Sunday, February 22, 2009

Good day, good evening, hello! It's Sunday morning and I'm
settling in for my weekly blog post. This post will feature
books at the beginning, but further down we'll get into cross
stitching, so if you're more interested in stitching then books
do feel free to scroll down a ways to that section. Note: I
think all pictures are clickable for closer looks. Here we go....

The library has been set up with the new book cases and the
books arranged as best I can manage. To start, the wall on
the right hand side of the room as you enter. The first three
sections are an older set of bookcases which holds fantasy
and science fiction. The lighter two sections after that
are new and hold more fantasy and biographies. The final
two sections way down at the end hold general fiction and
mysteries.


Close up of sections with fantasies, biographies, general
fiction and mysteries. Again, the lighter shelves are new.


Left hand wall as you enter the room. One bookcase at extreme
left hand edge of picture is mostly cut off but I couldn't help that.
In this section we added one more short bookcase, and added
extensions to all three short bookcases. That is to say, Ikea sells
a box shape which you can attach to the top of any of their book
cases to make the tops of them into another shelf. So a three
shelf bookcase becomes a four shelf bookcase. Am I explaining
okay??

This section holds paperbacks (bookcase partially hidden behind
lamp and chair) and my coffee table books about anything that
catches my interest, some childrens/teens books, and more paper
backs, and smaller books in general fiction and biography.


So here's a close up of the new book case and the extensions,
all lighter in colour to the older ones. And in case you're
wondering....I goofed and bought bookcases in the wrong
colour. What can I say??? I'm a idiot at times. And we
weren't about to turn around and drive an hour back to
Ikea to switch them, and then an hour home again. So
we have a multi coloured library. I can live with it. At
least you can see the extensions and get perhaps a
better idea of how they work then I can explain.


And this is the back wall with bookcases that I've had for
as long as we've lived here, and these books are all fiction.
As you can see by these pictures I now have a bit more
room to add books, which is a good thing because at least
four of my favourite authors have new books coming out
shortly. (Insert eye rolling here).

I'm very happy with the final layout and having the books
spread out a bit more, at least for the time being. Unfort-
unately since this is the basement of the house this room
does get quite cool during the winter. Someday we hope
to add an electric fireplace to help add warmth when I
want to sit here and read. It'll have to be built into the
ceiling I guess, since floor space is at a premium now,
or perhaps a fire pit in the centre of the room??? Right
now if I want to sit down there I carry the portable
heater down with me and set it at my feet while I'm
sitting reading.


Moving on....I have a couple of thank you's to add here.
Cindy and Maren, thank you so very much for nominating
me for the Friends award. I'm very touched and delighted
that you would think of me. There are so many incredible
bloggers out there, and I've made so many wonderful
friends in the past three years, it's hard to pick out just a
few to mention. If you visit here I am delighted you came,
if you leave a comment as well you make my day, if you
are a Chatty Cathy when you comment that's awesome!!!


Being on vacation this week I've been able to stitch a lot more
then normal, and I chose to concentrate my attentions on this
piece. November Window is getting pretty close to a finish now
and I couldn't be happier. I LOVE this design. I just have the
branches on the trees to backstitch on, and the verse to add, and
it'll be done. I decided to keep My Needle's Work as a travel
piece, even though it's getting pretty close to a finish. After a
weeks absence from it I'm looking forward to getting back to it
this week.


Ebay! Got two wins to show here. Firstly all the alphabet
series from Prairie Schooler in one win!! Oh my!! Pretty,
pretty, pretty. I wanna do that one, an' that one, an' that
one, an' that one too.....ohhhh, and that one!!!


The rest of the alphabet books, plus my second win. A Prairie
Year II!!! I've wanted this one for ages. Love all the designs
on it, but my favourite is the Bee Skep design. I've wanted to
stitch that for ages. And now I can.


Saw the new designs from Prairie Schooler, and I love April
the most. July is great too, but a little inappropriate for a
Canadian stitcher I guess. But April is so sweet and pretty,
(love the bunnies!!) so it'll go on my wish list. I borrowed
the above picture from Stitching Bit's and Bobs website.

*********************************************************

My week's vacation was blissful. I spent mornings cleaning
the house, and afternoons with needle and thread, music or
talk radio, and the cats. I also read a bit since my latest issue
of Victoria arrived in the mail and I love to settle down with
a cup of tea and this beautiful magazine and drift away in
it's pages.

********************************************************

Was very sorry to read on another blog that Mary Engelbreit's
Home Companion is no longer publishing. I adore this
magazine and have been collecting it since it first came out.
I understand that they're looking for another publisher, but
who knows if that'll happen or not. I read that Country
Home magazine is gone too, and Country Living is teetering
on the edge.

I use to buy so many magazines years ago, including Country
Living and Country Home, but had to cut back due to expense
and space restrictions. I'm sadden to hear that these wonderful
magazines, who have given pleasure and inspiration to so many
people over the years, are not going to be around anymore.

*********************************************************

I had a huge and wonderful surprise thanks to Facebook last
week. I'm on Faceback as Judy Hattey-McClure, but I am
not an avid visitor there. I prefer spending my time blogging.
But the other day I got a message from a friend from high
school who'd just joined Facebook and was searching for
old friends there. I haven't spoken to or seen Neilina for 30
years, although I'd been keeping an eye out for her through
the internet and various sites. Yesterday I phoned her and
we spend two and a half hours on the phone catching up and
saying....remember when???? What a happy, happy
surprise this was. Thank you Facebook.

*********************************************************

I spent Monday visiting my Mom at the residence and we
had a lovely time. I took her my currant cross stitch projects
so she could see my progress on them, and we had a nice
lunch together in the dinning room, and we worked on a jigsaw
puzzle, along with her friend Flora. We are all jigsaw puzzle
fantatics. Mom is doing very well now and is so very happy
to be back home again.

On Thursday they had a mock wedding at the residence, with
one of the residents as the bride (wearing a donated wedding
gown) getting "married" to a member of the waiting staff. The
owner of the residence was the "minister" and staff and residents
alike all got dressed up for the occasion. Oh yes, and the guest of
honour was President and Mrs Obama, who were a great hit with
all concerned. A special, fancy dinner was prepared and an
entertainer was hired to come in and play piano and sing after-
words. Mom tells me that everyone had lots of fun, lots of
laughs and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Even the President
and First Lady, who looked very elegant in her evening gown.
(Juliet is a nurse at the residence and is very beautiful, in a
gown or in work cloths)

*******************************************************

Watched the visit of President Obama to Ottawa this week
too. Guess he stopped in there on his way to the "wedding"
here in Georgetown. Lol!!



No, we don't have a new cat. Phoebe wouldn't allow that. But
I do have an old and very dear friend who lives up the road from
us and he is the most affectionate guy you could ever meet. We
named him Smudge because of the smudge of black under his
nose, but I understand that his real name is Nosey.

Smudge is about 9 years old, and he loves people. If I pass his
house when coming home from work he walks me home and we
chat. He goes around the neighbourhood and "visits" people.
He's quite the Bon Vivant and I'm always delighted when he stops
by to say hello and get scratched. This is the first time I've been able
to take pictures of him and I had the dickens of a time doing it
because he would not hold still!! He was rolling around on the
ground, meowing and rubbing against my legs. I came in the
house covered in white fur. Phoebe was not amused.

I guess that I should end this epic post and get on with the last
day of my vacation (sniff...sobbbbb!!!). I'm going to do laundry
and stitch and this evening I'll watch a bit of the Academy Awards
just to see Hugh Jackman in a tux.....SIGH!!!


The snow was mostly gone at the beginning of last week
except for a few lingering, very sad looking mounds at the
end of the driveways. Then we had some snow on
Wednesday, and more during last night and this morning.
Only one more month until Spring arrives. Hurry...hurry!

Take care everyone. Thanks for stopping by and plowing
through this very verbose (long winded) post. Have a great
week.

Cheers!!!

12 comments:

Cam said...

Oh, I love the bookshelves - I'm drooling in envy! It's the one thing that we keep planning, but never actually get around to doing - so a large majority of books are spread around the house (which means I have to go on a hunt when I want to find a specific book...)

Dani - tkdchick said...

Judy you got in some great stitching there during your time off!

mainely stitching said...

We need to figure out a long-term solution for our library. Sigh. Your place looks like ours would, if we hadn't decided to temporarily pack up the books to make room for the kids. LOL.

You stay warm - what a winter!! Brr!

Cindy F. said...

Your library reminds me of my dad's! How nice to have. We've just bought new bookcases too and I can't wait til they arrive!
Congrats on your new stash! and your wip is beautiful!!
So glad to hear your mom is doing so well! You are a good daughter:)
And re: the Friends award...you're welcome and you deserve it!
Stay warm and be careful in all that cold!

Pumpkin said...

Holy cow girl!!!! You have your very own library ;o) Much better than our public one. LOL! I'd be in heaven.

Ohhhhh....I love this piece! Very nice Judy! I see you've become a PS addict ;o) You just HAD to show those charts didn't you????

Your week of vacation sounds like it was a success. What a wonderful surprise to hook up with an old friend.

I'm SO happy to hear that your Mom is doing well and back home. What a fun time she must have had at the wedding. I hope she got the President's autograph ;o)

So you're cheating on Phoebe are you? ;o)

At the moment we now have an additional 30-40cm of snow that just got dumped :oS I'm SO SICK of snow!!!!

staci said...

Wow! Your library is AMAZING! If it were in my house, I'd never leave it, LOL!!!

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy,
My goodness you have a lot of books. When you told me you had a lot I didn't pictured that many LOL.
My eldest son's unit has a wall of bookcases and it is filled with all his books and in between each bookcase he has the IKEA CD cases where he has his collection of lead soldiers and little things that my
Sister has bought him back from overseas when he was small. It looks really good. Last time I was there sitting at his dining table (small unit) I suddenly saw how many bibles he had. I asked him "how many did he need" LOL.
Your stitching is looking lovely as usual. It's always a good feeling when you are in the home stretch.
I'm so glad that your Mum is feeling so much better. I bet she feels more comfortable to be at home.
I have been buying my Victoria from a needlework shop in Sydney. I get the latest copy. I keep checking out their website to see if they have it on there yet. When I order it I get it the next day. I'm an eager beaver to receive it. I'm also keeping an eye out at my local Needlework shop for Sampler and Antique Needlework. It is an expensive month for magazines for me this month.
In answer to your questions, yes it is still summer, but the weather has been completely crazy. Because we are at a higher altitude than Sydney we have lower temperatures. Last week up here it was just simply cold and wet. In Sydney, it would have been cool.
The bush fires in Victoria are still going. People had to be evacuated from their homes last night and I think one poor person lost their house. Also Queensland is still flooded. Those poor people have been flooded for weeks. I think they will soon be growing web feet.
Sounds like you had a lovely week off. Perfect days. Housework in the morning, stitching in the afternoon. What more can a girl ask for. - have a lovely week - Sandra.

Anonymous said...

Hello
Hum!! those bookshelves look wonderfull! One of these days I will show you mine. Hugh Jackman was really wonderfull. Never guessed the Oscars could make a comeback like that. He was the perfect host and can sing and can dance and is gorgeous... Saw The Reader. Wonderful movie. Kate Winslet is a deserved recepient of the statue.
Glad to know your mom is well. And got the visit of the "Obamas" :-) That was great
Love all the Prarie Schooler. Hope to find some in Paris next week.
Bye for know

Beatrice said...

Wow that is some library...I can see your passion for books in all of the photos.
Your stitching is awesome.
And I must say your comments are always so informative and fun to read so....
Have a look at my blog you have an Award!

Lynn said...

I think I could use some lessons from you on how to organize my books. I know I definitely need more shelves. Guess I'll be checking out Ikea!
Love your new stash! Of course I'm a big fan of PS. I'd love to stitch that April showers pattern.
Sounds like you had a great week off work with all that extra stitching time!

stitcherw said...

Oh man, I am sooooooooooo jealous. Your bookcases and books are awesome. There is now drool on my keyboard from eyeing all your goodies. I could curl up in that room and hardly ever come out. Yup, your books, bring my stitching and I'd be a totally happy camper. Great new stash as well. I don't have all the PS letters, but I do have several. I mainly went after the different designs that I especially liked, the kitty, Owl, and such. Nice progress on your November Window too, great colors.

Glad your mom is having such a good time back at the residence, that is so wonderful she was able to recover so well and go back. Sounds like they have quite a fun time, the wedding sounds a hoot. Were you able to find the cotton yarn for her?
Sue

Brigitte said...

Oh Judy, how I loved to walk with you through your personal library. It's so inviting that I'd like to sit down in there abd start reading your books. The walls in my study are also completely covered with shelves but most of them are occupied by books I need for school. And there's not much space jeft for my private books. I'm looking forward to my retirement and the first thing I will be doing is throw out all the school books and folders and then my shelves will be for my books foer the most part, and some will hold my growing collection of stitched smalls.

It's wonderful that your mother feels so good at her residence.

All your new Prairie Schooler charts are great. I have them, too, and I will also buy the new ones. Particularly April is such a beautiful design. Maybe because I'm longing so much for spring to come. I see that you also had the same haul of new snow as we had. I'm sick and tired of all the white stuff. I want to see flowers and green and colours ...

You seem to have spent a very relaxing week off. This week is my week off and I'm doing exactly the same things - stitching, a bit household chores, relaxing, reading and visiting blogs.