Running with Needles & Scissors

Going Batty!

2011-05-15T11:31:00.000+02:00

It has been a busy time. Our Normandy trip was wonderful - this is the B&B we stay in when we visit.

It is right across from La Fiere Bridge which the US Paratroopers needed to secure, and they did. Many of our brave men died right here holding this bridge.

Right across the street is the Iron Mike Memorial.

If you ever have the chance to visit Normandy, I can highly recommend our B&B La Fiere. Have a look.

While dashing in & out of Paris, I managed to visit Des Fils Et Une Aigulle. What a lovely shop and a great deal to see and buy. Sadly, she did not have many historical samplers. Here are a few shots of her window display.

She had a model of Plum Street Sampler's Paradise Lost done over one... totally drool worthy. Now that I have seen it, mine MUST be the same. She also stitched LHN's Hillside Travelers over one... so, so cute.

We also survived Prom, if just barely. Here is a group shot of Erika's group - she is in red.

Alex also went to Prom. Rob and I just thought he looked so handsome, and oohed & aahed over him - much to his dismay. He is a bit squinty because of the bright, setting sun. LOL. But still, getting him to smile...it wasn't going to happen.

Erika and her date Vite.

Well, after Erika's group had left for dinner we continued to wait with Alex for his date. After 30 minutes, we encouraged him to give her a call but he could not get ahold of her. We waited and waited - and we watched Alex wait... another 30 minutes passed. We were so upset on the inside and trying not to let Alex see it. After about one hour of waiting he finally received a text from a friend of his date - she had lost her cell phone, got held up at the hairdressers, and finally made it home to use her mom's phone to text her friend to she could, in turn, text Alex. She was on her way!

So, we shooed away by Alex, but waited around to get a glimpse of his date, literally running past us - totally ignoring the perils of high heels and cobblestones. We did try to take a photo on the sly, and this was the best we could do.

I am happy to report that a good time was had by all. Over dinner Rob and I figured out that we still have another 5 years of Proms ahead of us. Sigh.

Oh, and here is where these lucky children get to have their Prom - Heidelberg Castle - in the part that still has a roof - not the in the ruins, lol.

I have been keeping busy on the stitching front. My third ornament from LHN is done - over one.

I really enjoyed stitching this one.

I also finished BBD - Simple Things. It has been in my WIP basket too long, and one of my stitching goals this year was to knock out some of these WIPs. At my rate, I think it will have to be a 10 year stitching plan.

ATS has also seem some action and I am so happy to report that Page 1 is behind me! I am hoping Page 2 stitches up a bit faster.

Please ignore the upside down Adam & Even needle minder... things you see after you take the photo. Sigh.

I could not find my travel project when I left for the trip to Paris, so I grabbed another project that I had kitted up and really wanted to stitch. BBD - Live Each Season. Since we are doing several trips this summer with visitors, I am hoping it will see some decent needle time and perhaps I can get it finished before Fall. I am stitching is on the called for R&R fabric which I have had for several years. I have to say that I am disappointed that most of the coffee dyeing has disappeared. I have noticed that this has happened with most of my R&R fabric. As much as I like the effect, I think I am done buying their linen.

As to the title of this post. Erika and I had a close encounter with a bat two nights ago. Around 1 a.m. in the morning Erika runs into our bedroom and tell me that there is a bat in the living room. Rob, who must have been sleeping even deeper than I was told her not to wake us up because of a bat. Huh?? Well, I jumped out of bed, and Erika and I "bravely" confronted the bat situation - me, crawling on hands and knees to turn the lights off and Erika on her belly, soldier crawling to open the patio doors, both of us muttering things like " Please don't fly into me." " Please don't land on me." " Please don't have rabies." " Where is dad??" - all the while the bat is wheeling through the living room. After a bit, the bat kindly obliged and returned to the wild, and I returned to bed to my hero and protector, who had remained blissfully in dreamland throughout the entire episode.

Here is hoping that you are having a wonderful weekend.

Until next time,

Sylvia

What is going on with Blogger??

2011-05-12T13:00:00.000+02:00

This morning I finally got myself motivated to do a post and when I hit publish I got an error message. Now usually blogger saves a post as a draft... not this time. Aarrgh.

I also noticed that some blogs have been taken over with nonsense posts. What is up with that?

Anyways, all my blogging get -up & go is now gone. So I will leave you with some pics of my finished HallowEden, and try and resurrect today's post this weekend.

Don't know why that pink shadow is on there, its not there IRL.

I hope everyone has had some beautiful Spring weather. We have had the most amazing Spring here, but now that our wonderful outdoor pool has opened, I am sure it will cool down and rain. Such is life in Germany.

Until next time,

Sylvia

A Season of Sadness

2011-04-13T11:07:00.002+02:00

It has been a difficult time since I last posted. It began with a very distraught phone call from my younger SIL who had just discovered my FIL lying dead on the floor of his house. He should have been in assisted living but he just couldn't bear to be parted from his house. Bob was felled by a massive coronary attack, and we are much relieved to know he did not suffer.

My DH flew home to Iowa two days after the news, and after much thought the kids and I followed to be there for the funeral. Our main reason for doing this was that my MIL is still alive and this would probably be the last time she got to see the kids. It was a mad dash - we flew over on a Thursday, and departed again Sunday morning. The funeral was very touching and my FIL who served his country well during his 20 year military career that included three tours in Vietnam, was buried with full military honors.

DH is the executor of his father's estate, and anyone who has done this can attest to the incredible amount of work involved. As my DH is working through all the paperwork, it has come to light that the older SIL has been siphoning off my MIL's money over the last year and a half. At the time of my FIL's death my MIL's account had been drained down to $3.00 in savings and the checking account was completely empty. Four days after my FIL passed she withdrew thousands out of my FIL's account. My husband got his mother to revoke her power of attorney, and put a new one in place so he could take over the finances. It would have been great if it had ended there, but the older SIL has gotten my MIL to reinstate her as a user of the bank accounts and the money drain continues at an unprecedented rate. We have spoken to the bank, we have called an attorney, we have transferred money out of the account to a non-local bank, but since there is a cap on how much we can transfer a good portion of the money remains accessible. It has been so stressful, and has given us no time to grieve the passing of Rob's dad.

On a happier note, on our return flight, we had a 3 hour layover in Dallas, and the kids and I each got to see our dear friends for a quick lunch. I was so happy to see my stitching buddies. Thank you Michelle, for finding a nearby restaurant with great BBQ to satisfy my craving. I was a bit of a nervous wreck, since we all scattered in different directions. The kids proved themselves trustworthy and everyone made it back for our international flight on time. It was a bit crazy though.

Not much has happened on the stitching front, currently I tend to sit and stare at my stitching more than actually doing it.

I did finish a little something for my younger SIL who loves snowmen and I thought this would be the perfect gift for her.

Shepherd's Bush - Warm Hearts

HallowEden is making very slow progress, but if a timelapse camera was used daily progress would be evident.

ATS saw some action this weekend as well. I have reached the bottom of page 1 on the right side. I'll be working my way across the page to the left.

I also was a very lucky recipient of one of Merumo's needlebooks - how pretty is that? Thank you Merumo, I will put it to good use.

Tomorrow, my DH and I leave for Normandy for a quick 3 day business trip. We will get to spend a long afternoon in Paris ( we take the train from here to Paris, take a rental car out to Normandy, and then take the train from Paris back home). I am planning to take in an exhibit about the Romanov family and their art, and stop by Des fils et une Aiguille. Then again I might chuck that plan and hit the flea market! I will probably be looking more than shopping, since the Dollar has totally tanked. But it will be fun anyways.

Until next time, hopefully on a happier note.

Sylvia

A Great Cause

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

Merumo is hosting a wonderful giveaway to help her people in Japan. She is giving away amazing miniature quilts that she and others have made. Please take some time to head over to her blog today or tomorrow ( giveaway ends tomorrow) and see if you are able to lend a helping hand. Just click on her name and it will take you over to her blog. Merumo is an amazing stitcher and quilter, I think you will enjoy looking at all the wonderful things she has worked on.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Sylvia

You're in the Air Force Now

2011-03-20T12:47:00.000+01:00

Our daughter Erika is getting ready to graduate this Summer, and she has finally decided that she will join the Air Force. We are so happy for her and hope that it will provide her with some great opportunities.

Here are a few pictures from her swearing in which my husband was able to do.

Friends and Family are gathered

" Alright Dad, you are embarrassing me!!"

"... and I will defend my country...."

Hope she is always this happy serving our country.

And its official

We are proud of her. We have not gotten a departure date yet, but should hear soon as to when she will wing her way back to the US and start basic training.

After I got the news that Lisa Roswell passed away, I had to put my stitching down and pull out one of her fabulous designs. I choose Crescent Angel and stitched it over one on 35ct R&R linen - don't know exactly what color. I wanted to finish it as a hornbook. So here it is, in honor of Lisa.

I also started on Plum Street's HallowEden. I chose my own colors from my Hand Dyed Fibers stash. The 36ct fabric is also from R&R and is a nice vintage blue. Now the only issue I ran into was that the coverage of the dark thread was a bit skimpy. Smart little me knew exactly how to solve that problem... I would just stitch the dark parts over one... such a great idea!!! Ok, you guys can stop laughing now!!

Uh uh, each over two stitch is stitched four times over one....brilliant!! I think its called, how to make a fairly quick stitch into a really long & a bit excruciating one. On the other hand, I really love the look of it though. My sweet little A&E seem to be ready to join a Dia de los Muertos parade.

The over one ornie stitching has also continued. Here is He's a Flake by LHN.

I used French and Colonial knots instead of beads and like how it looks. Now, I did have a heck of a time getting the stitches of the white floss to look decent - I frogged and re-stitched so many times... why is that?? Its just the white floss that consistently was a problem. Anyone have any insights?

Last but not least, progress was made on ATS - I finally got through the tree and have started with Adam & Eve. I am working on this piece today and hope to have them both completed.

Spring has arrived here - thank goodness - I have had it with winter. I have been trying to diligently spend time in the garden. This poor garden needs some TLC so badly after almost a decade of neglect. Its a massive job, but I am trying to make some headway, and hopefully the fruits of my labor will pay off this summer when the flowers will bloom, the vegetables are thriving and the weeds are under control... hey a girl can dream!!

Until next time,

Sylvia

The Pitfalls of Translation

2011-02-23T10:14:00.000+01:00

Indeed.....

I also listed some stash for sale - the link is on the upper left margin.

Bye for now,

Sylvia

More Paris

2011-02-20T11:10:00.000+01:00

For everyone who has patiently waited for my stash pictures - here they are. I was fairly conservative, BUT next year I will have a plan, and damage will be done.

Reflets de Soi - Ann Mitchell & Heloise Cornu each flanking Muriel Brunet MB 1841

Heloise Cornu - I know its bright! It was done on 32ct Silk Gauze with AVAS Soie Surfine - a total dream!!

I love the Eiffel Tower pattern by Jardin Prive , the ohter owe is by Natalie Jo from Atelier Perdu

AVAS for Jane Atkinson - No its not cheaper to buy it in Paris....chaching!

A bit of trim.....

This one was so feminine - I could not resist.

Now for the two Reflets de Soie samplers, thread packs are available, so I think that is the route I will take - its much cheaper than buying each the colors seperately. I am planning to do Heloise Cornu on silk gauze - she looks wonderful that way.

Now for some more Paris pictures, just to put you guys into sensory overload...

Yes, they are real.... and expensive!!

One of the fun things in France is the food....

Yummy, yummy food

Oh la la - le Fromage....

The produce...

Such large & beautiful strawberries...

I wanted to buy a little of everything

And pasteries....

And chocolate....EVERYWHERE

More hip-exploding pasteries....

Beautiful flowers

Ginormeous crepes

Hope I did not blow anyone's diet!

Here is a lovely statue of Jaon of Ark

Champs Elysee at night towards the L'Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysee towards the Place de la Concorde & some French hair...

I leave you with some images of the Catacombs, the underground querry beneath Paris where eventually 6 million Parisens found their final resting place. At first, the bones were thrown in, later they were organized in the stacks you will see in the photos. These were taken without flash, as it was forbidden to use it down there. The black line you see on the ceiling still remains from when people walked through the catacombs by candlelight only, and this was their guide through the catacombs. Let me tell you, it was difficult enough with electric light, but going through there by the light of the candle, which you carried.... NO THANK YOU!!

See the ground water way down there - quarry workers used to cool their feet in this...

Stop: Here is the Empire of Death - a slightly distrubing entrance to the Ossuary

Uuhh, creepy

Skulls and femuers were used to build a wall - the rest of the bones were thrown behind this wall.

There were A LOT of bones - and we only got to see a fraction of them.

To climb back out you have to climb up a very tight spiral staircase with higher than usual treads.... there are 82 of them. I was behind a group in which an elderly lady was struggeling to get up these stairs, and although I could not see her, I could hear her moans, and groans. For some reason it filled me with anxiety, and much to my shame, I just wanted to climb over that group, shove her out of the way and escape to the fresh air. I did manage to keep my flight impulses in check and I don't have to mention how glad I was to get back up the to the surface!

I leave you with my first onrie of the year - LHN Fa-La- La - over one.

I stitched this over one, because over two was just getting too big, plus my stitches looked like a kindergartner was having a good time - don't know what was up with that. Its very petite, and I love it that way.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Le Winner

2011-02-19T07:11:00.001+01:00

I think its still Friday on the West Coast of the US, so I am still on time!!

Anyway, I decided to try out the Randomizer, and it worked just fine...I had to test it though, because I wasn't sure if it did it correctly, so I have two winners now.

Margaret - Days of a Sampler lover ..... come on down!! If you send me your addy I will fill a box with chocolate and the magazine and send it your way. If you don't like chocolate, let me know - there are plenty of other yummies to send.

Winner number two is Kerri ( who still hasn't started her blog) - now, I know I will get you chocolate for sure.... what else...hmmm, it will have to be a surprise.

More of Paris to come.

Until Then,

Sylvia

The Trip that Almost Wasn't

2011-02-14T17:43:00.003+01:00

First off, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope got to indulge in a little bit of Chocolate today - I had mine early and in Paris, nonetheless.

I went there with my sweet husband to take a peek at the needlework show that was taking place - it was a blast. But this whole trip almost did not happen because my youngest child Olivia was doing her annual ( it always seems to be in Feb/March) medical mystery/emergency thing. She started having pains that migrated from her lower right back to her mid right abdomen. After taking her to the doc, with nothing conclusive, he said to come in for a follow-up two days later - at which point in time he saw things in her urine which were of concern to him. Another trip to the lab the following day, and the doc sent her to the local children's hospital. They were as stumped as he was since everything they looked at was normal except her urine and her pain, and she got sent home since there was no sign of infection in her blood - her urine was still a concern. The following day they called us back to the hospital and took a look at her kidney ( she already has 2 sonograms and one CT scan by that time), but still nothing conclusive - however, her values in her urine now made them nervous, and they sent us over to the pediatric surgeon. He took a look ( and by that I mean poked and prodded her) and took the usual blood and sent her up to have another sono to see if they could locate the appendix. It did look suspiciously like appendicitis , except that she was missing the fever and the elevated white blood cells in her blood - but no appendix to be found - they scanned the rest of the abdomen, really studied her CT, made calls to admit her for some laproscopic exploratory surgery pending results of her bloodwork which was ....normal! So, home we went, where my poor child stayed in bed and was miserable. She did have some good painkillers, but they did not give her much relief. After a weekend of pain and boredom, she went to school for 3 days - with visits to the lab to check on her urine, which showed improvement. I had already changed my train reservation to Paris to leave two days ( Friday) later, in hopes that she would be well. On Thursday she woke up in a great deal of pain, and I hustled her back to the children's hospital where they sonogrammed her abodomen from top to bottom and finally found a rather large ovarian cyst. Jimmeny Cricket - what a two week freak-out I had. The cyst should resolve itself, thank goodness. My friend Margit kept an eye on Liv, and I decided it would be safe to hop the train to Paris.

Our first order of Business on Friday was to visit the American Embassy - my husband has a connection there, so he got us in - what fun. No pictures though because its not allowed. Here we are standing right on the corner of the Place de la Concorde where the embassy is located.

We checked into our hotel - a French Officer's hotel with nice rooms and reasonable Paris room rates.

Our room was on the top floor - last window on the right in the dome part - our view was fantastic.

The last two were taken Sunday morning around 8:30 a.m. - Paris is super quiet at that time - the only real activity comes from tourists trying to squeeze as many attractions in as possible.

Back to where I left off - Friday night there was an event at the AVAS store, which I had signed up for - my main goal was to see the store and buy my floss for Jane Atkinson. I hopped the Metro - which at that time was belly buttons to behinds full. I emerged onto the street and went off in search of the store. Being the well-trained American I was looking for a nice bright store sign, but leave it to the French to be understated...

Into the entry hall

up the winding stairs,

and through the door into silk heaven.

Just FYI - I blurred the two ladies in the photograph because I received an e-mail from one of these ladies, stating that I had broken French law by even taking this picture, and since it showed nothing of interest anyway she asked that I remove it from my blog. I think this is a good compromise - I get to keep my non- interesting photo and she is just a non-recognizable blur.

The next day we ( yes my husband came along) went off to Aiguilles en Fete. We came out of the Metro, crossed the plaza and voila - the Grande Hall where all sorts of delights awaited the needleworker!

Rob and his new friends....

Yup, it was THAT big!!

One of the first booths I got to was Reflets de Soie... wow, her stuff is fantastically beautiful.

Here are a few more pics at random.

So, if you are still reading, I want to reward you! Since it is Valentine's Day and I have just returned from Paris, I want to giveaway the current issue of Mains & Merveilles, which features 5 Red Samplers by Isabelle Mazabraud-Kerlan of Reflets de Soie. I will, of course, add plenty of chocolate goodies to go with this. Just mention in your comment that you want to be in this giveaway. I know it sneaky adding this to the end, but I want to reward those who actually take the time to read all that I write. I will draw a winner on Friday.

I will write more on Paris in my next post - this one is very long as it is, and I will show you guys what I brought home as well.

Until then,

Sylvia

A Bit O Crazy

2011-01-29T15:33:00.000+01:00

Again, time has just passed so quickly, and my good intentions of posting more often in 2011 have already lapsed. So sorry.

The bit o crazy in today's post is referring to the bit o news we got that our oldest son Alex got infected with TB - yes, you read that correctly - TB. He was infected by a co-worker. Thank goodness he is in the latent stage - that means he is not active, so he, himself, did not infect anyone. After extensive blood work and x-rays to determine that indeed he is not active he will now have to spend the next 9 months on antibiotics. I did a great deal of hand wringing during this time, and now try not to think about it too much - it just bums me out.

On the more upbeat side - I finished Ann Pennsylvania Peacock yesterday!! I am so thrilled with her, and I enjoyed stitching her. Those of you who have finished Ann, what did you use to attach her head?

I love the way the roof of the house turned out.

Ann's dress and the purple flower are also so pretty. Needless to say the colors are much more vibrant in real life. I used my own choice of HDF - which is always such a pleasure to stitch with.

Next I have got to whip out an ornie, and then I plan to give some time to Peaceable Kingdom - it is such a pretty sampler and I am still stuck on the border.

I have also been spending some time knitting. Here are the two hats I knitted for Adam and Olivia for Christmas. Adam is a Texas Longhorns fan - thus the color scheme, and Olivia's hat is a slouch hat that I really enjoyed knitting.

I have knitted two more hats - one for Alex and one for my husband, but I still have to corral them to take a picture. They are not so eager to just put on the hat for me and pose - I don't know why???

I am also knitting a hat for myself. I ran out of yarn, so it is languishing. It will be a hat that is totally cabled. I plan to knit a scarf as well.

I am also working on "Tend Thy Sheep" by Merry Cox, which was offered through the Shining Needle Society. I am enjoying this one and am awaiting lesson 3 to continue.

I know it looks like a mile long in the picture above, but it really isn't. I love Merry's designs, but I came late to the party and she wasn't really teaching anymore. Of course, now being over here, I won't really be able to take any of her classes either, so I really appreciate the opportunity of taking her classes online.

The Paris Needlework show is fast approaching, and I am totally excited to be able to go. We are staying at the French Officer's Club, which I have heard good things about. I have also signed up for the AVAS Open House - can't wait to see that gorgeous store they have. I promise to take lots of pictures.

Until Then,

Sylvia

Christmas Is Not Over!!

2011-01-13T15:56:00.001+01:00

I have wonderful friends, really sweet and generous friends. Two of them - Kerri and Michelle sent me some fabulous presents last week.

Since Kerri's arrived first, let me start with hers.

A wonderful travel set sewn out of French General fabrics. They are so beautiful.

So much effort and time went into making these - I am so thrilled to receive them. They will be put to good use while we are over here. Our next trip is scheduled for mid-February. My DH has a business trip to Normandy for D-Day planning after which we will spend a few days in Paris where I am planning to visit the big needlework show Aiguille en Fete.

Then I received my package from Michelle who stitched me the wonderful Workbasket freebie which was released at the last Nashville Market, which incidentally was the market Michelle and I attended to help Milday's Needle with her booth. Michelle was so thoughtful to stitch this beautiful piece for me to as a momento of our trip together. I just love it.

One of her joy birds also winged his way over here, and is currently guarding my dishes.

She also sent a can of fabulous decaf expresso, since I love strong coffee and lamented months ago when I had to ditch caffeine, that I could not find any decaf expresso here - yes, Germany, the land of strong coffee, go figure. Anyway, she remembered, and voila, right now I have fabulous expresso with frothed milk for breakfast - yum. Thanks sweet friends for all you thoughtful and beautiful gifts.

I have made some progress on Ann. Sorry for the photo, but its a foggy, rainy, dark and grey day here, so I had to use flash.

I have set her aside to work on a Merry Cox piece "Tend Thy Sheep" that is currently being run by the Shining Needle Society. Its a fun piece, and I am just about done with the band, but I need better light to photograph it - the pictures I took are horrible. The next semi-sunny day I will snap some.

I am off to a quilting class tonight learning some more advanced quilting techniques. Here are the batik fabrics I chose for the quilt - its a 4 week class, so it will be a bit before I have a completed quilt. If you notice, its in my favorite colors - pink and green ( see Michelle's pretty pillow a few pics up)

I leave you with a few photos of our New Year's Day fun.

Olivia coming down the hill

Watch out dogs - Adam is about to wipe out!

Parental Units giving it a try - Mia is trying to catch up.

Until next time.

Sylvia

Wrapping Up

2010-12-30T23:29:00.000+01:00

The year has just flown by, I can hardly believe it! We have had such an amazing time over here, and despite missing my wonderful friends back home in Texas, I have so enjoyed my first year back in Germany.

I have gotten to see my dad three times this year. I have stood on the beaches on Normandy where so many of our brave men spilled their blood during WWII. I have stood in the first French town liberated by our men. I have eaten a great deal of French cheese, wine and bread. I have gotten to use my long forgotten French. I got to stay at a wonderful place in Italy where the view took my breath away. I have eaten more Gelato this summer than I have in all my previous years on this planet. I have gotten to see the majestic Alps 3 times this year, and stood on the highest peak in Germany. I have walked more this year than I probably did in the last 10 years put together. I have tobogganed down a glacier, ridden a horse along the beach, zip lined, and driven really fast on the Autobahn. I have stood at the gates of a German concentration camp in the driving snow mourning for those who walked through these gates, never to leave, and on the other hand, I have seen some of the most beautiful castles in the world. Best of all, I have been able to share all this with my family. What a year it has been, and I feel fortunate beyond measure.

On the stitching side of things, I did get one stocking completely done - and I am so proud of it. Oops - I see I cut the toe part off during editing.

Ok, here is another one.

The inside is lined and the back is quilted.

Thank you Michelle for sharing her finishing tips with me.

Erika's stocking is not done, due to my misplacing the fabric, and then finding it the day after Christmas. However, now I am having second thoughts about my color selection, so I am headed back to the store with stocking in hand, to see if I can find something better.

Although I did not finish all the ornies I stitched, I put a collage together of my favorite ones. Don't know why the collage maker cut some of them off, but you get the idea.

I also received two wonderful stitched pieces from Margit - one for my birthday in November and one for Christmas.

They are both from L'R de Rien and will one day ( with a few others) be made into a wall hanging quilt. The wrinkles I put in, Margit gave them to me perfectly ironed... Thank you Margit, I love them both, and cannot believe you stitched both of these for me.

I also received one of my favorite little samplers from Ava, a dear friend of mine from Texas. Can't even tell you how much I love this one.

The best birthday present though, came from my darling daughter Olivia. She stitched me this in one day.

She is a new stitcher, and I am so touched by her hard work. I am thinking of a creative way to finish it, but I will treasure it, and it makes me happy every time I look at it.

My dear friend Gloria sent me this for a combined Birthday/Christmas gift.

She even framed it herself, and the frame is perfect!!

Despite being a winter theme, I love it so much, it is staying up all year!

That wraps up the present portion of this post.

To finish, here are the current states of the two WIPs that are seeing any action at this point.

Well, actually Ann Pennsylvania Peacock is a bit further along than this - the house is now completely done and the dress is done as well. I am pleased with the way she is looking, and I think once I get the tree done, the majority of the stitching will be complete. She is deceptive, that one, there is so much stitching in the bottom half of this sampler - although you can't really see it, the house is solid stitching as well.

ATS hasn't seen the light of day for a few week, but will be worked back into its Sunday slot next week.

Here is where I left off:

I did get some knitting done as well, but that will have to wait for another day, since the pictures were taken with a different camera and are on a different computer, and that computer is constantly occupied by a child. Once they go back to school, I will get on and grab those pics.

I wish each and every one of you a safe and happy New Year, and may 2011 bring many good adventures and experiences into your lives. I am looking forward to knocking out a few of my WIPs and starting a few new ones. Until next year,

Sylvia

Merry Christmas to All

2010-12-25T14:40:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

I wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope you are surrounded by loved ones, and can take to the time to enjoy each other as we celebrate the season of our Savior's birth.

We are having a very White Christmas and it is breathtaking, both visually and temperature wise.

Now that we are back up and running, I will be back soon with lots of photos of things I have finished and wonderful gifts that found their way to my door step. Until then, Seasons Blessings from our house to yours.

Merry Christmas

No Phone, No Internet

2010-12-05T15:11:00.000+01:00

Well, I think the threats that the Blogger Police issued were not idle threats. On Tuesday we lost both our phone and internet. Long story short - we are switching providers and we got lost in the shuffle one turned it off early and the other does not have us scheduled for our new connection until the 18th of December, but I called to beg for mercy and see if they could do it any earlier... we just got our notice in the mail and now our new connection date is 21.12... say WHAT??? That is not better - that is worse, like 92 hours worse!!! Well, lesson learned, no begging for mercy, no phone calls. I accept my punishment from the Blogger Police and will wait it out ( with some private wailing and teeth gnashing). I will update when my beloved internet is back. Until then, here is wishing everyone a wonderful pre-Christmas season.

Giving Thanks

2010-11-25T09:02:00.000+01:00

I am thankful for all the blessing God has bestowed on me, especially for the gift of salvation through his son Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful for a husband who works hard and allows me to stay home.

I am thankful for my amazing country and the wonderful country I currently live in.

I am thankful for all the travel and the wonderful things I have gotten to see this year.

I am thankful for living closer to my dad, and getting to spend more time with him.

I am thankful for my stitchy and non-stitchy friends.

I am thankful for the bounty of food that graces our table every day.

I am thankful for my warm house since it just started snowing outside ( hard!).

I am thankful for my two sweet dogs who keep me company all day.

I am thankful for the internet, so I can keep in touch with my friends, find plenty of stash enhancement opportunities, read lots of blogs... generally it makes the world a much smaller place, where I can reach out and make friends in every corner of the globe.

I am thankful for my hobbies which provide me with endless hours of joy and entertainment.

I am thankful that even though I have not updated my blog in many weeks, the blogger police has only issued me a stern warning and has given me until the end of this weekend to get the job done....

I wish everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving a wonderful and blessed holiday. I hope that you are surrounded by those you love and that they are doing all the cooking!!

For those of you participating in the Black Friday insanity, I wish you good luck, be safe and happy hunting.

A Little of This and a Little of That

2010-10-14T15:27:00.001+02:00

Big news! Ok, sorta big new... well, alright, its actually not such big news, its more like totally overdue news - I finally got my rear in gear and took my German driver's license test - I did study pretty diligently for it and passed with a 96. So, now I own this little slip of paper that allows me to roam the country. My husband had some serious concerns. He said in a sad voice:" Now you won't be home anymore." Oh silly man, where else would I stitch??? But it does open some new possibilities....

Now, on to what I have been working on while I obediently sit at home.

Olivia's ornie for this year is done ( stitched - not finished), and since she gets star and heart ornaments each year, this one from this year's JCS Ornie Issue was perfect. I stitched this on 40ct Liberty Gathering Grey from R&R with some Indigo Ocean floss from HDF.

Next up is the start of Alex's SB stocking. This one is just coming together quick and I predict, optimistically that it won't take me 7 years to stitch, like Erika's stocking.... A big thank you to my PIC, who went out and got me all my missing ~~string~~ floss, popped it in the mail, so that I could get going on it.

Don't ask me what that little dark spot on the lower right is... I don't know, and its not there now.

Up next is my progress on ATS - its two Sunday's worth. I think there are a number of people in blog land working on it now. I am enjoying it quite a bit, now that the cloud of doom is behind me.

Finally my progress on Ann Pennsylvania Peacock. See the railing, the part that looks like there was a brawl, and someone fell through it? Well turns out that I counted wrong ( again!!) and the whole railing was one stitch too short, I am in the middle of frogging and fixing. I love Ann, but man, it seems I am stitching and stitching, and it looks like I am virtually in the same place. I have to say that dress is huge!! The colors look a bit sad on the picture, but they are very pretty in real life. My picture taking session was done in record speed today, since the sun just barely peaked out, and it has been wicked foggy all day.

Last weekend Margit and I went to this small needlework expo in a delightful city about 45 minutes away. We drove over hills and through valleys - it was like a fairytale. That cute little building is the city hall, and there were 3 floors of vendors.

I tried to be good, but somehow things just were calling my name. I came home with a sampler pattern that rivals Dutch Beauty. Check it out.

This sampler is huge - 510 x 550 stitches. It has two Adam & Eves on it. I saw it, and my jaw dropped at the sheer size. I consoled myself that, surely, on 40 count it would be a more reasonable size. Well, turns out it was stitched on 40 count already.... hmm what to do?

Alright, because I am getting asked about this sampler ( and Margaret made that good suggestion), it is called Mustertuch 1783 by Mikusch-Design. They actually have the original in their possession. If you can't locate it in the States, and really really want it ( I must say it is fabulous, but not for the faint hearted), drop me a line and I will get for you - the pattern cost 16.50 Euro. My own copy will start winging its way over to stitcher extraordinaire Robert tomorrow. If anyone can whip this puppy out its Robert. I hope he shows us WIP photos on his blog.

Alright, I am off to try and do some home maintenance on Ann, and bring her railing back up to code. Hope everyone is enjoying the Fall season.

It's a Bird Thing

2010-09-30T09:25:00.001+02:00

Well, I have been busy over here - the weather has turned very Fall-like, with overcast skies and rain, rain, rain. The dogs and I are back to walking in the woods now that the ticks have abated. We have a real tick problem here and Lyme Disease is an issue. After coming home twice with the dogs covered in ticks ( I do mean covered - it was GROSS), and me getting bit by ticks as well (GROSS, GROSS!!), I gave up walking in the woods for the summer.

Other than that, I have staid busy here at home. My dad and stepmom ( who live in Germany) were here for a few day, and it was fun having them.

It was Erika's 18th birthday on Tuesday - I cannot believe my firstborn has hit that mile marker already. One of our neighbors in Texas ( who's baby girl is now 1 1/2 years old) reaction of " Oh, crap" to the news that Erika was turning 18 sums up my feeling on the matter very succinctly.

I made her some fingerless owl mitts ( she is big into owls) from a pattern from Ravelry. It's my first attempt at mitts, and things turned out well - although on the first one I knitted the pattern backwards, and had to start over again... sheesh

These were knitt with some Wollmeise yarn from my incredible stash haul when we were down in Bavaria.

I also pulled out ATS on Sunday again - after the cloud I needed a break. But I enjoyed the stitching I did on it this weekend- although the bluebird gave me fits, but then I realized that the ray of sun that I was using as a reference point was one stitch too short.

So, I am supposed to be stitching on all Christmas all the time right now, but have rebelled and started a new project that I am just loving. Miss Ann Pennsylvania Peacock by Little by Little. I just picked my own threads from my vast HDF stash, selected some PTP 40 ct fabric ( don't ask me what it is - label fell off) and started stitching. Did I already say that I love her?

These pictures do reveal my technique of stitching one strand of color and going on to another strand of color. Since I have no self discipline, I tend to switch color with every strand rather than finishing a motif. I am thinking she will be less scattered looking on my next update.

Now I do have a little beef with her - on that vine border, just to drive me insane, one of the straight parts has 13 stitches in it, whereas all the other straight parts have 15.... of course, I did not discover this until I went back and started putting in the pretty, pretty flowers. Well, by that time, all that you see on the bottom had already been stitched. Uhhh, its not being frogged, that is for sure!! Now, why can't designers point that out in their instructions? Just a little FYI - it would be so helpful.

Alright, off to do my housework at lightening speed, so I can sit down and stitch some!

Finishes & Stash

2010-09-17T15:46:00.000+02:00

So, I got to do some retail therapy while in France. Here is what I managed to come home with.

The upper left is a book of alphabets but in cartouche style, then the latest issue of Mains & Merveilles with a couple Renato Parolin chart and a cute sampler in it, the newest book from Isa Vautier, a Marquoir book that is very out of print' the latest issue of Broderie, and the new book from Refletes de Soie with 5 reproduced English samplers.

This is the project that I liked in the Isa Vautier book - among some others.

I also finished some ornaments

Now the upper left ornie, which was designed by Milady's Needle, I mostly finished last year for Adam. I pulled it out to put the last few stitches in and what do I notice...

The brown deer have some haloing going on around them - you can see it more towards the antlers. This was stitched with the recommended Belle Soie. I really have to say I am so disappointed with this silk. For this kind of money ($7.50 per skien), I expect to receive a top notch product, not something where the dye rubs off or starts spreading onto the fabric. When I say rubs off, the Peacock Pinkeep by Blackbird Design used Belle Soie, and when I received my package, the red Belle Soie had left pinkish streaks across my fabric, from the friction between the two during shipping. So, I have to honestly say I am not a fan of Belle Soie. Love some of the colors, but there are some serious quality issues going on. Ok, enough of that.

The next item I finished was this 2002 Prairie Schooler Santa for Alex

Up next another BoaF angel for Erika.

Finally - not an ornie but one of the scissor companions from Ewe & Eye

Wishing everyone a very stitchy weekend.

We have a Winner

2010-09-15T20:02:00.000+02:00

So, in accordance to the blog giveaway rules I wrote down everyone's name, cut them up folded them twice and put them into the lucky, red, sure- to- produce-a-winner bowl.

My lovely assistant, the soon- to -be-18 Erika did the honors, even though she had to take a break from talking on Facebook and watching Grey's Anatomy simultaneously...

And the winner is....

Laurie in Iowa!!

Congrats, off to e-mail you now.

Since chocolate seemed to be the hot item, I will do another giveaway soon, just with chocolat.

Le Jardin

2010-09-15T12:27:00.000+02:00

The gardens at Versailles are amazing. The property is so huge that it takes over one hour of vigorous walking to go from one end to the other in a straight line. Here are a few pics to you can get the idea.

Does this tree make me look fat???

Now, this looks familiar - See our visit to Bavaria

Check out how big this place is

Hey Mom, remember him - take a picture!

Remember her?

I leave you with a beautiful bust of Marie Antoinette

Vivre La France!!

2010-09-14T18:35:00.000+02:00

I know that sentiment is not the most popular over in the States, but I must say that we had an amazing time in France. The people were very friendly and helpful, the scenery beautiful and the history amazing.

We left home very early in the morning and zipped on through to Paris (which is a massively big city). About 10 km outside of Paris is Versailles. Now, remember that we just saw an incomplete copy of Versailles a couple of weeks ago down in Bavaria, but I was totally blown away with my first sight of the palace.

It's huge! It has got lots and lots of guilding. Its gorgeous!!

How many movies have I watched where the Musketeers or the peasants were at these gates...

Check out the fabulous top - the thing below the crown looks like a sun - for the Sun King and it has got Fleurs de Lis on it , topped by that very nice crown...all in sparkley gold!

Way in the front we are greeted by a massive statue of the Sun King Louis XIV himself. Liv is in the pic to provide some perspective. There are ankl -spraining cobblestones that lead up to the main gate. Behind the gate, the cobblestones become very sooth and even - it would not do for the royals to twist their ankle.

No comment on this one...

The inner courtyard - actually only half of it. See all the gold on the buildings. It actually stops right outside the of this photo, as they are redoing it, I am sure by next year the whole thing will be beautiful and golden again.

There is one of these on each side of the palace - they both say the same thing - "All for the Glories of France"

A peek inside Louis' chapel - I think the furniture is gone courtesy of La Revolution... Louis (14) really found religion late in life and this chapel was an add-on to the palace.

Here is a shot of the ceiling. The chapel had two floors to it, and the seating/standing order was in accordance to the strict hierarchy of the French court.

This hallway is filled with statues of all the Who is Who at the time in France. I hope you can see how long this hallway was, and there were two of these hallways filled with, sometimes very handsome, men.

Here is the king's bed - his first audiences of the day were done in the bedroom.

No mix and matching here. The fabric was stunning.

But who cares about the king - what about the queen - Marie Antoinette? This, unfortunately, is the only picture I was able to find of her, there were supposed to be others, but they must have been off to restoration.

Her bedroom rocks.

This bedroom is actually a recreation, since the good citizens of France destroyed her bedroom. The fabric had to be rewoven from pictures. Its a perfect princess room, really girlie. The door that you see open was the door she escaped through when the revolutionaries entered the palace.

Here is a close-up of the curtain - its protect with plexiglass from the likes of me, who would have to reach out and touch it - the curtain has roses, lilacs, pansies, carnations, and many other flowers I could not identify, on it.

This is the bedroom she has prior to Louis XVI ascending to the throne - not bad if you ask me.

Last but not least, here are two shots of the famous Hall of Mirrors - can't you just imagine it full of French royalty dressed to the hilt, all bathed in candle light?

I will post some pics of the amazing gardens tomorrow and then on to our visit to Normandy - what a visit it was.

Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway on the post below, I will draw a name late tomorrow, which will be mid morning US time.

Anniversaries & A Giveaway!

2010-09-11T17:59:00.002+02:00

First, I would like to publicly remember all the innocent victims of 9/11 and those who died in these last nine years following these attacks. I remember so clearly getting a phone call from my husband, who was at the airport waiting to catch a flight, telling me to turn on the TV - I did, just in time to see plane number 2 hit the second tower. The newscasters were not aware that that had happened and just kept speculating about the first plane, which led me to believe that it was some strange computer generated reenactment, although now both towers were burning. I guess it was just beyond my mind to comprehend what was happening... I am still greatly saddened by this senseless attack, and I always want to remember.....

On a happier note, my one year blogaversary slipped by, and I want to thank all you who pop in and read my blog. Thank you especially to you who leave comments, they always make my day! So, to celebrate, I am having a little giveaway.

I am including 4 pieces of the almost 40ct French Gander linen - 2 in neutral colors and one in Christmas Tree green and one in a darker red. The patterns inlcuded are Prairie Schooler Garden Alphabet, The Drawn Thread A House in the Country, & Sheepish Designs Wabbit's Garden. Of course, a giveaway from Germany would not be complete without some chocolate. I am just hoping things have cooled down enough to send them without a meltdown. To enter, please leave a comment. You do not have to be a follower, I just need your e-mail to get ahold of you. I will draw a name on Sept. 15. Thanks again for a lovely first year of blogging.

Le Chat

2010-09-08T20:26:00.000+02:00

We had an amazing time in France - so amazing that the whole family is in agreement - we all want to live there. I will work on putting a post together about our trip - we visited so many places, and I took so many photos, I will have to do some hard editing.

In the mean time, here is what I stitched for my PIC for her birthday.

Its a design by Marie -Therese Saint-Aubin. I enjoyed stitching it, and making the little pillow. Now its is back to ornament stitching for the children.

As Promised - Although late...

2010-08-31T11:10:00.000+02:00

The kids started school yesterday and I am trying to find dig up my old routine. For those of you not wanting to wade through all the pictures from our castle weekend, I'll post my crafty pictures first.

I finally finished a ancient WIP - when I started this I told my oldests DD "I'll probably have this done in time for you to go to college - she is senior this year.. Sorry, somehow the photo gods won't let me rotate that pic - the fabric is for the finishing.

I am not sure whether I should sew on all the embellishments before I finish it or aftewards... any advice?

Next I finished up an ornie for Olivia ( I bought it in Hawaii, and it was intended for last year... ahem, so I am on the hook for 2 ornies for each kid this year - thus I have decided to stitch all my Christmas stuff now to be sure its all done, remember I am Miss Superslowstitcher)

I also finished something for my PIC - it was her birthday about a week ago. Now, I finished it with plenty of time... did I get it in the mail in a timely manner ?? No... Michelle - this is to let you know that your package wasn't mailed anywhere near your birthday, but its on its way. When she gets it I will post pictures.

I have also been doing some quilting and knitting, but will post those when I actually get done rather than show a WIP.

Anyway, I am terribly late in posting about all the castles we visited down in Bavaria. These were the castles that crazy King Ludwig II built - they are absolutely beautiful, but he was bankrupting the his kingdom building these. He died young under suspicious circumstances. After being declared incompetent to rule, he drowned while out on a lake with his psychiatrist who also drowned. King L. did know how to swim fairly well. He built 3 fabulous castles, two of which never actually were completed. He lived in one ( Linderhof), staid at another castle for 10 days and never did get to live in the third... what a pitty. King Crazy also never entertained, never married nor had a mistress - generally was a loner... kinda a Michael Jackson of the time. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castles, but imagine lots of guilding, carving, silk covering the walls, incredible chandeliers made with crystal or totally made out of Meissen Porcelain ( stunning) So without further ado - the castles of King Ludwig with plenty of Steckers mingling about...

Neuschwanstein - the castle that inspired Disney's Cinderella Castle

Front View

Interior courtyard

Olivia & Rob in the entry archway

Behind the castle

This is soooo boring

Better smile - this is for Facebook

This is Ludwig's parent's castle Hohenschwangau - taken from Newschwanstein castle

Land of fairytales...

Hohenschwangau close up

Olivia in the garden

Cobblestones everywhere

These photos are from Linderhof - the only actual completed castle where the king lived. This is a homage to Versailles and the Sun King. There are statues and paintings of him everywhere inside.

Linderhof - a small version of Versailles & the only castle the King lived in

Linderhof from the back

Some are having a good time, some are not....

Linderhof gardens

What was the lonely, looney king doing with all this fabulous landscaping??

A great view of the grounds

Get away from me - this is for Facebook!!

The next castle Herrenchiemsee, was supposed to be a replica of Versailles but even grander. Only the middle portion was completed - although in inside sports some unfinished areas ( only wood floors with brick walls....) It was pretty cool to see on side totally decked out and the other in an unfinished state. Now this castle had rooms that were exact copies of rooms in Versailles, and these rooms were for show only, and were never used by anyone. Yes, the king was a bit crazy...

Off to the last castle - Herrenchiemsee

This castle was a copy of Versailles

One of the two fabulous water plays

A close-up of the dragon

Mom, take a picture...

Like it was made yesterday

More fountains - in the background - a place to pull the king's ship close to the castle

Can we go now???

One last look...

Overall we had a wonderful weekend, and at least some of us enjoyed those fabulous castles.

A few photos of other sights.

Olivia and her new boarfriend

Olivia taking her visit to an abbey seriously

What is vacation without some serious ice cream

Adam checking out the silver lady... and her little dog too

While we were down in that region, I convinced my husband to stop by this shop which is well know for its fantastic hand dyed yarn and impossible to get ahold of - see the sign in window.... perfect timing

Hand dyed yarn Mecca

Did I go overboard??

My kind of yummmm

I wish everyone a wonderful week and Labor Day weekend. We are headed to the real Versailles as well as Normandy for the holiday weekend. I can't wait.

Still Here

2010-08-18T21:26:00.000+02:00

Sorry for going AWOL on the blog - lots of things have been going on here. First I got sucked into a book so completely that the family went hungry, any needlework got neglected, the laundry piled up.... you get the idea.

I really enjoyed this book thoroughly, although it deals with the end of the world as we know it, and sort of leaves you hanging at the end. It is supposed to be a trilogy with another installment coming out in 2011 and in 2012, and I am really looking forward to reading more.

My niece from the US was here for 9 days and we were busy being tourist during the day, and she was busy being a 16 year-old in Europe at night. She is a really nice, intelligent girl, but teens will be teens and she partied hard. I told her that if her hard partying ways got back to my very protective brother I would post some very incriminating pictures of her on facebook...

I have had a bit of the blahs, where I am staring at my stitching rather than doing any of it.... my very dearest friend for three decades ( before she just went silent without explanation for several years, not responding to e-mails - there is more to that story, but I will spare you the agony, suffice it to say I did some suffering and wailing), her younger sister suddenly passed away. It was such a shock, and has made me reevaluate my cold shoulder attitude towards her ( she lives here in Germany). I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about our time together - from ages 13 - 16. We had so much fun together, and I spent a great deal of time over at her house. I really can imagine how they must be feeling, and I am so sad for them.

Speaking of friends, I have another friend who really has me in a funk. I considered her a very close friend for about 8 years, but ever since I moved she has made no real effort to keep in touch - most of it is initiated by me. I have called and e-mailed, but she has not bothered to answer my last e-mail. She most certainly never calls. It makes you doubt yourself and the friendship you thought you had. It's a bummer.

I did manage to finish "The Evil Serpent Sampler" by EftH. I decided to fill the peacock eyes with eyelets instead of cross stitches. I choose my own HDF colors and stitched it on a piece of random 40 ct Zweigart fabric. It was a fun & quick stitch.

I also made a pair of jammie shorts for Olivia. She loves them, and I have to take them off of her to wash them. Its quite gratifying to have someone really like what you made for them. I really liked the gnome fabric, its very happy.

We also went on a trip to Bavaria and Austria. Our main objective was to visit the fabulous castles that King Ludwig of Bavaria built. We saw Neuschwanstein ( the Cinderella castle), Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee Castle. The last two were smaller replicas of Versailles because the king was quite enamoured with King Louis XIV. I will cover those in a seperate post - so many pictures.

We also went up to the top of the Zugspitze - the tallest mountain in Germany. I have a problem with heights so it was a bit stressful for me, but the whole thing was amazing. We took the cog train up quite a ways. At the end station we got off, saw the glacier and did some sledding on the ice. Since my kids have grown up in Texas, they were hesitant to go sledding until I went down first... so, without further ado here is the Zugspitze.

Taken from the parking lot of the cog train. The Zugspitze is the peak right by the cloud.

Olivia & Mia reading up on the Zugspitze while riding the cog train

The boys on the train

Checking out the sledding slope - glacier ice ahead.

Its fun going down, but its a long way up

The peak is getting covered by a cloud

On the gondola ride up - NOT looking out the window

Ditto for Alex - see how close the face of the mountain is?

The view down - its a loooong way down

The actual peak - see those crazies out there??

Enjoying some coffee & hot chocolate at 9800 feet

Going down

Looking back

It was a fun trip overall, we had decent weather with only one day of rain. Speaking of weather, it has cooled off tremendously with lots and lots of rain. We do have 4 days of sun ahead of us, and I am looking forward to it. I know all of you suffering from the hot, hot summer in the States would love to have some cool weather and rain, so I won't complain. I will try and get to the castles tomorrow, if not on Friday - they were fantastic.

Take care until then.

Secret Stitcher and a Giveaway Win

2010-07-17T11:32:00.001+02:00

I am currently fighting a whopper of a summer cold which I managed to share with most of the family. Temperatures here have been HOT - high 90's, and we are making due without the comforts of air conditioning. The mornings are cool, thank goodness, so I can get some housework done.

The guild I belong to Tudor Rose Sampler Guild had a secret stitcher program going which concluded in June. We were to stitch two things for our secret stitcher during the year - here is what I stitch for my secret stitcher.

I apologize that I do not have a better picture of it - don't know what I was thinking. Its a freebie from A Mon Ami Pierre, stitched on 40 count linen, trimmed with a silk ruched ribbon. The second thing I stitched was a floss tag to match an Olde Colonial kit that I knew my secret stitcher had bought because she really loves turtles.

I attached a large skein of silk floss that matched the colors of a turtle as much as possible.

Here is what my secret stitcher stitched for me. A BBD Strawberry and

And a lovely BBD House which was one of the extras in the Loose Feather series of from last year.

I love both of them.

I also won a wonderful, patriotic giveaway from Jules. It arrived here right before Independence Day - how very appropriate. I really was tickled by the items Jules included, all packaged in a beautiful box:

The theme of the giveaway had to do with the armed forces, so Jules included candy from the USO, dog tags and a fantastic biscornu of which I have close- ups below. The candy was gobbled up by the kids, I got to hang on to the mints, the wonderful hand sanitizer ( can't have enough of that these days), and the scissors - although it the girls really wanted then. My oldest daughter collects postcard, my youngest got the cute charm bracelet and the boys wrestled over the dog tags . The fab biscornu now sits in my DH's office and you will see why.

Top

Bottom

Side - It says "Army" so cool

Jules, thank you for such a wonderful package, we all had a lots of fun with it.

My three large projects are coming along - Catherine Theron's Americana Sewing Roll & my Peaceful Kingdom Sampler and ATS. I also started stitching EftH Evil Serpent so I can actually finish something.

It is stitched on a piece of 40 count Zweigart linen that Margit gave me with my own selection of HDF colors. I accidentally reversed the border and alphabet colors, but it is staying this way.

Please give your air conditioners a kiss from me and stay cool.

A Zip Through the Woods

2010-07-06T10:14:00.000+02:00

We had a great family fun day yesterday. We went to a place called Kletterwald ( which means climbing forest). Its a zip line/ obstacle climbing place in the woods, and we had a blast. To start, we had to get harnessed in. The guy in front was quite cute, and that is Olivia in the back making sure my rear is secure.

After a short course in safety & a practice run about 3 feet of the ground, we set off on the first course. Here is Alex getting ready for his first zip line. I am really proud of him because he is quite afraid of heights.

Erika made the whole thing look easy, you can see me in the background starting on another zip line.

Here Erika, Alex, Adam and I are working our way through Course #2.

Skateboarding through the trees was way more fun than skateboarding on the ground.

Obstacle course #3 was quite the challenge. These suspended bars were not steady at all but swung and wobbled all over the place. Olivia looks like she is just zipping across these, but in reality it took a good while, with some panic thrown in. I was covered in sweat after these and I had to check to see if my arms were still with me.

Shortly thereafter we encountered this...

Actually, Olivia and I were there first, but just could not get across, so when Adam got there, he demonstrated and we followed.

The a slight misshap - I say slight, I am sure Adam felt differently.

While swinging across the treetops a la Tarzan, the saftey rope was caught between Adams legs, and brought him to an abrupt halt in mid-air. After giving a not so Tarzan-like yelp, due to the sensitive location of the rope, his faithful sister reeled him back in.

He needed a bit of time to recover, but finished the course and went on to conquer the expert course.

BTW, that Tarzan swing was almost too much. Although, my arms are used to the rigors of almost daily stitching, they were in no way prepared to haul my body weight from tree to tree on a rope.

Here is Erika giving her audience a dazzling smile.

Now that my arms and legs felt like noodles, I decided to skip the expert course - thank goodness. Alex & Erika kept me company. My DH said it was one of the hardest things he has done... and it was really high ( I too have a bit of thing about heights).

Here is Adam climbing up the rock wall - note the height, and Olivia starting the longest zip line

Here we are at the end of our adventure. It was so much fun, but I don't have to tell you how many of my muscles are sore today!

I did a great deal of work towards organizing my stash - I spent several days on my fibers.

I now have a database of most of my stash - I have found a number of chart doubles ( very aggravating) and charts missing that I could have sworn I had... but I am almost done with the whole process, which should eliminate at least the doubling of charts... those missing charts will remain a mystery.

I also sat down these last two days and hit the ATS cloud hard and am happy to report ( to the tune of "The witch is dead" from Wizard of Oz : "Ding, dong the cloud is done, the cloud is done, the cloud is done, ding dong the boring cloud is dooooone!"

That wraps up last week with the exception of the lovely giveaway I won, but more on that next time. Hope all of you had a lovely Independence Day weekend.

Bella Italia

2010-06-28T17:46:00.000+02:00

What a fabulous time we had in lovely Italy. We started out quite early - 3:30 a.m. so not to get caught in any crazy backups that happen here frequently. It took us about 12 hours to get to Andora - the weather was gloomy & rainy all the way. It also rained Sunday morning, then the sun came out and the weather was perfect for the rest of our stay.

We went down to the beach and tested the waters - it was COLD, as you can see by Alex's quick escape from the water and Adam's shocked expression in the picture after that. Only Olivia ( now castless - yay) marched right into the water - nothing was going to spoil her fun!

I did manage to get in as well a couple of times but mostly I was doing this :

What I discovered in Italy ( probably holds true for much of Europe) is that you are never too old or too fat to wear a bikini - a tiny bikini. That the fat is just all over the place makes no difference. I felt like an absolute prude in a tankini...but as God is my witness, you won't find me in a bikini unless I have lost a good bit of weight - even then it might be an iffy proposition.

We also got a kick out of the men wearing capris.... the boys affectionately call them Shpants ( shorts/pants). And only the Europeans can wear them with such flair.

I had to take this pic through our car window - did not want the fashionable man to notice. Take note of the black socks and the brown shoes....

We feasted on a variety of things. We had gelato everyday ( one time twice, because the gelato was subpar to the place we usually got it, so it did not count and we had to go back to original place).

Lots of pizza, hot and crispy out of the oven.

I made dinner once - here is the appetizer: mozarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

We did not do much sightseeing - this was a relax and enjoy kinda vacation. We staid in a lovely home with fantastic patios and garden - I will just post the pictures - they speak for themselves.

As you can see, the cottage was on the top of a hill - here is a portion of the drive up - it was always a bit nerve wracking driving up since the road was very narrow - room for one car only.

The garden was delightful and I found a lemon tree and a grape vine growing there.

That one was too high for me to get - here is Erika trying though.

Here is Rob grilling some chicken and sausage and the grapevine is right above him. It was loaded with grapes - alas they were not ripe. I did not come away empty handed though:

The lavender was growing in the garden in abundance, so I brought home a little bit - it is currently hanging up drying on my porch and I will stuff the last Shepherd's Bush Heart that I stitched with it.

Speaking of which, I worked on the outside of the American Roll ALOT - this is how far I got - this thing is going to take forever!!

The drive home was beautiful - since it was not raining we actually go to see the Alps.

But mostly the kids & dogs did this on the way home.

We will definitely return to Italy, it was wonderful, the people friendly, and the food cannot be beat.

Ciao

2010-06-18T16:00:00.000+02:00

We leave tonight for Italy, but I wanted to wrap up my trip to the US, after watching a disappointing soccer match between Serbia and Germany... ok, we left off with the My Peaceable Kingdom Sampler. That was a two-day class. Our third day was spent working on the Americana Sewing Roll. Again, here are some close-ups.

This is the main pocket,

And the pocket above.

I really like the colors in this . Unfortunately I did not take a pic of the outside, which is all done in flame stitches.

Here is the needle book

It has a little pocket behind the needle pages to house the scrimshaw ( which is on order)

We had a very nice banquet - as you can see, Marie Z. and I are suitably serious for the occasion, Ava & Michelle however....

Our entertainment was a man from Antigua who taught us a bit about music and rhythm... along with none other than Michelle, who demonstrated rhythm very well.

Ava had a birthday while I was there and this is what I stitched her since she celebrated her birthday atop the Eiffel Tower last year. It is unstuffed in that picture, I had to wait to get to the States to get ground walnuts for the stuffing.

We also celebrated another friends birthday and I stitched her a scissor fob - you can see the scissors I put the fob on in the background.

Wishing you happy stitching. Ciao, until I get back from Italy.

Back...For A Minute

2010-06-18T00:28:00.000+02:00

I got back this morning after a pleasant flight. What a lovely time I had in the States. As I careened around getting all the little things done that were on my list between seeing friends, it dawned on me how incredibly blessed I am. My life is overflowingly full. I have wonderful friends that I got to spend time with, who took the time to get me at the airport, arranged to meet other friends that I might not have time to see, who ran errands with me, lent me a car, gave me a bed to lay my weary head, fed and watered me.... the list goes on. Thank you to all of you who made this trip a wonderful memory.

The EGA seminar exceeded my expectation - we had a blast. Catherine Theron is an exceptional teacher who has such wonderful designs. The pictures I posted earlier really do the projects a disservice. Here are a few that are much better.

The Peaceable Kingdom Sampler is chock full of specialty stitches, not necessarily hard but it makes the sampler a really fun stitch. I cannot wait to stitch on it further. Here are a few of my favorite parts.

This is what I think I should look in my Garden.... tending my lilacs.

This is the fabulous petit point section of the sampler.

Here is the whole thing with some very thrilled people...

Left to right - Ava, Catherine Theron, me & Michelle. Ava, Michelle & I have been friends for a couple of years. The love of stitching brought us together, and it has been a wonderful thing. We had so much laughter together at seminar - it was so much fun....

The Needlework Boutique provided us with great shopping opportunities - yes, we were in there a multiple of times. Ava sat up in bed after the first day, gave a sigh and was heard saying:" Hmmm, I wonder what I can buy today...?" Here she is posing with all her matching accessories she received at seminar. Note the beautiful, stitched necklace she has on - a gift from Michelle.

Alright, I am going to wrap it up for today - its after midnight, and I should at least attempt to sleep. I hope to have a bit of time tomorrow to finish up, and then its off to Italy for one week for sun, fun, beach, pizza, gelatto, and some sight seeing... yes, tough, I know ,but someone's gotta do it.

Happy Birthday Olivia

2010-06-08T08:33:00.000+02:00

Today is my youngest daughter's birthday. She is 12 today. I "cooked" her a special breakfast. Actually, this and other fantastic creations can be found at Zuckerladen (Sugar Shop). The site is a bit eccentric like the owner, but there is a slide show available for you to get a "taste" of the place.

Olivia was thrilled!

We also gave her an I-pod touch for her birthday.

Usually we are not that extravagant with our children, but since she has worked hard in school, and has been a trooper about the broken wrists, we decided to spoil her a bit. When my son Adam heard this, he immediately tried to break his own wrists by throwing himself on the floor - what a goof ball.

Well, I am flying back to the States tomorrow for a Regional EGA seminar. I am taking two Catherine Theron classes with two of my dear friends. These are the two projects:

My Peaceable Kingdom and

American Sewing Roll.

I had signed up for these before we found out we were moving to Germany, and since it was a ton of money I did not want to just pass on these. I am looking forward to spending time with my friends and doing what I love the most - stitching.

I am only staying one week, so it will be a quick trip, and after I get back, we are turing right around and leaving for Italy. We rented a cottage on the Italian Riviera with fabulous views of the ocean. I can't wait. I hope to squeeze a post in between my travels, but I am not promising anything.

I am wishing everyone lots of stitching time and plenty of sunshine.

Day Trip

2010-06-01T14:12:00.001+02:00

We decided to take a short day trip to the Alsace yesterday. It was lovely, even if we did not get to do all that was planned.

We managed to stop off at a artisan's shop that is the last of its kind produce the area's traditional linen called Kelsch. It is a lovely shop with lots of tempting linen. They also produce linen for stitching, and it is wonderful!

On the top is their traditional linen line, on the bottom its ALL linen for cross stitch. If you interested in exploring their site it can be found here : Tissage Gander

They have some very nice colors and their linen count is approximately as follows : 25, ~27, 30, 35, 37.5, 47.5 and 55 count. At the current Euro price their linen is very reasonably priced - about $43.00 for a piece measuring a little over 1 x 2 yards.

Here is what I managed to escape with :

The top two will me made into table runners. The rest... well, big plans people, big plans....

Our next stop was a bust, unfortunately. We wanted to see the massive underground WWI fort but we missed the tour, and that is the only way you can view the fort. It is situated high up on a hill and is so large that with the 2.5 hour tour you only get to see about 1/20th of the entire thing. Pretty impressive.

Well, since that was a no go, we headed for Strassbourg for some dinner. Here we are at the restaurant:

You can see that my friend Margit came along - which was quite nice.

Strassbourg has a wonderful cathedral which I tried to photograph, but the church is so large the and surrounding square was not large enough for me to get the building into one photo so here are some just so you can get an idea of its beauty.

In this square was a house that really captured my fancy.

Here is a close-up.

It is difficult to see, but every panel has some sort of pattern on it. It was a stunning house.

After dinner we found a cheese shop - you can't go to France and not buy cheese.

All the goat cheese you could want.

This was the cow milk section - lots of it made with raw milk. This is what I bought:

A lovely local raw milk camenbert which won a gold medal at some cheese show in Paris ( so the lady in the shop told me - and boy, was she proud) some really fantastic fresh goat cheese and some older goat cheese with a lavender blossom accent. Qn the edge you can see my crusty french bread that I ate these cheeses on today for lunch. It was quite delicious!

I leave you with some pics of our wonderdog Mia who soon will be auditioning for the circus if Olivia has her way...

Cloudy with a Chance....

2010-05-27T09:20:00.000+02:00

Its cloudy - and I am not referring to my view out the window, although its cloudy there too.

No, no I am referring to this:

The never-ending cloud - most Sundays I take out this bad boy and stitch away - cloud, cloud, cloud... since I do not possess any of those smoking needles that Siobahn, Margaret or Robert have this might take a while - a looooong while. It will be great though when it is done, until I get to the dreaded grass portion at the end. My super optimistic PIC( partner in crime) on the ATSSS ( And They Sinned Sunday SAL) - can you tell Army life is getting to me ; they have abbreviations for EVERYTHING - pointed out to me that the grass was probably worse than the cloud - yay, something to look forward to. I personally think that I will be so excited to get be nearing the end that I will just whip right through the grass ( yeah, right..)

On to other finishes. I stitched these little SB kits while in bed with the worst of the Pleurisy.

Don't know how I will finish them yet.

I also managed to finish Jenny Bean.... finally!!

I stitched the some of the verse during the Pleurisy crisis - it seemed appropriate.

On the quilting end of business here is what I have been working on:

I finished my first quilt top called Ashley's Journey using Charisma fabric - I still need to applique some chunky flowers onto it. , but I love it. Most of the seams meet exactly - although I did cut the squares a 1/2 inch too small.... that is what I get for not going back and reading the pattern before I whizzed along with my rotary cutter.

I also did a table runner with Varna fabric, which was fun.

It is not perfect, as you can see, but it is my first quilted project done completely on my own. The next one will be better. You can actually make three table runners out of one charm pack. Pretty neat.

That is it for today - we are getting ready to enjoy a 4 day weekend here, on Monday we are going on a outing to the Alsace ( France). I am looking forward to it.

Although I have steered clear of any political comments on this blog, I do want to mention that President Obama's decision as the Commander-in-Chief not to attend the Memorial Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetary in favor of R&R in Chicago greatly pains and saddens me. I hope everyone enjoys Memorial Day, and thanks a soldier for their incredible sacrifice and service to our country.

Time to Finish

2010-05-20T08:57:00.002+02:00

My apologies to all, but I have not felt the inspiration to blog lately, although much has transpired. It could have something to do with the fact that I have been pretty busy of late, that in the evenings I have to do homework with Olivia due to her lack of useable hands. The other night we were working on her biography of Johnny Depp and after filling out reams of paper on him I thought I was done when she said that I still had to draw 4 pictures...REALLY?? I drew Johnny and his band at a concert, I drew Johnny when he was a little child swinging on a swing with a little neighbor girl while the moon landing was taking place, I drew a sad Johnny standing in front of his "broken" home after his parents divorce, and I drew Johnny holding his baby girl.... I think we have another 4 weeks in casts. I do hope they come off in time for our trip to Italy. Speaking of which, I intend to finish with my trip to the Sampler Museum today, but before that I have to show you the most precious little stitched cushion I got from my friend Margit.

It is filled with lavender and smells just wonderful. She stitched this for me because she is a very sweet person and also because she feels guilty since she thinks she gave me the hideous cold that turned into Pleurisy ( which is still not gone). In case you do not recognized it, its a freebie from Paulette Stewart's blog. I love it!

On to the museum. We left off in the room that had mostly Northern German samplers. I love it when I discover an UFO like this one - like me, this person was full of big plans that just... well you know.

This was started on a fairly large piece of linen, because, well, like I said, she had big plans.

The other thing I saw there, and I have never seen before, were practice samplers for button holes and neck collars. I am very enamored with these because, close up, they are so interesting visually.

On to the next room which housed a number of samplers from all over Europe. This one is from Denmark, where they loved to stitch dense beautiful samplers - often over one.

Here are some detail shots.

What a work of art that sampler is. I especially love the peacock and that little critter that is about to take a bit out of the cherubs heel. I wonder what it is - looks like a porcupine but it has got that tail...hmmm??

Here is an English sampler that reminds me of a bit of Charlotte Clayton ( which was reproduced by the Northwest Sampler Guild) because of the cat.

As you can see, it was stitched by Rebecca Watson at the tender age of 12 in 1836.

I am not sure where this sampler comes from but I just love the people in it.

Don't mess with her or she might club you with her anchor. Judging from the many motifs & that flower right below the anchor lady it might be another Danish sampler. I have got to say that these really appeal to me.

On the far side of the room were some beautiful examples of the Biedermeier period

And this display of a tapestry creation in wool. What made me take pictures of this was the mouth area which looked like everyone had been eating berries.

Also see the picture used in my Mother's Day post.

The next picture is of a Decoration Towel ( we would call them Show Towels, although I was told that was incorrect - they were used to decorate during special occasions and holidays).

Here is another little Adam & Even I liked, probably because of the bright colors.

Finally at the end here is a picture of poor Olivia who had to spend 2.5 hours in that museum with me... she looks thrilled, doesn't she?

Now that I have bombarded you with fabulous sampler pictures, I will conclude this post with some pictures of Erika's prom.

Erika & her date Joe.

Erika & her friends Colleen & Maggie - from the front,

and from the back

Where was prom, might you ask - at the fabulous Heidelberg Castle - here is only a small portion of it.

So, I will try and do better, and not let so much accumulate. I have a number of pics of my finishes, ( ok, there are not THAT many) and my wips to show. Hugs to all.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T09:23:00.000+02:00

A few interesting quotes for Mother's Day:

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." - Honore' de Balzac

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are Mothers - I wish you a day filled with love from you children, may they be near or far.

Olivia- Now & Then

2010-05-04T09:28:00.000+02:00

Well, its never boring here! My youngest child - Olivia (11) is quite the tomboy, she live life with great zest and enjoyment. Here is a picture of her in her current state.

Yes, the grimace is due to pain, and yes, the splints are due to two broken wrists. She had a good time on the playground though. We are currently working our way through the very convoluted system of military healthcare to get her an appointment for her casts.

Here is a pic of her about one year ago.

Yes, its a hospital room. Last year, she got an acute, spontaneous bone infection deep in her hip bone (cause unknown) which was quite resistant to antibiotics. We were in & out of the hospital and she missed an entire semester of school.

She is in good spirits but still in a great deal of pain. She did mention proudly that she has almost gone 12 years without breaking a bone. That's my girl!

2010-04-27T13:41:00.000+02:00

Time to write a bit more about the museum, but first a little note about that nasty cough I have been dealing with. On Friday I developed a sharp pain in my right upper chest everytime I coughed - I was pretty sure it was not a good development. That pain just kept getting worse over the weekend... on Monday I went to see the doc and I have got a nice case of Pleurisy ( where the lining of both the lung and the chestwall are inflammed, so moveing, coughing, breathing - it all hurts). Thanks to good pain meds I have some relief where I don't think I am going to pass out from coughing. I hope to be all cured soon.

We left off in the first room of the museum. As mentioned most of the samplers in that room were long, narrow band samplers. There were two rectangular samplers hanging on the wall which were stunning. I really liked them because of the bottom portions. Here is a picture of the first one - my apologies about the quality.

If you look real close at the wreath you can see the little pearls the stitcher used in the middle. The wreath also is worked with some metallic thread. Both these characteristics show that this sampler was stitched by nobility as metallics & pearls were way out of the means for most people at that time. Unfortunately, I took all my photos before my guided tour, therefore I did not focus on some of the things I learned during the tour. Thus the second sampler I only took a picture of the bottom portion, which attracted me in the first place.

On to the next room which had samplers from Northern Germany from Vierlanden. This one should be a familiar sight. Now this is definitely one sampler I want to stitch - Hamburg 1746, not only does it have Adam & Eve, it also has some beautiful over one stitching. See that little red lady & the flower right under her ( next to the ship) these are done over one and are absolutely gorgeous. I love the little landscape as well.

Now Adam & Eve are , of course, found on a great number of samplers. To me, they look like they are standing under a lemon tree, like here.

This little couple comes from this WIP. Again sorry for the lighting issues.

Here is what's happening in the lower right corner. I asked about this during my tour since I saw this motif repeated on a number of sampelers. It's Cain & Able, and to make sure we know Able is a goner, his hat is knocked off. I so prefer that than seeing him lie in a pool of his own blood...

Here is another version of Adam & Eve that I enjoyed seeing.

Doesn't Eve just look like she is a robot or is wearing a helmet. Adam just plain looks freaked out to me. I love how Eve is actually touching the forbidden fruit whereas Adam is aaaalmost touching it. Here is a picture of the entire sampler.

Ok, I did not say it was going to be good picture and it does not look like I actually got the ENTIRE sampler.... I am calling it quits for today - more pain meds and a nap for me.

Das Deutsche Stickmuster Museum

2010-04-24T20:08:00.002+02:00

My visit to the Sampler Museum in the charming town of Celle was such a treat. I read on the Needleprint Blog that the future of the museum was uncertain since the couple that owned it wanted to retire. Well, some issues on that front have been worked out - the City of Celle has bought the collection - that is the good news. If it will remain in the building it is in now is not certain. The bad news is that some items remain in dispute and are therefore under lock and key until the courts can decide what should happen. Some of these disputed items include the inventory of the gift shop.... hence there was no stash enhancements to be had. In addition Mr. Conneman ( the owner) passed away and was buried the day prior to my visit. But lets start in the beginning.

Here I am eagerly approaching the building...

As you can see - the windows are covered to protect the samplers from the sun. Olivia came along, and as we entered we were greeted by a very nice man who had settled in for a quiet afternoon. I was ready to pay my 3 Euro entrance fee plus my fee for the guided tour, but he said just to go ahead and look around while I waited for my tour guide. I asked permission to take pics and he smiled and said gave his permission... when I asked him if he prefer I not use my flash, he had a confused look on his face and after a moment shrugged his shoulders and said that was fine. I was surprised that he even gave me permission to photograph the samplers. We were the only people in the museum, and so I popped my head back into the reception and asked how busy they usually are, he smiled and said that hardly any people come to the museum. What a shame....

In the first room the samplers displayed were from the Saxony area of Germany - I saw two samplers on the wall that just took my breath away...one was pictured in the most recent issue of SANQ. This is one of the oldest samplers in this collection dating from 1643.

Here is a close-up of the lace followed by a close-up of the bottom stitching.

The portion of the sampler pictured below hangs next to this sampler - one side is all white work (not pictured), and the other is a band sampler - this one dates closer to 1630 and I am amazed at the colors.

Most of the samplers in the first room are long narrow band samplers, heavy on religious symbolism without any verses and just a smattering of alphabets.

This almost concludes the first room. Now I am off to seven hours of baseball, softball and soccer... something I did not consider when I had 4 children. At least it is sunny and beautiful out. More later.

Aaaachooo - Gesundheit!

2010-04-23T10:25:00.000+02:00

Actually its been more of a cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze.... I have been fighting this dreadful upper respiratory infection for two weeks now. For one week I lost my voice completely and now I just have that raspy smokers voice. Despite my condition I managed to squeeze in very nice trip to my dad's in Northern Germany. The kids had spring break so I took my youngest daughter Olivia with me. Here we are enjoying the 6 hour train ride

Part of our train ride took us along the Rhine River where we saw so many castles and ruins perched up on the hillside. It was such a romantic sight and a reminder of Germany's fuedal history.

We went to the German town of Bremen where my dad & my step mom live. Bremen is best known for the Bremer Stadtmusikanten or town musicians.

We enjoyed the local cuisine & sights

This the the Knight Roland - he stood for the eveyrday man. During the time of his life he fought against the power over and oppression of the general population by the Catholic Church. His statue faces the front doors mighty cathedral of Bremen - symbolic of his lifelong crusade.

Here is a pic of Olivia & my Stepmom Margaret sitting along the Weser River.

One night we had dinner with my cousin who I have not seen since she was 11 and I was 16. We were introduced to her husband and sweet little daughter Anouk.

If that was not enough, I spent Saturday afternoon at the Sampler Museum in Celle. What a treat!

I am going to be very cruel right now and stop - The Sampler Museum & all the pictures will have to wait for another time - very soon ... I promise.

Les Finis et Les Not-So Finis

2010-04-06T16:36:00.000+02:00

Hello Friends ,

I know that on one of my previous posts I tantalized you with some thing to the effect that I have has some finishes... without further ado here they are.

This is Mermaid's Tiny Treasures by Of Female Worth. I stitched this with Crescent Colors of my choosing. This is for my very sweet Stepmom - she and my dad lived on a sailboat for almost 20 years, so I started this eons ago - she gave up asking for it.... but I will surprise her when I visit them on the 15th of this month. I used a somewhat iridescent ribbon for the outside finishing, and it is pinned on with round flat beads that mirror the blue and the green in the piece. Sorry for the washed out pic - I could not get it any better. If you look closely on the second one you can see her bling around her neck.

Here is a little something something by Shepherd's Bush. On my first on only SB retreat, we stopped by the fabulous Jill Rensel, and she had some frames she was giving away - I got that one, and finally used it for this little heart - I think they were made for each other.

This is little piece by Beyond Cross Stitch is the official start of my A& E wall... I also managed to stitch it in one day.... its a miracle. Mind you I did not leave my stitching chair all day - not to pee, not to eat, not to drink.... ok, I am exaggerating, but I have never stitched anything in one day. I picked my own colors in HDF bu t they are very close to the ones called for.

Another little something something ( My Pins) from Shepherd's Bush - I need to track down the little button and finish it into the little pin cushion like the picture on the pattern shows.

Here is my portion of a sampler our little stitching group stitched for the next birthday girl... its on Aida with 2 strands of DMC... a bit of torture for me.

Last but not least here is my progress on ATS - the colors are a bit washed out. I have a question, the angel is supposed to have it's wings back stitched, but I really don't like the look - do you guys think I need to back stitch? Here is a close up - let me know what you think.

Oh, and last last, but really not least - I took a intro to quilting class this weekend - here is my mini quilt - I just have to finish sewing the binding.

Oops

2010-03-31T09:38:00.001+02:00

Alright, this is a bit embarrassing.... a couple of weeks ago ( yes, you read correctly - A COUPLE) Margaret sent me this wonderful award.

I was totally thrilled to get it - my first award - Thank you Margaret!! So, if I was so thrilled, what happened ?? Read my fingers.... PROCRASTINATION & those 10 blasted things we are supposed to list that not many people know...

I think by now most everyone knows the rules - past award into your blog, thank the person ( with link included ) who bestowed the honor on you, list those 10 things, and pass it on. Now this award has made the rounds, so first off I am going to break the rules. This goes to all of you who blog so faithfully and keep me entertained and motivated - Thank you. Also, a big hearty thank you to those who stop by and read my infrequent posts & and even more so to those that comment. I really appreciate the comments.

Now to those 10 things:

1) I was born & raised in Germany and moved to the States when I was 16 - to El Paso, TX no less... what a culture shock.

2) I speak 2 languages fluently German & English. I have studied French, Russian, Spanish & Japanese. My favorite language was Russian, my least favorite was Japanese.

3) I home schooled my 4 children for a decade, then burned out and now everyone is doing well in public school.

4) Here are some of the jobs I have had ( mostly while in college): dishwasher, fry cook, library aid, housekeeper, front desk clerk, airline food preparer/packer, breakfast cook @ Embassy Suites, cafeteria manager, consultant for the leisure industry, administrative assistant to a designer of girl fashions, new products and quality control manager in manufacturing (fiber optics).

5) I seem to be the Typhoid Mary of the business world, since every enterprise that I have worked for since graduating from college, with the exception of one, is no longer in business.

6) During a class trip to Berlin ( while Germany was still divided), some random dude smacked my behind & I proceeded to beat him with my purse.... it was a scene.

7) I don't like chocolate, especially things like brownies, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, Oreos and, gasp, chocolate chip cookies.

8) I hang my laundry out to dry, and have done so whenever I have had a place to string a laundry line. I love to hang it out, but I hate to take it down....

9) I have had to kill a tiny mouse after it got stuck on one of those glue board ( a most inhumane way to get rid of mice) and was screaming... I could not get it off the board without killing it, so I ended up dropping a brick on it while crying hysterically.

10) I can't drive a car over here since I have been too lazy to get my international drivers license and I am really intimidated about driving here. I have got to bite the bullet sometime though...

Until next time.

A Stitchy Birthday

2010-03-23T10:56:00.001+01:00

This past Saturday our little stitching group of 6 got together to celebrate Renate's birthday. We had brunch with yummy breads, and later on we had fabulous cake.

I got up early to make Renate a little pincushion owl and gave her a Orchid as well.

But that wasn't the main gift. Margit had stitched the Bent Creek Snappers Monthly Series on one piece of fabric, and Renate admired it so, so she decided to give it to her for her birthday. The other girls will pitch in for the materials. Here you see Renate holding the masterpiece....

Seaking of masterpieces, note the two tapestries that Renate stitched in the back ground and the one below, which is hung behind the dining room table. I am totally in love with this piece, and I really, really want to stitch it on 40 ct. silk gauze.... whaaaat??? What's so funny????

You can get an idea of its size on this picture below.

Just so you know who I keep talking about - staring on the right is Margit, then Ilse, Ulrike, Edith and Renate has her back to the camera.

On on of the walls of the living/dining room I found Europe's answer to And They Sinned. I put Margit next to it so you could get an idea of its size. Its a Haandarbejdets Fremme kit that runs right around 200 Euros.... in another lifetime perhaps. It really is stunning though. Now if I could just find only the pattern...

Next to that drool inducing piece was another one.... Dutch Beauty, as she lives & breaths!!

Well folks, not be outdone I decided to swallow all my pride and show my WIP of ATS. Miss Cozyegg & I are doing a very loose SAL - working on it mostly on Sundays. I call it the ATSSS - And They Sinned Sunday SAL. I had started this eons ago - as with all my other big ( and small) WIPs I peetered out pretty quickly - I did my partially own conversion to HDF and am stitching it on 40ct. R& R Liberty Gathering Grey. My partner and I have had a rough start of it with lots of frogging.... this is where I stopped last Sunday, and during the week I ripped out the left cherub ( not in the right place), and the wings of the angel ( I think that might be a sin), because it was the incorrect color... sigh. I did work on it this Sunday, but have not taken a picture. That will be for another post.

I do have some small finishes to show, but posting them with Renate's fabulous stitching... naaah, they will just elicit pity and sympathy. Until next time.

Strawberries

2010-03-11T22:29:00.000+01:00

Despite the fact that Spring is no where in sight - we have snow on the ground and more coming, I went on a strawberry hunt yesterday. I was told that wild wood strawberries grow in abundance in the courtyard of the insane asylum. Even though the place totally creeps me out, I put on my snow boot, whistled for my faithful & fearless doggies and set off. Yes indeedo, under a blanket of snow there be tiny little strawberry plants.

Believe you me, when summer rolls around, I will be up there crawling around up there in search of these tiny delicacies.

Speaking of delicious, here is what I got from my secret stitcher.

The colors are a bit washed out on the photo, but I love my Blackbird Design Strawberry. This will tide me over until I can get the real thing.

Walking

2010-03-09T20:49:00.001+01:00

We had some nice weather last week- cold, but sunny. Now we have snow again, but last week it was so nice to go out into the woods and walk with the dogs. We live on a hillside, and if I go up my street I can take this little path with stairs that bring me right to the edge of the woods. So, off we go!

Right beyond view the path splits into three different directions.... which way to go?

This way? This little path leads across a small bridge over the little mountain stream that flows towards our house. This path eventually ends up right by the insane asylum... What about this way?

This one leads up the side of the hill, towards a logging road which leads to..... well, I don't know. How about the last path - I haven't been up this one.

Looks a bit unused, but the doggies & I are game... its a beautiful day after all. Up, up we go...

Dang, this is steep, really steep, don't let the picture and the sniffing dogs fool you. See that suff in the middle of the path... its a partially frozen rivulet... eeeewwww, did I just step into a mud puddle?? Ok, did I just step into another one??!?? Well, the doggies have informed me that cold, wet, muddy feet are no reason to abandon this - as they put it- fantastic walk. Onward & upward then...

Hmm, getting a bit tired and thirsty....again, I know it doesn't look it, but this trail just keeps going up...

Oh, thank goodness a place to rest.

How nice to the Germans to put benches here and there....now if they would just provide some water. Next time I am bringing a water bottle! Off we go again - the path is now much more level. Wait, what do I spy through the trees??? I am saved!!

See that little "fireplace" looking thing that the dogs are all interested in .... its WATER. I didn't give it another thought but had a few sips. Aahhh, that is so much better. Now on the walk.

What is this??

Those are the diggings of a wild boar - yikes, I saw lots of these on my walk.... Now, I REALLY don't want to encounter any during my walks, 'cause except for my doggies I have not seen a soul when I am out there. Do any of you think these guys are going to be any help if we encounter these ferocious creatures?

Nah, I don't think so. I think they will run so fast, they will just be streaks. They will just let me fend for myself. I might invest in a walking stick with a really long sharp point....

My neighbor says that his little daughter just encountered two of the beasts while she was sledding down the hill by the insane asylum, and it scared her. Whaaaaat??? That is just a stones throw away... That is entirely too much wilderness for me!!

Back to my walk. After all that muddy uphilling this was my reward.

Time for the long walk down. Thanks for coming along.

Revived

2010-03-04T19:31:00.001+01:00

Howdy Folks,

No, my plane did not go down over the icy Atlantic Ocean.... it has just been several weeks of chaos, hard work, and terrible jet lag.

So, I arrived in Texas to a beautiful sunny sky and was just thrilled since we have had exactly one day of sun here since our arrival. The next day I woke up to this....

REALLY???? After two solid months of snow I get this in Texas. One of my girlfriends called me and her opening line to me was: " I bet you are hating this...." Did she just laugh as she said this??? Well, it really did not matter, I was quite busy helping my friend Gloria from Milady's Needle get ready for Market, plus I had to stitch this before we left for Nashville.

You can see Michelle's at Cozy Egg - she stitched the red one. These are the new Jewelry Pendants from Milady's Needle. Yes, they are stitched over one on 36 count, and since there isn't very much it is very doable. I just love them. Here are pictures of all the new things she released. We were quite busy at Market and the pendants sold like hot cakes.

I know this was shown a couple of times already, but it is so impressive I thought I would do it again.

This was stitched by Gigi, who lives in Belgium, on one gigantic sheet of linen. So, not only has she stitched all kinds of Quakers on this, but she filled in the spaces between the individual samplers as well and put a border around the whole entire thing! Wow, them are some smokin' needles.

Market was lots of hard work, but it was so fun to see shop owners and designers. Seeing all the new stuff first had was so great but hard on the wallet. It was Michelle's first time there, and it was so nice to have such fun company. That girl has a wicked sense of humor.

I finally got home a week ago, only to walk into a huge mess at home. I was unable to sleep on the plane and was wiped out when I walked through the door. Seeing the chaos of boxes from our household goods having been delivered during my absence and general mess was just overwhelming, so I went to bed, slept for about 5 hours then got up and got to work unpacking boxes. I have been unpacking and cleaning for an entire week, but am seeing the end of the tunnel. My jet lag was pretty severe for several days, but now I am back in the swing of things. I finally have some time & energy to stitch and knit again , so without further ado here is what I have been working on.

That Baktus Scarf was finally finished right before I left for Germany & Mia graciously modeled it.

My sweet friend Kim gave me some beautiful yarn which I also quickly knit into a long skinny scarf.

Kim knows me so well and therefore is familiar with my passion for pink. Speaking of pink, as I was unpacking my stash I found this:

This is Love Song by Fouroaks stitched on 40 ct R&R Iced Cappuccino with Silk n' Color Cranberry Swirl. Here is a close up.

I started this when the pattern first came out - obviously I petered out pretty quick, but I will stitch on it some for a while. The good news is that I still love the color combo.

Now, poor Jenny Bean has crossed the ocean 3 times with me now and although she has logged many miles, she has not seen too much stitching time but I am making progress.

Until next time.