Sisterhood of the Traveling Pattern

As some of you know, there's a pattern by Waxing Moon Designs called "My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me" that has been making the rounds from one stitcher to the next.

Anna (aka Stitch Bitch) plotted the journeys of this chart, and gathered up links to the pictures:

Harmien in the Netherlands (November 3, 2007, scroll down)
Sent it to Lili in France (June 15, 2007),
Who sent it to Barbara in Malaysia (June 25, 2007)
Who sent it to Tessa in Australia (July 16, 2007)
Who sent it to Lizzie in North Carolina, U.S. (February 26, 2008)
Who sent it to Barbara in the Netherlands (March 11, 2008)
Who sent it to Sarah (no blog) in Ohio, U.S. (April 11, 2008)
Who sent it to Anna in Pennsylvania, U.S. (June 2008)
Who sent it to Wendy in Ontario, Canada (July 4, 2008)
Who sent it to Sue in Michigan, U.S. (August 2, 2008)
Who sent it to Jennifer in Pennsylvania, U.S.

I've been stitching away on it the last couple nights, and it's coming along well. The hardest part for me was making the color changes, which you'll get to see as soon as I get off my lazy duff and take a photo to post. For now, suffice it to say that my DH was most helpful in the color selection, pointing out that you wouldn't be able to see the lettering if I went with my original plan to make the dress dark blue. Nice catch! So I went with another shade of blue and I think it will turn out great.

In the meantime, I'll be taking names for stitchers interested in joining the Sisterhood, and drawing a winner early next week, probably Monday or Tuesday (we're having company this weekend, so it won't be before then). The only requirement for receiving this chart is that you must pass on the original chart in a timely fashion to the next stitcher. I will send the chart anywhere in the world, so if you'd like to join the Sisterhood and can promise the chart will continue its journies, leave your name and a method of contacting you (blog, email) as a comment on THIS POST.

And it's not a requirement, but it would be nice to take Anna's archiving and add on as each stitcher joins the Sisterhood, and post the links in your own blog when you receive the chart.

BFF Award from Meari

Another award has come my way, this one courtesy of Meari. (If you haven't seen her blog, you must check it out. She's hilarious!)

Here are the rules:
1. Only five people allowed.
2. 4 of them have to be dedicated followers of your blog and 1 has to be new and live in another part of the world.
3. You have to link back to who gave you the award.

Today's nominees are:

Janaina - The Stitcher in the Green Bikini
Cathey - Pumpkin Patch & Co.
Teresa - Sew Many Thoughts
Wendy - Wendy ~ Home At Work
Von - On the Dry Side

SBQ: Fabric and Floss

8/21/2008: If you had to choose, would you rather spend money on overdyed floss or hand-dyed fabric? (Submitted by Dawn)

Good question. I have yet to stitch on hand dyed fabric as it has been too expensive for me. My former LNS only sold it in pre-cut packages and I could never seem to justify the expense of it. However, my new LNS custom cuts fabrics for projects and sells grab bags of the off cuts. One of my recent purchases contained a piece of the hand dyed fabric, so I will see if I like stitching on it.

For now, I'd prefer to spend the money on the floss, but only some of the flosses. If I can use a DMC alternative, I'm happy with that, and will tend to spend money on overdyeds that are more varigated. If you can't tell the difference between a $ .35 skein of DMC and a $2.25 skein of overdyed, I'd rather purchase the DMC. Although I do admit that sometimes I can be swayed by a cool name for an overdyed!

Blog Award

Kim, Terry, and Patty all gave me this very cool award, and Dianne gave it back. Thanks, ladies!!!

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.

I have well over 200 blogs in my Google Reader, and if I didn't like them, I wouldn't read them. (Basically, I love ALL your blogs). I also try to leave comments on occasion so people know their blogs are being read. So whenever I pass on an award, I like to highlight blogs some of the blogs that I read, but definitely not all of them. I think people are more prone to click on a link within a post rather than for me to say, "Hey, check out my side bar."

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Go check out these seven blogs:

• Michelle - Cozy Egg
• Jennalynn - A Night Without Armour
• Dani - Navy Stitching
• Dianne - Dianne Rambling On
• Rachel - Willing Hands
• Shel - Stash of Sanity
• Heather - Quilt or Stitch?

And a BONUS site every stitcher should be familiar with, The LNS Report Card. Take a moment to check it out and add some comments about stores you've had experience with, just to keep the list updated. It's nice to have a resource for checking out potential LNS and ONS, and if you don't see one you shop at listed, be sure to contact the moderator, Genie. She's usually quick to respond and will get shops added to the list as needed.

Answers to The Movie Quiz

1. Grosse Pointe Blank - Love this movie. Love the soundtrack (both volumes). I love this movie so much I can almost quote the entire thing. Sometimes those quotes randomly work themselves into my every day conversation. Once, a salesperson asked me what I did for a living. "Professional killer" almost slipped out. LOL

2. 10 Things I Hate About You - Another awesome soundtrack. Fantastic movie. Don't automatically dismiss it as a teen movie. It's quite clever.

3. Mystery, Alaska - Two words. Russell Crowe. I love Russell Crowe.

4. Pretty Woman - A classic.

5. Love, Actually - Fascinating story, wonderful editing.

6. Billy Madison - Another movie I can quote from beginning to end, and often do. Don't ask. It's a sickness. And inevitably, my answer to the question "What's today?" is "October?"

7. A Beautiful Mind - Another Russell Crowe, but it's still an incredible movie. Even once you know what the plot twist is, it still manages to make you believe.

8. How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days - Saw this in the theater and laughed so hard I almost hyperventilated. Bought it on DVD the day it came out

9. Empire Records - Another rockin soundtrack, and highly quotable movie. "Veeeee-to!" has been uttered on more than one occasion.

10. The Princess Bride - So much fun to watch

11. Center Stage - Sasha Radetsky. If you don't know who he is, you should. Another movie I saw in the theater and bought the day it came out.

12. Playing By Heart - Gillian Anderson, Sean Connery, Jon Stewart, Jay Mohr, Anthony Edwards, Gena Rowlands and more. Incredible cast, extremely watchable, and how can any Sean Connery movie be bad?

13. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - I've loved this movie since jr. high. It's also one of DH's favorite movies. But we're irreverant like that....

14. Sex and the City Movie - Saw it in the theater, but only after reading spoilers to make sure Carrie and Big ended up together.

15. The Wedding Date - Debra Messing and Dermott Mulroney. Hot, hot, hot.

A movie quiz

I spotted this fun little quiz on both Mindy and Dianne's blogs, so I played along with theirs and made up my own. If you know any of them, leave a quote in the comments.

The rules are as follows:
1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.
5. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.

If you don't know what IMDB is, definitely check it out. It's one of my favorite sites!

And here come the quotes!

1. Where ya been these last ten years?
Yeah, where ya been, "Marv"?
Ya look great!
Thanks. I work at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Ya do not!
I do! I sell biscuits and gravy all over the southland.
You're so funny.
He's a funny guy.

2. Hello, Katarina. Make anyone cry today?
Sadly, no. But it's only 4:30.

3. A Zamboni? Wow, I'm getting wet just thinkin' about it.

4. Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.

5. I've come here with a view of asking you to marriage me. I know I seems an insane person - because I hardly knows you - but sometimes things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me in England.

6. what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

7. So what's your story? You the poor kid that never got to go to Exeter or Andover?
Despite my privileged upbringing, I'm actually quite well-balanced. I have a chip on both shoulders.

8. If you are gonna name my... member, you have to name it something hyper masculine. Something like Spike, or Butch, or Krull the Warrior King!

9. Well "Sinead O'Rebellion." Shock me shock me shock me with that deviant behavior.
God, that is so clever. I swear you get smarter the shorter your skirt gets.

10. Have fun stormin' da castle.
Think it'll work?
It would take a miracle.

11. I do ballet because it has nothing to do with the people. Give me tiaras and boys in tights any day.

12. Talking about love is like dancing about architecture

13. Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

14. Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours

15. Well thank you for including me in this timeless feminine ritual. Here's to the husbands who've won you, the losers who've lost you, and the lucky bastards who've yet to meet you.

Have you recently posted "Wee Cradle" by The Workbasket?

Someone just stitched and finished this piece and posted a lovely picture of it, but for the life of me, I cannot find the blog it was on. I saw it within the last 2 days, but after spending quite a bit of time looking for it again, I cannot find it.

I wasn't that excited about the piece when I saw it on the Workbasket site, but when I saw the finished project "The Mystery Stitcher" posted, I thought it was just gorgeous, especially the cursive font used for the name.

If this is you, or you know who it is, please, please, please let me know!! Thanks!

EDITED TO ADD: Found it! Or rather, Ruth Rachel pointed me in the right direction - straight to her blog. You've got to see how she stitched this up. It's just adorable!

SBQ: Threads

8/7/08: What do you do to your thread clippings? Do you just scrap them or do you use them in something else? (submitted by Outi)

May I present my ort jar?

I've posted this before, but this is a picture taken a few months ago of my ort jar, a repurposed candy jar. It contains most of the thread clippings from almost 5 years worth of stitching. A small bit was taken out as an experiment with our local wild birds to see if they would be interested in using the threads for their nests. They were not, so I stopped offering. And the clippings from the wedding record piece DH and I stitched for ourselves are inside a glass ornament that gets hung on our Christmas tree. Which means most of the rest of the clippings are in that jar, and pretty tightly packed in there.

I don't know what I'll do when I just can't pack any more in there. Probably cap that jar, put it on a shelf and start a new one.

And yes, I do gather up my clippings when I travel and put them in the jar when I get home.

PS - Some people say that ORT stands for "old raggedy / ratty threads". Anna contends that its meaning stems from the Middle English / Low German use of the word, a small bit or left over scrap, usually from a meal.

Seven more Brilliant Blogs

Since Claire was kind enough to bestow the Brilliant award on my blog, I have another opportunity to possibly introduce you to some additional blogs you may not know about.

First off, I'd like to award two gallery type blogs that have been sources of ideas, tips, techniques and freebies for me for a while.

• Freebie Gallery


• World's Largest Collection of Smalls

Managed by Carol (Garden of Stitches), these are definitely blogs worth checking out, but don't blame me if you end up spending hours and hours and hours on them! :-) Blame Carol for keeping them so nicely organized, and the amazing stitchers that contribute their work.

And now for a few more blogs I enjoy reading:

• The Betsy Ross Experience


• Stitches with Camels


• Incoherent Scribblings


• Chiloe's Corner


• JennX-Stitch
  

Guess what was in the mail for me yesterday?

Less than a WEEK after I placed the order, my kit arrived from the UK! How's THAT for service??? I ordered from Sew and So, and not only did I get almost immediate confirmation when I ordered the kit, but they sent me a shipping confirmation when the chart went out (the day after I ordered it). It was nicely packaged in a sturdy envelope, so there were no bends or folds or anything. I would absolutely order from them again and recommend them to anyone. After my experience with the other store, I am so glad Sew and So came through. My only minor complaint was that shipping was almost $8 US, much higher than the other online store I ordered from, but with service like that, it's hard to complain.

So now I have to start stitching away on it so it's ready to personalize when the baby gets here. My friend is due in early September, so I want to have the bulk of the piece completed. I'm also going to do some re-arranging in the center section to be able to include the time of birth and the length. I think I have plenty of room to play around in there, especially if I take out the words "Born" and "Weight".

I also have to get in touch with my new LNS to find out if I Do has arrived yet. I asked them to order it 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard from them yet, so I might have to give them a little nudge. I know the owner is out recovering from surgery and the store is being run by part time staff, but I still need to get this piece stitched up in time for the wedding which is a month away.