A couple of SAL's and a WWII Film

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thanks so much for your kind comments yesterday!!  At this point I am not too sure how I will finish up the SAL piece.  I hadn't really thought of the finishing as I was really taken with the piece and the stitching.  I am thinking it might be a nice little framed piece instead of something else, but there is plenty of time to get that done. 

I wanted to mention a couple of SAL's out there that you will be seeing me stitch here at Blacksheep.  The first is one that I got in on after the fact and am in the second round of stitching.  It is a really cute Winter sampler SAL that is a joint effort between The Thread Basket and C Mon Monde.  I just got the first piece the other day and have yet to pick out some linen - or do my usual changing of DMC to Belle Soie - I think this will be really lovely in silks.  The other SAL is being gathered together by sweet Vonna.  She has started up a great SAL Blog for us to work on the NEW CCN Monthly Cottages.  They are really great looking and should prove to be a great stitch.  If you remember I stitched up the LHN Monthlies last year as a single piece....

I really enjoyed this piece and must take a moment to thank once again Ma Teakettle as it was due to her generosity that I got my sticky little claws on the charts in her Gift-a-way and so was able to stitch this up.  It will be a gift this Christmas and hope it will be well received. Soooo...  with all that said I plan on doing these New Country Cottages as a single piece and you can watch that progress here over the next year as the charts are released. 

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The movie I wanted to mention I saw a couple of days ago is called "In Tranzit" - 2008 - starring Vera Farmiga, John Malkovich, Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Bruhl and Natalie Press.

The film, although very harsh, is wonderfully shot and although not typically "beautiful" there is some really great cinematography!!  Set in the winter of 1946 after the end of WWII a group of German POW's are sent mistakenly to a women's transit camp in Leningrad.  Based on a true story it is really the acting and NOT the script that makes this film worth seeing.  There are three super performances - 1st - Farmiga as the Doctor trying to keep her shell shocked husband close by while doing what is required of her.  2nd - Malkovich as the cruel Pavlov trying to root out the SS Officers that are mixed in with the prisoners - and 3rd - Kretschmann as Max - trying to hide his identity by flying under the radar while at the same time falling for the kind Dr. - his subtle performance was worth the whole film.  At 113 Minutes it is not too long -  this is an adult film for sure.

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There you go sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by and for the great comments!!  Stop by again!

Take care,

edgar

A SAL Finish and a Recipe

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thank you all so much for the great comments - I think it has been decided - I'm gonna call him Peanut the Christmas Squirrel -  sitting on the letter "S" - That totally made the morning!!  Now, to market him to the masses and make a bazillion buckaroos!!!  :)

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Last night I finished up the wonderful Mystery SAL that Carol R was having over at iStitch.  

Here is my version....

I used HDF silk - Oxblood and Blueberry Soup 

stitched on a mystery piece of 32ct Sand coloured linen

It was a great piece to work on.  Thank you so much carol for putting it all together and keeping us motivated and stitching!!!

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I also posted at Blacksheep bakes the recipe for the Holiday Gingerbread I baked up this weekend.  I included the frosting recipe I used, but don't feel constrained to it and use whatever or none if you wish!!  You can click HERE to get there.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  I must thank everyone again for stopping by, also to my New Followers and my Old Followers....  I am thinking I need to have a Gift-a-Way for the Holidays!!!  Stop by again soon!

Take care,

edgar

Some Weekend Things

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends didn't you love having the extra hour to sleep yesterday - but the down side it was pitch dark by 6:15 last night.  As with everything else in life we will adjust to the time change once again.

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We eventually got some rain on Saturday evening - not the horrendous storms that were predicted (those never materialize) but a nice wet evening.  It has stayed pretty cold the last few days so we all know that winter is upon us.  With the weather so chilly we stayed pretty close to home - only venturing out to run to the Safeway Saturday morning - and our weekly stop at Noah's Bagels - gotta have my fix of challah and bacon!!  Saturday evening we had some friends over and I fixed Chicken Marsala with some sides, but the highlight of the meal was of course desert....  I made some....

.....pretty tasty Brownies - and although only a box mix, they really hit the spot, with some vanilla bean ice cream.
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Sunday morning we headed out to Mass - we get there early and so we get the practice with the new Mass responses and bits of music that are changing.  You can read HERE all about that.  After Mass we headed over to Eddie's for some breakfast - and then on to our little Farmers market.  I had my camera and took some snaps..

There were some great grapes and lovely Asian pears...

.....tons of beautiful Fuyu persimmons

....there were lovely sweet potatoes

....and we are still bale to get heirloom tomatoes

 and the flower lady always has beautiful bunches of flowers.  Unlike last year when this little market closed down for a few months during the winter, they are staying open the whole year -  so we will continue to support our little market through the cold wet months ahead....

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I did some stitching on "ABC Noel" and here is a wrinkled snap of it so far....

It is just zooming along - but, I must have missed the story of the "Christmas Badger/Beaver" - or whatever animal that might be at the letter "S."  Any suggestions???

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Yesterday I baked up a gingerbread - I sort of worked out the recipe from a couple of sources and made my own.

I covered it in a lemony cream cheese frosting.  I'll post the recipe tomorrow.  It turned out pretty tasty I must say!!  I do love gingerbread and things like it for the Holidays.  I am even getting the itch to construct a Gingerbread house  -  how fun would that be!!

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There you go sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, do come again!!

Take care,

edgar

Friday Wrap Up

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends I was so happy that you enjoyed the "Day of the Dead" posting.  The rains they came - and it has gotten pretty chilly here with the temps hovering at about 48 degrees.  The wet makes it seem colder!!  

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So last night while watching TCM, they are having a Month long tribute called  "All Aboard" - featuring films with romances and or dramas on the high seas!!  I really enjoyed last nights selection - starting off the evening was "Romance on the High Seas" - 1948 - then they showed "April in Paris" - 1952 - both Doris Day vehicles that are really charming.  I have talked about them before and both are worth a look.  The next film was a Jane Powell film called "Luxury Liner" - 1948 - another great little film.  All three fun romantic films!!  Since it was cold and wet I was in no mood for the kitchen... I made us a ....

...real comfort dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches!!  Easy to make, easy to eat and a quick clean up - who could ask for anything more!!

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We are coming up on elections so I need to get on my soap box a moment!!  Here in California we get about a bazillion pieces of crappity junk mail...

... for everything on the ballot - every candidate and every proposition for and against gets its own shiny piece of advertising... and them some - it would seem that at least the printing businesses are doing a brisk business!!  Here is 1 weeks worth of mailers - 52 pieces of shiny, heavy 4 colour printed pieces of crap - that I did not read, did not look at and did not hesitate to toss into file 13!  This is ludicrous and there is no way to stop it.  

We already do the mail in voting .. 

... thing, since our voting places changes every single year  - and is usually so inconvenient to try and find parking that I have been "mail voting " for quite a few years.  I vote every single year - and this is one of the projects for this weekend - going through the voting booklet and filling out the forms.  I figure I can't bitch about things if I don't vote!!

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There you go sports fans - another week goes by and we are now less than 3 short weeks from Thanksgiving!!  Gobble Gobble....

Take care,

edgar

Dia de los Muertos

Gentle readers and Dear Friends  - no rain yet... but it is on the way - and - the temps have dropped noticeably.  

I spent last night working out some upcoming Exchange pieces and boy once again I find that my stash heap is just OOC (out of control!!)  Thank goodness I have some size requirements, but I was finding things that I had totally forgotten I had - and now want to go and start.  I refrained from any crazy new starts and after I had spent a good portion of the evening fiddling with stash I picked up my "ABC Noel" and worked an little on it - but not enough to warrant a snap.

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Last night in the Mission the celebration of Dia de los Muertos was held.  Rico went down with a friend and took my camera so I have some snaps of the festival of the Altars held in Garfield Park.  Here are his snaps...

and for Steve jobs....

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I found this great traditional Day of the Dead Procession on You Tube -

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

Take care,

edgar

A Great Pre-Code Film!!!

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends things are bee bopping along as always here by the Bay.  The weather is a'changing and it is going to be a cold and wet weekend.....  which means many movies and ordering food delivered!!  I do love that there are so many places that will delivery tasty treats so that I don't have to leave my house.

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Last weekend I was in a kind of musical/dance movie mode and so I hauled out my box of Busby Berkeley DVD's....

(a borrowed snaperoo)

I love these films and they are all so much fun to watch.  One of my favorites is "Dames" - 1934 - starring Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Zasu Pitts and Guy Kibbee.

In a nutshell from IMBD the story line is......"Multi-millionaire Ezra Ounce wants to start a campaign against 'filthy' forms of entertainment, like Broadway-Shows. He comes to his relatives families and makes them members of his morale-boosting campaign. But Jimmy, another relative is producing a show, starring Ezra's niece Barbara. But he had bad luck with his backer, this person has given him an invalid check. Another of his victims, the show-girl Mabel has the idea of blackmailing Horace, Barbara's father, whom she has met before in a slightly compromising situation to get the money."

One of the musical numbers from the film by that musical genius Busby Berkeley

....the title sequence in fact.....

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There you go sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by and for all the great films you have been mentioning in your comments!!

Take care,

edgar

Three Great Hallowe'en Films

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thanks so much for your kind comments about yesterdays post.  It was a fun foodie weekend for sure!!

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I had today's post mulling over in the back of my mind for a week or so but just never got to getting it written and posted.  Now with Hallowe'en over and today being the 1st of November - that seems incredible!!  I better get to mentioning these films - and although worth seeing anytime of the year they lend themselves to the Fall and Hallowe'en especially.

First up will be a film from my childhood - that I have seen many times over the years and always enjoy!!  "Mad Monster Party" - 1967 - starring the voices of Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett and Phyllis Diller.  

Set on the Isle of Evil the Baron von Frankenstein, Karloff, as head of The Worldwide Organization of Monsters invites all the classic monsters to his retirement party - they include Dracula, the Wolfman, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, King Kong and Igor, inspired by Peter Lorre.  This retirement involves the Baron turning over his fantastic inventions and "secrets' to his nerdy nephew Felix.  The Baron's outrageously gorgeous secretary/assistant is outraged and plans to foil this giving away of the secrets to the nephew.  Although not really a Hallowe'en film it always played during the Holiday as I was growing up so I always think of it as a Hallowe'en film.

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The next two films are much more recent - "Hocus Pocus" - 1993 - starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omir Katz and Thora Birch -

On Hallowe'en night three witches dead 300 years are brought back to life in modern day Salem and it is up to two teenagers an eight year old and an immortal Black cat to keep them from their evil plans.  I love this movie and have seen it many times.  Bette Midler absolutely steals the show at the Hallowe'en dance when she sings "I put a Spell on You" - Here is a You Tube Clip of the Midler singing the song...

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The last film I wanted to mention is "Sleepy Hollow" - 1999 - starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones and Richard Griffiths. 

This truly American ghost story is a short story by Washington Irving and first published in 1820.  This version of the story uses the basic outline set down by Irving while expanding on some of the more gruesome aspects.  Set in 1799 New York, Ichabod Crane is sent to the small hamlet of Sleepy Hollow to investigate 3 murders.  The murders are all decapitations by the notorious ghost of the Headless Horseman.  As the murders escalate the story unfolds and culminates is some great action along with some twists to the story.  Here is the trailer from the film....

I really enjoy this film, on may levels.  First, the wonderful vision and touch of Tim Burton is all over this film - as Director of many fine films he brings to this film a great artistic sensibility that is top notch!!  The ensemble cast couldn't have been better - everyone is perfectly chosen and all work in unison as a group perfectly - I couldn't recommend this film highly enough!!  It is a bit gory and bloody at times, but not unnecessarily so and not too over the top.

There you go sports fans - 3 Fall/Hallowe'en films that are worth seeing anytime of the year - but are especially great treats at this time of the year.  In a week or so I will talk about Holiday films.....  I do love my Christmas movies, any suggestions???  Thanks for stopping by, do come again!

Take care,

edgar