Hilary Booth... of course!

I managed a few photos of Nationals Park, but none of the Stitch N Pitch event. They’re up on my Flickr account, if you’re interested. I will add photos of the hat and my project later.

I attended my second Stitch N Pitch event last night. The Washington Nationals were hosting Baltimore Orioles in the second game of the vaunted “Battle of the Beltway”.( We don't want to go to Baltimore! )

All the parts of the Book of Ink Circles have been released now. You can see completed versions of the project on the designer Tracy Horner's website, along with downloading all the constituent parts. I have fallen massively behind in my own version. Hopefully I'll get back into it soon.

Probably not this week, unless writing gets finished faster than I anticipated.

Otherwise things have been a little crazy around here. Last week I thought I frelled up my Virginia taxes, only to discover I'd left off the withholding. No wonder the tax people I thought I was trying to gip them. I am still working. As I've joked, Google's online translation page and I will be such good friends after this project that I'll want it to take me out to dinner. Or a movie, I'm not fussy.

So I've fallen off a little on my Stitching Olympics. I mostly blame being so tired after work.

Last night I finished Ink Circles' Quackworth 2007 during the women's marathon. It felt more like a middle distance race than a real marathon, but oh well, I'm not complaining.

Again I'm using HDF Bitterness on a 32ct Belfast cream linen.

( Quackworth 2007 )

This is August? *shakes head* Believe me, I'm not complaining, but going from 90s to mid 70s/80s is very very strange and wonderful. Needless to say, I took full advantage of the cool breezes and sunshine at lunch. I went back to my lunch spot.

I found the island/inlet. It's tiny. It makes Roosevelt Island look like a sprawling complex by comparison. They have a nice little memorial for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, grouped together by colony. As a 1776 geek, I went through the names quoting all the way. You'll notice who wasn't included in the musical. Several characters were condensed. You'll also notice who isn't included in the Pennsylvania delegation; John Dickinson didn't sign, after all.

I need to remember a camera. And to find time to head over to the DAR Museum for the sampler exhibit. It closes at the end of the month. I just wish they were open a little later during the week.

ficfinishing wasn't quite a success. I did work on the story some, but I haven't finished it yet. Bad me. But I'm more encouraged about the story, so it isn't a total loss.

For the cross stitching fans in the US, the British Cross Stitcher magazine has two "Doctor Who" patterns upcoming. The current issue #202 has a Dalek and the next one features a John Barrowman pattern. anejo has posted her finished Dalek. The Barrowman pattern is similar to the Tennant one I stitched awhile back.

The Ink Circles mystery has a new part uploaded. This one may take a little longer to complete. I fear I have run out of my favorite green. I'm beginning to think I didn't calculate the amount of silk correctly.

I skimmed through the new Yen Plus magazine. Half of the book is in flipped format and the other half is unflipped. I quite liked Svetlana Chmakova's "Nightschool", but the others really didn't grab me.

This is mostly for my benefit in case I lose all my notes. Feel free to ignore or mock.

( Stitching Olympics planning )

I finished the latest part of Book of Ink Circles and I think Anya has reason to be afraid... very very afraid. Maybe they're to chase the frogs away? Or keep the cats company? Or look cute and furry and menacing?

( It must be bunnies! )

So now I'm moderately more awake. I did try to take a few pictures, which are here.

( We need the comebacks, the rallies... )

So Sunday afternoon I went to my first needlework class at the Scarlet Thread. I'd wanted to take one, but could never find one in my skill bracket. Then I saw the newsletter about the upcoming biscornu class featuring a pattern inspired by "Take me Out to the Ballgame." What could be better? Combining my love of baseball and a curiosity about putting together biscornu.

What are biscornu? Near as I can figure, the term comes from the French and has various meanings. It's an oddly shaped pin cushion/ornament/fob/doo-dad created by stitching two pieces of fabric together. Instead of getting a square, you get biscornu. There's a great online tutorial translated by own_two_hands showing all the steps. Being one of those visual types who needs someone to show me how things work (and generally terrified by finishing/sewing techniques), this seemed like an ideal course.

The full piece is shown on the Scarlet Thread website or conversely My Ordinary Needle's blog. The instructor was Donna LeBranche. The kit came with the class and I will start tackling that before I go to the Stitch N Pitch next Friday, if only because the teacher is going, so I can ask tech support questions. She's a big baseball fan of the Red Sox persuasion. She was even interviewed by the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg at last year's Stitch N Pitch event.

Since we wouldn't have time to finish the full biscornu, the teacher created a mini version with "I Heart Baseball" on the top and a diamond eyelet on the bottom. The heart was done in a Rhodes Heart stitch. I'd never done either of the two specialty stitches. I ironically had an easier time with those than the backstitching. Except for the part where I was stitching on the back of my fabric... oops. At least I hadn't done much yet.

Then came the fun of attaching the two pieces of fabric together with a whip stitch. Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy. I can definitely see why you need the squares to be exactly the same. Otherwise, it'll never work out right.

( I Rhodes Heart Baseball Biscornu )