Weekend stitching

Over the weekend I finished stitching the Bling! ornament.  I had planned on making it into the ornament on Saturday but after reading the finishing directions (several times), I decided to add some fray check around it.  I've never cut close on canvas and thought it a good idea to add some adhesive around the edges 'just in case'.   Well, it had to dry a bit and then I wasn't home most of the day Sunday so it still isn't done yet.  Anyways, here she be at this time:

While the fray check was drying, I added the cording to 6 ornaments:

They still need assorted baubles, buttons and bows added but it's a good start to the final finish.  And I tell you this, my fingers were sore (ouch!) after tacking all that cording down.   I really need to learn to use a thimble.

And last, but not least, I put in a few stitches on Mary:

Happy Monday!

Bling! and my Mary

I spent some time on the bling-y Christmas ornament this week.  Only one more section to go and I can assemble it.  This finishing technique will be a first for me but it seems similar to biscornu finishing so I'm hoping it isn't too difficult.  I'll be glad when this one is done.  The silver thread is still bothering my eyes and I'm making many small counting errors.  Most of them I've corrected but a few I'm just letting go.  They aren't that important.

Mary Wigham has an update as well.  I worked on the dark bird motif and the empty one in the middle.  I only stitched the border in the middle because I was anxious to see if the third motif would fit.  There are lots of counting differences/errors from the original and I was concerned.    I changed the size (reduced the width) of the dark bird's border just in case.  And happily they all fit nicely.  Woohoo!

I need to decide what to put in the empty spots on the bottom.  Mary has initials on hers but I decided to change the pattern and leave them off.   There's still plenty of time to decide what to do here.  And it's fun to be thinking about it as I stitch.

A couple weeks ago, I posted some pictures of my pups and I realized I didn't have any current ones.  Bad me!  So I took a few pics of my pack on Tuesday and will  now bore you with a few . . . .

 First up are the papillons.  I think Firefly is the most photogenic little doll.  It was because of that face that I adopted her.  How could I resist??  River is a neurotic little dude but loveable none the less.  Both of my paps are 9.5 years.

Next up is my old fellow, Stormy.  He turned 14 on Sept 13th and gets chilly easily at his age.  He's been a pistol all his life and it's difficult watching him slow down.

And finally . . . . the beagles.   Missy Willow is my oldest beag.  She's 11 now and definitely slowing down as well.   When I adopted her, her whole face was brown, now it's all white.  Willow is auntie to the 2 pups, her brother is their daddy.

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Shasta is only 6 but one of the laziest dogs I've ever met -- she was born slow.  I hate to see how much slower she'll get as she ages.  Eating and sleeping are her favorite past times.  Shasta didin't want her picture taken outside so she hid out in her crate chewing a bone.  She's mama to the 2 pups.

And now the pups . . . . Meadow is 3.5 and very tiny in stature.  She's a doll.  Since she wouldn't hold still for me, her picture isn't the best.  She definitely inherited the silvering gene from Willow's side of the family.  Her muzzle is almost entirely white already.

Spider is 2 and definitely trouble with a capital T.  It's a good thing he's so cute!  He has a girly collar with flowers on it because he got one of his front legs caught in his old collar.  The collar looped around his neck and under his armpit.  I have no  idea how that happened but thankfully it happened while I was home.  The old collar had to be cut off. 

You can see in this picture the size difference between Spider and Meadow.  He's always walking over her or she's sliding underneath him.  Neither gets offended and it's funny to watch.

Happiness is a warm pup!

September's IHSW

My plan for this month's IHSW was to begin and finish the first part of a new SAL.  Here's what I accomplished:

And, unfortunately,  I'm afraid that's about all I'm going to get done of it.  I got much too frustrated with counting to the next stitching area to continue with this project.  I hate to give up on it so early but that's the way it is :-(

So I switched to Mary Wigham.  I started this one back in 2009 and haven't touched it since the end of 2010.  I can't believe it's been that long.  I took it off the stretcher bars, gave it a good shake to get some of the cobwebs off, put it in a hoop and just started stitching.  Here she is as of this morning:

 

 You can see from the hoop marks where I was working on her.  I finished the lower left motiff, the flowers next to it and the bird medallion near the bottom.  I'm still working on the little yellow flower nearby -- the one that looks so washed out in the picture.  Here's a close up of this area:

There is lots more stitching to do on this piece but I would like to get her finished in the near future (maybe by the end of 2013??).  Wish me luck . . . .

My September WIPocalypse update

I knew it must be WIPocalypse time because last night as I was driving home the full moon was shining so brightly.  It was beautiful!

I'm sorry to say that I haven't worked a smidge on any of my older projects.  I've been stitching Halloween and Christmas ornaments and Exchange pieces exclusively.  Two exchanges are still in process so I can't show you anything on them yet -- both are Halloween related.  I participated in an exchange hosted by Mii Stitch last month and haven't posted the item I sent my partner Heather yet.  So, here it is:

I found this pattern in an old Just Cross Stitch issue (May/June 1995).  It's called Sandcastle by Marie Barber.  The theme of the exchange was Summer Holiday and nothing reminds me of summer fun like a sandcastle.  I liked this pattern so much, I stitched another for myself.  I didn't have any more of the dark linen, so I put it on some coffee stained linen instead.  I think I like it better on the darker fabric -- it just shows up better against the darker background.

I'm currently working on a cute little snowman ornament (times 2) and am almost finished with them.  They just need the words, Let It Snow, added (though I may add a little border, just for fun).

The pattern can be found in the 2009 Christmas issue of  Just Cross Stitch.  It's called Let It Snow by designer Glory Bee.

And finally, I started a new Christmas ornie with tons of bling:

It's by Threedles Needleart Design and is called Christmas 2011.  The silver thread is driving me nuts, not because it's difficult to stitch with but because it's so shiny.  All that glitter is straining on my eyes so I only stitch this one early in the morning when I'm fresh.

And that's about it for September.  I hope you have a nice weekend.  Mine is going to be busy with dog-related activities but I hope to get a little stitching in on Saturday for IHSW.

Thursday 13

This is my first list for Thursday 13.  It's just a spur of the moment post so forgive the lack of order to it.  Here are 13 of my favorite puppy pics in no particular order or favoritism (I don't want the dogs peeking and getting offended or big heads about this whole thing):

 Now I hope this works -- here are the links and stuff:


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