SHAMELESS ***EDITED***

**Here I am on Saturday morning lurking around my own blog...

Y'all are sooo nice to give me encouragement about the Prairie Schooler Santas on canvas, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE blame Laura J. Perin for this fabulous idea! I may be shameless enough to steal it from her, but I just can't take credit for it! I'm a follower! A sheep! A brainless, mindless robot doing what the authorities tell her! Do yourselves a favor...go look at her blog to see that I really DON'T have any clue about what I'm doing and when I say she makes me feel like I actually do know what I'm doing, I'm not exaggerating (as I am wont to do!):

http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com


(Oh, and don't blame me when you just HAVE to order the MAGNOLIA collage!)

Off to build a snowman with Stewey...he's waiting impatiently on the back patio and his little mittens are getting wet....this, of course, makes him surly and most unpleasant to deal with for the rest of the day.

Damn dog.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming:


It's a well known fact that I've never had one single solitary original idea in my head. Call it a lack of confidence or even arrogance, but I figure I'm just an amateur in a world of professionals and I'm better off just doing what other people tell/inspire me to do.

So there I was....innocently reading blogs, when I saw the fabulosity that is MS. LAURA J. PERIN HER VERY SELF! Laura's got some major mojo going on, and if you check out her blog, you'll see that she stitched some Prairie Schooler Santas on canvas. Now I know that most normal people would say "Gee, that's really wonderful", but I picked up the phone and hollered at Aunt Chrissy to get her shoes on because we had to go to the LNS for canvas and threads RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE. We sped out of my driveway moments later with my hair on fire and my wallet clutched in my hand as though it were a ham sandwich. (What can I say? I love ham sandwiches.)

Which reminds me of a story....(as almost everything does). I was flying from Seattle to Chicago once when the airplane lost all of its hydraulics and we had to crash land in Phoenix. (This, of course, was pretty ironic since Dad lived in Phoenix and I figured when I called him from the airport to say "I just decided to drop in", I would have literally DROPPED in.)

But I regress...

The flight attendants cleared the cabin of everything that was unnecessary for the plummet to our certain death, but I somehow managed to keep the ham sandwich from the little lunch try firmly clasped in my paw as though it were a floatation device. That damn sandwich made it all the way to the runway (where we landed safely by the way....as though the pilot were putting a baby in a cradle), through the FAA "debriefing" session, and on to the cab ride to Dad's house.

When he opened the door, I said "Hi, Dad! I decided to drop in for a visit. Oh, and I brought lunch." Whereupon I dissolved into a puddle of quivering, sniffling, ridiculous drama-queen-ness that lasted the entire weekend.

(I did, however, manage to eat the sandwich in between the ugly cry and the hiccups.)

Anywhoose...I kitted up all of the annual PS Santas that were in my stash and decided to stitch them on one big piece of canvas:



I am using Vineyard Silks for the red, green, and white, and DMC floss for the other colors, so I hope this will be gorgeous when finally finished sometime in the year 2027.

I also kitted up PS's "December", but this time I picked out a sparkly white canvas. Aunt Chrissy pulled all of the silks, so I KNOW that it will be gorgeous when finally finished. (Hopefully before the year 2027).


Last night I worked on the Raymond Crawford and managed to get the candle block completely finished:

Speaking of shameless, Stewey is really turning on the charm this pre-Christmas gift receiving season. Here's how my morning went before I had even put toes onto carpet:

Stewey: Good morning, mo-ther dear! Oh how happy I am to see you today!

Mo-ther Dear: hmmrmppphh.

Stewey: Shall I start the coffee for you and fetch the paper?

Mo-ther: Huh? Wha? Stewey? What time is it?

Stewey: Why, it's almost 7am, Mommie Dearest, whom I love more than my Prince perch blanket!

Mo-ther: Why are we getting up so early? Who died? What's on fire?

Stewey: Oh, Mom, you are sooo silly! You just crack me up! I just thought we would get an early start today, since you casually mentioned that you wanted to finish up some Christmas shopping and wrapping, and I haven't really seem too many presents with my name on them yet, so I figured you were saving all of THAT shopping for the very end so that you could take your time and carefully select all of the items that I wish-listed on all of my favorite sites!

Mo-ther: Stewey, I've already told you. I am NOT going to buy you anything from the Neiman Marcus catalogue. You're a dog. You'll get a box of biscuits and a toy and you'll be happy about it.

Stewey: Did I mention that I think you're looking particularly FETCHING this morning, mo-ther dear?

Mo-ther: hmmmrphhhh

So in the spirit of actually being a good Mo-ther Dear, I suppose I had better get moving and wrap presents, re-decorate the house to comply with Little Lord Fauntleroy's standards, and finally get the coffee cakes baked. If I don't, there's no shot of any peace on earth, good will towards men whatsoever.

Damn dog.