May WIPocalypse

Not a lot of stitching happened this week, but I do have progress to show for May's WIPocalypse.  Measi hosts here:

If you're interested in participating click on the dragon and it will take you to the information page.  This month's question is:  Are there any themes or designs you wish you could find?  For me, no.  There is such a huge variety of needlework out there that I have always been able to find something that calls to me, either in theme, design or style.  What typically happens is that I see a design and then realize it is exactly what I was looking for - I just didn't know it.

I have three projects left on my WIPocalypse list for this year, Santa's Magic, Elegant Doily and Secret Victorian Garden.

Santa's Magic went from here:

    

to here:

I stitched lots and lots more eyelets on Elegant Doily.  Here are a few of them:

And Secret Victorian Garden went from here:

to here:

It is beginning to look like I will be carrying at least two, and possibly, all three of these over onto next year's WIP list but I am not giving up on the possibility of at least one finish.

April Showers

If April showers really do bring May flowers every time I say this line that silly joke pops into my head.  Oh you don't know it?  Well, "if April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?  Pilgrims!!! - it was hilarious when I was eight!!!  than it will be VERY colorful here in central Virginia this month. We had almost 5" of rain over a three day period this week.  Lots of roads closed due to flooding but fortunately, no major damage near us.  There was some rather dramatic footage of a portion of a street collapsing onto a train track in Baltimore but fortunately, nobody was hurt.  It all cleared off Thursday afternoon and it has been beautiful since.  Hopefully that wasn't our entire summer's allocation of rain!

Reading through my blog list I came across this idea - use mason jar lids as mini-pie pans - I think that is an absolutely ingenious idea and will have to give it a try soon.  Although not with rhubarb...

In case you missed them, there are a couple of SALs starting up.  Blackbird Designs has a very cute sampler and By the Bay Needleart is hosting a mystery.  According to Donna, this mystery is not a seaside theme so very interested in seeing what direction she is taking.

It is the first Saturday of May which means it is time for a YOTA post.  YOTA is being hosted at Pull the Other Thread - and she has an amazing finish shown on her post this month!  YOTA is a WIP finishing SAL and do I have WIPs!  I have really enjoyed the focus on getting things finished that this SAL has given me. While I still have a lot of things in various stages of stitched, I have fewer than I did a couple of years ago so I am happy.

If you check out my WIPocalypse SAL post for April you can see my progress on several of my pieces.  I have worked on Elegant Doily  and Secret Victorian Garden since that post so will only show my progress on those two.

Secret Victorian Garden went from here:

To here:

And Elegant Doily  had more eyelets stitched as it is hard to see progress on a large white-on-white piece I'll only show portions of it from now on.  

This will stay on the frame for the rest of this evening.  Santa's Magic will take its place tomorrow.

A day late TUSAL and Smalls SAL

Yesterday was the new moon, so in addition being a wonderful, dark night for sleeping it was also time for a  check-in.  Sharon over at It's Daffycat hosts the SAL.  This is the easiest SAL to participate in, if you stitch, you already have half of what you need to participate in all those bits you snip off and throw away.  All you need to do is put them in a pretty jar, dish or cup and post a photo on the new moon.  At the end of the year, I put them all in a clear ornament, paint the year on it and hang them on my cork board.


Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting .  All you have to do to participate is stitch a small - what's a small?  Whatever you can stitch in a month is a small.  I love SALs that don't have a lot of rules!!

This month I decided to go for a two-fer photo.  Here is my TUSAL jar and my finished small.

Those of you with sharp eyes will see that the fabric on the top rod is a different color than the finished piece - there is a 3/4 done small on the frame.  I tried to have a double finish for this month, but just couldn't get there. 

Stitch from Stash and Just Nan SAL check-in

We interrupt our regularly scheduled post for....  CONGRATULATIONS to DNiece!!!!  She graduated Summa Cum Laude (she's beautiful and smart!!) from Western Michigan University this afternoon with a Bachelors of Science degree majoring in occupational therapy.  She has a few weeks off before she heads back to study for her Masters .

Onto the regularly scheduled post.... Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment on my blog - I still find it hard to believe that anyone but me reads it!!

Before I get onto the stitching pictures, because I have been the recipient of this look (not in this situation) but the look is very familiar and the sentiment is all cat!!!

I traced this from blog to blog but could not find the originating site, if anyone has that info, I will certainly update the post.

After weeks of gorging themselves at the feeders, the hordes of gold finches seem to have taken off for their summer homes.  There are three at the feeders right now where before there might have been a couple dozen - it is strangely quiet outside without their song.  The departure of the gold finches means the arrival of the hummingbirds.  We have two so far but have had up to 12 - gets a little crazy around the feeders.

On to SAL check-ins.  Today I have two:    and .

Mel at Epic Stitching is hosting the Stitch form Stash SAL.  Not a lot of stress associated with this SAL, it is, as the name suggests, an incentive to use up some of that stash that you may have accumulated over the years.  There is a rather, at least in my thoughts, generous $25.00 allowance each month and it rolls over so still plenty of opportunity to purchase that must have stash. 

So for April my spending report is:

Carry over:             $ 75.00
Allowance:                25.00
Purchases:                   0.00
Balance Forward:  $100.00

The first month or two were really difficult but it is definitely getting easier and it is nice to see the stash being reduced.  I had three starts from my stash this month:   

Two Little House Needleworks, All is Calm and Frosty Flakes.  I finished All is Calm and will be showing that in my Smalls SAL post but here is where I got on Frosty Flakes yesterday:

Stitched on 30-count WDW Straw with DMC, Crescent Colours and WDW

The bird was charted in the same white as the snowman, but I like cardinals and we don't have any white birds around here in the winter, or ever when I think on it, so I stitched the bird in WDW Brick.

And Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts:

Stitched on unknown 32-count Silkweaver evenweave with Weeks Dye Works

Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting the Just Nan SAL.  I have so many Just Nan patterns in my stash, many kitted up and ready to go, so it was great to find a SAL that got me to pull them out and get some of them stitched.  Strawberry Summer  is in the Just Nan slot in the rotation right now.

It went from here:

To here:

It is stitched on 28-count Savannah Rose with DMC floss and perle cotton and beads as called for.  I am about 3/4 through this one and am already planning for the next one, no I don't have one picked out yet but I do love the planning.

April's IHSW

I went to work on Monday with the hope that a walk around the Tidal Basin at lunch would be under blooming cherry trees.  Unfortunately, the majority of the blooms were in the Tidal Basin but the walk was still very nice - if a bit crowded:

Fortunately, the cherry tree in our front yard is a bit behind the ones in DC so I did see a tree in bloom:

We planted the tree about six years ago so it's still very young for a cherry tree but it certainly doesn't scrimp on the blooms.

The wild dogwoods are just past their peak but are still pretty:

And I found several clusters of wild grape hyacinth in the yard.

It's the third full weekend in April which means it's .  I stitched on three pieces this weekend but will only show two as the third was a small finish that I'll show the end of the month.

The first one I can show is Just Nan's Strawberry Summer.

Here's where it was on Friday:

and here's where it was when I put it away yesterday:

This is stitched on 28-count Savannah Rose linen with DMC floss and perle cotton and beads as kitted.

And Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine went from here:

To here:

Stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow with the called for fibers and beads

This one will be on the frame for this week, so I am hoping to have a bit more progress by next weekend.

April WIPocalypse - picture heavy

It's time for April's WIPocalypse posting.   Measi at Measi's Musings has hosted WIPocalypse for the last three years.  If you click on the block you should be taken to the information page and you'll get all the information you need to participate.  This year, in addition to theme months which I pretty much ignore, Measi has provided some questions which I do try to keep up with.  This month's question is how do we organize our stash?  A few years ago, I would have said, "In the craft room", but when I moved to Virginia, I went from a craft room to sharing a room with The Hubs and his computer.  There was 30+ years of crafting supplies in that craft room in New Hampshire and I wasn't sure where it was going to fit in our new home here in Virginia.  It was pretty unorganized the first few months or so (read in boxes all over the house and basement) but then I took the doors off the closet, and put curtains up to use as a display board:

And put shelves up and filled the closet up:

The top shelf has my quilting supplies, the next shelf down has my beading supplies (behind the curtain on the left) and some project boxes.  The fabric is on pants hangars and labeled with fabric color, count and the project it is for.  The colored boxes in the middle there have Carriage House Samplings, Shepherd's Bush and Prairie Schooler patterns.  I use a lot of those scrapbook storage boxes for my needlework. I have several 6-drawer Iris storage carts that I use for both paper crafting and cross stitch storage. For my cross stitch, I put one project per drawer (the drawers are actually storage boxes that slide into the cart), so when I'm ready to stitch on that project, I pull it out and have my pattern, fiber, beads and fabric all in one place. The rest is for paper crafting and rubber stamping.  This is the after, before, it was rather a hodgepodge - now it is just messy.

After another year or so, I bought an Expedit bookcase from Ikea and moved a bunch of stuff out of the closest and the packing boxes from the basement and got this:

The drawers hold my sewing supplies, the two tan baskets have my printed Chatelaine patterns, lots of beading, sewing, stitching patterns, crafting paper, floss and fibers and craft books and magazines fill up the rest of it.  The baskets on the right have my knitting supplies and some mending that needs to be done.

I then bought these units from Michaels for my kitted patterns, my DVDs, assorted papers and The Hubs' books and game manuals:

And that's where I keep my craft stash.

I have four projects left from my original WIPocalypse list, Santa's Magic, Elegant Doily, Secret Victorian Garden and Three Tulips. 

I had a finish this month on Three Tulips.  It went from here:

 to

Santa's Magic was here at the March WIPocalypse:

 and here for this one:



Secret Victorian Garden



and Elegant Doily went from here:

to here:



End of Vacation

I had a very relaxing week off from work, but back to the grind tomorrow - oh to have been born rich instead of beautiful!!  On the plus side, the boss is out next week so it should be quiet and I can catch up on everything - yes that is wishful thinking.

The warmer weather has really greened things up.  The dandelions and violets are blooming all over the yard, the dogwood are blooming in the woods and our cherry tree should be flowering by the end of this week.  I'm sure that in the next couple of weeks I'll be pulling the mower out and spending a good part of Sunday walking around the yard behind it.

Fortunately, the grass held off growing until after my vacation, so I could spend my time off reading, stitching, and watching all those shows I DVRed.  On the stitching front, I had one finish, one start and some progress on another project.

My finish was With Thy Needle and Thread's, Three Tulips (Thanks Mom and Dad for the wonderful Christmas gift):

Stitched on Weeks' Dye Works 30-count Parchment with Weeks Dye Works fibers. 

My start was Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts (Thanks to The Hubs for the wonderful anniversary present):

Stitched on an unknown 28-count Silkweaver's evenweave with Weeks Dye Works fibers (I hope to get a better photo soon)

and my progress was on Little House Needleworks' All is Calm:

Stitched on 30-count Natural Northern Cross linen with DMC

Just Nan's Strawberry Summer is on the frame for this week.