I gonna try to hit November running.

Ornaments
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Well as for my October Goals: I did finish and frame santa, I did not touch Spookline, and now that may sit in a drawer till next fall, but I did pick several ornaments out of my 7 JCS mags for, this season on Halloween! I picked way more than 5 (I think 10 or so) but plan on doing them all this year. I have decided to do nothing but smalls for the rest of the year to get my cross stitching mood back up. I may pick a medium project for the Retreat next weekend, but for the rest of the year it is going to be ornament city

As you can see pictured above I finished 2 ornaments this month already, the first on the left is Heaven and Nature Sing by Fancy Work..in JCS 2005 I had it half done from last year and finished it last night. The second one on the right is Seka's Doubled Sided stained glass ornament from JCS 2000. It is on perforated paper and was one of the first ornaments I ever did,. This one is for the exchange at the retreat, it was easy and I still had all the materials left over from my first one. I was burned 2 years ago, spending hours on a over one ornament that i adored, only to recieve a cheap 50 cent Target ornament in return (the ornament did not have to be handmade, I did it cause I thought (correctly) that it was the preffered option). Luckily the one I made went to a fellow Tarheel who appreciated it very much. So long story short (too late!) I did not want to put to much of my heart into this years, but it looks like i did.

Tonight I plan on starting Elizabeth's Designs' CHristmas Chorus from JCS 2006...Its all kitted and ready to go...........

Needling along

I picked up a needle for the first time in over 2 weeks yesterday. I have not felt like stitching in awhile. I am in a slump that I guess ensues after any big project is finished, I hope it goes away soon. Spookline will not be finished by Halloween obviously, but I plan to get a few projects together for the retreat in 2 weeks, and hopefully kick back into gear.

In other news the leaves are depressing me and I hate that. I love the fall, but Ian and I bought this house with out realizing how much work this giant yard with its dozen ancient oaks would be. Last year this time I was out raking and working every weekend. this year I have taken to hiding and hoping it will go away without my interference. Of course it will not and I am dreading the inevitable. And of course this looks like a banner year for acorns. sigh.

I know some of you have been having problems viewing beta Blogger, I hope they get it figured out soon. For those of you contemplating the switch, I would wait till they force you into it. I have had too many hassles and there aren't any positive changes that I can specifically point at. If I could go back I would.

Small fortune..but worth it

Santa of the Forest Framed and Hung
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Ok, I switched over to Beta Blogger and It took me a bit to figure out how to post this guy, I have lost 4 posts in the process, so just enjoy the pic for now.

No picture yet

Well I am waiting on pins and needles to for the Santa to return from the framers. She said it would be done today or tomorrow, maybe friday at the latest. I have no further stitching to show you. Things have sort of halted for a bit. My In-laws are visiting, and I tend not to stitch when I have visitors. I guess I feel like I don't want anyone to think I am ignoring them. Currently I have Spookline, and Fancywork's When Heaven and Nature Sing ornament from JCS 2005 in the works.

Oh I may not have mentioned this, but Ian and I booked a 10 day trip to WDW in December, our big christmas gift to one another. I have been 3 times in the past 1990- 1992- and 1998 (I think, maybe it was 1997). Anyway Ian has never been to the tourist heaven of Florida, and we been talking of going for 6 years, so it is about darn time. Which reminds me I have to go pay the full balance by monday. I love having a real job!

daDA

daDA
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

YES Ladies and Gents Santa of the Forest by Lavender and Lace.....IS DONE.

I finished him shortly after midnight last evening, ironed and dropped him off at the framers today. This is going to cost me abundle.. but my husband says it is worth it.

I also took a pic of the back (see below), I am kinda proud of the neatness of it

THe Back
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Halloween......

Best Witches
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

......Is right around the corner, have you decorated yet?
I LOVE Halloween, probably a combination of liking candy and the fall season being my absolute favorite (and I am bit Pagan too). I just love the concept of a holiday that was originally meant as a time when we are closer to our ancestors ( and they are closer to us WOOOOOoooooo). I dislike what the modern churches and evangelists are doing to Halloween, critiquing it as "satan worship". They are just upset that they couldn't fit their own holiday in its place like they did to the Winter solstice (Christmas) and the Spring Equinox (Easter). So they hold "Fall Festivals" in the basement of churches...but they still let the kids dressup (originally meant to ward of evil spirits) and gorge themselves on candy. Some day when I have a kid, I am totally turning my front yard into a cemetary and let the kid wander the street in unsafe costumes knocking on strangers doors and running the risk of death from a razorblade in an apple. The worst thing I ever got from trick or treating was a bible. (I swear!)

Wow, that soapbox was high, I better get down before I hurt myself.

I am off to pick up Seaology from the framers to see how it came out, I ended up not doing a mat for it, but if I like their work then Santa will be heading that way soon. Since it is a NEW month here are some new goals:

1. FINISH and FRAME Santa of the Forest

2. Work on and finish Spookline (I have 2.5 of the 5 goasts done, but since it is just white blobs I haven't revealed a photo.)

3. Pick 5 ornaments for this season, one will be for an ornament exchange at the Pidgeon Forge Retreat in Nov. and get to work.

Thats it, I am sure I will start something else, and I am knitting away a couple of rows at a time on my sweater...so some real progress may be made soon.

Santa update

Santa update
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Well as promised (a day late, sorry) The Wolf....is done! Just the cape to finish off. Now to save the $$ to get this guy framed right. I think I can have him done in the month, if not within the next 2 weeks. Next week is Fall Break and I only have to teach 1 class thursday morning, the rest have the week off. I plan on getting alot done during that time. Both in the stitching, the yard and in the house. (that may also be listed in priority lol).

Come on wolfie.....

Come on wolfie
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

....You're almost there. I have a Tarheel get together tomorrow, and I am hoping to make some serious progress on this guy during the 5-6 hour stitchathon.
tune in mon to see the results

Meanwhile, I have the urge to start a Halloween stitch for the month of Oct. (and as a reward for doing a whole month of just Santa). So yesterday I pulled and kitted Spookline by Sam sarah. I don't have the purple fabric, so I am trying on more of a raw grey/brown fabric. I am antsy to start it, maybe as soon as sunday.

oh and as for this weeks SBQ suggested by Sharon:

When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take?

Small mistakes I just fix and continue on, but when there is a big mistake, wrongcolor, a large section done wrong, I get frustrated and end up putting down, sometimes for a very long time...months or years in the rare case. I usually remember that I made a major mistake, and it just takes me a minute to find it pull it with new found patience and start again. Right now I have one WIP in that catagory. from last year, It is sitting in a drawer right now waiting for me to rip out EVERYTHING i had stitch so far cause it isn't centered right.

Does this look like a sweater to you?

Does this look like a sweater to you?
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

So I kinda struggled getting the ribbing done for the back of the sweater, but now that I am on the body it is going much faster, which is good cause I have to do 27 inches or so. One inch done.....
I know it is tough to see but it is a knit 10 purl 2 pattern, which is all you are going to see, No fancy cabling or anything, so I won' t bore you with too many intermediate pictures.

Boring eh?

Santa as of 9/21/06
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Well tough, I have honestly worked only on this Santa the past week.
I am knitting for my class, but since I actually started the sweater I am attempting to make ...my teachers idea not mine, i wanted to do a nice scarf.......I can only do about 300 stitches (2 rows) before I am tired of concentrating so hard. Right know I am ribbing (knit 2 purl 2) the bottom of the back of the sweater. I have an inch done with another to go.

the moral is when I am done with the knitting I move on to santa., I finished the shadow of his cloak (the checkerboard) and found a nice single row of 814 to divide the wolf from the cloak. So I will be working on the wolf till he is done (maybe by Oct 4/5). There are about 6 shades of white to grey to work with, and a bit of confetti action going on here, but it was the same with all the other animals and he is the LAST one. Mom mentioned the other day that she remembers when I bought this pattern, and thinks it was either during college or right after, so that definately dates this WIP a bit further back than I had thought, into the 11 year range, sigh IT WILL NOT BE 12 years!

Santa update

Santa as of 9/13/06
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

So Since I am not working on any other cross stitch you would think I would of made it a bit further on this guy, but I don't want to bore you with daily photos, where you can't see much change. I had to be a bit slow working out from the bear to the robe, because some where along the line the outer robe became off by 1 stitch to the left and an extra row down. so I made the bottom row from the bear correct with the pattern and filled in the rest above that so I the mistakes would blend in naturally.
So far I am cruising along nicely and am not bored by him yet. I think that the color changes (which are pretty often) helps and also the fact I can see the finish line from here.

So work is going very well, I love my job, it is just like teaching in grad school but without the ongoing thesis work. I get to teach all the time.

In addition I promised myself that I would learn to knit after I graduated, so I signed up for a class on mon nights that started this week. So far it is not as relaxing as others make it look, I am constantly having to think about whether I am kniting or purling and which direction the needle should go,yada yada, but here is a picture of my first attempt.

I am learning to knit
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

After -Santa of the Forest

Santa as of 5/5/06
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

September is Heather will finish Santa of the Forest month

Here he is almost exactly 4 months after the photo below....of course, most of the bear was done in the past 3 days. Good use of a Labor day doncha think? I Finished Seaology, and got a good start on Santa. I vow to have him done by christmas. I will not start anything new for at least this month.

Before

Santa as of 3/3/06
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Here he is last we saw in March

All signs of the Seasons

All signs of the Seasons
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Oh my, I FINALLY found my camera last night (It had fallen in the cushions of my couch) and took pictures of everything I hve done stitching wise since I finished SIgns of summer. Well here it is I finished Signs of Winter and Signs of Spring (see closeups in the below posts).
Two weekends ago I stripped the frames i wanted to use of dark green paint, unfortunately I could not get all the paint off of the wood (I am sure it wasn't sealed or primed), and their were too many details in the frames to sand it all off. I had wanted to use colored stains but with all the green left I had to go back to the old standby, acrylic paint. The colors are actually a bit more muted than the photo shows, and I hit the frames with a bit of steel wool to weather them a bit. I think Fall and Winter are my favorites. now I just have to find a spot to hang them.

Progress on Seaology - trilogy
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

In addition I have been trying to finish up Seaology By Trilogy, I had trouble with the light house when I was away from my Ott-lite in alaska because the 612 matched the fabric so closely.

I am very excited about this one, I think I am willing to spare the cash (now that I am gainfully employed with no car payment!) and have it professionally framed, It is such a wierd size that I know it would take me forever to do it myself. the trick is to find a good framer and so far the ones in this town, have used masking tape (ok I am sure it was "framers" tape but still I have an aversion to it) or have been astronomically priced, even after I stretched it myself. I haven't tried the bigger box craft stores, due to the horror stories. But I have one more framer in mind that I am going to try.

Signs of Spring-- Bent creek

Signs of Spring-- Bent creek
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Signs of Winter --Bent Creek

Signs of Winter --Bent Creek
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Hot SBQ Action

So I was looking over everyone's blogs (ok not everyones I caught up on 2) alot happens in 2 an a half months. But I noticed quite a few SBQ that I missed (13!) so here are my answers to a couple of the ones I thought I could make an intelligent contribution to:

First up this weeks: Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what isit? If not, what do you store your fabric in?How do people store their fabric, especially those small butpotentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label itor otherwise know what each piece is?

my fabric organization is a bit lacking but I can find you a 32 count white linen in about 3 minutes so it is not too bad, I can't guarantee the size though. See I sort by count first. Those are placed in big ziplock bags. I have one for 32, one for 28, one for 25/26 etc. Then those bags fit perfectly into these drawers. I do not record the size because the largest pieces are always being cut down. I do not usually care what type it is ie. belfast, edinbergh, etc. Because I rarely use the exact color/type that the designer did. I am comfortable switching count size too.

here is another from lastweek:For those of you who use hand or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?
this is a bit sadder. I am very carful with my DMC sorting but with my dyed floss I just have them thrown in bags sorted by the floss co. so all GAST is in one bag etc. So far I don't have very many so I can tell you that I have one color or another, as I gather more that may have to change.

From July 20th: When you get a project professionally framed do you get glass insertedinto the frame? Why or why not? I do tend to do the glass thing when I get a piece framed professionally. They are usually gifts and have mats and all that fancy stuff. that may be a total of like 3 projects cause I am soo damn frugal I would rather do it myself. Now when I do frame myself, the glass is simply more of a preference/and ease of doing it thing, If there is glass that means I did not back the stitching with cotton batting or there were no beads or I had a glass piece that fit. like wise If I don't have glass it is because there is beads that would get smooshed , I made it a bit poofy and like the effect, or I just don't have the glass that would fit. I have framed only 11 pieces myself and 6 have glass the rest did not.

From June 28th: What do you do with your charts once you've stitched them? Do you keep them or dispose of them? If you keep them, do you organize them in away that is different from the way you keep your unstitched charts? I think what it comes down to is that I usually keep charts If i really liked doing them, and give away the stuff I don't. I do have a couple I am planning on seling cause it ended up I havent touched them and they are in perfect condition. and no, the ones i have done are in the same groups as the ones waiting to be done. (althought at the bottom of the stack) I haven't done stitching for so long that i would have forgotten having done one!

And now a word from our sponsor

Hello all, I have been very busy lately ( new to teaching a lecture class of 175 will take up anyone's time) I had a great get together with my fellow Tarheels on Saturday, and have otherwise...sigh...not stitched at all. then last night when I realized I need to post a picture of what I did work on saturday, I couldn't find my camera. Worst Blog Ever! No really I am feeling so guilty about it I won't even let myself read anyone elses blog untill I get more into the swing of things.
Oh I did get to go to a small shop called Em-lis, in Dunn, NC. It is actually in her house (if her car is there she is open kind of place) She is really a big wholesaler of samplers to retailers but check out her website I got this Moira Blackburn Sampler which is not my regular style but I saw it as a model, and you know how that works!

A New Job

I have a new job! I won't say much cause I will be lecturing freshman who will probably be Googling me next week. You may notice a few differences in my profile and my blog entrys. I will be limiting my entries to my crafts and positive interactions. I thought about pulling my blog altogether, but I enjoy posting and doing all the exchanges (which I have to sign up for a few soon), so I will just have to post as if one of my students is reading this blog. I wouldn't want to be dooced now would I. (her blog is really cool by the way www.dooce.com)

Oh and I am working on Signs of Winter , Bent Creek right now, Il lpost a progress pic soon.

I'm Home

Bent Creek Signs of Summer
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist.

Hey yall,
I am back and with stitching! I finished the one project I kinda worked on the five weeks I was in Alaska.