'Twas the Night Before Christmas

...and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a....

BANG went the Christmas tree!



Yep, that's my poor tree, fallen over onto its side on Christmas Eve. Someone (the male in the household) left off one tiny little part on the base of the tree when it was first put up. I didn't notice until after getting all of the lights on and made the not-so-good decision to leave it alone. I thought that surely the tree would be fine. I thought wrong. And the whole thing went down on Christmas Eve. I was in the middle of frantic holiday baking when it happened, and it was the last thing I had time to deal with. But there it was.

Fortunately, only a few glass balls shattered. None of the important ones were damaged. And now, I have a perfect excuse for purchasing a new pre-lit tree.

In stitching news, I've concentrated mostly on Snow Wonderful. It's coming along nicely, and I'm hoping to finish it in January. Today I'll be working on Santa's Magic, though I don't expect to see much progress.

The Day Before the Day Before Christmas

I haven't had a chance to post much this week, as I've been busy getting ready for the holidays. Am I ready now? Of course not!!! There is still baking to be done and gifts to be wrapped. And maybe even a gift or two to be purchased. Nothing like waiting until the last possible minute! I am one of the world's greatest procrastinators, and I hate all of the holiday pressure to do way too much, so I have always been gifted at running around like a madwoman the last two days before Christmas. I am, however, pleased with myself this year because I managed to send out holiday cards to family and friends. That's something that usually falls by the wayside due to my procrastinating ways.

I took today off of work, and right now, I really should be at the grocery store, hastily buying all the baking supplies I can grab. But I successfully talked myself out of it earlier today when I realized that the peak supermarket madness is probably going on right now. So today, I will relax and (hopefully) stitch a bit, putting off the grocery store trip until later this evening. The non-stop baking will begin early tomorrow morning, and will probably continue until we leave to visit family late Christmas morning.

Stitching has been going well this week, with some time spent working on a few different projects. After last weekends stitchathon, I continued working for a bit on Acorns & Flowers Sampler on Monday evening. This project is progressing pretty well, but I am getting tired of Montenegrin stitch. More specifically, I am getting tired of trying to figure out a not very user-friendly pattern. I often find myself guessing at what I am supposed to be stitching, as many of the diagrams are hard to read.

Tuesday is my regular UFO day, and I dutifully dragged out Santa's Magic. It's still slow going on this one, but I keep telling myself that every stitch is one stitch closer to finished.



Wednesday and Thursday were spent working on Snow Wonderful, which has been a lot of fun to stitch. I've been going back and forth between the different areas, so it never gets too boring.

Stitch-athon Update

I joined in a marathon stitching SAL over the weekend, hoping to make some good progress on my Acorns & Flowers Sampler. Whether or not it was actually "good progress" depends on your point of view, I guess. The most positive thing is that I completed band 6, which means that I met my last December stitching goal. I've also put a pretty good dent into the stitching of band 7.

I didn't get as much time to stitch over the weekend as I would have liked. Life just got in the way, and I also had a hard time getting motivated initially. I've found that I have a hard time picking this project back up when I stop in the midst of a band-- I must remember in the future to finish whatever bit I'm working on before moving on to another project.

Also, the nasty frog visited on Sunday. I had been working for a while on band 7, and was making reasonably good progress, when I discovered that I was off by ONE stitch and had to frog. Here's what I had accomplished:



And here's what it looked like after my frogging session:



I did manage to restitch most of what I had ripped, and I'll probably work on it a bit more tonight. Below are the before & after pics-- the one on the right is how it looks today.

UFO Happy Dance!

This is Cloister Garden, by Drawn Thread-- stitched on 32 ct. antique white Belfast linen.

Okay, so it isn't my "official" UFO, but it was a UFO nonetheless. And as of last night, it is finished!

I've actually stitched this piece 3 times. The first time I was actually stitching it for myself, on English Rose linen. Then my ex-MIL spotted it and fell in love with the sampler, so I stitched a second one for her. Both of those were completed in 1999, just a couple of months apart.

In 2000, XH left and I bought a condo, which I promptly decorated in colors that did not work with rose anything. So my completed Cloister Garden on English rose fabric sat in a drawer. I had several stitching friends who were also stitching (or planning to stitch) this piece, and one of them just happened to have a place to hang my completed project. And she had a brand new Cloister Garden kit plus a piece of antique white Belfast to trade. Perfect!!! My completed piece found a happy home, and I was able to stitch it again for myself in a color scheme that would match my decor a bit better.

Looking at this photo, I realize that it is a terrible picture. The completed piece really is much prettier. This just looks kind of grey. Maybe I'll have to try again over the weekend-- in daylight.

Mid-December goal review

Since we're at the half-way point, I thought I'd take a few moments to review my goal list for the month and what I've accomplished so far. I'm actually quite pleased with what I've gotten done up to this point, and I think I will be able to meet my goals for December.

1. Complete bands 5 and 6 on Acorns & Flowers Sampler.
As of December 7, band 5 is done and 6 is approximately 60% complete. This weekend I will be participating in a stitch-a-thon with this project, so I expect to meet (and maybe even exceed) my goals for this project.

2. Start Snow Wonderful
I started this project on December 7 and have made pretty good progress thus far.

3. Assemble at least 2 ornaments
Done! I assembled the Mosey & Me Santa on December 1, and Christmas Rose was assembled on December 14.

4. Complete Cloister Garden
I haven't done anything on this one yet, but I plan to! There really isn't much left.

5. Stitch once each week on Santa's Magic
So far, so good! I've been working on this project every Tuesday and even though I can't see much progress so far, I know that it is getting closer to completion every time I work on it.

Another Ornie Assembled

This is an ornament that I stitched quite a while ago, but I never assembled it. Like so many things, it was laying in a drawer awaiting finishing. Yesterday, I decided that it was well past time for this one to be on my tree and I sewed it together last night. The assembly was easy-- a backstitch border on the stitched side, and a backstitched square of the same size on the back... and whipstitch the two together on the outside. This finishing technique is a bit slow because it is done entirely by hand, but I like the edging that it makes.

And, just for fun, here are a few pics of our Christmas tree.

SBQ - Blog Habits

This week's question comes from AngelSan:

Take a minute to reflect on your blog reading habits and preferences. What do you prefer to read in stitching blogs? (Progress, tips, family life, experiences, etc.) How much do you think you are influenced by other stitching bloggers?

The vast majority of the blogs that I read regularly are stitching blogs. There are a lot of them out there, so time often becomes an issue. Because of this, I prefer to read mostly progress and tips. However, I do enjoy a bit of life experiences thrown in, in order to know a bit more about the people whose blogs I visit often.

I am influenced by other stitching bloggers quite a bit. Sometimes I find new-to-me designers and other times I 'rediscover' something that I have had sitting in my stash for years. There are also occassions where a design that was unappealing to me on a pattern suddenly moves onto my "must stitch" list after I've seen it stitched on the internet.

Recently, the biggest influence for me has been in the area of finishing techniques. Many of my finished projects end up in a drawer for years before I get around to doing anything with them, whether it's framing or other finishing. But after seeing some of the creative finishing techniques and wonderful instructions out there, I have begun pulling out some of my finishing pieces and finally doing something with them.

Wednesday already?

Trips to the country and weekdays off always mess up my sense of time, and this week is no different. I can't complain though, because this means a three-day workweek for me! Of course, having some extra time off meant that I wasn't spending much time online and now I'm feeling the pressure to catch up with everything I've missed. I managed to check in on my stitching groups, but I am woefully behind on reading my favorite blogs.

I made some good progress on Snow Wonderful over the weekend. There is a ton of white in this design and I generally don't like working with white, but somehow, it doesn't bother me at all on this project. Everything about this one is fun to stitch. I guess it doesn't hurt that the white shows up so nicely on the adobe fabric.

Since yesterday was Tuesday, I dragged out Santa's Magic and worked on that for a while. I started out by dumping a bunch of the beads onto the floor-- NOT GOOD!!! Once I got that mess cleaned up, I worked on a small area of beading and followed that up with a few rows of metallic braid. It wasn't much, but better than nothing. I haven't taken a new progress pic yet, because there really isn't much progress to see. Maybe I'll do that after next week's stitching session.

I also managed to finish decorating my Christmas tree. I have way too many ornaments for a single tree, but I like seeing them all, so I just piled it on. No pic of that yet, either. But I promise to post one soon! In the meantime, here are a few pics of some painted ornaments that I made in 1992.



And a couple of ornaments that I've received in exchanges from past years:

A tiny finish

I joined in a weekend freebie stitch-along and made this:



It's a freebie design by Drawn Thread and is available online. I stitched it on willow green linen, rather than the summer khaki that is called for on the pattern, and I also changed the color of the flowers in the border. They were supposed to be gold, like the bee, but they didn't show up very well on the fabric, so I made them bright rose instead. I thought it looked more cheerful that way.

After finishing my freebie, I went back to stitching Snow Wonderful. No update pic for that one yet, although I am making good progress. I'm liking the adobe fabric from Silkweaver more and more as I stitch.

It's Sunday morning, and we'll be heading out to the country this afternoon. I have to be there for some workmen who are installing a new part for my alarm system tomorrow morning. They've already tried-- and failed-- with this thing once. Hopefully it will work this time.

In the meantime, I'm trying to put up some Christmas decorations before we leave. I had good intentions to do it over Thanksgiving, but didn't have time. And things have been way too busy since then for me to take care of it. Thus far, the tree is up and about half of the lights are on. Guess I should get back to it!

Snow!

The weather guessers were right (for once) and we did get some snow and ice, but they were also right about the area not getting much. It was enough to cause a two-hour delay for the federal government, but not enough to close for the day. So here I sit, stuck at my office rather than at home stitching.

I was pretty sure that we would at least get a late start today, so I stayed up a little later than usual last night and tried to catch up on BB stuff and emails. I also battled my silly computer trying to get some images to load. I was only partially successful though. My progress on Snow Wonderful loaded, but the latest pics of Santa's Magic didn't. I guess that doesn't really matter, since he hasn't changed much anyway. I think I will use him for this months stitching marathon weekend. Maybe if I spend a whole weekend working on him, I will finally see some progress.

I had an absolutely delightful stitching session last night, working on Snow Wonderful. I wasn't 100% sure about my fabric choice at first, but now that I have a few colors added, I really love it. The white really pops and the overdyed threads also look great. I'm really pleased with it so far. Happily the frog (he was named Benjamin on one of my stitching groups several years ago... no idea why) stayed away and I was able to make a bit of progress, even though I really didn't spend all that much time working on it last night. I'm quite happy with the way this one is coming along.

I've committed to a freebie stitch-along this weekend, so I will probably won't get much done on Snow Wonderful until next week. I haven't yet chosen the freebie that I will stitch, since this just came up for me today. We'll see what I find!

Questions Answered

I wanted to try and answer a few questions that have come up recently on my blog. Unfortunately, I have been bombarded with work this week and haven't had a chance to get back to anyone. But today is nice and slow and now I have some time to answer this stuff, and to check in on all of your blogs that I enjoy reading regularly. I've caught up on my email group and the BB, with time to spare for blog reading. (I've really missed that this week!)

Lili-- Santa's Magic was started in 1999. I was pretty enthusiastic at first, but that wore off quickly. I don't know how many actual stitching hours I have into it so far. He has spent most of his 'lifetime' in a closet, but I am really trying to finish him in 2006. Thanks for adding me to your blog list... at least I know that I'm not here talking to myself. LOL As for my kitties (there are actually two, but one is *extremely* camera shy and never sits still long enough, so no pics of her here), neither of them ever goes out. I did put each of them outside in snow once, just to see what they'd do. They just stared at it and looked decidedly unimpressed by the experience.

Becky-- Thanks for the 'frog-be-gone' wishes. It worked, and I had a wonderful stitching session last night with NO FROGS.

Kim-- Robin laid an egg!!! I don't know if I'll *ever* get that out of my head now, thanks to you.

Veronica-- the Spanish sampler is by Needle's Content. The original pattern was in purples/greens, but I changed them around a bit because I felt like stitching something red. The design is lots of fun to stitch, and I'm anxious to get back to it again.

A Rocky Start

I started M Designs Snow Wonderful today. Or perhaps I should say that I tried to start it. I'm afraid I didn't get very far.

I started out with great enthusiasm on a pretty piece of 32 ct. hand-dyed fabric that came in a recent Silkweaver order. The color is Adobe, which should work quite nicely, I think. I decided to break with my usual "start in the middle" routine and instead began in the center of the top border. I did the entire right half of the white area of the border before realizing that I had spaced each motif one stitch too far to the right. So I frogged five of the six motifs.

I restitched four of them and then proceeded to place the sixth one (the right corner) incorrectly three times. So I frogged again. And again. And again. Fourth time is the charm and I finally got it right! By then it was nearing bedtime, but I just had to get something on that fabric besides white. For all the time spent on this project this evening, I should be farther along. Oh well, it's a start.



In the meantime, I'm having one of those weeks at work. I'm teaching Monday through Thursday, which is generally fine... but this week... not so fine. I ended the three-day course today and got great reviews, so that's positive. I just feel really burned out for some reason. I'm hoping tomorrow's one-day class goes quickly because I'm really ready for this to be over for the week. And since I'm doing this training in-house, rather than on the road, I get the added bonus of keeping up with regular office nonsense while still managing to teach.

I think they (you know, the weather types) are calling for snow here on Friday. Naturally I'm hoping it's enough to close the office. Otherwise, it's just something messy that I have to drive through to get to work. Maybe I'll get a bonus stitching day yet.

SBQ - Charity Stitching

This week's question was suggested by Zohrah.

Have you done any charity stitching, been in one, or would like to organize one?

I have only done two charity stitching projects. Both were quilts that I donated squares to a number of years ago. These happened to be projects where there was a theme that had to be stitched, and both also required white aida for the squares. Because of this, I had a very hard time getting motivated to work on them, even though it was for a good cause. I'd never be able to organize one, due to lack of time, but I would like to stitch for one again.

December Goals

With the holidays approaching, I am trying not to be too ambitious with my stitching goals for the month of December.

1. Complete bands 5 and 6 on Acorns & Flowers Sampler.
2. Start Snow Wonderful
3. Assemble at least 2 ornaments
4. Complete Cloister Garden
5. Stitch once each week on Santa's Magic


So far, I have accomplished the following:

1. Completed band 5 and approximately 60% of band 6 of Acorns & Flowers
2. Assembled one Christmas ornament

And, I've been successful in keeping up with my commitment to work on Santa's Magic each week. I still haven't seen much progress, but every stitch counts! Here's what he looked like before this evening's stitching session:

Monday update

We went to the country over the weekend, so I didn't have internet access. I took plenty of stitching in my new DMC project bag, which is turning out to be one of my favorite needlework purchases. I am able to store several projects at once, and it is so easy to carry along on trips.

Last week, I started a new ornament-- the Elizabeth's Designs Christmas tree from this year's JCS. I finished the regular stitching on it over the weekend and just need to add some beads and assemble it. I'm thinking a quilted ornie for this one, but I'm not sure yet.

I've decided to make Acorns and Flowers my focus piece for December. Below are the two most recent pics-- the first is from November and the most recent was taken this evening. This design has been challenging, particularly the diagonal montenegrin stitch, but I am slowly figuring it out. It's also supposed to be reversible, which has also been a learning experience. The back isn't perfect, but I think I'm doing pretty well.

Santa Ornie

I put the finishing touches on the Santa ornament last night. I had a little trouble with the fabric bunching up around the corners because they were rounded. It made it a little tough to glue the front and back together neatly. I ended up putting a heavy bowl on top after gluing and letting it sit overnight on Wednesday. That worked, and I was able to hot-glue the trim on yesterday.

I was so excited with my two assemblies this week that I started another ornament last night. This time I am stitching the Elizabeth's Designs ornie from this year's JCS issue. I changed the fabric to 32 ct. natural linen and replaced the DMC with overdyes. I nearly finished the stitching last night-- just a bit more border to go and some beads on the tree.

I still haven't made a list of December goals yet. We're off to the country this weekend, so I'll have a bit of time to think about what I'd like to do this month. In the meantime, I'm planning to take Acorns & Flowers as well as some ornament patterns along for the trip.

SBQ

I've been reading others' responses to the weekly Stitching Bloggers Question but haven't answered them myself. Thought I'd give it a go.

This week's question was suggested by Angelsan:

Do you have rules in the way you stitch? (i.e., Do you start in the middle? Do you determine which blocks to stitch first? Do you always start from the top or the bottom? Do you have special paths to prevent wasting thread?)

The only 'rule' I follow is that my stitches must all lay in the same direction. Where I start depends on what type of design I'm stitching. If it's a picture-type pattern, I always start in the middle. For sampler designs, I'm split-- sometimes beginning in the center, and other times beginning at the top left. I never start at the bottom or right side of a design. I generally focus on a specific area of a design, but I also tend to get bored easily and jump around from one area to another frequently. I also do backstitching and beads as I go, or some of my projects would end up as permanent UFOs.

Ta Da!!!

Button Santa was completely assembled just in time to meet my final November stitching goal deadline. I dusted off my glue gun (haven't used it in years) and used it to attach the cording. It went on so easily and I'm hoping that maybe I'll be a bit more timely in assembling other projects.

I'm not thrilled with how this picture turned out. There is a weird reflection in the lettering above the rooftops that I don't like at all. It's from the surface of the foam core that I mounted the stitching on. The fabric is 18 or 19 ct. linen, so the holes are large and the backing shows through just a bit. It doesn't look shiny in real life-- that's just where the flash from the camera reflected.

Now I need to consider my December goals. I think that this month, I would like to be less ambitious with my large project, so that I can devote a bit of time to ornaments and other small projects.

My focus piece for December will be Acorns & Flowers Sampler, by Samplers and Such. At this point, I have 4 bands completed and most of band 5. That sampler was giving me fits until I picked up Amy Mitten's "Autopsy of the Montenegrin Stitch". I can't say enough good things about that little book-- it truly saved my sanity when working the diagonal montenegrin stitch. Without it, I have no doubt that this sampler would have become a UFO, as I simply could not figure out the diagonal montenegrin stitch and how to change directions based on the diagrams included with the pattern. It's a small book, roughly the size of a notecard, and spiral bound... and the best $16.50 plus shipping that I've ever spent.

Ever wonder what your pet does while you're at work?

My silly cat likes to play with running water. BF does a lot of work from home and is able to snap pics of my puddy in action during the day. There's another kitty in the house, but she hates BF and won't come out unless I'm there. Poor thing.

November Goal #3

The internet was cooperating last night, so I was able to upload a photo of my latest goal completion, Fall Leaves Needleroll. The pic isn't great; the lighting was bad and I got some reflected flash off of the dark leather sofa. I only did the assembly on the needleroll this month-- the stitching was done earlier this year. Still I am feeling pretty good about myself, because my completed projects usually end up in a drawer for ages before I finally assemble or frame them.

I also snapped a pic of the Santa ornament. I have the front and back pieces done and ready to be glued together and trimmed. I don't think that I have anything on-hand for this one, so it probably will not be completed for a few days.

After my assembly work was done, I settled in and stitched a bit on Santa's Magic. What a pain!!! I'm trying to get back into the habit of working on my UFO on Tuesdays again. If I can stick to it, I can probably get this project finished (FINALLY!!!) in 2006... only 7 years after I started it.

Michael's gets more of my $$

I am not a fan of Michael's, by any stretch. They don't have most of the needlework supplies that I need, and going there is usually rather painful. Unfortunately, the LNS that I loved is gone and the Evil Corporate Entity is the most convenient option, so long as I don't need anything fancy. Then it's a 30-minute (or longer) drive to an LNS, or waiting for an online order to arrive.

Yesterday's after-work mission was picture frames (Christmas gifts) and embellishments for my Santa ornament. I was expecting the usual pain and suffering that goes along with a trip to Michael's, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't so bad on a Monday afternoon. Of course, my ever-patient BF was there to haul everything and generally keep me company. I had hoped to pick up some additional metallic braid and beads so that I can get back to work on Santa's Magic, but of course the colors I needed were not available from their pitiful collection.

Other than the braid and bead disappointment, which was expected, the remainder of the trip was successful. I found a 5" square frame that might work for Please Don't Eat the Daisies. The frame comes closer to the stitching than I'd like, so this may be a temporary home for PDETD, but it will do for now. I won't mount the piece permanently until I'm sure.

I also picked up various embellishments for the Santa's Trimmings ornament, but when I got them home I realized that I didn't really want Santa to be holding a string of garland... or whatever... so I've left that bit off and just added a star-shaped button to the top of his hat. I also picked up some self-adhesive mounting board for Santa and started the finishing process on my ornie when I got home.

I tried to post some pics last night, but the internet refused to cooperate. Maybe this evening.

UFO Sightings

Last night I completed the stitching on the Mosey & Me Santa ornament. I haven't taken a pic yet, because I still have to do the embellishments. He's supposed to be holding a string of beads, but I think I want to do something a little different. I have to go to Michael's (yet again) after work today and will find something there to finish the ornament tonight.

Button Santa is mounted and glued together-- all that's left is the trim. I'm a bit nervous about that, though I don't know why.

With the ornament stitching finished, I needed something to work on during the evening. I have been feeling guilty about not working on Santa's Magic for so long, so I decided to pull him out. I went over the pattern, carefully comparing it to what I've stitched, in an effort to figure out where I left off with it. The project is very nearly complete, much closer than I realized. But, the parts that are left are almost entirely metallic braid and beads-- neither of which I had handy at BF's house. Santa has been put away once again, until I get the rest of the supplies from my place.

Since Santa didn't cooperate, I pulled out Adia instead. This is another project that has been langiushing in the back of a closet for quite some time. I didn't work on it long enough to accomplish very much, but at least she is out of hiding and perhaps will make it into a regular rotation. The photo here was taken in July 2003-- I've worked on it somewhere along the way since then, because there is much more completed than this picture shows. The top portion is essentially unchanged, but most of the bottom of her dress was done before I picked it up yesterday.

When Adia is finished, she will be framed to match Titania, which was completed several years ago.

Holiday Success

Miraculously, the dessert set up properly and was really quite good. Personally, I can't get past the pumpkin part of it, so I'm not too nuts about it. Since it was just the two of us yesterday, I opted not to do the traditional Thanksgiving dinner-- we'll have that tomorrow with my family. Turkey twice in one weekend seemed a bit extreme, so I opted for a Thanksgiving pork roast accompanied by corn spoon bread instead. Both were new recipes and turned out well.

In between cooking sessions, I worked a tiny bit on the assembly of Button Santa. We should be able to hang that by the end of this weekend. I also started a new project-- the Mosey & Me Santa ornament from the 2004 JCS ornie issue. He's cute, but larger than I normally like for an ornament. If I had it to do again, I'd probably do it over one.

Thanksgiving... and another goal met

Last night I finished the figure panel on Castle Sampler, meeting my second goal for November. I did a mini-happy dance and have now put it away once again.

I've made quite a lot of progress on it, and it's tempting to continue working on it, but other projects are calling my name. I think it's looking pretty good though.

I've spent most of my day thus far in the kitchen, working on dessert for our dinner this evening. It's a pumpkin chiffon something-or-other, and I'm not entirely convinced that it is going to set up properly. We'll see. Worst case, we'll eat it with spoons.

Squishy mail and other distractions

The last few mail days have been good to me. First, I
received a shipment from Silkweaver containing some
goodies that I ordered from their Odds & Ends page.
There were two gorgeous pieces of Lakeside Linens 40
ct. vintage linen in different shades of blue, plus
one small piece of neutral colored linen.

Next came the the shipment from Wyndham Needleworks
that I had been waiting on. Some of it had been
back-ordered, but it finally arrived in time for
Thanksgiving. That shipment contained the last three
years' worth of JCS ornament issues and M Designs'
"Snow Wonderful," along with all of the specialty
threads that it called for. That designs is so
whimsical and I am very anxious to start it, but I
will try to finish my November stitching goals first.

I stopped by Michael's Crafts yesterday in an effort
to get ribbons and other trim so that I can assemble
Fall Leaves and Button Santa. I found trim, but
didn't find any suitable board for making a flat-fold.
The foam core just looked too thick, so I decided to
look for something around the house. I found a box to
use, but it looks like the cardboard is too thin. I
guess I'll go back to Michael's today and pick up that
foam core that I saw.

I put a few more stitches in Castle Sampler last
night, but really wasn't motivated to work on it for
long. Most of figure #5 is backstitched, and I will
probably finish the figure panel this evening.

I suspect that we will be released early from work
today-- that's how it usually goes on the day before a
major holiday. I'm looking forward to the time off,
even though we're not travelling anywhere. Or perhaps
I should say 'especially' because we aren't travelling
anywhere. We'll go to Thanksgiving dinner with family
on Saturday, but that is the only commitment over this
long weekend. I plan to put my feet up and stitch,
cook a little, and maybe even work on my website.

Changing goals

While rake shopping at Wal-Mart over the weekend, I took a little detour to look for flat-fold/cube-it/ornie backing fabrics. What I had in mind was something for finishing my Valentine Heart, which is (or was) one of my November Stitching Goals. Silly me... I hadn't considered that it's NOVEMBER and what fabric shops will be selling is CHRISTMAS fabby. So, I've decided not to assemble Valentine Heart, but to do something with Button Santa instead.

I think this is too tall and narrow for a cube-it, so it will be either a flat-fold or a doorhanger... haven't decided which yet. I was successful in finding fabric, but still need to get trim. A trip to Michael's will be in order very soon.

With the modification, my November stitching goals are now as follows:

1. Complete left border of Castle Sampler (done!)
2. Complete figure panel of Castle Sampler
3. Assemble Fall Leaves needleroll
4. Make flat-fold or doorhanger out of Button Santa

I think I am on-track for my goals this month. I worked on Castle Sampler last night and figure 5 is now completely stitched. All that's left is a bit of the vine/flower background in the figure panel, and the backstitching on figure 5. Goal #2 should be met tonight or tomorrow, with Goals #3 & #4 being met over the weekend.

Oh, my back!!!

I had such wonderful plans for this weekend. Rick and I were going to the country, where I was going to relax and stitch. I packed up Castle Sampler and he packed his guitar and laptop. This was supposed to be me...



But nooooo.... that was not to be.

When we arrived (around lunchtime on Saturday), we were greeted by a yard full of LEAVES. I have a mower with a bagger attachment and planned to use that, until I found out that an earlier repair on it hadn't been done correctly and the bagging attachment will not go on. So we were stuck dealing with the leaves the old-fashioned way. Of course, there was only one rake in the garage, which meant a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a second rake. We spent the rest of the afternoon raking leaves and managed to get the front yard done. Afterward, I cooked dinner and by the time we were finished, I was too tired to pick up a needle. So much for my stitching weekend.

Our plan was to leave by noon on Sunday, but that didn't work out either. One of my uncles came by to get a recliner from me, and a drill press from the garage. Turns out the drill press was hard-wired to a switch and was a beast to remove. After that little ordeal, Rick still had to clean the gutters. I'm not much for climbing ladders and playing on the roof, so I pulled my big wicker chair out onto the deck and got in a little bit of stitching while he tended to the gutters. I managed a little more stitching after we got home last night, but still not much progress. But there is a holiday weekend coming up, and I have high hopes of finishing the figure panel by Sunday.

Backstitching Blues

I worked on Castle Sampler again last night. (Do we notice a trend developing here? LOL) I finished the last few Xs on Figure 4 and put a few more stitches in Figure 5, then I concentrated on the backstitching. I hate doing acres of backstitch (where are my trusty Mirabilia projects when I need them?) and have to do all of my backstitching as I go, or any project that had it would become a permanent UFO. To make matters worse, the b/s on this TW pattern is nearly impossible to read-- sometimes I can't tell if a grid line is simply a grid line, or if it is supposed to be backstitched. UGH!!!

This is where I have trouble getting motivated and literally must force myself to keep stitching. I did manage to make some progress though... Figure 3 is now complete, and I should finish Figure 4 this evening. I am getting near enough to the end of the figure panel that I am certain I will be able to finish it by the end of the month, meeting my second stitching goal for November. After that, I will need to assemble my Fall Leaves needleroll and make something out of Valentine Heart.

Castle Sampler update

I finally took some updated pics of Castle Sampler on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, the computer at home wasn't cooperating, and I wasn't able to upload them until last night.

The first pic is of Figure 1. I included part of the left border, which is completed now.



And here is a photo of Figure 2. The remaining three figures are in various states of completion, with Figure 3 being the closest to finished.



I worked a bit more on this project last night, although I didn't get very far with it. I ended up having to frog a few stitches on the chair of Figure 5, and I didn't make too much progress after that.

Also, while I was in a picture taking mood, I snapped a photo of my completed (and framed!) Lighthouse, by Bent Creek. I thought I'd get some shade of blue mats for that one and go with a distressed wood frame, but I liked the cheerfulness of these mats better. They don't actually go with *any* of my decor, so this hangs in the hallway at BF's house. It doesn't go with his decor either, but at least it doesn't clash with anything in the hallway.

Poor, neglected Santa

I used to be very good about documenting my stitching progress, but over the last couple of years life has gotten in the way and my stitching journaling has fallen by the wayside. I'm trying to do better! To that end, I have recently begun photographing all of my stitching at various stages of completion.

This photo of Santa's Magic, by Mirabilia, was taken just a couple of weeks ago. That is not to say that I have stitched on it, or even touched it, in recent memory. The most recent photo I have prior to this one is dated July 27, 2003. I like to think that I've worked on this project since then, but I'm not sure. I know that I haven't touched it at all in 2005... maybe not even in 2004.

I first saw Santa's Magic in my local needlework shop. He looked so regal in a dark wood frame with double suede mats that I just had to stitch him. I purchased the recommended fabric and all of the necessary supplies. There were piles of metallic braid and beads, not to mention Wisper thread. I ran up quite a bill at the LNS that day.

That was 1999. It's now November 2005, and Santa still isn't finished. I started out quite enthusiastically, as this scan from December 1999 shows.




Before long, the ACRES of metallic braid started getting old, then the beads. And then I made the mistake of trying to use the white Wisper thread that was called for in the pattern. As it turns out "white" Wisper is not nearly as white as the DMC B5200 that I was using to stitch the white areas. Having the two threads together made the Wisper look yellowish, so I had to frog the Wisper that I had stitch. Have you ever tried to FROG that stuff? It's not fun.

And so my beautiful Santa has turned into the UFO that languishes in a drawer while I work on anything else. What really bugs me is that he is sooooo near to completion.

Perhaps I'll make a point of working on him again after the figure panel in Castle Sampler is completed.

A Little Happy Dance

I haven't actually finished anything, but I did reach ONE of my November stitching goals over the weekend. I completed the left-hand border of Castle Sampler! I was getting tired of the figures at the bottom and decided I needed something a little more 'mindless', so I switched back to working on the border. Now that it is done, I can focus again on the figure panel. I worked a bit on them last night and have made a teeny bit of progress. For one thing, I completed the backstitching on figure #1.

After looking at the photos that I posted of Castle Sampler, I've realized that I really need to take some new pictures. The project has changed a lot since the October 11 pic.

Now that I've made some progress on my sampler, I would like to go ahead and assemble my Fall Leaves needleroll and do something with the Valentine Heart that I stitched several years ago. My inclination is to make that one into a flat-fold or cube-it. I haven't tried either finishing technique before, so that will probably be fun.... NOT. But it needs to be done, and I haven't spotted the Finishing Fairy flying around my neighborhood recently.

A day off

Today is Veteran's Day, which means that my office is closed. That was supposed to translate into a day of stitching, but so far none has taken place. I had grand plans to spend some quality (read "quantity") time with Castle Sampler but somehow I keep getting distracted.

I did manage to upload some of my recent stitching photos, so I can finally get something besides words into this blog. The photo thing ended up being something of a pain... some of the images were huge and somehow distorted the linen on some of the photos. Then, I tried to upload the pics to my Geocities site last night, only to find out that I have exceeded my storage space, so most of the pics didn't make it up there. This morning, I opened an account at Picturetrail, so hopefully that will work. I haven't had much luck with uploading the pics from the PC directly to this blog... it just won't cooperate for some reason.

Enough rambling about the technical nonsense of the photos.

Here's how Castle Sampler looked as of October 11, 2005.



And here is a close-up of figures #2 and #3 that was taken on November 4.



I've made quite a bit of progress since those two photos were taken. Figures 1, 2 and 3 are completed, except for some of the backstitching, and I have stitched most of figure 4. Figure 5 is started, but I haven't done much on that one yet.

I spent last night working on the left border and am very near to finishing that section of the design. All of the over-one letters are done, as is the border itself. I just have to fill in a few pink stitches in between the letter blocks and stitch the vine motif in the top two squares. Once that is done, I will have met one of my November stitching goals.

Tuesday already?

I can't believe it's Tuesday already. Where has the time gone? The weekend whizzed by and managed to pass without much stitching activity. We drove to the country on Saturday and I got wrapped up with assorted things around the house. By the time I finally sat down to stitch, I was too tired to focus on it. On Sunday, an uncle and aunt came for a visit and took a few things from the garage. I don't know if I will ever get rid of all that needs to go, but at least I am finally getting started on it. We had a nice visit, and I managed to get a few stitches in before heading back home on Sunday evening.

I'm still working diligently on Castle Sampler. I finished the last bit of stitching on figure #3 last night and have most of #4 completed. He's still headless and doesn't look like much of anything. I took a photo of my latest progress on it, but haven't uploaded any pictures yet. The last several pics that I took of my stitching didn't turn out well at all-- the background of the fabric looked wavy. I'm not sure what the problem is, and I haven't found a way to avoid it.

Yesterday was a good mail day-- I received my "treat bag" from Silkweaver. There were 4 pieces of linen, all in 32 or 36 count. There was a 9" x 13" piece of raw linen, a small cut of R&R fabric in a bright pink color, and two larger pieces-- one in a tan color and the other in "miracle mint". I have to admit that the miracle mint is not my favorite color, but it will probably be lovely for needlerolls and such. I don't think I'd stitch an entire project on it though.

I had an email this morning from Wyndham Needleworks saying that my order would be delayed because some part of it is out of stock. I was a little bummed about that, because I was anxious to receive my new pattern and JCS ornament issues. Oh well, at least this way I won't be tempted to start a new project before completing any of my November stitching goals.

Speaking of my goals... I am not sure that they are realistic. The figure panel on Castle Sampler is extremely slow going, as is the over-one portion of the alphabet border. I'm not going to edit my list of goals though. I'll just do what I can and will know to be more realistic next time.

TGIF!

It's Friday, and I'm looking forward to a trip to the country for the weekend. Thankfully, it's a relatively short drive, so we're able to drive out on Saturday morning and return late Sunday afternoon.

I had to get a furnace inspection at my condo yesterday. Between the house in the country and my place up here, I am getting to know more than I ever wanted about furnaces. Of course, this meant that I had to take yet another day off of work. This is absolutely NOT how I want to spend "vacation" time, but at least I did get some stitching time out of it. I am still hard at work on Castle Sampler and yesterday was no different. For now, I am concentrating on the panel of figures at the bottom. Figure #1 is completely stitched, but not yet backstitched; figure #2 is stitched and most of the backstitching is done; figure #3 is about 3/4 stitched, but no backstitch; and I have started on the bottom of figure #4. Tonight I will probably finish the backstitching on figure #2 and perhaps will finish the stitching on #3. I'd also like to spend some time on the left border this weekend, since that area is also included in my stitching goals for November. There is quite a bit of over-one stitching to do, which will be good to alternate with the stitching/backstitching on the figures.

While the furnace man was at my condo yesterday, I spent some time going through some of my finished pieces that still require framing or other finishing. The pile is pretty big, and there were a number of small pieces such as ornaments and needlerolls. I really would like to assemble some of these and have been looking around the internet for some finishing ideas. There are some really terrific sites out there!

November Stitching Goals

I've never been particularly goal-oriented in my stitching, but I would like to start. Since I'm new to this, I will keep my goals modest. So here goes...

My stitching goals for November 2005 are:

1. Complete the panel of figures at the bottom of Castle Sampler
2. Complete the left border of Castle Sampler
3. Assemble my Fall Leaves needleroll
4. Make something out of A Valentine Heart maybe a flat fold or cube-it

A Moment of Weakness

I've been in a stash acquisition mood lately and recently joined the Fabric of the Month club at Silkweaver. I couldn't make up my mind which wonderful option I wanted, so I decided to try customized. According to the site, those packages ship around the first of each month. I knew that would be a couple of weeks, so I also ordered 5 of their Expressions fabrics in the meantime. Wouldn't you know it-- they arrived while I was in Nebraska. It was wonderful to come home and have a squishy envelope waiting for me.

I thought that joining FOTM and adding a package of Expressions fabric would satisfy my stash craving, but it didn't work for long. After posting yesterday's blog entry, I decided to order the 2005 Just Cross Stitch ornaments issue from the Wyndham Needleworks website. I could pick it up on my own easily enough, I suppose, but I get to an LNS so rarely these days that I decided to order it online to make sure that I got it. I missed out on the 2004 issue because I didn't make it to the LNS, so I also ordered that one as well. Then, I couldn't remember if I had 2003 or not (I'm really bad at picking these things up in the store), and I decided to order that one too-- just to be sure.

Well, you can't go to Wyndham to order one thing (okay, three things) and not browse through their wonderful selection of charts. I decided to have a peek, but I was JUST LOOKING. While I was browsing, I ran across a wonderful winter-themed pattern that I just had to have. I'm not a big fan of winter and thought that something whimsical to stitch would be just the thing to cheer me up during the colder months. I think this will do the trick. Of course, I wouldn't be able to stitch the pattern without any supplies, so I ordered all of the threads as well.

In the meantime, Silkweaver is having their Spooktacular Mystery Sale for a few more days. Their "treat bags" look especially appealing, and I doubt my willpower is going to hold out for very long. I'll be surprised if it lasts until the end of the day.

A hectic couple of weeks

I can't believe that it has been just over 2 weeks since I last posted anything here. I've been doing plenty of stitching, but haven't had much computer time. It all started when I realized that I needed to have the oil furnace serviced at the country house. That meant taking 2 days off of work-- okay, it really meant only one day, but I was greedy. We were in the country on Friday & Saturday and returned home on Saturday evening. On Sunday I had to fly to Nebraska for the week, where I spent the week teaching and had extremely limited computer time.

Getting to Nebraska was painful. The trip began with a lengthy delay at the airport, after the plane had been boarded. They said it was something to do with the hydraulics. Whatever it was delayed us for roughly 2 1/2 hours. Getting delayed in the airport is bad, but being stuck on the plane NOT MOVING for all that time was much worse. I was supposed to have 3+ hours to connect in Chicago, but that was reduced to under 30 minutes. And as always, the flight to Chicago landed at a C gate and the flight to Lincoln departed from F. F11 to be exact-- all the way at the end of the terminal and then downstairs. I was sure that my flight would be in the air by the time I finally got to the gate, but I was lucky and it was running just a few minutes behind schedule.

On this trip, I decided to bring my stitching in my carry-on luggage. I always put the project itself in my carry-on bag (there's no way I'm going to trust the airline with all of my hours of hard work), but I normally leave the scissors and other supplies in my checked bag because I'm never quite sure what can go through security. This time, I substituted a pair of nail clippers for scissors and took the entire project along in my carry-on bag. It worked great, and I will certainly do this again in the future. Sadly, I didn't have access to my stitching while we were delayed on the ground-- I put the bag in the overhead compartment and didn't want to climb over people to get out. I doubt it would have done me much good anyway, because I was seated in the middle seat, firmly wedged between two fairly large men. I'm sure that if I had tried to stitch I would have ended up poking them with my needle. I did manage some in-air stitching and it went well enough. I only worked on "mindless" sections like the straight edges on the border sections.

I'm generally so worn out after teaching that I don't feel like doing much, and there isn't a lot to do in Lincoln anyway, so I was able to spend some quality time stitching. Even though I'm not crazy about being away from home, I have to admit that I enjoy not having anything to distract me from my stitching for a few evenings. I got a lot accomplished, but there is still a lot to do. I don't think I have even hit the half-way point yet.

Since my arrival home, I have had a hard time getting motivated to work on The Castle Sampler. I don't know what it is-- maybe boredom? That would surprise me since this project has so many different things to work on that I rarely become bored with it. When I am truly bored with it or simply can't focus, I usually work on the borders and get still make some progress without it being too taxing. I did pick it up again last night and am trying to finish the last bits of stitching in the lower left quadrant of the piece. So far, so good!