Well, as you can tell, I haven’t posted anything to this site in ages. WordPress makes me crazy, so I have decided to move back over to blogger. My new site is:
http://soandsew.blogspot.com/
I hope to keep it updated more regularly, and hope to see you there!
What is it with me and book challenges? I am really not competitive, but I do love to read and stitch, so when I came across the 10 book challenge over at Vickie’s Blog “Reading and Stitching”, I knew this was something I could do. It just takes 10 books and you need to finish by the end of the year. I have several I know I want to finish (because of the challenge at GoodReads), so this won’t be hard at all!
The list is as follows:
1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2. The Boy I Loved Before by Jenny Colgan
3. A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
4. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta
5. The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
6. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
7. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
8. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
9. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schafer and Annie Barrows
10. Bring the Jubliee by Ward Moore
With the long 3 day weekend, and no plans, I managed to get quite a bit of stitching done. After I worked on St Pete’s, I picked up Prairie Schooler’s “Spring has Come”. I started this a while back, and just had the square with the barn and bunny done. So I got all the wording done above and to the right.
Now that it’s time to go back to work, it will all come to a screaming stop, but it was fun while it lasted!
I’ve been working on St Pete’s again-here is a progress pic after 5 more hours.
And although it looks a little crooked because of how I took the picture, this is what I managed to work on today.
Here is “Twisted Heart” by Ink Circles. It is stitched with Gloriana silk “Ada’s Rainbow” , 1×1 on 28 count linen by Silkweavers. It is tiny-about 2″x2″ total. It didn’t many hours total, but I sort of poked along on (and had a restart!).
Now I need to figure out what kind of new rotation I need to put together to keep me going on some of these projects.
I can’t believe it’s nearly been a month since I last posted. August just flew by, and not alot of stitching got accomplished. Course, I’ve spent alot of time this month on Facebook, reading for the Summer Challenge, and just this last week, started walking in the evenings, so my stitching time got sucked up by other stuff.
School started on the 11th. Julia is a Junior this year, and William a Freshman. It’s nice to have them back in the same school for the next 2 years, but the time will just fly by. The pic below is from the first day of school-when they liked each other. Now that they see each other at school all day long, they tend to argue more! So far William has adjusted pretty well to high school life-he seems to like all his classes and is doing all of his homework-what a change from last year. Julia has more “fun” classes and it is nice to see her doing stuff she likes to do. Now if only all the social drama would quiet down-wishful thinking, I know.
We didn’t go anywhere on vacation this summer-I have a job where the fiscal year end is June 30th and it takes a good month or so to get the books closed. By the time that happens, school is ready to start! So the only vacation I got is when I had my gall bladder out-not much of a vacay! DH got laid off from his job on July 31st, so he has been home for a month now, looking for a job. There just isn’t much out there for a manufacturing engineer, at least in this area. Keep your fingers crossed he finds work soon!
I did get some stitching done earlier in the month-besides what I posted about Tuscany Town last time, I have started part 11 of White Nights, and a I had new start-Twisted Heart by Ink Circles. It is a tiny little piece and probably will finish today. I wanted to finish a page of Sunnia, but I just couldn’t get motivated. That and my backside has really been bothering me, so it is hard to sit for long periods of time. I have been making weekly trips to the chiropractor and trying to strengthen my stomach muscles to make my back pain go away, but it is a long process.
Anyway, I am contemplating a new rotation, so maybe I won’t get so bored and so I can post some pictures of some different stuff besides the 3 main things. I won’t be breaking my abstinence challenge-I have enough stash around here to last for quite a while!
I’m hopeful to update my blog more in the future-I don’t know how many people out there in internet land actually visit, but thanks for keeping me on your list of blogs to check.
Sorry-it’s a little crooked! I finished the buildings on the left today (I think that is part 10). Now I have to back to the corner motifs on the bottom before part 9 on the bottom. Obviously, not working in order of the release of the sections!
Have a great rest of you weekend!
Melissa over at Musings From a Three Bedroom Ranch has a great questionnaire on her blog that I am more than willing to give my input on. Please visit her blog and then either leave your comments or link them back to your blog.
1)Why do you stitch? I stitch because it satisifies my creative side by making some beautiful, but also my anal side, where I have to have some level of perfection. You know-the stitches have to be just so, I have to follow the pattern as directed, that kind of thing. There is also a self-calming that happens when you stitch. Your hands are busy, your mind may be following the pattern, but that gentle in and out of the thread and floss-it’s almost like meditation.
2) On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being least important and 10 being most important what is your cross stitch passion level?
I am probably a 9. I want to stitch everyday, but sometimes can’t and I don’t torture myself about that. I love difficult patterns and BAP’s, so it’s more about the stitching than the finishing.
3)If you’re only option for cross stitch supplies and patterns happened to be the major chain craft stores would you just walk away from the little X? Kiss it goodbye?
Honestly, I would probably find a new hobby. I live 40 miles from the nearest chain stores where there is floss available but not a whole lot of anything else. I find most of the stuff available in those stores to not be sophisticated enough for my taste. Thank God for the internet!
4)Also are you so passionate about cross stitch that if indeed your only option was the major chain craft stores, would that inspire you to create your own cross stitch pieces because you have to stitch and you’ve stitched your way through the whole of Dimensions catalog–because you must stitch and the thought of life without a relationship with the little X leaves you feeling empty?
I feel that I am very passionate about stitching, but the thought of creating my own patterns is very intimidating. Perhaps if push came to shove, and I found I totally missed the “x”, I would.
5)Finally what do the cross stitch magazines on the market offer you? Do they relate to you as a cross stitcher? Do you look at them and think to yourself, who do they think buys this magazine? I guess what I’m asking, when you see the current cross stitch magazines do they make you feel like they know their readers or do you find it’s more of the same? What could they do to be ambassadors for the art of cross stitch other than putting a sampler on the cover with “F-U” on it? What are we missing on a PR level that could change the opinion of cross stitch itself?
I used to subscribe to several mags back in the late 80’s early nineties, but even then, I rarely stitched a pattern out of one. After several years of having babies and no time to stitch, and then coming back to the hobby, all those magazines were gone and the ones in their places did not appeal to me. I’m not sure who they are marketing to, I know on the boards I visit, there is conversation about what is in the latest issue of such-and-such magazine, so they are reaching that public. I don’t know what could attract new stitchers- aside from us old stitchers showing people what we do. Isn’t that how the knitting thing got popular again-people wearing cool scarves, and then wanting to make them themselves? We need to show people our “cool” stuff, and prove that it isn’t just grandma’s sampler or a cute teddy bear. There is a big world out there with alot of talented designers and stitchers, so maybe there could be magazines that showcase these people, along with the designs. It’s easier with knitting, you can wear that hat, or those leg warmers (yikes), but how do you show off your stitching besides hauling around your latest finish? People have to see the finished product and see that it is relatively easy. I will have to say, the time-factor of cross stitching can be a draw back. In this day and age, people want instant gratification, and most of the time stitching is not.
6) Do you do other crafts and if so what are they and why do they pull you away from cross stitch?
I love photography and used to be a prolific scrapbooker. I still take pictures, but enjoy stitching more than scrapping. My biggest distraction is the internet and reading! (oh the family too!)
Thanks Melissa, for asking these questions. Hopefully you’ll get alot of great answers and even some change out there.
Here are my orts for the month. My lovely cats managed to break the container I was using last month, so here is a 3rd container in the same number of months! Yes that is a bobbin of 918 in there-it is so old, it didn’t match the newer skein I was working with. Figures.
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