Thursday, August 12, 2010

Trip to Dallas and Finishing

Great news!!!  Travis got transferred to Dallas!!!  No more Columbia, South Carolina! Whoop!!!  I am sooooo pumped!!!  The weekend of the 7th, I went to Dallas to look at houses and apartments for rent.  And of course, I had to check out the needlepoint shops in Dallas.  I started with Creative Stitches and Gifts.  I love it!  They have a very helpful staff, lots of fibers, and diverse canvases.  They had all of the major designers and all of the major fibers (vineyard silk, bella russo, impressions, etc).  I am still partial to Chaparral and Chandail, but this might be a very good substitute in Dallas.  In Columbia, there are no shops, and the nearest one in an hour and half away.  Ick.  I have been visiting the shops in Charleston mostly whenever I came to see DH, even though I did visit the Needle and Canvas in Spartanburg once.  I am very excited to be with my hubby in Dallas!

At Creative Stitches, they had a fiber by The Pure Palette called Empress that I simply had to try.  It's a merino, cashmere, and silk blend, and it is HEAVENLY.  I love stitching with it.  I, of course, found a cool canvas that I had to get- a Kathy Schenkle A&M stocking!  Here it is stitched up a bit.  I am doing the whole background in tent, and possibly all of the lettering as well.  I am not too sure about a stitch for the footballs yet. 


In other news, the June finishing sale a Chaparral cleaned me out!!  Look at what I got finished!  Nine pieces in all.  Yikes!   But now my to-finish pile is a lot smaller!  Here are the familiar faces from my previous blog posts. 

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Kelly Clark comes to Austin!!

Kelly's Class!

I went to Kelly Clark's class at the new Needleworks store in Austin.  I chose the Thursday/Friday class, and it was fun and tough at the same time.  The whole first day we worked on the basket.  UGH!!  No more woven/ 3-D baskets for me!  It was tough, and I had to re-do it about three times.  My husband and I decided to make the trip to Austin something special, so we stayed at the Driskill Hotel.  I definitely recommend this hotel whenever you get to Austin.  However, it does not have a pool or a spa, so that was a bit disappointing.  It's right in the middle of downtown and everything fun to do (even if you avoid 6th street).  He toured the Capitol and relaxed in the hotel while I took Kelly's class.  He did have a lot of fun.  At night, we went to the original Chuy's, Amy's ice cream, and did a little driving around Austin to see what was there.


When I went back to Kelly's class the second day, one person did not come back.  Since this was my first class, I did not realize that the classes cover all of the canvas in little bits through out the class, and you do not do one thing the whole class.   I think people got frustrated, and decided not to come back.  On the second day, we completed the suede boot, and learned how to do the ribbons for the flowers and the basket accessories.  The class was much better and way less frustrating on the second day.  Kelly is an angel and so kind.  I would definitely recommend taking any class she is offering.  I will be taking another one from her soon.


Speaking of Kelly Clark, I am doing her pink topiary angel.  I love this canvas and the threads (all planet earth silk and vineyard silks).  Here is my progress thus far.  I did not post at all in July because all I was doing was tent stitching!!!