On the Road, er Sea, Again

The Wonderful Mr. Fidget, aka Pookie, is taking me on an Alaskan cruise for our bazillionth anniversary. I'm taking several stitching projects with me for working on while flying across this great land and while sitting on our balcony cruising up the Inside Passage. The TUSAL bottle can't/shouldn't go with me so I'm taking a backup travel TUSAL container: a lowly plastic zippy bag. The accumulated orts can be documented and then poked into the official TUSAL bottle.

My new baby netbook is travelling with me so perhaps a post or two may happen while I'm visiting the 49th state. We'll see.

TUSAL for August

Today is the new moon for August, and just to prove I'm not just a creature of the night, here's a day light shot of my TUSAL bottle. Newly added are a band from DMC #5 perle cotton 4060 (used to make the scissor fob and needlebook), clippings, odd threads, and blue felt from said fob and needlebook, a bit of gold blending filament and some white linen thread used to complete the piece below, and some DMC #8 perle cotton 957 that I was going to use on a new project but have since rejected that choice. To join the fun on Yoyo's Dragon My Needle blog click here or on the TUSAL button on the right.

This is a piece from The Victoria Sampler one of their Beyond Cross Stitch Learning Collection. This one is Level Six #8 -Curled V in a Fan. I love all of Thea Dueck's designs, she's so talented!

This kit was purchased back in 2005 or 2006 so you may have trouble finding it. Most of it was stitched last year; I just recently got around to putting the beads on it. "I've got plans for how to finish it but it will have to get in line," said the Queen of Unfinished Projects.

Here's my beloved Bob, looking all sauve and debonair. Is it any wonder he talked his way into the house a year ago? Can't imagine life without him now.

Weekend crafting

When I made the fob for my new scissors it took two tries to get the Hardanger how I wanted it. The first attempt was abandoned because, in the zeal to try out the new scissors, I cut all the threads inside the blocks. Rut-row. No wrapped bars for me. At least on that one. Made another, bars were wrapped, beads were added; you know the story. The other one seemed too cute to waste so I made it into a needlebook. Right now it just has one lowly little sewing needle (which is also useable as a beading needle), but now, I've got a set. Ain't that cute?

To celebrate our bazillionth anniversary, Pookie is taking me up to Alaska. I wanted to make a new something to take with me on the trip and for once didn't wait until the night before we were to leave. This time I made a travel wallet to hold all the confirmation papers, my passport and driver's license. I didn't have a pattern or much of a plan, just kinda cobbled it together as ideas came to me. It's not what I'd imagined when I started, but I'm happy with it. The original idea involved a lot more sewing, the finished product involves a lot of Stitch Witchery and glue.

The wallet includes a bit of recycling. The green snaps were from the 1970's stitching stash of a friend's late mother; RIP Mrs. E. And the form of the wallet was achieved by cutting and using bookboard from an old children's book. PP had thrifted many children's books and used the innards for paper crafting. She sent me a nice lot of book covers to use. The original purpose was for covered boxes, but the travel wallet was their first use. Boxes will come later, PP, I promise.

New Scissors, New Fob

My sweet sister gave me a gift certificate to the LNS for my birthday. I've had it a while and was waiting to use it for some really, really nice Hardanger scissors. They said they had some nice ones coming in early August and, sho'nuff, they did!

Anyone who's read this blog knows I love my Dovos and these are no exception. Their finely honed tip snips right down to the point making cutting the holes in the fabric a breeze. Stitchin' buddy DP doesn't understand how I can take scissors to something I just worked so hard on, but I don't think she gets Hardanger. Or, perhaps she's just afraid of making a bad cut.

New scissors calls for a new fob. The LNS had some pretty yellow 22 ct Hardanger fabric that I picked up on the same shopping trip. The pattern is my own original design, doodled from my imagination. On one side, there are clear Mill Hill Petites nestled between the Scottish stitch/Reverse Scottish stitch blocks; in real life, they look like drops of dew. Once that side was embellished, the other side was calling out for some beads, too. It began with clear AB seed bead inside the Algerian eyelets and inside the Dove's Eyes. While digging in my beads I saw some pretty bugle beads that looked like just the thing to drop next to the wrapped bars. The fob was finished off with a Swarovski AB tear drop and some Delica beads.

I'm pleased with the fob and tickled pink with the new scissors. It's good to create something. I've been in a bit of a crafting funk so this makes my soul happy, making something - actually finishing something - again.