Well, it's now been over a month since I have blogged anything. I have been working on stuff and getting some things accomplished. Unfortunately, depression seems to have taken hold and only lets me free for brief spurts of time. Tommy's nephew has come to live with us. He is one of the few people in the world that I don't get along with. Guess where he is "living" within our apartment? That's right, our computer room! Ain't life grand.

On top of that going on, Tommy is depressed. He wants to get out of New Orleans so bad it hurts. Oh he has lots and lots of interviews and people saying you are just what we are looking for but no offers. Of course, if he were to take a steep decrease in pay, I'm sure we would get offers out the wazzoo. But I refuse to let him sell himself short, or for less than what he is worth. The man works his ass off for his employers. And he is only the second in charge. He came home last week and told me that a couple of people he works with just met Tommy's boss. They didn't know the jerk existed and he has been there for something like 5 years. He hides in the basement and does nothing except shoot the breeze with his "boys". I've met him and don't think a lot of him.

I think spring has by passed New Orleans and we are into summer. Temperatures this past week have been in the mid to upper 80's with 90 to 100 % humidity. For those unfamiliar with this part of the world, 100 % humidity does not mean rain!! You can walk outside and be totally drenched, clothes and all within seconds. Happy happy joy joy.

One bright spot in the whole sordid mess that is my life right now....my 4th wedding anniversary is the 19th of this month. It is on a Thursday, so Tommy will actually have the night off!!!! I am so excited. This will only be the second anniversary we will have been able to spend together. I think I will send him flowers to work. For our first one, he was working in Williamsburg, VA and I was living with my mom and brother finishing my teaching contract here in Louisiana. I sent him a dozen balloons attached to a bucket filled with all his favorite snack foods. He was living in the hotel he was working at, so it went to the front desk. The ladies made a big deal over it and him. Of course they were scandalized when they found out all he had done was to call me and tell me he loved me. Little did they realize that meant the world to me. I thank God everyday for Tommy.

I thought ya'll might enjoy some pictures from Mardi Gras. We didn't go to the parades. These were taken from the balcony of our apartment on Royal Street. Several times yesterday the street was packed with with over 1000 costumed locals. Some of the pictures I took simply for the costumes. There was a lot of work put into the costumes.

Today when Tommy was walking to the little store on the corner, he pasted an Egyptian souvenir store. He stopped in and bought me this beautiful blue velvet beaded pouch. He said it was for inspiration. Isn't he so sweet and isn't it beautiful?

T.A.S.T and the Feather Stitch

This week's stitch for T.A.S.T. is the feather stitch. This is one of my all time favorite stitches. It is so versatile. Making one change in it changes the flow totally. I love making the circles with it. These are not finished. I will either add beads at the end of each branch or another stitch. I am still undecided. On the first block below, I am adding detached chains to the feather vines.

I am totally addicted to making those cute little 3 inch squares. These are the ones I have made so far. I am sure there are many more in my future. They also seem to be getting smaller and smaller. I do believe I will lay the blame for these directly on Lesa's doorstep. And I am not even in her swap.

One of these days I will remember that when I have to break a post into more than one post to put my "title" on the final post.

Anyway.....

This bag is what I call my butterfly bag. Here on the front I have 3 small butterflies with a size 6 bead on them beside a double row of cretan stitches. In the middle upper section, I filled it in with cross stitches and then in the spaces between the two rows I placed a bead. On the blue section I have alternating lengths of buttonhole topped with a French knot on the longer stitches.



On the inside of the bag, I added 3 more butterflies.













On the back of the butterfly bag I did double chevron, on the upper left, triple cretan on the right, and then the blue with red flowers on the lower left, I beaded the flower centers.







Since one of the colors for Project Spectrum is blue, I made a set of bookmarks with varying shades and textures of blue fabric.

What I've been working on lately

Even though I haven't posted in a while, I have been hard at work. I have three bags ready to be lined and stitched together; I have some panels, no pictures of yet, that are almost ready to be put into totes; I have some bookmarks and 3 inch squares waiting to be embellished.

My first bag I call the pink roses bag due to the panel of pink roses on the back.
The front is fairly simple with only some fun fur and a piece of trim I got from Elizabet in my Victorian stocking. On the back, I used several TAST stitches, chevron, buttonhole, and detached chain, along with French knots.















On the inside flap of the bag, I added cretan and herringbone stitches along with the others.

















My second bag here call my orange bag due to a large orange panel on the back. On the front, above right, I did a meandering chain stitch that I added silver bugle beads to along it. A double chevron stitch along the slant of the green patch.


On the inside flap, I did three rows of herringbone, cross stitches crossed with silver thread, and then a row of green bugle beads down the right hand slant.

A dear friend of mine, Judyth in Kansas, is hosting a swap called CQInternationalSwap2007. She pairs a lady from the US with a lady from another country. They then swap 4 times during the year. The first three are cq goodies and other things; the fourth is a needle book that we make. Today I got my first squishie from my swap sister. Her name is Daphne and she lives in Norwich, England. Let me tell you, this lady has wonderful taste in goodies. Just the fabric is sinfully rich and decadent. The laces, fibers, beads, and buttons are to die for. So look at my goodies, just remember not to drool on your keyboard.

T.A.S.T. and works in progress

This weeks stitch was the cretan, which is actually one I really like. I worked it on two of my blocks this week. The first one is what I call my "blue block". I don't have a lot of work done on this one yet. To the right and below the circles, I did three layers of the stitch in silk. I used green, dark blue, and cream threads. In the paisley block in the upper right hand corner, I used two different shades of gold silk threads and then interwove metallic fun fur through them. I am pleased with the way it turned out. I can't wait to see how the rest of the block finishes.

My second block is my "three flower" block. Again it is nowhere near being finished. On this one, I did 2 layers of the cretan stitch. This time I did the stitches tighter and closer together. They are on the red silk triangle at the bottom right.

3 inch blocks

Last week, we in CQforNewbies were discussing the new trend of "mini" blocks. Most of what I have seen were 1". That is just too small for me and my poor eyes. Lesa suggested making 3" blocks. I made one over the weekend. It didn't take a long time to put together or embellish.

I'm not sure what I would do with them. Definitely worth thinking about though.

Birthday squishie round up part two.

Susan sent me 2 beautiful tatted motifs she made; beautiful fabrics, including one with Renaissance ladies; crocheted laces; an adorable birdhouse siggie; and ribbons that she dyed along with some from Hand-dyed Fibers.

Wilma from the Netherlands sent me a beautiful cross stitched butterfly; lace from France and Germany; beautiful ribbons, fibers, beads, and buttons. She also an adorable wooden shoe keyring.
Renea sent me exquisite fabrics, lace, ribbons, and perle threads.
I would like to say thank you to Rebecca for hosting this swap and all the hard work she puts into it. You are one in a million Rebecca.

In my group CQforNewbies, we have a birthday swap. Each month there is a person signed up and she gets a squishie from each member of the swap group. December was my birthday. I got wonderful squishies from everyone. Blogger is only letting me upload a few pictures at a time so these will be in two posts.
This squishie came from Judyth in Kansas. Lots of luscious silk fibers and fabrics.
Laura sent me sumptuous fabrics, cute buttons, vintage lace and beads galore.
Marianne stuffed her squishie so full, it took 3 pictures to get all the goodies. She sent me lots of buttons and charms.
She also sent me lots of lace and trims.
She also sent me luscious silk fabrics, and a beautiful butterfly siggie.

Ati in Norway sent me an exquisite bobbin lace mandala she made. She also sent me a cross stitched Christmas tree, dove siggie, and lots of fabrics and fibers.
Bethany sent me gorgeous fabrics, hordes of lace, fibers, floss, and buttons. She also sent a cool piece of stone bead fringe.
Brenda sent me gergeous colored fabrics; lace, ribbons and fibers galore; an old world Santa siggie, and a red work tree pattern.
Elizabet from the UK sent me an adorable little girl and daisy siggie, a beaded clay face she made; and hand made lace from Malta.
Gerry sent me two beautiful Victorian siggies; rich fabrics with tons of beads to accentuate them; beautiful laces, fibers, and velvet ribbons.