A getaway, a bag, and a birthday!

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I have updated my blog.  I have been busy with family and work.  I got to spend a few days up at my parents' cabin in the north woods of Minnesota.  Thier cabin is about 50 miles from the Canadian border.  It's not on a lake or anything- just a hunting cabin in the woods- but we really have a good time up there.  We try to take a picture of all of the kids together, lined up from oldest to youngest every year.  They are (from left):  Ellen, 14 (our oldest), then my brother and his wife have three right in a row, Aaron, 13, Kyle, 11, and Erik, 10, and then Rosie, also 10 (our youngest).  I wonder how long before the boys are the tallest in the picture?  Oh yeah, the dog (Tikka) belongs to my brother's family.  She is a great retriever, very mellow and well behaved.

Another project I've been busy working on is a quilted bag for Rosie's friend Emily.  I asked my husband, to model it for me after it was all done and as you can see he did an excellent job.  This is the fourth bag I have made from this pattern.  It is a This & That pattern by Sherri K. Falls from the book "Woodroses in Winter".  They are a lot of work, but it makes such a perfect overnight bag for a little girl to bring to a slumber party.

And last but not least, I celebrated my birthday this past weekend.  We went out to eat, did a little shopping, and then came home to watch the Vikings lose to the Steelers.  :(   My mom and I celebrate our birthdays a week apart, so she and I spent Saturday on a "Quilt Shop Hop".  If you're not familiar with this concept, a bunch of quilters jump onto a coach bus and that bus takes you to several different quilt shops around the state.  There are treats at every shop and door prizes, as well.  It was a lot of fun.  The scavenger hunt was especially competitive and funny.  I gathered lots of interesting ideas that may make their way into a cross stitch design someday.  Have a great week!

The hummingbirds are not happy!

So this was the scene here in Minnesota on Saturday morning.  Yes, that four letter word-- SNOW has made its presence known again.  Then we got even more SNOW two days later.  They are predicting snow again early next week!  What gives?  The nectar in my hummingbird freezer is frozen and hopefully the hummingbirds are headed south by now.  I have this visual image of a hummingbird coming to visit my feeder in this weather, hitting frozen nectar with its beak, and going, "What the...?"  This is the earliest accumulating snowfall that I can remember and I've been around a while!  Snow usually doesn't visit until early to mid November, but this has been a very cold October so far.  I was lucky to have cleaned up my gardens and put away my planters and patio furniture last Thursday.  Our neighbor helped us pull our pontoon out of the lake today (thanks Gary!) and now we just need to pull out the dock and we'll be (pretty much) ready for winter.  I was getting the Halloween decorations out, but it feels like I should be setting up the Christmas tree instead.

I sketched out part of an idea for a cross stitch design the other day, but I haven't had time to do much with it since I've been busy working.  I just finished up my "bad week" at work.  That just means that it is the week that I work six out of eight nights.  The good thing is that now I will have six nights off until I have to work again.  That is the good thing about working 12-hour shifts, more days off in a row than just the two on the weekend. 

Speaking of work, the H1N1 flu has hit Minnesota with a vengeance.  Our ER has been a revolving door for people with "influenza-like illness".  Unfortunately, there is not much we can do for it since it is a virus.  It's shaping up to be a long winter! 

Funny Gerbil

I just had to share this funny picture that my oldest daughter took of her gerbil.  Ellen snapped the picture at just the right moment so that it looks like her gerbil is winking at the camera. 

As far as cross stitch goes, I came up with a great idea for next year's Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.  I know you're probably thinking, "What? This year's issue just hit shelves. Why is she already thinking about next year's issue?"  But the truth is that the invite from JCS magazine always comes around February or March each year and the finished ornament is due in April.  The bummer is that it is always so hard to think up Christmasy ideas at that time of the year.  We've usually got Easter and Spring on our minds at that time.  Theresa and I take turns submitting the ornament every year and it's my turn in 2010.  Anyway, I think I'm ahead of the game now that I have an idea.  I don't want to say exactly what it is yet, but think retro...

Rosie...Rosie...

So this is what my youngest decided to do while I was at Needlework Market this year.  She broke her pinky finger on her left hand.  She did it while playing Dodgeball at school.  At first they thought it was just dislocated because it was at a twenty degree angle right at the knuckle, but after the x-rays, they realized it was a break.  Phil and the orthopedic doctor both said that she was a real trooper when they reduced it back into place.  Poor thing- I'm so glad I missed it.  There are few things worse than seeing someone you love in pain.  I think she's pretty proud of it, though.  And to think we almost named her Grace...

Words to Live By

So this was my contribution to market this year.  I think this is the biggest sampler I have ever designed and stitched.  The finished design measures 15" x 20".  It is called, "Words to Live By" and I stitched it with Belle Soie Silks on 36 count Fossil linen from Picture this Plus.  It is basically the Ten Commandments in rhyme.  I chose my sampler's title, but the rhyme came from the McGuffey Reader from years ago.  The phrase reads:

Thou no God shall have but Me.
Before no idol bend thy knee.

Take not the name of God in vain,
Nor the Sabbath day profane.

Give thy parents honor due.
Take heed that thou no murder do.

Abstain from words and deeds unclean.
Steal not, for thou by God art seen.

Tell not a willful lie, nor love it.
What is thy neighbor's do not covet.

If you aren't familiar with the McGuffey Reader, it was one of the first school books created to teach children to read. In 1833, a small publishing company called Truman and Smith based in Cincinnati, Ohio, became interested in the idea of school texts. Truman and Smith began scouting for an educator who could create a series of readers. They happened upon Rev. William Holmes McGuffey.

McGuffey had already planned a series of readers and had published his first reader in 1836. The child modeled in his book is prompt, good, kind, honest and truthful. This first book contained fifty-five lessons. I guess you could call it a pioneer child's version of Dr. Suess.

My favorite thing about this sampler (other than the rhyme) is that there is nothing traditional about it.  Just a collection of modern random motifs.  If you think about it- isn't that just what samplers really are?  But instead of butter churns, acorns and peacocks, my sampler sports light bulbs, umbrellas, and robots.  It even has buttons!  In fact, at Market, Cecile from Just Another Button Company tracked me down and said, "OK, I've got to see this new design.  I'm sure it's adorable, but I have to tell you-- it is one of the ugliest button packs I've ever seen!"    She did end up loving the design, but said that she just couldn't imagine how all those buttons could ever come together on one cohesive sampler.   It was a great seller for us at market!