First Finish of 2010

Yeah, I have a stitching happy dance! Last night I put the finishing stitches in on my CHS The Gilded Cage. I am thrilled to have this one done. I am trying to decide on how to finish-finish it. I could frame it but I'm also considering putting it on one of these stands from Bloom Woodworks. I received a gift last year mounted on one of these and it's so pretty. The pieces are about the same size so I know it would work. I'd mount it on a piece of foam core board and add some decorative trim I think. I will have to think about it for a while. Riona, I will get this chart out to you in the mail next week! I hope you enjoy stitching it as much as I have.

Just because it's on clearance,

doesn't mean you have to buy it. I was not going to buy any new stash this year and I've already fallen off the wagon pretty badly and it's barely the middle of February!
This is my loot from ABC Stitch Therapy's clearance sale. The lure of a bargain got a hold of me and sucked me in and this is the result. Here's what I got: The top photo shows three Erica Michaels Random Thoughts charts - Spring, Autumn and Winter. I actually bought two of the autumn in my enthusiasm so I will be adding this to a giveaway.

The photo below shows Homespun Elegance Vintage Inspired Sewing Stands I, La-d-da Love Thy Neighbor, Stacy Nash Primitives Winter Woolens Cupboard Sampler and Brittercup Designs Spring is in the Air - I absolutely love the little robins in this chart.

And the final photo shows three HIH Medley charts - Winter, Spring and Valentine Medley. I already had the Winter medley so that will be part of a give away as well. The final two charts are Waxing Moon Designs Autumn Minis which I thought would be good for exchange stitching and another Homespun Elegance, Autumn Button Sampler. All of this was under $50 so I don't feel I did that bad. Can you tell I'm trying to talk myself out of the guilts? LOL

Weekend Update

I don't have a whole lot of stitching progress to show you because I got a little obsessed with this:

I took a magic loop class in Portland on Saturday and the instructor had made a pair of mittens using this wonderful purple mohair yarn. Well, after learning the basics of magic loop knitting, I just had to try my hand at knitting a pair of mittens. This is the first one, completed at 11:00pm on Sunday evening! I am really proud of myself because I've never done one before. With a little help from the ubiquitous YouTube on how to knit the thumb, I carefully picked up stitches and pulled out my anchoring yarn and away I went to finish the thumb. I love, love, love it!!! I'm hoping to cast on for the second one tonight in the hopes of having a pair by this weekend.

But I do have some stitching updates to share. Yesterday was UFO Sunday so out came my HAED Story Keep. I put in 200 stitches and have only 100 more to finish the first page. I've kept this out in the hopes I will get the page done and move on to the 2nd page.

And here is my progress on Block 2 of C@HRH. I worked on this a bit this morning so the Quaker motif is now filled in at the top and I've moved on to a chimney to the right of the one in the photo.

And I got a few more stitches into my CHS Gilded Cage. I should probably focus solely on this right now to get it done but I'm not sure I can. I do have Monday off for President's day but I plan to work on my thesis so we shall see. Sorry for the wonky sideways photo but blogger won't load it in right. Consider it a neck stretch for those of you who have been sitting in front of your PCs too long in one place!

Thank you to all who have visited me lately. I see some new names and faces and I appreciate your taking the time to comment. I look forward to visiting your blogs if I have not already! I hope you're having a fantastic week and getting lots of stitching in.

Fluttering toward a finish!

This morning I managed to get out of bed a 1/2 hour early so I had time to stitch. Last night and this morning, my focus piece has been CHS The Gilded Cage. I am confident I'll be able to get this completed before the end of the month. In a way I will be sad to move onto something else because this has been a pleasure to stitch and I really love the colors. However there are tons of projects waiting to be stitched from my current stash and more on the way because I fell off the wagon in a big way over ABC Stitch Therapy's clearance sale. Have you checked it out? I warn you, it's dangerous!

January Progress and February Goals

Thanks everyone for your very kind comments on my finish. I'm really happy that I was able to get it done. Going forward it will be harder to stick with my goals as I'm back in school and really need to focus on my final paper which will be delivered in October.

I don't think I posted an official goals list of January but here is the one that was in my head along with my progress:

1. Finish Block 1 of CAHRH - Done!
2. Finish CHS The Gilded Cage - about 2/3 done
3. Stitch an ornament - NOT
4. Finish an item of the Acorn Sewing kit by With My Needle - NOT

Here are my goals for February:

1. Finish Block 2 of CAHRH
2. Finish CHS The Gilded Cage
3. Stitch an ornament
4. Finish an item of the Acorn Sewing kit by With My Needle

I hope you all had a successful stitching month in January. February is a short one so it's going to fly by quickly so get those fingers flying!

Block One is Done!

Yeah! I'm happy dancing with the first block of C@HRH done! I just finished up the last little motif and after carefully checking my piece against the chart, I took the hoop off of the fabric. Thanks to all of you who have cheered me on with this. It feels like a finish even though there are 11 more blocks to go! LOL I've already pulled the colors for the next block and made a working copy of the chart for block two.

Now I can say that at least one of the goals I set for this month was accomplished! But more about that tomorrow.

Heading for the finish line?

The last few days I've been working diligently on my C@HRH piece in an effort to get it finished by the end of the month. Here's where I am so far. I still have a lot of the smaller motifs and flowers to finish not to mention the border but I'm very hopeful I will be able to get it done in time. I'm off to stitch on it some more to inch me closer to that finish line.

A bird of a different color

Last night I did not feel like picking up CAHRH again after stitching on it so much this weekend. So instead I pulled out my other CHS bird related project and worked a bit more on that. I'm almost done the border on the left. I'd say I'm about 2/3rds of the way done with this project and with a few more dedicated days stitching on it, it will be ready to frame. However, tonight I plan to get back to CAHRH in an effort to finish it off by the 31st.

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments on CAHRH. This is such a neat project. I'm almost afraid to see what her upcoming Autum @ HRH looks like because I don't need to be buying anything with the stash I currently have. However I have a feeling I will be really tempted! I can't wait to see what next month's market brings.....

CAHRH Update

Here is my progress on CAHRH. I was able to stitch a fair amount this weekend and got farther than I thought I would. I'm still not sure I'll be able to finish it by the end of the month but I'll be pretty close I think. I am enjoying the different colors in this particular block - many that I'd never picture putting together the way Kathy does but they always seem to work don't they?

Thanks to those of you who responded about skin care. I really appreciate it. I'm spending a bit of time researching on the web as well as checking prices too! I think I will use up all of my current stuff - I know I will with what it costs!! - and then try a new line.

It's rained buckets here today which makes for some treacherous footing in the driveway as everything under the water is turned to ice. I almost landed on my butt again in the driveway this morning. Sigh..... I'm so longing for spring! I hope you had a good Monday today!

Non-stitching Post - Skin Care

Okay all, I would like to know what skin care line you use and why you like it. I have been using a line called Obagi which I get through my doctor's office. I've been using it for about 2 years now and it works great but it is prohibitively expensive. I'm looking for another good line that might be kinder to my budget yet still good for my skin. I'm looking for something that exfoliates and helps with wrinkles, is fragrance free and preferably organic or natural. I've been looking at the new Olay line ProX and Regenerist but I'd love to hear what others are using that works. So let me know please! Thanks for your help!

I will have a stitchy post tomorrow as I've been working on my CAHRH piece this weekend.

Making Progress

I had hoped to finish this block by the end of the month but I'm not so sure I will accomplish that goal. I am making progress but I've also been working on other things. I think if I'd only worked on this, I'd make my goal but this weekend is the last one before classes start up again so I'll have to see what I can do.

Today was the first day of the week where it did NOT snow - YEAH! The snowbanks along the sidewalks are so tall you can barely see the tip of the dogs tail above them and he's not that small of a dog. It felt really great to have a sunshiney day for the first time in way too long. I hope you enjoyed this Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday and for that I am very grateful.

Creation and Devestation

Some of us were into devestation over the weekend hence this photo of my living room floor on Saturday morning. The pup feels the need to disembowel anything that has stuffing and/or a squeaker in it. And of course you must have all of your things out at one time whether or not you play with them or not!
On a creative note, here is my progress on CHS Gilded Cage. Unfortunately, as I was completing the top motif on the left hand side (I had turned the piece upside down to stitch bottom to top) I noticed that I was one stitch off from where the flower should line up with the inside border. There was way too much to frog in order to get it correct so it's going to stay like it is. I may have to fudge the top a bit but I'm just not willing to unfrog so much stitching. The error is at the very bottom of the cage where I neglected to put in one stitch. Oh well!And yesterday I was in the mood for stitching on my HAED piece. I put in another 300 stitches and have only 300 more left to finish the first page. I may even be able to finish it this month but I've been neglecting CAHRH and I was planning to try and stitch a block a month on that so I'd better get back to it.

We had a good 14+ inches of snow over yesterday and today and I'm tired from shoveling. The plow guy called this morning at 7:25am to say he was behind - of course after I had shoveled myself out because I needed to get to work for 7:30. And then I had to reshovel the walkway and bottom of the driveway thanks to the snowplows. Sigh... I'm so over winter.

Giving

Please consider giving to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. It will help all of those in need in Haiti and the need is so obviously great.

Another form of giving is the various giveaways that have been popping up in blogs across the internet. Katrina is having what I think is a great giveaway - a custom sewn item and you can even choose from three themes. I've put my name in for the "Shake & Bake" theme. I've already been mulling over what I might choose if my name gets drawn. Please be sure to check out the wonderful dresses she made for her two daughters who are so adorable.


On a stitching note, here is my progress on Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. This is a great piece to work on although I wish I could show you more progress. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in a day to read blogs, stitch, keep up to date on email. And my free time is running out as classes will start again in two weeks and I should be working on my literature review for my thesis. Sigh.......I'm going to stitch for a bit!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to go visit Katrina! And stay tuned for a giveaway here as I've been pulling things from my stash for just that purpose.

Easy Access

First off, many thanks to Nicole who was kind enough to help me out with some confusing symbols on my CAHRH piece. I will have an update on that piece for you tomorrow after I make a little more progress on it this evening.


I was looking at my JCS Ornament issues, thinking I should be stitching an ornament when I got the rather brilliant idea to take all of my issues to Staples and have them spiral bound to make it easier to lay them flat for stitching. I have 8 issues so I had them bound two at a time chronologically. I'm really thrilled with how they turned out. There is a clear plastic cover on the front and a sturdier piece of card stock on the back so they should be fairly protected from wear and tear. And now it's so much easier to lay the magazine on my lap to stitch from. That is it would be if I were stitching an ornament. I will get to that, hopefully sometime this month but my idea will make it that much easier once I get around to an ornament. The girl who quoted me a price actually got it wrong and all four of these cost $27 but I think in the long run, it will be money well spent.

Too many options

Today I took a class on crocheting granny squares at an LYS in Portland. I have done them before but I've had problems with them coming out square so I thought this would be a good opportunity for improving my technique. This is the little practice granny square we made. It was a good class and I'll be going back for an advanced class in a couple of weeks. With so many project options, it's really hard to decide what to pick up and work on.

Here is a little more progress on my CHS Gilded Cage. I'm debating if I should just work on this and get it done or alternate between this and C@HRH. I also have BOAF Kindness Sampler ready to go and now I should be practicing my granny squares. What's a crafty person to do?



Here is my 1st progress photo of C@HRH. Unfortunately, I can't get it to load horizontally no matter what I try - sorry! Not much compared to Nicole's and other stitcher's I've seen out there but I'm pleased with my progress.


Thanks for everyone who has stopped by and been so encouraging. It's nice to be able to share my progress and to see what everyone else is working on.

Waiting in the wings...

The reference to waiting in the wings is for the materials that I pulled over the weekend for BOAF's Kindness Sampler. I bought the chart and materials at a LNS in Plymouth, MA ages ago. For whatever reason, I never got around to stitching it and had kind of put it out of my mind until recently. It was on the wish list of a stitching friend I was in an exchange with and I sent her the chart and threads. Cheryl has started hers already but I've yet to put the first stitch in mine.
The fabric is a 32 count Lakeside Linens called Gypsy Gold that was double dyed. I think it will look great with the Weeks called for in the pattern. I wish BOAF was still designing because I really like their stuff.

I have not done much stitching so far this week as I've been kind of tired in the evenings. I have put a few more stitches in both my current CHS pieces and will share updated photos soon.

New Year Stitching

This past weekend was a 3 day one for me as we had Friday off for the holiday. I spent the largest part of my long weekend stitching. I put a start into C@HRH, worked a bit on my CHS Gilded Cage piece and yesterday was UFO Sunday so I pulled out my HAED Storey Keep which had not seen the light of day in quite a very long time. I also pulled fabric for BOAF's Kindness Sampler which I have had in my stash forever. I'm going to try and stitch along with Cheryl (no blog) but I have a feeling she will be done way before me!

First up is the Gilded Cage. I finished the inside and started on the outer border. It's coming along! I'm really sorry about the photo. It was very gray and snowy all weekend and I need to learn how to work my camera to take a decent photo. I'm very hit or miss in that department and it seems the more I fidget with it, the worse the pictures are!

Here is my HAED piece. The last time I could find a photo is from January of 2008 which likely means I did not work on it at all last year. No wonder I am so far from finishing. I put in 450 stitches yesterday and the photo shows how little that is on an HAED over one project! But it felt great to get back to work on this and I think I will try to make it a regular Sunday project.












I did not take a photo of my C@HRH but I completed to top border and first line of the first block at the top left. I will upload a photo later this week as I hope to make some more project on it.

Happy 2010 Everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's celebration. My neighbors invited me over for a wonderful dinner and it was a great time-good food, good libations, good conversations and good friends.

Here is my wish for myself and all of you this new year:

A little more laughter,
A little less worrry.
A little more kindess,
A little less hurry.

I have this on a sign in my kitchen and I read it every time I'm in there to remind myself to slow down and appreciate all of the blessings I have in my life. I hope you do the same!

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.

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!

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.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS

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?

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!

The last day of November

I for one cannot believe how quickly this month flew by. And of course December will pass even faster and then we will be at a new year. I hope to have this piece completed by the end of December and am feeling fairly confident that I will be successful. Then it will be on to the accessories that go with this wonderful piece.

I don't know why Blogger decided to upload this in a vertical position because it was taken horizontally! Sorry for having to turn your neck. This is the complete view of the four panels. I will need to start thinking about a fabric to line the inside with. I'm thinking something in an orange or coppery color. Any suggestions? And links to sights would be great too as I don't have a fabric shop in my area that would carry the silk I'm thinking of for the finishing.

Stashing along!

While I might not of had a lot of time to stitch lately, that doesn't mean I haven't been buying things to stitch! I have ordered a rather large quantity of stash lately - retail therapy for sure. These are three of my favorites that arrived in the mail today. I absolutely fell in love with Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow and took the plunge. I am thinking of starting this in the New Year after I do an inventory of my NPI silks and see what I need to order. I already have the fabric for this piece.

I also just loved the new Drawn Thread although I'm not usually a fan of theirs. And I loved the new Quaker Diamonds chart even though I'm not a huge Quaker fan. I need to get the Valdani threads and figure out a fabric choice. It calls for PTP Mello which is a great fabric so I will likely order that to do the piece. I am hoping I get a gift certificate for stash so I don't spend too much more money.

My resolve for 2010 will definitely to be to stitch from my stash all year as I've added a ton over the last few months. I will share some more of that soon.

I hope for those who celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, that you had wonderful day. Enjoy the weekend!

Birthday Exchange Recieved

I heard today that the birthday exchange piece I was working on forever was received by the recipient and she was very happy with it. Jen was recently accepted into the DAR and when I heard that, I thought my choice was even more appropriate. I chose Freedom House Sampler by Homespun Elegance and had it framed. Of course I forgot to take a photo of the framed piece but here is the stitched piece. I'm hoping Jen will post a photo of the framed piece because I was really happy with my choice. This was a great piece to stitch and I will likely stitch it for myself at some point. I really enjoy working on Homespun Elegance charts.

SAL Update

Now that my commitment piece is finished and mailed off, I have picked up my Alexandre SAL piece again. I was working on this on Saturdays but I'd really like to get it completed by the end of the year so I'm working on it as I can. I've reached about 1/2 way through the 4th panel. I can't wait to complete and then work on the accessories that go with it. It's such a beautiful design.

Correction

I need to make a correction to my last post. The photo is not from an autumn exchange but my birthday. This is the wonderful piece I received in the autumn exchange. It's stitched over one and the finishing is fabulous.s I obviously chose to receive a Halloween themed piece. Isn't this wonderful? I love it!

I also got these great Shepherd's Bush charts which I'm looking forward to stitching.

Autumn Exchange

Yesterday I posted a photo of the piece I stitched for the autumn exchange I was in. Here is the wonderful piece I received. Isn't it funny that we both stitched something from Homespun Elegance for each other? This was a mystery exchange so I did not know who I was going to receive from. I thought the coincidence was kind of neat. My thanks on your kind comments on the piece I did. It was a lot of fun to work on.

I was looking at the number of blog posts for each year since I started this blog and they're kind of pitiful. The most posts was in the 2nd year with 143. Pretty sad. I'm going to set a goal to blog at least 200 posts in 2010. That shouldn't be too hard right? That will give me an incentive to make sure I make time for creative pursuits next year. I will need some kind of break as I will be working intensively on my Master's final project.

It's all about time

I have been thinking about my relationship with time lately. I have been feeling like there is just never enough of it in my life and I live by the clock/watch and am always feeling rushed. Not a good feeling and probably not good for the body in the long run. I am working to change my perspective.

This update is long over due. I've not had a ton of "time" lately to stitch but I did manage to finish an autumn exchange which is pictured and a birthday exchange piece which is at the framers and will most likely be late to the recipient. That time thing again!

The design is by Homespun Elegance and was really fun to stitch. The acorn tops and the squirrel's tail are all french knots. They were supposed to be colonials but I kept forgetting to do the figure eight and I'm much faster at french knots. Plus, I can't really tell the difference between the two when they are done.

I have been working to read more blogs lately and hope to keep posting on a more regular basis. I've been seeing all kinds of wonderful things out there and they are inspiring and making me want to stitch and stitch and stitch! Keep your needles going everyone!

Where has the summer gone? I have been dealing with parental health issues for most of the last two months and feeling like I totally missed the summer. Part of that is due to the fact that it's been the 7th rainiest summer in Portland history - over 20 inches of rain in June, July and August. Add to that a couple of trips back and forth to Pittsburgh and the summer has just flown by. Classes are getting ready to start up again on the 8th and I hate to see that happen.

I have made some stitching progress this summer which is a good thing. I have managed to complete the third panel of my Alexandre SAL project which is pictured above. I have started the last panel and am looking forward to completing it soon. I also participated in a color exchange but I will save that for another post.

I hope you have enjoyed the summer and that we will have a nice Indian summer here in Maine.

SAL Saturday Progress

We actually had a warm sunny day on Saturday so I took advantage of it and worked outside on my yard all day. I mowed the lawn, dug up 4 large clumps of day lilies, separated them and planted a new day lily bed on the side of the house where the grass was struggling to grow. It looks much better although I need to get some edging for the beds. In place of the day lilies, I planted hostas which will be much happier in the shade than the day lilies were. It was a huge project but the front garden looks much nicer.



As a result of all the time spent on yard work, my stitching progress was not as much as I hoped but satisfactory none the less. I think I will be able to finish this panel this coming weekend, especially since Friday is considered a holiday and I will have the day off because 4th of July falls on Saturday. Since the biggest part of my yard work is done, I'm looking forward to some serious stitching time. I hope you get some to and thanks for stopping by!

Still No Sunshine

I tell ya, this weather is making people cranky, myself included. We had the tiniest bit of sun for about 4 minutes yesterday morning and then it was back to rain and clouds and crap weather. I believe we've had 22 out of 24 days with rain this month - it's pitiful. I had hoped to photograph this piece in sunshine but seeing that's not likely for a while, I went ahead and took a picture today.


Anyway, the weather did mean I stayed indoors and finished this piece on Sunday. I just need to add the little heart button over near the words and then it will be ready to finish. I'm waffling between framing it and making it a stand up. It's for my sister so I think I will have it framed as she covets my heart wall every time she sees it.

Picking up the threads again

It's been quite a while since I have been able to put needle to thread but I've finally completed my first year of grad school and have two luxurious months of no classes. I know they will go fast and I have tons of projects I would like to accomplish during the next two months but I will be happy if I finish a few stitching projects. I actually finished one of my rotation pieces yesterday so I'm off to a good start I think.

I also managed to put some serious time into my Alexandre SAL piece and I'd be thrilled to finish at least the main part of this project before classes start again in September. Here's the third panel of four. I am still enjoying working on this piece very much but I will be glad to move on to something different once it's done.

I've been looking at all the lovely projects everyone is working on and it makes me so tempted to start something new. Since I finished my Friday rotation piece, I just might do that this week! Or I might move this SAL piece to Fridays as well as Saturdays to try and get it done.