My First Design

No, that's not totally accurate. This is the first design I have published. It's titled Tea Stack Bookmark. You are free to copy for your personal use but please do not sell as a chart or kit.

Tonight, I am going to stitching the model of the bookmark and will upload a pix when I am done.

My inspiration for Tea Stack came from my sister Claire. I had designed a coffee themed bookmark last year. She made the comment that I should make one for tea drinkers like her. Thus, this one is for Claire.

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I last posted. The fair had two days of excessive rain and three days of sunshine and heat. But the people did come. I enjoy my time spent in the Grange booth, tellingn people about the benefits of Grange membership. I get to meet a lot of very nice people.

The State Grange session was on the 1st, 2nd, and 3d of October. Bill and I stayed at the session. We had an enjoyable time even though I was fatigued.

Good news! Good news! My knight coaster won third place in the Harvest of Handicrafts contest. It is a cross stitch piece that started life as a small $1.97 hanger kit from Wal-marts which I mounted into a coaster frame. I now need to stitch three more of the knights or perhaps I can find other knightly charts to make up the coaster set. Hmmmmm.

I can't believe that my younger grand-daughter will be turning 1 year in a month's time. It seems only yeaterday, we were worrying about her as she laid in the neo-natal unit at Women & Infants. Now she is a rambuncious curlytop full of smiles.

KC's older sister is now 4 and taking dance classes. JMC is so full of energy and Fancy Nancyness. I think JMC would change her outfit at the drop of a pin. She loves being a princess. Of course Grammy helps by knitting boas and etc.

What I have Stitching: I am still knitting a bag during my Needles & Hooks group. I have a core group of 5 people attending every Tuesday noon. I am X-stitching several small items for my exchanges for the various yahoo groups I belong to. My Monopoly board will be picked up again for regular stitching time after Christmas. I also have a couple of SAL's which I am undertaking. One is a small Biscounu for my NEXstitchers@yahoogroups. The other is a weekly SAL that I am just beginning at Friendlystitchers.

My turn to enable. I have to tell you all about Brooke Nolan who designs the cutest and most beautiful cross stitch figures. Her latest set which is Dicken"s Christmas Spirits. I particularly love The Spirit of Christmas Past because she looks a bit like a young girl dressed up to portray Saint Lucia on Saint Lucia's Day in Sweden. When I first saw this I thought of my Swedish ancestors and now have this design on my very long wish list. Please stop by her site and check out all of her lovely designs: http://brookesbooks.com/

I have been enabled by the best of them and it seems my stash and to-do list is just expanding out of control but I wouldn't have it any other way. One of these days, I know I will have all the time in the world to stitch and then it will end because of arthritis or my lupus; until then I WILL stitch onward. Stitching is my meditation and serenity in a world of confusion and pain.

I have designed another bookmark which after I fine tune it, I will be publishing here. So stay tuned for it.

Fall into September

The Washington County Fair has come and gone. What with the fair and the move that the Children's Room underwent during the last two weeks of August, I can finally find a balance between work and my craft.

I spent five days at the fair from 8:00 am and 10:00 pm. I sat int he Rhode State Grange Fair booth explaining th e benefits of Grange membership to fairgoers. I enjoy meeting and talking with those who visit the booth. What I didn't have was much time to explore the fair. First thing each morning was having a great breakfast with other fair volunteers at the Ashaway Grange Booth. They served a great breakfast buffet. The local FFA sold a hot Apple Crisp that shouldn't be missed.

I spent the next week on vacation while the library packed up for the condensing and rearrangement needed for its renovation. I went back to work on the following Wednesday. We are still becoming ussed to our smaller quarters.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp air and spicy smell of the woods. Warm days and cool nights mnake for great sleeping weather.

I find it easy to relax in the fall even though I am busily planning all of my crafty projects for Christmas gifts. I have three knitting and crochet projects that I work on at different places because I want them to be surprises. So I can't show them off until after Christmas.

I am stitching on some Dimension's Wire Whimseys which I will decorate my computer at work. Since we have condensed the Children's Room into the Old Reading Room during the library's renovation, I don't have as much space to decorate for the seasons. The Whimseys will add spot of seasonal cheer to the room. The current Whimsey is a basket of Apples. I hope to have it done by the time I go back to work after the Labor Day Weekend.

One Week and Counting Until the Fair.

The Washington County Fair begins next Wednesday. I will be there for all five days. My Grange runs a food concession booth where we sell Saugies, burgers, Meatball grinders, Sausage & Pepper Grinders and Grilled Cheese sandwiches. Believe me, it gets hot in the kitchen.

But I will be on the opposite side of the fairgrounds in the Expo building, manning the State Grange Booth. I will be answering questions from the fairgoers about the Grange and what we are all about. I will pass out applications and hopefully receive some applications.

The fair is 42 years old and I think I have been involved with the fair in one way or another since the beginning. I can remember selling soda when I was 16 and the fair was only a couple of years old. Okay, do your math and you will have an approximate guess about my age.

Then after the fair, the library will be closed for two weeks for renovation preparation. They moving and condensing departments so half the building can be renovated while we are in the other half. Then we get to do it all again when we switch sides. I am taking a week off. I see a week of stitching and ice tea in my future. Whooo hooo can't wait.

Your fairy is called Tangle Elfglow

She is a cheerful sprite.

She lives at the bottom of tangled gardens and in hedgerows.

She is only seen in the light of a full moon.

She wears tangled dresses of multicoloured petals. She has delicate green wings like a cicada.

Get your free fairy name here!

Monopoly Board SAL WIP

Being Creative @ Westerly Public Library

Yesterday, I held my second class for Cross Stitch at the library. Six enthusiastic girls attended. I started them with the small kit that I received from DMC's Mentor program. While three of the girls took to stitching like ducks to water, the younger two needed a little more hands on approach. The girls wish me to continue the program during the year. I hope I will be able to find space for them to drop in and stitch.

With the help of some of my cross stitch friends I am able to provide the girls with floss and aida fabric. I have pulled my old magazines for them to choose their future projects. One of the home schooling mothers spoke of using cross stitch as part of their American History unit.

This all came about because this year's Summer Reading theme is "Be Creative @ Your Library." Now I ask you, what is more creative than cross stitch or knitting and crocheting for that matter. I am also doing a couple of programs creating artistic trading cards for the kids. I had five revved boys for this program a week ago. Again they asked to be able to do this craft during the year. So far, I am planning a Christmas Card stamping project for one of the Saturdays in December. Maybe I could do a Thanksgiving Place card session.

My personal stitching rotation includes Crossed Eyed Cat's Labyrinth, Monopoly Board SAL, Dimensions Dragonfly, Christmas ornaments [can't wait for JCS Ornament issue]. I am also knitting and crocheting Christmas presents which I can't mention in order to preserve the surprise.

A Knitting project finish

Last night I finished the bootees to a baby sweater I made for Amy's BFF's new baby. I never fail to be amazed at how small baby clothes are. Since the baby is a boy, I chose to use a blue marl for the yarn. It turned out well. This pattern is becoming a favorite to make. I have tried other sweater patterns for babies but always come back to this pattern. It is one that my Mother knit a lot.

The pattern is found in an old Bernat's book #157: "Six For a Beautiful Baby." I used Bernat's Softee Baby yarn. It took just over a skein of yarn.

Next in line on my project list is an angel Christmas ornament for an exchange on one of my yahoo gorups cross stitch groups. I belong to several yahoo groups: NEXstitchers, CCS, BBInterasctive, an a MonopolySAL.

Ramblings

It is a beautifully sunny day today. As always sunny days means that the library is fairly quiet. Everyone goes to the beach or just play outside. There is so much to see and do in the Rhode Island/Connecticut area. Within a thirty minute ride, I can visit the Newport mansions, Walk the 19th century streets of Mystic Seaport. I can traipse through woods or beach comb sparkling the white and black sands of Long Island Sound.

Or if I wish, I can pull up a chair at a breachway and watch the boats as I read or cross stitch away on a project. Another place that is a favorite of mine is Patchaug State Forest in Voluntown, CT. There are wooded trails with nooks in which to park and while away the hours communing with Mother Nature. I love suspending time in these places.

I try to keep a small cross stitch project in my bag along with a good book for just such occasions. Unfortunately, these moments have been sparse this year. Perhaps I should start making resolutions at the beginning of each season or at least ar New Year's and Midsummer. This would allow the time to recollect my passage through the year so far and refocus myself for the next period. No this isn't to make a to-do list to add pressure but rather a evalution of what truely matters to me to insure that I don't over tax myself.

I find that I can go either way. I either put too much pressure on myself by taking on way too many projects or I flounder and become stagnic. I honestly don't know which could be worse. One is counter productive and the other is a waste.

43 Personality Quiz

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Romantic Spiritual Self-Improver

Fresh Start Introduction

Needlework has been part of my life from the very beginning. My Grandmother Congdon knitted, crocheted and tatted. My mom knitted, crocheted and sewed all of my clothes as well for my brothers. Mom also did needlepoint, cross stitch, embroidery and braided rug. It seems I never saw her hands still and empty until her very last years when arthritis and degenerating eyesight robbed her of her ability to work "fancy work."

My first yarn work was with a knitting Jenny that my father made me out of one of Mother's old spools. I went from there to crocheting and knitting under Mom's and Grandma's tutelage.

Remember Tri-Chem paint parties? Mom was in to those. So I enjoyed that hobby as well. I was about 17 when I started doing crewel and then moved onto cross stitch. I haven't stopped since.

This blog's title represents who and what I am. I work at our local library as a Children's Room associate. And I am a stitcher of many paths. I not only do cross stitch, I knit, crochet, needlepoint but i sew clothes for my grandchildren.

The projects which are in my rotation right now are a knitted baby sweater for a little boy who was just born, a pair of socks, a Cross stitch Monopoly board, a Labyrinth and several small take along projects. I will be posting pictures as I go along.