Still wearing that paper bag over my head...

Oh dear.  The Dallas Cowboys...what can you say?  Happily Texas A&M and Texas Tech both won their games and t.u. got beat.  It was mostly a good football weekend unless you were watching the NFL.

I got up at o'dark-thirty on Saturday and went to the Houston International Quilt Show, reportedly the largest quilt show in the world.  My day started out with me standing in the ticket line waiting to buy a ticket to get into the show when a lady walked up to me and gave me an extra ticket she had!  How cool is that!

The show itself was a lot of fun.  I was with Georgia and Terri who are are real, live quilters.  It was fun seeing all the vendors and watching some live demonstrations.  One device that wowed me was the AccuQuilt GO!  It cuts fabric for you very easily and precisely.  It has a lot of different dies that cut different shapes and sizes for piecing and applique.  If I ever have the urge to quilt, I'd definitely get one of these.

Georgia and Terri both have long-arm quilting machines.  There are several manufacturers - think Chevy to Porsche - and it was interesting to see all the different long-arm machines available.  Georgia bought hers used and wants to upgrade to a machine with more features.  She talked to the dealer at the show.  Apparently, you can buy, sell, and trade long-arms just like a car as used ones have a trade-in value.  

The new thing this year was fabric paints, glitter, and foil effects.  We watched a couple of demonstrations on this and I found it pretty interesting.  I was amazed that sprinkle-on glitter stayed exactly where you put it on the fabric with none sneaking off.  

Another demonstration had me backing away from the table muttering frantically, "I don't need another hobby!  I don't need another hobby!"  There were several vendors selling hot-fix Swarovski crystals that you could iron on in patterns on fabric or clothing.  It looked really cool and I was tempted to take it up as a hobby.  But then I calculated how much I would have to spend to get started and after figuring how much cross stitch stash that would buy, I managed to restrain myself.

Today I plan to get a bit more fall cleaning done and then put away "Liberty Lane" while I get my nephews' Christmas ornaments stitched.  DN1 is getting an F-18 airplane this year instead of a car.   DN2 is getting a reindeer with ornaments hanging off his antlers unless his parents request something else.

LoneStar

Is it just me?

Or didn't there used to be a holiday between Halloween and Christmas?  Um, I believe it was called Thanksgiving.  It was a definite, defined and celebrated holiday and it was distinctly retailed.  Now, it just kind of blends in with Halloween or "Fall" and then the retailers go immediately into Christmas.  The only way you can tell it is upcoming is that the grocers start selling turkeys real cheap and marshmallows start showing up near the sweet taters.

I hate that.  Bah humbug.

There ought to be a law against it.  Retailers (other than craft and fabric stores) shouldn't put out Christmas stuff OR PLAY CHRISTMAS MUSIC until the Friday right after Thanksgiving.  Nowadays, by the time Christmas actually gets here I am so sick of "the season" that I could run screaming down the street.  And that's unfortunate.  The retailing gets in the way of the true meaning of the season.  And it's hard to avoid all the retailing and hoopla unless you live in a cave from November 1st until December 25th.  Which I don't.  Bah humbug.

Okay, off my soapbox.  I'm going to the Houston International Quilt Show tomorrow with a couple of ladies who are actual real, live quilters.  I'm just a quilting wannabe.  I've quilted a little and didn't enjoy it at all.  However, I LOOOOOVE to look at quilts and fabrics.  I went last year and had a blast.  There are a couple of stitching designers/shops there like The Silver Needle (shop) and Blackbird Designs (designer), but then Blackbird Designs also designs quilts and quilting fabric lines in addition to designing cross stitch patterns.  

The only bad thing about the trip is that I have to get up at o'dark-thirty and I don't get home until pretty late.  I'll be leaving the house about the time my DH will go out to hunt.  Oh well.

LoneStar

Thanks, Susan.

Did you vote today?  I did.  Less than 100 years ago, women were not allowed to vote in the USA; in some countries they still can't vote.  Susan B. Anthony was the matriarch of getting women the right to vote in this country.  Voting is a privilege and everyone should exercise their voting rights.

My weekend was wonderful.  The drive out to my stitching retreat was fun as I spent a lot of time driving through the Texas hill country - beautiful!  The retreat was great.  We go to this place every fall.  I like the food, I like the accommodations, but the chairs in the stitching room stink - conference chairs!  I won a doorprize (Pine Mountain Pillow kit).  

I made the mistake of looking at the hand-dyed fabric on the sales table and ended up coming home with some.  The colors probably won't show up adequately, but here they are:  Zweigart Lime Green and Renaissance Red by Lakeside Linens.  I have no idea what to stitch on the red fabric, but I couldn't pass it up.  I'll stitch something "halloweeny" on the green fabric.

I got a decent amount of stitching done on "Liberty Lane" in between talking with my tablemates and looking at the work of other stitchers.

 
In regards to weekend sporting events, as a Cowboys fan, I am now wearing a paper bag over my head, my Aggies beat DH's Red Raiders, and the Texas Rangers did their best in their first appearance ever at the World Series.  
 
LoneStar 

Doors and more

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.  I've been doing a lot of fall cleaning around the house.  Whoopee.

Our friend Billy was finally able to get the doors for the bathroom cabinets painted for us.  DH was able to get three of them installed.  The fourth door has glass panels in it and we thought we'd be able to get clips to hold them in the frame from Lowe's or Home Depot.  No such luck; we had to order them online and they aren't here yet.  Here are the doors he installed "before" and "after."

 

 

 

I got my new stitching lamp yesterday and am very pleased with it.  It has several new features that are way better than the ones on the old lamp.  All of the lamp joints are keyless - you don't have to turn a wingnut to adjust the angle; you just move it to the desired position and it stays!  The lens has a plastic cover instead of a cloth one.  Other than that, it's still the same great high quality Daylight magnification lamp I love.

I've made progress on "Liberty Lane."  If you are familiar with this pattern, you might notice that the colors don't match the pattern.  That's because I'm stitching it with colors a friend used when she stitched it.  I like her version a lot better.  When I get it finished, I'll post RitaD's conversions.

On Friday, I'm off to west Texas for a stitching retreat, and boy! am I ever looking forward to it!  Somebody else will cook and clean for me for the whole weekend, and I get to sit and stitch ALL WEEKEND LONG!  

LoneStar

A stitching disaster and a buck

DH has been very successful in hunting this year.  He's harvested two does and a wild pig, and Saturday, he got a six-point buck.  Our freezer will be well stocked for winter.  He's really hoping to harvest his one more allowed buck during the remainder of bowhunting season.  Of course, he'll still have rifle season to get it, but if he gets it sooner, then he'll be done with hunting for the year and won't be as distracted on the weekends.  ;-)

Late last week, I sat down to begin "It's Mine," the Hallowe'en cat and pumpkin pattern on 36 count linen.  Things were going fairly well when my stitching lamp died.  ACK!!  DH was unable to resurrect it.  He determined that the circuit board needing replacing.  So he called the Daylight Company.  We knew that they don't do repairs on lamps, but they will sell you replacement parts if you are able to fix it yourself.  At least, they will sell you replacement parts on current lamps, not discontinued ones like I apparently have.  

So I'm using my stitchtogether/retreat lamp which is smaller with a lesser quality lens.  It's fine for travel, but not for all the time use when I need superior magnification.  Because of this, I ended up starting a different project with a lower fabric count.  I'm now working on "Liberty Lane" by Country Cottage Needleworks on 28 count Monaco.

And I spent a couple of days scouring the internet for a new lamp.  I found the best price on the next generation lamp - the Daylight Ultra Slim XR Fluorescent Magnifier Lamp - on a massage/salon supply website of all places!  Now I just have to wait for it to arrive in the mail and then all will be well in my world.

LoneStar

PIF Winner and windows

Thanks to all of you that entered my PIF - the winner is RitaD.

See this pile of painted lumber leaning on my bookcases?  Hopefully it will begin to cover up the ugly pink 2x4s in my bedroom windows.

DH will begin installing the trim molding for the windows this weekend.  He took today off (and was of course out hunting this morning - no joy getting a buck) and is happily in the mood to do woodworking.  The molding for around the windows is out on the porch on my sawhorses awaiting paint.  Yes, I'm still painting stuff.  Such is my lot in life.  ;-)

I hope to finish-finish a few stitchy things and watch the Dallas Cowboys win (*crossing fingers*) this weekend.  And of course, I hope to get in some stitching time.

LoneStar

A finish and a PIF

I finished "Spring Flowers" by Redbird Designs today.  I stitched it on a piece of mint green Jubilee that was hiding in my stash.  The pattern calls for 28 count "Thyme" over-dyed Jobelan and  DMC, Weeks, Crescent Colors, and GAST floss.  I converted the over-dyed floss to DMC.  

As my friend Mary was kind enough to pass this pattern on to me, I will pass it on to another stitcher.  If you would like this pattern, please leave your name and e-mail address on a comment on this blog post.  No e-mail, no entry.  I will choose a winner on Friday afternoon, October 15th.

This is an exclusive pattern by Lorraine Koester of Redbird Designs.  It is one of five seasonal patterns she did, two of which were exclusive to stitching retreats and were not released publicly.  This pattern is one of those two.  

I will include my DMC conversions with the pattern just for grins.  Mint green Jubilee is no longer in production, but you can find Lugana in a similar color.  

LoneStar