Summer Exchanges

When I started working the day shift after the first of the year I thought life would slow down a bit, so I signed up to participate in exchanges with two of my stitching groups. In the end life got crazier than ever, but it was a wonderful thing to be able to say "I really must sit down and stitch today." The mail date for both exchanges was June 1st.

The St. Louis Stitchers have an ornament exchange every Christmas, but this year Susan also organized a 4th of July exchange. I stitched for Christine, and had a blast digging through my stash to find the "perfect" project. I stitched on a small premade pillow/ornament from Adam Originals. The words are from the Birds of a Feather leaflet "Land That I Love" and stitched over one. The hearts and star are also stitched over one, and are from the Better Homes and Gardens book "2001 Cross Stitch Designs." The bird button is from JABC. My fabulous friends at Violet Threads gave me the idea to put a musical note next to the word "that." It needed something, and I couldn't figure out what!

I was thrilled to discover that Monique had my name in this exchange! If you've been to her blog - and I'm sure you have - then you've already seen the awesome bag she made. I love it! It is a great size and I've been using it left and right. Here is a picture, just in case you missed it. Thanks a bunch, Monique!
Ginger organized the exchange for the other group. It was a summer theme exchange, but basically you could stitch whatever you thought your recipient would like best. I stitched for Lynne. She recently posted a picture of a William Morris project that she stitched and finished as a bellpull. I decided to stitch "Dragonfly" by Elizabeth's Designs. It is a clean, simple design and I thought the colors were just right for Lynne. Ginger had the perfect frame (thanks Ginger!) and also helped me come up with the dragonfly - nabbed from a Just Nan project! (Thanks a whole bunch, Ginger!)I was absolutely delighted to discover that Kathleen stitched for me. She made this incredible needlebook from a LHN design. It is stitched over one and has beautiful brown felt pages. She also included several packs of needles. She couldn't have chosen anything I would love more, with the acorns and finished as a needlebook. And best of all it was made by K. Hugs, my friend!

I thought I would also show you what I am stitching at work. This is "Neat Country Stuff," an oldie but goodie from Homespun Elegance. The moon has been driving me crazy at work so I brought it home to get a good look under proper light and magnification. I'm on the home stretch, and really looking forward to finishing this one! The specialty stitches have been a lot of fun. Except when they've been a pain in the behind!

Many thanks to everyone who sent me an email or commented on my return to bloggerdom! It is good to be back, even on a limited basis!

She's So Enterprising

Don't fall over. It's really me. It's been a long, long time. Back in June I attended the first weekend of the Rockome show. It was a great weekend. I woke up the following Monday morning in a training class for a new job. Talk about culture shock!



For the next 6 months I worked a crazy shift, from 5:30 PM to 2:00 AM. My days off were Tuesday and Thursday. In short, it was the pits. On the plus side, we have health insurance and a bit of extra cash coming in. As a bonus, I am allowed to stitch at work if/when the work load permits. Ah yes, getting paid to stitch. Can't complain about that.


In January I earned a day shift. Daylight became my friend, instead of the pest leaking in around the edges of my sleep mask. My days off are still during the week, but now they are consecutive days. I can also attend all but one of my evening stitching groups. Life is good!


When time and energy converge on a quiet moment, I make an effort to stitch. I'm also trying to get back into the swing of participating in the cyber world of stitching. That includes blogging.


Many thanks to those of you who sent me email messages during my time away. I am sorry you didn't hear back from me in a timely manner. Really sorry. I feel so blessed that you cared enough to write. Thank you!


Sometime soon I'll take pictures of my recent finishes. I've even had a few projects framed. Can you believe it? Shocking!


I can't post without including a picture. This is the pink version of Bent Creek's Spring Snapperland. Stitcher's Station in Hillsboro did the framing, and it is perfect. I would have never thought of using two frames.







That's all for now. I'll be back.

Hose it into the Ditch

Hello out there! It seems that I'm on a once-per-month blogging schedule. I'd like to kick that up a notch or two, but my follow-through never catches up with my intentions. Well, at least I'm stitching so it could be worse - no stitching AND no blogging would be the pits!

When last we spoke I mentioned the Dutch Treat table topper that I finished in March. I started the project in 2006 as a gift for Ruth, my mother-in-law. She loves little white churches, so I chose the design "Scenes from Yesteryear" and then took a few liberties with it. The village in the chart only has one church, so I morphed the little school house into a church. OK, so it looks like a school with a cross on the roof. Whatever. Here is how it turned out.

This project was fraught with disaster, peril and other bad things. If it could go wrong, it went wrong. Right off the bat I discovered that no matter how hard I twisted the q-snaps, I couldn't get the table topper fabric tight enough to suit me. I like the fabric tight enough that you can bounce a quarter on it. Like a bed at military school or boot camp. The fabric has to be tight in the q-snaps. That's Tight with a capital T.

So the perle cotton slipped and slid on the fabric and inspired me say bad words. (Just kidding, Mom!) (Just kidding, Ruth!) After finishing several squares I though maybe I should work on the border as I went along. That's when I discovered that the table topper was cut short, and there wasn't enough fabric to stitch the border on one side. Thank-you-ever-so-much to the cross stitch shop that sold me the fabric. The shop is now out of business and shall remain nameless. I am still bitter.

At that point I put the project away. I just couldn't look at it any more. The fabric sucked and there wasn't enough of it. The stitching didn't look so great either. Ick!

Fast forward to this year. I made up an acronym for 2008; NAY = "Not Another Year." I had a stitching basket full of WIPs (some would say UFOs) that needed to either get finished or go away. I was not going to hold them over for another year. I was soooo tempted to make this particular project go away. In fact, I began to devise wicked ways to kill it! I'm here to tell you, that's that only thing that got me through.

In January I put "Scenes from Yesteryear" back in the q-snaps. Right from the beginning things went wrong. Suddenly the cat on the fence was in the wrong place. The tree was too close to the border. The church had too many windows. Mistake after mistake after mistake. Every time I made a mistake I gave myself permission to stop and destroy the project in some new and special way. Yet every single time I decided it wasn't worth it and I went on to stitch the next square or the next cat or the next tree. Whatever. In the end, this was my game plan:

1. The project is on white fabric; toss a pot of coffee on it. Rub in coffee grounds.


2. Let it dry with the coffee on it, all crusty and gross.


3. Get out a razor (scissors would be too kind) and slice it to ribbons.


4. Place the shredded fabric in the driveway.


5. Drive the car over it several times. Be sure to get tire marks on it!


6. Return the car to the safety of the garage.


7. Gather the fabric scraps into a heap and set them on fire.


8. Hose the ashes into the ditch.

I did not like this project. Luckily, Ruth *did* like it! She received it for her birthday in April. Thank goodness, she likes it in spite of the imperfections and, um, creative license I took with it. I hope you enjoy it Ruth! If it ever gives you any trouble, don't hesitate to back over it with your car!

Time to go through my fabric stash and weed out any bits of table topper fabric that might be lurking in there. Blech!

Monique Was Right

I love mystery samplers. I was at one of our local monthly stitching get-togethers and mentioned that I was stitching the Old Sampler mystery from Ricamo Le Tue Idee. Monique wondered why I wasn't worried about the content of the sampler - what if the design turned out to be something I didn't like? Or worse, what if something happens and the designer abandons the project before it is complete? A mystery is risky!

WHAT? Of course I poo-pooed the possibilities. I've stitched several mystery samplers and collected the charts for a dozen more. They are beautiful and complete. Why worry? Then I downloaded the 6th installment of the Old Sampler.

Hey, what is this naked guy doing on my sampler?

I am not uptight or a prude, but as a matter of personal taste I do not decorate with cherubs or nude statuary or that sort of thing. Adam and Eve require fig leaves. That's just my preference. So what to do with the sampler? I decided I could skip a month and worry about it later. Like maybe after the 9th (final) installment came out.

Soon the 7th installment arrived, revealing the bottom of the tree that was started in installment 4. Oh dear. The tree trunk looks "off" to me. Thick at the top, skinny at the bottom. What tree looks like that? The bunnies are very sweet but the tree just bugs me.

I don't mean for this to be a slam against the Old Sampler mystery and I hope no one takes it that way. This is, after all, supposed to be an "Old Sampler" with motifs that are reminiscent of Italian needlework from years gone by. I should have expected a cherub or 5. In the end it's all about my personal taste, what looks good to my eye, and what I want to stitch. I don't know if Monique jinxed me or if I was just past due for a stitching roadblock. Either way, this project is on hold until I have all of the parts and can make a decision. Don't hold your breath or anything.

Speaking of Monique, I recently purchased (via her Etsy shop) a very cute acorn teapot kit. Please pardon the sideways picture.

It is a Silver Needle Night project, a really fun design that will need just a little tweaking to replace the sparkle threads (ick) with something more earthy. Do you sense a "personal taste" trend here? Anyway, Monique included an adorable Easter card with a surprise inside - one of her thread keepers with an acorn painted on it. Need I say swoon? Thanks Monique, it's perfect!

Speaking of acorns, I received a lovely surprise in the mail from Susie. She was sorting through her magazine collection and found these acorn charts. Aren't they awesome? Thanks again, Susie! It was so sweet of you to think of me! On the back of one of the charts was a picture of a sampler that I can't live without. I was thrilled to learn that Joy has the magazine and has agreed to loan it to me someday down the road when I'm ready to add to Diane. So Susie you gifted AND enabled. Gotta love that!

Speaking of Susie, I finished two of her designs. They are a ruler cozy and fob from a Stitcher's Express camp/retreat I attended a year or two (or more?) ago. They are super cute and feature the Rhodes butterfly stitch. Very easy and quite pretty! I should stress that I goofed repeatedly while stitching the cozy and fob. You know, little things like stitching over 1 instead of over 2 on the cozy and attaching the fob cording to the bottom instead of the top. Who else do you know that could accidentally stitch over 1 instead of over 2? Doh! The initials and charm are my personal efforts to fix the goofs and I added the beads on the fob because I could. I think it all worked out in the end. I noticed on Susie's blog that she is designing for the Stitcher's Express retreat in the fall. Yahoo! I hope I can attend this year. It's always a fun time.

Thanks for your encouraging comments! Some of you might have noticed a comment or two from me on your blog. I've reduced my unread feeds from over 3000 to under 400. In the process I've been a bit brutal and unsubscribed from a fair number of blogs. Hopefully this will make things more manageable for the future.

Next time I'll have pictures and details about the Dutch Treat tabletopper I mentioned here.

More Finishes

I was going to title this post "February Finishes" but March is more than half gone and I might as well include everything while I'm uploading pictures.

I'm still stitching the Homespun Elegance Wooly Thyme sheep blankets, one every month. Here is the February blanket.
In January of 2006 I started a Dutch Treat tabletopper. It was meant to be a Christmas gift that year...and it didn't happen. Well, Christmas happened. The gift did not. 2007 came and went. I finally finished it earlier this month. I'm so glad it is done! The giftee reads my blog from time to time, so I'm not going to share a picture until April. I am SO glad it is done! Oh. I think I mentioned that already.

Laundry signs by Echevette - These were fun to do but disturbingly like chocolate or potato chips - I couldn't stop at just one. All were stitched on 32 ct fabric and I used the DMC floss colors called for on the chart. Blanc was stitched on Natural Belfast.
Fragile was stitched on Antique White Belfast.
Couleurs was stitched on African Daisy Jobelan.
If there are more than 3, please don't tell me. I need to work on other things.

My Mark Swirly Heart - Stitched on gingham linen. Too cute!
My progress on Old Sampler and Deftly Wrought has been slow and I don't have any pictures to share. Maybe next time. My progress on BOAF Happy Hearts has been nil, thanks to the Echevette laundry signs. My regrets to fellow SALers, Lelia and Carol, both of whom are overdue for emails from me and have probably finished their samplers by now...

I did manage to finish something crafty. Some months ago Pat taught us how to make fabric baskets during a Violet Threads meeting. I bought the book the weekend of Art East and had good intentions. Here is my first attempt, a two-color basket.
My technique for finishing off leaves a lot to be desired. I'm hoping Pat can give me a few more tips at Violet Threads next week. In case you are wondering, this was made with clothesline (from Walmart) that is wrapped with fabric strips (from my stash) and then zig-zagged together on the sewing machine. I've been told that this was popular in the 80's but apparently I missed it the first time around.

I also learned to hand piece at Violet Threads. Ilene taught us. It was fun and easy. I'm still not inspired to quilt, but I am all for improving my handwork skills.
Thanks to everyone for your encouraging emails and comments. I have good intentions to blog regularly and obviously it doesn't happen. I also have good intentions to visit your blogs and that hasn't been happening either. I recently left about half of the Yahoo Groups I was a member of. Hopefully this will lighten my imaginary load and give me a bit more time for the things I enjoy. Blogs are near the top of my "enjoy" list.

March 21st is my blogiversary. It seems wrong to celebrate, in light of my recent bad blogging behavior. I guess I'll just be happy with the fact that I haven't quit and try to forge ahead into a better blogging year.

January Finishes

January has come and gone. I mananged to finish a few thing. My December Homespun Elegance Woolly Tyme sheep blanket didn't get finished in December, so I wrapped it up in January.

I am not really into santa, so I replaced him with a couple of trees from the HE Winter House Sampler chart. I really like the way it turned out. I also changed the colors of the heart just a bit due to overdyed floss dye lot issues. (This has become a routine occurance here at Chez Toadlily and it's not something I'm happy about.)
I also finished the January sheep blanket. In this case, the chart called for the snowmen to be stitched with Weeks Light Khaki. That would have made them brown with varying shades of, ahem, brown. I opted to use DCM 3865 instead.
Another stitching finish in January was a leaf design. My good buddy Linda B. participated in an "ugly fabric" challenge at the Ties, Needles and Threads (TNT) Guild this month. Here is a picture of the "ugly" fabric. Linda and I didn't think it was especially ugly, but there is no accounting for taste.
Linda used the fabric to make a bourse. She put a pin cushion in the middle and a few pockets around the inside of the bag. I thought a leaf fob for her scissors would be a fun addition. I used the maple leaf design from Sekas Watercolour Leaves and stitched it over 2 on black 16 ct Heatherfield with Burnt Toast Watercolours. The variagation was really pretty. Unfortunately my idea for finishing didn't work out. In fact the silly thing balled up then began to shred and in the end I was lucky to salvage the parts. Said parts are now safely tucked into the cedar chest.
It turned out that Linda's bourse was on the petite side and the fob would have been on the hefty side; it really would not have worked out anyway. Ah well, it's the thought that counts! At least I hope Linda sees it that way.

My last finish for January was the Hope Sampler by Sunflower Samplings. I bought the chartpack on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The cover art is the pits, but I when I looked at the floss list I knew the colors were right up my alley. Here is a scan of the chartpack.
Not very inspiring, is it? Now check out this link. Caron has an article about Sunflower Samplings and they feature a picture of the Hope Sampler here. You'll need to scroll about half-way down the page.

I started stitching this sampler in November of 2006 during Jeanne's stitch-in. I used a darker color of linen than the chart called for. I also knew I would have to do something about the chickens and roosters. They did not make my socks roll up and down. They seem a little cartoonish for this style of sampler. I'm also not a big fan of the verse that was used. I stitched everything except for the bird/verse areas, and the project then sank to the bottom of my stitching basket. I recently unearthed it and decided that it had languished in the basket for far too long.
After much contemplation and deliberation I decided to simply repeat the "tree" in the center motif and add my parents' initials. The "tree" in the center is surrounded by six circles. There were six of us at my house when I was growing up. The Hope Sampler became a family sampler. Best of all, I've freed up some space at the bottom of my stitching basket!

Thanks everyone for the kind comments about my MIA projects! It's really nice that you are still "here" in spite of my recent hiatus. I appreciate your comments!

More MIA Projects

So here I am, back again with more pictures of my finishes from last year that somehow weren't blog-worthy. Until now.


In May I posted a progress picture of Lady Violet by Lilybet Designs. I finished this fantastic project on 08-18-07. It is one of the nicest designs I have ever stitched. The use of fibers (DMC and overdyed floss) is perfect and the variety of specialty stitches add texture and depth. It's hard to look at this project in person and not touch the roof or the tree. It was such a pleasure to stitch that I bought and kitted the remaining houses in the series. They are in Diane, all ready to go.

In October I posted about my avalanche of acorns. Before October was over I turned Acorns by Little House Needleworks into a bourse. Linda B helped me find the groovy acorn buttons at a local Joann store. They are perfect! If you haven't tried making a bourse yet, you really should. It's not hard. Try it!

Katrina kindly sent me this free chart, Joy by Lilybet Designs. I stitched it right away. Instead of making it ornament sized, I stitched it over 2 on Cork linen. I used Rhodes stitches for the border and added a Mill Hill cardinal button at the top of the tree instead of a star. I love the way it turned out, and it was a really quick stitch. Thanks again for the chart, Katrina!
Here at long last is Bent Creek's Spring Snapperland. The color conversion is by Fanci Mats and More in Littleton, CO. It looks so springy compared to Bent Creek's original design. In spite of the happy colors, all did not go well with this project. I made quite a few mistakes, the conversion stopped after the first two charts, and my plan to use buttons didn't pan out. I'm thrilled that it is finished!

My owl phase continued with a free design I found at Croix Moi. I stitched the design twice, mainly because I couldn't decide which color scheme I preferred. I still like them both!
In 2007 I also worked on the Homespun Elegance Woolly Tyme Club sheep blankets. Here are the stitched but unfinished blankets for October and November.
Next time around...some of what I've been stitching this year.

MIA Finishes 2007

I use a Word document to keep track of my stitching. I'm sure there are better and easier ways to do what I do, but I'm happy with my current process. When I reviewed my list of finishes for 2007 I found fewer finishes than normal. I'm not sure what happened. I dropped from 43 finishes in 2006 to 30 finishes in 2007. That seems pretty dramatic to me! I started comparing my finishes list to my blog entries and discovered that I didn't bother to post about some of those finishes on my blog. Some projects were mentioned but never photographed. Some slipped completely below the radar.

Here are some of my projects for 2007 that you might have missed:

From the 2006 JCS Ornament magazine, Prairie Moon's Mistletoe House. Finished 02-06-07. Prepare to be horrified...the cording is GLUED on. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Hehehe

For Mark's birthday, Be Silly by My Mark Designs. I still need to make it into a door hanger for his office, but I can't settle on backing fabric. Finished stitching 03-10-07. I have plenty of time to do the finishing for his birthday this year.

By Something in Common, this cute free design called Woodland Joy. Finished 03-17-07. This was the beginning of my owl phase.

From the 2006 JCS Ornament magazine, Country Cottage Needlework's Winter's Eve. Finished 03-20-07. This was a kit I received as part of an exchange. At some point I'll probably change the hanger since sparkle isn't my thing. By Bent Creek, Ladybird Zippie. Finished 07-22-07.

Also by Bent Creek, Summer Row. I stitched this as a surprise for my friend Ginger. Finished 08-05-07. Jeanne helped me with the framing. Ginger took this picture of it hanging on the wall over her sofa.

I have six or seven more 2007 finishes to share, so I'll do that next time. Then I have my finishes and progress on projects for this year. So much to tell!

I'm going to try to be a better blogger. A few weeks ago I opened up my Bloglines account and accidentally marked all 3000+ new feeds as "read." I swear, it really was an accident. It made me a bit sad and I haven't had the heart to log back in. But I will! Really! And I'll try to do better with posting, too. You don't even have to send me any floss, Monique. But you do need to autograph my JCS Magazine. Please.

Mysterious Mistletoe

Mistletoe! In my mailbox! And the cutest stamped card. Very mysterious but with a postage stamp from Belgium so I have an idea or two.

Thank you so very much for a wonderful surprise! I apologize for not posting sooner.

ArtEAST

Where did this week go? I guess I spent most of it recovering from my stitchy weekend. I tell you what, the St. Louis Stitchers certainly know how to throw a stitch-in. We've been doing it for years, and now we have it down to a science. Jeanne opens her home to us and Taffy does the organizing. Everyone brings food and grab bags and their stitching and we have a fantastic time. Because I'm a complete dweeb, I didn't take a single picture. Happily Monique did a great job with pictures, so check out her blog posts here and here.


I came home from the stitch-in with a pile of stash (not as big as Monique's, but nothing to sneeze at) and a too-full belly. We had fantastic door prizes this year. I won a halloween themed stitched piece donated by Meri. Thanks Meri! I didn't get to spend nearly as much time visiting with you as I would have liked.


When I wasn't frantically stitching at Jeanne's dining room table I was at one of the ArtEAST venues in Edwardsville. We had such a fun time! The Fiber Fusion exhibit at The Quilted Garden was incredible this year. I zipped down there for just a few minutes to view the exhibit and also to purchase the book "It's A Wrap." Pat demonstrated this neat technique last month during our Violet Threads meeting. You wrap thin fabric strips around clothesline and then coil the clotheslines into cool shapes like coasters, bowls, baskets and handbags. What's not to like about that? It's fabric. It's functional. It's crafty. I love it!


Here are a few pictures from ArtEAST.

We had a nice display on Saturday but changed it on Sunday - because we could. Also because Michelle brought her fantastic pillow cases and table runner to display. They are beautiful! Linda's halloween-themed table topper got a lot of attention, as did her many framed pieces. Awesome! Linda and Pat set up an incredible food table for us. Unfortunately all of the art-lookers assumed it was for them too. Next year we're bringing a fly-swatter. Just joking, but really it's not like everyone didn't have plenty of food to chow on in the lobby of our venue. Michelle took some great pictures of the event. You can see them on her site, Stremmed Out.


Thanks everyone for your nice comments! Jeanne I'm not sure where Ginger bought the acorn threadkeeper, but this company makes them and many other neat things besides. Vonna the hat is one of Mark's favorites! It's a Peter Grimm with a skull and crossbones patch on the front. (Insert an eye-roll here.) Carol I wish I would quit kitting up new things and stick to the stuff in Diane. My last few starts went straight from the kitting process to a WIP. They didn't linger in Diane for even a second. Monique, bite your tongue! Nothing is going to happen to the sweet Italian girls designing the mystery sampler. Don't be such a worry-wart - take a walk on the wild side! And speaking of the mystery sampler, Pam I think I may have it wrong about completing each part before you receive the next one. I'm getting a little better at understanding the translated Italian. In any event, don't take my word for it. We'll know next week (November 1) how it's going to work, right?



I've been tagged and I have a load of finishes to show (Mr. Owl is done and the Acorn project has been boursed), but that will have to wait for another post. Once again I have a busy weekend ahead of me and I'm late for it already! Addio!

Old Sampler Part 1

Before I tell you about the Old Sampler project I'm working on, I would like to tell you who "won" the charts in my previous post. Mark was a good sport and drew names out of his hat.

Michelle won the "Acorns" kit and Nancy K. won the "Pyn Pillow" chart. Please email your snail mail address to me and I'll pop them in the post next week. My email address is in my profile. I hope you enjoy the projects as much as I did! Thanks to everyone for the nice comments about my acorn goodies. I do appreciate it!

In spite of the fact that I have 61 projects in Diane, kitted up and ready to go, I couldn't resist the lure of an Italian mystery sampler. (They had me at "Italian.") The website is here and the Old Sampler info page is here. If I'm understanding things correctly, you must finish the current part in order to receive the next part. I hope I can keep up with this! This is the first part.

I'm stitching over 2 on 32 ct R&R Goldfinch with DMC 930. I love the way the blue looks on the linen. It's exactly the look I was going for.

Speaking of new projects, thank you Katrina for sending me the Lilybet freebie. It looks like such an easy stitch, I couldn't resist kitting it up. (Do you detect a trend here?) Instead of making an ornament I am going to make a pillow, so I'm planning to use 18 ct Cork and stitch over 2 with #5 perle cotton.

These are the colors I came up with from my stash. I'll be using Holly instead of Grape Leaf and 729 for the gold. I'm sure I have a star button or charm somewhere in my stash, if I decide to use one. I'll worry about that when it's all stitched and ready to pillowize.

I have one last thing to show you before I run. Jenna sent me this Eventide pineapple chart and I stitched it twice while visiting Joy this summer.

I'm going to try to make a stand-up with them so I wanted to make them as large as possible. The design is tiny, just 16 x 23. I used Klostern with #3 perle cotton. Since I'll be stuffing this I was worried about stuffing coming out of those big holes in the Klostern. I thought iron-on interfacing would solve the problem but I was worried that the white interfacing would show through the cream colored fabric holes and give it a polka-dotted look. Those worries were unfounded. I used a very lightweight interfacing and you don't notice it at all. Hurrah!

That's all for now. I have a busy weekend planned. The fall stitch-in for the St. Louis Stitchers starts tomorrow. We'll be descending on Jeanne's house like a cloud of needle-carrying locusts. In addition to this, the Violet Threads needlework group was invited to demonstrate handwork during the ArtEast Studio Tour. I've always wanted to attend ArtEast but it never worked out due to other stitching commitments. (October is always a busy month!) This year I'm going to make it work. I'll be sprinting across the Mississippi River, back and forth between Jeanne's house and the ArtEast venue. I'm looking forward to a lot of stitching time, fun with friends and good eats. With any luck, I'll get to teach someone to stitch. I'll have pictures to post next week. The batteries are on the charger.

An Avalanche of Acorns

It is finally starting to feel like fall here in the Midwest. What better time for an avalanche of acorns?

I finished stitching "Acorns" by Little House Needleworks and Crescent Colours. This project was a gift from Sharon, who hit me with a giant RAK of stash back in December. "Acorns" has been in Diane's care and was liberated just last week. I used Toasted Almond Belfast and it really pops the threads.

I thought it would stitch up more quickly than it did. Isn't that the way it always goes? I had to restitch Mr. Squirrel several times. The first time around he was so distinctly striped that all I could think was ZEBRA. I ended up using the loop method with the floss and skipped around a little bit with my stitches to achieve the look I was going for. I also ended up substituting Gentle Art Sampler Thread Cidermill Brown for the nut portion of the acorns. The recommended CC Old Oak Tree floss was too similar to the acorn cap color, Roasted Chestnut. It's overdyed thread; these things happen. Overall it was a fun project and I think it turned out great! Thanks Sharon! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I'm thinking of finishing this design as a bourse. The background fabric in the first photo is the fabric I'll be using for the outside. I have a few acorn buttons around here somewhere...

Now please strap yourself into the time machine, because we're going back to June. When I went to Rockome I stopped in Mattoon to visit Stitcher's Express and see Susie. Susie had several surprises for me. The first was a precious acorn magnet that she stitched. LOVE it! The second surprise was the chart for Eileen Bennett's class project "Perfect That Queen Stitch - A Pyn-Pillow." I didn't have a lot of experience with queen stitches, so this was a wonderful gift. The model for the project was stitched on 32 ct Belfast, but I wanted to SEE what I was doing so I selected 18 ct Cork.

It was a fun, fantastic project. I enjoyed the queen stitches, but the buttonhole bar stitches (same as the detached buttonhole stitch here) that are used for the acorn stem were the most fun. I think I'll make this acorn project into a pillow. Thanks a bunch, Susie!

In several of the above pictures you might have noticed the gorgeous acorn-shaped thread holder. Ginger bought it for me during her trip to California in June. Isn't it incredible? I absolutely love it! Thanks Ginger!

Jeanne recently did a little traveling too and snagged these lovelies from a 40% off sale bin. Wahoo, life is good!

I had to snap one more picture of the acorn magnet Susie made. It is so petite, it doesn't show up well in the above picture. Sorry for the flash. I would like to continue the spirit of generosity that is so common among stitchers. Please leave a comment if you would like to stitch either LHN "Acorns" or Eileen Bennett's "Pyn-Pillow." With the "Acorns" chart I will also include the left-over CC threads, a few lengths of the Cindermill Brown I used, and a piece of Toasted Almond Belfast. The "Pyn-Pillow" project will be just the chart. At 5:00pm on Wednesday, October 17th I'll have Mark draw two names from a hat. That's 5:00pm CDT in the US. (Same as Chicago, if that helps.) I hope I can find a wonderful new home for both of these projects.

And finally...

I found these little guys in my front yard. Happy Fall!

Think Pink

I believe I've mentioned the pink version of Spring Snapperland. In fact I think I posted a picture back when I discovered The Big Mistake. Well The Big Mistake has been frogged, fixed and is a thing of the dim and distant past. Spring Snapperland lives on, and nears completion. Here is my progress as of a few weeks ago.

I love the way this project is turning out. Instead of the verse at the bottom I'll flip the border chart over and stitch the flowers from the top across the bottom. It's for spring, after all. Why not add more flowers?

For those of you who had trouble getting to the owl chart in my last post, let me try those instructions one more time. Go to the site here. In the middle of the page is a link to the blog. (The blog is Croix Moi and it is on Over Blog.) When you click on the blog link that frame will change to pink. You are now at the blog. In the header there are two links. The one on the left, "Grilles Gratuites Broderes - ICI" is the one you want. This will take you to the freebie page. You'll have to scroll down just a little bit for Mr. Owl. I hope this helps!

Thanks to everyone for your comments! I appreciate hearing from you. I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading. I'm trying to include comments but alas, sometimes I'm lazy. I started at the top of my Bloglines list and I'm working my way from A to Z. Slowly I'm getting there...

Whooooo's That?

A while back I found a really neat owl design on the internet. It was a free design. I downloaded it and thought I saved it. I normally save designs instead of printing them. They are so much easier to store digitally. Anyway, at some point I also printed the chart and kitted it up. I started stitching it while I was visiting Joy last month. I've been marking up the chart and decided I needed to print another copy. Now I can't find the original file anywhere. Wouldn't you know!

Edited just a few short hours later...

Bingo! The chart is from this website. I was going through the list of freebie sites I check every month, and can you believe I left myself a note? "This is the place with the neat owl face freebie." DOH. My organizational skills are good, but my memory is not. Thank goodness I wrote it down. At least the mystery is solved!

(Click on the blog link, then on the link to the free charts. And there are pop-ups. Just so you know.)

Save Diane

This week I've been sorting through my piles of projects. I have current WIPs, WIPs that I haven't touched in a while, older WIPS that I refuse to call UFOs (but they are) and a whole bunch of projects that are ready to start. The "ready to start" pile wasn't really a pile. I had most of them stuffed in a large bag but found others scattered in various areas around the house, in various stages of kitted-upedness. I hate to be scattered about. So I sorted and collated and alphabetized and some how, some way managed to cram all of the ready-to-go projects into the large bag.

This is the bag, a nice piece of Diane Von Furstenberg goodness that I'm sure was purchased at an outlet store sometime in the 80's.

Ok, maybe it isn't that old. Could be the 90's. It's a great size and (when not overstuffed) is expandable. See the "tabs" sticking out on the sides? Those snap down. In theory. They haven't snapped down in years.

Once the sorting and collating and alphabetizing was over, I was a bit shocked to discover that my bag contained 61 kitted projects. Oye. This is what it looks like when the zipper is NOT engaged. Be afraid.

I started thinking about the astronomical amount of $$$ sitting in that bag. Then I tried not to think about it. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I told Mark..."Save Diane." He gave me the raised-eyebrow, what-is-this-woman-talking-about expression. I insisted that in case of fire, flood, or emergency of any sort he MUST save the Diane bag. She's worth more than the contents of my purse. Or the little fire safe. Way more. It's just spooky.

I want to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who emailed or left a comment on my blog to inquire if I was still alive. It's true, I am still alive. I've decided not the write the "Why I Didn't Blog This Summer" essay. It wouldn't be particularly entertaining or even interesting. Sometimes life just gets in the way!

Speaking of comments on my blog, Candy I don't really know where you might find the ME pins you are looking for. I would try Google and/or Ebay. Good luck in your search, and I hope you are successful!

That's all for today!

You Made a What?

What a busy time it has been! The Rockome National Counted Cross Stitch Show (NCCSS) ended yesterday. In spite of some bumps along the way, the show was a success! (Tessa asked about Rockome. It is a lovely garden in rural Illinois Amish country. Anyone interested in a detailed history of the garden can read about it here. Rockome's website is here.) There were over 200 show entries. Stitcher's Express did a wonderful job providing a shop at the show, in addition to their shop down the road in Mattoon. The vendors were great, too!

I took loads of pictures and I'll be sharing some of them in the coming days. I also brought home my fair share of new stash. Ok, maybe more than my fair share! I have a lot to share, but my goal today is to show you my latest finish. Actually it is my only finish since March!

Rita P. on the Rockome NCCSS Yahoo Group designed a fun chart for making a name tag. I stitched the design over one on a scrap of unknown fabric using DMC. In the end I didn't think I would enjoy wearing a name tag, so instead I devised something I'm calling a purse fob. (Hence the subject line!)

My purse fob is a pillow style ornament with a hanger that attaches with a button. I can button the fob to my purse and easily remove it as needed. Here are a few pictures. First, a front view of the fob.Isn't Rita's design cute? I love the pinks and greens! The colors inspired me to decorate the hanger a wee bit. I also made my very first handmade buttonhole. It was surprisingly easy to do and turned out much better than I expected. Here is the back:

Honestly I don't know what I was thinking when I centered this project on the piece of fabric. It left me no backing fabric! I did a lot of measuring and cutting and ended up making this center seam. It worked just fine until I sewed the bottom of the ornament closed in the wrong direction! Fortunately it was easy to rip out and resew.

Here is what the purse fob looks like on my purse. I think it's really cute!

Thanks to everyone for your nice comments about my yo-yo's. Nicole I saw the Clover yo-yo gadget demonstrated at the Rockome show in Susan Greening Davis' booth. You're right, it does make yo-yo's super easy. I passed on the yo-yo maker, but I know I'm going to need a circle cutter. I cut like a kindergartner! Sue asked - what do you do with a yo-yo? I think the answer is, anything you can dream up! Traditionally they were sewn together to make a quilt or coverlet. I like the idea of making a pillow cover with them, or using them with surface embroidery on bags and such. Waxing Moon used to have a design called Take Thyme that came with premade yo-yo's. The design used the yo-yo's as flowers and you stitched the stems and leaves. It was really cute!

Thanks also for your congratulations re: my 3rd place ribbon for Moonlight Stroll! It is a project I finished as a pillow. At the show it was displayed on the seat of a chair. There was no way to get my picture taken with it unless I crawled on the floor...so that's what I did! Yes, I have no shame. Here I am behind the ropes! (Or in this case it was chain...)

That's all for now. I want to show you the sweet gifts I received from Susie and more photos from the show. I also have a few redecoration pictures from home that need to be posted. They will have to wait for another day. I have a back ache today and this office chair isn't helping matters!

New Stuff

I've got news and new stuff to tell you about. Let's start with the generosity of Jenna. Last month she posted a picture of a sweet little pineapple she stitched. Next thing I knew, Jenna popped the chart and her leftover floss in the mail to me. You can see Jenna's stitched piece here. This is the chart.
I didn't realize it was an Eventide Design until it arrived. I love these little charts, and you don't see them very often any more. Thanks a bunch, Jenna! I'm pondering whether to stitch the pineapple tiny and make a fob or huge and make a pillow. Maybe both! Decisions, decisions...

While shopping with Ginger a few weeks ago, we stumbled upon a small pile of DMC Medici wool on clearance for just $.25/skein. I don't use it very often and was surprised to learn that DMC discontinued it last year. Anyway, I decided to treat myself to a dozen skeins.It's hard to see the colors in the photo (it's gray and rainy here today) but you get the idea. Such yummy stuff. I do love fibers!

At our Violet Threads meeting last month Stephanie taught us how to make yo-yo's. What fun! I can see this becoming an addiction. I love fabric and yo-yo's are so easy to make.

Obviously they aren't perfect, but I'm pleased with them for a first attempt. Watch out family, you're bound to get something yo-yo'd for your next "occasion!"

In stitching news, I'm making good progress on the nametag Rita designed for Rockome. It's so cute!

I have different finishing plans for it. I'll keep you posted on that.

On Friday I went to Diane's house to stitch for a few hours. She's such a wonderful hostess! I worked on Lady Violet (Lilybet Designs) and made some progress on the moon. This weekend I did a little more. I've finally reached the half-way point with this big ol' moon. I'm going to wait and post a progress picture when I'm closer to finishing the moon. Did I mention it's a big ol' moon? Imagine row after row of Oatmeal GAST. See, you didn't really need a picture after all.

Nothing much to report on My Home Town. I worked a little more on the willow tree but it's not finished yet. Because it's on 40 ct fabric I can only work on it at home and lately I've been focusing on getting the Rockome project finished. Rockome is an at-home-only project as well. What can I say, I'm old and blind. I need major magnification and perfect lighting for these things.

Speaking of Rockome, the show is happening NOW! As I type! As you read! Friday was the opening day. Linda and I plan to go on Thursday and spend the day. The winners list has been posted and...I had to peek. I am amazed and thrilled to have received a 3rd place ribbon for my Moonlight Stroll pillow. Woot! I can't wait for Thursday. I'll be taking lots of pictures! Congrats to Susie for her winning entry. She scored a 2nd place ribbon. Way to go Susie!

Thanks everyone for your nice comments about My Home Town. I appreciate all of you! I spent some time this weekend reading (and commenting!) on blogs. I'm down to less than 200 entries to read. What a relief! To those of you having spacing problems with Blogger, I switched my photo layout option to "center" and it seems to have made a difference. I usually use "none" or "left." So far it looks ok in the Preview. We'll see what happens when I publish!

Mom was here last week (Hi, Mom!) and we had a fantastic time decorating my house (mostly the kitchen) and pretending we are famous HGTV designers. Mom has a true talent for interior design. Mostly we played "Freestyle", moving things from room to room. We also made a trip to our favorite antique mall and loaded up the Toadlilymobile with treasures. Too much fun! I have pictures to share, but I'll save them for another time.

Anyone going to Rockome on Thursday the 21st or Sunday the 24th? Send me an email! I'd love to meet you. Unless you're an axe murderer or something. For all non-murderers (axe or otherwise) my email address is in my profile.

A Willow Tree

At long last, here is an updated picture of My Home Town. I have a willow tree! The tree isn't quite finished yet, but it is oh so close.


I noticed the date on my last blog post, and it says MAY. Yikes. My last blog post was actually written as a draft and sat for a week before it was reworked and finally posted. So while it has been more than a week since I promised an end of the week picture of MHT, it wasn't in May. If this makes no sense to you whatsoever, never fear. It is just me making excuses (and darn good ones!) for why this post isn't as late as it appears to be. And anyway, does anyone really care *that* much? I thought not! Moving right along.


Before I go any further, let me say that I've jacked up the spacing in this post in an effort to keep Blogger from smushing it all together in one big impossible to read paragraph. Sorry about all of the dead air in here.


Not too much stitching has been going on lately here in Toadlilyville. I started a nametag project that Rita designed over on the Rockome group. It's super cute, but I'm stitching it over one and it is slow going. Sorry, no picture. There really isn't much to see yet.


On Tuesday I took both cars to get the oil changed and the thought of all that waiting room time inspired me to start Ladybird, a Zippie from Bent Creek. I'm Zipping right along on it. I haven't stitched on a Zipper in a long, long time and it really was fun. The best thing about this Zippie is that there is a border and the background of the design is filled with Ecru. I think that is awesome because I can finish the flowers and the border, then leave the chart at home and just fill in the background. How easy is that? I didn't think a picture would turn out, but here it is anyway.

One evening this week I was inspired by Lady Violet. I added about 8 rows to the moon. Alas, it looks the same. You can hardly tell I touched it. (Hence, no picture.) However I'm not discouraged. It really is a perfect project for evenings when I need a no-brainer to work on. So long as I count things correctly on the left side of the moon, all will be well.


On Thursday Linda hopped in my car and we zoomed off to Rockome to drop off my show entries. Wahoo, life is good. It was a fun trip, and the time passed so quickly with Linda there to chat with. We stopped at a new Culver's on the way home and had cashew chicken salads for lunch. Yummmmm! We're heading back to Rockome on the 21st, so if you are planning to be there that day be sure to say hello.


Last weekend I didn't touch My Home Town so I hope to work on it this weekend and at the very least finish the willow tree. My apologies to the RagTag SAL bunch for falling down on the job. Speaking of My Home Town, I need to let Barbara know that this is a Carriage House Samplings design, not a NRR. Sorry I wasn't clear about that! I can only dream of being able to put things together the way Kathy Barrack-Dieter does. It's such a great design!


Thanks everyone for your nice comments about Lady Violet and My Home Town. I always enjoy reading what you have to say. Patricia I received your email about Facebook, and I'm sorry to say that I won't be opening an account there. I'm maxed out at the moment on places to go online and things to do and see. Sorry about that!


Speaking of places to go online, my Bloglines list says I have 586 updates to read. That's as low as I've been able to get it this week. It's been over 800 several times. I've tried not commenting, but that is turning out to be a drag. Sometimes I MUST reply. The project is too cute or the blogger is too funny or something catches my eye and a comment must be made. It's not my fault! I blame YOU, all of you bloggers out there with incredible projects and finishing that defies explanation and stash that is crisp and fresh, straight from your favorite shop. Your pictures are works of art, your turn of phrase makes me think, and your kids are so cute they should have their own TV show. You know who you are. I love reading your blogs. I hope you all never shut up.

Lady Violet and My Home Town

I think my stitchy slump has officially come to an end. I've been stitching away on Lady Violet. Here is a progress picture.

This picture is from about a week ago. Since then I've added a few more rows to the moon. I'm loving the specialty stitches in this project. So far it's just smyrna crosses for the roof and satin stitches for the windows and door, but they are a nice change of pace and really add a lot to the design. One of the things I particularly like about this project is that it calls for a mix of overdyed threads and plain old DMC. It's refreshing! I like DMC.


I worked on My Home Town during the last two weekends. I was able to combine the SAL with the Friends Gather Stitch-A-Thon last weekend. Sneaky, huh? I made good progress. Here's a picture from last weekend. I'll post my latest progress picture later this week.

I'm behind in my blog reading, and I must confess that for the past two weeks I've done very little commenting. That trend is likely to continue, as I have a busy week planned. I hope to get back to a normal blog reading schedule in June. Whatever normal is.


It looks like I've been tagged no less than four times for the 8 Random Things list. Am I a wet blanket or what? My most humble apologies to the taggers, Melissa, Georgie, Lene and Stitching Cat . Clearly I am the very worst tagee. (The word "tagee" is generally only used by graduates of MSU. I'm just saying.) It's probably best to expunge me from your tag lists. I agonized for the longest time over the Weird Things list and honestly I seem to have a hard enough time getting here to write about my stitching, moreless coming up with lists. No matter how fun they may be. I'm really very sorry! Here is a quick, off the top of my head Random Things list, sans the intro at the beginning and tagging at the end.

1. I love breakfast foods, but I rarely eat breakfast. I'm more likely to eat breakfast foods for dinner.
2. My car gets good gas mileage, and I generally only have to fill my gas tank once per month. Given the current price of gasoline, this is a real blessing.
3. I've worked for two software companies.
4. My brothers are twins.
5. I like to wear a watch and sometimes earrings but otherwise I don't wear jewelry.
6. Don Diamont (aka Brad on The Young and the Restless) briefly dated a friend of mine and was a guest at the wedding when I married Beavis (aka my first husband.) This was during the Dark Ages (also known as the early 1980's) just a year or two before Don was on Days of Our Lives.
7. It has been almost 2 years since I quit smoking. Now if I could just quit eating...
8. My favorite beverage is water.

So there you have it, 8 Random Things. I think I better declare Toadlilyville a "tag-free zone." I don't want to hurt any feelings.

Edited June 9, 2007 to add Stitching Cat's name to the list of taggers. Apologies to Stitching Cat for the delay!

Camp Wannabe, Revisited

Just when you thought you'd heard the last about Camp Wannabe...I have more pictures! I saw Linda and Mary at Violet Threads and they were kind enough to let me photograph their goodies from Camp. So without any further mucking about:

This is the sewing bird ornament that Linda won from Meri.

In case you missed my previous Wannabe posts (here and here), Meri has been creating sewing bird designs and she brought a shoe box full to Camp. She held a drawing for our Camp and also one for the St. Louis Stitchers attending Camp Wannasew. It is difficult to tell in this atrocious photo (please pardon the glare!), but the sewing bird is fuzzy. So sweet!

Meri found some great bird fabric for the back, too.

Meri's finishing is just as fantastic as her designing and stitching. I want to be Meri when I grow up.

Mary won the slippers donated by the Silver Needle. The picture does not do them justice. They are beautifully beaded and the soles are soft and sweet on the feet.

Aren't they cute? Thanks again to Lindy and everyone at the Silver Needle for thinking of us Wannbe campers! Anne is going to have a fit when she sees these.

Thanks to everyone for your comments! To those of you still giggling at the reference to my socks, I wish I could remember where I picked that line up. It's not an original, because frankly I'm not nearly that funny. I wish. I'm glad it gave you a giggle! Giggle = Good.

In stitching news, I worked on Lady Violet again tonight. I have the house finished. I'll have to take a picture and share it soon. Now it's time to move on to the My Home Town SAL. I think it's time to frog the fish. *gulp*

Paducah

I went to Paducah last Thursday. It was incredible, just like last year. The bus left just after 6AM. We arrived at the Rotary Club first and had a great time there. The antique quilts were gorgeous and the Hoffman Challenge was incredible. I managed to keep all of my money in my pockets.

Just after 11AM we rode the bus over to the Expo Center. We grabbed a bite to eat then went into the show. I headed straight for the Best of Show area. Sharon Schamber was standing in front of her BOS quilt, chatting with the masses. I couldn't even get a picture of the entire quilt. There were just too many bodies in the way. Actually that was the theme for the rest of the day - such a crush of humanity. It was hard to catch your breath sometimes. Twice I was run over by a motorized scooter. Next year I'm wearing steel-toed shoes. And maybe shin guards.

Linda jumped back on the bus just after noon so she could ride over to see the Eleanor Burns show. She really enjoyed it! Barb and I checked out quilts and vendors in the Expo Center then headed over to the Convention Center. We only made it through the first floor of the Convention Center before it was time to head back to the Expo Center and meet up with Linda. So much to see!

We popped outside just as the bus was pulling up. Linda really enjoyed the Eleanor Burns show and got to do a bit of shopping as well. We headed back to the first floor of the Convention Center, then up to the second floor. This year I knew three quilters with entries in the show. We were able to find Jenice's quilt and Robin's quilt. Both are gorgeous! At that point Linda and I lost track of Barb, in spite of her hard-to-miss shoes.

After making a final search for Barb on the second floor, Linda and I raced over to the Pool Atrium area. We shopped then headed downstairs to see the rest of the vendors. Lots of lovely stuff, that's for sure!

With our afternoon drifting away into evening, we went back over to the Expo Center. We made sure we found Bobbie's quilt (incredible!), then we did a bit more shopping before hopping back on the bus.

The bus pulled away at 6PM and we went to Kentucky Oaks Mall for dinner. Then it was back on the bus where we kicked back and watched "The Devil Wears Prada" during the ride home. I was home by 11:30PM. YAWN!

You might have noticed that this post is not filled with quilt photos. Alas, photos are allowed but they cannot be published on the internet. (Per the AQS web site.) Barb's shoes will have to suffice I'm afraid. Rest assured, I took way too many pictures. Stop by the house and I'll be happy to show them to you!

Shopping was fun and this year I didn't over-spend. In fact, I didn't buy any fabric at all. (Did I hear you gasp?) I fell in love with some of the embroidery at Lace Tales and bought this.

Acorns and oak leaves! Be still my heart.

Color Me Patterns (sorry, I can't find a web site for them) had nice packages of wool felt and I couldn't resist. I indulged in a couple of patterns as well.

Sorry for the glare in both pictures. It's been rainy and gray here for days and days.

Thanks heaps for all of your comments! I haven't decided yet what to do about the fish on My Home Town, but if I hold true to form I'm sure I'll frog it. I've been invited to join Red, Vonna and Joanie's MHT SAL. Hurrah! I need all of the motivation I can get.

In stitching news, I've been working on Lady Violet by Lilybet Designs. I'm stitching the house and it has been very cathartic with not much counting needed. I love the use of specialty stitches in this design. I can't wait to start stitching the tree!

I've been sifting through my stash recently and I think I will be selling some of it soon. I have too many stash dollars tied up in projects that no longer make my socks roll up and down. For instance I have the original Ackworth book and engagement calendar plus a few Jan Houtman designs that I know I'll never touch. I've noticed that some stitchers have a "for sale" blog and I'm considering something like that. I'll keep you posted.

A Blogiversary?

I've noticed that several of the blogs I read are celebrating anniversaries. I went back and looked at the beginnings of my blog and discovered that my 2 year blogiversary was March 21st. Of course when you factor in the gaps between my blog posts, I've actually only been blogging for a few weeks. It just feels like 2 years.

Here's a link to my first post. I'm fascinated and horrified that I've been working on My Home Town (or more correctly, NOT working on it) for 2 years. Apparently it is my first project on 40 ct fabric. How could I forget that little tidbit of information? See, this blog really is good for something.

I worked on MHT over the weekend. Here is a photo of my progress. I stitched the water and started one of the over-one fishies.

Why, when I'm trying to dig myself out of a stitching slump, oh why did I think I would be successful stitching a blob of over-one? A blob that is smack in the middle of over-two? Now I have to decide if I should frog the fish and restitch it using tent stitch instead of a cross stitch. Frog the fish. While I'm at it why don't I just goose the chicken, too?

Thanks everyone for your nice comments! I do appreciate them. Sue you cracked me up with your "Chocolate Withdrawl at the Beach!"

In a few short hours my alarm will start screeching and I'll be off like a shot to the AQS in Paducah. Thanks again to the Camp Wannabe ladies for making this possible, and to Jenice for putting the trip together in the first place. You all rock!

Camp Wannabe - Treasured Gifts

When Monique arrived for Camp Wannabe on March 9th she brought me a gift. Isn't this a sweet pincushion?

The overdyed floss is gorgeous. I love the back, too!

Thanks, Monique! You are so thoughtful!

Meri arrived bearing gifts as well. Check out this bouquet of roses! I've never seen leaves woven over the top like this. So pretty! The bouquet was in a pretty green tin.

Meri also gave me this neat sewing bird ornament.

So sweet! Meri's been designing and stitching sewing birds. She has a better close-up picture here. Thanks a bunch, Meri! You are too kind!

Saturday morning while I was flipping pancakes the phone rang and it was Taffy, calling from Camp Wannasew. She said we needed to make a list of all Camp Wannabe campers because there was going to be a drawing. A drawing? For US? How nifty is that? So I started a list. We talked about how sweet it was for the Wannasew campers to think of us Wannabe's.

Later Taffy called and we gave her the names of all campers. Then the surprise was revealed. The Silver Needle, host of Camp Wannasew, heard about our little Camp Wannabe and the drawing was for gifts from the shop! Everyone received Silver Needle pencils and Prairie Schooler freebie cards. Mary won the cutest pair of beaded duckie slippers and I was the winner of (are you ready for this???) a gorgeous Vera Bradley bag! It's huge, it has pockets everywhere (inside and out) and the pink and green paisley is so me!

Thanks again to Lindy and everyone at The Silver Needle for thinking of us and for the generous gifts. They were all very much appreciated! (And I feel like a rock star when I stroll into stitching gatherings with this great bag on my arm. Thank you so much!)

Meri decided to hold her own drawings, one for the Wannasew campers and one for the Wannabe's. She reached into her show-and-tell shoebox and pulled out two more sewing bird ornaments. Linda B. won for the Wannabe's. (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Linda's ornament. Maybe Tuesday at Violet Threads.) Susan won for the Wannasew's. Here is her ornament.

Meri called Camp Wannasew to give Susan the good news. It was after 9pm and she had to try several different cell phone numbers before she finally got through, only to find out that Susan was already in bed! Of course they woke her up to tell her the good news. What a hoot!

I mentioned in my last blog entry that Meri bought a 1893 Ladies Home Journal at the antique mall and was reading to us Saturday evening as we stitched. Jane asked if there were recipes and Meri found one for doughnuts. We were amazed when Meri began reading, and it was written as a poem! Next thing we knew, Meri was pulling out her scrapbooking supplies and created this fantastic recipe card for Jane.

Isn't it incredible? Needless to say, Jane loves it! I was amazed at how quickly Meri put it all together. It would take me 6 weeks to think up the idea, 6 more weeks of second-guessing my choice of colors and materials and a year or two to actually get it made. Or partially made.

Later Meri asked Monique and I to each pick out something in the magazine that caught our eye. I found a page with the Brownies (by Palmer Cox) that had the cutest little picture at the very end of the story. Meri decided that one little picture wasn't enough, and before I knew it she had the following two pages done. She's going to use the entire page from the Ladies Home Journal and make it into my own little Brownie book.



Amazing! Thanks Meri! Just thinking about those little Brownies makes me smile.

Last but certainly not least, as a thank-you for hosting the weekend, the Wannabe girls chipped in and bought me a ticket for The Quilted Garden's bus trip to the AQS quilt show in Paducah. I went to the show last year with Linda B and we had a fantastic time. I was trying like crazy to sell stash so I could afford to go. Thanks to the Wannabe campers, I'm going next Thursday. Thanks so much, my friends!

A big thank-you to everyone for your nice comments. I'm always amazed that anyone is interested in my wordy, picture-heavy postings. Well, anyone other than Mom and Joy. They have to be interested. It's in the family contract.

I've been trying to stay caught up on my blog reading, and frankly it is tough! I don't comment nearly as often as I should. I now have 232 blog feeds on my list (eek!) and I have a hard time resisting the urge to add more. I'm most interested in what cross stitchers are up to, but I can't resist the eye candy on crazy quilting and crafting blogs...and you wouldn't believe what they're doing with crochet nowadays. I even voted for my favorites in The Softie Awards. Sigh. Too many blogs, not enough time.

Perhaps now I should go stitch something.

Edited to add, Blogger is stupid. I've adjusted and re-adjusted the spacing. I can't fix it. Sorry!

Those Who Can Wannasew; Those Who Can't Wannabe

In the spring The Silver Needle in Tulsa plays host to a very successful retreat for stitchers. It's called Camp Wannasew, and several of the gals from St. Louis Stitchers have been attending for years. Last year, upon returning home from camp, it was suggested that the entire St. Louis Stitchers group should pack up in 2007 and head to Tulsa instead of having our usual spring stitch-in. Naturally this idea was deemed *brilliant* and plans were made accordingly. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect stitching world, so not everyone was able to go. With that in mind, I decided to throw a stitch-in that same weekend for the disappointed few who couldn't make the trip. Monique gets full credit for labeling our get-away weekend "Camp Wannabe."

Camp got underway on Friday (March 9th) with the arrival of Monique. Meri arrived soon after. It was just the three of us Friday night and we had the best time! More campers arrived on Saturday. Several of the Violet Threads gals were able to attend, and it was a nice mix of the two groups. The crew on Saturday included Terri, Ilene, Beth, Linda, Mary, Sandy, Meri, Monique, Jane, Cathy and moi. I took a few pictures. Funny how everyone concentrates a wee bit more on their project when the camera comes out.


Well lookie there. That is a bit of stitching hanging on my wall. Incredible! And they said it couldn't be done. Susan even mailed me a hammer. (No kidding. A hammer. In the mail.)



The above photo features counted cross stitch, quilting and surface embroidery all peacefully co-existing in the same space. Life is good.

Question: If a camera is pointed at you but you don't acknowledge it, can it still take your picture?

Answer: Yes, you can still be immortalized forever in digital media. Having your picture posted in Toadlilyville is just a bonus.



Counted cross stitch X2 plus applique in the shadow of the world's largest purple bookcase. Thank you Lord for Ott and Daylight. AMEN.

Saturday morning Meri spent some time exploring the local scrapbooking shop and an antique mall. One of the many treasures she returned with was a Ladies Home Journal magazine from 1893. Saturday evening she entertained us by reading an article from the magazine. It was about speaking properly and avoiding the use of slang. Apparently in 1893 using expressions such as "you bet!" was considered bad form. It gave us all a good giggle, and we're still reminding each other "don't be slangy"!

There is more to tell and more pictures, but I think I'll save it all for another post. Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back and encouraging words!

Chirp, Chirp, Chirp

That's the sound of crickets. It sure has been quiet around here, hasn't it? Ask Monique. Ask Lelia. They'll tell you it's been very quiet. (Thanks for the push, my friends!)

First things first. Thanks everyone for the nice comments about the Mary Engelbreit bourse I made for my Mom. She loves it! Monique wondered about why the stitching is on the inside of the bag, and Susie wondered just what a bourse is for anyway? I must confess, I don't really know the answers to these questions. I think the first time I saw something called a bourse it was this now OOP Au-Fil des Reves design.





Isn't it beautiful? The photo is from this website. From the photos I've seen of this design, I assumed it was a project bag. Many of you know I'm a graduate of MSU. That is, Making Stuff Up. So here is my best MSU thesis statement on the bourse: The bourse is a project bag. It's purpose is to hold your stitching tools. When you are ready to stitch you stretch out the bag and reveal the pincushion inside. You can arrange your tools in convenient spots around the pincushion while you stitch. When you're done you just pull the drawstrings and everything is neatly in the bag.

I hope someone will have the decency to set me straight if my thesis statement is in error!



I made my Mom a ME tape measure on a previous occasion. I thought in the future I might make a needle case or a scissor holder or some other nifty small, and a bourse would be just the thing to keep it all in one spot. Here's a photo of the tape measure.

So I made Mom a pincushion-free bourse. She likes it very much. I get the impression that she's not too interested in a bag full of smalls. In fact I think she might just use the bourse as a purse. Shocking, isn't it? Enjoy the bag, Mom ! Love you!

Next time around we'll chat about Camp Wannabe.

Mary Engelbreit Bourse

This project was a birthday present for my Mom. It was my first bourse and it wasn't hard to make. Here are a few pictures.









The ME fabric is from Walmart and the teapot is a coaster design from the hardback ME book "Cross Stitch For All Seasons." Instead of cording I used a nifty pompom trim for the drawstring. Functionally it isn't as smooth as cording would be, but I love the look. If I had it to do over again I would put in a lining. The ME fabric is so bright, you can see shadows through the white fabric. If you're looking for a bourse "how to" you should check Anne D's blog here and Joanie's blog here. I intended to make my own photo tutorial for this but I was so intent on doing it correctly that I completely forgot to stop and take pictures along the way. Maybe next time.

Edited to add - thanks Joy for your sisterly and stitcherly words of wisdom regarding this project!

From the "Comments" section:

• Welcome to new readers! I appreciate your comments, and thanks for reading my blog. I'll be visiting your blog soon if I haven't already.
• Regarding my relative weirdness, it's nice to know I'm not alone. It seems the fear of knives is pretty common. As it should be. Monique, I'll be happy to demonstrate at the stitch-in...just don't ask me to watch you cut anything. I'm beggin'.
• Thanks for the kind words regarding my Spring Snapperland with the whopping big error. I love CJ's idea to give the project away to someone who won't see the error and will simply enjoy it. How smart is that? I'll be giving it some more thought, that's for sure.
• I hope everyone is having fun painting pins. This was my first attempt, and if you take a close look at the pin heads you can see that some quality control issues exist. I'm sure someone will come up with a better technique than mine. I just grabbed the pointy end of the pin and dunked the head straight into the bottle. A little twirling of the pin, a few circles around the neck of the bottle to take off some excess paint and plunk into the pin cushion. I would have preferred floral foam (in case of drips) but couldn't find it and the little tomato was handy. Because the paint is thick, it took a long time for the pins to dry. Longer than the 30 minutes mentioned on the bottle. Overnight should do the trick. Michele asked what project these are for...and the honest answer is that I don't have a pinkeep in the works. I bought the supplies months ago and never got around to trying it. Last night Amy asked about pins over at Friends Gather so I was inspired to give it a go. I guess now I need to stitch something to go with the pins, huh?

Edited 60-11 times to try to sort out the paragraph spacing in this post, and all I can say is UNCLE!

Pearl Painted Pins

Want to make a pinkeep but can't find the right color pins?

This





Plus (+) This

Equals (=) This

Thanks to Amy at Friends Gather for the inspiration!

Weird On Wednesday

It's Wednesday. What better day to get this weirdness over with? Mom says I'm not weird. She pointed out that the things I'm calling weird are "just the things that make you an interesting individual." Hmmmm... Thanks Mom! Let's hope that in this case, weird really does translate into interesting.

Here they are, six weird things about me:

1. I'm afraid of knives. I manage to cook and cut up food, but if we're working in the kitchen together I can't watch you use a knife. If you plan to walk across the room carrying a knife, I need to be notified ahead of time. Not in writing; just yell "SHARP" before you venture away from the counter with a knife in your hand. While we eat I won't watch you cut the food on your plate. I'll be studying the weave of the tablecloth or perhaps concentrating on safely cutting my own food. Knives. My stomach knots just thinking about them.


2. I'm also afraid of some of the small appliances in my kitchen. For instance, I will not use the blender, aka electronic whirling knives. I owned a mini food processor (aka electronic whirling knives with attachments) for years but never actually plugged it in. I can't think about sharp things anymore. So I won't. We're done here. Moving on to #3...


3. My car is 10 years old and while it is cute as the dickens, it is very basic. It has a manual transmission and I LOVE it. I'd be happy to never drive an automatic again. My car has air conditioning, but otherwise no bells or whistles. No power windows, no power locks, nothing like that. I'd love to keep this car running forever. It's the perfect Toadlilymobile. And it will hold a nice load of lumber.


4. Mark and I are big U2 fans. We love the movie Rattle and Hum. We've watched it hundreds of times and basically have it memorized. Our everyday conversation is sprinkled with Rattle and Hum-isms. Where's the glory in that?


5. When I eat I think "thermal" - that is, I look at everything on my plate and decide which items will get cold the quickest and I eat those first. The items most likely to stay warm will be eaten last. This means I eat all of my fries first, then eat the burger/sandwich. The burger has a nice bun for a jacket, it's not getting cold any time soon. The fries start getting cold the second they come out of the fryer. Given a choice, I will always eat my salad last. It started life cold and it will still be there waiting for me when the hot food is gone.


6. I have a lot of lyrics to songs stuck in my head. Joy thinks this is weird. Apparently I can sing along with more songs than the average person. What can I say? Rock the catbox.

I realize after weeks of waiting, this list of weird things really is a big letdown. I think Mom is right. I'm weird, but in a completely normal way. How's that for twisty?

In stitching news, have you joined the Friends Gather BB over on Yuku? You should! There are SALs, challenges, and all sorts of interesting things to talk about. I love reading blogs but it is nice to have a collective place where we can meet and chat more directly. Thanks Becky for bringing the board back! This past weekend Vonna moderated our first Stitch-A-Thon. I worked on a project that is a gift for Mom's birthday. I can't share it for a day or two, but I will say it involved a finishing technique that was brand new for me. I finished the sewing tonight, and I think it turned out ok.

My next task is to get my ornament exchange kits pulled together and in the mail. I should have had them ready Monday night for Rainbow Stitchers but alas I didn't quite make it. Christi and Sandy had theirs ready on Monday, and they are fantastic kits! I'm not sure mine are going to quite measure up. I'll be working on them tomorrow.

This week is the My Home Town SAL on Legacy and I've been busy with other things. I'll get the ornament kits wrapped up in time to start the Christmas Ornament SAL over the weekend. MHT may get shuffled to next week. I am eager to work on it, but the timing has been all wrong lately. I could have worked on it Monday night at Rainbow but it is on 36 ct fabric and the lighting at McDonald's just isn't that great.

I've been trying to stay current with my blog reading, but I must confess my commenting leaves something to be desired. Sometimes I just want to read and read and soak in all of that stitching blog goodness. Ahhhhh.... Several of you commented about my class from Rockome with the eight ways to make a cross stitch. Sorry the picture wasn't clickable. Basically it just shows starting the stitch from all 4 of the different corners, and crossing the stitch with the base/top stitch going opposite ways. Eek, that isn't a good explanation, is it? Maybe I better try again with the camera instead of the scanner. I should add that each stitch is completed as you go, not the continental method of stitching a row across and crossing them on the return trip.

A note for Adana, my dear I can only dream of having my Queen sampler done at this point! I had such grandiose ideas for it and didn't follow through. Now there is no time to enter it in the show this year. I can't wait to see yours in person! I received my show booklet today and I've been drooling over some of the class projects. Maybe I can hit the lottery between now and June.

I'll wrap this up with a picture. I made the discovery last week that I have a major error on my Spring Snapperland project. I counted something wrong in the border and based on that I didn't stitch the squares big enough. I didn't catch any of it until I had most of the "big stuff" stitched in the first square.

I've since fixed the squares but I will wait (and wait) to decide what to do with the first design. It wouldn't be too hard to fudge. After all, it is only one stitch too high in the box. I could lose a row of roof (or chimney) and add a bit of path at the bottom. I'm just not sure I can look at it forever knowing that it is "wrong". Weird, huh?

Take Good Notes

I had a finish today. It isn't much to look at, and requires a bit of explanation.

In 2004 I took a class at Rockome. Eileen Bennett was the instructor and the class was "Sampler Research 101 - A Notebook Class." Talk about a fascinating and informative class! The stitching project for the class was to create the above tool. Using the diagrams on page 13 of Eileen's "The Red Book of Sampler Stitches" we stitched 8 rows of cross stitches, one for each variation of the little x. We started with a knot to begin our row, made a solitary stitch, then a row of the stitches and ended with a few satin stitches so we had a way to end our thread. The purpose of the tool is to compare my stitches (front and back) to the stitches on an old sampler and determine which of the 8 cross stitch variations were used. Here's what it looks like on the back:

I love to take stitching classes, but I am a poor student. I always arrive exhausted and unable to focus. This class was no exception. By the second row of stitches I had several mistakes and was exasperated. I put the stitching down and just enjoyed the rest of the class time. This poor project has been sitting in my WIP basket ever since. Only 8 simple rows of stitching to complete and I haven't been able to find the time since June of 2004. Today I pulled it out, determined to finish. Unfortunately since the project was so simple, I took almost no notes. I think I was supposed to leave more space between the rows and when I frogged the second row it had been started from the right, not from the left. Wish I could remember why! When I got to row 8 I realized it could only be stitched from right to left. Perhaps the second row (or heaven forbid, all even numbered rows) should be stitched from right to left? Why oh why didn't I take better notes? Note to self... Note to self? Oh great, now I need to make notes to remember to take notes. Can dementia be far behind?

Speaking of Rockome, the show is back this year! To say I'm thrilled is an understatement. The dates are June 15-24. Need info? Check out the Rockome Gardens website here. This will give you location information and details about the Gardens. Stacy Earnst is the show Director this year. The show guide is available for $2. Another good source of information is the Rockome NCCSS group at Yahoo, owned by Adana. Get those entries ready! Get signed up for classes! June is around the corner and will be here before we know it.

In the wee early hours this morning I had another finish. My Prairie Moon ornament is all done. Yippee! Michele asked when I was going to start...oops I think I forgot to mention it was already in progress! Sorry Michele! This is my kit exchange ornament so it has to be stitched and finished and all of the kits pulled together in the next week or two. The stitched part is done, the rest still needs to be done. If only I could settle on a finishing technique! I'm posting the picture over on the Christmas Ornament SAL blog, so have a look here, if you are so inclined.

The "weird things" list is still in the works. I think I need another day or two.

Time Flies

Apparently I've been MIA for over a week. Why does it feel like just a day or two? Things have been busy here in Toadlilyville. Maybe that explains it?

In stitching news, I've been working on My Home Town (MHT) by Carriage House Samplings. I started this project 2 years ago but got bogged down in trying to change the greens. The SAL for this project has restarted on the Legacy BB, so I've joined (again!) and have been stitching like a maniac.

I'm stitching over 2 on 40 ct lambswool, and it sure is slow going. I'm using the DMC conversion, not the silks. Hence the original issues with the colors. Somehow in 2 years time my color taste has changed and now I think these colors look good. Who am I and where did 'Chelle go? Or maybe I should be asking, who was that chick 2 years ago with questionable taste?

In my zeal to get something accomplished on MHT, I completely forgot to start my ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL. It doesn't help that the two SALs overlap, a fact that I completely overlooked until it was too late to remedy. Ah well, I'll rearrange things in February and all will be well. I finally started my ornament on Monday. I'm stitching the Prairie Moon design from the 2006 JCS Ornament issue. I went to Mom & Me to pick out fabric. Guess what, Michele? I ended up buying Fitzgerald Red! I thought I wanted to completely change the colors, but the 30 ct Fitzgerald is really pretty and I decided to go with it. They had 28 ct but it was a bit too pink for a Christmas ornament. The 30 ct is perfect. Once that was settled I decided to switch the DMC. The red on red was too blendy so I changed the red to 815 and the green to 890. I'm happy with it now. This ornament is serving double-duty for me. In addition to making it my January SAL design, it is also my choice for a kit exchange that takes place in early March.

I enjoyed reading all of your comments regarding my "Setting Goals, Making Lists" post. Annemarie your comments always make me smile. Post-it notes indeed! KarenV I'm intrigued by your Excel spreadsheet, mainly because I'm Excel challenged and I'm convinced that there has to be a better way than using Word. Not that I am really unhappy with Word. I just wish I could wrap my brain around Excel! Monique your suggestion for a "hang it on the wall" list should have come with a spew warning. And a rag to mop up afterwards. Lelia asked it I had considered sending this in as a SBQ...and the answer to that is no. I'm ashamed to say I haven't answered a SBQ for ages, and it just seems wrong to submit questions when I'm not taking the time to answer the questions already out there. Bad, bad me! I'll email you about kitting stuff up...I've already confessed too much stuff here! wink*wink Katrina I'll be happy to trade a copy of my Word list for a copy of your Excel spreadsheet! I'd love to see how it works.

Susie, you mentioned that if you decide not to finish a project, you might not keep it. Do you toss them in the trash like Monique does or find a home for them? Perhaps there is a need for a UFO clearinghouse. Spooky thought, isn't it?

In shopping news, Linda B went with me on January 25th to Mom & Me. We had a great time, as usual. I love to have Linda help me choose fabric. She has a great eye! From there we went down the block to an antique store that is going out of business. Linda found a few treasures and I found this yummy tablecloth for just $10. The green is perle cotton and the black is 2 or 3 strands of floss. It is going to go perfectly with my Warren Kimble dishes.

After grabbing a bite to eat we left Lebanon and went to Rosemary's, a quilt shop in Highland. It was my first time there, and oh my goodness what a dangerous place it is! I have a weakness for fabric, and there were temptations at every turn. And let's not talk about the little antique shop that is over the quilt shop. I went a tiny bit crazy, but it was fun and I'm sure I'll put every piece of fabric to good use. Someday.

In non-stitching news, last weekend we helped a friend clear a fallen tree from her back yard. It fell during the last ice storm. She had most of it cut up so I brought a car full of wood home on the 26th, then went back with Mark on the 27th and we did some cutting. More correctly, Mark and Janet did the cutting. I was content to toss the cut branches into the woods behind the yard. Twice my car was filled with fresh cut pine and looked like this:

Yes, we put these HUGE pieces of wood in the back of my hatchback. If you take a pine air freshener, smash it to your face and take several deep breathes, you'll get the smell-a-vision that goes with this photo. I think my car will have a clean, fresh pine scent for months to come. That's not a bad thing! There is a bit more tree to cut, so we'll go back another day with a bigger saw.

Michele tagged me so I guess I'll be making further confessions and admitting to 6 weird things about myself. I'm narrowing down the list (weirdness abounds) and seeking family input (I don't want to embarrass them *too* much) so please give me a day or two to respond.