In which much is accomplished in a short time....

Since my last post, I really got down to business and I'm happily surprised at just how much I have managed to accomplish in the last week...

First off, I finished the model I was doing for X's and Oh's. While this piece is not to my personal taste, I did find the fabric choice wonderful and it certainly stitched up quickly. I accepted this project after the original model stitcher was unable to complete it due to a family crisis. Luckily we stitch in the same direction (I had visions of my having to rotate the project 90 degrees and stitch sideways, but thankfully that didn't happen!). I'd share a picture, but the piece hasn't been released yet. I think it's scheduled for September, but maybe since I finished it a good month ahead of schedule it'll get released sooner. Either way, it's done and back in the designer's hands, safe and sound. Yipee!!!

In celebration of finishing the model, I immediately stitched up two small things since I was in a 'get-it-finished' mood:

Princess of Perpetual Projects by Cross Stitch Happy
Stitched on random hand-dyed from Enchanting Lair with Dinky-Dyes Moonie Ponds

I have no idea what the thread count is on the fabric - I found it in a stash dive and it was unlabelled. I know I got it from Laura at Enchanting Lair though (as an aside, is there anyone but me buying Laura's fabrics? They're stunning!!!!!). It's really pretty. I hope to turn this into a little pillow of some kind and hang it by my stitching spot. It suits me to a 'T'. It just needs a little sparkly tiara or something that will glitter to really finish it off.

Next up:

Link from Legend of Zelda
Designed by DS#1 (stitched by Mom)
On 14-ct perforated paper with DMC

This little piece was drawn out, coloured and floss chosen by my oldest DS. It occurred to him recently that cross stitch charts kinda look like 8-bit pictures that he's seen on the 'net of various Nintendo characters. He then asked if I would stitch him something if he drew it out. So, a little time with his coloured pencils, some graph paper and my DMC colour card and voila! Link in all his glory. I think DS did a great job. Maybe I've got my own little designer on my hands.... :-)

My urge to finish things had me rummaging in the stitched-but-not-finished pile and I dragged out 3 things. Here's what I've been doing with them:


This is Here Be Dragons by Dragon Dreams. I stitched this piece many years ago when it was offered as a class at the CreativFestival (although it was called the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival back then....). It has sat in my pile of projects since then and I had a sudden urge to *do* something with it. So, I made it into a flat fold. Here's some pictures of the side and back:



I had found the dragon fabric ages ago and easily put it together with Here Be Dragons. I didn't have enough of it to do the inside of the flat fold with it, so the insides are just a simple dark blue fabric. I'm quite happy with how this turned out.

Then I tripped over these two pieces:


Now these two pieces aren't completely finished as I didn't have the right kind of ribbon or fibre to make cording in my stash. I'll rectify that later today. These two pieces are old as the hills though - they're my first pieces on an evenweave as opposed to Aida. I don't remember precisely where the designs came from, but I think they're from a book. I'll need to do a little rummage and see what I find. I could also tell the age of this piece simply from the new-stitcher mistake I made on them - they edges of the fabric were masking taped! They've left a few yellow marks on the fabric, but I cut that off before I made these up.

I'm going to add ribbon and a hanger to these and give them to my mother. She loves these pieces and has done for years. I don't know why I've waited so long to do something with them and give them to her.

Finally, something Silverlotus said in her blog not long ago has inspired me a bit. She's right in that we, as stitchers, do need some kind of Public Awareness League. Our craft is declining in popularity and I really this it's up to us, as stitchers to try and do something about it. It needs to be visible or folks just won't catch on to what an awesome thing needlework is. I've no desire to become a needlework celebrity(!?!), but I do have a desire to share my passion. To that end, I'm going to start this:

What's so special about starting another project, you might ask? Well, this isn't just going to be any old project pulled from my rather embarassingly large stash. It's going to be my travelling project. For however long this might take (it's not exactly a *small* project), this project is going to travel with me when I leave home. It'll be stitched on while I'm away from home and I'm going to try to document it's travels (something akin to the Yarn Harlot's travelling sock).

Tomorrow we leave for the cottage for a week so my project will have it's first adventure in the 'real' world. I will put in a few stitches today whilst at home, just so I don't waste time figuring out where to start.

This could be interesting....

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So, we've been a little busy......

Looking back over photographs we've taken in the last 18 months (um, we kinda forget to actually take the photographs somewhere to be printed on actual paper....), I realized that June has been quite busy in our little neck of the woods....

First, my nephew got married (he's the dude in the tux and he's standing with my parents and his new wife):


It was a day fraught with *issues* (namely that neither the mother of the groom nor the mother of the bride elected to attend the wedding for what I can only decide are *stupid* reasons), but we did our best to have a lovely day. The weather did co-operate as for weeks previously it had been cold and rainy. The day of the wedding was clear, sunny and pleasantly warm.

Then DS#1 broke his finger - we found out from the dr. that he has an undisplaced fracture - meaning it's broken but luckily nothing has shifted out of place. We're into our 3rd week of having it buddy taped. It's still swollen and sore and he can't do silly things like cut his meat at dinner or open a bottle of water or ride his bike, but we're managing. He'll likely be taped up for at least another week and then he'll need to learn how to use it again.

After that bit of drama, I had to work for a few days, DH had his birthday:


We took him out to a nice restaurant for dinner. Upon hearing it was his birthday, the servers at the restaurant promptly got together, brought out the longhorn hat and got the restaurant to sing him Happy Birthday (DH said the hat was really heavy and very hard to keep from tipping backwards off his head)....

End of the school year craziness set in next and I was busy preparing for the Grade 5 graduation at DS#2's school (he won't graduate until next year, but I always help out preparing for it each year). It was *such* a relief to get to the last day of school. Both boys did well on report cards and much joy was had by all.... :-)

This past weekend had me realizing that I was definitely spending my time in a small town....

How did I know this, you ask? In a word, PoultryFest....

We saw lots of chickens:


We watched the chicken chariot races:

Believe it or not, they actually hook up small chariots (you can't really see them in the picture) to the chickens and release them in lanes. Chickens, being somewhat dim bulbs, don't know what to do and so they walk back and forth looking confused. It's not really a race, but more of a see who might wander down to the other end..... One did make it to the end of the race and escaped the enclosure. Much hilarity ensued as the chicken made his bid for freedom whislt at least a dozen people made attempts to catch him. I was rooting for the chicken, but sadly he was recaptured and hooked up to his chariot for the second heat.....

Later in the day we watched the Egg Drop:


If you look carefully, you can see a dude in a cherry picker (it's got the 1-800-RENT-CAT sign on it). He stands up there with a whole lot of eggs. There's a measuring tape so they know how high the cherry picker is. The kids stand beneath the dude in the cherry picker and attempt to catch the eggs as he drops them. If they catch the egg and don't break it, they're in the next round when the cherry picker goes higher. If it breaks (and splats and makes a big mess all over the hapless child), the catcher is eliminated. The winner caught an egg from 39ft. up. It's quite funny to watch the kids try to catch the egg. They do the same thing with adults too, but we didn't stay to watch that.

Poultryfest is a really great family event - all the inflatable stuff you can see in the background is completely free - and DS#2 made good use of it all. There were all kinds of climbing structures and slides.... There was a tractor pull and an antique and classic car show as well. You could spend the day there and not part with a penny. We however, did buy food and drinks while there but even that was reasonably priced. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.

On the stitching front, I'm still plugging away at models. One is almost done, the other I still need to pull DMC for (generally designers do provide the DMC, but I asked not to for the second model because I have so darned much of the stuff here! ).... I haven't picked up a single project for myself, beyond another attempt at knitting a sock with a heel. Attempt #1 was comical - I discovered after turning the heel that I was knitting in two different sizes - I started off knitting for size small, then switched to medium and then went back to small again. So, if you've got really wierd feet, I would have had the perfect sock.... Being human, they wouldn't have fit me, so I frogged the whole thing and am working my way through again, but in the correct size this time. Cross your fingers that I keep one size through the whole sock....

I'm off to prepare for a Canada Day BBQ tomorrow. If you're Canadian, Happy Canada Day! If you're not, Happy Canada Day anyway........and an early Happy 4th of July to all those Americans out there!

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Are we jinxed?

I'm starting to wonder if there's some kind of finger-injury hex hanging over our house....

DS#1 was picked up from school on Wednesday afternoon because he'd hurt his finger. Apparently, when in a group, 12-year-old boys act like idiots (not a real surprise, but anyway...). They were 'playing' (notice the quotes) tug-of-war with DS#1's hat (why, I'll never know). Somehow it involved yanking things so hard, that DS#1's ring finger on his right hand swelled up like an over-stuffed sausage.....

Advil, x-rays and a few hours later left him with his finger buddy-taped to its neighbour and admonishions to keep it immobile as much as possible.

Dr. called yesterday afternoon. It's not just bashed to death, but is, in fact, broken. Two weeks of taping, then more X-rays. Much pain all around.

DS#1, however, is enjoying the idea of not having to write anything for the next two weeks.

So, whoever cast the finger jinx on my house, could you please lift it??????

(My finger is much improved, although still swollen and hurts when touched or moved too much.)

Sorry for no pictures today - I'm working on the first of two models, so I can't show anything. The first model is going really fast - it's small so hopefully it'll be done in a week or two at most.

I'm going to go look up a finger-injuring repel spell or something.....

Off to find my research books ( :-) ), then proofread the Summer issue of ANPT!

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I filled out a very important form this morning....

After waiting countless years for this, today I have applied to finally get my birth information. I have been waiting over 15 years to find this information. I have already found out most info through other means, but now I can get my original birth registration that will contain my birth parents names. This is a good day that is a long time coming. I'm only sorry that this legislation has taken just long enough that both of my birth parents are dead and I will never be able to meet them. Still, for other adoptees perhaps they will finally be able to come full circle and close the hole that is left by a closed adoption.

Finger still hurts like heck, stitching is possible, but slow. And doesn't it just figure that I've got *another* model coming right away too? Nothing for months and then all of a sudden everyone wants me at the same time.....

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Ow

I've discovered the hard way that washing machines bite. Without provocation either. I was just asking it to wash some clothes. Look what it did to my pinky....


It's going all black and hurts like heck. The lid slammed down unexpectedly when I reached into the laundry basket to grab some clothes for the washer to wash. I never would have dreamed something so minor could hurt so bloody much! (pardon my french!)

I wouldn't mind so much, except......a new model arrived for stitching on Friday. I blame my pinky problem partially on the new model - the previous stitcher was unable to complete it because of a family emergency. Now it looks like I've broken my pinky (or given it one heck of a whack, at any rate).

*sigh*

On a happier note, whilst folding laundry one-handed, I had gotten up to retrieve more items from the dryer (it doesn't bite) and returned to my folding spot to find this:


Apparently DS#1's unmentionables make a most queenly bed. Serves me right for leaving them in such a comfy spot, I guess.

I'm off to see if I can manage to stitch a bit. Thankfully I'm right handed, so I should be able to manage. It's taken a dreadfully long time to type all this....

Ice. Need Ice. Need Advil. Need to kick washer.

Okay, I'm done being a baby now.

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Yikes!

Has it really been over a month since I last posted? I hadn't noticed how time has been speeding by me. Although, to be fair, I've spent most of the last month sicker than a dog, so my perception of time is likely off....

May has been quite a busy month work-wise as I've been doing lots of workshops for Scientists in School. Just last week I finished the 9th workshop in a row of my newest workshop that is for Kindergarten students. It's called 'There's No Place Like Home' and is all about animal habitats. I really enjoy this workshop, although I feel sorry for the little guys and gals - they've got to listen to me sing. Trust me, it's not something for the faint of heart to listen to! Thankfully those in the 3 to 5 year old range are quite forgiving. (although perhaps I got payback at a different school when one little boy tossed his cookies all over my tablecloth, magnifying glass and himself... Ew!)

Because I've been so ill, I haven't stitched much, although I'm pleased to say that my mystery project for my blogaversary (sp?) winner has turned out quite well in the finishing department. Now that work has calmed down a bit and I'm no longer drowning in my own mucus, I should get that out the door shortly. Although I'm having a serious debate about another little thing I stitched up. I'm thinking of finish-finishing that and adding it to the package. Hmmmmm.....

I did manage to start a new project while I've been sick. This has been sitting in my 'must-stitch-it' pile for a while, but I was struggling with just what fabric and fibre to use. While stash rummaging, I tripped over a piece of fabric I love and had forgotten about at the bottom of the pile. My next trip to the LNS found a fibre I was quite happy to have jumping into my hands, and well, check out the result for yourself.....


Yes, I've fallen into the Cirque des Cercles need. I've loved this piece since the first time I saw it. It stitches up surprisingly fast too. I'm stitching it on a 28-count opalescent lugana that is a lovely golden tone (it really doesn't photograph worth a darn!) with a DMC colour variations. I'd tell you the number, but it's upstairs, I'm in the basement and I'm not up to the trek of the stairs again just yet. (this being sick thing has messed with my stamina something fierce!) I'm in love, love, love.......

The other accomplishment that I'm basking in at the moment is the gardens at my DS#2's school. A few years ago a bunch of volunteers and I got together to dig up the never-ending-bed-of-weeds and try to make the gardens a thing of beauty. This year we're starting to see some results! Here's a few pictures of just what's blooming right now:


This is just one little clump of columbine that I planted last summer. I got the plants off a clearance table at one of those grocery store nurseries that pop up every year. I don't think I paid more than 50 cents for the plant. I think it's paying me off quite handily!


This clump of irises was actually salvaged from the great weed-a-thon when we first started this project. We found tons and tons of iris tubers in the garden beds so we rescued them from neglect and made their home a happier place. Again, I think they're paying me back in large quantities. I've never seen yellow irises with purple tips before. They're quite stunning IRL.

Here's a picture of just a portion of the flower bed (there's more around a corner that I couldn't squeeze into the photo and two small raised beds that surround a couple of trees):


Isn't it tremendous what a bunch of people can do when they work together? At one point, the weeds were as tall as the irises. The previous solution was to hack at them with a weed-whacker and call it done. In all the years I've been going to this school (almost 10 years now), this is the first time I've ever seen these irises. If I hadn't dug up and found the tubers myself, I wouldn't have believed them to be there.

Now I just have to figure out how to stop the person or persons who last summer, dug up 2 day lilies and at least a dozen rubekia and black-eyed susans and TOOK THEM. The only thing they left were holes where the plants had been. The audacity of some folks never ceases. But that's a rant for another day!

I'm off to stitch - I don't have to work for two whole weeks!

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See what happens when one project frustrates me?


5 dishcloths later (yes, I know, they need their ends sewn in and some washing and blocking) and I figured I was ready to get back to some stitching. My gift project was still glowering at me from a corner, so first I went off and finished this:

Damsel's Dozen by Dragon Dreams
Stitched on stitchband with recommended fibres

This was a class piece from almost 3 festivals ago. I actually would have finished this many weeks ago had it not been for the fact that I ran out of the Waterlilies used in the piece. It required a trip to the LNS to find appropriate fibres to finish it off.

I still couldn't face my gift project and developed a horrible urge to do some canvaswork, so this little kit came out to play:

Braque by Kick Back & Stitch
Stitched on 18-count mono canvas
with recommended Waterlilies, Kreiniks and assorted Rainbow Gallery fibres

I had purchased this piece all kitted up some time ago but it languished in my stitching basket, mostly because I didn't have the right size stretcher bars (smaller than 8"x8" seems to not exist in my voluminous stash for some reason....). The above-mentioned trip to the LNS rectified that situation handily. Unfortunately, all was not well as I ran out of one of the Kreinik fibres a mere 8 stitches before completion. Hence the LNS saw my face again (they really like me there now....or they're too polite to say otherwise!).

While on my second trip to the LNS, I proceeded to kit up another piece by Kick Back & Stitch - one of the Octagon pieces. I fully intended to come home and commence working on it (it's all done in pretty purples and greens), but alas the Waterlilies was against me and was out of stock. So, there's another trip to the LNS in my future. I think my van can find it on its own now....

Being the champion procrastinator that I am, I thought it was time to do a little finishing, especially since the zillion-pound sewing machine had been hauled downstairs to repair the boys' gym clothes bags anyway. So, I put these things together:


Now, I still need to attach the cording and hangers to everything, but they're all stuffed and closed which is an accomplishment in and of itself. It's definitely a move in the right direction since some of those ornaments have been sitting in my do-something-with-me pile for a good 2 or 3 years. Also for the first time I tried out closing things with a ladder stitch - something heretofore untried in this house. I liked it for ease of closing and I'm sure I'll use it again.

In my continuing effort to avoid the project making me pull my hair out, I thought it was time to get back to my friend, The Big Grey Blob (or Nantucket Rose, IRL):


She's trucking along at her own happy little pace. She's really quite pretty IRL but doesn't photograph well. I think once something besides grey gets added it'll look better.

A few days ago I caught my kitties pretending to be an endless loop of fur, so I had to take a picture:


If it weren't for the ears, it'd be hard to tell who is who!

Oh and my gift project? Thanks to my suddenly remembering the benefits of magnification, I sat down with a fresh bit of fabric, my magnifier and a strong desire to stitch. The result? Well, I can't show you that just yet. All I can say is, it's finished. It's pretty. It just need to head to my finishing suite (aka the basement craft room) to be made into something I hope becomes pretty spectacular.

Not a bad two weeks, huh? And I even worked for 4 days straight in there too!

I'm off to the Spring CreativFestival tomorrow with my stitching partner in crime. Who knows what we'll get up to?

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AAARRRGGGHHH!

Do you ever have one of *those* projects that no matter how nice to speak to it, or how nice you treat it, all it wants to do is play with the frogs? So far, I've started it. Three times. Three separate times. Over one. On 32-ct. Someone shoot me.

It wouldn't be so bad, but I'm stitching a gift. The project won't listen. I fear this project may never get finished at this rate.

Phooey.

I'm going to have to pick up something else for a little while. Maybe it'll make my other project jealous so it'll behave. *sigh* I know! I'll start knitting. That oughta do it. Where are my knitting needles again?

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March Break Madness....

Well, okay, it's not going to be about basketball. I'm more of a hockey girl.

But, it is going to be about needlework!!!!! (and there's lots of pictures, so my apologies in advance!)

This past week our local historical site, called Black Creek Pioneer Village was open for the first time during March Break. Their season generally runs from May until December, so it was a treat to be able to wander through the place during March Break. I'd heard in the past that Black Creek has an excellent collection of needlework, but I'd never had the opportunity to experience it before.

In one of the first pioneer houses we stopped at Burwick House which dates from about 1844. It was very Georgian in style and we had fun working at not knocking our heads off when going through the exceedingly low doorways. In the kitchen area I spied these two samplers (my apologies for the wretched photography - the camera and I were discussing the merits of focus and clearly, I lost)....


I found this piece quite unusual as the border was stitched with morning glories around the edge - something I'd not seen before. It also had motifs of butterflies that almost looked like stumpwork. I hadn't seen such interesting things on an antique sampler before. Hanging nearby this was this piece (camera and I temporarily agreed to focus again...)



I found this piece a bit more typical of antique samplers I had seen in the past, but again I found the butterfly motifs unusual.

Both these pieces dated from about the same age as the house.

The parlor and dining room revealed these pieces of needlepoint and cross-stitch:

It's hard to take really great pictures when you're stuck behind a rope. Still, I tried!


Upstairs (after bashing heads on some low lintels), we found a wonderful bobbin-lace pillow with some lace in mid-process and these samplers:


What struck me about these two samplers (aside from the fact that they're identical, barring the names & dates stitched on them) was the fact that they're death samplers. The husband and wife died two days apart and someone took the time to stitch these memorial samplers to them. They were horribly young at 35 and 37 years old. I imagine they passed due to some illness such as flu or cholera. The interpreter in the building didn't know anything about these two samplers.

We left Burwick House and after eating our fill of pancakes & maple syrup (it is syrup season, don't you know!), we ended up at Daniel Stong's first house which dates from about 1816. Black Creek is situated on the Stong's original family farm, so this building is in the spot where it was built. At one time 9 people lived in this teeny, tiny little house. It only had 3 rooms. I don't know how Mrs. Stong didn't go stark raving mad with that many folks about. Hanging in the 'master' bedroom were these two pieces (again, I'm stuck behind ropes, so the pictures aren't the best)....

This piece dates from 1799 and is a more typical school-girl sampler like what I've seen before. It extolls the virtues of remaining chaste. Very interesting, anyway....

This next piece looks like it was done in crewel, but it was hard to tell at the distance I was away from it....


We moved a little ways away to Stong's second house, which was much, much larger that the original house. It actually had an upstairs! I could envision 9 people living in this house without killing each other. More needlework greeted me at every turn:

I daren't get too close to this cloth hanging near the front door as the interpreter was watching my every move.... It was very interesting to look at to say the least. Mostly done in cross-stitch from what I could tell, although the heart motifs looked suspiciously hardanger-like.

This piece was hanging in the parlour. It is more school-girl sampler-ish with themes I've seen before. It does extoll the virtues of faithfulness and has many traditional images of things like Adam & Eve standing below the apple tree with a serpent for company. It's almost risque... I was intrigued by the Asian-looking cranes at the bottom of the piece too. I didn't spy a date on this piece, but I am curious as to when it was stitched.

An adjoining wall revealed this piece:

This sampler incorporated an alphabet and was stitched by a 10 year old. I can't imagine having been able to create such handwork at 10! I was busy trying to exact revenge on my evil-older-brother at 10. It's a beautiful piece with more butterflies again.

Another wall showed this alphabet sampler (it took me at least 10 pictures to get something this clear - it's very faded....)

I found the variety of fonts used in the alphabets interesting in and of themselves. Stitched by a 13 year old in the 1830s I believe. There's a charming error in the stitching of the number 9 in the 5th row of the sampler. It's about half the size of the other numbers and looks as if there had been some serious frogging in that area. Nice to know these young girls weren't all perfect stitchers either!

I found this piece in the kitchen area of the home, but I'm not completely sure of its age. It looks a bit like it was stitched with a varigated DMC and the perforated paper it was stitched on looked quite new. It's still a pretty piece though. The letters were all diagonal satin stitched. (part of my doubt of the antique-ness of this piece was the selling of similar pieces in the gift shop, framed for about $50....)....

Upstairs in the house I spied another piece of needlework, but it was too far away to get a good picture of. I happened to mention this to the interpreter in passing and she very kindly allowed me behind the ropes to get a closer shot. She even took it off the wall so I could get an even better look at it:

This piece was stitched in 1773 by a 14 year old. What an accomplishment. It's also an excellent example of why you shouldn't carry threads - you can see every last carry in all of the wording in the piece. But again, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who does silly things when stitching. The flowers at the bottom of the sampler look to be stitched in silks as the sheen is still gorgeous today. It's a beautiful piece and I'm happy to know it is being taken care of.

I've always had a strange fascination for antique pieces of needlework, even though I don't generally stitch samplers or these primitive-type works. I'm more entraced with the history and the idea that I am participating in an art that can survive for hundreds of years.

Apparently there is more needlework at Black Creek, but the other buildings weren't open that day. I look forward to returning in the summer time and hopefully finding more treasures to share.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little needlework tour. You've got great staying power if you've made it this far!

Off to enjoy some time with my needle....

P.S. Thanks for the words of sympathy on the loss of our little Joey. We still miss him a lot, but I imagine we'll move on soon enough. I never imagined one little hamster could mean so much to my little family. Who'd a thunk it???? :-)

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It's a sad day today.....

Today we're all a bit sad around here for we woke this morning to find one of our furry family members had crossed over the rainbow bridge.


Our little Joey (a.k.a. Joey-the-wonder-hamster) passed suddenly in the early hours this morning. He'd been with us for a year and a half and we will miss him dearly. He came to us as the result of a friend 'upgrading' to a guinea pig and they wanted Joey to have a good home. So, he moved in with us and enriched our lives. He had the loveliest personality - he didn't bite anyone and loved to be with us. If you stood near his cage, he always woke up and came to investigate. He loved to be held and petted. We learned early on that broccoli was the way to his little hamster heart.

He now sleeps with my roses. We'll all miss you little Joe. Sleep well.

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I just wanna do this......


because a much-favoured not-so-LNS is closing.....

Read all the bad news here.

I have shopped at this store for many, many years - never in person, but on-line. Their service was great, their attention to detail excellent and their overall kindness wonderful. I'm going to really, really, really miss this shop.

What does this say about the industry I love so dearly? It leaves me worried and sad and wondering.

Off to contemplate a road trip.....

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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!

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And the winner is................

(Thanks to random.org for it's random help!)


If you can't read who won, I'm happy to say the winner is Silverlotus! Go visit her blog. She's got the cutest little boy and some wonderful stitching and knitting too. I've even had the pleasure of meeting her in person. So, Heather, please e-mail me at (you'll need to remove spaces) e k i l l i n s @ r o g e r s . c o m . Congratulations!

I'm terribly sorry I can't give *everyone* a prize, but my resources are limited and so is my time, unfortunately.

I've got some finishes to share (2, in fact), but I'll save those for another day!

Off to rummage through my stash for the perfect project!

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