Published Card

Over two months ago, I reported that I had discovered that I was going to be published. Today I received another "ARTCOMP" magazine from the same publisher. I opened the magazine hoping for the best and expecting the worst.

I'm quite delighted to report that my card was published. It's on page 116 of The Stampers' Sampler Catch Up Issue, Volume 12, 2008, if you want to take a look. Woo hoo! You'll recognize the card, as it's the same one I used for my April swap.

Unfortunately, they managed to misspell my last name, but, hey, there I am.

Oddly busy weekend

It's been a bit of a crazy weekend. I had a routine doctor's appointment Friday afternoon, which allowed me to leave work early and enjoy a beautiful spring day here in DC. I was able to run a bunch of errands afterwards, which was also great. I came home to find an envelope from Lake Stitcher in with the mail that contained some wonderful fabrics and in my favorite color! That evening, I stitched a small ornament during the baseball game (GREAT game - yes, BA?). I'll post a picture soon.

Saturday was another beautiful day. I spent it doing a bit of yardwork, running some more errands, and updating my summer wardrobe a bit (it was needed). We had dinner with some friends of ours.

Today was overcast. We went to buy paint for our kitchen (a nice creamy yellow, hopefully). The appliances in our kitchen are mostly hooked up. Next weekend, the flooring guys come to sand, stain, and seal the new floors. Hopefully, within the next two weeks, our kitchen renovation will be DONE! I can't wait.

While we were at the hardware store, we also bought some geraniums for our porch, so the regular front yardwork is pretty much done for the spring. Now we just need to re-grade the plot so I can finally "landscape" and have a real front "yard". Since our yard is only about 4' x 12', it's hard to call it a real yard.

Otherwise, I've mostly been doing normal household maintenance chores (laundry, etc.) today. Like I said, an oddly busy weekend. Where did the time go?

Constructive criticism works best

Those of you who are paying attention may have noticed that I have an interest in how organizations work, particularly in organizational communication. I recently came across this article, which I thought might be of interest to others. Click through for the full article.

Dishing it out
from http://saqonline.smith.edu/article.epl?issue_id=18&article_id=1837

Constructive criticism works best, so think before you speak

The way we deal with criticism can say a lot about our personalities. Brock Hansen, MSW '73, author of Shame and Anger: The Criticism Connection (Change for Good Press, 2006), believes that you can live a more emotionally intelligent and healthy life if you know how to accept criticism. But the way in which you criticize others can be just as important. Following are some of Hansen's tips to soften the blow and increase your chance of communicating effectively.

Nephew's Sampler

I mentioned in a post last month that I had started a birth sampler for one of my nephew's. At the time, I'd only done the vine work. Last night, during the Nats game (they WON!!!!), I did the specialty stitching. Here's a progress picture.

I've also finished my niece's birth sampler in the past week or so. I'll post a finished picture once I iron it.

Do you Comment?

About the time I started this blog, I also set myself up with an RSS feed account. In my case, I'm using Google Reader. I like the convenience of Reader, as it allows me to read many more blogs than I might check on a daily basis.

The downside to Reader is that I comment less on other blogs. That extra step it takes seems to be just enough of a hurdle to me. Unless I feel somewhat strongly about what you've written, I'm not likely to comment. In fact, if I know your email address, I'm more likely to send you a message. I know, it's a bit bizarre.

How about you? Do you subscribe to RSS feeds? Has that changed the way you interact with blogs?

My Very First Project

As part of the on-going clutter-busting, I've been sorting through some of my crafting materials, getting ready for the yard sale in June. I found the first piece of cross-stitch I ever attempted in with some other stitched but otherwise unfinished pieces I had.

I stitched this, I think, in the summer of 1988. It was meant to be a bookmark for my friend, who's the one who first introduced me to the concept of cross-stitching. I'm not even sure why we would have had the fabric in the house, since none of my family cross-stitches. I don't remember having a pattern to use. I think I was just making it up as I went along. Since it's left-right centered, I probably charted out the name ahead of time. As you can see, I didn't quite have the trick of top-bottom centering yet.

This languished in a desk drawer in my grandmother's house, which is where I found it when Mom and I were cleaning out the house after Grandma had to be moved into a nursing home. It was still in the hoop when I found it. I've tried cleaning it, but short of bleaching it, I don't think there's much that can be done.

Now it'll go back into storage, as the inaugural and permanent member of my FUFO* stash.

*FUFO = Finished Unfinished Object, which means it's been stitched but not otherwise finished into it's final form. The stitching community should consider changing this to SUFO instead.

March Flowers and Spring Weather

I sat down last night during the last half of the baseball game and finally completed the stitching on my March flowers for the Brides Tree SAL. I had the basket stitched already, but had to complete all the flowers and vines. I'm glad this is done.

Yesterday was a beautiful spring-like day here in DC. It's worth noting because we get so few of them. I made my first batch of bruscetta to mark the occasion. Yum.

Today it's gloomy and rainy. It was pouring about half an hour ago, but now it's let up again. It's a good day to work on the clutter-busting, because I'm not tempted to go outside. I've made good progress so far, but there are still many piles of paperwork to be vanquished, although the laundry is mostly done and even put away. The latter is always my bigger challenge, especially when we've had company and there are all those extra linens to be sorted out.

Back to the real world.

Stitch Meme

I’m late to this game, but here goes. I found this through Stitch Bitch, who found it on Kendra's blog.

1. How do you hold your fabric? In a hoop (usually) in my left hand.
2. Floss licker? Only when I’m at the end of the thread and trying to coax a stitch or two more out of it and need to keep re-threading.
3. How do you thread your needle? Hold thread at the very end between thumb and index finger of my left hand. Hold needle in my right hand and coax the hole over the threads in my left.
4. What needle do you like best? 24s. I hate beading needles. I want to try one of those double-pointed needles.
5. Are you a needle loser? I’ve lost my fair share.
6. What fabric do you prefer to stitch on? Linen and other evenweaves.
7. Bobbins or floss bags? I started with floss bags, as I hate winding. (And I agree with Jennifer’s husband about the kinks.) I’m slowly moving to stitchbows, because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered with the bags any more.
8. Are you a scissors collector? Nope.
9. Do you do your own framing, and if so, do you lace or pin? I’m a disaster at framing.
10. Are you a floss floozy? Not quite sure what this means, but I’m guessing yes, since I own the complete set of DMC and am working on my stash of GAST and WDW. I’m refusing to buy any other brands though. Enough is enough.
11. Silk? Not worth the cost, but I like the texture.
12. Railroader? Not really.
13. Are you a pattern or designer snob? No.
14. Do you get antsy when you give someone a stitched gift? Sometimes.
15. Have you reached S.A.B.L.E.*? Yes.
16. Do you wash your projects? Most of them.

*S.A.B.L.E. = Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy.

Adorable Bunny

This is my April ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL. Isn't it adorable? It's so spring-like.

This isn't an obvious choice for me. I tend more to The Victoria Sampler or the Sweetheart Tree in terms of patterns I like. These aren't even colors I normally like. Hot pink, mint green, periwinkle blue - so not me. Yet, you mix these colors with brown and I like them. Go figure.

I also usually like stitching more intricate patterns on some sort of evenweave fabric, but I embraced the color blocks on Aida. It made a nice change of pace.

This is a freebie pattern by Erica Michaels from the Rainbow Gallery. I used the following DMC substitutions. Cocoa - 841. Rose and Pink - 3689. Chocolate - 839. Periwinkle - 341. Green - 966. Whiskers - Wisper ecru. I used the Rainbow Gallery's conversion chart to choose colors. The fabric is a scrap of 18 count cream Aida.

Now I need to go back to my March flowers that I still haven't finished. I'm determined to have an ornamentifying weekend some time in the next month. Stay tuned.

April Swap Card

I've not been doing much crafting (or posting, for that matter). In the aftermath of travelling and tax preparation, I've been trying to catch up on the clutter-busting. My office looks like someone came in and dumped all the files. While I'm frustrated that it's not going faster, I am making inroads.

This weekend is Stamp Camp and our first trip to the new Washington Nationals stadium. I'm looking forward to seeing the new home of the Nats. Brave Astronaut has reported that it's a nice experience. I should also mention how happy I am that I now have baseball to fill some of the void left by the lack of new television episodes. Not that I've had much time to watch yet. Now if the Nats could just get back on a winning streak...

I'm participating in the card swap at Stamp Camp. Our theme this month was designer paper. I had two or three different ideas and then ran out of time for implementing any of them. Fortunately, I remembered I had a stash of cards I made last year that I meant to give as gifts and then never did. I have enough of them to use in the swap. Yea!

Stitching for a Friend

OK. So it's not the best picture. This is a grape leaf pattern on a bread cloth that I stitched in 1999 for the friend I just saw in Los Angeles. She has a grape theme to her kitchen, and this fits in quite well. Obviously, I still need to work on my photography skills.

Be careful what you complain about

I made it safely back to DC from LA. No teenagers today. No, no. Today I sat across the aisle from the has-been character actor who talked in his stage voice rather than in his indoor plane voice. At least the movie quieted him down somewhat, too. (Name that movie -- character actor laughed at all the bickering scenes between Jon Voigt and Helen Mirren.)

Otherwise it was a great trip. Nice weather. Good visits to a bunch of low key SoCal restaurants (Soup Plantation, anyone?). And lots of fun time with friends. While I wish it could've been a little longer, it's nice to be home.