Question is... where to start when you've taken some time off from your blog posts? I guess just start in somewhere....
Well, went to Stampin' Up Convention and had an awesome time! This year I drove up to SLC. It is about a 14-hour drive, and only 10% of it is Interstate highways, so it was mostly state highways which slows me down. If it was mostly interstate highways, I could make it in 9 hours. It was awesome having my vehicle there, so we could just hop in it whenever we wanted and drive to Target or Michaels, or out to eat someplace farther than walking distance from the hotel. And it allowed me to bring as much stuff with me as I could stuff into my RAV4, which is a lot. No worrying about my luggage weighing more the 50 lbs this year. My little RAV took quite a beating though, as there are a lot of hills between here and SLC and its little 14 year old 4 cylinder engine wasn't very happy about that. I really hope by next year I have a decent enough job that I feel comfortable taking on a car payment and I can upgrade to something with a 6 cylinder engine. More on the trip later. I have pictures and so much to talk about.
I am officially retired from the Air Force now, my first day as a civilian was 1 Aug. I am now looking for the perfect anti-Obama bumper sticker for my vehicle, since now I am allowed to speak my mind on the matter.
Alex started 1st grade on 12 Aug. He is doing well. Having a few issues with learning proper behavior, and just having a lot of energy, but we are making progress. We took him to the public library today, and he was so excited to check out 4 Fly Guy books.
Stitching has slowed down, but not stopped. Tree Frog is making progress, but still working on the same shade of green as stated in the last update. I've also gotten a couple other project's grid work done.
Well, that's a start... and no more just not posting anything because I feel overwhelmed that I have too much to catch up on. I hope to just pick something to blog about every few days, allowing myself to be as random as I need to be.
My SU up-line posted something on FB recently that I thought was great, it is a little e-poster that says "When people ask me 'How did you get to be so creative?' I tell them it's because I ate paste as a child." 8)
Showing posts with label random babbling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random babbling. Show all posts
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Sunday Status
I finished the small Bloom, here she is:
This is such a nice little take anywhere project. I plan to do this again, with overdyed floss and linen fabric, maybe in a light blue background or a natural light beige color. I might even try doing french knots in the center, or even beads. Ooh, beads... wonder how this would like done completely in beads...hmmm.
Made a bit progress on Tree Frog:
I finished the border, did the orange and red-orange parts of the frog's eyes, and started on the first color of green. With this project, I have been trying out the railroad method of getting the threads to lay down nicely. I am liking how it is looking, it does make a difference, but it does significantly slow down the rate of stitching. We'll see if I can stick to it, or if I decide the slow down isn't worth the result.
I might have had a bit more progress, but I took some time this week to work on a special card. We had the retirement ceremony for my First Sergeant this past week. She helped me out of a really tough spot recently and I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it. I planned on cross-stitching a small flower motif to put on a card. I found out her favorite flower is the tiger lily and her favorite color is green. Tiger lilies don't exactly lend themselves to a simple cross-stitch motif, so I had to change direction. I found a super cool pop-up pattern on-line, and this is what I did with it:
I'm happy it turned out so well.
And since I am on the subject.... I am also retiring from the Air Force. I have only 5 duty days left! Yay!
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| completed small Bloom |
This is such a nice little take anywhere project. I plan to do this again, with overdyed floss and linen fabric, maybe in a light blue background or a natural light beige color. I might even try doing french knots in the center, or even beads. Ooh, beads... wonder how this would like done completely in beads...hmmm.
Made a bit progress on Tree Frog:
I finished the border, did the orange and red-orange parts of the frog's eyes, and started on the first color of green. With this project, I have been trying out the railroad method of getting the threads to lay down nicely. I am liking how it is looking, it does make a difference, but it does significantly slow down the rate of stitching. We'll see if I can stick to it, or if I decide the slow down isn't worth the result.
I might have had a bit more progress, but I took some time this week to work on a special card. We had the retirement ceremony for my First Sergeant this past week. She helped me out of a really tough spot recently and I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it. I planned on cross-stitching a small flower motif to put on a card. I found out her favorite flower is the tiger lily and her favorite color is green. Tiger lilies don't exactly lend themselves to a simple cross-stitch motif, so I had to change direction. I found a super cool pop-up pattern on-line, and this is what I did with it:
And since I am on the subject.... I am also retiring from the Air Force. I have only 5 duty days left! Yay!
Friday, April 19, 2013
How much is too much?
How many projects is it normal to have on your
"projects to start" queue? I
currently have 15 or so. Once I finish
up Max's Moon, I plan on starting on a pattern from Cross-Stitch and Needlework
magazine (C-SN) May2013 called "Sharing my home".
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| "Sharing my home" stock photo |
My "projects to start" list, in a rough semblance of order to start:
- Sharing my home (C-SN May 2013)
- Tree Frog Among Leaves (Dimensions kit)
- Bloom - small (C-SN May 2011)
- Bloom - large (C-SN May 2011)
- Rune Sampler (Dracolair pattern)
- Compass Rose (Dracolair pattern)
- Noel (Herrschners)
- Who Me? (C-SN May 2009)
- Berries (C-SN May 2013)
- Apples (C-SN March 2013)
- Grapes (C-SN March 2013)
- Pears (C-SN May 2013)
- Swan (Mystic Stitch)
- Paladin (Firewing Designs)
- Pussywillows (DMC free pattern)
I'm sure this list will change as things progress
along. In fact, the 2 Dracolair patterns
were added to the mix just yesterday. I
was searching online for the best price for the Lap-Stitch Mini-Mini frame, and
stumbled across the Compass Rose pattern and fell in love with it
instantly. So, I ordered it. Later in the day, I pulled up their website
and showed it to my hubby. He noticed
another pattern on their site called Rune Sampler which he fell in love
with. So, I am ordering that one
too. I am going to try setting up a
smallish rotation set for projects at home.
I'll be limited to what I fit on the frames I have or have ordered
recently. This may also help me pull out
the few UFOs I have in my stash. I still
work full time, and work on my bachelor's degree as life allows and spend time
with my hubby and our son (Alex is currently 6 years old), so I do have to be
realistic on how much I can get done. It
is quite a ways off, but I so look forward to being truly retired and having
oodles of time to stitch. A girl can
dream, right?
The new serger I ordered arrived via UPS today. So, this weekend, I can work on binding the
edges of the fabrics I have gathered for my projects so far. I broke my old serger a couple months
ago. I was making a grime guard for the
Q-snap configuration I had assembled for Max's Moon and the last step was to
serge the edges on the part of the seam allowance that sticks inside. Due to the elastic ends sticking out, it was
just a bit too thick for my serger and one of the thread arms got so out of
alignment that it keeps popping the top cover off. I was so mad at myself. I looked into getting it repaired, but the
closest authorized Babylock dealer and service center is a 2.5 hour drive. So, between the time, gas, and cost of repair
(which is never cheap), I decided it just wasn't doable now, and ordered a new
basic Brother serger. A basic serger
will be fine, since mostly all I do with it is bind edges of cross-stitch
fabric.
Tomorrow we are making a trip to Las Cruces (about 1 hr away) to get some high density foam from Joanns to make some cushy seat cushions for my MIL's kitchen table chairs. We opted to use her chairs and my table. The backs on her chairs are better for my hubby's back, but the seats have no cushion what-so-ever. So we are going to have to make some. With my husband driving, I will have time to work on Max's Moon. Maybe even finish. If that happens, I'll start on installing the ez-count guidelines in the Tree Frog fabric. Never tried doing that in a vehicle before, so that will be an adventure, and with black fabric too.
good night and keep stitching!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Max's Moon progress
Life has finally slowed down a bit, so I am getting back to posting on my blog. I did include the disclaimer in my blog name, hence Realm of Randomness. The random part applies to not only what I post but how often I post. So, now I would like to show you the progress on my current cross-stitch project... this is Max's Moon. I've had this kit for a number of years and finally pulled it out of my stash and started working on it.
Actually, because I've been working on him nearly everyday, I have made quite a bit more progress since this picture was taken. His back half is finished along with the right stump and fern. I am currently working on all the little fuzzy hairs on him. After that, it is just a few backstitch details in the face and paws, and it will be finished! Since this is the first time I've shown him, I will include an image of the full project, as I plan to do every time I introduce a new project. I know when I am blog surfing, I appreciate seeing what the finished project will look like.
Tonight I am prepping the fabric for projects I plan on starting on after this one is done. Cutting the fabric (mostly Aida, but one linen as well), remembering to add 8" to the finished size when cutting (I like 4" margins), and ironing the creases out. I had a eureka moment tonight that I just have to share. A couple months ago I was organizing my cross-stitch fabric stash, including measuring, cataloging, ironing, and storing either flat in a portfolio or rolled in tubes I got from U-line. The ironing wasn't working so well. I spent a few hours researching online for any methods that would work better. There was no real consensus, so I tried a few methods, like wetting the fabric and freezing it before ironing, using the highest steam setting on the iron, and spritzing the fabric with vinegar. All resulted in limited success. So tonight I lamented to my hubby and Mother-in-Law about it when was again struggling with the task of getting creases out of aida and linen. Mind you, they were both present for the multi-day task of fabric organizing I mentioned, so you'd think that if they had any helpful advice it would have come up at that time. Well, not so much. So imagine my surprise when MIL instructs me to use a damp ironing cloth over top the aida, and IT WORKS! It works beautifully!!! I can't tell you just how thrilled I am that I can finally iron aida and linen smooth of all creases so easily!
The other tidbit of happiness today... I got registered for the Stampin' Up Convention coming up in July. Woo-hoo! It is their 25th year, so they're going big this year. Between the main Convention and the pre- and post-convention LNS events, I am going to have soooo much fun!
' Til next time - Happy Stitching (and Stamping)!
 |
| progress on Max's Moon |
Max's Moon stock photo
Tonight I am prepping the fabric for projects I plan on starting on after this one is done. Cutting the fabric (mostly Aida, but one linen as well), remembering to add 8" to the finished size when cutting (I like 4" margins), and ironing the creases out. I had a eureka moment tonight that I just have to share. A couple months ago I was organizing my cross-stitch fabric stash, including measuring, cataloging, ironing, and storing either flat in a portfolio or rolled in tubes I got from U-line. The ironing wasn't working so well. I spent a few hours researching online for any methods that would work better. There was no real consensus, so I tried a few methods, like wetting the fabric and freezing it before ironing, using the highest steam setting on the iron, and spritzing the fabric with vinegar. All resulted in limited success. So tonight I lamented to my hubby and Mother-in-Law about it when was again struggling with the task of getting creases out of aida and linen. Mind you, they were both present for the multi-day task of fabric organizing I mentioned, so you'd think that if they had any helpful advice it would have come up at that time. Well, not so much. So imagine my surprise when MIL instructs me to use a damp ironing cloth over top the aida, and IT WORKS! It works beautifully!!! I can't tell you just how thrilled I am that I can finally iron aida and linen smooth of all creases so easily!
The other tidbit of happiness today... I got registered for the Stampin' Up Convention coming up in July. Woo-hoo! It is their 25th year, so they're going big this year. Between the main Convention and the pre- and post-convention LNS events, I am going to have soooo much fun!
' Til next time - Happy Stitching (and Stamping)!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The Back-Story
I guess it is time for the somewhat obligatory answer to the question of "why a blog, and why now"? Admittedly, 4 months ago starting a blog wasn't even on my radar. I'm not the most social being, and even though I have a facebook account, I've only made one post of my own so far after almost a year.
I am an avid crafter, with my favorite craft being cross-stitch. I'd been on a bit of a hiatus from it while I got involved in card making, rubber stamping, and papercrafts through Stampin Up. Recently I started to feel the need to get back into cross-stitch. I pulled out my stitching supplies, found a couple patterns I wanted to work on, started to figure out what else I needed, etc. I also spent some time online searching for some cross-stitch related information. First thing was that I decided I needed a better storage system for my floss. I'm getting more into patterns that don't come in a kit. That way when I decide on a project, I can easily pull from my stash first, then go buy only the colors I didn't already have. So I spent hours mulling over my options and searching online for ideas on a storage system that would work best for me. I'll post later on what I finally came up with. I also came across a few good random pieces of information, as well as doing a fair amount of digging to find answers to specific questions I had. Some of the information wasn't easy to find, and a good portion of it came from blogs. That is when I started to get the notion that it was time to venture into beginning my own blog. I decided I might have some good ideas I wanted to share. And I don't have any local friends that share my love of crafts, so having an outlet to "talk" about my crafts seemed like a good thing to try.
I am an avid crafter, with my favorite craft being cross-stitch. I'd been on a bit of a hiatus from it while I got involved in card making, rubber stamping, and papercrafts through Stampin Up. Recently I started to feel the need to get back into cross-stitch. I pulled out my stitching supplies, found a couple patterns I wanted to work on, started to figure out what else I needed, etc. I also spent some time online searching for some cross-stitch related information. First thing was that I decided I needed a better storage system for my floss. I'm getting more into patterns that don't come in a kit. That way when I decide on a project, I can easily pull from my stash first, then go buy only the colors I didn't already have. So I spent hours mulling over my options and searching online for ideas on a storage system that would work best for me. I'll post later on what I finally came up with. I also came across a few good random pieces of information, as well as doing a fair amount of digging to find answers to specific questions I had. Some of the information wasn't easy to find, and a good portion of it came from blogs. That is when I started to get the notion that it was time to venture into beginning my own blog. I decided I might have some good ideas I wanted to share. And I don't have any local friends that share my love of crafts, so having an outlet to "talk" about my crafts seemed like a good thing to try.
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