A corner of her own.

Yes, I know Virginia Woolf said every woman should have a room of her own, but it my little-ish house with four kids, I get a corner.



There it is, all my hobbies crammed in one corner. The piece of furniture with the lamp on it is my sewing machine. It's turquoise blue and quite retro (vintage, in a all actuality). It only does straight and zig-zag, nothing fancy, but it works great. The framed photo is my grandmother at age 16, in 1951 or so.










My first love is cross-stitch. I started stitching when I was four or five years old, and I still love it 25 years later. But, in this second picture, you can see that the yarn is starting to take over. That's one of those purple fabric drawers, 12"x12". When I reorganized a few months ago, I originally filled this cube with smaller cross-stitch patterns and leaflets. But there was space on top, and the yarn invaded. The blue is for a lace shawl for my oldest daugther so she'll stop stealing mine. Under that is some sock yarn and the bright pink is more laceweight for one of the trillion lace shawls I love. I thought that bright pink would really update a traditional lace shawl. Fun!





This last picture is a closeup of my sock yarn cubby. The basket was the original sock yarn receptacle. See how well that's working out? I already admitted that there's more sock yarn kiding in the purple cube, too. But, the yarn down the left side of this cubby isn't sock yarn, so it evens out, right? ;)

Swirly Sampler

I finished this cross-stitch piece while I was on vacation last week. I'd been working on it for a long time, just as a fun break from other pieces. It's the Swirly Sampler by Bent Creek on 32 ct jobelan.

Oooh, aaaaaah!

I stitched a little something last night. I recently ordered the frame for these Twisted Threads monthly designs, so I decided I had better stitch something to go in it before it arrives. This took less time than expected. I stitched almost all of it while watching Wedding Crashers. (I won't be watching it again, but at least I got some stitching done!) Sorry the picture is a little blurry. Twisted Threads July Ooh Aah stitched one over one on 28 ct Quaker Cloth in natural.



The fourth of July is a bit of a mixed bag at our house. Almost any fireworks are allowed here in our little town. They stop just short of allowing large scale explosives. When we bought our house six years ago at the end of June and I was up here alone painting, I was sure the place was going to catch on fire and burn to the ground before we could even move in. You have to be able to tune those suckers out! Every year I think my nerves get a little more frayed. Yet, the fourth can also be very charming. There's a small-town parade with kids on decorated bikes and local businesses throwing candy from the back of pickup trucks. Afterward we go to the park and attend the ice cream social and listen to the live music. After dark, of course there's the big fireworks. Then we drive home through the streets full of the debris of a thousand small, beautiful explosions which continue long into the night.

Hello out there.

I think I'll give this blog thing a try. I'm not promising regular updates, and I think blogs without pictures are boring, so unless I have something to show you, you're not likely to hear from me.

Maybe this will get me to actually take pictures and download them from the camera. Worth a shot, right?

Since every post needs a picture, here's a lovely one of the beginning of the new walkway we put in from our driveway to front porch this month. I know you wanted to see concrete.