Annette's Acre

Another week gone without a post.

It’s almost too hot to think here in Arizona.  We’re in our annual monsoon season and after living in the southwest, more or less, for the past almost-30 years, any increase in humidity is very noticeable to me.  Here in Phoenix, we suffer through July and August to fully appreciate and enjoy the rest of the year

A couple of inquiries regarding the new scissor holder from my last post.  Here are a few more details:

• I found it at a small antique shop in Prescott. 
• It is ceramic.  Two pieces – the top is circular with 13 holes (12 around the outside and one in the center).  The bottom is simply a large “cup” with a lip around the inside for the top to settle in.
• There is a maker’s mark on the bottom but I’ve not been able to find any info.  It says “JL Collection”

In between bouts of PuzzleQuest 2, I have managed a few x’s here and there.  Here’s my Mirabilia Summer Queen:

Click to biggify….

This is essentially everything on the “back” of the chart.  I’d estimate she’s about 60% complete.  Here’s the full pic from the Mirabilia site: Summer Queen

I hate when time flies by and you’ve nothing to show for it….

Almost nothing.  I did finish my last Mirabilia RR piece over the weekend.  This is a section of Mira’s Morning Glory pixie:

If you want to see the full thing (it’s a very wide picture) click here: Sophia’s RR

Mine came home already and is off to the framer.  I’ll post when it comes home

Next up is a piece for the Chatelaine Exchange and an upcoming ABC Exchange   Someday soon I’ll stitch for me again!

I think we can safely say 2010 will not be a big blogging year.

Anywho… I did finish off the next Mirabilia Round Robin.  Well, mostly… but that story can wait until after the picture:

Click here for full picture.  But be warned… it’s pretty awesome.  Might make you want to stitch a dozen Mirabilia bits.

I started this while I was sick.  My first mistake, apparently. 

The goal was to finish before the end of March, but it took me until April 4th.  My first attempt at pulling all the floss failed miserably (fever,  you know).  I missed five colors and of course, I was missing two of those from the stash (and didn’t want to dig thru other WIPs).  Now, there are two colors of beads required as well.  Somehow my fevered brain decided I had them.  So I didn’t bother getting any more at the LNS.

I’m sure you can see where this is headed.

On Sunday, after finishing all the backstitching, I hit the bead boxes for the beads.  I had neither.  No problem, I’ll just sub some Delicas.   Yeah.  Not so much.  Now, the colors aren’t too crazy… a pale blue and a blue-green.  But what looked close on the monitor looked like crap on the fabric, so rather than use the questionable substitutions, I decided to go ahead and mail the piece off to its next destination (Australia) and send the real beads on to the owner separately.

I’ve never sent off an incomplete RR piece.  I’m not happy.  Definitely won’t be doing it again. (Sending incomplete… someday I’ll do another RR, I’m sure).

Something to note:  Wednesday, the 14th is my 45th birthday.  I’m celebrating with a bit of stash….for me and for you   Yup, a giveaway is in the planning stages!

Just some odds and ends to share….

First, I snapped this (with my Blackberry) yesterday as I was leaving work:

I was sitting in the vanpool van, this isn’t thru my windshield.  The rainbow was so bright!  It was lovely.

Here’s my Olympic knitting progress:

Sadly, my Olympic goal is not looking good.  This is a two-skein project and I’ve yet to finish the first one (seen on the left).  We shall see.

I did manage to finish the latest in the Mirabilia RR – this is a portion of Violet.

I also finished a couple books… and have to recommend one of them to any fan of good old fashioned sword/sorcery/epic fantasy.

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

This is the first in a trilogy and by all that’s holy, do *not* read the blurb for the second book before you finish the first one.  MAJOR spoiler right there!!  It’s got magic, politics, fighting, assassins, heroes and a nice twisty plot

Quick post….click to biggify

Mirabilia RR complete!

A Queen Mermaid block for Rachel.

My Prairie Schooler start:

I blame this on Stewey’s recent post on Spinster Stitcher, by the way