Friday, March 25, 2011

march 28 - guardian angels, PIF and catching up

We had a near disaster last week. We moved my good stitching lamp back to the living room and it is placed near the front window. The lamp also has a magnifier on it. Jeff got home from work early and went up for a nap. When he came down, he saw a small spiral of smoke coming up from the blanket on the couch. The sun was shining directly through the magnifier onto the blanket. If he hadn't caught it, the whole house could have gone up in flames. No-one would have been home for hours. Just thinking about it gives me the willies. We haven't seen the sun here in a long time and I never thought about the reflection and all. Anyway, the magnifier now has a thick terrycloth cover over it...but I am very glad that our angels were looking after us that day!  

I have been able to get some stitching done this week too. I finished the latest part on our specialty stitch SAL with Friendly Stitchers...this time the stitch was the "algerian eye stitch"...


 
I also finished two pieces from Midnight Stitching. The first was one of my crazy 15 challenge starts in January...A Prairie Girl's Sampler, stitched on bittersweet lite jobelan with a crescent color called "barn door".


 
The second piece was one of my crazy challenge WIPs/UFOs...Quaker Winter Slumber, stitched on an opalescent white linen with weeks thread in "eggplant".
 
 
I really love Marianne's designs and these were both such a pleasure to stitch. I finally got our taxes done yesterday. 

I hate doing taxes because we always have to pay. But now that they're done I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and I feel like I have permission to indulge in my favorite hobby more. So I will!  

I have been very lazy with the SAL I am doing with Babs...Apple Tree Sampler. I really like this piece and I love the colors, but somehow I am going at it very slowly. I did do a little bit more last night. I'm sure Babs is way far ahead of me!
   
I also got my ornament stitched for this month, but it is not finished yet, so I will show a picture when it is. And I stitched my exchange piece for the Blackbird Designs exchange, but I can't show that yet, because my partner might read my blog...I'm not sure.  

And finally, there were three people interested in my PIF, so I decided to just send to all three instead of choosing just one. They are Babs, Fiona and stitchinpeanut. Please send me your mailing info and don't forget to pass it forward on your blogs as well. So now I should get back to work. We have a library board meeting this evening so it will be a later night than usual for me.  
Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!

14 comments:

  1. Love that Algerian eye stitch!

    I'm so glad the angels were looking out for you. That could have been a terrible disaster!

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  2. Your pieces are beautiful, congrats on the two finishes! I really like the Apple Tree Sampler, going to enjoy watching your progress.

    Wow, you sure did have a guardian angel watching out - thank goodness!!

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  3. Whew, what a close call with the magnifier!! Lesson learned!

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  4. Oh My Gosh, it's very lucky you're hubbie caught the smoke in time & that no-one was harmed! those are some lovely finishes and progress, it doesn't matter that its going slowly all that matters is that you enjoy working on it! nothing worse than stitching something you hate! thankyou for my PIF entry :) I love PIFs :) my email address is crazy_strange161@hotmail.com x

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  5. Oh blimmy that was good timing .. mine is always covered up with a velvet bag .....lovely work as always :) love mouse xxxx

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  6. Wow, how scary with that lamp. That happened to a friend of mine and her husband caught it right away too. It was a valuable lesson for all of us who had those lamps and we keep them covered now when not in use.
    Your stitching is gorgeous! Very nice work.

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  7. Omg that's scary!!!!!!! Thank the heavens it worked out okay. :(

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  8. I ALWAYS keep my magnifiers covered. They came with little bags to protect them from scratches, but those covers also keep light out!

    Glad everything was all right!

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  9. Gorgeous finishes, and so glad to hear a fire wasn't started after all! Phew!

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  10. Yikes! Good thing your husband was on the ball!! Lesson learned, and you didn't have your house burn down. Whew!!

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  11. Wow - always heard about magnifiers doing that, but whew! Glad you caught it! Wonderful finishes and stitching!

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  12. Yep the angels were looking after you.... I had almost that experience - I had noticed that the armchair was warmish one day and realised that the hot afternoon sun that came in through the back door went straight through the magnifying glass - so now the glass is lower and facing side on!!!

    It is something that you just don't really think about when you put your stitching away!

    http://firefliescatsinthegarden.blogspot.com/

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  13. Lovely stitching! I am glad your house did not burn.

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