Grrr

I don't know why blogger ate my pics, but I'm working on getting them back up.

Update: I uploaded the pictures on my gallery so blogger shouldn't eat them anymore. If you are still having problems seeing the pics, you can see them here.

More Pictures

Yesterday, I got my birthday order from SB&B. It had everything except for my Pomegranate GAST. These LHN charts were calling out to me the loudest. If I could spend like crazy, I would probably buy them all. :) For this order, I got:
Dear Diary - Abigail Winslow
Lavender Hill
Thread Gathering Kit
Cappuccino
Frappuccino
Home Sweet Home by CCN
All Heart by Elizabeth's Designs


I also got some piecemaker needles and a black scissor sheath for my Solingens. I also got lots of floss! (More to sort and bag and inventory, but I don't mind.) I got the whole Cottage Colours set, a whole bunch of Crescent Colours, some GAST, a skein of WDW, and two of the new DMC Color Variations.

I am very happy with what I got. The CC floss are soooo pretty!

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Last night, T was craving dessert so I made pumpkin pie. Yes, a few days early for Thanksgiving, but why wait for good dessert when I can have it now? I tried fluting my edges but it wasn't turning out right. I knew all I had to do was pinch the pastry using my thumb and forefingers but it just looked horrible. Finally, I checked how to do it online. I forgot one crucial part. You have to tuck the edges! Thus making the edge two layers of pastry, making it thicker, making it be able to "stand" and pinchable. :) Here are the results:



The fluted edges look so much better than crimping it with a fork. My plating skills needs improvement. Look at that mess! I have to confess that I took two pictures of the slice. The first slice was on a red plate and didn't show off the color of the pie too well, so I sliced a piece for me and used the blue plate. LOL.

This Post Has Lots of Pictures

I admit, I get a bit crazy with the camera. I take pictures of almost everything. This post will have lots and lots of pics. I hope it doesn't take too long to load for you.

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Two nights ago I decided that it was time to really organize my floss. I need a better system. I am supposed to have a complete set of DMC wound up in bobbins and stored in 4 bead boxes. The extra DMC are semi-sorted (1-599, 600-999, etc) and stored in ziplock bags. The special floss (Caron, CC, DD, WDW, etc) are in Floss-A-Way bags and stored in a plastic shoe box. Seems like a decent enough system except that while I was looking through my fabric stash, I found a whole bunch of floss. And while I was looking in the plastic tub where all my finished items hibernate, I saw more floss. I started an inventory system about a year ago in Excel and I know for a fact that it is no longer accurate. And so it began:




I gathered up all the floss I could find. There were bobbins and Floss-A-Way bags of floss from past projects that never got put back in the storage cases. There were used skeins from when I was too lazy to go look for the bobbin that was missing from the case. There were RAKs and purchases of special floss... it was a mess. So I started sorting slowly. There were fewer special floss compared to DMC, so I started there:

Caron Floss

Crescent/Cottage Colours, WDW, GAST

Dinky Dyes, Needle Necessities, etc

Then I tackled the DMC mess:



Once again, I sorted:

DMC Variegated Floss

DMC Color Variations

After that, I went through all the bobbins and put them in the proper case:



Then it was time to sort out the extra bits:


This will make finding something so much easier. I was too tired to finish sorting and I still have this pile left to go through:

The goal is to have all floss (excluding the ones that are set aside for specific projects already) sorted, organized and entered in Excel. I'm hoping I can get it done by the weekend.

Inspiration V 1.1

When I designed and stitched Inspiration a few months ago, I wasn't sure if I was going to frame it or turn it into an ornie. Yesterday I decided to turn it into an ornie. I didn't want to finish it the usual way, so I tried a new technique. I've seen a few ornaments finished this way, but I never read instructions on how to do it. I basically winged this yesterday and I really like how it turned out. It takes longer to finish doing this method, but the results are really worth it.

I finally got an email from SB&B on Thursday that they were shipping my order. Yay! I cannot wait! I am going to try really hard to not start anything yet until I finish an ornie for Ayame and T. Let's see how long I can hold off. ;)

In baby news: Ayame has tried pureed peaches, bananas and pears. The peaches she liked in the beginning, but wasn't too fond of it when I tried to feed her some again. The bananas were not a hit at first, but when I mixed in a little bit of baby rice, she really loved it. The pears with baby rice was also a big hit. I'm glad that she's enjoying the fruit. She really didn't like eating just plain baby rice. Its so much easier to feed her now.

Happy Dance #18

I am definitely on a roll! Here is happy dance #18. It is Emblem of Friendship by Louise Henderson of Cherished Stitches. The design is from the 2006 JCS Ornie issue. I started stitching it yesterday (while "cooking" my fabric) and I finished it today. I was a bit concerned about finishing it as all my other ornies were either square or rectangular. Lo and behold! This was actually very easy to finish! I really must, MUST miter my corners now as it makes finishing so much easier. The project was stitched on 28 count light gray Jobelan using DMC 150, stitched 2 over 2.



Edited to add: Sweet Pea, I added a picture of the back for you. I didn't use cardboard for this ornament. I stitched the two sides together and filled it with polyester batting.

Something New

In the spirit of trying something new, I gave fabric dyeing a shot yesterday. I finished my 2nd cup of French Pressed coffee when I thought, Why not use the grinds to dye fabric? So I warmed up some more water and let the coffee brew. Meanwhile, I cut up some fabric pieces. I poured the brewed coffee in a bowl and dunked my fabric pieces. I let it steep for about 15 minutes before checking on it. It wasn't as dark as I hoped it would be. So I finally looked on line and the site I was reading said to simmer the mix. So everything went into a pot, with the grinds this time and I turned it to low and I left it alone for an hour. Here are the results:


The color really penetrated the fabric well. This photo was taken after I gave the pieces a quick bath in Dawn and cold water to remove the smell. I dyed 2 pieces of 28 count white opalescent Lugana and a piece of 22 count cream Aida. The Aida came out lighter than the Lugana. I think I have to leave it for another 30 minutes or so next time. One thing though... the Aida is still stiff after being boiled and washed!

Anyway, I am quite happy with the results. I will be using these pieces for ornaments. I'm also planning to dye a big piece of the opalescent to stitch Paradigm Lost on.

Ornie Happy Dance

This is now Happy Dance #17 for 2007. I started and finished this today. It's Merry Christmas by Nancy Boyarsky of Glory Bee. I was lucky enough to find the JCS 2003 Ornament issue when I went LNS hopping with Jenn back in May. I stitched the ornie on a piece of 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using DMC 115, GAST Blue Spruce and Toasted Marshmallow. Its a really small ornie and was a very quick stitch.

I'm off to search for an ornie to celebrate Ayame's first Christmas. I'm thinking of something Snowman, but I haven't decided which one yet.

Finishing Happy Dance

I finished TW's Beginner's Whitework Ornie V 3.0 last night. The stitching was completed in 2005 and it lay patiently in a Rubbermaid bin for over 2 years before I finally picked it up yesterday to do the finishing touch. It was stitched on white DMC linen (yuck) using Passion Flower Needle Necessities floss (# 1941).

I think that is it for my unfinished ornies. Now to finish Coffee Menu and then try to stitch a couple more ornies for Christmas. :)

Old HDs Revisited

I was going through my stitching albums last night and realized how the camera and/or scanner just do not do justice to a lot of my stitching. So I decided that every other day or so I will revisit an old HD and try to take a better photograph. I've also been inspired by other bloggers who take angle shots of their work to show of the texture of their stitching. Very artistic indeed!

So here is Butternut Road's Provence Sampler designed by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum.




The top photo shows off the sparklies really well. I "disobeyed" sampler rules and stitched it on 32 count white opalescent Belfast Linen instead of a neutral or antique looking fabric. I stitched it with Caron Waterlilies Monsoon. I think I ended up needing 3 skeins to finish the project. It only took me 2 months to finish it.

I have a whole yard of white opalescent fabric in my stash. I was thinking of stitching Paradigm Lost on it, but I haven't decided on the floss color yet. Any suggestions?

Coffee Menu

As promised here is Coffee Menu by LHN. I am having so much fun with this design. I usually start stitching either from the center of the design or from the top left corner. With this project, I stitched the border first and then I started at the bottom left and I'm working my way up. I made a boo-boo in the project. I counted wrong and had to fudge a bit. The original design only had 2 spaces between the border and the leaves. My version has 3 spaces on all sides. I miscounted somewhere and it was easier to just add the extra stitch here and there rather than frog.

What Happened?

I can't believe its been 2 weeks since my last post. I've been busy with this and that (work and family). Ayame went to the doctor on October 25 to get her shots. Yes, a bit late but we had insurance issues. Anyway, she cried a lot when they gave her the shots (5!!! I'd cry too). She weighed 14 lbs 6 oz (up 5 lbs since the end of July). She is now 25 inches long and her head measures 40 cm. They told me that put her in the 50 percentile (not too big, not too small). She was grumpy for a little bit, but a dose of baby Tylenol helped.

On October 29, my cousins A & D & their mom, Tita V came for a visit. We met up with them for dinner in South Boston. It was fun to see them again. I hadn't seen D or Tita V since 2001 and A I saw during Thanksgiving 2004. Ayame loved the attention! Ayame & I met up withem again on the 31st at Quincy Market and did a little bit of window shopping. I had Ayame in her costume. So cute! She did pretty good that day. She only screamed once. I should have known that would happen. She HAS to eat when everyone else is eating. Other than that, it was great. She didn't mind the subway, she smiled at everyone and even managed to take a nap while on the Baby Bjorn. T then met up with us at the hotel and we headed home.

I'm still working on Coffee Menu by LHN. I just realized that I still don't have a progress pic for it. I'll have one tomorrow, I promise. I've gotten quite a bit done on it. Its a very relaxing piece and I usually work on it while watching TV with T.

Oh! Today I got a wonderful surprise from Tami Lynne. :) She sent me the 2007 JCS Ornie issue. Thanks so much Tami!