Have you noticed that the first week that you start
and work on a new project you seem to get a ton of
stitching done on it, and then slow down after that
as the novelty and newness and excitement wear
off?
I have been working on City Gardens every spare
minute that I have had this week, and it's been
so cool to see the blobs of colour turn into an
actual, recognizable street scape. Or perhaps
it would be more appropriate to call it an
alley scape??
I have got to get to a Michael's soon though
because in all my stash I have no DMC black,
and I'm gonna need it for the gate in the
centre of this scene soon.
The business that DH works for is in the
midst of moving to a new location and so he
had to work most of yesterday. And he's
been working an hour or so here and there
during the week after his regular hours.
It'll take about three weeks or more to move
everything, and get set up in the new
location.
So there has been no free time to drive me to
Michael's. And with gas prices being so nasty
we prefer to make such "luxury" errands to be
included in trips we're making for other things
as well.
This week I received my monthly bit's from Stitching
Bit's n Bobs, and I've used my scanner, to see how they
show up vs when I take a picture of them with my
camera. Sharper picture, but the white background
doesn't show off the colours to their advantage. At
least not the softer colours. I'll keep experimenting
with it to see what can be done.
And a package of Lizzie Kate charts arrived from the
Ebay dealer that I won them off of a few weeks ago.
These little charts are cute, but when I stitch them I
am going to have to take them in to work and blow
them up on the photocopier to make things easier
on my eyes.
Same package: the charts in these packages are much
easier on the eyes so won't need "blowing up". I've
been browsing through these and picking out the
designs that I want to stitch first.
And these are the second part of another bid that also
arrived this week. Three more M Designs. I really love
the snowman sampler and the houses sampler. Very
pretty.
My newest book start is another C.J. Sansom mysteryfeaturing Matthew Shardlake, which take place during
the reign of Henry VIII. Shardlake is a lawyer whose
patron is one Thomas Cromwell and it is at Cromwell's
behest that Shardlake undertakes an investigation into
the murder of another of Cromwell's men at a Benedictine
monastery. Shardlake's sharp mind and quick, dry wit
are coupled with a compassionate nature honed in part
due to his own physical condition, for he is a hunchback.
This is actually Sansom's first book featuring this
character. I read the second book in the series last year
after getting it on sale and enjoyed it's well researched
story and the author's ability to bring that period of
England's history vividly to life, in all it's corrupt,
filthy, colourful and terrifying detail.
Note: the cover on this edition of the book is pretty
hideous. How did they expect to attract readers
with such a dull, forbidding exterior?? I know,
we're not suppose to judge a book by it's cover...
but we often do anyways.
*************************************************
We continue to have mixed weather, with frequent
bouts of heavy rain and thunderstorms, which is
keeping the grass nice and green and lush even
though we're in the midst of summer. Usually by
this time much of the front lawn is a nice shade of
beige, and looking very sad.
Had a wonderful encounter with a tiny humming-
bird on Friday night while sitting out front stitching.
She was flitting around one of the hanging baskets
we have on a wrought iron pole in the front garden,
and taking nourishment from a bunch of Fuscia
coloured mini petunias. I was able to stand about
a foot away from her as she buzzed from flower to
flower. I could have easily reached out and touched
her. It was amazing. It lasted about five minutes,
and then she flew off, pretty much oblivious to my
presence. The only hummingbirds that we get here
are the Ruby Throated hummingbird. Wish I'd had
my camera with me at the time.
Saw this, loved this, ordered this....it'll look wonderful paired
with the Tea Room. Love the frames LHN and CCN use to
frame their designs too, but I suspect they'd cost a small
fortune to ship up here. Duty and all that stuff, you know.
My friend won tickets to the premier of Mama Mia here last
week. She says it was wonderful. It opens officially next
weekend and she and I plan to go as soon as we can. It has a
marvelous cast (hello: Meryl Streep!!) and the scenery is
spectacular! We saw the live show here a few years ago and it
was fantastic. I love ABBA and saw them in concert once many
many years ago. It was incredible, and something I'll never
forget.
Well, guess I'd best get on with my day. Hope you all have
a wonderful week, with lots of stitching and lots of sunshine.
Cheers!!
16 comments:
Nice new stash there girl and those threads look so yummy. Try a dark piece of fabric or paper behind the threads on the scanner. We seem to be missing all the storms. We see the huge black clouds but they go right around us.
Great progress on your new piece. I find the same thing... when I start a new project it seems to move in leaps and bounds for a little while... then things slow down!
More wonderful stash!
Mama Mia looks like a great film to me, too. I hope you'll enjoy it.
I think your progress on your WIP looks great. And Kathy's suggestion for a better scan on your threads is exactly what I was going to say. ;)
The hummer experience sounds heavenly. We have a lot of blackbirds, larks, and magpies as well as the less popular jackdaws. The blackbirds are pretty cute, but they can't compare to a hummingbird.
You have made a great start on your new piece. I agree with you on that new starts do seem to move along quicker. It probably is partly as more time is going into them, but also with so much more blank fabric each stitch is so much more obvious.
Hope you get to the store soon for the DMC, there is nothing worse than being all set to stitch a section and not having the floss. Love your new stash too, what fun patterns, you're going to be quite busy.
Needlework Shop is great, and will go wonderfully with Tea Shop. On the LHN board several people have mentioned creating a street of shops (Tea Shop, Needlework Shop, Boutique, etc..)I think that would be fun. As to Mama Mia, it opens here next Friday too, and I can't wait. I also love ABBA's music, think Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan will be fun to see, and throughly enjoyed the musical when it was in our city. What a fun outing to look forward too.
Sue
You have loads of lovely new stash.
What a great experience with the hummingbird. If I didn't have three cats I would encourage more birds to my garden.
I'm going to see Mama Mia on Wednesday night. I'm really looking forward to it. You'll have to let us know if you enjoy it.
I see it I see it!!!!
The street that is.
I love all your new stash.
Don't you just hate to run out of a colour.
Oh I can't wait to see Mama Mia as well!
Have fun!
Look at all that great new stash! And I totally understand what you mean about the 'newness' of a project wearing off!!!
Great stash ! :D
For frames similar to that and great prices (from what I can recall) - look for a shop called "Muskoka Bay Frames". Their site is down right now I think, but as far as I know they're still around. The site was muskokabayframes.com They make frames very similar to the one in the pic, in various sizes. And from what I hear they're great service-wise.
Great stash!!! And a fantastic start on your new project!
Love the new CCN design...I'll have to add that one to my wish list :)
Great new start! And you are on an huge L*K run. Isn't it fun to find a designer that you really like and then start collecting some of the different charts. That seems to be part of the stitching passion for me ~ collecting! I doubt I could ever finish all the charts I now have in my collection.
We saw the live production of Mama Mia - wasn't it fun!
I laughed when I read your comment about new starts. I'd just finished saying the same thing to my DH. I went great guns when I first started my PS piece and now I'm so close to a finish but can't seem to move along much.
Your City Gardens piece is lovely. Who's the designer on this one? The colours are so pretty.
I've never been that close to a hummingbird. We get a few around here but I haven't seen any this year.
I've made a date with a friend to see Mama Mia as soon as it's out. Love that Pierce Brosnan!
You nailed it. His name is Snap. Now you have to come and introduce yourself to him!!!!!
Hi Judy,
Just catching up with my blogging. I'm a bit behind.
Love your new start. I love the pink in it. Should look lovely when its finished.
I know the feeling about starting something and go your at it like a bull at a gate and then as you go along the feeling dies. I usually start thinking about what I am going to do next.
It's a lovely day here today. I just went to pick my son up from work and there are pilgrims everywhere.
They are all out here at the moment with the Pope for the World Youth Conference. I think a lot of them have come up here for the day. There are tourist buses EVERYWHERE. Oh well that's what I get for living in a tourist area LOL. - Sandra.
Hi Judy, just got your lovely comments on Kitty.
Well I know that my Sisters plane is running and hour late at this stage so maybe its all the stuff she bought. She bought 2 of my son some more lead soldiers for their collections so maybe that is the trouble. My eldest son has a nice collection that I started when he was little and then MS has added to whenever she has gone to England. They look lovely on his bookshelves in his unit.
My Fathers family were Master Tanners up until 1984 when my Dad and Sister were run over on Christmas Eve. My Dad had to retire then as he could no longer do that kind of work and also going through the windscreen of the car didn't help. It was a business where 5 generations worked in. After Dad's accident my Uncle worked for awhile in another Tannery and then he to retired. My Dad was 54. His Dad worked there till he was about 84.
Still looks like another nice day here although I think we are going to get some more cold weather.
Don't say anymore about the cost of petrol. We are currently paying around $1.75 a litre. I can remember when we first went to litres that it was around 15cents. Ah memories, or I should say I shouldn't go there as I'm showing my age LOL. - Sandra.
You're building up your chart collection nicely, lots of lovely new stash. Great start on your WIP.
Judy, the colors on this piece are amazing! You've got a nice start there :o)
Look at you go with all that stash from Ebay! LOL! It must be like Christmas at your house :o)
Don't you just LOVE the Needlework Shop! I'm very exciteda about it too :o)
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