Annette's Acre

As I was surfing the blogs this week I spied an amazingly cool pin cushion on Missy Ann’s blog.

Click here.  I’ll wait.

Isn’t that just the coolest thing?!?  (Yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday, how did you guess?)

While the online instructions aren’t bad, a quick trip to the Barnes & Noble website showed the Pretty Little Pincushion book in stock just a few miles down the road.  Friday night I stopped there and then Hobby Lobby for felt.  In less than an hour this afternoon, I had my first bottlecap pin cushion.

(Spool for scale)

I’m totally doing the eyeball next.  And there are a few others in the book that will make perfect “extras” for exchanges

The DVD

A couple years ago, K was studying The Canterbury Tales in school.  She heard about a movie with Sean Bean, Bill Nighy and others that sounded rather interesting.  Well, the only place I could find it for purchase was Amazon UK.  Being the eternal optimist, I figured there *had* to be a way (with reasonable cost) that we could get this thing to play here in the States.

Yeah.

So, anyone wanna Canterbury Tales DVD coded for Region 2 (UK)?  Maybe a bit of chocolate (Galaxy) in trade?

I participate on the Hooked on Exchanging blog run by the lovely Carol.

For the recent Halloween Themed exchange, I got to stitch for Carol herself!  I knew I had to do something special given all her work on keeping great exchanges organized.  It’s a job!

The 15-sided biscornu caught my eye a few weeks ago, and here was a perfect opportunity to give the finishing a try.  I chose motifs from Just Nan’s Witch Way (it’s hanging in my hallway after all) and went to work.

Here it is preparing for its cross-country trip:

More pictures:  Top, Bottom

If you’d like to see its travelling companions, visit Carol’s blog.

I did take some interim pictures and plan to put together a tutorial

My dear husband bought me a new diamond ring:

I think it compliments my wedding band nicely.  You can see another picture here: Shane Site.  He’s been planning this for awhile, just waiting for a paycheck or two to act.  He’s already picked out matching diamond studs for Christmas (though I suspect I’ll have them a bit sooner).  I am one lucky woman

Saturday we picked up K’s new (to her) car:

A 2001 Ford Focus.  Very good shape, low mileage (60K) and a great price (under $6,000).   Way nicer than my first car!

I had a whirlwind business trip this past week.  Found out on Monday afternoon and flew out oh-dark-thirty on Wednesday morning for meetings Wednesday and Thursday, returning home on Thursday afternoon.  I had a business dinner on Wednesday, so I knew there was going to be no time for visiting with friends while I was there.  I also wrote off any chance of searching out an LNS given it was mid-week and the dinner engagement.

However, fate smiled a little on my trip.  My colleague suggested dinner at a converted sawmill in a small set of shops about 10 minutes from my hotel.  I hate driving in new towns, so I left in *plenty* of time to be there at 6, which meant I arrived at 5:45   He called and said he was running late – could we meet at 6:30?  Sure.  I could walk around the shops…..

First, I found the needlework/quilt shop.  Oh my.

I tried to find a better picture of the quilt runner online, but no luck.  The fabric in the upper left is for the table runner.  It’s got applique and a little crewel work and great fabrics.  To the right is a Pine Mountain Halloween pillow and the upper right is four quarters of fabric.  The orange is my favorite:

Now to find something to stitch so I can use one of these great fabrics to finish!

There was also a yarn shop and I had just begun some serious browsing when my work cell rang and that conversation lasted until my colleague arrived for dinner   The shop was closed when we finished…… maybe that was a good thing.  I only had one small carryon bag with my laptop bag for the plane and there wasn’t much room once I added the fabric purchases LOL.

I have completed both of my Fair & Square sets and they are in transit to Ontario, Canada (two different recipients).  I’m working on my Halloween exchange for Hooked on Exchanging.  It’s a new finishing technique I’ve been wanting to try, so I’m taking pictures along the way and will publish a tutorial (haven’t seen one online in English).  So far, good progress on the September commitments!

First off, my final Olympic medal results – 0

That’s right, zero, zip, nada.  I failed to finish off the UFO RR on the Sunday so that left me in a distant fourth place on the medals.  Putting in a significant number of hours on black linen in one day was simply too much of an obstacle to overcome

I did put in the hours thru the course of the week and mailed the piece back home last weekend.  I then turned my attention to the next batch of exchanges.

September is a tad bit crowded:

1 – Fair & Square Halloween Round (Due 10/1)

2 – Fair & Square Round 9 (Due 9/29)

3 – Hooked on Exchanging – Halloween (Due 10/1)

4 – Hooked on Exchanging – Mattress Pincushion (Due 10/15)

5 – Winter Neighborhood Round Robin (Due 10/8 so I can hand-deliver to Missy Ann in Louisville)

Oh my.

As of this writing,  I’ve completed stitching on #1, I’ve got about 40% done on #2 and have so many ideas for 3 & 4 that I can’t make a decision.  The RR hasn’t made it here from Canada, so while I’ve got at least four possibilities in mind, until I have the piece in hand, I’m not going to spend any more time planning

Of course this won’t stop me from signing up for additional F&S rounds (already on for 10) and who knows what will appear on the HoE blog.  I’m resisting the ornament round, but I will be moderating a bookmark round sometime before the end of the year…..   Good thing I’ve got about four weeks of vacation across November and December   Maybe then I can stitch for me?

——————————————————————————————-

Yesterday, I took K to Borders.  She was looking for one book.  I was looking for one book.

She had to order hers: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs.

She bought: Shapechanger’s Song (Chronicles of the Cheysuli – Omnibus One) by Jennifer Roberson  [ I loved this series and am glad to see they've got it condensed to four books now] and The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs.

I found my book: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer [And I *just* realized I bought the wrong one. I need New Moon first.  Argh.]

I also bought: Silks by Dick Francis/Felix Francis [Had no idea there was a new Francis!], Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik and Here, There Be Dragons by James Owen for Z.

Today, I finally broke down and bought myself a Kindle.  Which means I get to buy *more* books next week .  Of the books I bought yesterday, only Silks would have been a Kindle possibility as the rest will also be read by one of my kids, so I don’t feel *too* bad about the indulgence.

Why the purchase now?  Because my dear spouse is now gainfully employed and doing quite well.  He got his first paycheck on Friday and I am optimistic they will continue for quite a while.  He’s working at the same company I do (think charge cards – green ones) as a contractor (I’m an employee).  He’s in a different building (we have several locations in Phoenix) and for a group unrelated to mine (though also in Technology), so while I did facilitate the introduction, that’s as far as my involvement went.  We’ve gone thru three weeks of adjustment to new schedules but we’re all managing well.

————————————————————————————————-

Anyone else excited for House to start next week?   We’re also going to give Fringe a shot this week.  Looks very interesting.  We’re now caught up on Heroes, so ready for that to begin on the 22nd.  Also on the “give it a try” list is Crusoe.

Our latest Sci-Fi find is Eureka.   K and I watched a mini-marathon (five episodes) last week and liked it well enough to order both Season 1 and 2 on DVD.