My Stash is Here!

I went to meet my friend to pick up my stash :) Here are pictures of what I got from Needle In A Haystack:

The fabric that I picked is Lakeside Linens 32 count in Vintage Light Examplar and the thread is Threadworx Overdyed Floss in Grape (it looks awesome in person). The needle minder is part of the care package Cathe put together for me, it's a cameo of a flower fairy. Super cute!

She also included a second needle minder from Mag Friends and two patterns. One is by Lizzie Kate (this designer seems very popular) called "Flowers" and it comes with the fabric and embellishments. The second one is by By the Bay Needlheart called "Heart to Heart". The chart contains 3 patterns. I love the different ideas she offers to finish the pattern. However, what I love most are the crochet hearts that are in the picture, the pattern for which she offers here. I will definitely be making those =D.

My favorite new stash though is the project bag. I LOVE IT! It's so practical, cute and will fit in my purse. I will definitely be taking it with me when I go on vacation. Did I mention I'm going to South Korea next month? I will be taking the project bag with the kitted "Bramble and the Rose" in it for the plane trip (18 hours o.O), it will keep me from going stir crazy.

On a separate note, I finally finished my secret crochet project ^o^. More on that next week.

Trying Something New

I've been thinking about trying more traditional forms of embroidery for a while and after looking at a lot of pictures, I finally decided to try it out.

The first step was figuring out how to trace a template onto fabric. I had tracing paper and I bought this red pencil that you can use to transfer patterns on fabric by ironing it on. I didn't like the effect. Although it worked it was just too faint. Also, I think I bought the wrong fabric for what I'm trying to do. It feels too thin after working with linen.

After I wasted a day trying to get the pencil to work, I ended up just sticking the template on my desk with masking tape, sticking the fabric on top of it and tracing the whole thing using a mechanical pencil. I figure for my first project, I shouldn't care if the pencil marks won't come out.

So far I've only done Lazy Daisies. I'll have to do more research on other types of stitches to determine which to use for each. But I would love to try some of Trish Burr's embroidery techniques on the bigger petals. Not sure if the fabric is appropriate thought.

On a more cheerful not, I'm getting some new stash! =D

One of my friends needed to go to San Francisco and mentioned that if I needed anything she would bring it back for me. So I contacted Needle in a Haystack, the shop I went to when I was in San Francisco, to see if they would be able to get an order ready in time for my friend to get it and bring it back for me.

I knew I wanted to kit Bramble and the Rose, so I picked out fabric and thread. I had a few back-and-fourth emails with Cathe, the owner, because I needed so much of the hand-dyed thread and they didn't have enough of the color I needed in stock and I had set a deadline... She was very helpful and patient in helping me get what I needed on time, going so far as to personally drop off my package at my friend's.

I also decided that since my birthday was coming, I deserved a little something special. So I asked Cathe to also include a care-package. I decided on a budget and requested that she fill one of her Project Snap bags with goodies.

My friend took a few pictures to tease me:

The last picture shows the fabric and the project bag filled with goodies. No peak into what's inside yet. I'll have to wait till Friday to see what's in it.

Surprise in the Mail

I've been having a bad week. I had to go to the dentist and found out the thing I've been worried the most about has happened. I needed to extract my wisdom teeth ToT. Luckily the surgeon was really nice and I'm happy to say I don't remember the procedure at ALL (I was sedated!).

Today is day 3 since the extraction and although the pain has dwindled I'm still taking medication. But something came in the mail today that made very happy.

I finally have a needle minder :) I've been watching GrizzlyMountainArts Etsy page and blog for a while, waiting for them to put up more needle minders on their shop. Isn't she pretty! It's made from a vintage cameo and it has two rare earth magnets inlayed.

Here she on Stargazer:

March TUSAL

This month's TUSAL is a little invisible lol. I spent most of it beading Stargazer, so a lot of the thread can't be seen. There is a little black thread from Rukia and some gold underneath it from Castle in the Air.

Rukia Outlined

I had started Rukia a while ago, but then I got distracted with other things. The outline is done, now I just have to fill the inside.

I've also done a lot of work on Stargazer but I'm not ready to show the results quite yet :)