Merry Christmas!

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Spent a blissful few hours today working on this sampler.  It's addictive!  I am really enjoying it.  I haven't gotten far yet, but I'm making progress.  I have been working on another piece I'm doing for a friend, but had to put it down and get Sparrow out for a few hours to get my "fix".  Listened to the rain outside and Christmas songs inside while I stitched.  Doesn't get much better than that.

Started a new project!

Well, I bought a new sampler pattern - His Eye is on the Sparrow, by My Heartstring..  I really needed a new project!  lol  I saw it on another blog and had to purchase it.  It's charted for 28ct but I decided to go with 40ct to make it just a little smaller overall.  It is a beautiful sampler and there is even a Facebook page for those working on it!  This is my progress after two days working on it.  Yes, I am a slow stitcher.  But in my defense, I am also doing other stuff during the day. 

More Blackwork Progress

I'm making progress.  I finished part 2 and started on part 3!  I haven't worked on it every day, but it's coming along.

Some Blackwork Progress

I am working on the Blackwork Journey Save the Stitches, offered as free patterns on this blog: http://www.blackworkjourney.co.uk/freebies1.shtml

This has been going on for a good while, as you can see, and I am very behind.  I was finally able to pull it back out to work on Sunday, and have worked on it a bit each day since.  I am only on the second block.  I am really enjoying it.  Part of the challenge for me is finding a rhythm to each of the stitches, so I don't have to keep looking back at the pattern.  Some are easier to do this way than others. 

I have it on my Needle Needs stretcher bars.  I do love these bars, and also purchased the lap stand and floor stand.  I'm currently using the lap stand, but want to pull out the floor stand and see how that works.  The only issue I have with the company is that they are very, very slow to deliver.  I placed my last order 3 months ago.  They were prompt to process my payment.  About 1 1/2 months ago they emailed me to let me know that my order was being processed.  I finally emailed them this week to check on the order.  They apologized and said it would be shipped out that day.  I know all their products are hand made, and some items are always on back order.  I know they are coming from England.  But.......  Ah well.  I think I have all the sizes I want now for frames, so once the final order arrives, I should be set for life.  I want to get some other projects framed up so I can rotate them.

My new kitchen!

Well, I do like how the kitchen turned out.  No, I LOVE how the kitchen turned out!  It's not totally finished here, but I don't want to post pictures of how it looks right now because  there's still lots of stuff that needs to go back in the cabinets.  But I am getting there.  I even have some plants in the window!  And cookbooks on the shelves there in the corner to the right of the window.  And the china cabinet is also in place and can finally be seen.  The "beverage station" on the third picture is set up with the coffee pots, coffee grinder, toaster and in the open section, coffee cups.  It is working out perfectly.

Another Renovation Update

The renovation has started up again, after almost a month when our contractor had to go home and take care of some repairs at his own home.  Kitchen cabinets are in and he has had nightmares about them!  Poor guy.  I do have plenty of storage in my kitchen now!  Since my last post, the laundry / pantry has been completed and the kitchen is in progress.  The laundry is pretty much finished, just a few last minute touchups.  This is how it looked before emptying the kitchen.  The freezer and fridge are out there now, as well as my temporary kitchen.

The kitchen was totally gutted, the entry door moved and turned into an arch, all new drywall on all the walls, crown molding installed,  walls painted and cabinets installed.  I was cabinet and countertop poor in the old kitchen so I fixed that problem!  I will show pics of the completed kitchen once it's finished, but here's a taste of what is going on.  Maggie had to inspect all the new installs.  I think she approves.  We never had any issues with them getting on the counters in the old kitchen so we will have to retrain them now.  I think it is more a matter of "hey, something new in the house!"  They will be allowed on the counter in front of the picture window, as they are used to being allowed to sit on the windowsill.  But the other counters will be off-limits to them.  Wish me luck!  Good-bye ugly cabinets and floors!  Good-bye white walls!










































This is the site of the new kitchen entrance.  The short wall on the left of the picture hides where the fridge will go so it won't be visible from the living room. 

The colors here are closer than what they really are, except for the countertop.  It is more charcoal than deep black.  You can just see the edge of the new archway.  The cabinet hardware has been ordered and will hopefully arrive this coming week.  I needed 40 knobs!!!  That tells you something about how much storage I have now!  lol   I went for drawers on the lower cabinets for the 24" deep section as I hate trying to dig in the back of lower cabinets to reach stuff.  There was so much hiding in the back of the old cabinets that I had forgotten about!  The cabinets on the north and south walls are only 18" deep, due to space restrictions.  But nothing will disappear in them.  I got 6 lower cabinets, each with a drawer.  They sit higher as they are "finished" garage cabinets, but I like that about them - more of a buffet style area than regular kitchen counter height.  The counters shown in this last picture are regular height and will include the stove, sink and dishwasher.  This is the east wall.  The west wall will be bare, to house my antique china cabinet.

Renovation Update

Work continues on the house.  The air conditioner is in.  The hallway has been demolished, wiring updated for new fixtures.  New service panel is in on the back of the house so we are upgraded from a 50 amp service to a 200 amp service.  This is the current state of the laundry room (right) and hallway (below).  David will focus on closing in the hallway so we can run the a/c without cooling the whole state of Arizona.  Right now, the hallway is open to the roof.  The old furnace was removed from it's closet, so when we get to the master bedroom, that space will be incorporated into our closet, doubling our closet space.  As he works on the hallway, David will also finish off the laundry/pantry so the appliances can be finally placed in their spots and I will have somewhere to move the kitchen stuff so he can tackle the kitchen after his next break









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Quilts in the Baltimore Manner

We took a field trip to Williamsburg to view this exhibit and also the Threads of Feeling exhibit.  We were not allowed to photograph in the Threads of Feeling exhibit, but if you ever get the opportunity to see it, go!  It was enlightening and also very touching.  The orphanage is still in operation today.
I bought the book for this exhibit and am waiting for the book on the quilt exhibit to be published.  Meantime, I will share the pictures I took.  I got to thinking the other day that these women really did art quilts.  Not like our art quilts today, but they led the way.

This is the gallery where the quilts were displayed.  It took us over 30 minutes to view and absorb.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

The red surrounding the buds is one piece of fabric, not bias, cut out and appliqued on.