Boys and their Toys

John has a new toy. He traded in is old black Cutlass convertible for this new candy-apple red Mustang convertible.

It is fun riding around with the top down, except in the evening, when it gets cool. Then he just turns on the heat and leaves the top down.

For my children

My children loved "Gummibärchen" when they were little. In fact, they still love them. I came across this video today, and it brought back lots of memories of when they were little and cute. Now they are grown and still cute!

Enjoy!

Is that a frog on the base of that totem pole?

Why yes! It is! This is the cover the brochure for the Stitch Ahoy cruise to Alaska next August, that Sue Hillis and I are planning.

The brochure includes the chart for the totem pole, information about the totem poles and The Legend of the Stitcher, which explains the frog on the totem pole. The borchures have been sent to Hoffman Distributors and from there will go to shops ordering Sue Hillis Designs. So ask for it at your favorite shop.

Those already registered for the cruise will be receiving one in the mail as soon as I get my act together.

If you haven't already done so, please consider joining us on the cruise. We have lots of wonderful things planned!

Northwoods Afghan Progress

Jonathan, do not look!



I didn't get to work on this afghan last month, but I got the two pine tree squares done this month. They were both finished in record time.



Now that the weather is getting cooler, I don't mind stitching on the afghan. When it was hot out, it was hard stitching with all that fabric on my lap.



Next month I will stitch another animal square, but I am not sure which one. Stay tuned to find out!

All the Way - a Video for Cubs Fans

Although I am not a cubs fan, I live with one!

Growing up on the northside of Chicago, one can not help but root for the Cubs each year, wondering if this is the year. Tony, my son the Cubs fan, sent me this video.

September Teapot

I finished the September teapot the other evening, except I just noticed I forgot to give the worm (handle) his eyes and glasses, so a bit more backstitching is needed there.

I used the recommended floss brands and colors, but the apple looks a bit dark to me, and the letters on it are hard to read. I will have to think about pulling out the red stitches and replacing them with a lighter shade of red. But that's a lot of work. I will have to think on it for a bit.

Do you know what day it is?

Since 1995, September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Imagine the possibilities! You can growl at people and have an excuse for it!

Please pass the rum, maties!

How will you celebrate?

Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue 2008

The ornament issue has been sighted in various mailboxes across the country, but sadly, not mine! I can't wait to get my copy so that I can pick out my favorite ornaments at kit them up and eventually stitch them!

I look forward to this issue every year, and stitch a few ornaments from it around the holidays. I ALWAYS stitch the Sue Hillis ornament first. This year I got a head start! Sue sent me the chart a few months ago, and I made a start stitching on it, but it 's not quite finished yet!.

September Flip It Block

I finished the September Flip-It Block by Lizzie Kate the other
evening. It was an easy, fun stitch, which cheerful colors. The entire piece is coming along nicely, border and all. Three more blocks and it will be finished.

I have no idea what I will do with it when it is finished, either frame it or make a wall hanging I guess.

Church Basement Ladies

I was recently offered tickets for Church Basement Ladies I was curious about this show that was advertised as a musical comedy that mixes the silliness of Nunsense with the homespun humor of Prairie Home Companion. It stars William Christopher (who played Fr. Mulcahy on M*A*S*H) and is based on the best-selling book Growing Up Lutheran by humorists Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson.

I must say, it was a delightful production. All though I didn't understand a few of the "Lutheran" jokes, I had someone with me who could explain it all to me. I would describe it as the Lutheran version of Late Night Catechism.

So, if you have a chance to see Chruch Basement Ladies, I highly recommend it!

Mystery Sampler, Part 2 Added

I finally found a few hours to add part 2 to this mystery sampler. I am quite behind, part 9 should be released any day now.

The specialty stitches are quite enjoyable to stitch, so I hope to keep on track and stitch a part each month.

Hungarian Sampler, part 4 added

I haven't had much time to stitch lately. Getting ready for the first day of German School has taken up most of my time. I did manage to get part 4 of the Hungarian Sampler finished this evening. I changed the colors a bit, using more blue than was called for on the chart. I thought it was just too much red. 3 more parts to go!

Chicago Germanfest Weekend

This past weekend was the annual German Fest and Von Steuben Parade in Chicago. Unfortunately I didn't have as much time to spend at the Fest as I would have liked, I was busy cleaning and setting up the classrooms at German School. I did manage to spend the greater part of Sunday at the Fest. No time for stitching, either.

The children's group, youth group and adult folk dance group all performed on Sunday afternoon and did a fabulous job! The little ones were too cute and delighted the audience. The youth group amazed everyone with their intricate footwork and precision, and the adults, well, they had fun and actually remembered the dances. A good time was had by all.

The volunteers in our organization's food booth and beer tent were kept busy all weekend. I believe Saturday evening, they went through over 160 barrels of beer in our tent alone! (thank you Viki for that correction) I don't have the numbers yet on how many bratwurst were grilled and sold, but I remember being told that 1800 lbs of potato salad was made for our food both. That's a lot of potatoes!

EMS Rose Sampler Part 9

I just finished part 9 of this sampler, and now only have 3 more parts to go until it is finished. I look forward to the release of each new part on the first of the month. For those of you that don't know where to find it, it is on the Ellen Maurer-Stroh site.

The site also has a gallery where you can see the progress of stitchers from around the world. Every single piece is different, either a different floss color or different fabric choice. It is fun to look at.

Welcome to the Blogging World, Sue!

My friend and favorite cross stitch designer, Sue Hillis, has just launched her new blog! I have been helping her with it, and am happy with how it looks and works. It's on Wordpress, so I had to learn a bunch of new stuff, but hey, it's all good.

Sue Hillis Cross-Stitch Designs Blog

Please feel free to check in at her blog often for a preview of new designs.

A Birthday at the Bean

Happy Birthday, John!

Today was John's birthday. He has been very sad about this birthday as friends who were going to get tickets for the Neil Diamond concert in Green Bay today were unable to get them.

I planned something even better, though. We started the day by
taking an Architecural tour of the Chicago River. Then we strolled around Millenium Park, and saw "the Bean". The sculpture is actually called Cloud Gate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate) and is even better in person than in pictures.

We had lunch at the Grill at Millenium Park, as well as cocktails, and then headed over to the Bank of America Theater (formerly known as the Shubert Theater) to see Jersy Boys (http://www.jerseyboysinfo.com/broadway/). What a great show that was, hearing the music of our youth! We ended the evening by having birthday cake and ice cream back at my house. I think he really enjoyed his special day, and admitted that this was much better than seeing Neil Diamond.

Just Ducky!

Two years ago, I started stitching duckies on this towel set and finished the two hand towels. I just never got around to even starting the bath towles and the wash cloths. The hand towels looked cute in John's bathroom, amoung his rubber duckie collection. However, somehow there was something missing on that towel bar.

So, this year I was determined to stitch the bath towels and wash cloths by his birthday. And I reached my goal. His birthday is tomorrow, and I finished taking the waste canvas off the wash cloths during my lunch hour today.

I am however, really sick and tired of stitching those damn duckies!

Thanks Dawn B!!

What a lovely surprise this morning, to find that I was nominated for this award by Dawn B.!
http://eeyore40.blogspot.com/

Its exciting to receive awards like this!

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.

So, here are the 7 that I nonimate (although I could nominate at least 30!)
Coral http://astitcherslife.blogspot.com/
Connie http://conyeah02.blogspot.com/
Daffycat http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/
Carolyn http://carolyn-justonemorestitch.blogspot.com/
Sara http://sarasimplestitching.blogspot.com/
Lelia http://leliaevelyn.blogspot.com/
Loriray http://loriraycrossstitch.blogspot.com/

Olympics Vs. Stitching

And the Olympics won! I haven't been stitching very much because I have been watching the Olympic Games every chance I get.

I did manage to get a little bit of stitching in during the commercials, and managed to finish the August Flip it block last evening.

Here is the entire piece, with January through August plus part of the border finished. It is now 2/3 complete. It will be completely done in December sometime.

Left Behind

Last week, you met Gnorbert, who stowed away in a suitcase full of cross stitch supplies and ended up in Richmond Virginia. If you will recall from that blog entry, there was another gnome that also volunteered for that trip, but there wasn't enough room for him. So he was left behind. Here is his story:

Poor Gnikolaus! He was left behind in Des Plaines, Illinois, when his friend, Gnorbert, went off to the wilds of Virginia. He stood gnear the door waving good bye tearfully as he saw the suitcase being driven off in gnifty gnew car.

Gnow, Gnikolaus is a friendly little guy, he even carries a sign to welcome people, gnomes and animals alike. Seeing this, the homeowner lovingly placed him gnear the front entrance, so that he could meet and greet all that came by. He certainly saw a lot going in the gneighborhood from his vantage point. Although this isn't the heart of the city, it is a rather quiet subdivision, but there is more going on than in a rural area. Every day, Gnikolaus would see the homeowner and the young man who lived in the house go off to work and other activities, and he would cheerfully greet them with his welcome sign upon their return. He also saw many gneighbors walk their dogs past the home but they gnever once threatened Gnikolaus, who remembers the story of poor Gnorman's demise at the hands of such beasts. The gneighborhood children rode their bikes and skateboards and scooters back and forth, other gneighbors waved as the drove their cars past the front garden which he guards.

After a few weeks, the young man who mows the lawn thought that Gnikolaus might be bored standing guard gnear the front door in the same spot all the time, and he started moving him around to different areas of the front gardens. Every week, Gnikolaus had a new place to stand. He stood gnear the pretty yellow flowers, he stood gnear the red roses, he stood gnear the pink roses, he stood gnext to the bushes....the possibilities are endless! He seems to be enjoying his gnew home, and we hope he will be with us for a long time.