Happy Again

   After my last post I did go back and change the water in my sampler back to the original charting.  I am happy with it again!!

This completes section 4 and I am now going to put it away and work on something else for a while.
    I signed up with Vonna on Facebook to participate in the Patriotic SAL on the Little House page.  This is the piece I am stitching for that. I've had it in my stash for a while and what better reason to stitch it than another SAL?! (I know, I've totally lost my mind!)

35 ct Weeks linen in Parchment
w/ listed colors

This should be a nice change of pace and give me the quick finish I need right now!  There are only so many large, unfinished projects a person can have going all at once.  The occasional finish is a must!!
 
Talk again later,     Laura

I Have to Stop!

   I have to stop stitching such ginormous projects!!  I stitch and I stitch and it seems that I never have a finish!!  I need to try to work in some smaller projects too so I can feel like I'm making some progress.  Only 3 finishes this year and I am starting to get depressed.
   I managed to get away for a few days to my friends house in NC last weekend.  We had a lovely visit but neither of us did as much stitching as we normally do when we are together.  It might have had something to do with the gorgeous weather but I couldn't say for sure!!
    I did manage to get Elizabeth Shepard close to a finish while I was there.  Then, over the next few days back at home, I put the finishing touches to her.  Pleas excuse her wrinkles and folds.  She's traveled a lot and is in need of a wash and press!

40 ct. Lakeside Maritime white
w/NPS conversion of my own

    Then, since I was feeling too lazy to deal with all the stuff that needed to be done when I got home, I continued to stitch and managed to get a couple more letters in on my Christmas gift.

Once again, please excuse her condition.  She spends most of her life in a bag!!  I still need to get the last 2 letters in to have this one up to date but I was itching to get to work on Serenity Harbor.

   I was really looking forward to working on this one but it has been a total nightmare! The Facebook postings of this have been fabulous, especially the conversions of the water to overdyeds.    I have spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to work out the color changes to the water on mine.  I have stitched and ripped several times and I am still not happy with what I have on the fabric (pictured above).  At this point, I think I am just going to go back to the original colors, which I like anyway, and get on with it!!!  It is such a pretty sampler and will be just fine the way it was charted!
   So that's where I am at this point.  Dorothy Walpole will now go into the rotation in Elizabeth's place.  I hope to have a finish on her this year too.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Laura

Back to Reality

  Well, the big white wedding is over. It was a beautiful day even though it rained buckets the whole time.  Family and friends gathered and  we all enjoyed a fabulous party and then sent them on their merry way.
  The honeymoon was a combo San Juan Puerto Rico/Caribbean cruise and from the pics I've seen, they had a blast.  My son burned himself up, as usual, and came home with some serious sunburn and blisters.  Hope he follows my directions and takes care of that properly!  The kids are back from their honeymoon and it's back to reality for all of us.
  So, if I remember where I left off, I believe it was IH&SWeekend and I started something new.  My weekly stitch group draws names for Christmas and since the piece I have chosen for my person is so large, I figured I better get a move on with it.  I started this that weekend.

40 ct. Lakeside Vintage Pearled Barley
w/mostly called for threads

This is the first row of Summerhouse Stitchworks Calico Alphabet Sampler. It was released in multiple parts of 3 letters each a couple of years ago.  We saw it at a shop while on a trip and since she fell madly in love with it, it seemed like the perfect choice.  When it grows up it will look like this!

I figure one row a month will get me there with a little time to spare.  Of course this only applies if I can stay on schedule!
   The piece I have spent most of my time on is Elizabeth Shepard.  She is progressing nicely and I have added another row since last time I posted.

Just one more row and she will be finished.  Good thing too since I am starting to get concerned about the number of finishes I've had this year so far.  Only 2!!  And since I have a long list of samplers I want to get finished this year, things are really going to have to heat up if I am to meet my goal!!
  I know you're looking at what I have accomplished since my last post and are wondering what the heck I've been doing with my time!  Well let me just throw this in.  The weekend after the wedding my local sampler guild hosted Catherine Theron for a 3 day workshop.  There were a lot of details to be worked out and then, of course, there were the classes!
  The first day was the Alphabet Primer Pocket.  So cute!!

Front, back, and the hornbook

There were also additional pieces that I had to have!!  A needlebook and a darling little scissors fob.
   The 2nd day class was a large sampler, The Hidden Magnolia Sampler.  It is a beautiful house sampler (my favorite!!) done nearly all in specialty stitches.  It is stitched on either 32 or 36 count linen but being me, I think I', going to switch mine to 40 ct!!

   The 3rd day was our regular meeting day and Catherine had another cute little hornbook for us.  I don't have a picture of it yet but I should have one soon.  I gave my kit up to someone who didn't sign up in time and I'm now waiting patiently for mine to arrive in the mail.  Not like I don't have anything else to work on!!
  So that's about it for now.  Don't want to put you to sleep with all my blathering!!  I will sign off with one last picture, my favorite from the wedding.  I don't know who took it but just love it!

Until next time,   Laura

Thank You...Thank You Very Much!

   I really wanted to thank all of you for the lovely comments you've been leaving for me.  I haven't had time lately to respond back to each of you individually but I did want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time.  It's good to know there are people out there actually reading my blatherings!!!
   The preparations for the wedding seem to be well in hand.  I haven't had much to do with that but just getting myself ready has been exhausting!!  I did a dry run today of the dresses and foundation garments I will need next weekend and although the clothing was good, the shoes were not. So I took care of that this afternoon.
   I haven't worn makeup for about 20 years so I had to go buy products and re-learn how to apply them recently.  Hope I will be able to pull that off on the day!!  I normally wouldn't have given it any thought but then read an article about not looking like a zombie in the wedding pics and since everyone else will be done professionally I figured I needed to tackle it.
   I have been stitching as much as possible to try to keep the stress down so I have something to show at least!  I've been slowly working out the color choices for Hannah Pepper and this is the small start I have made on that so far.  (Please disregard the unfinished bird in the corner.  I am still working out the colors there.)

40 ct. Lakeside Meadow Rue
w/overdyed cotton conversion

I am really pleased with how this is turning out so far!

   Feeling better about getting this worked out, I decided I needed to work on some of my other WIPs and with any luck, get some things finished.  I have WAY too many UFOs right now and I only have 2 finishes for the year so far.  That is just unbelievable!!  Last year I finished 17 pieces, most of them large, and if I have any hope of getting that UFO number down, I need to stitch like the wind!!
(Not that I have any idea how many UFOs I actually have.  Lets just say I have 6 large Vera Bradley bags stuffed with them and leave it at that!!  Maybe I will tackle that problem after the wedding!)
   So, I have been working on Elizabeth Shepard for the last few days and managed to get it this far:

This is about half way.

LOVE the pink accents in this one!

   This weekend is IH&SWeekend.  I signed up this time but haven't decided what to work on yet.  I am woefully behind on Serenity Harbor but I also have a Christmas gift I need to get started if I am going to have it done in time.  Maybe, since I will have this weekend pretty much to myself I can manage to do both!

   See you all next week,  Laura

I Failed at Stitch From Stash....Again

   Yes, I failed again!  I really thought I was up for the challenge this time but it was, once again, not to be.  I went crazy after market at the beginning of March but I thought it would be okay.  Last year, there was a skip month and I thought I would just do that, make March my skip month, and move on from there.
   Turns out there is no skip month this time. And I was so out of bounds with the spending anyway that I would have had to not spend another penny for the rest of the year to make it legit!!!   So,  I am just spectating now and feeling a lot less guilt about my inability to turn a blind eye to all the fabulous stuff I see out there.  Let me just say that Facebook is not my friend!!
   I have just about recovered from my terrible illness with the exception of the cough.  I am tired of it and apparently so is DH because he made mention of how long I have had it, several times!  I am back to my normal routine and then some with the impending nuptials and with the wedding only 2 weeks away, things are heating up fast!!  I need to do a really good spring cleaning with all the out of town guests we will have but I haven't been able to talk myself into that just yet!! LOL!
   I did manage to get the sampler I was stitching for my friend's birthday finished and it was only about 10 days late.  I was disturbed by the fact that it was late but what can you do?? I don't think things would have gone any more quickly had I stitched while ill and under the influence of drugs!
   She received it yesterday so I can show it here now.  This is Isabella Wood by Lindsey Lane Designs.

40 ct Weeks Cocoa with the listed threads

   It was a fun piece with lots of different stitches, some of which I changed and some of which I moved around to suit myself.  I didn't feel too guilty about this since the instructions did say it was an adaptation.

This center section of strawberries is supposed to be all Queen stitches.  I've done Queens on 40 ct before and it is hard!!!  Those little cross-bars don't have enough room to lie straight so they crowd the space and look crooked.  So I only did the top strawberry in Queens and changed the others.
  Finding stitches oriented in the right direction was the first challenge.  But I persevered and managed to work it out and not have to repeat the same stitch on more than one row. The stitches I used, in order, were Queen, Tied Upright cross, Four-sided, Diamond eyelet, and Diagonal Rice. Very fun and I'm glad I did it this way!
   While I was working on the above sampler, I saw a post on Facebook of Hannah Pepper that someone had converted to the muted colors of the original sampler.  I saw that and a light bulb went off in my head!!  I started Hannah January 1st as my New Year's start and had barely started it before I began having color issues with it and set it aside.  Now, I have made a conversion to over-dyed cottons (which is what the sampler I saw was stitched with) and have restarted this sampler.  I haven't had a lot of stitching time lately but will try to get enough done to be able to post a picture soon.  I am loving it so far!!!
   Well, that's about all for now.  The kids are home this weekend to finalize some of the wedding stuff and we will be celebrating DS2 birthday which was yesterday.  Busy, busy times but the stitching is keeping me sane, I think!

Hope you're enjoying your stitching as much as I am,   Laura

More Than Charts Came Back From Nashville

   I was working diligently on the Red House Sampler after my last post in an effort to get the house in before I needed to switch projects.    I stitch a sampler each March for a friend's birthday and the start date is determined by the size and complexity of the sampler I have chosen for that year.  Since the piece I had chosen wasn't too big I figured I could work until the 1st weekend of March on my house and then move on.  I got to this..

The big red house is in!!!

and then I got sick.
    On Tuesday, the 3rd, after the board meeting, I went to my LNS to pick up the charts they brought back for me from Nashville.  Little did I know I was also picking up the worst virus I have had in ages!!  I am a very careful sick person.  I really try not to give it to anyone else in my family but this blew us all out of the water.  My husband, who never gets anything, got it.  My truck driver son was home and he got it.  He even had to take some extra days off to get well enough to get back on the road!  Ugly, ugly, ugly.
  I lost 2 weeks.  I'm still not 100%, a fact that becomes very clear when I try to do my daily chores, and I am trying to play catch-up on that birthday piece.  Not sure if I will be able to finish in time or not.  So, even though this is IH&SW I won't be able to play.  Oh, I'll be stitching.  But what is the point if you can't show your progress when the weekend is over??!
   I'll be here stitching as fast as I can.  You probably won't hear from me again until after I get the birthday piece finished but it will be a treat!  I'm totally loving this stitch and its Scottish so the colors are fantastic!!

See you soon,   Laura

February Stitch From Stash Report

      I did pretty well this month in the stash building department.  I got sucked in by something I saw being stitched on Facebook so of course I had to go on a mad search for it.  I discovered it to be a Stoney Creek design and while I was searching for the one, I came across another I was going to get a while back and didn't.   So this is what I spent my money on this month.

I saw this sampler being stitched on Facebook and it is GORGEOUS!!

LOVE this one and don't know why I didn't buy it before.  Probably trying to be good!! LOL!  Funny that both of these are Christmas projects.
   Then, just for fun, I thought I'd show the progress I've made on Red House.  I should be farther along than this but I had a lingering visit from the frog and had to rip out all of a day's work.  Sad, but now it's back on track.

   So here's the rundown for the SFS Report: 

January carry-over:  $25.00

February Allowance:  $25.00

Spent:  $15.45

February carry-over:  $34.55

  Don't know what I'm going to do for March.  Market is this weekend and there is NO WAY I am going to be able to ignore that!!  I might have to do a skip month here unless we get a pass for some free spending from Mel!  I've already given a list to my local shop ladies and there is NO WAY it will be within budget!!  So much temptation this time!

   Well that's all for me for now.  Hope you're all enjoying your stitching as much as I am,  Laura