Category Archives: cross stitch

Nov17

Almost a carbon copy

Posted on Monday, November 17, 2008 by Dianne

Saturday Night Live was a bit raunchy the other night, but a certain sketch had us rolling on the floor because of the theme of the sketch (how a family kissed each other a zillion times), but the dad in the sketch looked just like brother #2 who I don’t see that often:

This is comic actor Fred Armisen (I think he’s still a ‘friend’ of mine on MySpace)

And this is my brother

I got the capture of Fred by using the ‘print screen’ button when we were viewing the sketch on the SNL archives. It’s like Fred used a photo of my brother to create his character! Bri and I almost fell of the sofa and chair when we saw this.

Speaking of the sketch, Bri’s family is the kissing family. Kiss, kiss, kiss! We aren’t as much, more huggers I think. I do kiss my mom on the cheek when I say good bye.

Not too much going on this weekend. Had a nice little shopping trip Sunday night at Walmart as I hadn’t been shopping for a while. I told Bri I would save him from going shopping for me. We are probably going to go to the Mendenhall Inn on Wednesday. They have a prime rib special that night. I’ve lived here for over 22 yrs and never have been there. My high school would have their proms there (and I didn’t go to the proms).

Just made the reservation online using Open Table. com (from the Inn’s website)

Address:
323 Kennett Pike
Rte 52 South
Mendenhall, PA 19357
Cross Street: Hillendale
Phone: (610)
Dress Code: Business Casual
Message from the Restaurant: Thank you for reserving at Mendenhall Inn. We look forward to serving you.

I did take a new self-portrait (meaning ‘I’ took it. Bri tried, but he couldn’t get it the way I wanted:

These were photoshopped in Adobe for the heck of it.

Anyway, I think I’ll be finished a cross stitch project that has a 1988 date on the bottom of it soon. That will make 4 projects I have to finish into something!

Also need to get my free turkey and plan my Thanksgiving menu. I may try a few things from the latest issue of Martha Stewart’s Everyday food.

Nov13

Mama’s here

Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Dianne

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It’s a cold and wet day here in southeastern, PA. I was going to mom’s yesterday and she decided she wanted to come here! I am a bit nervous when she wants to drive her 17 yr old car here and she just had her eye surgeries. I thought she’s be here around 3 and when 4 rolled around, I kept checking the door. She got here around 4:15! She said she had to wait until she felt better and she had to stop for gas. I was going to cook something she brought, but it was too late for that, so we ordered take-out and I will cook the pork chops tonight. I then went to the food store after dinner-did some power shopping in about 30 minutes! Mom was in Peebles store and was checking out when I came to find her. Unfortunately, one of her eyes was really paining her during the night. I did see her rubbing it earlier in the evening. It’s better this morning, but really bloodshot. I got the artificial tears for her and she is using them. My one eye had been really red a few days ago.It may be the house is dry or the cat hair too.

I guess I’ll go do some cooking soon. Mom also brought huge chicken breasts that I will boil for chicken salad.

I’ll have a really old WIP cross stitch to share soon. I seem to be better just working on something until I finish it. Kinda reminiscent of the charity stitching that I hope to start up again soon.

Nov9

Sunday’s I recommend-vol #2

Posted on Sunday, November 9, 2008 by Dianne

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Welcome to the second edition of ‘I recommend’. As the name implies, this is a share to recommend just about anything you like or have tried. It can be a book, drink, food, movie, music CD-anything. Mister Linky will open to another page (that’s how it works on WordPress). Please add your link there and don’t forget to leave me a comment here.

Must haves:

1. Garnier hair products, especially the hair spray

2. Jojoba oil anything, especially by Crabtree and Evelyn

It smells so good and makes your skin feel wonderful!

Scent: Blend of lavender and green herbs with a hint of citrus.

3.The little squares of Dove chocolate (they have cute little inspirational messages inside the foil)

4. Martha Stewart’s Living magazine and Everyday Living magazine

5. A good sale at Tuesday Morning or JoAnn Fabrics

and Craft store…

It’s your turn:

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Rachel was my mystery ‘soon to meet’ blogger pal, but we postponed going to Longwood Gardens or the Brandywine River Museum until they have their Christmas displays set up. We did chat (she is an excellent listener and she understands why this blog is called what it is) for over an hour. I can’t wait to meet her in person soon! Thanks for lending an ear tonight Rachel!

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Added late Sunday morning:

My friend Cathy S., the founder of Love Quilts is doing a wonderful thing in memory of our dear friend Charlotte who passed away in June of this year. If you cross stitch and want to make a sick child happy and snug under a quilt, they you may enjoy stitching for Charlotte’s Kids. Over the years it’s meant a lot to me to stitch for Love Quilts (over 40 squares). Now with Charlotte’s memory involved, I will join in to honor her. I know many of my stitching pals do exchanges. Why not do something like this for a change? The notes of thanks and the photos of the children with their quilts is enough to melt your heart. When some of the children have sadly passed on, their parents hung up their Love Quilts at the wake or funeral. Your stitching will be out there in the big world being loved and honored too.

Oct30

Name Game-come on play!

Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 by Dianne

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Only one person played so far… Thanks Carole–it made an excellent post for you on the 30th. Please go see!

It’s funny what you think about when you are either falling asleep or waking up. I thought of this a few days ago, in the a.m.

What you do:

Think of 5 celebrities who share your first, middle or last name with you (even nickname). Tell us who they are and if you have anything in common with them and/or what you admire about them. Also, find a photo of your favorite same named celebrity to share with us!

I hope you play along and tag me if you do.

1. Diane Von Furstenberg-designer-I admire her style and styles! She was really popular in the 70s-80s, with her wrap dress being popular. In the last few months, I have seen her on Project Runway and in an American Express commercial. I like how she takes inspiration for her designs from nature.

2. Diane Sawyer-tv news woman-I like her smarts, her news stories and that she travels a lot. She was once a Junior Miss! I think knowledge is power too!

3. Diane Lane-So far she is the closest in age to me than the other Dianes. She’s been a great dramatic actress since she’s been a teen. She only has one child too.

4. Diane Keaton (favorite alert!)

Diane is consistently wonderful in her acting roles. She has her own style and emulates it to this day. I remember loving ‘Annie Hall’ and her ‘La Dee Dahs’ with Woody Allen- but her clothes! I did wear a tie and vest a few times in the 70s because of Diane. I also am known to wear a few berets too.
5.Dian Fossey-zoologist-What she did to bring awareness to gorillas was amazing. She gave her life for them.

Honorable mentions:Dianne Wiest, Diane Kruger and Diahann Carroll!

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From Oct. 22nd-

Got some stash in the mail today! I was so excited to get it, it took me forever to get around to opening it. When I sat down to admire it, the cat decided to take a nap on my lap!

Can you see why I was excited! Like an early birthday or Christmas present. I ordered from 1-2-3 Stitch and it arrived in less than a week. I wanted the 2008 JCS ornament issue, but got a few charts too. Enlarge to see what the smaller charts are. I rarely buy charts anymore, but I do collect The Prairie Schooler designs.

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Oct23

Welcome to the Autumn Gathering!

Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by Dianne

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Welcome to an Autumnal gathering hosted by Artsymama!

(Enjoy the links I added too)

No need to ring or knock, I’m expecting you!!

Isn’t this a silly tin bucket?

The coleus is just starting to fade and wither, but looks pretty on the step next to the faux pumpkin. I love to carve pumpkins, but haven’t done one in years. Maybe I will this year!

If you look through my front bay window, you’ll see a tower of pumpkins and Casper the Friendly ghost!

I have an antique hutch with some cute figurines on it to the right of the front door. The one holding the pumpkin cookie cutter is an Annalee.

I wrapped some leaves around my Nancy Noel painting to give it a special look for the season.

I saw this sign at Michael’s and had to get it since I live on the west end of my road-the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’

I have this sign on the other side of the bay window

Under the Treats sign sits a Scarecrow I made 14 yrs ago and little Valentino the Webkinz frog dressed in a Boo Sweater

This is actually a demitasse cup holder, but I added faux pumpkins and coppery ribbon I found at the Dollar Store

This is the fireplace mantel. I have three mosaic urns on display for autumn, two on the mantel.

I cross stitched the middle of this wreath back in 2001

I saw this idea in Michael’s so I added some glitter to a faux white pumpkin

I’ve had this little Anne Geddes pumpkin baby for years. My son was born a week before Halloween, so I keep this on display all year long. That’s Sean in the background. My mom gave me the glass pumpkin.

I purchased this awesome Halloween Book from Tootie over at Honey Girl Studios (the link is to her site All Hallow’s Eve). and love it with my orange and black glass mushrooms. I have a small collection of mushrooms since I live near ‘The Mushroom Capital of the World’

This a Halloween tree on table next to my special book. I have many Art Trading Cards that I made stuck in its branches. The tags are by Tootie.

Here’s what it looks like lit up showcasing a tag I bought from Tootie (from a set)

I have a small collection of owls. I know I have an owl cookie jar somewhere too! I cross stitched the box lid.

Casper looks spooky and cute all lit up!

Here’s my bay window. I have glass pumpkins that I added orange lights to. I have a few crystal pieces that made the window glow.

A little trick or treater in my Halloween tree

More orange glow

Thanks for visiting. Happy Autumn and Happy Halloween!

The End

Oct15

Watch this space

Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 by Dianne

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…for my latest cross stitch finish. For some reason, I diligently stitched on it since late July, to early August until now. I have a few stitches left. The designer didn’t use quality paper (yet charged $10 for the chart) and many of the symbols were terrible to read or rubbed off. I had to improvise a few stitches, but you can’t tell. And I did use the tape that Lee sent me-thanks again. I want to do a quick Halloween design next.

I went down to my hometown Tuesday afternoon and got my hair done and so did mom! Colleen gave mom a reverse bob-very cute. We went to Olive Garden for dinner (mom’s had the same tummy bug or whatever I had and I wanted to give her a treat) and then hit Micheal’s Craft store. I didn’t pick up anything to buy for a long time, then I saw a ‘now you can knit socks’ book, but didn’t see the correct weight of yarn in the vast collection in the store, so I scraped that(but it’s something I want to try). I purchased some stickers and papers-some with a Christmas flair!

I’m still thinking about having a table at the church Christmas bazaar, but then it may be better to have a yard sale which wouldn’t cost me $35. Our basement really needs to be tidied up. I had a sale years ago, but not sure that people want craft books and baskets. It’s a lot of work too.

So watch this space! : )

Update!! It took me 2 hours to finish this. Then I washed and pressed it. Introducing Sleeping Kitty by Ellen Maurer Stroth:

I can’t believe a strand of my own hair showed up so well too!

My inspiration to do this piece, my own brown tabby Cosmo!

Sep19

Show & Tell #10

Posted on Friday, September 19, 2008 by Dianne

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Here’s the little cabinet I mentioned previously. Bri did not like that I put ‘my stuff’ on top of it. He wanted his stuff there. He can get out his handy dandy tools and 2 x 4s and make a shelf unit for the top. I like the rough texture and the white washing on it. We have a lot of that honey maple color in the house. I bought it for CDs and it hardly fits any-only a pile of about 10 on their sides with space around. Time to downsize the CDs anyway. They will mysteriously be downsized someday soon. : ) Oh, and please excuse the stuff stuck around it-I need to tidy this area more.

What’s on top- I made the cross stitched box cover. I had started it many years ago and finished it last year and added it to the box this year. I just bought the sunflowers yesterday which are in a red glass martini pitcher (I think). On the other wall (out of view) is Van Gogh’s sunflowers painting. I want to do that in cross stitch someday. That may be my next big project!

And for my stitching pals….my little ‘Sleeping Kitty’ is coming along! My friend Nancy just sent me the Q-snap cover! I’ll have to figure out how to make them as they are awesome!

Sep8

I have Scrambilitis!

Posted on Monday, September 8, 2008 by Dianne

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I had one of those nights where I was looking at the clock every hour and getting up. I couldn’t figure out if it was something I ate or drank-I did have that McD’s sweet tea earlier in the day and green tea for dinner. Then it dawned on me that I sat on the floor after dinner for about 45 minutes sorting out my paper goods. I can’t do this anymore, I did it anyway and I’m sure that’s why I felt funky-that and PMS. And it doesn’t get better as you get closer to 50, it gets really strange and you wonder what is inhabited in your body sometime. Anyway, all night, thanks to Facebook’s Scramble (I have a word IQ of between 99 and 101) I was doing words in my head-ten-tent-taint-faint far-fare….you get the picture. Ugha! That was awful. So I couldn’t turn my brain off. Maybe walking around the Mushroom Festival would have helped, but I decided not to go.

I’m thinking a lot about my mom and FIL too. Mom’s a little snippy. I was coming down tomorrow so Colleen can do my hair, but my brother’s friend lost his mom last week and they are going to the funeral. (the lady felt like she had heartburn for 3 days, but she also weighed over 250, but none the less, that is scary stuff). I said to mom that while she was having her eye surgery, I’d run to get my hair done first. She’s only 5 miles away at the hospital and she said she’ll be there 3-4 hours anyway from 9:30 (when the surgery is suppose to take place). I know they are never on time from my experience with the biopsy last November. So mom said I’d have to call the short procedure to see if she was ready to go home, in a snippy way. I think it will work out.

Not sure what I’m doing today-need to wake up!

Here’s what I did on Saturday, inside during all the rain:

I added some fall garland, leaf candles and some aluminum pieces I had. My mom gave me the little Holly Hobbie recently. I also had bought the candle in front of the mantel clock and was trying to figure out where it would look nice. I love those mosaic pieces I found on deep discount at Value City a few years ago. There’s a string of 5 flickering lanterns that don’t show up well here.

Thanks for everyone who offered help with chosing a tv. It sure isn’t an easy task!

And Jennifer and whoever may have signed up for the J. Holdsworthy meeting at the SS, I signed up too! Yeah!

Sep5

Show & Tell #8

Posted on Friday, September 5, 2008 by Dianne

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This is my Barbie case from 1968 or so (I may have gotten it between 1968-1970)

Here are the ‘girls’ and guy(!) that were inside: one Barbie, three Francies, 2 Stacies and one Skipper. I believe Skipper was one of that last Mattel dolls I got. GI Joe is missing his hands. Not sure why he is in there, maybe my younger brother put him in there.

And here are some of the clothes. I thought I had more than this, but maybe they weren’t put away and got tossed. Remember, all these things are probably at least 40 years old!

I plan to clean them up a bit before I put them away today. I’ll pretend I’m 9 again. I need to think this way sometimes, don’t you?

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So I am a bit bummed as one of my favorite places to go online looks like it dissolved today. Tribe.net no longer has a web address. One of my friends there joined Facebook to find me. I have meet some awesome people there, some I know are friends for life. My good friends also have Flickr and Facebook accounts.

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And to save the best for last….look what Lee for Lake Stitcher sent me in the mail yesterday, a day I needed a bit of sunshine:

It’s a covered Altoid’s tin filled with chamomile tea because she knows my tummy acts up once in a while. I so appreciate the thoughtfulness from a fellow Pennsylvanian. She told me to keep my chin up in this interesting time of our life when parents and hormonal changes can bring you down. Thanks again Lee!

Have a great weekend!

Aug31

Lazy Day

Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2008 by Dianne

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I truly had one of those days on Saturday that I didn’t feel guilty about. I took my time watching some shows on Bravo that I had missed because of the Democratic Convention. I stitched and frogged some stitching on the sleeping kitty. I wish when designers did the black symbols, that they would make them nice and dark when they print them out. I have been penciling out as I go, still lost my place. When I went to erase, took a lot of the symbol away. Grrrrgh.

I also made a really neat item for a Wizard of Oz swap with a fellow crafty blogger. I had all I wanted to use, plus some and just didn’t sit down to assemble it right away. When I finally did, it took about 15 minutes to get the main area done. As a hint, I am using a collage I made for my desktop and adding to that.

Found a really cute idea on Flickr. I love that site-so many talented photographers and craftspeople. A young lady, Ruby, turned ‘Mini pops’ into a cross stitched project. They are famous little people, say Indiana Jones, that are really tiny. She said she opened a gif file in her paint program to print out the figures and then graphed them.

I tried my hand at it today. Can you guess who these guys are?

They may be a little larger than Ruby’s, but these are the Fab Four from the movie ‘Sergeant Pepper’.

Bri’s dad isn’t doing well on a mega dose of antibiotics. I suggested that if he goes over to his house and doesn’t like what he sees, that he should take him to the ER pronto. Pops says he is weak on his legs and isn’t eating a lot. I think he should be in assisted living until he feels better, but Bri swears that comes out of pocket. Not if the doctor wants him in there, I think the insurance would help. Anyone know? He could maybe get a visiting nurse to help him with his wounds.

If Bri’s dad is ok, we may take a daytrip tomorrow. And if my shoulder is better too. Seems it acts up once in a while. Bri suggested I sit sideways on the massager and it hit an area on my shoulder blade that made it tingle and hurt.

Two answers from my movie meme from a little while ago:
#1 Life and death. Space and time. Fate and chance. Theses are the forces of the universe. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a man who has unlocked these mysteries. From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts still hold sway he returns to us to demonstrate how nature’s laws may be bent. I give you ……. The Illusionist!

#6 A scout has a certain look… Kit Carson, for example. You look like… a muleskinner!
Uh, General I don’t know anything about mules…
Lieutenant, it’s amazing how I can guess the profession of a man just by looking at him! Notice the bandy legs, the powerful arms. This man has spent years with mules. Isn’t that right?
Uh, yes sir!
Hire the muleskinner! –Little Man, Big Man-you must see this movie. : )

I made a desktop collage of this movie a few years ago: