Biscornu

My exchange partner received the biscornu I made, so now I can post pictures of it! :)

Victorian Table Runner

Here is the top for a quilt project that I finished. I have vacation this week, so I took a quilting class on Monday. I learned so much! Our project was a Victorian Table Runner. The pattern is from Southwind Designs. I still need to finish it, of course; just the top is done.




This pattern includes a neat way to curve some of the pieces. All the pieces are squares and rectangles, but by folding and sewing you can make them look like curves. I was going to take pictures in process to show it better....but I didn't, for whatever reason. Sorry. And I've forgotten what this technique was even called. But, anyway, it's neat, and you can see the result here.

Just for Fun

Again, another post with nothing to do with stitching. But it's just too funny not to share.

A guy at my work went off for two weeks to get married. So while he was gone, we tin-foiled everything in his office. It took us the entire two weeks, but the result was worth it!

Most of these were in-progress pictures, but you get the idea.



It turned out that he knew something was up--just not what--so he stopped by his office over the weekend to see what we'd done. No reaction shots to share.

Okay, really, I'll stop posting off-subject posts now. For a while, anyway. :)

Vocabulary Lesson

This post has very little to do with my usual themes, but I feel strongly enough about the subject that I'm publishing it anyway.

The Story: Today, in the course of a conversation with my sophomore-in-college younger brother, I used the word 'indignant.' He proceeded to become indignant with me, because he didn't know what the word meant.

I have, in the past, used a lot of words that people didn't understand, but 'indignant' was never one of them.

I told him that he should know a word like indignant, and to go look it up. He said to me that if I was going to use a word he didn't know, then I had to explain to him what it meant.

My Conclusions: Um, hello? Even a high school student should know the word 'indignant,' maybe even someone at the intermediate level. And this has nothing to do with knowing how to spell it or the exact definition and such. I'm just talking about understanding the gist of what someone is saying, and possibly even knowing how to use it. It's a fairly common word.

Admittedly, my vocabulary has taken a severe beating since my moving to Florida, so I can understand if the same has happened to him (not that he's moved to Florida. But he did move). That is to say, my once rather extensive use of English words has deteriorated to merely ordinary, perhaps slightly above. This is due to many things, such as a decrease in reading and new friends who have different interests than the old ones did. But, oh my goodness, it surely hasn't sunk so low as to forget 'indignant!' I feel so alone, as if no one else in Florida is interested in the expanded use of words.

Is there any one word that can say 'indignant' quite so well as 'indignant' can? Words are the magnifying glass of meaning--the more precise the word choice, the clearer the meaning. I may not always have much to say, but gosh darn, when I do I take great care to get my point across!

I know the entire thing is a little silly, but lately education (or lack of?) is just so frustrating! Argh! (Hey, here's a question: Does 'argh' qualify as an onomatopoeia? I personally think it does).

Okay, I feel better now that I've let off steam.

In conclusion, I give you:

in⋅dig⋅nant

–adjective

feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base: indignant remarks; an indignant expression on his face.

Origin:

1580–90; < class="ital-inline">indignant- (s. of indignāns, prp. of indignārī to deem unworthy, take offense), equiv. to in- in- ³ + dign-, s. of dignus worthy + -ant- -ant

Related forms:

in⋅dig⋅nant⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
angry, resentful, infuriated, mad.

(from dictionary.com)



And just for fun:

su⋅per⋅flu⋅ous

   /sʊˈpɜrfluəs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [soo-pur-floo-uhs] Show IPA

–adjective

1.	being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.

2.	unnecessary or needless.

3.	Obsolete. possessing or spending more than enough or necessary; extravagant.

Related forms:

su⋅per⋅flu⋅ous⋅ly, adverb

su⋅per⋅flu⋅ous⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. extra; redundant.



The question is: for his next gift, should I give him a dictionary, or a thesaurus?

Biscornu

I received this Biscornu in the mail from Malinda, as part of the Tiny Treasures Exchange. Yay! :) It's so pretty, and has little beads on all the corners. I was totally surprised when it came in the mail; I somehow forgot that I was supposed to get one!


And here's the entire package I got from her:


After my secret partner recieves her biscornu, I'll post pictures of the one I made.

Secret Projects

I have several projects that I have been unable to share, but now the first has been received!

I made this for my mom from a pattern at http://cross-stitchers-club.com. It's on 18 ct. Aida, monochromatic using only DMC 326 and white. There was a little problem solving involved, as there were no directions excepting the pattern and thread colors listed, but it turned out rather nice. :)


My other secret project is a biscornu that I'm just about to mail out. It has a long way to go, so it'll be a while until I post the pictures.

Finally Finished Quilt

My first quilt is done! Yay! It looks pretty much the same as before, I just did this all along the edge of the border:

I know it's a little goofy, but through some horrible miscalculation, the edges of the top don't quite meet the edges of the border. But now it's all sewn up and happy. :)

Giveaway

I saw this on Blue Cornflower Stitches and I decided I want to play along too. :) I've pretty much copied the text from her post exactly (and she copied it exactly from Heidi's blog). I certainly can't think of a better way to say it than this!

This is a free giveaway and everyone is encouraged to play - worldwide! It's open to everyone who reads my blog.

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It will be done this year. (that's right, before December 31, 2009!)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. Just because I cross stitch, doesn't necessarily mean that's what it will be (but it might!). I dabble in quite a few mediums. Who knows?
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. But I would never send something that I didn't like myself!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and make the same offer to the first 5 people who respond on your blog entry, thereby continuing the fun! (Though you can keep it local if you want, I don't fear international postage!)

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

Quilt Progress

Well, the quilt is still almost done. I've gotten to a certain point and had to stop.


This is the back. I was trying to show some of the quilting in this picture, but if you can't see it, then you can still see the fabric. I'm using the same fabric for the borders.


And I really messed up the borders. Everything is sewn into place now... but unfortunately some of the edges don't quite overlap the quilt top. Oops. Mistakes don't get much bigger than that. Oh well, it's my first one.


I have an idea or two on how to fix it/fake it, but I need a break from it now.

Another Past Project

This one I had mentioned in a post a few months ago, and I recently had the chance to get a photo of it. I gave these bags to my bridesmaids as gifts.



A detail view:


And I put each person's name on them: