Another One Bites The Dust!

 Well, I managed to finish another UFO on Thursday.  This is another Michael Powell design called Windmill (who would have ever guessed?).  This makes 3 of his designs that I've actually finished.  He is one of my favorite designers and I only have about 20 more of his kits to go.  I love the way they turn out but, boy, do I hate doing the backstitching on them.  I really dislike the way 2 strands of floss look when backstitching so I decided on Windmill to use one strand of #8 perle cotton.  That seemed to work much better than the floss.  I guess I'll get a better idea after they're framed.  I'm thinking of having the 3 of them framed together with a black mat and a silver frame.

This design is called Christmas Lights.  I'm not sure if it goes with the other 2 so I may rethink my idea of framing these 3 together and substitute one of the other kits I have of his to stitch.  As you can see from the bottom picture, it just looks out of place from the other 2.  I know I can find something else that will work better than this combo.

A New Way Of Thinking

I had a revelation this morning as I was trying to shove another chart into an already crowded drawer.  In the last few years, I have purged a lot of charts and magazines.  Now I have been really good about not going into them in the garage and taking everything back.  I KNOW I can NEVER stitch everything .  I'd have to live to be 500 years old to stitch all the charts and magazines I had.  So I kept only the things I really like and have been slowly getting rid of everything else.  I went from two full 4-drawer file cabinets to one so I've been feeling pretty good about my stash.  But there I was trying to jam just one more chart in the drawer.  So I thought to myself, I need to go through these and do some more purging.  But then it occured to me that I didn't need to purge anymore, I needed to STITCH more.  Yep, that's the answer I came up with.  I just haven't been stitching enough.  I used to be able to stitch in the evenings while watching TV but everyone complained about my light shining on the set.  So I need to find a better way of illuminating my stitching area.  Then I got to thinking about how I chose what I'm going to stitch.  Usually it's the newest pattern in my stash.  But maybe there's a different way of choosing.  I got to thinking about themes.  Maybe I can stick with a specific theme.  Now I don't think I can do only one theme in a year but I can manage a new one every month.  Maybe one month I can do all Lizzie Kates.  Maybe in April I can do flowers.  There's always Christmas in July.  Get the picture?  I'm gonna go think about this a little and see if I can come up with a workable plan.

Look What I Got!

I was very lucky to win a giveaway from Dani at http://tkdchick.blogspot.com/.  I have been following her blog for several years now and was able to meet her when she came to Phoenix in March.  She is a lovely person and a wonderful blogger and stitcher and photographer.  These are all the goodies she sent in her package.  I love the little pillow/frame weight.  Such a great philosophy.  And a new scissor fob.  I just bought a new pair of scissors that need a new fob.  I always need needles and best of all, a new little ort box.  Now I wasn't sure what it was until I read Dani's instructions on how to make them.  It's so clever.  I can't wait to use it.  Many thanks to Dani for her generous giveaway.  And more so for her friendship.

A Framing Update

I thought I'd post a better picture of my cross stitch hybrid.  The other pictures just didn't do it justice.  So after experimenting with different locations in the house, I finally found one where the glare off the glass wasn't too bad and the colors were true.  It's just a very simple frame but I didn't want anything too elaborate.  The whole piece is very simple so a fancy frame just wouldn't work.  Also notice that the mat is not cut even.  It's wider at the top and bottom than on the sides.  That was my framer's idea.  She said it would keep it looking more retangular and I have to say I agree with her.  It's so wonderful when you have someone who knows what they are doing and are creative as well.

Now I know a lot of people don't use glass on their needlework.  In some cases, I don't but most of my pieces do have glass.  We have an evap cooler for the months when we don't use the AC (it's popularily know as a swamp cooler here) that puts out a very fine white dust when it's running.  The dust is very hard to get off things especially fabric.  So I'd rather take my chances with glass then definitely know things will be ruined without it.

New Framing

 I recently was able to have 2 of my most recent finishes (okay, they not both finishes of mine but I'll tell the story of that later) framed and am very pleased with both of them.  The cross stitch hybrid is actually a Christmas design but I think with the colors I can hang it out year round.  The bottom mat is silver as is the frame (not shown in the picture) and the top mat is a pale speckled gray.  In keeping with the rectangular shape, the top and bottom of the mats are wider than the sides.  It's so different!  I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

The other little piece has quite a tale behind it.  I came to work one day and found a box at our front door.  It was labeled Mom's craft stuff.  I took it in and opened it and discovered a treasure trove of needlework.  Some of it was (very badly) framed and some of it was unframed.  When the manager of the store came in, we went through it together and decided that all of it needed a new home so we split the contents between us.  Some of the pieces were unfinished, some had stitches missing but it was obvious that whoever stitched them really loved what she was doing.  And someone appreciated them enough to make sure they were placed where someone would love them.  I would hate to have seen them be sold at a garage sale or donated to a thrift shop.  So I am going to begin framing them a little at a time and I think when I get some of them done, I'll do a giveaway on a piece or two.  So keep checking back.  You'll never know when they'll pop up here.