May Days

I squeaked in two more finishes last week to end the month. In addition to last week's finish of Month Markings, I finished Starry Night, and Pumpkin Spice a freebie from 21 Halloween Cross-Stitch Projects in 2021. I really love the look of the WDW Autumn Harvest thread.

Starry Night

Prairie Schooler

Stitched on black 28ct Lugana (I think)

A tad too big for an ornament, possibly a pillow or flat fold finish.

Pumpkin Spice

Hel Panda Ross

FlossTube/Instagram made me do it:

I pulled out Just Add Tinsel, Blue Ribbon Designs to stitch along with Lorrie of Mischievousstitches and friends. I finished the front and back of the Star Pinkeep. I had to made a design modification (wink, wink) since I had made the stars' outline too small and didn't want to frog. (Full disclosure, most of these two were already stitched. I just added the flowers etc.) The next piece I will be tackling is the scissor fob. One of the birds is almost done. 

Just Add Tinsel

Blue Ribbon Design

Laura and Brenda of Laura and  the Serial Starter have challenged the lovers of  Blackbird Designs to stitch a Blackbird Weekend on the first weekend each month. I have several started and a lot more planned, Soooo..., this past weekend pulled out  Casting A Spell. This is also on my WIPGO board so thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I worked on the border for the Halloween sign.

Casting a Spell

Blackbird Designs

SPEAKING OF:

The WIPGO numbers for May were posted last week and they are:

 

My projects are 22: The Game, goal stitch 5 days this month (about 5 hours)

My minuscule start.

The Game

Artecy Designs

My progress on Sunday after spending some time wrangling my threads and attempting to get better organized.

This sepia toned cross stitch is from an antique print. I'll have to make it about a 3rd the way down the left side (top of the chair back/top of girls head) before I can see any definition.

19: Hands on Design 12-Days  I have only 4 more of these ornaments to stitch. I have been stuck on Ladies Dancing for far to long. Not sure what my problem. Hopefully this will get me over the hump and I'll get the last 4 at least stitched this year.

12 Days

Hands on Designs

I will see if I can fit any of these into the May Acrostic on 24 Hours of Cross Stitch. 

Thanks for stopping by,

<span style="color: 41383c; font-family: VIVALDI; font-size: 40px;">Gwen</span></div>

Stitching Hopes and Dreams for 2019

Hosted by Measi's Musing

This is my second attempt the first post disappeared in to a black hole somewhere.

Making a list is usually a death knell for me. I would really like for 2019 to be the year of WIPs for me. While I haven't counted, I know the number is staggering. So here is what I want to do in 2019.

WIPs: 1.) the last 4 charts of Hands On Design 12 Days

2. Merry Christmas Drum - BBD

3. 'Tis the Season - BBD

4.) Lizzie Kate monthly Flip It/Flip It Bits

5.) Name Trees
6.) Halloween at Hollyberry Farm - Stacy Nash

7.) Home Town Holiday Series - Little House Needle Works
8.) Christmas Ornament SAL
9.) Halloween Ornament SAL

Start: 10.) Christmas Quaker Needle Roll - Praiseworthy Stitches class piece
11.) Another Year Creeps By - Ink Circles
12.) Christmas Garden - BBD

This is my stitching starting point for 2019.

I've started (again) to organize my stash. The goal is to avoid buying this I have already purchased and just get what I need to complete the ones I already have. To that end the all by two number groups of  DMC floss (100s and 300s) are sorted, tagged and bagged. I need some more labels then I can complete this and move on to the specialty threads.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hope 2019 is a Stitchy Year for you!

The Needles are Moving Again

September is here and there is a slight crispness in the air. I am grateful for the cooler temperatures we have had the last few weeks.
I have managed to mount my Berrie Pyn Boxe in the lid of the box. I still haven't gotten the wool for the pin cushion yet so that will come later.

A couple of weeks ago a few of us from my EGA Guild got together to bead a Christmas Ball. The project appeared in the December 2011  issue of Needle Arts Magazine.

Here is my finished Beaded Christmas Ball. It was a lot of fun and a quick finish.





I have started BBD Mother's Garden.

Thanks for stopping by,
Gwen

Monday Blahs

I had great and lofty plans for working in the yard this morning then stitching all afternoon, but the weather has been yucky since Saturday. We have had thunderstorms and some rain all weekend long. It should have been a good day to just sit and stitch but I have a case of the blahs and haven't done much today. Hopefully this post with help me shake this off and get some work done.

Last week I finished Block 1 of AHRH.

Also worked some more on Beyond My Heart.

Thanks for stopping by,
Gwen

SSS....Some Seasonal Stitching

Looking at the date of my last post and the calender I see that I have missed a whole month.  It is hard to believe that November is not only here, but it is almost half over. Can the Christmas season be far behind?
In October I started some seasonal stitching.Moonlit Garden, BBD is the sampler that I chose to work on.  I also completed the stitching on a few ornaments. Not wanting them to land on the pile of
stitched-but-not-finished, I have spent at least an hour each day this week on finishing.

 My Seasonal Ornaments:

 

Pumpkin Stack

Finished with a felt back and ribbon hanger.

 

A Time To Reap

Plum Pudding NeedArt

Hopefully I will get some Christmas stitching done before the big day. Where oh where did the year and all my good intentions go?

 Until next time,

Gwen

Tiny Steps

I made some progress in my stitching last week. On Friday I was able to stitch with my Friday Stitch-In group. I had not been able to attend for several weeks. It was nice to see everyone there and to catch up on the happenings and latest projects. I worked on BBD Loose Feathers #35 and got the top border and the alphabet for the pin keep started.

On Friday evening it was time to work some more on my 'Tavern Welcome'.

On Saturday I decided to tackle some finishing. I started work on some ornaments that have been lavishing in the finishing pile. I wasn't able to complete them, but here is my start.

I hope to have a new finish soon and also some assembled ornaments this month.

Gwen

Fourth of July update

Happy Fourth everyone, Hope you are having a great day.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to be invited to NY to take a class with Jackie of It's Fine-ally Finished. Jackie taught Hands to Work, Hearts to God. This is a super project with Jackie's flare for beautiful and functional smalls. During class we worked on the lining for the Shaker carrier and started finishing the pieces that we had pre-stitched. I need to finish some hand stitching on my liner then it will be done. My lyre waxer pocket is done (middle left of 2nd picture on IFF site) and now I am working on the thread pail (gold piece upper right in 2nd picture on IFF site). Hope to have some pictures to share soon.

I do have 2 things that I finished on Friday night. One is my BBD Stocking that I started last month:

BBD: Winter Carnation
Fabric: 28 ct Coffee/tea dyed a la Vonna
Fibers: per pattern

and the second is a Mill Hill Kit that I did in honor of The Fourth of July.

Mill Hill: Flag Star
Perforated paper
Fibers and beads from kit.

Here is a link for a freebie chart if you would like to get started on your patriotic stitching: Quaker 4th of July , Thank you Aury.

Hope everyone is having a safe Fourth.
Thanks for stopping by,
Gwen

Three more finishes

I have been away from blogging for a few weeks. For now, I will just share some projects that I have finished stitching.

First up is the Traveling Stitcher, LHN.



Second is BBD's, Sampler Stocking. It is the first ornament I have stitched in a couple of months, so I was very happy to get it done. Hopefully I can get back to stitching one ornament per month.


I see from her blog that Annette has received the bookmark I stitched for her. This was a part of HoE Bookmark Exchange.


I have had a couple of family emergencies in the past couple of weeks and now some issues with appliances at my home. I hope that things will settle down and get back to normal soon, need to get my stitching rhythm back.

Happy Stitching, Thanks for stopping by.

Gwen

January progress...........

I had a couple of finishes already this month. I mailed my first exchange of the year off to its new owner today. I also finished my first ornament.

Snowflake 2007 - Heritage Series
JSC 2007
Fabric: 32ct Millenium Blue Belfast
Fibers: DMC blanc
Beads: Mill Hill
I am a bit behind on my ornament starts already. My goal is to get at least one done each month so it's not too bad, but I hope to have a Christmas ornament done by Friday to fulfill my Seasonal Ornament SAL (SO SAL).

I am very close to a finish on a piece from my friend Chris. I want to get it done this week as well. I just need to add one more squirrel, the date, and a button and A is For Acorn, Hillside Samplings will done and ready for the framer.
(I have stitched some more on this since the picture.)

Last week during the Let's Stitch SAT I worked on Lettres "G", here is my progress.
Letters "G" - Gigi R

I was able to get some stitches in on Where My Heart Blooms and a new start on Sunday with Quaker Inspired. So all in all this has been a very good month for stitching.

Gwen

First Week's Report.

This first week of the New Year I have worked on 3 projects. On the first I started stitching "G" by Gigi. I am working from the upper left, top down. I am stitching with Splendor D906 but, I think I will need to add another color.

Lettres Gigi "G"
Designer: Gigi R

As I continue with my Friday night stitching with Let's Stitch, I was able to finish most of the roof on Where My Heart Blooms (WMHB). The house has large areas of solid cross stitches so I had thought of stitching the house in long arm cross. Since the house does have some color changes I am not sure I can execute it well. I will have to try it and see if I like the results.

Where My Heat Blooms (WMHB)
Designer: Blackbird Designs

My third piece of stitching this past week was on an exchange project. No pictures to share of course that will have to come later.

Happy New Year!

This year I really want to work on my stash. I have so many projects that I want to stitch. My goal is to work my way through some of the ones that I have started and others that have not seen the light of day for many moons.

The first project out of the block is this project by Catherine Theron. It was one of the Round Robin projects from Celebration of Needlework, Nashua. This was to be my last project for 2008 but, it took a few hours this morning to finish it up.

Little Blackbird Ornament
Catherine Theron

My first start for 2009 is Letter "G" by Gigi. I started this project today while watching a Private Practice marathon. I am stitching it on a 32ct antique white fabric with Rainbow Gallery Splendor S906. I should have enough done for a picture with my next post.

I plan to continue working on BBD's Where My Heart Blooms and pull out one of my UFO's. If I work on my UFO's consistently I can reduce the number. I am afraid to attempt a count but I know I have a LOT.

There are some ornaments that I stitched that did not make it on the tree last year I want to get those finished soon and continue stitching an ornament a month. With some exchanges and gifts thrown in I should be very busy.

Gwen

Stitch and Stash

I am about half way done stitching What a Hoot by The Cat's Whiskers. I hope that I can have it done by the end of the week. I really need a finishing weekend soon.

I have decided on my ornament for February. I will stitch 2005 JCS Christmas Tree by Elizabeth Designs.

The Passetemps Huswif, The Song They Sang,Where My Heart Blooms, 2 small stumpwork patterns and a chart for a canvas humbug bag arrived on Friday. Now to stalk the mailman for the items from Market. So little time so much to stitch.

August Recap

The month of August flew by. It is finally getting a little cooler here. The last week of the month I was finally able to finish Blackbird Designs' Flea Market Souvenir, a scissor fob for my new limited edition Gingher 'Glory' Scissors and a treat bag for my DS.

I started out the month of September by completing 2 ATCs that I need to mail. I have fallen woefully behind on my exchange. I would love to complete at least 2 more before this long weekend is over. Now I am getting ready for 2 classes that require pre-stitching. One is a new

class from Jane Timmers, Fancy Work and the other an on-line class from Jackie du Plessis, It's Fine-ally Finished. My local EGA chapter is sponsoring the class by Jane and Jackie's class is being offered through Lois at Elegant Stitch.

March update

Easter Card 2007

I took a trip to CA to visit my DS. I had a great time and actually got some stitching done. I have most of the house on part 2 of BBD Flea Market Souvenir and some motifs on Sarah Moon.
















Since I returned from my trip I received the first Loose Feathers Designs for 2007, "Thier Song". It is now on the list for rotation after I finish FMS and "Secreat Garden" (already started). (I really need to figure out how to improve my formatting.)