A Hodgepodge of Things

Thank you for all the lovely comments about the samplers I showed you in my last blog post.  

Several of you had questions about Hannah Pepper, but since there is no way to contact you directly I'll answer your questions here.  Rita, I'm using 36-count Antique Ivory from Zweigart and DMC threads.  JoAnn, the problems have to do with the chart parts not lining up correctly.  Some people who stitched this as it appeared in the magazine (in 3 parts) ran into problems when they got to Part 2.  That is when they discovered that there were issues with Part 1.  

After talking with several people, I decided to start the sampler at the bottom with Part 3 and work my way up.  I've been told that the border is correct, so that is good news.  I'll just need to be very careful when I put in the various motifs in Part 1.  I hope this information helps.

I also got an email from Judy, who was concerned that I had misspelled "finished" on the sampler.  (Thanks, Judy.  I sure appreciate your sharp eyes.)  However, the mistake was Hannah's and not mine.  Hannah spelled "finished" as "finised", so that's what I stitched.  I really appreciate you were concerned about this.  Thank you.

Last weekend my sampler guild had a day-long meeting--first a lecture on antique needlework tools (more about that in my next blog post), and a stitch-along in the afternoon.  I knew in advance that Lisa and Jana were taking their Snooty Parrots samplers to our meeting.  Mine is finished and was with my framer, Carol, so I asked her to bring it to the meeting so we could photograph the three samplers together.

My sampler is on the left and is stitched on 36-count linen.  Jana's is in the middle, and Lisa's is on the right.  Jana and Lisa are both using 40-count linen.  You might notice that Jana and I both added clouds around our angels.  This was Jana's idea after our guild had Joanne Lukacher lecture on Norfolk samplers.  Lots of those samplers had "angels in the clouds".  I think Lisa is also going to put clouds around her angels.

 I had to leave after the lecture because my daughter and her family were arriving for a weekend visit.  On Saturday afternoon, Carolyn, Haiden, Tom, and I went to Sharon Woods where we rented a peddle boat.

 

On the way home we stopped at a fossil park, which is about a mile from our house.  I can't believe that I've never been there before.  Within a couple of minutes, Haiden had found several fossils.  He had so much fun that we know we'll be returning soon.

For dinner we did a cookout followed by "dirt dessert".  I don't know how many of you are familiar with this.  It was popular when my children were young.  The main ingredients are chocolate pudding, milk, cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, and crushed oreo cookies.  When you crush the oreo cookies, the white cream filling seems to disappear, and you are left with the dark brown crumbs that look like potting soil.

I serve the dessert in a plastic flower pot I bought just for the dessert.  I layer crushed oreos, followed by a mixture of chocolate pudding, milk, cream cheese, cool whip, and confectioner's sugar.  I then repeat the layers, and end with an additional layer of oreo cookies.  I decorate the top with pretty silk flowers and gummy worms.  My flowers are so realistic that they fooled at least one person who thought they were real.  It's fun to serve the dessert with a trowel bought just for the dessert.  I wish I had thought to take a photo of it.

Haiden got a big kick out of dirt dessert.  At 6, I think he's the perfect age for that.  Poor little Garrett at nearly 4, didn't understand it.  Even after his parents explained to him that he liked all the things in it, he wouldn't try even one bite.

Sunday afternoon saw the whole family at the ball game--the Cincinnati Reds versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Despite the heat and a storm in the middle of the game, we all had a great time.

Here are our daughter Carolyn and son-in-law Greg with Haiden.

 

Here are our daughter-in-law Michelle, Garrett, and our son Stephen.  Haiden moved down to sit next to his cousin.

 

And here is the guy who loves to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game during the 7th inning stretch.

The good news is that  the Reds won!!