Sunday, March 29, 2009


I've scanned my stitching progress photo for this week
because there is no sunshine today so using the camera
would be a waste of time. I finished the Sparrows
yesterday and am quite pleased with this square. Lovely
layout, and the birdhouse is quite charming.

I made a small start on the next square which will be
Cardinals. It would have been a bigger start but an
entire flock (herd?? crowd?? pod??) of frogs descended
on me while I was innocently minding my own business
and they made me miscount in not one, not two, but in
three separate places. I'm nothing if not consistent.
Anyways, I had to rip out a section, gnashing my teeth
as I went, and so now I'm ready to proceed with more
caution.

As for the lack of sunshine today, well, it is almost
April so those infamous showers are bound to show
up sooner or later. It's bucketing down here right
now, and the grand poobahs at the weather network
were even mentioning thunderstorms yesterday,
although there are no signs of those as of yet.

Yesterday was the exact opposite of today. It was
clear skies and brilliant, wonderful, welcome
sunshine for most of the day. I went out for a
walk around 10:00 am and before I left the
house was dithering about which coat/jacket
to wear. Since it would be a brisk walk I
pulled out my spring jacket for the first time
this year and headed out. DH was already
outside raking the front yard (ground in the
backyard is still too soft to rake yet) and he
was wearing his spring jacket too. It turned
out that my jacket choice was spot on for the
day and the weather.

In the afternoon we took the old car out for a
run and were out for over an hour. It
was lovely sitting in the car with the warm
sunshine pouring in and gently toasting us.
DH was even kind enough to stop in Acton at
the Needle Gnome on our way home again
where I picked up some needles, another set
of Q-snaps and one of those small plastic project
boxes that I use to keep the threads for a single
project.

Last night DH and I observed Earth Hour by gathering
lanterns and candles in the dining room and settling
in for a game of Cribbage to wile away the time. It was
quite pleasant. Don't know what the cats thought of it
all, but they either napped (Rupert) or sat in the front
window and kept an eye on the neighbourhood (Phoebe)
until the time was up.


I have written here before about the House of Night series
by P.C. and Kristin Cast. This week I read the fifth book in
the series, Hunted, which came out this month. As with the
four previous books this one continues the story of Zoey
Redbird who continues to fight the darkness and evil which
threatens her school, friends and humanity. Specially
chosen and blessed by the goddess Nix, Zoey must use her
intuition, her goddess given gift to control the five elements,
and her sense of right and wrong to fight against the threat
of a world wide war, vampires against humans.

These Young Adult novels are compulsive reading. I am
always eager to find out what's going to happen next as
Zoey must lead her small group of fledgling Vampires
against the power and allure of a god long imprisoned
in the earth now free and seeking to subjugate the
Vampires and humans of the world. Zoey is a great
heroine because she's not perfect. She is a teenager,
unsure of herself and apt to make mistakes. But she
has a loyal heart and a strong will to do what's right.

I find Zoey to be much more multifaceted then Bella
Swan and more interesting to get to know. So, if
you've read the Twilight series and enjoyed it perhaps
you should try the House of Night series and see
what I mean.


I also read the latest (I think... it came out last year)
novel by Cathy Reichs, called Devil Bones. Again it
features Temp Brennan in her roll as Forensic anthro-
pologist for Charlotte, North Carolina. This time
Temp is called to the location of a house under
renovation in the city where a secret room has been
discovered with all the appearances of witchcraft,
or devil worship or voodoo, complete with human
remains. A day later the headless body of a teenage
boy is found by a nearby lake and a zealous preacher
turned politician begins a rabid campaign against
the perceived threats of witches, and of the liberal laws
of the country that allow the practicing of such
beliefs, as well as the laws that seem to allow violent
criminals to walk free.

The forensics is fascinating, and Reichs is good
with her explanations, the characters are rich and
vividly drawn, and the dry, often humorous obser-
vations of Temperance Brennan are a delight.
Brennan's personal life, ex-husband, self absorbed
daughter, possibly ex-lover, and a never ending
battle against her addiction to alcohol, adds to
the story and makes Temperance live on the page.
She is quite the feisty, smart, big hearted
character who doesn't suffer fools gladly and who
wants to see justice for the victims of crime but
still has compassion for those she meets during
the course of the investigations she participates in.
I love her, and admire her, flaws and all.



DH is at church, the cats are snoozing around me here
and it's almost time for lunch. The laundry is waiting
as well. Oh joy! I hope to go for another walk when
the rain lets up a bit, and perhaps putting needle
(carefully) to thread will also be an option this after-
noon. We shall see.

Thanks for visiting and hope you have a wonderful
week with lots of time to stitch and hopefully some
nice Spring weather.

Cheers!

12 comments:

Maggie said...

Judy, I hope your stitching has been 'frog free' today, perhaps the rain bought them!! Your two little squares are really cute, i love the house.
The weather here has been really lovely the last week or so, Friday & yesterday we had rain but not too much, it was quite windy though, good laundry drying weather, lol.

Thanks for visiting me on my blog, i love your comments! i had to smile about Cadbury Chocolate, would it upset you if i told you that we live 7 miles from Cadbury World?? (sorry!!)I haven't been for a few years but it's a good day out & free chocolate!

If you feel like a chat sometime you can always e-mail me hydenseek61@yahoo.co.uk
I'd love to here from you.

Anonymous said...

Judy, hope you got out for your walk. We did the candle light too last night, hard to stitch though
Hope you have a good week and your mom is well

Brigitte said...

I love your PS birds project very much, it's so nice to see the typical PS colours on this lightly mottled bluish fabric. Nice effect. Sorry to hear that the frog visited so often lately. Looking forward to seeing the cardinal appear on your project.
Your books sound great. I still haven't read any of Kathy Reich's books although our library has them all. I watch the Temperance Brennan series on TV, but should try and read one of those books finally.
Yard work wasn't possible until now because the last snow melted last Friday. But I'm looking forard to sitting on the terrace and read while DH is doing some yard work, lol. Maybe next weekend if the weather cooperates.

mainely stitching said...

Oh, I love your description of the good weather. We've had a lot of rainy, cold stuff although the sun is shining right now.

Good luck staying frog free. Little rascals!

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy, your description of the weather sounds like here at the moment. It is pouring with rain and quite cool and very windy. I don't think it will be too long before we have to have the fire going.
Love your squares. They are looking beautiful.
Have you discovered this French site called Danybrod. http://dany88.canalblog.com/ This lady gives lovely freebies that she either designs her self or are from old lace books. If you can't get into the address try on my blog. There is a couple of really lovely designs at the moment that have been made into needle books.
I have noticed in the book shops lately that there are a lot of books from teenagers with vampires.
Well, have to go. Have to do some research for my youngest on a school project. I don't know doesn't he realise it's stitching time lol. - Sandra.

Pumpkin said...

Bad frogs, bad! I hope they go away now. Maybe they are attracted by the rain ;o)

Oh, I love Kathy Reichs! I prefer the tv show Bones much better than her character in the books though. Do you watch the show at all?

I'm sorry I have been behind but I'm hoping I'm almost caught up with my Blog reading now :o)

Hope things are well with you friend :o)

Shannon said...

Your WIP is gorgeous, as always. The colours are so nice - enlightening.

I really should add one of Kathy Reichs books to my reading list. I can't believe I've never read one.

How's your Mom doing, by the way ?

Andrea said...

Your weather sounds a bit like ours. We had frequent showers last Saturday and then Sunday it was glorious as is today.
Your PS piece is coming along great.
I'm going to have to read one of Kathy Reichs books, they sound like my sort of thing.

Beatrice said...

We turned out the lights too...mind you we left on a TV.
I made up for it by not turning any other light on the whole evening!I'm addicted. If I can't stitch I need to watch!
The spring is on the way but it keeps hiding behind a cloud.
Have a great day. Your little squares are sooo pretty!
Stitch with happy fingers!

Mylene said...

Hi Judy, your PS squares looks lovely, sorry abut the frogs visiting though.

I haven't read any books of Kathy Reichs but i like to watch the series Bones, will have a look if i can borrow an english version at the library here of her book.

Weather's been pretty good here the last couple of days, really glad of it as we have Max as company and been walking 2 or 3 times a day with him.

Working on and off on the hardanger pieces lately, but just don't have much free time for hobbies recently.

Hope your week is going well.

Maren said...

That is one comfy looking cat.

When I first pulled up your blog and set my eyes on those sparrow squares, I just had to stop and stare. They are lovely! Hopefully, the rest of your week's stitching will be accomplished froglessly.

stitcherw said...

Very cute squares, I love the Hummingbird and the Sparrows.This is such a pretty series. Sorry the frog was such a pest on the next one. Hopefully the frogs have all left now and your next square with the Cardinals goes smoothly afer all the reverse stitching you did earlier.

Hunted sounds an interesting read. I saw Twilight, but haven't read the books yet. However, I tend to really like vampire type books (unless they are really gorey) so this sounds like a series I need to check out. Haven't read Devil Bones yet either, but really like her writing (love the TV series too), so this is also on my to read list.

As usual, I'm behind in my reading, so just saw your earlier post of your framed finishes. You did a wonderful job. Needlework looks gorgeous in the frame you got, as does November Windows. The frame colors set the stitching colors off beautifully. I don't like the mounting board either, so generally either lace or pin the piece around the edges of the foam core. I like the idea if I change my mind I can take the piece apart and turn it into a pillow or something else later. When you use that sticky board, you're pretty much stuck with it the way it is. My last piece I pinned, but it seemed to take forever to get it squared so I had to keep adjusting the pins. It would have been quicker and easier to have laced it, as then I could have made little centering adjustments without having to pull out so many pins. I think Windows looks great even if the bottom border didn't fit in the frame. Hard thing with a stock frame is getting the exact inside space you want, sometimes it just doesn't quite make it.

Glad you found the new hoops you were looking for. Sounds like with the old one breaking your timing couldn't have been more perfect. Weather here is cool, but at least no snow and the sun is starting to peek out more and more often for longer periods of time. Things are turning green and sprouting too. I do believe spring is really here.
Sue