Got my Personalized Sampler!

I ordered a personalized sampler from Nouveau Encore Designs. Stephanie made the process very simple. I love it! Can you find my family members names hidden in it? There's a frog for my stitching things (it's a stitcher's joke: control the frog or he'll make you rippit, rippit). You can see my home state of California, a stitched sampler 'cause I like them, a cake for cake decorating, an ichthys for my faith that's just like the one on my car, and on the lower left a little "symbol" for my Bachelor's Degree in Accounting. My favorite part is the scene she designed in the bottom left. It's for the times we've spent at Lake Tahoe for July 4th. See the fireworks over the lake? The sampler is about 400 stitches square, so it will be about 24 inches square stitched over 28 or 32 count fabric.

In the meantime, I've finished Ghoul School by Glendon Place. I'll post a photo when I can manage the good camera. I've been doing a lot of crochet, especially dishcloths, because they are fast and fairly easy, I can make them up in a variety of stitches, and I can crochet even if I'm laying back with my foot up. My ankle is healing but I won't be able to put weight on it until the end of November so just getting the camera out is a challenge, let alone taking a picture.

I've also stitched up several more Soldier's Kissing Pillows, an Embroiderer's Guild of America community service project. Here's a link to read more about them. My local EGA chapter, Baldy View, has completed over 4000 pillows in the last few years. Pam R. has stitched hundreds and Georgette B. has sewn and stuffed a good portion of the 4000. Of course we produced so many because Pat C. got her many friends from around the world to stitch them too but our local stitchers have done a bunch. We really want the troops to know that someone cares for them and their families.

Soon I hope to be back to Flower Power by Crossed Wing Collection. Again, I'll post pictures when I'm able.

Broken Leg Stitching

Yup, it's been a while since I posted. I'll try to get some of my finishes for the last year up. But the current news is that I broke my ankle on October 1.

I'd love to report that I broke it by doing something cool, like outrunning a mountain lion or jumping over a stream while back country hiking. But I broke it by slipping in the shower. Fully clothed. With shoes on. And the water was not running.

See, our shower is leaking into the kitchen ceiling below so we have to have it rebuilt. That means we have options to change the bathroom. I was measuring the tub-shower spaces and when I stepped into the shower, I skidded on the non-skid mat. In my defense, the tiles are VERY slippery (hence the mat), the mat is weirdly soft, and the tiles under the mat were still wet. The irony is that if I'd been barefoot I might have felt the moisture and been more careful. Anyway, I ended up with both my tibia and fibula broken. Surgery to pin everything is scheduled for tomorrow morning. In the meantime I'm watching a lot of television and doing a lot of stitching.

I'm nearly done with Ghoul School from Glendon Place. The stitched area is about 11 inches square. I've used DMC for everything except the moon, which is stitched in Caron Waterlilies silk. I'm stitching one line at a time so I get the right color mix from the overdyed color. I also added Kreinik glow-in-the-dark to the two ghosts. I thought about adding a yellow glow-in-the-dark to the moon, but I don't want to mess up the silk texture. I may add some glowing "highlights" to the moon when it's done. You can't really see the characters much, but they're missing their heads! They're actually buttons that will be added when everything is done.