Happy Halloweenie!

Mr. Dracula presents my latest finish - I turned the Halloween freebie by San Man into a pillow. I'm not totally thrilled with how it turned out, but I have to realize that I am finishing challenged and it will take lots of practice to get better. If I had it to do over again, I'd make the purple strips a bit wider and leave a bit less of the green showing. I might even add in a third type of fabbie. Oh well, I had to pull this one out so many times the fabric was starting to fray badly so I just left it. I even got it done in time for Halloween - not by much, but hey it's done before the first Trick or Treater came to the door!

I imagine trying to stitch this evening is going to be less than relaxing with having to get up and open the door constantly. Hmm, maybe I can find a good scary movie. Happy Halloween!

Cheers,

Another Halloween finish!

I finished this little freebie from San Man Designs this week. I just love the monster green linen that it is on! I ended up starting it and then deciding that I liked the look of the "wrong" side of the linen better. Knowing that it would bother me forever, I went ahead and frogged and turned the linen over. For as simple a piece as this is, I ended up doing a bit more frogging because I forgot one of the border pieces. Since I count how many spaces off the border, the bat is in
the wrong place. I wasn't going to frog him so if some of the stars look a bit crowded on that end you know why.


I'm planning on finishing this little piece into a pillow. I'm a bit unsure as to which fabrics to use, which is why you see fabbie pieces all around it in the picture. I definitely want the orange with the purple confetti for a ruffle which will go around it. I was thinking of using the purple with black lines for the back.
I usually like to frame a stitched piece with fabric on the front for a bit more stabilization, however, I'm not real sure what fabric I should use. I really love the orange with confetti for the ruffle because it helps the orange to just pop. I don't think I like the purple for the front because the wavy lines will drive me nuts thinking things aren't straight. I've looked for some Halloween fabbies but they seem too busy. I really don't want to compete with the stitched design. I want
to really notice the green because it is such a fun color. I've thrown some of the fabbies that I'm considering around the piece. Please weigh in with your opinions.

Cheers,

A bit of Halloween and a bit o winter

Scary as it seems they are talking about the S word tonight. I am certainly not ready for it and feel like I've been deprived of a Fall. Of course, complaints don't get me anywhere ;) It's been a while since I posted, but I've been keeping my needles busy between soccer games and practices. My first finish is the Salem Witch from Primitive Needle. It is over one on 32 ct mocha linen that I had left over from the Red Thread project. It was so nice to get a project started and completed so quickly. I finished her off in the tin neclace holder. Rather than where her around I just set it in a little tin easel. What I have isn't great though as the trough of the easel covers her feet. I had to stuff a bit of fabbie down in the trough to have her sit up higher. I'll have to figure out something better for future display purposes. This was a quick, fun stitch even for an over one.


My next finish is the Winter 9 patch that I kept in the car and worked on when I was waiting for appointments, practices etc. It didn't get a lot of attention when the weather was good because I often spent the time chatting with others that were waiting. Now that we seem to have a bit of nip in the air, I finished it off. It was a Pine Mountain kit so finishing was a breeze.


I will be starting a SAL with my DSIL in November. I think we are going to do either a Shepherds Bush piece or Be Scary by Just Nan. I cannot wait to start. Since I've got such a bug to start something Halloweenish, I pulled out Halloween freebie pattern from San Man Originals. I will end up changing colors/flosses on this and I'm still deciding on what I want. I am doing it on a lovely lime green piece of fabric - just perfect for Halloween.

The freshman boys soccer team finished there season last night. They did very well. I certainly enjoyed the season, but I'm kinda glad its over with too. I'm sure you all know the feeling, LOL!

Cheers,

Back from the framer

I got the Red Thread piece back from the framer yesterday. I love it; they did such a good job. It is now proudly hanging on my living room wall.


I guess getting that piece back gave me a bit of motivation to sit down and work on some of my other pieces. Last night I sat down and finished off Lizzie Kate's Hugs & Kisses piece. The kit was missing two tiny yellow buttons that go in the middle of the flowers so I just put a cross stitch there. I'm not sure that I like it so I guess I'll be on a quest for some tiny buttons next time I'm prowling around a craft type shop. That was quite annoying. The boxer kit was sealed with a round sticker type thing yet the kit was missing a needle and those two buttons. If the shop where I got it was closer, I'd have taken it back. Of course, I did start on the piece before I noticed that the buttons were missing. Ugh! Now I just need to finish off the winter 9 patch before it really becomes winter. I take this piece to soccer practices and places where I'm going to be sitting and waiting so it doesn't get concentrated attention.


When we got a cold snap a few weeks back, I had started in on the Fall cleaning. I haven't gotten very far and we are now having an Indian summer. Oh well, cleaning really isn't my cup of tea any way. I sure hope all those green tomatoes I have my vines ripen up before a frost hits. I'm enjoying the warmth as I'm not ready for the colder weather yet. I'm also out a lot watching my boys play soccer. It sure is nice not to be doing this in the cold and rain! I stumbled upon Vonna's recipe blog the other day and found a recipe up for Chicken Gnocchi soup that sounds great. I guess I know one of the first things I'll be making when the cooler weather hits!

Cheers,

A very big happy dance

I've been doing quite a happy dance this week. Not only have I finished the Red Thread piece I've been working on, but I got an email from Michael's that they were having a 60% off custome framing sale. I did manage to take a few snaps of the piece before I ran up to the store. They didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped but I didn't want to view them on the computer before running up to the store. I'll get another one when I get it back from the framer. I ended up just getting a frame rather than the mat. I found the person at the framing desk to be a little less than helpful. She seems to know what she's doing with framing, but it is like pulling teeth to get her to suggest anything. I wish I knew a framer with an artist's eye that wasn't half way across the state. It would be nice to find one that was cheap too, but most of the time you get what you pay for ;)

Since I only posted a few of the pictures from Ireland, I figured that I need to put up a few from England. I also really need to get about putting them in the photo album as well. Here are the houses of Parliament with the photo being taken from the London Eye.

Here's Stonehenge. As you can see, it was a rainy rather darkly overcast day. I guess that is the only reason that I was able to get a picture of it without people. (ignore that elbow on the left)
Stitching is going rather slow at the moment. Not only has school started, but soccer as well. The freshman have quite a schedule, so I've been an active parent travelling to games these past few evenings. I'm working on a rather small LK at the moment - Hugs & Kisses. I'll put up a picture next post.

Cheers,

Bye Bye Summer

Summer seems to be one of those seasons that always passes way too fast for me. Maybe it's the unstructured days, but whatever it is I don't seem to blog regularly. I've written a number of posts in my head whilst gardening, mowing the lawn, fighting with the watermelons etc., but for some reason they never seem to make it to the computer. This summer I we took a trip to Ireland and the UK. The trip started out as a nightmare, but the people and pace of life (and a good shower) quickly put me back to good spirits. You see we missed our connection in Atlanta and therefore were delayed by a day, the airlines lost our bags (for days!!)) and the underwear that I picked up (in a box) were thongs. I am not a thong kid of girl!!The people, though, always urged us just to stop and get a coffee and to relax. Once we all got a good shower and a change of clothes our attitudes improved and we could take in the breathtaking scenery and appreciate the slower way of life. I think I could love being a sheep farmer; on the other hand, I don't like alot of rain. I figured that I would share a few snaps of our journey. The first is a scene from our trip around the Ring of Kerry. You can see the Derrynane Bay and the Kenmare estuary in the background. I cannot give enough of a thumbs up for the trip. It is about a full day to drive around the thing, but the scenery you take in along the way is well worth it. The little towns are neat too.

The next scene is the Cliffs of Moher. They range anywhere from 294 ft above the Atlantic to over 700 ft. tall. These were really neat to see.


Another scene from the Cliffs of Moher showing the O'Brien tower at one end.

Stitching has been rather slow this summer, however, I have made progress on the Red Thread piece. I'm hoping for a happy dance within the next week!

Cheers,

Finally, an update

I finally have an update. It seems like I lost my stitching mojo for a while. Summer is here, but it isn't like I've really been doing anything fun like lounging by a pool. At any rate, my DSIL came over and we had a sit n stitch. She made good headway on her Six Bats and I on my Red Thread piece. I think we both got the stitching bug back again, so hopefully there will be more frequent updates. We also made a quick run to Stitching Bits & Bobs. This shop is only about an hour from the house, but I'd never made it over there. It didn't take much to entice Sue to go with me. Of course, shopping with a fellow stitcher is quite enabling. I ended up picking up the Lizzie Kate Hugs & Kisses boxer kit, the flosses to go with it, and the Lizzie Kate Tiny Tidings X with the embellishment pack. Now I cannot wait to start Hugs & Kisses, but I told myself that I really need to finish off Red Thread.



On the summer vacation front, I'm getting ready to go to Ireland and the UK. I'm doing Ireland with a tour group and then taking the ferry over to England. We intend to rent a car in England and wander as we wish. This way we can get off the beaten path if we want to. I'm sure the time will fly. I should have some great pictures to post once we're back.

Cheers,