Sorry for not updating in a while. I’m growing increasingly annoyed with the slowness of my recovery. I’ve been having recurring bouts of extreme pain and soreness which usually results in getting emotional and sitting around crying until it passes. My surgeon did warn me that I would have good days and bad days even following surgery, but I’m just getting really impatient and ready to feel better & be done with it, KWIM?

If all that weren’t bad enough, my allergies started raging and I’ve been sneezing off and on most of the day. Trust me, sneezing and vertebrae fusion in one’s neck do NOT go together. Hopefully it will clear up quickly and I’ll stop sneezing!

Ok, enough whining for now. Time to put something productive in this entry. For the first time I ever remember since I’ve been going to my LNS, they put most of their xstitch charts on sale for 30% off!

Thankfully, it was while my friend was still in town taking care of me, so he graciously took me over so I could get out of the house for a bit and take advantage of such a good sale. Boy, did I ever! Here’s a list of most of what I got. I also picked up a couple of other charts, but won’t be listing them as they’re for gifts.

Mini Block Stitch – Hinzeit
Stars & Stripes – Little House Needleworks
Spring Has Come – Prairie Schooler
Briar Rabbit – La-D-Da
Buttoned Yule – Shepherd’s Bush
Ackworth Friendship Book – With My Needle
Friendship – Brightneedle
Sampler Scissors Box – Fancy Work
Motifs Inspired by Whitman’s Tins – Fancy Work

I’ve also taken the time to do some finishing work. These are a couple of pieces that I stitched late last year but never got around to finishing them. They’re both for gifts, so I’ve masked the initials of the recipients for now.

I have another finish to share, but I didn’t do the finishing on it. I completed the stitching late last year as part of a SAL, but never got around to the finishing. I just couldn’t get excited enough to do it because I HATE HATE HATE blind hemming. I finally decided to just send it to my local finisher and let her do it instead. I think she did an awesome job!!

Finally, I’ve been doing some experimenting with a new product I found. I’m not sure how long it’s been around, so maybe it’s just new to me. It’s called Distress-It and is designed to make newer fabrics and fibers look aged/antiqued. The product cost around $6 for the bottle and it only took a few squirts to cover the fabric (roughly 8×11″ in size). After the first layer dried, I went back and did a second layer to give it an even darker color. The product does come in 3 different shades of dye. I got the medium one. I tried it out on a plain piece of white linen and was pretty pleased with the result. Here’s a scan:

The scan makes it look like there is a line in it, but there really isn’t. That’s a part of my scanner showing through the fabric. It looks pretty even in person.

I did learn a couple of things in the progress. Firstly, spray a couple of times onto a piece of paper towel or newspaper before spraying onto your fabric. I found that it left some larger drops during the first coupe of squirts, so that would prevent that. Also, along the same line, I will definitely start around the edges next and time work my way toward the center rather than the vice versa. Over all though, I was pleased with the results.

I’ll try to post a couple of updated WIP pics in the next few days. I’ve not pulled out Taj Mahal again yet because I know I’m just not up to working on something that complex yet. I’ve pretty much been working on Spring Sampler from Little House Needleworks and Martina’s Roses from Chatelaine Designs. I’m really enjoying the Spring Sampler. It’s my first experience working with Sharon’s new silk line (Belle Soie) from Crescent Colors. They’re really nice! I can’t wait to see the 25 new colors she’ll be releasing at Columbus in June.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Happy stitching!