More than just Cross Stitchin': A Little Bit Early

Friday, February 18, 2011

A Little Bit Early

With the Valentine's Day holiday over we're on to the next! Even though I'm not a lover of corn beef and cabbage or green beer, there is something about that holiday that just draws me in. Must be my Irish roots or maybe the fact that my favourite colour is green!

My latest finish was a really quick stitch. I just seemed to get on a roll with it...perhaps it was the repetition of all those lucky shamrocks!

In my stash I had the perfect frame; just the right size for the piece but the light colour just didn't work for me. I dug out my old (very, very old) craft paints to see what I could do to change things up. I had some clear crackle paint which I put right over the cream colour and let it dry.

I then found some brown paint which I thought just might work. Opened the bottle and it was very thick... but I bit the bullet and decided to put a coat on anyway. It wasn't long before the neat crackle finish began to appear before my eyes.

I'm so very happy with the end result! This was a very "frugal" project from beginning to end (you'd be proud of me Jody!). I had every single thing I needed on hand to complete it all which is always a plus!

An Irish Shamrock Sampler

by Lucy Lyons Willis

Stitched using:

GAST- Dried Thyme and Tarnished Gold

Weeks- Chestnut

I printed this freebie in 2006, and always knew I would stitch it someday. You see, from my teen years on I knew a lady named Hazel who was a very close family friend and she always used the word "grand"... whether she wrote "have a grand day!" in your carefully chosen birthday card, or tell you that "she had a grand time!" when our families would spend time together. So, to honour this special lady I'll proudly display this sampler every St. Paddy's Day.

Miss you Haze!!

Tracey

4 comments:

Siobhán said...: What a sweet finish! Great job.; February 19, 2011 at 6:10 AM
jayne@~an eye for threads~ said...: wow, I love that frame girl. It looks awesome. Funny, my paternal Grandma always used the word Grand... It is one of onomatopeia's
As always
ps luxury grand suite= 4 long days @the BGH for my new knee..... lol hows that for keeping it positive; February 19, 2011 at 8:25 AM
Jules said...: When you have Irish roots, there is no such thing as "too early" for St. Patty's! I, too, am of Irish descent and love all things Irish. Love the finish!!!; February 19, 2011 at 8:12 PM
Erica said...: Your shamrock sampler is lovely!
Could you tell me where I might find the pattern?; February 20, 2011 at 10:12 AM

Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

It all started with a tea towel...

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.

p.s. I wasn't allowed to Blog today unless I cleaned my house. It's half cleaned; consider this half a blog.
Bonnie

Friday, February 18, 2011

A Little Bit Early

4 comments:

Christmas 2016