Happy 2013!

Molly,

the Southpaw Stitcher

and her Staff

are wishing you a

happy, healthy and stitchy

New Year!

See you in 2013!

The 2012 WIPocalypse-Final Report

Hey Blog Buddies,
For those of you celebrating the holidays, I hope you had a wonderful time.  I did.  I even managed to carve out time to stitch!

In an effort to catch up with the actual calendar month, I stitched two months' worth of Crabby All Year this month.  If I do the same thing in January, I'll be caught up.  October you've already seen--here is November:

That cat is awfully fat!

I don't know if he's a relative, too, or just a friend...

I've also made progress on my Circle Dance quilt top this month:

I've been sewing just three blocks per day.

As the tortoise said in the fable:

"slow and steady wins the race."

About a week ago I decided to sew

what blocks I had into rows.

Above are four of the five rows I've sewn together.

If I keep at it, this should get done

in a couple of weeks.

I've also made progress on Hare's Christmas.

I'm hoping to finish it soon, and

will show you a photo when that happens.

We survived the Apocalypse and even the WIPocalypse, too!  This was a fun SAL, and though I didn't complete everything on my list--it was a really ambitious list--it kept me focused throughout the year.  I had 22 projects on my list, 12 were finished, 3 are WIPs in my current rotation, and 7 are (cough, cough) still UFOs.  Of those seven, there are only two that are still calling my name.  I'm working on my 2013 to-stitch list, and it's really hard to get it down to a manageable size.  I'm trying to be more realistic about what I will actually have the time to stitch next year!

All of my 2012 WIPocalypse before-and-after photos are on a separate page.  If you have some time and are so inclined, grab a cuppa and click here to peruse them.

Have a good weekend!

And thanks for visiting!

Happy Holidays!

(vintage ornament from Lizzie*Kate)

To all my friends:

Here's hoping you have the happiest holiday season ever!

December IHSW - A Finish and A Start

Hey Blog Buddies,

This is the last IHSW for 2012, and it was a good weekend here for indoor activities such as stitching:  chilly, gray and rainy all weekend.  I did do things other than stitch:  got my Christmas cards done--another indoor activity.  But Christmas card writing is not what brought you here.  Let's check out my finish...

This is my fifth (of five) Laura J. Perin canvaswork ornament.

The first four were from her

American Quilt Collection, Holiday Ornaments-Series 1.

Not wanting to have to stitch a duplicate from there

(I plan on finishing the five as a cube),

I discovered a bonus ornament chart to go along with

her Red Hot Peppers chart which I also have.

I switched the colors around to make it Christmasy.

Here is a collage of the first four charts

to refresh your memory...

All five of these charts are at the finisher's as I write this.

They won't be ready for Christmas,

but I've got a headstart on the holidays for 2013!

Recently, I've been kitting up a lot of things for next year,

and I had a hankering to start one of them.

But I was good (surprise!) and went off of my 2012 list

and started Plum Street Samplers' Hare's Christmas.

I got more done than I expected...

The fabric is a pretty buttercream,

but the lighting was bad for all the photos.

I decided to stitch this one in hand,

and I think the stitching went faster.

Back in the day (waay back in the day),

I stitched most projects in hand,

but then went to Q-snaps.

Anything bigger than 6" x 6" is a little too heavy

(for me at this point)

if you don't have a gizmo to hold your work.

I have priced a couple of systems out,

and they are quite expensive.

So for now, this will be my

stitching method of choice.

Thank you so much, Joyce, for hosting

this fun SAL this year, and I'm looking forward

to joining in again in 2013.

To see what my fellow hermitters have been up to,

go to Joyce's blog.

That's it for now.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments,

and thanks, as always, for visiting!

Zombies in December!

Hey Blog Buddies,

Several days ago I was looking at my Victoria Sampler Tudor Tassel ornament chart--just the cutest thing--thinking I should start it, but when I started looking at the finishing instructions, it gave me a headache.  I realized what I needed to do at that point was some nice, mindless block stitching, so out came Crabby.  Of course, I'm a couple of months behind (October was up next) but who cares if Halloween was six weeks ago!  It finished up fast, so here is October from Crabby All Year:

I'm pretty sure those green things

are zombie hands coming up out of the ground

beside the headstone.

Again, I just placed the buttons on top of the piece.

I'm going to have a lot of buttons to sew on

once all the stitching is done!

The other thing I wanted to share with you

is a gift I received yesterday from my friend Anne.

Isn't this just the cutest thing!

It's about 3 inches long, and it's already on my tree.

Knitting a mitten is something I wouldn't do,

but I do love my newest ornie.

The colors are just perfect!

Well, that's it for this time.

I think I'm going to do something more seasonal

for IHSW this weekend.

Don't know what IHSW is?

Head on over to Joyce's blog

to find out about this fun monthly SAL and join us.

Until then,

thanks for visiting!

Ornament Exchange

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's a lovely, if somewhat brisk, day here in Northern Illinois.  Our embroidery guild hosted its annual Christmas party last night, and everyone had a grand time.  One of the things we do each year is an ornament exchange.  Those who want to participate bring a wrapped ornament that they made and get to pick another ornament sight unseen.  Here is the beautiful ornament that I unwittingly chose:

This was made by my friend averyclaire,

it's a Little House Needleworks design

and I absolutely love it!

You should check out her blog--

she is not only an embroiderer but she also does

beautiful hand quilting, too.

Here is what I made for the exchange...

This is from the 2011 JCS Christmas Ornament issue

and the designer is Casey Buonaugurio.

I liked the design so much I made one for myself.

The first one I did is on the left.

While sewing it together,

I forgot the cording for the hanger,

so I just used a piece of #16 Kreinik.

I also sewed it really close to the embroidered design

which made the finished product even tinier.

I learned from my mistakes on the second one,

which is the one that I brought for the exchange.

But I'm quite happy with the somewhat flawed one that I kept--

it has character.  heheh

The tree trunks are pieces of one of "Molly's sticks"

from our backyard.

The weird thing is that averyclaire chose my ornament!

This was just a happy coincidence, not planned.

That's it for now.

Hope you are having a wonderful December day.

Thanks for visiting!