Unfortunately Sylvia...

I have seen this on a few blogs - it is silly but oh so funny.  Type "unfortunately" and your own name into Google and see what comes up.  Here are some results for me - I especially like number 3 & number 6.

Unfortunately, Sylvia died only months after her arrival.
Unfortunately, Sylvia would never return.
Unfortunately, Sylvia has also become convinced the world is about to end and that her unsaved family are going to burn in Hell.
Unfortunately Sylvia committed suicide and drew an end to her talent.
Unfortunately, Sylvia starts to regress back to that place in her mind where darkness speaks to her most clearly
Unfortunately Sylvia has hit the bottom of his (what???) career and is forced to fight in freak fights, 
Unfortunately Sylvia has had a difficult life with financial and marital problems 
Unfortunately, Sylvia's story is not unusual or unique


There you have it.  

When I Grow Up...

The quilt show was great fun, but spending time with Kerri was even nicer.  It was so good to see her.  She has an entire room to herself for all her stitching & sewing stash.  It actually also serves as a guest room, so the first evening, before falling asleep I looked at all the Fine Lines Magazines.  Since I own a whopping 2 it was quite a treat.  The next evening I fell asleep among all the issues of SANQ I don't own.  So, when I grow up, I want a big room with cabinets & a whole closet that I can organize my stash in, a desk & also a craft table so I don't always have to pick-up in the middle of sewing when it is time for the kiddos to do homework or when dinner is ready.  Yup, that is what I want  when I grow up.

The quilt show in Houston was huge and has quite a different flavor than the Dallas show ( which is my only other reference).  I took pics of the winning quilts, except the main winner - it just did not photograph well on my camera.

Here are the two $10k winners:

This one is a tad blurry - sorry...

Here is a good close-up of my favorite parts - the Wisteria & the Tulips

The next few are just quilts I liked & when I grow up, I just want to get a couple quilts done - I have no aspirations to  get as good as this.  

This quilt - if I remember correctly was done with little tiny pieces of fabric which were covered with mylar & then quilted directly onto the back fabric.  It was very intricate. 

Sorry about the plastic tape running right through the middle - I guess it is the drool barrier.  All I have got to say about this one :  cool dragon! 

Notice the drool barrier again....

My last picture for this post was a fabulous store with all kinds of ribbon, lace, buttons & beads. I spent quite a bit of time in here, oohing & aaahing over all the pretties, but did not buy anything because I just sorted my stash & am overwhelmed with guilt....

Have a great week.

Oh Sunshine Where Art Thou???

Last time I looked I thought I lived in the land of sunshine.  The weather forecast falsely promised some sun today.  In anticipation of that I sorted laundry, washed a load last night, so I could get right on hanging the laundry out to dry first thing in the morning.   I need slog through all the laundry one adult & 4 kids ( 3 teens) generate on a daily basis.  It has been rainy here for a loooong time.  I am one of those old-fashioned people who likes to dry my clothes on a line outside.  Needless to say the laundry pile is unbelievable ( I will spare you a pic).  This morning I woke up, got up, let the dogs outside & felt ....wait for it...drizzel!   Thoroughly defeated I shoved the waiting load into the dryer ( which is in shock since it has not seen action in about 18 mos).  I am on my third load and will grit my teeth now and see if the weather improves after the weekend, so I can do laundry MY way.

Speaking of weekends, I am off tomorrow to Houston where I will visit my dear friend Kerri.  She is my travel buddy.  We have taken 2 trips to Elegant Stitch retreats together, and are very compatible.  We have tons of fun together &  I am looking forward to this weekend like crazy.  We are going to the Quilt Show -  I am sure I will buy things I don't need, but since our moving poundage just got upped by the Army ( 16,000 lbs - WHO has that much???), a little indulgence is called for!

Since we are on the subject of Stash here is my armoire  that now holds everything stitching related I will take with me - tadaaaa:

Ok, well there is a little bit more in here:

And just a wee bit more here:

Oh, I forgot to mention my stitching basket, which at this point will remain a mystery since it is a mess.  Geeze, now that I think about it there is that basket on the other side of my stitching chair with some of WIP/UFOs ( the only reason they slip into the UFO category is because I am such a sloooooow stitcher).

Now that I have mentioned WIPs - here are the few that are getting any attention at this time.  Giving up on waiting for a nice sunny day to take artistic pictures, I am admitting defeat, & just taking pics by the patio door to get some natural light on them.  First is the newest Christmas Ornie by Milady's Needle which was released during the Online Needlework Show - I am stitching it off a draft since I begged Gloria to let me have it early so it would have a snowball's change in "you know where" of getting done for Christmas.  This one is for Adam, my 13 yo son who always gets an ornie with an animal on it.  This one eventually will have 2 deer in the middle.   This is stitched with Belle Soi on 35 Ct. Vikki Clayton linen.  It is so darling.  Oh dear, it is also sideways, I rotated it in the original file, but it keeps importing sideways & I am tired of messing with it.

Next is a Prairie Schooler Santa for my oldest son also on Vikki Clayton linen:

Finally here is Jenny Bean, who has not seen the light of day in a week.

So that is it for today.  Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend.

The Face of Swine Flu

Piggy Fever has struck the house - all four of my children came down with it.  I took the child with Asthma to the doctor right away & sure enough it's swine flu.  Everyone got Tamiflu & I got Relenza since Tamiflu did not agree with me last time.  So far it seems to be working & I don't have any significant side effects.  I am actually glad that we got it already & are done with it.  The kids were pretty miserable - the worst were the headaches.  Everyone is on the mend.  They will all return to school on Tues.  


The garage sale is over,  I can only rejoice in that.  Things have been delivered to Goodwill, I have bags of clothes sitting  on my front porch & I am deliberating if I will take them to my former workplace where there are lots of people who could use the clothes or do I donate those to Goodwill as well.  I also took the left over books to Half Priced Books & much to my surprise I got $60 for them.  Overall we sold a lot, but had tons left over.  Another 4 families brought stuff over to sell as well.  It was wild.  We will have to have another one the week before we move & this time we will have some furniture & larger appliances.... something to look forward to.   


I have been able to stitch - if only a bit here & there.  If the sun comes out today I will take a picture of Jenny Bean & some of my other WIPs & post them.  Right now I am off to fold some laundry & generally get my house back from disaster condition to excuse the mess but we are moving condition.  

Stuff R Us

Every morning I get up, I look around the devastation that is my house right now, and I ask myself where all this stuff came from... I diligently slog through an area pull out all the stuff, sort it into donate, sell, store or move piles.  On bad days there is also a later pile.  As I open boxes from the attic which belong to my DH (who has departed for Germany and from all accounts is really enjoying himself in his clean, kid-free apartment...) I see a bunch of junk & useless things.  When I open some of my boxes which have spent the last 4 years in the attic I delight at the treasures I find....sigh - it's all in the eye of the beholder.  It is so much harder for me to whittle down my own stuff, than for me to take an ax to the kid's or my husband's things.  

We are having a town wide garage sale this weekend, so here is the " prep area" - to be truthful, it is just another pile right now, which I will organize on Friday to put out on Saturday.

Much to my dismay the weather forecast calls for rain through Friday.  I can only hope it is rain free on Saturday.  All this garage sale stuff is spilling over into the house & right now I don't have any room to put the boxes packed for storage anywhere.  Its getting a bit hairy inside the house.

As to my stash... whatever I am taking it must fit into this armoire - ignore the mess on the top - right now it is another surface for some "later stuff".

A quick peek at my somewhat messy inside:

I know, I know, I can get more stash in this thing than I can stitch in 10 years, but deciding what to take & leave behind is HARD.  I have packed up three boxes to stash will have to add some more.  I was in my oldest son's closet yesterday, I looked up and lo & behold what did my tired eyes see - more stash....  Ok, well maybe its good my DH is in Germany already, or otherwise I  might be in trouble.   Off to do more sorting, packing and lots of sighing....