Surprise from Lyon, France & a Road Trip to Austin, Texas

We took a road trip, drove to Austin, Texas and almost three weeks later we returned home to find a wonderful surprise in the mail. My friend who lives in Lyon, France sent me these wonderful treasures.

She made the ATC in memory of her cat who recently went to cat heaven and is missed very much, they lost two cats in a very short time. That is so sad, but the good news is they now have a new cat to love. She and her husband made the calendar, we have it sitting by the TV in the kitchen, we didn't have a calendar near the table so this is really appreciated. And the kit will be fun to make, now I just need to get busy.

As for other projects, I did a little knitting while we were traveling, knitting is a great project to work on in the car. Now I just need my husband to try on his sock so I can finish making them.

I visited Needle Works in Austin, what a wonderful needlepoint store. (http://www.theneedleworks.com/) They have fibers that I have never seen before and very helpful too. I had seen the Evertite Strencher Bars, but had never touched them or seen how they work. Well, now I wish I had all the sizes, they are great for needlepoint because you can tighten them up to keep the canvas tight while stitching. Needle Works don't have a picture on their website, but there is a picture on Tristan Brooks Designs (http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/tbd/tbd10.htm) I have to say they are not cheap, well worth the money. Needle Works is a great place to spend a day and there is a good restaurant in the same mall Santa Rita Cantina (http://www.santaritacantina.com/) the Chilli Relleno with Spinach, mushrooms & ranchero sauce is the BEST. In fact Santa Rita was so good we ate there three times. Actually all the food was good in Austin!

We had a great trip, just very long, 5,000 miles round trip. It is nice to be home again!

Needlework Finishing

I am so excited my cousin is starting a finishing business and needed something to finish, so I sorted through my box of completed projects and found something to get her started. Here are pictures of what she has done for me.

If anyone needs something finished, you can contact her at pamacj@gmail.com Please use the subject: Needlework Finishing

The Needle Index & Isn't She Lovely??

This is the gift I received from my cousin, she asked me what I got for Christmas that was stitching related, I said nothing and this arrived in the mail a few days later. It is a wonderful place to keep needles! Now all my needles will be organized. There are pictures of all the different kinds of needles, what they are used for, wool to keep the needles in and a chart with the types of threads that you would stitch with each needle.

Saturday my friend came over and we exchanged Christmas gifts. And I must say "Mine is wonderful!" Isn't she lovely?

I have looked at her every time I went to Threadneedle Street and said "I love her" and now she is mine to stitch. I am going to have so much fun with her, just need to finish her before Halloween.

After we opened presents we went to Threadneedle Street and I bought the fibers I didn't have to stitch my new project. A little glow in the dark thread here and there and a wort of two will make her wonderful. Of course I may change my mind on a few of the fibers when I get started, but not the glow in the dark.

And More Snow!

Merry Christmas! We had a very nice dinner at our son and daughter in law's home with her sister and some friends. We ordered a Virginia ham, which soon earned the name "The Pig Who Ate Christmas." The ham was so large we weren't sure what pan it could be cooked in, you see the ham was cured and needed to be soaked over night and then cooked for a very long time.

This is a picture after the ham was done cooking, just need to trim the skin and fat off and eat it. I must say it was wonderful and everyone enjoyed eating it.

We have had a very white Christmas, actually I think there is too much snow. It snowed about 24" in 24 hours and continues to snow in Eastern Washington. We will head back to the Westside tomorrow, there isn't suppose to be any new snow, we will see!

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas, maybe without all the snow we have had, and enjoyed being with family and friends.

Snow!!!!!

Today we woke up to snow, we don't usually get much snow, but there is about 5 inches at 10:00 AM. Most areas of the country would think 5" is nothing, but there are so many hills around here that is it really hard to get around.

All the schools and many businesses in the area are closed due to snow, yesterday some schools were closed in anticipation of snow. Didn't even get mail today :(.

This is when I am really glad to be retired and I don't to take the bus to work. The buses don't run very good with all the hills around here and it is cold waiting and not knowing if or when the bus will come to pick up the people.

I have enjoyed watching the snow news and staying just home today.

Finished wrapping Christmas gifts and took pictures, now I can go knit . . . .


I do have to say the snow is pretty, looking from the inside out. Makes me want to watch "White Christmas."

Silk Shading Birthday Gift and Pulled Thread Challenge

I have been waiting to post this picture, it seems like forever, until my friend in Lyon opened her Birthday gifts. Yesterday was her birthday, so now it is safe to post it since she has seen it. This is a silk shading practice project to get ready for the certificate class at the Royal School of Needlework in San Francisco next April. I still need lots of practice, but everyone has to start someplace.

The next picture is the pulled thread challenge project that I am working on with The Sampler Guild in England. Each month beginning last July we receive a block to stitch. Mine is a crazy quilt design because many of the members are also quilters, not me. I am using blue, green and yellow (yellow because my friend said it had to have yellow, and she was right) with metallic for the chain stitches between the blocks. This only four of the sections, there will be twelve, well if I get one design done and sent to England for March. I am thinking it needs to be green and circles, kind of like a shamrock. Not sure what I will do with it when it is done, could be a book or box cover? Suggestions welcome!

Haven't done a lot of stitching lately, just a little knitting!

New Sewing Room & The Story of the Broken Books

Haven't done much stitching lately, not that I don't have some I could work on, read on to see what I have been doing. Should have taken before pictures, but it was really bad and I didn't want anyone to see the room. Just imagine wall to wall book shelves, dresser, sewing cabinet, a bed and a computer desk "almost" room to walk.

We have been working on clearing out the sewing room/guest room. I have been selling lots of things on ebay and giving stuff away, there is still a lot to deal with in the garage, but we can put the car in the garage and that makes my husband happy.

We had new grey carpet installed, painted and had a wall bed (very light grey) installed. The wall bed is great, when the bed is up there is a table. I love the table I spend a lot of time using it. There are no windows in the room because it is in the basement, my husband painted the walls bright yellow, I love yellow, and it make the room much brighter too. The lady who use to live here was an artist, she used the room for her studio so the lighting is really good too.

The last picture is my sewing cabinet, a nice cozy corner of the room. The TV is on a cart with wheels to make it easy to move around.

The wall bed in the sewing room is a great way to save space, we don't have company a lot so this is a better use of the area.

I have two, well probably more, books that the bindings are broken. A friend told me that I could take them to Kinkos and have a spiral binding put on the books. They cut off the old binding and put the spiral binding on and it only cost $10.88 for both books. They are so nice I can now open the book and it will lay flat without having to hold it. This is a great thing and not too expensive either. Can you tell I am a little excited about this? Here are pictures of the books.That is enough for now . . .

Happy Thanksgiving . . . Enjoy your turkey day, we are having a Pacific Northwest Thanksgiving with lots of seafood!!