Category Archives: Samplers – Repro

Back in the saddle

If anyone is still reading, I apologize for not posting anything of substance lately. I have been a bit busy.

I traveled to Nashville to enjoy the company of some wonderful needlework friends, many of whom I’ve only known from “online” for 12+ years. Finally getting to hug them in real life was such a wonderful thing and from all of the conversations we had you would never have known that we had never met face-to-face before then. I had a blast and was worn out when I got home from all the talking, shopping, eating, humidity, and lack of sleep from some very late-night conversations with my roommate. It’s an annual event, next year will be hosted in Arizona, and I’m already counting down the days.

I had been in a stitching slump prior to my trip, and being with those women took care of it. I have been making great progress on And They Sinned. I managed to put in about 12 hours in 3 days, which is more than I stitched in 3 months prior to that. Last night was open stitch night at my LNS and there was a wonderful group there. I started a new reproduction sampler, Elizabeth Sheffield, and will be stitching it in 6 parts with 3-4 other ladies. Stitching slump over! Hoorah!

I also managed to stitch all of my squares from JMLW Caramel Corn that I had glue-basted prior to my trip. I am putting off piecing them together for a bit since it’s not due until October, and I have a couple of other things I need to get finished before then. One of them being my signature blocks for the Small Quilts yahoo group I belong to.

I’ve also been spending a little more time on home “renovations.” Plus I’ve gotten to go to work a couple of times and play with the fabric at the store.

And last but not least, since I’ve been spending so much time in my stitching room, I have been thinking about how to wrangle my crafting life back into a somewhat less-scarey monster — but that’s for a separate post 😉

Mister has been working furiously rebuilding the underside of his Jeep Wrangler. It looks so good! I doubt there’s very little there that hasn’t been pulled apart and either replaced, or refurbbed by him. I can attest that, due to the amount of laundry I’ve been doing, it is a very messy job. Living oceanside for 10 years, plus having his surfboards dripping salt water, did a bit of a number on it. He’s moving on to the interior today. My living room has become the storage spot for huge boxes, one of which is a new back seat that he’s starting to install today. He has yet to start working on switching his office with the guestroom, and the cabinet boxes are in the living room too. He is headed back surfing next week, and classes start back the day after he gets back, so those boxes will stay there for a bit. I’m finding that they aren’t upsetting me, like they would have in the past. I just vacuum around them. LOL

Gratitude

Since I switched from full crosses to Continental stitch I am really loving Scarlet Letter’s Gratitude.

Here is my first progress photo.  I have completely stitched the little lady on the right, but I obviously took this photo prior to that.  I can only work on her for a short period of time due to the stitch count so I have been saving her for stitch-in at Attic.  I have yet to decide whether or not she’ll be coming to Las Vegas with me next week (squeeeee!  Vegas!!!!  Sorry 😉 )

Scarlet Letter "Gratitude"Over 1 on 40 count

Scarlet Letter “Gratitude”
Over 1 on 40 count

I bought the majority of required DMC for Berlin Woolwork Sampler yesterday.  The store was out of a couple of colors.  Hoping to cut and serge my fabric today/tomorrow and start organizing all that floss.

If any stitching happens today, before I head to Attic for tonight’s open stitch, it will be on Fairy Moon.  It’s very hard to not keep stitching on And They Sinned.  I am really loving that piece.

2012 Year End Review

My 2012 Goals were:

■Get back to blogging more frequently.  I think I did blog more frequently, but still feel guilty that I didn’t blog more than I did.

■Get back to rotating my stitching and tracking my time.  I started out really strong on my rotation then lost my watch 🙁  I did continue to track my time, but more in the number of days it took me to stitch something than the actual length of time.

■Stick to my WIPocalypse goals and keep my page updated.   Not 100% success.

■Post to the Theme-a-licious challenge as often as my rotation works into it.  I was doing rather well in this, too, until I hit a “snag” then just couldn’t get myself back in it.

■Post my monthly TUSAL.  I don’t think I ever did this.  It was laziness on my part because I certainly kept up with it at home!

■Participate in at least 6 3 Fair and Square exchanges. (changed 1/8/12) 1 finished 2/12  I had every intention in participating in the 3 exchanges.  Once I finished the first one I never saw notification of any others.  I’ve since figured out what I did wrong so I can see when the new exchanges come up. 

■Finish out all 6 3 received Fair and Square exchanges.  My received item is sitting on my finishing table waiting on me to finish it.  I’ve already decided what I want to do, I’m just having trouble finding a suitable finishing item for it.

■Stitch a Santa ornament for my Santa display.  I stitched 3 Prairie Schooler Santas for my display…but they never got ornamentified 🙁

■Take at least 1 stitching related class.  Oh, joy, oh, yes!  I attended the Attic’s Summer Soiree and had a blast!  The projects we received in class are at the very top of my finish list for 2013.

■Finish logging my charts into my spreadsheet.  I am 90% finished with this!!!!

■Start organizing my freebies.  Didn’t get to them or the magazines since I didn’t finish with the charts.

■Organize my magazine designs.

The first half of 2012 found Mister and I holding our breath and living a wait and see life. His retirement on February 1 scared us both a little. It was such a huge change for us going first from two incomes, down to his, then down to 75% of his. I was so thankful that I remembered how frugal I had to be when we first married. Of course back then there was no internet to peruse to find hints and secrets of how everyone else was doing it 😉 It took awhile for his disability pay to kick in, but once that happened we both felt the relief those funds could bring.

I traveled in January to Las Vegas and had a blast with Melissa, Annette and Annette’s mother, Pat. There was a lot of stitching, and laughing, and a good bit of gambling that occurred and I actually came home richer than I arrived.

I enjoyed as many open stitching nights as I could at Attic Needlework. There were several Bag Ladies stitchins, and I loved, loved, loved the Sampler Sundays I attended. I feel so blessed to be living near Attic, getting to know so many designers that live nearby, and stitching with some wonderful women.

I found a really nice quilt shop and started the first of 3 quilt classes in January. I still haven’t finished the two quilts (one needs binding, one needs quilting and binding) but I did manage to finish what I think is a beautiful quilted bag that I tote all over the place with my stitching.

I read more books than I can remember and feel bad that I didn’t keep track of just how much I read.

And stitching! Lordy, did I stitch this year! I have been having so much fun with it! I had 11 stitching pieces on my WIPacolypse list.  I finished 3.  I also started 7 more, and finished 5 of those.  Not bad 😉

  • Petite Mexican Sampler – The Samplar Workes – finished
  • Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler – (started 9/99) stitched on for 10 hours
  • Harmony – Serendipity Designs –  started 11/23/97 — this had about 10 stitches in it.  I took it with me to Vegas and unstitched it, then gridded the bottom of the fabric.  Fortunately, I measured before I started stitching again and discovered there would have only been a one inch margin all the way around my fabric.  I have put it aside, and taken it off my WIP/UFO list for now since there’s nothing but a gridded piece of fabric.
  • Haiku – Dimples Designs – started January 2004 – finished
  • Fairy Moon – Mirabilia – started October 27, 2004 – this saw a lot of stitching.  I am almost finished with the stitching and will keep her in my 2013 rotation until she’s finished.
  • QS Letting Go – HAED – November 19, 2005
  • Red Desert Scissor Pocket – The Cat’s Whiskers – started October 11, 2006 – needs finishing out
  • Quaker Needlework Treasures – With My Needle – originally started October 2006; picked back up January 11, 2010
  • Le Marquoir de Justine – started January 4, 2007
  • Hannah Beeby – finished 4/15/12
  • Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings – started January 18, 2010
  • New Start – Rose Quaker Sampler – Wiehenburg – (Started 4/25/12 stitchalong on Wednesdays)
  • New Start — Hannah Gilpin 1800 – Needleprint
  • Mary Wigham – Needleprint – New Start 4/26/12 – finished 9/1/12  I fell so in love with this piece I couldn’t put it down!
  • Americana – Carriage House Samplings – New Start finished 6/9/12
  • America – Little House Needleworks – New Start finished 6/17/12
  • Betsy – Sheepish Designs – New Start finished 6/25/12
  • America – Blackbird Designs – New Start finished 7/8/12

I also conquered my fear of finishing ornaments!

I got a new car!  I got to travel to California and see Son and Melissa.  Son and Girlfriend came here for Christmas.  My parents came here for New Year (haven’t visited me in over 12 years).

All in all I feel I had a really good year.  Mister and I stayed healthy.  Harley Quinn had a rough year-end, but it looks like she’s completely healed and we’re very thankful to be starting 2013 with her and Jasper healthy.

Mister starts back to school on Monday.  I’m looking forward to the routine it helps keep me in and the uninterrupted stitching time it gives me.

Last but not least, I managed to finally start And They Sinned yesterday.  I have a 25% off everything coupon for Jo-Ann so I’ll be buying DMC for Berlin Woolwork Sampler and starting on that on the 15th.

More Gratitude

I ended up restitching what I frogged, plus more, on Gratitude yesterday.  The magnifier did help, however, I frogged it out again.  It just looks like awful knots because the fiber is so thick. I was ready to “frisbee” that project across the room after frogging it a second time!  I immediately started working on Fairy Moon while we caught up on Arrow on the DVR and made great progress on it.

I had a nail appointment this morning and drove over to Attic afterward to get some new silks for Gratitude but Jean talked me into doing tent stitch with the silks I have instead of full crosses with new silks.  Now I’m trying to decide if I want to stitch on Gratitude or Fairy Moon tonight.

I don’t know how much I’ll be blogging for the next week or so.  My parents are leaving from Louisiana tomorrow morning and heading this way for a week.  I have no idea what we’ll be doing while they’re here!  😆

Happy Holidays!

A belated Merry Christmas to all those who believe in, and celebrate, Christmas.  Actually Merry Christmas to everyone 😉  My Christmas celebration was a day early as Son and Girlfriend flew in on Sunday morning and had to fly out again Christmas night.  I cooked and we opened gifts on Monday and spent Christmas day sitting around talking and being as lazy as we could be with the thought of “we have a plane to catch” in the back of our mind.  Needless to say it went by way too fast.

I was blessed though!  Mister bought me a beautiful bracelet with charms that represent my Bandit (beautiful blue and white swirls), Harley Quinn (black spotted bling), and stitching (a frog prince 😉 ).  He couldn’t find one that represented Jasper at the time he purchased the other two so he’ll be looking for that one next.  In addition to their presence, DS and Girlfriend gave me a delicious box of chocolates and a gift card to help enable  my hobbies.  DS and Girlfriend also talked the whole weekend about getting married.  She bought him a Klingon dictionary and they were also joking around about memorizing wedding vows in Klingon.  All the marriage talk made my heart go pitter patter.  They’ve been a couple for 6 years.

As planned, I started Scarlet Letter’s Gratitude yesterday and worked on it while listening to A Christmas Carol and DS and GF talking.  I absolutely adore the 1938 black and white version and recorded it while we were sleeping Christmas Eve.  I really need to get a copy for my collection as I could watch it more than just during Christmas.  I saved what I recorded and will be stitching to it again this afternoon while the house is quiet.

Anyway, after about an hour I had to put Gratitude aside.  It’s full crosses over 1 on 40 count and I’m definitely going to be stitching this one under a magnifier.  Wearing my readers didn’t help much!  LOL  Looks like I’ll be doing some stitching space rearranging later today to see if I can get my stitching table close enough for my small magnifier.  If not I’ll have to figure out where to stitch on it, or maybe just keep it as my Attic stitching piece.

I got so caught up in decorating the house and getting ready for Son and GF to get here that I slacked off on updating my blog and working on more of my 2013 crafting plans.  They are many, but small, if that makes sense 😉  I’ll finish them up and get them posted by the weekend as my parents are driving in and due to arrive on Saturday.  This will be the first time they’ve visited me in more than 11 years.

Yep, I did it!

I have obligated myself to a stitch-along 😀

Nicola’s Scarlet Letter Year

I have chosen Gratitude as my first SL piece.  I have 3 other Scarlet Letter designs in my stash and will chose the next one once Gratitude is finished.  If you’re interested in joining in click on the graphic above and it will take you to the rules. (Link repaired! Sorry about that.)

Mary Wigham is home from the framers and on the wall.

In non-stitchy news, smalls tweaks to the abode still occur.  We are in the process of installing the stairwell pendant, and dining room chandelier.  A longer ladder is required.  The 17 foot one Mister bought is not long enough to keep me from having palpitations when he’s trying to do these things.  Last night, he had a few palpitations, too.  Thus the decision (naturally).

I’ve also started decorating for Christmas.  For the first time in our 31 years of marriage I am “allowing” colored lights on our tree!  LOL  This means a new purchase.  We’ve been twice and still don’t have enough!  Once more trip should do it.

Pictures of the new lighting and decorations will be shared later, when all the sawdust and shredded paper has been finally dealt with.

😀

Surprise!

Happy fall, y’all!  I cannot begin to say how many times I have sat down to write, then got distracted by something else.  That something else has usually been stash that needed to be sorted, catalogued, or put away; and, sometimes, stitched on 😀

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my last day as an employed person.  This past year has seen so many changes in my life and they must have all been pretty good because as I sit here writing this I cannot think of any horrible thing that has occured.

I have traveled more this past year than in many years combined, both near and far.  I am looking forward to where the 2nd year of my “retirement” takes me.  I have also stitched and quilted more than I ever have and am having a blast (when I’m not feeling guilty about it).

The next phase of my crafting is about to begin with my framing some of my own smaller finished needlework.  I have been gathering the equipment needed, and even have some frame moulding.  It’s now just a matter of getting over my “what if I mess it up” jitters and make that first cut.

What have I been doing since my last post?  This!

Carriage House Samplings’ “Americana.”

CHS Americana 5/25 - 6/9/12

Little House Needleworks “America”

LHN "America" 6/9 - 6/17/12

Sheepish Designs “Betsy”

Sheepish Designs "Betsy" 6/17 - 6/25/12

Blackbird Designs “America”

Blackbird Designs "America" 6/25 - 7/8/12

I had intended on stitching patriotic designs all the way through until September 11, but changed my mind and decided to go back to my other WIPs.  Soooooo,  I also finished Mary Wigham

Mary Wigham finished September 1, 2012

Mary is at Attic Needlework being framed.  I don’t remember off the top of my head when I started her and I didn’t stitch on her exclusively, but I did track when I worked on her.  It took me 51 days to stitch her.  I converted the recommended DMC to Gentle Arts Sampler Threads.  There are a lot of memories attached to her 😀  The Olympics, test driving new cars, attending a stitching weekend with Attic Needlework (wait until you see what I’m working on from that!), Mister starting college, a trip back to California to see Son and visit Melissa and see Darla.

I took a reading break after Mary Wigham them picked Dimples Designs’ “Haiku” back up on September 17th.  I originally started it January 2004 during a Guilt Free stitching sprint, put him away for a long time, picked him back up the beginning of this year, and put him away again.  I am very near to finishing it but have to make myself stitch on it since there are other things I want to be working on.

As you can tell I sort of gave up on WIPacolypse (and Theme-a-licious).  Not the stitching, just the checking in.  I am one of those people who can’t keep up with moon phases — hard to believe I’m a moon child — and believe tracking should be done from the 1st day of the month to the last day of the month.  I am continuing to stitch on my WIPacoplypse pieces though since they’re pieces I love and want hanging on my walls.  I know 2012 is not quite over but I’m keeping in mind already what I want to accomplish in 2013, and I’ll probably maintain some sort of WIPacolypse type list and intersperse it with smalls since I have so many and I want to work on my finishing skills.

The only other thing I really want to have finished is the stitching on Fairy Moon.  If all I have left to do is bead by the end of the year I’ll be a happy stitcher.  She will be going to a framer and I’d just as soon not have her sitting around after I finish her because how I want her framed will probably cost me a fair bit and I don’t want to spend that money until after January since right now I’m spending my money on furnishing the house a bit more.  I’m installing a new chande over the dining table and at the top of the stairs, buying new furniture for the family room, and rearranging some of the other furniture.  I’m also getting ready to paint the downstairs powder room and I want to get my piano refurbished if possible.

So.  There you have it!  I’ve made a couple of changes on my stitching page but all in all I’m a happy person!

May’s report, June’s goals

Before I get started I need to give a huge public “thank you” to Melissa. Right after the first of the month my blog decided to take a nosedive. It was a PITA in the beginning.  By mid-month I could no longer post any photos and as the month wore on it turned into a catastrophe. I couldn’t even log in. This past week I threw myself at her feet and begged her to help me. She was kind enough to get it straightened out for me. It was not an easy fix, and I think I owe her my blogging life.

A lot went on in May for me, but because I couldn’t access my blog in the past couple of weeks, I’m sure I’ve forgotten more than I remembered.  I settled the lawsuit I brought against the woman who hit me last year; we’ve been having record heat here and M and I have been thoroughly enjoying our pool; I got Hannah Beeby framed and she’s hanging all by her lonesome in the middle of my family room wall (I haven’t unpacked my other large pieces yet); I have finally settled into the perfect routine for me and because of it am getting a ton of guilt-free quilting and stitching accomplished; I started walking consistently.  That’s all I can remember right now!

My goals for May were fairly simple and I accomplished more than I thought I would:

  • Get the rest of my fibers put away (DONE)
  • Get started sorting my fabric (DONE)
  • Get back to rotating on:
    1. Petite Mexican Sampler (finish it?) (FINISHED IT)
    2. Fairy Moon (YES!)
    3. Haiku (DIDN’T TOUCH IT*)
  • Continue with Rose Quaker and Mary Wigham on their respective stitching days (YES*)
  • Piece 4 more quilt squares (YES)
  • Finish quilted stitching bag (my Theme-a-licious project for May (NO)

*I forgot when I set my monthly goals that Memorial Day was coming up.  Last year Jean published in the Attic Needlework May 2011 newsletter that she stitched on patriotic pieces from Memorial Day until September 11th.  I have a lot of designs that contain the American flag, or are otherwise patriotic, and I thought this was a wonderful idea.  Last year I chose 2 medium sized designs and it took me until about the 2nd week of October to finish the 2nd one.  This year on Memorial Day I started Carriage House Samplings’ “Americana.”  I’m very close to finishing it…perhaps just a couple more days of stitching.  I have a second design pulled and will probably have no problem getting it finished before September 11, and then I’ll decide what to do next…continue with patriotic stitching or get back to my rotation.  For now, though, I have stopped working on my rotation and I skipped yesterday’s stitching on Rose Quaker.  I still haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to work on Mary Wigham today/tonight at Thursday stitchin.

While I had my stitching bag down for my Theme-a-licious project for may, I did work on my other quilt class projects.  I keep forgetting to bring my stitching bag upstairs to make those few stitches!  It sits by my chair holding my project bags and waiting to be loaded with my other odds and ins I take to stitchins.  It’s happy where it is!  LOL

I do have WIPacolypse progress to share but that will have to wait for another day as I have places to go and things to do today 😀

What do I want to do in June?

  1. Finish sorting my stitching fabrics.
  2. Get started sorting my quilting fabrics.
  3. Continue with my patriotic stitching.
  4. Piece 4 quilt squares
  5. Work on Haiku for June’s Theme-a-licious.
  6. Paint my bedroom.
  7. Buy new bed.

My quilt class ends in June.  I have enjoyed it so much and have gained confidence in reading patterns, choosing color, and piecing.  I’ve purchased fabric for a small table top size quilt and am looking forward to starting it after I catch up with the rest of my quilting.

M finally heard back from the Veterans’ office at the university and has started his registration process.

The puppies are still providing great entertainment and love and are staying relatively healthy.

I have a long weekend getaway planned with Karen and am really looking forward to it.

 

Hermity weekend is almost here

I don’t know why I get so excited about joining in on the International Hermit & Stitch Weekend. I rarely go anywhere anyway! 😀

But it’s happening this weekend and I plan on spending my time quilting and stitching when I’m not cooking or swimming 😉

I’ll also be hanging out at Attic Needlework part of Sunday for Sampler Sunday. It’s such a fun day seeing what everyone has been working on.

I have finished Petite Mexican Sampler and started Hannah Gilpin 1800. I’m having blogging problems again so can’t post photos now but they’re on my Facebook page.

April Report

It’s been a rather fun month for us.  We’re continuing to settle in.  The weather has been excellent and we’ve been spending a lot of time in the pool.  We purchased a new BBQ and patio furniture and are spending our mornings and evenings on the patio.  I figured out this morning that our WiFi is strong enough out there, with all the doors and windows closed, that we’ll be streaming our iTunes and satellite radio out there so I’m going to start stitching out there in the mornings.  This makes the puppies happy since they love running around chasing birds, lizards, and each other.

I’ve spent a bunch of time playing in my room.  Still a long way to go but at least now I can sit at my workstation and sew.

The most fun has been working on my WIPocalypse pile while watching baseball and hockey.  Before I show my WIPocalypse progress, I’ll share a picture of Harley from last night’s hockey game.  When the Coyotes score, there is a howl played over the loudspeakers.  We, M and I, have started howling with it and the puppies have taken to joining in.  At the end of last night’s game we were howling and I got a snap of Harley doing her Coyote impression.  I know I’m biased, but she’s so darn cute when she does it.  Her little howl is so high pitched and “soft” you have to really listen to hear her, but you can tell she puts her whole heart behind it.

Now, on to the stitching:

Finished Hannah Beeby!

Got a whole lot done, then undone, then done on Petite Mexican Sampler:

I had completely finished the tree on the right when I discovered it was one stitch over on the right 🙁  It had to be frogged and put away since I was so upset.  I have picked it back up and will definitely finish it in May.

I don’t normally participate in stitchalongs since they feel like obligation stitching to me but two Facebook groups I’m on are having stitchalongs on designs that I already had planned on starting, so on Wednesday last I started Rose Quaker.  It feels like a quick stitch and I’m loving the colors:

It was very tempting to keep going but I wanted to start Mary Wigham for Thursdays.  I had messed up on Petite Mexican Sampler on Tuesday, and I let her sit screaming next to my stitching chair while I stitched on Mary Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I am loving the subtleness of the colors and I think GAST Salmon, the top motif, is my new favorite color.

Hannah, Rose Quaker, and Mary all definitely qualify for April’s Theme-a-liciousness, too!

All that stitching has left me with a full TUSAL jar for April.

You can see the different layers 😀  I’ll be adding a bit more to it this afternoon, to finish out the month with Petite Mexican Sampler stitching.

 

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