Ah, the coming of Fall and antiquing :)

Hi, everyone!! Fall, as I've said before, is my favorite time of year. LOL I think it has something to do with my nerd-ish heart and the notion of going off to school! (Sigh) I miss school!! ^__^ The mornings have started to get just a tiny bit of nip to them so I was inspired to stitch something fall-ish in honor of the season!!


I started on Thursday to stitch the JBW design Pumpkin! You notice I have one of my fobs from Yuko already in use!! I just want to thank Yuko again because it is sooo much easier to keep up with my scissors when they are attached to this fob :)


Design: JBW Designs, 'French Country IV - Pumpkin'
Thread: DMC 4124, variegated
Fabric: 28 ct Cashel antique white Zweigart
Finished: 9/18 and 9/19/08

The design called for DMC #3826, but I used #4124 partly because I was lazy and didn't want to run to Hobby Lobby and buy the recommended thread color and I had picked up the #3826 color earlier when I first got my JBW designs in the mail. I thought it would look nice for a pumpkin since it reminds me of Halloween :)

Since I finished stitching this design last night, I had time to do something else fun today! My sister and I went to our local Abba Temple to antique. My sister rarely gets to antique with my mother and I because she usually works on the weekends. Today was a fun experience for her, LOL, though she seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the different things to look at.

While at the antique show, I bought several new brooches! LOL You knew I would!! I can't resist brooches....they are becoming my second downfall next to my obsession with books ^_^"

Isn't it pretty and petite? Filagree leaves, a stem, and a lovely flower with white rhinestones surrounding a purple stone at the top :) LOL The stem reminds me of pumpkins for some reason!

A unique brooch containing dried flowers and leaves! I love the border around the edge with the four leaves. While I was picking this brooch out along with the others, the vendor was talking to a friend of hers about brooches. She called them, little 'pieces of art' that you can wear. I quite agree!! I love wearing them to work ^___^

A neat sword brooch!!! It is adorned with five faux pearls. LOL When my mother saw this brooch she said, "But you don't like pearls!" Pearls aren't my favorite despite the fact that they are my 'birthstone.' For June, the birthstone can either be pearls or alexandrite. I love alexandrite, but you hardly ever see it....and if you do find a jeweler who sells it....you're paying practically a car payment to get one!!!

So Glittery with all those red rhinestones!! Next to my cameos, this one might be my second favorite in my growing collection of brooches. The little 'petals' around the center remind me of tiny royal crowns :) (Sigh) This brooch would look lovely with a cream-colored scarf!! LOL I never thought I would say (or write) this, but I can't wait for Monday so I can wear these new brooches. I think I'm going to wear this one first :)

In addition to antiquing, I took a pic of this nice stitched piece by my friend Kristina. She and I used to work at the same bookstore.


She stitched this Asian cross stitch design for me as a gift for starting my new job :) I don't remember what the characters on this design mean....I think she said it was for good luck....but I will have to ask her and let you know :)

Before I forget, I promised everyone that I would scan the mini-article out of the 1899 Ladies' Home Journal about the pincushions/emeries!!


Bachelor pincushion?!

Apparently, men were neater with their possessions then nowadays!! This is a neat article. Who would have thought that strawberry pincushions would have been used by men to keep their pins? (sigh) Makes you long for the past and all the fashionable clothing that was commonplace. It seems to me that our time period has no defining style like other eras.....it makes me sad in a way. LOL That's the historian in me talking :) Darn history degree!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! Happy stitching!!

Lovely scissor fobs!!

After a crazy day at jury duty, I came home to a package from Yuko!! The scissor fobs that I purchased from her Etsy store arrived!! ^___^


A pic of my shortcake fob! (sigh) The photo isn't as beautiful as Yuko's pics, but it was the best I could do!! LOL I need to take a photography class in the future ^_^"


A pic I took of my pink cameo fob!! Isn't it beautiful? I love it!!

I showed both of the fobs to my aunt and she loved them too ^___^

Well, I've got some cross stitching to do! I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. I have jury duty in the morning and then I'll be done!!! And then I get to go back to my job and see what state my desk is in O_o"

Keep making such lovely crafts, Yuko! Happy Stitching!

Nearly finished :)

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to show my progress on my WIP Elements. I haven't had much time to stitch on this pattern over the week. I got stuck with jury duty for two weeks....fun times, really! O_o"


I've gotten almost all of the Eau block finished, which means 40% of my pattern finished!! Yeah :) The only motif to add to this part of the pattern is the woman with the pitcher of water!!

In other news, I found an interesting mini-article in the 1899 Ladies' Home Journal that I bought last weekend. I will have to share it with you later on this week when I have to chance to scan the images so I can upload them on my blog :) The article is a neat bit of history on strawberry emeries/pincushions.

In addition to getting some stitching done this week, I ordered some very cute scissor fobs from Yuko's Etsy store :) I bought two of her creations: a pink cameo-charm scissor fob and another with a super adorable felt strawberry shortcake-charm!!! I can't wait to get them in the mail ^____^

Yuko's blog is one of my favorites. She always takes gorgeous photos and has some of most beautiful finishes for her stitched pieces! She just had her birthday recently! Happy b-day Yuko :)

Hope everyone has a good work week! Happy Stitching!!

Blast from the past

(sigh) Now we just have to wait and see what Hurricane Ike is going to do. I WISH it would just disappear. Category 4 and 5 hurricanes are bad news to any area they come in contact with!!!

I got more stiching done on my WIP Elements. Not much, but at least it's progress :) Sometimes I don't have the time to sit and get some stitching done after work during the weekdays. Especially, if my mom and I take our dog Sam for a walk. He's a 8 month old brown lab!!! LOL And he is crazy. We are trying to teach him how to walk without rushing ahead of us.....I can't even hold the leash....he's 60 lbs of energy!!

Here's some pics of my progress on my French sampler.



I finished some more on the 'Eau' block ^__^ I got the words 'Eau' finished, some other motifs, and the scorpion!



In other news, I went antiquing yesterday :) I saw several beautiful brooches that I couldn't afford, but I found a blast from the past while at one of my local antique shops!!


O_o" I can't believe I found one of these!!! A Ladies' Home Journal from 1899. The vendor has several others, but I couldn't afford all of them....even though my bookish heart longed for them ^__^

The magazine doesn't have any color plates like the Lady Godey's magazines of the same period, but it is still valuable as a source of historical lifeways.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week :) Happy stitching!!!

Hurricane Gustav and stitching

I hope everyone is safely at home today along the Gulf Coast with this crazy hurricane that has come through!!

It's been a busy weekend. I've got some stitching done when I could find the time to do so! My family and I were getting our house ready for Gustav by putting things away in our backyard shed, bringing flower pots inside, and making sure that items that couldn't fit in the shed were tied down. We also made a grocery run and stocked up on foodstuffs in case we lost power. Even though we were lucky in not getting the worst of Gustav, I don't regret getting our house ready for the season! We even got our generator out and ran it for an hour since we haven't used it since Katrina.

In terms of stitching, I worked on my WIP Sampler Elements by Anagram Diffusion. I love French cross stitch patterns. They are so beautiful ;)



The fabric I'm using for this pattern is 32ct olive green Belfast linen and measures 27" x 27". I didn't think the color would work for this design. I wanted a lighter green, but a very nice lady at Patches and Stitches suggested the color when I told her what DMC thread color (498) I was using for the pattern :)


Design: Anagram Diffusions, Sampler Elements
Thread: DMC 498
Fabric: 32ct olive green Belfast linen


This is the first block I worked on from January throughout March. My aunt got the pattern for me during Christmas. I had to wait until January when I went up to visit some friends in Huntsville before visting their LNS and getting advice on fabric and thread colors.


Wow!! I actually ironed it so it would look nice ^___^ Yesterday and today, I worked on the lower left of the 'Eau' block of the pattern. I also got the ribbon by the dolphin finished and the first letter of Eau ;)

Well, I'll post later with more progress on my WIP. I'm going to get some reading done while I have the rest of the day off from work. I'm reading Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. It's quite good for a biography. The movie version called The Duchess comes out later in September. I can't wait to see it!! I love Keira Knightley when she is in historical films. I'm a sucker for historical period films!! I love the costumes ;)

Be safe! Happy stitching ^___^

Unique stitches ;)

I was very happy to see a package in the mail when I got home today!! I ordered some more Stitch Idea volumes ;)



I love Japanese embroidery/cross stitch books. They have gorgeous patterns and unique ideas for finshes!! Hopefully, I will get to stitch some of the designs in these books soon ^___^


I also found the JCS Halloween magazine at my local bookstore last weekend!! Aren't the ornaments adorable?

Blue Ribbon Designs has two new Halloween designs that come out in mid-September!!! Yay :) One is a calendar called Behind the Gate, which I think is neat!! I've seen advent calendars, but never something for a countdown to Halloween ^-^

They also have a set called Creepy Crawly for stitching a coffin-shaped O_o" needle-book and other accessories!! As a finish, it's super cute for Halloween.

Hope everyone has a safe Labor Day weekend!! Happy stitching ^___^

P.S. Thank you, Yuko for your lovely comments on my JBW designs!!!

Yay! Domesticity!!!

My aunt wrote on her blog that she found The Gentle Art of Domesticity at our local bookstore over the weekend!! I was going to wait until after TS Fay decided to meander away from us before attempting to go out and buy the book, but fortunately we didn't get much from the storm and I drove immediately to the store and bought my copy ;)



I read half the book when I got home. I love the stories Jane Brocket shares with us about domesiticity. I agree with her point that domesticity isn't something that women should be ashamed of. As a daughter of a somewhat feminist upbringing, domesticity wasn't looked down upon by my mother or grandmother. I remember one summer as a child, my grandmother helped me make a little purple skirt for one of my stuffed animals. LOL Sadly, I don't remember how she or I did it :( But it was a nice memory!

And my grandmother's cooking is fantastic!! Nothing envokes memories of summers past like blueberry cobbler with fruit from our bushes in the backyard! Or being warmed up by a nice bowl of chili with home-grown tomatoes during the winter! (Sigh) ^__^ Oh, and chocolate chip cookies! I loved it when my mom would make cookies for my sister and I. Of course, they were just your plain old Toll House cookies, but they were simply divine to our taste buds!

For the last couple of years, my family gets together before Christmas and bakes several different types of cookies or other yummies. We send them out in several tins for our family in Michigan to enjoy. To me, it's more satisfying to give a gift that way. Whether it's baking, sewing, cross-stitching, etc. the gift is more valued because it is homemade.

So ladies and gentlemen, domesticity isn't something to fear! It isn't staying at home all day, slaving away in the kitchen, and meeting your spouse at the door wearing 1950s splendor. It's the everyday things that make you happy! Cooking, baking, organizing/cleaning, sewing, knitting, cross-stitching, among other skills are beautiful! Don't ever be ashamed of being 'domesticated'!!! Be a domestic diva ;)

Congrats to Jane Brocket for a lovely book! (She has a recipe for flapjacks! I loved eating those while in England!) She's a Royal Holloway-er too!!! YAY!!! I'm jealous; she got a MA in Victorian Art and Literature!

So please go out and buy the book! You won't be disappointed ^___^

The rules of being a bum are...

Well, I lied...there aren't any rules. But I have been a bum the past week. I meant to get some stitching done on my WIP Four Elements, but that idea was put aside as I read several books and watched two 'classic' movies.

My progress last week:

Read:
1. The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
2. Kira-Kira - Cynthia Kadohata
3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Watched:
1. Oliver Twist - Masterpiece Theatre 1999
2. The House of Mirth - 2000

See, I had some productivity last week, but not with stitching. I had been reading The House of Mirth for awhile. Usually, it doesn't take me so long to finish a book, but since I was only reading it on my break and after work while waiting for my carpool ride I wasn't getting much accomplished. I finally got it finished last Monday....and....was depressed.

The book, if you haven't read it, revolves around Lily Bart, a poor, young lady who relies on her wealthy aunt to stay afloat in the rich society of New York in the early 1900s. The novel follows her rise and fall within the excessive world of the wealthy. As a ward, she has nothing to recommend herself, but her beauty and youth. The only two characters who love her are her cousin Gerty and her friend Mr. Selden. In the end, she accidentally overdoses on sleeping drops. Sadly, it was before she had a chance to go to Selden and tell him how she felt. Grrr....

Kira-Kira is a Newbery award winning kids novel about a Japanese-American family in the 1950s. The novel tells the story of Katie and her older sister Lynn. It follows their daily lives in Georgia and how they are interrupted by Lynn's illness, lymphoma. Kira-kira was the first word that Lynn taught her sister when they were little girls. In the end, Katie realizes that Lynn tried to always see the kira kira or glittery side to life through everything. It was a good book despite yet another sad ending.

The next book I read was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I quite liked the story of Dr. Jekyll's pursuit of separating the body into two personalities. I think in the beginning he was trying to see if he could separate the good and bad aspects of the human personality for the benefit of mankind. Throughout many experiments he succeeds in separating his personality; he names his 'darker' side, Mr. Hyde. He controls the transformation between the two personalities by taking a tonic of sorts. In the end, he loses control of Mr. Hyde and the transformations happen without the aid of a tonic. Of course, in the end...both personalities die. I don't think either were suppose to live without the other despite Dr. Jekyll's theories.

As my first encounter with Robert Louis Stevenson, I enjoyed it. It was well written and played out for such a small novel.

After reading these books, I rented Oliver Twist and The House of Mirth from my local library. I love $1 dvds....you can't beat that price ;)

Ah, Oliver Twist. Has anyone read this book besides myself?? Surely someone in my audience has ;) As I've admitted before, I love Charles Dickens. I fell in love with his novels when I was a freshman in high school and read Great Expectations for an English class book report. I was the only student to pick that book out of a list of other great classics.

I never understood why Oliver Twist is considered a 'kids' book. Yes, the protagonist of the novel is young Oliver, but the subject matter of the novel is far from children-friendly. Prostitution, theft, anti-Semitism, murder, and child abuse play a part in this novel!

The movie produced by Masterpiece Theatre was very well-played. The only thing I didn't like was the beginning. According to the host, part I of the movie is an expanded story of Oliver's parents and their history. In the book, his parents' history isn't known to him until the very last chapters. His step-brother, Monks, tells the story of what he knows and Mr. Brownlow supplies the rest. In order for the movie to make 'sense' the director decided that the parents' story should be played out and expanded with lots of dialogue and intrigue. They even have Mr. Leeford (Oliver's father) being murdered by his wife?!?!? Hmm....

The same sort of odd twists happen in The House of Mirth. I didn't really like this version. To me, Lily was a young lady who was accustomed to wealth, but hated the world she lived in and would have rather lived simply without all the 'fake-ness' that came along with the wealthy world. I hated the fact that at the end of the movie, Lily overdoses on the sleeping drops on purpose!!!!!!! The book ending is far better and more tragic to my sensibilities. She writes out a check to George Dorset for $10,000 to pay off her debts. That money is all she has inherited from her aunt who passed away. She plans on seeing Selden the next day to declare her feelings. She takes the sleeping drops to calm herself and get some sleep. It was accidental. Selden comes the next day to see her to declare himself as well and finds his cousin, Gerty, mourning Lily's passing. Not at all like the movie ending, which made one think that she overdosed because she could not keep her inheritance.

Well, enough on books! I will post later on hopefully (fingers crossed) some stitching or at least something related to it.

Have a great week! Happy stitching ^___^

Some brooches, a book, and a dog!

Well, I've seem to have had caught a slight case of the 'brooch bug' this weekend. I went by a local antique show in town and came away with several lovely brooches ^-^"

In my defense, I was lured by the very nice vendor with the words, "It's Victorian." The small part of my brain that usually says, "don't buy" switched over to "yes, you must have" at those few words!!!


This brooch isn't Victorian, but I fell in love with this cute pin when I saw it. It's just fun with the round opal in the middle and the stars shooting out around it. The picture doesn't do the opal-like stone any justice at all because when it catches the light, it sparkles like a little fire. Sadly, it is missing a purple stone, but my aunt said it gives it character. I have to agree. Jewelry pieces deserve to have a history so I will not get a new stone put in...because in all honesty I didn't even notice it was missing one until my aunt said something about it.



A gorgeous cameo stick/hat pin. I thought this one was beautiful and since I didn't have a hat pin in my collection so far I decided to pick this one up. ^___^ As you can tell, I love cameos and I tend to buy them when I can find them. The vendor had some cameos done in 10k gold, but I didn't have a lot of money with me so I opted for the costume jewelry pieces instead ;) I'll have to be good and save up for some nice gold-timmed cameos in the future. While I was at the show, a vendor there was selling 10k, 14k, 18k cameos......they were so expensive O__o" I mean they were worth it because they weren't your typical profile cameos, they actually had mythological themes on them.......I don't think I'll ever be able to afford one of them ^__^*



Yet another cameo that I couldn't leave the show without buying!! A red cameo surrounded by white rhinestones. This one isn't Victorian, but it is older than the other two brooches because of the pin backing. My aunt loves this one!! She said it would look lovely on a felt hat, I quite agree :) I thought the red color of the cameo was beautiful, usually you see pink, green, blue, onyx or lava/gemstone types so I grabbed this one for being so unique in color!



A beautiful brass lady's hand holding a pearl. (Sigh) This is the one that lured me.....tempted me towards the dark side! LOL I was debating on this one after I heard the vendor telling another lady that it was Victorian. I thought no, I won't buy it....but then the vendor asked me if I liked pieces from that time period....sigh!!! I said yes and she showed me this little brooch. She showed me the back of this brooch and explained that if it had a safety pin backing, it was older and dated around the Victorian period. (sigh) And so, I came away from the show with four brooches! I won't complain too much because you can't help what you fall in love with.

LOL The vendor asked me if I was collecting. I said no. I just like to wear brooches because I'm finally working at a job where I can wear them. So I have several antique pieces, contemporary ones, and a Kirks Folly brooch....9 pieces in total so far. I'm slowly becoming a brooch addict!!! ^__^"

With my mind on antiques and such, I remembered that the book I bought from eBay came in the mail a couple of weeks ago! Sara Crewe - Little Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories by Frances Hodgson Burnett.


This book was published in 1910 by Charles Scribner's Sons NY. It isn't a first edition, actually it is a fourth edition. It has illustrations by Reginald B. Birch throughout the book. Since I have a small collection going of Frances Burnett's books, I bought this one on eBay. I got it for $8....you can't beat that for a book that is almost 100 years old and doesn't look it. Don't you just love the cover!! Two little cherubs playing the harp and the title of the book surrounded by ten gold elephants. I was looking on eBay and Scribner's published several other titles of Frances Burnett with the same cover ;) Wouldn't it be neat to have the whole collection?!?!

Sara Crewe was the original title of A Little Princess. This edition has several other stories:
1. Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's
2. Little Saint Elizabeth
3. The Story of Prince Fairyfoot
4. The Proud Little Grain of Wheat
5. Behind the White Brick

I can't wait to start reading these stories ;)

In addition to being a very well behaved bunny and dutifully taking photos of my brooches and book, I got another JBW design started and finished on Saturday!!


Design: JBW Designs, 'French Country - Dog'
Thread: DMC 111, variegated
Fabric: 28 ct Cashel antique white Zweigart
Finished: 8/16/08

My aunt suggested that I stitch this design in a variegated brown so we looked through my thread stash and picked DMC 111. I think it looks cute ^__^

LOL I have several JBW designs stitched up so far....now I just need to save some money and have them framed!!

Have a great week! Happy stitching ;)

A juicy pear!

Just a quick post since I just got finished with the JBW design French Country - Pear and wanted to share it with everyone before rushing back to the television to watch the Olympics ;)


Design: JBW Designs, 'French Country - Pear'
Thread: DMC 92, variegated
Fabric: 28 ct Cashel antique white Zweigart
Finished: 8/11 and 8/12/08



I think the DMC 92 color is fun for this design ^__^

Sorry for the shortness of this post. LOL I'm trying to catch the women's gymnastic performances. I was watching the women's diving competitions a while ago.....WOW! The two ladies from China in the synchronized diving were AMAZING!!! They were so graceful ;)

Happy stitching!