Incoherent Scribblings

SBQ: Smoking Needles

No happy dance yet… I started the beading on “Celtic Spring” and then got an irresistible urge to read, so I went to the library on Tuesday and have been reading ever since! I finished the book I was reading (Lolita by Vladamir Nabakov), so tonight it is back to Mae.

Anyway, I am a bit late this week, but nevertheless it is time for the SBQ. This week’s was suggested by Danielle and is:

Do you find yourself stitching faster when you are getting to the end of a design?

I feel especially knowledgeable answering today’s question as I have recently (mostly) finished a large design. I can honestly say that I don’t think I stitch much, if any, faster when reaching the end of a project. However what I do notice is that I become much more focused… to the point of only wanting to stitch that design until it is finished.

Taxi Service

Regular readers may remember that back in October, I got a new car. This was the car I wanted and one that fits my personality and lifestyle: Namely “a little blue coupe.” I love my little car and it serves its purpose of getting me from Point A to Point B.

However, because I am living amongst my family and because I have a weird and flexible schedule, it falls upon me from time to time to transport my niece and nephew.

My niece is not much of a problem to transport. She is big enough that in our state she is technically legal in just a seat belt in the rear seat. When I drop her off at school I have to stop in the car pool lane and let her out. When I pick her up she has to crawl into the back under the seat belt and shut the door behind her, but we have been doing it enough this year that she has her entrances and exits mastered.

My nephew is not so easy to move on the other hand. At just over a year old, he still has to be in a baby seat. My mom’s car has one, but mine does not. Because of this, I do not have to pick him up very often and when I do, I just use my mom’s car. Unfortunately, he has recently outgrown the car seat that Mom has, so he really must be moved in my sister’s vehicle.

And so, today when I had to pick my niece up from school and my nephew up from daycare I borrowed my sister’s car… which just so happens to be a (mini)van!

Now, I must say right now for those of you out there that already have or for whatever reason like (mini)vans, more power to you, but I personally do not care for them. This is well-known to my mother… who teased me about driving a van and being like a soccer mom when she found out I was going to drive The Van.

Nevertheless, I felt sort of special to be driving The Van: My sister has had it less than a month. It is one of those fancy ones that have doors on both sides and are remote controlled. Before I went to get the kids I practiced opening the doors because I wanted to avoid a blonde moment and didn’t want to slow down the car pool lane.

I got the baby from daycare, but couldn’t figure out how to use the remote control to open the doors with the baby (ha! The little bugger weighs about 25lbs!) in my arms. Though I struggled, I finally managed to get the door open the old-fashioned way and wrestle him into his little seat. Then we were off to pick up “Sissy.”

In the carpool lane I was prepared: I got to the head of the line and Sissy came to greet us, but when I punched the little button to automatically open her door, it didn’t work. (Who knew it needed to be in “Park” for the remote doors to work?!) Forgetting that The Van has remote locks, I reached over and unlocked the door so Sissy could get in.

She jumped in The Van and as she sat in her little booster seat and buckled herself in, my little niece said, “Renée, you know you don’t have “Buddy” buckled in his seat right, don’t you?”

Ready to Bead!

Well, it may not be a happy dance yet… but almost! Yes, the stitching on Mae is finished and I have washed her up. She is just waiting for beads!

I am most anxious to start the beading, but have decided to take a break and start it tomorrow. One of the main reasons that I don’t want to start beading tonight is because this will be my first significant beading job. I have added a few beads before to different pieces, but never on this scale… So, I am not sure how long the beading will take.

Before I get ready to move on to the beading though, I thought I would give a few stitching statistics: Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid: The chart calls for 4 cards of PB01. I stitched Mae on 32ct linen and only used one strand of the braid. As a result, I didn’t even use two (2) cards. (More like 1¼). I used 1½ skeins of 832 and almost a full skein of 333.

There you have it: You may not see much of me this week as I will be beading. However, if I am dying to stitch during this adventure, I will work on “The Old Waterpump.” (Progress pic deliberately missing so that you may focus on “Celtic Spring.” )

Fabric Count

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

What is the smallest count fabric you have ever used? Did you stitch over one? Conversely, what is the largest count fabric you have ever used?

The smallest count Aida cloth I have ever stitched on is 18 count and the largest is 14 count. I have some 10 count Aida in my stash that was given to me as a gift, but I have never stitched on it. Since that is typically what you do on Aida, all of those projects were stitched over one.
As far as evenweave/linen goes, the largest count I have stitched on is 22 count and the smallest is 36 count. The 22 count was stitched over one, but the 36 was just plain old over two.

Nothing to Say

You may think from my sparse posting that I have not been doing any stitching lately. Well, I have been stitching… quite a lot actually!

I have been spending most of my time on “Celtic Spring” though and I am getting so close to the end. It has been nearly a year since I started Mae and part of the reason I haven’t blogged much while I have been focusing on her is because I feel like in some ways I have said all I need to say about this project. So I won’t say anything more and just let you enjoy my latest progress scan!