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