Silky mail and some flickers

Yesterday some silk came from Drema - Needlecraft Corner - she was having a sale on Gloriana Silk and I am a sucker for silk so how could I refuse...


Other stitchy snaps are basically none existent as all the stitching for the past few days has been on exchanges and things I can not show yet.
This weekend I will stitch on something I can have a snap for Monday.

I have been seeing some really super movies lately and I wanted to tell about. The first and foremost would have to be "Mrs. Palfrey and the Claremont" - 2005 - starring Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend and Anna Massey. What a super movie!! I defy anyone who watches this movie not to be moved! I just loved this film and would highly recommend it!! The next two films were a Bing Crosby double feature - starting off with "The Emperor Waltz" - 1948 - his costar was Joan Fontaine - the other film was " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" - 1949 - co-star here Rhonda Fleming. Both films are sort of musicals with some super songs, lavish productions and lovely leading ladies - nice easy flicks to watch. If you like cute stories nice music and pretty films then these are a pair for you (I really enjoyed them!! and hadn't seen them for a really long time). The last flick is one I always enjoy and have seen many times - "The Age of Innocence" - 1993 - a Martin Scorsese film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer - the story is from the book by Edith Wharton - a writer whose works I just love - and the film is a very good adaptation - both lush and intimate with wonderful acting, sets and costumes. It is a period drama set in the NY of the early 1870's and worth seeing if you haven't.

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great weekend!!

Take care,
edgar

A Hit and Run Posting......

I am so running behind today with nothing to really yap about.

Worked on an exchange last night. No snaps.

- Have a great one.
Thanks for stopping by for this hit a run posting.

Take care!!
edgar

Last night was kind'a busy - but first.......

....let me say how nice it was to have all the affirmations in the comment area and all the positive emails I got about what I wrote yesterday. I was so afraid that I might have been in the minority with my feelings towards exchanging and exchanges in general. I wasn't trying to stir up a bees nest or poke a bear or anything - goodness knows if I wanted to be controversial I could write about a million other things here to get things stirred up...... but it comes right down to the majority of stitchers out there understand that it is the wonderful stitched piece of art made with love and giving that is the important thing - and our skill levels are all over the place - but I think everyone does their absolute best!!! All anyone has to do is to look back through the snaps on any of the exchange blogs to see all the beautiful stitching and finishing going on out there - (as for me I am still terrified to try to finish a biscornu).

Now on to my busy little evening.

First up I finished Valerie' RR so that I can get that in the mail tomorrow - Here is snap -

It was a dream to stitch as the silks are like butter - Valerie chose Belle Soie - Creme de Menthe (and you know how I love me some Belle Soie) and the golden colour is Birch Bark by Gloriana and is also just lovely to stitch with. This is done on a 36 ct linen. For some reason I anticipated having trouble stitching on such small count linen - but not a bit of any problem for the whole section. On to Rowyn in the morning.

Yesterday the mails brought a wonderful exchange from Wendy Jo - it was the Valentines Exchange from the HOE. Here is snap of the lovely package she sent -


Wendy Jo used a pattern from the 2003 JCS Ornament issue called "A Needle worker's Pocket." She finished it as a Pyn Keepe - I just love it!!! Already it is sitting out on the stand in our living room looking quite festive for the upcoming Holiday. Included in the package was a great piece of fabric for finishing some over dyed floss' and a delicious piece of dark chocolate. Such a lovely package - Thank you so much Wendy Jo!!!!!!

The evening started off with another exchange I am in - with Swap Bot - it is a home made candy/cookie exchange. For my partner I wanted to try making something new so I decided to make chocolate covered cherries. On Monday evening I covered the cherries with fondant and then last night I dipped them in chocolate - and here is a snap.....



Those suckers turned out really nice IMHO! - I also made some Haystack Noodle Cookies to go along with the cherries - I have made the cookies before and they always turn out - how could even I screw up a no-bake cookie!!! These goodies will be packed up and in the mail in the morning - a nice thing for Valentines Day - the recipe says to let them sit around for a week or so to "cure" - but I tried one (just to make sure they weren't terrible) and it tasted really nice to me already!

I forgot to say a great big THANK YOU to Carol R as she has nominated me for a "Fabulous Blog Award." That was so kind of her - she is such a sweet person!! I am supposed to pass on the Award to 5 of my favorite Blogs - so here goes...

Michele
Coni
Kathryn
Margie
Sherry

I read through dozens of Blogs all the time - and these are just 5 of the many dear people that take the time and energy to write and post about their stitching lives - thank you so very much for sharing!!!!

There you go another day in the life of edgar!

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Take care, and do come again!!!
edgar

A VERY disturbing email -

I received an email last week and have been thinking about it quite a bit since then - and now have come to the conclusion that I want to say something here on my blog about what was said. Knowing this is my blog and these are my thoughts and what I write here in no way reflects anyone but me and my feelings - I am just going to put it out there.......

The gist of the email was regarding exchanges and the whole exchanging community. This stitcher felt that although they "enjoyed exchanges" - in the long run felt they couldn't continue doing them due to their not "getting" in return what they were sending - or it wasn't an even exchange. After questioning exactly what "wasn't even" about the exchanges - it came out that they felt what was received was not of an equal value to what was being sent. I was dumbfounded to say the least. IMHO it is the stitched pieced that is being exchanged and never the extras/goodies!!! We all come from different backgrounds and financial situations and it should never be a contest as to who can send the biggest most expensive stuff - and it is spelled out clearly on every exchange I have ever been a part of that extras are just that - extra after the stitched piece and never a requirement of an exchange! There are even some exchanges that require NO extras just to avoid this situation. Personally I enjoy making a stitched item and including a few goodies as I love giving and always have. I would never expect any exchange to be a competition as that defeats the purpose of stitching exchanges.

When I first got back into cross stitching a few years ago I found this extended blogging community and let me tell you - I was bowled over by the generosity of the stitchers - in the giving of their time and expertise, and their willingness to go the extra mile to help anyone in need it is overwhelming to say the least. Over the past couple of years I have seen it first hand the kindness out there in Angel stitching and filling in when some lame-o person just drops out or fails to come through with a commitment they made - I myself have tried to fill in and make right something gone wrong as have many others. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to coordinate exchanges and the moderators work very hard to make everything run smoothly and fairly. I would want anyone that felt slighted in the exchanges to really look at the reason they are doing the exchanges - it should be for the love of stitching and joy of giving of that talent and NOT for the extras. That's about all I have to say about that!! Off my soap box!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

A Birthday Brawl, an exchange and some more Jardin....

This weekend we had our annual Birthday Brawl - that's what I call Rico's party - since his birthday is right between Christmas and New Years we always wait to have something at the end of January - and this year was no exception with about 60 or so people and it lasting until way after midnight - it was a real success!!! I was up until about 2 cleaning up and in the morning after gathering up the Birthday offerings - here is a very telling snap -

These were some of the things our friends brought to Rico for his birthday - they know us very well!!!! .......and there is a ton of cake left over!!!!

I heard form Heather that the Valentine exchange I stitched for her had arrived
- here is a snap of that exchange.


The pattern came from Goode Huswife and is called "A Valentine Sampler." I have always wanted to stitch this up but never had the opportunity. I am so glad that Heather likes it as it was not the first thing I was going to stitch up - but I think it was the better choice for this exchange!! I am still waiting to hear about my Winter House Exchange as it seems to be taking a really long time to get where it needs to be.......
Even with the party I got some stitching in -
here is shot of the weekend progress on the Le Jardin -

I did see two movies that brought back some memories - the first was "Coneheads" - 1993 - a movie based on a skit from the original SNL - starring Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd - I had forgotten this flick and really enjoyed seeing it again. The second film was also an oldie from when I was in High School - "Trading Places" - 1983 also starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy - a really funny Christmas movie with costars from yesteryear - Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy. Speaking of Ralph Bellamy - I saw a film yesterday called "Below the Sea" -1933 with him as the lead male star... his co-star was Fay Wray of King Kong fame. Usually he was the second male lead and never got the girl!! All three of these movies were really fun and worth seeing!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Take care,
edgar

East Coast - West Coast movies and some stitching

Last night on TCM were some super movies in their on going month long look at east coast vs west cost movies. The line up last night started off with "42nd Street" - 1937, starring Ruby Keeler - a young starlet makes good on the stage. Followed by "A Star is Born" - 1937, starring Janet Gaynor - a young starlet makes good on film. The next two films were "All About Eve" - 1950, starring Bette Davis - neurotic stage star frets over aging. The LA film was "Sunset Blvd." - 1950, starring Gloria Swanson - nutty film star frets over aging. These are four super movies and worth seeing if you haven't - you will not be disappointed!!!!

During all that film stuff I did some kitchen cleaning - such fun!! The way our downstairs is set up I can sort of watch TV or at least hear it while doing some grungy housework!! After all that fun I sat down and worked some on an exchange piece. Then I moved on to some stitching on Le Jardin. Here is a progress snap -

It is moving right along. I am totally enjoying stitching on this piece!!

There you go - Have a great weekend everyone!!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Take care,
edgar

It was a busy evening...

... not really doing anything all that great, but just busy. We had to run out to the mall. Where we a gourmet dinner at Hot dog on a Stick!! A guilty pleasure but you just can't beat that really sour lemonade they serve!!! The fabulous dinner wasn't the only reason for the journey - I had finished a book so I needed to get another to read. I also had to pick up the most recent copy of Majesty - a magazine I have always enjoyed. They read up very fast but the articles are interesting and I am a total hog for Royal History. The book I just finished is a new book called "Versailles: A Biography of a Palace." by Tony Spawforth. A very good read about the Palace and not a coffee table book. The book I picked up is called "Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War" by Jacqueline Jones. With my family being from low country Georgia I am always interested in anything written about the area and especially about Savannah. I have read really good things about this book so I am ready to enjoy a good read.

We got home in time to catch a very good movie on TCM - now you are totally surprised about that aren't you!! - This month the Movie Star of the month is Jack Lemon and last night they were showing "Bell Book and Candle" - 1958, starring Kim Novak, Jimmy Stewart and Jack Lemon. If you have never seen this movie you should!! A nice adult comedy about a modern day witch and her family. Very entertaining and the sets are sleek and modern - take special note of the Christmas Tree in Gillian's home. Thank you Alex for the nice comment yesterday about Deanna Durbin's movies - and telling us about the Deanna Durbin site - "Deanna Dirbin Devotees" - they is some very interesting info!!!!

In the stitching department - I worked on some exchange stitching and packed up the Valentines Exchange for mailing this morning - so there are no snaps. :( Thank you all for the super nice things about Le Jardin. Since I shifted all the floss from lite DMC colours to richer/darker over dyed shades I did wonder how they would look together.

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Take care,
edgar