Wow, I almost thought I was retired...

I'm back at work after working only 3 days in the past 2 weeks.  Apparently I've become so confused on what day it was because I thought Sunday was Monday and idiot that I am I thought my phone and my computer were wrong when both informed me it was Sunday  I then send a text to Sara who confirmed it was Sunday and I had yet another day off.  OMG, it was like I'd been given a snow day, even though the last thing I needed was another day off.    So I thought I'd be ready for work when I came in on Tuesday, but I found I really wasn't ready to deal with people yet.  First of all, we are asked at least 10 times a shift about renting a bike and that requires a long answer so by the 10th person I'm personally exhausted with the subject but certainly can't say leave me the hell along please...even the please doesn't help the situation.  So I grin, smile, get through it and as soon as they are out the door text Sara with a few choice words.  And even as I type this I feel guilty because there is no way for visitors to Ocean City to know that bikes aren't allowed on the boardwalk after 11 a.m. so it's perfectly normal to ask and since I'm in front of the bikes that Greg leaves out all day and night as advertising, obviously they are going to come in here.  But God give me strength to get through the 10 bike questions today because I'm less than excited to hear the questions any more.  I've been stitching non-stop but only have one thing to show this week.     Hands on Designs latest short stack, "Live Within Your Harvest" turned from this

to this.  

These short stacks are really fun to stitch, took a couple of nights to stitch and one night to finish.  I stuff mine with lizard litter to begin with for weight and then stuff the remainder with polyfil.  I forgot to check supplies when I picked up the chart but was lucky to have  all but one of the fibers.  So I did substitute since I didn't want to go to the shop to get just one fiber- I replaced the French lilac with Gentle Arts Red Plum.  As for stitching I kept true to the designers vision....almost.  I couldn't help myself when it came to the girl's hair.  I did satin stitch on the back of the head and added a braid down her back.  I do believe I made it just a tad too long, but I couldn't help myself and didn't want to cut it because once I start trimming it could end up too short.  But just pleased to be finished.   So far there have been 3 short stacks and I've stitched them all...now waiting for another.  I do believe I will be stitching every one of them.  While I did finish 3 of the Plum Street ornaments from "Stranded Jacks", I have yet to assemble them...hopefully Thursday if Izi doesn't visit.  And of course I've already picked my next three projects. 

 The first thing I'm working on  is "Autumn in Baltimore"by Brenda Gervais.  While I do a lot of her pieces on 16/18 ct. linen, I'm actually stitching this on the suggested linen, 28 ct. over one and I am loving this piece.  I'm a little concerned about the finishing, but I'm willing to give it a try. She has actually encased a papier mache box with fabric and stitching.  At first I thought it was the same box used on her "Here a Peep There a Peep" which is a small oval box, but Sara informed me that it's a little bit bigger than that, but still small at 5", so this is going to be so darn cute I can't wait to finish it.  

 Up after that is Erica Michael's, "Scary Berry"

Thread and linen are all ready to go as well as is the final pick for stitching,  Brenda Gervais, "The Cat & the Moon".  I have everything ready to go with this but I'm thinking of using one of the Rusty Bucket instead of her peat pot and it's just a tad bigger so instead of using 40 ct., I'm thinking of 36 ct.  But I could change my mind before I actually put needle and thread to linen.  Obviously I'm getting the autumn displays ready to go up in September, which is sooo close.  

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Oh, my no matter how much  I stitch my "to do" pile just gets higher and higher.  But I'm having the time of my life.  We had a surprise visit from a designer yesterday, so thrilled to be working to meet her,  which is always unexpected and exciting.  Lila Umstead was vacationing with her family at one of the beaches in Delaware and took a trip down to see us.  Designers are our rock stars so it was exciting to speak with her and have a visit.  Her "Halloween Quaker" design is one of our number one designs this year.  While I have it in my stash (no surprise) I haven't started it yet, but perhaps this will motivate me to get on it.  Her "Siena" arrived here last week, I think, and it's an underwater mermaid that is a must.  Her treasure trunk is filled with threads, etc.  She's one of us.  This is a beautiful design and of course has been added to my stash.  Well, I need to get some work done, so I'll end here.  Have a wonderful weekend, hopefully you will have a chance to work  on your projects.

This was a fun one from start to finish

I love Blackberry Lane Designs because of the detail they give each piece.  Lots of color changes, but in the end it is always worth it.  "Relaxing at the Beach" was so cute and the stitch was really fun.  Of course, after it was done I wish I had done a couple of things differently, but I had already redone one side when I decided to replace the flags (after I had stitched them) on the banner at the top with ones I cute out instead.  At first I cute them out of ribbon but didn't  have the colors I wanted and God forbid I should go buy some....so I used scrapbook paper instead.  I also used satin stitch on the boogie board and the front flamingo and the red bucket.  I used a #8 perle coton for the bucket handle.  Marie has included 2 charts in the chart pack.  One has the sign and one doesn't.  I really wanted to use the directional sign so I could put Ocean City on it and used Beach on one, Home on one , the date and my initials on others.  For a final bit of tweaking things, I added a seagull button to the sign post, because in Ocean City there are seagulls sitting on all posts normally.  Then I handed it over to Sara and Vernon.  When Sara sent me a picture of the sign we used for inspiratiion for the final product, I knew we could never freehand the lettering, so I went to Michaels and purchased the 

air machine 2 (God forbide I order it from our supplier at a much lower cost, because it would have delayed the finish by a couple of weeks and I could be dead by then) so to do this lettering I spent a little under $300 at Michaels.  What we do and spend for our art.  I embarrassed to say I've lost the vinyl for the lettering already, during a clean up at home (this is why I should just never clean)...so now I have to get more.   But I love the machine so I'll be doing them for any of these signs people want.  Of course Vernon doesn't want to ever put the letters on another one so we are trying to figure that part out now.  

Anyway, I hope Marie doesn't mind the changes I made.   It wasn't a change in design, simply a change in the stitches used.  I did stitch it on Picture This Plus Helix in the count Marie used and used the colors she called for.  Perfect design and too much fun to stitch.  And now I'm moving on to Fall.  And of course I saw the new Brenda Gervais pieces and I've pulled all 4 as possibles.  But there are always the Halloween pieces from Blackberry Lane that I have to stitch.  Good golly, it's a good thing I've got 5 days off this week.  Yes, it's almost like I'm retired.  Whoopee!  So I'm going to work on finishing on the challenge piece which is fully stitched...and a fall piece I finished last night and start a few new pieces.  Fun, Fun, Fun....having a grand old time.  Have a great week...hope you get some stitching in. 

It's getting exciting....

Yes, Sara, Vernon and myself are working on the completion of the "relaxing at the beach" piece from Blackberry Lane Design.  I finished the stitching and Sara found a sign we are replicating and Vernon has now starting the making of the sign.  I love it when a plan comes together.  Of course, that wasn't the only thing I was working on...I finished the Festive Fobs-Seaside Edition, and also did the  finishing so it is not taken it's place of residence in the shop....

I stitched it on 32 ct. PTP Helix linen using 1 ply of suggested fibers and then just finished it into a pillow pin cushion as per Sara's request.  I then stitched the little whale in the bottle for a scissor fob and attached a pair of the micro silver scissors.  As I told you before, I used a small silver fish bead to fill in an empty space beside the alphabet.  Now as you already know, this design was for 10 smalls, needle books, fobs, etc.  But I love how this little mini sampler worked out and love the tiny fob.  However, yesterday while I was patting myself on the back, I noticed I forgot to put the water spout over the whale on the fob.  So now I have to try to do that with the fob already constructed....oh, crap!  So I stopped patting myself on the back, hit my self in the head and just said, what an idiot I am.   Because I finished both projects I was doing for the August theme, I began to look around for my next project and thought I would just finish my challenge piece, I Dream of the Sea by Hands on Design.  I purchased it originally as a special kit sold exclusively by another shop.  But then Cathy announced she was releasing the chart for sale in a week or so,  so now I can get it done and it can be a shop sample.  I only have one side of the pincushion left to do,  the rest of the pieces are done, so this will be a win win for me.  And since it is our challenge piece for October that makes this a double win....although I still have to do the finishing UGH!  While the turquoise tray is no longer being sold, Sara and I are ordering a light blue and hoping that the tray we've seen  in a reddish color is the right color so we're ordering it as well to take the other trays place.  This is such a wonderful design by Cathy so we're trying to stay true to the original idea.  Anyway, I'm having so much fun stitching these special pieces and finding different ways to finish them.  It gets my creative juices flowing.  Have a great stitchy week.  It's been hotter than hell down here, in the 90's with the humidity factored in...thank God for a/c.  So stay in, keep the water flowing and keep stitching.  Winter is coming!