Archive for the Category ◊ Finishes ◊

Author: Measi

• Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

I’ve had “get a blog post together…” in my head for two weeks now, but got slammed with a nasty cold/bronchitis/plague thing on Superbowl Sunday that has only finally started to release its grip on me in the last couple of days. So I have a LOT of catching up to do, don’t I?

Pregnancy news
All continues to go well. As of Monday, I hit the “one month until due date” mark. My mom and I are both figuring I’ll likely go a little early, and for some reason we’re both in agreement that I’ll deliver sometime around March 8-13th, around my grandparents’ birthdates. We’ll see if that holds true, or not. That would put me safely in the 38 week range.

I’ve had two ultrasounds since early January to verify my due date and check on Max’s progress. Since I’m one of those mamas who flunked the glucose tolerance test AND I’m measuring quite big on the fundal height scale, I’ve been testing my blood sugar 4 times per day since New Year’s Eve, and the ultrasounds were to measure Max’s size and the amount of fluid I have. Thankfully all’s fine. My blood sugar is doing just fine – I’ll go a little high after some meals (we’re talking 130s, maybe 140s), but it always comes back down, and my fasting levels in the morning are nice and steady in the upper 80s/low 90s. The gallstones have been kept under pretty good control, although I have had a couple flare ups – mostly due to eating too big of meals for the amount of space I have available for food in my stomach these days.

I’m just measuring big on my fundal height (which is a low-tech measurement done with a tape measure over your stomach from the top of your uterus to the bottom… almost at the top of the genitals), and really… I pointed out to my OB that I didn’t start this pregnancy as a small woman. A lot of that fundal height measurement has to be due to my obesity to begin with, right? It’s the elephant in the room, but there you go – fat chick is going to measure fat when she’s pregnant. I’m still down nearly 20 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, believe it or not – and my current weight includes whatever is in my uterus right now between Max, placenta, and fluid. Apparently pregnancy is my Weight Watchers.

I am having the typical end-of-pregnancy annoyances, and the cold/cough I’ve had this month haven’t helped. One day I’ll feel pretty good, and the next day I’m sore as hell and can barely walk. I tire easily like I did at the beginning of this adventure. I’m trying not to be whiny and cranky and just try to take it easy as best I can. Hard to do while working full-time with my commute from hell, but I’m managing. That’s all I can do.

I will say – Erich’s been amazingly awesome about everything. He’s picking up some extra chores around the house and trying to get me to sit still and be quiet in the evenings and over weekends. If anything, he’s perhaps a little over-protective of me. Right now, I’m loving it. I really am. Although I still have to protest because I feel a little helpless, and that just makes me grumbly. I know it won’t last for long, though – so I should take advantage of it while I can!

Baby Incoming Prep

Erich’s been working on prepping the nursery over the past few weekends. He also was nailed with this cold/cough, and was sidetracked one weekend when our power went out during the massive “Nemo” storm that came through… but he’s getting there. The wallpaper in what used to be my office has been extremely cranky to remove, even with a steamer, and there’s a lot of wall repair to be done due to what I’ve called “load bearing wallpaper” on one wall where the plaster fell off as the paper was removed. He’s hoping to get the walls completely stripped this weekend so he can do the wall repair over the course of the next week. Then it’s just painting.

We had planned to purchase one of the 4-in-1 convertible cribs from Babies R Us and then just use my desk as a changing table/storage hutch… but plans have changed (thankfully before we ordered the crib). We’re getting the nursery furniture via my mom for a great deal. She sells new homes, and the model she’s working out of is about to be sold. Since the buyer doesn’t want the furniture, it has been put up for bids first to employees, and then I guess whatever’s left over will be sold off in some fashion or re-used in other models (maybe?). This particular model was set up with a nursery, so we’re getting the entire room for a great deal. The furniture is all black and comes with a sleigh crib with an understorage drawer, a changing table with a hutch, and a bookcase. It looks like the instructions for the crib are in the drawer from one of the photos Mom sent me – so hopefully I can track down whether it converts into a post-crib bed or not (like so many of them do these days). The furniture will come with all of the bedding and such. It’s adorable bedding but entirely girl (think pink and white 1950′s poodle skirts… seriously, it’s adorable… but girly to the extreme). I’ll store that away for now. It’s never been used, and maybe will make a great gift or hand-me-down to a friend who has a baby girl later. (or who knows… maybe Max will be into pink poodles…). We’re going with the monkey/jungle theme for the nursery – soft greens, yellows, and browns.

Other than the nursery, all of the basics are pretty much together or will be shortly. Last weekend we picked up most of the basics we need to start off. Diapers in both disposable and cloth varieties are ready and waiting. This afternoon I’m going to get the replacement parts for the breast pump, since I do plan on breastfeeding and pumping (partially for when I go back to work, but also so Erich can share with feeding times), covers for the pack-and-play bassinet (since that will serve as a crib until the real one arrives), and a swing (for another sleep option and “mom needs to grab something or rest her arms” option). We’re installing the car seat this weekend. I’m gathering the basics for my hospital bag so it’s ready to go. Tomorrow is the big birthing class event (I’ll try not to think of the Bill Cosby routine when I’m “learning” to breathe). I just have a bunch of baby laundry to finish washing.

But honestly – other than being scared to death of this whole giving birth concept that’s looming, I’m feeling pretty good about where we stand on the supplies for now. I mean – toys aren’t really needed at this point. It’s basically safe sleeping spots, safety for traveling to the doctor, tons of diapers, clothes, and comfy spots for feedings and cuddles. To start out, at least, I think we’re in good shape… and worst comes to worst, Erich has to make a run to grab something.

Stitchy Updates
On the first day of February, I finished Pocketful of Peppermint by Blue Ribbon Designs:

Those who have followed my blog may recall that this was the piece I obtained via my first Stitcher’s Hideaway retreat back in 2010. Belinda Karls-Nace taught an ornament to go with it in class. Mine is stitched on 36 count Legacy linen from Picture This Plus. The only change I made was not using the Kreinik called for in the pattern – the color wasn’t working with my adjusted fabric choice (Belinda’s original was on a darker, raw linen color). I opted to just use the white floss on its own (rather than the Kreinik/white blend).

I realized I never posted my ornaments from the end of 2012, so here are all of my finishes. I was very busy in November! (If you click on the photos, you’ll get a larger image from the page on my Flickr account for a better view)

For the exchange on the Super Serial Starters/Divine Disciplined Divas group on Facebook. This is from the 2012 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. I stitched with GAST sampler threads and scrap fabric I had in my stash. I twisted the cord out of DMC.

This was a fun, quick stitch… I think I did the entire ornament in a week, which is a record for me.

For the 2012 TWCOE (Teresa Wentzler exchange). This is TW’s Peacock Tapestry ornament. I pulled DMC colors between 792-800, plus a couple other colors to add in greys and such. I really like how this color variation came out… completely unplanned. I would just pull a color and start stitching. I was a bit stupid and forgot to write down the color-to-color conversion, though… so it’s now officially a one-of-a-kind. Cord is again twisted by me in DMC.

This was the ornament I stitched for the exchange for the Teresa Wentzler group on Facebook. It’s TW’s Father Winter ornament in called-for colors, finished as a hanging biscornu. I honestly LOVE how this came out, and I think I may finish my TW ornaments like this from now on, because I just love the three-dimensional finish (and it’s SO EASY).

Twisted cord again in DMC. My mom’s kitchen drawer pulls got a work-out one morning over Thanksgiving weekend with all of these. :)

So these days, I’m stitching on the new Blue Jeans & Daisies sampler from Blue Ribbon Designs… it’s the 3-part mystery that just was released in January. I chose to stitch on 35 ct fabric, which took a bit longer to ship due to a mix-up at some point in the supply chain, so I only received my chart and supplies about 10 days ago. I’m making good progress, though. Photo on the right is where it stood as of my photo yesterday afternoon. This sampler is MUCH bigger than the Pocketful of Peppermint one above. Just as with Peppermint, I’m working Blue Jeans on my 11 inch Q-snaps. Peppermint fit entirely in them. This is just part one of three for Blue Jeans, and the fabric is only a single count “bigger.” The height of the sampler is about the same (I’ve stitched top to bottom to frame the left side already) – but I have a lot of fabric width tucked under the Q’s in this photo.

It’s a nice, easy, relaxing stitch – so I’ll probably stick with this until I give birth. And then we’ll see what I stitch on once I’m functionally able to again. I haven’t made any real goals for 2013… just to stitch when and if I can. Blue Jeans & Daisies was my only splurge purchase for the year. I don’t plan on spending money on stitching supplies at all this year, unless it’s to replace a missing bobbin on one of my many WIPs. I’ve been told by friends that I may have more stitching time than I expect once we have a baby routine down, but for now I know it’s best not to make any plans and to just let life come as it’s going to come.

So phew! Status updated! That took a bit longer than I expected… I’d better get my butt moving and get out to shopping for these supplies I need to buy.

I imagine, with how my updates have gone, that the next one will include Max saying hi in person.

Until then…

Category: Baby, Big Life Events, Finishes, SALs/Challenges, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: babies, blue jeans and daisies, blue ribbon designs, max, ornaments, pocketful of peppermint, wipocalypse | 17 Comments

Finally – a WIPocalypse update!

Author: Measi

• Sunday, November 04th, 2012

I seriously didn’t mean to go so long without updating my own progress. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve done it since July… ouch. Most of the delay is just truly due to the pregnancy chaos, but it also doesn’t help that my MacBook battery decided in the middle of the summer to start splitting itself apart (literally – the casing just started to split). I haven’t gotten around to getting a new battery (and likely won’t any time soon, with more important things to budget now), so Erich’s desktop is my home access to the internet, and it’s been a while since I had to share a computer!

So for now, I’m going to update on the pieces I can recall that have had progress since the end of July. My updates go all the way back to the Stitching Olympics, which now seem like they were years ago! I managed to work on 13 projects in August, each for a time of 2-10 hours, depending on whether I worked them at home or on my commutes.

One piece, Book of Ink Circles, sadly spent its entire time being counted and recounted, only to discover that I have some major stitching errors all over the place. I’m going to have to start over on it (ugh). So no photo updates on that one. Picture a blank canvas.

I managed one finish during the Stitching Olympics. My Mirabilia Round Robin from 2011 is now DONE! I finished her up by adding Enchanted Mermaid to the bottom center square. I intentionally flipped her profile so I now have four faces in either direction (most of the queens, and other profile Miras, seem to face toward the right, interestingly enough). Now I just need to press her and get her framed!

Mirabilia Round Robin – started February 2011 on a Silkweaver 28 ct green solo (pre-takeover). Stitched by fabulous women in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and UK. Completed August 17, 2012.

I also put some time into my Floral Bellpull from Teresa Wentzler. Not a lot – I’m confetti stitching at the moment, so it’s a slow process and I need to take breaks fairly often. This is the one TW that I’d like to complete this year. Once my ornaments are done for exchanges, I’m going to focus on this for a while. After this square, I only have one more to do… so it’s still feasible that I could get it done by the end of December.

Photo as of August 10, 2012.

Quaker Compass was a new start for me in July. I picked up the pattern at Celebrations of Needlework in May, falling in love with the model – but I felt it needed just a little more color. I’m stitching this in a lavender to green to purple Threadworx overdye, and I’ll do the alphabet letters in a solid green that matches the darkest green in the variegated floss. I’m stitching this on 36 ct Sterling from Picture This Plus. The photo is my progress as of August 10th.

I continue to be fascinated by Rosewood Manor pieces. I’m firmly in the camp that the photos on the front of the charts by this designer never, ever seem to draw my interest. But oh my gosh, the models. When you actually see these pieces completed and done on the wall, they are astonishing. Really truly. Both years at Celebrations in Nashua, I could have spent hours in the Rosewood booth. Not only are these pieces incredibly intricate, but so many of them are flipping huge – just the type of projects I tend to adore (which is a reason why I seem to never get stuff done!)

My other pretty big progress photo from the Stitching Olympics is of Pocketful of Peppermint by Blue Ribbon Designs. This piece was taught in the first class I ever took at Stitcher’s Hideaway back in October 2010, but I didn’t manage to get the actual piece started until the beginning of this year. I have one more column of squares to stitch, and then filling everything in will take virtually no time at all. I’m expecting to have this done by the end of the year – it’ll probably be my travel piece when I head to my mom’s for Thanksgiving, and it’s also a piece that – once I get the rest of the frames done (since some are in specialty stitches), I’ll be able to stitch during my train commutes.

Photo as of August 31, 2012

The rest of my photos are of progress post-Stitching Olympics. I worked on some of these pieces in August, but didn’t take timely photos… so they’re just up to date as of this past week.

Deep Blue Sea by Chatelaine continues to progress slowly but surely. I’m almost done with part two – I’m adding the red starfish (stitched over one), convinced that I truly am into self-torture by deciding to stitch this piece on dark fabric… and now with stuff over one. But it is coming along. I brought this with me to Stitcher’s Hideaway at the end of October and spent a good chunk of day one doing red stars. I obviously am not anywhere near “on time” with the releases of the mystery, since part eleven was just released on the 1st… but I honestly never expected to be. At this point, I’m hoping to have part two done by the end of the year, and I’ll be happy with that. Over one stitching is probably one of the things I struggle with the most. I do use a magnifier, but it’s just one of those things that I’m incredibly slow at.

Photo progress as of October 28, 2012. Stitched on 28 ct Phantom by Picture This Plus.

It’ll be a slow and steady project, but I’ll have all of the charts, and Deep Blue Sea will get done when it gets done. With the kiddo on the way, I’m estimating… 2015 at this point? Maybe? Needless to say, I won’t be joining the next Mystery, but that’s okay, since I can’t exactly afford another one (or another project) at this point.

Witches Wheel by Glendon Place is also crawling along a little. It was stalled only when I somehow lost ALL of the black bobbins I’d stored with the piece – or I’d have quite a bit more done. I hate it when I get broken out of the zone on a piece for something as silly as missing bobbins. I think I’ll blame my cats! In any case, the star at the top is the top of this piece, with the exception of a large circle two stitches above it that rings the entire design. I’ll add that once I’m done with everything in the center, to make sure I don’t screw up the count. My fabric always seems to photograph very yellow – but it truly is just a perfectly pumpkin orange wherever you see the yellow in the fabric.

Progress photo as of September 5, 2012. Stitched on 32 ct Solar from Picture This Plus (per design specs)

Witchy Washy is the other piece I brought with me to Stitcher’s Hideaway this year – and I spent part of the second day adding the basket. I’m just about done with it, but had to break to get the aforementioned ornaments done. I’m probably about 65% done with the piece. This is another that will likely commute with me in the upcoming months. I hope to get it done sometime in January.

Progress as of November 4, 2012. Stitched on 28 ct Manhattan Mist from Silkweaver (pre-takeover)

The final photo to share is the ornament I did for the 10th anniversary Stitcher’s Hideaway exchange at the retreat. Every retreat, there’s some sort of a handmade exchange. Back in March, it was a scissor fob. For two other Hideaways, it was a Christmas ornament. This October’s retreat was a “Spooky Retreat,” so everything was Halloween themed. I decided to stitch one of the cute designs from last year’s big green Halloween book from Just Cross Stitch. This design is by Blue Ribbon Designs. I stitched it on an unlabeled scrap of neutral linen I had in my stash… it’s either 28 or 30 count. The front is shown here. I labeled it on the back with “2012 Spooky Retreat, Mystic, CT.” I completed this the night before the exchange – on October 25th. :)

I undoubtedly missed some updates from back in August… and I’ll try to pick those up at the end of the month. For now, I’m working on three ornaments for three holiday exchanges. Two are Teresa Wentzler ornaments. I’ve just about completed the stitching on one, and the other will get started tomorrow night. The other exchange is for one of the Facebook groups I’m part of, and the ornament is stitched – I just need to put it together. I’m planning on getting all three ornaments done at the same time. At this rate, hopefully that will be next Sunday.

Since they’re for exchanges, I obviously won’t be able to share them until they’re received. My goal is to get all three sent off just before Thanksgiving, which would make them perfectly timed for my November Wipocalypse update.

It’s been a wacky few months of stitching – but as you can see, I have been busy and making some good progress, despite the challenge of the morning sickness, tons of doctor appointments, and the resulting wacky work schedule.

Happy stitching everyone!

More personal updates in an update later this week. :)

July WIPocalypse Update…

Author: Measi

• Saturday, July 14th, 2012

So I was frantic to try to get a couple pieces done before I did my post for the month. I almost got both done – but a few missing Mill Hill Treasures are thwarting the second finish for another week. Since I’m already late for the month, might as well get it up!

June was a good month for me stitch-wise. I focused the entire month on a few pieces that were close to being finished. I underestimated the amount of stitching required for one of them, but managed to get a long time UFO done, almost finished another, and rewarded myself with a new start that I probably didn’t need – but it’s been screaming since I bought the pattern.

So… the finish first! This is Walk in the Woods by Cricket Collection. Long-time readers of my blog (or friends of mine on Facebook) might recall that this is one of two unfinished piece I found in my mother-in-law’s stash after she passed away five years ago. I vowed to finish both pieces. Garden Sampler was finished in 2010. I finished Walk in the Woods on July 6th.

It’s stitched on 18 ct Aida that’s a very, very light grey. Colors are all DMC as instructed. I freeformed the signature to include both of us. I honestly don’t know when Debbie started this, sadly, so I couldn’t include a start date. The chart was published in 1988. I’m guessing it was after the dye change in DMC, though, because I didn’t have trouble matching new bobbins to what she had originally stitched. When I found it, it only had the top border, the A, the B, and the E completed, including a counting error that even I didn’t catch.
I do have to thank Kris a lot for her help on this. Last year we were involved in a UFO round robin together, and with only one rotation round left, one of my other pieces came home. I had to scramble for something practical to send… and this was really the only thing at the time that I could come up with. She did a tremendous amount of the work to get it going again. When it’s framed, I’ll be adding her name to the description label I’ll place on the backing paper.

Very happy this one’s done. I’m hoping to get it framed and give it to my husband to hang wherever he’d like it placed.

Next up is the almost finished Mirabilia round robin from last year. With some input from fellow stitchers, I decided to swap out Venetian Opulence for Enchanted Mermaid in the bottom central square. I’m glad I did – she looks great. If you’re thinking she looks a bit different, you’re right. I flipped her backwards so she’d be facing toward the left to balance the piece 4 and 4.

I know I ordered and received all of the treasures I needed to complete the piece, but sometime in the last couple weeks, three packs of treasures went wandering and I’ve searched everywhere. So I’ll order again. I have some other beading still to do, but it will be easier and more efficient to just string everything together, so I’ll wait until those treasures come back in to finish it up. I imagine it’ll only take a couple hours at this point.

Of course, that means that the day after I finish the piece, those three packs will turn up, right? :)

Next up is Smoky Mountain Cats from Pegasus Designs (aka “the field of blue”), which also went out for a round robin last year. I thought I could finish this piece last month, but completely underestimated what was left to do. Still, I did about 10 hours on it and got a decent amount done (the super dark colors on the bottom, plus a little extra). As of right now, this is one of the three longest-running UFOs I have. It’s an easy piece to work on the train, so I may start keeping it in my work bag for the train, and just working a little at a time.

It’s one of those pieces that’s a bit frustrating. It came as a kit, and the thread quality is pretty bad. In hindsight, I could have swapped out for DMC and probably would have had this thing done by now. I think this piece is the reason I refuse to buy kits anymore.

Sooner or later, though, it will get done.

Hopefully!

The final piece I worked on in June is Witchy Washy, although I really didn’t do that much on it. I finished the witch hat and started the basket that sits on the ground underneath the clothes line. It’s may be a total of an hour of work. But still – it’s progress, and I expect this piece to be done easily this year. If it’s not done beforehand, I’ll probably bring it to Stitchers’ Hideaway in October, where the 10th anniversary retreat is themed as a Spooky Retreat to work on all things Halloween. :)

This is one of the few pieces that I know where I’m hanging it once it’s completed… the door to the laundry room, of course. :)

So that was it for June. Since I’m a bit into July, I figured I’d also share the two pieces I’ve been working on:

The Inn at Fox Run Mill by Little House Needleworks is my current “travel” piece for my commutes. I’m stitching it on 36ct Shale linen from Picture This Plus with Sullivans threads. It’s the first time I’ve worked on it since February, when it was my piece to kill time while stuck in Rhode Island’s jury duty lounge.

All week, I’ve just had this goofy “Happy Little Trees” going on in my head – in the style of Bob Ross – as I’ve been stitching those branches. No idea why it popped in my head, but apparently Bob Ross influenced my psyche more than I thought during my childhood mornings!

Finally, my start from yesterday afternoon – Quaker Compass by Rosewood Manor. This is the first Rosewood piece I’ve done, and I’m already loving how she does her designs. The charts are great and clear, and there are so many little extras in the booklet, it’s insane. I bought this in April at Celebration of Needlework after seeing the model on the wall (it’s STUNNING), but felt the need to play with color a bit. I’m working this in Threadworx #1157 on Picture This Plus 36 ct Stirling, which is a gorgeous silver with the slightest blue and green tinge to it. I know this photo’s a bit blurry… my cell phone is back on the charger. Will get a better pic up next update.

Anyway, this is my progress since last night. Thanks to the heat and the Game of Thrones marathon on HBO, I stitched most of the day today. :) My plan is to do all of the stitching except the sampler letters in the Threadworx. I’m going to match the greens in the thread to solid DMC shades (one lighter, one darker) to do the letters, since the green is the least apparent color in my particular batch.

This is my first quaker piece, and I think I’m already hooked!

So that’s it for me for WIPocalypse updates. Happy stitching everyone!

Category: Finishes, SALs/Challenges, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: cricket collection, fox run mill, little house needleworks, mira rr, mirabilia, pegasus designs, quaker compass, raise the roof, rosewood manor, smoky mountain cats, walk in the woods, wipocalypse, witchy washy | 13 Comments

A Finish!

Author: Measi

• Wednesday, May 02nd, 2012

To kick off the stitching updates this month… I have a finish! This is Ye Olde Coffee House from Little House Needleworks. I started it last year in late August and finished it on April 20th. It’s stitched in Sullivans threads in lieu of the DMC colors on the pattern on an older piece of Silkweaver I had in my stash. I think, but not certain, that the color is Cinnamon Roll. I know it’s 28 ct Cashel.

This was a fun stitch. I got a bit bogged down in the house, but once I got past it, the rest of the piece absolutely flew by. I did the entire bottom half in probably three evenings while watching hockey playoffs!

This was my first project with Sullivans floss, and I do like it. I don’t find it any better or worse than DMC, honestly. It’s just different. It has a matte finish when compared to DMC. I think the darker colors do have better coverage than DMC, but I don’t think it’s universal across all colors. I’m not planning on switching exclusively to Sullivans, particularly because I do have a ton of DMC in my stash that I want to use, but I can see the appeal for some projects, especially ones that are more primitive in style, where the sheen may be a bit distracting (or at least where I might lean toward the matte as more style-appropriate). I definitely will use it, and I’ll likely start picking it up for a few projects here and there. For the moment, though, it’s not particularly cost effective for me. The only place near me that I can purchase it is at Bush Mountain, which is a bit over an hour away from me (via highway), and DMC is far cheaper for me to pick up in Warwick (only 10 minutes away… on city roads). I will pick it up from time to time and add to the collection – just another fiber in the types that I use. :)

There’s still fabric left on this, too – so I’ll have plenty of this perfect LHN color to work some ornaments or another smaller piece.

Woo hoo! A WIP checked off the WIPocalypse list!

Category: Finishes, Stitching Tags: finishes, little house needleworks, sullivans floss, wipocalypse, ye olde coffee shop | 14 Comments

Back from Stitcher’s Hideaway / WIPocalypse check-in

Author: Measi

• Monday, March 05th, 2012

Apparently the posts I thought I had saved to publish while I was away not only didn’t publish, but I somehow didn’t save them. Boo. So much for the blogging every day this month thing. (Ah well.)

Good news: my laptop is fixed! Apparently it was the video card. The good news was that said video card was part of a lawsuit Apple had against the manufacturer, so I got the $500 part replaced for free. :) The MacBook – it lives again!

I had a lovely time at Stitcher’s Hideaway this weekend. The winter retreat is organized as an alumni retreat – basically to get together and stitch for two days. No classes, no specified project. Just bring your own stuff and stitch. Some people were stitching previous class projects, but most of the attendees brought a project (or two, or ten) to work on as we chatted, laughed, vented, and ate way, way too much food. It was great to see familiar faces. This was my fourth Stitcher’s Hideaway, so there are a lot of familiar faces now. Some of the women I’m friends with on Facebook, and that’s definitely helped make it easier to jump in and be active. Surprisingly, my social anxiety didn’t kick in much this weekend, although I was absolutely exhausted and hermitish on Sunday when I got home!

While alumni of previous Stitcher’s Hideaway retreats get first dibs for the winter retreat, any space left after January 1st is opened on a space-available basis to whomever is interested, so we had a few newbies among the group. I sat with three of them for the weekend – Janice, Marie, and Lynn, all from Connecticut, for the weekend, and we had a great time. I hope to see them either at another retreat or possibly at a casual stitchy get-together in the future.

My scissor fob for the exchange was finished JUST in time for the exchange (hooray! Finish #2 of the year!) I was frantically finishing it in my hotel room on Thursday night. I’m pleased how it came out, although somehow the fabric still is a little wonky after putting it together. If you think you’ve seen this pattern recently, you’re probably right. I grabbed it from the most recent issue of Just Cross Stitch – it’s the fob that’s part of a sewing box set. I’m hoping to do the entire set for myself later. The cord is storebought from JoAnns. The tassel is simply the ends of the cord, pulled apart into a fray. In return, I received a cute crocheted frog-shaped fob that matches the froggy drink coasters I received at October’s retreat. The body of the frog fob is a sleeve for the scissor shears. I took pictures of it and all of the insanity stash from the retreat and put them on my Flickr Account. Warning – don’t go if you are on a tight budget! I think at least three of my purchases were brand new from Nashville Market releases. Between my purchases and the generous gift bags received by everyone at the retreat, I have definitely had a wonderful weekend of stash enhancement. :) I also won a gift subscription to The Gift of Stitching, which is great – my subscription runs out later this year, so I’ll be happy to jump on for another year.

I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped, but really – when do I ever? I always misjudge how long it actually takes me to stitch things. Still, I made some nice progress on a couple of pieces. I brought four pieces to work on – Deep Blue Sea, Witchy Washy, my Mirabilia RR, and Four Seasons of Mystic. I threw a few stitches into the Mira and Witchy Washy, but nothing worth nothing into either.

I stitched most of the time on Deep Blue Sea, and finished a good chunk of the Rhodes Stitches in the center (all of the very light blue clusters) and balanced the light aqua cross stitches on the top, bottom, and two sides. I misread the chart and did the rhodes stitches in two strands instead of one. I like the coverage of the two strands, so I’m planning on doing the darker Rhodes squares in the same way, rather than frog everything. I’m planning on working on DBS again tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll have part one done soon. It’s just really, really slow. *sigh* I know I shouldn’t feel pressured with time on this one, but knowing that I’m two parts “behind” on the releases is frustrating me a bit. I know this isn’t a race, yet my brain won’t knock off being idiotic.

The other project I worked on was Jeannette Douglas’ Four Seasons of Mystic, which was the teaching piece for the October retreat. It’s not published yet – I’d expect it will show up in stores probably sometime later this year or early next. It’s a fun sampler full of different specialty stitches and different fibers. The satin stitches of the border are done in wool. Everything else so far is in various blends of silks with a small amount of metallics. I added a couple rows and swore a lot about my french knots, which I despise (I’m no happier with Colonial knots). I’ll likely be taking the blue knots out to redo, although I haven’t decided how I’ll approach it yet. The strand in progress is a basket that’s cross stitched over one. I adore this piece. There are just so many things to do that I can’t be bored. The stitches are intricate, so the bands go slowly. That purple band just above the word “Spring,” for example, are woven bars done with one strand over 3×3 threads. I needed to use my magnifier for them. Someone asked before on my blog, and I’m not sure if I ever answered – but the reason the bottom two rows are done is because I’d never done Jessica stitches before, and I wanted to get them done in the class back in October while I had Jeannette there teaching. So the trees and the Jessica on top of Jessica stars were done months ago. I finished the woven bars, Spring band, and the partial green floral band below it on Saturday afternoon.

It was a great time. I’m still a bit tired from it all, but it was a much needed break. Now I have through Wednesday off at home, so I’ll be splitting my time between some projects and some putterings.

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: chatelaine, deep blue sea, four seasons of mystic, jeannette douglas, scissor fob, stashing, stitcher's hideaway, wipocalypse | 13 Comments

My first finish of 2012 – the Traveling Pattern

Author: Measi

• Monday, January 30th, 2012

Early in January, I learned that I was the next stop for the current Lizzie*Kate traveling pattern. I’ve seen quite a few stops of Stitcherhood projects on blogs, and was thrilled that I finally had the opportunity be part of one. I’ve just finished my version today in a mix of DMC and Sullivans threads. I felt like doing bright colors. They probably don’t all match, but that’s fine with me – it’s bright and cheery and completely different from anything else I have going. :)

It’s also my first Lizzie*Kate pattern. How the heck did I go this long without stitching one?

My version joins the nine lovely variants that came before me:

Since this is a Traveling Pattern, it now needs to wander onward to another stitcher. And so it’s time for a drawing.

If you would like to be a part of the Stitcherhood for this Traveling Pattern, here are the rules:

1. Comment on this post, saying you would like to be part of the Stitcherhood.

2. You agree (if you are chosen) to stitch the design and send it along to the next person in a timely manner. If this means dropping everything in your rotation to concentrate on this project…so be it. If you can’t bring yourself to do this ~ don’t sign up.

3. You must have an active blog to participate. If you have a blog but never post to it ~ you won’t be chosen to be the next stitcher.

4. This is a giveaway-type Travelling Pattern. That means you must follow it from blogger to blogger to enter each time it is ready to send along. Commenting on this post doesn’t make you a guaranteed part of the Stitcherhood.

Just for fun – also tell me the *one* pattern, by any designer, that you would love to stitch if time, money, and (for some of us) intimidation were not a factor.

If you want to be considered, act fast – I’ll only take names until Friday, February 3rd. I’ll do the drawing on Saturday, and hopefully have the piece en route to its next location early next week!

Category: Finishes, Stitching Tags: lizzie*kate, ornaments, stitcherhood, traveling pattern | 22 Comments

Mirabilia Round Robin – Rachel’s piece

Author: Measi

• Saturday, December 10th, 2011

My final stitches for others’ pieces are now done! I’ve defeated the round robin overload, and it feels sooo good to have everything done and sent home to their owners. I loved stitching on the robins – don’t get me wrong – but I’m definitely ready for a break. WIPocalypse stitching, here I come!

Rachel themed her piece to the Mirabilia pixies and let each stitcher decide which pixie to put where. Being the last stitcher, there was only the one square remaining, but I still had a choice as to which pixie to actually stitch. The pixies I have in my personal stash had already been stitched, so I was grateful that Rachel included excerpts of patterns to use. My options were Pansy and Lilly. Since I’d just stitched Lilly last round for Melinda, I decided to try Pansy. Green and purple together? YES PLEASE.

She was a very fun stitch. I may have to complete the full piece at some point because I absolutely love purple and green together (I have since high school), and it’s so refreshing to stitch a piece in bright colors. There’s LOTS of bling on her – between three Kreinik colors in this square and a whole mess of beads, particularly around her head, she’s incredibly sparkly. I found it amusing that I’m the only stitcher to do one of the front-facing pixies, too.
This was one of the more well-traveled pieces, too. I’ve generally brought them with me on commutes and for lunch-break stitching. Because of the large beads from previous stitchers, I had to place Rachel’s piece on scroll bars rather than work in my normal Q-snaps, so it wasn’t as portable. She instead went with me to Cape Cod over Thanksgiving weekend and over to Westerly, R.I. for our Rhode Island Stitchers meet up last weekend.

Photos don’t quite do justice for this one. The sparkle-blue fabric was perfect for the piece. Everyone had stitched beautifully. It all just came together perfectly. It will be absolutely stunning when she gets this framed and on the wall. (The photo will pop bigger if you click on it – it’s linked to my Flickr account).

I just got to fill in the final square – and so not only did I finish my own square, I had a complete piece finish as well! Woo hoo!

So yes, it feels great to be finished. Although I didn’t get much of my own stitching done this year, I know I did a ton of actual stitching and made tremendous progress on a bunch of pieces – including the Mira RR. I do love robin stitching. I’m definitely looking forward to putting that energy into my own pieces next year, however.

Annette has sent off my Mira RR piece, and I will have one final square to finish for it. It’s coming home with Venetian Opulence left to do. I admit, though, that now that I’ve looked at some of the other Mirabilia pieces, I may swap that out for a different profile. I’m debating swapping for Enchanted Mermaid, who’s sitting in the same pose. Any thoughts on that switch? I like both of them. I’m just trying to figure out which one would look better with the Queens that are already stitched, and I’m thinking Enchanted Mermaid’s hairstyle may match a little bit better.

Regardless, I’ll have a bit of time to decide (and I have both pieces in my stash). I doubt I’ll be able to finish that final square until after Yule and Christmas craziness. It may be my first finish of 2012.

Off to update the WIPocalypse signup list. For those who have been asking – nope, it’s not too late to sign up. I don’t expect to close signups at all, but if they are to close, it will likely be sometime well into 2012. So if you’re waffling on whether you’ll participate, no worries – but just jump in and join us anyway!

I’m going to be writing out cards tomorrow, so this will be my last call for anyone who wants one – link to give me your address is in my left sidebar!

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching Tags: card exchanges, mira rr, mirabilia, wipocalypse | 11 Comments

Ornament Stitching

Author: Measi

• Wednesday, December 07th, 2011

Rahenna posted receipt of my exchange package before I posted mine the other day. I’d planned on posting another entry on my blog, but then completely blanked it out amidst the Bruins hockey mania that has been this week.

I stitched Teresa Wentzler’s Peacock Tapestry ornament for Rahenna. Rather than pulling apart all of my TW projects to kit this one out (which I know I could have done, since the list looked like some of the standard TW blends I’m familiar with), I decided instead to pull from the wandering bobbins I had down in the living room in my hat box turned sewing box. I’m happy with how it turned out. I don’t think I could recreate it exactly if I tried – I didn’t write down the colors as I stitched them. I think the only color from the original pattern is the gold boxes that form the foundation shape of the piece!

I made both the hanging cord and the tassel from DMC. The cord is a 4-part braid which I learned ages ago as a hair-braiding technique. I’d never tried it with floss before, but I love how it came out. When I’m not in the mood to deal with twisting cord, it may become my go-to choice.

I have to admit – TW freebie ornament designs are absolutely fantastic. They stitch up surprisingly quick. They look absolutely amazing. I could stitch them again and again with just color tweaks and never get bored.

I forgot to photograph the rest of Rahenna’s gifty pack, but she has it on her blog. I included copies of two patterns that I thought were adorable: Everyone Brings Joy from Waxing Moon Designs (which is so blissfully snarky, I think it’s a required stitch for anyone), and a new holiday Gingerbread House design from Country Cottage Needleworks that was at the LNS when I went shopping the other week. I also included several overdyed flosses that caught my eye – no rhyme or reason to the selection (although at first I noticed I was picking out an extraordinary amount of purples… maybe that’s telling me something!) The card you see in her photo is of a street in Beacon Hill here in Boston, which is one of my favorite places in the city due to how oldey-worldey it looks (right down to the never-turned-off gas street lamps).

I’m in the very final hours of finishing up the Mirabilia Round Robin – about 20 more stitches, some backstitching and beads. And mine is coming home very soon… I can’t wait to share it when it does. I’ve already seen a photo of it – and OH MY GODS is it fabulous.

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching Tags: ornaments, teresa wentzler | 12 Comments

TUSAL and some stitching updates…

Author: Measi

• Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Our newest kitty, Jack, decided to pose this evening with my TUSAL jar. He looks oddly adult in this photo, but don’t be fooled – he’s all of about 15 weeks old now and still very much a kitten!

He was helping this evening by preventing me from reading my stitching pattern. I suppose it’s better than his preferred spot – right on top of my laptop keyboard!

My TUSAL jar this month was filled with a lot of round robin stitching and Halloween ornament stitching, plus just a bit of silk and wool floss from my retreat project that I discussed in my previous entry.

This is the “square” I did for Melinda’s Mirabilia Round Robin. I decided to do Lilly since I have so many of them in my yard. It seemed fitting. Melinda chose to do snowflakes/stars for her outlines rather than traditional boxes. It’s a striking robin piece – very different and unique and very pretty. I love the fabric she chose. I did joke as I was stitching that somehow I picked the one fairy that happened to have wings in the same base shade as the fabric (DMC 3042, for those curious). Thankfully the outlining popped the color out!

This ornament is Witchy Kitty by Brittercup Designs from this year’s Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue. I’d intended it as an exchange piece at Stitcher’s Hideaway this past weekend, but just didn’t have the time to finish it up. So I’m going to finish it this weekend for myself. I did not use the charted colors – I pulled a mix of colors/brands from my stash that I thought would work. There’s Sullivans, DMC, WDW, and Crescent Colors in this mix.

Thanks for stopping by!

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, SALs/Challenges, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: brittercup designs, mira rr, ornaments, tusal | 8 Comments

September IHSW recap

Author: Measi

• Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

The frogs subsided on the Mira RR (thank you everyone for the sympathy!) and I managed to get my square done this weekend. It took up the majority of my stitching time, but it’s done and mailed, and I feel quite relieved.

My square is the smaller square one on the left that’s completely filled in, plus the small blob of dark green in the large rectangle next to it. It really is a wonderful piece – I’m a huge fan of purple and green together for some reason, so the color combos in this one are perfect.

For Saturday afternoon, my friend Tricia came down from the North Shore in Massachusetts to stitch the day away, have fun with Jack, and just spend some time together. We hadn’t seen a lot of each other in quite a few months due to a variety of scheduling issues, so it was great to see her. I’m planning to head up her way in the next three to four weeks, depending on both of our schedules. She and her husband bought their first house earlier this year, so I’m excited to see it and their brood of pets (none of which I’ve met).

I spent my time on Witches Wheel and made a small but steady amount of progress. It took me a little time to get back into the rhythm of how this piece stitches. I’ll be keeping it in my commute bag for lunchtime stitching for the rest of the week. Despite being a bigger piece, it’s really an ideal one to travel because I have no color changes to worry about! I’d like to get the witch hat completed this week, and hopefully one of the smaller motifs near the top of the hat.

It’s weird how this piece photographs. On my screen, at least, the fabric looks exceptionally yellow with red dye, but in reality it’s very, VERY orange with deeper orange. I’m using the PTP “Solar” in 32 ct. that the pattern calls for (how could you not?).

So it was a good hermit weekend. It felt great to work on my own project!

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching, WIP Progress Tags: glendon place, ihsw, mira rr, mirabilia, witches wheel | 12 Comments

Mirabilia RR – Round Four

Author: Measi

• Monday, August 08th, 2011

Several people are telling me I was way too critical about my stitching on Andie’s piece. What else is new, eh? I’m my own worst critic. But thank you to everyone who tried to get me to relax. I really, REALLY didn’t want to have to frog the entire blasted thing, especially when I discovered the error when literally all but the flower’s crosses were already in the piece.

Thankfully, Andie replied positively when I posted the photo, so now I’m fine. It’s her piece, after all – if she’s happy, I’m happy. (and hopefully one of these years will, in fact, learn to count). I will admit that once I actually got the beads on, especially the floating ones above her head, I did feel a lot better. It became a bit more balanced in the square. Who knows – maybe my mistake framing actually is better balanced than what the correct 50×50 frame may have been. :) What would have been there was a lot more of her left shoulder and part of her gown’s bodice. So… a lot more beads. The ones I had barely fit on her gown. I did have to tinker a bit to get them to fit.

The first photo is the entire piece after my round. (It will pop to the Flickr homepage if you want to see a larger version of it – just click on it.) Andie added her square before she mailed off. It’s hard to believe we’re halfway done with the robin now. Only three more stitching rounds, and they’ll be home before Christmas!

Here’s my square, my grumbling and humiliation now washed away (a bit, anyway). This is from Circle of Friends, which was the winning vote (by one!) on my blog a couple weeks ago:

She’s stitched with one modification – the falling rose on the left was moved up about a half-dozen stitches to balance the corner after my counting error. I added the beads back in that were cut off by my miscount on the top, and that definitely helped improve everything.

She’s safely arrived in Rachel’s hands, and I now have Sophia’s gorgeous shadowboxed Christmas Elegance in the queue to begin shortly. Annette has an entry with Sophia’s piece as it was sent to me. It’s a cool technique for a Mira, and someday I may do one of my own in this style.

My needle is busy this week on Catherine’s Angel of Spring by L&L. I’ve never stitched on a L&L piece before, so it’s a good intro to her patterns. I’m the last stitcher on this piece. The 2010 UFO RR is wrapping up later this month (with the exception of one piece that was delayed due to the Canada postal strike). I’m already planning my personal stitching for the rest of the year. I can’t wait to make some good progress!

Happy stitching everyone…

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching Tags: lavendar & lace, mira rr, mirabilia, ufo rr | 5 Comments

Round Robin Updates

Author: Measi

• Friday, June 24th, 2011

Lisa's UFO RR - as completed June 3

I’ve had a relaxing vacation week so far, filled with a lot of stitching (whee… delayed International Hermit and Stitch Weekend!) because I needed to catch up on robins after a rather insane few weeks of work. It seems that most of the others in my robins are having the same issues these days, so I don’t feel quite so bad for being a bit late in sending.

The biggest issue with the robins right now is that Canada’s Postal strike is preventing rounds from completing – and that’ll require a little more tracking work than usual to make sure all of the pieces are accounted for. Thankfully the pieces affected in the two UFO RR’s are safe with stitchers on one end or the other. Nothing is currently floating in the ether that are the US or Canadian postal services. The paused rounds will get sorted out somehow. The most important thing is that the pieces are safe and accounted for.

It’s also been a while since I’ve done some robin updating. I’ve managed to stitch quite a bit the last few weeks, even if it’s been a bit more sporadic than I’m used to. So this will be a bit picture heavy.

First up is Lisa’s Geisha for the 2010 UFO RR. I focused on the lower right portion of the kimono and stitched all of the purple and black colors you see under the stream on the right. This piece is very pretty with great, vibrant colors that I don’t usually use – the detail in the face in particular strikes me. I’m looking forward to seeing this one complete one day (no pressure, Lisa!) It reminds me a bit of the samurai piece I stitched on a few years ago in a RR. I know they’re both dimension pieces, but I don’t think they’re meant to be complementing pieces – the dimensions of them are quite different.

My square for Susan's Mira RR - June 2011

Square for Susan's Mira - 6/23/11

Next up is the Mirabilia Round Robin. I had Susan’s piece this round, and she designed hers to be an “open” piece – each person gets to pick the piece they’ll stitch and which square to put it in. By chance, the squares so far on Susan’s piece were theming a bit toward the children… and since they’re not as common for the robins, I thought I’d look along those lines. The two pieces I was trying to decide between were Under the Friendship Tree and Touching the Autumn Sky. I left it up to a vote between a few people because I literally could not decide between them, and Friendship Tree won. I was a bit worried with my framing at first, but now that she’s done, I’m very pleased. She turned out great – and I may have to add the full piece to my to-do list. This is the piece I actually worked on for IHSW this week. I did most of the stitching this week – I think I only had the lower ribbons and her dress bodice done on Sunday when I picked her up.

The third UFO RR piece (for the 2011 RR) is Linda’s, but because it’s stalled here before mailing on to Blu in Canada, I’m still tinkering with it a bit and will continue to until Canada’s mail strike is sorted and I need to finally package it up to mail. I’ll get a photo up once I actually mail it. The piece is Butterfly Fairy at Rest from Lanarte. I’m working the right wing – it’s a pretty mix of blues and browns, and I’ve made some good progress mapping out it out so far. Now I’m just filling in color change spaces. Truth be told, I’m relieved I have some extra time on her – I’d really like to fill in the area completely that I focused on. It drives me a bit nuts when I just run out of time on robins. I set my robin goals more on an area than actual time, so when it leaves unfinished I feel like I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to do.

My Mira after three rounds

Sophia was kind enough to post the progress on my Mirabilia RR after the third round. She chose to do the Winter Queen (top left corner). Isn’t she gorgeous? The whole piece is looking amazing so far – I cannot wait to get it home and get it framed! And the amount of shiny on this thing already is astounding – there are still five more profiles to be added! Andie now has it, and I already know what she’s stitching… but that surprise (and where she places) will come when I receive the next update.

So now the robins are moving again (mostly). Up next are Andie’s Mira RR, Linda’s other RR piece for the 2010 robin, which is a pretty English countryside scene, and Tali’s Sleeping Beauty by Mirabilia. It’s going to be a very fun round!
Thanks for stopping by!

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching Tags: mira rr, mirabilia, ufo rr | 6 Comments

Mirabilia Round Robin – Round 2

Author: Measi

• Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

The 2011 Mirabilia Round Robin is once again rotating, so I have a progress update. :)

This round, I had Kathy’s piece, which is themed to the fairies of Mirabilia. Kathy’s squares are well-organized, and she’s assigned excerpts of specific pieces to specific squares. Her fabric is a lovely cloudy sky evenweave. Very nice to stitch on. :)

I chose to do the left fairy from Three for Tea for my square (the right fairy will eventually be placed next to her by one of my fellow stitchers). She was a fun stitch – once I got through the arm and shoulder, it moved very quickly. For some reason, I struggled to get moving on this one – for some reason the bare skin just didn’t want to stitch easily. I kept breaking thread, kept miscounting. Once I got past the rows of DMC 948, it stitched much easier.

She attended Celebration of Needlework with me and was admired by several stitchers in the lounge – and that was before she had a head. I’m quite pleased.

Kathy’s entire piece as it looked when it left me today is to the right. Apologies about the wrinkles – I had it carefully folded into my Q-snap cover while I was stitching it so I wouldn’t risk damaging any of the beads Annette had added last round.

I’m thankful I had the foresight to take a long weekend to get things done. I don’t think I would have managed to send this out today without the time off. April was a crazy, difficult month – professionally and personally. I really needed a couple days to clear my head, get a few projects done, and relax. And for the most part, those projects are now accomplished. So I’m going to feel much better when I go back to work tomorrow.

The other big project I had this weekend was planting the garden – I’ll post about that tomorrow. :)

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Rotations & Goals, Stitching Tags: mira rr, mirabilia | Leave a Comment

Mira RR – Annette’s Square (Round 1)

Author: Measi

• Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Last night I finished my square for Annette‘s Mirabilia Round Robin piece. I’m just in time, too – the mailing deadline is on Monday… and I’m the slowpoke in sending this round (whoops!)

So here she is:

The South Seas Mermaid (excerpt)
Annette’s 2011 Mirabilia RR – Mermaids

Isn’t she pretty? I’ll admit that as I was stitching her, it was a bit weird because even with all of the normal crosses, it wasn’t really coming together like some projects do. It took until the backstitching for the design to really “reveal” itself, especially with the face. I’m quite happy – it’s good little finish for the year! Annette’s piece has a very funky border pattern to it – the eight squares swirl around the center like a vortex. She stitched her borders in an overdye thread called Warlock Road from Silk N’ Colors that changes color from grey to blue to purple to green as it works around. You can see the layout over on her blog post here. For perspective, the square that I stitched is the one on the bottom of her photo.

So now this robin moves forward to the next stitcher. I’ll be sending Annette’s to Rachel, and will receive Kathy‘s piece this round. I’m looking forward to receiving the pieces that already have stitching on them – every round the pieces I stitch on will be increasingly full, of course. I think the first round is really the hardest because the squares are so empty – receiving pieces already partially (and soon mostly) stitched just gives me more energy to stitch on them. I also love looking at others’ stitching, partially to envy, partially to learn – everyone has different techniques and I do like really examining to see how others do things to compare against how I do.

I know – I’m strange for that, perhaps – but I can’t think of a better technique examining tool than a robin. I’m always wanting to learn new methods and such – what better way, right?

So other stitching stuff…

I’m going to spend this weekend’s stitching on the Folk Egg for my Blogoversary Giveaway. Entries close at midnight tonight – so if you want to join in, now’s the time! And also, check out my local stitching group’s Spring Giveaway over here. I will be stitching something for that as well. :)

Category: Exchanges & Robins, Finishes, Stitching Tags: giveaways, mira rr | 8 Comments

A little finish & other progress

Author: Measi

• Sunday, January 16th, 2011

My mom’s off doing an errand, so I have a few minutes to do a quick blog post while I’m waiting for her to arrive at my house this afternoon. :)

My first finish of 2011 is in the books – just in time for my mom’s belated visit for Christmas! It’s Windows of Faith, Hope and Peace from Primrose Needleworks, and was featured in the 2010 ornament issue of Just Cross Stitch. It’s stitched on Silkweaver 28ct opal. Porcelain, and I decided to stitch the entire thing in DMC 334. I did not make the cord on this one – I had a piece of off-white cord lying around, and wanted to use it up. Mom loved it, and she’s VERY impressed with the finishing. Hooray!

The ornament took up all of this week’s stitching time. I had a lot more left to do than I thought. So this next week I’ll be working furiously on the UFO RR piece due to be mailed on January 24th.

The Feb 2010 UFO RR is wrapping up. About half of the pieces have now returned home. My final round was spent stitching on Catherine’s adorable little baby quilt. I completed one of the hearts and a sheep on it (top and bottom right corners on the photo) before sending it home on Monday (she received it on Friday). Her piece isn’t quite done, but it had fantastic progress over the course of this robin. This is a very large piece, so I struggled a bit to get a good photo – sorry about the angle.

For anyone reading who is interested, a new Unfinished Object RR is starting, and it’s now in the signup stage. So if you’d like to check it out (and the previous versions), please go HERE. The link will take you directly to the new robin starting up, but if you go up the forum hierarchy, you’ll find other robins. It is a lot of fun, and if you have a piece that’s been stalled for a while, it’s a great way to get it moving again. It just requires a long commitment. Usually these robins will take just under a year to complete.

I’m going to get a few other things ready around the house before Mom gets here. I’ll be catching up on blog posts this week now that the holiday/birthday/massive work deadline/Mom visit stretch is over.

Thanks for stopping by!

Category: Birthdays/Anniversaries, Celebrations & Holidays, Chrismahanyulkwanzakah, Exchanges & Robins, Family & Friends, Finishes, Stitching Tags: finishes, ornaments, ufo rr | 5 Comments

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