pics of stash goodness

Everyone head on over to Tracy's pics and Oooh and Aahh. I had forgotten to take a picture before I sent it, "Doh!", but now you can see it.

Indian Food!

Tric, my dear friend since froshman year in high school is coming up from far, far away. We see each other only every other year or so, which makes this even more of an occasion.
Last time she came up we hit the Old Port. I had never tried Indian food. Which is by the way, wonderful. Being the newbie I was she ordered it mild. Yum, yum, yum!
We had spent the entire day zooming around in the subzero winter air. Breezing in and out of small shops along the roads tucked in amongst the white lights of the trees decorated for the holidays. Almost forgot to mention one of the shops was a very quaint yarn shop. Can't recall now what the name is. It was stacked high up the walls of every color and type you could dream of. The kind of stuff you just don't see in the box stores. Now I am the novice knitter I may have to grab a little something-something to play with. Maybe Tric can show me some technique, stitch or anything really! I could use the help.

I never go into Portland much. Hate the traffic, one way streets and well, I just don't know my way around. She on the other hand will remember every curve and turn as though she had never left. Incredible!

I can hardly wait.

Patriot's Day Storm

Um, a whole week since I last posted? Yikes. A long story made longer update:

The kids started their Spring Vacation last Friday.
Normal Saturday.
Sunday I prepared for the upcoming storm, which started.
Monday, it came on harder, and hung on for several more days. Didn't stop raining/snowing until Wednesday, midday I think. We were on edge the whole time. Lost power at 7am Monday. In our house that means no heat, water in (private electric pumped well), water out (*septic, electric pumps that too), cooking, or main sump pump on top of the usual no lights. You could hear trees snapping outside. Not fun.
Lucky thing DH spent most of Saturday intalling a back up battery powered sump pump system. Without it I would have had a flooded basement. The basement with that furnace which heats the water and house. Expensive thing to replace that would be!
DH managed to get home Monday morning from work only by leaving the car about a mile away where the tree had fallen, the one that took our power with it. I had received a call from a neighbor stating that if he was going to come home at all (not his regular shift time) that he'd better head out right then since the water on the other side of our main road was rising fast (no water and then 6 inches 20 minutes later).
By mid afternoon our phone line was also out. So our crappy cell phone battery could only be charged in the car, which naturally we couldn't go far, nevermind the fact that we were afraid if we left we would't be able to get back to the house. Losing the phone made things more complicated, and me a bit more ugly, I hadn't been able to shower- you know how that goes.
We have lived her for 6 years now. We have lost our power many times, but never lasting longer than a few hours. So this was not exactly fun.
And the kids wanted more than anything was to play outside. Um , with trees falling down around us? Nope, don't think so.
The same neighbor took DH down to the car when the tree was romoved enough for people to drive through. Funny I can't remember when that was exactly.

Tuesday at 2:30 our power came on. It was great. :)


Over the next few days I have been busy with putting the house back together. We lost most of our groceries in the fridge/freezer. So I threw everything out and cleaned the fridge real good. Then I hit the store to replenish. The basement floor needed a good scrubbing with bleach in a particular area. The coolers we had tried to use to keep what we could save cold were scrubbed up too.Lucky for us there was a little bit of snow left outside during the storm that I could grab to stuff into the coolers to keep our milk and a few other items cold. Then catching up on laundry and the regular stuff like that.
The kids went to Grandma's Wed through to Friday. So that helped with getting things back in order. And all of this on top of the regular busyness of vacation.
Oh and I forgot to mention- the library waved the fees for the movies I couldn't return during the storm. :)
Thank goodness for friendly people who let you recharge your large batteries for free. For trees that stay where they are supposed to near our house. For Coleman Camp stoves that heat water for coffee. And DH willing to stand in the crazy and drive through the crazy to get you a hot breakfast sandwich for each person to warm our hands and tummies, fresh batteries for the basement and to heat said water for coffee (and cocoa for the kids) .

Another Spring storm

No green grass yet!
Just when the snow had started to go away.... Including the poor snowman DH and the kids made. Which DH encouraged they do so the kids wouldn't use him for target practice. *chuckle


This happened! This is a shot from my daughter's bedroom window at about 6:30am. Sorry about the screen showing. Nice view she has, huh?


And there's another storm heading out way for Sunday night/Monday. Yippee.

The good news, I have undone my scarf and am planning a new tactic. I think if I start it again it will stop being so cold and snowy. Could work. Right?

exchange update, whoops!

Here it is! Dorothy received her hand dyed piece from me in the mail. She let me know it had arrived and I forgot to post the final picture here! Duh!
The marbling isn't what I had hoped it would be. But it's not too bad for a first try I guess. I was trying to be careful not to go too dark.
The details: 15" x 18" piece of 32 count linen by Charles Craft.

Just when you think....

.......you are nearing the end.


I don't have the Holiday set yet either. Me wants!

Favorite Quote of the Day

From my daughter,6, while hiding under the blankets of my bed waiting to surprise/scare Daddy.
"Did you hear me smirking?"

*giggles.

Two Things

Tagged by Tracy
Two Things...
If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!

... Names you Go By: Angela, Mom
... Wearing Right Now: Grey sweatpants, Tshirt
... You must have in a Relationship: trust, respect
... Favorite Things to do: stitch, sleep
... You Want Very Badly: hot fudge sundae, with chocolate sprinkles
... pets you had/have: Chris E., Pidy
... people who will fill this out: Ami, Prajantr
... you did last night: sleep, decide the details of the baseball game
... you ate yesterday: turkey, stuffing
... people you talked to last: S., and B. (the kids)
... Things You're doing today: errands, bathroom project
... longest car rides you have taken: not sure- Pennsylvania; Bangor,ME to Boston?
... Favorite Holidays: Christmas, Mother's Day
... favorite beverages: coffee, cocoa (hot chocolate)

biscornu update

I have deleted a row from the design and changed a letter.
I am still plugging away at it. Sorry- no pics until she's done!

sewing machine blues

If I get the courage up that is!
I have completed a crucial step one in the bathroom. The washer and dryer (both super capacity, so yes they are big ones, and side-by-side) are in the bathroom in a tucked in almost closet like space. Or at least that is what it reminds me of. The doorway to them is very wide. Similar to a standard closet entrance- the type with the sliding doors. Well above them is one huge shelf. It was there brand new when we moved in. It as no doors or anything to hide the necessary clutter to clean my 10 loads or so per week. So, I had a brain storm. I hopped on over to WallyWorld (WalMart to some ;) ) and bought a tension rod for a shower curtain with the fancy ends. What better way not to mess up my walls with my inexperience with power tools. Plus it said it would go as far as 72"! ****drum roll***It goes across perfectly!
So step 2 will be making or buying a curtain type apparatus to go over/through said rod. It should only be about 18" long. I haven't confirmed that. I need to hop back on top of the washer to do the proper measuring of just how far I want it to hang down. I would prefer several panels instead of just two. I was thinking maybe 4. El-cheapo me says, "Craft store! Tons of every color imaginable. It can't be that hard to sew a few straight lines!" Then my brain kicks in and says, "Um, yeah it is! Too many choices and next to nothing for sewing experience."
Then there's just one more thing to complicate the story. The bathroom has no theme, scheme or plan. I have been tossing that around in my head for 6 years now. What colors. Decisions, decisions. So the clutter curtain may just set the tone for the whole room!
Oh boy!

blogging SBQ

SBQ was suggested by Heather:

"How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth repeat and/or regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular?
Are there things you wish there were more of? Less of? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?"

I have some that I frequent more than others. Could be what they are talking about, could be my mood. Sometimes I want more personal things, other times I want to just stick to crafts. I guess I like blogs that have lots of subjects.Learn what makes people tick. I have learned so much about other countries, holidays, etc. Watching things progress is so nice. I have witnessed how to make things that I didn't even know existed. Reading blogs is part of that got me ready to try knitting. You can only oooh and aaaah so long without wanting to jump in and try it yourself.
Things I wish there were more of? Not sure really. I read so many I feel pretty well rounded. Plus there are only so many hours in a day. Wait a sec, yes there is! Pictures! Lots and lots of pictures! I just love them!
Less of? Same thing I guess, but I can always "turn it off". I don't like whining. Rants are okay. We all need those.
No, my blog is not a good example. I talk and think much faster than I type and I think the "me" gets a little lost sometimes. I type like mad and then read it later on and it's a garbled mess. (Then I pick it apart mentally. But I have learned to let that go a little.*nod to my instructor Mrs. Leavitt- see it did take, a little!) Otherwise you'd never see anything here!

Biscornu Babble

Okay, I am jumping on the bandwagon. But, I may have started on the wrong path. I have created a design. With no experience other than observation of the overall rhythm of how they seem to be. The sizes. The normally symmetrical way they are set up. I chose a not so perfectly centered way to do it. The balance is still there I think, visually.
The point? Well maybe I should try another design to get the assembly part of it done. Then I can apply it to what I am doing. Sort of learn the ropes so to speak and go from there.
But it is so much more fun to be able to do it all on my own.
Oh this is a test stitch. Once I have it looking fairly decent I plan to post the pattern.

Knitting
**Just how do you restart a messed up section in knitting?*** I was going along and realized a few rows too late that I should have started it not as wide, or however that's said. I was going to make a scarf for myself and sort of lost the gusto once I messed up and and the weather changed so much. Funny, it's snowing again and I want to work on the scarf.
And I need to make a little something to practice different stitches. Something sort of practical. Not something to just toss aside or away when I am done. Ideas?

Snowy Spring

It started yesterday morning and snowed on and off all day, then really hit us overnight. I woke up to DH expressing his joy over no power at 5am. We were out for 2½ hours. (Just so you know, no power for us means no water, heat, or sump pump working which runs year round.) Then it came on and went out again for a little while. The snow is so heavy that it's taking branches down onto power lines.

The kids are home today from school too because of the weather. (Plus you can't exactly have school in buildings with no power or heat!) So we might get some valuable egg decorating time today!



Yes those are our cars under there!
How's that for cool.

Stash Fairy cometh

Tracy had a visit from the stash fairy! I sent her some items I have had my eye on for her for some time. A pattern booklet by Stoney Creek, a big piece of white Monaco and a Valerie Pfeiffer hummingbird pattern.
And yes I forgot to take a picture of the present(s) before I sent them. I have been doing that a lot lately! They were wrapped all together in sparkley tissue paper too, so she wouldn't know what was inside until the absolute last minute. :)

SBQs

SBQ was suggested by Cindy:

"Do you have a system for organizing freebie charts in your stash? If so, what is it? Do you print out copies of all of the freebies that you find on the web (that you think you might actually stitch) or do you maintain electronic copies of them until you are ready to stitch them?"
I do have a system, or, to me it is. I have folders organized some by holiday, some by designer/site, and others by other means. Any other person looking would be seriously confused. Say in the Holiday folder, there are folders for each such as Halloween, Christmas/Winter, Easter/Spring, and so on. The multi holiday ones would be in a separate non specific area inside the Holiday folder. Making any sense?
I rarely print them anymore unless I am just about to do them. I prefer for space and sanity that I store them electronically.

SBQ suggested by Danielle and is:

"If you had $500 to spend on stitching-related items, what would you buy?"
No idea. I guess I might finish off the entire sets of a few things like beads, and some Kreiniks. Maybe a nice lap frame that holds hoops. Other than that, I would be RAKing like crazy! The stash fairy would be dropping her wares all over the world! (Esp for my flosskids.)