Dog Days of Summer and Dog Days of Stitching

Let me just start with the bad news.    Not bad-bad,  just a big fat bummer bad.   And this is a big one……in more ways than one.  The French Alphabet.     Two vertical threads where the border will be at the very bottom right, are “broken” ??  How?  I don’t know.   I have contemplated using Fray Check - but decided 

 .

against it.  I have thought about a super light-weight interfacing on the back.   I tried to re-weave it using a thread from the salvage but I couldn’t see it well enough - even with magnification - when done, it looked like a tangled mess on the back like when your bobbin is wrong with the sewing machine.  For now, I am staying away from that area.   I am not happy with this piece at all right now but I am going to soldier on.  

To add insult to injury, I spent the better part of a day frogging the previous day's stitching.    I now have adopted stitching two-lengths-of-thread-a-day approach on days that I stitch. (?)  Shouldn’t that be every day?   IDK. Life gets in the way some days.  Next goal to complete the top border and then the top row of the alphabet.   Come heck or high water, I will get it done.  

The glasses are for prospective on the size of what I call my tablecloth piece.  

Better news, the Shakespeare’s Peddler Retreat was great, great, great.  Theresa runs a very organized event.   Every detail was planned and covered.   Her humor and fun little announcements and games were great.   It was also so great to see many of my needlework friends who I only see at retreats.   And to meet some new friends.  There were some Floss Tubers there too.   And a blogger or two as well.  It is funny since we invite Floss Tubers into our living room we think we know them.   The overall theme was “neighborhood” and our tables were named  like “DMC Drive”, “Smyrna Crossing”, “WIP-poorwill Way”.  The table gifts everyone gave were awesome -  I need to step it up some.   There was no class - just stitching.  Theresa had a trunk show and gave us a stunning kit.  (below)  And there was a rummage sale of charts that others brought in.   Alas, some jumped into my bag.     

I would definitely attend and recommend any of her events 100%.   Here I am being an enabler.  Isn’t this needlework community just beyond great.

The Show ‘n Tell was beyond fabulous.  

Look at the teeny tiny animal crackers in this stitcher’s sewing kit.

Clara, 1876 was about 2-inches tall!!!  That gives you a perspective on the size of the Animal Crackers.

As you can see, someone celebrated one of those milestone birthdays during the retreat.   Stacy, my travel and stitching buddy, really went all out to make it a very special day for me.  

Home I came and the purging of everything craft-y-like started.   When I made the choice to finally do it, I really wanted to jump right in but I put the brakes on.  I told myself I didn’t need any more  half-a$$ projects on the list.   Starting with the guest bedroom closet, the blankets, pillows and other bedding not/never to be used were boxed up for donation.   This gave me room to put my paper crafts on the shelves in plastic see-thru bins I bought.   How many sets of colored pencils does one person need?   Extras boxed up  with some to the grands and others to donate.   

Everything out of the closet.  

I ‘hope’ I have found all the paint brushes and have them in one place.   A zip lock bag of at least half of them has been packed away in the donation box.

Everything that needs to find a ‘family’ has landed in the room I use for crafting.  Things you can’t see that are sorted are the three boxes of small frames that were reduced to two boxes.    All the paper mache finishing boxes are now all in the same bin.  I found 5  6 bags of polyfil.   Three were opened.   I combined bags and marked two for donation.   I found 13 pillow forms - all now together in the blanket chest.  Each of the above were in different under the bed boxes, different shelves in the closet, different closets in different rooms.   Argh!  I just about have the guest room done and I think I will need a week more to thoroughly and completely do the craft room.  No pain/no gain.

I have done little cross stitching  or at least it seems that way when I look at my progress.   Both WIPGO assignments were completred.   I did finish the stitching for  the HOD Rocking Horse but did not fully finish it.       

I did not finish the July Gingerbread house yet.   Operative word - yet.   I think the new pattern comes out the 5th of the month so I better get on it.  Cathy H from HOD always does the best color combinations.

New numbers were called today for WIPGO and I need to look up what they are. 

I did work on Harvest Friends a little.  Sorry for blurry left hand pic but you can get the visual of what I did.

I got myself one of those Bird cameras.  Actually, my husband treated me for my birthday.  I am not having much luck.   The first location was too much foot traffic and no birds other than the goonie  birds pix of my husband and myself.    I dumped all the food, filled it with newly purchased feed even spreading some on the ground below it.   No birds.   Next location was besieged by every ant in the back yard stopping in for a visit.  Somehow an alarm was activated in this location and any time you got in range you heard  “Alert - leave this area - recording in progress.”  It was kind of like “Danger,  Danger Will Robinson!”   Moved to yet another spot to an area minus the over abundant ant population and I wait.     No more alerts sounding but no birds either   I researched it and it says it may two weeks up to a month for birds to get comfortable to visit.   So I start the clock again.

For August, my WIPGO pieces will probably be the only ones I work on.   I have some stitchy gifts to make and I will need to concentrating on them.  I have a lot of deadheading in the gardens to do.  

So that’s  update from my corner of the planet.  Thanks for stopping by.  Stay safe, be kind, be happy…..and keep in stitching and making.

The heat is on……July

Has it been hot enough for you?  My back yard pegged at 107.6 at 2:54 on July 2.    I stopped looking at it after that.    And the last few days, has it been wet enough?   All I know is the weatherman better not say were are still in a drought!   Thank heavens for AC.   I feel for those in Europe who do not have AC.   

What about the FIFA games!  Those Norwegians (my ancestors!) sure are having fun with their Viking Row and what fun the Scots had with the traffic cones on all the statues.  Just good harmless fun.  Everyone is becoming fans.   And imagine having the claim to the fame of drinking not only a plane dry but also the city of Boston who needed emergency beer deliveries.   I feel like FIFA sure has been a goodwill event.  This could come down to England against Norway - my ancestors against my husbands.   

I finished the scrapbook.  Once I started it went smoothly.  I starting by sitting to review where I was and got back into what my thought process was.  I never respect the invisible pressure that is lifted once a job is completed.   And I never respect the time things take to do.  It is done and soon to be delivered.  

 I finished Liberty Inn from Chessie & Me.  It was one of  my WIPGO calls for July.  I recently saw a similar stitch finished on a paper book-like box and I think that is what I will do.  While I have a few Chessie & Me kits, I think this is the first I have stitch.   Such lovely threads and a good variety of stitches.     

My other WIPGO  call was Harvest Friendship.   I met the goal of 5 hours and then some.  Win win.  Somehow, side by side, it doesn’t look like much.  Any forward progress is good.

 

I got the floss I needed but have not yet finished June Merry Moments ornament from HOD.  I haven’t started the July ornament yet, the Quilt Gingerbread house.   Since I have been focused so far with these, I will make sure I get them done by the end of the month to keep my record ‘perfect’.

I put a lot of time in my French Alphabet.   

 

Most important - the border meets!   

I am looking forward to attending the Shakespeare’s Peddler event in Allentown, PA at the end of the week.    Hopefully I will keep a tight reign on the purse strings.    I plan to work on the outer border of the French Alphabet and have more progress to share next time.  

I am now ready to start an all-out 100% craft sort and purge at the end of the month.  I have been laying out a plan (in my bird brain) of where to start, what to eliminate.  I have bought some (Amazon!) storage bins and I am ready.   I am going into this knowing it will get worse before it gets better.    I acknowledge that there are things - while good things - that I will never use.   I know of a craft resale store and they are going to get a boatload when I am done.  I am hoping some young crafter with a limited budget and the desire to craft will find bargains.

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe in the heat - hydrate, don’t drown - go around high water, be kind because kindness matters and keep on stitching/crafting/creating!