agility weekend

Yesterday evening was the first time over the past four days that I did any stitching. I'm officially in a slump. But I did manage to start filling in the house. I will do the over stitching on the house that is called for. I think it adds a nice touch.

Here is the progress I've made on my first side of my Petit Etui. At this point I'm not really liking the Vikki Clayton conversion very much at all and I'm torn if I should press on hoping I start to like it or stop where I'm at, pull what I have completed and switch to the Crescent Colours it's charted for. I hate it when doubt creeps in, especially when it's a piece that is important to me. I think I need to pull what CC skeins I have and compare them to the VC and see what's what. Maybe it's just this piece but if all the colors are very different from the Crescent Colours I probably should make the switch.

The past weekend was all about the pugs and our agility careers. We had a two day seminar with one of the leading instructors in our style of handling - Karen Holik. What a good time we had! Karen was so easy to listen to and take instruction from. And we get to see her again in three days! Today is my last day at work until July 8th - tomorrow I'm packing up the agility pugs and we are heading to Eau Claire Wisconsin to attend a three day summer camp with Anne Braue - who is also one of the leading agility instructions currently out there. Three full days of nothing but dogs and agility. For me, it doesn't get better than this. :-)

almost the weekend

These squares for the Etui are going to move along quickly. They are only 110 x 110 (with the bottom being slightly larger). Somehow they looked bigger when I was studying the photos of the finished etui. I picked up the side with the most speciality stitches. I picked the square randomly but it worked out. When I do multi-part pieces I like to go from hard/heavy stitched to easy/lightly stitches. That way if feels like I'm zooming along at the end. :-)

Here is my house #6. It's coming along nicely. I have a super busy weekend coming up. On Saturday and Sunday I have an all day agility seminar with Clancy and Aoife, a party on Saturday night and I have some planting I need to take care of on Sunday. I'd like to finish the inside of the house before all this starts. :-)

Isa V Grand Marquior part 3 finis

I finished up part 3 of my Grand Marquior yesterday on the way home from work.

As you can see, I have started to experiment with the silk for the contrast on the letters. The first test is totally wrong - way too yellow.

I like the one on the very bottom - Bewooded from Vikki Clayton. It's a new color and I think it works good.

Here is my new start - it's the panel designed by Cherished Stitches called With Affection. It's for my Etui. Yeah - color! I'm using Vikki Clayton silk rather than the called for Crescent Colours.

a roof

I just love the colors on the night house. I can just picture them in the moonlight. I'm almost done with the roof and I should have time to finish it before I go to agility tonight. Yeah! :-)

progress!

I made visible progress on House #6 over the weekend. I'm hoping to finish up the tree and make a start on the house tonight. Yeah!

Here is my Grand Marquior. I'm really getting bored. I sure hope if finish off this release in the next couple of days. I want to work with some color! :-)

friday!

It's finally Friday and not a day too soon in my opinion. :-) I finished off the sixth piece of the installment of the IsaV Grand Marquior. Only three boxes to go and I'm finished with the third release. I'd love to get this section done by Monday but I have no idea what I'll feel like stitching on this weekend. And I have plenty of choices. :-) Ain't life grand. :-)

Almost half way finished with the entire piece.

Have a great weekend!

finally

I finally have started House #6! I don't have a chance in hell of finishing it by the end of the month but it felt good to at least get it going. :-)

I'm still really lagging behind on my Grand Marquior also. I should have had this part finished by now and I'm hoping that maybe by next week I can start my Etui.

Not a stitch put in :-)

I had a wonderful couple of days off and weekend. But I was so busy with party plans I didn't have time to put a single stitch into any of my projects. I'm even behind with my train project - my IsaV Grand Marquior as I slept a couple of rides last week. I can't even remember the last time I didn't stitch for so long of a period. I'm way behind with regards to my House #6 of HoHRH. I haven't even started yet. I'm hoping tonight I can at least start on the border. Summer agility is now in full swing and I'm starting to fill up my weekends like crazy so I'll have even less time going forward for a couple of months.

The birthday party for my Dad was fun and the weather even cooperated somewhat with the rain stopping several hours before everyone came and the sun even came out for a while. Yesterday was the first decent weekend day in weeks - warm and sunny and I worked like a dog outside. I'm almost finished with most of the larger tasks that I assigned myself in the spring. Now I can just enjoy. :-)

rain rain go away

I haven't been making quick work of my Grand Marquior but I'm making progress. :-) I'm almost done with the first row of the third section. I really enjoy working on mono pieces. No scrambling for floss. Just pull another length out of the bag.

I haven't posted any pugs pics for a while. One of the people that attends the same agility class as me likes to bring his camera once in a while. Here is Clancy in action.

And a beauty shot of Aoife. :-) She looks so soulful in this shot.

The Simple Things finis

The Simple Things - design by Blackbird Designs

32 count Antique Gold from Silkweavers

Recommended Weeks Dye Works fiber

I barely got this piece finished last night. :-) So much for stitching all weekend. But the weather was crappy and since Mom and I have having my Dad's surprise birthday party this coming weekend, we decided to give the house a thorough cleaning. And that means I gave the house a thorough cleaning. :-) I cleaned from sunup to sundown both Saturday and Sunday. And every evening this week, I have list of things that still need to get done - from cooking to outside work to a few loose ends inside. I took Thursday and Friday off work for most of the harder stuff - like the outside work and that should help with getting things done.

After finishing off Simple Things, I did have some time last night to grid out my linen for A Petite Sampling Etui but for my train rides this week I really wanted to get caught up with the IsaV Grand Marquior. I'm close to being behind with this piece as I expect the fourth release to come out any day. So as soon as part three if done, I'll make the Etui my next start.

This is a pretty good photo of the colors! First time I've been able to get one. :-)

ready to move on

I think I'm going to finish this piece over the weekend before I start on my house #6 of HoHRH. I'm ready to move on to something else and I won't until I finish this one up. The plan had been to make it into a pillow but the finished size is smaller than I thought it would be so I'm not sure if that will work for me now. I still like the idea of it but I did want a large finished piece. We'll see. :-)

Have a great weekend!

a nice surprise

Progress is fast and furious on this piece! :-) I love it when projects just move along. Thanks to everyone for your kind words that you have been leaving for me. I love to read them. I promise Patti to send you some fairies as soon as I find some that want to fly over the pond. ;-)

I had a package waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. I wasn't expecting anything so I was quite excited at the unexpected surprise. Tracy of Ink Circles (one of my designing heroes) attended a fund drive at her local animal shelter and purchased this cute calendar for me! How nice is that? It just so happens that last Christmas no one gave me one - usually I get a couple - so I still needed one. Thanks so much Tracy! In her note she said mine are cuter. And I totally agree. :-)

almost half way

I've been working away at The Simple Things during my commute back and forth to work. I'm almost half way I figure. I've made a few changes. The stars are charted for Kudzu, the color photo shows them in Pelican Gray and I made them Schneckley. :-) I'm also changing the color of the three blue flowers. My dye lot of Pelican Gray is very gray whereas in the photo is a bluer dye lot. I've decided that I like the bluer flowers so I'll go through my floss tonight and pick out something on the bluer side than the Pelican Gray I have. And I'm 100% positive that I will not stitch the chain stitch around the leaves and such. I don't think it adds much to the piece and I think I like mine on the simple side.

I had a couple of comments yesterday that made me laugh - I truely did not put a stitch in all weekend but I had a couple of really productive rides on the train on the way home Friday and in on Monday. :-) So some stitching happened just not while I was sitting still. :-)

such a nice weekend

I didn't put a stitch in all weekend! Mostly because of the weather. It was as nice as predicted. I planted my entire vegetable garden and did some major clean up. I'm a little sore today but nothing like I would have felt if I had not lost weight. Just another of the major benefits of getting healthy. :-)