stash – On Beads and Needles

Jeremy Wade, You’re My Hero – an Update

In case you haven’t seen River Monsters on Animal Planet, Jeremy Wade goes all over the world, investigating stories that involve water creatures and usually someone’s mysterious demise or maiming. Wade is an extreme angler, and does not rest until he gets his fish. Not to mention, I am pretty sure he’s related to Johnny Quest’s Race Bannon:

What does that have to do with today’s post? No idea. Just thought I’d throw it out there 🙂 And the fact that we’ve had record rainfall over the last few days, which means there might be some local river monsters either loving it or hating it – you never know what you’re going to find in the ‘Hooch. And which also means, since there’s actually WATER in the lake, maybe I need to get a fishing license again this year, see if I can lose some gear to killer catfish. If DH can fit it into his busy weekends, of course. The 16 yo mentioned it a week ago, so he wants to go, too. Though, unlike him and his dad, I only like to fish when I’m catching – if I’m not, that’s time I could be spending stitching 🙂

When we saw the sun for a couple of hours on Tuesday (yes, that was the only day last week with actual SUNLIGHT – I tell you, it’s been looking a LOT like summer in OHIO here, including having to turn the furnace on again in MAY, just to get the damp out of the air), I went to see what was happening in the iris beds. I had a couple of new blooms, and will have more this week, I hope, if they survive the drenching.

I am still holding out hope that the dark purple one will bloom – it isn’t conceivable that of all the tubers I pitched during the Great Divide, that I didn’t manage to keep a single one of those. So while I wait to see what happens on the ones just now coming up, here’s an old picture of the one in question:

Yes, I am a bit preoccupied with the iris season… So moving on to the stitching bits, which I will start with an update on Amethyst Snowflake. Wasn’t feeling the 3371 Halloween thing on Thursday, so got Snowflake out instead, and now almost have the entire perle outlining done, which is good, because I need to put some COLOR on this soon – I have purple & green in the bag, so I know there WILL be color somewhere on it. Here it is so far:

Just Nan's Amethyst Snowflake, on 28ct Lilac linen - it IS Lilac, NOT grey. Seriously... — Just Nan’s Amethyst Snowflake, on 28ct Lilac linen – it IS Lilac, NOT grey. Seriously…

You know, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to use this lilac linen, or go with jobelan in Wood Violet, since I have never seen either in person; I had both on my Wish List at JJs, and chose the linen instead. Well, I saw a piece of the Wood Violet jobelan at Panda’s Crossing on Saturday, and now I wish I’d chosen it, because this would look amazing on that fabric – it’s just a shade or two deeper, so this white would have really been prettier on it, IMO. Oh well, too late now… This will be cool when I get some of the other stuff on it, just BORED with white perle border…

Speaking of Panda’s Crossing, the road trip on Saturday was GREAT! Ate too much, between Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and the manicotti at Pop’s Pizzeria after the stashfest, but that’s to be expected 🙂 The shop didn’t quite have the fiber selection that you could wish for, but they did have lots of wonderful things, and the bead side of the store was utterly ridiculous! And I didn’t even get any non-stitching beads, but if I want to kit up a Chatelaine’s beads again, in person for a change, I know where to go 🙂 As it was, I did some damage to TWO checking accounts with my Halloween & bead picks (I gotta stop looking at Halloween stuff. Really):

Beads & metallics all for various Joan Elliott kits, and then new charts, and a piece of Thyme jobelan for GP Pretty Pumpkins :) — Beads & metallics all for various Joan Elliott kits, and then new charts, and a piece of Thyme jobelan for GP Pretty Pumpkins 🙂

Heck, I liked the JBW piece so much, I’ve now bought it TWICE 🙂 I NEVER do that 🙁 But, it just jumped into my hand, I couldn’t help myself. Rest assured – this little pile is NOTHING compared to what a few others got – you know who you are 🙂 🙂 I think it’s safe to say the GA Gang made Panda’s Crossing’s day, possibly month 🙂 Though I do have to complain about all these shops always seeming to be out of stock on EXTRA TIME; what’s up with that?

So aside from Snowflakes and stashing, I spent the rest of the week plugging away on Samplar 4 Saisons, and now have all 5 colors in it! You can’t see much of the Winter color, just a sprinkle of stitches to represent snow – and I do hope I’ve chosen a thread with enough contrast from the colors in the tree, but won’t know until I get some solid motifs in in Ex. Flannel Dark. But so far, the Autumn color is working up great!

Anagram Diffusion's Samplar 4 Saisons, in HDF silk on 35ct HDF linen. Autumn is: Ex. Lily Tutters. — Anagram Diffusion’s Samplar 4 Saisons, in HDF silk on 35ct HDF linen. Autumn is: Ex. Lily Tutters.

I almost have this middle row of pages done, so I plan to keep this out this week, and see if I can do that, so will be working right to left. SO glad I have the summer tree done – man that’s a lot of stitching… Tonight, we have band awards, so I doubt I’ll get much, if any, done tonight. Hopefully the rest of the week will show some more progress on this. I think I will stop on this when I get this row done, but not really sure yet what’s screaming loudest to go next – Halloween Quaker, Skull Banner, or Chat Noir? Or none of the above… Happy Stitching to everyone this week!

This post was brought to you by the color PURPLE.

DST – Bah Humbug

Yep, it’s that time that I dread – move the clocks ahead an hour, for no apparent reason. I don’t understand how we save anything, if those of us who are up early have to turn on every light in the house to get ready in the morning, but don’t have to turn them on as early in the evening. Um, cutting an inch off the bottom of the blanket and sewing it to the top does not a longer blanket make; actually, if you take into account the seam allowance, it’s SHORTER (pretty sure I’ve said this before. Multiple times). And yeah, for those living in the SOUTH, on an average summer evening, my house is hovering around 80-85 degrees, WITH 2 A/Cs running non-stop. So by all means, I want to force myself to go to bed when it’s sweltering, instead of staying in bed for that hour before the big ball of flame comes back, when it has finally cooled off enough to let you sleep.

Bees & weeds, Oh Happy Spring! NOT SHOWN: The beginnings of the annual Pollen Dump :( — Bees & weeds, Oh Happy Spring! NOT SHOWN: The beginnings of the annual Pollen Dump 🙁

Yes, I AM cranky today. And? Stupid time change…. At least no one hit me or the dog when I had to walk them in the DARK this morning. There is no sane reason I am up before birds. None.

Bean asleep in the pampas - because sometimes, you just gotta sleep wherever and whenever... — Bean asleep in the pampas – because sometimes, you just gotta sleep wherever and whenever…

So anyway, last week was highly unproductive, stitch-wise, thanks to band stuff that cut needlessly into my time. I was SUPPOSED to see the steel drum band play on Thursday, but I missed them entirely because they were SUPPOSED to go on at 6, leaving me a few minutes to stop by IHOP and drop off a couple of things, but they got moved up to go on FIRST, so I watched a kid with a Chinese yo-yo, and what I assume was some kind of Native American dance, before I finally got my son’s text that they were done already. WTF? Glad the school doesn’t allow outgoing signals. So that evening, by the time we got home and cleaned up an entire Coke that exploded in my car, was a complete bust, when all I really wanted to do was sit & stitch with my friends at IHOP 🙁 Saturday was more band fun – our school hosted a SAPA event, which had the potential to provide a heap of crucial funds for the band program, so of course, they needed a heap of volunteers. Despite my better judgment, I signed up the Kid and me to do NOT concession stand. Which evolved into me standing in the gym for 6 hours, doing NOTHING. The last 3 hours of my shift, I had to hold up a QUIET sign, and keep people from exiting during performances. And had to watch Winter Guard performances, which, if you are into that kind of thing (I am NOT), might be cool, but after 3 hours of hearing flags and guns and swords hit the floor, along with all the thumping songs that were NOT Adele, my head was DONE. I had to go home and sleep for a few hours. I guess it was a great success. Don’t call me next year, I’m busy.

Daffy-dil - these bloomed a couple of weeks ago, but it won't stop raining long enough when I'm home to go out with the Canon... — Daffy-dil – these bloomed a couple of weeks ago, but it won’t stop raining long enough when I’m home to go out with the Canon…

So, all that said, the only stitching I did all week was on Mary Wigham, and I did get some decent progress on her. I have the majority of the middle row of pages done – I just have to get the small bits & pieces of overlap for the next row, and finish one large motif, and I am on the downhill side!

Mary Wigham, as of 3/10/13. Over-1 on 32ct French Country, using HDF silks in a random converison. Almost done with 6 of 9 parts.

One thing I have to mention – it is very hard to work on some charts that are broken up into parts, when a stitched area covers 2 parts, especially when the two different parts are not the SAME SIZE. For instance, this “LW” motif, with the little diamond things surrounding it is spread over 2 pages; but, the grid on one page (in the released pdf we were given) is a different size than the grid on the next page, so you can’t line up the sections and smoothly go from one page to the next. Talk about getting wall-eyed… I know, MW was a freebie, so I shouldn’t complain, and for those who would actually stitch those little areas that are mostly on another page as each part gets released, I guess it’s not that big of a deal. But trying to do it all at once, especially when using variegated floss that needs to flow naturally, and not show a definite stop from what was on Page 3 vs. what came out months later on Page 6, it’s a HUGE PITA. I assume that means that the pdf’d parts were not all generated at the same time (the entire chart made into a pdf, which would naturally fall into as many pages as needed), but each one individually. Maybe that’s how charts have to be published, so the grey overlap can be noted – but I haven’t seen this be this different on any other chart (and I do have a few in my experience 🙂 ). Meh, whatever, I’m getting through it, it just takes a bit longer to see what I’m looking at…

In other news, I did get the lighter shades of Carries that I ordered, and did make one sub on Plum Pudding – that blue was just too blue, so I subbed out the Moon Shadow for Fairy Dust, which is more muted, and I think fits in much nicer:

GP Plum Pudding floss toss - 28ct Sprite from PTP (though my piece is definitely GREY instead of purple), and my conversion from the DD to Carrie's silks - because Carrie has the most amazing array of purples :) — GP Plum Pudding floss toss – 28ct Sprite from PTP (though my piece is definitely GREY instead of purple), and my conversion from the DD to Carrie’s silks – because Carrie has the most amazing array of purples 🙂

Also, on Sunday, there was a field trip to an open house for a local online-only shop, Cross Stitch Felicity, who attended the Nashville Market and brought back some goodies. Jeanne survived the Crazy Cat Lady Experiment that was our local “shop”, and decided to open her own shop, online only, for now. So with all the Nashville goodies in had, she and her “staff” got a conference room at the Springhill Suites by the mall, and we went and did some damage 🙂

La-D-Da, Plum Street Samplers, and new to me, Scissor Tail Designs. And a new possible local framer :) I could have been very bad - but I left stuff for the others :) — La-D-Da, Plum Street Samplers, and new to me, Scissor Tail Designs. And a new possible local framer 🙂 I could have been very bad – but I left stuff for the others 🙂

So, while not a huge stitching week, it turned out to be pretty darn good. Sure wish I still had that hour at night to keep working on Mary Wigham – not looking forward to the crash when the time change really catches up to me this week, because it will, it always does 🙁 But give me a couple of weeks, and I’ll be my usual grumpy self 🙂 Which is why DH has been/will be hiding in the garage, working on the Bug again. Check back next week, see if I was able to stay awake long enough to accomplish anything! Happy Stitching!

Dummy doesn't like the time change, either- he doesn't like to pee in the dark, I guess... — Dummy doesn’t like the time change, either – he doesn’t like to pee in the dark, I guess…

Spring – it’s Murder!

And I don’t even know what the pollen is doing yet, though, being March and seeing trees and things blooming all over, despite the temps below freezing every night, I assume it’s about to explode. But more importantly, we seem to have a murder of crows who’ve taken over the neighborhood, enjoying the bread we threw out yesterday, but also making a racket from the tops of the tallest trees all around the house the last few days. It’s kind of Hitchcockian, I’m telling you…

2 of the 10 or so noisemakers inahbiting the trees in the backyard... — 2 of the 10 or so noisemakers inhabiting the trees in the backyard…

The week’s stitching was sporadic; we had a band event Monday night, the precursor to upcoming festival competition; I need to get the correct memory card for my Canon so I can record video, the Symphonic band did 3 numbers, and the Seal Lullaby was amazing. Fortunately, it’s on YouTube, if you want to hear the excellent trombone section 🙂 Or there is also Joy Revisited to hear, as well. On Tuesday, the house trombonist turned 16 – I will now embarrass him by posting his picture:

Cute, isn't he? And then he argues, sooo... — Cute, isn’t he? And then he argues, sooo…

So, by Wednesday, I was able to get some stitching out; Mary Wigham demands to be done, so that’s the current plan, though it would go better if the over-1 frog would stay away. What I put in Wednesday night had to come right back out – and it was red, so of course, I spent time getting all of the red fuzz off 🙁 But I then made some forward progress over the rest of the weekend:

Mary Wigham as of 3/3/13 - over-1 in 32ct Country French linen, using HDF silks in my own somewhat random conversion... — Mary Wigham as of 3/3/13 – over-1 in 32ct Country French linen, using HDF silks in my own somewhat random conversion…

I also made a bit of progress on the Desert Sands Sampler, though only a band and a half, though I AM past the 1/2 way mark already:

Desert Sand Sampler - this band in progress in #9 and the middle - the rest is a repeat of what's come before, in reverse order. — Desert Sand Sampler – this band in progress is #9 and the middle – the rest is a repeat of what’s come before, in reverse order.

In stashing news, I had 2 things arrive this week, the first being one that jumped into Liz’s cart at 123 Stitch – you know I had to have this one, Just Nan Amethyst Snowflake, already kitted on Lavender Bliss and ready to go:

Just Nan Amethyst Snowflake - because it's purple and has BEADS :) — Just Nan Amethyst Snowflake – because it’s purple and has BEADS 🙂

And then, I converted the Dinky Dyes silks for GP Plum Pudding to Carrie’s silks, because, well, I like Carries <that much> better than DD, and she has GREAT purples. I did this conversion purely from a computer screen, so I think it looks pretty darn good:

Carrie's Creations silks, my conversion for the Dinky Dyes silks called for for GP Plum Pudding. — Carrie’s Creations silks, my conversion for the Dinky Dyes silks called for for GP Plum Pudding.

I HAVE ordered a couple more colors, lighter in shade in the blue/pink colors, just in case I need a lighter tone to tie everything together – I knew the Carries would be quite a bit more vibrant than it looks online, so I want to have a couple of other choices, should I need them 🙂 I may also switch out a bead or two, I’ll see when I actually sit down to work on it. My PTP Sprite fabric that I ordered is actually GREY, instead of the purple it is supposed to be – that’s almost the same disappointment I had with the Silkweaver Frenzy that I ordered for Boo! Club years ago (not sure what the deal is when I special-order a purple fabric, but it never matches the one I already have in that stash that I can’t use for size/count – I don’t have this issue with any other color I order). But like Boo! Club, meh, whatever, I’ll make it work; having these almost electric colors on it will probably work entirely in my favor 🙂

Two more of the cawing blackbirds... — Two more of the cawing blackbirds…

So, nothing much for plans this week, other than keeping on with MW and inching her towards done. I need to go look at paint colors, too, and start planning the Great Paint Weekend ’13 🙁 I also need to think about getting Knotgarden framed, now that I have a place to hang it, over my new server; it’s so nice to have freed up all that wall space by getting rid of the old hutch, though I do miss seeing my china every day 🙂 When I get things pulled together, and the walls painted, I’ll take pictures 🙂 On that note, Happy Stitching – and if you watch The Following, this week’s theme ought to sound vaguely familiar 🙂

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming. And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted---nevermore! — And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!