It's Still Only January

And I did manage to finish one of the stitching goals I needed to do if I am going to finish any of the larger pieces I have on my list for my personal Crazy 15 challenge.

Yep, that's the entire top alphabet completed for Drawn Thread's Alphabets. I've still got A LOT more to stitch, and I have a plan that if I actually stick to it will give me a completed sampler that looks something like this at the end of the year. The big question is will I manage to stay with the plan? Or will I let some other sparkly goodie catch my attention? Be sure to stay tuned!

I've been stitching on the needlebook from Stacy Nash we got at our Primitives weekend. I've made good progress on that. Oh and I picked up AOTH to work on the January block. I don't think it will be finished in January, but I can hope. Plus I'm still working in secret on mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary sampler. And by "in secret" I mean I only start stitching on it after 11PM when I should be sleeping. One night I got a little carried away and was still stitching at 3AM. I'm closing in on being halfway done.

It really does look beautiful. I met some friends from my last work contract for lunch Thursday after my doctor's appointment (nothing but my regular check-up with the RA doc, no worries). After that I stopped by the frame shop I use to go ahead and pick out a frame so we can get it framed quickly when I get it done. I've had my stitching framed by Great Hang Ups in Orange Park for more years than I or owners Dee and Julia (a great mother-daughter team) would care to admit! Even without the entire piece done we had enough to work with and found the perfect frame to show off that it's for their 50th and that it's a Quaker design. So now I just have to get it finished and to them and give them a few days to get it all stretched and framed. Sorry, no update pictures. I took the sampler but forgot to take my camera so I could get a picture! I'll have to try again soon.

I think that's about all my stitching news. Have only knit on a pair of socks and they aren't finished so nothing to show there. Tonight is the symphony and I'm looking forward to hearing the music they are performing. We're so lucky in Jacksonville to have such a great symphony. More people who take advantage of their performances.

Hope everyone is finding time to do the things that make them happy!

My ABCs

Since I seem to be on a kick to do more samplers, and I've seen this on a few different blogs I thought I'd let you all know more about me. Although I think most of you know me fairly well so this might not be all that interesting.

A - Age: I'm 38.  (Please you thought I'd tell you the truth?)

B - Bed Size: Full, but it's VERY high off the ground.

C - Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom

D - Dogs Name: No current dog, but the dog I had years ago I called Snoopy though his name was Leander Lafayette

E - Essential Start of the Day item: Coffee, food, coffee, tea, caffeine. Did I mention caffeine?

F - Favourite Color: hard one...deep blue, but also garnet, and green.

G - Gold or Silver: Yes!

H - Height: 5ft 6-is"

I - Instruments you play: Piano.

J - Job: Right now...looking for a job. I normally work as a Quality Analyst in the IT world of some sort.

K - Kids: none

L - Living Arrangements: The house my parents built.

M - Music You Love: anything but rap and hard metal. Most everything else is fair game for me.

N - Nicknames: T, Tree, Mericie

O - Overnight Hospital Stay: Just once to have my wisdom teeth removed. They almost had to break my jaw.

P - Pet Peeve: People who don't do their job, or don't do it well, and blame things on other people.

Q - Quote from a Movie: "I'll think about it tomorrow..."! Yeah, I can procrastinate with the best of them.

R - Right handed or Left: Right

S - Siblings: 2 half brothers

T - Time you wake up: right now whenever I wake up.

U - Underwear: Not much for the commando thing, plus I like "girlie" frilly items.

V - Vegetables you dislike: Beans and peas

W - Workout Style: sporadic

X - X-Rays You've had: hand, leg, chest (more than once), neck, teeth.

Y - Yummy Food you make: I've been told I make fantastic brownies. I love my own cooking so I'd tell you lots of things, including dinner!

Z - The best place to Visit -wherever I'm going next!

What Is This?

Well this would be my second finish of the year. Yes, I've managed to finish something else before the month ended. I couldn't be more surprised than any of you are I'm sure. I do have to admit that I had most of this done so finishing wasn't really all that hard, or take all that long. I figure I worked about 10 more hours on it. Oh and by finished I mean I've finished stitching it, not that it's completely finished and ready to be displayed somewhere in my home.

This is one of those pieces that has been buried in my stash for way too long, it's called Simple Elegance. (There's actually a Simple Elegance II in my stash as well, not sure if it will see the light of day this year or not, stay tuned.) I went to Spirit of Cross Stitch, or at least I think it was Spirit that year, back in 1996 and signed up for classes, including the Sunday Sampler. I remember that I thought it was a great idea to learn new stitches and meet teachers. Of course it was on the last day of the seminar, but still I'd meet teachers that I might want to take a class with the next year. I was lucky enough to have both Ginny and Ken Thompson each teach a different stitch. There are some interesting stitches in the middle part, and some are made with some interesting fibers. It was a great introduction to all those things at a time I was just learning specialty stitches. But it got buried and put aside for something more "shiny" until I saw it this weekend and thought I should just bring it out and get it finished. Why not? It's pretty, it will look pretty as a cube-it and it made me smile when I saw my booklet with the pattern and stitches signed by Ginny and Ken. I'm looking forward to finding just the right fabric, maybe in my mom's extensive stash of fabrics, and items to put on the top to make it look even more beautiful.

Now on to finishing the stitching for my Linen Needlework Book from Stacy Nash that we got last weekend. DF Jackie wants to do the finishing together next month which means I've got to "get er done" as they say. It's actually going fairly quickly. Plus I've been working on my parent's surprise 50th wedding anniversary sampler at night when I "go to bed". I finished another of the half motifs at the bottom. I need to get a picture but haven't had a chance to do it in the daylight. This sneaking around is harder than it sounds! Not much knitting going on, just worked on my sock lately. Still no knitting mojo. Well that and I can't find the bag with my Tour de France shawl that I want to work on and I refuse to pick up anything else until I get that in my hands and get something done on it.

Happy Stitching & knitting & whatever!

PS - 18 days until the Budweiser Shootout in Daytona. Now that I officially don't care who wins the Super Bowl I'm just waiting for "the dark days" to be over and cars to go fast in what looks like circles.

A Primitive Weekend Stash Enhancement

Of course I couldn't go all the way to Mesa and visit The Attic without buying a few lovelies to put in my stitching stash. Perish the thought that I wouldn't have! Too many lovely things to look at and pick from, but I managed to narrow it down and brought home just a few.

The Haul

Starting at the top left and moving clockwise around: "Illuminated Letters Sampler" by The Samplar Workes, "HallowEden" by Plum Street Samplers, "Happy Christmas" by Carolina House Designs, "Fancy Peacock Hanging Pinkeep" from Stacy Nash Primitives, "Alphabet Sampler" from Chessie & Me, another Stacy Nash Primitives "Sara Cricks Pocket Roll", a lovely piece by Chessie & Me "Mary K Holt 1810 Sampler", and finally "Neeles & Pins Heart Pinkeep" from With thy Needle & Thread. For some of them I went ahead and got supplies, which of course I know you want to see.

First "Mary K Holt 1810 Sampler". Jean had pieces of 40 ct. Vintage Meadow Rue from Lakeside that they had cut for a different piece but for some reason hadn't used. It will work for this one so I got that and the Belle Soie. Worked over 2 this will be a fairly small piece, but so adorable. I kept looking at it because I liked the verse and when Jean had it all laid out I decided I had to have it. I have decided I need more items on the wall I hung my "Stitcher's Row Sampler" on, and I think this will work there. If not I'm sure I can find an equally perfect place for it. For now this one goes into stash. Hopefully I'll pull it out later this year when I've finished something else.

Next is one I've seen on other blogs and just think is adorable. "HallowEden" will be my first Adam & Eve sampler. Both Jackie and I liked this one so we have decided to have a very loose SAL. There was only one pattern left in the shop so we have to wait for her to get her pattern. We did find the perfect fabric for it and both bought a piece and the Crescent Colours needed. The fabric is 40 ct (again...I'm not sure what I'm thinking!) Newcastle in a color called Purely Primitive. It's more green than it shows up in this picture. I think it's going to look fantastic. I hope Jackie has the pattern in time for our weekend in February.

Next is a seasonal piece I've looked at several times but never purchased because frankly I don't like the colors the designer choose. I love the design so I was "helped" to find just the perfect colors to make this piece my own.

This is "Happy Christmas" and I made some major changes. My plan is to work it over 1 on the 30 ct. Weeks linen in Parchment that I found. That will make it a little over 8 1/2" not quite square. I started my conversion with the red Gloriana Florimell Silk called Poinsettia, apropos don't you think? That will replace the red called for in the pattern. The pattern calls for 2 diffferent greens and 2 different gold colors. I went with 2 greens and one gold. The 2 greens are both Gloriana silks, one is Luminescence 100/3 Silk called Granny Smith Green (that's the lighter one that looks like it's smaller but actually has 20 yards) and the other is the regular silk floss that Gloriana dyes in Elizabethan Green. Then for the gold I went with Aussie Gold from Dinky Dyes, also a silk thread. I think it will look fantastic together and I'm looking forward to working with it. I'll have to see how I think the threads end up looking on the 30 ct. linen. I may end up only doing tent stitch, rather than full crosses.

The final piece that I got fabric for is Chessie & Me's Alphabet Sampler. I went with a piece of Lakeside 36 ct in Vintage Fawn. Such a nice rich color that the reds and browns will look fabulous on. I didn't purchase the fibers because I'm fairly certain I have all, or most of them in my stash, or at the least something that will work just as well. It calls for DMC, Sampler Threads and Weeks all of which I have if I just go looking. This isn't a large piece either, it will end up being about 5" square, so would probably be a fairly easy stitch when I get started on it. I love how the letters go around and around the little girl in the red dress.

 

This piece will definatly go on the wall with Stitchers Row along with hopefully a few other alphabet type pieces that I have in my stash.

That about covers all the goodies I purchased. Lots of pretties to look forward to stitching. I do have something new to show that I finished over the weekend. Yes, I finished something else, well at least I finished stitching it. Job hunting is time consuming, but it's also nice because I have extra time to stitch!

A Primitive Weekend

Finally getting around to trying to tell everything that happened on my trip with DF Jackie to Mesa, AZ for a weekend of stitching put on by the fantastic ladies at The Attic. If you head over to Jackie's blog she has a great day by day description of what we did. Since it's taken me so long to get things together for this post I'll just bring you the eye candy you come to see anyway.

First the great freebies we received during the weekend.

From left to right: from Priscilla's Pocket a beautiful handmade hornbook frame with a great little alphabet sampler to stitch and mount, from Chessie & Me "Rosey Alphabet Pincushion", above a great pair of scissors, a great mini quilt, scissor's holder & pincushion pattern from Renee Plains of Liberty Star, last but not least a beautiful hornbook necklace that Jean gave us on our first evening. There was also another lovely pair of scissors you'll see when I get to the project they go with.

Our first project was from Linda of Chessie & Me, "Needlebook of Stitches". I managed to finish putting the book together and started stitching on the front panel.

Notice the very adorable pair of mini stork scissors? Those were a surprise as well. I'm fairly certain this will end up being finished fairly quickly. It's been added to my current rotation so it will be coming out and seeing the light of day soon I'm sure.

Saturday morning we got a start on "Nancy V. Renssela: An Unfinished Sampler". I haven't decided what to put at the end, I've got some books I want to look through along with looking at the designs Linda gave us with the project. Linda suggested we decide how we're going to approach this project, one of her suggestions was to think about it as if we were Nancy's granddaughter who is going to finish the sampler years later. My grandmother taught me to stitch oh so many years ago, so as a tribute to her I'm going to take that approach. I'm thinking of using a quote at the bottom and I'll put both our initials on it. Here's what I accomplished between class and the other stitching I did on Saturday.

Nancy v. Renssela: An Unfinished Sampler
on 36 ct Vintage Meadow Rue from Lakeside Linens

You can't see it, but I did manage to finish the first row of wording, so that's a very nice start.

That afternoon we were privelged to be invited to the home of Vickie Jennett to view her collection of needlework. What a great afternoon! I told Vickie that I was going to do this, so I guess I have to live up to my promise.

Gotta love a bathroon that has samplers in it! The whole house was full of wonderful examples of needlework. Not to mention sitting in the lovely weather and enjoying our lunch, like Jackie here...

Then there's Deb and Beth enjoying the lovely weather as well.

Deb, Beth, Angela (one of my many friends from the Atlanta Stitch Group), Jackie and I went on a bit of a shopping trip. First we went looking at Vera Bradley at a Hallmark store, we checked out a quilt shop (where I found a couple of lovely fabrics to add to my collection for backing smalls), then on to Vera Bradley and finally to The Attic to make our purchases. By the time we finished the back of Beth's car looked like this...

Bags are hiding bags. Can't say we didn't do our part to help the economy!

Sunday morning brought our time with Stacy Nash. This was the class I'd done the pre-stitching for and I was looking forward to it all weekend. The first order of business was to sew it together, then stuff it with sawdust Stacy had brought with her (don't you wish you could have heard that conversation from TSA when they looked at her suitcase filled with tubs of sawdust???). Then we sewed it up and embellished with stitches and finally used a solution of water and walnut crystals to make it look old. The final result?

The last one shows my little strawberry that we made and then could make as old looking as we wanted. I went for mangy looking! I love how this turned out and am looking forward to her releasing the Christmas themed one she did for a different class. Plus it's my first official finish of the year! Now I can sit back and relax and not worry that I won't finish anything this year.

All in all it was a great weekend. Saw old friends, met new ones and learned some great things. I hope Jean will do another weekend next year and that I can go again.

As an added bonus I got to meet an on-line friend who was also in the area with her son. Wendy & I met on Ravelry because we both like NASCAR. She's part of a group that meets online to chat during the races each week. Since almost everyone lives in a different state it's not like we've all met in person and she lives in WY, so I was excited when she mentioned she might be in Phoenix the same weekend I would be in Mesa. We managed to meet up for dinner. It was so great getting to sit and chat and actually meet! Now I want to meet the rest of "the gang"!

Wendy & I (two Tony Stewart fans together!)

I'm going to finish this post and start another to show you the stash I bought, you knew I did right? Stay tuned!

A Vacation Cut Short

Unfortunately my trip to Atlanta was cut a little short because of the weather, but at least I got to go and have some fun with everyone up there. As usual DF Jean was a fantastic hostess. You know you're going to have a good time when this is what you find on your bed.

Yep, that's some Tony Stewart swag! Those who know me and kept track of my crazy attempt to get a copy of that calendar know that I ended up with 2 of them, plus this one that Jean ordered for me. I took one to my LYS to share the yumminess. I'm not sure where I'm going to put this one, but I'm sure I'll find a place! The picture isn't great since I took it on my iPhone, not sure why I didn't pull out the actual camera, silly me.

The weekend was mostly a lot of hanging out with friends, eating and stitching. Thursday night we headed over to Andy's for some fantastic turkey soup, birthday cake for Jean and stitching. Then on Friday it was all about hanging out at Jean's. We did a little beading...after I did some organizing of Jean's beading stash. There was some stitching and of course eating. Friday is when they started talking about all the snow and ice Atlanta was going to be getting. At first it didn't sound that bad, but it kept getting worse and when Delta started canceling flights and offering to switch people's flights for free, well I decided I should be a little proactive and get my Monday afternoon flight switched to Sunday morning so I could get home before I leave again for AZ. I'm really glad I did since the flight home had very few people on it and I'm not camping out at the airport. Plus I got to take my mom for an early birthday dinner.

Saturday was DF Jean's birthday and we had a great dinner with lots of friends at a great Chinese restaurant. It's always good to be with everyone and this was no exception. I'm not sure why we didn't get a group picture, but we didn't. Maybe next time.

I did some stitching while I was up there. I took several things with me, mostly new starts. Got around to starting three new pieces, which are going into my personal 2011 challenge.

The first is the one I'm doing a SAL with Jean & DF Ann. The Drawn Thead's Alphabets is such a beautiful piece.  (You'll have to follow the link to see what it looks like when finished.) I'd love to say that I'll have this one finished by the end of the year, but I'm not that crazy, and I know myself. I have a plan that if I actually follow it will get me to that goal, but I have a feeling that at some point during the year I'll fall off the wagon, so to speak, and something else will grab my attention. But on to the picture of what I did finish while I was in Atlanta.

copy write The Drawn Thread

I've been working on this today while doing some laundry and trying to not get sick. (Yes, I managed to pick up some bug while I was gone, or more likely I had it when I left.) I'd love to finish this top alphabet this month. Like I said, I have a plan and that's the first month's goal. I think it's doable, so we'll see what happens.

The next piece I started while gone is another big one. Anniversaries of the Heart from Blackbird Designs is my poison of choice this time. I opted to do all the parts on one large piece of fabric. I'm working on a piece of 35ct linen to keep it from being TOO large. I love how it looks, but so far there isn't much to see, especially since what I have done is very light and doesn't show up well when I've tried to photograph it.

That's the best I've been able to do. This will be January's block. I'm working who who it will include. I know my mom will be there since her birthday was Monday. I'm trying to decide whether to have this be just family, or family and friends. I figure I have some time to decide.

I actually have more to show, but I started this post on Monday and it's Wednesday evening and I really need to finish getting packed to leave for Mesa, AZ in the morning. I'll leave you with this little tidbit.

By Milady's Needle, this is the beginning of Margaret W. Brown. I promise I'll tell you more when I get a chance. But now I'm off to get my final items packed and hopefully get a few hours of sleep before I have to be on a plane at 6:50AM!

Happy New Year Happy Dance!

Wow, it turned 2011 and I didn't even take time to write a blog post thinking about all that has happened in the previous year or what I hope to do in the coming one. I have a really good reason too. It seems that my mother is sick with mononucleosis, and apparently it isn't the first time. We have a feeling she had a slight case when I was very, VERY sick with it a little over 20 years ago. This time she's really feeling it. She started feeling bad around Thanksgiving and hasn't felt good since. So, our Christmas was very low key and my final days working on the contract I was working were hectic with work and taking care of her. I know it's not much of an excuse, but it's all I've got.

However, I have had some time to do a few other things, like spend New Year's Eve in Savannah with friends. I didn't manage to get a picture of the entire group, but someone took this picture of me and my friend Donna, she's the tiny one.

I also talked myself and several friends from the sampler guild I belong to into starting a blog to chronicle our personal challenges for this year for finishing things. Since many of us do other things than just stitching there will be all kinds of lovely items showcased. There are currently 7 of us contributing and a few more are expected to join us. I'm so looking forward to seeing what everyone is going to work on this year. Some have their own blogs like I do, but several don't so this will be your opportunity to see the beautiful work they do. I hope you'll take a look and keep coming back to see what these lovely ladies have to share. You can find us at Working to Finish in 2011.

Ok, a couple of quick pictures before I head to finish getting ready to fly to Atlanta for my DF Jean's birthday weekend and to see all my great friends in Atlanta.

First, DF Jackie and I are headed to AZ next month for the Primitive's weekend at The Attic. We're both looking forward to it, especially since this will be Jackie's first opportunity to take classes from stitching designers. We received one of our pre-stitching kits last week and I started it on Jan. 1. I've finished all the stitching and am ready for the class. So proud of myself, but I know that it's helped that I am between contracts right now. When finished it will be a pinkeep drum.

Stacy Nash Primitives
Attic Needlework Peacock Pinkeep Drum
32 ct. linen w/DMC

My personal challenge this year is to finish things, and keep a rotation to work on and attempt not to get distracted from that rotation. In the past when I've done that I've managed to finish things, or move large projects along nicely. You can read more here. I hate to repeat myself too much in the hopes that most of you who still read my blog will head over to the group blog to read it as well.

Finally, for those who won't be reading both, I'll show you the progress I made on Winter Garden Gate last night. I started with this...

(Yep, took this picture at night before I started hence the really yellow color, but you get the idea.) Worked on it for about 2 hours last night and now it looks like this...

This picture actually looks like it does in person. Notice that I started this in 2005. I'll end up putting 2011 on it to show when I finished, plus there is a place for my initials. I was excited to finish the leaves and berries on the left side. I think I'll tackle the right hand Assisi work next, but that's for after I make my way through my list the first time.

I hope to be posting from Atlanta to show my starts and what I'll be working on while I'm there. We plan to spend a lot of time stitching. I'm taking a few things with me to start on so hopefully I can make some good progress on each of them.