I MISS MY DAD

My Saturday went from blech to ugh and I managed to spend most of it in the big girl sleigh bed.  I had started to feel decidedly unwell on Thursday, but chose to ignore it completely in the hopes that it would somehow sort itself out.

Alas, it was not to be.  Such is the life of a kidney patient, apparently.  I haven't been very good at remembering that I am a flower of very delicate constitution and not, as I think I am anyway, the bull in a china shop that is usually able to power through a day of errands and laundry without having to pause for rest and sustenance.

So today I am in the Happy Chair at 7am pondering Father's Day and how much I miss my dad.  I think I am especially sad this year because it seems like life has gotten away from me a bit these last few months, and I'm pretty sure that if he were here, Bob Rich would be wondering what the heck happened to his happy, competent, optimistic, funny, lighthearted, fool of a daughter.

I can hear him now..."Just do your thing, CJ."  This is the advice that he gave whenever he knew that I was fretting over something big or small, and his confidence that I had it in me to know what "my thing" was usually got me right where I needed to be.  My dad was a kind and gentle and loving and generous man, and when Mom told me to find somebody just like him to marry...I knew I was completely and totally screwed, because I'm pretty sure they only made one of him.

I've known and loved a lot of wonderful men in my life...uncles and cousins and friends and one or two soulmates, and I'm blessed to have had a lot of father figures through the years provide me with guidance or help or insight, but there's really only one guy that was my dad.

Today I'm going to try to do things that will honor his memory...like putter around the house and watch a little golf and cook a great meal, and if the stars align just right, I'm going to do my thing and get some stitching done.

If you're missing your dad today, here's hoping that you'll find something that will bring you joy and peace.  If you are a dad...Happy Father's Day!

SATURDAY...BLECH

Yuckety yuckety yuckety.  I like the theory of my design, but not the execution.

Is it the colors?  The combination?  The varieagated?  Do I plow on?  Stop?  Drink tequilla?

I see some time up in the studio in my future.  Don't be surprised if this gets turned into one big fat doodle cloth.

LEARNING CURVE

I decided to try a bargello background instead of simple tent stitch.  I'm not sure if it will be too busy when the rest of the piece is complete, but I'm pretty much making this up as I go along.  

The good news is that I'm using a readily available perle cotton for that white-ish background, so if I end up having to replace it a short trip to the Michaels will solve the problem of running out of thread.

Stewey and Bosco are snoozing in the sun and I'm off to the laundry room and then the library.  We're trying to get into routine here at Chez Spinster, so it's back to lists and schedules.

(At least for today anyway.)

(Tomorrow will be a total crap shoot and all of my best laid plans will go right out the window.)

I am determined to re-live the summers of my youth one of these days.  Mom made sure we were up and out early...at the pool, on our bikes, out on the porch swings, or doing something fun.  Given my rotundity (even as a child), I was usually the one on the porch swing with a big fat summer book in my hand.  I went from Nancy Drew to Danielle Steele to Jackie Collins with a few classics thrown in there for good measure.  I think there was even a summer of bodice-ripping romances, and for some reason the name Kathleen E. Woodiwiss comes to mind.

I was lucky...my mom and dad never really censored what I picked up.  If the book was at all "controversial" like Judy Bloom's Forever, I could count on a kitchen table conversation about being a proper young lady and what the expectation was for me going forward as an adult-ish person, and how my mom would know what I was doing 24/7, no matter when I was doing it or where I was doing it.  So any ideas I had about becoming a "hotsy totsy" were pretty much squashed right then and there.  

But reading those big fat summer books...no matter how high brow or low brow was the highlight of my day, just like stitching is now.  One of these days I'll get really smart and combine the two by listening to audio books while I stitch, but for now methinks I'll just have to set aside time for both in between puppy wrangling and loads of underpants sploshing about in the laundry machine.

So here's to big fat summer books and porch swings and clean laundry and stitching!   The weekend is upon us, the sun is shining, and we're hurtling headlong right into it all.  Happy Friday, kids!

DO OVER

Hmmmm.  I'm not sure if I like v2.0 any better than v1.0, but for now it's going to stay right where it is.  I am worried about the thread coverage, though, so I might need to address that by re-thinking the perle cotton.

Today is cool and cloudy, which means I am going to enjoy it with an extra cup of damn good coffee and a book and some stitchy time later this afternoon.  I have an appointment and then a few errands to run, but before I know it I'll be back in the Happy Chair again!

(I swear, if I could figure out a way to put a steering wheel on this thing and motorize it my life would be complete.  This Happy Chair love affair is the longest relationship I've ever had, and despite its shabby brokendown appearance (and my shabby brokendown appearance too, for that matter) methinks we're in it for the long haul.  We both need a good scrubbing, though, so I suppose one if us had better get into the shower before we're late.)

Here's hoping that your Thursday relationships are all perfectly swell and that your needles are flying!  Do something fabulous and come tell me all about it!

DING DONG

The frog is at my door, wanting to come in for a visit with my bargello challenge.

I like the overall shape of my focal point, but the varieagated thread is not my friend here.  I think I'm going to go with solid colors in the four diamond shapes and then use the Watercolours in the corner sections.  The backgrund of the focal point (to fill in the square) will be light ecru tent stitch to give the eye a place to rest.

I suppose that this is why this piece is a challenge, no?  Learning to do new things is opening my tiny little brain up to the possibility that there might be another way to do something, after all.

*****************

I confess to fretting quite seriously over the recent events here in the U.S. and how I might write about them on this here blog.  I've composed a thousand different posts (in my head, anyway) about love and hate, guns and violence, good and evil, and why we just can't seem to get our proverbial act together, but all of my words seem very very...small.   

There have been 37 mass casualty shootings in the United States since I started writing in 2008.  

37.

Since 2008.

If you can find a way to wrap your head around that, then you're doing much better than I am.  For now, I try to understand it all and I send silent prayers for the victims and the families and those that are left behind.  And I also pray for the shooters to be...that something will shift in their mind and heart that will stop them from pulling the next trigger, and I pray that the smart people come forward and lead us to solutions that will end this crazyness once and for all.

So, please, dear friends, forgive me for blathering about stitching and pups and laundry and coffee while the world spins like crazy off its axis.  I'm not oblivious to the greater issues of the day...I'm just trying to make sense of things from the safe confines of the Happy Chair with a needle and thread for company.  

I don't have any answers...if I did I would shout them from my rooftop.  But what I do have is hope.  For now, I suppose, that's going to have to be good enough.

SMALL START

The bargello challenge is underway.  I managed to get my focal point established and a few light grid lines added.  This project is an EGA correspondence course designed and written by Gail Stafford.  Our group has joined another chapter in the Great Lakes Region for a multi-month effort, and we are each responsible for the design and color selection of our pieces.  It should be interesting to see all of the finished projects that the members create.

STUDIO TIME!

Tonight is Church Guild (*) night, so I decided to spend some time in the studio gathering my materials for the next project.  We're doing a bargello challenge piece, so I am pulling threads today.  My inspiration thread is Carol Watercolours in Nile Sundown....now all I need to do is coordinate some perle cottons and I'm good to go!

It's so peaceful up here.  Wonder how long I could stay before the boys wonder where I am?  It does get a little warm up here in the summer, hence the closed blinds and coverings on the skylights.  It's not too bad at the moment, but by about 3pm it will be a little toasty for my liking.

I hope that your week is off to a roaring start!  Happy Monday, kids!

Church Guild = EGA Elkhart (we meet in a church)

Grocery Guild = EGA South Bend (we meet in a grocery store)

Library Guild = ANG Hoosier Heartland (we meet in a library)

SUMMER PEACOCK SQUARE FEE NEE

Peacock Square

Stickideen von der Wiehenburg Designs

in the July/Aug 2015 issue of Needlepoint Now

18ct. mono canvas in ecru

Caron Wildflowers in Marigold and Canteloupe

Caron Impressions in 3022, 4013, 5032, 5142

Kreinik #12 braid in 029

WHAT HAPPENS AT HOOSIER HEARTLAND STAYS AT HOOSIER HEARTLAND

Don't worry, Miss Julia.

I've got your back.

.....

Your aching, aching back.

Love,

The Spinster Stitcher

P.S. This message brought to you by the National Arthritis Foundation.

SATURDAY SPINSTER BLISS

Bosco is snoozing on the perch:

Stewey is snoozing in the window:

And Spinster's bag is packed and ready for Library Guild!

Miss Charlene will be here at 9:30 to whisk me away to a very happy place indeed...a Saturday stitchy session with my ANG buddies at the library.  After a long week of the grumbles, this is just what the doctor ordered!  

(Nothing serious, kids.  The world was just a bit too much for me, so I did what any self-respecting agoraphobic hermit spinster would do in that situation...I went to bed, pulled the covers over my head, and came out when it passed.  Right as rain once again!)

It's going to be a scorcher in these here parts!  If you're knee deep in Summer also, stay cool and hydrated!

Woo Hoo!

FRIDAY FRIDAY

THURSDAY THURSDAY

WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY

TUESDAY TUESDAY

MONDAY MONDAY

SUNDAY SPINSTER BLISS

The studio is clean and organized now and I started this:

Instead of the blues, I'm using Wildflowers in Canteloupe and Marigold, and Impressions in 4013, 5142, 3022, and 5032.  I might also throw a Kreinik in there, but the jury is still out on that one.

This is from the July/Aug 2015 issue of Needlepoint Now.  I had so much fun with this designer in the Fall and Spring that I decided it was time to add Summer to the mix!

Happy Sunday!  Do something that makes your heart sing and your skirt blow right up!

PHOOEY

No stitching again last night.  

Can you say schlump schlump schlumpadink?

I thought I was going to play with something new, but then...nothing.

If I can, I'm going to put the world to rights again today up in the studio with a marathon organizing session.  I have piles and piles of stuff up there that I keep meaning to "get to eventually", so it looks like today might be eventually.

Onward and upward!

BACK IN THE BRIGHT PINK SADDLE

After only a few minutes up in the studio, I came down with this:

This is Orchid Maze from Ada Haydon and Susan Alanson.

I'm not sure how long it's been since I started this one, but I think it's been quite a while.  Think I can finish it this weekend?

The sun is shining, the birds are sweetly tweeting, and the boys are (blissfully) sacked out in front of the  patio window catching occasional glimpses of the squirrels at the bird feeder.  After a few chores and a wardrobe change, I'm heading to the Happy Chair for a little stitch therapy.

How is it in your neck of the woods?

FIDDLESTICKS.

Well, so much for a happy, peaceful evening in the Happy Chair.  Is it possible that I've used up all of my good stitchy karma for the year already and we're back to frustration, aggravation, and all of the other bothersome "tions" known to man?

I tried.  I really did.  But the Housewives were screaming, the boys were futzing, and I simply could not see a damn thing as I tried to make any progress on A Different View.  No matter what I tried...moving my stitchy light, using the white fabric thingie that Miss Charlene gave me, cleaning my glasses, praying a novena...nothing worked.  And the harder I tried, the harder I failed and the more Kreinik I had to rip out.

So...executive decision today.  I am going to put this back in its lovely little project bag, breathe, reboot, and head up to the studio to pick something else.  I am in no state of mind to fight with the one thing that is keeping me from entering that "special facility", so methinks a few hours pawing through my stash should set the world right again.

Stewey's theory is that we need a vacation, but mine is that I just need a minute to regroup.  So don't cry for me Argentina...all matter of things shall be well just as soon as I shake off this ickyness and move back into the land of rainbows and unicorns.

Woo Hoo!

AUDITIONING...

I lnow, I know...it's not framed yet, but I wanted to see what Bird in a Nest would look like here:

Speaking of birds in nests:

And then...there was Bosco: