A Quick Update

Hopefully with another to come either later today or this week.

As many of you know my husband was in a car wreck in my car on Friday March 22. I am so grateful that he is alive and recovering. I thought I'd show you a pic of the car at the tow truck yard that I took last Monday when I went to release it to the insurance company. The sun was wrong and I couldn't see how the pics were coming out. This one shows some of the front damage and you can just get a peek of the air bags that deployed through the windshield.

The Jesus decal was put on just 3 days before the accident and though you can't tell from this pic, in another it is remarkably untouched. DH jokes he will put another on as soon as we have a car. We are waiting to find out today if it will be repaired or totaled. I pray they can repair it as it is paid for and I doubt I'd get anything in as good repair as this one. My poor sub-compact.

I'm not going to post the other pics, but thought I should say something and not just ignore the incident.
I normally try to only post projects and hopefully positive things and I count this one as a positive thing in that my husband wasn't killed or crippled etc.

Believe it or not, there have been other things going on. Dealing with still being unemployed, sewing the Taffy Blouse and having my faithful sewing machine (A gift from my mother 26-28 years ago.) begin to die right in the middle of it. My Memory Craft 6000 has always been there and I posted on Facebook that I was grieving for it, which is true. There has even been a little stitching!
I plan to get some pics on here and show you all of that very soon. I want to return to my regular stitching and sewing posts and not have any other drama to report!
Meanwhile, thank you to everyone who has been kind and offered prayers and words of support this week.

I hope you are all having Happy Stitching and enjoyed your Easter.

Stitching, Sewing, Resume-ing?

I had my last severance check last week, but have applied for a few jobs I'd really like this week, and so life goes on. One I'd love to have has called for two phone interviews and said they'd like to do a third this week. Alas it is Thursday and I haven't heard from them.

And so, in between putting in apps and submitting resume's (oh, and that lovely crack that appeared in the living room ceiling and had to be taken care of pronto) what other fun stuff have I been doing?
I found my camera. It was right in front of me! LOL. So typical.

I did finish my kitchen piece, as I told you in my last post. Hopefully this will be the first of either 3 or 4. Or who knows, maybe 5? I couldn't seem to get a good picture but this one will give you the idea.

 I had originally planned to make a hanging of them, with a pretty quilted border, but then got the idea I'd like to frame them. Unfortunately I didn't leave more than an inch and a half at the top because I thought I'd be making that hanging, so probably not enough space to frame prettily. Still, thrilled to bits to have finished the first one.

Now my embarrassing little bit of progress on the HAED Bulletin Board SAL.

The picture says it all I'm afraid.
My stitchy bug isn't gone, but wanders for days at a time only to return briefly.

I also stitched on my tablecloth a bit but completely forgot to take pics of that.

As to sewing, well, my sewing room isn't heated, so when it is warm enough I go in there to play-er-sew.
I absolutely have to show you a pic of my back vent. This is the same skirt I made before, only altered a bit at the waist. I love the fabric, which doesn't show true color in this pic your about to see. It is one of those really fine quilting cottons that are so difficult to find anymore, and that I can't normally afford. There were only a few yards of it on the sale table at, I believe, 80% off. I bought what there was and was able to squeak out this skirt. Here is the pic of the vent. I'm pleased with how well that came out, as my last one looked a little off.

The waist came out a little too large. I think I over compensated. The colors are much more rich and wonderful than what is showing here. This is Simplicity 2154, a great retro pattern, but the skirt is more of an A-line than the pencil skirt it looks like on the pattern cover photo, so be warned. The waistband is hand stitched and I hem-stitched the hem by hand as well. Who says I'm not stitching?

And lastly, a little glimpse of my next two sewing projects when the weather warms up again. Well, of the fabric anyway.

Not really true to color again. It is hard to get a good photo without the natural light. It gives you an idea though. The print is a lovely soft rayon and I am thinking of making the blouse from Colette's
Sewing Handbook with it. BTW, the book is less if you buy it from somewhere like B&N or Amazon. There are 5 patterns included in it.

Naturally that led me to think I should try the skirt from the book, with the pretty little scallops, out of the yummy linen/poly/rayon blend. They go together perfectly! And while that was unplanned they would also make a darling Easter outfit. I haven't had a new outfit or dress for Easter in years. But only if it warms up enough to get in there and work on it.

And that is about all for now.

Happy stitching my friends.

Short and Sweet

With more to come soon.

I've misplaced my camera and have to find it before I can do a proper update.

I've been stitching a little, but nothing outstanding. I finished my first kitchen piece!, and started my table cloth and taken a few stitches on one of the little kits from the stash I got earlier this year. I've put in a few stitches on the HAED Bulletin Board SAL, but nothing like what I had planned. Sewing and important life stuff has thrown me off my stitching for most of the month.

I've made 2 skirts and a shell top to go with them. There is a whole story behind that simple little shell. I've sewn endless blind hem stitches between the two skirts, (one on the bias, yuck) and as much on the shell since I hand hemmed it and then went back and blind hemmed all of the facings down.

Photo's of all soon with any luck.

And my big splurge this year (okay, it is me and it was 40 percent off plus my discount card), was this Ottlite with magnifier.

Fortunately I don't actually need the magnifier yet, but these things are supposed to last for years and I'm looking ahead to the future. I am not 100% satisfied with it. Apparently there is no way this model is able to hold itself up if you have both the magnifier and lamp leaned over a bit. It very slowly nods down and you have to prop it. For lamp only I can lean the magnifier back the other way and it acts as a balance and the lamp stays perfectly in place. Other than that it is perfect in every way. I decided not to return it (as I thought about doing shortly after I opened the box) after reading multiple reviews that it always does this on every one of this particular model and reading how satisfied others were with it even with this flaw. There is no way, I've read, to tighten it enough to make work properly without stripping it. Having worked with it for over two weeks now I can tell you that I'm happy I kept it and have already gotten used to the lamps one peculiarity.

I'm reading a ton of stuff lately and beginning to wonder if I don't want to possibly make all five garments from the Collette Sewing Handbook. It would be a sort of adventure. Especially since I'd have to alter the bottom halves of anything I made due to being one size larger from the waist down than I am on top. The book is wonderfully clear by the way. Basic pattern altering is described but if you need more there is always Sewing with Nancy's Pattern Fitting with Confidence, which would cover just about anything else you would need. Love both those books.

I've be reading a lot of fiction, or rather re-reading, from The Da Vinci Code (did this guy ever check his facts?)  to Jurassic Park. Also re-reading Elizabeth George's inspirational books. I have 4 or 5 of those and love them. At the moment I am reading her Putting on a Gentle and Quiet Spirit for the first time. Also reading a different sort of sewing book, mostly about knits, called Improv Sewing. Not sure about this one, mostly about knits and a lot of the projects can be found on the internet for free. I haven't given it a thorough read yet though, so I'm withholding judgement on it until I have.

Ok, enough for a short and sweet. I will get back to you with pics soon.

Happy Stitching everyone!
Karen

One Year Old! Warning, longish post.

Today is the first anniversary of my blog. I can hardly believe it has been a year already. There have been so many changes and so much has happened, and yet it has all flown by so quickly.

Just lately I've been putting off doing a blog post, mostly because I am embarrassed. Not because I'm not stitching or doing projects so much as because I've been very scattered about everything I am doing. My mojo comes and goes seemingly without a pattern.

This past week has been a big one! After not leaving the house for about 6 weeks we had our old truck running. For a few days. Now it has to go back to have the clutch worked on again on Thursday and we will be without transportation again. But meanwhile, Teresa and Molly sent me a surprise last week. I actually didn't get it until early Monday morning, the second HAED RAK glitch in a row. Here is the chart she sent me.

QS Butterfly Two. Isn't it the prettiest thing? I love the colors and now have to decide between it, and QS Blue Butterfly. I swear sometimes Teresa (Or is it Molly?) can read my mind. She actually sent it to me on the day we realized the truck wasn't right and would need more work. I was so down and just knowing I had a surprise coming peaked my interest. I couldn't wait for things to get straightened out so I could see what she had sent me. Thanks so much Teresa.

Also last week I was turned loose in the kits section and told to pick some out. Like, 200 dollars worth. I easily managed to stay way below that number (like way less than half) but here is a pic of what I did get. They were on a great sale.

Of course the daylight bulb is glaring on everything, so I'll describe. There are 2 beginner kits that come with pretty much everything including the hoop! I like the saying on both of these and have already opened one of them so expect to see some of it stitched up here soon. The third cross stitch kit is one I've seen a bunch of times and always meant to get Sleep till your hungry, eat till your sleepy. Love that pup in this one! Next is the Rooster Needlepoint kit. Partly painted canvas, but all of the borders are charted. Then, the one you can't see, which isn't a kit but one of those pre-stamped embroidery tablecloths.  I managed to find a pic.

And yes, I've peeked into it and found I have the colors of floss it calls for, so it will probably be a wip on here before long. I've always wanted one of the tables they show in this pic, so maybe by the time I've finished embroidering this I will have gotten one. Did anyone ever do those pillow slips they sell. I did those when I was younger and they were so much fun.

So other than gathering stash Karen, have you done any actual stitching. Well, yes, but not a lot really. There have been distractions. I made the one seam skirt. No pic, I tested it on some old brown corduroy never expecting to be able to actually wear it, but now I have this wonderfully warm maxi skirt that I've worn 3 times since I made it! I worked on my kitchen piece for the HAEDless SAL.
Progress:

Then the 2012 BB SAL from HAED. Progress:

A little Needlepoint that put me out of stitching for 4 or 5 days because once again I just had to try to go back to using a frame and messed my shoulder and neck up, again. You'd think I'd learn!

That is about all. I'm sure I've left stuff out but will get to it next time as this has gotten long.

Happy stitching my friends, and happy stashing!

New Start(s) and a Little Finish

After last weeks sorting of the books I started a little God Bless from one of them and finished it this morning. Here is a pic. I really enjoyed this quick little stitch. I've no idea what I will make it up into yet but something will come to me.

And in keeping with the sorting, and continuing on, I began on the cross stitch magazines. Not the knitting, crochet, or God help us, the quilting ones. Here is a quick snap I took of some of them. Not all by any means.

These range from the early 80's until 2009. Can't believe it has been that long since I bought a cross stitch magazine, but there you are.

In organizing some other things I came across these two needlepoint kits. I knew they were there but I'd sort of forgotten so I pulled them.

The cushion is wool and the hanging is floss and ribbon and such. I've begun the wool piece, let the DH choose which to start first. It is called Orchid Collage by Dimensions and is probably discontinued given how long ago I bought it.

The hanging, or picture if you prefer, is Cherry Blossom Beauty, The Gold Collection, Dimensions. It is even older (12 to 15 years) and I will have to work it very soon as the painting on the 18 ct. canvas appears to be fading fast.

There are no other kits, my stash is woefully small. There is one kit, that DH bought and never worked, cross stitch, with wolves. It is on black aida. Maybe I will pull that out one of these days. I had to frog a bit of it for him and he just sort of gave it up as he was just a beginner at the time.

And of course there is Frederick, that I got for my anniversary present last year to be worked on. I do enjoy a nice kit from time to time.

Still putting in stitches on the Mystic Garden here and there as I am doing the BB SAL on the HAED BB this week. I also need to work on my kitchen piece that I showed you before, but may wait for the HAEDless SAL for that. Or not. It has been a long time since I found myself enjoying these simpler pieces and I want to go with that.

Happy stitching this week my friends.

Forgetful, as well as being a slow stitcher!

In my last post I completely forgot to show you what I got from the HAED rewards program for finishing QS Dragon Soul. I requested QS Dragon Angel, by Sinz:
Here is a picture:

Love the dragon and the purple and violet really appeal to me. Of course I've no idea when I will start this one. There is a certain butterfly calling my name at the moment, and getting louder.
I just followed the directions on the HAED site and the chart was e-mailed to me super fast. What a great program!

My QS Mystic Garden is coming along slowly, not so much from the confetti, but from the method I'm using to keep up with the chart. It really slows me down. The pattern is a pleasure to stitch if you don't might a bit of confetti. Here is an updated pic as of yesterday morning.

I was a little bored last night while I was trying to be quiet while DH took a nap, so I pulled out a scrap piece of fabric and began a God Bless Our Home. Yes, I already have a pretty flowery one I did year ago, but this one is super plain and simple. It comes from the book Season's Remembered, an old Leisure Arts cross stitch book that I don't think I've ever worked out of. Remember I did some book sorting and now I naturally have to look through the stitchy ones to refresh my memory of what is in them. There are several pieces I meant to work and never got around to, so don't be surprised if you see some of the smaller ones popping up on here on my spare pieces of fabric. I'm quite in the mood for pieces I can finish in under a year or two right now. I am also still thinking of ornaments for some reason, so who knows what I will take it into my head to do now that things are all tidy and easy to find?

Here is a pic of my little start.

Until next time, Happy Stitching Dear Friends. 

10 DAYS of 2013

I must say I don't feel I have a lot to show for the first ten days of 2013. Being home, and not having a working car I just feel as if I should have accomplished more somehow. Actually I know I've done quite a lot of things. Books have been rotated and mostly sorted, I just don't have enough room for all of them. Movies and Music put neatly away. Oh, and I learned to make homemade tortillas, something I've been meaning to do for months, and they are wonderful!

 I re-organized my stitching supplies and that has slowed my stitching quite a lot. Also, no printer so I had to figure out how to read and mark the 2013 HAED SAL(I'm doing Mystic Garden) on the little tablet, and that took quite a lot of time. Doing it that way is really slow. Here is my progress on that:

I've also done a bit on Needle Maiden and I think on Mini Soul Mates:

And my little kitchen piece saw a few stitches:

I've done a bit of sewing, or revamping, on my clothes. I'm trying to cut things down as most of what is left of them are too big. So I forgot to take pics of all of that, though there is one of a half slip I decided to make as I need one for the skirts I am altering. Here is a quick snap I took when I had set it aside to do something else.

I still have a hem to put into one skirt and some repairs on the side slit on another to take care of. Plus my old, favorite corduroy jumper which is just huge on me, and I'm hoping to figure out how to take that in enough to be wearable.

Obviously all of this takes place around looking for a new job. It completely freaks me out to not be employed. I think I was prepared for a number of things, but not this.

Anyway, I know everyone is full of new starts and SAL's and I've been enjoying looking at all the new work and the New Year blog posts. I can't wait to see more of them. Also thinking of trying a few new things. I've never made a circle skirt or a one seam skirt and I think there is probably enough in my stash for me to do so. No floss or fabric or anything has been bought since the lay-off thing so everything must either be from my small stash or must wait.

What are y'all looking forward to this year? Planning to try anything new or go back to something you've done in the past? I know many of your SAL's have started, do you have more than one? Two? Any new charts or patterns you just can't resist? Let me know what you are dreaming about doing  this year.

That is about all for today.

Hope you have Happy Stitching Everyone!