Sunday, September 6, 2015

Have a wonderful Labor Day holiday!


It's been a busy couple of weeks for me...doing grandmother duty and then working for employees with family issues so I haven't had a lot of me time. (some would say I have too much me time but really is there ever too much me time?)  Anyway,  taking care of business first, I had 2 more small finishes in the last week.  Another Val's Stuff  Halloween ornament...Tricks or Treats...so much fun to stitch these small things...fast, easy and an easy finish..win win.  Also finished the Lizzie Kate latest Mystery Sampler....part 2.  Typical Lizzie Kate, bright colors and a funky style...easy to stitch and super fast.  Let me say first, I do love Lizzie Kate and stitch a lot of it.  It's a blessing to stitch after some of the projects I work on that just drain me.  But...something about this part 2 bothers me.   It's the "Tomorrow is mystery" part.  I understand that "Yesterday is gone" is fine, but wouldn't "Tomorrow is a mystery" sound better.  I asked Sara what she thought and she agreed and said, leave the bee off and just put "a" there.  Obviously I didn't do that....but not sure before I frame this that I won't go back and do it.  I'm not sure if I'm being too picky (is that possible?)  I realize that Part 3 will probably be Today "is"...I see the trend, oh well, anyway, great stitch after working on this class piece that is driving me nuts.  A welcome relief and the bonus of being up to date with this sampler as opposed to my poor Serenity Harbor which I haven't worked on for weeks, thanks to my Jackie DuPlessis pre-stitch.   I've done all pre-stitching on every class (Sara then does the finishing class), and while some have multiple pieces and all over one, nothing compares to this.  I found the swirled flowers interesting to stitch, but not over 40 of them.  The leaves, the same thing.  I really just got a bit bored with the repetition which made me not want to stitch at all.  The only problem with my attitude on this is.....I love the finished piece and you can't get it without doing all the flowers and the leaves, but oh, mercy, it's killing me.  But today is going to be the end, thank God!  I'm going to stick with it until I've finished the last outline and initials and then handing it off to Sara.  Then perhaps I can get back to Serenity Harbor and some of my other projects, which are just mounting up beside my sofa.   Now on the grandmother front, on the 23rd of August I drove 2 of my grandsons to Woodward, Pa. for them to attend Woodward Camp.  Solomon, the 8 year old, had already been once before this year and loved it so much he wanted to go back for another week of skateboarding camp.  Michael, the 14 year old, was going for digital photography.  I knew Solomon would be fine, but I was concerned about Michael because he has never been away from home for any length of time.  I ended up there the entire week, instead of just 2 days.  But I had plenty of stitching with me, and I found Village Needlecraft which was a cute little needlework store and Country Cupboard which not only had a huge dining room, but a wonderful bakery, garden shop, candy shop and gift shop.  Fabulous.  They had these fabulous pottery pumpkins all sizes so I purchased 2 different ones to bring to the girls.  As the woman was wrapping the top piece on one I said, it's probably the only thing that will make it home (at the time I was joking...they couldn't wrap or box the bottom of the pumpkins because of their size).  Sidenote...on the way home Michael opened the back of the car to get something, the pumpkin fell out and smashed on the side of the road (my prediction came true), so poor Sara got a pumpkin lid, but no bottom.  Fortunately, I also purchased something else so I just substituted that for the pumpkin so she would get something.    So inspite of Michael's problems with being away and constantly texting me, calling me, etc., I still enjoyed being away. I handed off Jackie's piece this morning (thank God!) -it's now Sunday- and I'm free to stitch other things so I brought 3 things to work, from home, to start pulling fabric, etc.  Several customers take their time picking their fabric, checking several different colors after seeing what the designer called for, but when it comes to fabric for me, I just walked back to the cabinets pick a color close to the color on the picture which is what usually pulls me in and I'm back in my chair in 3 seconds.  I normally use the colors of fiber called for, although I have been know to pick a favorite red when a more country red is called for.  Anyway, I'm all ready to stitch on something I've picked and I'm so excited.  I started another of the Halloween ornaments today, trying to get the Halloween tree refilled since many of the ornaments on there have been from Blackbird Design's booklets, which are no longer in print...UGH!  Why, oh why do you discontinue great designs?  Anyway, I'm having a great day....since it's a major holiday here Vernon got us Thrashers French Fries, so now both Sara and myself are feeling slightly ill from over eating...not a good look on either of us.  Shops are so slow today I'm about to fall asleep, but then someone will walk by with something on that's totally inappropriate so I have to go speak with Sara about it.  I know she is hoping all hands are on deck tomorrow so that I will stay home and she doesn't have to get a play by play on what's going on outside.  However, if everyone would pass along a few tips from me, I wouldn't have to bother Sara so much, so please remind everyone you know that just because it comes in your size doesn't mean you should put it on.  Also, if you fit in your 10 year olds clothes, that doesn't mean it's appropriate for you to wear it when you are over the age of 21, but certainly not when you are closing in on 60.  Honestly, what was that woman thinking when she looked in the mirror?  If you constantly have to pull your daisy dukes down from your crotch, well pal, that indicates that they are not fitting you properly...try ditching the daisy dukes.  If you have on a bikini but can't see the bra strap in the back because it's buried between rolls, try a one piece for the sake of those of us who have to see you.  And please don't walk by our windows because I find it too distracting.  Have a great day