A finish and some surprises

 I finally put the finishing touches on Night Owl this past week -- hooray! -- another ornie ready to go.  I adore the colors in the cording on this one -- so warm and fall-ish.  Making the cording is my favorite part of finishing.  I love seeing how the different yarns work (or sometimes don't work) together.  It isn't obvious in the picture but one of the rust yarns has some glitter in it, giving this ornie a little bling.

Next up is the latest Stitched with Love Exchange.  The topic for this one was Bees, Butterflies and Birds.  I stitched some birds for Lisa who is a bird watcher.  I'm so glad she liked  it.  The owl is from JMD Designs and the little blue bird is from the BBD booklet With Needle and Thread.

I received a wonderful package from Deb in this exchange.  The pillow she stitched for me is so beautiful, I love it!    I think I'm getting a little goofy about buttons, trim and fabric -- can't seem to get enough, how weird  is that?  So I love that she included some here.  The needles, of course, will be put to good use and I have admired the Hot Cocoa pattern being stitched by other bloggers so I'm looking forward to stitching it.  And check out the Canada tote -- isn't it adorable? I love that moose!  My dad and I got a good chuckle out of it :-) 

Last summer, I trimmed my pussy willow bush/tree/monstrosity to within an inch of it's life (from which it has bounced back wonderfully this year, I'm almost sorry to say -- this thing is out of control!).  I kept some of the straighter branches from this trimming and let them season outside over the winter.  So now I've got myself some really pretty, rustic-looking rods from which to hang stuff.   Deb's gift is the first to benefit from the willow's sacrifice.  Thank you Deb for such a great exchange!

Yesterday I received another package in the mail from MiiStitch (who is also the host of another exchange called the Summer Holiday Exchange).  Check out the lovely stitched pieces I received from her:

Can you believe it?? A beagle with a heart on her arse!!  How cute is that!?  I love it!!!  How do I know it's a she beagle and not a he beagle, you ask?  No winkie ;-)    ROTFLMAO!  This is particularly funny to me right now because my little girl beagle Meadow just came out of season about a week ago.  And my boy beagle Spider (who is also her goofy brother) has been driving me crazy with his amorous advances on his sister (not that she has objected, mind you) -- and he's neutered!  I am so terribly glad that's all over now.  But I digress ....

Back to the exchange.  I love the little sheep pouch.  I can't wait to show it to a friend of mine who adores anything with sheep on it -- she will be so jealous.  But that's not all .... inside the little bag were more little goodies:

How wonderful is that!?!  Thank you Ingrid for this super exchange!

I'm stitching something for Heather in this exchange but it isn't actually finished yet, so no pics.  I've run into some technical difficulties with a new (to me) finishing technique.  I hope to have this ironed out over the weekend -- cross those fingers please and wish me luck. 

And here's wishing a good weekend to you!  After all it's IHSW!!

And the winner is . . . . .

Don't you just hate it when they drag this out on tv shows then break for a commercial?  Very annoying.

Here's one of the Halloween ornaments finished that I want to show you.  I think it turned out kinda cute:

I have another one almost done but it needs a couple little finishing touches before the unveiling.  Plus I finished stitching the Summer Holiday Exchange piece but I can't show that one until the exchange is over. It was an interesting piece to stitch.  The blended threads were fun to do.  I'm still thinking about the actual finishing of it.  I like the pattern so much that I started stitching one for myself.  I was going to wait and do it later but I figured it would never get done if I waited.

And that's the end of our commercial break, now back to the program in progress . . . . .

I wasn't sure how to go about picking the winner at first but after some thought, here's what I did. There were 23 people interested in Quaker Moon.  I gave them each a number 1 through 23.  Then using some old Dungeon's and Dragon's dice back from my college days, I took a 20-sided and 6-sided dice, rolled them together, totaled the roll (6+5=11) and subtracted 3 to give me 8.  Can you tell I work with numbers all day??

Anyway, the winner of the Quaker Moon traveling pattern is Giovanna.  Congratulations!  I will email you for your address after I finish here.

This was fun and brought back some memories.  First, digging out my old dice reminded me of all the good times I had playing D&D with my friends in college.  We would get together almost every weekend, drink beer, eat junk food and have a blast killing orcs and other nasty imaginary creatures in our pursuit of wonderful imaginary wealth.  Second, the bowling case I keep my dice in is OLD.  My grandmother gave it to me when I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade, making it about 45 years old.  She used to belong to a bowling league and either won or bought the little leather case and gave it to me.  It came filled with some of the nastiest smelling hard candy, which I promptly threw away.  I can still smell it - yuck! - being made of leather, that scent lingered with the case forever.  It was the perfect size for my jacks and ball (do they still make jacks??) and stored them until I needed something for my D&D dice.  And then, of course, the jacks remind me of the summer my brother broke his leg playing baseball.  He couldn't do much that summer but he became a super jack player sitting on our kitchen floor.

Isn't it funny how memories are triggered?

And how odd am I for keeping a little leather case?

I'm glad I did -- this was fun :)

IHSW and WIPocalypse updates for July

I'm lumping IHSW and WIPocalypse together this month -- mainly because I'm not really getting much done with my WIPocalypse projects.  Actually, make that no stitching at all on them.  I've been having some problems with my one eye which makes it difficult to stitch my larger WIP's.  Actually the stitching isn't the challenge, it's the reading of the charts that's a problem.  The more complicated charts are harder for me to read.  Because of this, I've been working on simpler patterns and getting lots of small ornies stitched.  Over the weekend, I did some finishing work on said ornies and completed 2 of them (the halloween ones for my nephews):

I also started a new project over the weekend.  I'm participating in a Summer Holiday exchange hosted by Mii Stitch.  After a couple false starts (where I tried different fabric colors), I have a little teaser pic to show you:

This pattern is more complicated than I've been doing recently but I like it and think my exchange partner will enjoy it also. It's not very big but there are lots of color changes and even some blended threads.  Unfortunately, because of my eye, I keep making mistakes and having to tear out parts (cursed frogs) but I'm determined to finish it.  I like it so much, I may stitch one for myself.  I changed the background color of the suggested material but the threads are all as suggested.  The fabric I'm using is 32ct raw linen (I think that's what it's called) and the threads all DMC.  And that's all I'm going to say about this one until the exchange is finished.

Enjoy your day!

Happy dancing time

A couple weeks ago, I won a traveling pattern from Debbie.  This is a first for me -- I was so excited to win it!  Thank you, Debbie.  I had intended to post a few progress pictures as I stitched it but ... you know how that goes .... the best laid plans and all that.  Anyway, it's finished!!

I stitched it on 20 ct aida (ivory or off white or whatever they call it) using whatever DMC threads I had on hand that sort of matched the picture.  Instead of a button in the 'flower' near the top, I stitched a Jessica and put an orange bead in the center of it.  Some of you may notice that the bats look a little different.  Wellll, I miscounted the placement of the lower jack o'lantern which resulted in 'spooky' and a bat being in the wrong place which screwed up the placement of the other bats, etc., etc.  So, instead of ripping it all out, I adjusted the pattern to make it fit.

And so now I have another first.  This pattern is ready to get back on the road and meet the next intrepid stitcher.  If you are interested in stitching this traveling pattern there are only 3 requirements:

1)  Leave a comment here saying so
2)  Be willing to pass it on when you are finished
3)  Have a blog

Since this is new to me, I'm not sure how much time to give people.   I hope this isn't too short or long, but on August 1st, I'll draw a name from the interested comments.  Good luck!

Now before I close, here's another little finish.  It's a freebie from Rainbow Gallery.

Here's to cooler temps!  I hope wherever you are it isn't as hot and humid as it is here.  I feel like I'm melting! 

WIPocalypse for June

I'm a little late getting this up but here it is . . . .  a little finish for WIPocalypse:

 

This sweet little thing is the final project offered by one of my favorite places on the internet, the Sticklounge yahoo group.  Sadly, at the end of this month it will be closed.  I have enjoyed this group tremendously.  A really BIG thank you to the moderators, 2 lovely ladies from Germany, for all their hard work and to the designers that provided so many wonderful projects.  Many thanks!!


I also had Iris (another great Sticklounge offering) framed and picked it up over the weekend.  I love it!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any work done on some of my older projects -- hopefully in July.  Have a good Thursday!

June IHSW

I finished another Christmas ornament over this IHSW.  It's one of the free angels from Told In A Garden:

She's such a pretty little angel.  I did her over 2 on 30 ct natural linen from my stash using the called for DMC threads.  I did, however, change out the gold metallic thread for a silver & gold blended metallic.  Sadly, all the glitter doesn't show up in the pic.  I also changed her face to over one because I hate 3/4 cross stitches (as was called for in the pattern).  From a distance it looks okay -- up close it's a little funny looking.

I also worked on a new piece for Stitched with Love's current exchange called Birds, Bees and Butterflies but since it's a surprise, I can't show you anything yet.

However, now that the Home Sweet Home Exchange is complete, I can show you what I received from Fiona.  Her package included a wonderful stitched Scottish heart and loads of other great goodies.  Thank you Fiona!

For my part, I stitched a home sweet spooky home for Marjorie (a big fan of Halloween).  I'm so happy she likes it.  This was such a fun exchange.

Happy stitching everyone!  And thanks for visiting.

Halloween and Papillons

I started and finished a Halloween ornament over the weekend. This easy little stitch is called R.I.P. by The Stitcherhood and I enjoyed every little x:

I've posted pics of my pups in the past but these two little ladies are something new for me -- fosters.  I've had them for a couple weeks now.  Aren't they just adorable?  Sadie was a little camera shy and kept turning her head every time (except one) I tried to get a picture of her face.  Minnie, on the other hand, had no problems looking at the camera.

Thanks for stoppin' by -- enjoy your day!

A sweet little sampler and 2 holiday smalls

Not much stitching going on here, not sure why, but the word is 'smalls'.  I'm really enjoying the almost instant gratification of finishing all these little projects. 

My current project is a sweet little sampler:

Plus I finished 2 ornaments, one for Halloween and one for Christmas:

And that's all folks!

My first WIP for this year.

Unfortunately, I haven't stitched on any of the WIP's from last year thus far in 2013.  I'm hoping that will change in June because I miss working on them.  I did, however, finish  Iris in the month of May:

In the original pattern, there is an 'S' in the large empty area at the bottom.  I decided to leave  it out but I'm  not sure I like it as is.    Originally, I was going to put a little pulled thread stitch in that spot.  But now I think it needs some color there.  That empty spot draws my eye down to it too strongly.

I tried a large flower bead in the spot and I like it.  The colors are good, the size is good, the plastic bead catches a little light.  The problem is that the bead stands out a quite bit from the fabric ... but maybe that isn't much of a problem?  It really does look nice in this pic. 

Hmmmm, after seeing these pics, I'm leaning toward using the bead, especially since I just noticed that the five petals in the bead mimic the 2 five-petaled flowers at the top.  If I use it, I'll need to figure out a way to attach it with thread.  Invisible thread will probably work okay here.  It isn't my favorite thing but I hate using glue more.

 Enjoy what remains of your May.

My first IHSW of 2013

Well, I was finally able to participate in an IHSW.  The weather was gorgeous and I had a house guest on Saturday but other than that, I managed to get a few hours of stitching in.  I worked on the SAL Iris and actually had the presence of mind to take a before picture:

 and an after picture:

This piece is almost finished -- woohoo!

I was originally nervous about changing the colors on this project but at this point am happy with the results.  Happy Monday, everyone!

Exchanges from February

It's been so long since I did these exchanges that I forgot all about them in yesterday's entry.  Must be a sign of my advancing age.

The first one is for Fair and Square's Valentine Exchange.  Kathy stitched me these pretty squares:

I love Celtic knots, pink and glitter -- could they be more perfect?

And for her, I picked something that reminded me of an old-fashioned Valentine card by Laura J. Perine:

The second exchange I participated in was for Stitched With Love's Cozy Winter Exchange.  Janet stitched me a sweet starry night and included lots of other wonderful goodies with her package:

I had to laugh when I opened the card she sent.  If you could see me and my pups laying on the couch, we look very much like the man sleeping in his chair covered in furry friends.  I don't have a kitty for on my head but my little papillon Firefly finds that spot to her liking.

For my part of the exchange, I stitched Winter Band Sampler by Elizabeth's Designs for Jessica:

 I also managed to get Adriana framed sometime in February, I think it was:

And hopefully, I'm all caught up now with all things stitchy.

Lotsa little ornies

It appears that life is getting back to normal for me -- thank heavens.  I've been basically off line for that past couple months because of work and some health problems.  I always hoped that I didn't inherit my dad's cardiovascular system but now that I'm getting older, it appears that I did --- ratz!  So now I'm watching my salt intake, exercising and trying to lose some excess weight.  I wish I could figure out a way to stitch and exercise at the same time but so far I haven't come up with any good ideas.

And so there is little to show for the past 2 months stitching-wise.  Mostly I've worked on Christmas and Halloween ornaments:

I Believe in Santa by The Primitive Hare

Frosty flakes by Little House Needleworks

Scaredy Cat by Blue Ribbon Designs

Night Owl by Prairie Schooler

Haunted House by Handblessings

 And last but not least, I worked a little on my Sticklounge SAL:

Iris by Nolda von Hezewijk

It really isn't much to show for 2 months but all lined up like this, it doesn't look so bad after all  ;-)

IHSW for February

Unfortunately, I was busy with work (blechht!) and dog agility so I didn't get much stitching done.  I worked on Scaredy Cat by Blue Ribbon Designs, namely the cat's tail and the bat:

And that's all she wrote for this IHSW.  I hope your stitching weekend was more productive.

The first WIPocalypse

I managed to get lots of stitching done since the last full moon.  Mainly because the dogs and I didn't have many classes in January . . . . .  sad for them, happy for stitching.  The Tulip Sampler got many x's and back stitching added to it.  One large block and 2 smaller ones are now finished:

 

I also spent time on Flower Power, finishing the third band of lattice and the words.  However, I decided to revamp the words a bit by making them a little fancier than the pattern:

I like my letters but don't like the way they ended up on the fabric.  The first line looks great, the second I don't like.  I hated to have the orphan "may" just hanging there by itself so I began the second line of verse on the same physical line.  Hmmmmm, not the best layout.

Soooo, I did a little 'photoshop-ing' and changed it to look like this:

I like this better but . . . . before I go ripping it out, I'm going to let it set for awhile.   I may think of a different and perhaps, better, way of doing it.  I really prefer things centered but didn't feel like charting the whole thing out because what usually happens when I chart things out, I do it wrong and things don't get centered correctly  -- driving me totally nuts.  BTW -- the little zig-zaggy lines aren't complete.  There's more to be added to them.

I finished 2 smaller projects that have been sitting around for some time now.  The first is Get into the Spirit by Brittercup.  This was one of my 2011 Crazy Challenge choices that was never finished . . . until now that is:

And this one is probably 4 or 5 years in the stitching.  It's one of those cute Mill Hill beaded kits on paper called Bountiful Kitties.  I'm tickled pink that it's finally finished.

 These two are finished because I joined a couple SAL's --  the Christmas Ornament SAL  and the Halloween Ornament SAL -- devoted to stitching an ornie a month.

And there you have it, a months worth of WIPocalypse stitching.  I hope February is just as productive for both you and me. 

IHSW for January

I spent a goodly amount of time stitching over the weekend but cannot show a single pic because both the pieces I worked on are surprises.  Sorry.

But I do have a picture of Adriana washed and ironed and ready for the framer:

What's new for 2013

I started a new project for the new year.  It's called Iris by designer Nolda von Hezewijk.  It's one of three patterns based on the work of Albert Smit.  Adriana was also based on the work of this gentleman.

You will notice after checking the link that I decided to change the colors a bit.  The bright blue is too much for my taste and instead of the gold thread, I'm using a DMC thread with blending filament over it (still lots of sparkle).  The fabric is 32 count cream Irish Linen and I'm stitching over 2 threads.  I'm lovin' the warm, caramel look of the browns.  Sooo yummy!

Another new thing is that I signed up for two ornament SALs in 2013.  One is for Halloween and the other is for Christmas.   I decided to try this because I find that I end up stitching lots of nice ornies for Christmas and never keep any for myself.  And so the plan is for me to end up with a few Christmas ornaments.  I have more Halloween ornies but decided to join it also.  Mainly because I really like stitching spooky stuff.

My Halloween ornament in January is a  Mill Hill kit called Bountiful Kitties.  I've had this one going for at least 3 years and would really like to finish it.  It's totally adorable -- which is why I bought it in the first place.  And for my Christmas ornament, I'm determined to finish one started back in January 2011 for the 2011 Crazy Challenge:

The kitty is actually finished (this is not a current pic) and all that needs added are the words and either french knots or beads to the tree.  How sad is that?

The final new news for the year is that last weekend, the dogs and I were in Edinboro for an AKC agility trial.  Meadow, my young female beagle, finished her 2 Novice titles.  These are her first AKC titles -- I'm very proud of her.  She's such a good beag!  And Willow, my oldest female beagle, got her second Open leg in standard and had a super JWW run.  She already has this title so the run was just for fun.  She's a super beag!

And here they are . . . .  my pups:

And if you made it this far  --  a happy Tuesday to you!