Threads of Desire

Unsatisfactory

2009-07-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Buying kits can be fraught with complications. Maybe you won't like working with the fabric. Maybe the threads are a poor quality. Maybe there is not enough fabric or thread. Maybe the pattern doesn't match the model. But I ran into a problem with Mill Hill's Kitchen Collection Bowled Over that I have never seen before. Can anyone tell me which of these threads are Dark Rose, which are Light Red, which are Dark Red, and which are Light Rose? I didn't think so. Sometimes kits have the threads in labeled bags (Bent Creek). Sometimes kits have threads that are obviously different colors (and with the number of lengths noted so that you can tell the 3 lengths of Dark Rose from the 5 lengths of Dark Red, such as Dimensions kits). Sometimes the kits even attach the threads to a numbered chart (Bothy and Michael Powell). This kit does not tell you how many lengths you should have or how to distinguish one reddish thread from another. Now there are DMC color numbers listed for the threads, but all of my DMC is back in Nevada. I hope they do match what I have when I check them under my daylight lamp.

Meanwhile I am going to continue on with the colors I can differentiate. I've stitched all the Blue, Dark Green and the Light Yellow that need to be stitched. I wanted to stitch more of this on the plane, but the reading lights were broken and most of the shades were down. I stitched just the bottom row of the Light Yellow, then put it away for a brighter day. There are also a lot of beads in these kits. I like the way that they make the pattern sparkle, but I wasn't sure if I could stitch them at all. The provided beading needle had an eye so slender that my needle threader wouldn't even go through it. And I certainly couldn't get two strands of DMC through the eye either. Luckily my John James Petite 26 needle is handling the job beautifully. John James FTW!!! (For The Win) I will be better prepared for the next three kits. After I stitch all the Medium Green (and the matching beads), I will have a large area of unbeaded Light Green to stitch on the plane. Meanwhile I will go back to stitching Postcard from Paradise.

I haven't had a lot of stitching time this week because the Guest Room has gone from an almost empty room of junk to this. We bought curtains and curtain rods, finally taking down the very faded Martha Stewart bedsheets that were thumbtacked to the window frames. We bought a new king sized bed for the Master Bedroom and moved the queen sized bedroom set into the Guest Room. I washed all the sheets and towels and generally cleaned the house more than it has ever been (even the Office and the Library).

This was all in preparation for our niece Laura to visit us from Lexington, Kentucky. We took her out to lunch/dinner at Mama's Fish House (seen in the background here) and then back to the house. She promptly crashed, as would I after traveling for 12 hours. Right now she and James are out renting her some snorkel gear while I have a bit of quiet and stitch. We will probably have an early dinner then get up at dawn to drive the road to Hana (and around the back of the island). The waterfalls are always better early in the morning.

No Television, No Internet, No Problem

2009-07-12T11:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, we spend so little time in San Francisco that we decided not to hook up to the building’s cable television. And the DVD player broke several years ago and hasn’t been replaced. Even the wireless router is giving us problems, so it’s either read or stitch. I decided to stitch and now have 13 squares (out of 90) finished. Barbara made a suggestion of using Thread Heaven to control the knotting of the Crescent Colours threads. Of course, I have Thread Heaven . . . back in Henderson. But this gave me a great excuse to go to the Status Thimble in Burlingame. Not only did I get Thread Heaven, but you can see the first of my planned thread substitutions. Instead of the inside of the sunglasses being a muddy gray green (CC Frosted Sage), they are now a wonderful Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid shiny silver. I also have some shiny green and shiny blue that will find their way into this piece also. I love Petite Treasure Braid. Did the Thread Heaven help? Help, yes, solve the problem, NO! It still knots, but at least I haven’t had to cut any more of the knots out. The Status Thimble was having their yearly July sale (20% off everything except sale items). So a few magazines, a chart, a canvas and some threads made their way into my basket. I haven’t stitched a single Christmas ornament this year. That will soon change.

But lest you think that I did nothing but stitch, yesterday we went to the Ferry Plaza Market and tried to be good about not buying too much tasty fruit (we can’t take any of it to Hawaii). We also shopped for king sized sheets for Maui. Even though the king bedroom set we ordered last year will not be here before the end of September (first promised for April), we are going to get a king bed mattress and simple frame so that we can move the queen bed into the guest room for our niece who will be joining us in Maui on Wednesday, We also attended a galley opening for an artist who is one of James’ friends and had a tasty sushi dinner from our favorite Japanese restaurant, Main Street Sushi in Half Moon Bay. Then I went a little overboard buying bread (which we can take to Hawaii) at Whole Foods. There is not any artisan bread on Maui, so if you want sourdough, sourdough walnut, or brioche hamburger buns, you have to bring your own.

I'm sitting in the Red Carpet Club at SFO waiting for our flight to Maui. It will be good to get out of the cod, cold SF Bay Area. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Start-itis

2009-07-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

I started out looking for something small to stitch on the planes. I decided on several Mill Hill Kitchen Collection kits, but they come with 14 count Aida and I hate Aida. So looking through my fabric drawers I picked out a white 28 count Monaco with enough fabric for four kits. While I was looking for the 28 count fabric I ran across the 36 count antique white Edinburgh and the threads that I got a couple of months ago for Blue Ribbon Designs Postcards from Paradise. I had the fabric, I had the threads, but I could not find the pattern. That led to a lot of rummaging around in various boxes. By the time I found it (and picked out some fabric for Raise the Roof's Hang Ten), there was nothing left but for me to start the pattern I had spent all that time searching for. Besides stitching this in Maui seems so appropriate. I washed and ironed the Postcards from Paradise fabric and "borrowed" the Q-snaps from Three Gables. I was ready to stitch.

I have never stitched on fabric as small as 36 count. The model was done on 40 count one strand over two threads, but I saw a model done on 36 count and thought that was small enough. I have never stitched one over two. I really wasn't sure there would be enough coverage. And the problem I was really worried about is that the threads are all from Crescent Colours. I hated, hated, hated those threads when I was stitching Raise The Roof's Warm Water Wash. But when I was buying the threads I could only find two Weeks Dye Works colors that were close enough to the Crescent Colours threads to actually substitute. I'll use DMC 3371 for CC Black Coffee. So I started stitching. I do love the colors, but for the first 20 crosses during every single cross, the thread knotted, just as it had on Warm Water Wash. I don't stitch quickly. I don't pull my threads tightly. This is just inferior thread. On the twentieth cross I spent almost 20 minutes trying to pry the knot apart before giving up in disgust and cutting out the knot. I did keep going and got two boxes and two motifs done. I just hope that I don't give up on this altogether, but it could happen. I do know that I will NEVER, EVER buy Crescent Colours threads again. If I can't find a color match, I will just go with different colors.

I do like the pattern and I do feel like a mini-finish after every motif is finished. I even enjoyed starting in the middle with K and P since my maiden name started with P, so I used KP as my initials until I was married. But I am bringing Three Gables with me as a backup project, if I decide that these Crescent Colours threads cannot be used. I leave for San Francisco in a couple of hours. I probably won't have reliable photo uploading until we get to Maui on Sunday. I hope everyone has a splendid weekend.

Christmas in July

2009-07-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, another Bent Creek Sheep is finished. Hooray! I finished most of the cross stitch in Tempe, Arizona, at Westercon, but needed a bit of time yesterday after we drove back to Nevada to finish the french knots and the arms. The convention was fun, but small. As long as my friends from Los Angeles (and elsewhere) were there, I was happy.

We drove back at almost one in the morning on Sunday morning. The road between here and Phoenix is so boring, that we didn't really need to see the scenery. We had taken naps in the afternoon and had a George R. R. Martin audiobook to listen to, so we were set to go. There was really no traffic, so we made the trip in five rather than six hours. The best part was crossing the Hoover Dam at dawn. It was very beautiful, including the new suspension bridge that they are building. Once we were back home we crashed out for a couple of hours.

James has a gallery show this month in the San Francisco Bay Area and will be going there on Wednesday to hang the show. I will join him on Friday for the reception and on Sunday we will head over to Maui for ten days. Our niece, Laura, will be joining us on the 15th. She has never been to Hawaii. I'm just worrying about how we are going to move the queen bed to the guest room and what we are going to sleep on until our much delayed king bed set arrives via container (no, it was not in the containers in April). You can't count on any delivery times in Hawaii unless it is "on island" already.

I'll probably take Three Gables to stitch, but I will need something smaller for the plane. At this rate I may never get back to Under the Sea. There are also a few other WiPs that are almost UFOs. When I get Three Gables finished, I need to spend some time with Bothy's Cut Thru Rocket and Michael Powell's Cottage Garden I. That is if I am not seduced by some of the stash I have accumulated lately. Blue Ribbon Design's Postcards from Paradise is kitted up. I just need some appropriate fabric for Ink Circles' Beautie Spotte. I recharted those threads into Vickie Clayton silks. I also got a few Mill Hill beaded smalls in kitchen motifs. Maybe I will take one of those to Maui. And there are always sheep. Maybe I can fill the guest room walls with sheep. It's always nice to think about a new start. Have a great week everyone!

Head and Feet

2009-06-30T19:19:00.001-07:00

This is how much I can stitch while waiting an hour and a half for an oil change for the car. There isn't that much left to do: two more snowmen and a flag. Oh, yes, and finishing those last bits of snowflakes at the bottom. I'm taking this and Three Gables to Arizona tomorrow, but I have no idea how much stitching I'll get to do.

Tonight I'm rereading the Hugo nominated short fiction in preparation for my panel on Thursday. I have a panel on the Hugo nominated novels on Friday. Friday midnight (EDT) is the deadline for voting. At least we can vote online and aren't at the mercy of snail mail, though mailing in a ballot is still possible.

I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has made so many kind comments about my progress on Three Gables. I have had this kitted up for years and I am just so thrilled about seeing this being stitched up. I really am enjoying every stitch, even the Bark.

Good Progress!

2009-06-29T09:53:00.001-07:00

Yes, I have stitched all the WDW Basil. But there is still more WDW Bark. Another whole skein of it. Still, most of the pattern is at least outlined. There is a broom garage at the side to finish, lots and lots of confetti leaves around the bottom and an iron fence that the bird on the left is sitting on. I'll take this pattern to Arizona, but I don't think I will get much stitched on it. I am on several panels and I promised to organize next year's Westercon's programming. So I will sit their table during the day when I am not on panels. Maybe I will finish the sheep I started on the way out. I didn't stitch at all on the flights back. Instead I finished the one Hugo nominated novel I hadn't read. I knew I wouldn't like it much, but now I have a basis to criticize it properly for my Hugo panel.

The next two days are simply a whirlwind of getting to all those things mounting up in the past week (snail mail, laundry, groceries) plus packing again for the driving trip to Arizona. At least we won't have to weigh our suitcases. We can just dump as much stuff in the car as we can. A decade ago I would be visiting AAA for maps, but now I just have the address in my iPhone and GPS will get us there. It doesn't stop there though. James has a group show in the San Francisco Bay Area next week. He is flying to SFO a week from Wednesday. I will join him on Friday for the reception and we will both fly to Maui on Sunday. There are a number of issues there: the wall, the cottage which is still not sold, and now the landscaping, which according to our property manager is looking rather sad. One thing at a time: first Phoenix, then San Francisco, then Maui. I hope everyone in the United States has a good Fourth of July weekend.

Roof, Roof!

2009-06-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed a small bit of roof on the right hand side that had not been filled in. I knew there was more WDW Basil (the roof thread) used on the garage to the right side of the house, so I was waiting to get to that part before I finished the main roof. I finally got close enough to the garage to finish up the rest of the roof. Here you just see the right window and most of the door finished, but I have actually stitched all of the Basil in the chart and a lot more Bark, too. I will post a further picture tomorrow when I am back in Nevada. Right now we are going to head off to the airport to see if we can catch an earlier flight out of Cincinnati through O'Hare and back to Las Vegas. We can use all the time we can get at home before we have to drive to Phoenix on Wednesday. I am very pleased at how much I stitched on this pattern this week. I wish I had as much stitching time every week.

LNS: Sharonville, Ohio

2009-06-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

I like going to a convention called Midwestcon in Cincinnati. It is a small convention (just over 100) without programming (a relaxacon). Many people play cards (Wizards) or talk or plan future SF conventions, but there are a small group of us who cross stitch (and more knitters all the time). On Saturday many of us head over to this charming framing and cross stitch store called Keepsakes. It is in an old house that is floor to ceiling filled with beautifully framed cross stitch. Most of it is traditional cross stitch, so there are tons (and I do mean tons) of samplers and primitives. I never manage to just look, but always find something that I just have to buy.

This is the stairway to the second floor. You have to step carefully as there are charts on the steps and in the hallway. Three rooms upstairs are filled with charts and more framed pieces and the fourth room is filled with every color of every brand of thread (and accessory) that you might want or need. Because the stitched pieces are so charming, I always see things I want that I might not have noticed by only seeing the chart. This time I was particularly taken with a chart from Raise the Roof called Charmed Sampler which lets you attach as many charms as you want. Now I can get my lovely charms out of their boxes and show them off. I also got Hooked on Tea from Handblessings, a chart I had not seen before. Since I don't drink coffee, I was glad to see something about my favorite drink. I couldn't resist a Homespun Elegance pattern called Witches Stitch, Too!!

Although I was taken by these charts, don't worry. I have been working away on Three Gables. One of the non-stitchers in the group was admiring it and thought that I was almost done. I wish I was, but there is a ton of confetti stitching at the bottom that will take a long time. Still I have stitched more this last week that I have the previous month. It's good to see one of my goals on the way to completion.

LNS: Lexington, Kentucky

2009-06-25T11:34:00.001-07:00

One of the pleasant parts of our visits to my husband's family in Lexington, Kentucky, has always been shopping at The Stitch Niche. It's even better that it is not too far from my mother-in-law's house. I've always found things that I fall in love with here, including the full button kit for Three Gables that I bought many years ago. This is where I bought my first Kit & Bixby sheep. They carry an impressive amount of cross stitch patterns from every major designer and also some from small designers you may never have heard of. Several of their designs feature the University of Kentucky logo (and basketballs!) I think of them as carrying mostly traditional designs, but they did have a good selection of Monsterbubbles and other non-traditional designs. Their selection does not stop at cross stitch. They also have DMC, Rainbow Gallery and Caron threads, hardanger, needlepoint, frames, Sudberry boxes, and a ton of yarn for crochet and knitting. There is a huge backroom that has space for two simultaneous classes. If I lived here, I would certainly take several. This time I limited my purchases, but I still walked out with some gorgeous 32 count evenweave fabric in a very light grey green, a Shepard's Bush kit, and a card of glass buttons in purple and green. You could spend a day just looking through all their gorgeous fabrics. Of course they also frame cross stitch and block needle point. A women brought in a fabulous wool needlepoint pillowtop with more bullion stitches than I would ever attempt for blocking. There are also walls and walls full of finished cross stitch, especially one wall of trains. If you are ever close by, you should certainly browse and drool here.

Bark, Bark, Bark!

2009-06-24T13:53:00.001-07:00

Since all four generations of the family were having dinner at my sister-in-laws house, I decided to take Three Gables along and just stitch on the parts needing Weeks Dye Works Bark. Not much counting and certainly no color changes. I finished the right part of the bottom gable and filled in another row in the middle. I also started on the left side of the house. After I got back from dinner I stitched the right door frame.

To treat myself (from the endless Bark), I finished the right bottom window and the door window this morning. I'd like to finish most of the bottom of the house this evening, but that might be a little ambitious. Again most of the family is going out to dinner together except for my nephew and his wife and children. They get to endure, I mean enjoy, a birthday party for a 3 year old at Chuck E. Cheese. Meanwhile we will be eating good New Orleans fish at The Ketch.

Presents FAIL!

2009-06-23T02:47:00.000-07:00

I was overly optimistic. Although I did stitch most of the turtle, I didn't finish him. I didn't finish the border and I didn't frame the baby announcement. Technology got in the way. My husband's very old G3 MacBook has about given up the ghost. Since I use a laptop much more than he does (he edits his photography on a 30" screen), it was time for me to get an updated MacBook Pro and to give him my older MacBook Pro. Here is the old machine (on the left) being cloned into the new machine (on the right). Although I don't like the keyboard quite as well on the new machine, I do have to say that the new machine is blazingly fast and has tremendous battery life. So between working on odds and ends of the new house, tidying up the old house, and packing for our trip back east, nothing was stitched last week. I'll just have to send them the finished stitching after I get back.

Which is not to say that I have given up on stitching altogether. On the contrary, since I have no computer access at my mother-in-law's 19th century home (wired telephones, no computers or internet), I don't have much to do except stitch. I stitched this much of Bent Creek Winter Sheep on our two flights to Lexington, Kentucky. This was remarkably wonderful trip. I was worried about racing from Gate B16 to Gate B92 at Denver airport. It's about a mile and a half. But we had just started out when a great tram driver apparently saw my exhaustion (I do not do well at high altitudes) and offered both of us a tram ride to the other end of the terminal. He could only take us to B60 as the rest of the gates are down an escalator, but after riding for a mile, the quarter mile walk was a breeze. We also were upgraded to first class on both flights. I guess being a million mile traveler on United does have some status. And the best miracle of all was getting our luggage. The last three trips here all resulting in delayed (but not lost) luggage.

After a small start on Saturday, I stitched quite a lot on Sunday and got this much done. I could have trundled right through to the end, but I had to remind myself to save a bit for the trip back. I have brought Three Gables with me, so I will work on that Real Soon Now.

Yeah, I guess I really couldn't stop at that. Last night I did this much more, but really, I did stop! This morning I took out Three Gables and stitched more Bark, Bark, Bark! We have dinner at my sister-in-law's this evening; eight adults and two children (my nephew's). I'll bring Three Gables to work on while everyone is talking. This will probably be my last post until possibly Friday or Saturday. We will drive up to Sharonville, Ohio (near Cincinnati) for a convention in a hotel with internet access (FINALLY). Every time I stay at my mother-in-law's I swear that next time I will stay in a hotel instead, but I really do like her and wouldn't want to make her unhappy. I haven't had enough access to post comments from my iPhone, but I have been reading everyone's blog postings, so keep stitching everyone. I really love your projects.

Another Fish

2009-06-10T11:27:00.001-07:00

I said I had most of the fish ready to go and I did. I just had to stitch him to the blanket and add his bottom fin. I have even made quite a bit of progress on the last applique, the turtle. Most of his lumpy satin circles are done, though there are a lot of bits and pieces that will need to be stitched down and outlined. Then the blanket stitching around the entire blanket. Luckily it is a baby blanket and not one for a king sized bed. If I'm not being too optimistic, I might have this finished by this weekend. That would give me a week to work more on Hawaiian Mandala before we leave for back east on the 20th.

I will have more free time this next week because my husband is leaving for San Francisco tonight for a week. I will miss him, but we do talk on the phone several times a day. Hooray for unlimited long distance. I hope you didn't find the last post too silly, but I do want to mention that most of the house is very tasteful and uncluttered. Just don't look in my sewing studio!

I Win

2009-06-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry, Chiloe, when it comes to silly man decor a single item stored in the basement does not earn top honors. Even a single ugly fish isn't in the running. To truly have man decor you have to have a collection, especially a Tiki collection. And my husband has more Tikis than most Tiki bars. These two silly gentlemen live on either side of our front door. I guess I am so used to them, that I don't even really notice them anymore.

This flaming tiki next to a lovely photograph by Jerry Uselmann is a little harder to ignore, but at least it is hidden down a back corridor next to the laundry room.

One of the first piece of his eclectic collection is not even a Tiki. It is this mannequin that he picked up from a store going out of business in southern California. She used to live in the garage where coming upon her at night was enough to give one a scare. I had a throw a blanket over her so I wouldn't think there was an intruder in there every time. Now she has a fetching chain mail outfit and lives in his "studio". If you want to talk about hardware, I haven't even begun to photograph the collection of swords, shields, double bladed axes and various implements of personal destruction that are also in this room. All photo props, you understand.

And if you think that the unusual is confined to the private areas of the house, I give you this replica dinosaur bone that lives on the back patio.

I haven't begun to itemized the other bits and pieces around the house; the tikis on the dresser in the master bedroom, the mermaid in the cubby hole for a television in the master bath, but I leave you with one wall of my husband's closet. He has more art in there than clothes.

Octopus Finished

2009-06-08T12:00:00.001-07:00

Yes, he is finished. It didn't actually take me as long as I thought it would, but I did only stitch for 30 minutes or so before putting it down and doing almost anything else. When I let out a particularly naughty word my husband asked what I was doing. I said I was stitching felt, which has a tendency to just shred, especially on the corners. "Ah," he said. "You are trying to stitch a hairball." I actually finished this on Saturday and am now almost finished with the next fish. I should finish the fish today, if we don't spend too long at the plumbing supply store.

We had a long meeting with our contractors on Friday discussing a tentative schedule for the house. The next thing they would like us to decide are all the plumbing fixtures. Some of what we decide (especially bathtubs) need to be planned for before they pour the concrete foundation. Since we are not going to order any fancy Japanese toilets, this shouldn't be too hard. I hope everyone has a good week, however you measure good.

Lumpy Circles

2009-06-01T17:00:00.001-07:00

Yes, I have finished all the satin stitch circles on the octopus. There are a few more on the turtle, but only a few. I have also cut out the octupus, so I see I have a few days of applique stitching in front of me. He has a very long outline!

The satin circles were not the only circles I needed to finish before I appliqued the octopus. I had to back stitch all the bubbles around the octopus, too. At least I will be over half finished when the octopus is appliqued. There is only a small fish and a medium sized turtle left to do. Good! Although there is also buttonhole stitching to complete around the entire blanket, I should be finished well before the 20th. Then I just have to frame the baby sampler (Gift of Love) and I will have two presents for my nephew's new son.

One More Window (and a Half)

2009-05-29T16:38:00.001-07:00

Yes, I did some stitching in California. Although I didn't stitch on the plane to San Francisco, I did stitch at the convention, in the condo (where there is no television or movies, so much less distraction), and on the plane returning to Las Vegas. Though I was not as excited about stitching this as I was Hawaiian Mandala. There is simply too much Bark, Bark, Bark! The returning plane was not very full, so I didn't feel badly about stretching out over one and half seats. Several of the flight attendants were very impressed with this stitching, but especially with my Q-Snaps. They had to tell the flight attendant at the very back about them, which was funny because she works at our local LNS, Stitcher's Paradise! She immediately recognized the pattern as Three Gables. As much as I would like to go back and stitch more on Hawaiian Mandala, it is almost June. On June 20th we are flying to Lexington, Kentucky, to visit my in-laws and go to a convention. If I want to give the Under the Sea baby blanket to my nephew's new son while he is still a baby, I had better crack the whip and get it done. So that is all I will be stitching until it is finished. Back to those darn satin circles.

On the house front, the permit has been submitted to the City of Henderson and we have our first comment (some discrepency on floor heights). Henderson has all the building permits online, so I can follow its progress (or lack thereof). They even have a page for inspections, so when the building starts, I can follow those. Day by day it is slowly becoming reality. I want to move in tomorrow.

No Stitching Here

2009-05-28T15:14:00.001-07:00

No panic, please. Yes, I have been stitching on Three Gables, but this post is about our past trip to San Francisco and not about stitching. You will get a picture of my progress on Three Gables tomorrow. First I want to show off my bounty from my favorite place in San Francisco, the Saturday Market at Ferry Plaza. Unfortunately it has been a cool and rainy spring, so no Frog Hollow apricots, early peaches or heirloom tomatoes yet. We did try some other apricots, but although they were juicy, they were not as sweet and flavorsome as we would like. There should be some good ones in a couple of weeks. Still there is plenty of other goodies. We usually pick up some Redwood Hill goat cheese, some Cowgirl Creamery cheese and some Primavera mole sauce and tortilla chips, but not this time. This was a trip for food we could take back to Nevada -- Fatted Calf Bacon and Duck Mousse, June Taylor syrups and candied Bergamont peel, our favorite Rancho Gordo fresh dried beans (delicious!), some corn meal pizza crusts, and lemon/herb olive oil. I'm going to cook with the beans, pizzas, and olive oil next week when it is my week to cook.

The other totally cool thing we did was visit the Computer History Museum. One of our friends, Chris Garcia, works there and offered to show us around. At 2 pm most afternoons they have a demonstration of a working Babbage Difference Engine, one of only two in the world. Babbage never collected enough money to actually build it while he was alive. It is powered by a hand crank on the right hand side and actually prints out a book of solutions to quadratic equations on the left hand side. It's a beautiful and fascinating machine. They also have a lot of computers I have worked on from PDP-8's to original Apple Macs and the first removeable disk drives "cake boxes" from IBM. I always enjoy seeing Doug Englebart's first mouse and five key ASCII entry device. I got a personal demonstration from him in the 70s, but could barely remember one ASCII code and he was typing 100 letters a minute. I'm glad that my computer today has a regular keyboard.

And of course we looked for things for the new house: sinks, bathtubs, and rock slabs. I don't think we will find another slab as full of fossils as the Eutruscan Fossil slab I had a picture of. That slab is reserved for someone else. So at the moment we are thinking about making the bar top in glass from Glassic Art. More stitching pictures tomorrow, I promise.

Are Designers Crazy?

2009-05-22T23:28:00.001-07:00

We have all, from time to time, made changes to patterns. Maybe we changed the fabric or a couple of threads that we didn't like the colors of. Maybe we changed a motif or two. But on very Big A** Projects, I tend to do as the pattern says. Do you see that lonely single blue stitch at the valley of the black and gold stitches? There were four of them in Part One. They were slightly a pain to stitch because there wasn't any of that color very near the single stitch. But I was good and stitched them. I should have looked ahead.

If you look at the bottom of this picture you will see a V of the same colored stitches now nestled in the valley of the gold and black stitches. Why was that single stitch charted in Part One? Why couldn't we have stitched this all in Part Two? Are designers crazy? From now on I will look ahead. And in Part Two there is a group of four stitches in a color not used anywhere else in this Part at the top of the motif that are really a motif in Part Three. So I will wait until Part Three to stitch them. Craziness! But other than this revelation, the rest of the stitching is going well. I still want to stitch this all the time and did make good progress before I left for San Francisco.

I decided not to take anything to stitch on the plane since it is such a short flight. I probably wouldn't have stitched anything anyway since we got into a conversation with a well traveled gentleman from Munich, Germany, who was sitting next to us. We talked about a variety of our experiences around the world and the time simply raced by. For my traveling stitching I took Three Gables.

I haven't stitched on it yet though, because I have been spending all my time trying to get our Airport Express wireless connection to work again. I have given up, which means just to get these pictures on my blog I had to use "sneaker net" to transfer the images from my laptop (which has the latest copy of Photoshop but no internet connection) to this desktop computer (which has an old copy of Photoshop and a flaky internet connection). Strangely enough I will have a better internet connection in our hotel room in Santa Clara over the next three days! We did visit the convention briefly to get my husband's artwork hung in the artshow and to say hello to various friends. We came back to The City because I want to visit the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market tomorrow morning. Then we will head back to Santa Clara and spend the next three days at the convention. I hope everyone is having a wonderful (or at least restful) weekend.

Can't Stop Stitching

2009-05-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

As soon as I had finished the last stitch on Part Two and posted the picture of my final motif on my blog, I was back to Hawaiian Mandala. I stitched the rest of the afternoon, I stitched through dinner (my husband had to fend for himself), I stitched past midnight. I simply couldn't stop stitching. Was it the easy to stitch band at the top (barely any counting) or the lines of black or the swash of blue at the bottom or the lack of specialty stitches? Whatever it was, it made Part Three seem miles easier than Part Two. I don't know if I will still believe that when I am stitching the fourth volcano, but for now, I'm going back to stitch some more.

Pineapple Motif the Last

2009-05-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, the last pineapple motif in Part Two is finished! There are still the black outlines that surround Part Three, but I will stitch those along with the next part. It can be a bit tedious stitching the same motif four times, but at least you know what to expect. I knew I would need pliers to pull the silk perle through the fabric in some places (and I did bend the needle I was using). I knew I would hate doing the over ones on the pineapple body and crown and I knew I would probably have to frog a few of them. But moving on to Part Three was a great motivator, so now I can start stitching the first volcano. Not a lot of specialty stitches, but a whole bunch of cross stitches. I will be glad to put this down for a week after the next couple of days, since this project does not travel and we will be in San Francisco starting on Thursday evening.

Tomorrow is actually a house day. The Architectural Design Review Committee is ready to sign off on our house design on Friday (after the preliminary contractor's meeting), but we need to completely redo the exterior paint colors. Even though the house is already tan, beige, and adobe; apparently they have their own unique shades of these colors that they want us to use. But that is actually good news. That means that we could file for a building permit with the city as early as Monday (if Monday wasn't a holiday). OK, we will file on Tuesday. And when we get back from California next week, we might have some bids from subcontractors. We know approximately what the house will cost to build, but you are never sure until you have the bids.

Motif the Third

2009-05-15T14:38:00.001-07:00

Maybe I should have shot this motif upside down, since it is the bottom motif of the four. It wasn't that hard to finish last night, since all the stitching was done except the pineapple crown. I don't like the way the longstitching on the crown came out, but there doesn't seem to be much difference from this one an the other two. Maybe I am getting too picky. I've got most of the bottom green cross and half cross stitches done on the remaining motif, the top one. Time for the dozen Jessica stitches. Will I miss them when I am stitching hundreds of identical cross stitches in Part Three? There is a lot to stitch in Part Three, but nothing as complicated as the Jessica and Rhodes and over ones of this section. I think I just want to move on to Part Three to start something different. By the time you are stitching the fourth section of every part, you are starting to get tired of the stitches and colors. This weekend is the Stitch-A-Thon and I should have a lot of time to stitch.

Right now we are in the waiting period for the house. The plans were reviewed by the Architectural Design Committee of the HOA and the few corrections they had were answered yesterday. I don't know how long it will take them to give us final approval. THEN our contractor turns the plans into the city building department. You would think that with very little building going on, it would take them very little time to review them. But things are going very slowly there. I suppose the employees are hoping to save their jobs. It will probably be six weeks or more before we break ground. Then the fun of making all the selections of surfaces and fixtures, though we have been looking at few counter materials. Maybe we'll check out some cabinets next week. I hope everyone has a fun weekend.

Looks Familiar, Eh?

2009-05-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

I know this looks a lot like the last motif on the right, but this is actually the left motif finished. If you had ESP (Extra Stitchery Perception), you might notice that there are five stitches on the top of the pineapple crown (under the black longstitching) that are actually DinkyDyes Midnight rather than NPI's Black. Each crown has different colored stitches to go with the parts that are stitched above the crown.

I did rotate the fabric in the Q-Snaps to be able to stitch the last two motifs and started on the pineapple crown on the bottom motif. But after a couple of stitches of silk perle, I called it a night. I might get that bottom motif done today, as all the other stitching is done. But I still have most of the top motif to finish, including the picky, but not too hard Jessica stitches. I hope to finish all of Part Two and start on Part Three in the next week. That is pretty much all the time I will have to work on this. A week from Thursday starts our summer travel schedule.

First we will fly to San Francisco for a week to attend BayCon, a science fiction convention that we have been attending since it started in 1983. On June 20 we fly back east to see James' mother and attend a SF relaxacon (just friends and lots of card games, no programming) called Midwestcon. We have been going to this convention for decades. It's lots of fun, especially since there is a group of stitchers who attend and a LNS to visit. Whoo Hoo! Fourth of July weekend is Westercon in Phoenix and the first week of August is Worldcon in Montreal. James' sixtieth birthday is in September and he wants to go "somewhere special", but he can't decide where to go. The travel schedule winds down a bit with Loscon over Thanksgiving, Smofcon in Austin, Texas, the first weekend of December, and family Christmas in Lexington, Kentucky. Somewhere in there I am sure are one or two trips to Maui. For those of you with summer travel plans, I hope the flights are uneventful and the places you go are all enjoyable.

One Motif Done

2009-05-10T13:46:00.001-07:00

First let me thank all the wonderful commenters. I'm glad you can appreciate this design, because it sure feels like a PhD in linen stitching to me! Yes, I have finished one of the four motifs in Part Two, on the right side. I started stitching some of the black borders when I simply couldn't face another Rhodes stitch or Jessica. I then decided to go ahead and try the long stitching over the pineapple. Even with the pattern enlarged to 400%, there seems to be stitches everywhere. But the gold metallic over the pineapple body is actually a pretty easy pattern and went very quickly. The black silk over the silk perle crown, not so much. The diagram is hard to read and putting the black silk in between all the thick silk perle can be painful. But now that I know I can finish this up and move to Part Three, I am certainly motivated.

Although those black borders are in Part Two, I will probably only do the stitching near the pineapple crowns. I don't want to stitch hundreds of black crosses into the distance and find out I am off by one stitch. It makes more sense to stitch the corners with Part Three that sits under that border. I have everything in Motif Two, bottom, finished except the crown and partial border, but I will need to move the Q-snaps to get to that part of the fabric. First I am working on getting Motif Three, left side, done. I started the silk perle crown last night, but gave up after a few stitches. It's hard enough to do this thick perle over two, but over one is almost insane. But I did finish Motif One, so I know that this is not impossible. Once Motif Three is finished, I will rotate the Q-Snaps and finish Motifs Two and Four. I didn't finish this completely this week, but when they are all done, I can start on the volcanoes in the corners.

I didn't get out my sewing machine this week, but I did do some hand sewing and mending. In fact, I washed boatloads of laundry, reorganized my closet to put my summer clothes up front, and took two bags of barely worn (and now too big) clothes to the donation box for Safe Nest. I always have huge plans when my husband is gone for a few days, but rarely accomplish them all. I picked him up at the airport this morning and he is crashed out for a few hours. He doesn't mind flying a red eye flight from Maui, but it always makes me groggy for a couple of days. Both our mothers got our Mother's Day flowers, so all is right in the world. I hope everyone has a productive week. I know I will.

Back to Mandala

2009-05-04T12:18:00.001-07:00

First I want to salute anyone who has stitched a Chatelaine Design. With the acres of fabric I have left to fill, I can't imagine finishing this in less than three more years. When I picked it up again, I immediately remembered why I was so happy to put it down. Dozens of different variegated silks in confetti stitching, dozens of Jessica stitches, mountains of Rhodes stitches, stitching over one (at 36 count), half stitches in one thread followed by crosses with two threads, Silk Perle for the pineapple crowns that barely fits through the fabric, longstitching over much of the pineapple body and crown which I haven't even started and when the stitching is done, hundreds of beads and crystals to attach. I did end up frogging about a dozen stitches that were stitched in the wrong color green, but luckily it was in an empty space, so I didn't disturb any other threads. I was so distraught by the speciality stitches that I had to print out Part Three, just to see how complex that was. Ah, a few simple Algerians like the center section, but mostly rows and rows of cross stitch (and beads and longstitch). Not even much confetti.

Interestingly enough, after an hour or two I started to get into a rhythm and started to enjoy the colors and the patterns. And as many times as the silk slips out of my needle, I still love stitching with silk. Later this year I will start stitching Ink Circle’s Beautie Spotte which I have recharted for Vickie Clayton's hand dyed silk. I have finished most of the stitching on the bottom pineapple motif except for the crown. I will have to move the Q-snaps to get to the fabric I need for that. I'll also have to move the Q-Snaps to stitch the top pineapple motif. If I keep on at this rate, I might even have Part Two (except for beads) done by the end of the week and will move right into Part Three. Part Three is four large volcanoes between the pineapples. If I get one volcano done, I might go back to Three Gables for a little rest. (Bark, Bark, and more Bark).

Although I miss my husband who is in Maui this week, I do appreciate the ability to pick my stitching up whenever I want to. That freedom will decline when he comes back, as we will be back working on materials for the new house. I thought I might get in a little sewing this week, but I am so happy stitching, that I don't know if I will drag the sewing machine out this week.

Two More Birds, A Door

2009-05-01T10:47:00.001-07:00

I have managed to stitch more WDW Bark by stitching a few other areas after every string of Bark. That's how I got the door started. I also wanted to start on the row of Black (DMC 310) ornamental squares that divides the upper house from the lower part of the house, but once I started surrounding them with Dark Brown (DMC 3371), I'm not sure you can see them at all. I'm going to put this to rest for a while and return to Hawaiian Mandala. I haven't worked on that design this year and I do want to get several more parts done. I know I won't finish it this year, but I can work on it some more.

Several people commented on how much they liked the Etruscan Fossil marble that I had a link to in the last post. I have to say that the piece of marble that we looked at was even more spectacular than the one in the link, so I am including this picture of it. All these spiral fossils are magnificent. I need an updated floor plan from the architect to take to the vendor to see how many slabs of marble we will need for the bar. I should get that on Tuesday. The architect did drop by yesterday to give us an updated landscape plan (he had agapanthus on the first plan, which I hate). I haven't looked at the new plan. I guess I am just not the outdoors type. Yes, we will have trees and some plants, but don't ask me their names.

I took my husband off to the airport yesterday afternoon. He called me when he got to his hotel in Seattle. There was an artists reception last night that he was going to, but since it lasted very late, I haven't called him this morning. I'm sure he had a good time. Sunday he has a shoot and Monday at 6 am he flies to Maui to attend the homeowners meeting on the ridiculous and conflicting rules about the electrical meter on our property. I hope we don't have to spend more money taking it down. We spent enough money putting it up. Meanwhile, I'll try not to get into too much trouble while he is gone. I hope everyone has a productive or relaxing weekend, which one you need most.