Stitching galore

It's been a while since my last post. But I have been stitching in the meantime. I was inspired by Tanya of The Scarlett House blog to start Rebecca Robinson. If you go to her blog, you'll see Rebecca almost completed. Isn't it gorgeous? Well, I'm stitching her now too. It's funny, cause Tanya starts stitching in the middle and I always start at the top left hand corner. So I get to see my border before anything else, and Tanya is almost finished but is working on the border last.




I'm also using the AVAS called for and 40ct. Heritage linen by PTP. I think -- but I may be wrong -- that Tanya is using an NPI conversion and 40ct Buttercream linen from Lakeside.



I love the angel or whatever it is at the top. I'm going to think of her as an angel since angels are my thing.




Because of my enthusiasm for Rebecca, I neglected to start the Sail Away SAL in which I'm participating on the start day. I even forgot that it was the 5th when it was the 5th! :D Anyway, the SAL was organized by Terri of Chocolates for Breakfast, Stitching for Lunch and Loraine 0f Sew Be It. But I finally pulled everything out Saturday morning and got going on our first assignment. And I finished it just now.



I'm a rebel -- I'm ignoring the fact that I should be using the 32ct fabric included in the kit and am using 40ct PTP Legacy linen instead. This, of course, means that I won't be able to use the charm, button or sheep button that came in the kit. But I'll worry about that later. :D I just couldn't face the larger count linen and so I decided that if 40ct linen was what I needed to get going, that was what I would use.



Finally, I wanted to mention that Patti of Tapestry of Dreams is having a fantastic giveaway to celebrate the birth of her grandson Oliver. Patti, huge congratulations to you! Click on Tapestry of Dreams and it'll take you to her blog and the giveaway. I think if you click on the above picture, you should be taken to her giveaway as well, but I may be wrong. The prize is a kit to make the beautiful Lauren Sauer piece shown in the picture above. Which, of course, I covet. I believe it's one of Lauren's teaching pieces.

Well, vacation is done, and school starts in -- gasp -- about 3 1/2 weeks. It starts early this year. I would actually like the summer to be a bit longer. Oh well. The girl child doesn't have to go back to college till around September 12, and her classes don't start till September 17. Lucky her.

Well, enjoy your Sunday evening and the start of the week! Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.

Country House Sampler done!

Just a quick post to say ----- I finished! Yay!




Sorry, I'm not good at the fancy stuff. This is the Country House Sampler by Brenda Keyes of the Sampler Company. Using PTP 40ct Legacy with an NPI silk conversion.




Whew! That took longer than necessary! :D Or at least it felt like it!

Thanks for stopping by! I love to read your comments. Have a good Friday -- and a great weekend!

Stitching and an outing

So here's the Country House Sampler so far.




I'll have you know I'd be much further along if I'd counted more carefully while stitching the windows and doors and front bushes on the house. Let's just say I had to rip all those things out and do them over again. Sigh. (I stitched those before I did the red fill in.)


But I'm happy with how it's looking. Too bad I feel like stitching something else while I'm happy. So much more to do!!!!




I can't remember if I've ever shown you what the whole thing looks like. Here's a picture of the finished piece from the Sampler Company website. See all that fill in that I have to do? And everything else?


Oh well. In other news, it was my birthday last Sunday! And so as a result I got to hijack my kids and have them for the day! Wow! They're always so busy that it's usually just hi and bye and can you drive me and such like. But for my birthday, everyone stayed home. :D The girl child got me a pretty pair of embroidery scissors from Toledo, Spain, the city where she did her study abroad month in June. I'm not even sure she knew I had a scissor collection!



We all went to the Nyack Street Fair -- which was great fun! A bit hot under the sun, but no humidity, thank goodness! And gorgeous weather! See the boy child enjoying himself?



Everyone got a little something. And the boy child bought me an Ugly Doll for my birthday! I'd always wanted one!




Isn't he/she cute? Here he/she is with my bears on the bed. The girl child thinks he/she looks incongruous there, but I like it! (Yes, it's the same Ugly Doll -- he/she has two sides.)



We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which was nice too. Oh, and did I mention my big birthday present? No, it's not a new sewing machine -- that will have to wait for another year. It's a new Kindle!! The new one. The Kindle II. Which is now called the Kindle. Anyway, I love it! And boy, is it ever easier to balance on the treadmill when I'm exercising! :D I think the girl child is more old fashioned than I am -- she doesn't seem thrilled with my birthday present. Hee hee! On the other hand, she does tend to have a few of her reading materials for college on her iphone. So there!

Well I hope the rest of your week is a good one! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know you're there!

Giveaway at Paulette's

Just wanted to tell you all to check out Paulette's blog. She the brains behind Plum Street Samplers. She's having a giveaway so go enter! Paulette is so nice, and pretty and talented too! She designed this, for example.



Thanks for the giveaway, Paulette! And for all the great designs too! Oh, and BTW, there's a freebie on the same post. So enjoy!

Country House Sampler start, the blahs

So I've started another project. I picked up the Country House Sampler by Brenda Keyes of the Sampler Company. I just love her work! I figured I've done a Moira Blackburn, now it's time for Brenda Keyes!



I'm using 40ct. Legacy by Picture this Plus, with an NPI conversion I got from a friend.



For some reason the camera wanted to take flash pictures today so the color may be a bit off. I think I need to take photography classes!



I've been feeling in a bit of a stitching slump recently. I guess the limited stitching time these days doesn't help. It's been sort of a bummer of a week as well. I thought the flat tire at the groceries last week was bummer enough, but then the father type got sick over the weekend. Of course it would strike Friday. By Saturday when he was pretty incoherent with a 102.8 fever, of course there were no doctors available. So to the emergency room we went (after making sure the girl child was taken care of with a ride home from a neighbor). He ended up with an IV for fluids, being dehydrated, and some IV meds for pain -- he had a super bad sore throat. And they of course gave him fever reducers and some antibiotics, in case the test for strep, which said he didn't have it, was wrong. By Sunday morning, his fever was a lot better, although still there, but the throat was still sore. Etc etc. Anyway, I think it was probably strep, because his fever seemed to respond so well to the antibiotics. And by yesterday the sore throat was mostly gone. Anyway, my point is, it hasn't been the best of weeks (or week and a halves) around here. I know, I'm spoiled. But I got freaked out by the father type's high fever and incoherence. I'm so grateful, especially when sickness strikes, for our general good health. I'm not good with sickness. :D

Enough of that. The boy and girl child are very busy with friends (and boy friend in the girl child's case), always out at all hours so I have to worry about their whereabouts. So what's new, right? lol! The boy child had to have a mole removed by a plastic surgeon on Monday -- it had grown back after being removed before by a dermatologist -- so he has stitches and will have yet another scar to show off once the stitches are removed. (He has a huge scar from the surgery he had to remove a lump in his neck two years ago.) This child is getting very used to having medical procedures, poor thing. In comparison, the girl child has had nothing, zero, zilch, nada. Now is that fair? The boy child also had surgery for strabismus on his 4th birthday (the only time available in the doctor's schedule). So he's had his fill of surgeries and such. (Strabismus is crossed eyes in case you were wondering.)

Sorry for the rambling. I think it's the blahs I'm having. :D Oh, and it doesn't help that I still haven't heard back about my Featherweight. Maybe that's why I have the stitching blahs. I want to sew a quilt instead. In the midst of all my trials and tribulations this weekend, I got a wonderful package of bright cheeriness in the mail. Look at these yummy twill stripes that I got from KwiltyKim!




They're from the Blackbird Design ladies, of course. Those ladies are so amazingly talented. And I discovered when I took a class from them at a retreat a couple of years ago that Barb is as big or a bigger fan than I am of Paul McCartney! Anyway, so these and other fabrics are calling to me to make them into something pretty. And no sewing machine. Sigh. But thanks, Kim, for cheering me up when I needed it! I have the twill stripes out where I can admire them.

Finally, there's another giveaway here at a blog that's new to me. So wander on over and enter!

Thanks for stopping by! It's so nice knowing you're out there!

My First Quilt

Ok, since I'm dying to get my Featherweight back from being fixed so I can make a quilt (!!), I decided I need to do this "My First Quilt" thing that Camille and Carrie are doing. But I have a caveat, and I hope it doesn't disqualify me. I haven't finished quilting some of the quilts. :( You see, I hand quilt. Which means it takes forever. And I have the attention span of a fly. Soooooo, I have lots of half quilted quilts. My first quilt, for example, is about half quilted.




Can you tell it's from the 80s? Ugh! I'd forgotten about that bright pink! Eww! I decided to quilt it in an all over fan pattern, which of course takes forever. And guess what? It's only half quilted! But the quilted parts look pretty!


Now I'll show you my last quilt that is actually finished. It's a Tumbling Blocks. I love English paper piecing. And this was MY quilt! I got to keep it! lol!



I even made the edges all funky.




Now I have to show you my last quilt -- the last quilt which isn't all quilted yet. Don't look at the date -- it's embarrassing. It's a Baltimore Album.



I even did a square with some penmanship. No, I can't really write like that -- copied it from a book.



Again, I want to quilt it pretty densely, which is why I'm taking so long to hand quilt it. And also, there's this thing called cross stitching which has totally distracted me from quilting lately. But you can sort of see the idea behind the quilting.



So Camille and Carrie, do I still count? I hope so! I couldn't remember what my first quilt was that was actually finished, just the one that's still being quilted. :D Sorry!

Now I just hope my Featherweight comes home in working condition -- and I can finally make a quilt top! I've just recently noticed the whole new thing (that isn't that new) going on in the quilt world -- besides fat quarters, there are jelly rolls, honey buns, all sorts of cool precuts! My only problem is how to find the time to stitch as much as I usually do and also make a quilt? :D :D

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Fruit of the Spirit finished

Well, what with it being summer with the kids home, with Wimbledon to watch up through Sunday (yay Federer, but boy did I feel badly for Roddick!), and with a flat tire at the groceries yesterday which totally messed up that day, this finish didn't come as quickly as I would have liked. But here is Fruit of the Spirit finally!


Fruit of the Spirit by Plum Street Samplers
45 ct Vintage Sand Dune
NPI and Threadgatherer silks



I like how it came out! But the 45ct -- well it's fun and doable, but 40ct is still my comfort zone! Especially when it comes to the over one!



In other news, you may have already heard about this contest, but Violarium is having a drawing for this great book.



It's actually rather a coincidence, since I saw this book on someone's blog and thought what a great book it would be to have. And now this contest! So wander on over and enter! Click on Violarium, or here.

There's also a thing going on about what your first quilt was and your latest quilt, but I don't know if I have the strength to figure out what either my first quilt was or my last one! lol! It'll be fun to watch though.

Well, summer days are here, although you wouldn't be able to tell from the weather. The boy child has discovered the beauty of the lake in the early mornings, but tends to stay up all night in order to enjoy it. Not good -- then he sleeps all day! The girl child is happily ensconced with the boy friend and that's about it for her! Has anyone else with high school or college kids noticed that it's really hard to find summer jobs this summer? Ah well. The girl child being in Spain didn't help of course -- a whole month gone with that. But all her friends are in the same predicament.

Enjoy the rest of your week! Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog!