Washington Monument

This National Monument has been in the news quite a bit recently. Between the earthquake and the Irene, I believe it may have seen more action than General Washington himself! Well…maybe not, but it certainly has seen it’s fair share as of late.

 

I put the final stitches into this piece yesterday. Here is a picture of my version of Washington Monument:

 

 

and a photo I took while on a visit to DC in June 2009:

I am toying with the idea of adding some iridescent metallic floss throughout the monument portion of this design to give it some shimmer. I am planning on framing it in a double frame alongside one of my favorite pictures from the October 2009 trip:

 

 

I am going to work on Woodrow Wilson this week, maybe a little bit on Week-end a Paris too. We’ll see how the week plays out.

On the first weekend of each month, a fellow blogger, Lana, and I are doing a SAL on Coming Home for the Holidays. While I am much farther along on my piece than she is, we are hoping to motivate one another on completing it. I would really like to complete it and frame it for my dad for Christmas this year.

I am also in the process of looking for a new job. I am hoping something will turn up before year’s end.

Until next time…

CdC Page 1….

…is finished! Yay!!!!

Here are some pictures:

Cirque des Carreaux, P.1 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I am so glad to have this page done. I began working on it about a year ago. It should be completed by Summer 2011 and then I will have it professionally framed and shipped to my mother for Christmas this year.

Now, I think I may spend the rest of the evening working on the Butterfly Shamrock Wreath

 

 

 

 

 

 

and tomorrow I will go back to Coming Home for the Holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time…

OK, so I did it!

I broke down and purchased a 32” tabletop tree at the Dollar General today! Heck, I really wanted to display that Penguin biscornu I received from Linda M as well as my Michigan State University ornies that my mom got me for Christmas last year. Remember those? From that package that arrived a month after the holiday, LOL! Anyhoos, here are some snaps of my cute little Sparty:

As you can see, I gave the penguins a place of honor at the top surrounded by lights. I like my little Sparty tree and am glad I went ahead and purchased it. Sandy loves the garland. So much so that I cut some off for her (there was waaaaay to much of it for this little fella). My dad seems to like the tree too. He was at least smiling when I finished!

I promised a progress pic on Coming Home for the Holidays and here it is:

I actually have a bit more done than shown, but these are the latest pics.

This weekend, I plan to work on some ornaments for my nieces, nephews, and one of my cousins (a special early gift for her and her man). This is their first Christmas together as a couple and she wanted to look for a “1st Christmas” ornament so I told her to hold off and I will make one. Yeah, I know, I’m a sweetie, LOL!

On the way to my aunt and uncle’s house yesterday we noticed a huge plume of dark smoke in the northern skies. Well, my dad told me that a huge Business Complex (used to be orange packaging plant) in Dade City was on fire – a 4 ALARM FIRE! With camera in hand I managed to get a few snaps along the way:

I sure wouldn’t want to be an employee going back to work after the holiday just to find out there may not be a job anymore. Yikes!

Biscornu Exchange received

I mentioned not too long ago that I am involved in a Christmas Biscornu Exchange over on The Stitcher’s Showcase. Well, I received mine in the mail today and would like to share it with you all now:

I really like penguins this time of year! Almost more than Frosty and Rudolph. I think all three are in a close race for #1. Linda M. did an excellent job in making this biscornu for me. I don’t have a normal size tree yet, nor the space for one, but it will be displayed along side my 2 ft tree next to the other penguin piece I have. Remember the movie Happy Feet? Well, the other piece I have is one of those silly toys that Burger King included in the kids meals a few years ago!

I also want to share some progress on Coming Home for the Holidays with you:

I am finding that if I spend just a couple of hours each night on it I can get quite a bit accomplished. As you can see, I am working up the left side now. I am hoping to have it finished before the end of January 2011 as I know it won’t be before Christmas this year.

Steady as she goes…

November is here!

That means the year is almost over!!! It sure has flown by! I am still slowly working my way back into cross stitching. I do have a couple of finishes, but I cannot share until they are received by their recipients. One is my last PIF for the year. The other is for the Swap Party. I will be mailing those out tomorrow or Wednesday. I am also finishing up the biscornu for the Exchange over at Stitchers’ Showcase.

I have made some progress on Coming Home for the Holidays, but I don’t think it will be done in time for Christmas. That’s alright though! Here is a picture:

Oh, and for those who don’t think we see color changes in the fall here in FL, proof:

These two leaves were in the back of my dad’s van. We may not get the vibrant changes this time of year, but the leaves do present subtle shades of brown and orange!

Well, that’s about all for now!

Progress…

…FINALLY!

I have been able to get back into my stitching recently and finally have some progress to share. Here is where I am on the Christmas Design SAL:
 



I am still wondering where in the world Yoyo is, as I am sure everyone else in the SAL is too. I sure hope she and her family are alright. It’s been way too long without so much as a peep from her.



I am going to continue working on this design and get it finished in time to frame and give to my dad for Christmas this year (even if it kills pains me, LOL)! I also have several ornaments I want to stitch and need to restart that Baby Sampler I created. I got almost all the way across the top border on the Sampler and realised that I somehow miscounted either the fabric or the pattern. Anyway, I need to restart it so that it will be finished soooon now that the little boy is here.



Update on my Master’s Thesis: I PASSED! I received an “A” on my Thesis. I am officially through with my MA Degree and will should have the documents in hand in about 6 weeks or so. I had my graduation conference call with my prof and adviser last Friday morning, which went better than expected. My prof asked for permission to publish my entire Thesis in next year’s edition of the Virginia Review of Asian Studies (the same journal one chapter was published in this summer). I am so excited!!! Now, it’s time to find a real job; well after the holidays as I committed myself to the flower shop through the holidays. This gives me time to get some of my stitching projects completed as well!



My goals for the rest of the year are:

• Finish the Christmas Design SAL
• Finish the Shamrock Butterfly Wreath
• Complete at least 1 page on Cirques des Carreaux
• Finish 5 or 6 ornaments for Christmas for my grand nieces/nephews

Just stuff…

I managed to pick up my Christmas Design SAL piece and do a little bit of stitching on it. Here is a before:

and after:

I also gave the wrist band thingy for my camera to my sister so she would quit dropping hers back in June while we were on our trip. Soooo, I made myself a new one using some yarn and a crochet hook. Mind you, I am not much for crochet and only know the very basic single stitch, et voila:

We have been having typical summer tropical storm weather here in central Florida and I have been trying to capture some of the more impressive sunsets. Here are some pics of Wednesday evening’s sunset:

I took the pictures through my bedroom window and the screen kept coming into focus so the last couple are a bit blurry, set on the "sunset" setting, but you get the idea!


Finally, I have been trying without much luck to get some of that Chicken Noodle soup from Subway. It seems they only ever have Broccoli and Cheese anymore so I made my own. Here are a couple of pics of that:

Not bad for a first effort!!!


Oh, and I must add that I will soon be turning in my completed Thesis and it will go to Defense sometime in August (I hope)!!!

A Floss Tag and a little SAL Progress

Well, as promised, I am posting a couple of pictures on my latest little creations. This floss tag is my rendition of the GOS #6 Challenge. I had to play with the lettering a bit as the charted letters were too big. Fortunately, one of the charts I received from a giveaway had a perfect alphabet choice. So, without further ado I give you “I only have red thread”:

 And here is the progress I made on the Christmas Design SAL over at Yoyo’s:

Not much, but it’s something for the month of April. I am going to try to finish this section up for May, but I also have school deadlines, so we will see how it goes!


My mom sent me a lovely card. She enclosed a photocopy of the MSU Football team’s autographs that one of the techs received. She told me that the team came to the nursing home to visit the residents and some of the techs went gaga over them. LOL! Anyhoos, one of them kindly allowed my mom to photocopy her autographs to send to her favorite Spartan…ME! Here is a pic of the card (but I won’t post the autographs…you’ll have to get those on your own…lol ;)):

She made this at one of her Stampin' Up classes. She really enjoys this craft. I tried to get her into scrapbooking, but she didn't seem to like it as much. She does some on occasion. Now, if I can only get her to BLOG! LOL...


I have also posted another postcard that was in my mailbox today. This one is from Maine!


Don’t forget! It’s National Postcard Week. If you want one from me, just email me at frggygrl@aol.com. Be sure to put postcard in the subject line.


‘Til then…

Stitchy News…

Well, this post has taken some time to get to. I have several small things that I worked on over the past week while I was laid up in bed with an upper respiratory infection. My head was so congested, that after trying to spend a little time on my thesis, I gave up and found some quick designs.



My sister came over one day, before I got all sick and everything, and asked me how I do my back-stitching. I pulled out a bib (aida) and one of the charts I won in a giveaway (thanks again Cindy Mae!) and showed her. She was really impressed with how deliberate I am in my stitching. She said it is much like she is in her floral design. Anyhoo, here’s the bib:

Stitched on 14ct Charles Craft White Aida Bib

DMC Floss colors

Alphabet from Leisure Arts Leaflet #407

I also decided to participate in the Gift of Stitching magazine’s Creative Stitching #6. Here is my rendition, to be completed as a floss tag using Vonna’s tutorial:

Stitched on 18ct Oatmeal Aida

DMC Floss color

Pattern says "I only have red thread" - once stitched in

I am going to change the words to one of the alphabets from the same chart as on the bib. That chart has several different alphabet designs on it, so you know it's gonna see some [more] good use!


I also will be turning this little gem into a floss tag (I think I will get a lot of use out of that tutorial! Thanks Vonna!). The design is from the latest JCS pp 49-51. While it is meant to be a bag, I stitched it so small (oops, lol) that it will be perfect for a tag. Here is a pic":

Stitched on 18ct Oatmeal Aida

DMC Floss Colors: 310, 322, 834, 3051, 3781

I also received a RAK from Sally over at Stitchyangel's Treasures. She was so sweet to RAK me her Lost Dragon Sampler by Jennifer L. Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams. She included a sweet little card as well as some floss and beads to get me started. Thanks so very much, Sally! 

And as per her instructions, if anyone out there is interested in this chart after I complete it, please feel free to let me know.


I also won a giveaway recently. Here is a picture of my winnings:

Appalachian Spring. I can’t wait to get started on it!! Thanks Tammy!


Finally, but not least of all, check out my Postcards page for the latest. I received (without expectation of return) a beautiful card from Leavenworth…wait for it…Washington! And you thought I was gonna say Kansas didn’t you!!! LOL Anyway, thanks so much to Judy S! Now I really have to plan a vacation of the Pacific Northwest.


I will post an update later of my Christmas Design SAL progress as well as the finished finishes mentioned above!


‘Til then…

And now she’s 1!

Yup, my Sandy is 1 year old now. She has been a joy and sometimes a pain, but hey what cat isn’t? I adopted Sandy from a local vet last summer, about a month after the loss of our beloved Mrs. Beasley. I want to take a moment to share a slideshow of our first year together:

In stitchy news…

I have been sick all week. It started last Friday evening while eating Jordan Almonds. I managed to chip a tooth (#14 for those who know their teeth names!). On Monday, the 19th, I went to the dentist to see about getting it fixed. What I hoped would be just a filling turned into a crown replacement. I am wearing a temp right now and get the permanent crown on May 5th. Can’t wait!!! I am so afraid that the temp will fall off and that I will swallow it. Plus, it’s inconvenient when I eat as I have to chew on the “wrong side”. LOL ! Guess this means I am getting old.

Well, as the novocaine wore off, my throat became sore. I thought it was par for the course, but NOOOO! I have to go and get sick. So, I didn’t accomplish much on the stitchy front, and even less on my thesis. I did manage to get a few pages written this morning to make up for the bad week. What I did accomplish on the stitching is shown below:

 Progress photo on Comin' Home for the Holidays

 

Start on Ink Circles' Cirques des Carreaux

28ct Lakeside Linen Tarnished Silver

2x2 Carrie's Creations Epiphany

I have decided to stick with the Lakeside on Cirques. After cleaning out my stitching stash, well organizing it a bit more, and finishing a couple of pieces I am now able to better utilize my q-Snaps and the Lakeside stays more taut now. Woo Hoo!! Also, I am in love with Carrie's Creations Epiphany! The colors are just gorgeous (as you can see in the close-up). Now, can I get this done in time for Christmas this year?!?! We'll see! It's going to be framed for my mom to go on her "French" wall in the living room. For some reason, she is really into all-things French. I don't know if it is her dad's heritage seeping through or being around my best friend (who is from Nantes and should be back in the US soon).

And one month later…



Here are some pics of what my orange blossoms look like:

They are starting to form into little fruits! Maybe my dad will catch them early enough to try one and if they are good to eat, then we may have some fresh fruit in a few weeks/months, LOL! A friend of mine in PA already called “dibs” on some, so we’ll see.