Da Updatey Stuff

We made it to NH on Monday without any incidents happening to us. We did see someone drive right off I-95 in front of us - a sharp left turn into the median at 75 m.p.h. I hope they were okay. And then a pickup tried to take us out by merging across several lanes at once. Fortunately I was driving and knew that there wasn't anybody in the far left lane behind me. Other than that it was uneventful.

This means Sunday was spent finishing up laundry, cleaning the house, packing, finishing off a bookmark for a gift, etc. The bookmark came out very nicely, except for one tiny issue. I thought when I put this away last year I was finished with the stitching. Instead of checking it closely against the pattern before cutting, I assumed it was finished. Then I cut the sides, top, and bottom only find I hadn't stitched two stitches of green and the bottom green border. Oops. By then I had started stitching the bottom point together and I managed to add in the missing 2 green stitches, but because I had already cut it I didn't have room to finish the green stripe. Oh well. One more lesson learned. Always check a piece carefully against the pattern before beginning finishing.

This morning I had time to sit and finish the embroidery on a canvas piece. I added lady slippers, a pine branch and pine cone, forget-me-nots. Now I need to detach the canvas from the stretcher bars and cut and assemble and do the final finishing stitches. Then I started a hardanger piece, but need to swing by somewhere and find some perle #8 that matches my DMC #5 Variations.

We did a bit of shopping. We went to Newick's for supper. (I'm in New England. It's supper. Not dinner.)

Note: The canvas piece was a class I took in 2006. It's a crazy quilt pyramid that you get to embellish in the colors and stitches of your choice. Instead of doing generic flowers, I decided that I wanted to commemorate a real place in my life.

In 1960, my grandparents bought what was essentially a fishing camp at Pawtuckaway Lake. I spent a lot of time there. Now 48 years later, it's for sale. Will I finish this piece before someone buys it? We'll see.

Friday in Photos - July 25th

In the morning, before it got too hot out, DS and I took the desert rat to the car wash. Vacuumed, took out the trash, and cleaned the windows. And then made sure the tire pressure was good. All in preparation for driving 500+ miles on Monday.



I came home and did a bit of gardening. The anise hysop on the left is starting to overtake things. Poor begonias are getting lost. But the butterflies love it.


This year the lavender bloomed. We had such a mild winter that several things that normally wouldn't have survived, did.

Impersonating a needlework shop employee. I was filling in so the shop owner could get to the hair salon.

What I do every night.



The other thing I do frequently.
It's ten o'clock. Do you know where your son is? I leave to go pick him up from work. The Red Sox have 2 men on with no outs. Come home and find out they didn't score. Oh well.

At 11:30 p.m. I have finished my Habitat sampler (no name/date yet - those are still to be determined) and my kissing pillow. These were our community outreach projects this year in our EGA chapter.

Be Jealous

Today's fun is brought to me courtesy of our EGA chapter - we're picking up half the cost of a Catherine Strickler (of Indigo Rose) class. We'll be making her armchair pinkeep.

Let's be realistic. I'll be finishing mine sometime next year. Sigh.

But the good news is that I finished my HFH sampler and my kissing pillows that are our community outreach projects. And I made mini-muffins to bring this morning. I think I remembered everything I was supposed to do.

I did take a few photos yesterday. But I don't gots time to upload this a.m.
And when I get home later today, we'll be leaving for a baseball game.

Meanwhile, DS got his license this week. As he has demonstrated great highway driving skills, we had no problem with letting him and a friend drive to Busch Gardens today. (For those who don't know - he's 19. I'm not letting a total newbie with a brand new license loose to drive 200 miles one way.) The great news was our insurance did not go up by that much ($30 a month.) See what waiting a couple of years gets you. Huh. Who knew?

Chaos and Confusion!

No. Not here.
Not in my life exactly.

But on stage.
At Wolf Trap.

As we saw "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy" last night with Eric Idle.

Baroque and Roll indeed. Sheep, bagpipers, Choral Sex and a spot on imitation of Bob Dylan by Eric.

Happy to be among the lawn people drinking wine and dining a la fresco.

Dangerous?

You want to know what is dangerous? Bringing a 19 year old male into a Harley Davidson dealership. We stopped by one yesterday to buy my BIL a birthday present. He's got quite a collection of t-shirts, and thanks to us, he's got them from all over. Now someone (DS) has serious Softtail lust...

I don't know about other areas, but here we're experiencing an upswing in motorcycle related accidents. Too many newbies decided that bike riding would be much more gas efficient.

Me. I'd like a mint green Vespa.

A Food Post

Last August I started a Livejournal accounting of food when both children went away to college leaving DH and myself as empty nesters. (I really don't like this phrase. Need to come up with something better.)

But it fell by the wayside for the most part after winter break.

I will probably resurrect it in September.

But meanwhile, I can write about food here.

As in how seldom I plan ahead anymore. Though there is food in the freezer, I am much more likely to go by the store and buy something fresh nearly every day. This is a strange phenomenon that I started back in 2002 when we moved to West Point and lived just up the hill from the commissary. My current home town has an abundance of grocery stores - 2 Giants, 2 Safeways, 1 Harris Teeter (plus one just outside of our limits), 1 Trader Joes, 1 Whole Foods, a new international foods store that replaced another Giant. Our official population count is somewhere around 60,000. Plus two Farmer's Markets in season.

And that's not counting what's more than 4 miles away. Like Wegman's and Bloom. Way too many choices. Not too mention the occasional trips to the commissaries, either at Ft Belvoir or Ft Myer. Right now it doesn't pay to drive an hour round trip to the commissary unless there is another reason for going and I'm combining errands.

Last night I tried making a potato salad from those little creamer potatoes. But DS shares my aversion to mayonnaise and I did with a vinaigrette. It was okay, but the dressing didn't cling to the potatoes. More successful was the accompaniment I made for the boneless pork chops that I cooked in the cast iron pan. I finely diced half an onion and sautee it in a small pan until it was just turning brown. Added one large nectarine cut into a large dice, salt and pepper, and then topped it with toasted sliced almonds. Basically a nectarine salsa?

Tonight will be crab stuffed chicken breast. That sounds like a good idea.

Obligation Stitching

I finally started my Habitat for Humanity sampler last night. This should be quick and I've got those 2 hours every day this week in Fredericksburg. So the canvas gets put away. When was the last time I stitched on 14 ct aida. I'd guess more than 10 years ago. Though I have used some 18 ct.

And then I need to think about packing for NH. We leave next Monday. And I like to leave a clean house. I abhor coming home from vacation to a dirty house.

In the Midnight Hour

or really Amethyst Dreams by Laura J. Perin.

Unfortunately now this project will take a back seat to other things for a few weeks. But it certainly is a departure from usual stitching.
I have not been able to work on this casually. When I sit down to stitch this, I'm there for hours.

Fun With Canvas

Oops. Sorry no photo today. But soon. Very soon.

Today was our third Fun With Canvas class which is our Laura J. Perin piece. Today I love my In the Midnight Hour. Sometimes I'm not so sure. I'm definitely in a hate relationship with Rainbow Gallery's Highlights. Nasty stuff. Don't want to work with it any more. But I've still got a ton of it to lay.

Obligation stitching the rest of the week. Need to do my Habitat for Humanity sampler that needs to finished by Saturday. Also need to check and see if any framer's are willing to give us any kind of break on frames.

Meanwhile it's too hot to cook. Inside or outside. I wonder what I can talk these people I live with into eating.

Post Number 1,067

My progress on BoInk. Yup. This is going to take me forever. But it won't be another huge piece. LOL I have lost my mind.
Which means yesterday was 1066. Which of course brings to mind certain historical events. Imagine how different the world would be if William had stayed home.

But I digress.