I'm Back

I haven't posted for a long time - more than a year.  I am going to be more diligent about this - I am still stitching almost every evening and have MANY WIP's but lately can't seem to finish anything.  I am starting to work on some small things - Christmas ornaments and pin cushions...I like to have these things to give as small gifts.  I am finally finished with all the Christmas stockings I made for my grandaughters and my nieces and nephews children.   I will find those pictures and post them here.  Stay tuned

February 2010 - time flies

I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote on the blog - shame on me.  I finished most of my Shepherd's Bush stockings for Christmas and have since worked on and finished Prairie Schooler's Christmas Eve.  It is really beautiful - done in Vikki Clayton silks - it is for my sister-in-law for Christmas (or maybe birthday) next year.  It feels good to have something finished that is not a Christmas stocking.  I also started (twice) Plum Street Sampler's Paradise Lost.  I love this chart but it does not love me.  The first start was on 32 count fabric that I absolutely hated.  When it came I hated the color and when I stitched on it I hated the softness of it.  I stitch in hand so I like a bit of stiffness to the fabric - this had absolutely none.  I finished the first two pages of the pattern and just quit.  I looked for another fabric I had in my stash that I liked better and used a piece of 35 count that still wasn't the color I wanted BUT I liked the color and the texture of the fabric.  I finished the first two pages and was working on the third when I kept thinking that it didn't look like I was going to be able to fit everything I had left to stitch on the fabric I had left......soooo I measured the fabric and I had cut it wrong....three inches too short!  Arghhhhhhh!  So I am going to order the fabric I really want in the color I really want and start again.

Meantime I finished two Mill Hill kits I had (Santas's);  I also have CHS My Home Town as a UFO (I've been working on it for at least 5 years) that I think I might get out tonight and start working on again.  Funds are low so I need to wait until payday to order my fabric.  I have tons of fabric at home but never seem to have the right size/right count/right color for what I want to stitch....I need to stop buying something just because I like it and then never use it.  I also have many small cuts of fabric from when I belonged to a monthly fabric club.....I swear they sent out the fabric no one else wanted to me.....I don't like bright colors and I probably have 50 cuts I will never use.  Since I had my eye surgery (cataracts) my vision is so much better and I like to stitch on the smaller counts - before my surgery I could only stitch on a max of 28 ct.

My daughter in Ohio told me today my grandaughter is going to have tubes put in her ears in March - scares me to death for her to undergo any kind of surgery.  She said it would only take three minutes but Gramma is very nervous about the whole thing!

I Am Still Here

I'm working on 11 Shepherd's Bush Christmas Stockings; I've been working on them non-stop in the evenings for about three months and I am on the seventh one.  I'm making them for my nieces and nephews children and I want them all finished by 12/1/09.  I haven't sewn them together but the ones I have finished are all stitched with the charms in place...I am so sick and tired of stitching on that awful scratchy 18 count linen I could scream and there are so many new things calling me to be stitched.  BUT, I can't give to some and not the others....soooo I'll keep on stitching!

I'm still around

I have been working on the same sampler all this time and it seems there is no end in sight. I am about 75% finished with Marie Lucee 1920 from the Muriel Brunet book. I love the sampler, love the fabric and floss (VCSilk) but I am growing weary of working on the same piece. I did take a short break and finish the small pincusion from Blackbird Designs website but I'm back at the sampler again.

My daughter and granddaughter are here this week from Ohio so I won't get much done on it but I know if I start something else it will never get finished. I will try to take a picture to post here.

I will leave you with this darling smiling face until next time!

Another Great Drawing

Carol R over at iStitchaholic is having a great drawing for scissors fobs - check it out! But since i am going to win.....you just might want to look! LOL

Another Drawing From Edgar at BlackSheep

Once again Edgar (very generous) is offering yet another drawing on his blog - this time celebrating his second blogoversary...you can find it here

Drawing Over on Edgar's Blog

Edgar over at Blacksheep's Bit of the Web is having a drawing for his copy of the OOP book containing the pattern for "Lo" if you are interested you will find it here. Great chance for a beautiful pattern!