Road Trip Splurge

On Sunday, I took a road trip here with a friend.  She had a gift certificate to Keepsake Quilting that was burning a hole in her pocket and I went along so that I could go next door to Patternworks.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, or even in the general vicinity and you're a fabric fan, go.  I've never been anywhere that has this much quilting fabric under one roof.  The staff are really nice and it's worth just browsing around to see all the many colors, themes and possibilities located under one roof.

 As we were leaving, I came across this great Halloween display.  There were some pumpkin faces on the wall that were made totally from 2x2 (I think) squares.  I thought I had better picture but I can't seem to find it.  I will try and download it from my phone again.

EDITED:  I found the other photo!  I had to adjust the exposure so you could see the pieces.  They were so cute!

I was looking for blocking pins for the shawl I knit last fall but unfortunately, they did not have what I needed.  But of course I couldn't leave empty handed now could I?  Of course not!  I came home with some cotton I plan to turn into crocheted grannies (I think) and a great new crochet book by Edie Eckman.

Last night I put the final rounds into a giant grannie square lap size afghan I've been working on forever but I still need to put a finishing edge on it.  I pulled out another Edie Eckman I have with all borders in it so I'm going to put my feet up and browse through the book to see if I can find something that will finish off my piece quickly and easily so I can get started on something new.

Thanks for stopping by to visit and for leaving me comments.  I've been so obsessed with stitching lately, I've been very remiss in stopping long enough to leave comments on all your blogs but I will be better, I promise!

IHSW Progress

My focus for this International Hermit Stitching Weekend was my Nora Corbet Halloween Fairy.  I have had a really hard time putting it down to work on anything else this weekend. 

I have had a four day weekend so I've managed to put a bit more braid into this piece since I took a photo this morning.  There's a little more braid to do above the owl but I think I may have to start the beading before I can finish that section to make sure the stitching is aligned correctly.

I hope you made great progress if you were IHSW stitching this weekend as well.  Unfortunately, it's back to work tomorrow. 

52 Weeks of Happy - Week 7

My happys for the week start with my toes as I finally got around to giving myself a pedicure on Sunday.  There's something cheerful about looking down and seeing bright toes to help get through the grey days of February.

These also made me happy this week every time I caught sight of them.  There is something so cheerful about carnations.  I love the luxury of fresh flowers in my home and have not indulged until this week.  I'm glad I did!

These little egg cups have been making breakfasts a happy event recently.  They are made in a muffin tin and they are so quick and easy.  Warmed up for 20-30 seconds in the microwave and I have a warm breakfast on the go.  I put two into baggies for portable, easy grab breakfasts to take to work.  I make mine with some spinach leaves and low fat mozzarella but I'm experimenting with other combos.

My final happy is the progress I've made on my Nora Corbett Halloween Fairy.  It's really coming along and I will have even more progress to share at the end of this International Hermit Stitching Weekend. Blogger is not cooperating with the loading so you will get a little neck stretch!  LOL

I hope your week was filled with lots of happy moments!  Remember, sometimes we have to really look for them but they are there.

Halloween Fairy Progress

I've been working on making progress on my Halloween Fairy and here is where I am as of Sunday.  I've given up getting the braid exactly as charted because it's really hard for me to work with Kreinik and get the stitches to lay exactly as charted but I think I've done a pretty good job.  At least one I'm happy with anyway and that's what counts right?

Thank you for all your kind comments about my sweater finish.  I plan to get all the ends woven in this weekend and actually wear it during this long weekend.  I also hope to get more stitching done on my Fairy but I got some new stash and a new start is calling my name.  It's an IHSW weekend so I hope to have a lot of progress to show by Monday.

Knitting Happy Dance

My sweater is done!  Wooohoooo for me.  I just need to weave in the ends and it's ready to wear.  I couldn't really take a good picture of myself so I apologize for how bad these are.

I'm pretty pleased with myself - for finishing it and for the fact that it fits pretty darn well for a first ever adult sweater.  I already have my next knitting project identified but I may buckle down and get a long overdue crochet project completed first.

Thanks for your kind comments on my Valentine exchange piece.  It really is a cute design.  Hope you had a great Monday and don't forget that the Westminster dog show is on TV tonight - CNBC tonight and I think USA tomorrow.  Our house is rooting for the hounds - the Treeing Walker Coon hounds specifically!

February TUSAL

I was able to put a bit more into my TUSAL jar over the past month.  There is lots of red and pink from a Valentine's exchange and quite a bit of Kreinik from working on my Nora Corbet Halloween Fairy.

I thought I'd share some photos of the exchange piece I stitched for my partner for the Valentine's exchange I was in.  I used the Trilogy 2006 Collector's Heart but chose a piece of 28ct. R&R18th Century Red fabric I had in my stash and then the called for threads. 

I found this great fabric to complement the design at Joanne Fabrics. I finished the design into a pin pillow, filling it with crushed walnuts.  I love the weight they give to a piece. 

52 Weeks of Happy - Week 6

Okay I just realized I titled last week's post 52 Weeks of Christmas.  Can you imagine?  It should have been 52 Weeks of HAPPY.  Anyway, here are my things that made me happy this week.

Sending out a give away package.

Receiving an exchange package in the mail.

 

These absolutely adorable felted sheep that were part of a Christmas gift.  They make me smile every time I pass by them.

Some really amazing winter sunsets.  They have been the most amazing purples, oranges and pinks and I wish I had a better camera to try and capture them.  I used my iPhone for this one while out walking the dog.  They have been really incredible the last few weeks.

I hope those of you were in the path of the blizzard this weekend are all doing okay.  We got way too much snow - it was very drift and when I tried to get to the car I was up to my mid-thigh.  I don't know that we got 24 inches but we got a good 18-20.  And it's wicked cold with a really mean wind.  Hope you are keeping warm where ever you are!

A great day for mail

I did a small Valentine's exchange with a few stitchers in an online group I belong to and my package arrived today!

And here's what I received - a lovely pillow ornament and a scissor keep along with three lovely fat quarters of seasonally themed fabric. 

 

I've got the perfect pair of red scissors for the scissor fob and the pillow is already on display.  Thank yous go out to my friend Cheryl in Iowa!

I'll show you what I sent to Virginia tomorrow - that is if I have power as they're forecasting a rather serious N'oreaster with 16-24 inches of snow for my local area.  Joy, joy, joy - not so much!

Fat Hens Lay Few Eggs

One of my nieces gave me a Quote of the Day calendar and this was today's quote.  It sounds so much more profound than "First Sunday UFO Stitching" which is really what this post is about.  Most of my stitching this past two weeks has been focused on a Valentine's exchange so I really couldn't share much. 

Now that my exchange has been completed, I was able to go back to stitching on something from my WIPocolypse/UFO pile and I decided to pick up Halloween Fairy by Nora Corbett.  The design was published in the September 2008 issue of Cross Stitch & Needlework and I probably started it later in 2008. 

It's been a UFO for quite a while because I'm not a huge fan of working with Kreinik braids and beading and that's the majority of what's left on this piece.

Here is where the project was when I sat down yesterday. And here is the progress I made watching a movie and 3/4 of the Super Bowl game. 

I remembered the tricks for working with Kreinik - short lengths and stitch each cross fully rather than running across and back.  This made for much happier stitching and better than expected progress.

I hope to make some more progress on this piece this week.  I hope you had a great Monday and thanks for visiting!

52 Weeks of Christmas-Week 5

It's been a very hectic week and I did not really focus on what my happy things would be this week but I have managed to come up with a few.

The week started off with a wonderful Sunday breakfast made for me by my BIL.  He's a very creative cook and makes great breakfasts even if he does tend to burn the meat!

Despite the breakfast and several meals out over the weekend, my scale made me pretty happy on Monday.  I've been trying to get back to my exercise routine and eating right and my scale told me I had dropped three pounds so I was VERY happy about that.

And my final happy for the week is that the days are getting longer so that even at 5:15 there's still plenty of daylight left for walking the dog.  It's all starting to add up minute by minute.

1st 2013 WIPocolypse Post

I had hoped to get a bit more stitched in my current block of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow this weekend but I was paying attention to an exchange gift that's supposed to be mailed out on Feb. 1.  I'm a bit behind...

Anyway, I made great progress this month on the only WIPocolypse project I worked on for any length of time.  The photo above is where I was at the end of December and below is where I left off the last time I stitched on this piece.

I am thinking about switching WIPocolypse pieces for February but I'm making such good progress on this block, I'm not sure I should.   I have a few more days to decide.

I did give one Sunday to my HAED piece so here are photos for that.  Where I was at the end of December...

And after the UFO Sunday stitching I did at the beginning of the month....

I will be picking this up again on Sunday because it will be another 1st Sunday of the month already.

52 Weeks of Happy-Week 4

This week has been an extremely cold one in my part of the world so many of my happies this week had to do with staying warm!

First up are my long johns and wool socks.  Walking the dog without these would be so unbearable.  I've pretty much lived in them because it takes so long to warm up after being outside for any length of time. 

 

The good thing is that there was quite a bit of sunshine during the week.  This is the view out of my window at work. I am looking forward to when we can sit outside and have lunch again.

 

And a coworker gifted me with this wonderful soup for dinner on Thursday evening so I didn't have to make anything and it was so delicious.

And finally today, there was an unexpected trip into Boston with the chance to see my oldest niece and have lunch with some of my favorite people. A pilgrimage was made to Georgetown Cupcakes on Newbury Street for some yummy goodness.  These were shared between four of us so I didn't eat them all myself!

I hope you had a great week and that there were many happy moments for you!

IHSW Progress

 
So this past weekend was the first International Hermit Stitching Weekend of 2013 and I did get some stitching in on Sunday.  I managed to stitch the horse and cart plus a bit more snow in my current block. 

I am pretty pleased with the progress on this piece although there's still quite a bit more to go.  I'm doubting I will be able to finish it by the end of the month but I am taking Friday off so maybe I can make some progress.  But I do need to finish an exchange piece by February 1st so that's got to be my first priority.  I'm doing a small Valentine's exchange with some ladies from an email group I belong to so I won't be able to share my choice until later next month.  I'm off to give it some more attention!

A Must See

On Saturday I went to see the needlework exhibit at the Saco Museum.  If you are a sampler lover and anywhere within reasonable driving distance, I urge you to go see this exhibit if you can.  I went in expecting maybe a dozen samplers and was totally floored by the volume and variety of pieces hanging at this tiny (but mighty) museum.

There were easily 30 or more pieces of embroidery with accompanying histories on display and so well curated.  I am somewhat familiar with the sampler making schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island but not with Maine's.  Who knew?  There were samplers and needlework pieces on display from "schools" in the Maine/New Hampshire border areas, Saco, Portland, Augusta, Bath, Downeast (Machais!!) and even in the southwestern part of the state.  I definitely got much more than I expected.

There is such a lovely variety including many examples of genealogy samplers/family histories and some memorial pieces as well but many, many wonderful examples of schoolgirl samplers.  I spent well over 2 hours reading the placards and viewing the display.  There were not many people viewing so I didn't feel pressured to move along or feel crowded which was great.

It was unbelievably impressive to stand in the middle of the room and just gaze at the many pieces created in the late 1700s and early 1800s of what was even then a very sparsely populated state.  I imagine the sea trade made it possible for teachers and students to travel up and down the coast from Boston and other areas. 

There is a great gallery talk scheduled for Friday at 6:30 where the curator of the exhibit will speak.  I'm going to try to get there.  There are additional talks on Friday, February 15 and on Thursday, February 21st at 11:00am there is a "stitching for beginners and beyond" event (February school vacation here).

Go, Go, GO I say!  You will appreciate the trip and the bounty of works on display.

52 Weeks of Happy - Week 3

This was a pretty busy week and I had to remind myself a few times to focus on what makes me happy.  Here are some of the things that made the list this week.

Meeting Barbara in Belfast to stitch together on a grey Sunday afternoon.

My new bangs which I cut back in on the same day that Michele Obama debuted hers.  I'm not sure who had theirs done first but I guess great minds think alight right?  I'm so much happier with my hair right now.

The smell (and taste!) of fresh baked brownies.  I had to make them for a meeting potluck.  I have started baking them in my muffin tin because they come out cute and easy to eat as well.

And finally, a completed sweater sleeve.  I finished it last night and went to my LNS to pick up another skein to start the other sleeve tonight.  I hope to have this done by next weekend but we'll see how that goes.  It should definitely be done by the end of the month - and wearable!!

I hope you found things that made you happy this week.  I had an timely quote in my 2013 quote a day calendar my niece gave me - "Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled" by Benjamin Spock.  I hope you have fulfilling things in your life that are helping you stay happy.

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway too - that will make at least one winner happy.  The draw is open until January 31.

January Give Away

It's time for a little giveaway I think.  It's just past the middle of January and we still have a good three months left to go of winter (at least here in Maine) so everyone should welcome a bright spot right?  I've gone through my stash and have pulled a few things to be able to do several giveaways.

The first one contains the following: "Garden Walk" by My Mark, Sampler Pillow Cover #48 by The Needle's Content, a fat quarter of 32 ct. Zweigart Mulberry Belfast linen and some threads by Valdani, Olde Willow Stitchery and Watercolors.  A few more things may get added before it gets sent out.

Here's how to participate:  Leave me a post telling me your best coping technique for getting through grey winter days.  I will randomly pick a winner on January 31st from those leaving a reply to this post.  Maybe the hope of being a winner will help you get through the rest of the month of January and we'll be that much closer to spring!

Sunday Stitching

On Sunday Barbara and I met up in Belfast for a stitching day which we had not done in quite a long while.  It was great to see her and even better to get to meet Max, her oldest.  What a nice, TALL young man Barbara is raising.  Max wandered around Belfast while Barbara and I stitched and caught up and then we all had lunch together.  It was a perfect day for sitting and stitching because it was wicked foggy out and not exactly great weather for wandering around town. 

I was able to make some great progress on the snow in my current Christmas@HRH block.  I have to say I do not love the thread but I'm using what's called for so I'll have to stick it out for the rest of the blocks.  It's a Silk n Colors skein called Mint Frost but I'm not enjoying the greenish tinge (the mint part of the color I guess).

If You're In the Area - Local Needlework Exhibit

A while back I ran across something somewhere about a needlework exhibit coming to a local museum in January.  Luckily, I went straight to the museum's website and printed off what information was there because my memory is lousy these days and I was afraid I would forget about it.  In the almost 8 years I've lived in Maine, this is the first exhibit I found out about in enough time to go. 
 


I know there is a history of needlework in Maine and I believe there is some needlework on display at a museum in York but I've not done much to seek it out.  I am definitely going to visit this one though. I thought I would share it in case your in the area and didn't hear about it.  I'm hoping to get there this coming weekend.