Down To The Wire

Finally finished part 4 of MXI. Martina posted part 5 today, so I finished this just in time to start the next part. I had put it down to do the HAED monthly SAL and then had a hard time getting back into it. I also started a part-time job last week, so that is cutting into my stitching time also.

I Won!

I entered some of the Door Prize contests on the Needlework Show site and today received an email from Martina and Roger of Stickideen von der Wiehenburg Designs that I had won a free chart from them. The chart is the Flower Heart. The are having a sale in May. Go check out their website at http://www.wiehenburg.de. They have some lovely charts.

Progress

I finally made some progress on FoS this weekend. I went LNSing with my friend March. She is just getting back into stitching after a long break. I did the same thing last year; now it's her turn hehe. So we went down to Woodbridge to look for a shop I saw listed on Dinky Dyes' stores page. Well, it was not there. Only an empty store. So we went back up to InStitches and did some shopping. March just discovered HAED thru me and has already bought Wall's The Untold Story, so of course she needed to get the fabric for it! I bought these three patterns. The little vampire is just so boo! I had seen the Halloween Party on the Needlework Show and had thought when I saw it that I would like to get it. They had it, so I got it! The other one, A Williamsburg Christmas #2, caught my eye when I saw them done up and hanging from a shelf in the shop. They looked really cute. I might even get them done before Christmas.
After our shopping trip, we went back to March's, had some lunch and then started stitching. I got almost a whole column done. I need
to get back to MXI, but I'm having trouble getting motivated to return to it. Hopefully I can get myself back to it and finish part 4 before the end of the month. It also depends on if I work any this week. I signed up with a temp company last week and I may get sent out on assignments. I decided to do strictly temp, not temp-to-hire. We'll see how it goes and if I like it.

Jan

Busy Morning

It's been a busy morning. Unfortunately, no stitching has been done. First we were late to bed last night, so I was late getting up. I'm going to a candle party tonight and I had to make an Angel Food cake to take. So of course I had to go to the store and pick up a few things for that. Came back and measured out all my ingredients. I make mine from scratch as I am diabetic and I make a sugar free cake. I have to do things like sift the flour and cornstarch together twice. What makes it easier is the Sam got me a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. I just put the egg whites, vanilla, and cream or tartar in, turn it on and let it go while I do my sifting. You have to beat the hell out of the egg whites to get them to form peaks. So that killed a couple hours this morning. It's been pouring rain all afternoon, but the temp and humidity have lessened and every now and then the breeze brings in the scent from the jasmine on our front porch. All in all, not a bad day so far. Now I get to go spend money on candles!

April SAL

Time for the HAED April SAL. Still working on FoS. I'm on page 3. I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked and tomorrow I'm going to a Partylite candle party, so that will cut into my stitching time. Sam had a hard day at work yesterday and took it out (verbally) on me and the rest of the world. He went in late today, so I didn't stitch until after he left. Hopefully he'll be in a better mood by Sunday and I can get more in then. Sigh............

Glass

I was dusting my lamp and thought I would post some of my glass work. I haven't been doing enough to have a blog just about my glass. The lamp is the first Tiffany style I made. Donna at Virginia Stained Glass taught me. I used the Worden form and the Apple Blossom pattern.




The pineapple is my first attempt at painting and then fusing the glass. Sam bought my the paints for Christmas from Delphi Glass. As you can see I am no painter. Probably why I stitch and do glass. I am a crafter, not an artist. The Medusa is adapted from a painting by Barry Windsor-Smythe. I did this years ago and it hangs in our hallway. It is constructed by copper foil. This is one of my favorite glass mediums. Okay, that's enough for today. I'll post more glasswork later. I must go stitch on MXI now.

Goodies

We rolled in from visiting my parents in Pennsylvania last night to find a package waiting on our porch. I jumped up and down! I received my ornament from Maureen for the Mirabilia Stitchers BB Ornament Exchange. It is just beautiful. She also included some nice goodies. A piece of R & R Reproductions Hand Dyed Linen and six skeins of DMC Rayon. She wrote a note on the cutest sheet of polar bear paper.

This is my first exchange and I have really enjoyed it. I'm going to have to join in more of them.

I really want to get back to my MXI to finish part 4, but I've been letting my housework go and I really need to work on it today. So, hopefully I'll be able to get to it this afternoon. Sigh ......

Ornament Exchange

Now that Ivenride has received her ornament I can post a picture. This was for the Mirabilia Stitchers BB ornament exchange. It is actually the first ornament I ever made. I'm sort of proud of it. It is taken from Nora's Christmas Flourishes and stitch 1 over 1 on 32 count Belfast linen. Since it is so small I used Kreinik Blending Filament instead of beads.



I was beginning to worry because it took 3 weeks to get there. I also put in this scissor fob that I made. The focal bead is one that I made in my glass studio. I like how the colors worked out.

Mystery XI Part 4 Chapter 1

Sounds like a mystery novel doesn't it. I started part 4 of Chatelaine's MXI yesterday. It has a lot of backstitching and french knots, but it looks really nice. I still need to finish the beads and then I'll move onto the next quarter. I find it easier as it gets larger to work in quarters.

Here's a closeup of the french knots.