iStitch Mystery SAL Part 5 complete

Here is my Part 5.  I finished it over the weekend and love how it is progressing. I am looking forward to the next installment and love that the parts are small enough to finish up quickly and keep up with the SAL.

The weather has been hot and humid for this time of year and I snapped this picture of my puppies this week.  The brown one is my old lady, Jessie, she is nearing 12 and spends most of her days napping and running in her sleep.  Next to her, Daisy, oh my, Daisy.  She is now tipping the scales at 120lbs and can walk right over Jessie.  She is all legs and stretches right out on the deck leaving little room for anything/anyone else.

This weekend will be a busy one.  We have football and concession stand duties as well as Sunday school.  We also wanted to make it to the Deerfield Fair in my parents town.  I worked this fair as a teenager and haven't been there in a long time.  Care to guess where I worked??  Um, let's see, the NEEDLEWORK building.  I did demos: braiding rugs, crochet, embroidery, punch needle during the fair and answered anyone's questions. I loved it and want to see if the building is still as big as it used to be.  The last fair there were not many cross stitch or counted thread entries and I hope to see more.  Very little time to stitch this weekend but I hope to cross a few stitches.  Have a great Friday/ weekend my friends.  Happy Stitching!

Petit Sampling Etui Update

My WIP

Gabi's progress

Teresa's progress

Here is our SAL progress.  I am moving slowly on this project due to a lack of time but I am loving the colors so far.  The next step is Queen stitched flowers which will take me a little time followed by some over 1 stitching.  You can see these in Gabi's progress pic.  It's beautiful.  Unfortunately Carol needed to take a break for a bit but she'll be back soon. Hope you all have a wonderful day!  I love reading  your comments and visiting your blogs.  Thanks for visiting and as always Happy Stitching!

Just Nan Halloween Party finished

As much as I would like to blog everyday it isn't always easy to fit it in.  Here is my Halloween Party by Just Nan.  I finished it up last Wednesday.  I was able to join the ladies of my Wednesday stitching group for a quick hello and some stitching.  I wasn't able to go to group this summer with the boys being home from school and now I am busy with retreat preparations and model stitching but I wanted to catch up with everyone.  I had a quick visit and a friendly hello and was on my merry way to get the little ones off the bus.  I will post SAL progress tomorrow.  Happy Stitching!

Kitten update

The kittens are 8 weeks old now and ready for first shots and then adoption.  Lucy and Lizzie have already been adopted by a wonderful lady named Mary.  She wanted siblings and she chose two very sweet little ladies.  They will be going to their forever home on Friday and I know they have found a loving friend.  Phoebe continues to be a wonderful mom, she lets all of her furbabies eat first and cleans up the scraps. She is patient with their kitten antics and tolerates being pounced on and attacked by her little ones.  It has been a joy to have them in our care and I look forward to playing with them while I can.  Leo continues to steal my heart and DeeDee and Jilly are so affectionate when they see me.  It's very rewarding to have unconditional love.

Lucy

Lizzie

Leo, DeeDee, Jilly-Boo

DeeDee ready to pounce

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog.  I enjoy having someone to share my litte piece of the world with.  Happy Stitching!

Mystery SAL Part 4

iStitch Mystery SAL Part 4.  Too Cute!  I am loving how this little sampler is unfolding.  I am enjoying stitchin on 40ct and I think I am becoming addicted to higher count fabrics.  Stitches on 28ct look soo BIG.  I like the coverage a single strand of thread gives to 40ct.  That is all the stitching I did this weekend. 

Here is what kept me busy this weekend.

FOOTBALL!  My youngest little man is playing his first season and loving it.  They have practice 2-3 evenings per week and a game Saturday and Sunday.  As part of the youth organization they require parent volunteers and hubby and I worked the concession stand.  We actually had a great time with lots of laughs.  It's amazing to me that people were eating hamburgers/hotdogs at 9am but whatever!  We grilled up 30 burgers and sold them all.  We did get relieved from our duties in time to watch the last quarter where our number 27 sacked the quartback a couple of times.  I am not the cheerleader type but boy did my heart swell when my little buddy's name was called our the loud speaker giving him credit for the sack. I was grinning ear to ear. 

Yesterday, I stuffed goodie bags and prepared class kits for our upcoming retreat.  Oh my are these ladies going to be spoiled.  I hope everyone is prepared to stash enhance! Well time to start my day. Happy Stitching!

 

A finish and Just Nan WIP

This latest finish is a design by Pickle Barrel.  It is stitches on 28ct antique white even weave using WDW threads.  It took some time stitching this one up even though it is a small piece (5x7).  It is called Cape Cod Summer.  It reminds me of the Victorian houses that you would see on Martha's Vineyard.  This is a shop model for ABC Stitch.

Here is a pic of my progress on Just Nan's Halloween Party.  I am stitching it on PTP Cauldron and I LOVE this fabric.  I am going to pic some more of it up at my LNS to stitch other Halloween designs.  I love this design.  There are so many cute elements, little spiders hanging, ghosties swinging from letters, bats, jack-o-lanterns and more.  I will most likely finish it into a door hanger.  I hope I can get it done in time for Halloween.  Right now the retreat behind the scenes is keeping me quite busy.  I hope everyone has a great weekend and as always  Happy Stitching!

iStitch Mystery Sampler part 3

I love this design!  Each part stitches up quickly and it will make a beautiful box top.  I can't wait for part 4.

Happy Stitching!

Petit Sampling Etui SAL Progress

I am so excited to have 2 more stitchers join my SAL with Carol. Gabifrom Lady of the Floss and Teresa  from At Willow Tree Pond. Here are the progress pics from this weekend. We plan to post progress every other week.

My progress



Carol's progress





Gabi's progress



Teresa's progress

As you can see, not much done on the home front.  I have had limited time to stitch since football season and school started.  There are a few specialty stitches and over one stitching in this project which will take some time and slow me down. There are six sides to the box and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.  I enjoy having other stitchers work on the same project, it is very motivating to continue stitching and not move onto something else.  I only work on this one over the weekend as I am stitching models during the week.  I will post pics of my lastest model, but for now back to the planning board for the retreat.

Happy Stitching

September 11th remembered

Today is bitter-sweet for me.  This whole week the media has been reflecting on the tragic events that happened in 2001.  It is now the 10th anniversary and I still cry and remain speechless when they replay the footage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center.  I have a hard time taking in everything that happened that day and since that day.  We lost a family friend who worked in one of the Towers and his family still mourns.  I am thankful that my family is safe and that we have so many people willing to fight for our freedom.  Something we can not take for granted.
 It is my son's birthday today.  I try to explain to him that it wasn't always a bad day to have a birthday.  I try to seperate the events as best as I can.  I go over his birth story with him and try to explain how very special he made that day for me.  I hope I have succeeded in making his day a happy one even though the tragic events of terrorism on our country remain on my mind.  Happy Birthday my sweet son!

Count down to New England Stitcher's Retreat

Final preparations are underway but it's not too late!  We have a couple of spaces left at our October retreats. See website for details about this all-inclusive event. New England Stitcher's Retreat This is sure to be a wonderful event.  We have Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs and Thea from Victoria Sampler.  These lovely ladies have created two shaker inspired projects and they are beautiful.  Here are the pics!

If you have any questions about the retreat please feel free to email me.  I would be happy to help!  Happy Stitching everyone.

Drawn Thread Releases

Have you seen the new releases from Cynthia at The Drawn Thread?  She has published the last 3 designs in her Calendar Cover series, a darling Halloween design and The Holly and The Ivy Sampler & Ornament.  I had the privilege of stitching The Holly and The Ivy model for her.  It was quite enjoyable and I loved the little birds tucked into the wreath.  It is a lovely design for the holidays.

Cynthia has done a lovely job framing it and I encourage you to visit her website for a look.  Happy Stitching!

Labor Day Weekend

Another busy weekend behind us.  The weather forcasters missed this weekend.  They originally said rain for Sunday and Monday so Saturday we spent cleaning up after Tropical Storm Irene.  Lots of the branches that fell needed to be cut up and moved to the side of the road for the town to pick them up.  On Sunday we went to visit my parents.  We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed a swim at my brothers.  Um, no rain!  Today we visited the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island.  It's been a long time since we have all been together.  I think my oldest son enjoyed the zoo just as much as the youngest.  Um, no rain! I wish I could be wrong in a job 90% of the time and still have a job to go to but as a pharmacist that probably wouldn't have gone over well.  I did get some stitching time in but more importantly I organized my overdyed threads.  Cosmo was pretty overwhelmed with the process.  He was not too happy about me touching HIS threads

I managed to alphabetize them, placed them on large rings, and hung them on a pegboard system in my craft closet.  It's so fun to walk in there and see all of the beautiful colors.  I feel very accomplished:)  I hope you have had a productive weekend with lots of stitching!

Visit to my LNS

The boys started school on Thursday despite the fact that alot of people in town are still without power.  The schools have power so they started a day later than expected.  Everyone seems happy with their teachers so far so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  Since they had school I decided to pay a visit to my LNS which is not so local.  It's about 50minutes away and the traffic is always ridiculous.  I picked up a few Halloween goodies and some fabric and threads.  Here is the project I can't wait to start. (As a matter of fact, I had to put a few stitches in right when I got home)  It is Halloween Party by Just Nan.  I am stitching it on 28ct Cauldron by Picture this Plus with the recommended threads.  I will post progress when it actually starts to look like something.  I bought some other goodies but I won't post a pic, I don't want you to see how out of control my habit is.  Just Kidding!  I didn't think to take a pic.

Hope you have a lovely Stitching Weekend.

Power!

Wow, what a long stretch without power.  I am so thankful to have it back even though we made do it is a luxury I would choose not to go without.  As we were going through it I could only think about those who have had it worse.  The storm did not dump lots of rain but the wind did take LOTS of tree down in our area.  I am grateful we are safe and that the storm wasn't as powerful as they had predicted.  My heart goes out to anyone who lost personal belongings especially lots of friends that we have in Vermont.  They have been devastated by the flooding and it will take time to for them to recover. I watched video of a covered bridge being swept away.  An historic part of American culture washed away.  It won't be rebuilt I am sure it will be replaced with a new concrete and metal monstrosity.  Makes me sad. 

 I didn't get alot of stitching done as we had no light after 7pm and I usually stitch from 8pm-11pm.  I did manage to get my Mystary Sampler Part 2 finished before the power went out and got some SAL together to work on but I spent most of my time entertaining the kids while the power was out.  Monopoly Marathons, card games, puzzle making, story telling, etc. . .  We also had 3 nights of candle lit dinners.  When was the last time you had dinner by candle light with your family??  I highly recommend it.  It was soothing and everyone was much calmer.  Fascinating to watch that dynamic.  I might try it more often. 

Here is the pic of the iStitch Mystery Sampler WIP.  I am really enjoying this one and can't wait to see the next part.

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Mystery Sampler--Part 2
iStitch
CCS-Rose of Sharon
LL-40ctChantilly Cream

This is the SAL that my Wednesday Stitching Group started in June.  I unfortunately haven't been able to get there in quite some time and the only time I would be able to work on it is at stitching group, therefore, no progress.  It is a beautiful sampler featured in JCS Magazine.  It was issued in 4 installments, 3 of which have been published.  Hopefully, now that the kids are in school I can catch up.

The next is a SAL with my good friend Carol.  I was hoping to start on this one over the weekend but with no power that didn't happen.  This is a collaboration Design and it creates a beautiful etui box.  The colors are beautiful and all of the sides are tiny samplers. about 5x5.  I am stitching it on 36ct Pearled Barley with the recommended Crescent Colour Threads.  I love the color palette and can't wait to start on this one. It will have to wait until I finish the current model I am working on.  I hope to put the last stitches in that one today or tomorrow.

Thanks to all of my friends and followers..  I appreciate you stopping by to see what I have been up to.  Have a lovely Labor Day Weekend and as always, Happy Stitching!!