I'm Back

Christmas stuff took over my life for a while. Now I am done and packages and gift cards are sent off.  I made two batches of caramel corn.  DH says one batch tasted better than the other batch.  Rest assured, I tasted them both and they are both very good.  But I finally figured out why.  I used a combination of light and dark brown sugar on the batch that DH says was better.  I still have one more batch to make.  I will be sure to use dark brown sugar in that one.
I got The Art of William Morris in Cross Stitch book in the mail.  I'm not sure it will help me much with my casket.  The designs are simplified more than I want.  They are nice designs though.

I have some William Morris wrapping paper.  I want to take a snippet of it and use the pic2pat site to convert it to a chart.
I got the smocked dress done and I am proud of it.  I sure hope it fits.  I didn't take a picture before I wrapped it.  I will get a picture of Claire in the dress when we are there in January.  We booked our flights so we are all set to go.  I can't wait to see her in person.  Only a little over a month and we will be there.
I am hoping to get back to stitching.  I'm not sure I even remember what I was working on.  I want to make one of Just Nan's mice for our tree.  I want to put up the tree by Saturday.  We have a few gifts to put under it.
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Smocked

I have been working hard on the smocked dress.  All the smocking is now done and I am ready to sew the dress together.  I used silk threads for the smocking.  I liked using the Hand Dyed Fibers premium floss.  Just one ply worked fine.  I sure hope it fits when it is all done.

I got the calendar I was making all done yesterday.  Another gift down.  Today I am going to make fudge - among other things.  I am planning on licking the pan when I am done!  I even cleaned up the mess in the computer room.
There was a dusting of snow this morning.

Here is a picture of me in 1982 with some cross stitch stuff.  Good grief that is a long time ago.
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Several Rows

Everywhere in my house is a mess.  The dining room table is full of stocking stuffers, Christmas cards and more.  Messy!  The living room has a pile of boxes from gifts I ordered that came this week.  If I painted them green, I could call it a Christmas tree.
The computer room has a bunch of papers I found that I need to turn into a calendar today.  My sewing room is the messiest of all but I'm busy, I have to get some things done, I can't stop and clean!  I am going to have to take a week and do nothing but put stuff away.  All these messes are driving me crazy.
On the other hand, I have made progress.  I finished off Merrily, Merrily yesterday.  I opted for the dark green cording as  opposed to light green.  Am I happy with it?  Yeah.  I am rolling my eyes at the thought of putting this project on a slate frame and basting it up the wazoo.  I worked it in hand on a 4 by 4 piece of fabric and it turned out fine.

I got several rows of smocking done.  It is starting to take shape.  Don't worry, it's going to be very cute when I get it done.   I think I can finish it today if I work hard.

Tomorrow I am going to make goodies:  fudge, caramel corn and various other treats.
Here are the two books I got to help me with designing my casket.

I also tried out a site I saw on the Mary Engelbreit website.  On the ME site there is a free download of a chart that was done by pic2pat.com.  So I went to pic2pat a tried it.  I like what it did.  I want to play around with a few pictures that I have.  It's a lot easier to work with than my PCStitch which I still have no clue how to use
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Busy

This is a busy time of year.  Yesterday my goal was to send off the package that has to go to Australia.  That means I had to write a letter, wrap the gift and find an envelope big enough for it.  Since it is a 13 by 13 calendar, I couldn't find an envelope large enough so I made one out of heavy brown paper.  I hope it gets there okay.  Then the Post Office is a whole other challenge.  Of course there were no forms available to fill out before I got to the window.  I was hoping it wouldn't cost more to send it that we paid for it.  It was close, but it worked out.
Now the next challenge was to see if I could get started on the smocked dress.  I didn't think I could realistically get this done before Christmas so I was just going to go for the birthday instead.  But things went very well.  I got the dress cut out, it is only three pieces: front, back and sleeve.
The fabric is a cute alphabet pattern.

 Then I had to pleat it.  I haven't used my pleater in a while (years?  decades?) so I was rusty with the set up.  I started to pleat and realized that I couldn't roll all the pieces on the dowel at the same time.  So had to cut the threads, pull it out of the machine and try again.  Then I accidentally rerolled the sleeve around one of the rollers.  I was able to get it out without cutting the threads by taking the machine apart.  I am happy to say it is all pleated.

 The next step is to smock.  I started the first row around the neck.  There are only 6 rows so I actually may be able to do this before Christmas.

I just barely started the scissors case for Cabinet of Curiosities.  I am changing the colors as I go along.  It is an interesting new way to work.  No chart to follow.  Sort of like painting with thread.

I got a very interesting book that I ordered in the mail yesterday.  It has a lot of old animal charts in it.  I found it at a good price on Barnes & Noble.  I ordered another book by the same author of flower charts.  I think the books might help me with my casket design.

My goal for today is to see how far I can get on the smocked dress.  Wish me luck!
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I've Been Shopping

I shopped a lot today and I still have more shopping to go.  We are getting packages in the mail.  Mostly things I ordered for Claire.  Amazon sure does send orders quickly.  There are still more things to arrive.  I'm anxiously waiting for my mirror with doors, I'm very excited about that.

I have a finish!  Ta Da!

I finished up Merrily Merrily.  I had some issues with it.  I didn't order the kit (only the instructions) so I used threads that I had on hand.  Luckily I had most of the Gloriana silks it called for.  Unfortunately, all the greens looked alike.  I didn't know what Glissen Gloss was so I bought some DMC gold metallic thread.  I tried using two ply but that was too thick for the 40 count linen.  I couldn't get all the smyrnas in.  So then I took that out and just used one ply, much better.  One of the bunnies has stitches that go the wrong way.  I stitch upper left corner to lower right corner when doing tent stitch.  But the symbol for the tent stitch was "/".  I ended up going the way the symbol went by accident.  You can't tell it though.  I didn't put in my initials.  The designer didn't include an alphabet and I was too lazy to figure it out.  I checked out if I wanted piping around it but piping is too big.  Twisted cording will be fine.  I like the size of this ornament.  Considering that I got the directions last Friday, was gone Saturday, and got it done yesterday, it was a quick stitch.

I traced the scissors keep for this month's Cabinet of Curiosities on waste canvas.  Don't worry if it looks a little sloppy, the waste canvas will be pulled out and not show.  I want to try a little different take after I do it with velvet stitch.   I want to do this project again on linen using the dark thread on the edge and filling in.

I am so bad,  I signed up for the Amy Mitten tutorial that starts next March/April.  I decided that I am staying home next year and not going to so many retreats.  We'll see if I can keep to that promise.
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Ordering

This is the week we are going to get all the Christmas stuff.  Yesterday I placed about 4 different orders.  I love when  packages arrive- even if they aren't for me.  The most fun is choosing things for Claire.  She has so many toys already and gets ones her cousin has outgrown so I'm trying to control myself and not get too many toys.  I ordered the pattern for a smocked dress.  If I don't get it done, I'll give it to her for her birthday.

I am working on the class stuff.  What fun!  I don't have anything to show.  Here is a photo of curio#2:

The bathrooms are clean and I will see Dylan this afternoon.  He really liked playing with Magnetix last week.
I put out a couple of trees from Some Assembly Required. They are paper kits that you put together.

 I love their snowflakes too.

No real snowflakes yet.  I'm not complaining though.  It is in the 50's today.  Very warm for this time of year.
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Catching Up

Friday got so busy that I didn't post.  I sent Maryann and Sophie to Norman (Oklahoma that is).

 I was happy with how my little pillow turned out.  I hope they like it.

Then in the afternoon curio#2 was delivered.  It is covered with a sheet until Christmas when I will be able to fill it up.  I found that I did not have room to put everything back into curio#1 so I have a pile of things ready to go into curio#2.
I got the instructions for my Merrily class that I am taking through Shining Needle Society.  I am a rebel.  I am doing everything my way instead of hers.  I didn't stitch a single basting thread.    

I have it about one third done.  I didn't like that the words Merrily, Merrily are not symmetrical so I am changing it up a bit.  Also the stitched sample picture doesn't match the chart.  I hate that.  Okay I know  the designer must have changed her mind between the stitching and the charting of this.  But the photo ought to match the chart if it is to be of any help while you are stitching.

I also picked up a big box of oranges from Florida.  I like to have a small glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.  These oranges should last me for a month.  The oranges benefit the local Junior Symphony and I buy them every year.  They are always delicious.

All day Saturday was spent at a stitching class.  DH and I studied maps and googled and printed maps out and discussed how to get to the class.  It was my first time going to this location.  My directional skills are terrible.  We had a map that was about 15 years out of date.  It really does help to have a paper map to get the whole idea of where you are going.  I did pretty well and only missed one turn.  Because of all our preparation, I was able to recover from my misstep and got there on time. Cheryl asked to follow me one the way home so she could get to the highway.  Brave soul!  I only had one minor detour through a funeral home parking lot before getting where we needed to go.   I had a great fun day.  It is so nice to come home with something finished and I did.  I just love going to stitching classes.  I am honoring the designer's request not to show her things.
Also yesterday I got the next lesson in Cabinet of Curiosities.  We have another project.  It is a scissors case done in velvet stitch.  I haven't done velvet stitch before.  We are working it over waste canvas on satin.  The last project worked on waste canvas over satin turned out pretty well so I think I can do this without any trouble.
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