It Arrived

Today the linen and silk threads for Amy Mitten's Quaker Winder Keeper arrived.  The tutorial and materials are my Christmas gift from my husband.  I have to admit that I selected it.  I cannot tell you how much I wanted it and how thrilled I am to have it. 

I followed Amy's directions to tea dye the linen.  It turned out much more uniformly colored than I had hoped.  I just hope that it is worth the effort and that it is not too dark.  The picture here shows the linen before I tea dyed it. 

Update on the status of my mystery project: 
I am one more step closer to being a participant.  I think that I can really say that I am one of the seamstresses as I am now a member of Group 7. 

Oh yes, maybe that is oh no, I am back already.  Yesterday was cloudy by the time I got home and I wanted to wait for better sun to take pictures.  I found a couple treasures at a couple estate sales. 

Aren't these little porcelain thingies gorgeous?  They are quite small, a little less than 3 inches square.  Maybe they are little dishes for tea bags or maybe they are spoon rests or little individual butter plates.  Whatever they are, the little violet bouquets screamed out my name when I saw them.  When I walked away from them, they actually cried.  On my way out after checking out the entire sale, they were still there so I let them jump into my hands. 

The same thing happened at the second house.  This Russian lacquerware pin was calling out; in fact, it was actually jumping up and down to attract my attention.  When I put it back, it really did cry.  Once again after checking the contents of the house, it was still there when I got ready to leave. 

I knew it would be difficult for me to get a nice picture of it because it is so very shiny. 

There is information about it right on the front but I cannot read it.  I need to do a little work to find out more about it, including a translation.  I suspect that it is an illustration of a Russian folk tale and that it is not the Magic Horse. 

All of the gold color is metallic gold.  Coupled with the black background, it is quite dramatic.  The best thing of all is that I now have four Russian lacquerware pins, one eventually for each of my nieces to celebrate their Russian heritage. 

Mooch agreed to model the hat that I just finished.  As long as the hat is larger than infant size, he is extremely agreeable and co-operative about doing it.  This hat is a Valentine gift for a very special little girl. 

I have been working on the Florida sampler but not as devotedly as I could.  Right now I am working on a one over one section.  The little citrus fruits that you see were tedious enough and they are two over two.  I have no idea why the one over one section is so tedious for me. 

Kachelofen

In another forum, someone asked me about our ceramic oven, kachelofen in German.  I decided to also answer here because I need an excuse to post an entry.  :-)

This is our oven; the interior is cast iron and the exterior is thick ceramic tile.  The tile is held away from the cast iron body so the tile is never too hot to touch.  The oven is free standing, about two feet from the wall.  Our building code requires this and the fact that we tiled the wall was considered a friendly gesture. 

We first saw ceramic ovens in Germany in the early 1970's and fell in love with them.  At the time we planned to build this addition to the house, we discovered an US source for German ovens.  Ours can burn coal or wood but we have never used coal in it.

Ceramic ovens are very common in northern European countries and frequently are built into homes, hotels, inns, etc.  Ours is not built in and is considered portable but I am certain no one is going to want to move it around at will.  Whether the oven is traditional or more modern, highly decorated or simple, I think they are one of the best ideas around.

This link shows a variety of styles.  This one has a little technical information about how the ovens work.

The Sampler

You may remember that Roger's sister and her husband have the family lake property and had to take the cottage down and rebuild.  I know that I had some pictures up but I can hardly expect that you would remember it.  This is a picture of the new cottage from the lake side. 

Roger's sister works in the University medical labs and is of an age where she is being encouraged to retire.  Her retirement will be effective this coming spring.  I honestly am not certain if she is happy about this but it, nevertheless, is the simple fact. 

She is the baby of the family.  Roger is the oldest, then comes his first sister, followed by their brother, then followed by several years his second sister.  It is the younger sister and her husband who have the cottage. 

Roger, his brother, and their younger sister have birthdays that fall within a period of five days.  We frequently get together to have a group birthday party.  This year we are getting together for the birthdays because of the pending retirement and the fact that it is a significant year for their brother.  Generally the group birthday party is just a time to get together and share a meal.  We generally do not give gifts but this is a special situation. 

For her retirement, I am "designing" and stitching a sampler for Roger's sister.  I thought that you might like to follow the progress. 

Yes, I know the windows are not in true proportion and the overall proportions of the cottage are a little wonky but it just simply is the best I can do with it in the space I have.  I still need to add the roof on the side that is over the door as well as trees in the background and a little grass in the foreground.  I think I will leave out the LP gas tank; we simply do not have to be a slave to reality.  ;-) 

Do I have a deal for you!

Go over to The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe blog.  She is having a give away of some fabulous hand-dyed floss.  If you register to follow the blog and write a comment, you are in for the give away.  If you say that you found out from me, I get another entry.  Actually I found out from Christine so you could say Christine sent you and give her another chance instead. 

While you are at it, check out The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe blog.  There are lots of good ideas. 

The sun is streaming through the windows.  It is such a glorious day.  That reminded me to take some pictures. 

I found these fibers at an estate sale sometime before Thanksgiving.  When I had the camera out, I forgot to take a picture to show them to you even though I was very excited to show them to you.  They were a bargain that was way too good to pass up even if they were not "my" colors.  Don't I sound like an absolutely incorrigible stash-a-holic? 

We took the Christmas tree down yesterday.  Today I vacuumed all the needles from the carpet.  It was up for only a couple weeks but it seems like there is a hole in the living room even though I have moved the furniture back. 

There is one less rocking chair in the house.  We sent a Nelson family rocker home with Roger's sister.  I feel good about this.  Roger is not yet ready to part with the little child's rocker so our teddy bear, Bert, occupies it in the living room. 

I thought that you might like to see my progress on the Florida State Sampler.  I wish that you could see the oranges in the tree the way that I can in real life.  They are wonderful.  I have to set it aside and am not certain when I will be able to get back to it. 

This week, I must stitch names and dates on two baptismal banners and finish them.  We will baptize two children next Sunday. 

I may have to set this sampler aside for a little longer.  I am trying to design a sampler specifically for the younger of Roger's two sisters.  We have a definite finish date in April.  At this point I have designed the top which would roughly correspond to the orange tree.  Unfortunately I became so excited with my success that I have been resting on my laurels.  This is no way to finish and stitch a design. 

Please keep your fingers crossed for me.  I have applied to participate in a little project.  This afternoon I learned that I have progressed to the point where my name has been entered into the lottery to determine the participants.  If I am finally selected to be a participant, I will let you know.  True to my slightly superstitious Russian heritage, I am reluctant to talk about it very much.  Maybe it is more accurate to say that I am reluctant to allow myself the opportunity to count on it because the disappointment would be so great if I am not selected.