Bees and Baseball

This happened last week, so you may have heard about it, but I am entering it here in my blog for posterity!! Ha Ha.

I enjoy baseball having grown up with the Dodgers during the Garvy, Lopes, Russell, Cey era and I lived in places (NE, IA and NC) for 10 years that did not have professional teams. Although when we lived in NC we were close to the double A Carolina Mudcats and those games were fun. When we moved to Colorado I was thrilled (all the major sports teams were in Denver) and then with the move to Arizona I became a Diamond Backs (D-Backs) fan so I could watch my team all the time.

I also enjoy stitching while watching games. I sure wish they would bring back stitch-n-pitch.

Well on April 30, I was all set to watch the game (on TV) and stitch, when just before first pitch bees started to swarm behind home plate and took up space at the top of the netting 30 feet up. It was not safe for fans, or the announcers who could look down at the swarm, so they postponed the game.

I could hear when they made the verbal announcement when he asked the fans to "be patient". He did not emphasize the be, so not sure he actually knew he was saying a pun, but it was a good one.

They had to call in the expert who was in Surprise (about 45 minutes away) at his son's final T-ball game of the season. Here he is vacuuming up the bees to be released off-site.

Before each game they give this information about weather, the roof and the panels. An extra line was added for this game!

The bee guy's son may have been upset that he left, but his father got a standing ovation when he was driven into the stadium, he threw out the first pitch, he had a press conference and the next day or so I heard that Tops if creating a baseball card of him!

The D-Backs even had a buy one get one for their next weekend series if you used the code BEEGUY.

The game ended up starting  an hour and 55 minutes later, the latest a game has ever started at Chase Field. As you may guess, I got a lot of stitching done!

I googled "bee guy chase field" and came up with these if you are interested.

‘Thank you bee guy’: How the Diamondbacks handled swarm at Chase Field (msn.com)

Diamondbacks' social media team gives buzzworthy bee delay performance (azcentral.com)

Beekeeper who saved Dodgers-Diamondbacks game from swarm gets to throw out first pitch (nbcnews.com)

Fans react to the Bee Guy at Dodgers game (msn.com)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Saguaro Sunrise Finish Finished

I decided to be brave and finish my Saguaro Sunrise into a needlebook after all. I did not use the provided fabric because it would fray. I used some ultra suede I had in my stash and the corded edging technique from Marion Scoular's book (page 72).

For this technique, you remove one thread of canvas next to the stitching. You then stitch the outline stitch in the "ladders" left behind when removing the thread. A thicker thread than used in the stitching is required. I used the Glisten from the kit. 

The final result gives it a nice corded edge.

I have a snap insert tool, so I used that as my closure. Also, if I don't initial and date in the stitching and it is possible, I use a thin black Sharpie to write them on the fabric (upside down in this photo).

I used my sewing machine to sew in the wool felt needle pages.

I guess that is it!

Happy Stitching!!

Beer....

I will be teaching a flat fold workshop for my local stitching club and decided to stitch this as an example. I have one stitched for my hubby and I stitched another to show the steps to make a flat fold. I plan to put the second one in our Oct. 5 EXPO.

I found this cute pretzel fabric for it and can't wait to actually create the flat fold. I will post the results after our May 21st meeting.

It is a Sue Ellis Post Stitches Design (PS107) called Beer... (c) 2003

Happy Stitching!!!

Blackwork in Red and Green Update

 I have been working on this during baseball games. Pretty good progress so far. I first told you about it on April 12. 

There is one more section to the left, leaves and the strawberry yet to stitch.

Happy Stitching!

Saguaro Sunrise Completed!

I worked on this the last couple of days and finished the stitching. I am not sure if I will make it into a needlebook or not. The kit included fabric and felt to turn it into a needlebook, but the verdict is still out.

It was a fun stitch and I am glad the teacher allowed ghosts.

Happy Stitching!!

Blackwork in Red and Green

 This is a retired Embroiderers Guild of America, Inc. (EGA) Group Correspondence course (GCC) by Ginger Gouger Miller (c) 1997 and rewritten in 2000. 

I have the pages in a 1/2 inch three-ring binder and keep started it in June of 2021. I ran into a problem with the instructions (they referenced some diagrams that were not in the instructions). So I put it down and  have been moving it around my studio when I need to declutter for the cleaners. I finally decided to just stitch it so I could stop moving it around so much. 

When I picked it up I had two steps to complete the enter red section. I could not find the diagrams referred to, so I used the cover photo to figure it out. Once I got past that problem this is my progress as of April 6.

 

I have been working on this during baseball games and as of April 9 below is as far as I have gotten.

You probably can't tell it yet, but this is a tomoto pin cushion with a spool of thread and pins in the cushion. I am hoping for more progress on this now that baseball season has begun.

I am still working on Saguaro Sunrise and the Game is On! Both with minimal progress so nothing to report on those.

I thought I would close this post with a photo of Coco. This is what it looks like behind me to my left when I cook. As you see she was very interested in the ham I was dicing for soup.

Happy Stitching!

Some Papercrafting

 I took a class with my Paper Crafts & More club and made a squash box with lid.

This shows the inside and the top of the box at upper left. The whiter areas are a great place to put photos. I am not sure what photos to put in it yet, but will probably cut them into a circle to offset the hard lines and angles of the rest of the card.

This is the outside

Here is the side of the top (above) and the top of the top (below).

The "card" squashes down and fits into the box.

Coco safely watching the eclipse!

Thanks for stopping by!!