Market Party!

Before I talk about the Market Party I attended, here is a quick progress snap on Paradise Lost.  I'm really enjoying this and next up is that big tree in the center.  Can't wait to finish that so I can stitch the people, giraffe and other remaining items.  I am considering adding my black cat in next to Eve, just need to chart him to coordinate with the other animals in the sampler. 

Earlier tonight, I went to a market party at our local cross-stitch shop tonight and just got home, well I did stop and do some other shopping since I was out.  Fanci Mats is local to me, even though it's a 40-60 minute drive depending on traffic but I enjoy getting down there when I can.  I hadn't been to a market party in years, since before I moved to Colorado in fact and when I heard that several friends were also going to stop by I decided that I must go as well. 

Well, I'm home and settled in after a wonderful evening!  I picked up the new Blackbird Designs book plus some 40 ct. Vintage Pearled Barley to stitch the red sampler on.  I also bought a nice piece of 36 ct. Vintage Examplar, I've been wanting some of this since stitching the trimkeep from the Attic's Sampler Symposium (stay tuned for a finish shortly).  Additionally I purchased a couple Stacy Nash Primitive charts (Malabar Farm Pinkeep and the Grace Bridges Sampler), the Friendship Pin Pilloow chart by Hartstrung Samplery and a few other things.  If I think of it I'll take a photo soon! Most of what I bought could be pincushions, I've been wanting to fill that star basket I mentioned in a previous post!  Also, the Sampler Guild of the Rockies is having a pincushion exchange at our May meeting so I need to get busy!

Of course, once the market party was over I went to the big mall down there and stopped at the Vera Bradley store.  Wow, Vera is my latest obsession.  I had never been to the actual store before (there is only one in Colorado although there are many places that have a little Vera) and wanted to look at several pieces that I might like to get.  I did get a camera case for my little point and shoot and a new sunglass case for my purse.  I remarked that I needed a bigger purse and of course, they said they could help me with that too!  LOL! 

I hope you're enjoying your favorites from Market, until next time... 

Maverick so wanted to play with his soccer ball. The only problem was that it was frozen in the snow! He tried hard to get it but finally settled for a Frisbee.

Paradise Lost Update and Market Must Haves

Well, I was able to get some stitching time in and it was so much fun working on the bird and flowers to the right of the big tree that I'm stuck on in the middle of.  Here's another wrinkly picture of my progress.  Next will be to finish that tree and then onto the middle of the sampler.

 
I'd love to predict when I will finish this sampler but with the Nashville Market coming and so many wonderful things to be released I have a feeling that I may set this aside for a bit to start on something new.  I am especially excited to start stitching Mary Roe 1808 by The Scarlett House.  A couple years ago I stitched Olga by Plum Street Samplers and have been trying to resist Boris and Sergi ever since.  And now Paulette comes out with Maxim and Zoya so now I think I have at least three Plum Street Samplers charts to add to my stitching list!  And of course, I'm curious to try stitching in wool to work on Jane Pattison by Shakespeare's Peddler.  I'm sure that will be just the tip of the iceberg once the market reports start coming out.  What's on your must stitch list from the market sneak peeks that we've seen so far??

Speaking of stitching lists... I may have mentioned that I was doing some organizing of my stash.  I used to have an inventory of charts and fibers and what linens I had to stitch them on well when I moved 4 years ago but then things went into storage well my inventory got horribly out of date.  So, I've spent some precious stitching time over the past few weeks organizing and cataloging my stuff so I have an updated list again and won't let that happen again! 

Well, I went to IKEA and purchased some pink baskets to hold my newly organized stash and while I was sorting and updating my list, my cat decided that he wanted to help too.  What I find especially humorous about this picture is that my Halloween kitty jumped into the wrong bin, he's sorted with the Christmas stash, not Halloween!  I guess I needed to switch the labels!  These baskets will eventually go into Expedit shelving which will go into a closet, I just need to go back and buy the shelves now that I'm ready to load it up! 

Dancing Dogs

Many of you who read this blog already know that I'm into dog training with Sage and you've seen the agility videos to prove it!  Well, the other part of my training that I've done with Sage is obedience.  In fact, we started our beginning obedience class within a week of my adopting Sage and have moved on from there.  We take classes at the Longmont Humane Society and I have been very impressed!  Sage and I are now in the ACES class which is their highest level of training and it is so much fun! 

Each year at the big fundraiser for LHS the ACES class does a demonstration of dog training skills.  Last year I could only watch as they played musical chairs.  That looked fun but what we're doing this year will be even better!  This year's demo will be dancing dogs, we are training behaviors that will get put together as a dance routine with all the handlers and dogs.  No video of us yet, but we're having a lot of fun!  I just wish all this snow would melt so we could work more in the back yard! 

This week with class, we were sent a video to watch of a similar routines.  I just loved this, doesn't the first dog look a little like Sage and the second dog look a bit like Maverick only smaller?  I would love for Carrie and I someday to do something similar with our two pups! 

Lions and Tiger and TUSAL, Oh My!

Lions...  I've been busily stitching away on Paradise Lost since my last post.  I finished the motifs along the top so I jumped down and stitched the lions.  I've been dying to stitch more animals so rewarded myself.  Take a look...

And, here's a shot of the total progress:

I am so excited to get to this point!  Next I think I'll take a break from the tree and finish the motifs on the far right which will let me pick a frame whenever.  Then, I'll finish the tree and then I'm on to all the fun animals and Adam and Eve in the middle! 

Tiger... Nicola is having a contest on her blog, Stitching by a Cornish Sea Shore to share the cutest pictures of our animals sleeping.  Well, I think all my animals are cute when sleeping but one of the things I've been getting a kick out of over the last year is how the cats have completely taken over the dog's beds.  In fact, she has several on the chance that she might get one but usually there is a cat on it instead.  Here's Tiger on the dog's bed...
Granted, I woke her up trying to take this picture.  I had stacked the dog beds up to vacuum the family room and then later in the day found Miss Tiger cuddled up on top, kind of makes me think of Princess and the Pea and believe me, she is definitely a princess!  But, this is one of my favorites.  This is Mr. Scooter on the dog bed and Miss Sage on the floor.  You can definitely see who is the boss in this relationship...

TUSAL...

Lastly it's time for my February TUSAL report.  Here's my jar as of today, I squished it down recently and am now wishing I had waited until after I took this photo.  Oh well!  It is sitting next to a star shaped basket that I recently picked up at Pier One thinking it would be great for all my smalls.  Hmm, I suppose I should get busy on finishing those smalls!  LOL!  I'll take a photo of the basked when I have something to put into it I suppose.  :) 

I hope you have a wonderful week! 

 

Funny Girl

One of the things that I love about my pup is the way her ears work.  When she is really into playing ball or playing with her favorite Shark toy her right ear flops like a regular aussie but her left ear stands straight up!  I am always trying to capture these moments of Sage because it's just one of the many things that makes her special to me.  :)

Sage in the Snow

Sage is definitely a snow dog, her favorite thing is to have me throw the ball and she'll go dig it out and really, she's not happy unless she comes up with the ball and a face full of snow!  Well, the other weekend we had 20" of snow and that sure didn't stop Miss Sage, she literally had a ball in the snow!  Check it out!   

Today is Miss Sage's unofficial birthday too so Happy Birthday Miss Sage!!

Paradise Lost and Home Improvement

Wow, I have had a busy couple weeks but it's been great!  I've been stitching some but have turned my attention to a couple house projects lately that I've wanted to do.  So first, here's a quick progress pic on my Paradise Lost. 

 
I finished up the cloud and then moved on to the banner.  I'm now going to work my way down the right side saving the middle for last (I can't wait to do all those fun animals)! 

I have a friend who is a contractor and he does awesome finishing work!  I hired him to come put up some crown moulding in my dining room (remember that sampler wall?) and to re-do my fireplace wall. 

Here's a photo of the fireplace wall before: 

It had kind of always bugged me that my builder used bathroom tile around the fireplace and the paint on that mantel was so thick it was always sticky.  I think this looks OK but I had dreams of doing something much nicer!  So, I bought a new mantle and a bunch of stone.  My friend prepped the wall the weekend that he was doing the crown moulding so for a week my living room had just cement board on the wall and every time I looked at it I'd get so excited about what was to come.  So, after a full day of adding stone and the new mantel here is what my fireplace wall now looks like:

Doesn't it look so much better??  Now I just need to get some paint on those walls! 

By the way, that picture above the fireplace works in that spot but I have Anniversaries of the Heart all kitted up and ready to start and would really love to have it hanging there.  With the stone I'm not sure if it "goes" anymore but I'm going to stitch it regardless and if it doesn't work there I'm sure I'll find a good spot for it around here somewhere! 

Elizabeth Sheffield Framed

Wow, this might be my last Elizabeth Sheffield post.  So sad.  She was such a fun sampler to stitch and last weekend I got her all framed up.  Here she is up on the wall.
I just hung her up so I could get a good picture but I haven't decided just where I'm going to hang her yet.  I may just audition a few spots and see where she fits best.  Here is a close up of the frame itself.
As usual I ordered my frame from Lynn's of Madison and then my Mom mailed me her frame (Lynn's will ship but my Mom offered).  Well, FedEx was faster than predicted so the frame arrived Saturday morning.  I had one other project to frame so I spent some time Saturday afternoon at my craft desk working on framing.  It took me over 2 hours to get Elizabeth laced up!  I used 35 count Weeks straw linen and it was really stretchy.  In fact, we ordered this frame a little larger than normal so it had room to stretch, but then I had to actually stretch it instead of just snugging it into place. 

Since it was such stretchy fabric I had to really work to get it to line up well.  It's not 100% perfect but it feels pretty close.  To do this I laced really close together on the back, closer than I normally would and made sure to use the same linen thread to line up my lacing, another thing that I'm not always great about.  Here's what the back looked like after doing just one side.

I thought about waiting to finish the other side for the next day but really wanted to get this finished so I could work on finding a spot for her so I went ahead and finished the lacing and added the backing, bumpers and wire.  Here's the back after I was done lacing.  Whew, I'm glad to have this framing project so I can now just enjoy the fruits of my labor! 

Thanks for dropping by!