Friday, October 30, 2009

Still no Stitching

I have not been stitching a lot this week. The weather has been so dark that I think I'm getting my mid-winter depression early this year. I heard on the news this morning that we have had 19 days with measurable rain this month, and it hasn't been sunny even on days without rain. So I apologize in advance for my blue mood.

I have been reading about this Monday meme here and on a friend's blog, so I though I would participate. Anna suggested a stitching bag, but I cleaned mine out a couple of weeks ago, and there is not much interesting in there. This is the little box I keep next to my stitching chair, and it is full of interesting stuff.

I didn't pull everything out, as you can see. There is still a complete package of knitting markers, a couple of binder rings to hold thread baggies, several business cards, floss labels, several foreign coins, a stone, and an embroidered patch. There's all my scissors that I shared earlier this month, plus one or two I had missed; a tape measure; a small calculator; 4 books of needles; 4 or 5 doll needles (that come in the package with the temari needles I've been buying, but are too big for temari); a knitting needle cable holder, a needle case decorated with wood-burning designs; 2 small and one larger crochet hook, 2 nail clippers and 3 files; a pair of tweezers; a rotary cutter; 2 packages of beads; 2 spools; 2 thimbles, one utility and one decorative (I think it's the Empire State Building); a little blue box with a sponge to wet floss, which I've never used; a baggie with bees-wax; lip gloss; an art eraser (works on fabric as well as on paper); and a head-phone cord. Oh, there's a small piece of crocheted lace mounted on a velvet ribbon, and a beaded and silk embroidery pin that is falling apart.

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I do have 2 temari in progress. One is for my JTA work, a pattern I've done twice before. It is turning out nice. The second is an all-over design through Temari Talk that I am going to have to start over. I started, and lost one of the floss colors, replaced it, and lost the replacement! I'm going to have to pull all the stitching out and start over again, which will be a good chance to change the rest of the colors. I think I will go home this afternoon, curl up in my stitching chair, and do that (if I don't have to vacuum up too much water in the basement).

The gas company insisted on inspecting our home for leaks yesterday, and found one behind the paneling in the finished basement. We asked them not to cut a hole in the paneling, so they turned off the gas last night so DH could remove the panel, and came back today to finish the project. No stove, oven, or broiler, no hot water or furnace! but we made it. When they went to turn off the gas in the house they discovered the valve was not working because of tree roots, so we got a 4 to 5 foot hole in the front yard for that to get replaced. They put the dirt back, but not the grass.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Family Weekend

This past weekend was our annual family gathering. We have it at this time of the year, because when winter threatens my parents decamp to Arizona.

The adults sit together and talk.

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And the kids run around. There was quite a din this year, but I didn't see anyone getting annoyed. Of course, the kids are all grand-kids and great grand-kids, and you know, they can hardly do anything annoying! LOL

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C looking cute, as usual.

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A is getting so grown up!

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This is the best picture I could get of J. She was non-stop running.

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I think G made the most noise, he was the littlest and was getting tired. But isn't he a cutie?

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Here's T and G with their grandma.

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Can you believe P's long legs? It took a while for him to warm up to the crowd, but he was enjoying himself by the end of the afternoon.

I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of J. He was busy flying paper airplanes. My brother was making them. I was amused by how individual kids kept appearing next to him requesting an airplane (we had a paper airplane book). He claimed the first flight for each one, he was having as much fun as they.

As you might guess, there was very little stitching.