Threads of Desire

Meeting Up

2008-06-30T12:08:00.001-07:00

When you are working on a circular motif, it is always a relief to find that the last stitches that complete the circle exactly meet up next to the first stitches. I finished the last diagonal motif (the one that Chiasmata calls the peacock feathers) and moved on to the last mostly beaded (and therefore mostly empty) motif at the very top. There were two C stitches at the top already stitched, but the two C stitches I put next to them lined up exactly. Moreover the wavy line of ░ matched up perfectly to the purple scroll of the next peacock motif.

You can see how little I have to finish in the top motif, though there is still a lot of gold crosses to complete around the edges, not to mention the 24 Algerian stitches in the peacock motifs.

I did print out the Part Two directions. Part Two is just four pineapple motifs that fit around the north, east, south, and west points. There is not nearly as much stitching as I have done on Part One, but what there are are HUGE Algerian stitches for the pineapples and tons of Jessica stitches for the flowers under the pineapples. The most interesting thing about the next part is the complete color change -- from blues to yellows, oranges, and leaf greens. I'm glad I checked Part Two first. The overlap of part one on Part Two shows gold cross stitches completely around the outside except for the cardinal points. Skipping two gold stitches near the indents was apparently a mistake. I'm glad that I can fill them in as I go rather than have to go back and put each one in individually.

I didn't think I would get so much stitching done when I am also working on the convention, but sometimes (like when another program participant cancels) I just need to walk away and stitch. It also turns out that CalTrans will be blasting I-15 (the ONLY road from Los Angeles to Las Vegas) on Tuesday and Wednesday, requiring a complete shutdown of the road. If their schedule is correct, they will be doing this from 7 am to 9 am about 20 miles from the Nevada border. Even if the truck leaves LA at 8 am, they wouldn't get to that part of the road until noon. And you thought that all we had to worry about was crazy members and stubborn hotel staff! Today is a FULL day -- pick up the program books, print out the Pocket Programs, buy the goodie baskets and the office supplies and maybe start thinking about what we have to pack for the convention. I know I have to bring copies of Kage Baker's books and the Hugo Nominees. Tomorrow is a pre-pre-con hotel meeting and the unpacking of the mail-in art. Wednesday we MOVE IN and won't be back here until Monday morning. I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July.

Bling!

2008-06-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

As soon as I mentioned that I still had some gold metallic to stitch around the edges, I knew I had to stitch it right now. I thought I might leave it until the end, because most of it is easy to stitch without looking at the pattern -- as long as you skip two stitches in the corners and one at the points. But I was feeling like some easy stitching, so out came the gold.

As long as I was stitching gold, I thought I might try and do the backstitching around the four large center squares. Mmmm, I don't think this is going to show up very much when the center jewel is attached, but when this is all finished most the of details will be lost in the overall huge design.

I did finish off about half of the northwest corner and am verging into the top half and even the top motif. The only difficult part now is that I am going to start running out of places to stitch short lengths of thread. As long as I had one more motif to stitch, if I finished stitching silver on the west motif, I could just continue stitching silver on the north motif. I just have about five stitches to do with Pond Scum (that yellow green at the base of the "peacock feather"). I don't know when I will stitch with that color again. The colors in Part Two are almost all completely different. I haven't even expanded and printed out Part Two yet. Maybe I will take a look at it this weekend. I know I won't be working on any Christmas Ornaments. I am still so done with Christmas. It's 105 degrees here in Vegas!

Mostly I am still working on bits and pieces of the convention. We will pick up the program book from the printers on Monday. We have a hotel pre-meeting on Tuesday. Jerome and Elizabeth will be here Tuesday evening to catalog the mail-in art that has been sent to our house. The formal move-in hotel meeting is 3 pm on Wednesday, though the truck from Los Angeles with the art flats should be here Wednesday morning. And everything starts officially at 9 am on Thursday. I might get some stitching done, but I don't know how much time I will have to post. Closing ceremonies are at 4 pm on Sunday and we need to be out of the convention center by 6 pm. We will be staying at the hotel from Wednesday to Monday morning. And the following Wednesday we fly to San Francisco, then Maui on the following Friday. We will need a break by then. Happy weekend, everyone!

80%

2008-06-24T23:19:00.001-07:00

I have been working hard on the convention, but since I got the Program Book to the printers Sunday night (OK, really early Monday morning -- hooray for FTP), I did take some time yesterday to work on Hawaiian Mandala. The western motif is now done and there is a good start on the northwestern motif. Even when the entire pattern looks done, there is still a circle of gold stitches around the black outer line to do, 24 16-stitch Algerian eyelets to stitch in the boxes in the corner motifs and some gold backstitching to do in the four large boxes near the center. It still looks like I might finish most of it before we leave for San Francisco and Maui on July 9. Then on to Part 2. I have a goal to finish 8 parts of 12 this year. Maybe, maybe not.

I also need to decide if I am going to take a small pattern with me during the convention. I usually take something, even if I don't actually have a lot of time to stitch anything. Since Musing Badger will be there, I can ask her what I should work on. Hey, Ruth, any suggestions? Maybe I should bring out some needlepoint for a change.

I would like to thank all the people who pointed me to some great tin toppers, especially Jennifer. I increased my stash by way, way too much by getting some terrific patterns by Samplers and Such. Once I started I just couldn't stop. At least they are small, right? I could do a couple pretty quickly?

Then since I finished Warm Water Wash in Maui, I will need another largish project for the two weeks we will be there. Though James wants me to make a set of curtains from the fabric we bought in San Francisco last month. After our busy last three months, it is really good to start to look forward to some down time with just projects for us.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

2008-06-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today’s SBQ is:

Do you currently subscribe to any stitching publications or have you in the past? (Either in print or online) If so, which ones?

Well, no. The only sewing magazines I have a subscription to are Threads and Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. They are more eye candy than actual project inspirations. But I certainly have a lot of cross stitch magazines for all that. I got started collecting Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments in 2002. I spent a lot of time on Ebay getting all the back issues, some back to the '80s, though then they were just Christmas issues and not specifically ornaments. I also picked up a lot of other Just Cross Stitch copies and The Cross Stitcher, but I can't say I have stitched anything but an ornament from them. Everyone should have the June, 1999, copy of The Cross Stitcher with the Angel of Cross Stitching by Joan Elliott, incorporating all 391 DMC colors in it. It's beautiful to see, even if probably a nightmare to stitch. I am also fond of some of the English cross stitch magazines, but only buy them from newstands. My latest was CrossStitcher, April, 2008, which I bought because it had some Margaret Sherry kittens, a colorful girl on a swing, and a measuring device for gauging fabric. I've been running into mislabeled count on fabric from time to time and wanted a gauge to double check before I start stitching. I have also bought a number of French cross stitch magazines when I was in Paris. I try to limit my purchases though. If I have so many patterns that I will never have enough time to stitch, buying a dozen more seems like insanity.

The programming and designing the program book ran into a huge problem. On Wednesday I had a bout of e. coli (or salmonella?). I was desparately trying to solider through, but was spending more time in the bathroom and in bed than in front of the computer. Have you ever worked on problem even though you know you are too sick to accomplish much? I kept trying to tell myself it wasn't too bad, but after three days of eating virtually nothing, I really had to give up and just sleep. I felt well enough today to have some Chinese for lunch, so I guess I am recovered. Now I need to finish all this off before Monday morning, so I can get this into the printers. It was due last Wednesday, but they had some slack and we had some slack, so everything should be fine even though I am late. Strangely enough I did get some stitching done last night on Mandala. I'll take another picture and post my progress on Monday, AFTER I turn the Program Book into the printers. I hope everyone else is having a good weekend.

Mandala Returns

2008-06-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

After the party was over, I got to bring out my stitching again and decided to try and finish off Part I of Hawaiian Mandala. So I finished another 5% of the design last night and now have about 70% completed. I've never had to frog any part of this design, but I have certainly had problems with knots. I've ended up cutting out some knots this morning after futiley trying to untangle them.

The party on Sunday went very well. Not only did we get to spend time with our friends, but people actually used the pool. Yes, it was hot, but there is shade over part of the pool and the pool water is not very warm yet. We also got a lot of convention business done. But there is still a lot left to do. I need to finish off all the programming today and have most of the Program Book done. The program book needs to go to the printers tomorrow. I hope everyone else had a pleasant, maybe even a productive, weekend.

Tin Toppers Anyone?

2008-06-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Being very fond of Altoids, I have collected a lot of empty tins. I think it is about time to stitch some designs for these empty tins, but I have a small problem. I don't have any patterns that are actually designed for these small tins. I could start going those my magazines, but most of them are for Christmas ornaments. I'm holding off stitching Christmas patterns until the weather cools down under 100 degrees. I might find a few patterns that I can cut down from larger patterns, but some of those are square or more vertical than horizontal. Can any kind stitcher point me to some patterns (free or not) that would work on this size object? Thank you in advance.

And stealing a meme from Kendra:

Where were you 10 years ago? June 1998? 1998 was a whirlwind year! Late in 1997 we bought a house in Burlingame, California. It was elderly (built in 1927) and hadn't seen much upkeep for the last 20 years. It needed a new roof, completely new electrical wiring, refinished floors, and a totally new kitchen. By June we were approaching the end of most of the rough work, but there were still finishing details that needed to be done before we moved into it. So while we were finishing the "new" house, we were also working on repairing the "old" house in Moss Beach to put it on the market.

We had spent the last two years working on a Westercon bid for Honolulu in 2000. The voting would be in San Diego, CA, over the Fourth of July weekend, 1998, so we were preparing for the last parties before voting. I was also a Division Head for the upcoming Worldcon, BucConeer in Baltimore, Maryland, 5 August - 9 August, 1998. There were dozens of details to cover via email and phone before that started. And even while all this was going on, my husband was in school in San Francisco working on his MFA. We were also part of the bid committee for a 2002 Worldcon in San Francisco.

Five things on your to do list for today -

Go to Costco and pick up some chairs, since the old chairs we bought new slings for are so corroded that the person who tried to install the new slings on Thursday couldn't do it.
Do food shopping for the party tomorrow.
Order and pickup an ice cream pie from Baskin Robbins.
Arrange the patio furniture for the party and get out the pool plates and glasses.
Try to get some of the books and boxes in the back hall put away so we don't look like we just moved in.

Snack foods I like - Popcorn (sometimes for dinner). Chips. Blood orange sorbet.

If I were a billionaire - We really have everything we need and so does our immediate family. We already have too many houses. So...probably buy/lease a private jet. I love to fly in small planes. I'd love to even ride in one, but can't justify the incredible expense. Increase the awards from our private art foundation (it's less expensive than one trip in a private jet). Fund the new building for the Peninsula Art Museum.

Places I’ve lived - Born in Oak Park, IL, lived in Arlington Heights, IL, Brookfield, WI (multiple times), Lombard, IL, Westport, CT, Johnstown, PA (multiple houses), Western Springs, IL, Norwalk, CT, Marion, OH, St. Croix, VI, Evanston, IL (multiple places), Barrington, IL, Boston, MA, Lexington, KY, Eugene, OR, Auckland, NZ, Cupertino, CA, Half Moon Bay, CA, Moss Beach, CA, Burlingame, CA, San Francisco, CA, Lahaina, HI (two houses), Honolulu, HI, and Henderson, NV. I think I have left out a few places, probably in Illinois.

No Stitching Here

2008-06-12T12:42:00.001-07:00

Instead I offer you pictures usually seen on a Technology Blog, Unboxing. What is Unboxing? Well, when a gadget geek (like me) gets a new gadget (like this one) they post the pictures of opening the incredibly well designed series of protective boxes to show the incredibly cool gadget inside. I think it started because some people did not believe that someone actually had their hands on such wonderful gear. Now it is simply a staple of technology blogs along with unprovable rumors about new gadgets and wish lists of what new gadget one really, really wants.

So exactly are you looking at? You are looking at a video camera. Yes, this is a solid state, flash drive video camera with USB connector. No tapes, no disks, no long user manuals. Yes, you will look like James Bond using this thing.

Here is the lens. Simple, unobtrusive, ready to fit in your pocket. It is about the size of a Reese Peanut Butter Cup package or a narrow and long deck of cards.

It comes with an ultrasuede pouch, a wrist lanyard, a composite cable (to hook up directly to your television set), and a tiny, tiny user guide, showing you what buttons to push to to take video. That's all. Five minutes after taking it out of the box, I went into the backyard and shot this video. You will have to click on the link to see it. I could have embedded the video in this post, but I wasn't sure how bad that would be for anyone trying to read this via dial up. It's already a pretty chunky post with all these pictures.

I used the included cable to hook it up to our 60" television. It's great quality video! Then I went over to the computer and flipped open the USB plug hiding in the top and plugged it in. Video on your desktop! When I moved it to Flickr, they do compress the signal quite a bit, so the video you see is not as good as the raw video (AVI) that you can see on your television or your computer. And it is regular digital video. You can edit it, add music, or splice several clips together. The device holds 60 minutes of video and both unloads and recharges from the USB port. Flip also makes a slightly larger unit that uses AA batteries. I know there are a lot of parents out there that are carrying this everywhere to get video of their kids without bringing a camera as big as a diaperbag. I hope to use it during the convention and again on our European cruise in October.

OK, I Give Up

2008-06-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

I do like stitching this design because I like the colors, the fabric and I know it will be beautiful when I finish. But I am still frustrated by all the errors in the pattern. I haven't stitched the left chimney because the model shows a line of p -- medium gray, stitched as a shadow along the edge of the roof and the pattern shows no such shadow, but just pure white for all the chimney until you get below the roof. Since there is a shadow on the chimney below the roof, but not above it I think it will look odd.

The other pattern flaw comes at the base of the tall tree. There is much more trunk against the chimney on the model than there is on the pattern. It even looks like a slightly different brown thread for the part that is missing. So you have to decide where to stitch the trunk and what to stitch it with. And speaking of the thread on the trunk, there are two small patches on the roof of that same thread. They seem to be much darker than the same patches on the model. But I think I will leave them, as the roof is certainly pretty mottled. What is still driving me crazy are the diamonds (Garnet) that are charted for the chimney pots and lots of places on the roof. I have definitely substituted for the garnet on the roof as I know that would stand out ridiculously.

So I just stitched a large part of the sky. It is easy and noncontroversial. However, I think I will move back to Hawaiian Mandala when I start stitching again. That may not be until next week. James is in San Francisco for the next few days and I have a ton of work for the convention to do while he is gone. We are also holding a pool party for the convention staff at our house on Sunday, so there is a bunch of planning for that to get done. I'll be back later.

It's A Tree!

2008-06-08T14:08:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's a tree and part of a roof and some hills and some sky and not much of a chimney. Whenever I get a minute, I am sitting in my stitching chair and working away at this design. Now that I have picked out some alternative threads for the chimney pots and stitched a large amount of the small z blended threads, the rest of the design is going quite swimmingly. Like all Michael Powell designs this is going to look pretty "blobby" until I start adding the backstitching at the end. Those little bits of salmon to the left of the tree will be houses seen in the distance. The bits of yellow green on the left are bits of another tree in the foreground. The house itself is a timbered Tutor. Since it uses quite different threads than the trees and roof, I am thinking about abandoning page one altogether and moving to the right to finish the rest of the sky, hills, and roofs. But I am also feeling guilty about ignoring Hawaiian Mandala. Maybe I will even take it to Hawaii in July, so I can finish up part one.

But not much will get stitched today. I am sure that normal people actually have weekends, where they kick back and do something fun, but since we spend a lot of our time working on conventions (which always occur on weekends), our busiest times are weekends. Today is space allocation and supply list day.

PIF Goodies from Ruth!

2008-06-06T12:14:00.001-07:00

I am sure that poor Ruth was convinced that her lovely package had been eaten by USPS. But no, it arrived safe and sound two days ago. It's just that it arrived during a monstrous effort to be ready for the hotel meeting yesterday and the marathon hotel meeting itself. Today was the first day that I could get the camera out and take a picture of what she sent me as a Pay It Forward.

And what I got was lovely and tremendously useful. First is her handstitched ornament with in a gorgeous blue, but notice those eyecatching beads at the edges. I want to hang it somewhere where it will catch the light. Then three skeins of Vickie Clayton silk, all of which are calling out for a project immediately. I hope they will wait for me. And also a gorgeous skein of Silk 'n Colors Stormy Skies. I need some crisp white linen to show that thread off to its best advantage. Then also some lovely Soy Luster. Ruth says it is best for needlepoint, but having used Rainbow Gallery Designer's Dream for cross stitch, I bet I could use this for cross stitch, too.

The fabric this is sitting on is some Sunbrella cloth I got in San Francisco. I want to make two patio chair cushions. Right now they are naked wrought iron. I keep telling myself that I could make them up next week if I get all my convention projects done. But that is probably wishful thinking.

But a Pay It Forward package means just that. I need to Pay Ruth's kindness forward to five other stitchers. Anyone who leave a comment on this entry will be randomly drawn for a PIF gift from me. I will draw names on Tuesday, June 10 after I take James to the airport. Yes, he is making a very quick trip to San Francisco, but will be back in time for the Pool Party on July 15.

When Charts Go Wrong

2008-06-04T14:19:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I am having fun with this pattern. The colors are lovely and the pattern is fairly easy to follow. I have not followed the edge of the page, though. Jeanne mentioned that having a hard edge of stitching can be noticed in the final project. I can already see a difference in the right hand sky where I started stitching again. Although if I did not love the design so much, this would definitely be a UFO. Why?

Well, first the pattern does not match the model. The three colors (seen here rolled) used in the rooftop are shown in the model as the same colors on the chimney pots. But the pattern (shown in yellow diamonds) says to use Garnet (the unrolled darker red). Although I have seen chimney pots this color, this dark red is used later on in the garden. If I did use Garnet here I think it would call too much attention to the chimney pots instead of matching the roof. I am going to follow the colors in the model, but I don't know which shade of copper to use yet. This is a minor matter, since I am pretty used to making color changes in patterns.

But the part of the pattern that IS driving me crazy is the use of Z and z for different colors in adjacent areas. Yes, the orange outlining I did on this picture of the pattern is for Z, the middle copper color in the previous picture. | is used for the darkest copper color. The symbol z is supposed to be a blend of the middle and lightest copper colors. If you look really, really carefully, you will see that I used Z for all of the top edge of the roof. I was stitching late at night and at first didn't notice that these were two different colors. The lower random bits stitched are actually z. I am not going to rip out the right side of the top row for only a slight color change. Doesn't anyone double check patterns for craziness like this?

A Fast Start

2008-06-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Now that I have finished Summer Ewe, I thought I could add another start to my semi-rotation. Sure, I could have stitched Hawaiian Mandala or Rouge, but I am getting a bit bored with both of them. Usually I would pick out something small to stitch while traveling, but we are not flying again until July 9, so I could start something a bit larger.

In order to try to stick to my 2008 Stitching Goals, I looked at what I have left on the list. Sewing projects? Nope, no time right now to set up the sewing machine. I have to grab minutes here and there. Bothy's Cut Thru Rocket? Nope, that is a a BAP. I am not going to even start it until July or later. An exchange or RR piece? Nope, I did not plan to join a group until after July. Finish the plastic canvas Christmas ornaments? NO! Is anyone else out there just a little tired of stitching Christmas things? Which leaves stitching another Michael Powell piece. If I wasn't so DONE with Christmas right now, I would have started Mini Christmas Window II. I did love Mini Christmas Window I, but no Christmas for a while. I have some of his Venetian kits and some of his cottage kits.

So this is the start of Cottage Garden I. I think you can tell that I am absolutely in love with this piece, because I am flying through stitching it. There are four pages to this piece. Instead of starting in the middle as instructed, I thought I might try to stitch each page in order. I carefully measured out to the top left hand edge and put a dark thread there to mark the place to start. I am so impressed with everyone who has these perfectly square panels stitched one at a time. But I can tell I will never be able to keep to such straight borders. I know when I finish all the blue sky on this page, if I have sky thread still in the needle, I will slip over to the next page and take a few stitches there until the sky thread is gone. It's going to take immense will power not to work on this all the time until it is done.

But I have been working on the convention also. I have most of the participants entered in the database. Next comes the fun part. Coming up with topics for them to talk about. We have a hotel meeting on Thursday afternoon to nail down the last bits of operational questions. Dates on the calendar are closer than they appear.

Summer Ewe Finished?

2008-05-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a difficult day. Although I am not the chairman of the upcoming convention, my husband is. And although we have both run many parts of conventions, no other fans in Las Vegas has. There are so many things to do and not many people here who know how to do them. But because my husband is a good writer and I know InDesign thoroughly, we designed and mailed an eight page progress report yesterday. After all the copying and stapling and stamping and labeling there was only one thing that I wanted to do. STITCH!

When I sat down and started, I think my blood pressure dropped 10 points. I knew that just a couple of hours would get this sheep finished. He now has legs and all his stripes and three flags. The flags spell out S E A. The only thing I am not sure of is the missing stitch in the bottom left curve. There is no stitch there on the pattern, but it looks like it should be there. I am also not totally positive about the light grey parts of the flags. The fabric on the model is much more tan and the grey flags stood out. The fabric in the kit is pretty grey itself, so the flags don't have as much contrast. I could restitch with B5200 and really make the flags fly. But would that change the muted nature of the piece too much?

Well, off to the next convention duty. The PR team will be here for lunch and I need to shower and get dressed. I hope everyone else is having a restful weekend.

SBQ

2008-05-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Jan and is:

Do you ever get to a point working on a project that you’ve had for so long, you start to wonder what possessed you to start it in the first place?

Well, actually, NO. I think I can remember exactly why I bought every piece I have. Some of them had motifs I liked (sheep, cats, Halloween) or colors I liked or were bought because I was traveling and wanted to remember this place (France, England). I wish I didn't have any UFOs and have been working to reduce them. Now I have had patterns that I later changed my mind about stitching (too big, too simple, not my style) and those I have given away or put in the back of the To Be Stitched pile, but nothing that I started stitching and later regretted.

So why do I have UFOs at all? Ah, the temptation of the NEW! I have three active projects (Summer Ewe, Hawaiian Mandala, and Rouge) and a dozen Works in Very Slow Progress (not UFOs), but what did I do yesterday? I spent an hour matching Vickie Clayton silk colors to the DMCs and GAST colors recommended for Long Dog Samplers Beautie Spotte. Now I KNOW I can't begin this until possibly next year. I still have a dozen items on my 2008 goals list and a few BAPs (Bothey's Cut-Through Rocket, Cricket Collection Three Gables) kitted up that have been patiently waiting for me. I have no reason to be so attracted to the newest pattern I just got, but that is the way it goes. I am glad I made a 2008 Goals list or I would now have a dozen WiPs just daring me to finish them. I like all my projects, I just want more time to stitch.

SBBC!!!

2008-05-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

It must be true that the world is saving the best for last. When we got home last night there was a box for me. "What is that?", said my husband. And I just said, "Stitching Bloggers' Birthday Club!" I know that most of you would be ripping into all the goodies as soon as possible, but I just opened the box and savored all the colorful packages first. It was sent by Margie, who included a beautiful card from Mary Englebreit. Now I am not a much of a lover of country motifs, but there is something about the bright colors and cheerful sayings of Mary Englebreit that I have always loved. The entire package just kept getting better and better. These are all things that I didn't even know I wanted until Margie sent them to me. She MUST have read my mind (not to mention my blog).

First up are some beautiful green tea light candles called "Island Palms". Wow! They even smell great. There was a package of Altoids (boy, do I go through these, especially when flying). Some Petite Tapestry John James needles, some gorgeous 32 count Castle View Silkweaver fabric, and some amazing shell scalloped buttons. But wait! There's more! She sent me Long Dog Samplers Beautie Spotte, which I have been lusting over, even if I don't have an actual wish list. When I opened the Vickie Clayton silks, I simply gasped. How could there be any more beautiful threads in the entire world? Did you see that variegated lavendar at the top called "Acts of Violets". I have been going through the Vickie Clayton colors, but so far have been concentrating on the oranges to one day restitch Trio of Small Pumpkins. I never knew there could be blues so beautiful as the ones she sent me. And as the piece de resistance, she stitched and finished a WONDERFUL pin cushion. You simply have to imagine the outstanding variegated threads this is sewn with. This is entire package is so beautiful and so . . . ME, that I hardly think that Thank You covers how perfect this gift is. I only hope I can be half as good when I send my SBBC package in September. I have a lot to live up to!

Oh So Close

2008-05-28T08:52:00.001-07:00

After we got done packing up most of the photos from the foundation exhibit yesterday afternoon, I got a bit of concentrated time to stitch. I was really hoping that I would be able to finish this last night, but I needed to try to get some sleep so that we could go back this morning and ship everything back to the artists. Still I might finish this today. I just have two stripes, three flag panels and four feet to stitch. This would be the fourth sheep in this series from Bent Creek that I will have stitched. There are probably a half dozen more in the series, but I only have two more of the kits.

Interestingly enough, I stitched most of this listening to the Oakland As beat the Toronto Blue Jays (3 - 1). I used to do all my stitching listening to baseball games. I even listened to the radio at the park when we had season tickets to the As, but I never brought any stitching to the park -- too cramped and windy. When we moved to Nevada and gave up our great seats behind home plate I tried to listen to baseball games through XM radio, but it was not the same. Although they broadcast all the games, the away games announcers are from the home team. Part of the joy of baseball is knowing the announcers and listening to their familiar voices and jokes. It's not the same listening to announcers from the other team. It was also sad that our favorite announcer, Bill King, died shortly after we moved. So it was good to listen to a game and stitch.

Although the convention went well for us, there was much drama behind the scenes. I am pretty much beyond the point of enjoying talking people down from trees, so I have resigned from their board of directors. One less set of meetings that I have to keep track of. I really live too far away from the San Francisco Bay Area to keep up with events here.

I am off to the museum to pack and label the last of the boxes, then back to the loft to pack, and flying back to Nevada (until July) this evening. It will be good to be home again, though I did enjoy buying some amazing apricots (three varieties) from the Farmers Market yesterday morning. I hope everyone's week is going well.

A Sheep Returns

2008-05-25T22:26:00.001-07:00

Although I haven't had a lot of time to stitch, I did manage to almost finish another section of brown sheep. I'm working on this instead of a Christmas ornament, even though this is the Christmas Ornament SAL weekend because this stitching is fully kitted up and easy to work on in the dim light of most hotel function spaces.

Baycon is going well. My interview of Tim Powers was videotaped. If I am not too embarrassed by it I might put it up somewhere accessible when the editors get done editing it. We also held our last room party EVER. We have been doing room parties for bids and upcoming conventions for decades and it is always my least favorite part of running cons. Now all we have to do is about three months worth of work in the next six weeks and then my husband's Westercon will also be over. It is very good to be here, even if it is during my birthday. I'm pretty much beyond expecting a large party and cake, so I could enjoy having a couple of hours of conversation with Scott and Jane, our friends from Lexington, Kentucky. They travel even more than we do, so they understand the joys and hassles of always being away from home. I just have to pack up the hotel room tomorrow morning and auctioneer the Art Auction tomorrow afternoon, and then we will head back to San Francisco and work on the last mailing for Westercon and a number of email issues. We also have to pick up some art work from two galleries. We will be back in Nevada on Wednesday evening. June will be packed full of projects, most of them not stitching, but I will stitch when I can.

Strawberry Jam

2008-05-19T19:07:00.001-07:00

Well, I made my modest Stitch-A-Thon goal of finishing this motif. It may not look like much stitching, but there is a huge amount of backstitching. Not only on the jar, but tons and tons of backstitching on the green ribbon and around the cloth top. I did take a few stitches on the next motif, a heart. But I think that is all I will do until I come back from San Francisco. Tomorrow I will need to kit up the stitching I will be taking with me.

Tomorrow we also need to pack and get the cats ready for the catsitter. Generally packing is not much of a chore for us as we have clothes and toiletries in San Francisco already. But this time we need to take extra things for the hotel and convention. Plus we are running a room party for Westercon on Saturday night, so there are all kinds of party supplies that we will need. (Probably not the stand up Elvis.) Maybe this is the last hotel party we will have to run EVER! Hooray. I like parties in general, but running a party in a hotel is just a little bit wearing after the hundredth time. We have been running hotel room parties for this Westercon since 2004. We are toast. And there are dozens and dozens of things we need to do when we get to San Francisco, besides the convention. No rest for us until the middle of July.

A Bit More Rouge

2008-05-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

After a few days of Hawaiian Mandala, it was time to move from blues to reds. This next section of Rouge is not so much of a picnic piece. When I finish the backstitching it will say Fraise, French for Strawberry, as in jam. I want to work on this section until it is done, then move on to the next section, a plaid heart. I don't know if I will get back to Hawaiian Mandala before we leave for the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday morning.

Things are moving on the convention here in July; moving slowly, but moving. But the convention we are going to in Santa Clara is having major problems. Although the convention has been running for decades, we are in a new hotel this year. I am not a department or division head, but I am on the board of directors. So I am spending many hours on the phone with different people trying to talk them out of trees. They don't call some people Drama Llamas for no reason! I will try to stitch this weekend, but I don't know if I will actually put in enough hours to call it a Stitch-A-Thon.

Q & A

2008-05-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to add to this week's SBQ, so I thought I would answer these questions instead.

Why did you start your blog?

I've been stitching for many years, but on a very haphazard basis. I could say I had lots of UFOs, even though I thought of them as very slow WiPS, and not many finishes. I started listening to podcasts and thought about starting one of my own, but when it comes right down to it, stitching is a visual hobby. I thought that a blog with lots of pictures was the perfect way to both encourage me to stitch on a more regular basis and to share what I was stitching with others. It has worked like a charm.

How did you come up with your blog name?

I knew I wanted to finish some cross stitch, but I also do needlepoint and sew. I wanted a name that would encompass everything that you could do with fabric and thread. I also wanted to celebrate my passion, so using the word "desire" points up both the activity of stitching and the passion to expand my stash. I am a sucker for beautiful patterns and beautiful fabric.

Do your friends and family know about your blog and if so, what do they think of it?

Neither my family nor my in-laws are very computer literate. My mother is a extremely talented needlepoint stitcher and designer, but is suffering from macular degeneration which makes seeing anything on the computer screen difficult. My mother-in-law is also a talented needlepointer, but refuses to own a computer. Most of my friends do not stitch, but I do have one friend in Florida who reads (and comments) on my posts anyway.

How do you write posts?

I usually wait until I have some visible progress on a project to show, then post my progress, and possibly a little more about the other things that are going on in my life. This is a life blog, so I might make a post about my new iPhone (still love it) or other things that I am passionate about. Overall, I do try to focus on stitching. I use Facebook for general life status and LibraryThing for book reviews.

Have you ever had a troll or had someone leave unkind comments?

Trolls, no, spam, YES. I use Google Reader to subscribe to 68 stitching and sewing blogs. I also subscribe to comments on my own blog. About a month ago I noticed an odd comment, basically just a link to a website that seemed to be pushing antivirus software, but seemed more like a virus itself. I deleted the comment immediately and reported the blog to Blogger. I got a few more spam/phishing comments, but they seem to have gone away recently.

Do you check your stats?

I used to use BlogFlux mapstats to check where people were coming from and what keywords they were using to find pages in my blog. Now I use Google Analytics, which has a much more interesting set of stats and better maps. When I set up Trade for a Sheep to pass on some of my unused patterns and kits, I wanted to know if people who were reading Threads of Desire were clicking over to the new blog. I am still fascinated with what keywords, rightly or wrongly, point to my blog, but I probably don't check my stats more than once a month.

Do you care how many people read your blog?

Not particularly, but I guess I do get a bit discouraged if my readers seem to have decreased. I am never going to be hugely popular like a political or technology blog. I just remind myself that this is mostly for my own encouragement.

What kind of blogs/posts interest you?

I have sections in Google Reader on Technology, especially Apple; Stitching; a few Political Blogs; and some writing blogs. The only blogs I read on a daily basis are the Stitching blogs. I am interested in blogs that have a "voice", a point of view. I read some sewing blogs by people with interesting lives (though they might not think so). I also read an Australian blog on crazy quilting/creativity, even though I don't crazy quilt myself. I love progress pictures, even just a few stitches. We have all been there, just those first dozen stitches that point to a new start. I like to know what is going on in peoples' lives, though I don't have children and don't have much to contribute on posts about them.

What do you like and dislike about blogging?

Sometimes my husband thinks I spend too much time blogging or too much time trying to finish a section of stitching so that I can blog about it. I just like the pace of reading blogs first thing in the morning, doing some stitching, and catching up on more blogging in the evening. I don't like the pressure of blogging every day, but I don't think a week will go by without a couple of posts from me.

A Bit More

2008-05-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the last post. Actually this is not stitched over one. It is 2 over 2 (silks) and 1 over 2 (metallics) on 32 count hand dyed (Silkweavers) Jazlyn. Jazlyn is a very heavy fabric, so the individual threads are not that visible except close up. I wanted a heavy fabric since this is a large piece (21" x 21" when finished) with a lot of jewels and beads (most of the unstitched parts in the center of the cross stitch). I did manage to get into a more normal sleeping pattern. I even woke up before my alarm clock Sunday morning! But last night I again had a lot of trouble sleeping, so who knows what my sleeping schedule will be like the rest of the week.

When I came back to this after not stitching for a few days, I seemed to breeze right through. Although I still have a LOT to organize, I needed some stitching time, so I spent about four hours stitching last night. I even started the last corner motif with some green thread left over from finishing the green in the southwest corner. The next color that needs some attention is black for the border and some interior boxes. But I think I will put this down for a while and stitch something else.

We did get some things done in the last week. On Saturday DirecTv was out and put up a new five band satellite dish. This gave us a bunch more HD channels, but also a new non-TiVo receiver. The receiver has already had some glitches, so I don't know how long we will have television. I'd rather have no television at all than Cox Cable. We also had a meeting at our house with the publicity people for the convention that is barreling towards us. I fed them a lovely spring supper of Baby Greens with Shrimp and SuperSweet tomatoes; Veal Marsala, Flavored Basmati Rice, Fresh Asparagus with Lemon; and Homemade Short Biscuits with Fresh Strawberries. These were some of the best strawberries I have had in years. Some of them were overripe, but it was worth losing a few and get strawberries that were red (and flavorful) inside and not just white and cardboardy. Organizing again today, but maybe a bit more stitching tomorrow.

65%

2008-05-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

I guess I was mistaken. I thought I would be spending more time on organizing and less on stitching. I have been working on some projects, but I also have been staying up later and later. I find myself stitching from 1 am until 4 am or 5 am. I have always been a night owl, but now I seem to be sleeping late into the day. This has let me finish more of Hawaiian Mandala, but I can tell that I will have to switch over to Rouge soon. Even though I love the color, there is only so much blue even I can stitch before I need some red or green in my life. At least with over 50% of Part One stitched, I can see the end of this part and look forward to Part Two. It has a lot less to stitch. Mainly some golden pineapples and red flowers at the four compass points. Back to organizing again.

Christmas Joy Finished

2008-05-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is Christmas Joy by Angel Stitchin from the JCS Ornament 2006 issue. I made a lot of changes. The linen is a darker 28 count linen, because I wanted the snowflakes to stand out better than they did on lambswool. For the white, the recommended thread was WDW Snowflake (4125, not 2220 as printed). I used DMC B5200 for the single stitches and Rainbow Gallery Tiara T117 for the large snowflakes to give them some more sparkle. The letters are GAST Black Crow, instead of WDW Mascara (3910, not 1279). because I have some on hand that I am trying to use up. The red is WDW Turkish Red (2266) which I had on hand rather than GAST Cherry Wine (0330). The tree trunk is just DMC 435 rather than Crescent Colours Roasted Chestnut. No need for a variegated thread for just a few stitches. The green border is actually the recommended GAST Pine (120) which I had on hand. And the tree is the recommended Crescent Colors Jolly Holly which I had to order. I should have used DMC 435 instead. The pattern is still cute, but there is too much monotonous stitching with the same colors. I think I am about done with Christmas until November. However, I should stitch one more ornament for May since I am a featured stitcher on Christmas Ornament Stitch-Along. I think I can find a good pattern with candles or candy canes. I love candy canes.

I might not get in any more stitching this week. I have a hundred projects that I have been avoiding for the past month and now they are all looming over me at once. A huge project is catching up on email, especially email on Westercon programming. I also have several packages of snail mail which need to be posted post haste. Then there is the jungle of the sewing room to tame, an interview with Tim Powers to prepare for, the DirecTv unit to replace, laundry to be done, and a myriad of messes small and large to be put to rights. Not to mention that starting tomorrow it is my week to cook. I think much take out is on the horizon. Here's hoping that your projects go smoothly and quickly. Have a good week!

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

2008-05-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Jennifer and is:

Do you have any pieces that you would liked passed on to future generations as family heirlooms?

Mmmm, I suppose once I finish Hawaiian Mandala, I would hope that someone would keep it and love it as much as I do, but I also know that that might not happen. Actually I am glad to see my projects used. Maybe it is just when I am there, but my nephew's wife does use my stitched bibs and baby quilt. As for the ornaments and such, well, we don't have children to pass them on to. Our closest (young) relatives are my sister-in-law's children, my nephew and unmarried niece. Both of my parents are only children, so there are no cousins on my side. My sister was married, but only has Borzoi, not children. Maybe I could sew up a dog chew toy. :-)

I got most of the red star on Joy stitched up while waiting for a tuneup and oil change on the car. We are driving to Los Angeles tomorrow for a meeting Saturday morning. It's about a four hour drive. I suppose we could do it in one day, but it makes for a very long day. Generally we either leave very early Saturday morning and spend Saturday night or stay Friday night. We are going to try to leave somewhat early and visit a few art galleries tomorrow, go to the meeting on Saturday, and drive home Saturday evening. I should have a finish to show you on Sunday. I hope everyone has a great weekend, especially since the weather is getting nicer for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

Tree!

2008-04-29T17:48:00.001-07:00

I finished the tree (and all the tangly Crescent Colours thread). There is just the red star on top, the green band, the red border, and a bunch of over eight stars to finish. I need to pick a more complex design next time. Just filling in swaths of the same color is pretty boring.

Maybe I could have stitched a bit more yesterday if I had not spent six hours on the phone with DirecTv. We have been having satellite reception problems since we got back from Hawaii. Yesterday there was no reception at all, so we called -- a half a dozen times. They sent some sort of code to our receiver and viola! channels again. Oops, only half the channels we should have. OK, more codes sent and now we have all the channels we should have. Except this is a DVR (digital video recorder, like a VCR) and it would not record at all. Another call. When I unplugged the unit to restart it, no channels again. Despite unplugging and replugging the Satellite In cable, and changing the output on the dish at the multiswitch; nothing. All the while they are suggesting that we upgrade to their newer receiver (which is the focus of lots of anger about buggy software on DirecTv forums). But we were left with no choice. I've ordered a new receiver/DVR but not from DirecTv. I will have to have DirecTv come out and replace our satellite dish. Luckily the only television that we watch on a regular basis is Lost, and we can see it on abc.com. If this doesn't work, our only alternatives are Cox Cable or the internet. I wonder if the networks understand that they are losing customers because for a lot of people television technology is too expensive and too complex. People just want to plug their television into a power plug and turn it on. My husband often wonders how people less technology knowledgeable than us manage at all in this complex technology universe.