Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: I Quit!

Have you ever just quit a project while in the midst of it? (We're not referring to UFOs here, rather projects that you know that you'll never work on again.) Why? What did you do with it - throw it out, give it away, put it away?

The only project I can remember actually throwing away was a free cover kit of a frog prince. I was relatively new to stitching and had taken it into work to stitch on during my lunch hour. Only problem was, I made a mistake, then sat there trying to unpick it. The threads weren't co-operating at all. They were all caught up at the back and wouldn't unpick. I got nasty and started pulling it then and concertinared the whole fabric up. Disgusted I threw my frog prince project in the bin.

Every other project I started I've still got. I've got loads of UFOs now though ;-)

My first WIP of Above the Clouds by Teresa Wentzler. I'm stitching this on 32 count Reflections fabric. It's actually quite a nice sky blue colour which doesn't show up very well in this picture - the flash has drained all the colour out of it, It is one of Silkweaver's Fabric of the Month special dyes so it hasn't got a name. I'm stitching this for a friend who wanted a picture of a dragon - sucker for punishment ain't I?

Solo the Cat - SBRR (Kiwi Jo's Fabric)

Solo the Cat. Work in Progress Shot 1.

I've been working on this for about 10 days now off and on. This is stitched on Kiwi Jo's 28 Count Blue Joblean fabric for the Stitching Blogger's RR.

The theme of the RR is spring - and while this isn't exactly a spring-like design - it does have a very fresh feel about it - and Solo is froliking in a flower bed. Jo liked the design anyway - so I'm stitching him anyway.

The next mailing date is not until the end of November so I've got over a month to finish him off. I'm sure I'll be finished in plenty of time. He's a really easy stitch. It's also a treat to go back to 28 count over the 32 count I've been working the Mermaid Queen on. 32 count seems so tight compared to this loose as a goose 28 count Joblean.

I've not posted any personal stuff on here for a while - so I guess I'm due.

Had quite a good weekend last week, for the first time in my life I actually went and watched a Rugby Match up at Redruth. I thought I would be bored silly, but I wasn't. It was quite amusing watching a load of men hug one another and then faff about and drop the ball all over the place, occasionally kicking it over the H and over the top of the stadium. The home team won over a team from Barking. I guess I should have been routing for Barking, as this ain't far (globally speaking) from my old stomping grounds back in Kent (Surrey is just the next county over afterall), but what the hell. I didn't really care who won, I just hoped that the players would start a good punch up!

I have to comment about the Gents toilets at Redruth's Rugby Ground. Not that I went in them of course, but they don't have toilets or urinals in the strictest sense. All these old blokes were disappearing behind a wall, and that was the "Gents": just a wall to hide their modesty while they peed into a trough in the ground. How grose! I had to laugh though - I've never seen anything so crude - even that old outside toilet in 'Allo 'Allo offered more shelter!

On Sunday I ventured to the outskirts of Camborne for Sunday Lunch. I had returned to the Old Shire Inn. I feasted there about 7 years ago while I was down in Cornwall for the Eclipse in 1999. Since then, the Shire has haunted my memories by cooking the best Roast Beef I have ever tasted. I have not been back there since then in case the experience was spoiled by a bad meal, but last Sunday's beef was just as good as ever. Whew!

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Speciality Stitches?

What is the most challenging specialty stitch you have ever stitched?

The most difficult piece of work that I've attempted has to be Lavender Spray [left], a hardanger sampler piece that I started working on during the Stitching Retreat that I went to in March. The good part of the retreat was that I was learning new stitches and ways of stitching and I would have never attempted something like this off my own back. It's been a WIP (or UFO) since I got back from the retreat though. Maybe I'll find the time to complete it someday.

I've commenced stitching on Kiwi Jo's Stitching Blogger's RR piece of material. I'm stitching Solo the Cat. The Anchor design featured in Cross Stitcher Magazine in May 2005 [image borrowed from Angel San's Blog - read her whole magazine review].

I loved this cat from the moment I saw him, and this RR seemed like a good opportunity to stitch him. My Stash Buddy Dawn Munday kindly sent me a kit of Solo too, so I've got another Solo design ready to stitch after I've finished him.

I also mailed the Nicole's Cattitudes RR material today. It seems we are finally seeing movement again, the whole RR has been on hold for what seems like six months, allowing a couple of members to catch up. I've had Nicole's fabric all that time, (Ursh gave it to me by hand during our stitching retreat in March, it shows how long the project has been on hold).

It's a bit disappointing really, as I love stitching the Cattitudes, but everyone's drive and enthusiasm seems to have gone out of the project, which has been ongoing since December 2002. If we had stuck to our schedules, the material should have been completed by the end of last year, and now it is still probably going to be yet another year until it is completed. Nicole's fabric is looking really good though, with 10 out of the 12 cats now complete. In a way I'm almost eager to get my fabric back so I can crack on and stitch the missing cats myself - at least I know it will be done then.

Mermaid Stitching is finished... yay! Now just the beading to do. I think I'm going to have a little break from her now though and start working on Kiwi Jo's Spring Themed Stitching Blogger's RR

The Never-Ending Tail

I'm on the bottom fin of the Mermaid Queen's tail now, and despite stitching for about 8 hours on it on Saturday afternoon, I'm still not quite finished with the bloody thing. It was all a solid block of "Y"or DMC 503. Now that I've done that massive block I've just got a little bit of detail to do on the bottom fin and a little bit of seaweed and the stitching will be complete! Yay!

I sat stitching whilst watching Babylon 5 - yes! I've dug that out again to watch from the beginning. Just bought the last box set - I never got around to buying the last season (5) when I bought the others because it was still full price - but I just found that Amazon are discounting it.

The Meme of Truths

I found this on Lorna's Blog. You are supposed to highlight the things that are true about you and then add something at the end.

• I am bisexual.
• I am homosexual.
• I've run away from home.
• I listen to political music.
• I collect comic books.
• I shut others out when I'm sad.
• I open up to others easily.
• I am keeping a secret from the world.
• I watch the news. Sometimes
• I own over 5 rap CDs.
• I own an ipod.
• I own something from Hot Topic. [ehh? what is this]
• I love Disney movies.
• I am a sucker for hair/eyes.
• I don't kill bugs. Only wasps though.
• I curse regularly. Only sometimes and under my breath.
• I have "x"s in my screen name.
• I've slipped out a "lol" in a real conversation.
• I love Spam.
• I bake well.
• I would wear pajamas to school.
• I own something from Abercrombie. [who?]
• I have a job.
• I love Martha Stewart.
• I am in love with someone.
• I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.
• I am self conscious.
• I like to laugh.
• I smoke a pack a day.
• I loved Go Ask Alice. [What is this? ]
• I have cough drops when I'm not sick.
• I can't swallow pills.
• I have many scars.
• I've been out of this country.
• I believe in ghosts.
• I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room.
• I am really ticklish.
• I love chocolate.
• I bite my nails.
• I am comfortable with being me.
• I play computer games/video games when I'm bored.
• Gotten lost in the city.
• Saw a shooting star.
• I have had two serious surgical procedures.
• Gone out in public in my pajamas.
• I have kissed a stranger.
• Hugged a stranger.
• Been in a fist fight with the same sex. [Been in a cat fight though, lots of hairpulling and scratching]
• Been arrested.
• Laughed and had milk/soda come out of your nose.
• Pushed all the buttons on an elevator.
• Made out in an elevator.
• Sworn at my parents.
• Kicked a guy where it hurts.
• Been skydiving.
• Been bungee jumping.
• Broken a bone.
• Played spin the bottle.
• Gotten stitches.
• Drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour.
• Bitten someone.
• Been to Niagara Falls.
• Gotten the chicken pox.
• Crashed into a car.
• Been to Asia.
• Ridden in a taxi.
• Shoplifted.
• Been fired.
• Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back.
• Stole something from my job.
• Gone on a blind date.
• Had a crush on a teacher/coach.
• Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
• Been to Europe.
• Slept with a co-worker.
• Been married.
• Gotten divorced.
• Saw someone dying. [I held my cat Topaz and stroked her while she passed.]
• Driven over 400 miles in one day. [As a passenger yes, but actually driven myself? Maybe 200]
• Been to Canada.
• Been on a plane.
• Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
• Thrown up in a bar.
• Eaten Sushi.
• Been snowboarding.
• Been skiing.
• Been ice skating.
• Met someone in person from the internet.
• Been to a car show.
• Going to or have gone to college.
• Done hard drugs.
• Taken painkillers.
• Met a celebrity.
• I like playing practical jokes.
• Been in a hot air balloon.

And my thing to add to the list:

• Ridden a camel in the Sahara desert.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: What If?

Do you stitch for events like weddings, engagements, or other things that might not last? If you have been unlucky and the two people broke up, what happened to your stitched gift?

Easy one to answer this for me this week, I've stitched a few small presents for friends and family but no wedding or engagement gifts.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Which Way Do You Stitch?

Which way do you stitch (/// and then \\\ or \\\ and then ///)? Can you (or if you haven't done it before, do you think you could) change the way that you stitch temporarily if it is asked of you?

I stitch \\\ /// row by row if I'm doing a big section, or alternatively if it's just odd dotted stitches I stitch both legs one after the other.

I'm not comfortable trying to stitch the other way. When I picked up my Aunt's Elephant project to finish for her I found I had a problem; for I discovered that Jean stitched the opposite way to me, and even though I did try to adapt my style and stitch her way, when I stopped concentrating on it I just fell back into my regular stitching routine and stitched my regular way. When I look at that project now I can tell which part I stitched and which part she stitched because of the difference in the stitching styles. I guess this is a good thing because it's one way that I can remember her.

Stranded in the Scillies

I've just arrived back in the office from an overnighter in the Scilly Isles.

It's been a really fun, but eventful 36 hours, and best of all for the most part it was a work's outing, so it was FREE!

Our journey began yesterday morning at 8:15 with a lift to Lands End airport. The weather was very bad with drizzle, low laying cloud and fog, so the planned jaunt on the mini 8-seater Sky Bus was put on hold because of the weather. In the end we were shuttled back down into Penzance to catch the Scillonian Ferry.

The Scillionian has a very bad reputation, as a luxury cruise liner it certainly aint! In the end though, we didn't really have any choice it was the boat or no outing. Jason and Ray met us at the ferry port and we all boarded the ferry. The motion of the boat wasn't too bad. I thought it was quite funny trying to stay on my feet instead of staggering around like a drunkard. Actually the best place to stand (sitting down turned out to be worse) was right next to the bar so you could hang on to it. Hayley and the girls played cards and got progressively greener until Hayley ran to the loo and spent the majority of the rest of the voyage in there being sick. Linzi joined her too. Ray thought it was very funny to take the mickey out of their misery, until he too succumed and blew chunks too!

We arrived at midday. I think that was the thing that I hated most about the journey, not the journey itself, just the time wasted getting there. Nearly 3 hours to cruise 35 miles. Not for the first time, I really wished that I'd bought my stitching to do, but this was just supposed to be a quick jaunt on a plane followed by a pub crawl around St Mary's so I didn't think I'd have had the time to do any, so I didn't take it with me.

After leaving the port, we went to our respective B&Bs and dropped off our overnight bags, meeting back at a pub called the Bishop and Wolf for lunch. We then went on a mini pub crawl while the heavens opened up outside. When it cleared up we climbed up the top of Garrison Hill to join Phil and Bill who had hired a tennis court for the afternoon. My boss the twat decided to have a go at tennis and proceeded to play a volley all the time whilst talking on his mobile. He actually played better shots while he had it stuck to his ear than after he'd lowered it. Where's the sense in that?



Bored of Tennis, we played a game of Rounders up on the field at the top of the hill. Boys vs Girls. Of course the lads won in the end, but we did manage to draw the first game, which was a bit of a fluke. I didn't help out much in the second game, because I missed the first few rounds while squatting behind a fern having a wee. (Well we had all been drinking).

After Rounders the Girls had to buy the Boys a celebratory round and then the drinking recommenced. At least it wasn't me that was spilling the pints this time:



We were all a bit laggered by the time we sat down to our dinner at 8 in Dibble and Grub. I really enjoyed the food which was very tasty, but some of the lads complained about the lack of carbs, i.e. chips! Typical. Things started to go downhill afterthat. Phil and the twat started throwing Ice Cream around, people got a bit shirty about paying the bill so I left and went and stood outside. For one moment it looked like a fight was going to start kicking off. Ooops. My boss the twat then decided to go for a paddle, while I tried to follow Phil's example by riding a bike that was propped up against a wall outside the restaurant. I promptly fell straight off it again.

We went back to another pub, and things got a bit bleary after that, and about 10:30 I was about to pass out asleep so I went back to my B&B and zonked out. I kept my roommate awake with my snoring - apparently!

The party continued without me in the boss's B&B where they trashed the sitting room, leaving Phil passed out asleep on the floor between two half drunk four pint takeaway jugs of Cider and Lager. He wasn't even staying there! Linzi awoke Phil about 7:15 and made him go back to our B&B. He was there standing on the doorstep at 7:30 calling his roommate Bill to let him in because he didn't have a key.

Breakfast was very nice, and passed without incident, but even Bill couldn't finish his breakfast. We got a rip off skybus taxi (£3 per person) up to St Mary's Aerodrome and proceeded to wait for our flights home. But there wasn't any. The crap weather from yesterday continued, so we sat and waited for 2 hours for news of when we could return.

Eventually the Sky Bus put on an extra helicopter and we boarded this to go home, (but not all of us as there wasn't enough room). So I got to have a helicopter ride. Cool. Despite the weather it was a fun trip, just very loud.



So now, I'm sitting here at work, blogging, because I'm still hung over and can't really do a lot else. I do feel really guilty though because 5 of our party are still in St Mary's waiting for another helicopter back. We thought that they would be on the next 'copter following us. But not so. There is talk of them having to catch the 4:30 Scillonian Ferry back - I hope it doesn't come to that because two of them spewed on the way out there!

September Stitching Goals

It's a few days into the month now - so I guess I'd better post my monthly stitching goal list:

• Complete the stitching on Mermaid Queen. Then I can begin the beading next month.
• Start working on Kiwi Jo's RR once I receive it.
• Complete my Scissor Fob Cat.
• Do more work on Carnivorous Cat.
• Start the "Above the Clouds" kit by Teresa Wentzler that I've had in my stash for a couple of years, as a friend has asked me to Stitch a Dragon for a gift.

Nerd, Geek or Dork Test

Outcast Genius 78 % Nerd, 78% Geek, 65% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius. Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject). Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius. Congratulations! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Hold It!

What do you use to hold your fabric while you stitch? A hoop, a Q-Snap, a scroll frame, something else, or do you stitch in hand? Have you always used just the one thing or have you tried one or more of the others? Which do you like best? Why?

I used to only use wooden hoops to hold my stitching. I got along quite well using these for years, the only time I've ever had any problems using them was when I stitched on really large pieces of material like the Cattitudes RR and then the weight of the fabric became a bit of an issue.

This year however, I bought my first Q-snap frames on the encouragement of Jayne Hall during our Stitching Retreat Weekend in March. I quite like these and the fact that you can dismantle them into sections makes them a bit more portable than large hoops, although I do get some very strange looks from people if I'm assembling my "plumbing" in public prior to stitching in a cafe or something.

My favourite holding device though now, has to be my lowery stand. Which I bought back in April from Jayne's Attic



I like the lowery because it allows me to stitch two handed and thus build up quite a good stitching speed, as well as easily flipping my work over to fasten off threads at the back.

August Stitching Goals - roundup

At the beginning of the month I posted my stitching goals for the month which were:

• Finish stitching on Daffodil's hat and prepare the border ready to post off for the Stitching Blogger's Round Robin on 1st September - Completed!
• Finish the second cat scissor fob and make the fobs up - still not done
• Do more work on Mermaid Queen's bottom half. Hopefully finishing her tail off. - Well, this is as far as I've got as far as progress is concerned, I'm working my way down and I'm looking forward to doing the "Fishtail" section next.

• Do more work on Carnivorous Cat (this isn't a priority though as it's going to be a Christmas present so I've got months to go yet) - Still plodding away at this, realised about 2 weeks ago I made a bit of a boobo and haven't picked it up since.

Cat Buckaroo

Cat Buckaroo is a game played with a sleeping cat. The idea stems back to the old Bucking Bronco game with the plastic horse that was popular when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, hey, they are still probably making it today.

So the cat sits there or sleeps there while you pile things on top of him or her. I played with Jade the other day:


Of course Jade shook all the trash off, but he kept his "crown on". lol

Priscilla, Queen of the Handbag

I watched the movie "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" on Saturday:



For those that haven't heard of it, or seen it it's about 3 drag queens going on a bus tour of Oz.

Almost every boyfriend I've had in the past always refused to watch it - why? I guess they are homophobic.

Why I mention this on here is that that very evening I scored a tranny's handbag in a piece of drunken thievery at 2 am on the back stairs of a nightclub. It had to be done. I don't think he was a real transvestite, just a guy dressed in a blonde curly wig with a red and gold dress on. In fact I know that he wasn't a real tranny is that the fact that he left his handbag behind was that he'd pulled and left the nightclub with another woman.

So.... I'm sitting on the exit stairs waiting to go, and this bag is just sitting there too..... so I took it home with me. lol

Probably the most disturbing thing about it's contents - which I must now post back to him (as I've now inherited his driving licence which he probably needs) was a birthday card stuffed full of Gummy Bears saying have a good night out in drag - Love Vik!

All in all a much better haul than that damn chair leg. ;-)

What Book Are You?

I did another Book Meme this morning on my Reading and Review Blog, which SCI FI author are you - as it turned out I was A C Clarke. So I figured I'd post this one on here instead.

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I'm quite pleased with this, I loved this book as a child, it was the first real series of books that I got into reading aged about 9. How many 9 year olds go out and bought books in the 80s? Well thanks to Narnia I caught the reading bug at a very early age.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Large and Small

What's the largest project you've ever done? What's the smallest?

My largest and most ambitious project is probably the Cattitudes RR which is still only about three quarters complete. The last progress shot I took of it (this was Nicole's fabric) - but most of the fabrics are now at the same stage - is below. We started out in January 2003 with the goal of stitching all 12 cats from the original Margaret Sherry Cattitudes Calender.



The smallest project is ironically probably another Margaret Sherry Cat which I intend to turn into a scissor fob, (which I still need to do - and as I put this on my monthly goal list at the beginning of the month I'd better get this sorted over this coming Bank Holiday weekend).

I guess my other stitching news this week is that I mailed out my Stitching Blogger's Round Robin material to Dawn in the US this week. I hope it arrives safely.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Fabric Care?

How often do you wash your fabric for each project? Do you wait until the very end until to wash it or do you wash it more than once?

I usually wait until I've finished stitching everything before washing the fabric, I do this at the end as it is usually an automatic prelude to framing anyway.

I'm not sure how I'm going to be completing the Mermaid Queen. If she were dirty I would wash the fabric before I attached the beads which is the last step, but I think she's amazingly managed to miss any spills or drips.

The only time I've ever washed a piece of incomplete stitching was when I left it on the table and my soggy and somewhat muddy cat, Jasmine decided to come in an go to sleep on it! That was the Sunflower Girl that I did several years ago - but you'd never know until this day about her little mishap.

Hand Dyed Problem

I moved my q-snap frame on Sunday night so that I start stitching the 4 border areas for the Stitching Blogger's Round Robin. Small problem: the sun has faded the material (my lowery stands next to the window) over the course of 3-4 weeks so now the material that was protected under the frame edges is a different colour from the rest of it. I've got a lilac/pink theme going here. I'm hoping that on exposure to more light during the course of it's stitching journey around the world that the material will all fade to the same colour.

Has anyone else experienced colour fading like this with hand-dyeds?

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Another Framing Question

What do you do with the framed stitching that you keep? Do you hang it up and leave it in one place, never to move it? Or do you have a rotation, where you have one place for stitched pieces and switch them out according to mood or season? Maybe a mixture of both?

Before I moved, all of my stitching, apart from a few pieces that I gave away as gifts were all framed and mounted on the living room wall of my old house. I had nearly filled up one wall by the time I moved (and I had a large lounge). Now that I don't have much space to display them, a lot of those old pieces of work are stored away in a storage box. I still have a few pieces on display in the hallway, including my Aunt's Elephants and the Cats in the Hats RR that I previously did. I also have the Sheila Hudson horse-shoe shaped designs hanging above the stairway so they are on your eye level when you go down the stairs.

I've still got some space to hang a few more framed pieces of work in the hall, of which the Mermaid Queen will certainly feature when she's complete, but after I've run out.... well I'll have to rethink, but I don't really regard my little flat as a permanent home anyway, more a sort of holiday apartment where I sleep. By the time that wall-hanging space becomes and issue I'm sure that I will have moved on again elsewhere.

Stitching Blogger's RR - Leg one Finished

It's my afternoon off and I acutally got to do some stitching for once, and I finished Daffodil. He's the first leg of a 5-person Round Robin that I've joined with other stitching Bloggers. You can see links to the other girl's blogs on the panel on the right.

Daffodil used to be a freebie on the www.kittyandme.com website which houses Pamela Kellogg's designs. But I don't think the free pattern is available now there anymore.

The cat is stitched on Silkweaver's Reflections range of fabric. This one is 28 count Lavender Diamonds.

I've still got to backstitch the borders, but apart from that the fabric is now ready to go off to be stitched for leg two.

Daft in Dawlish

Last week one of my friends from Kent texted me to say that she was down in Devon on holiday. So the next day I jumped on the train to go up and meet her. Despite being the next county over it's still a three hour ride, but I don't mind so much as it gives me a bit of stitching time.

It was great to meet Sue again, she met me at the station and we went back to the camping ground where she was staying with her nephew and some other friends they'd made there.



We went back into town in the afternoon to get a bite of lunch, then ended up walking into this village fete full of charity stalls. Sue started looking through some clothes that were hanging up and found a huge bra. I immediately grabbed it off her and and tried it on over my clothes in full view of the fete. I next added a large pair of knickers! lol



All the people behind the stall were having a good old laugh, but this snooty old woman walked past shaking her head and tutting, so Sue said, "You've got to try before you buy, love!". ;-)

Sue bought the bra in the end. It was only 50p. When we got back to the campsite she snuck around the back of her cousin's caravan and stuck it on her washing line.



We then sat back for Alison to get her washing in! lol Alison did swear when she saw it, but then put it back on the line after trying it out for a hat.



Then it came down to the question of who's bra it really was - which resulted in everyone trying it on for a laugh. My favourite modeller was the welshman who put the bra on and then walked the entire length of the campsite and wore it in the gents.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Hand Dyed Fabric?

Have you hand-dyed your own fabric? Why or why not? Would you like to try to do so?

I've not tried hand-dying fabric, although I do love using it. I don't think I would like to attempt it in fear of what a mess it might turn out to be and when companies like Silkweaver do such good ranges of hand-dyeds why would you want to bother?

What the?

This was the state of the backside of my formerly white jeans this morning.

How did they get like this? I have no idea.
I obviously fell down on the dirty nightclub dance floor and possibly sat in someone's beer?

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Stitching Quirks?

What is your most unique/interesting stitching quirk? (This could be something concerning the way you stitch, how you organize your stash, etc.)

I'm not really sure what this question meant - I mean what is a quirk? A quark is a sub-atomic particle and a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character - but a quirk and what has it got to do with stitching?

After reading a couple of other stitching blogger's answers to this question, then I guess that I do have stitching quirks too.

• I only stitch with DMC - unless the threads are from a kit with other threads supplied.
• Given the choice I nearly always stitch on nothing but silkweaver's reflections fabric now.
• I only stitch with gold plated needles - unless needles are supplied with said aforementioned kit
• I am naughty and knot when I am backstitching, but generally use the loop method to cast on most of the time when I am doing normal stitching.

August Stitching Goals

Since everyone seems to be jumping on the "Monthly Goal" bandwagon - I figured I'd have a goal list too.

• Finish stitching on Daffodil's hat and prepare the border ready to post off for the Stitching Blogger's Round Robin on 1st September.
• Finish the second cat scissor fob and make the fobs up.
• Do more work on Mermaid Queen's bottom half. Hopefully finishing her tail off.
• Do more work on Carnivorous Cat - this isn't a priority though as it's going to be a Christmas present so I've got months to go yet.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Colour Conversions?

Have you ever done a color conversion? If so, what did you think about your results and would you do it again? If not, would you like to try someday?

I've not done a colour conversion yet. Although I do love what other people have done with "Tempest in a Teacup", I stitched in in plain old salmon tones but other people have had great success with other colour selections.

I stitched this over the weekend. It's a tiny Margaret Sherry Cattitude and I'm going to turn him into a scissor fob for my Cheetah Scissors so I don't lose them.

Carnivorous cat

This is Pam Kellogg's "Daffodil"

Mermaid Queen Progress

Best Beach

Well I guess this makes it official....


This article in Today's Daily Express rates St Ives as the best beach in the UK and I live about 20 minutes drive away from it. How cool is that?

Chef!

Received my Lavender Diamonds Reflections fabric from Silkweaver this morning to start stitching the Stitching Bloggers RR. I'll probably start this on Saturday. I don't have any plans during the day on Saturday, but in the evening I'm playing "Chef", by helping out in my boss's restaurant because they are short-staffed.

I went in there last night as well to be shown the ropes while they were quiet during the week. It was fun actually. Nearly sliced my thumb open chopping up the carrots, (didn't draw blood, fortunately lol), burnt some garlic bread and actually enjoyed cleaning down the kitchen and mopping the floor. I was revelling in domestic bliss! lol

I'm actually looking forward to Saturday night. It will be busier so it should be more interesting. Who'd have thought that working for my Twat of a Boss would give me this opportunity to try out one of my ambitions?

I like the idea of playing at "chef" because I wanted to have a go at this after watching Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" on Channel 4. I really wish that I'd been given that kind of opportunity when I was younger, but when I was in my teens and early twenties, I couldn't cook at all! It was only when I had my own kitchen that I had the freedom to make a mess without being moaned at by my Mother that I actually started to enjoy cooking, and learned to experiment and actually became not a bad cook in my own right.

By the end of 8 years living living with Sean, I was a far better cook than him - the memory of his plastic roast potatoes still haunts me to this day - while I learned the knack of getting them perfect every time.

Other stash I acquired this week was a small package from Dawn, my Stitching and Stash Buddy! I sent Dawn a chart of the new Mirabilia Mermaid last month and this month she reciprocated by sending me a kit of the new Anchor cat "Solo" [pictured left] which I fell in love with when he was in Cross Stitcher a few months ago, some Silkweaver Reflections Material (which I also love, and I don't seem to stitch on anything else at the moment!) and a couple of Ozark Sampler threads.

Thanks Dawn

Stupid Test

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Obligation Stitching?

What do you do when you have some sort of obligation stitching to do, but don't want to do it?

I usually don't have this problem because when I get a piece of RR fabric to stitch I usually drop all other stitching in favour of it.... but when I don't want to stitch on it... I tend to port it around with me just about everywhere just in case I get the time to add a stitch or too - at lunchtimes at work, or waiting for a bus or sitting on a train. It usually gets done in the end.

41°!

What a scorcher this weekend has been.

Saturday I spent sitting on the beach stitching the Mermaid Queen. This was a lovely hot day and despite my Lanzarote tan, I still got a little red on my back. As I stitched I pondered whether particular bits of stitching call to be stitched in certain places. Food samplers in the Kitchen, floral displays in the garden. Paradise Island on holiday ;-) The Mermaid Queen certainly deserves to be stitched on the beach, you can just imagine her swishing her way out of the blue Cornish waters towards you on the beach.

Sunday it was even hotter.... and I confess I caved in and sat outside eating my Sunday Lunch under a sun umbrella. I could feel the heat even through the shade. I wandered around Penzance and eventually went into the park for a bit of a doze. Came home and carried on my doze all evening and night long. I slept for over 12 hours!! - the heat sure takes it out of you. I was a little worried about Jade in the evening, I thought he was having problems breathing, but I think he was just panting like a dog to stay cool. Silly bugger was laying on the windowsill in the light of the setting sun though.

I also went to see Madagascar on Sunday morning. The Penzance cinema going population obviously hasn't heard of preview showings, because I was the only one in the cinema apart from another couple who arrived late. Madagascar was good, not as good as Shrek, but a fun film to watch anyway. The penguins made me laugh hijacking the boat. As if!!!

Today it was back to work with the hottest temperatures of all. Everytime I got up out of my seat today my skirt was stuck to my butt with sweat! Gross right? This evening, 7:30 and you'd think it would be cooling down right? I've just checked my inside/outside thermometer: 29° in here and an amazing 41° outside still in the shade.

I just put a bottle of cider in the freezer to cool it down. Will it explode?

Mermaid Queen - WIP 7

My seventh WIP shot of the Queen Mermaid

I finally finished her hair! Yay! That was getting me down because it was very difficult to see on the chart where the hair stitches were opposed to the beads. I'm not attaching the beads and the gemstones until the end.

Bag Envy

I want this bag!

It was a real treat to stitch this yesterday lunchtime. I got quite excited to be able to stitch with more Krenik Braid (blue stitches and gold highlight at the corners). I wonder if the Mermaid will do a purse swap with me? I like her bag and wish I had one myself.

What a Root!

Spuds grow....

I found a bag of new potatoes in my cupboard. They'd been in a nice warm dark space for a few weeks and had started to sprout, this was one of the smallest in the bag - it's smaller than my thumb, but I couldn't believe the size of the sprouting root on it.

lol

London Bombings

And so the news was all good this morning before I left for work the olympic revellers and campaigners congratulating themselves that London gets to host the Olympics in 7 years time....
less than an hour later, the news changes to chaotic and spotty news reporting about the London bombings, with explosions on tubes and buses.

I'm so glad that I live hundreds of miles away from the capital now in sunny Cornwall.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Neater Stitching?

Do you think that you stitch neater on Evenweave than you do on Aida cloth? If so, why?

I much prefer Evenweave to plain boring old Aida. I stitched for the first time on Evenweave during a Christmas Round Robin, I was a little daunted at first, but then took to it like a duck to water.

Overall I think my stitching quality doesn't vary that much between Aida and Evenweave, except where fractionals and other speciality stitches are involved. I hate having to "spear" the centre of the square to try and force a fractional stitch through on aida. Somehow it never quite works out dead center. Now if a project has any fractional stitches - even if it's a kit with aida pre-supplied I will always switch to evenweave out of choice.

Blog Update

Today I've done virtually little stitching. I've been on the computer all day, first of all doing some lessons in Fireworks MX (I've used Fireworks 3 previously, but it's well different) after the lessons I played around and made a really nice logo with Jade's face on it.

Then I got a bee in my bonnet about updating this blog. After a consultation with Angel San - I learned that my web host won't support the MySQL and PHP needed to support more sophisticated blogging programmes so I took another look at redoing my blogger template myself. Thanks to Angel San for a couple of tips.

What do you think?

No Eyes and a Blank Face

The Queen Mermaid now has both hands and a face.



Well she's sort of got a face, but at the moment she of reminds me of those faceless rubber shop window dummies from that recent episode of Dr Who. I can't do her eyes because the chart doesn't say what colour I should be stitching beneath her lashes. How dumb is that? I posted a query this morning on The Mirabilia Ezboard. There's loads of people on there who have finished her so hopefully someone should be able to help.

This is a problem I'm finding with this chart. There's quite a bit of backstitch on it, but the chart designers just missed out the symbol underneath. When I'm stitching, I'm sort of guessing at the symbol that should be underneath the backstitch, but I can't do this for her eyes, are they blue, are they brown? Looking at some of the other finished Queen Mermaids I'm guessing that they are brown, but it should say so on the chart!

I also don't like the way that they've left all those gaps for the treasures either, I just hope the treasures are big enough to fill the gaps so that you can't see the fabric underneath.

Jade and Tickle: they don't usually sit this close.