Cherry Hearts finis

Cherry Hearts - design by Shepherd's Bush

32 count unknown linen by Silkweavers

Recommended silk threads

I finished up Cherry Hearts on Sunday. Yeah! It feels good to have a cross stitch finish. I have not had one since oh, maybe April -May? In any case it feels like forever. But as soon as I put the last stitch in to hold the ribbon in place I moved back to my charted canvas work. I'd like to be finished with the remaining three by the end of September. I have a couple of fall/Halloween projects (some ornaments and a BBD Halloween house from last year) that I want to do but would like these out of the way first.

And speaking of counted canvas, here is number four - Hide 'n Seek by Laura J. Perin. This is the odd ball of the group. It's similar in that it's a quilt design build around a variegated pearl cotton but the similarity stops there. This one is like a big scrap quilt and it's very, very bright! Have you ever seem me stitch with orange? And bright yellow? Wait until I get the pink in there! It's really fun already and will go very quickly.

I ran my first official 5k in eight years on Saturday! And my niece Dana ran with me (she is on the left). Or at least most of it. I slowed down at about 1.5 miles into the race and she wanted to set a PR so I told her to leave me in the dust. :-) I finished in 37 minutes with a 12 minute pace. Which was my goal for this race. I was surprised I made my goal - at race time it was already in the 80's with about 98% humidity. It was so hot!! I took a small walk break even. I can't wait for the next 5k - I'll shave a little more time off toward my goal of a 30 minute 5k.

getting closer

I'm working on the last border on Cherry Heart! Yeah. :-) I've been lazy for the better part of two months now. I sure hope this ends soon because I've got a ton of stash I want to get to.

I'm planning on starting another LJP charted needlepoint as soon as Cherry Heart is complete. I went through the three I have left and I really hated one of the color combos that I picked out. It was so boring and flat. So I went online and picked out three more variegated #8 pearls as options. All three are shades of blues and greens and hopefully one will work. They would be replacing a kinda drab multi green skein that I picked out with mostly solid blues. It just doesn't look right to me.

Today I completed my Couch to 5k program. :-) I'm now can run a 5k from start to finish. Now I'm working on just getting more time on my legs. Then I'll start a 10k program in a couple of weeks. After that it's simple - just start running longer on Saturday's until I can run a half marathon (13.1 miles). But I have plenty of time for that - I don't plan on doing a half until next spring. Now if the extra 10 pounds was just go away as easy as it was to start running again. ;-)

not much done

I haven't made much progress with Cherry Heart. Last week I had several work commitments in the evening so no stitching there and over the weekend I never even glanced at it. It was an odd weekend, I felt super busy but really didn't do anything. :-) Ever have that sort of weekend?

I'm working on the borders now so what I have left should be quick. Then it's back to my Christmas gifts.

Have a great week! Hopefully it's cooler where you live. It's a humid oven here in Northern Illinois.

heart is done

I finished up the heart last night and have started on the first of three borders. The colors are very soft and I'm really happy to took a small break from my needlepoint projects.

August already?

I spent the weekend doing really tough yard work. Digging and carrying and axing out tree stumps. I had no energy at night to even stitch. :-) But I'm still making good progress with Cherry Hearts. This will make a cute little pillow I'm thinking.

Have a great week!

new start

Here is my new start - Cherry Heart from Shepherd's Bush. I did a quick look at my stash and I didn't feel like tossing through my fibers and linens last night. Then I remembered that I have another stash of prepacked kits and things that I have already kitted up. Cherry Heart jumped right out. It's small and quick and will be a nice break from the counted needlepoint.

Have a great weekend.

Margie

Cluster of Lilies finis

Cluster of Lilies - design by Laura J. Perin

24 count congress cloth

Various #8 DMC floss

I finished up Cluster of Lilies on my way home from work last night. Three down three to go! Yeah, half way. :-)

I really want to take a break but these are working so well I'm feeling like I should continue to go with this. I'm working from home today so I'll have a little more time tonight to look at my stash and make the call. I kinda want to do some cross stitch. Stay tuned!

almost!

Just the dark green border to go and I'm finished with Cluster of Lilies. I'd like to take a break before starting number four and am eyeing the new BBD series as a start. But I need the big piece of linen and I really don't want to spend $50 on it right now. I've got a lot of other expenses right now and that seems a little out of line for what I should be spending on my stitching.

I did receive a small gift check award from work a couple of weeks ago and I put the money toward a new project. :-) Have you ever seen this?

It's called Scott Lee and it's a teaching piece that Jean Hilton designed before she died. It's a counted needlepoint piece. My friend Kelly had wanted to do it for some time and she found a shop that was selling them. So I got one too. :-) My supplies should be here by the end of the week. I'll only be able to do this at home though as it's 13 x 20 inches and way to big for the train.

I've done a ton of Jean Hilton pieces and this one is going to be fun! A challenge but fun!

moving quickly now

The white border is all finished now on Cluster of Lilies and I've started on the last couple of bits. Just this little solid dark maroon border, and slighter larger multi-colored border and then the last solid border in the dark green. I like the white - it's so bright and clean looking. :-)

Today I finished up week six of my running program, Couch to 5K. No more walking breaks from here on out. Three weeks to go and the only difference in the weeks is slightly more running each week - from 25 to 35 minutes. Now all I need to do is find a 5k in mid August. :-)

Have a great weekend! My plans include: stitching, playing with the pugs and the smallest amount of lawn work I can get away with. Toss in a couple of naps and some grilling and it will be perfect.

Just two more trips around with the white #8 and I'm done with this section of Cluster of Lilies. Then it's one multicolored band and then a solid band and I can say good-bye to this puppy. :-) I have no plans for anything this weekend so I hope to get most of what is left finished. I really want to take a break and do some cross stitch before I start on the second half of this designs.

Here are a couple of photos from summer camp a couple of weeks ago. The first one is a shot of Aoife (left) and Clancy (right) in their new puptent. :-) It's the coolest vented tent that sets up in seconds.

I love this shot. It's Aoife on the last day of camp. She fell asleep with her face mushed up against the tent screen in front of the fan. It was hot that day for sure but the pugs were nice and cool with the fan and their cool collars on. And the occasional dip in the dog pools helped. :-)

Don't pugs travel nice? They even pack themselves. This is Aoife ready to go home after three very full days.

not much progress

I haven't made much progress on Cluster of Lilies since my last post. I did bring it everyday to the agility trial but I never opened up my stitching bag. There was way too much going on. It was a local trial and I had a ton of friends there and I was running two dogs.

We had an uneven trial with no qualifying scores. I was hoping to get at least one or two so I'm pretty bummed with the outcome. Nothing is scheduled for the near future. I really don't have the money right now for the entry fees so we are taking a break. :-)

border time

I finished up the center portion last night and have started on the border. This one is as complected as the last one - multiple times around and around. :-)

I have a three day agility trial starting tomorrow with both Aoife and Clancy - I hope to do well with both. :-)

Have a great weekend!

I made a ton of progress considering I only worked on this puppy this morning on the way into work. I slept the entire train ride home yesterday. :-) I was lucky I woke up in time for my stop. :-) The train tracks are really rough three stops before mine and I always get jarred awake. At least I have so far. One of these days I might wake up in Wisconsin!

I ran almost 3 miles this morning at dawn! It was warm (70 degrees and humid) but so pretty outside. The sun was peaking out of the clouds. I had forgotten how much I like to run outside. Since I bought my treadmill I totally stopped doing anything outside. But now that I've started back running outside I want to keep it up as long as I can. I don't like to run in the dark or in extreme cold so I figure I have about two more months to enjoy the mornings and then it's back to the treadmill if I want to run before I leave for work.

Remember me?

I'm back from vacation. Such a bummer. I had a wonderful 10 or so days off. I started it with Summer Agility Camp with Aoife and Clancy. Aoife rocked and many, many people had really nice things to say about her. Clancy got his chance to play on day three because Aoife was so tired as most of the classes were outside and it was hot in Eau Claire. :-) He did great as always. Then it was back home for a week of nothing. And I mean nothing. I barely stitched, never quilted, hooked rugs? what rugs? Didn't do any lawn work except for what I had to. I did nap. :-) And play with the pugs. It was really hot the entire week and that is all I really left like doing.

Above is my start on my next counted needlepoint project, Cluster of Lilies by Laura J. Perin. This is probably my least favorite of the six I'm doing in terms of both color and pattern but I got a deal on the chart so I went with it. I'm having a harder time finding the rhythm of the piece - maybe because it's a nine block center rather than the four block center that I did with the other two. But it's quick and that is what I want. I need to get around to ordering the boxes that I need for the six pieces. They are custom made from my box guy and he will need some lead time. All my quilted needlepoint designs with end up as the top of the box.

In totally unrelated news, I've started running again! I ran a marathon back in 2001 but injury sidelined me in 2002 and I more or less gave up all exercise at that time. I've tried to get back into some sort of regular program for years and over the past five or so weeks I've been doing pretty good. And I need too! Over the past 10 months I've gained 15 or so of the almost 70 pounds I lost last year and the year before and I can't stand myself. Even though most folks said I looked too thin I loved it and I want to get back there. So I've been doing a starting to run program like I did back in '01. The one I'm doing now is called Couch to 5k and I'm half way through the 9 week long program. And what I think is the most amazing thing is, I'm actually faster now than I was nine years ago. I'm a slow runner and in my best shape could run a 12 minute pace on shorter runs and ended up with a six hour marathon. This time around I'm running much faster - I guess weighting less is really helping. :-) I'm also cross training, mostly biking and I want to start swimming in the fall. I've joined a yoga group and I'm loving that also. My short term goal currently is to run a 30 minute 5k - I'm looking for one in September. Longer term goals are run a half marathon next May (Indy Half) and start training for more triathlons. I did a sprint tri in 2002 and really enjoyed it but I really need to work on my swimming. I'm not a very strong swimmer by any stretch and never had any correct form. So I think adult swim classes are in order.

Now I just need to find time for all of this between working 40 hours, commuting 20 hours a week, agility and crafting!

Falling Leaves Finis

Falling Leaves - design by Laura J. Perin

24 count congress cloth

recommended #8 floss

I finished up Falling Leaves last night - I really like this one. Not sure which one I'm going to start next but I want to kit it up before I leave for vacation tomorrow. I know from past experience that I usually don't have a ton of extra time at camp, but I'd hate not to be prepared.

Two down, four to go!

home stretch

I didn't have any stitching time over the weekend. Bummer as I was hoping to have this piece done by now and already stitching #3. But I'm close! :-)

Tomorrow is my last day at work before vacation - Summer Camp starts on Thursday! Yeah!

a work stoppage :-)

Over the past several evenings I have not had a second to stitch. And I've been falling asleep on the train - both ways. :-) So not a lot of progress has been made on Falling Leaves. But the weekend is close at hand so I hope to get a ton done and have a huge progress photo on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

around and around she goes

This border was so worth all the time it takes. :-)

the never ending border

I totally acknowledge that I have not been stitching a ton over the past several days - the weather was wonderful over the weekend - but it seems like this cream border is taking me forever! :-) By the time it's finished I will take four trips around the square. But it's so worth it - it's going to be so pretty!

another quickie :-)

Starting on the Falling Leaves borders. :-) The border on this one is really pretty. But I most likely won't have an update tomorrow - I have a big do at work tonight so no stitching later.

quick update

I'm on pace for another one week project. :-) Falling Leaves is really moving along!

State Fair finis

State Fair - American Quilt Collection - design by Laura J. Perin

24 count Congress Cloth

Recommended DMC #8 cotton

I knew these counted needlepoint pieces would be fast. :-) I finished State Fair on Friday evening and wasted no time on starting on my next piece. It's called Falling Leaves and it's also by LJP and I'm doing it on 24 count congress cloth with #8 DMC. You will see that all of the six pieces I'm doing are two borders around a central motif. And the best thing is they are so, so easy and fast! One down and five to go. :-)

I love the colors on this one. :-)

almost!

Just two more border rows and I'm finished with State Fair! This piece has been such a nice change of pace for me. I really want to start the next one but my mojo is back and I'm actually leaning toward starting a new cross stitch piece instead. :-) But I still have a couple more days to decide. And it will be a fun couple of days - it's so much fun to go through the stash!

onto the borders

I've moved to the border portion of State Fair. That means home stretch! Of course it's a pretty large border so I will be working on it for a while. :-) But border always means almost done to me. And that feels great.

Clancy did it!

Here is my progress on Laura J. Perin's design: State Fair. I had plenty of time on Saturday to sit and stitch. But not as much time on Sunday because Clancy earned his Open Standard title!!!

It wasn't the prettiest agility run of his career but it got the job done. And he earned a third place finish doing so. The class was very large for Open 12" Standard - twelve dogs I think so third place was pretty good. He new AKC name is Clancy O'Shay OA, AXJ, NF. :-)

And I moved him up to Excellent Standard for Sunday's run. That meant we didn't have to wait around for Open which in turn meant we were finished for the day at 11:45am and were able to leave. In contrast, we didn't do our last run on Saturday until 4:30ish. It's nice to be all excellent. :-) We have been working to that goal for almost three years. And how did he end up on Sunday? He had two brilliant runs but only did 10 out of 12 poles both times which at the excellent level is an automatic NQ. There are no more mistakes for Clancy that are allowed. It's perfect and in time or go home empty handed.

We are not signed up for any trials until mid-July. There are a couple that we could have but they were all outside. While I love the outdoor trials, Clancy gets way too distracted and things fall apart quickly. And I needed to save some money because I signed up for Agility Summer Camp after all with Aoife. So I have six weeks to really work on some things that need urgent attention. Like weaves and contacts. Oh and table, he had a table fault on Saturday but it was allowed at the Open level but no more. Like I said above, it's perfect or go home. :-)

Have a great week!

Friday!

I'm making excellent progress on State Fair. And as I predicted yesterday it's going to move quickly. I might even have this finished in less than a week! Now that would be sweet - I could move onto the next one and get caught up. :-) And then start on something else. And get back to my hooking. And get back to my quilting. And spend more time with my pugs. LOL!

Clancy and I have an agility trial this weekend. It's going to be a boring one in terms of friends - not many of mine signed up for this trial so I'll be sitting by myself most of the weekend. Hopefully the days will go quickly and I have time to get some needlepointing in. Wish us luck!

Have a great weekend!

finally!

Here is my start to Christmas gift #1 - also know as State Fair from the American Quilt Collection by Laura J. Perin. I'm stitching all six on 24 count congress cloth using one strand of DMC #8 and Caron Wildflowers. While it's a bit large for the train (12 x 12) I'm going to give it a go any way. I'm way behind but I have a feeling these are going to go quick. The above stitching only took me 20 minutes. And as each piece gets more filled out the more flow I will find and they will end up going quicker as the piece progresses. :-) I like that.

such a cutie

No stitching to share today. :-) When I got home from work on Friday afternoon, I just dropped my computer bag and walked away. This morning all I had time to do was fly out the door to make my train. I did want to stitch so I started on Mr. F. But nothing really to show because I didn't have his chart on me so all I could do was stitch the black border. Not of course because I planned ahead but because I never even took Ms. Fred out of the bag so I had the linen and silk still on me. :-) Not sure if I'll continue on him or not. The plan was not to but to start work on one of the six gifts that I have to have done by December. But that will be determined if I can get the canvas into my bag for my commute. If it fits I'll work on that, if it doesn't, I'll work on something else on the trian.

Isn't that the cutest photo of Clancy? Unfortunatly though that photo is the highlight of our agility trial. :-) We only had one Standard run each day and on Saturday I pulled him off a jump causing him to drop the bar (NQ) on Sunday my non-agility Clancy showed up to play or not to play as was the case. He stunk. There is always next week.

Frederika finis!

Frederika - design by Carriage House Samplings

36 count Silkweavers Antique Gold Linen

Recommended NPI silk one over two

Finally Ms. Fred is complete! Well except for the date which I will make 2010. I need to design it so it matches the initials that I'm going to put on Mr. Fred. As I mentioned last week I did make a small change to the chart - the bottom row of diamonds in the border don't butt up to the black border like charted. I'll do Mr. F the same way. I'll take a better photo tomorrow after she is ironed. I finished her on the way into work this morning and still had time for a tiny nap.

What's next? I'm going to get started on one of my six Christmas gifts for my family. I'm doing six counted needlepoints that I'm planning on putting into box lids.

Have a great long weekend for those of you who get one. I have an agility trial with Clancy Saturday and Sunday but Monday is all mine. :-)

Enjoy!

oh so close!

Here is Ms. Fred in all her glory! I'm almost finished with this piece. Just the bottom part to go. :-) Yeah! I'm most likely not going to fill in the border with the two recommended NPIs - I want it to match Mr. Fred and he doesn't have the filling. At least that is the story I'm telling myself. I know I could go the other way and fill him in but that just makes more work. :-)

What's missing from this photo

A ton of stitches! LOL! I didn't put a stitch in all weekend on Ms. Fred. I was way to tired after two very full days of gardening and lawn work. I had way more to do than I had time for and it was sun up to sun down both Saturday and Sunday. And when I dragged my weary butt in late Sunday afternoon I knew I was close to getting caught up with things. A good thing too, I have agility trials for the next two weekends. I'll have to get in the habit of doing little things after work for an hour or so. It worked for me last summer so I know it's just a matter of getting outside and doing it before I sit down for the evening.

Have a great week!

happy happy joy joy

I participated the the Hooked on Exchanging Early Christmas Ornament exchange and yesterday I received my ornament. It's from Janet and she stitched me LHN's Red House in Winter on the front and Jeannette Douglas's ornament from the 2009 JCS magazine. I so love it!

Here is my progress on Ms. Fred. Home stretch here - almost complete with Ms. F herself and then it's just the bottom where she is standing and the rest of the border to complete. Those of you who have stitched Ms. F already will notice that I changed the chart up a bit. The bottom border is charted so the black outline and the diamonds merge together. Despite how much I like folk art, that sort of thing drives me crazy to stitch myself so I changed to what it is now. That means I'll have to fudge the bottom a bit but I'm fine with that. I'll never have to look at it in the future and wish I had done it differently or even worse once I have forgotten how it was charted wonder why I name such a big mistake. :-) I'll do the same for Mr. F also.

Have a great weekend! Mine will be all about gardening and the pugs having fun outside.

Ms. Fred is looking so bird like now. :-) I didn't have much of an update yesterday so I didn't post anything. I haven't been stitching at home at night and I've been napping on the train. :-)

I would LOVE to have her completed by the end of the weekend. I can totally do this if I work on her at night and over the weekend. I really NEED to have her completed so I can start on my Christmas gifts. I'm almost six months behind.

off weekend

Here is Ms. Fred. Not a stitch put in over the weekend. My interest in stitching is starting to wain. I can just feel it. That happens every so few often years to so. I'll do some sort of craft for a while and then move onto something new. I always come back around but the last time I stopped cross stitching it was almost 20 years before it came around again. I have way to much stash for that to happen (I hope).

Clancy and I had a very uneven agility weekend and I think that is my number one reason for getting frustrated - our lack of consistency. One week we are brilliant and the next week we suck. On Saturday Clancy didn't do his weaves and yesterday I was just a bad handler. I sure hope time works this out.

Have a great week!

friday, friday, FRIDAY!

Ms. Fred looks a bit Egyptian tomb to me right now. I kinda like it. :-)

I'm so glad it's Friday - I've been so out of sorts since my friends left way over a week ago and just finally got caught up with everything at work and sort of at home (although the grass is so high in the backyard that I can't see the pugs when I let them outside). I could really use a weekend at home but I have an agility trial with Clancy-pug. Wish us luck! I really, really want Clancy to get his last Open Standard Q so we can get into Excellent A but will just be pleased with a happy pug who wants to do agility. :-)

Have a happy weekend!

it's a bird!

I've started on Ms. Fred herself this morning. This piece if flying. I'm doing her on 36 count Antique Gold from Silkweavers using the recommended NPI silks.

It's almost Friday. :-)

love the little pieces

I love the little bits of this piece. In fact I think I like stitching them more than the bigger pieces. :-) Just a couple more to go and I'll be ready to start on Ms. Fred. I'm stitching mine using the recommended NPI silk. I love these colors and I'm positive now that I'm going to stitch Mr. Fred on the same piece.

I've been a bad blogger buddy lately and haven't had much time to visit all my friends let alone comment. But I'm still surfing by and checking out the pictures. :-) Thanks for stopping by here and I'll be sure to say hi soon.

a great weekend!

Clancy and I had a great weekend at the agility trial! On Saturday he earned a second place in Excellent A Jumpers and on Sunday he upped himself by one by earning a first place in Excellent A Jumpers! That got him his Excellent Jumpers agility title! (AXJ) He is now at the Excellent B level earning championship points towards his MACH. We still need to get out of Open Standard and are working very hard on that. Maybe this coming weekend at the two day trial we are entered in. We only need one more qualifying score for his Open title and then we start to compete at the Excellent A level. Three more qualifying scores there and he moves into Excellent B (where he is now competing in Jumpers) and we can start to work on Double Q's. To obtain the ultimate AKC agility title which is called a MACH - Master Agility Champion a dog needs to earn 20 Double Q and 750 speed points. A double q is earned when a dog gets a qualifying score in both standard agility and jumpers agility on the same day. It's pretty tough to do because a dog as to be perfect in both - at the Excellent B level a dog can have no faults and no time penalties. So he needs to be perfect and fast.

I didn't have a second to put needle to linen but I did manage to stay awake on this morning's train ride into the city. I think I'm going to put in all the little motifs before I start on Ms. Fred herself.

Have a great week!

almost back to normal

Here is my Ms. Fred - she is on Silkweavers 36 count Antique Gold. It's moving along. :-)

Did ya miss me?

I had the most wonderful six days with my buddy from out of town. Lot's of wine, food and shopping with a Cubs game tossed in. :-) I didn't work on a single thing during the entire time. But I'm back and I even staying awake on the train ride in this morning. I'm planning on making this just my train piece for a while. I really need to get going on some of my Christmas gifts and I'll try to do that in the evenings. I'm also going to stop playing Farmville and other Facebook games in the evenings - I can't believe just how much crafting time I've lost since I started to do that. Ms. Fred is coming along and I'll start on the left hand side of the piece tonight on the way home from work.

I only have to work two days this week as I have an agility trial Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Clancy. I sure hope some of our hard work in the past several weeks will pay off. He was great last night in class as was Aoife. Sometimes it amazes me how differently I need to handle them. Aoife is so much faster than Clancy but I can't give her any distance yet because of her inexperience. I have to run so much faster to stay just a little ahead of her and I have to be right on all the equipment still. I can keep up with Clancy AND give him distance because I just know he is going to do something. But it's a ride with Aoife for sure. I can't wait to trial her again in a few months. Maybe in the fall she will be ready to try again.

Here is my Trollbead bracelet. I'm so happy with the beads I purchased from Etsy and eBay. The bracelet, clasp and silver beads are all Trollbeads but the glass beads are all from artisans and they ranged in price from $2.99 to $8.99. Plus I have two more glass beads coming from Denmark. I'll need a few more silver beads already plus a larger bracelet. It filled up fast and when you get the beads on it the bracelet tightens up. I bought one that I felt was fairly large but I still could have gone bigger.

My favorite bead so far is the fat little Venus on the left.