Olympic Stitching Recap

I wasn't as self-disciplined as I wanted to be, but I wasn't bad either.  Christmas Garden saw quite a bit of progress, and I managed to stick with it for about the first 10 days of the Games.  I'm actually so close to a finish, but I've managed to obligate myself for a fair amount of stitching over the next few months.

Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden stitched on 35 ct
R&R Sheep's Straw with Shepherd's Bush silk conversion

Remember that Funky sneak peak a couple of posts ago?  Well, the stitched portion of the giveaway is no longer a mystery (don't worry, there will still be surprises).  I'm pleased to present Barbara Ann's Frogscornu.

Barbara Ann Designs Frogscornu biscorn, stitched on
28 ct Silkweaver linen (limited edition color) with
DMC floss and DMC Color Variations

I'm not sure what drew me to this design, since its about as opposite to my normal style as you can get.  Maybe its my Dad's nickname for me growing up - The Toad.  Maybe its that I'm still looking for my prince. Maybe its just that as a stitcher I like the idea of poking pins and needles in those dratted frogs.  I have a feeling I'll be stitching this again for myself, I have just enough of the blue Silkweaver fabric leftover.

For all you Vintage loving gals - don't worry, that project has already been started.  For anyone that hasn't signed up for the giveaway, you can head over to this post and leave a comment.

I want to give a quick apology to everyone that's left comments on my blog and I haven't gotten back to you yet.  Somehow my spam filter in email got turned off, so I got swarmed and overwhelmed.  Everything is sorted out now (and spam filter turned back on), but I still have to play catch up.

Vintage Sneak Peak

Its only fair, funky got a peak, so here's a post for the vintage lovers.

38 count Italian linen

Buttons from Grandma's button jar and the antique sewing

box purchased in England 25 years ago

Old wooden spools

Soft, muted colors.

The almost-amputated finger is doing much better.  The cut itself is healing very well.  The finger still has a fair amount of bruising (its reached the yellowish-blue stage) and is very stiff and difficult to bend after almost 4 days of being immobilized.  That will teach me to not respect my sharp knives.  Thank you to everyone for you kind thoughts and wishes.

Parsley was hosting a PAWty but unfortunately Princess Annie didn't get to participate.  Her evil owners sent her to the vet Saturday morning for a dental cleaning.  The poor baby took about 24 hours to recover from the anesthesia, and then another 48 hours for her gums to recover enough to go back to her hard kibble.  She obviously got absolutely no dental care the first 3 years of her life with her original owner, and my parents delayed getting her in just because they were scared to sedate her.  Anyway, here's a picture of her laying on a bed, with her hot pink pressure bandage from where the IV was inserted.

I'm happy to say Annie is fully recovered now, back to her usual antics, and doesn't have horrible bad breath anymore.

Funky sneak peak

Funky.

Not my usual style.

Not my usual colors.
Not my usual linen count.

But so much fun!

I'll be stitching on 28 count linen with *gasp* 2 strands of thread!  This was one of those charts that immediately scream !cute! to me, so I guess its worth going out of my comfort zone.  Still plenty of time to sign up for my blogoversary giveaway here.

I still haven't made up my mind what the vintage option will be, but I have some ideas.  Probably a good thing since stitching is at a snail's pace right now.

My knives are super sharp and I was an idiot.  I know proper knife handling techniques, I just chose to ignore them on Monday and paid the consequences.  I didn't even feel the cut the knife is so sharp, but its a good one.  About and inch long and almost down to the bone, right on the second knuckle.

Blogoversary Giveaway

The little gadget thing over on the left is telling me my blog has been alive for 1 year.  Instead of baking a fabulous cake and celebrating with sugar and carbs (who am I kidding, I'll probably do that anyway), its time for a giveaway.  

I've been thinking about this for months, and decided to go with a

vintage

or

funky

theme.

Leave a comment stating your preference for vintage or funky, and I'll draw 2 winners on August 26 (I need the 3 weeks to figure out prizes).  I'm not totally sure what the winners will receive, but there will be a stitched item for each and some extra goodies, all suited to the vintage or funky theme.

Fine print:  I'd love it if you're a follower, you're welcome to advertise the giveaway on your blog, but no extra entries, my mind can't handle keeping track of that.  Good luck and thanks for hanging out with me the past year, its been a rough one!

Christmas in July

Christmas Garden that is, as in Blackbird Design's Christmas Garden, my very neglected BAP SAL piece.  I started feeling guilty so brought it out to play after I did some stitching for an exchange piece.

BBD Christmas Garden, stitched on 35 count Sheep's Straw linen
with silk conversion done by Shepherd's Bush

This piece actually stitches up remarkably fast.  I had toyed around with the idea of joining in with the other blogging stitchers doing the Olympics challenge, but decided I have enough projects already started, I need to focus on them.  Maybe I'll just make this my Olympic challenge and see if I can finish it by the end.

What's everyone's preferred method of watching the games?  In this house we're selectively recording stuff on the DVR and then watching that way.  Always a day or so behind, but easy to fast forward through stuff. The recordings are focused on gymnastics, equestrian events, tennis, and some swimming/diving thrown in for variety.  When it comes down to it, I enjoy watching just about all of it, but there's so much I need to pick and choose.

Mail Day!

I took a break from studying today and went downstairs to grab a Diet Pepsi, and mom asked me if I'd seen my mail.  Of course I hadn't, I'd been on the computer all day working on my e-commerce class.  She said I had 2 small packages.  Of course that meant she was curious and wanted me to open them right then and there.

First up was some of the gorgeous new trim Nancy (Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe) added to her product line.  She's calling it primitive hand-tinted jute-cotton ric rac.  This stuff is amazing!  Its about a 1/2 inch wide, and the cotton strip down the middle has been painstakingly hand-tinted, not just on one side, but both sides.  I imagine its pretty time consuming to do this.  I received red (perfect for a project I just got done stitching), but I'm hoping Nancy decides to add black to the line so it can be used to finish some prim Halloween ornaments.

Next package really made my day.  It was from Lynn, and was my loot from her recent giveaway.  She sent me the sweetest little pair of bunny scissors, some very cute buttons, and a skein of gorgeous Carrie's floss.  I already have a project in mind for some of the buttons, and have a feeling the scissors might end up in my mom's project basket.  She immediately grabbed onto them and commented on how cute they are.  I'm fine with that, since I set her to work on a project cutting and piecing together fabric for a witches hat.

Lynn and Nancy, thank you so much for brightening up what was going to be a very boring study day!

Edit:  It seems Nancy is a smart lady and knows her market well, she got back to me and said she's already tinted black and orange trim, in anticipation of our Halloween needs!   

Happy Bastille Day!

I figure I totally missed the American holiday, so I might as well celebrate the French version.  There's been a lot going on, so I'll just try to sum it up and not bore you.

Dad is recovery well from the last surgery, thank you for your kind words and thoughts.

A friend came down to visit the end of June, and I got to play tourist in San Diego.  It was fun, but the friend was annoying, and I was reminded of why I stopped dating him.  I just can't handle people that sleep until 10:30 am, and sit there while the man that just had surgery 5 days prior helps clear the table.  Anyway, we went to Sea World (which I now sort of respect, its not as rinky-dink as it used to be 15 or 20 years ago), San Diego Zoo, and the San Diego County Fair, along with a beer festival that was at the fair that weekend. I had more planned, but time got cut short due to excessive laziness.

The 4th of July was pretty low-key here.  Mom hadn't been feeling well (she was sick with the "crud" for 2 weeks, and got taken to the ER once, and the hospital another time).  We just grilled some food, watched TV, and then went out to look down on fireworks when they started.  Please excuse the blurry photos, I still don't have a tripod to use for night time shots.

Lots of Wimbledon watching took place, and I actually did get some patriotic stitching done!

Chessie and Me "Old Glory"

I finished it as a topper on a hand painted and distressed box, which I lined with some scrapbooking paper.  I think it actually took longer to finish the box than to do the stitching, since there were so many steps involved (sanding, multiple coats of paint, more sanding, yet more sanding, dry time (between 6 coats of paint) and finally furniture wax to protect and give a patina.

I'll leave you with a few photos from the zoo.  Unfortunately I couldn't get any good pictures of the jaguar cubs, but momma must have found her maternal instinct this time, all of them are doing great!

The zoo is having a night time celebration all summer long, and these
dancers are part of it.

The smallest baby is 2 weeks old in this picture, and one of
the other females was about to give birth any day.

I almost forgot, I actually finished my first class for my MBA!  Lots more to go, and I'm still horribly behind where I wanted to be, but it felt great to read the email this morning saying my final project for Human Resources passed and it was one class I could cross off the list.