Tuesdays With Miss Lila

Or Revisiting the Whole Rotation Thing

I'm not much of a rule girl. I follow them because that's what one is supposed to do and it only took one ticket for not wearing a seatbelt to make me buckle up(but it still annoys me that in Florida people on motorcycles can choose not to wear a helmet but me, in a car surrounded by metal, am forced to wear a seatbelt and I don't want to hear all the benefits, I get it but I think helmets should be required on motorcycles if I have to be attached to my car, just sayin'). Anyway, I have started a new rotation that I don't expect to last very long because I'm a rebel at heart but if I can get some time in on each of these projects for a just a little while before breaking my own rules I might see some genuine progress.

Tuesdays are for CHS Miss Lila's House. I have an Aunt Lila and you'll be hearing more about her later on. Yeah, I know you are all on the edge of your seats!

Miss Lila's House

Carriage House Samplings

32ct black linen dyed by moi

DMC

I'm so very ashamed of the stitching you see below:

I have frogged this area four times. I have changed hoops, tried stitching in hand, used a Qsnap. Nothing will make this area look nice. The little X is going funky on me here. I am now referring to this house as the Amityville house. I'm pretty sure I'm going to wake up any morning and find it surrounded by flies. Check out the Amityville Horror movie if you don't know what I'm talking about.

I will admit that this linen is a cheap 32ct that I dyed myself, it's obvious that I got exactly what I paid for. I plan to frog one more time and also switch to DMC that hasn't been bobbined, just in case that is the cause of all my woe. I do love this piece, because as I mentioned I have an Aunt Lila, my Mamaw's oldest sister, so she is technically my great aunt and I loved her a lot.

Has anyone else ever had this problem when stitching 2x2? I can't remember a time when I have struggled this much trying to get the little X to cooperate.

Not Necessarily Blooming

Today I was pondering the messiness of my house, how to weed through the crap, when it dawned on me for a very long time I have not been blooming where I'm planted. I've kind of been spreading crap across my universe much like weeds in a flowerbed.

That thought, that I was the weed instead of the flower in my world, well, it woke me up. I have been thinking a lot recently about changes that need to be made to make the home life better, the bank account more balanced, my body for that matter more balanced and thanks to the on set of perimenupause, something has to be done to be sure that I do not allow the crazy to wrap it's arms around me too tightly. Lately I have felt that a dive into complete and total crazy was no farther away than to step through a doorway.

I guess knowing that the crazy is right there ringing the doorbell is a good thing but with this whole perimenupause thing it comes over me like a rogue wave. One moment I'm calm, doing something completely normal and the next thing I know, I'm in the fetal position in the middle of the living room floor sobbing like there's no tomorrow. I've been having a lot of days where I just want to stick my head in the oven and call it good.

So that's where I've been, how's things in all y'all's worlds?

A R.O.A.K.

The other day I came home from schlepping people here and there and what did I see but a package on my doorstep. I hadn't ordered anything that I could recall, and then I recognised the return address on the package and wondered what in the world this stitching friend had sent me. I opened the package to find what you see pictured below:

I so heart the pink skull and crossbones. The chart is By the Bay's Santa at the Seashore, there's a bright skull and crossbones notebook for making lists of all those projects I never seem to finish and some Sugar & Cream cotton for knitting some handy dandy warshrags. Thank you so much Jeanne! With all you have going on in your life, to think of me, well it just left me verklempt.

Speaking of projects, I did finally manage to finish something:

A Haunting Mermaid

Carriage House Samplings

36ct Flax(I think)

DMC

I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to stitching this piece. I love her and the colors are perfect to hang with my Mairmaid's Song and Sirens of the Sea(also CHS). I will admit to one very sad moment, I had twittered that the piece was finished, only to realize a few hours later that I had forgotten all the background stitching on the three bands. I was devastated. I was so ready to have this DONE. But I finally sucked it up, did a stitching marathon, got to love Peter Jackson for making the Lord of the Rings trilogy the single longest movie marathon in the history of the world.

Remember that pile of letters from a previous post? Well this is what I did with them:

I was inspired by this post:

things I've made: Redecorating my old room

I have always loved the saying, "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" and had planned to buy a sign to hang over the closet door but then I saw Floresita's Feliz and thought what a neat idea. So I spent a day or so tracing and cutting out letters, no fancy Cricut here, then I sewed the letters to the felt and then decided the words "kiss me" needed something so then I did some lips. The ribbon is red with white polka dots. Yeah, it's kind of artsy craftsy even kindergartenish but seeing it makes me smile.

And when I say kindergartenish I'm pretty sure any kindergartener on the planet could have done a better job than me. I hated school projects! Still do!

This reminded me very much of a school project or teacher bulletin board project while I was doing all that cutting.

Know all those jokes about "How to Bath a Cat"?

No kittens were harmed in the taking of these pictures!


How about the dishwasher? I had just emptied the dishwahser when I noticed Mittens and Katie jumping around inside.

Arts & Crafts

Long time no write! How ya'll doing?

Yes, I've been stitching but more about that in a bit. Along with stitching I've been haunting thrift stores for supplies for future projects. On one of those outings I saw this sweet frame. Admittedly I'm not really about the "sweet" or the "precious". I was more about the shape and how it resembled a tombstone. Don't you see the goth potential here?

So I bought it, for like a $1, brought it home and stitched up CHS Phoebe Brown. The frame was way too large for little Phoebe so I ran across a frame at T. J. Maxx and it's just the right size, that would be the needlework piece to your left in the picture below:

The needlework on the right is CHS Hannah Skinner. I can't decide if it can be fit to the frame or if I need to go in search of another frame. There's a close up below:

Yes, I chipped it while trying to make Hannah fit, so it's already in need of a touch up.

Although after seeing what Kim did with her copper paint and antique patina, I'm wondering if this frame might be worthy of a do-over. I think the black paint stain made it more tombstoney, but that verdigris would look all mossy and more graveyard like don't ya think?

Here's a close up of Phoebe. I'm debating aging this frame. $4 at T. J. Maxx can't beat that price.

Felt Scrabble tiles? No, I've been playing around with an idea for a banner. Maybe I'll have a finished picture of that later this week. Right now I'm debating to pink or not to pink? With the pinking shears that is.

I have a crazy long list of projects I want to work on and complete and every day my list gets a little longer. I really need some time management skilz because right now I'm making lists more than doing anything productive.


Here's the high schooler:

He was so thrilled to be starting school, can you tell? The spousal unit and I are excited that he didn't burst into flames when the sun touched his skin. He spent his vacation in the Land of XBOX but now that he's gone back to school I worry that the world will be overrun with zombies. I'm 100% sure that his dedication to the Land of XBOX kept us all safe these last eight weeks or so.

What's Up?

Spring is popping up all around me, a little late for North West Florida, usually we're getting this nice weather mid-February but I'm not going to complain. My basil and cilantro are a sprouting a sure sign of spring.

I've been managing a bit of stitching:

Black'd Skie

Primitive Needle

40ct Vintage Pear

Pure Palette Silks

Above you can see my little bit of progress on PN's Black'd Skie. I'm using the Pure Palette Silks and I love them. I'm being completely, totally honest and I am not one that automatically uses silk. I've used some that have left me, oh let's say, underwhelmed, but these Pure Palette Silks are nice to work with, don't shred or fuzz up like some, and have a great shimmer to them. I've only used Cauldron and Envy so far but the experience has been very satisfying and I am not a paid endorser for Pure Palette. This is just my opinion. (I think I read somewhere that bloggers are supposed to let people know if they are a company mouth piece so I'm letting you know, I'm not, I am just a user of the aforementioned product.) My Silk N Colours and Pure Palette Swamp Thing were backordered so I'm just taking my time and enjoying the stitching.

Notice the readers? Purchased at the Dollar Tree and they are 1.5 magnification and have rocked my world. I should have bought a pair when I was stitching with the PTP Swamp linen but who knew something this simple could change my whole stitching perception?

A Haunting Mermaid

Carriage House Samplings

32ct linen(not sure what color)

DMC

Above you see my progress on Carriage House Samplings A Haunting Mermaid. I can't believe I waited so long to start this piece. I've had her kitted since the chart was released in 2005 but I got all hung up on whether or not I should do the beaded swag border or just stitch the keys along the top. As you can see, I finally decided the beaded swag was not in my future so I went in search of pictures on the world wide web to see what I could find and strangely enough I only found one completed Haunting Mermaid and one in progress. Since this is such a cool design I couldn't believe more people haven't stitched it and maybe they have and just aren't on the internet. But I did like the look of the stitched top band so I was very happy to finally put in some first stitches.

Single Crochet Background

Orange cross stitches

Sugar & Cream Cotton

Kenny chart created here(// knitPro web app)

I became a bit obsessed with Tunisian crochet a few weeks ago after seeing this:

Gege Crochet: Mario Party! Part 1- The Whole Enchilada on Craftster

and since I have no afghan hook and no Tunisian crochet skill and I'm trying not to buy anything at the moment I thought I might just try crocheting a foundation fabric using single crochet and then cross stitching over it. I'm not impressed. So I'm going to order a Tunisian Crochet book and couple of hooks and see what magic I can create.

The Frogging of Rachael Holmes:

Rachael Holmes

Heartstring Samplery

32ct linen(dyed by moi)

A potpourri of threads

I decided that my error on Rachael needed to be frogged so I took an hour or two the other day and frogged the vine in this band and started over. I'm hoping that I don't have to frog the flowers but I do believe that's being a little too optimistic.


Busting the Stash Afghan:

Pokey Dots Throw

Red Heart Website

Stash Yarn

http://www.coatsandclark.com/NR/rdonlyres/0A730741-DD4F-4AC3-81D5-19C1A9DE266A

I saw this pattern on the back of the new issue of Crochet Today and decided since I have a ton, a lot, a major big time stash of Red Heart acrylic that I should use it up and this afghan seemed like a good project. I'm using a soft white for the outside round of my squares and I'm happy with the look for now.

Am I the only that thinks if the cross stitch magazines could modern up their covers a bit like Crochet Today they might expand their readership to a younger group of stitchers? Comparing the covers of various knitting/crochet magazines to current issues of cross stitch magazines, the cross stitch magazines seem hopelessly stuck in the 1980s? Is there no way to rock the cover the of a cross stitch magazine?

Opinions? Ideas? Leave it alone and let me stitch already?

Quickie!

Cleaning is kind of awesome. I can't believe I just wrote those words but under a pile of papers and catalogs and magazines on a shelf I found this:

It's my missing Carolina Handley by CHS. I can't remember when I framed her but it was months and months ago and then I got distracted, must have laid her on the shelf and poof, she disappeared until a pile of crap. I'm working hard to change my evil ways of paper piling, stacking, hoarding. I'm getting better about tossing junkmail the minute it enters the house, but the catalogs and magazines, they are my Achille's heel. I've cut way back on the magazines I buy, and stopped all my subscriptions, except Everyday Food but that was a fundraiser for a friend's son, I mean I had to subscribe to something, and I love me some Everyday Food. Best cooking magazine ever. JMHO of course.

Also while cleaning I found a much beloved yet forgotten WIP. Picture tomorrow, it's yucky here at the moment so no good light.

Don't forget to head over to Missy Ann's and check out the 13 Days of Halloween.

Did You All Know

that Kathy Barrick has started a blog? Pop over there and show her the love:

Kathy Barrick

And have you heard that the blogless Siobhan now has a blog?

Notes From Blue Hen Hollow

Siobhan does some absolutely gorgeous stitching. If you don't know her you are missing out!

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow

(click on the picture to make the image bigger)

After you do that go to Carriage House Samplings and show Kathy Barrick-Dieter the love.

How gorgeous are the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow? I want to live there. I want to look upon the open sea waiting for my ship to come in. Whoops, waiting for my love's ship to come in. It'd be nice if it was a ship stocked with gold doubloons.

Updated pics of 13th Colony Bay tomorrow.....I know you're holding your breath in anticipation......

Big Weekend For Cross Stitchers

Market, Market, Market!

This weekend is Market. I'm so excited. I have a wish list of the new designs I have to add to the stash.

I think it goes without saying that all of Kathy Barrick's new designs will eventually end up living at my house. I do have a dilemma. I love, love, love the mermaid stocking, but it's punch needle. This is the first punch needle design to make me even consider going down that road. I do not need one more hobby to get sucked in to. But more thoughts on that in a moment.

More designs that have caught my eye are the new releases from Plum Street Designs. Gameboards are cropping up all over the place and I have to say Dead Man's Chess is a must stitch for me along with her tombstone piece. I'm debating on how to display my tombstone pieces. I've stitched two of Kathy Barrick's, have another ready to go, and was thinking about hanging them all together in my hallway with Village of Hawk Run Hollow in the center since it has that Burial Ground block. Then I think maybe that's too much so maybe I should scatter them through the house for a quirky kind of thing or is it just kind of morbid?

A few more I like are the new Hands to Work designs. My Beloved Tennessee is a must for me since I was born and raised in Memphis. I like Hannah Miller and Education too.

Now back to punch needle, I'm a cross stitcher. I piddle in other crafty areas because I enjoy learning new things, but I have also discovered that that piddling really cuts into my cross stitch time. I try to quilt because I'm too cheap to buy quilts when it seems like I can just make my own. I enjoy handpiecing, it's just all the prep work getting to that point. I'm learning to knit because I believe it to be something that might come in handy one day and I like to make things that are functional. I really enjoy using my knitted wash rags. Seriously. They make me happy and almost make cleaning up the kitchen painless. There's a difference in a handknit wash rag than a terry one. I don't know what it is, but there is. It's not even something I think about but I love my knitted ones. They scrub up messes really well too. So the time spent on those is time well spent, and pleasant and doesn't take too much time from my cross stitch. I'm knitting a scarf. This is my second year on this particular scarf, I've started it over several times because I'm a dork and forgot to check right and wrong side when I was picking it back up. It's the Alien Illusion scarf from Stitch N Bitch. I have two alien faces completed maybe by next winter I'll have a handknit scarf. Fortunately I live in North West Florida so my winter at it's longest is 2 months. Usually runs about 6 weeks. But it's a really cold six weeks. I crochet. I have an afghan I've been working on for my mom's new house since she started having it built. I crocheted it in about a week but am procrastinating on putting it together. It's all Lionbrand Homespun will that even fit through the eye of a yarn needle? But putting it together will take time, time away from cross stitch and I've got a lot of projects to get done doncha know? So now here we are with the whole punch needle issue. I will have to learn punch needle, I will have to purchase punch needles, probably a special punch needle hoop, not to mention punch needle kits on which to practice because we can't just jump into the mermaid stocking, do I really want to do this? Is one design worth crossing over to the darkside? And of course we have the whole issue of, "I really like this punch needle stuff, more, more, more!" Do you know how much that will eat into my crafty time? Kathy Barrick's Tombstone punchneedle piece might be good practice and can hang on my tombstone wall if that's the way I decide to go with those.

I do love Market Weekend. It's like Christmas for stitchers!

Have you all heard about the Goat Lover of Mossy Head, Northwest Florida Daily News
big news around here. Here's another story, Northwest Florida Daily NewsGoat2. Other towns have drugs, murders, we have goat lovers. Got to love the Redneck Riviera.

Strawberry Blonde and Some Critter Cuteness

Can't believe it's already January 31, 2007. Where has this month gone? Time has flown by and I don't have a lot to show for it. Below you can see my progress on CHS Strawberry Blonde. This piece is being stitched on the unknown unevenweave fabric I picked up at JoAnn's. I feel a need to stress that as the large strawberry is looking a bit tomato like. Is it just me or does the unevenweave of the fabric give this a definite tomato shape? I want to stress, this is the fabric not Kathy Barrick's design. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I get more of this strawberry completed and the dark green around the bottom stitched the shape will be a little more strawberry-esque as Kathy intended. Pop over to CHS and check out the way it's supposed to look and you'll see what I'm talking about. I tried to post a pic of the model but Blogger gave me fits, so I counted my blessings I got the pictures posted that I did. I believe this is in her New Designs section.

One of the problems with being cheap innovative is that you don't always know what you're going to get in the way of a finished design. Using weird fabric can cause the design to take on a life and shape of it's own. It does make the whole act of cross stitching a bit more of an adventure than really "knowing" what it's going to look like. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that bad. In my stitching life I'm not usually a risk taker because the few times I've attempted to change something in a design it's been a disaster. I don't have a lot of confidence in my color choices and definitely not in my fabric choices. Once again the shape of the above strawberry is all the fault of the stitcher not the designer. Kathy Barrick is fabulous. I love her stuff and check out her News page when you pop over there and see her Market preview. She rocks!

Sue has been bitten by the CHS bug too. Sue is a wonderful crocheter who has recently been drawn into the cross stitch web. Let's keep encouraging her.

Life is Hard Out There for a Pimp Black Lab

Here is a glimpse into the daily life of our black lab Heidi. Here she's trying to rest, chew on her bone and what does she have to deal with? Miss Polly PrissyPants.

How cute is that face? What you don't see in these pictures? The shredded napkins, paper towels, toilet paper roll, and notebook paper all over the living room floor. The living room looked like Times Square on New Year's Eve after the ball dropped.

Just when Heidi thinks she can grab a quiet moment because Polly has been distracted by chasing her own tail, this happens:

Her couchmate would be Riley. He used to be part of the trio of kittens we called Charles, Nelson and Reilly(really showing my age here, huh?) but we found Charles a home and Nelson, it appears, is a Nelly. So we have Riley. Riley believes that Heidi is his best friend and he loves to cuddle with her. Like Polly he never gives her a moment's peace when she's trying to lay around and take a nap.

Do they blend or what? Where does the dog end and the cat begin?