Oh bleck!

Why is it that as soon as we get some nice weather (shorts and t-shirt weather), I always (and I mean always) manage to come down with a cold?? Yesterday was gorgeous outside. What did I do all day? Laid on the couch and moaned for the most part. I hate colds. My head's all stuffy and my throat hurts and I hardly slept last night.... *bleah*

Enough whining! :-)

I have tried to take a picture of the crystal spider that I made at the Spring CreativFestival but my camera just isn't co-operating. Every picture is so out of focus it looks as if I took it while standing on the deck of a rolling ship. I'll keep trying, but I give up for the moment! Trust me, it looks really cute though....

When I wasn't moaning and groaning (and sneezing *achoo*, 'scuse me), I was busily working at finishing my exchange piece for the Dragon Dreams exchange coming up shortly. I'm almost finished the finishing so then it'll be time to package and drop in the post! I'd share pictures, but you know how it goes.... Soon! :-)

In the meantime, here's a piece I finished a couple of years ago:

This piece is from a class I took with Anna Marie Winter a few years ago at the CreativFestival. It's supposed to be made into a needlebook, but I've yet to get around to that. I just really like how this piece looks. It was fun to stitch, relatively easy and just looks pretty. The fibres are all silk serica and/or silk mori with some metallics thrown in for sparkle. I'd dig out the name of the piece, but it would require more energy than I have to expend at the moment.

Anyway, I need to go buy some groceries as the cupboards are looking quite bare this morning. Then I need to work on the models again.....

Oh, and Happy Birthday Mom!

My birthday is this coming Saturday too. We're into heavy birthday season here. Next up after me is my MIL, then BIL, then DH and one of my nieces (and that only takes us to mid-June - there's more after that!). The fun never ends.....

Read more...

D'oh!

As Homer would say.............

I meant to say a big thank-you to the new commentators to my blog! So, thanks for your comments and I hope you'll keep reading!

I really need to find my head, I'm sure it's around here somewhere....

Read more...

Creativ Festival Stash, SBQ and Random Bits.....

Well, let's see - it's been a busy week since I last posted. I haven't been stitching too terribly much, but there has been a little bit of it here and there....

I have been dilligently working on my Dragon Dreams Exchange piece - the stitching is almost done except that I ran out of one fibre. I'm waiting for re-inforcements there... I did gather together just about everything else needed though, so just another hour or so of stitching and a little more for final assembly and it'll be done. Pictures will have to wait, 'natch....

I went to the Spring Creativ Festival at the International Centre in Mississauga last weekend with my 'new' stitching friend. We had a wonderful time. The Spring show has definitely improved somewhat since it's resurrection a few years ago. There still isn't enough there to keep me interested for more than one day, but I did enjoy that one day a lot. We shopped at the needlework vendors (although there weren't many of those), we made soap (terrifically easy), we made a jeweled spider with Swarovski crystals - neat and easy project, we got lost in the Lens Mills fabric bolts, we made neat art cards...... It was a fantastic day overall. Here's the main stash acquisition:

I didn't pick up a huge quantity of charts or fibres as there wasn't a heck of a lot at the show I wanted. I did grab "More Precious than Gold" at the festival and got to see the model IRL. It's really lovely and I couldn't resist. I grabbed a bunch of Dinky Dyes as well. I have a very serious fibre addiction problem. Some really pretty fat quarters of fabric just jumped into my hands as well - some dragons, asian fans, sewing-themed and butterfly-themed... I've been lusting after a magnetic pincushion for a while now - particularly after I dropped my entire pinbox on the kitchen floor some months ago. Luckily I found it on sale for a song. I couldn't resist another rotary cutter either - and this one comes with a blade that will do a wavy cut. Toys! Lots and lots of toys! Whee!!!!!!!! :-)

The rest of my little world just keeps spinning - it's been busy with pizza day at school, Primary Literacy (a program that helps Grade 1's with their reading skills) and various other things. The weather has started improving slightly as well, so I've been clearing up the garden too. I made the investment in a new landscaping plan for the front of our house and I've been dreaming of winning the lottery so I could execute the whole plan all at once.... Seeing as that isn't too likely, I may just have to settle for doing a portion of the work this year and work the rest in as time and funds permit. The plan is just lovely though and well worth the price. At least now we have a direction! It'll soon be time to take down the birdfeeders and I'll miss my little feathered visitors to my backyard - we've had tremendous variety this winter, including a Peregrine Falcon (who admittedly was hunting the sparrows that we had in the backyard, but still...) and the first Blue Jay I've seen in years. I have a little cardinal couple that has been hanging out all winter too - I'm hopeful they'll build a nest and have babies! Ah Spring! :-)

I'm very behind on my blogging and I missed last weeks SBQ, so here it is:

Suggested Danielle (http://scopist.blogspot.com/):

Are you on "The Wagon?" If so, how long have you been on and how"serious" are you about it? If not, have you considered it?

The permalink to this post is: http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/04/sbq-the-wagon/

I admit that the whole concept of being on "The Wagon" is a relatively new idea to me and I've only known about it for less than a year. I have considered going on the wagon, but realize that for the most part, I've been on it for a few years! I don't buy stash with any kind of regularity and while I still possess more than I can stitch in 6 lifetimes, I'm not obsessively adding to it. I am trying this year to use more fabrics and fibres from my stash for stitching ornaments as I have a large number of small cuts of fabrics from Silkweaver's and Sugar Maple Fabrics and the like, so I guess that is wagon-ish behaviour.... How's that for a non-answer? :-)

Back to the land of the models!

Read more...

Well, I really am here............

I'm not sure where the last week and a half has gotten to. I can't believe I haven't posted in all that time. There's nothing awful or bad going on - I guess things just got busy over Easter and I'm still trying to get back on track.

I've been plugging away on those two models I've got on the go. I have also managed to squeeze in one little Christmas ornament. A few weeks ago I posted about a little spot sampler that I had picked up from an old class and I've made a great amount of progress on it. Mostly thanks to the time my little guy was in hospital. It was the perfect size for hospital stitching...

Anyway, here's some pictures and details!!!!

This is M Designs Peace Ornament from the 2004 JCS Ornament Issue. I did a fair bit of substituting on this one as I couldn't easily get the Silk 'n Colors called for in the design. I replaced it with some Gloriana Silk in Cranberry. The linen is a 32-count Jobelan called Star Sapphire (from Silkweaver, I believe) - a greeny linen IRL. I'm really quite pleased with how this piece turned out overall. I elected not to put the beads on it partly because I haven't the right ones to hand. I do have a star charm to put at the top but I see in true-to-me-form, I've forgotten to do it just yet.... Soon, soon....

Here's my Small Spot Sampler from Timeless Designs. It's coming along fine - just some over-one bits left, some strawberries across the bottom and another row of eyelets below the fruit basket and it'll be done. This is my present travelling project, so it's not getting huge amounts of attention right now. It'll get done. Eventually. Really. Sometime before the next millennium at any rate..... ;-)

In a completely unrelated event, I think the tooth fairy needs to move into my house. In the last week between the two of them my boys have lost a total of 5 teeth. For a while I was worried that the tooth fairy would forget where our house is since it had been so long since anyone had lost a tooth. Now I think she needs to move in to save herself some time. My littlest one has lost his two front teeth and has a lisp to go with it.... I guess my baby is growing up after all.....

Well, I suppose I had better spend some energy on those models again - they're calling out for some time and attention.

Read more...

The Scream Heard 'Round the World

Yes, that was me last night in the wee hours. Wondering why I was screaming? This is why:

Notice anything funny? Yes, there's one little flower that isn't complete. Why isn't it complete you ask????? Because the little kit that came with all the floss didn't have enough freakin' floss. Naturally it wasn't DMC, but WDW's begonia. I ran out with 5 half-stitches to finish, plus another 3 stitches the row below. I'm not buying a full skein for that few stitches. I could complain to the shop where I bought the kit, but then again I did find the kit in the 50% off bin, so it seems a bit unfair to grumble too loudly. It was just annoying to be *that* close...... *sigh*


So, I ripped out the last flower and substituted plain old DMC. It doesn't look quite as nice, but it's not too bad, is it?

I guess I have to chalk it up to just one of those things. I still like this little piece from Lizzie*Kate. It's very pretty. I'm going to have to give it away soon though - that last flower is just staring me in the face. It's supposed to be the same as the second one from the left. IRL they're not even close now. But I don't want to rip out the other flower. Heck, flowers aren't all the same colour in nature, right? That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. So there. Phooey! It'll have to leave my house or it'll slowly drive me stark staring mad. Wouldn't that be fun? Hmmmmm - maybe not.


In other news - I've started preparing for the Dragon Dreams exchange over on the Rotation Stitcher's BB. It's my first exchange ever and I'm very grateful to the kind folks over at the Rotation BB for being so welcoming and permitting me to join them. I would share more details on just what I'm planning, but then you never know who might be reading! :-) Suffice it to say that I'm very hopeful my recipient won't be disappointed. I don't know precisely who I'm exchanging with just yet but I need to start stitching now so that it'll be finished in good time. Working on my models is my first priority but I usually eke out a bit of time here and there to work on small things for myself.

---

And here's this week's SBQ suggested by Heather http://theneedlesbewitchingeye.blogspot.com/):

How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth repeat and/or regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular?Are there things you wish there were more of? Less of? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?

The permalink to this post is: http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/04/sbq-blog-criteria/


This is a tough one to answer, or at least it is for me.... I have been watching and reading blogs for a number of years now but only seriously started my own a few months ago. I found the ones that I like to read mostly by tripping over them as I web-surfed. If I enjoyed what the author had to say, I subscribed to the feed and kept on reading. About the only thing I dislike in blogs are ones that play music that I can't turn off! I can't pinpoint anything in particular that I look for in a blog - I just want to enjoy reading it. I love seeing other people's WIPs and completed projects. They keep me inspired and hopeful that someday I'll finish something too! :-) I have found recently more blogs that show different and unique finishing techniques and have actually tried a couple. That has helped me to do more than just frame....


Is my blog a good example of what I like to read? I'm not really sure. I started blogging seriously mostly for myself. I wanted some kind of record of what I am doing stitching-wise and blogging seemed to fit most easily in my life. It seems to be motivating me as well to take more pictures of things as they are finished. I have many, many pieces that I gave away and I have no picture of them. Since I don't sign or date any of my work, I really do need to be better at keeping a pictoral record of my things.

---

Back to model-land for a while.

Read more...