More gifts

Lynda also brought me gifts during her visit. I had a really good time while she was here. We went to Shepherd's Bush (stitching), Needlepoint Joint (knitting and stitching) and Sew Sweet (quilting). It was a blast! And we ate at the Lion House Pantry. Now she is on her way back home.

The postcard on the left speaks for itself :-D.












Very fun toys. From the top, clockwise: A pinkeep, three bodkins, a thread holder, a needle-threader, and two tatting shuttles. All have jumprings, so it would be fun to put them on a chain or, even better, make a chatelaine to carry them on!

Beautiful socks with cool wavy cables, and in the perfect colors for a dragonfly, too. Green for water and blue for air. I'm a little afraid to put them on.

Felted slippers. These, I put on right after taking the picture because it's cold here today--very cozy!

A bottom view of a slipper--to keep me from slipping.

And finally, a copy of Mason-Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. I cannot wait to read it!

For some reason, my normally ill-tempered cat, Bonzilla, decided to be out-and-out mean and was hissing, snarling and growling at Lynda and her daughter and had to be locked in a room (with food, water and litter-box, of course).
Here is Bonzilla ignoring me. After this she refused to sit for a picture at all. I was hoping to get her in full demon mode, but it was not to be.

2009 Christmas Angel

Lynda is here! We've been having a great shopping time--I took her to Shepherd's Bush and Needlepoint Joint.

And I gave her her 2009 Angel:


My finishing is getting better I think. This time I figured out a way to get it centered, which I will post about another time.

What's up next?

I thought it would be fun to sort of surprise myself with my next project. Last time I counted, I had 32 projects in varying stages kitted up. I've added more since. And I can't remember them all. Now, to be fair, I have a vague idea of what is in the kits I've lined up to work on for the next little while. But I decided to just grab the next one and see what's in it.

To the left is the tote bag (you can never have too many tote bags!) So what is in it?



Hmmm, it looks like just-about-finished ornaments from 2008.

Here is the Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue that all of my ornament patterns come from.

And here are the three ornaments for DH, JazzBoy and GameBoy. Wait! Three? Why aren't there four? Where is mine? I don't know. Not only that, but DH's is from the previous year. I found his 2008 one inside the magazine a few minutes after taking this picture.

JazzBoy always picks a snowman. This is "Frosty Friends" by Mosey 'N Me.

This one has been laced and is ready to put together.

DH likes sleds, but JCS hasn't had any for the past few years, so he chose the architectural one on the right. It's "Deck the Windows" by Julia Lucas Designs. The one on the left is by the same designer from the previous year (obviously not finished), so it's a matched set. When I attached the wreath to the first one, I used the wrong type of glue and it's visible; it's the white spot on the wreath on the left. So I'm cutting it off and attaching a new one.

GameBoy also likes snowmen, although he doesn't always choose one. Apparently he did in 2008. He chose "Let it Snow" by Country Cottage Needleworks

This is foamcore (right) and cardboard (left). I use these for lacing--foamcore for the stitching and cardboard for the backing. But these pieces don't match any of the ornaments. So I have no idea whatsoever what they are doing in this kit. ???
And finally, threads and ribbons for finishing. The green threads are quilting threads I will use for lacing--I like quilting thread because it is strong. It doesn't have to match any part of the project; it won't be seen. The other two threads match the ribbons; they'll be used for attaching the ribbon to the project.

I never did figure out what project I picked for 2008. I can only hope it shows up in another tote bag.

Completely unrelated: I made so "No Knead Peasant Bread" today, from the Food Network Magazine May 2010 issue. It was really easy but took a long time: 24 hours in the fridge, 18 hours at room temperature, another 2 hours after shaping, and 45 minutes to bake. It's baked in a cast-iron dutch oven, which makes a *really* nice crust. Here it is:
And a close-up of the lovely crust:

And the insides:

Looks, yummy, huh? It is!

Catching Up

So, the short answer as to why I haven't updated my blog is that I haven't been doing much, textile-wise. I have been doing things that are far less fun. It makes me wonder why we spend so much time doing drudgery and so little time doing the things we love. I know that after watching a recent "Sewing With Nancy," as well as seeing my friend Melissa's blog post here, I feel much more motivated.

Here are a few small things that I've done since Christmas. Above left is a Celtic Knot Butterfly from the book "Celtic Tatting Knots & Patterns: 12 Original Designs for Needle or Shuttle Tatters" by Rozella F. Linden. I'm very proud of it. First I had to make the tightest double-stitches ever to get the antennae to curl. Then I learned to do a split ring (instructions can be found here), which was really fun. The Celtic Knot part was done by simply making a long chain then loosely knotting it. All in all, very educational and a lot of fun.

My Facebook tatting group has started a heart-a-month project and below are my three hearts:
January's heart, "Lattice Heart" by Birgit Phelps. For this one I learned to make lock joins, also called shuttle joins, instructions here.

February's heart, "Clover Drop Heart" by Nancy Tracy. I learned to make a cloverleaf, which is just three rings made next to each other without turning.

March's heart, "Tat Chat Heart" by LaRae Mikulecky. I didn't learn anything particularly new, but it was a lot of fun. I was in a hurry to get it started and finished (only took a couple of hours), and didn't want to run to the store, so I used a #8 pearl cotton instead of tatting thread. While going through my stash, I ran across a bunch of silk threads. I didn't think I had enough for this one, but I plan to do a mini-heart later this year in silk.

And finally, I finished my Christmas angel from last year. Not 2009, but 2008. It's the free 1997 Angel by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum. I actually also hope to have 2009's finished within a few days. Still no pix, because I still have not given Lynda hers (shame on me!). But I will give it to her when she comes out later this month to drop her daughter off at college (I'm so excited!!).

And that's all. But I'm hoping this latest inspiration will give me the motivation and impetus I need to keep going!