My IHSW was a good one

I got bunches of great quality stitching time in (hurray!) amongst household chores (blecchht!).

The first thing I worked on had lots and lots and lots (and omg! lots) of little black cross stitches that looked something like this:

Unfortunately, since it's a surprise for a friend, I can't show you the whole shapely thing but suffice it to say, there is lots (and lots and lots) more blackness than pictured above.  By the time I finished all the black -- I needed some

 * C O L O R *

sooo, I switched to the Tulip Sampler and finished all the green blocks (granted, most of the time I was stitching with one color, ie, green -- but at least it was a change from black --  it's the little things that make life exciting, don't you agree?)

And then my last IHSW piece for the weekend was a new start -- the Christmas SAL from Carole.  I didn't get much finished on it and I'm already behind (because I just found out about it last week) but I think it's going to be a fun little sampler (as her SAL's usually are):

I switched out the colors and am going for a different look than the traditional Christmas one.  So far, so good.  If you want to participate in Carole's SAL, I think you have until the end of the month to join.

Have a good one! 


Oh . . . .  and thanks for all the comments on Eek!  Those guys really crack me up!  I may have to stitch them for myself as well.

Eeeek!

 It's another Halloween ornament!

This one is designed by Stitch Kitty.  Isn't it adorable?  I love the looks of horror on those pumpkins -- they are too funny.

Unfortunately, that's about it for stitching so far this month (except for another little piece that's a surprise and can't be revealed yet).  The dogs have been keeping me busy busy busy with agility classes and trials and keeping stitching at a minimum.  However, I'm very excited about this coming weekend because it's IHSW (woohoo!) and I don't have any plans!!!!  (double woohoo!)  Looks like a mostly-stitching weekend to me.  

Can't wait .......

Have a good weekend in your neck of the woods.

A Blue WIPocalypse

For the second August WIPocalypse update I pulled out Adriana -- something that hasn't seen the light of day for a few months.   I started the final part of this SAL and want to get it finished.  There isn't much more to do in the way of x's but there is a bit of bs-ing yet.  It shouldn't be a problem because the bs-ing is mostly outlining -- kind of mindless.

Another piece I worked on (though not very much) was the Old European Sampler.

Actually, I got a bit disgusted with it and that's why I pulled out Adriana to work on.  For some reason, I don't enjoy working on this piece.  Maybe it's the colors? (though I did a Santa in the same colors and had a blast with him)  Or maybe the tightness?  (it is driving me a bit bonkers)  Maybe the fabric? (normally I like lugana)  Maybe the size? (I seem to want to stitch smaller things right now, go figure)  Maybe the repetition? (it does seem to go on forever)  Whatever the reason, when I went to bed Saturday night, I decided I was done with it.  Finished!  No more.  I would put it away and just forget about it.  I have lots of other projects I enjoy doing so why bother.  The end!

But after working on Adriana on Sunday, I cooled down and will give it another go.

I also managed to do a little more on the Tulip Sampler.  I thought I would get more of the big square done but only the border is completed.  I decided to do the border in rice stitches instead of cross stitches just to be a little different.  This is such a pretty pattern and I just love the colors.  And when I finish with tulips I'm going to start Halloween Quilt Sampler another Rosewood Manor piece with lots of bs-ing in it.  I already bought the pattern :) 

I have another update that isn't WIPocalpyse related -- I'm almost finished with Along Came a Spider.  Madame Spider just needs her legs.  The pattern calls for 4 -- egads! that will not do!  My nephew would never let me hear the last of it if I didn't give her the proper number of legs.  And the proper number she shall have -- 8 black hairy ones!  EEK!

Have a good weekend!

And Happy Labor Day!

It's a Garden Party

I participated in a new-to-me exchange group called Stitched with Love.  The exchange was called Tea in the Garden.  I received a wonderful package of garden-related items from Lisa which included the most delightful little purse stitched by her.  Thank you, Lisa, I love it!

And here's the package I sent out to Kim:

If you are interested, please check out the link above.  There is a new exchange just getting set up for Halloween/Autumn.  Should be a fun time!

Halloween came early

I received the most adorable squares from my partner Milly in the Fair and Square Halloween exchange.  This scary witch and her cat are from Prairie Schooler and I love them!

And since Milly is a big fan of pumpkins (and who in their right mind isn't??), I sent her a couple plump ones:

This was a fun exchange.  Halloween and Autumn are two of my favorite times of the year.  The colors are so warm and cheerful and the images so full of fun and smiles.  When I was little we would go pick out the perfect pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  It was such fun, searching for just the right one.  And then my brothers and I (with parental assistance, of course) would make a royal mess on the kitchen table scooping out pumpkin guts & carving goofy faces into our poor pumpkins.  Afterward we would dress up in costumes and go trick or treating among the neighborhood -- in the dark!  What spooooky fun we had . . . . and the candy!!  LOL -- it makes my teeth hurt thinking about all that sugar :)


But I digress . . . . back to the exchange.  I really enjoy the Fair and Square group.  It's fun to give and receive handmade items and this group makes it simple.  That appeals to me and makes me smile.

I hope  *you*  have a happy, smile-filled day!

 

More Jack O'Lanterns

One more Christmas Friday post

I remembered to take a picture of the Christmas ornies for my nephews:

I bought some tiny black buttons to put on the Candy Sock over the stitched black buttons.  I think that will make a cute addition to it.  These 2 patterns are so cute -- I may need to stitch a pair for myself in my spare time.

I also got another square done on Rosewood Manor's Tulip sampler (the tall skinny one on the bottom).  For some reason or other, this one made me nervous -- all that backstitching just wasn't relaxing this time.  I was sooo glad when it was finished!  I hope this doesn't happen again -  there's still tons of bs-ing to do on this piece.  The square under this one is big and has lots of cross stitching in it so I'm planning on doing it next.  Hopefully that will be more fun and then I can go on to another session of bs-ing with a fresh, happy attitude.

That's the plan.

 My weekend is going to be spent grooming dogs, doing laundry and stitching.  Should be fun!  I hope your weekend is just as fun.

IHSW for August

I'm not getting much stitching done this month because the dogs and I are very busy with agility trials and training.  Though I did manage to squeeze in a little this weekend for IHSW while I was at a trial.  It's not much but it's a start:

This is to be a gift for one of my nephews for Halloween.  It's a fun little pattern.

That's it for now .... good stitching everyone.

The first August WIPocalypse update

I've been busy the last couple weeks stitching surprises for friends so the only updates I have for this WIPocalypse update are things I've already posted, mainly finishing ornaments and the Old European Sampler.  If you want to see them, look back a couple posts.  Sorry ...  I don't have any new pictures to post.


Unless you count this one of Missy Meadow when she was a puppy:

Have a great day!

More Christmas in July

Well, I finished my first Christmas ornament last night.  How cool is that? And started the second one to boot.  These socks by Fresh Threads Studio are so cute and festive, I'm sure my nephews will  like them.

One down . . . . lots more to go.

Have a good weekend!

IHSW update

For this hermitting weekend,  I decided to take some of my unfinished raw ornies and finish-finish them -- does that make any sense??

The first ornament -- the sugar shocked reindeer -- was done before and I changed it a bit.  Originally, there were red beads throughout the surrounding cording but I didn't like that.  So I removed the beads and reattached them inside the cording -- making a red bead frame around the reindeer.  Much better.  The other three were assembled from scratch.  I also finished another ornament but you cannot see it just yet -- it's a surprise.  And that's it for hermitting.  It doesn't look like much but I'm pleased as punch with myself for getting them done.

Have you ever felt like you know you should be remembering something but can't for the life of you remember what needed remembering??  Well, I knew there was something I was supposed to do last Friday but didn't remember what it was until a little bit ago.  I forgot I was supposed to do Christmas in July updates on Fridays last Friday - duh.  There are only 4 Fridays in July, you would think I could remember this 4 times, wouldn't you.  Oh well, half a week later, here's my update (such that it is):

Sigh .... at this rate, it'll take me all of July just to do the one ornament.

In addition to the ornie stitching, I managed to get some of the Old European Sampler done last week (nothing so far this week):

Hopefully, I can get some stitching done on it tonight and tomorrow night.


Until Friday's Christmas in July update ....... have a good rest of the week.

A small Christmas update on Friday the 13th

I actually got more stitching done on my first Christsmas ornie of the year:

There is now a complete sock and trees growing out of it.  Of course, I made some adjustments to the original pattern.  I didn't have the colors the pattern called for so I improvised a little.  Plus you may (or may not) notice that the green band on the sock is larger than the original.  I'm going to add my nephew's name there.  Oh, and the diagonal band on the sock has some specialty stitches instead of all cross stitches.    Just a few changes ....

The majority of my stitching time went to the Old Eurpoean Sampler and I'm happy to announce that it's finished!

 -- NOT --   I did , however, round the corner:

I'm unhappy with the light blue horizontal borders in the first row.  As I was stitching over the weekend, I think I figured out why.  Everything is so cramped -- there's no breathing room -- no white space.  When I started this row, I used ecru thread and didn't like it, so out it came for the pale blue, and I still don't like it.  Maybe I should have left the ecru in?  Or at least given it more of a chance.  But, looking at the following picture, I still don't like it.

I think what I'm going to do is nothing right now. 

No, I'm going to continue stitching the next row and instead of putting the thin blue border in below it, I'll couch metallic gold (or maybe white) in that space instead.  And if I like it, I'm going to rip out the 2 claustrophobic causing light blue borders and couch more gold/white.  If I don't like the couching, I'll try to think of something else.  Any suggestions?

Enjoy your weekend!

Christmas In July

While surfing the blogosphere the other day I came across a couple geniuses (but being a non-genius myself, I forgot to copy their blog addresses) who are starting their Chrsitmas stitching in July.  I thought it a brilliant idea, so I'm going to do the same.  I believe they will be posting their updates on Sunday but I'm going to do mine on Friday. 

Last year I got such a late start with my Christmas stitching that it almost wasn't fun and I don't want the same to happen this year.  I have picked 3 ornies to make.  The Sock Hops are for my young nephews and the Santa drummer is for my brother:

TaDaa!  the beginning of Christmas Tree Sock Hop and my first 2012 Christmas stitching:

And since I was picking the Christmas ornies for my nephews, I also picked out their Halloween ones (aren't they cute?):

Wednesday was a momentous day for The Old Eurpoean Sampler -- yippeee! -- I turned the corner with the dark brown line and have been turning the corner with the other layers also:

Since it's going to be another scorcher this weekend I'll be staying in the A/C again and stitching, so with luck, the whole corner will be finished by Monday (and maybe a Christmas ornament).


Enjoy your weekend!

WIPocalypse -- July update

I spent alot of time stitching since my last WIPocalypse update.  Unfortunately I didn't do anything on White Christmas -- the hardanger piece.  Instead, I picked up the beagle puppy (started January 2011) and stitched lots on it.  All that's left to do is the collar, eggs, grass and backstitching:

I'm planning on making the grass green (instead of the original straw color) and adding a few small lazy daisy flowers in it.  This piece should definitely be done by the next update.

Another WIP from 2011 is the Tulip Sampler by Rosewood Manor.  Because of all the backstitching on this piece, I'm going slow on it so that I don't burn out from said backstitching.  Probably only stitching one or two squares a month.  I finished the 2 squares in the pink rectangle over the weekend:

The original plan was to finish one of the squares over the weekend but things went so smoothly, I finished them both.  I have to say that even though there is tons of backstitching, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Dare I say, I'm finding it almost relaxing.  I think it's because there is a pattern to it within each square -- making it almost mindless.  Imagine that!

And lastly, I worked on the Old European Sampler and am still making headway on it -- slowly but surely:

With a little luck, I should get around the corner in the near future (maybe by the weekend since this in my Mon-Fri stitching project).   I think once this is done, the piece will go faster -- or at least seem to go faster.

I hope everyone that celebrates it, has a safe and fun 4th of July!

Tag ..... I'm "IT"

Well, this is a first for me, I've been tagged.  I need to answer 11 qestions:

1. What is the strangest thing you’ve ever confessed to eating for breakfast?

Bonnie: Two fruit servings – Orange juice and Peach Schnapps.

Tracey: Shreddies along with Homemade Skor Bars.

Anita: Original Mini Wheats along with Reeces Peanut Butter Cups.

Jody: Cold, left over asparagus.

Julie: I don’t think I’ve ever had anything strange for breakfast.

Marcy:  Birthday cake -- yum!

2. When shopping, what aisle do you gravitate to first?

Bonnie: Home Décor unless distracted by Bling.

Tracey: Books and magazines.

Julie: Movies

Marcy:  I hate to shop so just go in and get it over with.

3. What is the most recent book you’ve read?

Tracey: 50 Shades of Grey.

Anita: 50 Shades of Grey.

Jody: 50 Shades of Grey.

Bonnie: 30 Shades of Grey – I’m not done yet.
Julie: I am currently reading “The Hidden Power of the Gospels”. Most recently finished Janet Evanovich’s book (#17 Plum series)

Marcy:  The Gold Bug, a short story by Edgar Allen Poe  

4. Who is your favourite movie star dream guy/gal?

Tracey: Johnny Depp.

Anita: Richard Gere.

Jody: Robert Downey Jr.
Bonnie: Colin Firth, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Mike Delfino from Desperate Housewives, Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs; Bonnie is greedy!!

Julie: This is a toughie! Dominic Cooper was hot in “The Devil’s Double”. Orlando Bloom and David Schwimmer round out my top 3.

Marcy:  The above are all good but I've always loved Humphrey Bogart.

5. Do you file your patterns by Designer, Alphabetically or by Category?

Bonnie: Who files??

Tracey: Mainly by category, unless it’s a series.

Anita: Ditto to Tracey.

Jody: Ditto to Anita.

Julie: Filing? What is that??

Marcy:  What Julie said

6. Do you stick to the pattern when stitching or change it up?

Bonnie: I tend to change it up.

Tracey: hmmmmm 9 times out of 10, I”ll stick to the pattern.

Julie: Generally I stick with the pattern. I have made a few modifications on occasion

Marcy:  I make many modifications

7. Would you ever want to try your hand at designing?

Bonnie: Why yes of course.

Tracey: Perhaps…

Julie: Depends on the kind of designing you are talking about, LOL! I have created a couple of my own designs.

Marcy:  Definitely 

8. Do you tend to stitch more or less in the summer months?

Bonnie: Less. I spend more time in the gardens.

Tracey: Definitely less! The gardens always seem to be calling my name.

Julie: I tend to stitch more when I feel the urge. Season doesn’t equate into my mood for stitching unfortunately.

Marcy:  Probably about the same -- I hate the heat

9. Have you ever attended a stitching retreat?

Bonnie: Yes, at Brentwood on the Beach with the Stitching Sisters and soon to be at a cozy cabin in the woods.

Tracey: Ditto

Anita: Ditto

Jody: Ditto

Julie: Nope. But sure would like to sometime. I would love to go to the one in Nashua (NH – where I lived for a few years) and to Colonial Williamsburg.

Marcy:  I did (a small local one) and enjoyed it loads

10. If money wasn’t an issue and you had the opportunity to choose from one or the other, would you totally renovate your home and stay, or move.

Bonnie: I would move to a one level home. (with a pool and lazy river)

Tracey: I would pick my house up and move it to the country. Is that an option?
Bonnie: No Tracey, that is not an option.

Julie: MOVE!

Marcy:  Ditto to Julie

11. Do you track the hours you spend on a stitching project?

Bonnie: Not always, but I did for a special gift. I tracked it as 197 hours.

Tracey: I used to... I just don’t care anymore. I finish when I finish.

Julie: Never. It takes away the fun of the craft for me.

Marcy:  I did once -- but never again!  I don't want to know how long it takes. 

Now I'm supposed to write 11 questions and pick 11 people to tag.  Ummm, did I mention that I'm basically lazy??  So if you've never been tagged and always wanted to be, considered yourself tagged and play along by answering the above 11 questions and tagging 11 more bloggers.  Enjoy!

Unfortunately, I don't have any stitching pics to show.  But since it's going to be incredibly hot and humid (which I hate!) over the weekend, I'll be having a stay-inside-the-A/C-kind-of-weekend doing my laundry and stitching.  Pics will be forthcoming the beginning of next week.

Keep cool everyone!

OES and ASCA

I picked up Old European Sampler again and am making a little headway on it, as you can see:

For some reason or another, I'm having trouble keeping momentum going on this one.  I think the main problem is that I'm falling out of a cross stitching phase and into an embroidery phase.  This happens once in awhile.  The other problem is the colors -- and yes, I did choose them all by my lonesome.  Blues are not my favorite (this goes back to grade school and 8 years of navy blue plaid uniforms -- yuck!  To this day I run screaming if I see navy blue plaid) but I really like the blue/brown combo I picked.  It's just that the colors don't hold my attention while stitching all those x's --- Zzzzzzzzz.  I've got a few different stitches in there but apparently not enough to keep my interest.

However, I will finish this piece because it's going to be so pretty and I will be really happy with it once it's done.  I know this.

I also worked on the beagle puppy but forgot to take a picture - duh.  Basically, I stitched more of the basket, so not much interesting going on here.  I still haven't picked a collar color.

Keeping with the beagles but going off stitchy topic a little here, the dogs and I were at an ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America) agility trial over the weekend.  Since when did you get an Aussie? you ask.   Ummm, never. I reply.  ASCA allows all breeds, including mixed, to enter their agility trials.  This was only our second ASCA trial.  We had an excellent time and since all the dogs are in the novice (beginner) class, we had lots of qualifying runs (Qs).  Willow (10 yo beagle) had the most runs (4 each day) and got 6 Qs out of her 8 runs and her first ASCA title (woohoo!).  Shasta (4 yo beagle) ran twice and Qd both times.  River (8 yo papillon) had only one run and Qd it (he can't handle the heat so I only entered him one day in the morning).  Stormy (13 yo semi-retired little brown dog) had 2 runs and Qd both of them (way to go old man!).  Marcy (50-something yo human) ran 13 times and was (is) exhausted!

May your week be filled with laughter, stitching and puppy kisses.

A young Stormy flying

IHSW for June

I managed to get a bit of stitching done over the weekend.  Not as much as I had hoped to do but enough to make me happy.  I finished one quilt square on the Tulip Sampler and started another.  Granted, I didn't get much done on the new square (which is really a rectangle), but it's a start:

I love the look of this piece but all that backstitching is so daunting to think about.  My approach here is 'one square at a time -- don't think about them all'.  It appears to be working.

Prior to IHSW, I picked up the beagle in the basket project and finished the beagle!  Hooray!  I wanted to finish the entire piece during the week but that didn't happen.  I could have worked on it over IHSW but I was tired of beagle colors and wanted to see different, prettier colors (thus the Tulip Sampler).  Anyway, here it is:

The original puppy has a red collar but I'm leaning toward a pink one .... though I do like the red one ... decisions, decisions.

Not too bad for a week's worth of stitching if I do say so myself.  I hope your weekend was as productive and I'm off now to see if they were . . . .

Toodles!

Heart Note Alley is finished . . . .

You may notice that I decided against the lacey border.  Not because it wouldn't look nice but because it was becoming a headache trying to get the thing centered and the corners pretty.  Sooo, rather than spend hours on something that isn't fun, I just dropped it and moved on.  I'm still looking for a little frog, though.  I have one but he's too big.  If anyone knows of a tiny, flat frog charm available somewhere out there in internet land, just point me in the right direction.

Many thanks to Kathy Bungard of Gracewood Stitches for this lovely design.

June WIPocalypse

I'm late but I did get lots done.  And so without further ado .......

Almost all the white bells are stitched in White Christmas (only have 3 more sets at the top to stitch -- woo hoo!).  Once this is done, I can start the cutting.

The Old European Sampler has been gathering dust so I pulled it out and got some done on it also. 

The Tulip Sampler hasn't seen the light of day since January of 2011 when I first began it as part of the 2011 Crazy January Challenge.  I just love the colors in this one and intend to give it some major TLC.

The next few pics are a biscornu and some ornies that have been stitched for some time and needed to be "finished".  The biscornu is called Tumbling Spools (I think).  I forget the designer's name but it was offered in an EGA magazine issue from 2010 or maybe 2009 (hmmmm ... memory like a steel trap).

I decided I wanted to add the 4 buttons on the underside corners to match the spools.  Who knew that I, a lover of pink, didn't have a single pink button??  After a quick visit to JoAnn's, I do now.

These 3 Christmas ornies were from the 2011 Crazy Challenge also.  I finished the actual cross stitching in 2011 but never made them into ornaments until now.  As of now, I'm thinking I may remove the red beads from the sugar shocked reindeer's cording.  I'm not sure I like it.

And even though this isn't part of WIPocalypse (unless you count the "finishing" part) I want to include this lovely stitched by Linda B as an exchange from the Fair and Square group:

Hmmm .... can you tell I've added "finishing" to my WIPocalypse list?  When the world ends, I want to get all my little stitchings "finished".

Little Pillow Ornies

Last weekend was filled with non-stitching stuff but I managed to get some pillow ornies done.  I was determined to get them done and was 3/4 successful.  The 'plan' was to make 4 pillows out of my 4 squares from Fair and Square (an exchange group).  I only managed to finish 3 of them but I'm happy with my efforts and intend to get the fourth finished this weekend.

This is my first exchange in 2010 with Karen R from Australia

This lovely was stitched by Daniela T from Finland in 2011

These cute peacocks are by Nancy K from USA in 2011

Many thanks to you, ladies, for stitching these for me -- your time and talents are invaluable and greatly appreciated!

IHSW in May

Here it is Wednesday already and I haven't posted my IHSW update.  Unfortunately, there isn't much to show since I didn't get much stitching time in over the weekend.   The only thing I worked on was the kitty and I got him mostly finished:

I want to put a border around him but I don't like the one that came with the pattern.  Or maybe I should just leave him sans border.  So kitty is on hold while I decide what to do here.

Even though I didn't get much stitching time in over the weekend, I did get some in during the week.  I finished the piece formerly known as Sudoku and took it to the framer (where it is now):

I have all the stitching done on Wee Three and only need to add the beads and charms and put it on the bell pull frame that came with the kit (aren't they cute??):

And last but not least, I added some more x's to Heart Note Alley:

I want to add more border to this one also . . . . I'm thinking something lacey in the darkest color thread.  It can't be too wide because I don't have much extra material on the bottom (rats!).  Maybe just a quarter inch or half inch -- tops.

Take care until next IHSW!