We have a winner!

Bent Creek Freebie-swirlygig
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

But it is not me...I did win the runner up spot though the Queen of the Fluffies award for Stitch Bitch contest. Bonus, as a prize I am receiving a frame from Elizabeth Newlin of Bent Creek to finish this little guy. Thanks to everyone who voted! and congrats to Kristen for her fabulous finish...she won first place.

Swirlygig freebie by Bent Creek, done on 28 count green Linen, I used Dye Is Cast's Pansy for the letters, Waterlilies in Lilac and Krenick 032 with white for the swirls

Side note, I swung by the Bent Creek site since i had not been there in a while...MISTAKE! the photobooth series is adorable and I love this and this but my absolute favorite is this...Must buy yesterday!

Christmas Puppy

Christmas Puppy
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

Another ornament! Here is 2006's Brittercup's Christmas ornament, over one with the called for threads. While I was doing this one my new 2009 JCS ornament mag arrived. and while I do not have the time or patience to do a full review of the mag like the Stitch Bitch , I do have a few thoughts:

• Over all I like this year better than last, there were very few phoned in designs this time.
• Lots of folks are complaining about the new layout...for me, meh, I could care less either way.
• I am happy to see Cindy and David Morrill from The Stitchworks back in the mag. They were my first real local LNS when I lived in Tulsa. While they often get out shined by The Silver Needle and resident artist Just Nan who are across the street, Cindy is one of the sweetest ladies in the industry and I always think of her fondly.
• I do wish they told the designers about moving the recipes. I feel bad everytime I read "I hope you enjoy this recipe!" and it's not there. I would of thought that could of been a quick editorial fix.
• Is it just me or the longer you look at them the more you want to stitch? I bet if I could see them in person I would want to do even more. (My In-laws LNS up in Hyde Park, NY, Deer Hill Farm, usually has most of the ornaments stitched up by some of her customers and on display in the store. My goose would be cooked- and broke- if I lived there).
• First run thru I see 5 I will definitely want to stitch,

1. Angel Stitchen Santa's Buddies...even though there is only one buddy..but he is cute!)
   
2. It's Fine-ally Finished's Mistletoad, which is confusing since it isn't explained.. but I'll just leave off the charm.
   
3. Thistle Thread's Snowglobe...although I have no idea how I will ever justify buying those over priced Tokens and Trifles perforated paper Trinkets thingies
   
4. Courtney Collection's Twitter Blue...which means I'll have to do the red one from last year.
   
5. Cherished stitches' Christmas Joy Needlebook.

Waiting for my mag too...

Brittercup's 2008 Xmas ornament
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

I think that it is unfair that subsribers to the JCS magazine get their issue AFTER the stores do. Does not make me want to renew my subsription. To keep myself happy I have been working on some ornies from the past. This one is last years, Brittercup's Christmas Centerpiece (over one ugh) but it is pretty all done and nice and small.

Journaling done

Yeah believe it or not I finished my journals last night...I tell ya when I want something done, it gets done! One problem i ran into though, as I was listing christmas ornaments i had done and flipping thru my old JCS mags to find the names and designers, I found more that I want to do. How many more you ask? 9. ugh. and this I decide 1 month before the new one is about to come out. HA!

But to tell you the truth I discovered a few things doing my photo journal...one of those things is that i really love doing ornaments and littles much more than the bigger projects. My favorite stitching group ever was when I joined and participated in the Ornament Round Robin back in 2005, where you bought enough fabric and floss for one ornament for your entire group and passed that around with each person stitching their own ornament. I loved that, I got to stitch ones i would of never done on my own due to cost or appearance..but you know what? I love each one of those 6 ornaments. and the 2004 issue is one of my favorites because of it. The group is now defunct (at least no one has posted there to start a group in years!, i was the last to ask about one in '07) , and I regret only being able to do it that one time. I remember Dani was in my group that year. If anyone knows of another group that does this style of round robin let me know.

I think I will be kitting and stitching a few ornaments in the next week or so, maybe even try my hand at a halloween one or two.

Stitching journal

stitching journal
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

This is the fire under my butt right now. I have been rifling thru my flickr account and my blog and getting people to take pictures of stuff I gave them YEARS ago. I found some clearance albums at Borders headed to Ritz photos and BAM stitching journal. Right now I am going on memory and written info from my blog. So I just have the pattern name and when it was done/finished written under the photos. and in gift or exchanges who it was given to. In the future I may include more detail...fabric choices, changes etc. I am up to 2006/7 and am on my 2nd journal.