Fair and Square exchange received

First I want to say thank you to those of you kind enough to comment on my posts. I am not sure of the etiquette about comments - I feel repetitive if I reply to each one, but I certainly do appreciate each one. I guess, since it's very low-volume, that for now, I'll respond individually. But if I miss you, please know that I am excited each and every time somebody takes the time to read and comment.

I received my first square from the Fair and Square blog. My partner is Mercy, and she stitched "Be True" by Shepherd's Bush. I LOVE this design, and the colors are even more gorgeous in person. My camera won't capture a lot of detail, but you can get a closer look if you click on the picture. Check out the tiny cross-stitch heart pendant kit!



Mercy's also an avid scissors collector, and makes her own beautiful beaded fobs. I am so happy with the gorgeous fob she made me! Don't you think I now need to get these scissors so I can gaze adoringly at that fob while I'm stitching?



I am still stitching away on my square, and now worrying that I'll be pushing the deadline. I know I'll make it, but it's going slower than I expected. A 50 x 50 square shouldn't take this long! I am a sloooow stitcher...

By the way, if any of you don't already know about the Fair and Square group, you should check it out. It is so much fun, and growing every round.

Fob arrived!

I am so excited! I sent Judith in the Netherlands a fob for the Hooked on Exchanging scissor fob exchange on Wednesday and it already arrived!

Here's a pic:


And one of it hanging:

Queen Anne's Lace by The Cat's Whiskers
Fabric: 28 ct platinum Cashel linen
Fibers: Bethlehem from Weeks, Fool's Gold and Rainy Day from Crescent Colors
Beads: 3025 and 62031 from Mill Hill

I hadn't made a fob of any sort before, and I was pleased with how it turned out. Not perfect, but very nice, although it looked a little worse for the wear on Judith's pic for the HoE blog. I guess traveling thousands of miles is hard on inanimate objects, too.

As usual, I forgot to take a snap of the extras. I sent her the chart & bead pack for Just Nan's Queen of the Needle, which was on her wish list.

I am working on another exchange project right now, so no progress pics. I haven't had much time for stitching, so I'm not working on any of my other projects. I did, however, get all of my WIPs and UFOs organized! Each in its own bag and it is taking up only two boxes! Look!




(You get a peek at my mess of a craft table, too. Sorry about that!)

Fairy Tale

This is something I wrote for a visual prompt at a writing community I belong to. The visual prompt is at the end of the story. I'm just happy to be able to use my "write" tag for a change.
---------------------------------------------------

The day after, he woke up queasy, and felt as thought he'd gotten caught at something, and punished. He thought about going downstairs, feeling the dust under his bare feet, and watching it dance through the sun shafting through the stained glass window on the landing. He pictured his mom's smile, his dad's playful slap on the shoulder, and wondered how he'd be able to accept that. Their love, their perfect faith in his innocence. Wouldn't they see it in his eyes? Would he have to watch the light fade from theirs, the smiles dim, as they saw who he'd become?

Breakfast smells rose up the stairs. Mom was making bacon and pancakes. Coffee, too, but he hated the bitterness of coffee. He'd settle for syrup drowning his plate, and a glass of apple juice. Then his stomach flipped as he remembered.

"Chicken! See, I told you. He's a pussy. Still kisses his mommy goodbye in the morning." Robbie was tall, and fat, and angry, the kind of kid you always thought of when you thought the word "bully". He stood in the middle of the field of overgrown grass. Charlie hadn't known grass could grow that tall, would grow heads like wheat, and poke you as you walked through it. All around Robbie, dark shadows darted and flicked, too fast and small to be identified. But Charlie knew.

The first day, Charlie was walking behind them, and had stopped short at the edge of the field, nervously taking in the flying buzzing shapes. Robbie and crew stomped on a few feet, and that's when Charlie heard it, the crunches as they were crushed under foot, the truncated cries of pain, and the quick zip of energy drawn up and away.

"C'mon, you baby. What're you waiting for? Scared? Scared of grasshoppers!" Robbie turned to his fellows and laughed. He sneered as he caught the look on Charlie's face, mistaking disgust for fear. He turned threatening in an instant, smelling prey. "C'mon, I said. Now." Robbie advanced toward him, and Charlie turned back, running home. He hid on the side of the garage, showing up late for school on his first day. Since then, he'd taken a circuitous route through back yards and down alleys, successfully avoiding Robbie. But yesterday, at the end of an alley that emptied out on the far side of the field, he'd found Robbie and a group of other boys waiting. He could smell his own blood in the air, feel pain in his ribs as he looked at their bared teeth.

All it had taken to save himself was a walk through the field. It had helped that he'd peed his pants. Robbie saw it as a sign of submission, although it had really been his distress as he felt all those lights crunched out beneath his sneakers. He'd walked all day with the scent of death wafting up from underneath him, a lingering curse that made him keep his head down, so nobody would see his tears.

Sighing deeply, sounding much older than eight years old, Charlie padded downstairs and braved his way through the ignorance of his parents' smiles and jokes. "Go on out and play" they'd urged. So Charlie squared his shoulders and went to the closet for his shoes. They were there, and they looked the way they always had, but he could smell it, and he saw smudges of black smoking up from underneath them. He picked up the right one, and turned it over. There, the way he knew it would be, was the evidence of his dishonor. Perfectly splayed out, as thought intending to preserve itself for all time, lay the corpse of a single pixie. Charlie would not brush it off, would never, in fact, wear those shoes again. He told his mother he'd lost one, and endured her exasperation as but partial payment for what he deserved.

One day, when he was much older, he would tell fairy stories to his daughter, and she would wonder at how his face glowed with conviction and sadness over a tale she already knew, at her age, to be false.

Stitchy pics - mostly older

Well, I finally got my camera to work, both in taking pictures and uploading them to my also-stubborn computer.

First off, I received a gorgeous fob from Jill for the Hooked on Exchanging fob exchange. Check it out:



She also sent some goodies:



I am so happy with that fob - I hope mine turns out as well. I've never made a fob, and the technique for the one I'm sending off is a little unusual. I am all finished with the stitching & cutting out, I just need to do the sewing together. That will happen this week. *crossed fingers*

Quite belatedly, here is something I got from Hannah for an exchange back in - well, obviously October. :) (I'm using Hannah's pictures here, because hers turned out better than any I could coax out of my camera.)



And the back. I love this fabric!



Ooh, and goodies!



Are you tired of pictures? I hope not. I know that I never tire of pictures when reading stitching blogs, so hopefully you'll continue on, too....

This is what I stitched for Hanna for the same exchange:


Nevermore by The Cricket Collection
28 ct. Pumpkin Jazlyn with DMC - I changed a few of the colors to show up better on the orange. The original fabric was green.

I finished it into a lined padded box, trimmed with ribbon and covered with awesome "mummy" fabric:



I still haven't gotten any of my new projects together for my 2008 goals. It is a long story, and I realize that I have eyes bigger than my needle. Perhaps as long as I'm making progress on something I will be content.

2008 goals, or fantasies

Well, I haven't made particular goals for stitching before, and I think it's evidenced by my lack of finishes. So, I'm hoping by giving myself some direction, I can accomplish more this year. I really want some substantial pieces to hang on my walls, so I've made a list of 12 medium/large projects. I am sure I won't finish all of these, since I'm sort of a slow stitcher, but at least I know they'll get done. These are the things that are currently dearest to my heart, and I am sure there will be a couple that drop off in favor of even more wonderful things I don't own yet, but these are my starts. My one rule is going to be that once it's started, I have to keep it in rotation until it's finished.

Here's my schedule:
I plan on stitching two hours a day Monday - Saturday during the day, and in the evenings if I have time. I'm scheduling four Medium/Large projects and will stitch on each of those one day a week. I'll also stitch on UFOs one day a week. The rest of the time will be for exchanges and ornaments.

Medium/Large projects
1. Desiderata by Indigo Rose - This one is started already - just a few stitches in so far. I'm putting this in my first rotation because I've wanted this one the longest. I made a lot of changes to the threads, I'll post about that as I post progress pics.

2. Lizzie Kate Double Flips - I'll be doing this one in a long panel like this model. I'm using the recommended threads and whatever looks nice when I go to the shop.

3. Inspiration by Rosewood Manor - Still need the fabric for this, which will be whatever looks good with the DMC threads called for.

4. Wedding Row by Bent Creek - I'm going to change the colors so I can use my husbands favorite color (green) and my own (purple). Our third anniversary is this year and I don't think it will be done by then - maybe by our fifth?

5. Cirque des Triangles by Ink Circles - I wanted to use Bethlehem by Weeks Dye works on a neutral fabric. But then I found some Needle Necessities (Creme de Menthe) that I think would be amazing. Of course, I only have three skeins and would need four. I am going to have to find a source for ThreadWorx (they are doing colors comparable to what NN threads used to be) to see how their alternative color looks. If I like that, I'll probably do this with medium greens on a light green background.

6. Mine All Mine Stocking by Xs and Os - for my son's Christmas stocking. He needs one before he moves out of the house! (He's 16.)

7. Japanese Octagon Box by Chatelaine - I've had the materials since the beginning of the class - I think that was 2006. I am doing this on mint green, and I need the fabric for it. I am not as enthused about this one as I was, because I have a phobia of trying to make up the box for it, but I will be darned if I'm going to put this much money into a project and not finish it.

8. Gingerbread Christmas by The Rocking Horse cross stitch store - I bought this last month because the finished model in the store suckered me into it. So sparkly! I don't have any Christmas pieces, and this should work up quickly. It was a kit, and the frame is included, so I have no excuse to procrastinate.

9. Queen of the Needle by Just Nan - I dearly love this pattern.

10. Always Kiss Me Goodnight by Forever In My Heart - I can't actually find this chart online, and I don't know where I got the pic saved to my hard drive. I can't find it on Hoffman's site, either by designer or keyword search. Also, I understand the designer is having some family problems (Her husband is quite ill, it's so sad.) So, this one might have to be dropped.

11. What A Hoot by Cat's Whiskers Design Studio - He is the cutest!

12. A Christmas stocking for myself - I haven't picked one out yet, but I have time - I'm sure it won't get into rotation until next year, anyway.

In addition to those projects, I want to participate in the Fair and Square rounds this year. I think there are five or six a year.

I also joined the Hooked on Exchanging group, so I'll be doing whatever exchanges they have through the year.

And lastly, I want to make six Christmas ornaments, and 2 or 3 RAK-type gifts for various stitching friends.

Ok - it's a little much, right? I think I will actually probably finish only two larger projects - Lizzie Kate's Double Flips and Wedding Row. But I'll have a whole bunch of smaller projects, too, and that will be - ohhh - 500% more than I did in '07.

Here's a slide show of the larger projects. If it annoys you, you can just view the Picasa album.

I blame the writers' strike...

A new season of Stitch! Read! Write! will begin in January.

I've joined some new exchange boards, so I have obligations now. I hope that will keep me in line. I think starting with a post a week should be sufficient, and not too arduous a task.

Merry Christmas, faithful reader(s)!

It's Shameful

I logged in today because I was commenting on somebody else's blog and actually forgot where my own blog was located! And found a lovely comment from a (much) earlier post waiting to be modded. I'll have to check to see if there's an option to be notified of comments waiting.

I recently noticed on my Bloglines account that my blog - yes, this one - has 11 readers! Not that there's been anything to read - blogging is much harder than just babbling on about nothing, which has always been my special talent. I will have to work on being more consistent. Maybe I should set a "once a week posting" goal. If I don't have stitching to show, I suppose I can do a reading post. Writing is out for the time being because my muse has apparently run off to the beach for the summer.

And now - I have a finished piece to post! Something that was fun, that turned out nicely, and that I remembered to photograph before mailing off! Here it is:


This is from Heart In Hand's Spring Fobs leaflet. I added the wording, and stitched it on a 28 ct Silkweaver solo - I don't think you can see the mottling, there are some pretty beige and coffee-colored variations in the fabric. The threads were the recommended GAST and WDW. This was for an exchange on LiveJournal.

It's actually the first needlework I've finished in any other way other than framing (or pre-finished items), and I think it turned out very well. I am so enthused with it that I decided to join a new exchange board being created by Becky of BeckyBee's Stitching Hive. It's called "I Think I Can" and it's going to be composed of newbies like myself who want to learn about finishing and become more comfortable with exchanges. There will be experienced stitchers to help out and answer questions and the like. Membership is already closed, but Becky promises that will change as soon as some of us have "graduated" to regular exchanges. I am so excited to have this opportunity! I can't wait to learn some new techniques and get to know everybody. I'm sure it will provide fodder for some interesting pics and posts.

Can't resist

I've been working on my never-ending exchange project, so no stitching updates.

BUT, I couldn't resist joining in on the Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace (Silent) Poetry Reading in celebration of Brigid's day. In celebration of Brigid (or Punxsutawny Phil, if you prefer), post a favorite poem, either someone else's or one of your own.

Well, here is my favorite poem written by Mary Oliver, one of the greatest poets ever, in my mind. This poem is all about occupying your space fully in this world, and for me, as for many of us, this is something new that we practice every day. I am filled with hope when I remind myself of the vast, complex, eternally renewing universe that I am intricately connected to. Happy Imbolc!

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.


And, here is one of my own, not related as much to the day, but just one that I am proud of for it's subtle meaning and competent evocation of emotion. Hope you like it.

Angel

Angel lies passive in your arms
A tarnished goddess in shades of verdigris and gray.
Her heart is cold, or glowing for another;
You turn to her to fix her halo, crushed,
Close your eyes and with desperate hands
Touch her distant form.
Her cries are either passion or sorrow,
So you make yourself believe your hands
Restore her to heaven.
Turn your head from knowing she is a fallen star.
Bereft of magic, she longs for her lost god,
The locus of her soul, and you cry because
You cannot take her where she wants to go.
You will give her the world
And all the earthly treasures
You can gather to her altar,
But she sways, yearning, towards the moon
And starry firmament, her blind eyes golden
With desire.
Your averted gaze will not see
That desire is not for you.
To you, her sighs are passion;
You inhale the myth of her love deep
As if it were true nourishment
For your parched soul.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.