Stitching Again at Last

It has been more than a year since I was able to see well enough to actually stitch, so these are my first two projects. These designs are Freebies from Cross Stitch & Needlework Magazine.

Stitched on 14-ct Charles Craft Light Blue; finished stitched size 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches

I substituted the lightest red and the light green.

Stitched on 14-ct Charles Craft Oatmeal Fiddlers Cloth; finished size 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches

Ditto re the lightest red..

I plan to make these into Thank You cards. I bought some heavy weight light yellow scrapbooking stock for that purpose. Now just to glue or use double-sided sticky tap to hold everything together.

For my next project I've gone back to a kit I bought and barely started stitching 20 years ago: Jannlynn's Woodland Creatures Christmas Ornaments, no longer available. The thread has long since disappeared but the DMC colors are listed - which I have ooodles of. However, I find I just can't stitch on the included 18-ct navy Aida. I used to have a very strong glasses prescription which causes considerable magnification, but no longer. Suddenly everything is so much smaller and so far I haven't been able to adjust when it comes to fabric court.  Turned out I had a (probably equally old) packet of 14-Count Charles Craft navy.  It'd look great, but I can't  even see the 310, 433, 898, 3371 etc. on the fabric, making trying to stitch those colors basically impossible. Though my eyes are working much better now than in the past 2 years, they still aren't healed completely. I'm still dealing with severe dry eye caused by some of the eye drops, and resultant cornea issues that often cause everything to look blurry and/or haze, even IF I can get them in focus. I've got some of the lighter areas of the raccoon's belly stitched, but I'll either have to scrap it entirely or start over on a lighter color fabric. The light blue is too light (actually much lighter than it appears above) so I'll have to experiment. Actually, I don't know why I'm even stitching these as ornaments since I haven't decorated for Christmas in say the past 20 years either. But I do like cute creatures. I still have some Linda Powell creatures I stitched 25 or 30 years ago. :D

Jim McMillen's Big Band/Jazz arrangement for Let It Snow

a new single, recorded by Laura Dickenson this past week at Capital Records. Outstanding and fun. Some of the top studio and other musicians in LA,.

Let It Snow (LA version)

Let Laura know how much you like it on FB and/orYou Tube and share the link Freely!!

Question?  I've recently been unable to get south on You Tuve and some, but not other videos. When this first post to Laura's page on FB I had terrific audio. Now silence even on FB. Any one have any clue?


LindaMc

Newest (and past) Permin Freebies

December 2015 - Santa with Goose  (cute)
November 2015 - Candles with Poinsettia (nice)

Most are small, simple and quick-stitch designs that will fit a 2" or 3" frame (depends on your fabric count and shape of the design). Perfect for a greeting card insert or glue-on and  quick Christmas ornies, etc. Also some button covers and at least one placemat or corner design for something. Nice mostly quick stitch designs when you want to set aside that BAP or do a quick project. The chart sheet includes any special stitching or instructions along with the shape of the appropriate small frame.

Best yet: Explore freebies back to May 2011 by changing the year and month at the end of the url.  July 2012 would be 2012_07 for example. HOWEVER, not all months are still available (I only spot checked primarily for December).. While May 2011 was still there, the next one was November. I found at lesast one duplicate. But if this sort of design/stitching interests you, it might be worth a bit of exploration. Without a photo on the chart sheet, sometimes it's a little hard to tell what the design is. My favorite has been the 2015_01  Deer in Forest scene. Wished I had used evenweave.

Note I'm thinking and talking about cross-stitching again! I'm waiting on my new glasses to come in but I'm so used to reading blur that while these Walmart readers are definitely not perfect, they are better than nothing,- even if I sometimes have to wear a second pair on top of the first to read - and stitch?

Update:  I've gone through and d/l all the freebies I back to the partial 2011. IF I still have the motivation, I MAY lst them by month, but only IF THERE IS SIGNIFICANT INTEREST.. A LOT of flowers, only a few of which I've indicate the colors when I saved.

My Brother's New Christmas Album!!

Skin & Bones Christmas

For anyone interested in a new take on Christmas classics, my professional  musician/arranger brother, Jim, and professional percussionist friend, Johnny Sandoval, have put out a new Christmas Album called Skin & Bones Christmas. Skin = the conga drums and apx. 50 other percussion instruments played by Johnny with a couple of others on a couple of tracks. Bones = the 6 trombone and 2 bass trombone parts my brother Jim plays. You can hear clips of the individual tracks at the cdbaby links. Different but definitely ENJOYABLE Christmas music. It's also available through The Horn Guys, which has a better cover photo and a short video of Jim demonstrating trombone techniques for a locally produced internet program, but no clips. The album is also supposed to be on Amazon, but I haven't seen it there yet.

I know. With celebrating trombone and drum playing skeletons on the cover, it definitely strikes me as more Halloween than Christmas, but really it is jazzy and mellow brass traditional Christmas music with a Latin and other percussion beats behind it. The graphic on the cover is based on similar medieval artwork and with added elements by their art director. Ok, it's really strange, but it sure gets one's attention! 

The album features Jim playing 6 trombone and 2 bass trombone parts, and Johnny on around 50 percussion instruments all layered and synced together into the Master and individual tracks.  The styles range from R&B, Samba, Latin Jazz, and several others.

Not trying to sell albums for him (well maybe a couple) but just like to share my brother's talent and sense of humor. Jim sent me the album last week, which is when I discovered the DVD player on my computer isn't working. So far all I can hear is the clips online. :O  The album is supposed to be on Amazon shortly. 

BTW, the album would make a great Christmas exchange gift with a surprisingly nice surprise for the lucky recipient. Just sayin' .. Wonder if *I* ordered one for that purpose it'd get here by Thursday?

Merry Christmas Everyone

LindaMc - happy that after almost a full year that I've FINALLY been given a prescription for a new pair of glasses - just hoping they will actually work!

Freebies

Hershner's:  Tea Cozy Ornament   Gingerbread JOY Banner
  - many others, look under needlework

Leslie Teare Christmas Owl - and Christmas Baby Deer - be sure to click on her blog which has many other recent freebies including including Woodland creatures and Birthday Fairies.

Very Sad News

Kathy Morrisey of Stitch Niche in Arlington, TX passed away Saturday evening. I've not heard anything about the future of the shop. So very sad and such a loss for the North Texas stitching community..

Freebies

Now that I can almost see well enough to get back on the computer: here are a couple of Freebie opportunities:

Twelve Days of Christmas - a Mystery Sampler from Plum Street Samplers

Halloween Witch & Pumpkin from Gazette 94

 

Still recovering from Cataract surgery

Very complicated. Lengthy recovery time. After 2 months first eye still not stable. Had to have second eye  done anyway because of high pressure that required immediate removal of cataract. High sensitivity to preservatives in eye drops (14 a day for 8 days  then down to 9  for the rest of the month  then only five for the rest of my life or until somebody changes their mind. I'm tired of eyedrops which sting my eyes and cause one or both of them to tear for hours on end.) which creates yet another problem affecting my vision. I'm bored. I'm stressed out. I can't read. I can barely focus on anything on television. I hope my number 2 eye heas faster than number 1 otherwise I'll be sitting here for another 2 months doing little if anything. I knew it was going to be complicated and recovery will take longer than normal. I  just had no idea just how complicated and how long this is going to take. Thank goodness for DVDs that I've seen so often I don't really have to focus to know what's going on. Hope everyone else is working on Halloween and Christmas  presents and ornies. Check the freebee list. Sorry it's become so out of date.

Update:  Only 3 more days of post-op drops. Vision in first eye has degraded. Don't know what that means in the long run. Eyes have gone from tearing constantly to producing so few, if any, that I'm having to use artificial tears several times a day - and night.  Driving is even more problematic, especially at night. As soon as I'm 60 days post op, I'm getting other opinions. Seems other doctor's wont see you before then at the earliest or until after you've been released.