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!

Finishes

Well hello there... it's been a while.

I'm afraid I've been spending the bulk of my time

on Instagram lately.

I've really been enjoying it because

there's no political squabbling,

no advertisements,

just photos.

But I'm here today to catch you up

with some recent finishes, so let's get started.

Despite the title of this post,

this is actually not a finish.

Here's where I was at with RipRo last time.

I made what I consider significant progress...

Only two corners to go!

This is Needle Delights Originals' Ripple Rotation II,

in case my nickname is confusing anyone.

I had a teeny start on Bittersweet September last time.

And here it is all finished...

Then I started and finished this little squirrel...

The wool in the background is what I used

for the backing of the pillow.

This is from Summer House Stitche Workes'

2016 Fragments in Time collection.

I finished piecing my lap quilt, and had to wait

almost two months to get it back from the

longarm quilter!

But here it is, all finished as of this afternoon.

The name of the design is Shadow Play

and it's from Plum Tree Quilts.

It was a workshop hosted by my quilt guild.

I used some large pieces of fabric

from my stash on the back.

And finally, I had a letter finish...

which was also a row/leaflet finish...

on the Prairie Schooler alphabet.

The piece as a whole is getting

a bit harder to photograph.

And I'm plugging right along with it,

so here is my start on the M...

I think the mermaid is kind of homely.

I debated giving her some lips,

but thought better of it.

This is Prairie Schooler we're talking about

after all and not Mirabilia!

I don't think I've forgotten anything.

For those of you who are Instagrammers

interested in visiting over there,

I'm @southpaw.stitch.

I'm not technically savvy enough

to put a button on my sidebar!

Hope you're having a delightful October.

Thanks, as always, for visiting!

The Liberty Trio

Hey Blog Buddies,

How's June going for you?  It's been so chilly here that we've had to turn on the furnace once again, but they promise it will start warming up today.

I've been in a patriotic mood stitch-wise lately, and I have three finishes to show you!  First up, one of my Turtle Trot stitch-along pieces that is refusing to wait until the update on the 10th.

Plum Street Samplers' Liberty Inn.

This was a workshop hosted by my LNS, 

Inspired Needle, last June.

It was a wonderful chance to meet Paulette Stewart,

who was just delightful.

I made several changes to the pattern along the way,

and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

This is Liberty Starlet by Summer House Stitche Workes.

It's a limited edition kit from last summer.

The kit contained the linen

(which is WDW Confederate Gray), the threads,

a Mason jar lid for the base and the tiny ball fringe.

It was fun to stitch, but not fun (for me) to finish.

I looked at the finishing instructions and thought,

"How hard can it be?"

Well.

I cut the piece out in the recommended 6.5" circle,

then I cut a 6" circle of muslin for the lining.

I had decided to use some of my walnut shells

for the stuffing.

Did the running stitch on the edge of the muslin 

to create a pouch,

overfilled it with the walnut shells, 

had to dump some out,

tried pulling my double thread tight to close it and--

the thread broke!

What to do?  Hmmmm.

I thought about putting the pouch into a plastic bag

(most of the walnut shells, miraculously, were still in it)

but I didn't have any bags that small.

So I took a couple of narrow strips of Saran Wrap

and wrapped it!

I know all of you skilled finishers

are rolling your eyes right about now.

I put all that into the pouch made from the actual piece,

crossed my fingers, and glued it into the jar lid.

I hope it doesn't fall out, but gravity alone should keep it in,

because I don't plan on displaying it upside down.

Oh yes, gluing the tiny ball fringe

to the jar lid was very fiddly, too.

Last but certainly not least,

the third Liberty,

my Prairie School Liberty Bell.

 This was fun for me to stitch and finish

because I didn't do the finish-finishing!

Isn't it just darling?

My GF, Averyclaire, is starting

her own finishing business,

and I was her lucky first customer!

Let's face it, a lot of Prairie Schooler designs

(and I have plenty of them)

are fun and fast to do,

but they can be a little plain,

and just need some "tarting up."

I love this piece because

it's not only beautifully finished

but so unique, too.

 If you're like me and hate to do

your own finishing,

click here to see 

Averyclaire's new Finishing Services page.

That's it from here.

Have a stitchy day,

and thanks for visiting.