Harvey the white rabbit and some embroidery.

In keeping with my new reform {the battle against time-wasting}, I have set myself a daily limit of no longer than one hour online (though I think I went a bit over today). This doesn't mean that I must spend an hour online each day. :) Just that I won't stay on any longer than an hour. Because of this, I've had to start writing my posts in parts, working on them over several days. :)

Last night, I finally got to see Harvey, starring Jimmy Stewart, on Netflix. I saw my cousin in a high school version of this play when I was about 10, and Harvey the six-foot-three-and-a-half-inch rabbit has stuck with me ever since. I've been wanting to see this movie for a long time. I wasn't disappointed...it was lovely and hilarious.

Jimmy Stewart just melts my heart {at the risk of sounding mushy :)}. Sure, I talk about hunky Cary Grant and talented Gene Kelly, but I've always loved Jimmy Stewart. I love his distinctive, drawling voice and how he uses his hands when he talks. I love that he seems so real and genuine, like a cousin or an uncle or a neighbor.

And the world would be a much more pleasant place if there were more Elwood P. Dowds around, don't you think? "Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be,' she always called me Elwood, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

Today I watched Cinderfella, starring Jerry Lewis. I liked it a lot. While it wasn't an especially hilarious or witty film, it was just really good and sweet.

I learned four very important things from this film:
1. A strange man floating in your pool is most likely your fairy godfather.
2. If you ever need to attend a ball in disguise from your stepmother and stepbrothers, just add some grey to your hair, learn some smooth dance moves, and rent a red, rickrack-embellished (?) suit jacket, and it'll all work out. Really.
3. A princess and a handsome guy in a red, rickrack-embellished jacket can discover true love over the course of one little dance.
4. Ever since watching Never a Dull Moment, I have had an irrational fear of Henry Silva.


Really, though, I enjoyed this film. :) It's interesting having a guy in the role of Cinderella.

And now for some craftiness, which I know has been greatly lacking on my blog here lately. I've been doing a lot of embroidery lately!

I finished up my Emma cross stitch a couple of weeks ago. Sorry for the bad lighting- by the time I remembered to take a picture, it was getting dark. Anyway, this is my very first completed cross stitch project. While I prefer regular embroidery, this is a nice change every once and a while.

I've had this book-related series of patterns for a while, and I finally got around to stitching one! I love it, and it's sitting on one of my bookshelves now. My brother had to have surgery on his hand yesterday, and I did this one (and finished up the next one) while we were waiting at the hospital. It was really quick and enjoyable. The stitching, that is. Not the surgery or the waiting in the hospital. The text is in silver thread, and the fabric is dark navy blue. When my mom saw me working on it, she said "I read books?" I always took it to mean "I love books," but I guess it could be that, too. :)

When I saw this adorable pattern, I added it to my Etsy favorites. I bought it around the fourth of July when the shop owner had a sale. I worked on it over several days and finished it yesterday. The "frame" is actually one that used to hold an old clock that had broken. I was originally planning on painting the frame red, but it's a really pretty shade and it matched the embroidery so I left it.

This is the first embroidery project I've done where there was no color guide, so I pretty much chose the colors myself (though the aqua and red- a color combination I love- was heavily influenced by the pattern pictures on Etsy). I just chose colors that I really love, and I think that, somehow, they look really cute together.

Some close ups. I make all of my little embroidered girls brunettes, like me. :) I'm biased and I just can't bring myself to stitch up a blonde or auburn girl! Maybe someday.

This is a free pattern available at the September House blog. I added the text and the stray firefly, because it looked like it needed something else.

I had wanted to use some sort of glow in the dark or shiny embroidery floss for the fireflies, until I saw how much that stuff costs (about $2.50 a spool instead of the usual 40 cents? No, thank you). The bright yellow seems to glow, anyway, against the blue fabric. It reminds me of summer. :)

So here is the little space on my wall devoted to embroidery. I'm running out of room, and I still have my Emma piece to frame and hang, so I might have to move some things around. I've also got a couple of other pieces around my room. {My wall is not white, but a shade of light blue that just happens to photograph terribly.}

The topics of my next few posts include the Bleak House mini-series and hair. If that doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what will. :)

Until next time,