Finishing Frenzy

Hey Blog Buddies,

First, thanks so much for all the comments you've been leaving--I love you guys!

This past weekend turned into a finishing frenzy for me--very uncharacteristic.  There's quite a bit to catch up on, so let's go right to the photos:

This crocheted daisy scarf (not part of this weekend's frenzy)

was finished right around the beginning of this month.

It's another donation for the Boutique.

 

Next up, my July Hallowe'en ornament

(I am in the 2013 Halloween Ornament SAL):

 

The July theme was bats and/or spiders.

I finished stitching this in July,

but put off the ornamentification until this past Friday.

This was another one that was very annoying to complete

and I'm not at all happy with the way it turned out.

Hopefully, I will have so many tiny ornaments

on my Hallowe'en tree this year

that it will get lost in the crowd!

(I won't bore you with what's wrong with it.)

 

And the August ornament:

 

We got to choose our theme for August,

so I chose All Dressed Up

from the BBD Trix or Treat booklet.

The original design had a diamond border,

but I omitted that in order to

make the ornament smaller (for my small tree).

This is 40-count Heritage linen--again.

I am so used to using two strands

that I started out with two and then

decided to just go with it.

It was a little more difficult to find the holes

but the coverage was sublime!!

Don't worry--it's over two, not over one!

I put the black running stitches in at the end

so that my seams would be somewhat straight

when I sewed it all together.

I had every intention of taking them out,

then decided that I kind of liked the effect.

Not perfect--a little funky even--

but I'm happier with this one than the July ornie.

 

And while I had my sewing machine out...

...I decided to finish this little piece as either

a small pillow or large pincushion (take your pick).

The design is PS Summer & Winter's August.

I finished stitching this in August,

but put off the finish-finishing until now.

The good news is that

I believe we will have an August in 2014,

and it will be displayed then!

The batik fabric, which is a pretty good match

if I do say so myself, was in my stash.

 

And in between all the stressful finishes

was I stitching on something soothing

like a Lizzie-Kate on 14-count Aida?

Uhhh, noooo.

I decided to pull out

Twisted Thread's Lofty Pumpkin.

Here is what it looked like after my June start:

 

This is 25-count Lugana, 1 over 1,

with lots of confetti stitching!

Let me explain this choice:

I switched out my little seasonal cubby-holes

at the beginning of September.

I have five of them and only three are filled--

all with pumpkin designs.

So I remembered I had this pumpkin in the works.

By early Saturday, stitching it was driving me nuts

and I figured I would just put it away

and finish it "later on."

As a matter of fact,

it reminded me more of an ear of Indian corn

than a pumpkin.

But by the end of Saturday I realized

I had gotten a whole lot of stitching completed!

 

This is what it looks like now:

 

Still a bit of 1-over-1 confetti stitching left,

but it's almost there.

And more good news:  I have in my stash

the cutest, most perfect frame for it!

Once I have it finished and framed

--hopefully very soon--

it will make a final appearance on this blog.

 

So that's it from here.

Hope you all had a fun, relaxing weekend.

And thanks for visiting!

August IHSW

Hey Blog Buddies,

The warmer weather is creeping in and soon it will be hot in my neck of the woods, so I tried to balance out this weekend with some outdoor things that needed to get done before it gets too hot and humid.  But I did get some stitching and crocheting done, and I even have a finish to show you, to-wit:

My third and last crocheted bunny.

I think it's a little strange-looking,

but hopefully someone will buy it at the boutique.

This guy is over twice as big as

the pink/lilac bunnies I finished last week!

I may have to do something about

that red eye--it's a little crooked.

 

And on the stitchy front:

Prairie Schooler's Summer & Winter leaflet

yielded this little design for August.

The bee's wings were supposed to be white,

but I thought that they would be

lost against the platinum linen background,

so I went with DMC 168 (light grey).

I've gotten a little farther than this--

the photo got taken yesterday evening.

One or two more days and this should be done!

 

That's all I've got.

Joyce at Random Ramblings is

our IHSW leader.

Check out her blog, here, to see what

my fellow hermitters created this weekend.

And don't forget to drool over Joyce's

stunning Butterfly Lace Mandala

which she finished this weekend, too!

Hope your weekend was fun.

 

Thanks for visiting!

The Pumpkin and Friends

Hey Blog Buddies,

How was your weekend?  Did you get to do some fun summer (or winter) activities?  We had really nice weather here, so we biked, sat out on the deck and played with Molly in the yard.

She's a fast runner, and

my panning skills are lacking.

 

One can always get a better shot

just before throwing the ball!

 

And since I'm a little behind in showing you my stitchy stuff, let's not waste another minute.  I worked on the pumpkin (Debbie Stiehler's design--you can see the finished model on my sidebar), and I finished my first football!  Here is where we last left it:

Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

 

And here is what it looks like now:

 

You can see why I called it a "football."

There are 16 sections to each football.

They all repeat, but the stitches are placed

a little differently on each one.

 

Here is more detail of the finished sections:

That was a lot of stitching!

 

Here are some close-ups:

 

The darker section is an eggplant-colored

metallic ribbon couched with orange,

then diagonally backstitched with alternating

light and medium shades of green.  Fun!

 

Debbie gives great instructions

for stitching plaid designs easily.

The bottom right design is one of the layered stitches.

There is never a dull moment here.

 

I'll save other close-ups for later progress reports,

because I can see this might get

a little repetitive.

 

The first "friend of the pumpkin"

is a quilted table topper.

 

I pieced the top months ago,

and it's been sitting on the dining room table

in an unfinished state ever since.

I thought leaving it there would shame me into

finishing it a lot faster than I did--obviously not!

Yay, for a long-awaited finish!

 

The final "friends" of the pumpkin are two crocheted bunnies

which I made to sell at my guild's annual holiday boutique.

I was originally going to make just one bunny,

but you know how rabbits are--they multiply!

 

Here's my first bunny:

 

See how forlorn he is all by himself.

He looks like he's been run over by a truck.

 

I had an extra skein of yarn left, so...

...now he has a sister.

DH has named them Donnie and Marie.

(No, he's not quite right, either.)

You'll notice that the tips of Donnie's ears are rounded,

but Marie's ears come to a point

as per the instructions--but it was ugly getting there.

I used Cascade Cherub DK yarn,

and I found it somewhat difficult to work with

because it tended to split quite a bit.

The pattern is from Simply Crochet,

a British publication.

I learned the hard way that a British double crochet

is an American single crochet!

 

I guess Donnie gave Marie a tour of the backyard.

They probably climbed the tree

trying to get away from Molly.

Don't worry--I rescued them.

 

I have a third (and last) bunny in the works,

but he will look a bit different--

perhaps a third cousin twice removed.

 

That's it from here.

Thanks, as always, for visiting.

 

First IHSW for 2013!

Hey Blog Buddies,

This weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW).  For those of you who may be new to this phenomenon, it's a virtual stitch along, happening once a month, hosted by Joyce over at her blog Random Ramblings.  You can click here to find out all about it.

So this is what I accomplished:

I'm doing an ornament a month for the

2013 Halloween Ornament SAL.

This is from the Prairie Schooler Heads Up booklet.

I used DMC 310, WDW Carrot and one of my DMC greens.

The linen is 40-count to make it nice and small

so it won't overwhelm my tree.

Then, I switched gears to crochet.

It's getting pretty cold here finally,

so I made a cowl or neckwarmer, if you will.

It's only about 6 inches high.

Boy, this is an ugly photo!

The yarn is Sensations Angel Hair Stripes,

fuzzy but not itchy because it's acrylic.

This only took me a couple of hours--

crochet goes fast!

Here is the grayer side of the piece.

It really doesn't look too bad,

although I wouldn't categorize it as "pretty."

Finally (there's more?  oh yes!),

I did a little commitment stitching.

I'm teaching a mini-hardanger class

later on in the year, and this is the model:

This is a freebie from Victoria Sampler.

I stitched it on 25-count linen,

and I probably should have used #5 pearl cotton

for the satin stitch instead of #8.

And my wrapped bars need work.

I'm a firm believer in pointing these things out

to my class so that they can learn

from my mistakes.

I probably should do one or two more samples

on different grounds and with different colors,

if only to practice the needleweaving!

That's it for now.

Be sure to come back tomorrow because

it's my blogoversary, and you know what that means...

giveaway!!

To check out what my fellow hermitters

have been up to this weekend,

click here.

Hope you had a grand weekend.

Thanks so much for visiting!

WIPocalypse 2012 - September Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

Ummm, yes, I know it's now October, but I haven't done my September report yet and Measi,  Mistress of the WIPocalypse, gives slackers like me a grace period.  If being late isn't bad enough, I did nothing from my WIPocalypse list last month.  Nada, zip, zilch--not one stitch.  Not even Crabby.  Blame it on commitment stitching.  Oh, wait.  I did have one tiny start/finish last month, which was not really part of my WIPocalypse list (and not commitment stitching, either)--it almost slipped my mind.  Since you haven't seen it finished, might as well show it to you now...

This is Quaker Cardinal by The Workbasket.

He's quite chubby--must have been spending a lot of time

at the backyard feeder.

For the threads, I substituted Gloriana silks in

 Poinsettia, Charcoal and Lacquered Gold.

If the red looks familiar, it's the same red

that I used for CT13.  I had quite a bit extra.

Karen from the Guild will finish him as a stand-up.

He'll make a return appearance on this blog

when he's all finished-finished.

And now for the comic relief:  my commitment stitching.

I crocheted a boa for my quilt guild boutique.

In cotton.

The instructions said to make a chain 70" long (quite long),

but it must have stretched out a little while I was crocheting.

It's now eight feet long.

I took it to my stitching retreat to finish it this weekend

(more on that in a separate post).

The ladies were very kind.

They said some teenager would want to buy it.

But I'm afraid it will come back to me.

So I'm exploring some home decorating possibilities for it:

...a centerpiece...

...holiday garland...

I'm sure I'll think of more uses for it.

I also started a small, red hardanger tree

that I'll show when it's finished.

It's for the boutique, too.

I wouldn't mind getting that item back,

it could fit somewhere on my tree.

I do hope it sells, though--

the whole point is to make money for the guild.

You can click on Measi's name above,

to see everyone else's WIPocalypse progress.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Thanks, as always, for visiting!

It's Hot, Hot, Hot! Let's Crochet!!

Hey Blog Buddies,

Yes, it's true.  I've been crocheting.  With mohair.   My quilt guild is having its yearly boutique in November, and since I really don't have the temperament to block out a whole month to devote to making things to sell (like some people do--I admire them!), I've got to start pretty early.  I do a little here and a little there.  Fortunately, the items don't need to be quilted, just hand-made.  So I started with something easy (for me): crochet.  Most of this was done last week, when the temperature here was in the 100's (F), but it was very cool inside the house, which was where I was hiding from the weather.

Animal cruelty!

The yarn I used for this was Patons Divine,

only 10.5% mohair, but it felt and acted like mohair--

not the easiest to work with--

it kept catching on my crochet hook.

Oh yes, that white fabric peeking out from under the scarf

is the t-shirt I wrapped around Molly's neck

so she wouldn't shed all over my crocheted creation!

Don't worry, she got a nice treat afterwards

to compensate her for her time and humiliation.

Here is the same pattern, different yarn:

The pattern is really simple and works up quickly:

just chains and double crochets ("filet crochet").

This yarn is Sensations Angel Hair Stripe,

an acrylic/wool/nylon blend.

It was a dream to work with after the mohair.

It's very fuzzy, too, but you can't see that

in this photo.

I've also been sewing: lots and lots of ort bags,

one for each person who comes to our guild's

Ukrainian embroidery workshop.

I'll take a photo of my "ort bag pyramid"

after they're all done.

See my prototype ort bag here.

There has been some holiday stitching, too,

(on 40-count linen!)

which I'll share with you during the Theme-a-licious update.

Hope you get a chance to stitch today...

...thanks for visiting!

The Boutique is Here!!

Hey Blog Buddies,
I just wanted to give you all a heads up about the Boutique that's going on today and tomorrow.  My quilt guild does this on the first Friday and Saturday of November every year, and it is really fabulous.

The members of our Guild make tons of stuff

for this boutique.

(Last year there were over 20,000 items!)

There are also several selected outside vendors.

The location is the Community Center

of the Flossmoor Community Church,

Carroll Pkwy. and Hutchinson Rd., Flossmoor, IL.

If you live within 50 miles of Flossmoor,

it's well worth a trip.

(Don't forget your checkbook!)

The website for the Guild is here.

Click on the Boutique 2010 link in the header

to get a sampling of what last year's Boutique was like.

Be patient, it takes a little while

for all of the photos to load.

My pathetically small contribution is below.

Two scarves, one knit and one crocheted.

A funky, little patchwork heart ornament.

I am not good at sewing curved seams.

Everyone was asked to make one.

There will be lots there that are nicer.

Finally, I whipped up a bunch of

little covers for travel tissue packs.

(I haven't had that much sewing experience, folks!)

But, don't worry, there are many sewing wizards in our Guild.

Some of the hand-made items for sale are:

holiday ornaments, table toppers, quilts,

knitted and crocheted items,

jewelry, dolls, purses,

the list goes on and on.

Hope to see you there tomorrow.

Have a great weekend,

and thanks for stopping by.

More on 34

Hello Everyone!
My computer was unplugged and out of commission for a  week while the hardwood floors in the upstairs rooms were refinished, and then we had another week of connectivity problems, but all is back to normal (?) now.

Yesterday, DH and I did "More on 34" which is described as a 100-mile-long yard sale.  It follows Route 34 in Illinois from Yorkville (which is a suburb of Chicago) to Galesburg.  We usually start around Mendota and work our way southwest because the nearer you are to Chicago, the higher the prices are.  We didn't have any specific items we were looking for, just exploring the little towns along the route.  Last year we bought some cleaning rags which were similar to Shamwows, only because they were being sold as a fundraiser by a humane society.  We skip a lot of the sales if it looks like they are selling mostly used clothing, so my expectations of finding any treasures were low.

In Princeton, they have a lot of folks renting table space at the Fairgrounds, and that was going to be our last stop.  As I was browsing from building to building, I passed a table with a large crocheted something on it and a sign with a couple of prices crossed out, the final one being "$20."  My first thought was "They only want $20 for that nice crocheted piece?!!"  But I kept on walking until I was finished looking at everything and had caught up to DH.  He was ready to leave, but I said we had to stop and look at the crocheted piece before we left.  After all, it was handmade and dirt cheap.

I found out the piece was a bedspread made for a double bed.   I thought it could probably be used as a coverlet for a queen, which is what we have.  The folks selling it were very friendly, and the first thing they did was point out the two spots that were ripped.  My opinion was "no big deal."

Here's a close-up of the design.

Evidently several women had looked at the piece and passed on it because they didn't know how to fix it.  My thinking was just keep it from unraveling any more and worry about duplicating the design (maybe) later.  I still thought the piece was a steal.

(NOTE:  I have fond memories of my dear, late MIL Lucille taking me to my first yard sale.  We found a gorgeous solid wood library table priced at $10.  I couldn't believe we had found such a cheap treasure and I was ready to whip out a 10-dollar bill when she asked the seller, respectfully but hopefully, if he would take $8.  I was shocked that she was trying to bargain on something that was already so cheap, and I was afraid that the seller might get mad.  He said "yes" without batting an eye.)

So, channeling Lucille, I asked the seller of the bedspread if he would take $18.  (The real Lucille probably would have started lower.)  Now, as then, the seller said yes quickly.

I threw a lilac-colored sheet on the bed,

and put the crocheted coverlet over it.

It works fine as a coverlet.

If you look closely at the upper right of the photo,

you'll see the lesser of the two rips.

Here is the "bad" one.

My main problem with the piece is that, although I do admire it and think it's pretty, it doesn't really go with the decorating in the house.  But it will probably have a place in the rotation of what I put on the bed.

I hope that you all are enjoying the weekend, and getting good bargains.

Isn't She Lovely.. Isn't She Wonderful?

I don't believe that Stevie Wonder was singing about a dog in his song, but that's how I feel about Beulah, my little old lady basset.  She's 12-1/2 years old, and we got her from rescue when she was five and had fallen on hard times.  She blended into the family immediately, and her easygoing nature won everyone over.  Unfortunately, she is suffering from chronic kidney disease, which has caused her to lose quite a bit of hair on her back.  She is being kept fairly warm by a little sweater/blanket that I designed and crocheted from scraps of yarn.  It's just a blue and cream rectangle, with a fixed red strap in front of her legs and a second red strap, fixed on one side and buttoned on the other, which goes across her tummy.

Ding, dong.... Avon calling.  Yes, she stood there patiently for minutes while I got the camera and fussed with it, taking several photos.  DH was appalled that I didn't have enough of one color for her little winter coat, but I think now he is coming to appreciate its (ahem) uniqueness.  I'm just happy that she consents to wearing the thing, because she really didn't appreciate all the "fittings" she had to endure while the piece was being made.  It was finished yesterday, just in time for the sub-zero temps.  She wears it every time she goes out even though, at most, she is out for only 5-10 minutes at a time with one of her human friends to supervise.

Stay warm, everyone, and have a good weekend.