stitchy crisis! help!!!

Okay, first...I can't believe I haven't posted since April. Geez! However, in April I was laid off from my job...so come to think of it, I was busy trying to keep my financial lips above the water line while it was rising...rising...rising. Thank God I found a job and things are better!

Anyway, I am having a huge problem. I bought a pattern YEARS ago called "Kokopelli Border Sampler" by Pitter Patterns. I started it once, but my cat sliced her claw right through the linen and I had to toss it...then I got engaged...and married...etc. I started it again last year...then procrastinated...then when I got laid off I decided to work on it again. I did. Then I found a job and started procrastinating again.

The pattern had worn in two pieces and I have LOST the bottom half, which also had the color key on the back of it. As it so happens, this pattern is out of print. I am now frantically searched for help from anyone who would consider copying it for me or sending me their used original. I will gladly pay postage and even a small finders fee...$20 to whomever can help me!

As you can see by the pictures below, I have purchased this pattern...and I don't think it's copyright infringement if you've purchased it...and I've purchased it...and we're not copying it for a THIRD party's use. I've already paid for it and wouldn't be infringing if I'd made a copy of it for myself to mark up (which is what I should have done!!!)

Anyway, if anyone can help me...I will be eternally grateful. I can't believe I've lost half of this pattern.

Here is the work in progress (with the pattern in view so you can see that I've purchased an original copy):

Nina's having a giveaway!

Nina is having a giveaway on her blog!!



For some reason, I can't get a link pasted in this blog...please copy the link below and paste it in your browswer:

http://xszemkozt.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-giveaway.html

Thank you, Mel!

Imagine my surprise when I went to the mailbox this afternoon and found Melissa's package in there! What a welcome thing to find after getting laid off yesterday. Something GOOD came today! YAY!!!!

Melissa, thank you so much...these are gorgeous. And this gold filament thread is quite tempting...hmmm...I'm going to have to find something fun for that pretty quick! Thank you also for the little extras...especially the Just Nan pattern! When I saw it, I thought "OMG! Just Nan! How did she know??" and then I read your card. LOL

Thank you so much!

Breadcloth update...slow going!

Y'all will not believe this...I am STILL super sick with this awful flu going around. It's been a dang WEEK! Sheesh!!! Mucus devil, be GONE!!!! LOL

I was hoping to have this finished and shipped off to my super talented cousin by now, but it's very slow going...here we go:



I have a three day weekend coming this weekend, though...stitchy stichy for me!

Pictures of my first finish EVER!!!

Okay, I said I would find it...and I found it...oh boy, did I find it!

Just the other day, I posted a picture of my Girl Scout needlework badge. Being an unforgiving perfectionist when it comes to any project I undertake, it's as challenging as it is fun to look at the very first piece of needlework I ever finished.

I was 9 years old. I chose a needlepoint of a Monarch butterfly & some flowers as my first project. I had to do several stitching related projects to earn my badge, but this was the last one I had to finish in order to get it. This project took the longest.

I am so happy that my Mom decided to save this, along with the dozens of pencil holders and macaroni necklaces that I made at school during my childhood. I need to find a good way to preserve this somehow...and I'm not sure how to do that, actually, since I somehow thought it was a good idea to cut the extra fabric off once I was done. LOL. Looking in my Junior Girl Scout handbook (which I still have, by the way), I can see that framing or stitching the finished work into a pillow was NOT required to earn the badge. LOL

At any rate, here is the picture of my very first finish...warts and all. Stitches going all different ways, stitches missing, etc. Here it is. It's so horrible looking, but I still couldn't be more proud. :-)

Fond memories of my very VERY first finish

I was searching through one of the 5 giant bins of photos and mementos that I'm planning to scrapbook "someday"...and I found something wonderful. Actually, all 5 of those giant bins are filled with an assortment of wonderful things, but this is an especially fond memory. This is the first Girl Scout badge I ever earned. My needlework badge.



I still remember sitting in our troop leader's living room and learning how to stitch. Her whole house was decorated in that dark brown 70's decor. She had orange shag carpet. They had a sunken living room and were the envy of all the neighbors because only "rich people" could afford those back then. LOL. I'm smiling just thinking about it.

I remember going to the Girl Scout Crafting Jamboree at Westminster Mall (I grew up in Orange County, California) when it was brand spank'in new. It was a two story mall with super cool orange and brown decor. It was 1973, baby. That was the style. I was 9 years old and it was my job to sit at our troop table with a few other girls and work on my stitching project. I was sort of a "living display". When people would stop to ask questions, we girls had to teach them about needlework. I felt like I was the Miss Smartypants of the stitching world. Nine years old and already giving mini seminars at the new mall. Hubba hubba!

Somewhere in those 5 bins, I also have that very same project that I was working on that day. I had to finish it to earn my badge. It was a needlepoint of a Monarch butterfly. When I find it, I'll post a picture. It's absolutely hideous...LOL. I remember when my Mom gave it to me on my last visit to California. She had it tucked in her dresser all these years (she's an AWESOME Mom). When she handed it to me, I was overjoyed to see it again...and then I couldn't believe how awful it was. Of course, it's not awful at all for a nine year old child...but I remembered it in my head the way I saw it as a child: perfect. I didn't remember all the mistakes and the hideous finishing, etc. But that's ok. That's how it should be. The best part is that I still remember how cool it was to my 9 year old self when I stitched that final stitch and could proudly proclaim...I'm finished!

I still get that same little thrill every time I finish a project. :-)

Started the bread cloth!

I'm making this bread cloth as a surprise for someone and I'm hoping to get it finished by this weekend. It'll be the second 2009 finished project for me and I have GOT to get moving!!

I'd like to hear from other stitchers on this. This is the first time I've done a border that had so many different angles on it. All the stitches are facing the same way, but because the design is at an angle some of the edges look a little "spiky". Should I have changed the direction/angle of the stitches?

I'm probably not going to re-do the stitches in question, but I'm curious for future information...what would you do?



Dianne

I finally have a finish, but...

...it's driving me CRAZY! LOL

It's a LizzieKate snippet and I'm going insane trying to get it exactly even in the frame. Good Lord!!!

I probably shouldn't be doing this just hours after I had a tooth pulled, have a mouthful of gauze, and am hopped up on pain killers...but....I want to see it in the frame.

Pffft!

Oh Lordy Lordy....LOL

I was really looking forward to stitching tonight. But it's not to be. I have to go turn myself in for crimes against legumes.

Confused? Here's my family blog...

http://divinedrool.blogspot.com

Happy stitching!!!

My stitchy blog is born!

I guess I should explain WHY I chose the url "floss on my butt", right? :-)

If you're a fellow cross stitcher, you can probably identify with the age old mystery I'm about to explain. On more than one occasion, I have been riddled by the mystery of finding a piece of embroidery floss stuck to my butt. I'm walking around at work with a piece of DMC #310 stuck to the back of my pants. Where does it come from? This phenomenon happens whether I'm stitching a project or not...and, to mystify me even further, the offending floss is usually a color that I have not worked with for months. It defies explanation. I've chalked it up to being one of life's mysteries that I will probably never figure out.

So...here it is: my blog about all things stitchy.

I have been in love with cross stitch since I was a little girl. I learned how to do needlepoint and cross stitch in Girl Scouts when I was 9 years old. I remember thinking it was so cool that I could make such pretty pictures with nothing but a piece of fabric and some thread.

I still have the first project I ever finished, which earned me my needlework badge in Girl Scouts. I still have the badge, too. Now, every year during Girl Scout cookie season when I am asked to buy a box or two, I end up boring some poor Girl Scout with the story of how I learned to cross stitch. Of course, I also buy at least $20 worth of cookies that will go straight to my hips. Gotta support the Girl Scouts. I only ever earned two badges and wasn't a Scout for long, but it was a wonderful time in my life. I hope they still teach things like needlework. It is one of the cooler things to do with your spare time as far as I'm concerned.

I love the history of needlework. I love the fact that it can be traced so far back in history. And I love the fact that I have created heirlooms in my family that will, hopefully, last for years and years to come.

Thank you all for stopping by!