Framed and hung!!

Sorry for the glare on this one...that is the one problem with glass...



Well, BoInk is truly complete as of 8:30 this morning!! I was able to find a frame at AC Moore that was a perfect match for the cat corners and it was on SALE to boot!! So other than having to buy a gizmo to put the points in the back to hold the piece in, it only cost me $20 to frame this piece. I had taken it to AC Moore to have it "professionally" framed and even with the 50% off coupon I had it was going to cost well over $200 to frame this with NO MAT... I should see if they need framers at AC Moore or Michaels or JoAnn's ETC because I seem to be framing more and more of my own pieces and think I do a great job (if I do say so myself!! LOL)

I've also been working like crazy on Blackstone Fantasy Garden. I've finished the inner work of the center knot (pinky colored one) and now working on the outer knots (the ones in green/purples). I've still kept to my word of not working on the blackwork until I've completed the cross-stitching knots...





This first one shows the "pink" knot almost complete...



This one is showing the "pink" knot complete and one of the three "green/purple" knots complete...

Thanks for looking...

First Finish of 2009 and BSFG Update

Well I have my first finish of 2009 and I can't show a picture of it!!! Tracy Horner of Ink Circles was kind enough yesterday to offer to those of us that were up to date on BoInk (Book of Ink Circles) to get the final piece early. I took her up on the offer but every offer comes with some restrictions LOL!!!

Tracy asked that if we requested the last piece that we follow a few simple rules...

" If you are caught up AND
you want the last piece early AND
you are willing to not post pictures until Feb 24 AND
you won't get mad if you ask at midnight my time and I don't mail you
anything until the next morning AND
you believe in karma"

So I will abide by her request and not post pictures of it until the 24th. This came out as a beautiful piece and now I just have to frame it up!!

In some ways I also have a finish on Blackstone Fantasy Garden too!! No, I haven't completed the entire piece yet but I have completed the outlines of the knots. The dang frogs FINALLY left me alone so I could complete the outlines in peace.



I've now promised myself to complete the "filling" of the knots before I start doing any of the blackwork in the open areas.

The family and I seem to be finished with whatever the "bug" was we were passing around although my poor ds is still suffering with the cough and has been put on an inhaler for it...hopefully we'll be able to start weening him from that soon though.

Of Frogs, Bugs and kids...

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted...

The first thing to report on is my BoInk...I finished the next installment within a day of receiving it and have only one more piece to go before completing this lovely piece from Tracy Horner of InkCircles.





In that time I've had many frogs visit me.


They started off as tadpoles and only a stitch or two here and there and now today I think it is a whole entire family of frogs including grandparents, aunts, uncles and long lost nephews!!! All of the critters attacked my Blackstone Fantasy Garden.


I've finished the "brown" knot outline with no problem (well, haven't found a problem yet!!) and was beginning to progress on the lower right portion of the "green" knot and it seemed to be going fairly well until I noticed a problem with the lowest swirl in the bottom right corner. Ripped/frogged that out and thought I was set and was again happily stitching along when I realized that the inner swirl and the "boxes" leading up to it were off by ONE STITCH...



I've spent the better part of today ripping out and recounting and trying to find the ends of threads so as to rip out...



and here is where I'm at now...time to re-stitch and hopefully not see anymore frogs for awhile...

And on top of all these frogs a bug has come to visit my house!!

I truly think it was the flu for my dh and I. He started not feeling well on Sunday 2/8. I started feeling "off" on Monday and by Tuesday we were both in a total fog (which is probably when the frogs saw their opportunity to join my stitching projects. Well, dh and I both were on the mend by Friday when ds started with his "cough". He's had this cough in the past and it is so frightening to hear him. It is a croupy cough that just won't stop and he can barely catch his breath, so I picked him up from school and off to the pediatrician we went and got his usual prescription for it. He's still hacking up a lung but you can tell he feels better because he wants to go outside and play.

We thought for sure that dd had some how avoided getting the "DISEASE"...we thought too soon...on Saturday, 2/14 she decided she didn't want to go to gymnastics. This is never a good sign because she loves going. It was a good thing we didn't push her though. By the time her class would have been underway she had spiked a fever of 102º and was a pile of mush on the couch alternating between hot and cold periods.

Hopefully Sunday 2/15 will be a better day and we'll all be on the mend soon... I can't wait until Spring is officially here and the weather warms up so we can open doors and windows to air out the bugs and the frogs...

The Frogs came to visit...

Well this piece of BoInk is taking me longer than I expected...and the frogs came to visit...as I was working on the red last night I realized that the blue at the bottom of the piece was "off". Finding an end to pull out was probably the hardest. I got the blue "oops" out, finished the red and then re-stitched the blue that had been wrong.

Today I'll continue with the green and maybe even get some of the orange and or yellow in too...Saturdays are one of those days I get a big piece of time to work on stitchery while I wait for my daughter during her 90 minute gymnastics class. If I stitch quick enough and the frogs stay away maybe I'll even get it finished and get to do some work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden which has fallen to the side this weekend.

Tomorrow, my husband is registered to run in a snow shoe race in Guilderland, NY so I may get some time then to work on stitchery too. The kids and I go along for "support crew" but depending on the race I get time to stitch or chase the kids around.

Until next time...stay warm!!!

Egads it's cold outside!!!!

With it is so cold out here (-1ºF at 9:32 in the morning- Southern New England isn't supposed to get this cold!!) you'd think I'd be getting lots of stitching done...unfortunately NOT...

Thursdays are a busy day here with the kids. I volunteer at my daughter's school in the morning and my son's in the afternoon. I then pick her up after school so we can get him to gymnastics...and then we don't get home until dinner time so it is a matter of slipping in a stitch here or there...


Here is where I'm at on BoInk and I haven't put in a single stitch on Blackstone Fantasy Garden since Tracy at Ink Circles released this latest piece of Book of InkCircles...can you tell I LOVE Tracy's designs at Ink Circles (I have two others in the to-do pile also)...




Here is hoping everyone is staying warm and safe in these cold days here in the US...