Totally Toadlily

Last Gasp of 2011

2011-12-31T23:40:00.008-06:00

If I hurry, I can squeeze in one more blog post this year. Here is a run-down of my unblogged finishes for 2011.

First, Birdy Birdy by Sheepish Designs. So much fun to stitch, all DMC all the time, and a simple yet inspired border. Love this one! Resides at Stitcher's Station, awaiting a frame.

I posted a picture previously of Comfort and Joy by Blue Ribbon Designs, but it was a wrinkled mess. I wish the picture showed how beautiful the border is. It almost looks like suede. I debated about stitching the border, and I am so glad I did. The chart is up for grabs. Anyone?

This is how Reindeer Stocking by SamSarah turned out. I am not loving the bulls eye noses, but it is what it is. Frogging = not an option.

Mom and Me Forever hosted a Cherry Wood Design Studios trunk show a few months ago. That's where I got this cute freebie. The word "Boo" is stitched with glow-in-the-dark Kreinik. Fun!

This may be my favorite finish this year, Sow Good Seeds by Full Circle Designs. Specialty stitches, cute buttons and wool applique added up to a really fun project. I also enjoyed the gingham fabric, and honestly I didn't expect to. There are several projects in this series, and I highly recommend them!

French Country Teddy Bear by JBW Designs was stitched for a friend. I still need to do the finishing (deciding on how to finish it will be Step 1) and mail it to her. When Mom saw it at Thanksgiving she remarked that it looks like lace. Indeed it does! It is stitched with Slate Blue Light Gloriana silk, one of the more delicious brands of silk in my stash. Thanks Joy for the fabric!

By the Grace of God is an Olde Willow Design Works chart from the February 2004 Just Cross Stitch magazine. It is a project that Jeanne gave me from Sue's estate, and it included the September Stars linen from Lakeside Linen as well as all of the OWD fibers. The fabric is pale blue with white stars scattered across it. I really enjoyed stitching this one!

The Shepherd's Bush Garden Needleroll I started in January is stitched but not finished into a needleroll. The charm hasn't been attached yet. I think the fabric is a little short on one end, so I have been hesitant to tackle the hemstitching. (Sometimes "hesitant" means "I'd rather give up chocolate than endure this odious task.")

As 2011 ends, here is my CJC status:

Brightneedle - Can You Spy? - I think the tree in the center is done. I haven't see it in a while. It is over one, and I love over one but...hmmm, that is all.

Ewe & Eye & Friends - Petite Exemplary #1 - #4 - I only finished #1. The remaining 3 will give me fun small projects to work on in 2012.

Full Circle Designs - Sow Good Seeds - Done! This is one of those projects that you have to see in person, I think, to fully appreciate.

Goode Huswife - Reuben Rooster - Done, framed and on the bookcase in the living room.

La-D-Da - A Big Flower Sampler - All stems, no flowers. Looking forward to this in 2012.

Lilybet Designs - Lady Champagne - Very little done but eager to pull it out soon.

Lizzie Kate - Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle - Stitched, no finishing.

The Needle's Notion - Sweet Pea Sampler - The girl in the middle is mostly done. Miles to go on this one, but I am still excited about it.

Olde Willow Design Works - By the Grace of God - Done, currently resides in the finishes bin. (Finishes no longer live in the cedar chest. We call this "progress.")

Prairie Moon - Smoke Flower - Almost finished with the house in this design. The house is the largest motif and once it is done the rest should sail right along.

Sheepish Designs - Precariously Perched - this project got switched to Birdy Birdy, which is Done! Precariously Perched? Not done.

Shepherd's Bush - Garden Needleroll - Stitched and not rolled.

Still Stitching with Susan Greening Davis - Stitched and still unfobbed.

Sweetheart Tree - Bountiful Acorns - Done! Framed! Fabulous! Literally hanging on the wall!

With My Needle - Bunnies in the Garden - High on my list for 2012 finishes.

Final CJC score: 9 finished, 9 not finished. I didn't really expect to finish them all, and frankly half is more than I really thought I would manage. So hurrah for me!

I am ending the year with 13 WIPs and 15 finishes. Not too shabby! The non-CJC WIPs that remain are:

Aury's Reindeer X-Mess - this one snuck into my stitching basket in September. I have no idea how it happened. Honest.

Madame la Fee - Merry Christmas - hardly touched in 2011, I am sad to say. It is a beautiful design, but requires more intensive chart-reading than the primitive projects in my stash. Too many nights my brain just can't wrap itself around multiple color changes; bring on simple.

SamSarah - Cocoa Stocking - still my work project. I am making progress on the toe and still have the cuff to do. I will take a stocking break when this one is finished. I don't want to burn myself out on these - there are three more to go!

Sheepish Designs - Precariously Perched - the CJC project that wasn't. It has hardly been touched since it was started, but it will make a nice "break" design between some of the bigger projects on the list.

The plan for 2012 is to do my own version of Measi's WIPocalypse 2012. I never say never when it comes to starting something new (see Aury project above) but I will focus on finishing my WIPs.

So that wraps things up for 2011. I leave you with a peek at this cute towel that Kristin stitched for me.

It was a surprise and it is so cheery it always brings a smile to my face when I see it. Love you, girl!

Happy New Year, everyone! See you in 2012!

A Few Framed Finishes

2011-11-28T19:12:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it has been so long since my last blog entry. I took a class this fall and that has cut down on my free time. I guess I spent my free time stitching instead of blogging.

Over the summer I took several finishes to Stitcher's Station for framing and they did a fantastic job, as usual. I took the framed pieces traveling with me over Thanksgiving weekend and my Dad took some really great pictures of them for me. Thanks Dad!

This is Bountiful Acorns, a Sweetheart Tree needleroll design. I love how it looks framed!

This is a French freebie (Quaker a 6 Mains, I think) from the dim and distant past that took me approximately 1 million years to finish. It was tough to find a frame that looked right. Maybe it is the chocolate color of the fabric? It is difficult to tell from the photo, but the frame has a bit of a sheen, almost a mother-of-pearl look. Love it!

I turned this BOAF Happy Hearts design into a family sampler, and the frame is perfect for it.

At long last, My Home Town by CHS is framed. I can't believe how the dark frame enhances the stitching. I am really happy with how this turned out!

Other than the framing, stitching is going along pretty much as planned. I will never get all of my Crazy January Challenge projects finished this year, but I knew from the beginning that for me it was more about getting things started rather than getting things finished.

I just took a peak at my last blog post to see where I left off. I am still stitching on the Samsarah stockings while I work. I finished the reindeer and I am currently on stocking #3, the cups of cocoa. I decided to stitch the border on Comfort and Joy by Blue Ribbon Designs, and it looks really good. (The chart is up for grabs, if anyone is interested.)

I made a muddle of the finishing for the Windows of Faith, Hope and Peace ornament but since we were exchanging ornament kits and not the ornaments themselves, I was saved from complete humiliation. Mostly. I finished Birdy Birdy by Sheepish Designs, and it is at Stitcher's Station for framing.

I have also started several other projects along the way, including a JBW for a friend with a new grandbaby and Aury's Reindeer X-mess.

That's about it! I am hoping with my class almost over I can sneak in one more (or maybe two!) blog posts before the end of the year. I would love to get some pictures of the finishes I mentioned above.

Any rumors out there about what the crazy challenges will be this year? I may need to participate in a WIP finishing challenge this time around. I have way too many large projects in my stitching basket.

Sweet Sevens

2011-07-16T18:12:00.000-05:00

Everything is coming up sevens right now. I've finished 7 projects this year. I currently have 17 works in progress. Carol asked (a really, really long time ago) how many kitted-up projects I have sitting in the Diane bag - that magic number is 47. See all of those sevens? It must be time to rise above my apparent inability to blog on a regular basis and chat about stitching!

While I wish I had more finishes to report, I really can't complain too much. I am still stitching while I work (although it is much, much less during the summer months) and I get at least a few stitches onto the fabric most evenings. Life does get in the way now and then, but that's normal. Right?

So where did I leave off? I was working on "Smoke Flower" by Prairie Moon and didn't post a picture. Here is how the house currently looks. Love this!

I started the Reindeer stocking by SamSarah and it is coming along slowly. The reindeer at the heel is done and I am just getting started on the reindeer at the toe. The Caron Watercolours I am using are beautiful and nicely variegated but I am stitching the reindeer noses in a circular fashion and I'm not sure I love the look. I do know I don't want them to look striped. I'm just not sure the circles work for me either. Oh, and toe reindeer has an eyeball that is off by one stitch. I am debating eye surgery. I'll keep you posted.

I thought I finished the Blue Ribbon Designs "Comfort and Joy" design, but then I realized it called for a border. Later that same week I decided to skip the border and call it done. Yahoo! Um, wait a minute. I took it to Rainbow Stitchers to show it off and decided it probably needed the border after all. I've flipped more times than a pancake over this design. My current thought is that I should go ahead and stitch the border. It will make the framing easier and will probably look better. I also have 3 skeins of floss to use for the border that aren't likely to get used any other way. The border is specialty stitches, so while it will eat up the floss, it will be fun and shouldn't take too long. Famous last words. Here it is, sans border...while I continue to ponder. Warning! Wrinkles ahead!

I am leading a Just Cross Stitch ornament kit exchange at Violet Threads. We are stitching from the 2010 ornament issue and I stitched the Primrose Needleworks design "Windows of Faith, Hope and Peace." I used the recommended fabric and floss but I made it with all snowflakes instead of using the words. The finishing still needs to be done and I have all of the supplies ready to go. I seem to be lacking mojo. I need to rustle some up, and soon! We exchange ornament kits in less than two weeks. Oh. My. Goodness.

My most recent finish is by Lizzie Kate, "Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle." Finished at last! It looks like the perfect ornament, except it is bigger than ornament size. I can testify that it does not stitch up as quickly as you might think. But don't let that discourage you, if you are thinking of giving it a go. It is fun and I love the non-traditional colors. It will make a nice little pillow.

I also finished "Bountiful Acorns" by The Sweetheart Tree. May I rave (in a good way!) about Sweetheart Tree for a moment? This design is one of their manila colored cards, printed in black with instructions on both sides. I bet you have at least one in your stash, and maybe quite a few. These are amazing designs in a deceptively simple presentation. The directions are always great, the specialty stitches are fun, the fibers are gorgeous and the beads, treasures, etc. add just the right amount of bling. "Bountiful Acorns" is designed to be finished as a needleroll, but plan to frame mine. It is beautiful! If you haven't stitched a Sweetheart Tree design, give them a try.

While I really should be working on one of my large CJC projects, I find myself drawn to "Birdy, Birdy" by Sheepish Designs. I love the colors a lot. You might notice the shading in the blue and golden brown letters. It is stitched with different DMC colors, not a variegated/overdyed thread. Ah, the good old days! How silly is that? Notice too that I have already stitching the year on this project. Even sillier!

I must confess that most of this post was written several days ago. Since then I have kitted up a few more projects, BUT they are not in Diane yet so officially the count is still 47. That is my story. I am sticking to it!

Bunny Do-Over and Other News

2011-05-06T21:53:00.000-05:00

My head is spinning as I try to remember all of my stitching news. I guess it is better than having no stitching news at all!

I've made progress on several CJC projects. I completed the tree in the middle of Brightneedle's "Can You Spy?" design. The picture is rather off-center, but it is more true to color than the others I took.

Can you spy the "mistakes" in the tree? This is an awesome design.

My title for this post refers to "Bunnies in the Garden" by With My Needle. So what's up with the Bunnies? Do-over? Yup. I love Summer Khaki fabric, but it was not making my socks roll up and down for this project. I ripped out what I started in January and restarted.

When Joy was here in February she gave me some fabric (thanks, Sis!) and I put a piece of it to work here. It is 32 count linen from MCG Textiles, the color is Oyster. Normally I am a fan of sparse, scratchy linen, but I like the nubby texture and heavier weight for this project. Plus it looks fantastic! My only worry now is whether or not I will have enough Olde Willow floss - in the right dye lots - to complete all of the pieces. I can't wait to actually stitch a bunny! We have a crop of baby bunnies in our back yard and they are a hoot to watch.

The next contestant is Full Circle Designs "Sow Good Seeds." This is so cute!

The roof will be a wool applique, so the house will be roof-free until the bitter end. It sure looks funny with that chimney hanging in the middle of nothing!

This week I have been working on "Smoke Flower" by Prairie Moon. Sorry, no picture this time! I'm focusing on the house for now and will be ready to move on to something new - a new start, in fact - very soon.

A CJC finish! Be amazed! This is "Still Stitching by the Sea," a class project by Susan Greening Davis.

This was a great little project. It is full of specialty stitches, has some over one, and the colors are a wee bit outside of my comfort zone. The ribbon in the picture came with the kit, and is to be ruched for use as a hanger. I adore the ribbon, but sadly I think it is too dark and "heavy" looking for the lighter, beachy colors in the project. The good news is that Kathy and Ilene found some ribbon for me at Paducah. Thanks girls! I can't wait to see it. I almost forgot to mention, the "sea" behind the house is done with a woven plait stitch. It was my favorite part of the project.

Ta Da! The stitching is done on the Sugarplum stocking. The picture doesn't do the colors justice.

I have moved on to the Reindeer stocking. No picture this time, but I am making good progress.

My framed finish, "Garden of Life" by Blackbird Designs almost didn't make it to the guild challenge. The sky was ugly and storms were on the way. I wrapped it up in a pillow case to keep it safe...and left it safe and sound on the kitchen table! I didn't miss it until I started unpacking the car at guild. Groan! My husband the hero came out in the storm and met me half way.

I was thrilled to win 1st place in the Stitchery category! Susan's theme for the challenge was "Oh to be a Bride Again" and she made garters for ribbons. She is so creative, and the garter is adorable. Big hugs for Mark, you really are my hero!

I think that wraps things up for now. It's time to stitch!

Blah Blah Blah, With Pictures

2011-04-05T22:43:00.001-05:00

What would I do without my Sugarplum project? Everything else is constantly in flux, but I always seem to have news about this stocking. I am still stitching while I work and now the toe of the stocking is done.

I started on the cuff this morning. I am even beginning to think about which stocking to start next. It is fun to have so many stockings to choose from.

From the CJC files, I have been working on La-D-Da's "A Big Flower Sampler" and made good progress. I love how curvy and organic this project is.

I have also been working on Lizzie Kate's "Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle." This project makes me smile.

For a while the only words I had stitched read "Don't Get Tinsel" and that made me laugh. I am not into tinsel, tangled or otherwise. I really want to stitch several of these, but I need to sew fabric to the linen I'm using or stash-dive for different linen. This piece is too small for my q-snaps. Whine!

Last night I finished framing a project I stitched in 2009. In 2007 Sharon sent me a crazy-wonderful RAK that included Blackbird Designs "Garden of Life," fully kitted. It has been in the cedar chest waiting for framing inspiration. Earlier this year I moved my finishes out of the cedar chest and decided it was past time to get this beauty on the wall.

I bought the frame from the antique mall down the street. It is a new, mass-produced frame but I think it looks great. Thanks again, Sharon! You rock!

Now it is time to get busy with the dreaded 1980's quilt project. The guild UFO challenge ends in May. I have decided to use prairie points for the binding. I love prairie points! Oh, and I don't have enough fabric for prairie points so shopping is required. I love shopping! Would anyone like to predict whether or not I can locate some pastel calico fabric that will look right with this 25 year old quilt top? Wish me luck!

Marching On

2011-03-09T20:50:00.000-06:00

Time is marching on. I really don't know where February went. I was sick most of the month. I do feel better now but my voice is still not 100%. That's not the best thing when you talk on the phone for a living!

The "main event" in February was Mom's birthday celebration. We managed to surprise her, not an easy feat to pull off. Anna made her a beautiful cake. We missed Steve, but our hearts were with him and his family. Joy and I had a great time traveling together. Big thanks to Tim and his family for all they did to make the weekend a success!

I've been rummaging around in my stitching basket, trying to figure out what I've accomplished, if anything. I have pictures to share. Warning - not a thing has been ironed...

On the 18th I mentioned that I wanted to get a little more done on the Olde Willow project. Mission accomplished!

Joy fell in love with the fabric. If you have a source for September Star linen. please let me know. It is 28 count, dyed by Lakeside Linen a long time ago.

I finished the first Petite Exemplary by E&E&F. I am stitching all four designs together, so while it does count as a finish (by my twisted reckoning) the project itself is not finished.

The chart calls for stitching your initials in the upper corners, but no alphabet is included with the design and frankly my initials did not lend themselves to the space provided. I decided to skip the initials and repeat some of the motifs.

Things are busy at work and that means more stitching time. I finished the sugarplum at the heel of the stocking.

Tomorrow I will start the sugarplum at the toe. I like the idea of leaving the cuff for last - it should be simple to count and easy to complete.

My current project is from CJC Day 1, Lizzie Kate "Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle." Not much progress yet but it is nice to see a few more colors emerge.

My stitching is about to take a back seat while I focus on two guild projects. I need to frame one of my stitching finishes for the President's Challenge. The challenge is in April. The good news is that I have the frame. Thus ends the good news. Honestly I just need to knuckle down and get it together. Framing is not my favorite thing.

The guild UFO challenge ends in May. I need to finish a quilt I started in the 80's. I have some hand quilting left to do and the binding. I keep looking at it, but looking never leads to quilting. Funny how that works. One more project that needs knuckles.

Many thanks to everyone still checking in here at Toadlilyville. I am kind of afraid to open my blog reader, it has been so long. I really want to come see what you are stitching...and maybe take a peek at market purchases.

Lastly I want to say my thoughts are with Lisa Roswell's family. May you find the peace that passes understanding.

A CJC February Update

2011-02-18T11:45:00.000-06:00

I've been sick so not there has not been a lot of stitching going on. I made some progress on "By the Grace of God" by Olde Willow Stitchery. I want to get started on the house before I put this one down.

Here is my current progress on "Sugarplums." It is my work project and I haven't worked very much in the past week (laryngitis) but when I did work a few hours I made pretty good progress.

My sweet Mom has a birthday coming up this weekend. Happy Birthday, Mom! Love you so much!

Toadlily Time Machine - April 2008

2011-02-11T20:31:00.000-06:00

There has been very little stitching since I put down "Sweetpea Sampler." We have been busy in the evening and I haven't been in my stitching chair at all. I really want to blog more but what is there to talk about if I'm not stitching? I've been thinking I should go back through my list of finishes for the years I hardly blogged at all and share pictures.

Today's time machine journey takes us to April of 2008, almost 2 years ago. For the set-up, we need to go back a few more years. In 2005 Deborah at Midsummer Night Designs released "Deftly Wrought:" and I fell in love with it. After seeing my post about it, Deborah surprised me by sending the chart to me. (Thanks again, Deborah!) I started stitching it right away, during Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, and posted a progress picture in December. That's where I left you hanging!

I finished the sampler in April of 2008. It is framed and hanging on the wall. It is still one of my favorite projects. I love the verse, the colors and the mix of over 1 and over 2. Instead of personalizing the 3rd mini-sampler with my name I just put "me" and added a little greenery.

Look Mom, No Backstitching

2011-02-07T21:02:00.000-06:00

Other than my work project ("Sugarplum") I have been working exclusively on "Sweet Pea Sampler" by The Needle's Notion. When I started it in January I had 2 rows of cream stitched across the little girl's apron. Now she is finished except for the backstitching.

Isn't she cute? I've been on a roll and literally could not stop. There is a lot more to this sampler, so I'm nowhere near done. This felt like a good stopping point. I should have done the backstitching as I went along. Later I will regret this. Whining is inevitable. Keep your ear plugs handy.

Bye Bye Bull Fighters

2011-02-06T15:49:00.000-06:00

I love flea markets and antique malls. Recently I measured the design area of several finishes and started carrying the list with me when I cruise through my local antique malls. Check out these frames!

Obviously the bull fighters need to go, but the picture frames are incredible. The price was right, too. Frames can be so expensive. Here is a closeup.

The more I stitch on "Sweet Pea Sampler" the more I love it. The colors are amazing and sometimes surprising. I will (finally) have a progress picture for you in a day or two.

Lady Champagne

2011-02-01T19:33:00.000-06:00

I made some progress on my CJC project "Lady Champagne" by Lilybet Designs. You can see actual windows and there is some color at last. Quite a change from my first picture here.

Recently I seem to be losing things. My name tag for TNT has been lost for several months. This week I cleaned off the table next to my stitching chair and found it lurking in one of the spool cabinet drawers. Hurrah! Here it is.

The little house design is from Bent Creek (very old) and it is stitched over one with Valdani threads. It is a cut-and-paste wool finish. Not perfect, but not so bad that I am ashamed to wear it to guild meetings.

Right now I am working on another CJC project, "Sweet Pea Sampler" by The Needle's Notion. It is coming along! I will post a picture soon.

Madame How I've Missed You

2011-01-25T13:01:00.000-06:00

One of the two WIPs I carried over into 2011 is "Merry Christmas" by Madame-la-Fee. Ooh la la! I am stitching this on 28 count Ice Blue linen and so far the colors look great. This has (way) more confetti stitching than I am used to, but I am loving it anyway and will persevere. The trees were finished last year, everything else was done in the past few days. That ornament was a killer and there is another one just like it yet to come. Please forgive the wrinkles. My ironing allergy is acting up.

Cathy asked about the ornament kit exchange I am organizing. This is how it works. Everyone purchases the current issue of the JCS Ornament magazine and chooses an ornament to stitch. Everyone should choose something different - no duplicates. You stitch your own ornament and create kits of your ornament for everyone else in the group. We are going to have "Christmas in July" to show off our finished ornaments and exchange ornament kits. You keep your own ornament and go home with a pile of kits to stitch up. We had eight stitchers interested in participating so we are going to divide into 2 groups. Creating seven ornament kits would be too time consuming, not to mention expensive. I hope that explanation wasn't too confusing!

Here is an update on "Sugarplums." Progress is slow, but steady.

Back to the Crazy January Challenge. I pulled out Lady Champagne. If I can get the house finished the rest will be cake. I would like to get some of the larger CJC projects finished early in the year. I think it will be less daunting to have mainly smaller projects as the end of the year approaches. Don't you love that confidence, as if I really could get them all stitched this year?

So It's Thursday

2011-01-20T15:45:00.000-06:00

TNT was Tuesday night. The members of the guild inspire me every time I attend. So many talented ladies! We have a "free table" where you can leave things you don't want and take things you do want. I rearranged part of my stash closet a few days ago and took a large bag of junk (goodies?) for the table. Only one tiny item didn't find a home, and I dropped it in the trash on my way out the door. I did find three cross stitch items that came home with me. Oldies but goodies.

I also found a Crossed Wing Collection chart at one of the local antique malls. It had been marked down to $1 and everything in the booth was half price. Ka-ching! My Piecework magazine came in the mail a week or two ago. I've been slowly reading the articles. I like to savor it, because before you know it you are at the last article and tempted to wait by the mailbox for the next issue. I mentioned last time that I am organizing an ornament kit exchange for Violet Threads. We have 8 members participating so we are dividing into two exchange groups. I have my issue of the magazine covered up with post-it notes!

I recently won a few auctions at Quin's. I've never bid there before and it went very well. These were purchased for collection purposes, not with anything in particular in mind to stitch.

Carol and Katrina have mentioned that they are trying to stitch (at least a little bit) every day. I know I've seen it discussed on several other blogs as well. I am trying to do the same. Even a stitch or two is progress. Still, some days it is a real challenge. Here is an update on "Sugarplums." I am trying to get the blocks of color outlined to make it easier to stitch while I work.

My picture quality is not improving as much as I would like. It would help if I took a few minutes and read the manual. This time for a backdrop I tried my ottoman and the back porch. The results are mixed. It is very, very bright today due to the snow. Better luck next time!

Crazy - The First Finish

2011-01-18T14:10:00.000-06:00

In the wee hours this morning I finished stitching Goode Huswife "Reuben Rooster." Reuben was my last start of the challenge and my first finish this year. Tonight is the TNT guild meeting so I was inspired to tuck him into the frame for show-and-tell.

I want to stitch him again on an interesting piece of country cream linen I have and maybe a third time on 18 or 20 count fabric, sort of like a Bent Creek Zipper. The design is super cute and I love the colors.

Last night was Rainbow and I worked on "Sugarplums." I'll be working on it some more tonight at guild, so no picture quite yet.

The guild is having a UFO challenge this year and I am going to participate with a quilt I started in the 1980's. It is twin size and a lot closer to being finished than I thought it was. The challenge is to have it done by the June meeting. Even if I don't finish it by June, it will still be good to work on it.

The Violet Threads group is going to have a kit exchange this year using the 2010 Just Cross Stitch ornament magazine. I am organizing the exchange. We are planning to have our ornaments stitched and kits pulled together for Christmas in July at our July meeting. I haven't chosen my ornament yet, but I am getting it narrowed down.

I wonder if I am over-committed this year? Nah. No stress, all fun. So far.

Crazy - Day 14 and Day 15

2011-01-16T19:10:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 14 - Shepherd's Bush "Garden Needleroll" kit. The fabric is not identified in the kit but the floss is DMC. I have several SB needleroll kits in my stash and I really should get them all stitched up. The kits are well made and the designs are pretty.

Crazy January Challenge Day 15 - Goode Huswife "Reuben Rooster" stitched on 32 count R&R Antique Cotton with DMC floss. A lot of progress with this one! I might try to finish it before Tuesday so I will have a finish for the guild meeting.

Buh-bye to the first 15 days of the challenge! I was not sure I could find the time to stitch every day but I did and loved every minute of it.

I didn't manage very much stitching on "Sugarplums" while I worked this weekend, certainly not enough to warrant another picture. I will take it to Rainbow tomorrow night. Maybe I can make some significant progress.

Crazy - Day 12 and Day 13

2011-01-14T17:36:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 12 - Still Stitching with Susan Greening Davis "Still Stitching by the Sea" stitched on 20 count neutral colored linen with a variety of fibers. The project includes stitching over one, over two and several specialty stitches. This is part of the house.

Crazy January Challenge Day 13 - The Sweetheart Tree - "Bountiful Acorns" stitched on 32 count Flax linen with the floss required. Acorns! What can I say about acorns? I finished the middle band except for the backstitching and beads. Not too shabby.

I can't believe I only have 2 more projects left to start for the challenge! Tomorrow it's back to work so hopefully I'll be able to make a little progress on "Sugarplums."

Crazy - Day 10 and Day 11

2011-01-12T13:36:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 10 - Lilybet Designs "Lady Champagne" stitched on 30 count Northern Cross linen with the floss called for. I finished "Lady Violet" and promptly collected the rest of the "Lady" designs. They rock! This is a window. Not very exciting yet.

Crazy January Challenge Day 11 - Brightneedle "Can You Spy?" stitched over one on 32 count Daytona Sand R&R linen with Anchor and DMC floss. I finished an entire branch! I love over one and anything Brightneedle. Ginger and I are going to do this one as a SAL.

It is so, so sad that both of the above designers are no longer designing for the retail market. Heartbreaking.

I had a few spare minutes yesterday so I went through the remaining Crazy January Challenge kits to make sure everything was in order. I divided the floss into bags for the Shepherd's Bush needleroll and tried to make sense of the Still Stitching with Susan Greening Davis class kit. I love to take stitching classes but sometimes I can't focus during the class. I took a lot of notes during the class but did not start stitching at all. I think now I have a pretty good grasp on what I need to do. It is a very, very small project so it shouldn't be a problem.

Karen asked about the fabric for the now infamous "Precariously Perched." Unfortunately I do not know for sure who dyes or sells the Meltaway Gray fabric. I've always assumed it was a color from R&R but I don't see it on their current list. Maybe it is a retired color? Sorry I don't know the answer. The fabric was actually a bit darker but I got a little happy with the spritz bottle while I was ironing and I transferred some of the dye to the towel I was ironing on. The linen is still pretty, just not as dark as it was before. The towel was decidedly less pretty, but thankfully the dye came out in the wash.

Monique your suggestion to just call the star on "Precariously Perched" a finish made me laugh out loud. I love your personal challenge to do something stitchy every day this year. Hope to see you Monday at Rainbow!

Carol I had something in mind to tell you or ask you and it escapes me now. I'll be in touch as soon as I remember...

Joy - I haven't forgotten about you, Sis! Soon!

I've managed to leave some notes on blogs today via links on comments left here but I haven't made it to my reader for days and days. For now I'm off to work, where I hope to have a few minutes to work on "Sugarplums."

Crazy - Day 9

2011-01-10T13:11:00.001-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 9 - La-D-Da "A Big Flower Sampler" stitched on 32 count Queen Anne's Lace with the Sampler Threads called for. The fabric is gorgeous and the Tarnished Gold floss used for this leaf looks great on it.

It is nice to finally have another La-D-Da in the works. It has been a while.

After the "Precariously Perched" debacle I decided to start "Birdy Birdy" as well. It won't be part of the official 15 projects but I love the colors and couldn't bear to tuck it back into Diane.

In retrospect, "Precariously Perched" is probably a better project for the official list It is smaller than "Birdy Birdy" and therefore more likely to get finished before the end of the year.

I worked this weekend so I had a chance to stitch on "Sugarplums" again. The 20 count Weeks fabric is fun to stitch on and the Watercolours are great. Here is a progress picture, just for you Sharon!

There are only 6 projects left to start in the Crazy January Challenge. I'm beginning to wonder which project I will go back to first after all of the projects have been started. I think I will develop some sort of rotation so I don't let any of these projects languish for too long. I am enjoying this challenge so much!

Really Crazy - Day 8

2011-01-09T20:17:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 8 - Sheepish Designs "Precariously Perched" stitched on 32 count Meltaway Gray linen with Sampler Threads as charted.

A crazy thing has happened. I decided to start Sheepish Designs "Birdy Birdy." I scrambled through my remaining pile of prepared projects and somehow ended up with "Precariously Perched" instead. "Precariously Perched" is not on the Crazy list. It has not been on my radar screen since the days of Move It Out Monday. I'm not sure how it escaped from Diane. I am also uncertain how it went through the ironing process without detection. Even worse, I stitched a star and took a picture before I finally made the connection that I was not stitching on" Birdy Birdy." I have lost my mind.

I have no idea how I will proceed from here. I could stretch the challenge to 16 days. Or I might start two projects on one day. Maybe I'll just take a nap. My brain cells must need a rest.

Crazy - Day 6 and Day 7

2011-01-08T19:47:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 6 - Full Circle Designs "Sow Good Seeds" stitched on 28 count Graziano Celery/White Gingham with the DMC called for. I had a not-so-good previous experience stitching on gingham fabric but no problems to report this time. In fact it was rather fun, and I cheated by stitching on it again yesterday. In addition to the three rows of the brown house color there is a picket fence that is impossible to see. There will eventually be grass around the fence, so no reason to panic.

Crazy January Challenge Day 7 - The Needle's Notion "Sweet Pea Sampler" stitched on 32 count Limited Dark Pearled Barley from Lakeside Linen with DMC called for. It also calls for #4 braid in green but I haven't purchased it yet. The picture is very sad, just a few cream colored stitches. It will get better!

I wish I had more time to visit blogs right now. I'm itching to see what everyone else is starting or finishing, depending on the challenge you signed up for. The Chez Toadlily Basement Beautification Project started this week so I am short on time. Imagine that!

Thanks for visiting my blog and also for your kind comments! I was stunned and thrilled to see the comment from Ellen about Bunnies in the Garden. Amazing!

Crazy - Day 5

2011-01-06T12:26:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 5 - With My Needle "Bunnies in the Garden" stitched on 32 count Summer Khaki with Olde Willow Stitchery floss. I am going to follow the general instructions for placement of the pieces on the linen, but I'm going to squish them together a bit and try not to waste so much fabric. I will probably also do something a little different with the needlepage to make it more useful for me. I have a long way to go before that needs to be decided. There isn't anything about this project that I don't love. With each new project I keep asking myself, why didn't I start this sooner?

Here are a few flowers.

And here is the whole piece of fabric. It is huge!

I am starting to develop storage issues. Fabric on q-snaps takes up more space. Some projects need to be stored flat so I don't undo an evening of ironing. I am solving that dilemma by hanging a few starts in the closet. Sticky-notes have been added to the project bags to remind me where they are hiding. I would like to believe that I could remember without the sticky-notes but I know better. I recently lost a tote bag for several weeks and found it hanging on a hanger in the coat closet. That closet was searched no less than 5 times and we never saw the bag. It did not occur to either of us that it might be hanging in front of our eyes. Who hangs a tote bag on a hanger? That would be me, apparently.

I have some time this afternoon so I may start "Sweet Pea Sampler" by The Needle's Notion. It is the largest in my lot of 15 new projects and I think today is the day.

Crazy - Day 4

2011-01-05T14:34:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 4 - Prairie Moon "Smoke Flower" stitched on 32 count Mockingbird linen with the floss as charted, at least so far. This is not the fabric used by the designer so I'm not certain yet that all of the colors will really work. Once upon a time (2005) I thought the floss toss looked good. Time will tell. I got an earlier start last night, so I was able to finish the chimney and part of the roof. Another poor quality picture. This is becoming a (bad) trend.

One of the things I was forced to do yesterday was iron. I started "Smoke Flower" because it was the very last project in the pile that wasn't a creased, wrinkled mess. I bet you thought I had some grand plan, some cosmically centered reason for starting the first three projects, didn't you? Something other than "I only iron for stitching emergencies." Uh huh. Right.

Anne and I seem to be on the save wavelength with this challenge. She's also been ironing like crazy and is running out of q-snaps Her comment (regarding Day 3) was so insightful, right on the mark!

"I think that's the hardest bit of the challenge for me - some pieces I don't want to stop stitching, and it kills me to put them down again and start something new the next day ... but then the next day I start feeling the same about the next project (usually anyway) ;) And isn't it crazy how the smallest things stop us from stitching a project - and how quick the task goes when we pull our fingers out and actually do that task ... I often kick myself afterwards wondering why I hadn't tackled it sooner!"

Carol was wondering about the Diane bag and the number of projects housed therein. I must admit, I have shuffled so many projects in the past few days, I can't say for certain how many projects are in there. I promise to count sometime soon. I do know one thing - Diane now has an echo. It is a little spooky.

Thanks a bunch to everyone who is reading my blog and/or leaving comments! It is fun to be back.

Crazy - Day 3

2011-01-04T16:20:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 3 - Ewe and Eye and Friends "Petite Exemplary No. 1-4" stitched on a mystery piece of 35 count linen from my stash with the floss called for. This project has been in the Diane bag forever due to the mystery fabric. I was never certain it was big enough. It did not look big enough. Late last night I finally did all of the necessary calculations, and yes the fabric will be big enough. I probably started too far down and there won't be an equal amount of fabric at the bottom, but there should still be plenty for framing or a soft finish. I can't get over how tiny this is, just 2" square. The picture is awful, but will have to do for now.

You might notice that only a few of the stitches are crossed. Midnight was quickly approaching and I wanted the border finished. It didn't get finished, but half finished is fine for now. I can't wait to get back to this project. The pinks and greens are beautiful.

Crazy - Day 1 and Day 2

2011-01-02T22:45:00.000-06:00

Crazy January Challenge Day 1 - Lizzie Kate "Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle" stitched on 32 count Desert Sand linen with the DMC floss listed in the chart. I love this already and I don't have any color on it yet.

Crazy January Challenge Day 2 - Olde Willow Stitchery "By the Grace of God" stitched on 28 count September Star Linen from Lakeside Linen with Olde Willow floss. I wasn't sure about the stars on the fabric, primarily because the design is pretty busy as it is. So far I really like it and the Olde Willow floss is fabulous.

Work project - SamSarah Designs "Sugarplum Stocking" stitched on 20 count WDW Guacamole with the Caron Watercolours called for, so far just Celery. I was worried that the 20 count Weeks fabric would be too floppy and inspire ugly memories of the tabletopper. Thankfully the linen tightens up perfectly in the q-snaps. Love it!

I know it is early - only Day 2 - but frankly I feel energized! So far I love everything I've started and I am not feeling overwhelmed at all. The only thing I'm a teensy bit anxious about is that some of the fabric in the project bags may need to be pressed before any stitching can commence. I need to get out the iron, all of the project bags and get everything *really* ready. It has been a tight squeeze in the Diane bag all these years and I foresee a wrinkle. Or two.

I am not happy about having links to pictures vs. actual in-the-blog pictures. Maybe the planets will align and I can make it work tomorrow. Ah, the drama of it all.

Crazy and Then Some

2011-01-01T12:43:00.001-06:00

In the struggle for picture posting supremacy (Toadlily vs. Blogger)...Blogger remains the champion. I tried to html the photos into the blog but it didn't go well. Size issues. Blah blah blah. A lesson for another day, perhaps. Here are links to the pictures in Photobucket.

Bent Creek Rise and Shine

Raise the Roof Nickademus

I mentioned last time that I had 15 finishes this year. Not as many as I would like, but this seems to be what I can manage while working mostly full time and taking the occasional class. It is certainly better than zero. I managed to clear out the last of my ancient WIPs. Great was the rejoicing! So here is what I accomplished in 2010:

Bent Creek - Got Carrot? Zipper
Bent Creek - Are You My Mother?
Bent Creek - The Little House
Bent Creek - Scared Crow Zipper
Carriage House Samplings - My Home Town
Full Circle Designs - Acorn Teapot (Silver Needle Night)
Quaker a 6 Mains
Elizabeth's Designs - Dragonfly (stitched 3 times)
Little House Needleworks - He's A Flake
Ink Circles - Stained Glass Tree (from 2010 JCS Ornament Issue)
Passion Broderie - Marquoir Story (only stitched two sections)
Bent Creek - Rise and Shine
Raise the Roof - Nickademus

So there you have it. Over the next few months I plan to post pictures of those finishes so stay tuned.

Now onto the Crazy stuff. In the end I settled on 15 projects for the official list. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Brightneedle - Can You Spy?
Ewe & Eye & Friends - Petite Exemplary #1 - #4
Full Circle Designs - Sow Good Seeds
Goode Huswife - Reuben Rooster
La-D-Da - A Big Flower Sampler
Lilybet Designs - Lady Champagne
Lizzie Kate - Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle
The Needle's Notion - Sweet Pea Sampler
Olde Willow Design Works - By the Grace of God
Prairie Moon - Smoke Flower
*Sheepish Designs - Precariously Perched
Shepherd's Bush - Garden Needleroll
Still Stitching with Susan Greening Davis - scissor fob class project
Sweetheart Tree - Bountiful Acorns
With My Needle - Bunnies in the Garden

*Edited to change "Birdy Birdy" to "Precariously Perched" - click here for the details.

While pondering the above list of 15 projects there were a few additional designs that would not stop calling to me. Three of them are not kitted up but that will be easily accomplished sometime this year. Two of them are from Diane. I'll start them if and when time allows. They are:

Barrick Samplers - Acorns and Threads
Designs by Linda Myers - Quilt Sampler VI (aka Dear Jane)
Mosey 'n Me - Frank's Last Box goes to the Cats & Dogs
Samplers Revisited - Tarten Pumpkins
Sewing Bird - Be Not Weary in Well Doing

My work projects this year will be the SamSarah stockings. The link is to Sugarplum, the stocking I am starting first. I thought they were so cute until I saw the "cover models" at Mom and Me Forever - and then I fell in love. They are stitched over 2 on 20 count Weeks Dye Works linen using Watercolours. If I finish all 6 stockings this year I'll be amazed. There is no rush or deadline, just something to stitch while I work.

Because the above didn't sound like complete and total overload, I am also planning to finish two projects that were started by stitching friends. Those projects are A Quaker Floral by Midnight Stitching and As Ye Sow by Rosewood Manor. Stories/details will follow when my needle makes an appearance on their projects!

And so there you have it. It is going to be a fantastic year! Happy New Year, everyone!

Rise and Shine, Nickademas!

2010-12-31T14:44:00.004-06:00

I finished Bent Creek's Rise and Shine on the 28th. I just love the rooster and the colors are right up my alley. I've been considering framing it for my kitchen, but it is more likely that it will live in the cedar chest. At least for a while. I have 3 large projects that I really want to frame and those have priority right now.

I thought I had my 15 January projects all figured out for the new year, but I keep looking at the list and changing my mind. I should have started working on this list a lot earlier. The hardest thing is narrowing it down to 15.   Maybe I'll go really crazy and double the number of starts. I only have 2 (yes, two) WIPs right now. I finished 15 projects in 2010. Starting 15 new projects - is that really a challenge? How about a new project every day in January? That would be 31 new projects. I mentioned this to Mark. His reply was "Honey." With the look. Sigh. It's like he knows me or something.

I finished one more project last night. It is Nickademas by Raise the Roof from the 2010 JCS Ornament magazine. Sadly, I am not very happy with it. I wish I had chosen a darker blue fabric and maybe different colors for the hat.  I should have also gone with a higher thread count fabric. It is way too big to be an ornament, but it will make a nice little pillow. I am thinking about ric rac or pom-pom trim or maybe both.

I'll post my lists tomorrow - what I finished in 2010 and what my CRAZY starts will be in 2011.   And hopefully pictures of the two projects mentioned above, if Blogger will allow it.

Ornament Picture

2010-12-26T00:23:00.000-06:00

At last, a picture of the ornament Judy stitched for me. Love it!

Still no stitching to speak of, but I work on Sunday so I hope to put a few more stitches into Rise and Shine. With any luck I'll have it finished this year.

I spent a little time last night digging through Diane and the basket. I came up with 15 projects without too much trouble. I'll post a list soon. I must be crazy, because I'm really looking forward to the challenge!

Verbose on a Snowy Day

2010-12-24T13:39:00.000-06:00

It is a snowy day here at Chez Toadlily! All of our holiday shopping (and wrapping) is done, just a few recipes to make ahead for dinner tomorrow. It is so cozy to sit here in our nice warm house and watch the flakes fall. A perfect winter day!

The latest stitching news is that not much stitching has been going on due to the above mentioned shopping and wrapping. Remember the biscornu I was putting together for the TNT pincushion exchange? I was using 2 colors of beads. Sadly the darker beads looked great with the peach colorway but not so good with the green side.   So it was time to rip, rip, rip. I decided to just use the pearly beads and only every-other stitch. I was starting the third "side" of the biscornu when I noticed that for some reason the points were not centered. Um, hello. This is Biscornu 101. The corners of the design should match up with the midpoint on each side of the reverse design. I ripped again and ran out of time to finish it. What a bummer. No new pictures of this debacle, just see the previous picture and imagine it without beads...and in total darkness. (It is already back in the cedar chest.)

In my last post I included a picture of the ornament I sent to Susan for the St. Louis Stitchers ornament exchange.  I would love to show you a picture of the ornament I received from Judy but there seems to be a bug with photo uploading at the moment.  I promise to upload it as soon as Blogger allows.

I keep hearing about the Crazy January Challenge 2011 and I keep thinking it is a good idea. After all, I can just reach into the Diane bag, pull out 15 projects (or 30 or 45) and get those puppies started. If I don't start them it is certain I'll never get them finished. Flawless logic.  Flawless! Actually Diane has reached capacity and overflowed into a (laundry size) basket. I seem to kit up projects at a much faster rate than I get them stitched. I think my real challenge would be having the time to stitch, moreless start a new project, on 15 consecutive days. I may change the rules and start 15 projects in January, basically one every other day. That sounds more do-able. Maybe I'll surround myself with the contents of Diane (and the basket) this weekend and see what trips my trigger.

I'm making a list of things I'd like to blog about. In fact I may draft a bunch of blog posts to get myself started. I have several years worth of finishes that I'd love to show not to mention the projects I'm working on now.  If I don't make some notes, I'll forget what I want to say. Heaven forbid! The verbosity must continue. Hopefully with pictures.

2010-12-15T21:35:00.001-06:00

My current work project is an oldie but goodie, Rise and Shine by Bent Creek. I stitched this years ago for Ruth and decided to stitch it again for my kitchen. Here is a poorly lit picture of it, still in the q-snaps. Almost 100% of this has been stitched while I work. Life is good.

This is Dragonfly by Elizabeth's Designs. I stitched two colorways and I am finishing them as a beaded biscornu for the pincushion challenge at the TNT Guild this month. I need to hustle, the meeting is next week. I like the stitched parts, but I'm not sold on the beading.

This is the ornament I stitched for Susan in the St. Louis Stitchers annual ornament exchange. If you haven't looked at the DMC color list for this ornament in the 2010 JCS Ornament issue, you should. The greens do not "go" together. At all. Yet they work. I *love* a great design, and this one qualifies. Kudos to Tracy Horner. You rule.

I used a metal eyelet for the first time on this project. It was shockingly easy and worked great. I see more eyelets in my future.

I have several other WIPs that I would love to work on, but Christmas preparations are getting in the way. 'Tis the season. Time to address the Christmas cards!

*Edited to add...

Thank you so much for the welcome back and lovely comments! I can't wait to catch up with you all!

Fresh

2010-12-13T14:36:00.000-06:00

I can not believe how long it has been since my last blog post. It is December and this is my first post of the year. Maybe I am just early for resolutions, but it feels like it is time for a change, time to freshen things up and time to get back to blogging. I miss the friends I made while blogging and also documenting my finishes or stitching escapades. I am busy with work and sometimes with school but I still find time to stitch and shop and gather with like-minded friends.

I have a second blog where I posted home decor pictures and such. I just gave it a face lift and hopefully I can use it to sell some stash. I'll be sure to send up a flare when I actually have something posted there.

As much as I hate to end this post without a picture, my stitching pics are all on the other computer and I don't have access to it right now. If I wait for a picture..and for the stars to align...I'll never get this post finished.

So there, it is finished and I'm back!

Summer Exchanges

2009-06-24T16:47:00.008-05:00

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

2009-03-12T22:44:00.007-05:00

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

2008-05-20T23:47:00.001-05:00

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:

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

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

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

Place the shredded fabric in the driveway.

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

Return the car to the safety of the garage.

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

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

2008-04-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-21T23:45:00.008-05:00

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

2008-02-01T21:40:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-26T02:04:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-23T15:30:00.001-06:00

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

2007-12-17T14:14:00.000-06:00

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

2007-10-26T00:43:00.001-05:00

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

2007-10-18T10:26:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-11T02:26:00.001-05:00

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

2007-10-01T00:33:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-09-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-16T17:42:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-06-25T15:18:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-18T12:20:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-08T23:32:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

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.

I love breakfast foods, but I rarely eat breakfast. I'm more likely to eat breakfast foods for dinner.
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.
I've worked for two software companies.
My brothers are twins.
I like to wear a watch and sometimes earrings but otherwise I don't wear jewelry.
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.
It has been almost 2 years since I quit smoking. Now if I could just quit eating...
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

2007-05-12T00:03:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-04T10:25:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-04-25T22:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-17T14:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-17T13:42:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-16T12:25:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-27T00:22:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-26T20:29:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-21T00:56:00.000-06:00

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:

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.

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...

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.

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?

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.

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

2007-02-06T19:34:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-03T15:45:00.000-06:00

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.

Setting Goals, Making Lists

2007-01-22T19:22:00.000-06:00

We survived the ice storm last weekend with only a 10 minute power outage and the four inches of snow that fell this weekend caused no trouble at all. I've spent some time stitching and (gasp) sewing curtains for Mark's office. I've also been trying to stay caught up on my blog reading. I've been too lazy to leave comments like I should, and I apologize for that. There is so much to see out there in the land of blog!

While reading blogs today I noticed Katrina's post about making lists and setting goals. I found myself leaving a lengthy comment, but decided it would be smarter to put my thoughts here instead. By the way Katrina, what a neat surprise to see you on the 30th!

Making lists...ahhh, one of my favorite things! Setting goals...not a favorite thing, more like a necessary evil in most areas of my life. I try to keep my stitching goals to a minimum, otherwise it feels like work. Of course stitching should be fun, not work. I love to be organized. I love organizing. Organizing is nearly as much fun as stitching. You would think this would translate into a precise rotation schedule, tracking of stitching hours, and goals mapped out for the next 5 years. Ahhem, no. All of that is too much like work.

Rotations (other than the screaming variety) don't work well for me. I set "goals" for my obligation stitching, things like PIFs, gifts and exchanges, because there is a deadline to meet. (Wow, that sounds like work!) Otherwise I'm pretty relaxed about stitching goals. Katrina talked about making lists and feeling obligated to cross things off. I have a list "system" and I think it works for me because I use it as an organizational tool, not as a checklist that must be followed.

I have a series of lists in a single Word document. The first list in the document is for projects that I am kitting up, including the items I still need to buy or track down. The next list is of projects that are fully kitted, followed by a list of WIPs and finally a list of finishes for the year. I use page breaks in the document to keep each list in its own space. Projects "travel" within the document from one list to the next. For instance I am kitting up the Sampler Calendar project from My Mark Designs. Right now it is on the "Need to Kit" list, but when it is ready it will move to the "Kitted, in bag, ready to go" list. When I start the project it will move to the "WIP" list and eventually to the "Finishes" list. When I say the project "moves" on the list I mean that I cut and paste the info from one part of the document to another. Within each list all of the projects are alphabetized by designer. It is just easier to find things that way.

Sometimes I change my mind about a design and it gets deleted from the list. Sometimes I come home with something new and it gets added to the list. Sometimes things get complicated with a project, like I need to change a floss color or maybe start over on a different color of fabric. I try to remember to make notes about everything. Eventually every project in the document becomes a little paragraph or journal entry. If I put a project down for months and can't remember if I was stitching with one thread or two, the list will tell me. If I pick up a new project and can't remember if I cut the fabric for over one or over two, the list will tell me. At the end of the year I cut and paste the entire Finishes section of the list into a new, separate document. This gives me a record of what I finished during the past year and a clean slate in my Projects document for recording finishes this year.

Hopefully all of that made some sense. It probably sounds much more complicated than it really is, and it only takes a minute or two to keep track of things this way. I'm sure I'm not the only stitcher using a Word document to record my stitching adventures. Anyone else? I think handwritten journals are pretty popular right now, too. In some ways this blog is also a stitching journal, but I don't put as much "nuts and bolts" information here as I do in my Word document.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments! So many of you said nice things about my finishes and my progress with the craft table. Thanks a bunch, it means a lot! I do have a comment to respond to.

The Silver Needle asked about the box in this post. The box was a class project with Lori Markovic, the cross stitch designer aka La-D-Da. Honestly I'm not sure if the project qualifies as altered art. I'm afraid the only altered art I'm familiar with are books put to other uses. I do like the mixed media aspect of this project, mixing glue and lace and brads and velvet and cross stitch with a wooden box...not the usual sort of thing for most needleworkers. It is great to branch out a bit, but I won't say it is outside the box. That would just be wrong. *wink* Lelia asked if the floss for this project was overdyed. You guess it! I think it was mostly Sampler Threads.

Finally, I hate to sign off without including a single picture, so here is a shot of one of the curtains I made for Mark's office.

The curtains aren't anything special and the picture quality is the worst, but it is proof that I didn't clear off the craft table for nothing. The fabric was $1/yard at Wal-mart. Woot!

Ice Is Not So Nice

2007-01-13T22:14:00.000-06:00

Here's what my backyard looked like this morning. Yep, it's a bit frosty with a side of ice.

The good news is that we didn't get a lot more ice today. The bad news is that we might get more ice tomorrow. Or sleet. Or snow. Or wind. Or something that doesn't mix well with ice. Oh boy, can't wait.

Not much stitching going on. We had some excitement with a sump pump today and that ate up my time. I find myself spending lots of time preparing for the power outage that hasn't happened yet. With any luck, it won't happen at all!

Finished At Last

2007-01-09T15:32:00.000-06:00

At last, two important finishes. First, the dreaded Soapbox. I must say, things progressed more quickly once I switched to a jousting lance sized needle (my fingers like petites) but it was still a project filled with much bitterness and angst. Frequent frogging, multiple knots on the back, awkward q-snap positioning, blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Oh wait, here's the real picture:

This is so long and narrow, it was not the easiest thing to photograph. I love the chicken, the chick with the crank, and the bee. I also love the colors. I do not love the banding. 'Nuff said.

My other finish falls into the "not stitching" category. I submit for your review this photo of my office:

I think "Wahoo!" about covers it. My final inspiration was Mark. He asked for sheers for the windows in his office. Yes my friends, that requires the sewing machine. I won't be sewing curtains by hand. At long last, a clean craft table! Did I mention...Wahoo? (I will *not* be submitting further pictures of my laundry closet. There might be one or two items stacked on the washer and dryer. But we won't talk about that right now...)

While I had the ironing board out to get the Soapbox ready for pictures I pressed a few more things. Here are a few pictures of my stuff from the La-D-Da class at the show. The pictures I posted previously were of Lori's sample for the class.

Lori suggested that we stitch each rose in a circle instead of going across the whole design in rows. While this was a bit of a pain, I think it really turned out nice.

This is my box. Lori was kind enough to sign my project card. Thanks, Lori! Speaking of the project card, did you know these are available for purchase? I saw them last night on the counter at Stitcher's Station. Very kewl!

Last month I made Sweetheart Tree scissor fobs as Christmas gifts for my "working world" mentors. They are both stitchers, but not quite as rabid as I am! Janet took home "Rhodes Butterfly":

Jane took home "Baby Bluebells"

I finished both of them (stitching and finishing) in one week. I'm very pleased with how they turned out! They look just like the photos on the leaflets except I only used one color for the cording and tassels.

I have a list of things to blog about but no more time today. Thanks for reading my blog!

The State of Things

2007-01-03T11:20:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading. There are a lot of lists out there, long lists of things accomplished in 2006 and goals for 2007. After much consideration, I think I'm going to pass on posting lists right now. I had a slightly better than average year in 2006 with 43 finishes. The truth is that I'm not in the mood today to look back at 2006; it was a good year, but now it is gone. As for goals, I'm still pondering what it is that I want to accomplish in 2007.

A few days ago I wrote a lengthy post about SharonB's Take A Stitch Tuesday and saved it as a draft. I would really love to participate in the challenge. I'm interested in surface embroidery and it sounds like an awesome learning experience. Now enter...a reality check. Today I looked long and hard at my "Things To Do In 2007" list and realized a more appropriate title would be "2,007 Things To Do." Ok, maybe there aren't quite 2,007 things on the list...but there really are too many things I want to do. In fact, there are quite a few things I have already committed to. I want to do everything, but the truth is I can't do everything. My overbooked October and November (and subsequent fall from the face of the earth) should be a lesson to learn from, not a pattern to repeat. As much as I would love to, I'm not going to participate in the challenge. I've deleted the draft. I'm looking forward to seeing the stitches that the participates are taking and living vicariously through them. There is going to be a lot of fun eye candy this year!

One of the projects on my plate is my office/craft room. I've mentioned several times that the sewing table is piled with stuff and has been for months. It really is sad, because the rest of the house is rather neat and orderly by comparison. For some reason I allow myself be a real pig in this space. The fact that I brought home a carload of stuff nearly every weekend in October sure didn't help. I have more toys than I know what to do with. Literally. I've been chipping away at the piles on the table. I worked on it for several hours yesterday, and when I finished it still looked like this:

Here's what you are looking at. The large dark bag on the left is full of kitted up projects. This is the original Move It Out Monday bag, with over 30 projects ready to start. The basket is one of 3 containers I use for WIPs. The white tote bag on the floor contains yarn and several knitting looms, one of which has about 2 inches of scarf on it. I took a class from Cyndi at Jeanne's stitch-in, and loom knitting is really fun. On the seat of the chair are a few charts with fabric but I still need to pull the floss. At the bottom of that pile is a sewing project. This brings us to the top of the table, where obviously there still isn't room for my sewing machine. The table top is a mish-mash of papers, leftover fabric bits, several projects that need "finishing" and a multitude of miscellaneous items that have no business in my craft area. To the right of the table I have a few things piled on the floor:

The box on the left holds charts and kits (and whatever!) that need to find a new home. The pink basket is mostly stuff from Sue's estate. I bought some of her finishes, as well as several of her WIPs. I intend to finish the WIPs but I need for a little more time to pass before I can begin on any of them. That's my new boom-box, plunked down on the floor. (It has since been moved to a safer location!) The paper sack is full of cross stitch kits. With all of this clutter around, I didn't have a flat surface to work on so I opened up the laundry closet doors and used it as a work space. Did I mention that my office/craft area is also the laundry room?

All of my cross stitch charts are stored in file folders, alphabetized by publisher in ring binders. Putting away new stash can be a smidge time consuming. I set things up with my box of sheet protectors on the left, a spot in the middle for whatever ring binder I was currently working on, and (in this case) two piles of free charts - the pile on the left are "to be filed" and the pile on the right is for "oops, I already have that one." This uber-organized filing system is a little time consuming on the front end, but when push comes to shove I can almost always find things when I look for them. So I'm sticking with it! I hope to have the top of the table "unearthed" before the weekend. I hope.

When not laboring in my office I did manage to get a little stitching time in. I worked long and hard on the Bent Creek Spring Soapbox project. Click here (then scroll down just a little) to see what it looked like in October. This is the progress I made before I finally said "uncle" -

This has become a very tedious project. The banding isn't fun to stitch on. Every stitch is a struggle. I'm a little more than half way done, so I will certainly be finishing it. It is a shame about the banding. If I had it to do over again I am sure I would stitch it on some other fabric. Next time I pick it up I will try using a bigger needle. My petites (love them!) are probably not the right tool for the job.

On a happier note, I put the Soapbox aside and started a new project on New Years Eve. It is "Topiary" by Homespun Elegance. I finished it in no time at all.

I LOVE the way it turned out. The colors are great together. I do love green! I haven't decided yet how to finish it.

Before I wrap this up I want to answer a few questions from the Comments section. First of all, some of you have been patiently waiting for a picture of the exclusive Lizzie*Kate design I received at camp in October. The picture is rotten, but you get the idea.

It came with sparkle fabric (not my thing) and the floss/button. I think the design is really cute, but the fabric will almost certainly get mailed to Joy.

Sue asked where the Lebanon show was located. Sorry to be so mysterious! Lebanon is in southern Illinois, about 25 miles east of St. Louis, MO. Mom & Me (LNS in Lebanon) has hosted the show for several years.

So that's the state of things. I'm off to declutter my office. Maybe it will help declutter my mind as well!

Lebanon Show 2006

2007-01-02T15:32:00.000-06:00

It has now been 2 full months (and then some) since the show, and still I haven't posted pictures or shared at all. Time to fix that!

As usual, it was a fantastic weekend. Mark spoiled me rotten with a hotel room near the show so I wouldn't have an hour drive (each direction!) every day. It was nice to be able to stay out late without worrying about a long drive home, not to mention that extra hour of sleep in the morning. Thanks, honey!

I decided not to go to the Friday evening Meet and Greet this year. I ended up with family obligations that evening anyway, so it was for the best. Saturday started with meeting Pam (of the imaginary blog) and Leslie for breakfast. You two are 1) the best and 2) a hoot! From there we headed to the show. I entered 11 pieces this year, thanks entirely to the fact that Jeanne framed stacks and stacks of finishes for me. God bless Jeanne! This year the show committee had a "no pictures" rule, so I can't share like I did last year. I'm still bummed about that, but...whatever. Not much I could do about it then or now.

I spent all of Saturday morning at the show. I tried to see all of the entries and make notes but there were so many stitchers there and I *needed* to talk to most of them. I had a fantastic time chatting with the friends I don't get to see on a regular basis. It was great! Lunch was a quick run to McDonald's with Linda P. and Linda B. We stopped at Mom & Me after lunch but it was a mob scene so we headed to class.

Saturday afternoon was the long awaited La-D-Da class. *insert a big sigh of contentment here* I am a huge La-D-Da fan, so a class with Lori is an EVENT. Lori designed a great project for the class. Here are a few pictures from the class. Apparently it was the day to wear white, but Pam and the Lindas didn't share that with the rest of us. *wink*wink*

Here are Harriet and Carol, studiously NOT looking at the camera!

Lori sat down to chat with us after class.

This is the class project, a neat box with a beautiful rose design for the lid. Ooh la La-D-Da! Please pardon the stray bit of fluff above the middle rose. It looks like a line from an ink pen but it was just something on my camera lens. Ack!

Here is the inside of the box. During class we glued the velvet lining into the box and attached the pretty antique lace trim with brass brads. The class kit included the needlebook and a beaded scissor fob.

Lori also shared her latest designs with us.

Do I look happy, or what? As you can see, Miss Mary Mack spent the day with us.

Obviously it was a neat afternoon. One of the highlights was meeting Carol. Carol emailed me after reading about last years show and decided to attend this year. She has been working on a Brightneedle project called "Lo, How a Rose" and I got to see it in person.

Isn't it gorgeous? Carol changed quite a few colors and had a 3x5 card for me with the symbols and colors she used. Talk about organized! Carol I'm so glad you were able to attend the show and class. It was great to meet you in person, I just regret that we didn't have more time to chat. I owe you an email!

After class I went to dinner with Pam and Leslie, then we had a fun evening of stitching and chatting. When I got back to my hotel room I called Mark and he asked if I won any ribbons at the show. I started to laugh, because I remembered seeing ribbons next to a few of my entries, but for the life of me I could not remember which entries or how they placed! How goofy is that? Actually it is proof of two things - first, I really did spend most of the morning chatting with friends, and second, ribbons are fun but not why I stitch. Otherwise I'm sure I would have paid more attention! I spent Sunday afternoon at the show and took LOTS of notes.

Here is a list of what I entered and the ribbon results (only because someone is sure to ask!):

Miniatures - Little House Needleworks "Early America" - Honorable Mention
Samplers - Annick Abrial "Terre de France" - no ribbon
Other Holidays - Abbey Lane Designs "Be Ever Thankful" - no ribbon
Verses & Sayings - Bent Creek "Snapperville" - no ribbon
Home & Fashion Accessories - Periwinkle Promises "Antique Sampler Accent" - Second Place
Pets & Wildlife - Homespun Elegance "Sheep Button Sampler" - no ribbon
Buildings & Scenery - La-D-Da "Hog Wild Windmill" - no ribbon
Whimsical/Humorous - La-D-Da "Swing Bunny" - Second Place
Florals - Cross Eyed Cricket "Garden Initials" - no ribbon
Still Life and Portraits - La-D-Da "Marion the Librarian" - Second Place
One-Over-One - Brightneedle "Key West Sampler" - Third Place

After the show a large group of us went to dinner, then I went to see Pam for another evening of stitching and chatting. It was a very, very full weekend! I tried to enjoy every single moment, as this will be the last show. Mom & Me is for sale and from what I understand will be closing in 2007. I certainly will miss this show! Hopefully the shop will find a new owner and maybe just maybe there will be a show again. The only real bright spot (as far as shows go) is that Rockome is BACK and will host a show in June. Let's all say WAHOO!

That concludes my show report. Thanks to everyone for your comments and emails. I always love to hear from you! My blogging goal for 2007 is to be more consistent and not disappear for months on end. I'm sure I won't publish something every single day, but several times per week would be nice. Don't you think?

RAK'd !

2006-12-30T14:46:00.000-06:00

I have a Random Act of Kindness to report, and it is a whopper! Sharon contacted me recently and said she put something in the mail for me. I couldn't imagine what she might be sending. On Thursday I received a large envelope, and the contents completely blew me away.

Much to my astonishment, Sharon sent "Pear" (!) and "Acorns" (!!) from the Fruit of the Month Collection/collaboration between Little House Needleworks and Crescent Colours. Yummy fibers and of course the designs are so sweet! As if that wasn't already over the top, she also included the Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers "Garden of Life" chart with the fabric AND the fibers! If you happened to hear a loud THUD on Thursday, that was me hitting the floor! I made so much noise laughing and crying and generally squawking that Mark came running to see what in the world was going on. Sharon I can't thank you enough for such a delish bag of goodness! It was so sweet of you to think of me! All three projects are on my 2007 "to do" list. Thanks a bunch!

What's In The Bag?

2006-12-23T22:09:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I was Christmas shopping, trying to find salt cellars for a friend who collects them. While poking through one of the local antique malls I came across a booth with several zip-close bags of sewing and crafting items. Some of the bags had vintage items in them. I could have brought them all home, but I restrained myself and only bought two.

Here are the contents of the first bag, a must-have due to the old bone rings.

Won't these rings be fantastic for floss holders in a needlebook or something similar? I also love the ladies on the Luckyday card of buttons. The spangles aren't my thing, but the packaging is fun. This bag was $2. Wahoo, what a deal. Here is a close-up of the Luckyday ladies.

The condition of the card is a little sad...but considering what I paid I certainly won't quibble.

The second bag was larger, and a whopping $5. Here's what was in it:

This turned out to be an interesting mix of goodies. Most of the thread spools are made of wood. The scissors wouldn't cut warm butter but I think they have a cute shape. The two little boxes on the right side are full of lead for a mechanical pencil. Mark will be happy to have it. The green plastic square on the right is a little plastic pouch or envelope, an advertising item from Needles Moving and Storage. I've been wanting to learn to tat, so now I have a shuttle. I would have paid a few bucks for a new tatting shuttle, so I think the bag was a bargain.

Sometime after Christmas when I have a spare minute I think I'll run back up to the antique mall and see what else this vendor has...

The green and white fabric in the above pictures is the back door curtain my Mom made for the previous house we lived in. I found it while rummaging in the top of the closet today. It made the perfect backdrop for photographing the items, plus I made a discovery. I used our bed as a "table" to set up the pictures and lo and behold the curtain fabric is nearly the same green as one of the colors in our quilt.

I see this curtain morphing into a throw pillow sometime soon. Or whenever I get the craft table cleared and sewing machine set up. Yeah, that might not be soon. Whatever. I'm still excited! And because someone is sure to ask...the quilt is courtesy of JCPenney. I love it, but I didn't make it.

I've been reading blogs today and it sounds like everyone is taking a much deserved break for the holidays. Our plans are low-key and local, so I might find the time to blog again. Heaven know I have plenty of things to write about, starting with the Lebanon show and the La-D-Da class. Just in case I don't make it back here before Tuesday, Merry Christmas everyone!

Treasures From Friends

2006-12-21T19:53:00.000-06:00

After "taking back" my ugly comments about Blogger and walking away for a 2 hour cooling off period (aka going out to dinner), I see that the picture feature is working again. Hurrah! Lelia, thanks for your tip about the "Terms and Conditions" checkbox. I hit that little snag when I was trying to upload the the TdF pictures the other night. For those who may not have heard, another thing to check after migrating to the new no-longer-beta Blogger is your email address. If you want it to be public, then go check the box again in your profile. Otherwise you're good to go. Apparently the migration sets all profiles to not show email addresses. Probably a wise move on Blogger's part!

Enough about my Blogger woes, it's time to talk about kewl friends and incredible stitching. Recently I've been finding treasures in my mailbox. My friend Pam sent pillowcases that were stitched by her Mom. They are absolutely fantastic! The first pair have this pretty design:

Here is a close-up of the center.

The edge looks tatted. Gorgeous!

The second pair is even more incredible:

A close-up of one of the bees:

Plenty of French knots!

Thanks Pam! I love them and will take good care of them. You rock! By the way, it's time to turn that imaginary blog into something with a real name and URL. (Ducking!)

I participated in the St. Louis Stitchers ornament exchange this year. I was thrilled when I received this fantastic Homespun Elegance ornament in the mail from Monique!

Isn't it sweet? I love the wool felt finish! On the back Monique used a sparkle paper to personalize it. How clever is that?

Thanks, Monique! I absolutely love it!

Last but most certainly not least, I received this incredible ornament from Lelia.

The picture doesn't do it justice at all. The sheep is a zillion little French knots, all in careful (perfect) rows, and the cording is braided. There is a reason why Lelia wins ribbons for her stitching, let me tell you! Thank you so much for this unexpected surprise! You are too kind!

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Several of you mentioned Terre de France; thanks for your kind words!

Maddie Can Fly asked about what size fabric to use for the new free design. Do you mean Annick's new design or the Quaker à 6 Mains? If you'd like to email me about it, I'll be happy to help. The address is in my profile. Thanks for visiting my blog!

That's it for now. I have presents to wrap.

Let's All Thank Blogger

2006-12-21T15:50:00.000-06:00

Blogger won't post my pictures, what a bummer! I'm holding out for a photo-filled post. Fa-la-la-la-la...

*Edited to remove my snarky thoughts re: Blogger!

Comments on Comments

2006-12-20T09:32:00.000-06:00

I've been going through my email, and that includes comments from my blog. I was able to reply to some of you directly by hitting the "reply" button. Here are the rest:

In response to my October 7th Stitch a Little, Rip a Little entry, someone with the initials GB left an anonymous comment. If this is you, please email me! I'd love to meet you at Shamrock the next time you are in town. My email address is in my profile. Kewl?

Michelle was just one of several folks wanting to see a picture of the framed Terre de France. Would you believe that until just a few minutes ago it was still wrapped up from the show in October? All of my newly framed pieces are wrapped up and piled on the floor in the guest room. Thanks for the nudge! It is raining here today, so the pictures are not good. I finally focused on just the frame. It is really difficult to photograph a black frame on a rainy day!

Jeanne did a FANTASTIC job framing all of my treasures and TdF is a fine example. Thanks again, Jeanne!

Katrina was one of many requesting pictures of the exclusive Lizzie Kate design I received at camp in October. Unfortunately this remains a wish I can not fill. The design is not filed with my other charts, so the only place it could be hiding is on my sewing table. When last we spoke, my sewing table needed clearing off. It is currently about 1 foot deep from corner to corner, edge to edge. This is rather discouraging, because on several occasions over the last few months I've actually been able to catch glimpses of the table top. Certainly not the whole top at once. That is just crazy talk! It does persist in piling up. I'm sure the table is to blame, not moi! When I locate the chart I'll be sure to post a picture. Promise!

Speaking of camp, CJ asked about the host. Camp Gotta Stitch is an annual event put on by Stitcher's Express in Mattoon, IL. I highly recommend it! Bobby and Ramona spoiled us to death and it was a very friendly bunch of stitchers.

Fafa asked it I will be stitching Annick Abrial's new free design. The answer is YES but I won't get started on it any time soon. Right now I'm working on the Quaker à 6 Mains design, a free chart from Gigi, Carinne and Jackye. I'm stitching it over one with a color scheme that is way out of my comfort zone. I'll have pictures and more info about this in a future blog entry. Anyway, thanks for asking Fafa! I enjoyed visiting your blog. You are making good progress with Annick's new free chart! The colors are so pretty.

Thanks to everyone for welcoming me back to Toadlilyville and for the anniversary wishes! I'll leave you with a picture of my latest treasure, a gift from Kristin and Joy. I'm not normally a fan of TY or anything beanie, but this little guy is the CUTEST. He's completely stolen my heart!

Doesn't he look comfy in my child-sized rocker? I love him to pieces! Thanks again, Kristin and Joy! You two are the best!

Guess Who Isn't Dead After All

2006-12-17T22:45:00.000-06:00

I took a blog hiatus. Obviously. After my back-to-back-to-back stitching adventures in October and November, I was on overload and checked out. Not just from blogging, but from email as well. My email inbox is full of folders with unread mail. If you've emailed me in the past few months and haven't heard back, your message is probably in there somewhere. (Sorry!) I do intend to sort through it all, so don't give up hope. Recently I started reading blogs again, occasionally commenting. Finally tonight I felt the urge to publish something new, so here I am.

Today I caved and migrated to beta Blogger. So far so good. I'm rather clueless regarding how all of the behind the scenes blog stuff works, so I didn't have anything complicated in my old blog. Time will tell. I'd like to develop my sidebar(s) sometime in the future and perhaps change to a different template. I hope they made it easier for Dummies like me.

There is a great deal of stitching news to catch up on. My fall stitching adventures included the Lebanon show and a class with Lori Markovic, as well as the St. Louis Stitchers (SLS) stitch-in. Since then I've participated in the SLS ornament exchange and stitched scissor fobs for a few local friends. My needle has been busy and my stash pile has grown.

That's about it for tonight. Tomorrow is our 15th wedding anniversary, then before we know it Christmas will be here. My goal is to catch up on my email and get back to blogging on a regular basis before the new year. I'd like to start things fresh in 2007!

Camp Gotta Stitch Projects

2006-10-20T08:09:00.000-05:00

Camp Gotta Stitch was absolutely delightful! Here are the projects from the retreat:

On Friday evening we had a Meet & Greet. We made a really cute name tag. Technically, I made two of them. I pretty much destroyed the first one by absent-mindedly unraveling too many threads around the edges. DOH!

This was rather embarrassing because I know better! A running stitch is not going to keep a piece from unraveling. Ack! I wore the ugly gnarled one all weekend (no time to fix it) and stitched a new top for it when I got home. I got all fancy with the first one and used eyelet stitches but kept it simple for the second one. Just to be clear, the first piece (at the bottom of the picture) was originally on the wool (and attached with the buttons) you see in the piece at the top of the picture. I have no idea why I am saving the ratted up, unraveling original. I keep thinking it must be good for something, but for the life of me I can't imagine what that something might be.

Our project on Saturday was a CUTE wool purse with acorns. Did I mention acorns? Hmmph, I thought I did. I'll shut up and get on with the picture.

Isn't it sweet? Our kit included the lined wool piece, we just blanket stitched it together. I'm happy with my blanket stitching. If I have ever blanket stitched before, it was sometime before my age reached double digits. (Translation = that was a long time ago.) I was worried that I couldn't keep the stitches even, but I think it turned out pretty well. I did have more than a few oopsie-frogging moments while stitching the cross stitch and specialty stitch piece for the front, but in the end it all came together.

During the afternoon we received our surprise companion piece...a sweet little cell phone holder! When Bobby held up the sample, everyone in the room said "Awwwwwww!" It is just so cute.

Don't you just love that little cell phone charm? And how ironic that I'm in the market for a new cell phone. I'll be buying one that fits my cute new holder. Wouldn't you?

Here is a picture of everything, including the acorn carry-out container.

Actually that wasn't quite everything. On Sunday we received an exclusive Lizzie Kate design. It is a cute little ornament, all kitted up with opalescent fabric. I haven't started stitching it yet, maybe sometime later this fall. How kewl to get an exclusive Lizzie Kate! I'm sure she'll release the design to the public someday, but for now it is just for us.

That's it for the retreat. I finished 3 of the 4 projects and stitched one of them twice. Not bad for a weekend, huh? Speaking of weekends, I'm heading to the show in just a few hours. I can't wait!

Picture Day!

2006-10-19T15:57:00.000-05:00

The following is an edited/revamped version of the entry I wrote on the 11th and never published due to lack of pictures. The sun never did come out today (or yesterday or the day before that) but I did my best. The pics aren't too awful. The text in italics is for clarity, as it is no longer the 11th.

"On Monday (that would be October 9th) I started the Homespun Elegance August Blanket for Move It Out Monday. In the wee hours this morning (that would be October 11th) I finished it. I'm amazed at how quickly these little blankets stitch up! (While snapping the following photo I discovered that I didn't give the bird an eye. Clearly an error. And I didn't sew on the charm. So technically this isn't finished. Ack!)

I still need to do the finishing. Actually I still need to do the finishing for the July blanket, too. Would you believe I'm still trying to find the top of the table in my office so I can set up the sewing machine? That's the story I'm going to stick to. (I still haven't seen the top of the table...)

I finished Meri's Queen Bee design on Sunday. (That would be October 8th.) I love the way it turned out! (Good grief, that yellow blotch behind the fabric is a post-it note. Oops!)

I started a little gift for a friend but I don't think I'll post too much about it. I don't know if she reads my blog. No sense taking any chances and ruining a surprise! (After starting said little gift I've changed my mind and decided to go with something else. Not sure yet what I'll do with this project.)

It looks like I will be picking up Terre de France tomorrow. Jeanne is finishing up the framing. I can't wait to see what it looks like! (I did get TdF from Jeanne and it looks great! I had it less than 24 hours, dropping it off at Mom & Me last Friday. I'll get to see it again on Saturday, hanging in the show.)"

That catches things up to this past weekend when I attended the retreat in Mattoon. Ah yes, the retreat! I'll post my project pictures tomorrow before I leave for the show. Promise!

MIA With Miss Mary Mack

2006-10-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

I know, I've been MIA. On the 11th I wrote a quick post about a few finishes but didn't publish it because I didn't have pictures ready to upload. That draft is still waiting for pictures.

Then I went to Stitcher's Express in Mattoon for their weekend retreat, Camp Gotta Stitch. The retreat was fantastic! The projects were great and the food was wonderful. I met a bunch of very friendly stitchers, particularly Gail, Debbie and Pat. We were all at the same table during class time and had fun talking (and sometimes complaining about frogging!) while we worked on our projects. I came home with four projects. Three of them are finished! Guess what...they all need to have their picture taken. Ack!

While I was in Mattoon I lost Miss Mary Mack. I wanted to wear her on Saturday but I couldn't find her anywhere. I was really sad and pretty freaked out. I'm happy to report that I found her while repacking my bags Sunday morning. I'm going to have to do a better job of keeping track of the little Miss. I can't live through that again!

It is a gray, rainy day today. Not much good for taking pictures. It sounds like it might clear up tomorrow afternoon, so maybe I can get everything photographed. I sure hope so, I feel so far behind. Speaking of being behind, I'm really afraid that it will get worse before it gets better. Tonight is Rainbow (one of the local stitching groups) and this coming weekend is the show. And today is Move It Out Monday. I haven't picked a project from the list yet. Yikes. Time to get off the computer and accomplish something!

Stitch A Little, Rip A Little

2006-10-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

I made good progress on Meri's Queen Bee Friday night. I put a few more stitches in this morning. Then I got a good look at the blades of the first scissor I stitched and the stitches looked hideous. It looked like a really bad ear of corn. Not sure what happened there, but the stitches HAD to come out. So after lots of snipping....this is my progress.

It sure did seem strange to be snipping a pair of scissor with a pair of scissors. Ah well, stitching can be a strange business sometimes. Not much left to stitch on this project. Sure would help if I could make things look pretty the first time!

If I get off this computer, I might just finish this project tonight.

Queen Bee Progress

2006-10-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much time to stitch over the last few days. Last night I worked on Meri's Queen Bee for a little while.

I love the DMC 729 on this! I contemplated changing the color of the words but decided it is nice and simple with just 2 colors and that's the way I want it. I'm planning to finish this as a small so I'll be adding fabric. That will add some color. Oh dear, what if I don't have any appropriate fabric? Like that could happen...

Interesting development! I just received an email from Adana on the Rockome Yahoo group and it sounds like there will be a show in Rockome next June. I'm afraid to get my hopes up - it sounds too good to be true. I'll be in Mattoon next weekend for the Stitcher's Express Camp Gotta Stitch, so perhaps I can get the latest news from those who live nearby. I will cry tears of joy if the Rockome show returns!

Exchange Idea

2006-10-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

I've signed up for a neat ornament exchange with one of my local stitching groups. The idea isn't new, but this is my first time to participate so I thought I would share.

In this exchange you swap kitted up ornaments instead of stitched ornaments. Here is how it works:

Form a group of 6 stitchers or less. Any more than 6 and it can become a really expensive exchange! It works best with a local group, but could be done long distance if everyone is willing to pay the postage.
Everyone in the group purchases the latest issue of the JCS Ornament Magazine (or any issue, as long as everyone has the same one) and then chooses an ornament. Everyone should choose a different ornament.
Everyone buys the supplies for stitching (and finishing) their chosen ornament 6 times (Or for however many members there are in the group.)
Stitch and finish your chosen ornament.
Put together a kit for each member of your group using the extra supplies you purchased. The great thing about this is you rarely need full skeins of floss for an ornament. When you stitch your ornament, keep an eye on how much floss you use, then put that amount plus some extra in each kit. No need to send full skeins of floss! The same goes for beads. Just be sure to label everything in your kits!
If you make changes to your ornament or have tips to share regarding the finishing process, you can include that information in the kit.
Get together with your group to exchange kits and admire your finished ornaments. If there are 6 in your group, you will come home with 5 ornament kits and your own finished ornament. Make sense?

The St. Louis Stitchers have had several groups participate in this sort of exchange and it always looks like so much fun. The group I am in will not exchange until March, so there is plenty of time for everyone to choose a project, get it stitched and make kits. March will be a great time to get started on ornaments for Christmas 2007, and I'll have a stack of kits to choose from. Kewl idea!

I worked on Meri's Queen Bee Scissors design last night.

I didn't get started stitching until late, so there isn't as much progress as I would like. Perhaps tonight I can get more done. I'm eager to fill in the gold stitches!

I'm also itching for another start. I need to stitch a little gift for a local friend so I have a great excuse. If I can get the fabric and floss together today, I might just start it tonight! Hmmmm...

It Must Be Fall

2006-10-04T20:11:00.000-05:00

It must be fall, because time is zipping by. The closer it gets to Christmas the faster time seems to speed past. Or maybe it is just me.

I was talking to Joy today and realized I never did post a picture of my Move It Out Monday start from last week. Yikes! I started Welcomes 'A Plenty VI Birds & Berries by Homespun Elegance. I'm working on the letters for "Welcome" and will go back and fill in the birds and berries later.

I'm sure the other design in the leaflet will get stitched eventually, it has acorns instead of strawberries.

This week for MIOM I started Meri's Queen Bee scissor design.

I'm changing the yellow from DMC 743 to DMC 729, just because I prefer something more gold and less yellow. I'm stitching over 2 on 32 ct Country French linen. I think this is going to stitch up very quickly.

I mentioned that I've been working quite a bit on the Bent Creek Spring Soapbox. Here is a progress picture.

It is really coming along! I'm still not in love with this banding. It is difficult to stitch on. I do love the colors and the whimsey of the design, so I'm sticking with it.

On Monday I went to Mom & Me and finally picked up my JCS Ornament magazine.

Yippie skippie! I've thumbed through and looked at the pictures about 20 times and looked up a few specific ornaments to see what fabric or floss was used. I haven't really read any of the recipes or notes from the designers. I'm pacing myself. Joy and I spent 2.5 hours on the phone this afternoon, and most of that time was spent discussing each and every ornament at length. Sheesh, you would think I'd be sick of looking at this magazine by now, but I've only scratched the surface!

While I was at Mom & Me I got to peek at the La-D-Da class project for the show. It is absolutely fantastic! I was excited before, but now I'm off scale. WOW!

Yesterday Ginger had an unexpected day off of work so I went to her house and we made tracks to Shamrock. I found way too many Homespun Elegance designs that begged to come home, but I limited myself to one, Blooming Summer Bellpull. There was a large basket of charts on clearance for $1 each and I found a stack that came home with me, including five Blackbird Designs charts. Can you say "mother lode?" I thought you could.

Ginger surprised me yesterday with a gift. I mentioned that I was looking for the Lizzie Kate Acorn Scissor Case. She found it in her stash and gave it to me!

Thanks a million, Ginger! You know I love it! Ginger has the Strawberry Scissor Case all stitched and it is so cute. Wouldn't you know, I managed to get a flash glare right over the acorn scissor fob. Ack!

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments about my projects! KarenV and Lelia are joining me for their own versions of MIOM. Very kewl! Anyone else? I think I'm forgetting someone and I hate when that happens. Terri asked how many designs I've started with MIOM. I had to consult my spreadsheet (eek!) to be accurate, but I believe I've had 22 starts. Anna asked if my finishes are keeping up with my starts, and I think the answer is "mostly yes." I've finished 17 of the 22 MIOM projects I started. Not too shabby! Overall I think I am on track to have my usual number of finishes this year, about 40. (Give or take a few.)

Time to stitch!

Mark All Read

2006-10-01T22:26:00.000-05:00

I devoted the afternoon and some of the evening to catching up on blogs. I neglected my blog reading while I was visiting my Mom and I never caught up. I'm thrilled to say I just logged out of Bloglines, having clicked on the "Mark All Read" button...completely unnecessary, as they were in fact all read. But I clicked it anyway, just because.

On Friday I went to a few fabric stores in MO and came home with treasures. I bought an Olfa cutting set with 2 rotary cutters and a mat, 2 bottles of craft paint, a stack of fabric in various colors and pins for pinkeeps. I didn't spend much money, thanks to coupons and clearance prices. Today I laundered, trimmed and ironed the fabric, inbetween blogs. Who could ask for more fun than that?

I haven't stitched much this weekend. I've been working on the Spring Soapbox and for some reason it is slow going. The fabric is very difficult to stitch on and I am taking my time. Somehow I got started railroading my stitches on this project too (something I'm too lazy to do all the time) and that is making things go a bit slower. I'm within a row or two of being half done with this project.

I was supposed to go to Mom & Me today but alas my stitching buddy Ginger was unable to go as we had planned. I am going to go alone tomorrow, simply because I can not wait until next weekend to get my greedy hands on the JCS Ornament magazine! Ginger offered to let me look at her copy last night, but I just couldn't do it. I need my own copy, a tall cup of joe and plenty of quiet time in order to really enjoy it.

Tomorrow is Move It Out Monday and I have a stack of projects ready to go. I'll either start several tomorrow or spread it out over several days. I'm ready for a few new starts!

I've seriously neglected Mark today and completely missed football. If I hurry I can catch the highlights on the late local news.

Another Acorn Alert!

2006-09-27T20:27:00.000-05:00

Attention all acorn lovers, I have another winner for you. Meri is still offering complimentary scissor charts on her blog. On Monday she posted a fantastic set of acorn scissors. I'm drooling! If you haven't been to her blog regularly then you need to check out the charts you've missed. Her 12 Days of Christmas series is amazing. Thanks Meri! You are so talented.

Thanks for all the nice comments about my finishes! My WIP basket is certainly feeling lighter, but the Move It Out Monday bag is still bursting at the seams. (Myrna, MIOM is Move It Out Monday. You can read about it here if you like.) Thank goodness I have permission from Annemiek to start at least two projects on Monday! (wink, wink!) By the way, congrats Annemiek regarding a new home for your shop. That is so exciting! I'm thrilled for you!

Hey Michelle, very smart to email Homespun Elegance about where the star charm is supposed to go. Thanks for confirming placement for me. I still need to put backing fabric on the July blanket. I've been diligently working on clearing off my sewing table so I can set my sewing machine back up. I'm going to try cotton fabric on the blanket instead of wool or felt. Wish me luck, it will probably be a disaster! I'm anxious to start the August blanket, too. Maybe on Monday. Along with several other projects.

One more thing, here is the latest WIP picture of Lady Violet. Sorry about the big ugly flash.

The stitching looks black in the photo, but it is really a very pretty purple. Let's not call it Mulberry, I might get confused.

Today my twin brothers are having a birthday. I was almost 14 months old when they were born so they've always been a part of my memory. Happy birthday you two! Are we getting old, or what?

A Finish Four Times

2006-09-26T09:45:00.000-05:00

I have four finishes to report!

The first is a surprise project. I don't think I've mentioned it at all. It has been my car project for almost a month, but lately I've spent most of my car time in the driver's seat. I had the chance to work on it last Wednesday and finished it! The design is called We Gather Together by Cedar Hill Designs.

I decided to make it BIG, and stitched it over two on 18 count fabric. You don't really get the proper perspective from the picture. The design called for 3 colors. I changed the colors to overdyeds, using Copper and Sable Watercolours and Onyx perle Weeks. I was afraid the acorns would look funny, but I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. Eventually this will be framed and hang in the dining area of my kitchen.

My next finish is the SusieQ Designs Alphabet Sampler. All I had left was the over one alphabet. I was afraid I wouldn't get it centered correctly, so check out what I did -

I made both lines of the alphabet off-center. How's that for mud in the eye? They are balanced in an off kilter sort of way. Works for me! I really enjoyed this project. I have another SusieQ Design, it is a ruler case. You will see it eventually because it is in the Move It Out Monday bag.

I didn't have much left to finish on the Birds of a Feather Notebook Sampler so I finished it as well. In the end I stuck to just two colors, Crimson and Buttermilk. I love the way it turned out!

I discovered a small butterfly on the chart that is meant for the back of the notebook. How cute is that? The notebook cover is so well made, I am going to share several pictures of it so you can see how it is constructed.

It even came with the little memo sized notebook.

This is without the notebook. You can see how nicely it is lined. Let me tell you, it was a real challenge to stitch with that lining in the way!

Just when you thought everything I stitch is on boring basic brown linen, here is my last finish - a cute design from Needle Nutz. The fabric is a pretty pink and the colors are vibrant and fun.

The kit for this design by Meg Seddon was a gift from the shop to a group of stitcher from the Cross Stitch Corner BB. We gathered in Denver in October of 2000, with a side trip to Colorado Springs to visit the shop. The kits were very nicely done, with silk floss and quality fabric. I started this in August of 2005 as part of the original MIOM and finished it that December. Unfortunately I wasn't crazy about the verse on the original design so I ripped it out and then the project sat in the MIOM bag until Sunday. I needed to fill in the empty bands, so I decided to use the colors from the band of mini skeins and just reverse the order of the specialty stitch bands. It worked like a charm and I think it looks great. I'm not sure if I want to frame it, make it into a pillow or perhaps a needleroll.

That concludes my finishes report. With four finishes in less than a week, I'm not sure that starting a new project every Monday is enough! Maybe I should start several....NAH!

Thank You Becky!

2006-09-25T23:17:00.000-05:00

I arrived home from visiting family to find a package from Becky waiting for me. Earlier this month Becky finished a Cross Eyed Cricket acorn design as a scissor pocket. Can you believe she sent it to me? I am so blown away! The stitching and finishing are fantastic. She also included a beautiful Sweetheart Tree leaflet. Thank you so much, Becky! I am thrilled! Here is a picture.

Sometimes I am the worst photographer ever. Sorry about the big flash! I hope nobody goes blind due to my bad photography. Becky has a great picture of the scissor pocket on her blog. Go to the link above and scroll about half way down the page to her entry on September 6.

Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes last week. I had a great time visiting with my Mom. We even did a little shopping. I got a lot of stitching time in. As I mentioned last week, I started Lady Violet by Lilybet Designs. Leslie left a comment about Lady Violent - and made me look! I had to check and make sure I really didn't misspell it. Thanks for a great laugh, Leslie! Your comment should have come with a spew warning. Tina asked about the fabric I'm using for Lady Violet. I double checked, and it is the 30 ct. Natural Northern Cross linen called for on the chart. I love it, but I like my linen on the scratchy side. So far the color is just right. Speaking of colors, remember how I whined about Weeks and Gentle Arts both having a Blue Spruce? Well it seems they both also have a Mulberry and both colors are used in Lady Violet. Could be confusing! Red Alert!

I'd also like to thank everyone for your nice comments about my framing. It feels great to have so many projects ready to go on these bare walls. First they will go to the show, then I start putting nails in the walls. Yikes! Speaking of the show, I'm afraid I have a bit of sad news. The show committee has decided not to allow cameras in the show. I do not know what the reasoning is behind this decision. I am disappointed that I won't be able to share the show this year. So sad!

I hate to end this post with a downer paragraph, so how about a teaser for tomorrow? I have a load of finishes to show off! Four finishes in less than a week. My needle has officially melted down.

Holiday!

2006-09-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a holiday this week, visiting with my Mom while Dad is away. The weather is fantastic with a nip of fall in the air. Fun times!

I snapped a few pictures this afternoon. I made progress with the SusieQ alphabet sampler.

I decided to just put our first name initials and the year we were married. It is finished except for an over one alphabet near the bottom. I'll be stitching it just as soon as I'm confident of where to start so it is centered. I sure do seem to be having issues with centering things lately...

I also photographed the BOAF Notebook Sampler.

I've made some progress with the white and I love the way it looks. I'm still leaning toward just red and white, no blue.

Yesterday was Move It Out Monday, so I started Lady Violet by Lilybet Designs.

I love the design elements, the colors, and the specialty stitches. It calls for three different stitches to achieve the 3-D look of the tree. Pretty kewl!

Mom and I will be away for the next day or two. I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to blog again before I head home on Friday. If not, I'm sure I'll update things this weekend.

Lazy Saturday

2006-09-16T16:43:00.000-05:00

I'm having a lazy Saturday. I should be cutting the grass, but instead I'm soaking some of the vintage embroidered linens I bought this week and goofing around with Blogger. I've had a "for my eyes only" blog for a while, and today I decided to refurbish it as a home for vintage linens, sewing projects and perhaps crazy quilting. I'll let you know if (or when!) the new blog goes public.

While I was making changes I also swapped the froggie GIF in my profile for a little sketch a friend made of me several years ago. So if you see that little face popping into your comments section, it is me!

I made some progress on the SusieQ alphabet project last night. I've decided to turn it into an anniversary sampler. Mark and I will celebrate our 15th anniversary in December. It won't be any trouble to add Mark's initials and squeeze in both years. I think I'm going to finish it as a toss pillow, as we need a few more on the bed and this piece is just the right shape and size.

No pictures today, I'm too lazy!

Framing Blowout

2006-09-15T16:19:00.000-05:00

I think I mentioned a while back that I was taking a pile of finishes to Jeanne for framing. I did, and she did, and WOW do they look great! I took a few frames with me but otherwise I chose ready-made frames that Jeanne had or molding for new frames. Here is a group photo:

These will all be show entries next month in Lebanon. None of them are particularly well stitched, so I'm not ribbon-wishing. That isn't false modesty talking, either. I stitch with a magnifier and I know there are plenty of flaws. I just love to see my work hanging with the good stuff!

Jeanne is working on the rest of the pile, including Terre de France. The show is weeks away, so there is plenty of time. I mailed the entry forms on Monday. I sent information and fees for eleven entries. I'm not sure they will accept all of them, as I've stretched the definition of some of the categories just a bit. Time will tell! It is all about raising money for a local hospice, so I hope it works out.

Thanks for your comments about my Notebook Sample project! Anna asked about my initials. I don't like to "sign" my stitching. Sometimes I'll use two initials if the design calls for it, but in this case all three initials felt like a bit much. I decided to just stitch the M for Michelle and leave it at that. Really no big deal, but after the whole rip-or-don't-rip quandary I was not in the mood for one more decision!

Karen asked about MIOM. I am starting a new project every Monday, but whether or not I continue to stitch on that project during the week depends on whether or not the project is "speaking" to me. I have a screaming rotation - whichever project screams the loudest, that's the one I work on. I started the July sheep blanket on Monday the 4th, and continued to work on it because it was fun and stitching up quickly. This Monday the 11th I started the BOAF Notebook Sampler but last night I was sick of looking at it so I dug through my stitching basket in search of the chicken, aka Spring Soapbox. While searching I stumbled across a SusieQ Design from a class I took at Stitcher's Express in June of 2005. It screamed to be stitched, so I pulled it out. When it came out of the basket it only had the letters X and Y. Now look at it!

The design has several more alphabets, one of which is over one. The floss looks black in the picture but it is a very dark navy. I had a blast stitching this last night! I'm heading to Stitcher's Express next month for Camp Gotta Stitch. Wouldn't it be nice to finish this class project first? Anyway, I hope this rather lengthy explanation answers your question, Karen!

Wherefore Art Thou?

2006-09-14T17:20:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else anxiously awaiting the annual Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue? I love the ornament issue!

A few weeks ago I was at Barnes & Noble and thumbed through the October issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. It is the issue with the "ornament issue preview." I did not look at it very closely, thinking they were showing the ornaments as a teaser. I happened to pick up Jeanne's magazine the week of Sue's funeral and looked at it more closely. The preview shows photos of ornaments from six designers, with charts for a "companion" ornament by each of those six designers. Bonanza, Batman! That's an extra 6 ornaments! Needless to say, I now own that issue of JCS.

I won't rehash how much I love the ornament issue. If you missed my post about it last year, you can check it out here.

Thanks to Anna, Tessa and Jenna for the input on my BOAF Notebook Sampler. Every time I looked at that silly single row of stitches, it looked off! It was just bugging me too much, so I ripped. Better now than when I have more hours invested, eh? Here is what I accomplished last night.

If the whole notebook looks a bit "off" in the picture, it is because it IS! It needs to be properly pressed. Of course, I couldn't be bothered to do that on Monday when I was in a red hot rush to start something for MIOM. It is rather silly, but I feel much better now that I've ripped and restitched. Unfortunately, as soon as I had the placement situation under control I was faced with the dreaded initials problem. I solved that by choosing just the "M" and centering it. I'll add some sort of blob or swirl on either side later on.

The closer I get to the top of the design the more concerned I am about floss choices. The design calls for three colors and I've only chosen two. I'm toying with the idea of using WDW Deep Sea for part of the flowers. The design calls for Cinnamon, Oatmeal and Maple Syrup. They call it the "Brown Version" but it sounds like breakfast to me. I'm using Cinnamon and Buttermilk, but I'm not in favor of adding brown to the red and white. I'm not sure I really want red, white and blue either. I might just stick with the two colors. So far they look pretty good.

That's my update for today. Has anyone seen the ornament issue yet?

Organizing MIOM

2006-09-13T11:46:00.000-05:00

I just restarted Move It Out Monday last week, and already I was inclined to abandon it this week. I spent some time over the weekend sorting through my current projects and reevaluating everything that was already kitted up for MIOM. The ready-to-start MIOM projects fill a very large bag. No really, it is a very large bag. In the end I discovered that I've lost that lovin' feelin' for a few of them. I took out the following:

Prairie Schooler - Farmers Market
Sheepish Designs - Dutch Alphabet
M Designs - Letter A/B
Susan Greening Davis - Patchwork Purse

The Prairie Schooler project was kitted up with 25 ct Floba and honestly I don't think that fabric is right for the project. It just wasn't speaking to me any more. I still love the Sheepish Dutch Alphabet, but I never could settle on a floss color for it and I wasn't crazy about the fabric for it either, just a scrap of some odd thing from my stash that happened to be almost the right size. The M Designs letter was going to be a gift for a friend and I've since changed my mind. (About the gift, not the friend!) The SGD patchwork project is a class kit that I bought on a whim and while I'd like to stitch it someday, I don't think it will be anytime soon.

I also spent some time updating my project lists. I have everything listed in a Word document with a MIOM supplement on a spreadsheet. In theory it is very organized but it feels like a mess. (Someday I'm going to develop my very own stash organization software. It will do absolutely everything I could ever want or need. Keep your nose pressed to the glass, because that's the same day you'll see a pig fly past your window.)

So on Monday after spending a great deal of time sorting, organizing, taking notes and generally turning my living room and office into a war zone, I started the Notebook Sampler by Birds of a Feather.

I'm stitching on the 36 ct fabric notebook cover that came with the kit using WDW Crimson and GAST Buttermilk. Getting the design properly centered has been downright painful. I think I need to rip out what I have done and move it one stitch to the left. It is hard to tell, because with the little spiral notebook in there, the center "moves". I'm sure that makes no sense, but what my eye sees does not agree with my measuring tape. Don't you hate that?

It was a Monday, I started something, and now I can move on. I hope things go more smoothly next Monday!

Woolly Tyme Club July Blanket

2006-09-12T17:56:00.000-05:00

I finished the July blanket on Saturday! Well, technically the stitching is done but the finishing is NOT done. Here is a picture.

I tried to even up the fringe a little on the front and I think I made it worse. I was sort of winging it. I just need to do it right. The colonial knots were fun to do, although I did agonize a bit about placement. I think it turned out fine. I'm also not sure about the star charm. The instructions say to refer to the photo for charm placement, but the photo is so blurry there is no way to tell. I plopped it onto the blue field of the flag and I think it looks good there.

The instructions call for putting felt on the back, but I'm leaning toward using cotton fabric from my stash instead. I have a nice blue fabric with stars that would be great for backing this one, and I have no doubt that I can come up with appropriate fabric for the next 11. My cotton/quilting fabric stash is starting to rival my stitching fabric stash! I'm looking forward to the August blanket. It is really cute with a giant sunflower and a little blue bird.

Thanks to everyone who offered ideas about the vinyl weave. Gina asked if it is plastic aida and I think the answer is yes. It is plastic and it looks more like aida than what I would call plastic canvas. I'm still undecided about what to do with it, so perhaps putting it back on the shelf is the best plan of attack for the moment. Unless somebody out there wants it?

It was nice to hear from so many of you either teetering on the Quaker Garden cliff or already cannonballing over the edge. I'm trying to decide whether to stitch it over one or over two, then I'll buy fabric. I'm leaning toward over one. I won't buy fabric until my next trip to Mom & Me, so I have plenty of time to decide. Opinions anyone?

Three Quick Things

2006-09-07T17:31:00.000-05:00

I'm having a busy, busy day! First of all, what to do with vinyl weave? Any thoughts? Ideas? I found it in my stash and I'm not sure what to do with it. The good news is I paid almost nothing for it. Joy says I should burn it. Yikes! Guess she doesn't love vinyl weave.

Second thing, I think I'll be jumping off a cliff soon. Everywhere I go someone is either working on Quaker Garden or just finishing Quaker Garden or talking about Quaker Garden or...well, you get the idea. So I caved to peer pressure and bought it from Jacque. Thanks for a great deal and speedy shipping! So where's the cliff that everyone is jumping off of??

Here is a progress picture of the blanket. Pretty colors! The yellow is Whiskey, one of my favorites. For about 10 minutes this afternoon I had a panic attack and thought I stitched the leaves the wrong color. But no, they are ok after all. Whoosh!

One last thing (which I shouldn't mention, because this makes the 4th quick thing), did you know that GAST and WDW both have a color called Blue Spruce? Troublemakers!

SBQ, November Archives

2006-09-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

No new SBQ for today, but I have many old questions to catch up on so I'll post a few.

The November 16th "Stitching Blogger Question" was suggested by Kimberly and Lili, and is:

"How do you feel about staying totally true to a pattern? Do you feel that you have to rip out stitches to fix a mistake or do you feel it's acceptable to incorporate a mistake into the design?"

It depends on the mistake. If it really bothers me and I find my eye constantly going to the area with the mistake, I'll fix it. If it doesn't have a big impact on the design and doesn't look too out of place, I'll leave it alone. Terre de France had some of both.

The November 23rd "Stitching Blogger Question" was suggested by Kimberly and is:

"Do you always sign your projects? If not, why not? If so, do you use your first name, initials or what?"

As a rule, I do not sign my projects. I've been known to put my name on exchange pieces and round robins. If a design has a space for initials sometimes I'll stitch my initials there. Otherwise I don't waste my time. I stitch for my own enjoyment, not to pass something on to future generations. With so much attention now on archival quality this and acid-free that, I think plenty of stitching will survive in the future. I really don't care if my stitching survives or not. I don't have time for names or initials, I'm too busy starting my next project!

That's it for the SBQ this week.

I made a tiny bit of progress on the July blanket last night. I didn't start stitching until late, but some progress is better than no progress! I'm having fun with the variegation on this project. I'm mixing the way I stitch, Danish in some areas and English in others. I prefer the look of the Danish but sometimes when I'm stitching something like the flower stems in this piece, English is the only easy way to go.

Sylvie asked about the sheep. Isn't he cute? He is part of the package! Check out the write-up at The Silver Needle, here. (You'll need to scroll down a teensy bit.) They describe everything very well. It is really a fun project to stitch and the finishing should be super easy.

MIOM Again!

2006-09-05T14:21:00.000-05:00

Move It Out Monday has been officially re-instated. I must be completely 'round the bend to do this again!

Last night I started the July blanket for Homespun Elegance's Woolly Tyme Club. At first I was a bit puzzled because the instructions say to start stitching 3/4 inch from the bottom of the linen. After studying the photos and lots of measuring and even some math I figured out that the design is stitched more toward the bottom end of the blanket and the top part folds over the sheep's back. Doh! That finally gave me the confidence I needed to start stitching. I fudged a bit and started about an inch from the bottom. Here is a picture. There isn't much to see, but so far so good!

My sheep looks downright crazy in this picture, with 2 different color eyes and such. You might notice I have him stuffed but haven't sewn up the "surgical" site yet. Soon, very soon! I can't have him trailing stuffing all over the house...

I noticed that Michelle has her September blanket finished. Isn't it cute? I hope to catch up soon. Are we the only ones stitching this neat project? Maybe it is a Michelle thing.

I've been getting the nicest email lately. Do you remember the bee piece (with the messy back!) that I found at the thrift store? (See it here.) Sandra C. sent me a picture of her bee project stitched on 32 count evenweave. It is so pretty and very nicely framed!

Sandra C. says the design is by Patricia Andrle and is from a UK stitching magazine. Sandra also sent me a link to her stitching photo album. Oh my!! You can see it here. Her stitching is fantastic and her finishing is even better. Give yourself plenty of time to surf through it and drool. Thanks Sandra for letting me post your picture and the link to your albums. I appreciate it!

Thank you to everyone for the kind comments about my Terre de France finish! I still can't believe it is finished! Tessa asked if I'll be framing, and the answer is yes. In fact the frame has been purchased, I just need to wash and press the project and haul it to Jeanne for framing. This week maybe! Cathy asked if I have another large project that I'll be starting on. The answer is yes...sort of! I started My Home Town by Carriage House Samplings on March 30 of 2005 and got bogged down with color issues. I think I have those sorted out, so I'll be picking it back up. So yes I'll be working on another large project, but it isn't a new start. I love the design, so hopefully I can get back in the swing of things sometime soon. One more word on Terre de France, I emailed Annick Abrial and she is going to put a picture of my project in her gallery. Isn't that neat? Thank you Annick!

Right now I'm looking forward to more July blanket stitching. And I better get that sheep belly sewn up, too.

It Seems So Strange

2006-09-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

Terre de France is done! It seems so strange. This project has been a part of my life for almost 2 years, and now it is done.

I started the project behind schedule. My start date was 01-21-05. By 02-12-05 I had caught up to the release dates. I fell behind a couple of times, but caught up quickly and typically stitched the design for the month it was intended. I finished it late last night, 09-02-06. I used a 32 ct Permin linen called Spun Silver and the floss is DMC 310. Thank you Annick Abrial for a fantastic design!

Here are two photos, the last part and the entire design.

It is difficult to get the entire design in the picture. I took this picture standing on a chair.

After finishing I couldn't sleep and worked some more on the Bent Creek Spring Soapbox. I've completed the Purple Haze egg and started on the Schneckley straw under it. I do love the colors in this design. It almost makes up for the big white chicken...

I keep looking at the list of projects I want to start and the list just keeps getting longer and longer. I'm going to start Move It Out Monday again, starting tomorrow. This is where you can read about my original MIOM. Tomorrow I'm going to start the July blanket for the Homespun Elegance Woolly Tyme Club. One more thing, when I get "whelmed" with MIOM I'll stop, just like last time. I'm crazy, but not THAT crazy!

So Close...

2006-09-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm so close, but not quite done! I stayed up late last night, until my eyes wouldn't stay open another minute. This is my progress:

Just a little more backstitching and a little more stitching and the whole thing is done. I'll have it finished sometime this evening. Yeah!

Be Ever Thankful, Revisited

2006-09-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

My friend Sandy finished Sue's project Be Ever Thankful this week. Instead of springing for the expensive silks, Sandy converted to fibers that were in her stash. I absolutely love the way her version turned out, and I know Sue would have loved it too. Take a look -

Sandy gave me this list of Sue's original colors and her conversion:
NPI 605 Soft Mauve - DMC 3740
NPI 724 Cinnamon, Med. - WDW Cognac
NPI 756 Crimson Tide - WDW Brick
NPI 903 Raw Sienna - WDW Havana
Gloriana Autumn Arbor - Needle Neccessities 130
Gloriana Olive Grove - WDW Moss

If the cost of the silks has kept you from considering this project, try Sandy's version. I think it rocks! A big thank-you to Sandy for letting me include the photo of your project and your conversion here on my blog. I appreciate it!

Yesterday I mentioned that the final part of Terre de France had been released so I was going to get started on it. Apparently I had turbo needles last night, because this is what I accomplished:

That's pretty close to half done at one sitting. At this rate it will either be finished tonight or tomorrow at the latest. I think I'm just a wee bit excited. I was reading Annick's forum this morning and it sounds like she has another project in the works for us. I can't wait to see what it is!

Yesterday while catching up on my blog reading I browsed through Michelle's August goals and accomplishments. I was amazed to see Homespun Elegance's Woolly Tyme Club on her list. I haven't seen anyone else discussing this neat project. Drema has great pictures here. I need to stuff my sheep and get started. I've been mulling over the rebirth of Move It Out Monday, and I think the July Woolly Tyme Club design would be a perfect piece to start with. Come on Monday!

I'd like to thank everyone for your nice comments. I appreciate hearing from you!

The SBQ and a WIP Update

2006-08-31T16:07:00.000-05:00

SBQ and a WIP. Is that enough alphabet soup for you?

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm seriously behind with the "Stitching Blogger Questions." The question from this week was suggested by Carolyn :

"How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them, scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?"

I try to catalog all of my finishes in some way, so I scan them or take a digital picture. I like sharing them on my blog and in some of the Yahoo groups I belong to. Of course my favorite way to share a finish is in person! I'm so lucky to be involved in several local stitching groups. It is fun to get feedback in person. Until recently I only framed my stitching if I planned to enter it in a show. Now I'm surrounded by bare walls so I'm getting things framed and up on the walls.

I'd like to answer the SBQ questions that I've missed, so I went to my email and checked the SBQ folder. The oldest email was from November of last year. I am horrified. Could it really have been so long ago? ACK! That is almost a year ago. I checked my blog archives as well, and alas it is the sad truth. So here are two SBQ questions from November, 2005.

The November 2nd "Stitching Blogger's Question" was suggested by Dianne ) and is:

"If you have stitched for a while, can you usually pick out the DMC colors you need from memory when you go to your LNS? (For example, you know that 610 is a brown.)"

I know some of the DMC colors "by heart" but I'm not that great at remembering them. I recognize a few color ranges, for instance my favorite blues and greens are in the 920's and 930's. I know a few basics and a few odd ones. In addition to DMC I regularly stitch with overdyeds and silks, so I'm not using DMC every day. Also, while I'm stitching I tend to associate a color with the symbol in the chart, not with the number on the skein.

One more! The November 9th "Stitching Blogger's Question" was suggested by Dawn and is:

"When comparing large projects versus small projects, which do you get more excited about finishing?"

Wow, I get excited about all of my finishes! I will have to admit, now that I am nearing the end of Terre de France, I am getting extra excited about completing something this large. It is probably my biggest project ever...and I'm rather excited! On the other hand, when I learn a new finishing technique (like a biscornu) I get pretty excited about a small finish, too. I guess my answer is...both!

That's it for the SBQ this week. Whoosh, it will take me months to catch up...

Speaking of Terre de France, I just went to Annick's site and the final part is up and ready to roll. Thank you Annick! I have it printed and ready for stitching tonight. Hurrah!

Since I'm switching to TdF tonight, I'll put the Bent Creek Spring Soapbox back in the stitching bag. Here is the progress I made last night:

First I stitched the chicken, then I stitched the egg. Perhaps this answers the age-old question about which came first? Ok, maybe not!