Day 11 and a WIP

I am almost ashamed to post this photo because, as little as I got done Monday, I got less done yesterday. I was worried about the snowstorm that came through, and was trying to make sure we had what we needed, and was pretty busy. Plus, it wasn't the easiest start on this one. But I got a few stitches in. As long as I got one stitch in, it's a start. This is his belly (I'm going to assume it's a him--the horse has that bantam rooster quality about him that pony stallions tend to have). This is a Silkweaver solo I got from a stitching friend at Sue Hillis' GTG last spring. I'm excited to see how the design translates on this fabric.



Today's start will be from Mostly Ghostly by Waxing Moon. It's funny how fast this widespread, highly-controlled case of startitus has gone. It's hard to believe I've started 11 projects in a week and a half, and that I only have 4 more projects to choose from. These last ones are the ones that might not be the most well-planned out. I still have to pull floss for one, pull fabric for another. I had to find fabric for today's start in order to actually start it, and I maybe didn't make the best choice, but I'll live with it. I love the little design I chose, "No Scaredy Cats", so I'm sure it will be fine.

I also thought it's time to show my other WIP, an ornament I started Christmas week. It's one I've had kitted up since the summer as part of the Brides' Tree SAL. It's called Santa's Bunnies, and is by Vermillion Stitchery.
It's not an easy project, lots of fractionals and backstitching, but I think it's so pretty. And it's a great size for an ornament, not so big that it has to be draped over the branches of the tree, not hung. I'm hoping to get the stitching done tonight and then the backstitch by the end of the week. I have the fabric to back it already, a pretty woodland wintry print that I thought would go nicely with the bunnies. I think this is going to be my fair entry for the ornament class; it has everything going for it, at least in my opinion. I think it will come down to how well it's finished, but I'm willing to spend money to make sure it's finished in the way it deserves. It's that important to me.

I am starting to pull together my fair entries. I'd like to start taking things over for framing when I get my tax refund back. That way, I'm not running around at the last minute and I can enjoy getting ready for the competition. I think that's the way to go, but I think I need to get some things finished first, right? :)

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable day. The snow came through last night. I think we got 4 inches, but I do believe there is some ice mixed in with it. Left-brain stayed home from work, which is probably for the best. I don't worry about him on the road, it's everyone else that scares me. I'm trying to decide what to make for our dinner now. Never too early to plan for that, is it?

Finish and a WIP

I finished Christmas Cardinal last week. I still have to wash and mount it. It was a pretty fun stitch. (I still am not a fan of the beads. HTB can have ownership of those)


My start on the kit from the Stitch-In. The verse will say, "I cannot count my day complete, til needle, floss and fabric meet." It's stitched using Sullivan floss. It's not so bad to use so far. It feels a bit thinner than DMC, and doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi, but, all in all, it's OK. That said, I won't deliberately go out and buy Sullivan floss unless the chart calls for it, but Sue has said she is looking for alternatives to DMC, so she'll use it more.




Julie asked how we handled the unfinished finishes at the GTG to keep them from walking off. A lot of people were around the tables and we all kinda watched. You know who owns things. And I don't think we would have sat back and let someone walk off with someone else's work. Most of the women I was there with I trust to do the right thing--I've known them long enough to leave them unsupervised with my stuff. Maybe that's dumb, but, at some point, you have to give people credit.

Picture update

I haven't posted a real photo in a few days, so I thought I would show off my progress on the Cardinal ornament. It's almost finished. I have the backstitch on the leaves to do and the rest of the beading. I didn't really want the beads, but HTB likes them, and he offered to go to Michael's to get them for me. He asked, "So you want round beads or heart beads?" I told him seed beads. He looked confused. I got a mental image of him standing in the bead aisle, terrified, asking random women what seed beads are. Luckily, I had the right color beads in my stash, so he's safe. Check that, the rest of the Michaels' shopping public in North Central Maryland is safe. LOL.

I also wanted to post my favorite picture from the weekend. I'm never in the pictures we take on vacation. Mainly because I don't just hand my camera off to anyone. So HTB took my photo while we were visiting the ponies on the National Seashore (though this is on the inland side of the island. He did a good job. I am not naturally photogenic, and especially not so when I've been walking in slop, but he took a good photo. I love that we saw a palomino pinto pony, like Misty. I really haven't seen a lot of them on our visits. I wanted to get closer, but it was a bit boggy, and I didn't want to fall, not with the camera in hand. I'm hopeful the next time we go down, we can spend more time exploring the island--it is such a pretty place and I feel so blessed to live so close to it.



I changed the header photo too. That pony watched me the whole time I was taking pictures. He reminded me very much of the horse my grandfather gave me as a kid. It really was nice to see them in a natural habitat, not scrounging through campsites. He looks so dignified and wild, truly a creature born of sand and surf and wind.

Picture post

A little late but here they.

Kitty and Me ornament from JCS 2000 issue. I think it's an amazing gift that she possesses that she can take 3801, which is a bright flourescent shade of red/pink, as un-cardinally a color as I can imagine, and make it work through fairly easy shading to be the perfect color for a winter cardinal. Very few designers, really, have that talent. Stoney Creek is far more intricate, and Teresa Wentzler is in love with tweeding. The only issue I am having with this is that the blackwork leaves are all in that HORRIBLE DMC Light Effects. That stuff pops and snarls worse than the elastic waistband on an ancient pair of underwear and I hate it. I keep using it because I think the Kreinik would have made it thicker, but GOSH, does it irritate me. I keep expecting it to become easier to work with as I get older, but it's like a bad relationship; you keep going back, thinking, it will be different, and it's not, and it irritates you more because you expected better. I'll get through it, and it will be gorgeous, but, it's a waste of floss.



This is a quick stitch project from the Sanman board, the Inky Dinky Snowman SAL. I did this very quickly over the weekend, probably in 5 hours for the whole project. I like blackwork, something about that being all there is to the project makes it OK. and I really do like the challenge of not jumping across the back of the fabric, and figuring out how to minimize the lines on the back. There will be ten more of these little guys over the coming weeks, and I am really looking forward to stitching them.


Here are photos of the 2011 Keepsake calendar. I hope this doesn't violate copyright. It shouldn't; I'm not showing the charts, just a sample of what they have available. It's maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but there are some nice charts here.

The back cover. It's impossible to get a good photo showing everything.


July. I think this would make a pretty pillow.


September. Probably another good pillow, but you really could leave this out all year. It would be a pretty dining-room picture.


October. I would really leave this out all fall. It's pretty.


And December. The December 2010 is a juggling Santa, so this is, I guess, appealing to the elegance of the season, so you bookend the year in elegance and whimsy. But it would be kinda fun to put these out on a table in an entry way or amongst a buffet at a Christmas party.


I'm starting to embrace the idea of easels as a way to display stitchery, not on the wall. I'm sure this will change when we have jostling children, but it's a lot easier to use them to display little seasonal framed pieces than to try to find places to hang them (we have a patriotic piece up on the wall in our living room that is 4X4 and the normal piece is 12X16 and it grates on me to see that tiny little picture on that big expanse of wall) and they do make a pretty presentation.

Hope you are having a good week. Thank you for your kind comments about dealing with change. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels this way, and I'm glad people found my comments OK. All we can do, in a changing world, is keep finding humor. And at least I walked out smiling, not crying, and I made Norah smile. I think that girl has a future in puppy blogging, LOL.

Chose the next ornament for the Brides Tree SAL

I think I will end up doing two bird ornaments for this SAL, not just one.

I had planned on doing Monsterbubbles' "The First Day," from the 2009 JCS ornament issue. My reasoning is a bit corny, but, on the day after our engagement, we went to Ocean City to walk the boardwalk. Oh, let's be serious: I wanted to go to Salty Yarns, HTB wanted caramel popcorn and a TV to watch football. Once he had a little pit beef in him, he was more than content to sit on the bench outside the LNS and let me shop (and if I play my cards right, we'll repeat this scenario when we go camping next weekend :)). Anyway, when I bought the ornament issue there, I liked the idea of stitching that ornament to commemorate how we spent "the first day," eating, shopping, being lovesick goobers.

But I have always loved Kitty and Me's contribution to the 2000 issue, a pretty cardinal sitting amidst blackwork, er, greenwork, greenery. We get cardinals in our yard, and I dearly love them. Even the one who has a habit of flying right up to the window in the morning, hanging on the screen, and looking in at us. Looking at her head-on, she seems to be glaring, like we're somehow slacking because it's 830 on a Saturday morning, there's no food in the feeder, and we're not hustling to fill it. She looks us over, like, "Well . . . ? Quit laying around. Feed us. The blue jays are hungry." I guess she doesn't understand that, after a week spent working hard to pay for the food they eat, we need to sleep in? We tried ignoring her, but that doesn't work with wild birds. But we watch them quite a lot. And enjoy them; it's neat to see variation in color in the males, even in the same season, even eating the same food. Since it's an interest we share, I thought it was a good thing to have on our tree.

And so, because it was so hard to choose between the fun and funky, and the more meaningful, more beautiful, I just figured it wouldn't hurt to do both. To represent that, as a couple, we do have so many layers. At first, I thought I was braking some "rule," but, in this case, my sandbox, my rules.

I'll try to post some photos tomorrow night. Which has also been set aside as a finishing frenzy Friday. I'll be pretty busy this weekend, and I want some of these ornaments finished NOW. So, we'll plug in a movie and I'll go to town. If we're lucky, it's a Lord of the Rings marathon, and that could go all night! LOL.

The Christmas Carrot

I'm on the home stretch of this design. I think this is my favorite Bride's Tree ornament so far, and it makes me smile. I'm hoping, and it may be beyond hope, that I will get this finished this evening, so that I have my April ornament done in the month it represents. It might be doable--Friday nights we normally watch movies til late and the border is not so bad to stitch. I think I'll finish this very simply. If I'm lucky, I can find some gingham ribbon to match the outside border and then will probably use a plainer fabric or felt to back it. At some point, I plan on stitching the other ornaments in the set, but not this year.

I haven't worked on Pumpkin Pie this week. I have just been too busy. The chart is smaller than most of Sanman's charts, and a little trickier to read, so I want to work on it when I have long stretches of time to focus. That may mean working on it at the beach or in Richmond at the Memorial Day retreat. I'm not sure yet.

I'm toying with which project to pick up after this is done. I have to work on my ring pillow badly. I want to get that done by July 1st. But I also have to get hopping on my pandas. That will probably end up being a focus piece for May, but I still have to get the Variations that the chart calls for--Michaels did not have a good selection when I was in, so it means a trip to AC Moore for them. I really want that done by the time I go to Richmond, so that I'm not stressing about the framing.

I think this is the year that I am going to teach myself to stretch and frame my own work. When I was in 4-H, I did my own framing. It was probably not the best, and I did use sticky board, but it looked good when it was done, and 20 years down the road, the pieces are still in good condition. I figure there are good tutorials, and I'm not a stupid woman. Silly, yes, stupid no. Michaels carries frames, and most of the pieces I've done lately don't have unusual shapes, so I think I can actually make a real go at this. Or at least try . . .

Found my next ornament for the Brides Tree SAL

I will have some WIP photos to share tomorrow. I started Kustom Krafts' Irish Kitty, from their newsletter, Tuesday night, and am LOVING it. I'm already about a quarter of the way finished, and it's just a lot of fun, and not a hard stitch. I think having a newsletter is a brilliant idea for Kustom Krafts; it's a wonderful way to ease into their designs, and, as far as freebies go, it's a bit meatier than average, with shading and all that. Pretty awesome.

I also picked my April ornament for the Brides Tree SAL. I'm supposed to be doing a rabbit this month. It's been hard to pick a rabbit to do. There are so many to choose from, but a lot of them are Easter-themed, and that would be a bit wierd on a Christmas tree. So I've been putting off working on it because nothing shows you take a decision seriously like procrastination.

Monday night, I stopped in to the big used bookstore around here. I wanted some books to read, and their prices are really reasonable--half cover price, which, if you are looking at older, mid-80s, early 90s printings of books, are A LOT cheaper than at the bookstore. Anyway, they carry craft books as well, so I wandered over. They had a decent selection of cross stitch leaflets and magazines, so I looked through them. I pulled a bunch of issues of Country Stitch and FTLOCS, and had a wonderful time reading them. I don't have a lot of issues of Country Stitch. I don't know how long it was in print. It's a good magazine, though. Simpler designs, but pretty. Not overly "80s", not too much duplicate stitch, whatever that was?

In the November/December 1990 issue, they had a series called "A Country Kind of Christmas." It's a set of Prairie-Schooler type animal designs to use as ornaments, or for decorating table linens. They had a horse design, always a joy to find. And A BUNNY! Bestill my heart! He's hauling a carrot over his back, and has the sweetest little Santa cap on. I love him! I think he will be a sweet addition to the tree. I kitted him up already and will start him as soon as I finish the kitty, which shouldn't be long.

Picture post

Two finishes to share.

Joy, a freebie by LK, stitched with DMC on linen from my stash. I found some cute fabric to back it with, so can't wait to get it finished. This was a superquick stitch. I started it last night, finished it just now. I got this from the Lizzie Kate stitchers group on Yahoo.


And my finished One Flag over Chessie, renamed to One Flag over Gussie, by Chessie & Me. I love tabby cat charts (along with bunnies, and horses and black cats, and everything else) and this chart has been high on my "to-do" list since my LNS kitted it up last summer;I am pleased with how my customizations turned out. The LNS changed out the stitched stars for buttons, which I am grateful for. I stitched his body color in Whiskey, and the stripes in the darker color called for in the pattern. His whiskers were supposed to be black, but my orange tabby doesn't have black whiskers, so these match my guy a bit better. I think Gus would approve of his stitched self! I want a patriotic-style basket of smalls and I think this will be so cute in there, probably as a pinkeep, but I may make it into an ornament so I have more choices of how to display it.

An update

It was a crazy busy exhausting weekend for us. We were running all weekend--he had to get the camper inspected, and I had work on Saturday, then a family party on Saturday night. Yesterday, he went dirt bike racing, and I went to church. The early service. I had some errands afterwards, so didn't get home til noon, and then it was time for a nap. LOL. Of course I didn't get to the quilt store, but I figured it's probably for the best. I have enough fabric for right now.

I did get some stitching done on my "One Flag Over Gussie." It's actually almost finished. I think it's so cute. I messed with it a bit. The kitty was supposed to be done in one strand with black whiskers. I changed him to two strands so he stands out a bit better. And his whiskers are white, since Gussie doesn't have black whiskers. I think I'll be done with this by this evening. It's been a fun fast stitch.




And I finished my humbug. I didn't fill it with lavendar. I used maybe a teaspoon full; a little goes a long way and that was enough to scent it nicely. I hung it on the closet door when I was finished, and I could smell it all night. I am really pleased with the way the ribbon looks on it; it matches the lavendar perfectly! It took a bit of fiddling to get it finished. Mostly my fault. I clipped the corners too close, and this is a finish that does not tolerate that. But it wasn't a bad technique. I think it took me maybe an hour start to finish.I will definitely be making more of these. It was a nice finish.

The chart for my current WIP

can be found here.

I started this on Monday night, after stitching like mad on Betsy and I'm about halfway-finished. It's my project for the Bride's Tree SAL for February. I took it over to Mom's this morning while I was dropping off the twins' dog food, so I stitched a bit while we watched People's Court (my mother is bickering with Comcast over getting converter boxes so she has extremely basic cable). The four-legged crew was overjoyed to see me, Robbie moreso for the cookies that I brought than anything else. He had a heck of a time eating the one I gave him, so he ignored it and ate the one his sister started. I guess she had to tame it down a bit for him to start--that is what sissies do, right? I then handed her the one he had ignored, and of course, he was out of sorts because I gave his cookie away. She, in turn, took the cookie and hid it away. My darling little Song is a hoarder. Great . . .

Mom asked if I'd seen the Schipperkes on the Westminister dog show. I told her no. She said she hadn't seen them either. Robbie was apparently out of sorts over that too; his sister's probably been telling him he isn't as pretty as the dogs on TV. I told him he was just the most beautiful boy in town, and that if his gramma would get the situation with Comcast dealt with, he could see his relatives on TV. He advised me he no longer cares about other Schipperkes, he is retired, he has his sisser, he has his mummy and gramma, and his cookie, and his lamby toy, and his life is complete. If he could only see the grass, he'd be a blissful dog. (BTW, I'd say he's cuter than the Schip who won the breed, but, really, they all look pretty much alike. I'm biased, but I'm not stupid.).