That box..

Remember this project box? I shouldn't have peeked. I don't know how it got so full again. I was actually disappointed to find yet another Civil War table runner buried in the bottom. Don't get me wrong..I love them, but this is the fourth one I've put together. I couldn't just leave it..

It was an act of determination to take it out..nothing more.

But I'm glad I did..finished! And back to Birds & Bees. Someone in the last post wondered who CHS is..Carriage House Samplings. I know it doesn't look like I have done much of anything since the last picture was taken..I really have done a good bit..I am currently working on the deer antlers there on the right. I can't wait to finish this piece.

For you, from my garden...

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments and for stopping by.

Christmas Garden Finished

After almost 30 episodes of Dr. Quinn (the only doctor that doesn't make me stressed), Downton Abby, and several other episodes of various British series and/or movies, I finished Christmas Garden last night! Mind you, I can only stitch in the evenings, I get easily distracted, and I am up and down every few minutes for whatever, but since I started this in later January, I am happy that I already finished it.

I decided early on that I would not stitch the name of the design at the bottom, as charted. I tossed around different things that I could use to fill the space, but after much fretting, I went with Paulette's suggestion and just left it off and brought the border on around. I am very pleased with it. I have put all of my kids' initials--using the girls' maiden names--as well as mine and my dearly beloved's, so there are two of the PSK initials in there.

So what to do next..I might work on BBD Midnight Watch, since that one is about half stitched. I also want Turkey Love and Max & Z. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Christmas Garden

Could it be Feb 29th already? Seems like I just started Christmas Garden; and then again, it seems like I have been stitching on it for years. There are only four colors to this design..I love them, though I will admit that I thought it would have turned out more colorful. Still, I love this design and am enjoying most every stitch. Here is where I am at, and I feel certain the next time I get to post it will be finished.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I really hope to get caught up on my favorite blogs soon.

Give Thanks...

Fall is heading out as quickly as it came in. I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is in two weeks...and then the big one. We've already had a bit of snow, and now we are in the 60s again..since there has been more "inside" time, what with the gardening season being past, I've had more evening stitching time and even managed a few mornings since my last post..I decided a couple of weeks ago to set aside the samplers and such and focus on seasonal things. I still have holiday table runners I want to finish and oodles of holiday fabric just waiting for the scissors. But I really wanted to work on smalls. Little did I know that my Paulette  created a seasonal piece, which I immdiately fell in love with. So...without further delay, here it is..just made it into a little hanging pillow. I used Picture This Plus 36-count Relic..love the way it turned out. I have also worked up a couple of holiday ornaments, but I will wait until after Thanksgiving to post them.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your time with me! If I don't get on here before Thanksgiving, I pray everyone will have a blessed day and "give thanks."

Elizabeth Sheffield

Had I known what I was getting myself into with so much over-one stitching on Elizabeth...I thought just the bird was stitched over one. I'm sure everyone who has done this is snickering about now. Paulette and I are stitching this at the same time, but she is leaving me in the dust. She's enjoying "college life" way too much, me thinks. I've really not worked on anything else, because this piece really is a fun stitch. I hope everyone is enjoying the fall that is just about upon us.

I always appreciate your comments and thank you for stopping by.

Let it Snow!

Just a little "finishing." Years and years ago, someone stitched this little snowman for me. I put it into my green box of things to finish. Since I didn't really know what to do with it--it is a bit on the large size for an ornament and too small to frame, to me--so I decided to just use it as a little hanger somewhere. I have never done a "rusched" ribbon before, but Vonna's

tutorial made it very easy. I love the way it turned out. It's hard to tell, but the ribbon is glitzy.

That's about it for me! Thank you so much for stopping in.

A Finish...

I am so very happy to have finished Blackbird Designs' Hannah Lovina Joslin sampler, taken from the Honeysuckle Manor book. It has all of my favorite colors in it. I replaced the name to reflect my maternal grandmother, Mary Jane Carver. I just cannot seem to get close enough to my needlework to get a good picture of the entire thing, but I have included several closeups of portions of this piece, and it is clickable.

What a nice way to end a busy work week. :) Thank you so much for stopping by, and for all of your lovely comments..even the one about the 20 X 20 Precious Moments Paulette is stitching me for Christmas. LOL! Maybe we could bargain for that Yorkie? Have a great weekend!

Presenting...

TaDa! I would like to officially show you my Village. Remember me? The slow one who dragged her feet and took more than two years to finish it? Omg, it was so worth every stitch, even though my thoughts were not always pleasant. lol. Some of you may have already seen this on Jill's site this weekend. What a wonderful job she did, as always. I am sorry I could not get a better picture, but I don't have a lens that needs a mortage and a muscle man to carry it around like Paulette does...

And here is my sampler..oh dear. Another apology. My house is a nightmare for reflection on glass. I tried everything to get a better picture.

Jill is amazing for picking out just the right thing.  I do have a question..does ANYONE know the name of this piece? Um..as you see by the date, I did it years ago, and I don't know why Sheepish Designs sticks out in my mind, but if you know, can you please tell me what it is?

Thank you for stopping by! I wanted to answer a couple of questions from my last post, but I will do that next time.

Just Red..again

I cannot help myself. It seems everything I want to stitch I try to find a way to do it in RED. I took Ann Grimshaw out last week and added just one motif. I will never get this piece finished just working on it here and there. I'm using Crescent Colors, Bandana for this one. I do believe it is one of my favorite reds.

I worked this little piece up in Belle Soie Poison Apple. Looks just like the color of Pink Lady apples. This was a little free design that I got a couple of years ago. I cannot remember the designer's name, but if I find out, I will give credit. It is quite small, though it looks a bit on the large size here. I will be backing it with that bit of French General fabric, and maybe this time the piece of tatting will work.

Elizabeth Sheffield. I've seen this on several blogs, and for some reason, it just screamed at me this past week, so I ordered it. I used to live near that stitcher, just not in that time period. :) Not sure about the colors yet. Paulette has wanted to do this piece for several years, so we are going to work on it together. I'm thinking, hoping, the Lakeside Vintage Buttercream will work for it.

And the last time I posted my Kelmscott pretties, I totally forgot this pair of beautiful scissors, as they were in use. I love the ones with the longer blades.

I am so happy to see you here, and I would like to thank everyone for their sweet comments on my last post. Yes, I am keeping that husband of mine..

Seeing Red

Ahh, yes, I do love red! I've been digging through my green box trying to find things that are stitching related to finish off and only had one thing left. This was in the 2010 Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornaments issue, and it is "Regal Red Christmas" by Milady's Needle.

I was still in my red ornament mode, so I browsed the Blackbird Designs book--Honeysuckle Manor--over the weekend and fell in love with "A Stitcher's Companion." I chose Belle Soie Cranberry and 36-count fabric, as opposed to their 30-count. I'm so pleased the way it came out..and before I forget, I used Vonna's finishing instructions, and they are absolutely wonderful!

On a personal note:

Marion, the previous design is by Carriage House Samplings, called The Birds & The Bees.

Paulette, you owe me hundreds of burritos after giving you Garden Glade. :)

I hope everyone is having a nice week. We're still so dark and cold right on, but that just allows for a few more minutes of stitching. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing a part of your day with me.

Rushing Spring

It's been a while since I've seen this one, so I am going to work on it and try to finish it up in a timely manner. I think the colors are much more cheerful for a spring project. I'm actually down to this piece and two others!

Thank you so much for stopping by this early in the week.

Seeing Red

I am really quite upset with a mistake I didn't find until there was no turning back, but since this is an ornament, I'm just going to get past it. This is Regal Red Chrismas from the JCS magazine. I used Schoolhouse Red by Gloriana..this has to be the most luscious silk I've ever used. This one only took about 2 movies and several episodes of a series. :) I have no idea what I want to do next...

Thank you for dropping by!

Spring Stitching

We have had three sunny days in a row...love it! Pretty soon most of my free time will be spent overdosing on vitamin D. I've not ventured outside to see what is waking up yet, though.

I just started The Birds & The Bees this very week. It's been a while since I have worked with Needlepoint Silks..luscious, to say the least. I like it that there aren't many colors in this piece. So, here is my first progress picture. If anyone knows how many leaves are on this piece, please do not tell me!

And I put a little time into Ann Grimshaw, which I am loving working on. I don't think I shall ever tire of stitching in reds.

Thanks so much for dropping by my blog and sharing some of your day with me.

Paradise Lost Progress

Just stitching my way through the dark, winter days right on...not another thing to post about but snow pics, and you've probably all seen more than you want in your own area. What on earth do people do in their spare time if they have no hobbies? I cannot imagine going through all of these overcast days without something to distract even a bookworm as myself...Anyhow..here is a little progress on Paradise Lost.

Thank you for sharing my day and for your sweeet comments...

Village of Hawk Run Hollow

I started this project two years ago..I had planned on stitching one block per month. Hmm, just goes to show how easily distracted I can get. I'm only on this 8th block. I don't want to say I got burned out; I just lost interest, I guess. I am itching to start on Paradise Lost as well as Christmas at HRH, and I'm dying to have Shores, but I guess those designs are too big for my little needle right now. lol. Anyhow, I had to make myself take it out and work on it last week, but boy did my interest pick up immediately. I've worked on it a little every night and am once again enjoying it. I added a new camera to my collection, so forgive the date and the handle of the camera in the picture.

Paradise Lost

I had to take a little break from work to share what one of my next projects will be. I'm still working on Garden of Eerie, but I hope to finish that up this evening. I got to see Paulette's Paradise Lost in the creating stages..of course each time she added one of the animals, that one became my "FAVORITE!" And then when she added that middle tree, that was my favorite..then when I saw...well, you get my drift. I adore this designer, in case you don't know that. I honestly don't understand how she pulls this stuff out of her head, but I want to stitch every design she comes up with and am now wishing that she had started when she was 10! Anyhow, Paradise Lost truly is my favorite design to date.

And as is my need to have a needleminder to match whatever project I am doing--ever since Ruby Owl and those Kelmscott owl scissors--look at this most beautiful Adam & Eve needleminder. Oh my..I cannot tell you how beautiful this thing is in person..as well as the Tudor Rose scissors. Is it ok to say they are my favorite scissors now. LoL! What perfect accessories to PL..I can hardly wait to start. Thank you so much Paulette and Paula--now doesn't that just sound like twins?--for your beautiful designs that go so well together.

End-of-Week Stitching Progress

I always feel like I am the slowest stitcher. Paulette is busier than I am, but I am sure she gets four times as much done as I do. Maybe I am just a very poor organizer of time, which I literally hate wasting. Hmm....anyhow, here is my latest progress on Garden of Erie. And now that I compare it to what I posted last week, I guess I didn't do too bad. Maybe there is hope for me afterall, at least until I start Paradise Lost and Christmas at HRH at the same time! (Sitting in corner with scissors and needles, maniacle laughter)..

August

I think summer finally hit town today. We've been so blessed to have such nice mild weather all spring/summer long. While it's was never hot enough for my vegetable garden to flourish, I figure it is less costly to buy those vegetables than to run the a/c and $prinkler system so much.

I have just been in my Green Room. How on earth did I end up with so many unfinished projects? I would list them, but I don't want to embarrass myself, so I'll see how much I can finish up over the summer before doing so. I've been working on my fall quilt. I still have a looong way to go, and then I'll need the FBI to track down some backing fabric. I have been notorious for NOT getting my backing fabric whenever I get a quilt kit. I thought it would always be there--I searched for over an hour the other night looking for a particular fabric that was plentiful many months ago..I don't know what I would have done without Kim. She actually identified the fabric I needed by a NUMBER! I was impressed! I mean, I had cut OFF all of the numbers when I made the quilt. I'm still learning..the hard way.

I have been stitching..I just cannot share a picture. I've been working on my Christmas gift for Paulette for several weeks now. Also a sampler that she will be releasing, and I have duct tape on my mouth right now. I will share a picture of my progress soon. I hope everyone is having a really nice summer. Thanks for stopping by...

Alphabets Progress

Time for an update on Alphabets. I could hardly wait to get down to these birds, thinking that it would be free sailing once I got to that point. Either I'm very slow, or they are taking a lot longer than they look like they should. I really enjoyed working on them over the weekend..I curled right up on the sofa with Charlton Heston and he talked me through The Ten Commandments on Friday. :-) I just noticed that there is another leaf missing on each of the little stems.

Alphabets

I decided since everyone is leaving me in the dust with stitching that I should get back to it. I've been so busy quilting lately that I have to admit, it was very hard to pick up my stitching again. Paulette is off skiing in Colorado, so I've been going over to let Sgt. Friday out several times a day. While he's outside, I wander around the first floor staring at her needlework. It never ceases to amaze me how much she is able to accomplish, given how busy she is..every time I come from over there I want to stitch my colon into knots! It's honestly like broswing at some huge cross-stitch shop. Gee..my peediddly Alphabets seems so elementary at this point. :-) But I do snicker when I see her quilting fabric piled up and her sewing machine out just waiting to be used. Maybe it doesn't look like I've done anything on this from the last time I posted a picture, but here it is at this point anyway.