Soggibottom Give-away

Midge over at Soggibottom is having a give-away - one of her bespoke Dartmoor Hares!  Too darling, go see.  Midge lives in a 17th century cottage in England and her blog is lovely...she's also a very precious and dear friend.

Comments are closed for this post.  I'm still working my way through comments from last post, *g*.

Catching Up And A Puzzle

Wow this post is hard to start, it's been so long I forgot how.  My backspace key is getting a work out.  Let's see, what's new...well, my Sam let me cut his hair, how about starting with that?  Here's his "before"...



"After".....



And what we're sending to Locks of Love!



What a relief to get all that hair gone.  Let's see - did you all have a wonderful Mother's Day?  We spent the day with my mum, she's doing well, and says "hi" to everyone.



And now the riddle - I recently made a purchase at the thrift store, I'm not sure what it is!  It's like a duvet cover - two sheets, stitched all the way around, but this one really is stitched on all four sides.  The fabric is like a luxurious vintage high quality sheet, all cotton and silky smooth.  The riddle part comes in with the opening in it - it's smack in the middle of one side!  All lace around the edge of the opening, no tearing or anything.  I upped the contrast on these pics to make it easier to see:



The above pic is the cover laying on my bed, the hole is huge.



See the lace around the hole?  And there are these pretty peacock panels around it as well...



So.  The hole is deliberate, there are NO other openings anywhere on this.  Does anybody have a clue what this is???  Normally, a duvet cover has an opening at one end, but this does not, only the hole in the middle.  I'm so confused, lol.  I'm using it for cutting up and making stitcheries, so it's not important, I'm just curious.

And now the projects I've been working on -  with the fabric from that cover - both designs from my precious friend, Jenny of Elefantz.  One of her latest patterns is All Things Bright, I just fell in love with it -





Isn't that the sweetest???? But before I could finish it, she came out with a free design called Lord Bless you, and I had to start that!




I used variegated floss for this and just loved it.  I especially enjoyed doing the roses, oh my love them so so much.  Jenny-girl, thank you for creating such delightful designs for me to stitch!  If you'd like to stitch them too, you can get them here, at Jenny's Craftsy store.  And don't forget to check out her blog to see what's coming up in the next issue of her e-zine!   Does this sound like a commercial, lol?  Can't help it, love her so much.

I hope you're all enjoying spring [or autumn, down under], I'm reveling in it myself.  And all the wildlife, wow - my boys say we've been Disneyfied, we have so many rabbits burrowing in our yard [eating the dandelions, gotta love that], groundhogs and deer, birds everywhere.  And the scents of spring - I can't stop taking in huge lungfuls of perfumed air.



What I don't love is pulling out all my summer clothes, to find they no longer fit....after 40 years, I quit smoking in January, and I've steadily put on pounds since.  While I'm quite happy to have quit, I'm not happy about the weight!  My main worry is diabetes, as we have a family history of it.  I'm riding my exercise bike and working out daily, but it's not helping.  Has anyone been through this and have any advice to share?  I'd welcome it!

I'll go now before this post gets any longer - apparently I've not only forgotten how to start, but how to STOP.  I'll be back sporadically, and I'll see you on your blogs!  Oh yes, I've switched to Feedly for my reader - and you're all safely there. *G*

AHA.....[sort of]....

Tonight I'm noticing that blogs that have pop-up windows for comments will let me leave a comment.    Blogs where the comment form opens in a new page also will let me leave comments.  Blogs that have the comments embedded in the page will not.  I'm going through blogs now, to see if this holds true with all of them.

And yes, it does.  I have no idea why this is happening.  I guess I'm just lucky. *G*

Slowly working my way through emails, as well...please be patient with me....

Not Happy

Folks, I've been to all my regular blogs I comment on, and if you didn't see a comment from me on your blog, it's because blogger is EATING them.  I'm not sure what's going on...but about half my comments never make it.  I'm not ignoring you, I promise, it's just that blogger hates me.  This has been going on for about 3 weeks now, there'd better be an end to it soon!

Anybody else having this problem?

And something funny for you, cuz I have nothing else, and they said there would be snow this coming week.  I need a good laugh.  *G*

Three Months

Boy, that seems like a long time to be gone.  Can't tell you what I've been doing, not sewing, that's for sure.  Although I did finish one project [I'll show you in a minute].  Let's see.....lots of reading, and spending time with family.  Oh, and I spilled tea on my laptop keyboard.  It didn't like that, we had to get a new keyboard [ebay, cheap] and all is well now.



My sweet friend Mickie from 3P&N did a really cute cottage stitchery, and I admired it so much I had to do it too.  It's a free download from Needlecrafter.com and you can add the wording yourself, using Microsoft Word.  Just print it out in a font you like and trace it.

I was going to use this precious fabric from an old apron for a border.  The fabric is not in the best shape, and the apron wasn't very well made, see the stitching?



I was going to add rickrack as well.



There were a few construction issues, and by the time I had the rickrack on and it was trimmed, there was nothing to add a border to.  So it became binding.  I think it turned out fine anyway.  I used the apron fabric for the backing, as well.  It makes me happy and that's what counts.



You may have heard that Google Reader is shutting down.  I found this post that gives some great alternatives, not sure which one I'll go with yet.

Also, you may have heard that Jenny from Elefantz has started up her e-zine again - WHAT a happy day for blogland!  I'm absolutely drooling over the new issue and can't wait to get started.  She also has a new pattern released,

Romeo Roses, so gorgeous - head on over and check it out, she's having a give-away as well!  So very glad you're back, Jenny-girl!

And now, back to my 3 month silence....I have to tell you that I still don't feel much like blogging or sewing, and I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be doing in future.  I am enjoying keeping up with you all, but have cut back on my blog reading overall and have not been commenting hardly at all.  I can't really blog when I have nothing to share, so there's probably a bit more silence to come!  All up in the air right now, I'm not going to make any decisions about whether to continue blogging or not.  So you're not rid of me just yet. *G*

Oh - and if you enjoy vintage embroidery, I did upload a new set to my flickr.



All the pics in the set are here.  If you have any trouble downloading, feel free to email me.
See ya soon!

My It's Quiet....

around here.  I'm on a break.  I've been sick, better now, but it was a doozy of a stomach bug.  I hope nobody else gets anything remotely similar.

I'm going to be taking an extended blogging break.  I'm not blogging or even sewing lately.  I've actually been a wee bit [dare I say it?] bored with sewing.  Hard to believe, I know...sigh.

Not sure when I'll be back to it.  I'll be around to your blogs now and then, just to keep an eye on you and make sure you're behaving.  Hugs to you all.