Leave 'em in the dust

Hey.  What's happening in your world?  Good stuff I hope.  My drywall guy showed up early morning, not planned, but I invited him in to sand.  Since I wasn't prepared, nothing was covered and I scrambled to move things out of his way and try to throw sheets.  This new "less dust" formula for drywall is ... well....

weird.  Microfiber cloths, Swiffer cloths, vacuum hoses, nothing seems to work to pick it up.  It just moves around like being pushed out of the way.  I had to do the floors with a wet cloth and white swirl marks plus a haze are left.  It did carry into the other rooms which it claims it won't do.

I worked on a few new labels and what's her name.  One band is a chain stitch and I needed to go back to Needle 'n Thread for a review.  Was it the stitch I was doing?  Yep.  Happy happy.  Her post today is about the Puffin & Co. thread separator and I'm glad she showed how to use it!  I love their pieces and would probably put it on a chain as jewelry.

Now for Blogger.  What am I doing wrong?  When I want to learn more about new followers and see if they have a blog, I click on their icon in the Followers box.  Some times I am taken to Google + and can't see anything about the person, or I see their profile and can send a message but there's no other links.  When I clicked on what I thought was their blog in one profile, I was blasted with porn.  Took forever to remove it all so I am leery of doing that again.  So what's a girl to do? 

Today will be a day of rest for the neck and hopefully close in on a finish of what's her name.  My sister needs a ride and I told her to take my car since I don't want to waste this sunshine in a parking lot.  I think I may have to pay the big bill for her car repairs so I guess getting boxes ready for sale would be a better idea.  But I have a friend waiting for me, and don't want to disappoint.

This morning I made the short drive to the cemetery, washed the granite,  placed the new silk mums, and lit the candle.  It's their anniversary.

I went back to last September's posts and saw that I did decorate for fall early.  I think the mums and pumpkins looked nice!  But I'm still upset about the end of summer so maybe just cornstalks this year.  Depends on the mood. 

That's all I got.  Worn out, dusty, and lazy.

I hope your hump day is filled with sunshine, whether from the sky or your heart.

Thanks for visiting!

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nothing really

Hi everyone.  I hope your day is going well and your week starts with a smile.  Not much to show on ...what's her name?  Good grief I can't remember who I'm stitching.  That means she should have been done by now and this is dragging out.  Extenuating circumstances are the cause but I really don't think it will take too much longer.  The script doesn't take as long to stitch, and if I would remember that I changed 613 to ..... I can't remember ..... I would not have to remove the stitching and do it again in ..... damn..... I think it was 3021?  I know it was much darker. 

I should have written the color changes somewhere, and I could very well have.  Remember the notes I tape to the back of the TV so I know where to find them?  Well they're gone since it had sheets over and off, over and off, and most fell to the floor and were swept away.  I'm lost.  I'll go back and check where 613 should have been and will certainly be able to find the color I used.  My floss bags for the project are all neatly hanging on the holder so matching will be easy. 

 We made a trip to the farmer's market and I bought yellow wax beans for drying.  The green beans that turned to a light tan are my favorite and these will probably dry way too light, but I wanted to see.   Like I have nothing better to do, but the time involved in stringing them is minimal. 

While I sat on my swing sewing beans, everything looked so bare.  Flowers are gone, hydrangeas are trimmed back, most of my tubs are hung, but two things remain every season.

Mom's wind chimes and Old Glory.  I have two sets of these chimes and they make the most beautiful cathedral sounds.

The inside has changed too.  My fridge is no longer in the dining room (but I still go in looking for it), and I found that having the table turned to this position in this small room creates more open space. 

 I like it.  Husband does not.  I try to avoid having dinner/parties/company as much as possible so this space is rarely used anyway.  The new room will be large enough for two tables if I get trapped into being a hostess.  When mom was here, I had all birthdays, holidays and such to make it easier for her, and I don't have the energy or desire to host these days. 

Now the little parlor, a.k.a. my stash room, is a different story.  All the samplers, supplies, and smalls were thrown in here and covered, along with furniture and items from the new room, and it is not in order yet.

 

Debi was kind enough to identify the punch needle in the prior post.  Thank you Debi!!  I went to Pattern Mart to purchase and download.  If you're interested, you can find it here from Bird in Hand Primitives.  I see that I need a locked lip hoop.  Not sure what it is but sounds like something my husband would be happy to buy.  I like the look of a smaller loop so I may use 3 strands with the finer needle.  Listen to me.  I know NOTHING about this and never tried it.  First I need to get the necessary supplies, practice, and lock my lips.  Easier said than done.

 

Thanks for visiting - have a great week.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Great balls of Valdani

Greetings.  It's freezing, gloomy, rainy, like a switch was turned off after the 90 degree temps.  We're not getting things accomplished as we had planned on his week off of work, but managed a white knuckle ride to Mercer PA for my first visit to The Gallery.  It's a quilting shop with machines, parts, accessories, kits, lots of fabrics, specialty items, and I saw my first ball of Valdani.  Nice.  Very nice.  I planned on checking a few punch needle designs and making a trip back for needed colors.  After visiting their website, I realized not all balls are the same.  Just as other companies, there is pearl cotton in 12, 8, 5, 3-ply matte cotton floss for punchneedle, and 6 strand floss skeins.  Now what?  So I called and found that their balls are pearl cotton, mostly the finer #12, 108 yards, and $6.  I would prefer starting with the 3-ply.

This punchneedle heart was found on Pinterest and I can't locate the source to give credit or ascertain the designer.  Love it.  I have several of Lori's designs and watched her video tut, but I'm not sure if now is a good time to try something new, adding to my pile of things I'm not accomplishing.

I bought a few new fabrics that I hadn't seen at the smaller shop I visit.   I have a thing for script fabrics and sort of hoard them.  When I really like a fabric, I hate to cut it and use it, the same as I feel about a yard of linen.  A quirk or serious fabric disorder? 

They also carry Sullivan brand of floss, and explained to me that it is long-staple and colorfast, whereas DMC is now short-staple and not colorfast in every shade.  So I came home with one skein to compare. 

There is a slight difference in appearance of a single strand, which separated much easier than the DMC.  In each photo, DMC is top and Sullivan bottom.  Hardly noticeable by eye, but closeup, you can see the thicker twist which I think would be better for the dreaded over one stitches.  The first photo is loose, and the second slightly stretched.  When I ran my nail along the strand, the DMC frayed a little and the Sullivan did not.  It's too bad I have at least 3 DMC in every color, but my next visit I will purchase Sullivan for a project and test it.

This house mess has had me ishkabobbled for a while, and then the accident kind of wiped out three weeks of the end of summer.  A few designs have been roaming in the noggin, I'm trying to work out the labels on the new printer, line up people to complete the house projects, stitch when I can, bitch about the end of summer, worry about upcoming tests, and be thankful I can do all that.  There is a young mom with an adorable baby whose blog I recently found, that is dealing with the unimaginable.  She is always on my mind.

 

The heat pack is on, the Advil is chewed, and I'm hoping for some serious stitching tonight.  Wishing you a peaceful and safe weekend, enjoying your family and the little pleasures we take for granted.

Thanks for visiting.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

On the road again

Hi.  How are you on this date that we will never forget?  Can you watch the video and be any less stunned than you were the first time you saw it?  I can't.

 

 The queen bee is back in the bumble bee car.  It looks pretty darn good!

I'm also back on the linen again.  Not much...little at a time....but I finished the top except for the satin border, and started on the script alpha bottom.  I will complete the border flowers as the final stitches.  Numbness is better at times and I thank all of you for your concern and best wishes.

I am still trying to organize and reduce stash and craft supplies, but I have several of these lap throws that are heavy wool and want to keep them for projects.  Problem is, I've never dyed wool plaid and have no idea how it would turn out.  Darker all over would be the expected result but I don't know how prominent the plaid will be. I will find out soon enough.

My Gingher nippers came in and I love playing with them.  They stay in the palm of your hand while your other crooked fingers can still maneuver the fabric, then a quick snip of thread, and back to sewing.  I guess most quilters would use these when sewing the patchwork together, but I'll be using them any time I am at the machine.  So tired of searching under the fabric for the little scissors. 

I don't think Nitzy will ever catch on.

Can you believe how fast September is moving?  Coming up on the middle of the month's weekend.  Did you ever clean throw rugs with a power washer?  Works pretty neat!!  We still have quite a bit to do this week, but I will be checking out some new charts, especially Nash's.  Love 'em.

Enjoy and stay safe ~ thanks for visiting!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Playing in my sink again

Hey.  What's happening?  Did you have a good weekend?  Mine was fairly productive with labels and dyeing.  I've decided that spending hours of my time on an extensive variety of labels is not smart.  I should have learned by now, as with the tags, that some designs are much more popular while others have no orders at all.  So I am limiting the choices.  But which?  My favorites are never the best sellers so I guess I should pick the opposite.

There were a few unframed samplers hidden in my house mess that I tried to use, and decided to dye.  Yep.  I thought I was done but I still have a few bottles of Rit so..... 

 This one was a strong yellow/gold so I tried the Pearl Gray on it which is in powder form.  There is always one tiny speck that doesn't dissolve, usually red, and it ends up on the piece, never to be removed which is why I much prefer the liquid (not available here in the gray).  It happened again but the speck is on the very edge and won't be seen.  The gray and black dyes create a purplish reddish cast in the water when you only mix a small amount so why this gold piece became green is a mystery.  That's why it is best to check a corner or small scrap first.  The original dye in the linen could react differently????  I decided to drain the sink and try a little black which has a slightly different reddish cast than the gray (red and green = brown) hoping to remove the green.  It worked.  Beautiful natural brown color.  Whew.

Notice the floss has toned down but hasn't really changed.   Scary isn't it?  Using such a small amount would not change the piece drastically, but you never know the outcome and you probably think I'm RECKLESS to be doing this to a finished piece. 

Why, yes I am.

Did get a little stitching in and hope to continue this evening.

I always avoided road trips because of my neck condition and now, with the accident making it worse, I really want to get a brace for wearing in a car.  Maybe that isn't necessary and it will never happen again, but am I willing to chance it?  Only with linen baby!!

Added note....if you have tests done and don't hear from your doctor afterward, don't assume it's because they were fine.  I insisted my husband call for his results and good thing we did.  One doctor obviously never checked the report, the other never received it, and the numbers require attention. 

Tomorrow will be 90 degrees and then drop to 60's by Friday.  Mark is off this week and we have lots of things to do, but I will sit my butt on that swing tomorrow until it's as numb as my arm.   I want to enjoy the atmospheric hot flash which will probably be the last one this year. 

Thanks for visiting!  Enjoy your day.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Eliza's posture

Hello all.  It's Saturday and sunny.  But unmistakably an early fall.  My flowers have not been doing well so into the woods they went, and all the pots for recycling.  We finally have a place to take items up through 7 that is close!  But driving around this township, you can see that no one is bothering.  Well it bothers me.  All the water, soda, and milk plastics, glass, papers, cans, everything that could be recylced is sitting at the curb with the garbage. 

Much to my dismay, my numbness is progressing.  I can't feel the needle well enough to stitch, so I thought I would work on a few new labels for boxes.  I will be offering several soon that were made a while back and never paid for. 

One of the samplers I've been working on is Eliza.  She has so many nice sections to manipulate for boxes, and her yellow house has worked out well for the small rounds and the rectangular flats. 

While I was working on her, I realized that in a short time her top is already stretched and drooping.  I really don't mind since I've seen photos (thank you Pinterest) of antiques that are hanging like her.  My husband still thinks she should be framed and I disagree, but in case I ever do, I felt the top should be stabilized.  Usually I use heavy fusible interfacing or a strip of Mylar, but decided to try Buckram this time.  I dampened the linen, adjusted it back to a straight edge, and pressed.

 Just one row of machine stitching behind the fold.  I won't have to do anything but remove a basting stitch if mounted for framing and if not, it's probably a good idea anyway because of her length and weight.

I've never used this before but because it's so stiff, I'm thinking it may be better than the fusible.  Eliza's posture is good now! If I waited until it was stretched even more, I wonder if the linen could have rebounded to its original position.

 My worker has not showed up to complete the drywall for two weeks now, so I put the final coat on myself and hopefully he can come this week to sand it so we can move along with painting.

My car will be coming home this week too. 

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

Thanks for visiting.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx