Last Finish, First Start: More Birds

Hey Blog Buddies,
Happy 2015!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's celebration.  It wasn't too zany around here:  a Trivial Pursuit game and asleep well before midnight.

I do have a couple of stitchy things to show you.  Here is my last finish of 2014:

This is Happy Chirp, Chirp Day by The Trilogy

I hope to have this made into a pincushion

some time this weekend.

And for my New Year's Day start,

I picked...

Dawn Chorus by Long Dog Samplers.

There are 20 birds in this sampler

(hence the name of the piece).

You'll have to wait to see them, though,

because they're up at the top

and I've started at the lower left.

And, of course, this piece

is only one-tenth of my regular rotation,

so we'll see how that works this year!

Have a great weekend,

and thanks so much for visiting!

September IHSW: A Finish and a Start

Hey Blog Buddies,
I've really had a blast reading all the comments about everyone's animals.  If you're wondering what I'm talking about, go to my giveaway post, and enter while you're there.  You've still got a week left to get a chance to win!

It wouldn't be an IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) if I didn't finish something, right?  So to keep my streak going, I finished (and framed!) Secret Pumpkin Patch by The Trilogy:

I visited Inspired Needle in Lemont, IL, earlier this week,

and found this perfect little weathered black frame!

So, I was able to frame the piece right away,

and it's now up on my shelf--

never mind that we're only halfway through September!

Framing a piece with a stitched border

that is very close to the frame is challenging,

but I did the best I could and it didn't turn out too bad.

After this small success,

I was inspired to try to finish Grandma's Roses

from the Nordic Needle retreat in April.

All it needs are some bullion knots

to make a rose in each corner.

Several months ago, moonsilk stitches was kind enough

to show me how to do bullion knots on canvas.

What she said seemed to make sense at the time,

but did I go right home and finish up the project?

Noooo.

When I picked it up yesterday too much time had passed

and I just couldn't figure it out,

so I put the piece away indefinitely--bummer!

To cheer myself up, I started a new piece:

Quaker Cardinal by The Workbasket.

(I'm kind of easy to cheer up...)

I've been itching to start this project for some time.

This photo simply does not do the fabric justice--

it's the prettiest fabric I've ever stitched on.

I won it (the fabric) as part of a giveaway hosted by Robin

at Threads of Memory.

Thank you again, Robin!

Since this photo was taken,

I have completed the other leg.

To see what my fellow hermitters

have been up to this weekend, click here.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend

with some time to stitch!

Thanks for visiting!

Derailed by a Pumpkin!

Hey Blog Buddies,

A few days ago, I was blog hopping and ran across a lovely Shepherd's Bush design, which got me to thinking...  Take Joy by Shepherd's Bush is on my WIPocalypse list--and it's a small design which would be easy to finish.  I even have the little box that goes with it!   It should definitely go into my rotation.  However, the kit (yes, it came in a kit with fabric and threads) did not make it into my to-be-worked-on WIPocalypse bin, so I had to go searching for it in the (ahem) larger bins.  So while I was pawing through all the goodies in the first bin I opened (I should have more of a handle on where everything is, shouldn't I?), I came across Secret Pumpkin Patch by The Trilogy--a cute little seasonal design.

The design came with the fabric,

and I'm using DMC threads from my stash.

I haven't located Take Joy yet.

It wasn't in that first bin!

Hope you have a fun weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

WIPocalypse 2012 - March Report *EDITED*

Hey Blog Buddies,

February was a short month (even though we had an extra day), and it's WIPocalypse report time already!

This month I have four items, including two finishes!

I included this in the WIPocalypse because

I had had it kitted up for a l-o-o-ong time.

This month I started it and got

the four center squares finished.

Another chart that I've had for some time

is Springology, and I knew I needed one or two

spring designs for my stitchy bookcase.

So I started and finished the Spring design last week.

The most exciting news of the year so far (at least for me)

is that, after ten years, I finished the Uptown Stitcher!!

If you're new to this blog, click here to see my post about it,

complete with close-ups.

And, finally, we have to talk about the swirls.

(Yes, I'm afraid we must.)

I'm still plugging away at CT13.

Here's where I left off last month.

And here's where I am now.

Yes, there are leaves in the design...

many, many leaves, not just the few that you see here.

And I decided to make the woefully undersized pot green.

(The design calls for only one color:  red.)

I actually added a row of stitching to the pot,

and it is still really, really small.

But it's not supposed to be true to life, is it?

I'm really glad I signed up for the WIPocalypse.

I made my list at the beginning of the year and,

with one or two exceptions, have really stuck to it.

Even though it's only March, I've realized that

there's no way that I'm going to finish

all 22 projects, but they're all on my radar,

and that's a good thing.

To see the links to everyone's progress on the

WIPocalypse this month, go here.

That's it from here.

Hope you're having fun doing what you're doing.

And thanks for visiting!

This 'n' That

Hey Blog Buddies,

Yesterday my guild held a This 'n' That workshop.  There were 30-minute demos of techniques such as the pinhead stitch, using a laying tool, attaching beads to linen so that they are not slanted, mounting a finished piece on a board for framing, the history of scissors, and a small bargello project.  All this was free to members--even the canvas and chart for the bargello!  Everything was very well done, fun and informative, but of particular interest to me was the mounting technique (lacing), since I have a lot of smaller projects that need to get finish-finished.  Here is a small seasonal piece that I started just a few days ago--mounted and framed last night:

This is from the Springology leaftlet from The Trilogy.

The design measures a scant 3" x 3".

Here are two more projects finished recently

(mounted and framed last night)

that readers of this blog will remember:

S is for Spring from The Prairie Schooler...

...and Snow Patches from the Cross-Eyed Cricket.

Yes, I know winter is just about over

despite the fact that we are still getting flurries here,

but this guy is now ready for next winter!

The talk on the history of scissors was

really interesting, and I brought

an unusual specimen for show 'n' tell:

This was a gift to me from a friend.

The shears (since it's longer than 6 inches)

has 5 sets of blades, good for shredding paper.

Hope you're having a fun weekend.

Thanks for visiting!