Why Yes I Do Love Things Over The Top

I realized Wednesday while doing the finishing on this...

 that I really do like things a little over the top, tricked out, "totally MacDaddy'd out" (as one friend recently said about my little snow bunny ornament). I had decided I didn't want to frame this piece so I collected all sorts of lovely ribbons and flowers and stuff, including this sweet little beaded bird

thinking that maybe I'd use some of it, ok all of it, to decorate my cube-it. And decorate is what I did.

May your day be bright and cheerful and just a little over the top!

A Weekend Retreat

I went a long way for this one, all of 9 miles from my house to Camp Blanding. Camp Blanding is the FL National Guard training facility, both for Army National Guard and Air Force National Guard. They also do a lot of other types of training for law enforcement. It's located on Kingsley Lake, where as a teen I spent many a summer day at either Stricklands or Kingsley both public access to the lake. It's a beautiful area and the facilities were excellent. You can read more over at DF Jackie's blog where she has some great shots of the lake and the room and a whole lot more about the weekend than I should write at this late date.

I will show you some pretty pictures though to distract you from the fact that I took FOREVER to write this post.

This is what my Linen book looked like before it was all put together and aged. I did have to finish stitching it when I arrived on Friday so I spent most of the day doing that...as well as eating and talking to people, some of whom I hadn't seen in a few years. I'm not normally a "primitives" person, but I love how this piece has turned out.

Next is the finished product...

Front, back and the inside. The pattern called for an inside pocket, but I had the pretty mother of pearl hearts you see here and decided I'd rather sew them into the inside and use it as a project book.


Jackie also wanted to learn some finishing techniques for ornaments. Now, I've got plenty of items that need to be finished, and my plenty I mean too many, so I thought this would be a good idea, a way to get caught up on my finishing. So I got all my finishing together, put it all in separate bags with everything I'd need, plus I packed a box full of some of my ribbons just in case we might need them. And here's what I accomplished.

I finished my needlepoint snow bunny ornament. That is all. Now mind you, I went a little overboard on the finishing and totally "mac daddy'd it out", but still. And to top it all off I ended up stitching the cording on after I got home. Still I love it! I loved stitching this piece and I love how the finishing turned out.

The only other thing I worked on a lot while I was gone was mom & dad's anniversary piece. I'll leave you with a picture of how it looked when we left Sunday afternoon. It is further along now and getting even closer to being done. Based on a number of things mom has said I'm not going to have a party for them after all. She would rather go on a cruise, so we'll do that once she's feeling all better from the mono. I'll just finish this and then give it to them when it's framed and explain why it's late.

Getting some Christmas Spirit

My DF Jill is hunting for some Christmas spirit. Not sure where she should look, but maybe seeing some pictures of ornaments that I've finished lately will help her out.

First, the knitted ornaments...The top one is the "funky" one I spoke about in a previous post. The picture is a bit blurry, sorry. The 2nd one I finished last night while watching "Ballykissangle" on DVD. (Sigh, I want to live in a great little Irish village like that, where you get to wear great sweaters way more then you do here.) I think I've decided to take both with me and see which one my aunt thinks I should use for the exchange. These are both from the same pattern found in "Holiday Knits" a beautiful book just to browse through and admire the pictures. I haven't tried other patterns from it, but have a few on my list.

Next my two latest stitched finishes...This was a class I took years ago from JBW Designs. It's canvas work and although you can't really tell it's more fuchsia then red. The back is a piece of fuchsia fabric, that's why I didn't take a picture, it's really plain. This is another of those things that I finished stitching YEARS ago, but never completed the finishing.This is "A Bird's Carol" from the 2006 JCS ornament issue. I stitched this for the exchange I participate in and finally managed to get the finishing done. After some work I think it turned out fairly well. The back is the same fabric as the ruffle.

Well that's it. Still no pictures of the blue & gold tree. Maybe I'll leave you with that before I head to my short vacation.

Finishes, answers and a picture or two

First the answer. Annemiek asked about contacting Betsy Morgan concerning the "All Year Cubed" kit. I actually don't have information for Betsy. I thought I did, but apparently she's moved. There has to be a way to contact her though, since she is still teaching. If I find out anything I'll be sure to post and answer.

Now, on to finishes and pictures. I only have pictures of a finish I managed last week.This is called "Holiday Ornament No.1" from Suzann Miller. It was a class at ASG many years ago. All I remember as far as dates go is that Suzann taught one of the first couple of years. There's the back of the piece. You stitch it as one large square, then when you fold it just the right way and put it together you get this. I think this was one of my first forays into canvas work. It has cording, very long cording I might add because I am the worlds worst cording maker. I either make it too long or too short. Oh well, it works.

Tonight I stitched the cording on to another canvas work ornament from yet another class that I took in the 90's. I don't have a picture of that yet. It's very pretty, now that it's all sewn, stuffed and finished. It's even hanging on the tree.

Last night I finished a knitted ornament. I may take it with me to WV for the ornament exchange on Sunday. I may not. I love it, but it is kind of funky (again no picture yet). So today while I was out I bought some red wool yarn to make a plain ornament and I'll decorate it with floss and maybe some beads. It's at least 1/2 knitted, they take almost no time!

I kept thinking that I must have a pair of US size 5 DPNs somewhere in my stash. That's the size the pattern for the knitted ornaments calls for. The funky one I made worked fine with a pair of size 6's, and I'm doing the red on in a 6, but I'm not convinced it will work well. (I may resort to a little felting/fulling to keep the stuffing from coming out.) Anyway, I went looking tonight in my knitting bag and realized that I was using the size 5's for the 1st practice sock in the new Cat Bordhi sock book. (BTW, if you knit and you knit socks, you should own this book. It's so cool.) So I pull the sock out and figure out I've got less then 10 rows and this sock is finished. That's nothing, why did I stop? It's a baby sock for Pete's sake! So, I finished it. That's 1 pair of baby socks complete. Now I need someone to have a baby boy, since they are navy blue.

That about covers it. I had another nice day. Watched a little football, eat leftovers and even managed to hit a couple of stores, but not until the afternoon. I didn't really buy much either. A few things in the Target $1 bins for my little cousins. Weird.

Yes, these are old finishes...

...but they are finally framed. Hence they get some blog space. (Well that and I'm tired and the whole nor'eastern storm thing always puts me off doing much of anything except sleep. And yes, I realize what time it is, I'm getting to bed soon!)

On to the eye candy.

This would be Charm Garden. Don't ask me when I finished it, it was several years ago. It's by Just Nan and all those lovely charms just set the whole thing off.

The every lovely Beach Roses, also by Just Nan.

(The cup is from some dishware I traded my paternal grandmother for. She got a set of Corelle, I got her very lovely 1930's dishes. She thought I was crazy, I think I got the best of the deal.)

Finally Last Stitches by, you guessed it, Just Nan. (I didn't mean for this to be an all JN posting, but it kind of happened that way.) I did actually put the last stitch of this piece in on Dec. 31, 1999. How said is it that it's been setting, unframed for that long. Well not as sad as the part where I confess that I also put stitches in "First Stitches" on Jan. 1, 2000 and that's all that's ever been done on that piece, that's sad...really, really sad.

I love them all, but I have to say a special "Thank You" to the wonderful Vicky B. She did all the stretching and framing for me. I bought the frames you see on Last Stitches and Charm Garden when I was visiting in July. The problem was I didn't have the stitched pieces to leave with her so they got sent with DF Jill when she came for the FSU-'Bama game in Sept. By that time I couldn't remember if I got the gold frame for Charm Garden or Beach Roses, they are almost the same stitched size, so I sent both with Jill with the instruction for Vicky to put whichever one looked best in her opinion. When she got them she thought she had the perfect frame for Beach Roses, so she just framed it and told me if I didn't like I could send it back and she's take it apart. First of all, Vicky is a very talented stitcher and finisher and has wonderful taste, so I had no doubt I'd love what she'd done. I was right! Isn't it lovely?!?!

Now I just have to figure out where to hand these pieces. I'm thinking of starting a "JN" wall. I'll let you know what I decide.

Yes, my camera does work

I've been promising pictures of my finishes. I kept saying I was actually accomplishing something, but you were just having to take me at my word. For all you know, I could have been sipping margarita's by the pool, if I had a pool, which I don't, but I could have been just drinking. But I really was working on finishing, as crazy as that sounds and as much as I'm more about the starting and not the finishing, or even the completing of the stitching for that matter. Now you have proof that I did stop stitching and knitting long enough to make ornaments, or at least something that can pass for ornaments. That being said, I'm not the best at finishing. I can, and I do on occasion, but I'd much rather stitch. So without further chit-chat and digression....
Ta-da! Can't remember the name of this ornament, but do know it was in the 2006 JCS Ornament issue. It was one I had to stitch for the exchange I'm in. I finished it as a stand-up. It can be hung as well, but I have a feeling I'll sit it at the base of my tree. I'll probably do some more like this as time goes on, Like small packages around the tree with the stitched ornaments. I think it will be a cool look.

This is Silver & Gold, also from the 2006 JCS Ornament issue. I love how this one turned out and can't wait to do the other 2. There was one before this one and one in the issue that just came out. They are a set and have to do with the song "Do You Hear What I Hear", which has always been special to my family and especially my mom. That may be why she liked this one so well. Anyway, the back is finished with this lovely deep red/brown velvet and I used a really pretty braided trim that is white and gold around the edges. I only bought enough trim for this one ornament. At the time I had no idea it was the 2nd of 3. Really, people should tell you up front they're doing a series, then I can plan accordingly. I want them all finished the same, so I've got to get back to JoAnn's to get more trim. I've got plenty of the velvet.
Last but not least, the Roly-poly Snowman. This was my "surprise" ornament that I stitched for the exchange. I love how he looks. Used some pretty cotton quilting fabric on the back, kind of plain, and then made some twisted cord from some Perle cotton in blue and white. I found out that making a round stuffed ornament is not very easy. It looks pretty good, but I think many sins are hidden by the cording.

So, that's what I've been up to the last couple of days. Well that and work and other stuff. Unfortunately tomorrow morning I'll be at a funeral. A friends mother died a couple of days ago after suffering with cancer. I didn't know Cheri's mom, but Cheri is a very special lady and friend. I'm going so she'll know we care. Then I hope to be able to finally get my long sleeve shirts out of storage so I can decide what to take with me next week. Lots to do, lots to do. Hopefully I can get the important stuff finished.

Monday, Monday

I knew it was Monday by the way I felt when I woke up. It didn't get any better either, but that's neither here nor there and is not at all why you read my blog or anyone elses, so I won't dwell.

I wish I had a lot to tell you about all the lovely stitching and knitting I did this weekend, but I don't. I did knit on my Lyton cardi on the way to Tallahassee to see my Seminoles win another football game. My friend Sharon and I went over. Sharon's daughter, Anna is at FSU again this year. She's doing well there and is beginning to really get into being "at college". We took her to lunch before the game and did a little shopping at Bill's Bookstore. The game was fun, even with the 49 minute delay due to storms in the area that had lightening. We waited it out and I'm glad. I have this thing about leaving a football game before the clock has "double zeros". The drive back wasn't too bad, we kept ourselves awake talking and listening every once in awhile to the LSU-Gator game on the radio. Arrived home in time to see if LSU really had scored a touchdown to win the game in the last minute. There's really nothing as exciting as college football! Especially if you grew up in the south.

Sunday I worked on a little piece I hope to have done for my aunt's Christmas present. Not sure if I've mentioned it before and I'm sure I haven't taken a picture. Must do that. It's a fun, easy piece from Silver Needle. It was the Secret Needle Night piece from May 2006 and was a birthday present from my DF Vicky. I never get these kits, but I'm always intrigued by them. They always are so cute and seem to have such great fibers in them. Plus they look like they'd stitch up fairly quickly. This one sure has. I figured it went with this month's theme, since it's supposed to be a gift.

The only other news is about my hand. I think I am developing some arthritis in my right hand. This is especially bad since I'm right handed. I'm trying not to let it keep me from stitching or knitting or other things, but it's a little painful. I don't think all the rain last week has helped. I've taken some OTC meds and that has helped some. Hopefully it will go away for awhile. Doesn't it realize I have a stitching weekend coming up very soon????

Jill has suggested, after seeing the bag of stitched items that I really do need to do finishing for, that I should declare Tuesday's as finishing night until further notice. Tuesday's has been ornament night. I'm not sure I want it to not be ornament night. But I also want to have these ornaments finished so they'll look pretty on my little tree. Last year it was nice, but it would look FANTASTIC with even more ornaments. I'll see how I feel tomorrow and let you know.