A Spooky Weekend!!

GR&DF it is Hallowe'en weekend - and are we all ready with our scary costumes!! We have an annual Hallowe'en party to get to tomorrow night - It is usually very crowded and goes on to all hours of the morning - we get there on the earlish side and will usually vamoose by 10:00 or so. I am not one for crowded spaces and pushing on people to get through the crowd.

Not only is it All Hallows Eve but it is also - El Día de los Muertos - Day if the Dead. Living here is San Francisco there are the most interesting things to see, go to and buy that are connected to this Holiday!! Here is a snap of our little tribute to the weekend....

We got the sugar skulls in the Mission at Los Jallitos last week when we went to dinner. The little skeletal figures are hand made of clay - Rico has picked them up at a couple of different places. Being from the South I never even heard of nor imagined anything like the DoD Celebrations that go on in this City. The processions through the streets and alters that are built are truly works of art. We may try and get out to see some of the goings on - depending on the congestion in the Mission.

The mail yesterday brought me a chart I bought from Sadie's de-statshing.
It was a Prairie Schooler - 12 Days of Christmas - and is one I have wanted for a long time....


Now I am just itching to start this sucker!! Last night I dug around in my linen stash and found I hadn't anything appropriate for this. That means I will have to wait until I make a trip to NiAH for resupply the linen larder.

Last night was more exchange stitching. My Ornament Exchange is going out this morning. I am really happy with the ornament I made and hope my partner likes it also!!

The flicker last night was "The Last Sin Eater" - 2007 - starring Louise Fletcher and Henry Thomas. This was an odd movie that was recommended to me. It is a faith based movie set in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1850's and deals with 2nd generation Welsh settlers. The basic story is about a 10 year old girl looking for redemption for something that has happened and along her quest uncovers a terrible secret about her little communities founding. I enjoyed it and the scenery was spectacular.

I got a snap of the mama stink eye and the last baby pidge -

This is opposite the windows where the flower box was - I think the first bird is the mama stink eye and the last one is baby pidge (the white patch is what gives her away) the middle bird I am not too sure but she could be from an earlier clutch. Sometimes there are 6 or seven birds on this pipe at night - lots of coo-cooing going on!!

That's about it for today and wraps up the week sports fans!! Thank you for stopping by and for the nice comments - the cake was good yesterday and the slice today is even better!!! Have a great weekend!!

take care,
edgar

A Christmas Finish

I can't believe it - but I only have two things left to stitch up before Christmas for presents!! But for today I have the Cardinal stitching finish from last night -

(I just flicked back here and noticed that the picture I first posted was an earlier snap
- this is the actual finish - how dumb am I!!!)

I am really happy with the way this turned out - I am not sure how I will finish it ..... the finishing will probably happen over the weekend. I got out the Halloween RR of Ulla's and decided on a pumpkin design to stitch - If you have been reading her4 lately you may be able to figure it out.... what would I be stitching???? I will stitch on that over the weekend so it will be a surprise on Monday.

We did our usual Thursday go to market yesterday and boy was the grocery store packed already. We got about 85% of the stuff we will need for Thanksgiving. The veggies we will get on Sunday at the farmers market. Just thinking about things and I just can't fathom how fast this holiday has sprung up on me - realizing that time marches on and everything falls into place "like clockwork" - I wonder if it is the older I get the faster time spins away - In my mind I visualize the sands of time just slipping by quicker and quicker till the that hour glass empties out - kinda morbid for a Friday but that's the way it is sometimes.....

Have a great weekend - thank you all for stopping by, and for all the nice comments... I know there are those lurkers out there and that's fine but don't be afraid to speak out and leave me a comment - I don't bite - or not too much!!! :)

Take care,
edgar

An exchange arrives, some major PS Stash and 2 flicks

I got some great mail yesterday - I was in the harvest Exchange on the SBEBB and my partner was Leena. She also stitched for me in the Fall House exchange and made a lovely tea tin cosy. I was once again the recipient of her super stitching and received this really sweet piece -

I really love pumpkins and they are a symbol of the fall harvest. Leena finished it off with a dried thistle pod. Thank you so much Leena once again for such a lovely treat!!

I also had received a package I had totally forgotten about. A while back I won on eBay a "lot" of PS Charts. It included a bunch of low numbered books, including numbers 1 & 2, that where out of print and that I didn't have. The lot also included quite a few early PS Santa cards that I didn't have (and some I did). First off I was stunned I won this pile and the relatively low price I paid, but whatever.... so it arrived and I am just bouncing off the wall!!! Here is a snap -


Some do have little notes or the occasional bookplate from the original owner but they are all in really super condition. This really fills out the list of charts I was looking for and chasing down one at a time. With so many of these charts hitting the OOP list I am having to get them on the secondary market which is quite an adventure in hunting!! I have found that the Autumnal and Christmas charts are the hardest to get - so if you got 'em hang on to them!!! I did want to answer a question from yesterday's comments - the Cardinal I am working on is a Prairie Schooler chart called "Birds and Berries" and is OOP and a hard one to find - or it was for me - but the Book has four bird designs and I think they are really sweet! Flipping around the blogs lately I have seen lots of PS being stitched - I wonder why that is??? I often wonder about the popularity of designers - every now and again there seems to be a designer that lots of stitchers are stitching and then it shifts to another designer and they are the flavor of the month - I wonder why????? Oh well - too much to think about on a Wednesday.......

I worked on finishing up two exchanges -
getting them ready for mailing tomorrow so no stitchy snaps.

The movies last night were - "Handful of Dust" - 1988 - what an odd empty movie - the book is supposed to be really good but this film translation was a bit long on "not much going on" with a bazaar ending. It is basically a study in lives of artifice and emptiness. Lovely production and the acting is superb - but a bit dull - I really liked Anjelica Huston in this as always superb!! This was followed up with "Top Hat" - 1935 - The evening ended on an up note - cha-ching!!!! Who can beat a super duper Astaire and Rogers flick!!! Along with all the fake scenery and back lot filming - so thirties and such a winner!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and all the really nice comments
- they mean a lot!!!!!

Take care,
edgar