Wednesday 8-31

First off, I would like to say 'Thank You!' to everybody who has visited my blog, and to Deborah, Cathy, and Chelle, thank you so much for your comments!! I do appreciate them very much.
I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures this morning of some recent stitching. Having a blog is kind of neat, in that when I feel like I hardly get a chance to stitch or sew, I can see that I actually am accomplishing some things!

This weekend I finished my primitive stitchery piece into the pillow that I was planning with red ric-rac. I love it! Next is a picture of my Redwork Santas by Prairie Schooler. The one with a tree is shown in an earlier post, and the one holding a candle is one I finished last weekend at a stitch-in at the LNS. On Saturday, I finally finished the Imaginating piece called 'Thankfulness', stitched with silk n colors 'rusty amber' on 40 count R&R 'antique cotton' linen. I like how it turned out, and plan to make it into a candle wrapper for a big 'pumpkin spice' candle. I'm still thinking about how exactly I'm going to construct it..... And last, but not least, is my progress picture of 'Alphabet Acorn' by Cross Eyed Cricket. I was hoping to have it finished last night, but between phone calls and various other interruptions.....well, I didn't quite get it done. Maybe today??

I'm just heartbroken for the people affected by hurricane Katrina. God Bless you all. Praying for miracles!

Fall Stitching

With nearly 100 degree days here for most of this last week, I'm eager for the cool down that fall will bring to us soon. It has me in a FALL STITCHING kind of mood, and I have actually finished a couple already this summer. One is 'I'm so thankful' by Trail Creek Farm, and yesterday I finished [finally] my Thankfulness yesterday, pictures coming soon..... I bought some ribbon for finishing it into a candle wrapper today at Hancock's. Last weekend, I also started another fall design, Alphabet Acorn . Trust me, it's a lot prettier than the picture shows. :-) I kitted up a Blackbird Designs fall sampler from their 'Fine Collection' book, can't remember which month's chart it is...but the colors are YUMMY and I'm looking forward to starting it. The design is an urn of fall foilage with alphabet in the background and border all around.
I'm watching coverage of hurricane Katrina and praying for all in her path.

Stitching update

In between all of the busy-ness of the past week, I've managed to sneak in some stitches here & there on my current WIP Thankfulness and also finished a primitive stitchery piece that I designed. I use the term 'designed' loosely here, as I just wrote out my words with curly letters and drew my most favorite little pancake flowers in ME or EEF style. A primitive stitchery piece is a nice change of pace, as you get a finished project much quicker and don't have to look at a chart while you stitch! I have plans to finish this 'choose joy' piece into a pillow with some red ric rac. It has a lot of signifigance in my life right now, and it will reside in a place where I will see it daily and be reminded to CHOOSE JOY. Kitted up and ready to go anytime is Lizzie Kate 'Long May She Wave' with a yummy piece of Picture This Plus fabric. It really reminds me of BOAF meadowlark linen. I also have a Lizzie Kate flip it kitted and ready to stitch and be made into an ornament. It will be stitched on navy blue evenweave. I'm kind of having some anxiety about what to start next, there are so many things I want to stitch! :-) This sampler has my 2 pups on it, I just *have to stitch it! Bad picture, I know, but the only one I could find. Several Blackbird Designs samplers are calling my name really loud, as well as several Birds of a Feather designs....and Prairie Schooler.....and Little House Needleworks......and 4 My Boys......and Ewe&Eye&Friends....and Carriage House Samplings......
I have some sewing projects on my to-do list as well. If only I could get by on zero sleep!
Good news-- Tuscon, the yellow pup whose picture is in an earlier post has been adopted!

It's home!!

My Round Robin, that is. In 2002, I began a round robin with 8 other women from all across the U.S. and one in Italy. We each chose our own theme and designers/style. One was 'There's no Place Like Home', which was houses, of course. Another was hearts, and there were a couple of monthly and seasonal themes. Mine was Ewe & Eye & Friends as the designer and called 'From My Home to Yours'. I asked each stitcher to choose a EEF house that they either like, or looks like their own home, and to fill in with other little motifs that represent them in some way. It turned out better than I could have imagined!! For some reason, that I can't remember now, I made too many squares to fill in, so it had 2 empty spaces when we completed our round robin. I asked another stitcher friend to fill in one square, which is done now. The last square needs a house still, but I *love* this rr so much! It turned out better than I could have imagined!! I like it so much that I think I'm ready to start another EEF round robin. Their designs are so fun.

Projects and Puppies

Today, my boys are making plastic canvas coasters. My oldest son learned how to make them in school a few years ago, and I stil have the coasters he gave me for Christmas. Here's a picture of thier progress so far. Next to that picture is my progress on 'Thankfulness' so far. I haven't yet figured out how to put the pictures WHERE I want them in my posts, so they will just all have to be together at the top.

Even though it's not stitching, meet my fur babies, a constant source of 'specialty fibers'. ;-) The next picture is Bumper the Beagle. After that is Beacon boy, our black lab. I tried to get them together in a picture, but Bumper wouldn't sit still, he wanted his cookie NOW. LOL
OK, I just had to share pics of the new babies who just came to Lab Rescue today. They are the two pictures with tile floors. The black lab is Jellybean, an 18-month old female. The yellow lab is a 6-month old male, we think he has some golden retriever mixed in. Both were on death row at the shelter, so glad we could pull them out! They are at the vet to be vaccinated and spay/neutered and then will go to live in a foster home until adopted.

Thread Snip bag

The thread snip bag is finished! It's a tiny little thing, hopefully you can get an idea of the size from the scissors beside it. This is my 4th one, and I'm really pleased with it--the finished look using buttons, and the fabrics as well. I had not used buttons on the others, but sewed the cushion in when doing the topstitch around the top of the bag. With it being such a small size, things were shifting a lot and the top stitch was not turning out nice, and sometimes the cushion would end up crooked, so I'm glad to have a better way of finishing it!


While I had the camera out, I also took a picture of my Redwork Santa (Prairie Schooler) that I finished over the weekend. I changed the DMC colors called for to Crescent Colors 'Bandana' and GAST 'Blue Spruce'. He is stitched on 32 count lambswool linen.

Sewing fun

I'm uploading some pictures to my webshots this afternoon of some finishes in recent months (username is stitchert), and thought I would share a picture of one of my recent sewing finishes. It's a zipper project bag with a cute little hat charm zipper pull, can you see it in the picture? I'm always looking for fun ribbon to use as the 'tab' on these bags, and the gingham ribbon is about my favorite. O.K. well, I need to go finish up that little snip-it bag. Pictures coming soon.......

What I am working on today 8-2

Today, I am stitching on Imaginating's 'Thankfulness'. It is a one color sampler, with the chart model shown in brown-blech. So, I am stitching mine on R&R antique cotton 40 count with Silk n Colors 'Rusty Amber'. Also for today, I plan to finish sewing up a little snippet bag, made with denim and plaid. Will share pics later.....
I sat down with my notebook last night and made a list of things that I would like to stitch soon. I sure wish I could stitch faster!!!! Here are a few from the list:
*Elizabeth's Garden Trudy's Flower
*Carriage House Samplings Dainty Housewren
*Sheepish Designs Eagle
*Sheepish Designs Betsy
*Blackbird Designs Starts & Stripes
*Blackbird Designs Summer Jubilee (from JCS magazine)
*Birds of a Feather Soweth Sampler
*Birds of a Feather Land That I Love
*Birds of a Feather Toile Rooster
*Birds of a Feather Bitter Flower Sampler
*Brightneedle Season Petites Autumn
*Trilogy Bountiful Treats kit
*Glory Bee Summer freebie, using crescent colors
*Prairie Schooler 2001 Santa
*Glory Bee America
*Erica Michaels My Country
*Sunflower Samplings Home Sweet Home
*Cricket Autumn Acorn

This is only a few of the many I listed. This list also does not include my many cross stitch ornaments that I want to do before December rolls around. Does anybody know where I can order some turbo needles and TIME??
I'm thinking of starting one from the list today, what would you pick?

I have a blog!

I've been reading some stitchers' blogs the past couple of weeks, and finally decided to create my own blog, to journal what I'm stitching or sewing. I hope I can keep it regularly updated! Since I especially enjoy seeing pictures when I visit other blogs, I will try to include as many pictures as possible. Thanks for visiting!! Keep stitching!