Friday, May 31, 2013

Finished for Friday: May's Wool Banner


It's been a while since I posted a finish for Friday.  Here is the next in my series of wool banners I've been making this year.  I love working with wool.  You can find these patterns at Primitive Gatherings.

The kids are finishing up finals at school, and everyone will be home starting next week.  My responsibilities with school are winding down so I'm looking forward to a summer of less driving and more stitching.

We've got gardeners in the yard today cleaning up.  I just can't keep up with the yard very well since my hip surgery.  Unfortunately gardening requires more stooping than I can handle.  Also, I'm watching them do in minutes what would take me hours.  I guess sometimes it is worth paying the money.  Next I need to get some tree trimmers out here to thin out the unruly oaks. 

I read an interesting book last weekend while we were traveling.   The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons.  Definitely reminiscent of Downton Abbey and War Brides.  While the story had predictable moments, the writing was lovely, and the characters well-developed.  If you want to escape to an English country manner in the 40s, this book is for you.  It's interesting that at Amazon, if you order the kindle book, you can get a copy of the audiobook for just a few dollars more.  I'm going to explore this option with other books.  I love to listen to audiobooks while I sew.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Fun at the Nerd Museum

Drama Girl and I made a quick trip to Seattle this weekend.  It was gray and rainy but we had a fabulous time seeing old friends and touring colleges.

One of the highlights was the EMP Museum.  I'm afraid we geeked out at the displays of fantasy and sci-fi memorabilia.

Here's my childhood.  Right here.  The cowardly lion costume from The Wizard of Oz.  One of the guard costumes is next to it.  This made me ridiculously happy.

The next case had costumes from The Princess Bride.  Yay!!  Another favorite we've seen many times.

We couldn't use flash, so here's a dim picture of Drama Girl swooning over David Bowie's outfit from Labyrinth.

Two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's famous stakes.  We love this show too.  For fellow fans, "Mr. Pointy" is the one on the top.

A Dalek from Doctor Who. Look at that grin.  We loved this place.

Sirius Black's costume from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  I think this was Drama Girl's favorite.

It feels silly to say, but if you're ever in Seattle, I recommend a stop by this museum if you enjoy pop culture memorabilia.  It was beautifully curated and a lot of fun.

The funniest thing about the trip was getting an email from the PTA president  at Drama Girl's high school asking if he'd just spotted me walking around Pike's Place Market.  What are the chances?  I had just been there a few minutes before.  It's a small world.  The older I get, the more often I run into people in unlikely places.  I wonder if there's a name for that phenomenon.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A Quick Little Quilt

This is a small, 30" quilt I made for our local hospital.  They collect little quilts for babies in the neonatal ICU.  I've done this technique before, of sewing strips together and making a tube and then slicing and "unsewing" at different points.  It goes pretty fast and it's a fun way to use up scraps.  Looking at it now I wish I'd arranged the colors a little differently, but it's a scrap quilt and some family might appreciate it.

I get a sense of satisfaction that I've used up some fabric, but the bin of scraps is really overflowing right now.  I see a lot more of these little quilts in my future.

I'm so sorry about all the tornado victims this week.  There are a lot of quilters rallying to get quilts out to the affected families.  It's a small thing, but we all hope that quilts convey our love.



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Needlework Tuesdy: Santa's Village part 4

I've been plugging away at my little houses for Santa's Village.  Just finished the fourth one, "Mrs. Claus' Cookie Shop." 



It will have a chocolate chip cookie button added at the end.  She'll also get little French knot eyes.  Now on to the next row.  I'm a little behind, but I'm still hoping to get this one done by this Christmas.

Drama Girl took three Advanced Placement tests for college last week.  One more yesterday.  On Saturday she collapsed on the couch and watched a couple of episodes of Aly McBeal.  I haven't seen that show in years but it's still funny.  I needed a change of pace from my big project so I made this tiny cross stitch while I watched with her.  No reason really, except I'm fond of little patriotic things.  I think it looks cute on my little red chair.

Drama Girl called me from school yesterday to tell me she'd been called into the principal's office.  Imagine my reaction.  She built it up all that she could until she finally exploded laughing and said that she'd qualified for the National Merit Scholarship Program.  Way to go Drama Girl!

I'm linking up today with Heather at Books and Quilts.



Monday, May 13, 2013

Roses

This is a painting my husband did recently.  I found this frame around the house but I want to get a better one. 

I think some of my love of flowers is rubbing off on him.  He paints all kinds of things - still lifes, portraits, copies of famous paintings.  These are some of the tiny climbing roses in our yard.  I love this picture.

Mother's Day was full of adventure.  We visited the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.  I could have spent all day there but I spared my family.  Of course I had to stop in the gift shop.  It was lovely.  Jewelry and posters and art supplies and Little Golden Books.  I could have stayed in there all day as well.  My son was hovering a bit while I shopped.  I remarked on a cute Minnie Mouse clock and laughed about how we haven't had a copy of Dumbo in the house for years.  After a while he suggested I go see what Drama Girl was making in the art room.  While I was visiting her, my son reappeared with my husband and the kids handed over the following little gift: 


I had to laugh.  Way to go with the covert operations!  The story came out that they had been looking for a copy of Dumbo for the past week but had been unsuccessful.  All's well that ends well.  Remind me the next time I'm in a gift shop to admire all the expensive jewelry.

The day finished up with a trip to see The Great Gatsby.  I really liked it, although I kept remembering the Robert Redford version, which made me feel kind of old.  I don't like seeing remakes of movies that came out in my lifetime.  It's like I'm overdue for a remake.

Hope you had a lovely Mother's Day!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

My friend Buck

This is my friend Buck.  At least that's what I've named him.  He's been hanging out in my shady front yard off and on for a few weeks while his antlers are growing in.  Yesterday evening I caught this quick shot of my cats looking at him.

He was under the window because he had just been over to the side of the house to see if the gate was open again.  Smart guy.  The phone repairman left the gate open last week and Buck slipped into the back yard and made a feast of my flowers.  I made my husband go out there and shoo him out again.  I have all kinds of respect for those antlers, even if they're still covered in velvet.

It's funny, when I see him outside, I often see one of the neighborhood cats nearby. Curiosity?  I don't know.  My cats are always interested when he's near the window.  Maybe they just find him as cool as I do.

This would all be unremarkable if I lived out in the woods somewhere, but I'm in suburbia.  Houses all around.  I think the deer will just always be here, hiding in hedges and steering clear of cars and dogs.  As long as there are yummy gardens to munch on.

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