Tale of a Shooting Star…

I barely stitched at all this week, so the fact that I managed two finishes is purely a fluke. Seriously.

First up is Butterfly Fantasy. This was stitched from a Dimensions kit. I worked on it this week when I wasn’t feeling so hot because the plastic canvas made it easier to stitch without having to focus as much. I even cut it apart and glued it together and instructed.

Then I finished my current commuter project, as well. I’m working on ornaments for my travel projects now so that I can try to catch up on my monthly ornament commitments that I’ve missed. This one is called Angel Heart Ornament by Charland Designs as published in the 2002 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue.

As you can see, I was lazy about carrying threads, so the darker threads are showing through the fabric. Ask me if I care at this moment. 😆

In the meantime, I really need to start a new model. I also started the Pretty Posies sampler from The Sweetheart Tree as a wedding gift for friends who are getting married in October. And I’ve kitted up the Alyssum Scissors Pocket by The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio and bought the Gingher Alyssa scissors on eBay to go with it.

On a completely unrelated note, I completed my financial aid applications for The Art Institute Online this week, having submitted my application to the school late last week. I still haven’t heard whether my employer is going to offer any assistance or not, but I’m planning on moving forward no matter what and starting my first class in August. Next on my list is to purchase the necessary software and acquaint myself with it before the beginning of class.

We worked in the garden yesterday, as well, getting 3 beds ready for planting and most of the existing seedlings transplanted. Seedlings… HAH! Several of the tomato plants are already blooming. They passed the seedling stage a while ago. I just hope that they survive the transplantation. We have one bed left to clear out and prepare, then I can transplant the last of the tomato plants. I still need to sow some seeds in one half of one of the beds, too. I didn’t have nearly as much room once I transplanted everything as I thought I would. We may have to establish two additional beds for next year!

After getting all cleaned up from our grubby time in the garden, Terry decided to take me out to P.F. Chang’s for dinner. We first ate at one of these Chinese chain restaurants in Salt Lake City in March and the food was really excellent. The nearest one is 40 minutes away, so we’ve been putting off a trip to eat there until now. I told Terry the other day that I wanted to capitalize on not having children and start being more spontaneous about going out and going away, etc., so this was his idea. 🙂 Our first date in quite some time!

Is it strange that I’m in my thirties, but I still feel like a teenager? Especially when we go out together. Terry makes me feel young and giddy. Wearing a short-ish skirt didn’t hurt, either. 😉 Tee-hee!

This time, a package of Pay-It-Forward gifts winged its way to South Africa to make its home with Coral.

Thankfully, everything arrived intact and didn’t take too long. Most importantly, though, Coral liked the items! She had specifically requested something done in hardanger, so I made a small doily and a suncatcher for her. The suncatcher was in her color, pink, and the doily was in mine, purple. 😉

The suncatcher was designed by Roz Watnemo and carefully copied (with Roz’s specific permission) and sent to me by Cathy B. some time ago. I stitched it on a sliver of 28 count white evenweave fabric using Perle Sweets overdyed pearl cottons in #8 and #12 in the color Bubblegum:

The doily is a design by Jean Mann that was published in The Big Book of Small Doilies and was meant to be a box top. I stitched it on a piece of 24 count off-white evenweave with DMC pearl cotton. The filling stitch in the center is called Edelweiss and this was my first attempt. It’s not perfect, but, as I told Coral, I guess it’s passable. 😉

So, that’s one more recipient down. Two to go. 🙂

I’m on the “Be a Sweetheart” list to receive newsletters from Sandie Vansodall of The Sweetheart Tree when she releases new products, so I found a newsletter in my email yesterday morning from her. I was so tickled to see that she is releasing the first four charts of the Teenie Tweenie Twelve Days of Christmas collection. Four Calling Birds is the first model that I stitched for her just a couple of months ago. So, that model in the square frame at the bottom of the New Releases page? That’s my handiwork. That’s right, I made that! Woohoo!

I’m so happy to see it out so quickly. Sandie loved my stitching so much that we immediately settled on having me stitch another one on the series, Ten Lords A-Leaping. So, when that comes out in the fall, you’ll be able to see even more of my work. I’m just excited because a lot of my other model stitching work has gotten buried over the years. Either they were duplicates for trunk shows, designs that weren’t released or shop models. Now I’m working for my favorite designer and my work is being seen. So cool!

Of her other new designs, I like H is for Hearts and, of course, Pirouette in Purple. I think I know where my next model stitching payment will be going. I just have to start the model! 😉 So much stitching to do, so little time. You know I really have the itch to stitch when all I do is daydream about what I could be working on while I’m at work!

• Stitch model and send back
• Stitch Summer Dragon and send out
• Finish Just Nan – Barnabee’s Quest (?)
• Work on Alma Lynne – Computer Wizard
• Work on Dimensions – Bonsai and Buddha
• Start The Sweetheart Tree – Pretty Posies

• Stitch and return model
• Start Summer Dragon for Round Robin
• Work on Just Nan – Barnabee’s Quest
• Work on Alma Lynne – Computer Wizard
• Work on Dimensions – Bonsai and Buddha

Hmmm… still not doing so hot on meeting my stitching goals, but whatever. 🙂

*sigh* I’m sorry that it’s over. I was in pain all 3 days. What a waste. But I’m not going to whine about it. So, forget I said anything. 🙂

I was able to finishing my stitching on Michelle‘s round robin fabric. Which means, your baby is coming home to you again soon, Michelle! At Carol’s suggestion, I stitched the WhimZi Rose freebie that’s available on Just Nan’s site.

And that means that I have officially met my first 10 Project Challenge! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!! It’s about time, since I ordered some items for myself via OSL during the last online Needlework Show in April. It’s about time that I can actually buy them. LOL. Actually, I have quite a collection of things that I’ve been wanting to order, so this will be quite a splurge.

And speaking of stash splurges, Friday was such a lovely day that Terry and I found ourselves quite unable to return to work after going out for a late lunch. So, instead, we took a drive and looked into pricing for some home improvement projects and then drove out to Fireside Stitchery. They aren’t as far away as I had thought they were and I didn’t know that until I talked to the ladies at The Strawberry Sampler last weekend. they said that Fireside Stitchery was fiber heaven and they were NOT KIDDING! Oh my goodness! It was wonderful. And somewhat guilt-free, since I didn’t buy any charts. Heh-heh. 😉

I mostly stocked up on sets of overdyed pearl cottons in #8 and #12 by Leah and in #5 and #8 by Needle Necessities. I also bought a beautiful wooden laying tool and needlecase that are made by a local man out of gorgeous exotic colored woods. I also bought some Gloriana silks that appealed to me. All in all, it was a lovely haul:

I’m sure I spent more than I should have, but I am really starting to get this attitude of “Life is short, just enjoy it!” 😀

I felt kinda crummy on Tuesday and was having trouble focusing while working from home, so I ripped open a Mill Hill kit for a beaded Petite Purse Pin and ripped through it in a couple of hours. The kit utilized odd count peyote stitch for the beadweaving, something I had never done before. Establishing the first couple of rows as a base is a little bit tricky, especially trying to keep even tension and everything, but after that, it’s completely smooth sailing. I had so much fun that I can’t wait to do a larger project! The photo is a little wonky because of how things were laying on the scanner, but you get the point.

Now that I have that under my belt I need to look at some of the Jill Oxton magazines that I have in stock at One Star’s Light to see what peyote projects I can get myself into and buy the appropriate issues and beads. I really think that I want to tackle a much larger amulet bag for my next project. Jill usually has one per issue, so with 3 different issues in OSL stock, I should hopefully be able to find something interesting. Fortunately, I came across a website the other day, in shopping for some Swarovski pearls for a special project for a special friend, that has great prices on Delica beads. Woot! I sense a bead stash splurge in my future… 😉

I forgot to mention the minor stash binge I had a couple of weeks ago at Hancock Fabrics. Like many of their stores, our local Hancock Fabrics (which just opened a year or so ago) is closing and so had everything on clearance. I was a bit late to the party, so to speak, so the store was already pretty stripped down, but I did manage to pick up a few things. These included a bunch of pretty buttons to use for biscornu and pillow decorations, one of every DMC rayon floss they had left (which added up to a couple of dozen), two each of ecru DMC pearl cottons in #8 and #12 (which I can always use for hardanger work) and a couple of fat quarters of miscellaneous fabrics for finishing. I also threw in a couple of other things like a silicone pad for my iron to rest on while it’s cooling and some materials for creating fabric buttons.

No pics, sorry. I put this stuff away a while ago. Not sure what I’ll do with the rayon floss, but everything was at least 50% off (the cashier didn’t give me the correct percentages on everything, but it wasn’t enough money to argue about), so I went crazy.

Also that day, Terry needed to stop at ACMoore (not for me, for once!) for some balsa wood to mock up a model of the gazebo that we want to build in our back woods and he kindly indulged me in a quilling kit. Woohoo! I had to play with it right away, but I haven’t glued anything down onto a card or any other real format yet, so nothing to show there, either. But hey, I finally indulged in the kit – and it didn’t cost me a thing! 😆

Finally, I stopped at Strawberry Sampler (my local LNS) for a couple of materials this past weekend and ended up buying 5 pieces of fabric, a couple of skeins of DMC and a chart. The chart would have been a breach of my 10 Project Challenge (and I’m only one project away from allowing myself a little splurge), except that when I arrived home I figured out that I had already bought the chart last year at CATS in Hershey. DOH!

So, I have a brand new copy of Britty Puppies for sale or trade. It cost me $8 and has barely even been handled (it’s still in the LNS bag), so I’m looking for the price I paid, if possible. I will accept PayPal or suitable trade. Please! Leave a comment or email me (jenna at magees dot net) if you are interested. It’s really cute! So much so that I was apparently really drawn to it! 😉