My Fair Entries

I actually entered some things in the fair this year!

The last, and only other time I entered something in the fair, was 11 years ago. They were brutal! ...told me my "skill set" wasn't up for the design I chose. Wah!!
Hurt my feelers and made me not want to EVER do that again.

But in all fairness, it taught me to have what I coined, "Stitch Envy" for these other people that had these simply PERFECT stitches, and to learn just HOW they did them. (Which is Railroading, by the way) OF course I railroad every stitch now.  lol

A couple years ago I joined the Women's Club. Figured its the thing to do when one starts to get old...  HAHA

So last spring I offered to be one of the speakers during this next season, Sept. to May. There were 5 slots open and they had 13 to choose from. So, the members all voted for the speakers they wanted. I never heard anything back from the lady in charge of speakers for FOUR MONTHS. So I just thought they didn't choose me. BUT THEN! She called me and told me that YES, they DO want me to talk at one of the luncheons, in fact, she wanted me to be the speaker to start the year off on a nice note. I wasn't going to be able to come to that September meeting, so we agreed on November.

Then I started thinking, well...if I enter some things in the fair and IF I happened to get a ribbon for one of them, then it would be really neat to show the ladies in the Women's Club.

So I pulled up my big girl panties, got brave and did it!

Of course we went to the fair on the opening day. I wanted to see right away what the news was.
I was really nervous. Really nervous.
With me was my husband, a friend, and my dad and Dad's gf.  My husband was pushing my dad's gf in a wheelchair, so he was behind a bit. I couldn't wait, so I walked on ahead and was looking, looking for my things. We came in a side door.

THERE THEY WERE!
Right beside the front door.
People were gathered around them.

Oh my gosh! I saw "Flower Power"
THERE WAS A BLUE RIBBON THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got tears in my eyes. I rushed back to tell my husband! Then I wanted to go see what that other ribbon was right beside it.
Oh wow, BEST IN SECTION!!!
And, wait! TWO MORE BLUE RIBBONS!
Ok,  so now I really have tears in my eyes.

So I rush back to my husband and start to tell him but the words wouldn't come out because I started crying. "What's wrong?! What's wrong?!" he asked me.
Nothing was wrong.
Everything was just wonderful.
They liked me!  lol

(all but the Christmas picture are mine)

I felt like the Fair Queen. HAHAHA

tree part

I've got a bit of an update on the guild sampler piece. (I really have a lot more done but, its in the frame and its such a pain to get it out!)

So here's a little something. I'm satin stitching over my X's to give more dimension to the fruit. (I know I'm going to need to add another X over the bottom branch areas where the fruit connects, its looking a little lost in there)

OH! And guess what, I decided to enter some things in the fair! The fair is in a couple weeks, so we will see then if anything good happens   :)

Just Nan Miss Kitty is finished!

 

I finished Miss Kitty!!!
And Vilma is going to be so happy because she was sooo sweet to send me the tinchart and little kitty pin and finally now she gets to see mine!
Vilma bought one for each of us. She finished hers quicker than I did, though.

Here's an extra little something I did to mine

OOPSIE!

I spy some of my "specialty fibers" lol  gotta love kitty fur on the Miss Kitty pin cube, right?!

So, what I did on this cute little cube that was different than "normal" are a few things:
I added Rainbow Gallery petite braid in gold ( I love gold)
I added Swarovski crystals (different colors each side)
I put French Knots in the centers
I stitched beads on the bottom to make into legs
I put pearl beads in each corner
I put some cardboard inside to make the sides stiffish
I put bunches of lizard gravel/walnut shells in for weight
There are a few layers of cardboard on the bottom to hold it firm
Also, I put 2  tiny silver magnets under the top center to help hold needles
(I actually stitched them into 2 pieces of wool felt so they wouldn't move)

Other than that, its all the same!

Thank you again, Vilma for the nice present!!!

Just Nan cube sides

Here are a couple more pics of the cute little cube.

I decided not to use seed beads and added crystals instead.
Pink ones would have been better for the pink flower, but I didn't have any and I was too impatient to wait!

Just Nan's Miss Kitty

Here is the center of my Miss Kitty's pin cube.

I worked all day yesterday on it.

I even started putting it together!
(p.s. yes, those are specialty kitty fibers on it that I didn't see until now)

Angel and Romeo

Remember my little sweet kitten?
She grew up.
She's here with her Uncle Romeo.

When Angel arrived, the other kitties were NOT pleased. Except for Romeo.
She was so tiny, almost fit in the palm of my hand. She was so tiny she couldn't even get into the kitty bed. Or the litter box...

Can you imagine?
How could Sadie be so cranky over such a little thing?
Sadie was the worst.
Probably because Sadie was the boss.

Romeo was the youngest.
Romeo is the only cat I've EVER EVER EVER had that was

N O C T U R N A L.

sigh. What a challenge he was to live with.

Truly a wild thing! We called him "The White Tiger." (Those few of you that play World of Warcraft will understand the name. lol)

Anyway, long story short, Romeo taught her how to be. 

Romeo is also the only cat I've ever had that makes sounds almost all the time. They are sounds like  "Hmmmm? Hmmm?"--that go up the scale. And then he jumps down, he makes the "Hmmm!!!" sound. Its hilarious. (like a female tennis player, serving, sort of grunt)

Romeo taught Angel to make those sounds, too.

OMG, so precious.

He also taught her to be wild and free and how to pester the other kitties. And how to chase after poor Annabelle (who I think will get a new,  pretty pink collar today with spikes on it, to protect her poor neck)

We have one of those really tall kitty tree stands in our bedroom. (Seems there must be invisible writing on it that says "Only for Angel & Romeo!"

It is so fun to watch them on it.  They climb up the side from the floor to the top and swing around the post...  They will jump down from the top to the bed, a good 5 feet!

They play together so well. As you can see in the picture, they truly love each other. (so I guess I did need another cat...)

Sampler Guild piece update

I have been so lax at posting...
This has got to be the busiest set of months I've had in my whole life!

I decided this is the year I am going to learn new things and have new experiences. Gosh, have I... So much so that I've not taken an update picture in weeks and weeks. In fact, these pictures I am showing you now, are totally outdated. lol   The bottom one is closer to the truth. Though I've since stitched the border around both sides and have completed the alphabet.

As you can see from the earlier picture, I changed the navy blue flowers into periwinkle Forget-Me-Nots. Plus I may have changed that center border a bit, as well...

I hope you're all enjoying your stitching. I can't wait to get back to mine (I've been really enjoying stitching Just Nan's Miss Kitty cube--a gift from my friend, Vilma) ty Vilma!!! (We are stitching them together)