Friday, October 30, 2009

IN REMEMBERANCE



Louisiana's former governor DaveTreen died yesterday at the age of 81.  He was the first Republican governor since Reconstruction and a very nice man.

For many years I was active in Republican politics in East Baton Rouge Parish-even an elected official for 8 years. It was my privilege to meet many state and national leaders. Those included Ronald Reagan, George Bush (the older one) and his wife Barbara. Didn't care much for Junior!

But one man stands out in my mind and it's David Treen. I attended many State Central Committee meetings where I was able to chat with him. He was always outgoing, intelligent and a VERY Southern gentleman. He loved his wife Dodie, who died several years ago, and she was always by his side.

The last time I saw him was at a fundraiser at the Governor's Mansion. Mike Foster was the governor then (I didn't care much for him, either. Very rude.). Near the end of the evening someone sat down at the piano and began to play. A crowd gathered round to have a song fest and about the first one there was Dave Treen. He wanted to sing his favorite song: "Danny Boy". We all joined in and had a jolly good time. And his voice wasn't that bad!

I will always associate that song with him now. I hope he's with Dodie today, home where he would want to be. He will lie in state here in Baton Rouge at the state capitol. Maybe I'll go see this gentleman once more and whisper the words of the song he loved.

It was a privilege, Dave.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A LITTLE BITTY OLD FINISH


I got to messing around in my stitchy closet last night and came across this little goody. I started it a couple of years ago, made a colossal mistake and then put it away. I was looking for something else and found it. I frogged out the mistake(s) and finished stitching it. This morning I put it together. First time I've ever used those little plastic stuffing beads. I think it turned out right nicely, if I say so myself. It's Indigo Rose's A Bee Charmer.

I'm getting ready to do a major overhaul in the old stitchy closet. Too much stuff, not enough storage space. I have charts out the wazoo- some never used. Think I'm going to maybe sell them. We'll see. I'll let you all know, as well as making a list.

My nose is stingy today and a little stuffy. Guess the weather change is hitting. John has the flu and Michael had to have an elbow injected. We're all falling apart around here! So far David has stayed in good health.

Don't forget about the time change this Saturday night. Never have figured out the reason for it. Time is time!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

So...........

here I sit, looking through the window. It's getting very dark outside and we're under tornado watch until 10PM. The mayor sent city employees home at 2:30 PM so we can all watch the storm coming. It's 80 degrees outside but is supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow. Michael came by to pick up the football tickets for this Saturday's game:  Alabama (yea) vs. Tennessee. He'll be leaving tomorrow after work for the trip to Tuscaloosa.

Since there's not a lot to do right now-I avoid housework-and I'm taking a bread from stitching, here's a look at the last few day's activities.

This is a piece that I did years ago-the 80's, I think-and I decided to frame it for the kitchen. Amazing how one's taste changes over the years.....


Now for a look at some progress. Houmas House is moving along. It's an easy stitch (not a short one!) and is really nice. The shading is so subtle. And really looks like the house itself. I'm using the threads called for: DMC and Weeks overdyes.



A Summer Ball is lookin' good. I am changing some of the dress colors and am planning to watch P&P later to see what other colors men wore for dress suits back in those days. The pattern calls for black and white but that's BORING!!! We'll see.



And here's a belated birthday present I've given myself. Diane at my LNS gives a 25% discount during a birthday month. I've really been wanting to do this for a long time: it's the mate to the Quaker Christmas  that's already finished and hanging. I did it in shades of green with touches of red and gold. This one will be in shades of blue with a mahogany brown for the lettering. It's kitted up but I have no idea when I'll start it.



And last but not least: here's the answer to the $64,000 question. The Totally Useless SAL is just what the name implies. Stitchers collect a lot of trash. Little bits and pieces of thread (called "orts"), broken needles, thread labels, etc.  Those belonging to the SAL save them in special jars, or whatever. Once a month, at the New Moon, we report our savings. This past month was a busy one for me. Sometimes I don't do a lot of stitching and there's not a lot of little treasures. Every month I move the stuff into little glass Christmas ornaments which I place in the bowl up side down. I have a very LARGE glass jar and at the end of the year I'm going to move all those little balls to the jar. The only scary thing is to see how many scraps there are. And the colors are really nice when combined all together.


Monday, October 19, 2009




The Totally Useless SAL is coming along!  And so is the Bowl of Balls. It's time to buy a new box--all are filled except for a little space in the last one. I had a BIG stitching month. A couple of projects started and some hard work on others.  So goes my time.
It was a great weekend. We went home to Tuscaloosa for Homecoming. Boy, was it COLD. Just about everyone was wearing gloves, scarves and earmuffs during the parade, which was at noon. I decided not to go to the game. It was at night and was in the 40's. I stayed with my mother-in-law, who is 97 and is very frail but very alert. She's a worse Alabama fan than I am-if there is such. There is something SO special about the UA campus. It's just wonderful to walk that ground and see all the sights, how everything has changed. Three generations of us have graduated from Alabama. And many more of my family has had some education there. There are some photos on my photostream, which is on the right side of my blog.

I did a little stitching while I was there. I usually have a piece with a big block area that is stitched in a single color. That way I can watch TV, stitch and not have to look at a graph. This time it was A Summer Ball. I'll try to get a snap tomorrow. It's really coming along.

Need to run.  Criminal Minds is on and it's one I haven't seen. So until later.....

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

OLDIES BUT GOODIES!



Well, here are the latest pictures belonging to what is rapidly becoming the "Paula Vaughn" room.  These are two very OLD stitchings. I soaked them and then framed them in two very OLD frames that I had around the house.

I love the Christmas one but, well, the other one, now that I looked at it up close, maybe was an insult to my intelligence! Too easy. Non-descript. Still, it represents time and money, so it gets its place.



This weekend is Homecoming at my alma mater (the University of Alabama, to those who may have forgot!!!!): pep rally, bonfire, parade, game. And it will be fairly cool, too. Plus all those pretty, colorful leaves. And.....it's the fortieth anniversay of my graduation. Jeez, when did I get so old?

Monday, October 12, 2009

   I really am still alive!  It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We all fully recovered from the rainy trip home to the ballgame. Since then we've won two more. And have moved to #2 in the polls. I'm really not sure we deserve it, but none of the others teams are that good, either. I'm glad Tebow survived the LSU game on Saturday with LSU. In a  mother's opinion, he should not have been playing. Only two weeks out from a major concussion. And tossing his cookies all over the sideline!

I turned another year older on October 3rd. It was a good day. Bama won it's game and we all had lemon/chocolate doberge cake from Baum's. A taste of heaven on earth. I was a big 63. Believe me, at this stage of the game birthdays are a good thing.

In my last post I showed you a picture of my newest chart. I couldn't just kit it up without taking a few stitches. Which started me on a jag. Even though it looks complicated, it isn't. Very ordered. Easy to read chart. Below are a couple of pictures of the real Houmas House. It's just a few miles from here, so I'm going to make the trip down in just a few weeks. This weekend is a festival there, but every one in the area will be there, so I'll make the trip when it's quiet and I can really enjoy things.  
                                            
                                                           

There is a website for Houmas House and I think it's really worth a look. Check out the brochure link for some really great  pictures.





This is my progress so far. It's probably going to become a little tedious when I get to the sky and the lawn. May have to do a little gridding!



This is my latest read. Just finished it. Really very good. Caroline Bingley gets her comeuppance and it wasn't without tragedy. I thought her style of writing was on a little bit higher level than some of the other P&P knockoffs. It begins just after the wedding. I still see some of Darcy's temper. I enjoyed re-connecting with old friends and, of course, meeting new ones. I would suspect there will be another in the series.



That's about all for today. I have a couple of framing projects to show plus some more WIP's to report. But right now my stitching is calling. To say nothing of Criminal Minds!