Needle Book

I worked only on the Treasured Tools Needle book yesterday.  I love this design.  It is going well and I can finish this section today.  There are two other sections with just a bit of stitching on them.  Maybe I can get it all done if I work diligently.

Here is the Putz house so far.

I'm thinking about whether it is done or not.  Does it need anything else?  Should I put the tinsel around the edge?  I'm leaning toward "no" on that one.

Thanks for your advice on whether to take out the border on Eleonora's Box or not.  Karen pointed out that I put my name in upside down.  Duh.  So I'll take that out.

Barbara asked what my next class is.  Well, the first thing I'm going to this year is Betsy Morgan's Can't See the Forest class at House of Stitches in LaPorte, Indiana in March.  It will be nice to see Betsy again.  I hope she brings the Swan Sampler Guild piece she is working on. She was stitching on it at Williamsburg and I loved it.  I'm going to sign up for that class when the Swans offer it.  She is such a good teacher.
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Pocket

I got the Treasured Tools scissors pocket all done!  All done-done.

 I think it turned out nicely.  Now I get to start the needle book part.  I started at the bottom as I love the design on it.

It will be fun to see how far I can get on this today.  I want to get lots done because I know I'm getting new stuff later this week.

 I think that Stitching Bits and Bobs will win the Whatley Woodlands contest.  They are mailing my package to me tomorrow.  Which means I'll be able to work on Anne Hathaway's Needle Book again.  Then who knows how long the Amy Mitten kits will take as they have to go through customs in San Francisco.  I'm hoping they are here by Saturday.  I also bought two things on Ebay.  I love getting stuff in the mail.
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Dilemas

Here is my dilema:  I just realized that I stitched the border of Eleonora's Box in the wrong color.

I was just following what I had stitched on the needle case.  The border was green.  But on the box the border is dark blue.

So, do I take it out?  Do I just make it green on the other sides too?  Do I just make it the right color on the sides?  Do I just forget that I noticed it's the wrong color?

Then when I looked at the photo of Treasured Tools, I noticed that the flowers were not medium mauve as the chart says but mocha mauve (light pink).  I think I'll change them.  I like the lighter color better and it is only seven flowers.  I've already changed one, so six to go.

 I've got almost all the back of the scissors case done.  I can finish this today.

I'm very excited as I got the passwords for the Amy Mitten classes.  I got notification that the kits have been mailed.  They should be here this week.  I printed out some of the lessons.  The charts for the Quaker bag are huge!  I printed 61 pagegs of directions - and that's just the Quaker bag - so far.  What am I getting myself into??? (Then I remind myself that I actually made the mermaid one so I know I can do this!)  The other kit I got was Friesland Threadwinder Holder.  I've made the Vierlande one and it was fantastic.  I learned so much.  This one should be easier since I've done one before and have more experience.  I love the colors in this one.  I'm a blue girl.  I love everything to be pretty blue.  I was actually thinking of putting in a bit of blue on the Quaker bag, but we'll see.
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Good Mail

Yes, it was a good mail day.  I got my kits from The Drawn Thread.  Yeah!  I also ordered the third new one too.  I serged the edges of the linen and sorted the flosses on to the thread cards.

 But first, before I started one of them, I made myself finish the front of Eleonora's Box.

The front of the box is attached to the bottom of the box.  I'm going to put my name and the year on the bottom using the letters from Anne Hathaway's Needle Book.  I love that font.  I bet I can finish the bottom today.  After that is one big piece that includes the sides and back of the box.

So I decided to work on the scissors case to Treasured Tools.

 It is small and will work up fast.  I even basted a bit.  (Don't faint)  I got the "flap" of the scissors pocket all done.

Cynthia is such a good designer.  She can do so much with just a few stitches.  I have to admit that I would like to change the font on the lettering.  I'd like to do Anne Hathaway's font again.  But I haven't quite figured it out yet.  And I would have to center each letter.  I know I would mess that up.  So I'm still thinking . . .

It is a heat wave today.  We might get to 40!  Wow!  It would be nice to melt some of this snow.  That reminds me, I have to finish glittering the snow on the Putz house.
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Glitter

I started the glittering of the Putz house.  I think the glitter improves the look a lot.  I'm not quite done.  I've got more glitter to put on the snow.  The glitter does seem to smooth out the snow a bit.  I've learned a lot from doing this house.  The other three will be easier and faster and hopefully better.  It sparkles much more than you can see in the photo.

I finished with the stems on the Yoko purse.  Next are the leaves.

I started my name on the inside page of Anne Hathaway's Needle Book. I made copies of the lettering charts and cut out the letters to my name.  The model only has initials on it but I wanted to put my whole name.  Then I ran completely out of the Whatley Woodlands floss.  This will be the needle page so I only need to stitch my name and the year.

Maybe I'll get my Drawn Thread kits today.  But then my dilema will be, do I start them???
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No Luck

I had no luck yeseterday going to my LNS (which is 90% a yarn store).  They only had about 10 skeins of Crescent Colors Floss and not the color I was looking for.  Rats.  I asked them to order it but how long will that take?  They probably order once a week. Maybe.  So then I was looking online.  Not too far from me is Stitching Bits and Bobs.  I could drive there for one single floss but I decided to order instead.  I know, I've already ordered it from my LNS.  Now it is a race, which one will come through first?  Since I wanted it yesterday both of them will take too long.  I was able to finish the page of Anne Hathaway's Needle Book.

I only have one strand left of Whatley Woodlands.  I could start the second page, I guess, which is more writing.
Now I have to move on to another project.  But which one?
The SNS Barbara Jackson ornament?  Tedious specialty stitches, I have to be in the mood.

The front of Eleonora's Box?  Yes, that would be a good one to work on.

The Just Nan that I started?  That would be a good one too.

Or the Yoko purse?  I would like to put in a few stitches in this every day.

We'll see.  I still have to work on my Putz house too.
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Cold and Snow

It is record cold today.  Ten below zero.  Rather crispy outside.

I put some Snow-Tex on the Putz house.

It looks awfully rough to me.  I want snow drifts that are soft and rounded looking.  I went on Youtube and found out that you can add paint and water to Snow-Tex.  The next step says to thin glue with water and paint it on and then put on glitter.  I'm wondering if that will smooth out some of the roughness.  We'll see.

I was afraid to read the rest of Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.  I thought it might be too grizzly.  But then I read where it is essentially a detective novel.  So then I thought that it probably has a positive ending.  So I read the rest of it and it turned out fine.

I started a new project.  I happened to be wasting time on Pinterest.  I looked at some Yoko Saito pins.  Then I saw a video of someone working on one of her patterns.  That's what I needed, someone to show me how to start.  The video was in French, and I don't speak French but just watching what she was doing was enough to get me started.  She used what I think was a fabric glue pen.  I checked and yes, I have a Fons and Porter fabric glue pen.  She used a seam ripper to help turn the edges over on the applique piece. I have one of those too.  So I tried it myself and got started on the stems of the kit I got for Christmas.

I used a light box to transfer the pattern.  It is hard to tell when you are working on a light box if the lines are dark enough to be seen.  Some places I overdid it a bit but I don't think it will show when I am done.

I'm running out of Crescent Colors Whatley Woodlands.  So I'm off to get some more for the lettering of Anne Hathaway's Needle Book.

This will be folded in half and seamed together to make the front and inside front of the needle book. I bet I can finish this part today.
I'm off to my LNS with my fingers crossed that they even carry Crescent Colors.
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