The Sun Before the Snow

We're having a lovely, sunny day  here in the Panhandle, although I know that it won't last.  When I last looked at weather.com, the prediction was for the snow to begin tomorrow morning around 6.  The accumulation depends on what forecast one looks at; I was seeing snowfall amounts of 1-3 inches, but the last time I looked, it had been upped to 3-5 inches.  And the temps will be in the teens, maybe even down to the single digits.  ::sigh::  It's just January and I am sooo ready for warm weather!

 

I've been sticking to my stitching resolution and trying to get some things finished.  This little piece had been languishing in my WIP basket since, oh, I think sometime in 2010:

When I pulled it out a few days ago, all that was done were the eyelet square and the pink eyelets above it and to the right.  I've been working on it and this is my progress as of yesterday afternoon.  Here's a closer look at the rose (not a real good picture, I'm afraid, but I think you can see a little bit about it):

The leaves are straight and back-stitches, while the rose itself is two colors of straight stitches.  The designer didn't call for specific colors, only values, so here's what I'm using:

Light pink - GAST Cameo Pink

Light green - Olde Willow Creamed Spinach

Dark pink - GAST Copper (not strictly a pink, but I really liked the way it looked with the Cameo Pink)

Dark green - GAST Willow

I'm stitching this on a piece of 40-count; I'm not sure of the color, but I know it's something from Lakeside Linens.  I think it might be Attic Lace or Magnolia.  The designer is Eva Barath; I believe she is Hungarian, and she offered this as a freebie stitch-along on her blog.  Unfortunately, the blog appears to have been taken down, which is too bad, because she posted photos of the piece that other stitchers had sent her, showing their color choices.  My thinking is that I will finish it as a pumpkin pin cushion when it's finished.

 

I haven't neglected my more recent projects, and have been buzzing right along on the England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales mini-pillow.  I finished the Irish flag yesterday evening.  I love the colors in this.

 I am off work for the MLK holiday today and have been knocking down the size of Mount Laundry.  It's calling my name, so blogging must cease for now.  Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!

Thursday Thoughts

Another fashion commentary.  I can't figure it out.  What is it with men's clothing these days?  Is it fashionable to look as uncoordinated as possible?  To mix and match (or not) patterns and colors?  To look like you got dressed in the dark or else took pot luck on the dry cleaner's rack?  And I'm not talking about young people who want to look grungy or whose finances send them to the Goodwill store to do the best they can (and probably look better than the people I am talking about).  I'm talking about people who have the wherewithal to look well-put-together but who, well, don't.  My favorite example is one of the talking heads from one of the cable news networks.  I was watching one evening when this guy came on the screen wearing a tweedy-looking jacket, a shirt with a dark pink or purplish gingham pattern, and, Heaven help us, a pink paisley print tie.  Seriously.  Or should I say, seriously?  Call me old-fashioned, or square, or narrow-minded, but if he'd had a little straw sticking out of his collar and his sleeves, he could have passed as a scarecrow.

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Gadgets.  I love gadgets.  I love going to kitchen/cooking shops and browsing the gadget wall.  Surely there must be something there that I absolutely have to have!  One of the nice things about being married is having someone to cook for.  I love to cook and DH seems to love to eat what I cook.  At least, he cleans his plate.

 

Favorite gadgets:

 

 

 Tornado whisk.  My niece used to work in a cute little shop that sold kitchen supplies and I saw this when I was there one day.  I had other things I was buying and couldn't quite bring myself to spend the extra money on this.  My sister was with me and my niece was working, and I received this as a gift the following Christmas.  It's the bomb for whisking eggs.  The only caveat is that it has to be used in a medium to large bowl; a small one just doesn't have enough room.  And I love the colors (imagine that!) 

 Scoop thingy.  Thank you, Ree Drummond, for putting me on to this little doodad.  I love to bake cookies, and this is perfect for scooping dough out of the bowl.  Works much more effectively than your run-of-the-mill spoon.  Love it!

 Microplane grater.  Or zester, if you prefer.  Oh my goodness, how did I ever manage without this bad boy!  I used to try to zest lemons and limes on the fine side of the box grater.  Wasn't very efficient.  I had an idea that I wanted to get one of these, and one day, whilst wandering in the rarefied air of a Williams-Sonoma shop, I did.  It's great for zesting lemons and limes, and also for grating Parmesan cheese directly on top of -- well, whatever I want to grate it on top of.  Great for grating -- get it?  Great for grating!  Har de har har!!  (I know...grooaaaannnnn)
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So far, my resolution to stitch up some of the small stuff from the WIP basket is working.  Funny thing, though -- it turns out that I've actually been working on and trying to finish one of the pieces that I expected I would want to consign to the UFO pile, while I'm actually seriously considering un-kitting and UFO-ing the April Showers bunny piece that I had pulled out to finish.  Several evenings last week I thought about sitting down and stitching, but then I found myself thinking, "But if I do, I'll feel like I have to work on that stupid rabbit."  Okay, that kind of gave me a hint that maybe the bunny wasn't calling to me like it should.  So I laid it aside for now and I'll re-think it after I finish a couple of the other small pieces I'm working on.
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What are you reading?  I've got a couple of books in progress.  One is Love & War, by Mary Matalin and James Carville.  It's the story of how they've made their marriage work despite having radically different political views.  Radically different.  Very interesting.  I'm also reading My Venice, by Donna Leon.  If you're not familiar with her, she is an American who lives in Venice and who writes an excellent series of mysteries set in that city.  My Venice is a collection of essays about, ummm, Venice.
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I think that's enough for this particular Thursday.  It's also cold down here and I'm ready to head back upstairs to finish watching Despicable Me 2 (so darn cute!).  I'll try to have some stitch pics for you this weekend.  Happy stitching!

Last Stitches, First Stitches

It's been years since I set any stitching goals, simply because I seem totally incapable of sticking to them.  But I'm trying it again for 2014, and I'm keeping them simple:

1. Pull small projects from the WIP basket and either finish them or un-kit them and consign them to the never-gonna-finish box (I can think of a couple right away that are probably going to end up in the box).
2. Stitch from stash as much as possible.
3. Finish Isabella Johnstone and try to finish at least 1 other sampler.

I think those are probably do-able, and it was when I was considering them that I dug through the WIPs and found a couple of pieces that I started, ummm, a long time ago.  This first one is from one of the British cross stitch magazines -- Cross Stitch Collection, I think -- and is stitched with the DMC color variations.  It's called "Love Makes a Garden Grow" and has a companion piece called "Plant Kindness Gather Love".  I started this piece in May of 2007 -- yes, 2007; I know, it's pathetic, especially considering that it's such a small piece -- and it's stitched on a piece of even-weave something from the stash.  Jobelan, maybe.  I know it's not linen.  Anyway, here's where I was when I went back to it on Christmas day:

 Once I decided to actually work on the darn thing, it didn't take long to finish.  I put the final stitches in it last night.

Aren't the Color Variations threads pretty?  I think they're so nice and bright.  The companion piece uses the same colors and I've got a piece of the same fabric prepped and ready to go in the project bag, but it's going to have to wait until I finish a few more small WIPs.

With that in mind, I went to the WIP pile again and found this one for my first stitches of 2014.  It was a freebie, begun in October of 2007 (I know, I know...sigh), and I would give you the link but the website seems to have been taken down.  The designer is Fee Nicia and the name of the design is "Apres la pluie", which I think translates to "After the Rain".  Here's what I had when I started:

I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it today; this is all I got done:

The saying is "April showers bring May flowers" and there are some floral motifs scattered around.  The stitch count is only 89 x 69; I'm using a piece of 36 count Magnolia from Lakeside Linens with GAST and Crescent Colors fibers.  Like the other, there's a companion piece that will have to wait a while.

I hope everyone had a lovely New Year's day.  Sending best wishes to everyone for 2014 -- happy stitching!