WIPocolypse Update

I'm pleased to be able to share some actual progress on two of my WIP pieces this time around.  First up is my HAED Storey Keeper piece which I worked on for Sunday UFO stitching on the 1st.  I completed two 10x10 blocks.  I am always amazed at how those teeny-tiny over one stitches manage to form the picture.  There are a ton more to go but I'm glad to have picked it up.

Next up is BBD's Winter Wonderland which I had a hard time putting down to take a picture.  I was able to get quite a bit done since the last time I worked on it.

Crushing on Crochet

I absolutely adore the look of crochet.  While I know how to crochet, it's not something that I do well.  For some reason I always seem to have one more stitch than I'm supposed to.  However, when I saw these adorable coasters on this blog on Friday, I just couldn't resist attempting them. 

On Saturday I stopped at Michael's to pick up the yarn called for and started my first coaster.  Of course there was some ripping out and repeating before the first one was completed but I'm pretty pleased with the end result so far. 

I have to say I am not a fan of the Martha Stewart yarn - I find it a pain to work with but after switching to a bamboo hook, it was less of a pain.  I'm persevering because I adored the colors in the original photos.  I will definitely look for an alternative though because I think these would make a really cute gift.  Now I just need to see if I can master the basket!

Belated TUSAL photo

I obviously got a bit lost in the last half of March and neglected to post from where ever I disappeared to so my March TUSAL photo is quite late.  I did take the photo relatively on time, just never made it to the upload and blogging part of the process.  A lot of what went into the jar in March was the ripped out threads from my BBD Anniversaries of the Heart first go round.  There are threads from 2 exchanges in there too.  Aren't those daffodils lovely?  My favorite spring time flower.  They gave the living room the sweetest smell for a good week.

I have some more catching up to do but I need to get back to a crochet project that is calling my name.  I will show you more about that tomorrow!  Hope your April is off to a good start.....

Another Do-Over

After finishing the stitching for my two exchange pieces, I thought I would get back to finishing my BBD Anniversaries of the Heart #1 as it was about 1/2 way stitched.  But when I picked it up again, I was just not happy with the colors.  While I loved the WDW Kudzu, the challenge to make the called for threads work with the fabric and the design was just not something I was up for.  So I did a fabric dive and came up with 30ct WDW Straw and restarted the piece.  This is the 2nd piece I've decided to restart.  I'm beginning to wonder if the issue is the 30 ct part as I do prefer working with 36-40 count. 

At the rate I'm going, I'm never going to get anything finished this year!  I also started the process of frogging the Kudzu piece as I do like the fabric.  I finally picked out the rest of the design last night while watching a Steven Segal picture on AMC.  Both were truly mindless - the movie and the frogging!

I believe it's a Hermit weekend and although I didn't sign up and it's going to be a busy weekend, I'm hoping to get as much stitching time as possible. 

WIPocolypse Update - or Not

Hello again!  I have let my blogging lapse more than intended over the last two weeks as a result of not really being able to show what I've been working on because it's been for exchanges. 

That means i have no progress to show this month on anything on my WIPocolypse list unfortunately.  However, that does not mean nothing was happening around these parts. 

My exchange stitching is done and waiting to be finished this week.

I visited my family in NH and spent a really nice day junking with my sister.  We didn't find much but it was nice to be together.  She didn't spend a dime and I spent less than $10 for these vintage baking tins.  I thought they'd be great just to display or even turn into a pincushion if I get really ambitious.

I also started another pair of birthday socks which are nowhere near to being finished on time but I got a gift certificate to hold the birthday girl over while she waits for her socks.  The pattern is butterflies and is one of my favorites to work on. It's really easy to work and the finished result is great.  I think the recipient will be pleased.

And then there was some stash that arrived - Sergie who I forgot was back ordered and thus a wonderful surprise when he flew into the mailbox and then my first Scarlet House pattern which I just thought was so cute. 

And then of course there was time spent with this attention hound!  Who could resist that face?  Gotta go play with my pup!

TUSAL and the rest of Hermit weekend progress

Okay it's time for my TUSAL posting and I have to say it doesn't look like I added much since last month but I did add!  Some of it was frogged threads but just a small amount.

The remainder of my Hermitting weekend was devoted to finishing the second sock of this pair which will be going to the post office in a birthday package tomorrow - the receiver's actual birthday.  Just a bit of a late arrival but I'm hoping she won't mind that too much after she opens the package.

The week is racing to a close and I'm okay with that.  The weather forecasted for the weekend sounds like indoor pursuits will be best and for me that means stitching of course.  Who would mind that?  Have a great rest of the week!

The Beauty of Hand Made Gifts

A friend asked me to help her son with some crochet and they came over on Saturday afternoon so I could do that.  In appreciation, she gave me a gift bag full of the most wonderful hand made goodies.  My friend is the most fabulous scrapbooker and she makes cards that she sells in a number of locations to benefit the Animal Welfare Society in our area.

I was lucky enough to receive several hand made cards in addition to a really cute and clever note pad and the most adorable tile/trivet.  My friend is going to make me a set of coasters to match the trivet - isn't that nice?  I really enjoyed working with her son and I look forward to seeing him wearing the new hat he's planning to crochet during his winter break this week.

As someone who is usually on the giving end of hand made gifts, it's especially precious to receive them.  I so appreciate the time, care and creativity that went into these very special and appreciated gifts.

She also gave me the gift of photos of the love of my life which I wouldn't have been able to capture with my camera.  Is he a hound or what?  I so love my sweet Walker Coonhound.

Ch..Ch..Changes

Here is my Hermit Stitching weekend progress so far.  I have been working on my BBD Anniversary piece and have managed to finish up the house with a slight change.  The windows called for GAST Harvest Basket but again, the contrast between the window color and the house was virtually non existent so I went stash diving again for a more contrasting color. 

I used GAST Butternut Squash.  While it's definitely much brighter than the other colors in the piece, I kind of like the contrast.  It makes me think of a winter house with all the windows lit at night - kind of glowing. 

This piece has certainly kept me stash diving so far.  I hope that all of the substituting is over with and I can get on with completing it and moving on to the next piece.  I have two exchange pieces to get going so I am not sure how quickly this one will get completed.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend and getting lots of stitching time!

Ripped and Restitched

Last night I ripped out the GAST Toasted Barley and replaced it with DMC 318.  I'm much happier with the contrast now.  Based on the comments, I guess I'm not the only one who has experienced the difference between the photo on the chart and the true colors of the actual threads.  I'm glad to have found a color that works even if it's not an overdyed.  I don't think it will make that much of a difference.

I'm excited because it's Hermit Stitching weekend starting tomorrow!  I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to put some decent time into this piece and maybe one of my WIPs.  Are you Hermit-ing this weekend?  You should be!  Just follow the link in my side bar to sign up.

Nothing like a photo....

to help you make up your mind about doing some frogging.  I've been working on my BBD Anniversaries piece today and I had been a bit frustrated with one of the colors on the house.  Britt and I had a bit of a discussion via email about being frustrated with our thread colors vs. the photo on the front of the chart. 

I was happy with everything so far until I began stitching the front side of the house (on the left) with GAST Toasted Barley and realized that the contrast between the roof color which is GAST Woodsmoke is barely discernible.  I decided to put the right side house color in before making a decision on whether or not to keep going with the Toasted Barley.  Looking at this photo, I'm going to have to find something that has more grey/contrast with the other colors and will still look good on the fabric.  I HATE frogging!  And this piece has had a lot of it considering how relatively small it is!

I can't decide if I will frog tonight or just work on the other side while watching the Grammy's tonight. 

Needles of a Different Sort

Tonight was knitting group night and I was so crabby I almost didn't go.  It's been a true full moon week with tons of crazy things going on and I'm not sure if that's what has my shorts in a wad or if it's just the usual February cabin fever.  Either way, I am so glad I went to knitting as laughing with the ladies was just what I needed. 

This is the project I bought and of course in full moon tradition, I left the pattern at home which I didn't realize until it was time to start decreasing for the toe.  I decided to trust my familiarity with the pattern and began my decreases.  Much to my delight, I had remembered the pattern correctly and I can continue on to finish this sock and hopefully complete the other before the birthday they are intended for arrives.  The yarn is OnLine which I've never used before.  The true colors are blues, greys and purples but I couldn't get the photo editor to really show them as they are.  I'm off to try and finish up the first sock tonight.  TGIF tomorrow!!!

February WIPocolypse Update

Well, not as much progress as I'd like to be showing but here are the photos of what I've worked on since my last WIPocolypse update.  I finished block 6 of C@HRH and started Block 7.

And Ann Sandels got a very tiny bit of attention.  I'm actually thinking that I'm going to restart this piece.  Crazy as that seems given what's been stitched so far, I'm not loving the 30 count fabric and how the stitching looks on it.  It was either do it over one on 30 count or switch over to 40 count. 

Tonight I dug through my stash and found a piece of 40ct R&R Iced Cappuccino that would work very nicely based on my floss toss.  I just need to get over the time and thread that's already gone into this.  If I do start it over, do you think it still counts as a WIPocolypse piece or a new start?

I hope you made more progress on your stitching since the last update!

Belated TUSAL Posting

Time got away from me and I did not post my TUSAL photo as I should have on the 21st.  As you can see, it's pretty empty for the month due to a lack of stitching time.  I hope to add to it this month though. 

The project that got the most time in January was my BBD Anniversaries of the Heart piece which I'm doing as an SAL with Brit.  I'm still happy with my fabric color choice and am looking forward to getting this finished in February.  I'm off to do a bit of UFO/WIP stitching - most likely on CHS Christmas@HRH.

I'm Hermiting, how about you?

It's International Hermit Weekend, the first one of 2012 and I couldn't be happier.  I think I've been looking forward to this the most of any SAL I'm involved with this year.  A whole weekend dedicated to stitching.  I may do a bit of knitting but my main focus is going to be stitching.  It's cold out and it's supposed to snow tomorrow so I think it makes perfect sense to stay home and spend lots and lots of time with needle and thread.  Hope you are planning a great weekend as well!

Where does a week go?

I can't believe how fast the past week has flown by.  If this is any indication of how the year is going to go, I'm in trouble.  I had a busy week and so the stitching results are not that impressive however I did manage to finish Block 6 of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow on Saturday night.

And I even managed to start the next block under this one but I didn't accomplish enough to be worthy of a photo.

Yesterday, was the start of my SAL with Brit.  We are stitching the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart together over the next year.  I had a promising start until I changed colors and realized my left hand frame was one square off.  So I spent a really depressing amount of time ripping out the left hand motif and beginning to restitch it.  This was the photo before I ripped out the left hand side.  I'm stitching Anniversary 1 on 30ct WDW Kudzu with the called for threads. 

I am hoping I will be able to manage more stitching this week but we shall see about that.  I need to catch up and comment on some blogs to see how everyone is doing on their WIPocolypse projects.  Hope your week is off to a stitchy start!

January WIPocolypse Update

Despite only being the 9th day of the new year, I've gotten some pretty good stitching in on three different WIPs.  First up is my HAED Story Keeper.  I worked on this on January 1st and was able to complete the 5 stitch-wide strip I had started in December.

The next piece I worked on was my With Thy Needle & Thread's Anne Sandles.  I would have more to show but the GAST Copper that came with my floss pack was really bright and it really looked out of place with the other colors.  So I dug through my stash and came up with a Copper that is more in line with the other colors already in the piece.  I hope to get back to this some time this week.

And finally, on Saturday while stitching with Barbara in Belfast, I worked on my C@HRH.  I feel like this has been an endless block but I think another good hour or two of stitching and I will have it completed.

Not a bad start to my 2012 WIPocolypse plans.  Hope you are pleased with your progress so far!

Decision, decisions....

Britt and I are planning to start stitching the BBD Anniversary pieces on the 15th of this month.  On Tuesday, I pulled the first chart and went through my fabrics and the fiber list.  I am short a few fibers so I placed an order for the ones I am missing from the first and the 2nd charts. 

I have decided to to put mine together in a sort of fabric book, sewing two designs back to back and creating a pocket between them to include mementos or something.  I'm still not sure on how I will construct the book but that can percolate as I stitch the series.  I am thinking something the lines of this however I plan to bind mine like a regular book down the left side.

While the chart called for a neutral fabric, for some reason I kept seeing green for this design.  I had two possible options in my stash, one 30 ct. Kudzu and one 30ct Tin Roof.  The top photo is in natural light in my office and the one below is under my Ott light.

Once I have the other threads I need, I will put those down on the fabrics and make my choice but I am really leaning towards the 30ct Kudzu shown below.

Oh can a girl dream.....

A while back on this blog, I read about the auction for Betty Ring's sampler collection and the recommendation to call Sotheby's and order an auction catalog.  I immediately did so and it arrived in the mail today.  Oh my.....

There is an unbelievable treasure within this book and I do so wish I had the free cash to bid on something.  However, many of the expected valuations are waaaay out of my reach.  While I did see at least one as low as $400 in a quick skim through, many more are in the $12,000-$30,000 with one estimate at $50,000-$70,000!

I am sure the girls and women who originally created these unbelievable masterpieces would faint at the thought of their hand work ever being so valuable.  But obviously someone did as they were kept through many years and passed down through generations to be acquired by one very passionate and astute lady.

Barbara, don't worry - I will bring it with me on Saturday!  See you in Belfast.  And if anyone would like to join us, see you at the Co-op around 9:30ish.

End and Beginning of the Year Stitching

I had set a goal of completing the 6th block of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow by the end of December and unfortunately, that did not happen.  I did put a few more stitches into it on the 31st but not enough to finish it off. 

Yesterday was UFO stitching day and I did manage to be fairly productive.  I completed the 5 square strip I started back in December.  Once I get going on this piece, it moves fairly quickly considering the over one stitching and the multiple color changes involved.  I find it so amazing how all those little teeny Xs manage to create this incredible display!  I think you will be seeing this piece a lot more this year than in previous years as it's one of my WIPocolypse pieces. 

Thanks for stopping by!