Hello everyone and welcome.  Hope you're

comfortably seated and have a nice cup of

tea or any other beverage which appeals to

you close to hand because there's lots here 

in this post to share.   

There's equal parts book news and stitching

news to report plus some reno updates so

I'd best get right into it.

I collect Folio Society books which is a

company in England who publishes

illustrated, beautifully bound editions

of classic books.   Modern classics as

well as those from the past.  Fiction,

history, poetry, short stories, biographies

and so on.   The Folio Society covers

it all.

Over the years I've collected a fair number

of these books but they are costly and so

it's not something I do often.  Perhaps 

once a year or so, especially when they

are offering good deals.

Last Tuesday I was walking home from the

train station on what turned out to be the

hottest day of the year ... thus far.  

It was brutal walking in that heat let me 

tell you!!   I got three quarters of the way

home and didn't think I was going to

make it any further.   So I popped into

a little thrift store that's a few blocks 

from my house to poke around in their

book section and to recover a little in

their air conditioning.

I wandered around and checked out the

main book section but didn't find anything

too earth shattering there.  So I headed 

back to the front of the shop to check a

couple of shelves where they keep the

more valuable or in demand books.

I was giving those two shelves a 

cursory look through when one

book caught my eye.  Life On The

Mississippi by Mark Twain ... a

Folio Society book!!  Then I 

realized that the book next to it 

was also a Folio book ... and so was

the one next to that!!

In all look what I found ....

The six books to the left of The Greek

Myths were in the thrift store.  All of 

them in mint condition in their boxes.

 for $10.00 each.   I started frantically

snatching books off that shelf, six of

them in all!!!   The total of those six 

books is what one of them would 

normally cost!!!  I had to haul 

them the rest of the way home in

the heat but somehow that didn't

seem like much of a hardship.

Friday night, on my way home from

working out at Curves I stopped at

The White Rabbit second hand book

store just to do a quick (yeah, right!!)

browse through to see what might 

be there.  Got chatting with the 

owner and mentioned my incredible

Folio haul from a few days previously.

Guess what!!   He mentioned that 

they had received a few Folio 

Society books to sell as well and would

I care to see them??   

They had three books or book sets

and I had a hard time deciding which

one to buy.   The folks at The White

Rabbit had a better idea of what the

books were worth so they'd priced 

theirs accordingly.   But still, the

Greek Myths by Robert Graves 

that I chose was still a third of the

price I would have paid from the

Folio Society themselves.  Plus

no shipping charges to add to that.

(Same for the books from the thrift

store for that matter!!)

I am a very happy camper today!!!!

I have bought a few newly published books 

recently too including the sequel to A

Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

which I am desperate to get into as soon as

I finish my currant read.  I've heard good

things about The Chaperone so am curious

to read that soon and Seraphina is a young

adult fantasy that sounds really, really good.

And then last Saturday I hit a couple of garage sales

during my morning walk and came home with this

lot.    I'm halfway through the Bob Hope book.

It's hilarious!!!

I have no idea where I'm going to put all these 

new books.   Well, the Folios will go on the

shelves of the new built in bookcase in the 

living room with the rest of my Folio collection

 but the others???    The library shelves 

downstairs are full to bursting ... again.   It 

might be time to do some culling ... again.

Last Sunday the last touch was added to our

main floor renovation.  The two area rugs

arrived.   We set them in place and were

then able to celebrate the official conclusion

to our reno!!    Started mid February and 

finished the beginning of July.   Not too bad.

And the best part???

Phil and I are still married!!

Above is a picture of the dining room all

decked out.

And here is the living room.  I think we'll

designate the single chair to the right of 

the photo (next to the book shelves) as

my downstairs stitching chair.

Speaking of stitching ... a few updates

are in order here.   Finished the square

and added a bit more border to my

P.S. Summer Sampler.

Close up!!!

I've put a few stitches into a project that

was abandoned for a year which I 

suppose makes it a UFO?   Drawn 

Thread's Game Sampler which I'm

suppose to be stitching with Maggie.

This thing is going to be huge (if I ever get

around to actually finishing it).  Every time

I work on it I wonder what the heck I'm

going to do with it when it's done.  It

would cost a fortune to frame and it's a

bit too big for a pin keep ....

I don't think that I've ever shared anything

about this project.   Another rather big design

which I pick up once in awhile to put a few

more stitches in.

Here's the chart.

Here's what it's suppose to look like when

(ever) it's done.   I love My Big Toe designs

and this one is gorgeous!!!   

Must not dwell on the guilt of not getting

these stitched up in a timely fashion.  Must

remember to just sit back and enjoy the 

process ... which is all that matters.

Another long post.   If Blogger ever puts

a limit on the size of the posts you can 

make I'll be in big trouble.

Thanks for dropping by.   

Cheers!

Big news people!!!   I've been stitching!!!

I know ... it's hard to believe but it's true.

Last Monday was the Canada Day holiday

and I plunked myself down in a chair on our

deck in the afternoon and stitched away on

my PS Summer sampler.   The square is

almost done.  Just some blue sky and border

to stitch.  I'm quite pleased with my 

choice out of the four possibilities offered

which is a relief.   I dithered and fretted over

which of the squares would suit me before

committing to the butterfly square.

A close up of the square.   It was so nice

to just sit outside with the birds chirping,

the sun shining ... and our neighbour's

air conditioner roaring in the background.

I haven't concentrated on a stitching

project for that length of time (an entire

afternoon) in ages.   I need to do it more

often.  

This week was a tough one at work.  It was

first of the month which is our busiest time

but this month's first was the busiest that we've

been in a long time.  Both Wednesday and

Thursday we worked late, although I don't

work as late as the others in my department

because it takes me too long to get home from

work.   

And it was stinkin' hot this week too which

made any time spent out of doors a real

ordeal.   Walking home from the train 

station was not pleasant in that heat and

especially so when it included a pretty

steep hill to hike up.   

So when I arrived home one night and found

a package waiting for me it gave me such an

energy boost.   Last month  I was the lucky

winner of a gift certificate to 123 Stitch

curtesy of the delightful and generous 

Mary Ann of Just Stitching to celebrate 

her birthday.   Now usually when it's your

birthday you're suppose to receive gifts

not give them out.  However, as I said,

Mary Ann is a generous soul and she

gave the readers of her blog the opportunity

to win a shopping spree at a fabulous

online store.   I still can't believe that I

won.

I decided on two charts from Silver Creek

Samplers, including Dandy Dreams which

I first saw on Maggie's blog a while ago.

Her's stitched up so beautifully and looked

so sweet when it was framed I just couldn't

get it out of my mind.   So now I can 

stitch my own pretty sampler whenever I

am ready to do so.   

I also ordered a few K&Co. scrap booking

embellishment packs since 123 Stitch also 

sells some scrap booking stuff.  So I

managed to cover my two crafting 

obsessions with one gift certificate!!  

Many thanks to Mary Ann for making

my week easier to bear!

I took a stroll around the deck and garden 

today and snapped some pictures of our

many pots to share with you.  And also

to keep as a record for reference when 

next Spring rolls around again and I'm

trying to remember what flowers worked

best in which pots or planters the previous

summer.

Martha Washington geraniums are so pretty, aren't

they???   

Chippy was hanging around last weekend when

DH and I sat out on the deck for dinner.  Guess

he was hoping for a handout or something.  Since

he's figured out how to   a) climb the pole to the

bird feeders to help himself to the seed there  plus

b) he's found a way to get into the shed where 

the seed bags are stored, even when the door is

shut and locked and he's helping himself to that

bounty as well.  Cheeky nuisance.   Good

thing he's cute!! 

More shots of the newly decorated living room.

The built in storage and display area with 

drawers for linens and cupboards for other

stuff plus nice deep shelves above for the

displaying of the nicer things.  

And of course there is now a built in bookcase

for my collection of Folio Society books and

my National Geographic books.  Storage 

below for CDs and photo albums.  I love

it so much!!   Note new hard wood floors.

No more carpet.   Which means the 

fur from our two cats has free range and 

tumbles across the floor like tumbleweeds

in the desert ...followed by an annoyed me 

 with the vacum cleaner hose!!!   

All that fur rolling across my floors.  I

keep checking the cats to see if they're 

cold because they surely must have lost all 

their fur and are lying around the house 

naked!!!

Nope,  just lying there ... growing 

more fur!!!!

Another view of the corner next to the

window.   Looky ... we have crown

molding!!!!    Nifty!!    

Hope all you folks down in the States

where the temperatures are much 

worse then they were here are keeping

cool as you can under the circumstances.

Take care!!

Thanks for visiting!!

Cheers!