The Doctor is in the House

Look who arrived just in time for dinner tonight - Dr. Acula! And how appropriate that he arrived right at dusk! It made his emergence from the coffin box much more comfortable than if he had arrived in broad daylight.

The thread kit gives us hints of the fun to come with this character. I'm looking forward to reading through the stitch guide tonight, deciding where to start, and sorting out all of the threads I will use from previous kits. I laughed out loud when I read the special notice from the Halloweenies Construction Union and Monsters Incorporated that was enclosed with Dr. Acula. Basically, those of us in the union are asking for shorter stitching days and more time off around certain holidays. So it looks like we will be taking the month of November off and returning to construction on the Haunted House in December. Also, there will be a 5th phase to the Haunted House which will extend our home study into March. I fully support the Union's efforts on our part (and I'm not particularly fond of unions!). Now, if they can just work out a way to get some health insurance for me...

A shout out to Linda at Stitching Sisters, I saw your Stirha and Frank finished pieces in Amy's September newsletter and they look incredible! Great stitching! I know you will be excited to get them home. I can hardly wait for my two characters to come back from their time on the west coast.

The Doctor is calling to me and says he needs to stretch his legs after his journey from Tennessee and I need to gather my garlic and crucifixes before I go to bed tonight - just in case.

Good night, all!

Hugs & Kisses

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Here in Georgia we had a hint of the change of season that's ahead. We had some comfortable temperatures - upper 80's and lower 90's - still not exactly cool but when the humidity isn't so high, the lower 90's are comfortable compared to just a few weeks ago. I enjoyed my morning tea out on the patio on Sunday and did the same this morning. It was a welcome change!

I made more progress on XOXO this weekend than I anticipated. It works up very quickly. The walnettos are completed as are the hearts. Tonight I'll be working on another trame stitch in the second red area.

I have laid one direction of diagonal stitches and will lay the opposite direction in just a little bit and then begin to fill in with the other design elements. This is a great size for a small project. Just about the time I was getting tired of stitching those walnettos, I was finished. The next section of hearts took no time at all.

I promised you a look at the mystery vine that is growing behind my stitching chair. It's hanging in there although this afternoon the topmost leaves are starting to wilt. Whatever source of moisture there has been for this vine must be drying up. It has been about two weeks since I first noticed it growing back there.

The newlyweds are coming for a visit this weekend. Anna is coming up a little ahead of Andrew so we will have some nice "girl time" before he gets here. Andrew has to deliver a car back to BMW in Spartanburg, SC on Saturday so we will follow him up there and then we'll all run up to Asheville for a brief afternoon visit. I haven't been to Asheville in a couple of years and it's just one of my favorite places to go.

Looking forward to meeting Dr. Acula this week. I think he's still riding around in the big brown truck.

Keep stitching!

Stirha and Frank Say Hello from San Francisco!

No, they aren't home yet but I received a phone call this afternoon from Marlene in San Francisco. Stirha and Frank wanted to say hello and to let me know that they would be home in a couple of weeks. They have been visiting with Marlene as they wait to be "finished". Marlene has a wonderful plan for them that involves beautiful silks and cording. We both felt that going the understated route for finishing suits these two as they both have lots of embellishments already and we don't want to take away from that. Stirha and Frank are in agreement. I'm excited that the wait is almost over and can't wait to share pictures of the handsome couple when they return from San Francisco.

The Walnettos continue on XOXO this weekend. The Walnettos sounds like a family of trapeze artists in the circus, don't they?

I'm thinking of signing up for the ANG Cyberworkshop by Orna Willis. It's called Square Dance and you can see it here on the ANG website. I haven't done any counted thread needlework in a long time and this looks like fun. Anybody else thinking about signing up for this one?

I'll leave you with a picture of my Little Girl and some needlepoint pillows on my bed.

Construction Grinds to a Halt

I put aside the Haunted House last night as Phases 2 and 3 slowly ground to a halt. I confess that I had my doubts as to whether I would finish this project when I picked it back up at the beginning of August. But, here we are at the end of August, and I am pleasantly surprised with the progress I made during the month. There is still a lot of work to be done but I can now see this as a finished project towards the end of this year or the beginning of next year. I have put the House aside in preparation for the arrival of Dr. Acula in September and W. Herr Wolff in October. Work on the Haunted House will begin again in November.

I rooted around in the stash last night in search of something small and fun to stitch while I wait for Dr. Acula. This is what I found.

This is the XOXO canvas (or Hugs & Kisses) from & more (& more is the name of the design company).  The stitch guide is by Julia Key H. Snyder.  I bought the canvas, threads, and stitch guide from Amy's back in January not realizing that Halloween was about to completely take over my stitching time. You can see a finished example of this on Amy's website. This pillow was beautifully stitched by Jill.  There are two red panels that are worked in trame stitches and two white panels that are worked in a darning pattern and a blackwork pattern. The XOXO in the middle is worked with gold beads.

Last night I laid the horizontal and vertical stitches on the left red panel and today I began adding the Walnettos over the intersections.  Do you know what a Walnetto is? Me either, but I added some to the canvas.

This will be a fun distraction for the next couple of days. It seems my stitching has a holiday theme this year. In January, I finished another canvas by & more. I loved working the Merry Christmas canvas.

Take a minute and look at the two finished examples of this canvas on Amy's website. I think my Needlepoint Study Hall friend, Peggy, stitched one of those Merry Christmas canvases. If you follow the link, you will also see the Boo canvas. I foresee stitching that one, too. Although, it will have to wait until the Halloweenies are over and done with.

Mystery vine update: The mystery vine growing behind my stitching chair is alive and well. I forgot to take a picture for you, but if it's still around by the weekend, I'll post a picture. It's looking healthy and has grown some.

Enjoy the upcoming weekend everyone. I'll see you soon -

Construction Update

I feel like I accomplished a lot on the Haunted House this week. I finished up the ironwork on the rooftop and was pleased with the effect. I think I am getting more accomplished on this project now that I have both Kit 2 and Kit 3 to work with or maybe I just had too much going on in May to devote time to the House.

The work around the front door was started and finished while I watched The Gladiator last night. At least I watched one good movie this weekend. I made the mistake of ordering Valentine's Day and The Bounty Hunter on Pay per View. Both are extremely forgettable but did serve to pass the time while I stitched. As a result, the brick foundation on the left is completed and this afternoon I added the dirt and the iron fence posts.

While I wait for Dr. Acula to arrive, I may finish the brick foundation and fence posts on the right side of the house.

I'm enjoying the little glimpses of the Dr. Acula canvas that Peggy has been posting on Needlepoint Study Hall. I think he's going to be a fun challenge. I won't be sorry to go back to working on a smaller canvas. The Haunted House has done a number on my neck so I'm off to the chiropractor in the morning to get everything back in alignment.

Hope your stitching goes well this week!

Science Experiment or Poor Housekeeping?

I sat down to stitch late this afternoon and noticed this behind my stitching chair. I swear it wasn't there yesterday!

I should probably be embarrassed but I think it's kind of funny. This plant is growing out of the carpet on an outside wall in my den. The den used to be a screened porch that was turned into a more usable space at some point. There's brick tile under the carpet. I went outside to see if there was anything visibly growing from the outside. Unfortunately, there isn't. So I guess that means that my housekeeping skills are in question.

What shall I do with my new plant? Let it grow or rip it out? Just for the heck of it, I think I'll let it grow.

Maybe this is a sign I should vacuum behind my stitching chair.

Last night as I was working on the ironwork on the Haunted House's roof, my Little Girl was anxious to get in my lap.  This is her look that says "you're not seriously going to make me sit over here by myself, are you?"

                                               

Typically, she got what she wanted. Little Girl is an inside/outside kitty. Yesterday she tried to gift me  with a rather large field mouse that she caught. I suppose she thought that we would have fun chasing the mouse through the house. Fortunately, I was able to close the door in her face before she could deliver the gift. I think she must have just stunned the mouse because it scooted away when she put it down. She keeps checking out the plants by the back door where she put it down. I guess she thinks it's still in there.  Another time I'll tell you about how she adopted me a few years ago.

If you don't hear from me in a couple of days, send help, I may have been swallowed up by the mystery vine!

Rooftop Construction

I felt like there was little progress on the Haunted House this week until I started working on the roof this weekend. I didn't get to stitch every night this past week but the nights that I did, I worked on the two stone arches on the left on the first floor. One night was spent putting them in, one night taking them out, and one night putting them back in.  I'm hoping that at some point the arches will be covered in Study Hall and I can see how to improve upon what I have stitched. Here's a photo of them - if anyone who has already stitched these areas sees something that I am doing wrong, please let me know! They just don't look like the ones in the photos that come with the kits!

           

This weekend I decided to incorporate some of Kit #3 into my stitching and moved up to the roof to stitch some of the framework and ledges. After the frustration of the stone arches earlier in the week, it was nice to have some mindless Satin stitches to work on. I worked a little this afternoon on the ironwork above the larger shingled area of the roof and the chimney. Since this involves stitching black on black, I may wait until better natural light to go back to it. We have had a cloudy, thundery afternoon today so not much in the way of good, natural light this afternoon.

I did take one evening to finish a book by one of my favorite authors, Daniel Silva. His new book, The Rembrandt Affair, is another exciting novel involving Gabriel Allon, an Israeli intelligence officer (spy!) who is also a master art restorer. This fast-paced thriller takes us from Cornwall to Amsterdam to London to Argentina to Tel Aviv to Geneva and back to Cornwall on the trail of a stolen Rembrandt and the secrets it has to reveal about its fascinating history from the outbreak of World War II up to its recent theft from an art restorer's studio. I've probably read five or six of Silva's books and all of them have me putting aside other things until I can finish the book. 

Hope you all have a good week and get in some quality stitching time!