If the shoe fits...session 3

Well, every so often life provides a little unnecessary excitement.  First thing this morning I was helping a customer look for a specific fiber.  I spun on of Rainbow Gallery's large rack and all of a sudden heard a loud crack and the rack immediately developed a list to the right.  That will definitely get your heart pumping!  And of course my Saturday fiber restocker, Lynn, immediately got on her knees trying to get a good view of the problem area.  That scared me even more, since she was right in the way of the listing rack.  We immediately started finding homes for the fibers, doubling up the fibers on our three other racks.  It took over 2 hours to complete the transfer of fibers. We even enlisted a customer, Marilyn, to help. 

With the rack empty, at 12:35 I walked across the parking lot to watch the HD Metropolitan Opera presentation of La Traviata.  It felt good to sit down!  Before the show started, I realized that I had totally forgotten lunch.  Thank goodness my opera buddy had some oreos for me to munch on.  I've learned that I put too much "butter" on my popcorn to eat on an empty stomach--definitely major indigestion.  It was a great performance with wonderfully lyrical music. 

Back at the shop and time to analyze the rack's problem.  The base is plastic and all I could determine was that the central post had managed to slip in its holder.  And now I believe I could have removed the full panels without emptying them to diagnose the problem, although perhaps the full panels are too heavy and unwieldy for a woman to handle.  I think I'll chat with John at Rainbow Gallery before I put everything back together again.  He may have some suggestions.

Now on to the stitching in my life--I started doing the outer border of If the Shoe Fits... in the alternating Scotch stitch using black fyrewerks and Kreinik holographic orange Balger #16.  It is really glistening and pretty.  And I almost finished the right-hand side of the bottom area of the canvas. 

I'm also stitching on the black background of the Christmas stocking we're stitching in the shop for a customer.  I'm about 45% finished with my part (the black) of that project. 

And tomorrow I'll be stitching on my fish while I watch Boo Weekley golfing at the Harbor Town golf tournament.  He's 4 behind the leader, but maybe he'll have a fantastic day and win! 

If the shoe fits...

I'm not usually a fan of Halloween canvases, but this one appeals to me.  Perhaps it's because of the shoe collection residing in my closet.  This canvas is by Treglown Designs on 13mesh canvas and is stitch-painted so it's a dream to stitch.  As is my wont, I started in the upper right doing the basketweave using slime green silk 'n ivory.  I plan to keep working from the top right, but also plan in the next week to jump down to the bottom right-hand section so I can do background and then get started on the "dots" or bubbles. 

But I had to reward myself by stitching the first shoe.  It was such fun to do the alternating Scotch stitch using silk lame braid 18.  Even though it's intended for 18mesh, it covers well on 13.  Then using the new L metallics from Kreinik, I stitched the stars.  If you look closely, you can see where I added a French knot to the center of the star to fill the blank area.  I looked on the Kreinik website but couldn't find what they call the L series of metallics.  I think of them as lacquer because they are so shiny.  I don't like the black one, though.  It has a greenish tint rather than a black shine.  Kreinik has also added some new golds--here I'm using 3270 which has a red tinge.  I also especially like the 3280 which is more irridescent.