Category Archives: Carriage House Samplings

January's "goal" progress report

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Terri | Comments Off

I don’t think I set any monthly goals and I don’t know if I’m going to. I think what I’d rather do is just post progress reports for myself on my goals for this year. So here’s where I am so far:

1. Actual Stitching

What I want: Mirabilia Summer Queen – I’m already stitching this and it has to be finished and framed by mid-May in order to be entered into the fair. I’m thinking I may stitch on this every Saturday and Sunday as well as devoting a full week to it. The rest of the items I’ll stitch on Monday – Friday.

Where I am: I have faithfully stitched on Summer Queen every Saturday and Sunday, plus 1 week (this past week). I’m pleased with my progress so far.

What I want: Carriage House Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – It will satisfy more than one ‘requirement’ for my rotation. There are 12 blocks and I am going to attempt to stitch one a month. I have a yard size piece of 40 ct Vintage Maple Sugar already in my stash, and I have been collecting the NPIs over the past year for this design and the Village. Just need to measure twice, cut once, surge and go!(Fortunately, the other two HRH designs have not tempted me, but I hear there’s an autumnal design in the works and I may be in B.I.G. trouble when it comes out.)

Where I am: I started this design but switched to Vintage Sand Dune. Since Kathy announced Autumn of Hawk Run Hollow is going to be on Sand Dune, I’m really glad I did. I don’t know if I am too ambitious, or if my preparing my fabric put me behind, but I didn’t get the first block finished.

What I want: Glory Bee Flying Monkies – new and small. I want to put this over my desk at work so I can just point to it 🙂

Where I am: I finished this and it’s sitting on my desk right this second. I purchased fabric and fibers for finishing yesterday and it’s going in the mail today to be finished off! Woohoo! This stitching slot will be filled by Home of a Needleworker, Too!

What I want: With My Needle Quaker Needlework Treasures – this has been around for over a year (I think even over 2!) and will fall into the ‘smalls’ category. I will decide whether or not to attempt the actual finishing once I get all the stitching done. I may just ‘farm’ it out. I do have everything for all the parts, etc., kitted.

Where I am: I made such great progress on this project this month. I am going to start looking for someone to finish it for me. I’ll first contact the sweet lady who’s doing the work on Flying Monkeys to see if she’s interested. If I happen to finish the stitching on this design during February, I’ll probably be slotting in another already started “necessities” project. If I don’t have one, then I’ll be starting a new one from my stash, that’s already kitted.

2. Framing –

What I want: Most of the designs I would like to see framed this year will be going on a ‘sampler wall’ in my bedroom. I am aiming for at least 6 designs.

Where I am: I have Token of Love ready to go to the framers, I’m just waiting on them to have a sale.

3. Stash Enhancement – I have myself on a stitching budget. I am going to try really, really hard to not purchase anything but we all know how that usually goes 😆 so I’m budgeting. I have tons of fabric, so really can’t see myself buying any of that in the future and am going to try to stitch as much from my stash as possible. One thing that has worked for me in the past is to trade for things. I may try that when I start on #4 below.

Where I am: I knew going in this one was going to be hard on me. I’m doing better than I thought I would though. I did make some purchases, but when it came to kitting a new design, I switched fibers to make sure I could stitch as much as possible from my stash. I think in future months, I’m going to list everything I buy so I can see just how *bad* I’m being 😉

4. Stash Downsizing – I am going to be thinning out my stash. I have some fibers to get rid of (anyone need to purchase the complete set of Vikki Clayton silks for HoHRH?) and I even want to sell some of my fabric. I know I have some duplicates in charts to weed through, plus my tastes have changed over the past 30+ years. I’ll be doing a lot of eBaying (user name is mcbcpsdca) and will post here when new stuff is going up and may even post things for trade before putting them up on eBay.

Where I am: I suppose stitching from my stash falls into this category somewhat. I did pass my Flying Monkeys on to another stitcher for a cup of coffee! 😆 I have started pulling things and listing them on my blog and linking to them on my photopage.

So that’s where I am. I need to post a photo of Summer Queen (was too tired to drag the camera out last night) and a before picture of Home of a Needleworker, and post the fiber changes I’m making. I can’t believe it’s Monday already. Saturday was spent up north stitching with friends all day, and Sunday was errand day. I really don’t like weekends like this past one because I feel like I don’t get any downtime, even though I’m spending all day Saturday stitching.

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Posted in Carriage House Samplings, Framing, Goals, Mirabilia, Stitching, With My Needle

Rain, rain, go away

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Terri | 6 comments

We’re all a little stir crazy around here. It’s been raining non-stop for 5 days. We’ve even made national news, it’s been so wet! That being said, the angry ocean is so beautiful these days. I feel like standing on the beach, arms raised to the sky, and screaming as loud as I can. Great picture, huh! 😆 It’s 43 degrees right this minute and the sun is trying to shine. There are still some rain cells off our coast but hopefully they’ll stay away the rest of the weekend. We could use a break. I know it’s supposed to start back up again on Monday, but it would be nice to have a clear weekend.

Work

I was told yesterday that some changes needed to be done and was actually asked for my input. After our office discussion it was decided that I’m to be moved back to full-time and to take back over more of the work that has been outsourced. (This is a trial run and I have no idea how long it will last, but I’m hoping ‘forever.’) I have been kept dangerously out of the loop since we outsourced our dictation because I haven’t been seeing everything. I have been blessed with a very good memory but in the past month there’s been a lot of “I don’t know” and “I haven’t seen it” coming out of my mouth. That’s not a good thing when you’re in charge of calendaring and following up on deadlines for the Court – not to mention it drives me nuts if I have to say that. So I’m going in to work today to do some rearranging at my desk to make it easier for me to take over those additional duties. We’re also bringing in a once-a-week person to do our filing and work on our notebooks. Thank goodness!

Kahuna

He has a half-marathon scheduled for tomorrow. In addition to the rain we’ve been having this week, he also has a small ‘injury’ he’s dealing with. Something is bothering his calf and now he’s not sure he’s going to race tomorrow. He’s going to attempt a half hour run today to see how it’s doing. I think he’s been overtraining for the half-ironman (he’s running twice a day on most days), but he doesn’t think so. Whatever it is, I hope it clears up soon, since I know it’s bothering him.

Stitching

I am in love with HOHRH. I’ve seen several stitchers mention on their blogs that it was a ‘fun stitch’ but really had no idea what they meant by that until I started stitching it. I got off to a slow start since at the last minute I decided to put my name in the first block and it took some stitching and unstitching several times to get it where it is right now, and I’m still not completely happy with it! 😆 I’ve left off the date since I don’t know if I can get it done by the end of the year, but am thinking maybe I should have put it in there for more incentive to have it done. Anyway, I may go back and adjust my name later. I’m sad that I’m putting it away today for Summer Queen, but she does have a deadline. I’ll be stitching on her for 9 days this go-around.

The photo is a little darker that normal on my screen, but you can see the vintage look of the fabric really well.

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

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Posted in Carriage House Samplings, Family, HOHRH, Stitching, Work

Free days aren't really

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Terri | 3 comments

I have a love/hate relationship with extra days off work.

I hate that I only have 4 days to do 5 days work in, and add on to that the fact that my days are still only 6 hours long and I feel like I’m required to put in 8 hours of work, well, let’s just say that it makes me look all the more forward to the next weekend. Since today is a no-pay day for me, I hate it for that reason as well. I know I could use vacation time, but I’m saving it for my surgery recovery.

I love that I get an extra day for a weekend because I’m not rushed to get all my ‘chores’ done so I can sit to stitch, read, play with the puppies, watch stoopid stuff on TV. I normally don’t have a ton of laundry because I do a load every night after work, but when I know I have a long weekend, I’ll put it off (I have no idea why my brain works this way) so today will be spent climbing Mt. Washmore (or rather getting to the bottom of the laundry barrel). I have an extra day to do the grocery shopping. I have an extra day to read/stitch. I have an extra day to actually rest.

Today is an extra good extra day off because it’s raining. We have some huge water headed our way. People here do NOT know how to drive in the sprinkle, much less in the rain 😉 I’ll stay home (unless Kahuna drags me out to a movie or something).

Today is a good day because I’m starting a new stitching project. It was hard for me to actually stitch on Summer Queen yesterday and not start HOHRH 😀

So, before I get on to HOHRH, here’s my latest progress on Summer Queen.

Oh, and a word to the wise (which sometimes I’m not). When I pulled out my fabric to cut this morning I discovered 2 things. It was no longer a full yard (I cannot for the life of me remember when I cut it much less what I cut it for) and I had 2 pieces of 40 ct Vintage Sand Dune bagged and tagged already for HOHRH and VOHRH! This is what happens when you go on a mega-long stitching hiatus and have way too much stash. All I could think after my discovery was thank goodness I had the Sand Dune because I would have been one upset stitchy person if I didn’t have fabric like I thought I did.

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Posted in Carriage House Samplings, HOHRH, Mirabilia, Stitching, Work

Quaker Needlework Treasures Update

Posted on January 17, 2010 by Terri | Comments Off

Here’s as far as I got last week. I’m going to have to go back and frog the ’06’ out of the main piece 😆

Last night was full of football goodness by way of my Saints! Woo to the Hoo!!!

Today Kahuna’s team plays…the Cowboys. Yuk. He’s a Saints fan too and doesn’t know what he’s going to do if they end up playing each other. I know what he better do, and that’s all I’m going to say about that 😉

I made my floss tags for HOHRH last night and ‘loaded up’ the NPIs for the first house. I even made my working copy of the house I’m starting with — the upper left house. I’m SO excited! I still need to cut and serge my fabric but will tackle that in the morning.

More Summer Queen stitching today and maybe even a new progress picture tonight.

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Posted in Football, HOHRH, Mirabilia, Stitching, With My Needle

Unexpected pleasures

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Terri | Comments Off

I’ve had a very good all around week.

Work

Received a memo that I will definitely be doing mostly work for atty J! Woohoo! I was also told yesterday that I could move my stuff to the ‘big desk’ which means more spreading out room for me. I think it also means that someone else is going to be brought in. The case settled on Thursday, which means the attorneys are back in the office. Late yesterday afternoon head attorney said he wanted to close the office on Monday so I’m getting an unexpected three-day weekend!

Puppies

Have caught them several times snuggled up to each other 🙂

Stitching

I spent the better part of the past week working on Needlework Treasures. While it did stitch up faster than I thought, and I was further along that I remembered, it didn’t get finished this week. I’ll post a picture later, when I put it away and pull out Summer Queen.

I don’t know how much stitching I’ll get done on Summer Queen this weekend because I have been bitten by the stash bug. Not the buying one, the organizing one. I have been trying to post my stash on the picture portion of my webpage. As of right this minute, this is how far I’ve gotten. Oh my! What a mistake this has been. I have forgotten more than remembered what I have. It’s almost like being turned loose in a stitching shop. Part of me is tempted to see how long I could stitch without ever spending another dime…but what would be the fun in that. I’m almost embarrassed by how much I have, though.

One design I’ve come across that I have forgotten was Industrious Ladies. Such a beautiful thing.

As I’ve been going through it, I’ve pulled out more stuff to sell. I think instead of posting all of it on the page tab above, I’m going to list what I can on my webpage. I’ll post updates here.

I’m really looking foward to my day off on Monday since I’ll be starting Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I have the supplies to make up some thread drops and creating those is also going to put a dent in my Summer Queen stitching. I’m not too worried about that though, since the next week will be devoted strictly to stitching on her.

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Posted in 4Sale, Carriage House Samplings, HOHRH, Mirabilia, Puppies, With My Needle, Work

Stitchy Saturday

Posted on January 2, 2010 by Terri | Comments Off

Stitchy Saturday happened at my house instead of at the LNS. I just didn’t feel well enough to subject the others attending to what I may still have. So instead I played in my stash to help me with my stitching goals and then I stitched.

I think I have come to some firm goals:

1. Actual Stitching

Mirabilia Summer Queen – I’m already stitching this and it has to be finished and framed by mid-May in order to be entered into the fair. I’m thinking I may stitch on this every Saturday and Sunday as well as devoting a full week to it. The rest of the items I’ll stitch on Monday – Friday.

Carriage House Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – It will satisfy more than one ‘requirement’ for my rotation. There are 12 blocks and I am going to attempt to stitch one a month. I have a yard size piece of 40 ct Vintage Maple Sugar already in my stash, and I have been collecting the NPIs over the past year for this design and the Village. Just need to measure twice, cut once, surge and go!(Fortunately, the other two HRH designs have not tempted me, but I hear there’s an autumnal design in the works and I may be in B.I.G. trouble when it comes out.)

Glory Bee Flying Monkies – new and small. I want to put this over my desk at work so I can just point to it 🙂

With My Needle Quaker Needlework Treasures – this has been around for over a year (I think even over 2!) and will fall into the ‘smalls’ category. I will decide whether or not to attempt the actual finishing once I get all the stitching done. I may just ‘farm’ it out. I do have everything for all the parts, etc., kitted.

Once Summer Queen is finished I’ll probably add in my French Alphabet Sampler or La Marquoir de Justine. I really would like for the two of them to be finished and framed this year.

2. Framing – Most of the designs I would like to see framed this year will be going on a ‘sampler wall’ in my bedroom. I am aiming for at least 6 designs.

So for now, that’s it! And can I just say that with all the football that’s on TV, this feels like Sunday to me so I feel like I’m getting a free day for stitching tomorrow ! !

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Posted in Carriage House Samplings, Glory Bee, Goals, Mirabilia, With My Needle

Woohoo it's Monday!

Posted on February 18, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

and I don’t have to be to work today 😆

I managed to make a dent in the “to-do” list I posted on Friday.

The swim went great for me. I managed to push myself 100 yards further than the last trip, plus for the 1st time I managed to swim 100 yards twice without stopping. The second time I had to roll over and backstroke a couple of times, but I did NOT stop. This is a great breakthrough for me as it shows me that I have not been pushing myself hard enough. Kahuna is convinced I need to be swimming everyday, and I’m going to ramp it up a little this week. I don’t know if that means going more yards per trip, or more trips. I’ll be playing it by ear.

Saturday I got my hair cut….short. She even shaved my neck, which I’ve never had done in my life!! I’m not sure I like the cut. It’s really the same as I’ve had, just shorter in the back. My hair grows in a circle around my head and with it being this short, it kind of wants to do the fuzzy chicken thing unless I mess with it a lot. I’m not the sort of person who wants to mess with her hair much. I got it cut short for less messing with. I’ll see if it “grows” on me. I love the way it looks, it’s just a little more work than what I’m wanting. I also went to a new stylist, who was 50% cheaper, fast, great – and pregnant. Why is it I feel like I find someone I like, they’re never around for long? I didn’t ask her if she was going to return after having the baby (her first). I’ll go to her again in about 6 weeks and I’ll talk to her then. I’ve also found myself a new manicurist, who’s also 50% cheaper than my last one. I wasn’t going to continue having my nails done but the swimming just destroys them, and while I don’t keep them very long, I would like for them to look nice. Both ladies work at the salon on the base which is 5 minutes from where I live. Amazing the great resources you can find when you take the time to look. But you realize that I’m moving right? 😆

During all this beautifying Kahuna was surfing, and then he had a cycle/run brick which left me at the house working in my office. I think it was 3 before we left the house to do our errands. I went to Joann’s and got the fibers picked out for Hannah Beeby. I am really happy with my choice and am looking forward to the stitchalong starting the end of March. I’ve decided on DMC 839, 3863, and 224 on Lambswool Linen.

I haven’t decided on 28 or 32 count, but am leaning toward the 28. I just need to see if what I have is large enough. I also picked up a pair of embroidery scissors, a thread holder for my sewing machine and a couple of other little things bringing my total to less than what I would have paid for the scissors full price. Yay for sales and coupons. I neglected to get a new bulb for my OTT though and I have a 40% coupon for that, that I really need to take advantage of, since the lighting by my sewing machine is next to none.

I went through my pantry Saturday and made a menu and grocery list around what was in there. I’m determined to get us back to eating better and not break the bank doing it. I spent less than my budgeted $75 on groceries Sunday, and only forgot 1 thing. Woohoo!

The rest of the day was spent doing a whole lot of not much. We really enjoyed Daytona 500. I would have been happier if Dale Earnhart or Casey Kahne won, but it was great that Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordan did not! 🙂 The rest of my time on Sunday was spent on and off in my office. I made great headway with my desk and got my keyboard and printer moved and almost everything put where I want it OFF the desk. I have some photos to be framed and moved around and I’ll be tickled with my desk setup.

Stitching? Well except for playing floss toss for Hannah, I didn’t have anything to do with stitching on Saturday or Sunday. That will be different today though. I am running out to town to see about the above mentioned picture frames, and to hit up Costco for some bread (but will still be way under budget). The rest of my day will be spent doing laundry, stitching, and catching up with the stuff I have recorded on the DVR. I only have 1 small thing to stitch on the RR that I want to mail out tomorrow and then I’ll be working on Ann Holewll. I’m going to have to piece together some qsnap components for it, but am planning on using some of the money I get from selling my stash to buy another set of rods for my Handi Clamps.

I would like to get the fabric cut for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow today, but if it doesn’t happen I’m not going to worry about it and just put it on next week’s “to-do” list. My poor French Alphabet Sampler is probably going to be ignored today as well since I really need to get caught up with Ann Holewll.

I wanted to stay off the computer over the weekend and except for cleaning out some old emails and emptying my camera chip, I did pretty good! I managed to sell several of the Shepherd’s Bush items I posted so was on the computer getting that squared away. I didn’t do any posting of The Silver Lining stuff, but that’s because the box they’re in is sort of out of reach right now as I work my way across my office cleaning and sorting and selling. I do need to get them up though.

I didn’t get anything done on ebookdrop.com either. I could probably do that from work, since I’ll have to haul them in for mailing anyway. I know the prices won’t be much, but they’ll be more than just sitting in my office taking up space and collecting dust. I’m almost to the point of throwing things away so I don’t have to move it or clean around it so if I can get some money for it, that’s better. I also want to look into cashduck.com for a bit more income. I think I’d rather go this route for now and not increase my hours at work until we decide where we’re going to live. I may increase them by 15 minutes a day though in a week or so. We’ll see.

I’ve decided to split whatever extra I have coming in equally 3 ways:

Training – Kahuna is building me a bike from components he’s selling on one of his bikes, and I want to contribute. This money will stay in paypal, since he buys a lot of components from places that accept paypal.

Stitching – I love my hobby. I have tons of money invested in it. I have lots of beautiful things to work with without buying more so I’m trying to buy only what I need to stitch from my stash. The first item will be the 14” bars for the Handi Clamps I mentioned above. I’ll probably also use this $ for finishing. I have a savings account I don’t use that I’ll keep these funds in.

Debt – While it won’t be much, the last 1/3 of my extra income will go toward getting my debt paid off.

I thought I would feel deprived while I worked on getting myself out of my debt fix; however, I have taken the advice of several blogs I read and made sure to have some “wants” budgeted for (like my manicures). It’s working and I almost feel like I’m playing a game seeing what I can accomplish with what I have. I’m also trying to get out of the impulse spending that I practiced in the past. I’m doing pretty good! I also have my wonderful hobby that entertains me which helps a lot.

I didn’t mean for this to get so long, but I guess I had a lot to get down after all my thinking this weekend. I guess I’d better say “The End” to this novel and get on with my day.

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Posted in 4Sale, Ann Holewll, FAS, Finances, Hannah Beeby, HOHRH, NASCAR, Training

Stitch Stash Update

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Wonderful postal day to top off my wonderful doctor office visit.

Today’s mail brought me more silks for Houses of and Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I’m 1 silk short of having all of them for HOHRH, and that’s because I typed in the wrong number by one digit when I sent in my order. 🙄

I also received the latest Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers, Where My Heart Blooms. While I love almost every other one I’ve received, I think this one is definately my favorite so far and has been moved to the top of my start list for Loose Feathers designs. This year I have decided that my automatics should include chart and fibers only so I can start to use some of the tiny bit of fabric stash I have. Did I just hear someone choke? 😛

Have you ever noticed yourself collecting designs without realizing it? While I do already have a few of the designs, I have found myself in a Little House Needleworks mood lately. Either my tastes have altered just a bit or Diane is designing more with me in mind 😉 Anyway I have added several charts to my small chart stash (there was that sputtering sound again!), namely, Neccessities Sampler, Psalm 145, The Sampler Lady, Nature’s Beauty, Two White Houses, Two Red Houses, Two Blue Houses, and Home of a Needlworker (too!). Quite the haul, huh.

I don’t know why I put them off for so long, but I also picked up a couple of Prairie Schooler’s Santas: 1984-1987, 1988 – 1991, and 1996 – 1999. I definately would like to add the others, but they’ll have to go on my wish list for now.

So, Kahuna has come home from work, dinner has been served and cleaned up after (oh the joys of leftovers!), puppies have been played with, and it’s now time for me to catch up with my DVR and stitch.