I've been looking at all the great floss tags and small finishes and I have to say--I rarely see a large design and then see the "small" in it. Everyone is so creative, they see a motif and wham. it's a whole new smaller design! I will have to work on deconstructing patterns and seeing the smalls!

We leave town in 4 days. I have the big presentation for work on Sunday between church services. I start school on Monday. So what else would I do but start assembling projects for vacation??? These will be coming with me, as well as some of my WIPs (SB Tiny Flag, etc.).

Vonna read my last post about Fair & Square and we have "mutually canceled our transaction", hopefully I can sign up for another round. Darn though, her square was looking so pretty and was almost done!


Here you see our 2nd annual pie eating contest at cub scouts this week. I did take second place, but there is no way you will be seeing the photo DH took of my head in a plate of chocolate pie with graham cracker crust.








Off to take dogs for shots so we can board them for our vacation. I think we've only had one vacation without them so it's going to be lonely!!

I am having a minor panic attack due to the fact that I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Will I ever learn??? On the bright side, some of my time has been spent in various places on the web spending money on stash :) This is new stash from several weeks ago, I have gotten quite a bit more in the last week or two. My latest obsession has been to collect various Diane Williams works before she became LHN:










I also have picked up a few(ok, 15) old magazines--loved this chart! I am a sucker for samplers and dutch, must be my heritage:











Then we have my WIP from Memorial Day family camp (formerly known as the weekend in snowed in June), Pine Tree Hill from LHN in a JSC magazine. I wanted something campy and cabin-y, especially with the snowy weather. I changed the red house to a brown cabin (exactly how many red houses can I stitch????), have no idea yet if this is a good or a bad thing. You know how sometimes your stitches just don't look right? You can let the needle hang to untwist the thread, you can use a new couple of strands, you can separate them and put them back together, you can comb the floss with your needle in hopes of making them look better (it was camp, no laying tool, ok?), you can railroad, you can...ok, you get the idea. Well that's how this cabin was going. In between helping Seri start a heart kit (I KNEW I bought these aida kits for a reason, to grab as we go out the door camping, that's it!) I was helping with the plaster fossil station at camp (yes, even when we PAY for camp, I still end up teaching). I didn't get much done, and it didn't look that great. I had to put it aside for Fair & Square and so it shall sit for now. I DO like the fabric though, the cloudy blue and white is something everyone uses for sky but I felt it looked like a stormy winter day, and it mirrored the weather up at camp (lovely blue sky with snow clouds). Sometimes I stitch just to capture the memories (as Edgar's blog reminded me).

Speaking of Fair & Square, being sick put me way behind. With all the other things I need to do (organize cub scouts and get ready for the big family pie eating contest, presentation at work, clean house and pack to go on vacation and to keep my DH from leaving me) I am FREEEEEAAAKKKKED out! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

Labels: fair and square, LHN Pine Tree Hill, Live kit, new stash, WIP

I've been offline sick (do I need a note to excuse me?). I took yesterday off work and instead of having a lovely yummy day to stitch or clean, I tossed and turned in various rooms while curled into a ball, fun! Today I managed to drag the kids to the bible school they are helping with and then into work where I realized I have a few days till a major presentation and only a week till I have a week of vacation so I need to get hopping! First off, some photo eye candy:

From Camp over Memorial Day-



















Chase and his Snowman















The Obligatory Archery Pose by all 3 of my offspring




















The Obligatory Beauty shot by my daughter (I can camp AND be pretty, tee hee hee)






















My new stitching organizer! The latest in my quest to keep my stitching clean and together (stitching, floss, AND pattern in the same place?? Oh my!). For those of you wondering, I LOVE it! It's like the Trapper-Keeper I had in elementary school. I got the large one which comes with a few floss cards, tons of pockets, and a place for everything. It does have a big zippered pocket for me to keep my latest project in, which I need to keep all the dog hair and whatever off of it. If you look closely I have my fair & square exchange peeking out of the pocket to give you a hint.

My youngest son (10) has never been good at pushing a shopping cart. He is forever running over, bumping into, and generally terrorizing all things animal, vegetable, and mineral. My solution was to not let him push the cart, but as he so wisely pointed out last time we shopped, he will never learn if he doesn't get to try. Fortified with patience and optimism, yesterday I let him push the cart. Why not? We were at the Wal-mart Neighborhood market which has wide aisles and I would be sure to guide him every step of the way. I threatened to put "Student Driver" signs on the cart but he didn't think that was very funny. We made our way through the store learning how to steer straight and to excuse ourselves and move when in someone's way. We left the store with TWO carts, it was a stocking up the pantry, must buy dog food, I don't want to have to shop again till after Armageddon kind of day. I congratulated him on his driving. And then...(you know what's coming)...he ran into me at full speed with a heavy cart and the dreaded shopping cart indian rug burn to my leg made me scream. So unexpected, so much pain! My scream brought a knight to this fuming damsel, and while I'm choking back tears and sobs I'm having to reassure all and sundry that I am fine as I hobble around (walk it off! walk it off!). My son looks at me anxiously, so far all I've done is that one blood curling scream. I look him straight in the eyes and say through gritted teeth and unshed tears, "You failed your driving test."

First off, I am STARVING! Only had a snack at work with me today, so if I suddenly stop typing, I've fainted. Either that or eaten the keyboard. I am dreaming of a Taco Bell chalupa, with empty calories and fat.

I started my Fair and Square exchange squares last week on this fabric (32ct Silkweaver limited edition, no name, tiny bit of mottling on a lovely barley color, looks like Lakeside linen). The fabric is gorgeous but it does have a lot of pills in it, which I like for my stitching but am worried Vonna might not? It's been so long since I've done an exchange, I'm worried about what my stitching looks like to someone else. I've been railroading and using a laying "tool" (my needle, lol) so it's taking me longer, and I still don't like the way my stitches look. It is what it is though, I'm doing my best. I also worry I didn't space my square well enough and it's too close to the edge to finish off easily. However, I realized this after I've stitched about 1/3 of the square :/ Next time I am using fabric bigger than 6" x 6" and then trimming it down, it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I just can't space things correctly when I need to.

Another exchange worry, they have just changed the rules to no extras other than homemade, when of course I have order in a few thing specially for Vonna, darn! I have decided that I will send her a different package as a RAOK for sponsoring the exchanges and doing so much work, and also for being so kind to be my partner when I have an idea of how pressed for time she really is!

I opened a package of TDK blank CDs for the computer and here at the top were tons of thread rings. Yes, I do know they are to hold the CDs in place, but really who uses these once the package is open? No, they are not mother-of-pearl, but I think they are neat. Buy TDK, get free thread rings! (disclaimer: not affiliated with TDK in any way, etc etc)

I finished this before camping. Not a great photo but I will have a better one once it's finished. I had planned to frame this alons with SB Live that I completed early in May but when I got my frames out this weekend I realized I either need to dig deeper for the smaller frames or finish them as smalls. I really like the idea of having these tiny things framed, so we shall see what happens!

Labels: finish, SB 2006 fob, Shepherd's Bush

IHave you seen Su's latest creation? I'm a big fan of all her work but I am salivating over her threadkeep and that heart. Beautiful work, and lucky Nancy!

Sorry about my downer of a post yesterday! I had gotten lots of stuff from Ebay and the thought of how little I stitch compared to how much I collect (and how I don't have enough room for it all!) made me a little grumpy. Happily, I started my Fair & Square exchange today for Vonna so I'm feeling a little more accomplished. I did also order Emma ginghers finally from Joann's as well as some small things to include with Vonna's squares and another pair of scissors for me:

We're back, have been back, but it's been a brutal week recovering. There was SNOW, much snow. Snow and tents-not so much a mix. But fun! Photos to come as well as some finishes/WIPS.

I've been cruising a few new blogs, which led to other new blogs and lots of freebies. Holy cow there are beautiful freebies out there, so much talent! Between those and the same old, same old I see coming from a few designers, makes me wonder if I should keep my hat in the designing ring. There is a designer that is becoming more and more popular that has practically lifted my (and others) designs straight off our patterns. I'm trying to really think, were my ideas that unoriginal or did she consciously (unconsciously?) take them? There is someone else that seems to have copied several of my freebie designs and modified them slightly. Again, did she see them and then "create" them accidently later (every designer's greatest fear, to recreate a pattern we've seen without realizing it)? What is the point? I was already giving them away free! I have spent so much time and money to be a small fish in a large pond, and I've enjoyed a lot of it. But maybe it's time to let another fish take my spot...

Labels: designing, SNS designs