A Girl Has No Stitching

Phil and I have been watching Game of Thrones on Sunday nights (along with the other 7/8 of the human population!). We like to have theme dinners that revolve around the show because, well, we're just kinda odd that way. We've had fried chicken on The Hound Night (not nice, juicy mutton chops because that would be mean). Wine (and trivia, because we have to show that we know things!) on Tyrion Night. Dragon Wings (okay they were Buffalo wings) on Daenerys Night. Wine (again) on Cersei Night and so on and so forth. (You'll be happy to know we did not have Thenn Night!) For the season finale last Sunday I made a quick and simple version of something resembling a cottage pie. And we dubbed it...

Hot Pie!

(It was delicious!)

A Frogging We Will Go

So I finally get the ole q-snaps on relatively straight. At least straight enough where I'm not constantly trying to readjust them. I settle myself on the loveseat with an ice cold Pepsi and the Rangers game on TV. Just the ticket for a Sunday afternoon. I'm making good progress on my June Prairie Year, stitching some leaves, working on the border. I'd had to grab a new skein of 520 out of my stash for this square because I'd used up the first skein. But it's DMC. No worries on colors matching, right?

Wrong!

I've never in my 30+ years of stitching had this happen! I grabbed another skein out of my stash to compare them and sure enough, the one I'd been using is lighter! I dug the little paper dealies out of the trash to make sure I hadn't grabbed the wrong number by mistake but no, I wasn't crazy, it said 520. I'm considering leaving the leaves (haha, that's funny!) and just restitching the border since that's the most noticeably different part.

I really really really wanted to get this one done before the end of the month so I better hop to it!

Wonky Wednesday

Is there a trick to getting q-snaps on straight???

After several tries and much fiddling this is the best I could manage.

  Does anyone have any tips???

Stitch Maynia - Week Two

For my second Stitch Maynia project I chose the May Word Play from With Thy Needle and Thread. I love all the little motifs! It should stitch up pretty quick too!

No photo update for my May Prairie Year block. For whatever reason my camera suddenly decided to stop focusing. I'm not quite finished with it but it's close... just a few more flowers in the basket and I'll be able to do the Dance of Happy!

And speaking of flowers, I had a perfectly wonderful Mother's Day Weekend! We went to the Tigers game on Saturday. Or was it the Rangers game? We follow both teams so it was a ton of fun rooting for both sides! On Sunday I had 2/3 of my kids here with me to celebrate with a yummy quiche for brunch! They brought flowers and chocolate and a bunch of fun treats! I was super spoiled!

This day is flying by so I better find something to watch on the telly and get busy with my stitching!

One Window School House

You would think that after the construction delays with Jacob's Grist Mill, I would never be awarded another contract in the Village! My low-ball bid for the project was rather reluctantly accepted by the city planners, supplies were ordered, and work has begun on the new school house.

I hear the children in the village are ecstatic at the prospect of an extended summer break!

Tuesday Bluesday

This was the scene in the Chicken Ottoman Empire this morning. So full of sunshine and crafty potential.

And then the migraine set it.

I'm headed for the couch, a comfy blanket, and a chick flick or two!

After all, tomorrow is another day!

Stitch Maynia

We're off and running on the May Prairie Year block! It took me two tries to get the flower dealies in the top corners right so the rest of the border is a bit suspect. Here's hoping the neighbors won't be hearing any screams of frustration coming from the Empire!

A little Paisley trivia...
This particular basket of flowers has been seen before on my blog! Back in the dark ages of the internet I'd participated in a round robin on CompuServe (yes, I'm old!) and one of my CISters had stitched this design for me. I turned it into a little hanging pillow in one of my first attempts at finishing. You can see the post here.

In other news...

I'm a little late to the party but I joined the Stitch Maynia group on Facebook. I don't have time to do 15 new starts in 15 days so I decided to do an abbreviated version and try having a new start every week this month. As you may have guessed, the May block is my start for Week One! I haven't decided on what I'm doing for the other three so we'll just plan on doing a big reveal each Monday. Sound like fun? You betcha!

We finally have a little blue sky after a gloomy weekend so I'm off to enjoy it before the clouds and rain sneak back in!

Have a lovely Monday!

April Finish!

Fresh off the Q-Snaps is my April block from

A Prairie Year! I'm hoping the rest of them stitch up this quickly!

Here's a picture of January through April...

This means I'm officially 1/3 of the way done with this project! More importantly I am back on track to finish one each month! Woohoo!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Bun Done!

What a handsome bunny! I finished him up yesterday afternoon so now it's on to the border! I should be able to get this finished before the end up of month! Woohoo!

Tuesday Progress

I'm not going to win any speed records for my stitching!

I made a little more progress on my April PS Year... a little more of the bunny's body, his white tummy and tail, and two bunny feet. I would say I'm almost to the halfway point on this one.

I finished the L on Shop last night while watching the Blackhawks game. There's also a little bit of the O there, and one of the shopping bags started.

We had quite a storm last night with thunder, lightning, and hail! All's quiet today but it's very chilly out. I think I'll turn on the fireplace, get under a blanket, and work on some stitching for the rest of the afternoon!

Flea Market Finds

I thought I would share a few of my flea market purchases from last week!

I loved this duck (or is he a goose?) the second I saw him! He is sitting on the buffet near the front door where he can greet everyone who comes to visit!

I've always loved Debbie Mumm so when I saw this little teapot I had to scoop it up. I have it sitting on a bakers rack with a bunch of my bird houses. I do have a thing for birds!

Here's the rest of the bakers rack. It might be time to do some rearranging on it.

This set of salt and pepper shakers had to come home with me! I was looking for little things to add to the centerpiece I try to do for each season. I haven't put together one for spring yet but it's on my To Do list.

Naturally I had to grab this cute paper banner! Birds!

Phil is away for a couple of days on a short business trip so I think I will try to get the house all spiffed up and spring-ified for when he gets home! I'm also going to do a major closet clean out. I have a ton of new things from Stitch Fix so I need to make sure it's all front and center so I don't keep reaching for the same old faded jeans and sweatshirt combo!

Happy Monday!

On A Friday

Good morning! It's shaping up to be a lovely day here at the Chicken Ottoman Empire! The windows are open and I'm listening to the birds cheeping and chirping outside! Phil refilled the feeder before he left for work this morning and "business is booming" as he likes to say!

I'm having my coffee in the kitchen, enjoying the view of the lake while the birdies poop all over the deck. Gotta love 'em!

It's turning out to be a "yoga pants" kind of day. (You know what I'm talking about, right?!) I believe it's perfectly acceptable for me to sit around in my yoga pants half the day because I do 15-20 minutes of actual yoga in the morning. Of course, following this reasoning, I should feel justified to sit around the house all day in my pajamas since I sleep every night. I might be on to something here!

I started April on my Prairie Year piece yesterday. Just a tiny bit done but I feel like I'm back on schedule now. I should be able to finish it by the end of the month.

(No snickering!)

Another project I started recently is Shop from Sam Sarah Designs. It's stitched on a pillow topper that will be attached to a sham with buttons. It's going to go upstairs in the Purple Room when it's finished. That's the room my daughter uses when she visits so I like to keep it girlified!

Aren't the colors yummy??

I love fun projects like this!

Anyone else a Game of Thrones fan? Phil and I have been doing the 50 episodes in 50 days "challenge" in order to be ready for Season 6. For the most part we've managed to stay on track (thanks to a few binge viewing nights!). We have three episodes left to watch but we should be ready to roll come Sunday! I can't wait!

Weekend plans? Phil and I are heading to Pinball at the Zoo on Saturday. We love us some pinball and have three machines downstairs. Remind me to show you some day!

Sunday will be Mass followed by lunch and we'll likely need to do some grocery shopping. After two weeks of being home we still have nothing to eat in the house but Lactaid, some eggs, and about six pounds of cheese! Omelet anyone? I'm hoping for some sunshine but it looks like we have rain in the forecast. I can't complain after the glorious weekend we had last week. Hopefully soon we'll get the boat in the water and will be able to go out for a float the next time the temperatures soar!

So that's what's on Paisley's Plate for the next few days! What's up with everyone else??

Some Stitching

Yay! I finally have some stitching to share!

I took a ton of projects down to Florida with me but never really worked on anything other than what you see here. I wanted to have plenty of choices, like a buffet, but ended up with more on my plate than I could ever finish. Just like a real buffet, right?

Anyhoosie, I have the first three months of A Prairie Year finished as of this morning! The plan is to stitch one a month so if I don't get busy I'm going to fall behind. And it's only April! Luckily today is rather dreary out so a perfect day to spend in the Chicken Ottoman Empire!

And speaking of stitching, here's something I found on the coffee table in the den when we were down south...

Phil's son who is in medical school was staying with us and was practicing different sutures on this fake arm.

I can't repeat what came out of my mouth when I first saw it!

Free to Good Home

One thing I love here at the lake is the variety of birds we get on our feeder. We get plenty of sparrows and finches but also chickadees, juncos, titmouses (titmice?), cardinals, woodpeckers, and nuthatches. They tend to forget about us while we're away for the winter and it takes a few days for them to rediscover the feeder so I always tempt them with their favorites. Along with some fancy birdseed I like to put out different flavors of suet which always lasts a few days even when the squirrels are nibbling at it. Lately, though, it's been disappearing overnight! I thought maybe the squirrels were super hungry after a long winter but I hadn't seen a single one on the tree. What on earth was chowing down on our suet?? So last night we set up one of our security cameras outside to keep an eye on things. At around 9 PM, this is what we saw...

It's a raccoon!

(His eyes look so eerie in the infrared light!)

We sat and watched him sticking his little raccoon hand into the feeder, grabbing a chunk of suet, and greedily shoving it into his mouth! It was actually kind of cute, watching him chew, chew, chew as he stared into the camera like he knew we were watching. Eventually we scared him away hoping there would be some left for the birds in the morning but he came back a little later to finish eating the rest. Now, I love critters as much as the next person but this guy is obviously going to keep pigging out on the suet every night and that simply won't do! We are going to have to catch him in a live trap and find a place to relocate him to.

So.... anyone need a raccoon??

Fuppie Framed

Yellow is my all time favorite color, so when I spied this little frame while out flea market shopping with my daughter on Saturday I just had to snatch it up! I figured I had something buried in my Fuppie Box that it would be perfect for. After a little rummaging I found this little cutie from Lizzie Kate I'd stitched on a scrap of lavender Quaker cloth. An hour later I had it gussied up and ready for it's photo shoot! I think it looks so bright and springy! A little spot of happy that makes me smile when I see it!

Spring Flag Banner

We have returned to Michigan after a three month hiatus in Florida for the winter! I have been getting back into the swing of things here in the Chicken Ottoman Empire, doing a little stitching and crafting. I love making these flag banners because they're soooo easy to put together and it's a fun way to use up fabric odds and ends. This particular fabric dates back to the 80s! We used to live in a town where there was a children's clothing manufacturer. A couple of times a year they would open their doors to the public for a big sale. You could buy leftover bolts of fabric for $1/yard so I was always stocking up. I made crib sets for my kiddos with the gingham and stripes you see here, plus tons of little sun dresses and bloomers for my daughter. I still have gobs of it left so I'll be looking for other ways to use some of it up!

Stay tuned!

2015 PS Santa

2015 Prairie Schooler Santa

stitched on 32-ct. Dirty Linen

with DMC

I put the last stitch in my first Prairie Schooler Santa yesterday while watching Downton Abbey reruns on PBS. Now comes the hard part... do I start another one? Maybe an ornament?

Or do I try to finish up Peppermint Twist at long last?

These are the kind of questions that keep me awake at night!

Onwards and Upwards

I'm still making progress on my 2015 Prairie Schooler Santa...

It seemed like it took forever to stitch all the red on his coat! He is quite a handsome gent though, even with only one hand!

I've also been working on my Fallingwater Lego model...

I finished the foundation earlier today. There are four additional sections which will all fit together to complete the model. I think the designer of this set did a great job in making the house blend in with the landscape, just like the real Fallingwater. I can't wait to have it all finished and put together!

My Latest Obsession

We celebrated my 55th birthday on Friday and Phil gave me something I've been wanting for a long time. This is Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater from Lego's Architecture Series. I haven't put together a Lego set since my kids were growing up but luckily it's like riding a bicycle! I'm sure there are folks who would have it put together in a matter of hours but I'm going slow, savoring it like a rich dessert! It's quite satisfying snapping each section together! I definitely see another set like this in my future!

It's That Time of Year

Let's just say I learned a lesson after running out of my favorite Fall K-Cups before you could say cornucopia!

It makes me positively giddy! Although that might just be the caffeine!

Winter Foursome

I finished up this little Pine Mountain pillow last night while watching football with Phil. I love these kits because they take next to no time to stitch and when you're done you just tuck it into the little pillow and you're done! No muss, no fuss! I bought a couple of these for next to nothing at the last Midwest Stash Exchange at the House of Stitches in LaPorte. Always a good time there and bargains galore!

I've also been working on the 2015 Prairie Schooler Santa...

 

I have to confess this is my first ever PS Santa. A little late to the party, I know, but I love all the Prairie Schooler trees I've seen displayed up and down the internet block and have vowed to some day have one of my very ownsies! I have nearly all the charts so it's just a matter of getting them stitched and finished into ornaments!

(No problem, right?)

I've also been spending some time with Block 11 of my VoHRH but somehow made an error on the eaves of the school house despite counting and recounting eleventy gazillion times and spraying frog repellent from one end of the Chicken Ottoman Empire to another. I promise a picture as soon as I have everything straightened out.

Can you believe it's already the second week of December?? I could have used another month of Fall but I do love the holiday season!

Autumn Finish

Autumn

by Blackbird Designs

stitched with GAST

on Vintage Lentil linen

This is a three part sampler from Blackbird Designs. I stitched Winter a while back so here is a photo of what it looks like so far...

The last part is Summer so I will wait and stitch that... well... in the summer. Then I'll finally be able to fill in the year! I considered going ahead and stitching a 6 there but knowing me it's quite possible I'll be ripping out the 1 and replacing it with a 2!

And speaking of being on the ten year plan, I did get a start on Block 11 of my VoHRH. I've also been working on Spot the Cat but ran into some color issues with the thread I'm using so it's been put on the back burner until I have time to search my stash for something I like better.

Have a great weekend!

 

Fall Bucket List

Instead of putting together a Fall Stitching Basket yesterday afternoon like I was supposed to, I found myself sitting in front of the fire, staring out the window at the grey sky, and getting all pensive and angsty because I know in a couple of days the store shelves will be cleared of anything even remotely related to fall and out will come the holiday items. I am so not ready to give up my cozy fall days! So I grabbed a pen and paper and started jotting down things I'd still like to do before the tree goes up and the halls are decked. Basically it is a Fall Bucket List and I am happy to report I am already crossing things off!

One thing I love about fall is it's prime time for my slow cooker. And one of my favorite dishes to have simmering away in it is chili. A quick trip to the grocery store for a few ingredients and BAM!

There's no real recipe here... I just throw in all the things I like with some seasonings and let it go! It smells heavenly! I can't wait to dig in!

Next up are these beauties...

My favorite boots of all time were sitting in the back of the closet, practically forgotten. Luckily my last Stitch Fix included a pair of charcoal grey jeans that go perfectly with them! And yes, I do a stupid dance every time I put these on! I don't know why other than just wearing them makes me happy! :-)

Next up on my list was some stitching. Something simple that I could get done quickly but still feel like I'd accomplished something major. I know! I'll finish all of the borders for the blocks on my VoHRH!

While I had everything out I decided on which Block to work on next and sorted the thread so I'm ready to go when the mood strikes!

So there ya have it! It's so nice to finally be joining the party!

Hooray for Fall!

It's Still Only September, Right?

Here it is almost the end of October and I feel like I haven't really stopped to enjoy the season. The air is crisp and the leaves are changing and I feel like I'm going to miss it all if I don't sit up and pay attention. So this morning I decided to finally open the box of Starbucks Fall Blend I bought last month. I also pledge to go through my patterns and put together some sort of fall stitching basket.
I'm long overdue!

Havana Needlebook... Assembled!

It isn't perfect by a long stretch but I finished my Havana Needlebook from the La-D-Da class I took last month.

This side...

That side...

Inside...

Outside...

Thank you again to Lori Markovic for the fun class she taught and the fabulous design! My mediocre finishing skills do not do it justice!

Havana Needlebook

I have the stitching finished on my La-D-Da class project from last month!

Havana Needlebook

by La-D-Da

stitched on 32-ct. Beige linen from WDW

with Havana Brown Gloriana Silk

Instead of my initials I decided to stitch two happy little bunnies!

Now I need to get busy and put the needlebook together!

Halloween Finish Finish

Hats Off To Halloween

by Lizzie Kate

stitched on 26-ct. White Birch Heatherfield

with Gentle Arts Sampler Threads

This is an oldie but a goodie that has been at the bottom of my fuppie box for far too long. I stitched it waaaay back in 1990-something. It was quite possibly the first design I ever stitched with overdyed threads. Looking online I saw that this was Lizzie Kate's first design ever! A lot of history here!

I had originally thought I'd make this into a pillow and when I flopped down at the sewing machine on Saturday I was still heading down that road. After I had the border sewn on I started thinking that it was going to be a bit on the Large Marge size for a pillow so I scrapped the original plan and went with a wall hanging do-ma-jig. My seams aren't exactly straight but it's hardly noticeable. (Which is why I thought I'd point it out...)

I have it looped on a dowel so I could take a picture but I'm going to look for a little broomstick to hang it on to make it

super witch-ified!

 

Block 8... Done!

Village of Hawk Run Hollow

Block 8

Carriage House Samplings

stitched on 40 count Pearled Barley linen

with Vikki Clayton Hand Dyed Fibers

Jacob was thrilled when he showed up last week to see the river was a-flowing and the wheel was a-turning! He didn't care that the flowers weren't a-planted and there wasn't a single blade of grass a-growing! He got to gristing and milling right away and the folks of Hawk Run Hollow will be having corn bread with their beans tonight because

BLOCK 8 IS DONE!

Here's the whole sha-bang...

Three more blocks to go!

Woohoo!