Marvelous Monday Update 9/21/09 - Part Four

RAK'd
Don'tcha just love when you get a big envelope you weren't expecting in the mail? I know I do! Lisa in CA sent me a couple of charts. Thank you so much Lisa!


STITCHY STUFF
Speaking of mail... I recently purchased a grab bag and it arrived via the postman. I couldn't have been happier with what I received. Shirley always does such a great job in customizing each grab bag to the stitcher's likes/dislikes. Check out the nice AWESOME stash:

Le Coffre du Trésor de la Reine
(The Queen's Treasure Chest)
Chart by The Cat's Whiskers Design Studio
Isn't this just gorgeous?

Baroque Thread Winder by Kelmscott Designs
(One of the accessories that goes with the treasure chest above)

Shades of Blue Willow
Chart by The Cat's Whiskers Design Studio

Lighthouse Mini Block
Chart by Hinzeit

Flip-It Bits
Charts by Lizzie Kate

Sassy Sayings
Chart by Pegasus Originals





John James Petite
Gold Needles #26








Stoney Creek Collection
February 2007
(I already have this magazine, so if anyone is interested I'm offering it for sale on my stash-for-sale blog.)







Birch Wood Wolves
by Mike Vickery










Still Stitching
Stitchers Nametag/Pouch
by Susan Greening Davis










A Window of Hope
by Indigo Rose










Holly Knots
by Vickery Collection
Limited Edition, #62 of 1000

Marvelous Monday Update 9/14/09

EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER
By tomorrow, a new home will be revealed for the TV show, "Extreme Home Makeover"! As I said last week, someone in my county was nominated for the show. To read about her and her family, click HERE.



HEALTH
It's been about 3 weeks since my bicycle accident. My face is healed up, just a few pink spots are all that remains of the road rash. My knee is *almost* healed up, and looks much better than it did only a week ago. I took someone's advice and will be filing a claim with the city for the cost to repair my glasses ($100 for ONE lens!) and bike ($40). Keeping my fingers crossed, the city's insurance company will pay it.


STITCHY STUFF
I stopped at an "Estate Sale" (really was just a garage/yard sale). There were a lot of good things being offered at good prices. For $2, I walked away with this:


Worth *way* more than $2!

Guess what else I bought this past week? Three Flower Frogs!! I had to do a bit of "shopping" to find bases that fit, and am still on the look-out for one more base. The best part? I only want one (I had to buy three as a package deal), so I'm putting the other two on my stash-for-sale blog if anyone is interested in having one for their scissor collection.

REVISED: Both frogs have been spoken for as of 9/14. If the sales fall through, I'll let ya'll know. :)

I did some stitching on a small "take along" ornament that I keep in my car. I had some time to kill while waiting at an auction. Several people commented on my stitching, and I even made a couple of "little" friends. Two little girls (ages 2 and 3) -- dirty little rag-a-muffins (What do you expect at an all day country auction?), lol... but very cute and friendly. The 3yr old pointed at my stitching and wanted her uncle to buy her "one of those". When she realized she couldn't get one, she scootched herself closer and closer to me, watching. Even though her hands and face were grubby dirty, I still let her pull the needle through the fabric. Totally made her day! I figured it was a cheap ornament kit and what's a little dirt, right? It's washable, after all. Who knows? She could grow up and need the 12-step stitchers anonymous group that we all should belong to!


BICYCLING
I picked up my bike from the shop last Thursday, so of course I had to "test" it out this weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Sunny and cool with no humidity. I think I went 8-10 miles this time. Here's some of what I see on the JA Trail:

This was taken last Spring. The rest were taken over the weekend.

Lastly, to prove I came
away unscathed ------>

Marvelous Monday Update... on Tuesday 9/8/09

Since yesterday was the Labor Day holiday, I didn't get my MM update done. Did ya'll miss me? I actually had a 5-day holiday since last Thursday and Friday were vacation days for me. Didn't go anywhere special. Just did things around the house, and wasn't too productive at that!

Speaking of the holiday... Yesterday, I went to a Labor Day Parade and festival in a nearby community. The parade was awesome, if you're into that sort of thing. Lots of tractors and farm machinery (Afterall, I'm in the midwest -- farm communities galore!), local school band and sports teams, as well as businesses participated in the parade. I thought it odd that one of the building contractors from *my* city participated in the parade with a banner that said Home Makeover on the side of it.

Well guess what I heard on the radio today?! MY county was chosen to have an Extreme Home Makeover! Yes, like the TV show. Who or where hasn't been released yet, but it will be done by September 15th. How cool is that?!?



WEATHER
The temps have been in the 70's during the day and much cooler at night. While it's nice not to have the humidity, the allergens are still making me miserable! Plus, I'm not ready for that four letter word.... S-N-O-W! We barely had a summer season! Now it's already getting cold and daylight hours are much shorter. *sniffle*


STITCHY STUFF
Not much stitching done this past week, but I did manage to work on my Treasured Memories Quilt Afghan. One more quilt square motif done!

I started another one, but it doesn't look like anything so I didn't feel like sharing a photo. Older pics of this UFO can be seen HERE. This (hopefully) going to be my next UFO to finish.

My plan is to alernate between working on TMQ and JG. I've been dragging my feet on JG because I'm not a big fan of over-one stitching or dark colors... The section I'm working on is BOTH. *ack*

Marvelous Monday Update 8/31/09

My week of vacation wasn't as productive as I wanted. It rained most of the week so I was limited as to what I could get done outside. Add recovery time in (from the bicycle accident) and I was limited even more.

Speaking of... my face is pretty much healed up. Just residual "pinkness" where the abrasions were. My knee is a different story. Those abrasions were much worse and are taking their sweet time healing up. I'm afraid I will be adding another scar to my repetoire.


MORE ORGANIZATION
I managed to finish another project this week. Last year when there was an LNS in the area, the shop owner had some interesting spoon display cases. I found an inexpensive spoon rack at a thrift store. After some fresh paint, it now hangs in the spare room (formerly known as "That Scary Room"):



STITCHY STUFF
Another UFO to cross off my list! *Happy Dancing* I started this project circa four years ago. After all those confetti stitches, I'm glad to have it done.

Comedy Tragedy
Designer: Kyle Hollingsworth
Leaflet: Slice of Life
Fabric: 18ct Ecru Aida
Fibers: DMC

Introducing...

... The Stash Cabinet! Most of my stash is now unpacked and organized. Woo Hoo! (Can I claim THAT as a big happy dance?!?)

Here's an overall vew with the doors open:

On top are boxes I got for free at the local Aldi Foods. I covered the boxes and lids with adhesive paper I had laying around. These boxes store (top row) aida, linens/evenweaves-small pieces, linens/evenweaves-large pieces, (bottom row) stitchables, kits-small & medium, kits-large.

Inside the armoire on the left side, I put my fabric tubes and boxes. I've labeled the ends of everything so I can easily see what I have. Fray check and Tacky Bob is in the little basket. The purple can is spray super adhesive. Sticky stuff! Way in the back are bottles of sewing machine oil.

On the right side, the gray thing is a nut & bolt cabinet with various size drawers. It stores glue sticks, beads, buttons, etc. On top of it are containers of glitter, paint, ink, and brads. To the right of the cabinet are various large kits (mostly asian themed and dimensions gold) organized in plastic magazine holders. There's also T-pins (in a prescription pill container), glitter glue, regular white glue, tacky glue, and clear adhesive glue. LOL, that's a lot of glue! The ribbons are from past fair entries.



I wanted to be able to put hooks on the inside of the armoire without damaging the wood or making them permanent. 3M has wonderful removeable hooks for this. They're great for lightweight items. (I tried the ones for picture frames and the pictures fell off the wall... not good!)




Drawer One: More fabric, glitter, small ornament frames, crochet cotton (for lacing), plastic shoe box full of misc. threads and stitchy "stuff", mighty bright portable light (in brown zipper case).

Drawer Two:Plastic bin of various packaged fabrics (on the left), kits, and craft batting (on the right).

Drawer Three:
Specialty Floss, JP Floss, plastic jar lids, and RIT dyes.

Drawer Four:
Full size glue gun, various tins and wood boxes.

Surprisingly, none of the drawers are packed full or overflowing with coveted stitchy stuff!

Even though it's not part of the armoire, I wanted to show what I did with the various rulers I use for crafting:

Again, I used the 3M removeable (small) hooks. They're perfect for the little holes at the end of yardstitcks and quilting rulers.

Edited: Melinda asked if the filing cabinet has charts in it. The answer is noooo. There is no stash whatsoever in it.