Angry Birds

My daughter Jessie introduced me to the Ipad app Angry Birds last night. I left her a message when she didn't answer her cell of the birds making their noises. Hopefully, she got the message that I wish she had not shown me this game!! I had Bloons which my 2yo granddaughter plays. It's sort of like that only more addictive. Jessie didn't tell me until this morning that if you tap after shooting the birds, some of them do other things like turn into three birds. Good thing I needed to recharge or I would still be playing!! OOPS! Better get to work!

Actually, I did work first. I think I figured out how to put a chat room on The Stitchers' Village. As soon as the technical support gets the building mapped and the link up, I will launch it. Which reminds me - need to locate a designer that will host a chat time.

Back to work.

FINISH IDEA FOR STITCHING

small w/loom two medium example showing stitched piece

I discovered the Butterfly Loom in June just before leaving for vacation. When I returned home, I placed my order. In the meantime I made a stop at Michael's for some wired ribbon. In my mind, this was the idea that would work the best to have a more sturdy form on which to mount a stitched piece of needlework.

I got the looms yesterday (like any good hoarder I got two full sets. You know, in case one of my very good friends wants to try them, also.) When my husband got home he wanted to go out to eat which interrupted my "weaving". After we got home and before I went to bed I had made three. Two on the medium loom and one on the small loom. The small and one medium are made with 2.5" wired brown crinkled ribbon. The other medium is made with 1.5" wired Fall decorative ribbon. The overall size of the small is about 7" with the inside square about 3 3/4". The medium two are overall about 9" with the inside 5 1/2". The third picture is showing a small stitched piece (it was the first one I found the right size) which has just been folded for demonstration. I plan to stitch the edges solid and cut the pieces to size then tack them to the woven background. They could be sewn with backing or whatever you want. Needlepoint or hardanger would work. Expect more ideas soon.

Jet Lag

It could be the time flying causing this, I should be over the actual jet lag from July 19. We started at 4 a.m. in Copenhagen, flew to London with a couple hours layover, flew to TX, layover, flew to KC, drove home. We travelled for at least 24 hours. After 3 weeks gone, it has taken some time to get back to real life.

We saw some beautiful places. London was fun and I wish we could have spent more time there. We managed the running tour and made it to several of the "must see" places. I could have stayed in Scotland. Norway was breathtaking!

So, back to work! I should not be blogging now, but in my online research I found so many fun and interesting blogs, that I realize I should update. I ran across a number of blogs that were very dated. A couple of those I wish were current as they were very well done. Why was I researching blogs? I am trying to get some new content on The Stitchers' Village web site and am thinking of creating a blog list.

Have you ever gone online for one thing and ended up "losing" much more time than intended by being led astray (clicking blog links, for example)? That is what happened to me this morning when I should have been sending out the TSV newsletter. Back to work!!

The Fun Work

I made a trip to Abilene yesterday to Picture This Plus to find a piece of fabric for my 2nd "Caritas" design. I had a piece of relic lugana that was a very nice gold color, but wasn't sure this was what I really wanted to use. So, I picked a few crystal colors - chime, sterling, stellar, and ancient - to study along with the earthen and aerial I had. Last evening, I had them together with my palette of Dinky Dyes threads to decide what colors to use. I also picked up some Rainbow Gallery threads - Arctic Rays and Fuzzy Stuff in a couple of colors for another project I need to get finalized. I decided I do not think the ancient will work and may need to get a little farther along with the design because any of the other three are potential candidates.

I have also been working on my desktop publishing. I need to get an ad together and find that they want it to be in Quark or InDesign. I have several of the individual Adobe products, but do you think that works to upgrade to what I need? Nope, have to purchase the full program. That irritates me. I guess I will submit as a pdf and see what happens.

I was also looking at a camera upgrade but think I have decided to stick to what I have. The model that I want is heavy. I did not consider the weight difference in a "better" camera and have decided that maybe I can get along just fine with what I have rather than lug around an extra (seems like) ten pounds. I did have a very insightful visit with the helpful person at Wolfe's Camera, however, and will return to purchase there if I work out and bulk up so that I can carry a better model. I actually came out of there with no purchases. Two points for self restraint!

The Stitchers' Village may seem quiet, but I have been busy, busy organizing information and the July newsletter. We had an oops with one of the time-specific classes, but think we have it all straightened out.

Back to designing and ad layout. Patty

The Past Week

Is it Thursday, again? I have spent the past two days in bed. It started with a sore throat on Sunday night and went downhill from there. Of course, it could be the result of a crazy weekend. We stayed in KC Wednesday night and got up at 4 on Thursday morning for an early flight to Syracuse. Julie and Matt picked us up and took us to the Mirbeau Lodge where their wedding was to be. A bridal shower was held that evening which lasted until about 8 and then I went with the girls for the bachelorette party. We were out until 3 a.m. Friday morning. I don't remember the last time I was up nearly 24 hours straight, but obviously, I'm not up for it any more. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner and a much earlier retirement time. Saturday was the wedding and it was beautiful. The Monet garden was the perfect setting for a perfect wedding. Everything was wonderful. After the reception we pretty much went to bed, but I wanted to get up in time to see Becky and Jessie off to the airport. I heard a door (we were in a suite of rooms with a common area) so I got up, ran smack into the door of the armoire that wouldn't stay closed, only to find it was only 2 a.m. and Julie was trying to get a fan for their room. The airconditioning was out and it was fairly warm. I wanted to let Michael sleep, so I got up and read until I heard the girls wake up call at 4:30. I made it back to bed and slept until 7:30 when my cell phone rang. It was the airline telling me the flight had been cancelled and in the middle of that call, Becky was beeping in so I was very confused and did not register what the airline said other than the reservation had been changed to the 1:15 flight. Note to self - when making reservations for others, don't give your number to the airline, give them the the number of the person flying. It was her flight that was cancelled. Oh, well, I tried to get everyone home in good time on Sunday as they insisted.

I've got to feel better today and back to full strength by Saturday. Marilyn and I are making a mad dash to the Columbus TNNA wholesale show. I have got to be up for walking most of the day Sunday. It is a huge show and I understand that there is no longer a counted thread section, but it is scattered through. That is good and bad for various reasons. Stamina wise, it might be bad. As of June 1 I am now the proud owner of the web site "The Stitchers' Village" (http://stitchersvillage.com). I have been trying to get up to speed on everything to do with it and make plans to keep it interesting. Losing three days to sickness has not been helpful. I have been stressing out about the whole thing and that may have been a contributing factor to my physical ailment, also. So, hopefully, I will get some order restored to my house today and get on track with plans for The Stitchers' Village fun page which is not coming together as quickly as I had hoped.

All conversations can't be intelligent

Started the morning with my dear husband finishing my sentences for me - incorrectly!! I tried to explain that it should not be made into a guessing game when I am trying to talk. I know I amuse him, but sometimes I'm not amused.

While on vacation last year, I was having a manicure and pedicure the very nice manicurist and I were talking. She was telling me where she was from in Africa. Somehow, when discussing dangers, etc., she told me that women with small children were cautioned, in her home area, to keep them nearby because sometimes the monkeys will snatch babies and small children. She then told a story about a child who was found several years after having been taken by the monkeys and the difficulty in trying to rehabilitate after living as a monkey. She then made the statement that, if her baby was taken by a monkey, she wouldn't want it back. I explained to her that she would want her baby back no matter what. Ok, when relating this conversation to Michael, I realized it was a mistake. I do know how silly it sounds to admit that, first of all, you are having the conversation at all, and secondly, that you are trying to convince someone they WILL want their baby back from the monkeys. Yes, dear, I understand that it was not an intellectual discussion!

There was a salamander in the garage last evening. When I walked out, something scurried, so of course I called Michael out to "get it". I told him it was huge, but he did not seem concerned. His solution was to open the garage door and I found myself herding it across the driveway into the bushes. At least it was out of the garage.

As to relevant news, I will be taking over The Stitchers' Village http://stitchersvillage.com/ on June 1. This will be quite a project and I am excited, yet nervous. I am working on plans to make things interesting and fun! Several popular designers have submitted ornaments for an ornament insert to The Stitchers' Voice, the site's newsletter. I am working on a plan for those! Plan, organize, etc. Better get back to work!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Some days I need to stop and prioritize my to do list. I tend to try and do them all at the same time. Then, I tend to get sidetracked. I took my daughter's camera to Wolfe's Friday and they were having a sale. I tried not to look, but they had scanners on sale (which I really did need to get) and I was amazed to see that you can scan photo 35mm film negatives on a relatively inexpensive scanner. So, this morning while working on the "organize storage room" item on my to do list, I could not resist opening up the old boxes of photos and finding a few of the packets that contain negatives. I grabbed the nearest negative when I set up the scanner on Saturday and was amazed. My daughters will probably come and take it away from me when I begin scanning and uploading their childhood memories! From a designing aspect, however, I am excited to see if I have any photos that I can use.

I finished "Friendship" (pictured) - a design based on Chinese indigo designs. I am posting a preliminary picture - this is pre-framing shot straight out of the q-snap. I had a frame that I intended to use for it, but find that I am not quite happy with the way it looks, so will take it to the frame shop tomorrow to pick out something better. If you noticed 'blank slate' on a previous post, this may be the way to go with designing because I sometimes end up with a piece for which it is difficult to find a satisfactory frame. Which reminds me. Perhaps I should consider doing something different with the finishing of this! Add that to my to do list!

Would you find it a little creepy if someone randomly sent a text message to your phone saying "U out there? U ok?" followed by "Wondering when!"? I replied to inquire the identity of the sender only to have the reply "Guess this not jill?". Then they explained how they typed the wrong number without their glasses. That was last November, then in April "U alone nw?" To which I replied "no". And now, this morning, "Gm bg" which I have no idea what that means and I suggested they add Jill to their contacts so that they don't keep sending me random texts. Sounds shady, right? Particularly when they claimed not to know anyone named Jill.



My husband and I attended church services in Wakefield yesterday to see my grandson's pre-school program. Unbelievably cute, particularly, when being given their materials, each were asked what they want to be when they grow up. The first boy said "a superhero" and then most of the boys after said the same thing. One little girl said "a mermaid". Too cute. I really have to give the teacher credit because they went through the abc's with a little bible verse after each letter and the class knew a lot of it from memory! Good job!

After leaving Wakefield, we headed for the May Day cemetery to take some pictures of some markers. That's to go along with my ancestry project. I multi-tasked since that was as close as I was going to be to May Day with a free afternoon for a while. If it hadn't been misting rain, I would have been more thorough, but I only got the shots I wanted most before taking my wet feet out of there. I haven't had a chance to view them yet. I did have a chance to look at the pictures from Saturday night. We got a private tour of the Matrot Castle here in Topeka. I took some pictures of the design on the door and other things that I had no idea if they would turn out or not - but they did!! It was very interesting to see the size of the building and to go up the tiny winding stairways to the upper floors. I thought about it afterward - how would I like to have a full length dress on going up and down those things! Wouldn't be easy. Especially if you were carrying an infant (or anything else for that matter).

It's back to the list for me now! At least I can cross - blog - off!!! Have a great day!!!!