Thursday, August 30, 2018

A Little Thrifting

Gentle Friends, over the weekend I found a couple of super things..... here are some snaps...

... the first up would have to be this late 19th-century Japanese porcelain vase covered in birds and flowers with gilded highlights.. and a little blue vase made in the US I think in the late 40's...

... another view if the vase...

... and what I am calling the back side with the two little birds...  I also found this great sterling bowl...

 ... made here in SF and marked Shreeve & Co., it was filthy and still had the residue of silver polish left in the decorative band about the lip...

 ... after about 5 minutes of polishing, I had most of the dried polish removed and the silver looking silvery again!!  I think this is a waste bowl from a larger tea service.
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There you go sports fans another week of treasure hunting.... thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, August 27, 2018

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, well, I'm back on track with Smith Sampler... here's a snap...


... I made the turn on the upper border and got the right-hand tree done...  the floss changes I've made at this point are with the whites in the body of the stitching.   The recommended floss is supposed to be "Oatmeal Scone" and using this colour of silk when stitched on my linen just melts and fades into the background... I didn't care for that one bit.  So, I changed the bird to "Eiffel Tower" and the "leaves" on the tree to NPI 671 "Palest Pearl Gray" and I'm really happy with the results!!  

As an aside - I am - as I stitch along - really happy with this sampler. I was reticent at the beginning when digging through my stash to find my next project and in picking this sampler.  The photograph shows it as a very pale piece... but as I stitch along I am finding the silks are quite vibrant and strong, I like it and am really glad I went with this piece!!
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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

A Little More Hallowe'en Framing

Gentle Friends, here's the second piece I picked up...


... "Thine is the trick or Treat" from Prairie Moon.  It was a really super piece to work on and again sorry for the odd angle, those reflections are brutal!!  I still have one more piece at the framers that I'll pick up this weekend and I'll post that next week.
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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by dos top again!!

Take care,
edgar

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

A Little Hallowe'en Framing

Gentle Friends, I think I mentioned a while back that I took some things in for framing.  I've already gotten back two and posted about them HEREOver the weekend I retrieved two more ....  here's one of them...


....sorry about the odd angle, I was trying to make sure there would be no weird reflections... this is an older piece from Lizzie Kate called "The Very Scary Mystery Sampler."  I usually don't like to use matt board with framed cross stitch, but this piece I think really needs it to get the colours to pop.  I remember it was a really fun piece to stitch and I do love the bit from the Scottish prayer...

From ghoulies and ghosties

And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

... and it is so perfect for the season, even if I'm jumping in a bit early!!  
I'll have the second piece up tomorrow.

There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, August 20, 2018

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I've made only a little progress on Smith Sampler, after two bad counting mistakes I had to go back and frog out the same 3 triangles twice.... here's a snaperoo..

... I was so mad at myself and my sloppy counting, but it happens and now I'm back on the stitch, full steam ahead!!
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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Thursday, August 16, 2018

A Little Thirfting

Gentle Friends, out and about again over the weekend and found a few fun things...

... from l to r a nice little silver plate basket, two carved stone Asian bookends, a great silver lustre English teapot ca. 1920 and a really great find of a set a "Little Frankie" books by Mrs Leslie published in 1870... so there you go some more fun stuff...

Here's a couple of snaps of the silver basket...  a before and after..

... this is how I found it so I took a  chance...

... and after a little silver polish, it came up pretty nice, with some silver wear.  I think this dates to around 1900 it was made by the Pairpoint Silver company.  
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There you go sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

A Little SF Eatin'

Gentle Friends, over the weekend we hit a couple of fun places...  Saturday while we were out running around we were on the north side of the Park in the Richmond District and so stopped at one of the small little bakeries that line Clement street...

 ...a co-worker lives out there in the Avenues and recommend this place and even brought is some of the dim sum buns they make here...

 ... in addition to the large steam table, they have this case of dim sum and buns... but I was after the "curry beef" buns...  I got a few and we brought them home.....

... I heated one up and here it is ... a really delicious flavourful bun filled with tasty beefy goodness!!
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Then yesterday afternoon we were sitting around not wanting to cook and dinner time was swinging around... so we called some friends, went and picked them up then headed over to Japan Town and our favourite little sushi place... Kushi Tsuru..



... I always say I'm going to get something different but usually head to my standbys of Tuna Tango Roll, a couple of Hamachi and some Seaweed salad.... totally predictable, but oh so good!!!



... but first to arrive is my beer and some miso soup...

... also to arrive was an order of Potato Croquette

 a delicious assortment of sushi...

... seaweed salad...

 ... also ordered were a couple of Bento Boxes... 


.... my delicious Tuna Tango Roll...

 ... the second bento box....  it was a fun evening and as usual, we really enjoyed the dinner and this restaurant!! 
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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, August 13, 2018

A Little Old and a Little New Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, since I wrapped up Apostles Creed I didn't have a new stitch kitted up completely so I pulled out an older WIP to work on...


... HEiotS, is a piece that sort of languishes in my WIP basket and so I pulled her out and stitched in some of the animal and plant motifs while I was waiting on some silks I didn't have in my stash to come in...
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I decided that the next piece I was going to stitch would be a traditional sampler, I almost went Quaker, but held back and flipped to a really lovely piece from Scarlett House called...


... Smith Sampler.  Here's a snap of my very small start... and here's a snap I lifted from the internet of what this piece will eventually look like...

Image result for scarlett house cross stitch

... it photographed much lighter than the finished piece will eventually look like... As usual, I really liked the border and think that's what originally drew me to this sampler.  I'm stitching it on 40ct linen using the called for colours in mostly the called for silks.....
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Friday, August 10, 2018

A Little Dinner

Gentle Friends, we headed out to a fun dinner and I remembered my camera...


... although there is a menu board, they have daily specials on a board outside... 

... the menu board over the inside counter...

... Firewood is known for this open brick oven and...

... roasting chickens...

... this is a shot of the front dinning room... bright and colorful...

... so the way this works is you order and pay at the counter, you are given a number for your order and then head for a table... I ordered a really tasty beer, very hoppy with lots of citrus, a true summer beer - it's from Drake's Brewing Company in San Leandro, CA

... Rico ordered a peporoni pizza and salad...

... and John and I had the baked rigatoni, all these dishes were good!!
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... after dinner, we headed around the corner to The Castro Fountain.....

... Rico got a double scoop of "Yas Queen" and Strawberry/Watermelon Sorbet, Yas Queen, is a vanilla based Ice Cream with their rainbow cake mixed in...

... John got a double scoop of Tres Leche and Blueberry Cheesecake ice creams.... and I got

... a piece of the rainbow cake to take home, I was really full and although I wanted this cake, I knew it was better to wait, take it home and have it later with my nightly cup of coffee, and I did and it was totally wonderful at about 9pm!!
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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!  Have a super weekend.... BTW I got some of the silks in the mail yesterday so I'll have a shot of my new stitch on Monday!!!

Take care,
edgar

Thursday, August 9, 2018

A Little Thrifting and a Fun Fall Stuff

Gentle Friends, so it's been a while since I've posted any new finds..... and here's a snaperoo...


... from the left... a small oil on board sketch by Louis Morin, "Allegory" ca. 1895.  I think the sketch is for larger work that I'm researching...  next up is a walnut Victorian frame that has some nice gilt work and faux bois with chip carving, the picture in it is a really nice Wallace Nutting coloured photo called "The Old Drawing Room" ...and ... although we certainly don't need them I picked up a large Pink Willow cup and saucer and a Wedgwood mug with maps of roads in the UK and the "Dominion of Wales" ca 1650... it's become my new favourite cup!!
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You all know what a nut I am for Converse chucks... well, the new "skull" shoes have come out and of course, I had to get a pair....and along with them I got another pair of Looney Tune shoes... and here's a snap...

... the skull shoes this year are really different from last years offering of pastel ...

... the little skulls are really great!!  Very Halloween!!   All Hallows is on its way and I'm very excited...only 83 days away!!!
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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, August 6, 2018

A Little Stitchin' Finish

Gentle Friends, over the weekend I finished up "Apostles Creed."  Here's a snap...


Heartstring Samplery "Apostles Creed"
July 5 - August 3, 2018
40 ct Vintage Exampler
Mostly the Called for Overdyed Floss

I really enjoyed this stitch and as you may remember I clipped the bands and rearrange them to fit.  I also went back and backstitched the angles wings with a little shiny golden floss and like the way it worked, thanks for the suggestion.

My next stitch is sort of ready to go.  I had decided on my next project then changed my mind.  I didn't have all the silk I needed so I had to order a few skeins...  now I'm waiting for them to arrive.  While I'm waiting to start a new stitch I hauled out a WIP and worked on that ... I'll post a snap of that later on.
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I was wondering if anyone else is having an issue with Blog Comments.  It seems that my replies are either bouncing back and just not moving forward or I'm unable to even answer them....  is something going on that I'm not aware of???  Any suggestions as to a fix??
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Flowers and Fruit

 Gentle Friends, I wrapped up the centre square stitching... here's a snaperooo... ... I thought about straightening up the baskets and ...