Sailing and Stitching

Posted on September 23, 2007 by Jenna Magee

Yes, we sailed today. We were slowed down by my non-cooperative stomach and head, both of which decided to complain right before we were going to leave. The nausea kindly returned after we were well underway, so I took a lovely snooze in the cockpit and all was well. I tried to stitch on the coasters while we were sailing, but then said nauseous episode interrupted me. We tried to do a little fishing off of the side of the boat, but the spot we chose just didn’t yield anything. Catch and release, only, of course.

Let’s see. What else is going on? Well, on the stitching front, other than the coasters, I’m working on the model for The Sweetheart Tree. That’s occupying all of my main stitching time. I was going to stitch through my little bout of insomnia (check the timestamp on this post) here, but I’m afraid of making mistakes on the model and I’m afraid to work on Leslie’s RR for fear of the same thing. So, nothing to show, at the moment.

Tomorrow is the baby shower and then I’ll probably model stitch once we return home, since it’s not long now until CATS in Hershey and I would like to have at least half of the model done by the time we leave on Thursday morning. I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to work on it while I’m there. It’s a model, duh, and confidential. So, unless I sit up in my room and stitch (which would defeat the purpose of being there), I won’t be doing any work on the model while I’m there.

Well, it’s time for me to go upstairs and try again at this sleep thing. If I can’t drop off into la-la land, I’ll try taking something to help me. This is only my second night off of the Zyprexa, which was making me sleep like the dead for up to 12 hours. We think it was causing my vision to go haywire, as it suddenly got really bad a couple of weeks ago. To the point where I no longer felt comfortable driving because my distance vision was so bad, even with my glasses on. I called and left a message for the psychiatrist and he called me back on Friday and told me to try getting off of the Zyprexa. He’d heard of close-up vision being affected, but not distance. He said it would take approximately 48 hours before I should see a difference (no pun intended). So, I’ll have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I’m hoping that I don’t have another mixed state episode. I think I’ll be okay and I certainly won’t miss the potential for weight gain that goes along with the Zyprexa. I just hope that the Abilify by itself is enough to keep things in check. I don’t want to be feeling off when I go to Hershey!

Posted in Life in General, Stitching | 5 Comments

Disappointed, But Excited

Posted on September 21, 2007 by Jenna Magee

I have an interesting mix of emotions when it comes to attending CATS in Hershey in less than a week.

I’m disappointed because I wanted to sign up to take two classes while I was there. After all, this might be my last shot. And I was excited about the classes I registered for. I faxed in the registration form somewhere around the end of August. I have received no confirmation in the mail and my credit card hasn’t been charged. So, I wrote an email to the address listed on the website. No answer. I called the number listed on the website (that goes to Liz Turner Diehl) and left a message on their answering machine. No response. So, I guess I’m going to have to hope that the two classes I wanted aren’t full and that I can still sign up for them when I get there Thursday morning.

Disappointed would be an understatement.

And yet, I am still hyper-excited about going. I’m going to meet Sandie Vanosdall in person (again) and I hope the get to introduce myself as a shopowner to people like Jo Mason of Dinky-Dyes. Not to mention all of that S.E.X. awaiting me. Woohoo!

So, once again, I ask if anyone other than me, Cathy C. and Suz are planning on attending Hershey at some point next week. Also, has anyone successfully registered for any classes?

P.S. Notice any change to my blog? 😉

Posted in Stitching | 7 Comments

Today’s Arts and Crafts Project Is…

Posted on September 18, 2007 by Jenna Magee

a diaper cake! I didn’t read the instructions any more than to see that you roll up diapers and then layer them. Got it.

Went to Walmart for supplies. They actually managed to have the 3 DMC colors that I needed. AMAZING! Bought 3 sizes of diapers, diaper rash ointment, some pacifiers, bibs, a bottle brush and the bedtime collection from Johnson & Johnson (lotion, shampoo and body wash). Brought it home, ripped into the diapers, started rolling and this is where I came up with:





It’s not perfect, by any means and I had plenty of things leftover, only having incorporated the bottle brush and bibs into the array. The rest will get wrapped, along with the leftover diapers. My mom is sending an heirloom quality crocheted baby gown for the main gift. Hurray for keeping things inexpensive! 😀

Posted in Crafting | 12 Comments

Another Halloween Finish

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Jenna Magee

I think this is the last of my participation in the Halloween SAL, at least for a while. Now that I’ve gotten most of the DMC floss that I needed to stitch the Winter Dragon on Leslie’s RR fabric, I need to work on that and get it out as soon as possible. Especially since I just spoke with Sandie Vanosdall of The Sweetheart Tree today and will be getting a model in the near future that I need to try to stitch up two pieces of before Hershey.

My fingers will be flying, but I may not have a lot to show off. So, here’s Helga Mandl’s Too Cute to Spook design, stitched on my own hand-dyed fabric:





Posted in Stitching | 9 Comments

Have a Little Class

Posted on September 16, 2007 by Jenna Magee

Two sewing classes, I mean. I went to the Joann store and did two three-hour classes, back to back. I feel like I have a much better command of my new sewing machine now. It has its little quirks, but then, don’t we all? 😉

Confidence definitely seems to be the key when it comes to sewing. I do much better when I at least pretend to know what I’m doing. When I inch along, sewing slowly, things don’t seem to work as well. I’ve noticed that before. Take a deep breath and jump in with both feet seems to work a lot better for me. It’s against my exacting (that’s putting it kindly) personality, but it works.

Class 1 was just basics of the machine: what all of the different feet do, talking about different needles and threads, threading the machine, etc. I have nothing but doodle cloths to show for it. Class 2, however, had an actual project that we put together after playing with decorative stitches and threads. I went for the gusto and tried a triple needle with 3 different decorative threads. The instructor seemed amazed that I didn’t overwhelm the machine or break any of the needles in the triple array with what I was doing. Did I mention the part about jumping in with both feet? 😆

So, I came out of it with a teal satin handbag. It’s not perfect, but it’s not half bad:

On the stitching front, I did work on the plastic canvas coasters in the car on the way to and from the classes. Otherwise, I’ve done nothing because I spent 7 hours at the store in classes. So, maybe something to show later this week, now that I picked up the DMC I needed to stitch my winter dragon on Leslie’s RR.

Edited to add:
I had the idea after I finished the second class, which covered decorative stitching with the machine, to try some of the decorative stitches on some satin ribbon, essentially making my own trims. Here are my first two tries, using a green and purple multi-colored metallic decorative thread:





Posted in Crafting | 8 Comments

Today’s Craft is Brought to You by the Letter Q

Posted on September 15, 2007 by Jenna Magee

As in Quilling. A vase of tulips today:





I’ve also done some coloring, some stitching and some sewing. In sewing, I am trying to learn the ins and outs of this new machine, so I’m sewing a skort for which I have had the patterns and multiple, different fabrics on hand for a while now. I also signed us up for two classes back to back at the Joann store tomorrow. We get three free classes as part of the purchase of the sewing machine. And I need them! 😆

Posted in Crafting | 5 Comments

Plastic Canvas Work

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Jenna Magee

You may have been wondering what I was working on while we were out on the boat yesterday. Or you may not. 😉

About a month ago, I ordered two plastic canvas kits from The Stitchery. One kit is a coaster set with sailing motifs; the other kit is a matching tissue box cover. I finished two of the six coasters while on the boat. Turns out, plastic canvas is a nice, easy thing to work on while on the water.

Here are the finished coasters. There will be a total of 3 of this anchor design and 3 of a sailboat design.





In other news, my Gazelle (elliptical machine) arrived today. I opened it, put it all together and put in a session of nearly 25 minutes on it already. I think my schedule is now going to be come home, exercise on the elliptical while watching Dr. Phil, then make dinner and eat. I’m still getting used to the machine and am finding it challenging to get into a good rhythm on it, but I know that I’ll figure it out. And it is as easy as I thought it would be to exercise while watching TV. No time wasted now. 🙂 Or, at least, less time wasted. I’m quite satisfied.

Finally, thank you for all of your kind thoughts regarding Mary. I called her today and was able to talk to her for a little while. They didn’t hear me knocking last night; she loved the goodies that I made and left for her. She is feeling ill, but the dcotor believes that it’s just the flu, not side effects of her treatment. They found cancer in her brain recently and her chemo treatments are currently on hold while she goes through radiation to get rid of the lesions on her brain. She continues to fight the good fight and continued good thoughts, prayers and positive energy in her direction would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. I finished stitching another copy of Helga Mandl’s Frog Spit today. I’m going to finish it as a pinkeep, I think. The other one was finished as a flat fold.





Posted in Crafting, Life in General, Stitching | 7 Comments

Just Got Home

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Jenna Magee

Yes, today was chalkful of fun. We left early, went to an office supply store so that I could get labels for my Casio labelmaker. Ended up making the decision to buy a P-Touch label maker, instead.

Then, we went out sailing with Terry’s dad and his new wife. 🙂 Enjoyed our time on the water and I stitched plastic canvas coasters for use on the boat the whole time we were out (I finished 2 of 6 coasters). Then we stopped and had dinner out. Dinner was good, but I started feeling a bit funny partway through dinner, so I took an Imodium and had them pack the rest of it up so that I can have it tomorrow.

We still had to go to Joann fabrics to look at sewing machines. I decided that I don’t trust my current, inexpensive Brother machine that I bought at WalMart several years ago to work through the lovely navy blue velvet that we bought for our renaissance costumes. On the way to the Joann store, we stopped at Mary’s house so that I could drop off her tote bag and wallhanging. No one answered the door, which was odd because I saw lights on inside and hear someone on the stairs. Mary hasn’t returned any of my phone calls, either (I’ve been leaving a message every other day or so, just to see how she’s doing). I’m not sure what’s going on, but I will do whatever she needs to be comfortable, so I left the box on her porch and then called and left a message on her machine so that she knew that something was out there.

We finally got to the Joann store and were inundated with expensive sewing machines. They have a Husqvarna/Viking dealer in the store, so that’s what we ended up getting. They have several different levels of complexity and, of course, I fell in love with an expensive version ($1200, eek!), but I didn’t want to spend anywhere near that much money. My last machine cost me less than $200. We ended up compromising and, instead of buying a higher-end Singer, we went with a middle-of-the-road Viking machine. We’ll be able to trade up for a more expensive version later, if we want, and the warranty was 12 months as opposed to Singer’s 90 days.

I also went into Joann with the intention of getting some scissors in the new Ashley print, but they didn’t have any. Very disappointing!

Now we’re home, it’s late and we’re exhausted. Time for bed!

Posted in Life in General | 6 Comments

Two Pieces Framed

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Jenna Magee

I finally framed these two last night. I had been waiting on them because I was going to lace them. Well, I finally got tired of waiting for myself and, instead, I used glue. I figured they weren’t important enough to fuss about. I will continue to lace large pieces, though. Just to be safe.

So, here they are. First up is Never for Granted, by My Mark Designs:






This one will go on Terry’s desk at work. I chose overdyed floss that I had on hand for the hearts and added the personalization like what you might see carved into a tree trunk.

It looks better in person. The fabric is a crisper antique white and the black of the frame looks really snappy. But, I am left to the whims of my scanner. 😉

The second one is by Cindy Valentine Designs. It was called Christmas Boxtop (I believe), but I totally personalized the colors by choosing an overdyed silk for the border and then pulling out solid colored silks to match. I finished this one a couple of years ago, but never mounted it in its boxtop because I didn’t like the fabric I chose to underlay the hardanger section. I finally soaked off the glue keeping the underlayment in place and replaced it with a darker color. And now it’s all done and mounted in a whitewashed finished Sudberry House box.






Now to find a use for it. Perhaps it will hold my used flosses in my stitching corner before they are put away.

Posted in Stitching | 12 Comments

Doing Better

Posted on September 11, 2007 by Jenna Magee

I was able to get up at a decent time this morning, amazingly enough. I think I will be able to get myself back onto a normal schedule soon. I’m getting some good work done today, too. All good things. I’m biding my time, doing my best imitation of a patient person and it seems to be paying off.

I am WAY behind on blogs right now, BTW. It’s been a toss-up: keep my blog up to date or keep up with all of the blogs I read. My blog won out. Sorry! I may eventually get caught up, or I may just give up. I haven’t figured out which yet. 😉 Just bear with me, please.

Posted in Life in General | 5 Comments