Mostly ramblings about some of my passions, needlearts, working on my fixer upper and my dogs, pug Aoife and black labs, Isabelle and Benny.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Jack Bauer Hangover
Above is my progress on Their Song - I'll bring this piece with me tomorrow and Sunday to Molly's agility trial although I know from last time I won't work on it much. My friend did make this trial so we will probably chat most of the time.
Here is Marquior ABC - I just have a little to go on part six - I need to finish up the blue on the letter E. F is (of course) next to it but 80% of it is from part seven so I'll just count myself a little ahead. I'll make all my goals plus some for March. As you can see from the picture below, I dated this piece 2007 - no matter what I'm going to finish it this year. That does mean a lot of stitching right around the holiday's but as long as part 16 is all I have left I'll make it work somehow.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
still kinda gloomy outside
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Rainy Wednesday
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
back to work
I did manage to finish cutting out my quilt and I even started some of the basic sewing yesterday for several hours. But nothing to see yet. This coming weekend I'll be at an agility trial so no quilting for sure and not even much time for stitching.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Lot's of yummy mail and a pillow
Friday, March 23, 2007
It's the weekend
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
almost a quarter done :-)
I spent what free time I had last night before agility charting out my name in cursive for My Treasured Workstation. Part five is the signature portion and the hinge for the project. I'm glad I took the time to do my signature nicely because I can use it again in the future. I'll have to get a start on the stitching in the next couple of days because the final portion is available next weekend and it's the smallest stitching month of all. And then the finishing starts!
Katrina found me a picture of Topiary I - thanks Katrina, I don't know how I missed that kit section on the Hillside website. I can't even tell you how many times I've looked at the pictures and missed this every time. It's really cute so I sure hope I find it. I'd even be glad to trade for just the chart. I can find the star bead and make the bow if I have to. Actually the more I look at this the more I think I can just do it without a chart. I have the dimensions from the other three I own and what I can't see very well I can just make up. How hard can it be? :-)
As I mentioned earlier in the week, tomorrow starts a few days of vacation. I don't have to come back to work until next Tuesday. Five whole days of sleeping in. :-) I chatted with Drema yesterday and she put a package in the mail yesterday that includes the new Loose Feather #25 chart and from Cat's Wiskers, the Allysum Scissor Pocket with fabric (I didn't have any blue!), the Spring Fever biscornue (sp) and my Peacock Stitching Chair kit. I can't wait! I should get it on Friday. This will give me all day Thursday to work on my quilt without feeling that I can't play with my new stash. Drema also mentioned that she spoke with Lakeside Linens about the linen for CHS The Girls Series (32 count vintage autumn gold) and Quaker Study (35 count vintage autumn gold). I have all the charts and I'm just waiting for the linen. Lakeside is getting ready to start to dye the autumn gold and should be shipping in a couple of weeks. They have been working a huge project Birds of a Feather project and now are just getting to this.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
almost a finish
I continue to work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden as my train project. I pulled out the Elk Snout (the light yellow tan) that I did yesterday - the color is so light that I could not see it at all against the linen I'm using - and replaced it with a dark blue. I'll do that for the center blackwork also. In a perfect world I'll do at least 25% of this before I put it away until next month or the month after. The blackwork is still a challenge on the train especially when the charted portion is on two (or even three) separate pieces of paper. I'll do those sections at home where I have a copy of the chart on one big piece of paper.
Monday, March 19, 2007
A village block finish and a short week
Here is my Topiary Ornament II from Hillside Samplings. I was hoping to finish off the piece this weekend but I ended up only stitching on Saturday so I only have progress from Friday's train ride home to show. I'll find time to finish it off sometime this week.
This morning I thought it would be best if I started back on Blackstone Fantasy Garden and the blackwork sections rather than toss something totally new into my bag. It was a little more slow going than I thought it would be (I did the center top left portion). I guess I need to find a rhythm for this part of the piece. I'm sure it will pick up a bit then. I'd like to work on this for the train rides through Wednesday. As for Thursday, Friday and Monday - I took vacation days so no train rides! It's a mini holiday from the day to day. :-) I'll have to make some plans on what I want to do while I'm off work for the five days. Work on my quilt in progress that is for sure plus Marquior and the Village. And maybe find time to toss Blackstone into the mix.... :-)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Friday - it's about time...
Here is my progress on Block 5 of the Village. Over half way done here - I've been thinking I want to put this behind me so maybe after this block is finished (over the weekend I'm thinking) I'll just continue on to the next block. Of the remaining four blocks only one is wordy so all will be challenges to finish and getting a little ahead would be nice.
I continue work on my Topiary Ornament - not as much progress as I would have liked as I did take a couple of naps on the train yesterday and today. :-)
For the weekend I'd like to complete Block 5 of the Village, part 6 of Marquior and my ornament. I need to also start on something for my pillow so I can finish it next weekend. I'll go through my stuff this weekend and see what I can find. It's hard to believe but I also need to find a new train project for next week! I'm really far ahead of my goals for the month. I'm thinking to give Blackstone Fantasy Garden another go - I'm at the blackwork part of the piece and it was hard to do it on the train but maybe it was just that day and not that it's really hard so I might pop that into my bag for the week. Either that or Quaker Samplings II.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Celtic Birds Finis
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Daylight savings time sucks - ok not really but
Here is my progress on Block 5 of the Village - closing in on the half way point for this block. And can I just say again how much I love the wordy blocks? :-)
I've received some nice stash in the mail I have yet to mention. My Silkweaver FOTM came on Monday and I received two pretty linens - a nice green and another piece of cameo (one of my favorites). My first two "girls" from CHS came yesterday - Mary Margaret and Elizabeth. How cute they are - hopefully my Lakeside Linens from Drema will come soon - I've been holding off on buying Molly because of the charting errors on that one. I'm hoping it will be reprinted and I won't have to deal with it. And lastly my Alpha series from Sheepish Designs came in. I'm planning on all three on the same piece of linen. I might dye my own piece because I think I have a long enough piece of cream or white in my stash. It's not hard at all and I have all the supplies left over from the linen I dyed for Marquior. Maybe this weekend I think about it. I have nothing going on so I'll have plenty of time.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Half way to the birds
One last photo of Clancypug. He always sits with me at night while I stitch. It's a dark photo but I didn't want to bug him by using the flash. He is such a sweetie. He sits on my right side on the couch and I've learned to use his body as an arm rest.
Monday, March 12, 2007
ABCDEF! And I can't wait for more :-)
I also had plenty of time to resume working on a couple of my WIPs. First I worked on Marquior ABC part 6 for several hours Saturday and a little on Sunday. All I have left are three big letters on the bottom, D, E and a partial F. I was hoping to have this part completed before the 16th when part 7 comes out but I'm not sure if time will allow for that. I also made a good start on Block 5 of the Village. I didn't take a progress picture but I did complete the entire border of that block and started a little on the trees. I'll take a progress picture tonight if I work on it instead of Marquior.
I also started work on Celtic Birds from The Sunflower Seed - I'm using a Vikki Clayton silk called Indigo Ocean. I wanted to see if I could really work on the 40 count linen I purchased. It wasn't too bad at home where the light is perfect but it was a little harder on the train this morning on the way into work. The light is not the best and the movement of the train, while not a big deal when I'm working on the larger weaves of linen was sometimes a problem when working on the 40 count. All in all not to bad so I'll work on this as my train project for the week and just in case I start having a hard time, I also tossed in my bag an ornament kit which is on 32 count. I can't waste any train time! :-)
Friday, March 09, 2007
Moving onto E
Thursday, March 08, 2007
It's sunny today!
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Give me an A!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Spring Arbor Finis!
Here is my completed Spring Arbor. This was the fastest one yet I think (I have previously completed Winter and Fall Arbor) - I only started it on what last Wednesday morning? :-) Almost instant gratification. I was thinking yesterday that I'd love to have the money to send these four projects to Jill Rensel for matting and framing. How pretty that would be! Maybe I'll win the Big Game Lottery this week - it's up to $355 Million. :-) I'll buy everybody a mat! LOL!
My new start for the train is Sampler of Stitches from The Drawn Thread. I'll complete both charts currently available - ABC and DEF before stopping to start something new. I read on the Elegant Stitch website yesterday, that Cynthia Zittel the designer, has GHI finished and she has charted JKL and they should be available in mid-May. Like most of my multi-part projects, I want to stay current with this. It occurred to me the other day that I'll end up paying over $100 for these charts since there are nine of them. Wow! And I'm putting off buying the Carriage House Samplings Alphabet Series because of the cost? It's less money to buy all 24 of those charts (two are freebies and I have those already - just need to find the border chart). And I'd really like to do that big sampler. I think I just need to start buying them here and there when I see them on sale somewhere. Maybe find an auto program that only charges what they really pay in shipping. I hate getting over charged for shipping charts. I've stopped using Stitching Bits & Bobs for that reason alone. Well and the fact that it takes months to get things.
If anyone is interested in splitting the cost of the Sampler of Stitches charts let me know - I'll send you ABC and DEF and you buy GHI and JKL and send those to me. And then I'll send them back to you as soon as I'm finished with them. Then we can do the same for MNO & PQR and STU & VWX. I'd just toss in YZ. :-) Or we could split the cost of that last one.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Well, one of us had fun... :-)
Friday, March 02, 2007
a couple of trees
So think of me tomorrow and send a quick wish for good luck - as I said yesterday, our goals are very modest, just mostly to have fun so she wants to continue with agility.
February recap: I made all my goals for February and my March goals are almost the same. :-) Kinda boring, huh?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
It's March already
I'm making good progress on Spring Arbor. I really enjoy working on all the different stitches. It's a nice break from straight cross stitch. As with the last two Arbors I did, I'll do the beading when everything else is complete. I hate to try to work around the tiny beads with my hoop. I did work on Marquior ABC last night also before agility but still don't have much to show so I'll hold off with a progress picture until I can really see a difference. Maybe tonight.