A great day for antiques ;)

I went by today to the local Shriner's temple for an antique show. They have one every three months during the year until the Fall when they have one every month up to December. I found several brooches that got my eye. You know I was going to get something, right? Who can resist jewelry?

The oldest brooch that I purchased today. The backing on this one is a C-clasp. I like the agate inside the brooch, it's pretty. I've noticed though that the agate on the sides has faded....can stones do that? Do I have a real agate brooch? Hmm....regardless, it's a nice piece of jewelry.


A small delicate circular brooch with three faux pearls. My birthstone is alexandrite, but the alternative is pearl. As I was growing up, I never cared much for pearls, but I love small delicate-looking ones especially in brooches. I would love to have an alexandrite brooch, but as they are expensive stones, I'll have to save up for one.


A fun pin for next year's St. Patrick's Day! I love looking for holiday pins when I'm out antiquing. I was looking for Fall-themed brooches with pumpkins, leaves, or acorns, but I saw more Christmas pins than any other holiday pins.

Isn't is lovely? I love this little bar pin with its red stone in the center and pearls on the ends. No, the dot in the center of the red stone isn't really there. It's the reflection of my camera lens ^___^"

In other news, my friends and I went out last night after work and saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I will admit that I cried at the end of the movie; I cried while reading the book when it came out as well. It didn't help with the musical score in the background during the end either.

There were some great previews at the beginning of the movie. I think I'll probably go and see Sherlock Holmes as I love period dramas. My friends and I also saw a poster while we were walking into the theater advertising Ponyo on the Cliff by Hayao Miyazaki! We were very excited that the movie is actually coming to our city. When Howl's Moving Castle came out, the only theatre showing it in our area was in Baton Rouge! And yes, we are such Hayao Miyazaki fans that we drove all the way out there to see it (3 hours away) ;)

Until next time! Happy antiquing!

Pretty stash!

When I got home from work today, I had a package in the mail from Down Sunshine Lane! Woohoo! I spoke with Amy at DSL on Saturday about fabric recommendations for the Little House Needlework designs that I had ordered from her. She was very nice and knowledgeable. She was saying that she liked the LHN designs that I had chosen because two of them had bunnies! LOL I'm glad that I'm not the only person who likes bunnies and garden scenes.


Two of these designs will be Christmas gifts this year ;)

My sister says I'm showing everyone up! She's joking, of course, but I like stitching gifts for people! It's more satisfying than buying something.


Yummy Crescent Color threads!!


28 ct Lugana Lavender Bliss and 28 ct Natural Cashel Zweigart ^___^

I was hoping to start Herb Garden tonight, but when I looked through my thread box....I only had one DMC thread color for the design O_o" I'll have to make a run by Hobby Lobby this weekend!

I need to stitch on it as much as I can over the weekend since I've loaned in another book by Hannah Maria Jones! It should arrive next week and of course, you know I'll have pics of it for all my fellow bibliophiles!

Until next time!

Halloween Pumpkin

Another finish tonight! I love this little pumpkin, but I think I'm half-blind now from stitching over one on the small leaves, numbers, etc.!!


Design: Halloween Pumpkin by Jeannette Douglas Designs (JCS Halloween Issue 2008)
Threads: DMC 310, 801, 919, 921, 977, 3011, & 3012
Fabric: 32 ct oyster evenweave by M.C.G. Textiles
Finished: 7/12/2009

I don't think I'll be attempting another design with one-over-one motifs in it for a while!! However, I did learn some new stitches with this design: boxed upright cross stitch and the Italian cross stitch ^___^

Until next time!

Spooky Tree

Hi, everyone! I went by Michael's this morning and bought some fabric and threads for two Halloween ornaments that I wanted to stitch.

I stitched up this one when I got home. It only took me a couple of hours ;)


Design: Spooky Tree by Elizabeth's Designs (JCS Halloween Issue 2008)
Threads: DMC 869, 921, 935, & 3820
Fabric: 28 ct antique white evenweave by M.C.G. Textiles
Finished: 7/12/2009

My readers who have the JCS Halloween Issue from 2008 will notice that the border isn't completely done around the edges and I'm missing the required bat glass beads. I'm thinking of putting this design into a nice antique-looking frame since with the DMC threads, the tree doesn't really look 'spooky' just 'Fall-ish.'

Hopefully I can start the other ornament I want to stitch up tomorrow! Or maybe tonight!

Until next time!

Lovely historical manga!

Yesterday, I got the newest volume of manga in the Emma series by Kaoru Mori in the mail!! Woohoo!

This series is by far my favorite manga/anime. It is set in Victorian England and deals with the story of Emma and William. They have many obstacles to overcome in their love for one another as Emma is a maid and William is a member of the gentry.

Isn't it pretty?! Mr. and Mrs. Meredith, Emma's German employers as the cover art for this volume.

Volumes 1-7 chronicle the story of Emma and William while volumes 8-10 are short stories that detail the other characters' lives after the series ends. The best part of volume 10 is the fact that we get to see the marriage between Emma and William. Kawaii!!! ^___^ I can't wait for December when that volume comes out :)

My favorite stories in volume 8:

- Erich and his lost pet squirrel (too cute!)
- How William and Hakim met :)

If you love Victorian England or just anything historically-themed, you don't want to miss the Emma series by Kaoru Mori.

Egads! A snake!!!!

This evening we were all 'unwinding' from the work week when our dog Sam starting barking outside like crazy!

My mother looked outside and Sam had a snake?!?!?!? My mom screamed and ran outside to try and get Sam away from the snake. Of course, Sam is not your typical dog, instead of leaving the snake alone, he picked it up in his mouth and starting running around the backyard with it!

We all started panicking and ran outside to chase Sam down and make him drop the snake. My sister was about to start crying because the snake was trying to bite Sam in the chest while he was running with it.

As we finally got Sam to drop the snake and our uncle killed the snake with a hoe, my sister had called the emergency line of our local vet and asked what the symptoms were of a snake bite because we thought we had a rattlesnake! Luckily, Sam had not been bitten by the snake, but we were all shaken up by the whole thing. We have no idea what type of snake it was....definitely not your average garden snake!

If you don't like snakes, don't look at the picture below. My mother measured the snake and it was 4 ft 7 inches! O_o"


Holy Moley!!

There are two animal/insects that scare me the most: snakes and spiders. You think I would be running for the hills when my mother said they was a snake outside, but when she said Sam was near it we all ran out there to save him from being bit. LOL It's amazing what adrenaline will do for your fears!

I think I've had enough drama for my weekend!!

Give me some safe cross-stitching any day! I'll pass on the snakes.

How many more pages?!

I just finished the 1st page of my Saisons sampler chart while watching So You Think You Can Dance.



I have seven more pages to go. Can't complain though because I'm enjoying this design.

We've got some more rain coming our way! Woohoo! Maybe our garden will perk up a bit!

Until next time ^___^

Rain and a rainbow!

I hope everyone on the coast is enjoying the rain! We definitely needed it; our garden is looking sad.



We got a nice rainbow after the rain ^___^

Until next time!

Weekend stitching

Update on my Saisons sampler! I worked on it alot yesterday since I had finished watching My Love Patzzi on Friday. My family and I celebrated the 4th of July by watching a few episodes of John Adams. LOL



I loved stitching the small alphabet on the right. It was fun with cross stitches and backstitching.

Ugh, so the work week starts again tomorrow! (sigh) I vote for another day off, what do you think?!

Until next time ^___^

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July with their family and friends.

My family and I are making a menagerie of foodstuffs for our trip to Uriah, AL tomorrow. We are going to visit our great aunt and uncle for the day and we decided to make lunch and bring it with us.

I got up early this morning and made orange brownies.


Yummy!

I used Paula Deen's recipe for the orange brownies. They are very easy to make and my family loves them! A great summer treat in lieu of traditional chocolate brownies.

Until next time!