Advent and Christmas 2012

I'm writing after the fact, here is a little look back on the best Christmas we have ever had, filled with love, presents, surprises and dear friends.  We even got to ride a camel!  Robin and I had never been to the Christmas walk before, but when we heard there were camel rides, we had to go.  We would have had some great photos, but I mistakenly had left the camera on no flash after taking some dog pictures (the dogs don't like the flash, of course) so here is an impressionistic view:

This was great fun!  I want to do it again, definitely.  It would be great to ride one over a distance or at a little bit of a speed - maybe - but Robin had an advantage sitting in front of the hump.  I was right on the hump and keep sliding.  So if you ever get the chance, avoid the hump if you can, but don't miss out on the fun!

 

We prettied up the house of course, and have been enjoying the lights, tree, candles, and warmth.  One evening in particular, I was sitting in the living room with just the light from the Christmas tree, I had a cup of tea, the dogs were all snuggled up with me, and I was looking through to the kitchen, lit by candles, and watching the snow falling softly through the kitchen door windows.  It was truly blissful. 

Sideways view, again. 

Robin and Spuddie (photo above), and me with Honey, Spuddie, and Holly.  Gosh I love my children!

The stockings were hung, you can see the folk Santa to the left, the one I mentioned last post from the craft show, painted on an old tobacco drying stick - a bit of Kentucky history...and all the plants in the kitchen were if full bloom, all four cacti and the violets.  It was lovely.

It wouldn't be Christmas around here without the nativity sets, this one by Jim Shore is in the living room.  We also each have one in our bedrooms. 

My set in my bedroom is my favorite.  Robin bought it for me all by herself a few years ago from her own money and it is the most beautiful one I have ever seen.  I have it on the shelf on my bed headboard:

Robin and I also decorate our bedrooms for Christmas.  Here are a few kitchy little corners in my room - yes mine is more cutesy and Robin's more sophisticated.

This little gourd Santa is painted by the same folk painter lady who did the tobacco stick Santa, though this one I've had a few years now.  Here is my vintage red reindeer, I think probably about the same age as me!

Well, maybe someday I'll come back and fix this the right way!  Notice too the darling little skunk, same age.  Both of these are stuffed with sawdust. 

Robin got a puzzle again, you can't see it but she actually put this together on top of the last puzzle she did of St. Basil's Cathedral.  I couldn't even look at it - too confusing - but she did it in about a day and a half or so.  This puzzle is of one of our favorite paintings.  It is Sunday afternoon on La Grand Jette by Seurat.  There is so much to study and enjoy in this painting. 
Of course I have been stitching as much as possible.  I am still stitching on the Country Cottage Needleworks cottage of the month series.  I'm not doing them in order, really, except June and November.  At Christmas I was actually working on August.  I am doing them all on one fabric piece, just as I obtain the right floss colors.  I have had to change some of the colors, though, as I am stitching on white, so in place of the white flosses I'm mostly using DMC 3033. 

It takes me about a month to do each one, stitching a little each evening before bed. 

This is a close up of November, and I also want to show what I did for April, my favorite so far, as it is Robin's birth month.  I have changed the birds to Robins!:

I hope to finish July this weekend.  More to come about this.  I have also joined two stitch along blogs for 2013, I'll post those later - one is a Christmas ornament SAL and the other is for a series of Sheep Virtues by Little House Needleworks that will be similar to the cottages - one each month.  I do get great joy from my stitching!  I also love to read stitching blogs, and I have noticed something that nearly all stitchers do - I have done this for decades, myself.  We all save the little snippets of floss in a jar or some receptacle.  Who knows why?  They are just lovely, and make one feel a sense of accomplishment - plus who doesn't love floss?  Here's mine, for all my stitch friends who also share theirs (don't even try to understand this if you don't stitch).  This is a vintage planter of Cosmos flowers I found on ebay quite awhile ago just for this purpose.  :).  Well, more to share, but time to go enjoy probably the last night of the Christmas tree.  I'm glad to be posting again, now that there is a computer in the family once again...(thanks Robin for sharing!)  Blessings and Peace for your Happiest New Year yet, God Bless 2013!

 

 

Autumn Blessings

Autumn is all around us, we are immersed.  We have had Halloween, fall-back an hour, our annual favorite craft show, and plants blooming everywhere.  One of the best highlights was costume-making.  I was lucky to make our two favorite little people into their choice of character, Brian a bat and Lilah a ghostie.  They are the children of my dear friend and co-worker Maria. 



Robin surprised me with her choice for a costume this year:  Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Definately different than Robin Hood last year!

We googled how to do the exact hairdo from the movie, got it down after an hour.  I should have taken a photo of the back of her head!

Here is the official "pose":

I was pretty surprised that not one, not one! person at her party had ever heard of Audrey Hepburn or Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I thought it was a classic!  Anyway, I think she looked fabulous and we had a great time putting it all together.  Here is what she looked like last year when she was Robin Hood.  We made everything from scratch, even the arrows.  I think she made a fabulous Robin Hood!

They did the trick-or-treat so kids can eat again this year, colleting canned goods and non-perishable food items for the mission, but it was raining pretty hard so we skipped that part this year. 
We also enjoyed our favorite fall craft show, our four favorite venders were there, Gail the knitting and antique brooch lady, another brooch lady, the crocheted animals lady, and the gourd painting lady.  Robin got a lovely pair of alpacka fingerless gloves from Gail, and I got a really neat rustic painted santa on an old tobacco drying rod.  Definately a bit of Kentucky folk history for $5! 


This month, on Thanksgiving day, will be my baby sister's 50th birthday.  I made her a little sumptin-sumptin to remember me.  I love that girl!

 

One of the things we love about Thanksgiving time is Pumpkin pie.  I didn't make one this year, but we definitely had some - we spent the day with our dear friends Amy, Ryan, and Charlie Beth and their family.  This outfit Robin is wearing is her "pumpkin pie" outfit. The coat is the crust, the shirt is the pumpkin and the hat is the whipped cream.

 

 

Holly is taking a nap in one of the "houses", the doors stay open so they can nap if they want while we are all in the kitchen.

Here's little man - Spuddie, and then here is Honey:

Another special day this fall was little Charlie Beth's Baptism.  Here are a couple of pictures:

I havn't blogged in so long I forgot how to rotate.  I got it to rotate before I inserted it, but somehow it goes back when I try to add it.  Anyway, here it is sideways.  Just tilt your head to the left :).  I was lucky and got to make her gown and bonnet.  I was really happy with how they turned out.  The lace I found online from Lyon, France.  It was made on a lace machine from 1800 and has been made and then stored on a roll for about 50 years.  It is pristine white, and the lovliest lace I have ever seen.  There was enough for the hem and the sleeves.  The yolk is fully smocked in white, and there is a tiny cross charm added at the neck with a little white ribbon bow.

Here is a close up of the bonnet, this was from an old pattern I found online from the 1930's. 

Here is the family with Father Jeff.  It was definitely a very special day.  We were honored to be included.  Next up, Advent and Christmas!

 

 

Peahen Sighting

A few minutes to create a post...still living without a computor.  I like it, really.  I have more time in the day!  I do admit to checking Pintrest rather frequently...I recently spotted a peahen there...

This is pretty amazing!  There are lots of peacocks, not many hens.  Sort of makes me want to work in the garden.  I know I have lots of rose bush pruning to do this fall.  Robin is so gracious about mowing for me.  Here she is mowing last weekend - I was in the kitchen and overheard her singing over and over - "all I want for Christmas is a goat".  Pretty funny. 

We have an old fashioned push mower, so it's a bit challenging if the grass is long like it is here.
I don't have any cross stitch photos today, though I am still working on the Cottages of the Month.  My mind is on English Smocking lately, as I am gearing up to make a Christening gown for our friends Amy and Ryan.  I'd better get busy - the baby is due next month!!!  I finally convinced Robin to dig out the box of her baby clothes that I had made her that I hand smocked - for inspiration, and also to copy a few techniques.  I really want to find the photos of her wearing all of these, but for now, I took some snaps of a few, wrinkles and all.  This one is my absolute favorite and the one I'm going to copy.  It's a Grace Knott pattern, a baby gown with raglan sleeves and a smocked yolk.  I used Imperial Batiste cotton, satin ribbon, and pink floss for the stitching on the pleats, as I no longer had a pleater, I hand pleated the fabric first, which is what I will do with the gown I'm going to make soon. 

Here is a close up of the smocking, maybe you can see the little gold heart charm at the neck.

Here is another dress I smocked for her:

and the yolk:

also, a detail of the smocked bonnet, which, the day I finally finished, was the day she decided she didn't like bonnets anymore! 

While we were in the box, I did a little snooping for fun.  Robin really liked Pooh Bear.  Here is a little winter hat she had...it's a little small now.

She also had a Pooh bathing suit...

Here is her very favorite dress, her elephant dress, we found it at a garage sale, and it's pretty tiny.  After all, she started out at 2 1/2 pounds!  This is pretty cute - I would have liked one in my size this past summer.  My grandma Mee Mee hand made all of her summer dresses, very similar to this with the high yolk with gathers, and pockets.  Another project for next summer...

Next time we snoop through Robin's closet, I want to look at the stuffed animals.  Teenages like them too, here are the two Robin keeps out in her room currently:

She says "what? so I have varied interests!"  This from the girl who just finished a book on Thermo-Dynamics and is studying Calculus.  Variety is the spice of life, after all!
One last little thing - a little miracle - got this plant at Kroger on the mark-down table for $1.00 last month.  I love succulents, they are my favorites, and this little darling decided to bloom for me!

Seems like this is short and scattered, I guess since I didn't pull it together like I wanted to, but it's nice to send something out.  Have a very blessed week, please come back again!  Shari

Something's Fishy

We had the most fun ever one afternoon last week - so that became our summer vacation.  Our dear friend and Seminarian Bill took us fishing.  The day was lovely, temperature mild, and it was so peaceful.  Even though Robin is a vegan, (I was too in the days of consuming gluten), she proved a gifted fisher and caught 4 or 5 bass.  I caught a large bluegill and a bass.  Luckily for the bluegill, it got away. 

Robin with some of her fish:

Bill commented on what a great team Robin and I make, since I won't touch the fish or the bait, and she won't eat the fish.  Ideal.  Bill is a fantastic and patient teacher, and we learned so much.  I think the most important thing we learned was to step out of the ordinary and enjoy the beauty of God's creation and have a lovely summer afternoon together. 

Conversing.

Speaking the language.

Smoochy smoochy.  She said she didn't really kiss this fish, but it sure looked like it to me!
All in all, a day I will never forget.  Thanks Bill, and we are keeping you in our prayers.
Well, this whole post is quite short, as we are currently enjoying a computor free lifestyle at home.  I still have much more to share, but for the time being here are just a few photos for my stitchy friends - these are just a few samples of vintage Swedish cross stitch pieces.  I am very fond of Swedish folk art - mostly cross stitch and allmoge, folk painting.  Here is a lovely cross stitched piece of some Linnaea, or Linnea flowers, native to Sweden. 

The Linnaea flower or Linnaea borealis is named after Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist from the south of Sweden in Smaland, around 1778.  Fascinating man!  Here is another sample of some linnaea's from Smaland - an older piece:

This long delicate fringe is common on many Swedish pieces.  Here is a photo of the actual flower, which not only blooms in Sweden but also on this continent in Alaska.  Isn't it lovely?

Here is one last piece, showing the charming folk style and native dress:

and a close up:



This makes me want to stitch!  Maybe this will be a "three dog night" - you know the Australian term for a night so cold it takes three dogs to keep you warm?  Well, at our house, every night is a three dog night, we curl up and I get to stitch.  Look who's waiting for me:

Thanks for sticking around, posts may be shorter and posted a day or two late each week while we live computor-less, but I'll keep showing up.  Peace and Joy, Shari