4 Years

Earlier this week, I finished up bock #8 on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow.  I changed up the text for this blog and dedicated it to my son, Chris.  From a young age, he's loved the water, particularly the beach.  Even as an adult, he spends time at the beach or on the water.  Also, I thought that if I dedicated one project to each of my sons in a similar fashion, that'll be one large cross stitch project of mine that they'll each keep when I'm gone.

Any idea how to keep those long stitches taut?  They were but ironing seems to have relaxed them considerably.  I pulled them to the back for this photo.  

This is Chris and my Mom (who has dementia) last year.  Oh how I love this kid!  Mom too!

With the completion of this block, I'm also done with Shores of Hawk Run Hollow as I left this block to the end.  It's been a fun stitch though I must admit I got bogged down on the double block. Once I got that done, the rest of the blocks seem to have flown by!

I can remember Chris catching a seahorse at Coquina Key when he was about 10.  When he was younger, we spent a lot of time there with friends.  His dad/my ex wasn't fond of the beach at all and he worked weekends so we'd take off for the day.  We would see dolphins and manatees from time to time as well.  He also caught a baby sting ray.  Of course, he released whatever he caught after showing me.  Lots of good times!

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow

Carriage House Samplings

40 Count Lakeside Linen Vintage Meadow Rue

Called for NPI Silks

For those of you stitching this,  I needed a third 993/black.  I don't think I did any more frogging than you'd typically expect on a project this size but needed a third skien.  If you're not using 40 count,  you may need more 671 (I only had a tiny bit left), 991, 522 and 208.

I thought I'd started this project in 2009 or 2010.  Looking back, I find that it was 2012 - 4 years to finish seems like a long time.  Now that it is done, that doesn't really matter does it?

New Starts

This year our EGA Chapter has a needlepoint SAL and a cross stitch SAL.  We had Kathy Rees from Needle Delights Originals come last year and speak to our Chapter.  Since she has so many beautiful projects and brought kits for everything (she was on her way to market), the needlepoint SAL was member choice of any Kathy Rees projects.  I chose Color Delights Rainbow.  I started on July 12th and finished on August 9th which is a super quick stitch for me.  The called for Vineyard Silks were used.  It was a fun stitch and there is plenty of silk left over to use in another project.  If you're a cross stitcher this type of counted needlepoint is a perfect project.

 

For the linen SAL, we chose a specific project from Amy Mittens 80 Days Around the World projects she is releasing this year.  We chose Excursion #1 Scotland.   I ordered the chart and threads preferring to select my own linen (which is 32 count Vintage Pearled Barley from Lakeside).  I started this right in January and later set it down to work on Shores of Hawk Run.  I'll be picking this up again soon.    I love that this sampler includes personalizing it with family members initials and I've enjoyed stitching this to date.  What I have left is fairly densely stitched so lots more to go!

 

I've not stitched with Amy's silks before.  The colors are beautiful and seems to have a lot of twist to them.  You can see it in the photo below.  This project also uses some couched chenille for the grass and steps of a house that is yet to be stitched in on my project.  That's going to be new for me!

With the prior post, that mostly brings everyone up to date on what I've been working on stitching wise this year.  It seems I've been doing more stitching than anything else.   What are you working on?  I'll be back again soon, I hope all your stitches are happy ones!

Sound of Silence

Is anyone still out there?  I didn't mean to be gone so long.  Truth be told, I thought about blogging almost every weekend but never seemed to put the thought into action.  But I did this weekend!

Just because I've been gone does not mean I haven't been stitching, knitting or sewing.  I have been!  Working on finding my sewing mojo which seemed to disappear year before last.  Knitting some here and there.  I'm having numbness/tingling/pain in my hands and knitting aggravates it the worst.  I have been doing more stitching than anything and today I wanted to update you on my progress on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings.  This has been a focus project for me this year as it is on my WIP Challenge list with my EGA chapter (our Facebook page is here) and I have the maximum pledge placed.  September of 2013 was my last blog post about this project. It's time to get this one finished!

This block was a pretty quick stitch for me.  I outlined the house first so when I needed mindless stitching, I was prepped for it.  I really like the trees on this one too.

Super fast though there is a counting mistake somewhere in the bottle.  Can you find it?  Me either!

We don't talk about how many times I stitched that row of fish.  Four.  Counting is not overrated.  And yes, it would have been obvious that there was a problem.  I would have left it as it was if not.

 Probably my least favorite block, though I do love the butterflies.  To me it looks like a peacock on a piling in the water.  A peacock!  

And this is the block that sloooooowed it all way down.  The dreaded double bock with only a few colors and lots of big blocks of stitching.  In hindsight, I should have just started another block and worked on it like you do a border - a little bit here and there and eventually it would get done.  You can see more of the entire project in this picture as well.   I have just one block left!  It's the one to the right of the ship.  It's another densely stitched block and is in many of the same colors as the ship.  I just couldn't face it right after the big block so I decided to leave it for last.  You can see a peek off to the right of my start and there isn't much more done than what you see.  

I have had two starts this year too.  Both of them are EGA chapter Stitch-a-Longs.  One I started in January and the other I started last weekend.  I'll save them for another post since I don't have pictures one of them yet.

Even though I haven't posted here on the blog (I have been posting here and there on my Instagram page), I am still reading your blogs and you continue to inspire me every single day!    I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.  Wishing you all happy stitches!