Simple Joys

Simple Joys has been riding around in my stitching bag for quite a while now.  Earlier this year it made the journey from my box of ready-to-go stitching into the bag where there's some hope that it may actually BE stitched.  And once I started it, it was fun, fun, fun.  My favorite part to stitch was the flower pot, mostly because I loved the purple flowers with that overdyed thread (CC Plum Paisley).  And the lettering.  I love me a nice purple!

I'm not sure about its final finish.  It needs to be stretched - either in a frame or box top, because, although you can't see it in this photo, the fabric has some pretty heavy duty creases in it.  A sweet pillow would be nice, but not with those stubborn creases.

What an odd end of summer I'm having this year.  My son, the researcher, was busy in Georgia and not able to come home at all.  My daughter, the traveler, left for another extended trip a couple weeks ago, and from there she'll be going straight back to college.  I'll tell you...it's weird being completely out of the "back to school" loop.  There was something solid about preparing kids to go back to school, whether it was kindergarten or college.  Schedule-producing, goal-setting solid.  Now I feel like August is melting into September.  There's not a single solid thing about it.

Or maybe it's just that I love school supplies and now I don't have a reason to go buy them.  Crazy, but true!  I think I'll go buy some nice pens and see if I don't feel better...

Sunflowers always brighten a day!

Earlier this spring, I dipped my toe into the pool of English Paper Piecing. Ho my! How addicting! So then I thought I'd love to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.

Yeah. I was completely delusional.

I scaled down my expectations and thought I'd hand piece a table runner.

Still delusional.

Finally I decided that little pincushions were more my speed.  So I sewed these up and sent them on their way to my favorite Kansas Stitching Girls.  Oh, except I added orange rick-rack at the last minute. 

Those sunflowers make me smile!  The one in the middle shows the fabric I used for backing them.

So....I went to Stitch N Pitch last Sunday at PNC Park.  We had so much fun watching our Pirates - even if the knitters outnumbered us by like....ten to one!  And that's even counting our husbands.  I took a neat little design I found on Etsy and stitched away on a Willie Stargell jersey.  It was perfect because it was so simple and small.

Next year we have big plans for a tailgate party and matching t shirts.  We have to keep up with the knitters and if we can't match their numbers, we'll just have to have more fun per person!   (Nikki, if you come, we'll set up the cornhole game...)

POP! and thoughts on my grey hair

KInda self-explanatory... but super cute, huh?

Right now I'm working on a baseball jersey to take to tomorrow's Stitch and Pitch!  I'm really looking forward to a nice day at the ballpark with some stitching ladies and a few of our husbands.  (We're also bringing a big bag of cash with us so that we can each buy a beer.)

Now, as for the hair:

Some of you may remember that two years ago, I decided to stop coloring my hair.  Since then, I've gone through quite a hair color transition, one of which was an identical match to WDW London Fog floss.  Believe me, it wasn't pretty.  But my hairdresser convinced me to soldier on and not give in to the panicky feeling that starts with looking in the mirror and thinking, "Oh my God, I'm SO grey!"  By now all the dyed parts have been cut from my hair, and the final result is that I'm all grey on top and brown beneath.  But it's mine and I love it.  Usually.

Because sometimes it's not easy.  Like when I'm with my family and I'm the greyest one in the room.  My mother and sisters are blonde.  Not natural blondes, though.  Although it was my mother's fondest wish to have blonde children, she soon discovered that we were all mouse-y brown, so she needed to start using Sun-In on our hair at a crazy-young age.  (yes, they still make it).  And she dyed her lovely, thick, chestnut-colored hair blonde and then never went back. I never understood that, but I suppose I've made hair and fashion choices that puzzle the heck out of my daughter, too.  Anyway, my sisters have kept up the tradition and keep their hair quite blonde.  My brothers are probably grey, too, but they sport buzz cuts, so who the heck knows?  It also doesn't help that actually AM the oldest sibling and my hair absolutely yells that fact.

And then the other day, a woman came into the office at the auto body shop, and none of the fellows recognized her.  She had gone from brown to blonde, but told them she had decided that it was time to stop coloring her hair and look her age, because, after all.....she was 60.  Really?  And suddenly I felt old, because I'm not even on the sidewalk to 60, let alone knocking on that door, and I'm probably much more grey than she is under that blondness.

None the less, just remembering the hassle of hair coloring and looking back at the photo of me with that variety of shades on my head - well, it gives me the shivers.  So I'm going to continue to embrace my grey.  Oldness be damned!

Don't worry, Ryan

I know, I'm late, late, late. The fireworks are over. But this little freebie kit I received from my dear, darlin' Sue was too cute to leave languishing in a WIP box till next year. I've actually finish-finished it as a scissor fob, but who knows what happened to that photo...

LK Freebie on 36 ct red linen with DMC

Summer plods on here at the house near the ex-lake.  We're just back from a trip south to take my son some furniture for his new digs.  It was a nice trip, even if it was to Georgia... in July.  But like most mothers, I'd happily tolerate visiting the surface of the sun a hot climate in the summer to see one of my kids.  Otherwise....Don't even ask me what I'm doing lately.  It's either:  a) too boring for words, or b) totally whiny.  But I'm certainly not getting much good, quality stitching time, that's for sure. 

Ryan would be so upset with me. 

All right Ryan, all right.  I'll stitch a little.  And then maybe while I'm stitching I'll come up with some interesting things to write about. 

Happy 4th!

Happily, I finished this on the 3rd.... Now to finish-finish it!

LK freebie.  Stitched with red and white DMC on 32ct. PTP Twilight linen

July SBQ

It's the first Monday of the month, so it's time for the monthly Stitching Bloggers Question!

Thanks to CinDC over at Pencil Crossings for asking this question and she calls it "July Fireworks"!

This statement is irritating: "Oh, I don't have the patience for stitching/crafting." How do you respond when you get that kind of statement? What's the best response you've ever heard/seen?

Now go to your blog and post an answer!

Hey You Guys!

OK, to clarify my pet "you guys" peeve, I honestly don't mind if a friend is talking and calls a group of us "you guys".  It's casual conversation so it's ok, but It's entirely different than a business or formal interaction.  For me, anyway. 

And because I'm feeling persnickety, I wish that people in the service industry would stop saying, "Not a problem" when you ask them for something.   SO annoying.  It makes me want to keep asking them things until they finally say, "Well...oh my.  That is a problem."  What's wrong with simply saying "yes"?   Or "certainly".  Heck, one time a waiter in Miami said, "Si senora" to me and I almost melted with joy!  I wouldn't go so far as to insist on the Chick-fil-A mantra "It's my pleasure", but even that's infinitely better than "Not a problem".

While I still don't have anything to show you from the weekend's class, I can share a link with you.  Donna over at Needleworker Not in Paradise took the same class in 2010.  Here's her finish.  And now that I'm looking more closely at Donna's version, I see how she added some personalization using two initials, simply by twisting them together.  Way to go Donna!  Only room for one initial?  Feh!  Donna solved that problem!  So you can see the beautiful stitching in my future!