Blog Hop #11, a Visit To the Framers, and a Finish!

Once again, I'm grateful for Blog Hops to break me of my radio silences, haha. I'll jump right into it, iffins you don't mind!

Stitching the Night Away Stitching Bloggers Blog Hop

What has been your most unusual or most interesting stash acquisition to date?

I pondered my (frequent) trips to various thrift stores and the wealth that they sometimes bestow upon my stash... as far as interesting (to me), I think I would have to go with floss. On one excursion, I picked up a sandwich-sized baggie of floss. Being the hoarder stash builder that I am, I think "yay floss!" and don't even bother to go through the baggie. When I get it home and start playing with it, I discover that they aren't all new, but Star (3 for 10¢? Can I go back to those days, please?), Brillanté D'alger (French DMC?), and some older labels of DMC. I know they're not really unusual but for someone who only has new DMC and Sullivans around, they were kinda neat to look at. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and find specialty flosses at a thrift store!

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
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Next up in my excitement was... are you ready? A trip to the framers! (!!!!!) That was a fun experience, playing with all the various frame pieces and mats and how to put them all together. I had no idea there were so many options out there. Nor just how expensive framing is, omygosh! Even with various discounts, it will still be $160 and that is really a lot of money to me. I went ahead with it as I had already picked out everything but is this really a normal price for framing? I suppose it's a good thing that I finish things slowly. And it's apparent that I need to make figuring out framing a high priority, lol! Anyway, I'll pick it up in a couple of weeks as I only get down to that area on weekends. It'll be so nice to have something to display on the wall!

Lastly, I haven't been entirely neglectful of my stitching. It's Sprite Stitch's 5th birthday so they're having different challenges on the forums for the month of November. I've always shied away from participating in the challenges because I feel as creative as a potato next to the talent there but I thought I could at least give the mini challenges a try! I couldn't post WIPs of it because it was a challenge, but the first one was "something birthday" so here is what I created:

More video game stuffs here! :D

I got the idea from my friend who reminded me of this blog post on SS who in turn got it from @Shereebedee on twitter. Even though I didn't win, it was a fun little stitch and I think it would work great as a birthday card for the geeky group. :D If you can't read it, it says, "This time, the cake isn't a lie." which is a little play on "The cake is a lie." from the video game Portal. The black forest cake is resting on a be-doilied Companion Cube which I already had made a pattern for ages ago. In a flash of inspiration, I added little turrets shooting into portal holes... and thus, each other. Silly turrets. I don't hate you.

That's all I got for today, folks! I'm sure you're tired of reading anyway. :D May your fingers be productive until the next time~

Small and Late IHSW!

Well first of all you guys need to kick me in the pants!! I had no idea that the spectacular Jo had offered to put $10 toward getting a piece framed! Her entries don't show up in my reader. Nor do Daffycat's. I hope there aren't more people not showing up -- if so, I'M SORRY!! I just thought you all were quiet posters, lol! But now that I know people are hiding from my reader (LOL) I can google the blogs. If I've been missing anyone else, let me know. I may have to create a bookmark folder so I know I'm checking them all! :)

BUT YAY I can get something framed! I have e-mailed a local framer for info regarding FFVII options. We'll see if she breaks the bank. I hope not, 'cause then I can get FFVIII done too! And then I can really call my home The Home of a Needleworker! :D


And now, IHSW! I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get anything done this weekend as it was the Fall Festival and I'd be out of the house quite a bit. I got something finished even though it was technically finished before, haha. I got the felt backing sewed on, yay!

Front & Back

I think next time I will leave the edges straight omygoodness! That was some crazy stitching all around there. I'm not sure orange was the right choice but I think orange and black for Halloween and that's how that happened. I'm not so good at floss tosses, I suppose. And of course after I stitched the back on, took pictures, and admired her I realized I forgot to stitch her little cape ribbon on!! Aaaa. *facepalm* It'll be an easy fix as long as I'm super careful...

She was stitched on black 14-count perforated plastic in six colors plus the orange blanket stitch for the edge. I backed her with a piece of black felt. She's modeled on my chopstick lamp and is 3.5" tall. You can find the wonderful pattern on Carolyn's blog, along with a whole bunch of others! :D Also her dA has more!

Now I'm off to catch up on everyone's posts~ I'm sure y'all will have productive fingers again this week, much more than mine, haha. :D

Blog Hop #9 and #10

Okay, I missed Blog Hop #9 but I'm sneaking it in here anyway. ;)

Stitching the Night Away Stitching Bloggers Blog Hop

What are your must-have stitching tools and aides? Other than your trusty scissors, of course. Is there a problem you have had when stitching that you created your own solution for, or have you purchased a tool that helped?

I'm gonna go with something kinda alien here -- the dual monitors on my computer. I like to make patterns so having the extra screen real estate is SO USEFUL. I can have one monitor devoted to the pattern maker and the other devoted to a browser full of reference pictures, or at least the one reference picture to compare with.

In terms of more normal tools, I suppose I would have to go with painter's tape. I'm quite hopeless when it comes to sewing so binding edges seems to be beyond me (I'm trying though!). I keep a roll of the lovely blue tape around to keep my edges (and sanity) from fraying away.

What’s your absolute least-favorite thread to work with?

I'm going to have to go with... metallic! Why, why must it separate! And twist! So many twists! I can't say that I've ever had it knot up on me but that might make me want to toss it in a fire so perhaps that's a good thing. I don't have any problem backstitching with it but Heaven forbid I try to do cross stitches! It's impossible to "railroad" metallic. I haven't tried thread heaven yet so maybe it will be the answer to my woes but until then! It adds so much to a piece with all the little sparkles it throws out so I can't hate it...

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
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October TUSAL

October TUSAL!

I am timely this time! :D There's all the little flosses from Halloween Witchy Kitty and a random bit of string that was on a shirt. Also, my sparkly pencil, the eraser (that packs down the floss, btw), and a basic pair of scissors!

Sorry there isn't a C&H backdrop. Instead, we have my stitchy table. The little sewing box was a gift from my boyfriend's grandfather. When he gave it to me, I had zero idea what it was for as I didn't do any stitching at the time. Dangling above is a tiny wind chime that tinkles if I even look at the lamp wrong, haha. And the shamrock potpourri heart to keep it company. If you look on the table to the left of the jar, you'll see a pair of stork scissors my grandmother gave to me. They're quite old and so much more awesome than anything else I've tried. They do need a good sharpening though!

:D! Productive fingers for you all!

Possibly Another Halloween Kitty

Hooboy! We finally have Internet at our place! I spent quite a while catching up with blogs; I hope I got everyone! Blogger still likes to "hide" posts from me once in a while.

Well, apart from having Internet, the electric company was out replacing poles in the corn fields so we were without power for a few hours over a couple of days. What better time to stitch, right~? :D

It's a raaaaainbow!

Wait, that's not stitching...

...

Turns out, having no electricity also makes good time to work on rainbows. I decided to take the opportunity to wrap my floss from FFVII up on bobbins instead of letting them get all tangled up in the baggies. I'm not very fond of pink but I like that my box is different from the usual white / clear ones.

I need more floss.

Cute Level: MAX!

And here's what I worked on! I apologize for the abysmal photo; the camera refused to focus and get the colors right at the same time. Anyway, this super cute kitty was a freebie pattern made by the wonderful Carolyn! I seem to have a thing for Halloween kitties, especially witchy Halloween kitties. She has a whole series of these little guys in various adorable outfits on her blog and dA.

I made a few changes to the pattern as I didn't have all the colors listed. I chose a medium gray for the body, a darker gray for the outline, and black for the cape and hat. I like gray kitties with green eyes, so that was another change. I also stitched the hat buckle in gold metallic because all witch kitties need bling. Another change (not shown) was the bow. Because of the cape edit, I decided to make a little bow out of extra floss.

This was my first attempt using perforated plastic (and stitching on anything black!). I'm harboring some mixed feelings about it! I think my main trouble was not having a needle the right size. I had to really shove it through the hole even though it was 14-count! Also, it was a little uncomfortable to hold. Otherwise, it's awesome. I like the stiffness. Even if I left it as-is, it could've been considered "finished" but I can't let the world see the back of my stitching now can I?

I had an idea how to finish it using felt for a backing. I started stitching it on with a blanket stitch and then for some mysterious reason, decided there was too much felt and cut it to size. A size too small! Aaaah. I have tons of scrap felt (yay for being a teacher's kid -- all kinds of crafty access) so all I have to do is rummage out another piece and not get so crazy with the scissors.

Shh, I'm hiding.

I'm in the middle of fall cleaning and had tossed that camo jumpsuit out of the closet I was working on. I turn around and there's Peanut, happy as can be, making a little Kitty Nest and enjoying life.

Until the next time, enjoy the rest of your week and may your fingers be productive~