Olympic Stitching

I decided to join Measi of WIPocalypse 2012 and a few others for an Olympic Stitchalong.

I'll be 'competing' in the Rotation Relay and Finish Line events.

Rotation Relay - I've never actually worked a rotation before, I usually just pick up and stitch whatever I feel like working on, so we'll see how it goes.  I'm thinking of working a 3-4 hour rotation on the following projects:

Hedgerow Birds - Blackbird Designs
C of A's Pyn Pillow and Scissor Fob - Eileen Bennett
Shaker Pincushion - Victoria Sampler

If I finish any of these I'll add the Bluebird Tree by Gerda Bengtsson to the rotation.

Finish Line - I have 15 stitched but not finished projects to pick from. My goal is to finish 10-12 of them.

I'll post progress pictures of the Rotation projects during the WIPocalypse updates, and finishes as they occur during the next few weeks.

But before I really get started on this I need to finish up the exchange gift I'm working on.  I expect to finish that today.

IHSW July Update

I had the great pleasure of an unexpected weekend stitching companion.

This adorable face belongs to Reggie, my former most frequent stitching companion, who now lives with my Ex.  When I was asked if I could keep him for the weekend I leapt at the chance, and the two of us spent many happy hours stitching (and snoozing) on the back deck.

I spent some time working on an exchange gift that I can't show, and much time working on Hedgerow Birds by Blackbird Designs, which has been sitting around waiting for attention since I messed up the border a year or so ago.  I was able to frog and restitch the border early last week and since then managed to finish one side of the project. The picture does not do it justice, but it was raining this morning, so I couldn't get one in better light.

I'm hoping to finish up the other side in the next couple of weeks, while I participate in Measi's Olympic Stitching events.

And now I'm off to see what everyone else has been working on.  Such fun!

Amazing exchange package

Saturday was a fabulous day.  Not only did I get to stitch all day with two of my best stitching friends, but I also had the overwhelming pleasure of receiving an exchange package from my stitching twin Nataly.  We decided a few months ago to do a private exchange, and I must say that was one of the best ideas I ever had!  Wait till you see all the wonderful things I got!

First up was a couple of needlebooks, the one on the left is from Scandanavian Stitches. I had wanted to buy one at Celebrations of Needlework in April but they were all out, so Nataly ordered one for me. I'm not sure yet what I'll stitch for the front.  The one on the left is an adorable one that Nataly stitched for me.

 

Nataly even stitched a little something on the back. 

And filled it with her beautiful handmade counting pins.





In case that wasn't enough (and it would have been!) she also included a pretty blue glass ort jar

AND a beautiful glass flower/scissor frog

When I first saw this beautiful piece I thought "Wow, that's pretty big.  I may need to buy more scissors :-)" 

Those who know me won't be surprised that after I wandered into a couple of rooms and gathered up my scissors and fobs I practically filled it!

And that's not all!!  Nataly also gave me Beauty in Simplicity by Blue Ribbon Designs, AND a 1/4 yard of lovely linen to stitch it on. The moment that I saw this project I knew I had to have it.  I can hardly wait to start it.

I was overwhelmed and overjoyed by Nataly's thoughtfulness and generosity.  Don't you wish you had a stitching twin like mine?



And the winner is .....

The random number generator chose comment 10 from Samplers, Silks and Linens.  There doesn't seem to be a way to reach you through your blog so please contact me with your name and snail mail address.  You should be able to click on my name under Contributors on the top of the right sidebar (use the second one for quickest response).  Congratulations! 

WIPocalypse stitching finish

I have to admit that the WIPocalypse is really helping me to work on WIP's.  I have a tendency to work on exchanges or 2012 Year of Smalls projects for most of the month and then I see that the WIPocalypse posting is coming up and I pull out a WIP and work feverishly for a couple of days so I'll have something to post about.  My two days of feverish stitching this month were enough to finish the stitching on a project that's been sitting around for years. 

Take Time to Stitch, Jeannette Douglas Designs

I ended up having to change the colors a little on this, since several of them washed out on the fabric I used.  Amazing how a small thing like that will cause me to put a project away for years.  Oh well, done now!

Saturday is the last day to enter the giveaway in my previous post.  I'll use a random number generator to choose the winner on Sunday. 

Time for a giveaway!

It looks like I passed 50 followers sometime in the last few days :-)  Welcome everyone!  Guess it's time for that giveaway I mentioned in last week's post.

Since my stitching mojo seems to be taking a summer vacation I decided to take one of the many pieces in my 'stitched, but not finished' pile and finish that for the giveway.  I came across Singing the Blues by Little House Needleworks which I loved stitching, but now have no place to display.  I found a tuck pillow that it fits in perfectly. I hope you like it. You should be able to click on it to see a larger view.

I will include a few other items in the giveaway package, but I'm not sure yet what they will be. You must be a follower and leave a comment on this post to be entered.  If you post the giveaway to your blog you can come back and leave another comment for a second chance.

I will use a random number generator to select the winner on Sunday, July 8. 

Thanks for following my little stitching blog. 

Almost time for a giveaway

Wow, I see that I picked up 5 new followers in the last week.  Welcome!  And a belated welcome to my other recent followers.  I'm thinking that since 50 is such a nice round number perhaps I should have a giveaway when I hit 50 followers.  It's possible that I decided that when I was looking for an excuse to start yet another new project instead of working on my WIP's, but does it really matter why the thought popped into my head??  ;-)

I realized that I've started and finished 4 small projects in the last month, and haven't spent even 5 minutes on any of the WIP's on my WIPocalypse list, so I vow to try to make some progress on one or two of them in the next week and a half until the next WIPocalypse update.  We'll see how that goes.  For some reason I'm just itching to start another new project, and have little interest in working on any of my many WIP's.  Maybe if I pull them all out and look them over again one of them will ignite a spark.  If not, I'll just have to start working on a new project for a giveaway!

My Favorite Things Exchange

I recently participated in first stitching exchange, one of the Stitched With Love Exchanges organized by Lainey. The theme of this exchange was My Favorite Things. It was so much fun!  The package I received from Shirlee, The Easily Influenced Stitcher was more than I ever hoped for.  It included a BBD pincushion, filled with lavendar that smells heavenly.  The colors match my living room perfectly, and it now sits on my coffee table where I can see it and sniff it often.  She also sent 2 packages of chenille trim, neither of which I had yet, 3 lovely colors of Olde Willow Stitchery floss, a package of needles, a Stacy Nash Primitives journal chart and a whole quarter yard of Tobacco cashel.  I already have several projects planned for that beautiful fabric!

Shirlee took the time to individually wrap each item, which added to the fun I had when the package arrived.  Thank you so much, Shirlee!  You could not have made me happier.

The package I prepared went to Nataly of Nataly's Needle Creations. The funny thing is that Nataly is a good friend of mine, and is actually the one who convinced me to try an exchange.  But since the exchange was anonymous I couldn't tell her I got her name!  So she wouldn't know it came from me I used my sister's return address when I mailed the package.  This is the package I sent to Nataly.

I hope she enjoyed her package as much as I enjoyed mine. 

My first exchange was such a great experience.  I can't wait to sign up for another one.

Another small finish

I was able to finish up A Tisket A Tasket this week. It was a fun and easy stitch and I really like the colors. Not sure yet how I'll finish it.

A Tisket A Tasket - Little by Little

June IHSW Update

I spent many happy hours on my deck stitching this weekend.  I was actually able to finish finish a project! 

.

This is called the Flower Pot Sampler by From the Heart.  This was the May project for the 2012 Year of the Smalls.  The sample was done is a nice soft green, but I changed mine to Belle Soie Rose of Sharon so I could hang in it my bedroom.  It fit nicely into a standard frame size, and I was able to find a frame I liked for only $4.  Yay!

I also started another project from the Year of the Smalls.

This one is A Tisket A Tasket by Little by Little.  I'm stitching it on 30 count fabric.  Not quite sure what I'll do with it when it's finished. 

I also finished the stitching on another exchange, which I can't show yet.  All in all a very happy stitching weekend. 

And now I'm off to see what everyone else has been working on :-)

June WIPocalypse

I've had a pretty productive month of stitching.  In addition to an exchange that I can't show yet I was able to finish two projects that were on my original WIPocalypse list.  Until now all of my finishes have been things I've added to the list since January 1st, so I was happy to finish some longer term WIP's this month.  The first finish was the Linen Band Sampler/Bookmark by Eventine Designs.

The second stitching finish was from a class I took at the 2011 Celebration of Needlework.  This one is called Grandma's Garden Sewing Kit by Linda Duree.  I couldn't seem to get a good picture of it, which is a shame because it's a very pretty piece. Maybe I'll have better luck when I finish it into the sewing kit.  For this one I changed the fob and stitched two different flowers from the piece instead of the design she had charted. 

And now it's time to pop off and see what everyone else has been working on.  I love that part!  Happy stitching everyone.

IHSW update

I was able to get lots of stitching done this weekend, but unfortunately can't post a picture because it's for the Stitched with Love Favorite Things Exchange.  I was able to finish the stitching on the main part of the exchange and now I just need to do the finishing work. I say that as if I ever actually finish anything!  But this time I actually will have a completely finished piece sometime next weekend, which is another milestone thing since it will actually be finished at least a week before I have to mail it.  This is my first exchange and I'm pleased that it's pushing me into better habits :-) I'll post a picture after my exchange partner receives it.  Here's hoping she is as pleased with the stitched piece as I am. 

Next up is to start the stitching on my next exchange piece, and maybe I'll squeeze in a small project too.

May WIPocalypse update

I noticed on Friday that the WIPocalypse update was on the weekend and I realized that I hadn't worked on any of my WIP's for weeks :-(    Oh well, at least I managed to get a day of stitching in, and I made much better progress than I expected: 

This is Grandma's Garden Sewing Kit by Linda Duree.  It was a class I took last year at Celebration of Needlework.  The last time I worked on it I had to unstitch a few areas, but I finally finished that and was able to complete many of the flowers this weekend.  I was surprised at how quickly it went once I spent some time on it.  The stitching was fun and easy, and I have no idea why it's been sitting around waiting for attention for so long.  The siren call of new projects I guess.  I am determined to finish the stitching by next month's update.  Then I'm going to start looking for a 12-step program for those who finish stitching but never actually finish the projects themselves.

I also finished a couple of non-WIP projects while I was at Celebrations:

Gentle Touches by Shakespeare's Peddler

Quaker Pincushion by Jeannette Douglas

 

 

 

Celebration of Needlework

I just spent a fantastic weekend with my best stitching buddies at Celebration of Needlework in Nashua NH. We had a fabulous time stitching, laughing until it hurts, and shopping.  And shopping some more.  Since it's only 5 minutes from my home to the hotel I rationalized that meant I could use the money I would have spent on a hotel room for stash!!  I came home each night and emptied my shopping bag out on the dining room table so I could ogle and fondle all my wonderful new stuff.  I'm a very lucky, very greedy girl, so by Saturday night the table was covered.  Wanna see??

Lots of beautiful linens

embellishments

Pincushion stand from Olde Colonial

Lots of new charts, many with floss packs to go with them

a new oval hoop and some cute stitch starters in various sizes

adorable stitcher's companion and project pack

a wool applique project

Gazelle frame with Love is Patient project by Victoria Sampler, that I won at the secret auction to raise money for the fight against breast cancer.

I also took one class by Barbara Jackson called Williamsburg Tray.  I'll be adding this to my WIPocalypse list.  Which reminds me ... I was lucky enough to meet Melissa, the hostess of our 2012 WIPocalypse.  She was working on the most amazing orange overdyed fabric.  I can't wait to see her finished project.

When I look back at all these pictures I'm a little embarrassed at my greediness, but I only lose control like this once a year, so I'll probably get over it before next year's event.

After 3 days of stitching with my friends I certainly got my stitching mojo back.  I've wanted to do nothing but stitch since I got home.  But I already miss stitching with them, and hope we can all get together again very soon.

Late IHSW Update

I ended up having very  little time for stitching over the weekend, but did manage to get some time in on Gentle Stitches by Shakespeare's Peddler.  It's been a nice easy stitch, which is just what I need right now.  Sorry for the poor quality picture. I'll post a better one when it's finished.

Tonight is the start of Celebration of Needlework in Nashua, NH.  I'm lucky enough to live 5 minutes away, so I can save the money I would spend on the hotel and spend it on stash! WooHoo! I'm signed up for a class on Friday, and a couple of different events, and lots of stitching time with my best stitching buddies.

Stay tuned for lots of stash pictures next week :-)

April WIPocalypse Update

A little late with my update this month, but do have something to show.  I finished the first square of the Petit Sampling Etui:

I also finished the stitching for the lid of the Sturbridge Box, which I posted about previously.

After spending weeks stitching over one I decided to give myself a break and start something easy.  I chose Gentle Stitches by Shakepeare's Peddler, which I hope to finish and post this coming weekend.  Then back to work on WIP's.

Off I go to look at what everyone else has been working on.  Happy stitching!

Look what I won!

Teresa of Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches recently had a giveaway for her followers and I was the lucky winner of a handmade stitcher's portfolio.  The fabric she used was just perfect and so is her finishing work.

The portfolio opens up and has a large pocket on the left side, 2 small pockets in the middle, and another large pocket and a clear pocket on the right.  Teresa also filled each of the pockets with special little treats, including an adorable box of chocolates, some mints, the cutest pair of Itty Bitty Scissors, an adorable counting pin, and Just Nan Needle Flutters kit.  All packaged up in a pretty pink envelope covered in hearts.

Don't you wish you were me??  Thank you so much, Teresa. Your lovely gifts will get lots of use.

I've been gifted with the Leibster Award

Astrid at Dragon Stitches by Astrid has gifted me with the Leibster Award. Thank you so much, Astrid!

Liebster is a German word meaning favorite, dearest, or beloved. The Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting.

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

My award recipients are listed below. Their blog names are links even though I can't get them to display correctly.

Teresa at Teresa’s Heartfelt Stitches is a lovely lady I was lucky enough to meet at a retreat last fall. She does so many beautiful projects, cross stitch, sewing and others. I recently won a beautiful portfolio that she sewed for one of her lucky followers to win. I’ll be posting pictures later.

Pam at Confessions of a Southern Stitcher is another wonderful lady I met at the same retreat. She does many lovely projects and has recently taken up quilting. Looks like she’s a natural at it!

Colleen at Threads in My Garden was one of my earliest followers. She loves to stitch, sew, quilt and garden.

Terry at Rosy Stitches just finished Dance of the Roses and it is gorgeous! She also does some lovely beadwork.

Melissa at Melissa's Miscellaneous Adventures just finished Mediterranean Mermaid by Mirabilia. Wait till you see it! Melissa also enjoys cross-stitch, baking, reading, sewing, and gardening.

And now the hard part, coming up with 5 things about myself:

1. My brain froze at the thought of coming up with 5 things, since I knew there were not 5 interesting things to share. I considered making stuff up.

2. When I am lucky enough to retire, or at least work part time, the very first thing I will do is get a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Or two!

3. Next to stitching, my favorite thing to do is to sail on Lake Winnipesaukee.

4. I love doing tai chi.

5. After being initially convinced that I would never spend the money for an ebook reader, since I only wanted ‘real’ books’, I ended up owning both a Kindle and a Color nook, and I can’t imagine a day without them.

Thanks again, Astrid!

IHSW Weekend

Very little progress to report this weekend.  First I ended up having to work all day Saturday, which I hadn't expected, and then the stitching gremlins came to visit. I ended up spending more time frogging than stitching. The first project had some eyelet stitches over 2 threads and they're almost impossible to remove.  Notice the messy blue flower in the middle. The blue section on the far left, and on the bottom both need to be removed and restitched.

When I got tired of trying to remove those I decided to pick up another project to work on.  This time I didn't have as much frogging to do, but since it was all over one I found it very frustrating to unstitch.  Might be time for new magnification! 

And yet hope springs eternal! It's a beautiful, warm sunny day here in NH, and I have an hour before I have to leave to bring my mom to an appointment.  Off I go to try one more time to get some happy stitching done.

March WIPocalypse Update

It's been a crazy busy month, but I did manage to make pretty good progress on my Sturbridge Box project since my last WIPocalypse update. During the last IHSW weekend I finished the stitching on the top, which I've already posted. But since it's so pretty I'll post it again here in case someone missed it :-)

I also finished 3 and a half sides:

Side 1

Side 2

 

Side 3

Side 4

Excuse the funky spacing.  Blogger has decided that it will look this way no matter what I want.

Now I need to finish up Side 3, then the scissor fob and scissor keeper. All of those should be finshed by my next WIPocalypse update.  I'd love to have the finish-finish done by then too.  Time will tell.

This is the first time in years I've only worked on one project at a time. I have to admit that it's nice to see visible progress on something, and potentially finish it in the same year I start it :-)  But I'm itching to work on something different now.

Off I go to look at everyone's updates.

 

Another great giveaway

Jennifer is hosting a lovely giveaway on her blog:  http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeathersinthenest.blogspot.com%2Ffeeds%2Fposts%2Fdefault

Nataly's gifties

Check out the lovely giveaway that Nataly is offering on her blog: http://natalysneedle.blogspot.com/2012/02/gifties-for-friends-and-giveaway.html

IHSW Weekend

This past weekend was the International Hermit & Stitch Weekend, my favorite weekend of the month. I had a busy weekend, and not as much time for stitching as I hoped.  I decided on Sunday afternoon that I hadn't spent enough time stitching, so I ignored the housework and the laundry and spent much of the afternoon and early evening stitching.  I made good progress on my Sturbridge Box project.  I managed to finish the top and started on the first side. 

This has been a fun project to work on so far.  Now that I finished the top I think the rest of the stitching will go quickly.

Now I'm off to get see what others have been working on .... in between loads of laundry.

nook cover

Last weekend I finished a cover for my sister's color nook.  She has a hard cover that's become dirty and she couldn't get it clean anymore, but she liked the protection that it provided. So I made a cover for the hard cover, that can be removed and washed (or replaced) when necessary.  The only patterns that I could find for nooks were soft covers that provided no protection, so I made this up.  Next time I think I might do a couple of things differently, but it's ok for a first attempt.

I think I'll make one for myself, but with cross stitching on the front cover.

WIPocalypse 2012 - February Update

It's hard to believe how quickly the last month flew by!  Last week the Sturbridge Box stitcherama started and I've added that project to my WIPocalypse list.  I'd hoping to concentrate on it until the stitching is finished.  We'll see how that works out ;-)  Sorry about the fuzzy picture.

The only other WIPocalypse project I worked on this month was one night on the linen band bookmark.

Off to look at everyone's progress.  I love seeing what people are working on.

First finish of 2012

I finally finished stitching Poinsettia House by Little House Needleworks, the January Year of the Smalls project.  I'm probably the last person taking part in the Year of the Smalls to finish, but at least it's finished, which I can't say about all of my projects :-)  It was a very enjoyable stitch, as all Little House projects are.

Next up is to do the prework on the Sturbridge Box stitcherama project which starts on Saturday.  Since I'll be working on that for the next couple of weeks I decided not to do the February Year of the Small project.  And who knows when I'll get back to my WIPocalypse projects.  So many projects, so little time!