Silk winner!

Hi everyone.  Hope your Thanksgiving was enjoyable.  The winner drawn for the silk thread is Carol from Stitching Dreams.  Many times in the previous giveaways the winner did not have a blog, but Carol sure does!  I'm sure you're all familiar with her fabulous monthly bowl of ornaments and wonderful finishing ideas.  Thank you all for participating.  I didn't remember until this evening that I had changed my settings to not allow anonymous comments and I apologize for that.  I am loaded with spam daily and it was getting to be too much. 

Not much stitching happening because I've been busy with boxes.

I plan to have them all finished this week but there are so many I may have to do it through Etsy.  Otherwise, it may be too confusing.  The remaining sets of 3 will be available here but probably not the individual boxes.  I plan on stitching right now and relaxing the rest of the evening.  It turned very cold and s*** is predicted.  Can you hear my good mood shattering???

Thanks for visiting and to all who participated.  Hope to be back with the wreath finish in a few days.

Stay safe and happy stitching.

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Face off

Hello world.  I'm still in a good mood.  Has the earth shifted on its axis?  Geez.  The sun is once again gracing my area with a beautiful day and warmth.  Aside from finding more outdoor chores to take advantage of the weather, I found a few more box sets, and returned the smaller ones.  Well constructed, but I wasn't pleased with the size.  Shipping to and from was more than the boxes!  These may be the last of the sets and I will probably be offering them next week as orders. 

Now for stitching.  I wasted the entire evening on the angel's upper body.  There are lines of gold in the dress that didn't make sense (to me) so I removed them and will just keep the straight line down the center bodice.  But I'm also having problems with the face.  Charted would look something like the left, and my changes are on the right.  She made end up somewhere in the middle.

 

 

This is my method for trying a design change before stitching.  I use graph paper that is the same size or an uncharted area of the original, and lay out the stitches.  Then I position it over the area to see how it would look.  Decision time is near.

Do I like the smaller letters with four words, or the same size letter as the other areas and just one word?  I'm thinking one.  The other side could be Unity, or Love.  After last night, I'm anxious to get this completed.  Her charts are hard for me to read and I had a heck of a time and had to remove the bodice several times before changing it.  Following details in a small area has always been difficult for me, even with multicolored highlighters, but when I can't seem to make sense of the placement, I just spin my wheels.

After the dentist this morning I stopped at the antique shop and found a few more pewter pieces and decided to bring this home with me.  It's been there for quite a while and had a bunch of horns and hunting gear in it.  I emptied it all out and really need to clean it.  My FIL's house had several of these nail kegs filled with old rusty nails but I couldn't lift them and certainly couldn't use my hands to remove the contents. 
I'm still having a few computer issues and Jamie, thank you for the great suggestion.  I never thought to just run down the blog list of ones I follow!  Here's something I can't figure out.  I have always clicked on your name from your comments and I am taken to your profile page.  I can't email, follow, comment, or see any posts.  I've tried everything and even searched under your blog name and nothing comes up.  Is it because you are Google+ or something?  Just wanted to say thanks for the great idea, but you are no-reply and I can't get to your blog!!  So I'll thank you here.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.  I'll be back Friday with the silk floss winner.  Stay safe!
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Cloves and comments

Greetings!  First off - answers to several emails about studding pears. I buy my cloves in small bottles at my local grocery.  The name is Spice Supreme and you can find them online by searching Spice Supreme Whole Cloves.  To make it easier, I'll give the link to one online grocery company where you can order these.  You may need three jars since they reduced the size again to 1.75 ounces, but maybe two is enough for one large pear.  Many have the heads missing which is common unless you order the top quality super pricey.  Those cloves are used on the pear's bottom and I also keep them in a bowl which the pomanders sit in since they are just for decoration.  I only use Bosc pears (or oranges and lemons) and I don't coat with spices.  If you want to, don't until it's completely dried.  The other thing I wanted to mention is if you are asking a question, I'm more than happy to reply. Except you may not realize when commenting or clicking to email, your Blogger settings apply.  Here's two ways to change that if you would like.  First - if you want your comments/emails available for replies, click on your name in the top right corner of the dashboard, then click Blogger Profile (or just go to your Profile page).  When the page opens, click the orange Edit Profile on the top right.  Check Show my email address.  Make sure you hit Save at the bottom. That's it!  Another way to have your email available in your profile - click your name, then Account Settings. Click Edit profile directly under your name, then Change contact settings, check Allow for email/messages from your profile page. Since we're talking computers, the tech came and I'm really happy with him. I have a clean slate, no additional programs, and none of my files could be recovered.  My fault since I tried a recovery disc when he failed to show for the first appointment. Pear charts are lost, all Favorites, photos, blogs, emails, scans and labels.  I may still change Mr. Smarty pain-in-the-pants 7 to Vista.  A very simple trick he showed me to correct the viewing size of blogs and webpages.  You probably know this but I'll tell you anyway.  On your Menu bar at the top, click View, go to Zoom, and make sure it is 100% or increase to whatever % you want.  It stays that way!  No menu bar?  Right click the very top and check Menu Bar.  Now that it's over, again, I'm sorry if I missed a request, failed to post your finished Pear photos, or haven't visited your blog.  It will take a very long while to build up my bookmarks again.  I relied on those easy clicks and can't possible remember all the blog names - I stored hundreds!

Here's the link to the cloves - sorry - got off track. 

http://www.groceries-express.com/default.asp?UPC=7611438025
You can find them in bulk on Amazon and other sites too.

I did get a little stitching time and need to decide on what to have in the bottom vines.  It is charted for your name on the left, and "her work" on the right.  I don't like to have pieces other than samplers with names and it would be a difficult fit anyway.  Because of the lamb and lion at the bottom, I'd like to use Peace, so maybe Peace Love on one side, and Unity Hope on the other.  Same amount of letters so it should balance and fit.  Well I'm glad that just popped into my head because I've been wracking the brain for a while and couldn't come up with anything!  

I hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful day with family and friends.  There will only be a few of us, which means - more pie per person!!!

Thanks for visiting - stay safe!

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Look what I got!

Hello people!  The sun is still shining and the tech kid is coming this afternoon.  Thought I better do a post to let you know.  The next post, whenever it may be, could be from my yard while sitting in broken glass.  Nah.  I'm still in a good mood.  Yesterday, Mark took me to various shops we never visited before, all a disappointment, and I yakked the whole way.  Never shut up.  He just kept looking over at me and saying "uh-huh".  When we came home, look what I found in my mailbox.

I absolutely love it!  Loraine from Sew Be It won the pink giveaway and made this for me.  Because of my computer problems I haven't been visiting blogs and didn't see her photos of the others until today.  Aren't they fabulous?  Thank you so much Loraine!  It's now in a bowl of gourds and walnuts but I really like it against the black plate too.

Here's my meager stitching progress.  My brain is already trying to process the task of making this into a wreath.  The pattern has a button in the center, but I'm removing the center to make a wreath. 

Anyone that is drying pears with me - here's mine.  Already hardened and almost completely dried.  These were more ripe when I studded than usual and they dried faster than ever.  Not sure if that was the reason, but I found a few more nicely shaped (taller and thinner) to work on this week.  Hmmmm.   Maybe one of these would be a nice offering?  Better yet - get the damn programs back to what I understand so I can redo the pear charts!

That's it!  I'm hoping this young man techie knows what he's doing.  Lots of horror stories out there about computer repair.  I'm going to have him work on this one - my only one left - to change the OS so if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why!

Enjoy your Sunday, stay safe, a big welcome to new followers, and happy stitching!

Thank you for visiting!

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What a difference a day makes

Greetings!  I just wanted to tell you something that is a little different.  I'm in a good mood.  Really.  The tech never showed or called, my computer is gone, no recovery yet, but I did make an apple pie and eat half of it last night.  That's when the euphoria started.  I'm sure the pie wasn't the reason and I'm assuming it's just the other side of the menopausal mountain.  Maybe looking at things in another light helps too.  For instance - my loss of all emails, contacts, files, and photos is something that a few generals and the CIA would have given anything for.  Yet it happened to little ole me instead of a few powerful men!  It's all in the way we view events.  So I'm sharing my good mood with you in a little offering.

 These are 66 five meter skeins of YLI silk floss, a few opened, but the majority are not.  I rarely stitch over one or on higher linen counts and won't ever use these.  Not a popular brand, but they are very old and maybe not even available.  Regardless, if you're interested, please leave a comment on this post only, and I will receive them through Mr. Smarty Pants 7.  I plan on giving it a week and then either upgrading to 8 or downgrading to Vista.  Changing the font's size for viewing in Control Panel's Display didn't seem to help with internet sites.  I found a little trick online that helps a great deal.  Hitting the control button along with the + will enlarge the page I'm viewing and using control with - will reduce it.  There's already chocolate smears on the control key so it must be getting a lot of use.   I haven't been stitching since I've been fiddling with the laptops but hope to this evening. The sun is shining, I have half of a pie, a bag of chocolates, and a lot of work to do on labels.  A lot.  But work is good for the soul and being able to do it is a blessing.

Please leave a comment ONLY if you are interested in the floss.  A name will be drawn in one week on Friday the 23rd at 8pm.  Thanks for visiting!

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I am woman, hear me whine

Hi everyone.  Hope you're all doing well.  Several things happening here that have me snarky.  One is the wrist, which was healed and doing well!  The other day...boom.  Worse than ever for no apparent reason.  But what has me even more ticked is the computer crash.  Complete and absolute with no chance of being healed.  Unfortunately, I was almost done with all the new labels after many hours of work over several days, and it failed before the backup.  I lost all recent photos, all emails, the new labels, and the next four pear designs.  Charted, not printed, and not stitched.  

 

This was to be January's and it's all I have left.  If I can recall the Christmas Pear and stitch it in time, I would rather offer that one first.  A tech is coming this evening to attempt file recovery but the HDD is gone for good so it may not be possible. 

We're still doing chores that are interfering with my bench and floss box being built.  One that was not planned and I thought would not take long, was removing the 5 outdoor lights which had faded to a light gray, and repainting.  Wrong.  Took much longer than I expected, but now they show up nicely instead of blending in.  And of course, I'm tired of them and would like something else, but these puppies were costly.  That's why I prefer to buy cheap.  For as often as I change my mind or tire of items, it allows me to give things away instead of holding on because of the loss.

I'm on the Windows 7 and really can't get used to it.  The display is either huge or tiny, the colors are masked by the stupid filter, and my printer will still not work even though the correct driver is installed.  The preview of my post is tiny and I can't get the Papyrus font to show.  Why?  Because it's not installed!  I have to go to those wonderful free font sites and download all my favorites that Mr. 7 doesn't include.  And everything has a pink cast!  I don't understand why I can't open a window from the top tab, why all of a sudden the entire page changes size, and so many other bugs.  Hitting the backspace key wiped out the whole post.  I really dislike it.   I am woman, hear me whine.  I wanted a Galaxy Note or Tab in the 10" but it looks like the $$$ will be going for this crash and attempt at file recovery. 

You know, for a woman that constantly changes, you would think that the program changes would be welcomed. If I had my way, I'd still be using XP!!!  This tech will be sorry he came to my door because I'm asking him to change everything that bugs me. 

So that's all I have and I'm sorry about losing my mail.  If you had requested a box or I was planning to email you with updates, I may ask you to do so again if he can't recover my files.  Ditto with any questions that I haven't answered.   We'll know tonight! 

Thanks for visiting, stay safe, talk to you soon.  And uh.....say a prayer for the tech.

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