Daisy, Daisy

Soon after I completed Bargello Symphony (sigh!) , I picked up this long-term WIP that’s been languishing in my “travel” bag. It’s a kit by La-D-Da. She published the design in a leaflet with two other lovely heart designs.

This one speaks to me bc as a twenty-something single girl working odd hours, I was dating a man with two daughters. During one of his visitation weekends he took them camping overnight. They woke me then next morning by serenading me with a tune they sang with the park ranger the night before–Daisy, Daisy. My beau let me know that they weren’t singing an actual marriage proposal (much to my relief–we’d been dating less than six months). It was so sweet and so fun.

Vitals:
Daisy Daisy kit designed by Lori Markovic of La-D-Da
Stitched using supplied linen and fibers except:
Belle Soie Creme de Menthe was replaced with RG Splendor S1158 and S1063

I didn’t like how dark the Creme de Menthe floss was. You couldn’t read the words where the leaves are stitched.  I got the two Splendor skeins at a needlepoint shop near the boy’s school. My LNS only carries Waterlilies silk floss. The needlepoint store I went to didn’t have much in the way of floss. I was looking for Belle Soie, but I figured I was lucky to get any kind of silk floss. The shopgal was very helpful. I had fun “forcing” an over-dyed look.

For the record, I did end up marrying the guy. I’m not sure why, considering he doesn’t remember this sweet and romantic moment. 😉 Harrumph!

Daisy is also a great female pet name. A friend’s daughter named her rabbit Daisy. One of our dwarf hamsters was named Daisy, too. She was such fun.

OMG, LOVE!

Every once in a while, you see something that completely grabs you.  These scissors qualify for me.  When I saw them, I was filled with wishing for them.  So much so, I actually contemplated making an unplanned visit to see my brother this weekend so I could visit the Silver Needle booth at Celebration of Needlework show in Louisville.  That’s just nutty, not to mention expensive.  I can daydream, though.   I’m not one for collecting scissors.  I have more than one pair, sure, but I don’t remember ever having been overwhelmed with scissor-love at first sight.  Until today. 

In other stitchy news, I picked up a couple of framed pieces today.  *clap, clap*

Dandelion Clock by Margaret Sherry framed with our dwarf hamsters

Betsy by Sheepish Designs.  I LOVE this frame.

I hope you have a good stitching day, too.

An improvement

Last weekend, we braved the rain to drive to Midland, MI, where we purchased a trikke for our son.   The dealer assembled it for us, and since it was going to take awhile, he suggested we go to the mall for an hour or so.  We left the boy there to practice and took off.  We’re not mall wanderers, so I suggested an adventure.  There is a cross-stitch store listed on the Hoffman site not too far from here!  Let’s go see if it’s still there.  The husband didn’t mind, and off we went.  It was there. 🙂

The Stitching Well in Bay City, MI (No website).

It was a very big store–a converted house, I believe.  It had some yarn, some needlepoint, a framing section, a room for Christmas, a room for samplers, a room for animals, Mirabilia in a hallway (which led to a necessary bathroom), and fiber, fiber, fiber!!  When the husband asked if I’d be OK if he left me there, I told him I’d manage.  Truth is, I had to cut short my leisurely investigation.  I enjoyed myself tremendously. 

Remember my picture of the completed Dandelion Clock?  And how I used dark gray Wisper thread b/c I didn’t want to go to my LNS to acquire a new color of Wisper b/c I’d spend too much money?  Well, lucky me, I got to spend too much money at a brand-new LNS and get a new color of Wisper!!  Here’s a shot of the stash I got, including a new skein of Wisper.

This week I frogged the gray Wisper and replaced it with the yummy, new stuff.  I do believe it was worth the too much spending. 😉

An improvement, yes?  Now I need to decide if I’m going to get it framed, or if I’ll incorporate some of our pet hamsters into the finished product.  I finished this just days before our beloved Ridley, father to our babies, died (9-13-08).  He was also the inspiration for the tail-stubbing of this design.

Peanuts!

So, I’m sittin’ here, listening to the hamsters squabble.  Finally, I have to see what all the ruckus is about, b/c they are squeaking up a blue streak.  They got the peanut shell open and were fighting over the peanut.  The nut was split, and the lucky winners weren’t sharing their booty for anything!  I apologize for the blurry pictures.  Hamsters don’t pose for pictures.  If there’s a setting for photographing squirmy rodents, I don’t know it.

I know there’s something good in here!

YUM!  I knew it was going to be worth it.

They are so protective of their treasure, they won’t let me see it!

I got a picture, anyway. 😀

I broke the top off the peanut for the loser.  It didn’t take long to crack this peanut! 😉

25 seconds of cuteness

What happens when you decide you want a peanut, and you’re only the size of a peanut?

He’d been struggling with this for awhile.

OMG, he’s lost his balance with this thing!  Why don’t I have this on video?

is that adorable, or what?

The Behinder I Get

Some of it’s from going hurrier, some of it’s Murphy’s Law, and some of it is the nuisances of life.  I did work on Desiderata this week.  I’ve taken pictures, too.  Just haven’t taken them off the camera.  Thank goodness for Desiderata.  It was the soothing balm of my week.

 Getting ready to repaint the boy’s bedroom.  I’m only making inches of progress here and there.  It was a disaster to begin with.  Anyway, doing something is better than doing nothing.  Right?

New Pinkies arrived on Sunday!  We could tell Sparky was going to give birth soon, and the boy and I decided Saturday night that we would separate them on Sunday, instead of waiting for their 3-week birthday, which was Tuesday.  Dwarf Hamsters have a gestation period of 18-25 days, so if Sparky (aka “Fertile Myrtle”) didn’t get pg on the day she gave birth, it was very close afterwards.  We unintentionally separated the babies and Ridley (aka “Potent Pete”) while Sparky was in labor.  There were 2 pinkies!  We separated the boys.  We ended up putting a female in the male cage.  Oopsie!  They aren’t supposed to be sexually mature until 4 wks.  I think we’ve got them accurately sexed now, so hopefully, no more pinkies.  Later, we thought we saw 4 pinkies.  We’re down to three now.  The boy prefers to think we miscounted the 4 originally.  I’d like to think so, too.  Maybe one of them was just not going to make it.  Sparky is a really good mother, over all.  *shrug*  I can’t speculate.  We have 3 pinkies right now.  I think that will be the final count.  I’ve read that once a dwarf has a second litter, she kicks the previous litter out of her nest.  I don’t expect she’s still nursing the females we left in the cage with her, but they all sleep together in Sparky’s hut, happy as clams.

We’ve named one of the babies from the first litter: Edmund.  This boy can climb like mad.  When we separated him from his mother, he went nuts, climbing in ways I wouldn’t have guessed he was able.  So, we named him after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mt. Everest.  He would have climbed to the top of the cage if he was bigger.  He’s not long enough to do it yet.  The husband joked that once he makes it to the top, he’ll swing across the top of the cage, and we’ll have to rename him George (of the Jungle).  😀 

I’ve been working on a non-stitchy project that I hoped to finish by tomorrow.  Not going to happen, and I can only blame myself for not starting sooner.  I’m going to focus on it until it’s done, though.  It’s time to take it off the back burner, and get it done.

 No pics right now, and I’m sorry for that.  Pictures are one of my blog-reading joys.  I’ll have a Desiderata update post soon, complete with pics.

More hamster love

I was having trouble uploading pictures of our hamsters the other day, and Monique told me she couldn’t see the picture I managed to upload. 

I’ve uploaded some hammie shots onto my webshots account. Here’s a link to a baby hamster slide show.  And, a father-and-child photo for your tiny creature viewing pleasure. 🙂

Hamster love

When my son got hamsters for his b’day, I never dreamed the whole family would fall in love with them the way we have.  I can’t get over it.  The husband is forever wondering who loves the little guys more, me or the son.  

When we bought them, I sort of knew they were a male and a female, but didn’t think about it.  On the one hand, there was denial (of future offspring).  On the other hand, I wanted babies (if I’m honest).  They warm my heart.  In two, short weeks, they’ve gone from being creepy to flat-out adorable.  They’re difficult for me to photgraph, but I keep trying.

Baby with Mum.

One of the best feelings in the world is a baby hamster’s paws on your fingers, looking for its share of apple, or carrot, or oat, since its littermate just got some.  Such a delicate sensation, delivering joy.

We held a couple of them for the first time this morning.  I was worried the mum would panic, but she didn’t bat an eye. I’d bore you with more pics, but WordPress is being disagreeable right now. Besides, it’s near impossible to capture the cuteness factor in photos.

On the stitching front, we went to IKEA to browse for bedroom furniture for the boy yesterday, and I didn’t get to stitch at all.  I did work on my DMC floss re-organizing project.  I mention it only b/c it was a consolation for me to at least do something stitchy. heh.

And, and, the boy started middle school today!  Oh, the milestones.  

Desiderata Monday, pt. 18

Well, one of the baby hamsters wandered away from the nest this morning!  Still blind, and I’m not sure exactly what it was looking for.  I assume it was first looking for Mom, and then just wanted to get home.  When Mom discovered the pup, she tossed it on its back to nurse it, but it wasn’t interested.  Mom was confused by all of it.  I’m sure she had no idea Baby had wandered.  Baby moseyed over toward Dad, who promptly ran away.  Mom has given Dad What-For several times for sticking his nose into her nest, and now he’s learned his lesson and is afraid of his pups.  I feel so sorry for the poor, harrassed papa.  Sorry for the blurry pic; he wouldn’t sit still for a proper pose. 😉

Nine-day-old runaway pup

I worked on Desiderata on Monday and Tuesday this week.  I thought I owed it to myself.  Plus, the next band is a row of Rhodes stitches in the beautiful Waterlilies Cafe Au Lait, and I didn’t want to wait another week to get started on that.  I love stitching with that color so much.  So, since I know you’re looking for pictures, I’ll upload them for you. 🙂

I really enjoyed stitching the foliage stitches on the right.  They’re sort of one-strand satin stitches.  Very pretty and fun to stitch.  Here’s some close-ups–

   

    

Pinkies!

We managed to get a long enough look to take pics of the baby hamsters.  IMO, they’re creepy-looking.  They look like they have no business being in the big, wide, open world.  They’re bald, and blind and deaf.  And yet…when you see them in real life, when they’re moving, they are so precious.  Hamster babies are called pups, but apparently, when they’re new and undercooked, as it were, they’re referred to as “pinkies.”  Because they look like pinky toes?  Prolly.

Cyndi asked to see pictures.  Here they are, in no particular order, Jelly, Peanut, and Number 3:

I’ll be sure to post cute pictures once they have hair and eyes and ears and look like proper critters. 😀