Even More Exciting News...

...Ladybug and Daisy, my blackwork project, is finished...

...and framed...

Here are a couple of close-ups...

The cross-hatching on the petals drove me bonkers.

It was "random" but charted, so I kept having

to look back and forth from the chart to the piece.

I would have gladly paid someone to do it for me,

if I could have found any takers.

I'm elated that this is done!

Here is another framed finish...

Kathy Barrick's Good Intentions

I seem to go a while without any finishes,

then I have a bunch all at once.

Let's get to the pillow parade...

A monthly from Heart in Hand's Square Dance

Bent Creek's Flag of Stars

The trim is not cording, but a braid.

Lizzie-Kate's Buzz from their Spring Smalls leaftlet.

I stitched this a couple of months ago,

and just got around to finishing it.

Here's what I'm working on now...

This is the July monthly from the

Little Dove's Year chart.

This chubby fellow is from Bothy Threads.

The chart is called Jolly Robin.

Here is my start.

It's going to look like a blob for a while.

This is my ANG challenge piece,

due next Saturday.  😄

I got quite a bit done
since the last time I posted.

My revised goal is to at least get

the panel on the right completed.
As I was stitching it,

I discovered that this piece

is not quite as easy as it looks.

But I probably could have completed it

if I had picked it up before last month.

I had all year to do it.

When you're as old as I am
you should stitch what calls out to you,
which is what I've been doing.
Hence, the DNF on my challenge piece.

Well, that's it from here.

Hope your June is going splendidly.

Thanks for dropping by.

Catching Up

The time since my last post has been rather hectic, so we have a lot of catching up to do.  Let's get right to it, because there are a lot of photos.

This is my Prairie Schooler alphabet, finished as a quilted wall hanging by Vonna, the Twisted Stitcher.

I was able to find coordinating fabric that had a "stitched" alphabet pattern in it.  It was perfect for this piece!

I finished the last little bit of this Needle Delights Originals Easter design, and now its home is in the lid of a Sudberry box.

Another very recent finish is this little pillow from Hands on Design's A Year of Celebrations.  It's not my best finishing job, but it is what it is, and it looks cute from across the room.  The word "grow" under the daisies could almost be mistaken for "snow" which is what we got today.

This is from Prairie Schooler's A Prairie Year leaflet - the design for May.  A future pillow.

This design from Lizzie-Kate's Spring Smalls booklet is another future pillow.  I haven't been finishing these things too quickly, so these two may not make it for Spring 2019.

The ladybug that I showed a couple of posts ago now has a daisy to sit on...

I've started the background, and it is a painfully slow go.  I had planned to take this one to the county fair in August, but I'm not confident that it will be done in time.  We'll see.

I have a good start on this design by Jeanette Douglas.  It was featured in a class that she taught at the Fancy Works retreat in Bloomington, IN, at the end of March.  This will be a little tray, and there's a scissor fob and drum pinkeep in the set, too.  The overdyed ground fabric is really very pretty, but I guess my camera didn't like it.

This is the progress I've made on my ANG challenge piece.  Two and a half packages.  This one definitely won't be finished by the end of June, and I'll be $10 poorer.  But at least it's no longer a UFO.

Last but not least, this is what the stylish, color-coordinated dog will wear on a stroll if she's recovering from foot surgery and has a bandage that needs to be kept clean and dry...

Molly looks about as happy with the whole thing as we are.

I think we're caught up now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Only One WIP!

Let's pick up where we left off, and I'll tell you how my WIPs dwindled down to just one.  (Now when I talk about WIPs, I am not including any of my UFOs.  They will be a story for another post.)

My mammoth project, the PS Alphabet, was stitched up and shipped off to the finisher to be made more beautiful.

I previously showed this little canvaswork start, Valentine's Day by Needle Delights Originals:

Since this design is very February, I wanted to finish it quickly, and I did.  These small designs are very fun to do.

I have a six-by-six box that I use to display seasonal designs in the lid, and this one is there now.

I had also shown you this little start...

...another seasonal design that I wanted to display with my other "winter" pillows.

So here it is.  The red and gray felt "pennies" were included with the chart.  The way I attached them looks a little ragged to me; the designer predicted that they would look similar to this, and said that it is part of their charm.  Okaaay.

I started and finished the March design from PS's A Prairie Year leaflet, but it is in the process of being pillowfied right now, so I'll show it next time.

So that left me with only Blue Ribbon Designs' Blue Jeans and Daisies (the "beast") in the WIP pile.  Here is my start on the lower part of the left third of the design (previously posted):

And here is where I was a couple of days ago (yes, I'm a bit farther than this today)...

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on this one.  I really like finishing projects more than starting them.  But I need to switch between projects; I usually stitch on at least two, sometimes three, projects during the course of a day.  Does this mean I have stitching ADD?  

So I needed to go to my very local "store" -- my computer/sewing room, open 24/7, 365 days a year -- and see what I could find.  Many, many projects got my attention, but I limited it to just two.

This is Spring, from Lizzie Kate's Spring Smalls leaflet.  There is a theme here, isn't there?  This one was not kitted up, so I had to hunt around for the threads and fabric.  The model was stitched on a beige-y linen, but I pepped it up by using Kermit as the ground.  I think it works for spring as well as Halloween.  (I had previously used this linen for L-K's Hocus Pocus--you can see it somewhere in this rather long post.) I always buy more than I need of any linen that I like--which is most of them!  This strategy works out well when you want to start a project when the store isn't open, or you simply don't want to leave the house!  This project should stitch up pretty quickly.  Yes, this will be another pillow.  2019 is the Year of the Small Pillows around here.

Easter Sunday occurs pretty late this year but spring, hopefully, is just around the corner.  I could keep those canvaswork hearts in my box until summer at least, but why do that when I have the Easter design by--you guessed it--Needle Delights Originals.

The colors are displaying a little strangely on my computer.  They are much more pastel-y in real life.  The tulips at the top, for instance, are medium pink, light yellow and medium purple.  Hopefully that's what you're seeing.  This one was a no-brainer:  all kitted up and ready to go.

Well, that's it from here.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Thanks, as always, for visiting.

Year End Wrap-Up

Hello, Blog Enthusiasts!  It's me and I'm back for a year-end stitching wrap-up.  I realize it was July when I last posted, so we have a lot of ground (get it?  ground?) to cover.  Where to start...?

But of course, the Prairie Schooler alphabet:

I showed the V for Vineyard finish in my last post, and here's the entire row.

And we have Y for Yarn...

...and the ampersand.

No Z.  Yet.

This is the fourth block in this series

that shows a woman stitching,

and the first one who's a lefty.

The stressed-out sewer in S is for Sewing

had her scissors in her left hand,

but she could be ambidextrous.

I finished BBD's Spell of the Moon.

...and Lizzie-Kate's Hocus Pocus...

...Blue Ribbon Designs' Hayride Happenings,

published in an issue of Just Cross Stitch;

I got the frame from Hobby Lobby...

...Needle Delights Originals' Poppers...

...and Boo Logs by the same designer...

...I pieced together a bed quilt from a

Bonnie Hunter workshop!

The actual quilting was outsourced

on this large piece.

I used up a lot of scraps and left-over

fabric with this one...

...this cute little thing was a kit by Hands on Design,

sold exclusively by one of my LNSes...

...my only Christmas finish this year,

from PS's Folk Art Christmas booklet...

...and finally January, from Hands on Designs'

A Year of Celebrations.

This one hasn't been pillowfied yet -

hopefully, it will be before 1/1/19.

I have made very few stitching plans for next year.

Obviously, finishing Z is for Zinnia is one of them.

I have a start...

I'd also like to finish Blue Jeans and Daisies,

otherwise known as "the Beast."

I've got quite a bit done, 

but I just don't enjoy stitching on this linen.

This is an icky photo;

I can't get the colors right on my little iPhone -

it's much prettier IRL.

I have this little design in the works,

Erica Michaels' Defining Winter.

It's going to be another pillow.

One can never be too rich, too thin

or have too many little pillows.

I plan on starting this blackwork piece "soonish."

Other than that, I think I'll just stitch

whatever strikes my fancy.

So that's it for this year.

Hope your 2018 was a good one.

Thanks, as always, for dropping by.

Finishes!

Hey Blog Buddies,

I have a quartet of finishes to share with you today.  Some are brand new and one is so old it's new again.

First up...

Needle Delights Originals' Spring Logs.

I finished this slightly ahead of 
my ANG chapter's SAL schedule.
The colors are more muted in real life.

Next is a trio of smalls

adorably finish-finished by Averyclaire.

Lizzie-Kate's A Bit of June.

I love the rick rack that is reminiscent of sea waves,

and the ship's wheel charm that she added.

Next up, a pair of birds from

Prairie Schooler's Nordic Holiday leaflet.

This was stitched a couple of years ago, 
misplaced for a while,
and just now finished.
I love the addition of the pine cones!

I added the stork scissors in the photo
to give a sense of the scale of the piece.

Finally, a canvaswork sock,

stitched on "soft" Congress cloth;

the design is from Lois Caron.

It's lined with tiny Christmas tree fabric,

and the back of the sock is a

gorgeous red velvet.

Photos do not do these pieces justice.

I like to celebrate my finishes with a new start,
and I was in the mood for a
small patriotic piece.
I knew I had several such charts,
so I started rummaging through my stash.
This is usually not a good thing,
since I tend to find so many things there
that I really want to get started on ASAP.
As I did this time.
I did find a few (but not all) of my
patriotic charts, and I started
Little House Needleworks' Old Glory.

I'm not too fond of the drastic
color changes in the green.
As of this writing,
I don't think that I'll rip it out,
but the stem of the plant in the large pot
will be a DMC solid color.

Well, that's it from here.
Hope your May is going well.
Thanks for visiting!