By The Bay – Page 2 – On Beads and Needles

October 21st? ALREADY? Jeez….

This month has FLOWN by – and in some respects, I have NOTHING to show for it. In others:

This was just the first big pick - I've still got 30-40 out there, trying to survive the frosts (weeks early this year) to ripen... — This was just the first big pick – I’ve still got 30-40 out there, trying to survive the frosts (weeks early this year) to ripen…

Work is chaos, as usual; lots of moving parts, lots and lots of e-mails that no one can keep up with, and very little forward progress. But it is what it is, I guess. I just wish I had some help; it seems that a lot of people have decided that they don’t have to worry about being accurate because I can fix anything they mess up. But that seems to be ALL I am doing, to the detriment of my actual work, which I can’t get to at all some days. My frustration level continues to grow – and no relief whatsoever in sight. The more I ask people to step up, the greater they slack. At some point, it’s really not going to be worth my time anymore – life is too short to spend 10 hours a day herding squirrels….

Hot Air Balloon Festival this past weekend :) — Hot Air Balloon Festival this past weekend 🙂

In stitching news, there’s not a lot to show this time, as I spent a week working on my Christmas exchange piece – the stitching is done, now I can spend a couple of weeks thinking about finishing. Before I started that, though, I did complete another week on Ink Circles’ Anatolia, and completed the row I was on the last update:

Anatolia on 32ct cream linen, using Carrie's cottons. — Anatolia on 32ct cream linen, using Carrie’s cottons.

I’ve seen this done on several rather striking fabrics – a red, a burnt orange, and a dark blue. But I am quite happy with my “plain” fabric, so you can really see the colors in Carrie’s Threads shift and change. And as some of these colors have multiple skeins (one of them has 32 yards!), there’s going to be a LOT of thread in it some day 🙂

My By the Bay Summer Cove didn’t see any action last week, but I did make a bit more progress on the Giant Green 734 leaves the week before – getting closer to those sheep:

Please ignore wrinkles & shadows - and I fixed a tiny leaf that apparently I didn't bother to notice was the wrong color last time... — Please ignore wrinkles & shadows – and I fixed a tiny leaf that apparently I didn’t bother to notice was the wrong color last time…

And, because, you know, sometimes I can’t help myself, I was FORCED to get out my pile of Prairie Schooler kits and start a small one, one night when I was too tired to think about the other projects I was supposed to be working on. In my defense, I did finally poke holes in my walls (been 2 years since I painted, I guess they aren’t “new” anymore), and hung all of my Halloween things up. And every night at dinner, I look over at the 3 PS pieces I have framed, and well, the 3371 called my name, and I started the extra piece on the back of When Witches Go Riding:

When Witches Go Riding back cover piece - on 28 ct Lambswool jobelan, using 3371! — When Witches Go Riding back cover piece – on 28 ct Lambswool jobelan, using 3371!

Since it’s square, I think it’ll be a flat fold one day… And that’s all I can show for the last couple of weeks. The next pick from Ye Old Project Randomizer, which I got out last night, is:

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So check back in a couple of weeks (or, whenever I get around to posting again), and see if I manage to get anywhere on this one! I did pretty well the few days I had this out at the beginning of the year, but I wasn’t as tired then as I am right now 🙂 Until then, Happy Stitching!

Autumn Greetings – an Update

Ahhh, finally – my favorite time of year, and not a minute too soon! Of course, in our current weather pattern, it’s brought nothing but rain and overcast; granted, not like what South Carolina has gotten the last couple of days, but when you get one day of sun in every 8, it gets old, here in the “sunny south”. I moved down here to get away from this stuff. But, they tell me the Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow!

annie-tomorrow

In stitching news, first off, the PINS group’s Halloween Exchange was 2 weekends ago, and it was GREAT FUN! I have to say, I was quite spoiled by my friend Tricia, who made me THIS little piece of Awesome:

This was the piece I made for Jackie, which I finished into a cube:

From one of the JCS Special Edition Halloween books - Amy Brueken Designs maybe? Don't hold me to that, I may be way off, and am not digging it back out now... — From one of the JCS Special Edition Halloween books – designed by F. Uyan of Turquoise Graphics. On 28ct Primitive from Silkweaver.

Everybody made such wonderful things! I can’t wait for the Christmas Exchange (now that I have FINALLY decided which one I’m doing – I have about 6 weeks to get crackin’). Fun, fun stuff 🙂

In other stitching news, I worked another week on Faerie Winter Dream, and instead of beads, I got to the first metallic in the wings. There are 2 colors of metallic, but holy crap are they close – it’ll probably show up when I step away (when I get the 2nd one in), but the two spools side by side were nearly indistinguishable… If I’d had another week, she’d have had some beads 🙂

Nora's Faerie Winter Dream on 28ct linen, Winter Solstice from Stephanie's Fabrics. — Nora’s Faerie Winter Dream on 28ct linen, Winter Solstice from Stephanie’s Fabrics.

The next pick from the Project Randomizer was…:

ProjectRandomizer_pic14

And here is one week’s worth on this – LOVE these Carrie’s Threads!

Ink Circles' Anatolia, Carrie's Threads on 32ct cream linen. — Ink Circles’ Anatolia, Carrie’s Threads on 32ct cream linen. This is the entire width of the piece now…

Lastly, the travel bag’s BtB Summer Cove is also moving along, though I do have to admit that 734 is fast becoming my not-favorite green – but I AM closer to SHEEP 🙂

By the Bay Summer Cove, on 28ct jobelan. I got to my needle minder – good stopping place, I guess 🙂

And that’s the highlights of the last couple of weeks. Other than that, same stuff, different day. 1o hour days are getting old at the job, especially since it’s nothing more than a lot of spinning my wheels and getting nowhere – but I guess you just go through that from time to time. The vacation recharge didn’t quite last as long as I’d hoped 🙁 So while I wait for the holiday break – which, since I have seniority AND vacation days in spades, I will be taking – I have to just remember….

It's a CRAB! (said in Adm. Ackbar's voice) — It’s a CRAB! (said in Adm. Ackbar’s voice)

Until next time, Happy Stitching, and Happy Fall!

Equinox Eve – an Update

P1110770

The leaves aren’t changing yet, but it’s coming. Soon. It seems like I’ve seen a lot of birds gearing up for their southern journeys already; the hummingbirds are in full FOOD mode around the feeders:

We had a couple of glorious days at the beach – a storm had just blown through the day we arrived, but when it cleared out, we had 2 full days of nothing but sun and surf. Well, actually, not much surf the first day – it was flat calm. I had to wait a day to even get this:

I’ve never been to the Gulf in September – highly recommended (if hurricane season cooperates) – still warm, and the crowds are MUCH lighter 🙂 I have been to Myrtle Beach in the fall – not as nice as the Gulf…

In stitching news, I finished up on Celtic Banner the night before we left – I did not take any projects to the beach, just a book, which I hardly opened (40 pages in 3 days – much more doing NOTHING and taking pictures while walking). I didn’t get a whole lot further than last shown – but I am around the half-way mark or better on page 3 of 4:

MLI's Celtic Banner on 36ct Days Gone By. — MLI’s Celtic Banner on 36ct Days Gone By.

Another rotation on that ought to see me move to the last page, with luck. As long as I’ve had it in process, it may be on my MUST FINISH list for next year….

My next pick from the Project Randomizer was:

ProjectRandomizer_pic13

Still not digging the mix of Caron Wildflowers w/regular DMC, either in the same blended stitch or next to each other – but I know it’ll all pull together when I get the zillion shiny beads on 🙂 I finally got to skin Sunday; I had thought to do it all over-1 for the finer detail – but after putting the first 2 colors in, I bothered to notice that one of the colors used was yet another blend – which I am NOT doing over-1 – so out the skin came, and I started over (much quicker, I might add) over-2. I am really ready to get some beads on this though – the threads are so close to the fabric, finding the holes in the darker areas is going to be a challenge. I don’t know if I’ll get to them this week, or not – I may not be able to wait 🙂

Faerie Winter Dream by Nora Corbett. On 28ct Winter Solstice from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. A tonne of MH Magnificas to come, as well as some Swarovski bling & MH treasures :) — Faerie Winter Dream by Nora Corbett. On 28ct Winter Solstice from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. A tonne of MH Magnificas to come, as well as some Swarovski bling & MH treasures 🙂

My travel bag did see some progress at IHOP last week, and many bits to BtB Summer Cove magically appeared:

By the Bay's Summer Cove on a 28ct jobelan. — By the Bay’s Summer Cove on a 28ct jobelan.

I also hit up a Labor Day Sale at Cross Stitch Felicity, and got a few new From Nancy’s Needle canvaswork charts, and my first of the SW Santa ornies from Mill Hill that I have wanted since they were released:

HAD to have the two pieces w/sunflowers :) — HAD to have the two pieces w/sunflowers 🙂

And that’s the news on the stitching front. I will continue on Faerie this week, and Summer Cove at IHOP and our September PINS on Saturday, where we are also having a Halloween ornie exchange; I will post the piece I made, and what I receive, next time – I can’t wait to see what everyone has made! Until next time, I’ll leave you with Scenes from the Coast….