Gentle Friends, last night we attended a lovely Christmas Eve service at Most Holy Redeemer, then we got home a little after 11pm and watched Pope Francis open the Holy Door at St Peter's for the Jubilee Year of 2025. This morning was low-key...I made some sausage pinwheels, a tradition in my family forever. In the early afternoon, we sat down to Christmas dinner.
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This evening our next-door neighbors brought over a big plate of latkes for the beginning of Hanukkah and a little Christmas present...
... so we got out the sour cream and they were delicious!!
Gentle Friends, our Christmas week started with our annual attendance at last night's performance by the San Francisco Ballet of "The Nutcracker." We have been going to see performances of The Nutcracker for quite a few years, it never gets old and is always the beautiful event we've really come to love. Here are some snaps I stole off the internet...
... pictures during the performance are Verboten!! so I verbote... but I found a YouTube of a bit of the SF performance, I hope you'll enjoy!!
The Dance of the Flowers is so lovely...
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After the performance, I was feeling a bit peckish AND had found out earlier from doing a search online with the McRib Locator which McDonald's in SF had the McRib, so we headed further downtown to the only McDonald's that the McRib had been sited at... way down on 6th and Market Street.... it is a terrible neighbourhood, and we couldn't find parking so headed home. I'm certainly not dodging bullets and crack dealers, even for a McRib!!! The 6th Street Micky D's was the only place on the McRib locator that said they had them, so I was disappointed.
We ended up just driving over to the McD's close to our home in Noe Valley and low and behold a true Christmas miracle... the MickyD's on Bayshore had them AND has a drive-thru, so no parking issues...
I got myself two, one for last night and one for breakfast this morning, I'm crazy, yes, it's scary unidentified pressed meat., yes, and covered with overly sweet BBQ sauce, yes..... but when I can get me a McRib this ole guy is gonna get himself a McRiB!!! Rico will not eat one, so he got a Quarter Pounder...
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That's about it for today sports fans. I have quite a bit of prep work to do for Christmas Dinner tomorrow, we have 10pm Mass tonight so the day is booked up. Have a super Christmas Eve!
Gentle Friends, not stitchin' a bit..but baking up a storm to get out my Christmas parcels to friends and famil...
... this year the parcels contained, Pralines, Snowballs (Mexican Wedding Cookies) and glazed Gingerbread. All the boxes are either in transit or delivered as are this year's Christmas cards...I'll post a snap of that later.
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Of course in my life, I can never find what I'm looking for right away and usually find 6 other things that I had been looking for...... eventually, I find everything, just not maybe when I want it... today looking for something else I found a great old snap ...
...from 1949, when my mom was a single working gal in Richmond,
VA working at Rich's Department Store's glove counter.
Gentle Friends, it's been a couple of weeks of really not wanting to stitch so I didn't...however, over the weekend I once again stepped back into the fray and picked up "Frederick"... here's where I am at the moment...the old snaperoo...
There you go sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay safe!!
Gentle friends, sorry to be so late with the post this week but my schedule has turned upside down... I'll explain that a little further on, right now let's take a look at the bit o'stichin' I was able to get done...
... you can see where old Frederick will go once I get to him...
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So... my schedule was upended due to life and changes thrust upon me... I have never talked about my job/work on the old Blog, as I keep this space for stitching and SF stuff..but, after about 20 +/- years... I was let go and my job moved to North Carolina... and that's fine, life happens and we move on...
In my life, I've been a Curator in an art museum, worked reception and HR on the Pacific Stock Exchange and the job I had the longest, which ended three weeks ago was Customer Service for a spicey adult company, and I'll leave that there. I've never defined myself by the job/paycheck I received but I have enjoyed all my past work experiences. You might be asking, what will edgar do now... and for a few days that was me, what was I going to do now. I received a nice severance package so money wouldn't be an issue for quite a few months and I count myself lucky for that, but I needed to get it in gear and get something else to bring in the old casharoo. Luckily our next-door neighbours, who we've been friends with for the last 10 years, both work in recruitment so I turned to them for help and they jumped in to help me build a resume and LinkedIn page. The resume prompted lots of inquiries and interest in me and what I could bring to a job.
However, I already knew of a position, made a call, got an interview and was hired on the spot. So I was only out of work for about a week and a half. I am malleable and change is good!!
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That's about it for this evening sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!!
Gentle Friends, I have gotten quite a bit done on the border and here's a snaperoo...
This is how it is charted with no fill around the diamonds and a bit different within them. I like it, just enough difference from Frederika and then again, just similar enough. I am leaning towards no fill around the diamonds.
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, I finished up Frederika and here's a snaperoo...
"Frederika" - Carriage House Samplings
8/26 - 10/11/24
40ct Antique Lace - Seraphim Hand Dyed Fabric by Laurie
Charted NPI Silk
I got a start on the border for "Frederick" but I'll hold off on a snap until the next post. That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!!
Gentle Friends, here's an updated snap of Frderika...
... a little more wrinkled than I would have liked but she's done and now I'm in the last third of the image for stitching.
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We've had some hot days over the last week. Usually, we hover in the mid-60s all year, but in late September and October, we get our "Summer" weather. We hit the upper 80s here in the City and since we've got micro-climates because of the hills there were even some areas in the low 90s...which is a nice change up... but it was only for a few days and since we've not got any AC the fans are a god-send for sure!!
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay safe!!
Gentle Friends, Frederika, a fancy chickin' out in the woods, is now outlined, here's a snaperooo...
... as I've been stitching along I've changed my mind about how I'll stitch Frederick... I'm thinking about stitching them not as a single piece but leaving plenty of space between them so they can be framed independently and just hang them together. It is really due to the borders being similar but not truly matching. I still have to go back and do the single stitch in the centre fill on each diamond around Frederika's border, each is charted a different colour, but I'm leaning towards doing them all with single black stitches. The border for Frederick is heavily black so that will tie them together better... I've still got plenty of time to make that decision so I'll just keep stitchin' away and keep thinking about it until I need to pull the trigger on a decision.
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, almost there, here's a snaparoo of the border...
... I was really happy, nay, surprised when everything banged up and matched. For some reason, I had a feeling that it wouldn't match up, now there's only to finish up the fill NPI963 on top and NPI962 on the bottom of the diamonds.
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Now, I'm looking at stitching ahead since it's "September Start" and I've seen so many lovely starts online that I may just start something else...even though I am very much a monogamous stitcher, I might just have to get something else going...I got a few new things in the mail and a sampler might just be calling my name...(clapping hands and digging in the stash heap!!)
Gentle Friends, nothing too exciting but more border... her's a snaperoo...
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Since it's Fall, my favorite time of the year, I decided to decorate a bit and I hauled out my glass pumpkins and made up the "Patch" once again this year by the front door... here's a snaperoo...
.. they are from different glass artists with most coming from the furnace of Jack Pine.
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
When it landed on the table I thought they had brought me a salad, but under the microgreens were some delicious eggs, and the cheddar biscuits were delicious!! That little cup of gravy is to pour over the biscuits, interesting, but a bit messy.
We walked around in the sunshine with lots of brides, and Quinceanera celebrants getting their pictures taken... also tons of tourists and just locals walking their dogs. It's a lovely park and worth a visit. It is actually the first time in all the years living here that I've actually been down here to just walk around.
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That's about it for today sports fans... a few days off and some fun goings-on...
I'm also off today and I've got some stitching and napping on the agenda!! Thanks for stopping by. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, I just got the picture in an email of the fun brunch we had after Mass yesterday... for some reason, it took us the longest time to get us all together, but it happened, and here's the proof...
Going around the table L to R... Richard, Rico, me, Rob, Carol, and Dan
...we see each other at the 8am mass at Most Holy Redeemer, but landing a date and eatin' together just kept falling apart...it was a lovely day yesterday in the upper 60's so we chose to eat outside. We stayed in the Castro area and chose Kitchen Story. After we all ordered we got in addition something to share around...the ricotta pancakes which are just delicious!! It was such fun that we are determined to do this once a month!
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There you go, a second post again, two weeks running...
Gentle Friends, I made a start on my Fall Stitch... here's a snaperoo...
"Frederika" & "Frederick" - Carriage House Samplings
40ct Antique Lace - Seraphim Hand Dyed Fabric by Laurie
Charted NPI Silk
These are two separate charts that I'm stitching as a single piece with Frderika on top. I think the only change I'll be making is to fill the border between the diamond shapes on Frederick like Frederika.
I saw this stitched as one on the other many, many years ago and thought what a great-looking piece!! I decided then to do them together and the charts have been floating in the "ToDo" Stash pile for the longest time... Fall 2024 is the time! I love working with NPI and luckily I had in the silk stash, 95% of the colors... however, I still need to make a run over to Needle in a Haystack for a couple of missing silks and to bump up the amount of a few of the colors that are worrying me could be on the low side.
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, it's amazing how a couple of long stitchin' days can move a piece along. Here's a snaperoo of the completed sampler...
6/8/24 - 8/20/24
"Ann Kirby 1845" - Needlework Press
40ct Hogbristle from Fox and Rabbit
Called for Overdyed Silks
I really enjoyed this stitch and thank you all for joining me on this adventure. I've ironed the next piece of linen, and gotten the NPI silk pulled so all is ready for my Fall piece to begin this evening. You'll have to wait until Monday's Posting to see what I can get done over the next few days.
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That wraps up the week sports fans. Thanks again for stopping by and following along... do stop again. Stay Safe!!
Gentle Friends, another post on a Monday is scandalous - however - it's been quite a while since I posted anything other than stitchin' so here's a peek at our Saturday.......the family got together for an enjoyable lunch at the Moss Beach Distillery (about 30 minutes or so south of SF). Here's a snap of all of us.....
... going around the table starting in the lower right... Chris who is the boyfriend of...Leslie (Rico's niece), Rico's sweet Mom, Rico, Kimmie, (Rico's 1st Cousin) her daughter Taylor, Kimmie's husband Kevin, Linda (Rico's 1st cousin and Kimmie's sister) me, Nichole (another 1st cousin of Rico's) Nichole's husband Kurt and their son Jayden. It started off as just Leslie, Chris, and Rico's mom coming up to the Bay area to get out of the 3-digit heat down in Fresno, then turned into a big fun family lunch!!
We always enjoy going down the coast to eat here, it's fun to drive out of the City, and it is some good eatin'!! Since it's summer by the Pacific, we get lots and I mean lots of fog rolling in and Saturday was no different... here's a snaperoo from the end of the parking lot looking out over the cliff down to the beach...
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I think that'll wrap it up for today sports fans. Thanks again for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!!
Gentle Friends, stitching away on the right side of Miss Ann and here's a snaperoo...
... I'm pretty sure that the birds from top to bottom are a robin, a parrot and a peacock, but I could be wrong... I was once... Hee Hee!!!
As I near the end of this sampler it is as usual bittersweet. For me, as I stitch on the same piece in the evenings I do really enjoy seeing it grow. I think that's a reason I am a total monogamous stitcher... geter' done, that's my motto. Although I do have a couple of WIPs from long ago lurking in the background... they are buried deep and will probably be there as UFSs (Unfinished Stitches) when I draw my last breath. But I need not get morbid, as I know ... tomorrow is another day and I may just get inspired to dig one out.... or not!
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!!
Gentle Friends, here's a very wrinkled shot of Miss Kirby at the moment...
...the three parts under the house, which I am guessing, are supposed to be the front yard... are odd but there you go. Also stitched the second deer, the little red house, and the "snow" under it out of the way. It seems odd that it would be snow, but white silk was called for... all that's left to stitch are a couple of birds and some more plants and she'll be done.
My Fall stitch is almost pulled, together with the linen and the bulk of the silks. It's charted for NPI and I've got 90% of them already... I love that when it happens!! A run-over to Needle in a Haystack in Alameda is in my near future to pick up the missing colors and some extra skeins that are a bit low. This upcoming "Fall" stitch has been bouncing around in the "to do" stitching pile for quite a few years and I'm kind of excited to get a start.
Hoping this finds everyone doing well as the Dog Days of Summer wrap up and we look towards autumn, my favorite time of year!!
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, stitching away on Miss Ann, and here's a snap...
... I finished up the left-hand side of the "garden" and got a start on the house. I'm surprised I was able to finish up the roof stitching - now - it's on to the fill stitching of the house.
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay safe!
Gentle Friends, I skipped last week's post as I had done next to no stitching and nothing much is going on otherwise... we're just enjoying the cool and breezy Summer here by the Bay...now for today's post, I have a snaperoo of Ann....
... Woo Hoo!!! I had a friend of mine fix my little problem and got the snap to look more like the actual piece of needlework...
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That's about it for today sports fans. I really need my iced espresso this morning!!!
Gentle Friends, I thought an overall shot was due about now, and here's a snaperoo...
... I went ahead and stitched through the vine to see where, if any, mistakes were made and by some miracle, it matched up!! So, now it's going back and stitching in the leaves and the rest of the "strawberries." Those strawberries are stitched in Belle Soie's "Teddy Bear" and I'm trying to mix up the over-dyed browns so that not too many are dark or light, but a nice mix. The three skeins I have of this silk are each very different dye lots so it is an easy task.
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That's about it for today sports fans.
Thanks again for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, stitching away on Ann, here's a snaperoo...
...so I've popped off the old Q-Snap for the snap so you can see the border. I'm almost at the top right turn to come down the right side. It's usually at this point I start overthinking things and nerves get the best of me... thinking the vine might just not match up... I may just bottom stitch the vine around to see if I'm worrying for nothing... as I am wont to do...
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, just moving along with Miss Ann... here's a snaperoo...
... another craptastic snap, unironed and not very flat, but you get the idea. I am enjoying the stitch on this piece and really like this "spot" motif sampler. Although visually even-ish, there is some wonkiness yet to come... and there is a big house slap-dab in the middle. It was another super weekend here by the Bay. Two lovely breezy days in the low 60's, I do love summertime in SF!!
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
Gentle Friends, stitching away on Miss Ann with a little progress to show, here's a snaperoo...
... it's nice that the border is sort of regular and even... I keep looking at the bundle of silks on the ring and see that this will be a very "brown" sampler overall. That's OK, it'll be a fun stitch and a nice piece when completed.
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That's about it for today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by do stop again. Stay Safe!
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