It's been over two weeks since my last post. Where has the time gone? I haven't done much stitching, and what I have done is for the Tiny Treasures exchange. So, it looks like I can' t post that one right now.
The holiday went really well. Except for the part where we had to have it at Granny's...but that is a whole 'nother story. Alex got LOTS of stuff. I don't have the pictures yet, but when I do, I'll post them.
Steve got me an electric kettle, Bye Bye Birdie on DVD, and a subscription to The Gift of Stitching online magazine. I'm really looking forward to getting my first issue.
I posted photos of my fabric dyeing experiment earlier. Now, you can see a few skeins of the thread I have done. These were done, just playing around.
My Big Toe Designs
1 Corinthians
Just an FYI. This entry will be a little picture heavy and word light. :D
This is a close up of one of my purple pieces.
One of the purple pieces
Another purple
Another purple LOL
This is probably my favorite piece. It is a dark dark purple. The striping in it reminds me of a tree trunk. It makes me think of a forest.
Dark Purple
Dark Purple
Dark Purple
This is the first piece I did and it is blue. Well, Mom did most of it to show me how to do the rest. The shadow that you see is Mom's cat Domino. He wanted to share my sunlight. Actually he got on to me for "taking" HIS sunlight. :D
Today was spent at a not quite local LNS. My mom and I took a road trip about 2 1/2 hours away to The Dogwood Patch in Hiawassee, GA. They had a little stitch in there and we met a great bunch of ladies. I was able to get a little bit of work done on Bushel. I'm almost all done with the green. The longest part will be the border. I'm hoping to get all of it but that done while I'm down here. Every Friday my mom takes part in a stitch-a-long from 6 pm to midnight. And I'm going to join her tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that I get as much done as I want to.
I also promised that I would post photos of my dye job yesterday. I've only got one piece scanned. The other are really too big for the scanner. The lighting has been horrible, so I haven't borrowed Mom's camera to take a picture. Maybe I'll get photos of the other pieces before I leave.
This is the piece that started out blue and I then put purple over it. The purple really isn't as strong as the scanner is showing it. I already have plans for this piece. It is on the smaller side and I think I am going to send this one out to someone who did me a good turn. All I have to do know is get their snail addy.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
I don't have any pictures yet, but I hope to soon.
I've spent today dyeing my first fabric. :) And to be honest, I am probably way more proud of the pieces than they deserve. LOL
My mom taught me how to do it and I have ended up with a total of six pieces. One of them I REALLY like.
We started out with blue for two pieces, then I added purple to it and dyed two more. I also used that color over the top of one of the blue pieces. I didn't leave it in the dye very long, so there is only a hint of purple it. For the last two pieces I added black to the purple. Those two are my favorites.
Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures either tomorrow or Friday.
I also tried dyeing a couple of skeins of floss. They aren't dry yet, so I am not sure how they are going to look. They are both light in color. I should have left them in the dye for a longer period of time. :( We'll see. :D
Everything else on the vacation front is good except for the weather. Things here are warm, but overcast and rainy. Even had some tornado watches today. And tomorrow is a wind advisory...my favorite. :( Thankfully Mom is going to drive on our road trip. I can't stand driving in the wind. Anything!!! but that.
I thought I would post a quick update on Bushel before I left to visit my mom. I'm hoping to hit the road in about 3 hours. I've got an appointment before I leave town, so that may slow me up a little. :(
I have a small error in counting in the long stem on the left. It's only off one, but it messed up the flower petal. So, I think my first order of business when I get to Atlanta will be to frog the little bit of flower you see on the left hand side.
The stitching is still moving along at a decent rate. I'm not a fast stitcher by any stretch of the imagination. And when you combine that with watching a movie...I think I move quite slow.
The thumb isn't 100% yet, but I'd give it about 90%. I seem to be doing fine holding my qsnaps. No pain and it is getting better, so I must not be hurting it. I know that I will benefit from not working the next 9 days. Vacations are a wonderfully mentally relaxing time...if I get to do it my way. ;)
I don't know why I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have joined Tiny Treasures Exchange Blog. I've never been a member of an exchange blog before and I am really looking forward to this one. :) This exchange blog focuses on finishing smalls like fobs, biscornus, and pinkeeps. I think that this will be perfect for me. It will give me the boost from finishing that I love, plus I get to stitch for someone else on a deadline. That way I will actually finish what I start. (I have a confession to make. I'm a serial starter. Shhh! Don't tell anyone! LOL )
I got a neat little package from Down Sunshine Lane that I think I'll be able to use for some of the exchanges. It was a package of 10 small cuts of fabby for $10. They are all about 5x5. You get your choice of aida or linen. I really like using DSL for my needs. The customer service there is excellent. Any email I've sent them has been answered in less than 24 hours, usually much sooner! They will also help you kit up any pattern they have available. A great service for me since I don't have a LNS. Okay, I'll stop my commercial now. :D
I didn't think I was going to be able to start on Bushel until I got to Atlanta for my vacation. However, I finished Alex's ornament and just couldn't wait to pick it up. I was able to get some done before my thumb just gave out on me. :(
I had to stitch Alex's ornament in hand, and my thumb is killing me from the way I was holding the plastic canvas. Guess I was doing something wrong there. The thumb is still bothering me and I haven't been able to pick up any stitching since. I'm hoping to try today, but I'll be honest. I'm not very hopeful.
Below, you will see the first pictures of my progress. I've actually gotten just a little bit further, but not very much. I am loving stitching with the Vikki Clayton/HDF silk. It just feels yummy! LOL The linen is also a Vikki Clayton/HDF dye piece. And everything is looking so nice together.
I know that there hasn't been much stitching related stuff on here lately. Hopefully, I'll be able to rectify that soon. I haven't been stitch much while I wait for the fabby and floss for my memorial to my granddad to come in. It took 2 1/2 weeks for HDF (Vikki Clayton) to ship, but they were very up front about how much they had sold (oversold) during the sale. I got notice that they shipped yesterday, so now I am on pins and needles waiting for it to get here. It looks like I'll be taking it on vacation with me. His birthday would have been Monday. It was a little hard for me, but Saturday (the first anniversary of his death) will be harder still.
The only stitching things I've been working on are smalls. I've got one scissor fob I've started that had to take a backseat to an ornament. The ornament is for Alex to put on the tree and I don't know if I'm going to get it finished in time :((
I am looking forward to my vacation. I am going to visit my mom outside Atlanta and have some mother/daughter time with her. We were down there in July, but didn't get a lot of alone time together.
Well, I've updated my blog with a more seasonal appropriate theme.
I love the girl in the picture. My hair is almost that color now. :D I think that is part of what drew me to it.
I found the template at Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates, She has some amazing templates to choose from.
Let me know what you think of the updated look.
Your date of conception was on or about 16 June 1977 which was a Thursday.
You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Pisces.
Your Life path number is 1.
Your fortune cookie reads:
Don't ask, don't say. Everything lies in silence.
Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 9.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 8.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 6, 11 & 22.
The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2443576.5.
The golden number for 1978 is 3.
The epact number for 1978 is 21.
The year 1978 was not a leap year.
Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/7/1978 and ending 1/27/1979.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Horse.
Your Native American Zodiac sign is Wolf; your plant is Plantain.
You were born in the Egyptian month of Pachons, the first month of the season of Shomu (Harvest).
Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 1 AdarII 5738.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 2 AdarII 5738.
The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.18.4.12.12 which is
12 baktun 18 katun 4 tun 12 uinal 12 kin
The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Thursday, 29 Rabi'u'l-Avval 1398 (1398-3-29).
The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 26 March 1978.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 30 April 1978.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 8 February 1978.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 14 May 1978.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 21 May 1978.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Monday, 2 October 1978.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Saturday, 22 April 1978.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 7 February 1978.
As of 11/21/2008 7:40:36 PM EST
You are 30 years old.
You are 368 months old.
You are 1,602 weeks old.
You are 11,215 days old.
You are 269,179 hours old.
You are 16,150,780 minutes old.
You are 969,046,836 seconds old.
Celebrities who share your birthday:Bow Wow (1987) Chingy (1980) Emmanuel Lewis (1971) Juliette Binoche (1964) Robin Trower (1945) Bobby Fischer (1943) Raul Julia (1940) Mickey Gilley (1936) Yuri Gagarin (1934) Keely Smith (1932) Irene Papas (1926) Mickey Spillane (1918) Samuel Barber (1910)
Top songs of 1978
Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.3894324853229 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)
Your lucky day is Thursday.
Your lucky number is 3 & 7.
Your ruling planet(s) is Jupiter & Neptune.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Virgo.
Your opposition number(s) is 5.
Today is not one of your lucky days!
There are 108 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 31 candles.
Those 31 candles produce 31 BTUs,
or 7,812 calories of heat (that's only 7.8120 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.54 US ounces of water with that many candles. 
In 1978 there were approximately 3.1 million births in the US.
In 1978 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1978 in the US there were approximately 2,152,662 marriages (10.1%) and 1,036,000 divorces (4.9%)
In 1978 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.
In 1978 the population of Australia was approximately 14,430,830.
In 1978 there were approximately 224,181 births in Australia.
In 1978 in Australia there were approximately 102,958 marriages and 40,608 divorces.
In 1978 in Australia there were approximately 108,425 deaths.
Your birthstone is Aquamarine
The Mystical properties of Aquamarine
Aquamarine is often used to experience love and mercy. It is said to help ease depression and grief.Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Jade, Rock Crystal, Bloodstone
Weeping Willow, the MelancholyBeautiful but full of melancholy, attractive, very empathic, loves anything beautiful and tasteful, loves to travel, dreamer, restless, capricious, honest, can be influenced but is not easy to live with, demanding, good intuition, suffers in love but finds sometimes an anchoring partner.
There are 14 letters in your name.
Those 14 letters total to 54
There are 4 vowels and 10 consonants in your name.
Your number is: 9
The characteristics of #9 are: Humanitarian, giving nature, selflessness, obligations, creative expression.
The expression or destiny for #9:
The expression that you exhibit is represented bythe number 9. Your talents center in humanistic interests and approaches. You like to help others as you were intended to be the 'big brother or big sister' type. You operate best when you follow your feelings and sense of compassion, and allow yourself to be sensitive to the needs of others. You work well with people, and have the potential to inspire. This suggests that you could successfully teach or counsel. Creative ability, imagination and artistic talent (often latent) of the highest order are present in this expression. It's possible that you're not using or developing all of these capabilities at this time. Some of your talents may have been used at an earlier time in your life, and some may still be latent. Be aware of your capabilities, so that you can make use of them at appropriate times.
If you are able to achieve the potential of your natural expression in this life, you are capable of much human understanding and have a lot to give to others. Your personal ambitions are likely to be maintained in a very positive perspective, never losing sight of an interest in people, and a sympathetic, tolerant, broad-minded and compassionate point of view. You are quite idealistic, and disappointed at the lack of perfection in the world. You have a strong awareness of your own feeling as well as those of others. Friendships, affection, and love are extremely important.
Undeveloped or ignored, the negative side of the 9 expression can be very selfish and self-centered. If you do not actively involve yourself with work that benefits others, you may tend to express just the opposite characteristics. It is your role to be very involved with other people and their needs, but it may be difficult for you achieve this role. Aloofness, lack of involvement, and a lack of sensitivity mark the low road of this expression.
Your Soul Urge number is: 3
A Soul Urge number of 3 means:
With the Soul Urge number 3 your desire in life is personal expression, and generally enjoying life to its fullest. You want to participate in an active social life and enjoy a large circle of friends. You want to be in the limelight, expressing your artistic or intellectual talents. Word skills may be your thing; speaking, writing, acting, singing. In a positive sense, the 3 energy is friendly, outgoing and always very social.
You have a decidedly upbeat attitude that is rarely discouraged; a good mental and emotional balance.
The 3 Soul Urge gives intuitive insight, thus, very high creative and inspirational tendencies. The truly outstanding trait shown by the 3 Soul Urge is that of self-expression, regardless of the field of endeavor.
On the negative side, you may at times become too easygoing and too optimistic, tending to scatter forces and accomplish very little. Often, the excessive 3 energy produces non-stop talkers. Everyone has faults, but the 3 soul urge doesn't appreciate having these pointed out.
Your Inner Dream number is: 6
An Inner Dream number of 6 means:
You dream of guiding and fostering the perfect family in the perfect home. You crave the devotion from offspring and a loving spouse. You picture yourself in the center of a successful domestic unit.
There are 6 letters in your name.
Those 6 letters total to 22
There are 3 vowels and 3 consonants in your name.
Your number is: 22
The characteristics of #22 are: The Master Builder, large endeavors, powerful force, a leader.
The expression or destiny for #22:
Your Expression is represented by the master number, 22. The key word for the number 22 is that of master builder. This is a very hard number to fully live up to because it is capable of such great accomplishment. You no doubt will be extremely capable at whatever work you choose to do in life. You are especially equipped to handle large scale undertakings in the material world. Thus, the reference to master builder. The 22 possesses unique qualities and often very unorthodox approaches to problem solving. You are apt to be a very strong leader, and one who is not afraid to lead in new directions. Your perceptions are well beyond the norm.
When the 22 Expression operates within you in a positive vein, you are endowed with the most practical approach, but this practical or material sense is tempered with an awareness of non-material forces. You are very much the idealist, which the material skills to build and develop for the good of mankind. In a positive 22, the inner strength is clearly visible, and if developed, this strength will possess the charisma to attract a following.
If expressed in a negative manner, the 22 may accentuate unorthodox methods to the point of eccentricity. This negative expression can also be very dominating and overbearing.
Your Soul Urge number is: 7
A Soul Urge number of 7 means:
With a number 7 Soul Urge you are very fond of reading, and retreating to periods of being alone and away from the disruptions of the outer world. You like to dream and develop you idealistic understandings, to study and analyze, to gain knowledge and wisdom. You may be too laid back and withdrawn to really succeed in the business world, and you will be much more comfortable in circumstances that are tolerant of your reserve, your analytical approach, and your desire to use your mind rather than your physical being.
You are very timid around people that you don't know very well, so much so at times that casual conversation and social situations can be strained. You tend to repress your emotions to the extend that some people have a good bit of difficult understanding you. You tend to be very selective with friends and you don't easily adapt to new environments or to new people very quickly.
The negative traits of the 7 include becoming too much the introvert and isolated from others.
Your Inner Dream number is: 6
An Inner Dream number of 6 means:
You dream of guiding and fostering the perfect family in the perfect home. You crave the devotion from offspring and a loving spouse. You picture yourself in the center of a successful domestic unit.
Thursday, March 9, 1978
Moon's age (days): 0
I got the Vikki Clayton silks that ordered earlier in the other day. And boy am I glad I did! The colors are just beautiful and they feel so pretty! (Can things "feel pretty"? I think so. ) I bought all of the colors with the word "Dragon" in the title. (I missed one, though)
Well Penny tagged me. :)
The rules:
Find the 6th folder in your photos folder and then the 6th photo in it.
* Pray that you remember the details *
Post it on your blog
Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.
The only problem with this...I don't have 6 folders in my pictures folder. I have my puter set up a little differently. So...I'll pull from my stitching folder. And here it is....
It's been over a week since I've posted anything. Life has been getting in the way lately. I hate it when that happens. LOL I ended up with over 150 blog posts that needed to be read and a mountain of email in my Yahoo groups. Needless to say, they all got deleted. So....if I missed anything important you think I should know...drop me a note to let me know, K?
I have an ornament for an exchange on ILCS that will be overdue by a few days. I've let the people involved know, so that should be alright. It will only be a few days late.
I got my floss in to finish ALQ, but I think that is going to take a backseat for a little bit. I've decided to stitch a memorial to my grandfather. November 29 will mark the one year anniversary of his passing. And the closer I get to it, the harder it is for me. I'm hoping that this will help me deal with it better. I'm doing La-D-Da's Bushel and a Peck. The saying is something that my granddad used to say to me all the time. I'm going to use Vikki Clayton linen and silk to do it. I've already placed my order and now I just have to wait. I don't think that I will get it finished by the end of November, but I take vacation the second week of December. So, if it isn't finished by then, I'll finish it during vacation.
I was needing a new piece to work on. I am waiting for thread for my ALQ and I didn't feel in the mood to pick up any of my other WIPs. They are all BAPs and I just wasn't in the mood to stitch on something so large. So....I looked through my stash to find a weekend piece.
I finally found what I was looking for in a back issue of The Gift of Stitching. In the October 2006 issue is a piece called Sanity?? by Jessica Willis Burr of Six Strand Sweets. I've made pretty good headway on the piece. I wish I could show you a picture of what it should look like when finished, but I was unable to find one. :(
When finished, it will read... " Excuse Me... Have you seen my Sanity?? I lost it somewhere."
I changed the colors to make it my own of course. And to fit what I already had in my stash.
Excuse me is done in GAST Deep Sea. The backstitching is all done in DMC 336 and Sanity is done in DMC 52. The fabric is one that my mom dyed herself (I think). I know it was is a gift package she sent me a couple of years ago. The picture doesn't do the pretty green of it justice.
I'm not quite through with this. I'm still going to put ribbon around the edges to finish my finish. :) It'll be a yellow ribbon very close in color to the yellow in the webs on the fabric. Also, please remember that this is my first flat fold. I will get better, I promise. LOL
Ignore the pins. The glue was still drying.
Side view.
Halloween fabric. I love this fabric on here.
Earlier this month, I was part of an exchange on ILCS. It was the kit in a container exchange. I got a cute Samhain freebie chart and everything to make it. I finished stitching it last night. The pictures really aren't that good. I wish I had a better camera (phone) to take them with. (I think that is what I will ask for for Christmas)
I did make a few changes to the piece. I stitched it with 3 ply DMC and backstitched with 2. The words and web I did in DMC Glow in the Dark thread instead of white. I also changed the lettering a little bit. I just didn't like the way the words were done. I also backstitched the letters using 3 strands instead of 2. Overall, I am happy with the way this has come out.
I am currently in the middle of finishing this piece as a flatfold. It will be my first one. We'll see how it comes out. LOL
I got a wonderful package in the mail today from Danni, a friend on ILCS. She sent me two charts from White Willow Stitching. I had both of them on my wishlist, too. :)
I got 
Blessed Be and
Samhain.
I'm really looking forward to stitching both of them. The Samhain will probably wait until next year, but I'm already planning what to do with the Blessed Be. There are a couple of different fabrics that I would like to use. Here is a sampling of some of my thoughts. Of course the thread color might change depending on which fabric I go with. They are all from Picture This Plus. One thing I really like on their site is they show you how the color looks on Aida, Linen, and Lugana all side by side. I think it really helps in making a decision. It's a pretty even split between Lugana and Linen for me. Let me know which ones you like.
Shadow - Lugana
Monet - Lugana
Loch - Linen
Gothic - Linen
Baroque - Linen
Voodoo - Lugana
Tarnish - Linen
Stellar - Lugana
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