Not a lot this time.

 It's been two weeks already?  I had a couple hours off last Friday afternoon and that's thrown my sense of time off a bit (not that that is difficult right now).  

No new birds to report this time.  Sadly, the migratory ones have moved on.  We do have at least three pairs of cardinals that are sharing tolerating each other around the yard and woodline this year, but I haven't seen the grosbeak in a week and we're down to one blue jay so other than the cardinals and the male Goldfinches some of the brightness has gone from the feeders.  

Some littles news:  

She's going to be running with her brother and cousin in no time.  What's the saying, "moving out of the way for the next one?"  

In my last post I said I was going to have a new rotation by this one.  I did a lot of thinking and it looks like the best option is to go one-at-a-time on each project.  It worked well last year (I was even done early) so hoping it will this year too.

I also mentioned that I had two pieces picked out for Grady's sister and was all set to start one of them, but was missing fabric or thread for both of them.  An order was placed and the waiting commenced.  I could have picked up Goldie but knitting was calling louder so I spent a week working on my Knights Who Say Knit MAL.

This is part 1 and a bit of part 2 finished.  Lots of artistic license happening (especially in the very top part. I have pulled it back and started 3 times but can't seem to get it to work, so I am doing a "variation").  The puffs towards the top are areas between some lacework and should block out when it's done.  I did do a quick steam block to straighten out the bottom and get it more in shape.  As expected, I am not keeping up with this any better than I do a SAL as part the last will be released on Monday.

My order came in (EARLIER then the tracker said!!!) and I started Winter Hearts by Shepherd's Bush.  It's done on white Belfast with Soie d'Alger and perle cotton.

The boxes are done with four-sided stitch and are taking me forever to do (it's good tv stitching).  It's in muted greens, pinks and purples.  The baby's room is being done in greys and pinks so I thought this would go well (and it's not babyish so could stay up for a while).  There will be a heart in each block with different specialty stitches.  The border is leaves and that flower in the corner that you really can't see.  This is an old kit (the chart is hand drawn) and I don't think it's available (the Shepherd's Bush website says if you'd like to purchase to contact them).  

I just realized that tomorrow is the official check-in for   and even though I'm off my normal rotation I still have projects that fit.  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by the every wonderful Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  She started this in 2015 as a way to show our appreciation for stitching gifts that we may have received.  It expanded to include gifts we are making for others or anything else we can shoehorn into the theme.  My MAL fits as I bought the yarn with birthday money.  Winter Hearts definitely fits as it's a gift for my great-niece-to-be as does this (my secret project from a bit ago):

Raccoon Rabble from Plum Street Samplers.  It's done on 36-count 'Shroom Juice (my tag doesn't say which company) with the called for threads.  Here's the back: 

The chenille trim is from Lady Dot Creates (and it looks like I forgot to tie the bow in the corner). This was a Mother's Day gift for my mom.

I've liked all the Plum Street stacks but have you seen the newest?  It's hedgehogs and sooooo darn cute.

So, I could have sworn I worked on more, but for the life of me, if I did, I can't remember what it was.

Today was my compressed day off and all the housework and grocery shopping is done, so I have the weekend to work on the hearts.  Maybe I'll finish those boxes!

Hope you're all safe and well.

 

At least it wasn't a full month

No, it hasn't been a full month since my last post, but I am darn close.  Since my last post I steadily stitched away on a piece I can't show you right now as it's a gift.  I finished it last week and got it to the framers the same day as (1) they were having a lovely sale and (2) I wanted it back before Thanksgiving.  After I finished that piece, I pulled out an almost oldie, but definitely a goodie and finished:

Tenth Day from Plum Street Samplers.  I think I may focus on this piece as I would very much like to have it finished for this Christmas.  I really do need to work on my color balance as the fabric is Vintage Autumn Gold from Lakeside Linens and is by no means this washed out.

I have also been collecting ideas and supplies for my holiday crafting and baking blitz.  It will take place the week of November 28th and I am looking forward to spending the entire week creating.  Of course, the collecting ideas part of this brings us to the other reason I haven't been reading or posting as I should - Pinterest!  It really is an evil place and should be banned!!  I have found so many wonderful ideas there.  Of course whenever I see one of those wonderful ideas, the chronological challenged part of my brain says "of course you have time to do this" and the rest of me just goes along with it and I spend hours planning and searching the craft room and house for things to us to make it and suddenly it's midnight and I have lost an entire evening day hour.  I will say there are some amazingly creative and talented people out there and thank them for sharing their talents with the rest of us (even if I do end up chasing rabbits).

I've even done some stashing!!   and .  The first is Christmas Baskets by The Drawn Thread and the second is Halloween on the Farm by Kathy Barrick.  The fabric for Halloween is a mocha color so much richer than shown.  In addition to stitching Halloween, I may steal the cat to use in my attempt to finish a series.  Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle designed two pieces  and   (if you can't read them, they are Cape Cod girls they have no combs, they comb their hair with codfish bones and Cape Cod boys they have no sleds, they slide down hill on codfish heads), based on the sea shanty Cape Cod Girls or Bound for Australia.  There is an additional verse of, "Cape Cod cats ain't got no tails, they lost them all in Cape Cod (or nor'east) gales". I am going to try to use bits and pieces of the first two to do the third, but I need a primitive style cat, which Halloween has.  Stay tuned for the next ten or fifteen years for the results.

There are two SAL check-ins coming up,  and  so I might as well be early for them.

 is hosted by Melissa at Measie's Musing and has been going strong since 2012.  This has been a wonderful, low-stress SAL that provides the encouragement needed to work through those works-in-progress so many of us collect.  Hmmmm, that's an idea, I could call it a collection and then nobody would really expect me to finish them would they?  I mean, nobody asks a stamp collector when they are going to use their collection!  While I am thinking on that, I will continue stitching.  Looking back at my October WIPocalypse post, I have had no progress on my chosen pieces.  Sad, sad, sad.  Fortunately, Melissa does give us questions each month to liven things up a bit and this month's is:  What pattern (or designer) is on your must-try-to-stitch bucket list?  For sheer size, Sistine Chapel as charted by Heaven and Earth Designs is my pattern.  Given that I am lucky to do two or three pages a year and there are 55 or 60 pages in the pattern - well I'll let you do the math.  For designer, anything Teresa Wentzler. Not that her pieces are complicated but they do require some concentration and determination.  I have many of her patterns in my stash with Holly and Ivy Sampler at the top of my list to start.  If you're interested, Melissa has said she is going to continue WIPocalypse into 2017, so keep your eyes on her blog for more information.

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching hosts  so that we have a place to thank those that have gifted us with stitching bits and bobs or to show things we are stitching as gifts.  I, again, have no update on the pieces that were gifted to me and I can't show the one I am gifting, so while it's a check-in, it's not a very exciting one.

One more load of laundry to finish and then I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon cruising Pinterest stitching on either another 12 Days block or maybe Santa and the Mouse. 

On the Road Again

I finally got my bag unpacked and all the laundry done from my St. Louis trip last week and am packing it up for a trip to Michigan starting tomorrow.  This trip is for fun so packing will be a little different than last week's which was for work, but still takes a bit to figure out what I need (of course if I forget anything, there are stores nearby...).  A bit of stitching has happened but nothing that will win me any speed awards.

First up, Christmas Presence.  I spent a good chunk of a morning working on it and got several colors completed.  It went from here:

to here:

I think I will work on him this afternoon as the blank spaces are big blocks of color and should fill in fairly fast.

I pulled out a semi-oldie for my small piece this week, 12 Days from Plum Street Samplers.

I finished the vertical between 9 and 10 and started the bottom line on 9.  Oh yes and started 10th day.  I think the black bit is a hat, but I am not 100% sure.

To Have and To Hold had the most progress and is here now:

More backstitching.  This band also has three Rhodes hearts which I am looking forward to.

I am just waiting for clothes to dry so I can pack my bag so while I'm doing that I think I'm going to work on Christmas Presence and then put To Have and To Hold back on the frame for tonight's stitching block.  I have a small piece I found in my stash drawer that I may take with me in case I get tired of reading.

April Smalls SAL check-in and more

I'm a little late for the .  Heather at Stitching Lotus hosts this SAL.  It's very easy to participate, pick a small (you get to decide what "small" is), stitch it and post on the last Thursday of the month.  I have been stitching blocks from The Sampler Life's SAL, but I still haven't picked colors for the March block, so I picked up Plum Street Samplers 12 Days of Christmas and stitched Seventh Day.

Here's the entire piece:

I will get back to The Sampler Life SAL this month, as I do need to catch up.

I spent Thursday evening filling in the missed stitches on It's About Time and have another column finish.

Two more columns and I will have a page finish. I am getting much faster with this style of chart, but I am still looking at years to finish a project - Glad I like my HAED charts.

Friday evening I worked on Shakespearean Fantasy and got to here:

I may be able to finish the column next time I put this one on the frame.

Just Nan's Christmas Soldiers was on the frame for the weekend.

 

A few more holly leaves, poinsettias and filler stitches were added.  There is one more poinsettia before the bottom of the stocking.  This is stitching up faster than I thought it would - still plenty to do, but I may have a finish in the next couple of months.

No week night stitching for the next two weeks as I have to go into the office every day to attend two training programs - they will finish off a certificate program I have been working on for a couple years, but all that commuting will have me worn out.  I was able to reschedule my compressed day off to a week from Monday but I have an early appointment so won't get to catch up on my sleep too much. 

January Smalls Check-in

I have to say, I made a good choice in paring down my SALs this year.  I am enjoying my stitching much more now that I'm not chasing so many deadlines or feeling bad about missing them. I do need to get myself back on a more regular posting schedule now that I don't have all the SALs to remind me, but that is a small matter.

The snow that I showed in my last post was just the beginning.  The storm really wound up Saturday and we were in as close to blizzard conditions as I care to be for a while.  We ended up with just short of 17" of snow.  Things are just now getting back to normal work and business-wise.  Fortunately, my boss is very good about teleworking, so I was able to stay home and not worry about the ice, snow and whatever else was on the roads.

The nice thing about working from home is that I had a very short commute and stitched most evenings.  I'll do a general stitching update later this weekend because this is my  check-in post.  The smalls SAL is hosted by Heather at Stitching Lotus - clicking on this button or the one on the left should take you to the rules, dates and sign-up page.  Right now there are 71 people signed up and you can too at any time.  The rules are simple - stitch a small (your definition) and post a picture on the last Thursday of the month.  You can't get much more low stress than that.

I have said it before, but if it weren't for smalls, I would have very few, if any, finishes.  This month, I finished two!!

The first was Marc's Samplerlife Rose

and the next is Third Day from the Plum Street Samplers 2015 Sunday Mystery SAL.  Yes, I know I said I was going to start the next Sampler Life block, but this one was screaming louder.

I probably could have finished Seventh Day too but that little tree in Third Day? I stitched and ripped four times before I got it right, I was so frustrated with myself which I'm sure didn't help any at all.

Christmas Presence and Shakespearean Fantasy  are on the stitching agenda for today and Christmas Soldiers for the weekend.

December Smalls Check-in

My final SAL check-in of 2015 is for . A thank you to Heather at Stitching Lotus for hosting this SAL and continuing it into 2016.  If you are interested in participating, click on the 2016 button on the left and it should take you to the sign-up page. If it doesn't, click here.  I have said it before, but if it weren't for this SAL, I would have very few finishes each year.

All of my finishes can be seen in the "Finishes" tab up top.  I had been using The Sampler Life SAL blocks as my Smalls SAL pieces, but this month decided to focus on Plum Street Samplers 2015 Sunday Mystery SAL instead. Like The Sampler Life, the motifs for the mystery SAL could be stitched as individual ornaments/pieces.  I had toyed with the idea of individual pieces, but I am even worse at finishing-finishing things than I am at finishing the stitching so gave that idea up quickly.  So, as of right now, I am here:

This is still on the frame as I plan to do a bit of stitching while watching this afternoon/evening's football games. I will continue with this piece as my Smalls SAL piece until finished and then back to The Sampler Life pieces.

I did a bit more on Christmas Presence yesterday. I got tired of the parked threads of page 4 (bottom right) getting in my way, so concentrated on getting as many of them done as I could. I ended up going cross country with them, but the majority of them are finished and out of the way. I then worked on the next column of page 2.  When I put him away last night, he was here:

 

It is fun to see this piece in a photo.  Because I stitch this under a magnifying lamp, I only see scattered stitches and bits of color that really don't make a lot of sense, but when I step away and take a photo, there is a glove or a coat sleeve and all the color bits make sense. Santa will be on the frame soon as I would like to finish the column.

 

 

December Gifted Gorgeousness

It's  time again.  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and serves several functions. First of all, it lets us thank the generous folks that have gifted us something stitching related - patterns, thread, fabric, etc. and it also lets us highlight the pieces that we are stitching as gifts.  And the best part is the "shoehorn" category - that one lets us put on our justification hats and tell the world why it fits this SAL.

Soooo, I have two pieces that fit perfectly, Shakespearean Fantasy and Its About Time. Both of these patterns were gifted to me by the very generous Pull the Other Thread and Kate at Needle and Haystacks respectively.

Shakespearean Fantasy looks like this today:

 

And Its About Time looks like this:

Right now, I don't have any pieces that fit into "gifts I am stitching" category, but I will in 2016.  I do have two pieces that I am shoehorning in as they are freebies from the designers and are, in my mind, gifts.  The first is QS Christmas Presence.  He was part of the 2015 Freebie SAL on the Heaven and Earth Designs Yuku bulletin board.  I have put a few more stitches into him since I last showed you. Today he looks like this:

All those ratty ends on the right are the starting of threads for the10X10 square that I finished - very heavy confetti stitching.  The next couple of squares are not as confetti heavy so should stitch up much faster.

The second shoehorn is Plum Street Samplers, 2015 Sunday Mystery SAL. I am slowly but surely working through each day and have it to here now:

I have stitched "Sixth Day" in the next block, but that's all.  I doubt I will have this finished for Christmas but may by Twelfth Night. Thinking on it, as I am stitching this with thread won in a give-away at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe, I think this one actually fits into the "perfect fit" category and not the shoehorn.

As I mentioned, I plan to reduce my SAL commitments in 2016, but this is one that I plan to continue with.

Well, the time went somewhere...

I am unsure how it got to be the middle of December, but here we are.  I missed a couple of SAL check-ins, again, but will not try to make them up, will just have a fail for the year for a couple of them. I took the first week of December off to do all my baking and crafty Christmas things.  I am happy to say I finished everything.  DSon texted to say he got his boxes and was binging on cookies (I send all but a couple of each cookie to him - they look much better on him then they do on me!!). I still have to get the cards in envelopes and mailed, but they are made. I went a bit outside my usual for the cards but enjoyed designing and making them. Here's a not very good photo of a finished one (and the mess that is my crafting area - also known as the dining room table):

Unfortunately, not a lot of stitching happened during my time off or this past week.  My focus piece has been Plum Street Samplers 12 Days mystery. I managed to get it from here:

to here:

The first photo is closer in color to the piece even though the second one was taken in natural light.  Oh well, DSon is the photographer in the family not me. I am using Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe's threads for the first time on this and like the subtle variation in color. I am having an issue with tangles, but I think it's more an issue of my thread being too long (user error) rather than an actual issue with the thread.

We are having ridiculously warm weather.  We're supposed to be near 70 F (21C) today with no major cold snaps predicated - it's great for my electric bill as the heat hasn't kicked on in several days, but it's not doing much for my holiday spirit. Looking out the window, there are still large patches of green in the yard and a flock of about 50 robins (that's the American version, which bears very little resemblance to the European variety) just flew in - they're about six weeks early. 

I am still puttering around with my stitching plans for next year.  I will be cutting back on the number of SALs I sign up for if that sounds familiar, I said the same thing last year about this time, and will be doing some major project changes in my rotation to get the promised Christmas stockings finished for next Christmas and try to get a little ahead on the wedding piece stitching, but for this weekend, I think I will work on Christmas Presence  and the 12 Days sampler.

November Gifted Gorgeousness

 is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is wonderful way of saying thank you to the generous people that have gifted us with stitching wonderfulness.  As Jo says, the best way to show our appreciation is to stitch and blog about it.  There is a list of things that count as gifted and also the ever popular "whatever you can shoehorn" category.

I have two pieces that fit in the "regular" list very easily.  The first is Shakespearean Fantasy.  The pattern was gifted to my by Pull the Other Thread.  I made great progress early this month, but haven't put a stitch in since the last picture:



Stitched 1 over 1 on 28-count antique white Jobelan with DMC

My other fits-the-list piece is Its About Time.  The pattern was gifted to me by Kate at Needles and Haystacks.  As of last night, I have done 600 stitches:

Stitched 1 over 1 on 28-count antique white Jobelan with DMC

I am really enjoying this one.  I think part of the enjoyment is that there is a design to watch develop rather than just a black blob. I'm sure I'll start thinking the same thing once I get out of the black on Shakespearean Fantasy.

 

The next three I count as gifts, but are in the "shoehorn" category for the SAL, as they are freebies, which I am counting as gifts from the designers.

 

The first is 2015 Sunday Mystery Sampler from Plum Street Samplers. I am very behind on this one but very much enjoying the time I do spend on it.  As of this morning, it is here:

 

Stitched on 40-count Vintage Autumn Gold from Lakeside Linens with Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe threads

I do hope to get a bit more done on the tree this morning.  My next shoehorn is:

 

 

Christmas Presence.  I am on the verge of throwing in the towel on this one.  Trying to fill in all the missed stitches has become more irritating then enjoyable. I do love the way the finished bits look but I'm not sure I have the patience to spend another lots of hours filling in the rest.

 

And the last shoehorn is the piece for this month's The Sampler Life SAL.  I showed the completed piece in my last post, so I'm not going to show it again. If you missed it, it's here.

 

I also did a little bit on Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden. It went from here:

 

Stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow Jobelan from Silkweaver Fabrics with called for threads

To here:

 

 

I am having the same issue with this piece that I do with all my large pieces, the closer I get to a finish the more I drag my feet stitching it.  I do not really understand why.  I want to see it finished.  I want to move another piece into the rotation, but I find anything but it to work on (as you can see above). 

 



October Stitch from Stash

Month: October
Spent: $0
Earned: not participating

It's time again.  is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching and is a reminder to love the stash you have. I didn't do so well last month as I gave into temptation for a project I had lusted after since last November, but I'm back on track. So for this month:

Carried forward:  $2.76.
September Budget: $25
Available: $27.76
Spent: $0
Balance forward:  $27.76

I had three starts from stash this month: Just Nan's Florentine Floral

;

 

Blue Ribbon Designs' contribution to The Sampler Life's SAL, Friendship in Bloom

; and,

 

Plum Street Samplers' 2015 Sunday Mystery SAL (although it really isn't too much of a mystery as we know it is the twelve days of Christmas). (following is a loooonnng story which is probably boring, so if you want, you can skip down to the picture and you won't miss much!) I had my fabric and threads pulled and was ready to start stitching when I remembered I had some Christmas colored threads that I won from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe (Nancy is always running give-aways so pop on over and see what's open) and decided I wanted to use those.  Well, hours later, I was so frustrated with myself.  I had done the old "put them in such a safe place I can't find them".  So I resigned myself to using my original picks, and they were good picks just not the perfect ones I knew the other threads would be.  Come Sunday morning, I downloaded the charts and sat down to start stitching and started thinking about those threads again.  Another several hours later, I found them!  But, there were two different reds, two different greens and two different golds, so more dithering trying to pick the perfect set. Had that all done and then started to worry if I'd have enough red to do the ornaments AND the border.  Now, Nancy's skeins are 20-yards each, so I was pretty sure I'd have enough to do it on the 28-count I'd chosen, but then I wasn't 100% , so.... instead of worrying about running out part way through, I went digging for different fabric in 32-count or higher.  I found a piece of 40-count Lakeside Linens Vintage Autumn Gold that was perfect but the label said it was cut for Village at Hawk Run Hollow - bummer - back to digging.  On another hanger, I found another piece of Vintage Autumn Gold that said *it* was cut for Village at Hawk Run Hollow!  Obviously, I haven't inventoried my fabric in a while (and at some point, I had disposable income) but I found my perfect fabric!  Fabric all cut, threads all picked, ready to stitch, right? Noooo, the thread didn't look as good on this fabric as it did on the original, so back to thread interviewing.  I think I have the right colors now and have started.  Of course, it took so long to do all of the above, that I didn't have time to do much stitching!  So after that crazy long story, here's my start:

 



Because I switched to 40-count, I'm using one strand of thread, so I will have plenty for the ornaments and the borders.  This photo does the fabric no justice at all, it is a mottled, dark gold color (I'd say about DMC610). Come to think on it, the threads aren't that bright.  I'll try for a better photo next time. I really like the subtle color change in the fibers and would definitely use them again.

Secret Victorian Garden is on the frame and I plan to get some stitching on it tonight - I'd like to finish up the last part 9 corner before I put it away. Elegant Doily goes on the frame tomorrow (after I do a bit on Friendship in Bloom and the Secret Sunday SAL.