Trip To The Canyon and The Painted Desert

Hello Friends,

We got back from our 14 day trip about a week ago and it was a wonderful break to see beautiful scenery and take in a family reunion.  It was nice to get back home again and we are back in the swing of our daily routine.  Wish we had had a break from the heat, but while we were gone it was hotter where we were than here in Arizona.  :(  Go figure!!

I thought you might like to see what we saw.  I won't go crazy with pictures here, but just a few will show you the beauty of nature which surrounded us.  We were in awe of our creator's stunning array of colors, sights and sounds. 

Painted Desert With Double Rainbow

Canyon De Chelly

Where the Navajo Lived Canyon De Chelly

Painted Desert

Canyon De Chelly

Amazing Rock Formations & Color

Canyon De Chelly

The White House

Canyon De Chelly

We were sorry to leave such beauty behind us as we traveled on to Chicago for the family get together, but we did have fun despite the heat with my four sisters and their families.  If  you get a chance, don't miss this beautiful hidden gem.  Not a lot of people there this year and we loved it!!

Till Next Time,

Gloria

Hello Friends,

So, I am now settled into my digs in Arizona.  Still some boxes in my garage and a few other places in the house, but I need to revamp the closets in my office to have room for all my stuff.  I have finally received a quote for my office/craft room including the closets that is at least a bit more reasonable than the first quotes.

This is my dream office/craftroom, but it's a bit pricey, so I am starting with the closets and then will decide how much of the rest of office I can afford to do. 

We will be able to get started on the closets in a couple of weeks and I will post photoes of my work in progress.  :) That will empty a lot of boxes in the garage, clean out the few boxes left in our great room and clean out the guest room. I can't wait for this area of my house to be more settled.

I wrote the above in February or March and never published it.  Now an update will help me to get this the post completed.  The closets were finally finished on Thursday the 12th of July and I am in the process of filling them.  Once they are done...Then I can decide what the rest of the office will need in order for me to store and work in this area.  Here is a picture of what my office looks like now.  All of the things on the floor and in the bookshelves are supposed to either go in the new closet or in my new built in office when it is done.   

Here is what I have done so far.  :)  It's taking forever and I am finding all sorts of things I haven't see in years.  :)  I may have to have a stash sale. 

So what do you think?  Have I got a lot to do or what?  I am going crazy with my work space the way it is and I am trying to work on some things for an upcoming class.  So you can imagine how nuts this makes my life.

The next post will include highlights of our latest trip to Canyon De Chelly.

Until next time...

Gloria

Off to Arizona

Hello Friends,

Well, the boxes are almost packed and the moving truck will be here on Friday the 21st to load everything into the truck. The end of this part of the move is finally in sight. After moving the date forward three times we are finally going to be on our way.



Whew!!  Baring any unforeseen issues we will be on the road on Saturday the morning of the 22nd and will arrive at our new home on Sunday evening. 

We are excited and looking forward to getting settled into our new surroundings.  It will of course take awhile to get things in place, but we will get there eventually.  Plans for my new office are in the works and hopefully as soon as our house sells in Keller, we will be able to go ahead with those plans and a few other things we have in mind for the yard.

I will be off and running after we arrive as the sabbatical that Milady's Needle has taken this last year will be over the first of the new year.  I will be preparing for the Nashville Market and will need to be ready early as this will probably be the first time I will be flying instead of driving to market.  A few changes in the routine will have to be figured out, but I think it will all work out in the end.

The holidays are around the corner and stitching for Christmas will have to be squeezed in at some point.  I really love to give something stitched to friends.  As long as it's small, I think I may be able to pull it off.

For those of you who will be looking at the Online Needlework Show, visit the Milady's Needle Blog and find out what's happening for the October Show. 

Until next time...take time to stitch.

Gloria

Hello Friends,

I am currently on the road back from Arizona where we unloaded the second load of "things we don't want the mover to move".  :)  We arrived at the new house  on Monday this last week where the new carpet had been laid and the travertine tile had been stirpped and buffed to perfection.  The carpet is lovely...a bit darker than I remember, but then our interior designer had to make an executive decision about the color at the last minute.  We couldn't get the dye lot we wanted so he had to choose one that was a little darker than we originally chose.  I would have liked the lighter one a bit better, but "C'est la vie".  Of course the advantage of a little darker carpet is that we won't see the spills that we would with a lighter carpet.  We had a full week of reviewing and planning for some of the remodeling we will be doing, so we are tired and looking forward to being back in Keller.  We will be back tomorrow evening and will be working like mad to get everything packed for the move on October 14th. 

So...we are finally getting down to the wire.  It's a bit unnerving being between two homes.  We haven't sold our home yet, so we are beginning to get a bit concerned about that.  While we are able to carry two mortgages for awhile, we would like to get the house sold sooner rather than later.  With the economy looking as though it might tank again, we are hoping this will not set us back terribly on a sale of the house.  So, send us good thoughts for a buyer to come out of the woodwork and really love our home!

I have mixed feelings as we get closer to actually leaving our home of 12 years. I have made a lot of friends and enjoyed the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so I will miss Texas. However, I am looking forward to meeting new friends and living in an area where it doesn't get very cold in the winter. Texas surprised me with the cold winter wind and occasional snow storm. I thought the winters would be more warm. So now I will enjoy a warmer winter in Arizona. If I want snow I can go up to the Grand Canyon, which is my favorite natural wonder in the U.S. I am going to love living nearer to the Canyon. There is some excitement about moving to a new place and setting up housekeeping in a new area. I have already joined a book club and I have gone to stitch night at the Attic Needlework. I am looking forward to weekly jaunts to one of my favorite shops. 

I am currently in a hotel room waiting for my husband to drop off to sleep, so I thought I would post some pictures of gifts that I stitched this last year for friends.

Here we go...

This is a pin cushion that I made for my friend Debbie.  It was a kit from Homespun Elegance, but I changed the design.  The picture is a bit dark, but I think you get the idea.

  This pincushion was stitched for my friend Michelle (Cozy Egg).  I loved stitching this Blackbird Designs piece from a pattern entitled "Waiting for Harvest" and I believe she really liked the finished piece.








This pin cushions was stitched for my friend Ava.  The pattern is "Stitcher's Roll" from Shepherd's Bush. Do you begin to get that I really like pin cushions?










This piece was stitched for my great friend Kim.  She likes to knit so I replaced the word writing with knitting just for her.  The pattern is the Little House Needleworks "Schoolgirl Lessons".







I don't know about you, but I really enjoy creating hand made gifts for friends and family.  They will be the first to tell you that they enjoy receiving them when I finally get them finished.  There was a time that my family would receive stitched pieces on scroll rods some of which had only a few stitches on the linen.  What can I say...I get excited about stitching something and my estimate of the time it will take to stitch it is always way off.  :)

Well, that's all for this post.  My husband is fast asleep and I should be too.  Until another day...may your journey be full of unexpected surprises.

Gloria

Packing, Packing, Packing...The Needlework Stash

Hello Friends,

Well, here I am...preparing for a new life in a new state.  We closed on our new home on July 29th and our present home is currently on the market.  An open house this weekend, may start to bring buyers by to look.  In the meantime... packing is a huge job!!  I am often overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have accumulated over the 12 years we have been in Texas.  Stuff...so much stuff!!  Some of the things will be easy to put in the box for Good Will or Half Price Books.  However, when it comes to stitching stuff...that's another story.

I have spent over a week going through my stash closet and packed about half of my needlework related stuff.  Since I am also a designer I have a lot of fibers, fabric and frames for designing and that's a lot of stuff!!  Packing this has been a breeze compared to sorting through my personal needlework items.

It is so hard to move that special chart, fabric, floss or frame to the pile designated for letting go!  Our guild always has a September Stash Sale for our program that month, so I usually can find quite a few things to put away for that sale.  But, it's always hard to say goodbye to the plans I made to stitch that special sampler that I just knew I would get to soon.  Of course I have far more charts than I can ever do, but I love to take out the charts and look through them to see what lovely things I might just start tomorrow.  This time, I am trying to be a bit more aggressive as I sort through my stash.  I mean... do I really need a chart stash the size of a needlework shop?  I did an initial pass through and did clean out quite a few charts, but I should probably go through them all again and do another purge. 

Gosh, what was I thinking buying all this needlework?  I was thinking how I love to stitch.  I was enjoying the process of choosing fabric and fibers for a new piece.  I was chatting with other stitchers at my local needlework store and I was feeding my creative soul.  I don't know about you, but when I stitch I often find myself in a state of wonder and awe as the silk glides through the linen and the colors begin to paint a picture of beauty that can only be created with textiles.  With every stitch I take my soul feels the peace that comes with creating from within.  It's such a great pleasure to create with needle and thread.

So, with that thought I will return to sorting through the needlework treasures I now part with so others might find a treasure for their own stash.

Til Next Time,

Gloria

Moving To Arizona

Hello Friends,

Well, we just returned from our second house hunting trip in Arizona and we have found a home!!  We hope to close on this home in July and be in our new home by September.




Things have been so crazy busy with our house hunting and getting our current home ready to sell that I just haven't have time to update either blog lately.  In fact things may get more crazy in the near future, so just keep coming back and I will be here when I can.

A friend reminded me that I had not posted the new reproduction sampler that I am working on, which I prominsed to do in my last post.  So I just finished posting a sneak peak of Anne Blockley on the Milady's Needle Blog at miladysneedle.blogspot.com.  Take a look and see what you think.  I am enjoying working on this sampler when I can find a few moments between a number of activities that surround moving.  The colors are stunning and I am happy with how the sampler looks so far.

Although I don't have much time to read these days, I did just finish a book called "The Runaway" by Terry Kay and enjoyed it emensely.  The book is about the relationship between two young boys (one black and one white) in the deep south during the time just following WWII.  The story is wonderfully written and I felt as though I was there with the characters as the plot unfolded.  There is a mystery to solve and a surprise ending, so the story keeps you invested right through to the end.  An interesting and thought provoking read overall.  I couldn't find a good picture of the cover, so you will have to check it out at your local bookstore. 

I am off to continue with getting the house ready to put on the market. 

Until Next Time,

Gloria

Heading Home

Hello Friends,

We are heading home to Texas.  We found two lovely homes in Arizona, but haven't made the final decision about either as we plan to look at a home in Granbury, Texas too.  One of the homes was so lovely!!  Everything we could want at a fair price.  It didn't hurt that the man of the home already had a wood working shop set up and the woman of the home had a quilting room and painters studio already set up.  It was eerie going into a home where the occupants were doing the same or similar hobbies as Rick and I are doing.  We thought it might be Kismet.  It is actually very south of Phoenix in Queen's Creek.  The home is located right on the golf course and Rick said he could take up golf again.  It has a pool, so we might even get some exercise in!!  Anyway, we are excited and will try to make a decision sometime next week.  We would have a lot to do if we finally make the move.  It's overwhelming to think about it, but...guess we will wait and see before I get too anxious.  :)


I am reading the book The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent and enjoying it tremendously.  It really gives you a feel for the time period in Salem Village during the witchcraft trials.  Worth a look if you are interested in some history of that time period and of the witch craze.  I have always been fascinated by the events in Salem.  I was curious about how a few young girls could have so much power in a community that they were able to sway their elders to make the decisions that caused so many deaths.  I have read several historical books about this phonomenon and there are several interesting theories about how this came about.  From a purely historical standpoint, the book Delusions of Satan by Frances Hill is the most interesting book on the subject that I have read.  Next up on my reading list is Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

I have charted a new sampler and I am now beginning to stitch it.  If you go to my business blog, I will have a post on it later this week with a sneak peak of the original sampler.  It's done on 45 count with AVAS 100/3 silks.  However, you can do it on whatever count you wish.  I just wanted to make the reproduction as true to size as possible.  I am excited about this new one and hope to have it done for the Baltimore Needlework Market.

Enjoy your reading and stitching,

Gloria