New pictures for Chismons

I took some new pictures for Chrismons after I did the yarn wrap on the plastic canvas ones.  I also glued some nice white felt to the back of the cross stitched ones.  Here's the before and after:

It definitely gives it a more finished look on the edges.  I always thought that something was missing.

A bit of finishing up

I put the finishing touches on my needlebook today.  I think it turned out quite nicely.  Here's some pics:

It's a bit bigger than your ordinary everyday needlebook but I think it works just fine.

Framing and Frogs

So, I did indeed finish the stitching portion of the frog:

Now, he just needs to be turned into a needlebook.  I dug out my scrap batting and my pinking shears and the felt and ribbon that I got at Scrap.  I will probably start construction tomorrow.

I would have done it today but my stepson asked me to hem his new khaki pants.  They turned out nicely.  Makes me more confident about hemming his Buckle jeans that need hemming.  My husband let me hole up in the bedroom (too much pins and cutting involved for little ones) and so I watched and episode and a half of BSG.  He hates it so I watch it when he's not around.

The other thing I did today was to finish the edges on my plastic canvas Christmons.  They look 10 times better.  The perforated plastic for cross stitch finishes well but plastic canvas just looks too unfinished unless you run yarn around the edges.  Pictures to follow in the next day or so.

I've also been contemplating some framing.  I found some ones at Scrap the other day that I picked up and I picked up a few more from Goodwill tonight.  Hopefully I can get some of my finished pieces out of the storage tote and onto the wall.

Got this frame for $1 at scrap.  I hope it will do nicely.  I bought the backing board from Hobby Lobby with some stainless steel pins.  I hope it fits.  The frame is plastic so if the back doesn't fit I'm kinda stuck.  I won't be using the glass so hopefully I won't have any problems.

This frame was $3 at Goodwill and had a really freaky picture of Jesus in it.  I tossed the picture and I have a kinda cheap slightly damaged wood frame.  The husband is going to spray paint it white, light pink and light blue and I have the backing board for this as well and it will go in the girls' room.

I bought a few other frames too but they may or may not fit what I have.  I may save them for future endeavors.

Home stretch on the frog...

Yesterday, I did a bit of shopping.  Got some Mill Hill beads for a project I want to work on.  Got some Kreinik for the current project.  That was a wild goose chase.  The pattern says 101 blending filament but there isn't a 101 blending filament.  I went with 001 because it's silver which is what it's supposed to be and 100 was white so that couldn't be right.  Got a few nice frames at Scrap and decided to catalogue my fabric and the stuff I want framed because you can find very nice frames at thrift shops and I'm fairly comfortable at mounting stuff.  I would have taken pictures of them but I can't right now.  Maybe later.

The frog is coming a long.  Here's a fresh pic.  Should be able to finish him today.

More frog

Well, here's how our frog looks today.

I'll let you guess what that red stuff at the bottom is.  It did a bit of backstitching so I could get his feet in the Q snap.  The bottom is a bit trying even in a 6x6.

Mystery Revealed: it's a Frog!

Yes, it's a frog.  But I'm not telling you what he's doing... ;)

Oh, and here's the backing fabric I picked up today:

More on my mystery WIP

I've had quite the weekend.  Saturday, I went to the knitting circle that meets twice a month at the library where I started a project that I'm making for a friend.  So no pictures until it's done.

Then, after I got home, we noticed it was getting warm in the house.  At first, we didn't think anything of it because it was 107 outside and when it gets that hot, the air conditioner is only able to cool things down about 20 degrees so sometimes it's warmer than what we set it to.  So, we went to Wal-Mart to cool off but when we got home, it was even warmer.  Then we noticed that the compressor wasn't working.  We quickly called the landlord but didn't expect to get a response that night.  It was too hot in the house for the girls (91 degrees and here, there is no breeze and it doesn't cool down that much a night, plus this house was not built for air circulation) so we basically spent the night in the Explorer.  We got a call from the maintenance people for our landlord the next morning and then sent their A/C tech out that afternoon and the bad capacitor was fixed in 10 minutes.  We were thankful it was a quick fix and today things are nice and cool in the house.

I did a bunch of cleaning today.  5 loads of laundry.  2 loads of dishes.  Cleaned the bookshelves.

Needless to say, I didn't get much stitching done yesterday, but I did a little today.  Here's what it looks like so far.  The guess I got were good, but sadly not correct.

Now do I have any more guesses?

Guess what I'm making

Here's a picture of the teapots after I finished the August teapot.

I decided to put this on hiatus because I really really need a needlebook to put my new needles in.  So, after searching my patterns, I found the perfect picture.  It was a little larger than I wanted, so I shrunk it by using 18 count Aida instead of the called for 14 ct.  It also means that I have to use a sz 28 needle.  But, I'm not going to tell you what it is.  You're going to have to guess.  So, here's WIP picture number 1:

Any guesses?

5 little teapots

I finished stitching the August teapot today.  It's really starting to come together but I think I will put it aside for a little bit.  I really need a needlecase.  Just not sure what to stitch on it. Pics to come.

Review: Inheritance

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was a little hesitant as I started reading this book.  I like the story of the Inheritance cycle but Paolini is a little ploddy.  I think it's only because he has thought out his world so much that he wants to squeeze it all in.

However, I was pleasantly surprised with the pacing of the book.  I didn't have the urge to break into skimming mode.  It starts with Roran laying siege to a city.  Other events follow including a runin with the priests of Helgrind (who actually worship the Razac), the attack of Dras Leona, a long side mission of Eragon looking for stuff he can use to defeat the king and the final showdown.  He also takes about 100 pages at the end to tie up loose ends which gives the book a nice sense of finality.


View all my reviews

I really need to stay away from Scrap...but I didn't

And I came home with some goodies.

Some natural linen for $1.  Had to remove masking tape from edges but I've put fray check on and there was no discoloration.

Some mags for $.25 each

My husband also likes trains.

And another Mill Hill kit.

I also finished the July teapot today.  Hoping to start the August tonight.  Here's what it looks like so far:

More on the teapots and more questions I stole from Edgar

Here's my current teapot progress.  June is finished and July only has a little more to go before the backstitching.  I plan on finishing it tonight.

In book news, I started reading Inheritance the final installment in the Eragon series.  I have to return it to the library on Saturday so I hope to be done by then.

And now, for more questions I stole of Edgar's blog

1. What other craft forms are you interested it?  Besides counted cross stitch, I also do its close relative needlepoint but only when I have a kit and I dabble with plastic canvas and latch hook.  I also have a crewel kit which I've never done but would like to try.  In non-tapestry arts, I do loom knit and scrapbooking.

2. Have you ever participated in exchanges/SALs? No.  I have two reasons.  1. My budget is tight and I just can't afford the extra for an exchange. 2. Working full time, I could not guarantee that I would finish the items in time.  Now, the time has changed but I may be going back to college this fall so I may lose my extra stitching time.  The money is still an issue as we're living off unemployment and severance right now until my husband finds a job.  I would like to but it probably wouldn't be until next year at the earliest.

3. On an average, how many projects do you finish in a year? It varies.  Looking back to my end of year 2011, I finished 13 items.  In 2010, I finished 8 items.  I'm currently sitting at 12 items for this year plus some Christmons I didn't count.  Now, not all of those finishes were CCS, I have some sewing projects and latch hook in there as well.

4. Who is your favorite supplier of cross stitch fabrics? They closed the local LNS here so I'd have to drive to Dallas or Plano to find one so I generally order online from abcstitch or 123stitch.  I also just discovered Stitch n Frog so I may try them out the next time I need fabric.  However, I'm enjoying Scrap where I got the linen for my teapot project for 50 cents.  Beat that!

5. Do you always change the recommended floss in a pattern or usually stitch the suggested? I stitch the suggested.

6. What is your favorite companion while working on a project? I would like to say my daughters but the truth is they try to run off with my pattern books, my floss, my scissors and my project.  They even got into two boxes of my DMC and "reorganized" it for me.  That was a mess to sort out.  Occasionally, I get to stitch by myself and watch something that I want to watch on tv but that's pretty rare.

7. Do you take your project along when you are on vacation or visiting family?  It depends.  If it's a long car ride, I will try to take something with me.  But if we were flying or something, I would need all my attention on the girls so nothing would get done.

8. Have you worked on beaded projects?  I have done one kit that was entirely beads for some Christmas ornaments.  There were beads in the Fairy Tale Sampler and the Whitework sampler I did and I just finished a Mill Hill Kit.  I don't mind beads but they're a bit tedious with the girls running around.

9. What kinds of finishes have you accomplished? I've done pillows, banners, ornaments, and other miscellaneous kinds.  I only frame small pieces on my own.

10. How many hours of stitching do you get in a week? Well, I used to only get in 4-10 or so but now that I'm not working it's more like 20+

11. How many countries have you visited? I've never actually been outside the U.S.

2 down, 10 to go

I have finished 2 of the 12 teapots:  April and May.

I returned to Scrap....[gulp]

My husband wanted to go for a drive so I said, "let's go to Scrap."  That store will be the death of me.  Here is my haul:

Two sets of patterns of Texas Monthly Minis.  They have the charms needed as well.  I thought they were cute.  And they were $4 for both.

Another Mill Hill Kit.  

Yet another Mill Hill Kit but this one's for my hubby (he likes wine as well as tea)

Some random fabric, felt and white backing for my Christmons

And then I went to Michael's because I noticed that all my sz 24 tapestry needles look pretty gross but they were out so we went to Jo-Ann's.  I don't like the Jo-Ann's here, it's kinda small but I don't like the new brand of stuff that Hobby Lobby carries.

Teapot project

My husband likes tea.  A LOT.  American tea isn't good enough for him, he drinks PG tips.  Any long term follows of my blog may remember this piece:

I stitched it back in 2010 for my husband.  It's seasonal teacups.

Anyway, during my adventures at Scrap, I found this lovely piece of linen for 50 cents:

As you can see, it's got little running thread in it that makes it blocked off, kinda like the bell pull. And the edges have been nicely serged.  When I first saw it, I had an idea.

Enter this book:

It's a great book with a motif for every day of the year.  It also has themed stuff like teapots and wreaths and flowers and birthstone angels and quilt blocks for each month.  You've been the mini samplers out of this a few posts down.

Now, getting back to the tea.  I thought it would be a lovely idea to stitch the teapots on this piece of linen.

Now, I know what you're thinking, there are 16 squares on that piece of linen and only 12 teapots.  I'm going to leave the corners empty and figure out what to stitch there later.

Well, I just finished her tonight

Well, I just had to add some specialty stitches and I'm done with Miss Flora Frog.

Isn't she cute?

Not sure if I'm going to put the pin on her or just have her as something to hang up.

Flora Frog

By popular demand on my Yahoo! group, here's what she looks like right now:

The beads are kinda tedious but I love how it looks.  Mostly done except for some specialty stitches which should be interesting.

Scrap

So, today my hubby and I hit this little store in Denton called "Scrap."

OOH OOH OOH OOH OOH OOH OOH OOH!!!!!!!!!!

It's a teeny tiny shop but packed with bargains.  It's a thrift store for craft stuff.  All of the stuff they sell is donated by people who have extra craft stuff that they don't want.  You know, the stuff you don't want to throw away because it MIGHT be useful some day in the future but you probably will never use.

Here's my killing for today.  The total was $21 with tax.

This tote was $3 and brand new in the bag.  It has a zipper and  a frog (my favorite).
My husband spied it when we came in through the store

I don't know if I'll do the heart patterns but this is a nice set of coasters for $5.

A Frog bead kit for $2.25 with all the beads included.

Some random scraps of fabric I picked up for $1.75 total for all of it.  

A Pooh book for $2.50.  I'm thinking of doing it for the girls.

The companion piece to my "Do Not Meddle" piece for $1.50.

I thought this was just gorgeous and I'm thinking about doing it for the girls' room.
And it was $.50

Not shown is a nice sketch pad that we got for Em and two straw hats for the girls at $.25 a piece.

Speaking of Em, the poor girl has had an inflamed eye for over a week.  We found the cause today--her iris was stuck to her lens!  Ouch!  Fortunately the prescription drops are working wonders.4

Chrismon Catchup

Over the past few days, I've been working on my Chrismons, Christian symbols for your Christmas tree.

For each one, I make one counted cross stitch on perforated plastic and one plastic canvas with yarn as it's larger and easier to see.  The patterns I'm using are from an old leaflet called "Christian Monograms" that I found in my Grandma's stash when I was visiting my aunt in CA (she somehow inherited all of it which isn't fair since she doesn't stitch anymore) and swiped.  I'm changing the color scheme as it was calling for three different shades of yellow floss as "gold hues."  Instead I'm using metallic DMC with black and white.  I think I may do the Noah's Ark in color.  Anyway, here's what I have so far.

Alpha and Omega

Latin Cross

Harp

Fish

Butterfly

I also have this one which doesn't have a plastic canvas counterpart yet.

Calvary Cross