Sunday, January 8, 2017

A bit of stitching and a bit of panic on Slow Sunday Stitching...


Sooooo... I meant to post this way earlier today but several events have conspired against me. First thing that happened was my laptop decided it no longer wanted to talk to my camera. Grrr.... I googled what do do when your computer doesn't recognize a device... "hey I'm a camera... the camera you've talked to for the last 3 years... why don't you recognize me? I'm still the same old lovable Nikon I've always been."  The Google results were more  succinct and it told me to "Uninstall the drivers" and then "Restart" and the drivers would re-install themselves. Now if it sounds like I know what I'm talking about, I have a bridge to sell you. I know just enough about my laptop to get me into trouble... and that is just what I did.

I  did have a momentary thought about taking my laptop to Best Buy for them to fix but then decided that..."I'm a late middle aged confident woman and I can do this myself". I really shouldn't listen to the voices in my head... but I did ... and I found the correct sub-menu and hit the key to "Uninstall" the driver"... and it whirred and a little blue circle went round and round and round and round ...and I was getting dizzy watching it as this continued for a very very very very long time. I deduced that the laptop was stuck in some action that wasn't going well ( \remember I really have no idea what I'm talking about where computers are concerned) but I wanted to stop it... and hitting every button I knew did NOTHING... so I moved the the action of last resort for computers and I took the battery out of the laptop. Big sigh...

I let it sit for a bit and put the battery back in and turned it back on... and I got a big, blank blue screen...arghhhh!!! I killed my laptop!!! And then while simultaneously berating myself for my stupidity and calculating how much a new laptop is going to cost me, the blue screen disappeared and my laptop worked... a bit slower but it worked. Thank you God!!!

I tried again to get it to recognize the camera and finally gave up. My younger son showed me how to move pictures from my cell phone to my laptop and I did it this time but I have a feeling he'll have to repeat the process a couple of times before it sticks in my brain. 

And I composed a lovely post... and then hit something and the whole thing disappeared...poof!!!! ARGHHHH!!!!!  Big sigh...deep breath...start again....okay 4 letter words were also uttered... a lot of them!

So here's what I've been stitching... I have 2 new starts for the New Year!

First is the Blackbird Designs Garden Club Series Chart  #1... I've already did Chart # 2 but I'm going to try and do them in order from this point on. 


Of course this piece has had its ups and downs too. I gathered all the flosses for this chart...found the center of my linen and discovered that the I was missing one skein...the skein I need for the center.!  I thought for sure I had ordered some GA Burlap but I can't lay my hands on it... so I substituted DMC 830 or 831... I don't remember which one. And I moved on to the cherries but my GA Mulberry and GA Ruby Slipper were exceedingly close in color... grrr... back to the DMC for a few skeins to get some variety. My love/hate relationship with hand dyed floss continues...


And then there is this start.... the Jeanette Douglas Designs ABC Sampler... here's a pic of the whole piece....



and here is the little bit I've stitched....


I've shown this sampler at least twice before whining that I wanted to stitch this so on New Year's Day I did. Now I had to put it aside because I bought a silk thread and embellishment pack to do this one and didn't realize that the silks would come bundled in a skein of many colors that you need to identify and separate. At $70 for this package of silk I knew I had to place them in individual floss bags with their names on them... and I had no floss bags on hand and by the time I could go shopping the stores were closed. I did get there the next day and I stocked up on floss bags... I bought 3 package... 118 little bags... I won't run out anytime soon. 

So I have plenty to keep me busy on the stitching front... and plenty to do on lots of other fronts too!
I know it is cold just about everywhere in the US and I can't wait for it to warm up.  Tomorrow we should break freezing and by Thursday  the forecast is for 60... with rain... but 60 none the less... I'll take it!   In the meantime I'll sit and stitch ...

Hope you have a productive week ahead... I have high hopes for mine!

I'm going to link up with Kathy's Quilts today and Super Mom - No Cape tomorrow.

happy stitching-
carol fun 

11 comments:

  1. This blog makes me think you read minds Carol. I have been very frustrated with this computer. It picks and chooses which emails it lets me view(I have no idea what is going on). There is no rhyme or reason for the problem. Then lets talk about over dyed threads. I am doing the LHN abc house sampler. Well I bought threads and then bought more in Alabama. Do you think the new threads match in any way the ones I bought first?? Not at all. So now all my first bought threads are useless for this project. I hope I bought enough in Alabama to finish the design. Beyond all that, have a wonderful week!

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  2. Ugh computers--one day everything is working fine and the next day all heck breaks loose. I also understand about missing one fiber and substitutions. Hang tough--we've all been there

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  3. What ever you have done with the colors, I love that little basket of cherries! So cute! Snow, cold, and freezing rain on the way up here. puh!

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  4. I definitely feel your pain on the computer issue...another love/hate relationship.
    Love the Jeanette Douglas piece....I'm a sucker for alphabets too!

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  5. You are so funny..... and brave. I would never attempt to take a battery out of a computer. Enjoyed all your comments... jealous of your accomplishments!

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  6. I sympathize with your computer woes. You're much braver than I am to try to resolve the problem yourself. Your stitching projects look fun and pretty. So nice to have some beautiful stitching to work on while staying warm. Have a good week!

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  7. that's going to be a lovely design. And stitching with silks! So elegant!

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  8. Yikes about the computer issues and hope things will go more smoothly from now on. Nice stitching and great new start!

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  9. I like your basket of cherries. What reds did you substitute? Hopefully, your computer and camera are back on speaking terms.

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  10. Love your new starts for the year, good luck with your computer problems, I have faced the blue screen of death a few times myself.

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  11. Oh my you have been having some adventures... computer-wise and stitching-wise. So glad you found a work around so that you could add photos of what you're working on.

    Both projects are going to be lovely!

    Thanks so much for linking up to last week's Stitchery Link Party and for the link back. Aloha hugs!

    P.S. I wrote this comment twice but one seems to have disappeared into the ether... if you do end up with two comments, please feel free to delete one. :)

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