Northwest Red Head

OH My!  Ok no animals here, I am just a bit loopy this morning from not sleeping as well as I should have and having too much coffee. Below is one of my new books in the stash pile, I entered a drawing at JT Stitchery when I was there for Sit and Stitch a few weeks back and had actually forgotten about it. Imagine my surprise when I got the phone call Saturday saying I had won! :)  I'm quite excited about this one, it has a very unique use of color and decorative stitches as you can see from the examples on the cover. There's also directions for using the different stitches in an assortment of things from samplers to sewing cases with directions for finishing as well. I bought this one late last week actually and forgot to post about it. After all the fun I had with the Black and White Sampler this was a book the teacher recommended. I had a bit left on my Amazon gift certificate so I decided this book was in order :) I like this one as well. There are lots of motifs char...

I had all the best intentions of working down my WIP list. Its getting a bit out of control as there aren't enough days in the week to figure out a rotation when you have 12 different things going, but I had a few things to do that made taking even my Bent Creek mini's difficult to bring along so I dug this little scissor case out and did some work on it. I should have this done today if I can work some time into the day to work on it before I get home tonight. I have been working diligently on assembly in the evenings. I almost have the base of mom's Shaker box complete, and I've decided since I am missing on my stitching time to work on her project that I gave her my class piece to do some of the stitching on that for me in trade.

My class with Kathy Fenchel was this weekend. The above design is my progress from just class time. Alot of metallics and application in this piece. The left glove is felt and the silver soon to be a tube of lipstick on the right is kid leather. The center glove, when finished will have a bullion rose with detached leaves. I have to go dig out some of my stumpwork supplies for that one. She does her stumpwork with a different technique than I was taught and I'm not so excited about. After my class I was tired of looking at my new piece after staring at it for 8 hours so I decided to work on the assembly of my Shaker Sewing Box. Another guild member had it almost together at sit and stitch on Thursday and showed me how it worked so I decided to give it a try myself this weekend and I've made some great progress. I don't have the buttons it called for so I wasn't able to finish the ribbon nor am I quite sure how I want to tie off the threads that hold the sides of...

YAY! I have been ignoring my finishing pile long enough so last night I sat down and started working on my new name tag. Once I got going the directions started to make a bit more sense and I managed to get this all assembled. The kit, which we got on the guild's bus trip last fall came with the scissor fob you see here as well. One of our members designed this and kitted it with some fabric that was donated from one of the local shops. Now I just need to keep up the momentum. I have 2 small pillows that need some attention as well and then I have to find a bell pull I like for my Black and White sampler so I can get that together also.

I put the last of the eyelets into the Shaker Sewing box last night, now I am just waiting for next Thursday when our EGA group is supposed to start putting this piece together. I have gone over the assembly directions and they don't look too terrible but I am never very sure of myself when it comes to finishing projects. Sunday before we left for dinner I went digging through mom's old sewing threads and found wooden spools! I am so excited about this, I was actually a bit disappointed when I saw that you got plastic ones if you ordered the kit as this piece is supposed to have an antique feel to it and the plastic thread spools just don't have as nice of a look with it as the wooden ones. I'm not excited about the colors, but the selection I had to choose from was not a lot. There were a lot of teals and bright greens but these will work. If it looks too terrible I may try to load it on my bobbin winder and put a better color thread on ha!

Nothing is as its called for on this piece. It calls for summer khaki linen and gloriana silk to stitch in. My fabric is bayleaf, I liked the look and feel of this fabric much better and I personally hate working with gloriana. The one time I used it, I had snags and I just wasn't happy with how it looked and ended up ripping it all out and finding something close in waterlilies instead so this time I'm working with Needle Necessities, again from the stash.

Now there were some real winners as we drove back from Oregon. This one is announcing that we are crossing the Continental Divide. Imagine my surprise when I passed a simular sign less than an hour down the highway. You can see here that nice loop in Wyoming? What's that all about??? Iowa was not short of humor on their road signs as well. For the first 50 miles of the state there were no rest stops with signs telling us about "Modern" rest stops that were 55 miles in. This is a sign for the "Modern" rest stop. Now why is wireless necessary at a highway rest stop? In case you want to stop, sit in the car and log on to the internet? I thought the whole point of a rest stop was to get out of the car, and use the facilities?? Apparently not in Iowa, they go to the rest areas and sit in the car and surf the internet, how exciting :) hee hee And I'm sure you've all seen the Kum & Go signs, I always hoped someone got bored and doctored those photos but...

I did manage to get the final stitches of my Peace tree in. Done, pressed and ready for finishing. I think there is a template for the shape that it was finished in the Just Cross Stitch ornament issue that I got the design and if I have enough of the Needle Necessities this was stitched with that should make a nice cord for the edge.

For the most part our trip back to Ohio was uneventful. It was overcast much of the time but not too much in the way of falling weather so that was good, until we hit Cheyenne Wyoming and we see this: Now mind you visability hadn't been outstanding before we saw this but we didn't see the sign until we were on it. Here you can see the spectacular visability we had going through there. Here is our trusted navigator, I don't know, I took this picture in Nebraska and he's looking at downtown Davenport, perhaps he's looking for a route to ensure he doesn't wind up dinner :D

Only one letter "P" to go and this ornament is finished. After that happens I may have a nice celebration with a big bottle of wine as I was sorry I wanted to stitch this piece not long after I started it. Its all done over one which gives it a great look but not a lot of fun to stitch in my opinion. I started this in 2004 right after I got the Just Cross Stitch ornament issue it was in and it looked so cool, oh did I forget how little progress shows on 1 over 1

Ok skipping ahead a bit now :) We did go to Washington Park as well while we were there but none of my photos were that noteworthy to post so here we are Monday morning heading out. This is the view heading out on 84/30. What a rotten view they have here eh? This is actually the first time I had seen Mt Hood other than the glimpse I had see from the airplane. The rest of the time in Oregon it was hidden by clouds. this gives you an idea on the view from the plane. When we landed all I could see was the snowcap and a nice layer of clouds blocking view of the rest of anything. Along the way we stopped at Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River. And one last glimpse of Mt Hood as we leave Oregon. It looks quite serene for something that has the potential to spray lava and ash all over the state. Oh, I better hide now or Jay is gonna get me for being over dramatic about the volcanos hee hee. And last last but not least, I couldn't very well not post this one. We are at the top ...

Almost complete with the stitching on my shaker box. I have to add my name and date to the top (the empty rectangle) and then iron interfacing on the back of everything. After that is done there are some eyelets to be put in that go in the center of each of the flowers. The finishing class at EGA was supposed to happen last month but the person teaching it was sick so it was postponed until this month which is good for me as I wasn't done, nor was I here for the meeting last month. The lining fabric I'm using is here in the shot as well. I was excited when I came upon this print. The colors in the fabric match almost exactly to the over-dye I used for the flowers. The center eyelets are going to be a melon/pink color, I think. I will have to get one in and make sure it isn't too much that they over power the leaves. If that doesn't work I may go with a pale yellow instead.

Here were are at the newly rebuilt Ft Clatsop The previous structure was not the origional either, but there was a fire last October that destroyed it so they're in the process of building yet another replica of it as seen here. The Lewis and Clark river looking south from the canoe landing. Ok fine, I've had several questions as to where we were in all this so here we are on the walkway infront of the landing. Atleast I don't look like I haven't slept for a week like I do in the one that Jay posted in which I look like I haven't slept for a week :) And now where would a post be without Pig again goofing off. This is the wooded are around Ft Clatsop. I'm not sure how he got this high in the tree (I think Jay helped him) last time I knew pigs did not have opposable thumbs to do things like climb trees but oh well :)

Here is my "Still Stitching Pocket" Finished, for the most part. I have yet to find a ring for the closure that I like so that still obviously isn't here but its all sewn so I'm calling it done until I find a ring. The ring should attach to the flap with a ribbon attached to the main part of the pocket to tie it closed. For now I have it pressed pretty well and that seems to be working, as I have no plans to actually use it all should be fine.

While in Astoria we crossed the Astoria bridge into Washington and drove up the road a bit and found a Fort that we didn't realize was there. This is Ft Columbia that overlooks the Columbia River. Bright and early the next morning we headed up to the Astoria Column that sits atop Coxcomb hill. This is Youngs Bay as seen from the top of the column. There are more shots of this in the Oregon album over on right sidebar under the newly added Mt St Helen's Volcano Cam :) No it doesn't automatically refresh but it will show the most current shot when the page is loaded and there's link to the site for the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Jay also has a few pictures from his last visit here including the house used in the film The Goonies Oh and what would a day be without Pig being a ham. Here again he is trying to defy death by sitting right next to the safety railing at the top of the column.

Some more work done on Winter Queen. I'm working down her wrap right now and I've decided to do a bit of the beading. There is a large amount of them between her hair and the shoulder of her dress so I decided to put stitch some of them in.

After Ecola we headed back north and stopped at Ft Stevens. Lots of sand and a very cool wreck of a boat that is, umm... *runs off to check Jay's blog* OMG Why is it always the LAST thing I look at *grumble* Ok click here to see the wreckage of the Peter Iredale that ran aground in 1906. My camera seems to have eaten my pic of this. If you look closely at the shot above though there is actually a double rainbow there :) Here is part of the Fort itself. You can walk through it and even fall into the pits where the guns used to sit. After seeing Ft Stevens we went on North to Astoria. This is about half of the length of the dock and it was completely covered in Sea Lions. There were a few in other places as well, some complete idiot let her 12 year old daughter walk down to them to take a picture, yeah great idea... take a picture, get your arm ripped off, oh did I just say that? *fluttering eyelashes innocently* I have more shots from Astoria I'll post tomorrow ...

This weekend several of the ladies from my EGA chapter got together and drove down to Indiana to go to a stitching store we all love. What is it about stitchers that we'll all drive 3 hours to get to a store when there are 3 within 1/2 hour of us? I finally broke down and got the Lavender Rose Accessories to go with my Lavender Rose Sweetbag. I'm still not excited about all the queen stitches used but its a cute set so I guess I'll live ;) I also got Strawberries so Faire from Ellen Chester and a Lamb ornament from The Stitching Parlor. The lamb is cute but not exactly my taste, I have an ornament exchange for christmas and the person I drew loves this type of ornament. I also scored a few old magazines that I liked. Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue from 2000. The first year I got one of these was 2005, I think I have found them back to 2003 so I was excited to find a new issue. One can never have enough ornaments. :) The Sampler and Antique has a very nice Quake...