Yafashelli's Stitches

[yafashelli]

When you end, you do have to end in an empty square. Once you've secured and snipped your thread, you're free to stitch over it in any color that you please. When I've almost completely filled a section with stitches, I start to plan, so that I can end with a pinhead stitch for as many stitches as I can. Sometimes, when I'm out of room, but there's the same color close by, I'll end the pinhead in the hole directly next to where the last stitch was. I haven't tried that trick on aida yet, but it's working beautifully on evenweave, when stitched over one.

When there's no blank area left to end, I run the thread (on the underside) through a few adjacent stitches, and then snip. It's not as neat as the pinhead, but it's MUCH neater than knots clogging up the back of your work! Much nicer for framing, too. The back isn't so bulky, which tends to show...especially on aida.

My flea-mergency is my cat. We've been trying everything short of boiling her in acid, to try to get rid of the fleas. They're bionic, or something, because even after multiple treatments, they're still going strong. And now we're starting to see them in various places in the house. I'm so , you can't even imagine! So now I'm trying to deal with the house issue, a geriatric flea infested cat, and my son, who is like... "The Flea Whisperer". I find him sitting very still, next to her, picking them out one by one, and looking at them. Same thing when those big flies get in from the outside! He sticks out his arm, and they land on him. Like hawks, for heaven's sake! Then he tries to grab them (he usually does), and in that moment, I'm so scared he's going to eat it that I could die!

What did you do to get rid of them for good? I'm desperate to not spend extra money on "miracle cures" that don't work. I'm tempted to toss her at the vet, and just call Terminix... ......

[Ally]

We had a flea problem a few months back with our dogs. They too were very resilient. It took MANY treatments from 3 different flea-busting brands before we managed to get rid of them, and even then I think that was because it was getting so much cooler here. Are you able to give your cat a bath? Tea tree oil is quite helpful in getting rid of fleas.
As for your son...creepy! I don't think I'd be able to handle seeing my child (if I had one!) picking out fleas and inspecting them!

[evilcarrot]

LMAO @ the flea whisperer!

Well, in short, we got rid of our fleas because our dog died. She was infested really bad, as was our yard, and she insisted upon hanging out under the house no matter how many barricades I tried to put up to keep her out. The fleas were coming up through the floorboards and then making sweet love in our carpet. It was HELL for someone like me, who is apparently a flea delicacy (yet they don't TOUCH my husband). When the dog died and they weren't getting a meal under the house anymore, the fleas disappeared.

However, I hear that Flea Busters works miracles. We're getting new carpet soon and I already have a big thing of it to put on the carpet before we even move the furniture back in. Also, if you want to deter the fleas from jumping on you, get some Avon Skin So Soft bath oil and rub it on your feet/ankles. It smells like eucalyptus and fleas HATE it. If you had a dog, I'd suggest rubbing the dog down with it too (my ex, whose mother was an Avon rep, used to do this to their dog and it worked really well) but since cats groom with their mouth, it probably isn't a good idea. But if you put it on yourself, the fleas probably won't bite you as much.

[yafashelli]

I had heard that flea busters worked wonders, and I have it on my list. First I want to try doing the flea trap... They say if you put a desk lamp near a small saucer of soapy water (at night), they'll try to jump to the light, but land in the water and drown. My son is special needs (and has a fondness for chemicals, and childproof locks), so I have to "go green" if at all possible. He gets into so much trouble, that boy!

I am starting to wonder how this is going to affect my cross stitch stash... After more than 14 years of doing little else, I have definitely acquired supplies beyond my own life expectancy... I have everything in a big wicker chest, and that chest is closed almost all the time. There's wood boards inside the wicker. Almost like a box inside a box, but I doubt it's airtight. Do I have to be scared to open that chest, and get a face full of fleas? More awful than that, am I going to have to somehow deflea that box of goodies? Oy vey!

What's a girl to do?!

[jadely]

We have 3 dogs and just recently had to deal with a flea-mergency We gave the dogs a pill from the vet that kills the fleas on them and immediately took them to the groomers to get them out of the house. Next, we put down a carpet powder that we had to let sit for 2 hours before vacuuming. Before we left the house to sit a de-flea itself, we took a spray to our furniture, bathroom rugs, mattresses (without sheets), and anything else that we could think of. Make sure all your laundry is hanging up. We waited 3 hours, came home and vacuumed, and brought the dogs back-- fleas gone! The product was in blue containers and we just got them at Wal-Mart (Hartz brand maybe?).

Also, if you don't want fleas to bite you, up your B-12 (and other B vitamins) as a natural repellent!

My stitch-stash was fine, even though I keep mine out in a basket on the floor. No fleas on it, so I'm sure yours is safe as it can be!

[yafashelli]

It's finished!!!! I had to take a few months off, as my Ott Light decided to die on me. After my long awaited lightbulb arrived in the mail, two weeks ago, I jumped right back to work. I'm proud to say that what started on May 26, 2012, was completed this afternoon, October 21, 2012.

The front:

Spoiler

The back:

Spoiler

Thanks so much for all your color suggestions. I think it turned out pretty darn fabulous.

[Ally]

LOVE IT!!! Congratulations on finishing this, it looks awesome

[toobusytostitch]

That looks BRILLIANT! Well done - and to be honest, by my timescales for stitching big things, May to October is no time at all to complete this.

[Lemming]

Wow, that's awesome!
Definitely on my "need to stitch this one day" list. How will you frame it?

[yafashelli]

Thanks, guys. I love the way it turned out, and have already moved onto the next.

No idea how I'll frame it yet. I'll have to ponder that for a while. Lol!