Time to Finish

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

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

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!

More

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

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!

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

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.