  Good news - when he eventually gets married, his wife will probably love it!  He's very attached to the one I made for him when he was a toddler - it is black and jewel colors and a tropical fish print.  I pulled the jewel colors out of the print.  He still uses that quilt to this day (I made it twin size).  I found my old quilt photos.  His is below.  Above is the Quillow I made for my father in law.  With Parkinson's he spent a lot of time in his chair and it was hard for him to regulate his body temp.  I made it an extra 12 inch square long because my FIL was a tall guy.  So, he really loved having his quilt and mother in law was happy that it all folded up neatly into a package. 

Tropical Fish

Youngest child - also known occasionally as "The Boy" wrecked his father's car yesterday.  He's OK, the car's not.  We're hoping that the mechanical problems will be more easily (and cheaply) fixed.  The body work is either just going to have to wait or never get done.  Looks like hubby's in line for a new car before I am (DRAT!)  What made the whole thing worse was that we were up in Pennsylvania at the time - driving in the car - and the cell service was A-W-F-U-L.  It turned out it was a good thing I was driving, because when the call came in, Hubby went into full panic mode for a few moments until The Boy assured him that he was fine.  I know that feeling though - I wanted to sprout wings on 9-11 to be home with them.  I saw that look in my husband's eyes.  Turned out that The Boy was driving too fast for slick road conditions, lost control on a curve and hit a tree - while sliding down into a ravine.  I swear, he is my lucky child.  I should remind him that he should go out today and buy a lottery ticket.

While we were contacting a tow service from a hillside in Pennsylvania, the police found him and were contacting another tow service.  The Boy finally was able to get back in touch with us (we were actually using two cell phones at one time - looking back it was kinda funny).  So we had to call and cancel our tow service and then deal with the other tow service about paying for the car being pulled out of the ravine - because of course, The Boy didn't have that kinda money on him.  And because no one could talk to us all at one time, we spent about 45 minutes driving from hilltop to hilltop in Pennsylvania searching for better cell service.

When it was all taken care of, The Boy called from home, said that there was a bent tire, but he'd been able to drive it home and it should be "fine".  Hubby and I then arrived at our destination - Lurgan's Greenhouse - and decided to have a nice time in spite of it all.  I needed to buy a replacement male holly for the one that died during our July drought.  We're going to plant it this afternoon.  I got one two to three times the size as the one I bought in the spring - and it was $4 cheaper.  I also found the hens and chicks I was looking for.  Last winter I discovered they make really nice houseplants.  I also found two pieces of plastic pottery; you put them together and they make an urn.  I'll put the hens & chicks in that.  When I get 'em all planted, I'll post a pic.  I plan to spray paint the urn.  These urns would be nice also for Christmas Decor.  The other thing I got was a Meyer Lemon.  I have wanted one for ages and I just could not believe the price - $22 - that they had on it.  It would have been at least double around here - maybe triple in the DC Metro area.  

I really wish you guys had smelly blogs, because these things smell FABULOUS!!!  I got a nice brown marbelized pot to put it in and have snagged a place next to the window for it.  On warm days we'll put it outside on the deck so it can get polinated.  Obviously, that's already happened - fertile little thing - because of the one lemon we've got on it already.  Ummmm fresh lemonade in the middle of the winter - can't wait!  Oh, and if you live within an hour or so of Chambersburg or Shippensburg, you should definitely check out Lurgan's.  Great place!

Once he'd gotten over being concerned about The Boy being hurt, Hubby had a chance to think about the damage to his car.  I kept him as distracted with my shopping as I could, discussing plants and spending money.  But finally we were just driving and he was really sighing a lot.  I decided that he needed CF (comfort food) and found a Sonic up in Chambersburg.  He got a vanilla malt and felt better.  Also, we had hot dogs.  Sonic has new hot dogs on their menu and they're pretty yummy!  I had a bacon & bleu a while back and yesterday had a Chicago.  Not something you want to eat on a daily or even weekly basis, but as a now-and-again treat, it was great.

So finally the reckoning came and we got home.  As soon as he heard the garage door go up, The Boy came trotting out talking about how it wasn't so bad, etc.  Then his father saw his car and looked at me and said "It's a lot worse than we were lead to believe".  The body damage is pretty severe, but, like I said, hopefully the mechanics aren't.  Guess we'll see tomorrow.  To his credit, he was very apologetic.  I just left him and his dad together to work it all out.  I saw it as a good sign that The Boy wasn't bruised and bleeding the next time I saw him.  He does realize that this is going to set us back and that he has some monetary liability in this.  But, he's real pleased with himself that even though it was the police that discovered him, they didn't give him a ticket.

That was all about 2:30 in the afternoon.  At about the same time, at the airport not two miles from my house, the most recent air show crash took place.  I was very sad to learn that one of the Trojan Horsemen had crashed and died.  I understand it was a terrible sight to behold and am really sad for my neighbors - especially the children - that witnessed it.  Roy and I had just watched them practicing early in the morning before the show (the planes always fly out our way and we have a good vantage point up on the ridge) and I'd seen them on my way home on Friday afternoon. Last night as I was working in my office I heard planes flying off to the west and wasn't surprised to learn later that the remainder of the airshow was canceled. 

Special - Very, Very Special

On September 19, 1898 a very special little girl was born - Ethel May Ogden.  Her mother, Alice, had previously given birth to her half-sister, Virginia (Virgie) in 1894.  But Alice was married to Frank Ogden and both girls had a loving father.  Frank worked as a huckster - a street vendor in downtown Wilmington.  In 1900 the little family lived just off Market Street.  But, by 1910, something had gone wrong.  Ethel and her sister were living with their grandparents, Alice's mother and father Isaac and Ellathera Genn.  On May 2, 1901 Frank Ogden was pronounced dead - concussion of the brain being found as the cause.  What happened to Alice is unclear; she lived her life until she passed away in 1947.  But her two girls were raised by her parents.

The Genn Family 1913

Above, Ethel is shown with some of her Genn Family relatives.  Her grandmother, Ellathera, is at center in the back.  Ethel and my father were first cousins - her mother Alice was sister to my father's mother Ella May who is in the back on the left.  My father is the little blond one in front.  Ethel was a lovely young lady at 15 and probably more so as she aged.

On October 24, 1919 she married John Wesley Gainor.  He'd managed to come back alive from the Great War.  Her sister, Virgie and husband Edgar were their witnesses when they were married by the Reverend R.H. Adams pastor of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington.  John was what they call a long, tall, cool drink of water.  He was very handsome in some of his early photos and became distinguished with age.

I first met Ethel and John when I was 12 at the memorial services for my grandmother.  My father then did not have a great deal of contact with his family - and few were left.  There was only Ethel and her sister.  I met Virgie too.  I remember she smelled wonderful and the apartment she lived in was very chic.  But Ethel and John were like a big warm hug and I took to them like a duck to water.  I never knew my grandparents on either side and from the moment I met them, I thought of Ethel and John as my grandparents.  I loved to sit and listen to them tell stories.  Stories about their lives.  And I could ask Ethel anything.  I loved to sit and hold her hand because her hands were so incredibly soft.  And I asked her - Ethel, why do you only have two fingers on this hand?  It was her left hand.  Her pinky, ring and middle fingers went only to the first knuckle.  She wore her wedding ring on the stub of her ring finger.  And she told me that once, a long time ago, she'd run her finger under the needle of the industrial sewing machine that they used to make awnings and that the doctor's had to amputate her fingers.  Ethel and John ran Gainor Awnings - supplying window awnings to nearly all the homes and businesses in greater Wilmington.  It had been a terrible accident.  But Ethel wasn't fussy about it; never tried to hide her hand and would sit there and let me hold that hand for hours.  And it was Ethel and John that showed me that a married couple -whatever their age - can be completely gaga over each other.  Rarely did he ever call her "Ethel".  His name for her was "Girlie".  He'd be telling a story and say "Isn't that right, Girlie?" or we'd be eating dinner and he'd say "Pass the potatoes, Girlie."  And I'd sit there thinking how I wanted someone to call me "Girlie" someday.  My goodness, that woman was special to me.

Ethel and John eventually gave up their home in New Castle and moved to an apartment where we continued to go up and visit them.  Then they had to go into assisted living because Ethel had started to forget things.  That was long before we knew about Alzheimers Disease.  John died in 1986 and Ethel basically forgot everyone.  She lived nearly another decade before passing herself in 1993 at the age of 95.  She lived a good long life and was a terrific lady.

So of course, the September block of Anniversaries of the Heart had to be for Ethel.  I omitted the gray blobs.  They looked more like snow to me and it doesn't snow in the Mid-Atlantic in Spetember.  I would have made them yellow and called them fireflies (I think that would have gone well with the mothra theme), but I chose not to introduce another color into the block.

And here's the big WOWWIE of the week - I've finished "The Chase" sampler  . . . .

"The Chase" finished - after 7 months

I told my husband that I feel like I passed my final exam with this one.  And he said he wants it framed and hanging in the house.  Sandra, who so kindly provided me with the part of the instructions that I was missing, recently wrote and told me that her daughter now wants hers in the worst possible way.  I think my youngest son has his eyes on mine.  My answer - over my dead cold dying hands.

And finally, I have a finish for a client that I want to show you.  Here is Milady's Fan's all sewn up -

The whole quilt; then a detail of the gold quilting in the center and a detail of the black quilting on the outside border.

Hope you enjoyed!