The frogs go hopping one by one...

I was pretty darn proud of the amount of stitching I got done tonight. And then I noticed everything I had stitched in the last hour was off by four threads.

Insert heavy sigh instead of the picture I was hoping to post.

I have some ripping to do now.

I did it!!

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo and I have successfully posted every day this month! Hooray! Even though it was sometimes hard to come up with a "post-worthy" subject, it was a lot of fun. I'll definitely be participating again next year.

Congratulations to all the bloggers who survived NaBloPoMo!

SBQ

Several questions this week:

What would your stash tell others about you?

If I could arrange it in a chronological way according to when I bought it, they'd see how my tastes have changed over the years and also how, as I grew more confident in my skills, I ventured into more difficult patterns with specialty stitches. They'd also find that linen is my fabric of choice and I'm absolutely crazy about overdyed fibers.

Most of us stitchers joke about having reached SABLE (stash acquired beyond life expectancy), but have you thought about what you’d like done with your stash after your death? Do you want it to reach other stitchers who will love it, too? Would your family know what to do with it or recognize its value?

I'm taking it with me. Okay, maybe not all of it but I think if I knew I was dying I'd put together a project or two for the trip. And I know I'm taking my Ginghers with me. As for what I leave behind, my family would be clueless as to it's value although my daughter might make the effort to sell it off on eBay.

How well organized is your stash –would someone be able to come in and put together a sale easily, or would it require lots of organizing work ahead of time? What would you like to see done with the funds collected from such a sale, i.e., should funds go to your family, to a charity or charities of your choice, to a charity or charities of your family’s choice, etc.?

I believe it's organized enough for someone to sell it if they decided to. And I'd leave it up to whoever took care of the selling to decide what to do with the money.

Are there certain items in your stash which are rare and highly desired by stitchers that might make a much larger amount of money if sold on eBay? Have you done anything to designate which items these more valuable ones are to guide your family in how to handle them? Who would you tell your family should handle such a sale so that they don’t have to do it themselves? Have you done anything to make these thoughts known to others, either through discussions or through a codicil to your will?

No doubt I have some OOP charts in my stash but I wouldn't know if they were considered rare or highly desired. I imagine my daughter will decide what happens with my miscellaneous personal items after my death and not someone outside of the family. There's nothing in my will regarding my stash but I imagine at some point I'll discuss with my daughter what I'd like her to do with a lot of my things.

Have you ever attended a similar sale of a passed stitcher’s stash? How did it make you feel? Did it encourage you to make any changes in your stitching lifestyle?

Not to my knowledge, although I have bought needlework type items at garage sales in the past, probably being sold by people who lost interest in the hobby.

Whew!

My Latest Diversion

No stitching to report, and why? I'll tell you! It's this...

My daughter borrowed the DVDs from a friend and we've been glued to the television every night for the last week! I never in a million years thought I would like this show, but all I can say now is WOW! I'm hooked!

A Little Treasure

My goodness! You never know what you'll find tucked away when you clean out a closet drawer! This was one of my very first cross stitch projects...I stitched this tiny stocking from a kit for my first baby. The baby who will be 22 years old next week! I love it when something I stitched years ago brings back happy memories!

My daughter asked me today, after seeing the preview for the new National Treasure movie, if I thought there were treasures still out there, waiting to be found. Well, there's definitely treasure in my closet!

Oh yeah!

I seriously need to send my daughter to the store to pick up a loaf of bread more often! She has much less will power than I do!

Another Ornie Start

Here is the start of another ornament, this time from the 2005 JCS Christmas ornament issue. Can you guess what the name of it is?

Finished!

Peace Ornament

by Country Cottage Needleworks

from the 2007 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue

stitched with DMC on 32-ct. ?? linen

A Little Progress

Slowly moving along on my Peace ornament. I'm done with all the green stems and leaves (I think!) and I'll start on the flowers tomorrow. There's not very much left to do so with any luck I'll be able to finish it.I'm loving how it looks so far and I can't wait to get some pink flowers in there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Confetti Anyone?

Apparently I hit a milestone yesterday with my 100th post. Almost a quarter of those posts were from this month alone due to NaBloPoMo. While I'm happy to be back in the posting groove, I'm looking forward to the end of this month!

The painters arrived on schedule this morning (darn!). Before they got busy tearing things apart, I had my son sit down and trace the "growth chart" that we started for the kids shortly after moving into the house. That small section of the wall is something I've been fretting about leaving for quite some time. As luck would have it, the workers were able to peel off the wallpaper in one long piece so I will be able to take that part of our family's history with us to Michigan.

My kitchen and dining area are turned upside down at the moment, but I think we will manage just fine tomorrow with our Thanksgiving dinner. We'll be watching the Macy's parade in the morning and then the dog show that comes on afterwards before getting down to the business of cooking. It makes for a nice long, relaxed kind of day that I thoroughly enjoy.

Safe journey to those of you traveling, and everyone please have a happy Thanksgiving filled with peace and plenty!

Plum Tuckered

Finally up and about today, getting things put back in place after the carpet installation. And just as we get one thing finished, another one starts. The paint crew will be out in the morning to start work in the kitchen. I so wish I hadn't given them the go ahead to get started on the day before Thanksgiving. In the kitchen! What on earth was I thinking?? I'm really, really regretting that decision right now. Damn that Vicodin, anyway!

No stitching, no pictures... Hmmm... How 'bout a Thanksgiving riddle?

Why didn't the turkey eat dessert?

Give up?

Because he was stuffed!

Feeling Better

I can't describe how good it feels to be upright! Of course, the state of my kitchen makes me want to crawl back into bed! I sent the kids to the grocery store on a Thanksgiving spree while I purged the fridge and made room for the turkey and other fixin's. It's a family tradition for us to do the Thanksgiving dinner shopping together but I knew that just wasn't going to happen this year. We'll have to postpone our 'Who Can Hold A Frozen Turkey The Longest' Contest until Christmas.

Hope everyone is doing well and finding some time to relax!

Another Migraine

I used to only get one or two a year. Now it seems like every month. The OTC stuff isn't helping at all so it's time for a Vicodin. Yuck.

Keep On Postin' Baby!

It's day 17 of NaBloPoMo and so far I've managed to post every day!

I didn't get to stitch today due to our carpet being installed, but seeing as how I wanted this blog to be mostly about cross stitch, I'll treat you to another picture from our visit to the Silver Needle instead of the one of the carpet layer's backside.These are the two Hawk Run Hollow pieces they had displayed. All I can say is drooooool! They were absolutely gorgeous! I would seriously love to stitch both of them! And today I read that a third one has been designed. I can't wait to see it!

All we are saying...

...is give peas a chance!

I know it's corny but I couldn't help myself!

Happy Beaujolais Day!

Either you love it or you hate it!
Or if you're like me, you just think it's kinda fun!

Whoooosh!

It is so windy outside right now! It's supposed to be a cool front, but weather.com is showing our temps back up in the upper 70s/lower 80s by the weekend. I imagine a lot of people will be out putting up their Christmas lights. Me? I'm still trying to get in the mood for Thanksgiving! There are just too many distractions right now with the whole selling the house thing going on, but next week I will force myself to set it all aside and relax for a few days.

And I'll be doing that relaxing on my newwwww carpet! That's right! I decided if we were going to sell the house reasonably quick, we needed to take the plunge and have new (albeit cheap) carpet installed. It'll definitely look better than what we have, and if we ever get a painter to show up we'll be good to go to list the house.

I was busy today sewing new valances for the kitchen to try to freshen things up in there. I know I'm probably going a little overboard with some of my preparations but I gave up trying NOT to do too much. I just can't have someone coming into my home and seeing those old valances. And I promise to slow down next week!

So I'll end today's post with a progress picture of my latest project, "Peace". I know I could use some!

Summer Stitches

Nothing new to share today. I did get a start on the Peace ornament from Country Cottage Needleworks, but I'm not far enough along on it to warrant a picture. Instead, I'll show you what I worked on over the summer. You'll get an idea of just how slooooowly I stitch from this!
Here we have the first three blocks of the Summer Snapperland series. This was part of my Silver Needle stash from our trip to Tulsa back in July. Those 2.75 squares represent two months of stitching for me! How I envy those of you who can finish projects like this in less than a week! But still, I enjoy my slow pace so I'll keep puttering along and eventually it will get finished. :-)

Happy Dance!

Recipe for a Scarecrow

from Pine Mountain Designs

Stitched on 16-ct. Heatherfield pre-made sham

using DMC floss

Weekend Report

I made a little progress on Recipe for a Scarecrow. I'm hoping to have it finished tomorrow. I haven't decided what I'll work on next but I'm leaning towards the Country Cottage Needleworks ornament from the 2007 JCS. It's so pretty and I could use a break from the fall colors I've been stitching with.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

It's been one of those days...

Painter didn't show up.

Yard crew didn't show up.

Sewing machine quit sewing.

Just in case today is some obscure holiday we've never heard of, we made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner to celebrate. It's okay, I'll make sure everyone has a salad with breakfast tomorrow morning. :-)

L*K Paradise

No real updates on anything today, so I thought I'd share a picture from our trip to Tulsa back in July.

This is the Lizzie*Kate display at the Silver Needle. I wish I could just curl up in one of the cubbies and take a nap!

This Week's SBQ

When you have to frog out stitches, do you reuse that thread or do you start over with a new strand?

It really depends on the condition of the thread once it's been pulled out, but most of the time I end up tossing it.

A Little Progress

Recipe for a Scarecrow is coming along slowly. Two more "ingredients" to go, and some backstitching. Here's a little preview of what it will look like with the pillow form in.

Some belated responses to comments:

Eve and Marie-P both asked for more details regarding my move. I've been in a long distance relationship for the last five years (or so) and we both decided it's time to close the gap. He lives on a lake outside of Three Rivers, MI, so this city girl is heading north to become a country girl. And eventually the country fella's wife? He hasn't officially asked me yet, but we have discussed it.

Missy, if you ever need stitching goodies, I have enough for several people! :-) BTW, I still haven't put the beads on Winter Moon. How long has that been? I know I was working on it when DS2 was in pre-school and he's 17 now! Of course, it didn't help that I misplaced the little bead packet for, what? 13 years? If I could find the chart I'd be in good shape! :-)

I hope everyone had a great day! I hear some Bluebell ice cream calling my name so I better go see what that's all about! ;-)

I'm such a weenie!

It's finally a little cooler today, and here I sit wrapped in a blanket with a space heater directed at my feet! I think I need thicker socks. And another cup of coffee.

The meeting with the realtor went well this morning. The only suggestion he had was to paint over the wallpaper in my kitchen/breakfast area. He said it's a little dated. The word I would use is 'ugly'. I never had it replaced because there's miles of it and I really don't think I could handle doing it myself. I didn't know you could just paint/texture over the stuff or I would have had it done a decade ago!

Off to get that cup of coffee and do a little stitching! :-)

I am slowly going crazy...

1,2,3,4,5,6, switch!

I've had that song in my head all day! Now it's your turn!

DD is feeling a bit under the weather so I've been keeping her company. We have some winds gusting around outside tonight so maybe fall is finally here. It was in the 80s today so I sure hope so.

Tomorrow is the big day! The realtor is coming by at 9:30. I'm as ready for this as I'm going to be. Well, the house is ready I should say. This has been our home for 15 years so I'm likely to be an emotional mess when it comes to the actual sale.

But we're not going to think about that right now, are we?

Crazy going slowly am I...
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, switch!

Another Cleaning Day

As Georgia Nicolson would say, I'm full of exhaustosity! And there's still so much to do to get the house ready to sell! I decided to concentrate on the floors today since I would have the house to myself for the better part of the day. So I vacuumed and I swept and I mopped and I steam cleaned over 2000 square feet of floor. Once I'm satisfied with how everything looks, I'm taking time off for good behavior! Right now I'm thinking about making it an early jammie night, popping some popcorn, and catching up on my movie watching! :-)

Busy Saturday

We'll soon be listing the house for sale. In fact, the realtor is coming by Tuesday morning to take a look-see. In preparation, I spent the day cleaning and straightening and re-arranging and throwing away and then cleaning some more. So this evening I rewarded myself with a little baking and stitching. This is Pine Mountain's Recipe for a Scarecrow. I'm hoping to get it finished before scarecrow season is over!

Fall is one of my favorite stitching seasons but it seems so short, being squashed between summer and Christmas. Hopefully when I'm in Michigan I'll have that fall feeling a little longer. I've had Prairie Schooler's Autumn Leaves kitted up since last year... I soooo want to stitch it!! But, oh my goodness, have you seen all the delicious ornaments in this year's Just Cross Stitch?? The one by SamSarah is too cute! It's times like these I wish I wasn't such a slooooow stitcher!!

Call Me Miss Dashwood

I've seen this quiz on a number of other blogs so I thought I'd give it a go. Everyone else has been Lizzy Bennet. And me?

Take the Quiz here!

She did end up happy in the end, didn't she?

Just so you know...

It's National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo for short). I don't know that I'll be an official participant, but I am trying to get back into the swing of posting regularly. And stitching regularly, of course! :-)