A Busy Needle Indeed & An Award For Me

It seems I have been blessed with an award, the Liebster Blog award.

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It was granted to me by Claudia over at Me, My BuBble and My Stitching . Thank you so much, Claudia! :)



Liebster is a German word, meaning favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition..

The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting
1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster too.
2. Show thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award too with links to their sites.Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don’t know



Here are the folks I'm nominating for the award:


1. Queen Stitcher

2. Peace, Love, and Stitching

3. The Crafty Basenji

4. Michelle's Stitchcraft Place

5. Social Sue


Now, for the 5 random facts about me:


1. I fly the New Jersey Devils colors, but I will watch pretty much anyone playing. With the exception of the Red Wings and the Rangers. I loathe both teams!


2. I have a habit where I get all of my running around, shopping and cleaning done by Thursday night. My time is too precious on the weekends to stand around a pharmacy or a Wal-Mart on a Saturday night.


3. I love to cook so much, I do it for stress release.


4. I have moved more times than most military families.


5. I have now reached critical mass in my stash and really only buy fabric and fibers when I need to. I purchase the occasional chart, but that is becoming increasingly rare now.


And now onto the stitching! :D


Managed to get some stitchy time in this weekend and have made progress on my Busy Needle project. I just love Little House Needleworks designs. They stitch up so quickly and they're always a ton of fun to do.


Designer: Diane Williams for Little House Needleworks


Fabric: 28 count raw natural Cashel linen by Zweigart


Fibers: Crescent Colours cotton floss in Bamboo, Blackbird, Sassy Brass, Weeping Willow, and Wild Berries.

Well, I best be off. Have a ton of stuff to do before work today. Hope everyone has a fantastic week! :)


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Respectfully submitted,


C.

Slán go fóill, Cara Dílis

In the Irish Celtic language, the title of this post means, "Goodbye, faithful friend". As today is St. Patrick's Day, I thought it was appropriate as I am retiring my favorite pair of scissors. They are a pair of Soligen DOVOs and I've had them for over 10 years now. A few years ago, I took them to be sharpened and the 'gentleman' who sharpened them stripped the screw that holds the blades together, and as consequence, they did not snip as well as they once did. I can't even get them repaired, because the screw is basically frozen in place. I know it's silly to be sad and upset about having to replace a pair of scissors, but they were the first really nice thing I purchased for my stitching back when Noah was drawing up plans for the Ark.


I never named them or anything, but they are very near and dear to my heart. They were wretchedly expensive at the time, 55 dollars US, if I recall correctly. I remember telling myself that if I purchased these, I was totally committed to stitching, because 55 dollars is a LOT of money to spend on a tiny pair of scissors. I waffled so much on the purchase, I thought I was going to have to put a Waffle House sign up in my stitching area. Eventually, I went into A Stitch In Time in Jacksonville, Florida and asked to see them outside of the case. As soon as I put my bourgeoisie mitts on these elegant and highly refined pair of scissors, I knew in my heart I was doomed. I immediately plunked down my VISA gift card that I got from my employer that year for Christmas, and I have never regretted the purchase. I loved the weight and heft to them and they cut threads oh, like a hot knife going through butter. They have served me for many, many years and have done so faithfully.

Here they are with the Royal Sealy China cup and saucer that was given to me by my grandmother upon her death. It was reputedly her mother's, but I have no provenance for that.

Here is a closeup where you can see the screw that holds the blades together is torn up:

I will probably create a design to stitch and display them on my wall near my desk. I have toyed off and on with using them occasionally, but honestly, the blades are getting very dull and since they cannot be repaired, I'd rather stitch up something nice in silk threads and perhaps some silk linen and give them the place of honor they deserve.


As consequence to all this, DH said that for my birthday, I could pick out another pair of scissors, even the same ones if I wanted those. I looked online and only found them Nordic Needle . Teh Hubmeister said he was ok with me getting them, but at almost 65 dollars, I balked at the cost (I don't even want to discuss what it was to ship them!). I thought I would go down to my LNS to see what DOVOs they had in stock. Nothing really grabbed me and the lady that owns the shop said that my best bet would be to just order them online as they did not have an order in for the company and it would cost at least twice the amount to order one lonely pair and take forever and three days to get here. She said she appreciated me coming in and trying to buy from her first, but she didn't have it in her to do that to me. I appreciated her honesty and thanked her for it. I found a nice lovely pair of French Bohin scissors instead. I purchased the 'Coeur' edition and I love them. The price was 18.00 and you can't beat that with a stick!

At any rate, here are my birthday goodies:


1 pair of the Bohin Ciseaux à broder 'Coeur'

2 packages of Bohin tapestry needles, size 26

JBW Designs 'La Fraise' chart

La Broderie's Crescent Moon Sampler

Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly Summer 2010 magazine


and Cross Stitch and Needlework July 2010 magazine. With all this, I still spent less than I would have buying just the DOVOs online. Go me, haha!


Stitchy stash!




And here is a closeup of the new Bohins, with my latest project, The Busy Needle. Haven't gotten a whole lot accomplished, but that's the way it goes, I suppose.


Design: The Busy Needle, created exclusively for The Busy Needle in Tuscon, AZ. (Sadly, this is now out of print and the shop has now closed due to the owner's illness as I have been told.)



Designer: Diane Williams for Little House Needleworks


Fabric: 28 count raw natural Cashel linen by Zweigart


Fibers: Crescent Colours cotton floss in Bamboo, Blackbird, Sassy Brass, Weeping Willow, and Wild Berries.

Well, I best be off. I need to put the kettle on again and get to stitching. Beannacht Dé leat! :)


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Respectfully submitted,


C.




PS: Perhaps I will name the DOVOs after the Duchesse de Polignac. She was best friend and favorite of one of my favorite Queens, Marie Antoinette. She was also a part of Marie Antoinette's Société Particulière de la Reine, or Particular Society of the Queen, that being the Queen's inner circle. Marie Antoinette had her domain and her faithful companions, just as we all do. Something to think about at any rate! :)

Question of the Week

Pulled out Little House Needleworks 'Cappuccino' last night and started stitching that one again. This was a tiny kit by LHN and Crescent Colours and contained enough of the Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk floss to stitch it on a 32 count fabric. I instead, chose Sassy's Fabric 'Tan Marble' opalescent in a 14 count. Not an issue, however, I am out of one color and will probably need three more. Stitcher's Paradise sells them for 7.50 a pop, which adds up to 30 dollars for four skeins of floss. Ouchies! I am sure my FH won't really care, but in this economy, I am really hesitant to spend that much on four skeins of floss. Yes, I know they are wonderful, yes, I *know* they are 12 strand skeins, but 30 bucks is 30 bucks, ya know?

At any rate, here are some pics of my stitching box and some of my favorite tools that I use. Use as in, I can't stitch without them and go into a panic if I have mislaid them. ;)

My Q-Snaps, my John James platinum needles, and a needlebook that was stitched and given to me by Stitchertigger. The tin with my initial on it was 50 cents at Michael's and is used for ort storage. It gets dumped out when it gets full and/or I complete whatever I'm working on at the time.



My German DOVO scissors and a needlecase that I made myself. The scissors were 50 dollars and worth their weight in gold, however, they desperately need sharpening. The needle case's design came from an Art Deco alphabet from one of the UK mags. (Which one escapes me, at the moment, but if I remember or come across it, I will be sure to post info.).




Overview of the box's contents:




I would post a pic of my DMC stitch bag, however, it was wee-wee'd on by one of the Stitcheh Kittehz. I need to replace it, however, I just Frebreeze'd it and put it up. I am loathe to give it up, because it holds a lot of memories, even though it's starting to fall apart. I suppose I will get a new one at some point.


With all this being said; what are your stitching treasures? WIPs, UFOs, finishes, accouterments, what have you. Tell me what you can't live without or what's your favorite.


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Respectfully submitted,

C.