Winter Quaker Arrives and Coffee

Yesterday I received a super package from Stacy for the Winter Quaker Exchange over at the HOE. Here is a snap of the entire exchange -



Here is a close up of the top of the piece


lifting the top revealing the first section interior shot - for floss and needles...

and you lift the felt flap to reveal... a pocket for a floss card and needles

Isn't this a gorgeous piece - finished so perfectly!!! Stacy used one of the Seasonal Quakers for GoS - The stitching is done on 40 ct Spun Sugar from Sassy's Fabrics using over dyed silk - from Glisson Gloss Japanese silk, the letters are stitched using "Cocoa" from Carries Threads. I am a nut for browns (as we all know) and this is just beautiful!! The bag will come in handy as the bag I use I have now is, well lets just say "Has seen better days!"

I carry my lunch to work - because I am not paying $8+ a day for a sandwich and pop!! Stacy also include some black licorice - a top fav of mine - ahhhh - food of the gods!!!!!!! Thank you so much Stacy for making the WQ-09 a great exchange!!!!!!

Yesterday also brought a prezzie from my sister - some delicious coffee from Portland!!

This is rated as some of the top notch coffee in the US - if you ever get a chance to have some - go for it, you will not be disappointed.

The flicker last night was "Dodsworth" - 1936 - starring Walter Houston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor and Paul Lukas - a great film I have spoken about before!!

The stitching I did was on a secret piece so no snaps till it arrives in its new home.

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care,
edgar

A Halloween Square finish and some flicks

I finished up the square on Hannah's RR from the Witching for Stitching RR - and think it turned out really nice. Here is a snap -

The squares on Hannah's piece are a bit smaller than on other RR's so this one fit it perfectly - I was also looking for it to have some or at least one pumpkin as the poem that Hannah picked out is about pumpkin pie - I think I really lucked out to find something that would fit AND have pumpkins!! This is the second witch I have stitched in this RR - I do see a pattern emerging. The square is from book 23 or 24 called "A Prairie Year II" - I used the called for DMC floss'.

Last night was a really nice flicker evening - starting off with a really good Irish movie on TCM - "The Quiet Man" - 1952 - starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara - a great movie and a must for St Patricks Day!! This was followed up with a fluff piece called "If a Man Answers" - 1962 - starring Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin - entertaining in a 60's film kind of way. The final film of the evening was a true classic "The Palm Beach Story" - 1942 starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee. A wonderful film full of snappy intelligent dialogue and well thought out characters. Although I hadn't meant to.... it seems that I chose a film from the 40's , 50's and 60's.... and it was interesting to see how the approach to the battle of the sexes was handled. From the very clever writing and super talented actors in the 40's to the less than good writing and really only personalities that passed for actors by the 1960's - not the each wasn't fun and entertaining to watch but that the first two flicks were so much more superior. It is still happening today - we rarely get good acting or good films what we get in film are tricks and CGI AND instead of acting we get to watch a personality on the screen. Just MHO -

Thanks for stopping by!!

take care,
edgar

Thrice RAK'd.....

There are so many really nice folks out there and yesterday proved it once again!!!!!

The mail bought the sweetest pyn cushion from Kendra - I had sent her some ornaments at Christmas and this was her thanking me - I am the lucky one!!! Here is a snap of the front -


and here is the back -

It is just darling and looks so sweet in with the rest of my stitchy treasures!!!!
Thank you so much Kendra!!!!!!!

I was also RAK'd by dear Shay - she had a chart from "The Cat's Whisker's" email to me - The chart was designed to raise funds for the Bush fires in Victoria on Black Saturday - 2/7/09.
It is really cute - Thank you Shay!

I also heard from a friend in Germany -
she knows I like odd and different things and she sent me these...


These two chocolate bars have different and unusual flavours - the one on the right has pink pepper corns as an inclusion and the left one is flavored with chilies. I like chocolate - especially dark - but am not a nut - as was my Dad - he was oft quoted as saying" I like any flavor as long as it's Chocolate!!" especially milk chocolate. I on the other hand can take it or leave it - but when the inclusion is interesting I am intrigued - and these should prove to be tasty!!! I always love the Jelly Belly's and they are made right here in the Bay area - and they were tasty!!!! :)

I put together my "scissor frog" last night - I cut out little pieces of white felt to put at the bottom where the points would hit as I am worried that repeated hits on the points will dull them -and the felt should protect them and the glass -

I saw this on Terri's blog and really liked the idea - so now I have one also!!

The stitchy report last night is non-existent as I had a major iced tea spill all over the place and all I can say is thank the sweet lord that I keep every single project in closed ziplock plastic bags and all my overdyed floss' in these bags also - or it would have been a complete disaster!!!!!! Enough said lets move on!!!!!

The flicker last night was a real favorite of mine - "Show Boat" - 1936 starring Irene Dunne - I have no idea why this hasn't been released on DVD - but this version is way closer to the original story than the 1951 version. I love this movie and if you have not seen it I would absolutely recommend it!!

Thanks for stopping by -
Take care -
edgar

Another busy weekend - not a bust!!!!

This past weekend followed like the ones before - except that unlike last weeks giant no buy bust weekend - this weekend was quite different!! We visited quite a few sales and found a pile of stuff!!! Here is a snap of our haul -

Starting in the front left - we found some great circus fabric - what I will ever do with it I haven't a clue, but isn't it great!! Then we have some giant pieces of finishing fabric and some quilt books -from an estate we found that had a bookcase of 1000's of quilt books - these are the three I got, and the fabrics came from the boxes of fabric -moving to the back.... you are looking at my second super 221 Featherweight Sewing Machine - circa 1952 - it runs like a dream and was a complete bargain!! Now I have two, and do I really need two???? In front of the sewing machine is a big old french frog - I am going to keep scissors in - I really like that idea, and then there are the two great frames that Rico bought - aren't they cute! We did visit a house sale on Saturday that Rico and I went back to on Sunday and I bought this...



...gorgeous rock solid mahogany chair for almost nothing. I saw it on Saturday and they wanted $175 which is a steal anyway - then when we went back she knocked $125 off the price!!! So I now have a beautiful big arm chair to throw my dirty clothes on!! We haven't a spare space anywhere, but I just couldn't pass!!! We also visited our farmers market and look at these beautiful asparagus that had just been cut yesterday morning -

They were just scrumptious last night steamed with a pat of butter!!!
They are in one of my favorite McCoy pitchers!!

The mail on Friday was really good to me - I received my MAW from Kate - I had wanted a needle roll in autumnal colours and she made this one for me....

It is just beautiful and I love the way it looks with all my other stitchy treasures!!!
Thank you so much Kate!!

I also received and order from Amazon -


The new release from Disney - Pinocchio - and the Deanna Durbin box set - I am a super Disney nut - and I had been wanting this movie for the longest time to vcome out in DVD - it certainly didn't disappoint - the extras are great....and the film itself is just beautiful!!!!

On the stitching front I finished up a one on one exchange I had been working on, an ornament for another exchange...and then yesterday ALL afternoon and evening I worked on getting all those DMC floss' wound onto bobbins and into numerical order in cases. I finished that project up as it was just about driving me crazy!!! - it was such a tangle and mess that at times I just cut out huge hunks of the stuff just to get a strand going!!! Now it's over and I can find everything! I also did a quick floss toss for the CHS Alphabet blocks - here is..

the floss' on a piece of "Legacy" and here they are on...

a piece of "Days Gone By" - this piece I got specifically for this project , but am having second thoughts - at least a year ago I had seen someone else had done the blocks on apiece of DGB and I just fell in love with it - but now I am rethinking it..... as there is no rush I am not feeling I have to make a decision , yet!

On Saturday afternoon Dale, Eunice and I also got over to a gigantic scrapbook store in Berkeley - called Scrapbook Territory - now I really haven't a clue about this scrapbooking stuff but I wanted to go along to see. I was just blown away with all the stuff!! Hundreds of stamp things, a million pieces of paper and a ga-zillion stickers!!! I found the wall of ribbons a bought a bunch of that. I found out that there is way more to the scrap booking than just Elmer's and construction paper!!

That's about it for today - Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

Super short Friday posting

This morning I have been sending out the partner info for the upcoming HOE Woodland Exchange and so have left myself very little time to write here. It is amazing how quickly the time flies when I am trying to do about 6 things!!!

Oh well - lets get the rest of those Quilty snaps posted -

This is a super white quilt that I just couldn't get a decent snap of -


I just loved this one!!



So ends the lovelies from the SF Quit Guild Show - There where many more as it was a big show - I do hope everyone enjoyed seeing them!!

Last night the flicker was "The Helen Morgan Story" - 1957 - starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman - I really enjoyed this bio-pick about a singer from the 1920's - filmed in glorious B&W.


There you go!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!!!

Take care,
edgar

Winter Quaker Arrives

I heard form Cari this morning that the Winter Quaker exchange that I sent her has arrived and she is pleased. I really enjoyed stitching this up and here is a snap of the entire exchange

I totally lifted this snap from Cari's Blog as I couldn't find the snaps I took - I am such a flake sometimes!!! - but you get the idea - the pattern was a free chart that I modified using HDF silks on 32 ct linen - I sent along the new stocking for January from BBD from Cari's wish list and got together the floss' that the patterns called for.

Here aresome Quilty snaps for today -

I am such a dog fan - I just loved this one of a big black dog!!


There was a whole section of children's classroom project quilts - this was a project to use the child's favorite book and each one opens with writing about why that book was important.


This one was also a classroom project - using the theme of California Missions -


Another beautiful star quilt.


The flicker last night was "The Boy in Striped Pajamas" - 2008 - a powerful movie about friendship in spite of horrific surroundings. Very good from beginning to end.

I am super busy today so keeping it short!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care,
edgar

It's Wednesday - in a non-event week!!

I am so glad this week is just sliding along on an even keel - with not too much going on and the usual day to day stuff I can handle. After work we ran out to Trader Joe's and all I can say is what a super place this is!! We picked up some super quick lunch things, some snacks AND dinner!! They are now carrying some great frozen-just-heat-up garlic naan that is so good!!! Just pop those suckers in the oven and less than 2 mins later you have some fresh hot naan!! We also picked up some garlicky glazed chicken - which was basically heat and eat - I just love those instant meals!! I was not in the mood to cook!!

The flickers last night were a TCM line up of "bridge" movies - all WWII and all I had seen in the past - starting off with "The Bridge at Remagen" - 1969, followed by "A Bridge too Far" - 1977 and rounding out my evening with that classic bridge flick "The Bridge on the River Kwai" - 1957. I really enjoyed these and if you like those WWII flicks you will love these also!!

Now for the Quilty snaps for the day -




Still stitching on exchange stuff so no snaps yet.

Thanks for stopping by,
Take care,
edgar