Giving up the ghost

So I have finally admitted to myself that I will not be able to finish BAP-T in time for Alan's retirement. Too many things got in the way and then I lost all momentum on this project and now I am way behind. I have decided to pull out an old chart from a 2007 JCS called Tanglewood. This chart was created by Tracy Horner of Ink Circles and the thread is from Carrie's Creations. I have ordered the thread from Carrie. Unfortunately Carrie had a death in the family and there will be a delay of a couple of weeks before shipment. I don't think this will be a big problem because since it was charted for overdyes, there is not a lot of thread changing. I have liked this chart ever since I started it, but never got around to ordering the silks.

I'm a little sad about the change, but I think Alan will like it. My oldest brother has been asking me to do something for him forever. I've done little things but nothing big. I think BAP-T might become his. Right now I like it, but I don't like it enough to want to hang it in my house. This might change as I work more on it, but if it doesn't BAP-T will be his.

Reorganization of stash

I woke up at 7:00am Sunday morning and by 8:00am I was in my craft area trying to straighten up and reorganize. Ten hours later I was about as done as I could be. I'm not entirely happy with the area but until I am able to move some of the furniture out and put in true storage furniture I just have to be happy that it's not as messy as it was. Two things occurred while I was going through this process. First, I discovered stuff that I forgot I had purchased. Who does this? Stash obsessed cross stitchers that's who. Second, I had to face the fact that I stitch things but then don't do anything with them.

So with this in mind, I collected everything I have stitched in the last couple of years and took pictures. I then placed them in a prominent spot in my craft area. My plan is to completely finish at least one finished project a week. I also on having at least three of my "to be framed by a framer" items framed by the end of the year.

As an incentive to myself, I am created two new pages. As I complete a finish, I will take a picture of it and put it up on a new page which I will cleverly title Completely Finished Finishes.


Here's hoping that I actually follow through.

Some finishes

Just a quick post to share some finishes.

I finished Lizzie Kate's Housework. I'm trying to decide if I want to frame it or if I want to do a soft frame. I'll probably go with the traditional frame because it will be quicker. This was supposed to be a gift for my sister, but I'm leaning towards keeping it, as it speaks to me :)

I also finished a JABCo You Lucky Dog for my brother Robin. He has a houseful of dogs and it just seemed appropriate. 

I have kind of sort of abandoned my BAP-T because it was just wearing on me. I now have several projects in rotation. I am working on my Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL, a Cross Stitching Art SAL stitching her Siren pattern, working on a Falcon from UK cross stitch mag, working on the Bethlehem pattern, getting ready to start the Edgar Allen Poe Sampler from JCS Halloween edition for a SAL and also a Halloween freebie. I do plan on putting the BAP-T back into rotation because I do want to finish it. 

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!!

Just keep stitching, reading, gardening, relaxing...whatever makes your weekend wonderful!

SAL SAL SAL

I feel like my life has become a big SAL.

I am working on three right now and having lots of fun. I feel as though I have abandoned my blog but it is more about getting caught up in Facebook. I never realized how many stitching peeps were on FB. I have been introduced to so many designers, fabric, threads, and people. It has been so much fun.

Right now I am working on an mystery SAL at Passione Ricamo. When I get a share-able pic I will post it. It is a mermaid and so very beautiful. The chart will only be available to people participating in the SAL, so if you haven't joined, my sorrow goes out to you as it has unfortunately closed. But let me tell you, she has beautiful thread, petite braid, beads, treasures galore.

My other SAL is Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks, An Important Flower. I am using a 29 count piece of fabric that I have had forever and stitching it over one with Waterlilies African Sunset.

My other, other SAL is a Cross Stitching Art, The Siren of the Deep. She is being stitched on a 28 count piece of fabric from Silkweavers called Seaside Melody

I'm waiting on some wonderful threads and fabric which I will definitely share when I receive. I have also been playing around with an idea I stole from someone else's blog. Unfortunately, my poor brain can't remember who I stole it from, but when I do I will share their name. The idea involved paint, washi tape, and clothespins. The original idea was to a different purpose but I decided to combine their idea with someone else's idea and create little floss keeps. I don't think the idea would work for a project with a lot of colors but it is definitely workable. 

While I have been enjoying myself immensely stitching, I have also been very busy back at work on my Master's. While this has kept me busy, I am also busy getting everything together for a renovation of Mom's roof, floor and other things which included purchasing a new refrigerator. And of course, as always taking care of Mom who unfortunately was recently back in the hospital. 

If I were to be honest with myself, I would admit that I had no business beginning a new project, let alone three new projects. My only excuse is that I really, really, really, wanted to. Some might say that I am acting a little manic and while I might agree, I will simply sat that I have the Stitching Bug

btw this is another SAL that I am thinking about joining ;)

Well it's been a busy bit

I've been busy with all sorts of things. I went on a job interview Monday and then on Tuesday was offered the job. On Wednesday, I resigned from my current position and then on Thursday, my current job gave me a counter offer so I decided not to resign. Whew! What a busy up and down week.

A midst all of that, I didn't really get much stitching done as I had finally received my beautiful fabric from Polstitches Designs in the UK. This fabric is for my Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL that I mentioned a while back. The fabric is gorgeous; it is called Monsters and Mermaids (very appropriate for the pattern). Here are a few pics

This light didn't show the colors the way I wanted.

This light was better 

Here is it with the bling, floss, and braid (I was actually short a few DMC)

The pattern uses size 8 beads, so I decided to stay with the recommended 28 count. I have decided to grid as a go. This is a mystery stitch, so I don't want to make an error in counting and then be faced with a bunch of frogging. Before I gridded, I neatened the edges with buttonhole stitch. I began stitching the first part last night and am hopeful that I will finish the first element tonight. It is the cutest fish ever. I decided to stitch the fish over 1. I'm hoping that I it will compliment the utter cuteness of this fish. As soon as I can I will post a picture.

I pretty much stopped stitching on my other projects but as soon as this first fishie is done, I will go back to my rotation. On a side note, Polstitches Designs were ridiculously fast in getting my fabric to me. I received it in about 12 days. I highly recommend them!

Kreinik the thread we all love to hate...KreinikGirl to the rescue

Many people will not even attempt to use Kreinik or any other metallic thread because of the horror stories passed down from stitcher to stitcher. While many of these horror stories are true, I urge stitchers to be brave and stitch on. The finished product that uses metallics always has a wonderful bling-y beauty about it, that you will happy that you persevered. 

There are hints galore about how to successfully use metallics. The three universal truths are:

1. Use short lenghts, preferably no longer than 12 inches. 
2. Use a needle big enough to allow the thread to pass through without too much rubbing against the fabric. 
3. Use some sort of conditioner. Most use Thread Heaven but bees wax works well also. 

If you follow these three main hints, you will lessen your frustration and increase your success. As you work with metallics you will probably discover tricks of your own. 

KreinikGirl from Mr. XStitch's blog recently blogged about a cool idea using braids, which she entitled Altered Threads. I enjoyed reading it so much, I was tempted to just excerpt the entire blog. But once the giddiness cleared my head, I remembered that we were only in the cloud and that you could just as easily access the link. With that said I do want to share some photos on how to rouche braid. 

The tree is loosely rouched braid and the ribbon is tightly rouched,

Quick pictorial on how to rouche braid.

She also introduced two products that I had never heard of:

Kreinik wired thread called Wired Facets

Threadworx overdyed metallics

The main point of ThreadGirl's blog was that you should embrace the fraying tendency of metallics and incorporate that into your stitching...make these threads work for us. 

Now go forth an conquer metallic thread!!!!!

 

Organizing Needlework

Almost every person I know who does any form of needlework is constantly looking for way to organize. I am always scouting the internet looking for better ways to organize my wonderful stash. I sometimes feel a slight irritation that it seems as though every other craft in existence has a plethora of storage solutions. Needleworkers have bobbins, bags, floss tags and rings as our primary source. While all of these things are useful, none of them seem to be completely ideal, as we are constantly looking for better sources.

Today, I was reading Mary Corbet's blog Needle n' Thread and she is talking about organizing future needlework projects, a topic near and dear to every needleworker's heart. As always, Mary had wonderful suggestions. Her main idea was relatively simple. She uses large ziploc bags and then a wooden skirt hanger. You can then either hang it in a closet or mount on hooks inside closet doors or cabinets.

Mary's hanging bag solution.

Mary kits up her bags in much the same way as all of us do. She includes her threads, fabric and chart. She also includes needles. I don't typically do this because I primarily work cross stitch, so always have tapestry needles on hand. 

Although I would like to attribute Mary's idea as being completely original, I would hazard to guess that some wonderful needleworker has been using this idea for years and years. What I like most about the idea is that it gets the kit out of boxes. I have several projects kitted up and they are sitting waiting in a box. Right now I have a closet that is pretty much unused. This closet begs to be used and I love the idea of getting some nifty wooden hangers. I did a quick internet search and they can be found from $7 for a pack of 4, $9 for a pack of 5, and $27 for a pack of 16. (yes, I have plastic ones from various stores, but these just look nice), some gallon size bags and transferring my projects to the closet. 

I think the only thing I will change is that I am going to purchase some large labels and label the outside of the  bag. The purpose of the label will be two-fold. First, to identify the project and whether it was intended for someone or just something I want to stitch. The second, and perhaps more important, purpose will be to identify which threads I am using. Usually, I will have new threads for each project I am working on, but sometimes when working on something else, I realize that I am running short and can't find a much needed color. It would simplify my life, if on the label, I listed the floss being used. This way I would be less inclined to root through the bag desperately looking for my color, so as to save me a trip to town. 

The act of organization in needlework is an ever evolving process. As I mentioned posts ago, I plan to rejuvenate and reorganize my craft space. Well, initially I was very industrious but then I became side tracked with stitching. Oh how is a a person supposed to choose between the joys of stitching and the wonder of having a beautifully organized space?

Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL

I recently joined an awesome SAL - Passione Ricamo's Mystery SAL...journey into the deep. It is a mermaid picture and so far what I can see of the final design is simply gorgeous. The sign up for the SAL ends on July 30, 2013, so if you want to join...join now. The design calls for DMC floss, Petite Braid, and beads, beads, beads. I have all of my wonderful bling and now I am only waiting on my beautiful fabric which I ordered from Polstitches. It's funny I was very apprehensive about ordering from overseas but then when I become involved with the Facebook group for this SAL, I realized that many European and UK stitchers order from the states all the time. It made me realize that I had become a somewhat narrow minded stitcher. Well, all of that is changing now. Since I don't have my fabric, I don't have any stitching to show you, but I can share this wonderful picture of the fun fishies in the picture as it has been released on the Passione Ricamo website:

I look forward to sharing my progress. I know many might say, don't you have enough stitching in the works? Well, yes, I probably do, but I can't seem to help my ADD stitching tendencies. Tonight I will take pictures of my works in progress which include the Dali Torreador picture, the Bethlehem silhouette, a JABC pic for my brother, a Lizzie Kate for my sister, a UK mag project for my other brother, some Xmas stuff, and now the Mystery SAL for me!

Jolly ball bites the dust

Bought this jolly ball today (designed for horses and large dogs). Decimated after one hour of dedicated playing by my mastiff Bella.

Give Away Revealed

Okay, here's the deal. I am blatantly trying to win followers to my blog. As a mother of three boys, I found that bribery usually yielded immediate results. So, here is my bribe -

The bulk of the prize will be a full kitted chart which includes:

                the chart ~ One Tulip from Barrick Samplers (it's in brand spanking new condition)
                the 11 DMC colors for the chart (full skeins)
                a 9 x 13 serged piece of opalescent lugana (from either Silkweavers or Enchanted Fabric)
                         and of course needles

Here are some pics

When I reach ten followers, I will post a blog that says "Give Away Open" and ask my followers to comment to that post. From that post I will throw the names into a hat and draw the winning name. So, please, help spread the word :)  

If this is successful, I may start a habit of giving away stash periodically to celebrate the people who are following my various ramblings. 

Give Away!!!!!!

I mentioned last week that I was thinking about doing a give away. Well, as soon as I reach 10 followers the give away will commence. Right now the bare minimum for the give away will be a chart from Barrick Samplers, the DMC floss to stitch it, and a 9 x 13 piece of blue opalescent lugana (this probably came from Silkweaver's, although it could have also come from Enchanted Fabrics).

I was short a few DMC from my stock but as soon as I get floss, I will post pictures. I will also probably add a few other things, but the biggie's will be the kitted up chart.

Happy Monday!!!!

Page Finished!!!! and some news

That's right I have finished page 4 of BAP-T

Page 4 finished,!!!! :)

Adds a little more perspective of how much I have to do :(

I keep hoping that it will starting moving a little faster. I think it might the top of this has a lot of color changes because of the small windows and the shading. Of course, as soon as the color changing slows down I will probably whine about the lack of color changing :) Some of you might be wondering what is up with the needles and floss off to the side. Well, I had seen a pretty cool idea for organizing floss while stitching which basically involved printing a table with floss symbol and color and then putting that table into a sheet protector. While it works great, I have noticed that unless you are very careful, the threads will pop out of their respective holes. When this happens, I put them aside on this little butterfly magnifier and just wait until I go to my chart, see that the thread is missing and the match up the color. Yes, this is a very imperfect system, but right now I can't think of something that works better. I have a Pako needle organizer, but never use it. I found that more often than not, it was just a bit too cumbersome for me. When working on big projects like this, I like having needles already threaded. It just seems easier to me. If anyone has any good suggestions on how the organize their needles and thread when working on big projects, please share them.

I also worked on my Easter pic and finished a Halloween pic

Lizzie Kate - Easter Bonnet

Primitive Needle - Wicked (freebie)

For Wicked, I really changed up the colors. It called for Crescent Colors Belle Soie which I had none of. So I substituted with overdyed cotton. Here are my substitutions:

Called for                                     Used
Belle Soie Attic Tea                      Crescent Colors Whatley Woodlands
Belle Soie Noir                             Gentle Arts Witches Brew (this was a limited edition)
Belle Soie Teddy Bear                  Gentle Arts Acorn
Belle Soie Lasagne                        Cresent Colors Lobster Claw

All in all, I am happy with the results and I think it will become a pillow when it is finally finished.

Right now I am working on another Halloween freebie from Primitive Needle - By the Light of the Moon. I'm trying to clear up some of my stash and unearthed these freebies from Lisa Roswell of Primitive Needle. As many of you already know, she was tragically lost to us 2 years ago when she was swept away in a river flooding. I have really been enjoying stitching her work and plan on looking through my stash and finding more of her designs.

Okay, here is the news - although I don't have that many followers, I am going to be brave and say that I will do a give away as soon as I reach ten followers. I promise that this give away will include at minimum a chart, fabric, needle, and floss. After looking at my ridiculous supply of stash, I think it is only fitting that I share the wealth or as my mother, who does not have a stitching heart, would say "Get rid of that crap". More details to follow, as I look through my treasures to decide what would be appropriate.

Happy Friday! Some more promoting of needlework

Today will be just a quick post of pictures. Last week I went on and on about promoting needlework. Well I didn't want it to end up being just and empty boast. So here are some pictures of needlework I have found:


The first several are from Duduá's  blog - Duduá is a shop in Barcelona Spain that has workshops that cover a variety of textiles 

This is a stitched music synthesizer

watch the video to the end and you will see how it works

Several different techniques

Stitched by Miss Cross Stitch

More stuff from Miss Cross Stitch from Germany

Roses on street bench in Berlin

Same bench in the winter

Pac Man in Milano

This is not needlework but I have to ask, "How come when young men in the US where their pants too low, they don't look like this?"

Happy Friday and I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Symptoms of a stroke and a wee bit of drama

I've been very busy this past week and yes I *gasp* because I have done little to no stitching. Last Tuesday, when I came home, I found Mom laying on the floor. Fortunately, she had not broken anything but she wasn't making any sense. She didn't have all of the stroke markers and for those of you who don't know, they are a little different for women. Just a quick segue to give some good information from the National Stroke Association

Common stroke symptoms seen in both men and women:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg -- especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Women may report unique stroke symptoms:

• sudden face and limb pain
• sudden hiccups
• sudden nausea
• sudden general weakness
• sudden chest pain
• sudden shortness of breath
• sudden palpitations

If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. and do this simple test:

F—FACE: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A—ARMS: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

S—SPEECH: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?

T—TIME: If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1 immediately.

NOTE THE TIME WHEN ANY SYMPTOMS FIRST APPEAR. If given within three hours of the first symptom, there is an FDA-approved clot-buster medication that may reduce long-term disability for the most common type of stroke.

When I gave Mom the FAST test she failed 2 out of 3. I called 911 and told them I thought my mother had had a stroke and that she also seemed to be severely dehydrated. 

You might be asking what could have happened to cause dehydration. Well, in the elderly and children, it doesn't take much. On Sunday, Mom was feeling great, so decided to work in her garden in the early morning. Even with me strongly recommending that she come inside, my 79 year old mother ignored me and went about "having fun" (her words). When she finally came inside, she ached all over and was exhausted, although still insisting that it was worth it. By Monday, she was ridiculously exhausted and had slept most of the day away with only a wee bit of eating and drinking. She was not awake when I left the house on Tuesday, but I thought maybe it was best to let her sleep. When I came home Tuesday evening, she was beyond sick. 

After a fair bit of frustration and a wee bit of drama, the final diagnosis was severe dehydration, a urinary tract infection and possibly a small stroke. As time wore on in the hospital, it was also discovered that she had a severe B12 imbalance and secondary infection (pneumonia). So more antibiotics and B12 infusions. During this time, mom was delirious and hallucinating and I spent the majority of my days at the hospital because she could not be left alone. It took so long for her to show any improvement, that I wasn't sure that she would. Finally on Sunday, she began to show major signs of improvement and two days ago (Tuesday), I was able to bring her home. For at least a week, she will have home health care and my brother will be staying with her. 

I'm going to segue again, and say this, if you have family members in the hospital, it is important to remember that you are their advocate. Don't just blindly agree with the doctors. Yes, doctors know their stuff, but they don't know your family member. If I hadn't stubbornly insisted that Mom still didn't seem right, after treating the dehydration and UTI, they would have just given up and said this is an old lady who has had a stroke. I kept insisting that, yes, she might have had a stroke, but that I wanted someone else too look at her because she still didn't seem right. It is important that you act as your loved ones advocate and speak on their behalf, if you think that something isn't right, speak up.

Well enough preaching on my part. Needless to say, that during all of this time, I got very little stitching done. Usually stitching calms me, but it became too distracting to start stitching and then have to put it down quickly to help mom. Eventually, by Saturday night, I was able to work a little bit on a Just Another Button Company Stitch Every Day pattern, Lucky Dog. It's stitched on a 30 count R&R and the pattern has quite a bit of block stitching, so it made for easy stitching. But even with all of that, I didn't get a lot done. 

Now that things are marginally back to normal, I am hoping that I can get back to stitching. I worked a little bit on BAP-T (no I didn't take a pic). I am almost finished with the fourth page, I have about 600 stitches to do. Yes, I am resolved that the likelihood of this miraculously being finished in time, is not likely, but I am also resolved to finish the durn thing. 

Promoting Needlework

Loretta over at Stitching the Night Away had an interesting topic on her blog. One of her guest bloggers, Karen from Camp Cross Stitch was commenting that a Hobby Lobby had opened up in her area. She was disappointed to find out that it was dominated by home decor and had just a small section of needlework, although the sewing fabric area looked promising. This began a conversation on why big box stores focus on home decor and other crafts with only a passing nod at needlework. 

My feelings on the matter are that if you look at what is going on in blogs across the internet, you will see a lot of DIY and home decor related blogs which also seem to be fairly heavily promoted. I say kudos to these bloggers. But this begs the question, why are needlework related blogs not as heavily promoted? I realize that it only makes sense that the blogs are visited primarily by people who are interested in the art. But really if you look at how many needlework blogs are out there, there is a bunch of us enjoying this art form and rightfully so, because it is awesome. 

I think what part of the problem in the US is, is that people still think of needlework as "the stuff my old granny did" or "well, yes it is pretty but that seems to be an awful lot of work" type stuff. Yes, we do still have "stuff" that is granny inspiring and we do have "stuff" that we all know takes forever to finish, but we also have some really fun "stuff" out there. 

As people who love this art form, I think it is important that we promote it. Yes, we should always stitch what we love, but I think every once in a while we need to just promote stuff that is funky and inspiring. Maybe if more people see that needlework is not just about putting a picture in a frame, we can get more people interested in the art and then maybe, just maybe, the big box stores will have to sit up and take notice. 

With that said, here are a few pictures from across the web of needlework in many wonderful and creative forms:

From CrossStitcher magazine

May 2013 issue

June 2013 issue

July 2013 issue

From Jacinta Lodge's site Stitchalicious

"Stitch" stitched on a painted tapestry canvas that was left unstitched

From Emily Peacock's site

From Mr. X Stitch's website:

Artist - AlisterNix

Artist - f. bearclaw

and it glows in the dark - yes it creepily does have 3 eyes

Artist - James Fox

Artist - Hagar Vardimon-van Heummen - this is stitched on paper

Artist - Tara Badcock

Happy Monday - some finishes - changing things up - the sun room and evil eBay

I must admit when I saw this on Facebook Sunday night, I could totally relate. I work at a college and right now it is so quiet that I sometimes get up and walk outside just to make sure that I am not the only person on  campus. This makes for really tough going. I keep saying that I am going to start stitching when it is really quiet and in fact one of my quasi-supervisors has encouraged it. So far, I haven't because it just doesn't seem right. So stitching during lunch only.

This weekend was very nice. It was Mom's birthday on Saturday and I treated her to a purse and dinner. Bella the terrible had gotten a hold of Mom's favorite purse and although she didn't demolish it, she definitely left her mark. I also got myself a purse. It wasn't my first choice, but Mom got so excited when she saw it and insisted that it was me, that I went ahead and switched out to this purse. Initially, I was going for a summer straw look but this is a very fun purse, so I think it will work.

I got a little stitching done. Mainly working on BAP-T, I didn't take any pics but I am almost finished with the fourth page. I must admit that I am completely disheartened by the ridiculously slow progress I am making. I was warned that these patterns take forever but I really never thought it would be this slow. Hopefully, I'll have a pic in a day or so with the fourth page done. 

I finished up my Marshmallow Bunnies, well at least the stitching. If you look really close you can see that yellow and purple bunny are a little more squat than their blue and purple compatriots. But I figure, it's just going to be finished up as a little pillow thing that will be thrown into a basket or a bowl; so really, what's the fuss. I friend of mine mentioned that I should probably sign and date my work. I am kind of haphazard about that but I guess she has a point. 

I really have a bunch of stuff that needs to be put together and amazingly enough I was able to not only finish one of the Christmas baubles I was working on, but to actually finish it. It's not perfect, but I think it's cute.

The changes I have been thinking about are how I do the HoHoS and the SOSADs. It is just not working for me to show daily progress. To be honest that is just exhausting. It's not that I don't have time, because as I mentioned in the beginning of the post I do. It's mainly just that it became more of a drudgery than a joy. I'm not sure why it was becoming like that, only that it was. So, I have decided to post weekly postings and maybe starts and finishes. Also, I've gotten totally discombobulated on what holiday I am stitching on. So, really, I need to get back to KISS. 

On a different note, eBay is evil. Okay, that was a little harsh, but I must place a moratorium on all things eBay. I have a few things in bid right now but once those bids are over, I need to be done. I looked at my bank account and was shocked at how much I spent. It is really easy to go crazy because it's just $10 here and maybe $20 there and the next thing you know, you're looking at your account and thinking WTF! I've decided to just leave the bids I have in at the price I have. No bid wars! Once they are done, which should be the end of the week, I am stopping for a bit. 

As I mentioned, last week, I have been revamping the sun room/Florida room. By this I meant that right now I am still cleaning and organizing. But as I was going through my stuff, I realized that I have a ridiculous amount of stuff. Instead of buying stuff from eBay, I should sell some of the stuff I have. I have charts that I will probably never use, threads that I know I will never use, and more fabric than I could ever hope to use. Knowing I have all of this stuff, I still buy more, that is the craziness that we call our stash obsessions. It is an illness, I definitely need help. I need to stop. I will stop. Well, I will stop as soon as I finish buying the stuff for the Sarah Chapple. I really want to do the Sarah Chapple in silks. But, stop I will and I will begin my stopping with no more eBay at least for awhile , only if it is something amazing, no really I can't be trusted to even just look and only purchasing things that I really want need.