Couple of finishes to post...

I finally added the charms to Lizzie Kate 2002 FlipIts. Here is finished project:


This was a round robin project from 2007/2008. I stitched the final 2 squares (April and May) this past Christmas. I attached all of the charms this past week.

I also finished Blackbird Designs Petites Lettres Rouges this past Thursday.


I really enjoyed stitching this one and it worked up quickly. I dropped both of these off for framing this past Thursday.

No stitching this weekend. I did start Little House Needleworks "Schoolgirl Lessons" this past Thursday night. Nicole sent this to me in February, goodies in my Ho Ho Ho Oranament Exchange package. I started it at a Tune Swinger's Orchestra dance this past Thursday night (I'm a member). I'm more of a helper. Basically, I run the sound board during the dances and I help out percussion in the Latin songs, playing either Maracas or Claves. And will sub for the piano player in rehearsals when needed. Since I'm only playing during the Latin songs, I'm sitting at the sound equipment and have plenty of time to kill, so I took stitching with me. The light isn't great, but I can see enough to stitch (carefully). No stitching Friday night, I worked late and ended up vegging in front of the TV for a bit while getting laundry done, then went to bed. Saturday, I helped out at my LNS (Lazy Daizy) till noon (Sarah was having a sidewalk sale), then had 2 concerts. First concert was the Raleigh Concert Band at 2pm. I'm in the percussion section and have been playing with the band since 1999. Second concert was the Blue Notes Dixieland Jazz Band, playing a wedding rehearsal party (an outdoor pig picking). I'm the banjo player and one of the singers. Yesterday was way too busy. Today is a little more relaxing. I will be going out a little later for a bit. Hopefully later this evening, I'll be home and can put my feet up and stitch.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. Hugs and Happy Stitching.

Jumping on the BBD wagon...

I have stitching photos to share. After not stitching hardly any the first 1/2 of April, I have been stitching the last couple of weeks. First, Fair & Square round 12 squares have been received by both my partner, Carolyn L, and myself, so I can post photos.

Here are the squares I stitched for Carolyn:


I know it wasn't a Halloween round, but from Carolyn's likes and dislikes, she loves Halloween. And when I saw this Lizzie Kate design for Bippity Boppity Boo, I had to stitch it for her.

Here are the squares Carolyn stitched for me:


I love these Calico Crossroads black cat designs. Thank you Carolyn, I love them.

I did stitch a few minutes on Peppermint Twist last week on Monday night, but didn't get a chance to pick it up again last week. What I did do last week, when grabbing moments to surf various cross stitcher blogs, was see several pictures of folks stitching the Blackbird Designs Vacation Sampler. This kept catching my eye over and over, and combine that with the fact that I've been thinking over and over lately, "I really want to start something new", I just had to start it. And, for whatever reason, was in the mood to stitch it with a fall color (rust or orange-red). I started stitching it Saturday afternoon, and continued stitching on it Sunday and last night and here's what it looks like now.



I obviously wasn't going to finish it in time for the BBD Vacation contest, but I still wanted to stitch it. I'm stitching it on 32ct Platinum lugana with Belle Soie Paprika. It really is stitching up quickly, I can't believe how much I've gotten done since starting it 3 days ago. I will continue working on it tonight after getting home from rehearsal. I did make some changes. I wanted the letters and words to line up on the same vertical stitch, so I shifted the letters on the second line to line the right side of the "U" up with the letter above. I'm stitching this for my Mom and needed a "W" for her last name and also added the "W" to the alphabet, and flipped "Y" and "X" so they were in alphabetical order, and moved the numbers down a row to line up with the end of the alphabet. I hope the ladies at BBD don't mind all the changes I made. The word on the 4th line will be "Mother" (I was stitching left to right and that was where the thread on the needle ran out last night). The last line will have "Nancy White", my Mom's name. I haven't decided what to put between "8 9 0" and "Mother", maybe a small blackbird, or a heart, or maybe the years for her birth and death worked over 1, I'll figure that out after everything else is stitched.

Once this is done, I can get back to working on projects that I should be working on.... a Christmas ornament that's theoretically supposed to be done, finished and mailed by April 30th (sorry Karen, I'll be a little late)...... two round robins I need to get stitched and mailed on their way this month (I want to get them done and mailed before leaving on a trip June 5).

Happy Stitching everyone.

The rest of my Arizona photos...

Here is a link to all of my Arizona photos.

Webshots album - 2009 Arizona trip.

Enjoy.

Easter Traditions??

Do any of you have Easter traditions other than attending Easter church service? Do you have an Easter tradition that some might think a little silly? My non-church and maybe silly Easter tradition is watching the movie "The Ten Commandments". It was shown last night on network TV, but with the commercial breaks, was on from 7pm till around 11:45pm (yuck). I bought a DVD copy years ago so I can watch without commercial interruptions. I pretty much watch it every year, sometime during Easter weekend. I started playing it about 30 minutes ago, and am about to move to my comfy sofa with a cold diet soda sitting nearby, and start stitching.

I hope everyone is having a happy and blessed Easter weekend.

Back from vacation....

The first gathering of the GCGC (Grand Canyon Girl's Club) was a wonderful success. It was Ruth that came up with GCGC.

We visited Karen's LNS while there, The Attic. I am very lucky to have a LNS in my town, especially since it's a great LNS. But it's always fun to visit another LNS, and shop of course. Here is a picture of the GCGC at The Attic (left to right - Sharon, Ruth, me, Karen, Michele):


There were many interesting things to see while driving around Phoenix. They have really neat designs in reddish concrete near some bridge overpasses:




Lots of cacti:




Even a man-made cacti (not sure exactly what this is, I was taking picture from the car, so couldn't investigate):


On Friday, we left the Phoenix area and headed north to a beautiful, large cabin. This first shot is from near one of the front doors, looking across the living area (kitchen area to the back):


We took turns taking pictures of the others sitting on the fireplace hearth. Here is my shot of Ruth, Sharon, Michele, and Karen:


On Saturday, we headed to.....


On the way to the Grand Canyon, we passed more beautiful scenery. Here is a picture of a distant mountain I took from the car. Karen told us which mountain this was, I San Francisco something I think:


The Grand Canyon is absolutely beautiful. Words really cannot describe how beautiful it is. If you have never visited, you should plan a trip to see it. Here are a few of the 45-50 photos I took:








Here's a picture I took of my GCGC buddies at the Grand Canyon (notice how cold they appear):


Thanks to the extra jacket Ruth had, I did not freeze. I thought the temperatures were going to be in the 50's and I didn't pack a jacket. After our first few minutes at the Grand Canyon, my arms were getting very cold and I borrowed a jacket. There was still snow on the ground around the cabin and the Grand Canyon. It had snowed on the north side of the Grand Canyon the day before and the very cold wind was blowing from the north.

Feel free to check out pictures posted by the other GCGC members: Ruth, Michele, and Karen. Sharon doesn't have a blog, but we decided we were going to create one for her, so keep checking, Sharon will soon have a blog.

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Hey, how many remember that song.

Later today (yes, it's almost 2:30am and I'm still up), I'm heading to Peoria, AZ. It's a much needed vacation from work. Getting together with fellow cross-stitchers Karen, Ruth, Michele, and Sharon. We are also all bloggers except for Sharon. Maybe we can convince her to create her first blog while on this vacation. We will be stitching, laughing, enjoying some yummy food, and going to visit the Grand Canyon. Updates and pictures will be posted next week.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend.

Ornaments received and my Interview

I am so behind in updating you with my recent stitching retreat details. My apologies. I have been so busy the last several weeks between work and rehearsals, I'm tired by the time I get home. I have barely been stitching either, Monday night stitching at my LNS has been about the only time I've stitched in the last few weeks. I actually have very little planned this coming weekend, other than lots and lots of stitching time, so I promise to post an update from the retreats this weekend. The delay is me getting additional pictures taken of projects and things I bought and getting the photos uploaded.

I would like to share a photo of ornaments and goodies I recently received from my buddy Karen.



Karen and I, and 4 other stitchers, are members of the Ho Ho Ho Ornament Exchange and these were my ornaments from Karen. There's a long story about the flamingo, which if you find our post on the Ho Ho Ho Ornament exchange about our likes and dislikes, you'll get. Karen did a great job and I love both ornaments and the goodies. I love the fabric and am going to be keeping an eye out for a project where I can use that fabric.

Now on to my interview. My friend Ruth has interviewed me. Possibly you've seen this making the stitching blog rounds? The idea is that you ask a blogger a series of questions (of the interviewer's choosing), the blogger posts the answers on their blog, and, offers to interview someone else. So, here are the questions from my interviewer and my answers:

1. If you couldn't stitch, what would you do instead?

I would be spending time quilting and maybe get back into knitting. I have been trying to find time lately to try quilting and have only done a few very simple things. For things other than crafting, I would spend more time reading, practicing music (improving my banjo and drum skills), and get back into photography. About 20 years ago, I took some photography classes and learned how to process the B&W file and print my own photos. I sold my enlarger years ago, but kept my non-digital camears and lenses, and now also have a digital camera. I love what's called Infrared B&W photography and would love to try to capture some Infrared B&W photos. With infrared B&W photos, the blue of the sky will be very dark, white clouds will still be white, green plants (grass, leaves on trees, etc) will be white. You can see some beautiful Infrared B&W photos here. I would like to capture Pilot Mountain, near where I grew up, on a spring or summer afternoon when all the trees are full of green and when the sky is dotted with afternoon clouds. There is also an old cemetery in Raleigh that has huge 80-100 year old oak trees scattered around which I would like to capture in Infrared B&W. I would also spend time with digital photography and learning how to alter/manipulate digital photos with Photo software.

2. What's the perfect accompaniment to stitching (ie. music, tv, gossip,....).... which leads to the question where's your happiest place to stitch.

The happiest place to stitch is when in the company of other stitching buddies (hopefully in a place that has comfy seating). However, for the everyday, normal, stitching, my favorite / happy stitching place is sitting on my sofa at my house. My sofa has recliner built into the right and left spots, so I'm sitting there, feet up, my Ott light shining over my left shoulder, magnet board with pattern sitting on table (or arm of the sofa) to my left, scissors and flosses on the seat cushion to my right, and the TV on (probably playing something I have recorded on the DVR or a movie). The extra special stitching time at home has been when my friend Ruth is visting and she is sitting on the other end of the sofa, stitching along with me.

3. What piece that you've finsihed makes you most proud and why? And did you keep it or was it a gift?

Two projects come to mind. First is a 23rd Psalm piece. It was a Dimensions kit that I started stitching on when I was in High School (maybe a little before HS). The kit had 25 count natural linen (was my 1st linen project), using 3 strands of floss, a few were tweeds of 2 colors. The finished project is the largest I've ever stitched. Back then, I was what I call and on-again / off-again stitcher. I would stitch for a few months and then put it away and not stitch for several months. It was going to be a gift to my parents, a Christmas present, then later, "ok, for their Anniversary", then later, "ok next Christmas". As mentioned, back then, probably for about 10 or 15 years, I stitched in short spells, not stitching more than I stitched. My Mom never got to see it, she passed away in 1997. Not too long after my Mom passed away, I found Cross Stitch Pals and got back into stitching for good. I can't remember how long after that, a year or 2 maybe (I'll have to look at the date on my signature next time I'm at my Dad's), the project was all done except for finishing the border and I decided I was not going to put a stitch into anything else until it was finished. By this time I had been stitching on linen often, on 28ct or 32ct, and returning to the 25ct project felt like I was stitching on a burlap sack. It did get finished and framed, and I gave it to my Dad for Christmas and it hangs in his dining room. I had never stitched anything for my parents and when my Dad saw it, he looked at me and said, "you did this?" I was so proud. The funny thing about the project... when I worked on it those first several years, I had not known (or paid attention) that you should cross all your stitches the same way, so it has stitches crossed both ways. The 2nd project I'm proud of is Ursula Michael design "Families Are Like Quilts" (I think is the design name):



I'm proud of this because it is the fastest I've ever completed a project of this size. I was stitching it along with Sandy from Georgia (who stitches very fast). I stitched practically every night, staying up late, trying to keep up with her. I finished it in less than 2 months, starting it on March 26, 2001 and finishing it on May 21. I love symmetrical quilt blocks, which is another reason why I love this design.

4. If you could take any trip, any where, all expenses paid -- where would you go, for how long, and why?

For an overseas trip, a two week trip to Ireland. I've always wanted to go to Ireland, spend a few days here and there, hopefully travelling over most of the island over the 2 weeks. For North American trip: a trip I found on a website a few years ago for an 8 or 10 day train trip across Canada. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. For later in life, when I've retired, or can take at least have a month long vacation, drive across the US and back, stopping as often as I can, taking my cameras, my laptop (for photo uploading and blog updates), seeing as much as I can.

5. If you had to only make one kind of cake (from your vast pantheon of baking options) from now on, what one would it be?

Would be a choice between my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting or German-chocolate cake with traditional pecan-coconut filling (both home made from scratch). If I could only make one of these from now on, hands down winner -- German-chocolate cake with traditional pecan-coconut filling. Has to be homemade, using Baker's German Chocolate -- nothing store bought or made from a mix comes close in flavor.

Wow, some of my answers were a little long winded, sorry about that.

Now, that I've posted my interview/answers, would anyone like to be next? If you would like to be interviewed by me, post a comment to this post. If there are several volunteers, I'll pick at least 3.