Past time for an Update!

Here’s a picture of my floor stand and frame. I still have to re-cut one of the stretcher bars – I made the silly mistake of not drilling a test hole and it turns out that what I thought was ¾ inch Forstner bit cuts a hole that is 7/8 inch diameter. The ¾ inch paddle bit, on the other hand, makes a perfect ¾ inch hole. And I’ve got to cut the dowels to length, which I don’t want to do until I’ve re-cut the stretcher bar. DD got the second frame and stand, and is already using it – she wants to make a small frame to use for very small projects – after using this, she doesn’t want to mess with hoops at all! I’ll finish this off today, and get the fabric for The Mighty Samurai mounted so I can get stitching on him. Here’s a link for the plan on which I based my stand and frame: http://ourhouse.ninemsn.com.au/ourhouse/factsheets/db/craft/03/319.asp. While I think anyone could build one of these using handheld tools, I’ve got to admit that it went very quickly using the tools in our shop: the drill press, miter saw and table saw. Using bolts and wing nuts for the assembly means the stand can be disassembled for storage or moving.

DH hung the new ceiling light fixtures in the foyer. It looks fantastic! I’ve already hung the three flowers I stitched late last year (when I did them, it was for this particular spot, so I couldn’t hang them until the foyer was finished). And I found a great bargain at Pottery Barn – a 16 x 20-inch mirror to center on the wall to the right of the door. Another project I’ll be working on today – making a cardboard cut-out of the mirror, and deciding on the perfect height and placement for the mirror.

Mon Premier Biscornu! / My First Quirky!
This was a lot of fun to stitch, altho the finishing was a bit tedious. The patterns were freebies from http://battybat.free.fr/html/biscornus-gratuits.htm. It's stitched on natural colored linen (leftover scrap from another project) with DMC 115.


Got a new toy – a battery operated book light. I don’t use it for reading – I clip it to my shirt to shine the super bright LED light on my stitching. I haven’t tried clipping it to a hoop or frame, yet – lol!

This is the second gift I have earned from filling out online consumer surveys – the first was a leather case for my PDA. **Shameless self-promotion warning** If you are interested – submit a comment and say that you want me to refer you – if I refer you, I get extra points towards my next gift (all comments are emailed to me for approval, so I can guarantee I won’t be publishing your addy). The participating countries (that I know for sure) are US-English, US-Spanish, Great Britain, France and Canada-French/Canada-English.

Currently reading: Path of the Fury by David Weber. Just finished One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey – great fun to read!

Currently stitching: about to start The Mighty Samurai (Dimensions Gold kit) – it’s a large project, so I’m sure I’ll do some smaller projects along the way.