almost

Just a little more work and I'll be finished with house number 2. I actually had to make myself work on this last night because the Big Zipper is calling to me so much. :-) Despite that I made really good progress. I'm sure this weekend it will be a struggle to keep BZ out of my hands again. I'm hoping to finish another Quaker Turtle, make a good start finishing my Garden Chair and complete this house. If I have any time left over, I'll let myself work on BZ as a reward to keeping to the weekend's goals.

Have a great weekend!

Big Zipper start

Here is my Big Zipper start. Once I get the border designs in, it will go really quickly as all the charts are pretty small. I'm doing mine on 32 count Silkweaver's Purely Primitive. It's my second favorite linen after Heritage. I converted all the DMC to over-dyed. I think it's going to be very pretty when I'm finished.

Speaking of Silkweavers, did you see they are having the Showcase after all? This year's first prize for the large category is a $400 gift certificate. Would I love to win that! Think of all the Purely Primitive, Heritage and Days Gone By I could buy. :-)

Loose Feather Mystery finis

Loose Feather Mystery - Blackbird Designs

32 count Heritage linen by Silkweaver

recommended fibers

Wow, two big finishes in the same week. :-) I finished up the Mystery today on the way into work. I'll get a better photo tonight after it's been pressed. I love how this turned out. The colors, the style and the saying are all perfect for me. I've been very negligent about framing my finishes over the past couple of years, but I really want to get this one on the wall asap.

Now back to the Big Zipper!

Book of Ink Circles Finis

Book of Ink Circles by Ink Circles

32 count Heritage by Silkweavers

Vikki Clayton Premium Silk

Bravo Tracy! I loved working on this but glad that I have a completed project. As I said yesterday, Tracy made the last section available to people who were current as of last Friday. My favorite blocks are the two birds. I love Celtic animals. I still want to put my name on it and I'm looking for a nice back stitch alphabet to use. I'd like to find something Celtic looking for it.

I spent last evening getting back to Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I believe I'll be able to finish it by the end of the month. Of course I might be stitching into the wee hours of Saturday, but I'm determined not to fall behind on month #2.

I put my Loose Feathers Mystery into my bag this morning and only have a bit to go. I have to finish the flowers, add the lazy daisy stitches to the top of each one and fill in the top portion of the basket. I'm sure I'll still have this in my bag for tomorrow's commute.

I had a hard time putting the Big Zipper down yesterday. It's going to be a fun project to work on and I'll get back with it as soon as I'm finished with my Mystery.

not much to show

It feels like I stitched all weekend but I don't have much to show. :-) I finally finished all the stitching for my Garden Chair and I even started on the actual construction - I glued the drawer together. Because it took me much longer to finish the stitching I didn't have time to get to any of my Quaker Turtles. I forgot to take a photo of my BBD Mystery but as predicted I did run out of blue floss and I should have a new skein waiting for me when I get home after work. Then I'll finish it tomorrow - and remember to take a photo. On Friday the plan had been to start my Etui for my train rides this week and next. I needed to prepare it for stitching and totally forgot it. Sunday evening around 9:30pm I had to get ready for work in the morning and finally remembered but by then it was too late. So I just tossed the only thing that was really ready to go in my bag and that was the Big Zipper. So much for plans. :-) There is not much to show yet so I didn't take a photo. I will for sure tonight.

Here are all the pieces to the Garden Chair. As usual I can't take a good photo. :-)

Tracy of Ink Circles, made available to everyone who is current with Book of Ink Circles the final piece on Thursday. I emailed her and received my copy of the last chart and finished it on Sunday. Part of the deal was however, that I wait until tomorrow to post my finish. So tune in tomorrow for a finis photo of it. I love the completed project but I'm glad I was able to remove it from my WIPs.

Chevy was neutered last Wednesday and what should have been a routine surgery turned major when the vet discovered that he had one undescended testicle. So they had to go into his abdomen and find it. Poor boy. He's feeling much better now. His potty training is coming along and he is going to make someone a great pet.

just a basket

I just have the basket of flowers to go and I'm finished with the mystery! :-) I love being almost finished with a huge project. :-) I might run into a small glitch, I'm getting low on the floss for the blue basket. If I run out, the closest LNS is an hour away and they are not open on Sunday's. So that means I have to finish all the blue today so if I need to drive out to Welcome Stitchery, I can do it first thing in the morning. Of course we are under a weather watch tonight and tomorrow - 6 plus inches of snow is expected in the area. So there might not be anything I can do about it this weekend. Maybe I should call Drema with a floss emergency and at least I'd have a skein in the mail today.

No major plans for the weekend. I want to complete at least one more Quaker Turtle and finish the stitching for my Garden Chair. Then I can start working on the finishing work. I also need to finish my February House of Hawk Run Hollow. Time is getting away from me on that one.

Have a great weekend!

much progress

I made a great start on Part 5 of the Loose Feather's Mystery. I'm actually already a third of the way done!

When I'm finished with this, I'll get back to my regular schedule of Houses in the evenings, Chairs and Turtles on the weekend and next week commutes I want to start the Etui. I love having a plan. :-)

goodies!

This is as far as I got yesterday with Beatrix. Poor girl, with all my new goodies arriving she was put right back in my WIP basket the second I got home last night. :-) I'll try to get a bit more in once I finish my Houses block for the month otherwise I'll never get her done this year.

My box from Drema was a partial order. I still have the finishing kit for the Petit Sampling Etui to arrive plus the new BBD booklet - My Heart is True, from Primitive Needle - Earth Sampler and from With My Needle, A Fair Maiden's Etui (yes, I bought both new etuis :-) I could not help myself!).

So I have added to my stash: The new Cat's Whisker's chair. I love the colors and believe it or not, this one looks easier to finish that the two previous chairs.

A Petit Sampling Etui with all the goodies! I'm going with silk from Vikki Clayton. Look at those colors - this photo doesn't even start to show just how rich and silky they are in real life.

I do want to change one of the sayings on one of the sides. The four sides read:

1) With Affection think of me

2) Virtue's the chiefeft beauty of the mind The nobleft ornament of human kind

3) Of female arts in usefulness the needle far exceeds the rest

4) On the sabbath he rested

I want to change #4. I don't like religious sayings of any kind on my samplers (no comment on religion, just personal preference). So I'm looking for a stitching sort of saying. And I have plenty of room for over one because the current saying is stitched over two. It has a man and a woman standing on either side of a house.

There is a Wiki on the Vikki Clayton board that as a ton but I'm also looking for suggestions. :-)

I'm also looking to purchase a couple more new releases especially a couple from Carriage House Samplings and I love those stockings from Blackbird Designs. But I need to hold off until I get some more of my stash done.

Isa V Grand Marquior part one finis

I finished up with Part One (A, B, D, G, H) of Six of the Isa V Grand Marquior. The second part is due to be released any day and I'll get back with it as time permits.

I'll tossed Beatrix Potter into my bag for the ride home. But Drema hit my credit card with a HUGE amount so I'm hoping my new Loose Feathers is at my house by the time I get home from work so I can complete the Mystery. :-)

empty train

I swear I'm one of the few Americans working today judging by the amount of people on the train into the office this morning. Talk about empty! Even the streets are empty.

I managed to get a ton done this weekend. Below is my progress on House #2 of HoHRH. I worked on this baby for hours and I feel like I'm finally making some progress. Oh, look, is that a Quaker Turtle checking out the roof? Why it is! :-) I finished the first of my turtles last night. It was much easier than I thought it would be but they do take a long time to get all the parts complete. This one is the needlebook and it opens up. When I'm finished with all four, I'll take better photes of both sides (and insides!).
Here is my Isa V Grand Marquior - I made no progress this morning on the train into the office as I slept for the entire ride. I have a cold and I'm finding it very hard to resist naps. :-) Only the letter H to go for this go around.

A Valentine Exchange from Carla

Today I received my Valentine's Day exchange from Carla in Peru. It's wonderful! Carla stitched me a pin keep from a Diane Williams design on 32 count antique white linen with DMC threads. She read on my blog that I like birds and these two are so lovely! Carla also tossed in a bunch of extras including some sugar free treats. She also read on my blog I'm on a diet and it's so nice to have a sweet treat on Valentine's Day. I was going to have to go without. :-)

Thanks Carla for helping make my Valentine's Day very special. :-)

Sharon from Missouri received my Valentine's exchange a couple of weeks ago but according to her blog she is having computer issues and has not been able to post a photo of it. And in a brilliant moment, I deleted the photo I took. I made Sharon a keepsake box with a JBW design called French County Heart as the lid. I'm hoping she can take a photo so I can share at some point.

Yeah Friday!

Only two blocks to go with part one of Isa V Grand Marquior - I haven't been stitching much at all on the train. It's been power naptime instead. :-) I'm also not stitching much at night. If you find my mojo, please return it asap!

This weekend I'd like to make some progress on my HoHRH and start the finishing on Quaker Turtles. And finish stitching on my Garden Chair. Oh let's not forget about Beatrix. :-)

Have a great weekend!

half way

I've made great progress over the past two days. I've managed to stay awake on the train as well as get a little stitching in over my lunch. As usual, taking a good photo of this Havana linen is proving beyond my ability. I think I need a bright cloudy day to capture it's true color. What I have not been making good progress on is Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I just started block #2 and I'm way behind. If I work at it every night the rest of the month, I'm sure I'll get it completed so I can stay on track. I'd hate to get behind in only month two. :-)

the first row

I had a long list of things I felt I HAD to do over the weekend. But when I sat down to start stitching Friday night I didn't want to do any of them. :-) So I just worked on what pleased me. I got the first row of the first section of the Isa V Grand Marquior - I'm also working on this for my commute this week. I'd love to have the first section totally done before my Loose Feathers arrives from Drema but these little blocks sure do take longer than I thought they would. I figured two train rides per block but it's taking 3 train rides per block. I also stitched (but didn't take a pic) of my Garden Chair by Cat's Whiskers. I only have two sections to finish stitching and I can start the finishing.

I also did the latest block for Book of Ink Circles. As you can see there is only one part to go! That release is scheduled for February 24th and it's another short two hour block.

Here is a close up of the block. I love the two bird blocks best.

On Sunday I took the pugs to the Northern Illinois Pug Rescue winter fund raiser called Valenpugs. The wore their Valentine's finest. :-) From the left, Clancy, Aoife and Molly.

Here are my three pugs with five pugs that belong to my friend. It's hard to believe but between us we have eleven pugs. :-)

Friday.... at long last

I've completed the first letter. Yeah! Well almost, each letter has a bit of metallic fiber accenting each piece. I have yet to pick out a color or a brand for that matter. I have no idea what I should buy since I'm using 35 count linen. Any suggestions on metallic fiber that would work with 35 count would be appreciated.

I LOVE this Havana linen. And judgeing by the comments I received yesterday, many other people do also.

I did place my new spool order at Hand Dyed Fibers for my CdC. It will be close to what I'm using now with a pop of aqua. I'm sure it will be just right correct amount of contrast I'm looking for on my center circles.

Have a great weekend!

a new start

I started my Isa V Grand Marquior today on the train. I'm using 35 count WDW in Havana with Vikki Clayton silk in Imperialosity. I'm happy with my final choice. I should hope so considering this is my fourth start. I kept stitching the entire first block and hating it when it was complete. But I'm happy now and that's all that counts. :-) Of course my photo is far away from the true colors. I'll try to get one outside over the coming weekend. The Havana is not nearly so orange and the green is much darker in real life.

I'll be saying good-bye to Cirque des Cercles for a while. I really completed a lot more than I first thought I would when I picked this up a week or so ago. I checked everywhere last night at home for a second spool of Glacial silk but I don't have one. I have no idea what I was think when I only ordered one. So now I'll be working on a second choice of silk for the three big center circles. I'm working on a custom spool order on Vikki's site and hopefully can get it ordered soon.

not much done

Here is my progress at CdC, not much of a change since my last update photo. I go through these periods where I have a very hard time staying awake on the train and I'm in the middle of one now. :-) I've only been able to stitch for the entire ride the last 2 out of 5 rides. I'm ready to put this up for a while. I wonder when my new BBD Loose Feathers will arrive?

For whatever reason I think I only purchased one spool of Glacial premium silk for this piece and I'm starting to get low. If I do only have the one spool, I will run out. So the plan is to pick out a slightly dark shade of silk that uses the same color pallet as Glacial has and stitch the large center circles with it. Glacial has been discontinued and even if it hadn't been it's over two years old and the dye lots would never match. But I think the plan of a new color is a good one and as soon as I remember to check at home to see if I was smart enough to buy two spools, I'll start to work on the plans for the second color.

lots to share today :-)

I had a full weekend. Not as much stitching time as I would have liked but still I got some things done that I have been working on for a while.

First I finished all the stitching for Quaker Turtles. Those tiny ones to the right are about the size of a quarter. They will be the scissor fob. I ordered the fabric I need to finish them and it should arrive any day and then I'll start the really hard part of finishing these babies off. While the instructions are pretty straight forward, there are many steps to each piece and there are four pieces in total. I now wish I had purchased the Old Colonial oval basket for them. I'll have to find something on eBay that will work. It will need to be small and short in height.

The only stitching I had time for yesterday was my start on The Garden Chair by Cat's Whiskers. I want to have this chair complete by the time my chart and supplies for the new chaise lounge arrive from Drema the week of the 16th. The stitching part will go super quick especially as they are the same for the last chair that I finished off last year. It will take a couple of days because of the need to stop everything and wait for glue to set and dry before moving on to the next steps.

My LNS had a Super Bowl sale yesterday. Of course nothing I needed was on sale but for me what was important was they were open on a Sunday so I didn't have to take time away from everything I had to do on Saturday. :-) I purchased all the overdyed floss I need for The Big Zipper. This project is turning out to be a money pit. :-) In for a penny, in for a pound, right? The plan is to stitch this on 32 count Heritage from Silkweavers (shown) unless they send me a 36 count for my FOTM for January. I changed my wish list to receive only 36 count for the time being to get some of that count in my stash as I only have one or two pieces.

I'm still working on CdC since I don't want to start anything new until I receive my Loose Feathers and Mystery chart from Drema. I'll continue to work on this for my train ride. In this photo you can actually tell that the silk floss is variegated. :-)

And lastly, presenting Chevy! He is a six year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi and such a sweetie. He's very overweight - around 45 to 50 pounds and I've been told by the rescue that a Pemmie his size should be around 30 to 35 pounds. As you can see from the photo, he is wearing a belly band, he lived his entire life in an outside pen and used only for stud and he has no idea that inside means no peeing. It's going to be quite a challenge to house train him and I'm worried that I'm not up to the task as I have never trained anything but a puppy who is pretty much a blank slate. He will be neutered this week. I'll have him for at least a month, maybe more. You can see how much bigger he is from Clancy and Clancy is considered a tall pug.

Such a handsome boy!

He has one floppy ear. Corgis should have prick ears but I think it gives him character.

Molly is not what you would call very happy with the change of things.