Incoherent Scribblings

A Little Stash

Behold! More progress on “Above the Clouds!”

And with my first official paycheck, I have some stash to report!

To begin with, I got the fabric for “Kitty Cat Row” and a pattern that I am using for Outi’s very belated birthday exchange. (Pattern to be revealed at a later time.)

Because I worked an eight-hour day on Saturday, I got today off. As a result, I decided to take a shopping trip to the Big City today. Unfortunately, I didn’t have very good luck with clothes, so I decided to stop at Michael’s and purchase the DMC 100s that I was missing.

While I was there, I also succumbed to The Best of Teresa Wentzler Fantasy Collection. I have been eyeing this collection for a while now, but at $19.95 for 10 TW patterns I could no longer resist it when I spotted it today. It is a good thing I got it too: According to TW herself, this collection is not going to be reprinted by Leisure Arts.

I will be the first to admit that my stash haul was modest. However, after spending the past year buying basically no stash at all, it sure feels like a lot to me!

JCS 2007 Ornie Issue Review

As I have no stitching progress to show at the moment, I thought I would take the opportunity to do my personal assessment of the issue that Dawn so kindly sent me (along with a too cute and too tiny scissor fob)!

I haven’t read any of the articles or tried any of the recipes yet, so this isn’t a review of that, rather just the patterns… Which is all we are really interested in anyway, right?

I have three categories and if the pattern isn’t mentioned here that means I am not even considering stitching it. Therefore, my categories are 1.) Must Stitch, 2.) Might Stitch, and 3.) Like, but probably won’t stitch.

Here is the breakdown by category:

1. Must Stitch – 5
2. Might Stitch – 17
3. Like, but probably won’t stitch – 4

Total – 26 out of 75 or 35%

The five that I must stitch are:

“Noel Christmas Bellpull” by The Sweetheart Tree

One of my 101 Things is that I want to stitch something for myself for each of my favorite holidays during its season. I would like this one to be the one I stitch for Christmas.

“The Decorator” by Full Circle Designs

I can’t help it, I am in love with this little guy!

“Jingles the Penguin” by The Stitchworks

I have decided to make it a yearly tradition to make my niece and nephew stitched things for Christmas, so I could stitch this cute little penguin for either one of them.

“A Merry Kitty Klaus” by Val’s Stuff

It’s a cat! Need I say more?

“Snow Bunnies” by LHN

Because I love Little House Needleworks!

OK, now I am off to stitch!

A Little Retail Therapy

I put the finishing touches on my Monochromatic Exchange this evening. I really like the way it turned out… I hope my partner does too. I will post some pictures after it is received in a month or so.

And with my final exchange finish, I am now ready to focus on stitching for myself for a while. Along with “Spring Queen” I decided that I was ready to start “Kitty Cat Row,” so I took the liberty of ordering some stash from a couple of ONSes last week. (I would like to remind you the purchase of this stash is not a violation of my 26 projects list as I only purchased fabric and floss in order to stitch these projects.)

The floss I ordered, GAST and WDW for KCR and 4 skeins of DMC 746 for SQ, arrived today from Picture This Plus. I have to say I was quite impressed with the quickness of their service. They have lots of other pretty things too… I imagine I will be ordering from them again.

As I was getting low on fabric, I also ordered a fat quarter of 32 count flax (for KCR) and a fat half of 32 count cream (all-purpose) from Criss Cross Row. Of all the ONSes that I have been scouting out lately, it seems to me they have a very good selection of neutral linens. I hope my order from them arrives soon so that I can be as happy with their service as I was with the other ONS.

However, I am not in a big hurry to start “Kitty Cat Row” since “Spring Queen” is next in my rotation anyway. Hopefully it will arrive before the end of my 10 hour rotation on “Spring Queen” though: I’d like to start “Kitty Cat Row” before I start over on my other WIPs!

And finally, I would like to thank Erin for a Semi-Random Act of Kindness. I got an email from her one day telling me that she had Mirabilia’s “Midsummer Night’s Fairy” and was looking for a home for it. If I was interested, she would send it to me. As it was on my wish list, I was obviously interested, so she sent it to me. I don’t remember if I sent her an email thanking her (Note to self, check email archives), but I quite appreciate the thought. If you are reading this Erin, thank you so much!

Yard Sale Treasures

It’s yard sale season here and for my mom and I, that means it is the season for unexpected treasures. The yard sale we visited yesterday listed “craft books” as one of their items in the paper so I arrived hopeful of finding something interesting - At a yard sale a couple of weeks ago I found a set of 11″ Q-snaps for $1.00! – but expecting that most of the items would be quilt-related.

The first thing that I saw when I entered the building was a stack of magazines: Cross Stitch Quick, Country Stitch, and Better Homes and Gardens Cross Stitch and Country Crafts from the late 80s all the way into the mid-90s. I didn’t even look through them. There were two stacks that were a dime and one stack that was a quarter. I decided to buy them all.

After hitting the clothing table (I got some stuff there too), I browsed through the “junk” tables and lo and behold, I found a scroll frame with floor stand for $5.00! I have never had a scroll frame, but have always wanted to try one and with the price, I couldn’t resist.

I briefly thumbed through the magazines and discovered some patterns that I would like to stitch: In fact, I believe I have found something for Catherine-Michele’s birthday exchange. Over the next few days I hope to look through the magazines more in depth because I have noticed instructions for a lot of finishing techniques too and I can’t wait to try them out!

I have also set up the floor stand with “Fairy Flora” on it, but it might be a few days before I actually try it out. I will be sure to try it out soon though… I may even use that double-sided needle that I got for my birthday a couple of years ago!

Oops! More Stash!

So today Mom and I went on our last shopping hoorah before I go back to Germany next week and we stopped by Hobby Lobby so that I could get one more fistful of DMC. And what do you know? They were having a sale on their needlework items!

Yep, you guessed it… I have some more stash to report. I bought some needles and some more DMC, but my big haul was on the charts, some of which were on my wish list.

Check it out! I got:

Cinderella: Just-a-Chart, Janlynn

Sleeping Beauty: Just-a-Chart, Janlynn

Needlework Shoppe : Just-a-Chart, Janlynn

Queen Anne’s Lace: Lavender and Lace

The Quiltmaker: Lavender and Lace

Fairy Flora: Mirabilia

Dragonflies, Ladybugs, and Bees, Oh My!: M Designs

Sun Needle Roll: M Designs

Irish Chain: Pam Kellogg

Victorian Boot: Pam Kellogg

I got the Just-a-Charts for $1.49 a piece and the L&L’s for $2.49 a piece, but the best bargain had to be the Mirabilia. I got “Fairy Flora” as a kit that included fabric, floss (with blending filament), and the beads for $14.00! A lot of times those charts by themselves cost that much!

The only thing I didn’t get on sale was “Irish Chain” by Pam Kellogg, but since I got such good deals on everything else I didn’t really care. This is a chart that came with Kreinik Silk Mori Milkpaint Threads for $14.00. I really wanted this mini-kit because it is an advanced design that will not only allow me to use silk threads, but practice my one-over stitching. (It is supposed to be stitched one-over on 32 count!)

So now, on my Scout’s Honor, I promise that I will not buy anymore stash before I go back to Germany. (Please pay no attention to the fingers that I have crossed behind my back.)