Quirks Anyone?

Does anyone out there have any quirks that are cross stitch related? Me, it's orts. Meet Floss Ball. Floss Ball has been around since 1992. Let's see, that's almost 17 years old. Has it really been that long? He began life in a little sandwich bag back in Central Pennsylvania and now lives in a grocery bag here in the Phoenix area. Yes, I moved him with the family when we came out here. I couldn't leave him behind. He had become part of the family. The kids would never let me live it down. Seriously! I just wanted to see how big he could get. Now I know people leave their orts out for the birds. I read somewhere that that wasn't such a good idea. Something about alerting the pedator birds to the location of the nest. I don't know how much truth there is in that tale, but I didn't want to take a chance on being the cause of the demise of little birdies. I also have seen pretty Christmas ornaments made out of clear glass balls filled with orts. They're lovely but you only get to see them one time a year. That's the reason I won't stitch a fancy Christmas stocking. I'd want to leave it out all year long. This way I can go visit Floss Ball any time I want. I can see specialty threads in him and remember the project that they belonged to. I know how silly this all sounds but you know, this is supposed to be fun. We should all be able to laugh at ourselves. Life's too short to be serious all the time.

A Little More Progress

All right, whose bright idea was it to stitch the China design over one? I was sure there were only a few quarter stitches in this sucker. Ha, the joke's on me. There's a ton (ok, not quite a ton but alot) of them in that center portion. I saw the designer at Nashville and told her what I was doing and she looked at me like I had 2 heads. Told me what a brave soul I was. I still think it will be spectacular when it's finished. Obviously I didn't finish it for Chris' birthday. Now I'm shooting for the beginning of June which is their anniversary. I should be able to make that date. That is, if I can keep from spending all my time on Cirque des Carreaux. I'm really liking how it looks. And it's moving along very nicely. I also want to start on a few new things from Nashville so my incentive is not to start anything new till I get one of these done. So many designs, so little time.

Nashville Market

Just some quick thoughts on the market in Nashville this year. The classes were wonderful for the most part. I took Theresa Layman's Why Knot class. She designs some wonderful miniatures that are stitched using only colonial or french knots. I knew how to do french knots but never could get the hang of colonial knots until that class. I can't wait to unpack the project and continue with it. The other class I liked was taught by Mrs. Mosey & Me. Now I know that's not her name but it escapes me at this moment. It was needle felting on a woolen bag. We did a flower on a black bag. I quickly got the hang of it but my lack of artistic talents soon came into view. Instead of a flower, it looked more like a mitten. But the teacher thought it was fine and frankly I really wanted to learn the technique more than display my lack of talent. The only class I was disappointed in was the photography class. And I don't think I was the only one. Turns out it was for advanced students and it was WAY over my head. Supposedly the beginners part had been given last year but I sure don't remember it. I think he gave it at last year's TNNA show and Nashville was an ING show last year. I felt like I was listening to my DH when he tries to explain something to me. I don't always understand him either (he's an engineer). I could have taken a nap and been as happy with my afternoon.

I was really surprised at how uncrowded it was this year. Usually all 5 floors are packed. This year there were only 6 vendors on the entire 3rd floor. The rest of the floors were filled. Serendipity wasn't there. Neither was Heart in Hand. There were also more yarn companies and needlepoint designers than in years past. There were less buyers than in years past. We really didn't have to wait for too long in any of the vendors we visited. In years past, the more popular designers had lines out their door into the hallway.

The Quaker designs are still big. Lizzie Kate is still very popular. I also really like the designs from European XS (Papillion Designs, Long Dog, et al). My favorite design there had to be Quaker Tropic from Stitching Pretty. It was a Quaker design but it had motifs that you would find in a tropical scene - octopuss, mermaid, palm tree - you get the picture. I just had to have that one.

We also ordered some hand-dyed fabric from a company new to us, Stitches & Spice from Australia. Their fabric is gorgeous! The colors are beautiful and the texture is so nice. Lots of hand-dyed fabric seems to have pills on it or is rough. This is nice and smooth. I ordered some for a mandala I'm going to do and then we ordered quite a bit for the shop.

Although it didn't look like we brought much back (or sent it back by UPS), we still have lots that will be coming in from the designers themselves. I'm going to be very busy in the next few weeks receiving things.

All in all, it was lots of fun. We got to see people we had met last year. Got to try new techniques. And saw lots of new stuff. It was well worth the time and effort to go.

A Little More Progress

Well, I didn't make my deadline for Chris' birthday present. His birthday was Wednesday and his present is still only a little further along. I hope to make more progress and post a picture later this weekend. However, I have been stitching a lot on Cirque des Carreaux. I'm really liking the colors now that I've done a little more. The greens just seem to pop on that fabric. Oh, and I have had to rip out more. I've really got to start being more careful when I'm counting. I plan on taking this along when I go to Nashville on Thursday. I'm really getting excited about this trip. Our business has been doing very well. It seems in times of economic harship, people tend to stay at home and cocoon. They have to do something to keep busy so people seem to be stitching and knitting more. It should be interesting to see how the show goes this year. My manager said attendance was way down at the show in San Diego. It will also be interesting to see what changes TNNA makes. I did notice there were more needlepoint designers listed as exhibitors in Nashville. I'm hoping that this show stays mainly cross stitch. Will let everyone when I get back.

I plan on doing lots of stitching tomorrow during the Super Bowl. Have to love those commercials. Also there's a little team called the Cardinals playing and everyone seems to think they haven't got a prayer. Hmmm...we'll see how that goes.

GO CARDINALS!

YEAH!!!!!

Ok, now I've never been much of a football fan so all I've got to say is:




G-O-O-O-O CARDINALS!

We're going to the Super Bowl!!!!!!

AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Ok, I'm now convinced that if a cross stitch piece can be cursed, then this one is. For sure! After promising that it would hit the trash can if I had to rip it out again, sure enough I discovered that I was one stitch off in the outline of the large motif on the right. Now normally one stitch here or there would bother me. I would fudge around it (that's why I ALWAYS stitch the border of anything last). But in this case one stitch was a disaster. I didn't discover it until I began the small motifs on its left side. I couldn't make the last one work so I started counting. And counting again. I then discovered I had made one side of the diamond one stitch too small. Now I suppose I could have just moved the smaller motif or made it even smaller but then I realized that this mistake would keep on affecting the rest of the design to the right. It would only keep getting worse. So I sat there and tried to talk myself into chucking it. I just couldn't do it. It had to come out. So after about an hour and a half, I was back to where I had begun my evening. But once I fixed it, I was quite happy with the results. I tried to post earlier but my camera wouldn't take a clear picture. It kept wanting to make it all fuzzy. I just figured that whatever had cursed this design was just trying to prevent me from displaying it. Then I realized my camera was on the wrong setting. I figure not too much else can go wrong, can it??

I do need to get working on the China design for Chris. I need to allow enough time to have it framed and sent to Minneapolis. I need two weeks for the framing. I just realized it's probably not going to happen. His birthday present will just be a little late this year. Hopefully by the time I go to Nashville in early February, it will be on its way.

New Year's Eve in Arizona Part 2

Last night Dave and decided we had a new New Year's Eve tradition: going out for wings at the local pizzeria. It was cold (ok, not as cold as some places are) and the sky was so clear. There were no stars out yet but I did catch this photo of the crescent moon and Venus. Last month Venus and Mars (I think) were in conjunction with the crescent moon but it was too cloudy to see anything then except the moon. At least this month, I got to see both. Happy New year (again!)!