Parterre de Fleurs and a visit from a frog!

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are having a great Sunday. No rain today, just sunny skies and a pleasant breeze. Makes me wish for a house with a screened in porch.....but then again I remember my allergies and it probably wouldn't be the best idea. LOL

I was hoping to make more progress on Parterre de Fleurs, but I got hit by the notorious stitching frog this afternoon. After I had stitched the flowers on the top, I went over to the right and started counting from my flowers to the bee wings and guess what?!? The entire row of flowers on the right side were stitched wrong.

Sigh.....how could I get an entire row wrong? The pattern. Usually Jardin Prive patterns are great, but this one, not so much. Since the flower motif repeats itself around the bee motif, the pattern only shows the bee motif, the bottom row of flowers, and the backstitch line on the bottom part.

What kind of craziness is that?!?! Ugh.........I had followed the bottom half of the pattern for the side when I should have followed the measly two rows on the side that the pattern provided to tell me where to put the flowers.......which I had assumed was the same as the bottom.

Jardin Prive needs to do better than that. Don't make people guess where two of the flowers on a row go because of two rows of two stitches......

Blah..!!!!

Anywho, after I was done frogging, I backstitched the entire border around the piece.....take that frog!!!

Hopefully I'll be able to finish up this design sometime this week. We'll see.

In other stitching news, I went through my stash to pull out threads for the Country Cottage Needlework Cakes patterns. It has been a WIP for quite a while so I thought I'd finish it up this year as my Frolicking Friday project ;)

On Friday night, we met up at Candace's house to celebrate our friend Bonnie's birthday. We had pizza, a turtle (chocolate and caramel) poke cake, and way (WAY) too many homemade chocolates.

I think she liked her gifts though she is preoccupied at the moment, for good reason. She and her family found out that her father has brain cancer so he starts radiation this week. I hope the treatment goes well.

I think they are trying to keep things as normal as possible, which is a positive thing to do. They were planning on going downtown today to take the duck boat tour around town and on the bay.

Please keep her in your thoughts! Have a great week!

Until next time ^____^

Back again from the abyss and stitching start

Pattern: Parterre de Fleurs by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast linen by Zweigart
Threads: Belle Soie 'Noir', Crescent Colours 'Bamboo', 'Secondhand Rose', 'Weeping Willow' and Gentle Art 'Lemon Drops'
Start: 4/22/2018

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are enjoying a lovely Sunday. It has been raining for a good portion of the day today, but we got a little bit of sunshine for about an hour or so before it clouded over again. The wind is howling as I write.

So where have I gone you ask? Well, I'm assuming you asked, LOL maybe no one has asked. You never know with the Internet world. Anywho, as I mentioned to Angela at Thoughtful Ramblings, I have let my work life influence my personal life, which has left me angry and depressed.

It hasn't gotten any better at work with a supervisor that doesn't know what she's doing more than half the time. But I've finally gotten to the stage where I don't care as much and just want to get through August when I'll have been at my workplace for 10 years so I'll be vested for retirement. After that, if things aren't looking up, I plan on looking for another job.

I don't want to look for another job as I consider my workplace coworkers (minus two individuals) to be a great bunch of people, but no one is speaking up about the hostile work environment we are in. On top of that environment is the fact that my supervisor and our main boss are doing things that aren't ethical according to our policies.

And yes, I could just ignore it, but I think that if you work in a field where ethics are important to the future of your institution and the field itself than you should abide by them. And I know I could possibly end up in another institution that is doing the same thing, but a girl can hope for better things, right?

Sigh.......ok, off the soap box! On to happier things, like cross stitching!!!

So I haven't been idle as evident by the posts below this one with my finishes so far this year :) Today I went through my stash and picked out Parterre de Fleurs which is a pincushion cross stitch design by Jardin Prive.

Looking through my DMC floss, I only had two of the required flosses and then I noticed while reading the instructions that the designer only included one set of DMC colors instead of giving you a range of colors to make each side of the pincushion different. It mentioned to just pick your own colors.......(o_0")

So looking around the Internet, I found a blog from a French stitcher who had stitched the design with one color of variegated thread for the flowers. I liked the idea so I went to my drawer of hand dyed threads and found several skeins I could use in the design. I ended up choosing Crescent Colours 'Secondhand Rose' for the flowers. I'm not sure if the variegation will show up.....but I'll try my hardest. I am even stitching each cross completely before moving on to next X.

In other news, my sister and I are going to San Diego this summer for Comic Con. We were able to get tickets for one day of the convention. I know that sounds weird, but if you know anything about the convention, it's hard to get tickets and the four day pass sells out pretty fast so the only thing left are single days. We were able to get Thursday before it sold out.

So we will be flying into the Ontario (California) airport and spending a few days with Amanda until we drive down to San Diego and spend the rest of the time there. We will be flying out of San Diego since the airport is around the corner from the convention.

Earlier this month, my sister and Amanda went through the hotel lottery to get a hotel in San Diego as a great many of them are sold out including outside the city.....not to mention sold out Airbnb places. I couldn't sign in to participate in the hotel lottery as I was at work, but guess what?!??! Amanda got the main convention hotel!!!! I think the convention gods smiled on her or maybe it's because it's the Year of the Dog...whatever it was, I'm glad she was able to get the hotel. It's insanely expensive (almost twice what it normally costs), but it means we don't have fight people for parking and if any of us has a bunch of merchandise, we can drop it off at our room and go back into the fray! LOL And who knows, we might see a Hollywood star or two since the stars stay at the main hotel.

Anywho, I hope you have a great rest of your day. I'm trying to catch up on all my blog reading and commenting ;)

Have a great work week!

Until next time ^____^

Tea, anyone? Mill Hill Kit

Pattern: Tea Time by Mill Hill
Start/Finish: 4/9-21/2018

I saw this kit while ordering some more charts after finishing up my mother's germanium design. I was looking for something tea related and couldn't resist this fun design by Mill Hill.

I haven't worked on a truly full coverage cross stitch pattern in a while so this pattern took some time to stitch up.

I finished up beading it yesterday afternoon after I had ran errands and did some chores around the house.

I'll have to get it framed......I think I might look around and see if someone has something other than a black or gold frame!

Until next time ^____^

Happy Spring Egg Ornament

Pattern: Happy Easter by Brooke's Books
Notions: brown felt, pink ribbon, and white lace
Start/Finish: 3/10-17/2018

I wanted to make a 'happy spring' gift for Constance and was browsing Etsy to see what I could find. As luck would have it, Brooke's Books had released several Easter egg patterns earlier this year.

The original wording is 'Happy Easter', but I changed it to 'Happy Spring.' I also changed some of the DMC colors because I didn't have all of the colors that were required and didn't have the Mill Hill beads either.

I backed it with brown felt which I had decorated with pink polka ribbon and lace trim. I took some pale pink ribbon and put a loop on top of the egg so it could be hung as an ornament.

I think my gift has arrived safely in Canada, but we'll see. It either ended up at her husband's parents' house or at their old house address. O-o"

Until next time ^____^

Germanium Mill Hill Kit

Pattern: Germaniums by Mill Hill
Start/Finish: 2/16-3/4/2018

This is going to be a gift for my mother for Mother's Day this year. I was looking for a lovely flower kit when I was on 123stitch and it was a tossup between this design and the hydrangea kit. Since the hydrangea kit was out of stock at the time, I chose this one.

I think she'll like it. I had it framed at Hobby Lobby. I bought a frame from there, they cut some mat board for me, and framed it.

I wish Hobby Lobby had different colors of this frame besides black and gold. White would have looked lovely with the design. Yes, I know I could have painted it white, but I didn't want to ruin the frame with a paint attempt. LOL

Until next time ^___^

Christmas in CA

For Amanda's package this year, I went for a tea theme for the majority of the package. The theme was actually inspired by a lovely children's book that I picked up from my local library called The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill. I think if everyone had a tea dragon in their lives, the world would be a better place.

While at the World Market, I picked up an adorable little hedgehog tea strainer and a box of teas and sugar sticks made in Russia. From Michael's, I picked up one of Caron's tea cakes in the hibiscus color and a pack of movie trivia cards since Amanda loves playing games in her off time. From Target, I found a fun horoscope mug for Virgos and then from 123stitch, I found two clear stamp sets, one with hedgehogs and the other with Christmas gingerbread.

I hope she likes everything. I had fun picking out different items to fit the tea theme. I really should have taken a picture of the wrapping paper I used!!!! Last year at Target, I found a black wrapping paper with gold octopi wearing Christmas hats! Perfect for steampunk geeks. I didn't get to use it last year.....I was happy to able to use it this year as it fit the theme :)

Until next time ^____^

Cinderella Sampler

Pattern: Cinderella Samper by Willow Hill Samplings
Fabric: 32ct oyster linen by M.C.G. Textiles
Threads: recommended DMC
Start: 12/17/2017

The Cinderella sampler won out against the CCN cakes this time around. As you may remember (it's okay if you don't), I had bought fabric for this design from Accented Inc. when Kristina and I were in New Orleans earlier this year. After looking at it against the recommended DMC threads, it seemed too dark of a fabric. The LNS didn't have the recommended fabric color so I opted for a mocha color fabric, but it just doesn't work.

So while I was at Hobby Lobby, I bought some 32ct oyster colored linen by M.C.G. Textiles. I was hoping to buy the cream colored linen by Wichelt, but the cut of fabric was too small for the pattern (darn it!). LOL So I went with the oyster color instead.

I plan on working on this design tomorrow morning before heading over to the bowling alley for our work Christmas party. Our boss is being....well, a boss, by picking teams. My coworkers and I had already decided to form our own team; that was only reason I signed up to go. We asked one of our supervisors and he said he didn't care what we did when we got in the building. LOL 

I can't wait to play. I never get together with my coworkers outside of work.

Until next time ^___^

Bellingrath Gardens - Christmas Light Display

Good evening, everyone! Kristina and I took a trip to Bellingrath Gardens on Friday night after Kristina got out of work. Their Christmas light display started on November 24 and runs until the end of December.

It was a cold night. I was bundled up in a jacket, scarf, and some gloves. Luckily the walk through the lights kept you warm for the most part, unless the wind started to blow or you were near the pond.

We signed up for a tour of the Bellingrath house as well, which was beautiful. It was full of antiques and furnishings collected by the Bellingrath family. For those of you who don't know, Bellingrath made his money in Coca-Cola. He built the Bellingrath home and its gardens for his wife.

For the Christmas lights and the house tour, it was only $24. Definitely worth every penny. I told Kristina that we should come back in the spring when the gardens are in bloom.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and that you are doing something fun ;)

Until next time ^____^

Eiffel Tower Finish!!

Pattern: Eiffel Tower by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct oyster linen by M.C.G. Textiles
Threads: DMC 152, 223, 3012, and 3781
Start/Finish: 11/5-12-10/2017

I finished my Eiffel Tower design last night before dinner. I was stitching like a madwoman as I really wanted to finish it up before today. Not bad for working on and off of it for a couple of hours each day....except for the days I was being a bum and playing video games or watching movies ;)

Compared to the original color scheme, I like my colors a lot better. Not that varying colors of brown are horrible, I just wanted something soft and calming.

Hmm.....now I just gotta see what I want to stitch next. I haven't made any Christmas gifts this year, my heart and mind just isn't in the mood right now to do so. You gotta be in a cheerful mood to make gifts for the holidays otherwise it's a thankless task.

I think I'll probably pull out my CCN cakes and stitch on one of those or I might start another design. I'll have to dive into my stash and see what calls to me.

Until next time ^___^

Snow in the South? - December 8, 2017

That's right! Snow in lower AL, which is usually unheard of until at least January or February and even then maybe every five+ years.

It was cold and rainy for the majority of the week and by Friday, they mentioned that we might get snow, but we figured it would be above us in the upper part of the state....where snow isn't unheard of.

Imagine our surprise when we looked out the front door at 8pm and it was snowing!

Luckily for us the ground wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick around beyond noon the next day.

There was enough snow on the cars to make a mini snowman. I couldn't make a three ball snowman, the snow wasn't cold enough to make nice balls from anyway.

I took this picture of the moon in the sky on Saturday morning.

If we got snow in December does that mean we can still get snow in January or February if it gets cold enough?! It would be nice to have some days off of work ;) LOL

Until next time ^____^