Now I can finish the set!!

I am so crazy excited that my last piece of 32ct carrot linen came in to day so I can now finish the "Bootiful Needle Set."  Working on the other pieces in this set has, so far, been one of my most enjoyable stitching projects.  Learning to make the buttonhole corner stitches that end up being the ruffle was so fun!  The last piece, the needle book, has more of them than the other two pieces did, so I'm really excited to get going on them!

I also got some more work done on the Quidditch Pitch over the weekend.  I'm excited to get some progress in on my Harry Potter themed pillow set, so when I pulled this out to take the picture for my previous post, I didn't want to put it away.  I finished the Slytherin seating tower and also filled in the Ravenclaw one with one color of blue that I didn't have when I started the pattern.  Now only my personal fave - the Hufflepuff tower to go.  Then it will have a Golden Snitch flying over the goals that I'm going to stitch in metallic thread. It also made the perfect on-the-go project one day when I was in the car since it's so small and portable.  

I've stitched just a tiny bit on the dragon as well, but I'll wait until I have more done before sharing another picture of it.

Mid-December catch up and WIP progress

Hello Everyone!

It's almost the middle of December and I can't believe that this month has gone by so fast.  2017 will be here soon and I think I just recently caught on to write 2016 when dating something, lol.  We haven't been doing anything major around here, just normal day to day stuff.  We've got our trees ups and have started watching some Christmas movies.  The kids and I have really been enjoying playing board games in the evening.

Oh wait!  Yes, we *have* had something major going on!  I spent many years homeschooling my kids and they are both now **DONE**!!  They passed all their exams and did great and I'm so proud of them.  Now onward and forward to the adulting, lol.

I've managed to get some stitching in, which is great.  Let me share my progress with you.

The last time you saw my Mira, The Rain Queen, she looked like this.

Now she looks like this:

I have to say, all of those leaves falling around her have not been fun to stitch at all and they're still not done.  After that, they also get beaded.  It has definitely been a labor of love with this as of late.  But I'm pretty far along on her, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before she is done.

Next, on to the dragon wall hanging I'm working on for my son.  The last time you saw it, I was working on the tail.

I have now finished the tail and moved on to a wing:

I really love watching this come to life.  Here is another picture, with it help up by my son so you can get a sense of the scale.  He's over 6' and is holding it up above his head and it ends below his knees.

One more close up that I took a couple of days ago.  Do you see how some of the squares are wanting to fade a bit as the fabric gets used, touched, and generally handled over time?  I don't think they will fade to the point that it presents a huge problem for getting it finished, but it is definitely giving me some motivation to not let this piece languish for too long!

Now, on to 272 Words by Primrose Needleworks that I'm stitching as a SAL in the Patriotic Stitches group on FB.  I started this on it's official start date of October 29.  But my husband and I were in the mountains that weekend, so I only got to work on it a tiny bit.

I tried to work on it some more in the car on the drive home, but it's a 32ct fabric and between all the bumps in the road and my eyes not being happy, I had to give up.

I worked on it a bit more after getting home but had to stop because the called for fabric I was using was stiff as a board, coarse to the touch, and I just couldn't stand the feel of it.

So at this point, I took it off the snaps and washed it and ironed it.  Much better.  Softer and more manageable.  It still won't win any awards for being soft and cuddly, but it's now good enough to handle without wanting to crawl right out of my skin.

I'm working on finishing up page one, which is why the words cut off at odd places.  But I'm going to work it page by page.

One last thing I wanted to share with you is a tiny bit of haul.  I forgot to share these earlier.  They are fabrics I purchased at the big trunk show in Kentucky I went to in October.  I didn't buy this with specific plans in mind, but rather simply because they appeal to my taste and I know I'll be able to use them for something.  I'm thinking about using them for back fabric on pillows, pin cushions, things like that.

That's all I've got for now.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Finishes

I finished the model stitch.  :0)

The designer is Anna Chern and her Etsy shop is Serenita's Designs.  She already has pictures of my finish on her listing for this pattern.  It's neat to see my stitching in someone's shop.

This piece ended up taking me four full weeks to finish.  The top and bottom borders were more time consuming than you would think.  I recently heard a stitcher say that large sections of white stitches make any mistakes or uneven stitches just jump right out at you.  And she was so right.  Believe it or not, this piece takes three full skiens of white plus a bit on a fourth.  Lots of white, stitched blocked together and I could see every single imperfection in my stitches. But I got it done and I'm happy with it.  Now that the designer has the pictures she needs, I plan to stitch my name down in the corner and add a red Rudolph nose to one of the reindeer.  My plan for finishing this is to turn it into a pillow.  I know I won't do that before this Christmas, but I plan for it to be done for next year.  The trick is going to be finding a nice coordinating fabric for the design.

I also have an FFO to share.  This is one part of the three part pumpkin needle accessory set.  I chose a coordinating wool for the back.

This was actually supposed to be a biscornu but you can see it turned out a regular pin cushion.  I don't really know what happened.  I do know that it was difficult to get the top delicate linen stitched together with the bottom thick wool, all the while making sure that the outside black stitched ruffle didn't get sewn into the middle of the whole thing.  There was just a lot going on there.  So I forgive myself for lack of biscornu finshing.  It's not perfect but I'm happy with it and and it pleases me.  That counts for something, right?

There will be two more pieces to this set when I'm done.

I'll be back soon with some update pictures on my more regular WIPs.  I've been working on my Mira, the dragon, and also some butterflies for a charity piece.  More on those later...

Happy stitching everyone ~ keep those needles flying!!

Still stitching along...

I'm still working on the model stitch.  I'm definitely in the home stretch with it.  Technically, today is the deadline to be finished.  But I think the designer underestimated exactly how long these borders take.  I've kept in touch with her though, and she knows where I'm at and is fine with it.

I will be glad when this is done though, because I'm ready to get back to my daughter's Mira and my son's dragon.  While stitching this week I started listening to Updraft on my Audible account.  I've been enjoying it so far and it's nice to be able to stitch and "read" at the same time.

One other little tidbit, I forgot to share some gorgeous thread with you that my friend Laura got me in our recent exchange!  She got me this gorgeous skein of Bradley's Balloons by Threadworx.  I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm in love with this thread.  

I keep thinking of a using this in a blackwork styled Easter Egg pattern.  Wouldn't that be beautiful?  I just might have to take the plunge on that soon after finishing the model stitch.

Weekend getaways and stitchy stash!!

I've had a lot going on lately.  It's been busy.  

A couple of weeks ago I had a fun weekend getaway with my friend Laura.  We try to have a few weekends a year where we meet and stitch and do fun things.  

We started out our weekend at the famed Whistle Stop Cafe.  We had such fun looking around in all the little shops and boutiques in the area.

This year we had tickets to hear Jenny Doan speak.  She's the owner of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  

On our way to hear Jenny Doan speak.

We also had tickets to go on a dinner train.  Neither of us had done this before, so it was exciting. 

Here's the train before we boarded.  They keep the shades pulled until the passengers start to load.  The inside was beautiful and restored to it's original 1940s style.

Laura did a really detailed post of our train ride that you can see here.  It was a really lovely evening.

We also usually do a gift exchange and this time was no different.  :0)  

We both read a lot, so we usually exchange some books or book related items as well as stitchy stuff.  There is another book mark, but it's currently in use.  :0)

Patterns and fabrics!!  :0)

This past weekend my husband and I had a getaway to the Smoky Mountains.  This was the first trip away we've had since our kids have been, "grown," and we could simply leave them at home to hold down the fort and not worry.  They did great and we had fun.

We took the tram up to Ober Gatlinburg, just so we could see all the Fall foliage.

We stayed in a quiet little hotel in Severville and had a lovely view out the back door.

I did some stitchy shopping as well.

On the stitchy side of things, I have been working on a model stitch for a designer.  I'm almost done and hope to be finished by the end of this week.

I also started the Gettysburg Address pattern that is being done as a SAL in my and Laura's FB group ~ Patriotic Stitches.

I didn't get much done because the lighting in the hotel was really bad.  Then on the way home, the roads weren't great.  Lots of bumps and this fabric has the teeniest holes ever.  I had to give up until I could tackle it at home.

I found fabric to do the finishing on my pumpkin needle accessory set.

I really love this and can't wait to go back and do the beading on the two pieces of the set I have done.  The third and largest piece is the needlebook and it's on hold because 123 was out of stock on this orange fabric.  But I hope to go ahead and do the finishing on the scissor fob and biscornu soon.

I bought a couple of needleminders for the first time in forever.  I make so many of my own, I rarely purchase them anymore.  But these came from an Etsy store in Australia.  Shipping was really inexpensive and I got the smaller of the two for free because the seller said it had some tiny imperfections.  Truly, it looks great to me.

So that's what I've been busy with!  No more weekend getaways planned until next year.  I'll be *so* ready by the time the next one comes along!

A method to my maddness

I have a bag where I keep all of my threads for various projects.  

Many of these threads are on rings, with each ring being matched up to a certain project.  But recently I've been having trouble always remembering which ring is for which project.  Some of them I know by sight, but others I've found that I have been getting them confused.  So I needed a way to label these individual rings.  But how to do that?

I decided to take an extra thread bobbin and write the name of the project the threads belong to and then attach the empty bobbin with the name onto the ring.

It's taken away my confusion and it's helping me stay organized.  I wish I had thought of this years ago.

I got some happy mail today.  I had ordered this little silhouette of a lady stitching.  She is sitting atop my little box I've been making stitched pieces for.

Isn't she the cutest?

And lastly ~ I finally got my Honeybee Happening piece framed.  I might be as happy as a chubby lil' peacock can be, lol.

That's all I've got for the moment.  More wip updates to come soon. ~~~

A bit of progress

I have just a bit of progress to share.  I worked a couple of days on the dragon and now I've got more of his tail done in addition to the waves.  Love these colors.  The photos don't do them justice.

I also pulled my Mira, The Rain Queen, out last night and got a bit more done on her.  Now both of her wings are finished.  She looks a bit funny at the moment, but I think I'll work on her some more today and add in some more pieces parts.  :0)

Well, this kind of snuck up on me...

In 5 weeks I'm headed to a retreat in the Smokey Mountains.  It's a trip that's kind of traditional for me and one that I look forward to all year long.  There are two gift exchanges at this retreat.  One is a gift box full of stitchy type notions and the other is a stitched ornament exchange.  So I know all year I have to stitch something for this retreat.  But for some reason, this year it slipped my mind until now.  When I stitch an ornament for giving, I like to stitch two so I can keep one myself.  So my stitching schedule grew by two ornaments, lol.  The pattern I chose for this year's ornament is a dove inside a circle with a filigree, leafy type of border around it.  It's charted in blues and roses but I'm changing it up to Christmas colors.  I'm going to give them a simple finish in the clear acrylic ornament frames that 123Stitch sells.

I have a little finish!  :0)  I finished up Frosty Friends a couple of nights ago.  I want to "finish" this into a no-sew cube, just not sure when I'll have the time to do that.  But it's going to need to be before Christmas, lol.  Although truly, this design is appropriate for the whole winter.  One thing kind of perturbed me about this pattern though.  On the picture of the finished product that comes when you buy the pattern, it shows two different ways of stitching it up.  One is like I have done it and the other shows it larger, finished into a pillow.  This one has a border all the way around it, that obviously "goes" with the pattern, as in, it's a style that is consistent with the look of the pattern.  But after you buy it and open it, you find the border is no where to be found.  You don't get the pattern for that.  I just feel like the way it's represented on it's packaging is misleading.  Because it obviously leads you to think that you can stitch it with or without the border, but then it doesn't provide or even address the fact that there is no border pattern.

I'm still working on Lady Victoria as well.  I hope to have her finished soon.  I can't wait to start her silk ribbon roses.  Sorry, no pic.  :-(

I took a Christmas stitch that I did last year and turned her into a pillow.  My intention was always to make her a pillow for Christmas this year, so after stitching her last year I just put her away in a project roll.  But this week I got her out and finished her up.  I am **super** pleased with how this turned out as I've never done anything like this before.  I can't "sew," not in the traditional sense with a machine, so this was all done by hand.  But it wasn't difficult or even terribly time consuming.  I started one day and finished the next.

And one more little extra I want to share. ~ Earlier this year, I stitched and made this little pouch.  It had been sold as a cosmetic case, but there is no way it would work for that.  It doesn't even close up in a way that would work for that and it's rather tiny.  So I put it away (procrastinating) with the intention of turning it into a needlebook at some point - which it's the perfect size and design for that.

So I finally took the whole 5 minutes needed this week and stitched in some felt and added in my needles.  I really love it.  A filled up needlebook makes me terribly happy.  :0)

That's about all I have for now.  Happy stitching everyone!  :0)

Progress, finishes, and deadlines approaching

I've made some good progress the past few days on my charity projects.  For my charity's project for Central PA Aid for Pets, I completed these two hand towels.  Both of these towels were donated by another stitcher.  Sometimes people want to help the charity out, but don't have the time to stitch for us.  So they will donate stitching items instead.  I've received towels and many bibs over the time we have been open.  They are all put to use and I also always try to inform the person who donated when their items are used and what they are used for.

For this same project, I also finished the plastic canvas wall hanging.  I'm going to go shopping this weekend and find either some black/red gingham or plain black or red ribbon to sew a loop onto the back for hanging.

And last but not least, I finished this sweet little cross stitch.  I'm going to get backing material for it this weekend and stitch it into a little pillow ornament.

The next project we are doing, I'm not as under the gun on a deadline for.  We will probably wrap this one up in January.  It is for the Sierra House in East Orange, NJ.  It's a half way house and my stitchers are working on everything from items for the house itself to baby items to be given to moms who live there who have small babies.  I designed these coasters myself.  It was simple, but fun.  I put algerian eyelet hearts in the center of each.

The next project isn't for my group, but for someone else.  It's a raffle to help a cancer patient with expenses.  I've already shared the cherry napkins and the one butterfly napkin I finished.  But now I have two of the butterflies done and I have two more to go, which will be a different pattern than the first two.  For those, I'm still very much working to get them done by the deadline which is coming up very soon.

I'm ready to get back to my own stitching.  I have projects that need my attention and also some extra little things I want to do for Fall and Christmas.  But it will be about another week to week and a half before I can do that.  I need to get these deadlines taken care of first.  :0)

Happy stitching everyone!!