A Short Hump Day Posting

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thanks again for stopping by - I'm so glad you did!!

There's not been too much going on around the old hacienda lately.  I have been stitching a bit on ATS, nothing really big just a bit here and there.  I am getting the itch to start something new and really Hallowe'en and I've got it narrowed down to a few things....  just not sure which one to start, yet!!

If you've not seen the November Cottage over at CCN here's look....

(Picture of November Cottage from the CCN Website)

It is really charming and so Fallish - I'm salivating to get my greedy mits on it!!!  I am loving that turkey and all those acorns!!!  Bravo Nikki!!!!!!

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My crazy Christmas Cactus is at it again...  all blooming and budding and it will be lovely for Hallowe'en, but probably not a bloom in sight at Christmas.....  here's a snap...

  

I guess it's the change in light that triggers this monster... my little red one is also blooming away.

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My HOE Hallowe'en Exchange got into the outgoing mail this morning so I'll be able to show a few snaps of that as soon as it arrives.  

That's about it for today sports fans.  Do drop by again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Weekend Posting

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends I do hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Mine was great - since it was three days long how could it not be!!  Thank you all for all the kind comments about the Valentine I sent to Carol.  it seems that Blogger makes it harder and harder to use, sorry for the odd word verification.   I read that my HOE Ornament arrived at its new home with Erin over at Fairy Tales and French Knots.  Here is a snaperoo of the piece I made for her...

Quite a few of us stitched this piece from Mary Garry for this Exchange.  I have always liked this chart and was happy that Erin likes what I sent.

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Keeping with a stitching theme today I had a finish over the weekend....  

 "Tis the Season" Blackbird Designs - 36ct LL Pear - using the recommended Belle Soie

I have been dragging out and enjoying this stitch far too long, but all good things come to an end. 

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We also got to an Estate Sale - and to call it a mad house would be an understatement.  There were way too many people crowded in one little house and way too many grabby types!!  Eventually I made my way upstairs and in one of the bedrooms was a gigantic pile of linen - from tablecloths to napkins, lace, tatting, pulled work, Berlin lace everything just in a great big pile -  most of the pieces where in not very good condition, lots of holes and stains.  But, digging away (I love to dig) I did pull out a small sampler - not very old and in a very crumpled condition, but very sweet...

The linen is very thick.  I think this was some sort of kit that was printed linen and the stitcher did the decorative stitching.  It is about 8x10 and you can still see the tape that must have held it to some sort of backing for framing.  I think that for .50 it was a total bargain!

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It is also that time of year for candy makers to go into overtime....

So, of course I did my part and made it to Walgreens for a sack of delicious black jelly beans!!  A most delicious treat!!

I think I'll wrap up todays post with a snap of my ever-blooming Christmas Cactus'....

This crazy thing is blooming about every three months now - and even the little red one is sort of on the same schedule - since I took this shot on Saturday a bunch of additional blooms have popped out on both plants.

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

Take care,

edgar

Summer Arrives

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends I do thank you for your kind comments about the finish yesterday.  As usual you are all too kind!!  Yesterday was a warm one here in SF - it got to an official 88 and today it is supposed to be a bit warmer.  With all the micro climates in the city I think it was only 88 down in the Mission and SOM (South of Market)- up on Red Rock - where we live if it was in upper 70's I would have been surprised.  We have been told that by Saturday it should be back to normal temps - the mid 60's with some nice fog - can't wait for that to happen.

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I wanted to answer a couple of questions from yesterdays comments -  the linen I am using for the Mystery Sampler is the recommended WDW Confederate Grey - 35 ct.  Although it is more brown than grey it is a very pretty piece of linen - and - Mouse asked about "why no WIP" - I would guess that the reason is I am just lazy and was totally jonesing to start the new Mystery Sampler - you know how it goes sometimes.

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Over the weekend we got to some estate Sales and Consignment Shops - and here is a snap of the haul.....

Working clockwise from l to r - I picked up a couple of books - "Q" by Luther Blissett and an early copy of "Goodbye Mr. Chips" by Jame Hilton - on the books are a couple of ornaments and a little St Patrick, in the back is a great pressed and etched "celery vase" - moving r... an older aluminum shaker, a "scissor frog", pin cushion and strawberry and little blown mercury glass miniature star for a small Christmas tree.

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Thinking it is Christmas time my crazy Christmas Cactus is all a'bloom and looking really lovely.....

This is the second time since last fall this plant has popped out a bunch of flowers.

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I also got around to baking up a tasty blackberry coffee cake

- since the berries are just beautiful this season....

I will get the recipe posted in the morning - it was very easy to make.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to post a comment on yesterdays post if you want to enter the Gift-a-way.

Take care,

edgar

The weekend was....

A non-event - non-trauma and very low key!!!! Just like it should be! -
I worked both days at the bookstore so nothing too spectacular there.

The only stitching I got done was some on VoHRH -
here is a progress snap of that bit of work -


This square seems to stitch up really fast -
I think there is a mistake in the way the fence is on the chart and
I am changing that so that is is even -

There was a ton on movies this weekend - Netflix is back up and working and so I had a flick through the mail - "Miss Morison's Ghosts" - 1981 - with Wendy Hiller and Hannah Gordon. Based on a true story of time slipping - it takes place in 1910 when two educated English ladies see Marie Antoinette and others of the ancien regime at the Petit Trianon - the bulk of the movie is about the derision and consequences they suffer after coming back to England with their story. Very well done and worth a look. Saturday was Fred Astaire day on TCM - so after getting home form the store - I caught "Swing Time" - 1936, then "Roberta" - 1935 ...ending the evening with "Follow the Fleet" - 1936 - I always enjoy Fred Astaire in almost all of his movies and these three are top notch!! Yesterday was Gene Kelly day so last night after getting home there was another great line-up!! Starting off with "On the Town" - 1949, "Singing in the Rain" - 1952 - probably the best musical ever made - this was followed by - "Cover Girl" - 1944 - then rounding out the evening with - "It's Always fair Weather" - 1955 - all the movies are super!!
(I stayed up way too late watching this last one -
but who can pass up seeing Cyd Charisse and Dolores Grey!!)

Look at two of our Christmas Cactus plants -

That sucker is just covered in little buds - it does seem early to be so full - but these plants bloom heavily all year long - they should be really pretty by the middle of September.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care -
edgar