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The Stitching Fairy

A little update

09.30.04 (12:02 pm) [edit]

Greg finally got an update pic of Frank, so I thought I'd post another mini update of Scared Silly. I love this pattern it's pretty easy to stitch and I love the expression of the cat. :shock:

Can you believe it's Thursday already? Laundry tonite... :roll:

Oh and the Presidential debate is on tonite hmmmm.... The funniest thing I've heard about the debate is that the Prez has requested that the podium's be about 4 feet tall and set about 10 feet apart. Why does this matter? WELL I'm glad you asked, heh, heh. Apparently we American's like our men kind of tall and with *executive* style hair (sorry it's a Dilbert joke) :wink: John Kerry is 6'4" and the Prez is 5'11" (which isn't small) and the request is to make them *appear* about the same height. Now w/ all the problems that Americans are facing and a war raging in Iraq I just find it *interesting* that tonite the Prez is worrying about how tall he looks....

Pictures anyone? :D

Kim's update:

Greg's update (doesn't Frank look cute??):

Halloween & SBQOTW

09.29.04 (10:53 am) [edit]

Thanks for the recent nice comments and in answer to your questions, YES - Halloween is my favorite holiday. It's bigger to me than Christmas. I decorate more, celebrate more and generally enjoy it more than Christmas. I just find it to be a holiday that has little expectations, if you want to celebrate it you can and if you don't nobody will call you "Scrooge". :wink: I love the kids and the costumes and their happy faces. I don't care much about the candy passing out part, and strongly favor sending kids to more traditional Halloween parties, which I consider safer. Plus I love the silly spookiness of it all, I suppose I'd have to say I love the Americanized version of Halloween, basically it's the only one I know. :D I love decorating for Halloween and basically empty out the front room and fill it up with my Halloween stuff. If you haven't already, you can see (albeit blurry) pics of my decorating here:
http://www.angelfire.com/art2/institches/other stuff/halloweenathome.html" title="http://www.angelfire.com/art2/institches/other stuff/halloweenathome.html" target="_blank"http://www.angelfire.com/art2...

Would you or have you designed your own cross stitch
design? If you have can we see it?

I don't know if taking an existing poster and turning it into Xstitch counts, but if it does then yes I have. :) And here
is the result:

Poster:

Stitched Version:

Greg also made a stitched version of his favorite logo:

I'm Baaaack!

09.28.04 (6:38 am) [edit]

:D Or maybe I should say my pics are back! My pic hosting site had some troubles and so my pics disappeared for a bit, but now they are back and I can get my update done!

I had a productive weekend! I bought the 3 disc dvd of the Star Wars Trilogy (IV, V and VI) and watched them all this weekend while stitching! Needless to say I was able to finish Spooky Row! I'm surprised at how quickly it went, 1 week and it's done!!

Here are several pics, I did 3 because the overall pic is very tiny.

We went to our semi-annual flea market, the last one this season :( And I found a treasure!! His name is Gordy! He's so adorable and a nice addition to my Fall/Halloween collection! I got a great deal and was so excited to find him there! Gordy has a giant counterpart that I wanted quite badly but couldn't justify getting due to the size of my apartment. :wink:

I also finished up decorating my last two cubed projects. I got some ribbon similar to what I used on the charity projects and they turned out so wonderful!

I also made some stuffed pumpkins out of some scrap material I had. I was going to use it for another pillow project, but decided it wouldn't work out so I designed thest two pumpkin pillows instead. I used dry beans as the weights for the bottoms, which are cheap and work as well as plastic pellets. Although I wouldn't recommend this is you have a mice problem. :wink:

I started on a new project, Birds of a Feather's Scared Silly. It's a fun project and it's not that big. I love the colors and the cat's expression!! I started last night, here's an update:

And lastly! I wanted to show you a pic of Greg's co-worker's contribution to those charity auctions last week. This is only 1 project that he contributed and the other one was supposedly just as great! He does wood carving as a hobby and I can't believe how spectacular this project is! I just had to share it! It brought a good sum and apparently sparked a bidding war amongst two people at the company, that's how badly each wanted it. :wink:

This was carved/painted by Gerald who specializes in wildlife carvings:

That's it! It's been another productive weekend! Now I just have to get Spooky Row fancied up a bit and I'll post a pic when I do!

Looking Spooky

09.23.04 (7:18 am) [edit]

:D Haven't had a ton of time for Spooky Row, but have made it to the "E", so I thought I'd post an update pic. My thumb problem is really slowing me down as I have to be ultra careful when stitching. I think my wrist is getting a bit better, but it still aches...it's hell getting old. :wink:

Greg's been working away on Frank and he's almost done. We found the cutest fabric that I am going to use to make frank into a sort of doll/desk sitter and fill him with plastic pellets. The fabric matches his shirt perfectly, so it should be adorable.

The charity raffle at Greg's work went great! They raised a lot of money and everyone raved about our cubes. Greg even bought some raffle tickets himself and won an Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Collector Plate. :lol: I have no clue what to do w/ it, but will probably sell it on Ebay. I've never been a big Andy Warhol fan. :wink:

Here's a pic of it:

So who knows what we will come up with next year! Oh and I just ordered the CUTEST pattern! It's from Raise the Roof Designs, same lady who did Witchy Washy. It's called ... SANTA CLOTHES! :lol: :lol: Honest, I'm not making this up. I had to have it...I know like I need *one* more pattern. But this one is so adorable and it goes perfectly with Witchy. I've never been a big fan of Xmas, but how could I resist something like this? So I will have to put aside other planned projects to make this one when it arrives, cuz some projects just have to be made NOW! :wink:

Here is a pic:

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

09.22.04 (4:18 am) [edit]

If you could design your dream needlework/cross stitch shop, what would it be like?

Now this is a fun question! I would want a stitcher's emporium, a huge place that had aisle after aisle of patterns and kits. It would have wracks of stuff from all my favorite designers and if it wasn't on the shelf the owner would magically produce it from the backroom! It would also have an archive of out of print patterns that you could by at disgustingly reduced prices. And they would carry every cross stitch magazine in print from all over the world.

It would have a room just for fabric and it would have fabric in every color known to man and at least 3 different over dyed designers. It would have a room dedicated to fibers and would contain entire selections from all the big companies and no matter how many you selected it would never run out.

The walls would be covered with display stitching and they would have classes every week on specialty stitching, stitching certain designers projects and framing/matting.

The owner would remind you of Aunt Bea (Mayberry RFD) and she would be an encyclopedia of stitching knowledge, able to answer the silliest and the most technical questions.
(Actually my LNS lady is similar to this, except for looking like Aunt Bea. :D )

It would be no more than 1 mile away from me and open till 9 pm every night and till 6 pm on Sundays.

The prices would be to die for, always cheaper than anywhere (including WalMart) and they would have weekly sales that Aunt Bea would always call me and clue me into first, so I got best pick. :wink:

Okay, now that I'm back from my fantasy trip...wouldn't it be lovely and thanks to whoever came up with this question!! :D

Cubed!

09.20.04 (11:10 am) [edit]

:D So hope y'all had a fun weekend! I did, I cubed it all day yesterday. :wink: That is to say that I finished the charity projects and did up a couple of my small projects as cubes. It's something I saw at my LNS as a different way to finish up a x-stitch project. It was a lot of work, more than anticipated, but they turned out great! Here are pics:

The next one is the squirrel I spoke about before. I think it came out very adorable (it reminds me of the squirrel in Ice Age), but I was afraid that it was a bit radical for a project being raffled off for charity. I didn't want people asking Greg "so *what* exactly is it supposed to be?" LOL It is a bit funky and I love it that way. :P

These are the charity projects:

Greg's:

Kim's:

Together:

Aren't they cute? Of course they are! :wink:

I had a lot of fun making them, even if it was a long day at it. I made the fronts into mini pilllow tops and then pinned them to blocks of styrofoam. Greg cut the styrofoam and that was a mega pain. Then you take your fabric and glue it (white glue) to the back of the cube (fold around edges of cube) and take a strip of fabric (iron the edges) and glue around the cube. Take some round craft balls and glue on for feet. It's an easy way to finish off projects that you may not want to frame.

Greg is working on Frank by Mosey n' Me and I finally got an update pic.

I started 2 projects last night one is a pillow project from SamSarah - Autumn Crow. Here is an in progress pic and you can go to the gallery to see what is should look like when it's finished:

And I also started stitching Spooky Row by Bent Creek, I just got a few stitches started before bed last night:

That's it! I had a great time at the apple festival, although I didn't buy any apples. ;p Bought way too much stuff and enjoyed the warm weather.

Stitching, Stitching, Stitching

09.17.04 (10:24 am) [edit]

2 entries in one day, WOW! :) Well, now if have to give an update on my little charity projects. I decided that the squirrel was a little too ... well "squirrely" (sorry) to do for the charity project. I like it, but not sure if non-stitchers would appreciate it. :lol: So I had another freebie and it didn't take long to whip together. This weekend I will finish them up and will post pics after that. But here is a pic of what I will be donating:

I finally realized that for some reason there is a lot of blue light at my house, go figure. But after fiddling with Irfan View I finally got my pics to be their nearly true colors. They look so much better. :)

Here is an update pic of the squirrel, I will probably be able to finish her tonite.

I really like it, but the colors are interesting and to be honest the pattern makes it difficult to tell that it's a squirrel. It's cute, but I didn't want to confuse people. :P

Greg finished his donation and it's so adorable! I love the way he signs his name, I need to find a clever way to do mine. A lot of time a "k" can end up looking like an "r" if not careful. :P

Can't wait to do the finishes on these, I know they are going to be so cute! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
We are going to the AppleJack Festival! Should be fun and lots of fresh cider!

Stitching Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

09.17.04 (10:14 am) [edit]

I've been stitching a lot lately (well okay a lot for a long bit now) :D And I recently started experiencing an aching between my thumb and wrist and sometimes my fingers have a weird tingling sensation. This mainly happens when I am at work using my mouse and fortunately not when I am stitching. After checking around I have come to the conclusion that I have a mild case of tendinitis. Fortunately this is not a debilitating issue. I bought myself a hand brace that limits thumb movement and am using it at work. LOL It is funny to realize how much I used my right hand (I am left handed). But from just using the brace today my wrist is feeling a lot better, but I think I caught it before it got bad. I believe that it is aggravated by mousing. The awkard position of over extending my thumb on the mouse has finally taken it's toll. Oddly I believe I noticed similar problems BEFORE I started stitching but they never got bad enough for me to worry about. I think that the added stress of stitching every night has wrenched it up a notch. :) So today I ordered a glidepoint mouse (it's like the ones that are on laptops) for work and am using the brace until my wrist feels better. Many of you may be thinking "Carpal Tunnel" but there is a difference, Carpal Tunnel tends to effect the forearm from your *palm* back. The tendinitis I have is on the upper part of the forearm between the thumb and wrist and it's not causing my fingers to go numb, just that my thumb and wrist are a little achey. Lucky me. :) But if anyone out there experiences similar symptoms don't freak out and immediately think Carpal Tunnel, it may be something milder and more easily treated. I'm sure I will be fine soon. :) Someone suggested that I give up stitching for a while...I looked at them like they were crazy and bought myself a new mouse and a brace. I'd rather wear the brace than give up stitching. :D

The Great Stitching Race!

09.15.04 (6:29 am) [edit]

:D Have you ever been in a position where you "had" to finish a project by a certain deadline? I haven't...until this week. I agreed to help my sweet hubby in creating a couple of small projects for a charity craft fair next week (Tuesday to be exact) and while we are working on ultra small projects, there is something about being "under the gun" that is a bit unsettling. ;D I don't think stitching was ever meant to be one of those hobbies that should be done under time constraints, it takes some of the charm out of it. Plus, let's face it, humans are not sewing machines, they don't have the capacity to churn out vast quantities of hand sewed projects in a couple of hours. Fortunately the projects we are doing can be done in a couple of evenings and we have about a week to finish. I don't envision myself as ever being the kind of person that cranks out vast amounts of projects in a short amount of time, but it's fun to do something for charity. :)

I also finished my Waxing Moon Blackbird project!! It was small and would've went faster if I hadn't had to keep re-choosing the pumpkin color. The color I started out w/ was too dark and finally (after 3 tries) I got one light enough. ;D This is the hazard of working on dark fabric, getting the colors light enough to be seen. This fabric is hand dyed and I got it off of Ebay (Michelle Baron - DreamsofAngels) and it's very beautiful! I am using the same stuff to do the charity piece and I just love it!

Here's a pic of my completed blackbird, this weekend I will decide how to finish her. I'm thinking of cubing her, heh, heh...you will see...

Here is a mini update of the Autumnology squirrel that I'm doing for charity:

Greg is working on the Autumnology autumn. I don't have an update pic, but this is what it will look like, only on hand dyed orange fabric.

So many projects, so little time.... :D

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

09.14.04 (5:34 am) [edit]

"Do you stitch small projects one at a time that you can finish quickly, have numerous large projects going at once that you rotate, or both? How does your current system work for you and have you thought about changing it?"

It's been a while since I've answered one of these, and this one seemed particularly appropriate to me. ;D

I am one of those stitchers that can only focus on one project at a time, no matter how big or complicated it is. I would find it confusing and nerve wracking to switch around from one project to the next w/ out finishing what I'm one right now. I have dropped projects and re-started them at a later date and I've even let one go cuz I couldn't face stitching it. But typically I pick one and see it through to the end, whether it's big or small. I try not to pick things that are so big that by the time I'm well into them that I'm bored and so far it's worked out. It may be that down the road when I decide to do something extremely large and complicated that I may find myself setting it aside from time to time in favor of smaller finishes, but I'm not there yet. :D

Busy, Busy, Busy

09.13.04 (11:08 am) [edit]

I had a mega busy weekend! I did final finishes on 3 projects and Greg finished his eagle project. One of the things I did was make the pillow for Witchy Washy! That was interesting...too say the least, but it did turn out great.

First off here are finish pics of the pumpkin frame that Greg and his dad made me! I painted it to match the little frame I bought for the Autumnology project.

Here is a close up of the little bat ornaments that I found to embellish it:

Aren't those kewl? I love them! I love the way it mimics the bats in the stitching!

Here is a pic of the two frames together:

Here is a pic of Blessed Samhain framed:

It turned out fantastic! These pics just don't do it justice!!

Here is the autumnology project finished and framed:

And here are the two of them together:

Didn't they turn out great! I love them!!

Here is a pic of Witchy Washy finished into a pillow:

You can see more on the construction and larger pics of Witchy in the gallery, look under the completed projects (yes I did get it updated this time) ;p

The pillow was interesting to make and I think it turned out fantastic! The pics just don't do it any amount of justice AT ALL! The colors are absolutely stunning in person!

Greg also got his eagle framed and it looks so nice, he took it outside for a pic and you can see a larger version in the gallery.

Now Greg is onto a Mosey 'n Me project "Frank"

Which I think will be so cute when completed!

As you can see I had a busy weekend! And I also decorated my house for Halloween, I know it's early but I wanted to enjoy my decorations as long as possible. For those of you that are curious I put a link to a page of my house decorating on the current projects page in the gallery. It's just a bunch of pics of how I decorated. Sorry that some of the pics aren't so great, I have a dark apartment and sometimes the pics don't come out so great. Anyway it was busy and it's a lot to update all at one time so I'd better get back at it!

Pumpkin Patch

09.09.04 (6:39 am) [edit]

:D A quick update to show you the latest... Greg and his dad worked on a frame for Blessed Samhain last night and I think it turned out fantastic!! It will really add to the finish on BS. This is a before pic, as I haven't had time to paint it.

This next pic is of the frame for Autumnology that I'm currently working on. It's basically a mini version of the unfinished frame above, we used it as inspiration. :) I think that I will make the BS frame into a Jack O' Lantern, just like the one below and then they will make nice companion pieces.

Next is an update on Autumnology, it's going fast and I should be finished soon. I hope the orange fabric shows up better this time. I love this scarecrow he's so cute.

Lastly, I'm showing you a frame for a project down the road. It's a frame that Greg designed and I love it! I have a pattern from Lynne Nicoletti called Alice and was inspired to have an "A" frame for it. This is what Greg came up with and hid dad made it for us. It will eventually be painted (probably black) and I think it's a kewl way to finish off that project. :) I'm including a pic of Alice for those who've never seen it.

I hope to work on my pillow this weekend, I've got everything lined up and tested out my sewing machine that hadn't been used in 7 years, everything's a go, so I can't wait. :)

The Laundry is Done!

09.07.04 (6:22 am) [edit]

:D Witchy Washy is done! Hooray! All I have to do now is make it into a pillow. Which should be relatively simple compared to everything else. (crosses fingers) It turned out nicely! I like the buttons, although they are a bugger to sew on, those tiny holes are hard to target. The spider looks cute, but the stitching seems a bit loose to me, I think it's the fabric, which is quite soft to try something like the spider on, in my opinion. Overall this was a fun, fun, fun project! It doesn't have any back stitching, except the spider which makes it a fast finish. I was tempted to add some but decided to just go with it. I decided on a pillow because the finished project is so big and I didn't want to frame it. And since I now have a sewing machine it will give me a chance to try something different. There is a larger version of the finish in my gallery just click the pic there.

I also started a new project! I found the cutest little pumpkin shaped frame at the hobby store last week and decided to do a mini project for it. The frame opening is 3x5 so I can't do anything big. This Trilogy Autumnology project is perfect! It matches the frame and fits perfect! I am doing the scarecrow and some leaves around him. I got this over dyed fabric through an online auction, it's called Mandarin and it's a perfect soft orange for the backdrop. I would've used some of my own over dyed fabric, but this one seemed perfect and I just needed a small piece and the original fabric isn't huge so I plan to cut it down for a bunch of similar itty bitty Fall projects. So far it's going fast and it looks great on the fabric, although the pics don't do it justice.

Greg finished all the stitching on his eagle and now just has some minor backstitching left. It looks great, much better in person than in the pic. I think he is glad to be finished with the brown and is getting started on Frank by Mosey n Me next which is very colorful in comparison. ;p

We had a long and fun weekend, did a lot of nothing and just enjoyed life! Hope everyone else had a great time for their holidays!

More Updates

09.02.04 (6:39 am) [edit]

Back again w/ more updating! This was supposed to go up yesterday but couldn't get into my blog. So as of today I nearly have the dress finished. And I have to say it's a lot of BLACK!! This is going to be very kewl looking when it's finished. I have decided that I am going to make it into a pillow! I got my sewing machine ready and when I'm finished I will pick out some fabric, not sure what it will be yet... I think it will be fun to make a pillow though I haven't done any sewing (except hand sewing) for a long, long time. Luckily pillow making is relatively straightforward. ;p So here is my update:

You can see a larger version in the gallery.

Greg is making good progress on his eagle and now only has the right side of the wing to finish. It's looking good!! He's already starting to plan another project after this, not sure what it will be as it's always easy to change your mind at the last minute. :)

We have a long weekend coming up w/ Labor Day and we took Friday off to give ourselves 4 days of fun! Can't believe Labor day is already here! It seems just yesterday it was Memorial Day... :( Time just flies! We are going to visit family and go to at least one flea market, it's one we go to every spring and fall and it's always packed w/ stuff you don't need but buy anyway. ;p So I hope everyone has a fun weekend!!

What I'm Stitching