Sunday, July 27, 2008

Sunday, July 27th, 2008


I was surprised and pleased to receive this nomination
from Andrea at The Craft Room. Thank you so much
Andrea. You've already been nominated for this by a
half dozen or more people, otherwise I'd send one right
back to you. And if you want to see my nominees then
look at the Cross Stitcher's blog roll at the side of my blog.
Everyone listed there has a blog well worth exploring
and reading.


The fence is in!! Well, a good portion of it anyways. Still
have to back stitch the grid on the bottom, but at least now
it looks more like a gate. I'm pretty close to being half way
done on this piece now, and am sort of in the "mid project
slump" period. Neither nearly done, nor just getting
started so am slowing down a wee bit. But I won't quit on
this, else it'll never get done. I know me.


I've been trying to organize my stash in the limited space
that I have (at the moment) for it. I've been picking up
various types of drawers for threads and for fabrics,
seeing which ones work the best. I have two of the
above units now, and they seem to work great for either
threads or fabric. This is the newest, and since it
doesn't fit in my cupboard, because theres no room,
I've got it on top of the cupboard, for now.


In this picture you can see the two bottom shelves of my
stitching cupboard. Thread has to be kept secure thanks
to Rupert, who'll go into the cupboard when my back is
turned to grab whatever might be there to take. The
wire basket holds big charts, and the dark blue tin/box
on the bottom shelf holds small charts. But it's full. So
really tiny charts have gone into one of the plastic baskets.
For now.


And the top shelf holds more fabric, threads, accessories
and my binder of freebees. Charts seem to be the hardest
things to store, but have them in a way that's its easy to pull
out what I want without causing an avalanche. I guess it's
all a work in progress.

You want to see a craft/stitching room to die for?? Go
to Coni's blog - Spinster Stitcher and search out the
pictures of her incredible room. It is a room to die for!!
Wonder if she designs libraries?? Hmmm...


After finishing Shadow's Return mid week I picked out
another favourite author's newest book to read. This is
book three in Jacqueline Carey's second trilogy about
the land of Terre d'Ange.

The first series featured Phedre no Delaunay, courtesan and
spy, and Joscelin Verreuil, master swordsman, former
Cassiline brother, and Phedre's lover. The second series
features Phedre and Joscelin's foster son Imriel, who's
mother and father were traitors to their country, and who's
love for the heir to the d'Angeline throne threatens to
tear the country apart.

Jacqueline Carey writes books that are rich in detail.
She has taken our world and recreated it in a new and
unique and fascinating way. Not just the countries, but
their histories, their religions and their traditions. And
there is romance and passion in abundance. When I
read these books I really lose myself in them.

I will be sorry to reach the end of this series, but I understand
that Carey intends to write more books about Terre
d'Ange, although setting them in different eras from the
first two trilogies.


And a couple of graphic books/comic books came out that I
was delighted to find. I'm a huge fan of Lynn Johnson's and
I didn't know these two in the series were out until I found
them in the bookstore yesterday. I have pretty much all of
her books and am always reading through them and getting
involved in the lives of the Patterson family. The early
books were about Elly and John, and their young family. Just
short strips with funny anecdotes about raising a family.
But then the strips evolved into longer story lines, with
serious real life events mixed in with the humor. And the
artwork evolved too, becoming more detailed and real.
This is the only comic that has makes me laugh out loud,
and that I've also been moved to tears over.


Rain. Thunderstorms. More rain. For a summer that
experts were predicting was going to be hot and dry,
it's sure been a wet and somewhat cool one. Even when
it's humid theres been a breeze to keep things from
getting too unbearable. So the grass is still green, even
in those areas that are the first to turn brown and
brittle after a few days of heat and sun. And DH hasn't
had to water the grass at all yet this summer!!


I love coleus and always plant a few in the garden, under
our big shade tree. And I put some in this planter which
we put at the side of the house, just at the gate leading
into our yard. This spot gets some sun for a couple of
hours a day, but otherwise is in shade for the rest of the
day. The variegated leaves add colour to the spot and
visual interest. The flowers are negligible, and not the
main focus of this plant. These aren't as tall as they
usually get by this time of year because of the weather
I think, but they're coming along nicely all the same.

***************************************************

This 'n That.....

My mouth and tongue are pretty much back to
normal now, although it was Wednesday of this
week before I could say that. What a relief!!

DH had the old car appraised yesterday, since
it's been almost 25 years since the last time he
had it done. We took her out for a short drive
yesterday again, and maybe will do so again
today. Promised the neighbourhood kids a
ride too sometime. And ..er..their parents too!

DH's company move is just about over, and now
comes the fun part. Unpacking and settling in.
And the necessary renovations to adapt the
new building to the needs of their work. It's
been a rough and exhausting few weeks for
him and he's covered in nicks, cuts and bruises
from all the lifting and packing. We've got
two weeks of vacation coming up soon, and
he's going to need it.

I guess that's about all the news for this week. It's been
awhile since I posted any cat pictures so here's Rupert
sprawled in one of the tub chairs enjoying his afternoon
siesta! What a life.

Have a great week everyone!! Cheers!!

14 comments:

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy, yes my Dad is ok now but he certainly aged quite fast. He was 54 when they had their accident. My Sister is ok but has moments when she has the odd ache and pain.
Your garden is looking lovely. I particularly love the pink flowers in it. It should really pretty when it is finished.
I am having an urghhh moment at the moment. I just took some photo's of the things that my Sister bought me back but I can't find the lead to hook the camera onto the computer. I tried another camera and had no success whatsoever. I don't know it I'm suddenly being hit with a dose of Alzheimers LOL or what. I'm sure I put them both away together and I'm usually the only one who uses them although I think I'll have to check to see if one of the boys has it.
Anyway, she bought me back a Cath Kidston book bag from London. A pair of pretty blue dangly earrings from Paris and a charm with a gondolier for my Pandora bracelet. You can see I am spoilt. There are a few things she forgot to give me, plus my birthday present and possibly my Christmas present.
The rest of the family did equally well. Two of my sons collect lead soldiers so they got some of those and all the boys (including DH) follow Liverpool in Football so some of them got Liverpool shirts and/or jackets. Some of the things she bought for herself are really lovely but I'll tell you about those another time.
Well better go back an look for this rotten lead. If I don't post in awhile you'll know I can't find it. - Sandra.

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy, Me again. Just thought I'd let you know that I found the lead for the camera. Apparently the 13 year old used the camera and lead for a school assignment. He put the camera back but not the cord. Ahhh. He had me thinking that I'm going ga ga. I will have to have a word with him when he comes home LOL.
Photo's now on computer but I will have to update the blog tomorrow as I now have to much to do and the day is running away from me. - Sandra.

Rowyn said...

Rupert looks very, very contented!

You are looking well organised with all those drawers. I have a craft room, and although it's tidy I have bits stored in a number of different places - I really should organise it better.

Your lawn looks super lush. Ours is usually brown and patchy in the summertime, or green and mossy in the winter.

Have a great week.

monique said...

Aw, I love that pic of Rupert... I just want to kiss his tummy!

Great stash organization! I like that everything is one place. Mine is organized, but in several sections of my room. I'd love to get a big cabinet for it all :)

mainely stitching said...

I love that picture of Rupert! He looks SOOOOOO cozy! :D

Your stitching progress is great - good for you!! :D And I love the pictures of your coleus. I used to have lots of those, but ... something happened. Actually, at the rate I'm going, I should probably stick to plastic plants that can go through the diswahsher! LOL!

Your organizational attempts are great. I also spent a bit of time tidying this weekend, but as the before pictures would've just been TOO embarassing, I didn't take any. ;)

Beatrice said...

Hi Judy,
Well you certainly look well organized. Evey now and again I get in that mood and did all that last week too.
Maybe I'll take a photo and post all my stash. ...Aw maybe not there is too much... we'll see.

Congratulations on the Award. I know how you feel. All of the blogs that I read should get one.
I'm glad you did!!!

The fence is looking great. I can see the gate for sure.

Boy the weather has been bad but the gardens sure look good don't they. Your looks good in the photo.

Tickle Rupert's belly for me. He looks to comfy!

Take care and get some sleep!
Good night.
Beatrice

Deb said...

What a lovely backyard you have! I could see some fun stitching and lemonade times back there. Your organization of stash looks great to me, Judy. It's a good way to make your time preparing to stitch less hectic. So good to check in with you again! Hugs, Deb

stitcherw said...

Nice progress, glad you were able to pick up the black DMC you needed so you could keep moving along on it. Loved the pictures of your storage area too. I really need to organize my stuff better. However, first I need to get organized and finish off the back room so I can put stuff up in it again. As always, to many projects and to little time.
Sue

Carla said...

great progress on your stitching!
cute pic of Rupert :)

Coni said...

YOU! Thanks for the shout-out on the Spinster Stitcher Studio? Who's better than you? I'll trade you one studio for that gorgeous back yard, girlfriend! How lovely all of your growing things look. Oh, and PS, your stitching organization is fabulous!

Wendy said...

What fun to see your stash organization! I love organizing my stash, trying out new methods of keeping control of this ever-growing pile of charts. DD keeps telling me to get rid of things I have done, well she doesn't realize that most have never been stitched yet, so that would only put a tiny dent in my pile.

Your backyard looks so colourful and glorious. I planted coleus this year but was not too successful, it looks quite puny and stunted compared to yours.

Andrew Clarke said...

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Pumpkin said...

Oh, I LOVE looking at other's craft rooms and how they organize their stash :o)

Congrats on your award!

That piece is just so lovely and the colors just pop. Is your plan to have it framed?

Your yard is so beautiful and GREEN! It has finally cooled off this week and I hope it stays like this for a bit.

Rupert is just a ham in front of the camera ;o)

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Judy,
I've just read the most wonderful book and found out it is a series. You would love it, I think being it's a "vampire" series. But it's Young Adult Romance. The Series is called The Twilight Series and is by Stephenie Meyer...if you put her name in google her website comes up and explains the series. She also has a new Sci-Fi book out called The Host...just wanted to pass along a good read! Hugs,
Vonna