The Eyes Still Have It

At our last Stitch Day, I showed everyone a little needlecase that I made a couple of years ago.  I used a little wooden needlecase and worked the beaded part in the tubular peyote stitch.  I've proclaimed this case as  mine and carry it with all of my other stitching stuff.

It got me to thinking that I should try this particular craft again now that my eyes have gotten a little older.  I honestly wondered if I could still do it or if the tiny Delica beads would do me in. 

During my craftroom cleanup, I found my pattern books for these beaded cases.  Jennie Might at Black Giraffe Designs is the author of the books and designer of all of the patterns in them.  I found a pattern with only three colors, which worked out well because it was pretty straightforward and an easy re-introduction to beading.  I also happened to have all three of these colors "in stock".  Yes, there are actually some beads that I don't have.  Then I got to work.  And here's the result.  It's the one with the American Flag design.

The other two were ones I made previously.  I think these will become special gifts eventually.  I intend to add to this little collection because the good news is that I CAN still do this, old eyes and all!  Hah!  It was a fun  project and I may be ordering some more beads soon.

Also, here's an update on my LHN mystery sampler, "Song Of The Seasons".  I'm not exactly getting through this at the speed of lightning, am I?  But it is turning out nicely, even though this is kind of a funky picture.

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for commenting on my posts, few and far between they may be lately.  I'm happy to say that the craftroom organization/cleanup is done!  Look for a post about that in the near future.  It's such a good feeling to get everything put into place and have a nice environment to craft!

A Lot Of Love Went Into This Finish

I decided to use my day off to finish a finish.  That sounds pretty funny, doesn't it?  We talked about this exact thing at one of our Stitch Days -- what to call a completed cross stitch, and what to call it when you actually do something with that cross stitch piece.  We're talking about framing or making it into an ornament or a pillow or whatever.  Which one is the finish?  And what do we call the other one? Or are there already terms for both of these and I'm just out of the loop?  Fellow stitchers, I think we need to address this.  It's important.

So I pronounced today the day of accomplishing something crafty.  All thoughts of finishing the ongoing craftroom project were pushed out of my mind.  Hey, all I needed was a clear table for the sewing machine, right?  Yes, it is taking me a long time to organize one small room.  I know.  OK, I'll set a goal for organization completion:  Done by September 13th.  Sounds good to me.  Then I'll share photos of the organized lovliness. 

Back to my project.  I took my completed "Love" by New York Dreamer, some fabric, some rick-rack and a little fiberfill stuffing and turned it into this.

Something cute to display at Valentine's Day!  I'm happy with my little finish....or whatever we're calling it. 

Here's something else I just found.  I went to Dictionary.com to find out the correct spelling of rick-rack (rick-rack OR ric-rac.  You choose the one you like.) and there was an ad!  Right there on the dictionary page for rick-rack!  This could lead to all kinds of trouble, especially when you find something like The Ribbon Retreat.  Look at all the ribbons and trims!  I love this kind of stuff!  I think I hyperventilated a little just looking through the ribbons!  See what I mean when I say trouble?  It's been bookmarked.

Thanks for looking at my blog today.  If you have a minute, drop a little comment about what you think about my finish.  And let me know if this is a finish or something else.

Brick Or Bark? What's The Difference?

Oh, let me tell you, the difference is a lot of frogging.  I received the second part of LHN's mystery sampler, Song of the Seasons, a couple of weeks ago.  Sorry to say that the stitching on this part is not going as quickly as on part 1.  First of all, there are a lot more stitches to do before we can call this section completed.  Also, I've been a bit of a slug in the stitchy/crafty department lately. 

It seems like every book I reserved at the library is coming in at once.  I'll be halfway through one and then another one comes in.  It's always like this with library books -- feast or famine.  So I've been devoting my time to reading and the (seemingly) never-ending craft room organization. 

I worked a lot on the book case yesterday and have organized my charts.  Most of them, anyway.  Wow, there is an abundance of charts.  How did this happen?  I watched an episode of Hoarders today and got a little worried about myself.  Mark said I'm not a hoarder, but he was trying to be nice.  The good news about the craft room is that I have only one more section to go through. 

So back to the Song of the Seasons.  Last night, I put my book down and picked up my stitching.  I decided to work on a house, starting with the roof.  The color key said the color to use is "Bark" (Weeks Dye Works).  I looked through my project bag and found the little Floss Away bag I thought I needed and saw a B....k and got to work.  I was pretty pleased with myself when I finished that little roof today and went to work on the house.  Oh, the color is "Brick".  Wait a minute.  Then there is that moment when you realize that something is very wrong.  I had stitched the whole roof in "Brick" instead of "Bark".  And a-frogging we will go.

That frog is laughing his head off.

Mark observed that it must be a lot more work to take the stitches out than to put them in.  Um, yee-ah.  And there you have it.  My frogging adventure for the weekend.  OK, not the end of the world.  I'll just spend some time with the frog and then go on my merry way!