Seas the day........

Many thanks to all for letting me vent on this blog about the fire, it sure helps my mental health to be able to do that. The fire is still raging this morning, more resources arriving all the time. Having 100 + temps does not help with the fire fight.  Friday a dry front is supposed to come through with added winds - not a good thing. The smoke yesterday was in the highest hazard level, this morning a bit better. This fire won't be out until fall/winter rains but hopefully it will be contained before too many more losses.......hope, hope...........

I don't think I ever posted these cross stitches that I finally got framed.  I stitched them quite a few years ago, just hadn't added charms. A couple months ago I added the charms and stretched them over foam core and took them to Michael's for framing during one of their 70% off sales. I love how they turned out - they're now ready to hang at the beach cottage.  Not sure if the charms are easy to see in the mermaid piece, they're all different. The matt is actually silver - love the way it turned out.

I love the shell piece  - the charms on this one are all cockle shells.

And then there's this sweet little piece, looks big here but it's really very small. It's hard to see but there are pulled threads in this one.  I'm pretty sure all three of these will end up in our bedroom as other walls are pretty full but the bedroom walls are lacking.  I still have many cross stitch pieces done over a span of 30 years that need to be up on walls, on pillows, whatever - maybe this winter I'll figure out what to do with them all even if it's giving some away because I have nowhere for them. 
 

This and that..........

We had a great long weekend on the coast other than just running over to check on the cottage and mow the lawn - it was wonderful. We spent time with vaccinated friends who camped over there. We did something we had never done before - rented a polaris rzr to ride the Oregon Dunes. Our friends have done it before and loved it so after 29 years of living in Oregon we finally did it.  Very fun and a bit a lot scary as the dunes are tall and have drop offs that we sped straight down as that was the only choice at that point. There were roll bars, we were helmeted and belted in our 2 person rzr so other than possibly rolling the thing we were safe. 

Speaking of the coast after getting back I decided to make two small wall quilts out of cross stitches that will go perfectly at the beach cottage. I love these sandpipers. I usually frame cross stitch pieces and actually have several sitting here stretched over foam core waiting for me to feel safe enough (covid) to get them framed. 

And here are some funny otters for my otter wall in the hallway over there. I didn't take a picture of the backside but for hanging I did the corner triangles and cut a dowel to fit across the top back.

And a few roses in my yard - they have gone crazy, there are hundreds blooming with hundreds more buds on my 16 rose bushes.  The breeze kept coming up so most of my pix didn't turn out but here are a few. 

I can't remember the name of this one, isn't it interesting how the petals are so close together?  If I weren't so lazy at the moment I'd go outside and check my tag on it.  Many of the bushes were here when we bought this house three years ago so I don't know what they are but this is one I bought to fill in an empty spot. 

This one is interesting too with the white & dark pink but a bit of yellow in the center. 

I cut my rose bushes back quite a bit in February but they're already way taller than me and huge. They obviously love that side of the yard. 

 

What I've been up to......

Hmm, what have I been up to this week..........other than adminstrivia, which I've grown to hate.  Well, I've been out several days, one of them very fun getting together with a friend to lunch and start watching the new season of Frankie & Grace........or is it Grace & Frankie???  I can't remember, doesn't really matter.  I have pulled together all business and personal tax stuff but am still waiting on some 1099's - this is the earliest I've ever gotten it done. I've written a grant proposal for my weaving guild.......not submitted yet as I need to ponder on it a bit more. And I finally did a little work on my handout for the boundweave program I've got to present next month - I just can't seem to get my mind wrapped around what I want to write and what illustrations/photos to include.......to make myself feel like I've done something for it I did type up the bibliography this morning. This afternoon I started pulling many cones of cottons off some shelves, 4/2, 6/2 and slubs - time for them to move on to other homes. Eventually they may end up in my etsy shop but first I'll see if there are any takers here locally.

I needed to start another knit shawlette as I needed something mindless to work on while watching Frankie & Grace. This photo doesn't do this yarn justice - the color is much softer in person - I'm loving it.

In the evenings I've been working on a cross-stitch for the beach cottage. I've just got the border to finish up, charms will get attached on all the starfish. After I finish this one I'll pull out another one I already stitched with a shell theme - I'll need to add the charms, block the fabric over foam core and then get them framed.

A bit of fun......

Yesterday I spent much of the day at the embroidery machine. All holiday preparations were done except for cooking the Feast of the 7 Fishes for tonight's family meal.......so, I decided to play and get ahead of future holidays a bit.

First I finished up the cross stitch bookmark I had been working on in the evenings - a friend gifted me with the kit. It was supposed to have a tassel on the bottom but I opted not to add it - I like it just he way it is.

I sell a lot of chicken towels, a lot of them - I never realized chickens were so popular until I embroidered the first ones a few years back.  Yes, I know this isn't a chicken, it's a rooster. After stitching more of the 4 chicken designs for my etsy shop I decided they needed a couple roosters so I found a pattern for two of them. They will all be in my etsy shop once photos are edited.

And yes, I'm thinking ahead to Valentine's Day - several different embroidered towels with hearts will be showing up in the shop soon - once again, photo editing needs to be done. This design has a cute vine frame around the heart. There are a couple other Valentine towels that will be showing up soon in the shop along with these.

And not too far off will be St. Patrick's Day - this Celtic trinity heart works for both Valentine's and St Paddy's Day. Editing awaits these pics too, then they'll show up in the shop.  I've got several other Celtic/Shamrock designs awaiting stitching - hopefully will get to those in a week or so......then Easter/Spring will be waiting in the wings for stitching. I'm going to try very hard to be ahead of the game this next year......at least that's the goal at the moment..........

 

This and that.............

Been kind of in a funk and uninspired this past week - can't put a finger on exactly why.........maybe I'm tired of the news and the damper it puts on each day........going to make an effort not to watch as much unless this administration starts to implode, then I will watch and applaud. It's even affecting my weaving, I sat in front of the laptop for hours/days working in WeavePoint on some new drafts and I just can't get them to look the way I want...........so, what's a gal to do, put it away and play with something else.

Today I decided it was time to frame a few cross stitch pieces I finished up this winter and bought frames for. I'm very happy with all three of them. I've got a couple more to frame but they won't fit ready made frames so eventually I will decide what I want and have Sam make simple frames that I can paint and embellish to go with the cross stitches.

I finally finished up some chenille scarves - not exactly chenille season but it's what I'm weaving when over on the coast. This would make a great men's scarf but would be equally as nice for a woman. A golden brown and sage green in a Fibonacci striping sequence.

This scarf came off the same warp but looks a little different. Both of these are now up in my etsy shop for sale.

I also put on a black chenille scarf warp. This one is solid black but the other two will eventually have discharge dyeing done on them in leaf designs. It's always a surprise to see what color comes shows up when I silkscreen the discharge paste on. Usually with black chenille I get a light golden color but when I did a test piece it's a silvery color this time. It all has to do with how the yarn manufacturer dyed the chenille - totally out of my control.  So, I'll discharge one scarf and see if I like it enough to do the second one in a different leaf design.

A bit more stitchin'

A bit more cross-stitching going on in the evenings here - just quick little projects I've had in my stash for a long time.....some a very long time.  This little one is finished except for the starfish charm and seed beads for bubbles coming from the fish. Sometime in January I'll get over to Michaels to look for frames for all the stitching I'm doing - there are at least a few that I can buy ready made frames for, others I'll have to get framed........but I'll do the stretching over foam core myself.

A fun part of stitching is using accessories dear friend Cathy made me years ago. The little sheep chatelaine actually has a date stitched on the back - 2003. The precious needle roll doesn't have a date on it but it was either a year before or after the chatelaine.......I'm guessing.

Bah Humbug

Yes, that's how I feel this year - bah humbug - just not in the holiday spirit, actually a bit depressed....hopefully this will pass soon.

I've been doing a little cross-stitch in the evenings, very fun. I have so many patterns already put aside with fabric and floss. This little sheep was actually a kit from Heart in Hand. I love the piece of wool appliqued on for the face with the googley big button eyes. The fabric that was in the kit had discolored from the plastic pouch it had come in - what a shame.........but I found a similar size fabric in my stash. I'm loving working on these little cross-stitches. I used to do a lot of it years ago but there's just no time anymore......but I'm going to be making time for fun projects from now on........in addition to my weaving..........

So, the bad news with this stitching is that it aggravates my thumb. The past few months I've been having issues with my thumb hurting from the knuckle closest to my palm to my wrist, possibly tendonitis. I think the tremendous amount of knitting I was doing this year might have done me in, it also bothers me throwing the shuttle although not as bad, and interestingly it doesn't bother me spinning. But I think the position of holding a needle doing the cross-stitch is the worst of all. I may have to put the cross-stitch aside for a bit and rest my hand.

Cross-stitching.........

I'm not quite sure when I started this cross-stitch for the beach cottage, maybe 2 years ago, maybe a bit longer. Yesterday evening I pulled it out and started to stitch on it again. I think I remember why I must have set it aside, I'm to the point of stitching the scallop shells which are almost the same color as the linen fabric.......tough on the eyes, even with an OTT light.......and I can't seem to find my magnifier that hangs around my neck anywhere.......

In the same tote bag were two other simple small ocean related cross-stitch patterns along with fabric and floss so once I finish this one I might as well move on to those.....then I'll have 3 to frame at the same time.

It's fun to get away from always creating to sell or dealing with roving to sell and do something relaxing and fun like this.........well, it would be more relaxing if it were easier to see.......2 scallop shells down, 4 more to go, then the outlining which will be a snap. There are little scallop shell pewter charms to add on top of each stitched scallop shell. I did a tea cross-stitch like this, I have the matching frame, I just need to get around to blocking, stretching and framing it........hmm, maybe need to pull that out too........maybe 2017 can be the year of finishing up many UFO's.

Now back to sitting in front of the fire to stitch..........

It's that time.....

 It's that time of year again - new calendar time. Look at this fun one I found that I get to have fun cross stitching. I also bought one for a gift but a different stitching design. It's from Heather Lins Home - one of the winners of the Martha Stewart American Made contest. I've included the link to her website but just looking at it I see she's sold out of the calendars but one can check out the retail establishments she has links to in case they have any left.

 I thought I'd stitch one as each month neared but then thought again.......I'll get too busy and it won't happen, I'll get a month behind, then another, then I'll just put them up without stitching. So, this week I'm taking a week off from the etsy shops so I'll get to work stitching them. January is done, February is started.  I took a week off from my etsy shops but shoppers have not......and today everyone is shopping.......

I had leftover pumpkin puree so I looked for a pumpkin muffin recipe. Made 24 of these late this afternoon - definitely a keeper recipe - they're yummy.  Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping........my streusel topping doesn't look like the picture but they taste great so who cares.

A safe and happy new year to you all.  We'll be asleep long before midnight, as usual, just how we like to celebrate the evening..........