The Case Of The Missing Blogger

That would be me, star of this Nancy Drew-sounding blog post.  Where have I been?  Here!  Just doing what I always do.  Except for the fact that I haven't been doing much in the way of stitching and crafting lately.  I have been organizing the craft room though.  It's on ongoing project and I'm very happy with the results.  I'll post pictures of the awesome neatness of it all when I'm done.

Mark and I did go away for Mother's Day last weekend.  We went to the Brasstown Valley Resort in Young Harris, GA for brunch and then stayed there on Sunday night.  What a nice place, all nestled in the mountains.  We also went to the top of Brasstown Bald, which, (depending on who you talk to) is the highest mountain in Georgia.  Then a little visit to the Crane Creek Vineyard was in order.  All in all, a pleasant little trip.

Even though I haven't devoted much time to stitching, I still accomplished a little.  Or maybe a lot, because it's a finish!

Let's celebrate!  "Red, White and Bloom" is finished!  Now, to frame it or make it into a little pillow?  What do you think?

The funny thing is that I only have one project going now.  Time for a new start or two, right?

It's the end of the school year and many parents are contemplating what to get for their kids' teachers.  Sheila used her powers of craftiness to create these beautiful necklaces.

Wow, what teacher wouldn't be delighted to receive one of these? 

So that's it for now.  Coming up in future blog posts, and staying with the Nancy Drew theme:  The Craft Room Caper and The Case Of The Sneaky Stitch Starter.  OK, those probably won't be the titles of my posts, but they give you the idea of what's to come here at CraftyCat.

Artsy Fun On A Friday Night

Sheila's friend Nancy was in town last week, and we thought it would be fun to get together and do something.  We all have an interest in artsy things, with both Sheila and Nancy being pretty talented at drawing.  So it was decided that we should visit Just For Giggles, located in Milton, GA.  You might have a place like this around you.  You might remember that Sheila and I painted flags there last year. 

Friday night was a choose your own painting night, so we got to pick out whatever we wanted.  The instructor started out by drawing a light outline of key parts of the painting on our canvases and then instructed us on the technique and colors to use.  She would then walk around and let you know how you were doing and give suggestions.  Here's the result:

I'm very happy with the way my golden trees turned out, and Sheila's and Nancy's florals are so pretty!  The place was packed and there was even a group of guys there for a bachelor party!  Who knew?  They were all doing a painting of R2D2 and all I could think of was whether the bride of the groom to be was going to let him hang that in a prominent place in their home.  Pretty funny.

No flower photos this time.  I'm not going outside any time soon.  Spring schming.  It's been cold and rainy here for the better part of the week, with today being absolutely ugly.  Several people have kindly reminded me of the drought we had a couple of years ago.  I know, I know.  Just give me a couple of sunny days in the 80's once in a while and I'll be happy. 

The first thing that Mark told me as I was waking up this morning was "It's 45 degrees and raining."  And I said, "Do you realize how close that is to snow?".  Come on, May, don't disappoint me.  You're my favorite month of the year!  Maybe some pretty flowery photos later this week?  I'm crossing my fingers.  Until next time.

Crafty Birthday To Me

Yes, the big day was yesterday and another year was bestowed on me.  Yippee!  I'm actually not too phased by the age number, but I'm sure that there will be a year when it will bother me greatly.  Until then, no big deal.

I'm lucky to be a member of a very small group on Facebook which celebrates birthdays with good wishes and gifts of floss.  In the age of e-cards and virtual birthday wishes, it's something special to get an actual card in the mail.  And even more fun when you find a skein of floss hiding in that card.  Here's what arrived in my mailbox throughout the month.

The perfect gift for a stitcher!

 I intended to stitch for a good part of the day, but got off track with a doctor appointment, errands, laundry, etc.  I did spend some time on my latest pendant and that is still a work in progress.

I did receive a wonderful gift from Stephanie, Matt's girlfriend.  Stephanie visited us before Christmas and I showed her how to crochet.  Now those of you who know me or have read my blog know that my crochet expertise is limited to single crochet and anything in the shape of a square or rectangle.  I recently learned how to crochet a cute little heart, but that was a project I did in February, so I was not able to impress Stephanie with this skill during her crochet lesson.  So I taught her the single crochet and I'm pleased to say that she ran with it.  So much so that she has learned new stitches and has far surpassed my crochet abilities!  And the result is this:

That's it for this post.  Blogger is acting really weird -- photos jumping all over the place and it's impossible to highlight words for a link.  So I'm leaving it at this and hopefully next time it'll be all back to normal.

I Really Do Stitch

I just haven't talked about stitching in a while.  And I should because I'm making great progress on "Red White and Bloom".  I'm running dangerously low on Weeks Dye Works "Moss", but I think I'll have just enough to complete the green sections.  I even counted how many Moss stitches I have left to estimate if I'd have enough.  Have you ever done that?  Or am I the only one?  Is that weird?

This is just a very happy and vibrant design and we're getting into the extra patriotic time of year.  It'll be nice to have this completed.

I've also been working on Prairie Schooler's "Tortoise And The Hare".  What a cute chart.  I love the colors -- greens, browns and a little pink. 

Well you don't see any pink yet, but trust me, it will get there. I'm stitching this one on 18 count over 1. 

So there you have it.  Proof that I actually spend some time with the fabric, thread and needle. 

Today is probably one of the first really beautiful days of this spring, pollen or no pollen.  Everything is starting to green up and there is a lot of color blooming.  In our back yard we have a Yorkshire Rose Cherry tree, which is at the peak of blooming right now.  Thank you to Linda at Cross'N My Stitches for helping me to identify this lovely tree.

Phlox is in full bloom.

Yorkshire Rose Cherry Tree

Enjoy your spring day and check back here often.  There will be a another giveaway coming up soon!   And welcome new followers!

Good News For The Sisters

Some of you are familiar with the story of my stitch group, Sisters In Stitches.  We all love to stitch, we get along extremely well, we love to talk and share stories.  But geographically, we're all over the map -- 82 miles at the farthest.  And in Atlanta traffic, that can mean some serious time on the road.  So our search for a relatively centralized location for our stitch days began, and finally we have found a place! Yay!  Renee found out that Cherokee County has some pretty nice meeting rooms that we can reserve for a day of stitching for a nominal price.  We had our first stitch day there on Saturday and we were all pleased.  And now we're booked through the rest of 2013.  Of course, I forgot my camera last Saturday, but will remember it next month for some stitch day photos.  I'd say that is a great find for the Sisters In Stitches!

In other crafty news, Sheila and I got together last week to once again to work with Ice Resin.   I posted about it the last time we worked with this product.  It's not a difficult project, but a little bit of a production because you have to make at least an ounce of it for it to mix well.  Believe me, a little of this stuff goes a long way, and you can't save it mixed for next time.  So it's nice to have a lot of jewelry pieces to pour into when you mix up a batch.  Here's what I came up with.

And once again, I am camera challenged, because I didn't get Sheila's creations in the photo.  My pendants turned out pretty well, and I'd like to make some more of these using different materials.  YouTube is a great source of ideas for these.  This is a fun, easy and not very expensive project for all of you who like to create jewelry!

And The Winner Is......

Michelle from Ozarks Sew N' Sews! 

I put all of the names in my "Thread Bucket" and then mixed them around.  And then pulled out a name!

Congratulations, Michelle!  You have won the chart "America" from Little House Needleworks.  I've e-mailed you using the info from your blog, but the message came back as undeliverable.  Please e-mail me with your mailing info.

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway.  I will be having more giveaways in the near future, so stay tuned.

Happiness In The Mail & Fun Blogs To Follow

I want to share with you a few new things I've acquired in the past couple of weeks. While browsing through some of my favorite blogs, I came across this free pattern, "Spring Bunny Love", which can be found on The Snowflower Diaries blog.  Maja is a very talented designer and perusing her blog makes me happy.  Please take a moment to visit her blog and you'll see what I mean.  This lovely spring design led me to the blog, Handmade by Nina, which is also a wonderful place to spend some time.  When I ordered the threads for "Spring Bunny Love" from Nina, I found out that it is a pleasure doing business with her.  And the threads (and bonus hand-dyed rickrack) got to me so quickly all the way from Hungary!

While visiting a cross stitch group I belong to on Facebook (let's see how much more trouble I can get into), I ran across a chart that just spoke to me.  This one is "Love" from New York Dreamer, a company I wasn't familiar with.  So off I went to 1-2-3 Stitch! and lo and behold, there it was.  They're so nice -- they list the the suggested threads for the project, so I was able to get everything I needed for this project!  Like I need more stuff.  Well, yes, indeed, I do.

The photo doesn't do this design justice, so I'll keep you updated as I stitch. 

Way back in February, I took part in the Grow Your Blog Party.  This provided me and many others with a list of dozens of blogs to visit.  One of these was Blue Finch, where you will find gorgeous jewelry creations by Rachel.  As a part of the party, Rachel offered to send a pair of handmade earrings to each commenter on her post!  I received my earrings yesterday and they are lovely -- I will truly enjoy wearing them!

Remember - this is the last day to comment on my giveaway blog post to win the chart "America" by Little House Needleworks.  I will be drawing a name tomorrow, April 15th, and will announce the winner sometime tomorrow evening.  Good luck!