Friday, March 9, 2012

Rambling

Good morning one & all!  It's actually almost noon.  Time tends to get away from you when (A) you're me, & (B) you wake up at 3 a.m. after a fitful 3-1/2 hours of sleep.  What did I do after getting out of bed at such an ungodly hour?  Frogged & restitched.  I started a new project last night & I knew after I had gotten a few letters stitched that it was going to be too big.  The designer used 30 ct linen & stitched over 2 (I think) so that's what I did.  I wanted to make this stitching into a pinkeep but by stitching it over 2 it would've had to have been finished into a small pillow.  I knew it was going to be "too big" but I kept stitching anyway.  Perhaps I need to see a psychiatrist what with this "you start it, you finish it" approach I have even when I see something isn't quite right.  Anyway, when I got up at 3 a.m. I sat down & frogged the 4 words I had stitched & then started from scratch, this time stitching over 1.  I think it will work out much better   : )

I mentioned the other day that I would post a photo of my completed Pineberry Lane JOY stitchings soon.  Here it is.

I do a pretty lousy job of staining as you can see.  I need to get some hooch linen one of these days & just spend a few hours staining.  These pieces were stained with almost an entire bottle of Distress It.  It's kinda-sorta okay but not really.  Not the look I was going for.  I haven't had much luck with tea or coffee staining.  My coffee staining is particularly amateurish & always has an "Oh!  You spilled coffee on that!" look about it.  I've also laid a big goose egg with walnut crystals.  There aren't really any other staining avenues open to me I don't think ... thus the thought of getting some hooch linen.

Hooch, I know, is actually a noun meaning inferior liquor or liquor that is illegally made.  "Uncle Clem done sold his hooch to dem dere revenewers."  However, for some reason I have always used it as an adjective to describe something inferior or as a noun referring to anything inferior in general.  No one else in my family speaks like this nor do any of my friends.  It's not intentional.  It's just what I've always done.  Hooch linen would be inferior linen ... linen you really wouldn't want to spend your time stitching on.  I've also always used the term "don't hack it up."  When I would lend something to friends when I was a teenager I'd always hand it over with the admonition "don't hack it up" meaning, of course, don't mess it up.  Maybe what I've heard is true.  Maybe I really am not of this world   : )

If you don't mind, please take another look at my photo above.  What do you think?  Is it clear?  I received my new camera the other day & this is the first photo I took with it.  I'm not seeing any crystal clarity.  I don't think it's "bad" or glaringly blurry but please correct me if I'm missing something.  I know I can't base a camera's performance on one photograph so I will play around with it further & see if I can grace you in the future with photographs like I've seen some other bloggers posting.  

My sweet husband is quite the adventurist when it comes to buying DVDs & CDs.  He doesn't have to be familiar with the recording artists or know anything about the movie plot.  Oftentimes he will purchase them based solely on an interesting photo on the insert or even an interesting title.  One of the things he enjoys buying are "For Your Consideration" Emmy DVDs.  The way I understand it, these DVDs are sent to members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences so they will be better informed when voting for who gets an Emmy award.  Each of these DVDs usually has at least one episode of a few shows seen on TV.  There are times when they have 3 or 4 episodes of the same show.  You just never know.  John & I don't watch "real" television for several reasons.  We instead watch shows on DVD.  These Emmy DVDs have sometimes led us to purchase a season of some television show we wouldn't have considered seeing otherwise.  Neither of us are interested in reality shows or what I always refer to as modern day Ted Mack Amateur Hours (Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, etc), but the other night we were watching one of these Emmy DVDs & what to our wondering eyes did appear but a show called The Voice.  It was just one episode & I don't know if you can judge all the episodes by this one but it was quite entertaining in this small dose.  It was kind of like The Voice is to American Idol like Paris, Kentucky is to Paris, France.  So what's the purpose of my telling you all this?  It's because sometimes I watch people & I think where in the world was I when God was handing out beauty, brains, & talent?  I know where I probably was ... down at the penny candy store loading myself up with a few of these & a few of those.  Now don't you think I'm putting myself down here.  I do have some talent (I can type faster than anyone I've ever met), I'm kind of smart in some things (although I've just spent a good 15 minutes trying to think of what those things are & I've come up empty ... obviously I'm not smart at remembering things), & I know for a fact that my face wouldn't actually stop a clock.  However, I'm talking about "real" brains, beauty, & talent ... particularly those of us in the human race who have an overabundance of all three.  Sometimes you'll meet a really smart person, or a really talented person, or a really beautiful person ... but someone possessing all three of these attributes?  Was God not paying attention sometimes when He gave out these gifts or what?  Now don't think you need to write me comments telling me about beauty being on the inside & how it's not how smart or talented you are, it's how you treat others that matters.  I know all that.  Also please don't think you need to write me comments telling me that it's biblically against God's nature to not pay attention.  I know that too.  But you've got to admit that these triple-threat people can really knock you off your feet sometimes.  Let's return to The Voice.  A young teenage girl was a contestant on this particular episode.  She was, as the saying goes, "drop dead gorgeous" & "cute as a button" at the same time.  She had a singing voice that was like that of the angels.  She accompanied herself ... beautifully ... on the guitar.  She wrote her own music.  She was in all the advanced classes at school.  To top it off, she was genuinely nice.  Talk about a bunch of Grade A eggs being in one basket!  I am not posting this out of envy or jealousy or anything like that ... just making an observation.

John & I decided against going to the casino in West Virginia.  The weather here yesterday was quite "yucky" so we did some things around the house instead.  I'm sitting here as I write this looking out the window at the grass growing more & more profusely in the yard & the huge crop of wild onions mixed in with it.  I've never heard of wild onions but that's what these are.  We initially thought that perhaps onions were planted on this land once upon a time but then we saw these wild onions growing along the sides of the roads, in other peoples yards, in fields, etc.  Kentucky has a lot of "things" that are native to itself I think.  We've lived in many states & visited many more as well as countries overseas, but there are "things" here in Kentucky that you just don't see or experience anywhere else.  We always make the observation "it's a Kentucky thing" or "it must be a Kentucky thing" when we come up against these things.  I think this crazy proliferation of wild onions is "a Kentucky thing."  

I think with that I'll end my rambling   : )

11 comments:

Trace4J said...

Afternoon Friend
I so love your ramblings..And when you say hooch and hack. Just giggling too funny.I really love your stitchery. I am so bad at staining yours looks good and prim to me.
Hugs
Trace

www.grannytracescrapsandsquares.com

Barb said...

What a fabulous post Shirlee really enjoyed your ramblings.
Joy does look better smaller in
my opinion anyway and I too have problems with the dyeing thing,so stick to the fabrics I know.
Look forward to the next episode!
Hugs

Vickie said...

Okay Shirlee, I took another look at the picture. It looks very nice and clear to me. :) I have never dyed linen. You are a lot more adventurous than me in that area too.

marly said...

Shirlee I think your linen looks great. Some of the online shops' photos of hand dyed look horrible and blotchy instead of subtle. I like using very strong coffee in a little spray bottle. It usually rinses out easily so I play with it and stain it before stitching. If it comes out stinky, I just rinse and dry and start over!! Or burn it.

Michelle said...

I can't see anything wrong with your staining in fact I think it looks pretty good xx

Robin at The Primitive Hutch said...

Wonderful finishes Shirlee!
I prefer to coffee stain my creations ~ I apply it on with a sponge brush. If it turns out to dark you can always rinse some out. I never bake my stitcheries ~ I let them air dry and turn now and then.
I think your turned out o.k.
Happy stitchin!
Prim Blessings
Robin

bettyj said...

/enjoyed your ramblings! Dasko should have spent the night with you, then he wouldn't have gotten me up so early. He wouldn't go out in the rain last night, so had to go early this morning. Have a good weekend.

renee said...

Sounds like we were on the same page today! I was up at 3:30 too! Then I crashed at 2:00.
You are so funny, and WAY too hard on yourself! What do you mean do you have talents? Of course you do!
Shirlee, I tell you, I don't know what to do with you!
I think the stitchery looks wonderful and the staining doesn't look too bad either.
I hope that you have a good weekend.
Hugs,
Renee I am working and blogger sucks right now!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

I too love your ramblings! Your coffee staining looks fine to me.

And that perfect girl? She's got smelly feet LOL. Actually she's probably got lovely feet too. Damn.

If I could have just one perfect aspect to my personality I would love to be able to sing. I'm so envious of people who can just join in with any song, in tune!

TheCrankyCrow said...

Almost a whole bottle of Distress It??? Really? I've had the same bottle for several years....Yeah, yeah - I know - I'm not a stitching fool like you - but I HAVE finished some pieces and used it....and it's a still good-fill bottle (there - how do you them beans as far as colloquialisms go??? ;o) I, too, use hootch in that way - but not hack....hack to me is that nasty spitting crap some folks do....) Anyway - where was I? You know, "Distress It" comes in differing formulae - like "Slightly Distressed" and then darker versions....but, to be truthful, the "Slightly Distressed" has done me just fine. Also, I have used "Instant Antique" from Primitive Gatherings and like that as well. And I like the distressing on your "Joy" pieces...Both look very natural to me. Now you have me rambling....Time to hit the hay. Hope all is well in your world....And if you ever find that "clarity" button/setting on your camera, please share with me. I always feel like my photos are "as viewed through a an old lady with cataracts eyes".....Why others' photos can be so crisp and clear is beyond me..... Hugs ~ Robin

Anonymous said...

There is a Paris, Kentucky???
No Eiffel Tower there, I'm sure!
Sometimes we do wonder how everything was "distributed" God!
But to have so many qualities in only one person? There is a dark side there!!! :-)
Hugs