Ready for October

Well I just taped up my exchange package to be mailed tomorrow -whew! I had wanted to get it out last week but couldn't do it. It's the "fall house" exchange on the SBEBB board - I hope my exchange partner likes it! I'll show pictures after she's received it.

I also picked up a little frame I had made for set of 12 Shepherd's Bush charts by month. I finally finished the last one of these up earlier this year and was having trouble finding a moulding I liked that would work with many different colors of linen. I finally found one and had a frame made like a photo frame you buy - with turnbuttons in the back so I can swap out the stitched piece each month, and with both horizontal and vertical hangers as the stitched pieces include some of both direction. I'm happy with how it turned out and October is now up on the wall to enjoy. Here's also a picture of November - I won't bore you with all 12 of them!




We finally are getting cooler mornings and evenings. Yeah! Summer is on its last legs and I won't be sorry to see it go. I'm ready for pumpkins, fall leaves, and Halloween! I always look forward to seeing The Great Pumpkin with Charlie Brown - "I got a rock......". :)

I'm participating in the "Let's Stitch" blog and this week will try to put a little time in on my oldest UFO. This is "Autumn Haze" by Just Nan. This is one of a set of 4 seasons she designed. I took a class and finished up "Winter" in 1992. I think I started "Autumn" in 1993 or 1994! Yes it's sad but true. It's also on my UFO list to complete this year hopefully. I actually like Just Nan's older designs better than her new ones, and I have the "Summer" and "Spring" patterns to complete the series. Considering I'm worked on this one for 14 years, I figure I'll finish the set of 4 by 2032. Good grief!! At that point they'll probably be considered antiques.


That's all for today........

Finally framed :)

This is not a new finish - I finished stitching this over a year ago but I finally got it framed and hung. I'm quite happy with it. This is "Wild Roses" from Carriage House Samplings. The model stitcher at my LNS modified the original pattern slightly to spell out "Bless the Beasts and the Children" along the sides and adding a bit more at the bottom to match the top of the piece. Customers were able to obtain her changes as long as we bought the CHS chart along with it. One more thing off the framing pile and onto the walls!

Hope you all had a good weekend. I spent most of mine doing "spring cleaning" with DH. That might sound odd to some of you but here once the worst of summer is gone, we feel reborn like other parts of the country do in the spring. Everything gets so dirty during summer with the ceiling fans going constantly and the house shut up. I still feel like I have dust in my nose from all the dusting but it's a good feeling to have everything ship-shape. Also, I have family coming to visit this week and that was added incentive to get it done. Maybe they need to visit more often so I'll be inspired to clean!

Stitched a little tonite on my fall exchange but can't share any pics of it yet. When I picked up my framed piece at the LNS a few days ago I picked up the newest Prairie Schooler charts, the latest Loose Feathers chart that was waiting for me, and "The Daughters of Longbourne" by the Stitching Parlor. That's going to be part of the new neighborhood I'm planning. It's a wonderful chart and as luck would have it, a stitcher that was at the shop for "open stitching" and she was working on hers which was about 80% done - it was just beautiful! I'm still trying to figure out the easiest way to plan this neighborhood by mixing together pieces from several different patterns. I was hoping to get some stitching software that would let me scan in the patterns I want to use, then cut and paste pieces of those into a new design, however, I don't think most of the software I've seen really does that, or at least not well. Seems like the software packages available are designed more for scanning in photographs and then turning those into cross-stitch. That's not really what I want to do. So I may have to do my designing the old-fashioned way and just start cutting and taping graph paper etc together.

Cheerio for now........

Two finishes - woohoo!!

I finally got time today to photograph my Merry Cox "Flowers in the Fall" set. This was from a class I took last November - I finally put the last little details on the bag this weekend. The set contains a pincushion bird mounted on a little painted box which is lined with satin, a small needlebook and a matching silk bag. It was fun but a lot of work. I probably won't ever use any of it except to enjoy looking at it! There was supposed to be a tiny thimble cup mounted below the bird's beak but after I finished stitching it, it was so small it would only hold a child's thimble so I decided to mount the little stitched piece inside the little box instead. I'm very glad to mark another project off of my list this year. Here are some views of the set, one with a quarter in the picture to show the size.






I also finished up LHN's "Sampler Lady". This was a fun stitch and went along real quickly. I need to make sure I get it framed soon so it doesn't sit forever like some of my pieces. I dropped off a few things to be framed on Aug 2nd and anxiously awaiting them to be done.


I'm so excited to join Vonna's neighborhood sampler SAL! I have a neighborhood I started over a year ago that I may pick up and continue with, or I might start something new. Officially the rules are you can't stitch anything but the border before Jan 1st, but since mine was a UFO it's okay to start on it again if I wait until Jan 1st. Here's a picture of it so far - I think I may have to just give in and do two - this one and a new one!


Well I have to go get ready to meet some friends for dinner. It's been a busy weekend with a birthday party on Saturday night, football party today to start off the season and dinner tonite out with friends. Not much time for stitching but hopefully this week I can get started on my Fall House exchange. I have kitted everything up but not started the stitching yet.

P.S. The Bears just won - GO BEARS!!