Merry Christmas!!

Dear Blogging Friends:
I have not run away!  I have not been abducted by aliens!  I'm not in hiding!

I've simply been quite busy!

I know all of you are busy, too!  It's just that time of year, and starting a new job as a church organist/choir director on the First Sunday of Advent was rather daunting! However, it all came off without a hitch and our Christmas services were lovely!

Speaking of my new job, you may remember that I am now the Cathedral Organist!  It's been very exciting, and sometimes a little scary!  But all has gone well.  Everyone has been so nice and I think it is going to be a lovely experience.  Below are some pictures of my lovely workplace, all decked out for Christmas!

It is so beautiful!

The ceiling is gilded and stenciled.

 I love the poinsettia trees they use on the back altar!  

The plants are stacked on forms.

The two side altars are beautiful.  One has the antique nativity set.

This is the organ I play, and the choir loft in the back.

The music went beautifully!  I had a little girls' ensemble, a flutist, a brass quintet, and an operatic soprano solo!  Truly lovely!

My blog isn't the only thing that suffered during the holidays!  I did get decorating done at home, but not on the usual level!  I just ran out of time to get my 5 trees up this year!  Oh well, the two that matter most DID get done!

This is our family tree where we open gifts.  You can see that they've all been opened!  

 

We missed my mother this year, but we still managed to have a happy holiday and enjoy each other. The black leather baby shoe was hers.  It has been on my tree for years! The little frilly shoe was mine!  I'm told it was white but now yellowed!

 

My son and his wife gave me two lovely white cat ornaments, in honor of Omar!  I love them!

 

I'm very sentimental, I guess!  The little mermaid ornament is actually a fishing float that was in my father's tackle box!  We used to laugh at it as children, because she doesn't have on a top!!!!  The sweet ceramic Santa was made by my father not long before he died.  My mother loved ceramics and he would go with her, to talk to the husband of the ceramic lady!  He painted this for me and I treasure it.

This is my cross stitch tree in our foyer.  I love the angle where you can see both trees at the same time!

 

I love all my wonderful cross stitched ornaments!  I enjoy stitching and finishing!  I have a few left to finish for next year!  Isn't that always the case??  The beautiful Glad Tidings ornaments was a gift from Andrea last year--I love it!

 

Look closely at the beautiful heart ornaments!  These were a gift from our wonderful Jacquie!  I cannot believe she sent me these beautiful creations!  I was so touched when I went to the mailbox and found a package from England!  And if that's not enough, look at the precious little round felt applique holly ornament!  She sent that, as well!   Thank you so much, sweet Jacquie!  You really made my day and I admire these and think of you each time I look at the tree!

Well, friends, things will slow down dramatically now that Christmas is over!  I will not have to be at the church constantly, and I can get my world back!  In the middle of all of this, the designer has been coming and working on the house.  It's coming together beautifully, and I will show photos of that when it's done.  We finally got gas logs in our fireplace and they are beautiful.  But, it's been close to 80 degrees here, so we haven't enjoyed them yet!!!  We've had rain and hail and hot weather!

I have done some stitching, and intend to show that very soon.  

Speaking of Omar, isn't this too cute?  My husband had been somewhere and took a little zipper bag with him.  Of course, he came home and deposited it on the floor!!!  Well, Mr. Omar decided to check it out!!

I appreciate all of you, and in spite of my lack of activity on my blog, I have tried to keep up with yours and enjoy what all you have been doing!  You all provide sanity in a crazy world and you are most appreciated!  If you are still reading this long post, thank you for sticking with it and know that you are a wonderful part of so many lives online!  

Happy 2016 to everyone and I am looking forward to a new year!

Thanks for stopping by and please come back soon!

Frances

Autumn is here and I'm a winner!

Hello Blogging Friends!  I'm excited that it finally feels a little bit like Autumn here!  And of course, it's time to show my Thanksgiving tree!  I have a few new little wooden pumpkins with words on them.  You can see the black one with "fall" on it at the top of the tree. There's a white one in the center of the tree with "harvest" on it.  Too, too cute!

This tree is always one of my favorites!  I love the fall colors and the leaves and turkeys! Such fun!  And then it's nonstop busy until after the first of the year!!!!  I will be hosting my family for Thanksgiving.  I've done it for a decade or so.  I always enjoy it.  We put up the Christmas trees right after Thanksgiving!  Things will be chaotic for a few days, and then it's time to sit back and enjoy!  I love this time of year!  I know you all are in the same boat, and I hope you will be enjoying these next few days!

Look at this cute car that was parked next to mine the other day!  I've never seen car eyelashes before, but it's clever, isn't it!!

We enjoyed a wonderful concert on Sunday afternoon!  Mannheim Steamroller is in the middle of their Christmas Tour and we were so lucky that they came to Jackson, MS!  I saw them once before and they are just fabulous.  I have all their Christmas CDs and am ready to get them out and listen!

My cat Omar has been so great and is so loving, sweet and devoted.  One of his favorite things to do is to jump on my clothes when I change.  He is particularly fond of my bra.....I guess it might be strange to post this--oh well, it's so funny!

You may remember that I am having some work done at our house.  I've had upholstery and they are painting now.  All is turning out well.  I ran in the paint store the other day, and I had forgotten that they put discontinued samples out on their porch for people to take if they want them.  They had several wallpaper books and some wood floor samples, which I passed by.  However, I was very weak and picked up 3 Kravet fabric books.  They are just gorgeous.  Some are embroidered taffetas and there are a number of polished cottons, too.  They are PERFECT for ornaments!  Just enough fabric and tons of choices! And yes, there were only 3 fabric books and I took all of them!!    oink, oink

And finally, I am a winner!!!!!  Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe had a giveaway and I won three gorgeous hand-dyed pieces of Aida.  Aren't these colors lovely?  I am so thrilled.  These just scream Autumn!!!  The photo doesn't do them justice.

I have been stitching and I finished the little Prairie Schooler Halloween ornament I was stitching.  I started another little Christmas mini card, and I intend to actually start a Prairie Schooler Santa!  I also need to use some of this gorgeous new fabric!

Thank you for visiting and come back again soon!

Frances

Oh yes--I forgot to say that I had yet another kidney stone lithotripsy!  It's become so common that I don't even think about it--sorta like rotating tires!!!!  But, we're getting them all cleaned out!  Oh my

Lots going on!!!

Dear blogging friends,

As usual, I'm hopping from here to there, and everywhere in between!!!  But I still love reading your blogs and hope to get more posting done on my own!

We took a quick trip last week, and had such a good time!  We went to New York and spent a few days, enjoying the fun and the big city hustle and bustle!  I love to visit New York--been there many times and I never get tired of it!  We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, and this was the wonderful view from our room:

We always take a Gray Line Tour--it's the best way to see the sights. This time, we took a harbor cruise, too, and that was fun.  It's been years since I've done that.  Here we are, enjoying the sights on a really windy day!

This is a great view of Lower Manhattan, with the new Freedom Tower.  I love the tiny little red helicopter in the upper left--

Because I'm a church organist, no trip would be complete without visiting St. Patrick's! This is the gorgeous and huge organ there:

On the tour, we stopped and saw Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon in Central Park.  I've seen it several times, and I still feel sad when I visit.  It was decorated for Halloween, and people are always there, singing, crying, and taking pictures.  Sad.

Night time is beautiful in New York--here are the lights at Rockefeller Center, near the skating rink. The flags around it are so beautiful.  I really love New York, and we had a wonderful time!

I actually did a little stitching on the plane!  I am almost finished with this little Prairie Schooler freebie card--a Halloween design!  I'm always stitching on the wrong holiday! But at least I'm stitching!  I am making a solemn vow to start stitching on a Prairie Schooler Santa!  I have all of them and have never stitched a single one!!  That is really too bad because they are so lovely!  I also want to stitch those wonderful freebies from Plum Street Samplers--The 12 Days of Christmas!  I really like those, too!

You may remember that I have been having some work done at the house--I have gotten back most of the upholstery!!!  They were SUPER fast!  I am loving all of it!  Here is a tiny peek of the kitchen chairs...I love leopard!  These were oak chairs with sorta flat bottoms--they puffed them up and they are so comfortable now!  These were at my mother's and had rust velvet seats--I'm not sure what she would think of the leopard--but she'd probably be glad we're enjoying them!  I will post bigger photos when the room is finished!

This week I started my new organist job at the cathedral, and so far it's been good!  (Ha--that's funny because I haven't had to play yet!!)

Thank you for visiting and please come back again!  I still have a small stack to finish, but I don't think I have any Christmas things ready at the moment!  It's time to get the Thanksgiving tree up, so I'll be showing that soon!  Even though I haven't been posting regularly, I've enjoyed seeing what all of you are doing!!

Frances

It finally feels like FALL! *Edited*

Hello Blogging Friends!
I'm making a big effort to try and post more often!

Since my last post, I went with my husband to one of his annual engineering meetings.  It was at the Beau Rivage, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast--a beautiful hotel/casino.  We've stayed there several times, just for something to do and a place to get away for a night. Anyway, one of the spouse activities is always BINGO.  They budget money for lovely gifts, and a door prize or two.  Various committee members go and select the gifts.  There are usually really fun prizes and it all works out great.  Except, sometimes I haven't won a prize......and that's not so much fun!  Hahaha!  This year was different, however!  The stars were aligned, or something, and I did manage to make a BINGO!  You go to several gift tables and select what you want!  In reading all of your blogs, I see that many of you have Vera Bradley bags of various sizes and styles.  I didn't have one, so I was lucky enough to capture this one:

It's a wonderful tote bag and the color is perfect for Fall!  I'm so pleased to be a winner!!! YAY!  Then, at the end of BINGO, they draw for door prizes, which can be anything.  This year there were three and the big one was a spa session at the hotel.  There were also two $100 bills.....and I won one of those, also!!!  I have never won the door prize there! So I can keep my $$ in my Vera Bradley bag!  This made it a fun little get away!!!

Below is another photo of my new kitty, Omar....he loves to sit on this rug!  Isn't he a pretty boy?

I think I have told you that I have a designer coming to help me get my house in order.  I have been frantically cleaning out and purging.  It is hard to do, but is really getting easier!  I am so glad to see things shaping up!  I didn't think I was going to do any re-upholstery, but I guess I am!  haha  These are my fabrics, all of which I love!  I can't wait to get it done and finished!  It has been a lot of fun.

I finally got my Halloween tree put up, and I love it!  Halloween ornaments are fun and cheerful!  (At least the ones I get are--I don't enjoy the scary ones!!)  This is one thing I edited!!!  I kept looking at the tree and thinking it looked ok, but something was different. THEN, I found the orange and black bow that I put at the top--so, I removed the other photo and put this one!!  haha

I have a good selection of cross stitch and bought items.  It's such fun, and this is a fun time of year.  Thanksgiving and Christmas follow, and I even have some New Year's ornaments that I made after January 1st.  That will be a new one for 2016!

 

My other edit is that I went in and tried to identify the various ornaments, and added a few other phtotos.  In the left photo, the top cute owl is designed by our friend Jacquie and was a freebie on her blog at one time.  The sweet "BOO" black cat is a Waxing Moon chart called #129 Black Cats' Halloween.
In the right photo is a cute little freebie called Halloween Delight! by La Chatelaine Designs.  It is so cute with the little black cats and beaded edge. I love the little "if the shoe fits" freebie.  It is several years old and I cannot locate it anywhere--does anyone recognize it??  The purple and black ornament is by Lizzie Kate "My Other Car is a Broom"!

On the left is a freebie from The Sisterhood--Boo! It's done on lavender Aida and I used Purple bat fabric and ribbon.  The cat and pumpkin is a French freebie from Nathalie and found on her blog.  It is backed in black velvet and the bottom features flat sequins.  Next is a sweet freebie from Homespun Elegance and I used some printed Halloween ribbon and backed it in the same fabric you see on the front.

                                          

Here's another freebie--but I can't find it online.  I have had some of my freebies for a while!!!  Sorry!

                                             

This cutie was in 2010 Just Cross Stitch Annual Halloween Issue,  It's by Casey Buonaugurio and is stitched on orange linen.

                                            

This little pumpkin freebie is by Judi Utter and can be found at Cyberstitchers.  Isn't it cute??


I have one little thing I'm working on for Halloween!  I must get on it fast--I don't have much done!!! I'm using a hand-dyed scrap of linen for a different look.   It's a little Prairie Schooler freebie card.  So cute, and working up sorta fast! I have a lot of those little cards and should make all of them because they are fast and too cute!

Thank you for stopping by and please come visit again soon!

Frances

Why Does Time Fly??

Dear, dear bloggers--I am so very behind in my blog!!  I am really embarrassed because I was so happy to start my blog, and was posting pretty often!  Oh well, tons of things have been going on, and I am just now getting back to blogging and stitching!!  I've tried to check your blogs and keep up with you, but I haven't done that regularly.  I'm hoping to establish a schedule and make time for ME!!

I've actually, really done some stitching, which I hope to show in the next post.  That has been fun, as always!  I've enjoyed seeing all of your beautiful Halloween and Fall pieces. I want to do a couple for each of those holidays this year.

Today I'm showing two old stitches that I made into ornaments.  They were framed in gold frames with dark green oval mats.  They were pretty, but dated.  I don't remember the pattern at all--but I do think this finish brings new life to them.  It's a daffodil from the front view and the back view--how unique!  They;re stitched on Fiddler's Cloth and edged on one side with gold fabric and sheer green striped ribbon.  I think they look very "Springy"!!

I also have a new family member!!!  You all know how I love cats!  I lost my very sweet Violetta a little over a year ago.  I was so sad and disappointed.  Then I got my beautiful Dolce--a very sweet but timid calico.  I also loved her, in spite of her constant fear of any male human and hiding under the bed any time that someone came for a visit.  I was willing to tolerate that, but she started wetting the carpet in our bedroom....she did it 3 times!!  I cleaned it and on the last time, I left the room for a moment and came back in to find her in our bed, wetting on my husband's side of the bed!!  That was the final straw.  I had to take her back to the rescue place.  I found out later that she had done the same thing where she previously lived...  This all happened in March, but I didn't share it with you for fear that someone would feel I was a horrible person and say bad things about the situation.  I just didn't want the possibility of hearing that!  It was a very tough decision to make.  She was so pretty and sweet, but I'm afraid she has deep problems.  I am grateful that our shelter is a no-kill place, so she is safe there, and that does give me some relief about my decision. 

So, now I have a white Turkish Angora!  I named him Omar.  He's 4 and is so sweet and just about perfect!  We've had him a month!  I'm so pleased with him. He came from a high-kill shelter in New Orleans.  Ours goes down there and gets pets they think are easily "adoptable."  It's great that they are willing to help these animals.  I'm so glad to have him--pets bring such love into your home.

 

I've also taken a different church musician job, which I start next month!!  I loved my present job at a large church, but the job came open at our Cathedral, and I just had to apply.  I was selected and I'm overjoyed.  This is an old photo of the inside, during an ordination.  It's such a lovely and beautiful place!  I took this photo from the choir loft in the back.  So pretty!

I hasn't rained here--really rained--since July 4th.  All of our yards look terrible and I guess we will wait until the Spring to try and get them back in shape.  At least it's cooler now!

I hope to show some new finishes on the next post.  It's also time for my Halloween Tree!  I'm so glad to be back and to have news to share!  Like I said earlier, this has been such a busy time, but good things have been happening.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you come back soon!

Frances

I'm here!!!

I have been so behind in EVERYTHING!  I really hate that my blog has suffered, but I'm back on it now and hope this much time won't pass between posts again!

Well, everyone has talked about the heat--and it's still hot here.  We haven't had rain since July 4th, so our yard is brown and crunchy.  But I do know it's that way in a lot of places.  Here's another photo of my dashboard temperature....wow!!

I have noticed the sweetest little birds with red heads out on my patio.  I haven't taken the time to look them up, but I think they are so cute!  Perhaps Beth will see this and can tell me what it is!

We went to the MS Gulf Coast for a couple of days this week--was nice to get away.  We stayed in Biloxi and relaxed and ate!!!  This weekend is the 10th anniversary of Katrina. Most people are aware that New Orleans suffered greatly.  However, the MS Gulf Coast was destroyed in many places--and hasn't all come back.  There are vacant lots all across from the beach.  Beautiful antebellum homes lined the beach.  I remember them from my childhood.  Now there are so many vacant lots with those historic markers that describe the home that used to be there.  So sad. Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis, is there. It was heavily damaged, but has been repaired and is open again for tours and visits to the museum located there.  Here is the view from our hotel.

I have been stitching some and have done a little finishing.  I was supposed to get with my dear friend, Janie, to finish ornaments.  I had to cancel because I was having pain from my precious kidney issues.....I had to see the Doctor when I was supposed to visit with her.  He said I'd have to "tough it out" and gave me some rather effective pills!!!!  I slept for two days!  I wanted to blog but I couldn't focus my eyes or think straight!!  Oh my!!! But it's all fine now!!  Never a dull moment at our house!

In sorting through my mother's things, I found this blue jay cross stitch that my brother's ex wife had stitched for my father many years ago.  (My sweet Daddy has been gone for 29 years, so you know this is OLD!)  Anyway, it was framed in a very plain oak frame--nothing special.  I haven't seen her in almost that many years, but I just thought it would be wrong to throw away cross stitch.  I didn't want to hang it on my wall, so I decided to cut it up and make an ornament!  Yep!  I did!  And I actually like it very much!  I'm pleased with the outcome!

I also had this little pansy on some of that country-styled Aida with green designs around it.  It was large (probably intended for pillows) and I didn't want it hung up, either.  So I cut the printed border off and made another ornament.  Fun!!

 

I'm so glad to do something useful with these older pieces.  It's been fun to re-style them. I still have those three shells I showed earlier--they are next on the list to re-style.

I also stitched a cute little Halloween owl!  This is a cute freebie from Jacquie and I had such fun stitching it.  At first I really didn't like my thread choice...variegated orange. However, when I started putting the finishing fabrics with this, I think it turned out well! Jacquie is so talented!  She can stitch, quilt, and do all sorts of things--in addition to designing! She's not been feeling well lately, and I hope she improves soon!

I hope to be posting more finishes very soon!  I have a stack of things to finish, but I'm plodding through them!  I have missed blogging but I have tried to quickly check in on your blogs, to see what fun you've been having!

Thank you for stopping by and please come back soon!

Frances

Awww ~ aren't they cute??

I have a little finish to share!  I have had the stitching done for a while now, but not the finishing!

I had already shown you one of the completed "Sled Dudes" by Lizzie Kate and now all three are done!  Here's the sweet polar bear and the snowman!  Aren't they cute??

Santa was all finished up a while back.  Now all his friends are with him!  

You all may remember that I'm going to have a finishing day this week with my dear friend and I plan to have tons of stuff to show!

On Friday of last week, I had yet another kidney stone lithotripsy.  (Number 6)  I had my yearly checkup for that, since I'm apparently prone to producing them!  The Dr. said we could go ahead and smash and get rid of these new ones, so they won't give a problem in the future.  Hmmmm, so that's what I did!  I know that everyone does something well.  I always thought it was my music, but I do believe I can beat anyone on producing kidney stones!! I'll see him again in a couple of weeks, and I get the feeling I'll need one more procedure!  I feel fine, though. Just irritated about it!!! 

Thanks for stopping by--come back soon!

Frances