Bordering on a Finish

Been plugging away on Perched on a Pumpkin whenever I have a spare minute or two. I waffled back and forth with the one thread/two threads dilemna before finally deciding to go with two. It got a little crowded in places but I think it works well on this particular piece. Anyhoosie, all I have left is the border and this one can go in the win column! Woohoo!

I Proudly Present...

My dining room floor!
Newly refinished, and once I get the closet door and the window trim painted, the trim installed around the light fixture, and a new grate for the cold air return, this room will be FINISHED! Or at least almost finished. The window will eventually need to be replaced and the inside of the closet needs a lot of attention but, hey, close enough!

In the meantime, look at this floor!


You might notice (or probably not, haha!) it's not your typical tongue and groove floor. These are locally milled slats nailed down to the plank subfloor below. Having nail heads every four inches ain't too purdy but I've been told it's "period specific to the home". Which is just a nice way of saying "yeah, it looks like crap but that's the way they did it back then."

You'll be happy to learn we did not have to sleep in the kitchen while the polyurethane was drying! We discovered if you held onto the top of the front door, you could swing yourself over to the steps to go upstairs. We had to have a step ladder set up at the backdoor so we could get into the kitchen and bathroom because we tore down the back steps several months ago. (The steps were extremely unsafe and an accident waiting to happen, and as an added bonus there was something dead under them. It was a bit 'Barnum & Bailey' with all the swinging and climbing but it sure beat camping on a cold tile floor. (We do have fun, don't we?)


In stitchy news, I picked up a copy of the JCS Christmas ornament issue last week while we were doing our best not to be home. My first reaction was sorta 'meh' but each time I go through it I find more I'd like to stitch. My favorite is probably the Christmas Robin from The Victoria Sampler. I do have a thing for birds. (And bunnies, but I don't think there are any in this issue.)

Sadly, there hasn't been much stitching done here in the last week. We're still working in the living room, trying to get it finished, so alas, my stitchy spot is no longer. I've set up my lamp and a chair in my bedroom but it just isn't the same. The chair is too hard and the lamp is on the wrong side and whine! whine! whine! I can't stitch here! Anyone else have that problem? You get used to a certain spot and nothing else seems to work? More incentive to finish the living room, I guess.

That's it for me! Thanks for stopping by, and have a Terrific Tuesday!

Boo Bunny Finish

Boo Bunny
by The Victoria Sampler
from the 2010 JCS Halloween Ornament Issue
This one was quick and cute! I finished it up Saturday night but couldn't get a decent picture of it to post yesterday due to all the dust in the air. (Heaven knows I don't need anything mucking up my mad photog skillz.)

And the dust! It's incredible! There's a layer of it on every possible surface, even upstairs! No sense in trying to clean it up yet because they're coming back today for the final sanding. Then it's on to the polyurethane and camping in the kitchen because we won't be able to walk on the floors to go upstairs. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to sleeping between the stove and refrigerator. On the bright side, I won't even have to get out of bed for a midnight snack!

So what's next on my stitchy agenda? Most likely another Halloween ornament. I'm leaning towards the one from Blue Ribbon Designs called Perched On a Pumpkin. Boo Bunny needs some company!

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

Too Pooped to Pucker

We're having carpet installed in the morning (hooray!) so today was spent cleaning up all the messes that we've let fall by the wayside. I didn't realize what a slob I was with the drywall mud until I had to clean all the dried on drips and globs off the floor. There was also a lot of overspray from when we textured the walls. The attitude at that time was hey, who cares if some gets on the floor? We'll be covering all that up! I should have known I'd get all AR and have to make sure every single speck was cleaned off.

I'm way too tired to pick up a needle tonight but I thought I'd pop in and show you my progress on Boo Bunny. It's not much but here ya go:


(Is it just me, or does that shade of orange make you want to run out and buy stuff like plywood and duct tape?)

Hopefully next time I post a progress picture it'll show some actual progress! I've already announced that I'm taking Saturday off and I plan to work on a nice case of Stitchass. I hear Michigan is playing Notre Dame so I think I'll do a little 'when in Rome'-ing and watch the game. I've been needing an excuse to make my jalapeno popper dip!

Fingers crossed that the install goes well tomorrow! And toes crossed that we start sanding the hardwoods on Sunday!

A Sorta Finish

I have A Wish For You finished except for the personalization. Our family doesn't have a single birthday or anniversary in March. There's been no significant events unless you count my gall bladder surgery in 1986 and I don't think that's very sampler worthy. I'll set this one on the back burner for now until I have a Eureka! moment.

You may notice I made a couple of changes. I decided to make the bunny white(ish) instead of brown because our little bunster, Alice, is white(ish). I also left the letter off the door because a) I didn't like it or b) I had the darn thing stitched before I noticed I'd made a mistake and didn't want to re-do it. Take your pick!

My son pointed out to me that I forgot to give the bunny an eye. I can't tell you how many times I've done that with eyes. You'd think I'd learn!

Last night I started one of the Halloween ornaments from Just Cross Stitch. There were several I wanted to stitch so I did a 'random drawing' and here's our winner:This is Boo Bunny from The Victoria Sampler. I do love me some bunnies! I don't think I'll be stitching many bats this Halloween after our recent close encounter with the beasties! (Although, the next time I'm being chased around the house by a bat I hope to have enough sense to just run outside.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! I'm a summer person so I hate to say goodbye to long, warm days. Of course, we have fall stitching to look forward to so I can take comfort in that.

Thanks for stopping by!