Llama fibers

I got some cool new llama fibers for needle felting in the mail today. This is the first time I’ve ordered from Moonlight Llamas. I have to say, I LOVE these rovings! I can’t wait to start working with them. I just love how she packages them in plastic egg cartons. It made me giggle. Here are a few pics of what I got:

   
I have everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a stash-filled New Year!

S.E.X. & Jewelry Making 101

I had a GREAT weekend! On Saturday, I went and all day open stitch class at my LNS. As per norm, there was lots of stitching, laughing, and shopping. I tried to restrain myself from buying too much, but the owner extended her moving sale which meant kits were still 35% off and charts were still 15% off. So, I did end up picking up a couple of things. Here’s what I bought:

Brave Hearts - Little House Needleworks
A Chill is in the Air - Homespun Elegance (Limited Edition Kit) - photo does NOT do the beautiful colors in this piece justice!
Snowman - Shepherd’s Bush (I haven’t found this at any of the online stores, so this is a link to someone’s completed piece that I found on Webshots.)

I’ve also picked up a few other new stash goodies last week that I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet in my blog. I’ve definitely be taking advantage of some of the shops offering year end sales, that’s for sure!

Crescent Colors floss for Curly Q Ewe - Little House Needleworks
Belle Soie silks for Acorn Hill - Little House Needleworks
Belle Soie silks for Prairie Sampler - Little House Needleworks
Summer Sampler threadpack - Little House Needleworks
Autumn Sampler threadpack - Little House Needleworks
Winter Sampler threadpack - Little House Needleworks
Quarter cut of Weeks Dye Works 30-count Parchment linen

After leaving the LNS, I headed out with my stitching buddy Nancy to her house for the evening. Her DH is a musician and had a gig that night, so we decided to just extend our stitching day into the night. Ironically, neither one of us stitched after leaving the shop. She recently started making jewelry and decided to indoctrinate introduce me to this whole new world. By the time I went home that night, I had a new bracelet and 3 pair of earrings. They’re all make with sterling silver hardware and Swarovski crystals. All in all, I think I did pretty good for my first effort. Here are a couple of pics:

Well, that’s all for this update. I hope everyone is having a great December thus far and that all the holiday craziness isn’t making everyone crazy. Happy stitching!

Stash Happy Dance

Woo Hoo! I’m a very happy stitcher right now. I went to my LNS today for an all day open stitch class. When we got there this morning, the owner told us that she lost her lease and was going to be moving the shop a couple of blocks down the street to a new location in about 6 weeks. As a result, today was the first day of a 2-week moving sale.

She had a lot of different sale categories, but the one that caught my eye the most was 35% off kits, including Shepherd’s Bush charts! She also had all regular charts for 15% off. Naturally, I couldn’t let a sale like this slip by without partaking just a little bit. Shush, Darla!

Here’s what I bought:

Halloween Treat Bag (Shepherd’s Bush kit)
Merry and Bright (Shepherd’s Bush kit - which included a Jill Rensel mat )
Happy Haunting (Shepherd’s Bush kit)
Prairie Sampler (Little House Needleworks chart)
Acorn Hill (Little House Needleworks chart)

I should have some more LHN stash arriving soon. I picked up a few things from Courtney’s stash reduction sale. She has some GREAT stuff, so if you haven’t checked out her sale list, you should! Here is what I bought from her:

Curly Q Ewe (Little House Needleworks)
Home Sweet Home (Country Cottage Needleworks)
Autumn Leaves (Prairie Schooler)

I also finished a piece today, but I don’t have a picture of it yet. I’ll try and post a picture of it in the next couple of days. It’s the same piece that was featured a few days ago in the password protected entry, so if you emailed me for the password for that entry, it will be the same password again when I post the finished pic.

Happy stitching!

New ‘Do

Woo Hoo! I went and got a new hairstyle today. I LOVE IT! I think the stylist did a wonderful job. It’s cute and it seems like it will be very easy to maintain. Here’s a pic:

In stitching news, I’m working on another over 1 project. It’s for a Christmas gift, so I won’t be posting a picture until after the holidays. I should finish up the stitching on it this weekend and then I’ll start thinking more about how I want to actually finish it off.

I also picked up a new chart today that my LNS ordered for me. It’s Gingerbread Cottage from Country Cottage Needleworks. This will be part of an SAL with the Little House & Country Cottage Stitchers Yahoo group. I think it’s a really sweet chart.

For those in the U.S., don’t forget to turn your clocks back tomorrow night. Woo Hoo! An extra hour to stitch this weekend.

Happy stitching!

Ta-Dah

Yep, I actually have a happy dance to share! I finished a piece last night while I was at the all night Stitch Inn hosted by my LNS (more about that later).

The piece I finished is the Spring Sampler threadpack from Little House Needleworks. This was my first time using the Crescent Colors Belle Soie silks, but it definitely won’t be the last! They were wonderful to stitch with, so I know I’ll be using them again on future projects. I don’t remember the fabric color name, but it’s a soft blue 32-count Lugana from Silkweaver. Here’s a pic of my finish:

As mentioned earlier, last night was the all night Stitch Inn at my LNS. We had a GREAT time, as usual. I finally packed things up and headed home around 3:40am. We got a couple of really cute Halloween projects to stitch and we made a Jack-o-Lantern scissor fob as a Make It Take It project. For the canvas project, we got a really cute witch’s hat which is a companion piece to one I purchased a couple of weeks ago (pictured below). The linen project is a jack-o-lantern lid for a cute little ort bucket we received. Here are some pics:

You can’t really tell it in the picture of the fob, but the large clear & black bead near the right side actually glows in the dark. The bead contains phosphorus which is what causes it to glow. It looks very cool, plus my newest Dovo scissors aren’t “naked” anymore.

After I finished Spring Sampler, I spent the rest of the evening working on the Lizzie Kate Ho Ho Ho 2007 Limited Edition Christmas Kit again. I don’t have an updated picture of it yet, but I’m about 1/3rd of the way completed on it. I have 1 of the scene squares and 1 of the Ho’s completed.

I did pick up a little bit of new stash last night, too. She was offering a special Stitch Inn sale of 15% off any Halloween of Christmas hand-painted canvases or cross stitch charts. I picked up the Frightful chart and embellishment pack from Just Nan.

Even though I’m CRAAAAA-ZY tired today, it was worth it. I had a great time and got to spend some good quality stitching time with my friends.

Happy stitching!

Stitch Inn Photos

I finally got around to downloading my photos tonight from the Stitch Inn I went to on Saturday. Rather than posting them all here, I’m just going to provide a link to the photo album for them.

Stitch Inn Photos

I am going to share one here since it’s a finish for the year for me. One of the projects we received that night was for a nametag kit stitched on the rectangular shaped Tokens & Trifles card. I finished mine earlier today and was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I did choose a slightly different alphabet for my name than what was provided (a block alphabet).

I’ve never had a stitched name tag before, so I’m pretty happy to have one. It will probably come in handy on Wednesday night. I’m planning to attend my first ever EGA meeting. It may be a pretty empty meeting though because I know from conversation that took place at the Stitch Inn that this week was a stitching cruise for the Pacific Southwestern Region.

I have a bit of a project that I’m going to be undertaking as soon as I’m feeling up to it. I purchased some used cabinets from Terri that I’m going to use for my stitching stash and card-making supplies. Well, at last, for as much of it as they will hold.

Her DH was such a sweetheart that he drove them up here and then assembled them for me. The only thing I’ll have to do it put the shelves in them once I start organizing and have an idea of how I want them spaced. I’m very excited because this is the first time I’ve ever had cabinets or anything specifically for organizing my stash. Here’s a pic:

On the non-stitching front, I just have to share a photo of an envelope I made tonight. I’ve been making my own handmade greeting cards for 2 or 3 years now, but I’ve always purchased envelopes in the past. I decided to try my hand at making my own envelopes so they could coordinate with my cards better.

So, I bit the bullet and bought an envelope template set last year and then promptly put it in a drawer and never used it. Well, I pulled it out tonight and attempted my first card. I even got ambitious and made a lined envelope rather than just a plain one. I’m happy to report that my first attempt came out well enough that I’m actually going to use it. The card even fits! I made it to coordinate with the card I’m sending my mom for Mother’s Day. Here’s a couple of pic:

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I’m heading off to bed to try and get some much needed sleep. I’m still recovering from Saturday night. Happy stitching!

Overdue Update

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!