July Activity

I really was planning on writing every week since it was summer.  But the best laid plans of mice and men....  I didn't get to do what I wanted.  So here is what I did all summer.  I worked on the last plastic canvas seasonal stickup.  Bridget had cut the guy out for me but I hadn't finished him.  So, I worked on him and finished him on July 4th at almost midnight.  I think he turned out pretty cute.  I used the smaller version and a couple of pictures online to create the one I stitched.  You can't see but the entire back of the guy was stitched in blue.  Then I put two yellow Rhode stitches for the buttons.  I was thinking that Uncle Sam usually has on a coat with tails, so I stitched it that way.  That same weekend, I put the spots on Theron's Yoshi egg.  I thought he wanted light blue but he choose royal blue instead.   Now I need to crochet his Yoshi amigurumi.  The first full week of July I participated in Vacation Bible School.  We had a great time.  Only a total of 10 children showed for the week with 6 coming every day.  Our theme was "Mighty Kingdom".  The kids had a great time painting, gluing and putting stickers on things. 

As for my crafting and stitching I worked a lot on stitching and some on crocheting.  First up is my Rose of Sharon.  The progress you see is from June.  I was at Jennifer's house early in the month stitching on it. As you can see, I was working one color at a time (which is kind of difficult for this pattern).  The lower front section of the dress that is a few rows, I had to take out and put back in.  Because this is such a color changing pattern, I made a copy of the chart to highlight my progress.  Well, I decided to try to fill in the areas rather than run one color down the full length of the pattern.  So, I was highlighting my progress on this pattern when I dropped my bright pink highlighter on the dress.  I had to pull out a small section of thread.  Then, use a Tide pen on the fabric to remove the color.  And, finally restitch the area.  I was so upset, I almost threw it away.  I didn't but I can still see the slight pink area on the dress.  My friends say that they can't see it.  I hope they are right.

Next up is the Tiramisu.  I am behind again.  In June, I finished April and May's band.  I still have to finish June and July's band.  June's band has two colors and is about as wide as May's band.  July's band is a single color and about the size of the second band.  August starts tomorrow so I need to get busy.  I love blackwork; it is very easy to stitch but you have to follow the pattern carefully.  I chose to stitch it using several shades of one color, orange.  I signed up for this class though EGA twice but didn't get enough finished to turn it in to be evaluated.  Now I hope to finish it by December.   I look at the pattern and think man this is going to be hard and a lot of work.  But, when I start, the stitching goes really fast.  I just have to make myself sit down and work on it.  I think I will work on this today.


As you know from my previous post, my mother had found several projects that she started but hadn't finished.  I started with the ones that were nearly finished.  So here they are.  One was the Hip Hop pattern and the others were seasonal kitchen towels.  The Hip Hop pattern, Mom had stitched the letters A through N and part of the rabbit.  I finished it quickly once I figured out where I made my mistake.  She is very happy with the results.  She had me put both of our initials on the fabric. The first towel was the gingerbread people.  My mother was stitching it for my sister Bridget.  The gingerbread people were nearly finished.  I finished them and the border.  The jingle bells towel I'm not sure is finished.  I finished outlining the words but we couldn't find the pattern.  The Thanksgiving towel, I finished the border, added the g on the end, and outlined the words.  My mom gave Bridget her towel and put the other two away.




 




    

As you know, my sisters, Jennifer and Bridget, our friend Theresa, and I attended the stitching retreat at Silver Needle.   We drove up to Tulsa for the weekend (a 11 - 12 hour trip).  The week before I had gotten my contacts and tried to wear them.  I burned my eyes with the cleaning solution (I didn't realize that you were suppose to wait after using the solution before putting them in your eyes).  My eyes were horrible.  I had to wear sunglasses all the time and when I walked the wind hurt my eyes.  They are better now but still slightly light sensitive.  Anyway, Jennifer help me finish the JABC pumpkin with our buttons on it so we could display it on our table.  It turned out adorable.  Sharon from Chicago (she sat with us this year and last year) said that it made her want to finish her pattern the same way.

While we were at the retreat we had a great time meeting Amy Bruecken and Miranda Weeks.  Even though I am allergic to wool, I had a great time dying the wool and making the project.  While stitching, the girls and I played a sort or game.  We all brought 10 projects along to stitch on.  Every hour we would draw a chip out of cup.  The chips were numbered 1 to 10 or 3 chips had words on them.  The words were "seriously" which meant the person who drew the chip picked the project, "awesome" which meant take a snack break, and "yeah yeah" which meant shopping for an hour.  When you look at what I brought, it doesn't look like I stitched a whole lot but I did a lot of the borders on all of the projects.  Well one of the projects that I brought was one of my mother's.  She had completed the red part of the apple and the leaf at the bottom.  I put in the white spots on the apple and the two leaves at the top.  I didn't finish it at the retreat but the Monday after we returned home I did.

Last but not least, my friend Sharon from Louisiana came to visit this week.  She drove up Monday and stayed until Wednesday. We had a great time. I gave her the grand tour of Sumrall (15 minutes) - Monday Night and of Hattiesburg - most of the day Tuesday.  For lunch, she didn't want to go to any fancy or expensive restaurant; so I took her to Glory Bound.  We had the trio appetizer (we chose chipotle lime, sundried tomato pesto, and original humus) and the surf 'n turf gyro.  It was delicious.  At night we sat around looking through her patterns and talking.  She has recently moved and wanted to deplete her stash.  So I, being the craft hoarder that I am, accepted everything she didn't want.  We also stitched and I tried arm knitting.  Arm knitting is really easy to do.  I knitted this scarf in about 40 minutes.  The scarf was for my friend Liz.  I told her if she didn't like it that I would take it out an crochet her a scarf.  She didn't like it; the hole were too big.  She said that she would get caught in it.  I agreed.  I really didn't like the scarf but I love the shawl pattern and the cowl pattern.  So I will take this apart and crochet her a scarf.  Then I going to buy the yarn and arm knit myself the shawl and cowl.

Now that I have bent your ear (or strained your eyes) long enough, I will say adios.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Sharon

June Accomplishments

I have been sort of busy this last month and a half.  I got out of school in mid-May.  Since then I have been helping my mom keep my nephews, Theron and Leif.  Theron had his tonsils and adenoids removed the second week of June but he is doing much better.

 As I stated in my last post I was going to start on the Rose of Sharon pattern.  I have been working on it but not diligently.  I've worked on other things as well.  I decide to work down the pattern rather than one color at a time.  I know that I have to change the thread more often but I won't have to frog as much.  Last weekend I was working on it at Jen's house and watching the TV.  I have to use the highlighter on the pattern to keep up with where I am.  Well.... I dropped the highlighter on my fabric.  If you look close on the left side of the dress, you can see where I took out the thread and used the Tide pen.  I will have to redo that part. It was very upsetting.  Jen came to my rescue with the Tide pen after I had pulled out the threads.  The fabric had pink highlighter on it also.  It is looking beautiful.  I can't wait to finish it and frame it; I have more than 50% left to do.  Which reminds me, Jen and I have decided that we are going to finish a couple of pieces a month rather than let them sit in a box after completing them.  In June I framed a Valentine pattern (Dimensions Kit), Bent Creek's Summer Snapperland, Bent Creek's Snapperville, and a Lizzie Kate pattern about house cleaning.  Next I want to frame, Bent Creek's Red Thread, Heart in Hand's Monthly Markings and Ink Circle's Celtic Mystery Stitch-a-long

I have also been working on Tiramisu from EGA.  I was going to do one band per month but got behind.  I had to finish band 4, 5 and 6.  Well, I completed band 4 and band 5.  They were both wide bands with intricate details. My mother really likes Band 5. Band 6 is also wide and intricate but band 7 is thin and quick.  I think it is looking very good.










I also have been crafting along with my stitching.  I worked on two plant holders (using up what I have, woo hoo).  I had already completed one with the girls months ago.  So I had left over teal and a full pack of pink.  I created a pink one and then used the teal and pink to make a third one.  They look lovely on my porch.  Too bad that the pots are old and not pretty but they are.

Combo with teal in background

In the afternoons the boys and I have an activity time.  We have been making the Christmas crafting ornaments that my mother has given me.  The first set that we completed were the crystal ornaments.  The boys each took one home.  Then while Theron was away at camp, Leif and I created the snowman ornaments and the red ornaments.  While "we" were making the red ornaments, Leif made himself a snake out of the pipe cleaners and beads.  I had to take it apart because he used the pipe cleaners for the ornament.  But, it was a cute snake.

Another craft that I completed was a quick to make Raggedy Anne doll.  The directions said it would take 45 minutes.  Well, it took longer but she turned out cute.  Now I have to make the Raggedy Andy.  As you can see, it is not the typical Raggedy Anne.  Her hair drives me crazy because I can't get it to lay down correctly.  She is so cute.











Last weekend I wanted to do something different.  I went through my stash and found Shakespeare's Peddler's Passport Pincushion.  I had a little trouble making the pincushion.  The first one turned out UGLY.  The second one as you see is very cute. It took me a couple of days to complete it. I created the pincushion and cross stitched all of the "passports" the first day.  The second day I spent attaching the "passports", buttons, charms, snaps, and pins.  Most of the passports are from the booklet but I created the house passport.  Not very creative but I did it.  It is sitting on my desk where I can see it everyday. 






So in July, Jennifer, Bridget, Theresa, and I are going to Silver Needle's stitching retreat in Tulsa.  My sister-in-law Katie wanted to come but her doctor won't let her travel that far (She's due August 28).  Jen, Bridget, and I went last year and had a blast.  One day we got to make buttons with the ladies from Just Another Button Company (JABC).  The second day we got to meet and talk with the creator of The Cricket Collection.  I had a really good time at these sessions, cross stitching non-stop, and shopping.  JABC gave everyone a pattern to display their buttons.  I didn't realize that is what the pattern was for until I was organizing my stash (and putting it all in the Cross Stitch Guild App on my phone).  So I spent a couple of days working on this pattern.  The pumpkin is stitched in WDW's grapevine.  I ran out of thread and had to wait a couple of days to complete it.  The pattern only called for grapevine but I played with the pattern a bit.  I used DMC for the golden vine and DMC 3051 for the words.  I attached the buttons that we as a group made.  Our group made some of the purple flowers.  But, not this purple flower.   I am going to get Jen to help me make it into a cube.  I think it will look nice on the shelf this fall.

My mother was very sick this time last year.  She is doing much better now.  Well, she has decided that she needs to stop cross stitching.  So my sisters and I helped her clean out all of her stash (or so we thought).  We separate the patterns and gathered all of her thread.  Jen has all of the extra thread at her house (which is a lot of thread).  Well, yesterday while Mom was looking for some fabric for making a baby blanket, she found some more stash.  She has several pieces started or near finishing.  So being the good girl that I am, I volunteered to complete the projects that she found.  I will add another list to the side with her projects later this week.  So, come by and look at it.

Well got to go.  The boys want to swim.  Thanks for stopping by

Sharon