Should I continue blogging?

 The other night I was reflecting on my blog and why it feels more like a chore than something enjoyable, and I have been debating whether or not I should keep it up. and the reasons for and against kept going around in my head,  I figured I might have a better shot an an answer if i wrote it all down and got some feedback from my followers

 Positive ---I have been blogging since 9/2004, this is my 470th post.  I have 39 "followers", not bad (I have more here than in real life.  I do like sharing my stitching accomplishments with fellow stitcher's who includes those I do not see at my other stitch groups. I admit it, I like to show off when I do something i am proud of. I often go thru a slump in blogging usually coinciding with a slump in stitching. I want to keep my blog so I can do and post exchanges. No one cares how often I post..they can use dashboard to find me when I do post. I shouldn't care and I should do it for myself.

Negative---This is Facebook's fault, since I joined around this time last year I am posting my "life" over there and feel no need to blog regularly.    My blog posts per year have consistently gone down since 2005 (129) 2009 (51) 2010, (21 so far). How low till it is not worth my time? Readers are annoyed I don't post often, and they will unfollow me. My blogging slumps feel longer than they used to.  I do not feel I am getting as much enjoyment out of blogging like i used to. I'll regret dropping my blog if I ever want to do it again.

Hmm... I think that is it.  Anyone have an opinion?  Anyone ditched their blog and then regretted it, or never looked back?

I did stitch an ornament out of the Ornament Preview issue of Just cross Stitch. At first I dismissed it until I figured out it was a picture sentance.  I used the called for DMC, "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" Now I forget who the designer is. Rats,  I don't want to guess.  
Edited: It is Glory Bee


I will be off on vacation soon, and will not be bringing my computer with me. So Ill see you all in about a week .

Slow down I want to get off!!

Well, after I last posted I took off to Pgh to be in a fabulous wedding of my best friend so my days were full of parties, rehearsals, getting hair and nails done, and fighting with the bust of the dress.


Got home, spent some time with my in-laws, did a ton of laundry,went to work to catch up ( I am not teaching but I gave myself a few large projects this summer to do to try to keep my self looking employable, and my resume spiffy), went to my EGA yard sale swap (where I got an almost complete set of the discontinued Six Strand Sweets for $5!), attended a BBQ, Saw Twilight: Eclipse (better than New Moon),  went to the local parade and downtown festival, went to fireworks which WERE NOT enjoyed by all members of this family. Then spent the 4th packing to go to Lake James campground for 3 days and 2 nights and we returned yesterday only to attend another BBQ last night. I am now back to work *ahem* avoiding work by writing this blog. Amongst all this is a dog that cut his leg, opened his stitches 3 times despite the cone, and now runs around scraping our legs with a new cone on his head bigger than he is  (and scaring small children). and we are also having a minor babysitter crisis that has left us without our regular babysitter and scrambling to find another for dates upcoming.

But wait there's more!  This Sat my daughter has been invited to 2 birthday parties at the same time and no i have not bought gifts yet, and did I mention it is my birthday that day too and so soon i will soon be looking at the upperside of the thirties? ugh birthdays should not be acknowledged after 25 or so.

All this is to tell you that i have not been stitching much and have nothing to show :( I will try to remedy this as soon as I have an evening to breathe :)

Needlebooks

As I mentioned i the last post, I stitched up the other Sue Hllis exclusive kit from the 2008 memorial day stitch-in, and made both it and the one from this year into my first needle books:



Of course after i did them I thought I *could* of done a tutorial. But all they are really are flat fold finishes like this, created with the "hinge" on the side instead of at the top. For the inside I did 2 different things, on the red and blue,just a simple folded piece of felt stitched to the spine.  On the pink and green I attached a thread ring and a piece of felt on the other side.  not sure which one i like better:



Back to the WIPs

Whim stitching

I know I have a lot of WIPs in the works, and obligation stitching to do. But after getting back from the stitch-in over Memorial day Weekend I just have project after project yelling at me to stitch them and ignore the others.  First up is a kit I purchased at the stitch-in from Catherine Jordan who had a booth there: the Quaker Necklace.  This is the first time I have worked on 40 ct. (over one at that!) The instructions said to do half stitches over the denser areas, but I did not read that till I was already half way done. So the whole thing is full stitches.  I also changed some of the color choices because there was no blue on the one side and I wanted it to be more colorful and balanced.



and as i mentioned before we got a kit made epecially for us.  Sara was asked to stitch it over one to model it for the stitch in and it looked great...so I stitched on that this past week and will create a needle book out of it too:


This was so easy I pulled out the kit we got 2 years ago and am stitching it over one, that should be done in another few days.
In other news my baby girl is three years old., we had a great birthday party in our backyard this past saturday, the best one so far!


Those of you on blogger, have you noticed all the new design options?  I love so many of them  i may be switching around my blog all the time!

Memorial Day Stitch-in

I am back and it is taking a bit to get into the swing of things.  A. turned 3 on Tuesday and her party is planned for Saturday.  She has been having big tantrums for the past few days. Best case scenario-she missed me, worst case- she has begun the terrible 2s, which would not be a surprise since she has only recently been able to assert her independence. I guess terrible 2s is a bad name for this lovely phase, it should be called the I-want-to-do-everything-on-my-own-but-am-to-small-to phase.  Example, yesterday I asked her to go to the potty before we watched a DVD, she walked into the bathroom and began to take her potty apart and throw it around the bathroom while crying and screaming.  Yeah--I left and made some phone calls till it was over.

But that is totally off subject.  I had a great time at the retreat, 3 of us drove up together to the Marriott in Richmond, and we stitched from friday afternoon until monday morning. There was also great shopping involved. We had a BBQ at Sue's Sat afternoon,  a visit to Cross Stitch Station in Waynesboro, VA where I got some stuff, and a visit Feathernester's for Tea on Sunday.  Cross stitch station was way to small for the 70+ folks who visited so I couldn't get the fabric i wanted. But the other 2 ladies I was with agreed to make a side trip on the way home to Haus Tirol in Williamsburg, VA where they have fabric coming out their ears!

I took my camera but did not take many pictures...I never do it seems.  But here is my purchased haul:


A short list : 3 pairs of scissors (I know!) 2 decorative (squirrel and a witch) and 1 gingher (my first), a lot of fabric, some really nice felt and wool for needlebooks and finishing, Catherine Jordan Designs: Animals rule, and Quaker necklace. Prarie Schooler: Tortoise and the Hare, Tristan Brooks Designs: Elizabethan stitching accessories, Bent Creek: the Littles-Santa, and The Branch-Birdhouse, Olde Colonial Designs: Turtle Needlebook, and Homespun Slegance: Snow much Joy.    I bought 5 of these patterns BECAUSE i saw the models stitched up on site, I know I am preaching to the choir here, but i love shopping in person SOO much better than online.

But Folks that is not all!  Here is the stuff I got for free!:

 and that pic doesn't include stuff I did not want!  Some came from the goodie bag that Sue gave us,  better this year that last time (in 08).   Lots of charts, full kits, and even had the peacock needle minder you can see in the photo by the floss.  The rest I acquired from the swap table, including  several  Crossstitch and Needlework mags which i was very impressed with.   I have let my JCS subscription run out and now just get Sampler and Antique Needlework quarterly, now i may have another to add .  No classes this time, we did get an exclusive kit (pink kit top center) that i will stitch someday ;)

I know you are wondering what I stitched, well I did a tiny bit on Quaker Turtles, but mostly I worked on the Alphabet Blocks that I got halfway done and stalled on about a year ago.  I finished the stitching there and assembled them last night:




here they are with the recipients name in variegated floss, and the other sides (8 blocks total)



I was also able to start the Catherine Jordan necklace (my first over 40 count!), I hope to have that finished within the next 2 days. It is being offered as a class at Stitching Jubilee.   So I should be posting again soon.
Happy Stitching!

Turnaround time 43 hours

Christmas exchange sent
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

So I was up in Pgh this past week to visit family and help/attend my best friends shower. I took A up all by myselfin a car (7-8 hour drive) following some advice from other travelers I left at 3 am and was able to get 6 hours before A was awake enough to be bothered with entertainment (THANK god for DVDs). unfortunately she got carsick about 20 minutes from our destination (my new car may be a bit more nauseating). but we got that cleaned up and our trip back was uneventful thanks to some dramamine. So we got in at noon wed, my mom came down yesterday to wath A for the weekend because I am leaving today for the Sue Hillis' stitch-in in Richmond in 20 minutes.
I will not have my computer but will be tweeting when I can.

the photo is of the christmas exchange that I sent to Natasha (currently I cannot find her blog) It is by Midnight Stitching... a freebie called Moonlight Serenade..I think. Dang I gotta go, I'll correct that later, my mom is asleep in my stitching room so i can't look it up.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Band three of the 17th Century Mystery Sampler

I just finished the 3rd band of our EGA mystery Sampler. Louise took pity on us and gave us an easy one to let everyone catch up. So now I have 2 weeks before the next band to work on my other stitching!  I am heading up to PA for a bridal shower this weekend then turn around and go to the Sue Hillis' Memorial Weekend Retreat in VA so I have lots of time to stitch on more stuff!  Maybe I'll allow myself to start 1 (only one) new thing. 

What the stitch is going on (3 of 3): Our Homemade Play Kitchen

I am posting this separately from my usual stuff because I know there are parents out there who research how to make one of these (cause that was me). Two of my favorites that we used for inspiration are here and here.

I wanted to get A. a play kitchen, and most out there are a) plastic or b) wood and expensive!.  Ian has a pretty big wood shop with some nice equipment so we figured we could alter a set of kitchen cupboards or an entertainment center like the two examples above.  We looked around for a bit but did not find anything that fit the bill.  Than one day i came home from work and Ian had started one from scrap-wood:




It slowly progressed, Ian found a wire shelf from target that he cut into many small shelves:



I went around to Habitat for Humanity and get the faucet, hinges, and handles. I found the "sink" at a thrift store, it was a small wok that we cut the handles off of.:


One other special thing Ian did was cut/route the stove knobs out of one piece of wood:


Then it got doors and a paint job (We used leftover paint from my kitchen) Ian did a great job and A. loves it!:




The thing ways a ton! but it only cost us about $40-50!.
Some cute video:

What the stitch is going on? (2 of 3)

So in non-stitchy news:
1. Annabeth has been walking better everyday and now does not need to hold on to anyone unless stairs or a curb is involved.   But her physical therapist noticed that her flat-feet (inherited from mom and dad) and severe pronation (walking on her instep) was probably holding her back. And  her balance was really crappy, she is always tripping and falling (and she is not like a boy, she does NOT like falling).  So we got fancy new braces in mid-April, to help her grow into proper position.  Ian and I both had orthopedics as kids, but we did not get them till we were 6 or 7. They called them cookies, but the trip to the orthopedist was always disappointing.  She is already walking with more obvious heel toe action,  a wider stride, and a bit better on balance.  Here she is a couple of days after we got them:



2. It is strawberry season here! There is a field about 10 min from the house and we went strawberry picking for the first time (Annabeth's first. I've been doing it since I was her age)...and I remembered my camera!


3rd and final post is coming very soon!

What the stitch is going on? (1 of 3)

Who gets into these funks of not posting a darn thing for weeks and then has a ton of stuff to share? THIS GUY!   I think what I will have to do is bullet-list stuff for you with the photos.  Part 1: Cross stitching

1. Got my Early Ornament Exchange yesterday from the HOE group, Malinda stitched me Emmanuel for Plum Street samplers...isn't it great?!  In other news I sent mine off and will post it when it gets to its destination.
.

2. I finished the black outlining shading of Grand Old Duke, I will be filling in color next:

3. Most of my stitch time in April was taken up by the EGA 17th century mystery sampler I told you we were all doing together.  See band 2 had 2 new(to me) stitches...the montenegrin and the detatched buttonhole (center of the flowers) We are working from the bottom up, which is a bit weird. But in overachiever news, I was the only one to finish my band by the May meeting. Booyah!



4. and lastly, you all remember the needle book I stitched for a giveaway, well here it is finished (NOT FINISHED BY ME, I could never do this good a job) in its basket with some other smalls awaiting their friends.




Part 2 will have all the non stitch related stuff in my life. Part 3 will be a special post about my crafty woodworky husband.

Random stitching update

I am still here and doing a little stitching.  Here is my progress on Grand Old Duke, I have the black about 3/4 done:


My baby sampler, both trees done, and i started the leaves:


And finally I need your opinion on this fabric I picked up as a single fat quarter at Anglewing Needlearts on my last vacation.  I was thinking of making it into something for my husband -It makes him giggle (me too) but i don't know what ...I want to keep it as intact as possible.  A bag? a box pouch? a pillow? The picture is showing about a 1/8 of the piece, the print is big.

Crazy time

It is just one of those times in life where there is always something else to do than sit and stitch.  I also have a huge backup on my DVR of shows, I have almost the entire season of Heroes,  Burn Notice, even some Olympics I was saving.  just no time.  So stitching has suffered, and all I have been able to do is some projects for the EGA (because they had a due date of tomorrow).  First up is a Quaker Needle book that will be finished and added to a basket of other littles for a raffle at the Stitching on the Ridge Retreat.


The second is a Seventeenth sampler that we are all doing as a mystery sampler designed and stitched monthly by Louise Henderson of Cherished Stitches.

The photo is small and fuzzy on purpose, Louise is planning on releasing this pattern for sale after we finish it, so I got special permission to blog about it, I had to show you I was stitching!

Why did those two things take me an entire month you ask?  well besides the lack of sit time, the alphabet is "reversible" cross stitch...which takes twice as long to stitch. I thought Louise was just having us do it for this band, then I discovered...no, she is going to continue the reversible stitch throughout the sampler but I cannot or I will never finish it.

In which the internet reveals its awesomeness

Do you guys get how cool living in the future is?  Wil says this all the time and yesterday proved it to me. (warning: this is a non stitching story).  I follow Dooce  (Heather Armstrong) on her blog and twitter,  have been since 2005, she is like the cool girl I have always wanted to be.  I am alot like her in some ways (same name, age, political views, sense of humor, awesome dog,  mother) and very different in others (she is rail thin, an ex-mormon, design style, and is quickly becoming famous). I adore and worship her writing style, she almost always makes me laugh, her blog posts about Leta got me thru some of the tougher times being a new mom, and I have new respect for people struggling with depression because of her story.

The other day she got a call from the White House to go participate in the flexible workplace forum.  She mentioned it would be streamed live and you could watch online.  After my classes were done yesterday around 3:30 I hopped online and spotted her in the one of the breakout sessions.  She was looking a bit out of place and bored (as one in a big conference type meeting is wont to be).  I watched and listened for a while and then I randomly tweeted:

watching @dooce trying not to pick her nose in the White House via live web cam.

OK before I go further, I know that most big names on twitter do not read every @ referenced to them(she has over 1 million followers), and I know that Heather would have had her phone turned off in the White House like a good citizen should right? I mean what if the president is meeting you and *RING* how embarrassing.  So I thought of the above reasoning (because I'm conscientious like that), tweet, and go back to the live web cam.  and Heather is pulling out her phone and looking at it. NO WAY, I'm thinking, she is so not reading my tweet, she must be checking something else.  THEN she pulls the old finger scratch the side of the nose bit, the one to the far side of the web cam., and not a little one either...she was being obvious. HEATHER ARMSTRONG SAID HI TO ME FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.  I  totally lose it in my office at work. OF course it could totally be a coincidence, but do not tell me if it was. It was better than a personal response to a blog comment.
So I quickly said hi back:

I saw that @dooce, stop checking your tweets and pay attention to the discussion.

and we went back to our separate worlds.

PS. she wasn't the only one in that room subtly checking their iPhone under the table.  How can I yell at my students about doing that in my classes if Corporate America is doing it at the White House?

Old news...new post

I have some down time so I was messing around on Flickr, adding photos and organizing sets etc. and i found a couple of photos sewing related that I meant to share after christmas.

Some of you know my cousin Betz White who has published a few books  and makes a career out of crafting.   I saw this post  where she made a cute box pouch from her new Family Cottage fabric prints  I  said "I can do that" and when her second collection of fabrics called Indian Summer came out I loved those even more and  I bought a sampler pack and went to work making some. I played a bit with the sizes and corners so all of them came out a wee bit different.  I gave all but one away for Christmas and  I learned some new sewing skills along the way. (tutorial for the box pouch is here, Changes that I made:  I used heavy weight interfacing due to the sateen weight of the fabric, and added a tab for zipping ease)



You can tell which one was my first ones (top 2) the corners are a bit wonky.  These below were my last and favorite ones.  I loved the flowers and wanted that one originally, but the blue/green had the best lines and more space. after serious debate I kept the blue and gave the flowers one to mom.

LHN exchange

Hello,  I know you all thought I was dead, but no, just busy and not stitching much.  I did get some headway on Grand old duke over spring break this past week, (we were at the beach, it was very relaxing).  But my LHN exchange reached Caroline in England.



Ladybug, Ladybug. Little House Needle works
Stitched as described with DMC on 32ct  summer belfast linen
Finished as a folded stand up

Slow going

I swear I am working on him every night (Ok maybe i worked on a valentine freebie). But it is slow going. On the up side that is the bottom of him, so he is going to be closer to 8 x 10.

Current WIP update

Current state of Grand Old Duke ( When i abbreviated it in Flickr as GOD, I thought coincidence? ) Mylene, he looks bigger in the model (i think it was 14 count) but I am doing him on 22 ct fabric...so he won't be much bigger than 5 x7.  And yes he will be all filler once the black outlining/detailing is done...I am just trying not to burn out on it .  so I alternate stitching on him and the baby sampler:



It is not going as fast as I hoped, but i swear it will be done by Annabeth's 3rd birthday.   The original pattern is found at Kissy-Cross, but it is no longer available unless you contact the designer.  of course now that i stitched it I am thinking I should of made the border purple instead of blue (cause the original sampler was for a boy) but I think if I do all the lettering in purple it should balance it out.

Does it look like anyhing yet?

Grand old Duke WIP
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist
This guy will be a gift for my sister hopefully for her new house.  She is currently navigating the wild world of home buying with a possible closing in mid feb.

He is a challenge, he is completely outlined and detailed in black which makes it a kinda boring stitch with ALOT of counting, checking the pattern, highlighting the pattern, and counting again.

I have finished my exchange piece and I think Grand Old Duke and the Baby sampler will be at the top of my list for the month of February.

Um Yeah...so like i said..it's tomorrow ;)

EGA make it take it
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist
Don't you just love it when time gets away from you? I have been stitching, one item i am working on is a new HOE (Hooked on Exchanging blog) exchange, so i can't show you. And I completed this make-it-take-it from the EGA meeting (I am now an official member of the Piedmont chapter of the EGA). it is a bookmark that slips onto the corner of a page.

I have been sorting thru my stitching/stash and deciding what I want to do here is my new list for 2010, you can click on some of the WIPs for the current pictures

1.  Baby Blocks JCS mag--WIP
2. Quaker Turtles- With my Needle --WIP
3. Baby Sampler --WIP
4. Nine Patch Sampler-Brightneedle --WIP
5. Home of a Needle worker-LHN--WIP
6. Blackbird sampler-Blackbird Designs --WIP
7. Grand Old Duke -Arelate sudios--WIP (yeah i just started it...what of it?)
8. A is for Annabelle- Nora Corbett
9. Sampler snowman- Homespun elegance
   
10. Sweet Lavender- Crazy for cross stitch nov 2002
    
11. Snowman needleroll- M designs
12. Americana Sampler- twisted threads
    
13. Let it snow-JBW
14. 5 christmas ornaments (kitted)
15. 3 HOE exchanges
16. EGA mystery sampler-Cherished stitches (Louise Henderson is  our vice-president)
17. EGA guest teacher project -to be announced

Last year in review

 Remember that for 2008 and 2009 I made year long lists for what I wanted to do?  it worked pretty good in 2008 but for 2009...well....Let's take a gander at my 2009 goal list last January:  Blue are WIPs Green are done.

1. A is for Acorn, B is for butterfly, Erica Micheals (I am currently considering trashing this one, the idea was to do the whole alphabet as a book, but i do not want to use the called for RG threads (expensive!) and going thru all 26 patterns to find comparable colors is daunting, so unless you know of a conversion out there already done this one is going bye bye in 2010)
2. Nine Patch Village, Brightneedle (this one need just a few color adjustments due to the light fabric, and i just haven't taken the time to do it yet)
3. Black bird Sampler, Blackbird designs (thought about changing the wording, but now am thinking it would just be easier to do as designed)
4. Miss Mary Mack, La Di Da designs
5. Just a little snowman ornament, Twisted Threads (it is over one and is taking me forever) 
6. Quaker Turtles, With my Needle (over one)
7. Home of a Needleworker, LHN
8. Pirates Creed, Sue Hillis
9. Grand Old Duke, Arelate studio
10. Pumpkin Patches, Full Circle designs
11. Dragonflies, Ladybugs, and Bees ohmy, M designs
12. Snowmen Needleroll, M designs
13. Polly Wolly Doodle, La Di Da
14. Christmas forest ornament, Historic Stitches (I actually started this but did not like the size)
15. Birth Sampler
16. Christmas orn, Jeanette Douglas 2008
17. Kitty Cat Row, Bent Creek (i have bought the fabric for this but now can't find it...sigh.. I probably used it for something else) 
18. Baby blocks, JCS sept 08. (4 done, 4 to go)
19. Open
20. open
21. ornaments and exchanges (7 and 2 respectively)
    

Well I guess i took the open slots a bit literally cause outside the list I did Maidens of the Sea-With my needle, Birds- Heart in Hand, Crossstitcher in residence-LK, N- Margaret Sherry, Ned Kelly Kitty- The Cat's whiskers design studio,  and Swirlygig- Bent creek




so to sum up..Stated with 5 WIPS but finished with 8, completed only 7 items on the list , but have 19 finished pieces to show for it.

I am not sure if I want to construct a big new list for 2010 yet.  It was helpful getting me back into the swing of things after A. was born, but now I think my brain has recovered (mostly) and  i am better at knowing what i have and what I want to do.

Maybe I will sleep on it... check with me tomorrow

First finish of 2010

Photobooth snowmen
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

Photobooth Snowman, by Bent Creek. This is the kit I got at Pigeon Forge in Nov, and I have been working on it since off and on. I REALLY want the other 2 kits like this, Frankenboo and Ham and Eggs. I left off the beads that represented falling snow. It didn't look quite right to me.

UPDATE: Look a new one! Northpole party!

Note also how fabulous the photo is? My NEW camera, specifically picked out for me to take close up low light pics of my stitching...and the colors you see...totally accurate.

Tomorrow, my goals for the new year.

Back with a vengance

Warning: Photo heavy post, I am trying a new technique loading pictures so let me know if it is too messed up for you all.

I have not stitched in weeks. I haven't even felt motivated to check my year goals or set next years goals. I have been in a reading state of mind, tearing through about 7-10 books in the past 3 weeks, and since this isn't a reading blog...no posts. I kinda enjoy the tidal changes that cycle my various obsessions. Stitching will be back soon i am sure.

I hope your Holidays were as fun as mine...not sure? well did you:
Tear open your gifts?


Rest between all the excitement?


Clean up after the mess?


Take silly photos of relatives?


Show someone you love something new?


Feed the animals? (in our case nasty fish in a man made lake)


Rest well?


Did you not take yourself too seriously?


Good, now get back to work;)