Excitement!

Wahooo! Tomorrow I leave for a vacation on Bainbridge Island! That is where my Dad, and his wife, Mary live! Their house is not as grand as those pictured below; but it is wonderful and I love this area. I don't know why, but I feel totally at home there. If someone told me I had to move there tomorrow I really wouldn't mind!

The other excitement stems from my new Iphone!!! This is truly the greatest invention known to mankind! I am in love with it! I can do everything with it; talk on the phone, listen to podcasts, watch videos, check email and about a billion other things. It is a wonder.
I am excited to get on this ferry tomorrow afternoon. It is one of my most favorite things to do! So relaxing! I fly to Seattle and then take this ferry over to Bainbridge Island.
This is the cross-stitch project I am going to bring along with me. It is called "Colonial Gardner" and is by Annie Beez Folk Art. Love it!
While hanging out with my Dad we are going to work on some special projects, one of which I have been thinking about for two years. I want to take old books and turn them into journals. I will be sure to post pictures of what happens. This is a perfect father/daughter project; especially because I am finally going to use my Bind-it-All for the first time!!! Yes, I am hauling it and my portable Ott light with me.

One of the days that I am out there I will get to have lunch with my friend Carolyn! She is a total stitch and a total sweetie all wrapped up in one person. She started out as my Mom's friend, but now she is a great friend to both of us.
Then, towards the end of my stay, my best friend, Noreen, is going to come to visit! She lives in the L.A. area so often times when I go see my Dad she comes up for several days. We have known each other since 1977; so she knows me inside and out.

Book Club Books

Say what you will about Oprah, and I agree sometimes she is over the top; but one thing she has done changed my life. Her book club. If Oprah had not picked the books on this entry; I would have never found them. I would have missed my best book of all, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

I actually remember where I was when I started the book. Mike and I had gone to Costco and I bought the book there. Then we went across the parking lot to look at a furniture store. While Mike shopped around, I sat in a chair and started the book that was to become my #1 read of all time!
Stones from the River: I remember Mike and I were living in our first apartment together. I was working at the hospital then, 3-11 shift, so I got to see the announcement of the new book that morning......I absolutely love this book. I love the zweirg, Trudi.
On a couple of occasions my friends and I were lucky enough to get tickets to go to Oprah's book club show! On one occasion we got the new book that was just announced, We Were the Mulvaneys. I probably would have never read a book by Joyce Carol Oates if not for this. She is brilliant.
Ahhhhh, Wally Lamb. What a man, what an author. These books of his are perfect. I remember reading I Know This Much is True one summer in our first house. I remember the feel of the pages and the fact that I could not stop reading.
I think I had The Poisonwood Bible on my shelf unread. When Oprah announced my interest peaked; and may I say that this is a Must Read! I remember we were between our first house and our current house; we were staying in a cheap, kind of yucky apartment to save money. I was reading this book then.
House of Sand and Fog. Could not put it down.
So, that is why this morning when I heard there was going to be a new pick I was really excited. I was at work so I had to surf the net to find out what Oprah picked.
Above is the current book club pick, Say You're One of Them. Needless to say; I am off to get my copy tomorrow! It looks totally fabulous.

Home News

Mike and I had an Extremely lazy Labor Day weekend! Just the way I like it. On Saturday we spent a wonderful afternoon in Barnes & Noble.
I bought the book pictured above. Just two weeks ago I had snubbed this book when my friend Patti told me about it. I was all "oh that is not a very literary author" and saying other assorted snobby things.....well, when we went to the store and I read the first few pages, I was hooked! In fact, right after finishing this post I am going back to reading this book. It has a great story and is a real page turner. Just shows you....don't ever be a snob!
I got this magazine, The Believer. It is an interesting mix of articles.
Also was able to sneak this book in. It talks about all of the old classics; Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (one of the best books ever written!), Harriet the Spy, Ramona Beasley, A Wrinkle in Time, etc. I love books about books!

I also got the new Somerset Studio and the new Where Women Create. What a bonanza!
I managed to stitch a bit on Monday while watching the Cubs. I am working on Sampler Lady exclusively until I finish it. I am very slow. I am planning on going for an eye exam soon. I have hit the phase where reading glasses are needed. I am hoping I can get a Lasik surgical adjustment so that I can see up close as well as I could when I was 16. I hope that is an option.
Isn't this just a beautiful tote bag? I wanted this when I first saw it this spring at B&N but could not justify it....however, my Mom surprised me with one this weekend! I am going to cart The Sampler Lady around in it!
As I was standing on a chair taking pictures of the above treasures Mike wondered what the heck I was doing. I snapped one of him walking into the dining room. He is such a QT!

Last Saturday

Last Saturday was spent with my Mom at the Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin. We woke up in the morning and had breakfast in our wonderful little second story apartment. The night before we went to the local grocery store and bought supplies. We did not need to go to a restaurant all weekend.
Those are our windows up there. I can't say enough about the perfection of the apartment up there. So much room! Delightful!
This is the door that is right next to the shop. Open it, go upstairs, and you are in heaven!
The inviting front of the store.
My Mom really loved the George Washington quilt pictured below. She wanted to do it in blues instead of browns so we got the whole store working on picking out the right fabrics.
Below is an idea that I have now commissioned my Mom to do. Cut out little pieces of fabric, piece them together and frame them! Fun!
My Mom is holding a bolt of fabric that I picked out. It turns out that this will be the back of the quilt. I think she is making it for my brother; but maybe I can arm wrestle him for it!
We had such a wonderful time; I definitely want to go again and wish we could go at least twice a year and bring lots of friends with!!!!!!

Cross Stitch Interlude

I am interrupting the blow by blow recap of last weekend to talk about cross-stitching for a minute. My Mom and I were able to spend last weekend in a great little apartment on the second story of the quilt shop, Country Sampler. It is an ideal place with a huge work table, kitchen, fireplace, and three bedrooms. It could accomodate 7 people. All weekend we were imagining our friends being with us.....it would be a really grand time!
Well, I brought up every cross-stitch project I have. I thought I would get so much done and I also just wanted to ooh and ahh over my stash. The top picture in this post is a look at everything all jumbled up. Well, I must have brought out at least four pieces and each time there was something wrong. The linen was too small for me to see; there was some counting mistake and stitches were off, etc., etc., etc. It was very frustrating. I could not get a good flow of stitching going.
Above is my Mom doing her first backstitching. She found these ornaments in a magazine; a bunch of Swedish ornaments. So cute!!!

Anyway to make a long story short.....I struggled and struggled with linen projects....I had this lovely little number above started a long time ago with a 25 count Lugana. I decided that I am going to work on this piece exclusively until it is done. I feel bad that linen is sort of kicking my butt right now; but I have to have something that is not too hard to stitch right now. So, that is where I am at in cross-stitch land. I have taken a couple of steps back.........but I vow to keep trying and conquer the linen!

Weekend Away with Mom - Part One

In order to celebrate my Mom's birthday we went away for the weekend. Our ultimate destination was Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin. However, first things first.....we had to stop at Barnes & Noble to see if there were any new must have mags! As you can see the stamping, knitting, quilting, cross-stitching magazines were the focus.
My Mom loves to look at tons of mags as I roam about in the books. She will join me in book-land in a few minutes.
Newstand/Periodicals! I love signs like that. Love magazines. I always imagine going through and picking out each one I would like to read and then taking them all home!
This turned out to be our lunch! Scandal! The Barnes & Noble Neopolitan cheesecake is amazing!
We made our way to the little grocery store in Spring Green. There was one lone case of Tab there! Lucky us!!! We bought some food at the grocery store and then took it back to our amazing accomodations (more on that later).
My Mom was piecing together fabric to make a red quilt. I love all of these patterns.
This cool blue and white pattern was upholstery on a chair. Gorgeous.
Here is a bad picture of a gorgeous quilt that was in our little Spring Green abode. I slept underneath and it was very comforting!

More to come!!!!! We had so much fun!

Test Run

I finally got my rear in gear and started using my new Sony Cybershot. I love it! I love the macro feature especially. Nothing like the beauty of my Tab and my hobnail glass!
Picture of flowers (and bee) at Home Depot.
This magazine cover is the first thing I took pictures of. What colors!
Here is a cross stitch that I did in 1993. I was working through a life tragedy (that turned out to be a blessing). My Mom recently pressed it for me and I wanted to do a photo shoot with it. I need some work in the still photo and staging department; but this is a start.
Above and below are examples of how great the macro feature is on this camera. Great close-ups of stitches.
Mr. Buddy wanted to give you "the look of love."

Summertime 2009

I have been a bad blogger! I felt like I had nothing to say of late....I still don't have anything to say; but I wanted to check in so you did not think I was off somewhere in danger or something! Following are some thoughts:

RANDOM SUMMER THOUGHTS 2009

1. When driving to work in the morning I have the most beautiful artistic thoughts; what I can do, what I can create, who I can call and reconnect with........by the time I get home from work I can barely type an email!!!!!! I sense this is a common phenomenon.

2. Hoops & YoYo are some of the funniest people I know!

3. I have made a reconnection with the music of The Who and Pink Floyd. And strangely I wish I had Beyonce's new album.

4. One of the funniest things ever is a plaque my Grandma had in her den that said, "The opinions expressed by the husband in this house are not necessarily those of the Management." I have this plaque now hanging in my computer room.

5. I love, love, love cross-stitching and started doing it again about 9 months ago. I have not finished one thing I started! Yet, I keep buying more. I think I am a collector at heart; and I also think there are too many good designs out there. The same thing happened with me and rubber stamps. I am going to start stamping again soon.

6. The one constant in my life is reading. I could read all day long; everyday. When I am all riled up a trip to the bookstore soothes my nerves. I have tons of books in my home and I just love to look at them. I joined www.Paperbackswap.com and it is a ton of fun!

7. Mike and I are very lucky to have a big screen plasma TV. There is a new show (to me) that I love to tape. It is called Sunrise Earth. The premise of the show is a camera perched somewhere in the world at sunrise. No talking; just the ambient sounds of nature. Whenever I lay in bed and watch one of these I feel like I just took a Valium. Verrrryyy relaxing!

8. Girlfriends are the best!!!! I have such wonderful friends! I remember in my teens and twenties the most important thing to me was going out on a date with a guy or hanging out with a guy all day. Now I most look forward to a play date with my girlfriends! Complete turnaround!

9. I am lucky to have parents that I like to hang out with. My Mom and I are going away for the weekend in August to a quilt shop in Wisconsin and staying overnight in their upstairs accomodations! In September I am hoping to go to Bainbridge Island to visit my Dad. I want to stay for 10 days and really relax.

10. Mike just got us tickets to go see Bruce Springsteen in September. Bruce is going to play his the entire Born to Run album from start to finish! Great idea! Also, Mike loves Bruce so this will be fun.

11. I think I might be liking science fiction more than I thought. We watched "Torchwood" on BBC America and it was good.

Hope you are having a lovely summer too!!!!

Coming Attractions

I, for one, always look forward to September. It is the time of year when the "big" books are published. Here are some of the books that are going to be coming out over the next months. Some really big authors and some really great looking books. I shall be buying all of them I suspect.




This last one is out now. I looked at it quickly at the library and saw that one of the writers who contributed is Elizabeth Berg! Can't wait to read that. Although I am not destined to be a grandmother, I had two grandmothers who were THE BEST and maybe I can garner some insight into their roles as grandmas.