Checking In and Catching Up

   It's been quite a while since my last blog post.  Time has just flown through this summer and fall and it is so hard to believe it is nearly December already.  I am so unprepared for even the idea of  the holidays and Thanksgiving is just around the corner with Christmas close on its heels.  Posting to the blog has become one of those things that never seems to make it to the top of the 'to do' list.   But although I haven't been posting, I have been stitching.
   We made our fall beach trip the second week of October.  The week before and the week after are always sheer craziness with prep and then clean-up but the week there is pure bliss.  I sit in my stitching chair and stitch as much as I want to without any guilt.  I leave all the cooking and shopping to my housemates and just enjoy the view of the sun, sand and surf.  Really, pure bliss.
  Within first day or two I finished Strawberry Fields.  Amazing what a bit of dedicated stitching time will allow you to accomplish!

40 ct Weeks Confederate grey
w/ mostly listed threads

After that finish, I spent my time working on Merry One by Plum Street.  It is a kit but I wasn't crazy about some of the colors so I changed a couple and moved a few others around to come up with this.

Santa's coat in Weeks Baked Apple
berries stitched in original coat color

This finish lead to a start on The Queen's Garden by Scarlett House.  Love this one and although I didn't finish it at the beach, I did manage to wrap it up in that following week.

I changed out the darker gray in the fence and I also left off a few bees.  They are done over one and I was having an issue with the tension in the frame I was using. And I thought it had enough bees already!!
  Feeling the pressure of the need to complete the Christmas exchange gift, I put some work into it after I finished the Queen.  I am closing in on a finish for this one and good thing too since our exchange date is the 14th of December!  Trying to wrap this one up by the end of the month.

Calico Alphabet by Summer House Stitchworkes 

  I ordered this piece totally kitted up from Needlecraft Corner as soon as I saw it  and even though I have a ton of things unfinished, I couldn't resist a start on this one.  Love the big house!

One of the new ones by WTN&T, Grateful, Thankful & Blessed.  Stitched with the called for materials but  I did have an issue with the house color at one point and thought I would have to change it.  I managed to find another dye lot that suited me better and away we ran!!  I almost have the house done and after that, the rest should really fly.
   I was also on the list to borrow one of the OOP Blackbird designs, Their Song.  I started it this past weekend and am making good progress on it so far.

36 ct Lakeside V. Buttercream
w/ listed threads

It's about 1/3 done and I hope to get some serious time in on it this weekend.  So very happy to have the opportunity to stitch this one.  I had searched for the chart for a long time with no luck and it is so nice of Pat G. to make her OOP charts available to others.
   So, that's about it for me.  I have been sick since the beginning of the month with a cold my husband gave me and that he got over in about 3 days.  I am still dealing with the lingering cough and wonder at this point if it will ever go away.  I have been staying in as much as possible to try to avoid giving it to anyone else and although it makes me seem like a hermit, it has given me lots of time to stitch.  Not condoning illness as a way to make more stitching time!!  Just saying.

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!   Laura

Working on Some Smalls

   I have been working diligently to get ready for the arrival of the Finishing Faerie.  I was hoping to have more stitched but I think I will have to holler 'uncle' at this point.  I had a few things in the box already so its not like there will be nothing for her to do.  And I would prefer if she just took them home with her and sent them back to me later but she insists on finishing while she is here so I am going to let her!
   I managed to get In Full Glory by Blackbird Designs finished.  I didn't think it would take me 5 days to get it done but there it is.  One of the reasons I didn't get more pieces stitched.

40 ct Flax w/ my color changes

   So, since the piece of linen I had was the perfect size to stitch both of these on, I stitched Old Glory by Little House next.  Also on the 40 ct Flax, mostly with the same colors as the one above.

Then I thought I should probably work up a couple of Christmas ornaments for the exchanges I am participating in this year.  I started Fa La La by Country Cottage and then realized that the other exchange is the same weekend as our stitch group Girls Trip to the Mountain.  Guess I won't need that 2nd ornament after all!

This is stitched on a 36 ct mystery fabric and worked up to be larger than I like.  We'll see what it looks like after it is 'finished' and it can either be an exchange ornament or it can go into my dough bowl at Christmas.  I have a pattern for ribbon candy ornaments that is stitched on perforated paper that I have done several times and I am sure it would be welcomed again.
   Not to be without some sort of stitching at hand, I took out Strawberry Fields again.  It is so cute and if I can just concentrate on it for a while, it will be finished in no time!

Also on 40 ct and fits quite handily entirely within a 8 x 11 Q Snap!  Getting ready to put on the roof tonight.  I know I said I was going to make Old Glory by Rosewood Manor my group piece now but I think I will have to work on this one until it is finished now.
   I still have some work to do to get the house ready for company.  Why is it that your perfectly acceptable house becomes a  pig sty to your eye when you have guests coming??  Should be a lot of fun those once she arrives though.  Stashing and stitching.  What more could you want?

Laura

There's Been A Lot Of Stitching Going On Around Here

   This was not originally the start of this post but I couldn't bear having the next picture be the one that shows up as the thumbnail for this post.  So I am showing a bit of recent stash enhancement instead.  Not sure when I will get a chance to start these but I couldn't pass them up!  So many cute patriotic pieces have come out recently!!

Now on with my post...

   I had every intention of getting back on my regular posting schedule, about every 7 to 10 days, and was even thinking about what to post next when all hell broke loose here.  My older son is a commercial truck driver. We were expecting him home on the 2nd of July so it was no surprise when we got a call from him that afternoon. I just thought he was calling ahead to let us know where he was and when we could expect him.
  When his father came in to talk to me, I am usually the designated pick up driver, he could barely speak he was so upset.  It eventually came out that our son has been involved in a major accident on the WV turnpike that was serious enough to total his truck.  This is what is looked like after the crash.

That blue one was his.  Luckily, all parties involved walked away with minor scraps and bruises.  We got him home and we are all continuing to recover from the stress and other adventures that arise from an accident like this.  He's working on getting back on the road.  I'm working on trying not to lose my mind.  Hence, lots of stitching.
   As many of us do, I use stitching as stress relief.  Needless to say, there has been a LOT of stitching going on around here.  But that does not necessarily mean I have been able to concentrate so I have been stitching on a lot of different things in an effort to remain calm.  So here is the current line-up.
    First, after finishing that last patriotic piece, I felt like doing another.  So I started Old Glory by Rosewood Manor.

40 ct. Flax w/ mostly listed colors

 I have had this kitted for quite a while and thought I might do it for my husband for Christmas this year but we will have to see about that.  I will need to spend some serious time on it starting pretty soon for that to happen and with the Stitching ADD I am currently experiencing that might be a tough one.
   This little pretty found its way into the rotation, for about 5 minutes, so I only got a few stitches in before I got distracted.

Strawberry Fields Forever by Blackbird

It is so small and cute you would think I would have it finished by now but not so.  Hopefully soon.
   Then I required another new start.  I have had this one kitted since it came out and I really wanted to stitch it this summer.  I was using it as my carrot to get a few things done but I gave in to temptation and just started it.

Summer at Cherry Hill by WTN&T

I LOVE this one and want to stitch the companion piece this summer too!  Not sure if I will be able to make that happen or not but I would sure like to try!!
  I also added some more letters to the alphabet sampler I am stitching for my friend for Christmas.

Calico Alphabet by
Summer House Stitche Workes

I really love the way this is working up.  Still behind though.  This is on schedule for the June stitching but not for July.  I guess I'm not technically behind though since  this is still July!
  In an effort to assure I didn't have a single minute to think about my son's situation, I joined another SAL on Facebook.  The Little House page is doing a summer themed SAL so I dug out one I have been wanting to stitch for a long time and got it put together.  We were supposed to start on the 5th of July but I didn't get it going until this past Sunday so I am a week behind the start date.  I don't think it will matter in the long run since I doubt it will be finished by the end date anyway.  The way things are going, I may have 10 more starts by then!!!

The Inn at Fox River Mill by LHN

I am really enjoying this one!  It would be farther along but I ripped put the red and changed the color.  Then I got distracted by a movie I was watching and had to rip the red all out again!! Hopefully it is on track now and will keep my attention for a while!!
    So that is what has been going on around here.  I am really going to make an effort to post in a more timely fashion from here on out.  I also hope this summer calms down and I am actually able to finish some of the UFOs I have haunting me!!!


Talk to you again soon,  Laura

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Ready for IH&SW

    I've spent this past week working more of a normal schedule.  I've had meetings to prep for and the usual chores to do but a lot more free time for stitching!!! And I have used my stitching time well!
Good progress has been make on The Red House Sampler.  It is going much more quickly than I thought it would for a large sampler and I am now feeling pretty good about getting this one finished this year.

The Red House Sampler by Brenda Keyes

   I got a good start on Strawberry Fields Forever this week too.  Such a cute piece and so delicate looking on the 40 ct. linen. I have made some changes to the thread colors, no surprise there, but just for dye lot issues really.

Strawberry Fields Forever by Blackbird Designs
40 ct. Weeks Confederate gray

   Both of these will now go back in their respective pouches  and something new will move into the rotation.  I haven't started several of the SALs I've signed up for yet so I think it needs to be one of those,   I want to start the Serenity Harbor piece and then maybe work on the Pink Sparrow Sampler which is my selection for the WTN&T SAL.  Other than that, who knows??!!  I don't really have a set schedule worked out,  just working on the general list as the mood strikes.   Hoping the 'no real plan' strategy will keep things fresh and moving along!
  So that's all I have for now.  I'll be trying really hard to hermit this weekend and get tons of stitching done!

Wishing you all the same,   Laura