Stitching away on gifts

No, not Christmas gifts, but birthday gifts. Ellen Chester of With My Needle posted about whether you set goals for your stitching or not. I don't anymore. I do have a few loose goals, I would like to stitch more and be more consistent with putting in a daily strand. Every little bit helps. I want to continue to stitch from my stash especially from my extensive WIP pile. I think the only real goal I have is to do more finishing of the things I finish stitching. I have so many things that need to be finished into something I want to spend some time working on some of those things. I did finish a bell pull today and my very old sewing machine seems to be doing okay. I have been toying with getting a new one but my old one is not doing as badly as it was there for a while the whole underside would knot up.

I would like to stitch some Christmas ornaments and joined the LHN ornament of the month club with Elegant Stitch. The first one is kitted up and ready to go soon as I finish the Santa one I am doing now. I am out of a piece of Wisper so it is on hold right now. I decided I wanted to stitch more ornaments this year so pulled several from my stash, kitted them up and ordered what I needed to have them ready to go. With little items like that I like to have them where I just just pull them out and start when I am ready. I hate having to wait for package to arrive to work on something. Plus it isn't worth it to have just one piece of floss mailed to me up here. I think I will feel more productive if I add more smalls in this year.

Hope you are having a stitchy day. Marjo

Snow for Christmas

The view from the front porch. You can see how deep the snow is as you look at the top of the garage. Methinks I need to get the shovel out or no one will be visiting us.
Kori, snow dog extraordinaire, playing in the snow as he absolutely loves to do. There is no such thing as too much snow for this dog.
The tree in the front covered in ice and snow.
Kori on yet another adventure. Who knows what needs to be rescued from the snow in the back yard but our intrepid explorer will find them.
Am stitching on birthday gifts so can't share a photo but thought you might like to see our latest Christmas time snowfall. Definitely a white Christmas here. The dog is the photo is our 100 lb Chocolate lab up to his nose in the snow. He loves it.

Have a great stitchy day. Marjo

In answer to your comments, we won't stay home, it will be off to work as usual. The roads will be plowed and you drive slow but there is no such thing as a snow day in Alaska. Coming from Georgia it was a huge learning curve for me to even think about driving in it but now I do it regularly. And as to the comment on dogs and snow, this one thinks there is nothing better to plow through the deepest part of snow he can get to. He absolutely loves the snow. Thank you for the sweet comments.

Stitching update for December

I am working on a birthday gift I don't want to post a picture as I am not sure if my friends look at this blog or not. I have made great progress on it. I really need to set aside a week of my rotation to do gift stitching. If not I get too far behind and don't get anything done on time. I am halfway done with Homespun Elegance ornament from last year. I have put a few strands in CHS Alphabets and I don't think I ever posted my finish of Where your Heart blooms by BBD. It is in the picture of a couple of posts ago about our retreat but this is closer up. I am making progress on SAIL Away the SAL. Finally some progress on another long term design that I really want hanging on my wall. I have a possible Christmas start in the offing that I am looking forward to. Again, so much to stitch so little time. Hope your day is full of stitching. Marjo

Christmas stitching party

This is the center piece Jeannette made for her lovely table. I love the colors of the flowers.
Gretchen, ever playing the clown decided to model her mesh bag.
Another wonderful dessert by Betty.
Jeannette made us each tote bags personalized for each individual and Betty made us each a fabric mesh stitching bag. Wonderful. We got many sweet gifts to make the season bright.
We had our stitching group party this last week for Christmas. We had a great time. You couldn't ask for a better group of friends to share a hobby with. We had lots of luscious foods and much laughter as always. Jeannette hosted the party this year and set a beautiful table complete with flowers she arranged herself for the occasion. A wonderful time had by all. Merry Christmas.

Hope your season is bright and much time for stitching and friends to share it with.

Marjo

Christmas stitching

I have been contemplating a new start for Christmas this year. I have not made many new starts this year but have been mostly working on items from my WIP pile which is embarrassing large. Even so, I want to stitch on something new for Christmas, maybe even a Christmas pattern. I have all I need already for two of the Joyous Noel from BBD patterns and one of those seem like a good idea. I also have several other kits put together to choose from when I decide to move to something new. For the most part I think I will continue to work on patterns that I started already during 2010 as they are all things I want to stitch. My stitching time is limited enough that I don't have many finishes. None the less, I may choose something new for Christmas.

I have made some progress on Sail Away the SAL that finished with me still out at sea. My son is home for Christmas (excited and happy mama here) so it seemed a good time to try to finish this one. I love the needlebook that was part of the SAL for all the members. It is a sweet and beautiful piece that had a lot of thought and effort put into it. Thank you so much for including me. I hope to get some time to get this piece finished as I really love the design and what it means to me.

I am also working on CHS Alphabets as my strand a day project. It is moving along as well. I will try to post pictures this week.

I want to kit up a few Christmas ornaments this year and work on them and hopefully finish one a month. I love having handmade ornaments for special gifts for Christmas. My goal is also to get all the BBD stockings done - stitched and finished in 2010. I have neglected stitching gifts for my stitching buddies and this next year I hope to remedy that. I have some great ideas for each of them, now if I can stay on schedule to get them done. I have made a good start on the January birthday and have the February birthday design kitted up and ready to go.

I have gotten some threads and a couple of pieces of fabric to stitch some patterns I already have but other than that not many purchases. I am trying to be wise about my purchases. I do find it frustrating to not be able to work on something because I am short on a piece of thread or embellishments. Living where I do it is always hard to find more than just the basics. We did have a shop but she moved the business into her home so getting there for those of us that work is challenging. She keeps a lot of threads but not much silk and very little Lakeside Linen or R&R. It is actually cheaper for me to buy online as she is a small establishment and passes on all the shipping costs to the buyer. So I can get items faster and cheaper online which is sad but it is the reality of living in Alaska. One of my stitching buddies made a trip to the Lower 48 for Thanksgiving and got to a store and got several threads I needed. It is great when it works.

So what about you, are you starting something new for the holidays? Christmas or a New Year's Day start? I am always curious to see what everyone else is planning with their stitching.

Have a great stitchy type day. Marjo

Pictures of retreat

This post is heavy with pictures, just to warn you.


Busy doing what we love to do.
Intent on their stitching.
This is a comparison shot of both the Blackbird Designs Where my heart blooms. The one on the right is Betty's. She handdyed her own fabric and used called for colors. I used fabric called for and used more red than the pattern suggested.
This is the group of happy stitchers.
Picking out a sleeping spot. This is just one of the rooms we could sleep in. Everyone in the group has a favorite spot.
Werewolves, many scary werewolves. All of the folks bake a lot but Betty has a special talent for making fun stuff.
This s where we ate breakfast every morning. We are smack dab in the middle of 20 acres and so although there are people around we don't see or hear them.
Some serious stitching going on with a beautiful sunset in the background. It is a cozy place to settle in for stitching for us all.
Gretchen cosying up to the werewolfe right before she ate him.
Some of our luncheon and snack spread. All that stitching makes you hungry.
This is the area before we settle in for some serious stitching.

Belated retreat report

I cannot tell you how much fun we had on retreat a few weeks ago. Once again life is in fast forward as we blew through Halloween and Thanksgiving and now we are speeding to Christmas. I apologize for waiting so long for this update but life just got in the way.

At our retreat as always we had plenty of food and wonderful fellowship. We were treated to several sunrises and sunsets that were just beautiful and the weather was cold and crisp. We spent Friday hitting all the quilt and fabric stores. Each of us (not me) do many different crafts, some knitting and quilting and sewing along with cross stitch so we hit the available stores which for us are few and far between. This year one of the crowd has taken up scrapbooking so we took in the local stamping store as well. I thought I could get addicted to that as well so was proud of myself with only buying one stamp that was local to our area for my letter writing.

We had lunch at a little diner and each enjoyed our choices then we headed out for more shopping until it was late enough to go to the B&B where we were staying. We settled right in for some stitching time. Everyone pulled out pieces new and old and we stitched and talked about everything the way comfortable friends do. We looked at craft magazines and read books to take a break and of course there were snacks galore. Betty, who is quite the baker brought werewolf cupcakes and we laughed as Gretchen hammed it up smooching the werewolf before cheerfully eating him.

I finished Where the Heart Blooms and got a few stitches in Alphabet of Stitches by Drawn Thread. Of course I took enough projects for all of us but I never know what I will be in the mood to stitch when the time comes. Saturday is our movie night and this time Joan brought Mamma Mia, which I had never seen. We laughed and laughed as only a group of women can. I am sure we would have not found it near as funny had we not all been together watching it. We also had a copy of Rosemary and Thyme we watched over supper Friday and Saturday. We had homemade pizza one night and chicken pot pie the next. We never have to worry about not having enough food. Joan brought a delicious salad and Dee brought the pie. Betty made the pizza and we all brought lunch items, fruit and such so we could either have a meal at lunch or snack. Jeannette brought a black bean hummus that was a hit as well as scones that were eaten up before the end of the weekend. We made more than a little dent in the sweet potato muffins

that Gretchen baked for us. As I said delicious food is always abundant. My friends know how to cook.

On the stitching front we all made great progress on some long term projects and Dee and I even managed a finish. It was great fun and we were thrilled to be together stitching. We are already booked for a time in the spring and again next Fall. We are already plotting menu's and movies and where we will have lunch on the way out. Retreat is always a blast and a much anticipated treat for all of us.

Cannot find the camera so will upload shots when I find it buried somewhere in my stitching room.

Marjo

We lost our girl cat one today

Sorry to share that today we lost our girl cat one. We have two identical cats my husband and son got for me from a rescue place when we lived in Georgia. They had both been mistreated and were tiny. They were the same size and color except for their eyes so we took to calling them girl cat one and girl cat two because unless you were really close you could not tell which was which. They have never grown much and now we have lost one. She was hiding all day yesterday and she was dead when I got up this morning. I am so sad and her litter mate doesn't know what to do. Even the dog is moping. We will miss our dear girl cat one.

Ready for Retreat

I am so ready to go on retreat. We have all day Friday, all day Saturday and over half a day Sunday to stitch. It is a wonderful place and in my humble opinion, my stitching buddies are just the best for sitting around stitching with. We are all different ages and we all stitch different types of designs with actually little overlap of designers and designs. I love seeing what everyone else is working on which is why I love reading blogs about stitching. I will spend the next few days deciding which projects I will take. I almost always take something new to stitch on. Not necessarily a new start but a WIP that has not seen light of day for a long while. I know I will take Where the Heart Blooms by BBD as I am nearing completion with that one. My new old WIP will probably be Drawn Thread Alphabets. I will probably take a small project I might could finish. Not sure what that would be. I will probably take the Sail away and CHS alphabets even though I won't be able to work on all of them but you never know what mood will strike and you can't just go to the stitchy room and get something else. It is the standard joke with my buddies that I bring enough for everyone to stitch on if necessary. Must be prepared. I will try to add some pictures of the projects that make the cut.

This will be great after the last two weeks at work full of overtime and stressful situations. Like I said, I am SO ready to go.

Have a great stitchy week. Marjo

November stitching update

I am all the way up to the Dee part of this one. I really like working on it but put it aside so I could get some progress on the other two works currently in the rotation.
Sail Away by Shepherd's Bush is coming along. I never can keep up with a SAL but I do so love the idea of stitching the same thing with a group of people but stitch too slowly to ever keep up. I love this and the soft colors. Underneath you can see a peek at a neat sewing bag my good stitching friend Betty made for me with the lovely blueberry fabric. I thought it was just the bag to carry this project.
I cannot tell you why it has take me so long to get this little sampler done. I love it. I did change the color of the roof to the Mulberry GAST instead of the called for color. In my childhood I remember the white clapboard houses having red roofs. I also did not black in the window but will fill it with yellow for the light that we always leave on. I just have the top row of bushes or flowers or whatever you want to call them left to do as since this picture I have done all but one strawberry on the border and not long after this posts that will be done.


The first snow of the season came, went, little stayed, but the cold temperatures were left behind. Great stitching weather only it won't go away for several months so more than stitching will have to go on. I just don't have time to stitch on everything every week. I am going back to a weekly rotation. That works best for me. I have tried different ways to get stuff stitched these last couple of years but I think I am going to go back to the old rotation. I will do one week of each item and then a week of gift stitching or finishing if I am caught up on the stitching. That usually holds until I am down to the last little bit of a design and then I have to finish it. I will continue to have a daily strand piece for lunch times or travel times. Of course none of this is rigid as for me the joy is in the journey.

My stitching friends and I are getting ready for our Fall/Winter retreat. I am so excited. Three days with the best stitching buddies one could hope for holed up in a massive log home on 20 acres in a valley with a view of a glacier. It is gorgeous there. We bring our own food and we hike when we have sat too long to move anymore. Then Saturday night we stitch and watch a movie someone brings. We stitch all day until we have to leave on Sunday. It is so much fun I can hardly wait.

Well, I have time to stitch, there is a roaring fire in the fireplace and a cup of tea ready to go in the kitchen. That is Sunday afternoon bliss to me. Hope you have a terrific stitchy day.

Marjo

Making progress

I worked the weekend so today is my stitching day. I worked yesterday evening on Where My heart Blooms from Blackbird Designs. It is an old Loose Feathers but as always I am behind. I am pleased to finally see some progress on it. I will try to download some pictures. I got the outline of the border completely done. Would have made more progress if I hadn't had to take some of the vine out because I was off by one line. I finally got it back in and now I will work on it a little more tonight. I worked all afternoon on my EGA class piece but can't really get a clear picture of the whitework. I finally realized I needed to make some copies of the pattern so I wouldn't have to keep flipping pages as I work on the design for the class piece. Cannot figure out why it took me so long to figure that out. Having the extra copies makes the stitching go so much faster. I took advantage of some overtime to buy some stash from The Sampler Girl. I have the Comfort of home from the early release in Gift of Stitching so I got the one by the sea and the new Christmas design as well. I also got the kit for La De Da bird. I have made a lot of bird purchases this fall so 2010 seems like it will be bird stitching.

Have a great week stitching. Marjo

Sailing Away

I will try to post pictures tomorrow of the progress I have made at long last on this project that everyone else in the SAL has long ago completed. I am slow. I work long hours at the hospital and am just too tired to stitch some days. I did get the girl done and the last of the little motifs done above her. Before I turn in tonight I hope to get the next row completed but that may be too ambitious for the time remaining. Our son called tonight so I am a happy Mama right now. Being able to see him and hear his voice makes it a little easier to be separated, but not a lot..
I did go to the WIP bag and pull out Just Nan's Be Scarry which I had started long ago. Not a big piece. Have no idea why I got tired of it but re-kitted it and it is in the pile when I just want something little to stitch. Of course while I was looking for it I found a couple of other Just Nan's that are small that could use some attention. I pulled them out but realistically won't touch them for a while. They are two class pieces I took a long time ago and never completed for again an unknown reason. One if Heart of Gold, the charm that goes with that is really pretty, and seeds of friendship which is done on a pretty lavender piece of linen. I think these will be my travel pieces as they are small and easy to pick up and put down as we travel around yet not so small count that I need my magnifier.
I did finish a couple of books this weekend, Chocolate Snowman Murder and Murder Most Maine. Both short reads but fun. I love a good mystery.
Hope you all had a stitchy day. Thank you for all the comments. I appreciate it. Marjo

WIP Lists and decisions

I have more than my share of projects I have started but not finished....35 to be exact. Currently. There are several from Market and the Online Needlework Show that are just begging to become next up for that very long list. I have spent most of this year stitching from that very long list but since my stitching time is little and I am a slow stitcher not much progress has been made. I was perusing the list today as I need to work on something small for a while so I will actually get a finish this year. Things are looking bleak for anything in my rotation though I still hold out for CHS alphabets and BBD Where my Heart Blooms to come in as finishes before year end. I wanted to pull something small out to work on but boy, when I looked at the list almost all the small things are completed and that just leaves the monster projects I am most fond of working. I did see Just Nan Halloween on the list and if I remember correctly I had quite a bit of it done. Maybe I can pull it out of the WIP bag and use that to take a break from the bigger things. Of course I am really trying to convince myself it would be okay to start something new...like With My Needle A Multiplication Table Exemplar. It's small. I have the chart, I have the fabric I think. I do not have the fiber called for but.....I need to stich to my WIP lists to get it down to a manageable number. Off to the stitchy space to see if I can find the Just Nan piece. At least it goes with the season and I have a friend who would love to have it and her birthday is coming soon.......we will see.
Have a stitchy day. Marjo

Sunday afternoon at the water''s edge

Finally a little more progress on SAL Sail away. I have wanted to work on it for a while but time comes in short spells for stitching. I went to one of my favorite spots today and read and stitched on Sail Away by Shepherd's Bush. I had joined the SAL but as usual did not keep up. One of the things I like most about that spot is if you sit there long enough you may, just may catch a glimpse of the pod of Beluga whales that swims through Turnagain Arm. I was lucky today and saw the group of them. The place is called Beluga Point and it was one of the first places we found that I loved when we first came to Alaska. It is a wonderful place in my humble opinion and I finally made some progress on Sail Away while I watched the white heads bob up and down in their pursuit of fish to eat. I can't share a picture as my camera isn't good enough to get a shot like that.

I have finished almost all of the upper half of Sail Away. I intend to keep working on it this week with the hopes of finishing it soon. I am also going to stitch on my class piece. Hope your day was stitchy too.

Marjo

Ornament trees and stockings

Two posts in one day ate up my stitching time but I had time to take pictures today and thought I could share some of what is going on at my house stitchy wise or at least what is planned. Our sweet lab of love wrecks havoc on our Christmas tree so the last couple of years we have just not had one. He is home alone during the day now that our son is at school and tree became a target of his boredom. This year I decided I want to use some table top trees so I could leave out for my stitching. I really want to stitch the BBD stockings. I have been getting the patterns and even took advantage of the special fabric pack by Lois at Elegant Stitch. I don't have a lot of Crescent colors but am slowly collecting them to get started on them . I hope to get them stitched and use them on a little tree I got from Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia. They were so pleasant to work with over the email. It is cute and I think it will work just great for the little stockings. I really wanted to do the Halloween ones for my friends for the stitching retreat but it is not going to happen this year. We always try to have an October retreat so maybe next year. I think they would make great favors for my stitching friends. I am always a day late with my stitching. That is why I buy designs when I see them. Sure enough I don't buy it then when I do get around to wanting to do that design it is not available anymore.

Along with stitching and reading blogs and websites about stitching I am addicted to buying books about stitching. I usually buy used books and even got a book shelf for free for my stitching room to keep them all in. I love reading them and studying the pictures of what others have done before me. This time I splurged and bought some new copies of some older titles I got on sale on Amazon. I bought The Embroideries of Hardwick Hall by Santina M. Leavey , and The Silk Ribbon Embroidery Bible by Joan Gordon and a new book by Judith Baker Montano Embroidery and Crazy quilt stitch tool. I saw a sweatshirt with crazy quilting designs all over it for a price I couldn't go for and it made me decide I should try that as a hand embroidery project. I found the sweat shirt and have tons of ribbon I got at garage sales one summer. Now we will see if it goes anywhere. I got a white sweat shirt with the intent to overdye it when I get the embroidery on it. I may dye it first and then stitch. Still plotting with that whole idea so far.

Hope your days are stitchy. Thanks for stopping in to visit.

I have been stitching but it always takes me a while to get the pictures uploaded. It was my weekend to work so today is my stitching day. I had errands to run so not much stitching time. I have really just been working on CHS Alphabets. I have the blocks all outlined and the vine is done but still no flowers and I still haven't decided what color I am going to use to fill in the base of each block. I have changed the cats to solid gray for obvious reasons and made the eyes yellow and green to match the girls at my house. I hope to finish cats and move onto deer today. I will pull the pink for the vine out and use it when I am watching TV and want something to stitch where I don't need the pattern as much. I will save the bottom of the blocks until the end so I can see what color will work the best with all the other colors.

I am hoping to get something done this week on Where my heart blooms as I really want to stitch some other designs. Our small stitching group has a retreat coming up in November and I want to be able to start something new or an old WIP that hasn't got much started on that. I still have a huge WIP list to get done as well a bunch of new things I want to start. Since I will be able to sit for a while and stitch over that weekend I will hope to get a lot of work done on something. My current thoughts on what will go with me that weekend: Kind Fond Love by Sampler Company, Drawn thread Sampler of stitches or Alpine Sampler, EGA 17th Century Sampler. Of course by the time the retreat comes around I will change my mind a dozen times. It always happens that way.

I did get some items from ehandcrafts.com from the online needlework show. Mostly reproduction samplers were on the list. I really have to figure out how to make more progress or quit buying anything or I will have to live forever to get done. I have a long WIP list and an even longer list of what I want to stitch that I haven't started. I guess it could be worse.

The weather today is absolutely beautiful. Temps are up in the 50's which is wonderful for us for October. By the end of the month the snow should be here and we begin the long months of winter. It is already quite dark when I drive to work and the radio announces daily how much daylight we have lost today. This is something that is announced year round. We are consumed with how much daylight we will have everyday and from now until Dec 21st we will loose about 5 mins a day and then it will change to gaining light.

I did join the facebook SAL for the Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow coordinated by Shakespeare Peddler's Theresa Vennette. I had never particularly wanted to be on Facebook but we will see how the SAL goes. I am still waiting for my pattern and fabric to come in the mail. If you are stitching it you should join the group...it should be fun.

Hope your day is full of stitches. Marjo

Alaska in the fall

Alaska has 4 seasons but Spring and Fall are really very short. Around Labor Day the more Northern part of the state is already full into change in fall colors but it is later in the month for the colors to change in the southcentral part where I live. Yesterday was rainy all morning but when DH and I left the house later to run errands the skies had cleared and I took some local color shots. Also, as you can see in the higher elevations the rain left it's mark as termination dust. That term came from the time of the gold rush when the snow would touch the top of the mountains. Then they knew they would have to start packing up soon as the passes would be impassable and they would starve without the ability of food/supplies delivery.

The river is Eagle River and the path is at the nature center where we go to hike until August. Every year in August they close that particular trail as the bears frequent it on their way to feasting on the final ending place for many, many salmon. The last great feast for these particular Grizzlies prior to the winter hibernation. Human interaction is frowned upon. There are many other paths to take that don't take you through the bears dining room and other things to see there. One of our favorite places to walk.

Progress report for September

Pulling out my current rotation I thought I would update you on the progress I have made on a couple of my projects. I have worked late a lot lately so I have mostly stitched on just two designs that are more portable for me. I take CHS alphabets and Where my heart blooms with me in the car all the time. I am also working on Sail Away by SB and 17th Century Band sampler and they are not seeing much progress but will pull them out tomorrow to get some stitches in.

I would love to get the border done on Where my Heart blooms this weekend but not so sure I will have that much time to stitch. On the other hand I have made a lot of progress on the vine on CHS alphabets and could possibly get enough time to stitch the rest of the border. I bought 3 skeins of Antique rose when I was last outside to do the flowers in for the border. I still haven't decided what color I am going to fill the bottom part of each block with but I still have 6 blocks to go before I start the fill in part.

I have lots still to do but progress is being made.

I hope to get the last 6 blocks done and maybe even start on one of the squares this weekend. I hope you are having a stitchy weekend too.

Stitchy day

Stitching type of day. My Monday off is usually a stitching day for me. I try to do all the errands and such on Saturday so this is my free day. This was my weekend to work Saturday but I decided I would still try to spend as much time stitching as I could today. There is just so much I want to stitch and I stitch so slowly that progress is slow.

I am over halfway with the outlining of my CHS alphabets boxes. I have one long side of the vine part done but not much else vine wise. I want to work some more of that and to work some on the BBD Where My Heart Blooms. I have finally gotten the bottom half done and now just have the top area of the design to finish.

I have a new Carolyn Hart book playing so I can stitch and a new Nevada Barr book waiting in the wings should I finish the first. A pot of tea, a good book and my stitching. That all spells good day to me.

Have a great day and stitch some if you can.

I am getting the package ready to mail to my in laws of the Anniversary sampler which will soon be a whole year late. I am only a week late with my best friend's birthday gift but it will go in the mail today. My husband is busy for the morning so it is me, the puppa and the two girl cats (who are identical and we call girl cat 1 and girl cat 2). I didn't stitch this week as I have worked late at work and have been too tired. I hope to make up for that this weekend. I have lots of errands and chores to do but I fully intend to get some stitching in as much as I can. I HAVE TO work on my class piece. This white work section needs to get finished so I can move onto some color on this piece. I want to work on Sail Along as I am woefully behind on it and I love it. I also really want to finish As my heart blooms because i really like it and am so much closer to finishing it since we went to Denail last weekend. I got a lot of car stitching as well as mornings before we began our trips into the Park. I also want to finish the CHS alphabet and I have made a lot of progress on the squares but so much still to do and I haven't finished the vine yet. I did get some pink for the flowers while we were in Chicago as I could get similar dyelots. So I am ready but time as always is a factor.
I hope to work my rotation through the end of the year so all my pieces get some work done on them and I can pull some more out of the WIP list and maybe a couple of new starts. I am thinking of starting one of the Hawk Run pieces for my next new start which won't be until later in the year but I like to pre-plan especially when it comes to my stitching. I have read on several blogs where stitchers were doing a house or block a month on one of the Hawk Runs and all made great progress with beautiful finishes to show for it. I just really need to focus on finishes before I consider new starts but I do so love planning what to stitch next. I do want to finish Where the Heart blooms, Sail Away and CHS alphabets this year and catch up on my EGA piece. I will keep Martha Edlin as ongoing piece as will ATS for the next year but looking at my WIP list I have made some progress.
My goal is to finish at least 5 things on my ever enlarging WIP list before the end of the year. Chances are that will be much too an ambitious goal for me with the way work goes but it something good to aim for.

What I did over Labor Day

Since we moved to Alaska 8 years ago we have tried our best to spend Labor Day weekend at Denali National Park and Preserve. If you have been there in the Fall then you know what I mean: if you haven't it should be on your bucket list. It is absolutely my favorite part of Alaska and I never tire of going there and looking for the animals and just enjoying the amazing colors. For me it is my Fall color fix. In Georgia, there are 4 seasons, up here, not so much. Where I live the color change mostly consists of going from the full color of summer to yellow of the birch trees with the dark green of the spruce to a gray white mixture of winter.
I did work on Mary Wigham. This is at Eielson stop with Denali behind the clouds. The wind was brisk I couldn't get a better picture.

My husband was checking out the bookstore and I was soaking up the sunshine and putting a few stitches in Where the heart blooms by Blackbird designs. Didn't know he was watching me stitch.

The next picture is the view from our cabin with the mist in the mornings. It was so much prettier than the picture shows. I sat at the little kitchen table and stitched and just enjoyed the view. The next is just one shot I liked for the colors and last but not least is Denali in all it's glory. Yep, my favorite spot in Alaska.

Next post I will try to get some shots of my stitching. I did a good bit on Where my heart blooms since it was easy to carry around with me as we hiked around. I took a couple of other pieces along but the light was too weak in the cabin to see any smaller count.

Stitching updates

Finally some time with needle and thread. It seems these two pieces are getting the most attention and once I catch up on SAL sail away I am going to have to spend some serious time on my class piece for EGA 17th Century Band Sampler. It took me forever to get all the supplies I needed for it and then to get scroll frame needed pieces to get started. Now that it is started it needs some serious attention. I love the class. I need someone to teach me what I am doing right and wrong with my stitching and Nan Euler is very kind with her comments. I am just a hard student as living where I do when she suggests a different shade of color I am at a loss for what that would be as I cannot just go to the store and look and it is hard to find good color representations of thread over the computer. At any rate, that needs to be my other focus piece until I get caught up and get if off in the mail. Then I can get back to my other stitching. I will still take CHS alphabets to work to stitch in my lunch hour as that is the only break I get there. It is easy to take as the color doesn't change on outlining the blocks or the vine and I can see progress on it. I thought about posts I had read of someone stitching on the train as we rode the subway in Chicago. I decided the ride wasn't smooth enough to stitch on the subway but it certainly would have been a good chunk of time to be able to use that way.

More stash and some framing

My latest framing. I got them back the day we left and I just got around to posting them. First is my belated Sweetheart Tree Anniversary sampler for my inlaws. Better late than never, I hope. Second is Needleprint Beatrix Potter and a closeup of the frame. I am so excited to have Beatrix home and ready to hang. I really enjoyed that pattern. I look forward to having Mary Wigham to hang beside her. Some day..... The last is pictures of the stash from our Chicago trip to Treasured Heirlooms