First Finishes of the Year

Hello, people.  Hope your January has been going well.  I've been down with a nasty case of bronchitis this past week but am not complaining since I have the luxury of staying in bed all day if I need to (which I have for a couple of days).

Since photos of my pieces have all be taken, I'm hoping it won't be too taxing to do this little post.

My prediction about my first finish was correct, it was Prairie Schooler's Winter Wind...

and it was even framed...

I love this frame,

but I did make one bad framing decision recently.

When I took Ripple Rotation II in to be framed,

the first piece of moulding my framer pulled

was  a light orangeish salmon

which exactly matched the color in the 

corners of the piece below...

I loved it, but it was a flat finish and for 

some strange reason I thought the piece needed

a "shiny" frame, and that molding didn't have a shiny option.

So I selected a shiny green that

matched one of the darker shades in the piece.

Bad choice.

I got the piece home, hung it up,

and found that the frame actually 

sucked all the light and fun out of the piece.

I was a very unhappy camper.

I lived with it for a couple of days before

taking it back to my framer.

I explained my problem and asked to see

the orange frame again.

(You should always go with a color that you love.)

So they swapped out the green frame for the orange.

The day I went to pick up the piece,

I intended to pay for the new frame and any additional labor

because this was my mistake.

I did not expect money back on the green frame either,

because it was custom cut.

But they were going to have none of that.

"Put your money away," they said.

"You are such a good customer, this is on us."

So I left the shop with the newly framed piece,

and my original green frame, which I may use someday.

Even the lady at the framer's,
who was a little skeptical about the green being horrible,
agreed that this color works much better.

Back to the other finishes.

Hot on the heels of Winter Wind,

I finally finished M N O.

Of course, the bulk of this piece

was stitched in 2017, but it still counts

as a January finish.

And finally, I started and finished

my PSS Merry Friends piece

for the tart class in March.

I have two pieces that I'm currently working on:
Winter Thyme, a small seasonal pillow
which should make an appearance here
in the not too distant future,
and of course...

...the letter P.
I figured you might want a peek at the bird.
Ever onward with the alphabet!

This has been more or less my constant companion
during the last week when I didn't feel
up to stitching.

I like Annie Proulx's quirky sense of humor.
As you might guess, this is a library book.
It was written over 20 years ago,
so once I return it, hopefully no one will want to 
take it out any time soon.
As for me, if I need another book from the library,
I'm going to limit myself to those in ebook format,
at least until cold & flu season is over!

That's it from here!
Thanks, as always, for visiting.

This Year's Goals

Hey stitching peeps. How's 2018 been treating you so far?

I've put some effort into planning my stitching line-up for this year, and the list is surprisingly modest...so far.  Let's start with my current WIPs:

This is Winter Wind by Prairie Schooler.

This photo shows only the top third of the design,

but I'm quite a bit farther than that.

I generally don't like to predict,

but this will likely be my first finish this year,

perhaps some time this week.

I've got a bit done on Blue Ribbon Designs'
Blue Jeans and Daisies.

This is a fairly good-sized piece, and
I'm hoping for a mid-year finish. (hehe)
If I don't finish it this year,
I'll have to pick out the date!

Here is Ho Ho Ho by Debbie Forney.
At a minimum, I need to do Santa's beard,
to convince myself that I still remember
how to do the bullion knots that make it up.
If I get the beard and mustache done,
it will all be downhill from there.
Maybe.

And my last current WIP is
our old friend the Prairie Schooler Alphabet.

Poor headless owl.
A little more done in the past couple weeks, no?
My fervent desire is to finish O through X this year.
(hahhahahahahaha)

A piece that I need to get started on

is Plum Street Sampler's Merry Friends.

This needs to be finished by the vernal equinox,

because I will be taking a tart finishing class 

from Vonna (the Twisted Stitcher) at

the Fancy Works retreat in March,

and this will be the tart!

No, I have not started this one yet.

There will be a patriotic pincushion exchange

at the retreat, and if the tart stitching goes well,

here is something that I had planned

to make for the exchange:

Liberty Starburst by

Summer House Stitche Workes.

This one is a definite maybe.

And I simply must do a blackwork piece, right?

I have this cute bird from Tanja Berlin, all ready to go.
I must admit that it looks a little intense.

In March I have two workshops to attend:

Kathy Rees (Needle Delights Originals)
is teaching one of her pieces at my ANG guild!
I'm really excited about this one.
I've done so many of her pieces,
but I've never had the opportunity to take one of her classes.

The name of the piece is Highland Circle.

Then my quilt guild snagged Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville)
and she will be teaching her Pineapple Blossom quilt.

I'm a little nervous about tackling this,
but the only way to improve a skill is with practice, right?

And that's it, so far.
As I said before, a modest line-up for me.
We'll see what the rest of the year brings.

Hope you're having fun with your stitching
because that's what it's all about.
Thanks for visiting!