Not very productive....

Last night - I had my ABC piece out as the next section went up on Saturday. But did I get many stitches in - nope!! Needle and linen in hand but not much action!! What I did was watch a movie and then another 2 hour piece on cable - thank goodness for on demand!!! The Movie was "Flirting With Disaster" - 1996 - starring Ben Stiller (not my most favorite "actor"), Patricia Arquette, Tea Leon, Alan Alda, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, and Lily Tomlin. A pretty good ensemble piece and really quite funny in spots - It was recommended to me by a friend who knows I like to watch movies.

The second feature made up for the first by leaps and bounds - it was - "Little Doritt" - 2008 - I really enjoyed this as I do most things from Masterpiece Theater. I especially like Charles Dickens and have voraciously read everything he ever wrote and have reread many of them a couple of times. Remember he wrote my favorite story of all time..... "A Christmas Carol." This version of Little Dorrit is a very good one a worth watching.

There you go - Thank you all for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

Weekend Stuff

Running around this Saturday was good to do - just to be able to have a routine and normal activity for me keeps me from being to down. I think we are doing better - or as better as we can - It is all just time passing and the hurt scabbing over a bit.

Rico's Mom, nieces and great niece Aaleyah came up and stayed over Saturday night - which was a great comfort. Little Aaleyah was born at the beginning of the month so she is still very small but so alert. Except in this snap...

She is really sweet and so small. We where so glad to see her and it is really amazing how something so small really lets you know when she wants something!!

The running around to Estate Sales brought only a single purchase...


This really great bead art piece from Mexico - we have seen these pieces all over the city and they can run into some pretty big numbers - they can be just about anything also, from animals and masks or even figural - this sun is a largish one about 12 inches from point to point and I picked it up for a $1. You really can't beat the bargain's that are out there sometimes!!

I finished up square 11 and have moved on to Square 12 on the VoHRH. Here is a snap -


I am really glad to be on the last square - not because I am bored or tired of this piece.... I think it is I am just ready to start something else - and I have plenty that are waiting in the pile. I also worked on getting my stitchity crap a bit more organized. While reading blogs out there I came across a super organized stitcher (I can't remember who it was...and I have wracked my brain trying to) she had taken and put her charts into plastic sheet protectors and then into 3 ring binders. The binders where separated by Designer/theme. What a great idea!! I started doing that with some sheet protectors I had and a binder. Rico is getting me some more binders and I need another box of protectors. I am finding that it is easier to see the charts and keep them from getting beat up and mashed in the box I have them.

One of the flicks this weekend I hadn't seen in so long I couldn't remember seeing it ever!! It was "It Happened One Night" - 1934 - starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. What a great film and still so very watchable.

Thank you all for stopping by and your very kind thoughts!!

Take care,
edgar

Everyone is so Thoughtful

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts,
comments and emails it means so much to Rico and me.

It is so hard to read them - every time I tried yesterday - I could read about three comments and start sniveling all over again. Today I am up to about 6 and the snivels start. I think by the end of the weekend I should be able to read through them all at once and then take a breath. It does seem so futile to loose it each time I start to think about her...... my sweet little dog could not have been more loved or spoiled - heaven knows she ran our house with an iron paw!!! For example when ever The Peach was sitting on a pillow, it didn't matter which pillow, on the sofa, if Hunny wanted it she would sort of scooch in there and just nuzzle away or just stand and stare at The Peach until she moved off and jumped down, and then Hunnylicious would flop down on her ready made warm spot. She was a total cuckoo about the puppy beds doing the same thing to Pete - so she could get the warm spot in there - boy she was sure pushy!!

I have hardly put needle to linen in the past few days.
I will have something on Monday I am sure.

Last night the flickers were "Laura" - 1944 - a super movie starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, Clifton Webb and Judith Anderson. A great movie and I would highly recommend it if you have not seen it. This was followed by a really good movie "Knight Without Armour" - 1937 - starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat.
Very entertaining and worth a look.

On Wednesday we did get out of the house and to the Legion of Honor to view "Artistic Luxury" an exhibition of beautiful objects from Faberge, Tiffany and Lalique. We were there when they opened the gates and even though there was quite a few others waiting we hustled up and got into the exhibition space and had the whole show to ourselves for almost 45 mins. The temporary space they continue to use at the LoH is very small. This show the pieces are not very large as most of it is gorgeous jewelry and small decorative things so you need to be able to get near the cases to see the things. With nobody else there it was very easy to see everything close up and not feel the crush of a crowd. Here is one of the pieces -


The Danish Palaces Egg - 1890 - Gift from Alexander III to Marie Fyodorovna.

The show was really worth it and I would recommend that if you are planning to go - go during the week and get there early - as It does get very crowded on the weekends.

Thank you all for your support!! Do come again -

Take care,
edgar

Our Hearts are Broken

My little family suffered a tremendous loss on Tuesday evening.
Our little Hunny went to her reward after a very quick decline.

Sweet Hunny
1995-2009

She had not been feeling well on Sunday and was very quiet on Monday and by the time we got home Tuesday afternoon she had been sinking all day and we rushed her to the Vets. After some tests we got the news that she was a mighty sick little dog and had to let Hunny go. Even Pete and The Peach are both wandering around looking for her. We are both emotional wrecks and I'm a sloppy mess just writing this.

That's about all I can do today -

Take care,
edgar

RAK'd and Stashed

The mail brought me a wonderful RAK - from Corinna. She had noticed a chart form my wish list and offered it to me - I was so happy to get it and in the package she also included a few unexpected charts!!! That was so very sweet and thoughtful - her is a snap -

The chart from my list is the "Softly Walk" from La D Da - I am just loving the La-D-Da pieces like this one and think they would look just great stitched up and framed in a grouping. The other mail was some stashing - Everyone by now knows how much I love that silk from Belle Soie - AND they just released some new colours - what was I supposed to do - not get some???? I didn't get them all, yet - here's a snap -

This picture just bites, sorry!! The BS colours are just gorgeous especially the one called "mahogany." The CHS chart is an older one I wanted and the Plum Street one is a new on I just really fell for. Not that I am all that jazzed about the red, white and blue colour scheme - I just like the layout of the birds, letters and flags, and the little JBW chart one I didn't have. The WDW floss is some for an upcoming exchange - It seems that no matter how many colours of floss I have I always need a few for something. I am sure its a conspiracy within the industry!!!!

I am cutting it short this morning as I got a late start.
Tomorrow there will be no post as I am taking a day off - more about that on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care,
edgar

Sales-ing, Stashing and Stitching

Another weekend of running around - in and out of the rain this time!! Once again we were stunned by what some people think an "estate sale " is and what constitutes a garage sale!! But there were some bargains out there and here is a snap of some stuff....

I picked up the Florida plate for .50 - it was really filthy and I ran it through the dishwasher and out popped a great piece of tourist china from the 60's!! The little cross Dale got for me - is from El Salvador and this is the second one to enter the collection - it is also a piece of tourist art but I really like the bold colours and this one had a Llama on it - and how often do you see and Llama in religious iconography!!! The mags and the gorgeous linens I picked up at Needle in a Haystack - we ran over there on Saturday afternoon - I also picked up the BBD chart and the Gilt Silke Twist - in "Lincoln Grene" - this beautiful silke twist stuff was made for the jacket that the Plimouth Project is working on - it is a bit pricey but just beautiful and NIAH has most of the 8 colours they made for the jacket. The linen I needed as I had run my supply way down and I needed a specific piece for the BBD Mystery from last year - the end piece on the right is the piece for that project - and I needed a piece for "Lo the rose" - it will be one of the lighter ones. Here is a snap of some of my other recent stashing acquisitions -

Not too much, but enough to keep me busy....

I worked on VoHRH and did quite a bit on square 11 - here is a very poor snap -


I am about 70% through this one and then it will be on to the last square!!!

There were a few movie this weekend but I will save that until tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

End of the week post

Here it is Friday - the end of the week and two glorious days of running around and doing fun stuff ahead..... with that in mind I think the weather will not be a cooperative as it has been over the past few weekends. We are supposed to be getting colder and wetter as we move through the weekend. Only time will tell -

There are at least two house sales that we will visit tomorrow so there is hope at some goodies there - but you never know!!

Last night I stitched a little bit on VoHRH but not enough to show so no snap of that.

The flicker last night was "Hello Frisco, Hello" -1943 - starring Alice Faye and John Payne - with a brilliant supporting cast - this lavish color musical from 20th Century Fox is just the ticket for top notch Alice Entertainment!!

Short and sweet today - Thanks for stopping by!!
Take care,
edgar

Winter Quaker Arrives and Coffee

Yesterday I received a super package from Stacy for the Winter Quaker Exchange over at the HOE. Here is a snap of the entire exchange -



Here is a close up of the top of the piece


lifting the top revealing the first section interior shot - for floss and needles...

and you lift the felt flap to reveal... a pocket for a floss card and needles

Isn't this a gorgeous piece - finished so perfectly!!! Stacy used one of the Seasonal Quakers for GoS - The stitching is done on 40 ct Spun Sugar from Sassy's Fabrics using over dyed silk - from Glisson Gloss Japanese silk, the letters are stitched using "Cocoa" from Carries Threads. I am a nut for browns (as we all know) and this is just beautiful!! The bag will come in handy as the bag I use I have now is, well lets just say "Has seen better days!"

I carry my lunch to work - because I am not paying $8+ a day for a sandwich and pop!! Stacy also include some black licorice - a top fav of mine - ahhhh - food of the gods!!!!!!! Thank you so much Stacy for making the WQ-09 a great exchange!!!!!!

Yesterday also brought a prezzie from my sister - some delicious coffee from Portland!!

This is rated as some of the top notch coffee in the US - if you ever get a chance to have some - go for it, you will not be disappointed.

The flicker last night was "Dodsworth" - 1936 - starring Walter Houston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor and Paul Lukas - a great film I have spoken about before!!

The stitching I did was on a secret piece so no snaps till it arrives in its new home.

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care,
edgar

A Halloween Square finish and some flicks

I finished up the square on Hannah's RR from the Witching for Stitching RR - and think it turned out really nice. Here is a snap -

The squares on Hannah's piece are a bit smaller than on other RR's so this one fit it perfectly - I was also looking for it to have some or at least one pumpkin as the poem that Hannah picked out is about pumpkin pie - I think I really lucked out to find something that would fit AND have pumpkins!! This is the second witch I have stitched in this RR - I do see a pattern emerging. The square is from book 23 or 24 called "A Prairie Year II" - I used the called for DMC floss'.

Last night was a really nice flicker evening - starting off with a really good Irish movie on TCM - "The Quiet Man" - 1952 - starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara - a great movie and a must for St Patricks Day!! This was followed up with a fluff piece called "If a Man Answers" - 1962 - starring Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin - entertaining in a 60's film kind of way. The final film of the evening was a true classic "The Palm Beach Story" - 1942 starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee. A wonderful film full of snappy intelligent dialogue and well thought out characters. Although I hadn't meant to.... it seems that I chose a film from the 40's , 50's and 60's.... and it was interesting to see how the approach to the battle of the sexes was handled. From the very clever writing and super talented actors in the 40's to the less than good writing and really only personalities that passed for actors by the 1960's - not the each wasn't fun and entertaining to watch but that the first two flicks were so much more superior. It is still happening today - we rarely get good acting or good films what we get in film are tricks and CGI AND instead of acting we get to watch a personality on the screen. Just MHO -

Thanks for stopping by!!

take care,
edgar

Thrice RAK'd.....

There are so many really nice folks out there and yesterday proved it once again!!!!!

The mail bought the sweetest pyn cushion from Kendra - I had sent her some ornaments at Christmas and this was her thanking me - I am the lucky one!!! Here is a snap of the front -


and here is the back -

It is just darling and looks so sweet in with the rest of my stitchy treasures!!!!
Thank you so much Kendra!!!!!!!

I was also RAK'd by dear Shay - she had a chart from "The Cat's Whisker's" email to me - The chart was designed to raise funds for the Bush fires in Victoria on Black Saturday - 2/7/09.
It is really cute - Thank you Shay!

I also heard from a friend in Germany -
she knows I like odd and different things and she sent me these...


These two chocolate bars have different and unusual flavours - the one on the right has pink pepper corns as an inclusion and the left one is flavored with chilies. I like chocolate - especially dark - but am not a nut - as was my Dad - he was oft quoted as saying" I like any flavor as long as it's Chocolate!!" especially milk chocolate. I on the other hand can take it or leave it - but when the inclusion is interesting I am intrigued - and these should prove to be tasty!!! I always love the Jelly Belly's and they are made right here in the Bay area - and they were tasty!!!! :)

I put together my "scissor frog" last night - I cut out little pieces of white felt to put at the bottom where the points would hit as I am worried that repeated hits on the points will dull them -and the felt should protect them and the glass -

I saw this on Terri's blog and really liked the idea - so now I have one also!!

The stitchy report last night is non-existent as I had a major iced tea spill all over the place and all I can say is thank the sweet lord that I keep every single project in closed ziplock plastic bags and all my overdyed floss' in these bags also - or it would have been a complete disaster!!!!!! Enough said lets move on!!!!!

The flicker last night was a real favorite of mine - "Show Boat" - 1936 starring Irene Dunne - I have no idea why this hasn't been released on DVD - but this version is way closer to the original story than the 1951 version. I love this movie and if you have not seen it I would absolutely recommend it!!

Thanks for stopping by -
Take care -
edgar

Another busy weekend - not a bust!!!!

This past weekend followed like the ones before - except that unlike last weeks giant no buy bust weekend - this weekend was quite different!! We visited quite a few sales and found a pile of stuff!!! Here is a snap of our haul -

Starting in the front left - we found some great circus fabric - what I will ever do with it I haven't a clue, but isn't it great!! Then we have some giant pieces of finishing fabric and some quilt books -from an estate we found that had a bookcase of 1000's of quilt books - these are the three I got, and the fabrics came from the boxes of fabric -moving to the back.... you are looking at my second super 221 Featherweight Sewing Machine - circa 1952 - it runs like a dream and was a complete bargain!! Now I have two, and do I really need two???? In front of the sewing machine is a big old french frog - I am going to keep scissors in - I really like that idea, and then there are the two great frames that Rico bought - aren't they cute! We did visit a house sale on Saturday that Rico and I went back to on Sunday and I bought this...



...gorgeous rock solid mahogany chair for almost nothing. I saw it on Saturday and they wanted $175 which is a steal anyway - then when we went back she knocked $125 off the price!!! So I now have a beautiful big arm chair to throw my dirty clothes on!! We haven't a spare space anywhere, but I just couldn't pass!!! We also visited our farmers market and look at these beautiful asparagus that had just been cut yesterday morning -

They were just scrumptious last night steamed with a pat of butter!!!
They are in one of my favorite McCoy pitchers!!

The mail on Friday was really good to me - I received my MAW from Kate - I had wanted a needle roll in autumnal colours and she made this one for me....

It is just beautiful and I love the way it looks with all my other stitchy treasures!!!
Thank you so much Kate!!

I also received and order from Amazon -


The new release from Disney - Pinocchio - and the Deanna Durbin box set - I am a super Disney nut - and I had been wanting this movie for the longest time to vcome out in DVD - it certainly didn't disappoint - the extras are great....and the film itself is just beautiful!!!!

On the stitching front I finished up a one on one exchange I had been working on, an ornament for another exchange...and then yesterday ALL afternoon and evening I worked on getting all those DMC floss' wound onto bobbins and into numerical order in cases. I finished that project up as it was just about driving me crazy!!! - it was such a tangle and mess that at times I just cut out huge hunks of the stuff just to get a strand going!!! Now it's over and I can find everything! I also did a quick floss toss for the CHS Alphabet blocks - here is..

the floss' on a piece of "Legacy" and here they are on...

a piece of "Days Gone By" - this piece I got specifically for this project , but am having second thoughts - at least a year ago I had seen someone else had done the blocks on apiece of DGB and I just fell in love with it - but now I am rethinking it..... as there is no rush I am not feeling I have to make a decision , yet!

On Saturday afternoon Dale, Eunice and I also got over to a gigantic scrapbook store in Berkeley - called Scrapbook Territory - now I really haven't a clue about this scrapbooking stuff but I wanted to go along to see. I was just blown away with all the stuff!! Hundreds of stamp things, a million pieces of paper and a ga-zillion stickers!!! I found the wall of ribbons a bought a bunch of that. I found out that there is way more to the scrap booking than just Elmer's and construction paper!!

That's about it for today - Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

Super short Friday posting

This morning I have been sending out the partner info for the upcoming HOE Woodland Exchange and so have left myself very little time to write here. It is amazing how quickly the time flies when I am trying to do about 6 things!!!

Oh well - lets get the rest of those Quilty snaps posted -

This is a super white quilt that I just couldn't get a decent snap of -


I just loved this one!!



So ends the lovelies from the SF Quit Guild Show - There where many more as it was a big show - I do hope everyone enjoyed seeing them!!

Last night the flicker was "The Helen Morgan Story" - 1957 - starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman - I really enjoyed this bio-pick about a singer from the 1920's - filmed in glorious B&W.


There you go!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!!!

Take care,
edgar

Winter Quaker Arrives

I heard form Cari this morning that the Winter Quaker exchange that I sent her has arrived and she is pleased. I really enjoyed stitching this up and here is a snap of the entire exchange

I totally lifted this snap from Cari's Blog as I couldn't find the snaps I took - I am such a flake sometimes!!! - but you get the idea - the pattern was a free chart that I modified using HDF silks on 32 ct linen - I sent along the new stocking for January from BBD from Cari's wish list and got together the floss' that the patterns called for.

Here aresome Quilty snaps for today -

I am such a dog fan - I just loved this one of a big black dog!!


There was a whole section of children's classroom project quilts - this was a project to use the child's favorite book and each one opens with writing about why that book was important.


This one was also a classroom project - using the theme of California Missions -


Another beautiful star quilt.


The flicker last night was "The Boy in Striped Pajamas" - 2008 - a powerful movie about friendship in spite of horrific surroundings. Very good from beginning to end.

I am super busy today so keeping it short!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care,
edgar

It's Wednesday - in a non-event week!!

I am so glad this week is just sliding along on an even keel - with not too much going on and the usual day to day stuff I can handle. After work we ran out to Trader Joe's and all I can say is what a super place this is!! We picked up some super quick lunch things, some snacks AND dinner!! They are now carrying some great frozen-just-heat-up garlic naan that is so good!!! Just pop those suckers in the oven and less than 2 mins later you have some fresh hot naan!! We also picked up some garlicky glazed chicken - which was basically heat and eat - I just love those instant meals!! I was not in the mood to cook!!

The flickers last night were a TCM line up of "bridge" movies - all WWII and all I had seen in the past - starting off with "The Bridge at Remagen" - 1969, followed by "A Bridge too Far" - 1977 and rounding out my evening with that classic bridge flick "The Bridge on the River Kwai" - 1957. I really enjoyed these and if you like those WWII flicks you will love these also!!

Now for the Quilty snaps for the day -




Still stitching on exchange stuff so no snaps yet.

Thanks for stopping by,
Take care,
edgar

A Tuesday posting....

Thank you all for the super nice things you all say!!!!
It brightens my mornings immeasurably to read the great comments!!!

Regarding VoHRH..... it is not so much a relief that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on VoHRH, as I am still really enjoying the stitch - it is the frustration with the silk colour choices - and how similar they seem to be as I stitch. I feel that if I have to change silk every few stitches then the colour should be at least a noticeable difference and not so slight that even up close you can barely see it and sometimes you can not see it at all!! I think this is an ongoing bitching of mine, sorry. I have learned that when the next HrH piece gets stitched I will certainly change up the colours as I stitch to show - and that the next HrH will be Shores - I have Houses but - I look at Shores everyday - (I have a small copy tacked to my bulletin board at work, and have since it was released... not very obsessed am I!!) - and I love that thing!! BUT I am doing the Alphabet Blocks before Shores!! - Oh my, going off on a tangent.....

Here are some Quilty snaps from Saturday.....



It was very hard to get snaps of the pieces as the lighting was poor and my little flash was not adequate at all - but you get the idea.

The flickers last night were.... "Night Must Fall" - 1937 - a creepy suspense about murder and a rich old widow browbeating the help!! Starring Robert Montgomery, Dame May Whitty and Rosalind Russell - set in a remote forest in England outside of some obscure village - kept you guessing right up to the end, almost - a very good movie!! This was followed by "That Certain Woman" - 1937 starring Bette Davis, Henry Fonda (completely miscast) and Donald Crisp - on IMBD I like the line "Bette Davis meets Stella Dallas" and that says it all - this is a messy contrived plot that only a hard boiled BD fan like myself would enjoy - so if you like to see Bette doing what she does best - then give this picture a look, hanky in hand (it ain't called a weepy for nothing)..... otherwise avoid it like the plague!!!

The stitchery report from yesterday evening is that I finished up and packed up for mailing my Winter Quaker piece - so that goes out as does a few other goodies to friends - I feel like a pack mule this morning on my way to the post office!!!

Thank you once again for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

A Busy Saturday and a bunch of Pictures

It was sort of busy on Saturday and we were out the entire day
- and Sunday was way more laid back - but let us start with Saturday....

The garage sales, estates sales and flea markets were a total bust and even I couldn't spend money on something useless!!! What's up with that!!! Dale, Rico and I ran around all morning looking and finding nada - we did however visit St Dominic's in lower Pacific Heights - a beautiful church built in the 1920's - in a very high Gothic style - here is a snap of the front -

and here are some shots of the interior....

A panel from one of the confessionals -

a couple of the confessionals



The large back window -
It is a really lovely church and one I hadn't been in.

From here we went on over to the Quilt show - Here are a few of the quilts that were displayed -





I have a bunch more and will post them during the week -

From the quilt show we ended up at lunch - at the Ramp on...


It is a outside restaurant right next to a boat slip and this was our view out across the waters


It was a perfectly beautiful sunny day - and sitting out by the bay was really nice!!!!

---------

Sunday started off with breakfast to Los Jarritos for a delicious plate of chirizo and huevos. They make fresh tortillas all day long and serve them with all the meals - just scrumptious!!!!!!

After a super breakfast we headed over to our little farmers market.. and here are some snaps...





We got some brocolini from this guy...


and got it home....

steamed with some butter - delicious!!!!

On the stitchy front I finished up Square 10 and have moved on to square 11 - here is a an overall snap of VoHRH....

I am sorry about the crapazilla snap but you get the idea.
The linen is not this eggnog colour at all!!

I will wrap it up for the day - more to come tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by and all the nice things you had to say about the box I made for Jill.

Take care,
edgar