Giving Thanks for Saturdays

Tis the season to be thankful and I am sooooo thankful for the gift that was today.  Hubby and I slept in then went out for brunch, and enjoyed the warm, sunny, breezy beautiful day.  I didn't step foot inside of a grocery store or a Wal-Mart.  I actually stitched a little this afternoon while I caught up some laundry.  

See.   Progress:

As you can see, I still haven't decided what to do about the yellow leaf in the middle of it's band.  What I think I'm going to do is stitch the rest of the rows in the colours I'm sure of, then go back and fill in with whatever colours make sense.  I do love this piece and can't wait to see that big leafy/acorn blackwork section all the way finished.  After that part is done, the rest will be a cinch. 

I also recently took the time to dress up one of the threadboards I brought back from EGA National:

It was "naked" when I bought it, so I added a little felt to one end, a little tomato pin cushion to the other, button-holed a 'strap' for the pointy end of the tiniest scissors you've ever seen, and whaaaa-laaaaa!  Now we're cooking with gas.

Speaking of cooking with gas, the contractors have made excellent use of the good weather lately. 

I think they should be right on track for a Thanksgiving ribbon cutting ceremony.

Until next time, here's hoping you're having a wonderful weekend. 

Give Thanks!

Big Reveal!

In the interest of modesty, I normally wouldn't gush about something my hubby has done for me, but I'm making an exception this time.

He loves to piddle in woodworking (and stained glass) and has created some amazing pieces when he puts his mind to it. For Valentine's Day, he made for me a "sweetheart" thread board!

At first, the heart shape at the top was just blank, but immediately I could see our initials in it, just like a boy would carve into a tree. When I started to say, "Oh honey, wouldn't it be cute if you...", he interrupted me and said, "I know, scratched our initials in the heart, like on a tree. I already thought of it!" He just read my mind, just like that. So he took it back to the workshop, broke out the Dremmel and free-handedly scratched our initials in it, just like on a tree. I love it.

Right away, I began brainstorming what kind of "sweetheart" design I could stitch up for it. After much trial and error, I came up with this:

Most of the motifs hold some significance, such as the key represents our home, where we got married. The number 2, is our house number. All the little creatures (bee, bunny, turtle) symbolize the wildlife we are surrounded by, (and yes, we have a special turtle friend named Fred who lives in the woods about our house but has been with us for over a decade). The Roman numerals above the heart border is our anniversary date, 6/21/1997. I made sure that I would run out of room for the words, just to remind all who see it that in Love and in Life, nobody's perfect. I'm "wearing" a silk peacock colored skirt (my favorite color on even numbered days/red on odd). Hubby is "wearing" his most broken in cotton blue jeans. I've had a blast thinking about and stitching this little guy!!! Can you tell?

It's all so romantical!!! Didn't I tell you? Sweetest thing ever.

Sources:

• Wendy Willows for the man, woman and dog motif
• The Drawn Thread "All you need is Love" for random hearts
• Special Occasions by Dale Burdett for the heart tulip, Love word and bunny rabbit
• The Sampler Girl for the key (freebie)
• a 1992 Wichelt Imports freebie for the red heart border (at bottom)
• JABC bee and turtle buttons

and the headline read..."Jail Break"

I could tell from the urgency in Carrot's voice that whatever he was on the phone about was going to require human help. And, I was right. As soon as he was off the phone, he launched into this big story about how when he was being held hostage in the PIG Place, a group of "surly" threads made friends with him and now they really needed my help. He went on and on about how when they were all locked up together, Chocolate (seems to the be ring leader) could talk about nothing but getting back to Nashville and how much it would mean to his whole gang to get back there before June.


Hum, Nashville? June? Strange. Could these felonious fibers be talking about Share-A-Stitch? Now my curiosity was duly peaked. "Okay, Carrot. I guess what you are telling me is that you want me to spring your friends from the maximum security PHF (Project Holding Facility, a.k.a. Martha Stewart under bed storage box)"? He nodded excitedly. Fine. You drive, I'll spring.


All I had to do was crack the lid of the PIG Place and ZOOOMMMMM! Holy Toledo! I only caught a glimpse of the gang as they hopped into the back of what I'm guessing was a "get away car", but here's what I spied:

Casey Buonaugurio freebie

DMC threads on 28 ct. pink hand-dyed fabric

thread board by "hubby"

As they roared out of sight, I heard the ring leader exclaim ,"You the man, Carrot! Do something nice for the lady. Teacup Auction, here we come!!!" Carrot and I just looked at each other in silent astonishment. Strange I tell ya, strange.

All this rescuing and jail springing is really quiet exhilirating! Me thinks Saturdays will be known hence forth as "Free Willy" day; the day I'll help free one more PIG from the PHF. Wonder how I'd look in a mask and cape?