What a Crisis....Ed Saves the Day!

This is the weekend we take Katy back to college.  Ed has a week in already.

We have a six hour drive.  We were going to have Grandma Ann dog sit at her house two doors down.

I have had a feeling for the last week that she isn't so sure about doing this. 

 It isn't the first time she has done it.

Her brother had ulcer surgery two weeks ago and is still apparently in the hospital.  

He just found out he has liver cancer so she is hell bent to go and see him.
Why the doctors didn't figure this out before a $$$ surgery and  hospital stay!?  

"I will drive 100 miles if I have too!" she cried.    

Mind you she is 84, not that good of a driver and her son, my husband said he would take her tomorrow.

(I can't remember the last time she saw her brother...hasn't been that high on the list.)

"It would be better to see him before he dies," she said.

Here we are, we take Katy back to college on Saturday, trying to figure out what to do with the dog.
She isn't too stable at this time.  

(He looks like trouble, doesn't he.)  

Can't get a bordetella shot fast enough or in enough time to board him at a kennel.  

Grandma suggested taking him to the pound...not an option.

At dinner, we talked about having the kid of a friend stay, taking him with us or having the neighbor who isn't crazy about him let him out periodically and feed him.

WAIT!  WE DO HAVE ANOTHER CHILD!  ONLY AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY!!!

We texted him.  "Buster emergency, please call!"

Scared the pants off Ed, he thought the dog was dead.  

Ed has no plans this weekend.  Can take Sunday off work.  

Our hero Ed is coming home and will take care of the dog.  

Hooray for Ed.  He saves the day!!!

I just have get him some Corona. 

Update Prairie Schooler August is done!!! 

Amazing!  Pressed and in a frame.  Not saying if its laced or not.  

 I love the corn on the bottom.  

 I have started on September.  

I should be working on Halloween things.

 I have a good start. 

 Hope you have an wonderful holiday weekend.  

I am looking forward to LaCrosse.  We are planning on taking a drive down the Mississippi to Prairie du Chein.  It is suppose to be very scenic....unless something changes.  

Who know!

Thanks for the great comments!  I love getting them!

Keep on Stitching

Monica

A Charming Wedding

One of my good friend's (from stitching group) son got married.  

When she first told us about it she was a little apprehensive.

It was a rustic wedding with a Cowboy theme.

The ceremony was at a local farm.  

I have to admit I was a little skeptical.

I wasn't too sure what to wear so I Googled rustic weddings.  

When you look online they are pretty cool.  

It really was a quaint old barn.  

 Since it is August and still be quite warm, there were tubs of iced water, umbrellas and fans.

The fans were also the programs for the wedding.  

There was a word search on the back incase you wanted something to do while waiting for the festivities to start.  

The weather was perfect:  sunny, 80 something and no humidty.  

The flowers were lovely.  

 Seating were planks on bales of hay.  

At the end of the "pews" were shepherds crooks with hanging mason jars with flowers.

After the ceremony, they made it to the reception and on the table for decorations.  

 The Groom and Groom's men wore dark blue jeans, grey shirts, ties and vests.

The brides maids were in light peach colored dresses with a lacy over dress.  

Everyone was wearing cowboy boots, including the groom and the bride.  

 Instead of a flower girl, the couple's dog came down the aisle before the bride with a little sign reading "here comes the bride."  

At the end of the ceremony, the sign flipped around and read, "Just married."

 The bride was escorted by her grandfather.  

He greeted us all earlier with a hearty "howdy."

A good friend of the grooms had gotten his license to marry them.  

He really did a lovely job. 

The reception was at a local restaurant and outside.  

The groom's father made a bench for their new home.  

Instead of a guest book, we all signed the bench.  

There was also a photo booth.  

One set of pictures went into a sleeve in a book that you would then sign.

The other copy we got to keep.  

The boxes at the end of the tables hold mason jar mugs with a tag with the bride and grooms names tied on with jute cord that you wrote your name on.  

The food was fabulous!

It really was a sweet, charming wedding.  

Best one I've been to in a while.

Needless to say, didn't get much stitching done yesterday.  

I am cruising on August.  

I just have ears of corn to stitch beneath the livestock.

Next weekend we take Katy back to school.  

She is ready to go back.  

We are hoping for a very good year.  

I hope you all have had a great weekend and a superb week.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments.

Keep on Stitching

Monica

Way Cool Clouds! and other things.

We have had these clouds a couple of times this summer.  They are called Mammatus.  We have had them after some pretty major storms.  These aren't the best pictures.  

 The ones we had a little earlier this summer were even more spectacular but, I didn't take pictures.  I barely noticed them!  Bad Blogger!!!

 Had to show you pictures of the thread I got from Nancy at the Victorian and Sampler Shoppe. 

They are gorgeous colors and an impressive amount.  It is an awesome drawing!

They are:  Ocean Waves, Faded Green Leaves, Flo Blue Dark, Faded Sampler Red and 

Sweet Potato Pie....LOVE THEM!

 The latest update of the PS August.  

Will I finish before September?

Why didn't I work on September instead?  

 Below, better picture of the fabric.

Above, better picture of the floss colors.

Why do you have to make such decisions?

 I had to take a close up of the chicks and chickens...this one is for you, Arttie.  

As always, it has been a very busy week.  I had to zip to Milwaukee and back to take Katy to a doctor's appointment.  It's about 3 1/2 hours away.  We did get to do some shopping before we headed home but, its always a whirlwind.  A little school wardrobe shopping at H&M for Katy and stock up on three buck chuck at Trader Jo's along with Marinara, rice, pasta and GF flour.  Should hold me for a little while.  The last 30 minutes was through a heck of a storm...lightening, thunder and hail...and torrential rain.  

This will be her last weekend home.  We have a wedding on Saturday and Sunday will have the grandma's over for dinner before she goes.  The summer has flown by and I just don't know what happened to August!

Thanks for all the lovely comments.  I love hearing from you!
Hope your week has been good and your weekend special!
Keep on Stitching
Monica

Prim Finish

I finally finished my first Ladies Prim Society offering.  

I need to finish my name tag too.  

This is a Threadworks Primitives and ooper cute.

 It came as a kit with the thread, linen, back fabric, button and waxed thread.  

I really didn't think the instructions were all that clear so I being the "fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl"

I winged it.  

 I started off by following the directions but...

 The backing fabric was very cute  

 I love GAST Mountain Mist.  It may be my new favorite color.  

 I forgot to tell you the kit included the wool strip.  

 It make a stitching pocket.  

Now I just need to figure out what to put in in.
It will be going in my stitching bag.  

The waxed thread just wraps around the button....what a splendid idea.  

I love it!

Final picture is the update of the PS August.  

Just moving along.  

It was a fun, crafty weekend.  

Katy and I did some beading last night. 

I'll post my finishes with that as they are finished.  

I glued the ends on the Kumihimo bracelet I started last night and finished today.  

It did take quite some time to finish the pocket today.  

There are some fantastic things coming down the pick with the lastest show.  

I think I'm going to need some of the BBD pic's I've seen lately.  

Have a great week.

Keep those wonderful comments coming.  

I love them!

Keep on Stitching

Monica

Hunks, Wins, and Stash....oh my!

Let me start by saying, Thanks for the wonderful comments about my box!  

You all are so wonderful.

I took some pictures of my hunky guys getting ready to go 4 wheeling.  

Can you tell that Ed looks thrilled about this.  

They did have a blast.  

I was at the Stitching Bee last week for some retail-therapy.  

I had won one of the signed patterns from Norden Crafts.  

I also got news last night that I won floss from Nancy's birthday drawing at

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.

She always has great drawings!

 Years ago I had seen the saying (on this La-D-Da sampler) somewhere else.  

I thought it would be a great saying on a sampler.  

When I saw it on the La-D-Da, I knew I would have to get it.

 I looks to be a quick stitch!

 I have become a HUGE fan of Lori's at Notforgotten Farm Samplers.  

This will pop into a nice square frame of which I have a few.  

Love the little row of pumpkins

 I got a piece of 40 count Lakeside Linens Exemplaire for the Carpe Diem piece.  

 I needed to replenish my black overdyes.  I plan on using the GAST Raven for Halloween Town by the Primitive Hare in last years JCS Halloween issue.  

The other colors are for Ghoul Tidings in this years

Currently, I'm working on Prairie Schooler August....I should be working on September but...

 The ear of corn looks better in the picture.  You can see the difference in the yellows better.  

 I think the rooster is quite handsome!

It is stitching up pretty quick.  I really haven't put much time into it.  

That about sums it up.  One more day of work.  Maybe I will have some time to stitch.
Hope you have been having a great week and a wonderful weekend!
Keep on stitching
Monica

Strawberry Hill Box is DONE!

Warning: Picture intensive blog post!

I finished stitching With Thy Needle and Thread Strawberry Hill Sewing box, Huswife and Pinkeep a year ago.  I just now have finished the assembly.  

Hooray for ME!

After the debacle of trying to paint the Whitman heart shaped boxes for another project, I decided not waste my time, energy or precious Briwax on a cardboard box.  I figured this wooden box from Hobby Lobby would fit the bill.  

I used the sample paint from the hardware store rather than buying paint from Wal-Mart (the evil empire).

 The red does look quite bright.  

I knew the Briwax would tone it down.  

 It took two coats. 

I had actually painted this about a month ago.  

Oh, Sot!  I forgot to take pictures after it had been Briwaxed.  

At the end you will see how it actually turned out.  

Then there was the cutting of backing fabric.  

I decided to go with a brown Civil War reproduction from the quilt store.

Ah, the splendor of stash!

 Spent a Sunday afternoon cutting fabric and hand sewing on crocheted lace and buttons.  

 This really is a labor intensive piece!

 The top really would have fit better on the Whitman Sampler box but, I just didn't want to deal with painting one and having the paint chip off during the Briwax process.  

I am happy with the results.  

I finished lacing this on the cardboard at stitching group on Wednesday night.  

 Yesterday, I finished the inside of the Huswife.  

I did have some stitching dyslexia problems that had to be corrected after the fact.  

 I decided not to make the small strawberry emery do-dad. 

Just didn't have any emery I decided not to get any.  

The felt strawberries are hand applicade. 

 The ticking pin keep is hand sewed on too.  I had to dye some twill tape while doing this.

Initially I thought I attached it like the picture but, they decided I didn't and had to move it.  

That was no biggy.  

 I'm not too sure I put the ties on in the right spots but, it works.  

 Folded the other way and the birds look upside down.  

 Got the top glued onto the top of the box and then glued the green chenille.  

 I couldn't find the scrapbooking paper I bought a year ago (imagine that).

I had some other paper that I think I like better anyway.  

I did find the paper later....haha

 You get a much better idea of how the paint looked after being Briwaxed.  

Just when I thought I had enough pictures, I had to add a few more.  

I wanted a little more look at the wood after the waxing.  

 I needed a picture of the finished pinkeep.  

 And finally, how they look together.  

I plan to keep the box in the sewing room next to the sewing machine to try and tidy things up a bit. I think I will keep the huswife in my stitching basket for extra needles and pins.  I may tie my dololly where a scissors should go.

Thanks for tolerating the picture intensive post.  Hope you have a great weekend and the weather is as nice where you are as it is here.  Or, I hope your basement is dry.  (That terrible flooding)

Keep on Stitching

Monica