SBQ & another small finish

This week's SBQ was suggested by Outi and is:

What is your favorite past time while stitching? Do you just enjoy silence, listen to music/audiobooks or do you "watch" TV/movies? Do you have specific favorites you listen to/watch while stitching?

In a word... television. Any time I am stitching, the television is always on in the background. I'm one of those people who hears every little noise in the house, and things like the sound of the refrigerator or the lights drives me nuts. So, I tend to keep the television on most of the time. While I'm stitching, it allows me to listen to something, while also giving me a break for my eyes whenever they need to look at anything other than thread and fabric.

Today, it is snowing. Normally I'm not a fan of the white stuff, but I find that it's okay if I don't actually have to go out in it. I spent my morning watching the birds and squirrels foraging for food around the many bird feeders in the back yard. I guess quitting my job does have certain advantages. LOL

Earlier this week, I started and finished LHN's "Small House Sampler". Isn't it cute? I plan to finish this one as a needleroll. I'm hoping to tackle something from the FUFO pile today or tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Stitching update

I've been stitching up a storm since the beginning of the year. I know the year is still very young, but I have gotten off to a good start. My main project at the moment is TW's "Tradewinds". I'm very close to the halfway point. Unfortunately, the cable for my camera seems to be at another residence, so I can't actually upload any photos of it yet. :( I do have a scanner though, which means that I can at least share some of my small projects.

Since "Tradewinds" is a BAP, I've been doing other small things in between, just so I can have some Happy Dances here and there. The first week of the new year was especially eventful-- 4 finishes that week.

The first was "Believe Needleroll". This was my official New Year project, since it seemed to be a good motto for the coming year. I started it on January 1, and completed the stitching the next day. I changed the floss to some overdyed cotton that I had in my stash, and the fabric was a 32 ct. from Silkweaver called Spring.



The next finish was "Summer Stroll", by Just Nan. This one is stitched on 32 ct. mint green Belfast. I'm not generally a fan of that particular color, but it suited this project perfectly. I completed this one on January 3.



On January 4, I completed Sweetheart Tree's "By the Sea Sampler". Several sections had optional over 1 stitching, which of course, I had to do. It made for a rather fiddly project, but the results were very nice. I can't say that this was a fun stitch, though.



My last finish, on January 5, was Just Nan's "Snow Faces". I picked this little pattern up at Hershey in 2006, along with the Whimzi frame. Those little frames are a bit of an indulgence, but it's such a quick & easy finish that it's worth the cost.

New Year... Big Changes

Wow... I've been delinquent in my updates! The days, and months, have just been flying by recently. Since my last post, we've had a couple of holidays, a 12-night Caribbean cruise, and a brand new year.

For several months, my job had allowed me to telecommut part-time, and I was in the office only a couple of days per week. When I left for vacation in early December, I was going to the office only on Thursday and Friday, and was working from my second home the rest of the week. This was working well, but I felt like a nomad changing residences every few days. Upon my return from vacation, I was informed that telecommuting was over. There appeared to be no room for negotiation, so....

Happy holidays... I QUIT!!!

Yep, I gave notice on the day that I returned from a 2-week vacation. This was the week before Christmas, where I was also taking another couple of days off for the holiday. My last day was December 28.

I'm now living in the "country" full-time. My second home has become my primary residence, and I couldn't be happier. I was planning to quit in a couple of months anyway, the end of telecommuting simply put my plan in motion a bit faster. Without going into too much detail, no, I am not working. No, I am not looking for a job. Yes, BF has moved with me. And yes, it's all just fine by me. :)

So it looks like 2008 will be a bit of an adventure, to say the least. I have no idea what I'm doing, but primarily, I'm just trying to slow down, simplify things, and enjoy life. My plans at the moment are to plant a veggie garden, grow a couple of fruit trees, and talk to the birds and bunny rabbits. LOL

Now that I'm not changing residences every few days, I finally have the time to pursue my soap business. So far, I've been making batches here and there, working on labels, getting the business end of things in order, and doing LOTS of networking. We've had a lot of positive response and are quite encouraged by it.

My stitching was horribly neglected over the past few months, but that has changed along with my employment status. I've had quite the stitching bug since the start of the year, and I've already finished several small projects. I'll post more on that later, along with some photos. For now, I think I've rambled long enough.

Soap Binge

Since when did this become a monthly blog? I certainly didn't intend for it to be that way, but it seems that is exactly what has happened. I'm telecommuting most of the time now, so you would think that I'd have more time for blogging. I'm not commuting every day, saving heaps of time. The fact is, I have even less free time online now than ever before.

I finally moved my "soap lab" out to the country. We're spending more and more time out there lately and I was going into soap withdrawal. My stay there lasted 3 weeks and resulted in something of a soap binge. I'm not telling what scents are in these soaps, because something in these stacks is going to be used for a soap exchange.



I've been playing around quite a bit with colors lately, trying different colorants and techniques. Some have been more successful than others. The two pink soaps shown here are both colored using pink kaolin clay. The soap on the bottom left was supposed to be green. I tried coloring it using ground parsley. It gave me tiny green flecks, but not the green color I was hoping for. Still pretty, though.

I'm *THIS CLOSE* to finally being able to sell some of my creations. It has been a long process, but I'm glad I've taken my time with it. I didn't want to rush things for sale just to do it-- I wanted to be sure that the recipes were tested and came out "just right" before making anything available publicly. It doesn't help that soap takes quite a while to cure. I can't just make this stuff, cut it, and sell it the next day. I have to let it sit for approximately 6 weeks first.

I'll get there eventually. ;)

It's a bird! It's a bee!! It's a... moth???

I saw this little guy hovering around my phlox last week. My first thought was "oh, a hummingbird!" It was just about the right size and shape, and it was certainly flying like one. I ran and grabbed a camera.

Then, I noticed the antennae. After that, I did a leg count. Six of them. Okay, so that isn't a hummingbird. It was brown and yellow, but WAY to big to be any sort of bee. Some internet searching revealed that what I had was a Hawk Moth, a pair of them, actually, even though I managed to photograph only one of them.




My garden project while we were in the country last week was to plant some coneflowers and coreopsis. BF managed to snap this "work in progress" photo. I've never been a huge fan of how coneflowers look, but this year I kept noticing them in other people's gardens and I realized that they're really quite pretty when paned with other flowers. Please excuse the posts on the porch-- they don't look too hot now, but they will be painted when the weather cools.



The added bonus with the coneflowers is that they will provide seeds for this little guy and his feathered friends during the colder months.

Out of hiding?

I haven't really been "hiding" exactly, but I have been remiss in posting any online updates. I'm working from home most of the time now. You'd think that would mean more time for regular updates, but it has had quite the opposite effect. I tend to go on and off line during the course of the day, depending on the workload at any given time. This means that I'm usually online only when there's lots of work to do, and there isn't as much down time to do other things online. If that doesn't make a good case for employers allowing staff to telecommute, I don't know what does.

I'm still working on my soap formulations. I've got a few recipes that I absolutely love and am *THIS CLOSE* to being able to sell. The trouble with making soap from scratch is that it isn't ready to use when it comes out of the mold. It has to cure for 4 - 6 weeks first. So, whatever I make has to sit around, then I can have friends test it out for me. Then, if it's a successful batch/scent, I can make more and wait another 4 - 6 weeks before it is ready to sell. I think it will go pretty smoothly once I get the recipes and scents worked out, though.

I did quite a bit of stitching last month, mostly on TW's Tradewinds. A friend gave this to me last year when she was clearing out her stash. She had the kit for a while and decided she'd probably never stitch it. I'm absolutely loving this project-- it's a real pleasure to stitch. It's funny that I enjoy TW's so much, because ordinarily I don't like projects with lots of backstitching. I'm not crazy about stitching with blended threads either, for that matter. And yet there is nothing I enjoy stitching more than a TW design. Go figure.

Here's the project as of July 7:



And my progress as of July 29:



Later today, or maybe the first of next week, I am going to make a point to catch up on some of my blog reading. I miss seeing what you've all been up to! Of course, you all are a bad influence-- every time I go off and check the blogs, I end up finding 10 more projects that I simply MUST stitch.

Yellow & Blue Makes... Caramel???

That is not what I learned in elementary school. Nevertheless, that is exactly the result I got the other day when I mixed yellow oxide and blue ultramarine powders to color some soap. My intent was a green swirl in my off-white soap. What I got was quite different, more of a caramel color.



This is the first batch of soap using my brand-new slab molds. It's also my first attempt at swirling. Unfortunately, I colored a bit too much soap for the contrast, so I didn't get quite the swirl effect that I would have liked. I'll know better next time (probably later today). The scent for this batch is Sandalwood & Clary Sage. I absolutely love how this one smells, very earthy and fresh. I think the caramel color actually works well with this fragrance, even though it isn't quite what I had in mind.

I've decided to go with slab molds for the soap that I'll be selling, rather than the more detailed molds that I was working with previously. The reason for this is packaging. I couldn't find a decent way to package the fancier soaps without totally covering up the pretty details. The only thing that would work for those was shrink wrap, and I wasn't crazy about the way those turned out. Besides, the shrink wrap is terribly labor-intensive. The plainer slab molds make a generously sized bar-- 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1" and they weigh in at over 5.25 oz. I'll be able to package these with cigar-band type labels, and you'll still be able to see the color/swirls/etc. in the soaps.

The business side of my little soapmaking hobby is going very slowly. I've finally perfected the recipes that I'll be using for sale. I've been using them myself for a couple of months now and can honestly say that my skin has never felt better. Now all I need to do is make a few batches up and let them cure. Look for them in about a month. ;)

I'm still stitching a bit, but not nearly as much as I would like. Lately, I've been working on Just Nan's TrickORTreat Box. Unfortunately, I've managed to lose the white silk floss and will need to pick some more up before I can finish this one.

Finally... a Finish!

It's a little one, but it's a finish nonetheless. The design is Antique Elegance, by Sweetheart Tree. This was one of my many purchases from CATS last September. I hadn't intended to buy any of these, but they had the finished/framed models hanging and I just couldn't resist. The photo really doesn't do this one justice-- it's much more sparkly in person.



We'll be heading to the country this weekend, and I'm hoping to see more of this little guy, or some of his kin. We seem to have quite a few Bunnies out there, including tiny baby ones. None of them seem too bothered by our presence when we visit. I was just a few feet away while this one grazed on the weeds under our bird feeders.

Updates

Wow... I've gotten way behind in my blog updates. No excuses, other than I just need to get back into the habit of updating these pages.

I would like to say that I have been busy working on my soap business, but that isn't the case. I'm also hopelessly behind in getting that underway. I have been making soap and other products, just not in the volume I would like. The truth is, I am running out of places to store everything. Although my pace has been slow, I am inching ever closer to getting all of this underway.

Stitching has been practically non-existent in the past couple of months. I did pull out a small Sweetheart Tree project the other day that just needed some beads & backstitching. I should have a happy dance soon. Other than that, the only happy dance I've had this year is one of the LHN monthly series. Speaking of which, I haven't been keeping up with those purchases and need to buy the rest of the series.

PIG is still alive, but has been "resting" for a while. It certainly hasn't hit the UFO stage, as I do pull it out and put in a few stitches whenever I'm able. It just seems that lately there are a thousand other things that need to be done, mostly outdoors. I've been doing as much planting as possible this year, although it doesn't look like much so far. I have some photos of all this activity, but they have not yet been uploaded to PhotoBucket.

I'll get some new photos soon and will have updates of the garden, soaps, stitching, etc. Until then, I'll leave you with a photo of PIG that was taken on February 28. It has changed a bit since then, but you'll get the idea.

A Quick Note

I've been away for a while, due in part to a major computer crash at home. And, I can't seem to get Blogger to work off of my work PC. That really comes as no surprise, since so many things are blocked here.

To add insult to injury, my email inbox is overflowing with spam, probably thanks in part to posting a link to it here, combined with a couple of email groups that I'm on. So, if you need to email me, please use the following address:

juanita at riverbendcreations dot net

I'm still working on PIG, and my fledgling soap business. Neither is coming along as quickly as I'd like.

Look for some updates soon.

Time Flies

It seems like I just updated this thing yesterday, and yet I know it has been nearly a month since my last post. Sorry for the slacking folks, I've just been really, really busy. After staring at a computer all day at work, the last thing I feel like doing is getting online at home. The few moments that I do spend on the computer at home are currently devoted to building a website.

Stitching is still practically non-existent, but it's getting better. I've managed to get into a bit of a routine where I actually work on my stitching (mostly PIG) for a miniscule amount of time each day. Admittedly, it isn't much, but it's better than nothing.

Soap continues to take up most of my time. I've been playing around with various recipes and techniques, and I am getting ever closer to being able to sell some of it. Technically, I suppose some of it has been sold. That was unintentional, though. You see, I took some painted Valentine heart soaps to a friend who owns a coffee shop. These were not for sale-- the intent was that he would give them out to some of his "better" customers. There was no tag, no business card, nothing. It was just a little Valentine treat for some of the folks who had supported his business. Apparently, one of his employees didn't know these were freebies, and he sold several of them.

Below is a photo of samples from some of my recent batches. The one on the left is the lavender soap that was a near-disaster. The first go-round with this soap didn't set up properly, even though the soap was just fine. So, I shredded it and rebatched using buttermilk. Unfortunately, I was in the country when I did the rebatch and had forgotten to bring soap molds. I ended up using a mini muffin tin, hence the small size and less-than-glamorous appearance. The soap is absolutely wonderful, though.

The next soap was my first attempt at using powdered colorant. It didn't turn out quite right. The color was supposed to be added to the water at the beginning of the process. I missed that part of the instructions and ended up adding the powder at the very end, just before pouring into the molds. That's why it's speckled. It's a terrific soap though, scented with Love Spell "type" fragrance. I really like this scent-- rather citrus-y. It's one that I'll definitely be using in the future.



The soap all the way on the right is what the speckled soap was supposed to look like. Notice the pink color! That is what happens when you add the color at the correct time. LOL

The dark one has been named "Ugly Soap" because it is, well... pretty darned ugly, especially when compared to it's more attractive siblings. I used vanilla buttercream fragrance and added honey and oatmeal. The combination of vanilla fragrance and the honey is what turned the soap so dark. The final scent of this came out very earthy, in part because of the oatmeal.

Back to Normal

Many thanks to the folks at Bloglines who took the time to comment on my previous post. As it turns out, I didn't actually have to do anything. The list showed back up on my blog without any intervention from me. And the list at Bloglines itself is working just fine as well. It just seemed to be a temporary hiccup of sorts. All is back to normal now! :)

I'm still working on PIG and the LHN series, but I have gotten somewhat sidetracked from my stitching recently. You see, I am trying to get a bit of a business started. Really, it's just an extension of my hobbies, but I'm planning to sell, so I guess that makes it a business. LOL I'm working on soaps and jewelry at the moment, but I reserve the right to change my mind later. ;)

Lately the focus is soap, as I try to come up with just the right recipe. I'm already pretty close! Next will come scents. Any suggestions?

My first batch turned out quite nicely. It's honeysuckle scented. No color was added, because I wanted to see what the 'natural' color would be. I rather like it! I'm doing very small batches, until I get it just right. This one made 12 bars-- three of each one shown here.

Bloglines issues?

I track all of the blogs that I read through Bloglines. Admittedly, I haven't been reading blogs in quite a while-- not since I took 4 1/2 months off of work. I'm back at work, and into my regular routine again, so I was looking forward to catching up with everyone. But, much to my dismay, all of my subscriptions seem to have disappeared from Bloglines. I checked my blog to see what was listed there, and sure enough "Blogs I Read" is empty. It was all there yesterday!! I'm hoping that this is just a temporary Bloglines glitch. Otherwise I will have to attempt to recreate the lengthy lists of blogs that I follow.

So, to all of my fellow bloggers-- I miss reading your sites and will try to start commenting again regularly, just as soon as I find all of you again.

In the meantime, I returned to work on Monday. As of today, I am only partially set up to do my job. The office has moved to a new location. I knew this before I left and was not the least bit happy about the move. In fact, I was pretty close to leaving my job over it. I chose to take an extended leave of absence instead. In hindsight, I'm glad I did. As it turns out, the commute really isn't any worse (I hate admitting that!) and the office itself is better than what I left.

What I am not happy about is getting up in the mornings. I had gotten used to sleeping in until 9 or so in the morning, and 5:30 a.m. comes awfully early. I also wasn't thrilled about wearing "grown-up" clothes again. My work shoes had dust on them. I keep telling myself that it's good to have a routine, but I'm not yet convinced.

2006 Stitching

This was the first year that I set stitching goals for myself. I'm not sure how helpful they were. On the one hand, having established goals helped to keep me focused on certain projects and I accomplished a lot. On the other hand, some of my goals fell by the wayside in favor of other things.

I did particularly well with my UFO and WIP goals for 2006. I wanted to finish three UFOs: Santa's Magic, Pansy Needleroll, and Mother's Love Needleroll. I also finished the three WIPs that were on my goal list: Snow Wonderful, Spanish Geometrical Sampler, and Castle Sampler.

I was about 50/50 on the list of things that I wanted to start and finish. I did not even start Prairie Garden or the Shepherd's Bush stocking that I planned to do for myself. But, I did finish the stitching on Robert's Stocking, Quaker Diamond, and my Valentine's exchange project.

I also met my goal of starting Persian Iris Garden. I haven't been great about keeping up over the last several months, though. I'm hoping to finish this one in 2007, but I'm not making any promises. ;) It has grown to the point that it is nearly too large for my biggest Q-snaps, so I've been concentrating on one corner rather than doing all of each section as it is published.



The goals that I really came up short on were the ones for assembling FUFOs. I had a list of six, and of those, the only one that is assembled is Deck the Halls Bellpull (sorry, no pic yet, because I just finished it). Despite not assembling the intended FUFOs, I finished several others that had been sitting around for ages. I assembled seven FUFOs in all... just not the ones that I had intended. I also did a lot of assembly work and learned several new finishing techniques along the way, thanks to the various exchanges that I joined this year. I participed in 17 exchanges in all this year. Unfortunately, there were a couple that made it into the mailbox before I had a change to photograph them. >:(

All in all, 2006 was an extremely productive stitching year for me. I completed a total of 37 projects and assembled a total of 24 projects (including exchanges). Not too bad! I haven't decided whether I'll set goals for 2007. I probably will, but I plan to keep them modest (again).

Final Exchange pic, and a happy dance

Marie has received the gift that I sent for the Winter Blast exchange, so I can now post a picture. The design is Random Thoughts of Winter. I have to admit that I didn't much enjoy stitching the whole thing with white floss, but I think the result was worth the trouble. I decided to finish this as a wall hanging-- a new finishing technique for me. I was happy with how it turned out, but it was quite a learning experience. BF really liked it and has informed me that I need to finish some of my stitching into wall hangings for us. ;)



We spent the last week in the country. I decided not to take any large projects with me. I took all of my new Little House Needleworks kits instead. After digging through my considerable stash of needlework fabrics, I pulled out a piece of 32 ct. putty linen that will work nicely for a couple of these. The first one that I stitched was "Acorns," which was the December design. I just love the little squirrel on this one!



Thanks for all of the recent comments. I keep promising myself that I am going to take some time out of the holiday preparations to read all of your blogs, but that isn't happening just yet. At the moment, I'm in the midst of my annual holiday baking. Our family get-together has grown too large for gift exchanges, so I've gotten into the habit of making baskets or tins of holiday goodies for each family group each year. I have to fill 10 (!!!!!) baskets in time for the get-together at noon on Sunday. I like everything to be fresh, so I'm barely started. It's going to be a BUSY couple of days!

Some of you may remember that our tree fell down last year (under the weight of all the ornaments LOL) on Christmas eve, right in the middle of my holiday baking extravaganza. Fortunately, the tree is looking stable this year, so I don't think there will be any "excitement" to distract me from the kitchen.

A note on the sofa photo... the sofa pictured is the new sofa that will be arriving in a couple of months. I'm getting a different color, though-- the orangish-red color that is on the top of the swatches. It looks much more orange in the photo than it does IRL. I wanted a "statement" piece, and this fits the bill perfectly. I couldn't find any contrast fabric that I was crazy about, so the throw pillows will all be the same fabric as the sofa. I'll make some contrasting pillows myself later.

Well, that's enough of a ramble from me. I'm off to the kitchen to check on my fudge!

Final Exchange of 2006

I am happy to report that my last exchange for 2006 is in the mail. On time! :) This one was for the Winter Blast exchange. I tried a new finishing technique-- I'll share a photo as soon as it arrives at its destination.

Meanwhile, I got older this week. BF & I aren't ones for much hoopla, but I did haul him to the LNS where he got me the four latest Little House Needleworks Crescent Colors chartpacks. I picked up the first three when I was at Hershey in September. BF added Berries, Peaches, Pumpkins, and Acorns to my collection.



I also got myself a little present-- a new sofa! I've been searching for quite a while and finally decided on one. Of course, since it's a custom order, I won't actually have it for another 2 or 3 months.



My culinary adventure for the week was cooking my first duck. I used a recipe for Roast Duck in Cherry and Black Peppercorn Sauce from Food Network. It was a bit of trouble getting all of the ingredients together, not to mention picking the pinfeathers out of the duck, but it was well worth the effort. The recipe turned out even better than I expected, and the duck itself was picture perfect. The only thing I'd change is the quantity of the sauce-- it makes a bit too much.

More Exchanges

Today's exchange update is from the SBEBB Christmas ornament exchange. First is the gorgeous ornament that I received from Veronica. This was the "mystery" package that I received several days ago. The mystery came because there was no note and no return address, so I wasn't completely sure who sent it, or what exchange it was from. I design is just perfect for me-- it was one that I wanted to stitch, but hadn't found the time. The alphabet is stitched over one, and it is beautifully finished. :)



And here's a photo of the whole package...



The peppermint bark is my new favorite addiction. I haven't tried the teas yet, but I'm especially interested in the pomegranate white tea. It sounds great. ;)

I also received word that the ornament that I stitched for Cindy has arrived at its destination. This is another that I may have to stitch for myself. ;)



I personalized the back with our names and the year.

Exchange Updates

This has been an extremely busy exchange season for me. I signed up for so many in the last couple of months that it seems that I am always sending or receiving something. This week, my mailbox has been especially full. :)

The first exchange was from the USEBB pinkeep exchange. This little beauty is from Jo. The pattern is from JBW Designs, and I think it came out in a recent JCS issue.



I love the fabric that she used for the back!



I stitched a pinkeep for Becky. The design I chose was actually a Christmas ornament pattern from an older JCS ornaments issue. I had stitched this for myself as an ornament earlier this year, and decided that it would be perfect as a pinkeep. So, I stitched it again, this time using non-holiday colors. The fabric was 32 ct. Amsterdam blue linen, and I used Waterlilies "seafoam" thread.



I personalized the back with our names and the year, along with a couple of elements of the design.



Yesterday, I received THREE packages in the mail. :) :) :) I had a fantastic time opening all of them. At the moment, I can only show two of them, because there is a *teeny* bit of mystery concerning the third. I'll be posting more on that later. ;)

One of the packages was this lovely ornament from Nancy. The design is by Linda McMillen. Nancy made a tuck pillow for this, but left it unstuffed, which made for a very pretty finish. She even made the little buttons herself out of Sculpey! :)



Here's a pic of the whole package. I thought the CD of Christmas music was a great idea!



The next package was from the USEBB Winter Blast exchange, stitched by Vonna. This flat-fold is so beautifully finished. She even trimmed it with little snowflakes and personalized it with our initials and exchange info on the back.





The rest of the package was also wonderful, with assorted winter-themed goodies.



Of course, I've also been sending out some exchanges myself. The only one that I'm sure has been received is this ornement that I stitched for Toni. I really liked the way this one turned out-- I just might have to stitch another to keep. ;)



I hope I haven't worn your eyes out with all of these pictures. There will be more to come over the next several days. Stay tuned...

Spanish Geometrical Sampler

Thanks for all the nice comments about Spanish
Geometrical Sampler. It was an enjoyable piece to
stitch, but it took a long time to complete. There
were some points along the way where I thought I might
never finish.

Originally, the sampler was designed in shades of
purple and green. There's a photo from the pattern at
http://theneedlescontent.tripod.com/id1.html">Needle's
Content. I started with a skein of Waterlilies
that I liked, and chose coordinating colors. The
project was stitched on 40 ct. lambswool linen. My
"rough" color conversion is listed below. There were
a few small areas of the chart where I didn't
substitute exactly as listed, but the majority of the
design was substituted as shown here.

Original/My Conversion
Waterlilies Olive - NPI 645 (Dk. Blue-green)
Waterlilies Jade - NPI 514 (Med. Mint green)
Waterlilies Hyacinth - Silk 'n' Colors Dragon's Breath
Soie Cristale 1091 - Waterlilies Rainforest
Soie Cristale 1092 - Silk 'n' Colors Copper Rose

The design also called for two colors of Mill Hill
beads - 10029 and 10027. I eliminated the beads,
since I was using 40 ct. fabric, and substituted floss
colors from the list above. I didn't follow any
specific conversion to replace the beads. I simply
used whatever floss color I thought looked best in any
given section. I also added a few stitches to one
section. ;)

Happy Dance!!!

I nearly forgot to post my latest happy dance-- a project completed just over a week ago, on the day after Thanksgiving. With my lack of computer time and focus on exchange stitching, this one nearly slipped through the cracks. And it's a big one! I finally finished Spanish Geometrical Sampler. Woohoo!!!



Also, I realized after Tessa asked about Robert's Stocking that I really need to update my sidebar. It's terribly out-of-date. Tessa, the stitching on Robert's Stocking has been completed for a while. I just need to add the embellishments, which I've purchased but haven't found the time to sew on. I had hoped also to finish Sophie's Stocking this year, so that BF and I would have a matched pair, but I didn't even start the second stocking. Oh well, maybe we'll have them by next Christmas.