What Happens When You Take a Day Off

I took yesterday off because it was kindergarten registration day and I seemed to recall it took a long time to register Eva so I figured it would take twice as long to register 2 kids. That wasn't really true, but it was still a good reason to take a day off work.



I had pulled out my Mirabilia charts to decide what pattern I wanted to do for my round robin and decided since she was so treasure intensive I should do Blossom Harvest, but as I started pondering the chart I decided that perhaps I needed to rethink restarting it. I had started it in the past but didn't like how it was coming out. It was on 28 ct natural linen (this was in the dark days before hand dyed linen) and with all that white thread it wasn't looking good.



So I woke up yesterday with a bad case of startitis and a whole day off, minus the registration time. I pulled out Blossom Harvest and damn it all to hell I didn't have any fabric that was working! It was 8 am. I decided Marjean should be up at that time of the morning but she didn't answer her phone. Then I called Kaye told her to get her ass out of bed because I needed fabric! Isn't it great to have stitchy friends so close by? And Kaye came through. She had a lovely piece of Sugar Maple Fabric Abracadabra. We had a lovely afternoon of stitching and I got a good start on Blossom Harvest.

Rant

The exclamation is "Voila!". It's French. It's not Walla or Wal-la or Wall-a or whatever other bastardization I've seen over the years. It's a V people!

HAED Attempt

As for what I'm stitching now, I started Butterfly Keeper from HAED. I've never done one before and thought it was time to take up the challenge. I was doing pretty well. Until I found a section that was off. DAMN! And it was black thread on white fabric. DOUBLE DAMN! I was not a happy camper. I had to put it away for a couple of days. I finally snipped it out last night.

In the meantime I was working on the frames for the next Mirabilia RR. Yes, another one. I'm a sucker for punishment. LOL This one will go well. Missy has commanded it. Plus, I think we're all pretty sensitive to what happened last time. I have a beeeeautiful Silkweaver solo. I've been stitching them out and figuring out how to make it "shimmer induced" without making it too terribly tacky.

Venetian Opulence Finished!!

After about 3 1/2 months VO is finished. I'm having issues with the pictures. I used my dad's camera and I'm not too skilled with it, it's one of those uber professional things and I'm used to like a throw away kind. I did actually iron it, but I took the pictures outside on a towel and the towel wouldn't lay flat. It's stitched on 32 ct. Rock Quarry opalescent linen from Silkweaver which is unfortunately kind of washed out in these pictures.

I found that I needed approximately 4 skeins of 3771...like 3 1/2 at least. 2 skeins 869 and 680. I also used exactly a full skein of 814 so if you're a floss waster or stitching on 28 ct. fabric you might need two of those. I got away with one pack of the 3037 beads but there were exactly 2 beads leftover. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Now I need to get it framed!

Birthday

Well the girls have wrapped up birthday week. They had a blast and were spoiled rotten by everyone. I loved this pic and thought it pretty much summed up everything

I know it's been awhile...

I've been stitching and stitching and stitching LOL Actually, most of my time was taken up by the fact that everyone in the family took turns being sick this month so that someone was pretty much sick for the entire month of March. Eva started softball this month as well. Stitching at the park didn't go so well, it'll be better when it's not so windy.

To make everyone who has known me since the twins were born feel old....their birthday is tomorrow....and they'll be 5 years old! I really didn't think I'd last that long with 3 kids. Early on I was pretty sure I was going to be committed.

My goal was to finish VO by today, but I didn't make that goal. If I'm persistent, hopefully only a few more days.

And if you're still reading...there's some discussion on getting another Mirabilia RR started over on the Round Robin board.

VO Update

Russian Peacock....again!

Remember that Russian Peacock I did awhile back? Well I managed to get the manufacturer. It's Riolis. Check out their site, they have some nice patterns/kits. However, I don't see any distributers listed. I contacted the ebay seller to order another kit for me...and she said she would...so yay! That makes me happy.

Need Some Wisdom

A thread in my fabric (on Venetian Opulence) got cut some how. It's just one thread, but it's in a spot where it's not going to be covered with stitching and it's not going to be covered by the mat. It's too close to the actual stitching. So far it's not doing anything. Just sitting there behaving. Is there any kind of glue or something that I could apply to the back to keep the threads in place? I was considering some acid free tape, just a little piece. I don't know, any ideas?

Lauren's L

I started this Wednesday or Thursday and finished up this afternoon. Stitched on 32 ct. Lemon Zest Lugana from Silkweaver. I made some modifications to the pattern. And I'll pass along the pattern to the first person to email me saying they want it. ***it's spoken for****

True Blue Heart

I have a used chart of Just Nan's True Blue Heart that I'm willing to send to whoever wants to give it a good home. I've used the little flower and heart charms that came with it, but there are a few left over clear beads that I'll send along. Just shoot me an email at autumn.crochet@gmail.com and it'll be first come first serve.

Round Robin Goodness

I finally got my act together and finished Kaye's Mirabilia RR.

Here's a pic of her entire RR

And here's Shannon's Band Sampler RR so far...

And another VO update

Jeans Rant

Why is buying jeans soooo difficult? And why is there no consistency is sizing. Like size A might fit fine in one pair, be waaaay too big in another and too small in another. So frustrating. I'm 5'6". Petite jeans are way too short. Average length used to be just fine. Now I find they're way too long. And it seems like the only choices are like the skinny jeans (which would look utterly ridiculous on me) and bootcut or flare leg. Whatever happened to just plain ole straightish leg? I've been wearing Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and I'm down to one pair. After trying to find something else I went back to GV. Since I bought the old pairs I've gained like 20 lbs, yuck, but anyway...I ended up having to buy a size smaller and they're still a little TOO big. Vanity sizing has gotten a little out of hand I think. And well, I felt like I needed to indulge a bit in some more trendy type jeans and bought some Silver brand jeans. I had forgotten how nice designer jeans can feel. Like buttah.

Nashville Market

I was bad. I ordered a lot. Most of the Just Nans...most of the Sweetheart Trees...and some other things LOL "Some other things" encompasses more than I wish to divulge. In short, I should have a large stash delivery sometime soon hopefully.

More VO

I got tired of stitching all that brown arch area so I rewarded myself with some below the fold stitching. I think the bottom half of the dress will probably take forever.

And check out my finger. I woke up with it like that yesterday. It looks a lot worse in person LOL I suspect it's fractured, but I don't know what I did to it. I've fractured and/or broken multiple fingers multiple times. But it's straight and I can bend it at the knuckle and it really doesn't hurt unless I touch it so I'll just watch it for now.

More Mardi Gras Ball Pics

There's some of me in this one. Please over look my flat hair and the fact that I might have been a wee bit tipsy by the time those pictures were taken.

Mardi Gras Ball

I went to my first Mardi Gras Ball Saturday night for the Krewe of Excalibur. It was SO much fun. There's only one picture of me in this set of pictures and that was before I was dressed up (2nd pic). My mom was one of the Maids this year so she had tables to decorate and that's what I'm doing in those pictures. Here's a couple of her in the costume she wore for the Ball and this is what she will be wearing in the Parade. The feathers and all of that are all part of the costure, it's not a back drop. She keeps it all except the feather part which goes to a museum or something.

As a bit of FYI, they are the Krewe of Excalibur and their theme this year was Camelot. Each of the maids represented a song from the movie Camelot. Their costumes are reflective of the song they represent. My mom's was Remember Me or something like that LOL I'm a terrible daughter for not remembering. I'm pretty sure I'm going to join the Krewe for next year's parade. I've really enjoyed all the events I've gone to and the people I've met. It's expensive to join, but I'll figure all that out later LOL

Oh and here's my dad. The sight of him dressed up like that was really shocking LOL That's what he will wear in the parade plus a mask and hat.

VO Update

Isn't she so pretty?? I'm going to have to redo the backstitching on her hand...looks a little freaky. So far I haven't made any changes other than I gave her an eyeball, it was just charted flesh color and that would have looked really freaky...and I plumped up her eyelashes. I've really enjoyed stitching on this. It's really gotten me back into stitching finally!

Venetian Opulence

Well, I was feeling pretty good about my progress until I started taking some pictures. Now I'm depressed LOL I started Wednesday evening and this is my progress as of this morning. It's stitched on 32 ct. Silkweaver Rock Quarry opalescent linen.

Christmas was good, New Years was good. That's about all there is to say about that. I've been stitching somewhat obsessively on Venetian Opulence since Wednesday. Hope to post a pic soon...