Two Years, Eight Months and Three Days

That's how long it took to stitch

the Prairie Schooler Alphabet.  

And, yes, it's done!

This is by far the biggest project I have undertaken,

so it deserves its own post.

Those of you reading this blog in 2016 

may remember how excited I was to get

this long, narrow piece of fabric that

I had earmarked for the project.

It's kind of hard to photograph the entire piece.

With each block measuring 70 x 100 stitches,

including the little borders that were backstitched

around each block, the piece measures a hefty

216 x 916 stitches!

You can see a bit more detail

with these close-ups.

I went lighter on a lot of the

called-for colors.

I also looked at each chart carefully

to see whether any stitches

were charted outside of the

70 x 100 parameters.

Many were, and my decision

was to edit the blocks

so that they would be uniform.

N for Nest was a challenge because

the birds' tails hung out an

extra 2 stitches on either side.

I wound up shortening their bodies.

T for Time is my favorite block.

Finishing this project was bittersweet

because I really enjoyed every stitch.

The fabric is 32-count evenweave,

stitched 2 over 2,

so the finished size is

13.5 x 58 inches.

And daylight shows the true color

of the ground fabric.

That's it from here.

We're in for some record-setting

cold temperatures here,

so everyone dealing with

weather extremes,

please stay safe.

Thanks for visiting.

A Snowy Weekend...

...is good for eating snow, if you're Molly...

...and good for staying indoors and stitching, if you're me.

Here is my latest small finish:

This is from Prairie Schooler's

A Prairie Year booklet.

I am into small seasonal pillows this year.

And as long as we're talking stitching,
these are the projects that

I'm actively working on and

sincerely hope to finish this year.
Actually, I hope to finish at least
two of them this month:

Minimal progress has been made on the Beast.

But at least those @#$%^&* bees are done!

The actual name of the project is

Blue Jeans and Daisies by

Blue Ribbon Designs.

I'm having a lot of issues with it.
This is definitely not one of the projects
that I hope to finish this month.

This is Needle Delights Originals'

Holiday Delights Valentine's Day.

Would you believe that the small hearts

come from a skein of Watercolours that is

 a totally different color than

the large heart?

And they show up less well

against the lilac background IRL.

So I held my breath and
ripped them out (very carefully)

because I wasn't restitching that background!

And I was careful to avoid the pink parts
 of the thread when I restitched the small hearts.

Better.

Here's another little seasonal start.

There are two very similar designs in this chart:

Solitude and Serenity.

I'm doing Solitude.

Last but not least
this one needs no introduction:

So near, and yet so far.

I lightened up the flowers considerably.

The red flowers would have been

the same color as the watering can.
And the purples would have been darker.
The leaves were charted in a much darker color, too.

I'm happy with the changes.

That's it for now.
Thanks for visiting!

First Finish of the Year!

Greetings, Bloglanders!

I'm back already.  I'm going to try doing more frequent, shorter posts this year.  We'll see how this plan works out.

We had a peek at this one in my last post.

Winter Defined by Erica Michaels - I believe it's one of her newest designs.

I'm not thrilled with my attempt at cording,

but it is what it is.

I got my January design (from Hands On Designs)

pillowfied, too!

After this finish, I vowed that I wouldn't

work with mini-poms again anytime soon.

And for you Molly fans,

here she is snuggling under a knitted scarf

that I actually gave away as a gift.

This fell under the "20-second rule."

Hopefully, the recipient has given up

reading this blog.

😃

So, my one-photo post

suddenly turned in a three-fer.

I'll have to work on that.

Hope your year has gotten off

to a great start.

Thanks for dropping by.

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.