Still stitching...

I just finished a beautiful project this weekend while we were visiting Wenatchee. It is for my ANG Master Teacher project so, of course, I can't show a picture. :) It's called "Arabesque"...

I've been writing instructions, working on stuff around the house, and just doing a bit of traveling.

Victoria had a swim meet a couple of weekends ago in Pasco and did great. She's still about 10 seconds away from having a Bronze standard swimming time but she's trying! She finishes every race and does great in her relays. She's thrilled that this week is her last week of ballet for the year.

Today Madeline and I went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Director's Choice today. It was ok... I have mixed feelings about it. I loved the Balanchine / Stravinsky piece, Symphony in C I believe. Just smooth and so well done. The other pieces were just ok for me though. Also we were sitting next to an awful woman in the audience. She never learned her manners about how to behave in a crowd! I haven't resubscribed for this upcoming year but we will go see Coppelia for sure.

Travis is doing great - other moms will understand how thrilled I am that he weaned this last month *and* potty trained! Hurrah! I've been pregnant, nursing, or changing diapers for the last nine years and five months so I finally feel that my children are getting easier! Yippee skippy! :)

I'm headed to the Doctor later this week to get my neck and shoulder checked out again. It doesn't hurt as bad as when I first tore the rotator cuff in fall 2007 but it hurts. I keep thinking it will get better and it's just not.

Anyway, back to working on the MTP stuff. I have one more art class to take this year and just have to get instructions written. :)

Needlework stuff and more...

The new ANG catalogs came in yesterday's mail. "Fantasy Fish School" is in the March / April Needle Pointers. It is neat to see it in print! Along with that came the Milwaukee National Seminar offerings with my Folk Santa Spinner. Very exciting afternoon for me.

MTP update... Continuing onwards... I finished the "paper line drawing" of the new design and I'm quite pleased with how it came out. I pulled the threads and printed out the thread sample card and attached the threads. I was feeling quite industrious at that point so I pulled out the other design (a four-day class) and pulled threads for that, printed out the thread sample card and attached the thread. I worked out the legend with what stitches will be in each area and it's all done. :) Now I have to make color copies of the design and the thread charts and mail it all off to my proctor.



I have some other composing I need to do - outlines are done but it takes time for me to write out the papers. I also updated my resume; this one is more a functional design resume so I dropped the stuff that was not relevent to needlework and expanded on the areas that are relevent. I'm quite pleased with it.

In stitching news, I'm still working on Royal Santa. Almost done with the bag!

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This afternoon I'm taking the children to Lego club. We skipped Book Report Lunch yesterday (shhh!) and went to the park with some of the other parents. It was a lovely afternoon. I even managed to get to the gym beforehand - that's twice this week! I'm planning on going later this evening to swim. Did I mention I'm swimming again? And that I'm terrible at it? :) I have some movies to watch later so I'll get some great stitching time done this evening.

Last night I went to "Mom's Night Out" with some of the other homeschool moms. We went to one of those Japanese steakhouses where they cook in front of you. The food was really good and I had a glass of plum wine that tasted like syrup. Very sweet! We had eight moms there and it was a lot of fun. The chef kept making awful jokes about call 800-hot-chef and he'll come cook for us at home. Poor guy. ;)

Working on a new design...

No pictures with this, just thoughts.

One of the things I've learned thus far in the Master Teacher Program is that the way I've been designing is different then how they expect / want? it to be. It's not worse, or bad, just different. Ideas pop into my head and I do my best to get them quickly out and saved so they don't disappear. In the past I will draw out a very poorly done picture of what I want to end up with, then I stitch it up, or chart it out if it's cross-stitch so I could have a model stitcher do it. I'm not great with drawing on paper. Brad keeps saying I need to take drawing classes to help with my "perspective" so there you go.

One thing that I've been working on learning is how to create a really striking proposal of a design that you will be willing to teach at a seminar. The way I've worked is to create the design, then try to sell it. What I'm doing now is creating a line drawing, legend and sending that in to my proctor, then I get to stitch it. I feel like she's not going to get a good feeling about my designs based on my line drawings and thread samples. Did I mention my drawing skills?

I don't use crayons (anymore) and have moved onto colored pencils, which are more blendable, and I think watercolors would be even better for the colors. I haven't done watercolors for 10+ years though and I really don't have the room (or the $$) to add a whole 'nother facet of stash. Then you have to include thread samples and when there are thousands of colors of thread and only, say 36 pencils in your set, there is going to be a lacking in the picture sent in. I really see where the people at proposals have to take a leap of faith that it will be a stunning design. Take this example by Debbie Forney. It's a great proposal, not a finished project. Based on Debbie's other designs, you have to be pretty sure it's going to be a fantastic class.

So, that's what I've been working on today. I have the design in my head. I haven't drawn it out yet, because it will just be bad on paper. Instead I went to the Paper Zone and picked up some neat papers and am going to try and create the design with scissors, glue, and paper. I'll add details with paint pens and we'll see if I'm more happy with the result. Of course, my little add-on stitch sample is done, colors are loaded on the thread sample card, and I have a very clear vision of how the end product will look. If I were doing it on canvas I'd be done in three days. But drawing it out? That would take me excruciating HOURS.

On a constructive note, part of the continuing education requirement is that I take some classes on art technique. :) I found some neat looking classes and am registered for them later in the spring. Perhaps I'll be better at this next year. :)

Isn't it exciting?

Well, I think it is exciting. :)

http://www.needlepoint.org/Seminar-09/classes/1day/10234.php

Why is it that EVERY picture ANG takes is much better than the crappy ones I take?

Rain, snow, sleet, snow...

The last few days have been a lesson in poor weather here in Washington. I am NOT a snow fan. Cold, cold, cold! Since the weather has been bad I spent yesterday on a 550 piece puzzler, drank lots of Trader Joe's holiday coffee (with ginger, it's delicious!), and finished off the last of the Cappucino Pecan Nuggets.

I just received news this morning that one of my good friends will be moving, in about 9-10 months. Her husband is military and while the do move around a lot, they had thought that they would be here for at least another 3 years. It's very upsetting. Her children and my children are best buds. They have a choice of cities but none are close... we'll see what happens. Brad calls it "my curse"... every friend I made will be here for a couple of years and then move on. It happens over, and over, and over again. The Seattle area is very transient. :-(

Last night I worked on the line drawings for a couple new projects for the ANG Master Teacher Program. I pulled threads last night. This morning I line drew the stitch squares on the canvas and I'll be stitching them this evening. I have a few more stockings to do finishing on tomorrow and will mail it all out on Saturday.

Off to stitch - I love starting a new project, even if it is a bitty sample!

General life-y-ness (mostly needlework)

First off, Happy Birthday, Luke! Hope you enjoyed the song.
If only my life could *entirely* revolve around needlework. Sigh!

The border on Twister is coming along SLOWLY. It’s already the 11th and I’m only half-way done. At this rate it will be the 20th before it’s complete and my other master plans of stitching everything in my stash goals will be shot. Although for this month the only other thing I haven’t done is work on my MTP and I guess I’ve been doing that. Well, I haven’t actually DONE anything, but I’ve been planning out next steps and that is the important part. I’ve been in contact with my proctor and am waiting for some clarification before I get moving. I also requested books from the library on things I need to research to move along… I’d rather be in the “waiting for information” zone than the “waking up at four in the morning and remembering something due that week” zone.

Tonight is my guild meeting. I have some little finished Pat Mazu stockings for one of the ladies (will post pictures some time although they look the the loads of others I’ve done for her) and we are also mailing off Oriental Poppies. We’re starting a new Pat Mazu mini stocking (ah the irony) and I still have to cut canvas and pull threads for that…. at some point I should feed the children dinner.

There is a contemporary quilt artist guild in Seattle. They meet monthly and their next meeting is Saturday. I have it on my calendar and would love to visit to see if it would be a fit, but I don’t know how Brad will feel about my joining another guild. I don’t intend to start more projects but would love to learn more. If I could bring Victoria I think it would be ok. :) She loves to sew but I haven’t been brave enough to let her run the machine yet. Visions of the emergency room and all that. I still have my old Kenmore so it’s not an issue of my worry that she’ll break the machine.

Speaking of getting things done, the above mentioned book is very interesting. I added greatly to my files and went through my master list and updated it with next actions. Exciting stuff.

Life Marches On...

I’m starting to worry that my gladioli aren’t going to bloom this year. It would be very disappointing. *Everything* was late blooming, so I won’t be surprised. Just disappointed. The hydrangeas are blooming right now and they are lovely. The Scotchmallow looked great for about a week until the monsters in the yard stripped all three plants of their blooms. My lilies were lovely…. until stripped of their blooms.

Maybe the glads have already flowered and were just stripped before I got a chance to see them.

The girls start ballet today. Madeline is really looking forward to it. Victoria, not so much. It’s mainly because she is such a chatterbox (she comes by it honestly) and she doesn’t like not being able to talk for an hour. Madeline, I think, will have no problem being silent for an hour. I bought them both new tights yesterday. Victoria’s new leotard should be there to pick up and I’m crossing my fingers that it will fit. The girls are required to wear a certain color based on age. Last year Victoria’s was white and this year it is red. Madeline’s is white. Why on earth they put the little ones in white is beyond me.

With the first of the month I am back to stitching on Twister. I finished row 1 of the border and am halfway through row 2. My Fellow level materials for the Master Teacher program came yesterday - whew! This will be a busy year. Two new designs for submission to seminar, one to submit to the chapter project book, as well as things on continuing education. I’ve learned the important thing with the MTP is to NOT procrastinate. I’ll put it in a usable checklist this week and get going.