Lizzie Kate June Flip-It done

Yay, it's halfway done! I finished the June stamp last night but was too tired to post about it before I went to bed.

Nothing much to report about here -- just the usual: the boys' baseball games, working at the shop, keeping up the house, etc. It sounds mundane and boring but I'm really loving it! :-) I don't have as much stitching time as I thought I would but I'm still getting quite a bit of stitching time and this summer should prove to be more stitching-friendly. (I say stuff like that all the time and it rarely works out. ;-) )

Before I go, I will do a shameless advertising plug. Debbie from My Big Toe Designs offered door prizes during the recent on-line needlework show. I was fortunate enough to have my name chosen as a door prize winner and I received the neatest package from Debbie! She sent me a thread picker, a scissor fob, and marking pins -- all in my favorite color of purple! I love them!!! Sooooooooo, if you've been thinking about buying some of her gadgets, I say go for it! They are wonderful!

Okay, advertising and rambling over. ;-) You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog-surfing.

Another quick, small finish

This is a little adirondack (sp?) chair that I painted probably 5 years ago. It's a dark green and I had been meaning all these years to stitch a quick lil' something for my mother and her love of gardening. Well, here it is! It was hard to get a good picture because the stitching is behind glass but I think you can see everything.

This was a fun and very fast stitch...I think it took me 2 hours and that was with watching the news and visiting with Brad and the boys, too. LOL!

Now that I look at it, my centering left a lot to be desired but that's easily fixed. :-)

"Always and Forever"

Here is my latest finish -- "Always and Forever" by Little House Needleworks. I completed this on 4/19/08 and framed it today in a black store-bought 5x7 frame. I stitched it on 32 count "Dusk" linen by Silkweaver with 2 strands of "Purple Iris" thread by Gentle Art Sampler Threads. I didn't leave the glass in the frame like I normally do because I just didn't care for the way it looked, so this one is unprotected. *gasp* Of course it's purple because it will sit on a dresser in mine and Brad's bedroom. :-) Also, I added a row to the girl so she was a bit taller. Being six feet tall myself, it made me feel like she was more 'me'. BAHahahahaha!!! I also purposely stitched it to where the guy was more blue and the girl was more purple -- sort of to make it appropriately more feminine and masculine.

I have got to get busy on a gift for a friend but my Stitcher's ADD has been kicking in big-time lately. Yikes! Oh well, at least I'm getting some good stitching time in with very little visitation with the dreaded frog.

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I love reading your responses. If I don't already have a link to your blog, please include it in your next comment because I'd love to visit your little corner of the e-world, too. :-)

"Love Letters" is finally finished!

And there it is! :-) We went to Oklahoma City yesterday so I was able to get to a Hobby Lobby much quicker than originally anticipated. I found the perfect braided cording and glued it on a little while ago. I used pins to hold it in place until the glue was dry enough. You might still be able to spot a few areas where the glue has not finished drying and is slightly visible but I just couldn't wait any longer to take the picture and get it posted.

I'm actually a little proud of my first flat-fold. My next flat-fold will be better but this one is just fine where it sits on Brad's nightstand now. :-)

P.S. to Mom - Don't think you got away with your comment on my last post. Hah! ;-)

And another Pine Mountain pillow finish...

Yep, I finished another Pine Mountain pillow for my snowman shelf. Okay, so this isn't really a "snowman" pillow, but it's winter and it has snow...that's close enough. ;-)

With as many Pine Mountain pillows kits as I had accumulated -- and there's still plenty more in my stash closet -- it's nice to get a few of them stitched up. It's even more nice to look at them all arranged on the shelves.

Back to other stitching now...who knows what I'll stitch next? I spent hours last night fondling stash and kitting up stuff. Then I found myself online placing an order for more stash to finish kitting up a few things. It's almost wagon time, folks.

Semi-finished "Love Letters" flat-fold

Well, folks, here is my first attempt at a flat-fold. I used instructions I found on-line at the "Focus on Finishing" website. I still have to find a braided cord or something to go around the outside margin of the piece, but that may be a while as Wal-Mart didn't have anything today that matched and my nearest Hobby Lobby is an hour away. Anyway, here are the three views:

I promise it's not off-centered...that's just an optical illusion. (Really, trust me on this. I am anal and I have measured the finished piece a gazillion times.)

Being that this is my first flat-fold, it is far from perfect but it's somewhat better than I thought it would turn out. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be but it was still somewhat of a PITA. Nevertheless, I will be trying my hand at another flat-fold -- maybe even in the near future. Overall, it was a learning experience and pretty fun.

On a different note...here is your helpful hint for the day. When the winds are gusting up to 48 MPH and you are crossing the Wal-Mart parking lot with your cart that happens to contain a 3-feet tall mirror, your cart is instantaneously turned into a sailboat. Er, sailcart. This, too, you must trust me on. Really. ;-)

Oooooooooh, irises!!!

My most favorite flowers in the whole entire world are irises, especially purple ones. Little did I know that the house we moved into a couple of months ago had them planted already. Here is a picture from our front flower bed:

I can't wait to see more of them in bloom. More pictures will surely follow soon!

Today, I went to the fabric store and bought some fabric to make a flat-fold with my "Love Letters" piece. I've never made a flat-fold before, so may the force be with me!

Goodbye, BJ.

We had to put down our 11-yr-old lovable mutt (BJ) today. He was a great dog. :(

Beej, I miss ya', buddy. Hope you feel great again now.

"Love Letters" finish...well, sort of.

Okay, so it's not really "finished" but the stitching is done. I need to iron this piece and figure out what to do with it. Here it is:

The pattern is "Love Letters", a freebie by The Chocolate Cat. (http://choccat.com) I stitched it over two on Bittersweet 40 count Lakeside Linen given to me by a friend on the boards. I used one strand of silk floss in the color of Mulberry by Caron Waterlilies.

It's for my husband Brad, and even though he really likes this piece, he doesn't have a preference as to how I finish it. There's always the usual framing option, or maybe I could find a tuck pillow...any ideas?

Thanks for looking! :)

What a disaster!

"Where Stitchers Gather" was calling my name. I figured I'd start small and stitch my first ever needlebook. It stitched up pretty quickly and easily. I went to start the assembly and ended up ironing the interfacing on the front side of the stitched piece instead of the back side. I was so heartbroken and felt almost physically ill. Needless to say, "Where Stitchers Gather" has gone back into the craft closet to sit on a shelf for a little while. I need to chill out about totally ruining my first needlebook. :(

And another Pine Mountain pillow finish...

Yay, now the last Pine Mountain finished pillow isn't sitting all alone on that shelf. :-) But now there's only two pillows on that shelf. It needs more. I must stitch more PM pillows. *eyes glazing over* *mwahahahahaha*

What a blast -- and much-needed stress-reliever - all this stitching has been. I love updating my blog, my stitcher's journal, and my Photobucket album when I have a finish.

Tomorrow will find me stitching on a gift for another friend. It's a real PITA but I'm hoping that once I get into it that I'll just keep going. I'm at the very beginning of the project, it's over 40 count, and I've already had to frog part of it. *pulling hair out* We'll see what happens over the next few days. If it doesn't work out, I have another (easier!) project in mind for that friend already, just in case.

Quick update -- About that horrible instructor...I went and turned in my withdrawal paperwork to her last Friday. She said she would miss me, she cried, and she wrote me the nicest letter. I guess she didn't mean to be awful to me the time we had talked before that...she was probably just lashing out at me. It doesn't make everything all hunky-dorey and it doesn't make it right but it certainly makes it understandable. At least I got to leave with my held high and knowing that I really was the student I thought I was.

It's late so I'm going to eat some soup and head to bed. I've got a little work to do tomorrow at the shop but the rest of the day should find me being Happy Little Susie Homemaker (laundry, cleaning, etc....ugh) and stitching, too. :-) Hope everyone is getting tons of stitching time. Oh and btw -- keep that *@)! frog away from me and my 40-count project! ;-) hahaha