Stitchin' and Stashin'

Does anyone else have trouble finding time to do your blogs? It has been over a week since I last posted stitching progress, but it just seems to take so long to take pictures, etc. Speaking of taking pictures the battery died on my camera with one more photo to take. You will miss seeing my progress on Spring Snapperland. The cottage in Block one is done except for filling in the window and there is a tree to be added, but this block should be done this week for sure.

My Block 4 of VoHRH seems to just drag on forever. It might be because I keep finding other things that I want to stitch on. The big solid house is almost done. Woohoo!! As I continue to struggle with getting each block done on a monthly basis, I have decided that I am no longer going to stress over it and I think it will happen easier than me forcing myself into a specific schedule.

Startisits or Adult Attention Deficit got the better of me a week or so ago. I started something new.

Quaker Samplings 1

by With My Needle

Picture This Plus Orphan

28-ct Cashel

GAST - Raspberry Parfait

Picture This Plus is a color-fast overdyed fabric. They do aida, linen, evenweaves and opalescence fabrics. Orphans happen when something goes wrong in the dyeing process. Either it comes out the wrong color or when they are developing new colors, it is not a duplicateable color. Every so often they sell those pieces as "orphans" on their web site. There is an adoption center listed where you can go to see if they have any orphans available. Usually they are fat quarters. The size will be listed. All the orphans have names. That is another interesting part of the process. This piece I got sometime before Christmas. The last time I checked, they did not expect to have any orphans until in March sometime.

Work on the Heartland Shop Hop Sampler continues. The 3rd of the 6 designs making up the sampler is almost done. Right now we are making some color changes to make it look better on the fabric we are using. This is a real enjoyable stitch. That is why VoHRH has had to languish on the side.

Now to a little stashing. Stitches 'N Things had a Super Bowl sale and I ordered a couple of things. Never had ordered from them before. Have been getting their newsletter for about 1 1/2 years. Was introduced to this shop by a couple of stitchers that I met at Silver Needle's stitch camp. The service from this shop was awesome. Part of my order was out of stock and they had to get it in and I still had my order in about 8-9 days. Here is what I got. Blackbird Designs -- Where My Heart Blooms--Loose Feathers 29. To top things off, my LNS brought back the 30-ct R&R Korty's Special Blend used in the design. Of course I just had to get it before it was gone. LOL. It has been all I could do not to put in a few stitches. Especially after seeing Margie's completed piece. I have kept the startitis at bay for the time being. Not sure how much longer I can hold out.

Also received in that order, are two designs by "Whispered in the Wind", Scherzo(left) and Adagio(right). The greenish blue one is stitched with WDW Blue Spruce and the other one with WDW Stone. Can be stitched in your choice of thread. I have really gone overboard for the monochromatic/Quaker-style designs. They seem to be very peaceful to stitch. Hope I never tire of them, because I have several of them to stitch. No worries about making sure you are using the right color since you are only using one color most of the time.

Remember last fall I was working on a design model for The Sunflower Seed that was going to be released at market. Well, here it is. Hilltop Seasons was a very successful market release. She sold out of it and several other designs. The new designs are not yet up on The Sunflower Seed web site, but we hope that will happen sometime this week. This image came from the Stitches 'N Things weekly newsletter. The border around and between the houses on this piece is awesome.

For those of you that like to stitch tin toppers she has another design that was released as a kit at market and will be available as a pattern only soon. It fits on a rectangular Whitman Sampler tin, with stitching on the top and inside the top and is stitched on 40-ct linen. A picture of this should be up on the web site soon. Not sure of the exact name for the design-- Celtic something. She is still trying to finish filling kit orders from market. We are out of the 40-ct linen and it has been on order for about a month and a half. This design is similar to something that she gave to me for Christmas. The model is stitched in CC Belle Soie silk. Love stitching with this fiber. If you have not done it, you need to give it a try.

My work at the LNS continues with me working most Thursdays. Last Thursday it snowed off and on all day, so I was not swamped with customers, but was kept busy checking in orders received, etc. However, there was some time in the afternoon to getting some stitching done. Last week also had a meeting of my ladies group one day, made 2 cakes for a dinner that was served for a group on Saturday and I went in and helped get things ready for that. Otherwise, it was stitching, reading blogs and e-mail. I love that part the most. With the weather we have been having this winter (snow, cold and yuck), I think I could become a stitching hermit.

Need to do a couple of other things on the computer before I head off to sleep land, so I think I have bored you long enough with my babble. Thanks for visiting and commenting. Later my stitching friends.

Yeah, spellchecker is working!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day and update

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Hope everyone got treated special on this day of love. Mine was a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Yum! Yum!

In my last post, I promised pictures of my stitching progress on my current projects. There has been some progress on VoHRH, Block 4. It is becoming abundantly clear that I am not going to be able to stitch a block a month. Stitching lots of solid pieces like the entire house without having something else to work on really bores me. Apparently, I suffer from Adult Attention Deficit. However, if I have other things to work on along the way, I do fairly well. Now I am going to keep working on it, but not beat myself up if I don't get a block done each month. My friend that is the fastest stitcher that I know is now working on the last block and she only started The Village the 1st of October with some time out to stitch a couple of other things and a few Christmas ornaments. I think she must stitch while she is asleep.

When I was covering the LNS while the owner was gone to the Nashville market, I had some time to work on Spring Snapperland. This is one of my WIPs that is easier to see at the shop without my light/magnifier. Getting closer on the 1st block of the 4 in the entire piece. You will remember that Blocks 2 & 3 are already done. This photo is a little blurry and wonky. At least, the little girl does not have a block head like she did before she got hair and hair bow. LOL!

There has been other stitching going too. I have the 2nd of 6 pieces of the shop hop sampler done. It is looking good, but, of course, no photos. However, I have a new development on the Pink Blossom Sampler that I have been working on for my friend Sandi. I have been stuggling to work on that piece, so I resolved at the beginning of the year that I would work on it weekly. I had been doing that. This past Tuesday I did not get to it until about 8PM. The owner of the LNS got caught in ice and snow coming home from Nashville on Monday, so I covered the store on Tuesday as well. Then she came in and I just HAD to help her unpack all the new things! LOL! So, it was later in the evening before I had a chance to stitch, but I did stitch 2 entire bands on the sampler. Then I realized I had made a small error, but decided it was not going to be noticeable to anyone but me. Still just added to my frustration with the piece. Wednesday was the day we have afternoon stitch therapy at the LNS and Sandi has been joining us most Wednesdays. She had offered several months ago to finish up her own piece. Well, after all my struggles, I decided to ask her if she really meant what she had offered. I asked and she said "YES". WooHoo!!!! She said do you have it with you and I walked over to my stitch bag and pulled it out. I have it more than half done and she was surprised at my progress. She said she was more than happy to do it and I am so relieved that I don't have to stuggle with it anymore. I really owe her a debt of gratitude and will make it up to her. She is defintely one of my best friends.

When Anita goes to market she always aske me what I want and I usually give her a list of a couple of things. Here are the two things she brought back for me.

AlphaBlu

by Courtney Collection

Simple Little Quaker
by Papillon Creations

Love them both. Not sure when I will ever stitch them. I have really fallen in love with the quaker designs. My likes are so eclectic that my pattern stash covers a lot of things. I have not even decided what other things that Anita brought back from market are things that I "HAVE" to have. Her selection of new things was outstanding. She brought back several pieces of the Weeks Dye Works linen. I love several of the colors. Previously, we had a couple of pieces of the more neutral colors. It is hard to make choices without seeing them in real life. I hope she designs something to use it and I get to stitch it. I want to use some of it soon. Going in to the shop tomorrow to help her assemble patterns to fill orders for patterns that she ran out of at market and to send to Hoffman. Probably will have to get some more stuff from her market newbies.

Today I received some other stash enhancements from Stitches 'n Things from their Super Bowl sale. I forgot to take pictures. That will have to be next time.

You will have to excuse any misspelled words, the spell checker on blogger is still not working for me.

That just about covers things for now. Think I will go see if I can get some more done on VoHRH.

Cursed Project and Other Stitching Updates

It's been longer between posts than I usually like to go, but I would rather spend my time stitching than taking photos, editing, uploading, etc. And what is a post without a few photos? BORING!!!

Back at the first of the year, I made it my goal to work on the retirement gift for my friend Sandi, at least one hour a week in order to get it finished. Also decided that Tuesday would be a good day, since most of the time I don't have anything scheduled on that day. Everything has been going fine, however on the first Tuesday I started to stitch on the sampler the phone rang right after I started my hour. So that meant I had to adjust my time. Now, for some reason ,every Tuesday when I pick up this piece the phone rings. It has become a standing joke with all my stitching friends. One day it was even Sandi that called me. This week another friend called and the first words out of her mouth were "are you stitching on Sandi's sampler?". My answer was yes, I just have taken a few stitches and the phone rang. LOL!! I am beginning to think this is a cursed project. It is rather difficult to make much progress. This week I did put in a little more than an hour just to get to the end of a needle full of thread. It is hard to see this since the colors are so light. Since the first of the year I have done 2 rows of the alphabet, 2 rows of specialty stitches between the rows of alphabet and more of the border. The alphabet is done one letter in eyelet over 4 threads and the next Rice stitch over 4 threads. Takes a while to accomplish that and lots of thread. Maybe now that the alphabet is done it will go faster.

Did not take photos of progress on my other stitch projects. Have put in part of the Cottage in the first panel of Spring Snapperland. Have the window and door outlines and other solid house stitching done on Block 4 of VoHRH. Also have another piece of ths Shop Hop Sampler for The Sunflower Seed about half done. I will have pictures of VoHRH and Spring Snapperland next time. Just to lazy to bother with them tonight.

I seem to be hitting a wall stitching on VoHRH. With two big houses in a row and solid stitching on both has me thinking I am bored with it or something. Anita, at the Sunflower Seed, said that I had too much yet to go to be getting bored with it. LOL. Maybe it is my Adult Attention Deficit causing me problems. I get the urge to start something new. Like I don't already have WAY TOO MANY started now. So Friday night, I started this Quaker Valentine Heart that a friend pointed me to. Click Here for the chart. It is all complete except for the chart called for initials and the year in the top two motifs. Date would be OK, but not sure I want to put initials in it. Not even sure how I want to finish it. It was a fun stitch and maybe now I can go back to my other projects and get lots done.

28-ct Antique White Jobelin

Needle Necessities 103 (Very Berry)

Anita from the LNS has been in Nashville at market showing her new designs and buying goodies for the shop and I have been running the shop and taking care of the shop dog, Betsy. We have had a good time. Should have pictures up on her web site The Sunflower Seed and of the ones I stitched for her on future posts. Things went well for her and I am anxious to see what she brought home. Our weather is going to be a little iffy tomorrow so I hope I can make it to the shop and she can make it home OK. Supposed to have some wintery mix tomorrow and I don't like driving in any type of wintry stuff.

For some reason the spell checker is not working on blogger, so hopefully I have not misspelled things too much. Heard from someone else that said theirs was not working either. Maybe blogger needs to fix that.

Well, I think it is off to bed for me, so I can handle things at the shop and the possible weather. I will try post more frequently in the future.

Oh, and thanks to all who visit here and comment. It is always good to read everyone's wonderful comments. It keeps me going.

Happy Stitching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!