New furniture!

Mama finally found new living room furniture while she was at Mimi's this last week. She's only been looking for a new couch for a year now with no luck at all. The new set is a love seat, a couch, a nice big ottoman and a Queen Anne wingback chair.

It's wonderful! Very comfortable, the right scale for the room, and we have more seating now. And the room seems bigger, even though there's more in it. Amazing how that works.

I got the Queen Anne for my stitching chair, and my old one is being junked since it has a broken leg. The old one was nice, this new one is PERFECT! And I do mean perfect. It's the perfect height for my long legs, the arms of it are also at the perfect height. I had been having shoulder problems when I stitched for more than an hour because the arms on the old chair were the wrong height. I stitched for nearly 4 hours today in the new chair, and my shoulder is only a little bit sore. I'm one happy little stitcher!

And I finished 2 more colors of backstitching!!

Presenting....

Presenting St. Basil's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Almost finished. But still, this definitely rates a Happy Dance!

I started the backstitching last night and finished up one color. I really like the way Terry does his backstitching charts. Very easy to follow and I don't have to worry about whether or not I've got the right color matched up with the right line.

It's very sparkly, and I need a special frame for it. I don't know kind though. Maybe a dull antique looking gold. I know it won't be silver as I don't generally like silver. Not that it really matters for me to make up my mind. It'll be a little while before I can afford to get the frame!

Picture time!

I finally got pictures uploaded of my trip. Enjoy if you so desire!

The Album

Back in the land of blogging!

So, I'm back. Getting back was an adventure in and of itself. Storms in Houston + airlines just don't mix. I didn't get home till after midnight Sunday night. Oye! And minus my luggage, which came in on the next flight. That happens a lot here.

I still haven't made it to getting my pictures off my camera. Since I'm so tired and still catching up on sleep, I haven't woken up in time the last 2 mornings. Monday I woke up at noon, just in time to eat and get to work, and then this morning was 11:30. Maybe by the end of the week....

Several months ago I fell in love with a lace knitting pattern. It's from Heartstrings and it's called Ivy Trellis. It's also done with fingering weight yarn instead of laceweight, so I figured it'd be a good lace pattern to get my toes wet with. I love ivy and I asked Laura to look the pattern over and see if it would be a good one for a beginner. She said yes, with a little practice of the new stitches. Whoohoo!!! So I've been casually looking at yarn over the last couple months, trying to decide what to use.

Since it does require quite a bit, 1100 yards to be precise, I'm looking at KnitPicks. At first I was thinking about using the Rocky Mountain Dusk colorway from the Memories line. Then tonight I looked at the Palette line again and much to my pleasant surprise, they've added some new colors! And I decided what to knit this with: Iris Heather. Now I just need to buy the pattern from Laura and get the yarn... 5 balls at $1.99 is a very affordable sum for my first lace project. The subtle variegation in the Iris Heather should be lovely on the stole.

Off on vacation!

I'm leaving bright and early in the morning for Pasadena to attend the Nancy Drew Sleuths convention. I'm very excited. Will be back online Monday with pictures to follow. Have no idea how many I'll end up taking...

SBQ- Who likes a challenge?

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

What has been your most challenging project and why?

I think it would have to be TW's English Garden Sampler. First time over 1, first time with lots of specialty stitches, first time with blends, first time with beads, first time with cutwork. And it all turned out quite nicely! I'm at work right now, but I'll add a pic when I get home.

ETA: Pic added! Not the best one in the world, but you get the picture.

Needles galore!

Today's SBQ was suggested Kathryn and is:

How many needles do you use during a project? Have you ever loaded
up a needle for every color? Do you use a new needle for every
project or recycle your favorite needle?


Let's see. Usually just one, unless it tarnishes mid-way through and I toss it. That's the only time I toss them, when they tarnish. Or if the eye breaks, which isn't often.

I've sort of loaded up a needle for every color. I've got on TW under my belt, English Garden Sampler, and the blends were overwhelming me. Enter the Pako Needle Organizer! Wonderful thing, that. I had 64 threaded needles stuck in that thing. One for every blend. But I finished the piece with my sanity intact. And a monstrous surplus of needles! I really should hang onto them for my next TW- Lady of Shallot.