Monday, May 28, 2012

Missing...

Sorry for disappearing on you! My how time slips away so quickly!  May has turned out to be an extremely busy month for me; I just haven't had time to post.  Put your seat belt on...here we go!


Later in June I will be attending the Tree of Life Samplings retreat and we were sent pre-work and asked to complete it prior to the retreat. The stitching for my needlebook, pincushion, and scissor fob is all done!  Here are some close ups:



I've also been busy stitching away on a few other projects...


I'm going to need to get busy and do some finishing one of these days.

Here's Chessie and Me Glory House:


And the LHN/Shakespeare's Peddler collaboration pieces that were released at the Nashville needlework market:



Finally, I tried really hard to resist joining the Prim Sister's club through the Country Sampler shop in Spring Green, but after I saw all of your lovely posts of the first project I just couldn't help myself.  I think I'm actually going to have this piece framed.  I really like it!


I've also been working on the over one stitching on I Sigh Not for Beauty - all I have left now is the over one verse at the top and bottom.  I'm not a big fan of over one, so I'm doing it a little bit at a time!  Hope to have it finished by the end of June - that's my goal!

So, that's my update.  I'll try not to stay away so long next time.  If you are here in the U.S. I hope you are enjoying a fabulous Memorial Day weekend with your family and friends.  To all in the military - thank you for your service!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The House Is In...

Where does the time go?  Sometimes life sure gets busy; can't really complain though - glad I'm still on this earth to experience it!

It has been a busy spring - it kicked off with the Stitchville retreat about a month ago, followed by another Saturday of stitching with friends at the end of April.  Since re-joining our needlework guild, I've been taking full advantage of every opportunity offered, including their annual meeting which also occurred in April.  All these various stitching events have been fun and have kept me hopping.  My daughter is coaching her high school's girls lacrosse team this spring and we've been trying to go to as many of those games as possible.  Somehow I manage to work full-time too; pays the bills, pays for my addiction.  Yes, it's been a busy time but enjoyable.

Not too much stitching to show, but I do have an update.  I'm close to finishing I Sigh Not For Beauty.  The house is in and I'm working on the landscaping!  The trees are in, the grass will go in next.  This design was originally charted for DMC and I'm using Belle Soie silks.  The house was charted with a dark red stitch and then a lighter red stitch, with the two alternating throughout.  It was suggested that I could divide the pieces of Belle Soie into dark and light sections, but I have to be honest, I don't like stitching with short pieces of floss; the longer the better (but not as long as what Chris uses - Chris, you know who you are!)  I decided to use the entire length of Belle Soie and stitched every other square of the house.  Then I went back and filled in the remaining squares of the house. In doing this, I was able to eliminate the "stripey" look that I normally would have had, and IMHO I feel that the end result looks more like an actual brick house.  I'm happy with it.



So, now I have a story for you about this sampler. You all know Ellen Chester of With My Needle, and hopefully many of you read her monthly newsletter, With My Needle and Pen.  Every year, she selects two samplers and if interested, her newsletter subscribers work on those samplers as a SAL.  There are group leaders who include monthly "assignments" for the SAL.  In theory, everyone completes their sampler and has a lovely finished piece at the end of the year.  (Key words in that sentence are "in theory.")

One of last year's projects was the piece I'm working on, I Sigh Not For Beauty from C Street Samplerworks.  Many of you wonderful stitching bloggers worked on it last year along with the others who were doing the SAL.  Me, not so much.  I am determined to finish it this year though.  Ellen happened to notice that I was working on it and asked me to send a progress photo for her newsletter.  I happily obliged and not only sent a photo of this piece but also two other C Street Samplerworks designs that I had stitched and a nice little article to go with them.  If you would like to read it, please go to Ellen's website for With My Needle and then click on the link to With My Needle and Pen Newsletter (#4, April 30, 2012.)

Now, you'd think that might be the end of it, but it wasn't.  A couple days later, I received an email from Jean at the Attic asking if I would be willing to send her a picture of my sampler for her newsletter.  You see, I had purchased my supplies for this sampler from the Attic.  Remember, it was charted for DMC.  The Attic had done a lovely conversion to Belle Soie silks and a lovely Lakeside Linen fabric.  I happily obliged. It was kind of fun to see a picture of my sampler in the Attic newsletter last week!

Story is not over yet...a couple days later I get an email from none other than Ruth Ann Russell, the mastermind behind C Street Samplerworks!  What a delightful lady!  In our email exchange I encouraged her to publish more of her designs; of those that I have stitched, I have enjoyed stitching each and every one. Many of her offerings were originally published in SANQ magazines, but many of them are so old that they are impossible to find - even on the bay of evil (eBay).  However, when one has connections, sometimes they are successful in locating those very old magazines......there are more C Street Samplerworks designs in my future!

Well, I've rambled on long enough for one day.  Here in Minnesota the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping - I think it is going to be a lovely day!  Thank you for stopping by.  Hope you find some time today for some stitching!