New Finishes

I finally took the time to put Midnight Garden on a journal. I sewed it on by hand and it is crooked and my stitches aren't even. But I like it as the cover on my journal. I only glued the edges of the base fabric so I can remove my cover if I so desire. It is my first attempt at stitching canvas onto fabric so I am trying not to be too hard on myself. At least my journal is ready for the library program starting in January.

The Mill Hill needlepoint Santa stitched up fast. I have decided to add the fibers used to my stash reduction although the piece is not really finished. If I use my own stash to finish the guy, I will give myself more points.

He came out cute, don't you think?

Not much to Show

I haven't been able to make much progress on my Heirloom Sampler. I took some time last night while the family watched a movie. Here is a close-up:

I have been stitching 12 stitches a day on my Gay Ann Roger's Townhouse, but since it is just Nun's Stitch and ecru on ecru, there isn't much to show.

Have a Merry Christmas if I don't have time to post again before Friday!

Christmas Stitch-a-Long

I am joining Yoyo at Dragon my Needle with a Christmas SAL. I have had this piece in my stash for um, several years. It is a Candamar Design called O'Star of Wonder. My goal is to do a little each month and see if I can eventually finish it. Right now I need a frame to stitch it on. Mre shopping!
Here is Yoyo's blog:
http://www.dragonmyneedle.blogspot.com

Cresent Santa

I started this piece last week while waiting for my dd at choir practice. It is a Treasured Canvas Creation by Mill Hill. I bought it off e-bay a few years ago and thought he would make a great "carry with me" project. The background is basketweave. I wish I had thought to try a different background, but I did not. I will probably have him stitched for Christmas, just not finished... I have a few of those, don't you?

Missing Vatican gold

I did some more stitching on my Heirloom Sampler and went to look for some Vatican gold braid. None. Nada. Luckily I can keep stitching until I make a run to the LNS. I will give her a ring and make sure she has what I need, although I am sure she will. Yes, this will not help my stash reduction, but this is too big of a piece to "just use what I have." Anyway, I had to order some threads for another piece I want to work on...So many projects, so little time!

I need to go wash dishes as our dishwasher has died.

Snow Charmer

I finally put this little kit together. It is called Poinsettia Snow Charmer by Mill Hill. I think this will be the only ornament I get done this year. Sigh. Maybe next year.

Heirloom Sampler Progress

I have gotten a little work done on my sampler. I love the color of Glorianna silk I am using for the alphabets. It is not too bright, but it has nice color changes. You cannot tell because my digital camera is not very good. At least it isn't good for close-ups... I am working on Gay Ann Rogers' Townhouse Needle case. No photos as I am stitching ecru on ecru. Looks nice so far, but I have lots of Nun's stitch to go!

Clara O'Hare Needs to Go....

to the finisher! I finished her on Thanksgiving and I look forward to displaying her come spring.

Christmas Gloves

My local library is decorating for Christmas. They always try to do things that are unique. In the entryway this year they are hanging decorated gardening gloves. I had a few in my craft stash (I was beading on them and had to buy 6 pairs) so I painted them and had my kids decorate them with glitter glue. I think they came out nice. My bonus is that I got rid of 9 gloves and used paint and glitter glue from my stash. Yipee! Points for stash reduction! I am giving myself 50 points for this. I also cleared out a drawer and am giving a bag of art supplies to the local thrift shop. Another 10 points.

Making Progress

I have been stitching a little every day, even if it is only 12 stitches a day. But even that little bit makes a big difference.

I think Clara will be done soon. She is just missing her head.

Santa for Christmas

Well, Candy Cane Santa by Janet Zickler Casey needs to be sent to the finisher. No, he is not mine, but my son's. He is very cute, especailly the fuzzy beard.

No 12 Stitches on Heirloom

I was so excited because I thought I was going to be able to start an alphabet on my Heirloom Sampler. No such luck. The Glorianna silk called for is Arroyo, a tan variegated. To me, it is too grey and boring. I like the Glorianna silk called Fallen Leaves, but I do not have enough for all the alphabets.

I am afraid of variations in the dye lots so I ordered a new skein in and I will wait for it to arrive. No, this does not help my stash reduction, but I can't work on the piece without buying another skein.

I will have to work on basting today and wait for my order. Rats!

Reverse Stitching:One over one

Well, I found a problem on my over one Heirloom Sampler and I had to do some reverse stitching.I did get 12 stitches in and I fixed the problem. Tension is everything in stitching over one on linen. My leaves look much better than the vine. I thought about removing all my stitching, but decided against it. I am afraid that I would just ruin my linen.

This is a biscornu that I am working on for my local EGA Christmas ornament exchange. The original is from Just CrossStitch 2008 Christmas Ornaments issue. It is called Poinsettia Biscornu by Kitty & Me Designs.

And I even did a little stitching on Clara O'Hare.

Last night my guild met to stitch on the Heirloom Sampler, but I have a nasty cough and decided to keep my germs to myself. I did manage to get a little stitching done on the piece, but I had trouble with the Glorianna silk. It frayed and split on me. Yes, even though it was only one strand, it was difficult to control. My kids thought it was funny that I only got that little bit done. I decided to change my rotation a bit and stitch on the Heirloom Sampler in the morning and the rabbit in the evening. Larger count and not as stressful to do.

So I took another photo to show I am making progress.

Well, back to school and basting for the pilot class.

The New Photos

First up is my 12 stitches challenge piece. Although I have some sort of cold thing going on with a nasty cough, I have managed to put 12 stitches on every morning. I usually do it while waiting for my tea to brew. Hopefully my Gay Ann Rogers pieces will arrive soon so I can start working on them along with the rest of the classroom.

Here is my Illinois State piece. I am almost half done. It is becoming a challenge not to repeat the exact same stitch on another county.

It is fun to work on, but I have had to put it aside while I work on the pre-work for a pilot class I am in. Basting. How I hate basting.

Advent Matchboxes

Well, I took another bad photo but I wanted to show what I have been working on. These are matchboxes that are for the Christian Paper Artists Yahoo Group swap. We each made 25 boxes and put a little trinket and Scripture verse in each box. I will send mine to the hostess and receive 24 boxes back to open over Advent. They were fun to put together, but a lot of futzing around. I will try to take some (better) photos of what I have been stitching tomorrow.

A New Challenge

I have been gone for a while. I took this piece on vacation and decided to use it as my challenge piece. My challenge? Work 12 stitches a day for a month. I want to see if I can work on this piece briefly in the morning and make significant progress on the piece. This is a Lizzie Kate piece that has been in my stash for several years. It is Clara O'Hare and I think she will be cute when done.

I'm on a Roll

I was able to get two projects finished. They are little and I find it easy to do small projects right now. This is Harvest Pumpkin by Mill Hill and I will add a magnet and put it on my fridge.

This is a tatted bracelet I took at Your Design Limited. It was lots of fun and I will make another for my daughter. I have always wanted to learn to tat and now I know how. I am working on and edge to put in my altered journal.

Now if I could just take some time and get some serious work on my Illinois canvas...

Fanciful Fob

This did not take me very long to do. I really like the green variegated against the black. Never can have too many scissor fobs or too many scissors!

What I did This Weekend

We took a road trip to see my DH family and I got a lot of stitching time in the car. This is called Harvest Pumpkin and is a Mill Hill bead kit. I will need to find something else to take with me as I am at the beading stage and I don't like to do that in the car.

Don't Look Mom!

I finished Jeweled Joy, a Mill Hill bead kit earlier this week. My little camera doesn't do it justice. The colors are very bright and vibrant. I think I will give it to my mom. It is supposed to work up as a pin, but I'm not sure she would wear it. I think I will add a string and make it an ornament. I can add some points to my stash reduction list, start a new Mill Hill bead project and cross a Christmas gift off my list. Yeah!

Stash and Points

I should be canning pears, but wanted to add something to my blog before my kids took over the computer. I went shopping at Dick Blick's yesterday (it is a big art supply store) and added a few things to my already ample art supplies. I decided I need to keep track of the art supplies I use and give myself points for them too. Which means I will start in the hole with this purchase. But...points will be different in this group. I will give myself 2 points if I use something that normally would be thrown away and one point if I use something I have purchased. I rarely use up art supplies-a little paint goes a long way!-but I will give myself 2 points if I do. If the piece gets mailed away, never to return, I will give myself a bonus of 5 points!

I also think I need to give myself some points for finishing a needlework piece. Maybe that will help with stash removal in my house. 5 points for Mill hill bead kits(small) , 10 points for larger Mill Hill bead kits, 100 points for large projects, with 50 points for medium ones. I have lots of Mill Hill Bead kits in my stash-I have 3 started right now! Also, since I like to bead, I will give myself points for finishing projects here too. (It seems more like needlework since I sting them with a needle and I prefer projects that involve needles.) So, since I took two classes-no negative points since I learned something new to get rid of stash!-and have finished one of them, I will give myself 5 points for it. (The Kumihimo bracelet) I also made the bracelet for my daughter and used beads from my stash-8 points.

I heard an alarm go off so I know I need to get to work. This is probably as clear as mud and will probably be too complicated. Time will tell!

Kumihimo Braiding

A couple of weeks ago I took a class at Your Design Limited on kumihimo braiding with beads. My local EGA had already had a program with kumihimo. It was fun, but I wanted more. So when this class was offered, I jumped at the chance. It is known as a round spiral braid.

This is the same braid with three colors. My daughter chose the colors. It was lots of fun. If you are interested in learning how to do this type of braid, I recommend Japanese Braiding:The Art of Kumihimo by Jacqui Carey.

Green

Sorry these pictures are so dark. We have been stuck in a rainy pattern here in Illinois and I decided to take a picture inside. My local EGA meets once a month on Saturday to stitch a small project. The idea is to learn a new technique or try a new thread or fabric. This month we worked on Fanciful Fob by Roz Watnemo of Nordic Needle fame. It is a nice little piece but I had a horrible time working on black! I need to get my eyes checked again.

The kit included instructions, fabric, thread, beads, metal box and scissors. Quite a steal! Now if I can just see well enough to stitch the thing!

Gay Ann Rogers had a month long creativity challenge and one day the topic turned to shades of green. I never got to comment on that, but this piece has lovely greens in it!

Jane of Chilly Hallow had a post about keeping a tally on using up thread stash. My stash is no where near that of some of my friends, but I think I will try to keep count of the threads I use out of my stash. Especially if I use it up!

Can I tell your Fortune?

First pick a number between one and ten...Now again...

Which animal do you want? Horse? Rabbit? Mouse? Cat?

You have an angel looking out for you!

I hope this explains Cootie Catchers to Jane of Chilly Hallow. Do you remember the paper ones we made as kids? This one was designed by Lynne Nicoletti and was fun and fast to make.

Cootie Catcher

I am really close to finishing this one. I need to add my kids names, add beads and charms and stitch the hem. It has been an easy stitch, especially since I normally did Gay Ann's 12 stitch challenge on this piece.

Some New Photos

Sam decided to take out his stitching again and has made some progress on his Janet Zickler Casey Candy Cane Santa. I think Sam wants to get him done before Christmas.

I have been working on this piece by Lynee Nicoletti. It is a Fortune Teller that my local EGA had as a program. I was very diligent for a while using it as my 12 stitch Challenge (Gay Ann Rogers' idea), but got side-tracked with my Illinois piece. But I want to finish it for our local show, so I will get back to work. I need to do one corner, the center and finish the edge. It is for my dd and she asks when it will be done. Soon...I hope.

A Few More Counties

I finished a few more counties in the past few days. Yesterday was my birthday and I had hoped to get more stitching time in. No such luck as I had to make my cake (German Chocolate) and take the kids to the YMCA. (So we could all eat cake!) My wonderful husband took us out to eat at a local restaurant that I have been wanting to try. I had a glass of wine and that was it for stitching....I have decided to try to post more and record my progress on my pieces. It is fun to look at my older posts and see what I have finished in the past year.

A new Finish

I finished this project recently. I found it on sale at my local craft store and I wish I had bought more. It is an eyeglass case. I plan on lining the thing an putting a clasp on the top. It was fun to stitch and I did most of it during wasted time or while on vacation.

Illinois Canvas

I am not getting tons of stitching done, but I am slowly making progress on my canvas. It is fun choosing the stitches and trying to find the right color for a county. I wonder if it would look better if I was more systematic on my color choices. I like how it is turning out and it is fun seeing how my dyed threads look stitched up.

Jerusalem 2000-undone

I decided that there was a section in this piece that I did not like and it bugged me. So instead of taking it to the framer, I ripped. Here is a close-up of the mosque undone:

I know I will be happier in the long run, but it was a tough decision.

Below is a photo of my latest "big" project. My local EGA is doing these canvases of the various Midwest states.

I am using those threads that I dyed. I love how it looks! Now if I just could spend less time on my garden and more on my stitching! Fat chance!

Hope everyone is have a good summer and getting lots of stitching done!

Jerusalem 2000

Well, I am almost finished with this piece. It needs about 30 more beads on the olive tree to the right and then it is done. I started this piece before my dd was born in 1999 and I despaired of ever finishing. But it will be finished this week and then off to the framer! This is one piece that I wish I had kept track of the hours I put in it. Oh well, live and learn.

I also discovered that although I love laying silk and the look of metal work in a piece, I do not like to couch. This was my first big piece using so much silk. Lots of fun. Thanks Orna!

Finished for March

Well, I haven't posted in forever, but I have been stitching. I finished this Mill Hill bead kit-Shamrock Bunny- a while ago. I still need to add it to the Pixie Picket Fence, but I figure I can wait until February.

I am doing Gay Ann Rogers 12 stitches a day challenge. I am trying to finish Orna Willis's Jerusalem 2000. Yes, I have been working on it since 1999. It is a beautiful piece, but I have gotten bogged down several times. But I can do 12 stitches a day! I want to finish this piece so I can start on a new one with a clear conscience. I also want to sign up for the new ANG Cyberworkshop, Heart of the Cabin. So many temptations, so little time.

Cat Ornament

Here is a picture of the cat I have been working on. At one point she had some of the background stitched, but I made a mistake and had to rip. I now must wait and order more thread from my LNS to do her ruffled cuff and her background. Sigh. I was so hoping to get her done and work on something else.

Yep. I am anxious to start playing with my new dyed threads. It is raining so I can't even take a picture of the threads. I don't dare start a new project for fear of not finishing this one! Sigh. I bet I have a Mill Hill bead kit that needs beads somewhere in this house...Or I could work on my crazy quilt square....I 'm not even sure what month I'm supposed to be working on!

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day and getting a little stitching done.