Coffee is Magic

Tea Time Birdie, was a freebie I picked up from Dawn's Xstitch. This is a charity square though I'm still trying to figure out what possessed me to print the pattern let alone stitch it. A little to cutsie for my taste. But you never know with other people. There's a few more in this series. Here is my progress on Coffee is Magic...By Dragon Dreams. It's being stitched on Zwiegets(sp) Rue Green 18ct. This is a freebie available from her site. I'm trying to leave the white fuzzy stuff till last since I've never used it before. Not bad for an evening's stitch. The wizard himself is done except for the fuzzy bunny slippers and his beard and mustouche.
I have finally made Praying for a Cure into a pocket. But I'm still debating on wether or not to buy white cording to put round the edges. Once I figure it out I'll post the final finish.

Karen, I'll be leaving almost all my finished pieces in a drawer until about August or until a use comes up for them. Most of the ornaments will be turned into ornies by October, I have some ideas on where they might go, but can't look into until then. The others will basically be on standby. Heather, I try to at least say who designed it, most of the time if it's a progress picture, I may forget after the first post, but don't hesitate to ask, I'm sure the majority of the stitchers out there would be glad to answer. Maria S. I hope you didn't take my comment badly. It wasn't meant that way. I honestly can't tell the differance. But I do like "hearing" about differant ways of doing things, substitutions etc. I've been known to state things quite bluntly and it can get me into trouble. So please keep that in mind. No harm ment. We're all friends here.
Lili, In my opinion DMC's metallic thread is a real pain in the tuckus. Hate it. I usually substitute Krienik 002 #4 for everything. I don't find it fragile so much as it wants to tangle and knot, whiech can make you pull too hard and break it or it will get caught up in the fabric and the same happens. Usually if the metallic is for backstitching or stars in the sky etc I'll wait for last. But the gold helps me figure out where I am. I started out by putting the reds in then going in with the gold. After that I found it easier to use the gold as a referance point. Barbara! It's nice to see you back!

Work is getting better. I think I've finally adjusted to the differant ways of doing things. Mostly due to finally being able to sit down with the department head and going over my fuzzy points. The majority of which I'd been given multiple answers to and none of them seemed to jive with the others. Didn't work yesterday. DH got into a minor car accident on the way home from work. I got the call just as the worry started to nagg. (I'd been waiting for him to come pick me up to go to work, since I don't drive.) After my department was informed that I'd be coming in late due to the accident I was told that they had too many people on anyways and would I like another day off. I took it. Luckily I did. The accident happened just as the police shift changed. so the wait was longer. Hope I got everyone's question and or concern. I'm beat. Hugs everyone. Night!

Celtic Christmas Update At Last!

At long last here's another update of Celtic Christmas by Lavender and Lace. Between this picture and the one orginally posted in November (see post below) I can see a bit of differance even if I don't feel as though there has been. A couple more days of her and I'll be switching her out for a differant project. I know a few of you have been reading this blog either since the start or shortly thereafter, you've seen her and a couple more that I've shunted away. Now I've proven I haven't forgotten about her and she hopefully will never become a permanant UFO.
This is a christmas ornament by Glory Bee, a freebie from thier site. Stitched it on 18ct white aida which tends to be my standard for most aida stitching. With one of DMC's varigated reds. You can tell where I found the lighter bits.
I 've one more page to frog and complete on the Needlebook. No picture updates of that until the stitching is done.

Once again I thank-you all for the wonderful comments you've left for me. You are all treasures. I'm very glad to hear that I'm not the only one who cringes at speciality stitches. Being a very much self taught stitcher it makes it a bit difficult. I'm more of a hands on learner. So most books, diagrams, animations etc, usually don't help. Sometimes, but others.... Maria S. and Coral This may sound way off the wall to you and to a few others out there...but to me Colonial Knots and French knots are basically one and the same. I've seen the animation of both on the Victoria Sampler website, all it looks from my point is just a differant view of the same thing. though thanks for the thought. I've had those slinky looking things on projects just before I ripped them out. Annemarie, this is the first needlebook attempt I've made with instructions, so as far as that goes, I'll be attempting to follow them as much as possible to get a feel of making them. The designer has since put out a public version of the needlebook with a few added things to it. Click here for a veiw, at the moment it should still be the first one, since it's still so new. http://downsunshinelane.com/dragonfly.htm

Another thanks to everyone who wished me luck on my first day of work at a new hotel. It was a bit un-nerving for me at first. I tend to be a bit on the shy side so it takes me a bit to warm up to people. I've found a few muscles I forgot I had due to some of the differant ways of doing things. Tomorrow I get thrown to my own defenses! *crosses fingers* since most of it's the same I really shouldn't have a problem except remembering what this hotel does compared to the other. Everyone is so nice.

Okay peeps, it's late and I've got to get up. I'll get to your blogs tomorrow. Night!

Celtic Christmas Reminder

Here is Celtic Christmas in all her glory as of my last update of her since November 10. I could've sworn it was before then. (yes I finally did back track the actual day down.) I'm not allowing comments on this post since I'm hoping to get another progress photo up later this evening. Haven't gotten to her very much, so this is also to remind me of how much I've done.

Praying for a Cure Finish

The stitching for Praying for a Cure by Victoria Sampler is done. The specialty stitches in this one weren't the ones I was dreading..except of course for the french knots. I couldn't get a good shot of the white design and beads above the roses, kept washing out. I won't even attempt to start turning it into the actual pocket until my next day off or maybe the one after. Never done this type of finishing before, which is one reason I chose this pattern. But I want the time to be able to fully concentrate on it.

Here's the Needlebook SAL WIP I told you guys about. I only ripped out one page worth of mistakes and continued stitching till it was done. There's supposed to be numbers for the needles stitched in, but I'm leaving them out. Since I'm still unsure as to wether or not I'm keeping it or sending it on it's way sometime in the future.

The grumpy pillow did find a new home today at the Rolling Thunder meeting. Orginally won by one member it was given to the president of the group since he'd made mention of liking it so much earlier and apparently the running gag is that he's very grumpy.

Thank-you all for the wonderful comments. I think some of you may find my "not good at specialty stitches" a bit waring by now. But some of my attempts have come out looking far worse than my complaints about my french knots. I have done the scrap test, and usually fail. If the graph is good enough sometimes I can cheat my way through by counting grids. Well it's getting a bit late here, and I've got to get up early tomorrow and start at a new hotel. So I'm not sure how things are going to go or how much stitch time I'll be getting from now on. The system is a bit differant from what I'm used to. Hopefully the nerves won't keep me awake and I can at least seem semi intelligent on my first day there. Night all!

Praying for a Cure

I started "Praying for a Cure Pocket" by Victoria Sampler this afternoon and I'm quite pleased with it so far. Especially since I've never used perle cotton except in tying quilts, and the fact that I'm not good with specialty stitches but so far so good. I've got the outline of the rose buds to do and then there's a curtiany satin stitch band above them and the top half will be done. It's the bottom half that I'm leary on at the moment. The should look like this picture is way down near the bottom of the blog. I keep losing my side bar everytime I put new quizzes in. How can you get those things to shrink. I know it can be done, seen it, just don't know how. eventually this will find it's way to a wonderful caring person.
Here's yet another charity square. A freebie from Lynn Nicoletti's site. I added the border in, thought the panda looked a bit small. Got the Panda done in one afternoon. Went to visit Gail (the girl that fell and broke her ankle in the stairwell), while the kids were at school and brought some stitching with me. Got the last stitch in just as the little ones came crashing through the door. Their mum told them I was there before hand. I got bomarded with hugs and kisses from my godsons before they lost interest in me. And this was on Valentines day to boot. I'm not much into V-day, but I hadn't seen them in a few weeks. Oh, well, I guess they have to grow up sometime.

I have done some stitching on Celtic Christmas, but I don't feel as if enough's been done to warrant an update shot. Gotten wound up with some of the smaller pieces.

I've also been working on a Needlebook SAL with a yahoo group I belong to and found out that the second colour I put in was the wrong one. Boy, did that make me mad! I spent the last three days putting that colour in. It's now sulking in the corner with my Washington DC heart. I'll start frogging the wrong colour out tomorrow. At the moment I don't want to look at it.

Thank-you all for the wonderful comments on the pillows. All of you are very kind. My major fears have been lifted. I hadn't turned anything into pillows for so long. (The ornies don't count they're too small) And had never attempted a rectangle one. Annemarie, I don't like alot of white between the stitching and the border. But I was feeling horrible and quite moody when it came to put the mouse one together, and didn't feel like making a pillow, that i went out and bought the smallest pillow form I could find. Unfortuneately for me it was larger than the aida square. Finding the forms below 14-inches is getting hard.

2 Final Finishes and a small finish

I stitched this last year and finally finished this off. I had orginally intended it as a christmas gift for a friend of mine (Pat) but things got a little hinky around that time, so I waited and gave it too her at a Rockapella concert on Saturday. During the time that I've known her she's always sent mouse christmas cards so I knew this would be a good one for her. Personally I don't like the border, but that's what happens when you have to upsize. (I buy pillow forms more than making my own) But over all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out.



Above is the Grumpy design I posted a few days ago, all set up in pillow form. I'm not sure if I'm going to put this up for a 50/50 raffle at the next Rolling Thunder meeting. (If the president lets me that is) If not I'll let everyone know that it's up for grabs. It's been awhile since I've made pillows, this goes to show, I need to brush up on it. Or at least on the ones that aren't square.
And here is my second charity square. This one is for a quilt that was requested over a year ago and there were no squares made. The person wanted an arsenal or football quilt. Found this pattern while click surfing. I've never been much of a football fan, English or American. So this one took a bit of effort to complete. Hopefully others will make the other 7. I'm not sure if I could stand doing this one twice.

Thank-you all for the wonderful comments on Guard This Keep! Annemarie, I've seen "Do Not Meddle" it's a very cute design. I also like "No late Knight Snacking". Patti thanks for the kind words, I hope she wins this round as well. Again I thank-you all for the comments on Guard This Keep. I really appreciated each and every one of them.

Guard This Keep is finally FINISHED!!!!

Okay, try this for the fourth time. It seems that everytime I want to post this finish something goes wrong with blogspot. Yes I've finally finished Guard This Keep by Dragon Dreams. This is my first big finish since this past summer. I know the name isn't centered. Didn't notice till I'd gotten it completely done. Ended up not needing the extra green krienik, but it was close as was a few other colours. Definately didn't have enough of the Rayon to redo the name, but not bad for a first attempt of this sort.
I should try and remember not to post anything when full of cold meds. The evenweave pillowsham I saw at Walmarts wasn't a pre-printed kit. Just the sham, that Charles Craft had made for the freebies. In this household I'm the grumpy morning person. Give me an hour for basic conversation (understandable type that is) give me a bit more for the brain to fully wake up or at least it's version of waking. Seems there's interest in the pattern. Here's the link: Charles Craft go to the freebie section and the pattern is under pillow shams, I believe. There's about 7 patterns in all.
Von, thank-you for the Altoid tin finishing. That was one site I didn't look for it. Jenn, I have many projects going on at any given time. It's just that the big ones need a just stitch time. I don't seem to be able to work on them and watch tv at the same time. I can with the smaller ones, so you'll probably be seeing a bit of those here and there. I've just put Celtic Christmas on the stand. At the moment the theory is to work on her for about two weeks then switch off to Fairy Flora. I really don't want to start another huge project till I can at least one of them done.
At the moment, my second charity square is a little over halfway done and I'll be starting two projects shortly. One is a Sal needlebook for a yahoo group I belong to and the other is for someone I went to church with while growing up. She used to direct the church choir. I've recently found out that her cancer came out of remission. So I've found a pattern to make for her. Though I haven't seen her in some time, I still have very fond memories of her.

Grumpy

Another happy dance for this year. I'll be looking into how I'm going to finish this tomorrow. Need to contact a friend of mine and see if they want it. Personally, I'm headed towards a pillow. And wouldn't you know it...while at Walmart today I picked up what I thought was evenweave and turned to DH when I noticed it was a pillow sham, with this design on the front with two others. I could've saved myself alot of trouble if I'd known about those. Oh well.
No update on Guard This Keep though I have gotten alot done on it. I'm so close now! All that's left are the two trees to the right of the dragon, the cloud bit and the backstitching of the dragon.
Question: I've found a few patterns for Altoid tin covers. But there's no instructions on how to attach them. Do you just measure then glue, tucking in the corners?

Getting There!

I'm so pleased with myself! Actually sat down for a few hours and I've gotten the dragon almost completely done! All that's left for her is the silver veins in the wings, and silver claws. The last of the majors is complete! The green krienik just arrived the other day so hopefully I'll be able to get more twists done soon.

Sorry I haven't been around the blogs much lately. I've gotten into on of those moods where you really don't feel like doing all that much and sort of moping about the apartment. Bad enough that the weather people have been telling us since fall that we're going to have the worst winter in the last 30 years (my life-span so far) and the groundhog had to go and see his shadow. It's been somewhat mild the last few years so this is not a good sign. If we do get the storms they expected a few months ago, it'll mean the sky's will open and we'll get dumped on. which means a longer time before I can just walk off anything that's bothering me, or to just get out. Sorry, done venting for now.
I feel a little stupid for not thinking of posting that question on the charity sites group board. Though thinking late at night is not my specialty. Lili, not only am I Irish and Scottish, they're a bit watered down with English (as in England) Not too sure about any others. Though my great grandmother came from Canada (english part) and was proud to say that she was a "cunuk"(sp) till her death. My family tree is well hidden in the forest. At this point nobody wants to be found.
Oh, I got another stupid question. I've been trying to get bloggroll to tell me when San updates but it doesn't like telling me, now it's doing it to KraftyKathy's as well. Any hints?
Stole this from Jenn:

YOU'RE NOT A DRAMA QUEEN.
You're quite the opposite. Really.
Sometimes, you degrade yourself because you feel

that you're not as good as friends, or that

you're not worthy. You pretty much pity

yourself. If you are degrading yourself, stop

it!

Your Quote: "I'm Nobody. Nobody's

perfect."


.:: How Much Of A Drama Queen Are You? [For entertainment purposes only.] ::.
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