Frosty Finish

Big Blizzard Sampler

by Heart in Hand

stitched on 32-ct. Dirty Belfast linen

with WDW and GAST fibers

Not exactly a First Day of Spring type project but I've been on the verge of finishing this one for several weeks and decided today was the day to get 'er done! We're having more of a Fifty Shades of Gray type of day here anyway with snow falling and the wind blowing across the lake. I wish Mother Nature would wave her magic wand and put an end to this!

Oh, this sampler is supposed to have four little buttons which I'm 1000% sure are upstairs in my sewing room but I can't seem to find them at the moment. I have a special talent for losing buttons apparently. Maybe I need to do a little Spring Cleaning up there tomorrow. I have thread and fabric scattered everywhere, and I'd really like to put together a spring stitching basket. 

I'm still plodding along on Birds of a Feather. No picture today but I got another one of the flowers in the border done and a good start on another. I also decided to stick with my first choice of fabric. I really do like the thread colors with it even if a couple tend to get a little washed out.

By way of celebrating the first day of spring, I watched the last inning of the Detroit-Tampa Bay game. We're knee deep in March Madness but I still have baseball on my brain. 

Which reminds me, I better work on my bracket. Phil is a Hoosier so I'll be picking Indiana to at least make it to the Final Four.

Hope you're having a first day of spring that actually has some spring in it!

Fresh Start

I was able to get started on Birds of a Feather yesterday afternoon. I can already tell this project is going to take me a looooong time! I'm also having second thoughts about the fabric I chose. It's super stiff and maybe a shade or two too dark for the thread colors. I might just switch to my second choice linen before I get too far along.

It's another cold, windy day here on the lake and it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow. Winter still has a hold on us in SW Michigan unfortunately.

Hope it's warmer where you are!

Another Finish

We are back from Texas, safe and sound, surviving positively horrendous construction traffic on I-35 that seriously tried my patience and an overnight stay in the most bizarre hotel room ever! We had a great time down south but it's always good to be back home!

I wanted to get back into my stitching as quickly as possible so I cut a piece of linen lickedy-split and picked up Lizzie Kate's Is It Coffee Yet. I already had the threads pulled from the last project I did so it was super easy to get started. By Friday I had another finish!

 Is It Coffee Yet by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 28-ct Light Mocha linen with Weeks Dye Works

Here is a picture of the three designs together plus one nosy cat named Harry...

Coffee Crazy by Lizzie Kate

My son, Evan, came to visit us during his Spring Break. He loves to cook so we did a lot of this while he was here...

We're going to miss his dinners (and him of course!) but luckily we have a fridge full of leftovers to help us transition back into my cooking. Tonight's menu will include leftover ham and potatoes from our Preaster Feast (we had an early Easter dinner since he won't be here to celebrate with us) and tomorrow we'll have the last of the barbacoa. We're considering offering him a position as our personal chef this summer!

Back to stitching... I've decided my next project will be of the Big A** variety. I have gathered all the supplies for With My Needle and Threads mystery sampler from a couple of years ago.

Phil was a prince and took me to House of Stitches on Saturday to get the last of the threads I needed. (He even went inside with me!) They had their La-D--Da trunk show set up early so I got to feast on some real eye candy. You can see a picture of the display on their blog. If there are any stitchers in the area who would like to plan a little La-D-Da get together next month for some shopping at HoS and perhaps lunch afterwards, please let me know and we'll see what we can arrange!

Time for me to get off this machine and have my lunch. I'm thinking a nice hot bowl of Campbell's Creamy Tomato soup on this gray, drizzly day followed by a few hours of stitching!

Greetings from Texas!

I'm having a great time in Texas with the kids! I rolled into town on Sunday with one of my migraines but I'm feeling much better now. The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday and we headed over to Firewheel Town Center to do a bit of shopping and to just enjoy being outside in the sunshine. No winter blahs here!

What better way to enjoy the warm weather than with some al fresco dining and frozen drinks!

It's a little cooler here today but I won't complain since they're expecting up to six inches of snow back home! All I can say is hurry up spring!

Friday Finish

Coffee Crazy by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 28-ct.linen

with Weeks Dye Works fibers

This was a super fast stitch! I started it on Wednesday and finished it today! And that includes ripping out half of the coffee mug and restitching it! This has to be a new record for me! I had to "pose" it next to my Keurig, a birthday present from Phil back in December. I have been enjoying the heck out of it! I was coffee crazy before but now I am certifiably insane! I love those adorable little K-cups!

Anyhoosie, back to stitching! There are two more designs that go with Coffee Crazy. I stitched Love My Coffee five or six years ago. That leaves Is It Coffee Yet and I'll have all three done. I plan to hang them near my coffee area. We have a long way to go with decorating the new house still so I'm hoping to get them finished soon.

I am attempting to write this post entirely on my Galaxy Note 2. This is my first smart phone and I have a lot to learn still. So that is my excuse for any spelling errors and formatting issues!

Tomorrow I have to get up bright and early for another trip. It is my daughter's Spring Break so we are heading down to Texas to visit my youngest son who started school there in January. He will then come back to Michigan with us for his Spring Break. Maybe there will be a blog post from the road if this first post goes well!

Thanks for visiting! Have a great weekend!

Happy Dance for Sergei

Sergei

Plum Street Samplers

stitched on 36 ct. Vintage Buttercream linen

with GAST and NPI fibers

What a delight this was to stitch! It's all I can do to keep from rushing out and buying Boris, Olga, and Maxim & Zoya! And I just might if we had an LNS that was closer and it didn't look like this outside...

Holy whiteout Batman! The lake has been frozen since last month and is now covered in snow with more falling as we speak. Or write. Rest assured, I'm staying inside today! I have plenty of stash to keep me occupied for the rest of the winter! (And then some!)

Pass the Tylenol!

I must confess... I had fallen woefully behind in my blog reading over the last month or two. Exactly how far behind will never be revealed! Let's just leave it at "a lot"! I am under Phil's orders to take it easy today so I grabbed a Pepsi, lit the fire, and settled in with my laptop to see if I couldn't at least make it through December's postings. I have to at least skim every single post and click on a fair share of the photos because I don't want to take the chance I might miss something! I am always amazed at everyone's progress and beautiful finishes! Reading blogs is the best motivator for me to sit down and get busy with my own stitching! So I'm a bit bleary eyed now and need a cool washcloth on my head but I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for sharing their stitchy lives and inspiring folks like me to pick up their needles and get to stitchin'!

I have been making good progress on Sergei and promise to share a picture as soon as I've finished stitching the man (or bird!) himself. He's looking a little incomplete and revealing him legless and wingless might damage his self esteem.

Some Really Good Stuff

Leftover broccoli cheese soup from Panera for lunch, stitching in front of the fire while revisiting Downton Abbey (in preparation for Sunday's season 3 premier!), and a super special cookie from my sweetheart!

The weekend is upon us and life is good!

New Year, New Start

What better way to start off a new year than with a new start, right? I've been wanting to start Sergei from Paulette at Plum Street Samplers for the last few months and decided January 1st would be the perfect day to do just that! I'm stitching it on the suggested fabric, 36-count Vintage Buttercream from Lakeside Linens, using one strand of GAST.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. I know a lot of folks are going back to work today. Phil was up at 6am this morning and it's almost too quiet in the house after having him home for almost two weeks. I dragged myself out of bed at 8am and then proceeded to sit on my butt drinking coffee for the next two hours. You might say I'm not transitioning very well into the new year, haha! Shouldn't I be making lists and organizing things and working out and eating better? Maybe I'll just resolve to stitch more in 2013 and call it good!

Happy New Year

Wishing you all the best in 2013!

It's a Marshmallow World

Woke up to find Jack Frost had visited us during the night!

Here's the view off the back deck... baby, it's cold outside!

Winter has come to Paw Paw Lake!

Wee Seasons

A good 15 years ago I started stitching Heart in Hand's Wee Seasons. I'd decided to stitch all four charts lengthwise and make the finished piece into a bellpull. And naturally I would stitch along with the changing seasons. I got off to a great start, stitching Wee Winter at the top of my bellpull-to-be.

Come spring I began stitching the next season. But that tree... all that brown... for some reason it just killed my desire to finish before summer arrived. Of course this meant I'd have to wait a whole year to work on Wee Spring again. No biggie! I'd get it done the following year! Which I did! Hooray! Back on track!

Wee Summer was easy... with all those red apples and pretty flowers, I couldn't put it down!

Then came a verrrrry long break in my stitching. This poor 3/4 finished project hung over a hanger in my closet for probably six years! Then it got folded up in a box and forgotten for several more! Somehow it resurfaced and I added it to my WIPocolypse list in the hopes of finally finishing it. The last season was fall and I was determined to get it stitched before the end of November. I almost didn't make it, but with tons of encouragement from Phil I put the last stitch in Wee Fall on the 30th!

Here's a look at the whole (slightly slanty) project:

I'd still like to finish it into a bellpull but for now I'm just basking in the joy of finishing one of my oldest WIPs!

Two More

I picked up two more Starbucks mugs to add to my collection while Phil and I were visiting family and friends down in Texas over Thanksgiving. We packed a lot into the week and put over 3000 miles on his car in the process! The weather was fabulous the entire trip and I'm hoping I was able to convince Phil that Texas would be a grrrrreat place to retire!

Yesterday I went through my WIPs looking for something Christmas-y to work on and came up with Better Not Pout from Shepherd's Bush. I'll share my progress soon! I also have a finish to share, plus I had Winter Wonderland framed! Woohoo!

5/12

I finished Block 5 of my Village of Hawk Run Hollow last week. I wish they all went this fast!

Here's what the whole thing looks like so far:

Obviously I won't be finishing it before the end of the year like I'd hoped but it feels good to be almost halfway done!

Flanges My Foot

I decided to get creative and put together this little pillow today. The cross stitch is tres tres old (a Heart in Hand Wee One? Wee Witch?) and I've had the fabric long enough that some might consider it 'vintage'! I was wanting to make it a flanged pillow but after much measuring and cutting and re-measuring I just couldn't wrap my gray cells around it. May as well have been trying to solve a calculus problem! In the end I just made a regular square pillow and called it good. I'm super happy with how it came out to be honest! (Let's just keep it a secret that I actually managed to sew my measuring tape to the pillow at one point!)

Friday's Village

I set up my floor stand earlier this week so I could get back to work on my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I was a little cross-eyed working on the 40 count linen at first but now I'm lovin' it! There's not much to this block so barring a disaster I should be able to get it done soon.

Joyful Summer Fini!

Including the dreaded french knots!

Let the fall stitching begin! Woohoo!

Fall Stitching Basket

Instead of pulling out every single fall project I'd like to work on, I decided I'd excercise some restraint and stick with what is on my WIPocolypse list for now. The idea is to finish these four projects and then I can choose something new to start. Sounds reasonable, right?

Top left we have The Village of Hawk Run Hollow from Carriage House Samplings which technically isn't a fall project but to me those colors couldn't get more fall-ish. So into the basket it goes!

Top right is Wee Autumn from Heart in Hand. I started this back in the 90s thinking I'd stitch all four seasons on a long piece of fabric and make it into a bellpull. I have Winter, Spring, and Summer already stitched so fingers crossed Autumn gets done soon!

Bottom left is Acorn Hill from LHN. I believe I started this one during last year's Crazy January Challenge so this will be my second chance to get 'er done!

Bottom right is Into the Night from Shepherd's Bush which I started in 2008. I love the sheep in his cape and hat! There's only a few more rows left to stitch but the big challenge will be finding the threads that came with the kit. They seem to have gotten separated from everything else. Quelle surprise. Some day soon I need to do some serious stash organizing!

 

Harry seems to think he belongs in the Fall Stitching Basket too. Afterall, he is a nice fall colored kitty.

Signs

First there was was the smell of burning leaves while I was walking the dogs yesterday.

Next I had to light the fire because it was too chilly in the living room last night.

Then today I see this on the floor where I'm sorting through my stitchy stash...

I'm beginning to think it's time to put together my fall stitching basket!

Oh Joy

Don't you love it when you take a nice picture to post on your blog and discover later there's a stray thread hanging across it?

Kinda like when you have someone take a photo of you and your kids and you end up with this...

(In my defense I had taken Vicodin for a migraine that day!)

Happiness is...

A comfy new stitching chair!!

If you need me you'll know where to find me!! :-)

Happy Labor Daybor!

August WIPocolypse Update

It's time for another WIPocolypse update! I can't say that my needles have been flying but I do have a finish to report!

The stitching on Summer Snapperland is complete! I still need to attach the snaps and buttons but I don't like to do that until I'm ready for the final finish finishing. I really love the beachy feel to this one, and I'm super happy to have it done! I have other Snapperlands in my stash so this should encourage me to get started on them.

Next up is Joyful Summer from CCN...

I was really hoping to get the blue flower at the top finished but last night I decided I didn't like the looks of the top petal and decided to rip part of it out and restitch it. I ended up with a huge mess when the eye of my needle broke and got stuck under some stitches. After a glass of wine and some Jane Austen I was able to set things to right. I thought all was well and I'd get that last petal done today but now I notice there's a counting error somewhere and I'm going to have to do some fancy fudging. Autumn is just around the corner so this one might get tossed back in the WIP box if it doesn't start behaving!

I am woefully behind on my blog reading and commenting but hopefully over the long holiday weekend I will find some time to play catch up.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Big Finish

After four botched attempts our glass shower enclosure has been installed! It's practically a work of art and I'm so happy it finally came together as planned. I might get a little Joan Crawford-ish about water spots but with regular squeegeeing I should be able to keep my sanity intact!

Still no stitchy news as I haven't picked up a needle in ages. Hoping to rectify that situation soon.

Have a great weekend!

As Seen On TV

I've always wanted a spot where I could sit outside and have my morning yogurt just like they do in the television commercials. Simple pleasures are definitely the best!

Summer Stitching Continues

I managed to get a good portion of the verse stitched on Summer Snapperland over the last couple of days. Last night I noticed I was off by two threads which I'm not particularly worried about (nor particularly surprised about, haha!) since nothing looks too goofy. Still, the perfectionist in me is going to want to know where the mistake is! Normally I hate stitching letter after letter after letter but whether it's the thread or the linen or a combination of both this has been smoothy smooth. (We just have to ignore the fact that I got lulled into missing a stitch somewhere!)

I ordered the threads I need for Joyful Summer so I'll get super busy on that one as soon as they arrive. In the meantime I've been plugging along with what I have which translates to "I stitched a leaf". It's all progress though, right? And it's such a lovely leaf I just had to show everyone!

Tonight we are making stuffed bread for dinner (stuffings to be determined!) which is one of my favorites. We've been making them for years as a way to creatively use up all the bits of this and that in the fridge. There's no right or wrong when it comes to wrapping up a bunch of leftovers in bread dough! Teriyaki chicken with bacon and smoked mozzarella? Delicious!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Wednesday and finding time to do something fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Weekend Recap

I'm sure the burning question on everyone's mind is whether or not I got my strawberry daiquiri on Friday! The answer is YES!

Phil's sister gave us these fun glasses. They're meant for wine but we like using them for frozen drinks too.

Saturday was spent running errands and by the time we thought we'd go out and enjoy the water we had a BIG storm move in.

My bunting bloweth over!

Sunday was clear, so after church and a delicious "big salad" at Martin's (I love a good salad bar!) I went out on the deck to relax and soak up some vitamin D.

That's my "Mike Olt striking out with the bases loaded" face.

Sunday evening we made chicken alfredo for dinner and settled in for our nightly Olympic overload.

No, it's not so cold in Michigan that we need a fire but when all it takes is a press of a button it's really hard not to press that button!

Now let's check how much stitching I managed to accomplish...

Is that all?? One blue swirly thing?? Well, I obviously won't be winning any medals for stitching speed!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! I'm off to see if I can't actually make enough progress on Summer Snapperland to justify posting another picture!

More Summer Stitching

Back in June I pulled a couple of summery projects from my WIPocolypse list to work on. One of them was Bent Creek's Summer Snapperland. I had started this one waaaay back in the summer of "aught seven". Here's where I left off:

And here's how it looks today:

Nuthin' left but the border and a french knot or two! It's taking me forever to do those blue swirlies so it might be a while before I get to happy dance this one into my fuppie box.

The other piece I pulled out was Joyful Summer. It was one of my Crazy January Challenge projects from 2011. Number 14 to be exact. This is all I managed to complete on it:

(Isn't it nice to be able to go back in your blog and grab pictures from previous posts??)

So yeah, I have a looong way to go on that one and I don't have most of the Crescent Colours it calls for so I might have to get creative. Me choosing my own thread colors? Now there's a scary thought!

We're heading into the weekend! I sure hope there's a strawberry daiquiri somewhere with my name on it!

Y'all have a good one!

July in August

Thought I better stop in for a quick hello and show you all my progress on Prairie Schooler's July sampler. I finished the verse so now it's on to the fun part! Woohoo!

We've been super busy here but I'm hoping to get back into the blogging habit this month. I have a lot of catching up to do, but we'll get 'er done!

I hope everyone is doing grrrrrreat and having a blast this summer!