Cruise Review

This is probably going to be long... with pictures. Maybe I'll break it down into parts for easier posting (and reading). We'll see how long-winded I get. ;)

Our cruise departed on Friday, September 8 for a 9-night Caribbean trip. The scheduled itenerary was 2 days (Sat/Sun) at sea, followed by stops in St. Thomas, St. Maarten (my personal favorite), San Juan, and Labadee. Then it was another 2 days at sea to come home.

Hurricane something-or-other had other ideas. (Okay, I confess... I never bothered checking any weather reports before we left, and I have no idea what the thing had been named.) It was on a path to Bermuda, where we were NOT going. However, the ship's usual 2-day route to the Caribbean would have passed right through the hurrican's track. So, they had to re-route us, following a route closer to the U.S. coast, which meant that it was going to take 3 days at sea to get to the Carribean rather than the usual 2. It also meant that we would miss our stop in St. Thomas.

More confessions... I'm not crazy about St. Thomas. I think it's highly overrated, especially the shopping. There are some gorgeous beaches, but they're quite crowded and I've seen equally lovely, less crowded beaches on other islands. What I like about St. Thomas is that nearly EVERYONE gets off the ship there, which means I can stay onboard and enjoy a very quiet day by the pool. The extra day at sea suited me just fine. ;)

We left from Cape Liberty Cruise Port (Royal Caribbean's fancy name for "Bayonne, NJ). We did this last year, and I discovered that I really like it, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost-- we can drive rather than flying to the ship. I love flying, but can live without the hassle when I'm going on a cruise. There's only one ship in port at any given time (only 2 sail from there currently), so the cruise terminal isn't nearly as crowded as in other places. Then there's the view of New York City when you are leaving port. BF doesn't get it, but I just love being on deck and seeing the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.



The ship also sails under a bridge as it is leaving New Jersey. The ship is quite large, and it just fits under the bridge. Our captain said last year what the clearance is, but I don't remember. I do know it isn't much, though. I missed this last year, because of dinner and a delayed sailing time, but I made a point to be there for it this time. Cool, huh?



Wow... I've rambled!! And we haven't even gotten to the islands yet. LOL I think I'll stop here and post about our stops later. For now, I'll leave you with a photo of one of the our towel animals. It was a "bad hair day" for me, but I'm wearing one of the outfits I made especially for the cruise, so I thought I'd share. By the time we left, I had finished 4 pairs of pants and 2 tops. (I'll post pics of those later.) Not bad for a rush job! :)

Vacation Mail!

We arrived home on Sunday after a truly wonderful cruise.  Unfortunately, BF has had a mountain of business-related stuff to do since we got home, so computer time for me has been practically non-existent.  I'll be posting about our trip later, but for now I wanted to share the wonderful package that I received from Cari in the scissor fob exchange.  She stitched this over one using overdyed silk.  I just love it!!!

And, take a peek at the other goodies she sent along.  I can't wait to stitch this needleroll.  :)

Are we there yet???

The countdown to the 2006 cruise continues. Just 4 sleeps until we leave! I'm the world's worst (or greatest, depending on your perspective) procrastinator, which means that I have a TON of things to do before we leave. It also means that I haven't had a chance to read any of your blogs. I thought I was supposed to have MORE free time during my leave of absence, but so far that hasn't been the case.

PIG has been woefully neglected. I still haven't managed to finish Part 4, and Part 5 arrived last week. It's all beads and will be very slow going, I'm sure. I went ahead and started a bit of it, even though Part 4 isn't yet finished. I figure I have a better shot at getting it all done if I can switch between beading and regular stitching. Here's what it looked like as of August 31.



I haven't done much work on it since then, just a few beads for Part 5. Mostly, I've been sewing like a madwoman, though my finished sewing projects don't reflect that.

The first thing that I finished was a pair of pants. They're not nearly as huge as they look... maybe it's the cropped length that makes them appear so wide? The fit of these is extremely flattering, and there will be more to come before our departure on Friday. I sewed up a second pair of these today, in a lovely brown/black fabric. They were much dressier looking, but unfortunately the fabric was extremely itchy, so they will not be making the trip. I didn't even bother putting the zipper in. :( I have fabric for 3 more pair... wonder how many I'll finish?

I also made this top. I couldn't resist this batik fabric when I saw it on my first trip to the fabric shop.



I also added some decorative stitching to the hem of this one. I thought it was cute, but the reality is that I hate fiddling with blind hemstitches, and this was much easier to do.

August Review

Is it really the end of August already? I have no idea where the month went, but it certainly passed quickly. I managed to meet most of my stitching goals this month, and even exceeded a couple of them. The one goal that I didn't meet was starting and finishing Part 4 of Persian Iris Garden. I started, but then I got distracted by other things. First came a couple of exchange projecs. After that, I realized that I need to sew some clothes for our cruise. So here I am, on the last day of the month, with Part 4 only partially completed... and several more pairs of pants to make.

In the meantime, I did have a happy dance this evening. In fact, it was just minutes ago. I was determined to get back to stitching an ornament each month, so I stitched up this little project. The design is Christmas Heart Pincushion by Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin, which appeared in the JCS 2000 ornament issue.

I'll be sharing more pics, both of my sewing and PIG, soon-- as soon as I recharge the batteries for my digital camera. The Christmas ornament was small enough to fit on the scanner... not so for PIG. Or my new pants. LOL

The August review looks something like this:

1. Start and finish Part 4 of PIG - not done yet, but close; I'd guess that part 4 is about 80% finished
2. Stitch a fob for upcoming exchange - completed and ready for mailing
3. Start fall exchange project - started and FINISHED! :)
4. Assemble at least one FUFO - assembled two on 8/6
5. Stitch a Christmas ornament - Christmas Heart Pincusion, completed 8/31

AND...

6. Finally finished my Pansy Needleroll UFO on 8/15
7. Made a pair of pants and a top for the cruise

Just a quick check-in

My first few days of "Temporary Retirement" have been quite nice, but I haven't spent much time on the computer.  Maybe tomorrow I will have time to catch up on my blog reading.  For now, there are just a few minutes to post.

On the stitching front, I've had a Happy Dance for my completed fall exchange project.  I can't wait to share a photo.  It will be a while though, since the project won't even be mailed until October. 

I've also worked a bit on PIG.  It's coming along nicely, although I still haven't managed to get a great photo of it. 

I'm also busy counting the days until our cruise.  I'm looking forward to the trip, but there is still a lot to prepare before we go.  For one thing, I need clothes.  Being a natural born procrastinator, I didn't start shopping until last weekend.  The stores have all of their fall/winter stuff out now, and there's not much available that would be suitable for a tropical vacation.  So... I decided to MAKE the things I need.  Everything except swimwear, anyway.  I did manage to find one of those yesterday-- the only one in the entire store that wasn't on sale. :(  With just over 2 weeks before we leave, I've been spending a lot of time at the fabric store.  My sewing machine is rapidly becoming my new best friend, which hasn't left a lot of time for stitching. 

A New Project & SBQ

My new project is.... well, I can't tell you, because it's for an exchange. ;) I felt like I needed a little break from PIG last night, so I decided to start my fall exchange gift. I love fall designs and colors, so it was tough for me to settle on a pattern for this one. One pattern really stood out from the others though, so I pulled the floss (overdyes... yay!!!) and set about finding a piece of suitable fabric. I found the most perfect fabric in my stash for this little project. It's an R&R hand-dyed thing in a shade that really sets off the floss colors. I only have one small piece of this fabric, which makes it hard to give up, but nothing else even came close to looking as pretty as this one. I have a feeling that I am going to be tracking down more of this fabric and stitching another of these things for myself. LOL Anyway, I think my partner will like it, and it's a really fun stitch.

And now, it's time for this weeks SBQ. We actually have two this week:

Ami asks us:

Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what is it? If not, what do you store your fabric in?

And Anna wants to know:

How do people store their fabric, especially those small but potentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label it or otherwise know what each piece is?

Timely questions, since I was just searching through my fabric stash last night. Fabric storage was a complete non-issue until I got acquainted with Silkweaver and their Fabric of the Month club. Before that time, I purchased only fabric that I needed for a specific project. I had no idea why anyone would want to stockpile fabric. Well, let's just say that I learned... all too well. Soon after I joined FOTM, I purchased a large Rubbermaid box to store all the fabrics in. It was so big, and my collection was so small, that I thought it would be all the fabric storage I would ever need. It still fits in there... sort of... but, if I get many more packages from Silkweaver, it's going to be time for new storage.

I have a well-intended, but poorly implemented, system for sorting my fabrics. I'm not a fan of cutting a small hunk out of a large piece of fabric when I want to stitch a small project, so I first separate my fabric by the size of the cut. Much of my fabric collection is made up of small cuts, so those take most of the storage space. From there, I sort by fabric count, then by color. At least, that is what I intend to do. The reality is that I'm not that organized most of the time, and I'm lucky if all of the fabric makes it into the container designated for fabric storage. Even so, it's still relatively organized and I am usually able to find what I'm looking for.

Let the countdown begin!

Friday will be my last day of work for a while.  It's my last day of work for 4 1/2 months, to be exact.  I have so many things that I need to do at my house in the country, that I decided to take time off of work to get them done.  It has been nearly a year and a half since my dad passed away, and things out there just aren't progressing quickly enough to suit me.  Of course, there's no real rush, other than the one in my head.  I'm not planning to sell the house, but even so, I would like to have the time to go through everything out there and decide what I'd like to keep and what can go.  That takes time-- more time than I have to devote to it when I have to be at work 5 days a week.  So, that's where the leave of absence comes in.

Last night, I finally had a happy dance for Pansy Sampler!  This is the project I chose for the weekend needleroll stitch-along.  Most of this was already stitched before I picked it up over the weekend.  I only had to do the Hardanger and beads.  I just couldn't get motivated, and things kept going wrong, so I didn't finish it until last night.  I still need to hemstitch it and assemble the needleroll.  Maybe that will be next month's FUFO project.

And, here's a picture of the soap that I made on Sunday.  I love how this turned out!  I molded it in an empty breadcrumb cannister that I had washed out.  It was just the right size for the loofah, and I was able to just tear it off to unmold the soap.  From there, I sliced it about 1" thick.

Mid-August Goal Review... and other things

First, I would like to thank everyone for the supportive comments and emails.  I'm happy to say that yesterday was considerably better than Sunday.  :)  For starters, I emailed SoapCrafters about the scale, and they are shipping me a replacement.  I've placed several orders with this company before, always with outstanding results, but this is the first time I've had any problems with an order.  I have to say that their quick response and willingness to take care of this has earned them an A+ in customer service. 

I also cut my loofah soap into bars yesterday, and oooohhh... they're nice!!  They're a little too scrubby for every day use, but great for a weekly exfoliating treatment. They also lather nicely, something that is a concern with melt & pour soaps, because not all soap bases are created equal.  A lot of them simply don't lather well.  Granted, the amount of lather has nothing to do with the cleaning ability of the soap, but it's still nice to have suds.  For anyone interested in doing M&P soaps, the bases I've been using come from the above-mentioned SoapCrafters.  I've been quite happy with the lather, even when I add a bit of cocoa butter to the mix.

Okay, enough of my "soap box" (sorry, couldn't resist the pun!).  On to the mid-month goal review:

1.  Start and finish Part 4 of PIG - started 8/1
2.  Stitch a fob for upcoming exchange - stitching completed 8/6, still need to assemble
3.  Start fall exchange project - not yet started, but I have chosen the design
4.  Assemble at least one FUFO - assembled two on 8/6
5.  Stitch a Christmas ornament - nope

Finishing Part 4 of PIG may be a bit of a stretch.  There is quite a bit of stitching in this section.  Also, I've signed up for a LOT of exchanges in the coming months (5 to be mailed between Sept. 1 and Nov. 10).  I really enjoy stitching for exchanges, but they do take time away from PIG stitching. 

The fob will be assembled this weekend, at the latest.  The fall exchange piece will be started in the next few days, just as soon as I go to the LNS to pick up some more over-dyed thread for it.  The Christmas ornament.... well, that might not happen, but I haven't ruled it out yet.  But I did assemble two FUFOs!!

The Best Laid Plans

Have you ever had "one of those days" where nothing seems to go right?  Well, that describes much of my weekend.  I had the very best of intentions, but my plans didn't go so well.  Some of it was due to lack of motivation, but other things really seemed to be the universe conspiring against me.

I finally managed to join Katrina's needleroll stitch-along.  This is something I've wanted to participate in for the past couple of months, but something always comes up to keep me from it.  This month, I had the time to do it.  I was going to work on Victoria Sampler's Pansy needleroll.  It was very close to being finished and had been in the UFO pile for a long time.  I pulled it out after work on Friday and saw that I only needed to finish the Hardanger band at the bottom and attach the beads.  A piece of cake, right?  WRONG!! 

Try as I might, I just couldn't get motivated to do the Hardanger.  So, I forced myself to work on it.  BAD IDEA!  I started out by promptly cutting the wrong threads.  >:(  I repaired it, then started working on the rest.  I had spent about an hour on it, when I realized I was using #8 perle cotton where I was supposed to be using #12.  Have you ever had to frog Hardanger???  I don't mean the kloster blocks... but the wrapped bars and such?  UGH!!!  I finally gave up and went to bed.

On Saturday, I frogged my mistakes and started again.  I stuck with it, mostly, and have *almost* finished it.  I still have to do the dove's eyes and add the beads.  I'll do that this evening and post a pic tonight. ;)

My other good intention for the weekend was to assemble my fob for the upcoming exchange.  I wasn't motivated to do it, and after the Hardanger disaster, I decided that it would be best to hold off on the assembly.  By Sunday, I decided that was a really good thing.  I'm sure I would have managed to ruin it somehow.

Since stitching wasn't going well, I decided to try my hand at my planned soapmaking.  I had everything except the lye.  No problem, right?  Lye is EASY to find... available in most supermarkets.  Or so I've been told.  Four stores later, and I *still* don't have any lye.  So, no soap from scratch for me this weekend. :(

I couldn't do soap from scratch, but I could make some melt & pour.  What could possibly go wrong there?  For starters, that was when I discovered that my scale... the one that measures to the gram, that I had to order online and pay plenty of $$ for, plus shipping... doesn't work.  I tried everything.  The stupid thing simply doesn't work.  Great.  What next?

I guessed (incorrectly, of course) at the amount of soap base to melt to make some round soaps with loofah in them.  Melted, poured and, oops... I hadn't melted enough soap base.  That was easy enough to fix.  I just melted some more and poured it in.  No problem.

By this time, I was tired of standing on my feet in the kitchen, but it was nearly time for dinner.  Before I could fix dinner, I had to clean up the kitchen.  I was making a pasta dish that I could probably do in my sleep, if I had to.  I had everything ready to go and only needed to grate some fresh parmesan to top it with.  I opened my brand-new wedge of parmesan and there it was... a hair, embedded in the cheese and sticking out about 1/4".  If I hadn't seen it, I never would have believed it.  What person finds a HAIR sticking out of their cheese??? 

That's just the kind of day I was having.

Fortunately, I cook a lot and had more parmesan on-hand, so all was not lost.

Of course, there are no pictures to post today.  I was afraid to go near the computer last night.  I was convinced that if I got near it, the thing would mysteriously combust.  I'll have pics of the needleroll, and maybe PIG, tomorrow.

Jessica Stitch

This just might be my new favorite stitch.  Isn't it pretty?  Surprisingly, I had never done it before, though I have heard other stitchers talk about Jessica stitch.  Based on the black background, you can probably guess that this is from Persian Iris Garden, which I worked on last night. 

Part 4 is coming along nicely, although I haven't had as much time to work on it as I would have liked.  There's quite a bit of stitching in this installment.  Probably no more stitches than Part 3, but the color changes slow things down. 

I may not work on this over the weekend.  I haven't decided yet, but I do know that I have a couple of other stitching commitments.  First, I need to assemble a scissor fob for an exchange.  It isn't due to be mailed until September 1, but I would like to have it ready early.  I finished the stitching last weekend, so finishing it in the next day or so shouldn't be any problem.  My next weekend stitching commitment is a needleroll stitch-along.  I'm hoping to finish Victoria Sampler's Pansy needleroll-- a project that has been in the UFO pile for quite some time.

If I can find some time in between assorted stitching projects, I'd also like to make some soap.  Not the melt and pour stuff (though that's fun, too), but real, do-it-yourself, made-from-scratch SOAP.  I have nearly all of the supplies gathered, just need to purchase some lye and some utensils to designate for soap-making only use.  Hopefully I won't destroy BF's kitchen in the process. ;)

Today's SBQ is from Ami:

For those of you who use hand- or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?

I do stitch with over-dyed floss, but I've never found a great way to store it.  Some over-dyes, like Needle Necessities, have pre-cut lengths bound together to form a skein, which makes it impossible to wrap them around floss bobbins.  Even if I could wrap them on bobbins (as I do with my DMC), I wouldn't have enough room to write the color names or manufacturer's name. 

Over the years, my lack of organizing my specialty threads has resulted in a bit of a mess.  They ended up in various bags, which were then stored in my assorted bins where I keep the rest of my stitching stuff.  Some of them have lost their labels, and while I may know what manufacturer they are, I have no idea what the color is.  I know photos exist online, but I haven't yet had the time to sit down and go through all of my "mystery" colors.

In the meantime, I recently decided to take charge of my growing over-dyed floss disaster and have been slowly working toward getting all started.  For now, I am storing them in Floss-Away bags, grouped together on rings by manufacturer.  They're on the rings in either alphabetical or numeric order, depending on how the manufacturer designates their colors.  So far, this is working fairly well and I'll keep this system until I can come up with something better.

As I was saying...

I just had an "oops."  Blogger and my internet connection were not playing nicely together, so I am posting all of this via Photobucket.  I accidently sent the previous post before I was finished.  I tried to log on to Blogger and clean it up, but of course I can't get connected to post or delete anything there.  We'll chalk it up to technical difficulty and move on. ;)

The second FUFO that I assembled over the weekend (see the post below for the first), was an ornament stitched from a kit that I purchased ages ago.  I've had the thing finished for so long that I don't even remember stitching it.  Well, it was nearly finished anyway.  The stitching was done, but I still needed to add the beads.  I had shied away from assembling this one for two reasons.  First, because it's stocking-shaped, and I wasn't excited about sewing it up.  As if that wasn't enough, there was also twisted cord trim.  I hate making twisted cord, and I'm even less thrilled about whipstitching it on, especially if what I'm sewing it onto has curves like this tiny little stocking.

Personally, I think this turned out quite nicely, even if I am not the worlds greatest twisted cord maker.  The cord looks skinnier on one side, but that's just the camera angle.  It's actually even all the way around.  I'm really quite pleased with myself for finally finishing this one.

Since we were in the country this weekend, I was able to take a few photos of my flowers.  The first one is a winter hibiscus, with an enormous lavender plant in the background. 

Next is a hydrangea, which has produced some very large clusters this year. 

Now, just so you don't think that I have a country home with beautiful flowers everywhere, I'll show you one of my poor little rose beds.  These plants used to be so beautiful when my dad was tending them.  But when he got ill in 2004, he couldn't take care of them.  Once he passed away, I had so many other things to do that tending the roses wasn't on my priority list.  This year, I've gotten quite a few blooms, even though the plants look awful.  They're sort of between blooming sessions now, and the Japanese beetles have also attacked.  I purchased a small pump sprayer-- sized so that I can easily carry it around-- and battled the bugs this weekend.

 

Yes, that's right.  Successes, plural.  As in, more than one.  Okay, so it was really only two, which doesn't put much of a dent in the giant FUFO pile, but it's a start.  :)

The first FUFO finish was this little guy, as I had planned.  I had the candy cane fabric on-hand and thought it was just perfect for this design.  The ultra-basic flat-fold finish happened because I didn't have any suitable cording for the edges.  Everything was either the wrong shade of red, or too dressy for this design. 

You may also notice that I did not change my initials as planned.  That's because I completely forgot about it until I had already completely assembled the piece.  And so, there it is.  >:(  BF laughed and said it was a "stamp in time" but I wasn't quite so amused.  I thought about picking it out, then decided that it really isn't that important.

I finished the flat-fold while we were in the country over the weekend. I hauled a ridiculous amount of finishing supplies out there-- all of my finishing fabrics, trims, rotary cutter, mat boards, etc. I spread it

PIG Update

Here's how PIG looked as of Monday, July 31.  This is everything up to part 3, except for the large center bead, which will be added when the entire project is complete.  I've been working on Part 4 this week-- look for another update photo soon. 

I'm really not thrilled with how the photos of this project turn out.  It looks so much better IRL.  The larger version looks better, but it's still not quite right.  I think I need to play around with my camera settings a bit. 

SBQ - Week of 8/7

This week's SBQ is from Carol:

Do you have a favorite needlework tool that you like to work with? What is it and why do you like using it?

The only special needlework tool I ever used regularly was a Dololly.  I purchased it back in 1996 or 1997, not too long after they came out.  Unfortunately, I've lost track of it and it's floating around somewhere in my condo. :(  I really like the little thing-- it's great for tucking threads that are too short to run under with a needle.  I also have a floor stand... does that count as a "tool"?  I don't really use it though, because I quickly get tired of fiddling around trying to flip the stitching over to change threads. 

Other than that, I just have the basics-- needles, scissors, Q-snaps, etc.

I almost forgot

It's August now, and I nearly forgot (once again) to set my stitching goals for the month.  I was doing quite well with this earlier in the year, but somewhere along the way, I got off-track.  So, here goes...

1.  Start & finish part 4 of Persian Iris Garden - started 8/1
2.  Stitch a fob for upcoming scissor fob exchange
3.  Start fall exchange project
4.  Assemble at least one FUFO - will work on that over the weekend
5.  Stitch a Christmas ornament

Finishing Plans

I had hoped to post a photo of my completed part 3 of Persian Iris Garden.  I did take a photo of it yesterday, before beginning part 4, but I didn't upload it to my computer.  The reason?  Our a/c decided to give up on Monday evening, and it was too hot in our home office to spend time in there on the computer.  The a/c was repaired late yesterday afternoon, but the house still hadn't cooled enough for me to stand being in the office.  I'll post it later today, I promise.

Part 4 is going to be lovely.  There are quite a few colors and several specialty stitches in this section.  I'm off to a nice start already.  Maybe I'll post that, too.

I'm also making plans for an upcoming FUFO weekend, where I will dig out one of my Finished UnFinished Objects and make something out of it.  I'm thinking of using this design for a flat-fold.  What do you think?  I have some cute candy cane printed fabric that will be perfect for the backing, and I'm sure that I have some coordinating holiday trim on-hand.  If you look closely, you'll see that I finished this piece in 1996.  Yes, that's right, it has been sitting around for 10 years, and I still haven't done anything with it.  Sadly, this isn't the least bit unusual for me.  Sigh... 

Ohhhh... it looks like I also need to change my initials on it.  I was married at the time I finished that one, and I really don't need the reminder.  LOL

Soon, I think I will take some photos of all of my FUFOs (or the ones I can find, anyway) and post them.  Maybe that will motivate me to finish a few more of them.  It's really inexcusable to have so many sitting around.

Right on Time

PIG was put aside for a while this month while I worked on exchange projects, and I wasn't sure I'd have part 3 finished on-time.  Part 4 of Persian Iris Garden will be released tomorrow, and it looks like I am right on schedule for this one.  Last night, I finished the beads and tonight I will add the last little bit of metallic braid.  That means that tomorrow I will be ready to start part 4. 

I decided not to take an update pic until I complete part 3.  In the meantime, I was browsing through some WIP photos and came across this UFO. 

The design is Flower Power, by Crossed Wing Collection.  There's a photo of the pattern here.  It's a huge design-- 574 x 340 stitches.  I started it on 32 ct. antique white Belfast linen.  The entire design is to be stitched over 2, but I decided to convert the hummingbirds and insects to over 1.  I think that's where I went wrong.  I got part of the way into the first hummingbird, put the project down, and never picked it back up again.  Someday, perhaps I'll frog the over-one bits and get back to work on it. 

Today's SBQ is from Von:

Many of us have a few pairs of embroidery scissors and some even have a �collection�. How many pairs of scissors do you have? Feel free to share a photo of your favorite pair or pairs with us!

I'm not sure how many pairs of scissors I have.  All of them never seem to be in the same place at once.  The two pictured here are the ones that I use the most.  The pair on the bottom are a pair of Gingher's from their Designer series.  I forget what the pattern is called.  (Amanda, maybe?)  I have another pair just like them, except the handles are decorated in a blue floral.  The pair at the top of this photo are my Solingen's.  They're extremely fine and razor-sharp.  I just love them!

The tiny black pair was purchased to replace a gold-handled pair of Gingher's that I lost.  Well, I thought I lost them anyway.  They eventually turned up, and I now have two pair of very finely pointed scissors.  I also have one pair of "everyday" scissors that are very pretty w/ green handles, and I recently discovered a few pairs of old German embroidery scissors as I was cleaning out one of the many corners of the house that I inherited from my parents. 

I have to admit that I have a thing for pretty embroidery scissors, and it takes a lot of willpower not to continue buying more of them every time I'm at the LNS.

It's Official!

I'm going to Hershey in September!!!  :)  I wasn't sure I'd be able to attend, because of some other vacation plans, but I've found a way to make it work.  I've never attended before, for assorted reasons.  Last year, it was because I was on a cruise during the exact dates of the festival.  This year, we're going to take our cruise(s) a bit earlier, so that I will be back in time for Hershey.

There is a stitching group that I've been a part of for many years, and quite a few of the members will be attending CATS this year.  I'm really looking forward to it, because I haven't had the opportunity to meet most of these folks whom I've "known" for so many years-- some as long as a decade.  They'll be coming from all over, and it looks like it will be a fantastic event.  Sue will even be coming from Australia, and another member is coming from England.  I doubt any of us will get much sleep.  But oh, what fun!!

Let the countdown begin!

We now return...

to our regularly scheduled stitching.

PIG is progressing well and is right on schedule.  Part 3 consisted of the four semi-triangular areas, which are nearly done.  The top one is completed, the remaining three have all of the regular stitching done.  I still need to add the gold braid along the edges and beads.  I'm sure I will be able to finish this part well before Part 4 is released.

Gratuitous Kitty Photo

Sometimes I don't have any updated stitching pics to share.  Not because I'm not stitching, but because I've been to lazy to take any photos.  Today is one of those days.  But, I want to keep up with my blogging habit, so today I offer the most recent picture of my furry children.  Poor Zoe doesn't look too thrilled, but Buddy appears as though he's quite pleased with the new spot he found for a little snooze.

Since the most recent round of exchanges is finished, I've gone back to working on Persian Iris Garden.  I'm just about finished with the stitching on part 3, but I still need to do the beading. 

I stitched a bit on Saturday, but decided to take Sunday off.  Instead of stitching, I went out for tapas with a friend.  We had a wonderful meal, followed by a shoe shopping expedition.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that the store was already starting to carry boots.  It's July.  Our temps are in the 90s.  Who on earth would buy boots in this weather???  Well, me,  of course! LOL  I can't resist boots or sandals, and buying both on the same day... heaven!! 

Tonight I will try to finish the stitching on PIG, and maybe, just maybe I will have pictures to share by tomorrow.

SBQ - July 21

This week's SBQ is from Cathy:

When you get a project professionally framed do you get glass insterted into the frame? Why or why not?

I always get glass when I have my projects framed. I've seen how dusty the tops of the frames can get just by hanging on the wall, and I don't want to risk my stitching getting dusty. I get regular glass, with spacers inserted to prevent the glass from touching the stiching.

Ornament & Summer Exchanges

I finally managed to take a photo of the beautiful ornament that Nita sent. It's much prettier in person. This was the best I could do with just a photo. Nita also included some holiday themed goodies in the package-- a Mill Hill snowman kit, and two skeins of Needle Necessities floss in yummy Christmas colors.



I also received my Dog Days of Summer exchange from Myrna today. The stitching and finishing on this piece is absolutely wonderful. She used a Lizzie*Kate design to make a pocket on a tote bag. Such a clever way to finish!



And... the bag was filled with all sorts of summertime goodies!

Blogger!!!

Well, I finally found the time to sit down and catch up on my blog reading.  There are so many that I follow (take a look at my sidebar-- I really do read them all) and I have gotten hopelessly behind on many of them.  So this afternoon, I decided to catch up, from the beginning.

I've read a number of posts and have seen all sorts of lovely and inspiring stitching.  But, I can't comment on anything!  For some reason, I can't connect to Blogger's comment feature.  The little window opens up, then it appears to ponder life for a minute or so before giving some sort of "unavailable" message.  I managed to leave a few comments earlier today, but nothing is working now.  So I will leave you with a general blanket statement....

I've been reading and admiring all of your handiwork, and sending hugs where needed and happy dances as appropriate.

Let's hope Blogger is more cooperative tomorrow!

I can share!!

I just got word today that the ornament that I made for Lynda has arrived. This is from a JCS ornament issue. I'm not at home at the moment, so I don't know which issue or designer this is from. The design was charted for DMC, but I converted it to overdyed floss, just because. I was really happy with the way this one turned out. I just might have to do another for myself!

Christmas in July

Last week, I received the loveliest ornament as part of a Christmas in July ornament exchange hosted on one of my email groups.  It came from Nita, a stitcher I've known online for at least 10 years.  She also sent an adorable Mill Hill snowman kit, and a pair of overdyed flosses in holiday colors.  I haven't had a chance to take a pic yet, but I will be sure to update my page tonight with a photo.  I never seem to have time to post blog entries at home, so I thought I'd post about it now and add the pics later.  Stay tuned...

The ornament that I stitched has been mailed and, according to the PO, delivered.  I haven't heard confirmation from the recipient though, so I am holding off on the photos of that for the time being. 

I've been suffering from a bit of exchange overload this month, with 3 exchange projects mailed since June 30.  The last one is safely in the mail and on its way to a new home.  The next exchange I'll be doing is a scissor fob exchange.  I'm excited about that one, because I love stitching fobs and yet don't have any of my own.

Bluebird Landed

I found out today that my For the Birds exchange gift for Chris arrived safely. I stitched a portion of a seasonal sampler from an old JCS issue. It's a sampler I'd like to stitch for myself someday, and I thought this bit of it was perfect for a bird-themed exchange. And it was just the right size to finish as a needlebook!

You can't tell from the picture, but the fabric is actually a light green color. Willow Green, I think. I finished the inside using a strawberry and floral printed fabric. I found this fabric purely by accident when I was clearing out a closet at my "other" house. My mom used to make a lot of aprons and always kept cheery fabrics on-hand. I think this must have been for that purpose. At any rate, I thought it was much more suitable for this project than any of the others that I had purchased recently.

SBQ - Week of 7/5

This week's SBQ is from Vash:

What is the biggest mishap you have had with your stitching material (i.e. spillages)?

Years ago, something like 1992 or 1993, I started a Paula Vaughan design for a friend's wedding.  It was large and had nearly solid stitching.  It was also one of my first pieces stitched on linen.  It took a long time to stitch, and it was almost complete when I had a giant "oops" moment.  One day, I was doing laundry... a load of RED clothes.  Just as I was moving the laundry out of the washer and into the dryer, I saw something light sticking out.  And there it was-- the Paula Vaughan that I had spent so many hours on.  I have no idea how it ended up with my laundry, and I don't think I have to tell you how horror-struck I was when I found it in with the load of already-washed red clothes.  Amazingly, nothing bled onto it, and it was absolutely fine when all was said and done.

This and That

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and left comments. I'm hopelessly behind on reading all of your blogs lately, but I am trying to catch up! It seems like there is always something happening that needs my attention. Like the lawn mower. After driving 90 miles to mow grass at my second home, the silly thing wouldn't start. The battery won't charge, and it needs either a new battery or a starter. When did lawn mowers become so complicated? We weren't able to linger in the country on this trip long enough to get it fixed, so it's still not working. In the meantime, the grass is still growing. I'm going to have to find someone to cut it in the meantime, while we figure out how to fix the mower. This "Harriet Homeowner" thing is new to me-- my "real" home is a condo, so these are things I've never had to worry about... until now. It's a heck of a learning curve!

Speaking of learning curves, I'm still fiddling around with my soap making. Well, not really soap so much this weekend, but bath bombs. I made my first batch on Tuesday. They're pretty, and they smell WONDERFUL. I wasn't sure about the sunface mold for bath fizzies, but it actually worked quite well. I was surprised at how nicely the details came out. The whole process was extremely easy-- 2 parts baking soda, 1 part citric acid, fragrance, color (mica powder), spritz the whole thing with witch hazel until it gets clumpy, and voila.... Bath Bombs!! The only tricky bit was spritzing the mixture without setting it to fizzing. If that happens, the entire batch is ruined.

I tossed one of these into a bath last night, and the results were so-so. The scent was great, but the bomb sunk like a rock straight to the bottom of the bathtub. I've bought a ton of these commercially, and all of them floated. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I'm playing around with my formulation in the meantime. Also, they're not at all moisturizing-- not that I'd expect moisture from baking soda and citric acid. But that bit can be easily fixed with the addition of some oils or butters. After my bath, I promptly went back to the kitchen and started tinkering around with the recipe. I only made one bomb last night, just to test the adjustments. We'll see how that one performs this evening.

In between making and testing bath bombs, I've also been stitching. The latest installment (part 3, of 12) of Persian Iris Garden was released a day early, on June 30. This was perfect timing, since we were driving to the country on Saturday morning. Even though it was a very hectic weekend, I still managed to stitch just a bit on PIG. I'm not quite halfway through part 3. I also have 2 exchange projects in the works-- one Christmas ornament and one summer-themed project, but of course I can't show pics of those. ;)

FYI-- I'm still having problems posting directly to Blogger, so I've been doing all of this from Photobucket. It's why the format/spacing is a bit messed up.

Not Just Stitching

I've been having trouble posting to Blogger recently. It seems as though the connection times out, or something. I decided to try posting through the "Blog" feature on Photobucket. I hope it works!

Last night, I assembled my partner's For the Birds exchange gift. I'm very happy with the way that it turned out, but of course I can't share any pictures yet. I hope my partner likes it! I spent most of the evening putting this little thing together and didn't do any other stitching afterward. Instead, I plopped down on the sofa and watched "The Todd" (it's what BF & I call my favorite soap... One Life to Live) on Soap Network. Yep, I admit it... I watch soaps.

I also make Soap. Recently I've been tinkering with melt and pour soaps, which isn't technically "making" soap. It's simply crafting pre-made soap into pretty bars, adding color and scent, and so on. It's extremely easy and a lot of fun, but my real goal is to learn to make soap from scratch. That will come soon enough. For now, I'm still playing with molds, scents, and color. It started with a small kit from A.C. Moore. The next thing I knew, I was ordering more soap making supplies from Soap Crafters.

My current favorite is the Sun Face, made from one of my new molds. It's scented with citrus and vanilla. Yummy! These are just a few of my recent creations.

I also wanted to share some pictures from my garden, where I've been doing so much work this year. Unfortunately, I didn't get very good pictures of my roses, thanks to the rain. I waited until the last day of our trip to snap pictures of the roses, and by then they had been rather beaten by the downpours from the previous day. The Peace rose is one that I'm particularly proud of this year. It was really struggling at the beginning of the season. I didn't even expect it to survive, but I decided to try to nurse it back to health. It's still not in prime form, but it is alive and blooming.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love to photograph flowers. It started a couple of years ago, on a trip to Charleston. Last Saturday, after a rain shower, I found the perfect subject in the form of a creamy off-white lily. This was one of the survivors from some bulbs planted last year. So far, it's the only one that has bloomed. But sometimes, you only need one.

Long time, no blog

Has it really been WEEKS since I've blogged? I don't know where the time has gone! I did attempt to post an entry last week, but my computer ate it, and I didn't have time to write it all up again. I don't feel as though I've been all that busy lately. I just haven't been terribly motivated to do anything on the computer. Staring at a PC all day at work has a way of dampening my enthusiasm for doing anything online at home.

I received a beautiful exchange in the mail last week from Laurie. The theme of this exchange was "For the Birds." Isn't the pinkeep gorgeous? Laurie also included some other wonderful goodies. I felt so spoiled! :) The stitching & finishing on the pinkeep are just wonderful. The photos really do not do it justice.





I've been stitching quite a bit lately. The stitchathon earlier this month was successful, and I finished the stitching on Robert's Stocking. I still need to add the embellishments, which I have not yet purchased. Here are the before & after pics:



I also took an updated picture of Big Girl Panties. This project isn't my usual style, but the kit made me laugh every time I saw it at the store, so I finally
gave in and purchased it. Little Blackwork and Spanish Geometrical Sampler have gotten some attention as well, but I haven't taken any update photos yet.



We spent the weekend in the country and didn't return until yesterday afternoon. BF took care of the mowing, while I busied myself with some roses that I had ordered from Jackson & Perkins. My dad had grown roses for the last several years of his life, and I've inherited them along with the house. They've been neglected for the past couple of years, and this year I've put quite a bit of effort into saving them. They still don't look great, but they are steadily improving and I have more survivors than expected. Over the weekend, I planted 5 new ones. They were "bare root" plants, which meant that they arrived essentially as twigs and a root ball with no dirt attached. I had to soak them overnight before planting them on Sunday. And, wouldn't you know it... Sunday was when the downpour hit. I was in the midst of pulling weeds and planting the last 2 roses when the rain started. I wasn't willing to give up though, because the roses simply *had* to be planted. So there I was, in the POURING rain, frantically trying to get my plants into the ground. I was soaked to the skin and quite muddy by the time I finished. Thank goodness there were no video cameras!

PIG Progress

Okay, so Persian Iris Garden has an unfortunate acronym, but that doesn't detract from how much fun it is to stitch. I finished part 2 of my little PIGgie last night. The photo isn't the best-- I think it suffered from bad lighting. The camera batteries were on their last gasp, so I wasn't able to play around with it too much.

I missed one stitch at the bottom. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until after I snapped the picture. I'm now ready for installment #3, which will be coming on July 1.



With PIG finished for the month, I picked up Big Girl Panties and worked on that for a little while last night. No progress pic on that one though-- it will have to wait until I recharge the camera batteries.

We're off to the country this weekend. There will be lots of yard work, but I'm sure I'll squeeze in some time for stitching, too. This weekend is the 24-hour challenge and I'll be participating. My goal is to finish a project for an upcoming exchange. I have three exchanges coming up in the near future. The three exchanges are spread over a six-week period, with one going in the mail every two weeks, so it should be totally manageable.

Still Stitching

I'm still stitching, but I haven't been posting much. I've been in a bit of a blogging funk lately, for no particular reason. There is a bit of job stress in my life right now that is coloring everything else. Nothing major-- just an office move-- but it will affect my commute in a negative way, and I'm already at my limit on the amount of time I am willing to spend in the car every day. I haven't decided yet whether I'll stay at my current job, find something else, or simply take some time off for a while. I guess I will wait to see how bad the new commute is going to be.

Things are moving right along on the stitching front. My stitchathon project for May was Spanish Geometrical Sampler. I worked on it from May 19 - 21. We were in the country taking care of yardwork, so I didn't get much stitching time. Even so, it was nice to get back to that project and I did get a few stitches in here and there.

Here's what it looked like before:



And after:



My kit for Persian Iris Garden arrived. I'm happy to report that it was worth the wait. :) The colors are just gorgeous and there are TONS of beads and crystals. I started immediately, and I finished Part 1 on June 1.



The pattern is released in monthly installments, so I finished Part 1 just in time to start Part 2. No pics of that yet-- I'm waiting until I finish that installment. It's nearly done and most likely will require just one more stitching session.