Weeping Tree

Another finish under the belt yesterday morning!!!!  It was impossible to actually sit in front of a computer for 15 straight minutes to post the news, and it is almost as impossible today-- but here goes :)

Weeping Willow by City Stitcher (OOP) on 40ct Lakeside Fawn.  A personal conversion to overdyes and here we are.  Isnt it gorgeous!!!!  I am thrilled that I decided to finish the piece with the sawtooth border.  I LOVE it.  The whole thing was great fun to stitch.   I know that a few of you have mentioned you have had this hanging in your home now for sometime, and couldnt be more pleased.  I share your excitement now!!!!!

I love the sheep :)  Stickin' cute!!

Another one for the framer.  I cant wait to see what the end result will be for this one!!!!
Next I am going to start the Amy Mitten class-- I was supposed to start it last night, but visited with 2 VERY CUTE girls and will have to start it tonight instead.  No worries, it was way worth playing with Rapunzel last night!!!

After Amy, I have in mind a very BAP :)

Have a fabulous day!!

Bricks

Do you love them?!  A house with some good bricks always attracts me to a sampler.  I am not sure why, it is alot of work doing them, but the reward is wonderful.  I am still put-zing around with Weeping Tree.  I stitched the main part of the house-- the mortar so I could return and fill in the bricks with ease.  No more counting for a bit.

It is hard to tell the mortar on the linen I chose, but as you can see, it pops with the bricks.  My Friend and I had consulted with the colors on this piece in record time, and when it came to revisiting the colors to stitch it, I was a bit put off with the brick color that I had decided on.  So, another consult and it is turning out fabulous :)

Perfect bricks!!  LOL. 
And here is where I am leaving you today, with this picture.......which is pretty close to the linen color-- (miracle right?!)  I have to stitch the side of the house yet, satin stitch trees & border, the words and the hands on the bottom left-- (And, And, And--- LOL) but another finish is near!!!!!! 

Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!

Leap Year

First of all, I want to thank all of you who commented, text-ed and emailed me about Double Dee and her gorgeous frame!!!!  WOWZA!!!!  I am so excited that I can hardly handle it :)  25 fantastic comments on her is a record I think!!!!  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I wanted to also post today because it is the 29th of February and how often can we post on this day?? So here goes!
I have been working on Weeping Tree the last few days, and making some good progress.

I decided to wait to stitch the house last, I am not sure why, but I wanted to get all the other stitching done first, the top is done, just have to add my initials, (but that will be last for sure) and the white border is done.  The bottom row is done so I can see a visual of size-- which I love doing and helps me fill in the rest from there. 

I love the hand dyed silk thread for this piece, it just makes it so much more special for me to see all that great color!  (Yes, I did say color-- for those that know me, I am sure you are shocked!!  LOL)  Each night I get a bit further, and the piece becomes more beautiful than the night before.  Crazy I know!  I am already thinking about what is going to be next up from the WIPs, so many options!!!!!!!
I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your day!!!! Happy stitching on this extra day :)

Dont you love progress?

Fridays and Mondays always seem to be the fastest days to get to in the week-- what do you think?  Before you know it, the weekend has blown by and there are still 25 things still on the must do list.  Friday comes along, and your head is still spinning from Monday morning.  Where can the time disappear to?  At least over the week, I feel I made some serious progress.  Brought some things to the framers, and made some decisions that I am excited and nervous about.  I am sure they are going to look terrific.  But, as my framer said-- you have stepped 1 toe out of your comfort box, it wont be that bad!!!! LOL.  He knows me to well!!!!!! 

Sorry the above picture is sooo horrid.  This is small progress on Weeping Tree, which is coming along great.  I am looking forward to more progress on this piece in the coming weeks.  However, there is another pressing piece at hand.  Remember on January 1st I showed a picture of the new start I was supposed to 'start'? The Drawn Thread Toccata 5?!!  Well, the most progress I made on it that day, was putting the linen on the scroll rods and taking a picture.  I put her down so I could continue on Rosina.  Well, a few days went by, perhaps a week or 2 and I decided I better get started on T5.  I pulled it out and opened the pattern.  Lets recap-- I have never done a piece like this.  Not hard right?  It doesnt look hard.  The pattern on the other hand was a bit overwhelming on how many threads to go over.  Some are 2, some 3 and even 4.  Some look like over 1.  Starting on the top right hand corner as usual, I began.  I stitched the first step over 1 and it looked way to small.  Redid it over 2 and it looked better, but was it right?  Pulled it out yet again-- realizing some mistakes and redid it over 2 again for the 3rd time.

By now, you can see I am a bit more confident-- with the help of my friends telling me a few tricks and things to watch for.  Now, each one does seem to get a bit easier, but lucky for them, I am still pulling steps out numerous times.  Am I happy with the progress?  Yes.   Am I happy with the project?  Yes and no.  But being the first drawn thread piece that I have done it; I am happy that I will have a bit of variety on the sampler wall.  But I am not positive that I will do another one.  I know, it is early in the game yet.
What I would like to do is remove this piece from these rods, and try those blessed q-snaps.  I know, I know.  Many of you think the world of these things, but I am not thrilled with them.  I think it will be better and perhaps I should have listened to my Friend in the first place and bought those instead, but this is how you learn right?!  LOL No worries.  I think it will help overall the way this piece is stitched and completed.  And, I know that if I continue on this path with the rods, I will never get this piece done :)

I received a very special gift this week from a new friend and I cant believe she thought of me with this hand embroidered pin cushion-that she made herself-- even better!!!  Isn't it wonderful?  It is absolutely perfect.  Thank you so very much, you made my day for sure!!!!
I wanted to share 1 of the few things of stash I got this week, and I know, this is the year of the WIPs.  And I think of Ann Dale....(working on the colors still) but Plum Street Samplers A Colonial Garden.

Of course, it has been out for a bit, but finally I took the pattern home and some linen of course, but not sure yet what I am going to decide at the end to stitch it on.  Maybe when I am done with Weeping Tree and T5, I will reward myself with this cute little start.  What do you think?  Any one else pick this up?
Well, off to another busy and exciting weekend!!  Anyone going to their LNS for Superbowl?  How exciting!!!!!!! Go Giants!!!!!!!

What to do

When the pile of WIPs is as crazy as mine (from the crazy January challenge of 2011) it is sometimes hard to choose what is going to be next on the docket.  However, I thought a great way to choose a project was just open up 1 of the 2 WIP bins, grab and go.  Well, on Sunday night when I did that, I grabbed And They Sinned.  This is not a terrible project-- in fact, since alot of you are stitching it, I think it is a great idea, to kind of stitch it with you.  So, on Sunday night I continued down the side of the border, which is easy enough to do, after completing Isabella around 10:30pm.  I cant just sit there you know, and watch the movie!!  LOL.

The color is not as green as the pic, it was late..... what do you want at 12 midnight??!!!!  But, in fact it is another shade of Vintage Maritime White.  Like I said yesterday, it is one of my favorite colors-- I have many favorites, but the next few projects I want to work on, are on this shade. So, I digress, as I usually do.......
Last night I didnt feel like working on ATS, but it isnt put away, just put down the end of the couch, still all sprawled out-- which I have taken over and kicked my poor husband to another comfy chair.  No worries, he like reading his ipad wherever.
So last summer a Friend of mine and I have been wanting to stitch this next piece forever, and I thought it was an easy one to get out of the way.

Using these glorious colors, and 40ct burlap linen, here is what I will stitch on this week.

City Stitcher- Weeping Tree Sampler (OOP). I had a tiny bit of the top of the tree done and the edge of the white as you can see before starting last night.  I didnt stitch any more of the border, but laid the ground work for the rest of the tree, which is done on the left. I am going to keep ATS out, perhaps when I am done stitching this one, I will get to her also.
Amazing it is the last day of January right?!  Just 15 minutes ago we were all working on the list and pulling wips out for January 2012.  Well, as Margaret said, this is going to be a great year for finishing WIPS and I feel she is right on the ball with that comment.  I would like to start Ann Dale-- Big and Tall, but I am holding out for now.  I would like to see these WIP bins empty, to fill with new stash perhaps.  I told my husband about Margaret's theory, and he said well, you keep getting new stuff, but finish the old stuff-- there are some really nice samplers in that bin.  Right on!!!!!!!!! 
Thats the plan folks :)