A New Start and a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Gentle Friends thank you so much for your kind comments about "Merry and Bright."  I started in on a little Christmas piece I had already kitted up.......

... it's called "J'arrive" and is from Tournicoton.  I saw this a few months ago and immediately wanted to stitch it up, it is a bit more "cartoony" than things I usually do, but that doesn't worry me a bit, the French  directions, that's another story, I have figured out all the different specialty stitches and where the beads and bits all go - so I'll stitch along and I am sure it will turn out fine.  The crazy linen is Silkweavers "Ametrine," it is the called for linen, and not from my stash...... my stash linen leans more towards the beige, brown, grey, did I mention beige..... not purple splotchy and gold.....  I wanted to stitch something that was more out of my comfort zone, and this great little piece fit the bill......

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Since today is the last day I'll be here this week I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

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That about wraps it up, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

"Merry & Bright" Finish and Some Thrifty Finds

Gentle Friends with this being a very short week for me, only two days, I'm going to double up on my usual posting stuff...... Over the weekend I finished up a Christmas WIP from last year.......

.... "Merry & Bright" designed by Erynne Chard 

Stitched on Silkweaver 32ct "Sudden Storm" using assorted flosses

You can click HERE to go to her Blog and the pattern.  It was a fun piece to work up and since it has sat in the WIP basket a year, it was about time I got it completed. I took the piece outside into the bright sunlight to get this snap and try and get a decent picture...

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Saturday I also got to run around to the various Consignment/Thrift shops and found a few things......

From l to r and Fact based novel of the creation of "A Christmas Carol", "The Bucolic Plague" is Kilmer-Purcells' second memoir recounting the purchase of the 1802  Beekman Mansion and goat farm in Sharon Springs NY.  I picked up 3 DVD's, "Fathers little Dividend," "The Bell's of St Trinian's," and Cartoon networks Halloween Cartoons.  I also found a couple of nice pieces of cut glass, a small bright cut dish and a new (with the tags still on) Waterford Round Ring Holder.  A great piece I found was a mid 19th century brass candle stick, above is before polishing.......

.... and after polishing, I love the look of old brass, it has such a great warm glow about it.....

That's about it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Thrifty Balleek-y Bargins

Gentle Friends how interesting were the comments yesterday????  As you know I usually start writing my Posts at about 5:30am when I first get in, and then sort of tweak them for a while until I think they are worth posting, that involves fixing what grammatical mistakes I can find and all the spelling issues, I'm a bad speller   and I know it - and I admit it !!  So, you must take what I write with a grain of salt and just sort of chuckle along with me........In the past I was once a "shop girl" and have been on the "Hello, may I help you?" questioning end of things, so 1) I do know that staff is required to ask those questions and 2) I also know, that they are not required to ask the same question 5, 6 or 7 times as you peruse the store and look on your own - or at least the few "shop" jobs I have had we were not required to harass the customers with "help".  

I think it is the constant "help fullness" that gets to me, more so than the greeting.   I do like the French way of shopping .... "Bonjour" as you walk in then being left alone, I loved my trip to France in so many ways!! I hope that clears up any hurt or ill will that was read into or gotten from my Post yesterday......

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Over the weekend I ran around as is usual to the various Thrifty, Consignment and Goodwill type shops I frequent and found two little bits of Irish porcelain.  I can go months without seeing any Balleek, and then all of a sudden, BAM, two pieces in a single day.....  here's a snap...

... I found them at two different shops - the little Angel is from the "Choir of Angles" and is called Harp, she is on the new side as the were produced from 1999-2003, I don't think she was ever hung on a tree as she still has her sticker on the inside near the clapper (this little angle is a faux bell) - and was she dusty.  I think it was a display piece, but how sad for an ornament to never have hung on a tree....  the shell bowl is quite a bit older as it has the black 3rd mark dating it to between 1926 - 1946.  I am not a big Balleek fan, but I am a fan of quality bits of porcelain, so I am not too sure what I might do with them.....

There you go sports fans, thanks so much for stopping by do stop again.... and for your comments and emails - and I also wanted to say Hello and Welcome to all my new Followers!!!  

Take care,

edgar

Shopping Downtown SF

Gentle Friends as you well know shopping, for the most part, is one of the things I really care for the least.  I do not care for the crowds, the noise, the silly "shop girls" with their "May I help you" every two feet, I am perfectly capable of looking and if I have a question I can find you, now go away and fold something!!!    

This past weekend I made another trek to "downtown."  To me anything off of the Valencia Street corridor, or out of Noe Valley... and within a few blocks of Union Square is "Downtown."  Once again I was on a specific quest, back to Lupicia, for my yearly supply of Christmas teas, they had come in, I called last Friday and was told they had come in on Monday, 11/11 - I also mentioned I had not received an email about their arrival.... the email came this past Monday.

So I ventured out of Noe Valley, got on the 24 Bus to get on the Muni underground at Market and Castro and then zoooom 4 stops later I was .......here....

..... the underground entrance to the Westfield SF Centre, it's a Mall, and this entrance leads one onto the Food Floor....  way too many temptations so up, up, up I went changing escalators at every floor until I was on the 3rd floor and in front of Lupicia.....

.... I could tell right away that it was Christmas since all the Fall stuff was gone... and the big "Season's Greetings" sign in the window, nothing gets past me!!

On the first big display table were the Christmas Signature teas.....in gift tins, or bags and they even have little glass cups with the each flovour of loose tea so that you can smell it and see just how lovely this stuff is....

from l to r - "Jingle Bells"  and described by Lupicia marketing as..."a black tea scented with refreshing grapes and fruity champagne" - I love me some "Jingle Bells", next up is "White Christmas" - described as..."tea flavoured with white chocolate and apricot conjuring up images of baked Christmas sweets" - this is a great tea that does really well with a splash of cream and honey!! ...... and going along there is "Cache-Cache," a tea I do not care for and did not get, I tried it a few years ago, found it not to my taste and since there were much better teas to be had this is one I leave alone - and - last but certainly not least is "Carol" - described as "tea flavoured with strawberry and vanilla and elegantly decorated with rose petals" - This was a new tea to me and I really enjoyed this one!!  It was the "tasting tea" while I was there, they have a pot brewing with different teas to try while you shop, nice touch!!

Behind the large main display table of big tins of tea were the gift packs of smaller tins for Christmas presents....

... I really like these smaller tin sizes, and they are packed so nicely!!

I left with these teas.....

.... a new Jingle Bells tin and a tin of Carol, I also picked up a bag of White Christmas and filled up my old tin.  Now I am set for Christmas tea through the whole season!!

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The Westfield Shopping Centre is a gigantic building and is housed in the old Emporium Store Space, when they built it ( or rebuilt it) they kept the historic Emporium facade, and dome, so that the front of the building on Market Street looks so much better than the underground entrance......  here's a snap....

That's my little adventure downtown to get me some tea!!  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Hunka Hunka Tasty Cake.......

Gentle Friends, a clever title escaped me this morning so I went with a silly title.  Since Tuesday is all about "cake" I'll talk about Sundays baking adventure.....  I found the recipe over at Brandie's Blog "Country Cook" and it got there by way of a cookbook called "Come Home to Supper " from Christy Jordan.  Called "Elvis Presley Cake" - I was intrigued to say the least.  It comes together really easy with the cake part a basic yellow cake .........  here's a snap...

....  the only downside to this cake, and it is hardly a downside is that when I went to cut it I found it to be a be sticky where the pineapple layer was and it tended to pull on the knife, but that is small potatoes with such a really tasty cake!!  Easy and quick  - give it a shot!!!  Thanks Brandie and Christy!!!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, no stitching last night because of the Estate Planning workshop at the Lawyers - which by the way went spectacularly well.  The  workshop went way over time, but that didn't matter, it was VERY informative!! I left with not only a ton of information but with the following legal paperwork signed and in place...... My Will, My Health Care Directive, and Power of Attorney for financial maters, all these things just in case I become incapacitated.  At 50, I ain't gettin' any younger....... I would highly recommend everyone getting these things in order because if they are not in place and something, god forbids happens, then it is NOT your decisions any longer to make.... but the courts will step in and make the decisions for you.......  I would rather make the decisions now while I can -  than let some stranger who doesn't know me or have a clue as to what I want make them for me!!!!  Kind of a control freak in that regard!!

Thanks again for stopping by, so stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

"Merry and Bright" Stitchin'

Gentle Friends I din;t get nearly the amount of stitching done that I had planned, it just seemed that one thing safer another kept me from needle and floss..... but I did get some done and here's the little bit of progress I made......  it's another craptastique snaperoo.......

.....  this snap was taken last night and it was pitch dark outside and the flash makes the linen look totally off colour, I am thinking that it will never photograph correctly.  There won't be much stitching tonight as I have an Estate Workshop at my lawyers office and that will suck up about 3 or more hours.......

That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Stitchin' Update

Gentle friends I'll wrap up the week with a snap of "Merry and Bright" and where it stands at the moment - 

..... now it's just a matter of filling in the boxes and the candy canes along the outside and it'll be a done deal.

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That's about it for today - have a super weekend and thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!

Take care,

edgar