Porter County Fair July 20-29

The fair was wonderful ... last day was sizzling heat. The boys, DH & I went nearly every day. I enjoyed the 4H dog show & the rabbit exhibit - both are my favorites. The free entertainment was nice, esp. the alligator show & the canine show. I'd like to teach our dogs to do SOMETHING aside from eating, sleeping, barking at the doorbell ... yeah, well.

My entries did well. Far better than I expected. Was nice to have Sue D, Deb L, Elaine, Millie, and Karol (stitching friends) enter their things. A woman tried to take photos of the exhibits on display, with her digital, & the images were greenish & dark b/c the lighting was very high in the building. I will try to get some photos taken this afternoon & put up a foto album in my side bar.

Foto Album of Porter County Fair Entries

These were my winning entries:

Category I Arts & Crafts

Section 101 - Special Occasion (any Holiday, Special Event)
101B. Tree Ornament: Chessie's Tree (2nd)
101c. Needleart: Bent Creek/Black Cat (1st)
101e. Wearable Art: Homespun Elegance/Flying Hare (2nd)

Section 109 - Wearable Art
109c. Accessories: Beaded Button Pin (1st)

Section 110 - Home Decorating Articles
110e. Other: Sandra Cozzolino / Herb Towel set (1st)

Category V Needlecraft

Section 505 - Needlepoint & Quickpoing
505a. Canvas: Gay Ann Rogers/Mystery With a Bit of Glitz (1st)

Section 506 - Counted Thread Work
506e. Sampler: Drawn Thread/The Sanctuary (1st)
506f. CCS Other (Not Suitable for Framing): Shep Bush/In My Garden Roll & Fob (1st)
506i. Other: Twisted Threads/Rabbit Fob (1st)

Three Weeks old

Mom cat keeping an eye on us & them! Did you know a female cat can birth a litter & two weeks later, get preganant? Our housepets are altered & we are debating whether or not to keep the Mom. If we keep her, she has to be fixed. The issue for me, is that this cat isn't a housepet. She tolerates us. She craves the outdoors & does not like being cooped up. I'm not sure what the solution will be.
Healthy and happy. These kittens grow and change daily.
Have you ever tried to take photographs of eight moving kittens? Impossible to get them all in ONE photograph :D

Three more fur-baby pictures on Lelia's Xanga

Designer with a blog

Designer Monique Keylon of My Mark Designs has a blog! And it is kewl. Check it out at Inside Number Twenty. I've seen some of her patterns at House of Stitches in LaPorte, Indiana. If you are not familiar with her designs, the web site is My Mark Designs; celebrate life and its little stitches.

Do you know what the color "cloud" or "aubergine" could possibly be??? Yes, I'm showing off my small brain. Just ask Monique!! She knows!! LOL

Big News!! Good News!!

Big news received in our household this a.m.

Our daughter, Tori, has been hired as an R.A. at Indiana University :D Yippie Skippie! She will have her room & board covered & receives a stipend. We are so happy for her. Sad to see her move back earlier than planned, hope her Supervisor at Subway is ok with her less than 2-week notice; however, she seems excited about this opportunity.

She had been hired as a Welcoming Assistant & hired for book rush at T.I.S. Bookstore & was hired as a Q Teacher for Collins (8 weeks). [Since she will be living in another building, she is waiting to hear if she can still teach -- she had her lesson plans ready & was looking forward to teaching the incoming Freshman.]

Woot! I'm so proud of her.

Katrina & Tori

Aren't they adorable??? Katrina visited a few days ago -- and fell madly in love with the black fur kitten. The girls took lots of photos of the eight kittens (in Katrina's camera) & then took one of themselves!! Somehow, they tinted the photograph & I wanted to share it with all of you.

Katrina (left side) met Tori (our daughter - right side) at Indiana University in Bloomington. They will both be leaving home & heading back to the dorm as Sophomores on August 18th. They move in early & help the incoming Freshman, I think their official title will be: "Welcome Assistant"

Two weeks old ...

It has been raining with high winds, lightening, thunder & etc., since before 5am... why do I know this? b/c DH was called at 4:50a.m. Today is his first day of vacation & he went in to the office. The power has been off/on since then ... several times. I reset the clocks 3 times.

I visited the garage & didn't have the heart to disturb the sleeping kittens. Mom cat came out & ate ... she is becoming quite friendly. I took another picture & blogger must be tired b/c I cannot get it to load right now. I'll try again in a minute.

The clock on WGN - channel 9 (t.v.) says 8:52
The clock in the bedroom says 8:49
The microwave clock says 8:51
The stove clock says 8:50
The computer says 8:52
my cell phone says 8:53

Does that sort of stuff irritate anyone but me??? I swear if I wore a wrist watch I'd shoot myself.



oh, here is that cute photo -- the grey/white kitten moved a little bit & you can see how much these kitties are growing. I give all the credit to their Mom cat. She does a good job.

Heard from Tina & she might be starting her own blog. Now that is music to my ears. I'd delight in having more of my friends blog. Also, heard from Marjorie who is following Sharon's 100 Details in 100 Days. The links to her posts are just fantastic!

Who has the Button???

I added the pin, ultra-suede back, and outside edge on two buttons last night. I'm so happy the beads arrived from Sue D & thank you for sending them. I can finish the third button-pin today. I learned my lesson, though, it takes more than one package of Mill Hill beads for one beaded button!!

Stash Queen

This is a photograph from a Mail Art workshop, taught by CiCi Case. I confess that I have not picked it up since May. I plan to finish it one day though. The workshop was totally awesome & CiCi is a fantastic teacher AND designer.

I'm so happy. Look who has started a new blog??? CiCi. She is blogging as the Stash Queen (http://stash-queen.blogspot.com/)

.••-.¸.-••. (`'•.¸(`'•.¸ ¸.•'´)¸.•'´) .••-.¸.-••.
`•. .•´ «´¨`•..* Cici Case *..•´¨`» `•. .•`

Beaded Buttons

Hello. I've gotten out my bead & button boxes for fun. I was moving along with a metal button (has a sunflower design) & added a couple bead rings. Then, found a nifty dark blue button with white/grey streaks (has four holes) and RAN OUT OF BEADS. So I began a third button ... a lilac/purplie button (has four holes) and put three rings of beads around. Heard from Sue D & she is mailing me the bead color I need to finish the blue button (yay Sue D!!). I'm looking forward to adding the outside edging.



Is this a better picture? I cannot tell. As always, click to enlarge for details.

Gay Ann Rogers

I'm delighted Gay Ann Rogers has a new web site & started her own blog.

I've participated in two of her mystery samplers thru NANI (local EGA chapter). (blog entry/photos in archives - March 2006) One was a band sampler on congress cloth w/strawberries & verse. The other was a geometric pattern on 18mesh canvas. When I worked on the geometric pattern, there were different options for the corners & areas between the corners. Each stitcher started out with a variety of color choices & fibers. We all had identical center sections & when the other areas were stitched -- everybody had a unique project.

It is exciting when designers start sharing on blogs! Welcome to blogging Gay Ann :D

Buddies without Blogs

I enjoy hearing from my stitchie pals -- and, wish they would jump on the blogging band wagon. I put their comments & names in my posts + wish I could share all their projects, too. My friends are delightful, witty, funny, and talented beyong belief. Their blogs would be 100 times better than mine.

I heard from Kay O (who is working on the Drawn Thread Sampler Game Board SAL) that she hadn't been stitching much & recently went on vacation to Alaska. (do we envy her?????) And, ya know, wouldn't we all love to see photos of Alaska on her blog? If she had one? And her progress on the SAL???

One recent, favorite e-mail was from Tina who writes: "I really wish that you post every day" and she continues to tell me "Gotta run. Tony wants to go pick out new glasses and since he can't see I have to pick them out for him. Let's hope that I stay in a good mood or Tony might look like a geek in his new glasses." Oh Tina -- you are a riot. Your blog would be daily entertainment for the rest of us with dull & boring lives.

Melody, how are you? I haven't heard from you -- I do enjoy all the funny jokes you pass my way.

Sunday, Sue D, Elaine, Deb L, & I entered items into the Porter County Fair. I forget which mornings I'll be in the Home Ec building. Good thing I wrote them down someplace : D

Earlier in the week, Sue D had phoned to tell me (among other things) she didn't have anything to enter. HUH?? Sue D is a talented needleworker, excellent teacher (taught me the ins/outs of cord making, mill hill kits, beading, + more) & totally creative. I visited her & we found TEN items to enter. Yeah, T-E-N ... from the woman who claims to have zero time to stitch.

Eventually, when the ribbons are presented, I'll post results.

Pamela Kellogg

I've been reading Kitty & Me Designs by Pamela Kellogg. She has been sharing tons of patterns, ideas, and '100 details in 100 days'. Check out her blog

Beaded Fobs by Karin

Thank you Karin!!! Karin has a beautiful beaded scissor fob on her blog (follow link to more photos) -- & she posted instructions. Check them out. Karin's Blog is called So, I happen to be Addicted to Colour + Sparkley Things......

kittens are 7 days old today :D

Mom cat moved her litter (of eight kittens) into a corner in the garage -- it is under a shelf. I put the kittens on a clean towel every day, so their bedding stays fresh. The Mom cat lets me pull out the towel & change it; however, gives Tori a "look" when she held up the kittens for pictures
Good news -- we have 8 kittens and four are spoken for. Sue D wants 2 females; Katrina wants the all-black fur kitten, and Lindsey wants a female. WOOT!

Freebie

Thank you for your kind comments. This is the end of my 'finishing frenzie'. I had a list of things I wanted to get done for the Fall EGA chapter exhibit + Lake County/Porter County fairs.



Lois Caron's Bargello Pine Trees Stocking freebie. The pattern has very good instructions & diagrams.

I used Evergreen-Watercolours, metallic thread, perle coton #5, & Snow on 25-count Lugana. I made a cord with snow & lt green perle coton. This is my first stocking - & the finishing was a challenge. I managed to wing it & think it came out ok.

ADDENDUM:
CJ--there are two freebie stocking charts on the Caron Website. The other design is Bargello Candles Stocking. I stitched it; however, made mistakes on the colors. These stockings can be stitched on congress cloth or lugana -- I just substituted the silks for perle cotons. I think they are the same size.

Jenna--It really isn't perfect - I tried very hard to get the stocking looking ok. I'm not much for finishing. I post-pone it all the time. I just get STUCK when I look at something & haven't quite decided how to 'finish' it. And, for me, finishing is plain work -- where stitching is relaxing and fun.

I swear, if it weren't for the NANI exhibit & fair entries -- I'd never get around to selecting frames, bellpulls, etc. I'd just stitch for fun and stick it in a box!!

Today, I pulled out the EGA mystery sampler and stitched one row -- sweet to stitch & enjoy that needle dancing along the linen banding.

In my Garden

Finished the needleroll -- pretty set!!!

Heart (Tin) Pin

Improved photo of Tin Pin heart. I used dmc 221 (red) & anchor 152 (navy blue) on 32ct platinum belfast. The pattern is by Ruth Sparrow of Twisted Threads.



The eight kittens are 24 hours old & all seem to be well. Mom cat is doing a great job!

First Foto ...

I was up until 1 a.m. waiting & aside from this cat being tired ... nothing was happening. This morning, she delivered EIGHT kittens. EIGHT!! This is the smallest cat I've ever seen. She looks part Siamese & part tiger stripe. I took the boys for their dental appointments & Tori took over for kittens 6-8.

Right now she is doing well & kittens are doing well. I got a big surprise when visiting Carol's Blog. She has a picture of an outdoor visitor & seriously folks, her outdoor visitor resembles the cat who just had the litter of kittens.

Nicholas made some progress:

more finishes ...

Thank you so much for your comments re. my pulled thread pillow & other recent finishes.

I cannot help wonder how designers make a living b/c when I think of the time involved in creating my own piece ... you know, I spent a lot of time learning pulled thread techniques, figuring out the stitches I wanted in my pillow, overall design, and couldn't imagine trying to price 'the pattern'. I didn't keep track on graph paper -- just made some rough notes. I basted the 'design' in place & added the stitches I liked. So, I have no plans to release this design!



I managed the nun edge around a bookmark -- added felt to two perforated paper projects (pin & ornament) -- and managed to get the tin pin heart inserted into the square. WOOT!

My 'to do' list:: Finish small stocking ornament & Shep Bush needleroll. Finish stitching the EGA mystery sampler (lessons 10-14).

I visited House of Stitches on July 3rd. With a lot of help ... I have two awesome bellpull hardware pieces for the Mystery Sampler (stitched on linen banding). Now that the hardware issue isn't looming, I'm pretty excited about it. Nice to have helpful friends at the LNS!! They are so patient, kind and knowledgeable.