On A Roll

   I've been on a roll since my last post and I have not just one but 2 finishes to share tonight!!  I didn't finish Cinnamon Stars the same night as my last post but I did manage to get it done the following night!  It is so cute and I can't wait to get it to the framer!  Please note that the scarecrow now has a head!!

Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street
40 ct Lakeside Meadow Rue
w/mostly listed threads

   After I finished CS, I pulled out a WIP that had been languishing for way too long.  I don't know why I put this one down but it is another cutie patootie and I think I am going to give this one to my DIL for Christmas.

Merry Christmas by Blackbird Designs
40 ct Weeks Cocoa
w/listed threads

   The colors on this are so bright! I couldn't get a good picture that would show it well but I just love this one and I hope she does too.  I see it framed in that favorite molding of mine, the primitive looking red toned one with the gold inner edge, the same one I framed  One Nation with.  We'll have to see what my framer comes up with.  She can be very creative!!

   So now I am back to having to choose something else to work on.  Not sure if it will be a new start or back to work on a UFO.  But I'm pretty sure 3 finishes in one month is a record for me and I'm going to relish that for a while!  

   Well, that's about all for me for now.  Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you find some time for yourselves for a little stitching this weekend.  

Laura

A Very Late IH&SW Report

   I did manage to get some stitching in this past weekend which was IH&SW.  We had a surprise visit from son #1 and I did some online Christmas shopping which used up some of my time but I stitched as much a possible.
  Most of my time was spent on Cinnamon Stars.  It seems like I have been working on it for a long time but I guess not really.  Since I have pretty much abandoned the rotation and have been working on one piece at a time lately, all of them seem to drag on.  I guess I need to get that rotation going again!!  So, here is where I am with CS:

Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street

40 ct Lakeside Meadow Rue 

w/ listed threads

Yes, I know my scarecrow is headless, which is kind of creepy, and I need to add the corn to the stalks.  I am planning to go upstairs as soon as I post this and hopefully finish this piece tonight!

    There are so many cute, new things coming out and Christmas stitching is calling my name.  I added several new holiday/winter pieces  to the stash recently but I think my next start will have to be the new Little House Lantern Lane.  I just love that one, you know, the big red house, the holly! 

   So that's about it for now.  I hope to have a new finish and a new start soon.  I'll keep you posted!!

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

A Trip to the Mountains

  The ladies in my weekly stitch group decided we needed a little stitching retreat.  Nothing too involved, just a few days to get together and stitch on whatever we had going without the stress of classes and ugly things like cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.  We went west, to the mountains of Virginia, and spent a lovely long weekend at Wintergreen.

The view from our condo taken by CH

   It was cold and very windy the first night we were there but we had  beautiful weather the rest of the weekend although it did remain chilly the whole time we were there.  We chose our weekend well.   It was the Christmas Open House for the local craft store, Country Connections, and we hit that  2 days in a row! We cruised by on Friday to check out the regular stuff  (And we had a little adventure with the car keys that required the assistance of AAA but that's all I'll say about that!!) and then went back on Saturday for the Christmas part.
   Tons of people were in attendance, apparently they come from far and wide for this event, and additional vendors were outside selling food and other crafts.  I was able to get the apples my husband wanted as well as Apple Butter, bread and a Blackberry Pie.  One of my friends bought Brunswick Stew from another vendor and we had the stew and bread for dinner that evening and the pie for dessert.  Nothing could be better!!
   We also hit the Open House for the local needlework shop and had a great time there as well.  Who doesn't love a sale on needlework??!!  And I learned just this morning that one of the ladies in our group won a door prize, a $50 gift certificate!!  If it can't be me, at least it was her!!  What fun!!
  We did manage to get some stitching done too.  I finished up Butternut Tavern, finally!!

Stacy Nash Butternut Tavern Sampler Pinkeep

Sorry for the wrinkles.  It will go into the box until I figure out what to do with it and I saw no point in ironing it.  Then, I got out Cinnamon Stars and put a few stitches in it too before we had to come home.

I have just a meager start on the house but it should come along quickly.  So cute!!  I just love it!!
   So, since I hadn't taken a single picture the whole time we were away, the ladies indulged me and stopped a few times on the way out so I could show you all how beautiful it was there.  It was past the peak of color and we lost a lot of leaves to the wind  but the trees were still lovely.

  So, that's about all I have for now.  I have been playing in my stash since I got home yesterday, in amongst catching up all the housework that needs to be done, and I may have a new start or 2 to show you next time!  In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying your stitching as much as I am!!    Laura

I'd Never Make it as a Roadie

   It has been forever since my last post but October has been so busy my husband commented that it was like I have a full time job!!  Add to that several trips I have taken this month and that explains the level of crazy currently existing at my house!!  I will be home for the next couple of weeks so things should settle down some, if I can keep my calendar to a dull roar.
   I started the month with a trip to Northern Va for the EGA Region meeting.  I had the good fortune to catch my son at a time when his schedule had a few free minutes and we had a lovely dinner together my first night there.  The next day was a class which was out of my comfort zone but not so much so that I gave it up.  I met some lovely ladies that I hope to stay in touch with and I will eventually get back to that class, eventually.
   My second trip was a tag along some of my stitching friends and I did with the Loudon Sampler Guild to the New Jersey schoolgirl sampler exhibit at  Morven Gardens.  A lovely recounting can be seen here on the Black Branch blog.  Needless to say, it was a fantastic trip, we all had a great time, and there was talk of going again before the exhibit closes.
   I confess that we went up the day before the bus trip and did some scandalous money dropping at In Stitches.  I was instructed to 'be good' as I was going out the door Friday morning but I wasn't too clear about what exactly that applied to so I used my good judgement and applied it to Amy Finkle's.  A person could get into serious trouble in that place!!
  After that trip, I had a few hours turn around to do a few chores and wash some clothes and it was off to the beach with me.  My husband and our Son#1 had gone on Saturday and I was behind the curve here.  But, I did enjoy a little quiet time to catch my breath and still my mind before rushing on to the next big thing.  It was a nice week, with just the 3 of us, and a good time was had by all.  Let me just add that the fishing (according to those who would know) was better than it has been for years and my husband was ecstatic!!
  So, on to what we're here for, stitching!!!  I haven't had the time I usually do for stitching this month but I have been at it every chance I could.  First,  I got back some framing.

As you can see, I am in love with this molding and I have used it for my last 3 pieces.  It works with them all though so it's not weird!
   Most of my stitching time was spent on this, stitched for my friend the Finishing Fairie for her birthday.  Hope she likes it!

Blackbird Designs
First Cocks Crow from Sisters book
40 ct. WDW Cocoa w/listed threads

 Then I came across this lovely that I think I started last year and stitched on for just a short while and then put away.  I would like to get this finished this fall.

40 ct. Lakeside Meadow Rue
w/limited edition GA thread pack

   This sweet sampler, technically a pinkeep, is being worked on currently.  I have finished the top section and have moved to the house and hope to have this one finished in a few days.

   I didn't really need a new start but I did need something small to work on during the NJ trip so I started this one.  I've had it kitted for quite some time and have really wanted to start it so, there you go!

40 ct. Lakeside Meadow Rue
w/mostly called for threads

Here is the pic, just in case you don't recognize it from the lovely fence and sunflowers I have stitched!!  I've changed some of the colors so they will show up on my linen.  I have the linen that it calls for but I don't like it so I changed it to Lakeside.

 Just for fun, I had to show this beautiful scissor fob my friend Tommye made for me.  I love red and this is just gorgeous!!!

You can find her one-of-a-kind designs here on Etsy.  Love her stuff!!
  Well, I think that just about catches me up. I'm sure there are some things I'm forgetting but they will just have to wait until next time.  I have a full afternoon of stitching ahead of me and I am so looking forward to that!!

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

Framed!!

   I had been holding off taking Summer at Hollyberry Farm to the framer in eager anticipation of picking up the framing I had previously dropped off.  I called on Friday and she was just putting the backs on them so I went over first thing Saturday morning to pick them up.  I am so pleased with how both pieces turned out!!!

Close-up of the frame
Love this moulding!!

Harriette Coe is in the same frame, just a redder tone.  Both of these will be residing at my LNS for a while.  I will be picking up One Nation in December since it is for The Hubs for Christmas but leaving it at the shop until then ensures he won't see it until he's supposed to!!  He likes to peek!
  Well, I don't know why IH&SWeekend never seems to go like I plan but this one was certainly true to form.  At the time I signed up, I didn't have a thing on my calendar but by the time it rolled around I was up to my eyeballs in other things I needed to do.  I didn't get to stitch as much as I would have liked but that seems to be a recurring theme so I won't dwell on it.
   I managed to get that last line of verse in on Ann Bowers.  Yeah!!!!!  This is the last 4 lines of this section and I think you can read it pretty well.  I was a little worried about the method I was using to stitch it but if you're not looking at it with a magnifier, I think it's okay.
  

So, this is where I am now and the end is in sight!  I do have 2 more rows of over one verse to stitch but after what I just finished, it should be a piece of cake!!  And after the over one, that 45 ct over 2 is looking like burlap!!  Not really but it is a lot easier to work on than I remember.

   So, for the IH&SW report, I stitched the last row of over one verse above and I started one of those fall pieces that had been calling my name.  Not much to look at yet but I promise, you're going to love it next time.  I confess to taking liberties with the colors, again!!

Butternut Tavern Sampler Pinkeep
by Stacy Nash
40 ct Lakeside Maritime white
with GASTs

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

Long Time, Little Stitching

  I find it hard to believe that it has been so long since I last posted given how little stitching I seem to have gotten done.  When I looked at my calendar, I was surprised that it has been almost 2 weeks since my last post and that we are already past the middle of September!  I would say time flies when you're having fun but I'm not too sure that has been the case.  In fact, I'm not sure exactly what I have been doing for the last 2 weeks!!
  I have been working slowly but surely on the verse on Ann Bowers.  It is such slow going that I can spend an entire baseball game and only manage to get in one line of verse!! I had bemoaned the idea that it would take me a whole week to get that first section completed  if I could only stitch a line a day but there have been some days I couldn't get to it at all so it still isn't finished.  But, even though it is tedious as all hell,  I think it's beautiful!

Ann Bowers by The Examplarery
45 ct. Italian Linen
DMC threads

One more line of verse here and then I can roll it to the next section!!  That makes me smile but under that large band you see at the bottom of this picture, 2 more lines of over one verse awaits!!!
   This past weekend we put on a workshop at my local sampler guild, Tidewater Sampler Guild.  We hosted a relatively new designer who is, like Betsy Morgan, out of the Loudon Samper Guild in northern Virginia. This is my second time in one of her workshops and we had a wonderful time!!!!
   I took both of the classes she taught as well as the Sunday project, which was our regular meeting, and each was more challenging than the next!!  The first was a lovely Quaker design stitched on a piece of joined linen.  The joining was, of course, the objective of the class and although the technique is pretty simple, the act is very tedious and challenging.  Needless to say, my linen is not yet joined but it is such a pretty sampler I hope to get it done soon!!

Red and Gold Sampler
by Pamela Darney of Guildhouse Samplers
32 ct. Weeks linen w/Gloriana threads

  The 2nd class was a PA German sampler.  We were given a black and white photo of her model and were to select our own colors and linen for our own project.  Seventeen colors, I think, and all to be used somewhere in the piece!!  Talk about a challenge!!!

 I have  started with someones color palette and made changes to suit myself before but having to come up with all the colors on my own was a little daunting to say the least!  But she had brought hanks of different colors that we had a big throw down with on our selected linen and it was such a blast!!!  Totally worth it just for that part, even if I never manage to finish the sampler.  Which I better since we are supposed to meet in a year so we can see what we all did!
   The Sunday project was like the class above but one step farther.  It was called Variation on a Quaker Diamond and it was all wide open!  Choose your linen, number of diamonds in your piece, motifs in the diamonds, colors of motifs,  my head is still spinning!!!  My plan is to do them in the order that I took them, learning each lesson and adding to it as I move to the next.  Hopefully, it will feel less overwhelming by the time I reach the last one.  Which assumes  brain doesn't explode before I get to the last project!!!
   I have also managed to get a start on the last birthday piece I need to stitch for this year but I can't show it yet since the recipient reads my blog.  I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!!
   It is IH&SW this weekend and I have really been looking forward to that!  Gives me an excuse to stitch all weekend and not feel guilty about it!!  My calendar has become crazy lately and I could use some guilt free stitching time.  I am also feeling the tug of Fall stitching so I think I may have to give in to that urge this weekend.  I have some things kitted and ready to go that I never got around  to last year and it would be very easy to get those underway.  And since they are small, I could, in theory, have some finishes in short order. Fingers crossed!!

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

The Happy Dance Continues

    After throwing the rotation out the window and much 'nose to the grindstone' stitching on just this one piece, I finished Summer at Hollyberry Farm on Monday!!! Yeah!!!  There were many color changes and adjustments made but I am very happy with the outcome and I will be getting it to the framer asap!!!

I've  been working on Randje per Week a little too, not up to the 10 rows I usually do before posting an update but getting there!  

   I know I said I was going to go back to Dorothy after finishing SaHF but Ann Bowers has been calling loudly from her perch on the bookcase and I just had to get back to her.  The over 1 verse on 45 ct. is going VERY slowly but it won't go any faster by not working on it at all!!

I am working the verse in a combination of tent and cross over one, to try to avoid overcrowding but to also get adequate coverage.  It seems to working out okay so far.
  I have Ann on the list to finish this year so I think I am going to work on her until she is finished now.  There are six rows of verse in this section and when I roll it, there are is another whole section of verse (not sure how many rows, don't want to look!!) to be done before the grand finale. It is too close to put away again though so I will push through if I can.
  Dorothy is also on the list to finish this year too and I intend to get her done.  I have one last October birthday gift to stitch but I don't think that will keep me from getting Dorothy wrapped up within my deadline. That floral area is half of the sampler but it's mostly cross stitch so should go quickly once I get back to her.
    I am very happy with how closely I have managed to adhere to my list this year! When I did stray, I still found a way to work things off my list too!  Some of my friends have laughed at me for making that list every year but it keeps me focused and seems to get a good number of those UFOs onto the other list I keep of finishes for the year.  My list is growing and since it is only September, I hope to add a few more finishes to the list by the end of the year!

Hope you are enjoying your stitching as much as I am,  Laura