Any advice from other stitchers?

I can't believe summer vacation is over. The kids are returning to school and the kids will be returning to the hospital. We typically have a low census until school starts. Hmm.....

I have been stitching a lot but have no photos to show my progress. I finished stitch Peace but am uncertain how to finish it - any suggestions?

I am also looking for some input about redwork. I just did a piece and when I moved my hoop I noticed the color of my cloth was a bit darker than the portion which had been outside the hoop. The background seemed to have a reddish tint. I know I didn't pull the thread over the bare part when stitching. Does floss give off a fine lint that collected? I took one of those lint rollers and went over it which helped. That light residue even seems to be in between the stitched parts. I'm guessing floss sheds a bit when you stitch. Maybe when you use other colors it isn't as obvious as when you use all one color. Let me know if you've had the same thing happen to you and how you deal with this. I used DMC floss - I'm not sure if that might be an issue or not. I look forward to hearing your experiences.

I hope everyone had great summers! Thanks for visiting - feel free to leave a comment and visit me again soon!

Valuable lessons!

I would love to post more photos, but I think my cord has a short and it's taking way too much time to download photos from my camera. In spite of that, here's my progress! Now that the dove is done, I'm feeling better about this piece. I took everyone's advice to clean up the white area. The most interesting thing happened when I looked at the dove under a magnifying glass - sure enough, not visible to the naked eye - cat hairs and lint. My tweezers looked HUGE under the magnifying glass. I did the best I could to extract the offending hairs and lint and it did improve the white immensely. Thanks for the suggestions! I am now religious about putting my piece in it's plastic bag the minute I'm finished with it.
I also learned a valuable lesson about ripping out red thread which leaves a residue. I had been frogging by putting my needle under each stitch and pulling the thread out and went from stitch to stitch. Of course there was nasty red fuzz left behind. Then I figured out if I pull the thread from the top, then turn it over and pull the next half of the stitch from the bottom, there wasn't as much lint! There seems to be much less tug on the thread that way. It's more time consuming, but it's worth it to not have that much red lint on the front of my piece. So, after all these years, I've figured out a great hint!

I have been taping my thumb joint to support it while I'm stitching and that is making a big difference. I'm not feeling the pain afterward. I had to tape my joint years ago and when I remembered to do it again, it was like a miracle. I know there are gloves you can wear, but I've found them to flimsy to be any benefit. I'll have to show you my taping! I'm like an Olympic athlete with all that tape!!

Last week I couldn't sleep through the LEMONADE! TWENTY FIVE CENTS! and today I awoke to huge sawing noises - much louder than your DIY sawing. I look out the window after I gave up on trying to sleep through it and found they were removing my neighbor's tree which is only a few feet away from my window! Life! The upside is I won't have to be raking all the fall leaves from this tree, so it's a good trade off.

Thanks for stopping by! Leave me a message if you please!

white on white

I'm working on a piece that has a big white dove and I'm doing it on white aida. I have to say - this is a drag and I'm totally not enjoying it. I had a quiet night at work and started plugging away on it and the time flew as my tech and I exchanged stories of our labors and funny anecdotes. I'm happy to say the dove is done - not my best work by far. Somehow some lint got woven into the white making parts of it look soiled even though it isn't. I'll be happy to get the backstitching done and some of the Peace stitched. Unfortunately, I'm having some thumb joint pain and had to tape my joint which helped a bit.

Here's the start to a lap robe I'm making for the veterans. They are trying to collect 25,000 lap robes for the vets by Nov. 1. I've made this pattern before - it's fast and dimensional which I love! The yarn is so soft to the touch and I'm really enjoying working on this piece!
Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Lemonade!! 25 cents!

Nothing new to show you on my cross stitch - I don't think it would show up as it is white on white and is really boring to do.

I tried sleeping yesterday afternoon (I work the night shift) and woke up to children shouting LEMONADE!! TWENTY FIVE CENTS! LEMONADE! TWENTY FIVE CENTS!!!! I wanted to get up and buy them out but frankly, I didn't have the energy and did sort of fall back asleep.

I have made a little progress on the lap robe for the Vets. I had time to work on it last evening and had left it in the car. I can show you that photo later.

Have a great day - thanks for stopping by!

Monday camera woes!!

I don't know what is with my camera, but it won't download my photos. You all know I struggle posting photos and this was not the way to start the day. The photo you see isn't that great, but I've reached the limit of my patience with this camera! I upgraded the software so I should have better luck next time.
This is my finished Christmas motif sampler II by JBW designs. I really enjoyed stitching this!

I didn't stitch at all yesterday! I kept reading people's blogs which is addicting! On a good note, I did find my scroll frame and will start a sampler that I will work on at home. I will have something small going for at work.

I'm also staring a lap robe (crochet) for the Veterans project. They are looking to collect 25,000 lap robes by Christmas. After 2 starts on one - I decided the yarn wasn't soft enough. Found some nice soft blue yarn, started and realized it wasn't wide enough. I decided to wait till I found my original pattern. I might have to make the crochet project my work project - it doesn't take as much concentration and in the wee hours of the morning, it's a bit more challenging to be precise. We'll see. At any rate, it will be done for Nov. 1.

Thanks for visiting my blog! I appreciate it - I love your comments and look forward to getting to know you all better in the upcoming months.

Happy Weekend!

It was a rough week back to work in terms of sleeping! I couldn't get back into the groove of sleeping during the day. I finished the christmas tree and started a Lizzie Kate freebie which I have wanted to do. My DH worked on bills while I stitched and finished the piece! (I'm not that fast- he had 2 weeks worth of mail to go through!). I have to start framing or finishing my pieces before I get too far behind. Heck - I've got stuff sitting in my drawer that has been there for a few years...oops. I hate to admit it! It's one thing if it's a WIP, but these are finished pieces!! I should take a few photos. Maybe someone could put a little pressure on me......

It's a weird weekend - the sun pokes out and looks like it's ready to take over and before I know it- thunderstorms. We have now had rain EVERY single weekend this summer. It isn't always a washout, but enough to just ruin plans and festivals. Our city has a big arts fair this weekend on a trendy street. I feel bad for the vendors. Maybe tomorrow will shape up to be nicer for them. I'm content to skip the festival and work on my cross stitch.

I am starting a pattern called Peace by Sanman designs. I saw a finished piece and couldn't find it online. I emailed Sanman and she sent it over to me really fast! I'm going to start watching out for her designs.

My Peace, Joy, Love looks a bit lopsided, but it's just how I put it back in hoop to take the photo- still struggling along with that skill!!! LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!