Miss Avry...our little ballerina!

First position,

learned!

 

Second position...

still

working on it...

Just 3 more positions

to go

and

then

I'll be doing

pique's

&

plie's

for

 daddy

 

in my football tu tu!

It is his favorite too ;)

 

Have a good week everyone,

Brenda

Inspiration...

My dear husband,

the son of a watchmaker.

 

His dad's diploma

from watchmakers college...

 and

a pocket watch gifted to the dh

from his father...



family heirlooms

that I walk by several times each day...

momentos

of his father...

A gentle man,

with a keen sense
 of humor.

A man that always gave kids pennies for the gum ball machine.

He had a gum ball machine in his jewelry store.

A dish of pennies sat on the counter

for the kids...

 

 

Being married to the son of a watchmaker,
and being someone who collects
antique samplers,

you can imagine how

these little
 antique pocket watch samplers
 make my heart go a-flutter...
 

I would love to own one,

but they are expensive...

as much as a big sampler.
{sigh}
I love the simplicity of this one..
"Part
 not with
 a

moment

 but for its worth!"

 

It is stitched with hair!

Pocket watch samplers were stitched in the early 19th century.
  A wife would stitch one
 for her dh husband
 to be tucked inside the cover of his pocket watch.

 

You don't see too many of them,

  and they usually go for $500.00 on up.

 The one pictured...it is yours for $895.00.

 

So,

the wheels in my brain have been turning.

I've been
stitching,
planning,

and
 playing
 with pocket watch cases...

they are still in the early stages.

The decision making stages...

Do I make them into a necklace?

Or a brooch?

 

Hang them from vintage satin,

waxed hemp cording,

or rosary beads?

 

"Watch" for more details to follow...

 

 

"Time" to get ready for work,

Brenda

Halloween Spirited Goodies...

New patterns coming soon

for your stitching pleasure...

 An 18" Halloween spirited cherub who flies over pumpkin patches

and sprinkles her fairy dust upon the pumpkins so they grow extra big.

Antique sheet music is used for Madam Halloween's wings and star garland

and a real pumpkin stems tops of her head.  Body is painted, sanded and then distressed

with stain and ground cinnamon for a wonderful old-time look

and delicious smell!

X X X X X

A NEW cross stitch chart for a charming 6" ditty pocket.  A primsical witch is not seeing stars, she's seeing pumpkins...lots of pumpkins!  Which pumpkin would a witch pick????  A short and squatty one, a tall and skinny one, or one that has a wonderfully curled stem?  Pocket has an antique skeleton key stitched to the side...the key that opens the gate to the pumpkin patch!   The bag is filled with tallow berries for a warm autumn touch.    Design is worked on 35 count linen over two threads.

X X X X X



And lastly,

a NEW cross stitch chart for a pin keep...

a pumpkin-shaped pin keep!

This is a quick stitch Halloween-spirited sampler

that is sewn into a tall skinny pumpkin shape,

and then topped off with a real pumpkin stem.

Place on an ironstone plate and surround it with acorns

and you have a wonderful little Halloween vignette

to sit by your stitching chair!

Design is worked on 40 count over 2 threads.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my shipment

of dried naturals,

perfect for autumn-time decorating...

tallow berries,

acorns,

cotton bolls

and cotton stems

all will be arriving early next week!

More black oxide scissors are due to arrive early next week too.

I'll be busy updating the website with all these new goodies

over the weekend and into early next week.

TGIF,

Brenda

Who likes scissors?

New scissor arrivals!

-3 3/4" black oxide scissors -

Victoria styled scissors from Italy.

 A perfect little companion

to your

 Halloween

 pinkeeps or sewing rolls!

You can find them here.

Do you like my owl plate?

This is my latest new found treasure.

I found it while perusing at an antique shop online.

Don't know too much about it...

the price was right,

and I love it!

I just know I will have all sorts of fun

with this piece.

Have a good week everyone...

tis a rainy Sunday morning here in Iowa.

Brenda

Brrr...

words not spoken

 too often

 as of late...

brrr

With windows open overnight

we woke to a chilly house...

I was actually cold.

The cooler weather is most welcome.

Now,

if it would only rain!

Not a whole lot to report on,

I've done a little of this

 and

 a little of that...

charting new cross stitch,

sketching new punch needle,

and

 in between,

working on

reproducing

the J.M. Gardner, 1888 sampler...

I had a change of heart with my first floss selection,

I think I've got my floss pallette where I like it now...

What do you think?

I decided to stay true to the original,

 with the floss.

The only change will be in size,

the reproduction will be

a miniature version

 of the

 antique sampler...

petite & precious!

With thy needle & thread,

Brenda

Hallelujah...look who's risen!

Hard

dry

cracked

soil

A picture of drought.

It's been a strange

past several months...

very little snow

and

now very little rain.

I'm missing rain.

I'm missing the smell of rain.

I'm missing thunder.

What are you doing

 to us

 Mother Nature?

I ask...

 how can tiny little green stems

 poke their way through

the parched, hard as rock soil?

One day tender green sprouts,

and

in a couple of days

these...

beautifully formed blooms,

just waiting to unfold...

With amazement,

I ponder how they can push their way through the

rock- hard ground

and

 come out looking

so beautiful?

Not a petal out of place.

Picture. Perfect.

They have risen....

Hallelujah!

These little ladies

 always visit me each August,

religiously...

drought,

or

no drought...

My garden welcomes thee...

thank you ladies!

Have a blooming day,
Brenda

Almost one year ago...

my dh and I

 took a road trip,

 to visit the nephew in Wisconsin,

with my dear sister and her dh.
(her dh is my dh's brother, confused yet?)

Boys in the front,

girls in the back.

As always,

I don't travel without my stitching.

I had just charted a little Halloween chart that I thought

would be something I could start and finish

on this road trip.

At that time,

I didn't really have a plan...

I had no idea that it was something that

I would be doing for 11 more months.

No idea at all it would turn into

a montly series,

a series to be named,

"Word Play".

I had no idea

it would consume my whole year

the way it has.

So,

 as I was laboring with counting and stitching

 in the back seat of the car,

fighting road bumps,

and

listening to my sister tell me

that she didn't know how I could do this in a car,

and that she would get a migrane in doing so...

she was playing with my ipad,

the ipad app

photo booth,

 to be exact...

hardly seems fair

that she's having fun in her corner of the car

and I'm slaving away,

working,
in my corner of the backseat...

In between her laughing/crying sessions

of her photo booth experiences,

she would comment that she didn't know how

 I could see to work on such tiny linen....

I told her it might be her glasses,

she should get some new ones...

or maybe

 her eyes are set a wee tad too far apart,
plastic surgery,
perhaps?

I told her to just squint real hard,

yea,

like that...

helps to see the linen better

if you squint...

tee hee hee

and

 now that my sister is probably going to kill me,

I present the final Word Play...

"SEPTEMBER WORD PLAY"

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

 for joining me on this year long journey,

it's been fun

 and I'm almost sad to see it end!

And visit my sister at www.piecesfrommyheart.net

and buy lots and lots of goodies from her,

pulease!!!!

 

Have a good day,

Brenda

Helper?

Well, hi there!

Homework?

Yea, brought a few patterns home to bag.

Need help?

Sure, you want to collate or bag?

Well actually, I was thinking more along the lines of rubber banding...

Can you count to 12?

Yes.

Okay,

 count out twelve patterns

 and then put a rubber band around each bundle

 of 12.

I can't believe she fell for this!

Stupid humans.

Let's see here...

 

she said

 12 patterns per bundle,

right?

hmmm...

I just need a little mouth/paw coordination

and I should be good to go,

right?

okay,

here we go...

she wants these rubber bands where?

Does she have any idea how bad these rubber bands taste?

this pattern

 folding & bagging

 business is for the birds...

Did I say birds?

That's what I should be doing right now,

bird watching...

 

What are you doing?

No,
 we don't play with the rubber bands...

no
 shooting rubber bands
either!

Yea, yea, yea....

What's that ?
Dave Letterman?

You think you're ready

for stupid pet tricks

 on the

Dave Letterman show?

(human mom is trying not to laugh)

How many rubber band shooting cats do you know?

Just one,

and

that would be

 my

 favorite fur child!

Have a good evening,
Brenda

School Days...

The last & final

 in the Word Play Series...

this month is honoring the teacher.

While stitching this back-to-school themed Word Play,

it brought back those school memories...

like

getting new sneakers,

the smell of a new box of crayons,

new pencils & notebooks,

watching for the school bus

&

missing the school bus...

favorite teachers,

and

favorite teacher quotes,

like...

"take out a quarter sheet of notebook paper & number 1 through 10",

a daily quote from my favorite teacher,

Mr. Wetzler.

My high school biology & anatomy teacher...

yes,

1/4 sheet of notebook paper

for our daily quizzes...

he was not only teaching us about his subjects,

but also,

to conserve and not be wasteful...

a life time lesson.

Which leads me to a favorite quote,

"to teach is to touch a life forever"...

So hats off to all the teachers,

this months

 Word Play

 is for you!

AND LASTLY,

I am coming off an operating software failure with my computer,

no data was lost

thanks to my external backup.

I'm back up and running,

sort of...

However,

 I am having issues downloading CS5,

my graphics program,

 and hopefully

will have this ironed out by today's end,

with tech support.

With this said,

there may be a slight delay (by a day or 2)

 in the release of Septembers Word Play,

as this is the program that houses my pattern cover template...

Have a good day,
Brenda

10,000 sore butts

and

sweaty pits.

Technically,

that would be 20,000 sweaty pits...

The hottest week of the year.

The week that 10,000 plus bikers

take to their saddles

and ride across our state.

Somewhere in that crowd is the dear husband and son.

I visit the photo gallery of www.ragbrai.com daily

to see if I can see anyone that resembles my two boys.
( 3 photos courtesy of ragbrai.com)

From there I look at handle bars...

handle bars

wrapped

in their Alma mater colors,

Cardinal & Gold...

GO CYCLONES!

A week on their bikes by day,

and
sleeping in hot steamy tents

by night...

a little father & son time.

So as you can imagine,
 with the sweltering heat,

I've done my share of worrying this week

about them.

Wednesday was reported as the toughest day of RAGBRAI,
ever.

It was the optional 100 mile loop day,

strong head winds

and

temperatures of 106 degrees.

The dear husbands response that day,

"It was a challenge".

He likes these sort of challenges...

for me,

I would rather take on the challenge

of my border meeting as I place the

final cross stitch in it!

We all know this can be a challange!

Yesterday was an easier day for the bikers,

85 miles,
 3,576 climb.

Last evenings text message from the dh went like this,

"We survived another day, 85 miles.
  Very pretty
 rolling countryside
 between

Marshalltown & Cedar Rapids."

A week of father/son time,

a challenge,

pretty rolling countryside

kissed with misty dew

in the early mornings...

reasons he says he does the ride.

A bucket list sort of thing...

I have much easier things on my bucket list,
more along the lines of attending the Olympics someday.

I've got this evening all planned out.

A dinner of leftover casserole
(it has been a week of making dishes that the dh doesn't particularly like, but I do)

and
 then in front of the TV to watch the opening ceremonies...
I can hardly wait!
I,
 of course,
 will have some stitching at hand.

The JM Gardner 1888 antique reproduction sampler
will by my Olympic stitching for these games...
Stitching and cheering on
a little gymnast from Virginia,
who now lives and trains in Iowa,
Gabby Douglas.

I finished charting the sampler last evening

and will prep the edges of my linen this morning.

 Here is a peak

at  my floss selection.

As you can see,

I changed it slightly...

I'm going for a finer,

softer,

more delicate finish...

I think it will be lovely!

TGIF,

Brenda

Wilting...

I'm sorry about my absence here,

 I just haven't had the energy to do much beyond work.

 I think I'm starting to wilt...

too many days of triple digits. 

 The heat just zaps me.

  It isn't the normal pretty green that we are used to this time of year in Iowa.

 The lawns are brown and crunchy,

 only the weeds are thriving, 

and the farmers corn fields are starting to fire.

  Firing is when the corn starts to dry up bottom to top....it is dying.

Sad surroundings,

 and it just seems to put you in a sad state of mind.

We all could use a little bit of this...

Since my last blog posting, I have purchased a new antique sampler,

J.M. Gardner, 1888.

It's one of those samplers

 where you like it,

but

 not totally

love it...

if that makes any sense!

 The sampler is worked on an 8 count canvas,

using thick bulky wool yarn...yuck! 
The orange is a bit too bright for me.

BUT,

I love, love, love

the little floral arbor

over the garden gate...

precious,

don't you think?

My plans are to

 reproduce and revise

 the color scheme.

I think it would be lovely

 worked in softer muted flosses

within the same color scheme.

The sampler measures about 16" square.

The sampler is backed with newspaper.  

 The article talks about a bad storm, gale force winds

including a couple of towns that were heavily damaged.

I'm hopeful this will be helpful in learning more about

the 12 year old, J.M. Gardner who stitched this sampler.

But,

first things first...

Francis Pool needs to be finished first!

I'm getting close to a finish on this piece!

I always struggle with changing a reproduction.

I like to stay true to the antique...

See the floral border?

  The flower blooms, stems and leaves were all

stitched in the same color...

this bothered me.

After much

do I?

or

don't I?...

I decided to put my signature on the piece

 by switching the floss out to green,

it makes me feel better!

Stay cool,

Brenda

Pssssttt.....

(I'm whispering this...

it's a secret)

SORRY, THEY ARE NOW SOLD OUT.

 There are 9 school girls scissors now available.  I got my hands on 9 more pairs of the scissors, that's all there are for now folks!  If you want a pair of these, hurry on over to here to purchase.  Hurry though, they will not last long!

And if you don't get in on these 9, no crying,  there will be more when I can get more of the scissors.  And for the inquiring minds... more floss keeps will be made too, when our charms shipment arrives.

Have a good day,

Brenda

New photos for the brag book...

The grand darlings were our 4th of July guests! 

Like everywhere else,

it was a hot & sweltering day

here in Iowa...

the cool wind off the lake

was our only relief,

as we took in the parade.

Momma dressed the little darlings 

in their little patriotic outfits,

and we tried our hardest

 to get a photo

 of Beckham and Avry together...

a tricky feat,

to say the least.

Big brother at times 

was holding little Avry 

 like a bag of potatoes!

Needless to say,

 photographer Grandma had to work rather quickly,

as assistant Grandpa stood off to the side

to be the spotter...

 

I love these baby headbands.

I'm pretty certain

 that if they were around when their momma was a baby,

she would have had one in every color

and would have worn one

every day :)

I probably would have even been making them...

perhaps

 even selling patterns to make them!

I usually poke little flags into my flower pots this time of year,

but the 4th seemed to have snuck up on me this year

 and it didn't get done...

so Beckham got to take a flag to the parade.

He was all about waving the flag...

so cute!

 

We didn't put the flag down...

He just stood at full attention

and took in the sights and sounds of the parade...

only putting it down 

to open a piece of freshly tossed candy...

 

As for Avry,

she didn't need a piece of candy,

her new found thumb

was her sweet!

She's working on mastering how far

she can stick it into her mouth without gagging!

At dusk we took in the fireworks over the lake.  

Prior to, 

we explained to Beckham that there would be some loud booms,

 but there was nothing to be afraid of. 

   He kept reassuring us that,

"Beckhams not afraid of the fire-works eder (either)."

 At the 15 minute from fireworks boom, we walked down to the lake.  

Over and over

we heard,

"Beckhams not afraid of the fireworks Momma",

at least a hundred times,

in the two block walk.

Pretty soon I hear Daddy say,

"do you suppose he has himself convinced yet that he's not afraid of the fireworks"!!

He tried his hardest to be brave,

with only one minor melt down

from fear.

We got home from the fireworks and I asked him if he was afraid of the fireworks...

in his deep voice he said, "no".

I then asked him if he was just a teensy tiny bit afraid of the fireworks...

and in his deep voice

he said,

"yes".

Grandkids are a blast,

no pun intended...

they really are!

Have a good day,
Brenda