Stitching Plus

WIPocalypse - A Quick February Update

2012-02-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

I missed the full moon but I have a couple pics for my February update. The first one is White Christmas.

There isn't much to show because I ran out of the Kreinik thread last week. I bought more over the weekend so I'll be able to continue on with it now.

My second piece is the SAL Adriana. I stitched lots on it and will continue to do so since it has a time limit and I want to get it done.

I bought some cheap finger nail polish over the weekend for painting charms. As soon as I figure out how to hold the little buggers while painting them, I'll give it a go. I'm thinking double sided tape.

Take care everyone.

Close but no cigar

2012-02-02T15:41:00.000-05:00

I worked diligently on Adriana all last weekend but didn't get part 3 finished. And unfortunately, I haven't been able to get any more stitching time since Sunday. The dogs and I are back to agility training -- good for the dogs, bad for stitching. Plus we are incredibly busy at work now -- good for work, bad for stitching. I'm hoping I can finish part three Friday evening (my only night off from doing dog stuff) -- though I can hear the couch calling 'NAP TIME' already.

Thank you for the suggestions for painting charms. I read about using nail polish before and will give it a try. I'm not too sure about spray paint. I tend to make a royal mess with it. Spray paints and glues, I'm not so good with -- you gotta know your limitations and those are definitely some of mine.

Happy Groundhog Day!

grumblegrumblegrumble -- 6 more weeks of winter --- I say we stew the lil rodent

Kickin' that frog!

2012-01-27T15:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I decided to kick that *&#$% frog and just go on with my Heart Note Alley. I have in my stash (at least I think I have, though I haven't found it yet) a gold frog charm that needs to be attached to this row. I'm thinking this is the best place for my nasty, ol' froggie ... so close to all those yummy little butterflies and unable to snatch a single one. < evil snicker > Revenge is indeed sweet!

Soooo, does anyone know how to paint metal charms? I'm not sure gold will fit in, I was thinking maybe a pale frog would look more pathetic, er, better here.

I also spent some time on White Christmas. I have almost four of the diamonds ringed with shiny blue eyelets (there are scads of eyelets on this piece, when will they be done?!?).

Unfortunately, I will run out of the thread very soon. No fear -- I already called my LNS and she has 3 spools in stock and set aside for me. And since she's having her annual Super Bowl Sale next week, I will pick up my thread and buy other stitchy stuff :)

This weekend the weather is supposed to be kinda sucky. I plan on staying in, doing laundry and finishing the next part of Adriana. Pretty exciting stuff!

Have a good one ......

A fruitful IHSW

2012-01-23T15:53:00.000-05:00

I got lots of stitching done -- yay!

First and foremost, I finished part 2 of the Adriana SAL -- I love this design. And since I'm so far behind with it, it will be getting the majority of my stitching attention until I get caught up.

I also got some eyelets stitched on the hardanger piece, White Christmas. The kloster blocks on the top of the tree are now finished and I started the blue eyelets in the middle area. I may use only the blue thread for the internal eyelets. When I put silver thread next to the piece, I don't like it -- the silver looks 'dirty'. Maybe I don't have the right kind. I also have some very pretty shiny white thread. I may try this, or not .... I really like the blue. I found some nice dark blue beads in my stash that look perfect and may use either white or clear beads (or both) and/or get some light blue beads .... right now it's still a project in flux.

Pre-IHSW, I worked on the Old European Sampler -- I've been stitching the repetitive stuff, when I'm tired and need something repetitive to stitch.

Last week, I also worked on Heart Note Alley.

This piece is so pretty but I almost tossed it out the window. The sweet row with the butterflies (above the irises) has been giving me fits. I have had counting problems with the stems right from the first flower. And so I decided, since I was doing it now and cursing and swearing at it now, I may as well finish the whole painful thing now and be done with it! Grrrrr!

Well, as I struggled to get it finished and approached the end, I noticed it wasn't going to finish all nice and symmetrical .... sigh ..... crap.

So, should I tear the stems out and do it again (boohoo) or just let it go? Will I like it asymmetrical? I couldn't say, until I thought of the wonderful world of Photoshop. So I photoshoped a rough approximation of the finished row. What do you think? See how the last flower is cut off .... can I live with that???

I am undecided .... but I really don't want to redo that row again. Of course, now that I know what I did wrong (I did eventually figure it out), it shouldn't be so bad. Right??

For now, I'm just living with the Photoshoped version.

WIPocalypse beginning

2012-01-10T16:09:00.000-05:00

Sigh, things haven't been going exactly as planned this year. I haven't gotten any stitching in for about a week now and I'm starting to get cranky.

The 'plan' was to work on my hardanger tree first. I did get a 'before' picture

and a 'what is should look like when finished' picture

but that's it. I didn't even get the roller bars on the frame.

I did spend a little time over the new year weekend working on my Odds & Ends -- it isn't finished yet but there isn't much more to go. So I think this will be my first WIPocalypse piece now.

One good thing (though it didn't happen in 2012) -- I finished my 2011 Santa -- hooray!

I'm trying to decide if I like the yellow in the border. It's a little bright compared with the other colors. Except the beard -- which positively glows and draws the eye right to Santa's face. The important thing is he's finished.

I hope your 2012 is beginning better than mine.

My IHSW Report

2011-12-19T15:49:00.000-05:00

My hermit plan was to stitch on my 2011 Santa and finish that last Christmas gift. One out of two ain't so bad . . . .

I finished the ornie, never touched the Santa.

Considering that I didn't have a single stitch in the ornament until Friday evening, I think my hermitting went okay. And here it is, a Christmas tree freebie from Aliolka:

Isn't this the cutest little tree? It's so whimisical and fun. It reminds me of something out of Dr. Seuss's 'The Grinch' (my favorite Christmas program). I love the way it turned out. It's a good thing it's going to a really good friend. Otherwise, I might be inclined to keep it.

And I am done with my gift stitching! WooHoo!!

Note to self: Don't wait until mid-November to begin Christmas gifts .... duh! obviously! never again!

*wink*

Merry Christmas!

Stitching has gone to the dogs

2011-12-15T15:07:00.000-05:00

I haven't been doing much stitching since my last post. The dogs have been taking up most of my time recently. Spider has a new puppy foundation class once a week -- so that makes 3 nights a week of doggie classes. And this past Sunday, I entered Stormy and River in a Teacup Agility Trial. River needed 2 more Games 3 legs to finish his title and Stormy only needed 1 leg to finish his Teacup Agility Championship, aka, TACh. River was successful and completed both of his games legs -- yay! Stormy, however, was not. Sigh. Maybe next time .....

I took some time away from the dogs and Christmas stitching to complete the next part of the Heart Note Alley SAL ... plus I filled in the circles in the 3rd band from the bottom, making it more visible:

I also spent some stitchy time on the Advent Calendar SAL -- finishing 3 more parts:

And here's my whole Advent Calender sampler to date (the upper right ornie is still under construction):

It's coming along nicely --- I'm only 4.5 parts behind.

Last Saturday, my EGA chapter held our Christmas party. I participated in the ornament exchange by stitching (what else!?) another tree -- don't you just love the little 'tree skirt'? I think that's so funny. What can I say, I'm a little odd.

Unfortunately (duh!) I forgot to take a picture of the ornie I received. I will do that asap and post a pic -- it's really cute!

That's about it, except to say this weekend is a hermit kind of weekend. The dogs, the laundry, my stitching and I will be spending some quiet, quality time together. I'm planning on getting my 2012 Santa mostly finished and one final gift finished. Wish me luck!

5 down . . . . 3 more to go

2011-12-06T15:16:00.001-05:00

I worked diligently Friday through Sunday morning to finish 5 Christmas ornaments. One of which I forgot to take a picture of before sending it off in the mail Saturday morning. Bummer! The other 4 are here for your enjoyment. And all I have to say is, thank goodness for those little pre-finished pillows. Yes, I cheated and used them to finish my ornies.

The Christmas Trees are freebies from Alexandria and the gifts are my own design, I needed a break from trees.

Thank you, dear followers, for the kind comments on the tree from my previous post. The interior decoration is a type of embroidery called Wessex stitchery. I bought a book (I love books) about it a couple years ago called Wessex Stitchery by Gay Eaton just out of curiosity. It is such a fun thing (at least the way I do it) because you just kind of make things up as you go along -- no cumbersome pattern to hold while I'm stitching. I don't do many of the more complicated designs (at least not yet) because I have so much fun with the simpler stuff.

The Embroiders' Guild has a beautiful example of this type of stitching. Nordic Needle has a nice tutorial of a few stitches in case you just want to try it. Notes from under the Mountain also has a lovely example of it.

I use it to make borders:

Or to add a decorative line:

And now I'm filling in objects. It's a fun, easy technique -- I highly recommend giving it a try.

Another month gone by

2011-12-01T15:35:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe today is December 1. It'll be Christmas in no time now . . . sigh . . . and I'm not prepared at all.

Anyway, here's a brief update of my Sticklounge Advent Calendar SAL -- 3 more completed:

And here's a lousy picture of the whole thing so far:

I had such a good time decorating the little tree that I decided to stitch another one last night. Only this time I'm stitching on 28 ct over 2 threads instead of over just one on my sampler. Isn't it cute? I may have to do a couple more . . . and add some beads and shiny threads.

Happy December!

Woops! I forgot about this yesterday ......

2011-11-29T09:40:00.003-05:00

I received 2 beautiful squares from my Fair and Square partner this last round. This is a pattern from Barrick Designs called Five Birds Sampler (aptly named, don't you think?)

The main thread is a Needle Necessities lovely (currently called Cherry Cola at Threadworx). I love it! When I showed this to my dad, he looked at it intently for a few minutes. He was checking to make sure all the letters of the alphabet were there -- he thinks it's funny that some samplers exclude a letter or two.

I sent my partner these 2 squares from Blackbird Designs called The Pink House:

I adjusted the pattern a little to make it fit within the parameters of the Fair and Square regs and used DMC floss on tea stained 32 ct linen. Tea stained fabric is fast becoming my favorite -- I love the old look it gives a project. Now if I was just brave enough to tea stain something after it was stitched ..... maybe someday.

Later!

Not much stitching ...

2011-11-28T14:28:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't get much stitching done over the holiday. I planned to get more time in but unfortunately, it didn't happen. I got 3 more of the ornaments done on the Sticklounge Advent Calendar SAL:

And now here's the whole thing so far:

I was hoping to get some more done on my 2011 Santa but no such luck.

On Sunday, the dogs and I went up to Edinboro for an AKC agility trial. Stormy and Willow were entered while the other dogs just came for the ride. Stormy ran okay, even though we didn't qualify. He got all his contacts, held his stay at the start, and finished all the weave poles -- no problem. I think his problem was me. I wasn't feeling that great so he ran a little tentatively and we ended up with some refusals (mistakes that aren't allowed in his class - Excellent). By the afternoon, when Willow ran, I was feeling better. She did well in her runs also and actually qualified in both. She finished her first AKC title -- Novice Agility -- and got her first Jumper With Weaves novice leg. This is not her first title, just her first AKC title. She (and Stormy, too) has titled in both TDAA and CPE agility. For those of you that aren't dog agility people (probably most of you *grin*) , these are different organizations that also hold agility trials. Anyway, all that matters is that we had a good time and the dogs did well.

Happy Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T14:42:00.000-05:00

Just a brief note to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Eat lots of turkey but remember to save room for my favorite, the pumpkin pie. Mmmmmm!

And don't forget that all important nap after dinner.

Have a good one!

My first International Hermit & Stitch Weekend

2011-11-22T11:14:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was a stitchy-kind of weekend so I decided to join other stitchy hermits. And here's what I worked on:

First I finished the Noel block on the bottom and the Holly block on the top of my Sticklounge Christmas Sampler.

Then I finished part 10 of the Heart Note Alley SAL.

The third project is my Santa for 2011. I finished the chair legs, the calendar on the wall and his sack.

And the last project (Old European Sampler) involved lots of reverse stitching because I was off 1 row (ggrrrr!) on the hexagonal row. After ripping it out I got some of it done ... again.

And there you have it, my first IHSW.

Gone to the dogs ....

2011-11-17T15:53:00.004-05:00

I do have one stitching related update before this whole blog goes to the dogs. I made this heart for one of the moderators of the Sticklounge yahoo group for her 50th birthday. Since it was included in a wonderful birthday quilt full of hearts and given to her recently, the surprise is over.

I have been stitching but keep forgetting to take pictures - duh. I did take some pics of my pups on the occassion of Spider's 6 month birthday and, without further ado, here they are:

I took about 4 of these before Firefly
would look toward me and not
the door. It was a chilly day out and
they all wanted back inside -- and a
perfect opportunity for this group photo was born.

Neither River nor Stormy want to share the limelight.

Mainly because they don't like the other dogs.

Here are the kids pestering, er, playing with mom.

Stormy loves his deflated soccer ball.
At the age of 12, he's not allowed to play
with it very often, mainly because he's an idiot
and can't play unless it's 100%.
Resulting in a visit to the doggie chiropractor
because he puts his back out.

I'll try to remember to get some stitchy photos for my next post. Until then .... arrooo!

Back from the framer!

2011-11-10T14:50:00.003-05:00

I picked up these pieces from the framer's the other day.

Friendship Heart
Can you believe it? I forgot to sign and date this one -- duh!

Purple Garden
I'm going to call this my Sunshine Garden instead
Lotsa P O P ! ! !

Tree of Stitches
Not only is black hard to stitch on, it's hard to get a good picture.
The original picture is awful, this has been photoshoped
significantly to make it look better
(and it still doesn't look as good as real life)

And here is a new project. It's a Sticklounge SAL with 24 tiny parts -- like an Advent Calendar. Many of the stitchers are making ornaments. That's too much finishing for me. I'm making one large sampler with all the tiny ornies and calling it "A Sticklounge Christmas". And as for finishing, I plan to make it into a banner. This is the first installment -- isn't it sweet?

The pattern calls for traditional Christmas colors but I'm not going in that direction. Mainly because I really dislike what happens when red and green are next to each other -- either you get brown or they visually fight each other, which drives me crazy! So I'm going with burgundy, pink, teal, brown and gold -- a calmer color palette.

And now to totally change the subject, my Spider was officially 6 months old on Monday. It doesn't take long for them to grow up. Hmmmmm, maybe I should take a more recent photo of him?

Happy 6 Months, Spider!

Just in case the world ends next year ......

2011-11-09T13:55:00.002-05:00

I want to finish one or 2 of my WIP's that have been wasting away on my shelves. I am only going to commit to 2 at this time, though I hope to add more as the year progresses. The first is this hardanger tree began in 2008:

It's mostly done. If memory serves me correctly, I just need to finish the eyelets and do the cutting -- I don't think there's much more to go with it.

The second is my Celtic Sampler (which I began in 2008):

It too is almost finished -- just 3 or 4 more bands to go.

I really would love to get these 2 finished before the world ends next year. I think I have until December before that is supposed to happen -- plenty of time.

If you would also like to finish a favorite WIP before the earth goes down in a ball of flame, visit Measi's Musings and sign up for this fun, no pressure SAL.

The rules are few and simple:

1) Go to her blog to sign up

2) Before 2012 begins, make a list of the project(s) you want to work on. If, at a later date, you decide to add another project -- that's okay too.

3) Then on the full moon, post pictures of your work (as much or as little as you managed to get done). Label that post WIPocalypse so Measi can find it easily.

4) When you have that done, go to Measi's full moon post and leave a comment that you have updated. She will then create a check-in list of URLs for each month's updates so everyone can find them easily.

And if, like me, you have no idea when the full moons for 2012 are, here's a list:

January 9
February 7
March 8
April 6
May 5
June 4
July 3
August 1
August 31
September 29
October 29
November 28
December 28

Doesn't this sound like fun?

Egads! It's been a month since I last posted. My excuse -- I've been sick and had a house guest.

2011-11-04T11:11:00.000-04:00

Even though I was sick as a dog for about three weeks with some kind of upper respiratory ickyness, I did manage to finish the Tree of Stitches:

I love it -- it's pink, has lots of glitter, a bunny and a butterfly -- what more could I want?? It's at the framer's right now. I found a lovely gold frame that makes the whole thing pop. Gotta love things that pop.

I also managed to finish my "Purple" Garden while near death's door (and no! I will not point out the errors made while stitching sick):

It too is at the framer's where I found the perfect bright yellow frame (can you believe it?). POP * POP -- lots of that wonderful pop-factor :)

I have no idea where to hang this piece. In case you were concerned, my house is not decorated in these bright colors. Since I grin everytime I look at the thing, I'll probably take it to work, where grinning and POP are in short supply.

As I was recovering from my near fatal sinus infection/bronchitis, an old college friend came to visit for a couple weeks (she had her wooden floors refinished and kitchen remodeled and was asked to leave her home for a few weeks by her contractor). We had lots of fun plans but since I was still sick, we didn't get to do much but spend some quality time watching movies, chatting, and eating. Toward the end of her stay I started feeling better and did a little stitching on the Golden Cat (which hasn't been touched in months). Kitty is almost finished -- unfortunately I got bored with the same color thread and put him away again.

After my friend went back to her practically new home, I decided on Halloween that I needed to get stitching on my 2011 Santa. You may (or probably don't) remember, I started this back in January as one of my crazy challenge pieces. Isn't he adorable?

I'm not really happy with the beard. It's really nice in the original picture but my interpertation lacks something. Right now, I'm just going to live with it as I stitch the rest of this piece and hopefully, I learn to like it better. If not, I'm a firm believer that french knots fix many beards and will just add a few to the beard to make it better.

Of course, I'm just using threads from my stash instead of the wonderful Rainbow Gallery threads listed. I'm trying a couple new threads (to me). One is a linen thread (the french knots on his cuffs) from Thread Gatherer called Flax N Colors. I've never stitched with a linen thread before and probably won't do much with it in the future. This thread is stiff and kind of scratchy. It made okay french knots but I like the look of the ones in Santa's hair better. I picked the linen for his coat cuffs because I thought it would look more like wool -- and it does, but I really don't like the feel of it. And since, for me, stitching is very tactile, I didn't enjoy the experience of the linen thread.

Another new thread-type I used is made from bamboo -- go figure. I used Rainbow Gallery's Mandarin Floss (a 6-ply strandable thread) and The Pure Palette's Luster Solids (a thicker thread like Perle Coton 12). I love this stuff! It's soft and has a lovely sheen to it. I used the Luster Solid for Santa's hair, beard and mustache (a great thread for french knots). The Mandarin Floss is in Santa's coat, his mittens, and the ginger bread men. I like both brands and types of the bamboo thread and will be using more of it in future projects.

And in case you're curious, the yellow in the border is Rainbow Gallery Fiesta (a rayon thread -- wonderful shine-factor), the green is a Rainbow Gallery silk thread, Santa's skin is DMC, the green afghan is a Caron Watercolour, the chair is a Caron Wildflower and Santa's socks are a Needle Necessities overdyed floss.

And last, but not least, I finished the next part of my Heart Note Alley SAL:

I have a mild dilemma here .... how should I continue with the flowers? Should the remaining two make a symmetrical pattern (light, dark, white, dark, light) or a sequential pattern (dark, light, white, dark, light)? Another thought is to make those flowers 2 entirely different colors. One could be the light peachy-pink thread from the first row. I haven't used this color any place else yet and maybe this would be a good place to add it again. Now the problem is I would have to introduce a new color for the fifth flower and it's kind of late in the game to be adding a new color here. However, I really like the idea of all the flowers being different -- it breaks the strong symmetry of the bands in this lovely piece. What I'm toying with is to add the new color to the third band from the bottom -- the light colored thread I chose is kind of wimpy and is getting lost between the 2 strong flower bands. I could fill the knots with the new color or even alternate the fill-in colors (since one is already filled in). Or I could rip that entire row out and put in the new color. So many decisions .....

Isn't this what makes stitching samplers so much fun??

Have a good weekend everyone!

Lotsa stitching updates here

2011-10-05T15:33:00.001-04:00

I have a finish I can show now that it has reached it's destination. And she likes it :) I stitched this for my partner in the current Fair and Square exchange:

It's by Blackbird Designs. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and, of course, now I need to stitch one for myself. I used DMC threads on linen that I tea stained. It was my first attempt at staining linen.

More gift stitching is these Halloween ornaments for my nephews:

I may add more to the spider before assembling it into it's final ornamental state. If I can find my glow-in-the-dark thread, a web behind the spider would look really cool. Even if I can't find it, a web would still look kinda cool in black. The pattern for the spider can be found here. I love the expression of the 'fraidy moon on the Prairie Schooler ornie -- that's one nasty owl! Stitching Halloween ornaments is so much fun -- I love all the creepy things and fun colors. Normally, I would never stitch on this green fabric but for All Hallow's Eve -- it's a must do.

Speaking of fun colors, I worked on my Tree of Stitches and am getting near completion. I love this thread on the black fabric AND I love being able to stitch it on the black fabric. When I started this on black, I didn't know if I would be able to finish it and now I'm almost there -- woohoo!

Unfortunately, the gold thread doesn't show up well in the picture. Maybe if I didn't use a flash it would look better. Hmmmm, something to try next time. I picked out some beads last night to go with my tree and maybe tonight I'll be able to get some attached. (Though I really need to get those Halloween ornies done for my nephews so I can mail them.)

I started a new Sticklounge project over the weekend. It's called Adriana and is designed by Nolda van Hezewijk. It doesn't look like much right now but if you check out her website, you can see what it will look like when finished. It's a gorgeous pattern. I'm stitching it on 40 ct linen over 2 using DMC threads. The linen color is sand and since I'm using one thread, it appears to make the thread colors look soft. If I had used 2 threads, I'm sure the threads would come out stronger. Usually, I prefer the heavier coverage of 2 threads but when the fabric has a nice warm feel to it, I like the lighter effect of only 1 thread. However, I do need to adjust one thread color so far -- a pale yellow that doesn't show up well on the sand colored fabric. Anyway, here's the pic:

The last project is the Berlin Work Sampler -- the first one I tried with a lighter thread coverage. I love the way the tassles look like a faded painting -- very cool.

I've fallen behind on these last two Sticklounge projects because I've been busy stitching gifts. Now that most of the gifts are done, I should be able to get caught up with them .... and get started on my Santa for 2011. He is one of my Crazy 2011 Challenge pieces and he will get done before the year is over. I'm thinking it will be the last one of my crazy challenges to get done.

Hmmm. Note to self -- I need to do a recap on my 2011 crazies to see where I am with it.

I think I have a little over half of them done (mostly all the smaller ones). I do not plan on doing the 2012 crazy challenge. Instead, I will finish the unfinished 2011 crazies in 2012. I love the other patterns I started in January and don't want them languishing for years as UFO's.

I actually learned something about myself by doing this challenge. I enjoyed starting all those new projects but after about a week, I found it frustrating to keep starting something without finishing something. Apparently I am goal oriented -- I like the journey, but also like to reach the journey's end.

And if you could see all the finished projects on my walls, you would say to yourself "Well, Duh!"

Enjoy!

I have been stitching but ...

2011-09-23T11:21:00.002-04:00

Even though it's been awhile since my last post I can't show much today. I've been stitching some surprises for friends -- all of which are now finished and in the mail. As soon as I can, I'll posts pics of them. But for now here's what I can show you:

Heart Note Alley -- I love this one!

Purple Garden -- I love this one, too!

Small sampler for a Habitat for Humanity family
that will be moving into their new home soon.

And last but not least I have a new start! I decided after doing all that gift stitching, I needed to reward myself with this lovely called Tree of Stitches, designed by Abi Gurden. I'm using the black fabric from an aborted piece that drove me crazy because of my color choices. This will only be the third time I've stitched on black. The first was The Castle by T. Wentzler (which came out great but drove me crazy stitching it), the second was aborted, and now this attempt. So far so good. The stitches are larger - which helps. I'm stitching really slowly. And I'm only using 3 threads, #13 Perle Coton, a gold thread and a Caron Wildflower -- all larger, easy to see threads. Here's the result so far (actually I've done more but didn't photograph it yet):

I love this one, too!
Are you sensing a pattern here??

Finally, here are a couple pics of Spider and Meadow, just hanging out in the yard:

Poor Spider is teething now and I swear he's grown since I took these pics. He and I have been taking a puppy foundation class once a week to get him ready to be a good adult beagle. He has two classes under his collar and since he gets lots of cookies, he's having a blast!

Hey -- I added this later. A current pic of Tree of Stitches.

Have a good one .....

A little stitching in petit point

2011-08-29T15:38:00.000-04:00

One of my current projects in a Berlin Work Sampler. I researched Berlin Work and discovered it was traditionally stitched in petit point with wool threads. Soooo, I decided to give it a try -- the petit point, not the wool (sadly, I'm allergic to it). Here's the result so far:

Basically, it's okay. However, I have a problem with areas where there is supposed to be a diagonal line and the petit points don't touch because they are going in the wrong direction. In the above pic, these troubling areas are easily seen in the large pink flowery thing. The dark pink and dark brown lines aren't really lines on the left sides, unlike the right sides where the line is an actual line. I suppose when the piece is far enough away that individual stitches can't be seen, the whole thing flows better but right now, under my magnifying glass, it's driving me (a little) nuts!

For a few weeks now, I've had a quiet, industrious guest on my back porch. Unfortunately, against my white house it doesn't show up well. This picture was taken early one foggy morning and was beautiful in person:

The spider moves into one of the tubes of my wind chime in the mornings, spends the day there, and comes out in the evenings to rebuild its web. Fascinating!

And speaking of Spider. Here's the little dude with his Auntie Willow that same morning:

Thanks for stopping by ......and may your day be filled with puppy kisses!

Stitching, stitching and more stitching -- woohoo!

2011-08-19T11:27:00.000-04:00

To begin, I belong to the Fair and Square exchange group and have been working on my partner's squares. She's a big fan of snowmen, hardanger and the color blue:

And if this little guy looks familiar to you, it's because I've stitched him before. Isn't he the cutie? He's also a fun stitch.

I received these square from my partner -- gorgeous! This is by iStitch Designs and is so perfectly delicate. I love it! Thank you Linda.

For my next piece, I actually broke out my little sewing machine and used it to make my first little quilt -- taa daa!

Okay now -- no giggling or snickering from the back rows! Yes, my sewing machine is about the size of a dictionary, only does straight stitches (that's 2 lenghts, thank you very much!) and is mostly plastic but it's "NOT A TOY" and "Requires Adult Supervision" -- as is clearly labeled on both the machine and it's box.

This was a first for me and I think it turned out okay. I had a couple minor problems while assembling my little quilt but I was determined to finish it without getting cranky and tossing the whole thing (that is, the cute little machine) across the room in frustration. (Sewing machines and I have a somewhat rocky history that I would rather not go into here.) I should also mention that I actually did hand quilting (another first and not viewable on this picture) along the seams. Needless to say, the hand quilting needs some practice.

I painted the dowel rod black (so it looks much better) and still want to add a big button to this but that's basically it.

I am very proud.

And now onto my Sticklounge projects:

This lovely piece, called Heart Note Alley, is becoming one of my favorites. It is so graceful looking and the colors I chose are so soothing. I love it!

This second piece is called Purple Garden (though mine isn't purple). Everytime I stitch on it, I can't help but feel cheerful:

And this last project is called Berlin Work Sampler by Pelin Tezer. I just started it yesterday so there isn't much to see yet:

And now for three beagles resting comfortably:

May your weekend be as restful!

Yikes! it's been awhile

2011-08-09T15:48:00.001-04:00

since my last post. I've been really busy at work and at home. I've been stitching some gifts (that I can't show you yet but will in the future) PLUS! I finished another one of my crazy challenge pieces. WooHoo! It's called A Ghost's Alphabet by Primrose Needleworks:

I enjoyed stitching this and think it turned out so cute. I have some Halloween fabric to finish this off as a small wall hanging. This will be a complicated (for me) finish but I'm going to give it a go. Wish me luck.

I also framed a bunch of my little projects. The first three are Sticklounge SALs:

Graphic Sampler -- I added the lacey stitching at the top and bottom to fill in the empty space caused by the bigger frame. The color of the frame was just too perfect to pass up.

Quickie Sampler -- I added a border to this piece, again to fill in some empty space caused by the larger frame.

Midnight Garden

The next two are designed by Hand Blessings -- I had lots of fun picking the thread colors for these two:

And the remaining framed pieces are:

One of my Crazy 2011 Challenge pieces from the Sampler Girl

The 2011 Easter SAL from SoloBrode

And last, but not least, I finished Homage to Japan into a bell pull:

Sorry, not the best pic.

I think that's enough for now .... have a good Tuesday, everyone!

More stitching, no puppies

2011-07-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

The puppies left last weekend and my house got much quieter and kind of boring without them. But I have gotten some stitching done. I worked on 2 more of my Crazy 15. The first is the Sampler Girls' Jane Austen In The Kitchen:

The colors are so awful because my flash didn't go off -- I must have changed the settings somehow. It isn't actually finished because I haven't attached the charm or signed and dated it yet. In case you are familar with the pattern, I rearranged, changed and deleted some elements from the original design. This is the second time I stitched this one, the first was for a friend. This one is for me.

The second Crazy 15 is A Ghost's Alphabet by Primrose Needleworks:

You probably don't remember (why would you) but I started this on different fabric and when I picked it back up last weekend, I decided I didn't like it ===>

<=== So I changed the fabric to a 14 count golden-colored aida (again crappy lighting makes for crappy colors) and I like it better. I should be able to finish this over the weekend and when I take the next picture, I'll be sure to get the flash to work.

This third project is almost finished also -- Friendship Heart SAL from my Sticklounge group:

I need to decide how I'm going to finish this. I'm not a big fan of heart shapes in frames because of all that empty space at the bottom. A throw pillow is not a good idea with my dogs, unless I keep it off the furniture and display it on my shelves. One of the ladies in the group found a heart shaped box that fit her stitched piece perfectly -- what are the chances of that happening for me?? Another thought was to finish it as a heart-shaped wall hanging -- ugh! sewing. Oh well, I'll come up with something -- any suggestions?

I forgot to take a picture of this guy last week:

He is my third hardanger snowman -- the first two were given away as gifts. This one will be mine and serves as the model for my EGA group's Christmas in July class (which I am teaching). As you can see, he needs a few finishing touches -- mainly a face. All three snowmen are from the same pattern but they're all different (due to threads, material and counting errors). Here are the other two as comparison:

I think that's about it on the stitching front. Have a good weekend!

Entertaining house guests .....

2011-06-27T15:45:00.000-04:00

I had the cutest house guests the last 2 weeks -- 3 little boy beagle pups:

So needless to say, I haven't really gotten much done in the way of stitching, house work or gardening.

I did manage to get one of my Crazy January Challenge pieces finished -- yay -- Jane Austen On Weather by the Sampler Girl:

Plus I spent some time on StickLounge SAL's:

Friendship Heart

Purple Garden

Have a good Monday!

Crazy for samplers

2011-06-14T15:38:00.000-04:00

HELP!!

I fear I have Samplermania!

I'm becoming obsessed with stitching samplers. Of my wips, almost all of them are samplers, the few that aren't are holiday ornaments. When I first started cross stitching, I did mostly nature things, critters and flowers and such, with the occassional human-form (a stately lady and a few angels) tossed in for variety. I think the reason I love doing samplers so much is that I can pick and choose my own colors just to see how they work together.

One of the first samplers I did was from Country Cross Stitching magazine (I think) from the 1990's. I love this sampler -- the verse, the border, the little critters, etc. What I do not like, even to this day, are the colors. If I was stitching this sampler now, I would definitely change some, if not all, the colors.

Today, I'm older, maybe a little wiser and more experienced. Today I have three pretty samplers all in a row (with colors chosen by me):

The first pretty sampler is Star Sampler by Lady Periphaeria

The next pretty sampler is Heart Note Alley by Gracewood Stitches

And the last (but not least) pretty sampler is Old European Sampler by Steve Rousseau

Isn't color fun? You gotta try it!

Good news about my knotted dogs -- I received them last week. Unfortuately, the pattern was sooo tiny, I had to get it enlarged before I could even begin to see what needed to go where. And when I did get it enlarged, I noticed each dog only has 3 paws. This bothers me a little, especially since all my dogs have four. But I'm getting over it and hope to begin stitching this week.

Later ......

More on Heart Note Alley ....

2011-06-03T14:57:00.000-04:00

I finished part 1 of Heart Note Alley SAL yesterday -- I love the colors I picked -- the threads go wonderfully with the rose-colored fabric:

The Sudoko project also received some attention this morning:

Though, technically, it isn't sudoko any more because I have the 2nd set of 9 squares the wrong way. The top horizontal row should be the first vertical row, the middle horizontal row should be the second vertical row and the bottom horizontal row should be the third vertical row. I do not plan on changing this mistake, ergo, no sudoko. But it still looks okay to me.

Have a nice weekend!

What the ...... !?

2011-06-01T14:49:00.000-04:00

Another start ????

Welllll, I thought I would take a break from the blues of Old European Sampler last night to begin Heart Note Alley by Gracewood Designs. Naturally, I decided to change the colors ......

Woah there now! ... says you ... you don't have another WIP that's not blues?? Sheeesh!

Well .... says I with a sheepish grin .... this one needed to be started -- it was calling to me and I couldn't resist it anymore.

lol! Have a good one .....

Pssstttt .... my knotted dogs are on their way from Washington state. Yippee!

Ye Olde European Sampler

2011-05-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

is slooowly coming along. I got more done on it over the long weekend but unfortunately, I didn't have much time for stitching. Needless to say, I've changed the colors a bit. I don't know whether I like the dark brown in the corner knot .... or not. But it can just stay there for awhile as I decide. In case you are curious, here is the original sampler.

The dark blue outside border is sucking down the thread, so on the way home from work today, I plan to get some more. The thread for this piece was bought recently so there shouldn't be a problem with dye lots. I may tea stain this project after it's all stitched. This would be a first for me but I'm thinking it would make this piece actually look like 'ye olde sampler' if I stain it.

As for the puppies ... they are doing well. Their eyes and ears are open and they are mobile.

Have a good week!

Puppy update ... with some stitching thrown in.

2011-05-27T14:48:00.003-04:00

Here they are at 2 weeks and just opening their eyes:

The boys are healthy, vigorus little dudes and growing like weeds. Aren't they adorable?
Check out the little beauty mark on flashy Nash's hip -- he's quite the looker right now. Keep those fingers crossed that all 6 balls drop -- lol!

Okay, on to stitching ......

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be getting much done. I'm not exactly sure why this is so but I suspect it's because I have too many projects started. This seems to bother me more than I thought it would when I began the crazy January challenge. I haven't been able to work on those projects for awhile now and they're starting to nag at me. I think I need to stop starting projects and get some finished. Starting new projects is fun but apparently, I'm the type that needs to finish them also. Having said that ......

My EGA group has started an ANG project called Sudoko. Since most of us are members of both organizations, we decided to stitch this fun project. It's based on the game Sudoko (of which I have limited knowledge since I don't play). I haven't gotten very far on mine but already I'm not following the actual Sudoko chart thingee. I'm just kind of putting whatever stitch/color I want wherever I put it. How organized is that???

I got some more pads done on the Waterlilies and even finished the flower on your right:

I don't know if I like this project and I think the reason is that the pond is too static for my tastes. It needs more life -- some bugs or a frog or something. Maybe when I put the water in, the sparkle from that thread will liven the piece up a bit. I thought about dropping this project (especially since I have so many other projects going I just love to stitch) but since it's a good one to work on at lunchtime, I'm not going to do that.

My final stitching update is Old European Sampler by Steve Rousseau -- this is another Sticklounge SAL that I'm just beginning (sigh).

I'm trying something different with this one. If you enlarge the pic, you will notice on the lower left part of the blue and brown knotted section that the half stitches are going in the opposite direction. This is intentional -- I want to see what effect the crosses going in different directions will have on this section. So far, the effect seems subtle but noticable.

I hope everyone has a good time this weekend -- get plenty of stitching, gardening, picnicing, or whatever done.

Oh, in case you are wondering --- I haven't gotten my knotted dogs pattern yet --- waa!

Hoooray!

2011-05-19T14:42:00.000-04:00

I am soooo excited ... but first a little background .....

A couple years ago I began a Celtic Sampler only to get stuck on the yucky, depressing, dying bird sentiment that came next. I looked for a saying a bit more upbeat but couldn't find something that fit in with the whole Celtic sampler look. What can I say ..... I'm picky. Then I thought the perfect thing to go next would be knotted hounds -- you know, since I love dogs and have a pack of them? Well, back to the internet I went searching, searching and .... grrrrrr! Nothing.

Isn't it cool?

So I rolled up my sampler and put it away. And every once in awhile I get it out, confirm to myself that I really hate that dying bird saying, sigh a little sigh, roll it back up and put it away again.

And then yesterday I found it! It's perfect -- a row of knotted hounds! Can you believe it?!? I bought it immediately and am patiently (not!) waiting for it to come in the mail. SQUEAL! I am sooo excited! WooHoo! Yippee! Hooray! Happy dancing time!

Woah.

Stop ..... breathe ...... again ...... and again ..... breathe one more time .....

Okay .... okay ..... I'm calmer now ....... On to the regular, less exciting stitchy stuff.

First I want to show you the Friendship Heart. Don't you just love that beautiful, scrolly 'A'? I'm a little bummed that I can't get the fabric color accurate in the photos of this piece. It's such a pretty color in real life and kind of blah-looking in my pics. Oh well. The quotation to the left of the 'A' is Hindi -- how cool is that?

We had our second class on the Water Lily piece at the EGA meeting on Monday. Here's where I am so far:

I've got 3 of the lily pads done and most of the border stitched. There isn't much stitching to do because, with this technique, you want the photograph to show through the threads. The idea is to enhance the picture with your stitching. The flowers will be long straight stitches with a few french knots and the water will be a darning stitch with sparkly thread. I'm working on this during lunchtime at work, so it will probably be awhile before it's finished.

As for the puppies -- they're getting fatter and cuter each day. Momma has lots of milk and her babies definitely know how to find it.

Have a good one .....

Yippee! I found it! WooHoooooo ..........

Puppies!!! and a little stitching

2011-05-16T11:43:00.001-04:00

Aren't they adorable? Three boys born May 7th. We call them Crosby, Stills and Nash -- here's hoping they can sing as well as their namesakes -- gggg.

Puppies always make me smile -- doesn't little Nash look like a guinea pig from the backside? Too cute.

Anyway, I don't seem to be able to get much stitching done but here's what I've managed to squeeze in:

Homage to Japan by Remy Lawler (a SAL from the Sticklounge) is finished. I plan to make it into a bell pull.

My pink Odds & Ends by Tams Creations is almost finished -- only one more part to go. This has been lots of fun to stitch. The original is all cross stitch but I decided to use it as a specialty stitch sampler of the different shapes. Honestly, I'll be glad when it's finished -- it's becoming more difficult to think of different color and stitch combos -- my poor brain is getting tired.

I've stitched on some other things but don't have pics of them - duh! - so I guess I'll leave it at this. Have a good day.

More starts ? ! ?

2011-04-28T15:09:00.000-04:00

Yikes -- I must be totally nuts. I have 3 more starts (with more to begin soon). This first one is a class taught at my local EGA chapter. It's a photo on canvas that will be embelished with embroidery. The designer's name is Susan Goodman. The first class involved the border stitching. There are 2 layers for the border, the first is scotch stitch and the second is basketweave stitch. I'm almost finished with the first layer. I have until May 16th to complete the 2 borders.

I took a class from Susan Goodman a couple years ago at a seminar. This piece is called The Red Window and it involved transfering other stuff to a printed canvas before embroidering over it:

My garden has more flowers than the designer's, if memory serves me correctly, her garden was mostly greenery. I thoroughly enjoyed stitching my Red Window garden. This is a fun technique and I look forward the our second class on the Lily Pond.

My second new start is a lovely sampler by Lady Periphaeira called Star Sampler. The original pattern calls for 2 colors but I decided to add a couple colors and some specialty stitches. If you are interested, this is a SAL and you can still stitch along if you are so inclined. We are up to part 3 so there is still plenty of time to join.

And the third and final start (as of today) is a patchwork heart I'm making for a friend. I drew the heart on the fabric with one of those pens that has water-erasible ink in it, added some patches and started to stitch.

The last stitchy pic is the Tam's Creations piece called Odds and Ends. This SAL in on part 12 out of 13. Hopefully, I can finish this part over the weekend, get the final piece and finish stitching this one next week. Wellllll, that's the plan as of this minute.

The next couple pics have nothing to do with stitching. Shasta is about a week away from delivering and I just had to take some pics of her belly. Tomorrow she goes to my friend's house (the expert puppy midwife) to have her pups. I'm going to miss her and cannot wait to see the babes. Shasta looks bigger to me than last time ...... she seems more restless / uncomfortable than the last pregnancy ..... the poor dear.

Later ......

I'm baaack ....

2011-04-19T15:47:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile but things are finally settling down and getting back to normal at work -- hooray!

Now if the weather would only settle down. We are getting more rain today -- yuck! The back yard is a big puddle that the dogs refuse to go out into to do their biznez BUT have no problem charging through to chase that elusive squirrel or crow. Sigh. And in addition to my dogs, I have a couple house guests for the week. Happy is old and not so interested in being outside much but Moose is young and full of himself. He loves to run around the yard, picking up as many sticks and pine needles as possible in his long, lovely Papillion hair. What a sight! The first time I let him out he came back a total mess. Hehehe -- so much for the bath his mom gave him before his visit. Let's see, today's Tuesday ..... we're supposed to get rain every day this week ..... soooo, by Friday, he should have all the sticks in my yard cleaned up and I'll be hosing him down to get the mud off.

Mind you, my beagles are just as guilty when it comes to getting dirty but not nearly as useful when it comes to yard cleanup. Willow had mud splashed all over her face the other day, in addition to most other parts of her body. She, Meadow and Moose had a grand romp through the yard. When I suggested they spend some time in the kitchen to dry, instead of immediately jumping onto the couch for a nice rub and roll, Willow's feelings were hurt, Meadow didn't get the point and Moose wanted to go back out for another romp.

Speaking of beagles :) Shasta is making some beautiful puppies, even as we speak. Check out that belly -- and that's not from eating too much .....

I'm getting a little long winded here but before I go on to some stitching, I have to tell you about her 'baby'. A couple weeks before she came in season, Shasta started carrying around this little red bear. She would take it everywhere with her and protect it if anyone(dog) got too close to it. The purple bear is her third 'baby'. The other ones were stolen and de-stuffed by Meadow. Once de-stuffed, Shasta seems to loose interest in it. Unfortunately, I only had the 2 until a couple weekends ago when Stormy won 3 more at an agility trial. Yea Stormy! Shasta was so happy to get a new 'baby', she almost took my fingers with it.

Okay stitching update ....

I finished this fun Easter SAL from Carol -- and totally enjoyed every minute of it. Don't you just love the bunnies nibbling on the carrot tops? Too cute.

Homage to Japan has one more part before it's finished. Sorry it's laying side-ways, I forgot to change the orientation when in Photoshop.

My "Purple" Garden is coming along nicely. When I picked the colors, I was thinking "Spring" Garden but everytime I look at it now, I think summer and watermelon.

And last but not least, I have started a new project (can you believe it? I must be bonkers) called Friendship Heart. This is the left top lobe of the heart and only part 1. The photo colors came out kinda sucky -- the fabric is totally off. In reality it's more a blue-green color, not grey.

Ummm, as to my crazy 15 challenge .... not much happening there but I hope to get back on them now that I have more free time.

Take care everyone --- stay dry and mud free!

All work and no stitching make me a dull girl ....

2011-03-30T09:35:00.000-04:00

Thank goodness I've been able to get some stitching in -- wouldn't want to be dull, now would we?? I will be sooo glad when work slows down. Between working 6 days a week, 2 sick dogs and a lingering cold/allergies/sinus infection thing going on, I'm beat.

Here's what I've been doing the past couple weeks:

Homage to Japan, a Sticklounge project

Odds & Ends, a Sticklounge project

Purple Garden, a Sticklounge project

Quickie, another Sticklounge project -- are you beginning to sense a pattern here??

Little Easter Sampler, a Novalee02 SAL

WooHoo! My first biscornus! How cool is that??

Faces finished! Not sure what I will do with this yet.

Later ......

Another quick update

2011-03-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

Ooops, I forgot about these two:

January Mystery SAL almost finished -- the backstitching makes this one look more 'finished'

New tiny sampler from the Sticklounge
-- they remind me of fancy, little doileys

Can you believe it ?!? We are supposed to get 4-6 inches of snow in the next day or so. What a winter!

Take care ......

Just a little update

2011-03-09T16:53:00.001-05:00

Egads! we are busy busy at work. So my off time is spent stitching instead of computering.

Sticklounge SAL Odds & Ends by Tam's Creations

Sticklounge SAL Homage to Japan by Remy Lawler

Easter SAL by Novalee02

Flower Power by Ann Strite-Kurz.

I am really having fun with this one and hope to get the third row in over the weekend. The pattern doesn't call for it but I plan to put some beads in the little empty squares after all the stitching is finished.

Have a good one ....... gotta run ......

January Mystery & Crazy Flowers

2011-02-28T09:08:00.000-05:00

I finished all the cross stitching on the January Mystery SAL. Now I have the backstitching to do. I couldn't decide on an third color for the shared head area. Instead of letting this piece sit around while I came to a decision, I did this:

Looks kinda cool.

Last weekend I wanted to stitch on Flower Power but just wasn't up to it. Now that I'm feeling better, I picked it up and set needle and thread to it:

This is going to be so pretty when it's finished. I enjoyed stitching it so much I may spend most of the week working on it. I love the colors I chose and though it looks complicated to stitch, it really isn't. Each band is composed of several different patterns interwoven to give the final lacy pattern. I do one pattern at a time. In the pic you can see the second band's first layer completed. It's pretty as is but with each layer it becomes more ornate. Once the first layer is down, the remaining layers don't involve much counting. The repetition is actually kind of relaxing. I suspect this will be my first large crazy finish.

Sunday, the dogs and I were at a teacup agility trial. I only entered Stormy and River -- we weren't successful but had a good time. Meadow got to play with her common brother (they are from a different litter but the same parents). She had a blast. Firefly got to sit in my lap and visit with her only surviving child, Pheonix. Shasta is in season and almost ready to breed but just wasn't 'in the mood' yet. She got to take a nice flirty walk with her paramore, Ruddy (maybe tonight will be the night??) -- get him all wound up and snarl when he tried to get to first base. And last, but not least, poor Willow didn't get much attention or have much fun yesterday. Tonight she has agility class -- hopefully that will make up for it.

Have a happy stitchin' week.

A little update between working and sleeping

2011-02-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately not much stitching was done since my last update. I'm having some sinus issues -- mostly I wish I didn't have the pesky things but right now I have a sinus infection. I'm not sure why I get soooo tired when this happens but since all I want to do is sleep, when I'm not at work, that's what I've been doing. I did manage to get the next part of Homage to Japan done over the weekend (and yes, it took me all weekend to get it finished). I love wild violets and the ones in this piece are so sweet. It took me forever to get them done because I kept making mistakes and having froggy moments (blame it on the sinuses).

Before the infection took serious hold, I did get some work done on the Busy Bee Tuffet and the January SAL.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the tuffet done for my Monday EGA meeting. BUT as fortune (and nasty little sinus-loving bacteria) would have it, I wasn't planning on going so wouldn't get to take the biscornus class anyway. Luckily (?) we had a major winter event -- freezing rain, sleet, snow, major slippery roads, etc, etc, etc -- so the meeting was cancelled. Yup -- I was a happy camper -- the biscornus class is postponed until next month :)

Have a healthy, happy Wednesday.

Halloween craziness and a beeginning

2011-02-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

I finished one of my Crazy Challenge pieces -- yippee! -- the Sampler Girl's "The Old Black Cat" with some changes to the border. This is such a cute piece. However, I decided the black spiders look more like ticks to me (bleeechhht!!) --shiver-- way creepier than spiders.

And I started a new project (Busy Bee Tuffet by Chessie & Me) that needs to be stitched by my next EGA meeting on Monday. We are going to learn how to assemble it into a biscornus. I'm looking forward to learning a new (to me) finishing technique. And as you can see, I've changed the colors:

I love the little bee keep scissor fob and plan to stitch it also -- though probably not before Monday.

The weather man is threatening us with nice weather for the next couple days -- party sunny with temps near 50. WooHoo! Break out the shorts and flip flops! I hope your weather promises to be just as pleasant .....

Wow! I just noticed I have some new followers -- how cool is that. Welcome!

Another crazy finish, lots of pink and a new garden

2011-02-07T09:36:00.001-05:00

I finished my first Brittercup kitty on Saturday. Isn't he 'dorable? I just love him!

I think my next crazy finish will be the other Brittercup kitty.

Yesterday I finished part 10 of Odds and Ends. I added a butterfly for my Papillions, a bunny for the beagles and couldn't think of a little logo for the Storm. So I just made a representation of his smilin' face 'cuz he's such a happy, vivacious little dude.

Oh, and I started another Sticklounge SAL called The Purple Garden by Angie Designer. However, I already have a purple butterfly garden (the designer's name escapes me)

and since purple isn't one of my favs, my Purple Garden isn't going to be purple. It's going to be multi-colored, more like a Spring Garden (wishful thinking on my part). I just started it last night so I'm not very far with it yet.

Enjoy your day!

Framed finishes and other stuff

2011-02-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

See the Star and Baumchen are now framed -- yippee! They aren't hanging on the wall yet but they're almost there.

I completed the border on my crazy Santa piece:

Stitched more on the January SAL (which is starting to look kinda cool):

And that's about it. This weekend I plan to finish part 10 of Odds & Ends and the Brittercup Kitty ornament. It's going to be another cold one but at least there won't be snow. Another good stitching weekend.

Weekend stitching

2011-01-31T08:35:00.000-05:00

I got quite a bit of stitching in this weekend:

The January mystery SAL that isn't going to be finished in January

The Sticklounge SAL called Odds & Ends designed by Tams's Creations

One of my crazy Christmas ornies designed by Brittercup Designs

And last but not least, I finished 2 Autumn ornies this morning by adding a little bling to the bottoms.

Not to shabby :)

2 crazy finishes, a couple SALs and help please

2011-01-26T15:59:00.000-05:00

WooHoo! I finished 2 of the crazy Christmas ornaments over the past weekend:

The sugar-shocked reindeer just needed the black to finish him while the Snow Bunnies needed lots of stitching.

I started a January Mystery SAL on Helen & Mahelia's blog. It's mostly finished on the blog while I'm only starting -- so not much of a mystery for me:

I also started a new Sticklounge Project entitled Homage to Japan. It's a pretty little sampler with a couple goldfish on it (I love goldfish -- especially the fat, fancy ones) and a Japanese proverb. I didn't get much done on it because I wasn't happy with the original colors. So after several starts and stops, I have finally decided on the colors for this first part:

Not much, I know, but I should be able to get this part finished now that all the tough decisions have been made.

I also picked a frame for the Baumchen. Since I didn't want to spend a bundle here, I chose a standard size frame for it. Unfortunately, there is lots of room on the longer side. Hmmmm, perhaps I'll add a piece of lace here to fill in the empty frame space. I found a nice piece of old lace but cannot decide how to assemble the whole thing. Any suggestions? Top, bottom or side?

It's hard to see the lace in these pics, the flash kind of blew it away, but even in real life, the lace is rather subtle. At this point in time, my preference is the lace on the top .... but that could change.

Have a good one !

Some crazy stitching and a surprise received

2011-01-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

I finished my first crazy January start and got lots done on 2 more:

After all those starts I needed to finish something and I needed some easy stitching, so I decided to work on these three ornaments this past week. I really like this green fabric and may stitch more ornaments on it -- umm, sometime in the future.

I received these goodies from Jules' giveaway yesterday (thank you!):

The oriental book has some beautiful butterflies that I'm itchin' to get stitchin' but that will have to wait until I get some of my other starts finished. The little framed 'Welcome' is just lovely. And don't laugh, but the best thing is the honey from Florida -- yum!

I l-o-v-e honey!

Thanks again, Jules.

It's going to be freezin' this weekend -- a perfect stitching weekend. I plan to work on some of my SAL's and hopefully get caught up with them. Should be a good time .....

The last 2 days of craziness

2011-01-17T15:57:00.000-05:00

On Day 14 I started a project I've been fretting over for about a week. And on Friday evening, I needed to make some commitments. This is a piece called Flower Power by Ann Strite-Kurz that I bought a few years ago. The pattern calls for canvas and perle coton but I, of course, wanted to be different and do it on evenweave. I chose a 28 ct rose evenweave and some DMC threads -- it took me forever to do this. Then I had to attach the fabric onto the scrolls. By the time I actually sat down to do some stitching, it was about 8:30 - 9 pm. The first thread I chose was grey -- it looked so pretty on the rose fabric. *smile* The second thread choice was a dark purply mauve. It too looked realy pretty on the rose fabric -- however -- it overpowered the grey *grumble!* Sooo, I frogged the grey and added black instsead *eureka!* Then I went to bed. Here's the result (fyi, colors are wonky):

I think the black definitely goes better, however, I still like the grey. Sooo on day 15, I got up and worked more on this piece:

While the colors are truer, the pic does not do this justice. I'm totally tickled with this so far, so much so that I had a hard time putting it down to work on my Day 15 project.

But on Saturday evening, I started the Beagle in a Basket. There isn't much to show of the beagle, but she is started:

On Sunday I bought a plastic tub to keep all my Crazy 15 starts together -- previously they were scattered all over the place. Now I can go to the tub and pick out something as the mood strikes. I'm not sure what I want to continue first .... I'll keep you posted.

Happy Monday!

Another crazy kitty

2011-01-14T09:28:00.000-05:00

Day 13 is another Brittercup design (the name of it escapes me at this time -- something about gifts). It can be found in the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Christmas edition:

I'm a little pressed for time today so this is a short entry. See you Monday for the last 2 installments of craziness. Have a good stitchy weekend!

An even dozen's worth of craziness

2011-01-13T09:41:00.000-05:00

I have always admired the Brittercup kitties (mainly because I love black cats) but have never stitched one until last night. This pattern is from the JCS 2009 Christmas edition:

I'm happy with the progress I made on it and can't wait to finish it.

My first kitty was a precocious black cat I adopted from a shelter years ago. He was the best cat -- athletic, friendly, confident, always into trouble and too smart for his own good -- probably not the best cat for a first-time cat parent. As a kitten, he got his head stuck in one of my speakers, knocked over 2 fish bowls with Bettas (one was on top of the refrigerator) and my 4 shelves of plants, crawled inside my refrigerator, among other adventures. He's gone now, but whenever I see a black cat in a pattern, picture or real life, I have to smile.

Thanks everyone for your comments, especially about my pups! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a little note -- they also make me smile.

Can you believe it -- only 3 more days ......

Craziness plus a birthday!

2011-01-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

Crazy day 11 pattern is another Sampler Girl called The Old Black Cat:

I did pretty good with this one last night -- at least I managed to stay awake.

Today is Meadow's first birthday. It's hard to believe that a year ago she was this tiny, blind puppy -- a little eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping machine:

Three months later she's this sweet little running, jumping, chewing, eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping machine:

And a year later, she's developed into this adorably, wonderful, eating, sleeping, playing machine (thank heavens the chewing, peeing and pooping are under control):

My bouncing baby beagle is all grown up (snif) but still cute as the dickens:

Around Thanksgiving, we had a family portrait taken -- from l to r, Rudy (poppa), Shasta (momma), Meadow. You can see where she gets her good looks .....

Thanks for looking .... and I'll be back tomorrow with more craziness. Only 4 more starts to go.

Day 10 is ghostly crazy

2011-01-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

I bought this pattern in 2006 and have been wanting to stitch it ever since but for whatever the reasons (ah ... other projects), it remains unstitched.

Until now.

I didn't get much stitched last night. It took me awhile to gather the threads and decide on the fabric. Once this was done, and I sat down to actually stitch, my feet were cold and I kept nodding off while stitching (not a good idea while holding a small, sharp, metal object). So I called it quits pretty early last night with only a '-O' to show you today. Hopefully, tonight will be better.

Until then ....

Crazy Days 7, 8 & 9

2011-01-10T11:39:00.000-05:00

On Friday, aka Crazy Day 7, I started another Sampler Girl pattern. I love, love, love this particular quotation because I hate, hate, hate the heat:

"What dreadful hot weather we have. It keeps one in a continual state of inelegance."

Talk about understatement. Anyway, I got quite a bit of it done:

Saturday, I started the Tulip Sampler by Rosewood Manor. I just love the colors in this one. Considering I spent most of the day in Pittsburgh visiting an old college friend, I think I got lots done:

On Day 9 or Sunday, I began a canvas piece designed by Cheryl Schaeffer for the Rainbow Gallery. This will be my Santa for 2011. Isn't he cute?

Even though it doesn't look like I got much done, there was a bunch of prep work for this one. First I had to paint the canvas blue and let it dry. Then I had to iron it. And before attaching it to the stretcher bars, I had to straighten a bunch of tacks. The only tacks I had that weren't in use were badly bent and mangled, ie, totally UN-USEABLE. Rats! And of course, I needed to gather some threads for it (I currently have 2 -- the green and yellow border colors.)

The pattern called for French Blue 18 count canvas. I only have white congress cloth. I thought about just stitching it on white but I liked the blue wall. I thought about making the wall blue with a background stitch but decided against that. I decided to paint the canvas instead. This is kind of fun 'cuz I never know exactly what I'm going to get. I was trying for a lighter blue but the one I got is okay. I may have to change the color of the chair and ottoman -- I'll just have to see what hits me when I get there.

While I was waiting for the blue canvas to dry and between loads of laundry, I spent some time stitching on my Sticklounge project, Odds & Ends by Tams Creations:

This is such a fun piece but because I made an error near the 3 o'clock position and because I decided to not try to figure out or correct the error, I have been compensating the little objects to get back on track by 6 o'clock. Since I don't know where the error is, I really hope my circle ends meet. I'm going to be extra diligent to make sure this comes out okay.

If not, I'll just put a little charm over the offending area. What you can't see isn't there -- right.

See you tomorrow .... go crazy, keep stitching!

Happiness is Apple Pies and Agility

2011-01-07T10:33:00.001-05:00

Hooray! Happy Days are Here! I finally started a pattern I've wanted to do for a couple years now ... drum roll, please ......

And now to change the subject .....

A couple days ago, Libbie asked me who I do agility with. Now that's a loaded question because I could talk about my dogs f o r e v e r but I'm sure you all don't want to read alot of babbling about them so I'll (try to) keep it short (or just stop reading here because there won't be any more stitchy stuff).

Stormy is my oldest dog at 11 y.o. He's a terrier/maybe poodle/? mix that I rescued as a puppy. He's all heart, joy and personality. Above is a pic of him when he was about 5 jumping at an agility trial in his lion cut.

Here he is, or at least part of him, pushing through the chute.

Willow is an 8 y.o. beagle. I rescued her from the breeder when she was about 1.5 after the original people returned her as untrainable. She did indeed have some issues but we have worked through them and she's become a good agility dog. Willow is a perpetual puppy and I hope she stays that way. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of her doing agility on this computer so here she is hanging out in the back yard.

The last dog I trial with is River, a 6 y.o. papillion that I rescued when he was about a year old. Poor little guy came with lots of issues -- he came from an abusive background. He still has some issues and probably always will but he's much better. He's very sensitive and gets nervous easily, so I only run him once or twice at a trial but I think he's starting to like it. I don't have any agility pics of him either so these will have to do.

My other dogs don't run at trials yet, they are currently in training.

More beagles! Shasta and Meadow (mother and daughter)

And, last but not least, Firefly, my little snuggle bunny, a 6 y.o. papillion.

Well, there you have it, my dogs. And many thanks Libbie for asking about them. I love my little rug rats and love talking about them.

Until Monday .....

More Christmas on Day 5

2011-01-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

I bought this little kit a few years ago and am finally taking the time to stitch it:

I'm not a big kit fan but thought these little guys were terribly cute so had to have them. The kit uses ecru thread for the beards, clothing trim and border areas but I'm thinking I'll change that to white. The ecru looks "dirty" and doesn't show up well. I think white will add more punch. The eyelets are in the ecru and when I get back to this one, I plan to stitch the beard and trim in white to compare. I may also change the eyelets from floss to perle coton.

After 5 days of stitching Christmas, I need a change. So for days 6 and 7, I plan to begin two of the Sampler Girl's patterns. These will be repeat stitchings. I did them as a gift for a friend last year and planned on doing them for myself also. Of course, I never got around to it. And without this January craziness, I probably wouldn't have for another couple years, if ever. I'm so excited! I love these two patterns, the second one especially makes me laugh:

Until tomorrow ....

On day 4 it snowed ...

2011-01-05T09:34:00.000-05:00

Not much to show for yesterday's crazy stitching. I could only get an hour's stitching time in -- rats!!-- that's 2.75 snow flakes worth:

Instead of stitching I went to the chiropractor last night. It was my first time ever and I'm happy to say it seems to have helped. I'm having a problem with sciatica (what a pain! -- literally) and it's interfering with my ability to run dog agility (among other things but that's the only really important one).

I'll be back tomorrow with the next installment of craziness.

Mary Wigham update and more craziness

2011-01-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

I spent more time on Mary over the holidays and managed to get the outside border almost completed:

I wanted to get the border finished before 2011 but it wasn't to be. She probably won't get much more done on her until after Jan. 15th, when the craziness comes to an end. I was also hoping to get her completely stitched by the end of January but I'm not sure that's going to happen either. Oh well.

Speaking of crazy, here's my third selection, another Christmas ornament -- one I've already stitched as a gift and now will stitch for myself:

Until tomorrow .....

what fun!

Crazy Challenge 1 & 2

2011-01-03T09:50:00.002-05:00

My first Crazy Challenge piece is The Great Pumpkin Conspiracy designed by Cross Eyed Cricket. I picked a bigger piece for the first day because I planned on getting lots of it done. Unfortunately it didn't work out as planned, so I only got a little done. But the important thing is that it's begun.

Day 2 I was at an agility trial so I took a small, portable and easy pattern from Angel Stitchin' (Just Cross Stitch magazine's 2009 Christmas edition). Between walking courses, running dogs, yakking with people, eating, pottying dogs, I managed to get more done than anticipated.

See you tomorrow for day 3's stitching.

We're almost there ...

2010-12-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

Yikes! 2010 is almost over -- hard to believe.

I'm gearing up for the Crazy 2011 Challenge and as of last night still cannot find the Rosewood Manor pattern. I guess there's still 2 weeks to find it.

Sheri is having a New Year's giveaway on her blog for a lovely piece of linen. If you're interested, be sure to sign up for it.

Happy December 30th.

They made it!

2010-12-29T14:07:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness! The squares I sent to Australia finally arrived. I thought for sure they must have fallen into the ocean. Anyway, here they are:

It's the same snowman I made for my nephew and one of the ornies I plan to stitch for myself in the Crazy 2011 Challenge.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited! I received my first set of squares from the Fair and Square exchange today. Karen from Australia stitched Red Berries from Rosewood Manor. Isn't it pretty? And the card she sent is adorable. I love all the little Aussie critters.

Unfortunately, she hasn't received the squares I mailed on Dec 8th -- I hope they didn't fall off the slow boat into the ocean.

Even though I had a cold over the Christmas holiday, it did not turn into broncitis or settle in my lungs this time -- hurray! And even though I spent a lot of time sleeping because of said cold, I did get some stitching in on Mary Wigham -- hurray! again.

Soon, I'll have the outside motiffs finished. I have until Jan. 1st to get more done on her before I have to set her aside for the 2011 Challange. Hopefully, I can work on her every evening after work and be able to get lots more done.

I finished 2 ornaments as little pillows for my nephews this year. I'm not that good at making pillow ornies but I thought these turned out okay. The snowman's hanger is a little off center but that's not too bad. I never made a pillow with hardanger before. The third piece of fabric kind of threw me but I got 'er done.

I did better with the reindeer ornie, don't you think?

The eyes on this guy just kill me -- talk about a sugar high!?!

I hope everyone has a happy,

safe and healthy new year

with lots of stitching fun!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T09:30:00.001-05:00

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas now because I'm going to bed for a couple days with a rotten cold :-(

Even though I slept almost all evening and night, I did manage to stitch a little on Mary:

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

A plan

2010-12-21T15:55:00.000-05:00

Since I am mostly caught up with Christmas stitching (just one more ornie to finish) and with SALs except one (Mary Wigham), I have picked MW back up and plan to work on her until Dec. 31st. Hopefully, I can get lots done on her, especially since the dogs and I don't have agility classes until February. Maybe I could actually finish her, not by the end of Dec, of course, but sometime in Feb ..... hope springs eternal ......

I stitched a little on MW Sunday evening. Unfortunately, a very little, since I'm seem to have a cursed cold now. Here's were I left off with MW in June:

And the arrow marks the little bit I did on Sunday:

Not much, but it's a start .....

Anyway, back to the 'Plan'. On Jan 1st I begin the 15 day challenge. And on Jan 1st I plan to begin with The Great Pumpkin Conspiracy from The Cricket Collection. Jan 2nd I will be at an agility trial so I'll start an ornament. The easiest one is from Angel Stitchin' -- the reindeer peeking around the Christmas tree. After that, I'll just start whatever hits me that day.

I have decided what my last piece will be. I already stitched it for a friend of mine and want to do one for myself. It's a beagle puppy in a basket with eggs. This was hand drawn onto some kind of fabric (unfortunately, not waste fabric) and then cross stitched by a client of my friend onto a jersey as a gift (kind of like paint by numbers). My friend has a kennel (Echo Run) and raises beagles and, when younger, she used to have egg-laying chickens. There's no pattern for this piece except the original on the jersey, which makes it difficult and why I haven't done it before now. The picture is the reproduction I stitched for my friend. I absolutely love the face on the beagle pup -- it's so sweet.

Have a good day!

Ta da ....

2010-12-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

Introducing Rose Wreath Santa,

aka, Santa 2010!

Isn't he just adorable? I finished him this morning before work by adding the pom-pom. I still need to sign and date him but he is essentially finished -- yippee!

It's snowing ......

2010-12-14T11:57:00.000-05:00

Nothing to show on the stitching front, unfortunately. Between shoveling the snow last week, hurting my leg (probably from the afore mentioned snow shoveling), a sick beagle and shoveling more snow this week, I haven't gotten much stitching done. I did stitch on Rose Wreath Santa but no pictures to show. I'll try to remember to get a pic tonight -- hopefully I won't have much shoveling to do tonight, at least on the driveway. Having small dogs, I need to shovel paths in my backyard for the little critters to do their business.

But I digress .... I finished Santa's boots over the weekend. Now I have to do his pompom, the wreath, and the background. And I will have my 2010 Santa -- yippee.

Here's a pic of my very first Santa stitched in 1989 -- before I even knew I was going to begin a Santa collection. It was a kit -- I think from Dimensions. I don't have the pattern any more so cannot check on this. I'm not a big kit fan but I really like Norman Rockwell and I just love this one. Every time I look at all those busy little elves, I have to smile. I love all the little details Rockwell put in his work. The elf on Santa's knee pulling up the paint bucket is my favorite. I giggle every time I look at him. The 'supervisory' elf on Santa's shoulder is probably my second favorite. I guess with the boss asleep, someone has to take over -- right?? hehehehe .... I'll close on that note and wish everyone a happy December 14th!

2010 finishes and 2011 new beginnings

2010-12-07T15:44:00.000-05:00

I finished 2 of the Sticklounge projects over the weekend. Yippee!! The first is See the Star and the second is Baumchen (I added the bunnies to represent my beagles).

Here's what I plan to stitch in the Crazy January 2011 challenge. Missing from the photo is a piece from Rosewood Manor called Tulip Quilt Sampler. I bought the pattern but I can't put my fingers on it right now. I did find the fabric for it so the pattern can't be too far away. Most of the patterns are smaller ones that I just never get around to starting, so I am taking this opportunity to do them. Only 13 patterns are shown because I'm not sure what the 15th will be just yet.

I may be overly optismitic but I think this is do-able. Wish me luck ....

O U C H !

2010-12-03T09:44:00.000-05:00

My fingers are killing me! Stitching with the full 6 strands of DMC on 18 ct canvas is hard work but Santa is almost done. After finishing his boots tonight, I plan to set him aside for the weekend and do some easy-on-the-fingers cross stitching. Here he is in all his glory ... and don't you just love that 'stashe??

Have a good weekend. It's supposed to be cold here and since I have no plans, the dogs and I are going to stay indoors stitching, napping and doing the laundry. Should be a good time.

Holiday stitching

2010-12-01T13:43:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Over the holiday, I finished a couple ornaments. Both are freebies. The crow & black cat (from Plum Pudding) I changed a bit by adding the pumpkin with flowers and the top label, Autumn. The hot legs are from My Nifty Needle (the link is no longer active for this one) and is called 'If the shoe fits'. I'm thinking I may add some beads or something around the witchy legs to dress it up a bit.

My Little Tree is almost done! Just one more part to stitch. Since this is a weekend stitchy project, it will have to wait until then.

For the next couple days, I plan to stitch on Rose Wreath Santa by Libby Sturdy. I'm not really happy with his bargello coat per the stitch instructions. I did it in the dark and medium pinks and actully finished the bottom of the coat before tearing it all out. Two reasons I didn't like it:

1) The bargello let too much white show through, making the coat look too flimsy and cold. Now it's okay for Santa to wear a pink coat (he is, after all, very comfortable with his masculinity), but it must be a warm coat.

2) The bargello pattern was too busy for my taste.

I also tried a diagonally striped coat using long stitches. The coat looked warmer but it was still too busy. Rats!

Rip-rip-rip.

And last, but not least, I tried a simple scotch stitch with dark and medium pink threads blended together. I like it! This coat looks cozy and warm -- it'll keep Santa toasty on those cold winter days.

See the Star is almost finished - yippee! Two more sections to go and it'll be done. I love this piece. The colors are so warm and autumn-ish. This is the piece that introduced me to the Sticklounge yahoo group. I saw it on someone's blog, fell in love with it, then hunted it down so I could stitch it.

Happy December 1st! It's snowing here!

Call me crazy .... but count me in. Check out the 2011 Stitching Challenge - I can think of 10 things I've never got around to stitching .... 5 more should be easy enough to find. Wish me luck!

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-11-22T15:56:00.001-05:00

My Baumchen piece from the Sticklounge is coming along. I changed out the white in the corners for the overdyed floss and stitched over the white flowers with satin stitches. I'm holding off on the lower left corner until I get the tree trunk in -- this way I won't make a mistake lining everything up ..... hopefully. I really like this piece -- the pattern is so pretty.

Well, I finally realized Thanksgiving is approaching -- which means Christmas will be here soon. Yikes! I need to get some holiday stitching done! I have finished 3 ornaments and still need to do at least 2 more. Don't you love the reindeer -- he's been eating way too much sugar. I used polyester thread for his eyes -- so they have that glazed, shiny look of a sugar high. He's going to a nephew. The reindeer is from the 2010 Christmas ornament edition of Just Cross Stitch and the snow men are from the German magazine Hardanger. I love them both and want to stitch one each for myself also.

Each year I stitch a Santa for my collection. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to stitch my Santa for 2010 yet. Soooo, the marathon stitch is on! This year's Santa is Rose Wreath Santa by Libby Sturdy. I bought him last year at the EGA Nationals in Pittsburgh, PA. He has eyes, a nose and some skin as of yesterday .....

Here's hoping I can get him finished before Christmas.

I hope everyone has a peaceful Thanksgiving. In my family, we have a lot to be thankful for this year. My stepmother was in a bad car accident and has recovered beautifully! Take care and enjoy!

Quickie stitchie update

2010-11-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

Golden Cat has part of his torso ....

Toccata has some beads and the beginning of my initials ...

And I just realized Christmas will be here in no time ..... so I need to get my nephews' ornaments stitched. I picked something different. It's a little hardanger snowman from the German magazine "Hardanger". It's so cute .... though it's hard to tell it's a snowman yet.

Have a super weekend!

Sad news for the sampler world

2010-11-12T09:37:00.000-05:00

If you love old samplers, please read the following articles:

Stolen sampler and other sad news
Antiques and Hearts article

White flower fix

2010-11-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

Revised flower with satin stitches

Original cross stitch flower

I stitched over the far left flower with 2 strands of floss. I picked the flower that was the hardest to see and I'm happy with the results -- 1 down, 8 to go . . . .

Slowy Stitching

2010-11-08T15:55:00.000-05:00

I don't have much stitching to show for the last couple weeks. The dogs and I have been busy with classes and an agility trial this past Sunday. Willow and I had a totally awesome jumpers run. After 7 years, I think she and I are finally becoming a team. Beagles are such independent creatures. It seems to take them longer to get the concept of "team". My first beagle, Daisy, didn't get it until she was 10, so I'm thrilled that Willow is a quick learner.

Ok, on to stitching ......

My Little Tree is up to date. I need to do something about the white flowers -- they don't show up well on this fabric. I'm thinking I will add satin stitches over the white cross stitches of the flowers to see if that will make the white pop out more. And on the white in the borders, maybe pink (or the red from the overdyed thread??) french knots.

The Golden Cat is starting to actually look like a kitty. This thread is such fun to stitch. I love watching the way the colors unfold. It may be one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately, the picture isn't accurate. I haven't given him eyes yet. I want them to stand out and plan on using a solid green for them -- perhaps something with a little glitter to it.

And last but not least, I spent time on Toccata while watching John Wayne movies and doing the laundry on Saturday. It was a fun time!

It was a stitching weekend!

2010-10-26T10:55:00.001-04:00

I got lots of stitching time in over the weekend - hurray! My Sticklounge SAL's are up to date:

I restarted When Stars Collide on black congress cloth. It seems easier on my eyes than the original (black 28 evenweave) -- I hope I can get caught up with this SAL.

My original attempt. It's beautiful but too tough on my eyes.

I also started a new pattern, Golden Cat by Patricia Emlet of Cross Stitch Art . I bought this a few years ago and am finally getting to it. My original plan was to put the golden kitty on 28 ct Victorian Christmas evenweave over 2. But after using the dark Threadworx #1070 on Something Wicked, I thought it might look nice on the red fabric. And though you can't tell from the picture, it really does. Plus, I'm stitching over 1 (I love my magnifying glass!) So instead of a golden kitty, mine will be a black kitty, in honor of my black cat, Matthew, who died several years ago.

And last but not least, I finished the Halloween ornaments for my nephews. Both are from Just Cross Stitch, the Halloween editions -- the skull is from 2010 and Frankie is from 2009.

Happy Halloween!

Finished ......

2010-10-22T14:14:00.000-04:00

.... except for the date. I need to find out if the house is to be completed this year or next.

Have a good weekend!

Two do-overs

2010-10-19T13:28:00.001-04:00

I picked up Toccata 3 a couple weekends ago and decided I did NOT LIKE it. Furthermore, by the time I went to bed, I decided I was NOT going to finish the d**n thing. If I wasn't having fun stitching it, I was DONE with it. (In fact, I so disliked the original version that the next day I ripped it apart, washed and ironed the fabric, and set the linen aside for another project.) After a night's rest, I thought I would just start it over again with stuff from my stash. After all, it's a lovely pattern and I really wanted to stitch it. However, I have now fallen so far behind, I will never catch up with the other ladies from my EGA group. Sooo, I decided to change the pattern a little by just making a sampler of squares and border lines from the original pattern.

Here's my original start. It's on linen (which shredded the thread for the pulled areas). The big square in the middle houses an alphabet which is surrounded by the different blocks and borders.

Here's my do-over. It's on grey evenweave with an overdyed Needle Necessities thread for the non-pulled sections and a polyester Sulky thread for the pulled areas. Already I like it better. The plan is to stitch the blocks and rows from Toccata 3. Nothing fancy -- just make everything fit.

The above pic is what I did last week. It looks nicer than the picture and I'm much happier with it.

Another problem piece is When Stars Collide.

I decided to do it on black evenweave using sparkly threads and beads. It looks lovely -- I love it but ...... and it's a big BUT ..... it is killing my eyes. Whatever posessed me to stitch on black material again? After stitching The Castle by Teresa Wentzler on black aida about 20 years ago, I vowed to never ever ever stitch on black again. But after seeing so many beautiful things stitched on black, I thought I would give it a go. Bad idea!

So the plan is to abandon my original plan and restitch When Stars Collide on black canvas and instead of backstitching each star, I plan to lay the sparkly threads. Hopefully, the larger holes and changing the stitch-type will make it easier on my eyes. Since I haven't started this yet, I don't know if this will work or not .... will keep you posted.

I also spent part of the weekend stitching part 2 of the lovely little SAL 'Baumchen' from the Stick Lounge group ...... no problems here :) .....

and the sampler I'm making for a Habitat for Humanity soon-to-be new homeowner.

The letters are from an old pattern (below) in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts magazine (I think that's the name) and the border is Wessex Embroidery. So except for the letters, it's kind of an original design.

Good Stitching!

Framed!

2010-10-12T15:41:00.000-04:00

Back from the framer :)

Here's the little quaker pillow. I changed it by adding my dad and stepmom's initials. It's to be an anniversary present.

Good stitching!

Stitchin' with the frogs

2010-09-30T13:39:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, there isn't much stitching to show for the past couple weeks. Besides having a major allergy attack, the dogs and I have been busy going to classes during the week and shows on the weekends. Plus, I've taken a couple one day stitching classes (the bunny garden and stumpwork class). And finally, it seems that every stitch I put in, must be done twice -- it's the attack of the frogs!

I have managed to complete part 4 of Odds & Ends -- with deviations from the original. I finally decided to just let the 'errors' stand as they are and work around them. After all, this piece is called 'odds & ends'.

I finally managed to finish the second part of When Stars Collide, again after froggies came a courting.

And from frogs I went to a bunny. With this free form embroidery piece there are no mistakes -- whatever I put down stays down. Hopefully, this will change my luck and chase all those froggies away. It's starting to look more like a bunny. Just in case, I labeled the nose and tail to give you an idea of it's bunny shape.

The final piece is a stumpwork class I took on Saturday from Marsha Papay Gomola to honor Ohio Day (I think that's what they called it -- I'm not a resident of Ohio, so I'm not sure). The finished scissor fob has the state insect (ladybug), flower (carnation), and tree (buckeye) on it. The bee, caterpillar and spider are just extras but are also plentiful in Ohio.

The photo on the right is what I finished in class. Please notice the lady bug size in relation to the buckeye and carnation. LOL -- that's one big bug! It must have eaten it's Wheaties every day.

Each seminar attendee received a needle roll with a cardinal (the state bird) as a table favor. These where made by members of the Youngstown chapter of EGA. A lovely lunch was served with desert being a yummy white cake with a strawberry filling -- no idea if this is the state cake ;) It was a very enjoyable day and I thank the Youngstown chapter for hosting this seminar.

I enjoy stumpwork but don't feel confident enough of my skills to do it without taking a class. One of these days I'll have the skills to try it on my own and then I can stitch the patterns from my stash. Who else buys patterns without knowing how to do them?

Have a good stitching day!

When stars collide on something wicked

2010-09-21T11:44:00.000-04:00

Not much stitching to show for the weekend because the dogs and I were at an agility trial. I did manage to get a little done Friday evening and last night.

I stitched some on When Stars Collide but didn't get much done. Unfortunately, I'm falling behind on this StickLounge SAL. I'm still working on part 2 while the group is on part 4. I figured this would happen, especially since my weekends are very busy this month and I have classes several evenings during the week. The picture doesn't do this piece justice. The sparkly-ness of it doesn't show up very well.

I'm also working on Something Wicked -- I want to finish it before Halloween. Again, the picture doesn't show how nice the boot is coming out. The thread, from a distance, looks black, but it isn't. It's overdyed (ThreadWorx) with dark green, purple, and brown (or maybe it's maroon). And instead of making each cross completely, I have stitched a half cross and then am going back over it with the rest of the cross. I like to do this because it softens and blends the color changes, making them more subtle. I especially like doing this with leaves -- it makes them look more natural.

Take care and have fun stitching!

A Christmas finish and a Halloween WIP

2010-09-17T15:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Days! I have my first Christmas present finished! I'm sooo on top of it this year ...... not.

Anyway, here it is, Home with Jane Austen by The Sampler Girl:

I used Valdani threads for this pattern, my first experience with this brand. I like them. The threads laid (correct word here?) nice for me and didn't tangle much. The only problem I had was that the linen fabric was a little hard on the threads -- the ends would soften up and fray more than other brands. This won't keep me from using Valdani, just using shorter lengths of thread and/or clipping the tails more often.

I pulled out La-D-Da's Something Wicked and started back on it. I lost the original Needle Necessities thread I was using for the boot -- sigh -- how that happened, I have no idea. Anyway, I bought the corresponding ThreadWorx thread to try to save myself some frogging. The thread is beautiful but, of course, not an exact match. However, since I had only put half the cross down before losing the thread, I thought it would be okay. And I think I'm right -- yay! Can you tell where the NN ends and the TW begins (look at only the completed cross stitches)?

hehe -- good luck with that comparison -- I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. The pic's not that great.

I probably won't get much stitching done this weekend -- the dogs and I are headed to a Teacup agility trial. Should be fun! I hope everyone has a nice stitchy weekend!

Jane Austen and my Bunny Garden

2010-09-16T11:59:00.000-04:00

I'm buzzing along on the Jane Austen piece from the Sampler Girl. It's different from the original in many ways but it still looks nice, I think. Only the strawberry line on the bottom needs finished. Hopefully, I can get it done tomorrow.

Last Saturday I attended a class with my EGA group. We are making a little embroidery Bunny Garden. You may not be able to see but the shape being filled in with flowers is a bunny. The outline thread is very light and doesn't show up well in the photo. I have the nose (blanket stitch flowers), part of the head, chest, front legs and tummy areas stitched. It's going to be very cute when the whole garden is in bloom.

A finish plus others ...

2010-09-13T14:19:00.001-04:00

Finished! Yippee!

I changed the pattern slightly, instead of words in the top right section, I put a butterfly.

Works in progress:

I really like this pattern -- even though it has scads of stitching "errors" on it (someday, I really must learn how to count). It's in 2 parts because I didn't take it out of the rollers to photograph it.

See the Star is coming right along .... it's almost finished! I love this pattern and am happy with the colors I picked. However, if I were to do it over, I would chose a lighter color for the outside flowers. The reason has nothing to do with the way it looks and every reason to do with dog hair. I'm going crazy trying to pick out the light dog hair from the dark DMC 3371.

And here we have a new start from the Stick Lounge. It's called When Stars Collide by Tam's Creations. The fabric is 28 ct black lugana and the threads are very sparkly Kreinik braid and Sulky. And to add a little more sparkle, clear beads are included.

Hmmmm, call me crazy. Wasn't I just complaining about white dog hair in brown thread? Now I'm stitching on black fabric???

Busy as a bee .....

2010-08-30T15:32:00.000-04:00

That's what I've been the last few weeks.

I have "Grow with Love" almost finished. It just needs a line between the wreath and flower pots and something above the hearts. The pattern calls for words but I was thinking maybe a butterfly would look nice there.

I'm current with See the Star -- finally!

With Fall fast approaching, I've been getting things ready for the local fairs, stitching gifts for Halloween and other events. These pics are the ornies for my nephews this year. Both are from "Just Cross Stitch", one is from this year's Halloween edition and the other from last year. Aren't they cute? Love that purple fabric!

Over the weekend I stitched a gift for a friend using Wessex embroidery almost exclusively. It's kind of fun and I'm happy with the way it turned out. I want to add some beads to it for a little sparkle and it will be done.

I need to get going on a sampler for Habitat for Humanity and I'm thinking I'll put some of the Wessex embroidery on it. Hopefully, I'll begin it this week.

And then there is stitching to be done for Christmas -- yikes, I'm so far behind this year!

More doggie updates....

2010-08-16T16:14:00.000-04:00

What sort of creature is this?

Hmmmm, looks like 2 beagles in a little crate.
Who knew they would both fit?

You may be wondering how Meadow did at the big Canfield dog show. Well, I'm happy to report Missy Meadow was definitely a puppy at the show. She looked so much younger than the adults (even the other puppies) and definitely acted like the pup she still is. She wiggled on the table and sniffed her way around the ring. She was sooo full of her puppy-self. Each of the four days there was another puppy in her class and each of the four days she came in second. However, she had a wonderful time, kept her tail up (even though her nose was down), met lots of beagles and other dog breeds, met lots of different people and kept her tail a-wagging. Nothing scared her. Yay! Every morning when it came time to leave for the show, she was thrilled to be going. All-in-all, she did very well at the dog show. Hopefully, with age, will come grace and some wins.

And now for some stitching.

I finished part 19 of See the Stars:

Seeing it like this makes me happy I decided to tear out the one area and re-stitch it with the brown.

Sunday I spent stitching the little freebie from Kissycross.com:

I decided to change the border. Instead of just a single row of cross stitches, I'm going to make it bigger. Right now I'm just kind of winging it .....

A finish, a down-sizing, and more

2010-08-04T11:06:00.001-04:00

Topiary Garden by Debbie Draper is finished

A new start from the Sampler Girl. I stitched this one while on allergy meds. Sigh ... not a good idea. The result is a cottage instead of a large home. I was going to fix it but after living with it a few days, decided to leave it as is and resolved not to stitch when medicated again.

See the Stars

Grow Love

And last but not least, my GGM is framed!

Not alot of time sooo just a quick pic update ....

2010-07-26T15:02:00.003-04:00

Part 2 of the Debbie Draper Mystery from the Stick Lounge.

Monika Buro's See the Star part 17

New Stick Lounge mystery by Tam's Creations.

Symmetry

Meadow's first dog show (and some stitching too)

2010-07-23T09:32:00.000-04:00

I didn't get much stitching done over the weekend because Meadow participated in her very first AKC conformation show on Saturday. She was the only puppy in the 13" beagle class and looked so young compared to the other adults entered. Being the only puppy, she won her puppy class! And better than that, I did not trip over her in the ring. Well, almost, that is. When she cut in front of me, I did a little hoppy thing but did not actually trip over her. Thank God there are no pictures!

Since she won the 13" puppy class, we got to go onto the puppy hound round to see if she was the best hound puppy at the trial. Welllll, according to the judge, she wasn't ..... but again, I did not trip over her, not even a bunny hop. She was too busy sniffing the ground to cut in front of me this time.

Our next show will be Canfield in a few weeks -- yikes! What was I thinking entering all 4 days! What was I thinking entering my baby beagle in conformation at all? I'm not really ready for this.

Anyway, I didn't get much stitching done over the weekend but did manage to get some in during the week.
This pretty little sampler is a new mystery by Debbie Draper on the Stick Lounge list (formerly the Marquoir Group list). I just love the motiff in the center -- it's soooo pretty.

I also managed to finished the next part of See the Star. I'm very happy to have completed the large frogged area. Because of that nasty frogging, I've fallen behind on this SAL but should be able to catch up now.

Rats! I forgot to take a pic of Symmetry. I finished another section on it also but have nothing to post. Oh well. Next time.

Weekend Stitching

2010-07-12T11:13:00.000-04:00

I didn't get much stitching done over the weekend but I did start something new. It's a cute little freebie from KissyCross :

I needed something easy to stitch after finishing my frogged area of See the Star because a certain beagle puppy I know kept being a total pest. Originally, I had planned on finishing the frogged area and then going on to the next part but I was getting so frustrated with the interrupting puppy that I decided not to continue with STS. And since most of my current projects require calmness on my part, I picked something small and easy to work on. Hopefully, Missy Meadow will be better this coming week -- though I doubt it. We're supposed to get back into the 90's again with mega-humidity. That's too hot for me and therefore, too hot for my dogs to be running around outside.

Anyway, here's the current pic of See the Stars:

Have a good week!

For the long, hot, holiday weekend

2010-07-06T14:38:00.000-04:00

I had planned on doing lots of stitching -- mostly on See the Stars. Unfortunately, I had a nasty sinus headache by Friday after work. Soooo, I wanted something simple to stitch (heaven forbid I should just lay down until my headache went away). I chose this La D Da WIP that had a little bit of the shoe done. Thinks I -- this is perfect, I can stitch the shoe easily -- only one thread and not much bouncing around. Good choice .....

NOT!

After finishing up the partial thread hanging on from the last time I stitched this one, I went searching in the bag that held all the other threads I picked for this piece. No shoe thread! I looked all over the house that evening and the following morning ... still no shoe thread. Of course, it was a Needle Necessities thread that was in my stash (luckily I had written down the number - for the record, it's 1421).

Sigh! Oh well. So I stitched the stocking and the words instead. And put everything back into the project bag. Hopefully, the shoe thread will show up some day, if not .... well, I'll have to decide later.

Still having a headache, I decided to work on the Solo Brode piece and am happy with the finished result. I plan on making it into a cover for my magnifying glass. Well, that is, I plan on having someone else finish it as a cover. I don't sew.

1. Because sewing machines hate me and

2. Because I hate them back

Finally, on Monday, my headache was mostly gone so I decided to tackle the frogged area on See the Star.

It would be done except I kept making mistakes that had to be frogged. And of course the dogs (especially the puppy) were being particularly helpful.

It seemed that at least one of them needed to go outside into the sweltering heat every hour. So this is how the day went. Stitch, rip, potty-time!, Now were did I leave off?, oh yes, stitch, stitch, rip, potty-time!, Hmmm, where was I again?, stitch, damn!rip ..... well, you get the idea.

The only good thing was that my headache finally went away during the afternoon.

Keep cool!

Happy Dancing Time

2010-07-02T15:37:00.000-04:00

TaaDaa .... It's finished!

No thanks to Meadow! It took me all week to stitch EFGH. Even her mum was getting tired of her antics. Shasta decided to make her be still for awhile by laying on that bad baby beagle.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!