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

Hanging Out with The Girls

   We got our first real snow of the season on Monday night here in the burg;  about 8 inches in my neighborhood.  In this area, they get the secondary roads plowed eventually and the side roads pretty much never.  That means we wait for the snow to melt before we get out of the house and since it is supposed to remain below freezing for the next few days it could be a while.  Luckily, I am okay to stay inside for days on end and stitch and that is exactly what I have been doing!
  The girls have all seen some love over this last rotation.  Elizabeth Shepard got in some extra days this time and is moving along nicely.  I did manage to spill a bit of coffee on her as I was going out of the house to stitch group  though so I'll have to figure out what to do about that at some point.

   I have been working on Ann Bowers during the day when I have some time.  I have a magnifying lamp in my bedroom (where I stitch in the winter) and one in the family room (where I stitch through baseball season).  I have the Dazor in the family room and that really is the preferred magnifier for the 45 ct. linen.  I thought about bringing it upstairs to work on Ann but for now am just stitching her in the family room in front of the fire.  I know, such hardship!!
   The only downside is that since my husband is now really retired and at home all the time now, I frequently have to watch things on TV that I would prefer not to see.   I'm sure you know how that is!!!  I am still hoping to have a finish with Ann by the end of the month and here is where she is now.

I finished the Satin stitch alphabet and did some more work on the floral band yesterday. I plan to put some more of the verse in this afternoon.  (45 ct. over one!  UGH!!!)  Slowly but surely getting there.

Wow! Look how big that 45 ct. looks!!

   Then, quite strangely, I heard some weeping coming from way deep in the bag this week and when I searched those deep recesses who should appear but Elizabeth Mears!!  Seems that she thought  she had been long forgotten, never to be heard from again.  So I pulled her out and put some stitches in her too!!  She is no where near as far along as I thought she was and I am ashamed to say how long it has been since she has seen the light of day. But I think she needs to stay in the current rotation for a while and maybe even see a finish this year!  Keeping in mind she is on no list for this year but may have waited long enough!!

Elizabeth JM Mears 1833 by Queenstown Designs
40 ct. Lakeside Light Exemplar
w/called for Au ver a soie

I've been working on her in the evening since there is only so much 45 ct. a person can work on at a time!
   Well, that just about covers it for now.  It is IH&SWeekend coming up and I hope to find a lot of time to stitch but we'll have to see how it goes.  The kids will be home this weekend for the bridal shower and I just never know how much free time there will be when they visit.  I'll let you know how it goes next time!

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

I Do Believe I Have Lost My Mind!

  Once again, my life is interfering with my stitching time!  There are just way too many things going on that have to be attended to that take the needle from my hand.  The most recent of which is our EGA chapter newsletter.  I have been trying to get to it for almost a week.  Other interruptions, board meetings, house hunting, etc. have kept me from the newsletter so I have spent the majority of the last couple of days working on it and all of the various other parts that go with it.
  I took it over in January and even though I had this job a few years ago, I am having a bit of a problem getting back up to speed.  Add to that my bright idea of making it monthly and all of a sudden it seems to be taking over my life!!  I got it out this afternoon though so I am once again free to pick up my needle and stitch to my heart's content.  After I get this posted, of course!
   So on to the stitching! That is after all what we all want to see when we visit someone's blog!!  Well,  after my last post, I continued working on Elizabeth Shepard and I am happy to say I got to see all of the colors at play in the first little section.

It may be hard to see, but there is a dark green, the predominate color,  a brown, and a funky pink all in this corner.
   Then, and this is the 'lost my mind' part, I decided I needed to start another BAP.  Keep in mind that this piece is on no list that I have going for this year.  It's not a SAL or a birthday present and as a new start, it's not even on the EGA Challenge list either.  And it is huge!!!  341 x 341 to be exact.  See, I have truly lost my mind!!  Also,  on 45 ct. linen because we all know I don't have enough projects stitched on 45 ct. going right now!!!
   So this is Rhapsody in Red Ribbon Sampler by Sampler Cove.  I have this entire series which consists of the sampler, a bunch of smalls and a box to carry them all in. I've had them all in my stash since they came out many moons ago and I came across them recently while crawling through my massive stash looking for something else.

The top border is at the half-way point

I started it on a Friday night and only allowed myself through Saturday to work on it.  I am stitching it with the combination of Hand Dyed Fibers that were used in Spanish Rouge and the contrast is just wonderful!  I love this and need to somehow keep it in the rotation.

Pic of the chart.  A large, lovely, red sampler.  How could I go wrong??!!

   The Sunday of this weekend was February 1st and I thought that would be a fine time to get back to something that is close to being finished.  I have several large SAL pieces I carried over from last year and Ann Bowers is the one I felt was closest to a finish.  This is what she looked like when I worked on her last.  From the date on the picture, it was September of last year that she last saw the light of day.  So sad!

This is what she looks like now.  I have been working diligently on nothing but her since the 1st! Interesting how much you have to show when you concentrate you time on one piece!!

I am determined to work on just this piece until it is finished!!  Hopefully, that will be soon.  I am aiming for the end of the month, or sooner if I can keep the distractions down to a minimum!!
  So that's all I have for now.  Thanks for stopping by to visit and hope you're all enjoying your stitching as much as I am!!  Laura

January Stitch From Stash Report

    It's almost the end of January and I am happy to report that I have been a good girl this month!!  Here is my report:

Budget:  $25.00
Spent:    $00.00

No finishes but I did have one new start, all things from my stash, even the chart!!!
    I finally got started on one of the Scarlet Letter SALs I signed up for on Facebook, Elizabeth Shepard.  I pulled linen from my vast pool of 40 ct. and did a conversion to Needlepoint silk. I know this looks black but it is really a very dark green.

40 ct. Italian linen
w/Needlepoint silk

It has been fun so far but I still haven't started Mary Hurst and that one is starting to call loudly!!  I have a couple of small pieces I would like to finish before I jump into that big girl but we will have to  see how it goes.
   Speaking of small pieces,  I also made some good progress on Pink Sparrow this week and this is where it is now.  It's probably a little over 1/3 finished.  Hard to put aside but the rotation is large and I still have a couple that are not started yet!

  So, that is all for now.  I have almost all of my chores done and my stitching chair is calling!

Hope you're having as much fun with your stitching as I am,  Laura