Last Day of Freedom

Yep, I'm whining. It's the last day of summer vacation (sniff ... sob), which is my favorite time of year. I'm very happy to be employed, but I love, love time off. I appreciate every single minute of it. We all know those retired people who complain about being bored. I'll never be one of those people. Bored has always been a dirty word at my house. With all there is to see and do, how can anyone fail to entertain themselves?

As promised, I used an untechnological method to choose recipients for the UFOs and fabric. I got out my pretty little Damariscotta Pottery dish and put little slips of paper in it. Like this ...

Ellen will be receiving Home Sweet Home, Buttoned Hearts will be sent to Loraine (no blog?), and the fabrics will be sent to Pam. If you ladies will send me a snail mail address, I'll get those things out to you ASAP. Thanks to all of you who offered to give homes to my old projects and fabric. For those of you who are wondering, I'm thrilled to be giving stash items away rather than throwing them away. I hate waste! It is my extreme pleasure to keep the US Post Office busy carrying things from my house to yours. And isn't it nice just to get something you want with no strings attached? I love things like that. So enjoy.

I'd like to mail out two more packages. These projects aren't even UFOs ... they're ancient Shepherds Bush kits (just look at the packaging and charts). First is a selection of bread cloths that I'm giving away together. There's an angel cloth and a shepherd cloth.
I also have a cute little pillow kit. Sorry ... it's a picture of a picture, but you can get an idea of how it looks.

All of these items have fabric, cotton floss and chart. Again, you just have to let me know the item(s) you'd like to have. I'll give you until Friday to make your request. I think I'll try to get it all settled by Friday afternoon, because there's no telling what the weekend will bring.

How about a progress picture? Here's Block #1 of Shores of HRH all finished. That was fun!

I've worked a little on Evil Serpent and I've sat at my sewing machine for a little while, but that'll have to wait until next time. I'm off to play golf and enjoy the rest of the day.

Oh, by the way, the Harley trip to Steamboat Springs was great. We had wonderful weather and saw beautiful scenery. If you don't know about Steamboat, you oughta google the little ski town and see it before developers completely change it. Make some fun!

UFOs and an OMG

Gee, I was certain I'd be back here before now. Instead of sitting at the computer, I've been filling the last week before going back to school (NO!!!) with fun. Very little stitching is being done, but oh well. I'm forcing my butt into the chair at my computer desk to get this post done, because there are things to do and people to see. Shall we jump right in to the UFOs?

First up is Buttoned Hearts by Shepherd's Bush. I started it long, long ago, but didn't make much progress. It's stitched on 18-count white linen with Medici wools. It comes with the fabric, wools, chart, and buttons. Wanna finish it?

Next is Home Sweet Home, a kit by Emie Bishop (Cross 'n' Patch). I started it in a class I took with her at the Charlotte Market ages ago. This project has a hardanger section in it, which isn't really difficult, but it helps to have had some practice. It comes with the chart, instructions, silks and metallics, and fabric. Wouldn't you like to finish this project?

Those are really the only two UFOs up for grabs today, but here is a fabric assortment I'd love to give away. As you can see, there are several colors. What you may not be able to see is the count variety. These are all evenweave fabrics, but none of them are linens. There's some Linda, Tula, some Lugana (I think), and at least another type I've forgotten the name of. Care to add them to your stash?

That's it for today's selection. If you're interested in having these items arrive at your house, please just leave me a comment by Tuesday, August 11. If more than one person asks for any item, I'll do a decidedly untechnological drawing to pick a recipient. Sound good?

And now for the OMG! Look! It's And They Sinned ... framed!

How's that for speed in framing? The framer did a lovely job of putting my mother of all samplers into a dark cherry frame. I like it! But where to put it? Looks like there's a rearrangement in my future. The stairwell sampler wall will require some space to accomodate the new acquisition. Sounds like an appropriate end-of-vacation (golly, I hate to say that) activity.

That's it until next week. I'm off now to prepare for a weekend motorcycle getaway to Steamboat Springs (gasp!) with the man I hang around with. I know! Doesn't that sound like fun? What a good idea he had. Do you think I'll be stitching while riding on back? Probably not. Have a wonderful weekend and make some fun.

The Last Tuesday in July

Is it Tuesday already? How does that happen so quickly? I'm amazed at how the summer is slipping by. I keep trying to dig in my heels, but it doesn't seem to be working.

In my mind, feeble as it is, that UFO giveaway idea worked rather well. I had a request from one person for each project, so I'm happy. The bunny band sampler is going to Kate, Barb is getting the log cabin quilt square, and Wanda (no blog) will get the seashells. There is quite a selection of items in my UFO/Never Gonna Stitch pile, so I'll be picturing them for future giveaways beginning with my next post. I truly appreciate giving UFOs a good home. It makes me feel less wasteful.

Speaking of being less wasteful, here's something that I finished from my olden WIP pile. It's Twined Heart from Shepherd's Bush, and I can remember beginning it at an old stitch 'n' bitch session about 12 years ago (gasp). I know! It sat for years in a drawer, waiting for me to put the ribbon and beads on it. What the hell took me so long? It took all of about 45 minutes yesterday afternoon to just get 'er done. So hooray!

What about the new starts? Well, there hasn't been enough progress on Mayflower Women to warrant a picture. I'll see what I can do to remedy that situation. In another moment of weakness, I started the Evil Serpent Sampler from Examplars from the Heart (oops). OK, I've been a naughty girl again. I think I can live with that, because it's really fun to stitch. And look ... it's so cute.

Since I have a newly organized selection of fabrics, I decided to use something I've already spent money on (imagine that!). So Zack (yes, he's visiting again this week) helped me give a piece of 40-count Sandstone a spa day in my kitchen. Under Zack's watchful eye (he follows me everywhere), I soaked the fabric in my jar of coffee from the fridge for an hour or so, and then baked it in the oven until dry. I love the splotches we got. The man I hang around with will be amazed at all of the marvelous things his dog has learned, won't he?

I've also spent some time working on Block 1 of Shores. For some strange reason, the grayish rocks and the blue in the water look like the same color. In real life, it's not that way at all. Let's see ... could it be the camera? Nah ... it has to be operator error. But you get the idea.

That's what's been happening around here. I'll be looking through my files with the idea of dislodging more projects from my collection. You can be certain that there are some oldies-but-goodies in there. After the UFOs are gone, I'll be putting charts up for grabs. I'd better go get busy. Make some fun.