Two Starts and a Finish

Hey Blog Buddies,

This will be a quick post before I head for parts West.

I actually have two starts to show you.  Working backwards in the seasons, now that I have done four Chirstmas ornaments, I've decided to do some Hallowe'en stockings.

This is "Deadly Nightshade" from the 'Tis Hallowe'en booklet by Blackbird Designs.  The chart called for 30-count linen, but then the stocking would be 7" long--too big for my little everblack tree.  Yes, I have a black Hallowe'en tree that sits on a black pumpkin with a purple bow.  (You should know by now that I'm not quite right.)  So I am stitching the design on 40-count linen to make it a little smaller.  I think I'll have enough linen to stitch three stockings!  Hopefully, I can have them all stitched and finished-finished by the 1st of October.  (yeahright)

I started this little cutie when I went to my needlepoint group on Wednesday because I wasn't in the mood to work on my Autism design or my "little lady."  The design I'm working on is the one at the top left of the page.  As you can see, this is a Laura J. Perin design, and it's going to be a really fun stitch.  It will finish itself whenever I get a chance to get back to it--probably only on needlepoint Wednesdays for now.

And finally, my finish.  I'll admit it, this one is a little weird.  DH is a licensed amateur radio operater, as am I, but he actually talks to folks all over the world on the radio.  So he's been pestering me to do our callsigns.  His is on the top, mine is on the bottom, and they both have the characters "B9" in them.  He suggested the layout of the letters, and I just perused my alphabet books to find charts for suitable letters.  The "client" is happy with the end result, so I'm happy.

First thing tomorrow, we are off on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.  I have my hardanger bookmarks packed, in addition to a book on Ukrainian Drawn Threadwork.  If there were any lingering doubts about my being strange, they should all be dispelled now.  It remains to be seen how many stitches I will actually take.  I'll be offline until after I'm back, so... see you in September!

And thanks for visiting.

Kaye's Giveaway

Hi Blog Buddies,

I spent the day at the Lake County Fair with my friends from the Guild teaching Fair-goers cross stitch and promoting our group.  It's a wonder I'm still awake at this hour!   I have photos, so more about that in a later post.

Right now, I'd like to clue you in on a great giveaway my Blog Buddy Kaye is having.  She lives Down Under and she is holding a wonderful giveaway on her blog.

The above is a photo I've "borrowed" from her blog.

This is some nifty Australian overdyed floss.

You can win that and much more!  She has generously said that she'll ship anywhere in the world.  So click here to head on over to her blog for a chance to win (I did).  But good luck anyway.  And thanks for visiting!

It's a Wonder I Ever Finish Anything...

Hey Blog Buddies,

I seem to be on a roll with Christmas ornaments lately.  My latest project was an ornament from the JCS 2008 Christmas Ornament issue.  The designer is Erica Michaels.

At this point, I had finished everything

except the beads between the letters.

But I wasn't really happy with it.  I took it over to DH and asked him:  "If you were to pick out a letter that didn't belong, which would it be: the N, O, E or L?  You could also choose 'They all belong.'"  He quickly chose "They all belong."  Then I pressed him:  "But if you had to pick a letter that didn't belong, which would you choose?"  He reluctantly chose the O.  Aha!  My sentiments exactly!  Then he said he thought the background color of the O was different (darker) than the E.  In reply, I told him it was the same color and  launched into an explanation of variegated floss, and how I had crossed each stitch as I went doing the background of the O.  When I finished that section, I thought the background looked really muddy.  So when I stitched the background for the E, I did half crosses all the way across the row in one direction, and crossed them on the way back in the other direction.  This evened out the lights and the darks in the floss color (the look I was going for--and made the background of the O look even worse, in my opinion).

Did you ever try to explain something technical about stitching to your DH?  Does he get that wild look that says, "When can I leave the room?  I wonder if she'll be really ticked at me if I do."  That's what happens to me, but I do it anyway.

I really didn't want to do it, but I frogged out the background of the O.  Actually, it wasn't frogging so much as cutting (carefully) and pulling.  It was very nerve-wracking.

I know it doesn't show up really well in these photos, but it looks a lot better to me now.  I do love how the designer chose spring colors for this Christmas ornie.  In the magazine, it was finished as a pinkeep, but I think I'm going to have K (my finisher) do something a little different.

I hope that you're not having to frog anything out.  Thanks for visiting!

The Ladies of the Guild and My Three Finished Ornies

Hey Blog Buddies,

Today is the first day of the Lake County Fair, and last night was Exhibitor's Night at the Family Arts and Crafts Building.  The Arts and Crafts Section gives their exhibitors 2 passes for a sneak peek at the exhibits the night before the general public gets to visit.  Think large, two-story brick building crammed to the rafters with embroidery, knitting, crochet, quilting, sewing, scrapbooking, woodworking, crafting, painting, photography, collectibles of all types, and food!  Did I mention that they give away the baked goods to the exhibitors?  Early in the evening the food area is pretty much of a mob scene.

This photo was taken from the upper level,

just before the building closed for the evening.

There were five of us from my Guild that entered, and we all did very well.  We all met at one point for a brief "love-in."  You may be skeptical, but this is the most supportive group of gals I know.  Even though we may be competing against each other in some classes, we all rejoice in each other's success.

The Ladies of the Guild



The above ladies are all Guild members, the middle two are exhibitors, and the other two exhibitors escaped before I could snap a photo.  (I think I may have convinced the gal on the far right to enter next year, though.)

One last plug for the Lake County Fair:  On Friday, August 12th, from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m our Guild will be doing punchneedle and cross stitch demos in the Family Arts and Crafts Building.  If you are anywhere near Crown Point, IN, come on down and stitch with us or just come over to chat.  We'd love to meet you.  The Fair's website is here.   (I didn't get a chance to snap photos of the exhibits last night, but will post what will hopefully be a representative sample of everyone's work after I visit the Fair again.)

On to my ornies.  I believe I mentioned that they would be fabulous once the finisher (another Guild member) had her way with them, and I was correct.  I will shut up now and let the photos do the talking.

That's it for this installment.  Have a good weekend, and as always, thanks for stopping by.