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

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??

Ahoy! and a little finish!

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!

At long last - a post!

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!

Finally - an ornament finish and some progress photos

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.

Superbowl Fever and sore hands!

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.

Planning those new projects....

Is everybody counting down to Christmas? Once Thanksgiving has passed it seems like you start to panic realizing everything you need to get done! I had a nice weekend but busy. I finished my Christmas ornament for the SBEBB exchange and mailed it off on Friday. Wish I could show it here but I better wait until it gets to its destination. I was very happy with it and want to make one for myself now! Isn’t that always the case? We send off these cute things but don’t always get them made for ourselves. Then I started on a Prairie Schooler angel ornament and here’s my progress so far. I made one of this set of 3 a few years ago and promised myself that I would do the other 2 this year. Well I might not make it before yearend but I’ll keep trying at least. Maybe at least one will get done. I would like to hang all 3 of these vertically on a big ribbon.



I did get to the LNS this weekend and spent about an hour and a half there. Once I get in the place I seem to lose all organized thoughts and become overwhelmed! I have to make sure and take a list with me otherwise I will come home without what I went there to get. I spent time picking out linen and threads for the Beatrix Potter SAL on Hazel’s blog. I got a big piece of Lakeside Linen’s Vintage Maritime White in 36-ct. I fell in love with a Waterlilies thread called “Chili” and then I found 3 coordinating colors in Needlepoint Silk. The NP silks look a little bright in the picture but they really match the Waterlilies thread just perfectly in real life. I can’t wait to start this piece!



I spent all Saturday evening planning out my Pride and Prejudice neighborhood sampler. I think I’m almost there! I taped together 12 sheets of graph paper, then cut out the basic motifs in the same size paper so I could play with the placement of houses and buildings, and people. I plan to make this sampler 320 stitches wide by 300 stitches high. I photocopied the major things I want to include (personal use only!), then I'll fill in as I go with trees, flowers, and animals. Since every designer uses a different size graph to print their charts, you kind of have to plan the sampler using graph paper that is all the same size. I still have one corner to work on – mostly because I’m going to have to do some drawing/designing of my own on that section – couldn’t find just the right charts to use. It may not not look like much from the photo but it’s my “blueprint” for making my sampler come to life. I’m anxious to get started! I still need to find the right linen before January 1. I’m thinking of ordering some linen from Sassy’s – never tried them but they look pretty. I’m tired of the same old thing and want to try some new colors. Anyone have any favorites? I haven’t seen just the right blue, would like a very pale sky blue but thinking maybe I better play it safe and get a neutral like Sugared Coffee, Creamy Cocoa, or Tan Marble. It is so hard to pick out colors on the computer! You really need to see them in person so I am just not sure what to do.