A small update

A small update for you...I am not in the best of moods so I wanted to blog a little bit of stitching.
Below is La-D-Da's, Something Wicked. I started this for my SIL a few weeks ago and believed (erroneously) that I could get it stitched in time to send it to her as a pick-me-up for Halloween. She likes Halloween, she gets a chuckle out of it and God knows she certainly needs a cackle right about now.


I made a counting error near the instep of the boot which meant a run in with the FROGS. I had the entire top of the boot outlined including the curling toe. When I started stitching the sole of the boot I realized I made a mistake because instead of 3 stitches where the boot thins out, I had 5. I really thought about leaving it or fudging it but my anal retentive self stepped in and forced me to pull out at least 200 stitches. I am really glad I am using DMC instead of NPI silk that the pattern calls for. I would have been doubly mad at all that waste of silk thread. All that's left to remove is that black blob on the right. I couldn't stand ripping out any more stitches so I ended up fixing the error and restitching the top portion. And it was worth pulling out all that black DMC cause the charm of this boot is that L-O-N-G, thin section. And yes, I've counted correctly this time. And no, my darlin' SIL will not get this for Halloween this year. Sigh...until NEXT Halloween.

As part of the stitching challenge on Let's Stitch, I started a little freebie by The Prairie Schooler. It's one of those little freebie cards. This one is a snowman. I need to make some ornaments. I want to give the Cadet and the lovely Jenna some handmade things for their tree. I thought the snowman was cute. It's stitched on 32ct Rue Green linen with DMC.

Well, I think that's all I'll post for now. I was going to bitch to you all about my frustrations with this house and the fact that nothing is 100% complete and what is, is not right and that we have 12 windows to install, 1/2 the siding to re-buy, trim and moulding to install and NO MONEY to do any of it because my no good contractor fleeced us for an obscene amount of money and left us high and dry. But I decided not to pour out those feelings to you cause a) you can't help me b) I am trying to stop complaining about everything that's not right and just be grateful and thankful that I have what I have. It's not easy. And I took out everything on my poor DH who is just beginning to thaw out after my unlady-like outburst complete with angry words and tears.

Sometimes it just goes that way.

Exciting news! And a question for my guests

First of all, my question. I am going to begin stitching a sampler from the Hungarian SAL. It's a beautiful piece that you can see on the Hungarian Sampler SAL blog:

I would like to stitch it as a memorial to my grandparents who immigrated from Hungary to the US in 1918. I would like to stitch it in the colors of the Hungarian flag so I am looking for anyone who can tell me what DMC or AVAS silks would match the green, red and white of the flag. Also, if anyone can translate the words, In Fond Rememberance or In Loving Rememberance from English to Hungarian, I'd be thrilled. I want to stitch this in silks so if anyone can give me the colors in AVAS that would be fabulous. I'll stitch it in DMC if I can't find the equivalent silks.

Exciting news from Chez Remodel! At long last we found a contractor who was willing to side the front of the house and the upper right side and replace 5 windows for us. Below are the pictures. We are so excited! The house doesn't look like a slum from the road now! We still have a long way to go, we won't be able to do much more until we save more money to continue but I think spending what was left of my inheritance to finish this little bit was well worth it.

Entire house close up:

Entire house with garage:

Window close up: The contractors finished the outside trim and please excuse the ladder in the window...LOL!!
We do have an issue with the windows, the manufacturer didn't put all the little buttons to mount the grilles in some of the windows so that's why there is no grilles in the upper right window. I contacted Pella and they will come out and fix them and any other windows that don't have the mounting hardware. Now, all we have to do is the interior work, we are going to do all the trim work ourselves because we didn't have the money to have the "Contractor-Who-Is-My-Hero" do it for us. David and I will work together to get it finished. It may take a little time but eventually the interior work will get done!

I do have stitchy pictures too, of Beatrix Potter and Where My Heart Blooms and I got a lovely gift from Alexa that I must show you. True to form the camera has died again so I must wait until it decides to resurrect itself to take more pictures.

Well, I just wanted to share my good fortune with all of you. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for dropping by! Please stop again soon!!

I have a cold and I feel yucky...

What a great excuse to sit and stitch! I am gearing up to get cozy on the sofa with my needle and thread even though the house is beyond dirty right now. It's the mud season in New York and we drag in half the barn yard each time we come back in from being outdoors.

However, we did get a piece of that Nor'Easter that blew up the coast yesterday. I think we got about 6-8" of the white stuff, just enough to make driving interesting and now I get to add water to all the dirt that's infiltrated my house. Just fabulous!

I don't know what I want to work on now that John is finished. I put BOAF's Peace sampler on scrolls but the tension is bad so I don't want to stitch on it. The fabric is very soft and limp so the tension is not as taunt as I prefer. Plus, I have to make a color substitution for one of the overdye threads that is fading into the backround and I don't feel like dragging out all my GAST or Weeks to change it out. I know that I can not begin another project (not that I feel up to kittting anything right now) but the WIP pile is unusually silent. Something is always screaming, STITCH ME! but not today. Hmm-mm did they all go on vacation and left me here?

Oh, a couple of things...the Cadet's situation has vastly improved in the last 2 weeks. The ROTC decided to drop all the charges against him and his buddies for their *indiscretion* and altercation with the campus security. He and these boys are very lucky. Their Commander made strong recommendations to keep them in the program because they were nanoseconds from getting booted out. However, it's not completely over just yet, there's payback both to the school and to the ROTC. All this headache, anxiety and worry over a stupid decision.

And the house..well, the lawyer sent a letter to Mr. C. outlining a schedule for completion. No response from him whether he can make it or not. I smell lawsuit, even though I am PRAYING that we don't have to go that route.

Well, I do hope all of you are having a great Saturday. I've been blog hopping, catching up with everyone and drooling over WIPs and finishes. Gosh you all are so inspiring!!!