Happy New Year?

Hello!  I certainly didn't mean to be away so long.  No excuses!  I have been stitching though.  I'll share with you what I stitched on Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow today.  I'm using the called for linen in 40 count and DMC (because there are 60ish colors in this one).  

This is block 5.  Probably my least favorite block though I could not tell you why.   I apologize for the wrinkles.

More recently I've finished block 6.  This one went really fast for me.  I just love the spiders in this piece.  They really seem to add interest and capture my eye.  This block has one spider.  I stitched him very last.

Here is a picture of where Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow is to date.  I've taken to stitching the outline of the next block before I put this project away.  That's what you see happening in block 7.  I haven't started stitching the interior of the block and for now, I'm putting this one away.  I'll be happy I stitched the border already when I take it back out to work on.

I'm working on gathering my supplies for And They Sinned.  While I had almost everything threadwise in stash, I didn't have 3 skeins of Shutter Green, I had two.  So I ordered 3 more because I wanted to dye lot to be the same as this color is used in a very large area (the grass at the bottom).  I didn't expect such a significant difference in the colors.  They don't even look anywhere near the same color!  Better safe than sorry.  If anyone runs out of an older dye lot of Shutter Green, let me know!

I hoping to get back to posting on somewhat of a monthly schedule.  I enjoy the interactions and sometimes I just need to say more than Instagram allows.  Thank you for sticking with me during my silent periods.   You inspire me so much and I love visiting your blogs too if you have them!

Happy Spring!  May all your stitches be happy ones!

Bees and Mountains!

My EGA guild was selected to pilot Betsy Morgan's new teaching piece called Bee Contained.  It was such a privilege and obviously we were all thrilled.  Being a pilot class comes with responsibility.  As a result, I worked hard to clear some stitching from my schedule so I could devote plenty of time to stitching this project.  You know, instead of just putting the project in stash for a while to marinate.  Hopefully I'm not the only one who does that!  Being a pilot class entails giving Betsy feedback on such things as the pacing of the class, her presentation, the stitching charts and instructions as well as the quantity of threads, etc.  Betsy is an established and seasoned designer and teacher.  Everything went so well so the major item to give feedback on after class was the charting/instructions and threads.

Betsy demonstrating the blackwork path.

This is the primary piece to Bee Contained.  This is Betsy's model.  It's so cute and Betsy's kits are full of high quality materials.  This class will be offered beginning 2019. The linen color here is more true to color than the photo of my stitching.

 

Here is my finished stitching of the class pieces other than the piece we assembled in class.  As a pilot class member, we were not required to assemble the project as part of our feedback.  I'll probably end up doing that next year.  Once the main panel was stitched, it went really, really fast.  I left class confident that I could assemble the project on my own which was a real plus and not always the case!

This isn't a good photo but this is the piece we completed in class!  It's so cute.  So cute that my dog Murphy is super interested in it every time he happens to see it!  It's a good thing I'm always careful with my stitching around  him!

Longtime readers of the blog will recall that Greg and I typically vacation in the Smokies every fall. This year was no exception.  Living in Florida, we get zero fall color.  Our trees typically go straight to brown from green.   I think this is our 9th or 10th year visiting the Smokies in October or November.  The last several years we've gone with dear friends.

We love visiting the mountains (any mountainous area really).  I think with views like this it's understandable why this is our happy place!

Hoping all your stitches are happy ones!

Framed!

I've had a chance to get some projects framed.  They've been hung too after a couple of weeks of hanging out in my sewing room.  First up is this Brenda Keyes piece that was a SAL with my EGA chapter.   You can find my details on this sampler HERE.  It's called Country House sampler and I fell I love with it when Tanya from The Scarlet House posted her version on FB.  It was in a grouping of sampler pics and she graciously gave me the information.  I personalized this one with my name which is why you see the black blob.

 

This one is A Pennsylvania Alphabet by the Goode Huswife.  This is not one that Anne has reprinted as yet and is rather hard to find.  Thanks to a generous friend who lent me her copy!  You can find my details on this project HERE.  I did change the thread colors.  This project is special in that it saved my sanity when my dad fell and had surgery/was in rehab.  Every stitch was stitched at his hospital bedside or with my mom who has dementia.  It was a long and stressful 2 months but I was blessed to spend time with them and help take care of them.  Do you have any projects that take you back to a specific time in your life or to a certain event?

The close ups of the frames indicate a good dusting is needed!  If I do that and retake the pictures, this blog post would never get made.  Ever feel that way yourself?

We had a great Thanksgiving and I hope you did too!  May all your stitches be happy ones!

Heritage Sampler

I hope you're having a great summer.  It's been hot here with a LOT of rain.  No water shortage here for sure.  Fall still feels like a long way off but I'm ready for it to cool down drastically.

I've been absent from the blog but I have been stitching!  I finished up Heritage Sampler from Plum Street Samplings.  I fell in love with this when I saw Paulette's video that explained what each quadrant meant and shared insights into her design process.  I really enjoyed stitching this and learned that when the designer suggests half crosses on certain over 1 sections that it a good idea to NOT decide to do full cross!

The Heritage Sampler

By Plum Street Samplers

Called for threads

Called for Fabric - 36 count Vintage Meadow Rue

I'll be back soon with more!  I hope all your stitches are happy ones!

Some Progress

This spring and early summer I've been focusing on my WIP Challenge list projects for 2018.   My EGA guild has a challenge each year and since we have something coming up at the beginning of July that will take a few months, I decided to try and knock some of my Challenge list out.  My photos are of the projects un-ironed but figured that if I waited to post before ironing, it very well might be another month without a post from me!

First I pledged to finish the stitching only on A Lady's Worke Box (3rd project down) by With My Needle/Ellen Chester. It's such a beautiful project and once I put my mind to it, the stitching went rather quickly.  I had a small to finish up and the larger inside and outside panels left to do.  I also had to correct some border backstitching that wasn't done over the correct number of threads.  Ellen's instructions are amazing and I have no doubt I'll be able to finish this myself.  It most likely will not be this year based on what I want to accomplish.  Maybe the finishing will go on my 2019 WIP Challenge list?!

I also finished the stitching on this stocking from Blackbird Designs called Snowy Eve.  This is found in their booklet called Merry December which  has 3 stockings included.  Fun rather quick stitch!  I have the finishing to do yet for this one before it can count for my guild.  I'll probably do that in the fall.  I've done one before but I definitely want to improve on my technique.

Last up,  I finished block #3 of Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow!  This block was fairly densely stitched but also fun.  I've also started stitching the black outside border for the next block before I put it away.  I've pulled this back out to work on block #4.  It's a fun stitch.  I'm using DMC because there are about 60 thread colors for this one.  

The summer is already beyond hot here, even with all the rain.  Is it terrible that I'm looking forward to fall already?!

Wishing you all happy stitches!