Thursday-lots of pictures

This is my progress on Quaker Garden as of this morning. This started out as a project I worked on when we watched movies. It's getting more attention now than just during movies so I can be done with it. The picture doesn't do the colors justice! I changed the 'shaker white' to Crescent Colours 'Bamboo', because my two skeins of GAST 'shaker white' both look nothing like the chart picture and are very brown looking (one is what I call dirty dish water LOL). Both are labelled 'shaker white' but very different from each other and definitely not white-ish at all.

While I had the camera out I decided to take some pictures of my Autumn Sewing Roll by The Needles Content. I know it's not yet fall, but I've started using it anyway. :) Above is the roll opened and you can see the pocket on one end and a needle book on the other. The pin cushion in the middle actually is not attached to the roll. I made this sewing roll in 2002 and bring it out each Autumn to enjoy using. I just love the colors!

Here it is all closed up.

And here's the outside. It says 'Harvest the fruits of your stitching and treasure your needlework tools'. The threads used were 'Venus' and one Gloriana silk, plus the ribbons are also Gloriana. Venus is a 6 stranded cotton floss.

Here's another punchneedle project I just finished. The pattern for this is from the new issue of 'Country Marketplace', I've included a picture of the magazine front below. The pattern called for overdyes, but I switched to DMC.

Above is the antique sampler mentioned in my last post. This article comes from 'Country Sampler' sept. 2004 issue-picture of front below.

And here is my very first punch needle project. The pattern for this heart was included with my punchneedles and I used DMC 3858, 927, & 3051. It was punched with 6 strands of floss, and the green background used an entire skein!

This is the Friendship sampler I received from my exchange partner, didn't she do a fantastic job? I love it!



Thank you! to everybody who has visited and left comments, I really appreciate them!! I love finding new stitching blogs to read too, just hope to have more time to read them now! Isn't it amazing how enabling fellow bloggers are? You see something stitched up that previously you had seen the chart for, but it didn't do a thing for you....but seeing it stitched, you HAVE to have it!! That's what I loved so much about first finding stitching bulletin boards, was seeing peoples' finishes. And now with blogs, it's even better. ;)

Finally

Moira Blackburn 'Friendship Sampler' on 36 ct Lakeside maple sugar with WDW & GAST. I changed the colors from those called for on the chart and eliminated the straight line border. This was for an exchange and my partner stitched the same design and then we exchanged samplers. IMO, she did a better job and I'm tickled with the sampler I have now (and need to get framed).

Carriage House Samplings 'Westwinds' on 40 light cappucino w/ NPI silks

Midsummer Night Designs 'Sweet World' stitched on 40 ct. cream with Anchor floss


I'm finally posting an update on my blog that is. We've been busy getting ready for school, which started on Monday. I'm on a schedule now, and back to being up by 5:30 every morning. That's taking some getting used to, after getting into the [bad] habit of staying up late and sleeping late this summer. I think that we're finally getting most of the permission slips and emergency forms etc. all filled out and settling into our routines.
I mentioned in my last post that I knew that I had had some finishes lately but couldn't remember any of them, so hopefully I'll round up pics of all of them today and share. I've now uploaded what I have so far. I still forgot to take a picture of my very first punchneedle project. I also want to take a picture of the Friendship Sampler I received in my exchange. Those will have to wait for a future post. :)
In the works STILL is Blackbird Designs 'Quaker Garden'. I'm not sure why I thought it would go quickly (maybe because so many others whipped it up quickly!) but it is slow for me. I'll get there, as some stitches are made on it daily..... :)
I was reading an older issue of 'Country Sampler' magazine recently-I've been going thru old magazines lately- and found an article that I had missed before, showing pictures of a lady's house & decorating with her collections and antiques. Anyway, she has an old sampler from the 1800's on her wall that she paid a nickel for. :o I'll share issue details and some pictures of that later too. It's worth $1500 today. What a treasure she found! I wonder if my samplers will go for pennies at an estate sale someday? Hope not, but don't care so much. I trust they will somehow eventually end up in the hands of somebody who appreciates them, whether they got them for a song or not. :)

Punchneedle

I've taken the plunge into punchneedle. I love it. I started this little piece last night, and finished it up this afternoon. This is called 'Sunflower House' and is by Jeremiah Junction. Here's a link to see what theirs looks like-I changed some colors, eliminated the dots in the background and the checkered bottom border. It is punched on khaki weaver's cloth with DMC. This is actually my second punchneedle project, my first was a heart pattern that was included with the punchneedles. I forgot to take a picture of it, and it's upstairs, so will share a picture of that one later on. If you've thought about learning this technique, I encourage you to GO FOR IT! It's not difficult at all, plus it's fast and fun. I basically just followed the instructions that were included with the punchneedles and took off punching. I've now also watched Charlotte Dudney's punchneedle DVD, which is really helpful as well.
I'm still plugging away on BBD 'Quaker Garden' that was started last month. It's just slow going for me. I know I've had some finishes lately, but I'm tired and can't remember a one of them. Also this evening, I started 'Be Kind & True' by Blackbird Designs. It's stitched with one strand of WDW on 35 ct. linen and just a nice sampler to work on. I was surprised by how much progress was made already.