My start of Chatelaine’s Swan Lake aka Mystery 14. I’m stitching as charted (so far) on 28ct. Light Blue jobelan. And loving it.
I think the fabric color is truest in the first picture, threads truest in the third. There is a crystal for the center but I am considering substituting a mother of pearl button with a swan painted on it. I would lose the pulled eyelets because of the size of the button, but I don’t think I really care.
Quick stitch, quick finish!
by Shepherd’s Bush, stitched as charted (except for the mistake I added and wasn’t in the mood to frog). It’s inserted into the recommended box, and the finishing was dead simple. Really, anyone can do this. The only skills needed are tracing a circle and cutting it out.
I’ve started on Chatelaine’s Swan Lake but only posted a quick & dirty picture to Twitter. Once I have something worth showing I’ll get it posted here.
I also finish on occasion!
Letter L by Mirabilia stitched as charted on 28ct. African Daisy jobelan. Took me about 20 hours to stitch and went off to Jill Rensel for framing today. Stitched for my cousin’s brand new little baby girl Leah.
My dear friend Cheryl continued my happy birthday with a surprise.
Blackbird’s Loose Feathers #20 and a gorgeous pair of Elena Gingher’s. Awesome. I have the best stitching friends in the world. đ
I’ve also started stitching on Shepherd’s Bush “Take Joy”. I bought myself the chart/kit and the box for my birthday. Â I’m hoping to post a finish in a day or two.
My kit for Chatelaine’s Swan Lake (the 2011 mystery) arrived, the fabric is 28ct. Light Blue joblean. (yes I have a jobelan fetish) I need to get started on this and get back to the long neglected CaHRH <- which I promised to my Mother for Christmas ’11.
The 3 (awesome!) Downside Ghosts books by Stacia Kane are going to….
10. Ash!
Smash Attack Says:
December 27th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I have a brand new Kindle, so YAY! My favorite book series of 201o is The Disillusionist Trilogy by Carolyn Crane. Iâve heard nothing but awesomness about The Downside Ghost series. Thanks for the opportunity!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
The pile o’ vintage goodies and Blackbird calendar is going to live with…
17.
staci Says:
December 27th, 2010 at 10:49 am e
Happy Blogoversary and Happy Birthday to You (and to us as well!)
My home would be perfect for your stuff!!!
Congrats to Ash & Staci! Be on the lookout for emails from me.
Let me tell you all, I opened this package from Kathy Monday morning and for the next 10 minutes the only words that came out of my mouth were “oh my goodness”.
Seriously. Yeah, my jaw is still kinda dropping. Kathy made this for me.  I told her, I think the only thing I have that’s nice enough to keep in this is the Christening gown my Grandmother crocheted for me.  This is so beautiful in person… The design is Memory Keeper by The Workbasket stitched on 32ct Mushroom Lugana with a combination of overdyed cottons. And lots of bunnies. Bunnies! This gives me a serious happy.  See that bunny in the second photo, upper right corner? He’s my FAVORITE. And then of course the rabbit thread drops – which I love. I’ve almost run through my first supply of these. Bunny scissors. OMG, love.  Thank you 1000 times Kathy! This is an extraordinarily wonderful gift and I will TREASURE it forever.
But you know what happened next? Gabi dropped a kindness bomb on me! I open up my Gmail and what’s there? I gift certificate for Amazon! My birthday was bookended in wonderful thanks to Gabi & Kathy. Â Thank you so much Gabi for a perfect ending to my day.
Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday here and on Facebook. đ I’ll get the winners for the two giveaways up shortly.
It probably hasn’t escaped notice that I am a book junkie.
(not my pile – but i could do this if i wanted to)
Every year on the Tuesday (book release day is on Tuesdays, just like DVDs) closest to my birthday I treat myself a pile of shiny new releases from that day. This year my Birthday Books are:
In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz
The Lady Most Likely by Julia Quinn et al
Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning  which sadly isn’t truly a Birthday Book – its release has been pushed back for something like the 3rd time and is now not coming out until January – but too bad, I’m counting it.
But this post is not just about what I’m buying – I’m giving away books! My favorite trilogy of 2010 – Downside Ghosts 
written by Stacia Kane. You can read about the series on Goodreads. Sound like something you’d like to read? Well if you have a Kindle – or are willing to read on one of the zillion free Kindle apps  (this is the easiest way for me to do this, and I’m all about the easy ;p ) leave a comment below telling me your favorite book or series of 2010 and you could be the lucky winner of Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts!
The vintage collection is also a giveaway but if you want a chance at that you must comment on that post.
Ladies, I don’t know how this happened. Good taste reared its head in my household.
Blackbird Design’s 2011 Calendar
Footed compote for your scissors and orts!
Two vintage* doilies.
A fistful of buttons from the vintage button jar along with a thimble all inside a glass and silver plate dish*.
Fat quarter of cross stitch print quilting cotton.
And a cupid needleminder.
*Vintage = older in used condition, with love love spots – otherwise know as antiquing – otherwise known as stains.
*Dish is actually a coaster, but dish sounds nicer doesn’t it?
Since it’s fairly obvious (see tacky posts) that I simply can not abide such tasteful objects in home I must re-home them! So happy blogversary and birthday to me, the gift is for you. If you think you can provide this little collection with a good home just leave a comment below and I’ll pick a winner… Thursday, that seems like as good a day as any.
The Downside Ghosts Trilogy are also part of my blog/birth giveaway, but if you want a chance at those you must also comment on that post.
See what I did there? Classing the place up with some French.
And that’ll be the end of the classy stuff.
I am a firm believer that EVERY house needs something tacky. Being me, I turn this concept up to 11 – every ROOM in my house has something tacky. The kitchen window sill:
Prism – yawn. Thermometer over there too. Hey, if everything’s tacky it takes away from the truly head shaking stuff.
heh That pig – gift from my husband. It’s worth at least a handful of change. Because it’s a bank! I’m tempted to shove a $100 bill in that thing just so I can say that pig’s worth 3 digits. His belly reads “To Support My Vices” truer words Mr. Pig, truer words…
I think I’ve discussed in the past my affection for toothpick holders. Not really a fan of toothpicks, but the holders? Gold. And this whale here was a must buy. Those spiffy plastic toothpicks were included. That’s like buying a car and getting the undercoating thrown in for free!
Now this objet d’art, made in Occupied Japan – naked geshia toddler and a vase all in one? Tell me, how could I pass it up? In honor of the Christmas season a sprig of plastic holly. *Love*
Do you know Maneki Neko? My big one is extra super special lucky – that baby’s arm moves. Solar powered beckoning FTW. Or the luck, as the case may be.
Well, that’s about it for today. Never fear I’ll be back soon with more examples of poor taste (and I do have to admit I’m amused and strangely flattered by all the love the first post in the Questionable Taste series received).
First in a series of posts where I discuss my taste or lack thereof or maybe it’s all in my mouth.
Exhibit A:
I like this. Really really like it. Proud of the fact most of those presents are wrapped in packaging paper from the shipping box our paper shredder came packed in. The labels – free! Printed from the interwebs & it’s hard to see in the picture all the packages are tied with red and white baker’s twine – which I hunted high and low to get the best deal on. 100 YARDS for $4.90. That tree skirt? That’s the $5 job from Target with about $4 worth of jumbo teal ric rak glued on. Yes glued… I did buy thread to sew it on, but then the whole thing started to smack of effort. As in plugging in the sewing machine was a massive challenge when weighed against popping the top off the fabric glue. Â My massive stocking investment, $1 stockings – I do/did/kinda sorta/I may get around to it, embroidering in teal Dad, Mom, Winston, and Kitties on them. Good thing Christmas comes every year huh?
(And no those aren’t bugs or dirt on my wall, those are the holes that have been there since I moved in, along with the ass ugly wall color I swore was getting painted over as soon as we moved in. 7 years this June!)
This month’s 10 is the 10 best books I’ve read in ’10.
Some of these will be entire  series, I refuse to pick just one book from a larger body of work.
1. Stacia Kane‘s Downside Ghosts, 1st in the series is Unholy Ghosts.
2. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.
3. The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (Yes, those Girl With The Dragon Tattoo books.)
4. Sleepless by Charlie Huston
5. Johannes Cabal The Detective by Jonathan L. Howard (Second in the series, read in order for best effect.)
6. New Blood by Gail Dayton First in a new series, Blood Magic.
7. Willing Victim by Cara McKenna (I also recommend everything with her name on it.)
8. The Native Star by M.K. Hobson
9. The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook (Her entire Iron Seas series is recommended, TID is the first book – but there is a short prequel Here There Be Monsters in the Burning Up anthology.)
10. Â Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, 1st book is Magic Bites.
Books are in no particular order – ok #1 is #1 for a damn good reason. Kane has done something new & wonderful in the Urban Fantasy universe. Pay attention to her & Meljean Brook, both of these authors are going to be considered defining for their genres. Come back in 5 years and congratulate me on my psychic prowess. I can wait, I can also say “I told you so.” đ
All the others… just buy them and read them. Seriously, I love them all and it’s hard for me to stop at 10.  I easily have another 10 I could recommend, but I edited this list for popularity too. I pulled off some books, like Changes by Jim Butcher – great book, but the man gets plenty of love. Yes, Larsson isn’t hurting either, but when I’m obsessed with your characters… ok I could say the same for Butcher. See why this is making me pull my hair out?
I can talk for hours about books, remember I blog occasionally over at From The TBR Pile. I’m not much of a reviewer, but I do my best and I never recommend a book I don’t love. You can also find me over on Goodreads, Missy Ann Walker.
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