Thursday, May 17, 2012

More Cross Stitch

Here's something else I'm stitching:


This is the 4th in a fingertip towel set Mom had started. Each one is a design for the seasons, and Mom had finished Summer, Fall and Winter. Spring wasn't even started! I wonder why? I found the set among her crafting supplies when I was working on the house last month, and I'm terribly sentimental about craft projects. I don't know why, exactly - they seem so personal to me, I guess, and people intend to finish them.

It'll be more defined when it's finished. It's two bunnies sitting in a thicket of springtime flowers.

Mom had a boatload of embroidery/cross stitch floss, and I took it all. I have no idea what I'll do with all the floss, but there may be embroidered quilt blocks in my future.

As I was getting ready to start this project, I thought I'd try to find the right colors among my vast collection. The floss colors are numbered, and the project was only a design sheet with the numbers. I wonder if I have them all.

As luck would have it, I had all but one! And I had a color close enough for the one I could not find exactly. What a collection!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Cross Stitch for Geeks

Lately I've been cross stitching. I've enjoyed doing hand work while watching TV, and I haven't had any quilt work suitable for stitching in front of the TV.

My conscience is nagging me, "Lauren, you certainly do have quilting projects needing hand work. What about those applique blocks you've been working on for....I dunno... 3 or 4 years??"  Uh, hmmm, yeah, I do have those. You're right, Ms. Conscience. But, I do so much better with good lighting when applique-ing! The lighting in the house by the TV is just terrible. I don't need such bright lighting for cross stitch.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Here's my first project, completed and framed. I posted about this a few months ago, but had no pictures then.


I love it! Totally medical nerd. Since I used to be a cardiology nurse, it's so cool for my office, now. (I'm an informatics nurse now.) For those that don't read heart rhythms, this is accurate, and it reflects a stepwise degradation of rhythm. The last one's fatal. Kinda gruesome, in a scholarly way.

I'd repost a link to the pattern, which I had found on Etsy, but I think the seller shut down the shop.  :-(

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Springtime: Lots of Work to be Done!

It has been a warm spring and that means we're out in the garden early this year.

I have been lax in taking pictures of my crafts for posting. Here's one thing I have been doing instead of crafting: working our plot at the Overland Park Community Garden.

Looking West on Our Plot 4/28/12

Last year I'd planted half a plot and donated all of the produce to the local food bank. This year, I invited others from my church to help with the garden, and I reserved a whole plot. Two weeks after our first workday this is the result. Onions in the foreground, then two rows of beets. Down at the other end, we planted lettuce, spinach, and carrots.

Yesterday, two of my teammates and I went out and put in most of the warm season vegetables: tomatoes, parsley, basil, peppers, and marigolds. I didn't feel like bringing the camera, though I really should have.

We're calling the project "Grace Garden." This is a specific project of the KAIROS group at my church, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. KAIROS is a ministry (i.e. a subgroup) of church members who believe in social justice, peace, and environmental responsibility as essential values of Christian living. This translates into environmental, justice-oriented, and anti-war projects.

Our goal for the garden is 100 lbs of food. If things grow well, I don't think we'll have a problem reaching that goal, at all.

The group of volunteers wanted to coordinate our efforts online. I found this site: Cozi. It's designed for multiple users to work with a calendar and manage tasks together - really, it's for a family. We're kinda like that, so we're giving it a try. Best of all it's free. We just have to tolerate ads that are rather family oriented (diapers or minivans, anyone??).  We'll see how it goes.

So I've been working on the Grace Garden for 3 months now. I haven't done much to plan my own garden - isn't that always the way? I bought some tomatoes, pulled out my seeds and threw them in yesterday.

God is helping out both Grace Garden and my garden, though. We're having a beautiful rain this morning.