IHSW

Thank you to everyone for the comments on my last post.  Midsomer's population has been reduced by another seven since last week - three in one show alone I never would have thought that bell ringing was such a dangerous hobby!

Another International Hermit and Stitch Weekend has come and gone. Thank you to Joyce for organizing this once again - although I believe she found something other than stitching to do this weekend.   I had grand plans for a very intensive stitching weekend, but was in a bit of a stitching funk yesterday.  As a result I spent the majority of the day reading, doing housework if I was doing housework instead of stitching you know it was a real funk!! and playing around in iTunes it took several hours for me to decide on eight new songs - turns out iTunes is rather like blog reading, you start in one place, follow links and end up hours later nowhere near where you started! Today turned out to be a perfect hermitting day - windy, pouring rain and cold so I was able to settle in and get some stitching done.

On the frame this weekend and for the coming week is Papillon Creations' Eightsome Reel. 

Papillon Creations' Eightsome Reel
Stitched on 28-count Chai Tea Jobelan with HDF conversion

I was able to stitch the red/blue medallion and gold/grey circle on the right.  This puts me at half-way.  It is going to be a push to finish this one as I as I believe I have mentioned before am not enjoying stitching with these fibers but I am too stubborn far along to throw in the towel.

Last week's project was Chatelaine's Japanese Octagonal Box. 

Chatelaine's Japanese Octagonal Box
Stitched on 32-count ice blue Belfast with recommended threads and beads

One more bonsai and a bit more of the slope of Mount Fuji done.  In order to get the colors more true to life, I tried scanning instead of photographing, as suggested by Jo, and it worked.  Unfortunately, I cannot get the scan to copy over to my blog, but I will continue trying.

Here is the link to the list of International Hermit and Stitch participants for April in case you want to end up miles from where you started...

A Good Week

My birthday week was a roaring success.  Lots of relaxing, lots of reading and lots of stitching were done and I have renewed my obsession interest in Midsomer Murders.  I caught the odd show when A&E was still doing sensible television I think they show NCI-take-your-pick-of-cities and Law and Order 24/7, but was never able to watch it consistently.  One of my birthday gifts came with a free month of "Amazon Prime" which includes lots of free streaming videos, so I started with Season 1 and am working my way through.  I doubt I will be able to finish the entire series before the end of the month, but I checked and Netflix also carries it so I should be able to get "caught up" if watching 15 or so seasons all in a row is considered "catching up". I have only once, so far, figured out the mystery before the grand announcement, but it is fun to watch the "gears turn".   As much as I love the show, I always have the same question, "How is there anybody left alive in that town/county?"  And when you throw in Inspectors Morris and Lewis  and how many others that don't get aired in the US and it's amazing that there is anyone left alive in England at all.  I suppose anyone watching US crime drama would say the same thing about us, I mean Jessica Fletcher of "Murder, She Wrote" had to start traveling to continue solving murders as there just weren't enough people in Cabot Cove, Maine to keep a series running very long.

The only thing we weren't able to do was get out on the boat. The wind this week wasn't terrible but it was steady and kept the Small Craft Advisories up all week they're supposed to calm down tomorrow or Monday.  But as I mentioned stitching took place and I am very happy with my progress.  Debbie Mumm's Summerhill House was on the frame.  Here is what it looked like when I started:

And here is where it was when I took it off the stand on Thursday:

Debbie Mumm's Summerhill House
Stiched on 28-count Bluebell Jobelan from Wichelt with recommended DMC

There is a little bit of cross stitching left, lots of backstitching, and all those gaps are beaded and well as beads in the trees and scattered here and there it wouldn't be a Mill Hill pattern without beads would it?. I am hoping to have a finish the next go 'round in the rotation.

Yesterday I started Chatelaine's Mystery XV - Deep Blue Sea. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped as I got a late start, but I am pleased with what I did get done.

Chatelaine's Mystery XV - Deep Blue Sea
Stitched on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan from Wichelt with Martina's DMC conversion

The colors are really off on this one just like they are with every photo I take no matter with overhead, daylight bulb or real daylight

Japanese Octagonal Box is on the frame for this coming week.

A Start, A Finish and OH MY!!

Thank you everyone for the nice comments on my stitching.  I think I finally figured out the email notification/reply thing it only took me what 1-1/2 years?

We are now having slightly below average temperatures.  I had frost on my windshield this morning!  Now, I know those of you that live north of the optimal climatic zone as was once written of New Hampshire in a turn of the 20th century travel guide will not necessarily find that unusual, BUT it's very strange here. I don't mind changing seasons but I really would like it to decide which season it wants to be and stick with it.

Stitching wise, here's what I worked on this week:

You saw the kit for this one, here is the roof minus beads:

It's stitched on 14-count violet Aida.  There will be silvery beads in the spaces in the middle of the "X".  I wasn't able to start the house itself as I have to stitch this in hand and my hands can only deal with that for short periods of time.

Yes, you read correctly, I also had a finish!!

Marsh Marigolds on Logan's Creek is now hanging on the "wall of finishes" in the den.  I can not get the fabric color to photograph correctly it is actually a very pale green - almost the color of young celery. 

Last and certainly not least, I got this in the mail today:

Isn't it beautiful?  Jo at Serendipitous Stitching stitched this for me.  The flower is backstitched and then she colored in the background.  I have loved all the others I saw on her blog, but not as much as this one! Daisies and pansies are my favorite flower and it got here just in time for my birthday. which I wasn't going to say anything about but since I just had to show off the card, the secret is out.  My birthday is Sunday - I'll be slightly younger than the dinosaurs.

Debbie Mumm's Summerhill House has gone onto the scroll rods.  I took next week off from work I declared a birthday week and what better way to celebrate? so I am really hoping to make some progress on it.  I do have a few things around the house that I'd like to get done, but pretty much it's a do whatever I want to do week. And part of what I want is to start Chatelaine's Deep Blue Sea but I will wait until Friday to do that.

Little Houses

Thank you everyone for your kind comments on my stitching.  As mentioned in my last post, the cherry blossoms are now gone; however, the walk around the Tidal Basin is still beautiful and you can take in three different memorials - Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr.  Now is the perfect time, not too hot and humid and much smaller crowds. Listen to me sounding like a tourist guide! 

The pines have joined the pollen parade as evidenced by my yellow-green colored car and my itchy, watery, puffy eyes I am hoping that all the plants have their grand spring celebration all at once and the allergy season is short.

I worked on Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden this week and almost finished one hibiscus corner.  Here's a view of the entire section:

And here's a semi-close up:

Hawaiian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine
Stitched on 28-count Summer Sky Jobelan with recommended fibers and beads

I know nothing I have written so far has anything to do with little houses, but this does:

This all comes in that little package in the upper right corner.  It's the kit for Parma Violets from The Nutmeg Company's The Christmas House Collection, Gingerbread Houses and when it is finished it will be 6cms or a little more than 2-1/4".  It's a very complete kit including pre-cut fabric and frame pieces the finished stitching is sewn to them to give them body so they will stand when stitched together.

Marsh Marigolds on Logan's Creek will go on the stand for this weekend.  This one is close enough to being done, that I may have a happy dance before the weekend is out. Of course now that I have voiced that possibility, something will come up to prevent it from happening. 

Spring and LOTS of Other Stuff

This will be long and rambling not like my other posts are any different so as Mouse would say grab a cuppa and settle in. I don't have a kettle and don't know the first thing about making a proper cup of tea but I am willing to try and do always have iced tea in the fridge and despite living in the south it is not sweet tea!

Thank you to everyone on the comments on my progress on Winter Watergarden. I do love Chatelaine designs and just wish I had the time to stitch more of them although looking at my WIP list time is not stopping me from starting them.

Where to begin? Well it is definitely spring here in central Virginia. Not that we had a winter to speak of but there is no question that the season is changing.

The dogwoods are just opening and should be beautiful in another few days. This one is in the woods around our house, so it is just an ordinary tree and not the showpiece you might find in an arboretum.

I have mentioned that I work in Washington DC, so instead of my usual three laps around the third floor the Department of Agriculture building is huge, each lap of the walking "trail" on the third floor is right around 6/10ths of a mile at lunch on Monday I meandered down to see the cherry blossoms.  It was a cool, partially cloudy day but it was so nice to get out of the building.

Unfortunately for the organizers of the Cherry Blossom Festival, the blossoms are not going to be around for the opening of the festival. These photos were taken on Monday, the flowers last about 10 days and the festival isn't due to open until next week sometime.

So where to next? Rebekah at The Stitching Frog kindly awarded me the Liebster Award. Thank You Rebekah.   Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

 I have done #2 and part of #3, #1 will be a bit more difficult but I will work on it while I write this although I may just guide you all to my blog list (on the left side bar) and invite you to visit all of them. I jump off to lots of other blogs from these and it is so much fun to find a new blog.  And #4, five random facts about me.  I am a pretty random person, so you would think that would be easy, but it has had me stumped for the last couple of days, but here goes:

1.  I hate cooked raisins but will eat them "raw".

2. My favorite word is aardvark. I just like how it looks and sounds no great love for the animal although it is interesting.

3.  Yellow is my favorite color, followed closely by red

4.  I am not a morning person although I have had to make myself pretend to be one due to work

5.  I still watch Scooby-Doo cartoons

I won a give away!! Donna at By the Bay Needleart has been designing Stitch an Inch projects. Each chartpack contains seven designs - six major plus a bonus chart - that can be stitched all as one scene or as individual designs.  If you stitch 1-over-1 on 28-count fabric, they are one inch square.  I won her give away of Stitch an Inch "Winter". There was a slight mix-up in some mailings and she graciously sent me Stitch an Inch "Spring" as well. I am a total sucker for seasonal series and as I already had "Summer" and "Autumn"  I now have a complete set! I can't wait to get these into my rotation.

STASH!!! The remainder of my threads for Serengeti arrived this week!

These are the Dinky Dyes and Wildflowers that I ordered from Stitching Bits and Bobs:

And these are the Glorianas, Waterlilies and Petite Treasure Braids I ordered from Needlecraft Corner:

And yes, I did actually do some stitching this week.  In honor of the first day of Spring, I started Mirabilia's Santa's Magic.

I am stitching this on Silkweaver's 32-count opalescent Ametrine Jazlyn.  The opalescent seems to be showing up but the colors of the fabric aren't - ah well, if I took a good, true photo I wouldn't know what to do with it.  The red bit you see is metallic fiber. I am very glad I switched out the called for Kreinik #8 for Kreinik #4, I can't imagine trying to get #8 through the fabric.

If you made it this far - thank you.  Chatelaine's Hawaiian Garden is back on the frame and calling.  Happy stitching!!

March IHSW

While I didn't have as much time as I usually do for IHSW, I am very pleased with my progress on Chatelaine's Winter Watergarden.
Here's where I started on Saturday:

And here's where I ended up Sunday evening:

Chatelaine's Winter Watergarden
Stitched on 32-count White Belfast with recommended fibers and beads

There are filling stitches in the upper right hand portion, inside the outer blue line but it is really hard to see.  The blank spaces in the center arches and points will be filled with beads, algerian eyelets and rhodes stitches.  There will be a snowflake in the very middle.

Back Home Again

I had a very nice time in Mississippi last week, the training went well nobody threw anything or ran out of the room screaming so until I can read the evaluations I'll assume it went well, and I am glad to be home again. Of course, I spent most of today straightening and cleaning, but I think I'm about done.

Thank you everyone for the kind comments on Christmas Elegance. I have a bunch of Just Nan's older designs in my stash have not been too fond of her recent releases, but was a collector for many years and always wonder why I don't work on them more often I don't suppose the ridiculous list of WIPs has anything to do with it....  The mint M&Ms are hard to find but, if you can find them, they are well worth the hunt.
Another portion of my Serengeti threads arrived while I was gone.  

Talk about a beautiful package!  This one is from Needle in a Haystack.

And inside was the Petite Very Velvet, Gloriana Petite Princess Perle and Gloriana Luminescence:

I had an email from Drema at Needlecraft Corner saying that my order was ready for shipping, so I should have everything but the Dinky Dye threads soon.

As I suspected, I did not get any stitching done while I was gone, but I did do quite a bit on Twilight of the Tsars last weekend.

Here's where I was when I picked it up Saturday evening:

And here's where I left it on Sunday:

It is definitely egg shaped now.

Chatelaine's Winter Watergarden is on the stand for IHSW.  I have so little done on it that it's almost silly to all it a WIP but I do hope to get a good portion of part 1 finished.