On the Stitching Front

I haven't been stitching as much since we've started teaching as I come home & fall asleep for a few hours, wake up, lesson plan, & go back to sleep! I don't know why I'm so tired at the end of the day; I'm only teaching two classes.

But I have been stitching a bit. I even have a finish!

Mid-September was DH & my 1st anniversary. It fell on a workday, so we went out for Indian food during the weekend. The place was nice, but the selection was a bit limited. We enjoyed it nonetheless.

Copper Chandni Restaurant on Thalia St.

By tradition, the first anniversary present is supposed to be related to paper, so I stitched up Love Coffee for DH.

He gave me caramel red tea (yum!), a bookstore gift certificate, and a gift certificate for Hot Stone Massage. Color me happy!

After I finished Love Coffee, I started Official Crazy Cat Lady. DH gave me this last year for our one month wedding anniversary.

I'm stitching it on 32 count Celtic Opalescent lugana from Silkweaver's (I think). It looks really nice, but I'd forgotten how annoyed I get with opalescent fabric- until I see the end result, and then I love it! So I've had to force myself a bit to stitch on this one, even though I love the pattern.

The mouse (on left, incomplete) is supposed to be stitched with WDW Linen, but it was too close to the fabric color (I floss tossed, but apparently I'm not very good at it!). The skein of Linen that I have is a shade of pink, but the OCCL instructions say it can be swapped out for DMC White.

I'm using specialty floss for this pattern since it's special to me, and I didn't want to use DMC White. I mean, if I had to, I would have, but luck intervened!

When we were taking the cats to the vet, we couldn't find the screws for the cat carrier, so we were searching through all of our suitcases. Never found the screws, but I did find this!

Woo hoo!

I'd been wondering what had happened to my WDW floss I used in Meow Block. Apparently it's been in a suitcase for years! Somewhere in that mess of floss was a little skein of luck: WDW Snowflake. It's perfect for the mouse!

Since I was feeling less than motivated to work on OCCL, I started the Peacock Needle Case seen above. It's from Textile Heritage, and I really like their kits because they're an easy stitch and they have great themes.

Peacock Needle Case: Back

Thus far, I've only finished the back and the border and a small shoot of leaves on the front. While I'm enjoying stitching it, I'm not sure I'm going to like the finished product. It was a freebie when I ordered some other stuff. I do like peacocks, so maybe I'll just turn it into a giant pin cushion!

The kitten chewed up my Love Stitching ornament. Need I say more??

I could redo it, but perforated paper isn't sold here. Into the future projects pile it goes!

For months, I've been hemming & hawing over whether or not to buy the JCS Ornament Preview, Halloween, & Ornament issues. It seemed a bit pointless to buy them and have them shipped to my mom's house. I can't have them shipped here because of the holidays involved.

But then today, I stumbled across Annie's, where I can buy and download Just Cross Stitch! (I really wish CrossStitcher had this option!) So I got all three issues, plus the March/April 2013 issue because there was a daffodil pattern that I wanted very badly!

Browsing the Ornament issue, I came across this adorable cupcake ornament by The Victoria Sampler.

I even have red silicone baking cups! I just don't have any of the buttons! I will contemplate ordering them, as I have verified that my P.O. box address is correct. My mom sent me a card on July 24th, and it arrived this week. Better late than never, right?!

Best Stitches & Wishes,

Paranoia & Stitches

Why not start the post a couple of fabulous giveaways??

World of Charity Stitching is giving away two Vee & Co. charts of your choice. The giveaway ends on the 15th.

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a birthday giveaway with 100 winners! Be sure to stop by, drop your name in the hat, and mention that you were sent there through me.

This is a must enter! Click over to The Snowflower Diaries and see what's on offer. You have until August 4th.

I was called in to work in mid-July...to do nothing. Really. I had to show up to work for six hours a day (Ramadan hours), and as there was nothing to do, I am fully caught up on The Daily Show & The Colbert Report, as well as getting bunches of stitching done. Today officially starts our break for Eid Al-Fitr, and we don't have to be back until August 18th. But we will have to be there for the normal nine hours when we return, which is just cruel considering that this past week we only had to go in for three & a half hours! How ever will I survive?!?!?!

I finally restarted the squirrel biscornu. Back in the last decade, possibly in 2009, I started this cute, little squirrel pattern. I was stitching it at Shelley's one day when she leaned over & asked how I was going to fit the head in. I had stitched the square border first, then an inner square, and then I started on the squirrel feet first; it seems I miscounted & there really wasn't room for the head! So I turfed it out because I didn't feel like frogging all of it, got some more fabric, and let it sit for years. Every time I thought about restarting it, I just rolled my eyes at myself & my giant mistake!

But restart it I did, so here is the new, in progress squirrel biscornu:

28 count over 1

I started with the back this time, and I'm doing the squirrels before the border. Lesson learned!

I started and finished the Love Stitching from Mill Hill's I Love Charmed Ornaments collection. It took me about three days, off and on, and I just adore it!

Love Stitching: Mill Hill

This was the first time I used perforated paper, and it was actually quite easy. It's definitely paper, but it almost feels like very thin wood. I managed to not tear it and to cut it properly! Easy does it!

The only thing I don't like is that there is not enough space to sign it! Not a big deal, really, but I still have it on my nightstand, thinking about how to work my initials into it.

I started another kit in the collection, Love Coffee, for my husband. I haven't gotten too far as I'm stitching brown on brown, so it's a bit difficult to see at night. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it without him seeing it since we're both on break from work.

Since I couldn't work on Love Coffee at night, I picked up my cat biscornu, which I started way back in...I can't remember, but it's been ages! It's definitely as old as the squirrel biscornu. I must've stopped working on it because it's all backstitching at this point.

Last night I backstitched two cats in DMC E310. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the Light Effects line; having just used Kreinik #4 (color 29) on Love Stitching, I've decided that I prefer it. I used both without Thread Heaven, and the Kreinik was easier to work and felt smoother.

I was going to do the rest of the backstitching until I realized that the DMC 3363 got up & walked out of my bag! Well! Back to the store I go to buy some. Once that's finished, it's just stitching the back side, which is less detailed than the front and then some minor swearing when I realize that I have no idea where to buy stuffing to make a biscornu.

I've been doing some minor stash enhancement. Biscornu stuffing not included!

I found this at Jarir Bookstore for the low, low price of SR18. Awesome! There are some cute smalls in it that I may do in the future.

$4.80? Sold!

And this one I got at the cross stitch shop because I've been looking for something Arabic or Arab themed. There's not a lot out there, although the shop did have a needlepoint canvas of Mecca.

Besmele = In the name of God

But the thing that excited me the most was this:

I needed it to replace a color, and I wasn't sure which one would look better, so naturally, I got them both. I was thrilled that there was an alternative to the Light Effects line (although I did get a skein of E168, just in case).

I'd really like to get my hands on some DMC Diamant, but it seems highly unlikely that the shop here will get it in stock unless I wait a decade or two!

That's all of my stitching progress for now. On a completely unrelated note, I got this gem from the American embassy in my inbox yesterday:

"The Department of State has instructed certain U.S. Embassies and Consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday, August 4.  The Department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations, indicates we should institute these precautionary steps. It is possible we may have additional days of closings as well, depending on our analysis.  The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and Consulates General in Dhahran and Jeddah will be closed on Sunday, August 4."

So there's some kind of threat, serious enough to close the embassy and both consulates on a work day. What should I be on the look out for?

"Beyond this announcement we do not discuss specific threat information, security considerations or measures, or other steps we may be taking."

Oh, good. Send me an email to make me paranoid, but don't bother telling me what to be paranoid about. Thank you, America!!!

Best Stitches & Wishes,

Update! I got another email from the embassy. This one states that "[c]urrent information suggests that al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August."