Long weekend with friends

So this weekend is one of the two I look forward most to during the entire year - I hopped on a plane and flew out to Arizona to visit with friends.   Now, one of the places I lived while growing up was Tucson, and I've always wanted to go back, so the trip is always a little hard, because I just need someone in Arizona to hire me, so I can stay out there, and then I could sometimes stitch with local friends.

We did a lot of eating, a bit of drinking, maybe some playing, but definitely some shopping, sharing, and stitching!

First, my purchasing spree:

I got the newest Just Nan mouse - Romeo the Bridegroom and the Block Party - Vino from Hands On Designs.  Not much, but I am not feeling the need to purchase as much as I used to, especially with the thousand and one WIPS.    I think the Vino party block might qualify as my year end biscornu, because my ort container is getting quite packed!

The things I really wanted were more scissors, that that I got down to a science.

This is my first pair of Bohin scissors (I'm a Bohin needle junkie).  They're larger than standard embroidery, but that polka dotted stork!  I had to have it!

A swordfish? HECK YA!  They feel/cut awful, but let's be honest, I don't care.

And my new favorites - these are Premax, which is one of my favorite brands.  I have three or four pairs of premax and you cannot go wrong with them (my very favorite are from Fine Science Tools, followed by Dovo, of course, and I have a few others like Tres Claveles... in fact I think the only brand I don't like is Gingher).  So shiny, so pretty!  I love that darker silver.

We also hit a bead store, which I wasn't going to purchase anything from, but I decided making some needleminders might be fun.  Especially after I cut off the loops with my dremel.  I'm excited about the heart locket, because when I get the hinge off, I think that's going to make a riotously good needleminder

One of our hostesses and a friend made needleminders for us as well.   I have these nifty initial needeminders made from tile (the glare is covering that s there)!  And that nice little embossed button thingie :)  And that button!  And the octopus!

I also started Tapestry by Ink Circles

She also had a little contest/drawing, and I won second place.  As far as I'm concerned second place is the best!
That top thing is a magnetic tray, which was designed for tools/nuts/bolts/etc, but works just as well for scissors, needles and other goodies.    Heck, as much DIY as I do, it might be used for nuts and bolts anyway ;)

The Mill Hill kit is a cutie as well, and there were those Frixion erasable highlighters and that super bright/awesome LED light (I wish I had that when I was stitching on all of those dark fabrics!!!)

There's also the organizer thing, which might be my favorite thing ever.  I started to unpack yesterday, and then realized I'm flying back out on Friday, and just started organizing with that pouch instead. Magic!

There should be a blue highlighter in there, but it's hiding in my stitching bag

And then, the crazy generous hostess friend *also* had goodie bags for everyone.   I ADORE that Sweetheart Tree piece and will definitely be stitchin git.   There was the emoji note pad, the frog, some hand dyed threads from a place in England, and probably other things I missed taking pictures way too late last night ;)

Ribbit

 And while I was on the trip, someone was showing off a kit she'd gotten from the Bay of Evil, and of course I had to buy one, too.   The funny part was - I paid a little less, and the lady who posts them apparently only posts 2 at a time, and not so often that they're "easy" to get.  I got the last one!

It's a Russian kit, called "Kingdom of Books"
I am thinking of not doing the background, and just doing it on an overdye, I will probably change the book names (they're in Russian/Cyrillic now) to my favorite books, and I'm *also* thinking of going over one for this.. not sure yet on that one, though.

The kit materials are pretty nice, so I'll probably use the floss for it.  Can you imagine how nice it must be to just stitch a book at a time? Nice bite size nuggets to celebrate?

Kingdom of Books!

I think that's it for the purchasing.   Other than not really "feeling" the need to buy lots of stuff, I was very concentrated on getting a couple of more pairs of leggings from Fractal 9, the greatest leggings ever, who was having a big sale on Saturday and I also kickstarted a yoga mat that looks really cool.

We had some really fun times, and some really good discussions.  One of the things we were talking about was letting go of WIPs, and I realized that there are a couple I should just admit I'm not going to do.  One of them - well, I'm not quite there yet, but I did decide to un-WIP/UFO Dracolair's Phoenix, and in fact, I'll probably sell my Dracolair patterns.  I just don't think I'll ever get around to stitching them, and I could use the fabric I started Phoenix with for something else (it's a Picture this Plus, so that's good).

I also had another WIP that I never quite listed that I'll let go of, and I've already picked a pattern to use that fabric for!  I only had one band on the sampler, so it doesn't hurt to let it go.   I think after I knock out a few WIPs, I will start Ink Circles's Namaste on it.

And!  Here's the newest used-WIP that I purchased and put in the mesh bag that Phoenix used to live in!  It's called Russian Fairy Tales and it is a class kit by Joan Thomasson that came out in 1998.  I have been looking for it for AGES and it finally popped up on the Bay of Evil and I snatched it up... if by "snatch" you mean that I put in a disgustingly high bid and just let the 10 day auction ride itself out :)  But it's mine, and I didn't pay as much as I was willing to pay for it, so we all win.

Russian Fairy Tale - my long hunted lemming

My newest WIP is a stitch along I started with friends, it's the one that was pictured up above with the needle minders - it's Ink Circles's Tapestry and I am stitching it on Platinum Murano (30ct), and I am loving it so far.

As for Zodiac, I finished the last two - now I just have to take a picture of the whole thing!

Cancer!

Leo!

And for the final bit - I decided I wasn't totally pleased with my ort container, and I needed to put the orts that I collected over the weekend away, so I made a new container, took a picture of it with the current orts and then stuffed it (and I mean stuffed, because I put all of the left over floss from the Zodiac kit in there!).  It's a wine bottle I cut down, and I'm very pleased with it.  I think it will look like a core sample as I get more orts in there ;)

I kinda smooshed it all down there

That's it for now!  It was a terribly fun, full weekend, and I just love being with my friends.  Our hostesses were the best ever, and I already miss them terribly, but will think of them every time I stitch or see Tapestry.

IHSW for September - my first!

This weekend I participated in my first International Hermit and Stitch weekend, which is hosted by Joysze.

I did go to Drag Bingo on Saturday and a movie festival on Friday, but I was looking forward to a quiet weekend after all of the craziness of the gaming convention.  I spent most of the weekend binge watching the last season of Once Upon a Time (why isn't American Horror Story on Netflix yet! arrrrgh!)

The first thing I worked on was Just Nan's Miss Witchy Mouse.  It was so cute I couldn't *not* stitch on it, and I had a piece of linen in my stash that was perfect for it.  (More info in the link above).

I finally got back to working on Deco Spirits.   I had gotten the #8 Kreinik I needed, and spent a couple of hours ripping out the metallic that didn't work out so well.    And then I did the building bits.   When I finished with that, I worked on finishing the star, and after the Kreiniks, the Treasure Braid was such a pleasure.  I really don't like working with metallics over all, but their effects are so nice, I never think to swap them out for something without sparkle.

So here's the Before and After:

Apparently my ott lite is definitely affecting my photography.  KER POW, blue!

And just for fun - a slightly blurry shot that caught some of the pretty sparkle!

I am really enjoying Deco and I think I'll stick with it through the block.  It's what I had planned for my rotation, but I don't force myself into doing something I don't enjoy.

Miss Witchy Mouse by Just Nan

Back into stitching means back into seeing new patterns.  
Just Nan has been releasing these adorable little constructed ornament mouse pieces that are just too cute.

There have been several, and I managed to snag a Witchy Mouse for Halloween and a Gingerbread Mouse for Christmas (there's also a gingerbread jingle mouse, but they're so similar I don't need both that I've recently purchased because I'm a weak, weak woman).  There's also a Lindy Mouse that was created exclusively for the Silver Needle and Minerva's Mouse, which is the one I'd love to get a hold of (though I'd rather have just the pattern than the whole owl cloisonne kit, but see previous weak statement, I'd spend the cash!).

The one only took me a couple of days and was a lot of fun.

The instructions call for the use of a toothpick to make the broom, but my toothpicks weren't ones I thought would work well (colored and shaped oddly).  I think I'm happier with this cut down bamboo skewer.

In regular light

Under the Ott.   I should have gotten a better picture of her back - there's a spider! :)

So I'm back to my regularly scheduled rotation.
I think I like the screaming/schedule hybrid that I've adopted.  It's working out pretty well.

Update:

I emailed Nan/Just Nan - I had met her multiple times at CATS and because one of my high school buddies knew her (his sister was her god-daughter, and they lived in her house, complete with stencils and art she had painted on the wall!).   I wanted to thank her for designing these awesome mice and to say that I was happy that she was still designing after my long hiatus from the stitching community.  So many designers have either retired or just disappeared that it's nice to see a great designer still around.   She returned my email (quickly!), and mentioned there will be another gingerbread mouse!  whoohoo!

The cuteness, it burns

BTW, I'm at home today, on Friday. My boss mysteriously went insane and gave us all two days off... Thursday and Friday. Only experiments don't seem to take vacations, so I showed up yesterday anyway. And today, well, gosh darn it, DH has the cell phone, so if anyone needs anything from me, it's a shame. Hah.

I started to work on Just Nan's snowflake thingy (you know, the one I've stitched before), only I stitched it two more times so I could try my hand at this biscornu thingie.

And OMG, is it not the cutest thing ever???

And by the by, there will be a button in the middle, I just wanted to put a candycane button or charm in the middle and the local craft stores are mysteriously out of Christmas Items. I guess I was surprised, because with CommercialMas, you would've thought they had the displays out by now. I mean, it is after Valentine's Day and all. For the meantime, I just put in a simple stitch with white floss until I find a button that makes my little heart glad.

Still, So cute! So fun! I forsee a houseful of biscornus in the future. They'll be like little cross-stitch tribbles. Bein' cute, taking up space, growling at Klingons and all that jazz. I even picked which one I think I need next.

Btw, great thanks to Annette's awesome tutorial, for without perfect and clear instructions, I am a lost little lamb when it comes to finishing anything.

Now I'm going to go spend the rest of my day fondling my biscornu while checking out how Bo is doing with his Mysterious Soap Disease of the Pancreas.

First CATS Happy Dance.

This is Candy Cane Snowflake by Just Nan! (yayyyyyyy). The super yay is that the chartpack came with enough striped beads (the ones that are hard to find, I have plenty of the others or good substitutes) to do the piece 2 more times! Can you say biscornu? Yeah, I thought you could.

This is the best picture I could get that didn't zap out the middle charm. I'm totally stealing Kari's idear, and getting a candycane button/charm for the middle for the biscornu, it'll be sweet (hah! I'm punny!).