News and views on a Friday....

(apologies in advance for the super-heavy picture load!)

It has been a super busy week in this neck of the woods. Most notably I helped put on a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon at DS#2's school. This year we went Italian and had lasagna, a tomato cream pasta and a fettuccine alfredo. I made 3 lasagnas, a double batch of cookies (Teresa Wentzler's Frosted Lime Cookies, no less) and 10 flower arrangements for the tables. At the moment, the teachers love me and all the rest of the parents who put this luncheon on. It's a lot of work, but it sure is fun. I've hardly stitched at all this week because of the lunch and the fact that I'm also spending time helping one Grade 3 class make a quilt out of old blue jeans.

But! I do have pictures to show off. And they're all finishes too. Scary, eh?

#1:

Fairy Celebration III by Passione Ricamo
Stitched on 28-count Lilac Dream Lugana
with Rainbow Gallery's Petite Treasure Braid PB-66

One of my nieces is mad for purple anything (she's 4, what else would you expect?) and I was looking for an excuse to stitch this. I found the fabric in a stash dive but have no idea where it came from or who dyed the linen. The tag was hand-written (not by me) and carries no manufacturer. So, it's really pretty fabric. That's about all I can tell you about it. As for the stitching - I think I stitched this in hyper-speed. It went super, super fast and I hardly wanted to put it down. She's so sparkly and pretty. I've yet to decide whether I'll frame her or make her into some kind of pinkeep. She's pretty big, so it might be off to framing, but we'll see.

#2:

Dragon's Lullaby by Dragon Dreams
Stitched on 28-count White Lugana
with recommended DMC, Kreinik and Caron Waterlilies

Another class piece came out to play and got stitched in quick time. I had a bit of a debate with myself as to whether or not I wanted to stitch this as a model for the CreativFestival this year, but just knew I'd want the finished product for myself. So, I stitched First Dragon Encounter instead for Jennifer and took Dragon's Lullaby as a class. I'm not sorry either. It's so beautiful when it's stitched up.

#3:


Well, okay, this isn't so much of a finish as it is playtime..... I purchased a kumihimo plate a few months ago and never really got up the courage to play with it until now. You see, the instructions are all in Japanese and I can't read Japanese. Thankfully when I actually sat down and looked at the instructions, I realized that anyone smarter than an ant could figure it out from the pictures. A little while later and I finished the braid on the left with the provided yarn. The urge to play was strong enough that I did some stash diving and came up with my own combination of crochet cottons and started to play. The results are on the right. I'm enjoying this immensely and desperately want a kumihimo disc now so I can make round cords. It's downright addictive this kumihimo thing. Beware!

#4:

This next thing is something that I stitched, but didn't actually finish myself. I was asked to stitch a model for Enchanting Lair - 'A Stitching Companion'. Laura (the designer) wanted an alternate version stitched and even allowed me to choose my own colours and personalize it to my tastes. I've never had the opportunity to do that on a model before, so I was quite excited to say the least. Even better, once finished and returned to Laura, she finished my stitching into a book and returned the finished-finished piece to me. I couldn't be more excited! I've never had a model come back to me - ever, let alone finished and useable! I'm so excited it's stupid. So, here are some pictures of my finished book. (my apologies for the crappy lighting - the weather is the pits here so no decent light to be had anywhere, nevermind the inevitable battle with the camera!)

Front Cover

Page One

Page Two

Page Three

Page Four

Outside Spine

If you're wondering, the whole thing was stitched with Dinky-Dyes Silk (yay! my favourite!) in Yallingup, Hyacinth and Kakadu. I'm so pleased with this piece. I feel very lucky that I was able to personalize this piece and even better, keep it.

Congratulations if you're still reading this. You've got stamina!

I'm off to go rent some movies for DH and I to watch tomorrow. Both DS' are off to Scout camp for the weekend, so DH and I get a rare Valentine's Day without kids.

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all!