Willow Tree Stitcher

A couple small finishes.........

2012-01-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well so far I got 2 of my January goals done. Where is the month going so fast? I still need to finish up Lizzie-Kate's "Dog Lessons" before the end of the month. Maybe I should go back to pulling "all-nighters" like I was famous for back in college LOL.

This is my Quaker Hornbook which I purchased about 4 years ago with a group on the Legacy bulletin board. This pattern is only available when you have a group order of 10 or more so that's why we did it that way and we purchased the wooden hornbooks as well. I have no excuse for why it sat in my stash this long but finally here it is! I'm going to get some of my smalls done this year no matter what, somehow, someway.

"Quaker Hornbook" by With My Needle Designs

stitched 1-over-1 on 32-ct linen with silk threads

I also finished my first ornament of the year this week as part of my goal to stitch one per month at least. There are so many ornaments I want to stitch! I did a few Prairie Schoolers and some from magazines back in the late 80's/early 90's but then I wasn't too interested in them for a long time. Over the past couple years I've fallen in love with so many of your wonderful ornaments posted on your blogs that I now have a long list to do! I joined the LHN ornament blog and will try to slip in one of those maybe every other ornament.

This is "Winter Joy" from Little by Little Designs. It was in the 2006 JCS ornament issue. I'm going back through my issues and pulling favorites out.

Not too much else going on here in Willowtree Land.....I signed up for a quilting retreat the end of February and am already looking forward to it. I plan to spend half of my time quilting and the other half stitching. We can work on whatever we want at the retreats - there are no classes or planned projects - so it will be a good mix. Yesterday hubby and I booked a trip to Hawaii in April - it's been a long time since we took a 'big' vacation - it sure will be wonderful to get away and see the ocean (you get a little water-crazed here in the desert). Does anyone else get frustrated trying to read through those reviews on TripAdvisor?? You don't know what to think - one person writes a glowing review then the next person trashes the place. I'm having information overload!

Thanks to all the kind readers for their comments on my projects and especially the American Sampler. I am going to give it my undivided attention for a bit the beginning of February and see I can make some more progress. I am continually amazed at how some of you crank out huge projects so quickly! Do you have the Keebler Elves helping you while you're sleeping?

January WIPocolypse progress

2012-01-09T20:42:00.008-07:00

Well I brushed off the cobwebs from my American Sampler and worked on it this week a bit. Sadly, it hasn't been out of its project bag in a few years! It's overwhelming me a bit to see how much there is to do but I will keep plugging away at it. I got most of the lavender flower on the right border done and started the tree in the middle. Those border flowers take forever - this one is not even done yet but it has well over 100 queen stitches in it so far - I worked on the tree in the center of the sampler just to get a break from queen stitching - they get a little tiresome especially when stitching at night.

I only picked 6 of my projects to be part of the WIPocolypse project - old UFO's that have been years in the works. Only worked on the one this month so far but hope to maybe get another out later in January. Other projects I worked on this month below are recent starts but I made some progress on them too. Hoping to get most of them done this month so I can do some more new starts in February!

This is Blackbird Designs' Home of the Brave. I'm not enjoying this one very much....like the pattern but having a tough time for some reason with the 40-ct stitching even though it's over-2 threads. I'll be glad to put this one behind me but I'm only about halfway.

I bought the supplies for a lovely hornbook years ago and finally got working on it this month - this is Quaker Hornbook by With My Needle. It's a shame I let this sit in my stash so long! I have a row of numbers to do under the alphabet and then can work on the little Quaker motifs which will be more fun. This is being stitched over-1 on 32-ct linen and it's giving me less trouble than Home of the Brave for some reason - go figure!

Lastly I'm still working on Lizzie Kate's Dog Rules for People that I started the end of December. This is a gift for our nephew so I'd like to get it to the framer by February. It's a quick stitch for the most part, just juggling it while I work on all the other projects.

I joined up to the 2012 Year of Smalls blog that Laura is running and looking forward to starting the February project as soon as they announce it and I get it ordered. I picked out an ornament to get started on too as I want to do one per month this year.

Being back at work after the holidays is such a drag! All I want to do is sit home and stitch! I'm loving seeing all the new starts and what everyone is working on. I did some January organizing in my sewing room this past weekend, I always seem to be needing more room so was shifting things around and sorting out a few things for a craft yard sale later this year.

Good-bye 2011.......

2011-12-31T15:20:00.006-07:00

Yes I'm ready to say good-bye to 2011....it was a year of hardship or sadness for many of my friends and family it seems and I'm not too sad to say "so long". Here's hoping 2012 brings good things to everyone!

I hope you all got some crafty goodness for Christmas. I put some items on a wish list at 123 Stitch and DH went and bought ALL of it! I got "Joyeux Noel" from Blackbird Designs which has been on my list for a long time, and lots of those Mill Hill kits. I now have more than a dozen of these from the village and winter series. I don't plan on stitching them on the perforated paper, I will use linen instead but need to get a plan together. I would like to do a Christmas "neighborhood" with some of them at least.

Christmas Stash

I was too lazy to find all of my photos to do a year in review of all my finished projects, but I'm happy with what I accomplished. I have worked hard over the past 2-3 years to get my quilting projects under control. At one time I had over 25 projects going (!) and I'm happy to say I'm down to just 2 now which are quite old. I'm not starting any new ones until those are done! I got a fair amount of stitching done this year too although not as much as I'd like of course. Since I've had some vacation time over the holidays I squeezed in 3 more finishes for this year.

I got Tanya's "Jingle" pillow stitched and finished the week before Christmas - this was fun to do. Since I used a red thread instead of the rusty shade called for I painted my bell to match. I'm glad I got it done to display for Christmas!

"Jingle All the Way" by The Scarlett House

stitched on WDW Scuppernong linen

Next up is a little Just Nan kit has been lying around a few years and I finally got it done to sit in my sewing room. It took longer than I thought it would to stitch because it's sort of 'confetti' stitching with lots of different colors. I have no idea what I'll do with this but I'm enjoying having it done just the same!

Just Nan "Sizzle" tin

stitched on Morning Mist Cashel linen with DMC

I had so many expectations of getting a lot of ornaments done this year but sadly it didn't happen. As part of my plan to do better in 2012 I got this one done in the last 2 days. It was a freebie pattern from Midsummer Night Designs a couple of years ago. I still struggle with sewing on cording to pillow-style ornaments - maybe I'll get better if I do more ornies this year!

What's up for 2012........

I've joined Measi's 2012 WIPocolypse and will be keeping track of my progress on a separate blog tab I've set up for that. I have 6 or 7 big WIPs I'd like to make some progress on and maybe get one or two finishes! I'm not making any special list of projects to stitch this year...I'm going to do whatever I feel like doing and try not to stress about how much others are getting done! (I tend to do that to myself). I have enough stress with my job and other aspects of my life and don't need to make goals I realistically can't keep for myself.

I do have 3 or 4 samplers I kitted up last year I'll probably start at some point - Jenny Bean Humble Servant Sampler, Jenny Bean Halloween Sampler, The Garden Glade by Carriage House Samplings, and Halloween Rules by Lizzie-Kate. I did some organizing in one of my stash cabinets a bit this past week. Most of my patterns I keep in hanging folders in a file cabinet but I have a couple plastic bins filled with kits and other "miscellany". I really want to focus on getting some of these done! Some things have been waiting years and years to get stitched - pincushion kits, tins (LOTS of tins!), hornbooks, fob kits, etc. It's so overwhelming!

I also am going to try to limit my stash buying this year and focus on working from what I have plus forging ahead with more framing. I am down to about 6 or 7 pieces still waiting to be framed. I don't know about the rest of you but I have a big pile of stitched & framed pieces in one of my closets - things that aren't on display all the time such as Christmas or Easter pieces. I want to make some padded bags to store them in - I figure it will be a good way to use up some of the fabric in my quilting stash!

Like so many others, both the husband and I have been ill this week. We had to cancel out on a birthday party Friday and cancel New Year's Eve plans tonite with friends. Luckily our doctor's office had urgent care hours this morning so we both went and are now armed with antibiotics and assorted other prescriptions. Our dogs alternate between visiting me in our bedroom and the husband who's camped out in the guest room. Hoping the meds kick in soon as we both need to be ready to go back to work next week. This is the second time for me this month and I am sick of being sick!

I wish all of you a great 2012 with good health, good fortune, and time to work on lots of great projects!

Let the merriness begin!

2011-12-19T10:16:00.002-07:00

Ahhhh....I'm officially on vacation until January 2nd - woohoo!! I've been counting the days that's for sure....although when you work in Information Technology it's hard to be really 'off work' since I have a Blackberry and get contacted for urgent issues - plus I have to take a few days of 'on call' duty but it's still better than being at work! I'm relaxing this morning and enjoying some lovely hot chocolate....

I did get back my Christmas Rules from the framer and have it hanging in my foyer - the last thing framed in 2011. I wanted a red frame but couldn't find anything that matched so I ended up with a lime green shade. So happy to have it hanging for Christmas - now I'm all set to start "Halloween Rules" in January!

I'm so glad i did all my decorating Thanksgiving weekend as I got sick with bronchitis the following week. I ended up at the doctor and been on antibiotics and inhalers but thankfully I'm doing better now. I just have only a couple of Christmas presents left to pick up this week and I"m getting ready to host a small dinner party on Friday night with friends.

We put up 2 medium-sized trees in our house - I got rid of my giant artificial tree a few years ago as it was just too much work and since it wasn't pre-lit it took so much time putting the 1200 lights on every year! These trees are pre-lit and go up so quick and easy. Here's some photos of my decorating....I've got way too much Christmas stuff! I can't even put it all out - I've got several Christmas quilts and a lot of cross-stitch pieces all over the house...little holiday vignettes every place I can fit them in. I swapped out a few things from my little 'sampler wall' and replaced other pieces on my walls with Christmas items. I don't like to make a lot of new nail holes just for Christmas :). I also pulled out 2 boxes of old Christmas items and took them over to Goodwill - you can't keep adding more every year without weeding out a few old items now and then.

I started working on "Jingle All the Way" this weekend by The Scarlett House. It's a quick stitch and I hope to have it finished and displayed in a couple of days. I didn't have the mahogany threads called for nor could I find the called-for color or rick-rack so I'm doing mine with red lettering. I just love this linen color - it's Weeks Dye Works "scuppernong".

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season!! I'll leave you today with our Christmas card photo - Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

No, I haven't abandoned my blog.......

2011-11-24T10:37:00.005-07:00

I'm still here....just haven't had any time for blogging lately. I've snuck around to read some of your posts but haven't been able to comment as much as I'd like to. So what have I been up to?

Well here are some finishes...

It's been less than a month but doesn't Halloween seem like a dim memory already? I had intentions to blog this but just didn't get it done. I stitched up 3 Halloween ornaments to start a little Halloween tree. I hope next year to add some more. I threw a little tree skirt together using some Halloween fabric from my stash - saw the absolute cutest woolfelt one on sale at Etsy but decided that I shouldn't really spend $60 for it. I'm still longing for it though!

From Prairie Schooler - Leaflet #160 "Boo to You"

My Halloween tree

Last week I got another quilt back from the longarm quilter - oh happy day! I started this quilt back in the late 90's - yes it's a little embarassing but true! A local quilt store taught a class on the main block in the quilt so I took the class with some friends. All the applique is done by hand using the needle-turn method. That took me a few years off and on I think. Then for some reason I never got around to sewing the border on the quilt - it sat for a few years until I did that back around 2009 ....then it waited in line a few MORE years to go to a professional longarm quilter. I knew I'd never get it quilted by hand and I wanted a really nice quilting job on it since I'd put so much work into it. It took me 4 months to get it back from the quilter (she's very popular and busy). Then I had to sew the binding on it and put a hanging sleeve on the back. At last here it is - "Christmas Memories" - from a 4-part pattern series by Blackbird Designs, along with some closeups of some of the blocks. DH helped me hang it up this past weekend on the red wall in our family room - finally displayed for its first Christmas! I still get happy every time I walk past it.

Since I last blogged I've visited relatives in Colorado, went to Las Vegas for a few days with DH, had visitors from the midwest, and gone to a quilting retreat. I made this Chrismas table runner/wallhanging at the retreat. I'm calling these little reindeer Alvin, Simon & Theodore. Okay...they've not chipmunks but they're cute! (and if you don't know who Alvin, Simon & Theodore are....well all I can say is you are a youngster LOL). I'm loving all the bright red and lime green Christmas themed items that have started to get popular in the past couple of years.

I also pieced another quilt top at camp...my machine was humming along as there's little time for sleep when you get a whole weekend to sew! It has soft colors that should go nicely in my sewing room and be a nice 'snuggle' quilt for me on a cold Sunday afternoon. This isn't the greatest photo and it still needs to be quilted but I like it.

And some recent framing.......

I finished up Lizzie-Kate's Christmas Rules the end of September and it's been at the LNS waiting to be framed. I didn't take more photos of it finished because it didn't look too different from the last ones I posted. They tell me it should be done by Dec 10th so I'm anxiously waiting for it and will be posting photos when it comes home. In the meantime, I picked up this cutie over the weekend. I actually stitched and got it framed in the same calendar year - it's a miracle! I absolutely adore the white frame - I think it makes it look so 'wintery' and I can leave it hanging through January.

Blue Ribbon Designs "It's Cold Outside"

I'm working on some Christmas tree cones this weekend and will be sharing those soon. I've been quilting more than stitching in recent weeks but have started on Lizzie Kate's "Dog Lessons for People" - it was supposed to be a Christmas gift for someone but it will have to be given in January as there's no way I can get it done and framed in time.

For U.S. readers, have a great Thanksgiving weekend!!

May we always remember........

2011-11-11T11:10:00.001-07:00

In Flanders Fields - by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

A few small finishes.........

2011-09-30T14:02:00.004-07:00

Hi folks......I keep waiting for autumn but it’s still not really here quite yet unfortunately. I have been in such a bad mood this week but not sure exactly why – everything seems to be annoying me and I feel depressed. I’m sure others get the same way sometimes.....I’ve got new responsibilities at work that are stressing me....can’t seem to keep up with household chores....people are aggravating me.....I’m constantly worrying about family issues, the poor economy, and the state of the world. Once I get in a funk it seems like I just keep rolling downhill and can’t think of anything positive. I think sometimes it’s "information overload" especially when it comes to the news. I don’t need to tell you what goes on in this world, you all see it, but it seems like a never-ending stream of bad news sometimes. If it’s not violent and mind-boggling crimes, it’s economic disaster, wars, natural disasters, and everything else. I try to tune it out and be thankful for all the good things in my life but I’m not always successful. In reading some blogs this week I see a stitching exchange went bad for a group and a few bloggers here and there contemplating closing their blogs. We've all got our share of anxiety I guess. Somedays I wish I could go back in time about 20 years LOL. It seems I was a lot more optimistic then and life was a lot more positive in general. I’m sure that’s just me being nostalgic... and maybe this is an age thing for me but I sure wish I could get out of this funk.

Excuse my rambling on a bit but at least I’ve been stitching as much as I can recently and I still get lots of enjoyment from it. I don’t think many days go by when I don’t see something absolutely fabulous on someone’s blog and want to make it! In reality I’ll never even get what is already in my stash done, but part of this hobby (okay it’s an obsession really) is enjoying buying the stash, owning the stash, and dreaming of COMPLETING all the stash. When I sometimes contemplate stopping blogging, I know I really can’t. I would feel very alone as I don’t have a stitching group to belong to and it’s just my husband and I in our household and he’s not very interested in my needlework. When you put a lot of yourself into making something, you just have the need to share it with others in some way.

I recently got 2 small things stitched and finished since my last post and I’m starting to get in the holiday mood at least. This is the famous Peppermint Twist from LHN that everyone was stitching last year, I’m a little behind the curve but loved doing this one. I finished it as a little pillow – I’ve got hopes of getting a basket of smalls together for Christmas decorating.

LHN "Peppermint Twist"

recommended threads mostly

I also made this one this week - it stitched up really fast and I finished it according to the pattern directions with some black wool I had. Isn’t it cute? I just love it and will be putting out some of my autumn and Halloween decorations this week. (I’ll be adding this pattern to a stash sale page I hope to update this weekend.) As you can see I didn't spend any time staging a nice photo - just stuck it up next to the sewing machine for a non-glamorous snap........

"Enchanted Crow" by Threadwork Primitives

Then I did a little stash-diving to find what little patterns I had for fall and Halloween.....found lots of good linen colors and several things to choose from. I had a very old piece of Cashel linen that I got probably 10 yrs ago – it was the recommended fabric for some Prairie Schooler pumpkins that never got made LOL. Well the color was more rust than orange so I decided to try and lighten it up – I soaked a sample piece in a weak bleach solution and then laid it out in the sun for an hour. Look at the new versus old – it’s now a perfect orange color for Halloween - yippee – I love it when I can use up some old stash.

Yesterday the mailman brought me the latest Gingher collectible embroidery scissors – these are the ones that aren’t available at JoAnn’s but only at specialty shops. They’re called ‘Tessa’ and I must say they are probably my least favorite Ginghers so far. They look like some dated 1960’s fabric – or maybe the Arizona state flag?? Oh well...they’re just going in the box with all the others anyway! I really do need to do something to get all these scissors displayed somehow.....

Until next time, may you find some happy moments stitching or crafting!

Come on Autumn!

2011-09-14T09:06:00.005-07:00

We've gotten a bit cooler here in the desert - and we're all hoping the trend continues as we are so sick of the summer heat. It's hard to believe it's fall already, the year seems to be flying by at record speed! I had all these plans to stitch several Christmas ornaments this year - darn! Somehow I've got to find more hours in my days that's for sure.

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful comments on my Quakers & Quilts finish - it really warmed my heart and is much appreciated!
I've been making good progress on Christmas Rules - still enjoying stitching this one. I am down to the last 4 'rules' and should be able to finish it this month. I want to be able to get it to my framer before the holiday rush so I can have it ready to hang for Christmas. I have a long narrow sampler already hanging in my foyer and it will be a perfect place to swap in this piece come December. (and my husband will be glad I don't have to put another nail in the walls LOL)

I've been so good about working on my WIPs lately but I'm getting a case of start-itis. The 10-year anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy reminded me that I had bought this BBD pattern way back in 2002. (where the heck did those years go??) Attic Needlework gave out a complimentary addition to the chart - some words and the date to commemorate 9-11-01 at the bottom. It's sad that it's a whole 9 years later and I still haven't gotten it stitched! I decided I would get going finally stitch it this month. Here's my start so far.

The chart specifies using 30-ct fabric but I used some scrap 40-ct linen I had and some Gloriana red silk. Unfortunately I didn't realize the added words at the bottom were charted as over-one - well that just isn't going to happen - over-one on 40-ct linen is too hard for me so I will rechart the words as over-two instead. It's weird but sometimes I can stitch easily on 40-ct and other times I am really struggling - I use my lighted magnifier all the time so can't quite figure it out. This project is rather hard for me to stitch on... I wonder if any of you notice a difference between 40-ct linen from different manufacturers? Are some 'tighter' than others??

I've been doing more sewing than stitching over the past 2 weeks. I finally finished a king-sized quilt top I started about 2 years ago - I am SO-O-O-O happy! I've already ironed it all and have it hanging ready to take to a long-arm quilter in a few months (I try to space out my custom quilting and framing...$$$....you know how that is). I don't have a big photo of it to show you. It's a subtle quilt - an antique reproduction so it's doesn't have a lot of 'wow' factor. The beauty of it I think will really come out once it's custom-quilted. Back when I purchased everything for this quilt I got a whole bolt of one fabric because I needed almost 10 yards just for the back of the quilt. A bolt has 15 yards on it and I got a good discount which made it worth buying. I think this may be the last king-sized quilt I make - it's tough working with something that big and also a real pain trying to iron it once it's all together! If I count up all the materials, plus what it's going to cost me to get it quilted, this quilt is costing me close to $500. Quilting isn't a cheap hobby that's for sure - not with the cost of most fabric being $9-10 per yard these days. That doesn't even count 2 years of my time. Believe me, it was a thrill putting a big line through this entry on my WIP list! I'll be back with some photos around Feb or March of next year when I get it back from the quilter.

Lately I haven't been tempted too much to bring home more stash - as Martha Stewart says, "it's a good thing" LOL. I have so much already that I want to stitch...however I did recently pick up these from Threadwork Primitives...it's all Faye's fault as I fell in love with her "Pride & Glory" finish. I want to get started on this cute autumn-themed one with the witch's hat. I'm so glad that new designers keep coming to our world since some of our favorites have quit the business during the last few years. I guess part of it is the economy and so many crafters doing other things like knitting, scrapbooking, etc. I know that some of the designers have also cited issues with copyright abuse which makes me very sad. It's great that we sell or trade our used charts or stash we no longer want, but I continue to support the hard work of the needlework designers. I'm relieved to know there's no danger we'll run out of things to stitch!

A finish and a new start.......

2011-08-17T13:15:00.002-07:00

I'm happy dancing - Quakers & Quilts is finally done! HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF! I finished it last week - what a thrill to put that last stitch in. This one has been hanging on way too long - I went back to my blog archives to see when I started it and it was November 2009. It's not like I worked on it constantly since then, I had starts and stops but those quilts along the bottom really wore me out! Lots of backstitching, half-stitches, and color changes. It's a beautiful pattern though and should look great on my bookshelves when I get around to framing it.

Without further chit-chat, here it is.........excuse the color changes from photo to photo... I was playing around in the photo editor trying to get the linen to look like it does in real life- you know how it is when you are photographing needlework.

"Quakers & Quilts" by Rosewood Manor

Stitched on 40-ct Lakeside Linen - vintage bisque - and

with a conversion to Belle Soie & Silk 'n Colors threads

I couldn't wait to start a new project and I snuck in the first stitches on Lizzie Kate's 'Christmas Rules' the night before finishing Q&Q. I absolutely am loving this project! It's like a breath of fresh air after trying to finish up Q&Q - easy stitching, bright colors and just a joy. I actually may have this done and framed for Christmas this year if things go my way. I fell in love with it last year after seeing it stitched on some blogs. It's such a cute design - I have all the Halloween Rules charts too and plan to start that one probably in January for next year's Halloween. I even talked a coworker into stitching Christmas Rules with me - she cross-stitches but is more of a quilter most of the time. She loves Christmas though and couldn't resist.

Here's my start so far.........right now I don't feel like stitching on any of my other projects so am going to relax and enjoy this one for awhile!

Back to our regularly scheduled stitching & sewing.........

2011-07-27T16:36:00.010-07:00

I'm back on schedule after spending most of June working on blogiversary giveaways and RAK's.   I had 2 RAK's that I sent out earlier this July to Barbara of Mainely Stitching and Karen from My Favourite Things. Both of them have been reading and commenting on my blog since my very first post 5 years ago so I wanted to reward them as faithful followers - thank you both!

I forgot to take a photo of Barbara's RAK but you can see it on her blog posting here.   I stitched a Prairie Schooler design ("Farm Fresh") and made it into a little pillow. I sewed a fabric project bag for her and also sent a needleminder from Paula Kelmscott's collection. I chose a chickens theme for the stitched piece because if you read her blog you'll know Barbara raises chickens and of course since she lives in Maine she certainly needs to have the lighthouse needleminder.

For Karen's RAK at least I remembered to take a photo this time before mailing it......I chose another PS design because it reminded me of Karen with its cat and yarn balls. Karen has 2 cats and she's not only a great stitcher and finisher but she knits too.   Karen also received a mesh project bag I made and I included some fat quarter quilting fabrics for her to use in her finishing business.  I'm so pleased that Barbara and Karen liked what I made for them.

Prairie Schooler #116 - Y is for Yarn

Stitched in DMC on 32-ct linen, finished pinkeep-style

(By the way I found the cute little easel shown above at JoAnn's recently in the picture frame department and I went back and bought several more - they cost about $2.50 US or less with a coupon of course. What I love about these is they are small and work great for pinkeeps - they have sort of a rustic finish in brown/black.)

There's a few things I finished back at the end of May that I haven't gotten around to blogging about...you know how it is. May seems ages ago doesn't it although it's less than 2 months - how the time flies by when you're busy! I stitched this piece below because it reminded me of an LNS I used to go to, and also to recall a special trip to Hawaii some years back. This piece didn't seem that big when I started it but it was tons of solid stitching as you can see and seemingly endless sand..OMG. I changed out the wording on the pattern and added a couple of hibiscus flowers. This pattern used lots of specialty stitches which added some nice texture to the palm tree trunks, the water, etc.

"Kona Coast" - oldie from Ewe & Eye & Friends

Stitched with DMC on 32-ct linen

Closeup of Kona Coast

I did manage to finish up my puppy dog quilt on time for the baby boy christening in June - my husband delivered it in person as I couldn't go with him to Chicago this time. I'm told the family loved it so mission accomplished once again. I just found out that another niece is expecting so next year I'll need to do another baby quilt - it's tough keeping up with all these babies!

"Dog Daze" baby quilt - stitched & quilted by me

Pattern by Kimberly Rado

I posted about this last year..I had finally finished up an old quilting UFO that had been a nemesis of mine for way too long... this pattern was so much work! You make tons of blocks then you cut them in half diagonally and recombine them all again. There are many, many seams that drove me crazy matching up. I took the quilt top to my longarm quilter a few months ago and I got it back a few weeks ago. The quilting is fabulous and now at least I like this quilt again LOL. I sewed the binding on the edges and have happily moved another project to the 'finished' list. I have no idea what to do with this quilt.....I'm thinking of asking for a quilt ladder for my birthday this fall as we have only 2 beds in our house which already have quilts, and I'm short on wallspace. I have lots of quilts just stacked up in closets. I really don't need any more quilts of course but do you think that's going to stop me from making more? :)

"Radio Flyer" - pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilts
Quilt pieced by me and quilted by a longarm quilter here in Phoenix......
hope you can see the beautiful quilting on the borders, and the back of the quilt really
shows the pretty swirl pattern - love it!

Lastly thought I'd post an update on Quakers & Quilts. I got really tired of this piece and was trudging through it with a grumpy attitude...as in 'why did I ever decide to stitch this??'. This week though I finally reached the point where I can see the end is getting near - I just have some more on the right side to do - one more quilt block and a little bit of the upper section. I'm probably about 85% done. Hallelujah!! I'm starting to anticipate a happy dance! I've got the energy going now and working hard to finish this up quickly. I'm so anxious to start some new stuff but I am keeping to my rule of finishing a WIP first. It will be heavenly to have all this tedious backstitching and the half-stitches behind me!

"Quakers & Quilts" by Rosewood Manor

(why does it look good until you photograph it and then every wrinkle shows?!?!)

Be back soon I hope! Thanks for dropping in............

Blogiversary Winners!

2011-07-05T12:59:00.001-07:00

Gee, I so wish I had a gift for each of you - thank you all for entering my giveaway contest. I wanted everybody to win something!

Giveaway #1 (the rose-themed pieces) went to Follower #130 as determined by the Random Number Generator.

That turned out to be Missy of Raven Stitches. I hope this cheers Missy up a bit - from reading her blog today I see she has been laid up with a flare-up of chronic pain the past few months. I've found out it's not that easy to choose a winner from a Follower list as you have to manually count it out yourself from the first follower forward. Anyway, congratulations Missy and I hope you enjoy the prizes.

Giveaway #2 (the Whitman tin set) - the name was pulled from the 60 people who left comments on the last post.   DH pulled out Sally's name over in the U.K.   Good for you Sally!

Giveaway #3 (cherries flatfold & bag) - this winner was also chosen from those who commented - and it's Carol E. Funny thing is Carol lives here in the Phoenix metropolitan area like I do but we've never met. I see from your blog that we're both royal watchers Carol. I got up in the middle of the night to watch Will & Kate's wedding just as I did back when Charles & Diana tied the knot.   Congratulations!

I have sent all of you emails today so you can send me your addresses.

It's been horribly hot here the last few days with some crazy evening storms - our "monsoon" season has returned. We were dog-sitting over the holiday weekend so we had a total of 4 dogs to keep an eye on and that kept us busy.    I'm still working away on my RAK's - one is done andI'm working on the finishing for #2. Number 3 is not started yet unfortunately but I'll get going soon.

Have a great day everyone and as always I so appreciate you stopping by my corner of the web!

Let's celebrate! Five-year blogiversary giveaways!

2011-06-27T10:11:00.001-07:00

Yes I haven't posted in awhile but I have been stitching to celebrate my five-year blogiversary today. Wahoo!!  Where did those 5 years go so fast?? It's hard to believe it's been that long. Okay, I know I don't post enough, and I don't get as much done as some of you but I still love blogging. I love reading what the rest of you are doing and I think it's great how stitchers support each other through the ups and downs we all have in life. I have learned so much in the past 10 years from online interaction with other stitchers. My online adventures started out when I joined a Yahoo quilting group and one of the members was talking about her Yahoo Drawn Thread group - so I joined that and the rest is history.   From there I joined a few other Yahoo groups, then I added in stitching bulletin boards like Cross Stitch Corner, the Teresa Wentzler board, Legacy Embroiderers and a few others.   I often wonder what has happened to some of the "regulars" on the bulletin boards who I don't see blogging.  I hope they are well and stitching! Over the years I have saved off hundreds of photos to my computer that inspire me (probably some of your very own projects). I've also saved tips and instructions, and been inspired to spend countless amounts of money on stash thanks to all of you 'enablers' LOL.  I'm sure my husband now regrets telling me years ago that I needed my own computer! Thank you all for adding to the love I have for my stitching hobby.

Now onward to the giveaways!   I have 3 prizes that I've made to give away. I also am working on 3 not-so-random RAK's (I've selected the 3 people already) but they're not quite ready yet so it will be sometime in July before I can post those.

The all-important 'rules' -

#1 giveaway will go to one of the  current followers of my blog as of this morning. I'd like to reward one of these nice 156 stitchers who have stuck with me even though I'm not the most exciting blogger. Thank you people! I will use the random number generator to select a number between 1 and 156 to award the first prize shown.

#2 and #3 giveaway winners will be chosen randomly by my husband from all who leave a comment on this post. Doesn't matter if you are a follower or where you live to be included in the giveaway for these 2 prizes. You can post a comment (one per person please) anytime up until next Tuesday morning July 5th at 7:00 am Arizona time.   If anyone has trouble posting a comment you can send me an email (my email address is in my profile) and let me know so that I can include you in the drawing. I'm giving you a week as I know many people travel around the July 4th holiday.   Please be sure your profile either shows your email address or you put something in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Photos of the giveaways........

Giveaway #1 - this is a needlebook I made from Little House Needleworks 'Rose Sampler' pattern.    Some Bohin needles will be included, a pair of Gingher stork scissors with matching stitched fob, and a rose-patterned project bag that I made to coordinate with it all.

Giveaway #2 - I finally did something with one of the stack of tins that I have! I used the pattern from Jane Timmers "Whitman Tins Sewing Set" to make the little coordinating pincushion and lining for the tin. I added an oval magnet on the inside lid of the tin to hold your needles, and 2 counting pins are in the pincushion. You can see the 2 sides of the pincushion in the photos. Also you will receive a package of Bohin needles, a pair of Paula Kelmscott mini-stork scissors with matching tassel, and a project bag I made out of some gorgeous batik fabric.

Giveaway #3 - This is a flatfold I made from a freebie pattern I saved off years ago from Maryse's free pattern blog. It's called "Les Temps des Cerises" loosely translated as "Cherry Time". It's backed with some cherry fabric of course, and you will also receive a mesh project bag I made with a cherries theme (approximately 10" X 10"), a cute pair of Paula Kelmscott mini-stork scissors in black, and a package of Bohin needles.

Good luck everyone and thank you for coming by to visit!

Totally Tuesday............

2011-05-10T10:43:00.006-07:00

This morning we had the most wonderful cool breezes – ahhhh. Have to enjoy it as very shortly the heat of summer will be here to stay and there won’t be much mercy on us until fall. I just wish it could stay this way awhile longer! My husband Dave and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of April – and coincidentally by reading Vonna’s blog I found out we share the same anniversary. I got my husband an iPad that he had been wanting and he gifted me with new wedding rings! We reset the diamond from my original yellow-gold wedding set into a new white-gold setting and also reset an anniversary band I had into white gold as well - that one is still at the jewelers as they had to order the setting. I'd never been able to wear the anniversary band with my former ring set as they were curved. I still love my original wedding set and of course it has sentimental value so I kept it and we put a gorgeous sapphire in where the center diamond was before. I’m loving wearing my new rings while sitting on the couch reading blogs with the iPad of course. :)

I’m still reveling in the fact that Star Jones got kicked off of Celebrity Apprentice this week LOL. DH and I have been waiting and hoping for that. It sure is crazy some of the wacky stuff we watch on TV these days – I never thought I would be interested in a bunch of crab fisherman in Alaska and loggers in Maine either but I find myself watching the craziest stuff these days!

I recently got an order from Amy’s “Down Sunshine Lane” – the rest of the supplies I needed for kitting up Lizzie Kate’s Christmas Rules & Halloween Rules. I haven’t started them yet but hopefully soon. I was so pleased with the lightening-quick shipping of my order from Amy too – it was great having it arrive at my door in just a couple of days. Even though I have an LNS in my metropolitan area, it does take a couple of hours for me to drive there, shop, and drive home again – about the only time I have to go is Saturday and it takes up a chunk of my weekend. So I still shop online some for the convenience and time-saving. I'd love to make the Halloween Rules twice – once for me and once for a friend who loves Halloween but we’ll see. I’ll be lucky if I get it done once let alone twice!

I’ve been diligently pushing forward on some projects of course. I started this king-sized quilt about 2 years ago – it’s a reproduction of an antique quilt that Moda Fabrics put out . The colors are subtle but I really love it – it just has so many pieces! I was cutting and sewing forEVER it seemed and no wonder – I counted it all up and the quilt has almost 1500 pieces in it! I finally reached the point of laying it out as you can see here – I’ve got my rows all stacked and numbered now so I can start sewing the blocks into rows and then the rows into the final quilt. I could’ve kicked myself as when I laid it all out I discovered I made like 16 extra blocks somehow – I miscalculated something when converting the pattern to king-sized. Sigh............... It’s funny as I just happened to fall in love with this quilt when I saw a model of it – and we have since redecorated our bedroom in shades of browns, mochas and aqua so that the quilt should fit in perfectly someday. It’s been a long haul so far but this quilt will not defeat me!

I had to break away from the big quilt this week as it was time again to make another baby quilt. My husband’s niece had a little boy not long ago and I’ve made quilts for all the new generation babies in the family so I’ve got to get this done in the next month in time to make the christening in June. I have this darling pattern called “Dog Daze” and so there will be 9 dog faces in this quilt. Here is the work in progress – trust me it’ll be much easier to recognize the dogs when they get their eyes and noses. Luckily I found a nice collection of cheerful fabrics at the quilt store on Friday and I got this far over the weekend – everything is cut out and ready to start sewing. I’m pretty happy with it so far and for once I picked something fairly quick and easy!

Meanwhile back on the stitching front.......I’m trying hard to finish up this little project by Ewe Eye & Friends called Kona Coast. It hasn’t been my all time favorite project, but it was one of those ‘self obligated’ projects – ever have those? I’ve had this little pattern probably a dozen years or more – the model used to hang in a local LNS and I always liked it so promised myself I would stitch it someday. For some reason once I make a stitching or quilting commitment I have to see it through. The shop has long since closed so I wanted to do this kind of to remember the place. They used to have an annual retreat in Hawaii and I believe EE& F designed this for one of their retreats as it has “Kona, Hawaii’ and ‘1994’ on the pattern. I will be leaving those out. I just have this endless sand at the bottom to get through and the borders and I can put this in the ‘finished’ column. I’ve been toying with the idea of making it into a tote bag.....but then again maybe I’ll just watch for a good framing coupon at Michael’s. I don’t take most of my things there but this one is just small and not something that I want to spend a lot of money to frame.

Quakers & Quilts has been coming along as well – this project and I have a love/hate relationship! I love how it looks but I am really REALLY tired of stitching it. Those quilt motifs along the bottom take a long time and there is so much backstitching – it reminds me of my days of stitching Paula Vaughan patterns – you’d think you were almost done once you got the cross-stitching completed then you’d spend a couple weeks backstitching. Aaarrgghhhh! I’m about two-thirds done so hoping I can knock this off the list maybe over the next month or so. I have the Quaker Diamonds pattern also by Rosewood Manor patterns but now that I look at the chart I see it uses all the same colors as Quakers & Quilts. I guess I could convert it to something different but right now I've lost my desire to stitch it. There are just those other hundreds of patterns in my cabinets that need my attention more!

My stitching companions Abby and Buster celebrated their birthdays last week. Buster is officially 8 and Abby about 7. They had a great day enjoying their special chewies and new toys of course. My babies are getting older sniff sniff.........which reminds me they still don’t have the stitched Christmas stockings I thought I’d make years back........!

I’m also secretly making plans for some good giveaways this summer – I’m coming up on a significant blogiversary so making some special items and and gathering other gifties.....please stay tuned over the next couple of months!

Bless the U.S. Navy Seals & our Special Forces

2011-05-01T21:40:00.001-07:00

The world is a slightly better place today.........we haven't forgotten.

Spring update........

2011-04-15T18:54:00.007-07:00

Happy Springtime readers & friends! I hope spring is sprouting around your home like it is for us. We’re having beautiful weather here in the southwest - everything is blooming....the temperatures are great...we have gentle breezes...the birds are nesting......life is good! I've been away for a bit - went out of state to visit my mom for her birthday, then I went to a quilting retreat weekend up in Show Low Arizona and we had relatives visiting all last week. Now things are getting back to ‘normal’ finally so I can catch up on my blogging.

I've been more in a quilting than a stitching mode the last few weeks but I did finish up my Jenny Bean pin tuffet recently. It was love at first sight when I first saw this on someone's blog last year and I finally sat down and stiched it up. I admire it every day while I’m in my office/sewing room even if the DH wonders why I keep making more pincushions just to look at! I LOVE all things "Jenny Bean". :)

"Jenny Bean" by Shakespeare's Peddler

My own silk conversion on some sort of 40-ct linen

Don’t you just love the pins that Just Another Button company is making now? I picked up this little wool kit called Stuck on You that came out at market and it’s got adorable pins in it too. I can’t wait to make this up as soon as I get a little time. The chocolates look good enough to eat!

Now I’ve got to share with you some framing I recently got back from Jill Rensel’s studio. I’ve never sent anything to Jill before but have admired her framing that I’ve seen posted on bulletin boards and blogs over the years. I had 2 projects that I had framed a few years ago locally on a sale - I got a discount if I let the framer pick out everything but in retrospect I found that doesn’t work too well for me – I need to see and stress (yes I do stress!) over what it’s going to look like before it’s done. The workmanship was great but it just wasn’t what I had envisioned and so it’s been bothering me ever since. It was even worse when I thought about all the money I spent and then to be disappointed makes a sad situation. Everytime I walked by them hanging on the wall I was a little bit peeved at myself. Well long story but I finally got around to packaging them up carefully and sending them to Jill back in October to have some rework done. She was very busy with holiday framing and all so I didn’t get them back until March but it was worth waiting for. Yeah Jill!! I’m so happy I had them re-done! The two projects were already professionally mounted from the first framing, and we were able to reuse the big frame on An Open Heart so the rework dollars weren't too bad actually.

St. Peter's Fair by Shepherds Bush was originally framed with mats and a frame that I thought were just too dark for the soft colors used in the piece. Jill used the same mat design she sells as a pre-made set for this design but did mine in blues & greens instead of the usual lavender/pink ones.

"St. Peter's Fair" Before:

"St. Peter's Fair" After:

This Drawn Thread piece when originally framed just seemed so
b-o-r-i-n-g. It’s a very large piece and the neutral mats just didn’t do much to show off the piece in my opinon. I like the new moss-greeen mats Jill added much better. It’s another task I can mark off my list and I’m looking forward to sending some more pieces to Jill. I made a lot of progress with my framing list over the past year but I still have about 6 things waiting in line - that's the downside about finishing things -then you've got to tackle the framing!

"An Open Heart" Before:

"An Open Heart" After:

Our quilting retreat 2 weeks ago was fabulous as usual – I didn’t take many photos this time. I’ve been there several times so end up taking the same photos of the place it seems – not to mention I barely took any breaks from non-stop sewing except for eating great food and doing as little sleeping as possible LOL. But drum roll please...I finally finished my “Winter Memories” quilt top.

"Winter Memories" - pattern by The Acorn Quilt & Gift Co

(just ignore the chain hanging down from the ceiling fan!)

I started this hand-applique quilt almost 2 years ago so really glad to put it over to the finished column. I made some substitutions in the pattern (I can never leave things alone) replacing an embroidered wreath block with an appliqued sled (thank you Yahoo images...) and I re-drew the mitten block as I didn't like the one in the pattern. What's funny is a friend and I fell in love with this quilt at a quilt show vendor mall a couple years back and we went crazy hunting down the some of the same fabrics used in the model. We found everything we needed through a combination of quilt stores, eBay, and a friend's wholesale account at Moda Fabrics..........but now I have enough fabric left over to make about 5 more of these quilts! When will I learn to stop over-buying?? Now the quilt top needs to go off to be quilted by a longarm quilter. I’m not doing much machine quilting of my own quilts these days – I don’t enjoy it and it is hard on my shoulders. (I can’t bear going through any more shoulder surgeries!) I’ll do baby quilts or wallhangings but that’s it. The longarm quilters can do so much more and do it so much better than I can do on my regular sewing machine. It adds to the cost of course but to me it's worth it rather than struggling along and doing it myself. I just don't have the time to hand-quilt very many quilts either.

Hope to be back soon - next week is a 4-day workweek for me as we have Good Friday off (or in the politically-correct corporate world, it's "spring holiday"). Whatever you call it, I can't wait for a 3-day weekend!

Blue Ribbon Design finish - woohoo!

2011-03-21T08:44:00.003-07:00

I don't know but once I get down to the last hour of so of finishing a piece I start to make lots of mistakes. Is it a curse or something? More likely I guess I get impatient and don't pay as much attention to the chart and my stitching. Or it could be that it was almost midnight and I was tired and riding on too much Diet Coke..... Anyway, as I was finishing up the last snowflakes and penguin, I must have made about 7 or 8 mistakes Friday night - so frustrating! All is fixed though and I was not defeated in my journey to another finish.

Here is Blue Ribbon Designs' "It's Cold Outside". I was using a Q-snap at first and for some reason pulled my linen a bit wonky but I'm sure my framer will straighten it out - glad I'm not mounting this piece as with all those border lines it needs to be perfectly straight! I just love the little penguins and that's what really drew me to this design.

It's Cold Outside by Blue Ribbon Designs

Stitched on 36-ct Haven by Picture This Plus with various overdyed floss

I got a lovely package in the mail on Saturday from Kathy over at The Flying Needle. Kathy was kind enough to host a UFO contest awhile back on the Legacy Bulletin Board. I was one of the winners so Kathy gifted me with a lovely piece of Silkweavers linen (my favorite count too - 36), some gorgeous Bohin scissors and Bohin needles too. I am just thrilled to have these. I had finished my 'English Sampler" last year for the contest - I think I started it in 2005 (blushing...) but so glad I finished it. Winning a prize was just an added bonus - thank you Kathy!!

Yesterday I finally got out my kitted Jenny Bean pin tuffet. I love the Jenny Bean designs and this one will be a quick stitch. I don't why I waited so long to stitch it but I guess it's just guilt because my WIP/UFO basket is always calling to me. I told myself I need a reward before diving back in the basket of projects needing attention.

This is going to be a short work week for me - I head back to Illinois on Thursday to visit my mom for her 80th birthday!    I'm traveling with one of my brothers who lives near me.   I'm going to have to dig out a warm jacket - it's been in the 80's here in Phoenix the past week although cloudy and cooler today.   I'm not sure if I can stitch on the plane or not.....normally if I don't have my magnifier I have to wear readers over my regular glasses and I don't like to do that in public - I can't imagine why but people somehow think wearing 2 pairs of glasses is odd LOL.    It's either that or take my glasses off completely and work about 8" from my face. Neither one is very good.   Not to mention there is so little room on the planes these days that sometimes it's just not worth trying to stitch. Maybe I'll just go for reading or snoozing to my iPod music instead.

Thanks for your continued visits to my little world. I'm always excited to see a new comment. I follow about 150 blogs myself and I know how hard it is to keep up with everyone let alone comment.   We all need more hours in the day!

Dickens Village Ornament finish

2011-03-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd be posting this a long time ago, since I wanted to do an ornament a month this year. It's March but better late than never! This ornament seemed to take a lot of stitching, I think my next choice is going to be smaller and simpler. This is from the leaflet "Dickens Village Ornaments" by Margaret & Margaret. There are 5 patterns for little Victorian houses in the leaflet. I adore house ornaments and end up buying a few each year it seems if I happen to see any while out Christmas shopping. :) Eventually I hope to do the other 4 house ornaments but it may take a while. It's charted for DMC on 26-ct fabric but I used my own silk conversion since I wanted the ornaments a bit smaller. Even with 36-ct fabric this turned out about 3.5" X 4".

My lonely ornament tree finally has it's first ornament!

"Old Curiosity Shop" by Margaret & Margaret
36-ct Lakeside Vintage Basketweave with various silks

Now back to BRD "It's Cold Outside"...........

Weekend Update..........and a little finish

2011-03-06T19:30:00.006-07:00

Keeping busy as usual. I'm sure this happens to the rest of you - things around the house seem to happen in bunches, don't they? No sooner did I get everything clean and organized after our bathroom remodels but I had a visit from Mr Murphy as Heidi says LOL. We had a big rainstorm about 2 weeks ago and had a roof leak in our bathroom - right over the new bathtub. I was in there hanging a picture on the wall when I started hearing the drip drip drip. Then the wash machine broke.....and the pool pump started making this awful noise. So I've been busy making phone calls and entertaining service calls getting all of this taken are of. Luckily both the wash machine and the pool pump repairs were covered by warranty services but the roof will cost about $800. Then I took my car in last week for it's 60,000 mile service and discovered I had some "shredded drive belts" and "leaking struts" (whatever those are) on the front end. So it was a pretty big bill when I picked up my car but it's only 5 years old. I would like to keep it a lot longer so I hope it will settle down now for awhile. It's always something!

I did have a little finish last week. I saw this pincushion on Just Carol's blog last year and loved it so I picked up the out of print pattern on eBay and made myself one. I love pincushions and have more than I could ever use but they are fun to make. I added a little stork scissor charm to the top.

"Stray Pins & Runaway Needles"

Theron Traditions pattern "Mom's Scissors and Stray Pins"

stitched on 34-ct Cafe au Lait Legacy Linen with recommended GAST threads

I'm also making some more progress on BRD's "It's Cold Outside". Stitching all the boxes is a good task while watching movies as you don't have to watch the pattern much but it gets pretty boring. I'm looking forward to finishing this piece in the next couple of weeks. I had to chart my own initials - when you have two "M's" in your initials they frequently don't fit with what the designer gives you to work with. Not to mention my last name has 9 letters which also can be a problem on samplers. So I make it work however best I can.

I'm making progress on my WIP list at least. I also got some more applique blocks done for my "Winter Memories" quilt. My goal is to finish the quilt top by the end of March. I only have one more applique block to do but then I have a few pieced blocks and some embroidery as well. Here's the center ice skates block which is supposed to look like an old photo with the wavy edges and photo corners. I'm sure a lot of you are too young to recall when photos looked like this but all my childhood photos are in this style (and they were black & white too LOL!). The quilt is slowly growing on my design wall.

We're having lovely warm weather here in Phoenix - the plants are all starting to bloom and the birds are starting to make their spring nests. Every year we usually get one or two nests of baby birds in our yard. Hope winter is starting to ease up for those of you in the cold spots. And note it's been 2 days and we haven't had any new stories about Charlie Sheen - how will we get through the week?!?! Unfortunately March Madness (NCAA basketball) is starting so from now until it's over the DH will be glued to the TV watching basketball. I'll be hiding out in my sewing room with my boxed DVD sets of Boston Legal..........got the rest of the seasons for Christmas and I'm about to start on Season 3.

Have a great week friends and I'm happy you stopped by. :-)

May I present.....Miss Beatrix Potter....framed!

2011-02-23T20:19:00.001-07:00

Yes poor Miss Bea has been lying in tissue paper since sometime in 2009 I think when I did the online SAL with Hazel's Beatrix Potter blog. She finally came to the top of the framing list and here she is! I'm quite pleased with her- I picked a reddish-brown frame that complimented some of the variegated silks. Now to find a place to put her - she's pretty large and I am running out of wall space.

I don't know where this month has gone but it's slipping by me. I seem to be on a merry-go-round and can't get off. We finished our remodeling project 2 weeks ago but it sure was hectic. Then it was shopping for new bath accessories like towels and rugs and getting everything 'just right'. We're so happy it's done! Work has been very hectic and I am still going to physical therapy for my shoulder but I'm on my last month of that and couldn't be happier about it.

There hasn't been much time for stitching but I'm trying to squeeze it in whenever I can. I've been working on Quakers and Quilts a bit and It's Cold Outside. I'm too lazy to get Q&Q out for a photo update but I did get around to getting a shot of It's Cold Outside this afternoon. It's coming along pretty well even though I had some frogging to do on one motif. The red overdyed thread wore off on the fabric a bit where I had to frog but luckily most of it is covered and you wouldn't know. Sorry for the wrinkled fabric in the photo :)

I haven't been doing much stash shopping - I am picking up the rest of the Christmas Rules charts from Lizzie Kate - seeing Edgar's finish finally put me over the top and I had to get them after resisting all last year. Then of course I fell in love with LK's Halloween Rules and now I'm getting those too. I don't like getting into those series where you end up paying a lot for the complete set of patterns but I just couldn't help myself. At least you get the button trims along with the patterns so that makes me feel a bit better about it. I also got a couple of French samplers I've had on my list for awhile - one is a pattern of Mont St Michel which is an ancient monastery on a teeny tiny island in the English Channel off the coast of France. I went there once upon a time on a trip to Europe and stayed overnight. It is packed with tourists during the day but at night it is only the people who are staying over in the small hotels and very peaceful. There is one tiny 'street' where there are small hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants and then the monastery up on the hill. If you ever get a chance to visit it is well worth it. The other pattern is a French alphabet sampler with a border of violets. You don't find violets much in samplers and I love them. The alphabet letters I probably will replace as they are sort of 'spindly' being mostly backstitched. Then I picked up the latest copy of JCS - I usually don't but I love pink rubrum lilies and had them in my wedding bouquet so I couldn't resist picking this up. Another "someday" project!

I'm not going that crazy over the Market reports this year - I will pick up Ann Grant from Theresa at Shakespeare's Peddler but that's about all that is really calling to me. I'm a bit relieved not to have to buy a lot more patterns this time! I'll leave you with a snapshot of the doggies - sleeping while I worked at home today. They love it when 'mommy' or 'daddy' is home all day with them instead of at the office! They have the life.......

Abby and Buster snoozing

First 2011 finish........plus Monsters of the Midway!

2011-01-22T08:23:00.004-07:00

Hi all - I finished off a WIP I started sometime last year. I had put it away because I made a mistake on one of the vines - stitched all the way from bottom to top and realized I had made a mistake at the bottom. SO....I had to tear all that out. I figured I would start the vine from the top the second time to avoid that mistake and I made yet ANOTHER mistake and had to frog it a second time. Grrrr! Finally I decided the over-dyed floss was the problem (cursed you know) - I didn't like the colors in it much anyway so I substituted some DMC and it was smooth sailing from there on out. Sometimes those overdyes don't have a good color transition, know what I mean? This one had mostly ugly greenish-brown it seemed with an abrupt change to a nicer light green but there wasn't much of it. I'm much happier with the green DMC's I chose. Here she is - I changed her dress color, her hair to light brown and her eyes to blue to match you-know-who.....and I made her project a sampler rather than a rooster like the pattern has.

Little House Needleworks - "My Needle's Work"

stitched on LL Vintage Buttercream with Crescent Colours & DMC

I always keep a big 'wish list' on Amazon.com and when I need things to round up an order to get free shipping I will look for something with a good price. I recently picked up this book called "Tiaras" by Geoffrey Munn. I love historic jewelry especially that connected with royalty. This book was only $11.00 and such a treat for the eyes. Evidently there was an exhibit at the V&A museum in London which I only wished I could have seen. Feast your eyes on some of these lovelies! Every woman should have a tiara....sigh.......

I recently bought a small gift for someone from the Stitchery catalog that I keep getting in the mail. They keep trying to get me to order something and I finally did. In order to make it worth my while to pay a shipping cost I picked up some of these beaded Mill Hill Santa kits and this Angel of Stitching pattern. The kits come with perforated paper but I may stitch them on linen instead. I just think they are cute.

I have to hurry with this as I'm headed over to a sew day with my quilting buddies. Should be fun as I haven't sewed since my surgery in October. Sunday we'll be parked in front of the big-screen TV with our friends and munchies watching the epic Monsters of the Midway vs The Pack. We are Bears fans .....not sure if we can beat our arch-enemy the Packers this time but it's exciting just the same. I'll have our Bears flag flying in front of the house - GO BEARS!!

VERSUS

See you back here soon I hope!

A little bit of everything.........

2011-01-11T21:33:00.006-07:00

Hello readers and Happy New Year! For being only 11 days into the year I can't believe how busy I've been. We started a bathroom remodeling project on Jan 3rd and it's just been crazy. Things are going well I'm happy to report but it makes for long days - luckily my job lets me telecommute from home when I need to otherwise I don't know how we would do this. Someone must be home to keep an eye on everything. Since I have 2 dogs of course I have to corral them in one part of the house as they don't like strangers, try to do my job, answer contractor questions, supervise, etc. It seems that every evening there is something that needs deciding, or an errand or something to get ready for the next day. We started getting estimates last September so it's been awhile getting to this point. I had to wait until I had recovered enough from my surgery before having the remodeling company come in and get started. We should be done in about a month. Here's a photo of my old master bathroom after the tearout - we had a lot of what they call 'cultured marble' which the builders out here like to use and it really needed replacing. We're doing our share to stimulate the economy I guess!

I have been able to squeeze in a little stitching this week. I found a UFO I started last year sometime and pulled it out as I should be able to finish it fairly quickly. I'm actually a little further along as I took this photo a day or two ago.

"My Needle's Work" by Little House Needleworks

I did get down to my LNS the week after Christmas. I lunched with a good friend I hadn't seen in awhile then we visited the LNS and a quilt shop too - a great way to spend a day off. My framed Plymouth Sampler was ready to pick up and photos are just below. I am really happy with it! I couldn't find just the right color frame when I was dropping it off for framing, but my LNS has a very talented employee who paints unfinished frames so she custom-painted this one to go with the sampler colors. Isn't it great?? I always get museum glass on my framing - love it but it sure makes it difficult to photograph.

I also picked up a little stash LOL. I have been gradually picking up all the LHN "Dear Diary" series - like I need more LHN patterns! I could stitch exclusively on LHN and Prairie Schooler projects for 5 years with as many as I have in my stash. I just can't stop buying them! I also picked up 3 different Shakespeare Peddler's patterns, fibers, ornament cuts of linen and some other bits and pieces. I am accumulating the supplies for the Sarah Woodham sampler which I hope to start sometime in the next few months.

As I look at the year ahead I'm not making any particular stitching or quilting goals - I'm going to just do as much as I can. I really feel overwhelmed with my crafting stash - I love it but I have more than I can ever do in my remaining lifetime I'm sure. Over the past 2 years I got my quilting UFO list down considerably - I used to have about 25 projects outstanding and I am now down to THREE! My new rule is I'm not starting any new quilts unless one comes off the WIP/UFO list. I wish I could say the same for my stitching though. I did get a lot of framing done last year and finished up some UFO's but I still have like 12 or 13 WIP's. That is way too many for me - it stresses me out. I would love to be down to under 5 some day but it seems like a faraway dream. Here's a few shots from my craft room - here are some of my 38 bins of quilting fabric and various quilting projects kitted up and other "stuff".........

and here is my stitching WIP basket..........

plus other stitching projects kitted up and waiting anxiously to be started..........

While I wasn't able to stitch back in December I re-inventoried all my cross-stitch patterns. I do keep them all in a spreadsheet but over the last few years I knew I hadn't recorded all of them and really needed to go through it all to see what I have. I'm not saying this to brag....and I'm older than a lot of you so I've been buying longer (LOL) but I have over 600 patterns on my spreadsheet! It really doesn't seem like I have that many - I have 2 file drawers full of hanging folders by designer. Plus...many of these are booklets or patterns which have multiple designs in them. OMG!!!! At the rate I'm finishing things this will be about 60 more years of stitching! That would mean I'd be about ~~115~~ ......let's not even go there.............

I started buying Gail Wilson doll kits about 5 years ago. I have always loved her primtive/historical dolls and accessories - if you've ever seen any in person they are lovely but they are a lot of very detailed work. A local quilt shop used to carry kits so I got started buying them there, then I eventually started buying directly from the designer's website and subscribing to her email newsletters. (always dangerous...who can resist a sale??)

Gail Wilson doll kits - http://www.gailwilsondesigns.com/index.html

I'm glad I bought when I did as the designer has cut her business back a bit and many of these are now discontinued. I really MUST get started on some of these or the paints are all going to dry up. She's got a new pattern out for a Jane Austen doll - she does online classes so hope I can manage that sometime in the future. You can see the doll if you scroll down a bit on this page. (http://www.gailwilsondesigns.com/catalog/new_items.html). You can see why I'm stressed - so much to do and so little time! I need to quit sleeping I guess!

Thanks for stopping in friends - I love hearing from you and hope to be a more frequent blogger this year!

Jeanne

Recalled to life.......

2010-12-22T14:32:00.008-07:00

If any of you are Charles Dickens fans you may realize that my blog post title is the same as Chapter 1 of "A Tale of Two Cities" - one of my favorite books. That's how I feel folks as I finally am starting to feel better since my shoulder surgery on Oct 29th. I had a mixed surgery - part of it was done using arthroscopic techniques but the surgeon also had to make a 2" incision to repair a big hole in my rotator cuff, remove a large bone spur in my shoulder that caused it, and do a lot of cleanup around my joint, tendons, etc. I wouldn't wish this on anyone! It's been a very painful recovery as it was my dominant arm - having to sleep partially sitting up and wearing an arm brace for 5 weeks and now I will be doing physical therapy for almost 6 months. At least I am now out of the brace, finally off of narcotic pain pills, and starting to feel like there is light at the end of this long tunnel. Whew! I took 2 weeks off of work after the surgery, then worked at home for 3 weeks and have been off work since Dec 15th until January.

It really puts things in perspective when you can't do your hair, you can't drive, you can't quilt, you can't stitch, you can't bake Christmas cookies, do much shopping or other seasonal activities. My husband really pitched in with the cooking and Christmas decorating and we had little shopping to do this year fortunately. I am so grateful that I eventually should get back full function in my arm and I have a lot more sensitivity to those who struggle with illness and disabilities every day.

So although I don't have any stitching or quilting to share, I do want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season! I have so enjoyed reading all your blog updates over the past 2 months - I haven't commented too much as typing was hard for me using only my left hand. I never was too much into stitching ornaments but next year I fully intend to get started on all the ornament patterns I've collected in past years - you've all inspired me. I found the cutest metal ornament tree with hinged branches and I plan to leave it out in my sewing room all year as I stitch. Not being like a traditional Christmas tree, I can decorate it for any holiday or season. (it's pictured in one of the photo collages below).

Thought I'd share a few photo collages. I collect Olde World Christmas ornaments which are made like the old traditional breakable ornaments. Some of our favorites are pictured here - husband and I have exchanged ornaments every year we've been married and I date them all on the bottom. Many of them have special meaning for us - places we've visited or things we like to do etc. My favorite ornament is one of a mill house - we used to visit the historic Graue Mill in Hinsdale Illinois when we were dating. Also I've added some photos of our yard - we have beautiful bushes with bright red berries - and at the same time the oranges are getting ripe. Our stockings are hung on the mantle and I've been watching my favorite Christmas movies - there's a snap of Judy Garland singing 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' from Meet Me in St Louis.

I am just starting to be able to stitch a little this week and can't wait to really get going in January! I am not going to join the challenge of starting 15 new projects as I already have so much in progress and waiting to start. I hope all of you readers have a festive holiday season whatever you celebrate and wish you good health, prosperity, and a lot of stitching productivity in the new year!

Taking a break.....

2010-10-28T15:03:00.010-07:00

Well here it is Halloween already! Hope you have your candy ready for the trick-or-treaters (I admit I've sneaked in one of the bags and eaten a few Snickers...).
Today's rant:
If any of you don't want to read my rants about JoAnn's you can scroll on past this part...but that place really gets me annoyed! They are always playing coupon games....like putting things at 10% off so you can't use your 40% or 50% off coupons. They used to let you use the coupons against the regular price of things if it worked out better than the sale price but now they don't let you do that either. The lines at the JoAnn's nearest to me are always terribly long and you're lucky if you can find a sales clerk to help you with anything. I recently took this little piece to get framed. I was trying to be economical so I stretched and mounted the needlework myself then took it in with a 60% off coupon for the framing. The price was good - no complaints about that. I asked for spacers and museum-quality glass like I always do. When I got it back I noticed the bottom of my piece looked a little crooked - my fault likely as I'm still trying to get better with mounting the needlework. I thought no big deal - I'll take the paper off of the back, fix the bottom part of the needlework and then put it back together and put new paper on the back.

"Captain's Inn" by Little House Needleworks
Stitched on 32-ct Pewter Lugana with Crescent Colours threads

When I opened up the back I noticed they didn't secure the needlework with any push-points or staples to hold it into the frame, and there was no spacers on the glass. This isn't a fancy heirloom piece, but spacers are inexpensive and they keep your needlework from pressing up against the glass. Anyway, I fixed the part on the needlework I wanted to be straighter and then I took it back to JoAnn's to complain about the other work. I couldn't find my receipt at home but it had only been 2 weeks so I figured they could look up my order in the computer there. Well 3 employees tried and had no idea how to find the order. Then they told me they could give me the spacers and staples to secure the needlework for free but they'd have to charge me for the labor to put them in! Can you believe it? I was trying not to get too angry...so finally I said just cut the plastic spacers and give them to me and I'll put it all back together myself. This is what aggravates me about them - I don't like taking my needlework there because I can't trust them to give me what I've asked for. If I hadn't opened it up I never would've known. I am positive I asked for the spacers and it was written on the order because I always get them. So as I'm leaving the framing clerk tells me "remember next time to ask for the spacers when you drop off the piece". I decided no response was best and just left. SIGH...can't anyone do things right anymore?? I feel like writing a letter to the store manager but it's probably a waste of time. I wonder if I even got the museum glass I asked for but I have no way of knowing. I remember years ago I went to reframe a little stitched piece that Michael's had framed for me. When I opened it up the needlework had never been mounted at all - they had just folded the sides under and laid it in there on the glass! I guess from now on I'll do it myself or take it somewhere I trust. Anyway, I do like the frame and I'm happy now that I finished it. Here's a closeup of one of the corners:

and other news:
I have to take a break from stitching and quilting for a bit. Sniff sniff.....I'm a little depressed about it. I'm having orthopedic surgery tomorrow morning on my right shoulder and since I'm right-handed, I won't be able to stitch or sew for at least 6 weeks. It all depends on what they find to correct when they get in there. I have bone spurs and if there's a tear in my rotator cuff the recovery could be even longer. I don't know how I'll survive without stitching! I guess I'll do more reading and maybe I'll kit up several small things for next year and play around in my stash. I have so many projects crying for attention - I'd like to get several smaller things done next year instead of starting more big projects. I'm taking at least a week off from work and then I can work from home for several weeks until I am cleared to drive again. My job is on a computer all day so it'll be slow typing with just my left hand. I'll still be visiting blogs and making lots of plans though! I had my left shoulder done 3 years ago (same problem) so I know what to expect. It won't be fun but at least when it's all over I won't be in pain all the time.
Have a great Halloween everyone and thank you so much for stopping by. I read every single comment and I appreciate all your kind compliments on my Goode Huswife finish! (You can bet it won't be going to JoAnn's for the framing!)

Goode Huswife finish & my special birthday!

2010-10-07T12:39:00.013-07:00

Here she is in all her glory!

(no there's nothing on my linen on the left - just some shadow that sneaked into the photo!)

I love this sampler! It goes great with the colors in my house. Doing the verse on top was a bit boring but hey that's usually the case with samplers isn't it? There usually is some boring part of it you've got to trudge on through. I want to thank Terri B for inspiring me with the one she did last year - I shamelessly (okay I do have a little shame...) did mine in similar colors after falling in love with hers. But hey isn't that what blogging is all about? We share with each other, we inspire others, we enable, we cheer each other on even when we're in a stitching slump. It's hard for me sometimes to find the time to update my blog and read everyone else's (over 200 of you!) but I would miss it very much if I wasn't a part of it all. Sure I can show my finish to DH but he just doesn't appreciate all the work that goes into stitching and how excited we get about our projects. (he just wonders why it costs so much LOL)

This one will go on the framing list ......I've made good progress this year on reducing that list down by 8 or 9 things but I've still got about 5 more to do. The trouble is, while you try to catch on the framing you're still completing things and adding on more! I keep hoping I'll win the lottery and can run (a) to the needlework store or nearest computer to start ordering, and (b) grab all my finishes and run to the framers!

And....all of a sudden it’s that time of the year again – how quickly those birthdays roll around it seems. Normally I don't talk much about my birthday on my blog updates but this year it’s rather special. My birthday is Saturday – the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year........10/10/10. And not only that.......but I was born in ’55 (adding up to 10 again), and I will be turning 55 this year (another 10). Hey, how did I get so old?? I don’t feel any different inside but the alternative to not getting older is a lot worse LOL. So I plan to celebrate my life and have lots of fun because I’m still young at heart. (and I have a LOT of stitching still to get done in this lifetime!)

My dear husband and I are heading to Disneyland/California Adventure for 4 days to celebrate. I can’t wait to go. We went there for my 40th birthday and that was when I discovered that I am the same age as Disneyland because of all the special decorating they had in the park promoting “40 years of adventure” for Disneyland. I felt that was an accurate statement on my turning 40! So of course we had to go again when Disneyland and I turned 50 together and we had a fantastic trip staying at the new and luxurious Grand Californian resort. Now we are going again to celebrate me turning 55 and I know we’ll have a great time. We have reservations for dinner at a restaurant at Disneyland called Steakhouse 55 - can you believe it? This is getting very strange – I’m going to buy lottery tickets this week - – since the universe seems to be aligned maybe I'll be lucky! Thank you dear readers for stopping by to visit me!

False starts....made better

2010-09-19T17:23:00.018-07:00

Hi readers....here we are almost at the end of another month already! I'm juggling all sorts of things but sneaking time whenever I can for stitching. I got started on the SAL I'm doing on Blue Ribbon Designs' "It's Cold Outside". I had the recommended Lakeside Linen 'Winter Sky' in 40-ct and I put in about 2.5 hours on the project but it was totally frustrating! I was having a hard time seeing the threads and I just wasn't enjoying it all. I finally gave up and dug through my stash and found a beautiful piece of 36-count linen that looks great and in fact, I like it better than what I had started with. What do you think on my start so far?

It's Cold Outside - Blue Ribbon Designs

Stitched on 36-ct "Haven" linen by Picture This Plus

Part of the issue with working on that 40-ct original piece of blue linen was my wonderful Daylight magnifiying light broke a few weeks ago - I've had it 5 to 6 years and lately the spring in the arm had started to squeak badly and was actually ripping a tear in the metal arm. Then I stupidly turned the light too far in one direction and it broke right off. There was no way to repair it so I called my LNS and ordered a new one. These are expensive lights but if you need magnification (I really do because of my age and progessive lenses) they are THE BEST LIGHTED MAGNIFIERS I've ever tried. I had purchased the floor stand when I got my original light and luckily the replacement model will still fit my stand. It is worth every penny to me. I used my last one for over 5 years with hundreds and hundreds of hours of use for both cross-stitching and sewing and any other type of close work and I never even replaced the original bulb in it. I had a Dazor several years ago - it's also a good product - and I have a MightyBrite magnifier that I use out in our family room as it's less unsightly. In my opinion the MightyBrite doesn't hold a candle (no pun intended) to my Ultra-Slim daylight - the MightyBrite uses LED lights and they just aren't that bright. I'm so happy that I picked up my new light on Saturday and I'm back in business! Yeah!!

Daylight Ultra-Slim Magnifying Light - model U22020

I've been working hard on With My Needle too - I just have the rest of the work on the left side of the lady and I'll be done. I really love this little sampler. I hope for a finish in a few weeks!

Quakers & Quilts has been getting a little attention but not quite enough to bother taking another photo. Have you all been watching for new patterns coming out for Market? I haven't seen too much that blew my socks off and made me run down the street waving my credit card, but I'm sure something will come along. I've ordered the linen and silk pack from Attic Needlework for the conversion they did for "The Garden Glade" by CHS. (now to figure out where the money is coming from....) I've had this pattern already for awhile but when I saw how they were stitching it on a soft blue/green linen with some beautiful silks, I was hooked! You can read more about this sampler if you open the newsletter on this page from Sept 10th. (Attic Needlework Newsletters) I have no affiliation.....I'm just a customer who spends way too much money there! Here's a photo of how they are stitching up the model at Attic Needlework - I love the leaves on the tree:

I'm also liking the new Jenny Bean sampler from Shakespeare's Peddlar and might add it to my list. I think my stash is finally starting to catch up with me...I find myself not buying as many patterns because I already have so much...or at least I take a good look and decide if it's really any better or different than what I already have. I have so many things at home I'm just dying to start. I saw nothing that prompted me to buy the new JCS ornament issue either (well I did like the Sock Monkey ornament) ....I already have tons of ornie patterns and didn't see anything I couldn't live without. I'll just watch the rest of you stitch them LOL.

I got to meet a stitcher who lives near me in Phoenix on Saturday - she purchased some charts from me and we had fun chatting about our obsession. ( Hi Melissa- thanks so much for reading my blog and I enjoyed meeting you!)

I'm dreaming of autumn..........

2010-09-10T15:36:00.026-07:00

"See off yonder; see them tepees? They kind o' look like corn shocks from here, but them's Injun tents, sure as you're a foot high. See 'em now? Sure, I knowed you could. Smell that smoky sort o' smell in the air? That's the campfires a-burnin' and their pipes a-goin'. "

"Injun Summer" by John McCutcheon, 1907

(link to the complete poem)

Every fall when I grew up in Illinois the Chicago Tribune newspaper would reprint the famous story by John McCutcheon about "Injun Summer".......... I sure do miss midwestern things at this time of year....leaves turning colors, pumpkins, crisp autumn air, cornstalks, gourds, corn mazes and best of all....Halloween! Our summer is fading here in the Southwest but we still have about a month to go before we can breathe a sign of relief that the heat is gone for this year. Mornings and evenings are cooling off and it's such a relief. I've enjoyed seeing some of your posts with your fall decorating... I need to get out those boxes from the garage and pull out some things. I can't believe all the fall and Halloween items in the stores - Michaels seems to have gone all out this year promoting Halloween. Pretty soon it's going to be as big as Christmas just without the gifts!

Goode Huswife's "With My Needle" is coming along - the skirt on the woman seemed to take forever to complete but I'm now feeling like this sampler is really shaping up. I have about 4 stitching projects that I MUST get done this year so no time to waste!

I also did a little framing job on my own this week. I'm embarrassed to tell you that I stitched this likeness of Thomas Jefferson's Virginia home 'Monticello' back about 1990! I picked up a book of patterns called "Historic Virginia" when I was visiting Virginia & Maryland. I just love colonial architecture, Williamsburg, and all that sort of thing. I don't know why I let this little piece lie unframed so long. Since I started doing a bit of my own framing this year I found that this piece fit perfectly into a regular 5" X 7" frame so I found a perfect one at JoAnn's for $8.00. Can't beat framing a piece for that!

I've decided I no longer want my stitched "Mount Vernon" the home of George Washington. If anyone wants it please email me (address in my profile). If I get more than one request I will draw a name - not sure if anyone would want this but I kind of hate to just dump it in the trash. It too will fit into a 5" X 7" frame.

I also picked up this little framed piece by Blackbird Designs I stitched a few years back. I did the stretching and just had a local shop do the frame and glass. It was hard finding a frame that looked good with this as it's stitched on an odd green color linen (R&R's Glen Ellyn?) but I think it's turned out well.

I am getting ready for a new start too (no I will not listen to the little angel on my shoulder whispering to me about all the projects already started..........). I'm joining an SAL with Heidi & Saskia next week to stitch "It's Cold Outside" by Blue Ribbon Designs. I'm so happy they have included me - I love BRD patterns and stitching these is kind of like quilting because each motif is it's own little block and so you feel good each time you get one of the blocks done. I just love the little penguins!

"It's Cold Outside" by Blue Ribbon Designs - kitted up with 40-ct Lakeside Linen Wintry Sky and Crescent Colours threads.

I thank all of you for your wonderful comments on my Pride & Prejudice sampler last time I posted...they're keeping me encouraged to keep going on this big project. Anyone wanting to know the patterns I have been using - I posted a link at the top of my blog to the pattern list. Until next time......hope you are having a great autumn!

Tired of landscaping...............

2010-08-10T11:05:00.017-07:00

Finally – time to share some progress on my Pride & Prejudice sampler! You can see on my right sidebar in my WIP photos where I was last time I posted an update on this – I had just finished stitching the house at Netherfield Park, the home of the famous Mr. Bingley. Well I have been busy over the last month doing lots of ‘landscaping’. It sure takes a lot of time even though I had made notes on what I wanted to do. I have added a formal garden from a Prairie Schooler chart, a fence from another Prairie Schooler chart, a lovely fountain from one of the cottage series by Elizabeth Designs, some grapevines inspired by a Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers pattern (had to chart my own as theirs wouldn’t fit), and finally Mr. Bingley his very self from an old Sudberry chart. So here is the finished vignette and a photo of the estate used in the 1995 movie. I hope he’s happy with what I’ve done with his estate. I have the hardest time getting the color right on my photos - it's so frustrating! I need a class on digital photography!

Here's a close up look at Mr Bingley at the entrance to Netherfield and his photo from the movie.

I’ve also added some grass here and there around the Bennett sisters’ home and a front walkway you can see below. The trouble with not working from a set pattern is you keep finding more things to add – a bird here, some flowers there, more grass here, etc. I'm still tweaking little things here and there. I am getting worried about fitting in all the rest of the things I had planned for this sampler but will just see how it goes. I’ve sized some of the objects on graph paper and been playing around with the layout but unless you really sit and chart the whole thing out (way too much work!) you aren’t totally sure what is going to work.

Here’s a photo of the whole sampler so far – I think I am close to halfway done! It measures about 19" wide by 16" tall.

The next portion I’m going to be working on the lower right corner where I’m placing Lizzy & Darcy as a couple. Last year I bought a cute pattern on eBay from a lady who has created several charts inspired by Jane Austen themes and I’ll be using Lizzy & Darcy from that chart. I believe this designer only sells her charts on eBay but if you like Jane Austen themes you may want to check them out. http://stores.ebay.com/West-Wind-Cross-Stitch-Designs

Also if are a fan of the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice I recommend this book on the making of the movie. It's not very expensive - got mine on Amazon - and it has a lot of great photos and details about the locations they used for the filming, the costumes, etc. This is my favorite photo of the modern-day actresses taking a break while filming - so unlike the ladies of the era! Note that one of them is doing needlepoint - yeah!

Wow it's August already!

2010-08-03T14:40:00.008-07:00

Hello dear readers - can you believe how fast the time is slipping by us? I've been stitching and stitching in between entertaining houseguests and all sorts of other activities. I hope you all are enjoying your summertime. I thought I'd post an update of some of my WIP's - I've been rotating among a few different things trying to make progress.

I got in a 'bag' mood a couple weeks ago and made a whole bunch of project bags with a Mary Engelbreit theme. I love the black fabric with the cherries which I found at Joann's of all places - in fact I went and bought some very similar fabric they had that I'm going to use to make some appliance covers for my kitchen (yet another project waiting for me). I even make little matching labels on my computer - yes I'm kooky! I tried my first 'snap' bag from a pattern I bought awhile back in a quilt store. It's just a fun little bag to make and use. The top has a casing sewn into it, and in there you insert lengths cut off from a metal measuring tapes like a carpenter uses. Then you use the side tabs to pull the bag open - sort of like an old-fashioned coin purse. I had no one here when I was taking photos today to hold the bag open so I propped it open for a photo. I sent a bunch of these bags to my sister who has some Mary Engelbreit themes going in her craft room/office and I kept the rest for myself. You can never have too many bags!

I'm a little late with my monthly update on Goode Huswife's "With My Needle". Heidi and I have been doing an SAL but with no timeframes attached. We are both coming along - this is a great sampler. I'm loving it but starting to get a little dizzy going around and around all the swirls LOL.

I also started Little House Needleworks "My Needle's Work" a little while ago - it's a nice easy stitch - good for TV watching as the count is 32 on this and bigger than my other projects. I decided to give my lady a teal dress instead of drab brown.

I've also been stitching a lot on my Pride & Prejudice sampler - will post an update the end of this week on that. Right now it' s a bit too wrinkly and I don't feel like taking it off my Qsnaps to photograph it. I'm excited that I scored something on eBay this morning that I've been wanting for awhile - this is one of the little Whitman tins I've been wanting but didn't have. I have all of Jane Timmers' patterns for the little sewing smalls that go with the tins but was missing this tin and the miniature Cloisonne tin which I hope someday to find as well. There was one more of these on eBay available if anyone is looking - http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Tin-Container-Whitmans-Sampler-Chocolate-Empty-/300431204426?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f318604a

Until next time may your stitching be fast and no frogs visit you!

Come visit and see my framing!

2010-07-13T19:56:00.015-07:00

Well last week really got away from me, I intended to post these earlier but just getting time to do it tonite. I am not the best photographer but I did the best I could....I have museum glass put on my 'major' pieces so it makes them harder to photograph. I'm so happy with how these turned out. My 'English Sampler' below was framed with a gold filet and a backing behind the piece so that the cutwork would show. The framer used a linen filler (not sure if that's the right word) but it surrounds the sampler and it has about an inch of 'depth' to it. The glass is only over the needlework part and not the surrounding areas. This is a big piece - it's 28" long and I had to wait 3 months to get it back but finally the bare spot in my little sampler grouping is filled! I do have lots of other stitched pieces around my house but I've been trying to make this group just samplers.

(Click for a better view)

' English Sampler' from Treasures in Needlework Magazine

Stitched on 34-ct Legacy Linen in "Cafe Au Lait' with Soie D'Alger silks

The other piece I picked up was 'Sampler Lady' by Little House Needleworks. For her I picked out a rustic style frame and she is now hanging in my sewing/stitching room. I still love this design and I've started on LHN's "My Needle's Work" as sort of a companion piece.

I've been stitching on all sorts of projects.....I finally felt like I had made enough progress to post another update on Quakers & Quilts. I think I've made it to the one-third milepost now. I started out doing the quilts along the bottom and they are a lot of stitching and back-stitching so I was kind of burnt out on this project and took a break from it for awhile. I'm finding the upper portion goes a lot faster thankfully!

Are any of you "Deadliest Catch" fans? I was so sad when Captain Phil Harris had his stroke in January and died in February. It's been hard watching the show the last few episodes and seeing him pass away - it's like he died all over again. He was my favorite person on the show - you could tell he was pretty much the same guy on and off the camera. I think that's why people liked him so much - he told it like it is LOL. I work for a large international corporation where there are a lot of politics and a "process" for everything! My co-workers and I always say Phil never would've lasted a week putting up with the corporate world. Now when the next piece of corporate nonsense descends on us we laugh and say "What would Phil do?" The show just won't be the same without him next season. RIP Captain Phil!

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit. I truly enjoy each and every comment!

Tiny finish for July 4th! (and giveaway winner...)

2010-07-03T14:10:00.004-07:00

Edited: I almost forgot about posting the winner of the Plymouth Sampler chart. Out of the 8 people interested, husband pulled out #2 which was Jackie. I have emailed you Jackie and will send it out as soon as I get your snail-mail address. Thanks for visiting my blog!

I don't know why this little kit has been sitting in my stash for years but I finally got it out this week and stitched. It was a little freebie from Sunflower Samplings some years back and fits into a 2" X 3" frame! Not sure what to do with it, but it's done at least.

Today I'm picking up my long-awaited framing that is finally ready at my local needlework shop. Can't wait to see it and will post pictures next week.

Wishing a wonderful 4th of July to all my US readers. Usually we can see some fireworks from our backyard so hoping it's true again this year. It's too hot here to go anywhere and sit outside for hours!

Plymouth Sampler finished!

2010-06-24T18:29:00.015-07:00

Hello stitchers one and all - I'm excited to report I finished up Plymouth Sampler a few days ago. I'm doing the happy dance to be sure! I finally had time today during lunch to press it and get a decent photo. It was a lot of stitching as it's fairly "solid" but lots of fun especially once you get the houses done This was designed after the 9-11 terrorist attack by Brenda Keyes of The Sampler Company as a tribute to America. It is stitched on Vintage Meadow Rue 40-count linen by Lakeside - I purchased this lovely mottled piece of linen some years ago and glad I did. The linen the Lakeside ladies are dying these days is not nearly as mottled as it used to be - maybe because they are dying in bigger lots of linen? I don't know but even my LNS owner was commenting on the changes she's noticed (not that we don't still love Lakeside Linens!). It's charted for DMC floss but I stitched the conversion to Needlepoint Silks that my LNS provided some years back.

If anyone in the domestic U.S. would like the chart please mention it in a comment to this post and I will draw a name in a week or so and pass it on to someone else. It's "gently used" but still totally usable - I wrote the conversion on the chart and it does have a piece of scotch tape along the center where the chart (it's big) was folded in half - I was afraid it would get too worn there so I taped over the crease. It comes with all the accompanying extras included in the original pattern - a chart of alphabets, some history of samplers, etc.

I also finished a little self-framing project (patting myself on the back). This was another piece I pulled out of my "waiting to be framed" pile and decided I could do myself. Once I realized the piece was not as big as I remembered it, I had a brainstorm that it might fit into one of those pre-made frames for panoramic photos. I found this frame at a framing shop on sale for $8.99 - it was pretty ugly when I bought it (see before and after below) but I spray-painted it white, added a little Martha Stewart fine glitter, and it worked out great. This is a Shepherd's Bush piece that was stitched a few years ago in a round robin. Total cost of framing was $13 as I used my 50% off coupon at JoAnn's for the spray paint. :)

"Snowpatch" by Shepherd's Bush

Stitched on pale green linen with silks

Now I'm concentrating on working on With My Needle by The Goode Huswife and Quakers & Quilts by Rosewood Manor. I was sort of stalled on both of them for a bit but now getting going again. It's hot here this week so I'll be taking a dip in the pool this evening and I want to catch that new show called "Boston Med" which looks interesting. Here's a photo of our dog Abby - we call her "Princess Bea" and you can see why. She's got a wonderful life let me tell you!

Summer Days.......

2010-06-17T07:37:00.009-07:00

I hate summer colds! I had a lovely vacation back in the midwest but caught a cold on the way home unfortunately. I think it was the germs at the casino I visited in Minnesota - but I won $150 so I guess it was worth it! Husband and I flew into Minneapolis and rented a car - we put over 1000 miles on it traveling through 4 states visiting various family members in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin & Illinois. Aside from the rain and humidity which we're not used to much anymore, everything was nice. We really enjoyed taking a lot of the smaller highways around and relaxing in the peaceful farm country. I stopped at 3 quilt shops but didn't buy a whole lot - it's just fun to see different things.

I picked up my framed Peppermint Twist piece right before I left on vacation so here it is - they did a nice job with it. Now it's just wrapped up in tissue paper waiting to come out at holiday time. :)

My adrenaline is going ......I am getting near the finish line with Plymouth Sampler - woohoo! I am about 90% done I'm guessing. I worked on it during the plane ride and when I could while husband was driving (some roads were too bumpy to do 40-ct stitching!) Luckily we got upgraded to first class both ways on our trip - oh it was so nice and spoiled me for next time! There is so much more room especially if you want to stitch. Here's a sneak peak at the pilgrims from Plymouth Sampler - hope to post a finish soon!

I must tell you a little story about the photo below. My mom taught me to embroider when I was about 8 or 9 - she got a pattern of ducks doing housework and we ironed the transfers onto those white flour-sack dish towels like people did back then. They were supposed to be for my "hope chest". I can remember sitting with Mom learning and her telling me to make my stitches smaller and neater. :) Well, I didn't get married young and the towels went with me when I moved out for a single life in Chicago after college. They got used and gradually thrown away when they got stained and old. For sentimental reasons, I cut out and saved the embroidery part from the last towel before I threw it out. You can see it here looking old and stained. For the last 4 years or so I looked online to see if I could find the patterns - searching vintage embroidery sites and eBay. No luck - my ducks seemed very obscure and weren't published by any of the major brands back then. A few weeks ago I was buying something on eBay and did my usual search for vintage embroidery duck patterns - up came my patterns! I almost fell off my chair. Since these old embroidery patterns are out of copyright now people are recreating the transfers and selling them again. I ordered the set of 6 for $5.99 and here they are! I am so thrilled - I've ordered myself a new set of towels and I plan to recreate my set. The seller says these patterns were sold out of newspapers which makes sense - I recall seeing those little ads in the back pages of our local newspaper when I was a kid - you could buy all sorts of crafting patterns for around 50 cents so my mom must have sent away for the transfers. Can you believe I found the same set of patterns after 46 years?!? I feel like I've come full circle!

Some finishing work...........$$ saved!

2010-05-31T11:16:00.009-07:00

Well I hope all of you are doing something fun and relaxing on this Memorial Day and taking a moment to remember all those who have served our country and the thousands who have lost their lives doing so.

Hard to believe it is almost June already! It's been a busy weekend for us getting together with friends etc....and DH and I are taking a trip back to the midwest in a few days to visit various relatives on both sides of our family. I'm hoping the recent heat wave there is over by the time we get there....I'm not good at handling humidity anymore! It's hot here in the southwest but very dry this time of year so as long as you are in some shade, the heat really isn't that bad.

Lately I've been pretty annoyed at the high cost of framing. I have 2 things still at my LNS I've been waiting for since early March, and another piece at a local framing shop near my home. I had gotten a coupon in the mail from the framing shop as I've had other things done there, so I figured I would take advantage of it. How do the rest of you feel about these coupons? I'm beginning to believe it's a huge scam - I think the craft stores as well as the framing stores (who have to compete with the craft stores) have all raised their prices in order to offer you "coupon savings". I took my "Peppermint Twist" to the framing store, and with mounting, the frame, 2 mats, museum glass, "labor", and taxes, the 50% off price was $215!!! Is this crazy or what? Now I admit I am picky about my framing.....and that comes from years of learning what I like, bearing the cost of redoing things I wasn't happy with, not liking the work certain stores did, etc. So for "special" pieces I am willing to pay to have it exactly like I want it, but I am outraged just the same!

With all this in mind, I recently went through my box of finished pieces waiting to be framed and reassessed the projects. I was able to pull out 5 things that really don't need to be framed - either they are things I can finish into something else, or I can use small ready-made frames and do the mounting myself. Some of them have been sitting rolled up in tissue paper for many years and it's crazy that I haven't finished them up by now.

Here's what I got done last week. This Thanksgiving banner I did not stitch myself - it was a from an exchange I did 3 or 4 years ago and was finished into a banner....I had been wanting to get it framed but instead I did a flat ornament-style finish that fits better where I want to hang it for November. It's about 6" wide and 11" long - I'm really happy with how it came out, I used some autumn-themed fabric on the back.

I made the flatfold below out of snowman I stitched many, many years ago. It was from a book by Alma Lynne. I always intended to stitch the companion snowman and frame the both of them ........I have abandoned that crazy thought LOL. I love how it came out....I even added some glittery snowflakes I found in my craft supplies. The good thing about being a stitcher as well as a quilter is that I usually never have to buy any fabric to finish things - the total cost of these projects came to about $2.00.... I had to buy some extra DMC in the same color to make the cording. (so take THAT, you framing stores!)

I'll see you all when I get back from vacation. I'm making progress on Plymouth Sampler and back to finally working on Quakers & Quilts and hopefully I'll have some good progress to share by then. Keep on stitching!

Finally framed and this & that.....

2010-05-06T13:43:00.019-07:00

Hi Friends & Followers! I've been waiting on some pieces that have been at the framers awhile but I've given up the idea of sharing all 3 of them in one post as it's taking so long. At least I've gotten one back so far. This was from an SAL last year - I still love it. I like taking my pieces to my LNS to frame but it always seems to take forever!

My Quaker Lady

stitched with Needlepoint silks on 40-ct Vintage Sand Dune by Lakeside Linen

I haven't been very good about answering questions...Jennifer asked where I got the pattern for my Pride & Prejudice Sampler. It's not really one pattern Jennifer, it is modeled after those "neighborhood" round robin samplers that have been popular. For inspiration I collected all sorts of photos off of the internet from the A&E version of the movie (it's my favorite). Then I put together a rough design and sizing on sheets of graph paper taped together. I pulled all sorts of patterns from my stash for various things, as well as "acquiring" a few more! My plan is to do all the major homes in the story - Longbourn, Netherfield Park, Pemberley, Rosings Park, and the parsonage & chapel where Mr Collins lived. Then I'm adding trees, gardens, people, and some of my favorite quotes. The Bennett house I designed myself. Most of the other houses I'm taking from the samplers that The Stitching Parlor has published. I wanted to do the story in one sampler. It's going to take me a while though with all my other projects going. Thanks for asking!

I haven't really had much time for stitching lately and that is making me very cranky! I sometimes get totally overwhelmed when I look at my stash and the list of what I want to get stitched or quilted but then I put it out of my mind because there' s not much I can do about it. I have thought about shutting down my blog as I don't have nearly as much to show as so many of you and I feel bad and frustrated about that but here I am plugging away. I can't even keep up with my blog reading - my numbers in Google Reader were up over 700....I finally got it down to about 175 but it's creeping up again this week. I don't understand how they figure that number - it can't be the number of posts but maybe number of lines or something? If anyone knows, let me in on the secret!

Here's my progress on 'With My Needle' and 'Plymouth Sampler' -not a lot but I'm inching along slowly.... Getting the border on Plymouth Sampler makes me feel I am closing in a finish...must be a an optical illusion huh? And 2 more lines of verse to go on WMN -I'm sick of stitching letters. (Oh I didn't really say that did I? I've got The Gettsyburg Address kitted up to go so I better get used to it!)

I did finish up a tote bag recently made of a "Bali Pop" - that's a set of batik fabric strips. I'll be using this to haul stuff when I go to my quilting retreats and sew days. It's really sturdy so you can pack a lot in it - even an iron. I'm calling it my 'Mary Poppins Carpetbag'. Remember that carpetbag Mary had and she would magically pull all sorts of things out of it? That's what I thought of when I finished this. Not only am I crazy for pincushions but I love making bags and can't resist buying more bag and purse patterns that I don't have time to make!

My quilting buddies and I recently had a great get-together with another quilting group. We had a wonderful day - shopping at a new quilt store, lunch at a winery/restaurant and then dessert and show & tell on a friend's patio overlooking the golf course. The weather and company were perfect! I'd like to share with you just a few of the great quilts we got to see - these ladies do some fantastic work.

Cherry Applique Quilt - wish I knew who did this pattern - I love cherries!

The one above was made with a couple thousand 1" squares!

This Mariner's Compass quilt was pieced and quilted entirely by hand by the lady on the right! It was awesome!

This is a "Seven Sisters" quilt-in-progress -it's done using English paper piecing.

Thank you for stopping by and I really appreciate it when you take the time to make a comment - I know it' s hard to keep up with everyone!

Stitchin' & Sneezin'

2010-04-06T14:58:00.011-07:00

Well it's spring here in Arizona and everything is blooming! Claritin and I are best friends and although everything is beautiful right now I'm looking a little forward to when the pollen dies down and I don't have a continuous sore throat and spend a half hour every morning clearing my head.

Things are moving along with my stitching. I passed the halfway point with Plymouth Sampler - woohoo! I think the second half will go faster as the stitching is not as solid as the first half and a little more interesting. Frankly, I was getting a bit tired of houses and windows. In case you're rusty on your Roman Numerals - MDCXX translates to 1620 which is the year the Mayflower set sail for America.
I sort of set aside Plymouth Sampler for a week or so and worked on With My Needle. I got 3 lines of the verse done but wasn't happy with the coverage of the silk. I'm really picky about coverage and hate when it looks 'sparse'. Mostly this happens with dark colors - I don't like when I can clearly see the X's for some reason. This doesn't happen on 40-ct but I'm using 36-ct so it makes a little difference. Anyway, I experimented with adding an additional half-stitch on top and it looked better so I went back over the 3 lines I had done. It is taking me longer to stitch now with the extra cross but I'm happier with the results so all is good. I'm getting anxious to finish the verse and get to the more enjoyable part of the lady and flowers.
I got back the two quilts I had sent off to be quilted. I tried a new person to do the longarm quilting and she did a great job. She did swirls on my nine-patch quilt which I really liked.

It's now on the guest bed and I need to go shopping to find some nice fabric to make a new bedskirt. Most of what I have seen in stores I don't like - they seem to be making them cheaper all the time and most often it's just straight fabric without any pleating or ruffling - it's like how cheap can we make it instead of how nice it looks. So I plan to make my own and some matching pillow shams when I get the time. The other quilt below was quilted in a beautiful variegated thread of pinks and yellows - perfect choice for these fabrics.

This quilt has joined the stack in the linen closet - I have no more room to hang quilts and we only have 2 beds in our house, but I keep making more quilts anyway! I really need to find a quilt ladder or a piece of furniture where I can display them.

Over the weekend I got out my French Alphabet Sampler and put in a few hours on it. I have so much guilt over this sampler - I don't really like the linen or the threads...and it's so big...but I spent a lot on the pattern ($45 was a lot for a pattern back in 2003) and the supplies so I feel obligated to finish it. The Gloriana thread fuzzes and leaves a little shadow of red fuzz on the fabric. It will get finished someday but no time soon!

As far as stashing - I've been stocking up on Carriage House Samplings patterns - so bummed to hear she is going to quit designing but when you look at the volume she has produced it's no wonder she needs a change. I already had many of her patterns but have been picking up some more here and there to make sure I get all the ones I want to stitch before they are unavailable. As I tell the husband - I'm actually SAVING money because later I'll have to pay high prices on eBay, right?

I'll leave you with some photos of our backyard in bloom. My dog Abby is always watching the pool vacuum - she thinks it's possessed. Hope spring is arriving soon to all of you as well - thank you so much for stopping by!

New start....finally!

2010-03-23T22:10:00.006-07:00

Well I'd held off on any new starts since November but I finally caved in! I have had "With My Needle" by The Goode Huswif kitted up for a couple of months. When I saw Heidi was kitting up the same pattern I thought it would be fun for us to do an SAL together. I absolutely love this pattern and fell in love with Terri's last year. (Terri of Chocolates for Breakfast). I think Heidi will surely get done before me but I am enjoying it so far even though I've only got the top band done.

"With My Needle" by Goode Huswife

Stitched on 36-ct R&R Antique Cotton with Needlepoint Silks

I'm making progress on my latest applique quilt too called "Winter Memories". Now that I've got it up on my design board I can see how it's starting to come together. It's a subtle quilt but I'm really liking it. That's the border fabric hanging on the right side.

And look at my latest purchase below!

I have been looking for some sort of curio cabinet to hang on the wall in my sewing room for awhile with no success. I have way too many little knick-knacks and tsotchkes I've gathered here and there and nowhere to put them. When I got my latest Pottery Barn catalog I finally found it! It was a bit too expensive but I had to have it. It's supposed to look like the cubbyholes they used to have in hotels years ago where they would keep the keys and messages for the guests. The funny thing is, when it came it had a little ding in one side and the varnish wasn't as nice as it should be, so I called up Pottery Barn and they gave me a 25% refund. Woohoo! Mr. Helpful Husband hung it up over my cutting table and I put some scrapbook paper that looks like antique postcards in half of the cubbies. Now I need to get busy and finish up some more pinkeeps to display in the empty spaces. You can see in the closeup my very first pincushion - the orange/brown/yellow one. I was into needlepoint for a bit in high school and I made this for my grandmother and stuffed it with sawdust from Dad's table saw. When my grandmother passed away it came back home with me and I've had it ever since. (If you're old enough you'll recognize the decade when I made it from the colors I used! LOL)

I've reached the halfway point with Plymouth Sampler and will get a picture of it up soon. It's so exciting to turn to the second page of the pattern!

A little of this and that..........

2010-03-06T09:27:00.020-07:00

I finished the new baby quilt and am getting ready to mail it out - yahoo - another thing off the list! It doesn't look as feminine as I would like for a girl baby but the nursey has a jungle animal theme and the colors were right so I went with it. I quilted it myself this time with a swirly design. (click for bigger view). I'll machine quilt small quilts just not bed-size ones - it's too much work.

I've also been making progress with Plymouth Sampler - I've started construction on the third house, advanced a little on the wharf, and made it halfway through the bottom border. I had to do some frogging because one day as I was admiring my progress and looking at the photo on the pattern I realized I had done the water upside down! The dark portion should be on the bottom and the lighter blue on top -DOH! For a split second I considered leaving it that way but it would've bothered me so I had to take it all out and re-stitch it. Somehow when I wrote in the silk conversion threads on the pattern I got the 2 blues mixed up. For some reason I haven't felt like working much on Quakers & Quilts lately so no progress to report on that.

Finally made it the LNS to take a look at new stuff from Market. I didn't buy much this time....not sure why. I already have several patterns for smalls I want to stitch so I wasn't really tempted to buy any more and that seems to still be big with all the designers. I looked through the new Blackbird Designs book - nice but I wasn't tempted as it didn't seem like anything really new and different than what I already have. This isn't like me - usually I am ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everything. I just picked up the Loose Feathers pattern that had been waiting for me awhile (Winter Wonderland), some Crescent Colours floss and the LHN "Needle & Thread" pattern. Maybe it was the fact that last week I dropped off 2 quilts to be machine quilted by a longarm quilter, and while at the LNS on Saturday I dropped off 3 samplers to be framed. Just putting the deposits down was painful enough and I don't even want to think about the total bill! And that only makes a small dent in my framing pile I'm afraid but I'm committed to making progress this year with it no matter what! I guess because it's so expensive I tend to keep buying more stash instead of getting my finished things framed. (or it could be that I don't have much wall space either LOL)

Hope you all have a great stitch-y week!

I'm the Pincushion Queen...........

2010-02-18T14:37:00.023-07:00

Hi people! Yes I've been absent awhile again but I've been busy as the proverbial bee. In January I finally finished up an old UFO - I'm so thrilled! I started this with a class taken at my LNS in 2005 I'm ashamed to say. I finally got my rear in gear and got it finished in January. I'm very happy with 90% of it- but the lacis work was a little frustrating. It was my first time doing it and I'm not thrilled with the results. I didn't have any trouble following the directions or actually doing it, but it was very very time-consuming and I think it takes practice to get consistent tension with the dove's eyes and woven bars. (although seriously I'm not sure I'll want to do it again!)
Anyway, here it is and soon to head off to the framer. Click on the photos of course to see a better view. I shot a closeup of the whitework and lacis band -I put some fabric behind the open work to be able to photograph it better.

Earlier this month I went on quilting retreat weekend which is always a blast. I was running all over the week before getting all my projects together, packing up, and making runs to quilt stores and JoAnn's to get assorted supplies. I decided to work on several pincushions while I was there and each pattern had a different set of supplies. I am addicted to pincushions I guess! I got several made as you can see but I still have a couple of wool kits that I haven't gotten around to yet. My friends are now calling me The Pincushion Queen. :) They're all hinting about birthday pincushions now LOL.

This is probably my favorite one - it's from a pattern by Cindy Taylor Oates. I LOVE it. I was worried about it being too hard to do. It had a lot of steps but the instructions were good and just taking my time seemed to work out fine. Now I need to find a cute antique plate to keep it on.

Below, the slice of watermelon is from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company and the pear is from a pattern by Heather Bailey. I would like to make some more watermelon slices - but a bit smaller as this is sort of a big pincushion. I use the ground walnut stuffing in most of my pincushions and love the weight and feel of it.

These little round ones are called "Petite Gateau" (Little Cakes) and they're from a pattern by Fig Tree Quilts. I used up squares from some of my fabric charm packs. The only aggravating part was making covered buttons. I had picked up the little covered button kits at JoAnn's - evidently the manufacturers have decided you no longer need the little apparatus that helps you cover the button. It used to be so easy - you draped a little piece of fabric over the mold, then inserted the button form and snapped on the bottom piece. Voila- you could do them in no time. Now they just give you metal button forms with a serrated edge and expect you somehow wreck your fingers getting the fabric on it. Why can't they leave a good thing alone and quit trying to cut costs and make it aggravating?? I'd rather pay more and have it work right! GRRRR

Next up we have 3 'tuffets' from another pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. These were really fun and quite easy compared to some of the other pincushions. A friend turned me onto a great website source for wool bundles of fat quarters - its' called Dorr Mills. I see more pincushions in my future in different colors- I love using wool for the backings. Even after making all of these, I still have a couple of kits for wool pincushions I didn't even get to and I'm waiting for Shakespeare's Peddlar's "Jenny Bean Pin Tuffet" pattern and matching pins to arrive. I have no idea what I'm going to with all of these pincushions - I think I need to get to Ikea and find some kind of shelf or display box.

Not only did we sew 16-18 hours a day at our retreat but we had delicious food served to us, got to bird-watch all day and even enjoyed a light snowfall - that's a treat for us desert-dwellers. The best part is I'm going again in March. I feel so decadent!
In the midst of all this sewing, I have been sneaking in stitching time on Quakers & Quilts and Plymouth Sampler. I may be slow but I'm inching along.

This week I'm gtrying to finish up a baby quilt for our newest great-niece. She's a cutie and we can't wait to go back east to meet her. I'm trying to catch as much as I can of the Olympics - great TV for stitchin' & sewin' time.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to visit!

Dusting off the cobwebs - welcome 2010!

2010-01-17T18:27:00.021-07:00

Yes I had to get the broom out and clean up around here – update the background and figure out what I’ve been doing the last 2+ months. I had a work crisis that started last November and took up a huge amount of my time (and sanity) up until the middle of December when I went out on vacation/holiday/unpaid furlough for a total of a month! It was WONDERFUL excepting that I had to work an hour or two each day I was on vacation or holiday. During a week of unpaid furlough the first week of January (cost cutting measure by the company) the company was not allowed to call me for anything so not being paid for one week didn’t faze me a bit – it was worth the peace of mind!

A month away from the office is the longest break I’ve had in 25 years and I took full advantage of it. There were Christmas preparations and shopping and baking of cookies. DH and I had a nice Christmas and New Years and celebrated some family birthdays as well along the way. DH surprised me with a lovely amethyst-pendant necklace for Christmas which I love. I did a lot of sewing after the holidays….I rested…I watched DVD’s…I started reading a biography of Andrew Jackson…..I spent some gift certificates….I went to see ‘Young Victoria’ at the movie theatre….I cleaned my sewing room and generally had a lovely time! I really didn’t stitch all that much as I tend to have trouble with my hands in the winter and didn’t want a repeat of last January’s arthritis flare-up.

Drum roll please……….I finished several quilt tops ready to go the long-arm quilter! A few of them had been sitting almost done for some years so I got them out and finished up the borders or whatever needed doing, made up the backings and bindings for all of them and they are hanging neatly on hangers until I start sending them out to be quilted.

I no longer want to attempt machine-quilting my own quilts unless they’re small things. The last one I did took me forever. I would rather pay the money for someone else to do them - they look better and I can spend my limited time on something I enjoy more. My recently finished tops are below - it's hard to photograph quilts - either they need to be hung up, on a bed, or you need someone with arms the size of Michael Jordan to hold them for you! I laid all these on my guest bed to photograph them.

This scrappy nine-patch below resulted from a year’s worth of exchanging nine-patch blocks with friends. I really like how it turned out and it’s destined for the bed in the guest bedroom.

Next up is an applique Christmas quilt whose applique work I did some years back but never got around to putting on the borders. This design is called “Christmas Memories”: and it was published some years ago by Barb & Alma at Blackbird Designs. I hope to send them a photo of the finished quilt once it’s quilted. I had forgotten how BIG this quilt is – it’s queen sized but it should look nice hanging on the red accent wall in the family room. Sometimes I can’t believe I actually did all that hand applique! I love the border fabric.

Next we have a flannel redwork quilt that was started many years ago. I don’t know why I never got around to finishing it. The redwork embroidery doesn't show up real well in the photograph but they are all animal-themed weather vanes from a book by a local quilt-store owner. I made up my own block with the dog outline to represent the Sheltie we used to have named Elvis. He died 6 years ago and he was so dear to my husband and I maybe that’s why I put the quilt away for awhile. Anyway, it is going to get quilted and displayed finally this year!

The quilt below is a design called "Radio Flyer". It's by Carrie Nelson of Rosie’s Quilts and “Schnibbles” fame. I started it a few years ago but I must say it was not fun to make – a lot of work and too many seams to match up. It was made from a Moda fabric collection but I'm not liking the fabrics as much as I did when I purchased them a few years back. But….at least it’s done.

This last top below ("Jane Street") I had already finished last year but I needed to get a backing & binding together for it which I finally did. I love the feminine colors and it should go nicely in my aqua & pink sewing room.

What thrills me the most is I have my list of WIP/UFO quilting projects down to FOUR! A few years ago I had about 20. Two of the four left I just started last year so that’s not bad, and another one is a Christmas wall-quilt that I am hand-quilting. I’m about 70% done with the quilting on it so hope to have it finished soon. I vow from here on that I am not having more than THREE quilting projects going at any one time. I hate having stacks of UFO’s and WIPs around – it stresses me out and makes me feel guilty.

On the stitching front, I am almost done with my 'English Sampler' that I started FIVE years ago when I took at class for it at Attic Needlework. I had planned to finish it in 2008 and then 2009….and well…here it is 2010 but I’ve already stitched in the month and year of completion so it WILL be done this month no matter what! I am just finishing up the lacis work which is slow going for me and not very enjoyable. I hope to post finished photos later this month.

I’ve picked up my Plymouth Sampler again. I never really got going on it very well last year – it seemed that top border would NEVER get done. Once I got past that things seemed to go a lot better and I’m enjoying it now. My WIP/UFO list of stitching projects is much larger than I wish it was – I’ve got 11 things going and that is too many. Unfortunately, most of them are big projects so I can’t expect many finishes anytime soon. I did work on Quakers & Quilts some in December and this is where I’m at so far.

I haven’t picked it up in a month but hope to get back to it next week. I didn’t do any new holiday starts – just didn’t want to add another project to the WIP basket! Not that I don’t have dozens and dozens of charts I’d love to stitch….but we’ll see. I’d like to have a finish before I start anything new.

I’m still trying to get around to everyone’s blog updates. I finally got everyone set up to 'follow' which took me awhile as I read about 130 blogs! I’ve seen so many wonderful Christmas ornaments over the last month and enjoyed seeing some of your “stitchers year in review”. I worked hard all year but didn’t have as many finishes as a lot of you! I’m looking forward to a better year than last – 2009 wasn’t terrible but it had its stressful times and I am hoping for a more positive year ahead. I wish good health, happiness, and many finishes for all of you in 2010! I am thankful to be a part of this online community of friends sharing the things we love.

Have you ever had stitchers remorse?

2009-11-04T19:10:00.006-07:00

Now friends, I admit I do get stitchers remorse, and I do some dumb things. I just had a case of it this weekend as I was poised to start “Quakers & Quilts” . All my fibers were bagged and tagged on my floss ring, I had my big piece of 40-ct linen serged and pressed, the DVD was going, I had my Diet Coke handy, the needle was threaded and poised……..and then……….I saw the vast expanse of blank linen. OMG. I realized how big this project is and how in the world am I ever going to get it done with all of my other WIPs?? Do you have these kind of thoughts? I dived in anyway and got started but I know it’s going to be a long haul.. Then right off I didn’t like the thread I stitched the first part with. It’s Belle Soie Cranberry and it’s so very dark- I’ll leave it in for now but I may end up replacing that with a varigated red that isn’t so dark. I moved on to a pink motif and started feeling better – maybe it was momentary BAP-panic?

So then yesterday I went out to purchase a couple of threads I needed and I went to a local shop I haven’t been to in a long time. This shop used to sell both needlepoint and cross-stitch supplies, but they phased out the cross-stitching about 2 yrs ago and replaced it with knitting. (darn knitters…..LOL) They still have a huge selection of fibers though so I really ought to go back more often. Anyway, while I was there I see they had a little bin of old leftover cross-stich patterns marked way down – 50 cents for most of them. Now here’s where more stitchers remorse comes into play. In it I find a copy of Paula Vaughan’s 'Summers Remembered' pattern for 50 cents. I had these 2 pieces stitched and up in my bedroom in the late 80’s before I got married. I never was completely happy with the framing but for some crazy reason I got rid of them when I got married and moved to Arizona in 1991. I don’t even remember what I did with them but in recent years I really regretted letting them go. I could’ve had them remounted and reframed and now I’m just wondering what was I thinking?!? I don’t do a lot of Paula Vaughan patterns but I do love her quilt-themed ones and these were so nice. Plus, these were part of my “stitching history” and they were a lot of work (oh I can still recall all that backstitching!) So I bought the pattern since I no longer had my original one, and in the back of my mind I’m thinking that maybe someday I will stitch them again. (picture me rolling on the floor laughing right now) Well you never know!

Then after I grab the Paula Vaughn pattern, I see a copy of Blackbird Designs ‘Pumpkin Blossom Needlecase” in the bin also for 50 cents! Bear with me please – another story. I had this pattern back when it came out in 2003 – and I stitched it. I wasn’t that happy with the colors for some reason, and then when I went to finish it into the needlecase I screwed something up and ended up throwing the whole thing in the trash. I didn’t like the finishing instructions and I was just disgusted so not only did the project get tossed, but I THREW THE PATTERN AWAY! Now of course it’s selling for big money on eBay (I’ve considered it but couldn’t justify the expense), and I’ve seen gorgeous finishes of this pattern especially when done over-1. I am my own worst enemy sometimes! Not to mention I have most of the Loose Feathers patterns since they started and this was a missing one in my collection. The good news is I was able to retrieve these 2 patterns from my past for only $1.00. I think it was meant to be. And I’m determined to restitch the Pumpkin Blossom needlecase and this time it’s going to be great! I also picked up a cute little sampler pattern below for another 50 cents – never have seen it or heard of the designer but I like it and you can’t beat the price. I think it must be very old as it calls for DMC flower thread and I’m not even sure that it’s made anymore (not that I’d use it anyway).

Thank you readers for visiting with me today. I’m plodding along with Quakers & Quilts after getting over my initial angst. I did finish My Quaker Lady before starting Q&Q – here she is and I’m quite pleased with her. I love the petite nature of this – the whole sampler measures only 7.5” square since I stitched her on 40-ct linen

Netherfield is let at last...

2009-10-27T19:39:00.013-07:00

Last week I got Netherfield Hall stitched for my Pride & Prejudice sampler. I took these pictures under artificial light and they're not the best but I'm happy with the house. You can see it looks pretty close to the house used for Netherfield in the movie. I used the house pattern from A Ball at Netherfield by The Stitching Parlor. I bought all five of her P&P samplers but I only using a few of the motifs from them to make my one big sampler. I still have lots to add to Netherfield - grass & trees, some animals, and of course Mr. Bingley himself. I am undecided as to whether to stitch him as a couple with Jane Bennett or leave him as an eligible bachelor - hmmm.

Here's my latest progress on My Quaker Lady. I have one small motif left to do plus the alphabet rows at the bottom. This has been such a fun piece to do. I hope to finish it up this week so I can start Quakers & Quilts on Sunday - woohoo!
Progress on my nine-patch scrappy quilt is also being made. It's pieced together in diagonal rows so each row gets longer and longer until you are halfway done and then the rows get smaller again. It's going together quickly thanks to all the trimming of blocks that I did. I struggled with picking the colors for the setting pieces because the nine-patch blocks are very colorful but it seems to be turning out well - at least in my opinion. I really love scrappy quilts.

Our Arizona weather has finally cooled off and we can say a thankful goodbye to summer! In fact today a cold front (okay well cold for us) moved in and it's quite chilly this evening. Time finally to put a blanket on the bed - yeah! Our days are wonderfully breezy and sunny and I sat and stitched outside on Sunday which was such a treat. Thanks for visiting and Happy Halloween everyone!

24 and there's so much more........!

2009-10-09T07:34:00.013-07:00

Ahhh.....I can recall one of my best college buddies saying that on his birthday - unfortunately it was a few decades ago! Yes folks, I must admit I'm a LONG way past 24 but hey I'm still here and tomorrow is my birthday so I'm celebrating. I don't know where all those years went that's for sure - you ever look back on your life and wonder where did that person you used to be go? I'm grateful for all I've had in life - lots of wonderful experiences, family and friends. I'm grateful I have passions like stitching and quilting in my life and I'm able to share it with people I've never even met like you! I appreciate you coming by and I love reading all of your blogs which inspire me every day. For today I won't look for any more wrinkles, get depressed about my weight or worry about getting older - I will enjoy the present and all its blessings. :)

I picked up a few new things from market - not much as we continue having employment issues in our household since May. However, you can't be good all the time, right? I still have some birthday discounts from some online stores I can use this month. I'm making a couple of short lists for those as I hate to waste the discounts. I'm anxious to pick up "With My Needle" since The Goode Huswife has issued it as a single pattern now. It's a must-have for me - go see Nicole's progress on hers- wonderful colors!

I picked up Quaker Diamonds from Rosewood Manor - I LOVE this pattern - and the Sarah Woodham reproduction sampler from Teresa at Shakespeare's Peddler. This is a gorgeous antique sampler Teresa has reproduced. "It's Cold Outside" from Blue Ribbon Designs is not new from this market but I've been wanting it awhile so picked it up with some of the supplies to stitch it. I've had this Quakers & Quilts pattern below for some months now but I finally splurged on the silks and fabric. The pattern calls for Valdani varigated threads which are cute, but I don't really want to start a stash of Valdani. I would rather invest in silks that I use more regularly - not to mention I wanted to stitch this on a smaller count of linen than what was called for. My LNS had done a conversion from the Valdani to Belle Soie which I altered a bit to my own taste. Don't the colors look luscious? I plan on stitching on Lakeside Linen's 40-ct Vintage Bisque. I can't wait to get started! If there are any of you that would like to stitch along I would love some company to share progress with. Another great thing is the new pattern from Rosewood Manor I just bought uses the same colors so I will get dual use out of a lot of my silk investment.
Here finally is an update on My Quaker Lady. She didn't get much attention last month while I was finishing up Beatrix Potter but she is fun stitch. I now have to buy the coordinating Gentleman Quaker of course. How's a girl supposed to resist a coordinating pattern?? I'm also waiting on my order of the latest special edition Gingher scissors below - "Elena". I got them from Mike & Carol's store (Carol of Garden of Stitches). They have the best price around for these and I've gotten great service always from them. Then I saw the new "Mia" edition at JoAnn's yesterday so I have to take my coupon up there this weekend and pick them up too. I don't care much for the plaid on the Mia scissors but I collect them so I must have them anyway!

Thanks for stopping by!

Beatrix Potter finish, trades anyone? , & my P&P sampler

2009-09-26T17:59:00.015-07:00

Hello friends - I'm back in Blogland finally. After a bit of AWOL time, I am back trying to reconstruct what I’ve been doing the last month or so. Mostly I’ve been on a mission to finish up my Beatrix Potter and here she is! I’m so happy – I’ve been stitching with the online SAL that Hazel put together in January. I had a bit of panic when I ran out of the lightest color of thread a few weeks ago. Big thanks to Nicole who answered my post on the HDF Forum and had more of the matching dyelot. Thank you Nicole! I’m thrilled to have my first Quaker sampler done.

I also dragged out my Pride & Prejudice Neighborhood Sampler which was lurking under my stitching table feeling very unloved. I had put it away after not being happy with some of my silk coverage - once I get annoyed with a project I have to take a break from it. I added another half-stitch over the entire tree trunk and I am happier now with it. I still want to do the same for the roof on the house but I’m putting that boring task off for awhile. After doing a bit of landscaping, the Bennett sisters' home (which is about one quarter of this sampler), is complete! Next up is Netherfield Place, the home of the infamous, very handsome, and eligible Mr. Bingley!

Here you see some of my inspiration - the Bennett family and their home from my favorite A&E version of P&P (hey don't look at that car in front of the house, I'm just glad some lucky tourist took some pictures and posted them online):

I have a couple of trades I’d like to make if any of you are interested. I recently brought home LHN’s “Home of Needleworker (Too)” from my LNS – thought I didn’t have it but it turned out I do own it already. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this to myself! Anyway I have a brand-spanking-new copy of “Home of a Needleworker (Too)” up for trade and also two used patterns in good-as-new condition - LHN’s “Captain’s Inn” and “Peppermint Lane”. I always make a working copy so my used copies are in great shape. Is there anyone who would like to trade for some of these? There are tons of other LHN or Country Cottage patterns I’d love to trade for especially Liberty & Justice, most of the Dear Diary patterns, Two Roosters, Mayflower Landing, Traveling Stitcher, Gingerbread Trio, Beach Cottage and Cherry Hill. My email address is in my Profile.

I’ve also started on the My Quaker Lady SAL but I haven't gotten around to taking a photo yet to share - I've been concentrating on Miss Beatrix this month. I do love the pattern though and will likely end up getting the Gentleman Quaker to go with it.

AND….it’s market time again! More temptations and to-die-for patterns to add to our stash – HELP! Okay, so I have to live to 110 – as long as I can have my big Daylight magnifying lamp in the nursing home and they let me have needles I’ll be okay! I’ve been watching Kathy of CHS unveil each of the blocks of the new Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow and it’s on my list! I’ve not stitched any of the others from this series – not that I didn’t want to but they’re so big and it’s expensive to get all the silks. I’ve already determined that I’m just going to arrange my 9 favorite blocks from the CoHRH pattern for my own version of it – the other 3 blocks I like but they don't seem to really go with the rest that well so I'd rather do something different with those. I likely won’t start it until January though as I have plenty of other things going already that I want to focus on for the rest of the year. I know there are those over-achieving stitchers who will be posting finishes of CoHRH in no time at all but I’m content to go plodding along in my little stitching universe at half-speed LOL. My free time has to split between quilting and stitching and there's only so many hours in a day.

Hope this finds you all well, enjoying your autumn, and getting ready for October - my favorite month of the year! Pumpkins, leaves, cool weather, Halloween, and my birthday - what's not to love??

My Lady's Quaker SAL!

2009-08-19T19:46:00.004-07:00

If you love Quaker patterns run over to Amy’s new SAL blog and check out the latest temptation. I love this pattern and just purchased it for myself.

It can be purchased on this webpage – http://www.jardinprive.com/index.php?mod=QC03%20
- select the ‘Quakers et Cie” link in the upper lefthand corner. There will be an option to buy the PDF version of the chart on the website and pay using credit cards or Paypal. Before checkout you do have to register yourself as a customer to the website and the page is in French but not difficult to figure out – name, address, email address and password of your choosing. The cost for the PDF version of the pattern is 6 euros which Paypal converted to a total of $8.65. I received my pattern via email already this morning. Yippee! Now just to decide fabric and colors! There are several different stitched versions you can view via links on Amy’s SAL blog.

Just when I told myself I wouldn’t start anything new for awhile! Let the fun begin!

Ahoy! and a little finish!

2009-08-17T07:42:00.017-07:00

Well it sure is the dog days of summer - can you believe we are nearing the end of August already?? About this time of the summer I start getting crabby - I'm tired of the intense summer heat and wishing autumn was already here. Of course, here in the desert we don’t really have much of an autumn and it won’t really start getting cooler until October but a girl can dream, right?

I finished up Little House Needleworks "Captain's Inn" this weekend. I'm very happy with it. I was stitching on an old piece of 32-ct Lugana I had ....and I had trouble with it "warping" while I was stitching. I've never had that before that I can remember, it was like 2 strands of floss were too much? Anyway, I had to block it and it seems to be okay now. I'm on my way with my someday-nautical-wall-grouping!

"Captain's Inn" by Little House Needleworks

worked on 32-ct pewter Lugana

I have been busy busy busy stitching and quilting away. I’ve made good progress on my English Band Sampler – and I am feeling confident this UFO will be finished by the end of 2009. I finished the strawberry band with the queen stitch strawberries and the gold work. It looks a little warped in the photo as I had laid it over a turquoise folder to be able to see the openwork.

I also completed the satin stitching band and the band with all the eyelets and buttonhole bars. Oh how I was dreading finishing that band and had put it off - it really wasn't that bad. The faggot stitch - that is the zig-zag looking part - is the worst stitch I've ever had to do. It's hard and there is nowhere to bury your threads on the way. Now I'm working on the lacis section. I am not totally thrilled with my first couple of dove's eyes rows but........ hoping I improve as I go along.

Since finishing up Captain's Inn, I'm going to go back and work on my some of my WIPs & UFOs a bit. Beatrix Potter needs her monthly installment for August and I'm loving the way she is turning out. I've been diligent about doing my 3 motifs every month so it should be done before long. I really would like to have it done maybe next month but no promises LOL.
And..I'm toiling away on a couple of quilts. I'm doing some machine quilting on one - and I really don't enjoy it at all. I would much rather take my finished quilt tops to a longarm quilter as they do a much better job but it gets expensive so I am doing this one myself. It's coming along though slow but steady. I'm not doing a lot of fancy schmancy quilting, just the basics to outline things for the most part. I'm also getting my nine-patch quilt blocks ready. OMG, I've been trimming and trimming and trimming. I have over 200 nine-patch blocks that my quilting group exchanged - all those have to be trimmed to the same size. Then I made over 200 half-square triangle units that I am also trimming - that's over 400 blocks to be trimmed! I've been doing 20 to 30 here and there - piles on the right side are done and piles on the left still to go. I am anxious to start sewing the rows together on this to see how it looks.
Not much new stash lately....the stash budget is very slim these days. I finally picked up the last 2 Loose Feather designs that were being held for me at my LNS...and just one of the new Prairie Schooler patterns - 'Boo to You' which is really cute vintage-looking Halloween designs.
I also picked up "A Ball at Netherfield" by The Stitching Parlor. I want to include the house from this pattern in my Pride & Prejudice sampler which has been sadly neglected for a few months. Hopefully I'll get going on that again soon. There was something I wasn't happy with on it and once that happens I tend to lay a project aside so I need to just deal with it and get back on track.

Thanks for stopping by friends.....I do so love reading comments so that I don't think I'm just talking to myself! I get a lot more feedback from all of you than my hubby!

Lots of progress this week - even with the scorching heat!

2009-07-19T19:05:00.011-07:00

You know it’s a good thing I have my needle and thread to take out my frustrations with. I’d like to jab a few people with my needle instead of my linen but that’s not possible I guess. It's getting harder and harder to maintain any kind of decent attitude at my job….between pay cuts, crushing workloads, and a benefit cut announcement about every 3 weeks, my mood is definitely going downhill! With all the cuts my company has made to our benefits, more and more people are taking retirement this summer leaving the rest of us to wallow in our misery. And yes, I AM grateful to still be employed….but it’s just not helping me feel much better frankly.

Thank goodness I have my hobbies and my dear husband and doggies. Isn’t it funny when your dogs know you’re upset and will come and sit with you…..they don’t know what’s wrong but they seem to know when you just need a good hug or a gentle head resting on your knee to make you feel better. This week it would have been our former dog’s 16th birthday….he’s been gone 6 years but we still miss our sweet Elvis. We got him about 18 months after we were married and he was sort of our ‘child’. We told him every night that he was the best dog in the world and he WAS. He has his own memorial brick at Chase Field here in Phoenix – that’s the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. We always stop by to ‘visit’ his brick when we go to a baseball game. I guess I’m being a bit nostalgic this week…thinking of better times and being wistful. Thank you for bearing with me……….

I have been able to make some stitching progress this week. This is a closeup of the floral section on my English Sampler and the little strawberries done in a brick stitch.

I’m happy it’s done – it’s my favorite part of the sampler. There are various stitches used – tent stitch, satin stitch mosaic stitch, etc. In case you’re wondering, those green things at the top are supposed to be sweet peas. Not that I’ve ever seen a sweet pea actually growing in the ground (okay I’m not a gardener) but I assume they sort of look like this! I’m now working on the strawberry band below it – doing some queen stitches.

I know a lot of people don’t like doing queen stitches but I really do! They take extra time but I just love how they look. Unfortunately, the queen stitch strawberries are paired with the double-running backstitch. If you’ve ever done it, you know the double-running stitch is supposed to look exactly the same on the front and the back. So you've got to very careful to follow the chart and not screw it up. Luckily the designer (Sandy Orton) did include some numbered drawings and even with having to reverse them it sure helps. Of course, it’s not like anyone is going to see the back, right? So I’m not sure why this technique was invented but being the well-behaved stitcher I am, I try to do it the correct way. :-)

I did finish up my little French pincushion stuffed with the crushed walnut shells from the pet store. The smallest bag they had was still huge and probably will stuff 50 pincushions. Guess I won't have to buy any more for a LONG time! I ended up having to tea-dye the rickrack as I couldn't find any ecru-colored at the craft store. Is anyone else having trouble sewing on rickrack? I found it hard but at least it's done. I was trying to catch the back of the rickrack and then the pincushion and make my stitches not show. Very tedious!

Now if only I was on a little boat gently gliding down a canal in France with a glass of cabernet….some fresh bread and brie cheese…..ahhhhh. That’s a trip I’ve always wanted to do. Wouldn’t it just be lovely?

Captain’s Inn is inching its way along too. It was kind of b-o-r-i-n-g stitching all that outlining of the tavern sign but now at least I can stitch the little ship on it. There are so many LHN designs I want to stitch, I could keep one going all the time and never get through them all!

A summer finish and back to the UFO pile....

2009-07-12T20:55:00.007-07:00

Well I finished up Ida Mae Crow last Friday. I really like this piece - makes me think of summertime in the midwest - blackbirds, crows, and sunflowers.
She's heading on over to the framing pile now which is getting pretty stacked up. I don't do my own framing...I guess I could but I haven't ventured into that yet. Maybe one of these days when I have more time...ha ha!

Souvenir de France is close to a finish as well , I just have the border to do. I just love stitching with Silk n' Colors! I've decided I'm going to have to stitch this a second time for my dear old college roommate - we went to Europe together many, many years ago. I can tell you it was the trip of a lifetime which I'll never forget - and we both loved France. We still exchange birthday gifts every year and usually try to find each other something to do with France. This will be just perfect for part of her gift this year. I wish I had used this color of red for my French Alphabet Sampler which is languishing in the UFO bin. I think I kind of quit on it because I'm not thrilled with my linen and silks -but I'm not starting over as I'm on page 4 now. I am using Gloriana Cranberry silk and it fuzzes and tends to tangle a bit - just not my favorite silk but it was what everybody seemed to be using at the time I started that piece so I'm going to have to see it through. I concentrated all last year on my WIPs & UFOs - then as of January this year I set them aside for a bit and worked on all new things. Oh it was so nice to work on all new projects! I've decided now to try to get back to one or two of my UFO's and see if I can get at least one of them done this year.

This is "English Sampler" (in 2 pictures) as of the last time it was worked on. I took a class for this in 2005, geez has it been that long already?? I only can remember the year because I had made some notes after the class in a Word document which had a date on it. I worked on the center floral section today and I am almost done with it - there was some satin stitching and work with gold filament that I had put off. I do really love band samplers and this is a beauty - it deserves to be up on a wall even if that lacis work scares me!

Ida Mae is on her way.......

2009-07-06T19:21:00.013-07:00

Miss Ida Mae is coming along very well. I actually have more done than the photo shows – I took the photo a few days ago but then got busy this weekend and never updated my blog. I am about halfway done with the flowers on the right side and then only the fence at the bottom to complete. So a finish can’t be far off. I’ve also been working on Captain's Inn here and there – not too much progress but every bit helps.
I couldn’t resist starting on Blackbird Design’s latest freebie - A Souvenir from France. I have been a Francophile for most of my life so I can’t wait to finish this. I have other Eiffel Tower patterns in my stash but this little one should stitch up quickly. I am using a scrap of some 40-ct linen I had with Silk ‘n Colors Auburn Frost. I must make a run to PetsMart this week to get some of the crushed walnut shells for the filling. (I just wish it wasn’t called “reptile bedding”!!!)

Hope all my US readers enjoyed the holiday weekend. A 3-day weekend was much needed in my case as I have a severe case of work burnout lately. Too many emails, too many teleconferences, enough of spreadsheets, documents, and deadlines! It’s not like I want to wish my life away and wake up and be older but I sure am tired of working and retirement seems WAY too many emails off. I just want to stitch and sew and work is cutting into my time!

Now a little drum roll please……..I am so happy to finally present the finished quilt top that has been in progress for a year!

"Like Water For Chocolate"

My quilting buddies and I (12 of us) each designed a section of this quilt to coincide with a chapter in the book “Like Water for Chocolate”. This was a popular Mexican novella that came out several years ago (also made into a movie). It’s a story of romance, star-crossed lovers, heartache, women & babies, and the book is sprinkled with recipes. It's not the greatest of pictures but you should be able to pick out things like a Mexican ranch house, broken hearts, peppers, quail in rose petal sauce, chickens & eggs, fire, a sombrero, a wedding cake, a Mexican flag, and even a little spider. Many of the pieced blocks were chosen because the name of the quilt block went with the story - for example “Love Everlasting”, “Butter and Eggs”, or “Kings Crown”. Here's a couple closeups of some of my favorite blocks - lovers Pedro & Tita dancing, the Mexican ranch house next to "quails in rose petal sauce", and mint tea.

We are making a little fabric book to mount in the bare spot in the bottom right corner – it will contain everyone’s name and the chapter of the quilt they designed. Each of us made the quilt in our own choices of colors and fabrics, just using the same patterns or variations thereof. I started off falling in love with a beautiful floral Moda fabric I intended to use as a border (and which inspired my wild color choices) , but in the end it was too busy for a border so I’ll use on the back instead. Now on to the machine-quilting which I’ll be doing myself. I hope I can do a decent job of it. Machine-quilting is not my favorite thing to do (nor do I excel at it) but I really can’t spend a couple hundred dollars right now getting this custom-quilted.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I really do appreciate you listening to my ramblings! :)

The winning envelope please.........

2009-06-29T20:23:00.003-07:00

I drew 2 names tonite for my blogoversary giveaways. The winners are:

#1 - Lisa from Australia

#2 - Theresa in Kansas (didn't see a blog listed for you Theresa)

I have emailed both of you for your snail mail addresses so I can send off the prizes. They're all sitting here just waiting for a mailing envelope and address.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by to enter. I so appreciate everyone's comments and visits! I don't have any special stitching friends here where I live so you are all my friends to chat with and understand my stitching obsession. It's a joy reading all of your blogs and finding out what YOU are doing too.

I spent most of the last few days working on some quilting projects. Right now I have 120 nine-patch blocks to press - oh my! I'm not looking forward to that!

Be back soon.........

Summertime progress & blogoversary giveaway!

2009-06-23T09:04:00.021-07:00

So how is everyone doing out there? Are you all stitching away? We've been having great weather - our June has been much cooler than usual which has been so-o-o-o nice. Usually we are frying in temperatures from 105 to 115F this time of year, and we've had some very pleasant days. It also helps keep that air conditioning bill down a bit and that's always good!

I've been making some good progress lately - my DH has been out of town for 3 weeks so I've had more time to myself than I usually do. Not to mention no cooking and less laundry to do. :) Ida Mae Crow's dress is taking shape you can see below. This is my first time stitching on Lakeside Linen's "Vintage Buttercream". I think it's one of their newer colors and I love it! It's a really nice shade, sort of what I would call "butterscotch-y".

I also made a new start over the weekend. This is "Captain's Inn" from Little House Needleworks. I've always wanted to do a grouping of nautical-related pieces. You might think I live by the ocean - NOT. I live in the desert southwest but often wish I did live by some water as I'm starting to really crave it. I've kept a list of charts I'd like to do for this theme and it's time I got busy. I'm stitching this on 32-ct Pewter Lugana (I think....'someone' never labeled it when she brought it home).

It's been awhile since I stitched on an evenweave and I forgot how nice it is - no issues with the coverage like I get with some of the linen & silk combinations. (Note to self: stock up on some more evenweaves.....) It has just the right bluish-gray tone for this piece. I'm not real fond of stitching lettering and I'm anxious to get to the 'fun' part which is the tavern sign. That being said, I still do have plans to stitch the Gettsyburg Address one of these days. Erica Michaels has a chart out for that but I like the one that Liz of Primrose Needleworks is designing on her blog (http://howtomakeanamericansampler.blogspot.com/) and hoping she'll offer the pattern for sale when she gets the model done.

Now on to more exciting things. I have a couple of giveaways in honor of my 3rd blogoversary! There are 2 sets of charts below - some of these are extras I had or they've already been stitched - might as well pass them on. I will also be including a mesh project bag with each set (which I'll be making this weekend so not pictured!). Two names will be drawn so sign up by leaving a comment if you want to be in the drawing for the giveaways. Signup deadline is Sunday June 28th - I'll draw the winning names on Monday the 29th.

Also, here is the information a few of you requested about the mesh bags. The pattern is called "Zip It!" by Nancy Ota. You can find it easily on the internet or perhaps at a quilt or craft store. The most economical way to make these is using black vinyl mesh that you can get at home improvement stores. I get mine at Lowe's but Home Depot probably has it also. It is sold as "pet screening" and you can get a roll for $8 or $9 usually - it's in the department where they sell replacement door or window screening. You can make at least 4 large bags out of one roll. Colored mesh is harder to find - most of mine I have bought at quilt stores or shows where they had vendors. I did find several places online where you can buy the colored mesh. Of these listed, I have only ordered from Erica's before and they gave me good service. As far as sewing skills, these are not difficult to make. The instructions are good and once you make one by following the directions you kind of pick it up pretty easily. You do need to own and know how to operate a zipper foot on your sewing machine. The inside seam is covered with single-fold or double-fold bias tape (either one works) - this is optional but I recommend you do it so there are no rough edges inside that could snag your project.

Links for buying colored vinyl mesh:

http://www.lylefabrics.com/Vinyl-Mesh-for-Bags-Vinyl-Mesh/c28_29/index.html

http://www.ericas.com/sewing/patterns/totes_screenplay.htm (also has the pattern)

http://www.elegantstitches.com/Purses.htm#Bag%20Accessories (scroll WAY down the page)

http://www.metroscreenworks.com/shop/petscreenaccessoriespetscreencolors-c-2_74.html?page=1&sort=20a

http://www.fabricdepot.com/index.php?page=CatalogPage&pageid=5515

Yum.......cupcakes!

2009-06-15T16:12:00.008-07:00

Here is my cupcake flatfold - almost good enough to eat! I'm not sure why I made it but I love it. Pink is my favorite color and I find it pretty cheery.

Lizzie Kate's "Cupcake"

Stitched on 25-ct Pearl (included in the kit) with DMC

I sewed and stiched so much this past weekend that my fingers are sore. I think I was under some evil spell as I have never stuck myself on so many pins & needles in my life. Part of the reason is I was sewing project bags using vinyl mesh and zippers etc and it's a little hard to pin through those things (A lot of bent pins went into the wastebasket as proof). I've been planning on making bags for myself for over a year but finally got to it. I finished 10 of them. Now, I love Ziploc bags - I've been using the 2-gallon size for most of my needlework projects, however unglamorous the bags look. They are a fantastic invention I couldn't live without. But it feels great to have moved my UFO's and WIP's to these cute mesh bags. We're all happier now. :=) It's hard to photograph them as the camera sees through the mesh but you get the idea - they are really nice - take my word for it. They show up much better if you click and view the larger picture.

I still have more vinyl mesh and I'll probably sew a few more next month, especially the smaller ones for little projects. Somehow I'm obsessive about being organized - maybe because the world is such a mess I have to have my own little world in order as best as I can. Now I just have to find a basket that is big enough to hold all the bags.

While watching the rerun of Lonesome Dove last night (love that movie), I started a new little project by The Goode Huswife. This is Ida Mae Crow -loved it since I first saw it come out. It is not a big project so should go along fairly quickly. I'm so happy that the Goode Huswife is creating patterns again! I picked this pattern up with a few other odds & ends at the LNS last week. I got my latest Loose Feathers although I don't know that I'll ever stitch it -it's not one of my favorites but being that I love most all of the other 35 they have published I'm not too concerned! I think it's the grayish colors that don't appeal to me. Likely I'll soon see someone else's version with different colors and then fall in love with it. I was behind the door when they passed out originality!

Peppermint Twist - moved to the finished column!

2009-06-11T20:55:00.006-07:00

Yeah ! I finished this one up earlier this week. I was stitching along with the blog SAL that started in January. This was a fun stitch and I really enjoyed it. I tried putting some beads on but decided I didn't like them and took them off.

"Peppermint Twist" by Blue Ribbon Designs

Stitched on 35-ct WDW "Straw" linen with various silks

I started up a new little project last night - this is Lizzie Kate's "Cupcake" and I am making it to go with this cute cupcake fabric I got at Joann's a few weeks ago. I changed a couple of the threads to match my fabric better - I'm planning on making it into a flatfold. It's a really easy pattern but I haven't stitched on anything that is 25 ct in a long time so it feels odd. I hope to be done with this over the weekend. I got the inspiration from Deb's ( http://artisticneedle.blogspot.com/) photo album - once I saw it I had to stitch it! If you haven't viewed her photo albums of finishes (her own and from her finishing service) you are in for a treat! She does gorgeous work. I'm not sure where all this cupcake-craze came from but lately I'm seeing cupcake-related things everywhere. But hey, who doesn't like cupcakes??

Normally I shun fabric from Joann's but now and then they do have some cute fabrics for craft projects. I picked up a cute pirate-themed fabric. I recently saw the new pattern "A Pirate's Life" from Country Cottage and I might need to stitch it just for fun. http://www.countrycottageneedleworks.com/new.html

Hope to be back soon with my Cupcake finish!

At long last - a post!

2009-05-30T15:12:00.013-07:00

Hello world…….I’ve been gone for a bit. I’ve been dealing with some personal issues that have me stressed and I just wasn’t up to blogging. I’ve been reading everyone else’s but just didn’t feel like stitching or trying to be cheerful. Meanwhile, thanks to all of the rest of you for keeping me entertained by reading your blogs and seeing what you’re up to.

DH and I visited my mom and siblings back in Illinois for Mother’s Day last month. It was the first time in quite awhile that all of us kids were together with Mom so that was really nice. Sadly there are no stitching shops in my hometown anymore. I did however visit several cute gift and antique shops with my sister and managed to find a few things I could spend some money on. I picked up 2 nice antique needlecards – they’re in really good shape. I’ve been collecing a few antique sewing accessories when I can find any that are reasonably priced. I hope to make a shadowbox one of these days for my sewing room.

For some reason, I never seem to find much in the metro area where I live so there must be other collectors out there snatching all the good stuff up first! I see so many cute things on some of the French stitchers’ blogs – they must have some fantastic shops and flea markets but we don’t have a lot of that where I live - it's just not fair! Seems like any flea markets here are mostly selling stolen goods and not cutesy antiques. I also found this really cute plate holder below - it's made to hold small 4” decorative plates but I was thinking of stitching some cute items to sit in the available spots - maybe some of the Prairie Schooler Easter eggs or something? For only $10 I couldn’t resist it.

Mom has been cleaning out a storage place she rented and she had some great finds to give me. Here is the only vintage quilt that is in my family. It was made by my grandmother Lyda Virginia and from the fabrics it looks like she made it around the 30’s or 40’s. It’s totally pieced and quilted by hand – the pattern is Grandmother’s Flower Garden – seems like just about everybody made that pattern back then. I didn’t know my father’s mother very well because she was in her mid-70’s when I was born and she died when I was around 8 or 9 I think. I’m the only quilter in my family so I’m happy to be the caretaker of this. Thank you Grandma wherever you are - I will treasure it.

Then Mom turned up with my old Barbie doll trunk! Is this a hoot or what? I’m so excited to have it. The case is from 1968 and still in good condition. I sorted through everything – throwing out some of it that wasn’t worth keeping, then hand-washing the clothes. It’s funny how you don’t think of something for decades until you see it again and then the memories come right back to you. There are outfits my other grandmother crocheted and some that an aunt knitted. There’s even a Buffy and Mrs Beasley doll – does anyone remember them from Family Affair?
Here’s a pic showing a favorite outfit – my mom made matching dresses from this striped fabric for Barbie and me. I plan to have Midge modeling it on a shelf in my sewing room along with another doll in her “After Five” classic 60’s outfit “a la Audrey Hepburn”. :-)

All of this reminds me of many happy hours playing with my 3 childhood girlfriends – we’d pool all our stuff regularly for long play sessions with our Barbie Dream Houses (made of CARDBOARD in those days!). Now and then I’ll walk through the toy dept at Target just to look at all the cool Barbie stuff they have now.

I did manage to get in some stitching this past week. Here’s my progress on Miss Beatrix Potter – I just barely made my progress goal for the month but hey it’s the best I could manage. I used a Watercolors varigated silk called ‘Chili’ as the focal thread then pulled in some coordinating NP silks.

I still don’t have my Peppermint Twist piece finished – it’s almost there so hopefully within the next 2 weeks. I’m trying to get my stitching mojo back but it comes and goes. That's all for now folks!

Peppermint Twist update - on the final stretch....

2009-04-16T14:36:00.009-07:00

I'm starting my last section of Peppermint Twist now - hoorah! I'm debating as to whether push ahead and finish it this month or lay it aside and work on Beatrix Potter. This month has gone fast - I was gone for one weekend and we have out of town visitors the next 2 weekends so time is limited. I'll probably stick to my plan of finishing this in May. I still am very happy with it - I had to rechart my initials as it wouldn't fit with the font given in the pattern. When you have 2 M's in your initials, it takes up a lot of room. :)

Here's a little pic of a hibiscus blooming in my yard for those of you still waiting on spring. It won't be long now!

I saw a great video the other day - "Religulous" by Bill Maher. I'm not always a fan of Bill Maher's politics but I really enjoyed this movie. Bill talks to people all over the world about different religions, questioning beliefs, holy books, traditions, etc. Parts of it are really funny. If you are truly a religious person it might offend you so see it at your own risk. On the other hand, if you have questions in your mind or can view things with an objective eye, it makes for some interesting conversation!

Quilt Camp!

2009-04-09T08:44:00.028-07:00

My world has been mostly quilt-related the past 3 weeks. Whew! I've been busy.
My quilting buddies and I held a craft-related yard sale a few weeks ago -lots of fabric we've collected over the years and no longer want, unfinished projects, patterns, books, etc. It was great cleaning out a lot of old things and making room for new - and the best part - we made $852!! Wahoo! We're saving this for some kind of road trip this year. We sent out flyers to some quilting groups and were really surprised at the turnout but there were great deals to be had.

Last week I spent several nights getting projects ready to go on a quilting retreat last weekend. I look forward to going all year it seems. I cut and cut and cut some more until my shoulder ached.

I had 3 quilts I wanted to work on so there was a lot of prep work because you don't want to spend your precious retreat time standing and cutting fabrics. So I worked a half day on Thursday and then drove up to our retreat that afternoon. My shoulders didn't start unwinding from work tension until I was about 90 minutes from home. I was getting calls from work the first half hour on the road about a crisis, then my boss calls me to inform me we are getting a 10% pay cut for 6 months. During the course of that call I reached a mountainous area in the drive and lost cell service luckily. It took a while to get work out of my brain and relax for the weekend but I really enjoyed the 4 hour drive - weather was gorgeous and lots of desert in bloom until you reach the higher elevations. I saw a few patches of snow there under the pine trees but it's just about gone. I had to call in to for a meeting on Friday morning - so here I was with my friends all sewing and me on a conference call about something at work. Sometimes I really curse the invention of cell phones and Blackberries! You can't ever really get away from work with the kind of job I have. Vacation time seems to mean "I won't be in the office but feel free to call me". Grrrrr....

So I get to the retreat lodge about 4:00 pm - drag all my kit and caboodle from the car trunk inside and promptly set up my sewing machine - no time to waste! Well within 5 minutes my mood took a decided downturn when I realized I had forgotten the cord for my sewing machine! ACK!!!!! I was just sick at heart. I was in a small town so no way I could just go out and buy one at a sewing machine dealership. So I quick made some calls - luckily 2 of my friends were just leaving home and I was able to set up a rendezvous for my husband to pass off the cord to them so they could bring it with them. Hubby had to drive about 35 minutes to meet them at a McDonald's near the highway but the exchange was made and that evening I had my precious cord so I could sew. Poor DH is used to my calamities and forgetfulness. His first thought when I asked him to drive over to meet up with my friends was "I haven't taken a shower yet today". Like showers were of any importance at a time like this! I told him to put a hat on and make tracks! I now plan to buy an extra cord and keep it in my sewing machine case at ALL times.

At any rate, I did have a fabulous time. I've added a couple pictures of the big lodge we sew in. You can see from the photo above we had a great view from the balcony - lots of windows and great light. There were 11 of us just having a ball sewing and talking, doing some Kareoke and enjoying great food cooked by our hostess. The owners have recently added another smaller building (little cabin below) on the premises to house their applique business and longarm quilting machine. We were all terribly envious! This is a great retirement business this couple has created - doing quilting retreats at $175 a person (and they're always booked), plus selling precision applique cutouts and machine quilting.

I finished the top of a quilt for my sewing room although it's cut off at the bottom in this picture. It's called "Jane Street" and was a fun and easy quilt to make but I haven't decided how to quilt it yet.

I also got a good start on making half-square triangles for my Moda Heritage quilt - it's going to be king-size and I need over 700 half-square trianges! That's a lot of sewing, cutting, and pressing. Good thing I'm in no hurry to get this quilt done. I also worked on some applique blocks for a winter-themed quilt. It feels good to do a little applique again although I'm a bit rusty at it. While I was gone I visited 2 quilt stores in small towns and managed to contribute a little to the local economies. :) I picked up a magazine called Quilts & More because I want to make this slice-of-cake pincushion that's in it. It's just the cutest thing - I'd share a pic but Blogger is sputtering trying to upload any more pictures, so here's a link to her blog:
http://taylormadedesigns.typepad.com/
I saw them in person as the designer (Cindy Taylor Oates) lives in Phoenix and I must make some! Won't it be fun to have one sitting on a little antique plate in my sewing room?

They had some great old metal irons at our quilting retreat - wow they get HOT, and they're great for patchwork. Amazing that they're likely 30 or 40 years old and they still work great. How many products can you say that about? I love my Rowenta iron but let's face it - everything is mostly plastic these days and there's nothing like the weight of an all-metal iron to give you a nice firm crease. I had an eye appt yesterday and fortuitously there is an antique mall right near the eye doctor heh heh. So I popped in to browse a bit and found an old General Electric iron for $15. I tested it out before I bought it and in just 15 seconds it was already getting mighty hot. I will see what I can find around the house this weekend to clean it up a little better but I think it'll be handy to have around. Maybe it'll help get those darn creases out of linen as well (hey I can always use it as a doorstop if it quits working!)

So my stitching has taken a back seat lately. I did pick up Peppermint Twist for about 20 minutes at lunch today. I'm hoping to finish this by the end of May. I'm not a one-at-a-time person so I always have lots of different projects going. I plan to also put in some time on Miss Beatrix this weekend. I have Good Friday off so other than washing my very dirty car I will pop in some good movies and settle in for some good stitching time. We are going out to a nice restaurant on Easter with my FIL so no fancy cooking for me this year - yeah!!

We're all Irish today!

2009-03-17T14:51:00.030-07:00

Happy St Patrick's day everyone! A friend of mine at work was wearing the cutest button today - "Roses are red. Violets are bluish. A leprechaun told me St. Patrick was Jewish!" My friend is Jewish and celebrates the more secular side of many of the Christian holidays so it's perfect for her.

Here's a few updates on what I've been up to. I finished my first house on my Pride & Prejudice neighborhood sampler – the Bennett sisters have a home! This house took a while to do and I could not go to bed on Sunday night until I finished it at 11:45 pm. You all know how that goes! You can see my finished "Longbourn" and a couple of the photos of the house used in the mini-series which I modeled from. I still have 2 of the sisters to stitch and then I will take a picture of the whole piece so far to share. I am just about finished reading the book - it's an easy read and I can tell that the mini-series from 1995 pretty much went right along with the book. The one thing I've learned though is that Lizzie (the main character) is spelled "Lizzy" in the book . Who would've thunk it? I already stitched in "Lizzie" in over-1 so now I'll have to fix it of course.

I cannot believe the month is half over already – I am so obsessed with my stitching lately that the days are flying by as I try to get my March goals done. At the beginning of every month I am wildly optimistic of how much I will get done but generally disappointed in myself by months’ end. I did finish up this little patriotic pillow on Friday. I stitched it one evening and finished it off the next night. It's very small - done over-1 and it was fun to get something done quickly for a change. I tried the matching buttons that came with the pillow but I wasn't wild about them so I replaced them with these flat red ones. I'm not a fan of shank buttons - don't like the way they stick out and wiggle around.

DH and I worked very hard this weekend in our backyard. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we replaced 5 plants, and spent many hours sealing all the flagstone surfaces we have. It took over $150 in sealer – ouch – but it is something that you need to do every few years. The sun here is so intense it really fades things and the sealer brought out some of the color again. However, I now look like I have some kind of awful skin disease. The label said “cleans up with soap and water” – NOT! I cannot get the stuff off of my hands even though I have washed them at least 70 times, scrubbed, rubbed, tried turpentine, tried nail polish remover and finally have given up. What was that Lady Macbeth said? "Out damned spot!" Remember putting Elmer’s glue on your hands as a kid and peeling it off? Well it looks like that but it just won’t come off. I guess it’s going to have to wear off gradually but right now my hands look like I’m about 80. As soon as this stuff comes off I’m off to get a much-needed manicure that’s for sure.

I think I was one of the few people who never have seen Phantom of the Opera – at least the modern version. So I put the Andrew Lloyd Webber version on my Netflix list and watched it Sunday night while stitching on the Bennett's house. Quite a disappointment I must say and apologies if it’s anyone’s favorite! I knew it was a musical but it is more like an opera with very little actual dialogue that is not sung. I just did not care for it but at least I can check that experience off my list and be thankful I didn’t pay a lot to go see the musical. Luckily DH was watching college basketball so at least I didn’t have to hear his complaints about the movie – he never would’ve lasted through it that’s for sure! March Madness is one of my least favorite times of the year because it's non-stop basketball on the television at my house. Normally DH goes to Las Vegas for the first weekend of the tournament but this year he is not going due to the darn economy. Luckily I will hide out in my sewing room as much as possible until the games are over – I’m just not into it at all. Gonzaga, Florida State, St John’s, Indiana, who cares?? I don’t understand being excited about college games when you never even went to any of the schools! And the worst thing is, as soon as it’s finally over then the NBA basketball playoffs begin and that leads right into the start of baseball season!

I’ve decided to make another new project start – it feels so deliciously decadent! I’ve got a bin of kitted up projects and some of them have been in there for YEARS. This is a sampler called Kona Coast by Ewe & I & Friends. It used to be a model in an LNS here that sadly closed up a few years back. I loved that little shop (sniff sniff) and they hosted an annual teaching getaway to Hawaii every year. Sadly, I never went to any of the retreats but I believe this sampler was designed especially for the year they had EEF teaching. I always wanted to stitch it and am finally going to get it started at least. I love houses and this is so cheery – beautiful tropical colors and special stitches although I probably will not stitch the wording on it. I need another start like a hole in the head but when has that ever mattered??

Finally - an ornament finish and some progress photos

2009-03-08T19:14:00.008-07:00

I finally finished an ornament for this year! I'm way behind doing getting one done per month but at least I've got one now. This is a very old freebie I always had planned on stitching called "Santa in the Window". It's not available online.

I've been making some good progress on other projects. Here is Beatrix Potter and Peppermint Twist progress as of today. I do wish I could get the color right in my photos but you'll just have to trust me the color looks better in person. Also, I took these pictures in the evening and that always makes it harder to get the color correct.

Hope all of you readers are doing alright. I've gotten to the point where I don't even want to listen to the news anymore - too many depressing things! Sometimes it's better to avoid it and just keep on doing the best you can. Luckily we did our taxes and are getting a refund so that's some good news for a change. We've had several restaurants and small businesses close down in our area. It's sad. In the meantime I'll keep trying to spend at my LNS because we need it to stay in business! I haven't picked up much new from market except a couple of the new Prairie Schoolers. I think I have more Prairie Schooler than any other designer - I counted them and I have 54! Don't ask me how many I've actually stitched - but you know if you don't get them when they come out then you have to pay even more to get them on eBay or something.

I had a question from a reader about how I end the trim around my flatfolds. I usually make my own cording - I start putting the trim on using the end where the cording was folded in half when I made it so that at least one end of my cording doesn't have raw thread ends. I glue the cording all around to within a few inches of where it meets the starting point. I mark where it needs to be cut with a pin and I put some Aleene's tacky glue around the cording where I think I'm going to cut it. I let it dry, then cut it the cording where I need to - the dried glue helps it keep from unraveling as soon as you cut it. Then I glue a little more on the end and twist it good with my fingers and glue the end in place so that it meets the starting point. Hope that's clear - just takes a little practice and sometimes it comes out better than other times. If you have trouble getting it to look nice, start applying your braid or cording in a corner of the piece and leave plenty of extra before you start glueing it down. Then when you get back around just tie the ends in a bow at that corner. You can then knot the ends and snip them. That's how I did this little pinkeep edge.

Follow the yellow brick road.........

2009-02-25T14:08:00.012-07:00

That song keeps going through my head as I stitch on one of my houses for my Jane Austen neighborhood. I am stitching yellow bricks as you can see from my WIP picture. I'm anxious to finish this house as it will be my first one complete on this piece - can't wait to get the roof and windows done so it actually looks like a house instead of a box. I have to make a trip to the LNS this weekend to get a few silks colors I need for the windows. Why is it no matter how much you have you always seem to need just a few more colors?

Since I started 3 fairly big projects in January, I haven't had many finishes. I did get this little flat-fold done this week - it's Happy Bunny Day by The Trilogy. I made this 2 years ago as an exchange for the SBEBB group and I really hated giving it away so I finally made a second one for myself. I had a little trouble with it - my iron leaked some hot water on it when I was doing my final pressing and it made the dark green overdye bleed onto the linen - eeeeeek! I quick plunged it into cold water and got some of it out with some stain remover but you can still see it a bit. Plus the cold water caused a bit of bleeding elsewhere. I was ready to kick something as you can imagine but at least it's for myself instead of someone else. Why wasn't I being more CAREFUL?!?!

I've been up late every night this week stitching as DH is out of town. (after all, what's more important - stitching or being tired for work?? ha ha) Trying to make some progress on Beatrix Potter and Peppermint Twist. Since I finished Mr. Bunny I am picking out another small project to start. I'm trying to do one small project a month to at least give me some finishing satisfaction. For March I'll be doing this little kit I put together probably a couple of years ago when I got the pillow on sale. Just a little patriotic piece that will be fun to put out this summer and it should be a quick stitch unless I screw it up like I've been tending to do lately.

Oh and I've been meaning to post a picture of this adorable pincushion my sister-in-law bought for me for Christmas last year. She got it on Etsy at a shop called The Daily Pincushion. Isn't it just too cute? I love it and and it matches my sewing room. If you ever need a pincushion or a little gift for someone, I highly recommend these. I have no connection to the seller but I think they're wonderfully made and I hope to buy some more! (not that I need them mind you.......but who doesn't love pincushions...)

Now back to stitching.....maybe I can finish the little snowman ornie I've been working on. I'm supposed to be getting one ornie a month done this year - well so far I'm at a big fat zero! Just not enough hours in the day. Until later............

Giveaway winner and Superbowl losers!

2009-02-03T11:34:00.005-07:00

Well boo hoo our Cardinals lost a squeaker of a game on Sunday - it was emotionally exhausting! I'm really glad though that they even got to the Superbowl and gave their fans a thrill. I've always liked the Pittsburgh Steelers so I couldn't be too mad at them anyway. If someone had to beat us I'd rather it be a team I at least like. :)

Well as you can see, the names were in the bowl and I had the husband draw a name out early this morning.....and the winner is LAURA! Congrats Laura! If you will send me your address I'll get a little package off to you. I wanted to give everyone something, and couldn't, but I did decide to draw a second name for second place. I have another chart I will send on to MELODY - Melody please send me your address too. My email address is in my profile/about me. I will try to do some more giveaways this year. I'd like to do a few little stitched pieces if I can just get some time to make some things. So drop in now and then and hopefully there will be more going on. I so enjoy everyone's blogs - I learn so much, and fall in love with projects regularly so I want to be able to give a little back to the stitching community. I'd be lost without my little online world.

A little giveaway and blogging award :)

2009-01-29T10:19:00.011-07:00

Hi folks - Barb over at "Stitching Again" kindly sent me the Fabulous Blog Award. Thanks Barb! It's nice to be noticed. As far as listing 5 of my addictions - well no problem with that!

- My stitching & quilting - definitely dual obsessions!
- Diet Coke - yes I drink way too much of the stuff but can't seem to give it up. I'm not a coffee or tea drinker but I get my sparkling caffeine this way instead. And no, Pepsi just doesn't do it for me.
- My computer/email/the internet - can't live without it and at one point many years ago I remember telling DH that I really don't need my own computer at home. So I blame it all on him, he's probably wishing he never set up one just for me. (not to mention online shopping.....) I feel disconnected when I'm not on a computer daily. We take our laptop on vacation with us - yes it's crazy.
- Amazon.com - Great service, good prices, and they have most everything. I love buying movies from Amazon because I like a lot of old ones you can't find in stores.
- Anything French - I'm a Francophile. I was there twice many years ago and loved it. Anything Parisian or French catches my eye. I love all the history and beauty of the country. Maybe I was a beautiful Marquise in Louis XIV's court in a former life, huh? LOL

I am passing the Fabulous Blog award on to the the following. I read tons of fantastic blogs so I'm grabbing 5. I love all the ones I list on my blog here and others I don't even have listed yet.

Annette at Annette's Acre

Hazel, Quietly Stitching

Laura at Maude & Mozart

Melissa from Daily Ramblings

Amy from Amy Stitches

Now I have a little giveaway for someone. I have some charts I have duplicates of (yes I do buy things sometimes that I already have....). The charts are "Harvest Time" and "More Friends" from Prairie Schooler, and "Chocolate Box" from Little House Needleworks. They have never been used. There will also be a little surprise sent along that I haven't determined yet. Please leave a comment if you're interested and I will draw a name at random from whomever signs up.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. I will pick a winner Monday night and put it up on my blog on Tuesday. Thanks!

Superbowl Fever and sore hands!

2009-01-27T18:39:00.006-07:00

Here in Arizona everyone is fired up about the Arizona Cardinals going to the Superbowl! Go Cardinals!! It’s truly unbelievable as the Cardinals have never gotten much respect and been such losers forever it seems. We’ve got our championship T-shirts and will be glued to the TV next Sunday cheering them on with beer, pizza, and Superbowl snacks. LOL My heart is mostly with the Chicago Bears but I also support the Cardinals. That’s the case with a lot of people here – when you live in a city like Phoenix where most of the people are transplants from elsewhere, a lot of sports fans have dual loyalties – to their hometown teams as well as where they live now. I think there will a collective faint in the state of Arizona if the Cardinals actually win it! I’m almost afraid to watch it.

The end of January is rapidly approaching. I did pretty well on my goals for this month but didn’t meet all of them. I was supposed to get one ornament stitched this month and didn’t do it, and I was supposed to get some time in on my French Alphabet Sampler and that didn’t happen either. I have decided to lay off from stitching for at least 4 days this week so that is also taking time away. My hands have really been bothering me lately so I am giving them a rest. I stitched a lot more than normal the past 3 to 4 weeks and my hands hurt and are stiff so I’m assuming I’m getting arthritis. I’m on a computer keyboard at least 8 hours a day and that plus stitching in the evenings is taking a toll. I have been applying heat, massage, doing hand exercises, and taking Ibuprofen – hoping it starts helping soon. It’s kind of depressing me though – I need my eyes and hands to hold out for many more years!

Here is where I left off with my Beatrix Potter SAL. The light pinkish thread came out looking a bit lighter than I wanted it to, but I will only be doing a few medallions in that thread so I think that will be okay. I'm really enjoying stitching on this and not having to change colors so often like some of my projects. It won’t be picked up again until February.

I’m trying to pull myself up onto the ‘stash wagon’ – but it’s painful!

I certainly don’t need any more but it is so hard to resist. I try to shop at my LNS and local quilt stores to support them, yet the husband and I both want to try to save more money "just in case". We both are a nervous about possibly getting laid off especially when you see the news every day. When you work in Information Technology, at a lot of companies you are considered “overhead” – never good in tough economic times. Just the other day I saw news on Vonna’s blog about the new Blue Ribbon Designs that are out on the website – yikes! I love them all! Guess I will just keep adding them to my “buy list” that I keep. For now I‘ll be concentrating on my 3 new starts and stitching from stash as much as possible.