Mishmash

Hi, everyone. Thanks for the compliments on the mermaids and Dorothy’s Garden. It is much appreciated. Mr. Eric surprised me with a Valentine’s bouquet delivered to my office on Tuesday. He just knew I’d want to enjoy it as long as possible, as well as I am missing him greatly this week while he is in Chicago for work. It even came with a balloon, which I love. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a balloon before…makes me feel all girly! What a guy!

And speaking of Valentine’s Day, I did a little bit of decorating around the house over the weekend. Of course, the mantel always gets the majority of the attention. You may notice also that I’ve moved our engagement picture from over the mantel and put my framed (by Jill Rensel!) Midi Mystery I here, just for a change. I love looking at this piece, and it inspires me at night while I’m stitching.

I decided to mix it up a little bit and put out some of my stitched pieces (the tin was a gift from Barbie) all in pink for the occasion. Fun, huh? You may remember the “For You” piece I stitched for Eric for last Valentine’s Day.

I also put out my heart tree, like I have the past couple of years on the dining room table. I wish I’d been able to finish my quilt in time to have it out too, but time just got away from me. And speaking of…I finished stitching My Everything last night. Tonight after work I’ll be shopping for a frame for it. I hope I can find something suitable. After finishing it last night I pulled out my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler from GOS. This is the one that has all the mistakes in it that I am having to pull out and restitch. As I was stitching another motif back in last night, it ocurred to me that I purchased the HDF thread for this back when the piece was in the GOS, and likely the dye lots are severely different now, assuming I could even get the same threads. So, I’m going to take a closer look at it tonight, but I believe I may just leave the other three motifs that are in the wrong places, since I don’t want to run the risk of running out of thread, if at all possible. I am reusing the thread as I pull it out as much as I can, but still… I’ll post a photo if I make any progress that you can actually see on it. It is such a pretty piece, I think if I hadn’t made the big mistakes on it I would be finished with it by now because I love stitching on it. Oh well. Here’s hoping my thread is enough to at least finish the three corner parts. I figure if I run out of thread and have to substitute, I’d rather do it in the center part, so that at least all four corners match. Anyway, I’ll deal with that if it happens. But for now, I think the decision may be to leave the other three mis-placed motifs where they are.

Oh, and I promised you stash photos too. Before I got sick, my friend Sherri and I went to that new to us LNS. Well, I cam home with some great stuff. I purchased the fabric and Belle Soie for My Everything, I also brought home Blue Ribbon’s Pointsettias and Pines (which I’ve been in love with since I saw in on Nicole’s blog), and Quaker Virtues by ByGone Stitches. I had hoped to also get Quaker Christmas, but she didn’t have that one. Also in this photo you can see the two charts I purchased from Tanya (The Sampler Girl) when she was having her Inauguration Day giveaway sale (you got a ltd edition Inauguration Day freebie with a purchase, which is wonderful). You can see I purchased On the Banks of the Potomac as well as Return to the Sea with Jane Austen, which is the companion to At Home with Jane Austen that I just finished. You can see my Gold Santa there from Cathy B., as well as a chart from the Whitby Museum that I received at my guild meeting.

Also, at the LNS outing I picked up two other goodies – these two books…The Goodhart Book and Thank You, Sarah Tobias by BBD. I’ve done my part for the economy!

It was such a fun day, and I always enjoy getting to see Sherri. If you haven’t seen the Goodhart book and had a chance to flip through it, you need to. It’s really a gorgeous book. And speaking of books (don’t you love how this post is all train of thought?! lol), I finished reading Two for the Dough last night too. If you haven’t read these books, you should, they are so funny and well worth a quick read. I picked up Pillars of the Earth to replace that. I’ve given myself a challenge to read 50 books this year, and specifically to read some of the books that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a long time. Pillars of the Earth has been on my GoodReads list forever in the “to read” shelf. So far I’m enjoying it.

And finally, Nancy presented me with a wonderful award. It’s called the Special Friends Award and “Love” Pendant. The description for this award reads “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers. When you pass the award along please include these guidelines. I am to choose eight friends to share this with.”.

First let me say that one of the best things about having this blog is how many friendships I have made. It means so much to me that I can come here and write as often or as little as I feel like, that I can talk about stitching or my life or whatever. The support and interest that you all show me is just amazing. I would never be so inspired to push myself in my life and my stitching if it weren’t for all of you. So, I would like to extend this award, and my friendship, to all of you who stop by my blog and visit me here. I love it when comments you leave turn into an email conversation. So, thank you all for being a part of my life and my blog.

I’ll be back next time with a finished and framed photo of My Everything, as well as hopefully some other progress photos. I’ve got a couple new starts planned for March, so I’ll have to let you in on those too…I must be crazy. Have a wonderful rest of the week. I’ll be finishing up my Gossip Girl marathon tonight, and then tomorrow my sweetie comes home.

I am grateful for starting a new book.

32 thoughts on “Mishmash”

  1. Hi Michelle! What a fun post to read and look at. Your sweetie sent you some gorgeous flowers, and what a fun thing to get a balloon!

    Your mantle looks so pretty and so all of your little stitched things.

    Great new stash too! I can’t wait to see your finished “My Everything”!

  2. Hi Michelle! What a fun post to read and look at. Your sweetie sent you some gorgeous flowers, and what a fun thing to get a balloon!

    Your mantle looks so pretty and so all of your little stitched things.

    Great new stash too! I can’t wait to see your finished “My Everything”!

  3. Gorgeous flowers from Eric, he sounds like a lovely guy 🙂

    I like your mantel arrangment, particularly the Chatelaine piece on the wall, such gorgeous rich colours.

    The Stephanie Plum series are such fun! I always chuckle over them. Pillars of the Earth was one of my all-time favourite reads, a fabulous book. I recently finished World Without End, which took longer to get going somehow, but I enjoyed it in the end.

  4. Gorgeous flowers from Eric, he sounds like a lovely guy 🙂

    I like your mantel arrangment, particularly the Chatelaine piece on the wall, such gorgeous rich colours.

    The Stephanie Plum series are such fun! I always chuckle over them. Pillars of the Earth was one of my all-time favourite reads, a fabulous book. I recently finished World Without End, which took longer to get going somehow, but I enjoyed it in the end.

  5. Beautiful flowers and such a sweet balloon from your Valentine 🙂

    Love your Valentine’s decor on your mantle. And you found some terrific new stash, enjoy!!!

  6. Beautiful flowers and such a sweet balloon from your Valentine 🙂

    Love your Valentine’s decor on your mantle. And you found some terrific new stash, enjoy!!!

  7. mainely stitching

    I just LOVED reading this post. Made me feel so good and happy! 😀 Your Midi Mystery is stunning – it would sure inspire me, too! And your pink Valentine’s collection is just adorable.

  8. mainely stitching

    I just LOVED reading this post. Made me feel so good and happy! 😀 Your Midi Mystery is stunning – it would sure inspire me, too! And your pink Valentine’s collection is just adorable.

  9. Hi Michelle! It was so nice to see all your little stitchy things on display. Oh if only I had a mantle!

    Eric’s a sweet guy to send the flowers to your office a little early. They’re beautiful. 🙂

  10. Hi Michelle! It was so nice to see all your little stitchy things on display. Oh if only I had a mantle!

    Eric’s a sweet guy to send the flowers to your office a little early. They’re beautiful. 🙂

  11. Wow, lovely flowers! A romantic guy–you’re lucky!!

    Your mantle looks wonderful, I love the mystery and the stitched Valentine-y things on it, too.

    I am drooling over your stash enhancement! Love it all! I have that Sarah Tobias book–it’s one of my favorites of the BBD books. I wish they’d reproduced a sampler this year, too.

    Congrats on finishing “My Everything”–I can’t wait to see it all framed up!

  12. Wow, lovely flowers! A romantic guy–you’re lucky!!

    Your mantle looks wonderful, I love the mystery and the stitched Valentine-y things on it, too.

    I am drooling over your stash enhancement! Love it all! I have that Sarah Tobias book–it’s one of my favorites of the BBD books. I wish they’d reproduced a sampler this year, too.

    Congrats on finishing “My Everything”–I can’t wait to see it all framed up!

  13. Hi Michelle,
    What lovely Valentine pictures!I always enjoy reading your blog!

    I am in the process of kitting up The Old Aviary, and I was wondering what the best place to buy the linen was. It is a very long cut. Did you find anyone who would custom cut this to save a little $ ?
    Thanks!

  14. Hi Michelle,
    What lovely Valentine pictures!I always enjoy reading your blog!

    I am in the process of kitting up The Old Aviary, and I was wondering what the best place to buy the linen was. It is a very long cut. Did you find anyone who would custom cut this to save a little $ ?
    Thanks!

  15. SimplyStitchingintheGarden

    Wow, Michelle, you have so much going on, just loved the read.

    Your mantle looks fabulous. And how special that DH sent you flowers early to work – it is nice to have them around for a bit to enjoy, especially at work.

    You made quite a haul at the LNS.

    Happy Valentine’s Day — Roberta

  16. SimplyStitchingintheGarden

    Wow, Michelle, you have so much going on, just loved the read.

    Your mantle looks fabulous. And how special that DH sent you flowers early to work – it is nice to have them around for a bit to enjoy, especially at work.

    You made quite a haul at the LNS.

    Happy Valentine’s Day — Roberta

  17. Lovely flowers! Fresh flowers always bring a home to life! Love all your new stash and the Goodhart book looks very intriging!

  18. Lovely flowers! Fresh flowers always bring a home to life! Love all your new stash and the Goodhart book looks very intriging!

  19. Beautiful flowers! Again! Your dh is so sweet.

    I love your Chatelaine above the mantel, it looks great.

    And in applique news… I’ve got a working printer! As soon as I get some progress on HoHRH I’m going to start on Baltimore Halloween!

  20. Beautiful flowers! Again! Your dh is so sweet.

    I love your Chatelaine above the mantel, it looks great.

    And in applique news… I’ve got a working printer! As soon as I get some progress on HoHRH I’m going to start on Baltimore Halloween!

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