It's a Wrap!

  So we got the big snow storm  they were predicting for our area which gave me an excuse to sit in my corner and stitch!  I had hoped to get it finished up over the weekend but the only way that was going to happen was if I skipped house cleaning and I just couldn't do that.  Too many years as a military wife I guess!
  Since the roads were so awful on Monday, we skipped our regularly scheduled stitch group so I made up for time lost to cleaning then.  I admit that watching tennis probably slowed my progress as well. ( I am really looking forward to that Joker/Fed semi final!!)  I put the last stitches in my Quaker piece late last night and I just love it!

Quaker Addict by AMAP
40 ct Lakeside woodsmoke
with mostly listed threads

Such a shame she is no longer designing because she has done some of the cutest things!!
  So now I have to decide what to work on next.  It's not like I don't have anything to do, just need to make a decision.  I'll let you know what it is soon!

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

Missing but Not Lost

  It's hard to believe it is nearly the end of January already.  I know it has been a while since I last posted but it isn't because I have lost interest, I just can't seem to keep track of the time.  My grandmother used to say that time went by faster as you got older  and I, of course, just thought she was giving me the business.  I was young and bored and probably whining at the time.  But it sure is true and my blog postings, or lack there of, are proof of it!
  So, we had a lovely Christmas and I used the week after to get organized and stitch.  I don't take down the decorations until 12th Night so I am pretty much doing as little as possible during that time and getting a lot of stitching done.
   I was still working on Christmas stitching and I managed to get a first finish of the new year during that time.  Behold, One Starry Christmas Eve by With My Needle and Thread in all its glory!

Stitched on 40 ct. Weeks Aztec Red with my own cotton conversion.  Love this one!!  It is currently at the framer and I can't wait to get it back.  It will be on loan to my LNS for a while but I already have a spot picked out for it in my house for next Christmas.
  I have been investigating some of my UFOs recently and I have plans to finish off some of those in the coming year but I am trying not to be too hard on myself  or have anything written in stone about those.  I love them all and will finish them eventually but I tend to put pressure on myself and stitching becomes like work.  Then I beat myself up over the things I haven't accomplished and I don't want to stitch at all!  So, the list is loose and I hope to get a lot more pieces finished this year then I did last.
    My current WIP is about half finished now.  It is a piece I've had in my stash for quite a while and I thought it would be a fun, quick, stitch and it has been.  I've made only minimal color changes and I have enjoyed every stitch.  If we get the big storm we are supposed to get this weekend, I may have it finished by Monday!

40 ct. Lakeside Woodsmoke
(the original not the current permutation!)
with mostly the listed colors

This one is Quaker Addict by a mon ami Pierre, a lovely little company that was driven out of business by internet piracy.   Too bad since she really had some lovely designs.  I was able to buy some of her designs directly from her as PDF files before she closed up shop and I came across them recently while searching for something else on my computer.  I have several others that will reach the top of the pile eventually but for now, I am loving this one.
  I have several other pieces going right now but none that are far enough along for posting.  (Those Facebook groups are so enabling!) I will save those for next time and hope to have more to show by then.  Until then,  hope you are enjoying your stitching as much as I am!  

Laura

A Christmas Eve Post

  It's been a while since my last post but I'm sure you'll all forgive me since I'll bet you've all been running around with your hair on fire too!  We just got back from dinner with my son's in-laws and it was a lovely evening, one I hope they enjoyed as much as I did.  We are having them all here for Christmas dinner tomorrow and I am supposed to be in the kitchen right now doing desserts but I thought I would do a quick drive-by on my poor neglected blog and show you a couple of finishes.
  I have spent the past year working diligently every month on the Calico Alphabet for my stitch group friend. It is a good thing that I started as early as I did and factored in some extra time because I was burying threads on it on Sunday when I had to gift it on Monday.  I was in such a hurry to get it wrapped that I totally forgot to get a picture and had to get one after the exchange so please excuse the wrinkles!

I know, a total mess, but she seemed to really like it.  We drew names for next year at the exchange so I know who I will be stitching for next time already.  I have really got to try to stitch something smaller this time because I have a lot on my plate to work on this year already!!
  Then I got back to work on the one I had borrowed and got it finished too.  Here is the completed Their Song by Blackbird.

I really enjoyed this stitch and even though it isn't a Christmas piece, the colors made me feel like I was working on something Christmas-y.
  So that's all I have for now.  I am working on a couple of other things that I will post about next time, hopefully soon after the new year.  Until then,  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to sharing more stitching in the new year.

Merry Christmas,  Laura

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

A Stitching Update

   I can't believe it is the middle of September and that it has been nearly a month since my last stitching post.  I am failing miserably at getting back on a schedule but I am having that problem with a lot of things in my life lately.  I seem to have been possessed by the ghost of Scarlet O'Hara and my theme has become 'Tomorrow is another day.'  Just hope that really is true!!
   Although I have been pushing quite a few things off to another day, stitching has not been one of those things.  I have been stitching like a mad fool and here is the proof.
   I added another row to the Calico Alphabet.

I'm still behind the schedule but not so much so that I am worried about getting it finished on time. We are going to the beach soon and this may be one I take along.  But it is on a large lap frame so I will have to see how much room I have available for such non-essential things.
   I have also been working on Liberty Inn.   Not as far along as I had hoped but I am playing with the second red color and having difficulty finding one I like.  It calls for GA Woodrose and I'm not overly fond of it to start with and all the dye lots I can find are orange.  I chose Weeks Red Rocks and I am going to live with it for a while before I make a final decision on the 'other' red.

36ct. Lakeside V. Maple Sugar w/ lots of color changes

   I have made Old Glory my stitch group piece and since I had two groups meet this week, it saw more love than usual.  Once I get the large flag in, I will be at the bottom of the piece so I am working on it as diligently as I can even though it is boring me to tears.(Good for group though because it doesn't require you pay it a lot of attention and there is no ripping out at the end of the meeting!)   There are a lot more fun and interesting things to stitch on this sampler once we move over to the right.

40 ct. Flax w/ mostly called for colors

    Facebook has once again been a huge enabler to me and after seeing all the fall stitching that has been going on, I couldn't resist just a small piece. (But we will not talk about the Fall SAL that I signed up for but haven't started yet!)  This is Autumn on Marigold Lane by Pineberry Lane.

36 ct. Lakeside linen w/ mostly called for threads

I have had it kitted for so long I don't remember what the linen is now!  But it was a fun, quick stitch and gave me that little taste of fall stitching I was yearning for.
  I still have several small pieces I am trying to get done for my dough bowl and a couple of Christmas ornaments I need for guild exchanges as well.  The Finishing Faerie  is going to the beach with us  and I am using her arrival as a deadline to get some of these stitched.  If I can get them to her while she is here, I should have them back by the time I need them for exchanges.  So, I started In Full  Glory by Blackbird Designs a couple of night ago.

40 ct. Flax w/ mostly called for colors

I hope to have this one wrapped up in another day or two.  With the house just about in, the rest of it should work up pretty quickly.

   So as you can see, Stitcher's ADD still reigns supreme here in the burg.  I have so many things I want to stitch that keeping to just a few is really hard.  Don't be surprised if I have a totally new set of stitches to show you in the next go round!!

Until next time, keep your needles flying!  

Laura

A Sampler Guild Meeting to Remember

   I had been looking forward to the September meeting of the Tidewater Sampler Guild for quite some time.  We were to have a lecture on the Pocahontas Wedding Jacket and if we were really lucky, actually be able to see it up close and personal.  It was a wonderful day and did not disappoint!
   Brenda Rosseau, manager of the Colonial Williamsburg Costume Design Center, breezed into the room with the jacket thrown over her arm and we all gasped!  After so many years of being taught not to touch the needlework it was shocking to be able to hold it and turn it over and look at it with our hands as well as our eyes.  I was even able to get Brenda to try on the coif although I promised her that picture  would NOT show up in my blog!

Sorry I caught her with her eyes closed,

  The story of the jacket, in its entirety, can be found in the June 2015 issue of the Needle Arts magazine published by the EGA.  For those of you without access to this magazine, in brief, it was designed for the reenactment of the wedding of Pocahontas at Historic Jamestowne on the 400th anniversary of her marriage to settler John Rolfe.

   In total, 88 volunteers came from all over the country to work on the jacket and spent over 1400 hours completing an ensemble that included a forehead scarf and coif.   All of the motifs are plants and animals specific to Virginia during that period.  Note the eagle, tobacco plant and sturgeon in the center of this panel.

All of the pieces are currently on display at Historic Jamestowne.

So that was a fun and exciting day.  I have been doing lots of stitching but that will have to wait for another day.  Maybe sometime this weekend I will get motivated to do a stitching post.  Until then, keep your needles flying!

Laura