Sharing my life and love of cross stitch. Thoughts about this and that.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Hydrangea Freebie from Cross Stitcher Mag

Check out a beautiful extract from a floral kit by Maia: Moonlight Hydrangeas at http://bit.ly/PzBht . Click "here" just above the photo. The chart is for the blue hydrangea on the right. Charted for Anchor/DMC/Maderia

DD's wedding colors

Beach wedding. I spent hours trying to put together email with Pantone (print) colors vs DMC colors for her. The email is somewhere in cyberspace. I stopped by LNS to look at silks and ended up with Soie d'Alger #113 and 123.


Of course neither of the above look exactly like the actual color, but gives the idea. Seeing as how she's since decided to use a rose red as an accent color, she picked out a red for her cake table cloth and decided on a dark blue for her table toppers ... My immediately thought was RED WHITE BLUE, and started to mention those will overwhelm her pastels. Rental houses don't have anything like the above colors except for bright turquoise or sea mist(too green). I've looked online, but nothing. I may look for plain polyester weave fabric and see if I can find anything closer for about the same price as renting. Suggestions appreciated!! She took home a Key Lime Cheesecake from a local bakery to try out as her wedding cake. It's going to be large single cheesecake on top of tier of tower, then individual slices on the lower tiers. I'm going to try to talk her out of luminaria along the aisle as well. I can envision pants legs and kids on FIRE! ACCKKKK!!!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Wedding & DMC colors - Teaching Cross Stitch

Still NO response re job apps and resumes! Pretty depressing. Most of week spent researching the cost of tent & wedding rentals for DD. She's asked me to stitch something on the white sundress she's chosen for her beach wedding, so took my entire box of blues with me for dinner Wednesday night. She'd made a mock up of the invite she's making herself and to go with the other blues she'd already chosen. She kept picking up DMC 517. I had 3 of them in the storage box and that's what her eye was drawn too, but I'm thinking it's a bit dark and you won't be able to tell what color it is, except it isn't black. I'm going to try to talk her into a lighter shade in the same family. OH.... doggone it, phooey, and FIDDLESTICKS!!! I just discovered the very long email I spent 2 hours putting together as I researched DMC .jpg's to compare with a PMS color chart I found online, and making suggestions is NOT in my sent box. WHERE IS IT???

My DD's fiance' has a 14-year-old. Knowing she would be at dinner I got inspired (or maybe crazy), hunted down a DMC mentor kit I'd ordered in 2005 but had never had a chance to use, and took one of the small stitching kits with me. While DD and fiance' were cleaning up, she showed me her scrap-booking (she's crafty!!), I asked if she'd ever heard of cross stitch, showed her the things I'd stitched for my DD, which she liked, so I pulled out the little kit and taught my first cross stitch class. I figured she was being polite to sit there and let me encourage her (she was very focused and doing amazingly well, if very slow - like I'm not). Those few stitches took well over an hour. I would have shown her some other things, but just putting needle and fabric in hand and making crosses (all going the same direction!!) was an accomplishment. My DD told me that she had worked on it some more later. Ok, where's all my stash that I can foist on her?? : ) Nope, I'm thinking she'd probably like Lizzie Kate, which I have none of. Or maybe a simple LHN. Not sure of her style. She had some plumish purple in her hair - but it was a temporary wash. I was trying to decide if I had been brave enough to put a strange color in mine, what color that might have been - or be. : )

Check out the freebies at DMC!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Freebie Link: Frank Leads the Crusade to Save Cross Stitch - Learn How Free!


FROM HOFFMAN DISTRIBUTING
:



Direct link to Hoffman for standard and color charts - right beneath video.

Shop locator - I suggest you call your LNS first to verify they are participating in this promotion.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Embroidery on Wedding Dress

My DD called yesterday and said that she would like to to add blue highlights to her casual wedding dress and the same to groom's shirt. I'm HONORED, but suddenly I'm very concerned about my skills! Been a long time since I did straight embroidery. I'll wait to see what type of pattern is on the dress, then attempt to duplicate on shirt. I'm already debating the wisdom of stitching directly on the shirt vs stitching on fabric to tack on to it - just in case Mr. Frog comes for a long visit. I've already decided it's going to be washable silks!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Frustrating eye problems

I test at 20/20 vision with my glasses, HOWEVER that is sooooo not true. I spent almost 2 hours at my long-time eye-doctor's office this morning with intent of getting new prescription that will help with vision issues and relieve eye strain. I've never been able to wear the ones I got 18 months ago, which are too strong - the focal length too short, they magnify toooo much, or something. My 5-year-old pair suffer from badly scratched (scratch resistant) and foggy lens, not to mention they've been slept or sat on a few too many times. At the end of appointment: 1) there's such a slight change in prescription I could keep the old prescription - the one in which my right eye is never in focus at any distance , 2) maybe a slight prismatic correction to help my old eyes from the constant need to adjust up and down to correct focus and the resulting double vision when they get too tired to work together any more, and 3) have cataract surgery for tee-niny little ones, the real purpose of which would be to remove the lens to both reduce (but not cure) problems with glaucoma AND my prescription strength by at least 1/2. I'd still need drops and glasses. I say - WHY BOTHER? I agreed to see if sample stick-on prisms on my old glasses would help -and more importantly whether my sensitive eyes could even handle it. Not hopeful as I dutifully wore a pair of prismatic lens for a full week 30 years ago, but had such MAJOR problems I dropped them in the nearest Lion's club collection box then wore my old beat up ones for 2 more years until they fell completely apart. In the meantime, I continue in my old bent, scratched and cloudy glasses. Reading text or stitching just isn't what my eyes want to do any more. It's incredibly frustrating.

Friday, July 3, 2009

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY !!!




From Bits of Floss & LMc Designs








Thursday, July 2, 2009

Current plans - Updated

Late September on the beach near Ft. Walton Beach, FL Infomal / barefoot

I'm thinking beach-themed wedding sampler. Wonder if I can design one I'm satisfied with by then? Forget about having one stitched on time. Maybe wait until after wedding photos then recreate the setting? HMmmmmm

Update: Since no one in our family could attend a Florida wedding except me, and her still not wanting to miss out on her dreamed of beach wedding, they will get married in Florida as planned, stay for a Honeymoon, drive back to Texas and in October will repeat their vows in a slightly more formal setting in my parent's back yard. I get to be in charge of the tent and party stuff, arrange for the cake - which will be gluten-free CHEESE CAKE, and figure out where everyone can possibly park! That last part might be a problem. She's talking 100 guests. And since her best friend since junior high has been a guy, she's having a Man of Honor. I think it's absolutely great! I'm going to have to do something about her idea of o'dourves from Sams. LOL

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

MY DAUGHTER IS GETTING MARRIED!!

I didn't even know she was dating someone until Saturday!

She's 37, and only this past weekend I was lamenting to a close friend that I really worried she would never find someone compatible, be amenable to her strong, independent personality, and I was worried that she wouldn't have anyone to care for her as she ages (the discussion started with us commenting on caring for our elderly parents, then who would take care of us ... and my comment that she would have no one to take care of her). I was apparently writing that email about the same time he was proposing, which caught her by surprise as well.

I only met him Monday afternoon (was that just day before yesterday?) for a quick 3 or 4 minutes, and today she calls me on the cell phone. She never calls me on the cell phone. Couldn't be good. I listened waiting for the shoe to drop. I should have told her I'd call her back. I never talk on the cell phone while driving. After telling me about some business issues she drops the bombshell. I literally stuttered for the 7 or 8 blocks home, carefully focusing on my driving until I could pull in the drive, then said "Would you repeat what you just said!" Did she say what I thought I heard? She did. I said "could you hold, I'm going to get out of the car and go in the house now." LOL THAT'S how stunned I was. After asking her to call back on the land line and talking to her for an hour, then talking to my friend for almost an hour, then talking to my sister for almost an hour, then calling DD back and the phone being handed to her .... OMG she has a Fiance'!! I'm in an adrenalin rush overload aftermath stupor.

All our lives just took a 90 degree turn. Some really really good, some ... well, I'm suddenly going to be a MIL, and I'll have a SIL, and since he has a step-grandaughter (who may live with them), I'm going to be ... a step-GRANDMOTHER IN LAW, or is that step GREAT GMIL ... all in the same day. My brain just can't wrap around this totally out of the blue turn of events.

And, because I'm a family lawyer and tend to think this way, I asked her about a pre-nup. When I talked with him this evening I told him I expected him to be loving and kind, patient and respectful. I'm saving the, "if you do anything to harm her I'll ... " (fill in blank) til later, just in case he really is a really good guy - don't want to scare him off. :D Anything I missed? As excited as I am for her, there are some downsides. She'll have to deal with them for herself. If she needs help, she's never hesitated coming to Mom. I suspect that's one of those things that will change.

I haven't a clue what to stitch for them. I bought one of those intricate L&L bride designs and a lot of French blue linen many, many years ago when she was thankfully only temporarily engaged. Just so NOT her! She wants to get married on a beach, preferably barefoot.

Oh, the possibilities!! Any suggestions?

Since I want to wait for her to tell other family members, I HAD to tell SOMEONE how excited I am for her! How about the whole world? !!!

One Final Patriotic Freebie

The last of my patriotic Freebies. I really wish those who download would leave a quick comment so that I'll know the level of interest in my designs. Like many freebie designers I harbor the faint notion that perhaps there might be enough stitchers such that taking the time and going to the expense of printing and distributions might actually be feasible. Thank you in advance to those that do. Download subject to Copyright information on the Right

Happy 4th!

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