Stitching Up a Storm in Alamo City

Babies on Halloween

I am actually stitching a little bit these days;  I stitched on Maddie's stocking for 3 days last weekend in Memphis. I had them ship it to me, so I haven't gotten it back yet.  It's a beautiful canvas and the stitch guide Amy wrote for it is so fun.  I'll post pictures as soon as it arrives.

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you the pictures of our (grand)babies in their Halloween costumes.  (Maddie is on the left.) 

Mark and I left a big bowl of candy on our front step on Halloween night and went over to see the babies before they headed out in the wagon to go Trick or Treating.  

After the photo session, we went out to eat and came home to find one piece of candy left in the bowl.   I guess our neighbors are training their children to always leave the last piece for someone who might need it more than they do.  Funny. 

Last year, Jakey was an elephant.   His costume was way too big for him then.

Guess what?   He was the same elephant this year - just a little bit bigger.

He loves food too much to be an elephant 3 years in a row, however.

I have been stitching since I got home, too - on the Cat in a Kimono.   It's so close to being finished it's ridiculous not to do so.

Happy stitching!
Jane

 

Not one stitch. But a good excuse.

On Friday, Jake came over to spend a long weekend with me.   I say "me" because Papa left for a business trip on Thursday.  So we've been having a great time, but you KNOW I haven't gotten any stitching done.  Jakey's Mommy, Daddy, and sister, Maddie went to Disneyland for a long weekend.

As you can tell, he's been spending a lot of time in his Cozy Coupe.  It's good news and bad news.  The good news is, he loves it and he found the little compartment in the back that easily holds 3 pacifiers so he can switch from one to the other while he's in the Coupe.  The bad news is he wants to be pushed around in it non-stop.  We have a round-trip route through the house all figured out and we've made countless laps just today!! 

 

He's been playing the piano a lot - and he claps for himself as much as he plays.

I didn't figure out until today that his most favorite thing is anything with ketchup on it - or just ketchup itself.  Tonight he had pasta in (Emeril's) marinara sauce and meatloaf dipped in ketchup.  What was the big controversy a few years ago?   School cafeterias were counting a serving of ketchup as a vegetable?  Dumb on several counts.   Let's just say Jakey met his ketchup quota today.

Maybe I'll stitch someday soon.   But I'm having fun in the meantime.

Happy stitching.
Jane

Latest pictures of my 2 other angels (most of the time)

No words required.

Happy stitching.
Jane

Last weekend was another great one

I went to Austin on Thursday of last week to take a class with Tony Minieri.  In this one, I chose the canvas and then he helped me select the stitches and threads myself.  (Usually he writes the stitch guide and gives it to you when you arrive.) So this was a bit different and a lot of fun.

This is a Ewe & Eye Canvas, which I like a lot.  For about 15 years, in another life, I lived in a house that was built in 1862 and we had a picket fence and while it wasn't a saltbox, I coveted one!!  The little "village" we lived in had a brick main street and was very colonial - especially so for a town in Indiana!!  So this reminds me of those days. Our house was taupe with a black roof - like the one on the upper right.   We had dark green shutters on it and red doors. 

I chose this because I liked it but also because I thought the lack of a lot of detail would give me some space for nice stitches.  And that it did.

I told Tony that I wanted my flower box to be nice and shiny like the ones I have on the railing on my veranda.  So we used Fyre Werks Soft Sheen and Kreinik Ribbon to make this nice framed pavillion stitch.

We decided on a lot of overdyes.   Mostly Weeks Dye Works - which i like.

For the fence, I chose Mandarin Floss and the wicker stitch, but we jazzed it up a little bit with some Kreinik braid.

Maddie and Jake came over to stay for a while yesterday.   I think I have a little stitcher on my hands.

Jake had fun, too.

Happy stitching.
MIMI

 

 

Absolutely no (good) excuses.

You know it's bad when your own children comment to you that you haven't been blogging lately and they're wondering why.

I don't have any reasonable excuses for not blogging  - except that I've been really busy.  And just prioritizing a little differently, I guess.

 

Christmas was laid back this year - Jordan was in town for almost 2 weeks - but he was our only out of town family visiting until a few days later when my niece, Rachel came to visit for a few days.  Then we had a dinner party for some friends, and shortly thereafter left for a week in Cabo.  

On our last day there, Maddie became insistent that she wanted a hot dog.  So her mom drove around San Jose looking for a street vendor who had hot dogs for sale.  I jumped out of the car and got 2 "with ketchup".  The ketchup was more like the sweet and sour sauce from Chinese cooking - the stuff you put on egg rolls.   Yuck.

 
It was ooey and gooey, but she enjoyed it a bunch.

We just got back last night.

So, there's not been much stitching going on ....  but we're having fun.

Happy New Year.
Jane