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Okay, twenty lashes with wet floss! I forgot the freebies at the end of yesterday's post. Please forgive me. I'd just woken from my "nap" when I wrote it. That tryptophan-laced turkey can really do a number on you! I was asleep from 10:30pm to 1:30am.
So here are the freebies for today:
Leasa's site has a little bit of everything so have fun browsing her many pages. If you scroll down to the bottom you'll find links to free charts on the left.
http://www.datafurnace.net.au/crossstitchbyza/index.html
Cross Stitch Pro has free designs as well as several no-sew finishing tutorials. There are many other pages to look through, but this is a site that should be bookmarked for future reference.
http://crossstitchpro.com/free.htm
Another site I find myself going to again and again is Cameo Roze's Stitcher's Studio. I can only imagine the hours she's put into developing all her tips, techniques, and reference information. A definite must-have in your favorites.
http://www.cameoroze.com/101/index.htm
Personally, I'm fascinated by these Fabric Trinket Boxes. Here is a step-by-step tutorial to create your own.
http://imageevent.com/imagesbykim/tutorials/fabrictrinketboxes
Ready to finish your stitching? Here is a plethora of links to satisfy everyone on your list!
http://shakatak66.blogspot.com/2006/12/sbq-finishing-links.html
Yes, I know that's five links, but a couple don't have any charts. If you happen to use any of these please let me know. Maybe even I will get around to using some of these soon.
Sorry to say, but I made negative progress today. After sleeping through my treatment and then watching some recordings on my DVR, I finally went to work on Silver Stitches, only to discover the entire row was mis-placed by two threads. As you can see from the holes I've frogged the Algerian Eyelet stitches but haven't gotten around to re-starting them.
Despite my best effort to go to sleep early I just could not. I was in bed reading for an hour, yet still wide awake. Another hour soaking in a hot tub of water didn't help, either. I give up!
Instead I came back out to my chair and began working on Silver Stitches again. I finished three more rows of stitches before finally going to bed at 9:30 this morning. I didn't like the way the two strands of 3743 hid the metallic X of the Rice stitches, so I chose to use only one strand instead. I also felt that two strands looked "heavy" whereas the one strand looks much more delicate to me. I know it's not a big deal, but to me it makes a difference in the overall feel of the design. That's also why I chose to use one strand of #12 Perle cotton rather than two strands of Blanc DMC. It lends itself to a more delicate design. Or am I just too darn picky?
I was only able to get three hours of sleep before Uncle Wes woke me up so that I could make it to Grandma's on time. I told her I'd be there around 2pm so that I could drive her over to Uncle Jay & Trish's for dinner at 3:00. Unfortunately, it seemed everyone else in Maryland was trying to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at the same time! I crossed the Severn River Bridge and found traffic at a standstill. That's over eight miles from the Bay Bridge tolls! I was able to get off Rt 50 almost right away and took back roads to get closer to the tolls. After rejoining 50 I found an even more congested mess but was able to get over to the the EZ Pass lane where I drove by another mile of stopped traffic. Upon reaching the toll plaza, it looked to me like there either weren't enough lanes open or everyone was running in slow motion. There was more traffic in the one lane of east-bound traffic on the west-bound span than there were in the two lanes on the east-bound span. I don't like driving on a bridge with opposing traffic and no barrier between us, but it's better than having to sit in that mess for two hours and miss dinner! If I didn't know the back roads around here it probably would have taken me more than two hours to get to the tolls, and they're less than ten miles from my house!
Dinner with my Grandma, aunts, uncle, cousins, and Aunt Trish's dad and his friend was great. There was just the right amount of food to have a little left over. Trish fixed the traditional turkey and stuffing, gravy, real mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry relish with strawberries, green bean casserole, and corn pudding. Grandma also made her fruit relish, which was devoured.
For dessert, Trish's Dad, Dwight, brought a pumpkin pie that we served with whipped topping. Keeping in mind that I had to drive home still, I made sure not to eat so much as to stuff myself. I was nice and full without that after-dinner lethargy. My cousins left shortly after eating because their friend had to be at his parents'. Aunt Lisa, Chris, and Grandma headed back home right behind them. Dwight and Ginny had to go to her daughter's house so that just left me, Jay, Trish, and my cousin, Adam. Trish, Adam, and I played a game of Scrabble while Jay watched television (slept), then Trish and I played one-on-one. I finally won a game against her! I couldn't believe it! She usually cleans my clock, but I eked out a victory by the skin of my teeth (2 points)!
I left around 9pm and arrived home without incident. I had to snack on my turkey leftovers to stay awake but it worked. Unfortunately the tryptophan struck shortly after 10pm and I went to sleep. I was trying to stay up and maybe do some more work on Silver Stitches but "oh, well!"
Here is my new project: Silver Stitches by Charlotte's Web Needle-work, from the 2008 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue. I'm sure you can tell why I was drawn to this particular one. If not, there were three things that lead me to choosing it: Most importantly, everything I needed was in my stash. The projects I stitch for the remainder of this year have to all come from my stash. A skein of floss needed here and there is allowed, but no going out to kit something up until 2009. I substituted DMC Antique Effects E415 for the Light Effects E168 suggested by the designer, but can you tell? It's still a silver metallic at the top.Secondly, it's EMBROIDERY (so-called "specialty") STITCHES!! I love doing different stitches rather than making x's all the time. I don't suggest this for someone who doesn't own the Kooler Encyclopedia of Needlework or the Cross Stitcher's Bible because there are *not* instructions to do each stitch, but I've done most of them in previous projects so I just look at the picture to see which one goes where. Last, I love the colors in this! The muted, dusty purple (DMC 3743) and grey-green (DMC 927) with the white Perle cotton I substituted for the DMC Blanc are beautiful. I wasn't sure about the opalescent light blue fabric (28ct Crystal Aerial Lugana by Picture This Plus) but white just looked too bland. After seeing the skeins of floss on top of the fabric I was sold on it, though! The first six bands and the top were completed before I went to sleep this morning. Something happened at dialysis and my temperature spiked and my head felt like it was going to explode. The headache went away after a dose of Tylenol but I didn't do any stitching at home because wasn't feeling myself for the rest of the night. I hope I'm well enough to go to my uncle's for dinner tomorrow afternoon.Ready for today's freebie links? Here you go:Biscornus anyone? This page has lots of biscornu patterns; just scroll down to the bottom. Before you get there, though, take note of the instructions for putting them together. It's not hard at all! Thanks to this site, I was empowered to do my very first, and second, biscornus. I've done the Mini Biscornu in both purple and red (the red was NOT for me!). So you get a bonus! Not just a chart, but instructions on finishing them!! http://own-two-hands.livejournal.com/4186.htmlSince I'm giving you one tutorial today, why not two? Here's a link to a scissor fob online class presented by the Caron Collection. I honestly don't see why you couldn't substitute any scissor fob pattern you want and just refer to the class for the finishing instructions. http://www.fuzzycrawler.com/06aprfiles/06tinson_class2.htmlJust for fun (and you might learn something about needlework, too!) check out The Lazy Wench. "What's a Lazy Wench? Any person who would rather embroider than do housework, go to the office, pull weeds or perform thankless chores in general. Lazy Wenches are crazy like foxes, with slightly off center but irrefutable logic." ~The Lazy WenchKasey, Chet, and I would like to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful for your loved ones as you don't know if Tomorrow will ever come.
a href="http://www.justparents.co.uk/">
I stitched, I stitched! I did three whole eyelet stitches at my two-hour-long stitch-in. Pathetic, right? Yes, I know! But it's three more stitches than when I got there, anyway. I guess that just goes to prove I'm in a serious stitching slump. It happens...
Carol B brought these cute packages to our meeting for each of us, as well as a cinnamonny votive candle. She kitted up a Lizzie*Kate freebie, 
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