Bowling Glory!

As I'm writing this, it is about 6 hours since I accomplished this feat and I'm still in shock!!


What did I do? I converted the Big 4 Split!! I've never seen anyone do this before and now that I've done it, I can still say I've never seen it. I thought I had missed it so I wasn't watching!


For those of you who don't bowl, here's a bit of information. The standard setup for bowling pins looks like this:











After I threw my first ball, these are the pins that I had left:



I hit the 2 pins on the right, causing 1 of them to slide over to the left and hitting the back pin on the left which fell forward and knocked down the front, left pin.

Out of the 1.5 million achievement awards that the US Bowling Congress gave out last year, only 2,130 of them were for converting this split!! (source: USBowler magazine, winter08-09 issue) Now I get one of these awards too!!

Stacy

New Bookstore

Hi Everyone!

I've added a bookstore to my blog!! The books are all related to stitching/needlework.

Some of them are favorites that I have had in my own library for years. Others are new that just appealed to me.

The link to the store is: Crossed Stitches bookstore. There is also a permanent link at the top of my blog.

Stacy

Oprah's favorite gadget

Here it is - Oprah's favorite gadget!



I'm bummed that I wasn't at her show to get one for free! hehehe
If you buy through this post, I do get credit as an Amazon Associate.

Stacy

Busy Saturday

Yesterday, I had a busy day. I left home late in the morning to attend a quilt show. I love my hubby but it was great to be able to wander around by myself and not worry if he was bored. ;-)

I bought one ½ yard cut of fabric (hydrangeas) and 15 fat quarters. Believe me, this is only because I showed remarkable restraint! I am still going to try to get to the Quilt & Sewing Expo in Puyallup, WA next month so I didnt' want to spend too much money yesterday. Here's a picture of what I purchased:

After I went to the quilt show, I went across the street and bowled in our local 400 Club tournament. This was the invitational which meant that you didn't have to be a member to attend. I am a member, which means that during a bowling league night I had a 3 game series that totaled 400. Not 401 or higher - 400 right on the nose. I've known women that have bowled for years and not managed to get an exact 400.

The 400 Club tournament is 4 games. Each game is a different format though one of the games is always scratch - what you bowl is what you get. The other 3 games were:

• 9 pin - knock down 9 pins on your first ball, it counts as a strike
• 3,6,9 - everyone automatically gets credit for a strike in the 3rd, 6th and 9th frames
• splits - if you leave a split on your first ball, it counts as a strike

After I bowled, I had time to wander around the quilt show for a few minutes before it closed then I went and had dinner (Chinese) with a good friend. Later, we both went to the local casino to play for a bit. I had a free play coupon so I played on the casino's money which is always the best way to do it!

Stacy

Bowling Raffle Quilt

I forgot to post that I finished a quilt for our local bowling association to raffle off. The proceeds from the raffle will be split between two groups: the BVL (Bowlers to Veterans Link) and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I had planned on doing 2 quilts, 1 patriotic and 1 pink but just ran out of time. I finished this the early morning (1am) before our start of the season association meeting.

The quilt is a double Irish chain done in red, white and blue. The white is just plain muslin while the red and blue are from Wing and a Prayer Designs.

Here's a close up of the fabrics.

Christmas Strings

No, it doesn't have anything to do with violin music. lol

I made some Christmas string quilt blocks for an exchange on the StashBuilders list. Here's a picture showing 16 of the blocks that I did laid out on my quilt design wall. I made a total of 48 blocks for the exchange.







Here's a close-up of just one of the blocks. Each block measures 6½".

I am planning on making some more that I will add to what I get back from the exchange so that I can make a good sized quilt.

Stacy

Craft Room Cleanup

Whew! I've been busy cleaning in my craft/sewing room. My goal this round was to get my shelves all straightened out. The shelf area runs from the stairs almost to the back wall, 11 feet in total. The gap between the end of the shelves and the wall is just wide enough for me to hang my full-size ironing board.

Here are some before and after pictures. There is overlap from photo to photo.

Before looking left (stairs) to right:

After looking left to right:

The really great thing is that I actually organized my stuff. While the rest of the room still needs some organizing it is the way it previously was. I didn't just move items off the shelves and dump them somewhere else!

Stacy

Bull's Eye Quilts - slideshow

While I have quilted for a number of years, I had never heard of a Bull's Eye quilt until this past week. A member of an online group I belong to posted a link to this slideshow which I just had to share too.

Quilting on CBS

Here's a video on quilting from CBS News. Gotta love the quilts shown!

Not Stitching but...

Ok, I admit that I'm addicted to cross stitching. Quilting is right up there as well. Crocheting keeps me off the streets. ;-)

I do have a couple of non-stitching addictions as well, one of which is the games at Pogo. Yesterday, I finished all the ranks on another of the games there - Wonderland Memories. Woohoo!

Here are the games that I have finished the ranks:

Casino Island Blackjack
Dice City Roller (similar to Yahtzee)
Harvest Mania
Keno Pop
Panda Pai Gow Poker
Texas Hold'em Poker
Wonderland Memories (like concentration with an Alice in Wonderland theme)
World Class Solitaire


The next game that I'm going to try to finish is Tri-Peaks Solitaire.

Happy Gaming!

Stacy

Mushroom soup recipe

While I am a good cook, I don't normally make soup from scratch but this is one exception (I'm a mushroom fanatic). ;-)

This is my own recipe which has come about through several trials (thankfully, no real errors).

Creamy Mushroom Soup

1 quart whipping cream
1 teaspoon chicken bullion (I use the paste type)
1/4 to 1/3 white wine (I use Snoqualmie brand Chardonnay - a Washington state wine)
16 oz. water (if reconstituting mushrooms, use that water)
2 large white mushrooms, chopped fine
1 portabello mushroom, chopped fine (may substitute 2 crimini mushrooms)
1 pkg. dryed oyster mushrooms, reconstituted (fresh are better but sometimes hard to find)
3 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil; stirring frequently to prevent scalding. Reduce heat to a simmer; stir occasionally. Simmer for 1 to 1½ hour. Serve.

Shopping

Yesterday, I was able to take a break from work and go to my LQS (Local Quilt Store).

I bought a Moda Marble, Mulberry to use as the backing on my Decadent Victorian quilt. I also picked up four 1/3 yard cuts of black fabrics to use in my next quilt. I am going to do a scrappy Triple Irish Chain.

To make it look a bit planned yet still scrappy, I am going to do 2 of the diagonals in assorted blacks while the rest of the small squares will be completely scraps. Each scrap piece of fabric is a 2" square. At the size I want to do the quilt, I need 1080 black squares (already cut!!!) and 1400+ of various scraps. I still have to cut about 600 more of the scraps.

While I'm cutting the squares for the Irish Chain quilt, I am also trying to organize the rest of my small pieces of fabric. I'm mostly following the ideas that Bonnie has laid out on her site Quiltville (thanks, Bonnie!!).

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Quilt Top Finished

I finished the quilt top for my Decadent Victorian Quilt last night! The finished quilt will measure 60" x 72".

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Fabric Arrived!

Woohoo! My fabric from Fabric Buffet arrived today. This is a really fun online shop. I ordered my fabric on Friday and it got here today (Monday) - that's phenomenal especially since the US Postal Service was involved. (It went from Indiana to Washington state)

The 2 fabrics I purchased are from the Moda Decadent Victorian line and will be used for the borders and binding on my Decadent Victorian quilt.

Stacy

Mt. St. Helen's Tournament

I got back last night from Kelso, Washington where I was bowling in the Mt. St. Helen's Tournament. The tournament was held at Highlander Lanes. The staff there is absolutely great - friendly, helpful and all-around fun.

I'm infamous among my bowling friends for leaving the 5 pin (directly behind the front pin). The 5 pin, in the bowling world, is known as the "sex pin". If you leave it on your first throw and then knock it down on your second, you supposedly will be "getting some" that evening. Since I throw a straight ball, I tend to leave it alot. This past weekend, I left it - alot. Nine times!! Every single time, I picked it up. Needless to say, I was getting quite a bit of teasing from my friends and from the staff at the lanes!

The tournament involved a singles event, doubles event and team event - three games of each. We bowled singles and double as a set on Saturday and team on Sunday. I went into the tournament with an average of 159. Here are my scores for each game:

Singles: 134, 175, 148 = 457 series
Doubles: 154, 166, 172 = 492 series (my partner bowled a 605 series!!)
Team: 179, 173, 182 = 534 series

Stacy

Cross Stitch WIPs

Finally, I've gotten around to taking photos of my current cross stitch WIPs. So without further ado, here they are.

First up, we have Flight of Freedom. This is a Dimensions Gold kit. I'm doing it 'cause hubby saw it in a catalog and asked "Do you want me to buy it so you can stitch it for me?". I told him "Yeah, right." with very heavy sarcasm. The next day, I had my mother order it so that he wouldn't see a charge on our credit card. I worked on it only after he had gone to bed. He took off on a trip with his brother at the end of June and I figured that I could finally put in some real time on it and work on it in the living room. He was planning to be gone from Wednesday morning (early) to late afternoon on Sunday. I started work on it as soon as I got up Wed. morning. That Saturday, I had to be at my mom's for a family gathering. I got home in the early evening planning to work on it before bedtime then hide it upstairs again before I left for church on Sunday. Guess who was lying on the sofa when I got home on Sat.? You guessed it. I told him, "That's the last time I try to stitch something as a surprise for you." He likes it so far and I have more time to work on it now.

Here's how the finished project will look.

Here's my progress so far. About 2/3 of this has been done since that Wednesday of his trip. All of the sky/mountain is done in half stitches which thankfully, makes it work up more quickly.

Next, is my progress on the 12 Days of Christmas by Teresa Wentzler.

I'm stitching this on a single piece of fabric which I will then frame with a multiple window mat.

Here's my progress on Heirloom Christmas Sampler from the Victoria Sampler.

For no particular reason, this one is a low priority in my rotation.

And lastly, my progress on Wild Menagerie from Cross My Heart.

What it will look like finished.

I've finished the tiger and am working on the lion. Because the fabric is so wide, it wouldn't fit on my scroll frames normally. I'm stitching it rotated 90°. The tiger is at the top of my frames and the cheetah will be at the bottom. When I stitch, I have the pattern rotated as well.

Happy Stitching!!

Stacy

Recent Quilts

Thanks to my joining a great online quilt group, I've really been quilting up a storm lately. For anyone interested, the group is StashBuilders and you can find them at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StashBuilders/

StashBuilders organizes quite a few swaps, a couple in which I have participated. The first one that I did was a Happy Block swap.

Those participating are divided into groups of 4 or 5 people. I chose some fabric, cut it into 4" squares (centers) and then mailed 6 squares to each person in my group. As each person received my centers, they kept 1 square for themselves and then sewed 2½" borders around the remaining 5 centers. The now bordered centers (Happy Blocks) were then mailed back to me for me to keep. In the mean time, I was receiving centers from the other group participants; putting borders on 5 of them and then mailing them back to their owners.

Here is a picture of my Happy Blocks quilt. It's in a hoop while I hand quilt it. I'm doing a heart stencil in the center of each block and then just quilting in the seam lines around the entire block.

The second swap that I joined was a String Block swap. I signed up to do 2 sets of 6½" blocks. Each set consists of 12 blocks. The theme for this one was purple & green. When I had my sets done, I sent them to the swap hostess along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. She kept the blocks until all the blocks from each participant had arrived. Then she mixed them up and sent each member the same number of blocks that they contributed. The blocks that I received back were not my own but done by a mix of other members.

Here is my finished String Quilt. I have it hanging at the top of the stairs in my craft room. I machine quilted it in a grid so that there is a 3x3 grid going through each square. I hate doing binding, and due to the style of the quilt, I thought a Prairie Point edging would be appropriate.

Currently, I am receiving blocks from another Happy Block swap. I've already finished and sent all the centers from other members, I'm just waiting for mine to arrive home.

While I'm waiting, I couldn't resist starting another quilt. See? I'm addicted to quilting too. I saw this pattern in these fabrics at the Quilt & Sewing Expo I attended in November 2007 in Puyallup, Washington. As soon as I saw it, I went directly to the lady running the booth, pointed and said "Where do I get the pattern?". It took me awhile to get the same fabrics but God Bless Ebay!!

The pattern is from Strip Delight - 10 Fabulous Quilts from 'Jelly Roll' 2 1/2" Strips - #5321 . The pattern is named for the fabric line called Decadent Victorian (from Moda).

Here is the main body of the top laid out on my quilt design wall in my craft room.

Kah-nee-ta

Ok, you are probably asking yourself, "What on earth is a Kah-nee-ta?". Well, it's more like a where on earth...

Kah-nee-ta (pronounced just like it looks) is a resort in the high desert of central Oregon. You can see their website at: http://www.kahneeta.com/

The first week in July, some friends "kidnapped" me and kept me there with my full cooperation. We had a lot of fun doing nothing. The pool was great and it was soooo nice to see the sun. (For those of you who don't know - I live on the coast of Washington state, gray is the official color of the sky.)

Below are a couple of photos that I took while staying there. (click on the photo to see a larger version)

View from my room overlooking the golf course (background) and the area where the salmon bakes are held (where the tepee is).

The pool area at the Lodge. The deck on the left is just off the lobby.

Me, Debbie and Mary - the friends that "kidnapped" me. Debbie's hubby, Doug took the photo.

General Update

Well, obviously, I haven't been blogging much lately. I guess "real life" is keeping me busy! ;-)

I have been stitching on my Wild Menagerie and am on page 7 of 12. Each page from here on out has less stitching on it than the previous page so it should go fairly quickly.

I've also joined an online quilting group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StashBuilders/
I've already signed up for a couple of swaps there and they are proving to be alot of fun. The group is really friendly and organized and I can definitely recommend it!!

This past week has also found me working on updating my Las Vegas scrapbook with pictures from this year's trip (back in Feb.-March). I took over 200 photos and just hope that I bought enough paper. In this scrapbook, each trip has its own particular paper that I use for every page.

I've been doing some hand quilting on my Broken Bricks wallhanging and will hopefully finish it soon. I am working on the decorative quilting in the borders and just started the last side.

When I went to the local quilt shop a couple of weeks ago, I found a charm pack (5" squares) of fabric that I fell in love with. I ended up going back and buying 2 more identical packs. I have finished making them into a wallhanging quilt top - just need to add borders on 3 sides. This wallhanging will be machine quilted and will be put in the display rotation above my desk in my home office.

That's all for now. Happy Stitching!

Stacy C.

Stitching Updates

After having the flu, getting well, taking a 5 day vacation in Las Vegas, getting a cold and trying to get over it, I have managed to get some stitching done! I've even managed to take photos so that I can share.

First of all, I finished my January 1 stitching challenge piece, Night Train. I haven't chosen a frame for it yet since I want to stitch the companion piece Night Train II and then get identical frames for the pair.

Here is a quilt that I finished recently. It is a pattern of 9 patch squares alternated with blocks of single fabrics all set on-point. It is approximately a full size quilt.

After finishing Night Train, I started working on my UFOs again. This is Teresa Wentzler's 12 Days of Christmas. I managed to finish Day 2 and have the border ready for Day 3.

Since I finished a day on the 12 Days, I've rotated to my Wild Menagerie UFO (from Cross My Heart). There are 8 pages in this pattern. This photo represents 2 pages finished. The odd thing about this project is that I am stitching it sideways! While I have some big a** scroll frames, I didn't have any wide enough to hold this fabric normally so I rolled it with the left edge on the top scroll and the right edge on the bottom scroll. In the long run, I think this makes it more manageable to work with. As I am stitching, I have the pattern rotated 90° as well. I have made some progress since I took this picture as I am about 50% finished with the third page. Since the pattern calls for stitching on black fabric, there are large areas that do not need to be stitched which is making my progress seem faster.

Happy Stitching!!

Stacy C.

2008 - Year of the UFO

Well, I've been inspired by a few of my online stitching friends and have decided to declare that 2008 is my "Year of the UFO".

At the moment, I'm working on the project that I started on Jan. 1 of this year - Night Train. I'm also working on a quilt wallhanging called "Broken Bricks". When I finish these 2 projects (which should be in the next week or two), I'm going to devote myself to finishing projects that were started before 2008.

The projects that I'm going to try to finish are:

• 12 Days of Christmas by Teresa Wentzler - I'm on Day 2
• Heirloom Christmas Sampler by Victoria Sampler
• Wild Menagerie by Cross My Heart
• Memories - my own design, I'm designing it as I go
• 2 ornaments from the Just Cross Stitch 2007 Christmas ornament issue - they are stitched, just need to finish them somehow
• La Belle Dame sans Merci from Heaven and Earth Designs - this is really ambitious to have on the list but hopefully, I'll make some progress.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy C.

Got something framed

I was straightening up (a bit) in my craft room last night and decided to finally wash and frame something.

This is Purrma-press a Kats by Kelly design from Calico Crossroads. It is now hanging in my laundry room along with another Kats by Kelly design, Washday Blues. In between these 2, I have a Twisted Threads design, "Listen, Honey, I'm doing the laundry today, what color do you want your underwear to be."

Happy Stitching!!

Stacy C.

DMC survey

DMC has a survey on their site about Wal-Mart no longer carrying their threads. (stupid Wal-Mart decision)

Click here --> DMC Survey


Happy Stitching!!
Stacy C.

Jan 1 Project progress

Here's my progress on my Jan. 1 Stitching Challenge project. Because I have it on scroll frames with short side bars, I had to take 2 pictures to show my progress. I stayed up until 2am to finish all of the steam from the

train - it was all half stitches and I really like the sense of accomplishment.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

2008 Stitching Challenges

Happy New Year!

Here are my particular stitching challenges for 2008.

On one of the cross stitch e-mail lists that I belong to (2MuchXS) there is a challenge every year to start at least one project on January 1. That's the whole challenge - start on Jan. 1.

I didn't participate in 2007, so I thought I'd do it this year. My challenge piece is Night Train by Elizabeth Spurlock. I purchased the pattern for this at PatternsOnline.com.

Here's what the finished piece will look like:

 

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I have several U.F.O.s (Un-Finished Objects) that I hope to complete in 2008. The main ones that I hope to finish this year are:

Heirloom Christmas Sampler by Victoria Sampler (still working on the tree at the top)

12 Days of Christmas by Teresa Wentzler (half way through Day 2)

Wild Menagerie by Cross My Heart. (working on the tiger)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy