Dang! It's Cold Outside....

WEATHER
Starting early last evening, schools and organizations started putting out notifications that they were going to be closed today due to weather conditions.  This morning when I left for work, my car registered friggin' frigid temps:

According to weather forecasters, this is the coldest weather my area has seen in 40 years.  Absolutely bone-chilling!  I drove to work with the heater on HIGH, the heated seats ON, and a heavy blanket laid across my lap.  I had boots, scarf and hat on, too.  In addition to the subzero temps, there was blowing and drifting snow.  Lucky for me, the main highway was mostly clear.  I'm hoping that the plows go through before I get off work otherwise I foresee roads with snow drifts across them.

STITCHY STUFF

I said good-bye to Yuku on Saturday... She's now on her way back home to Debby.  Originally, I had planned to start something new when I finished her.  Kinda like a reward after doing all that backstitching and French knots.  I decided instead to finish the Thinking Positive Sampler by Jardin Prive.  I've made quite a bit of progress since my last WIP pic at the PALS retreat.  Last night, I finished Part 2:

Other WIP photos can be seen HERE.

The colors are a bit washed out in the photo.  Taking a photo in the dead of night doesn't work very well!  When I used incandescent lighting with bounce flash, the fabric color was truer to real life, but the stitching was washed out.  Using direct flash, the fabric color turned purple and looked like it was stained.  Ugh!  Daylight is the way to go, I'm tellin' ya!  I'm going to hold off on a new start until I get TP finished.

That's all I have for this week. Short and Sweet.

Until next time...

(Who's freezing in the Upper Illinois Tundra!)





New Year, New Finish!

Since I've been doing the backstitching and French knots on Yuku off and on for most of last year, I'm considering this a finish as there is a LOT of FK's and BS'ing.  Today, Yuku is officially done!  Woo Hoo!  Yippee!  Yay! 

Other close up photos can be seen HERE.

 

This project belongs to Debby (no blog). She did all the X's and asked me if I'd be willing to do the backstitching and French knots in exchange for stash.  Soon Yuku will be on her way back home.

On This Eve...

I would like to wish all my blogging friends....

I received word the Christmas mailart I made for Anne finally arrived.  She was extremely thrilled with it.

 

Design: Star Bright Giraffe

Book: 100 Cross-Stitch Ornaments by Carol Siegel

Fabric: 18ct Red Aida

Fibers: DMC, Kreinik Blending Filament

Embellishments: Mill Hill Beads

Design: Penguin Pair

Book: 100 Cross-Stitch Ornaments

Embellishments: White/Gold Flecked Ric Rac,

Gold Glitter Star Button, Snowflake Buttons

It was really fun to create this mailart.  Thanks again, Anne, for doing this exchange with me. :)

Just a note about the penguins... I changed the colors of the hat and scarf to match the ribbon around the giraffe's neck so that they coordinated.

Christmas Wrap Up

Christmas dinner brought 16 family members to my house.  My parents, siblings, and most of my nieces and nephew came.  The oldest niece is 22 and the youngest is three.  I think the little one was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and being in a strange place.

As one of the desserts, I made Midnight Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting. Those cupcakes were so moist and chocolate-y!  I also made a cupcake tower that turned out looking like a Christmas tree.

The Homestead is small and as such, I had to borrow a table and chairs so that everyone had a place to sit when it was time to eat.  The dinner table ended up about 14ft long and took up the entire length of my dining room.

Originally, I had planned on putting paper doilies underneath the candles on the table.  After searching through my craft supplies, I came to the realization I didn't have round doilies!  What's a crafty girl to do?

 

Paper Snowflakes!  Remember making these in school?  I made one for each candle and each one was unique... just like the real thing.  My mom thought they were adorable.

 

In wrapping up Christmas 2013, I'll leave you with more decorations and the cards I received this year:

 

This is a Santa's Workshop music box.  See the player piano type paper?  It plays 16 melodies as this paper rotates throughout the workshop and winds down underneath.  Each room in the workshop is lighted and has animated characters.  It is so cool!

 

This is another animated music box called Welcome Santa.  It plays Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  The tree lights up, the rocking horse rocks and Santa rotates from his bag of gifts to the little girl.  See the photo of the baby in the Christmas frame?  My mom thought it was her great grandson and was asking his 16 year old aunt if that was him.  Finally, I told them both it was my niece (the 16 year old)... even she didn't recognize herself, lol.  Too funny.

 

Does that little face look familiar?  A long time ago, a friend bought this Hamilton Mint ornament for me because it reminded him of Celeste.  I always set it on a hard surface because I'm afraid it'll fall off the tree and break.

 

These three guys spent the holiday season party-ing it up in the living room beneath one of my smaller trees.  Aren't they adorable?

 

 

Remember a while back I blogged about my "first" camera?  My mom asked if I still had the camera.  In anticipation of the holidays, I got out the camera, pack film, and flash bulbs.  After a few tries, I was able to get a good polaroid shot of my parents with that almost 50 year old camera. 

It's a bit overexposed, but I attribute it to my not knowing how to use the dials on the camera properly.

Until next time,

 

Secret Santa and Stashing

Are you ready for Christmas?!?  I've had the past two days off work to finish getting ready for the family celebration at my house.  Aside from making food today, I think I'm ready.

I participated in a Secret Santa exchange at SNS2.  Vickie sent me a wonderful package of goodies:

Thank you, Vickie!

Ever since I saw Heart of America by Little House Needleworks stitched up, it called to me.  Apparently, this is a special edition kit from 2008 and extremely difficult to find. 

When I did see it come up on eBay, prices went upward of $40.  I was finally to acquire it at a reasonable price and am looking forward to stitching it up.  I do believe I have fabric that would be perfect for it!

Until next time...