Little Happy Dance and a needlework survey!



Well, I took a few moments away from my models last night to finish up my Christmas ornament for the month of March. I fell in love with this design when I first saw it and I was really happy with how quickly it stitched up:

This piece is from the 2006 JCS Ornament Issue. It's by Patricia Ann Designs and it's called Christmas Poinsettia. I used all the recommended fibres, but changed the fabric from an antique white linen to a Lt. Mocha Quaker cloth. I really like how it turned out. I still need to get a snowflake charm for the center. I didn't have the right thing in my stash, so I'll have to do a little shopping... Boy, that'll be a hardship! :-)

And, if you haven't already done so, go fill out the TNNA questionnaire about needlearts:

http://www.HartBusinessResearch.com/needlearts.htm

They'll donate a dollar to charity and it's a great chance to voice your thoughts on the needlework industry in general!

Back to the models!

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New stash!

What a fun week I've had! I have recently discovered someone else who stitches and not just from kits from Michaels! Yay! She hadn't been to my favorite LNS, Gitta's - which is just a short drive away from my home. So, needless to say, we were off an an afternoon's adventure! It's been too long since I hit the LNS, as my smoking credit card will attest!!! :-)

Here's what I got: DD's Proof & Dragon Alphabet, TW's Knotwork Bookmarks II, a freebie from A Stitcher's Hands called Garden Square, and I got lost in the wall of fibres..... It seems that a whole pile of fibres just jumped into my hands - some RG Fuzzy Stuff, some Kreinik #4 in mallard (DS#1 insists it's the colour of dragon scales!), some WDW, some GAST (okay, a lot of GAST), some Gloriana silk and some Dinky Dyes. I also bought the cool bag as through it's purchase I'll save 10% off all regularly-priced stuff for the next 2 years. I already saved half the cost of the bag with just the stuff pictured above! I think this bag is a good thing! Plus it's pretty.

This picture is of a few things I pulled out of the 50% off wall - a nice little linen cut, Lizzie*Kate's Friendship blooms, all kitted up, Lizzie*Kate's Welcome Tooth Fairy Snippet, another kit from the Trilogy called School Treats (for DS#2's teacher at the end of the year!). Definitely got some good deals here and had to work very, very, very, very hard not to buy more! Darn that wall of fibres! ;-)

I had a fun afternoon and just know we'll be doing it again, but hopefully not until the credit card cools down a wee bit! ;-)

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Here's this week's SBQ suggested Cindy (http://didimr2.blogspot.com/) :

Do you have a system for organizing freebie charts in your stash? If so, what is it? Do you print out copies of all of the freebies thatyou find on the web (that you think you might actually stitch) or doyou maintain electronic copies of them until you are ready to stitch them?

The permalink to this post is: http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/03/sbq-freebie-organization/

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System? What system? :-) I tend to print out many of the freebies that I like a lot and then file them in file folders by designer. Ones I'm not sure whether or not I'll actually stitch I tend to download and file away on the computer someplace logical. I do bookmark sites that have freebies that change periodically, but often forget to check them unless I see someone else has stitched a 'new' freebie...

Off to play in my new stash for a bit - then back to work on the models!

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Spring is here - I think...

Well, today it's supposed to warm up to a balmy 8C (46F for the non-metric folks)... At least it should get rid of the last of the snow. Wandering in my garden this morning revealed that my daffodils and many of my tulips are all poking their heads out of the ground. I hope it warms up instead of cooling down - I'm not sure what it'll do to the flowers if it gets cold again! I am so ready for some warm weather!

In my stitching world, not much is going on really - I've finally gotten back to work on my models now that Bryce is on the mend and back at school. Things are moving much more slowly than I'd like, but isn't that the way it always is when you're stitching??? :-)

I realized I've missed a couple of SBQ's - I guess I have a pretty good excuse! Here's the catch up:

SBQ - March 7, 2007:

Do you use your needle, a seam ripper, or something else when you have to frog stitches? Why do you use the method that you do?

The permalink to this post is: http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/03/sbq-rip-rip/

I usually use a needle since it's right there and handy and all. And it's usually fitting punishment for that baaaadddd needle! :-) I have actually cut stitches out with my hardanger scissors a few times when I was just off by one stitch but would have needed to frog half the world to get to that one stitch. Then I usually need to locate my boo-boo stick (basically it looks like a mascara wand) to clean up the mess. My boo-boo stick has vanished recently (I'm hopeful the couch fairies who steal needles have it and will give it back! They recently returned my Clover cutter...)... Maybe I'll just have to buy another one!

SBQ - March 15, 2007

If you had $500 to spend on stitching-related items, what would you buy?

The permalink to this post is: http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/03/sbq-shopping-spree/

This is a tough one to answer as I'm not sure what I'd buy. There's just too much out there! I guess I'd end up buying all the speciality fibres I could manage (Crescent Colors, WDW, GAST, Dinky Dyes, etc.) and fabric and patterns..... Maybe a lap stand (I have a floor stand already) for when I'm taking classes.... Or maybe I'd just put the whole lot towards going to an American stitching festival as I've never been to one.

Then again, maybe the money should go towards hiring a cleaning lady so I wouldn't have to do it and then I could stitch more! ;-)

Off to work on the models again!

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Surfacing at Last....

It's been a crazy week since my little one had his surgery and this is the first time I've really felt like blogging much. His surgery went quite well - only 2 hours (it was scheduled for 3) and we were able to come home that evening. He had 3 doses of morphine in the recovery room which was handy for pain control, but gave the poor kid a bad case of the barfs for the next 24 hrs. Morphine really doesn't agree with him, but it did help us to get him home with minimum pain - he actually slept the whole way! It's not a terribly long drive, but we left Sick Kids right at rush hour, so what should have taken half an hour took a little over an hour.

Today Bryce is pretty much back to normal, although he's still walking around as if there's a basketball between his knees! Hopefully the swelling will continue to go down and he'll be back to walking normally soon!

It's March Break here, so the boys are home from school. We've had a fun time so far playing some video games, building some things with K'Nex (we've just about finished a roller coaster) and generally hanging out. It's difficult to do too much as Bryce's mobility has been relatively limited.

Stitching-wise I haven't really been doing much. Bryce needed a fair bit of help for the first while so my time was quite consumed with that. Now I'm worn out and find myself napping in the middle of the day! Hopefully that'll stop soon as I've got models that really need some attention!

Off to bed, I think!

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What pretty little fabbies....





I'm starting to think that Canada Post doesn't hate me as much as I think it does. Not only did it finally bring me the necessary floss to keep progressing on a model I'm working on but it also brought me some beautiful fabrics that I ordered from Sugar Maple Fabrics. SMF was having a sale on some 9X12 fabrics on e-bay and I just couldn't resist. I have a hopeless addiction to these small cuts of fabric and an even larger addiction to hand-dyed fabrics. I'm already contemplating what I'll stitch on these.....

From left to right the fabrics are: Ice Pops (28 ct.), Gilded Majesty (28 Ct. and much greener than in the picture), Treetops (28 ct. and really, really sparkly IRL), Water Sprite (32 ct. and a deeper green) and In the clouds (25 ct.). I've spent a good portion of my evening fondling and dreaming. I love good fabric.

I certainly needed this little stash boost to distract me today. We're only 2 days away from my little one's next surgery. I'm trying not to focus too much on it, but it's hard. It may be minor surgery, but it's minor surgery on my little boy! I'm such a mother sometimes! :-) I just remind myself that we're lucky he's so healthy and normal and that everything will be just fine.

Off to stitch a bit before bed!

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Random thoughts and musings........





Well, March certainly decided to come in like a lion today - although not until about 1 PM! Snow began coming down in a surprisingly hard fall this afternoon. DH has already shoveled once and no doubt will need to shovel again before long. We're in for some decidedly odd weather as later this evening it's supposed to change to freezing rain (joy!) and then in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow it's supposed to rain. I'm sure that tomorrow morning will bring an odd assortment of school closings, bus closings and we're-not-sure-but-we're-closed closings. Buses were cancelled today but we live within shouting distance of the school (I can hear the bell ring if I open my front door at the right time), so my boys were off to school today. They loved all the snow this afternoon. My oldest DS took almost an hour to walk home (it usually takes between 5 and 10 minutes!) - he was having too much fun playing in the snow with his friend. :-)





I'm starting to feel relatively stressed out. My youngest DS is heading into Sick Kids next Thursday for his 7th surgery to correct his birth defect. I won't go into the gory details here (it would likely give me a R rating). It's called hypospadias (the birth defect, not DS! :-) ) and is thankfully not life threatening, but necessary to repair. This round of surgery is relatively minor in comparison to some of things he went through in 2005 but I still stress out. I know it'll be fine, I just seem to need to put myself through this stress. I think I'm losing my mind. If anyone finds it, could you please return it?





The up side to the stress feeling - I stitch more when I'm stressed. :-) So my models are getting some goodly attention. I also picked up an old piece from a class I took at the CreativFestival a few years ago. It's a lovely little spot sampler and is just small enough that I can enjoy picking it up for those brief times when I'm not working on models. Plus it has some repetitive-ness about it that is very soothing at the moment. Here's a little picture of it:

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And I've neglected to answer this week's SBQ suggested by Danielle( http://scopist.blogspot.com/):

Do you find yourself stitching faster when you are getting to the endof a design?

The permalink to this post is: http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/02/sbq-smoking-needles/

I think I do stitch faster when I'm nearing the end, but then I do stitch pretty fast in general (just ask anyone who has taken a class with me - I'm known for having electric needles!). When I'm nearing the end of a piece (particularly if it's a large piece) then I'm desperate to get it done so I can start something new or just bask in the glow of having finished something!

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