I love the ugly ones, too!

I got Marianne Wenn back from the framer yesterday and really like the way she turned out.  What do you think?

you can click the pic to enlarge, if you'd like:

I get my framing done at Joann's and I have to say that I think they do a really great job.  There is one gal there that always does my pinning but of course, we never get to see that.  The truth is, I've always wondered how well they did.  On Friday, I stopped by Joann's to pick up some DMC floss and stopped by the framing counter just to see if MW was done.  She wasn't, but the gal at the counter asked if I'd like to see what it will look like in the frame.  Uh, yeah!  Now's my chance to check out their mounting techniques!  She brought it out, without the glass, and popped it into the frame for me to see.  Then I asked her if I could see the pinning and she said, "Of course."  I'm happy to know they do a nice job.  The sampler was tight, without being pulled and it was perfectly straight.  Thanks, Cathy!

Another thing I do quite often on samplers, but have never shown you, is to sign it below the area that will be visible when framed.  This is a shot of the back of the frame board that not one soul will ever see, unless they decide to pop it out of the frame.

As you can see, it's not very neat and on this one I changed the size of my letters 1/2 way through.  I wasn't liking the letters I started with, changed midstream and meant to go back and fix the first 1/2 but, I didn't care that much, so I didn't bother.  No matter - it doesn't show once framed.  Sometimes I will stitch some narrative about what's going on at the time I stitched a piece or sometimes, like this one, it's just my name.  It's probably silly, but I sort of feel like it's my way of not misrepresenting what this piece actually is - not that anyone would mistake it for a true antique, necessarily.  It's also my way of adding a bit of family history, or a document of world events that were happening, or important to me when I stitched this.  The devastation in Japan hadn't yet happened when I finished MW or I would have stitched in something about that.

I've had a lot of emails asking for my thread conversion for MW so here it is - it's a bit disjointed so if you have any questions, let me know.

For the Dark Green in the verse; Collards (WDW)

For the lighter Green letters, I used SS GAST Chives.

For the vine above the verse, I used Cucumber (Also GAST, I think)

For the red, in the big flowers I used Schoolhouse Red (GAST)

but for the houses and the ladies cloaks, I used one strand of Schoolhouse Red and one strand of the called for DMC.  It gave the houses and cloaks a very subtle color variation (and a little less of a red-pink cast).  

For the edge border I used CC Blackbird

For the Blue letters and heart vine, I used GAST Midnight

For the light blue in the ladies aprons and the other blues, I used CC Shamrock

But for the light blue basket at the bottom I used SS GAST, Mountain Mist

For the bright yellow flowers, I used CC Ohio Lemon Pie and for the more golden colored flowers I used WDW Whiskey

For the faces, I used CC Country Lane

For the Green, outside border, I used GAST, Blue Spruce (also used for the ladies dress and basket fill in and the tree with the bird in it on the next to last band. 

For the dark brown in the baskets at the bottom, the birds, etc, I uset GAST Dark Chocolate

For the golden brown colored baskets, I use WDW Pecan

For the darker pink in the flowers (by Marianne's name) I used CC Ladybug and the lighter pink is WDW Hibiscus

For the first row of fruit baskets, I used a DMC but don't remember the color but should have used Chives - it would have looked better, I think although they are very close in color.

I think that's it.... I should have been better about writing down the symbols/colors.  

I was thinking the other day about frogs.  While we're stitching, when those pesky frogs come to visit, we can't stand them.  For you non-stitchers, frogging is when we have to rip out stitches that we've done incorrectly.  We "rippit, rippit, rippit".  Clever, huh?  I wonder who first came up with that?  Anyway, when they come to visit, we're not happy but when pretty frogs, like these come to live with us, we love it!

The green frog on the left I found a couple of weeks ago while antiquing with my BF Sheila and her daughter, Meghan.  We found the top at one booth and a little while later, I spotted the green, base (looks kind of like a green, milk glass).  I asked Meg to run back and get the green top and what do you know?  A perfect marriage.  Both pieces are in perfect shape and I just love it - the color is fun and funky!  Because they weren't already together, each piece was inexpensive.  The pink one on the right was a birthday gift from Deb (the queen of frog hunting) - so now I have two pink frogs!  Thank you, Deb!  The one in the back is white milk glass with a black frog top.  I don't think they were meant to go together but they fit perfectly and I love the height of that one. 

But, I don't just love the pretty frogs - I love the ugly (Oh, that probably hurt their feelings) ones, too.  Calling them ugly wasn't nice so lets call them utilitarian!  This is my utilitarian frog collection:

These are a bit easier to find  than the super model versions and the basic ones, like these, are inexpensive.  What I like about them is their industrial look, chippy paint and that they allow for a bigger pair of scissors to be displayed (note the full size Ginghers in the top frog).  The spikey frogs are great to leave a note:

There are some really interesting wire frogs out there too but they are a bit more pricey.
Gives a whole new meaning to the saying "You have to kiss a lot of frogs...."

Our Guild Auction was a week or so ago and there were some beautiful things (as there always are).  I only won one auction but I couldn't be happier with what I got:

BF Julie made this - I had no idea she was doing it.  It's a BBD pattern (not sure what) and I love the black/grey color of the floss.  The box and thread board are finished perfectly and she included the pretty scissors and floss.  Love it!

As you may recall, Yuko and I are doing an SAL for "Isabella Johnstone".  I have kept up pretty well till this week, and then, due to life just being extremely out of control, I haven't stitched too much.  Frankly, what I did stitch (left border), I had to frog - as you can likely see in this pic:

I really love this sampler and can't wait to get to that sweet cow.  I am going to have to do some serious stitching over the next day to get caught up!

I'm off to Richmond, VA next week to run in the Ukrops 10k with my dad.  He is a seeded runner so I'm not in his group (nor should I be - he'll kick my ass) but I will be in it!!   My doc finally said I can run as long as I stop and walk every mile or so and don't overly tax my heart.  So.... I won't finish in the top of the pack - I wasn't going to anyway -  but I will finish.  I'll get there on Friday, run on Saturday, and return home on Sunday.  This is about the quickest trip to VA I've ever made!

Hey!  VCU (VA Commonwealth University), also in Richmond and my alma mater, is playing Kansas today in the NCAA tourny.  Go RAMS!!!

That's it, friends.  Thank you so very much for all your comments on my last post! It was overwhelming and I appreciate them so much!  Welcome to my new followers - I'm so glad you stopped by for a visit and hope you'll come back often.

Peace!

Terri