It's So Wrong

It's so wrong to be wearing corduroy pants this time of year here in the Metro D.C. area. It has been a very strange spring. I am halfway between my winter wardrobe and my summer wardrobe. I've got my summer wardrobe in my drawers, but my winter stuff is still within reach rather than at the top my closet.

And in Stitching News:

I frogged my mistake, corrected it and moved on. And am closer to understanding the big draw of Quaker samplers. There is something completely relaxing about stitching these motifs. I've got other things I must do, but this is all I want to do.

Yesterday at EGA we had a class taught by Betsy Morgan. It's her Nantucket Morning Glory basket. It's the topper of a cute little basket done on 32ct over one. And last night as I was sitting outside Target waiting for DS to complete an interview I managed to start stitching this and got in an hour of work.

Oh yeah. I've got a new canvas work piece that I'm starting this weekend that a friend is teaching. LOL

And I purchased one of these: mighty brite lights
Now I need to make a little protective case for the magnifier.

Tsunami Charity Sampler

This is the Martina Dey piece from SANQ fall '07.

I'm not stitching this over one.

And I changed the Handdyed silks to Crescent Colours.

I've made some progress since taking this photo, but I also discovered an error yesterday which will require about an hour of frogging and restitching. My problem is in a symetrical bit so there's no fudging. It has to come out and be redone.

Current Projects

In reality my current projects are too numerous. I've been mixing in obligation stitching with pleasure stitching.

This means yesterday I picked up my Tsunami Charity sampler and have maybe even finally stitching enough to be worthy of a photo. Of course I was working on this at the shop during morning stitch-in and found myself counting incorrectly and having to frog. But I did eventually make progress.

Started charting two new blackwork projects - one for teaching and one because it came to me in a flash while exiting the shower. Not so strange a place for inspiration to hit me. The other place where I get really good ideas is on a long drive by myself. But I don't have to do any of those for a while and with gas prices, I'm certainly not going to drive for no good reason.

So let's see. That leaves me with this list of current projects:

When life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt
crazy quilt pyramid
tsunami sampler
BoInk over 1
peony canvas
and I know there's another project in that bag but I'm too lazy to go upstairs and look and my brain is apparently not in total recall mode

Anyone out there taking Melatonin? Got any advice for me?

baseball biscornu

The idea is from the Stitch Bitch who did a Phillies version of this last year for Stitch 'N Pitch.

And ever since I saw hers, this has been floating through my head. I have designed a version for myself commemorating my team, the Red Sox, and my NL team, the Nats. But due to trademark infringement, etc. I will not be publishing those versions.

Instead I bring you a biscornu to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

I had a wonderful time figuring out how exactly to do the seams of the baseball. But I persevered and I think it works.

My Children's Feet

Somehow they have chucks that match their school colors.

Photo taken with feet up on the seats at Camden Yards.

I Don't Know What to Say

Sign in a church yard just east of Camden Yards.

things will soon return to normal

Don't touch that dial.

Regular programming will return shortly.

I promise.

Complete with pretty pictures.

treat for the week

we've got Red Sox tix for tomorrow's game at Camden Yards!!!!!!!

yesterday was first day of four with both kids at home from college

DD leaves on Friday for 6 weeks in Alaska

Young at Heart

Quick. Run to theaters before it disappears. This movie about the senior citizen chorus in Massachusetts that sings punk and rock and pop is a masterpiece.

It's sweet and funny and poignant. Don't miss it.

More entertaining than Iron Man.

Better life lessons, too.

What am I thinking?

I put in an hour or two on BoInk yesterday. Over one, this may take how long? 600 hours? More?
What an idiot I am.

Then I couldn't resist this needle nanny from Twisted Oaks and Dinky Dyes. I started it yesterday and should finish it today.
Needle Nanny

Rain = Good

But three + inches at once = not so good

I can't figure out this morning if it's allergies, low pressure, or something else causing my headache.

The crew team is not having lovely weather for their drive from VA to MA. The good news is that they should have sunshine for Sunday's race at least. Saturday may be hit or miss.

BoInk

While visiting DS at school yesterday - he's the only one left in his wing on his floor - I stopped by Everything Cross Stitch and had a lovely visit.

Yes. I did kit up the Book of Ink Circles. With 32ct Country French latte and Anchor floss and plan to stitch it over one. The only way I could possibly justify a new project to myself was to keep the cost down. I'd love to stitch it with silks, but it would be too expensive. By stitching it over one, I've kept down the cost on the linen. Let's not talk about the mental cost of a project that will be solidly stitched and sized 6 1/4" by 8."

Thatta, Girl!

That's my daughter in the red jacket last Sunday on Lake Quinsigamond. She's coxing Women's Novice 4. Right after they got on the water the skies opened up and rained down on them. They must have had an extra 20+ lbs. of water in the boat.

Dogwood

My dogwood is white and I don't have any flowers that are at ground level. This one belongs - huh - right now to the bank. The only townhouse in our cluster in foreclosure. Oh well. The flowers are still lovely. Even if it's driving down my property value.

Boink, anyone?

Anyone else doing the SAL mystery by Tracey of Ink Circles - the Book of Ink Circles?

I haven't kitted it, but I have seriously thought about doing it over one...it would be slightly larger than 6" by 8" - I know - I've lost my mind.

There's a yahoogroup for this, in case anyone is interested. Just go to Ink Circles. One the page with the chart, there's a link for the yahoogroup.

I was Catching Up On My Reading

I've been reading some blogs this morning. And I see others have faced the same situation I have.

Decided they needed more floss and the next batch of overdyed fibers are totally different.

Not just a little bit different. But not even in the same ballpark different.

File this under lessons learned.

Other than DMC and Anchor, buy all the thread you may possible need at one time. My problem was not realizing I'd need more. But from here on, I'm going to evaluate by the size of the piece and assume I'll need more. And even with DMC and Anchor, if the piece is humongous and it may take you years, buy multiples when kitting. Better to be safe than kicking yourself later.

LOLCats crack me up!

more cat pictures

For my new friends from Maryland

I went back and searched the yahoogroup and realized I had misspelled.

The term to search for is "pendibules."

A French site that shows how to make them is here: les bidouilles

Sorry about my mistake.

And for all the other stitching people, this is actually a neat little finishing trick for a small item. You might want to look, too.

My Brain Has Been Turned to Mush

I had a lovely time in NH as usual.

Unfortunately this year they closed Yankee Cross Stitch completely in order to be a presence at Celebrations of Needlework in Nashua. I wanted to attend this year, but had to keep my scheduling flexible due to college kids with athletics on their schedules.

On Friday I took my sister to the Peabody Essex Museum. It was our first visit to the PEM and we were both impressed. They had a lovely exhibit called "Wedded Bliss" where I tried to point out the exquisite stitching on the rolled hem of the train and set off an alarm. Too funny. I was just pointing and my hand was still more than a foot and half from the dress, but I broke some barrier. That totally delighted my sister. Two guards came running and everything. LOL

I bought a copy of the PEM's book - "Painted with Thread" - that was published in 2000. And a signed copy of Kaffe Fassett's "Glorious Inspiration for Needlepoint and Knitting." This book was recommend by the teacher when I took a paint your own canvas class. Both great additions to my library.

Didn't get much stitching done as it was more fun to sit and talk while watching the Red Sox play.
Got to Worcester yesterday morning just in time to see my DD's crew shell launch and the skies totally opened up with a downpour. We left after her race, packed up the car (I'm still not sure how we fit all that stuff in there. I didn't have much of a view out the back window.) and left for Virginia.

We decided to stop at our favorite deli in CT and while walking in I recognized two wonderful ladies from NY, one of whom invited me to attend my first EGA meeting in NY back in 2002 with the Mid-Hudson EGA chapter. They were returning from Celebrations and it was terrific to sit and talk and catch up during lunch.

I'm sure there's more, but I woke up with a headache and this is getting difficult. Time to go seek out medication.

Hey All!

Spotty computer access here.

so I'll be back on Monday or Tuesday with a full update