Just a few moments of quiet time after Christmas activities! This blog was actually started on Christmas Eve, but I ran out of time. I hope each of you had a joyful Christmas season, and that your hearts and homes were filled with those things that bring you happiness. We have had a lot of fun sharing meals and time at our church with family and friends.

BBD's Merry Christmas was finished just in time:

Merry Christmas, Blackbird Designs
30 count Sheep's Straw, R&R Reproductions
recommended threads

I was able to squeeze in a few minutes here and there to work on two small Christmas designs. I hope to finish them before the end of the year.

And Nature Sing, Little by Little
35 count Straw, Weeks
DMC, GAST and Crescent threads

Christmas Night, Chartmakers
40 count Black Forest, Lakeside Linen
conversion to NPI threads

The rest of the stitching year will be spent finishing both Christmas pieces and kitting the 15 projects chosen for the 2011 challenge!

Have a great week!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was quieter than usual, but still lots of fun. This time of year is the best. I love cooking with family and friends, or even by myself and just puttering around in my kitchen. Sitting in my favorite stitching spot and watching the leaves fall outside. They look like bits of gold spinning in the air as they fall.

In a moment of temporary insanity I signed up for Minna's Crazy January Challenge 2011. No, seriously, it sounds like a lot of fun and I enjoyed rummaging through my stash for a list of my 15 projects, and it's encouraging me to work on those charts I've had for awhile that are kitted or partially kitted. If I finish close to that number I'll be happy.

I pulled out Blackbird Design's Merry Christmas from the WIP basket and started working on it. The greens in the holly leaf border were almost identical, so I took out part of the border and changed one of the greens. I hope to finish it this week.

Merry Christmas, Blackbird Designs
30 count Sheep's Straw, R&R Reproductions
recommended threads

Jenny Bean's Halloween did not get finished this year and is now put away until next year's Halloween stitching. It seems like I did a lot of miscounting/frogging on this piece. Here is what I did accomplish.

Jenny Bean's Halloween, Shakespeare's Peddler
40 count Vintage Light Examplar, Lakeside Linen recommended threads

I was also able to add a few stitches to BBD's Bird in Hand and would like to wrap it up this week, too, if the schedule stays fairly calm.

Bird in Hand , Blackbird Designs
30 count Irish Cream , R&R Reproductions
Pomegranate, GAST

Mr. Cooper during our walk this morning. Do not be fooled by his calm and well mannered appearance! He had just finished chasing Miss Kitty up a tree.


Have a great week!

It's October - finally! It really is my favorite month. I hope heaven is a neverending fall day.

Don't you just love stitching when the weather gets cool and the nights start getting longer? I was definitely in a stitching slump, but the start of fall seems to have helped change that. Market probably helped that slump along, too. It's always exciting to see the new designs and I've added quite a bit to my list, although I have plenty now that I really like and want to stitch without any additions!

Halloween stitching is Jenny Bean's Halloween. I love the names of the threads that came in the kit - Burial Ground, Dried Blood, Swampwater. It's been fun to stitch so far. Cooper the Bandit stole those threads from my WIP basket and chewed up most of the thread tags. I think I've sorted out and relabeled the colors, but if my piece turns out a little different colorwise you will know why ....

Jenny Bean's Halloween, Shakespeare's Peddler 40 count Lakeside Linen Vintage Light Examplar

Here is my progress on KFL. I like this design a lot, though I almost get tired of the slightly drab colors. Then I go blog browsing and look at other stitcher's finished pieces and I'm inspired to keep going.

Kind Fond Love, Sampler Company
40 count Lakeside Linen Maritime White
NPI threads

Cooper is in school now. The first night he was absolutely the wild child of the class. I believe he thought it was a big party, and his lab puppiness was definitely showing. The other dogs just looked at him and growled. No one really believed that he does know sit, down and stay, but in the end we all survived the first class and I'm relieved to report that he did very well during the second class, impressing everyone with his repertoire . Cheese treats helped alot ...

That's it for now. I hope you all have a glorious weekend!

time flies!

Hello! It has been awhile and the time between then and now has flown as if it had wings attached to it!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. It's been very hot here with the heat index keeping everything at not so comfortable averages of 100-115 degrees. I think it's the humidity that gives it that extra punch. Still, the good stuff of summer is still good - fresh peaches and watermelon, fireflies, floats in the pool, less indoor cooking (yay!!), flip flops, tall stacks of thunderstorm clouds piling up in the sky and the glorious storms themselves.

First, let me introduce the newest member to our family - Cooper Hank. He's about five months old now. DD brought him home. Of course, she's back at college now, so the grandparents are raising him. I had forgotten how much energy Lab puppies have and how funny they are. He's very smart but he's even sweeter than he is smart. Here he is with his monkey and pink tennis ball. He likes to carry as many toys in his mouth at one time as he can, or at least one in his mouth while he pushes the tennis ball all over the house.

Miss Kitty is less than thrilled that he's here to stay. She often looks at me as if say, "What were you thinking?!"

I was in a stitching slump for a while but have worked a little on a few pieces. This year's patriotic piece was LHN's America, but I probably won't finish it now until next year. Although it might be just the thing to work on when the winter stitching gets old.

America - LHN
40 count Vintage Bittersweet - Lakeside Linen
conversion to NPI

I love the BBD Reward of Merit designs - they are so sweet! Here's the start of Bird in Hand although right now there are no discernible shapes. The only change I've made was to use Pomegranate thread as it's one of my favorite reds. The Reward of Merit Bluebird is kitted and waiting in line.

Bird in Hand - BBD
30 count Irish Cream - R&R
Pomegranate - GAST

I retrieved Kind Fond Love from the WIP basket and am glad I did. I'm really enjoying working on it. However, I still wonder if I should have used a vintage piece of fabric rather than the non-vintage Maritime. Hard to say. I go back and forth on this point so I want to hurry up and get it stitched before I end up restarting it on something else.

Kind Fond Love - Samplar Company
40 count Maritime - Lakeside Linen
conversion to NPI

Speaking of restarts, here is the (little) restart on Sarah Verrier. I love this design and am very happy that I decided to stitch it on a different fabric with different threads.

Sarah Verrier - Amy Mittens
40 count vintage Pearled Barley - Lakeside Linens
conversion to NPI

And to wrap it up, I finally had Sarah Tobias framed.

That's about it for now! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

our cherry tree

My last post contained snowy pictures and here we are now at Spring! Cold weather seems so long ago and my last post seems even longer ago. I haven't stitched much since my last post. Instead I have been removing the shrubs from around the house so we can rework our gardens. Painted the front porch. Cleaned out the first of several closets. Picked out paint colors for walls. Picked up tomato plants. Spent evenings in the porch swing with a glass of wine listening for the whippoorwill. You know, Spring stuff.

Spring treasures from our yard

One of the things I love best about this time of year is that daylight savings returns. I love the long days filled with light and that feeling that you have extra hours in the day to get even more done. I like stitching in daylight much more than at night; it's such a cheerful thing to stitch in sunlight. I stitch at night, but not for very long and darkness makes me want to settle down and escape into a good book instead.

The other thing I love about this time of year is the return of the professional tennis season.

Today I finished the Little Red R sampler while watching the amazing Nadal win his 6th Monte Carlo title. Victorious Nadal above, and here is the Little Red R. And what does that little red R mean...?

\

Goode Huswife, Little Red R Sampler
40 count Lakeside Vintage Light Examplar
NPI conversion

So until next time, have a glorious week!

Melissa asked for the Little Red R Sampler conversion to NPI threads, and here it is!

dmc 355 : npi 208
dmc 370 : npi 313
dmc 501: npi 155A
dmc 502: npi 523
dmc 613: npi 984
dmc 830: npi 316
dmc 831: npi 315
dmc 926: npi 922
dmc 3768: npi 324

winter/stitching

Yesterday we had several inches of snow - very exciting for us! It's beautiful and doesn't stay around long enough to become tired of it. It was so cozy inside with a cheerful, crackling fire, a pot of New Chicken Gumbo Soup, a glass of wine and my needle. Life is good.

Today the sun came out and the snow capped trees sparkled against the sharp blue sky. Even Miss Kitty ventured out into the snow early this morning.

snow kitty

I've worked a little on a few designs. I'm enjoying them all so much it's hard to decide which to work on!

Village of Hawk Run Hollow
Carriage House Samplings
40 count LL Vintage Maritime White, NPI threads

Quaker Friday got me started working on a sweet reproduction sampler I've wanted to start for several months - The Little Red R Sampler. This one is very fun to stitch. When I studied the chart before I started it, I didn't really notice the little odd things in the design - unbalanced symmetry, dropped stitches - that make it intriguing to stitch. I wonder who stitched it, how old she was, and if it was a practice or learning piece, and if she cared about the odd little stitched places or was just glad to have it done.

The Little Red R Sampler
The Goode Huswife
40 count Vintage Light Examplar, NPI Threads

Not much done on Kind Fond Love. I haven't worked on it much and miss it. They still don't have their heads, but are almost clothed.

Kind Fond Love
The Samplar Company
40 count Maritime White, NPI threads

That is it for now. Happy Valentine's Day!

A Shiny New Year

2010 is here in all its glory and filled with the new promises and hope a new year always brings. It was a wonderful and very fast holiday season but it had very little stitching in it. I am just now catching up on blog reading and it's been fun because it's like being away, coming home and hearing the news of family and friends.

I love New Year's Day. We always stay home, build a fire and just relax. I made a very yummy black-eye pea soup, fresh collards, cornbread and little peach turnovers. And, like so many stitchers, I started a special project on New Year's Day. This year it is CHS Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I almost hate to put this in writing, but I would like to complete a block a month. Stitching commitments don't always stick around here! I have a few other projects in mind. Most are completing works in progress or designs I have had kitted for awhile. I am considering restarting Sarah Verrier (a New Year's Day start from a few years ago) and using a different fabric and threads. I love the design, but the fabric seems very thin and the silks start to fuzz quite a bit. In other words, I think I would be happier if I used fabric and thread of choice.

Here's my NYDay start. I'm not sure what the design in the upper right hand corner actually is, but I like to imagine its the tail feathers of a hawk and its perched on the edge of the design and just out of view:

Village of Hawk Run Hollow
Carriage House Samplings
40 count Vintage Maritime White, NPI silks

I do love the colors in this Christmas piece, and I love the little snowflakes. This is as much as I stitched before the holidays picked up speed and my projects stayed in the WIP basket. I wasn't sure I'd like working on 30 count fabric but it's been a nice change from my usual 40 count. I think it's the right count and color for this piece. I may pull it out again in the summer when it's in the 100s and humid, the time of year when I dream of icy cold snow.

Merry Christmas
Blackbird Designs
30 count R&R Sheep's Straw, recommended threads

This is the headless lady in Kind Fond Love. There will actually be three headless ladies, I hope. (Don't worry, I will put their heads on once their bodies are lined up!)

Kind Fond Love
The Sampler Company
40 count Maritime White, NPI silks

And last but certainly not least, Miss Kitty in her festive elfwear.

Have a wonderful week!