Finishes, Flowers, and Firemen

Good morning everyone; it's good to be "back!" Thank you to everyone who emailed me wondering if I was all right...I'm fine; it has just been one crazy-busy three week period since my last post. I've spent a good deal of time up in New York visiting and helping out my parents after my dad's surgery. He came through it nicely, I'm happy to report. Thank you to all who asked about him...

The second thing that has taken up much of my time is trying to get my youngest son's room packed up. You see, he was offered a job in Washington, D.C. which began on August 1st. We're so proud of him--guess all that hard work in college really paid off! Anyway, he is down there and his furniture, books, etc. are up here in Pennsylvania. So guess who gets to sort it all out and prepare it for the movers?? Yep--good old mom! Oh, my--what a lot of "stuff" has accumulated during the 23 years he lived in that small bedroom. I'm about half-way done now and am to the point where I need to get him on the phone and ask him, "Do you want this, do you want that?" It's a good feeling, though, and I'm gaining another closet to put my stuff in! What do you think...should I turn his old bedroom into my craft room?


Finally, I've been working extra hours at the library--taking training classes in all the new electronic reference databases that keep popping up every other week. Honestly, I'm too old for this--my rapidly-aging brain just can't process all these changes very quickly any more. We just learn how to do something one way, and the next week the process has changed. With the explosion of e-readers we are constantly being asked to help patrons through the download process. How many of you have an e-reader? I love, love, love my Kindle! The new gadgets are great, but sometimes I long for the ease of simpler days when there were no cell phones, e-readers, I-pods, etc. I guess I'm just a bit nostalgic for those days when people seemed to spend more time with each other rather than with something electronic...


Through all this craziness, I have managed to squeak in a bit of stitching time and have a couple of new things to show you. First up is the LHN "Silent Night" ornament which I stitched on 32 ct. twilight blue Permin linen. I used all of the suggested colors except I substituted DMC 712 and used it for the snow, stars, and lettering. I also stitched an extra large star in the upper right corner. Was I being creative? No--I counted my star placements incorrectly and was left with a large spot of blue sky so I simply filled it in with a big star...


I finished it with a simple beaded edge using ivory colored Mill Hill beads. Boy, are those beaded edges time consuming--at least for me! But, I love the finished look and think it will be a great addition to my tree this December. This was my ornament for July--I finished the stitching last month, but just now got around to the finishing. Still have to finish my August ornament, but I'm almost there.


If this bunny finish looks familiar, it's because I stitched him once before earlier this year. You can see him right here. The difference is...this one is half the size! Yes, it's stitched "over one" on 28 ct. clay lugana and is from Prairie Schooler's Book No. 13 "A Prairie Year." I used the suggested DMC threads and decided to finish it into a tiny pillow.








This brown-dotted pale pink fabric seemed to be a perfect complement to the colors in the design and I topped it off with a little flower made of a pair of pink and white buttons (my middle son claims it resembles a pig nose--honestly, these guys of mine!!) and some leaves made of sage green ribbon. To make the tiny leaves, I used 1/2 inch ribbon and followed this video tutorial. For my first attempt, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Unfortunately, I'm saying farewell to this bunny...he is heading to a new home as a "Random Act of Kindness" for one of my regular commenters. Where will he end up...stay tuned!


I think I forgot to tell you where my last RAK for my regular commenters ended up? This tulip pillow was sent to Catherine at Bramblewood Stitches back in May. It ended up just across the state in eastern Pennsylvania, but my latest bunny pillow is taking a longer trip (hint! hint!). I really enjoy surprising you wonderful friends who take the time to say "hello" each time I post, so look for more RAK creations in the future.





Isn't this the most delightful bouquet? My dear husband surprised me with it after I arrived home from visiting my parents. We had been apart almost two weeks--the longest in our 34 years of marriage. I guess he missed me! I told him this was the prettiest bouquet ever--so "me" with the all-white arrangement of hydrangeas, snapdragons, statice, and some other white flower that looks like a cross between a rose and a carnation. Anyone have any idea what the name of those blooms are? I truly love it's old-fashioned charm--it brings to mind a time when life was simpler and less complicated, doesn't it?


Now, I'm sure you're all wondering about the "Firemen" in my post title... Well, let's just say I had a "memorable" experience the last time I visited my parents. I was making breakfast one morning and the thin-sliced bread that I was toasting accidentally burned. Immediately, I ran it under water and put it into the garbage disposal hoping to get that unpleasant odor out of the kitchen. Apparently, I wasn't quick enough. Within minutes, not one, not two, but three smoke alarms in their apartment were blaring away. You all know how piercingly-loud one alarm sounds, right? Well, imagine three screeching away at the same time. I jumped up on a chair to try to find a reset button like we have on our alarms at home--no luck. They just kept wailing on and on.


We let in the harried building managers who were pounding at the door for a crack at silencing the alarms--no luck! They said they would have to call the local fire department to turn them off because their maintenance man was off that day. Oh, no!! My face was as red as the soon to arrive firetrucks--I was so embarrassed! Within 15 minutes, two firetrucks and a half-dozen firemen showed up. Yes, all for two burned pieces of toast... The two firemen who actually came up to the apartment tried to silence the alarms, but you guessed it--no luck! They said because they were hard-wired into the ceiling, they weren't "allowed" to fiddle with them. WHAT?? By this time, the three alarms had been deafening us for close to an hour. There was no solution but to call the maintenance man at home and have him come disconnect the horrid things. Finally, after almost 1 1/2 hours of listening to the shrill sound, the maintenance man arrived, pulled the wires from the ceiling, and silence reigned. You know that old saying, "Silence is golden?" Well, I appreciate it more than ever after that crazy morning! Moral of this story--always, always check the setting on your toaster before you put the bread in...

So, that's the end of another way-too-long post! Thanks so much to all of you who have read this far... I didn't even have time to write about Seville, the last stop on our Europe trip, so I'll save that for next time. Your wonderful comments on my last post made me smile--thank you all for taking the time to visit my little corner of the world. Please come again and I hope you have a week filled with whatever makes you happiest. Bye for now...