Throw

Fabulous find! At The Final Yard they sell ends of rolls. This piece was 1-7/8 yards; I bought it off the $5 table. I got another piece that I haven't decided what to do with; it's 3-3/8 yards in a robin's egg blue matlesse. Anyway, I knew immediately when I found this piece what I was going to do - make a throw for my bed. It feels wonderful - I think it's either got silk or mohair in it. Being end of the roll though, I'll never know. Anyway, when I went further through the store, I found they were having a sale on their natural colored cotton trims. The boullion trim was selling for $1.99 a yard. That's HUGELY discounted. Not only that, but the minute I looked at it - even before I knew what the price was - I thought "I can dye that; to any color I want it to be". So, I bought six yards - yeah, broke the bank at almost a whole twelve dollars! When I got home I took half of it (just three yards) and dyed it in a five gallon bucket with a bottle of Rit "denim blue" dye. I love the way it came out looking like overdyed floss. The width on the fabric was 54 inches, so I cut a piece 54 x 54. Last thing I needed was the lining fabric for the "back". Went to Joann's for their Columbus Day sale and got anti-static lining in navy blue for about $3.00 ('cause it was on sale!). The thing weighs a ton because of the boullion trim, but it is gorgeous! I have enough left over to make some small (like 9x14) decorative pillows for the bed too. Whole thing cost me about twelve bucks (minus my time of course).

So, I've been doing that and working on two stitching pieces (as well as my paid work). The stitching pieces are Jeanette Douglas' "Pomegranate & Pears Stitches" and a "Chocolate and Raspberry Truffle" biscornu for a Christmas gift. Don't have pictures of them yet. But, wow, when I was working on P&P - I got the fibers in a kit - and I very nearly ran out of the Lorikeet that was put in the kit. That stuff must really be expensive because the kitmaker put about a nine inch piece in there. I ended up, to get the last few stitches out of it, having to * put my needle through, pull the thread through, pull the thread from the needle, put the needle in, thread the needle, repeat from * . I was trying to figure out what I had on hand that I could possibly use as a backup (absolutely nothing) if this method didn't work out, but I managed to complete the four designs with the Lorikeet. Nice stuff though. P&P is not as complicated a design as I thought it would be though. I'm getting through it WAY too fast. I think I'm going to have to get that Victoria Sampler gingerbread house and really challenge myself. After doing six Prairie Schoolers, I feel I need the challenge (don't get me wrong, I love PS, but it is pretty simple). Hope my Nordic Needle catalog is in the mailbox today!