And Now For Something Different

I gave into temptation and ordered some stuff from The French Needle.  I had been looking at several things on their site for a while.  I thought of asking Santa for some of them.  When I was trying to decide what to work on yesterday, I picked this one up.  Cynthia Zittel has one like this and I wanted one too.

It is a french kit.  It is a completed bag and you can stitch on the linen section.
It is a little tricky in that you have to work from the front so securing your stitches is difficult.  I'm not in the habit of using away knots but I'm starting "away" and trying to catch my thread.  So far, so good.

I saw a couple of things on Mary Corbet's site today.  She mentioned a lady working on "Home Sweet Home" and so I took a look at her progress.  That inspired me to maybe go back and work on one of the smalls.

I put in a few stitches on the pomegranate Casket Keepsake.  Slowly but surely, this will get done.

It was cold walking today. There was some sort of Halloween Run going on.  The Farmer's Market has it's last day next Saturday.  I thought it would be slim pickings today but I managed to spend all the money in my pocket.
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Do I Need Another?

No, I do not need another pin cushion.  But that will not stop me.
I was very happy to finish stitching the latest Shepherd's Fold kit pin cushion.  I changed the linen and font for the words.

 I kept most everything else the same.  I changed the ribbon edging of the pin cushion.  First I ironed the ribbon, it was intentionally wrinkled.  Then I machine sewed a gathering line down the middle of it.  I measured the perimeter of my pin cushion.  It was about 16 inches.  So I gathered up the ribbon to 16 inches and tacked it to the edge with the beads using about eight beads per side.

I like how the edging turned out.  I wish the pin cushion was more delicate and smaller but I am happy to have completed it.  I wonder what the next kit will be?

What do I work on now?  My plan is to work on the Autumn Casket Keepsakes and the Fair Maiden's Work Bag.  Although I'd like to work on the Edinburgh Etui too.  But I am tempted to start another small thing.  I have the butterfly started and I'd like to make some progress on that too.  I'll have to see what I feel like.
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Jubilee

I was very happy to get the Jubilee Pin Cushion all stitched.  The band that goes around the middle of it almost didn't fit on the linen.  I cut it awfully close.  But luckily it went together pretty well.

I am so suggestible.  I was reading Mary Corbet's blog, Needle'n Thread, and she mentioned a kit she made a while back.  I looked it up and thought it was nice so I ordered one.

It came nicely packaged in a box with all the stuff to make a needlebook.  I got it from The Mad Sampler which is an online shop that I hadn't heard about before.  They have good quick service.
I'm off to finish stitching the latest Shepherd's Fold kit.
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Getting Things Finished

It always feels good to get something finished.  I worked hard to get the Bird pin cushion finished.  I wished for more old looking but small buttons to sew on the edge but this looks okay.  

I kind of wish I had stuffed it a little less.  But I am used to stuffing things firmly.  They look more uniform and smoother that way.

Then I got a little lazy.  I should have re-ironed this before I laced this and put it in the frame.  I'm going see if I can iron out the little fold bump in the middle.  If I can't then I'll take it apart and fix it.  It would drive me crazy to only think of that wrinkle every time I look at it.

I have one more finish but I'm saving that to show you tomorrow.

I had so much good food while in Minneapolis!  I'm having to behave myself now that I am back home.
We ate at Champs, Doolittle's, Rainforest Cafe, Porter Creek, and Vivo Kitchen. Yum.  Here is Porter Creek's salmon.  It was fabulous.

Son#1 and his bride.

It was a very nice wedding.  Claire is checking out the wedding cake table.

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Things From Stitchville

I was in search of several things at Stitchville.  One was a frame for this Prairie Schooler design.  We eat a lot of fish and I wanted to hang this somewhere in the house.  I found a nice frame that fits it well.  My goal today is to get this all put together.

Then I needed the threads for this design and also some black linen.  Black linen is not easy to find.  Both of these are called black but one looks blue in good light.  I know it is harder to stitch on dark linen.  Now I have all the stuff to start this.

I wanted to see if Stitchville had some silk pearl.  Of course they did.  I bought a couple of pretty colors.

I needed some wool for the back of the bird pin cushion.  They had the perfect color at Stitchville.  I also want to finish this today.

When we went to Eagle Creek, I found some fabric that would be good for finishing the Steampunk Sea Serpent into a bag.

I also got this fish embroidery pattern.  I had thought about getting it last time I was here and I still wanted it so I got it.  I guess I have a thing for fish.

On my trip I got to see my granddaughter Claire.  We went to Mall of America.

It was so fun to see her check out the American Girl dolls.  Santa may bring her one.  We rode on some rides.  We went to the Peeps Store.  We also had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  I hadn't been to one before.  We had to wait a long time for our food.  So long that we didn't have enough time to see the Aquarium.  Maybe next time.
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Lovely Weekend

What a whirlwind trip it was for us!  We got to Minneapolis with no trouble, which is quite an accomplishment in itself.  My BFF picked me up and with another friend we went to Stitchville.

I was so excited.  It is such a treat to go there.  If you are looking for thread, you are in luck.  And I was looking for thread.

The walls are filled with models.  The books and charts are very organized.  They seem to have everything.

It really is hog heaven for me.  I even ran into another friend while I was there.  I owe a big thank you to my BFF for taking off work and taking me to Stitchville.  Now that is a great friend.  I spent as much time as I wanted in Stitchville - it wasn't like if DH was shopping with me.  They we went out for lunch.  It was raining hard by then but no big deal.  We also went to Eagle Creek Quilt Shop.  I found some great stuff.  I was surprised to find out that rush hour traffic starts as early as three.
Here is what I got:

Tomorrow I'll show you the things I got to finish stuff.
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Busy

I have to get busy today and get everything packed and ready to go as we take off early tomorrow morning.  I auditioned some stash fabrics for the back of the bird pin cushion but didn't find anything I liked.  I ironed this but it still looks wrinkly.

I had some ultrasuede the color of the bowl but it just didn't look right.  I have lots of pieces of dupioni silk but this piece needs a more homey textured material.  I think a wool would be good.

I'm taking along a piece that needs to be framed.

I seem to find perfect frames at Stitchville so we'll see if my luck holds.

I started on the back of the Jubilee Pin Cushion.  I'm changing the letters to make it more readable.  It is slow going as it is over one.  UGH.

Then last night I just picked up stuff to work on that was just laying around.
A kit I bought on Ebay that has some whitework.  It is so easy to get off on this one.  But I know it will be pretty when it is done.

Then the Spring Fling project that is half done.

 I should finish this.  I finished one section and started another.  But this is slow going.  Chris has hers all done.  She puts me to shame with all she gets done.
I'm going to be looking for some steampunk material to finish this off into a bag of some sort.

I'm nervous and excited today so I don't know how much I can get done today.  We'll see.
I'll see you when I get back.
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