Category Archives: Samplers – Repro

My first hermity weekend report

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Terri | 5 comments

I thought I was going to be kicked out of the hermit club my first try when I woke up Friday without a single itch to stitch! I will blame it on the weather. We had record setting heat all weekend and being lazy, and the pool, was calling my name!

I ended up putzing around in my room organizing more (which always gets me wanting to stitch) and doing some of my quilting homework. I also made the mistake of playing on Facebook some and got myself sucked into two stitchalongs for the rest of the year.

First, part of my quilting homework:

I am not in love with the brown stripe. I tried 3 times to get it to work and gave up.

I love the churn dash block. It’s always been a favorite of mine and I’ve wanted to do a quilt with them for a long time.

Sunday was Sampler Sunday at Attic Needlework. While there are some repeat offenders 😉 the crowd for Sampler Sunday is always different than the normal Thursday evening crowd. We’re almost guaranteed to have a designer or two show and it’s fun to see what they’re working on for future release. I shared my Le Marquoir de Justine which I haven’t touched in forever, and my Petite Mexican Sampler (PMS) that I’ve made really good progress on:

Thank you to those who helped me decide what sampler to start next. I will be starting Hannah Gilpin 1800 as soon as I finish the above piece. Here is my floss toss for her:

The fabric is Colorscapes “Earthen” and the fibers are Dinky Dyes.

I’m looking forward to the two stitchalongs. Both pieces were in my stash. I did have to purchase fabric since I didn’t have the white needed for one, and the fabric I pulled for the other one wasn’t large enough. Mary is a wide-bottom gal! 🙂

The first one is Rose Quaker Sampler by Wiehenburg. I am using the recommended DMC since they are beautiful shades of pinks and browns and have decided to use 34ct Legacy White for my fabric. Legacy has such a beautiful hand. This will be my Wednesday piece since the stitchalong is called Wiehenburg Wednesday.

The second one is Mary Wigham by Needleprint. I am using Gentle Art Sampler Thread and 36ct Lakeside Vintage Navy Bean. This is an open stitchalong, meaning whenever I want, so I’ve decided to work on this one on Thursdays. I will also be taking this one with me to my stitchins.

I’m going to be spending the rest of this evening getting my Rose Quaker floss ready, serging fabric and working away on PMS 😉 unless we get back in the pool.

Oh, and it looks like my blog is back to normal. I adjusted the size of my market report photos and that seems to have done the trick.

Be cool!

edited to add that I noticed in the top block the bottom row was sewn on upside down and that has been remedied. That block is really on my blacklist now 😉

5 Comments

Posted in Hannah Gilpin, IHSW, Justine, Mary Wigham, Petite Mexican Sampler, Quilting, Stitching

Help me pick my next sampler?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Terri | 2 comments

I turned Hannah Beeby in for framing last night. I can’t wait to see how she turns out. I’m expecting her back home about mid-May which will give me time to get another finish – I’m getting closer on Petite Mexican Sampler 😉

While I have several WIPs, I’m starting something new with every 2nd finish and I’ve decided I want to start a new sampler. The following are completely kitted up, except for a needle 😀 Which one should I start?

Hannah Gilpin 1800
James Wilson’s 1828 Sampler
Marianne Wenn

I’ve put a poll up on my facebook page and would appreciate your using it if you are a “friend” or you can leave a comment below. Thank you for helping me decide.

I finally got in the swimming pool yesterday. The temp was 76° and it was brisk. I was out there for approximately 15-20 minutes since I had to get ready for my stitchy night and get an early dinner started. I got sunburned!!!! I’ll admit to not having on any sunscreen. That won’t happen again. It’s not a bad sunburn, just enough to make ambivalent about getting in again today. We’ll see. The A/C started kicking on at 10:00 this morning so that might help me make up my mind.

Off to the grocer’s then hopefully some heavy duty stitching. I’m making spaghetti sauce tonight so leftovers are in our future, which always means more stitching time 😉

2 Comments

Posted in Samplers - Repro, Stitching

Starting over. Sort of.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Terri | 3 comments

Ack. I’m so far behind in catching up I’m not even going to bother. Suffice it to say, I have been consistenting doing needlework of some sort since my last check in. When it has not involved the sewing maching, I have faithfully been working on my WIPocalypse stitching.

Domesticity:

I packed everything in my stitching room, back up and moved the boxes to the guest room. We gutted the closet, spackled it, painted it, and moved the shelf units back in. I’m in the process of loading it back up, but am determined to organize while I do so, so I don’t put it off any longer. It looks like this:

The designs are in their proper box and they’ll be cataloged later. As you can see, none of my fabric has been unpacked because right now, as I type this post, my work table looks like this:

The fibers in the front in ziplocks are Anchor. I’m leaving them ’til last because I haven’t decided how I’m going to store them. The white box in the middle is not quite full of various fibers that I’ve been sorting (which is the mess you see, minus the
Weeks), and I’ve already sorted one of them. That table needs to get cleared quickly so I can drag my sewing machine back out.

Quilting:

1 sampler quilt needs a bit more quilting, then the binding (which is ready to be attached).
1 quilted tote needs (still) 6 or so stitches in one of the handles to be completed.
1 quilt has been started (intermediate class started last week and I’m piecing the blocks for it).

Stitching:

Since I’ve been going back and forth to quilting classes, and have quilting homework, I haven’t wanted to try to keep up with my rotation so I’ve been focusing on one easy piece. As of last night (4/15/12) Miss Hannah Beeby is now finished!

I’ve pulled Petite Mexican Sampler out and am going to focus on it for a bit. My quilting classes will be over in June (I think) and until then I guess I’m going to be a one-at-a-time stitcher. Fairy Moon is screaming my name from the guest room right now, but she’ll need lots of beading so I’m putting her off. I’m still determined not to start anything new until I finish 2 projects, no matter how tempted I’ve been lately 🙂

In addition to all of the above we have been doing other bits and pieces of decorating in the house. We I have a list of must-haves for the house that includes more painting, furniture, decorative items, and my stitching. I will be taking Hannah with me Thursday night to get her framed. I’ll take another piece in when we gets finished depending on how long she takes. I would like to do one piece a month.

We’ve also been doing some stuff in the yard. Right now M is digging up the oleanders, one at a time, in the front. 7 down, 3 to go. The yard looks so much bigger now and we’ll be filling in some of the space with more pleasant to use desert plants. In the back we have 2 varieties of tomatoes popping out all over the place, flat leaf parsley trying to take over the pump house wall, oregano, cilantro (in 2 different places), rosemary, pickle cukes, crook neck squash growing in, and have been enjoying salads with home grown lettuces. The lemon tree and mandarin tree both have fruit and we’re waiting to see if our little lime tree is going to have fruit this year (it had a hard time this winter and is only knee high). I also planted a peony tuber that is doing well.

3 Comments

Posted in Hannah Beeby, Petite Mexican Sampler, Quilting, WIPocalypse

2012 Stitching Thoughts

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Terri | 3 comments

I was going to post this yesterday, but yesterday didn’t go as I thought it would. It started out as any other day — get up at 3 a.m. to watch the Quadrantids meteor shower, go back to bed at 4 a.m., get up at 7 a.m., fall down steps from kitchen to family room, nearly faint from the pain of falling down, while trying to not freak M out too much when I yelled for him….yeah, not so much what I had planned. Spent as much time as possible getting up and down all day so I wouldn’t get too stiff. Was shaky all day and very thankful that the worst injury seemed to be to my pride. Don’t know exactly what damage I did but when I finally came to a rest I was sitting on my butt with my left leg bent out to the side of me. I heard a loud pop when I fell and was scared to death to move afterward, thus my yelling for M, who was still upstairs sleeping. In the end, I hurt my right palm, left wrist, left knee, left ankle, and my neck and shoulders were stiff. This morning I’m stiff, but not feeling anything like I was worried I would be feeling. I’m moving sort of slow and walking around like an old lady, but I’m up and about, and not going to miss going to my Thursday evening stitchin or to Vegas next week.

Now, for the original reason behind this post:

As shown by my ort jars for 2011, I had several months where I barely touched any of my stitching. Even then, I stitched more in 2011 than I did in 2010. I’m hoping, now that I’m no longer working, that I can at least double the amount of stitching in 2012!

For the past couple of weeks while unpacking my stash, I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to accomplish in 2012. It’s been fun reading what other stitchers are hoping to accomplish and nice to know I’ll be in good company whether or not I succeed. I think I do better with goals, or rather putting down what I’d like to see happen, on “paper.” Sometimes I get caught up in the crowd mentality and forget what I wanted to do if I don’t have some sort of written plan to bring me back to earth!

So, for 2012 I plan on:

Get back to blogging more frequently. I stitch more when I blog. I am a horrible photographer, but I enjoy sharing my stitching just like everyone else!
Get back to rotating my stitching and tracking my time. I know a lot of people think this is too much work but when I was doing it before I felt such a sense of accomplishment and I seemed to stitch more, just like when I blog more.
Stick to my WIPocalypes goals and keep my page updated.
Post to the Theme-a-licious challenge as often as my rotation works into it.
Post my monthly TUSAL.
Participate in at least 6 Fair and Square exchanges.
Finish out all 6 received Fair and Square exchanges. I plan on taking advantage of the great finishing tutorials in bloggy land.
Stitch 3 Santa ornaments for my Santa display.
Take at least 1 stitching related class.
Finish logging my charts into my spreadsheet.
Start organizing my freebies.
Organize my magazine designs.

When I read back over my list I feel like I’ve set an extremely overloaded year for myself and am so tempted to “downsize” that list.

What I don’t plan on doing….depriving myself. I don’t handle deprivation well. Just see how I respond when you try to take chocolate away from me — and it never fails that just as soon as I say “I’m not going to buy anymore stash until I stitch ____ number of pieces” someone publishes something I can’t live without. I’m just going to take it month by month. Or maybe, newsletter by newsletter 😉

I have non-stitching goals this year too! But those, I’m keeping to myself.

I picked up Peacock Tapestry Tuesday and immediately remembered why it became a UFO instead of a WIP.

Back in 1999, when I first started it, gridding was something new to the stitching world. I didn’t grid before I started it and while I love stitching on it, the backstitching is what got me. I have requested a copy of the backstitching chart. I tried to backstitch it Tuesday, but gave up. Yesterday I started stitching on it, but decided the smart thing for me to do is to grid it. So, that’s where I’m at. I’m 5+ hours into it this rotation. I’ll finishe the gridding during this time, and get some more stitching done, too. Next time I pick it up I should have the backstitching chart and I’ll go back to that before adding more stitches.

I’m trying to decide whether or not to take it with me tonight if I don’t finish up the 10 hours by then, or to take Hannah Beeby again, since she’s so “easy.”

3 Comments

Posted in Goals, Hannah Beeby, Injury, Peacock Tapestry

January is full of excitement

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Terri | 2 comments

I sat on my bee-hind and stitched for 5+ hours yesterday. Today my whole body is stiff from it! 😆 It took me no time to get back into the rhythm of timing myself while stitching. I plan on adding to that 5 hours today while watching a ton of college football. I should be watching the Rose Parade right now but for some reason I’m just not interested.

Last month when I switched from working on HOHRH to Hannah, the change from 40ct to 28ct was like working on burlap. Here’s my progress pic (don’t judge the wrinkles ’cause it was too much hassle dragging the ironing board back out).

"Before" picture of my working chart"After" picture of actual project

"After" progress pic

M is at less than a month to retirement! 29 days and counting 😀

I am also counting down to my first 2012 trip. Headed to Vegas in less than 2 weeks, without M 😉

I’ll share my Christmas present from M tomorrow.

2 Comments

Posted in Hannah Beeby, Travel

Happy New Year

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Terri | 5 comments

Have you ever noticed when you thank someone, and use their name, it makes them smile? I have been experimenting with this off and on the past couple of months. I am going to start reading name tags more often.

I am very happy today is the last day of 2011. While I know it could have been a whole lot worse, and many, many people did have it worse than I did, 2011 was not kind to me. I am not going to dwell on it a second past midnight tonight. What I am going to dwell on are the good things I want to happen in 2012.

Here’s a before picture of my January 1 start 😉

Petite Mexican Sampler
40ct Lakeside Palomino
Au Ver a Soie “Soie d’Paris” silk

I’ve been sneaking looks at the Eagle cam the last few days. The nest is being constructed but I’ve yet to see either of the Eagles. This evening, though, I was blessed with the view of a tiny field mouse flitting here and there! All I could think was she/he better get a move on before someone shows up and makes dinner out of her/him 🙂

Tonight M and I are staying in and gorging ourselves on Pollo, Pork tamales, salsa, guacamole, tortillas and rice. There will probably be beer and margaritas involved, too. Most definitely there will be some Whipped Cream Vodka and hot chocolate 😉 Don’t know if we’ll make it to midnight or not, but here’s hoping! We’re watching football right now, but I think I’m going to ramp up the other TV and get him to watch a movie for the rest of the evening.

I also found 1 more WIP so I’m up to 35. My kits stand at 26 but that’s only because I haven’t finished adding them to my spreadsheet.

I’ve been enjoying catching up on my blog reading and seeing everyone’s stitching year in reviews. It’s been making my clicky finger itchy though 😀

The fireworks have started around here. The dogs aren’t exactly sure how they feel about them. It is a little strange living in the desert and having fireworks going off all around. They were illegal for personal use in Oceanside.

Tomorrow I’ll post my ort jar for December and my whole year collection. I’ll also post a progress picture of Hannah Beeby since the light is so dreadful in my house this late.

5 Comments

Posted in Hannah Beeby, Petite Mexican Sampler, Samplers - Original, Stash, Stitching, TUSAL

Another week gone

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Terri | Comments Off

It’s amazing to me how little I’ve gotten done since my last post! 😆 I still have 20 boxes to unpack, although I only have 2 that have not been opened.

I made it to Attic Needlework for their Thursday evening stitch-in. Didn’t spend a dime either!

Son and Girlfriend arrived early Saturday morning. We spent a whole lot of time doing nothing while they were here. Son has been working 60+ hour weeks and he napped quite a bit while he was here. No problem to me, it was nice just to have them here. I feel like Girlfriend is more of a DIL each time we’re around her. She’s so good about texting and emailing me and I’ve given up on trying to not like her! 😆 They’ve been a couple for 5+ years and I still get an “eek” moment when I think about that, since that made her still 16 when Son met her. He had just turned 22! There was one thing I noticed while they were here. They are always laughing! I think she has had to be the adult in her family for a long time and I think Son is as good for her as she is for him, since she straightened him out 😉

Their visit was way too short, and they left late Monday night since Son had to be to work on Tuesday.

M and I headed out shopping on Tuesday and came home with our Christmas presents. (We always wait until after to get good deals). He bought me a chandelier for the laundry room. I absolutely love it!

We got him a WiFi BD/DVD player for our living room and we’ve been streaming Netflix and Amazon since he got it hooked up. The puppies are enjoying it as well since they love sitting on top of us while we’re watching movies in the dark. Right now we’re watching Firefly.

Annette came to visit this past Wednesday and we opened my stitching fabric boxes to find a perfect piece for my January 1 start, Petite Mexican Sampler by The Samplar Works. It’s stitched with Au Ver a Soie “Soie d’Paris” silk, on 48 count “Napery Light Examplar” Lakeside linen but I (we) decided on 40ct Lakeside linen Palomino.

Since she’s left, that box has been screaming at me to come back and play! 😉 I purposefully left the fabric boxes to last because I knew I’d want to dive into them. So far I’ve been strong and left them alone, but I feel myself weakening.

I’m still tweaking my WIPocalypse list for 2012. Not so much the WIPs, although I did add in Hannah Beeby, but the new starts. (In addition to the Petite sampler above, I’m thinking of adding in Queen of Hearts by Twisted Threads.) I went through my two “retirement” boxes and pulled out the WIPs so I could list them (again, thanks to Annette). I ended up with 34. That seems like such a low number to me. I just knew when it was all said and done I’d have 50!

I’ve also started listing my kitted items. They are taking a bit more sorting since some of them are lacking fabric. I know I have the perfect piece in my stash (again, the box is calling). There are a couple that are missing embellishments (I know they’re in my “bits and pieces” drawer. While I’m listing all of them, I’m sorting them into separate piles based upon what they’re missing. Once I get them all sorted, I guess I need to start back through the pile and decide if I’m still interested in stitching them. I have always been pretty picky about what I kit before I stitch, so I’m suspecting there will be very little weeding out. I do, however, refuse to cut any fabric until I’m actually going to stitch.

All of the above was my taking a break from putting things in their proper home in my stitching room. I got to the point where I felt like chucking it all since I was so tired of organizing. I’m over that now, and am back to spending time organizing after I get the rest of my “chores” done and before I sit down to stitch. Keeps me from feeling guilty about not doing it while I sit there doing “nothing.”

I’m still working on Hannah Beeby. I’ve completed all of the top “letter” rows and am more than half-way through the 3rd motif on the top row.

I’ve also decided to participate in some exchanges this year. I’m hoping to get into the Fair and Square group since I think those will be perfect for working on my sewing machine making pillows, ornaments, and other smalls.

Comments Off on Another week gone

Posted in Hannah Beeby, Movies, Stash, Stitch-together

Same old, same old

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Terri | Comments Off

Slowly but surely it’s getting there. I am very tired of unpacking (have I said that already?) but we’re down to the nitty gritty. Yesterday we got the extra linens unpacked and sorted, the 2 final wardrobe boxes unpacked (I need to sort through for the giveaway box), my quilts put up and some more shelves arranged.

Vietnam Vets picked up several boxes this morning so our garage is less cluttered, I feel good about not throwing perfectly good “stuff” away that I no longer wanted or needed, and now I have room to declutter more! I think they come through the neighborhood once a month. I do know they mail out notices with collection bags about 2 weeks before they pick up.

I hung the first things on my office walls yesterday. My new 2012 Anne Taintor calendar (which is already marked for 2 needlework related getaways), 1 stitched piece, and 2 prints I was given as a going away present from the paralegal job I had in South Carolina 20+ years ago. I also finally got my desk cleaned off (I was starting to pile everything on it that didn’t have a place to go), filed for unemployment, and just continued the organization march all around.

I have not finished Christmas decorations! 😕 I feel like I’ve been going in 3 different directions at the same time during my day. I need M’s help but I hate bothering him when he’s working on a different part of the house. Tomorrow is the deadline for me though since Son and Girlfriend are coming early Saturday morning. Besides, who wants to be decorating on Christmas Eve? Next year 🙄 I’ll have more time, and know where my decorations are.

Today I start my goodie baking. I’m making Pecan Pie Muffins to take to the stitch-together at the Attic tonight. Besides the fact that I think they’re delicious, this will be my first time at the stitch-together and I’m hoping if I bring them they’ll like me 😉 In addition to the muffins I’ll also be baking chocolate chip cookies, peppermint sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies. I doubt I’ll get them all done today, but that’s probably a good thing so I won’t be tempted to eat them all today. I’ve decided to just stick with cookies this year so I can tin them up and send a bunch home with Son and Girlfriend.

I’m still plugging away on HoHRH in the evenings, but I’m ready to put it down for awhile. I’ve been trying to tell myself that each block is a different design but that’s no longer working for me. I am just NOT a one-at-a-time stitcher. Yesterday I found the watch I use to time my 10 hour rotations and just got plain old giddy! Of course, I haven’t used it in so long the battery is dead, but that will be taken care of tomorrow 😀

Tonight, and probably for the rest of the year, I’m switching stitching projects. I’m going to take my much neglected Hannah Beeby. I started her March 2008. I noticed this morning that she was never added to my WIPs list 😕 Might explain why she’s been neglected, and also is just one more proof that I have way too many WIPs. Good thing I’m participating in the WIPocalypse (which, BTW, is up to 245 members!).

I’ve updated my Retirement countdown ticker. M has more definite information on his orders so what you see over there —–> is when his retirement is official. He’ll be headed to California on January 20th and returning home on January 31st or February 1st. I’m so happy he’s taking some of his leave time to surf with his friends. He probably won’t be going back to California until some time in June. That’s a very long time for a surfer to be without his surf. I know he’ll be filling in that time with more running tho. He’s not planning on doing any triathlons in 2012 (he’s volunteering for the Phoenix Ironman) but is planning on a marathon or 2. He hasn’t put on his running shoes the whole time he’s been here and I can’t ever remember a time during our 30 years of marriage that he’s gone this long without running. At least when he starts back his knees and ankles will be healthy!

Comments Off on Same old, same old

Posted in Domestic, Hannah Beeby, HOHRH, Retirement, Stitch-together, WIPocalypse

The proof is in the pictures!

Posted on August 11, 2009 by Terri | 5 comments

See! I have been stitching!

Hannah Beeby

Today marks six months since I lost my sweetie baby. The last photo I have of him on my camera is on Christmas Eve when we gave him and HarleyQuinn their new toys. He loved squeakie balls and is nibbling on his new one (while trying to hide Harley’s pink bunny).

Christmas Bandit

Here is Harley a couple of months later curled up on one of Bandit’s blankets. Doesn’t she look so lonely!

Harley Sunshine

I miss him very, very much, and I know Harley does too.

Booty Buddies

She’s learning to keep my spot in the stitching chair warmed up though 🙂

Harley Chair

This week (when I’m not stitching 😉 ) I’m reading Angela Knight’s Warlord/Warfem books.

5 Comments

Posted in Hannah Beeby, Puppies, Reading, Stitching

Oops, where did it go?

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Terri | Comments Off

I swear I wrote up a post a week ago! I even agonized over what author to share. Of course other than that I can’t remember a single thing I wrote about since my life has been so boring lately. However, that has changed a teensy bit.

I have stitched! and played in my stash! and cleaned up my dungeon some! and bought stash!

This past Thursday and Friday were vacation days for me. I had a week of use it or lose it vacation and am taking a day here and there for some long weekends. (I am keeping a week saved for Christmas) I thought I was going to be spending them with Kahuna but he got called into work and while I was fairly lazy those two days I did get all my laundry done and I played in the dungeon for a bit.

Friday night I did some major damage in the dungeon. I had thought to start a new project on Saturday but the one I wanted to stitch, believe it or not, I didn’t have fibers for! 😆 I didn’t feel like fondling my fabric either.

Saturday I drove up to the all day stitch in at Melissa and Darla‘s LNS — Needlepoints, Ltd. Darla had no clue I was coming and it was wonderful to see her bright face when I rounded the corner. I brought FAS, Justine, and Hannah Beeby with me but ended up just stitching on Hannah. I started her in Hawaii and haven’t touched her since. I was stitching on FAS when Bandit died and I haven’t stitched at all since then. I can honestly swear that stitching on Saturday, after playing in the dungeon on Friday, my stitching mojo is back! I had a very good time and stitched until my butt went numb – 3 times 😉 Anyway, I’m planning on attending all the other stitch ins through the rest of the year. I’m also going to be taking my Mary Wigham chart up (and the pillow from my stitching chair) and pull fibers on the 29th.

Sunday, I watched baseball, and I stitched! Didn’t even feel guilty about it either. Nope, no guilt.

As soon as I hit “post” I’m off to sit and stitch some before heading to bed…after I sort out the dungeon some more. Believe me this dungeon sorting is going to take some time….I’m hunting for my thingy that goes to my camera so I can upload some pictures. I don’t want to have to climb the mountain in the dungeon that’s between me and the cord whatsit to connect my camera to the computer since that will take me in the opposite direction I’m already sorting. How’s that for logic?

My author for this post is Leah Brooke.