August Ornament – Just In Time

Sunday I went to visit some of the Wisconsin stitchers and we had a fun GTG.  It so much fun to hang out with smart, beautiful, and strong women!  Between my job and home life, I don’t get a whole lot of “Girl Time.”

I brought my August ornament to the GTG and managed to finish it off:

Lizzie Kate “Christmas Spirit with Charm Holly/Stocking”

The colors are off a bit in the pic, but I’m feeling too lazy tonight to fiddle with it any further.  I’m not totally crazy about this – but I needed something quick.  It seems like it needs something – some sparkle or something.  If anyone would like the pattern, which also includes the “stocking” design (and the charm for that one), e-mail me with your address and I’d be glad to put it in the mail to you.  First come/first served.

I’m looking forward to this month’s release of the JCS Ornaments issue.  I’m not feeling inspired by any of the ornaments I’d planned to stitch this year, so maybe something in there will grab my attention for the September ornament??

After finishing the ornament, I picked up a partially finished Sweetheart Tree biscornu that’s been an on-again-off-again project and put a few more stitches in it:

Sweetheart Tree Lavender Blossoms Biscornu Kit

I also recently noticed that Sweetheart Tree has a pumpkin biscornu kit out!  I’ll have to pick that up sometimes as I love All Things Fall.

I want to finish up my scarf knitting project – then get back to work on Alpine Seasons.

I’m taking Thursday off work to go to Cedar Point!  I LOVE rollercoasters and this is the place to go.  I went earlier in the summer, but didn’t get to do everything I wanted to, so I’m going back.   Millennium Force is my absolute favorite – 96 mph and perfectly smooth.  If you go to the site, you can watch Point of View videos of the rides.  Not nearly as much fun as the wind in your hair, but if you love coasters, its worth a look.

Knots, Knots, Knots…..

So, I took the plunge and started Teresa Layman’s Snow White Rose Red this weekend…

It started a little rough (see white stitches on the roof), but I’m now getting pretty good at colonial knots… after never having done them before. I could never figure out the stitch diagram and couldn’t figure out why so many people claim that they are so much easier than french knots…. Anyway… I’m pretty happy with this and it’s not really as tedious as I thought it would be. Its kind of nice not to have to count anything. I’m not totally happy with the door, which is filled in completely with french knots. There is lots of detail on there with lines, cross braces, handles and bolts in the door… but it is-what-it-is as these buggers are a PITA to pull out.   There’s also a bench underneath the left window that isn’t showing up too well. 

I just remembered that I signed up for a knitting class that starts tomorrow! The class is at Erica’s Craft and Sewing Center in South Bend.  The class project is a scarf.  I bought the yarn required a couple of weeks ago and got something that I thought would match my winter coat, which is kind of a chocolate brown color:

I’m kind of surprised that it only calls for two skeins…  Anyway I can kind of knit, but can’t cast on.  I can do entire rows of knit stitches and purl stitches, but can’t alternate between the two without a knotted mess.  So, I figure some instructions and hands-on guidance will help. 

Went and saw Funny People last night… pretty good and kind of interesting to see Adam Sandler in a more serious role, even though it was still a funny movie.  Man…. he’s starting to look older tho!

BAP Milestone Reached!

This weekend I finished up one corner of Chatelaine’s Alpine Seasons… all the way to the outer border!

Chatelaine Alpine Seasons

I have a goal of finishing Alpine Seasons by the end of 2009, which gives me three months for each of the remaining quarters of the chart! I think I could accomplish that if I didn’t have any other projects I wanted to start this year.    For now, this one is going to be put away for a while.

SAL Progress

I started a SAL with Susan, her mom, and Jenny this weekend, Hen Party by Little House Needleworks:

The chart, all kitted up, was a gift from my friend Kelly who had a GTG at her house before Thanksgiving.  Thank you Kelly!  Here’s my weekend progress:

So, I got a decent start… I actually spent most of the weekend working on cross-stitch-which-must-not-be-posted…. well, not yet anyway.   Stay tuned for future pics.

Other weekend activities… I met Susan at House of Stitches Saturday morning for a little shopping and lunch…. visited Hobby Lobby and Jo-Anns for some finishing supplies, hung out with my DBF, and generally had a pretty relaxing weekend.

My cat, Mia, was just begging to have her pic taken when she sported this cute pose this afternoon:

Believe it or not, she’s pretty tiny underneath all of that fluff.  The best part of this picture is the fact that there is NO SNOW in the background… Its been a long winter and I’m so ready for spring!  … and speaking of spring….

I got an e-mail yesterday that Celebration of Needlework is expecting to have their registration form up on Tuesday! I’ve already booked my flight and reserved a hotel room!  I can’t wait!

Alpine Seasons Outer Border Progress

Here’s where I am on Alpine Seasons…. still working on that upper left hand quadrant.  My goal is to completely finish this (except for beads) before moving on.  After I finish the upper flower border, there’s two more lines of just straight cross stitch that form the final, outer border.   Now that the backstitched flowers are done, the rest should go pretty quickly.

 

Normally, I can get a ton of stitching done on Sunday and normally don’t post progress until Sunday night, but I’m driving to Buffalo, NY (@7 hours) for work tomorrow (Sunday) and will be there Monday, and probably drive back home on Tuesday.  I won’t be bringing AS, but I might bring an ornament to work on in the evening.

Latest Alpine Seasons Progress Pic

I just love love love how this is looking.  Since the last progress pic, I’ve finished mountains and trees and started on the outer borders of the upper left hand corner:

Chatelaine Alpine Seasons

I started on the outer border today and am surprised at how fast it is stitching up.  I guess long straight lines are a welcome break after a big chunk of confetti stitching!    My goal is to finish this up in 2009, and despite the progress I’ve made so far this year, the end seems a LONG way off.   I keep looking at Jill’s finished Alpine Seasons for inspiration… 

I’m enjoying it, and am, for the first time ever, focusing on the process and not being so goal oriented.  Big change for me as far as stitching goes.

This weekend, DBF and I went to Front Porch Music in Valparaiso to see Peter Mayer.  We went with a friend of mine fromwork and had a great time.  Seeing this guy was one of my first dates with DBF and this is the third year and a row that we’ve made the  hour long trip to see him.  He’s a talented song writer and guitar player, and is just charming and interesting to listen to.  I always feel so happy, light, and peaceful when I leave his shows.  Anyhow…  take a look at his web page and see if he’ll be near you any time soon…  a guaranteed great time for $15.  He’s got plenty of footage on you tube, too, for anone interested in hearing him.

I hope everybody had a great weekend…

Lotsa White Stuff

It started snowing on Friday afternoon, snowed all day Saturday, and snowed lightly on and off today….  here’s the patio status:

Due to cold miserable weather, I spent a lot of time indoors and interestingly enough the only thing in my needle was NPI 991bb (white)…. here’s the white added to Alpine Seasons:

Unfortunately for me and others who live in my area, there’s another winter storm warning in effect for early next week – with potential for white out conditions. Temperature are predicted to plummet below zero… I predict more thermostat wars with the guy I share an office with…. fortunately I have a space heater under my desk…

My reading has suffered horribly over the last year… I finally just finished a book that I started in SEPTEMBER. I normally read a little before bed, which makes progress through books slow. Anyway, I just finished reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was good, and funny enough that I LOLed while reading… it was given to me by a friend and now I’m ready to pass it on…. Sooo, if you’re interested in receiving my copy, leave a comment and I’ll do a drawing on Wednesday (Jan 14).

This weekend I picked up a copy of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer…. I wasn’t really interested in this series until I heard that two of my closest friends have read the series and liked them… I was looking for something not-too-challenging to read, that would suck me in, and this seems to be fitting the bill so far.

I hope all of you are getting lots of stitching done… as it says on the lovely pincusion next to my stitching spot, “Count Your Blessings Cross Your Stitches.”

Alpine Seasons Progress and Some Goals

I’ve been stitching exclusively on Chatelaine’s Alpine Seasons since last week and am having fun with it.  I’ve been working my way through the mountains and trees in the upper left hand corner and here’s how it looks so far:

 

I have a goal of finishing up this section before I work on anything else….  At that point I’ll decide if I want to work on more borders in another quadrant or move onto another piece.  I really only have one other WIP right now, so I think something new is in order when I’m ready to move on.

A couple of days ago, I went through all of my old Just Cross Stitch Ornament issues and picked out some ornaments I’d like to do this year.  At Christmas, I wished I had more stitched ornaments on my tree, so have toyed with the idea of doing an ornament a month in 2009.  I came up with 7 and made up a list of supplies I’d need and headed off to House of Stitches on Saturday morning and had a very sucessful trip!  I found everything I needed, got a piece of fabric for Chatelaine’s Alhambra, some pretty gingham linen (called for in one of the ornaments), two JCS ornament issues that I didn’t have, and Mill Hill diamond ornament.  When I got to the checkout, I ended up spending less than I’d estimated, AND received these great “customer appreciation” gifts.  The ruler is magnetic.  They are so cute:

 

Last night I ran across Victoria Sampler’s January/February newsletter and saw that Thea has released the most BEAUTIFUL, HUGE sampler, called Heirloom Stitching Sampler… It’s her 100th publication and this sampler is a full 31″ long!!  It has almost 40 different specialty stitches!  I absolutely love it and just know that I’ll have to stitch it at some point. 

In the meantime, I’m trying to be patient while I wait for details for the Nashua Celebration of Needlework!

Thanks for visiting and thank you for all of the comments that you leave… I love reading them.

WIP Pics

I thought I’d post some WIP pics….

Here is M Designs Letter “H”.  I hadn’t actually planned to stitch on this anytime soon, but went to a stitching GTG, hosted by the fabulous Kelly, and saw her letter H and became inspired!  This is on cream linen, stitched with “Mulberry” Caron Waterlilies:

Next is one side of the Sweetheart Tree Holiday Holly Biscornu…

Although I’m enjoying stitching it, I remember now why I hate this kind of fabric (raw linen with gold sparkle, which didn’t show up in the pic)… it makes counting, especially those eyelets hard to get right the first time. The result is pretty tho! I’m thinking of making this one into an ornament after finishing as a biscornu. I’m imagining a beaded hanger.

I’m suffering a bit of post-GTG depression! I had such a wonderful time with some of my favorite stitching friends and Kelly was a wonderful hostess… she had a yummy spread of for lunch and was kind enough to provide small gifts for those of us who attended. I can’t wait for the next GTG with these wonderful ladies.

I hope all of my American friends have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Where Stitchers Gather Progress Update

Here is the latest – today i’m just showing my progress since the last picture (see two posts below…)

Funny how he spokes on the spider roses are showing in the picture – you can’t see them IRL…

Anyhow, I’ve got to add some beads and some other little details and this will be finished and ready for finishing.  For me, finishing this as a pocket is going to be a challenge!  My primary concern is attaching the lining fabric, but the directions in the leaflet are pretty good.  Hopefully ‘ll find some time this weekend to work on that.  I’ll post again when its fully finished.

Next up on my project list is a biscornu kit from the Sweetheart Tree and starting the class project from Celebration of Needlework.