Welcome to the Grow Your Blog party!

Greetings and Salutations! I'd like to welcome all of my visitors to my little corner of the internet. My name is Tazzy aka Ladynero and I am a cross stitcher, a novice crocheter, and a beginning belly dancer. This little blog, while focusing more on my stitchery and crochetting, also occasionally features my belly dancing experiences. There is going to be a lot of pictures in this (sorry, I enjoy showing off a bit) but I hope you enjoy your little stop in my corner.

As I have irregularly participated in the WIPockalypse in the past two years, let me snag a challenge from the WIPockalypse creator, Measi: "This month’s topic is a proper one for the beginning of any adventure: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year."

My name is Tazzy as I said. I was born and raised in the Midwest United States. I'm happily married with one daughter and two cats (who enjoy seeing what Momma's stitching as well as playing chase the string!). I'm a beginning belly dancer, and hopefully things will work out between home life and my work where I'll be able to get back to shimmying and shaking. I work at a little mom'n'pop craft store that specializes in a little bit of everything and where I get a majority of my needlework supplies and crochetting things. I'd like to get all of my current projects finished this year and distributed to their recipients before starting anything else new. I am an irregular blogger, but I try to update once a month (emphasis on try). I'm not one to talk about what happens to me personally, mainly because I started this blog for my needlework and belly dancing to share with everyone else, but I enjoy reading the various comments left on my posts.



This picture is a couple of years old (I was actually in my first trimester of pregnancy when this was taken. It was my last performance. For now). It was for Memorial Day when the troupe went to perform at the local Veteran's Center. We had one older gentleman in a wheel chair that kept moving closer and closer for our performance. Claimed he couldn't hear the music. I doubt any of us believed that excuse but we didn't call him on it.

As to why I'm not getting more crafty projects done or doing belly dancing much anymore, well, here's my excuse:



Meet my daughter, Genevieve. She's 13 months old, active as all get out, and only gives me a few hours at night to get anything done, but there are times when I'm just worn out after a day of playing and chasing her around, that I can't summon the energy to pull out a needle and thread.However! I have managed to get some things started and worked on. I won't go through and show you everything that I have started because that will take a lot of pictures. Yeah, I'm a bit of a serial starter, but a few of my projects only have a few stitches in them (Persephone, a few HAEDs, and a few things that are aimed for the UFO piles for now).



First up is a blanket I'm crochetting for Genevieve. Been working on it a while, but it's a nice relaxing project that I don't have to think too much about in the evening. It's a modified ripple blanket to shrink it down from full sized to a lap blanket. When it is done, it will also be the perfect size for her crib.



This is HAED QS CLara by Hannah Lynn. I'm doing all the black first and then going to go back and color it. A friend of mine saw this when I was showing it off at work, and she fell in love with it. So I promised her I'd stitch it for her if she followed her dreams (She had a habit of letting a few things hold her back). I haven't had a chance to work on it lately as it's 1x1 on 28 ct Monaco and that gets a bit hard on the eyes in the evening, but it will be worked on.



The start of Joan Elliott's Fairy Godmother on Silent Night by Under the Sea Fabrics (wonderful lady who does hand dyed fabrics. Highly recommend her!). This is going to be hung up in Genevieve's room when it's done and I get it framed. I'm also debating on changing the hair color of the Godmother from blond to black, just to be different. Ah well, I'll get to that when I get to that.



This is the start of a sailing ship sampler from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts issue Jan/Feb 1989 which tells how old this is. The water's green and I offered to change the colors for my dad, whom is the giftee of this one, but he liked the water as green. So, green water it is.



This is Barbara Baatz's December Fairy on 14 ct Aida, dyed by Color Cascade Fabrics based out of Australia (another great lady who does gorgeous work). The fabric is an odd size, but there is some beautiful marbling on one corner that I'm doing my best to get involved in this. I'm making this into a baby announcement for Genevieve with her name at the top and her birth information at the bottom. The border that is going to be done around the fairy will be repeated at both top and bottom but turned at 90 degrees to be more horizontal than vertical. The fairy herself is almost completely done. There's just some back stitching in the garlands that need to be done and then I can focus seriously on the borders.



This one is actually for me. It's Joan Elliott's Goddess of the Sea from the Design Craft kit. I do wish they had included 28 ct fabric instead of 14 ct, but if wishes were horses then beggars would ride. Ah well. If I decide I don't like this as it is, I may just get the pattern from Joan's website and redo it. But we'll see.



Here is my jar of ORTs for the TUSAL that Daffycat runs for the fun of it. This is a bit over a years worth of thread ends and leftover threads from kits. I never know what to do with the extra threads from kits, and I can't exactly add them to the skeins of DMC I have due to color differences at times, so I throw them in here to be used later or to be tossed out for the birds to use in their nests come springtime. I think I'm going to wait until this is full before dumping it out this time. Last time, there wasn't really that much to make a difference.



I had a lot of fun making this with my dad. It's my stitching chest where I keep almost all of my cross stitching WIPs. I designed it, and together, over the course of a couple of weekends, we put it together. My mom picked out the handles and the pull knobs, surprising me when they brought it over. I use it constantly and am starting to get a few drawers that still stick to loosen up due to the constant use *laughs*. Now I just need to get small boxes made to hold my bead containers and my kreniks.

I'm giving away two prizes this time. You don't have to be a follower of my blog to win, just have to be comfortable giving your address to a complete stranger *laughs*. First, I don't have a picture of (sorry, my phone's battery died), but it is "Jane Pattison 1806" by Shakespeare's Peddler. It's a sampler reproduction, and while it looks nice, I'm not one for this sort of sampler. So, I thought I'd pass it along to whomever is interested in winning it. The second winner, by random drawing, will receive a copy of Mirabilla's Persephone. My boss knows I enjoy Mirabillas so she went to a needle show and bought a copy of Persephone for me. Only I had already ordered it with fabric from another supplier, thus giving me two. So, one will go to a lucky person.



How to enter: Just leave your name and address in the comments and if you want to be in the drawing for either of the patterns or both. I'll draw a random person on February 15th to give everyone plenty of time to enter as I know there are a lot of blogs in this little party, and I don't want to exclude anyone.

And finally, I'll leave everyone with a picture of Genevieve in her CEO position, sitting in her daddy's chair at his computer.



Happy Blog Hopping!

IHAS update

Wow what a week. I did manage to get a bit of stitchery in over the weekend as it was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but I didn't get much since Sunday, Hubby and I went out to see "OZ The Great and Powerful" followed by dinner with his parents who had babysat for us as well as got in some grandparent time.

One of my Facebook groups decided to have a WIP toss to motivate each other into continuing to stitch and possibly complete their projects. Here's mine:



They are Joan Elliott's Sea Goddess, HAED QS CLaire, HAED Four Heavenly Beasts, Oak Island Mystery, and Barbara Baatz's December Fairy. Some of them haven't been touched in a couple of weeks while one or two haven't been touched in a couple of months.

But as to what I actually worked on, it is Barbara Baatz's December fairy that I'm turning into a birth announcement for my daughter.



This is her left sleeve and part of her wing. The Krenick blending fillament will be added to the wings after they are all stitched because I think this makes them glitter more instead of mixing the thread and the filament together in the needle.

Also, Leslie at Under the Sea Fabrics finally got in the scissors and scissor fobs that many on her FB group preordered from her in February and I got mine in the mail yesterday.



These are the first pair of "novelty" scissors that I have bought with the intent of using, and they're actually very comfortable to use. The fob is a lovely strand of pearls and clear gray beads on a wire, and the large lobster claw means it can probably be used for something other than a scissor fob if you had a mind to dress something else up.

A February Update

Yes, I'm a bad blogger. I apologize to everyone who follows my blog about the lack of updates and posts, but I feel kinda silly updating when there's very little progress. As to why there's little progress, well...



Let's just say someone's favorite napping spot is on Momma, and it's kinda hard to stitch with a Sharp Pointy Needle when there's a sleeping baby on your chest.

But I have had a little progress.



Four Heavenly Beasts has a few more stitches in it. SOrry 'bout the blurry photo.



Oak Island Mystery is slowly progressing. Got a bit more of the stone done.

And my TUSAL Jar...



Again, not much in there, and I decided to smash the threads down to see how much I could build it back up again.

Very Little Stitching

One month into motherhood and I'm slowly getting my life adjusted around her requirements and demands. Many days, the ony time she'll sleep for any length of time is when she's sleeping on my chest, or propped against my chest on my desk. But how can I refuse her when she looks so cute?



Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't get some stitching done. It just takes a bit of finangaling as well as a request for the husband to watch the baby a bit while I get a few stitches in. But I have been stitching!



Got a lot done on Oak Island, but that's not that difficult when it's large patches of color, which are wonderfully mindless to stitch when I'm tired or need to relax without straining my eyes or brain.



Four Heavenly Beasts is very slow going, but I now have a fourth color in the group. It may not look it but there's black, dark brown, navy blue, and a gray all in that section.



Sea Goddess is another one that's slow going only because I'm taking my time and savoring every stitch in it. One thing I don't understand is kits like this coming with 14 count fabric when the pattern includes half, quarter, and three quarter stitches. Why not include a 28 count instead to make things easier? I'd be willing to pay a bit extra for such a convenience.



My TUSAL jar. I smashed the threads down to make more room 'cause I wanna see how long it takes me to fill the jar up. I'll probaby toss some threads out come springtime for the birds to decorate their nests with them, or I may keep filling up the jar as it. Dunno yet.

and I found a wonderful woman who does beautifu hand dyed fabric on Facebook. It's Under the Sea Fabrics, and the prices are reasonable for both opaline and plain dyed fabrics. There was a gift exchange on one of my facebook groups and these are the two pieces I recieved:



This is called "Mermaid's Sea" and I'm going to be stitching the HAED pattern for Jessica Galbrath's Kwan Yin on it. It's going to look stuning on this sparkling blue.



This was a custom request (and she's already had someone else ask for this color combo since I posted the picture of it.) and Jessica Galbrath's Persephone is going on this one. One of the really nice things that she did was edge the fabric with stitches so I don't have to worry about fraying or trying to edge the fabric myself. I'd highly recomend her fabric for anyone who wants to stitch on hand dyed fabrics.

Last post of 2012

Well, I have to confess that I'm impressed with myself for keeping up with this blog for an entire year. I normally can't keep up with a diary so for me, this is impressive.

As this is the last post of the year, I first thought about doing a review of all my stitchery, but didn't want to flood this post with pictures. So here's just the latest that I have along wtih a few new starts.



First up is my ORT jar. It looks only partially full but it's a years worth of stitchery in there along with memories of each project finished, frustrated with, and started with a smile.



This is a new start that I began before I went into the hospital to be induced. It's Joan Elliot's "Sea Goddess" and I'm looking forward to completing this one as it's for me and not anyone else!



Oak Island Mystery has some more color added to it and it will be (hopefuly) completed this upcoming year so I can send it out to the intended recipient.



I signed up for a SAL on one of my facebook groups and this is my SAL project. I have all the floss and the fabric and I look forward to starting this one as well. *grins* Being a Yami no Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness) fan, I'm going to really enjoy stitching the Four Heavenly Beasts.



This is the new stitchery box my hubby bought me for Christmas as Bacchus managed to pop the lid off my old one. It's actually larger than my old one and I really like it.



The inside of my box, all ready to use.



and finally, this is my attempt at getting organized this year with my WIP. Each drawer, minus the very bottom one, is a WIP. In descending order: QS Claira, Kwan Yin by Jessica Galbrath, Four Heavenly Beasts, Map of Middle Earth, and Oak Island Mystery. The bottom drawer has my beads, blending threads, and a couple of hoops right now.

Half a brain...

If I had half a brain, I think I'd be dangerous right now. *laughs* It's about two weeks before the baby's due and if I can think without lists, I'd be surprised. So once more, a combined WIPockalypse post (two days early) and a TUSAL post (two weeks late).



First up is Pirate Treasure: Oak Island Mystery, and that touch of red in the green is part of the date there. I'm doing all of one color (or as much as I can right now) because all of that is getting stitched over in a half stitch of glow in the dark blending filament.



Next is a bit more of QS CLaire. It's a bit more slow going because despite stitching entirely in black, it's 1x1 on 28 ct and there are days I just don't need the headache even if I want the stress break.



Not much more has been done with the Haunted Mansion, but it's a fun thing to poke at.



And finally, my TUSAL jar. I know you can't see much of the green that is Oak Island and only a bit of black that is Claire, but it's going to start growing again. I promise!!!

October WIPockalypse

Okay I'm trying something new to see how well it works. It's Picasa which is Google's photosharing page and hopefully it will work since I'm getting very tired of Photobucket and their multitude of glitches.



First up is a pattern I totally blame Demeter for at Sense and Stitchability. This is QS Clara from HAED and all the black in her is perfect when one has a three hour doctor's visit. (It was the gestational diabetes test I had to take and that involved sitting around for three hours while they sucked me dry of blood.) Clara here is being stitched x1 on 28 ct Aida and yes, I'm insane for doing it that way. *grins* But she's going to be a bribe for someone to convince them to follow their dreams instead of letting others drag them down again.



Tada!! On the Commission front, the bride and groom both have heads, are mostly backstitched (totally in the Groom's case)and I've started on her hair piece and flowers. Then it will be the arch of flowers above them, name and date and I can call the lady to exchange the picture for cash. Woohoo!!



And finally, the traveling baby blanket is done! Now to just get it to the recipient while starting a new one for myself. Originally, I was going to claim this, but I didn't like how all that green was sort of splotched on there. I thought there was going to be more pale green and blue than what was really there. Ah well. *grins*

September IHAS and TUSAL post

I apologize if the pictures this time look a bit odd, but I had to tak them with my phone camera as my regular camera is being used for work purposes. My boss has finally relented and is letting us set up an Ebay store to sell the craft books that are not moving in the store. So, I'm the one taking all the photos of the books in question to do a massive upload as the goal is to "open" the virtual store on Oct. 1.

To my shame *snickers* I found myself purchasing a couple of HAED patterns. I blame Demeter at Sense and Stitchability for Clara finding her way into my cart followed quickly by Rochelle. This is unusual for me because I normally don't go for the "cartoonesque" patterns at HAED, but these two were just lovely. Also for those that didn't know, there is now an Official HAED Stitchers Group out on Facebook as started by Michele herself. It's interesting and I joined as quickly as I could.

I didn't get as much stitching done this weekend as I wanted. I mean, hubby was away playing with his friends all weekend, leaving jsut me and the cats. Perfect time to start stitching right? Saturday, I started the commission piece, hoping to at least get the dress done, and I spent fifteen minutes putting stitches in before spending another fifteen tearing those same stitches out. So I worked a bit on the groom, settled the frustration down a bit, and then managed to restitch the sleeve and back. Finished all but three white stitches at the top of her sleeve *dances*. Also talked with the lady I'm doing this for. I told her I'd reached hour 60 on this, and that what I can do is throw the hours out, we agree on a fair price for it, and that's it, or I keep counting hours and present her with a final bill. She decided to agree on a price, and I have to confess that it's much more relaxing now that I don't have to track every minute of this.



Haven't done the confetti filled flowers yet which is in her hand and arched above them, but I'm getting there. Honest!

Officially, this is the only piece I worked on during the weekend, but the next two, I worked on at the doctor's office. I had to go in for my week 28 work, which was a diabetic test. I have no idea what the premise behind this is other than to get the baby as wired as possible on sugar so they're beating up on Mom for the rest of the day, but after drinking about half a can of soda syrup cut with sugar water (only way to describe the taste, I swear), I had to sit around for an hour until they were ready to tap a vein. So, knowing this in advanced, I took my Mill Hill kits with me as they went along very nicely in my stitching box.



Didn't get much done on the Haunted Mansion, but then I picked it up when I got tired of doing the Moonlit Kitties.



One of the kitties has finally put in an appearance, and it's slow going because every other stitch is a bead, so he's a bit like a checker board there.

Now my TUSAL jar. As you can see, a lot of whites and creams because of the dress. A bit of gray there is mostly from the groom, but the oranges and browns are from Kitties.



An idle question for those that add pictures to your journals (which is like everyone I know and follow): What do you use? Photobucket recently seems to have more bugs than a flophouse apartment, and I'm getting tired of it locking up on me all the time or just not working (which is why my pics are so large when compared to the others).

IHAS Weekend update

I honestly hadn't thought I had done that much this weekend as I had to work on Saturday and then Sunday was putting up new bookcases that I found for a decent price at WalMart. But when comparing the pictures from the WIPockalypse and then what I did this past weekend, I did a lot.

From the WIPockalypse:


And the progress:


Heaven and Earth Design is having a 35% off sale today and tomorrow for President's Day, and Hubby let me take advantage of that. I promised him no more than three patterns at no more than $40. If I couldn't manage that, then I'd only take two patterns. Talk about a test of will to limit myself there, but I did. I picked up Lovers by Nene Thomas,Sweet Daydreams by Melissa Dawn, and The Map of Middle Earth which will look great in our gaming room. *grins* Yes, I'm geeky enough to risk going cross eyed and extremely tired of brown to stitch that one.

Should have thought this through....

I decided to start a HAED pattern to break up the monotone of the "Beware of Zombies" pattern as it is in silver and white on black fabric. After paging through my HAED patterns, I decided to start with Royalty by Adele Lorienne Sessler. A truly beautiful piece with an elven lord doing up his hair for the Court.

Only, I had not thought about one little (okay large) detail about the picture in question.

Specifically, the large, solid monotone black border around said picture.

*grins* In other news, here's what I have done of it so far!



I have the pages in sheet protectors in a small 3-ring binder, and I'm using a dry erase marker to mark the stitches done. *smirks* When I get finished with the page, I can just take a tissue to it and wipe it clean for the next time.

Also, just in case I missed it, here's my TULSA jar:



it's a bit fuzzy because I was too close when I took the picture. Ah well. Here's hoping next month's will be better.

No belly dance tonight...

Because we have snow. The sort that I went into a store for 5 minutes and came out to a car covered in snow. So, no lessons tonight.

*grins* So instead I'm going to work on my cross stitch. Probably my Zombie one until I can't stand staring at monochrome and then I might change to a HAED. I'm just not sure which one to start yet. I have "Royalty" by Adele Sessler, "Midnight at the Oasis" by Joanne Schempp, "Ishtar" by Selina Fenech, and "Eternal Promise" by Matt Stewart. And those are the ones that I'm interested in right now *laughs*.