Finishes

I was getting a bit depressed about the lack of pictures in my 2013 Finishes album, so I decided I'm going to count each of the Santa's Village houses as its own finish.  Cheating?  Maybe, considering I am stitching it all on one piece of fabric, but it keeps me motivated.  I swear Santa and Mrs. Claus's eyes aren't really as freaky as they look in the picture.  I took these outside in bright light, and you're seeing shadows cast by the itsy bitsy tiny beads I used for their eyes.

I did make some changes to the cookie shop, and turned it into a bakery by stitching a chocolate cake on a silver stand.  The cookie button is borderline too big for my 36 count fabric, but oh well.

For those that follow me on Instagram, these next pictures will be a bit of deja vu.  June, hold your breath, I finally finished Eve's Garden and the chart will be in the mail to you shortly.

Shepherds Bush Eve's Garden, stitched as kitted

The orange tree is absolutely loaded with flower buds, and smells heavenly as you walk by.  Just like a bottle of my favorite Jo Malone Orange Blossom cologne!

The lavender is coming into bloom as well.  If it were my house/yard, I'd have this all over the place.  Its beautiful and one of the best natural bug repellents around.  I had 3 plants right next to my small patio up in Utah, and could sit outside in the evening and never be bothered by gnats, no-see-ums, or any other kind of flying insect that tries to eat me alive.

I've totally gone California hippy with my breakfast.  Greek yoghurt is fine, adding homemade pomegranate jelly is delicious, the ground flax is healthy, but the hippy part was the local bee pollen I added.  Oh well, it fits in with the Birkenstocks I seem to live in due to my various ankle surgeries.

Dare I say it?

Have I turned into a 1 (or 2) at a time girl?  I pulled out Eve's Garden because of the fabric count was easy on my eyes, but now I can't stop working on it.  First Elizabeth Burrows was a start and stitch until finished project, now its looking like the same with Eve's Garden.

Shepherds Bush Eve's Garden

Last weekend Dad and I went to a behind the scenes tour at the Midway, open only for museum members.  It was a lot of fun, starting out with coffee and pastries since we had to get there so early.  We were able to see 6 areas normally closed off to the public - fire room, engine room, arresting gear room, aft bake shop, damage control central, and I can't remember the last area.

Midway's Damage Control Central, with dad in the blue jacket on the right

Midway engine room

We still had some paid parking time after the tour, so walked around a bit.

Fantail Cafe on the Midway, seen from the shore

Huge private yacht, 1 of 4 owned by a Russian oil tycoon

San Diego tuna fleet - these guys have a lot of history and were drafted during WWII

The Kiss - its actually erected now.  There was a ceremony this morning

Stitching has been a bit slow for a few days.  The cooking gods decided it was time for a blood sacrifice to ensure my food is delicious.  I just wish it wasn't the thumb on my right hand.  Not a knife this time, just a cheapo mandoline since my good ones are in storage.

Dinner the night this happened (Wed) was seared pork chops with sauteed apples and a Calvados pan sauce.

Recent Finishes

I'm proud to say I've had some finishes, somehow snuck in around exchange stitching.  The biggest is my 2012 BAP Challenge piece, Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden.

Mom, Dad and my initials are stitched in red.  The friends that always spend Christmas with us are done in gold.  Mary Lou and Jim are family to me.  Katrina was kind enough to share details with me about stitching the alphabet at the bottom instead of the charted Christmas Garden phrase.  The colors are still Christmasy, but this at least gives it the option of being displayed year-round.  I decided after taking the pictures I needed to add one more set of initials.  I'm going to put a green SB up in the top right empty spot for Shepherd's Bush.  This project was a gift from them to me last Christmas, and all of them signed the inside of my chart.  Lots of things I could say, but I'll just keep it simple and say they're all special to me.

All of my other finishes are small compared to this.  First up was the tote bag which was one of the projects from the retreat.  I it in Arizona while we were motorhome camping.  Perfect project for imperfect stitching conditions.  Each of the designers at the retreat supplied a motif (or 2).  The stitchers could pick and chose which motifs to put on their bags.

Shepherd's Bush 2012 Retreat welcome project

Next up is a piece designed by Nancy from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  It was originally started for an exchange, but then I decided it was too Christmas-y, then I fell in love with it paired with the red velvet.

Victorian Motto Christmas Reindeer, stitched on 38 ct linen
with Hand Dyed Fibers silk in Garnet

Another project that was started for an exchange, but didn't make the final cut was this Homespun Elegance piece.  I decided there wasn't enough actual stitching and didn't want the recipient to feel like they got the short end of the stick.

Homespun Elegance Christmas Won't Be Christmas, stitched on
30 count R&R linen with various overdyed cottons

Next up is a Shepherd's Bush design from a few years ago.  I've had this mostly stitched for a while, it just needed the last few stitches put in and the finishing done.  Carol recently did a tutorial on hemstitching, so this was my first attempt.  I'll definitely be doing more hemstitching in my future.  Its a bit tedious and time consuming, but you get into a rhythm and it looks fabulous.  I'd love to finish a sampler with hemstitching.

Shepherd's Bush Merry pin cushion.

Last, but not least, a pair of Primitive Hare finishes.  The larger one was kitted up at the SB retreat and is stitched on 30 count linen, the smaller I changed to read Merry White Christmas, and is stitched on 40 count linen.

Primitive Hare freebie

The past 3 months in 30 seconds...

September....

Mom and Dad headed up to Oregon for Dad's 50th high school reunion.  I joined them for the first leg of the journey (in the motorhome) and we stayed at Seal Beach for 4 days.  While there we....

Went to the Getty Center

Went to the Getty Villa (my personal favorite)

(you can sort of see the backside of mom 

through the glass - in the red shirt)

Went to the Queen Mary for dinner one evening

and Mom and I had afternoon tea another day

and we went to the Long Beach Aquarium

Annie and I then headed home for 3 weeks of bliss, I mean 3 weeks of uninterrupted studying.  Oh, I almost forgot (don't tell Shawn) but  a friend came out to see me from Chicago.  We did the Zoo, the Midway, a walking wine tasting tour of Temecula, Food Truck Friday dinner, and a quick tour of Balboa Park before he flew back to Chicago

The 'rents got home and 2 days later I headed up to Utah for the Shepherd's Bush Retreat.  The theme of the retreat was home for the holidays, and it really was home for me.  The ladies at the Bush were my family for the 4 years I lived in Ogden.  It felt great to be back with them, and Teri put me right to work.  Oh woe is me, what a hardship it was to have Paulette Stewart all to myself for half a day (extreme sarcasm there).  Poor Paulette had to put up with a borderline stalker fan picking her up from the airport and acting as chauffeur for the day.

Mindi and Paulette, picture "borrowed" from Plum Street Samplers

Mindi and Jill, with Midge and Gidge,
picture borrowed from Plum Street Samplers

Yes, if you look closely you can see I was wearing my budha pendant on the day I picked Paulette up and took her on a tour of the Temple grounds.  You can't visit SLC without stopping by, its beautiful.

From Utah I drove down to Arizona to meet my parents in Sedona.  For some reason I can't seem to find the gazillion pictures I took, except for the few on my phone.  Oh well, I guess they're on the camera memory card and didn't make it to Dropbox or Picasa.

"Eat more Beef" at one of the artist colonies in Sedona

Typical pose for Annie and Dad in the evening when motorhome camping.

I also got a chance to stop by The Attic to drop off some donations for their charity auction and drool over all the samplers on the walls.  I tried really hard to not look, my budget was already blown.

Early October I went to Las Vegas for my annual geek fest, otherwise known as the SOE Fan Faire.  Its really just a chance to see friends I only see once a year and to have some fun going out to dinner.  Not quite as much fun this year on an extremely limited budget, not to mention I haven't played my geek game (Everquest) in about 9 months.  But, it was good to see friends.

We went to the Mob Museum

Had a "Dark Dining" experience (that's Shawn with me)

No, those aren't bras on our heads, just fancy sleep masks.

Somewhere in all that I did some stitching, a few exchanges, a few finishes, and ripped out half the backyard to prep it for artificial turf.  Pictures on all that next post, if anyone still reads this blog.

La Mesa fun - Car Show Thursday

La Mesa is a really fun town to live in, there's always something going on, especially in the summer.  Thursday night is Old Car show night.  They don't shut down the street like Ogden, UT used to, but its fun see the cars both parked, and then the others cruising the strip.  We went last Thursday, trying to get as much fun into the weekend as possible, since Sunday was Father's Day, and dad had to go into surgery on Tuesday (3rd one in 30 days).  There was a bit of everything.

Bright colors

Flames

Advertising for a local brewery (Green Flash Brewing)

Fuzzy dice

Beautiful artwork

And live music!  The other end of the strip has a DJ.

I've been doing some stitching, just not a lot of picture taking.  I have a project up by my computer for when I need a small break from school, or for something to keep my hands busy while listening to pre-recorded class stuff.

Eve's Garden by Shepherd's Bush

As you can see, not a lot of progress on it, but that's fine, it means I'm doing school and not stitching!  In the top right corner you can see my homemade needle minder, made with vintage mother of pearl buttons.


I also got some finishing done, for a project I stitched a very long time ago.  I think it was a limited edition kit Lizzie Kate did for Breast Cancer Awareness.  Anyway, the date stitched on it is 2007.   I figured it had sat around long enough not getting the finishing touches.

I still owe a TUSAL pic, and also a pic of the main project I've been working on since finishing Jenny Bean's Gentle Spring.  Maybe next week, since I have a friend visiting this weekend.  Of course, we're going to kick it off with a visit to tonight's car show, followed by burgers at Johnny B's!


Oh, and not to leave you in total suspense, Dad's surgery went well and he come home from the hospital sooner than expected, on Wednesday.  Purpose of the surgery was to remove and replace some hardware inserted a month ago that they think was contaminated.  Second surgery didn't fix the problem (just cleaning the area internally), and he still wasn't healing, so he got to go through a 5 hour procedure.

Life is not always warm and sunny

No, this isn't a doom and gloom woe is me post.  Just proof that Southern California is not always sun, blue skies and palm trees.  I should watch what I write on my blog and leave as comments.  Its been raining pretty much the whole day, sometimes just a drizzle, and sometimes a downpour with thunder and lightning.  Not quite the same view as I posted last time, but I was trying to stay dry under the overhang of the patio roof.  The ocean and islands are just to the left in photo.

What you're seeing is a lot of jade plant.  The backyard is right up against a canyon, with nothing behind us, until you get down to the freeways below.  Perfect wildfire land (and coyote heaven, there's a pack or 2 back there).  When my parents first move here about 15 years ago, my dad was trimming back a jade plant and just chucked the cut branches back into the canyon.  Imagine his surprise when they actually took root and started to grow.  Now you're asking why would he want jade back there?  Jade holds water, and doesn't really dry out, meaning it doesn't burn very well.  After 15 years of cultivating jade on that back hillside, they now have a very effective "green" firebreak.  The fire crew that comes out to cut the real firebreak every year or so loves it, and makes a point of keeping their ugly scar of naked earth well below where my dad has planted the jade.  Plus, the jade helps with erosion, establishing a root system on the very steep hillside.

Over the last couple of days I've had a few ornament finishes.  Fa La La was one of the new small kits Shepherd's Bush had at their Christmas open house, and I started stitching it right away up in Utah.  Very fast and easy stitch!  I switched out a couple of the colors, since purple and pink don't scream Christmas to me.  I really can't claim the "finish" finish on this, since mom did 95% of it.  What started out as being a lesson on  piping for me, turned into a refresher for her, and she made the mistake of saying quilting would be cute on the back.  Watch what you say mom, I'll take you up on that offer.  So, my small piping lesson...

turned into this.....

Shepher'ds Bush Fa La La, stitched with kitted
supplies, except swapping a couple of colors

At least I made the piping myself, got the pieces ready, and did the stuffing and hand-sewing shut.

Nest up was Primitive Snowman by Ewe, Eye and Friends.  I love the patterns these guys make, and have stitched a few of them (we won't talk about how many more I have in my chart stash that still need stitched). They're usually cute, on the small side, and have specialty stitches in them.  At the time I was actually stitching on this, I wasn't really in the mood to mess around, I just wanted it done!  Part of the chart got cut out (the year) and I think I forgot to go back and add in a satin stitch diamond on one spot.  Oh, and confetti stitches got left off.  But I hate confetti stitches, so they'd have been left off anyway.  It got the rusty wire and bells treatment, since I couldn't figure out what to do as a hanger.  Really I forgot to sew some ribbon in when I was at the machine - both times.  Yep, the first time it got sewed up, I had my backing fabric on backwards and didn't even notice until I was turning it.  That will teach me to try sewing something while I'm playing a computer game and sneaking over to the sewing machine on down time.

Ewe, Eye and Friends Primitive Snowman, stitched on 40 ct scrap
with HDF silk floss, pattern adjusted

I hope everyone is taking time to breathe during the holiday season.  It can be so much fun, but in the hustle and bustle sometimes the stress can build up.  Just remember, the sky won't fall if you don't get every single decoration up, or every single holiday yummy baked.  Your family will still love you, and to me that's always what the season has been about, coming together and enjoying it as a family.