The Goode Huswife - Tulip Garden

Dear friends,

     We are having the most beautiful weather here in SE Michigan!  Finally.  Friday was breezy and cool enough that we could open the windows, air out the house and sleep without air conditioning.  Yesterday, almost the same but temps were going up so we did turn on the air to sleep.  It (the AC) is still on today but it is a lovely day outside and such a nice break from the oppressive heat.  I hope you're surviving the heat, wherever you are.

     I finished The Goode Huswife, Tulip Garden earlier in the week and just couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  This is one of my favorite GH charts.  It is stitched on 30 count, WDW Straw, over one with the called for DMC threads.  When I get the companion chart stitched, I'll get them framed to hang together.

I also got a bit of a start on Susan Rambo but have already frogged a bit, as well.  I didn't like the dark green that was charted (it looked way darker than the pic on the cover), so I swapped it for another green and I'm still not sure about that either.  Normally, I stitch with one thread when working on 36 count.  But, part of what appealed to me about this chart was the bulkiness of the look of the threads 

(can you see that in the magazine picture?).  

So, I'm stitching it with two threads.  

We'll see - I hope it doesn't end up looking TOO bulky.

Not much else going on around here.  I have managed to stay on my feet and haven't had any falls of late, so that's good, although it doesn't make for a very interesting blog post!  I am continuing to run - jog is really more like it, and managed to get in a 4 mile run yesterday with no incidents.  

Oh, I did have a great mid-week break this past week.  On Wednesday, my best pals Sheila, Lisa, Linda and I all took off work and went to the opening day of the Ann Arbor Art Fair.  It is one of the oldest and largest art fairs around and has something for everybody, in all price ranges!  I picked up a couple of things but before I show you that, let me show you some pics of some of the things I found fascinating.

3D painting and sculpture.

 Reminds me of scenes from silent films.

Bronze sculpture

Mosaic tile work - LOVeD this: 

Kinetic sculpture - around $10,000.  Yep, 10 thousand dollars.

This one was about 10 feet tall (maybe more) and was, I think, $18,000.00

 So pretty - every piece just spun in the wind - hand blown glass and steel

Beautiful!

 Everything from trendy and modern to folky, found object art:

 Loved the raven.

More simplistic ravens that were still a bit pricey - $200, I think.

Pottery:

Found object art - loved these!

  

This was, perhaps, the most interesting thing I saw.  It was taken from a letter, in a Christmas card that was written by a prostitute to her former boyfriend or "john" and was embroidered.  When we saw this, on the first day, it had already sold.  I hope you'll be able to click on it to read it.

To give you an idea:

"Charlie, I'm pregnant.  Living on Ninth Street above the Dirty Bookstore on Euclid Avenue.  Stopped taking dope.  Quit drinking whiskey.   My old man plays trombone, works down at the track.  Says that he loves me and though it's not his baby, says that he'll raise him up just like his own son.  Gave me a ring worn by his mother.  He takes me out dancing every Saturday night.  Hey, Charlie, I think about you every time I pass the filling station on account of all the grease you used to use in your hair.  I still have that record, Little Anthony and the Imperials but someone stole my record player.  Now how do you like that?  Charlie, I almost went crazy when Mario got busted, I went back to Omaha to visit my folks.  Everyone I used to know is either dead or in prison.  I came back to Minneapolis, this time I think I'm gonna stay.  Hey, Charlie I think I'm happy for the first time.  I wish I had all the money we used to spend on dope I'd buy a used car lot....

What did I buy?

This dragon fly necklace made from silver-plate demitasse spoons.

Lynda told us about one of the artists that she always likes to see and when she was describing her work, I said it sounded like an artist I had "pinned" on Pinterest.  

Sure enough, it was!

Here's a not so good picture of me and the darling artist and her husband .  You may recognize the bird necklace hanging in the background - I know I've pinned that one, too.

She is from England and was just a doll - called everyone "love" and was just too cute for words - personality plus!

Visit her website here~.  If you sign up for her email notifications, you'll get notices of sales and free shipping at Christmas.  She said she only sends one email a month so you won't get inundated.  I wanted to buy so many pieces and had such a hard time deciding.  next purchase may be a big flower ring!

The other thing I bought was a birdhouse for my husband's sister in law, for her birthday.  She loves purple, is extremely hard to buy for, and loves her garden so I hope she'll like it.  The artist said you could leave it out all year long.

The top is a little crooked - just hung it up quickly for a picture.

That's it for this Sunday, my friends.  I hope you have a good week ahead!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your sweet comments.  I especially appreciated all the wonderful comments about the chair my mom covered for me.  She was tickled that you all liked it and I thank you for helping to make her feel so good (as you always do me)!

Hugs my friends,

Be well,

Peace,

Terri