Friday, June 30, 2017

Smalls SAL-2 Finishes

Well, I couldn't find the frame for this, but it is done.






And I got this done over the last few days! It needs a few beads, but I am counting it done. My daughter does like it. I need to get it finished into a small pillow.

This is a SAL set up by Heather over at   Stitching Lotus
Now back to elevating my foot!

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Reptiles in June

Well, I finally managed to get a page done on my Heaven and Earth Design.
I did this pre-surgery. Now back to bed and elevating my foot.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

A New Project-Kind of

I have been tired of stitching on large projects that require lots of colors, so I started this one from my Crazy List:
I changed the colors of the stripes as I didn't like the green that was included on the kit. I showed it to my daughter as she said she wanted me to stitch it for her and she looked less than thrilled. It could have been that she was nervous about her upcoming trip, but I have a feeling she doesn't like it any more. I may have to find this kitty a new home...Or maybe I could use it in the 2020 project. Just a thought.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

A Little Mill Hill Progress

 This is where I left off last month on Benjamin:
And now he is getting his lamb! I realized I only have 3 more of these kits and then I can hang them this year! So they are in my pile to do while recuperating from surgery.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Failure, Total Failure

Well,  Jo
    did a great job on stitching on the longest day of the year. I did some stitching, but not  much. I think it is because I am having foot surgery on Tuesday. I am trying to get meals ready for my family and get all the little stuff that needs to get done, DONE! I also wanted to have my stitching projects ready so I could do something besides sit and eat. Hopefully the doctor's office lied to me and I won't be in a cast for 6 weeks and no weight bearing for 8!!!!
Ok, enough whining for one post! Here is what I did accomplish over the past few days:


Sharon B over at Pintangle has a challenge going. It is to use 2020 different items/stitches in a crazy quilt. Well, you know me! I like challenges and I like crazy quilts, so I am thinking about this challenge constantly. Not that I don't have a lot of projects lurking in the basement....
My thought is that I can use fabric I have or get some from friends and make a rainbow quilt. But if I have 12 blocks and use a minimum of 12 fabrics, I still have to put 156 "items" on each block! And they each have to be unique/different! Not sure I can do that! But I do have 3 1/2 years....

The other big project I did was take the fabrics I had dyed a few years ago and cut small squares from them and put them in a folder as a reference. It cleared a box of fabric and it was fun looking through all the colors. But what to do with all the extra fabric?  I kept thinking they would make great crazy quilt postcards, so guess what I did?
They are going to be small-4" x 6"-and I did the math: 36 different colors of fabric x 8 pieces of fabric subtracted from 2020= 1731. Divide by 36 = 48 "items" per postcard. Too many for such a small space. Rats! Unless I use the other box I have of dyed squares. Not sure how many are in there or what color family they are.....I really think this is all a case of nerves!
Have a great weekend!



Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Longest Day of the Year-Almost

I have decided to join Jo of Serendipitous Stitching on her SAL. I have to do it over two days or I won't get much stitching done.  My goal is to get some work done on a crazy quilt square. I also plan on kitting up some things and getting my basement room to look a little less like it exploded. We shall see.
Here is my work on Drawn Thread Sampler:

I have almost finished another row! And I managed to finish all the 4 sided stitch on one set of little squares.
My plan is to pull Reptiles and stitch on it a little over the next few days. I will try to post photos of what I get done.
Hope you all have a great day!

Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Finish for Gifted Gorgeousness

I finally got this done!
I will frame it and give it to my mother in law for her birthday!

Monday, June 12, 2017

A Rotation-Kind Of

I decided I needed to start a rotation to get some of my bigger projects moving forward. Last week I pulled out my Christmas stocking and worked on it.
This is the last photo I believe I showed you about a month ago.
 Here is where I am today:
This week I will try to work on Drawn Thread Sampler. Hopefully I will make progress to show you.

Monday, June 5, 2017

This Stitcher is So Slow!

I am sure most people who signed up for Gay Ann Roger's Drawn Thread Sampler are done and have moved on by now. Not me! I am as slow as molasses!
Here is what it looked like on May 31:
 This is where I am today:
It took me several evenings of lots of stitching and ripping and stitching to get this far. Now I can't find my master photo of the piece to see what I need to do next. Although I may do the little bits that are between the small squares. Oh! And it looks like I need to do the four-sided stitch around all of them too...Do you think I can finish this by next March? I am beginning to wonder.

Thursday, June 1, 2017

May Stash Diet

Sigh. Do you ever not want to weigh yourself because you know what the scale will say? That is how I feel today. But I figure I need to post something this month as I did not in April.
March Total-                                                       $214
Money for April and May                                     50
cards sent                                                                 9
ANG Pilot Finished                                                25
Mailed away pilot(to my mom) &finished           25
Threads                                                                    20
Eleanor                                                                   337
Patchwork of Peace                                               225
Total                                                                        -238 

Now that is sad. I am a slow stitcher and the question is whether I will ever finish all these pieces. The other question is the cost of needlepoint vs cross stitch or embroidery. There is a good discussion of it on Fiber Talk , which is a podcast about fiber arts. I find I enjoy needlepoint more and tend to finish more canvas pieces than cross stitch, or at least big pieces. I also find that needlepoint goes faster (if you aren't doing basketweave or some of the background stitches) than cross stitch. But the expense is real. I don't even touch hand painted canvases because they are out of my price range. But I admire my friends who do beautiful work on them.
Why am I writing all this? Probably guilt. I feel guilty that I broke my diet. But I am hoping you will not judge me on it and I hope to be back in the black before the end of the year.
I will try to post a photo of Drawn Thread Sampler soon. It is moving forward, if ever so slowly....