Safety *is* our primary concern...

 

Current Mood : Frustrated and tenderized.

Current Image Notes : Here's the pincushion chair and the Barbie wardrobe I got last weekend. The chair came with a small red pillow, I forgot to photograph it. Seat cushion lifts off for small storage, and may be used as a flotation device for water landings. 

 

Well, I think I understand where the sudden back pain is coming from. Chime in when you come to the same conclusion I did ! Here's the symptoms, and if you know the presumed answer from experience, I am so sorry ! OK. Sudden, sharp lower right back pain that recedes and peaks in waves, making it impossible to find a comfortable position, nausea, cold feet and hands, but feverish elsewhere, and an intense need to visit the bathroom frequently, but without much ‘output'. Oh, and the entire universe is a h#ll of nothing but pain.

 

If you guessed ‘kidney stone', you've probably experienced it. I am so sorry to think my friends have experienced this horror. I think I joined the club on Valentine's day (I omitted the bathroom part, so I wouldn't gross anyone out, but that was there then, too), and possibly a bit earlier, when I thought I was having the tummyache from perdition. It wasn't so much a stomach upset as it was an ‘everything from the waist to my generous hips is screaming'. Anyway, I had it this morning, too, and it was the worst. The immediate home remedy is to drink water, which actually hurt worse. Gulped two ibuprofen which seemed to do little, so I paced the house and tried to lie down...when I got nauseous and, well, let it out...About ten minutes later, I was sound asleep. I'd managed to tell Dearest Son I was ill before I zonked out, and was down for three hours straight. When Beloved Hubby came home - I'd called to tell him I wasn't well, but was managing - Dearest gave him the briefing, and they didn't wake me. How fast our son is growing up...

 

When I woke up, I was gloriously normal. All systems working as usual. Not entirely sure what's going on with me, but I hope it doesn't repeat on me any time soon. I think I need to switch back to drinking more water, less soda. And do some more research on the topic.

 

That pretty much torpedoed my day's plans. While I wasn't biting back pain anymore, I was still really weak, and a bit dizzy. So I engaged in a passive hobby - watching a TV program, and comparing my life to what's on the screen. This is probably why I watch stuff like Hoarders. It's close enough to be familiar, but not too familiar for comfort. Today, it was less about our unique messes, and more about stuffed animals.

 

I've never really been a ‘stuffies and fluffies' kinda girl. Only stuffed animals I had as a kid were of favorite characters, like Garfield, or favorite animals, like cats. And even then, I only had or wanted a few. I preferred dolls, of course, and whatever props for them I could make, request, or scrounge. And my parents kept me to a single toybox and cabinet arrangement. Not a lot of toy clutter, so everything I had was much-loved, and usually played with on a daily basis. Stuffed animals were mostly for display or decoration. I actually slept with my favorite Barbie, no matter what anyone says about her not being cuddly enough. Of course, she was usually on the floor in the morning, but it allowed me to take the day's play into my dreams.

 

So, in the same way that most folks don't ‘get' adults who still love dolls, I don't ‘get' people with hundreds of stuffed animals. Or guns. In the end, I know I have too many dolls, and need to thin the herds again... but at least my dolls aren't safety concerns, or hard to keep clean !

 

Another thing that struck me again was how similar the stories were to Pohl's The Midas Plague - but I've already ambled far enough away from the usual fare here for one day ! And now I can't get my page to load. (sigh) Just not my day...

 

Troubles with Tripod...

 

Current Mood : Not well

 

I just have to crow at how proud I am of Dearest Son. It was a nice day outside, so I told him that, for every toy he ‘curbed', I'd give him a ‘Delorean' ticket, plus two more for helping me with trash and branch clean-up. He pretty much dumped all the outdoor toys, including the ones he outgrew two years ago but still clung to, and a few others besides. I tackled trash pick up and the roadside work while he took all the branches around back using one of the few toys he kept - his big red wagon. He ended up with 15 tickets ! And he wants to go through his toybox later this week for more.

 

Busy day indoors, too. Did laundry for three hours, then some dishes. I'll do some more of each tomorrow - I'm way behind on both - but I'm gonna sew for a while, too. Sewed a bit today, since the frayed-edge dishcloth showed up in the clean clothes. Just ran two rows of cheap-serge around the edges, and it's usable for who knows how much longer. I've been meaning to do that for months.

 

I also splurged a bit. Since we didn't go out Sunday, and I still had a few bucks from the weekend, I pulled up two favorite searches - for the first repro Midge and an Olivia Newton-John ‘Sandy' doll. Nothin' much, nude or NRFB, they're both kinda pricey. So I was really surprised to find both for sale on In The Pink ! I was too late for Midge, but I have a beautiful straight-hair Sandy reserved for me, thanks to Robin. Looks like I'll soon have my very own Kira (Xanadu) doll, once I perfect her Muse outfit.

 

*Looks like Tripod's eating photos - and I can't tell if this has posted or not. (sigh)

I couldn't wait to share this photo with you...

 

Current Mood : Sleepy

 

Cut out a black dress/white collar version of the Barbie Silk Pak Dress, and I'll probably hop on that early this week. Gonna try to make at least one doll outfit every month, and I'd like to have a ‘bragging version' of that dress. It's funny, because I saw an uber-cheap blouse on one of the dolls at the junk shop with a similar collar. It used the collar as part of the sleeves, but I studied how it was constructed, and I did fairly well.

 

After receiving over 90 individual e-mails from the Yahoo Stitch Era Universal group on Saturday alone, I had to change my membership. I'd been saving them in a separate folder, but it's over 900 messages big, which is ridiculous. If I need any information, I can do a quick message search, and if it's not there, I can ask and change it back to ‘individual e-mails'. But I can't deal with that much in the in-box every weekend. So for now, it's on ‘moderator messages only', since I don't want to unsubscribe. I'll probably dump the in-box folder, too, since it's all stored on the group page. Heck, half the messages I get from the group are the same questions over and over, since no one else bothers to run a quick search first, see if it'd already been addressed.

 

Speaking of embroidery, I'm gathering that design sales still remain lower than normal. Kinda ranks when a site offers every design they sell for a buck each, and I can't find anything to want ! Oh, I see stuff I like, but it's either too big or too simple. I can either design it m'self, and I could edit it down to size, but it's easier, with better results, for me to just create it in the right size, using theirs as inspiration.

 

Beloved Hubby checked mail this morning, and I got a sweet card from In The Pink owner/moderator Joanne. How nice to get it on Valentine's day ! I'd love to know where she got these awesome stickers from. I have some similar, but mine are much smaller.

 

It snowed this morning, about an inch, but it was completely gone by early afternoon. I'd promised to take Dearest Son shopping today, to use his earned funds, but he found the Mark 2 Back to the Future Delorean car, and after intense negotiation - it wasn't cheap ! - we ordered it. For him to get it before he's finished ‘paying', he's getting a lesson in the cost of credit. May as well start young. He already thinks it unfair that he has to pay more to enjoy now (he has the option to pay it off before he takes ownership, at the exact price it cost), but that's credit for ya. So we didn't go anywhere today. His earned funds are the ‘down payment' to order it. Boy, are we mean !

 

He'll get the opportunity to earn a few ‘Deloreans' tomorrow. That's what he calls the tickets he exchanges for toys or cash, Deloreans. Anyway, our front yard looks terrible, with trash blown in, tree branches down, and toys scattered around, so he'll help me clean up, and put his outgrown toys on the curb with ‘Free' signs on ‘em. I figure a Delorean for each curbed toy and a couple for the trash clean-up, and he'll have a good start. He has to earn quite a few to get his dream car, but I'm not gonna just give ‘em to him. Like I said, we're mean. But I'd give him ten if he could wash dishes !

 

Tonight was fairly quiet, thank Everything. Last night, we went out for burgers and sundaes, and I'm not sure if I went into sugar overload or just plain bad indigestion, but I didn't even finish my sundae, and I was drooping, and my right lower back hurt something fierce. I couldn't get into a comfy position, and the ibuprofen wasn't doing much. My hands and feet grew ice cold, so I went to bed early. Beloved was so worried, he tucked me in and kept checking on me. About an hour later, my feet were warming up under the Wall-e blanket, and my back was still a bit sensitive, but it had eased up considerably, and I slept well, petting DC. Still not sure if I just hinked my back during the day, or if I overtaxed a vital organ, but no more Black Forest Sundaes for me ! Can't take the chance again. It was good, though.

 

On the plus side, I haven't needed my inhalers in over a week. Here's hoping that continues - and that you had a good Valentine's day !

Shopping overload... but it was fun !

 

Current Mood : Shopped out !

 

Today was another of those ‘buy-buy-buy' days, lots of fun, but kinda crowded. Hit the Flea Market this morning. Thank Everything there won't be another until next month. Despite the Craigslist claim that ‘all the vendors have all-new stuff !', it was pretty much the same-old I've seen since Christmas. Even the Barbie car-set seller (Brenda) didn't have any new dolls.

 

That's not to say I didn't find anything. I snagged an adorable Mary Engelbreit pincushion chair that's just a bit too small for Barbie, but I'll use it anyway. It was priced the same as similar chairs at Tuesday Morning at $5., so I snagged it. I also found another Deco-Pak ‘Pink-gowned Barbie on a cushioned stool' cake decoration and a sweet Barbie armoire for a buck, and brought them home, too. I'd say, ‘I gotta knock-off the doll furniture buys', but I bought a great prop at the junk shop, too...

 

Yeah, I decided I still wanted to go, so when Beloved Hubby left for his afternoon plans, I hit it. Spent $12., but got a ton of goodies. Scored a glass paperweight heart that's a perfect ‘frame' for some embroidery, a lovely Japanese card that's awesome for an anniversary card for Beloved this month, and a used DVD copy of Pixar Short Films Collection, vol. 1, in great shape. I also bought a bag of snaps and hooks, although I don't need them, for the awesome package of vintage Doll Zippers included - you'll get that photo tomorrow.

 

But the big buy was a seriously bashed-box Becky, complete with red wheelchair, for $7.50. Yes, the big draw was the wheelchair. I had one, years ago, from a yard sale, but the arms were broken off, for some reason. Dearest, still a baby at the time, loved it, too, and finished breaking it one afternoon. I'd been contemplating buying Becky from an In The Pink seller, but adding shipping and PayPal fees - when did that nonsense start ? - made it more expensive than I wanted. While I'd have been happier with five bucks, seven-fifty was OK. And, hey, no shipping or other penny-ante fees !

 

It's kind of funny. In two weeks, I have two Beckys. And today must've been a ‘chair' day, since I got the pincushion and the wheelchair.

Sleep is pretty much the answer, I think.

 

Current Mood : Improving

 

We sort of took it easy tonight - I finished cleaning the Lab since Beloved Hubby had company most of the afternoon. DFIL, DBIL, and Friend wanted to discuss AirSoft, which was fine with me. I was due to visit the neighboring town's junk shop and the Flea with Aunt S., but she wasn't feeling well today. Since Dearest Son wanted to hang with the guys, I was pretty much free all day.

 

And what did I do with all that time ? Slept, mostly. Sad but true, I curled up with DC and we slept like cats, ignoring all the odd noises from the living room and the sunlight streaming around. I feel a lot better.

 

The fabric Aunt S. gave me is more-or-less put away, filling one of the crates that blocks the door from Friday-puppy's marauding. First on the list for next week is cleaning my closet, so at least part of it can get transferred there. 

 

Oh, and I got to see all the ‘sneak peek' dolls the Barbie Fan Club members have been discussing. And the two I was interested in have already been found wanting. I was surprised to learn Mattel was doing Wizard of Oz again - this is, what, the fourth or fifth go-round on that ? - but I was interested in seeing ‘vintage' face versions. Too bad the Witch is such a pastel mint super-pale green. Bleh. Dress is nice, though. And the Monuments of the World series seemed a bit...well, oversized, to me. Neat idea, though. Once again, while I witch and moan about it, I'm always glad I didn't fork over $25. to join. I can easily find other ways to spend twenty-five bucks, especially with the weekend coming !

 

Here's the link - enjoy !

http://www.angelicdreamz.com/BARBIE-2010-DOLLS_c_1477.html

 

Happy early Valentine's Day !

 

Growlmuttergrumblewhine...

 

Current Mood : Funk-butt.

 

Sorry, I'm in a funk-butt mood. Being off-and-on ill all week means I haven't done crap all week, and it's kinda hard to respect y'self when you just sit around when yer healthy, even if it's a brief prelude to another bout of sick.

 

Doesn't help that 90% of all the chat on In The Pink is about the Barbie Fan Club - who's signing up for renewal, who's signing up for the first time, when and why can't they use their benefits, what they're gonna use their coupons on, and all the stuff they can see that us plebes can't - it frustrates and annoys me every year. When any group seeks to separate its fan base into ‘the secret inner circle' and the hordes of unwashed, it loses my respect.

 

I go through this every year. I get so mad at Mattel and all the chatter about stuff I'm ‘not allowed' to see, because I didn't fork over $25. for the privilege. I end up abandoning Barbie for a while, even though I know the talk is just temporary, and will dissipate  by the next week - until the next round of ‘sneak peeks' comes around, and the whole business starts again. Half the time, I either shun Mattel entirely, or else I buy a boatload of dolls at yard sales, dirt cheap, just to prove I can, and that it's not about the latest and greatest to everybody. And then I see those dolls that everyone's buzzing about - at ASM's coverage of Toy Fair. Of those, there's maybe two I'm interested in, almost always Playline, and any fascination I held for more than a month normally goes away when the doll goes from intriguing hand-painted Prototype to weird or just plain blah in Production. The Mattel Wicked Witch is a prime example.

 

Toy Fair, by the by, supposedly begins this Saturday. I've also read that it's next weekend. So I have no idea why I've wound myself up so quickly. I'm just frustrated when I can't join in any discussions about much of anything, because I'm not in that blasted inner circle. Still, though, it's no one's fault, and it's best if I just excuse m'self rather than make a scene. Just because I have a stick in sensitive places about ‘inner circle' memberships doesn't mean everybody has to agree, and clearly, a lot of the ITP membership really enjoys the fan club. Just because I usually tell Mattel to shove it somewhere equally as sensitive at least once a year - more often, when you consider convention season - doesn't mean I'm right. Just means I'm easily ticked off. I just really hate feeling like there's a country-club atmosphere surrounding a plastic doll primarily sold by the millions at Mal-Wart.

 

I'm sorry. But that's actually what I like about Barbie. That there's not a whole lotta difference between the $5. swimsuit doll at Target and the Swarovski-dripping Haute Design'er Name doll, when the day is over. And usually, the made-to-be-played doll is better constructed, since Mattel can't afford lawsuits on shoddy stuff when they know it's a toy. For some reason, they really cheap out on the ones they think are never gonna be deboxed. I keep wanting to scream that as adult ‘collectors', we're really getting shanked, but I'm shushed because everyone already knows that, and they just don't care. Long as they're on the waitlist for We Only Made Two Thousand, many folk are happy.

 

Yeah, I know, I'm a mess. Last month, I was happy as clams that I got a Gold Label doll I'd wanted. If I'd have paid the $120. asking price, and found that nearly a year later, it was on clearance shelves for a quarter of that, I'd be furious. But I'd refuse to pay that for a doll in the first place. Sorry, but Mattel just asks too much for repros and other ‘adult collectables' most of the time. And given the surplus of collector dolls that got clearanced this year, I'm starting to think Mattel is overestimating demand for them. They really had opportunity last year, with the big ‘50^th Anniversary', but I couldn't tell that they really did anything with it, save for a few press junkets and cross-promo tie-ins that, if you weren't in California, probably didn't have much luck finding. I'm glad that they came out with special memory doll reproductions, and heck, they're coming out with more as we blog, but I thought it'd be more than ‘hey, here's more stuff we can sell !'. I keep forgetting, it's Mattel, there's not much more there.

 

Anyway. Weekend's coming, there's a Flea Market, and Aunt S. wants to go to the junk shop with me. No telling what'll happen there ! I just need to shake off all this bitter. Anybody got a Whitman's Sampler handy ?

Bunk Beds !

 

Current Mood : More ugh - and I'm sick of being sick. Sick of 'ugh', too. 

 

If you've ever wondered how DC-kitty and Friday-puppy are getting along, I present photo evidence - their version of bunk beds ! It's funny that, most nights, Friday sleeps in his crate, but if DC's on the back of the sofa, he sleeps there, too. He's such a protective puppy !

 

Is Wednesday my worst day ? Seems so. Ironically, I picked up a three-month supply of all my prescriptions but the expensive one, and two inhalers - and my breathing's not been a problem all week. My stomach has.

 

Still, I had to get up off my butt a bit, so I tidied up the living room in fits and starts, but after a while, it was clean enough to open the door. Kitchen's still a disaster, though. Grabbed a shower, did some grocery hunts with Dearest Son, got the meds. Came home and fell asleep in my living room chair for a good hour. (sigh) I have no idea what the heck's wrong with me.

 

Decided to tidy up the Lab, for fun, so I wouldn't crash again. I had piles of clutter and stacks of Aunt S. fabric ready to be stored, not to mention all the stuff I bought last week that needed to find a home in there. Got tired of moving Dearest's ripped pants - I tossed ‘em in there so I would, it's the best way of ensuring they'd get repaired - so I patched ‘em with a bit of the green Wall-e fabric, using reverse appliqué, because I'm lazy and hate ripping out entire seams. Since they're so worn, ordinarily it'd be either ‘shorts or rags' for them, but they're favorites of his, so I fixed them instead. That should get us a few more wears out of ‘em.

 

And I'm crashing again, and crabby. Man, I hope this weekend goes better. I'm darn near unfit to live with !

 

DC get some 'nip !

 

Current Mood : Still sleepy. Arrrgh. 

 

Well, my plan to wake up and feel more of a push to donate more fabric failed. For some reason, I'm more clingy to it than I was before. I had to move the ‘donate' bag for fear I'd go through it and keep it all. And I still haven't figured out where it's all gonna go ! Since most of it is for me-clothes I can probably squeeeeeze it into my closet, but the rest...(sigh)

 

I had to move it today, though. It was taking up Brody's perch on my desk. Beloved Hubby's been working with Stitch Era Universal to make an AirSoft patch for his group. After a lack of success with the Auto-Digitizer functions, he went Manual - and it looks great ! It even looked good in Ambassador, so I wanted to install and test-stitch it out. For that, I need Brody's space cleared off. Dropped the whole stack into the soon-to-be-covered crate and nudged it aside.

 

Hooped up a leftover bit of black fabric with a lot of leftover cutaway stabilizer, and looped through some scrap thread. Yes, believe it or not, I have four spools (three colors !) of some flat, unremarkable thread that looks like it was pulled off  an industrial machine, garnered from one thrift store / yard sale / junk shop or another. It's good enough to use, but not good enough for most projects. I save it for test stitch-outs like this one. And it stitched up beautifully ! One of the fonts needs to go a bit bolder - it was hard to read, but mostly legible - but other than that, it's perfect ! It's on a scrap of fabric big enough to do something with, just in case. 

 

I even got Beloved to come in and watch it stitch out when he came home. He really enjoyed that, and seeing how well his idea and design worked. Since it did so well, now I wanna learn manual digitizing. He says it's not that hard, and I want to be able to do what he did ! Only problem is, for it to work, I have to get over something that I've carried for decades.

 

I can't draw. Seriously. Ask me to sketch a person, and I'll invariably draw something that makes those stick-figure sticker families on the backs of vans and SUVs look like Rembrandts. That may be why I love animation so much - there's no possible way I can do it m'self. Beloved says I can trace instead, so I have some hope. I'd plan to noodle around with it tomorrow, but you can imagine how badly neglected the house is, and it's grocery shopping / prescription pick-up day.

 

Until then, here's a photo of DC's first experience with real catnip. He really loved it, but hasn't found the potted plant yet on his own. To my amazement, yes, it's still alive !

 

Slow, sleepy Monday

 

Current Mood : Sleepy as a cat

 

I'm not sure what's going on with me today, I could barely keep my head up. I kept falling asleep. We had that charming weather phenomenon known as ‘wintry mix', which sound more like a snack food sold seasonally than the ‘whatever cold crap is coming out of the clouds this time' forecast it is. (sigh) I could go for a box of Wintry Mix Snax right now...

 

Since I could hardly keep my eyes open, you could correctly assume I didn't do much today. About all I got accomplished was digging in the bags of fabric Aunt S. gave me and dividing it into ‘keep' and ‘donate' piles. The first go-round was 30 ‘keep', 5 ‘donate'. A bit more sorting and it's now 25-10. Very little of it is for doll clothes, maybe five pieces from the keepers. The rest is for me-clothes, in patterns and colors I like. I'm hoping that, after giving it a night's rest, I can get it down to 20-15. Or just cut a yard or so off what I want for the dolls and donate the rest. There's at least three cuttings in the ‘good' pile that have to be five or six yards long. And six different shades of pink, from baby to azalea-fuchsia. Aunt S. favors rose colors.

 

I'm happy to have such beautiful new fabrics - I'm just not sure where to put them all ! And I'm trying to think of what I can do for Aunt S. She already has a set of my cheap-serged blankets, and it's not a good time for handkerchiefs, since she's a very recent widow. I'm thinking of a pretty framed initial from Brody's memory, or one of my designs. In rose pink, of course !

 

Dearest Son loves his new blanket so much, he made his bed with it. I didn't have the heart to rip his work apart to sew anything. Hopefully, I can catch him tomorrow, before he makes it up again. Mine was nice and cuddly last night - I love it !

Yesterday, there was new fleece. Today, there's blankets !

 

Current Mood : Silly-happy

Spent on craft stuff yesterday : $1.61

 

Forgot until I unpacked the Hancock Fabrics bag that I bought three Barbie-size Styrofoam craft cones - 90% off ! Now, if I want to try those felt trees again, I got the cone core to work with ! And ya'll know me, I'd much rather fork over 49c each rather than $4.99 a piece.

 

Changed all the batteries on the U-Command Wall-e last night, and he worked beautifully. And Dearest Son is in love. He couldn't believe that he had one, and just looked at him for a full minute before reaching for him. I think that, since we had to tell him we couldn't find one at Christmas, he thought he'd never have one. Well, that was probably accurate, until yesterday !

 

The bear's dress didn't fit PDorrie, but the hat did. The dress fit Timey Tell and Hi, Dottie. So it wasn't a total waste of 50c ! Since I'm now running a week behind my ‘sew something, embroider something' with this mad frenzy of purchases, I decided to take today to get it started. Since I found the other plastic ‘grid' box like Dearest Son's that got transformed into a Nerf carrier, I decided to cover it as a carryall for the Lab.

 

But what to embroider on it ? Noodled around with Alphabet XPress - after I had to re-register it, for some odd reason - until I had a kinda cute ‘Dorrie's Craft Crap' logo that I liked. Got the twin bags of fabric Aunt S. gave me out of Molly's trunk and looked for one specific length. It was a medium purple, with a sort of kaleidoscope outline design on it, in black. If there was enough for a blouse and enough left over, I'd use it with a black embroidered border. Found it. It's at least five yards, if not more. Could make a matching shirt and pants set and still have enough for the Undercover Cube, with that much. I was intrigued by the floral stripe, but not certain of my sewing enough to tackle a stripe on a square box just yet.

 

In the middle of it all, Dearest Son brought me the slightly-more-than three yards of Wall-e fabric that he'd tossed aside when he saw the U-Command one's eyes peeking out of it. He wanted to take a nap, and it'd be great if I could cut his blanket for that. OK. I also forgot to mention that there was just a bit over three yards of the character fleece on the bolt, so we took it all. I finally got it unfolded... wow. Three yards plus of 59" wide fleece is a TON of fabric. He didn't want a faux-snuggie, he just wanted a throw blanket. So I just cut it in halves, since there was enough for both of us to have a full-size blanket.

 

He wanted to use his right then, but I cut the wordy selvages off mine, rounded the four corners with a bowl, a Sharpie, and the scissors, then took it into the Lab and cheap-serged the raw edges. Fleece doesn't fray, but I prefer even a slightly finished zig-zag edge to nothing at all. I grinned when I realized that, yes, I sewed something. I then thought, what the heck, I'll embroider on it a bit, so I'll be able to tell mine from Dearest's. I'd used dark green for the cheap-serge since it was already in KJ from Beloved's project, so I'd simply use a different color of Dearest's choice on his. He'll have to choose tomorrow, since right now, he's curled up in his new blanket.

 

Even though I'd cleared off my desk in anticipation of moving Brody in for the ‘Dorrie's Craft Crap' design transfer,  I decided to use the heart  from Shapes and letters from Monograms in his permanent memory for my blanket. Checked Embroidery Library for tips on stitching on fleece, and hit it. Loaded up a sharp needle and some dark green thread, and selected a vine design for the heart. It seemed appropriate ("Plant !") for a Wall-e blanket. And from there, I just added a cursive capital ‘D' to the middle, without even rehooping it. I thought I might need a ‘topping' layer, so the stitches wouldn't sink into the pile, but it stitched up nice, and I didn't even repeat the sequence.

 

Only problem with the vine is that there's lots of jump threads. And cutting them often caught the fleece in the blades. So I learned to cut thread with just one blade, by sawing it a bit. Much better. It's a good project that keeps you on ‘goal' schedule, looks great, and teaches something new !

 

After I finish Dearest's, I'll probably start the craft crate cover. Since I found the fabric I liked from Aunt S., I think I'll use the sewing filigree designs I bought last week. If it works up like I hope it will, I don't want to wreck it by embroidering the word ‘crap' on it.