In Progress for 2013

So happy to be able to share another finish. I actually finished this only about a week into the New Year, but just now got the picture taken and uploaded.

I started this one some time ago (maybe about 2 years) the pattern was from a magazine and a friend had this large hank of overdyed silk that someone had given her so she shared large amounts with several of us. The minute I saw the silk, I knew it would be perfect for this pattern, even though the magazine had shown it done in green. When I got home, I found I had this piece of overdyed linen that had purple hues over a blue gray linen. The silk also had this purple hue over a deep red or burgundy. I loved the two together and a project was born.

Although my home does not exactly have a victorian flare, I still loved the pattern, and really enjoyed stitching on this when I could. I will try to get it framed by next winter, and proudly hang it in my home regardless of the style.

 

Victorian Skaters

Finished January 2013

 

OK, I also promised to share the few projects I am actively working on right now. I have three of them. The first is The Border Study in Red II, which is a part II of one that I finished and framed a long time ago. I've had the pattern and thread for a while, and even purchased the platinum linen that matched exactly with the Border Study I. But for some reason other projects seemed more interesting. This fall when gathering projects for a weekend gathering of stitching friends I saw this and decided it was the perfect time to get it started. Even though I had taken along a couple of smaller projects that were fun to work on, I did get this started in October, barely, just the first two bands. Once the Victorian Skaters were finished earlier this month, I began finding this to be my favorite at home project. I always love how fast an alphabet goes. I'm about a third of the way down.

 

 

Border study in Red II

started October 2012

 

Next in a design from Cross Eyed Cricket (Vicki Hastings) called Harvest Sampler. It's small and easy to carry to a Tuesday evening gathering, with a few local stitchers, when I can go. I love the saying and picked up some fabric for it back in October. I think I first started it in early December, but haven't made it to stitch with the girls in a while so not much progress. Maybe I can give it a little time tomorrow.

 

Harvest Sampler

started December 2012

 

The last one I have out to work on, is a pretty little, over one, sissor fob design. It's from a designer named Nancy Backus, and I think, I picked up the pattern at the 2011 Celebration of Needlework in St Louis. I found a piece of linen that I liked for it and there was enough to do the front and back designs so I started this too. It is very small and I can only see it well in the early morning when my eyes are fresh, so only a little progress on this, but I am not giving up on it. That peacock looks fun.

 

 

Birds and Flowers

started December 2012

 

I also signed up for something new. A fabric auto, where I will get a fat 1/4 of 36 count linen from Picture This Plus every month. The first piece has already arrived, and now I am on the search in my stash, for the perfect project to stitch on it.

 

It's late and I have to stitch tomorrow, so night all.

 

CJ in OK







New Year and way to long for a new post

Let's try to restart this blog again. I have two new employees starting this month and I am hopeful that I will finally be able to exhale. 2012 was a whirl wind and I am looking forward to calmer and quieter 2013. Maybe even some rest and relaxation.

With rest in mind I registered today for the New England Stitching Retreats in the Shaker Great Stone Dwelling House. Since I grew up in New Hampshire and haven't been back there since I was 16, I thought I could combine a stitching retreat with a trip back to my birthplace. I'll travel up for the stitching and then rent a car for a few days of wandering through my past.

It looks like my last post was before I bought my house, a big step for someone who has been an apartment dweller for about 20 years. Three days after moving in a hail storm destroyed the roof and gutters etc. So I got a crash course on home ownership. But several months and a new roof later all is well. At least my car was safe in the garage during the storm, a luxury I never had in any of the apartments.

FYI, since we last spoke I adopted Lucky a terrier/beagle/??? mix. She was 4 1/2 years old and had never had any shots or been neutered. So we had a lot of new things to go through with her, not all great. But she has adjusted beautifully and now runs my household. I hadn't had a pet since my children were babies so this was a big transition for me.

If this all wasn't enough, right before the house, I became supervisor of the department I worked in and hired a new person, all at the same time. It has been a huge learning experience for me, and after a few ups and downs, hence the two new employees, I am beginning to get my bearings.

Enough of all that life business, lets share some stitching. Although my stitching time was limited, I did get a few things finished and a few more started.

 

 

Here is Ida Mae finished but not yet framed.

Then three other small finishes

I finished another large piece but I don't have the picture in the right place so I will show you next time. I am currently working on Border Study in Red II and a couple of small projects that I will also share as we go along. I need to get a better handle on the changes in Blogger for the pictures, these took forever to get on here and they look terrible.

Good to be back. Talk to you again soon. CJ in OK

Spring is flashing before my eyes.

Is it just me or does spring seem to be rushing past into summer a little early this year? Not to mention another week has flashed past too, without much to post.

I can't say I have much stitching to report, but I will share what I managed to do.

Here is my progress on Ida Mae Crow, what time I have had to work on this has been fun, The new magnifier clips on, I got it from Hobby Lobby with one of their 40% off coupons they post weekly. It's lighted and worked great at first but the light fades after being on for a while. Not a bad clip on magnifier though.

I did find fabric and made a little start on the Birds of a Feather chart I received. Love this Belle Soi thread. This is in my desk at work and I can take a few minutes during lunch to add a few stitches, a nice relaxer on a stressful day.

The only other stitchy thing I did was accumulate a couple more projects from the Inspired Needle, two of the 2012 Year of the Small kits she has put together. I admired the February one on several blogs, so I was happy to see where it came from and then I saw the Small Tokens from BBD that was picked for March and couldn't believe it wasn't already in my stash.

Before I sign off this evening, or morning sinces it's after midnight now, I will share another fish from our tank, or in this case fishes. We call them the twins, my sons theory is buy two fishes at a time because only one will make it, but we have a couple of pairs where both have done great. The twins are small but sassy and really brighten up the tank.

Happy Stitching CJ in OK

Lost in the land of WORK,

can't seem to find my way out. Glad to have a minute to at least post a quick message here. Little to no stitching progress made although Ida Mae has a head, that's about it. My Victorian Skaters remain in the basket by my chair and the new counted canvas piece sits on my desk.

I did receive a nice surprise from Laurie the "Birds of a Feather" chart with her remaining silks, I had won in a drawing a few weeks back, arrived. Thought I could stitch this up in no time but it to sits and waits with the others.

I have a major project to finish up this week and then another waiting it's turn due next month, I wish I was talking about stitching but sadly it's work.

But... then there is spring retreat with my "Just for Fun" friends. It's only a few days but that thought keeps me going. And new fabric will arrive in the mail in a few days maybe I can sneak in a little stitching time then. In fact, I 've decided, to take Ida Mae to work with me, maybe just maybe I can take a little lunch break and stitch just a few stitches. And then tonight find fabric for Birds of a Feather and put it in the car for emergency stitch times. It could happen, right?

Well off to work.
CJ in OK doing OK.

But wait  -  a fish awaits

This is Stipey, he is not my favorite because he is very aggressive and somewhat a bully in the tank. Even though Chubs is much larger Stipey thinks he runs the place. Even in fish tanks the bullies are present. He does these little nip and run moves, picking on the smaller and weaker, but occasionally Chubs will put him in his place and there will be peace in tha tank once again.

Ok, really have to go now. Happy Stitching!

Overcoming Negative Progress or

"casting out the frog".  That's right the frog came to visit and my poor Old Crow was completely stripped of it's top border. But I was determined and I stuck with it today, that mean old frog would not rob me of my planned finish. I just couldn't have a post with negative progress.

So here it is -

OLD CROW

by La D Da

finished 03/10/12

I just laid the frame, I will be using, over the top for the picture, but I love how it is going to look.

Next up is Ida Mae Crow and I picked up the fabric Wednesday, it is 35ct Straw from Weeks. I pulled the DMC threads this afternoon and will get started after I finish here.

Of course there was more than this little piece of fabric, from my visit to the Silver Needle. But a picture is worth a thousand words and here are several pics of my new stash items.



And this was after I sorted through and put several things back. The Celtic Friends came with the threads and little charm. I loved the Chocolate Roses and have already ordered the fabric (Chocolate Raspberry linen) and the Dinky Dyes silk thread Choco Latte. Maxim and Zoya will be a fun stitch and I signed up for the auto shipments of The Flock from SamSarah (there will be 12) because I want to make the wired stand ups of them done on perforated paper.

Panoply of Posies was an impulse buy and when I looked at it later, I realized the count was 250 x 250 stitches. That's a little more than I would normally tackle but the colors are great so maybe this summer I will try to step through it one motif at a time.

The Vera bag was on sale at 50% off so I had to have it for my spring retreat stitching supplies. The JoAnn's in Tulsa is very well stocked and I managed to find a new Ott Lite floor lamp for beside my stitching chair. If that wasn't enough I dropped by Stitches of Tulsa another great shop specializing in needlepoint and knitting. They carry Caron Waterlillies and I picked up all the colors I needed to start the Dance of the Tulips that I had already.

I plan to order the fabric for this one direct from PTP, so that one will start during spring break, if I manage to get a way for a long weekend.

Absolutely, no more stash shopping for me, until the April retreat and then I have to go shop at least a little with the girls.

Now to finish off with another fish intro. Here is Lithgow in all his glory. You saw just a glimpse of him swimming under Chubs last post, so you can tell he is one of the smaller fish in our tank. I thought he looked hairy, with his coloring and fin, so my son asked who the star on Harry and the Henderson's was, that's how he got his name, after John Lithgow. This little guy is my favorite because he is small but mighty.

Happy Stitching,

CJ in OK ;-)



Two weeks flew by Too fast

Work has kept me very busy but some progress has been made. Even a finish so I will start with that.

I finished stitching First Bass from Ink Circles Thursday evening. This was after I decided to take a day on vacation on Leap Day. It was a reward I promised myself after making it through the week before and month end close. I made it a special stitching day, and had hopes to head to Tulsa for a little stash therapy, but I was making such progress that I decided to stay where I was. So here is the result.

First Bass

by Ink Circles

finished 030212

So glad I didn't head to Tulsa as I will have to be there three days this week for work. I will get all my stash shopping done Tuesday and Wednesday evening and then head to my hotel room to stitch.

I do have a little more progress on Old Crow and should be able to finish this up while in Tulsa. Here's where it is right now.

My Victorian Skaters were stitched on a bit, but not enough to bother with another picture. It seems Sunday evening I feel quilty for not touching it all week and then stitch a bit before bed, maybe that will just be my process for this one.

I have an old counted thread project that I think I will start this week too, since I had a finish and then I have another crow piece to start when the Old Crow is done. That one is called Ida Mae (just happens to be my Grandmothers name) Crow from the Goode Huswife. I will pick up the 35ct Weeks Straw linen to get that one ready to go. I can show the patterns with my new starts next time.

There was fun with fish this week, as we added a new member to the tank. Since I have not shared about the fish before I thought I would show one fish at the end of each post, until you have seen them all.

This is Chubs the biggest one in the tank although

it's hard to really show how big he is. Maybe 7 or 8" long. He really looks more like

navy blue, but the flash bounces off his scales that are irridescent.

(Lithgow is peeking out from under him but I will introduce him later)



I tried to catch up on everyones blog posts, but only got through the most recent ones this afternoon. Always inspiring. Thanks, CJ in OK ;-)





Lots of Stash and some stitching

OK, so I went a little crazy with the stash this week. But it was really about three weeks of purchases that all caught up with me at my new place at once.

First this group of goodies from Stitching Bit and Bobs and the two missing magazines I found on eBay. It includes the final part of Margaret Cottam, All four parts of of Libertyville (because they were on sale), A Little love by L*K, plus her Flora McSample 2011 ornaments, and Tis Better from La-D-Da, which will be my next fun little one to start. It is just to cute.

And... then there was this bunch that I got from Silver Needle.

The DVD is to help me with a couple of kits I have from Teresa Layman. I have had her class but needed a refresher course to get me going again. Boughs of Holly is a Christmas wantabe but we'll see. The travel guide for my road trips from here to various retreats. Then you may see something familiar, another Flora McSample 2011 ornaments pattern. Yes, I bought it twice, so if any of you would like it just shoot me an email and I will pass it on. You know you like it when you buy it twice.

OK, now for the stitching progress. I warn you thinks were crazy at work this week so very little stitching was done between Monday and Friday.

First up is First Bass,

the picture is from Friday nights progress so I have a little more in this already, maybe a finish by next weekend.

The other project is Old Crow which I had a little trouble with because I was missing one thread color. Yes it is just DMC but I looked everywhere and didn't have 3787. So off to Hobby Lobby I went, but the bin for that color was empty.

But how do you leave Hoppy Lobby without anything, so I hit the clearance shelf, which means more stash, no projects in mind, just possible finishing things. For $5 I consider it a bargain.

The tassels are brown and cream and that fabric just jumped out at me, I may have to find a St Patties day project to use it on.

After all that running around and a second Hobby Lobby I found the 3787 and the Old Crow continued some. (..and two baskets came home with me from the second store too).

That's all for today. I haven't stitched any this week on the Victorian Skaters so I will try to squeeze that in this evening. First I have to go find a new desk chair, as my other one died in the move and this chair I am using just doesn't work. I want one that will double as a stitching chair, of course.

I tried to catch up on most of the blog reading and posting before I started this post but if I missed you then, congrats on the finish, good progress, feel better or nice to hear from you, whichever applies. I'll catch you next time.

CJ in OK ;-)