Monday, July 30, 2012

Month of August WIP

I intend to do a lot of little projects through August, and the first is my Stoney Creek Pattern of the Month for August. In just three days, I'm almost done.

The hardest part of these smaller projects is holding them. The frame is only 4" x 4", so you can imagine how small the fabric is. Now that I'm working on the edges, my hands are cramping trying to hold the fabric, but it's totally worth it.


I have no doubt I'll have a Finish by tomorrow.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Your Comments

Thank you so very much for such sweet comments!! I spent this last week fishing with my family, and as I came down the mountain to head home, I received all of the notifications.  


My ambition was to respond to every one and start going through the impressive list of blogs for IHSW, but alas, I just don't have the time right now.  After a vacation, you should take a vacation.  


I promise I will get back to each of you, and thank you for such kind words!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Jordan is Complete!

To celebrate my International Hermit Stitching Weekend: Jordan is finally complete!!! I spent most of today working on her, and I even ignored friends who came over because I could see the end of the beading.  I just didn't want to put her down and have to wait to finish the beads tomorrow!


So, here she is: 66 hours of stitching and over 40 additional hours of beading.  Jordan is completely lovely!




 There is some serious bling on this fairy!

I had my youngest daughter, Jordan, come into my office to see "her" fairy. She could not believe that her Jordan Fairy was finally finished! 


Once I was done, I had to take pictures and get them uploaded. I just couldn't wait. After everything was cleaned up and put away, I happily relaxed.  I could not believe the amount of tension in my shoulders trying to get her done.  Whew!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Hermit Weekend



It is again time for the Hermit Weekend! For my weekend, I am really hoping that I can get Jordan finished with her bling. The beading with invisible thread is seriously going to make my eyes bleed, but she is just so pretty with it all!


This is where I left off on her on Monday night:
Let's see how much more I can get done of her by Sunday night.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

ORT Report

It is that time again - time for the ORT Report, and I am happy to say that my jar is filling up quickly!!! I've been on a roll with my stitching, and I am loving the progress!!
I had to share our dog, Addie.  She kept trying to nose into my picture of my ORTs, so I finally got her to lay down and allowed her to be in the picture.  Normally, she is laying on my feet while I stitch. Yes, very cute but while it's been over 100* here AND she's over 80 pounds, well, let's just say it's a good thing she is so pretty.  LOL


I know I joined late, but it looks like my little jar will be pretty full at the end of the year.  

Framed & Hung!

I have been so amazingly thrilled since receiving my email from Jill with my Flip-Flops framed!! She sent me an email to show me what she created, and then I was simply DYING to have it back in my hands!


Unfortunately, my framed piece arrived the afternoon after I took off for a romantic two-day trip with the Hubby.  It took everything I had in me to go ahead and leave on time for the trip and not wait for the delivery, but life had to go on, right?


I returned home today, and after paying the babysitter, I ran into my office and opened the box.  It was so great to see my creation framed beautifully, and I immediately went to hang it up.




People have to be fully inside my home to get their "Welcome," but it is so great to see something that I made with cross-stitching back up in my house. I love it!


The framing was done by Jill Rensel: http://renselstudio.blogspot.com/ and now I get to wait to see my creation on her blog.  Talk about exciting for me!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Beading - Day 2

Normally, I don't mind beading, but I have discovered that beading on a Nora Corbett piece is quite maddening. I am using invisible thread which is difficult to maintain on the needle, but the pattern calls for a lot of dragging, so I don't want colored floss.

I know, I know - no one will see the back, but I would know and it would drive me insane knowing that it looked horrible.

Whew! This is a LOT of work. I'm getting a bit faster now that I have found a rhythm, but I cannot work at night on it or my eyes hurt.




Sunday, July 15, 2012

Stitching Rituals - Blog Hop #6

Stitching the Night Away Stitching Bloggers Blog Hop
It is that time again - another Blog Hop.  I really look forward to these, not only because I love to talk about myself, but I love to see the answers that others have written. 


This Hop's prompt: Some of us have a favorite chair that we sit in to stitch, others prefer to enjoy a steaming mug of tea while they stitch. Maybe you need to get comfortable and put on your pajamas before you pick up your needle or you simply must rearrange all the sofa pillows before you sit down. Sometimes the ritual is in the clean up when we’re done and everything must go in a certain place. What sort of stitching rituals do you have when you sit down to work on your projects?


I am a complete creature of habit.  I try very, very hard not to start another project before I finish the one I was working on. Sometimes, I have to get motivated, so I will kit up the next project and have it ready for myself which helps me to finish a project that was not working very well for me.  


When kitting a project, I always get the floss organizer ready - title of the project, the floss numbers written with their codes.  If more than one floss organizer is necessary, I will number them in order.  Then, all of my accessories are placed in my mesh bag (Krenik, floss, etc.).  I always have my notions handy in the mesh bag, but I have different sizes of mesh bags depending on the project.  I have a small one for the floss bobbins if necessary to carry with me to maintain the floss that I will need for the project, my scissors, extra needles, my needle threader on the FOB, etc.


I will make sure to set up in the corner of my sofa with the tray pulled down to hold my notions as well as a beverage (water, pop, bier - whatever I'm in the mood for), I get the TV ready with whatever show or movie I'm going to watch (I cannot stitch without the TV going, and I can't watch TV without stitching), and then my stand is ready.  Most of the time, I am using my stand for projects.  If I have a small project, then I'm stitching in hand.  I always, always, always wash my hands before I touch my fabric, and I will wash my hands throughout the stitching process to minimize the oils from my hands. 


The picture was fuzzy because one of my daughters took it, but it gives you an idea of my ritual. I have purchased some nice smaller pillows for behind my back that also accent the sofa when I'm not stitching.  


If I'm not done with the project, but I'm done for that moment or for the day, I will take a picture of my progress to post on my blog, put the scroll in a pillowcase to keep the dust off of it, and pack up all of my notions and accessories to keep them together.  We always have a busy house, and I would hate for something to go missing. The stand gets put against the wall out of everyone's way, and the rest of the items get put in the corner out of the way - the chart on the magnet board, the floss, and the mesh bag.


Once the project is done, I make sure that I put everything away right away.  The floss is returned, the accessories for that project are returned, and the chart is packed away to be kept flat. If my next project is already kitted, then I bring it all out to the living room to be kept in my corner of the room out of the way.  If not, then I'll either kit it up to be ready or wait until the next morning if I finished late at night.


When I travel, I make sure that I have a small pattern with me with everything I need to complete it.  I always set the thread and mesh bag out to my left and start stitching in hand.  

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
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Friday, July 13, 2012

She Has Wings!

Well, Jordan now has her wings.  It took me a while to understand how to attach the Mill Hill Crystals, but once I understood, everything went well.  I wanted to make sure that the crystals were in place before outlining the wings. 


I was very apprehensive about using Kreinik having read some horror stories on various stitching groups and blogs, but the one thing that I had heard over and over again was to use a thread conditioner with Kreinik to make it more pliable.  After attempting to thread the needle, I was very glad that I had purchased some Thread Heaven.


Once I had applied the Thread Heaven, the Kreinik was far easier to manipulate and wasn't tearing across my floss.  Whew! Thank goodness.  I had received some comments on my previous post which gave suggestions, and I'm happy I used them.



So, Jordan has wings now.  My daughter Jordan is very excited to see her Fairy coming to life!  


Now, it's on to the beading!! I will have to limit myself to beading during the daylight hours in order to utilize the YLI Invisibly Thread.  I cannot stand the eye strain from using it, but there is no way I want to drag colored threads across the back of the fabric to put the beads where they are called for.



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

J Fairy Backstitched

I did not have much time to stitch today, but I did manage to get the Fairy, herself, backstitched. Tomorrow, I hope to get the wings and antennae backstitched, but I've never used Kreinik before - so I'm a little worried. I started with the legs:
The her upper torso and face
And then the dress
I have been so happy to stitch her!! Jordan was so happy to see her Fairy the other day that she wrote me a letter to tell me how much she loves me because of what I do for her. the letter was written in yellow crayon, so you will have to click the picture to read it.  Needless to say, I am motivated to finish (like I wasn't already, but still....)


Talk about everything being "worth it" in the end.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Last Stitch!

Wow! I put in the last full stitch today!! I have gotten to the end of Jordan Fairy & my daughter, Jordan, is ecstatic about seeing this come to life. Tomorrow, I will start the back-stitching & hopefully, I will be able to start the beading.

This is my first Mira/Nora Corbett. I am very excited and pleased with myself!




Saturday, July 7, 2012

Letter J Update

I've been working slowly but steadily on Jordan Fairy. There has been some frogging that was necessary, but I've been careful to ensure everything lined up perfectly.
There has been some frogging - which has always occurred when I thought everything was going smoothly.  I was tempted to try the skin over 1, but I just didn't have it in me to do so. I am sticking with the pattern for these, and I'll try the over 1 for skin another time.


Since I kept my butt on the couch most of the day, I got a LOT done! The picture above is where I left off after last night, and here is where I left off tonight:

She has been a real pleasure for me to stitch! I am so glad that I started over on Lugana rather than sticking with the linen.  The girls keep watching where I am on Jordan knowing that the each are going to get one.  


I thought about continuing on the Fairy herself, but I wanted to make sure the J was lined up and that I have enough to measure out if the rest of the fairy is going together as she should.  


So far, so good!



Sunday, July 1, 2012

Seasonal Stitching

Stitching the Night Away Stitching Bloggers Blog Hop
It is time for Blog Hop #5.  The prompt for this one is:


Do you find yourself stitching seasonally or do you just stitch what moves you at the moment? What’s your favorite holiday or season to stitch for?


I love to stitch for the seasons, and I really try to plan and get things done ahead of time.  Most often than not, however, I am distracted by something else that comes up and inspires me.  I am sad to say that the Christmas ornaments I wanted to make for each of my step-sons using their first name initials has not been completed, but I am planning to get to them this Autumn.


Christmas has always been my favorite holiday closely followed by summertime and the Beach.  However, I am finding myself suddenly drawn to Autumn and Halloween for some reason, but I will be limiting my stitching for that one because I typically do not like the patterns that I find.  I cannot stitch enough flip-flops or sunflowers, but I always try to limit myself so that my house is not inundated with pieces throughout and muddled.  


In my stash, I have great seasonal "t0-dos."  I'm hoping to get to them each in their own time, but with everything that I have, I will have to live far past 100 years old to complete it all. 


Something tells me, I'm not alone in this......



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.