Halloween Shenanigans! 👻

A couple weekends ago, Karen, P, and I headed to the Dulles Expo Center for the Craftsmen's Classic Art and Craft Festival.
Why do I go? To see Randal Spangler of course!

I brought the piece I'm working on, I just wish I was further along!

And what should I see, but an amazing dragon shelf! There was a cat and dog one too, but I love the dragons.

Since this one was sold, I ordered one for my Christmas present and I can't wait!

This was taken a few years ago when I purchased a print or two. Randal is great and I hope to see him again next year with my finished piece!

Time to move on and we all got fun Halloween "tattoos". This is finally starting to come off my arm, it lasted over a week.

I had to buy a couple!

I found another Christmas pressie, a necklace! 🎃

This booth had icicle names, but I didn't see mine. I've only ever seen it in Germany. I asked him and he actually had it behind his "counter"! Of course I had to buy it and one for each of the guys to put on the tree this year.

I'm going to frame these cards together for all the seasons, and also bought Nathan and I bookmarks.

And my last treasure was this trio, my loves! 💖

From there, Karen and I headed to Walmart to purchase a few items to make me look pretty for Cori's Halloween party.

Cori doesn't like is scared of zombies 😱, so I just had to do it. 

Lovely bones tattoo.

My model foot.

And I got her, I know she really loved it!

See? She loves me.

I think she liked the old hag better.

Makeup by Karen, I couldn't have done it without her! Not only did she do my makeup and helped with my hair, but she cut up my Walmart shirt on the way back from the craft show.

I couldn't have done it without her!

I went into the beer store on the way and scared the clerk who thought there might be more coming in!

Clean up, clean up! And stitching

Nathan's toy area in the basement, a total mess. Although this isn't as bad as it was before this picture. I don't think the floor had been vacuumed in over a year!

Some things put away, but Lego pieces were everywhere! He was not a happy camper when I made him pick them all up.

He actually donated some toys and we stored some things in a closet (planning ahead for grandchildren!) So much better, he just needs to clean up the table.

Next project, his room. 😧

As for stitching, I bought a HAED pattern years ago but stopped because I didn't like the way it looked.
I started in the middle on 22 count. I tried using one, then two strands and it didn't matter.

Last week I bought 30 count and restarted it, starting in the upper left corner this time. This fabric is much stiffer, which I think has helped.

I am liking this so much better! So far I've only used two colours, so it's been pretty easy. I don't quite know what I'm going to do when it gets really busy, but I'm not too keen on parking.

I have a bigger one, but thought I would start "small" and see how it goes! Any suggestions on stitching a HAED would be greatly appreciated!

And I'm behind again on my replies and blog reading, sorry!

Organizing the mess!

Oh joy, this is how I started the new year. I had two bags of floss for two HAED patterns, and then some.

I ran out of floss bobbins and don't really like the plastic ones I have. I didn't feel like going to the store for just that so I thought I would improvise. Instead of tossing last year's calendar away, I "recycled" it. I know you can't see the pictures when the floss is wound on, but that's okay, it's pretty sturdy.


When I ran out of those, I made more from card stock that I had. I just had to cut the sides to fit it in the boxes and chose not to punch holes in them, I don't use them anyway. They're not quite as sturdy as the bought ones, but much better than some others I've used.

I also worked on getting two sets of HAED ready.

Then came winding time. It only took me about 2 days!

Any fun ideas for what to do with these?

The first one I'm starting with is a mini. 

And the big one.

The big double box holds all the DMC colours and the three boxes behind it holds all the duplicates, almost another full set. The floss on the left is extra, extra, and I'm not doing those.

Then I have my variegated stash. I group them by colour so it's easier for me to find what I'm trying to match. I know it isn't the prettiest way to store them, but it works.

And taking care of that mess showed me I do have a table in my room!

The only thing left is cleaning this out... again. I feel like I'm forever trying to straighten this up, although when the doors are shut I really don't care!

But that's another post...

Taking the Plunge

Okay, I did it, I bought TWO Heaven and Earth Designs. 
Am I feeling well, do I have a fever, or am I just plain crazy?! 
It's taking me way too long to finish my other smaller pieces, but I bought them anyway - they're dragons, how could I not?!  I think I'm going to start with the smaller one first, AFTER I finish the two I'm currently working on.  Well, maybe after I finish one of them, I don't know if I can wait that long.

So for those of you who are pros at stitching these, any suggestions?  The 89 colours is starting to scare me!

I bought a new light, he's it's very illuminating.  When Ming tried to check it out and get inside, he pushed and nipped her away, big bully!

 

Delightful Dragons

Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in Virginia.  So many exhibits, I loved it!  We walked into this booth near the end, and I was in dragon heaven!  As I was looking at all the amazing pictures, I realized that some of these looked like the ones from Heaven and Earth Designs, and they were!!!  I HAD to buy one and choosing it was really hard.  But this is the one really liked, Flights of the Fireflies.  I figured it was a perfect Valentine's gift for DH and myself!

When I got home, I decided that I wanted to take the plunge and stitch one.  So I went to the HAED website and saw this one.  How perfect, see the kitty hiding on the left - eyes like Ming, colour like Max!  AND, they are having a 35% off Valentine's Day sale until the 9th.  Winner!  Not until I was home did I realize I should have had a picture taken with Randal Spangler!  Oh well, there will be a next time!

The Medieval Shelf

 I finally finished the poopy pattern and it's ready to be passed on, check it out - Poopy Pattern give-a-way.  I guess the curse really was lost in the mail because (touch wood), there have been no accidents here!