Computer weary!

That's exactly what I am.  Greetings to all you readers, stitchers, bloggers, and friends that helped calm me during this week of frustration.  Thank you.  I'm pretty upset about the funds wasted on repairs for the completely dead laptop and since it sounds like a baby's rattle, recovery isn't possible.  If I owe you an email or you made a request, my mail is gone.  My settings were to have all mail forwarded with no copies left on the server, which I am changing today. I've learned backup needs to be constant, not every few days.  It took me two full days to get the printer recognized and all the forums and live chat help couldn't come up with a solution.  I wish I would have taken notes as to what I did, but it's working - for now.  Then it was the cameras - Canon no problem, the older Kodak was a problem.  After a week of this and a bottle of Advil for the neck, I thought - grow up girl.  With all the people dealing with heartbreak and illness, you're whining about a computer??  I always tell myself this, but sometimes it's just human nature to want to complain. I still hate 7. 
 So I ordered three charts from Scarlet Letter. 

First off, here's my progress on Mary.  She's brighter than I usually stitch and quite colorful for a small marking sampler.  I'm using unbleached linen but I probably worked it over with bleach and dye at some point.

Its wrinkles are deep and you can see they are not coming out with pressing.  I always press the design face down on a thick washcloth but not the fabric around it.  I should have removed the creases before stitching since smoothing them out in the stitched area will also flatten the floss.  Really not a concern at this point since Mary will probably be displayed without a frame and I like the primitive style, but I should still do this before starting projects.

 A few things I found on distraction breaks.  This manicure set was my mom's and I may change the inside to hold needles.  Or not.  Sometimes it's best to leave a remembrance piece as is.
 

I also found this old spool of silk ribbon that has paper lining between the wraps.  I have no use for something this nice!

 

I made this tissue holder...

And when I opened the door to check on the brat cats, this tiny guy came in, scared and shivering from the bitter cold.  Smart owner had phone tags on him, stupid owner lets him outside without supervision.  Stupid owner came to pick him up.

Faye posted her finish of the Remembrance chart and you can see her lovely pouch here.  And if you're interested in floss storage, check out Three Sheep Studio here. 
 This weekend I will be stitching will changing my mind continuously about the wood for our floors.  We currently have ash that will join the new floor in several places.  I planned on pine, and although many people were gracious enough to answer my emails about their pine floors, saying it holds up well, several said every chair leaves a mark.  I certainly don't mind a beat up floor but for a dining area, I'm wondering how it would hold up with heavier guests sliding the chairs in and out.  Right now I'm thinking wormy red oak or ash.  But we all know that until the wood is nailed down, that can change.  As my husband says, why bother making a decision - I'll always want what I didn't get.

Thank you to all for visiting with me, welcome to new followers.

Stay warm and safe this weekend.  I hope to catch up with reading since I've only caught glimpse of a few blogs this week.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Winner and loser

Good evening everyone.  I am announcing the winner of my fabric, posting the pear, and calling it quits for several days. I am the loser because I am on the rotten Windows 7 laptop and is the most annoying and messy operating system I've ever used.   You guessed it - my newly rebuilt Vista died again.  Lost it all.  My photos and files that I worked on recently were not backed up because I never thought a sudden crash would occur right after an expensive rebuild.  So it took me a little longer because I had to start over with Random to enter everyone again.  PARSLEY!  You are the winner.  I  found another piece of linen that is soft and I don't care for so it will also be in your package.  Please email with your address Parsley and I will mail right away.  Thank you to all for participating.  I was so surprised at the number of entries! 

 So before I throw this one out the window, I will show you my second start on Mary Moseley.  I changed the linen to a darker shade for the lighter floss and have only changed one color from the original. 

 

And here is the February pear.  Hope you like it.   I will list it on the Pears page once I get around to a new computer.  Good grief.  If 7 is this bad, 8 must be worse.   I can't stand even posting because nothing works the same.  I'm showing this early because chances are, I won't be back until the week's end.  If you stitch this on a lighter linen, use a darker blue for the bird.

I had to rechart the pear and do the colors from memory, so if anyone finds an error, please let me know.

Until then, stay safe, keep stitching, thank you for visiting!

Hope to be back soon.

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Jobelan anyone?

Hi folks.   I want to throw my newly rebuilt laptop out the window into near zero temps.  The screen and half the keyboard are constantly freezing, so if that's what it wants, that's what it will get.  Literally frozen.  But before I do that, I'm pitching items I will never use.  These are the pieces needing a stitcher.

The Antique White is marked 32 and two others appear to be the same.

 32 count 18 x 28 piece Antique White

32 count 13 x 18 piece ivory/cream

32 count 18 x 28 piece of a color close to DMC 840 or 611

30 count 13 x 18 light gray/taupe Murano

Fairly sure these next two are 28.

28 count 13 x 18 piece Sage

28 count  9 x 27 Sage    

(The two sage are different dye lots)

If you are interested in this fabric pack, please leave a message on this post.  I'm assuming there will be more than one request so I will randomly choose a name Sunday evening at 8 pm EST.  If there's only one - good for you!  You can tell that they are from many years ago.  The price is still on the ant. white of $7.75 for 1/4 yard.  I think it's more than double now, but of course there's always Ebay.  This happens every time I start searching through the linens and that's fine - no sense keeping what I won't need.  I had a yard of Lugana and another yard of Jobelan and can't find either.  But I may have given them away and just can't remember.  There are about ten pieces of linen I plan to dye today, just because I don't like their current color.  I thought I was finished with dyeing and I should have learned my lesson by now.  But I have specific charts chosen for these so I'm giving myself a pass. 

Most of yesterday was taken up with errands and another trip for the final injections on the right leg.  But the rest was spent searching for the February pear.  I wanted to construct the finish and I tore the house apart, couldn't find it. 

Late last night it finally appeared, atop the cupboard that holds the seven different bags of cat food for three finicky cats. 

I have a very bad habit of setting things down when I'm distracted. I should wear a waist apron so I can stuff instead of set. I like this one from Home Depot.  Seriously.

Faye from Carolina Stitcher (http://carolinastitcher.blogspot.com/) stitched my Remembrance chart and will show her finishing soon.  I still can't list a link regardless of what I try. 

Between having to hit certain keys a dozen times and the backspace not working, I'm shutting this down for today before it really does fly out the window.

So leave your name if you'd like the Jobelan, stay warm, thank you for visiting!

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Flossy's box

Greetings!  This will be short.  My wrist acts up and my husband needs to yank it to stop the pain and allow movement.  That's not working tonight and typing isn't easy.  But I wanted to show my box and my next project.

My mom called me Flossy, not to be confused with Floosie, when I was young.  So I present to you, Flossy's box!

I attached elastic to the lid for holding my DMC color guides and a few incidentals.  We added a lid support to hold it open which is definitely needed.

A close-up of the paint finish.

   I just received the last of my R&R (Dyeing to Stitch) order today from Homespun Samplar, and I was thrilled.  Why?  Because instead of going through all those charts to choose the next project, the US postal service decided for me. 

Mary Moseley it is. Another sweet and simple marking sampler.

And finally - Blogger fixed the glitch and I can upload photos in compose mode.  Thank you Blogger.  It's about time.

Miss Faye stitched my Sandy Hook Remembrance chart and I will show you her wonderful finish soon.

To those I need to email, please allow a few more days until typing is easier. Until then, stay warm, stay safe.

Welcome to new followers and thank you to everyone for visiting. 

I truly appreciate and value your support and friendship.

  Thank you.

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Creating tension

Hello people!  Before we talk stitching, in case you are browsing in a JCP store down those wide aisles, looking from side to side to see if anything catches your eye, beware of the lurking mannequins positioned right in the center.  That's all I'm saying.

  

For several days I've been working on February's pear.  Finally finished it today after so many color changes, that I would prefer watching a black and white TV show tonight.  Here's a sneak peek.

Originally I wanted this on a really dark background with light floss but once again, my stitches were poorly done.  I seem to always have this happen when using a very light thread. 

Nasty looking stitches. Why would the same stitcher using the same needle and same type of floss have a different looking stitch just because of it's color?  Is it possible that the linen is the problem and always has been?   I tried other fabrics and took a good look at the result.  Aha!  The lighter color still looks wimpy but there is a definite difference.  This Rook linen is stiffer and more coarse than the top linen.   After some testing, I realized that my stitches are better looking on a 26 count of stiffer linen than on a higher count softer piece.  Tension. I've always had a problem with it but there's no pill for this situation. I obviously need more support in my linen to keep my stitches uniform.  Scarlet Letter kits were my first samplers and they used a 25 count coarse unbleached linen.  My satin stitches always look angry and I knew that was caused from incorrect tension, but it never dawned on me that this also applied to the entire project.  Blamed the fabric!  I've always preferred a stiff linen and now I have another reason for that choice.   My latest dyed linens are soft and I have so much trouble with them ~ now it makes sense.  Do I want to practice until I correct my 30 year old stitching manner?  No.  Not a chance.  Don't want or need the frustration, especially if a solution could be found with fabric choice.  

 Why did it take me all these years to realize this?  What a putz.

My floss box is painted and ready for hinges but I've been working on a simple way to have my DMC color guide books attached to the underside of the lid.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Thank you for visiting, stay safe!

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Box progress

Hi everyone.  First off, for those of you interested in rusty jingle bells, a reader was kind enough to pass on a link to an online source.  They can be found at Consumer Crafts website http://www.consumercrafts.com, just search for rusty jingle bells. 

Lots of goodies on this site.  I can't seem to add the link with HTML and I'm getting really tired of all the problems with Blogger lately.

Now for the box.  It took a while to decide on final colors and I ended up with my favorite.  Barn red undercoat

with a soft black topcoat. 

I'm looking for a old rusty plate from a mortised box lock or maybe just a hook and latch in iron for the front.  I've only done the back since I'm still trying distressing methods.   There are so many painting instructions on Pinterest and blogs for different finishes and they all work. 

Take a look at these Bosc pears. I'd never seen them this tall and thin! Stems are gone so I will need to add them but I'm curious as to the dried shape of these. Now I'm on a hunt at every store to find more. Most this year have been very short and fat and I still have a few bottles of cloves left.

Speaking of pears, I finally have next month's design worked up thanks to the help of a friend.  Her opinion allowed me to chose between two completely different ideas.  That's what I've been working on for days and I started stitching it last night. 

I just had to order a few more samplers from Etsy and also this new design from Nan (Threadwork Primitives).  I had all that saffron linen and dyed it!  What a putz.

I've been in a reckless mood so I'm taking a chance and ordering a bunch of linen colors.  No idea other than the lying computer screen as to tone.  Just hope none have a pinkish or reddish cast.

I see that Stacy Nash released a new design and I need to get that also.

 

It's a damn shame that we have an addiction like this.  We all say that we could never stitch everything we have, yet we continue adding to the stash.  Maybe we should pass on one chart we've lost interest in for every new one we like more.  Sounds like a plan.  Put that on the list.

Thanks for visiting! 

I appreciate and thank each and every one of you and welcome to new followers.

Stay safe and stitch happy.

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