My Stitchalong

As I said in my last post, my future SIL's bridal shower over this past weekend was a success. We had a nice day, weather-wise. We started setting up the club house the day before and everyone was there early on Saturday to put the finishing touches on the room. The happy couple after they arrived at the shower: I think they look lovely together. This is the wedding sampler that I made for them. I started it right after they got engaged and had it finished in the fall. It's been hanging out in my closet since November, framed and ready to be given to it's new home. Did I mention the fire alarm? The shower was held in the club house of the co-op where the couple live and the clubhouse shares bathroom facilities with the communityh pool. There were two girls in the ladies shower and somehow the heat and steam from the shower set off the fire alarm. The alarm is hard wired to the fire department, so not long after the fire alarm went off, two very large fire trucks ...

I was sitting at home yesterday morning. Michael was at his summer music program and I had about a half an hour before I had to pick him up w hen, when my MIL called me and said that she and my FIL were going to the beach in the afternoon and did the kids and I want to come? Sure! M and Z love the beach! So, after everyone had some lunch, we changed into our bathing suits, lathered on the sun block, and headed off to Smith's Point. When I take the kids to the beach I like to have someone else with me. Smith's Point is an ocean beach, and, at times, the waves and the undertow can be pretty rough. Yesterday was no exception. It's a good thing I was holding onto Z because a few times the waves swept him right off his feet! And he's so adventurous . He didn't care that he almost got swept out to sea. He just kept wanting to go deeper and deeper into the water. The Atlantic Ocean on the southern shore of Long Island: Z digging in the sand. M digging in the san...

Wow! Two posts in one week. I must have alot to say right now. I had my Petite Sampler sitting in the craft closet because I was not sure how I wanted to finish it. I didn't want to take it to get it framed because I didn't want to spend alot of money on framing right now. So, I went to Michael's and walked around, hoping for some type of inspiration. I thought that if I could find a frame that I liked, I would try to frame it myself. Well, that didn't work out. Nothing that they had really caught my eye. When I looked in the woodworking section I found pieces of unfinished wood, like what you would paint some kind of sign on. I bought that and took it home. The next day, I looked around for some kind of spray paint for the wood. I was thinking gray or silver. I found something by Krylon called Make It Stone. It's spray paint that gives whatever you're painting a textured, stone like look and feel. I bought that, too. (I got that in Sears Hardw...

Let's start this story WAY back at the beginning, 12 years ago in another time and place... MJ and I were newly married. I have always been a big Yankees fan. My sisters are Yankees fans. My father was a Yankees fan...well, you get the idea. Anyway, my all time favorite Yankees player, Don Mattingly , retired after the 1996 season. I was heartbroken. Soon afterwards, the Yankees front office announced that there would be a Don Mattingly Day on Sunday August 31, 1997, which sold out almost immediately. The Friday night before the big day our good friends, Jon and Christine, called and asked what we were doing that Sunday afternoon and if I remember correctly, we were supposed to go to Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame because I had never been there (still haven't been there) and wanted to see it. Someone that Jon knew GAVE him six tickets to that game on Sunday and did we want to go?? HOLY COW!!! I think I jumped up and down for the next two days because ...

It's amazing what you can make from things that you have in your home! I promised my future SIL's mom that I would make a wishing well for the bridal shower. MJ and I looked in the attic and found a large box, just sitting there, hanging out, empty. My MIL had purple and silver wrapping paper, which just happens to be the colors for the wedding, and lots of lace. The bride's mom had the foam board that we used for the top of the well, and the ribbon and pearls. So, my MIL and I spent two nights this week taking all of the things we found in our houses and made this: I had a general idea of what I wanted it to look like, and my FIL helped us actually construct it. At first, I was starting to get a little worried. In typical man fashion, the whole thing is put together with duct tape! There was silver tape everywhere and I was concerned that we would not be unable to cover it all up. But, with a little patience, and lots of lace, pearls, and wrapping paper, it magic...

It's early on a summer Monday morning. MJ's left for work and I've got two little sleepy heads still in their beds. Ahh ...the sound of quiet. That's kind of rare during the summer, so I thought I would enjoy it for a minute and then go about my day. Recently I was reading one of the message boards that I frequent and one of the other members asked this question: What is stitching for you? I have been asked that questions so many times. We were visiting MJ's brother ands his wife once a few years ago. Our kids were small at the time and still taking naps and while they were sleeping I pulled out my stitching. My SIL was sitting on the couch talking to me and she asked me, "Why do you do this? I mean, what's the point?" MIL keeps asking me why I keep buying stash and that I"ll never live long enough to work on it all. Oh, that answer can be long and it will be different each time I get asked the question. For me, my stitching is a ho...

I don't usually post so close together, but I finally got around to taking pictures of two of my WIPs and I wanted to share them. This first picture, affectionately being called "the blue blob" is the HAED that I started a week ago. I'm about half way done with stitching the first page and those stitched are tiny!! As I said in my last post yesterday, stitching over one is really not as bad as I thought it would be and, much to my surprise , I am really enjoying stitching this way. This has opened up a whole new stitching world for me! This is by LHN and is called "Needlework Necessities". It's being worked on 28 count evenweave that I tea dyed: You know what I love about LHN patterns? They are simple, but so pretty, and they are usually pretty quick stitches. Does this happen to anyone else? You see a pattern and you just know in your head that it has to be stitched on a specific color? That has happened to me several times, and I am a...

My cousin sent me before and after pictures of Grandma's sewing machine. Before the clean up: After the clean up: Isn't that amazing? He told me that it works, fifteen year old bobbin and all! My cousin and his wife are going to bring it to me when they come down in the fall for a wedding. MJ and I think we know where we're going to put it. I just have to move something to make room for it. I have no stitching pics this post, but I can report that I have been working diligently on the HAED pandas. It's still pretty much just a blue blob in the upper left hand corner of the fabric, but at least now it's a bigger blue blob. I'm about halfway done with the first page. It's a slow go, but I'm really enjoying working in it. I'm actually finding the over one thing - I can't believe that I'm saying this - easy. After all that fretting and worrying about whether or not I would be able to do it, I feel like an old pro at it! Guess that's what...