With APOLOGIES to Clement C. Moore

'Twas 5 days before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The fur-babies were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-frosted squirrels danced in their heads;

And dad in his sweatpants, and I without a cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When inside the bedroom wall there arose such a clatter,
We knew immediately just what was the matter.

To that wall I wanted to fly like a flash,

With sledgehammer in hand and a loud evil laugh.

They were playing chase the acorn and then roll the walnut began,
That squirrel and 37 of his closest friends .. at 2:30am.

But I couldn't destroy walls my husband reminded me in time,

So I turned on the lamp and read a good book (even though that doesn't rhyme).

And I heard that squirrel exclaim, before his party was through,

"Happy Christmas to all .. Deb lives in a zoo."

it's the weekend and I'll blog if I wanna ....

Thought I'd share what I've been working on the past couple of weeks on my days off .. more scarf felting .. what can I say? It's fun!

I had made this first one (at right) this past September .. Dave called it the 'swiss cheese effect'. Then I decided it had to be a 'more' warm weather scarf and 'added' to it. I like the way it came out this way too (it's below)! Definitely looks more like Michigan weather ware than the first time around!

A bit of glitz and some funky chunky yarns woven through the wool created the brown on brown with touches of turquoise scarf above.

Then I went with another double sided scarf ... argyle pattern on one side and overlaid shades of greens, blues and blacks on the other side. It's quite thin and would make an great indoor 'fashion type' scarf .. but since it IS 100% Merino Wool, it will work under a coat outside too!
The scarf at right is predominately browns, greys, mauves and pale blues. Again, has some chunky yarns laid through it. It's another very lightweight scarf and very soft!

Then we come to my 'inspiration masterpiece'! I had the idea just spring into my wee little brain for this one while making a previous scarf and just started to play. I really had no intention of making any more, but ... ! It's a mixture of Merino wool, bits of acrylic glitz and some Angelina, and a fiber mixture (a secret mohair/merino/nylon/silk and "Bling" bits) from Pagewood Farms called 'tinkerbell fluff'. I've got a picture of the 'fluff' at far left, but my assortment - of course - was all Whites and Creams with bits of gold, silver and bits and pieces of color mixed in with it.

It took nearly 4 times as long to felt, but the result is incredible!! I've never felt anything as soft as this one - I brought some in to the shop today for Show And Tell and everyone was going crazy over this one too .. so it's not just me!! And it looks like you can see right through it to other layers too ... c'est magnifique!!!

Now I did say "I was done" ... but decided that tomorrow I'll do just one more! It's an addiction ... help me ... make it stop ... I'm supposed to be cross stitching!!!

One more .. just one more I promise!!

Corrected Tech Info and Stitching

Ok ok ok ... Debbie has pointed out to me that my little freebie toy is NOT an iPod ... it's an MP3 player. A cheap one at that, but NOT an iPod. toMAYtoes/toMAHtoes

Got a bit of felting done yesterday ... but didn't turn out well. Going to have to see what I can do to rescue this scarf on Wednesday as I really don't want to start all over again. Spent the evening last night stitching on Raise The Roof's "Christmasland". Still on chartpack #1, but it's coming along.

Put the tree up .. it's a little fake one, a tall thin (can you say THIN) Alpine tree .. but it's up and decorated. Stuck off in a corner by the wood stove where I can see it from my stitching/tv chair. Why have a tree up if you can't see it whenever you look up? And that my dear, is WHY it's a fake .. it's very very hot in that corner by the stove!
Thinking about the ornaments I put on it "this" year. Decided to bring down a box of my old favorites (aka extremely breakable) as Padme has experienced Christmas trees, and really doesn't give them a thought .. as long as she can lay under it. Mocha, the very well behaved princess, could care less .. as long as the tree isn't where she 'usually sleeps', she's fine with it.
Anyway .. thinking about the ornaments and realized that .. with the exception of 4 unbreakable ornies on the lowest branches just in case the temptation becomes too great .. there isn't an ornament on it that is LESS than 20 years old. Actually, I think most of mine are in the 30-year old range, and then those from my grandmother are in the 70 to 90-year old range. And I have a vintage 1930's star at the very top! Each one has a lot of meaning to me, and to see them on my tree again, brings a smile to my mind!

Music N Felting N Stitching N Things

The "Sting" CD is gone .. sold .. thank you to my bud Theresa at Homestead Needlearts, I've been able to afford a hot Cappuccino for the past two days!! And most interesting of all ... "she" REALLY likes that CD. Takes all kinds I guess (ducking)

Now I've got a new bit of technology ... my very first iPod!!! Not state of the art by any means .. it was a 'free with $100 purchase' at one of the office supply stores .. so that kind of gives you an idea of just how 'fantastic an iPod' this really is! LOL With the remainder of my gift certificate from Amazon, I purchased Rod Stewart's newest "Soulbook". I couldn't get it to 'load' on the device ... I had a customer's husband spent time trying to download it (while his wife shopped - got him out of her hair for awhile!) and he couldn't get it working. So Tuesday I had Debbie do it for me .. she's my chief techie here .. and she had problems too. But would not be daunted, and 'finally' got it on the iPod for me!! whoo hooo
She did report, however, that one of the ear buds did NOT work.
So I got to listen to a bit of it in 'mono' and not stereo on the way home ... and it wasn't loud at all! In fact, could hardly hear it over the sound of my car tires!

Pulled out the ear buds I bought for my Kindle, and listened a bit more on the drive into work the next morning. Still couldn't get that volume to go up. Obviously this device was developed by some one's MOM ... 'don't want to ruin your hearing with that loud music'!!
Disgusted ... oh well, at least this thingy didn't cost me 'anything' other than the office supplies I would have been ordering anyway!

Then .. on the way home last night .. tried to give it 'one last try'. Hey .. you really CAN get the music out of an iPod IF you have the earplug device pushed ALL THE WAY IN!
And .. even better .. I discovered on the way back to the shop this morning that ... my Kindle ear bud things even have a 'volume turnerupper/downer' built right onto the cord!!!! And to think I flew all the way home using the Kindles' volume up and down instead!
I'm so incredibly observant!!!
This means I'm now rather pleased with my little iPod freebie, AND 'most' of the songs on my new Rod Stewart. His scratchy voice was perfect for ALL of the "Great American Songbook" CD's he'd done but I think he's rather reaching on "Soulbook" .. but it's not a loss .. think I'll keep it!!! LOL

Hopefully I'll be able to stay home all day tomorrow! Worked my day off here at the shop for Debbie and that screwed up my carefully planned out schedule of (1) taking mom out to shop (2) felting another scarf (3) getting my hair cut and (4) putting up the tree. Now I have two scarves to make tomorrow as well as put up the tree. Don't think there's enough hours tomorrow for all of that though...deep sigh!!! Under a deadline here to get Christmas gifts out in time and .. once again I'm in crunch time - just when I thought I had it all together. Will have to wait till Weds. to do 'some' of it ... maybe I can put mom off tomorrow too!

Also waiting for my next installment of Bent Creek's Christmas Branch - the owl - to arrive. If it doesn't' come today, I'll be on the 'email' with BC to find out why! They 'rarely, if ever' have their newest to Hoffman and Norden even within 2 weeks of a shop getting their auto. And I've not gotten my auto yet .. HDC and NC have the new ones though! And Kathy just informed me that so do some 'other shops' ... as of early last week!!!! aarrgghhh Not like I don't have anything to stitch .. I've just started Raise The Roof's "Christmasland". I can't do scarf making in the evening at home ... not enough light to see exactly what I'm doing. Except for my two stitching areas and Dave's chair (Ott-Light Heaven), our living room is very dark.

oops .. store is open .. time to get to work!

Writing and Hurrying and .. and .. and ..

Still in somewhat of a 'turkey coma' ... don't know WHY I eat so much! Maybe it's because the ONLY time I have turkey and all the good stuffs is on Thanksgiving. Or else because it's getting colder out and my primal brain is telling me to eat eat eat so I can last through hibernation. sigh
Turkey .. it's good for you, right? Hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving!!

Well, I'm right on schedule. Here I have almost all of my Christmas gifts made and now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I'm thinking of all the other stuff I can still stitch, felt, knot or punch. Like I have all the time in the world left. another sigh
I've really got 3 more scarves to do, 2 to kind of 're-do', as I've had some other ideas as to how they 'could' look. Hopefully my re-dos work so I don't have to re-create all over again. That's what I'll be doing tonight when I get home ... re-do #1.

Saw Sting on the Today show the other morning, doing a song from his newest album (does that one word date me or what?) "If On A Winter's Night". Walked around most of the day with the song in my head. Saw I had a gift certificate for Amazon so I ordered the CD. So excited .. got it .. put it in .. HATE IT! The only song I like 'at all' is the one I'd heard on the Today show promoting the album. The rest .. ickty ick ick! I should have read some reviews. I knew it was dating back to 'olde England' but really! Every other song is slow, drawn out, and ... did I mention I absolutely HATE this CD??!! If anyone would like to purchase it from me for $4.00 (which would include shipping), just let me know!!!!

Reading? Started reading the latest from Diana Gabaldon "An Echo In The Bone" but it hasn't grabbed me. I decided that maybe it was not a 'book to read to fall asleep', but 'a book to be read only when you're going to read the day away'. So I picked up the first in the Dresden File series by Jim Butcher again ... and now I'm just about through the entire series again (and the next doesn't come out until September!! aarrgghhhh) I'll get back to Gabaldon, but ... the last few have been nothing like Outlander and the several afterwards unfortunately.

Yikes .. I should be going home ... just look at the time! Later!!!

November Stitch N ...

I've been recording my starts, finishes and want to stitch nexts in my newsletter updates, but decided that I really 'should' show you what they all look like .. just in case you may think I've been tryin' ta fool ya!

At left is Homespun Elegance's "Holiday Samplings II", stitched using the Palomino linen and fibers the designer used. I've got it 'thumb tacked' to the wall in the shop right now while waiting for the frame to arrive so it can get finished up properly. I absolutely LOVED stitching this one .. something about the colors really really appealed to me! The only thing I DISLIKE is the "A" of the ABC at lower right. I suppose I could have tried to alter it, and I thought about finding another alphabet and changing it from ABC to DRK (my initials) ... but since it will be a shop model for awhile before it goes home to live with me, decided to just leave it as designed.

When at Market and seeing Hinzeit's "Crystal Rudolph and Crystal Ho Ho Ho Sleigh" stitched up and framed as one, I HAD to do it too!

Of course, I didn't have the cream lugana in stock the designer used, but I did have Opalescent White .. and with the Swarvoski Crystals embellishing both, and with the sparkly white snowflakes painted on the frame, thought the Opal would really work! Of course I didn't really "look" at the chart, or I would have seen that there was a 'B5200 white' snowflake stitched on the design (in my defense, the chart photo didn't pick it up either!). When I got to that point, I played around with Splendor silks, Trebizond silks, etc to see if I could get it to stand out from the fabric .. but in the end went with the floss (the hell with it!). Still, I'm very pleased with this one .. it's all glittery!!!

Liked Poppy Kreations "Tree Trimmings III" when I saw it at market too! The little cardinal frame has a front (with opening for the design) and back (to cover up the fabric completely) and called for being put together with wood glue (and under a heavy object till set). I had wood glue, but did I use it? Noooooooooo! I used "Gorilla Glue" which would hold two trucks together and once it's 'glued' will be glued forever! Needless to say, my cardinal frame front and back do not exactly 'match' .. but what the heck .. gives an illusion of 'fluttering wings' that way!

And when Pine Mountain Designs' automatic arrived last week, I grabbed their December Frame-Up and took it home to stitch right away! MINE! It's in the shop right now too ... complete kit and comes with Aida. Since it would be a model most of the year, I stitched it as it came. I really have a terrible time stitching on Aida after using linen/evenweaves all these years! That needle goes anywhere except in that hole!!! So I guess I can say, this little Frame-Up was my most difficult of my stitching projects!

And here is my 'nearly completed' first part (O Christmas Squirrel) of Bent Creek's newest series .. The Christmas Branch. They did theirs on normal old everyday 'browns' ... I knew I was going to stitch it on something else ... but hadn't decided until Kathy stated she wanted an Opalescent Blue so it would look more like a snowy Christmas sky. I pulled the colors and decided, with help from Picture This Plus, on 32ct Crystal Dwarf. All I have left to stitch, right now, is the 'tree' word at the top and the verse at the bottom. It was a bit hard to pic fabric NOT knowing what the finished design would look like (colors used that is), but ... so far I'm a'lovin it!!!!

Still Blogging .. Still Here!

I think I know what had pushed me so far 'over the edge' with the recent theft in my shop.


It has been medically proven that women who keep their hands busy, particularly in challenging time in order to relieve the stress of their daily lives, actually DO reduce their stress level. Actually lower their blood pressure! We are so busy now that just sitting down for an hour makes a big difference on the stress impact to our bodies. And so does being able to walk into a cross stitch store .. where you can look at other stitchery, plan another project, talk to other stitchers about your craft, your current project and forget about all those problems outside that shops' door that exist in your 'real world'. We all need that bit of stress relief (fondling new fabrics and fibers helps big time!) and that's what a 'store front shop' offers you.

For the past several months, I have had so many NEW stitchers wander in ... who saw my sign and wondered what we were all about. And once through the door, they were having So Much Fun being in a cross stitch shop again! I was answering questions, sharing their laughter, offering tips, feeding off their enthusiasm .. that when I'd go home at night, I was going home on a HIGH! That is what having an actual 'walk in store front' needlework shop is all about .. that is what makes everything worthwhile! And of course, my 'regular' in-shop customers as well as my 'regular' Internet customers .. some who we have come to know so well .. all add to that feeling!
The Internet is here to stay of course .. and I (unfortunately for Dave) fully realize that "shopping in the comfort of your chair" is here to stay. But when making the decision to leave my 'big' shop in Davison and move to this smaller location, I so wanted to be able to have a 'store front' instead of an Internet shop out of my house or warehouse somewhere. I wanted THAT interaction with others .. with other stitchers. The smile of delight, that shared interaction, when someone comes through the door is what MY business is all about for me!

There are those in the world that so easily bring a 'high' crashing down. I try to avoid those who just exude negativity and ill will, and then, one of 'them' wanders into my shop, or walks in deliberately. I've come to terms with it. I can't dwell on a wrong-doing that has been done to me. You need to 'find the good things to hang onto' each day.
Someone sent me the following .. and I'm so glad they did:
Do not be discouraged or dismayed by the besetting concerns of this day
For upon the threshold of this day stands the Lord who made it.
This is the day that the Lord has made
Rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalms.....118:24