Strawberry Pin Cushion Finished :) and root canal :(

Good News/Bad News Report.
Yesterday am had a root canal took almost 2.5 hours, but feels sooo much better today. I can even drink hot coffee again!

But on to funner things. I was able to finish the Strawberry Pin Cushion I showed you in my last post and here it is!!

Happy Day EVERYONE!!

Strawberry Pincushion Progress

I had one more thing from the June 2010 Sampler Guild of the Rockies June retreat themed Strawberries n Creme. It is a strawberry pincushion designed by talented Guild member Janice W.. I finished the stitching part and hopefully tonight I can get it sewn and stuffed and top it with the pretty ribbon flourish. We will see, I have developed a killer toothache and that may take priority!!! Two advil seem to be helping a bit while I wait for the call back from the dentist.

Hope your day is full of strawberries and no toothaches!!

Lower North Fork Wildfire Monday 03-26-12

Some pictures I took Monday evening first day of the fire. I estimate we were about 15 miles (as the crow flies) north of the fire. Wind had it moving our way, but there is a lot of real estate between us and the fire, so we remain hopeful. We are praying for the families of the dead and missing, for the firefighters and others displaced.

Miss Maddie Needs Surgery

Well, we scheduled Miss Maddie for TPLO surgery on May 10. Little does she know what she is in for!! But after 4 months of rehab, she should be a very happy camper!!

Have a great day everyone!

My Hari-Kuyu Needlebook is FINISHED!!

After a couple of late nighters I finished my needlebook! Coffee is my friend this morning!!

It was a lot of fun, I have a few oops in it, but I read once that the Japanese artists intentionally make a mistake in their work since only God it perfect. I find I do not have to do this on purpose, it just happens!! My needlebook is such the case, but I love it none the less!! Already considering making more, but we will see. For some background information you can visit my previous post on the subject.

Here it is all tied up in it's finished glory!!  For the flower centers, I did not have the felt balls called for so I used a fabric covered shank button from my stash. I was able to stitch into the button fabric and the flower fabric to make a nice flower.

Below is look at the inside  with the pages fanned (and you see I have needles in it already). The right accent edge gave me a bit of trouble and I was a bit off in some spacing, but it is mine, so that is ok.

Here is the front inside page. I changed the fabric for the pocket. Originally I was going to use some cute button fabric, but I ended up not liking the color combination. Also I made the labels on my sewing machine.

Notice the blue striped fabric? I decided to use some fabric from my mom's dresses that I kept after she died. When she died (in 1996) I thought one day I might make a pillow or wall hanging with the dress fabric for my brother and me. I still  may, but I thought this was the perfect use since she was my craft/sewing/needlework inspiration!

This is the outside of my book.

It was GREAT fun and Susan may do the class again if she gets enough interest. So, if you are interested go to her page and let her know!

March Totally Useless Stitch A-Long (TUSAL)

Here are my orts for this month's TUSAL posting for the new moon. If you are wondering what all the hoopla is over this check out this post at It's Daffy-Cat.

Happy New Moon everyone!!!

The Hari-Kuyo Needlebook

Susan over at Plays with Needles offered an e-course to make this cool needlebook. The course is closed, but if there is enough interest she may do it again, so check out the link near the top of her page if you are interested.

I signed up for the course too late to get a kit, so a trip to JoAnn's and a check of my stash came up with these for my fabric and ribbon choices.

The red fabric is for the front and is not as orangey as it appears here but it is pretty close to the actual color. I ended up not using all the silk ribbon colors for the flower that goes on the front cover and as shown below. You see now the fabric is pinkish! ???

This ended Lesson Two.

Lesson three was the embroidery for the back page which is a place to keep our broken needles until we can safely and or ceremoniously dispose of them like the Japanese tradition.

In lesson 4 we put it all together. I will show you the results as soon as I get them done. The e-course will be posted until April 2, 2012, but there are only 5 lessons and I think I can get it done by then!! Especially since it has been so fun so far!

The class has been very interesting with videos and class printouts. Susan is doing a very good job with  her first course of this kind and I would recommend it to anyone.

Fancy Wrap Progress

As you may know from a previous post, Fancy Wrap was my rotation project for last week. Here is how far I got. I did not stitch on it every night, I did some other stitching too since this is supposed to be fun!

I noticed I am having a bit of trouble getting reds to photograph well. You will see on my post planned for tomorrow that the red became pink. ??? 

The rotation project for this week is the cross stitch/embroidery category so I will continue on with the WIP I restarted on Feb 5 - Victorian Journal by Catherine Jordon.

Anyway this is all for today, tomorrow I will show you a fun project I worked on this weekend during the day when I was not working on Fancy Wrap (this was my evening TV room project - as is most of my stitching).

Wild Strawberry Finished

I finished another project from the Strawberries and Creme Sampler Guild of the Rockies June 2010 retreat. This one is called Wild Strawberry, designer unknown. It was stitched on a pale pink linen with DMC colors 151 (lightest pink); 3687 (pale pink); 150 (dark pink); 3053 (light green) and 3051 (dark green). I finished it with the provided fabric. We were given a green, which is sewed to the bottom of the stitching, and a red with black dots (which I used as the backing fabric and is shown underneath the pincushion in this photo.) The button and lace was included with the kit. The kit included three buttons to chose from and some beads. I was not sure what to do with the beads so I left them off. The example only showed a button, so that is what I went with! I stuffed it with 100% wool that I have on hand, I could have used crushed walnut shells, but opted for the wool.

Happy Stitching!!

Strawberry Alphabet Finished!

I finished another project from the June 2010 Sampler Guild of the Rockies Retreat. The theme was Strawberries and Creme. This design is called Strawberry Alphabet, designer unknown, but I can tell you it was done on a offwhite fabric with DMC colors 223 (dark pink); 224 (pale pink); 3053 (pale green); 3051 (dark green) and 310 (black). I do love the pink and greens in this one and I noticed in some of the other retreat designs they used the same colors.

The kit came in a cloth bag which was also the fabric used to make the flat fold which was in the kit. I took a picture of it on the cloth bag and also a side view of it as a flat fold. It was fun to do!

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Rotation Project - Fancy Wrap

I seem to be going along with my rotation system and WIP/UFO reduction quite well having finished quite a bit. This week I selected a Needlepoint project from around 2005. I am not 100 percent sure of the year, but I know it was from my Raleigh ANG Chapter so it would have to be sometime between early 2000 and May of 2007. I think it was a later project, so I am guessing 2005.

I may see about a second color besides the red to fill in the alternating spaces, but my "kit" is mainly red - canvas and threads with the gold metallic as the foundation rows. The thread is a red Soie Cristale.

Here are some details of the project.

Have a GREAT day!!!!

Romanian Point Lace Finished - YIPEE!!!

On a previous post I showed you my Romanian Point Lace project called Victorian Fan in progress. I was in the process of couching down the cording with sewing thread in a color that would stand out from the cording. I finished this cute design and possible Christmas Ornament last night and here it is.

Now for some background information on this technique. The three-dimensional cord is very special - notice the picots on the edges, these are called side loops - but I think of them as picots. These are important because you stitch the cording that touches together using the picots, and create the stitches within the spaces using the picots. You never go through the cord the picots are the main players. You can start and stop you thread in the CENTER of the cording by dong a kind of zig zag - but always in the middle of the cord so it will not be seen. This is kind of tricky when it is attached to the muslin, because you can't see that side of the design.

When I took the class Sylvia taught us how to crochet the cording using a perle cotton. The cording used in this design was supplied by Sylvia and was crocheted using Cebelia #20 or 30 - so smaller than perle cotton, but the perle cotton was easier for beginners.

I did the bottom cord. You can see I had a bit of trouble in the beginning, but got the hang of it after a while.

Here is the project with all of the Knotted Russian Stitches completed and two of the fan stitches.

It looked kind of ugly when I was done, but once I took it off the muslin it really came to life and I am very proud of the finish and think it is very pretty. I would like to do more, but need to get the hang of making that darn cord!! Although I see in her instructions she gave two possible suppliers of hand made cord - Provo Enterprise and Forget-Me-Not Arts. I have no idea if these places are in business, but will check them out if I feel the need for cord.

I hope my little post has provided you some useful information.



Romanian Point Lace Update

This week my I am working on a Romanian Point Lace project from a class I took at the Rocky Mountain Regional Seminar in the summer of 2010. When I pulled the project out of the bag, I see I finished the small class practice project, but had not done any work on the main project. The first step is to couch the cording on the design - as pictured here. The teacher, Sylvia Murariu was very good and you can check out her website if you want.

You used sewing thread to attach it in a color easily distinguished from the cording, so that when you have completed the lace you can remove it from the muslin.  I hope to have more progress to show you later in the week.

Happy Day Everyone!!!!

Glitzy Accessories Finally Finished!!

In the year 2000 I signed up for Carol Lake's Glitzy Accessories Cybercourse through ANG. I wanted to make something just for me and I liked her designs. I immediately finished the nametag, soon followed by the scissor fob. I then proceeded over time to stitch all the pieces and there they remained in a state of unfinishedness until this weekend. As part of my rotation system to reduce my WIPs/UFOs last week was "FINISHING" week. I was able to get the thread I needed and make all the twisted cord and tassels to complete the set.

Usually I work with a blunt tapestry needle for my cross stitch and needlepoint. This finishing stuff required a sharp sewing needle. I am seriously considering getting a tetanus shot!! No blood was spilled on the stitching.

Here is the nametag

Needlebook all tied shut

Scissor fob

Scissor case - laying tool case - frame weight.

Now on to the next rotation project with will be something from the specialty/beading category. I have selected a class from the Rocky Mountain Region 2010 Seminar called Victorian Fan -Romanian Point Lace and Beading. It has not been touched since class, so I hope I can remember what to do!

Have a nice day everyone!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Lois!!!

Today is my mother-in-law's sister's birthday. Also know as Aunt Lois around our house. She is my MILs older sister by 15 years and today she is 98!!!!!! Don't tell my MIL I just spilled her age (she does not have a computer, so I am fairly safe). We were blessed with the opportunity to visit with Lois last October and she looked and sounded great. Gets tired more easily, but who wouldn't at 98!

I decided to make her a special birthday card this year. Inside I wrote: "A special card for a special lady on her special day. I made this card especially for you!" Happy Birthday. Signed my hubby and me.

Here are some pictures of the card.

The flower is two colors of pink felt, yellow ultrasuede and a button all from my stash. I found the cute butterfly button at JoAnns. As an afterthought I thought tiny rick-rack for the stem would be cute, but I did not have green. Maybe another time.

I wish everyone a happy day in honor of Aunt Lois, a very dear lady!