finis finis finis!

Those of you who have been reading my blog for over a year have seen these needlepoints before. But now they are finally finished!


My family has a tradition of taking turns making each other plus the parents a gift each year for Christmas. Last year was my year and I needlepointed designs from Laura J. Perin. The plan had been for me to have my box maker make me a flattish square box about 3 inches deep to fit each piece. But time got away from me and I never got the boxes ordered so I had to give my gifts with the promise of a box to come in the following year. My oldest brother who is a carpenter of course heard me say this and after Christmas came over to look at the box that was the original inspiration for my idea. My five sided dower box that I put a Quarter design in the year before. He told me he wanted to do the boxes for his year (this Christmas) and I told him my idea and showed him the photo of what I was thinking. He asked to take my dower box so he could check out how it was made and left. I knew he was making progress as he mentioned it a couple of times during the year but didn't think to ask to see the boxes. Three weeks ago he showed up at my door with five boxes. Five dower boxes. Five boxes that didn't fit any of the needlepoints.


In total guy fashion he didn't hear a word I said. He just duplicated the five sided dower box five times. Leaving me to figure out how to make my needlepoints not suck in them.

I decided I had to have mats cut for them but knew right away the finished product would look like the needlepoint and boxes had no real relationship to each other. And it would be my needlepoint and not the box that would suffer most. So I emailed Jill Rensel in desperation knowing if anyone would turn a sow's ear into silk it would be her. And she pretty much pulled off a Christmas miracle. I think they look great and they two piece look like they belong together.

Birds of a Feather finis

Birds of a Feather - design by With Thy Needle and Thread

Stitched on 36 count French Vanilla

Overdyed Cotton Floss

yeah! I started this bad boy back in May. It NEVER takes me this long to finish a piece. Of course I did have life pop in now and again. :-) Bought a house, rehabbed a house, moved into said house. Dog issues and more dog issues. But she is finally done. I recently started a relationship with Jill Rensel (she did a couple of mats for me - look for the reveal next week) and I want to start getting to my back log of 100's of pieces framed now that I have somewhere to hang them. I think this will be the first piece I send her as it's the first piece I finished while in my new home. I need to date it yet so I'll always remember this year (like I could forget!).

I started on the Blackbird Designs ornament, Joy, from this years JCS Ornament issue using the silks. I bought the little kit that Drema put together. This is the first time I've used the Belle Soie Silk floss and to be perfectly honest, I wish I had not purchased them. They are divine! But I really can't forward them right now and now I want want to use them. Bad move. :-)

Have a great weekend!

closer

Working on the last bits now. Just a couple of days to go.

getting closer

I had actual thoughts of finishing this last weekend. :-) Well I was going great until Saturday morning when I went out to my garage to get in the car and drive to the grocery store for a few things. Dead. As in like a doorknob. With no warnings either. Sometimes when your battery is dying a slow death you have some sort of idea. Nothing until I tried to start the car. So I called my sister for a jump and she showed up about a half hour later with a new battery. She really is my super hero these days. She called her husband and told him and he instructed her to just go buy me a new one. So no car until him came several hours later with my nephew to put in the new one. But by then the day was shot. My sister hung around then for several hours and helped me put up my Christmas tree. It's Isabelle proof being fake and so far she hasn't shown the slightest interest in it so I think I'm ok. But the good ornaments are close to the top just in case she thinks they would make good chew toys.

Clancy and Aoife showing off how nice their first Christmas tree is in their new home.

So stay tuned for later in the week for hopefully a finis for the first time in months!