Inky Fingers: Variations on a Theme

I decided I needed to send out some "thank you" cards to some people. Here are the cards I made:

and finally, the one I sent to Doug Reilly, the artist for NCIS (the guy who came up with Caf-Pow, among other things) and fellow shuttle fan:
And thanks once again to the actors and writers and artists and producers from NCIS and NCIS-LA who took the time to join us at FanFest 2010!!

No, other than Doug's and the one immediately above it (which went to Daniela Ruah of NCIS-LA), I don't remember which card went to whom. Jesse Stern (producer), Reed Steiner (writer), Daniela Ruah (Kensi on NCIS-LA), Doug Reilly, Peter Cambor (Nate on NCIS-LA), Muse Watson (Mike Franks), Joe Spano (FBI Senior Agent Tobias Fornell), Brian Dietzen (Ducky's assistant Jimmy Palmer), and Rocky Carroll (Director Leon Vance) were the recipients.

It was a test to see how many ways I could use one basic stamp. With the exception of three other stamps (two more shuttle stamps and a USS Enterprise stamp) used on the inside of Doug's card (and, of course, the stamps I use on the backs of my cards), only three other stamps were used. Some solid-colored card stock, some patterned scrapbooking card stock, an assortment of plain and decorative punches, a couple of different "heights" of dimensional adhesives.

And Happy Anniversary to the Mercury Project!

What A Weekend!

The big news, of course, is the Angels' sweep of their (historically) single greatest nemesis, the Boston Red Sox. And the beauty of this one is that the winning game was a late-inning comebacker at Fenway.

The monthly stitch class at my LNS was yesterday, and boy, did we laugh a lot and hard!! Three pieces of mine saw some progress: Hannah Beeby, Beatrix Potter, and "Smell My Feet," the ornament from last year's Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en issue. It's by La D Da and is a companion of sorts to "Something Wicked," the witch's boot piece I finished on the cruise earlier this year.

Here's Hannah:
Here's Beatrix:
And here's "Smell My Feet," which is being stitched on the same fabric as "Something Wicked," Picture This Plus' "Monster Mash":
I also uploaded all my FanFest pictures to an album and labeled them.

Progress Pics

I finished the piece I'd been concentrating on at home and brought Mary Wigham in from the van to make her my focus piece. Here's a teaser of the finish:
And here's a reshoot of Mary's status as of last weekend, although she's seen a bit more progress today:
The shell-pink medallion squeezed in there alongside the blue half medallion and the dark red half medallion is now complete and the next half medallion to the right of the dark red one is now about half finished (and the color for the half medallion next to that one chosen!).

The finish has been washed, pressed, and hauled away to the framer. I also made it down to my LNS to pick up this year's Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. And then Tuesday I head up to North Hollywood to gather with my fellow NCIS fans at the annual FanFest.

Stitchy Update

I've been so bummed about the camera's memory card crashing that I haven't discussed last Saturday's all-day open stitch class at my LNS. Terri had been sick during the week preceding and wasn't up to the drive, so we missed her. Melissa had been sick, too, but hers is a much shorter commute, so she was able to make it. Thank goodness for that, because even with L and D and K there, it would have been most lonesome without my BSF. So anyway, I took the three in-progress Quakers and Margaret's Monochrome Madness in, but only the three Quakers got any lovin' this time around.

I made a little progress on both Hannah Beeby and Beatrix Potter, and a bit more on Mary Wigham. I'd like to call Hannah a monochrome, but she really doesn't have enough colors in her to call her a polychrome, either, since I'm only using two colors for certain, and only possibly a third (there are three used in the original). Anyway, I stitched a bit more in the predominant color, although I'm a long way from having page one done.

Beatrix is being done as a true monochrome--two shades of a terra cotta. And still on the first page.

Mary is a true polychrome, and I pulled a bunch of overdyed floss out of my stash for her. I finished the off-white half medallion that I'd started at the last class, and chose the blue to use for another half medallion, and got that one all done. And oh! am I happy with the way the blue I chose turned out!! And then I got started on a full medallion in a color called "Conch," which is a pale terra cotta/antique peach sort of thing.

The ongoing project at home is nearing an end, and boy, am I happy about that! I've reached the point where I just want that one to be done! Not counting backstitching and a handful or so of beads (in lieu of French knots), I have fewer than a hundred stitches left on that one. Wheeee!

This weekend is going to be busy as I get ready for NCIS FanFest, or I might try to take new pictures to replace the ones I can't get off the SD card. And no pics of the at-home project 'cause that one's a gift. So maybe I'll get before-and-afters at the October class.