A Finish and A Start

Welcome Back!

I finished stitching Trick or Treat this evening.  It took a little more than time than I thought.
I didn't take a lunch today because I took the morning off to tend to some moving chores.  I did stitch a little while waiting for my number to be called at the DMV or MVC as it's now called in New Jersey.  I watched an episode of Madam Secretary when I got home from work and finished the stitching.

So into the bin of shame this one goes until I get the unpacking done and feel like I can dedicate some time finishing.

And a new start - the next one in the series called Night Song.  A very little start and it looks like I went a little off the reservation with my fabric choice.  I'm going to keep it.

I had a busy morning.  I went to the new house to meet the wifi guy and the mattress delivery people. While I waited I unpacked my car - again.  This time it was my hanging clothes , well most of them and some things for the stitching room.  I had time to clean the bathrooms while I waited and to thoroughly clean the refrigerator.  Those were the last tasks I wanted to complete before the move over the weekend.  Of course, I have lots of packing to do here.  I'm confident I'll get it done.

Thanks for stopping by.

So Close

I am almost finished with Trick or Treat. Just a few more stitches on the candy corn and one or two more the the star-like shapes. I should be able to finish it off at lunchtime tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

January 10

This is going to be a quick one.

Here is a picture of another finish Blackbird's Winter Delivery by Blackbird Designs.  The backing is the same fabric as the front.

I'll try to post the next few days but they'll be short ones as I'm in full moving mode.  Lots of boxes left to pack.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sofa Sunday - Not!

I had planned to spend lots of time stitching today.  But it didn't work out that way.

I had an idea in the shower this morning and decided to follow through on that instead.  All of my children are home or in the area right now. And my boys have their birthdays this week.  I decided that we should have a little get together tonight for their birthdays.  Nothing fancy, just pizza and cake.  Not a lot for me to do except buy their cards and the cake.  We had a very nice impromptu family dinner tonight.  Lots of leftover pizza - but that's always good for lunch. 

I also decided that today was the day to put Christmas away.  I started by gathering up some of the things and piling them on a chair in the living room.  After my walk we finished putting everything away.  It goes away a lot faster than it came out.  And we had much more help putting things into the attic.  Always good.  And I brought out some of my snowmen.  Plus, I put out my January decorations.  

Then it became time to go for my walk - strategically timed so that I can walk about 2 hours - not fast - and be back at my car before dark.  I drove to a different part of the trail and walked back to where I had been yesterday.  Now I have covered that part of the trail.  Next time I'll continue on north and see how far I can get.  It was a little cool for a walk.  I did see the sun a few times.

I had hoped to watch Downton tonight but have decided that it will be early to bed.  I'll catch up on Downton another night this week.

I did make a little progress on Crazy Socks - I got the outer border finished and it met.  So here's how it looks now.

And a little more progress on Sewing Bird Pocket.  

I'm off to get ready for and get into bed.  I may stitch a little before I nod off.

Have a great evening!

Keep on Stitching!

Saturday

I didn't stitch as much as I had hoped today.  Other things got in the way.  Like cleaning and laundry - necessary.  And I did go for another walk, only four miles today.  It was getting late and I didn't want to be walking on the path after dark.

I did finish all of the red on the bird for the Sewing Bird Pocket.

And I kitted up Crazy Socks by Rosewood Manor and made a little start on that today.  I'm stitching this on 28 ct. Vintage (because I had it in my stash) and using two strands.  I think that will give me the coverage I need.

I opted to start with border as I usually do.  I haven't gotten very far and hope to do a bit more before I go to bed.

Keep on Stitching!

More Finishes and Holiday Preparations

Here are two more finishes from the weekend

Salute to Abigail by Blackbird Designs.  This was  a special piece designed for the Prim Stitcher's Society sponsored by Dyeing to Stitch.

I did a very primitive finish as suggested by the finishing instructions.  I will hang this in my kitchen with my other patriotic pieces.

I did finally finish the stitching on the fob for the Delaware House Stitch Book.

My attempt at the octagonal fob did not come out exactly as I had planned, but I think it's good enough.  You can see the inside piece glued in place.  The space under the tree was left blank so that needles and pins could be placed there.

And finally, the cover.  I am happy with this finish and feel confident that I can do this again with the other patterns I have chosen that have this finish.

Tonight I did some baking in preparation for Thanksgiving.

First, Peanut Butter Bars or Crack Brownies as my Baby Boy calls them.  They are highly addictive. The recipe calls for a yellow cake mix, peanut butter, eggs, butter, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate chips.

And then a batch of mini pumpkin pies.  I found the inspiration for this thanks to  Mary from Home is Where the Boat Is.  Hers are truly mini works of art.  Mine, well, I think they look pretty good for my first attempt and for using a knife to free-hand cut out my leaves and pumpkins.  After looking at Mary's blog I realize I have a long way to go in the styling department.  Something for me to aspire to.

Snow is predicted for tomorrow which could impact travel plans.  I'm headed of to work in the morning regardless.

Keep on Stitching!

Mail Call

Look what came in the mail last week!

I have been collecting these with intention of stitching all of them.  I am undecided as to how or if I want to perosnalize them.  I really like the idea of having all 12 displayed on one wall.

Keep on Stitching!

Breath of Spring

My first start for March is Breath of Spring by Blackbird Designs.  I've started this on 35 count Lambswool over one.  Now, I need to find some itty bitty buttons for the finishing.  I'll keep that in mind in my travels and see what I can come up with.  I'm thinking that buttons from baby clothes would be ideal. 

Hmmm

I have re-read two of my earlier posts and remembered a few other things.

I have dropped out of  Nutrisystem.  I liked the food but felt that I was missing out on family dinners.  I made my Nutrisystem dinner and then a dinner for the family.  Truth be told, their dinner usually looked better than the Nutrisystem.  When I called to cancel they did offer me some alternatives to the full plan.  I decided that for me this wasn't the way to go. 

My new plan is to record what I eat - something I need to work on since I didn't do the tracking so well with Nutrisystem.  And try to walk 10,000 steps a day.  I have hit that goal a few days and would like to get a nice long streak going.  I bought a Fitbit (the pink one) to help me keep track of my steps.  And it tells me so many other things.  I like it.  What I like best is that it isn't bulky and it stays in place.  I remember that I had a different pedometer for one (yes 1!) day and lost it somewhere - I think in the attic in a box - but still havene't found it all these years later.  Mr. S has devised a trail that goes up the hill in the back of our house, across the top, down the hill into a neighbor's yard, back up and across the top of the hill (actually the top of the grass part - there are woods further up) and then back down to our house.  A good thing is that Fitbit tracks a good portion of that walk as stairs climbed.  Interesting.

I have done some clean up in my stitching room.  And a bit of destashing.  This is a picture of a little chest of drawers that I got at TheContainer Store.  I found that I can house all of my DMC in here.  A great solution for me.  The DMC fits three rows across in the little floss bags.  I used a bit of paper in between the rows to prevent the bags from sliding around and refiling themselves.





I also realize that  I finished the stitching on the Thankful November stockings by Blackbird Designs.  Just have to put those together (along with the other 10 months that I've stitched!)

And in looking around my stitching room I found the nametag I made for the nametag challenge for the retreat.  I used parts of Lizzie Kate's Autumn ABC's for this.  It wasn't what I was originally going to do but the pattern leapt into my hands as I was cleaning up my stitching room.  We were given the fabric and floss to be used in the challenge and were able to add embellishments and finish it any way we chose.  During the retreat there is a point where everyone votes for their favorite.  I liked the one that won much better than my own. 

And finally, a finish.  It's been a while since I've been able to post one of those.  And I mean really finished.  This is my finish of Leaves Grow Old by Lizzie Kate.  I like the way this turned out.  I used lizard litter for the stuffing and am not sure that I'm really happy with it.  I'll have to play with it a bit more.  I wasn't able to make the points on the corners as sharp as I wanted - I think my interfacing was too stiff.  So we'll call this a 'prim' finish and let it go at that.



I hope you have a great day.

Keep on stitching!

WIPocalypse Update #2

Here's my progress for the second WIPocalypse post.

Sweet August by Blackbird Designs.  I put the last stitches on these on February 1.  You can see close ups of the individual stockings in my February Already? post. 

Pretty scant - but it's a busy time of year for me at work which spills over into the amount of energy I have left for other things.

February Already?

It seems like yesterday that we were celebrating New Year's.  And I'm a day late with this post, but I wanted to share my monthly decorations for February.

Sheepy in my stitching room with his February blanket by Homespun Elegance.

February Monthly Mania by Heart in Hand

February Heart that hangs on my corner cupboard in the dining room by Leisure Arts.

February Santa of the Month by Curtis Boehringer

Be True by Shepherd's Bush.  This is on the end of the love seat that serves as my happy chair.

January was a busy month around here.  I did get some stitching done - a minor miracle since I spent a good part of the month recovering from bronchitis - but I am much better now.  You can see pictures of my earlier accomplishments in my WIPocalype post.

Last night I put the last stitches on these three beauties from Sweet August  by Blackbird Designs.

Gentle Poppy

Wild Sunflower

Roadside Thistle

I have yet to finish finish any of these little stockings but will be attempting that soon - maybe in the next week or so.  I'd like to put these in a little basket that I have with seasonal pillows.

Also, in the next few days I need to get out my Valentine's Day decorations.  I don't think I have that many things finished for this holiday but I sure have a lot in the box in shame to be completed.  I think I feel some finishing coming on in the next little while!

Keep on Stitching!

WIPocalypse Post #1

I wanted to post a picture of each item on my WIPocalypse page but found out that would be over 30 pictures!!  YIKES!!  So I will post what I have so far.   I finished stitching and have even framed Little Boys by Cricket Collection.  Shown below.

I have finished stitching By the Chimney With Care (Three Stockings for January) by Blackbird Designs.




I am currently working on Sweet August (Three Stockings for August) by Blackbird Designs.  Sorry for the lousy out of focus picture.  A better picture will be coming soon when they're stitched.





I also fiddled Anniversaries of the Heart and organized the floss - no small feat - and with all this would you believe that I am missing some of the colors?  I'm sure they are around here "borrowed" most likely for a different project.  I'll track them down soon.

Getting ready for the WIPocalypse  forced  inspired me to clean up my stitching room.

Stitching Updates

Here are pictures of what me and my needle have been up to - not as much as I had hoped.  Progress is progress.

Progress on An Open Heart by The Drawn Thread.  I'm not sure if the first heart in the next section is right and I'll have to figure that out before I move forward.  I was working on this at Stitch n Gab on Wednesday and was having a hard time concentrating.

A start on Autumn by Blackbird Designs.  I had hoped to work on this on Wednesday but failed to make sure that I had all the necessary floss in my bag.  So hit a bit of snag on that one.  Fortunately, I almost always have more than one project in my bag.

A little more to show on The Red Thread by Bent Creek.  

And a start on A Stitcher's Purse by With They Needle and Thread.

I'm hoping to log lots more stitching time in the coming week.  I think that things are starting to settle down with the restoration of our power and getting caught up on my homekeeping tasks.

Keep On Stitching!

Big Update

I think this will be a long one.  I've got lots of pictures to share. 

First up are some more storm pictures.  We wound up with 9 inches of snow when it was all over.  We lost power on Saturday afternoon and had it restored on Wednesday afternoon.  Thankfully we have a generator so we were able to keep our food cold, our house warm, and the well pump running.  Many people weren't as lucky.  As far as I know there are still many people who are still waiting to have their power restored.

This was the first casualty early in the storm  - a branch from our neighbor's walnut tree.

This is another neighbor's tree that kind of split in half and took our power lines with it.    You can see them dangling from the pole on his side of the road.

These are pictures from the day after the storm.  It was a beautiful sunny day with great blue skies.  Hard to believe after the day before. The second picture shows just how heavy the snow was, bending a branch on our Japanese Maple down to the ground.  Normally a person can walk under that branch without having to bend over.  I am amazed at how resilient some of the trees are.  Once the snow fell off the branches many of them bounced right back.  The other pictures from around our house and neighboring properties.

Ok, so I never showed the pictures for the monthly decorations for October.  Without further ado they are ..

October Santa of the Month by Curtis Boehringer.

Monthly Mania - October by Heart in Hand.

Sheepy with his October blanket designed by Homespun Elegance.

And my October heart of the month from a Leisure Arts book.

A little fall decorating is shown in the following pictures.

Moonlit Garden by Blackbird Designs, part of the Loose Feather series.

Awesome Autumn by M Designs.

An Autumn piece by Lizzie Kate.

A couple of Bent Creek or Heart in Hand pieces that I put out for Autumn.  The piece in on the top in the center was a Twisted Threads piece that was published in one of the magazines years ago. That was my first over one piece.  I'm not sure who designed the Sunflower Sampler on the second shelf, perhaps Sunflower Samplings.  And I think the heart and sunflower was from a Leisure Arts book.

The shelf in my dining room with Autumn Silhouette by Blackbird Designs and I think a piece called Autumn House by Bent Creek or Heart in Hand.  I'm not sure which.  But if you know, I'd be happy to correct my entry.

Then a few Halloween things.

I'm pretty sure that the pillow on the left is from The Cricket Collection and the one on the right is by Trail Creek Farms.

A little door knob pillow by either Heart in Hand or Bent Creek.

And a framed piece by Carriage House Samplings called Ravens and Pumpkins and Cats, Oh My!
I stitched that last year.

And a view of our entertainment center done  for Autumn and Halloween.

I will post some stitching updates later tonight or tomorrow.  Enjoy your Saturday!

I have learned from this post that I need to keep better track of what I've stitched and the designer.  It's hard to remember all this stuff!

Keep On Stitching!