Dates

I realized, just now, that the numbers of my posts are starting to make "historical" sense to me. Today's number coincides with the publication of the first Poor Richard's Almanac by Benjamin Franklin. With luck, around this time next year, I should be hitting 2011. Gah. Why do I have numbers on the brain?

No stitching yesterday. But I did take two samplers for framing - the Love and Live Quaker and Little Green Acorns. 

Then I came home and painted our privacy fence around the deck at the front of the house. After painting, I went with ibuprofen, ice, and some geranium oil on my hand. And no stitching. It's not too bad today, except if I move my thumb in a certain way. Doesn't help that hand was sore before I even started. But I did manage to paint both front and back of fence. Bully for me!

This morning was hair appt. time. I'm looking all glam right now. Wish I could blow out my hair halfway as good as my hairdresser can. I usually stitch while awaiting the magic hair coloring process to finish, but today I forgot my scissors. Imagine being stuck in a place full of scissors, but having none of your own. 

Book Sale and a New Start

Yesterday I went to the book sale at the State Department having learned a few years back that there are lots of needlework books there. 

This year's sale may have had more needlework books than cookbooks! Wow.

You will be amazed at my restraint. My total was exactly my old phone number that I had to give up. I guess I should go play the lottery now. 

I will detail the best of these books later as I have to run soon.

And I started a bargello piece on congress cloth. Wow, this works up fast. Even with stopping to record details within a couple of hours it's 25% finished.

Loudoun Sampler Guild Saturday

Today we had a class with Betsy Morgan of Willing Hands. This is the prework I was working so hard to finish yesterday. It's a pincushion that's part of larger collection called "This One's for Betty."

 Two pieces that make up the other side. Can you detect the Elizabethan theme here? I used the wrong color for the top piece - it shouldn't be that red, but I like that red - Glorianna Pomegranate.

We did the prework so that today we could work on finishing. This piece has fusible interfacing on the back and the edges are folded back and the seams are stitched to hold them. Then you have three pieces that get stitched together like a puzzle.

The large piece has skirtex in it to give it some body. 

A bit later, voila! A finished pincushion. Maybe I should have put this next to a half dollar. I think it might be just about that size. The top has a jade bead.

I love the bottom. 

P.S. Betsy gave me permission to post photos. 

Exploding Head

Two weeks ago I had to give up my cell phone number. Don't ask. Just trust me when I say that I officially dislike Verizon. To the point that I was ready to walk out of the store and pay the $175 to get out of our current obligation. 


Except I knew that both children would likely plot to kill me in my sleep if I did that. 

Instead I gave up my number and now have my husband's old number and new phone. And though I had been considering a phone with a data plan, I did not do it after the problem was discovered. 

I have a basic new phone. Talk, text, photos. That's it.

Testing mobile blogging!

And mobile blogging works once again. But photo blogging not working for me. Okay. That's fine. 

Hurdles I have faced. Getting my new phone number to everyone. I'm sure plenty of people I have told about this new number, haven't put it in their phone. Okay. I can deal with those consequences. And who have I forgotten to tell?

I didn't know any of the codes/passwords associated with this phone and couldn't change my voicemail. Hey, brilliant guy @Verizon. You should have thought about this before I left the store. Instead I had to go back there two days later. 

Gah. A new phone means I have to teach it all those words again. This one seems particularly stupid. I don't text a ton, just enough for this to be annoying. 

And the sound on this phone isn't good. Makes my head vibrate.  


Alright. Enough whining. Now that I know I'm in sync again here, I'll leave. Have not finished my prework and I see a long night in my future.

Can you tell I don't love this phone? and I really don't love Verizon.  

Stitching Like Mad

I've been stitching like a mad woman this week with nothing I can show you. 

I received a super top secret piece on Monday - charted what I was going to do by dinner time, stitched all evening. And that continued until yesterday. It was terrible stitching day for me with my friends as I made little progress. Spent the first part frogging my mistake on prework for a class tomorrow. Let's just say, I am very unfond of frogging over one stitching. This was a rookie counting error that I made while stitching with this same group back in September. You can see I put off dealing with it until the last possible moment. In fact, I welcomed the distraction of the super top secret piece. 

And as I started stitching the over one - this time in a different starting place - I discovered a new error. I had started one thread off. Let's just say "argh!" Which meant taking out the black box and re-stitching it one thread over. By the time Project Runway was nearing the end, I decided it was time to put this down. And I picked up and finished the super top secret project while watching House Hunters and HHInternational.  Went to bed finally around midnight.


I'm fairly confident I can finish my prework today. This is a Betsy Morgan piece that's a class with the Loudoun Sampler Guild. She says about six hours of work is involved. I think I've got three hours of time (not counting the mistakes) in it already. Today I'll see if I can finish it in three hours.


I don't why, but some Thursdays I have been accomplishing little during stitching group. I am not unmotivated. Maybe I'm just distracted?

Thanks to Robin for pointing out that I didn't label yesterday's telephoto close-up of my stitching. That piece is "Arabella Reborn" by Michael Boren stitched in the Autumn Leaves colorway. This was a workshop last year with my EGA chapter. 

Now I need to go do some cooking for lunch today and take a shower. I'm hoping for a bit a time playing my new  camera. I did take it out briefly yesterday, but have nothing exciting to show for it. 

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Digital SLRs

And with that title you'd think I'd have a photo or two, wouldn't you?

Sorry. 

Bought a new camera yesterday afternoon and didn't have a ton of time to play with it after I got the battery charged. 

Phew. I ran off to find the software the camera warns me to load before attaching it the computer. Now I'm all set. 

A flower from a fall bouquet. This is strictly point and shoot in auto mode.

Elvis resting on the back of the sofa. I may have to start a blog of cat photos. Let me know if I post too many here.

 And I took this last night. I was standing about eight feet from it and using my telephoto lens. Um. Yeah. 

SBQ

Where do you fall in the birth order of your family?  Do you think that birth order traits have had an effect on your choice of hobby and craft? How so?

I am the younger of two girls by four years and three months. My sister was five years ahead of me in school. 

(Blast it - my cursor has disappeared. It's like typing into a void. Please excuse all typos, etc. as this is not as easy as it appears.)

My sister and I used to talk about birth order from back in the day when someone wrote some semi-popular book on it and it got discussed on Oprah or something like that. I'm not certain how valid these theories about birth order are.

I think I've got traits of both a youngest and an oldest. I am responsible and conscientious like a first born. And I'm rebellious and open to new things like a last born.

And maybe that kind of balances out birth order effects on my choices of hobby and craft. We are both very visual in our choices. My sister has occasionally done needlework, but her strengths are in stained glass, painting (but she doesn't think she can paint) and photography. Neither of us are musical, though we both love to listen to music. And I am much more comfortable using words than she is, i.e. writing.

I've tried most crafts at one time or another. I still do paper crafting, but not to the extant that I used to. I have over the past five years focused on my stitching. 

And a big P.S. I'm about to get back into photography in a huge way. New camera purchase on the horizon. 

 

Secret Stitching Again

I did not go to the framer's yesterday because I got smart for once and checked the hours and he's closed on Mondays. Brilliant. But I can go today. 

Instead I exchanged e-mail with a friend and went to her house and picked up a secret project. Came home and pawed through the stash of magazines and projects and created a mash-up! Just like on Glee. I took two projects and made them work together. Didn't even take a lot of eraser. Then I picked the called for threads for one project and just grabbed my bin of overdyed cottons for the second project. And I narrowed my threads down to three overdyeds. After dinner I started stitching and by the time I turned off the telly I had made tremendous progress. I might be able to turn this project back to my friend on Friday and then I can scratch that obligation off the list.

On Sunday I worked on my last friendship sampler mystery piece. We're exchanging these towards the end of October and all will be revealed here as I've taken quite a few photos as these passed through my hands. 

But what I really need to do is frog my mistake on my pincushion which is over one stitching. And restitch. Needs to be finished by Saturday in time for class. More on that later.

My October calendar is full. And looking at the paper version things have been crossed out and rescheduled all over the place. Maybe I'm being too optimistic about how much I can get done. Maybe I don't really need to sleep. Maybe I'll collapse when I finally get to New Orleans. 

Quaker Finish!

Here's Love and Live Happy by Pamela Darney of Guildhouse Samplers.


Please forgive the screwdriver, but I don't need a photo with my name on it spread across the 'net. 


I am very, very happy with myself. I was finished on Friday till I took out my V & A and restitched it on Sunday. How fitting that I did that while watching The Young Victoria. 


I promise that when Pam starts selling her designs to the general public - not just through her classes - you will see the info here. 


Shall I head off to the framers now?

Blogoversary Winner!

 It's been a few days since I posted. I have lots of catching up to do.

But first. 

We have a winner! Number 15 on the random number generator.

Deborah of the Cranberry Samplings blog I have a package for you!

I'm sending you an e-mail and I will run to the post office later today and I will be running while dodging raindrops. 

P.S. I added your blog to my list, too. <3