Keeping Busy

It's hard to believe it has been over a week since I did a post. My goal is to post at least once a week and oftener, if possible. I don't know about the rest of my blogging friends, but for me it takes a long time to do these posts. Taking pictures, downloading off camera, doing some minor fixing of the pictures, uploading into Blogger and then composing the words. Sometimes I think it takes away from my stitching time. The other thing is I don't know how some bloggers can find the time to blog each day. Don't get me wrong I love reading them every day. Right now, for some reason, I am about a day behind in my Google Reader. If I miss one day then I am buried. When I get buried, I read everything, but comment less than normal. I am so inspired by all I see on the blogs, but I would have to have 48 hours in a day to get all the things done that I want to do. Thanks to all for your inspiration and also for reading my gibberish and your wonderful comments.

We have been having some REAL winter weather with cold and snow, therefore, I have been cozying up with my stitching a lot. Still working on the design model for the Shop Hop Sampler. One of the 6 parts is done and I have a good start on the second part. No pictures until around the 1st of May. All those in my area are going to love this one.

In addition, I have been able to do some stitching for myself. Here is the finshed 2nd block of Bent Creek's Snapperland called "Hive".

Now I have started the 3rd block called "Cottage". The girl has a head and no hair so she sort of looks like a blockhead. In the order of how they are done on the fabric this one is first, then Hive and Coop that I finished previously. Still one more to go. These stitch up fairly fast compared to my VoHRH.

Speaking of VoHRH, here is my progress on Block 4. I should have followed what Marie P did with hers. Instead of stitching Block 4 in order she moved on to Block 5, to avoid doing 2 big houses back-to-back. Almost wish I had done that. Maybe next time I will take a break between big houses to save my sanity. It seems to be hard to see progress when you are constantly doing solid stitching.

There is one other project that I have put some time in on, but forgot to take a picture. Did not remember it until I was already downloading the pictures. I have been following my goal of stitching 1 hour a week on Tuesdays on my friend Sandi's gift. The first week I stitched on it, I kept getting phone calls and had to extend the time I had set aside to get my hour in. For the next couple of weeks, it happend too. So now it is a joke among my stitching friends about every time I pick up that piece the phone rings. This week I got through my hour plus before I got a phone call. LOL.

Have been working every Thursday for the last 4 at the LNS - The Sunflower Seed. Mary that usually works has been having health problems, so I have been taking over that day at the shop. Everyday I have been busy all day, until today when I was able to get a little stitching in after I got all the work I knew how to do done. The owner is getting ready to go to Nashville Market a week from Friday. We have been helping her get all her new designs ready, she has got her display all figured out. Now to help pack up models and her vehicle next Thursday so she and Reina can head out early Friday morning. I am staying behind to run the shop and watch Betsy, the shop dog while they are gone. Can hardly wait to see what goodies she brings back for the shop.

Muffn got out of prison (the crate) on Monday. Her 6-week sentence was up and the vet said her reflexes were about 98%. He thought that was probably the best she would ever be. We are still very careful with her, limiting her jumping up and down off things, doing stairs and she probably will not be going on any long walks any more. She is very happy to be out. You should see how she stretches out when she is sleeping. Thanks to everyone for their care and concern for her. I need to remember that at 10 1/2, she is now considered a geriatic dog. She needs to act her age, not like a puppy. That is hard for her to do.

Getting all excited about watching Super Bowl on Sunday. I hope it is a good game and good commercials.

Off to catch up on some blog reading. Thanks to all who stop by.

Dreaded Visitor

Tonight I had a dreaded visitor that seems to be making the rounds. At least, I have read on a few other blogs that this same visitor has been to their place too. It it the dreaded "Stitching Frog". I had been humming along on my rotation of projects through the end of last week and the weekend. (It was dreadfully cold here all weekend, so I took advantage of that and spent most of my time inside stitching.) However, tonight the frog visited. I was working on the Shop Hop Sampler and found a major error. This meant about 30-45 minutes of ripping out parts of two different colors. There went some of my progress from the weekend. Now I have the error ripped out, but still need to go back and put everything back in. Surely I won't make the same mistake again. Actually for some reason this area had been hard to get in for some reason. Maybe it was trying to tell me I had made a counting error and I did not recognize it.

During the weekend, I did make some progress on VoHRH, Spring Snapperland and the wXSw Yahoo Group Mystery Sampler. The most being on VoHRH and the one I did the ripping on. I was too frustrated with the error and ripping to take pictures. Next time for pictures. Tomorrow is Tuesday so will have to spend one hour working on Pink Blossom Sampler. Will have to get it done in the morning, since I have an eye dr appointment in the early afternoon. He routinely dilates my eyes and that takes 4-6 hours to wear off. Makes stitching difficult. I escaped having it done last time, but not sure he will let me get by again.

Thanks for allowing me to vent about my visitor. Hope that I have knocked it down so hard that he is gone for a very long time and will not just move on to someone else. Also everyone is probably cheering, since this probably the shortest post I have ever done. Just don't have it in me tonight.

Hope everyone is staying warm. Seems like most of the nation is chilly. It is currently 12 with wind chill of zero. Brrr!!!!!! Keep warm by the fire and stitching to keep your hands warm.

P.S. Thanks for stopping by and for your many comments. They are greatly appreciated.

Stitch.... Stitch.....

Not too much exciting going on around here. Just been trying to stitch as much as possible. Since my last post, I worked last Thursday at the LNS - The Sunflower Seed and pretty much finished up the inventory. Been out to eat a couple of times and played bingo at the local American Legion. I used to play at an Indian Bingo parlor several times a month, but they closed, so have not played much in the last year. Actually won $20. Had to split a pot. That is usually the way I do it. I guess I am just generous.

Thursday evening I started Block 4 of VoHRH. Here it the progress as of about an hour ago. Sorry for the goofy looking picture. I stitch in hand and it has been rolled up and on the other side the material is so big that I roll/fold it so it is not so cumbersome. Too lazy to heat up the iron to press.

Here is the progress on Spring Snapperland. Have one block done and started another. This stitches a lot faster than VoHRH. Not so much solid stitching and it makes it seem to go faster.

Last Friday I picked up the Shop Hop Sampler to stitch for The Sunflower Seed. It is a rather large design with 6 parts to it. I will not be able to show pictures of the progress until just before the Shop Hop the first weekend in May. So far, I might have the lst of the 6 parts about 1/2 done.

I also signed up on the wXSw Yahoo group for the Mystery Sampler designed by Helga Mandl and Barbara Ana. The 1st of 4 parts became available today. I have it downloaded and printed, but have not started it. If I remember right the other parts will come out every 1-2 weeks until we have it all. The first part looks like it is going to be really nice. Will try to get a little stitching done on it tomorrow. We are supposed to get some snow tomorrow and tomorrow night, so I will have all day tomorrow to stitch. Had a church meeting cancelled because of the impending weather. Not a bad storm, but most of the ladies in my group are older and we just decided we did not need any of them to fall.

Today was Tuesday and the day I am to stitch, at least one hour, on Pink Blossom Sampler for my friend Sandi. I almost forgot to do it. So I started working on it right after lunch and I bet I had not put more than one or two stitches in and she called. No, she was not calling to remind me to stitch on her present. We talked for awhile and then I had to tell her that I had been stitching on her piece. Then she felt bad that she had interrupted. I think she thinks that it will never get done. I ended up stitching probably 1 1/2 hours on it today. It is such slow progress doing those Rice Stitches and Eyelet Stitches to make the alphabet. Maybe after next week's stitching I will take a picture of the progress.

Working again on Thursday at The Sunflower Seed. Mary that usually works on Thursday has hurt her back (herniated disk), so I may be working several Thursdays. Also Anita is getting ready for Nashville Market the first part of February, so may be working a little more helping her get patterns ready. She will be releasing 8 new designs at that market.

Trying to keep this shorter, so I am off to stitch. Maybe will start the Mystery Sampler.

Happy Stitching to all!!!!

Finish and Almost Finish

The completion of Block 3 of VoHRH has been traumatic. You will remember in my last post, I had run out of the Vikki Clayton silk for the signboard. Well, getting thread to finish the block became an adventure. In looking at my thread for the rest of the piece, I found another skein of the color I needed. However, it was a TOTALLY different color. Called Anita at the LNS-The Sunflower Seed and she said she had several skeins of that color. Stopped in there on Saturday and none of those came close to matching my thread. We ended up picking a DMC color that was a close as we could get it to the color I already had used. It really is not too noticeable. I will wait until I have the entire piece done before I decide whether I will leave it or rip it all out. I remember looking at the picture on the pattern and thinking that either my color was a lot lighter or the photo was not a true representation of the color. Came home after attending a local hockey game and finished up Block 3. Still need to put french knots in the flag for stars, but will wait until the end to do that. So I was 5 days late on my target finishing date. Probably will start Block 4 in a day or so. Need to unwind from this one before I start the next one.

From reading every one's blogs and being in a Yahoo stitch group, it became clear that you should always start something new on January 1st. Here is what I started.

Spring Snapperland

Motif 3 - The Coop
by Bent Creek

28-ct Smokey Pearl Cashel

Recommended Threads

I will be putting all 4 motifs on the same piece of fabric. It is all done except for the bucket in the farmer's hand an french knot eyes for the hens and chicks. The bucket is supposed to be in GAST - Barn Gray. Hard to believe that with all the thread I have that I did not have that one. Another thread incident!!! Going to Wednesday afternoon stitch therapy tomorrow and will get the thread and finish this motif tomorrow. Yea!!!

It seemed odd to not be stitching on something for The Sunflower Seed. So when I was at the shop on Saturday, Anita had everything kitted up for the 2008 Shop Hop Sampler. Five shops within about a 90 mile radius put on a shop hop the 1st weekend in May. (May 1,2 &3) Each shop hands out a piece of the sampler and when you have them all they all go together as a sampler. Anita designed the border and arranged the five designs into the sampler. I will be working on this in between all my other projects. It is a rather sizable piece and it will need to be framed so I only have about 3 months to get it done.

Today was Tuesday, so it was my day to stitch 1 hour on my Pink Blossom Sampler for my friend Sandi. The hour of the day I picked, I ended up with 2 or 3 phone calls. Therefore I did not get too much done, but did extend the hour some. Did make some progress, but not enough to warrant a picture.

That just about covers everything for now. Muffin went to the vet on Monday. He said she is better, but to continue the crating. Have 3 more weeks at least.

Keep on Stitching!!!!!!!!!!

Disappointment and Close-out of 2007 Stitching

As I related in my last post, I did not quite get Block 3 of Village of Hawk Run Hollow done by the end of December as planned for my SAL. The last few days I have been trying to stitch like a mad woman in hopes of finishing it just a few days into the next month. That way I would not throw off the schedule for Block 4 in January. Much to my despair I came to the realization tonight that I was going to run out of one color of the Vikki Clayton silk before I finished Block 3. The sign for City Hall is solid stitching and I do not have quite enough to finish it. Ugh!!! LNS will get it ordered tomorrow, but I will not totally finish this block until I get more thread. Guess I will move on to Block 4 when I complete the few other stitches needed on the block. I am really disappointed. Had hoped to meet the schedule set out for the SAL. Maybe this is another reason I have not ever set much of a schedule for stitching unless it is a gift that is required at a specific date.

Spent most of the day today at the LNS helping with inventory. Getting closer to having it done. Now we have just to measure the fabric to determine how much we have on hand. Sometimes that can be a crazy job. Will be working one day next week, so hopefully will finish things up then.

Decided it was time to close-out 2007 stitching by listening my completed projects for the year. They have to be categorized, since I stitch for my self, store models for LNS-The Sunflower Seed and design models for the designer-The Sunflower Seed.

My Projects

1. Now I Lay Me.... - La-D-Da

2. Letter "V" - M Designs

3. Freedom Rings - Trilogy Take Along

4. The Villa -Winter Snapperland/Bent Creek

5. BEER - Hinzeit

6. Sleigh Ride - Winter Snapperland/Bent Creek

7. The Chalet - Winter Snapperland/Bent Creek

8. My Sister and Me - Sweetheart Tree

9. January Quaker Odd - The Workbasket

10. Now I Lay Me Down - The Stitching Post, Book 7. (This is an old design, Copyright 1983)

11. 2 Mini-Flags - A Fox Originals

12 June Quaker Even - The Workbasket

13. 3 ornaments - Cranberry Christmas - Prairie Schooler

14. 1 ornament - Buttoned Up - Prairie Schooler

15. October Quaker Even - The Workbasket

16. My Needle & My Floss - Waxing Moon

17. Liberty Sampler - Lizzie Kate

18. Blocks 1 &2 - Village of Hawk Run Hollow-Carriage House Sampling

19. November Quaker Odd - The Workbasket

20. Blessed Are the Needleworkers - Kreinik Remember the Ladies Series

21. The Sampler Sampler - Bright Needle

The Sunflower Seed Shop Models

1. Forest Snowfall - Cottage House Needleworks

2. A Little Love - Plum Pudding Needleart

3. Toasty - 2nd Motif on a Zweigart panel

4. 2 motifs of the 5 motifs for our Shop Hop Sampler

5. A Posey Heart For You - Just Another Button Company

6. Just One More Stitch - Simple Stitches

7. Don't Cross Me - Simple Stitches

The Sunflower Seed Design Models

1. Shop Hop Mini Kit - A small design done as a kit that is only available during our Shop Hop

2. Sugar & Spice Girl Baby Sampler

3. Snips & Snails Boy Baby Sampler

4. Kansas X-Mas VI

5. Give Me A Home

6. Here Mousie, Mousie

7. Joann Fleischer Sampler (to be released at Nashville Market)

8. Un-named Sampler (as of today, we were trying to give this one a name. It will be released at Nashville Market)

9. Easter Blessings (to be released at Nashville Market)

Near the end of the year, I sort of got into a crochet mode. I finished one dishcloth and have a good start on a baby afghan.

There are not plans to set any type of goals for 2008. I just stitch on things as they come along or as I get the urge. The only real plan is to stitch the one hour a week on the Pink Blossom design I discussed in a previous post. One other thing that will need to be done this year is a baby sampler for my niece. The baby is not due til July and they won't know what it is until the end of February, so have not even given much thought to a design yet. Almost forgot about my VOHRH SAL. That is a block a month on that. Now all of this sounds like goals and I did not think I set goals. Oh well, we will see how things turn out.

This has again turned out to be longer than I planned. SORRY!!! Now it is time to put in a few more stitches in Block 3 and maybe spend some time organizing thread for the next block.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings. Happy New Year to everyone. Keep those needles hot. One way to keep warm in the weather that we have been having.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! and stitching updates

Happy New Year!!! to all my stitching and blogging buddies. Hard to believe it is 2008 already. There was a time that it was hard to believe that we would even be in the 2000's and now here it is 2008. The past year actually just flew by. It really is true that as you age time does go faster. LOL.

Traditionally, over the last several years we have celebrated New Year's Eve with a group of friends at one guy's house in the country. This year we had not seen much of him, nor had we had an invitation to his house. So my plans were to stay home and stitch. Late Sunday night he called and asked if we were coming. I told him we needed to be invited. He said that we were expected to be there. Our plans were go and not be gone too long. Need to get home and take care of our invalid, Muffin. That is what another friend calls the dog now.

Thinking I was going to be able to stitch all day really got changed by being invited out. I ended up having to make a run to the grocery store to get stuff to take for New Year's Eve. Made a new chip dip and brownies. Jerry always does Queso and cooks some little smokies, so those were crossed off my list. We ended up with a very small group, smaller than usual, and it was great. We took Mexican Train Dominoes. No one had ever played before except for me and it had been a long time. We watched football, Times Square celebration and dominoes. It just kept getting later and later and someone would say "Just one more round of dominoes". We did a couple of extra rounds. By the time we made our 30 minute drive home it was almost 3:30AM before we got home. Then it was put the dog out and put things away and crawling into bed about 4:00M. WOW, I am too old to be keeping those kinds of hours. LOL.

Now for stitching progress. Block 3 of Village of Hawk Run Hollow was supposed to be done by the end of the month. The last few days I had been stitching like a mad women on it, but it is not quite done. With maybe 4 hours more of work, I can have it done. Will post a photo at that point. That block has so much solid stitching. I think the city hall itself is over 3500 stitches. I was hoping I could get it done before the 1st and then I could stitch on something else for a while before I started the next block. That would give me the adrenalin rush that I need to continue on.

While reading all the blogs and the group comments on the boards I am on, I figured out that I was supposed to start something new on the 1st. Must be a think like eating black-eyed peas on New Year's for good luck. I never turn down the opportunity to start something new. LOL. So after sleeping late this morning, I started Bent Creek's --Spring Snapperland. Doing all 4 designs on one piece of 28-ct. Smokey Pearl Cashel with the recommended threads. Seems like I am making good progress, especially when I am not stitching solid stitching designs, like VOHRH. Will post a picture next time.

It has been a chilly day here. Wind chills in the single digits all day. Good day to be inside sleeping, stitching and watching football.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve and are looking forward to happy and healthy 2008. Lots of stitching time, finishing and stashing. Thanks all for visiting and commenting. I love it. Today must be a good day for blogging. When I checked my Google reader before I started this, I had 22 blogs to read. You all have been busy. Lots of fun for me to read and get caught up.

Off to stitch and watch some football. Blessing to all of you in 2008