Category: SBQ

OK, a bit of a strange title – but my buttons arrived today that I needed to finish off my Stars and Brightly Shining Christmas piece … and it’s too big! B*gger!! The one I ordered from SB&B months ago was obviously a different brand than the one I ordered from NZ (which was too small – so I ordered a ‘large’ one) – so I’ll have to place a very small order for one whole ‘medium’ carrot nose 😉

I just received two very lovely gifts of money for Christmas from close family friends in NZ, and from my parents – NZ$100 and AU$100 respectively – and I’m thinking of the lovely things I can buy myself … especially stitching stash 😉 Mum wasn’t too impressed with that, saying I need a new iron and some new underwear – which is quite true – but they seem so ‘practical’ and not a treat at all. I have to admit I really don’t need any new charts for a while now, but I wouldn’t mind using it for some threads I’m going to be needing for some of that latest stash haul. Threads here in Aussie are exceptionally expensive, so I’ve decided to save up each year and have a USA splurge with SB&B for threads – things like Weeks Dye Works and GAST, for example, we pay pretty much double what the US price is … just crazy! Seeing as I’m on a tough budget now I’m on my own, I figure if I put $5 to one side each week, I could have a decent blow-out every now and then on things I need for specific projects. I feel pretty positive about things at the moment, so 2006 won’t be seeing me doing any ‘comfort spending’ that I can’t afford! LOL.

I also received a CD from my best friend in NZ, but I’m being very very good, and it’s going straight under the tree until Christmas Day … even though the curiosity is killing me!

Tonight will be spent writing the final Christmas cards for work colleagues, so the Dratteds may not get any stitching done on them … but the great news is that my gift beast … um, sorry … gift PIECE is on its way to its recipient – fingers crossed it won’t get lost in the Christmas rush, as that would be the final icing on the cake!! Mum saw it before it was made up and stuffed, and she reckons it’s so beautiful that I need to stitch one for myself 🙂 I have to admit, it looks lovely in person, even if it’s not my best ever stitching effort – and I might be tempted to stitch it again … one day in the far distant future LOL.

Ooh, before I forget … this week’s SBQ:

Today’s SBQ isn’t about stitching: It is about blogging and was suggested by AngelSan:

Take a minute to reflect on your blog reading habits and preferences. What do you prefer to read in stitching blogs? (Progress, tips, family life, experiences, etc.) How much do you think you are influenced by other stitching bloggers?

As far as preferences go – I love everything, as long as there is a fair amount of stitching chat in it. I especially love to see WIP and happy dance piccies, as well as tips and links to things of interest. I also enjoy reading about life in general, triumphs and tribulations etc – it’s all what makes each of us who we are 🙂 As far as influences go – I’m not at all influenced by other blogs … except when I saw Summer into Autumn on Karen’s blog and had to buy it … and the Sweetheart Tree banner on Jenna’s blog and had to track it down … and … and … OK, so I have to admit it – I am HUGELY influenced by other blogs 😉 I have bought more stash this last year that is directly related to blog surfing than I have in the last 3 years in total.

To me blogging has opened many doors in many different ways – I have been influenced to try new designers, new finishing techniques, and join other associated groups. It’s also opened doors to new friendships, and given me personal comfort and camaraderie at a time when I needed it recently. It’s allowed me to open my heart again to new ideas and new friends, and helped me to regain a passion for what I do – to all the friends and visitors here, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! 🙂

Well, after such a stunningly beautiful 33 degrees Celsius day in Melbourne yesterday, today the heavens have opened and it’s bucketing with rain … which strange as it seems, I’m really enjoying … Didn’t get to sleep until 4am after work, as I was creating a new ‘stitching diary’ for 2006 in Microsoft Word – that’s the only problem I have with shift work, I find it harder to get to sleep as the shifts get on. The first night finishing at 1am I’m shattered, and fall asleep almost immediately … but a few days later I’m acclimatising to the change in times, and find it harder to wind down. I still woke up at 8am though (yikes!!) but refused to get up, and managed to doze off again for another couple of hours … so, no stitching today.

My diary is just a one-page sheet per month, that has a calendar down the left-hand side of the page, with reminders on certain days for BB things, like posting UFO reports, posting of ornament deadlines etc – then on the right-hand side I’ve got separate little sections for SAL’s for the month, my rotation completions, and any general stitching plans (BB forums etc), plus a general ‘to-do’ list, like “organise supplies for next month’s SAL”. Hopefully it will be a worthwhile project to keep me organised, as I find when I come home from work my brain goes into non-functioning mode! LOL. If nothing else, it was fun to create it 🙂

From the comments I’ve been receiving about hardanger projects, I’m seriously contemplating adding a hardanger slot into my rotation once Dolphins Domain is finished (if not sooner) – I have loads of projects that include hardanger, and it’d be nice to learn a bit more. I have to admit, Jenna, I saw the Janice Love books at Spotlight a few weeks back, and was seriously tempted to buy them again … but I’ve got the basic and advanced ones by Nordic Needle, plus another soft-cover hardanger book by Jill Carter, so hopefully I’ll muddle my way through with the help of them. I originally bought the Janice Love ones because everyone seemed to think they were the ‘ultimate’ hardanger reference books – I never managed to read them before they were ‘stolen’, although what I did read looked really good!

Got some good news at work yesterday … we’re allowed to wear casual clothes from 12 Dec to 15 Jan – if you thought they were thunderclaps last night all round the world, it was just the sound of my heavy feet happy dancing! 😉

Anyway, nearly time to go to work again – just enough time to post this:

Today’s Stitching Blogger’s Question was suggested by AngelSan and is:

“Do you have any rules in the way you stitch? (ie Do you start in the middle? Do you determine which blocks to stitch first? Do you always start from the top or the bottom? Do you have special paths to prevent wasting thread?)”

Hmmm, pretty much 99% of the time I start in the middle … mainly because I’m hopeless at counting and don’t trust myself to start elsewhere – that being said, though, there are certain projects that I prefer to stitch from the top down, such as band samplers. I’ve also just started stitching Mirabilia’s Winter Queen, and for the first time have started stitching from the top, which is unusual for me! As far as choosing which blocks to stitch first, again it depends on the design – I usually just finish one area first, moving from one colour to another. I always stitch my stitches the same way, and prefer to start from the left and stitch to the right /// and return \\\ for the top stitch, with my needle coming up from the bottom of the stitch – but if the block demands it, I’ll stitch from right to left, with my needle coming up at the top of the stitch (that’s probably as clear as mud!!).

I’ve been very slack by not answering the SBQ’s immediately, so this week I’m answering the last two together …

Last week’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Kimberly and Lili and is:

“How do you feel about staying totally true to a pattern? Do you feel that you have to rip out stitches to fix a mistake or do you feel it’s acceptable to incorporate a mistake into the design?”

Hmmm, it all depends. I generally stay true to a pattern, but lately I’ve got a bit more adventurous and can consider taking different parts of a project out to combine with something else, or especially changing thread colours. There are a few charts I have in my stash that I’d love to stitch, but they’re stitched with pinks which are definitely not me, so I intend to switch the pinks over to blues. As for the mistakes part of the question – if the error is minor, and it was stitched waaaay back in the chart, I’ll work around it if I can, otherwise I’ll frog-stitch it and fix it up … I’m not as pedantic about my own stitched pieces anymore, and don’t mind fudging where necessary, but my first instinct is always to frog!

Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Kimberly and is:

“Do you always sign your projects? If not, why? If so, do you use your first name, initials or what?”

I have to say I’m pretty bad about signing pieces – I do try to remember now to sign and date my stitched pieces, but I generally don’t bother with it. Mum was always nagging me that I should sign them, but it didn’t seem important. I will usually add the name and date if it’s a sampler or ornament where it can be easily incorporated into the piece, but I’m not too fussed about including it on other pieces.

On a different note, between 9-11pm Tuesday night it was quiet on the phones, so I managed to daydream a bit and make a list of stitching projects in my stash that are currently calling to me the loudest for future stitching – just thought I’d post them for posterity 😉 … and to remind me when I have a ‘free’ stitching rotation which projects to choose from first:

‘General’ projects:

• Summer into Autumn by The Drawn Thread
• Crimson Fire Sampler by The Victoria Sampler
• Lily Pond sampler by Just Nan
• Angel of Love by Lavender & Lace
• Frangipani kit by Just Jude
• Rainbow Lorikeets by Ross Originals
• Max’s Moon by Cross Your Heart
• Either Pyramids or Eiffel Tower by John Clayton
• Walk the Gentle Path by Cross ‘n’ Patch
• Royal Holiday by Mirabilia
• The Queen Mermaid by Mirabilia
• Deco Spirits by Mirabilia
• Canvaswork by Jen’s Jems (choice of two really bright ones!)
• Le Jardin sampler (Just XS magazine)
• Water Tiger by Kustom Krafts
• Garden Sweet Bag by Forget-Me-Nots-In-Stitches

Stitching smalls (separate to SAL’s):

• Terri’s Needlecase by Lorri Birmingham
• Bee scissor fob by Shepherd’s Bush
• Butterflies & Hearts needleroll by Lorri Birmingham
• Close at Heart needleroll by The Victoria Sampler
• Summer at the Ocean by Jeanette Douglas
• Acorn Needlebook by Periwinkle Promises
• And Many More needlebook by Just Nan
• Raphael’s Raspberries by FMNIS
• Just about everything (!) by Twisted Oaks Designs
• Never Enough Berries by FMNIS

UFO’s:

• Cream button bag (weekend retreat with Shelley Warner)
• Noah’s Ark by Teresa Wentzler
• Hussif by Monica Hunt
• Wool embroidery hot water bottle cover
• With Love & Affection by JBW Designs
• Summer Fruits pincushion (Inspirations magazine)
• English Cottage Sampler by Teresa Wentzler

Phew, that should keep me out of mischief for the next 10 years LOL 😉 There’s a whole lot more, but they’re my ‘main’ wishes … what a shame we have to work to pay the bills – imagine what sort of dent we’d do in our stitching lists if we had 24 hours of no other commitments … oh well, I can but dream! :))

Oops, I’m a bit behind with last week’s question … just forgot about it … so here goes, before it’s time for the next one to arrive LOL.

Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Dawn and is:

When comparing large projects versus small projects, which do you get more excited about finishing?

I’d have to say in this case it’s probably the larger pieces I’m the most ecstatic about overall, because there’s been a longer commitment to the stitching process … but then again, I still appreciate the joy of finishing a small piece as well. To be honest, the greatest joy overall this year has been in the completion of a UFO – just knowing that that old project has been released from a lifetime of UFO-dom and taken out of the UFO pile to see daylight once again, this time in the shape of a finished piece! Yup, that is definitely my greatest joy this year!!

Cathy, the folded ribbon roses’ dimensions are 2 1/2″ wide by 4″ high – but they probably stand out from the fabric just fractionally over 1/2″ … definitely not an heirloom piece, but I suppose it’s quite pretty. I don’t want to go to the expense of framing it, and probably too small to make a flat-fold out of it … mind you, I don’t suppose flat-folds have limits in size … never thought about that before … hmmm 🙂

Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Dianne and is:

If you have stitched for a while, can you usually pick out the DMC colors you need from memory when you go to your LNS? (For example, you know that 610 is a brown.)

I have to admit, I do remember quite a lot of the DMC numbers – mainly from using them so much in previous projects … and partly just from reorganising my DMC stash so many times into different storage systems haha …

In fact that’s what I ended up doing most of yesterday – reorganising my DMC skeins/bobbins all together into Floss Away bags (or whatever little plastic bags I could find at the time, as I ran out of FA bags quite quickly!) … it made me realise this is a much better way of storing my floss stash – I was stunned what on earth possessed me to end up with so many skeins of some of these colours … why on earth did I think I’d need about 6 skeins of 321 red?? Goodness knows!! Anyway, at least now I’ll know at a glance exactly how much of each colour I have on hand, rather than having my bobbins in one area, one skein of some in my folders, and the ‘excess’ skeins in separate baggies … now they’re all in one place, and hopefully will play nicely together! It now means I’m going to have go buy a bigger container to house all those baggies in, though – my current one that was being used for my ‘excess’ now runneth over!! LOL. Was great fun reorganising them all though 🙂

Thought I might actually answer this week’s question immediately, instead of waiting for 3 weeks to do it … quite a novel idea, really!

Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Outi and is:

Have you ever stitched something as a gift and later realized that receiver doesn’t respect your stitched gift a bit (for example it’s never on show, or you have other reason to suspect that it may even be nonexistent or at least placed in some dark storage room corner)? If so, what have you done? If you’ve beenlucky enough to avoid such people what would you do if it’d happen to you?

Only thing I can think of is giving my eldest Aunt a bookmark, and she outright told me she wouldn’t use it … I felt a bit hurt, then she explained it was because it was so delicate and she didn’t want to damage it – I’m sure to this day it’s still sitting unused, but I guess she appreciated the gift. Can’t say anyone has ever really not liked a stitched gift, or maybe I’m being naive. If it did ever happen to me I guess I’d be a bit hurt, and wouldn’t make anything else for them again – and try like heck for the experience not to taint the act of giving to other people.

I’ve been very slack since joining this group, and now is the time to clear the backlog of questions:

19 Oct 05 – Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Cathy and is:

Do you mark or hi-lite your patterns or can you follow them without any markings? Do you make copies to mark up, or do you mark originals?

I go cross-eyed trying to follow charts, so I definitely need to mark up a chart. Usually I make a working copy that I blow up on the photocopier to make it easier to read – and use a highlighter to track my progress, so I know exactly where I am on the chart. I used to mark my originals with a pencil when I first started stitching, but I got out of that habit very very quickly. Using a marking copy also makes it easier to go back and see the original for backstitching – although I’ve also been known to use a sharpie marking pen to trace over the backstitching too, if it’s a particularly difficult chart to follow.

12 Oct 05 – Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Outi and is:

How do you `non-hoopists’ who use a rotation system handle it (as it seems to be lot easier if you are in good terms with hoop)? Do you have several scroll frames? Do you use Q-snaps or maybe something completely different? Or do you just have one or two big projects and others are small enough to be kept in hand while stitching?

Unfortunately I get cramp in my left hand when using a hoop – an old hangover from RSI as a secretary. I use scroll rods for almost everything I stitch – if a piece of fabric is too small to attach to the rods on their own, I stitch some calico onto the edges and make it big enough to fit! I just dragged out my sole set of Q-snaps recently and enjoyed using it, and I’m trying it on one of my rotational pieces, to see how I like it on a larger project. I have a decent number of scroll rods, and leave my projects on them inbetween stitching – it just means if I want the set of scroll rods they’re on for another project, I just have to finish that one off first! (Well, that’s the theory!!)

6 Oct 05 – Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Bea and is:

When you have almost finished a pattern and start thinking about the next one to stitch, how do you select it? (a list, most recent purchase, etc.)

Depends on my mood, really – I’m trying really hard to finish off some very old UFO’s, so I’m tending to think of the next UFO I feel comfortable picking up again. Then again, I’m also in the stash enhancement mode at the moment as well, and keen to start some fresh, new projects. Depends what calls to me the most when the time is ready … I don’t have any stitching deadlines at the moment, so I just stitch what I feel like stitching – whether it’s new or old. Whatever gives me the greatest joy of the moment – ‘cos that’s what it’s all about, enjoying what you stitch.