Thursday, August 31, 2006

Lunch Project Updated

Below is a picture of my lunch project. I really am excited about it and think it looks very bright and cheerful. Don't know what it will be finished as yet though - would appreciate input. I guess my #1 concern is that it has a date to it. I can, of course, dump the date and just stitch "Feel The Love". Or perhaps write something else instead of the date - would appreciate input on that as well.

Below is my new and official "Storm Project". I really don't know what that means - LOL. The reason I designated it as such is so that I know what to take when I evacuate and not take 4-5 projects because I can't make up my mind which I want to stitch on! Anywho, in case you can't tell what it is, it's Mirabilia's Flower Fairy. I was inspired by my blog friend, Isabelle.

Last, is this cute quiz from Blogthings.

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them!
You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you
You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil
How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

SBQ

gToday's SBQ was suggested by Carolyn and is:
How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them,scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?
There are many ways to share them, I guess. I frame them, I scan/photograph them and upload them to this blog, I upload pics to online groups I belong to, and there are other ways to finish pieces besides framing, such as pillows and different stand ups.
Last week SBQ asked about how we transport our travel projects and I said I would post a picture of this document holder I bought at Target for all of a dollar. Here are the pics:

This is my lunch project. As you can see, this document holder is hard plastic, which is why I like it. I bought 5 of these one day at Target. I haven't seen them since.

This is the same case/document holder closed. They fit so perfectly in my briefcase, I love them!

Boring Non Event

Well, we dodged a bullet! The forecasters were right on the money as far as the track of the storm, even though it turns out that it fizzled out. Ironically, the further west you were, the worse it was and if you live on the beach, like I do, you didn't so much as lose satellite signal all night long. I've had thunderstorms more annoying than this. Good thing, though. I got to watch BB7 and Eureka. Woo Hoo!
Speaking of BB7, I can't believe how stupid Erika is. I really can't stand people who can't think for themselves. First of all, let's talk about ethics. Yes, I know this is a game, and the point is to win. However, I have a problem with Erika saying over and over to Danielle that she would not nominate her, only to do so after all. They have been friends and in an alliance since the beginning, for her to turn her back on her now is a betrayal. Second of all, I can't believe Erika lacks enough IQ points to discern that she's being played by Mike Boogie. She wants to put Will up, but doesn't because Mike protects him. Can't she tell what is going on??? Third, Erika buying the "truce" with Janelle, who has nominated her not once, but TWICE. I guess the only thing I can say about all this is that her stupidity will cause her to leave next week. Talk about clueless.
Anywho, will take pics of projects and post tomorrow.

Monday, August 28, 2006

See you in a few

As most of you might know already, a hurricane watch has been issued for the southern Florida Peninsula. Living on the beach, I expect that mandatory evacuations will be called later today, probably sometime around the 5pm advisory.
I will be going to work this morning as normal, but once I leave work @ 6pm, I will be driving towards a friend house where I plan to weather the storm and drop off supplies, so I may not have time later today or tomorrow to come online and give an update.
By tomorrow morning, the decision will have been made as to whether I will be forced to leave. My good friend doesn't have internet or cable/satellite TV, so even with power, my access to internet might be limited for the next few days. Just know that wherever I am, I am safe. This is hardly my first time. :(

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Another Update

After stitching yesterday during lunch, this is where it is now:




Today's SBQs was suggested by Anna M and is:What do you keep your WIPs and other stitching supplies in when traveling?

I don't travel a whole lot with my WIPs, though I do take them elsewhere quite regularly. Mostly, I use mesh bags, but I bought 5 plastic document holders that were on the $1 part of target about a month ago and they work pretty well. I will take pic and post later. I've also bought vinyl pouches at Big Lots for less than $2 and they've held up quite well.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Lunch Time Update

This is how the lunch time project is going. I figured that, eventually, y'all would want to see a pic of it, so.. here it is!!!


Monday, August 21, 2006

Progress Pic

This is where I am at with The Rose Garden. The initial challenge - by the Sunday Stitching group I belong to - was to dig out our oldest UFO/WIP and work on it for one week. As you can see, I've really gotten excited once again about this project. It really is coming out better than I remembered it and I may just continue focusing on it until it's finished. (Unless somthing distracts me - LOL)

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Weekly SBQ

Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what is it? If not, what do you store your fabric in? How do people store their fabric, especially those small but potentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label it or otherwise know what each piece is?
I just have them all in drawers of a refinished chest which once belonged to one of my sons. No true organizational system. Small, but potentially usable pieces are stacked, one of top of the other, from the biggest to the smallest and placed in one of the drawers. A lot of my fabric still has the original tag attached saying what it is. Whatever isn't labeled, I can pretty much tell what it is.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

New Project Started

I started a new project yesterday. This is now my lunchtime or "travel" project. It is from this month's "Stitch Every Day" series and it is called "Feel the Love Day". I have a picture of it on the sidebar.
Not that I need an excuse to start another design, (and when I saw this for the first time last week, I KNEW that I just HAD TO STITCH it), but The Rose Garden is too big to tote around in its scroll frame, for one. Last Sunday, when I got home from stitching with my friends, it had just started to rain. Here in South Florida we can go from just drops to torrential downpour very quickly. It was a good thing that I had one of those huge ziploc bags in the trunk to cover it.
Secondly, I don't have all the colors that I need to stitch the Rose Garden pulled and together. Basically, I grab the ones I need from my DMC storage boxes and then put them back, so it makes it harder to tote around since I may come across needing to stitch a color that I forgot to pull.
Up until recently, I had been going home for lunch. My office is just 3 miles away. Well, the novelty has worn off and I am tired of it. Moreover, season is about to start and it will soon be impractical to do so. Also, though I really don't want to eat out a lot for lunch (makes one gain weight), I rather spend lunch eating light and stitching to distract myself and just de-stress.
So, for all these reasons (again, not that I needed any) I decided on this small one. I am thinking that I may just reserve lunchtime for this series, which I started purchasing last year when they came out with "Flip Flop Days" (back in July or August) and I have been buying every single one that has come out both before and since, but I have yet to stitch another!
I don't know why a lot of stitchers do this. We sign up for several "monthlies" or for entire series (like L*K's xmas ornaments this year, HIH's "Mother's Wisdom", Bent Creek's "Snappers") yet we seldom, if ever, manage to stitch them all, or use all the fabric we get from "monthlies". What we end up with is a ton of stash!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Best Laid Plans

Sometimes I think it's best not to make ambitious plans for the weekend. One never knows how it will turn out.

Friday night I worked late - 7pm! Got home, went out to eat, and by the time we got back, really too tired to stitch much.

Saturday, after I had read the newspapers (yes, I still get them - but only Fri-Sun) and straightened up some, my dad showed up and we hung out for a while and had lunch. Around 1pm I called my good friend and fellow stitcher, Ruth, because we had agreed on Friday to go to
"Always in Stitches". I had not gone in months - I realized later since March. So, she came over and saw my new beach place for the first time and we took off.

On the drive up, I noticed a bit of trembling of my steering wheel, which I thought had to be something with the tires. When we got to Lake Park, I took a look at the tires, but they all seemed fine. So we shopped. And we shopped. And when it was all said and done, each of us spent around $400. Half of that, I will say, was their monthly "Drab to Fab" and Brenda's monthly Whimzi Christmas ornament that I had signed up for at the beginning of the year and had not picked up since April, each of which are $20 per month. After that, we went to eat. Is there anything better than shop for stash or stitch, and then go out to eat???

At this point, I will say, lest you think I'm an irresponsible flake, that I was in the past month diagnosed with narcolepsy. One of the main problems I was having was feeling overwhelmingly drowsy while driving, so, as it got progressively worse, I drove shorter and shorter distances. I will say more about this some other day, but this is why I hadn't gone by the store to pick up what I had signed up for.

On the drive back, just before the Hillsboro exit to Deerfield Beach, my front right tire blew. We were incredibly lucky that two men stopped in less time than it took us to get out of the car and look at the tire. They changed the tire just as quick as a Nascar race team. I kid you not. We were incredibly blessed.

So, we came back to my place - we got here around 8 or so, and we just sat and talked and I dragged out all my finished pieces I have stashed away, most of which she hadn't seen. Before you knew it, it was 11pm and we callled it a night.

Sunday I had to take care of the tire situation. Went off to Sears where I bought two tires. I had always wanted to buy those tires with the special treads for rain, so that is what I picked. When I went to pick up the car, however, at 12:30pm, it would not start. There was corrosion around the battery terminal and they cleaned it and jumped the car. I wanted a new battery, but they said it wasn't necessary that the battery was now working fine.

Every Sunday afternoon our stitching group meets @ 1pm, so off I went. It was at this point that I finally had time to stitch on "The Rose Garden". We stitched until 7pm and were going to take off to eat. A very established pattern of ours, as you can see, but it got really nasty looking outside and we all decided to head home before it ripped.

Got home and decided that watching BB7 was more important than stitching, and that was followed by The 4400 and The Dead Zone. No more stitching for me .



Friday, August 11, 2006

No Pic Today, Sorry

Last night I went out and, therefore, didn't stitch at all. Shocking, I know. And here you probably thought all I did in my free time was stitch! LOL.
No progress to show, but I do have plans. By the end of this weekend, I hope to have finished all the stitching for this corner, including all the backstiching. If I make good progress, then maybe even stitch the bottom trellis to the other corner.
Got an early call this morning. The caller ID showed it was Nick. I called back and got someone else's voice. Seems Nick left his cell phone somewhere on base at Camp Lejeune and the Sargeant had the presence of mind to look for a number for "Mom".
I hope Nick has his phone by now.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

SBQ and Biblical Plagues


This Weeks SBQ: For those of you who use hand or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?

Well, this is something I have thought about a lot and I haven't been able to come up with anything more convenient to me than to purchase long flat trays intended for flatware in the kitchen section of Target to lay them all down in.

Not the most terribly original way of storing them, but it works for me.

Last night I was visited by the biblical plague of frogs. I had stitched all the pink on the outer parts of the petals of the three flowers next to the big red rose of The Rose Garden, and was starting to stitch the second, deeper pink, when I discovered that it was ALL OFF BY ONE!!!

(Sigh) I guess this is what happens when you stitch and cook at the same time. I will post a picture later, but I can only imagine that I would have been completely finished with the flowers and most of the leaves if I had not had to Rip, Rip, Rip...

Anywho... I thought I would give y'all a peek at how it's coming out - maybe sometime this weekend I will remove from frame and take a picture of the top as well. No promise, but we'll see...

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Progress Pics - Rose Garden


It really is interesting to watch a project progress - especially a large one. Once upon a time, I wasn't able to stitch on the Rose Garden without getting flashbacks to being at the oncologist's office receiving treatments. Now, I am once again falling in love with this piece and I love to see how it is progressing. Below are pics from where I started out at the beginning of the month to last night.

This picture was taken a long time ago, but is where I started out. You can also see it in the Gallery at
www.stitchyfingers.com


This is where I was on Saturday night. I didn't take any pictures on previous days - I really didn't think I had done all that much.

I guess I was wrong!

This was August 5th, 2006



Sunday evening, after a lovely afternoon stitching with my local friends, I had nearly finished the big rose.

I also reached the bottom of the trellis.

It was at this point that I became enthusiastic once again for this piece.



Monday night, I finally finished the rose.
It still needs a lot of back stitching, but you can tell how pretty
it is coming out.
At this point, I find it hard to believe that I ever put this down!
Then, to the right, on the sidebar, you can see where I left off last night.
I was only able to finish the leaves around the big rose, nevertheless, it's a lot of fun to see this pictures that show how work progresses, isn't it?
Hugs to all
Trish

Monday, August 7, 2006

SBQ - Better Late Than Never

Do you have a favorite needlework tool that you like to work with? What is it and why do you like using it?

My Favorite Needlework Tool is the scroll frame. I have many of them and is the best way to stitch large projects, in my opinion. I do not like Q-snaps or any of those tension hoops out there.


I also have a floor stand that I enjoy a lot. I plan to purchase a lap frame stand soon - I just keep forgetting about it.

Other than that, the only other tool I use regularly is the needle threader.


I am nerdier than 98% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

Before & After



I am working on a piece I started in 1995. This is the piece I used to work on when I was sick and going to the oncologist's for treatments. When I got better, I wanted nothing to do with sitting around and cross stitching. Later, when I tried to pick the piece up to stitch, I would get flashbacks to being sick and getting treatments, so I haven't been able to advance much on it.

Sunday, July 31st, my Sunday Stitching group decided that we would dig into our closet for our oldest WIP/WISP/UFO and stitch on it. So, I did. I picked this up on Saturday and was able to stitch on it without a problem, so I brought it to the Sunday Stitching group meeting yesterday. The first picture is when I started stitching and the second is where I ended.


On A Roll!!!

Yet another finish!!!

Saturday, August 5, 2006

Rainy Days in a Sunny City

It's been raining the better part of this week so far.  Not complaining as I LOVE the rain.

Last night I did not feel like stitching at all. Happens sometimes.

Tuesday I went to my LNS to the SAL and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow had come in for me. YAY!!  I am obviously not a StRIPper.  I stitched on the Sampler Gameboard because I hadn't touched it in a month.  Yes, it is ex-rotatio, but it was also the only piece I had packaged and ready to go to take.  I decided to go to the SAL at the last minute.  Had to force myself to go.

Today I will get back to my rotation. Whatever the next project is.

I also scanned current WIPs so I will remember they exist. LOL!!!

 

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Latest Finish


Finished this for a friend who just had a baby a few months ago. Really cute!