1.29.2013

If you need a laugh....

just please, pardon the ape...

1.20.2013

A Snowy Sunday

The weather outside is telling me it needs to be a lovely, lazy and  "stitchy" sort of day.
 
 
The furry folk are wearing a dusting of snow...
 
 
and
 our
 feathered folk friends
are in sort of  a feeding frenzy today...
 
 
 The birds had pretty good manners this snowy morning...
they waited their turn
and
didn't seem to mind sharing,
for the most part...
 
all
 but
the big red boy...

 
 he's spent his morning chasing off other big red boys...
he is territorial
and this is
 HIS
 buffet! 
 
 As you can see,
our ground is pretty barren,
an unusual site for mid January...
so the morning's dusting was somewhat welcome.
 
Can you spot the fat bunny?
 
 This boy comes out at night
 to feed on dropped bird seed.
   He just minds his own business,
quietly eating in solitude under the moonlight. 
He then can be seen for a short while
 in the early morning hours
 and
 then he disappears for the rest of the day.     
Isn't he nicely camouflaged
with this morning's
 snowy surroundings?
 
 
He looks well fed,
doesn't he?
 This morning I caught him do a little pruning nibbling on my Viburnum bush. 
{sigh} 
I'm okay with a little pruning,
 just hoping he doesn't get too carried away!
 
I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon. 
 The dh treated me to a late morning breakfast
 of
 griddle cakes and oven-baked Apple smoked bacon.
  Pot roast and veggies for an early dinner is the plan...
 I'm set to stitch the day away.
 
Have a good week everyone,
Brenda

1.17.2013

NEW Floss Keeps!

There are a couple NEW additions
 to the floss keep line!
  Of course,
we couldn't resist
 offering the
 new Valentine Sampler in a floss keep,
for your stitching pleasure...
 Isn't it sweet? 
Perfect little Valentines gift for that someone special!
And lastly,
ABC Sampler Floss Keep is the other new addition... 
The Floss Keep inventory
 has been replenished
 once again,
take a peek here to see them all.
 
Have a good evening,
Brenda

1.16.2013

Coming Tomorrow!

Printing, collating & packaging has begun!
 
Now that the chocolates are gone,
it's time to tempt your needle
with the new
"Valentine Sampler" pattern...
 with it's 6 sweet, quick-stitch projects!
  Chart includes patterns
 for a
 needle/scissor roll,
 pinkeep,
 spool thread winders,
scissor fob,
 thimble box
 and a
 sewing box.
 
X X X X X
 
With thy Needle & Thread,
Brenda

1.13.2013

Elizabeth Clark, 1822

My New Year's Day start,
meet
Elizabeth Clark, 1822.
 
This is an antique reproduction
 that is currently in my hoop,
and
 I'm having a hard time putting her down...
 
The original is from my personal collection
 and
 is heavily faded.
I love faded samplers.  
I'm always intrigued
 with how beautiful
 a faded sampler
 can still look...
 
 When Elizabeth Clark arrived,
she was glued to a piece of wood.
  Over time,
 the glue had hardened,
 and the sampler
 pulled away from the board
 with ease...shew!
  I turned it over,
 and to see the sampler
 in her un-faded state
 made me gasp...
she is beautiful!
 
Sharing snippets
 of some of my favorite motifs...
 
Look real hard,
and you'll find a sweet little man
in the corner.
 
 
a large grape vine
stitched in a somewhat quirky fashion...
&
a lovely brick house
{sigh}
 
X X X X X
 
And here's where
 I am,
stitching row upon row of
 tiny clay bricks...
 
 
 
The verse on the sampler reads,
"with humble heart and tongue
my god to thee I pray
o make me learn whilst I am young
how I may cleanse my way" 
 
The sampler originates from Everthorp, England
 and may have been
 Elizabeth's second piece she stitched. 
  From my readings,
 most girls often stitched two samplers. 
 The first being more simplistic,
with the alphabet and a few motifs.
  These samplers
often times
 did not get displayed in the homes. 
 
 Their second sampler
 was much more
 detailed and elaborate.
  It was this sampler that was often hung
 by the parents
 in the parlor to enjoy.
 This sampler
 was somewhat of  a status symbol...
  one must remember,
that this was the only formal education
 these young girls had,
 at about a cost of $2.00 a day.
 
 

1.11.2013

A Sneak Peek...

at the upcoming
 new pattern release,
            "Valentine Sampler".    
 
Pictured is the "Thimble Box" project from the chart. 
The pattern will include patterns
 for
 6 sweet, love-themed cross stitch projects
 that just hint
Valentines
 and are suitable
 for keeping out year-round.
   All for the price of $12.00.
   One payment,
 6 patterns in one,
 and no club to join...
so everyone
can take in the fun
 of re-purposing their spent
 Valentines
candy boxes. 
  Are your chocolates gone yet?
 
My story....
After purchasing
 my two boxes of  Russell Stover's
 heart sampler chocolates,
I broke into the small heart box first...
just because it was so small,
 and so cute...
just 3 pieces of candy. 
 
  Inside was a milk chocolate caramel (love these),
 a coconut haystack (love those, too),
 and some other creme-filled candy
 that I'm not too fond of.   
 I opted for the coconut haystack first,
 saving the caramel
 for the next morning
 to have with  my morning coffee.....mmmmmm.  
That takes a lot of discipline,
 you know...
saving a piece of candy
 until the next day.
 
  Woke up,
 filled my coffee cup up,
 and off to find my little box of chocolates,
 specifically thee caramel...
no caramel.  
 Thee caramel is gone!
 So thoughtful of him
 to leave me the creme-filled candy... 
I think I might have said a naughty word... 
 The dh beat me to my caramel,
how dare him!  
  Now,
 dh usually stands for "dear husband",
 but,
 when he starts messing with my caramels,
 I'm thinking
 the d
in dh
could stand for something else........
you can be the judge!
 
Have a good weekend,
Brenda
 

1.04.2013

A New Find!

I imagine there are a few of you,
 like myself,
 where your local Wal-Mart
 is your only source for craft supplies,
specifically craft paint.
  I've used their little bottles of craft paint
for years,
 and have problems
 with my paint drying out,
and
 locating just the right color.
    I don't feel like the craft paint companies
 have done their best
to kept up on color trends...JMHO.
 
   So,
 I wandered down the house paint isle,
 while perusing my local Wal-Mart,
 and
 found these...
Cute little paint tester jars in gobs of colors. 
 Even varying shades of within a color! 
My paint dilemma
 has been resolved!
And,
 you know what is my favorite part of these little 2 oz. jars?
Looky!  
A paint brush is even included! 
 No paint brushes to wash,
 how nifty is that?!!
Now,
 I know you aren't going to be able to paint much detail
 with this size of brush,
 but
 for large surface background painting,
the brush is ideal.
 
As you can see,
 I am readying my heart-shaped boxes
 for the upcoming
 "Valentine Sampler"
cross stitch chart. 
 After buying an ivory, red and brown paint,
 I've decided upon the Ground Nutmeg Brown (#WGN32) paint,
making the boxes look like a milk chocolate heart. 
If you would like to step outside of the box,
and paint your boxes a different color,
paint colors Cranberry Zing (#WGR32) or Whispering Wheat (#WGN30) also match the floss selections very nicely.
 
 
Wishing you all a fun-filled winter weekend,
Brenda
 

1.01.2013

It's that time of year again!

 
Time to wander down the candy isle!
This year
 I'm even going to give you reason
to treat yourself
 to
two boxes
 of chocolates!
 
Hurry up,
 and
 sink your teeth into
 the chocolates,
cause we are going
 to be re-purposing
 the
heart-shaped boxes
 into
 cute little sewing/ditty boxes,
with
 cross stitched
embellishments!
 
This year you will need the 4.75 oz. Red Foil Heart
and
the teeny little 1.75 oz Photo Heart
 
Valentines candies
are now showing up
 in the candy aisles,
 check your local retailer!
 
  If not available for you locally,
you can purchase directly
 from
 Russel Stover. 
 
Click on red hyper-links above,
 to take you directly
 to the correct heart-shaped boxes. 
It is very important that you use the correct sized
hearts, to fit the cross stitched work.
 
For those of you who didn't partake
 in this annual
 Valentines event,
here is last years chart...
 
 
With thy Needle & Thread,
Brenda