Christmas in April

Have you been wondering what is keeping me so busy that I can't even come to your blogs for a visit? Well, several things are going on - but then again, aren't they always? - the happiest of which I will list below:

- reading (I Finished A Book And Started A New One) (and I'm not a book listener but a book reader, so I actually have to sit down and open a book and read without being able to do a single other thing. Not even stitching.) (Which is why so little reading is generally done by me.)
- stitching! (mostly presents) (so if you're expecting something from me, your gift is probably pictured below)

- gardening! (Trying depsperately to become green-thumbed, thus far without success. Even the pumpkin plants are very reluctant to make an appearance. After last year's crop failure, I'm hoping this year will be better for pumpkins.) (At least the plum trees look lik they might yield something)

- making curtains! (Prim-style. And not doing a bad job, if I do say so myself. But, obviously, not good enough to show you.)
- dyeing fabric! (with a new recipe, which makes the whole house smell of Christmas. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, coffee. Yum!)
- working!
- lazying about, trying to become the Blue Lady.
- Yoga (or in other words: working hard, trying to become the Blue Lady).
- generally tring to find peace of body and mind.


Yours smilingly,
Annemarie.

An & Inability

Well, hello there girls and boys. Or, in the words of the great Hugh Laurie back in the days when he was fabulous:

Too long, Johnny,
Too long, it's way too long
Make it shorter, Johnny
It's been too long for way too long.

But as I am a BWO, I don't need to explain myself. I'm sure you have some idea of what's going on. Did you also have an idea of me stitching up a storm, though? No, I didn't think so. First of all, I've been stitching Blogiversary pressies and I have now finished three of the six gifts I intend to send. Secondly, my exchange gift for dear Melissa finally arrived after a month of travelling the globe and being prodded by Customs officers. I'm sure you've seen it over at Melissa's, but it's not often that I get to (share a) finish, so here it is again:
One of the strawberries from the wonderful Joyeux Noel book by Blackbird Designs, made into a fob with a verrry long kumihimo cord, so Melissa could drape it around her neck and carry it with her all day if she felt so inclined. That's what I do with mine. My son and/or my cats usually force me out of my stitching chair every two minutes, and I hate to have to scramble around for my scissors and needle every time I sit back down.

On to some more finishes. During my absence, my stitching taste went from primitive to romantic to French romantic to cuddly cute, right back to primitive, which is where I'm at now. In serious need of instant gratification as I was, I went to PatternMart to find me some free primitive patterns and I found this one:

Fruits of My Hands Pinkeep freebie by Shelly Auen. Stitched on coffee-dyed and microwave-nuked 36 count crisp white linen

The next finish, and one I'm particularly pleased with, is a project I've been working on for... ohhh, two years or so?... Block 9 of the Village of Hawk Run Hollow. Can you say Squeeeeeeeee?! I can :o)

The next block I'm going to stitch is Block 3. Block 3 with a twist, that is. Curious?
So am I.

I will leave you with a picture of my little garden gnome planting pumpkin seeds.

Yours slightly quietly,
Annemarie.

Drab & Drambuie

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, not much has been happening here, you see. Actually, a LOT has been happening here, but not much of it involved stitching and if it HAS involved stitching, it was of the secret kind. The Blogiversary Giveaway kind. Kathy, Linen and Nancy, you have not been forgotten. I'm plugging away as much as I can :o)

All that stuff that has been happening was so stressful that stitching wasn't even helping. Stitching is meditation; that is something I think we all agree on. A glass of warm milk or hot honeyed tea, to soothe the mind and mellow the mood. But sometimes you just need a big swig of something strong. To hell with meditation: bring on forgetfulness. Well, the Remains of the Day journals I told you about last time is my swig of Drambuie, so I went ahead and put together another cover. Here it is. The papers strewn around it are the innards of the book that have yet to be sewn together, which will happen in the course of this day.

Harmien was here last Tuesday and we had a wonderfully fabulous stitchy day. Last week - when I was visiting her - we decided to get back to our Village of Hawk Run Hollow SAL and to make it a monthly event. We now had two sessions in March and we will have at least one very long session next week, because Harmien will be staying over. Hooray! Here's Harmien, who didn't want her picture taken (can you tell?) showing you our Villages. The first is hers, the second is mine (big surprise):

And here's a close-up picture of mine as it looks right now.

Here's a little quiz for you (no prizes. I can only (barely) handle so many!). I ask this question every time I post a pic of my Village, but that happens so rarely that my entire reading audience has changed by the time I ask it again. I made a huge boo-boo in Block 5 (the one with the trees and the birds and the words) which I fixed in my own unique way. Apparently, it's incredibly difficult to spot. Even Harmien, who had our two Blocks 5 lying side by side, had a very hard time figuring it out, though the boo-boo is really very much in your face. I wonder how many of you can tell which part of the design I changed to accomodate this error. Knowing me, I will probably make similar huge mistakes in every single Block, but I don't care. Frogging is something to be avoided at all possible costs. Obviously.

Okay. Off to ... well. Just off :o)

Yours slightly pixilatedly,
Annemarie.