February 27, 2011

Fun and Not So Fun Stitches

Well here we all are, another calendar page ready to turn.   Can you believe it!  Where does the time go?  Work has kind of slowed to the normal hectic pace as no new interogatories arrived this week.   Time for a deep breathe and the completion of those pesky employee reviews I must do.   Well maybe I will start them next weekend.....

This week I made it a point to carve out stitching time.   It is not an option!  I am a much happier person if I stitch everyday, even if it is only 15 stitches.   I think I could have worse addictions, right?  

I finally got around to ordering the four charms - Celtic Knots - for my finished Love and Wisdom Sampler by Drawn Thread.   This piece has been done for a few months but I am never one to hurry.    I have a coupon for 50% off framing at Joanne's and thought I give them a try.  My framer has closed his Delaware shop and it would be about 3 to 4 hours round trip to get to him....which is not doable on a lunch hour.    Speaking of Joanne's I had to get a separating zipper to replace a broken one in my husband's "fuzzy man" jacket as he calls it and look what else I got! I am a big fan of the reusable store totes. I often embarrass my kids and friends with my insistance on using them but isn't this just the cutest? Of course since they put them at the checkout, one jumped into my cart. This will now be my standard craft shopping tote whether shopping or carrying a project to my daughter's.   Check out the handle that looks like a tape measure.   People are too too clever.




 The sun has been streaming in the windows and giving my plants a real boost.  I know it is something we have all longed for after the snowy and windy winter we have had so let the sunshine in.  I don't know how well my spider plant photos will show up but you wouldn't believe all the flowers on it. This silly spider plant made the move with us when we moved into our current home......29 years ago! This plant was a spindling little thing until about 10 years ago when I started hanging it outside all summer. It sure likes that mid-atlantic humidity I guess.

While checking out my spider plant, I took a shot of my orchids......

I have a flower coming.   First I wasn't fertilizing the orchids, then I think I was fertilizing them too much and hopefully I have gotten it to the right balance.   I'd better not get too confident until I actually see the flower.   I have it on good authority from a fellow orchid growing that the little stem sticking out like a "y" to the right is indeed a flower.

 

Now for stitchie stuff.....I am keeping up with the insane i-Challenge.   But I confess, I am spending more than one day on each now.  First, the Quaker Pin Keep from Williamsburg.   Had I realized the pattern puts the birds off centered, I would have calculated to have them centered.   It upsets my sense of order!   I guess I will get over it especially if that is the way it was stitched at the Ackworth School.   Who am I to argue?
 
 This one settles into the Not So Fun stitches. I am loving the colors and I like the Bent Creek pattern. Duh! I wouldn't be stitching it if it wasn't a fav of mine. I am not sure if it is the linen count or the floss or what but I feel like my stitches are 'sloppy'. Maybe I need to change needles? Bingo! Light just went on.....that's what I will do the next time around in the rotation.




Ha ha!  the close up doesn't necessarily show the messy stitches.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 And last on the cross stitch front, is the Friendship Tree. Again, not necessarily a fun stitch but that is because it requires really keeping track. Not like doing letters or a border that repeats itself. But the floss is to die for so it makes up for having to be diligent with the pattern.


5 comments:

  1. OMG I love the little squirrel on the Friendship Tree! I haven't gotten that far yet, I started at the top with the pesky, time-consuming, not-so-fun-to-stitch leaves and branches haha!!

    I LOVE Orchids...I can't wait to live above ground with adequate sunlight so that I can buy a couple :-)

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  2. I LOVE those charms and what a great bag !!!

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  3. Your stitching is lovely!! Thanks for visiting...I did design most of the wool eggs and they were fun and fast!! Thanks for asking! Dianntha

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  4. Nice progress on your WIPs! I like your plants, too. I had a bunch of blooms on an orchid plant and then had delusions of being a horticulturalist and was trimming some dead something or other off of it and broke off the stem with all the blooms. It was not a fun day. :P

    I like your reusable bag! In Ireland, there were so many people tossing the plastic bags that the government imposed a government levy on each plastic bag. It was 22 cents, now it's gone up. Small shops will provide paper bags but everybody brings reusable bags to the grocery store.

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  5. Robin, you are a woman of many talents! I admire your ability to grow orchids!

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Thanks is much for stopping by. I so enjoy your comments even if I do not always reply. Have a great day that hopefully includes a bit of stitching.