Stitching Progress (Warning: This Post is Photo Heavy)

And now, the progress I’ve made on WIPs since March.

Just Nan – Grow Pincushion – April 13th:

Tor Rhuann Designs – Snowflake – April 13th:

Northern Pine Designs – Geometric II – April 27th:

Passione Ricamo – Fairy Mystery SAL 2012:

This was my progress as of April 2nd:

Then I decided that the background was going to be too much to stitch so I ordered a piece of dark blue overdyed fabric and started over. This is the only progress I’ve made since the restart, as of July 7th:

Passione Ricamo – Mystery SAL 2013 – September 7th:

And finally, all of the progress that I’ve made on Nora Corbett’s Bluebell Pixie since my last update:









And that’s it for the stitching, folks!

Posted in Life in General | Leave a comment

Stitching Finishes (Warning: This Post is Photo Heavy)

Given I haven’t posted a stitching update in exactly 8 months, I have a lot to report. So, enough words, let the pictures begin. First up, the finishes I’ve had since March.

Mill Hill – Flower Basket Fantasy, finished May 27th. This is a long term UFO that I am happy to have finished. I think I’ll send it to Jill Rensel for framing.


Just Nan – Heart Butterfly 2008, finished June 9th. I’ve stitched many versions of this one, but this is the original, including beads and charm. I wish I could find the frame that was sold for it, but it was limited edition and I may never get my hands on it. For now, it will remain unframed.


Just Nan – Lady Scarlet’s Secret Garden. The stitching was finished on July 13th. I finished it into its final needle keep form the next day.


Just Nan – Heart Butterfly 2008, finished into a hanging ornament on August 11th. I completed the stitching on this dusty purple version some time ago, but it got dropped from my rainbow wall hanging lineup because the hues of purple in this didn’t meld with the colors in the others.

Dimension – Happily Ever After Wedding Record, finished and framed on August 12th. This was stitched from a kit, but I like the simple swirl pattern so much that I will likely change the colors and stitch a version for me and Terry in the future. The bride picked out the frame and it’s absolutely gorgeous!

Teresa Wentzler – Needle Guardian, finished August 18th. I adapted the design to fit on a stitchable iPhone 5 case. Unfortunately, the act of stitching on the silicone case stretched it to the point where it doesn’t fit the phone very well. I still use it sometimes.

Nancy Pederson – Grapevine Sampler, finished September 28th. This WIP was hanging around in one of my travel project bags for quite some time. It saw action on the drive to and from Walt Disney World in late September and during our stay there (it POURED one of the days, so we stayed in the room). I was able to finish it up pretty quickly after we got home.

Passione Ricamo – Fairy Celebration V, finished November 16th. This piece is a Christmas gift for my mother. I didn’t finish it early enough to get it framed, so I had to talk my mom into allowing me to send it off to Jill Rensel after Christmas. She’s not overjoyed, but I know that Jill will do a great cutout in the mat to follow the contour of the bottom of her skirt. I think it will be well worth it.





And finally, Lizzie Kate – Dance in the Rain, with charm added today. I unpicked the backstitched dragonfly that I had done in place of the recommended charm and added a charm that was sent along by one of the other stitchers of this traveling pattern. It was a button, but I cut off the shank and attached it to the piece with dark navy thread.

Posted in Life in General | Leave a comment

The Rumors of My Disappearance Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Okay, so there have been no rumors (at least, none that I know of), but some of you may have wondered where I’ve been.

I can assure you that I’m alive and well. 😉 Life has been busy and in the last couple of months, it’s been downright fascinating. So much going on in my brain, I cannot contain it all. I think there might be some bits of brain escaping from my ears. Unfortunately, much of what is happening is still hush-hush, so I cannot talk about it publicly… yet. Give me a couple of weeks, at most, and all will become crystal clear. Are you intrigued? You should be. So stay tuned.

So, what have I been up to that I can share? Well, my weekly music lessons continue. I alternate between voice, theory and guitar now. And my music teacher talked me into buying a second guitar – classical, this time, so that I can learn Spanish guitar. Of course, in the middle of paying off the guitar, I had a flare up in my wrists, so I haven’t been able to play in a couple of months. Speaking of flare ups, I’ve been dealing with an IBS flare up, as well. Ended up in the emergency room at one point. Had two -oscopys, one from each end. Found pre-cancerous polyps that were removed. Still haven’t gotten the IBS under control yet, but it’s a syndrome and the doctor has no answers, so I’m looking for triggers to avoid and hope to manage it homeopathically, if possible.

The wrists have settled down, at least. I’m still having to wear fingerless elastic gloves when I’m on the computer for any extended period of time, but that seems to be keeping things in check. The same gloves allow me to stitch without adding to the ruckus, as well.

I have stopped volunteering at the children’s hospital. It broke my heart to do so (and I still haven’t been able to bring myself to mail my vest and badge back in, though I need to do so ASAP), but between health issues, vacations and work (mostly work), I just wasn’t able to get there very often. I will miss the people terribly, but there isn’t much to be done about it. It’s time to “woman up” and admit to myself that period of my life has ended. It served its purpose. I volunteered to see if I would be able to handle a career working with ill and/or abused children and I learned that I cannot. I couldn’t help but become too attached to the kiddos and took their problems to heart. You can’t do that and be a successful therapist or social worker. So, toss that career idea to the curb. 😉

Let’s see, what else? Vacations. Several of them. Went up to Maine in what, July? To visit with Terry’s parents and I was able to sneak in two quick visits with Angi Esch (one on the way up and again on the way down, over her lunch break) and a visit with Barbara Chatterton-Luuring and the farmette that is the new Chateau Chaos. We went up for Terry’s grandmother’s 80th birthday and it was lovely to see her again. I love that woman to pieces! She’s so sweet and loving. In late September, we went to Walt Disney World – yes, again. We have a timeshare down there and the goal is to go annually, if possible, or bi-annually at the least. Then at the beginning of this month, we flew into Los Angeles, picked up my friend Karyn, drove to Las Vegas for the SEMA convention (a third-party automotive manufacturer’s mecca) and the Global Rallycross finals, drove back to Los Angeles for Terry to attend a one-day workshop, then flew home. It was a fun trip! Oh, and I got to meet Juls Iannotta and visit the fabulous LNS that is Stitcher’s Paradise in Las Vegas. Of course, I bought stash. That I didn’t need. That Juls is an enabler!

I think that pretty much brings us up to current and the end of what I can reveal at this moment. Watch this space. 😉

Posted in Life in General | Leave a comment

A L-O-N-G Overdue Stitching Update

I managed to finish all of my Pay-It-Forward gifts and sent out the last two in February, before we left for vacation. One went to Nancy and the other went to Bonnie. I’m ashamed to have discovered that Nancy’s had been finished for a year before I actually send it. All it was waiting for was two f-bombs. So, basically, it took me a year to make up two f-bombs to include in her package. Shameful, shameful, tsk-tsk-tsk. Bonnie’s didn’t actually get finished until February, so I wasn’t behind in shipping it from that standpoint. Just behind in stitching it up. Probably because I stitched all 5 gifts over one. I must have been a glutton for punishment. I’m not horribly well-versed in stitching over one, so it was quite a crash course.

Anyway, here are the results:

The Sweetheart Tree – Teenie Tweenies – Wild Violets:

Just Nan – Floral Sunshine (finished as a biscornu pendant):

Then, I stitched up Lizzie*Kate’s Dance in the Rain, which was kindly sent to me by Michele:

I had to whip this one up before we left for California so that I could hand the chart over to Mel when I saw her. Yes, I finally got to meet Mel in person! YAY! We got along even better than I would have imagined. She’s just as lovely as you think and more, I assure you. 🙂

I’ve also stitched up another Christmas ornament from Tor Rhuann Designs. This one is from 2008, named Christmas Candles:

I’ve started on the 2009 ornament since then, but I have managed to remind myself that I actually had some stitching goals for this year and I need to get back on track if I want to accomplish them.

Since putting myself back on the straight and narrow after that ornament finish, I have completed two items on the list:
Lody Steward – Pagoda Pincushion — Complete stitching
Lody Steward – Pagoda Pincushion — Complete finishing

And here are the results:





This week, I’ve been making progress on these two goals:
Nora Corbett – Bluebell Pixie — Complete stitching
Mill Hill – Flower Basket Fantasy — Make significant progress on, if not complete, stitching

Here’s where Bluebell was the last time I posted progress in early January:

I didn’t pick her up again until more than 2 months later, but here’s where she is now:

And here’s where Flower Basket Fantasy was when I last touched it in January 2012:

As of today, it’s here:

I should definitely be able to finish this one with a few more weeks of work.

Posted in Stitching, WIPocalypse | 7 Comments

Normal is a Four-Letter Word

Some days I despair of ever being normal. But what is normal, really? Normal for me is not normal for others. But is normal for others normal for all? Is there such a thing? I’m starting to think that normality is a myth. I should rejoice in what is my normal and not worry about whether or not it meets up to society’s definition of normal.

Are society’s accepted norms really realistic anyway? Look at what society considers beautiful. Stick-thin, anemic-looking models are the unhealthy aspiration of many a little girl. But why? That is not normal and that should not be the goal for which every woman strives. Trust me. I’ve been unhealthily thin and still would have been told to lose a little bit of weight by a top modeling agency. I’m serious. Those woman are put through hell. Their self-worth is continually challenged. They are told by one client that their hips are too big, by another that they need to lose a little weight so that their cheekbones are better defined. They are taught that they never live up to the standards set by others. They develop body image issues on a scale that most of us will never even begin to comprehend.

Why does a woman’s stomach have to be flat? How is a woman expected to be as thin as a rail and still somehow have curves? Why are implants required to be desirable? Why should lips be fuller, eyes rounder, teeth whiter?

Who decided that this is good? Who decided that this is the standard to which all others should hold themselves? Who decided that this is normal?

Perhaps “they” should be taken out of the equation and replaced with “we.” For “we” are far kinder and more fair than “they.” Even better, we should replace “they” with “I.” Because we really shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks anyway.

Hmm… somehow, what I had intended to be a post about my current state of mental and physical well-being turned into a reflection of my own continuing struggle with body image issues. Isn’t that interesting?

Posted in Journey to Self-Discovery | 4 Comments

Book Review: Kiss Me Hello by L.K. Rigel

Kiss Me HelloKiss Me Hello by L.K. Rigel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning (with a horrendous cold, no less) to finish this book in one sitting because I just could not put it down! I absolutely devoured it and wanted more once I had finished, even though L.K. completed the story lines in a wonderfully satisfactory manner. In my mind, this is the ultimate romance story – just a little bit of steaminess, with plenty of intrigue, a touch of history and a ghost! I’m a fan of L.K.’s work overall, but I think that this is truly her best work to date. It’s a quick, beautiful and seamless read. Brava, L.K.! You have outdone yourself!

View all my reviews

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments

A Nifty, Gifty Finish

I have now had my first official stitching finish (not just a finish-finish) of the year. When I was putting away some stash a few weeks ago, I found that I have my own copy of Lizzie*Kate’s Good Things design. You may remember that I stitched a version for myself as part of a traveling pattern group a couple of months ago. Once I found that I had a copy, I decided to do it again for a fellow stitcher who lost her stash in a house fire. I was told that she likes peach tones, so this is what I came up with:

I had to leave off the border because I stitched it on 28 count fabric instead of 32 count fabric and I still wanted to fit it into a 5×7 inch frame that I had on hand. I actually framed it properly, lacing it to a piece of mat board instead of just ironing interfacing to the back. It definitely turns out nicer when laced, but if the frame is just a standard picture frame, there isn’t really enough room for a laced piece. Trying to put the easel back on afterwards without flattening the stitches isn’t always possible. The corners of this one are a bit squashed, but over all, it’s not bad.

The recipient emailed me today to let me know that she received it and was pleased with it, so I’m happy. 🙂 After completing that project and framing it, I found and brought out my last PIF piece and put some more stitches into it. I should be able to finish the stitching on it over the next week or so, depending on what things I have scheduled after work.

Speaking of schedules, it is WAY past my bedtime and we have places to go later. Happy Sunday!

Posted in Stitching | 2 Comments

Another Finish-Finish Done and Out the Door!

I had my first music lesson since before the holidays last night and I got Here Comes Treble finished as a hanging ornament just in time!

Ink Circles – Here Comes Treble

And that’s it for me for tonight. Nothing else to report, really. Got through a challenging situation today intact and I’m proud of how I’m doing so far in this new year. Now to go relax so more!

Posted in Stitching | 1 Comment

Final Finishes of 2012, First Finish of 2013

My final two finishes of 2012 consisted of one stitching finish and one finish-finish:

The Drawn Thread – Merry Little Christmas Ornament (Finished as an ornament)

Ink Circles – Here Comes Treble

I started the finishing on this one last night and will have it completed tonight. I am just finishing into a hanging ornament. Unfortunately, I left practically no margin when cutting the mat that I mounted it to and I was too stubborn to waste the mat, so I forged ahead. I’m sure my music teacher won’t mind.

And my first finish of 2013 was a finish-finish:

Tor Rhuann Designs – 2011 Ornament

This was my first time doing a ruched ribbon finish and it was quite time-consuming. I worked on it while watching Brave and then Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and I think it took me a couple of hours. Very fiddly, but very pretty.

Since then, I have been working on Nora Corbett’s Bluebell Pixie, from the Pixie Couture collection. We have a SAL going on Facebook and I have already put a good amount of time into her:

I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to touch her this week, but hopefully I’ll get some more time in on her this coming weekend, at the latest.

Posted in Stitching | 3 Comments

Last of the Reindeer Ornaments [Edited]

I ran out this evening to Walmart and (shock of all shocks) I was able to get everything on my list, including all of the DMC floss that I needed! I think that’s the first time I’ve ever gone anywhere and been able to get all of the DMC on my list. Wow.

Anyway, without any further adieu, here is Sharon Bennett (a.k.a. Daffycat)’s Stocking Reindeer:

You can’t see from the photo, but I did the cuff of the stocking in Wisper thread. And yes, folks, it’s Wisper, not Whisper. Just saying.

As for the finishing, I haven’t abandoned all hope… yet. I picked out backing fabrics for everything and picked up some ribbon at Walmart for ruching. Am I hopeful that I’ll get everything done before tomorrow night? Not in the least. Is it worth trying to at least get some of them done? Absolutely.

Oh wait, here’s a finish. The first time I’ve tried to do one like this and I’m not loving it, but hopefully someone else will.

Posted in Stitching | 3 Comments