Just in the Nick of Time

Seven hours and four movies later....it's finished! My final finish for 2015.

1837 Crown Sampler from Plum Street Antiques.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post a wrinkle free picture.

Happy New Year!

 

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2015 - The Second Half

Here we are. The last day of the year. The days and weeks sure sail by fast. Please indulge me with a little more reminiscing.

In July, it looks like I was caught up on the Shepherds Fold project (too bad that I haven't finished the final two parts; will have to work on that!)

I also found myself getting ready for our guild retreat; I enjoy stitching a themed name tag to wear at retreat. This year's retreat theme was "The Fabric of Community" and this Prairie Schooler design seemed to fit the bill.

Retreat was in August. It was fun to see everyone. Took two classes with Betsy Morgan. When you take a class with Betsy you always get to finish a small project in class.

In keeping with this year's retreat theme, some of us worked on friendship samplers during the year. Here is my finished sampler.

I finished this OOP Birds of a Feather needlecase while at retreat. Love the design and the colors! I guess I didn't take a picture of the other side!

You might be wondering about My progress on Randje. It continued to grow throughout the year. Here's a picture of my Randje sampler and my friend Karen's Randje sampler.

In September I was busy trying to finish up some small projects from Jackie du Plessis in anticipation of her visit to Minnesota in October.

This little Shaker pincushion basket was an easy stitch and finish.

And this little Souvenir Sampler is a companion piece to the Attic Sampler of Dreams which I finished a year or two ago.

I enjoy finishing most of the time, but sometimes it is challenging for even the best of us. I sent couple of pieces off to fabulous Faye for finishing and she did a marvelous job.

This needleroll is from Primitive Traditions...

And this nametag is from La D Da...

Jackie du Plessis came to Minnesota to teach two classes for Needlework Guild of MN; I was only able to take one of the classes. It was great to see Jackie again.

The Randje band sampler was eventually finished. I ran out of banding at the end of November ( I knew this would happen!). I was glad to have it finished before the holidays were in full swing.

Now, I have one more project that I would like to finish this year. It's almost there and with a couple more hours of stitching I might just be able to do it!

Thank you for visiting and allowing me to share my stitching journey with you. Best wishes for a safe and happy New Year's Eve. Here's to more stitching adventures in 2016!

 

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2015 - the First Six Months

After posting about the Hardanger ornaments tonight I spent a bit of time going back and reading my posts from past Decembers. It was kind of fun. I realized that I usually do a summary at the end of the year that includes my finishes, trips that I may have taken, and anything that was significant during the year. So here we go. Join me as I reminisce about the first six months of 2015...

My first finish of 2015 was this darling ornament for my great niece, June. Christmas of 2014 was her first Christmas; our families didn't get together until the New Year though, hence the January 1 finish. June has a baby brother now. He was just born yesterday!

I started a new project in January...Randje per Week. This was such a fun stitch. Each week I added two rows. It was a great project to work on when I was traveling for work too. Have you seen what they are planning for 2016?

The Shepherd's Fold continued in 2015. In January I finished the fob. I still have the last two parts, the needleroll and the ruler sleeve, to stitch and finish!

In February I got to stitch with a group of friends at "The Ranch." It was nice to have a weekend to relax and stitch. During this month I continued to work on Randje and also worked on some pre-work for an upcoming class in March.

Our guild sponsored a March to the finish weekend - another good opportunity to get some serious stitching done. Made some more great memories. Traveled to Indianapolis to take three classes with Sherri Jones. I stitched this scissor fob to commemorate the trip. Over one nonetheless!

Since my pre-stitching was done, I was able to finish a Tulip Tray soon after taking the class.

There was a murder in April and it was very important that I travel to Iowa to help solve it. Truthfully, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a class with Amy Mitten. What a delightful teacher. Now we're traveling around the world with her!

Things start to get a little crazy in May starting with Stitchville's Spring Fling and Ellen Chester. At least there was no snow this year!

Then my partners In crime and I traveled to Madison for another class with Sherri Jones - Blue a Ribbon Sewing Box. No class pictures and my project is not complete, but we did stop at Lynn's in Madison for some retail therapy!

No trip to Madison would be complete without a stop at....drum roll please...the Norske Nook!

Oh, and by the way, I finished two Catherine Theron projects in May...her guild project for 2015 called Winter Strawberries. (Enjoy the upside down picture.) Will you be stitching her 2016 guild project with me?

And a tiny scissor fob...

Now you would think that we might be all traveled out at this point, but no! We find ourselves back on the road again headed back down to Zionsville, IN - the safest town in America except when we are there! Look out, here we come!

We discovered some treasures along the the way. Chris found a pristine copy of the Blue Ribbon Sampler.

Judy thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this quaint little shop in Geneva, IL.

And after searching high and low, we found some condoms for our scissors. In two color options!

In Indy, we had the pleasure of taking two more classes with Catherine Theron. Sadly neither of these two projects is finished yet either! It was a memorable weekend though.

I finished out June with a quick trip to New York to see Mrs. Szigethy. She and her daughter were here in the U.S. and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them again.

By the way, did I mention the other year long SAL that I participated in? A group from guild worked on the Sojourner sampler from Hearts Ease Examplar Workes. I got it started but failed miserably at finishing it. Here's a sample of what I was able to complete.Guess what I will be working on this year?

I think that pretty much sums up the first half of the year (although I feel like I might be missing a Betsy Morgan class...). Tomorrow we'll review the second half of the year. I'm afraid it's not quite as exciting but maybe I'll surprise myself!

 

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A Little More Hardanger

I know that Christmas is over, but I had a little bit more Congress cloth left and I figured I may as well use it up. I made nine more ornaments - only five of them are pictured here.

Now it's time to break out the Crown Sampler and stitch those last three motifs!

 

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Happy Birthday Resi!

Today is Resi's birthday. If she were still alive, she would be 107 years old. Resi (Therese) lived up the street from us. She was my Aunt Theresa's best friend. She was like a grandmother to my brothers and me.

Here she is with my two kids about 20 years ago.

When my brothers and I were little, every Monday night my mother would invite some of her sisters and neighborhood ladies over for "Crochet Club." Resi was one of those ladies. She was an excellent seamstress and she loved to crochet. She liked to crochet tops on towels that could then be hung from the stove handle. She helped me learn how to crochet.

Happy Birthday Resi!

 

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Wishing You....

Merry Christmas!

 

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Hardanger Ornaments

Had time for a little stitching today. Finished up some Hardanger ornaments that I have been working on. I got the pattern from my friend Judy. Started with eight, but made a cutting error, so I am down to seven. I need to press them yet.

Thank you for your kind comments about Randje. The piece is about six feet long. I don't plan to hang. It's going to be more of a "conversation" piece. I have an old wooden spool that I will wrap it around and secure with a ribbon.

Are you ready for Christmas yet?

 

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Randje - Finished

I know, I know - you are wondering how I could possibly be finished when there are still two more Fridays (four more rows) left in the month! I've reached the end of my banding. I knew from the start that I might not have enough to get all the way through to the end. When all is said and done, I will be 12 rows short. Doesn't matter. I thoroughly enjoyed this project from beginning to end. It was a great travel project. Wish you could see it in person!

Now I have to get back to my ornament stitching!

 

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No New Stitching

I haven't really done much if any stitching lately. Here's a picture of a portion of my Randje sampler alongside my friend Karen's Randje.

Need to get back to this and finish it!

 

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