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I love it all: embroidery, canvaswork, quilting, crochet. So much to do, so little time.





Monday, January 19, 2015

Good-bye, Friend

Two days ago the members of our
local stitching community lost
one of our own, Karen U.

She was a founding member of
our local EGA Chapter
and a very, very talented lady.

One of the things that she did was operate
a little cross-stitch finishing business.
I and many other stitchers
were the happy recipients of her expertise.

Here are the wonderful things
that she finished for me...




We'll always remember you, Karen

Saturday, January 10, 2015

January Turtle Trot

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's Turtle Trot time once again.  For those of you unfamiliar with this stitch-along, the participants choose ten WIPs to work on during the year and we post progress updates on the 10th of each month.  Claudette of BAP Attack is our fearless leader.  January is the kick-off where we introduce all of our Turtle Trot projects, so without further ado, here are my ten WIPs--almost all of them BAPs--from the oldest to the newest.

 1.
Those of you who have been following my blog
will recognize this sorry hardanger tabletopper
from last year's Turtle Trot.
I worked on it very little last year,
but somehow it has remained a WIP in my mind,
if nowhere else.
I got bogged down in all the eyelets.
 It's Cindy Valentine's Pristine, started in April, 2006.
I picked it up yesterday,
so we'll see how much progress
I can make on it this month.

2.
Here we have Rosewood Manor's A Tree by Itself.
This is another one from last year's Turtle Trot
that didn't get worked on as much as I wanted to,
but I was able to get a few more motifs
stitched in the past month.
Started in April, 2013.

3.
Another familiar one,
this is Ink Circles' 99,
started in December, 2013.
I have put this one on my "fast track,"
and have stitched 15 bottles
and 2 shelves over the past month.
I didn't bother adding a photo of
the finished piece
because there are no surprises here,
just four more shelves of beer bottles
waiting to be stitched.
Sing it with me:  "55 bottles of beer on the wall..."


 4.
 Last February I started Laura J. Perin's Nordic Panel.
This pattern came out in monthly installments,
and my project fell by the wayside in July.
It uses YLI's metallic ribbon,
which I don't like dealing with.
At all.
I believe it's even worse than Neon Rays,
which is a rayon ribbon
that frays if you look at it wrong.
And of course the very next band
calls for the metallic ribbon.
You can see I'm a little over halfway done,
so I should just suck it up and start back on it.
And I will.

5.
 I took this fun workshop last March
through my local ANG chapter.
It's Jennifer Riefenberg's Carrots.
The reason it languished is
simply because there always seemed
to be another project that was more pressing.
I am hoping to make some real progress
on it this year.

6.
Last June my LNS persuaded Paulette Stewart
of Plum Street Samplers
to design this lovely patriotic piece
 and come to Lemont, IL, and lead a workshop.
It was a delightful day.
The name of the piece is Liberty Inn,
and I hope to have it finished by July.
Of this year.

7.
Here is Carriage House Samplings' Frederika.
It's part of my current fascination
with bird designs.
Started in September, 2014.

8.
 This is Needle Delights Originals' Summer Logs.
It's my ANG chapter's current ongoing project.
We did Winter Logs last year.
(I have the spring and fall versions kitted up, too!)
This, too, was started in September, 2014,
and should be finished by June,
if I keep up with the monthly assignments.

9.
This might be the BAP to end all BAPs.
It's Save the Stitches,
a freebie(!) from Blackwork Journey.

Here's a close-up of what's done so far.
Started in December, 2014.

And here's what my finished project should look like...
..."in the year 2525."
Yeah, the larger the project, the less detail you can see. 
But if you're interested,
google "save the stitches blackwork images"
to ogle some stunning WIPs
and see why I couldn't resist this project.

 10.

Finally, this is my New Year's Day start.
It's Long Dog Sampler's Dawn Chorus
and I just love everything about this design .
There are twenty birds sitting in the various trees.
So far it's been a very fun stitch,
and it continues to call my name.

These projects and the 3 workshops I've signed up for
(not to mention the odd gift/ornament exchange/seasonal design)
should keep me busy well into 2016.

Thanks for sticking with me
through this rather lengthy post.
To check out the other Turtle Trotters,
click on over to the BAP Attack blog.

Have a wonderful, stitchy weekend,
and thanks for visiting!

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Last Finish, First Start: More Birds

Hey Blog Buddies,
Happy 2015!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's celebration.  It wasn't too zany around here:  a Trivial Pursuit game and asleep well before midnight.

I do have a couple of stitchy things to show you.  Here is my last finish of 2014:

This is Happy Chirp, Chirp Day by The Trilogy
I hope to have this made into a pincushion
some time this weekend.

And for my New Year's Day start,
I picked...

Dawn Chorus by Long Dog Samplers.
There are 20 birds in this sampler
(hence the name of the piece).
You'll have to wait to see them, though,
because they're up at the top
and I've started at the lower left.
And, of course, this piece
is only one-tenth of my regular rotation,
so we'll see how that works this year!

Have a great weekend,
and thanks so much for visiting!