The Week in Review

SPRING IN COLORADO

View of our back yard on Tuesday evening about 9 pm:

Before 5 pm on Tuesday, there was not a speck of snow in our yard.  This storm dumped at least 7" in a few hours.  Another winter storm predicted for tomorrow night and into Saturday.  We are now at a snow total of 61.4" so far this year.  An 'average' snow total for winter for our area is 32.6".  We have defiinitely had a banner year for snow this year.  Oh joy. 

Our house is supposed to be re-shingled on Saturday morning.  Maybe next week sometime?  It's supposed to be close to the 70's then.

VISIT WITH OUR SON

We had a very nice visit with our son--we left home last Thursday about noon and returned home on Monday about noon.  We forgot this past weekend was March Madness, which meant DH and DS spent a good deal of the time we were at his house doing some serious male bonding watching basketball and hockey on TV. 

That wasn't ALL bad though, it gave me plenty of stitching time.  I listened to the first in the 'Outlander' series on my IPOD and was a happy camper overall.  Of course, the visit meant I made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for DS (his very favorite). 

LOTS OF STITCHING UPDATES

Bride's Tree SAL - March Finish!

First up is my completed March ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL. I stitched this design on the way to DS's and did the finishing today after work. The background in the photo is the fabric I used on the back of the ornment.

14 ct white AIDA

DMC Floss

Design from free booklet

with Cross Stitch Crazy magazine 

LHN Ornament SAL

I am STILL trying to finish Fa-La-La, the first in this new LHN series.  I tried to work on it at DS's but found myself frogging more than I was stitching, so finally gave up on it for the moment!  That 30 ct linen and I do NOT seem to get along!

Bouquet for Cheryl SAL

This is the project I stitched on the majority of the time we were at our DS's.  I am very close to being half finished now--woo hoo!   

 

Everyone Needs Their Own Space

This one is still my current obsession, but I did NOT take it to DS's, so I haven't stitched on it a great deal this past week.  But, some progress to show from my previous post about it.  I just adore this one!!

HAED Dragon Luck SK SAL

After struggling with doing this one 2 over 1, I finally gave up and frogged the entire thing.  I've started over doing 1 over 1 and it is going SO much better!  This time I started in the center of the design, rather than the top left corner.  Not a tremendous amount of progress to show as of yet, but it's a new start. 

BLOG AWARDS

I received a blog award from Evalina and also from Mare, but will wait to post about that next time.  Thank you both so much for thinking of me!!

GIVEAWAY WIN!

I was the lucky winner of a giveaway that Evalina had on her blog to celebrate her 20th anniversary of living in North America.  The prize was a $20 gift certificate from your favorite ONS; of course I chose 123 Stitch.  I've not decided yet how to spend it; I want the purchase to be something I REALLY want!  Thanks SO much Evalina!!

That's it for this time. 

Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO

Virtual Stitching Update and New Stitching Glasses

STITCHING UPDATE

Yesterday I participated in a virtual stitch-in.  DH and I ended up needing to run a few errands in the morning, so I didn't get started with my stitching until noon, but I still made good progress.  I ended up spending the entire time working on  the 'Bouquet for Cheryl' SAL that I'm doing with some other stitchers on Sticher's Showcase. 

Here's what it looked like when I finished up last night:

And this is what it looked like when I started stitching yesterday:

Neither of these photos show the nice light lavender fabric I'm stitching this on.  I am enjoying this stitch so much!

I almost forgot, I pulled out a UFO to stitch on during a couple trips I made to Denver this past week, it's the Bent Creek Snapper Series.  I'm stitching them vertically on stitchband.  This is how it look as of 2-5-2010:

Last time I stitched on it was 2-18-2008, here's how it looked then:

I think this will be my travel project for the moment; it's small enough to transport easily, and I really do like these designs.

I need to get busy the rest of today stitching on my Oakhaven Months SAL for February, and also on the February heart ornament for Bride's Tree SAL.  I'm waiting on fabric to arrive from 123 Stitch to start the LHN ornaments and also for the Prairie Schooler ABC Stitching Bee.

Oh yes, my small LNS had a Superbowl Sale yesterday; everything in the store 20% off, and one item (your choice) 50% off (with the postcard they mailed you).  I looked around a little, but actually only purchased two small Val's Stuff charts, a couple WDW threads I needed for a chart.  I used the 50% off for a cute scissor fob that has a spool and thimble on the end.  Only spent $18 total, so I was a very good girl indeed. 

FLOOR STANDS FOR STITCHING

I'm seriously considering purchasing a new floor system called 'Needlework System 4' that I've heard about. All the reviews I've seen for this system seem to be extremely positive. Have any of you used this system? If so, what do you like and/or dislike about it?  You can check it out HERE

I currently have the double-sided wooden floor stand by American Dream Products and while I like it for stitching a project that is currently set-up in it, it is NOT 'portable' to move around from place-to-place easily, or set up to easily switch projects.

I'd love to hear your comments on floor stands!

NEW STITCHING GLASSES

I took the afternoon off work on Friday and DH and I made a quick trip to Denver to go to a store that specializes in products for people with vision issues.  The stitching glasses my eye doctor came up with for me were woefully inadequate for my needs, so I decided to try something else.  They had just what I needed! 

After trying several different strengths of glasses, I came home the proud owner of a slightly expensive but extremely functional pair of glasses that werre made in Germany.  They have prism lenses and are +8 diopter strength!  BUT, I can actually SEE to stitch up to 40 ct without any other magnifying aid!  Woo Hoo!  The other nice thing was, I was able to purchase them on the spot; didn't have to place an order and come back in 2 weeks to pick them up.

Now, these glasses mean that the focal length is fairly short (I think that's the right terminology), so I need the stitching 8-10" from my eyes in order for it to be in focus.  I did find that a challenge yesterday while trying to

stitch with my lap stand.  If I'm stitching with a smaller q-snap, hoop, or in-hand, it is not an issue at all.

As you can see from this photo, the lenses are very thick on the inside.  However, these are actually not as thick as the lenses I wore all day every day for the past 57 years before my cataract surgery; and my lenses before were very thick on both ouside and inside edges.  So, they don't feel like much to me.

Until next time - Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO