Tale of a Shooting Star…

A new era of education begins today. Yes, it’s my first day at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Online Division. Otherwise known as the Art Institute Online. We have two chapters to read this week and 3 assignments, one due Friday, one on Sunday and the third on Monday. I guess this really is going to be an aggressive timeline! I’ve already completed all part of the first assignment and “handed in” the first part of the second assignment. I even started on the third assignment, but I think I need to read the book to figure out the rest of that assignment.

In my haste to get everythign completed and turned in, I forgot that I have to participate 4 out of 7 days a week, so I really should have paced myself and turned in the second assignment tomorrow. Oh well, this way I’m ahead of the game. I have to say that being the first person to post the second assignment was a bit nerve-wracking, though. I’m a little unsure of whether or not I did it correctly. And I would hate to get less than a perfect grade, though I think I’m going to have to get over that soon. While I’d like to have an A average, and there’s nothing to say that I won’t, I do need to make sure I’m being realistic. I came out of college the first time with a B, so I need to remember that less than perfect is okay, too.

Karen V emailed me today to let me know that my floss tag arrived at her house. I’m embarrassed of my efforts having now seen the tag that she made for me, but it is what it is. Just a bit on the large side. If I were to do it again, I would stitch the design over one.

The design is called Hedgehog Quaker and is a freebie from The Workbasket. The alphabet that I used for the back is JBW Designs’ French Country ABCs. I stitched it 2 over 2 using Maple Syrup GAST on gray evenweave.

I tried to do a little bit of a satin stitch decorative edging on the sides, overtop of the whipstitched edge, but I don’t think that it worked out very well. Oh well, Karen has graciously said that she liked it, so I will have to be satisfied with that.

Karen V and I did a personal floss tag exchange recently and I’ve already received her tag for me, despite the fact that we both just mailed early last week. The post office must be working overtime! Anyway, she modified a design from The Victoria Sampler and stitched it in my favorite color. I could not be more thrilled with the results and that this tag is mine, all mine! Make sure you go over to Karen’s blog and let her know how gorgeous you think it is, too.

She just did such an excellent job and I’m so embarrassed now of my own efforts. We’ll see what she thinks, but I’m now realizing that it is terribly oversized and I should have stitched it over one. Oh well, maybe she can use it for something else! I’ll reveal mine once it arrives…

I haven’t added to my stash in a while, since I’m trying to decrease my stash, not increase it. But with all of the new goodies that I just had come in to One Star’s Light Needlework Supplies, I just had to dive in. I couldn’t help myself! I justified the purchases by using my PayPal balance that I had built up by selling my old stash that I no longer wanted. I still have lots of stash to sell, so maybe I’ll be able to buy some more stash?

Here’s what I bought:

Gentle Art Sampler Thread - Huckleberry

Kelmscott Designs - Heart Thread Keep

JBW Designs - French Country ABCs

The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio - Limited Edition - Bianca’s Scissor Pocket

The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio - Limited Edition - Fabulous Fall

The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio - Limited Edition - Winter Wonderland

The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio - Lounge Chair - The Garden Chair

Silk Pack for The Garden Chair

I received a lovely bit of mail today. The post man brought me my copy of 3-D Cross Stitch. If you’ve never taken a look at this book, I highly recommend that you do. I was first captivated by the potpourri houses that are featured on the cover, but then I used the Look Inside feature on Amazon and found that there is also an entire, adorable village that you can stitch. Well, call me sold! I’ve had it on my Amazon wish list for a little while and decided to get it while I was ordering some of my textbooks for school. The only wrinkle? Amazon doesn’t have it for sale from them directly anymore. You have to get it from one of their marketplace sellers. This turned out to be no problem and I was able to get the hardbound version of the book for less than $4. Even better, it was in perfect shape when it arrived - in brand new condition! I was pleasantly surprised. I paged through it and was in love all over again. It really is a nice book, full of some pretty neat projects. Now, all I need is time and materials!

I beaded the necklace portion of the scissor pocket last night, so, as I predicted, here is my finish:

I decided to leave off the “fringe,” but I value the opinions of my readers, so I’m curious as to what you think. Take a look at the finished photo above and compare it to the stock photo from Mill Hill that I posted a couple of days ago and let me know what you think. Fringe (tassel) or no fringe?

Indeed, I was able to finish the beading and add the backstitching last night, as I had expected. I actually even started the finishing last night while watching the Olympics. I stayed up way past my bedtime to do it, though. Good thing I was already planning on taking a vacation day today so that I could sleep in! All I have left to do is to bead the necklace portion of the pocket and add the beaded fringe. The jury is still out on the fringe, though. It’s only three little beaded strands protruding from the bottom center of the pocket. More like a little tassel, really, which doesn’t seem to fit the rectangular pocket. I could really take it or leave it, so I think I will do the necklace and then decide on the fringe afterward. Either way, I predict a finish-finish by the end of the week.

As promised, here is an actual scan of the scissors fob that I whipped up Monday night from a Mill Hill kit. It was really quick and easy to do. I might even consider buying another one to do, as I have warmed to the idea of having a point protector attached to the end of the fob instead of a charm.

This SBQ is:

How do you balance your stitching time with your other obligations such as work, household chores, etc.?

HAH! You mean there are other things in life besides stitching? I scoff at the idea. But seriously, it’s easy to balance with work because I have to wait until I come home from work to be able to stitch. As far as balancing stitching with housework goes, I’m just not very good at it. I tend to let housework go (and go and go…) until it gets on my nerves to the point where I absolutely must do something about it. Or one of us is out of clothes. Or we’re out of pans for cooking. Or whatever. That’s pretty much my philosophy, at this point in time. A household diva, I am not.

This SBQ is:

Do you currently subscribe to any stitching publications or have you in the past? (Either in print or online) If so, which ones?

I have never subscribed to a printed publication, nor am I now; however, I do subscribe to The Gift of Stitching, which is an online publication. I have subscribed to this one since its inception and while I have yet to stitch anything from it, I will continue to subscribe to it and enjoy the goodies stashed inside of its virtual pages, even if it’s purely ocular enjoyment.

I was so happy to receive my order from Monique’s Etsy shop in the mail today. She’s destashing and I was able to take advantage of her sale and buy some new items. Nothing that I just HAD to have, but some things that I was grateful to get for a really good price. They are both Mill Hill kits, which some of you who have been longer term readers know that I absolutely adore. I pulled the photos from Mill Hill’s website and will show those here, in lieu of actual, finished photos, which will come later.

First up is the Treasured Scissor Fob kit called Amethyst Crystal. I immediately ripped into this one and put it together in about 15 minutes or so. I’ll show a scan tomorrow.

The second is a Scissor Pocket kit named Iris Maize Sampler. After I was done with the scissors fob, I tore open the package for this scissors pocket and started sorting the beads. The sorting took me a while and then after dinner, I put the first stitches into the piece. I am now about halfway finished and hope to have a finish to show you tomorrow or Wednesday.

Photos are property of and copyright Mill Hill.

I feel like I’m stitching my life away, to some extent. Barbara commented that I’m stitching like a woman possessed and so, perhaps I am! Seriously, though, I don’t know what’s up. I hurt my back Friday evening, so no boating for us this weekend, unfortunately. It also meant that I had all weekend to stitch while watching the Olympics. Which is exactly what I’ve done. I also managed to do some store inventory preparation, a few dishes, but, in general, I’ve been trying to stay still and rest my back. I haven’t been terribly successful and managed to seriously sprain my right big toe on Saturday, so it’s been an ouchie kind of weekend.

As far as stitching and relaxing go, though, I feel the clock ticking away as my first class start date comes closer and closer. I just have the feeling that my time is going to be all swallowed up by schoolwork once I start, but we’ll see. I’ll get in whatever I can while I can. Just don’t be surprised if what is currently a predominately stitching blog becomes more of an art school blog. I hope that you’ll all stick with me, regardless of the content!

Yet another finish for me tonight, but a good-sized one this time. I’m so happy to have this piece finished so that it can get to the framers. As you can probably tell from the wedding date on the piece, my goal is to have it framed and ready to go by their first anniversary. After all, it’s their wedding present…. Whoops.

I’m sorry that the photo is dark, but I’m not very good at photos and I tried to take it after 10:30 PM, so I was doubly doomed. I tried to take a little closer snippet shot to give a better idea of the colors and textures of the stitching.

As always, click on the thumbnails for full sized photos.

Need I say more? I think not. So, without further adieu, may I present the Sarah Belle floss tag:

I had an easy enough time sewing it together (there’s no pic of the back because I didn’t bother stitching anything on it), but the eyelet didn’t quite go as planned. It went through well enough, but I had cut out a little too much on the back, so it is outlined with two layers of Fray Check. I’m sure it’ll be fine; it’s just imperfect, which irritates me. I’ll have to get over that. Other than that, and perhaps needing a touch more batting, I think it turned out pretty well.

Time for me to stop procrastinating and stitch on Pretty Posies!

So, this is the end of little Lorri Birmingham finishes. At least, for now. I have a couple of additional basket toppers that I can stitch up, but they have hardanger doilies that go with them (I’d like to stitch them together) and I don’t know that I feel up to the task without doing some smaller Hardanger projects first. I have had trouble on the last couple of Hardanger projects that required cutting out the design along a buttonhole edge. I’ve cut through the buttonhole stitching on a couple of occasions, so now I have a fear of it. I definitely want to get over that before I take on these pretty doilies, especially since one has a lot of intricate cutting along the edges.

Anyway, here the the Sarah Belle Needle Keep. You’ll see that I had to stitch it twice. The first is stitched as charted (except for some missing gold filament backstitching, which I dismissed as being superfluous), but did not even remotely fit an Altoids tiny tin, which it’s supposed to. So, I had to revise and restitch the design to fit the tin I had. I’m not sure what tin the original was supposed to fit, but mine will work out nicely. And, as you can surely see, the dimensions are very different - a tad wider and definitely shorter!

Now the question is, what to do with the original? I figured that I could either finish it as a scissors fob or a floss tag. The scissors fob might be overkill when I have a matching scissors holder to stitch. Or it could be a lovely addition. I don’t know. What’s your vote? Scissors fob or floss tag? Please leave me a comment with your thoughts.

So, are you sick of seeing my little Lorri Birmingham finishes yet? Don’t worry, I’m nearly out of small things to stitch up in my LB stash, so you might get some respite soon. Besides, I really do have to stop procrastinating and get back to Pretty Posies so that I can get it to a framer!

I’m a student again. I can’t believe it. I’m excited and nervous at the same time, but mostly terribly excited to get started. My first class starts on August 21st and the book is already making its way to me. I am officially enrolled with the Art Institute Online for a Graphic Design Associate of Science degree. I have a feeling that I may change this along the line and shift to a shorter program, the Digital Design Diploma. But I really wanted a fine arts background before I jumped into the Digital Design program, as I’m not totally confident in my drawing and other related skills at this point.

This time around, the education process is entirely for me. It has no relation to, or bearing upon, my day job. I’m a computer programmer / systems analyst by trade, not a graphic artist. Nor do I intend to become a graphic artist full time. At least, not at this time. It’s just one of those “maybe someday down the road” scenarios. We own our own web design and hosting business as a home business on the side. This additional education is to help me be able to create my own graphics and design better websites. This could someday lead me to quit my day job and go full time as a web designer. Or it may not.

It may seem like a waste of money to get an education in a field that I may never actually enter, but this is for me. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years and something that continues to gnaw at me. To me, it’s worth it to realize a dream, whether or not that dream actually leads anywhere.

I’m sorry, but I’m on a Lorri Birmingham kick right now. They’re usually small, quick and easy little projects for me to get through, so they’re mildly addictive. Here’s the stitched portion of the Heart to Heart Tea Cup Pin Cushion:

I barely managed to finish my first floss tag this morning. I stitched a corner of a free design called 9 carrés from anne-les-petites-croix over one on some little scraps of fabric that I had laying around. The whole thing is small, only 1.5 inches square. The finishing was doomed from the start when I went to fuse on the interfacing and found a hot spot on my “gunky” iron (an older iron that I only use for messy jobs like fusing interfacing) which melted the interfacing and horribly scorched the fabric. So, I had to run downstairs and quickly stitch up another little kitty (I skipped the border) so I could continue with my floss tag. Inserting the eyelet was another disaster. Because the piece is so tiny, I had to go through the mitred corners, so I was trying to go through double the fabric, plus interfacing on both sides and a layer of batting in between. Despite the fact that I learned from Karen V.’s experience not to use papercraft eyelets, my fabric eyelets still didn’t cut it to get through all of that. So, I ended up with a hole through the whole wad, with no eyelet to get through it all. I took it apart, put an eyelet through each side, sewed it back together and then put a ring through the two eyelets. Not optimal, but it worked. Hopefully, my next attempt will be better. Because it will be bigger.

The fourth anniversary of my blogging debut came and went on the 26th without the least bit of fanfare on my part. I just totally forgot about it. But hey, at least I remember before the month ended! Besides, I’m not even a week late, so let’s just call it close enough, shall we? If you want to read that first, original post, it is still alive and well, despite a database crash that occurred months after I started blogging and wiped out all of my entries. The only reason the first one survived is because I had it typed up in Notepad and stored on my computer, along with the date. The beauty of being able to back-date posts.

So, happy blog-iversary to me!