It's been a while since I've posted some pictures

I've been organizing and cleaning up some photos this morning, so I thought I'd share a few.

First up is the piece I finished for my BIL and SIL's Christmas gift. DH framed it up for me and we gave it to them on Christmas morning. My SIL was especially touched - she teared up a little when she opened it (hopefully it meant that she liked it!)

Next up is Nautical Dreams, which DH also framed before we left for Christmas, but I just sent it out yesterday. It's on it's way to Colorado, so I hope it doesn't get stuck in any snowstorms. I also sent along a Boston Harbor ornament I stitched up from a Treetrunk Designs leaflet. I like to give ornaments as gifts to new babies to start their collections. Boston is very near and dear to the heart of my friend (the baby's mom) and I am sure it will become very important to her daughter as well.


And finally, something my DH stitched for his mom for Mother's Day. It's a Dimensions kit she picked out when they came to visit us a while back, and we just forgot to take a picture of it before we gave it to her. DH also framed it for her, and I think he did a great job. It's now hanging in the entrance to her kitchen.

And I know I promised Kim some pics of my progress on Princess, but I messed up the ones I took and have to take new ones, so they'll be coming later.

Friday Feast

It's been a busy, busy week. DH is home from work, so we've been baking cookies and finishing up pre-Christmas stuff (we travel for the holidays, so we need to get everything done here). This year was MUCH easier with help - I baked everything myself last year because of DH's long work hours. We also cut back a whole lot on how much got baked - I made double batches of almost everything last year and we had a whole bunch of cookies in the freezer, so this year, single batches of all but a few of the cookies.

We usually supply the cookies for the family. My MIL and FIL are busy running around with the grandmothers so they don't have a lot of time, and nobody else seems to want to bake. So that's our contribution to the holiday festivities. This year, we baked 11 different kinds of cookies and made 1 pan of Bailey's Truffle Fudge (always a big hit). DH finished up this morning so we're all done!!

Speaking of being done, I finished Nautical Dreams and DH framed it, along with the anniversary piece for my BIL and SIL's Christmas gift. I'm being lazy now, but I'll take pictures and post them later. I've also got a good start on LHN's Princess and the Pea, the SAL I am doing with Kim.

There's no official Friday Feast Questions today, so I'm going back to the beginning and doing Friday Feast #1 (from May 21, 2004)

Appetizer: What time do you usually wake up each day? If you could choose your wake-up time, when would it be?
This is a tough one. When I am working, I like to get up early and get into the office early (by 7-7:30). Normally I'm not a morning person, but being able to leave around 4 motivates me. I also don't mind getting up early when we're traveling - I like to have the whole day to do things. When I don't work, I'd much prefer to stay up until 2-3 am and wake up around 9 or 10. That seems to be my most natural schedule.

Soup: When was the last time you bought groceries? What store did you go to? Name 3 things you purchased.
We went shopping at Wegman's on Sunday. I LOVE that place. Love it, love it, love it. It's a NY state based chain that's spread throughout the Northeast and I love their stuff. I bought bagels, lamb for lamb stew and Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries.

Salad: How many books have you read so far this year? Which was your favorite and why?
I don't keep track of the books I read or even how many. I do get a lot from the library, so my spending has gone WAY down. This year, I've been on a rock biography kick - I've read Motley Crue, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Warren Zevon, but my favorite has been Tom Petty's bio.

Main Course: What is something you consider to be very elegant? In particular, what about that item/place/person conjures up the feeling of elegance?
I guess I'd have to say high end places usually conjure up elegance for me - like Bergdorf's or Saks. I like understated elegance though - clean, classic lines, quality materials, nothing really flashy or overly opulent / gilded.

Dessert: Who taught you how to drive?
My mother. It did not go well. I did much better with my HS driving instructor.

Finishings!

I finished a piece for my BIL and SIL, made lots of progress on Nautical Dreams and finally got around to taking pictures of some ornaments I finished a week or two ago.

First up, the piece for my BIL and SIL. It's a modification of a chart in a leaflet called Marriage Keepsakes by Leisure Arts. I've stitched the chart before - the repetition in the border makes it pretty easy. This time, I charted out the poem they used on their bookmark favors and used that instead. I like to use themes and colors from a couple's wedding when I make their wedding record, so I thought this fit in nicely. I stitched over 2 on 28 using all DMC floss, including a silver metallic thread for the inside borders. I have to frame it up and it will be ready to go for 1/2 of their Christmas present.

I also stitched up what I'm calling the Family Tree for them. It's a copy of a piece my MIL has had hanging on her wall for YEARS. It was something a friend of hers stitched for her and I've always admired it, so when I started stitching, I took close up photos of her piece and copied it into a chart in PC Stitch. It was VERY quick to stitch up, so I made two - one for us and one for my BIL and SIL. The original piece is stitched in red, brown and green DMC floss over one on what appears to be 14 ct. off white Aida, so I replicated the same fabric and color combination for the new ones. I experimented with a slightly brighter set of colors for theirs and framed it in black. I think it came out great. And I was lucky enough to find the same alphabet in one of my books, so now if I want to make one for someone else, I can do that. (I intentionally blurred our family name in the picture).

Next up are some ornaments that have been languishing in a drawer for at least 2 years. My DH stitched them up from a kit by Bucilla, laced them over cardboard backings with a little batting and there they sat, waiting to be finished. A few weeks ago, I finally dug them out and finished the backs by gluing a hanging ribbon and a piece of coordinating felt over the lacings. I know they're a little close to the edges, but this was one of our very first stitching projects and we were still pretty inexperienced. We'd definitely leave much more room the next time! They still came out nice, and they'll be family heirlooms anyway. :-) (And if you notice the kitty in the first row, he even modified him from the original brown to black so he looks like our kitty.)

And finally, I made some progress on Nautical Dreams this weekend, finishing up the cross stitching (almost) in the section with the shells and sandpiper and filling in the background. It's hard to see, but I also started on the 2 little shells on the top. I'm hoping to finish by the end of the week so I can get it personalized, framed and mailed out.

Updated Stitching Picture and my floss pile

First, here's the latest on Nautical Dreams.

I got some stitching in over the holidays, but it wasn't the same as being home. I'm more comfortable in my own chair and with better lighting, but I made do because I really want to get this project done. And it inspired my MIL to ask me to teach her to stitch when she retires next year.

And this is the MASSIVE pile of floss we picked up on our drive on Wednesday, plus what I picked up today. I had debated whether or not to take a chance on going to the Wal-Mart a little further away today and I'm glad I did. There's probably about 400 skeins in this pile, just waiting to be sorted out.

Home FROM the Holidays

Whew! We're back home after spending a few days in our hometown with the in-laws. It was nice, but I'm very glad to be home. We drove up Wednesday, stopping at 5 Wal-Marts and a Jo-Ann's on the way in search of floss. Two of the Wal-Marts were completely sold out of DMC, one carried only Anchor (which I thought was very odd) and we raided a picked over selection at the last two stores. We ended up with about 200 skeins of floss for $20 (and some dirty looks from the cashiers until I told them all the skeins would scan the same since they were clearanced out and we had already counted the floss for them.) Now I just have to sort them out and log them into the floss inventory. We also made a stop at JoAnn's for colors we needed but couldn't find at Wal-Mart. There's another Wal-Mart not far from me that I may go hit up today to see if they have anything left.

Thursday we had a nice dinner with my ILs and the extended family, minus one grandmother who wasn't feeling up to coming. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching football and moaning and groaning that we ate too much. But everything was SO good, it was hard to resist. My poor FIL was downstairs later that night in search of Mylanta for his aching stomach! Friday, my DH helped his dad put up the Christmas lights outside and I went out shopping with my MIL. I'm not crazy though - we slept in and waited until late morning before we went out. We didn't venture anywhere near the malls or the big box stores - just a few local stores and the grocery store. Friday night, DH and I went out with some old friends, and Saturday, my BIL and his wife came by with their kids on the way home from my SIL's family's house (where they spend Thanksgiving). They left the kids with the grandparents, so we got to hang out with my niece and nephew for a while before we came home yesterday.

All in all, a very busy holiday, but I still managed to get some stitching done. I took 2 projects with me but only managed to work on Nautical Dreams. I finished the backstitching on the middle section and started working on the top section. I haven't taken any photos yet, so I'll have to post one later. It's really moving along and I'm glad I've been doing the backstitching as I've worked on it instead of waiting until the end. Breaking up the backstitching into little sections seems to help - it's daunting to face all that backstitching at the end.

So that's about it for me. Now I just have to catch up on almost 200 blog posts in my Google reader and download holiday photos off the camera. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Bag Sale Day

Saturday was Bag Sale day at my LNS, the Strawberry Sampler. For $12, you purchase a canvas bag and a punch card which is good for a year from the date of purchase. On the 3rd Saturday of the month, everything you can fit in the bag is 20% off. They punch your card for the appropriate month and send you on your way. I bought mine in January when I purchased the Long Dog Paradigm Lost and the fabric to go with it, and it saved me way more than it cost. Definitely well worth the $12 since I used it several more times this year.

This time, I went in to pick up Acorns and Threads. It seemed like every time I went in there, they had just sold the last one, so the held one for me. I also picked up CCN's Winter Welcome that I had been eying up, and a tiny little Sweet Nothing Marriage Sampler by JBW Designs. I like keeping a few small charts on hand that stitch up quick for a gift. I also have Serendipity Designs "Snips and Snails" and "Sugar and Spice" on hand for baby gifts.

I also picked up fabric that I needed for a few projects. The first is Blue Crab by Judy Greer Carmean that I purchased at Sea Needles this summer. I don't have any photos of it since I bought the chart based on the stitched model (there wasn't a photo in the package). But it's a typical Maryland Blue Crab on a white background. The chart came already kitted up with floss and 14 count Aida fabric, but I like the look of a higher count so much better, so I picked up a piece of 28 ct. Lambswool to stitch it on instead (it will look more like sand). I thought about switching out the threads to overdyed but changed my mind. Depending on how it stitches up, maybe I will restitch it over one and make a smaller version with the overdyed threads. We'll see.

I picked out a 28 ct. fabric in Pewter for The Design Connection's Pemaquid Point. Their model was stitched on 14 ct. white aida, but I thought the blue-grey color would look nicer. There will be a little problem at the bottom of the picture where the rocks fade into the fabric, but we can just mat over that section when we frame it. And I got a 28 ct. in Forget Me Not (a pale blue) for Durham Cathedral by Heirlooms Needlecraft, a chart my husband brought back from England when he worked there last year. Once again, the chart was kitted up with white Aida fabric and Anchor threads, but I wanted to use a higher count and different color.

$50 and a LOT of self control later, we left the shop. There were at least half a dozen other new projects I would have loved to pick up, but I resisted. We'll be moving soon and I already have a pile of things to work on. (And I was under heavy supervision LOL). I'm happy with what I picked up and I left myself some things to look forward to, including this gorgeous Celtic Banner by Butternut Road. That's going right on my wishlist!

Finally, I made more progress on my Nautical Dreams, mostly with outlining and filling in the large blocks of color on the stripes. I have one more section on top to finish, plus the rope outline, then the personalization. I'm getting there!

A finish and more progress

I finished one of the ornaments I had been working on - the Sea Girt Lighthouse. The fabric you see in the background is the fabric I used to make the backing on the ornament. And there's not as much of a gap in the cording as it looks. This is from Treetrunk Designs Guardians of our Waterways piece. I also need to finish up the Boston Harbor one I made for a gift. I'll be doing that with a red and black fabric on the back and in an oval shape.

I have a few other ornaments to finish up. Most of them are stockings my husband stitched a while back. He laced them on the cardboard, but for some reason we never got around to completely finishing them. I'm going to glue a ribbon for hanging in each one, and then cover the back with coordinating felt. He did these when we first started stitching, so while the stitching is beautiful, we really didn't leave enough room to finish them, so they come right up to the edge of the cardboard underneath. Oh well - they'll be family heirlooms someday!

I also made some progress on Nautical Dreams - the whole bottom part is finished except for some stitching in white on the sky. I did the outlining, but I'll come back when I'm done to add the personalization info. I think the stitching will support the outlining without stretching it out, but I don't want to stretch the personalization info since it's going to be done in one thread in the blank areas.

An apology, some progress and an SBQ: Recycling

I am such a dumb ass. I was wondering why nobody was leaving me comments and then I figured out I had them turned off. Hopefully that's all fixed now! (Thanks for letting me know, Anita!)

The good news is I did make some progress on my baby gift. The bottom panel is almost complete - I have to stitch the rest of the sky in white and do the outlining. I've also started doing the rope border.

Today’s SBQ is:

When you have to frog out stitches, do you reuse that thread or do you start over with a new strand?

I am OBSESSIVE about checking and double checking and triple checking my work against my chart. Obsessive. Mostly because a mistake will bother me to the point where I will have to rip it all out and redo it, even if it is a tiny little mistake. I'd rather spend the extra time checking on something instead of tearing it out and restitching it. Usually I'm pretty good though - I'm most obsessive about the first part of stitching, and then I work from that, so everything else usually lines up.

When I do have to frog something out, I reverse stitch back to the mistake and go on from there with the same thread if I catch it soon enough. But if the mistake is large or deep into the piece, I keep a seam ripper and tweezers with my stitching stuff and tear it all out, then stitch it over again with a new thread.

A little more progress

I made some additional progress on my Nautical Dreams piece. I'm working on the bottom section now. You can start to see the lighthouse in the bottom section - it kind of reminds me of the Annisquam Light on Cape Ann in Massachusetts. It's one of the reasons I chose this piece - the new baby's mom went to school in Massachusetts and misses the East Coast so much, she chose the nautical theme for the nursery. I thought it would be nice to have a reminder of one of her favorite places in her baby's room.

Speaking of lighthouses, here's a peek at my unfinished lighthouse ornament for our tree this year. It's of the Sea Girt Lighthouse in New Jersey. I originally picked it because I didn't think I'd be able to find an ornament of the lighthouse (we try to find ones of the lighthouses we've been to), but when we were there a few weeks ago, lo and behold they had some for sale. So I bought one, but I'll still finish this one for the tree as well.

Also a few minutes from being completely finished is this bookmark. I did the bookmark following this tutorial, and I have to say - NEVER AGAIN! It certainly made a good looking bookmark, but it was kind of a pain to make sure everything was lined up properly before I stitched it closed (inside out). Turning it right side out was more difficult than I anticipated, and the bookmark is thicker than I'd like it. I'm also not sure I want to put all that work into something and end up ruining it or getting it dirty. I'm still thinking of a better way to do bookmarks, as I'd like to do one for my sister-in law eventually.

I did a nun stitch on the end and fringed the remaining threads. Since I didn't want a contrast on the edges, I used white thread to match the aida cloth.

My Current Work in Progress

My friend Christine and her husband just had their first child, Alexa. Since her nursery is a nautical theme, I picked this piece from the Design Connection. (I noticed I have quite a few Design Connection pieces in my stash.)

I'm personalizing the piece with some modifications. The first line of text in the piece will be changed to the baby's first and middle names, and the second line of text will be her birthdate. In the space below the third section, I'm able to fit in her weight, length and time of birth.

It's a LOT of stitching, but there are large sections of simple cross stitching in one color, so that makes it easier. I've started by doing half crosses in those large sections, and then I'll come back later and fill in the other half of the stitch. I think it will be really cute when it's done.