Marbled

I got all the stitching done on the slipper and cut it out.  I used 32 count linen instead of 28 so it is a little smaller.  I might have to adjust the size of the sole template and the top template.  I'll have wing it as I go along..  I need to cut out mat board and skirtex and find some dupioni silk to line it with.

I got good mail yesterday.  I am copying Rachael.  She put handmade marbled paper on parts of her casket.  So I found some marbled paper that I liked in a store on Etsy. (Artonwater)  I ordered it from Canada.  It took a while for the Etsy shop owner to make it in the colors that I wanted.  But it arrived yesterday and I was very impresssed.  It is hard to believe that this beautiful paper was done by hand!  Wow.

I got two patterns.  One is smaller to do the drawer linings.

 It is a good color to go with the lining silk and velvet (for the pincushion top).  I'm going to put the other paper as lining on the bottom of the outside of the casket and the large drop-in drawer.  I'm going to make paper patterns that fit the inside of the drawers.  Then I can make them fit perfectly before cutting into this beautiful marbled paper.  It is amazing that I might actual make some progress in completing my casket.
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Nearly

That slipper is nearly done.  I only have a bit left to do and then I can read the finishing directions.

I finished off the last motif on the main piece of Friesland.  Yeah!  On to the other parts.

Unfortunately, I didn't get anything done on Can't See the Forest.  I'm wondering if Marilyn got hers done.
I'll have to work a bit on that today.
I'm hoping for good mail this week.
The sun is shining.  The bathrooms are clean.  I'm ready to stitch - just after I eat lunch.
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A Bit of This and That

I was able to go walking in the afternoon yesterday.  It finally warmed up enough.  I was worried that I would not get off my butt and go but I did.  I like walking early in the morning.  Even before breakfast.

I've been plugging away at several things.  No possibility of getting bored here.  I worked on the slipper:

I think I can finish it today.

During my travels through the Laundry Basket of Shame I came across the parts to work on a little Dutch girl half doll pin cushion.  She is about half the size of the regular half doll in the background.

I got her apron done.  I have to do the border design around her skirt and then I can put her together.

I got the last corner of Friesland's main piece done.  I started the last motif.  I'd like to get that done today too.

I want to go back and finish the first panel of Can't See the Forest.
Lots to do today!
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Basketball

I can't go walking today.  Not outside and not at the Y.  The Y has a 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament today.  Ugh.  It is 13 degrees outside and I don't want to freeze.  Maybe I'll go walk around the mall later.  We'll see.  We quit watching the Michigan State basketball game last night when it got too late and were happy to find out this morning that they won.  We thought they would choke when it came to to the end of the game and free throws.  They aren't so good at those.  Good for them.

This is what I have been working on:

This is one of the new market designs that I got.  Is it a vase or a basket?  No, it's a slipper.

 I got bogged down in the over one background.  I'll keep working on it as it is almost done.
 I don't know why but I just love shoes of any kind.

I was able to finish the nun stitched pages to Indian Ink and can now call this project completely done!

 I love it.  I have the case that this stows into partly stitched.  Now I can get back to it.  I also want to do the last motif on Friesland's main piece today.
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I Survived

I got the last curtain done for the kitchen.  They look fine.  Just enough for privacy and yet they let a lot of light in.  I'm not sure I would walk through the kitchen at night naked though.

I finally tackled sorting out the Laundry Basket of Shame.  What a mess.  I sorted into piles of charts, threads, tools, WIPs, miscellaneous and what the heck is this.  I even threw some stuff away.  I have a tendency to keep all pieces of leftover linen, no matter what the size.  There is one more basket that I need to go through.  It has mostly pieces of linen in it (I think).  Since it is overflowing, I need to address the problem.  I want to fold everything up nicely.  I want to be able to see the floor in my sewing room and for it to look nice and neat.  BFF, I know you are laughing.
The good news is that I survived!  And I found the Indian Ink kit - although it didn't happen to be in the Laundry Basket of Shame.
So now Indian Ink has its ribbons.

I can start the nun-stitched pieces.  I hate nun stitch but these are relatively small items.  The thought of having all the parts of Indian Ink done is my motivation.
GPA on her facebook page showed the Early Bird class project she is teaching.  I love it!  It is a small half doll called Patrizia.( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Giulia-Punti-Antichi/177312952291871) How cute!  Also, Jackie showed the next part of her Needle in a Haystack Folio project.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=872565716117869&set=pcb.872566602784447&type=1&theater
 I like it!  There is always something nifty coming out.
I started something new.  I'll show you my progress tomorrow.
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Back to Regular

I'm now back to my regular life here in the Chateau.  I have several new things to work on.
I finished up the little glass needle holder kit.

I got a lot done on Indian Ink.

My problem is that I can't find the kit.

 It has the ribbon in it and it is somewhere in my sewing room.  I need to nun stitch two needle pages and the linen is in the kit.  This is the signal (not being able to find anything) that tells me I need to clean up my sewing room.  It has gotten very bad.  I hate not being able to find stuff.  I went through the Laundry Basket of Shame and came across several things that I didn't know were in there.  I found the Attic of Dreams kit although I still can't find the thread card for it.  Just yesterday I saw the second kit in the series on Jackie's facebook page.  It is a very cool basket.  I'm not going to The Attic this year so I'll just have to pine over it.  I found the long abandoned project that Betsy is also stitching.  I found Mistress L's Band Sampler.  I really want to work on that.  But now there is an even bigger mess on the floor.  I need to organize the Laundry Basket ASAP.
I have one last curtain to make for the new kitchen windows.  That has priority today.  I don't want DH nagging me about getting it done.
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Last Day of Class

Sunday was our last day of class.  I went walking in the small park again.  It was cold!  I had breakfast with the intrepid stitcher, Marilyn.  She is amazing.  I got to see her progress on Amy Mitten's Quaker Bag.  Wow.  Over one stitching.  It looked wonderful.
I was so proud of getting the drawer mostly done.  But then Marilyn noticed a problem. She had stitched the outline of the main linen panel.  The drawer was too big for the outline of the linen panels.  Oh No.  It turns out that the original linen is discontinued.  So the linen used in our kits was sold as 32 count in a similar green color.  But it wasn't 32 count both ways.  One way was 34 count.  So that threw all the measurements of the drawer off.  Betsy sat down and figured out new measurements for the drawer.  So I ended up taking my drawer completely apart and redoing it just a bit smaller. It looks better this time and I put the join in back where it should be.

Here are our gifts for the weekend.

There was a pen also but it has run away somewhere.  This is a very nice wooden tray.

When we went to lunch I told the waitress that I ordered seafood salad.  When I saw the fish sandwich, I realized my mistake.  I didn't order the seafood salad, I ordered the fish.  I had taken my fork and moved a baby scrimp but had not eaten any of the salad, I was waiting for everyone to get her plate of food.  The waitress looked at me skeptically but exchanged plates.  I swear, I only forked it!  Embarrassing.
It was fun to see what Betsy was stitching just for fun.  What she was stitching, I am also stitching.  Only it has been abandoned a while ago and is at the bottom of the Laundry Basket of Shame.  I'll have to find that when I get home.  Now I want to finish it too.
I left a bit early to drive home from class.  I am a skittish driver and I wanted to make sure and get the car back to the rental place in time.  I have to say that I really liked the Hyundai Elantra.  But it is too fancy a car for me.  I made it home just fine and in time.  I even got to do some Facetime with Claire.
I had a great time with great friends and got some new projects.  It was a fun weekend.
Things I learned this weekend:
Pistachios are good on pizza.  Really!
32 count linen is not necessarily 32 count linen.
Needlework designers like to stitch other stuff too.
Be careful not to fork what you did not order.
The canon at Edinburgh Castle is fired at 1 p.m. everyday.  You don't really have to dive for cover.
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Can't See the Forest

It is now Saturday - class day!  Our project is Can't See the Forest.  It is a box with a drawer.  The box has a pin cushion on the top.  I walked a little bit before class as there is a small park beside the hotel.

 See those multicolored houses?

Those are houseboats that you can rent.  Very cool.  I haven't seen a hotel that has house boats before.  I think it would be fun to stay in one.  But it would have to be warmer weather to be able to enjoy these.

This is the sweet moment when we get a whole new kit to begin.

Betsy always teaches how to finishing of the pre-stitch item first.  We pre-stitched a scissors fob.  So we learn how to do twisted cording, tassels and how to put the fob together.  I kind of work ahead as I know how to do these.  Here is my finished scissors fob:

The hotel has a lunch for us.  I had a really delicious seafood croissant.
In the afternoon we work on making the drawer for the box.  We are using comic board which works very well.  I'm not afraid to start cutting as I have a lifetime supply of comic board at home in case I make a mistake.  The comic board is covered with dupioni silk and has a faceted bead as a drawer pull.  I get pretty far but the box isn't done yet.

The store is open for us after class.  We pick up a few things.  I get another one of those needle jar kits.  Only five dollars.  (from The Purple Thread)

My firiends decide to go for dinner to a nearby tiny town to a place called Olga's.  I ride with them and it is fun to chat along the way.  We find Olga's.  It is a small restaurant that claims to have European dining.  What it has is a pizza oven.  Yeah!  I've been wanting pizza.  They have some unusual kinds.  Terry and I decide to split a personal size and call it an appetizer.  We get a truffle oil, ham and pistachio pizza.  It was great.  Terry shares her poached salmon with me.  Fabulous.  I get some of the mushroom soup.  Delicious.  After all that we must have dessert.  They don't have any eggs to make the chocolate hazelnut crepes.  So we make do with the chocolate molten cake with bananas foster.  All of the food was fantastic.  This is a great restaurant.  And Olga is not a round grandmother either.  She is young.  We are soooo full.

We are exhausted at the end of the day.  I manage to work a little bit when I get back to the hotel.  I can't get the TV to work but it doesn't matter.  What a fun day!
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First Class of the Year

I was so excited to finally be going to my first stitchy class of the year.  So Friday afternoon I drove to House of Stitches.  I didn't want to go to the hotel first, I wanted to shop!  I had been there last June with my friend Terry.  Since needlework market I had been wanting some of the things that I saw on various sites and I made a list.  I found some of the things I was looking for.  It was very fun shopping.  They didn't have the Italian designers things but otherwise, I got everything I was looking for.

I saw the hotel as I was driving to the shop so it was easy to backtrack and check in.  I had a lakeview room.  This was the view from my balcony:

I was surprised at how much ice was still on the lake.  It was cold too.  It was great to have a view anyway.  It was a big room.

 The bed was so high, I wasn't sure I could get into it without climbing on a chair.
Friday night we met after dinner (McDonald's as we were pressed for time).  House of Stitches had a small project for us.  It was this bottle meant to hold needles.  There was banding to go around the bottle and you could stitch one of three designs.  It was a great project. I was able to finish mine.

 I choose the flower design.  Betsy, our teacher, chose to do a little red design.  It was so cute that I decided I wanted to get one more of these little kits and make one just like hers.  We also got a basket of goodies.  I love getting presents.  Great day!
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I'm Off

I'm off to House of Stitches this afternoon so I won't be posting again until Monday (or Tuesday).  I'm getting my hair done in ten minutes so this is a quick post.

I finished two of the three curtains for the kitchen.  I just had to cut the panel in half and hem each side.  No biggie.

I started on the back of Indian Ink.  It's going well.

 

 I finished off the Avi pillow in the shabby chic style.

The letters came from a chart I got on ebay that is from Sweden or somewhere.

I'll tell you all about my trip when I get back.
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I Did It

I was so pleased to get the stitching done on the inside cover of Indian Ink.  Then I cut the two pieces out and finished them off.

It was so much fun sewing on the scrim.  I just love that front.  Then I whipped the two pieces together.

I'm tickled pink with it.
Now to do the back cover.  That inside front was the hardest piece so the back two pieces will go quicker.  Wouldn't it be great to get this all finished?

I have some curtains to make.  I bought two big panels to cut up to fit my new kitchen windows.  DH is trimming up the windows.  I was just going to put up the old mangy curtains.  I went shopping for some tension bars to hold the curtains and I saw some Martha curtains that were lovely.

My goal is to get one window's curtain done today.
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Shabby Chic

My niece is having a baby and it's a girl to be named Avi.  I stitched the name and now I need to finish it into a pillow.  I had a piece of fabric that I thought would do to finish it.  But after I put the bands on the front, I realized that I don't have quite enough to do the whole pillow.

 So what to do?  Well, I used a strip from a jelly roll that I had to do the cording.  What do I do about the back?  Yet another fabric?  Then it would be sort of shabby chic style.  If I piece the cording fabric and the band fabric, I would have enough to do the back. I'm thinking . . . .

I got a lot done on the inside front of Indian Ink.  If I get this piece done, I can put the two pieces together.  That would be fun.

I got one more motif done on Friesland.  Just a corner and one motif to go on the main part.

I picked up this limited edition Just Nan off my sewing room floor.

I managed to find the floss and chart so I put some stitches in.  Then I realized why I quit working on this.  There is one more floss color that I need.  Also, this is the perfect color of linen but it is overdyed and too soft to work with.  Maybe I'll iron some starch into it.

I have to pack a few things today for my class this weekend.  Can't wait!
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Mirrors

One of my errands yesterday was picking up mirrors.  I am copying Rachael who is working on her casket.  She put mirrors on the bottom sides of her casket.  So I wanted to do that too.  I already found a print for the bottom.  And I ordered some handmade paper for lining some parts of the box.  I ordered it from a lady in Canada and she is in the process of making the color that I want (light blue).  Eventually I'll get a music movement for the bottom of the box as well.  The mirrors aren't installed yet as I have to work out how to set of the music movement.  I've just taped them in place to see how it looks.  It makes the inside of the box look so bright.  I love it.  I may change the print sometime but for right now,  it's cool.  It is a little hard to figure out the photos.

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