Cozy Egg

Decadence

2012-01-22T17:12:00.004-06:00

Thanks, everyone, for your sweet compliments on Margaret Cottam. I really appreciate them. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of stitching has gone on here in the past couple of weeks, so I don't have much stitching progress to show you. But, I did something really self-indulgent and took the day off work on Wednesday. I got the lovely opportunity to spend the day with some friends, including Sylvia who was here from Germany! It was so good to get to spend some time with her. The four of us did a bit of shopping during the day, and then we did our Christmas gift exchange. We opted to delay it until Sylvia was here to do it in person. So fun!

Above, you can see the oh-so-apropos travel mug that Kim gave me. Isn't it fun? I think it may need to go to work with me. I need a reminder.

Sylvia brought some chocolates from Paris in a really fabulous tin. And you can see on top of the tin a sweet heart needleminder she made for me. She'd made me another needleminder back in October, but unfortunately when the envelope arrived, there was a big hole in the bottom and no needleminder. Sad sad sad.

Sylvia also gave each of us two stitch wallets that she made herself! The first one I opened was made from Kate Spain's Flurry fabrics. Remember those quilt blocks I was working on back in December...well, I dug them out to photograph with my wallet.

And if that stitch wallet looks like it's already stuffed full, well that's because it is.

I've already got my Christmas ornament stitching for this year in there. That's more 40ct Weeks Cocoa fabric, in case you're wondering. I loved it for Margaret Cottam and thought it would be perfect for my BOAF Santas.

And here is the funny part. I've been looking everywhere for this Marie Antoinette fabric that is part of Tula Pink's Parisville line. I did not, however, mention to Sylvia that I've been looking for it. Nor did I mention the reason I was looking for it was to make a stitch wallet out of. Well looky here...

Clearly, my Jedi mind tricks are working...even overseas.

And Miss Antoinette is now chock full of my New Year's start that hasn't yet been started (see how behind I am?!). Also, you can see my new Hardwicke Manor hoop that I intend to try.

But that's not all...my sweet, sweet friend, Ava, gifted me with these hare scissors for my Hare Pyns (assuming that one day it will be finished)! I have looked everywhere for these scissors and couldn't find any. So, clearly Ava has been picking up on my use of the Force too. Thank you for inspiring me to get my scissor sheath and scissor fob stitched so that I can finally do the finishing on HP!!!

And my new hare scissors are pictured here with all the stitching I've done. I'm working on that bonus block for AOTH. It doesn't look like much, but I stitched that right hand border twice. You know, because I could.

Such fun spending time with such good friends. And hopefully next time, I'll be able to show you what I gave them in return.

I am grateful for a Saturday afternoon visit.

Miss Cottam, I Presume?

2012-01-08T16:43:00.003-06:00

She ended up with a 2012 instead of a 2011, but she's done! I finished her last night (a week later than I'd intended). She really was a complete joy to stitch. I started her on Thanksgiving Day and finished her on January 7th. I used the called for threads (Weeks) in the called for colors on the called for fabric (Weeks Cocoa), although I stitched her on 40ct rather than 30.

I love how she turned out, and it was fun stitching her while she was still a mystery. And you wouldn't believe the number of people who have seen her in person and been surprised at how pretty she is.

She even took a little trip with me to Chicago for a few days after Thanksgiving for work-related meetings. I stitched all that grass in my hotel room!

So, here she is...Margaret Cottam by La-D-Da. My last start of 2011 and my first finish for 2012!

So, I know you're thinking..."now that MC is done, what's next?" Well, I'm glad you asked. I've signed up for the 2012 WIPocalypse over at Measi's Musings. And although we all know that I have about 6 kazillion WIPs, I'm going to just focus on a few at a time. So, you can take a look over in my sidebar at my WIPocalypse List to see what's currently in my stitching bag. As I finish something, a new piece will be brought in - some new starts, some old WIPs.

And speaking of new starts, I had intended to have a new start on Jan 1. However, I decided to keep going with Margaret until she was finished. So, I'll be starting that new start soon. But, in the meantime, I picked up my Anniversaries of the Heart.

I've only barely gotten a start on the Bonus block. I've been stuck on this one for months because I knew what I wanted to do to change the block, just couldn't figure out how to do it. But, I think I finally have it worked out. So, it may require a little trial and error on the fly as I stitch this block, but I think it will be great when it's done. So...working on that.

Also, in my bag is And They Sinned. Sylvia and I are stitching along together on Sundays. Here's a photo of how mine looks before I got started on it tonight. Yes, that is a lone bare leg. Yes, I contemplated stitching a lampshade on the top of it. Yes, I intend to stitch the body it belongs to tonight. (It's almost as bad as the pair of empty boots that lived on my Margaret Cottam until I stitched the rest of the guy.)

I'll be sharing the other WIPs in my stitching bag as I work on them. But for now, I think I'm going to concentrate on that bonus block and see if I can get past my creative impasse and get back to ATS on Sundays - starting tonight.

Hope you all are having a wonderful start to the new year!

I am grateful for Good Samaritans.

Auld Lang Syne

2011-12-31T13:43:00.003-06:00

Can you believe another year has come and gone? I thought I'd squeak in a final post for the year and do a little recap of 2011. Above you can see my finishes for 2011. A couple of quilts, some beading, some finishing, and a few medium-sized pieces.

They are (from left to right):

Camille's French Sampler, Holly Wool Biscornu, Snow Garden, Be Mine
Indulgence, 2000 Years Ago, Joyful Night, Valentine Rose
Dash Away All, a beaded fob, Day of the Dead earrings, Sweet Treats Block 1 and Border
Stars & Stripes, Honfleur Sampler, Angel of Tulips, Garden of Eerie
Penny Angel, Mele Kalikimaka, Hand & Heart, Joy

I linked each of those to the associated blog post so you can get more info on them if you want. I'm pleased with my finishes for the year, although I'd hoped to have more. But, isn't that the way it always is?

As for the books I read this year, here's my little list for that as well...

City of Bones
The Forgery of Venus*
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet*
Parrot & Olivier in America*
Lover Mine
A Northern Light
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
The Hare with Amber Eyes*
Living Dead in Dallas
Heaven is for Real
The Help
Lover Unleashed
An Object of Beauty*
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Club Dead
Soulless
The Paris Wife*

The books with asterisks are book club books.

And I thought I'd share with you a look at my ort jar. I've been letting these bits pile up for awhile (much longer than just the past year - they are packed in there really well), and decided that tomorrow will be a fresh new start across the board.

After my stitching today, I'll empty this out and begin anew on January 1.

I'd really like to also finish Margaret Cottam, but that may not happen before the ball drops at midnight. I would love to see another "1" on that corner though!

And tomorrow, I will have a new start, as part of my New Year's Day tradition. I can't wait!

Happy New Year!

I am grateful for new beginnings.

All Hearts Come Home

2011-12-20T11:49:00.002-06:00

I thought I'd share a few little photos of our holiday home. I absolutely love having seasonal stitched pieces out, and I hope in the next year to have more of them.

I had hoped to have all of my ornaments finished and hanging on the tree at this point, but it hasn't happened yet. I should just bite the bullet and get over it, like Siobhan did. But, at least I have two new ornaments to hang on the tree (actually, now that I think of it, there's three...I just forgot to photograph this one).

Maybe before the tree comes down on January 1, I'll be able to add a few more to it?

And I will let you in on another little secret. Since sometime in mid-June, I've been looking everywhere for the fabric I used on my 2000 Years Ago piece. I needed the extra fabric for the back of an ornament as well as to make a hanger so that 2000 Years Ago could be displayed at Christmas. Well. Let me tell you, I tore this place apart. Looked in every bag, box and basket of fabric I have. Looked in places I didn't really think it would be...and never found it. I was getting very sad that I was going to have to use thumbtacks to put up my pretty wallhanging, or just drape it over the tree like some kind of Christmas poncho. But, when I pulled out my boxes of Christmas decorations, guess what I found. My bag of fabric, that had fallen behind the Christmas decorations in the closet. Hallelujah! So, I zip zip zip sewed a little sleeve on the back of the wallhanging and hung that sucker on the wall.

Of course, now that I look at it on the wall, I think it needs something. Some extra little ooomph of some sort. I'll just have to figure out what. But, it's hanging!!

If you'd like to see more photos of our home decorated for the holidays, take a look here, on the other blog. There are photos from NYC at Christmas a few years ago too, if you go back a couple of posts over there.

Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering when I'm actually going to talk about stitching and if, in fact, there is any going on. Well, wonder no more. This was my Thanksgiving Day start.

Margaret Cottam, by La-D-Da. I have finished part 1 and am well into part 2. I don't have part 3 yet, but I'm sure it's coming in the near future. I'm stitching MC on the called for Weeks Cocoa linen, but on 40ct. Isn't she lovely. I have really been enjoying her.

And MC is not alone. I've got some other stuff I'm up to, but I can't share quite yet. I'll just have to leave you with a little teaser.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, filled with lots of friends, fun & family. Oh and eggnog too, don't forget the eggnog!

I am grateful for pumpkin seeds in my salad.

Joy

2011-12-09T12:43:00.002-06:00

I can finally share with you the ornament I stitched for our guild's annual ornament exchange. It's the Blackbird Designs "Joy" ornament from this year's JCS Ornament Issue. I didn't have any of the Belle Soies called for on hand, and didn't want to shell out $90 to buy them for an ornament, so I ended up doing my own conversion to overdyed cottons. I'm really pleased with how the conversion turned out. I stitched this on 32ct Vintage Pearled Barley (Lakeside Linens). I typically lean towards 40ct these days, but as you can see on 32ct it's a good size (32ct was the recommended count). I also used some of the new Crescent Colours chenille trim, which gave it a fun pop. The fabric it's sitting on is what I used for the back.

The holiday party was a ton of fun, and I was so glad to have a night of relaxation and fun with my stitching buddies.

My photo of the food was a little early in the evening, many more yummy things arrived later. I did take photos of the desserts, but they were all blurry (it's hard to take photos when you're stuffing your mouth).

Our hostess had already finished our guild's 2011 ornament and had it displayed on one of her trees.

And it was fun to see my ornament from last year's exchange hanging on her tree too!

There are always such beautiful examples of stitching at our exchanges. I always feel like I need to step it up a notch! Here are a couple of examples.

And here's the whole lot! (Unfortunately my photo doesn't show that ornament in the top right. It was the most gorgeous thing stitched on a pale lavender linen with sparkles on it. Stunning!

And lucky me - here's the ornament I came home with!

This is this year's ornament by Plum Street Samplers. I was actually planning on stitching this one for myself, but now I don't have to! And Laurie's stitching is gorgeous and she did an amazing finishing treatment on this - I just love the little jingle bells!! I'm so excited to have this hanging on my tree this year!

It was a great time, and it's always so fun to see what everyone stitches.

I am grateful for my Dad coming home from the hospital.

Fair Share

2011-12-05T16:18:00.003-06:00

Don't get too excited - it's not mine. But since I can't share what I've been working on until after the guild's annual ornament exchange tomorrow, I thought I'd share with you a few photos from the State Fair.

I always love to visit the Creative Arts building to see what fabulous things people have entered at the Fair each year. And of course, my favorite part is often that front case where the best of the best are displayed. You can see my posts from the last couple of years here and here.

Anyway, the Caribbean Mandala from Chatelaine Designs was in that front case this year. And it is stunning. I love how it was framed on point. You just cannot imagine how truly gorgeous these pieces are unless you have seen one in person. I definitely need to get my Chatelaines out and get them finished.

And I always love seeing the quilts too. This one was adorable - so tiny and using those great 30's repro fabrics.

I've seen the jar quilts done with bugs and butterflies, but I loved this candy jar quilt. So fun!

And my photo of this hooked rug is horrible, but you get the idea. This hare was wonderful - I wanted to take him home with me.

And finally, one last quilt - I loved the color palette in this one. It really makes those rings stand out!

There wasn't a huge number of things I fell in love with this year (but I did keep going back to look at that mandala). You can probably mark that up to the fact that I had a migraine, but I was determined to enjoy the day anyway.

I've also posted the rest of my fair photos at the other blog, if you're interested. It seems a little odd to be posting about the fair in December, but what can I say. I'll probably be posting about Christmas in April. I'm really looking forward to the guild holiday party tomorrow night and I hope that my ornament is well received. I'm always excited to see what every one else stitches too. I'll be back with photos of that soon!

I am grateful for migraine-free moments.

Denial is Not Just a River in Egypt

2011-11-25T16:05:00.003-06:00

Ever have those times in your life when there's so much "stuff" going on and you're just feeling completely overwhelmed with life in general? I tend to throw myself into projects to keep my mind busy with whatever I'm working on rather than whatever it is I'm trying to not obsess over. So, the past week has seen a bit of a burst of activity (in between working during my vacation). Above you can see that I decided it was about time to do some ornament finishing. I got all my pieces and their backing fabrics cut as well as the cardboard and batting. I still need to determine the trim on a few pieces, but I went ahead with the one that I've really been nervous about finishing. So nervous, in fact, that I have avoided it for well over a year.

But, now it's finished!

That is Mele Kalikimaka finished as the designer suggested by whipstitching Thread Gatherer silk ribbon around the piece and then creating a braided hanger from the silk ribbon. I'm absolutely thrilled with how it turned out and so glad that it will finally be hanging on my tree this year.

Tuesday night was EGA night and I was excited for the program because we were doing our ornament. This year's ornament is a beaded star that is so pretty. So, I learned how to do the brick stitch and didn't do too bad with getting half of my first diamond finished. We are using delicas and Swarovski bicones for the ornament. I can't wait to get back to working on this!

And Wednesday, I decided that it was time to get out my sewing machine and rotary cutter and get to work on a Christmas quilt that I've been dying to make. I'm mostly following this pattern, and I'm using my Kate Spain Flurry and 12 Days of Christmas charm packs along with some Bella Solids in white.

I managed to get all of my blocks put together (I'm doing 30 blocks rather than 25 as the pattern calls for). Now, on to the sashing! It felt good to sew again.

And on Wednesday night, I finished up the little piece I'd been working on.

This is Hand & Heart by The Primitive Needle. I stitched it with the recommended Weeks threads and on the recommended 40ct Dill by Picture This Plus. I love how it turned out and I'm so glad I've now got my Valentine's Day stitching done early!

So, that's what I've been up to - trying to keep myself busy with things that relax me. Since I finished Hand & Heart on Wednesday night, I decided to treat myself to a Thanksgiving Day start. I pulled out Margaret Cottam, the new three-part mystery sampler from La-D-Da. I'm stitching on the called for Weeks Cocoa fabric in 40ct. with the called for Weeks threads.

I hope that those of you celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday had a lovely time and it's a good reminder for each of us to remember all the blessings we have in our lives - even when they seem the darkest.

Thank you to each and every one of you that comes to visit my blog - I so appreciate it!

I am grateful for every moment.

The Tortoise and the Hare

2011-11-13T14:58:00.004-06:00

And just when you thought I was finished with this Hare Pyns stitching...there's more. It's neverending. I just keep stitching. And I think that my tortoise-like stitching pace has become impossibly slower with this piece. After finishing the stitching on the main sewing pocket (albeit I finished after the workshop was over), I'm now attempting to stitch the smalls for the piece. Above you can see the needlebook cover.

And below is the pyn keep.

It's all that background stitching that kills you. Just two more pieces to go - the scissor sheath and the scissor fob. Wonder how long those will take? I'm ready for the stitching to be done so that I can attempt to get this thing finished. My goal is to have it done by the end of the year. Stay tuned!

I did also manage to finish the stitching on my ornament for the guild's exchange. That went really fast. I had it done in less than a week. Now to do the finishing so that it's ready to go. And like the other ornaments I've stitched for the guild's exchange, I'll definitely be restitching this one for myself. I can't wait to share photos!

After finishing up the needlebook for HP and finishing the ornament stitching, I moved on to a piece I'd like to have ready for framing in January. Not much to see, but the fabric is pretty!

This is the small beginnings of The Primitive Needle's Hand & Heart on 40ct Dill with Weeks. I got a lot further on this last night while watching Angels & Demons on TV. (Sorry you have to make do with the photo from yesterday morning - I'm too lazy to take another!) But, this should be a quick-ish stitch and then I have some other things I'd like to work on.

Not much else to share this time. I hope to have a Primitive Needle finish to share with you next time though! Thanks for stopping in!

I am grateful for a coffee date.

Penny for Your Thoughts

2011-11-06T12:42:00.003-06:00

Thank you for all the great comments on Garden of Eerie! I absolutely appreciate them. After finishing up GoE, I decided to turn my attention to my next Christmas ornament. I started this one back at the beginning of September and it became my travel project, so it didn't get a lot of attention. But, I worked on it this week and now she's finished! This is Penny Angel by The Primitive Needle from the 2009 JCS Ornament Issue. I stitched her on 40ct Daily Grind by R&R, because I had plenty left after stitching my Tulip Angel. I used the called for Belle Soies and Crescent Colors and added Belle Soie Oatmeal Scone for her dress. I needed something with a little more contrast than the Tumbleweed, due to my fabric change. This was a really fun stitch, and I'm so glad I finally got around to stitching her for myself. When I went out to take her photo this morning, I noticed how perfect she went with the fall leaves!

After finishing my little penny angel up on Friday night, I launched right into stitching my ornament for the guild's annual exchange. I'm attempting to be ahead of the game! So far it's turning out pretty and I can't wait to see what it looks like finished, since I converted all the threads.

And I wanted to share a bit of good news with you all too. Back in August, I received an email from the editor of Cross-Stitch & Needlework Magazine saying that she'd like to feature my blog in their January 2012 issue in their "Fab Finds" section. Somehow August became the end of October and I got another email saying that the issue would be available November 1st and my blog was in it!

I can't even tell you how thrilled and appreciative I am for the wonderful write up! How freakin' cool is that?!?

I have to say though, this blog wouldn't be what it is without all of you that come to visit me here and without all the other fabulous stitching blogs that inspire me so much. I discussed with another stitcher/blogger yesterday how small the world really becomes when you're a part of this community and how fantastic it is to be able to enjoy a blog and then look to see what blogs they read - it's like a stitcher's referral system! If you like this blog, you'll probably like this one too... How fun! So, thanks for stopping by, thanks for all of your support since I started this blog in 2006, and thanks for providing me with so much inspiration and friendship!

I am grateful for my stitching friends!

Zebra Beagle Don't Care

2011-10-30T19:18:00.004-05:00

Ever have one of those pieces where you're stitching along and you start to wonder about what you're stitching, not in a "why am I torturing myself by stitching this entire reproduction sampler on 45ct over one?" kind of way, but a "what the heck is that thing?" kind of wondering? I mean, is it a cat, a wolf, a dog, an armadillo? Well, there's still no official word from Paulette on what exactly is this thing hanging out with Poe's Raven on its back. So, in the meantime, I went to the ultimate resource on all things, my Wikipedia (Eric). And according to the Mr., this is in fact, the little known zebra beagle.

...blank stare...

Um...ok. I guess I can see it. I can imagine the narrated nature video now. "The zebra beagle is one of the fiercest creatures in the Garden of Eerie. It's so badass that it walks around with a raven on its back."

Bride of Frank isn't even worried about that snake sticking its tongue out at her, she's offering up an apple to the zebra beagle. Do you think zebra beagles eat apples? Mmm...tasty!

"Hey, watch out!", says that bird. "That is some crazy lightning coming right at my head." But, zebra beagle don't care. He is all about that apple.

And, as for me? I'm ecstatic to finally finish my Garden of Eerie by Plum Street Samplers. Started in September of last year on 36ct. Meadow Rue with DMC. I stitched on it last year until Halloween was over and then put it away. So, this year I pulled it back out on October 1st and thought it would be the perfect thing to work on for Halloween this year. I love it. I'm so happy to finally have it done. It is going to look perfect framed and hanging with my Jenny Bean Halloween, don't you think?

I had to do some creative charting on my name and the year in order to make it fit. But I'm happy with ~~Wikipedia's~~ Eric's suggestion to put the year sideways over one. This was such a fun piece to stitch, especially with my little zebra beagle to keep me company...because zebra beagles are awesome.

I am grateful for a great stitching day with friends (and zebra beagle).

Pumpkin Spice

2011-10-11T19:37:00.004-05:00

Fall seems to have finally arrived here and with it brought some restlessness. I've been floundering around trying to stitch, trying to read, trying to get some things done around the house and I can't seem to do any of it. I need to be working on stitching my Hare Pyns smalls, but I just can't seem to concentrate long enough to get any further on them. So, on October 1st I headed over to a friend's house for a stitching day. I thought it was a perfect day to pull out my Garden of Eerie WIP from last year to work on. I had an absolutely fabulous day and actually got a bit farther on GoE. I had a lot of fun stitching on this seasonal piece, so I hope to get some more done on it.

And this weekend we actually had some rain! I was so inspired by the cooler, rainy weather that I decided to do a little decorating.

I'm wishing I had some of those Halloween Blackbird stockings stitched and finished. They'd look awfully cute in my house!

At guild last week, the program was making a little wool pumpkin. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of mine. Thank goodness I had lots of helpers sitting with me, otherwise my pumpkin would have been more of something you see in the "after" portion of that show Punkin' Chunkin' (if you haven't seen this, you're missing out). But, I love my little pumpkin, so I had to set him out with my wool acorns I purchased from another guild member a few years ago.

And I'm kicking myself for not having Jenny Bean framed yet. Drat. She would look so good hanging in here!

Anyway, I think I'm ready for fall, I think I'm on the way to getting my groove back, and I'm hoping there's a Pumpkin Spice Latte in my future.

I am grateful for stitching days with friends.

Leaves and Acorns

2011-09-25T13:55:00.005-05:00

It's been slightly cooler these days, which is lovely. And although they keep predicting rain, I haven't experienced any. But, my mind is most definitely in an autumn mode. I'm making plans to go to the State Fair. I'm thinking ahead to long sleeve shirts and pumpkin bread. So, I suppose it's fitting that I've been stitching leaves on Isabella. I was perfectly content sticking to the leaves in the border until Marie commented on my last post that she had to go ahead and put some red in too. Then, you know, I had to put some red in too. So, she's got some red and I'm loving loving loving stitching on her. (And look at the pretty floss tags Sylvia made!)

And since I haven't shown you And They Sinned in a little while, I thought I'd share. I've been stitching acorns (and a big squirrel!).

I am getting close to having page 1 finished. Not much longer now! And I have to thank Siobhan for her inspiration. I noticed her angel's wings were outlined in gold, so then, you know, I had to outline my angel's wings in gold. Love it!!! Next up I'll get to work on Adam and Eve on the right hand side. (I'll go back and finish the angel's face when I do A&E's.) I love how this is looking, even if it's slow going.

Hope you enjoy your week, and your stitching!!

I am grateful for learning something new.

Workshop Weekend

2011-09-19T11:15:00.003-05:00

Saturday was my Hare Pyns class. I burned the midnight oil and attempted to complete the stitching I needed to have done for the class. But, it didn't happen. I still had a little bit to go on the background stitching. And let me tell you, the background stitching is so worth it - it really looks great. But it takes for-ever! So, background stitching finally completed, but I was so tired from having stayed up late and then getting up early to stitch that I decided trying to work on finishing my piece was not the brightest idea. So, I listened and watched and took notes. I just couldn't trust myself to cut fabric and sew things together correctly.

But, at least the big portion of the stitching is complete now.

I'll have to get started on the smalls for the piece, because some of them are needed to do the finishing of the sewing roll. But, hopefully those won't take too long to complete. I have a needle book, pinkeep, scissor sheath, fob and pincushion to complete. But, for now, I'm not going to think about it. And I just hope that I can get the finishing done on my own, since I wasn't able to do it in class. (Not the best photo, by far, of the piece but I wanted you to see how it looked with all the parts of the sewing roll stitched.)

But, anyway, onto other things. I know it's been "all Hare Pyns, all the time" around here lately. Sylvia's gift for my birthday arrived and I just had to show you. She made me a project wallet. Isn't it gorgeous? I just love the black and white fabric - it's so Vogue. I'm so excited to put it to good use!!!

And the lining fabric is just as fabulous!! Look how fun!

And one of the other things she sent was this fabulous Reflects de Soie book. It has several reproduction samplers in it that are so pretty! There's even an A&E! And the book is very well done, with really clear charts and photos. Very very nice.

So thank you, Sylvia, for everything - I'm in love with all of it!!

And also for my birthday, Sylvia and I started Isabella Johnstone. I've only worked on her a couple of nights, but so far I'm enjoying her. We're stitching her on 40ct Vintage Lentil with Belle Soies. Now that I've got the big push of Hare Pyns behind me, I'm excited to work on Isabella some more.

I did also manage to get back to ATS yesterday too for my regular Sunday SAL day. I'm making a bit of progress on it and someday I'll finally get page 1 finished! I'll be sure to post a photo soon.

Mr. Hare says: "I'm so glad she's done stitching on this thing...she was wearing me out!"

I am grateful for some uninterrupted stitching time yesterday.

You Can't Handle the Tooth

2011-09-03T14:18:00.003-05:00

I have had no less than three, count them, three emails from concerned stitchers asking how I'm coming along with my bargello. Well, let me just tell you...the bargello is a thing of the past! I took a little sabbatical last weekend and it is amazing what one can accomplish when there is nothing to do but stitch. I've now moved on to the inside panel (the FINAL panel).

It may just be possible that I can get this sucker done in time for the workshop on the 17th. I do have to admit that it is looking pretty though. Even if it is a pain in the ass.

And I wanted to share with you a little something I bought for myself during my stitching weekend - a handmade velvet strawberry. Isn't it the prettiest thing? It's sharing the spotlight with a tomato and stickpin that I received as a gift.

And Valerie surprised me with some amazing things off my wishlist. I can't wait to dig into that little charm pack of Blackbird fabric! Thank you so much, Valerie!!! Something else to stitch for my A&E wall - I can't wait!

And in case you're wondering what I was smoking when I came up with the title for this blog post. Well...wonder no more.

Exactly.

I am grateful for a weekend of laughs, tears, and Beyoncé.

My Little Tulip

2011-08-24T21:32:00.002-05:00

I've been cheating on Hare Pyns again. I took a few days and stitched up another Christmas ornament for myself. This now makes four that I need to do the finishing on. I stitched this one a couple of years ago for the guild's ornament exchange. I've been meaning to stitch it for myself since then, but hadn't gotten around to it. It seemed like a great ~~way to avoid stitching on Hare Pyns~~ time to stitch up something quick. Anywho, this is Angel of Tulips by The Goode Huswife. I stitched it with the called for NPIs on the recommended 40ct Daily Grind by R&R.

But lest you think I'm not working on what I'm supposed to be working on...

Allow me to show you how Hare Pyns is coming along. I finally finished doing all that background fill in on the front panel. It was a beating, but I love the way it looks - makes the piece look "finished" to me. I'm now working on the back panel doing the Florentine stitching. After I get all the full rows done, I'll go back and fill in the gap between the first full row and the front panel. It does look pretty, doesn't it? Not sure if I'll get this piece done in time for the workshop, there's a lot more stitching to go on this piece. But, if I can ~~stop getting distracted and working on other pieces~~ keep moving along, I think I may be able to get it done.

And Monday was my birthday, so some of my dear friends took me out to lunch over the weekend. They completely spoiled me with gifts they had stitched!!!

I cannot for the life of me remember who the designer is on this one, but isn't it beautiful? She said it was actually charted with a little dog on there, but she stitched a pretty black cat for me instead. Now I have an Othello needlebook! And don't you love that crazy bird?!

This one is a Chessie & Me piece, called "Chessie's Fern", I believe. Isn't that the sweetest? This one looks like Romeo. And look at the pretty miniature gold scissors. I love how they look against the black!

And finally, this is one of the BBD Reward of Merit designs called "Wild Lilies". She changed the colors on it, and I think it turned out so lovely. It's filled with crushed walnut shells, and look at the pretty trim she used.

Ladies, I can't tell you how much appreciate the gorgeous gifts you stitched for me. I will treasure them!!

It was a lovely birthday. I couldn't have asked for better. And now...back to ~~playing on the internet~~ Hare Pyns.

Honfleur

2011-08-08T10:34:00.004-05:00

So, I took another little break from Hare Pyns. I know, I know...but I couldn't stand it, I needed a break. When I got my SANQ Summer issue, I just knew I had to stitch the 1863 Honfleur Sampler, but Dona's recent finish pushed me over the edge. I loved the color changes Dona made and I shamelessly copied her use of colors as well as using AVAS 100/3 like she did. Mine is stitched on 40ct Lambswool, because I happened to have some in my stash and I thought it would be a nice choice for this piece.

Stitching Lucie Beharel's little sampler was very enjoyable. And although she stitched hers in Honfleur, this sampler reminds me of Rome. The cross flanked by candlesticks and flowers reminds me of St. Peter's. When I took her photo, I included the rosary I brought home from St. Peter's. It's been tucked safely away in its little bag since then, but this piece looked like it was the perfect opportunity for a photo shoot with it!

My favorite motif is the anchor though - a symbol of hope. I can always use an extra bit of hope, can't you?

I stitched the majority of this sampler while we were watching the second season of Rome, which is another reason I'm drawing that connection I'm sure. She was a sweet stitch and I enjoyed this sampler immensely.

Ok, ok. So now back to Hare Pyns.

I am grateful for some time off from work and a little finish.

Mambo

2011-07-25T09:16:00.003-05:00

What's this you ask? It's my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler from the Gift of Stitching magazine. A WIP from forever ago that I haven't worked on since April 2010. Last week, I decided that I was fed up with Hare Pyns and needed a break. Since I'd been talking about red samplers, and I remembered this one was languishing in the closet and has red in it. So, out it came. I've completed parts 1 & 2 (out of 5) and am currently working on part 3. I'm almost done with part 3 and I'd like to go ahead and finish this part at least while I'm excited about working on this piece. Part of the reason I keep pushing this piece aside is because I'm afraid I'm going to run out of thread. It's charted for Vikki Clayton silks, but I know she's changed a lot of her colors since then and I don't know that I could get additional silks that will match. Guess I'll figure it out when the time comes.

Here's how the whole thing is looking - please excuse the crappy crappy photo - I really should have at least taken this out of the frame but I was being lazy.

I did work on Hare Pyns a bit on Saturday. I'm still not excited about working on this piece. But I did get the background over halfway finished. I'm hoping to get the rest of the background done soon so that I can start working on the bargello panel. Oh, and to answer Dale's question on my last post - this is a class offered by Patrick's Woods through my guild. I don't believe the pattern is available outside of a class.

And I've been working along on ATS on Sundays. That tree has been interesting. I got all the branches and leaves done quickly (which you'd think would be the hard part), but then my tree trunk was over one stitch too far, so it had to come out and be restitched. Then I was able to get most of the fruits in. This is what it looked like yesterday before I settled in to work on it.

Last night I was finally able to get the fruits finished and the snake. I'm now officially done with the tree and have started on the angel on the left. I'm glad to be moving on to something other than the tree, although I have to say that since I saw Missy's snake - I've been anxious to get mine stitched. He's pretty darn cool with his blue spots.

I am grateful for migraine meds and Mountain Dew (well, I would be if they were working faster).

Finally Feeling Like a Real Stitcher

2011-07-11T08:42:00.003-05:00

Up until now I've only had two pieces professionally framed. Since one is a Halloween piece, I really only have one out for anyone to see. And there are days that I see other stitcher's homes and feel like such a phoney. I'm not sure you would even know a stitcher lived in my house. But, all that is changing.

On Saturday I went and picked up two framed pieces (so I've now doubled the amount of framed pieces I have!). I used a little bit of the bonus I got earlier in the year and decided to have one piece framed. Well, then I remembered my little A&E, so I thought "why not bring it along". And look how well it turned out! I happened upon that little pre-made frame and thought it was perfect. The stitched area is only 2 inches square. (Sorry for the glare in the photo).

But the piece I mainly wanted framed was my Where My Heart Blooms. I was thrilled when I saw how this turned out! And this piece, you may remember, was actually my Valentine's gift to Eric this year, so I was glad to finally be able to get it framed.

Here is a close up of the frame. It has a little bit of red in it, that looks great with the piece. And the shop owner had this hanging on the wall at the shop and she said a bunch of people were asking about it. Of course, it's an old Loose Feathers design, so it's out of print.

We ended up hanging the piece in our bedroom, which is where I envisioned it going. But it's one lonely piece on a big wall, so it looks a little sad there. I'll have to get stitching on something else with red in it to add to that wall. I'm thinking a nice sampler would be good. Any suggestions?

And I'm so happy that my A&E wall has begun. It's a small start, but it's still a start. I'm hoping to get Margaret Pence framed in January when they have another framing sale. She will look good with these two!

So, it's not much, but I am thrilled. I'm feeling a little bit more like a real stitcher. Now I just need to finish a big repro sampler and have that framed!

But of course, in the meantime, it's all Hare Pyns all the time.

I think I made a lot of progress in a week. I finished my leaves, filled in the two side flowers, stitched the bunny (he is so stinkin' cute!) and added my initials. I've started filling in the background, which you can probably see. Once that background is filled in, I'll be moving onto the back panel. I'm way off my schedule of having a panel done a month, since I'm now into July on that front panel. But, hopefully I can get back on track.

Yesterday, I stitched on ATS as usual, and that is coming along slowly. I think I may be the slowest stitcher ever. Or possibly everyone just has way more time to stitch than I do. Either way, I need to step it up a notch if I'm going to ever get anything finished.

Oh, if you're interested in seeing my firework photos from the 4th, head over here.

I am grateful for watching the space shuttle launch.

Stars & Stripes

2011-07-04T10:16:00.003-05:00

Happy Independence Day to those of you in the US! I am thoroughly enjoying my long weekend and look forward to going to see fireworks tonight. In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I'd show you what I've been working on. Remember when I mentioned I was sewing the binding on a quilt? Well, it's finished! And just in time to use on my dining room table.

This quilt was a kit that I bought from my local quilt shop my first year of quilting. I cut and pieced this quilt and finished the top back in October of 2002 (just a few months after purchasing the kit). I've shown this quilt to you before, and every year in July I wish that it was finished. Finally, I decided that this year it was going to be done. I dropped it off with my quilter last month and she actually had it finished the next day! All that time of sitting around being unfinished, and it only took a couple of weeks to have it quilted and sew on the binding.

I am thrilled with the quilting she did. I had asked for something with stars on it, just an all over pattern, and she did a fabulous job. I love the stars and the swirls. And in the middle of each of my pieced stars she quilted a spiral. How fun!

I am so happy that I can finally enjoy this quilt and it makes me so happy every time I pass by the dining room. I have one last quilt that is ready to go to the quilter, and I'm hoping I can do that sometime soon. It would be nice to have it finally quilted as well. Everything else is in need of piecing, so I'm working my way through the list slowly but surely!

In stitching news, I've been working away on Hare Pyns. I've almost got all of my leaves finished and then I'll move onto those two side flowers. It's coming along, just very slowly.

I hope you have a wonderful 4th, whether it's a holiday for you or not. Thanks so much for stopping by!

I am grateful for this country I live in.

A Flower, A Fob, and Fabric

2011-06-27T09:52:00.002-05:00

I may have mentioned that Hare Pyns had to have some minor ripping out and restitching done to her. That center flower needed the pale pink color in the center, as opposed to the red I'd mistakenly stitched there. The center flower is now finished and I've done the rest of the outlining on the flowers and leaves and begun the fill in on the leaves. Like I said, my goal is to get this front flap finished by the end of June. I'm thinking it's not going to happen. But, I've been wrong before. I just find it amazing that I can't find photos online of anyone else stitching this piece. I had hoped for some in progress photos to help me along. No such luck. The majority of the photos I find when I search for this piece are my own. And that doesn't help me!

But since this piece is such a beat down to stitch (mainly because of the tension differences in the stitches which can't really be helped, and I'm not sure what I can do about it), I find myself wanting to work on something at the opposite end of the spectrum. Something that doesn't make my eyes cross.

So, I've been working on another old WIP (I know, they're neverending). This is Sweet Treats by Country Cottage Needleworks. This piece was a series of chart packs with Crescent Colors thread and JABC buttons. I finally finished the border and have now moved on to the second chart pack, which is Cupcake. I am stitching this on 28ct Vintage Lentil.

It's an easy break from Hare Pyns.

And yesterday I met some friends for lunch to celebrate one friend's birthday. You may remember last year I stitched this piece for her. This year, I found these great black and white scissors and made a fob for them (see already putting those jewelry-making skills to good use!).

I had a lot of fun making the fob, and the black and white set was a perfect counterpoint to the Kaffe Fassett quilt book I also gave her that was full of gorgeous, rich color. I'm thinking I need some Kaffe fabric in my life. Anyway, we had a lovely lunch and I'm so glad she liked her gifts!

Also over the weekend, I spent some time sewing the binding on a quilt. I finally finished it last night and am looking forward to sharing it with you. I'm totally in the mood now to work on quilts. I spent some time this weekend cutting out some more hexagon templates so that I can get back to working on my hexagon quilt. I also made a little trip up to my local quilt shop and saw that they were starting to get the new Christmas lines in. Now I'm jonesing to work on Christmas quilts! I have at least three planned and have most of the fabric I need for all three. There's a fourth I just remembered I want to make too, but no fabric for it yet. But doesn't this pretty Christmas fabric make you want to start some holiday projects?

Oh I'm just dying to get my sewing machine out and start piecing some quilt tops! I can't wait to get started! (OMGthoseowlsaresofreakingcuteIdie.)

So that's what I'm up to. Tonight I'll be back to working on Hare Pyns, in an attempt to get that front flap done. But maybe over the holiday weekend I can sneak in some sewing. And I'll for sure be sharing my newly finished quilt soon too!

I am grateful for inspiration and a sense of accomplishment.

Adorned

2011-06-20T09:05:00.003-05:00

Thanks for all the compliments on my Valentine Rose block. I'm pretty happy with it. I've made a tiny little start on the next block, but then I had to get back to Hare Pyns. Unfortunately, Hare Pyns required some ripping out and restitching, so I'll post my progress on that next time.

Today, though, I wanted to share my recent weekend adventure. A couple of years (!) ago, my good friend, Jennifer, gave me a gift certificate to a local bead shop for my birthday. The intent was that I could use it to take a class. I finally decided that now was the time and so two or three weeks ago, I went in and signed up for their Basic Jewelry Technique class. On Saturday, I headed to my class and was excited to spend a fun few hours making jewelry.

We learned a variety of techniques and made a bracelet, two sets of earrings, and a pendant.

How fun is that?! I'm especially proud of the spirals at the bottom of my earrings - I made those! We had a good time, and made some pretty things. I'm excited to have learned some basic techniques that I can put to use. So excited in fact that I came home and made the earrings in the top photo. I saw the Day of the Dead skulls at the shop and had to have them. So I zipped right home and made myself a pair of earrings! Love them!

The shop has some other cool classes that I'm really interested in taking, one on resin and one making a steampunk necklace. I'm looking forward to their new schedule coming out.

So that was my weekend. And like I said, I'm plugging away on Hare Pyns and hope to have more to show you soon. My goal is to get the front flap stitched by the end of June. Only a week and a half left, so I'd better get on it!

I've also been posting up some book reviews at my other blog, if you're interested. And you can see our new patio project too, later today.

I'm grateful Eric and I have each other.

Valentine Rose

2011-06-13T08:49:00.004-05:00

I took a little break from my Hare Pyns pre-stitching to finish up Valentine Rose (block 2 from BBD's Anniversaries of the Heart). This block caused me to do a lot of thinking, which may be partially why it took me four months to stitch. When I first decided I was going to stitch AOTH, I initially thought I would include people that had some great stories, use some of the genealogy Eric and my dad had gathered. This block was supposed to be dedicated to my 3rd Great Aunt. She has a great story for sure. Actually a great name as well. But when I saw the final bonus chart and I saw Katrina and Siobhan's finishes of their AOTHs, something changed in me. Suddenly, I felt like I wanted to piece to really mean something and not be just a bunch of names on fabric - people that are so far removed that they are strangers. What good is a good story if the relationship isn't a deep one? The piece is intended to be people of my heart. And I always knew that the piece would be a melding of both Eric's family and mine, so why not keep it to those immediate family members that really are of our heart?

With that last chart in my hand, Eric and I sat down and determined who would be honored in which blocks. We didn't do more than that, just made an initial "map" if you will. But it felt good to know who would be where and that the people immediately surrounding us would be included.

So, Valentine Rose, is now dedicated to my Grandfather, my father's father. The photo is of the house where he was born. It was taken in 1914, when he was about 10 years old. That's him standing on the left hand side in front of the horse. I do remember spending time with him when I was young. Unfortunately, he died on December 24 when I was six years old (my sister was barely two). It is the only time growing up that my dad wasn't there for Christmas. For all the short time I knew him, Grandaddy (as we called him) left a big impression on me. Since my dad has started researching my family's genealogy I've actually learned a lot more about my Grandfather. Suddenly my father's memories of him and of growing up were stories he wanted to tell. And now I don't just think of the man who hugged me and made me feel so loved, but also the man who had a fleet of Cadillacs and was that sharp dresser I see in later photos.

You can see his first name there at the bottom, Robert, and his birth year, 1904. He was born on February 6, so I changed that shape on the door of the house to look more like a 6.

I really enjoyed stitching this block, even though it took me so long. I loved the specialty stitches in the roof, the vase and even the chain stitching on the flowers. The house to me reminds me of the home I visited, even though I really have no visual memory of the outside of it, just a feeling of coziness.

So that's my Grandfather, and the block dedicated to him. I've got the next block (the bonus block) ready to go, but no idea when I will start it. I'm anxious to get moving on it though.

And lest you think I've been slacking off and not working on Hare Pyns, I have been. There is a lot of stitching in this piece, so I'm determined to work on it as much as possible in order to get it done in plenty of time before our class. It's coming along, but it's coming along slowly because I seem to have to keep making decisions about how to do each new thing I come to. Has anyone stitched this that might be able to provide some assistance??

It is going to be a really pretty piece, I may just drive myself insane by stitching it though. But I'm loving the red. Can't wait to get that flower all filled in too. It will see some more attention tonight, since yesterday was for And They Sinned.

I am grateful for stitching time with a friend on Saturday. And getting my hair cut!!

Eye Crossing

2011-06-06T08:37:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I needed to get started on my pre-stitching for my Hare Pyns class. I decided to pull out everything on Saturday when I had a fresh mind and read through all of my instructions. She suggested cutting out fabric down to size for the wallet, but as I stood there with my rotary cutter in hand I just couldn't do it. For one thing, my fabric wasn't squared up when it was originally cut, so I was afraid of mis-cutting. So, instead I decided I would baste my pieces first and then cut. That way I made sure to have enough for the pocket and the smalls. Eric had a student at the house, so I went into the dining room where I could spread out and started my basting.

I tell you what - I can stitch on 40ct with no problem in the worst of light. I can stitch over one on 32ct with no problem. But trying to count and do my basting on this 30ct fabric? My eyes were having a hard time with it. After awhile I ended up with the worst headache, probably from eye strain, which is so weird because I had a ton of light in that room, both from the overhead light and from the six windows letting in bright afternoon sunlight. But, whatever the reason, once I got that pocket basted, I had to take some Advil and call it a day.

After dinner and a much-needed break from basting, I did settle in to do some actual stitching on the piece that night. I didn't make a ton of progress because I kept second-guessing the instructions. But at least my eyes didn't bother me at all, even working over one on that 30ct fabric. So, I'm going to focus on getting that pocket stitched first and then I'll work on the smalls.

Before launching into working on Hare Pyns over the weekend, I did pull out an old WIP last week (Dorothy has gone back into the closet). This is Chatelaine's Mystery 9. Seems I've been working on this forever (well since January of 2006 - that was the year I got married and moved though, so stitching fell to the wayside). The last time I worked on this piece was August of 2009. Sad, isn't it? Well, what's even sadder is that all that stitching I did on it last time, all the swirly stuff in the corner, I completely miscounted. So what you see here is after I ripped out both sides of the swirlies, then restitched the bottom one and am in the process of restitching the left one. It all had to come out. Sad sad sad.

No wonder I haven't worked on it in almost two years. This is what happens to me. I make a mistake, get disgusted, set the piece aside, and then years go by. But I really want to get this piece finished up. I'm working on part 9 (of 12). And after having seen Missy's Chatelaines in person, I'm desperate to get mine finished. I currently have four in progress (this story just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?): Mystery 9, Mermaid Treasure Box, Midi Mystery 2, and Pearl Lights. So, I plan to get back to this as soon as possible (although I've got Hare Pyns to work on). I want to get that corner restitched and then get to working on the other three corners. Once those corner swirlies are stitched they have a ton of beads and crystals too, which will be stunning. I can't wait! And although this photo is a bit washed out, it's the first time ever I think you've been able to kind of see that this is stitched on lavender linen. It's really pale, but the silks look so good on it.

And of course, Sunday was for ATS. I always stitch into the evening hours on Sundays, so here's a photo of what it looked like before yesterday's stitching session. As you can see, I'm stitching leaves for that center tree.

Last night I finished the leaves and started on the tree branches. There is a lot of stitching in that tree, but it's coming along. I got about half of the tree branches stitched before I had to stop last night. And I'm still so in love with that cluster of grapes on the right - that purple is just so fun!

So this week will be more Hare Pyns, ATS on Sunday and possibly something else thrown in for fun.

I am grateful for inspiration from Missy.

Pre-Stitching To Do

2011-06-03T09:50:00.004-05:00

Last week at the EGA meeting I picked up my kit for the Patrick's Woods workshop I am taking in the fall. She will be teaching her Hare Pyns class. We got the kits several months in advance in order to be able to do all the pre-stitching needed. Aren't the colors pretty? I've been wanting to take this class for a long time and I'm excited that I'm finally getting the opportunity.
Here's what the piece looks like...

Inside...

I just love the back...

So, I'll be getting started on that very soon. Hopefully I will have plenty of time to get it stitched!

In the meantime though, along with all the things I showed in my last post, I've also gotten back to working on my Anniversaries of the Heart. I finished stitching all the mortar between my bricks and got the house done. Now I'm moving over to that vase on the left. It's coming along slowly but surely.

I can hardly believe it's already June! There's still so many things I want to get done this year, but somehow the time is just zipping along. Guess I need to buckle down and try to get some pieces finished.

I am grateful for it being Friday.

A Much-Needed Break

2011-05-31T10:21:00.003-05:00

I was thrilled to be able to take a vacation day on Friday of last week. It's the first vacation day I've had since Christmas. And let me tell you, the four-day weekend (due to the holiday yesterday), was much needed and much appreciated! I got a ton of stuff done that I'd meant to do the weekend before. Othello was very sick that weekend though, so I only ventured away from him a couple of times. But he seems to be better now, so I took advantage of that and my extra time and did a ton of things!

Just to give you an idea what I was up to this weekend, I enrolled in a basic jewelry making class with a gift certificate a friend had given me for my birthday a while back. I'm really looking forward to my class and I think it will be fun. I'd love to learn more about beading and jewelry making!

I also decided to make use of a little bit of the bonus I got at work and I went up to the quilt shop to buy backing fabric for a little patriotic table top quilt I have. I thought I'd chat with my quilter while I was there about possibly dropping it off with her for quilting. Unfortunately, my quilter has taken a two-year hiatus, but I was directed to another quilter who works out of the shop. She took a look and said she'd be able to get it quilted before 4th of July for sure. So, I left it with her. I got a call the next day and she'd finished it! So, I picked up my little quilt and got to work on cutting, pressing and machine-sewing on my binding (as you can see above). All I need to do now is hand-sew down the binding and attach a label and it is done! Woohoo! And it was fun working on this yesterday (Memorial Day), so I had to tweet a photo of it from my phone.

And since we're talking about being productive, I did also finish my Stacy Nash sewing roll. It's ready to be finished and then aged.

Part of my errands that I ran over the weekend included taking one of my pieces to be framed (also using a little bit of my bonus). I think I picked out a great frame and I'm anxious to see how it looks. So excited!

Of course, I couldn't leave empty-handed. I was sucked in by seeing a WIP of the With thy Needle & Thread Mystery Sampler. I had to have it! So, I came home with the Confederate Grey fabric in 40ct as well as the first chart. I made a little bitty start on it and I'm just loving the colors! I am using the called for Weeks threads, luckily I had them in my stash.

I spent a good part of the weekend learning more about Lightroom and working on taking photos with a new set up (plus learning how to edit them in Lightroom). Big learning curve, but I'll get there eventually.

And then of course, on Sunday (and actually last night too), I worked on And They Sinned. I was so happy to finish this little motif last night that an Instagram photo was in order.

So, busy weekend. But I also had time to relax, sleep in a little bit, spend some quality time with Eric, see my parents, read a little bit, and stitch with Othello on my lap. You can't beat that! I actually have several more things to show, but I'll save those for another post. This is what happens when I fall behind on my posting!

I am grateful for four-day weekends!

Quite Dashing

2011-05-16T10:59:00.004-05:00

Dash Away All
The Sampler Girl
DMC on 32ct Dirty Linen
Finished 4/16/11

I've been working on stitching ornaments here and there this year. I had intended to do one a month, but you know how that goes. This is my third ornament for the year. It wasn't even on my to-stitch list, but after I saw a finished one at a guild meeting I remembered I had this pattern in my stash! I immediately went home and found my chart, and then pulled fabric and fibers from my stash. It's such a cute, simple piece and I'm glad I was reminded I had it. After I finished it, I needed to get a little star button to add to it and I just finally made it over to my LNS last week. Not sure how I'm going to finish him yet, but I'm so glad I stitched him. Thanks, Katherine, for being my inspiration!!

I've also been stitching along on my Stacy Nash piece I showed you in my last post. It's coming along slowly. I love the pale palette.

I went to book club on Friday night and we had a lovely discussion about The Hare with Amber Eyes. I've posted my latest book reviews over on the other blog, if you're interested. I had intended to spend the rest of the weekend stitching, but it didn't happen. Too many other things going on! Maybe tonight I can get my needle out.

I am grateful for Eric for being immensely patient with me while teaching me Lightroom and for all of his help last night, and most of all for refusing to allow me to post really crappy photos even though I was willing to settle for what I had. Thanks, sweetie!

That's How I Roll

2011-05-09T09:25:00.004-05:00

A momentous occasion last week...I was far enough along on ATS that I was able to roll the fabric. It's coming along (slower than I'd like, but still coming along). It's amazing how long it takes to stitch all those scattered little motifs, but at least each one feels like a small victory. And they are fun. I love that blue butterfly and the red tulip. And wow - all the birds! I am very very close to being ready to start on the tree, Adam & Eve and the angel (aka "the good parts"). I love how colorful this piece is and it makes me happy to discover each new motif and pull out new threads. I'd been asked in the comments what fabric I'm stitching this on...it's 40ct Elegant Bean (from Elegant Stitch). It's a great neutral fabric and the colors really pop on it. I am stitching with the charted GAST threads. But, I'm moving along toward the bottom of page 1 and loving every minute of it.

My current travel project is Emily's Sewing Roll from the Stacy Nash workshop I took in March. This one is a good piece to take to guild because I can talk and stitch at the same time. Plus, it's not very big, so that makes it an ideal travel project too. Although, what does not make it an ideal travel project is that inevitably someone says "you're not done with that yet?". Ha ha...no I'm not. Would you buy the excuse that I'm savoring it? You've seen me eat chocolate, so youknow I don't savor anything, huh? Yeah, ok...so I'm not done with it yet. But, it's a sweet little piece, no?

I have also been stitching on Dorothy's Garden. And may I remind you that it's all over one? On 32 count? Yeah...so what if I can't finish a Stacy Nash piece. Look at this...

I've been building that dreaded house. And it's looking pretty good, I might add. Once I get all that grey outlining done, I'll still have to fill it in with white. I figure I'll work along on the house until I get bored and then I can stitch on the border a bit to break up all the grey and white.

And I've spent the past couple of weekends learning Lightroom, and I think it's going to be great for photo editing, exporting, cataloging, etc. Eric's been very patient teaching me and I'm really looking forward to learning more of the functionality. So far, I like it a lot better than Photoshop. So now not only am I learning how to shoot in manual modes, but I'm also learning how to do my editing in completely different software - my brain is full!

I've also been reading quite a bit. I read Jennifer Donnelly's A Northern Light, Pioneer Woman's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, and Edmund de Waal's The Hare with the Amber Eyes. I'll be posting up reviews of all of these on the other blog soon, if you're interested.

Ok, that's it for me today. I'm hoping to get back to working on my AOTH soon - I've been so inspired by both Katrina's and Siobhan's finishes on theirs. I can't wait to work on mine again! Until next time!

I am grateful for a husband who understands.

So Much

2011-04-11T09:52:00.006-05:00

Lately it seems like I've been focused on everything that is hard or stressful in my life. And you know, just that mindset can keep you stuck in that space. I've recently been reminded of how lucky I am and how grateful I am for so much in my life. It's amazing what just a little bit of gratitiude can do for you - and even though I've tried to end every single post on this blog since I started it in 2006 with something I'm grateful for...sometimes I need to be reminded how much I truly have - not in things but in the wealth I have through my relationships, and just the joy and wonder of living this life I've been given.

So, I just wanted to share a few little things I'm grateful for today. The photo above (taken with my phone via the Instagram app on Friday morning) is of one of the two vases of roses Eric surprised me with for our five year anniversary. I am so lucky to be married to this man, and so glad that I have so many wonderful memories of our life together and especially of our honeymoon in Rome - I thought of our time in Rome all day on Friday!

And where would I be without my friends who I trust and treasure. Those who are always there for me, and I never have to wonder where I stand with them. It is truly a blessing to me to have people in my life who remind me of my strength and independence by exampling to me their own. Where would I be without my sisters of the heart, those women who I can talk to about anything and know they're not going to judge me or share something I've told them in confidence. And even if it's only via email, or a stolen lunch during a layover, I'm always thankful for those touchpoints. And there is nothing better than a friend who "gets" you. Someone who knows exactly what to say, or exactly the thing to surprise you with.

Weekend before last, I got to see Sylvia during a quick layover she had in Dallas. And I was so glad to see her face, and have a big hug. And look what she surprised me with - a little something from Germany for my A&E wall.

And of course, I'm grateful for my stitching and for having the time to do it on a regular basis now that I'm done with school. And even though it's been bothering me that I got so off track in February with my goals of finishing an ornament a month, and one of my AOTH blocks a month... Guess what? A finish is still a finish, regardless of whether it's done "on time" or not. And this little finish (my second ornament for the year) made me so happy while I was stitching on it. It was a good thing to work on after my root canal, or when I'd had a hard day. How can you not smile when you're stitching Shepherd's Bush?

This is Joyful Night by Shepherd's Bush and it was republished in the JCS 10th Anniversary Collection. I stitched it on 32ct Cream linen with DMC. You may remember I stitched this for my guild's ornament exchange back in December, and I had to stitch one for myself too.

I also have to thank my lucky stars that the planets aligned and my border on Dorothy met up. Cue angels singing.

You can see I made a little bitty start on that little bitty chimney while watching part of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I remember watching that movie with Eric when I was so stressed out about our wedding planning. It made me feel like everything would all work out

And on Sunday, I worked on ATS. And even though this was where I was last April on this piece, I'm grateful that I'm finally making some progress on her. This is where I left off last Sunday

And I took a quick snap this morning via the Instagram app again to show you my progress from last night.

Several more motifs done, including another bird and the start of a flower and a butterfly. I'm almost at the point where I'll have to roll my fabric. I'm so glad that even though this piece is taking me a long time, I'm sticking with it and enjoying it. (Plus, OMG I'm addicted to Instagram, can you tell?!)

So, sometimes it's the big things and sometimes it's the small things, but I've been reminded that you have to focus on what there is to be grateful for rather than how hard things suck on the suck-o-meter. It truly changes your perspective and the more you recognize the good things, the more good things there are to recognize.

And I'm thankful for each and every one of you that visits my blog and peeks into what's going on here. I deeply appreciate it.

I am grateful for so much...

Sleepless

2011-04-04T08:40:00.003-05:00

This entire post is covered under the following disclaimer: Please view photos at your own risk. Michelle cannot be held responsible for the craptastic quality of her photos in this post. Exhibit A (above) was taken with a point and shoot early in the morning without the help of sunlight and/or being able to actually see clearly. Exhibits B and C (below) are photos that were taken previously and reused for the purpose of not wanting to post with only one craptastic photo. Exhibit C particularly shows the misuse of a flash. Please excuse the effontery and carry on.

Lately my stitching/crafting/existence has been taken over by a general level of anxiety. I find myself worrying constantly about "what ifs". Unfortunately, it does keep me up at night. Not that I'm ever well-rested, but lately it's been worse. These minor anxieties could possibly be linked to the fact that when worrying about something huge, I tend to deflect it by concentrating on little things.

So...Dorothy. Dorothy has not been playing nice lately. You may remember my last post in which I showed off her pretty butterfly and little border flowers and how lovely they were over one? Well. The day after that post, I suddenly became very concerned that I might actually run out of fabric on this piece. My old LNS (no longer in business) was notorious for mis-cutting fabric. And although I started in the middle of the sampler, once I got that corner of the border in, I realized I had about four inches on the top. Which concerned me, that I might run out at the bottom. Not good. I decided I would work on that border and make sure I had enough fabric, before I went any further. So I stitched on down to where that basket of flowers is and then realized I was off by two stitches. After much recounting and gnashing of teeth I discovered the problem was in the vine by the third little border flower. So, I spent a couple of nights ripping out OVER ONE including my sweet little flower. I started putting my green vine back in and got down a ways, only to discover I'd made yet another mistake. Holy Cannoli, can I not get this right? I eventually was able to fix it and move on and as you can see, I've made it to the bottom. I can now breathe a sigh of relief that Dorothy actually does fit on the fabric. But OMG I have so much extra fabric on the sides. What were those people thinking? But I'd rather have too much than not enough. Anyway, I was hoping to get all the way around last night, but I still lack a bit. I'll feel better once I know my ends meet.

But I haven't been stitching a whole lot over the past couple of weeks, so it's all slow going. Some nights I only get about 10 stitches in. Some nights it's not even that. But, since we're on the topic of minor freak outs, I thought I should share another one I had last week. You may remember a couple of years ago, this quilt kit was a Christmas gift to myself. It's been sitting in my closet in it's pretty little bundle since then. Suddenly the other night (while in bed, trying to sleep), it ocurred to me that I don't know if I received the pattern for this quilt. What am I gonna do, if I have this expensive kit and no pattern? So, I tossed and turned and worried about it all night. First thing the next morning, I marched downstairs and took the kit apart and thankfully, the pattern was slipped between the folds of the fabric. Whew! Although I am now wishing I'd bought backing fabric for this quilt at the same time because I don't think this fabric line is available any more. Drat.

This is lesson #5968 of why you should check your order when you receive it. And it did make me really start thinking about having so much stuff on hand that it could be years before I ever get to it. I've cut way back on the amount of stuff (including stash) that I buy and as you know I've also been focusing on finishing my WIPs in an effort to even get to some of the new stuff that's never been touched. I love being able to walk into my craft room and grab something new to start at a moment's notice. But, I can't help feeling that the more "stuff" I have the more it weighs on me. I'm really trying to pare down what I have and not buy more (there's always my for sale blog you can check out too, if you're interested. See the sidebar for the link). So, that's where I am, and what's keeping me up at night. And even though I apparently should have put a disclaimer on this post that I was going to be wordy and annoying, I have just one more thing to share. I had hoped to do some sewing this weekend, but that never did materialize. But, I'm so pleased with having finished my Indulgence quilt as well as my Shepherd's Bush wall hanging, it's time to pull out another quilting WIP. This is a Batiks BOM that I started back in 2007. Yes, that's right, 2007. My LQS charged $3 for each block. So each month I picked up my new block and for awhile I kept on track with it. You can see I have six blocks done.

There are six more blocks to be cut and assembled, and then I have 12 setting blocks to make. I'll need fabric for those though. But I loved the opportunity to get to work with batiks, so I'm anxious to get back to working on these. Maybe next weekend?

I am grateful for a layover in Dallas.

Signs of Spring

2011-03-21T09:19:00.003-05:00

After the mad dash to get my Stacy Nash pre-stitching done, I decided I needed to do some sampler stitching. There are so many beautiful samplers that I want to start, but I'm really trying to keep myself working on my WIPs. So, this is Dorothy. She's my oldest WIP. Dorothy and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. I love her so much, but she's over one on 32ct so there's only so much of her I can take. But, last Monday I picked her back up and decided that a burst of spring color was what I needed. I've been stitching along on the border this past week. I had a minor issue when I picked her back up because I discovered 7 or so of the DMCs I'm using for her have wandered out of her project bag. I've looked everywhere and I have absolutely no idea where I've put them. So, new DMC was purchased. (Of course, wouldn't you know it that after I got home with the new DMC, I discovered one more I was missing. Gah!)

Anyway, I'm delighted with how the border looks and especially the little butterfly. Isn't it darling over one? I was surprised at what a difference the border makes in the overall look of the piece. It really pops that pink, whereas it's sort of been burgundy predominantly for so long. I'm always nervous about having enough fabric though, so I think I may continue that green vine all the way around just to check everything before I do anymore flowers. I've got that big house at the bottom to do too, which I should probably do in smaller chunks so that I don't get tired of it.

And since I haven't worked on Miss Dorothy since June of 2009, I thought I'd show you where she was when I left off last time.

Not bad for a week's worth of stitching, huh? Anyway, I'm enjoying stitching on her and that's always a good thing. Maybe she will actually be finished some day. And just in case there's nobody reading that even remembers this piece, it's Dorothy's Garden by A Stitcher's Hands. I am stitching over one on 32ct (no idea what linen this is) with DMC primarily. Pay no attention to the color in the photo from 2009 - the newer photos are a lot more accurate.

Anyway, Sunday was ATS day, so I pulled it out to work on. I went ahead and took a photo before I got started on it, just since it's been a little while since I've showed it.

Yesterday I finished the moon, a few little motifs and continued my border on both sides a little bit. I am now officially done with the top of page 1. I am below the fold! The bottom of page 1 looks pretty intense because there is a lot going on. But, the bonus is two more snakes plus I get to stitch Adam & Eve. It'll be awhile before I get that far though! But I always enjoy coming back to this piece at the end of each week. It's a nice change.

I am grateful for a little less pain and a weekend of movie watching.

Falling Behind When I Should Be Springing Forward

2011-03-15T08:24:00.002-05:00

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks that it all sort of seems like a blur. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say it's been an uphill battle to get things done - thus, blog posting fell by the wayside. One of the things I scrambled to get done was the pre-stitching for the Stacy Nash workshop I attended this past weekend. We only had a couple of weeks, so even with everything going on I did what I could to be ready for class. I was very happy when my kit showed up and Mr. Rabbit was a reminder to not be late (for my very important date).

Don't you love the thread colors?

I came very close to getting the prestitching done on one of the two pieces for class, although the night before I stayed up very late stitching and then woke up very early to get more stitching in. I was able to finally finish my stitching during the first 45 minutes of class, but I was exhausted. Since this was a finishing class, I really wanted to be able to work on the finishing of my actual piece.

Stacy designed a pin drum and sewing roll for our guild. I really love the pieces and Stacy taught us a lot of great techniques for finishing. And as much as I love my sewing machine, I really enjoy just doing handwork - stitching, hand sewing, etc. Stacy said that what she liked about these projects is that you can start one in your sewing chair and not have to get up to iron or sit at the sewing machine or anything. You can basically go start to finish sitting in your chair.

I did get my drum and strawberry completely assembled on Saturday.

And I came into class on Sunday ready to learn how to age my piece. The strawberry was a lot of fun, it's made from velvet and the top is silk matka (I think). The top and bottom fabrics on the drum are homespun.

The aging process is really interesting and the piece looks so different once it's aged! I'm still putting the final touches on my drum, but as soon as it's finished, I'll be sure to share.

After I aged my drum, I decided to use the remaining class time to get started on the stitching for my sewing roll. I'd really wished I'd had this ready to assemble and age too, but it just wasn't in the cards.

I'm looking forward to sharing my finished and aged drum as well as my sewing roll. I'm very glad I took the workshop and I'll have to dig out the other pattern for a drum that I have in my stash, now that I know how to make one!

I am grateful for the time I had with Lisa and so blessed she was my friend.

2000 Years Ago

2011-02-27T12:04:00.003-06:00

2000 years ago I started this project, um, I mean back in December of 2005. It just seems like 2000 years ago. Shepherd's Bush designed a series of eight ornaments that were released in the annual JCS Ornament issues. Knowing that they were going to be doing eight, I ordered eight ornament cuts of the recommended fabric, 32ct Dark Espresso by R&R (back in the days when a lot of shops offered ornament cuts of fabric). Of course, each ornament also featured a sterling silver charm from Shepherd's Bush, so each year I made sure to order the new one.

Of course, stitching this was a two year long project, since I started them after the first few had been released. The last ornament was released in 2007, I believe. Shepherd's Bush has since released all eight of these designs in two leaflets (four ornaments in each).

In Spring of 2008, I decided I wanted to finish these into a wallhanging, so that the entire series could be showcased together. I've since seen my friend Ava's finish of these and her's are framed and so gorgeous - I almost regret not framing them. But, anyway, I think this post was the last time I posted (or worked on) this piece. Back at Christmas, I decided to pull this out and work on it a bit more, with the hopes of having it hanging for the season. No such luck, but this weekend I decided I really needed to get this done. And in less than two hours, it was finished.

You can see the top four ornaments in the photo above, and below and the last four.

I decided to teach myself how to make Prairie Points, and I am so thrilled with how they finish off the bottom of the piece. I may have even squealed when I saw how they looked.

And here's the whole thing.

I am so happy with how it turned out and it will be beautiful hanging during the holiday season this year! So, that's one more thing off of my to do list. I can now turn my sewing machine over to working on my Batiks BOM from 2007 that needs another six blocks.

As for stitching this week, there wasn't a lot of it. I had a migraine for three days, so only minimal progress was made on Valentine Rose. I've started filling in the mortar between the bricks though.

I'm taking a break from Valentine Rose in order to work on the pre-stitching for a Stacy Nash workshop I'll be taking in March. I managed a good little start on it yesterday, after finishing my wallhanging, and I'll be continuing to work on it this evening.

I am grateful for Eric proposing six years ago.

One Day at a Time

2011-02-21T14:46:00.003-06:00

Not a lot of stitching going on lately. Despite the time I've had to stitch, it's been difficult to focus for any stretch of time. But, I am making some progress on my Valentine Rose house, nonetheless. The bricks are done, the roof is on, and the windows are mostly outlined. And don't you just love those little eyelet stitches in the roof? So fun to do.

I love that Alma includes a specialty stitch here or there to add to the texture and interest on a piece. So fun. I'm looking forward to the basket and the flowers for just that reason.

Last night, after taking these photos, I did get the rest of my window outlined and the door. I've started filling in those windows and should have them completed shortly. I have to tell you that working on this piece is so much fun, especially because last night I was stitching on it while watching Who Do You Think You Are. If you haven't seen that show yet, you need to. I love genealogy, and since these Anniversary of the Heart pieces really get you thinking about your family and significant dates, etc. it just hits home when you see that show. With the help of my dad, I've decided who I'm going to honor with this block, so I'm looking forward to putting those final touches in when the time comes. But in the meantime, more windows!

I'm also enjoying seeing all the new Market releases. I'm anxious to see the last of the Anniversaries of the Heart series from BBD, which is due out after Market. I'm also very curious about the new incarnation of the Loose Feathers pieces too. But, in the meantime I'm just loving their new book they've released and can you believe how many Reward of Merit pieces they released too? I especially love Wild Lilies. Such creative women. But I'm having fun seeing all the reports come in from Market today.

And thank you to those of you who have asked about Othello and sent along your prayers and good wishes for his recovery. He has been home for a week, after having been very sick. He had to stay at the vet another few days after the first time we brought him home, so I'm glad to have had him home for good this time. He seems to be doing rather well, and his follow up visit with the vet this morning confirms that.

This is his "I refuse to look at you" pose. I think he does it rather well, don't you? Since he's been home, he's been needing a lot of attention (and I have also needed a lot of Othello attention), so it makes it difficult to stitch. But, I'm not complaining one bit.

I am grateful for both of my guys being home.

Variations on a Theme

2011-02-14T11:12:00.003-06:00

Thanks for all the compliments on the quilt. I'm so glad to finally have it finished. And I've pulled out the next WIP that needs some attention at the sewing machine. I did manage to cut fabric for it on Saturday, but that's as far as I got.

On the stitching side of the house, I haven't been very productive there either. It was a rough week and so not a lot of desire to stitch. But, I did work on ATS last Sunday, as is the usual schedule. I came pretty close to finishing the sun, so on Monday I decided to continue on. I think Sunday through Wednesday I worked on ATS. Tuesday night I only accomplished half of that crown. Sad! But, I was glad this one got some extended attention. I'll need to get back to that Peacock-colored bird next time. I do love that heart though, and I'm glad I had that to share today.

Thursday night there was no stitching, due to unforseen circumstances. But Friday I decided to pick up Valentine Rose (Anniversaries of the Heart) and spend some more time on that border.

By yesterday afternoon, I think I'd made pretty good progress. I decided to take a photo before I lost my light and had to drag out the lightbox. So, it does look as if I am stitching a fireplace rather than a house. I rectified that quickly though, and have all the bricks done on the lower half of the house now. And I have a confession to make, I love stitching bricks. I really do. There is something so soothing to me about stitching bricks. And I needed mindless and soothing this weekend, for sure. (Remember those Rhodes Stitch bricks on Midi Mystery I? So much fun!!) And bricks with variegated thread - awesome. Anyway, so I've been enjoying my bricks.

I will probably spend some more time this week on Valentine Rose, I need something rather uncomplicated, so I don't dare pull out Mystery9 (especially since I have re-stitching to do and possibly more unstitching).

Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day, and always remember to be your own sweetheart too - it's good for the soul.

I am grateful for snuggles from my Valentine miracle and a husband who continually shows me how much he loves me.

My Valentines

2011-02-10T08:51:00.002-06:00

Way back in February of 2003 (not so long after I started quilting) I bought a kit for a Valentine's Day Table Topper. It had this fabulous "chocolate box" fabric for the center panel that I just fell in love with. Simple construction for the top too, really. It was a good beginner piece. In fact, I think I finished the top over a weekend.

It's funny, I have such a vivid recollection of some of those early quilting days. I was living in my little one bedroom apartment and I had a basic sewing machine (my first) that sat on a rolling computer desk. I would roll the desk (sewing table) into the living room from the bedroom where it lived, and park it in front of the tv so that I could sew and listen to a movie at the same time. I sat up my ironing board next to me, and my cutting mat was set up on the kitchen counter. I would pop in a movie and just sew and sew...sometimes well into the night. Anyway, this was one of those early quilts that I have such a clear memory of making in my little apartment.

It wasn't until much much later that I decided I really needed to quilt this piece. I had a lot of problems trying to quilt it myself, but I finally got the quilting finished...at the end of 2009. I wasn't thrilled with my quilting, but it was quilted and I was happy with that. (I'd actually quilted the border twice because I was so unhappy with it the first time, so I ripped it out). I quilted a scattering of hearts in the center panel and just some in the ditch quilting on the border.

And after the quilting was finally finished...it languished again. I had it folded up in my quilt bag in the closet until January of this year. I decided it was finally time for this piece to be done in time for Valentine's Day. All I had left to do was sew down the binding and make a label. I dove in one night when I didn't feel like stitching and I started handsewing my binding. I did about half a side and then called it a night. This past weekend, Eric and I went to Austin (since the roads had cleared) for a GPS Photo Hunt. It was a lot of fun and I'll have photos up on the other blog soon. But, I wanted a project to work on in the car, since I had several hours to kill, so I brought my quilt with me to work on the binding. I figured that would be easy since it didn't require counting or anything. I got all the binding sewn down on three sides on the drive there, and on the drive back I managed to get that last half a side finished. I'm still lacking a label, but I'll get to that soon. It looks pretty on my dining room table and I'm happy to finally have it finished.

I named this quilt "Indulgence" because that was the name of the chocolate box fabric in the center. I thought it was appropriate.

Meanwhile, on the stitching front, the night before we left for Austin I finished up this little beauty.

I had started this back in August and really did nothing more on it than start a few green leaves. After finishing Snow Garden I decided to pick this back up because I wanted to work on something simple before diving into another big WIP. And with just a few nights of stitching, this was done! This is the last of the February Stockings I had left to stitch and I'm happy it was finished before Valentine's Day. This is "Be Mine" from the Blackbird Designs Love is in the Air stocking booklet. I stitched it with the recommended threads and fabric - GAST on 30ct St. Valentine's Blend by R&R.

Two more WIPs crossed off the list! I love that. I've been working on ATS a bit too and I'm so close to moving onto the bottom half of page 1. I'll share a photo of my progress soon.

I'll leave you with a photo (via the Instagram app on my phone that I'm addicted to) of Othello curled up on my lap last week during the ice/snow storm. I adopted Othello many years ago right before Valentine's Day, so he's always been my "Valentine Kitty". Othello has been at the emergency vet (and now regular vet) since Saturday night. We're hoping to bring him home today, but he's been a very sick guy.

I am grateful for my boy coming home today!

Snow Garden

2011-02-05T14:21:00.004-06:00

My neck of the woods was hit by an ice/snow storm earlier in the week. I woke up Tuesday morning to this. Luckily, I was able to work from home and stay toasty in my house. Wednesday morning was a very different story. The roads were still iced over, so no going into work, but I woke up to rolling blackouts. Fun! We had power for about 10-15 minutes at a time and then it would be out for 45 minutes to an hour. Good times. And it made for an interesting work day, making project calls on my cell phone and taking notes with pen & paper.

The evening of that first snow day though, I settled in under a quilt and finished up Snow Garden. I wanted to have this one finished by the end of January too, but I missed it by a day. I guess I just needed the right weather conditions to facilitate a finish!

Throughout the time I stitched on this, I kept thinking about how I wanted to personalize it. What would represent snowy January to me? I decided to dedicate this block to new beginnings. I love January for its calmness and its quiet. The world looks fresh and new after all the excitement of Christmas. And when I think of the "anniversaries of the heart" that I want to celebrate with this piece, it all comes down to one beginning - when my life started over in 2002. So, I dedicated this block to the beginning of my new life, and put Hamlet, Romeo and Othello's initials in there as well as my initials (my maiden name).

Back at the beginning I bought myself a charm bracelet and one charm to put on it - a compass - to celebrate the new direction my life was taking and the new adventure I was embarking upon. Look how far that charm bracelet has come now! It primarily holds charms from my travels with Eric, but there are a few others from the heart.

So, this block is for me and my January...for starting over with three boys.

Snow Garden (Anniversaries of the Heart #1)
Blackbird Designs
Weeks and GAST on 40 count Vintage Examplar
Finished 2/1/11

I'm really pleased with how my Snow Garden turned out - just a touch of color. I did have to stitch my year over one, because try as I might I couldn't get it to fit over two. I just added an extra snowflake though and called it good! I'm looking forward to starting Valentine Garden (I'm stitching this all on one piece of fabric). It will be fun to stitch all those reds after the pale colors of Snow Garden. I've enlisted the help of Eric and my dad (my genealogy experts) to help me with the February personalization. So far I have a couple of ideas.

And, I thought I'd share another lovely gift I received over the holidays. Gloria stitched BBD's Waiting for the Harvest for me. Isn't it gorgeous? I love that rich chocolatey thread she used.

Look at that pretty trim too.

February is going to be full of more fun WIPs I'll be stitching on, so I'll be sure to update you soon on those. Until then, stay warm!

I am grateful for new beginnings.

Holly Jolly

2011-02-03T09:28:00.002-06:00

Each year my guild has an annual Christmas ornament designed by one of the members of the guild. Way back in 2008, when I first joined the guild, this piece was taught over a couple of meetings. I got as far as stitching the borders for the front and back of the piece. And then it languished (as a lot of things do in my stitching basket). I think I may have been intimidated by the wool appliqué. At the beginning of this year, I decided that I really wanted to get some ornaments finished so that I would have more lovely things to hang on my tree of handmade ornaments. I decided to pick this one up first since it was already started.

On Friday of last week, I pulled it back out, read my instructions and carefully appliquéd and embroidered the holly leaves and berries. Not so difficult after all. And that Weeks wool is just gorgeous. I think I need to use it again!! This was designed by the very talented Laurie, who also made those BBD ornaments I showed you recently.

On Saturday, I begain assembling the ornament into a biscornu. I also needed to make my own cording for it. I am really a beginner when it comes to making cording, but with Eric's help I got it done. Unfortunately, I had to take the biscornu apart once and restitch it because I'd gotten off on my counting somehow and my points weren't centered. But, the second time worked perfectly.

Holly Wool Appliqué Biscornu
Tudor Rose Sampler Guild Annual Ornament 2008
Designed and taught by Laurie
DMC and Weeks with Weeks Wool
Begun September 2, 2008 Finished January 29, 2011

This is the tiniest little thing and is so so cute (it's probably about the size of a silver dollar). I am so glad I finally decided to pick it back up and finish it.

That makes finish #2 from the WIP basket! I'm on a roll!

I am grateful for the talent of the guild members and trimming my tree one piece at a time!

Camille

2011-01-31T08:55:00.004-06:00

C'est finis! I managed to finished Camille on Tuesday and showed her off at EGA. She really is a beauty and I am so thrilled to have her finished. I think she will be pretty with Dorothy, if I ever get her stitched.

At the time I fell in love with Camille, she was a freebie from The Sampler Girl. I believe Tanya has no released her as a chart. When the freebie came out, Vikki Clayton put together a thread pack for it, which I promptly purchased. I even chose fabric for her. But this was all back in 2006, and I never actually got around to starting Camille until last January. I chose a different fabric for her and dove in. I decided to stitch her using one thread over two, to lend a bit of delicacy to the stitches. After stitching an urn and the center spray of flowers, I set her aside. It wasn't until the first week of January this year that I picked her up again.

The sampler is dedicated to Camille Claudel who was a French sculptor and muse to the artist August Rodin. In fact, Wikipedia states "Claudel became a source of inspiration, his model, his confidante and lover." A big part of what drew me to this sampler was it's dedication to a French artist and also the quote of Camille's that is included in the piece. "The essential thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live." I love that.

You may remember also that I indicated I had to rechart the year for this piece. It was originally charted for 2006. Since I was going to have to rechart it for 2011 anyway, I decided to instead change it to 1883, the year Camille met Rodin. I thought finishing this sampler was a perfect way to start the year off, focusing on love, art and inspiration.

Camille's French Sampler
The Sampler Girl
Vikki Clayton Hand-Dyed Fibers on 32ct Golden Harvest by Silkweaver (1 over 2)
Begun January 7, 2010 Finished January 25, 2011

I guess I just have a weakness for French ladies... (Marie Antoinette pillbox from Sylvia)

And since this post is being brought to you by the color Pink, I have to share another fabulous gift I received at Christmas. My friend, Kim, (creator of Frida and teacher of knitting) knit these amazing pedicure socks for me. My feet always get cold in the winter when I'm painting my toes, and look at the solution! Toeless socks!

So, fun!

Since finishing Camille, I have also finished a Christmas ornament that I can't wait to share and I've been working along on Snow Garden, which should also be finished soon too. Lots more to show you next time!

I am grateful for finishing old WIPs.

Road Trip

2011-01-24T08:46:00.004-06:00

On Saturday, I went on a little road trip to Austin and spent the day at Ginger's Needlearts. I met up with Missy, Michelle and Amanda. Missy had agreed to help me with remedial lessons in needleturn applique, so we spent part of the morning working on that. Thank you, Missy! We all brought show and tell and shared our WIPs too, which was great fun (and now Missy has me inspired to get to work on some of my Chatelaines!). After lunch, we stitched. I brought Snow Garden to work on, and actually managed to get a fair amount done on it (even with all my chatting!). It's coming along, and I still hope to be able to meet my goal to get this block finished by the end of the month. I still have that house to stitch though, so we'll see. But, it was a fantastic day and I was thrilled to get to meet some blog friends in person. And if you're ever in the Austin area, you need to visit Ginger's. Ginger was an absolute sweetheart and let us overtake her classroom for our get together.

It's so fun to get to meet up with fellow stitchers and bloggers. In fact, in all the hubbub of the holidays, I think I failed to mention that I got to meet up with Natalie and Valerie over Thanksgiving too! We had a blast visiting together too. I'm a lucky girl!

Yesterday, Eric spent some time with me teaching me photo stuff. I'm gradually transitioning over into manual settings from the semi-automatic modes I'd been shooting in. It's a bit frustrating, and I'm finding my photos are getting worse before they get better. But it's worth it and in the end, hopefully, I will get to a level of photography that I'm happy with. And I always appreciate him taking the time to teach me.

Last night I worked a bit more on Camille, but here's the photo of where she was before I started working on her yesterday. She's really coming along. I decided to change the date on her. She was charted for 2006, but since I was going to have to rechart that anyway, I decided to change it to 1883. I'll explain why when I finish her. Last night I finished up the scroll band and the band underneath it. Then I popped back up to the top and stitched the left urn. Once the flowers are finished in the urn, there's only one band left at the bottom. She will be done soon!

And in my effort to make Christmas last all year, I thought I'd share a couple more gifts with you. You may remember that my friend, Julia, and I exchange a friendship ornament each year. This year, it was her turn to fill it, and not only did she send me a beautiful gift but inside was also a handmade gift from my Goddaughter. She is just learning to sew, and look what she made for me...

...a sweet little pinkeep, complete with an appliqued flower! What a treasure!

And another sweet handmade gift came from Sylvia. She made this fabulous travel lingerie bag (of course it was filled with some fantastic goodies including a Marie Antoinette pillbox purchased on one of her trips to Paris). I was absolutely thrilled that she used this gnome fabric. I may have (possibly) squealed when I saw it! Thank you, my dear friend!

More to come soon. I hope to be back with a finish of Camille before the week's out (and maybe Snow Garden too!).

I am grateful for road trips, book swaps, lessons and sparkly Chatelaines.

Cloud City

2011-01-16T11:54:00.004-06:00

After watching two and a half seasons of The Sopranos back to back, the cloud.is.done. I am so glad to be finished with that. In fact, I'm so relieved there was a point at which I thought, I'll just stitch that green vine underneath this puppy and call it done. Yeah, the cloud is a killer. I can see why so many people lose steam at this point and never make it past that cloud. But, oh it is so worth it. Look how that pretty red bird pops against that slate blue. I think I may have to call him Fawkes. He was what kept me going. Love that red bird. So, I'll be moving on to the bottom of page 1. I'm looking forward to it!

And, after finishing the cloud, I went back to Camille. She's seen a lot of attention this week.

I had to make a minor color adjustment on those diamonds. The center of the diamond was supposed to be one of the pinks (there are two), but my skeins are so nearly identical, that I decided against it. I'm pretty disappointed how identical they are, which is probably why I set this piece aside in the first place. You go to all the trouble of stitching that swag of roses in two colors of pink, and then you only get one color. Disappointing, to say the least. So, I used Quail in the center diamonds instead of the second pink. There's another spot coming up where I'll have pink on pink again, so I think the Quail may make another appearance. The only place it was charted to appear was in that green vine at the top, so I like that now it's being used a couple of other places.

And I'm still celebrating Christmas over at the other blog, if you'd like to see some good food, decorating and New Year's Eve. And since I'm behind, I thought I'd show you a couple of little gifts from Christmas 2009. Eventually, I'll get around to posting some gifts from 2010. We're bending time a bit over here at the Cozyegg. Anyway, these two sweet BBD ornaments were given to me by a friend of mine. She's so clever and creative, that I wish daily she had a blog. But, I digress. When BBD's Joyeux Noel book came out, she stitched up two of the samplers in it and then made these sweet ornaments as gifts for her friends.

Don't you love them? I actually took photos of these last year to share, but by the time I determined my photos were crappy, the decorations had already been packed away. So, I had to make sure I shared them with you this year!

They hang on my handmade ornament tree, and are a beautiful added touch!

Ok, off to do some house cleaning and laundry so that I can spend some time with ATS or Camille later today!

I am grateful for finishing that cloud!!!

Cutting Down on the Crazy

2011-01-09T16:19:00.005-06:00

No Crazy 15 January Challenge for me, but I am working on my WIPs. And I thought it would be fun to keep track of what I work on in 2011 in the beautiful Sampler Enthusiast's Book of Days gifted to me by dear Tanya. I keep track of my starts and finishes in a spreadsheet, but it's fun to see what all I've worked on.

On New Year's Day I had a traditional new start, Paradise Lost. I began it while watching the Rose Parade. I am normally a center-starter. But after all the problems I had trying to start Garden of Eerie in the center, I decided I'd better hedge my bets and start on the bottom right.

Nothing very exciting, but I always love putting the first stitches into a new project. I thought I'd just work my way across stitching the grass and the words at the bottom. Love how it's turning out though!

On Sunday, I worked on And They Sinned which is our usual day for the SAL. No photo to show on this one because I am determined to get that dang cloud finished before I update. Not long now. I'm close.

Monday night I decided to pull out CHS's A&E to work on after seeing Siobhan's finish (and you know I have to do everything Siobhan does). Mine, however, is being stitched on black fabric over one. And yes I am insane. But, it moves along pretty quickly when I actually decide to work on it. I'm busy filling in Adam's torso.

Tuesday was guild night (as you can see on the calendar), so I decided to bring my Anniversaries of the Heart with me. I'm still plugging away on Snow Garden. I'd like to get Snow Garden finished up in January, so that I can move onto the next block. My little peacock friend is in dire need of his house though - maybe I'll start building that next.

On Wednesday I pulled out Camille's French Sampler by The Sampler Girl. I haven't worked on this since last January, I think. I had that green vine just barely started, so you can see how much progress I've made. When I pulled this out on Wednesday to work on it, I realized that all this switching of projects was creating a huge mess in my stitching area. I was doing more switching in and out of q-snaps and trying to dig to find my thread, etc. that I was adding to the crazy. So, I decided that I would just keep focusing on Camille for awhile. So she got attention on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

And I've got a new thing I'm trying out. Robert and I were talking about stitching the other night and when he gets bored with stitching something, he just moves to another area in the piece. That keeps his interest going. Well, I tend to be very methodical in how I work through a piece, so if I get to a part where I lose interest, I set the piece aside. (This is how I have so many WIPs!!!) So I thought I'd give that a try with Camille. When I got bored of stitching the pink band, I moved onto the band below it. When I finished that up, I was ready to get back to the pink band. I also jumped over and started work on the left urn. So, I think this trick may work to keep me from abandoning a project. So thanks, Robert! I'll let you know how it goes! (Robert's been suggesting I do this with AOTH too because I'm so bored with Snow Garden...so you may see me start block two sooner rather than later.)

So, that's all I've got to show, but for the first week in January, that's not bad! I think I'll feel like I've gotten more accomplished if I stick with something rather than switching out every day. Plus that will keep the mess down. I spent a long time yesterday straightening that all up. But, I'm really enjoying my stitching and I'm enjoying writing in my Book of Days. I am hopeful I'll have a finished cloud to show you soon. It is imminent. Until next time, enjoy your stitching! Oh, and if you're interested I've posted a couple of book reviews for recent reads on the other blog as well as a post on our annual Eggnog and Dessert Party.

I am grateful for finally understanding what the issue is with trying to shoot photos of black fabric.

A Flock of Final Finishes

2011-01-06T14:00:00.003-06:00

Welcome to 2011! I hope you're all having a fantastic start to the new year. When I did my final wrap up post of 2010 finishes, you may remember that I mentioned there were a couple more I couldn't share quite yet. Well, here they are!

You may remember that I bought some of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas fabric? Well, combine that cute fabric with this pattern from Spool, and you've got a flock of the happiest birds around. The one above just made it's way to Germany. I added a ribbon for hanging, because I thought they would be cute as ornaments or just to hang on a drawer pull even.

And the "Joy" bird has some friends...

His friends made their way into the hands of some of my friends. And I have a few cut out and ready to stuff so that I can have Christmas birds to keep me company at my house too!

The other finish that flew over to Germany was a very late birthday gift for Sylvia. Unfortunately her birthday fell right around the time I was hunkered down studying for my certification exam. Sylvia graciously told me not to worry about it and to just focus on my test. So, her birthday and Christmas gifts went across the ocean together.

I do hope she likes her birthday gift. Her favorite colors are pink and green, so I knew I had to stitch this one for her. It's the Pink Flower freebie from Workbasket stitched in Belle Soie on 40ct Lambswool. I filled it with crushed walnut shells and backed it with a pretty pink fabric. I love the way it turned out. Happy (much belated) birthday, my sweet friend!

You can see Alma's version of this freebie on her blog too. Such a fun stitch!

I have some gifts I received to show you as well, but it will have to wait until next time. I've also been stitching up a storm since the beginning of the year, so I'll have to show you that as well.

I am grateful for a new beginning.

Looking Forward

2010-12-31T10:32:00.000-06:00

Now that I've posted about looking back at the year 2010, I thought it was time to start looking forward. I've thought long and hard about what goals I'd like to set for my stitching in 2011 and whether or not to sign up for any of the various January Challenges that are out there. I know that the thought of starting 15 new things would make me crazy, and I need a little less crazy here at Chez Cozy. So, I'm planning on focusing on some WIPs next year. We all know that those shown above are just the tip of the iceburg, but it's a starting point.

I'd love to have some finishes of these WIPs in 2011, but I'm just going to set out to give them some attention. No formal rotation, no set of rules. But I would like to make some progress here. And some of the projects I've shown above are big, some are more medium-sized, so I think it's a good mix. And there are some new things I'd like to start too of course, so I may mix in a few of those here and there. I also have a few things of the ornament variety that I'd like to mix in for some quick finishes too, so I may do that.

If you're wondering what I've got in progress in those photos:

And They Sinned, Peace on Earth, Anniversaries of the Heart, Scottish Sampler
Garden of Eerie, Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler, Tesori d'Italia, Shores of HRH
Camille's French Sampler, Sweet Treats, Simple Things, Mystery 9
CHS A&E, Ten, Peaceable Kingdom, Cuisine d'Ete

Some of these are much farther along than others, but I enjoy working on each of them. Of course I will be continuing my SAL with my PIC for ATS (how's that for acronyms?) and I've also joined a SAL in the BBD Yahoo Group for Anniversaries of the Heart, plus I've been discussing with Deb working on our Chatelaine WIPs this year.

And I know for sure that on New Year's Day, I will have a new start like I usually do. Last January my NYD start was And They Sinned, this January it will be Paradise Lost. I can't wait to get started.

The photo is Paulette's (too bad since I'd really love that A&E needleminder - LOL!) that I shamelessly borrowed. But, I think it will be a fun stitch and I'll have it all ready to go in time to sit down with it while I watch the Rose Parade.

So here's looking forward to a new year, new things and new adventures!

I am grateful for my sweet husband and each new year we spend together.

Looking Back

2010-12-29T09:34:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's almost the end of 2010. Where did the time go?? I thought I'd look back at the year though and see what I accomplished. Above are my finishes for the year. Most were small things, and many were gifts. In fact seven of the twelve were for other people. And speaking of gifts, there are a couple more finishes that I can't show you yet.

I did also manage to start and finish two larger pieces for myself, well ok one of these is a gift for Eric (Where My Heart Blooms). So, one piece for me.

I did manage two A&E finishes this year, which is a good start on my A&E wall. So, I am quite pleased with that. I hope to have more A&Es for my wall next year.

And I did get one quilt done this year too (see that first finish at the top left) - also a gift. So, at least I managed to sit at my sewing machine a little bit. I hope to have more of that next year too.

And I read a few books over the year as well:

Lover Unbound
The Ultimate Trophy*
No Tomorrow*
Catching Fire
The Lost Chalice*
Lover Enshrined
Eclipse (re-read)
Water for Elephants
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Mockingjay
Lover Avenged
The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide
The Lacuna*

Not nearly as much reading as I would liked to have done (*and four of the thirteen were for book club). Hopefully next year, since I am done with school, I can get more reading done.

And speaking of being done with school...what else happened this year?

I completed my 365 photo challenge that I had started in March 2009
I participated in the Worldwide Photo Walk for the first time
I completed my coursework at school
I passed my certification test for Microsoft Project 2007
I started a new job
I passed my certification test for my CAPM and joined PMI
I relearned how to knit
I participated in several 5Ks as well as the 10K of death
I attended my first seminar (the EGA South Central Seminar)
We lost sweet Romeo
I participated in the Secret Stitcher program at Guild
I took a needleturn applique class
I took a class from Amy Mitten
I went to Nashville Market

Not a bad way to spend the year, I suppose. I'm excited to see what next year holds. Thanks for sticking with me throughout 2010. I truly treasure the friendships I have made through this blog.

I am grateful for another year and the hope of good things to come!

12 Days of Christmas

2010-12-27T14:40:00.002-06:00

Miss me? I hope you all are having a lovely holiday season and that you're getting some time to put a few stitches in before the end of the year. Since passing my certification exam, it's been busy busy here trying to decorate, send out cards, get ready for our annual entertaining, etc. I have managed to get in a small amount of stitching around all of that, but a good portion of the past couple of weeks has been spent at my sewing machine.

I ventured out to the quilt store the day after my exam with the intent to find some pretty Christmas fabric. Even as late as it was in the season, my local quilt shop actually had some of the fabric I've been coveting for months - Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas. I could hardly believe my luck! I bought four different prints from that collection and then a pretty white on white snowflake print to mix in. Aren't they pretty all stacked up?

I had to wait a few days before I was able to cut into the pretty, but cut into it I did.

Every year Eric and I host an Eggnog & Dessert party for our families, and every year I wish I had some pretty holiday dessert napkins. So guess what? The first thing I did with that fabric was make some dessert napkins with it! I made twelve, so that I'd have plenty in case our party number grew. They turned out the perfect size I was looking for and brought a smile to my face every time I looked at them.

Aren't they fun? I also had other plans for my pretty 12 Days fabric, but I can't show you that quite yet. You'll have to wait a bit. But, I enjoyed my time with my sewing machine and I was thrilled to finally have some pretty napkins for our party. I have yet to post about the party itself, but I will. And the napkins made an encore appearance on Christmas Eve when we had Eric's family over for dinner. The napkins worked perfectly for our antipasto course.

I'll be back soon with more updates and photos from the holiday, plus a stitching update or two. But until then, I'll leave you with this yummy thing - a chocolate cake ball covered in Ghirardelli chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt...on a pretty napkin.

I am grateful for time with my friends and family and pretty twinkle lights on the tree.

Here for the Party

2010-12-15T09:04:00.002-06:00

Last week my guild had our annual holiday party and ornament exchange. Of course, I've already shown you the ornament I stitched up for the exchange. The party was lovely and there was lots of good food and companionship. Before we kicked off the exchange, we presented our outgoing President with these Mother of Pearl Sajou scissors. Aren't they pretty?

And in turn, she presented the board members with these Rosewood Manor threadwinders. Aren't they fun? So nice in wood.

But, of course you are all anxious, I'm sure, to see the ornaments! There were lots of beauties this year (just like every year).

This one was one of my favorites... isn't it pretty?

I ended up with this gorgeous ornament, which I am thrilled about. You may have already seen it here, and if you didn't then you really need to add Robert's blog to your reader - he is an amazing stitcher! This is an Irish Samplings pincushion by Nostalgic Needle. Look at those Queen Stitches - lovely!

I think I may just leave that hanging up year round.

And along with my pretty ornament, I also managed to make it home with this...

It was in the package with the ornament Robert stole from me, which he then promptly handed back, which was sweet.

It was good too!

So there you go, another wonderful holiday celebration with the guild. I've been working on some gifts, so I can't show you quite yet. I also pulled out an old WIP and have been unstitching the mistake I made on it (which is why it's still a WIP). But, mostly I've been studying and studying. Over the week of Thanksgiving I studied 6-8 hours a day every day, and then last week I was studying every evening when I got home from work. What was I studying for? My CAPM exam, which was the very last thing I needed to do for school. I took my exam on Friday and passed! Woohoo! So, that's it for me with school. I'm so glad to be done after two and a half years! And now I can relax and enjoy my holidays. Hope you can too!

I am grateful for passing my test!

Christmas Stitching

2010-12-07T16:01:00.000-06:00

After a complete mental breakdown caused by looking at all of many WIPs, I decided a new start was in order. Ha! See how I am?!? But really, I just wanted to stitch on something Christmasy for the last few weeks of December. So, I pulled out BBD's Peace on Earth (Loose Feathers No. 28). I already had the fabric and the thread on hand, so it was easy to get started. I am loving it so far. Here's a photo if you're not familiar with the pattern. Cute, huh?

And I know I haven't been able to show you what I've been working on until now. I stitched and finished Shepherd's Bush Joyful Night from the JCS 10th Anniversary book. It was a quick little stitch, and I was also able to accomplish this one with thread and fabric on hand (even the finishing supplies were already in my closet!).

I backed it with a pretty deep purple fabric that has little stars on it. I loved how it brought out the purple in his shoes. This is for the guild's annual ornament exchange that is taking place tonight. I'm anxious to see what everyone else stitched!

So that's part of what I've been working on lately. I did also pull out ATS and work on it on Sunday. I've got my cloud all outlined and I'm starting the fill in. I want that cloud done! And thanks for all the suggestions for 2011 - I did go and check out the challenge for working on 15 WIPs in the new year, which looks promising. I'm still deciding though. Hopefully I will find something that works for me - because above all, I want to relax and enjoy my stitching.

I am grateful for working out of my stash. It's such a good feeling!

Thinking

2010-12-02T12:03:00.002-06:00

So I've been thinking alot lately (my brain's gotta have something to do, right?) about my stitching plans for the rest of the year as well as for 2011. Last year I decided I wasn't going to make a lot of plans, make a lot of lists and try to force myself into working on pieces I really wasn't interested in. But then I again, in a fit of delirium, signed up with my guild to finish four pieces this year. Guess what. No really, guess. Yeah, you saw that coming, didn't you. I haven't touched them really - all year. It's like putting down on a piece of paper that I will finish blah blah blah is the kiss of death. Not that I've worked on some of my other WIPS that weren't on the list, but whatever, you see my point.

So here I am in December, really no closer than I was on the pieces I wanted to finish this year (ie all the ones I started the year with as WIPs). And now there are lots of blog posts about the Crazy January Challenge where you start 15 new things the first 15 days of January, and then commit to finish those 15 things in 2011.

I already have so many WIPs that starting 15 more gave me heart palpitations. So now what? I really want to work on and finish some of the many WIPs I have. I'd like to meet a few goals I have for myself by the end of the year too, that includes WIPs as well. I really want to start some new things too, but OMG I have got to learn how to finish things!

So...before I ramble on any further...let's take a look at the situation. Avert your eyes if you must. Here are my WIPs...

Not too bad, huh? Oh but wait, there's also these...

Yeah. Frightening, isn't it? What's really frightening is that I'm not convinced this is all of them. Many of these have been set aside for one reason or another. Most of them I still love and want to finish. Some are even relatively close to being finished. And yet, here I sit - not stitching on them.

So what to do? What will encourage me to get things done, and yet not confine me and make me feel like I'd rather rearrange my sock drawer rather than stitch on that project?

I don't know that I've figured it out yet, so I'm still thinking. Here's what I do know...

Before the end of the year, I'd like to do the following:

Finish the gift I'm working on
Finish the exchange piece I'm working on
Finish page 1 of ATS (this may be impossible, but I'd like to work towards that goal)
Finish one of the pieces I signed up to finish this year for my guild - Bay Sampler, Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler, CHS Adam & Eve, or Tesori d'Italia (I think my best bet is going to be the A&E or the Mystery Sampler
Determine a plan for next year - even if it's only "have fun"

I also know that I want to have a new start on January 1, because that's a tradition. I even think I've figured out what I want that new start to be.

I seem to do best focusing on one or two projects at a time. A rotation has never worked for me (unless it's a one day a week I work on this project, the rest of the time I work on that). So, maybe it's just a matter of picking up a WIP and just focusing on it again until it's finished.

So what are y'all planning for 2011? Any goals for the end of the year? Suggestions?

I am grateful for a good night's sleep.

Christmas is Coming

2010-11-26T12:19:00.002-06:00

Even though many stores and radio stations seem to think that Halloween marks the beginning of the Christmas season, at our house the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the official beginning to the season. When I see Santa at the end of the parade, I'm ready to start thinking of mistletoe and Christmas carols.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, and I hope you did too. I've been doing a little gift stitching, so nothing I can share, but I have been stitching.

Since I can't share what I'm working on, I thought I'd just pop in for a minute and show you my Just Nan Christmas is Coming WhimZi that I stitched in 2005. Santa on a turkey is just the perfect epitome of the beginning of the season.

I'll be back soon with goodies to share!

I'm grateful for friends and family and time together - oh and eggnog...can't forget the eggnog!

Little by Little

2010-11-08T11:30:00.003-06:00

For months now, my friend Kim has been working on getting me back into knitting. I knew it had been long enough that I was going to have to relearn from scratch. On Saturday, Kim and I got together for Knitting Lesson #1. She brought me all the goodies I would need, minus a tape measure. Luckily, look what I had lurking in my basket at home...

Lantern Moon Black Sheep tape measure. It doesn't get any better than that.

Kim and I spent a bit of time on casting on, knitting and purling. Strangely, my fingers seem to remember this even if my brain doesn't. So, I think I'm doing pretty good. Kim told me to practice a little every day, so I am determined to do that. Someday I will knit socks! I am so appreciative of Kim taking the time to teach me.

And not much stitching has been going on here. My doctor prescribed this crazy nosespray for my allergies and it knocks me out. I have literally only put in about 10 stitches in the past week. But, over Halloween weekend, pre-nosespray, I did work on Garden of Eerie. Eric and I broke with tradition and instead of watching Bram Stoker's Dracula, we watched Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. How appropos...

I've got some holiday stitching that needs to be attended to, so it may be a little while before I get back to Eerie.

And, the big news for today? My other blog has moved to my own domain. I'll probably be moving this blog in the future, but for now, just the one. Head on over if you'd like and take a look around. I still have some work to do on it, mostly just some tweaking, but I'm pretty happy with it.

I am grateful for my new home on the web.

Thriller

2010-10-29T15:34:00.003-05:00

If you're interested in reading about my 10k adventure, as promised, you can find it here.

I am grateful it's Friday.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2010-10-26T14:17:00.003-05:00

Wicked
The Primitive Needle
Belle Soie over one on 30ct Antique Cotton by R&R
Finished in a Twisted Threads Rectangle Tin Necklace

My friend, Kim, had a birthday on Friday and I wanted to make something special for her. She's a Halloween girl, like me, so I decided that a little "Wicked"-ness was in order. I really enjoyed stitching this and the colors were so fun. I had to special order the little tin necklace frame from my LNS, and luckily (even though it was on backorder for awhile), it came in the nick of time. I've got enough of the supplies left over to treat myself to this trick, so I think I'll be wearing a matching pendant sometime soon. I do hope that she likes it.

And since we're keeping in the Halloween spirit, I thought I'd share my silks for Black'd Skie. You can see how lovely they will be on the fabric. I'm really excited to try out these Pure Palette silks. They were a birthday gift and I'm absolutely thrilled to have them.

And finally, since finishing Kim's gift I have returned to the Garden of Eerie for a bit. The center tree is coming along. In fact, I'm getting down almost to the snake. Can't wait for that!

I'm starting to think about my goals for the end of the year and what I'd like to finish. I'm also starting to think toward 2011 too. Mostly, I'd just like to cut down on the amount of WIPs I have going. I think a focus on finishing is in order. But in the meantime, I'm just enjoying spending time with my wicked things.

I am grateful for a smile on Eric's face.

Fair Day

2010-10-19T11:19:00.004-05:00

Not a lot of stitching going on around here lately. About the most I got accomplished this weekend that was stitching related was framing my At Plimoth piece I stitched at Thanksgiving last year. My intention had been to frame it and put it out this year, but I completely forgot about it. In fact, I wasn't even going to decorate for fall really. But, then I was looking back at some old posts on the other blog, and came across a reference to this piece. So, on Saturday I went by the bookstore to pick up the next book for my book club and then I went to find a frame for this piece. I love how it looks framed and I'm so glad I finally have it done! Such a simple piece, but I just love it. And I loved stitching with the Simply Wool threads. (Pardon my reflection in the glass.)

So, that's the extent of my craftiness of late. In lieu of some progress pics, I thought I'd share some photos from our trip to the State Fair. I love the textile building, and I always find such interesting things in there.

I loved this quilt - it looks like a Jo Morton to me.

This Christmas quilt was pretty. I love the "ribbon" border.

And I had to share this one for Missy. She and I both bought the kits to make this quilt. She's at least started hers though. I just stare at mine longingly.

And this one is for Kim. Sailor Sock Monkey. How cute is he?

You may remember that I've actually started this piece - I started it on Christmas day last year. It's the Marbek Nativity, and there are actually two more panels. Of course, I only stitched half a sheep before I set it aside for something else. Yet another project I should pick back up. This piece did reinforce how much I like it on the blue rather than on the white background.

And lookie - Paulette's Hare's Christmas...

This one is still on my to do list. I even have fabric picked out for it.

And finally, I just had to share... this is ALL BEADED. With little bitty seed beads. All of it. The whole thing. And then the main piece and the two cartouches are mounted onto the background. Amazing and sparkly in person.

I had fun looking around and still somehow missed this piece that Andrea pointed out.

I did also spend a few minutes trying to explain to Eric what quilling is. Then a stranger jumped in to help me with my explanation and had to show us photos of quilled pieces on her phone. Eric was not amused.

Hopefully the stitching mojo will return soon. First I have to recover from my latest adventure - a 10k trail run in the dark through the woods. That's a story unto itself.

I am grateful for the fact that I am still alive.

Autumn Calling

2010-10-11T09:34:00.003-05:00

Last week I went to my monthly guild meeting and look at the beautiful display that two of our members set up. One of them stitched all of those fabulous Prairie Schooler acorns. Aren't they cute?! I think these are from a leaflet called, if you can believe it, Acorns (No. 65) - go figure. Such a sweet little addition along with the basket of gourds to the snack table.

I've made very little progress on Garden of Eerie, just getting started on the tree.

Most of my time has been spent on And They Sinned. I've spent so much time back and forth ripping out and restitching the clouds and I was determined to get it fixed. I brought this piece with me to guild night as my show and tell of what I'm currently working on.

I finally got the clouds lined up and in the right spots, and then went to work filling in the right hand side. It took all weekend, but I've got it filled in now. I stitched through a Teen Mom marathon on MTV and then all of Season 2 of Laguna Beach. That's a lot of cloud filling in!

And you can see that I worked on the vines on both sides in order to help with cloud placement. I also filled in the little motifs inside the clouds. Next step is to start on the center portion of the cloud. I'll be so glad to use a color other than Pebble, that's for sure. My photo is a little crooked, but when I take pics on Monday morning, I'm still a little bleary-eyed.

It looks like it's going to rain this morning, and I'm wishing the weather would cool off just a tad more. If I could get my allergies under control and get over feeling like crap I would be very very happy. I've signed up for a 10k on Saturday, so I'd better get to feeling better asap!

I am grateful for some stitching time.

Lightning Strikes

2010-10-04T10:19:00.003-05:00

Not a lot of progress to show on Garden of Eerie, but I did get my clouds finished. I've made a tiny little start on the tree which isn't shown in this photo. I am quite enjoying stitching on this though now that I've (hopefully) gotten past all the issues I was having. It's a fun little piece and I can't wait to get more of the tree stitched.

I've also gone back to working on And They Sinned once a week with my PIC. I'm determined to get that dang cloud finished. You can see my last progress photo here. I'm having some issues with the placement of my cloud so I've had to do a lot of ripping out and restitching. Yesterday I decided to stitch the border vine on either side to help me with checking my placement. So, next time I pick it up I should have a better idea of if I have any further placement issues or if I can start filling in the right hand side of my cloud. I'm hoping that I'm good to go and can move forward. I'll be sure to post a progress photo next time.

Not much else going on around here other than I've been sick and work has been kicking my ass.

I'm grateful for getting to sleep in until 8:30am both days this weekend.

Feeling Like Fall

2010-09-21T09:41:00.003-05:00

For my birthday, my friend Julia sent this beautiful table runner she made. It makes my table look perfectly dressed for Fall. Don't you love the colors?

And look at the hand-embroidered detail she added. It will look really pretty with my amber glass turkeys for Thanksgiving too. Love it!

And even though the weather isn't cooperating to make me feel like Fall has come to stay, it is almost October. And so, with that in mind I needed a new start after finishing Where My Heart Blooms. I decided to start Garden of Eerie by Plum Street Samplers - a perfect Halloween choice. It was between Garden of Eerie and Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie, but my threads haven't arrived yet for that.

I've had more than the normal amount of woes with starting this project, but I think I've got it settled now. And so on Saturday, when we'd planned a guild stitch-in, I decided to take this project with me. Here's what it looked like before...

And here's the after...

I've since finished filling in the left hand cloud and am halfway done with filling in the right. I was afraid I'd mis-measured and was going to run out of fabric, which is why I was working in outlines across the top. Now that my fears have been laid to rest, I can get on with it.

And since Fall makes me feel like curling up with a good book (especially with all the rain we've had lately), I've done a book review over at the other blog if you're interested.

I'm grateful for being reminded to take some down time.

Spoiled and Foiled

2010-09-13T13:41:00.003-05:00

I have more goodies to share from my birthday and you're going to think I'm really spoiled after you see this. Sylvia and I have been working along on trying to create our own A&E walls. I've got two finishes to add to my imaginary wall, and Sylvia has a few more I'm sure. (Did you see her pretty Evil Serpent finish??). Anyway, to jump start my new wall, Sylvia gifted me with this gorgeous plate from Eldreth Pottery. I had been coveting this when I saw a couple of fellow A&E lovers purchase a plate for themselves. But, even though I hadn't said anything to dear Sylvia, she knows me too well. And when this arrived on my doorstep, I may have squealed and clapped a bit. In fact, so happy was I with my beautiful plate that when Sylvia said there was another package on the way, I felt the need to remind her that I already had a present. But that generous woman sent more...

You may have seen Le Chat on her blog. I love the colors in it and his sweet little face does remind me of my Romeo. He would sit very patiently and wait to be fed. He didn't ask or beg, he just sat and waited for you to get the hint.

And since she knows me well, she included this skein of silk because of the name. I thought it went well with my web scissors!

I'm sure I can come up with something delightfully undead to stitch with that.

And if that wasn't enough, she included this gorgeous German cookie. And while I never pass up an opportunity to eat a cookie, I thought this one was better served by saving it. I put it on a ribbon so that it can dry out.

And because it seemed like the perfect spot for it, I hung it in our bedroom. A nice addition, I think. Of course Eric being Eric came downstairs and said "why is there a stale cookie on the wall?" He does love to harass me.

So many pretty things! So you can see why I included the word "spoiled" in the title of this post. Now, you may be wondering where the "foiled" comes in. Well, I did start a new project - something Halloweenish. But, as I mentioned in my last post I had to rip out the first two hours worth of stitching I did on the "middle" because it wasn't the middle. So, I restarted in the top left hand corner. Well, I miscounted and then had to rip that out. So while I'd intended to share a progress photo of my new start, my intentions went a bit awry. Foiled again!

That's all that's fit to print for today. Hopefully I'll be sharing some progress on that new start rather soon. I think it's finally coming along. And the guild is having a stitch in on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to doing a good bit of stitching then. (Of course the chatterbox in me may have other plans).

I am grateful for an unexpected Sunday at home.

Where My Heart Blooms

2010-09-08T12:14:00.003-05:00

Where My Heart Blooms (Loose Feathers No. 29)
Blackbird Designs
Belle Soie on 36ct Meadow Rue
Finished 9/5/10

I was determined to finish Where My Heart Blooms prior to the Guild's September meeting, which was last night. I finished this piece on Sunday night. I'm so happy to finally have this one done. I love it and I am so happy that I used Joy's conversion to Belle Soie for this. It looks really rich in person. This one is going in our bedroom as soon as it's framed. I already have a spot picked out for it.

And I thought I'd show you another birthday gift. My sweet friend, Ava, stitched this for me. Isn't it fabulous? I love the colors and I'm loving using it as a stitching bag too. Do you see the little gold heart charms? Just the sweetest thing, it really is.

I'm plugging away on my reading, but there's no way it's going to get finished by book club on Friday. But, hey, at least I'm reading. And I've started a new project - I know, shocker - but had some difficulty with it. I have a tendency to start my projects in the middle. Well, although this chart had the center marked, it wasn't actually the center of the chart unfortunately. So, two hours of stitching had to be ripped out. I've restarted in the top left corner, which is probably where I should have started in the first place. Oh well. Lesson learned. Just because the chart says it's the middle, doesn't mean that it is.

That's it for me today. It's rainy rainy rainy here, which I love. Other than the fact that my umbrella turned itself inside out this morning and I came into work looking like a drowned rat. I would have loved to stay at home curled up with my book and the cat.

I am grateful for another finished project.

Dia de los Muertos

2010-08-30T11:44:00.002-05:00

Meet Frida.

Frida is a Day of the Dead Zombie that my sister in weirdness and good friend, Kim, made for me for my birthday. I received some other beautiful handmade things for my birthday that I can't wait to show you, but Frida demanded to be first. I thought Frida was not only a fun gift, but she also was rather timely. Isn't it funny how sometimes in your life, you keep having the same theme pop up? Well, about a week before Frida entered my life, I received my copy of the JCS Halloween Issue.

Notice the cool sugar skull design from Monsterbubbles. Love it. I think I'll definitely be stitching that one. And why did it catch my attention, you might ask? Well, I've been reading this book.

Ok, pay no attention to the fact that my sidebar still says I'm reading The Museum of Innocence. I abandoned that in favor of this book, given to me by a fellow book clubber, who said it was fantastic. It is. And within the first few pages was a beautiful description of Dia de los Muertos and sugar skulls and leaving offerings for one's loved ones. Such a gorgeously written book. So, here I am reading this book, thinking about Mexico and sugar skulls and then I come across the Monsterbubbles ornament...coincidence? I think not.

But wait, just when it couldn't get any more interesting...the next book for my bookclub?

Yeah. It ties in with the museum's nest exhibit called "Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea". It's all working together in some kind of wild swirl of strangeness. Now, I know that there's a thin line between some of the connections I'm making...but my head is making them nonetheless.

Which is why, dear friends, I just had to introduce you to Frida. That's where my head's at these days. Plus, it's been a rough couple of weeks so zombies seemed relevant.

But, just in case you're here for the stitching...I'm doing some non-zombie related stitching on Where My Heart Blooms. It's coming along.

So, until next time...Frida will be keeping an eye on things.

I am grateful for zombie felties that bring a smile to my face.

Bordering

2010-08-17T09:02:00.002-05:00

I've been so busy I am exhausted by the end of the day, so not a lot of stitching has been going on. Have I mentioned I have a new job? Same company, just moved into a new position. And it's been crazy busy for the last couple of weeks. But, you can see my itty bitty progress on Where My Heart Blooms. I'm working my way around the border. Here's hoping it meets on the other side! The more I work on this piece, the more I love it. And I think this photo is actually pretty darn close to being accurate color-wise. Eric taught me a new trick in Photoshop and I think it's helping me with my processing to get better color.

I was going to work on my Scottish Sampler some more this weekend, but a bad migraine had me totally out of commission all day Saturday. And after seeing the new AotH release from BBD, I was inspired to get this out and work on it a bit. I've now put back in all the stitching I had to rip out during my last session. I made the eyes on the peacock's tail the wrong color, but by the time I realized it, I decided to just leave it. At least he's in the right place now.

But, I'm moving along on this border too now, and think I'll probably finish that up before continuing on the motifs. I'm really loving this on 40ct. And I can't wait to get some more color in this block.

I'm really enjoying my stitching lately, and it is so nice to be able to come home in the evenings and relax with one of my many WIPs.

I am grateful for the best photography teacher.

Green and Gold

2010-08-09T09:00:00.004-05:00

Last week we had our monthly guild meeting, and since I'd just finished a little BBD stocking, I thought I'd start the remaining February stocking at the meeting. This one is called Be Mine. It was so nice to be able to get to sit and stitch and visit for a bit at guild. Lately, that hasn't been happening at all and it made me so happy to be able to do it. It was nice also to get to visit with some friends that I don't get to see very often too. So, here's my tiny little start on Be Mine.

The rest of the evenings last week I decided to pick up my Where My Heart Blooms piece and work on it a bit. I've been stitching on that border and it's really coming along. Lots of progress since I last showed an update. I love love love stitching with the Belle Soie, and if only the dyelots weren't such a problem, I would stitch a lot more with it.

And finally, on Saturday after my 5k, I decided that I was in need of a good amount of couch time. So I started my new sampler (the one I've been teasing about). This is the Scottish Sampler by Needleprint that was in the Goodhart book. I fell in love with it when I first bought the book and decided to finally gather up the fabric and threads to stitch it.

Isn't it lovely? It's very delicate looking with those little curlicues. I'm stitching this with DMC on 36ct Lambswool. It's my first time stitching on Lambswool, and so far I'm loving it. The whole top portion of the sampler is all done in green and gold, so it's going to be awhile before the colors get interesting. I think this piece gets more interesting the further down you get on it. You can see a photo of the original here. I'm so happy to finally be stitching on another reproduction sampler (and an A&E to boot!). I think I'll probably continue on with this piece a bit more this week. It's too pretty to put down.

Well, I'm off to see what I can get into on this Monday morning. Have a great week!

I am grateful for my husband bringing me icepacks for my back all weekend. He takes good care of me!

Sweetheart

2010-08-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

Sweetheart Sampler Stocking
BBD
30ct St. Valentine's Blend by R&R
GAST Cherry Bark
Finished 7/30/10

Look, another finish! After finishing Margaret Pence, I decided to pick this little stocking back up that I had started right after Romeo died. It made me feel really good to have a quick little finish on this. And since Romeo was my little sweetheart, this stocking will for sure remind me of him. I only have one more of the February stockings to stitch. You may remember I stitched February's Violets in remembrance of my grandmother's birthday last year. So, I may decide to just go ahead and start that other stocking here soon. They are such fun little stitches, and so colorful. I love this St. Valentine's fabric, it has the slightest pink hue to it that really looks so pretty with the Cherry Bark thread.

After finishing up the stocking on Friday night, I decided to pick my Anniversaries of the Heart piece back up. This piece is giving me such fits. I had issues starting and then set it aside, then I decided to pick it back up, stitched on it all weekend (got farther than this photo shows) and then spent all night last night ripping out everything I'd stitched since Friday. Bummer. There was no way to fudge it since my mistake was in the bottom border, which has to line up since I'm stitching these all together on one piece of fabric. I really wish I could get a better photo of this, but like I said, this piece is giving me trouble.

And I had thought I would start my new piece this weekend, I pulled together my fabric and threads. I'm missing a few threads, which I didn't think was a big deal, but when I sat down to stitch, they were the two threads I really needed to start. Nice. So, no new start this weekend. But, here's a little sneak peek. I'm missing a blue, a couple of greens and another gold.

So, other than my finish, stitching was kind of a bust this weekend. Oh well, maybe I can find a new groove this week.

Until next time, happy stitching!

I am grateful for my sweetheart.

Under the Apple Tree

2010-07-27T10:17:00.004-05:00

Take note, at 11:15pm last night I finished something. And not just any something...I finished Margaret Pence. Hard to believe, I know. I really loved stitching on this piece. And I sure do love that big fat snake. He is supermassive!

I do wish my photos were better, but I was too excited to show her off to wait for better light.

Margaret Pence 1781
Goode Huswife
DMC on 36ct Meadow Rue
Started 6/17/10 Finished 7/26/10

I love this piece, and I'm so happy to have another A&E in my finished pile (that makes two!). Now, on to the next. You'll have to stay in suspense just a little while longer.

I am grateful for the early birthday gift that inspired me to start this piece.

Eve

2010-07-19T10:58:00.002-05:00

So there I was stitching along on Margaret Pence. I stitched up Eve and then stitched the apple in her hand. Of course, without the tree that she's plucking it from, she just looks like she's holding this apple up saying "Ta Da!". It made me giggle a bit so I had to snap a photo.

It made so much more sense when I got that tree stitched in there.

I'm working on the serpent now and should have him filled in before too long. Then I'll move on to Adam.

I'm already planning what I'm going to stitch next. I think I've settled on a new project - one that I haven't seen very many people stitching on.

No movie watching this weekend, but we did finish up Season 1 of Rome. It's quite good and I'm looking forward to Season 2.

I am grateful for a visit with my mom and purple polish on my toes.

In the Pink

2010-07-14T19:53:00.003-05:00

I recently won a giveaway on Terri's blog and it arrived in all its pink glory. Look at the envelope it arrived in that the wrapped goodies are sitting on even!

The giveaway was for this sweet Hello Kitty pendant that Terri made. Of course I love it and was ecstatic to find out that she was coming to live with me!!! Terri even made a little extension so that I can use her as a fob if I want. She is so sparkly and fun!

And if that wasn't enough, Terri included these fun Hello Kitty extras too! I can't wait to whip these out at my next staff meeting. (just kidding) (maybe) How could Terri know that I have a thing for colored pencils? Well, I actually have a thing for office supplies in general...but art supplies specifically. Love these!

But before I could be Hello Kitty'ed out, Terri sent something for the stitcher in me too. Look at the gorgeous pin cushion tin she sent. And inside it has these sweet little spools of thread. It's like a little self-contained sewing kit. I love love love this!

Terri, I can't thank you enough my sweet friend! Now, I'm off to make a list on my new notepad...

I am grateful for Terri's generosity and for pink Hello Kitty necklaces!

(Apparently, I should also be grateful for exclamation points, huh? - Post count:10

Crash and Burn

2010-07-12T16:18:00.003-05:00

Ever have one of those weeks where you think it's all going just dandy and then it all hits the fan from out of nowhere? Yeah, that's where we're at. Downhill descent started last Thursday at work and made impact today (again at work) with a whole lot of nonsense in between. I'd thought yesterday was the point of impact, but I was wrong. Awesome.

So, let's talk stitching, shall we? As you can see from my progress above on Margaret Pence, I was able to sit down and put more than five stitches in at a time. In fact, I made so much progress on this Friday night and Saturday that I hated to put it down. You can see my last progress photo in the post below. A lot a lot, huh? I need to finish my birds and put some little doodads on the fruit, but then that tree is done and I will move over to the other tree.

Like I said, I was on such a roll with Margaret Pence, that I hated to set her aside, but I decided to get out And They Sinned on Sunday. I think I mentioned that the last time I worked on this I finished up the left hand side of the cloud. So, yesterday I started in on the right side. I've got a little mistake that I'm trying to allow for in my cloud, and hopefully it will all come out right. But, that's why I started tent stitching my outline, so that I could make sure everything was lining up correctly. I think I made good progress on this yesterday too and hated to put it away last night.

So, anyway... I made good progress on two pieces this weekend and enjoyed them both. I finally felt like I was able to stitch, which was a good thing. Regardless of the fact that all manner of shenanigans were going on, I had a pretty good weekend. And please just use your imagination on making these photos the correct color - I cannot take or edit photos early in the morning to save my life.

Ok, that's it for me today. I may work on Margaret P a little more this evening if I don't decide to hole up with the 700 page book I need to have read by Friday. Did I mention I'm on like page 50?

I am grateful for some great advice.

Neon Green Asteroids

2010-07-06T10:11:00.004-05:00

Ahhhh, so nice to have a long holiday weekend to relax! As you can see, Eric and I went out to see the fireworks on the 4th. You can see more about our weekend here, if you're interested. And other than going out to see the fireworks, we really had nothing else planned. We decided to stay in out of the heat and catch up on some movie watching.

Of course, I decided to catch up on some stitching too. Friday night while we finished watching Season 2 of True Blood, I stitched on Margaret Pence. Then I ripped out everything I'd just stitched and stitched it again in the right spot. So, not a whole lot of progress to show.

The rest of the weekend, I decided to choose a focus project since I knew I was going to be investing a good amount of time in stitch ass. In honor of the 4th, I chose (with some help) to stitch on the outside of my Catherine Theron Americana Sewing Roll. The last time you saw it was after our class at Seminar... here. And after seeing the state of Sylvia's, I decided I'd better get on it!

Even after having to rip out two whole rows last night and restitch them, I think I made excellent progress (apparently I cannot watch Angelina Jolie shooting guns and concentrate on my stitching). After I finish the row I'm on, I only have four more to go. Then I can start the fill in.

Of course, Eric kept looking at what I was working on and could not figure out what in the world I was stitching. I showed him the photo of what it will look like and he was still not convinced that it would all come together. He said it looked like the game Asteroids. Neon green Asteroids specifically. I wonder if maybe he was thinking of Galaga? It does bear some resemblence...

So, fireworks, seven movies plus a Star Wars marathon, some excellent food and neon green asteroids...a wonderful weekend!

Oh, and I've recently finished reading my first book of the Summer, if you'd like to see my post on it you can see it here.

I am grateful for a fantastic weekend at home with my husband. And yummy food too!

Where I Was Last Night

2010-07-01T09:50:00.002-05:00

In case you couldn't have guessed what I've been up to.

I am grateful for a fantastic night.

Hexalicious

2010-06-28T09:12:00.003-05:00

I've been struggling with my stitching this past week, not really feeling up to working on anything. So, I decided to do something completely different (I always hear John Cleese's voice when I say that). For a LONG while now, I've been wanting to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden, or hexagon, quilt. I was first inspired by the very talented Be*Mused and her Kaffe Fasset hexagons in 2006. How stunning are they?! And her more recent rendition of them is gorgeous too - a lot more pattern to them, smaller size and two rounds of "petals" for her flowers. Since 2006, I've been determined that I would make a similar quilt. I just loved the colors, loved it on the black, loved it period. I watched videos on how to make hexagons and even ordered some templates in a couple of different sizes. I think I bought 1" and 2" hexagons. But, then...nothing.

Recently, with the re-emergence of the hexagon hoopla, I decided I definitely need to finally take the plunge. Of course, my first thought went to needing to go out and and buy tons of pretty fabric, buy some new templates, etc. But, I'd been thinking about it for so long, that I couldn't seem to get up the nerve to spend a big chunk of change on some fabric. What if I didn't like it? What if I couldn't find what I wanted? What if I hated hexagon making? So, again, I did nothing.

But, with the need for something mindless to occupy my hands, I decided to just do it already. I pulled out my jelly roll of Moda Madeira by Blackbird Designs. I had purchased this in the tin and used the tin and part of my jelly roll for my Jane Timmers class back last September. My original intention for the remaining jelly roll was to make the quilt pattern that came with the tin. But, again, it would require buying additional fabric for the background, borders and backing. So, my jelly roll had been sitting in the closet with no use. What better use than to make hexagons? I downloaded the free hexagon template from Texas Freckles thanks to Siobhan's direction. So, no additional money spent, all supplies on hand and voila I was in Hexagon Heaven.

I spent all day Saturday making hexagons. And by the end of the day, I had forty. That was all the templates I'd cut out, so I thought it was a good stopping point. So much fun though.

And you know what, even if I only make a little wall-hanging and not a full-size quilt with these, I really enjoyed every minute of making them. I will definitely be making more as soon as I cut out some more templates. I'm so glad I took the plunge, and I think it maybe was a bit therapeutic too. I found myself able to read a bit over the weekend, and I enjoyed that. And I even enjoyed a bit of stitching.

I was inspired by this tree at Seminar...

So, I decided to pull out the supplies for one of the February BBD stockings that I had on hand. This one seemed to be pretty mindless, with no color changes, so it was a good choice. This is Sweetheart Sampler from the February stockings. I'm stitching with the recommended GAST Cherry Bark on 30ct St. Valentine's Blend by R&R. I love the combination. So pretty.

Yesterday, I actually pulled out And They Sinned to work on, as is the Sunday tradition. I'm working along on the left side of the cloud, which is mostly mindless stitching. I stitched on it all afternoon and evening, and managed to finish the left side. I did send a progress photo to my PIC (partner in crime) to prove that I had actually worked on it, since I've been such a slacker with it lately. I came really close to sending her a photo of Missy's ATS and saying "look how much I've gotten done!" but then I decided that she might actually recognize Missy's brilliance and call me on it. I just lack filling in the little motifs in that left side of the cloud and it is completely finished. Then, I promise to post a progress photo (yes, my own progress photo).

I am grateful for handwork.

Meandering

2010-06-21T12:28:00.000-05:00

First of all, I need to answer some questions I received in the comments on my last post. The pendant is about 1 1/2" square. It is a little fiddly to get your piece and your scrapbook paper to sit straight in the pendant, but not too bad because the pendant is hinged, so you can open it up like a locket, lay your piece in and then close it. And I did stitch the piece in full crosses, not tent stitch, over one on 36ct. It's not really as hard as it sounds.

Secondly, I spent some time yesterday updating my list of stash for sale. Please take a look if you're interested. (I always have a link in my sidebar too, so you don't have to come back to this post.)

And now, on to the stitching. I've jumped around quite a bit on my stitching since coming back from Seminar, as you're about to see. I have worked some on Where My Heart Blooms, as you can see above. I love this piece more every time I work on it. It is going to be gorgeous in our bedroom when it's finished.

I've also been wanting to start on Blackbird Designs' Anniversaries of the Heart series for awhile now. Right after Market, I ordered a piece of fabric to stitch the whole series on. I went with 40ct, and I believe it is Examplar. The photo above shows the color of the fabric pretty accurately, whereas the photo below? Who knows? Anyway...just a tiny start.

And finally, prompted by a surprise delivery from the postman last week (which I will share closer to the actual event), I decided that having finished my first A&E another one was in order. This is Margaret Pence by Goode Huswife. I've been wanting to stitch this one for awhile, and finally just pulled out my fabric and threads and got started. I'm using DMC on 36ct Meadow Rue. You're going to have to start calling me the Queen of Meadow Rue, because it's also what I'm stitching Where My Heart Blooms on. I am getting a lot of mileage out of the piece I have!

I'm having fun stitching on Margaret though. Actually, I've been enjoying stitching on all of the above. And let me tell you, my new project bag is coming in really handy with all the different things I'm working on!

I just wanted to take a minute too to thank all of you for your kind words about Romeo. It's been rather difficult, and it really means a lot to me how many of you left comments and shared your own experiences. I really really appreciate it.

I am grateful for a husband who takes such good care of me.

Ebony and Ivory

2010-06-18T13:35:00.000-05:00

Prior to Seminar, I worked on stitching up a gift for another friend's birthday. Her birthday was the day before Seminar, so I brought her gift with me to the hotel. She loves black and white, so I decided I would stitch one of the Quaker Pendants from Milady's Needle in that color scheme.

I used black NPI on 36 count Attic Lace, over one. I really thought this design was stunning in the stark contrast of the black and white.

Once stitched, the piece is placed in one of the pendant frames also from Milady's Needle with a small piece of scrapbook paper behind the stitched piece.

I think she loved her gift, and when she wore it on Friday with a black and white outfit she coincidentally brought with her, she received lots of compliments on the pendant. Now, I may have to make one for myself in black...hmm...

I am grateful for having time to stitch.

Strawberries and Apples

2010-06-15T12:47:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I went to the EGA South Central Region Seminar that was held here in Dallas with two of my stitching friends. It was hard to imagine that Seminar was finally here, since we'd signed up for this thing a year ago! We took both of Catherine Theron's classes, and our three days with her were wonderful. As you can see above, the desserts weren't bad either.

And when we arrived at the hotel, Sylvia presented the two of us with these gorgeous project bags she made, and since ours and hers were matching, she also added a beautiful little hornbook with our initial on the zipper pull to tell them apart. How sweet is that?! Inside the project bag was a roll of several different linens from her recent trip. I can't wait to find something to stitch on them! What a great way to start off our time together.

The first two days of the seminar we had Catherine's My Peaceable Kingdom class. What a gorgeous piece. And it has so many specialty stitches there's no way you can get bored with this piece. Plus the colors are luscious. I was quite proud of myself that I got a good bit of my border done in class. The vine is done in longarm cross and diagonal stitches. The strawberries are done in smyrnas. Aren't they pretty?

On our third day, we took Catherine's Americana Sewing Roll class. I spent the better part of the day working on the Florentine stitch for the outside of the piece.

It was good to get away for a few days and not have to think about anything but stitching. When I got home, I finished up a little piece that Romeo had been helping me with by being my lap buddy.

This is a Miniature Adam & Eve done in Au Ver A Soie on 40ct linen. I think the finished size is about two inches square.

I am grateful for my friends.

A Gift of Time

2010-06-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

Recently, a dear friend had a birthday and I wanted to make something special for her. As busy as we all are, I found the perfect freebie from Primitive Bettys called "Time". Who couldn't use a little time? She loves purple, so I chose Weeks Concord on 30ct Alabaster by R&R. I loved the combination. I decided to make the piece into a needlebook, because of course any extra time we have we want to use it for stitching, right?

The fabric I used for the inside and back of the needlebook is from one of the first quilts I ever made. And it is one of my favorite and well-loved fabrics.

And I made a little pocket in the back to hold those little extra somethings.

Originally, I had thought of using a ribbon closure, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of this being a little reminiscent of days gone by. I found a button in my collection of my grandmother's buttons and it seemed to fit perfectly. I made a little loop out of cording from the Concord thread.

I love that it's a little book-like, kind of old looking and made with things I had collected. I hope it serves its purpose well.

Sweet Sorrow

2010-06-09T13:18:00.004-05:00

I hardly know what to say. Romeo was brought into my life by chance fourteen years ago and he left us yesterday. I believe I named him aptly, for no soul was ever sweeter or more unconditionally loving. His presence is missed in each moment that passes and I am lost without it.

"Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night,

And pay no worship to the garish sun."

Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene ii

The Return of Miss Bean

2010-06-05T14:48:00.003-05:00

I am going to spoil you with how often I've posted this week. Don't get used to it! But, there's just so much to show! As I mentioned in my last post, we had our Secret Stitcher reveal at guild on Tuesday. I've already shown you what I stitched for my Secret Stitcher, now I need to show you what my Secret Stitcher stitched for me. Look at that beautiful pincushion! Does she know me or what? She stitched Jenny Bean's Pin Tuffet and included the pretty pins that go with it. I was flabbergasted when I opened the bag. If I hadn't been wearing heels, I would have run around the room shouting "Jenny Bean! Jenny Bean!" or I could have broken out in song...whichever. I love the little changes she made to it - adding "TRSG" and our initials along with the year. What a perfect way to remember my first Secret Stitcher!

And just to show you how lovely this is, I thought I'd show it with the original Miss Bean in all her Halloween fabulosity. Don't they make a lovely pair? And of course, I'm sure you remember that Jenny Bean's sampler was my favorite thing to stitch on ever. I think the only thing that comes close the Primitive Needle's Earth Sampler. I love that one too. But choosing the Jenny companion was a spot on decision.

And you may also remember the beautiful piece my Secret Stitcher gave me in February. This is With My Needle by Heartstrings Samplery finished into a flat-fold. The gorgeousness abounds. And I love again that she's included "TRSG" and the year. Such a keepsake.

I can definitely say that my Secret Stitcher spoiled me this year. I am too happy for words.

Back soon because I still have more to show you. Crazy, huh? When it rains...

I am grateful for air conditioning. Holy Cannoli it is hot here.

Secret Stitching

2010-06-03T12:07:00.003-05:00

This past year at guild I signed up to take part in the Secret Stitcher program for the first time. We eached stitched two pieces for our Secret Stitcher, one in February and one for June. As I mentioned in my last post, I spent a portion of my holiday weekend doing the finishing on the June piece for my Secret Stitcher. We revealed our identities on Tuesday night, and now I can finally share with you all what I've been working on.

My Secret Stitcher loves birds, and so I wanted both pieces I stitched for her to reflect that. For June I chose to stitch BBD's Bluebird and finished it into a pincushion. I stitched with GAST Uniform Blue on 30ct Olde Town Blend by R&R. I included her initial too.

I filled it with crushed walnut shells and found this beautiful fabric for the back. I am definitely going to be stitching this one again for myself. I think I can squeeze it onto my leftover Olde Town Blend. I hope so!

And since I didn't get to show you the other piece I stitched for her back in February, here it is! Along with birds she also loves winter, so what could be more perfect than a block from Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings?

I really wish this was a better photo, but I was taking the photo at 11 o'clock the night before this piece was due. Learned my lesson on procrastinating and gave myself a lot more time on the more recent gift (see how much better the photos are!!!). But, I think you can still tell how beautiful and delicate this piece turned out to be as an individual block. I love it! I used DMC along with the Thread Gatherer Silk n Color Mint Frost. And that Mint Frost silk is the perfect color for snow...I bought two skeins of it so that when I get around to stitching CaHRH, I'll have my skeins. I used 36ct Meadow Rue for the fabric and I think the color was a good choice. The pine cone and the pine needles were a lot of fun to stitch.

But, as all of you who have ever stitched one of these Hawk Run Hollow pieces know - those blocks are deceiving. What seems like a simple stitch turns into a much bigger project than you envisioned. So, in my defense, I thought I'd left myself plenty of time to stitch this. But, wow, I underestimated - big time!

I ended up finishing the piece into a pillow, I thought it would be something fun for her to have out during winter. The brown background fabric is what I used on the back of the pillow.

So those are my two stitched pieces for my Secret Stitcher. I need to show you the gorgeous gorgeous piece I received from my Secret Stitcher as well - next time. And there's a birthday gift that needs revealing too. So many things to show you!!! I'll be back soon with more.

I am grateful for being at home with Eric on a Wednesday night.

Long Weekend

2010-06-01T10:11:00.005-05:00

I'm sure you're dying to know what I did with an extra day this weekend - no studying to do, nowhere to go, no plans. Let me start by saying, it was so nice! Since the cottonwood is floating all around in the air and messing with my allergies, I did try to spend as much of the weekend indoors as possible. I went for my three mile walk on Saturday though, and it was good to get back into that habit.

Eric and I did spend a fair amount of time just enjoying each other's company and working our way through some videotapes that have been piled up next to the tv for who knows how long. Of course they are unmarked, so it was quite entertaining to take the one off the top of the pile and wait to see what was on it. So....we watched the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. The 2008 Summer Olympics. Yeah. We also watched the MTV Movie Awards from 2009, the ACMs from 2008 (Kenny Chesney won Entertainer of the Year in case you missed it and were wondering) and the CMAs from 2009, I think. Oh, and there was a random tv movie in there too called The Last Templar. Of course, they showed it over two nights, and the second night it was preempted for the Stanley Cup, so we only saw the first half. Oh well. But, we made it through our pile of videotapes and were highly amused by what we found.

I also spent an afternoon doing the finishing on a couple of gifts that I hope to be able to show you in a few days. They both came out how I envisioned and I was very pleased by that, especially since my finishing skills leave something to be desired.

While Eric and I were watching all this great tv, I did some stitching too. As you can see above, I worked on Where My Heart Blooms a bit. I finally finished up that house and then the grass beneath it. Then I stitched that little plant to the right of it no less than four times. Don't ask. U also stitched on And They Sinned a bit as well, but didn't think you wanted to see more cloud. I'll post a progress photo when it gets interesting.

I also managed to finish a book this weekend. That's two weekends in a row I've finished a book. Yay me. I decided to re-read Eclipse before the movie comes out at the end of June. Plus the Bree Tanner book is coming out on the 5th. And I have to say, I enjoyed Eclipse just as much (maybe more) the second time as I did the first time I read it. And what did I pick up to read next? Water for Elephants. Really looking forward to that one.

So that's what I've been up to for the most part. It's guild night tonight and I am looking forward to giving my second Secret Stitcher gift as well as the revealing of the Secret Stitchers. I can't wait to find out who stitched this gorgeous piece for me. Until next time!

I am grateful for reconnecting with the most important person in my life.

Finishing

2010-05-26T20:44:00.006-05:00

So, my coursework is done. I am working on getting the certification exam scheduled...but there is much red tape to cut through on that one. That leaves me in a bit of a limbo state for now. But my breathing is coming slightly easier already. Thank goodness. And since I'm starting to think about life after school, I've piled up a few projects on my craft table that are needing some attention.

A few months ago I stitched up my nametag for guild (yeah, I've only been a member a year and a half, I figured it was time). Of course, I've just cleverly (yes, I stole this idea) folded it to fit in the plastic holder that came with my fabric and threads to make it. But, with something fun fun fun on the horizon in which I might want to wear my nametag, I decided it's probably time to actually finish the thing. I think I've found the perfect beautiful red fabric (in my stash) for the backing. I also dug out the gorgeous black Swarovski crystals that I bought at the Gem & Jewelry show last spring that were intended to be the hanger for my nametag. Now, all that's lacking is the actual finishing. Any suggestions on what to do for the edging around the piece? I plan to finish it like an ornament, but can't decide if I want to use cording or not.

I've also got some other timely stitching that needs to be completed. One of those items being my Secret Stitcher gift. I'll be glad when June is here so I can share my two stitched pieces for my SS.

And I've also pulled out some supplies for a piece I've been wanting to stitch for awhile. Just a little something. But how can you resist these pretties???

So, many projects are swirling about in my head now that there's room for them. I can't wait to get started.

I am grateful for the creativity coming back.

Silver Lining

2010-05-17T09:55:00.004-05:00

Well, all I can say is that I am grateful last week is over. I took my final exam on Friday and did well. All that remains is scheduling and taking my certification exam. But that final exam studying required me to lock myself away completely the previous weekend as well as all throughout last week. Thank goodness it is done. I gave myself a break this weekend and relaxed. Today, the studying begins anew, as I'm hoping to get my certification exam scheduled for later this week.

I took full advantage of my "weekend off" though. Friday, I continued stitching on my Secret Stitcher piece. I almost have the stitching done, and I think the finishing will be very quick once I do. I will work on getting the finishing done this weekend. Unfortunately, of course, I can't show it to you! But, trust me, it's pretty. I'm trying to figure out how to stitch one for myself on the leftover fabric.

Saturday, I decided to go visit my parents. I'd had to take a raincheck last week on Mother's Day, due to studying for my final. So, I spent the afternoon with them and watched the Preakness. What fun. I'm a little sad that Super Saver didn't win, but I think he was pretty tired out still from the Derby.

Sunday, I spent with my nose stuck in the book I started on Friday, one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books. But, when I was able to pull myself away from it, Eric and I caught up on episodes of America: The Story of Us that has been on the History Channel. It's really good, if you get a chance to catch any of the episodes. We're up to the Civil War now. But, it was a welcome and rare afternoon that the two of us could spend just watching some tv and enjoying each other's company. We probably would have made it through more episodes, but we kept stopping it to talk about Eric's ancestors on the Mayflower or discuss Jamestown, etc. So fun!

While we watched our shows, I decided to pull out the much-neglected And They Sinned to stitch on. When last we left our heroine, Fred and George had joined her but were running the risk of getting clubbed on their little heads. Now, Fred is getting surrounded by the cloud. I hope he's not claustrophobic.

I'm pretty happy with how much I managed to get done on that cloud in one afternoon. I'll have to go back and fill in the motifs once I get a little farther. I probably could have gotten a little more done, but I may have gotten distracted by watching Oprah's Twilight show on the DVR while Eric was out at a photography class last night. But, I'm not admitting to anything.

Oh, and where did I get that beautiful scissor fob I have there? Why, thank you for asking! You may remember a few years ago, I participated in a Neighborhood Round Robin with several lovely ladies. Over the weekend, I received a stunning surprise in the mail. Kathy had sent me this gorgeous beaded scissor fob as a thank you for stitching on her RR. Such a sweetheart!! If you want to see the lighthouse block I stitched for her up close and personal, you can see it here. But, don't miss clicking over to Kathy's blog to see her RR completely finished! I love how she finished it into a pillow.

So, that's it for me today. I'm sure I've talked your ear off, but honestly it feels so good to have had a little break.

I am grateful for a relaxing weekend and being almost done with school.

Turning

2010-05-05T17:37:00.003-05:00

Stitching is non-existent right now, unfortunately. In fact, reading (other than my trusty CAPM/PMP Exam Guide) is non-existent right now too. But, occasionally there is a little mini vacation in the middle of this long boat ride through the river Styx. A while back, I signed up to take a needleturn applique class with a very good friend of mine, anticipating that it would be a great way to celebrate being done with school. (Ok the fact that I am still not done with school makes that entire sentence right there suck.) But, nonetheless we spent Saturday at our applique class as scheduled.

Back in 2002 when I took my beginning quilting class, I was taught to applique via the freezer paper method, not needleturn. So, needleturn has been one of those things I've been promising myself I would learn. So, when the class was suggested, I jumped at the opportunity to spend a day with my friend learning a new technique. Our class was good, and I think I got the hang of it after a little while. Our class piece was learning to applique a heart onto some background fabric. I didn't get a whole lot done in class.

But, I came home Saturday night and went right back to work on it. I was able to finish it up that night and viola, I have a slightly asymetrical appliqued heart. Not bad for a first try, I think.

Our class piece is basically just the heart appliqued on our background fabric and then borders out of that black sunflower fabric will be sewn on later. I should have enough of the fabric for backing too.

I was feeling so confident of my newly acquired skillz that I decided to pull out a long-lost applique project. You may remember?

I had begun collecting fabrics a while back to do the Bunny Hill "A Tisket A Tasket" blocks. I had cut out freezer paper templates for my applique pieces even in preparation. But, after attempting to teach myself needleturn applique and attempting to sew down that basket base three times, I gave up.

But on Sunday night, I thought I'd give it another shot.

I managed to get my basket completely appliqued (sorry no photo), but I appliqued it perfectly crooked on my background fabric. So, I'm thinking I may detach it one last time and try again with a little tip from my quilting angels.

But, I'm happy with what I learned in class and I can't wait to work on my basket some more. Of course, it may be awhile before that happens, but it will give me something to look forward to.

Do you think it's too soon to start planning on making this basket quilt?

I am grateful for a lovely spring day sewing with a wonderful friend for company. (And the Mexican food was good too!)

Beacon

2010-04-26T09:25:00.003-05:00

It was a busy weekend for sure this weekend. Saturday I got up early and went for my usual three mile walk, went to Target and bought a couple of tank tops, had an appointment with my aesthetician, repotted some plants for my kitchen window (so happy with how they turned out in some pretty new pots), gave Romeo a bath, baked some cookies, and then finally sat down to watch some West Wing with Eric. Whew! I decided to work on my Mystery Sampler again. This is a piece by Papillon Creations that was in the Gift of Stitching back in 2006. It was charted for Vikki Clayton silks, which I am using and I'm stitching it on 32 count Silkweaver Sandcastle. I actually started this in March of 2007. Hopefully that answers all the questions you may have had! Anyway, I really love this piece - the colors are vibrant and it has a mix of cross-stitch and specialty stitches. I'm working on part 3 now (there are five parts), and I've almost hit the bottom corner. It's just really a fun stitch.

On Sunday, I did my normal house cleaning and laundry, as well as brushing both cats and clipping their nails. Two of my girlfriends came over for a stitching afternoon, which was thoroughly enjoyable. I of course did more talking than stitching, but I did manage to get the motif with the Q finished.

While they were there, I did a little show and tell of some of my WIPs. There was one piece that they both insisted I get out and work on immediately. So, after dinner, Eric and I sat down to watch more West Wing and I did as they suggested.

Anybody remember this piece? I was surprised, actually, when I got it out that Eric said "wow, I haven't seen that in awhile". Most of the time he pays no attention to what I'm stitching, so it was kind of a shocker for him to make that comment. I stitched most of that little lighthouse on the shore last night, but my head started hurting (I'd been wrestling with a migraine all weekend), so I laid my stitching aside after a little while. But, oh, how can I resist stitching this beautiful piece? The silks and the colors are just luscious. I'm glad I was given some not so gentle nudging to get this piece back out. And, I was shocked to see that the fabric I'm using for this is Picture This Plus. I thought my first and only experience with PTP was Earth Sampler. But, no wonder I love this piece so much - it's on a gorgeous piece of Sterling by PTP.

So, that's it for my weekend stitching. It will be so nice when I can stitch more than just on the weekends. But, I am enjoying what I'm stitching nonetheless. And thanks to the ~~suggestion~~ insistence that I get out that pretty piece again, I think I've fallen in love with an old favorite.

I am grateful for an afternoon with friends.

Snakes on a Plane!

2010-04-19T13:19:00.002-05:00

It's Monday again and time for another update. Since the weekends are pretty much the only stitching time I have, it seems to make sense to provide a little weekly update on Mondays. And really, anything to make Mondays better is a good thing. So...look what I did yesterday. Snakes! With spots! Of course it looks like those putti are about to conk them on their little heads with their batons, but still...they are pretty cool. I think I will name them Fred and George (the snakes, that is). And I thought I'd show you a little perspective on how small this is on 40ct by putting my brand spanking new scissors in the photo. Yay for snakes. Next time I will either do a little more on my border or get started on the infamous UFO-inducing cloud. I figure if I can get past that cloud, I will be home-free so to speak. Love this piece. It's so bright and colorful. I'm stitching with the recommended GAST. Oh, and someone asked on a previous post about how many skeins to buy - in the chart it does tell you which colors you need multiple skeins of and how many. So, when I ordered my thread, I made sure to order the recommended amount of each color (I think there's only a couple of threads that require multiple skeins). Since I'm stitching on 40ct rather than the recommended 35, I probably won't need everything I bought, but I wanted to be on the safe side just in case!!

So, what else did I do this weekend? Well, on Friday night I flailed around trying to pick up something I wanted to work on and nothing was really calling to me. I finally decided I would stitch on WMHB again, in an attempt to do some mindless fill-in of the side of the house. I didn't get very far and finally just gave up and did nothing.

On Saturday, something happened. Suddenly, I was in the mood to stitch and suddenly the book I'm reading for my book club got interesting. It was like the sun came out (which ironically it didn't, as it started raining Saturday morning). But, for some reason on Saturday it seemed like everything came together for me. So, Saturday night I stitched on my Mystery Sampler a bit more. I finished the M and went to work on the next motif. Eric and I went out Saturday night, so that was all I could get accomplished in the few hours I was home. Love this piece so much.

And Saturday during the day, what was I doing then, you might ask? Well, my guild had a tea to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I've posted about the tea over here. Last weekend, I may have mentioned, I was helping to put together the goody bags for the tea. Well, of course, I was pleased as punch to bring home my very own goody bag on Saturday after seeing all the, well, goodies. Each person got a kit for an anniversary tin designed by our own Gloria of Milady's Needle. We also received a handmade bookmark and the item below in the blue paper tied with a ribbon held tea. Another person made felt Tudor Rose scissor fobs and needlebooks and also included a little bag of Jelly Bellies. There were also some freebie charts that designers had donated.

You may be asking yourself about the chart and the scissors in that photo. Well, designers from all over and local needlework shops donated items for our guild to use as door prizes. I ended up coming home with the Adam & Eve chart and the gorgeous matte black Dovo scissors (which are also in my ATS photo at the top of this post). So generous!

The tea was wonderful and I had a great time. Another full weekend! So, until next time...thanks for stopping by!

I am grateful for my needlework guild and all the members who make it wonderful.

Tesoro

2010-04-13T13:53:00.003-05:00

Over the weekend I was a bit restless. And with our fourth anniversary on my mind (you can see a post on that here), I decided to pull out an old WIP to work on. This is Tesori d'Italia. Some of you may remember that I started this piece with the intention of giving it to Eric for our second anniversary. Yes, we are now at four and I'm still working on it. I love this piece so much, except for the border. That border I am not overly fond of. It seems so simple and quick, but when you realize that you have to go up and down that small stretch of landscape that you're working on five times, it doesn't look so simple anymore. That is probably why I stalled out on it after completing several of the inner blocks rather quickly. The photo above shows what the whole thing looks like after I started working on that corner on Saturday. Each block has accents of gold metallic in it, which you really can't see in the photo above, but can see a little bit of in this photo.

This is where I left it on Sunday afternoon. You can see I still have a way to go on the border, but it's getting there. These corners just require a lot of stitching. Thank goodness there are only four! I'd really like to work this back into my regular stitching again, because it is such a stunning piece that deserves to be finished and hanging on the wall. I am stitching this with DMC on white linen.

I wasn't in the mood for ATS this weekend, and WMHB wasn't holding my attention either. So, Sunday night when I needed to find something I could stitch in front of you-know-who I decided to pull out another old WIP, the Mystery Sampler by Papillon Creations that was in the Gift of Stitching magazine...a long long time ago.

Excuse my blurry and rather dark photo. This is what the piece looked like when I picked it back up to start stitching. I've finished parts one and two and am now moving on to part three. I stitched about fifteen stitches on the M when I put it down. Again, my restlessness set in and I didn't end up doing anymore stitching. I'm stitching this on Silkweaver Sandcastle with HDF silks. Really a lovely stitch, but I just couldn't focus.

So, that's it for me. Hope you're all having a lovely week.

I am grateful for learning to "dial it down". Thanks, my friend.

New Beginnings

2010-04-05T09:43:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we had a lovely spring weekend here. I do love this time of year, and of course with our anniversary coming up this week and Easter this past Sunday I always think of being in Rome. Maybe one day we'll go back. But aside from some family time and an amazing pre-anniversary dinner this weekend, I did manage to squeeze in some stitching time too.

Where My Heart Blooms is moving along, slowly but surely. I mindlessly worked on the side of my house. I have been watching that show on Friday nights called "Who Do You Think You Are?". I am finding it so fascinating. Of course, Eric and my father are both knee-deep in genealogy, and I've done some research on my own family too (prior to my dad taking it over). So, it really is interesting to see these shows. Plus, with it being Census time, and having done research by looking into the Census Records, I'm very excited to fill ours out and be counted. If you haven't filled yours out yet, please do it! Anyway, I'd finally convinced Eric to watch the show with me, but our DVR thinks it is smarter than we are and didn't record the new episode on Friday. I was so disappointed, because I really wanted to see Brooke Shields, since she goes to Rome to research her family history. Well, Eric to the rescue, he was able to find the show online and we watched it through our tv last night - how cool is that??? It was a good show, and not only did I get to see a bit of Rome, but also Villa Torlonia, which Eric and I had actually been to while we were there! It's all making me want to get out my Tesori d'Italia again and work on it asap! But, for now...here's WMHB...

I also worked on bit on ATS on Saturday. I knew I probably wouldn't have time for it on Sunday, so I got my weekly stitching in a day early. This is a horrible photo because I didn't take it off the scroll frame to photograph it. Just use your imagination that it's a better photo. I finally got both of those pikes done, which was a good stopping point. The tops of them remind me of the Tin Man's funnel hat. But, I digress... Next week - SNAKES!

So, that's it for me. I hope to have an anniversary post up on the other blog later this week, if you're interested. Enjoy your week!

I am grateful for a romantic dinner and memories of Italy.

Deep Breath

2010-03-30T16:47:00.003-05:00

So, I realize things have been a little quiet around here. I'll get to why in a minute. But, first let me say how much I appreciate everyone who stops by to read my blog, even if you don't comment. I must be doing something right, since I've just topped 100 followers. That just rocks my world, seriously. Especially since over the last two years, the stitching and blogging have become seriously hampered by the whole working full time and going to school thing. But, you guys have stuck with me. That means a lot. So...on with the show.

I didn't get to stitch as much as I would've liked this weekend, but I did stitch a little. I made some good progress on WMHB. I got the front of the house filled in and I've moved on to the side. It's really coming along. I love this piece, and I can't wait to see more of it emerge.

I also worked on ATS a tiny little bit on Sunday. I finished up that star I was almost done with and got started on the pikes on either side of the angel. The left-hand pike is almost done. Not really worth a progress pic, but hopefully this weekend will bring some more stitching time on it.

I realize I've been remiss in sharing my latest reads with you. A couple of weeks ago I went to my book club for March. The selection for March was No Tomorrow by Vivant Denon. It's a tiny little book, the text is only about thirty pages, sixty if you count the introduction. The book is worth a read though. If you haven't read Les Liaisons Dangereuses, you should, but this book is like a single scene from that book. Similar timeframe, similar feel. A single rendezvous rather than a series of them.

But, what's been occupying my time lately is school. I finished up my class in Microsoft Project 2007, and then had to take my certification exam last week. I spent a good amount of time the weekend before studying...with my study buddy, Othello.

Excuse the poor photos from my phone. But, Othello must have helped my retention because I took my exam on Wednesday and passed. What a huge weight off my shoulders that was. And to celebrate, I took myself to the book store.

I immediately set Fiery Cross aside and picked up Catching Fire. I've been wanting to read that one for awhile now. And I finally broke down and bought Water for Elephants, people have been telling me to read that one forever. I could have easily come home with a lot more, but I restrained myself. And I was really happy with this little reward.

So, I have begun my very last class at school. I feel like I've been focused on nothing but school for the past few weeks (actually even before that, since I pushed so hard to get where I needed to be before leaving for Nashville). It's going to be a little while longer before I can even raise my head up from all this, but at least I'm in the home stretch. And as part of being able to take a deep breath again, I treated myself to a movie this weekend. I went to see Remember Me. It's been awhile since I've been to a movie in the theatre, a really long while since I went by myself. But, I really enjoyed my whole movie experience - getting to see the previews, staying through the credits, the whole shabang. And the movie was excellent. I highly recommend seeing it, if you have the chance. The photo at the top of this post is in honor of the film. I took it when we went to visit NYC back in 2007. The sculpture of Alice is in Central Park.

So, that's what's been going on around these parts. Until next time...

I am grateful for books and Twizzlers and RP.