In Search Of.....

I need a little input from some of my fiber friends.  So you know one of my friends is expecting a baby girl in a couple of months, and I am having so much fun making super cuteness for her.  In fact, the cuteness is so super that it may actually kill me to not share it.  But I can't, because I want my friend to be surprised when she opens the package from me.  No, actually I want to be there when she opens my gift, but that's not likely to happen. (Digression, sorry.)

So, another dear friend is expecting (well, his wife is) before the end of the year.  This time it's a baby boy.  The problem is - I had 2 girls.  My best friend has girls.  Previously, this particular friend had 2 girls (and an ungrateful ex-wife who looked down on handmade gifts, probably because she was only capable of cutting paper and sticking it next to pictures.  Oops, another digression!)

So tell me, what is your go-to baby gift?  I'm resisting the idea of a blankie, but that may be the easiest solution.  I can make booties.  I have the fishy sleep sack in my gift stash, but I'd like to give more than one item, especially since baby-girl-to-be is getting a newborn size ensemble and 2 more things for when she's around 12 months old.  I know, I can search Ravelry, but it's overwhelming, and I keep getting stuck on the girly ideas!!  Thanks for your help!

Oh, and if you haven't entered my Blogoversary Giveaway yet, go now and get your entry in!  I'll draw the winner on September 3!

My Week In Stitches

I'd like to say a huge thank you for the sweet comments on my previous post.  It's not easy to open up about my personal life to "strangers" (and yes, I'm realizing how often I use "quotes" in my posts).  It's safer to just talk about what's in my hands than reality and pain and growth.  Thank you for making me feel safe enough to open up!

What do you say we start with Irish Blessing progress this week?  Cuz guess what?  I finished the lettering!!!  I took a couple of days off earlier this week (thus, freshly wine dyed fabric) for the last day of summer break and the first day of school, and spent quite a bit of time on Irish Blessing when the kids were at school:

Please know, everyone, that I truly wish this for all my readers.  This saying has a lot of meaning for me right now!  And, all that's left is the fun stuff!

Unfortunately, Fairy Sisters did not get as much attention.  I put a few x's in last night.  I've already decided that if I ever do another HAED I'm not using 28 count. Or if I do, I'm only doing tent stitches.  I'm going to push myself to finish these 2 pages before the end of the year.  I really don't want to carry them into a 3rd year.  I think I need to recharge my iPod, put on a bunch of CraftLit episodes and do mindless night sky stitching while listening to classic literature:

And finally, a first day of school pic.  The 10 year old is still, well, 10 and resisting getting her picture taken.  We've all decided that we like this tradition, and from now on I will try to take the first day of school off, so I'm there when they leave and when they get home, just like "normal."

Have a great week everyone, and be sure to check back - I have something special to announce early next week!!!!

My Week In Stitches

I actually had quite a bit of stitching time over the 4th of July holiday and into this week.  Again, moving that lamp has given me back my evenings!!!  And I had all day off on Friday the 5th, so I was able to have some fun with my kids on the 4th, do some productive day-time things (I painted my hallway, everyone) on the Friday, and take Saturday as a real day off.  Ahhhh.  I'm always trying to cram too many things into my weekends.  A 3-part Saturday was just what I needed!

Okay!  Stitching!

For the holiday weekend, the Cross Stitch SAL Facebook group had our monthly SAL (normally it's the second weekend of the month)  Knowing I'd have so much time, I pulled out Fairy Sisters.  Here it is at the beginning of the weekend:

And at the end of the weekend:

And at the end of this week:

I also started knitting a baby gift for my friend April - she's expecting her first in October.  But no pictures!!!

And Irish Blessing - I haven't worked on it yet this week, but this is where I stopped in January.  I'm not sure about using the wine-dyed fabric for this.  The blackwork stitches aren't "popping" the way I thought they would.  I may have to rethink my color choices when I get to the middle section.  What do you guys think?

My Week In Stitches and Merry Christmas!

I'm enjoying my first paid holiday in over 10 years, and I have to say "enjoy" is exactly the right word!  The girls turned on Christmas music this morning while my mom made cinnamon rolls for tomorrow morning, and now they're rolling out and cutting sugar cookies.  They're old enough to do this basically unsupervised - they just call me when they're ready to have the cookies transferred to the baking sheet, since they can't seem to do that without mis-shaping a rocking horse or Christmas tree.

As far as projects, I'm happy to say that as of about 2:30 this afternoon the aprons are done!  I was getting really nervous about finishing them. I'd planned to work on them during the days when the girls were at school.  Then I got a job.  Fortunately, they spent most of the afternoon out of the house with their father yesterday, so I was able to sew without being asked, "Mama what are you doing with the sewing machine?"

Here are the finish pictures:

This one is mine.  Made mostly according to the instructions found here, with 4 ruffles.  I modified the instructions slightly - instead of making an actual waistband piece, I made the back piece longer and folded it over.

Katie's - she loves ladybugs.  And this pink has ladybugs with lime-green heads, lol.

And Hallie's.  Since she's 10 now I wanted a fabric that looked a little more grown up.  I love this light-blue-bubbly thing.  As I said before, mixing prints like this was a huge stretch for me.  And I couldn't make myself mix too much the girls' aprons each use 2 fabrics with a total of 3 ruffles.  I did have to figure out the proportions of the adult apron to size this down to elementary school age.  I think I'll do a separate post about my modifications - my brain is too tired to do math right now, and I still have to finish knitting a legwarmer!

I hope you all have a blessed and happy Christmas!

Gratitude and Stitching

Maybe you all have seen posts like these, but I just discovered a Blog Hop by Stitching the Night Away - and prompt #12 is "When it comes to the stitching part of your life, what are you most thankful for?"

For me, I'm most thankful that I have the ability to create a gift with love that doesn't cost a lot of money.  It takes a little more time and planning to complete them, for sure, but the satisfaction of knowing "I made that" goes a long way.  My children have actually asked for handstitched gifts from me (a dog picture, a biscornu, legwarmers...)  It feels so good to be able to provide for my family in this way, and knowing that it's something they'll love and appreciate much more than something I bought already made in a store.

I've been thinking about gratitude a lot lately - at least I was for most of this month.  Yes, I was one of those annoying people on Facebook posting about things I'm thankful for.  I wasn't going to participate; you guys know how I've been with other month-long challenges, right?  But with everything negative and stressful going on in my personal life I decided to focus on one positive thing every day in my life, in the hope of changing my attitude and making this month much happier than September or October were.  And for the most part it worked - I was able to enjoy the holiday and celebrate the positive things that happen every day.  I found myself looking for good things.  I managed to post every day (without doing catch-up posts) until this week - Monday and Tuesday I didn't post any gratitude.  And the reason kind of demonstrates why I was doing this experiment to begin with - I didn't get some news I was hoping for, I was disappointed, I allowed myself to get into a funk, and couldn't muster anything positive to share!  I'm happy to say I'm out of that now and back to looking for positive things in every day.

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.

Catch Up Post #4 - WIP

Now, finally, we get to current projects!  Thanks for bearing with me over the last week while I showed what I've been up to - there really were things I wanted to share with you, and I'm glad I'm able to do it now.

When the 9 year old was picking out yarn for her friend's legwarmers, she came across a skein of yarn that she really loved.  I mean she really loved the color.  So I decided to make a sweater for her out of it for her 10th birthday.  This was progress in October, when I'd gotten to the point of taking the sleeves off the circular needles.  I'm nearly finished with it, which is great because her birthday is in the first part of December.  The "pattern" is more of a technique for a top-down raglan.  (Link will take you to the very complete instructions.)  I was nervous about running out of the main color (Caron Simply Soft, Jade), so I decided to work in some white stripes.  I'm now onto the sleeves, so it's almost done!

This one is actually a finish, not a WIP, but it's from Halloween.  The 7 year old decided she wanted to be a princess at the last minute.  So we fished through the fabric tub and found an adult-sized floral dress someone gave me for a project just like this.  I cut the skirt off and cut a new bodice, then folded up the skirt to make it the right length.  I cut off the excess and eased the skirt onto the bodice.  Guess what - no hemming, no seaming except at the shoulders, sides and the waist.  The tulle came from her Southern Belle costume from a few years ago and solved the need to make a real sleeve (and also makes a cute peplum).  I glued some jewels and pearls onto the front and used sticky-back velcro for a closure.

Fairy Sisters - this picture was taken in August, and I think I've done a little bit more on it in the purple to the middle-left.  At some point I decided to stitch pages 3 and 4 at the same time.  I'm not sure now why I made that decision, it was probably not the best.  Especially because I've been so spotty on it, it's difficult to even remember which symbol I was stitching last.  I know some people stitch HAED in columns or squares in total.  But I just can't break the habit of stitching sections by color.  So once I start pulling a color I don't want to stop using that one until the section is done.  That's probably how the 2-page-at-once thing happened.

This is the progress on the legwarmers the girls requested for Christmas. They both chose to have the hot pink.  K wants pink laces, and H wants blue - the opposite of her friend's.  They're a pretty quick knit.  You can find the pattern here if you'd like to try for yourself!

Friday Finish

2 weeks in a row!!!  I promised pictures of the baby shower gift I made last week - so here you go!

I made a bright pink "Sleep Sack" - you swaddle the baby, then slip them inside to keep them warm.  The Calla Lily is removable (of course, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't make a newborn article that was 100% washable????)

The baby's name will be Lily, so I made this sweet Calla Lily out of bamboo-cotton, and starched it so it would hold it's shape. (Instructions use worsted weight yarn, and include felting directions.)

Update - finishes

Okay, so I've slacked on the blogging, especially about my projects.  Thanks so much to everyone for reading/listening about my little banking scare.  It's all been sorted out.  One piece of good news - I found out that the bank had discovered it 2 days before I did, and THEY deactivated my PIN.  Not the bad guys.  I just hadn't updated my phone number with them, so they were unable to reach me by phone.  I got the letter the day after the whole fiasco.  Okay, on to the reason you stopped by:

FINISHES!!!

This is the finished biscornu I made for my secret sister at church - I finished it into a pin-cushion-let (does it have an official name?  Besides "a pincusion you can wear on your wrist"?)  I wanted to show the super cute little corner detail I made for the bottom.  Which had actually started out as the top, until I realized the thread I'd chosen for the heart outline didn't show up.  It's adjustable with Velcro, and I managed to stuff it very firmly.  So it's a nice plump little biscornu.  There's no button or bead embellishment - I kept breaking the thread so I gave up on that part.  And I'm very happy with my bias-cut strip for the bracelet.  I included some cutie-pie heart-topped pins - really long, so she can actually use them on the quilts she makes for charity.

This little purse was so much fun to make.  I used 2 different colors of Vanna's Choice (Charcoal and Linen, if you care).  The free pattern can be found here.  The upper part can be tucked down inside, and it's just a cute little handbag, or if you need it taller (like I did today), you can pull it up.  The handle loop goes through a space in either part of the bag.  It's so clever, I wish I'd thought it up!  It ended up being exactly checkbook width (perfect timing, too), and has enough room for my checkbook, phone, keys, a powder compact and a lip gloss.  I took the girls to a goat farm today, and stuck my camera in, and extended it so it wouldn't be so crowded. :)

Someday in the near future I'll have to update you on my WIPs - I've been so terrible about taking pictures lately!  Grrrrr!  Have a good week, everyone!

Updates

I didn't get pictures snapped on Saturday, let alone posted. I've been working on my angel stitching for TTE - I worked on it all weekend and some yesterday. So now I just have to backstitch the edges so I can finish it.

Here's BoInk from last-last week (the 13th). I finished the left-hand cross. I didn't stitch on it at all this week, because I feel like it's important to finish this angel stitching before the end of the year. And I can be kind of unfocused at this time of year. So I'm being responsible and finish-finishing things that have to be sent away so that I can enjoy Christmas and my completing stitching for the last week of the year.

And here's the mobius scarf I finished. This is a variegated pink-red yarn. It's long enough for me to wrap once around my neck and pull it up over my ears, or for Katie to wear wrapped twice around her neck and over her ears - so she could pull a layer over her nose and mouth, and no worries about her hat getting lost.

Also, I heard from the recipient of the gifts I made for the FB group - she's a fellow cross-stitcher! I was so happy to hear that they arrived in time for Christmas, I was a little worried when that giant storm rolled over the east coast that some of the mail would be delayed. The USPS come through again!

One more thing! Please remember to vote in my poll (right-hand side). There are only 5 votes! The poll will be open through Christmas day, which is this Friday!!! To see the projects, click here. Thanks for stopping by! Have a happy, safe, blessed holiday season everyone!

What have I been doing lately?

Well, besides getting ready for Christmas...

I've been crocheting! I'm making scarves - 2 for my friend's daughters, and 1 for me!!! :)

I'm working now on figuring out how to make an infinity scarf (some people call it moebius/mobius - I don't know why, and it's hard to explain, so I like infinity scarf). I should finish that today and get a pic. :)

So here's my scarf for me. Yes, you read that correctly. I made something just for me, because I wanted it. I made the same braided design that I did for Hallie's, but this is Tunisian stitch. It's hanging on my coat on the back of my desk chair. I've been getting a lot of compliments on this one. Yes, it's holiday specific, but I think I'll be able to get away with wearing it all winter.

This is also Tunisian stitch - not braided yet - I wanted to make sure my friend likes the colors before I start braiding. I'm going to try to figure out how to secure the plaits without using Stitch Witchery and steam. I don't mind the way it looks, but I'm able to get a more luxe look if it doesn't get flattened.

This is for the older sister - again, this is a color check pic. This one is single crochet - definitely faster than Tunisian! I did these strips while watching the Sing Off earlier this week.

Why do a more time consuming scarf for one sister and not for the other? Well, I'd done a few different strips in Tunisian because I wasn't sure what colors I wanted in my scarf - and the grey and black strips were shorter than the green, tan and red ones, but still the same length as each other. So I was repurposing my mistakes. :)

Here's a close-up of the front of Tunisian (or Afghan) stitch, if you've never seen it before. It works up more slowly than "normal" crochet, and uses more yarn. But it's convenient because you don't have to flip your work. You work one direction picking up stitches and keeping them on the hook (think knitting), then work them off as you come back the other direction. This creates a boxy, thicker fabric. You can see the grid, it would be easy to stitch a design on this.

Merry Mail Day!

Today I received a package from Nicole! She stitched my favorite (so far) motif from BoInk:

Front

Back

Book of Ink Circles, motif #whatever order you want to do it in, lol

stitched on 32 count Lugana

DMC fibers (her choices for the SAL)

finished as an ornament/scissor fob

Thank you, Nicole! I'll hang this on my tree - I'm starting a collection of hand-stitched ornaments from blogging friends! And I'm hanging them where I can see them from my stitching chair. :)

As far as my own stitching, I've been working on personal gifts. No, I did not do anymore of the advent calendar pockets. As soon as I gave myself permission to stop at 12, I stopped at 8, lol. I made 2 spiral rope (beaded) ornaments for the ornament exchange at church, and I'll make a few more for next week's bake sale/craft sale - benefiting the women's ministry and a possible fall retreat! I've also been crocheting a LOT - I'm making scarves for my best friend's little girls, as well as one for myself.

Oh, and today is my older daughter's 7th birthday! Happy birthday, sweetheart!

So I failed...

miserably at NaBloPoMo. *heavy sigh* BUT I posted more than I would have without that little incentive, so it's still a success. Congrats to those who made it all the way through!

So this month, I managed to stitch 4.5 ornaments. More, actually. Because I got 2 ornaments to the point of finishing before I figured out that they wouldn't work. :(

Snowflake-themed ornament set:

blackwork humbug, Hardanger & blackwork biscornu, and beaded snowflake (which may look VERY familiar to some of you)

Peppermint-themed ornament set (so far):

"star mint" biscornu and candy cane spiral-rope ornament (or a wreath)

I'm stitching a humbug for this now, but it's a little more tedious, and I think I'll need to get more green thread.

And a look at our Christmas tree! This year it's upstairs. Last year I just couldn't get in the holiday mood, and barely had any decorations up. But this year, we put the tree up after Thanksgiving. The outside lights are even up - we were the first on the cul-de-sac to decorate! And I'm mostly done with shopping for the kids. I went to Target at 11:30 on Black Friday, and was done in an hour. Didn't get the door-busters, but I still got some good deals, without all the hassle. :)

Annoyed!!!

2 nights in a row - I sat down to finish the minty ornaments, and it didn't work out the way I'd planned!!!! The first one (you'll have to use your imaginations) was a strip stitched so that when I folded and whip-stitched it closed, it would be a spiral (like a candy cane). I had 2 strips done with green stripes and one with red stripes, and I was going to attach them through each other, like the paper rings we used to make to count down the days until Christmas. Cute idea, right? Well, I didn't make the strips wide enough or long enough for that to work. So I put it aside last night and started crocheting. Then tonight, I decided to finish the truly candy cane-ish one, there's a picture below somewhere. I had backstitched around, pulled out some threads and done a hemstitch, and was ready to close up the open side. But when I trimmed the fabric to make it manageable for whip-stitching, I had trimmed too close to the backstitching, which started pulling out! Grrrrr!

I made a replacement for the rings, and I have an idea for a replacement for the candy cane. But that was a lot of work to have to replace! I think that I will make another humbug - it was an easy finish for me. I hope I'll have something to show tomorrow.

In much better news, I got an e-mail from the library today - it's my turn to get the new Castle book! Very much ahead of what I expected, so I'll pick it up tomorrow. :)

Saturday update

So today's update has progress and...a finish!!!

First, BoInk. I completed the upper-center motif - kind of like a phoenix, I think. So the whole upper portion is DONE!!!!!!!!! I also started the yellow frame on the right-hand cross. Hallie was looking at this piece and noticed the large crosses, and I said, "Look at the squares, there are crosses between the stitches." She looked closer and found a bunch of them!

And my finish. #1 of the 3-part snowflake ornie set - a humbug! I decided not to participate in the TTE2 humbug exchange, but the finishes have been so cute, and I like how the large center snowflake wraps around the front. I also finished the biscornu ornie, but I forgot to take a pic. I'm also thinking that piece #3 will be a beaded snowflake, if I can remember where I put them. :)

And in a case of my "best laid plans", I'm also ready to start finishing the minty ornies. So I went to find my Peppermint Oil (we've had it since Hallie was a baby, something about my grandmother used to give babies a taste of candy canes when their tummies were upset...), and guess what. I couldn't find the Peppermint Oil. We've had it for almost 7 years, moved it umpteen times, and THIS time I can't find it when I finally have a use for it. Fortunately, the spiraly-ness and the color scheme are strong enough to convey that it should smell like mint. Besides, peppermint oil doesn't really smell like a candy cane, I need spearmint or wintergreen or something. (This is how I justify things in my real life, too...)

Pepperminty!

This is a look at the pepperminty ornament I'm working on for the FB group. It's not an ornament yet. But it will be - once I hemstitch the top and bottom, back stitch the sides, and stitch it in a cylinder, scent the stuffing, stuff it, and close it up somehow. :) But the x's are done.

Happy Mail Day!

My mailman comes early at my new house! Today I received a package from Robin - a RAK she put together just for me! Thank you, Robin!

All the items she sent me - a large pincushion and 2 fobs. She asked me what I like, and I told her I tend to prefer things that are not-so-country, kind of neutral. It's hard to know how to answer that question without knowing what they're going to make. I love the mod pattern of this fabric - the stitched fob is backed with the same.

Here's a close-up of the stitched fob - 2 different variegated threads to stitch my initial A. And there's a beaded trim. I actually got a fabric that's similar to the blue to use for finishing - someone received an embroidered cube last summer made with that fabby (Rebekah, I think). And I used more of it to back the picture frame I made for my mom in April.

And a close-up of the beaded fob - so cute on my embroidery scissors. The charm on the end is a mother-of-pearl cross.

Here's a look at all the pieces, with the inspiration threads I picked up for the color scheme for my bedroom. I have about 4 dresses and a valance to make, so this little pincushion will soon be put in service. Right now I use 2 pin boxes (one next to the ironing board for emptying, and one next to the sewing machine for filling).

And while I'm talking about happy mail, I think now is the time to warn you that, yes, I will be working on a blogoversary give-away! You know how much it will kill me to not post updates, but I hereby promise to keep the give-away a secret! The count-down is on the right side of the page. I'll put up a "sign-up" post closer to the give-away date. Thanks to everyone who continues to read and comment. It really brightens my day to know that I'm not talking to myself in cyberspace. :)

Updates Galore

Wow, I lost a whole week somewhere!  I've been around, I've even been stitching!  I guess I just haven't had a lot to say blog-wise.  But my grandparents have received their anniversary gift, so I can talk about the finish of Dove Love!

First of all, here's Dove Love, a freebie from Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks, all finished.  It was stitched 2-over-1 on 28-count linen.  Colors are DMC - 2 are as called for, and the other 2 are "close enoughs" I had in my stash.  Stitching time on this was about 3 months.  I fray-checked the edges and machine-stitched this piece to a piece of muslin.  Katie chose the red and gold ribbon that I used to cover the linens edges - note: I cut the stitching fabric before I knew how I would finish this piece.  I used this as the cover of the the Family Tree Book.  You'll see the colors repeated on another "page".  There are 8 small hearts on Dove Love, which to me stand for the 8 grandchildren.

Her'e a scan of the cover page.  Thanks to Debbie from Tangled Stitch for her input on bringing this concept from my head to fabric.  You should be able to see on the tree, there are 8 red hears (grandchildren again) and 4 yellow hearts for my dad and his sisters.  The great-grandchildren are there, too, they are just leaves branching off from red-heart-branches.

The subsequent pages have a lot of my family's personal information on them, so I won't post them.  They've all received scans via e-mail.  But I'll describe them.  I made four additional pages, for my dad and his 3 sisters.  I continued the colorway, so my dad's name is in the mustard-yellow, and each of his children are in the blue-red.  The dates are like the branches on the trees - the numbers are done in green, to look like leaves and the slash marks are satin-stitched in brown.  However, instead of birthdates, I incorporated baptism dates.  On each page is a portion of the scripture found in III John verse 4 - "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are living according to the truth. " (NIV).  I know this verse means so much to my grandparents, who have dedicated their lives to ministry.  But the ministry always started at home.  This book is not just about births in the family, it's about legacy.

Here's what it looks like all put together.  It folded flat for shipping (yay!),  but it can also stand on the back page to be a display piece.  I included this picture in the package, and it was a good thing I did!  My grandparents love puzzle things, and they like watching people try to figure things out.  Not only does it stand like a pyramid, it also doesn't read straight front to back, so people have to flip it around - LOL, it will give them hours of entertainment.

Here's BoInk through week 11 - I didn't stitch this last Sunday.  I took a few days off after finishing the book, and the kids had a choir concert, so I felt it was as good a time as any to take a break on this one.  I still have a bit of color on the cat (did we decide it's a cat?) in the top right corner - the purple is a color I have to steal from Emma's baggie, but I can do that because.......

I've finished all the cross stitches on Emma #2!  Mini happy dance - still have a heck of a lot of backstitching, "lace" and a few beads to sew in place.  But you all know how I like that light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dim it may be.

Also, I did hear back from my friend, and she's received the little purse I sent her, and she loves it, so I feel very happy about that.

House updates - we've passed the appraisal, and have entered the underwriting phase of loan approval.  Closing is still set for the 29th - is that really next week?  Could it really happen?  We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond today to just look for curtains - we'll need something for the living room slider, and we want a cafe curtain for the dining room and a valance for the kitchen.  I'm not big into matchy-matchy things, but I do like things to go together.  We found a panel we liked, and the person looked it up and said "Good news - it's on clearance, only $9.99/panel.  Bad news - our store is completely out." So he ordered all the panels we needed from other stores in the area, which will ship directly to us.  I remember a time when you actually had to drive to other towns and hope and pray that the clearance item was still waiting for you.  We plan to cut down one of the drapery panels and make our own cafe curtains and valance out of that.

In the meantime, I really should start cleaning, decluttering and packing.  My husband is so much better at the packing part, but he's still in Seattle, so I have to do it myself.  I've put the girls to work this evening, separating all the plastic grocery bags in the kitchen by store type (Walmart, WinCo, Albertsons, etc.).  Now that Katie's potty-trained, I don't have the need for as many plastic bags.  I need a craft idea for these!

I hope everyone has a safe weekend - it's a holiday in the US, Memorial Day, on Monday.  The unofficial start of summer.  We'll bbq hamburgers on Sunday and steak on Monday, with sweet corn, baked potatoes and orange soda.  Until next time...

The joy of finishing

I'm working away at the Dove Love finish today - I'm ready to start gluing!  And stitching more.  I want to finish by Friday, just because I think I can.  My brain is spinning with "what do I attach first" dilemmas, and I wish I could show it to you all.  As soon as my grandparents have received, I'll post lots of pics, I promise!!!

Saturday Update

Final pics of Dove Love for a while, BoInk update, and a Lizzie*Kate finish-finish!
Dove Love at the stitchery "spa" - can you see the pins? Ahh, relaxing all the tension on the left side.



Time for a back massage! I mean, press. LOL, for those who like to check others' work, here you go. Remember, this is over-1. Go ahead, compliment me.



BoInk week 5 - I did more of the black knotwork at the bottom, just to be sure I was all-good. Then I went back to the top of this motif to start filling in. Very much enjoying this project, I wish I could do more than one day a week on it!



And Lizzie*Kate! Gift #1 is stitched and finished! This is an L*K snippet, "Ask Me About My Grandkids", Silkweaver Solo 28ct Cashel Linen, DMC flosses. Finished as a photo frame, using satin stitches to reinforce the cutout. The fabric is glued, but the picture can be changed. Yay, me! It even has a ribbon hanger (it's hanging on a coat hook in the pic), and handmade cording to cover the seams. Backing fabric nearly matches the linen. I'm not sure why it's so weird looking in the pic - it's kind of a cloudy-aqua, and I had some quilting fabric on hand that matched. Thank you to Vonna (The Twisted Stitcher) for her flat-fold instructions - I'm adapting them to other finishing techniques, as you can see.

Just a quick post...

My stitching focus this week has been on the gift for my mom. I Fray-Checked it yesterday afternoon, and should be ready to finish this afternoon. I'll cut out the photo frame, and consider embellishing the Lizzie*Kate portion, or maybe just go glue happy so it can dry and be done.

House update - the selling agent has officially taken the house off the market. I'm glad that our realtor is looking out for us. There were some confusing boxes marked and not marked on the MLS, and he did a title search, and found some paperwork had not been filed, so he is amending the contract to state that all previous sale paperwork must be filed before we will move forward with inspection. This step could take until the end of April. The positive news - the seller obviously intends to get rid of this property, we think he was hoping to save some money by skipping a step and hoping no one would notice. We noticed. ;) That's where my mind has been yesterday and today - tough to focus on stitching anything, since the project I want to work on has to be done when my mom's not home.

Bunco at church tonight! I haven't played since college, and I'm looking forward to a fun night getting to know some other women from church.