First Finish

I was hoping this would be my last finish of 2011, but it turned out to be my first finish of 2012! I finished "Stitcher's Prayer" by Barrick Samplers/CHS last night while watching more of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence on Netflix. This is the year I get serious about blocking and framing. Yep. This. is. the. year. As opposed to all those other years I said it - this is the year. I think this piece will be a good piece to start with: it is not that much bigger than the pinkeeps I have made, and there is no finger nail polish spillage to try and hide.

Now to get going with my rotation! To start, I have included several WIP's and one BAP (or Big Hinney Project, if you prefer) that I committed to at Becky's Stitching Hive. I plan on adding pieces after each cycle. I also plan on taking a few Prairie Schooler and BBD smalls to work on in the car. We'll see won't we, but I am happy with the start I have made!

On the Third Day of Christmas...

I know today is the 4th day of Christmas, but yesterday, on the 3rd day, I went to a LNS!!!! I told myself I was only there to buy fibers and fabric, and that's what I did. It was difficult, but it helped that 1. I had purchased a rather large pattern of the Bridget Power Sampler that morning (here's a link to a great photo http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2597435540085030495BtHxGk), and 2. as I looked around the shop at all the stock in the store, I began thinking my stash was... well let's just say competitive.

So I settled on 4 patterns to "kit up." My husband had taken the girls with him to spend his REI gift cards. Boy, did he regret that! While I waited for him to try on every pair of 5-finger shoes in the area (with negative comments from his children), I sat down with the lady at the shop and stitched. I started "Dear Friend," a Reward of Merit by Blackbird Designs. I had to pick out every stinkin' stitch because, apparently, I cannot count! When I returned home, I started "Stitcher's Prayer" by Barrick Samplers. I have been wanting to stitch this for ages, but I couldn't find colors I liked for the flowers. Now, I'm a DMC girl, and I planned on using the DMC conversion, but 522 and 524? Sea foam flowers? I don't think so. But 931 & family weren't right; neither were 926 & family. So I told the lady at The Stitch Store, "I need heeeeellllpppp!" We pawed through and rejected the called-for Needlepoint Silk, then WDW, Gentle Arts, Caron, and Crescent Colors, and FINALLY I settled on Needlepoint Silk Williamsburg Blue 323 and Jade 522. I am willing myself not to fall in love with NPS!! ;)
Hector, my little Cookies and Cream, says hello. Why do I have a Coleman sleeping bag on the couch? Who knows?

I will leave you with a few of the pictures I have taken during Christmas. Now to get back to "Stitcher's Prayer!"

Christmas Stitching...well it's red and green at any rate

I am resisting the many urges to begin a Christmas sampler. I have stacks of Christmas designs, mostly Blackbird Designs, that I would love to begin. But I am anxious to finish something sometime soon. At any rate, the reds and greens of Ms. Rambo are satisfying to stitch this time of year.

Goals are my downfall, but I keep toying with the idea of stitching Christmas designs all through 2012. That should last until about January 2.... :P

Thoughts of my grandmother

Trying to organize some of the many thoughts, memories, and stories going through my mind...

My grandmother: sitting on an enormous pile of stuffed animals in Nutmeg's closet while having a tea party.

My grandmother: opening a telegram during WWII wondering whether it was her husband or one of her 5 brothers.

My grandmother: always arriving with gifts such as fake vomit, fake doggie-do, or the old "fly in the ice-cube."

My grandmother: mourning the death of her little daughter on a Christmas morning.

My grandmother: going trick-or-treating with her grandchildren - wearing a costume and mask.

My grandmother: waiting to hear from her sons in two different wars.

My grandmother: laughing so hard she couldn't speak, tears coming from her eyes.

My grandmother: sitting in a wheelchair, unable to make herself understood, trying to tell us with her eyes.

My grandmother: being slapped full in the face by my dad's pet monkey. she could never tell the story because she would start laughing too hard.

My grandmother: wiping off her lipstick on the way to visit her mother and telling her children not mention going to the movies.

My grandmother: rustling plants in the mountains with my grandfather.

My grandmother: mixing up dressing in a large dishpan. she always made with onions and without.

My grandmother: always having something good under that metal cake holder. we laughed when she used such a large knife to cut the cake.

My grandmother: always filling an old pie plate with scraps for various dogs, cats, and birds.

My grandmother: always rooting a bit of this or that in a pot of soil or a jelly jar of water.

If you have a moment to pray...

Please say a prayer for my grandmother Christine.

"Acknowledge, O Lord, thy creature not made by strange gods, but by thee, the only living and true God: for there is no other God beside thee, and none that doeth according to thy works. Make glad the soul of this person, O Lord, with thy presence, and remember not her old sins and excesses which wrath or heat of evil desire may have aroused. May the heavens be opened to her. May the angels rejoice with her. Into thy kingdom, O Lord, receive thy servant. May St. Michael, the Archangel of God, prince of the heavenly hosts, receive her. May the holy Angels of God come forth to meet her, and conduct her to the city of the heavenly Jerusalem. May the blessed Peter the Apostle, to whom were given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, receive her. May St. Paul the Apostle, who was counted worthy to be a chosen vessel, assist her. May St. John, the chosen Apostle of God, to whom were revealed the secrets of heaven, intercede for her. May all the holy Apostles, to whom the Lord gave the power of binding and losing, pray for her, May all the saints and elect of God, who, in this world, suffered torments in the name of Christ, intercede for her, that loosed from the bonds of the flesh, she may attain unto the glory of the heavenly kingdom, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."