Incense & Peppermints - Another Monday Update

SO I went to bad with this song stuck in my head, woke up with it still this morning, and despite Seether at brain shattering decibels this morning, between songs, it was still playing on loop in my head. Not a bad earworm, for sure, one of my favorite songs from the era, but wow, is it persistent! The video linked is not much to look at - but it sounds good :) Enjoy!



In local weather news, it rained here, all last week. Fortunately, we did NOT get the deluge that parts of Texas got - 12-13" in and around the Houston area? YIKES! But we needed it, and it was welcome, and fortunately, the barometer head wasn't too bad, since it kind of stayed in the same spot for several days, though I could tell when the afternoon storms were getting ready to let loose :( Better than the 100+ days though, though between the heat and the moisture, we have a prickly pear who seems to love living in captivity - it's got two new paddles coming off of it since we dug it up and stuck it in a pot:



In stash news, my L*K Very Scary Mystery kit came in from Laurel's, along with the JCS Halloween book - I have started the Mystery, but I won't post any pictures yet, so I don't blow the surprise for anyone. I WILL post the picture of the kit - in this picture, the floss is sitting on the 35ct Tin Roof linen for the main sampler, and then the lilac piece top left is 30ct, for the bonus designs that comes with Part 1 :)



Also - the new Ink Circles Mandala is AWESOME!!! Will have to get a piece of the PTP Monster Mash for it, but I'll have to remember to get 28ct to match the purple I did Spirited Mandala on :) My 4th of July order from JJs is awaiting fabric, of course - the 36ct Eek! from PTP that I ordered for the AAN Bat Banner. They must have had the 32ct Lambswool needed for the 3 Prairie Schooler Halloween pieces I ordered. They hope to have their PTP order this week, so maybe next week, my Halloween Stash 2 will show up - and then I think I am stashed out for a while....


So when I wasn't working on the Mystery (which I started Friday at lunch, and worked on Friday & a little on Saturday), I was making decent progress on BC Glory - I worked on it Tuesday night and then again on Wednesday, I think - too tired/barometer-heady to deal with Tuscany. I am well over half-way, having the alphabet caught up to where I've stitched, and the sections of satin stitch in the red. I LOVE these two colors of Victorian Motto Shoppe floss with the DMC Variation, though I did wonder why they had it charted for the big letters to be black, and the bs letters to be dark brown? Umm, all of my letters will be black.



And then I did get parts 2 & 3 of Tuscany completely stitched. I will put the beads on tonight, I think I can get them all done, if everyone will maintain tonight. We shall see... Here's the stitching done:



My very loose plan for this week is: get the beads on Tuscany, then put it away. Part 4 is pretty big, so I want to start fresh on that the next time I have it out. I want to pull Lady & Unicorn out, but I may wait until later in the week, and maybe work on Iris Fairy for a day or two, and wait to see if I have any functioning brain cells later this week :) I will probably go to the Tuesday night stitch, and I NEED to work on Glory and get it done soon, but I will have the L*K with me, too, though I don't know if I can see the 35ct in the dim light we have there, even with my Mighty Bright. So who knows? I also have another From Nancy's Needle ready to go - one of the Stars that I have, can't remember now which one I pulled out. But the canvas is on the bars, and it's ready to go. Not that I NEED to start it, it's just an option :)

(one of the many peppers we've gotten of the Cajun bell - small but potent!)

Check back next week to see how those plans worked out :) Happy Stitching everyone!

A Slightly Cooler Update

It's 10 degrees cooler than last week, but still a bit much - but we are supposed to be in the 80s in a couple of days, with hopefully some storms popping up and dumping some rain. We'll see - could definitely use a day or two of solid wet.


The 4th was quiet - we did burgers on the grill, had a mountain of potato salad, etc. Didn't go see fireworks anywhere, and had the 50-pound chicken-dog trying to bury herself in the floor at the end of the hall (her bomb shelter) as everyone in the area blew stuff up. On Thursday, I got my 4 frames done, though I have to complete 2 when I get glass/replace glass in them (one had none, the other had plain that I want to replace with UV). You can see them starting here - 4 down, 30 to go (give or take).


On Tuesday night at the IHOP and on Wednesday afternoon, I worked on my Bent Creek Glory; since I did my own conversion for the threads from stash, I couldn't find a good variegated sub for the white stripe (forget what it called for - GAST or WW, probably), so was going to use the plain no-frills DMC 3033 for it. THEN, when I was rooting around looking at my DMC Variations stash, I finally found the color I had been looking for, 4150, that HL didn't have anymore - PERFECT choice! So I got the blue done, filled in the stars and did about 1/2 of the white stripe, and started a bit of the red. DH has claimed this for his when it's done (I assume that means he'll chip in on the frame):


I worked on Tuscany the rest of the week - I meant to take a couple of good pictures of the new prototype frame, but completely forgot. It works as well as expected; like any scroll frame, I lose the tension on the sides, so I do need to get a set of the clip-things to fix that. But the ability to attach the top & bottom just like a QSnap and then scroll it up & down - exactly what I needed to do! So of course, I then started this week's progress on Tuscany by beading the middle :) And then I started on the remaining half of parts 2 & 3, though have, so far, mainly touched part 3 (the weekend marathon of Walking Dead helped - that's a LOT of blue). I expect to get these two parts done this week, with beads :) Here's the overall:



And then the beaded middle:



This week, I will work on Glory at IHOP Tuesday night, and continue on Tuscany. I am awaiting my new stash, namely the Lizzie * Kate Mystery sampler, which may see stitches this week; we'll see, depending on how big the 1st part is, if I can keep up with it or not (since I WAS going to just throw it in the drawer for later. No, really, I WAS). 3 parts, I ought to be able to handle that. And leave the bonuses for later :) Uh-huh... If/when I get parts 2 & 3 of Tuscany done, I'll have to decide if I move on to Part 4, or get Lady & Unicorn out for a few more weeks. I also stretched the canvas for FNN Desert Star one day last week, so aside from still needing 1 more card of a RG thread, it's ready to go, too :) So check back next week to see what actually goes on - it's anyone's guess at this point!



Happy Stitching!

(No, I have NO IDEA what they are all waiting for)

It's a Scorcher - an Update

You might've heard - it's been HOT. Yeah, I know, it's summer. But, it's been HOT. All weekend, around 106 :( And air so thick you could cut it :( :( Code RED smog - yay! Fortunately, the power was working fine at the movie theater on Saturday, so we finally went to see Prometheus - good flick! And I might have DH talked into going to see Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, too, next weekend :)

(melted straws!)

In stitching news (since it's too damn hot to have any other kind, really), I have a FINISH!!! Rainforest Crunch got done Tuesday night! I had 1 color to go in the last block when I left IHOP Tuesday night - and I finished that while watching Deadliest Catch!



I think I have the frame picked out already - bronze metallic with an earthen mat; we'll see if I can get it ordered, and arrived, CORRECT, in time to be a fair entry this year :)


I also managed to finish Part 4 of Secret Victorian Garden - not sure why the one corner took so long last week, when I did the remaining 3 in less time. Whatever. It's now done, beads included:



I did work on Glory for a bit last night, after putting SVG away - but as I will be working on it more on Tuesday night, and possibly Wednesday, in recognition of the 4th of July holiday, I didn't take a picture. I have about 30 stitches left of the blue :) Then I will fill in the stars and do the light (not white) stripe, before doing the red - mainly so I don't have red transfer on the light (3033? I think that's what I got) thread....



So this week, when not working on Glory, I will get Tuscany out again - and will take better pictures of the new scroll frame with fabric that's actually cut to size :) As I have Thursday & Friday off after the holiday, I also have framing to do - I have a t-shirt to mount into a box for a neighbor (which I've never done, but hey, how hard can it be?), and 4 things to get into the frames I bought at Michael's a few weeks back - Spirited Mandala, Tanglewood, Iris, and my last RR piece, RM Live Each Season. And hopefully, no more melting, not before August, anyway. Sure would be nice if we had fall again this year - that was awesome last year :)



I also got suckered into the Lizzie * Kate Mystery SAL (okay, Donna didn't really have to twist my arm very hard, once I saw that Laurel's Stitchery WAS allowing you to order JUST the charts, or fabric, or floss - you don't have to get the WHOLE KIT - which is my preference). I also took advantage of the 4th of July sale at JJs, and have 3 Prairie Schooler Halloween pieces ordered :) because you know me & Halloween :) I'll be sure to show you a pic of those when they get here - though, since I ordered fabric, it'll probably be a WHILE - good thing I have plenty to keep me busy, huh???



Stay cool and Happy Stitching!

A Liebster Award

Lisa from Embroidering in English has awarded me the Liebster Blog Award for my Blogger blog, On Beads & Needles - how cool is that?

Lisa had this to say about my blog:

"e. Karen (On Beads and Needles): Karen stitches some lovely patterns, and she also posts the most marvelous nature photos- I love them!"

While this older blog started out years ago to just be a place to put random thoughts, it soon morphed into my jewelry and stitching blog, and then grew again when I was able to have my Multiply site rolled into it, where all my photos are stored - those update photos are what keep me motivated, you have no idea. And as I fully embraced the world of amateur digital photography, it also came to be a place (via Multiply's albums) where I could experiment with the things I see, or think I see. It makes me happy that others enjoy those things, too, and too, makes it okay that I "don't do people" - there are so many things in the world to see, I'll leave the people pictures to the Annie Leibovitz's of the world :)

Some background: Liebster is a German word, meaning favourite, dearest or beloved and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers, who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the
Liebster to.

a. Lissanne's Stitching & Creations - I'll say it - SHE'S the one who hooked me on Chatelaine Sparkly Hummingbird Garden! I was doing a fine job of ignoring it entirely - and then I saw this magnificent PURPLE creation, and it was all over then. Oh yeah, she does LOTS of other great things, too :)
b. Nancy - the FINISHING QUEEN, who doesn't like to kit, but likes BIG projects, like Mystic Stitch, that she blows through without a backward glance! But I hope I've led her down the path as often she's led me :)
c. Joysze's Random Ramblings - First, I just love this blog - there's something about the color and the picture in the banner that are inviting, cool, and soothing. And then you get down to the posts, and especially the random questions, which are every bit as much fun to read everyone ELSE'S responses to as to come up with your own :)
d. Kim, a.k.a. Crab-Ass Mom - I think that maybe we are related - there are some spooky similarities to things she posts to my own experiences & thoughts. Because, despite popular opinion at my house, I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE [fill in the blank].
e. Rachel's Does the Noise in my Head Bother You? - Best. Blog. Name. EVER! And, yeah, she's crafty, too, and does all kinds of things I could only dream about doing (had I 18 more hours a day).

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

Thank you so much, Lisa!! I am usually a slug about these things, but I seem to have managed to find the inspiration to follow through!

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

Please check these out - it was really hard to choose just 5 out of the many I read (yes, I do read a LOT, even though I am usually WAYYYYYY behind)

4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

a. I prefer peppermints to chocolate. Unless it's mint chocolate.

b. I am a Fish person. Don't tell the dogs or the cats.

c. My combat boots were size 6 1/2. I loved those, wish I still had them (even if they did ruin my feet)

d. I'd rather be a rancher :) But not in Georgia - in Wyoming or thereabouts...

e. There's no such thing as too much bar-b-que. Or onions.

Smog Alert -an Update

Yep, it's smog season again. Yay. Not. Okay, ready for October (or September, IF it is going to be like last year again). Some rain would be nice, too, and not just the random afternoon pop-up storm, but some actual rain, just to wash the ozone out of the air for a minute...



This week's update starts with a ghost tour. We went on the Roswell Ghost Tour on Saturday night, and while I don't think we caught anything on camera (the zillion photos are here, YOU can go see if you see anything in them), we had a good time, and loved the history. Before the tour even started, we were highly entertained (okay I was highly entertained) by the ginormous red tailed hawk that was in the town square where the tour kicked off; he was very photogenic, and didn't seem to be at all bothered by me following him around as he hunted. Here's one photo of him, but there are several others in the album linked above, including one or two in flight:

We may have to go do that again on another night, and see if we can pick up anything....


On to the stitching, which begins with Tuesday night and Saturday's PINS get togethers, where I worked on Rainforest Crunch; I have only 3 blocks left to go! I expect to have it done this week - and then nothing even remotely close to a finish anywhere on the horizon :(



You know how I said last week that Part 4 of SVG looked pretty simple? Yeah... Got one whole corner done, and a start on the 2nd one. Of course, I didn't touch it at least 2 days last week, and didn't have much time on it when I did have it out. Here's the overall:



And then the detail of the one corner, with beads:



And then, here's a shot of it in the new scroll frame, which I will take better pictures of when I put Tuscany on it:



I have 2 QSnap clamps on the top and on the bottom (2 x 11"? an 11" and a 17"? I have no idea - some combination), on the 3' long black PVC pieces; these were threaded to be used as handles for something, but are the same diameter as QSnap PVC, so with the right combo of clamps, you can attach & remove projects AND be able to scroll them up & down as needed! Okay, the picture looks bad, but that is primarily due to the fact that SVG's fabric is NOT cut to size - it's the full 36" I bought, which makes it too wide to fit on these 36" bars without doubling over the edges, which I have done, making it a bit wonky. And why I couldn't find the 10" band of pewter that I KNEW I had somewhere - found it, still attached to the main fabric, dammit. SO, when I get Tuscany out, which IS cut to size (I think), I'll re-take the pictures, with the side bars on the very ends of the bars....



And that's it for the week. This week, I will continue with SVG, and hopefully get Part 4 done. I will also finish Rainforest, as far as I know at Tuesday night's stitch at the IHOP. Nothing else planned, as of right now :)



In stash news, I saw on FB the other day, Karen at Wasatch was marking the clearance down another 25% - so I was FORCED to grab 2 charts: AAN Bat Banner, which need a fat 1/4 of PTP EEK! in 36ct, and then Papillon Creation's Cottilion, for which I have fabric, courtesy of the Jubilee Girls a few years ago :) I really need to get rid of my computers until I get all of these done...


Happy Stitching this week to everyone!

Boredom + Headache = Photo Fun

This should be self-explanatory...

Now you know why he has the white tip on his tail...





This is why I am late leaving every morning, because Hayseed McGoobercutty here has to play in the long grass, looking for snakes, instead of doing his thing and letting me go do mine...