December 30, 2009

Sewing Treasures


Over the course of this year, I began collecting sewing implements like scissors, needle packets, thread bobbins, etc. Here are two of my most recent finds. I found this pair of cross Solingen scissors with the cute little sheath and the apple measuring tape in an antiques store near my sister's house in NH. You pull the little apple leaf to get the tape measure out which I think is totally adorable.

I'm really pleased with the finds, especially the scissors which were very reasonably priced. The bottom photo shows the cross better. I checked online to see if there was any history to the cross scissors and found they had not been in production for a while but the company recently started making them again. Based on the wear of mine, I'm pretty sure they're original. Either way, they are very neat.

December 28, 2009

Bad Weather Stitching


Yesterday was a miserable rainy day so much of it was spent on the couch stitching. I made some decent progress on my CHS piece and watched a lot of home improvement shows on HGTV. All the shows that are filmed in California or over the summer make me so envious of warm weather. It's been really weird here lately - bitterly cold for almost 2 weeks and then in the 40s so that a lot of the snow melted and then snow again today with the bitter cold coming back again. And someone mentioned a snow storm for Wednesday that's supposed to be the worst so far this year. Oh Joy! Can you tell I'm bone tired of winter and we still have the worst 3 months to go?

I see many people are updating their blogs after the Christmas festivities so I'm off to see what everyone's been working on! Thanks for stopping by!

December 26, 2009

The Aftermath


I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas celebration. At Casa Pearl, we celebrated with good food and a long nap.


One of us also found time to stitch a little bit more on CHS's The Gilded Cage. I just love the colors in this piece and plan to stick with it a while longer this weekend. I still haven't made up my mind as to what piece to start next. There are so many possibilities, it's making it hard to decide.

I hope you are finding lots of stitching time. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

December 23, 2009

Decisions, Decisions

Now that I've finished my Alexandre piece, I'm trying to decide what to start working on next. I have the fabric and threads to start the CHS Christmas at Hawkrun Hollow or I could also start this

which is kitted and ready to go. I've never actually stitched a LHN design -blasphemy to many of you I know! - so this might be the winner. In the meantime, I've picked up my UFO/WIP of CHS The Gilded Cage and am working on that.

I am planning to draft a UFO/WIP list of projects to work on in 2010. I've got a number of pieces I'd like to finish stitching and a number of stitched pieces that need finishing so I plan to focus on getting them done this coming year. I'm going to try to be really diligent about keeping a stitching journal to record progress and other details for projects, something I have not been that great at lately. Anyone else started to formulate a stitching plan for next year?

December 21, 2009

I'm Done!

This past Thursday I gave a presentation in my last class for 2009 and now I have only three classes left plus the completion of my capstone project. I have filed to walk in graduation on May 15th! I won't officially be done my degree until I give my final presentation for my capstone in October but I have a feeling that the time is going to fly right by! The end is in sight. And last night I put the final stitches into my SAL Alexandre piece. I'm done!! And I love how it turned out. I still have to stitch all the accessory pieces but plan those projects for 2010. Now to get the backing fabric for the inside of this piece and get it started. Here is a photo with all four panels completed.I'm not sure what I will start next. I have two projects kitted up and am mulling over which to begin. I will blog about those tomorrow-maybe you will have to help me choose!