By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea.....finished!!!

Another wonderful event last weekend with Sherri Jones.  Many old friends were here and a couple of new friends and it was a drama free weekend....whew!  The weather didn't cooperate exactly, but stitchers thankfully don't really care about that...they are stitching anyway and don't mind sitting inside.  Since I worked the shop I didn't get a lot of stitching done, but Monday I was on it.  I finished stitching the gauze necklace and needlebook for "By the Sea" from Erica Michaels.  It was a joy to stitch and I can't believe I'm saying this, but a joy to finish.  The more I finish the more confident I become...although my Mani di Donna has proven once again I should not follow my own thinking when constructing her little totes...but that's another story.   Here is the By The Sea complete.  Since I talked about the strawberry in an earlier post I'll just discuss the gauze pendant and the needlebook.  Gauze 40 ct. pendant was an easy stitch (the gauze is so open it's easy to see.  My problem with this was,  I couldn't find the Bezel charm pieces at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  Don't know if they are discontinuing this particular one or what, however, at Hobby Lobby they had the smallest starfish ever in a package so I purchased that knowing I had small shells in our own shell shop.  I looked at the beads suggested and I just couldn't get past thinking I could use the sand outside my door....however, in the end I didn't use either as I was thrilled with just the shell and the starfish.  But this is a matter of personal choice.  The needlebook was a smooth stitch, but as usual I had an issue with blank space.  On the front I therefore added a few flying birds just to have something in the space.  I then used them again on the inside just to have consistency with the front.

I have to tell you it's absolutely not needed because it folds beautifully, but I keep thinking I need to put a closure on it.  But of course I haven't yet, just talking about it.  It's in the shop on display so by the time I take it back I'll forget I ever thought about this.  But it would  be easy enough to do, and I  can always add it later.  If you have this in your stash...it's a fun easy stitch so get to stitching.  Once that was finished I thought I'd tackle the Christmas Mani di Donna piece I stitched last December and never assembled.  In the rush to get my house straightened up for the holidays I was stuffing projects in bags and throwing them in closets.  So it's been a real hunt trying to find some of it.  Anyway, I found this piece and decided to tackle it.  My supplies and tools were already out so it seemed the perfect time.  Things were going so perfect I should have know disaster was around the corner.  But I was on a finishing high and nothing could deter me.  I had ordered the plastic sheets that quilters used to make templates to use in place of cardstock for the sides and it worked like a charm.  I used double sided tape (of which I've got a ton since I keep ordering it in every size-a must have to assembling things at times, plus I use it now to make the tags)..anyway I pressed my warm and natural onto the tape then laced the fabric over that.  I tried several different fabrics but remembered I had a small dark green holly print originally so finally found it and when I opened it guess what fell out.  OMG my 1/2 stitched Erica Michaels silk Honey Berry ornament.  I really did a happy dance over this one since I have the threads and chart but nothing else in a tote bag beside my stitching sofa.  Can't wait to get back to it.  Anyway,  I was able to lace my fabric onto the wall piece perfectly.  Yes, I was patting myself on the back for some time.  Then I got out my circle cutter and cut a 4" circle out of matting for the bottom.  Perfect round and gathered the fabric over it and that's when things took a turn.  I decided to put the guide pieces back over the circular cutter blades so I wouldn't accidently cut anything I wasn't suppose to,  but missed and ended up just gliding my fingers down the blade.  On the plus side the blade was sharp, on the minus side I have two really deep cuts on my forefinger and my thumb.  Never known for letting adversity get me down I kept going.  Got bandaids and marched on, although I considered stopping at that point.  But I knew I couldn't.    I remembered to put a strip on the back seam to keep the circle shape...got the lining done and rick rack on and when I went to attach the handle it doesn't quite fit on the divider.  I'm afraid to cut a bigger divider because I think it will make the sides go wonky.  To make a long story short...I left the whole mess on the table and came to work.  I'll finish it tonight so I'll show you the end result tomorrow.  But now I get to pick out new projects and my tote is already overflowing with possibilities.  My favorite thing...starting a new project.  And I pulled a couple of fabrics and a  couple of new charts for my stash.  Well Delaware Sampler Guild is starting to roll in for the weekend...fun times ahead.   While these weekends may be exhausting a gathering of stitchers is the best gathering of all!