A Stone, A Finish and a New Start

Gentle Friends, usually one thinks of the Blarney Stone on St Patrick's day....  I had a run in with another stone, a kidney stone, on Monday.  I actually felt it about two weeks ago , but having never had one before didn't know what it was and the pain went away so I didn't think about it again...... until this past weekend, Sunday morning to be precise.  And I am nothing if not stubborn.  So I hung onto a heating pad all morning and the pain went away again....  then it came back Sunday night, Rico kept insisting I go to the hospital, but I kept resisting.  Then Monday morning after I got to work I was doubled over in pain and went back home to my heating pad and the fetal position in bed with the who hounds......  Rico left work and came home and unlike the "feral cat" I had become... hissing and fighting to not go to the Emergency Room, it hurt too bad and I gave in and went.  After a few hours, a CT scan and some great drugs....... they sent me home with the knowledge that yes, I had a kidney stone, and some prescriptions for more drugs.  So that's what I have been up to the past 4 days - just taking pills and trying to feel somewhat normal - and waiting for this stone to pass........

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On the cross stitch front........I did finish up the band sampler last weekend......

A re-working of "Hibernation Day" by Heartstring Samplery -

With all the changes I call it "Winter Band Sampler"

36ct PTP "Truffle"

Here's my Floss conversion...

Mullberry - I went with - CC Apple Fritter

Shaker White - "         " - CC Snowball

Mustard Seed I Kept

Old Hickory - "            " - WDW Dirt Road

Piney Woods - "           " - Victorian Motto Green A

Pecan Pie - "                " - CC Hickory Sticks

Here are some close ups.....

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I did start a new  sampler.......

"Spanish Mystery Sampler" - Shakespeare's Peddler

40ct "Bisque" - my conversion of Belle Soie, and some colour changes 

I am quite a bit further along than this snap shows, but you get the idea.

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That's about it for today, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

"Winter Band" Sampler update....

Gentle Friends, another quick weekend passes, and we arrive on a slow,wet Monday morning...... I did get some stitching in on the the band sampler and here is where it stands as of 10 pm last night.....

.... as you can see it is bee-bopping along just fine.  I did, however have to frog and restitch the first basket of fruit, it was off by a single stitch. I was really mad at having to rip it out and restitch, but that's how it is sometimes, that single stitch would have thrown the whole row of fruit off and that would have made me nuts!

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That's about it for today, short and sweet.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Weekend Stitching

Gentle Friends, it was a damp weekend here by the Bay - and we spent it close to home for the most part.  I continued to stitch away on the  "Winter Band Sampler"......  and here's an updated shot of what was accomplished.....

...  I finished up the house and have moved on to the "pine forest" part of the sampler.  Talking about the house...I have two skeins of "Apple Fritter," the red coloured floss, and they are quite different in shading.  I used the much darker skein for the house fill and will save the light shaded skein for the rest of the red on the sampler.  I also moved the bird from one roof to the other, as it fit better with my changes.

That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

"Winter Band" Update

Gentle Friends it is a rainy, blustery day here by the Bay - an we need every drop!!  It is supposed to rain through the weekend so I'll be a wet thrifter.  I wanted to wrap up the week with the sampler... so here tis....

....  the focus has been working on the house - 

I have the rest of the windows to finish and then more fill stitching.

That's about it for today sports fans.  Have a great weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

Two Lovely Churches and a "Winter Band" Update

Gentle Friends i thought today would be a great day to show some snaps from last weeks travels.  You know when I travel I make it a point to visit churches.  I got to quickly see two churches during our short trip.  In Opelousas Catholic services can be dated as far back as 1756 with a recorded Baptism.  Records show that the present church site was officially established in 1776 as the "Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Post of Opelousas.  The church now standing is the third one and was completed in and the first mas said in 1909.  Here are some snaps of St Landry Catholic Church.........

...... the historical marker with some great info.....

and a couple of shots of the lovely interior, which was finished about 10 years later due to lack of funds....

and a shot of one of the side aisles and the great columns...

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We were also in Leonville, a very small community about 15 minutes from Opelousas, and I got some shots of the church there, it is the Church of St Leo the Great......

... it is a much newer church built in 1954, here's a shot of the corner stone.....

... and some interior shots....

.... the stained glass windows were 12 in total and of the Apostles... here are three of them....

.... they are really lovely and fit the sanctuary so well....  I will leave you with a shot of the Little Teche Bayou

.... we had dinner one night at Crawfish Town in Breaux Bridge, and it was delicious!!

I forgot my camera, this is a snap I found online.  We all had seafood, I had a plate of fried oysters that were great!!!  We started off with a sampler platter of crawfish, alligator, frog legs, shrimp, hush puppies and catfish - a real Cajun treat!!!!

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Here's a snap of "Winter band Sampler" - although I took it with me I didn't touch it once for almost a week, so very little has gotten done, but I am now working on the house......

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That about wraps up the week, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!!

Take care,

edgar

A Quick "Band" Update

Gentle Friends it has been a very wet three days of constant rain - sometimes drippy small drops... sometimes heavy fat drops, but, nonstop grey wet days for the City - and - we need every drop of it, so I'm not complaining the least little bit.  In spite of the rain, I still got quite a bit done.

Today I wanted to catch you up on the "Winter Band Sampler"...... as it stood yesterday afternoon while there was a little bit of sunlight.....

... I was aiming for a more accurate photo of the colour of the linen and floss, but this wrinkled up snap will have to do.  As you can see I pushed through and finished the snowflake and "holly" bands and now I'm sort of at the midpoint.  If you remember I re-worked this piece especially the bands, I removed all the verses and added this double triangle band to split the piece into two parts.

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

Take care,

edgar

The Completed Candle Pocket and a "Band" Update

Gentle friends the mail was "very, very , good " yesterday!!  I got back from Faye my completed Candle Pocket, the First Kit from the Colonial Gathering Club.  She did such a wonderful job in the finishing, I know I would have totally botched the whole thing.  Here's a snaperoo of my Pocket....

....I am so very pleased with the way it turned out, and again can't thank Faye enough for her superb job... she does lots of finishing and you can contact her through her blog Carolina Stitcher.  I would highly recommend her to anyone!!!!  Now, I can't wait for the next little project!!!!

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I finished up the next band on my "Winter Band Sampler"....  I also went back to using the recommended "Mustard Seed" floss.....

.... the colours are a bit off, well, quite a bit off, I jangled it about a bit in photoshop, but taking the picture at night with lamp light and flash sort of wreck the colours, but you get the idea.  The next band is composed of big, white snowflakes. It is the band I have been dreading as I really do not like stitching great amounts of white....... but I will push through.

That's about it for today sports fans, I'll not be posting tomorrow, I am taking the day off to go to the one of the first of the Winter/Spring Antique Shows that pop up here in Northern California.  It is a pretty big show with some good dealers so I am hoping it will be a good show!!

Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Stitchin' Away on "Winter Band Sampler"

Gentle Friends here is where WBS stands.....

...... I am thinking of working back in "Mustard Seed" - it's a colour of floss I really like, it is just so close in shade to "Dirt Road" - the colour of the deer.  The gold pot was to be "Mustard Seed," as you can see I switched it out for "Olde Gold."  I'll see as I go along....

We've finally gotten some cold weather, and some rain over the weekend!!  We are dry for the next day or so, and then some more rain is on the way.  Of course, what brought on the rain was I washed my Car Saturday afternoon, and it started to rain Sunday, I often think to myself   "why bother!!" 

That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Edited to add a Photo of "Winter Band Sampler"

Gentle Friends I had every intention of showing the progress on the "Winter Band" Sampler I'm working on. 

I flattened out the wrinkles, got the light set up took about 10 snaps - and then then set the camera on the side table.*  I usually put it in the "murse" so I don't forget it rushing out in the morning.  I finally settled on a red colour - Apple Fritter - working on the third band only part of the left side deer is completed - I've had to change his colour only twice..... so far.

*I found my camera in my lunch bag.... so I downloaded the snap...

 Although I may get no further on the band sampler this weekend, I received the First Kit in the year long Colonial Gatherings Club put together by Dyeing to Stitch.  I signed up for the club when I found out that Paulette of "Plum Street Sampler" and Tanya of "Scarlet House" would be doing the projects - both great designers I like and will look forward to the fun kits that will arrive through the year.  I may just stitch on this piece only....  The first kit is a "Colonial Candle Pocket" you can click HERE and go to Paulette's Blog and see a snap and read about this super little project.

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Just a quick reminder today is the last day to sign up for the drawing Gift-a-way of the chart - 

 "Christmas Band Sampler"

My Completed version of the piece

You can click HERE to go to the Post to leave a comment to be entered in the drawing, I'll announce the winner on Monday.

That about wraps up the week sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar