Pat Your Head

I met my goals for yesterday.   The tree is built!

I made the cording that goes on the tree.  So the goal today is to attach the cording with beads and sequins to create a string of lights on the tree.

The goal on Mistress L was to get half the pansy band done.  I did it!

The next part is very challenging as only the first half of the band is charted.  Now I am supposed to turn the chart upside down and switch the colors of floss for the other side.  What?  That is like patting your head with one hand while rubbing your stomach in a circle with the other hand.  If I survive this project . . . .

The mosquitoes are so thick outside.  This is my new best friend:

I have picked up an old WIP to work on, I'll tell you about it tomorrow.
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A Tree and a Pansy

I hope to get the tree parts together on Evan's Christmas stocking today.  I'm on piece eight.

I worked my way down to a pansy on Mistress L.  I want to have this large band half done by the end of the day.

It was rainy again today so I had to go walking at the Y.  I am lucky that I have a place I can walk when the weather is yucky.  This is the second rainiest August ever.  The mosquitoes are terrible.  Today is DH's birthday.  He is older than I am so he blazes the trail.  I'll have to make him something special to eat.  I'm thinking a peach crisp.
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Going Rogue or To Thine Own Self Be True

I picked up a long neglected project.  It is called the Flemish Fantasy by the designer.

I been trying to get comfortable with this project.  I love the design but I've had a heck of a time getting into it.  First I had to get all the stuff for it.  That involved ordering a slate frame.  Then I tried to follow the directions by gluing paper to the back of the satin.  Not working.  So then I tore the paper off.  Not working.  I needed new satin.  So I ordered the satin, you can't just go to the store and get some.  So I put the new satin  on the slate frame with muslin sewn to the back of it.  Not working.  Last night I picked it up to try again.  I ended up cutting the muslin off of it.  Then I took it off the slate frame.  I work in hand normally anyway.  Then I didn't like the hair thin thread.  So I tried some other thread just to see.  You know what?  I'm getting there.  I goofed around with the carnation.

  I'm not sure how to do it or what edge to work from.  So I just put some stitches in to see.  These designs are very small and you can get away with a lot.  Sort of looks okay?

 With these tiny designs, do I outline each one in stem stitch or back stitch?  Is it really necessary especially if you are going to couch down a gold thread around it?  I still have some questions but I getting there.  I need to goof around with it some more.  I may cut out the carnation threads and do it in a more organized way.

So that's where I am.
The walking is done and the bathrooms are clean.  The sun is shining.  It's a whole new week.
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Good Mail

I got packages in the mail yesterday.  Lucky me!  I knew a package was coming from Silver Needle as I got an email that it was on its way.  I was able to look up the tracking number to see that yes, it would arrive yesterday.  I thought it was the first design of their Circle of Friends club.  It wasn't.  It was the Just Nan Frightmare House that I had reserved a while back.  I didn't think that was coming until September.

It had the linen for it included.

 I love when I can get the stuff I need to make something, especially out of the ordinary colors of linen.  There were three Jelly Bellys in the package.  I love that!

I also got the Forget Me Nots in Stitches patterns that I ordered when I was in class in Indy.  Cool.
Unfortunately I can't start any of those things yet.

I don't actually remember what this one looks like but there were a couple of images in the pattern.

I started on the Christmas stocking for Evan.  I'm on piece number four, only 116 more to go.

 Maria gave me some invaluable tips that are making this project easier.  She suggested using low loft batting and cutting it slightly smaller than the piece to be stuffed.  That is working out great.  Also use some double stick tapes pieces like those used for scrapbooking to hold the batting to the felt piece as you are appliqueing it.  That also works well.  Thanks Maria!  I'm building the Christmas tree.
Have a great day!
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Stormy

Right now it is raining and thundering.  I had to walk at the Y this morning and go to the Farmer's Market in the rain.  But now I am safe and dry at home.  The light isn't very good for photography but this is what I opened yesterday:

It is going to be Evan's Christmas stocking.  There are 120 pieces of felt to attach.

 I wonder how long this will take???  I cut out piece numbers one and two.  I need to read the directions as I'm not sure about the stuffing part.  If I work on it a little bit every day, it will get done in time.

I want to finish the band I'm working on Mistress L.  There is just a flower and a leaf to go.

 I started the next band and it is a big one.  It will be two very large pansies.
I hope I can walk outside tomorrow.
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Stuff

The other day I was stitching and wanted something to listen to.  There was nothing on the TV and . just John Tesh on the radio.  Then I remembered Spinster Stitcher talking about wasting a lot of time on Flosstube.  So I thought I would check it out.  It is videos on YouTube.  It kept me company for quite a while.  Flosstube is people who post a video blog (vlog) every once in a while.  It was fun to see one lady visit Stitchville. I can relate the her excitement.  Another visited The Silver Needle. (I stopped watching when they were playing Monopoly). Then a lady in another country talked about the stuff she was working on and held them up to the camera so you could see.  I was looking for someone who stitched the kind of stuff I like to work on.  I thought, hey, I could do a video blog but I wouldn't want to be on camera.  So this blog is fine for me.  Who wants to see an old lady with a ponytail?

So I reached my goal yesterday of getting to the end of the flowers on the needleroll.  I promptly put it in it's bag and called it done.

Then I wanted to show you Her Majesty's Nightcap.  I've been putting in stitches here and there.  It sure takes a long time.

I got my sewing machine table cleaned up a bit yesterday so I feel better.

  But I have to tackle some of the stuff on the floor.  Thanks for all the great comments.  It is good to know other people face these same dilemmas.  Still don't know what to do with my ribbons.

How can it be Friday again?  The last Friday in August?  Will time please stop and wait for me?  Some philosopher said time waits for no man.  Or woman.  Rats.
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Just Quit

The other day when I said I was going to clean up my sewing room, I didn't.  I got distracted.  So today I started putting some stuff away.  I decided that I have too much stuff.  My ribbon box is full and I have more ribbons to put away.  ARGH.  What do I do?  Get a bigger box?  Get another box?  DH would say pitch the whole lot.  I can't do that.  But I know that something has got to give.  Cleaning up sometimes makes a bigger mess than you already have.  Just pulling things out and trying to decide what to pitch is really hard.  Being realistic on whether I want to stitch something is very hard too.  It is easier to give a project away than to throw it away.

My goal for today is to finish the pre-stitching for Ode.  I'm sick of it.  I want to be done.  I'm really awfully close.  I just need to finish the needleroll front.  I think I'll just do three more flowers and quit.  Yes, quit.  I'm going rogue anyway.

Then I'm going to put that bag away until the class at the end of September.

I have been looking at Amy Mitten's site multiple times a day.  I need to quit that too.  I have more than one Amy Mitten project to work on.  I bought a sampler on ebay that I can dig out, Tudor something.  I also have the Casket Keepsake Cornflower that has never been finished.

Mistress L is doing okay.  I would like to finish her up too.  I finished the band I was working on and started the next band.  Less than ten inches to go.

At the end of the day, I just want to start something new.  I also want to eat candy all day and not get fat.
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Moving On

I started the band under the queens on Mistress L's Band Sampler.  This is interesting because it is the reverse of an earlier band.

I worked a bit on the needleroll of Ode's pre-stitching.  I sort of want to be done with this.  I have three more flowers on my chart and then I have to start repeating (or making up) flowers until I get to the end which seems very far away at the moment.

I am almost done making a small project bag.

When I was making the pin cushion, I was experimenting with sizes since I didn't have the pattern to go by.  I ended up using the smaller one to make the pin cushion.  So what do I do with the slightly larger one?  Make a project bag.  My sewing is a bit messy but I love the fabrics and, hey, it's just for me.

Whatever.
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Fixed

I fixed her stupid head.

This band is done unless I add a few little things.  But right now, I'm not in the mood.

Mistress L is now 21 1/2 inches long.

I rented the movie "Love and Friendship" on Amazon and watched it last night. It is based on a novella by Jane Austen.  I need to watch it again so I can catch all the great dialog.  It is very funny.  All the people were a bit confusing at first but watching it again, I'll know who everyone is.  That was the perfect movie to watch after finishing up Jane Austen's head.

Now I really can compare these two methods.  Can I get by doing as much over two as possible and then filling in with single stitches?  I think I can.  The over one head (on the left) is darker in color.  I decided to do her name like it is a book title on the spine instead of green dots.  I think this will be folded into a book-like shape.  When I finish the needleroll front, all the pre-stitching will be done.
Yahoo!!
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Stupid Head

I worked really hard trying to get the yellow queen in Mistress L.  When I was putting in the last few stitches, something wasn't looking right.

The collar was off.  So I took one side out and stitched it carefully in again.  Nope, it still looked off.  So after examining it closely, I realized that her stupid head was one thread too far to the left.  *!%@^#.  I was just defeated. Her hair turned out so well and now I have to take it out. I put it down and read a book instead (The Bat by Jo Nesbo).  I couldn't deal with it late at night.

So now I'm ready to take it out and redo it.  I just can't leave it, the queens have to be right.  There is still a lot of stuff I have to put in yet before this section is done.  I took out the stupid green things hanging down from the arch.  I'm going to put a bird in somewhere.

The stupid walking is done.  The stupid bathrooms are clean.  I'm ready to fix her stupid head.
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Sunday

I've been working on Ode pre-stitching.  I was happy to get the saying all done.

Maybe I need just a bit more decoration around the saying but I have to think about it but don't you love that tiny heart at the end?

So I picked up poor Jane's head and decided I had to finish that off.  I wasn't even sure it would turn out.  It's an experiment.

This is the outside of the needleroll with the too light flowers replaced.

Tomorrow I'll show you my progress on the yellow queen.
It is a quiet Sunday.  Claire and family are travelling so we may not get to talk.  Boo-hoo.
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Another Finish!

I just had to finish this up yesterday.  It turned out fine.  It is a scissors holder.  Easy peasey.  Worked on banding and I didn't even change anything.  Well, actually I used two strands instead of one of the green so the lazy daisy stitches would look more even.  Oh yeah, I added some gold around the scissors.  And I sewed it together on the sewing machine. I can't help myself, I have to change things!

I'm being good today.  I didn't buy a cinnamon roll at the Farmer's Market.  I only bought one piece of candy. (I usually buy their $10 special).
I worked a bit on the Ode pre-stitching.  I was deciding what color floss and what font to use for my Jane Austen saying.  I decided to go the Anne Hathaway route.  I stitched Anne Hathaway's house (Needlemade Designs) a couple years ago and loved the font and the floss color.
So I went looking for the project.  Couldn't find it. It is lost among things in one of the curio cabinets.  So I went looking for the pattern.  It took a while but I found it.

I made a copy of the words and then cut out letters and taped them together.

I was wondering whether this mess would turn out.  So then I had to figure out how to center it on the inside of the needleroll.  And I started stitching.  Even though it is over one, I like it.  It is the right size and the right color.

Progress!
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Looking for Stuff

Funny serendipitous things can happen when you go looking for something.  Especially when you are looking on the internet.  I decided to make the sweet little ort container yesterday.  I did pretty well until I came to one line in the directions.  It just didn't make sense.  So since no picture came with the kit, I just wanted to check pictures of ort containers before I forged ahead and did it my way.  So I found lots of pictures of ort containers but I couldn't find the particular one I was looking for.  Then I came across a pattern that I had been looking for for quite a while.  A few years ago, I was at Erica's in South Bend and there on the counter was a darling pin cushion made using Paris Flea Market mini charm pack (2 1/2 " squares).  I didn't buy the pattern and they were all out of the Paris Flea Market pack.  I thought of calling them to get the pattern but I didn't even know the name of it.  Then yesterday, I saw it.

That's what I wanted!  I found and bought the Paris Flea Market charm pack a while back.

 I happened to have some of that tape measure ribbon.

 Hey, I could make this now.  So I did.

Then I went back and finished up the sweet little ort container.

I forged ahead and did it in what seemed to be the most logical way.  It needs something like a quarter in the bottom of the pin cushion to make it heavier so it won't fall off my table.  So I have two finishes.

Then this morning I walked in my sewing room and just couldn't stand all the mess.  I have to clean up this place.  I don't know if any stitching will get done today at all.  Well, maybe later.
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