The Boys are gone ....

Eure & Happy are back home and the house is quieter.  At least for a couple days.  On Thursday, a friend is going away for Christmas and her shih tzu, Precious, will be visiting for a couple weeks.  She's a doll.

I accomplished quite a bit over the weekend.  I worked on some holiday ornaments from my stack of finishing-to-dos.  Now all I need to do is add the trim around the rims of them.  I'm leaning toward cording.

I finally finished stitching this reindeer.  It will also become an ornament in the near future.  Hmmmmmm ... I'm thinking  ...... stuffed .....

I officially began the Christmas Design SAL by putting the canvas on stretcher bars.  I haven't actually picked out threads yet but will do that soon.  Oh my!  Everytime I look at this, I have no idea where to start.

I wasn't entirely  happy with my tea staining from last week.   Soooo, I cut a small piece off and re-stained it a second time.  Same conditions, 200 degrees F for a hour.  This time I used 2 bags of Cinnamon Stick tea (out of Earl Grey) and crumpled the fabric. 

Isn't it gorgeous!    I love it.

Now to pick out my threads and I'm ready to begin See the Star.

Something new, something temporary, something stained ..... and a finish

It's been very busy at my house these past few days.  My kitchen has a lovely new vinyl floor.  No more yucky carpet -- yippee!  My pack has swelled by 2.  A friend is away for a few days and I'm watching 2 of her papillions this week.  It's always interesting when the boys come to visit.

<--  Eure (short for Eureka -- as in the vaccuum cleaner) and my beagle Shasta showing off our new floor.

<--  Happy on the back of my couch.  One of his favorite places when he comes to visit.

Last night I decided to tea stain some white 28 ct evenweave fabric -- I think it's from wichelt.  I am both pleased and not so pleased with the result.  Here's what I did .....

I put the fabric in a 9x13 cake pan with a couple glass dishes to keep it from floating. 
Added earl grey tea bags (5 or 6) between the fabric layers and a bit of red wine vinegar.
Covered the whole thing with tin foil.
Cooked in my oven at 200 degrees F for an hour.

Can you see a problem already?  I didn't.

After the hour, the color was absolutely gorgeous -- a nice rich color with darker splotchy areas (at least on the top).  Upon closer inspection, I noticed most of the darker areas were not so splotchy.  They were very regular rectangles -- you know, tea bag shaped.  DUH!

So I mushed up the fabric with said tea bags and cooked again for about 30 minutes.  It didn't change anything.  After rinsing, drying and ironing the fabric, here is the end product:

Hmmmmm ... looks a little wierd.   I was going to use this tea stained fabric and fall-colored DMC threads for the Marquoir "See the Star" piece but I'm not so sure now.   I need to measure off the good area and see if it will still work.  It isn't a total bust.  I'll find uses for the goofy areas with smalls  **PLUS**  I learned a valuable lesson.

And last but not least, while staining and learning said lesson, I finished the Noel Sampler .... ta-da .....

I'm mostly happy with it.  I'm not entirely sure about the candle and flowers on the bottom.  The colors I chose don't exactly separate & stand out nicely, making it kind of blob-ish.  I can't even blame the photograph.  Oh, well.   It's done now and I'm not going to change it.  You may have noticed, I settled on a heart charm for the upper wreath instead of the flower or snowflake.  I haven't decided what to do next but will probably frame it.

Oh dear!  Finished and me still not in the proper holiday mood.

Bleechhhtttttt ! ! !