Mother Nature, a Rory story and some stitching

A lot of stuff going one so I better get this post done before more happens.

As you saw in the previous post I have been stitching and starting new project and stitching some more. Well it was bound to happen. I have a finish!! Woo0oo Hooooo

Her Majesty was a really fast stitch. I used the recommended thread but don't ask me about the fabric. All I can remember is that it is a 28 ct white. I am terrible about remembering the fabric. Mostly because when I go to my LNS to buy it she rarely has the called for fabric and we usually just find one that works with the colors I have chosen. Then when it is cut I never write down the name or manufacturer. One of these days I have to start doing that.

I also made a lot of progress on Dandy Dreams. With luck and the extra time I might have this one finished by next week. I doubt it but I plan on trying. Here is the progress so far.














I have also been working on three different exchange pieces. The stitching is finished on one and I just need to finish it off and mail it. And also get ready to go visit my brother in Rochester, NY, this weekend for my nephew's wedding (August 27th).

Now this should be an interesting trip to say the least. I am leaving early Friday and it is an 8 hour drive. Rehearsal dinner for the wedding party and out of town guests (including Moi) on Friday night. The wedding and reception on Saturday and leave for home as early as I can on Sunday. Why leave early you ask? Well, Hurricane Irene is expected to grace us with her presence here on the east coast and particularly Long Island, NY, on Sunday. I am hoping and praying that the hurricane arrives AFTER I make it home. I really don't want to be stuck on the road during a hurricane. And of course Rory will be with me. So if you think of it Sunday cross your toes and whisper a prayer and ask Mother Nature nicely to hold back the main part of the storm until I make it home.

Speaking of weather and Mother Nature I hope all those in the area of yesterday's earthquake are safe and damage free. The earthquake that struck Virginia was felt all the way here in NY. It was the strangest feeling I have ever had. I was sitting at my desk at work when I felt myself rocking. I felt odd (hard to explain it even) and thought I was rocking my desk chair involuntarily. Very weird. (You see, I often hum to myself when I concentrate and thought, Oh no, now I am going to start rocking too?!?!) I decided to go out and talk a walk around the block to clear my head. It was when I got back a few minutes later that I heard about the earthquake and realized that it was the quake that made my chair rock not me. I have family in the area of the quake and while one of my cousins had some damage to her home everyone is fine. So there were some worrisome tense moments yesterday.

On a much lighter note I bring you a new Rory Story. Sit back and relax. I hope you enjoy it.

Rory on an August afternoon.

Gee, Mom, I am such a good boy aren't I? See how nicely I pose for the camera.
(A few minutes later)


Okay. I think I have been good long enough. Is Mom looking?
I don't see her.Now which one should I grab first?

I see one I can grab.

Now where did these come from?

But Mom, they fell off the line all by themselves.

Honest, they did.

Here you go Mom. And they only have a few holes in them.

The end.

What a silly boy. How can I ever stay angry when you make me laugh so.

To all who are in the projected path of Hurricane Irene (and I have family from Norfolk, VA, to New York. Many in the Hurricane's path.) May we all stay dry and may our electricity stay on!

Until next time.............
Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

I've been stitching.

Poor Rory. After weeks of hot and humid weather where it was just too hot to go outside to play, we finally had a couple of gorgeous weather days. And then the rain. Rain and more rain. We are both looking forward to the dryer, cooler weather. But since it is either too hot or too wet to play outside with Rory I have been on a stitching roll. More new starts and more progress. I do have one finish to show. The exchange piece that is in it's new home.
On a rainy day like this past Sunday when I'm not in my stitching chair I'm here in the kitchen at the computer. And Rory follows me from room to room. Here is Rory stretched out under the kitchen table. Notice how he has to lay on my foot to make sure I don't try and go any where.
Progress as of Sunday on Winifred Gardner--A Stitcher's Home by Crown & Thistle.

And progress on Dandy Dreams.











Next up are three new starts! I have a severe case of startitis. Does anyone know if there is a cure? In the past week I have started a total of FIVE. (There are two more not pictured which are exchange pieces as well as these three!)

























Finishes? Well, none except for this one which was my Seasonal Exchange piece that I sent to Angela. But with luck and lots of stitching time I may have another soon. I hope so because I have a couple more things I want to start.




















Don't forget my Kitty giveaway. I have 11 kitty cat kits to give away to one lucky person. No gimmicks. Just leave me a comment on the previous post. Or click HERE to leave a comment. Make sure I can find your email address either on your blog or leave it in your comment.

Until next time...........................

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

A kitty cat giveaway

Do you love cats? Then this post is for you.

While I was doing some stash organizing this weekend I found a bunch of kits that I know I will never stitch. They are all unopened and all have a cat theme. While I don't hate cats I really am more of a dog person. I bought these when my Mom was alive to stitch for her. She was the cat person. I would like these to go to a new home where they might be more appreciated and possibly even stitched.

There are 11 new unopened kits. And you can win all of them. Just leave a comment. You also need to make sure I can find your email or leave it in your comment. I'll draw a name on August 31st.

That's it.

Until next time.............

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Do you stitch on aida?

If you do I have something for you. In 2007 I stitched my very first piece on linen. I had been terrified to try it. To me it looked soooooooooo hard. Counting threads and trying to find those tiny holes. Just thinking about it gave me a headaches. But I had seen so many gorgeous stitched pieces on linen I had decided to give it a try.

In January of 2007, while my Mom was recovering from a broken hip and I spent a lot of time sitting with her both in rehab and at home I got the courage to try. Lots of time to stitch. I finally tackled a small project which had come with some beautiful hand dyed fabric. And I learned something wonderful Stitching on linen was fabulous. It wasn't that hard. A challenge but not a terribly difficult one.

From then on more and more of my stitching was done on linen. And less and less on aida.

I am now an official linen snob. I swore I would never become one but I did. The thought of stitching on aida gives me the heebie jeebies. (Just kidding!) Now for the main reason of this post.

I spent part of my weekend organizing (or trying to) my stash. In particular my fabrics. In the closet and cupboard where I keep my finishing things and miscellaneous fabrics I found a ton of aida. I would like to get rid of it.

Some of what I have:

7 round tubes, 15 X 18 inches

2 packages of DMC 20X 30

9 package of DMC 14 X 18

20 square tubes of Charles Craft 15 X 18

31 packages of Charles Craft 12 X 18

6 packages of Silkweaver solos

a large pile of loose pieces of various sizes, counts and colors, some are hand dyed

plus 3 very large pieces that I bought when Joanns Fabrics was discontinuing aida by the yard. I haven't measured the pieces but I know one is 2 or 3 yards!!

I would like to give my aida collection to someone who will be able to use it. This has all been taking up precious stash space for a few years now.

My plan is to fill a large priority postage box to send to those who might like to have some. I have two conditions. One is that I can only send to the US. Sorry but it would be way to expensive to send overseas. And two. Unfortunately money is rather tight right now and there really is a lot of aida and it is going to fill 5 or more boxes I ask that those who would like the aida to pay for the postage. If I could I would pay for the postage but it will add up to more than I can afford at the moment. A large priority box is $14.95. I like to use confirmation and tracking to make sure things arrive and that is another 70 cents. So I am asking for $15 for each package.

If you are at all interested I ask that you email me privately at katkiley at aol.com. (take out the spaces and change at to @) Then I will send you my address to send me the postage amount. Sorry I don't use PayPal. These will be sent to first come, first serve. Thanks.

Until next time.........

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

As of 2:45 PM EST all the aida is spoken for. Thank you for such a great response. Those who have asked for it have the details. If they have not sent me the postage by August 29, two weeks from today, and I still have aida left I will open it back up.

Another busy week

Whew. Another busy week gone by. I can't believe it is August already. Though, to tell you the truth, I really wish it were October with cooler temps. I am finding that each summer the heat bothers me more and more. It is official! Rory is now Ch. Beaubriar's Master of Arts! Oh my but that sounds so good to me. I still find it hard to believe but I now have the certificate to prove it.

This past weekend I had a very lovely visit with my niece, her SO, and their 5 month old baby, Alex. Isn't he just too cute for words! I want to kiss those cutie pie cheeks to pieces. Since they came to my house it was Rory's very first up close and personal visit with a baby this small. OMG! He was soooooooo good. He kept reminding me of my setter Kara who has been gone for 18 years! He would not leave the baby's side. My niece and I went outside for a few minutes and took Rory with us and he jumped at the door to go back in. I have to tell you, his behavior just gave me the chills. It was like Kara was back with me. I have been saying this for a while now but it is truer every day. Every dog lover has at least one very special dog in their lives. We call it our heart dog. I am Blessed because I have two. Kara will always be my first heart dog and Rory is most definitely my second.


Then on Sunday Rory and I spent the day at something called and AKC Canine Experience. Different breed clubs had tents set up and answered questions about their dogs. Rory was Irish setter representative. A fun day out in the sunshine with lots of doggie friends.Other highlights of the past week. I like to read a number of doggie blogs as well as stitching blogs. I also love entering giveaways at both. Everyone loves to win things. Right? Well, Rory seems to be a kind of lucky charm.

We won a bath package from All Things Dog Blog. That arrived during the week. The prize was a bath towel, a tote bag, bath sponges and mitts with a paw print motif. Rory also got a neat bandana. Here he is modeling it.

Remember the silly Independence photos I took of Rory in costume? (click HERE to see that post.) Well, I entered a facebook contest on Pet Portraits by Manda with one of them and totally forgot about it! She runs monthly contest and paints water color portraits. And she picked Rory as July's winner!! So Rory is being painted again!



But the best thing for the week is that he/we won second place, with 222 votes/likes, in the facebook contest for the 14k-9 jewelery. A 200 dollar prize is not bad at all. Especially considering that I would never have been able to afford anything they carry nor would I take the money to buy it. Rory needs his treats and fancy food and vitamins and a new beaded leather show lead and toys. Well, you get the picture. To those who voted and asked their family and friends to vote I can never thank you enough. And to those who may have been annoyed (but graciously never said so) by my more than once a day pleas, I'm sure you are glad it's over. Rory may have been second but he is first in my heart. Thank you all who voted and liked his photo.

On to the stitching part of this post. I started another piece and really made some lovely progress on it. I love this pattern and, well, right now in my life it seems so appropriate.

And my July-August entry for TUSAL. Take Sunday, July 31. The jar is filling up fast now that I'm stitching again.

I also received my Summer Exchange from Lucie on the Seasonal exchange blog. She stitched the cutest summer pattern from Lizzie Kate and I love the pom pom finish she did. It is just darling. I finished and mailed my exchange out but no photos until it arrives at its new home.And now for the part of this post that everyone has been waiting for. The winners of my giveaways! I only wish I had won the lottery and could give everyone who entered a gift. Your comments (all 178!! of them) were so wonderful. Thank you each and everyone one of you.

Giveaway 1. my Birthday surprise stash giveaway is: Shar!
(I have no idea why this photo is sideways. It is right before I downloaded it.)Giveaway number 2. The Celebrate Rory's Championship Giveaway. A 30 dollar gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane goes to: Julie!!









And finally. Giveaway number 3. The Thank you for voting in the facebook contest giveaway. And the winner is: Penny I.

I have emailed each of the ladies and as soon as I hear from them their giveaway prizes will be on their way. Congratulations. And again, to all who entered, Thank you.







Until next time...........

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Champion Rory too