Final catch-up

First part of this post is long overdue.  I won a giveaway on Mel's blog a few weeks ago, and gave her my new address down in San Diego to send the surprise to.  It was a great welcome to see the brown envelope waiting in the pile of mail when I first arrived.  She sent me some great things.  First off was a really interesting chart by Raise the Roof I'd never seen before.  There was also one of the really cute Victoria's Sampler cottage series.  I stitched a few of these years and years ago, so it was nice to receive another chart in the series.  She included some 25 count fabric (perfect for those ornaments I've been wanting to do over 1) and some cotton flosses, and a beautiful card.  Mel, thank you so much for the wonderful surprise.  I know I sent you an e-mail right away, but you've patiently been waiting over a week for me to post a pic on my blog.

One of the first things I did when I got to San Diego was finish my iStitch Mystery SAL.  I still have no clue what I'm going to finish this as, since its really too big to be considered a "small," not really large enough I want to frame it, and I'm not sure I want a purple pillow.  Oh well, something will come along.  This was truly an enjoyable stitch and a very well run SAL.  Thank you Carol!

Some progress has been made on Lizzie Kate's 6 Fat Men, and actually more since I took this picture.  For now I'm not stitching the wording or any of the confetti stitches.  I have an idea floating around in my head with the song Winter Wonderland.

Here and there I've been working on some ornaments, and have another finish to show.  Not 100% sure since I can claim this one totally by myself, since I suckered my mom into doing the machine sewing herself "as a lesson on how to use her sewing machine."  Actually, make that a lesson on how to use one of the 3 machines she has (and I've actually used this one before).  It looks cute now, but this was one of those "never ever again" things.  Trying to turn a long and skinny piece, with curves, lined with interfacing, right side out was NOT fun.  It may not look like it, its stitched on 40 ct linen so was pretty tiny once sewed up.  Its an older Hands to Work design, which I don't remember the name of, but it was a chart with 3 different stockings on it.

Stitched on 40 ct linen with HDF silk
in Old Maid of the Forest and Examplar Crushed Berries

Now its time for me to admit a guilty secret.  I started Jenny Bean's Christmas sampler while I was still up in Ogden.  I just couldn't resist everyone else's beautiful pictures, and I had the perfect piece of linen for it, and the colors were just calling out to me.  Rarely do I stitch something in exactly what the designer calls for, but this is one piece I didn't make a single substitution on.  Not a huge amount done, and I  probably won't get it finished for this year, but that's fine.  It will definitely be done for next year.

Shakespeare's Peddler Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler stitched on
40 ct PTP Legacy linen with the called for threads

We had a fairly clear day on Thursday, so I thought I'd make everyone that's shivering in snow a little jealous.  This is the view from my parent's back patio.  The islands are actually part of Mexico, and I can't remember their names.  Totally unedited photo, and no, that wasn't some super-duper zoom lens either.  Don't worry, its actually supposed to rain on Monday and Tuesday, so I do have to suffer some bad weather.  And it does seem strange going through all the holiday motions with it being in the 60s outside.  Dare I say it?  I might actually miss snow.

SAL Stitching

This week I was reminded why I don't normally sign up for SALs - I don't deal with enforced stitching deadlines very well.  Carol spoiled me with her SAL, so I sort of forgot about not enjoying being forced to stitch something.  She emailed parts out that were small enough you didn't stress about them, and left plenty of time to stitch each part.  Still lots of time to stitch on whatever else I wanted before the next part was due.

During my memory loss, I signed up for another SAL, a partnership between The Threadbasket and C Mon Monde.  Its really a very cute design, and I'm not regretting signing up for it, but.....

Its coming out in 4 parts, each a week apart.  Compare that to 8 parts, each part every 2 weeks.  Not to mention this new SAL piece is quite a bit larger, so each stitched part will be larger.  Oh well, its only 4 weeks, I can do it.  I have to, since I got part 1 done, I need to keep up or I won't get the other parts and I'll be left with an incomplete piece.  Anyway, here's my Part 1, stitched on 40 count R&R Neptune Blue linen with HDF silk.

And not to be left out, here's my Part 7 of the iStitch SAL.

My other little discovery in the last week were these.

For some reason I got a craving for ice cream sandwiches.  When it comes to ice cream I don't waste my time with the crappy stuff, full of air and chemicals.  And there's no way I'd eat just half of a regular size.  If I open that puppy up, its ALL going in my mouth.  So when I saw these, I fell in love.  Still big enough to be satisfied, not so big I feel guilty.  Unless I eat two.

I promise, I actually have been doing other stitching, and even some "serious" stitching, I just have't taken pictures.  Maybe next post.  Thanks again to everyone for stopping by and leaving comments!  Somehow in the few months I've been blogging I've grown from 1 curious follower to over 50.  I think that might warrant a give-away soon, especially since I noticed I seem to have quite a few duplicate charts.

Bad Blogger!

What have I been up to for the last 2 weeks?  Obviously not blogging.

I did some sewing for gifts/thank-yous.  Luckily the recipients didn't point out my sewing flaws, which there were many and my mom did point out when she saw one of the journal covers.

There was a quick trip down to San Diego (home of the parental units) to take a car-load of stuff down.  Princess Annie took the chance to use my pillow as her throne, since she's usually shut out of that room.

There was also a quick stop in Las Vegas, since its a great half-way point between Utah and San Diego.  Super quick review of the Cosmopolitan, one of the new hotel/casinos in City Center.  Public areas look like the designer didn't have a cohesive theme, and was using just whatever was leftover from other hotels/casinos and cheap (which would make sense since Deutsche Bank bought it out of bankruptcy and decided to go into the casino business).  The rooms were fantastic, which is good considering they were supposed to be condos.  Almost all of the rooms have a balcony, mine was on the 35th floor, looking right over the fountain at the Bellagio.

That was the good part, now for the bad.  Water pressure in the shower could have been better (but the soaker tub with champagne bubble jets more than made up for it), and I never could get the lights or climate control working through the TV remote like it was supposed to.  The restaurants I ate at were either fantastic (Milos) or a dismal failure (Va Bene - the cafe).

The real kicker about The Cosmopolitan and the reason why I'll never go back is being treated like a criminal at check-out. There were 2 charges made to my room, that weren't mine.  I didn't even recognize the name of them and had to ask.  I was told it was one of their restaurants, and the charges were at 6:30am.  Impossible. I had complained about housekeeping barging into the room at 8 am, and if they wanted to review security logs, they'd see the only entry I made to my room was at 10 pm the evening before, nothing after that.  How could I charge something to the room from a restaurant when I wasn't even there?  Front desk staff kept questioning me, not believing what I was saying, but refusing to get the information from security that would prove I was right.  The end result was them finally saying they'd do me the favor of letting me fill out a dispute claim.  Thank you Cosmo, your rooms might have a great view, but I won't be back.  Deutsche Bank, stick to banking and get out of the casino business.

Sheesh, I still get riled up, even a week later.  On to something else, if anyone is still reading this.  I did get some stitching done.  Part 6 of the iStitch SAL.  Totally love the scissors Carol added, and I added a new color.  I had to make the scissors a grey.

Raven's Roost, by the Good Husewife.   This is sort of cheating, since I started this last year and it was about 905% finished, I had just forgotten about it.  Oh well, a finish is a finish and I'm claiming it.

My biggest finish was BBD Greetings, from their Christmas book from 2004.  I started this a few weeks ago, and actually had a half-way pic to post, but it never got posted.  This is actually a scan, since I want to try and print it on some cards to make Christmas cards.

The next pictures are all finish-finishes.  All stitching was done over the last year or 2, and had just gathered in a pile needing something done with it.  Pumpkin Row got stuffed with a lovely mixture of cloves, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, dried ginger chunks and anise seeds.

Such a lovely smell!

I've also done some baking!  Chocolate Pumpkin Spice cake with a Cinnamon Glaze (totally yummy, you'd never know it was good for you and low fat).

And just out of the oven this afternoon, Apple Buttermilk cakes.  One of these will go into the office tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone that made it through this post, and my rant!  I've been reading blogs, but barely commenting.  I'm sorry about that, but life has been a bit hectic the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully I'll be back to my routine, for at least another month, before it all goes upside down.

Gift received

I was the winner of Catherine's giveaway and kept forgetting to take a picture of what she sent me.  Every single time I remembered, the camera was in another room, or it was an awful time of day with horrible lighting.  Finally, almost a week later, I got a snap.  I thought I was getting just the Chessie & Me chart, but there was a fantastic bonus in the envelope, overdyed floss needed to stitch the design!  Catherine, not only do I thank you, but my mother thanks you, and my own summer-time designs thank you since this means they get to stay with me and not migrate to mom's house.

It goes like this.
Mom:  Oh, that's a nice piece you're working on.
Me: Yep, I really like this one.
Mom:  I know the perfect place to hang it.
Me:  But, I was going to keep this for myself.
Mom:  But, I like it.
Me:  Just because you like it means I'm supposed to give it to you?
Mom:  Yes.

For 3 years I kept my Celtic Noel out of her hands.  Guess where it is now?  Its been on "loan" for 5 years.

This year mom spent a good portion of time at my house, helping me out after an ankle surgery (I couldn't walk for 7 weeks, and didn't drive for 8 weeks).  During that time she had a great time snooping exploring my house.  Is it really a hint when she dumps a stack of 20 charts on my bed next to me and says "I like these"?  And then adds, she doesn't have any patriotic stitched items, and she'd happily borrow one of mine until I got something stitched for her.  Borrow?  Yeah right.  To finally get to the end of the rambling, she's going to get this, and I get to keep my stuff.

I feel the need to add, she also tried to say she didn't have any autumn type stitched designs, then I had to remind her of at least 4 items I'd given her, either Halloween or Thanksgiving related.  I wonder which piece up in the loft she had her eye on.

This might sound like complaining, but I swear it isn't.  Its nice knowing she loves my work, and has a great appreciation of what goes into it.  If I gift her with a stitched piece, I know it won't end up in a garage sale or in a dumpster.  In fact, it took me over a year to convince her that yes, the biscournu really is meant to be used as a pincushion and she won't hurt it.

Despite what it may seem, I actually have been doing some stitching, just not really taking pictures.  However, Carol's iStitch SAL forces me to take pictures if I want the next part.  Here's my part 5.

iStitch Mystery SAL stitched on 35 ct WDW Grape Ice
with HDF Old Maid of the Vineyard

I still have no clue what I'm going to do with this, since its too big for the original intent, since the linen was mis-labeled.  Oh well, I'll figure it out later.  Hopefully I can take some more stitchy pictures later today, since I leave on a road trip tomorrow.

Seasonal Stitching

I've been in a fall mood for at least a month now.  In just one day, my wish comes true, and fall will actually be here, and for probably the first time ever I actually have stitching done in time to enjoy during the season.  Well, ok, I still have to do some finish-finishing.  Anyhoo, this is just a quick post, since I'm actually supposed to be walking out the door and getting to work right now.

Before the pics, I want to share a really positive shopping experience.  Over the weekend I placed an order with Wendy, from Pineberry Lane.  She designed a super cute sampler influenced by the Samplermakers Autumn Challenge, and I was drawn to the alphabet on its side.  While I was looking around on her site, I found a few more things.  What really impressed me was the speed.  The pattern was emailed to me promptly, despite the disclaimer on her site that it could take up to 48 hours (and it was a weekend to boot, I expect people to enjoy their weekends and not totally cater to my whims).  But what really blew me away was having a package in my mailbox on Wednesday with the other little goodies, and the packaging.  Lots of bubblewrap to protect items, cardstock tip protectors on the scissors, and the cutest tissue paper and sprig of dried flowers, tied with twine, wrapping the scissors.

Timing was perfect, since one of the items I had ordered was some walnut crystals, and I only had a few more stitches to put into Chessie & Me's Pumpkin Row.

And here's the result after the walnut experiment.  I scanned both of these so the lighting conditions would be exactly the same.

The other seasonal stitching piece I finished was a freebie.  Remember that gingham fabric I really wanted, and then coffee dyed?  Here it is.  And those cute little scissors, those came from Pineberry Lane.

Last quick pic, then I really need to get out the door.  I finished Part 4 of the iStitch SAL.  Not a huge accomplishment, since the part was so small, almost annoyingly small.  Once I go to the effort of getting a project out, onto the Q-snaps, and me stationed in my stitching chair with the project in the frame, I'd at least like to do a fair amount of stitching, not 10 min worth.  Oh well, at least I'll get Part 5 on time.  Seeing those cute little scissors again gets me back in a better mood.

A finish and experimenting with Picnik

This is just a super quick post, since I should have been in bed an hour ago, but I couldn't resist sharing a Tom the Turkey finish.  I've been obsessed with him all weekend, and that fat body of his took a while to fill in.  Not to mention all those starts and stops for just a couple of stitches (the flowers) eats up time.  Since its late and the lighting is crappy at night, I scanned Tom, then experimented in Picnik a bit.

Here's the straight scan:

Notforgotten Farms Tom the Turkey, stitched on R&R 35 ct Maria's Special
Blend  using assorted overdyed cottons

Here's a Matted effect, pretty much the same thing as blurring in Picasa, I think.

Lastly, the one I thought was a lot of fun, as long as you don't need accurate colors.  Its a Lomo-ish effect, and I inserted text.

Despite the huge number of new starts, I really do go back and finish things, eventually.

At some point last week, I also stitched Part 2 of Carol's iStitch Mystery SAL.  Of course she put out Part 4, so I need to get that done pronto, since she's been releasing the parts every week.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon before something else jumps into my Q-snaps begging to be stitched.

Thank you again to everyone that stops by, and to those that leave comments.  It means a lot to me, and I've found that while blogging does take a lot of time, it also encourages me to get more done, since I can follow my own progress and I get online encouragement.

Thank You!

I want to start off by giving a heartfelt thank you to my followers and the people that leave comments.  This is a brand new blog for me, and every single comment and new follower is noticed and loved.  It means I'm dong something right  I try to answer every comment, and think I've gotten them all, but its not always right away.  Sometimes I'll go a few days, then look at my gmail account and think, omg, how rude, there are people I haven't responded back to.  Well, I guess better late than never.

Reading blogs is also a bit difficult for me.  Well, not reading them, but commenting.  I can read blogs through Google reader, but if I'm at work on my lunch break, the firewall prevents me from going to the blog and commenting.  My method so far has been to mark the post as unread, then then try to get to it when I get home.  However, in the meantime, there's been another 20 new posts.  Some nights I just can't get through all of them.  Hence, people get comments on their posts days, or a week, after it was posted.  Again, I guess better late than never!  Does anyone else have trouble keeping up with it all?

Last week I started on Thomas (or Tom the Turkey as I've been calling him) by Notforgotten Farms.  I blame Kim for this, she posted her start here and I immediately had to pull the pattern.  I'd totally forgotten about this, and with the fall mood I've been in ....  Anyway, here's where I've gotten to in 2 weeks of stitching.  His tail feathers were a lot of fun to stitch.  I'll need to find a good movie to watch while I'm doing his body, lots of monotonous solid stitching.

Notforgotten Farm Thomas, stitched on 35 ct R&R Maria's Breakfast Blend
with assorted overdyed cotton

I also just put the last stitches in Part 2 of Carol's iStitch SAL.  I'm so happy I stitched the whole border earlier, it made this part much less daunting, since I've been short on time.

iStitch Mystery SAL stitched on 35 ct Weeks Grape Ice
with HDF Old Maid of the Vineyard

I also have some bad news about my iStitch piece.  I realized the linen isn't 40 count, but 35.  Obviously its too big to go on the top of the box from Hobby Lobby, so I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it.  Oh well, I'm looking at this as a chance to see how everyone else stitches it, and what colors they use, and I can stitch it a second time, for the box.  I'm thinking in red or black, since I plan on painting the box a dark grey, then a top coat of cream, and slightly distressing the top coat so the grey shows through.

I had another small start, which I really shouldn't have done.  No clue why, I need another start like I need a hole in my head.  Not to mention, I normally dislike Lizzie Kate designs.  Don't get me wrong, they're cute, and fun to stitch, but I get done with it, and think why the hell did I stitch this, I don't want it anywhere in my house, its not my style.  That would be why I gave away Christmas Rules, which I stitched last year.  I even converted it to silks, and muted the colors some.  Oh well, here's an absolutely horrible picture of 6 Fat Men, and yes, I totally changed colors to make it a bit more subdued.

LK 6 Fat Men on 36ct LL Meadow Rue
with assorted overdyed cotton

A lot of people have been posting pictures recently of their Mary Allen (Village Sampler).  I dug mine out, and yes, I mean literally dug, as you can see by the wrinkles.  Its been a year since I worked on her, but she's such a fun stitch, with all the different sayings and the fun colors.

Samplers Remembered Mary Allen on
36/40 unevenweave with HDF silks

I stopped by WalMart yesterday to pick up some milk, after the Bountiful Baskets pickups.  All the school supplies were out, and I found something.  Remember those ugly composition books, with the fake black and white marbling on the cover?  Look what they're doing now!

Stripes!  Checkerboard!  Circles!  Plaid!  Basketweave!  These are awesome, especially since they're still only $.40.  That's right, forty CENTS!

I'm using one as a not-diary.  No clue what to call it, but just a place to write down notes, make lists, and generally try to keep myself organized.

I'm a bit of a procrastinator, and when I use lists, they help me.  Speaking of, one of those items that isn't crossed off is to go finish something, that should have been in the mail a week or 2 ago.

Mystery SAL

Carol over at iStitch was kind enough to not only host a mystery SAL, but to design a special project for it.  Looks like 125 people signed up for it, and more are on the waiting list.  The incentive to keep up with this SAL is you don't get the next part until you send her a photo of the completed previous part.  In general I'm leery of mystery SALs, but I tend to like her designs, and I just finished the With Thy Needle and Thread 3 part mystery project, started it well before I knew what the whole thing was going to look like.  It ended up being gorgeous.  Hopefully I keep up with this and don't become one of the spots for someone on the waiting list!  Anyway, I received Part 1 on Friday, started stitching, and finished Part 1 on Sat.

iStitch 2001 Mystery SAL on 40 ct Weeks Grape Ice linen
with HDF Old Maid of the Vineyard silk

This week I was in Omaha, NE for a business trip.  I didn't get a lot of stitching done, but at least it was some.  I took a couple of Shepherd's Bush kits with me.  They're usually on an easy thread count fabric, and have everything all on one place, so they travel well.  Especially when I can't take my magnifier/work light with me.  As much as I love Teri and Tina, I'm not always a fan of all their designs.  The ones I do stitch, I usually make a few changes to.  With Angel Song I'm reducing some of the pinks and purples, and adding more blue, green and golden-tans (Sheperd's Moon silk by Threadgatherer).  Of course the angel at the top was what I started with, and that pink is really bugging me.  Its going to get ripped out soon and replaced with Shepherd's Moon.

Shepherd's Bush Angel Song on 35ct R&R Dark Cappuccino
with assorted silks

I've also put in some work on part 3 of the BBD 2008 Loose Feathers Mystery project.  Not a lot, but even a few stitches is progress.

Saturday morning is when Ogden has its local Farmer's Market.  I love going to it, since its only 2 blocks up the street.  In the 3 years I've lived here, its really grown a lot.  Its still short on fresh produce, and still has more "junk" than what it should have (at times I think to myself, are you serious, people think I'm actually going to buy this crap?), but there's always entertainment and plenty of food vendors.  This week we had a guy playing a didjeridu, and doing a pretty good job of.  Well, good enough I gave him a couple of bucks.

I picked up some fresh beets, zucchini, green beans, 2 loaves of bread (cranberry walnut and lemon sage), and of course a pastry for breakfast.  This week it was apple strudel from Volker's Bakery, same place I get my bread from (when I'm lazy and buy it instead of making it).  After wandering the market, I usually head back down to my house and sit on the patio with whatever goodie I bought to eat, an iced coffee, and my nook.  In the distance in the photo, you can sorta see the pedestrian gate that does out to 25th Street.

I know I've mentioned before about my finish of With Thy Needle & Thread's mystery project and how I ran it out of the house so my mom couldn't take it back to San Diego with her.  On Friday I stopped by Jill's so I could get a picture of it.  Its been stretched and waiting for the frame for a couple of weeks now.  I can be patient, since for once I picked something out that was actually available.  I have a knack of picking out discontinued moldings or mats.

With Thy Needle & Thread Birds of a Feather, stitched
on 35 ct Weeks Confederate Grey, assorted silks

I might actually have to stitch this again.  Myra turned 2 of her birds into cardinals, and they're absolutely adorable.  We'll see about that.  I have done a repeat stitch, but the first finish and the second were separated by about 13 years.  As you can see, some adjustments were made to the colors.  And I apologize for the crappy picture, I really wasn't trying to take a great one, since I knew I'd get a good one once it was framed.