Happy days are here again ......

WooHoo!  My wisteria has a baby!

It doesn't look like much but it'll grow.  The two rocks are where my old wisteria used to be before it fell over.  I've been checking this area once a week or so and the last time I saw this lovely little shoot growing.  So far it's the only one but that's all it takes.

I did cut small branches off the parent when I chopped it up and put them in water.  A couple actually bloomed on my windowsill.  They were sad little things but blooms none-the-less.  And they smelled heavenly!

One of the cuttings has a root and new growth -- it's going in a pot soon.  Others have growth and no roots -- they'll stay in the water for now -- you never know. 

I'm thrilled that one cutting actually is growing.  And doubly thrilled that the parental roots are still viable.  VBG ... it's the little things in life that make me smile.

Unfortunately, my boys aren't smiling right now.  They both got their summer cuts recently.  It's the first time for River but Stormy gets shaved down frequently.  And seeing how cute and cool River looks, this won't be his last hair cut.  As you can tell from their expressions, neither are very happy about getting their pictures taken.  LOL.

Between hair cuts, I have been stitching.  The first picture is the Marquoir Group Quakerchen.  It's almost finished.  I have one more part to stitch and it will be complete.

See the Star is coming along.  Unfortunately, I decided to do some major ripping Saturday evening.  By 3 am Sunday morning I had removed the offending area -- what a chore that was!

I finally decided that I didn't like the yellow overdyed thread .  There just was not enough contrast between the yellows and the tea stained fabric.  After finishing the similar area on the right in a nice brown thread, I made the painful decision to rip out the yellows.  Now I just need to replace that area with the same brown floss and the entire unpleasantness will be over.  Whew!

I stitched on the lovely Solo Brode SAL over the weekend also -- what can I say, Saturday was a dreary, rainy day, only good for stitching and doing laundry.  This is such a lovely piece.

And last but not least, I realized there were no recent puppy pics ..... shame on me!  Well here you go:

Isn't she getting big?  She's 4.5 months old now, teething and still cute as a button!  At this stage she looks to easily be a 13 incher.

Later ......

Jane Austen

These two small samplers are from The Sampler Girl .  They were to be Christmas presents for a college friend who is a big fan of Jane Austen.  Unfortunately, with the amount of snow we had over the winter and then with my job, we couldn't get together until this past weekend.

I'm really happy with them, even the frame job -- which I did, my very own self, if you can believe that.  The first one I chose for Sandy because she makes an excellent apple pie and the second one because I thought it funny.  The geometric motiffs are changes from the original patterns.  They came from a book by Gay Eaton entitled Wessex Stitchery.   Very pretty stuff.

A start and a continuation

While surfing the other day, I came across the blog Solo Brode with a lovely mystery SAL that I promptly joined.   I like the lacey look of the pattern so far.  My fabric is a 28 ct tea stained evenweave and the threads are DMC 390 and 3726.

Last night I picked up poor, neglected Mary Wigham and started stitching on her.  Unfortunately, it's been so long since the last time that I seem to have misplaced one of her threads.  Sigh .... I'm not sure why it isn't in the bag with the other flosses.  Unless, perhaps, I pilfered it for another project?  Who knows.  The important thing is that she's back under the needle.  The lower, right medallion is where I'm stitching now.

Have a nice weekend.

Not much today, just a Quaker Pillow update.

I stitched the bottom motiff on the Quaker pillow yesterday.  I haven't stitched on 10 count in ages.  Perhaps I should do it more often, I forgot how easy it is to see.

Every since I started the Mary Wigham SAL, I really enjoy stitching the quaker samplers.

And speaking of Mary Wigham, she has been sadly calling to me.  I plan to get back to her either this week or next.  I finally put her on rollers, which will make her easier to stitch.  I had been using a hoop but that was just a pain.

Have a good day! and thanks for stopping by my blog.

Finally ......

I finally remembered to unroll this piece and take a picture of the entire thing.  In doing so, I noticed that all the other non-letter bands have the dark brown in them except the top one.  I think it needs added here and  may alter the pattern a little to include the dark brown.  Maybe in the acorn caps or the veins of the leaves.  It doesn't need much.  I also planned to add beads to the non-letter bands and left some x's out for this reason.  The bottom 3 bands are easy but the top band .... hmmmm, I'm not sure where to put the beads.

This next piece is called Toccata Number Three by the Drawn Thread.  It is a SAL that my EGA chapter is stitching.

The fabric is a 32 count linen that's really rough -- not soft at all. I found the perfect Sulky thread color for the pulled thread areas but after having the thread rip or shread apart repeatedly, I decided it was too weak for the rough fabrics of the linen. So I grabbed some DMC floss out of my stash, put a thick coat of beeswax on it and tried again. This time the thread held up to the pulling and roughness of the fabric threads but I don't think I like the results. I really wanted to use the Sulky thread because it's thinner and nearly invisible -- making the pulled areas the highlight, not the thread. It doesn't look bad, just not what I had planned.

However, I really really don't like the bulk of the floss in 5th square from the left.  The stitch is a triangular one where the floss goes over fabric threads twice, making the floss much to visible.  Something I did not want.  At this point I want to tear it out and use a different stitch here, a less bulky one.  But for now I'm just going to live with it ... maybe it will grow on me .... or maybe not.  

Is that croaking I hear? 

Ripit .... ripit

Knowing what I know now, I would have chosen a different fabric, specifically one that is softer  for this project.   Stitch and Learn.  I won't make the same mistake again.  Have a good one!

The Boys are back in town ....

and boy are they keeping me busy!  Eure, Happy and Moose are visiting while The Girls are at the Papillion specialty.  Moose and the beagles, especially Meadow, are having a blast running around the yard.  Yesterday they ran so hard, they were both very tired -- and that's a good thing!

Between playing with the dogs and watching them play, I have been stitching. Just not taking many pics.  The only one I have is the little quaker sampler.  The stitching isn't too bad here.  I was afraid the finished pillow cover would be a bear to stitch on but things are going smoothly.  The pattern is just the perfect size and I've figured out how to keep the back out of my way.

I've also been working on the German myster sampler but have no photos to show :(  I'm hoping to get the next part finished today .....  I just love this sampler!