Thank You, Snowtorious B.I.G., a Finish, and Progress

Hi there, everyone! I hope you are all warm, and dry, and enjoying your weekend!

First I want to say thank you so much for your kind words re: my grandpa's passing... It was such a comfort to read all your comments! He was a wonderful man, and we will all miss him. Mercifully, his final decline was of relatively short duration. In answer to Deb's question, that picture was of him holding Leah when she was about 3 or 4 months old. Tricked ya w/ the B&W photo, didn't I?

Stitchy pictures to follow, but first...

As most of you have probably heard, we are currently getting SLAMMED here in the Mid Atlantic by what our local NBC affiliate termed "Snowtorious B.I.G." - I seriously LOL'ed when I read that. I went out to shovel last night at about 12:30 and we had nearly a foot on the ground already. After about 45 minutes to get my steps and the sidewalk in front of our house cleared (we live in a TH, so that's only about 20 ft. of sidewalk), what I had just shoveled already had a good 2 inches, or more. When I got up this morning and looked out the window at what I had shoveled a short 10 hours prior, I swear I heard the sidewalk laughing it's hiney off at me... it may have even been pointing at me as it laughed! We have close to 30" on the ground at my house, and may get 5" (or more??!!) more before it's all said and done.

And the worst part is... I think this may be my fault... I left this little gem hanging after we took the Christmas decorations down:

Yeah... I've learned my lesson!!! :)

Here are some pics of the 'hood (or, as Leah likes to call it, our village) about 2 hrs ago:

Note the snow that has drifted high enough to nearly cover the hoods of the cars across the street... They've plowed our street a few times already, so hopefully we won't be trapped for too long. I looove snow, but it isn't really my idea of the greatest way to burn vacation days from work!

This is my front "stoop"... it was down to bare pavement when I went inside last night, and is sheltered pretty well from the wind. Oy!

And here's Leah and her daddy preparing to go for a walk around the neighborhood... the call of the snow was irresistable to them both. They lasted about 10 minutes. I think the wind slapping the snow into their faces is what did it. Leah came in begging for hot cocoa, and a warm bed, lol!

We haven't lost power, but I hear that thousands in our area have - I hope those folks are all staying snuggled up and staying warm(ish) and dry inside their houses!

On to stitchy things... :)

I finished (really!!) The Sewing Clamp Sampler Bits stitching, and here she is:

Stitched on provided 40ct "Muffin" linen over 1 thread with provided DMC thread

The one over one was not too bad once my eyes adjusted, but, especially with such dark thread, it was a bit hard to tell what I was stitching. There were times I just stabbed at what I hoped was the appropriate hole! I'm hoping to finish finish this little doo-dad in the next few weeks, but who knows if I will get to it that quickly, or not.

One note on this kit - The kit description claims that the clamp part is wrought iron, and that made sense to me given the price. It is NOT wrought iron. It is a heavy metal, painted with a powdery dark brown paint. I discovered this when I was loosening the clamp to attach it to something (to see how well it would clamp) and little bits of paint started flaking off into my hand, and silver started to show up. I don't mind per se that it isn't wrought iron, and I probably would have wanted it/ bought it even knowing up front that it wasn't... however, I feel as though I was intentionally misled, and I do not care for that. I will not be buying any kits that include "hardware" from this designer again, for that reason. She also has a pair of scissors for sale, which I was considering purchasing, but due to what happened with the clamp, I don't feel I can trust the description on those, either.

On to happier things!!

I started Blackbird Designs' Special Delivery Girl's Birth Sampler on the way to IN, and here is where I am:

I was looking through blog updates last night (but not commenting - I'll do that as soon as I post this) and saw, to my amazement and amusement that Siobhan had posted her pic of this finish! All I can say is... that Siobhan sure does have good taste!! :) I'm working it on 40 ct. generic cream linen with the called for threads. I love this pattern and have been wanting to/ meaning to complete it for some time now. It seems to be going somewhat quickly, and if I could just get some consistent time in my stitchy chair, it would get done pretty soon, I think!

Well, that's it for me for now... I'm considering spending the rest of my day hanging pictures in Leah's room & bathroom, and maybe finally putting some pics up in my "Nest" (aka, my craft room, my throne room, the room for none but she who rules this home)... maybe if I do that, it will motivate me to do the little bit of organizing I need to do in there and take some pics and post them on here for all to see? Hmm... we'll see!

Until next time,
Robin