Last February Finish

I managed one more finish for February. This is another design by Amaryllis Artworks, from the 2005 JCS ornaments issue. I changed the color scheme just a bit, so that it is the same as the Poinsettia that I stitched earlier this month.



There hasn't been much stitching for me this week. I was too busy with business-related things to have much time to stitch. I've been incorporated for a year now, and have yet to do anything with it. So, it's time!!! Now that I don't have a full-time job eating up my time, I don't have any excuses for delaying my own business pursuits. Thus far, it's still baby steps for me, but I am making some progress. Just this week, we delivered our first wholesale order to a local shop. Next week, we'll be pursuing some networking leads and hopefully getting set up to sell online, even if it's not through my own site. It's a slow process, but at least I am finally moving forward with it. :)

Signs of Spring

Today is a good day... I made my first small steps toward a garden. It's too cold here for planting anything outdoors. We just had snow yesterday. But, it isn't too early to start some seeds indoors. Here are my very first gardening endeavors-- cauliflower, leeks, and yellow onions. With any luck, we'll have some sprouts in a week or two, and seedlings to plant in 6 - 8 weeks. The green sprouts behind the seed tray are some bulbs that I am trying to force indoors. So far, we have lots of green, but no flowers yet.



I grew up in a house where we had a huge garden every year, so there's a bit of nostalgia attached to this pursuit. My adult life has been spent in apartments, condos, and townhouses--places where vegetable gardens are not possible. Now that I've walked away from the suburban life, I can finally indulge my love of growing things. I'm not sure that we'll have any real success with it, but we're putting in the effort nevertheless.

Since fall, BF has been working at clearing off the corner of the yard where my dad used to have his garden. It's considerably smaller than what I grew up with, but should be a manageable size for the two of us. What used to be the garden has been untouched for the last 3 or 4 years, so it was quite overgrown. A lot of time and effort has gone into clearing it to make it usable again. There seems to be some sort of errant, invasive type of tree that has started growing there, and they have been quite difficult to remove. We're making slow-but-steady progress, and I think that once the danger of frost has passed, we will be ready to till the soil and plant some veggies.

February Ornament

The "crud" is still with me, though I am feeling quite a bit better. I still feel quite run-down and I'm sleeping a lot, but other than that, I'm okay. I've been able to get some things done around the house over the last two days, so I'm happy about that.

This past weekend, I took a break from working on Tradewinds and decided to stitch a Christmas ornament. The design is "Poinsettia" by Amaryllis Artworks, from the 2002 JCS ornaments magazine. I changed the threads to some red NN that I had in my stash, and GAST for the leaves. The fabric is 28 ct. star sapphire jobelan. Amaryllis Artworks has another ornament in similar colors published in another issue of JCS that I think I will do next.



I spent a couple of days last week on Tradewinds and have made a bit more progress.

Florida... stitching???

Florida was nice and warm, but there wasn't much time for stitching. Actually, that's not entirely true. There was time, there just wasn't quite enough light most of the time.

On our return flight, I picked up some sort of bug on the plane. All of that recycled air, combined with small children, took its toll and I have been sick, sick, SICK since Saturday. It's nothing serious, probably just a cold, but I am miserable nonetheless. I've pumped myself full of cold meds and haven't been good for anything other than sleep all week long.

Last Friday, I finished this little project by Pine Mountain. It's called "Autumn Harvest Days". It has a cute little pumpkin button that you don't see here, because I forgot to sew it on before I took the photo. :^o This little kit was a gift as part of an exchange from Becky in 2006. The stitched insert was already attached to the pre-sewn pillow cover, which made finishing a snap. All I had to do was stitch the design and pop in a pillow form.



Today, I was able to work for an hour or so on Tradewinds. It wasn't much, but I did manage to complete the stitching in the ship's lunette. I still need to do the backstitching before going back to work on the border.

Tradewinds Update

My ship has sails!



We've had ice and rain today, but tomorrow, I get to fly to sunny Florida for a break from the cold. I'm such a baby when it comes to winter weather. I can't stand the stuff. It isn't so bad now that I'm not working, but it is turning me into a bit of a recluse.

I hope Phil doesn't see his shadow tomorrow. I'm ready for spring!

Happy Dancing... and a note about comments.

I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading. I've even tried to leave comments for a few of you, but my absurdly slow internet connection isn't cooperating. I'm able to view your blogs, but the I can't seem to open the "comments" window. My computer puts in a good effort before it eventually gives up, or my patience simply runs out. It's the dial-up. We intend to replace it with high-speed internet, but haven't gotten around to it yet. So, I'm not ignoring your blogs... I just haven't been able to post any comments. >:(

Earlier this week, I completed Just Nan's TrickORTreat Box. This was a shop exclusive from Silver Needle that I picked up in Hershey in 2006. I finished stitching it over the weekend, and assembled it immediately. The finishing was rather involved, but the directions were extremely good, so it wasn't terribly difficult.

Each side has a different design, so naturally I took photos from every angle. I just love the cheery little ghosts and ghouls on this one.

SBQ - Week of Jan. 23

This week's SBQ is:

Have you had a happy dance yet this year? If so, tell us about it! (Or just point to the entry that mentions it.) If not, when do you predict it will be?

Yes, I've had six happy dances so far this year. :) All have been small projects that I worked on while on breaks from Tradewinds. Entries are here in my blog, and photos are in my 2008 Finishes album at Photobucket.

My next happy dance will likely be Blue Sky Sampler, from Elizabeth's Designs. I started it this week and hope to finish it by the end of the month.

Tradewinds

Recently, my main WIP has been TW's "Tradewinds". I don't normally work on the same project day after day, but that is exactly what I've been doing with this one. I do take days off here and there, usually to do a small project or to work on my UFO, but this one gets attention most days.

Here is how it looked as of January 16...



And here it is on January 21...

More stitching!

Stitching continues. Soaping continues. I have photos of all of it, but no camera cable here. It seems to be somewhere in our other home, but neither of us can locate it. So, until a new camera cable arrives, scans of small projects will have to suffice.

The latest small finish is Woodland Snowfall, a Little House Needleworks design from the 2004 JCS ornaments issue. I started it in late 2006, but never got around to finishing it. The fabric is a 36-ct. hand-dyed linen from Picture This Plus, and for whatever reason, it was sort of floppy and soft. It’s a nice enough feeling fabric, but something stiffer would have been easier to work with on a project this small. At any rate, the stitching is done now and it is awaiting assembly.



I wanted to assemble some FUFOs this week, but like so many things, my trims and such for finishing are all in… you guessed it… the other house. Determined to tackle some FUFOs, I went to Wal-Mart earlier this week to find some trims. I know that most Wal-Marts are doing away with a lot of that stuff, but ours out here still has that department (mostly) intact. The only things they seem to have removed are the cross stitch supplies.

As expected, trim selections were extremely limited. Just finding a bit of matching ribbon for any one of my many needlerolls was nearly impossible. I did the best I could with the extremely limited selection and have at least managed to finish one FUFO.

I stitched this snowflake ornament years ago, but delayed assembling it because it was round. I’m pretty good at finishing, but the round ornaments always seem like a giant pain, so I’ve never done one before. I also wasn’t crazy about this design once it was stitched, largely because of the fabric. I’m pretty happy with the finished ornament, though. It will look pretty on our tree next year. ;)

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.