Oy...I'm a tired T.

We are on Day 2 of the Water Park and I'm pooped, even with an afternoon nap!

Here's a pic of the indoor portion of the water park that we are at. There's just as much outdoors as indoors.

What you can barely see is the big bucket on top of the structure on the left with the orange and blue slides. It dumps a mega ton of water every 5 minutes or so. The noise and laughter gets deafening quickly. This shot doesn't show the wave pool for boogie boarding nor the hot tubs.

We woke up at about 8 am, had breakfast and hit the water. After a late lunch, my two kidlets crashed for a short nap. (I managed to grab a quick cat nap too!) Then, back out into the water.

I am currently babysitting the youngest of our clan while the older kids went for one more late night splash after dinner since the lines are non existant at this hour. I have a feeling that no one in our room will roll over until about 10 am tomorrow. Darn. ;)

As for non-water activities, my daughter has a mani/pedi scheduled for tomorrow morning. She did this the last time we came here and LOVED it! She gets pampered, a little pink crown and she chooses her own scents and colors. I normally get a massage but opted out of it this year. I'm more relaxed this summer than I've been in forever. (YAY!) We've watched deer and a multitude of different birds from our balcony, which is facing the woods out behind the lodge. The kids have played MagiQuest, kind of like a scavenger hunt mixed with Dungeons and Dragons. My MiLaw and I went into Williamsburg to the Yankee Candle Outlet....heheheheh. I love candles!

I was concerned about the size of our group and how my 2 kids would deal with it all but they've adapted well. (We tend to be a quiet and reserved lot at my house.) There's a total 8 kids and 8 adults. It's been loud, chaotic and fun!

The Doily Hoop

Back in October of last year, I did a Christmas Stocking swap with a fellow Craftster who is also an art history professor (...talk about intimidating for me!) so I dug around in her wists and etsy favorites to find pieces that I felt she would appreciate. She had several mixed media pieces so I decided to give it a try as a challenge for myself. I did historical needlework for so long that it is taking me a while to figure out how to add different elements to my work that is not fiber based.

In this piece, I played with doilies and buttons. The hoop is a 12" (huge!) and the buttons are vintage mother of pearl. I found 2 vintage doilies that were somewhat similar in style but not duplicates. I then stitched the doilies down with a bit of patience so that they would hang flat. Then, I stitched up my faux doily which reminds me so much of the Teneriffe lace that I used to make back in my historical reenactment days. (I might have to give that craft another spin now that I can go crazy with it!)

Hitting the Road!

My family will be hitting the road tomorrow for our yearly Trek North to visit my husband's family. Yay! We will be making a stop in Williamsburg, VA to go to Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor/outdoor water park which the kids (and my husband!) adore. I'm not so much into wave pools, water slides or boogie boarding. I am, however, very much into the quiet breakfast that I get every morning while everyone else is sound asleep and the massage that I get every time we go. ;)

Don't worry though. I've planned to continue blogging along the way. I'll post a couple of pics of what's going on as well as my normal crafty goodies. I've squirreled away a couple of hoops just for this purpose.

So for now, I'm up to my ears in packing, laundry, last minute errands, laundry, taking pets to boarding, laundry, more packing and even more laundry.

If you should see my sanity running loose in all of this, please corner it, stuff it in a box and mail it back to me please. ;)

A Vintage Butterfly

I've been involved in Hoopla swaps over on Craftster for several month and I've received some amazing pieces about which I'll blog soon. I need to update you all on my Hoopla wall anyway. :)

Unfortunately sometimes, a swapper doesn't receive a package from their swap partner which is called flaking. It makes me sad to see someone who has put time and effort into creating a great swap package and not receive something in return. This time I decided to step up and do something about it! I volunteered to angel (i.e. create a swap package for someone who was flaked on) for one of the gals in the Hoopla.

Her themes were varied...vintage, retro, gothic architecture, cutesy and art nouveau so I spent some time researching patterns. While poking around on the Net, I also found out that Feeling Stitchy was holding a stitchalong this month in which we get to choose our own free pattern and then share it on their flickr pool.

I decided to mix my angel hoop pattern with the stitchalong! I found a wonderful site full of different free patterns!

Here's an in progress picture.



This is the finished piece!



I decided to play with texture using the split stitch. I haven't done split stitch as a filler in forever and was able to make some really cool swirls in the colored sections. It's really neat how they catch the light. :)

Mother Nature's Message

I think I'm finally beginning to get the hang of doodle stitching! It's been a long road for me but I've learned that it is possible to stop relying on a pattern. Now I will admit that I stitch much quicker with a pattern but the feeling of accomplishment when you finish a doodle piece is amazing because you have created something completely unique.

Here's my latest piece of doodle! I'm actually very proud of it. I combined doodle stitching with a hidden message. I thought about the message to be hidden and where I wanted the words in the hoop. I stitched the words first being sure that my letters were big enough to "leaf" when I reached that point. Then, I stitched scrolling vines which was the real hard part in deciding when I should stop. Then, I went nuts making leaves while watching Jane Austin's  Pride and Prejudice. :)


Mother Nature's Message - Can you find what she wants to say?

HINT: There are three different words in her message. :)

Keep on stitching, stitching, stitching...

I've been hooping away these past several days. I've got 3 hoops in various stages of completion and 2 more on the burner for early next week. :)

I made this tree for a swapper in the Ongoing Hoopla Swap. She had Trees in her hoop wish list so this is my version.

Detail shot of the bird

As for what I'm working at this moment, it's my Hoopla Giveaway piece for Berol! I might be able to finish it up today. If I do, I'll post a teaser picture just to make her smile. :)

This Father's Day

I decided to spoil my husband a bit with this Father's Day. I stitched up two items for him.

The first is based on his current favorite video game, Portal 2. He plans to put these on either side of his window in his office.




I was inspired by tickertape's Binary Man on Craftster and decided to make something similar for my husband's Father's day gift. I love the concept and the perfection of her stitches.

My husband is a computer programmer so Binary Man is very much him but I wanted to make it a bit more personalized. One of his favorite movies is The Matrix. When the credits roll, there's this "rain" of binary data falling down the screen which is mostly indecipherable. I tried to incorporate the "rain" by leaving out the spacing that tickertape used. I graphed out my Man and started stitching. Once I finished his head, I basically winged the rest of the pattern. :)

What does Peep see?

I'm running the June Birthday swap on Craftster and one of the gals in the swap mentioned that she wanted a beginner embroidery kit and that she loved Peeps.

Well, what was I to do? I can put together a basic embroidery kit in under 5 minutes so I did but I felt that I needed to add something more to her package. With just a moment's perusal of her wishlist, I had the idea to a Peep hoop. It would be fun and quick. Then I said to myself...What if I have a bit of fun with it?

So here we have a cloud watching Peep on a pretty spring day.

10 Random Facts

I post a lot about my crafts but not so much about Me so my blog post today is going to be ...


10 Random Facts About TroubleT

1. I adore dark chocolate. Don't need any silly milk or sugar to get in my way. I actually prefer 70%-82% dark.  Imported is preferable over domestic any day.

2. One of my earliest memories is learning to embroider while staying with my Mamaw one summer. I think I was around 5 yrs old. I embroidered my Barbie's clothes.

3. I wish I had the time to indulge in more middle eastern dance classes, especially now that I'm beginning to rebuild my core muscles thanks to karate.

4. I can't stand having my fingernails or toe nails painted. I know...how can that be? I live in the South and will wear sandals with naked toes showing. Oh the horror! ;)

5. Speaking of the South, I might live in Georgia, but I am not a Georgia Peach nor Southern Belle. Many people think I'm from the Midwest due to my accent, which is also wrong. I'm from the Appalachain mountains of northeast Tennessee!

6. Marshmallows fascinate me but I can't stand the taste nor texture of them. Bleh.

7. If I get another chance to travel out of the country and money isn't an issue (big dream here!), I'd love to see Macchu Picchu and the Nazca Lines in South America.

8. I can not stand Jim Carey's style of humor at all.

9. Sometimes I look at my 2 kids and wonder how in the world I ever ended up as a Mother. (No need to explain the actual "how"...I understand that... ;) ) My thoughts are more along the lines of "Who thought this was a good idea?".

10. One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday evening is to curl up with my littlest while we are reading and snuggle ourselves into a nap. Some of the best sleep that I get nowadays.

Hey Berol! Guess What???!

You won my Hoopla Giveaway! 

Send me a wishlist of favorite colors, styles and themes and I'll get to stitching just for you! :D

I have several new pieces to share with you all but I have to wait until they arrive at their destinations first. I might get too anxious waiting for them that I might write up a quick tutorial. ;)

Reflections in Teal

I'm continuing my efforts in working with doodle stitching. I'll confess that I'm not much of a doodler. Everything comes out very geometric when I do. I've decided to pick up a small doodle pad for my impending trip to WV so that I can get more practice.

This time around, I combined my new found love for shisha with some doodles to create this piece.

For those of you unfamiliar with doodle stitching, there is NO PATTERN...just your needle, thread and wherever your imagination takes you. It's very liberating! :D

My only real problem with this technique is finding the DONE! point. LOL

D is for a Dragon Tee!

I've been playing around with stenciling again! I was working on a stenciled t-shirt for a swap and decided that I really liked this design, only I wanted to do it in the negative.

So I ironed down the part of the stencil that normally gets trashed. Then I attempted a bit of splatter painting. I say attempted because I was overly cautious and thought it would be necessary to put up a barrier around the areas that I didn't want splattered which caused the blocky look. I decided after the first coat that I didn't need it. I took it off and added in the splattering that you see around the edges.

Lesson learned this round. Splatter stenciling needs to done outside so that I can just go at it. ;)

Detox

No, don't get all worried about my potentially illegal entertainments! No such thing here...;)

I use the word Detox to refer to the first week to week and a half of my summer vacation. I go full blast, non stop for 9 months of the year between my career and keeping up with my kids. (My little one starts Kindy in August so be prepared for some weepy posts soon! lol)  I barely take time for myself and when I do, it's usually in like 15-30 minutes doses. I am normally so full of energy and Got To Do/Go! that I can come across as a whirlwind.

Then Summer arrives. Ideally, I should be able to mentally just flip a switch in my head from Crazy Busy to SLUG mode but that's not the case for me. This Detox mode is when I have to relearn how to relax and slow down. No, I am not kidding. I will write out a daily list of To Do because I always have something that must get done, but I won't overload the list and I do only what is on the list. My brain is yelling the entire time "But, you need to do this and this and this... DO NOW!" but I ignore the loud noise in my head.

I finish my list and then park myself on the couch with a movie and some stitching, possibly a cup of tea. I never thought when I was a college kid that I would ever find myself in this kind of mode. Back then, I was able to sleep at the merest thought of a dropping hat. Ah...that was the life! LOL

Combine my Detox with some very sore muscles thanks to my Tues. night karate class and you find me in an interesting predicament. I want to Do, but it hurts to go up those stairs again. Stoopid squats making my thigh muscles rebel.... ;)

For the past 2 days, I've added a mantra to my detox. Squats make less butt. Squats make less butt!

So after all of that rambling, I'm here. I'm crafting. I'm planning my next tutorial. I just can't physically get off of the couch without lots of flowery words in several different language, none of which I will repeat here. I'll be back!

Pleasantly Perched

I'm really starting to get into the doodling needlework concept but I've come to the conclusion that it slows me down (not necessarily a bad thing...).

This is a piece that I stitched up last week for the Ongoing Hoopla swap. I combined a bit of crayon tinting with some doodle trees and birds. I thought I would never finish those trees which goes to show how dependent I have been (notice use of past tense here!) on my pattern.

I found my inspiration for the design in my partner's wist on a set of plates. :)

The trees are worked in split stitch. The birds in split and back with little french knot eyes.

Detail shot

To be happy...

I'm friends with a gal who is going through a spiritual crisis. What she has believed in (or though that she did) doesn't meet her needs any longer and yet, she won't step outside of her so called comfort zone* to consider other belief alternatives. (*I say comfort zone but she's not that comfy, maybe safety is a better word.)

I try to maintain an open mind to all paths and beliefs with the understanding imo that all of them lead to the same end. It doesn't matter to me what you call your deity nor how you practice as long as you are doing so for the well being of Everyone. However, I don't understand at all her reluctance to step beyond what she has always known which is making her miserable in a myriad of ways to find something that will give her the support that she needs.

I believe that religion is deeply personal to each person and in order for it to have a truly good relationship with your God, you need to feel that it is making you and your loved ones happy, meeting both spiritual and emotional needs. I also think that a person's needs can change as a person matures and with that, sometimes their religion and beliefs need to evolve with them. It is our inner Self that needs to be nurtured along this path.

Apathy and acquiescence can keep you in an unproductive path as well as become emotionally damaging for both yourself and potentially your loved ones. Being unwilling to change or afraid to change will do nothing more than lead to continued misery. If you are not happy on the Inside, how can you maintain that happiness on the Outside?  Can you recognize that your Inner Unhappiness can directly affect those around you? Why not accept that you are unhappy and strive to make a change that can lead you back to where you need to be?

Don't go through Life expecting that any one thing or person can make you Happy. That's your job!

A Tutorial that I just HAD to share!

I've had the great opportunity to get to know Racky through Craftster. Her work absolutely floors me, the combination of colors, patterns and with a vintage feel.

Her Altoid Tin Tutorial is FANTASTIC! I always look forward to seeing what she is going to create next. :)

Pendant Stitch

When I did My Flower Sampler, I fell in love with this pretty little stitch. It sort of reminds me of little seedling plants that are just starting to pop up from the soil.

Here again, it is a composite stitch in which in combines elements of the split and lazy daisy stitches.

Step 1
Pull your thread up on the line that you will be stitching, working from right to left for a right handed person. Put the needle back in on the line and back out about halfway in between those two points.

Step 2
Pull your stitch tight which will make it look like this.

Step 3
Make a single lazy daisy stitch by looping the thread.

Step 4
When tacking down the lazy daisy, bring your needle out at the furthest point of the "stem stitch" along the line.

 Continue and you're doing pendant stitch! :)

You can see examples of the pendant stitch in...

My Flower Sampler - Look at the detail shot at the bottom of this post.

My Hoopla Wall Update 6/11

I had an awesome day! The first true day of my summer vacation brought THREE, yes 3!, hooplas to me in the mail! I had to get them on the wall and do a hoopla update! :D

(My apologies for the glare. :/ )

(Click on the photo for a larger picture!)

1. Celtic Christmas Tree by Bexieboo from Embroidery Hoopla OTT (round 3)
2. Hand of Hamsa by Me
3. Tree Love! by Me
4. Peggy Hill by Sarad in the February 2011 Birthday swap
5. A Bit of Zen by Me
6. Rising Sun by Krafy Karasu from Embroidery Hoopla OTT (round 3)
7. The Lotus by Ffrogg from the IYP swap
8. Orion by audio from OHS r1
9. Avis by ZidishaLuxe from OHS r1
10. Golden Koi by thenorm02 from Embroidery Hoopla! (the very first round!)


WAIT! There's More!!

My daughter decided that she needed a wall of hoops like her mommy so this afternoon, we hung her mini hoopla wall. :)

1. Princess by lukenlarry from the OHS swap
2. On a Blustery Day by Me
3. Garden Gnome by marleymiss from the OHS swap
4. Puddle Girl by Me
5. Emily hoop by Me and Herself!

Mini Me's little hoopla!

My 5 yr old daughter is a lot like her momma, feisty, creative and energetic. She surprised me a couple of weeks back by asking if she could have her own set of hoops on her wall just like mommy. How could I say No to that??

She has previously laid claim to a couple of smaller pieces of embroidery over the past several months and then, Saturday, she said she needed an Emily hoop for her wall. I let her paint the hoop, pick out the fabric and floss as well as choose where the felt hearts and flowers would be placed. This was such a fun, quick hoop and her smiles when I finished it definitely made me feel like Super Mom for the rest of that evening. :)

Here's her hoop!

 

(The back of this piece is my example hoop in my finishing tutorial! :) )