Holiday Cube: Back from the Finisher

Laura J. Perin's

American Quilt Collection

Holiday Ornaments, Series 1

Thanks for visiting!

The March Halloween Ornie

Hey Blog Buddies,
Hope you had a groovy weekend.  The weather here is still a bit wintry for so late in March.  Just another excuse to stay home and stitch!

So far--and I know it's only March--I am keeping up with Lainey's Halloween Ornament SAL blog.  This month's theme was haunted houses, so I chose the haunted house from Prairie Schooler's Boo to You booklet:

I changed the colors a bit because

I thought the model looked too cheery:

I used 40-count PTP Heritage linen

which is a mottled khaki green (hard to tell in the photo),

I "turned out the lights" in the windows,

and the door is purple instead of orange.

I used Gloriana Charcoal instead of DMC 310

and I like the coverage better.

The silk floss is just a wee bit fatter than the cotton.

I guess I will be using it for future ornies

in spite of the fact that I hate stitching with it

(it sticks to my fingers and continually pops out of the needle!).

And it's finish-finished!

I'm making these into ornaments as I go along

because I can't think of anything worse

than having 10 stitched-but-unfinished ornaments

come October!

Over the weekend, I started to think spring

despite the fact that we had a bit of snow here yesterday.

But I'm not complaining:  the folks south of here

got 10-12 inches and we got less than an inch.

I know my UK friends have had more than their share, too.

Here is my start on Erica Michaels' Random Thoughts of Spring:

The fabric is a 30-count overdyed springy green color--

I'm very bad about keeping track of fabric names.

And I'm using two strands of good old DMC 500

which makes me a happy camper.

Don't know how much stitching I'll get in this week.

Our local cable company is having a "Watchathon"

until the end of this month,

which means you can catch up on past seasons of programs for "free"

(read:  no additional fee).

So I'm planning on watching all three seasons of Downton Abbey.

I have one week.

And no, they don't allow you to record "on demand" shows.

I probably won't be stitching while watching because

when I listen to folks with different accents,

I usually have to pay more attention!

Well, I'm off to watch Episode 2 of Season 1.

And to those of you in the northern hemisphere:

c'mon join me in thinking spring!

Thanks for visiting!

March IHSW: ... finally!

Hey Blog Buddies,

I do love my International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW) stitch-a-longs!  I didn't have too much time to stitch on Sunday, but I made up for it on Saturday.  The "finally" is because I finally stitched the January square from Crabby All Year!  It missed its turn in the rotation last month, and I wasn't super-enthusiastic about it, but I'm glad it's done!

 I made the "W" and the "C" much larger than charted, just because.

This square is actually more appropriate around here

this month than this past January when we had only a trace of snow,

as opposed to the 9 inches we had almost two weeks ago!

You can see from this photo that I also started on the header

since I've now made my way to the top row of the piece.

I finished the (January part of the) header after the sun went down,

so I had to take this with a flash,

hence the totally different color of the fabric and threads!

Actually, I think this is more representative of the real colors.

I also did a little sewing

(trying to piece together a table topper to match my

Circle Dance wall hanging),

and a little knitting

(on the same cowl that you've already seen),

but I'll show these when finished so as not to bore you to tears.

To see what my fellow hermitters have been up to,

go here.

Hope everyone had a fun, stitchy weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

To Stitch or To Knit?

Hey Blog Buddies,
Both stitching and knitting were vying for my attention this past week (which is weird because "I don't knit")!  But 2013 is turning out to be kinda weird all the way around for me so far.  How I solved the problem was--I did a little of both.  I'll show you the knitting first:

This is a pretty big project (for me).

It's going to be a cowl, and the circular needles

are 32 inches long.

I believe I cast on enough for a 40" cowl (159 stitches),

so I can double it up when I wear it,

which will probably not happen until next winter.

I have two skeins of yarn,

and I'm just going to knit until they are both used up!

It's a nice, mindless piece.

The yarn is Malabrigo Merino Worsted again,

 a bit darker than what I used for my mittens,

but certainly in the same color family.

And yes, the piece is all seed stitch.

Stitchers, don't you fret--

I have something for you, too.

Most of you will recognize this as

Little House Needlework's ever-popular

Home of a Needleworker (Too).

I've had this kitted up for a while now,

and it was on my 2013 to-stitch list.

The only things I have left to do are

the house and all the flowering vines.

Oh yes, and the bird's legs!

I used 32-count Belfast Antique Ivory linen

instead of the called-for 28-count,

and it's still working up a bit larger than I thought it would.

The 9" of snow we got last Tuesday is all but gone now.

We've had rain much of this past weekend

in addition to the warmer weather,

so flooding is an issue, but no water in the house yet.

Molly has demanded a rubber raft

because she sleeps downstairs!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Meteorological Spring?

Hey Blog Buddies,
It's been a crazy winter around these parts.  Just a couple of dustings of snow in December and January, a little bit more in February, and now this:

"Wanna chase me, sir?  Do ya?"

Legs, ears and tags a-flyin'.

This is what I got when I said,

"Molly, look at the camera!"

(Tasty birdseed under the snow.)

Too busy to pose.

Bye, Molly!

Hope you're enjoying the weather wherever you are.

Yesterday was a great day for stitching!

Thanks for visiting!

Fraidy Cat

Hey Blog Buddies,
I finished--and ornamentified--my February Halloween ornament:  Fraidy Cat by Jamie Kile of Knotted Tree NeedleArt.

I'm not  totally satisfied with it...

The one strand of black doesn't cover all that well,

even on 40-count linen.

But I do like the orange linen (brighter IRL),

and it will certainly be hung on my tree come October.

I also managed to finish my prework

for the Nordic Needle Retreat

intermediate hardanger project...

...and I'm not even leaving until April 17th!

 

To celebrate this victory over procrastination,

I started a new piece:

Little House Needlework's Home of a Needleworker.

That will be my rotation piece for this week (photo soon).

DH is now beginning to ask questions about

just how many WIPs I have.

Actually, the WIPs are at five now.

The UFOs are another story!

 

Hope you had a groovy weekend.

Thanks for visiting!