Finally a finish

For the last year or so I have not stitched as much as I would have liked.  Many reasons that I won’t go into here.  When I did stitch, I found that none of my many WIP’s appealed to me so I would start something new and become bored with it within a month.  In late January, I started yet another Chatelaine however, this time it was a smaller mandala and guess what!!!!  I actually finished it.  So without further ado, I give you Mini Mandala Mystery 3 by Martina Rosenberg of Chatelaine Designs:

 

 

Of course this warranted a new start so …I finally started Indian Summer Reflections by Martina Rosenberg.  What a shocker huh?  Another Chatelaine in the works.

How could I NOT give you the latest in what Isabella has done.  Besides looking cute, she seems to have a sock fetish.  She will drag out dirty socks, clean socks, tights.  Doesn’t matter.  If it is foot wear, it is fair game.  That is something I can live with.  What she did one morning at 5:30 is NOT something I can live with.  I was sound asleep when I heard a noise.  Thinking it was a dream I was going to go back to sleep.  It was then that I realized I was not dreaming and the noise I heard was right by my ear.  I wiggled a foot and could feel Isabella sitting at my feet.  I realized that the noise I heard was an animal (can you say rodent?) scratching itself.  I slowly reached up to touch what was in my hair by my ear.  Yes folks, it was a mouse.  The damn cat brought me a live mouse as gift.  I screamed and sat straight up.  Now, I’m not going to say I would be thrilled if she would have brought me a dead mouse as a gift but it would have much better than a live mouse.  And did she have to put it in my hair?  Nothing makes me want to say to my hairdresser, “please shave my hair off” more than knowing a mouse was sleeping in it.  I still like Isabella though.  How could you not love this:

 

Especially when she does something like this on a day that my daughter had a bad day:

Have a great week everyone!

Blizzards and kittens

In my last post I made the comment that I was secretly hoping for a blizzard and thought I would be waiting a long time.  Little did I know that within a month, that blizzard would be happening.  Last tuesday night that secret wish became a reality as mother nature proceded to dump about 18 inches of snow on South Central Wisconsin.  Woo Hoo!!!!!  It all started late tuesday afternoon and continued through the night into the late wednesday morning.  It was awesome and incredible.  The only thing NOT incredible about it was the sinus headache that I had to endure the previous monday night.  Three hours of snowblowing and shoveling had the driveway, walkway, hottub, and patio dug out.  That weekend was only to bring another one to two inches of snow but my next headache told me differently.  Sure enough, another five inches was on the ground.  It’s a winter wonderland around here with piles and piles of snow.

Now, Isabella is a totally different kind of headache.  I was stitching on Chatelaine’s Mini Mandala Mystery 3 with Miss Izzy watching me from the floor when my daughter needed my help with something.  I anchored the needle and floss, which was still in fabric as I only had one and a half stitches done, and got up and helped my daughter with whatever it was she was needing help with.  When I came back to my stitching chair, there was Izzy sitting in the chair with my floss hanging from the fabric to her mouth.  I hoped it was hanging through her mouth but as I got closer to her I could see the floss was coming from her mouth.  Crap!!!  I walked up to her and started pulling it realizing I was pulling it from her mouth and throat.  The end of the floss comes out of her mouth and no needle.  Insert a few not so polite words here.  I call the vet and they recommend the after hours, 24 hour emergency vet clinic in Middleton and an endoscopy.  Soooo …off Marissa, Isabella, and I go to Middleton.  The x-ray confirms the needle is indeed in Izzy’s stomach along with a full stomach of food.  Oh joy!!!!  Of course the first course of action they suggest is surgery to the tune of 2500-3500.  I don’t think so.  I inquire about inducing vomitting, then endoscopy, and then mother nature taking her course.  They try to induce vomitting but she wouldn’t (damn kitten).  An hour after starting the endoscopy, the needle was finally removed from Izzy’s stomach to the tune of about 600.  Needless to say, ALL needles and floss are now completely put away, up high if I have to leave my stitching without anyone in the room. 

The Packers looked great in the Super Bowl and Aaron accomplished something Brett never did …MVP of the Super Bowl.  Way to go.  Now that football season is completely over, college hoops gets my undivided attention.  What timing too.  This saturday is the #1 Ohio Buckeyes @ #14 Wisconsin Badgers.  The Badgers are undefeated at the Kohl Center this year and are extremely hard to beat there.  Bo Ryan has an excellent record there.  However, they are going to have to play a lot better than they did against Iowa last night.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I hope to post a stitching finish VERY soon.

Kelly

A tale of two colors …

When I first moved into my current house, I painted all the walls a plain, boring, light, neutral color.  Several years later I decided that boring color had to go.  I started with the main bathroom which is also referred to as the girls bathroom.  Please note there are two girls in the house (not including the cat).  The remainder of the house was done shortly there after.  Fast forward now to a about a month ago.  A comment was made about “hating the color” of the main bathroom.  I’m not sure exactly what happened or what was said after that but …the bathroom has been redone.  Marissa and I spent the weekend painting the bathroom and then I spent today putting it all back together.  All in all it turned out pretty good I think.  I still have some paint touching up to do along the baseboards and on the ceiling.  Marissa had a couple of ceiling hits.  🙂  Now for the photos.

Before:

After:

The lighter shade of brown is called Blanket Brown and the darker is called Traditional.  The paint is Mautz but the colors are Behr.  The Mautz store color matched the paint. 

Ahhhh …this is where the cat comes in.  After painting all day Saturday, I needed some holes filled in on the wall the mirror hangs on.  Now, Marissa and I had NO problems with Isabella getting into to the paint however, others in the house did.  The hole filler was tinted with the lighter brown paint and then the still wet paint tray was placed on closed toilet lid.  I’m sure you can guess what happend.  You know it.  Isabella jumped up onto the toilet, into the paint tray, jumped back down because her little paws got wet and she some how managed to step where the sheet covering the floor was not.  I got the thrill of cleaning her paws and there is still one paw print on the floor.  However, it blends in quite nicely with the tile so I am not going to stress about it.

Now that I have done a little painting and redecorating, I really would like to do some more.  I am hoping in the very near future I will have an opportunity to do so.  An entire house.  I already know the house and I already have ideas and colors floating through my mind. 

Off to do some stitching for the remainder of the evening and hopefully waking up to some fresh snow tomorrow.  Secretly I would like a blizzard but think I’ll be waiting a while for that.

With love,

Kelly

Kittencapades

My daughter just loves her cat, Isabella, and it is so much fun to watch the two of them together.  However, I am starting to feel bad for the cat.  Marissa hardly ever lets her just walk around as she is always picking her up and carrying her around.  Today, this is what is find the two of them doing:

And Isabella actually fell asleep in the doll carrier.  Go figure.  They do have a lot of fun together but they also have their moments.  Tonight Isabella was on her window seat and Marissa was staring at her when suddenly she pounced on Marissa’s head and scared her.  Needless to say, they are still getting to know each other.

One of all my all time favorite cartoons is Calvin and Hobbes.  Isabella reminds me a lot of Hobbes at times.  One strip in particular.  Hobbes is laying on his back in the sun when Calvin asks him why tigers sun their tummies.  Hobbes tells him that is how tigers recharge their batteries.  Isabella employs the same recharging technique.

 

As evident, she has an extremely rough life around here.  She wanders around and is always looking for something to get into.  Sometimes it is trouble that she gets into and sometimes it is just plain fun. 

With love,

Kelly and …

P.S. – Today it was paint that she got into but that is a post for another day.  🙂

Christmas is past …

and it is now a new year.  It has to better than the last one.  I just want most parts of the past year to be forgotten. 

Christmas as always was hectic.  Three celebrations in three days, two of which I hosted.  Christmas day my dad, step-mom, and brother came to the house.  Stockings were checked, gifts unwrapped, and much food consumed.  Throughout the early part of the day we mainly just munched on goodies that my brother made.  Then for dinner I made Cornish Hens stuffed with homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, fresh bread, with sauteed apples over vanilla bean ice cream for dessert.  Had a nice day over all.  The next day, my mom, step-dad, and brother came over.  Lunch consisted of Beef Chili, White Chicken Chili, cocktail smokies in bbq sauce, cheese and crackers.  Dinner was Steak, Swiss Cheese Fondue, baked potatoes, dinner rolls, and homemade dutch apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream.  In between meals we checked stockings, unwrapped gifts and in general had a nice day.  Every year my mom gives everyone a Christmas tree ornament.  I finally took a photo of one that she got me a couple of years ago and those of you who know me well will say it fits:

Heres this years tree.  This is how I like the tree, with all the unopened gifts and stocking under it. 

One of my favorite gifts that I received this year was a set of three nestled storage chests.  I absolutely love them and they help keep some of my stitching stuff out of sight.

Tuesday when I was out running errands, I had some time and stopped in an antique shop in Monroe, WI.  I had been in it before but never really find anything exciting.  This time was different.  In the downstairs level, way in the back, I found this:

Alas, I didn’t have the $350.00 that was on the price tag.

Well, I hope this finds you all well and that 2011 treats you all with many wonderful things in life.

With love,

Kelly

Winter has arrived …

Received the first snowfall of winter and I think the biggest shock is the fact that it actually stuck.  Usually the first snowfall never lasts more than a day.  Marissa has been outside playing in it with one of her best friends as well as her cousin.

Marissa, Dylan, and Savana

Her cousin lives in another town and to get there today I took the backroads.  Everything looked so pretty and I happened to have my small traveling camera with me.  I purchased one small enough to always have in my purse for moments just like this.  I drove over the Sugar River and happened to look out the passenger window and as I did, I saw this …  

I would love to have some land some day that has a river or stream running through it for just this reason.  Nothing seems prettier to me than this.  I have the house all pictured in my head both inside as well as out.  I can visualize it decorated for the different holidays as well as the different seasons.  I can picture everything about it in my mind and I actually have a folder on my computer with the floor plan as well as decorating ideas.  I know, I’m strange but if I ever win the lottery …there will be no stopping me.

I have been busy getting the current house ready for the holiday season.  I have the outside of the house decorated and all but the tree done on the inside.  Still not sure what to do about the tree because of Isabella.  It will all get figured out some how.  Pictures will follow soon.

I hope the weekend has been kind to every one and may you always dream a little dream.

With love,

Kelly

One done …

and one to go.  Holidays that is.  Thanksgiving has come and gone and I survived.  I say this because the tuesday before Thanksgiving I managed to come down with a nasty cold.  I still managed to pull off all the cooking, baking, cleaning, and decorating for the day.  The menu was turkey (of course), home made stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, homemade bread, pumpkin bars, and holiday cut-out cookies.

   

              

Onto the next holiday, Christmas.  I used to really enjoy the holidays and get into them.  Especially Christmas.  Some where along the line I have lost the magic of Christmas but I hope to get it back some day.  I still decorate, wrap presents and all that jazz but it just isn’t like it used to be.  I don’t get excited for it any more.  I keep thinking of the Faith Hill song “Where Are You Christmas” and know that someday it will all come back to me.  Decorating the outside of the house is easy.  A wreath is put on the chimney with a spot light shining on it at night and lighted garland is wrapped around the post in the front yard.  Outside done.  The inside is a little more but not a whole lot.  Stockings will be hung, the tree will be put up and decorated, and few other things will be done but not a whole lot.  I’ll post pictures if I ever get the decorating done.  I should be able to in the next couple of days.  Not really sure how the tree is going to happen this year because of this addition:

Her name is Isabella and she is my daughters Christmas gift.  She got her early for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into.  Isabella is now 15 weeks old and full of energy.  She is a ton of fun to watch and play with and Marissa adores her.  Just not sure how she will deal with the tree.  Any advice would be great.  FYI, it is an artificial tree.

I only got two of the craft projects done that I wanted to do but I think they both turned out nice.  The first was really isn’t a craft project but more of a decorating project.  I found my grandfathers old slates, his pocket watch, and an old yard stick.  The phone number on it is …7.  So, I took those things with a couple of other items I found stashed in the basement decorated a side of the fireplace mantel. 

I see I missed the yard stick in the photo.  Oh well.  The other thing was a craft project …of sorts.  I bought the supplies at the Madison Hobby Lobby.  I LOVE that store.  I got the glassware in the clearance section 66% off, got the Christmas bulbs at 50% off, and then got a string of 35 white lights.  I think total I spent around 25.00 for the entire thing.  I have it sitting on  the hearth right in front of the fireplace doors.  I just wish the lights had a green cord instead of white one.

With the flash:

Without the flash:

In stitching news, I have officially taken Quaker Diamonds off of the scroll rods and started a new chart.  I wasn’t really stitching and I thought maybe a change of color scheme would do some good.  I started …Butterfly Sampler by Chatelaine.  Not a lot to show just yet but give me another week or so and I’ll have some photos for you.

Till next time remember that…everyday holds the possibility of a miracle.

With love,

Kelly

Projects and progress

I have been wanting to organize a closet in the dining room for quite a while now.  I have finally gotten the chance to do it and I love the outcome.  On the upside of the project, since I did all the work, I decided what was going to go into it.  Hehe.  I have all my current stitching projects in it now along with the rest of my Chatelaine kits.  WooHoo!!  They are no longer being stored in the basement where the lovely little mice could use them as a home.  I have also gotten all my fabric stored in it instead of in the basement where again, the mice could make a lovely little home out of them. 

Here is the before of the closet:                           

   

After photo of the closet:

In stitching news, the Q-Snaps have been moved on Quaker Diamonds.  I’m still working on it but slowly.  Everytime I think I want to work on something else, I end up working on this piece.  However, I am not sure that I will have it finished by the end of the year like I had hoped.  To say that this past year has been a disappointment stitching wise is an understatement however, I am determined not to look back but forward.  So, I give you my progress on Quaker Diamonds:

Before taken on 10-16-2010:                                                           

 After taken on 11-13-2010:

      

The after picture taken on 11-13-2010 is pretty true to the colors in real life.

I have some other projects in the works and I will post them as soon as they are done which should be this weekend.  They are things that my daughter and I are working on together.  Should be lots of fun …if her cold doesn’t get any worse.  So, look for an update here on Monday.

May your day be bright even if the sun is not shining.

With love,

Kelly

Stitching and tendonitis …

just do not go hand in hand.  I have been doing some stitching on Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor but not as much as I would like.  There are two reasons for this.  One being the tendonitis which is in my right elbow but I also have other WIP’s screaming at me.  I have been trying to ignore the screaming because I really would like to have one more finish for this year.  That will give me a grand total of four, count them, four finishes for 2010.  To say I had higher hopes is an understatment.  I really wanted to finish a Chatelaine this year but alas, it was not meant to be.  Look out 2011, here I come.  I may not finish Quaker Diamonds this year, but I should come close.  When I move the Q-Snaps again, I will post another picture.  That should be soon.

Fall is definately here in South Central Wisconsin with winter right around the corner.  The trees are becoming barer and barer and the daily high is going lower and lower which means snow is right around the corner.  Bleh!  I would have to say that winter is my least favorite season but …I do love blizzards for some reason.  As long as I am sitting in a warm house with no where to go.  🙂

I will leave you with another WIP photo:

Taj Mahal by Martina Rosenberg of Chatelaine Designs

 

With love,

Kelly

Dilemas, Decisions and Dreams

Have you ever noticed that sometimes dilemas lead to decisions which often become dreams?  The dilema is do I continue working on Quaker Diamonds or move onto something else.  The whole dilema started when I began organizing my WIP photos on my laptop and then organizing my Chatelaine pdf charts as well.  There is still the dilema of starting Indian Summer Reflections but now there is the added dilema of working on one of the several Chatelaine WIP’s that suddenly seem to be calling to me.  This leads to the decision process.  Do I continue working on Quaker Diamonds?  Do I start Indian Summer Reflections?  Or, do I find a Chatelaine WIP that is wanting some attention?  This leads to dreams.  I dream of finishing at least one of my many Chatelaines.  It will be such a feeling of accomplishment and I can’t wait to see a finished one.  Since I’m not bored with Quaker Diamonds I just may plug away at it some more and see if I can get another finish in this year.

I’ll leave you with a photo of one my Chatelaine WIP’s that is talking to me (no I’m not insane 🙂 ) from the stitching cabinet.  It is White Nights in St. Petersburg by Martina Rosenberg of Chatelaine Designs.

White Nights of St. Petersburg by Martina Rosenberg of Chatelaine Designs

With love,

Kelly