A little "tweaking"

It is just too darn hot and dry!  I am deciding that I hate, hate summer.  Since it is too hot to do anything except the absolutely necessary outside, I turn to indoor projects.   I did a little re-arranging in the living room and hung this rug over the fireplace.  It is one of my favorites, the pattern is by Kris Miller.  The linen pattern and wool was my gift to myself while recovering from hip replacement two years ago.  The Schoenhut piano the the left was my Mother's when she was a child, and the little bus on the mantel underneath the rug (hard to see) was my Father's souvenir from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

I have finished one small sampler, Melicent Turner.  She was a quick and fun stitch, and I love her verse.

Last weekend I went to a small local antique and garden show. and found the perfect thing to use as a tv cabinet.  I hated having the television showing and have been carrying around my very specific dimension for several years.  I finally found it!!  Yeah!!  It is even older than I first thought, because when taking out a middle shelf, I discovered it was made with square nails.  All three knobs are slightly different, and the thing that holds the doors closed is this ingenious little knob with a old nail through it that turns.

The kittens are so cute.  Tomorrow afternoon they go in for their first shots.  This is the cutest one, she should be simple to find a home for.

The little tortie in front is the one I am definitely keeping.  Her name is Petunia.  We bonded right away, and she is such a sweet, affectionate little girl.

A new project that I am getting ready to start is this cute sewing box by Brenda Gervais.  It calls for a make-over of a Whitman's sampler box.  The box is to be painted and distressed, and it calls for lining the box with old pages.  I found this neat old cross stitch add for $1, and think it will be perfect!

That's all for now...stay cool!!
Hugs,
Melinda

Two new rugs and a sampler

Greetings, friends!
It has suddenly turned cool here after several days of oppressive heat, and we finally got some rain last night.  Yeah!  The garden needed it so badly.

I have a couple of new rug finishes to share with you.  The first is the Bird Dog pattern from one of Pat Cross's wonderful books.  I tried to use worms and left-overs, and the only wool I bought was the reddish brown for outside border.  The worms were a combination of 8 1/2 cut and 8 cut, but mostly 8 1/2.  To whip the border, I purchased a skein from Brenda Gervais, it was a very thick hand-dyed yarn, and was so easy to work with.  I really like how this turned out.

Another much smaller rug I completed is now on the dining room table.   It was too long to fit in one picture.  The design is from Woolen Willow.  The picture looks brighter than it actually is.

As a nice change from time-consuming reproduction samplers, I finished Frederic from Carriage House Samplings.  It is done with 1 strand DMC on 36 ct.

Now to report on the kittens!  All is going well, yesterday they started to eat wet food, and are playing with each other and beginning to groom each other.  Every day there is a surprise!  One little one had conjunctivitis and went to the vet yesterday, she told me to treat all five so that they don't just pass it around.  The little girl weighed .9 and is now named Tisha and my mother is keeping her.  All it took was taking her to the vet wrapped in a basket with a hot water bottle and she fell in love.  She is one of two tortoise shells and I learned that the tortie gene is a female gene like the calico.  There are 3 girls (two torties and a calico) and 2 little black boys.  Here they are today.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend!
Hugs,
Melinda