Stitching Blogger Question and Thank You

Thank you everyone for the input on a color choice for the words on Frogging Around. Between the comments on the blog entry and the answers I got on the forum I made my choice. I went with the variegated pinks/corals and last night I stitched the word "Away" that goes right next to the frog (on his left side). It looks great! The letters stand out very well and the colors make me think of the flowers on lilypads. I will try to get a picture up tonight or tomorrow. Thank you all so much! Your input really helped me find something that would work!

Lee from Lake Stitcher has restarted the SBQ (Stitcher's Blogging Questions) and hopes to post a new question every month. This month's question is as follows: (copied from her blog)

"Suppose we say that there are two types of stitchers. 


There are those who enjoy the “process” of stitching.  They stitch for stitching’s sake and if something gets finished, so much the better, but it’s not necessarily the end goal.   Primarily, it’s the application of needle and thread to cloth that makes them happiest.


Then there are those who are “project” stitchers.  They move steadily through their projects, certainly enjoying their stitching time, but finding their greatest joy in the completed stitching. 


If you had to pick one to describe yourself, which type of stitcher would you be?  I imagine that we could all say that we fall somewhere in between, but really think hard about this and try to pick just one.  And once you’ve decided whether you’re a Process or Project stitcher, tell us if your recognize that approach in other parts of your life."

I  would love to say I am both because I know there are projects that I have done just because I loved the project itself, and there are some where I enjoyed the process of stitching. However, thinking back I think I have to say I am more of a project stitcher. I do enjoy the process, but I am drawn to pieces based on how they look. I enjoy many different types/styles of designs also, some that do not seem to go together and have prompted comments such as "I love looking at your projects because you have such a wide variety of styles!" and "I love looking at your work because you can't be easily pigeonholed on style". So yeah, I think I am mostly a project stitcher.

Thank you Lee, for starting up the SBQ again!

Help Please

I tried backstitching Frogging Around's letters with both the darkest teal in the variegated and with black floss, neither looked good. So I started the letters again with 909 (that's the Y), the frog is done in 911.

The original called for a variegated Six Strand Sweets that looks to be a combo of purples and greens (dark). So I layed a bunch of different colors on the fabric but I can't make up my mind which to use. The first pic shows a decent representation of the actual fabric color. I'm leaning towards 702, 704, or 4050. I want something that will look nice, but stand out on the fabric so the letters will be visible.

It is a mix of dark and light shades of green with grays as well

This pic is clickable to make it bigger. 
I am leaning towards 702, 704, or 4050 which is in 4th row, third from the left.
Top color: 739 Letter "Y" 909
2nd Row: 676, 744, 4050, 4120
3rd Row: 680, 782, 437
4th row: 955, 702, 704, 369, 208
5th Row: 3837, 552, 3834, 3835

Please guys give me your opinions because I am stumped. I just can't figure it out, though I think part of it is because I stink at color changing (which is why I rarely change charted colors) and because I am annoyed by this project. It shouldn't have taken more than a week and its been a month and I've already frogged the words 5 times. I put the purples on there because the original floss had purple in it and I like purple but I don't think it goes on the green fabric with a green frog. 

Heck maybe I should just do the letters in black. ARRGGGHHH..ok putting this aside for a bit and waiting for your opinions. I would really appreciate it!

Thanks!

New project: I started an afghan 2 nights ago. I did the gauge swatch and was very disappointed to find that despite stitching really loosely and using a hook 2 sizes larger than the pattern calls for, I still came up half an inch short on the gauge. So I gave up and did the starting chain with more stitches than called for, until it was 45" long, which is how wide the afghan should be. Since it is an afghan getting exact gauge isn't such a big deal like it would be for a sweater or something. Also it is a very simple pattern of double crochet, nothing fancy, so adding extra stitches won't disrupt the pattern.I am going to use a special stitch near the ends to add a raised area, just for a bit of decoration. Since this is simply a matter of doing front post doubles in the same spot as a double crochet would go, it won't upset the pattern or size either and it will add some depth and interest I think. Here's hoping I can actually finish this afghan, if so it will be my first.

And The Winner Is...

Envelope please.....



The suspense is killing you ....



isn't it??


anticipation...is making me wait...(old Heinz ketchup commercial)


waiting

waiting

ok ok I'll announce it now..(sorry, I just felt like teasing a bit lol)

Ok, I used the random number generator this time since I did the drawing in the middle of the night, so I couldn't have my niece pull the names..

Because there were 19 entries I have decided to give 2 gift certificates away (I hit 50 followers also)..

First up is:

Number ....

2!


Congratulations Brigitte!

" Brigitte said...
Very nice little frog. It looks great on that fabric.
I've just looked at the pictures of your last post with all your stash. I always love to see other stitchers' stash as it always inspires me to go through my own stash again and find new old treasures in it.

May 18, 2010 5:52 AM"

And..the second winner is:

Number...

11!

Congratulations Karen!

" Karen said...

I "follow" a lot of blogs too and am so glad you are following mine! I love to see what everyone is stitching....sometimes is enabling, which can be bad since I already have too much stash.

Can't wait to have a look around blog!
May 18, 2010 10:43 PM"

Congratulations to you both. The gift certificates have been ordered and you should be receiving the information from 123 stitch soon!

Thank you all for entering this giveaway, it was a lot of fun!

Still Frogging Around & Thank you!

I am still working on Frogging Around and put in some more. I'm not sure if I like the threads the letters are done in or not, but I don't want to pull it out (frog) them again. Here's the latest Pic. I just finished adding the "G" in "Go" and the "F" above it.

I still think this design is cute, just didn't really want to stitch tonight, but did add those two letters then called it good. LOL

I think I know how to make those letters stand out better, backstitch them even though the chart doesn't call for it. That should help, specially if I use the same dark color that is in the variation floss. Will have to give that a try.

WOW I have been pleasantly surprised by the many many comments and how happy people were that I clicked the "Follower" thing on their blogs. If I had realized it helped the authors see who follows their blogs, I would have done it sooner. Oh well, better late than never I guess! Thank you all!

Giveaway, Catching up on Blogs and stitching!

I have a lot of blogs (166 I think it is now) in my google reader, but I realized that this doesn't let the blog owners know that I read their blogs unless I comment on every single one. Due to chronic pain I can't always comment to every post as I can't sit here long enough, but I do read them. So for the last couple of days I went and became a "follower" on those blogs that use the google follower thing. I absolutely love reading other stitchers' blogs. The pictures they post of their WIPS and finishes are very inspiring, and the little glimpses they give into their lives (such as gardening, family events etc.) help me to get to know them as the people they are. Does this mean I am a nosy person? LOL Reading their blogs also helps me to deal with chronic pain by giving me something interesting to focus on instead of focusing on my pain. Thank you so much for that!

Anyway, I noticed today that I have 30 followers to this blog and I was amazed! Thank you all for reading my little posts, I really appreciate it. To celebrate I will be giving away a $25.00 (US dollar) gift certificate to 123Stitch. If you wish to be included in this giveaway, leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name on May 24th (1 week).

I did some stitching last night. I worked on "Frogging Around" by Jessica Willis Burr (Six Strand Sweets) from The Gift Of Stitching magazine's July 2006 issue. I had done the backstitch with the recommended DMC floss of 3799 but it didn't show up real well on the dark fabric so I switched it to black. The outline of the frog was done in 2 strands to make nice sharp edges, and the interior backstitch was done in 1 strand. I love the way it looks; the frog is just so cute! I pulled the words out because the floss I had chosen didn't show up very well, so I will be doing the words over using a brighter variegated DMC (4040) and the backstitch words will be in black (2 strands) so they show up real well. I am expecting to be done in a couple days and then I will have my first HD of 2010!

Thank you all for your wonderful comments, I really appreciate them!

My Stash

My favorite posting board (Cross Stitch Forum) started a topic asking people to post pictures of their stash. So I grabbed my camera and took pictures. I knew I had a decent sized stash, except for fabrics, but I didn't realize just how much I had mostly because it is spread out in two different rooms. Anyway, here are the pictures with descriptions beneath them.

This is the top shelf of a small bookshelf (3 shelves only) that sits in my bedroom, on my side of the bed. This shelf contains US Stitching Mags, lots of charts and some kits. The charts that come as leaflets, or in plastic baggies (such as HAED) are on this shelf.

These are my bobbin boxes that contain all the floss that I have on bobbins. Most are DMC floss, but there are a few silks on bobbins, metallics and such on bobbins as well. The red and black box holds my backup DMC in ziploc baggies, sorted by the hundreds (100, 200s, etc.) This all sits atop the small bookshelf in my room.

 This pile sits atop the 3 drawer plastic chest next to the bookshelf in my bedroom. It contains a floss bobbin box from a finished project, waiting to put bobbins away. A travel case with all the floss needed for both of my Teresa Wentzler WIPS. Magazines I have received lately, and a few printed freebies, waiting to be put away.

This is a 3 drawer plastic cabinet. The top drawer holds extra floss, beads, metallics, needles, silks, and a couple small kits. The second drawer holds thread crochet stuff, hooks, ribbons and things like that. The bottom drawer holds fabric, wips, and kits. Behind this cabinet are two plastic tubes of Aida fabric. One is mine, one is my SIL's.

This is my stitching travel bag. It currently holds 4 projects because I took them to Indiana with me. There are two magazines I bought in it as well. Bobbin boxes containing the floss for those projects. The projects are: anniversary sampler, frog from TGOSM, Christmas Dreams and the Quaker.

Top shelf of large bookshelf in Den. This contains my hard and soft cover pattern books, leaflets and two binders. One binder has charts from done projects, as well as small charts (like Miribillia charts) all in those clear plastic page protectors. The other binder contains charts from an old mailing service I had joined then canceled because I didn't like most of the charts.

Bottom drawer of old dresser in the den. It contains UK Stitching magazines with a few US ones as well.

Middle drawer of dresser in Den. This contains all finished pieces that have not been framed or finished into something. They are protected with acid free tissue paper and white towels.

Top drawer of the dresser in the Den. It contains off-size charts, and UK and US stitching mags.

Well that is my stash. This does not count the items I packed up to send to the UK for a friend whose ex threw her stash out.

I am a bit embarrassed at how large my stash is. But I love it! I get a lot of pleasure out of re-reading the magazines, looking at the charts and re-arranging my threads, so it is very worth it to me!

In Indiana

We made it to Indiana. It was a rough trip thanks to the weather in TN. We ended up having to spend a night in AL and another in Nashville because as soon as we got half way through Nashville they closed all the major highways and lesser highways and we couldn't get through. So we spent the night. We arrived yesterday. DH's aunt is still hanging in. We went to visit this evening and it was so very sad. It reminded me a great deal of when my oldest brother passed away. He was comatose for over 2 weeks before he passed, with everyone sitting around him in the room. We had been told that she would not make it through the night, but she has. From everything I have heard she is a very strong person. I wish I had been able to get to know her.

Mylene, thank you for your condolences, I appreciate them.

I should be home on Sunday.