Is it another blog post??? Already?

Book Stack I
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

Yes folks, when it rains it pours. Seriously, In about 4 days I am heading up to PA to visit family with A. and I may not get time to blog soo I am getting it all out now.

Ian is not heading up with us cause he has to work, if there is work, and has plans to redo our center room which we call the Drunken Library, and the hallway. Including pulling up the nasty ancient carpet and redoing the wood floors. It would be difficult to do this room with the family at home cause it is the room everyone goes thru to access the rest of the house. So before I leave I have been helping clear the room, Here are most of the books we own, stacked in another room of the house (I say most cause there is a contingent in the craft/guest room, bins full of paperbacks in the attic, and a horde of kids books in A. room.) we are book people.

In baby news Annabeth has begun standing and walking on her own with no assistance, she still will not go far, but we see small progress everyday. In addition she is starting to say words we can't understand..for example today she kept saying "amno" which we could not understand, animal? Then tonight when she pointed a picture of Elmo and said this again...OHHH. Why do you as the parent feel like the idiot?

Keeping with the theme...

Front wall---Before
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

Of old projects finally done....

We painted the front/living room of the house about 5 years ago, it is a long room and instead of a large TV my husband bought and installed a projector , so we watch movies at about full size (ok not that big but bigger than your largest TV screen ). The cost of a screen, or projector screen paint ( yes they make that stuff) was prohibitive...so we just left one of the smaller walls white, The other 3 are dark green. Yes we had a home theatre before it was the IN thing to do. At that point I had the idea of putting a fabric "curtain" up on that wall so it would not be so stark...and having it run on a rail like a hospital curtian so it could easily be pulled aside.

I found the sheer fabric I wanted at Joann's fairly quickly, but life got in the way and I didn't actually buy it for another 2 years (it was about $50-60). Then came the search for the right rail...millions of hospitals use them...but good luck finding a source for them if you're a civilian. I finally found something acceptable at IKEA. it was a strung wire with hanging clips. (got that in '07) but when Ian put it up, It mounted low and the hangers would mean the top 2-3 inches of wall exposed. I finally figured done was better than perfect...and I finished stitching up the curtain a few days ago and just strung it on the wire. I liked it laying flat but then my seams were very obvious, so I wrinkled it up and I think it looks ok for 5 years in the making:

Front wall--After
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

old dress

old dress
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

OK before you go any further on this post....no derogatory comments about my frumpiness.
This dress was once a bridesmaid dress that i wore for a friends wedding in august of 96. It is a full length pepto pink color that is more like tapestry/upholstery fabric and originally had this weird backward bolero jacket thing that buttoned up the back...that piece is long gone. This dress has been in my closet lo these last 13 years...I have always intended on dying it black and hemming it up to cocktail length or something...so i finally did:

Finiahed dress
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

The black dye turned the dress an interesting mulberry/purple color. An it was my first hem attempt (which is difficult by yourself...that's why i look a bit frazzled..I had tried the thing on like 10 times that day) I still need to change out the zipper which did not dye but with a nice black sweater (and some makeup) I think it will look pretty good.

Heaven and nature sing

Heaven and nature sing
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

I told you I needed to stitch something new....Heaven and Nature sing by Stitched from the Heartland

New Desk

New Desk
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

I have a few crafts I have been doing lately to tell you all about,..the first is this desk. Ian's parents brought down a disassembled toddler desk (and a chair that was already redone). So we had to strip, sand, poly, and assemble it. As you can see here A. took right to it when we put it in her room. She went to go get each book that you see and brought it back to the desk to read.

More tomorrow...

I'll be honest...

DSCN2330[1]
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

I have not been crafting AT ALL these past couple of weeks.

There has been this house project... Our house is very non-circulatory. Often it is cooler than the daytime temperature, but then in the evening our house is very warm and the outside air is cooled off and we waste AC cause we cannot get the outside air in...Well we decided we need a whole house fan. one of those in the ceiling jobbers that sucks all the air into the attic . So the project involved creating a new attic above the garage and moving the attic stairs and moving EVERYTHING in the attic across the entire house and into the new attic. This involved alot of sorting, reorganizing etc. which took up all my time...and now i am finding it difficult to get back into stitching.
Currently in progress is a series of Alphabet blocks (pictured above) that I was working on for A, but I haven't put a stitch in in 2 weeks. BUT tomorrow (my birthday by the way) I am cleaning my craft room and may find a new profect to stitch on...that always gets me going again....