Lisa's Site

Yes I am still here, life seems to be getting in the way of stitching, have a few updates and thank you's  so here we go......1st I have finally gotten my "The Red Thread" boarder and wording done, I was so not into it towards the end, I think it's because it was the same two colors over and over again, it was getting a little boring but it is now done, so I am taking a little break from it now and starting on the Ink Circles Celtic SAL, I ordered my floss from Carrie's and I picked Tracy's choice, I also have some fabric called African Daisy, which I think looks like old parchment paper, I started on that today, I'm not sure what's going on with it, but I'm not feeling it so much, i'm working on the outline in black, maybe I will feel it more when I add some color.

                                                      Thank YOU's

To the lady's at CSA, I won the floss game, thank you for the floss, love the colors, A mega thank you to Ruth M, ILCS for being my partner in the floss Exchange, Ruth went beyond what was called for and sent me not one or two flosses but 9, yes nine Carrier's Creations floss Garden Green,Electric Blue, Bluebird, cornflower, Bubble Gum, Berry Swirl, Hot Pink and Emerald and Goblin Green, I feel so bad because I only sent her three, oh I feel a RAK coming on I will have to search my stash see what I can come up with.

I also received my first postcard from ILCS from Debbie Jo at ILCS, so thank you Debbie xx

My First Finished Biscornu, I had a hard time with the finish, my edge was not as neat as I hoped it would be, but I found this lovely piping, what I thought went really nice with the colors I had used.  More pictures of the Biscornu in my photos......

Since the last time I blogged about my WIP the Red Thread, I have not touched it but I have been making a Biscornu, I thought I would give it a try and see how it works out, I do have a kit that I bought from the Silver Needle but that is a little more delicate and I wanted to have a go with a basic design before I attempted to make that one, so I have completed one side of the biscornu and I like the outcome, I used Carrie's Creation Hand dyed floss Mardi Gras on Serene Blue 32ct Belfast Linen from Silweaver, I like the outcome.  The pattern from Ink Circles has two different variations of the same pattern so I am stitchingg one on one side and the other pattern on the other side with just two colors, a dark blue and a lighter blue, have not picked those colors out yet but will do in a day or two, I need to work on the Red Thread before my WIP becomes  a UFO.

Biscornu is a French adjective that means "that which has an irregular form, with projections" or "complicated and bizarre."

I had to post this picture of my daughter Camille it was her open day at dance school, this is Camille's 2nd year in Ballet.  Her Routine requires a teddy bear that is why she is holding one.   I was so proud of her she did so well in between goofing off........

Oh Yes another Needle Roll done, I kind of free hand this one, I started off with the pattern called Hearts Entwined by Gail Bussi featured in Just Cross Stitch February 2008, but then I added different stitches from my last Needle Roll and then added the ribbon which I threaded thru the linen after pulling some of the threads out, I really liked that part of the Needle Roll, the only thing I don't like is I wish I had added more stitching at the stop where the heart is sitting, kind of looks empty up there.  And again I added some lavender to make it smell nice. Now I would like to try a Biscornu next, that looks way more complicated then a needle roll, but then I thought these looked complicated until I concured them.

This is what I have done so far, there are 12 boxes I have completed 7 here plus the curling/swirling and the wording below, just another 5 to go and then I can start the little boxes. so just about 1/4 way done.......

I have been spoiled by Jenny H at ILCS she sent me a wonderful selection of gifts I was so overwhelmed by them, I hope she likes what I mailed to her..... This is the stitched piece she did for me, there are some french knots I think which make up the flowers in the basket, I love the colors it's brilliant, to coin a british phrase, I love IT.  Jenny also sent me some other items too, socks ohhhh so soft and sticky notes, as well as some lovely floss which I cannot wait to use and some fabric, Thank you so much Jenny.

Over the past 12 days I have finally completed my exchanges, all my Valentines where mailed out, my St Paddy's Exchange was also mailed out and at last the International Woman's Day exchange, I was having trouble with this one, I did not like how it turned out, then I realized I loved it before I added all the back-stitch work, I think with the pattern being so small all the back-stitch work overpowered it and made it look messy, so I took all the back-stitch off and only outlined the outside and I was more pleased with it, I added some fabric on the back which made it a little chunky so I decided to add some lavender flowers and added a hanger to make it into a smelly hanger thing, not sure what you would call it but a hanging thing sounds good.  Here is a picture of it completed, the person who is receiving this her intitals are JH so I added those for a more personal effect, I also sent some Silk Floss and some other goodies too, I hope she likes it. 

I also completed my first Needle Roll, which I had told myself I would make one this year, and I so loved making it, it took me four days to complete which I thought was amazing, but that's all I did for those days, forget housework I was on a mission.  I have just ordered another one from The Silver Needle, I'm thinking about sending the Needle Roll to my Mum, who's birthday is in March but I don't want to part with it, so I think if I make another one I can give that to my mum instead......

The Read Thread, I have not touched that in the past week, while I was working on the NR, so it's time to get back to that, since my last picture I have added another two squares and some more wording, but I still have a long way to go, but I have been a bad girl, I have already been looking at my next project I already have the pattern - Smell the Flowers by Forever in my heart, but the fabric is very unique and also very pricey, also the floss is silk, so right now I'm just pricing it all up maybe next month I can buy the fabric etc.  That's me for now, hopefully in the next few days I can scan all your blogs and find out whats been going on with you all.

This is a picture of the Needle Roll I have just completed in four days for an ILCS comp.  I loved making it, just wanted to get pictures up, will blog more later, have a ton of other stuff to do now, like housework.

My weekend update, this is what I have got done on my Red Thread project, a lot more then I thought it would do, each square has a different scene inside, which corresponds to the month of the year, snow man for December and January, Fall Leaves for September I think and so on, so I have another 9 squares to go, I thought I would get them done first along with the wording on the bottom, so far, fingers crossed everything has matched up, I did have to do a little frogging the center square was two stitches too wide, so I had to frog one side and a few stitches, I don't know why, but for the longest time ever I thought I would have to undo the whole square, then when I started to look at it I realized that all I had to do was one side and a few stitches, duhhhhhh   not sure how much more I will get done this week, I  have a week full of dental appointments, school and dance as well as a baby shower I am hosting this coming weekend, and babysitting for friends

OK here is my almost complete ILCS Exchange, please tell me if you like to receive this   maybe it's just me, but I feel it's not that good to give as exchange. What do you think!!!

Yesterday (Tuesday 1/29) I almost completed my International Woman's Exchange, but when I almost completed the back stitch work, the thing just fell apart, I know all the stitches are in the right place, it's just when I went to outline the work, flowers etc it just didn't seem to fit, from a distance the piece looks fine, but close up the flowers look horrible, and I don't know what to do, luckily I don't have to have the piece out until the beginning of March, as I believe International woman's day is around the 18th of March, so I'm almost thinking about doing something else, I loved the valentines card that Carrie sent me, the frayed edging, so I'm almost tempted to find just a simpler design of a flower and mark a card up.  My exchange was flawed from the start I think, I did a bookmark, but the design is off centered, meaning there is about 6 squares one side of the design and 5 on the other, so I don't know if that's been bothering me too, so right now i'm like ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I also have a baby's bid I decided I would do for a baby shower I am hosting in two weeks, so now I have another project on top of my exchanges and my own Red Thread which is about to be frogged and started over so yes it's been a ahhhhhhhhhhh  type of week

These are three Mirabilia designs that I purchased today while looking for stitchbow floss holders on ebay, I bought all the floss, patterns and beads and special threads with them too, I hate finding the floss for a pattern, I would rather buy them so saving me time.  Not sure when I will get round to doing them, they will be for my daughters bedroom when done.

Here is my St. Patrick's day Exchange already completed, I have not even been assigned partners yet, but I just wanted to get it done and out of the way, I have one more exchange to complete that's the International Woman's Day and then I'm back onto my projects.  The little tote I made myself as well as the Lavender bag (the flowery bag)  The Lavender smells so wonderful, there is one person on the list who does not like smelly things, so if I happen to be partnered up with them I will have to take that out .Hopefully the person will like it.

I started on my International Woman's Day Exchange with ILCS, and so far I have had to frog it three times, I don't know why something so small is going so wrong,  I have undertaken a small project but it's quite extensive, if that makes sense to anyone but me LOL.  So far I missed a stitch out so my lines did not line up, then I added one to many stitches after frogging the first line and then had to frog that 2nd line, and then I did not notice my floss had doubled it's self with the remain floss on my needle and so I had to frog that too, finally yesterday (Tuesday) I got some work done on the project with did not require it to be frogged Yeah - happy dancing a we bit.

My Bent Creek "The Red Thread" I have not touched that since I last wrote, so I am yet undecided if I want to frog that too, it's been a frogging type of week why stop now LOL. I have been making Valentines cards for two exchanges and now this International Woman's Day Exchange and then I have a St. Patrick's days tote to make, this one I'm not stitching but making so I am hoping after this week to get back to my Red Thread Project, and after these four exchanges I am not signing up for anymore until christmas time, unless a good one comes along, and Kelly at ILCS has promised an upcoming exchange so we will have to see, oh I'm so bad at saying no to exchanges.