Let's Try Again

After so long a silence, all my (few) readers have left! It's to be expected, of course, and I've come to the realization that I'm not really a "blogger", like some of the beautiful stitching blogs I follow.

Still, I do want a good way to keep records of my stitching. I re-joined the Fair & Square exchange, and am anticipating being in a stich-a-long or two, as well as an exchange or two. I am firmly determined to make this the year of stitching without guilt, and I don't want to lose track of what I accomplish.

I also want to join the TUSAL run by daffycat. It sounds like fun, and there is a giveaway! Hop over to her blog and see what it's all about!

So, here are my planned stitching projects for 2011:

1. Fair & Square rounds - all the regular rounds and special holiday rounds if I feel up to them at the time.

2. The Queen's Sampler: Elizabeth I by Plum Street Samplers. (This was my New Year's start.)

3. 2011 SAL by OakHaven designs. You can check Tonia's Yahoo group here.

4. Valentine's Day card exchange on the SanMan Originals message board.

And, here is my progress on my New Year's start:

The Queen's Sampler by Plum Street Samplers
32-ct Light Chino by R & R Reproductions (think this is discontinued)
DMC as charted
Started: January 2, 2011

Oh, and I forgot to put the pattern in the picture - here is what the finished product will look like:

Exchange Received

I read on Lillie's blog that she received my HoE Biscornu package. I am so glad she liked it. I was so pleased with how it turned out. I can't wait to make more!

Here is the front:



And the back:



Here's the whole package. I thought the frog fabric was cute.



The design is by Casey Buonaugurio, and you can find the pattern on her front page. I stitched it on R & R Reproductions Blue Wave. I loved the feel and color of the fabric - I'll definitely be using R & R more frequently in the future. I converted most of the DMC that was called for to overdyed. I used Willow by GAST for the frog stomachs, and I love the way that particular choice worked out. So cute!

It was definitely a fun stitch (even all those french knot toes!), and I plan on starting another biscornu as soon as I finish up the last of my exchange projects.

Also - thank you to those who comment on my blog. It's very cool to know people are reading!

Fair and Square exchange received

First I want to say thank you to those of you kind enough to comment on my posts. I am not sure of the etiquette about comments - I feel repetitive if I reply to each one, but I certainly do appreciate each one. I guess, since it's very low-volume, that for now, I'll respond individually. But if I miss you, please know that I am excited each and every time somebody takes the time to read and comment.

I received my first square from the Fair and Square blog. My partner is Mercy, and she stitched "Be True" by Shepherd's Bush. I LOVE this design, and the colors are even more gorgeous in person. My camera won't capture a lot of detail, but you can get a closer look if you click on the picture. Check out the tiny cross-stitch heart pendant kit!



Mercy's also an avid scissors collector, and makes her own beautiful beaded fobs. I am so happy with the gorgeous fob she made me! Don't you think I now need to get these scissors so I can gaze adoringly at that fob while I'm stitching?



I am still stitching away on my square, and now worrying that I'll be pushing the deadline. I know I'll make it, but it's going slower than I expected. A 50 x 50 square shouldn't take this long! I am a sloooow stitcher...

By the way, if any of you don't already know about the Fair and Square group, you should check it out. It is so much fun, and growing every round.

Fob arrived!

I am so excited! I sent Judith in the Netherlands a fob for the Hooked on Exchanging scissor fob exchange on Wednesday and it already arrived!

Here's a pic:


And one of it hanging:

Queen Anne's Lace by The Cat's Whiskers
Fabric: 28 ct platinum Cashel linen
Fibers: Bethlehem from Weeks, Fool's Gold and Rainy Day from Crescent Colors
Beads: 3025 and 62031 from Mill Hill

I hadn't made a fob of any sort before, and I was pleased with how it turned out. Not perfect, but very nice, although it looked a little worse for the wear on Judith's pic for the HoE blog. I guess traveling thousands of miles is hard on inanimate objects, too.

As usual, I forgot to take a snap of the extras. I sent her the chart & bead pack for Just Nan's Queen of the Needle, which was on her wish list.

I am working on another exchange project right now, so no progress pics. I haven't had much time for stitching, so I'm not working on any of my other projects. I did, however, get all of my WIPs and UFOs organized! Each in its own bag and it is taking up only two boxes! Look!




(You get a peek at my mess of a craft table, too. Sorry about that!)

Stitchy pics - mostly older

Well, I finally got my camera to work, both in taking pictures and uploading them to my also-stubborn computer.

First off, I received a gorgeous fob from Jill for the Hooked on Exchanging fob exchange. Check it out:



She also sent some goodies:



I am so happy with that fob - I hope mine turns out as well. I've never made a fob, and the technique for the one I'm sending off is a little unusual. I am all finished with the stitching & cutting out, I just need to do the sewing together. That will happen this week. *crossed fingers*

Quite belatedly, here is something I got from Hannah for an exchange back in - well, obviously October. :) (I'm using Hannah's pictures here, because hers turned out better than any I could coax out of my camera.)



And the back. I love this fabric!



Ooh, and goodies!



Are you tired of pictures? I hope not. I know that I never tire of pictures when reading stitching blogs, so hopefully you'll continue on, too....

This is what I stitched for Hanna for the same exchange:


Nevermore by The Cricket Collection
28 ct. Pumpkin Jazlyn with DMC - I changed a few of the colors to show up better on the orange. The original fabric was green.

I finished it into a lined padded box, trimmed with ribbon and covered with awesome "mummy" fabric:



I still haven't gotten any of my new projects together for my 2008 goals. It is a long story, and I realize that I have eyes bigger than my needle. Perhaps as long as I'm making progress on something I will be content.

2008 goals, or fantasies

Well, I haven't made particular goals for stitching before, and I think it's evidenced by my lack of finishes. So, I'm hoping by giving myself some direction, I can accomplish more this year. I really want some substantial pieces to hang on my walls, so I've made a list of 12 medium/large projects. I am sure I won't finish all of these, since I'm sort of a slow stitcher, but at least I know they'll get done. These are the things that are currently dearest to my heart, and I am sure there will be a couple that drop off in favor of even more wonderful things I don't own yet, but these are my starts. My one rule is going to be that once it's started, I have to keep it in rotation until it's finished.

Here's my schedule:
I plan on stitching two hours a day Monday - Saturday during the day, and in the evenings if I have time. I'm scheduling four Medium/Large projects and will stitch on each of those one day a week. I'll also stitch on UFOs one day a week. The rest of the time will be for exchanges and ornaments.

Medium/Large projects
1. Desiderata by Indigo Rose - This one is started already - just a few stitches in so far. I'm putting this in my first rotation because I've wanted this one the longest. I made a lot of changes to the threads, I'll post about that as I post progress pics.

2. Lizzie Kate Double Flips - I'll be doing this one in a long panel like this model. I'm using the recommended threads and whatever looks nice when I go to the shop.

3. Inspiration by Rosewood Manor - Still need the fabric for this, which will be whatever looks good with the DMC threads called for.

4. Wedding Row by Bent Creek - I'm going to change the colors so I can use my husbands favorite color (green) and my own (purple). Our third anniversary is this year and I don't think it will be done by then - maybe by our fifth?

5. Cirque des Triangles by Ink Circles - I wanted to use Bethlehem by Weeks Dye works on a neutral fabric. But then I found some Needle Necessities (Creme de Menthe) that I think would be amazing. Of course, I only have three skeins and would need four. I am going to have to find a source for ThreadWorx (they are doing colors comparable to what NN threads used to be) to see how their alternative color looks. If I like that, I'll probably do this with medium greens on a light green background.

6. Mine All Mine Stocking by Xs and Os - for my son's Christmas stocking. He needs one before he moves out of the house! (He's 16.)

7. Japanese Octagon Box by Chatelaine - I've had the materials since the beginning of the class - I think that was 2006. I am doing this on mint green, and I need the fabric for it. I am not as enthused about this one as I was, because I have a phobia of trying to make up the box for it, but I will be darned if I'm going to put this much money into a project and not finish it.

8. Gingerbread Christmas by The Rocking Horse cross stitch store - I bought this last month because the finished model in the store suckered me into it. So sparkly! I don't have any Christmas pieces, and this should work up quickly. It was a kit, and the frame is included, so I have no excuse to procrastinate.

9. Queen of the Needle by Just Nan - I dearly love this pattern.

10. Always Kiss Me Goodnight by Forever In My Heart - I can't actually find this chart online, and I don't know where I got the pic saved to my hard drive. I can't find it on Hoffman's site, either by designer or keyword search. Also, I understand the designer is having some family problems (Her husband is quite ill, it's so sad.) So, this one might have to be dropped.

11. What A Hoot by Cat's Whiskers Design Studio - He is the cutest!

12. A Christmas stocking for myself - I haven't picked one out yet, but I have time - I'm sure it won't get into rotation until next year, anyway.

In addition to those projects, I want to participate in the Fair and Square rounds this year. I think there are five or six a year.

I also joined the Hooked on Exchanging group, so I'll be doing whatever exchanges they have through the year.

And lastly, I want to make six Christmas ornaments, and 2 or 3 RAK-type gifts for various stitching friends.

Ok - it's a little much, right? I think I will actually probably finish only two larger projects - Lizzie Kate's Double Flips and Wedding Row. But I'll have a whole bunch of smaller projects, too, and that will be - ohhh - 500% more than I did in '07.

Here's a slide show of the larger projects. If it annoys you, you can just view the Picasa album.

I blame the writers' strike...

A new season of Stitch! Read! Write! will begin in January.

I've joined some new exchange boards, so I have obligations now. I hope that will keep me in line. I think starting with a post a week should be sufficient, and not too arduous a task.

Merry Christmas, faithful reader(s)!

It's Shameful

I logged in today because I was commenting on somebody else's blog and actually forgot where my own blog was located! And found a lovely comment from a (much) earlier post waiting to be modded. I'll have to check to see if there's an option to be notified of comments waiting.

I recently noticed on my Bloglines account that my blog - yes, this one - has 11 readers! Not that there's been anything to read - blogging is much harder than just babbling on about nothing, which has always been my special talent. I will have to work on being more consistent. Maybe I should set a "once a week posting" goal. If I don't have stitching to show, I suppose I can do a reading post. Writing is out for the time being because my muse has apparently run off to the beach for the summer.

And now - I have a finished piece to post! Something that was fun, that turned out nicely, and that I remembered to photograph before mailing off! Here it is:


This is from Heart In Hand's Spring Fobs leaflet. I added the wording, and stitched it on a 28 ct Silkweaver solo - I don't think you can see the mottling, there are some pretty beige and coffee-colored variations in the fabric. The threads were the recommended GAST and WDW. This was for an exchange on LiveJournal.

It's actually the first needlework I've finished in any other way other than framing (or pre-finished items), and I think it turned out very well. I am so enthused with it that I decided to join a new exchange board being created by Becky of BeckyBee's Stitching Hive. It's called "I Think I Can" and it's going to be composed of newbies like myself who want to learn about finishing and become more comfortable with exchanges. There will be experienced stitchers to help out and answer questions and the like. Membership is already closed, but Becky promises that will change as soon as some of us have "graduated" to regular exchanges. I am so excited to have this opportunity! I can't wait to learn some new techniques and get to know everybody. I'm sure it will provide fodder for some interesting pics and posts.

Meta blogging & a photo-less update

I was so excited because I came to post and saw that there was a comment to be modded. Now, my first comment was from Sharon of inaminuteago, and with a second one, I thought that maybe the whole getting visible process might not be that hard. But no, my second comment was spam! So disappointing.

In addition, I am feeling overwhelmed by the whole blogging process and can see that no matter how great my enthusiasm, this is going to be a longer road than I'd first understood. I mean, CSS? I'd only recently heard of that, never mind knowing what it is, exactly. (Although I do now.)

Then, I have heard some rumblings about people migrating over to WordPress because they are displeased with the new Blogger-not-Beta. But WordPress is even codier. (I know, not a word, but there needs to be something to express the jungle of "what?!" that I feel at the start of this adventure.) Anyway, I think I'll be looking sticking around here for a bit until I get my feet under me. And I'll definitely be doing some searching for beginner tutorials for working with templates and such.

But so much work! Getting back into my stitching, and an exchange, blogging, and being heavily involved in a private cross stitch group elsewhere has really taken a lot of my time. I'm loving it all, though. I quit working for pay in February '06, and it has taken this long for me to decompress and relax and build some enthusiasm for specific activities. I feel as though I have been told that my age had been rolled back ten years - I'm excited about things, I'm not dead tired and burned out. It's truly exciting and I am joyful. I go around laughing out loud throughout the day, amazed at the blessing my life has become.

Ok, on to stitching. Still stitching the project for the exchange I'm in. I can't be specific, of course, but it is a challenging project for me, so it feels good to see it taking shape. I have only worked on it a handful of times over the last month, but it is coming along more quickly than I'd have imagined. Ok, nobody wants to hear all this vague talk. Suffice it to say I am stitching, and will have photos soon. If nothing else, TAST will provide an opportunity to post pics in the next few days.

Take A Stitch Tuesday - Week 2

I've been down with an upper respiratory infection the past week, so I was worried I'd fall another week behind on this project, but fortunately, I've recovered enough to sit upright and stitch. And thank goodness, because this week's stitch for sharonb's Take A Stitch Tuesday was the easy and fun buttonhole stitch. I have done this stitch only once before, years ago, on a small hardanger project. It's quite simple, and the variations are endless.

This is what I came up with:



The first row is a basic buttonhole stitch. On the left side, you can see where I started out one hole off, and corrected after two stitches. I meant to experiment later with off-setting the top stitch that way, but didn't get to it before my self-imposed "post day." The second half of the first row is the stitch done the left-handed way. I am left-handed, but for the most part, I don't modify my stitching. It was easier doing the basic stitch left-handed, but when I was working with the other motifs, I found it easier to revert to the common method.

The half circle motif ended where I somehow lost count and tried to frog. I lost the entire sequence, and just started over with the successful circle motif you see below it.

I tried a sort of chevron shape, and a flower, as you can see. I even charted a tulip motif, complete with stem and leaves, all in buttonhole, but gave that up after four unsuccessful tries. I guess my cold-congested brain was not up to the challenge!

I had some other ideas, but just couldn't get to them, what with the cold, and the disarray my fibers are in. But I had so much fun doing this project and I'm looking forward to having more time and energy for the next stitches.

Thanks so much, Sharon, for hosting this project!

Stitching & Reading

Worked on my bookmark exchange today, and made good progress, although not as much as I'd like. I'm taking scans every day that I work on it for a pictorial WIP post once I can post it. My first one - I am so excited!

Also - I caught Just Nan's upcoming releases today. They're all so pretty, as always, but the one I have my eye on is Queen Of the Needle. When the Silver Needle had the limited edition sampler case, I didn't have the funds to get it, to my eternal regret. This will be a nice consolation piece! I've been spending a lot on stash lately, and really want to keep it in check, but this is one I plan on kitting up with the silks & starting right away. So pretty!

Speaking of stash, I joined a monthly fiber club at Stitching Bits and Bobs. It'll start near the end of the month and I'll be receiving Carrie's Creation threads, which is great, because Ink Circles has a wonderful pattern, Blackstone Fantasy Garden, that uses those threads. I don't have it yet, but isn't having the threads a great excuse to buy the pattern? Anyway, the threads look yummy in themselves and I am excited to be receiving stitching goodies in the mail once again.

As for reading, I have yet again been slacking off. Rather, I've been too busy and/or tired to get much done - can't concentrate. I am slowly working on The Scroll of Seduction, which is just OK. The story of the mad queen, Juana, was what caught my interest initially, but the surrounding modern-day love story is not one that I'm enjoying. I am planning a trip to the library tomorrow to replenish my reading stock, so hopefully something better will present itself to me. I have plenty at home to read, including some things loaned to me by my mom and mother-in-law, but none of them are grabbing me at the moment. My husband laughs when I check out 20 books at the library, but I really need a good selection because I like to go through the stack and wait for something to compel me.

P.S. I really need to work on something I can post a progress picture of...

A Day Late

I just heard about Take A Stitch Tuesday over at ILCS (Yahoo Group). I haven't been active in the groups I belong to mostly because I am not sure what to say, and I feel sort of silly just posting "Wow, nice work" a bunch of times. :p Anyway, I have resolved to participate more, mostly because I would like to be involved in some exchanges this year, and the best way to do that is to become known in the groups that have active exchange programs.

Back to Take A Stitch Tuesday - I missed this week's stitch, which was Herringbone, having found the project only today. I may go back and do that one later, but for now I'm just planning on picking up next week. I've explored Sharon's blog just a little and have already seen dozens of awesome ideas for textile work and making a visual journal. I think that's a great idea to do with the stitches from this project. I've wanted to do a stitcher's reference book but the idea of little squares put in a 3 ring binder just never inspired me. I can definitely see working on a journal of this style though!

2006 Finishes

I wasn't going to do this, since I just started stitching again a couple of months ago. But I am proud of the few things I finished. So I'll list them here in approximate order of finish date:

The Drawn Thread - Victorian Spot Sampler
Heritage - Dragonfly Pincushion
Bent Creek - Chick On An Egg
Lizzie Kate - Miracles Happen
Dimensions - Daydreams - Time For Tea
Lizzie Kate - Bless The Baby

Except for Time For Tea, these were all things from my UFO pile. Bless The Baby was started many moons ago, I don't even remember which baby! But it turned out well, since it was mostly complete, and was a quick finish for my new little niece.

You can see pictures of my finishes at my Picasa web album.

I am still contemplating whether I want to set goals for 2007 or not. For now I think I want to focus on enjoying stitching again.

First Post AND a WIP update!

Well, I have zero readers right now, but I am excited anyway. I have been so inspired by the many stitching blogs I've found around, that I sort of feel a new passion for stitching.

Up until the last couple of months, I hadn't really stitched for a year or more. I still bought stash (of course) and drooled over other people's work, and daydreamed about sitting down and relaxing with a needle in hand. But because of health problems, a new marriage, bringing my teenaged son home to homeschool, moving, and working, I never managed to sit down and stitch.

Well, lots of things have changed and I am overjoyed to say that I feel like I have a new enthusiasm for the craft.

I will be posting the couple of small finished I've done over the last two months, and some other WIPs another time. I also plan on developing some goals and joining in some exchanges as I find them.

I think one thing that stopped me from stitching was my massive (and I mean massive) UFO pile. Until now, I considered it a WIP pile, and the thought of finishing things I no longer had any enthusiasm for was just too daunting. So, I picked a few out that I'd like to finish, and those I don't care for are just going to have to languish in the drawer until I feel like working on them or giving them to someone who will.

(EDIT: I removed the WIP pictures, because it's for an exchange. Even though I have no readers, I have joined some boards lately and I worry that my recipient will happen across this post and have her surprise ruined! I'll likely to a blow-by-blow about that project once it's been mailed & received.)

I have never done a project with so many fractional stitches. Even though I haven't carried over more than three stitches, it looks terrible. But, if I anchor them off and start new, there are not enough threads on back to secure the ends. I am reassuring myself that the back won't be seen once the bookmark's finished. I am just making sure not to carry over empty linen.

I don't know how often I will post here. So many people post almost daily, but I don't think I'll be able to keep up that pace. I have another journal elsewhere that is for more personal things, and I need to keep up with that one better than I have been. But, I am determined to keep stitching a regular part of my life, so expect posts here with some regularity.