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!

My Latest Stitching Companions

As I keep stitching my latest project, I'm noticing something that I usually don't see on light-color fabric.  Lots of cat hair.  Our three cats come in many different colors and tend to shed quite a bit.  We do our best to keep this under control by brushing them and then using a very good vacuum on the house.  But we still see the fur flying.  Also not flying.  This is especially true when I wear black pants.  And when I stitch on black fabric, like I'm doing now.  So I have to keep these two little accessories close by when I'm working on Folk Eggs.  It's my Clover tweezers and a sticky roller!  The tweezers are amazingly accurate and have very sharp points, perfect for pulling that cat hair out of a stitch.  I use the sticky roller for going over the whole piece very lightly to get the worst of it off.  So now I have found the major drawback of stitching on a dark color.  I'm sure it's there when I stitch on white, off white or beige.  And I do realize that cat hair is often considered a "specialty fiber", but I don't need that much of it here.  So these little tools are helping immensely!

I've made some progress on "Folk Eggs", completing another egg!  I'm enjoying the basic colors that are used in this chart, and the actual stitching on the dark fabric is still a breeze for me.  My photo doesn't do this project justice.  The colors are actually much warmer in person.

I thought I'd share a photo of Sheila's latest crafty adventure.  We bought the beads for these necklace kits when we went to the bead show a couple of weeks ago.  Here's her almost-finished product.  It just needs the clasp.  I'd say she did a very good job on it, wouldn't you?

Cosmo is doing fine on his new diet, and he will visit the vet this week for another glucose test.  At that time we shall see if diet alone will be enough and if we'll be able to discontinue the insulin shots for good.  That's what we're hoping for!

This week I'll be embarking on two non-stitching projects!  I hope to have some progress to share soon.  I'm also continuing my craft room organization - slowly - but it is getting done.