My Week In Stitches

Sunday - BoInk - the right-hand cross is done, and I've moved back to the left side. Also, more work is done on the bottom border.

Tuesday - Pixie's Lady. I'm done with the "background" yellow for this section - you can see her silhouette now. :)

I completed stitching on the scissor pocket for TTE2 - finished it completely, and took careful notes and lots of pix. So there may be a tutorial from me on this in the future. The pocket, post card and single goodie (this is a limited goodie exchange) is sitting in it's envelope, addressed, ready to go to the post office. :) I also made a ton of progress on PIF #3 - I was going to start giving sneak peeks on Facebook, then Zsuzsa found me on there! :) So it stays a secret for everyone. I think it'll be finished this week. Then I'll have no choice but to go back to the advent calendar. Or start something else *evil laugh*

Sometimes intentions are what really count

I fully intended to hop back on here last Saturday and post some pics and my goals. Really. I did.

So keep reading, and you'll find some pictures at the bottom. I haven't listed my goals for 2010 or January yet, although I did update my stitching schedule. :) My current stitching includes PIF #3 - Zsuzsa, I'm so sorry I haven't sent it to you yet!!! I won't be running another PIF this year, I think I'll stick to RAKs.

See, the problem is, I've had 3 illnesses in the last month. I've had the FLU, laryngitis and now a plain nagging cold. But I've had an annoying cough that has not gone away in between illnesses. My husband is home for a visit, and made me go to a doctor. The doctor ordered a chest x-ray (negative) and decided I have "bronchitis or some inflammation of the airway". So for the first time in my life I have an inhaler. Not fun at all, and I'm glad I only need to use it for 5 days. It does seem to be helping already, though.

I'm glad to have hubby home for a nice long visit - hee-hee - I made him take down the outside lights yesterday when it was 22 degrees. Today we finish with the undecorating, and then he will become a slave driver with unpacking boxes still stacked in the garage from June, and making me make decisions about whether to keep things or donate/toss. But maybe the garage will be organized when we're done. :)

So while I was sick, I did a lot of crochet. I think that was easier on my eyes and my head when I felt "fuzzy" than crossing x's. I made a tote-bag for my niece-in-law, and 3 more infinity scarves (I only have a pic of one). :)

Thank you for stopping by! If you make resolutions, I hope you are holding to them! If not, then welcome to the club! :)

PIF #2 has been received

Taija e-mailed me to let me know that her PIF has arrived safely in Finland! I thought for a long time about what to make for her. She says on her blog that she likes biscornu, and things that are Russian-themed. So I started playing with the matroishka doll shape, and decided to stitch 4 different sized dolls, all with different sweaters and skirts. The skirts are blackwork and the sweaters are all different types of counted stitches - very textured.

On the back, it has 2009, her name in Cyrillic script, a little flower, and PIF (with my initials).

Here's a close-up of the dolls, before the faces and the biscornu-ing:

I'm so glad you like it, Taija!

PIF received and PIF mailed

I mailed a PIF to Taija in Finland today. As soon as she lets me know it's received, I'll post pics. Some of you who are my friends on Facebook may have seen pics already, from the drawing phase, to the partial stitched phase, to I think the finished phase. Anyway, I hope she likes it!

Also, here is the pic (clickable) of the ornament I received from Carol S. It is "Holiday Heart Ornament" by JBW Designs, stitched on 28-count R&R Reproductions French Vanilla Linen, with GAST, Mill Hill beads & a Dress It Up! star. So cute - the tree is actually made up of a bunch of hearts. And I love the vine around the outside. The postcard is from Harlequin, and anyone who visits Carol's blog knows how much she loves Harlequin books! I laughed when I saw that!

Thank you, Carol, this will be a treasured piece on our tree. Our Christmas theme is always a child's Christmas, with a bit of "rustic" thrown in. The only time of year anyone could describe me as "country"! This will fit perfectly. I showed it to my mom when she got home from work, and she oohed and ahhed over it, too.

I did it again!!

Ugh! But at least NaBloPoMo has kept me coming back to post MOST days. I have been working really hard on these 2 ornament sets - I have stitching completed on 2 of the 3 peppermint ones, and am beginning finishing. The un-minty ones are going to be slightly easier finishes, but I'm playing around with embellishment.

Today I received my PIF from Carol S, and I'll post a pic tomorrow after I drag my camera downstairs. I think I may have put off the germies as long as I could - I had a low-grade fever and a headache this afternoon, and I'm kind of fuzzy-headed right now. So I have very little energy for going up and down the stairs. My fever is gone, so I hope it was a little tiny mild germy thing. But I'm giving myself permission to not stitch tonight, hopefully my eyes and fingers will feel like focusing tomorrow. :)

Finishes, starts and everything in between

So I have finish-finished all my clothing sewing projects. Mind you, I wanted to finish these by the beginning of summer. Now that we have a weekend with highs in the 40s, I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have finished my sleeveless denim dress, lol. I'll try it on and have Hallie take a picture of me wearing it, but not until I've done hair and makeup. I know, but it's a thing for me.

PIF #2 is in the finishing stages. Like I could sit down and finish it tomorrow during the (5)BSU game.

So since I've made so (sew?) much progress on these other projects (and you'll see progress pics on BoInk and Emma tomorrow), I've decided it's time to start new ones!

I need to repair (and by repair, I mean make again from scratch) Hallie's scarf. The places where I tied the colors together have come untied, so I'm going to try changing colors but leaving the yarn all one piece. I charted what I'm going to stitch for the TTE2 Needlebook exchange this morning, and had a fun time doing that. I also know what I'll stitch for PIF #3, and how I want to finish, but I have to sit down with paper, pencil and math to figure out how to do what I want to do.

I haven't set goals the past couple of months, I've just been plugging away on things. But I'll start with goals again for October:

Stitching:

Hallie's scarf - finish by 10/5

Finish PIF#2 - mail by 10/15

Stitch and finish TTE Needlebook - mail by 10/31

Complete Emma #2 by 10/31

Weekly progress on BoInk - complete 2 more motifs and complete left side of frame

Design gift for a FB group give-away - 10/25

Other stuff:

Organize desk once and for all. I mean it this time. 10/6

Bring up and put away a box of books from the garage. 10/7

Start home-based business. I know what it is, I just need to finish my start-up cost. I'll tell more about it when it's running. :) 10/10

Saturday update

Showable work this week on BoInk. I ran out of orange! Ack! It was already bundled on a floss holder, and I misjudged how much I had! So I will have to take the piece with me shopping for replacement thread, and PRAY that I can get a match. I didn't do that when I ran out of the skin color on the Egyptian RR, and Pharaoh's right arm is a different color than the rest of him, lol. Tomorrow I'll be working green, yellow and purple on the top right motif and in the frame!

Lots of progress is being made on one PIF, and I have an intriguing idea for the other.

I'm really enjoying using the Encyclopedia of Needlework - I renewed it once at the library, and have to return it on the 14th. I'm incorporating more counted stitches into work and adding more texture. It's so fun!

Can I just take a minute to say how excited I was that the University of Washington beat USC last week? They went from a 15 game losing streak to #24 in the nation. Also, a big "Go Broncos" to Boise State - #8 in the country (and a thank you to USC and BYU for losing so horribly last week). BTW, I'm a college football fan, in addition to baseball. But baseball's almost over, and the Mariners are nearly mathematically out of the post season, so let the BCS watch begin!

Saturday update

Work to show this week: BoInk and Emma's Garden. If you are my friend on Facebook and you want to see what I've been doing for the PIF, you can go look in my Wall Photos. You know how it kills me to not show progress pics!!!!! I had to post it somewhere!

BoInk - Black framework is DONE!!!!!!! I moved on to the top right motif because I still had a bit of black in my needle. You can see my left-over red parked. Like I said, I'm trying to force myself to finish one motif at a time. The only exception is when I finish a color in a motif, I'll use the left-over thread from that color in framework (green, yellow, feet colors). It looks so much better with the frames in place, and I feel better knowing that all that counting is done and CORRECT!! :)

For Emma - I did switch to ecru for the lace. After pulling out the white, I was a little annoyed, so I didn't touch her for a couple of weeks. But a good, nerve-wracking football game keeps me moving along. You should be able to see that my needle is in the lace portion under the center of the scene. I did one row all the way across as a reference point, and also so it feels more do-able. Right now I'm stitching the "construction" part of the lace, in 2 strands of Ecru (it's supposed to be done in 12 pearl cotton, but I don't have size 12 in Ecru. 2 strands of 25= 1 length of 12.) I have another college football game to watch this afternoon (go Huskies!), so I hope to finish the "12" work. After that, I'll have netting to stitch in 1 strand of Ecru, and blanket stitches and long satin stitches in size 8. And beads. And a tiny bit of stem back-stitching. And the personalization.

Today, I have a swimming pool to empty, some more weeds to knock down, and I would like to go looking for hardware pieces for making the roman shade. Thanks for everyone who commented on my other post, especially with more ideas to look at. I like looking at multiple tutorials, I think reading more than 1 way of doing something helps me understand it better and feel like I can do it on my own. I sometimes pick and choose from different tutorials to find the easiest way to do something. ;)

Saturday Update - no pics

I've been stitching this week. But I've been working on a PIF and a contest, so no pics. And yes, it's killing me.

I will say this about Swirlygig - it's a quick, fun stitch. But deciding how to finish it is another matter. Believe it or not, this is my first "sampler", and I don't want to do just another pillow. I'm working on an idea (in fact, I'm mostly committed to it), and I think it will be creative and different. I just hope the finishing looks the way I want, because as I'm working on it, I realize the steps I'm doing should have been done before I hemmed the piece. Grrrr. I think it will be okay. I just have to make myself work on it.

But to do that, I'd have to put down the current PIF. And I've been inspired, so it's more fun to work on the PIF!

So, in other news, I had fun at Bunco last night - for the first time I won a category - most wins! :)

Musing

I promise, I'm just checking my e-mail and stuff for a bit, then I'll get to stitching on BoInk for today. Last night I finished putting beads on Cure Snowflake, and got the "itch" to get some design ideas on paper. So I grabbed the graph paper and colored pencils, and STARED at the blank page. Then I painted my nails and went to bed. (I'm happy to report that this nail color looks better on me with my Idaho tan than it ever did with my Seattle pale-ness.)

See, I have the privilige of stitching PIFs for 2 ladies in Europe. I'm trying to let my creativity and love of geometry flow BEYOND turquoise and brown for a while, so that I can get into stronger colors. I know that one of these ladies loves Russian-themed work, and I happen to have some eastern European decorative pieces I can use for inspiration. I also have a beautiful spool of ribbon that I HAD TO HAVE when I was shopping for finishing trim for Hallie's dresses. Honestly, I'm looking forward to sending something from my own head. I'm in the "agony of design" phase, and I've been happily stitching other people's work for a few months. I think I have "lazy brain syndrome."

Today the ideas have started to flow; I know where one piece will start, and I have color ideas for the second. I just had to let this out on the computer screen as well as the graph paper.

March goals

Is it possible that it's already March? Is it possible that I accomplished everything on my February goal list? Let's see!

Recap of February Goals:

Complete 3 new items for Etsy - well, I listed 4 things, only 2 of them were new finishes, but that counts, right?
Continue making strong weekly progress on Dove Love - yes! Yay! I'm estimating 2 or 3 more weeks of updates, and then it's back to the Secret Squirrel cave until the gift is received
Complete and mail 3 Ladies RR to Pixie by 2/24 - completed by 2/26, holding until Pixie is ready to receive
Stitch 2 hours every week on Emma #2 (8 hours in Feb) - 8 hours in Feb accomplished - the first weekend SAL on FB really helped me make that goal
Finish and mail 1 PIF by 2/14 - yes, and Laura has received

March Goals

Stitching:

Complete 3 new items for Etsy
Stick to my stitching schedule (posted on the right) - weekly progress in each category
Finish stitching Dove Love by 3/25 and move on to finishing
Stitch and finish Lizzie*Kate gift by 3/31
Stitch, finish and mail TTE Biscornu exchange piece by 3/31 (deadline)

Beading:

Organize stash (I know, too general)
Try one new seed bead stitch by 3/17

Blogging:

Maintain posting pace (I'm happy with it, are you happy with it?)
Create widget for bracelet giveaway
Comment at least weekly on fellow stitching blogs

Miscellaneous things I hope to attain by 3/31:

Find a house!!!!!
Potty train Katie!!!!
Regular fitness routine

Thanks for visiting and taking part in my creative life. I appreciate your comments.

My first PIF has been received!

The first of my 3 PIF gifts has been received by Laura M.! I stitched a freebie from Sharon M. (xstitchhappy) for her, and added some dragonflies, which are Laura's favorite. I finished it as a flat-fold (this was my first), and included the rest of the backing fabric, some cream ribbon, a purple bead mix for her scissor fob-making, and some of my hand-dyed fabric. The irridescent dragonflies on the backing fabric inspired the color choice and the stitching method - I "tweeded" 2 strands each of the brown and yellow floss to give "Stitchin" and the thread in the needle interesting, almost irridescent, texture. The dragonflies were not part of the original pattern, but they came from another of Sharon's designs.

It was so much fun to stitch for Laura. She's become one of my closest stitching and blogging friends, and it's a pleasure to stitch for someone you feel like you know. If you read my blog and not hers, please take a minute to visit her blog. She's also accepting sign-ups for a PIF - she'll make something hand-made for you in the next 365 days, and all you have to do is make a post on your blog promising to make something hand-made for anyone who signs up under you.

I'm taking PIF sign-ups!

I signed up on another blog for a Pay It Forward for 2009. Wanna play? Leave a comment here and I'll contact you! I'm looking for 3-5 people to reward!

Rules for Pay It Forward (PIF):

1. I will stitch something for you sometime in the year 2009 and mail it to you. I will look at your blog to get an idea of your tastes, and choose something just for you!

2. You must post a request on your blog like this one asking for sign-ups, to keep the fun going!

That's it!

Updated - I think 3 is my limit, based on all the other things I want to do this year. If you stumbled across this, and would like to sign up with someone, please visit my friend Laura M - dragonflymystic. She is taking up to 6 PIFs. She's a talented, creative stitcher. I've been stitching in Round Robins with her for 2 years, and love seeing her work!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA tomorrow. No travel plans for us, since we just settled in to our house! We saw some family last weekend at the wedding, and some from the other side will be here in early December. So we're having a quiet family turkey-day - watching the parade, watching the dog show, starting birthday party invites for Hallie's party.

At some point I will post a tutorial for the star motif - I've typed the instructions, I just need to add pics and make sure it makes sense. So watch for that tomorrow or Friday.

Also, please sign up for the PIF for 2009! I'm focusing on giving to others this year, and teaching my kids to do the same. There are so many families in my area out of work, and not able to afford to give their families a special dinner or any gifts. I feel very blessed to have a warm home, and plenty of food. And while we've had to make sacrifices to make this work, I always have time and creativity to give to people. I'm looking forward to blessing some people this year!