Snow, snow and more snow

All day long on Thanksgiving it snowed a gentle quiet snow that covered the landscape in a blanket of pure white. It made for a lovely day. It was the first really good snow of the season and after two days of ice storms it was a welcome site. It is quite cold here, single digits, the last few days and I am bundled up even in side. Sometimes I think just looking at all that snow makes me cold I don't have to be out in it.
I managed to get some more stitching in and am getting close on the CHS Alphabets but considering this is December already doubt I will make it this year but we will see.
I have not managed a daily strand of thread but have managed to at least ply needle to thread most days. I finished a Christmas gift and am working on other gifts (not for Christmas). I will post a picture later of where I am with all my projects. CHS Alphabets have seen the most work so not much else to show but need to update where I am with the current WIP's for myself.
I love having stitching in hand with a cup of tea or coffee, blazing fire and watching the snow outside. Good day in my book. Hope you are having a stitchy day. Marjo

Part two vacation the west coast

California here I come!!! I have only visited California once before so I was quite excited to visit again. This is the first time I have ever taken a week off by myself and I was excited to see what I could see. I traveled from Pennsylvania to Sacramento, California. The point of the trip was my decision to take a class at Elegant Stitch taught by Jaquie du Pleiss of It's Finely Finished. I have done a PALS convention once and took classes, one Camp Wannasew by Silver Needle and a Merry Cox weekend at the Attic. I was really looking forward to the class. It was "I had a Farm" and centered around three trunks filled with tea and lace. Once I found out about the tea and lace part I really wanted to go. I was able to score the last slot and so then it became the question of what was I going to do between leaving my friend on Tuesday and waiting for class on Friday evening. I decided I would go to Yosemite and see what there was to offer there.  I loved it. I went into the park three times and basically spent the entire day there for 2 of those days. I drove all through the valley one day walking to what I could and driving to a lot.




 The second day I drove to Glacier Point and was so glad I did. I packed picnic lunches and read and stitched at the top for a while just enjoying the view and the quiet. I drove down and hiked until dusk and enjoyed the sunset around the huge rocks.  The third day I stayed  just a while to say goodbye and then hit the road to Modesto to Elegant Stitch and stitching heaven.
I was so excited to be in a brick and mortar store



and see all the things I normally just get to read about online. I fondled the threads, handled all the fabric and pawed through the patterns. It was wonderful. The retreat started with an open house at the shop, catered food and all the shopping your could cram into 2 hours. The next morning class started and the morning flew by with excellent teaching by Jacquie and Lois roaming around giving us excellent gifts to fit into the trunks we would be making. There were not just gifts that she bought but also things that she put a lot of work into making especially for each person who attended (scissor fobs with our initials on it, necklaces with initials worked into) and all fitting into the theme. We learned how to finish the boxes to make them into trunks, we got special bits f lace to add to the design and to make a necklace out of. There was so much to the kit. I was really impressed.  I absolutely loved it and wished I could go to every class offered. Everyone who was there was very welcoming and as a newbie I was made to feel one of the group, always a place to sit for lunch, always a table with a spot to sit and conversations were lively. I met some great people and laughed till I cried at some of it.  I thought the hotel would rock when the stitchers found out the Giants were going to the World Series. It was good to see I am not the only baseball loving stitcher.  Though my team didn't make it all the way this year I had to smile at the ladies at my dinner table with their phones giving a play by play account of the game off of the MLB application for their phones.
The shop was open for more shopping and I took advantage of it mostly just to continue to touch it all but I did pick up a few things, some linen on sale and a couple of things to be made into gifts, fabric and thread for two patterns I took with me for that purpose. Wonderful time.
And that is where I have been and why you haven't heard from me. Back to the routine now. Hope to post more often with stitching updates. Have a stitchy day. Marjo

Vacation

Since I have moved to Alaska I have been blessed to be able to travel once a year to spend a week with my best friend of over 30 years (ouch) to catch up and move back into the stream of life of friends. We go wherever the whimsy takes us and do whatever there is to do there. This year we decided to have a stitchy element to the trip and make the trip coincide with the Stitching weekend organized by Stoney Creek in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  I have never been to Pennsylvania so I was looking forward to seeing new places and doing something new with my friend. She always finds us the best places and this year was no exception. She found us a cottage on a farm in Mount Joy that was just wonderful. It was named Oasis and with good reason. It was a lovely little cottage with the view of the goats, a horse and chickens from the front porch. We had lovely weather and drove all over in search of used books. We are both inveterate readers and are rarely found without a list of books we are searching for in hand.  We found several books we were searching for and I am excited to say that I found 3 needle work related books that I have been searching out . One small store that we found had several needlework books and I had to get these as he was having a sale and that made the finds even better for me.  We ended up with more books than we had room for so we donated what we read while we were there to the local library book store for friends of the library sales. We ate pretzels, shared a pumpkin moon pie from a local bakery, and took in the Amish markets and antique stores as well as a couple of quilt stores.

 The weekend took us to the Stoney Creek festival to the marketplace. Not that either of us needed to buy anything we looked at each booth and managed to purchase a few things ( of course). It was much smaller than I had expected but each shop or presenter that was there was quality as far as I could tell.  I was most attracted to Karen Kubbla of Rosewood Manor's booth. She had a lot of her models there and all the charts with some of them kitted up and had the Valdani thread packs for some of them available. I fell in love with Quaker Spring after seeing the model even though I had not noticed it much when I saw it online. The color of the fabric is just wonderful and the thread colors are great. She had the model for Quakers and Quilts on display and made me want to get mine out and start it right away (how is yours coming Jacquie?) I could have bought so many of hers but with a WIP list like mine. I will buy Spring Quaker and do it when I get some of my WIP done. I did buy a little Teresa Layman kit as I have wanted to try these for a long time and felt now was the time.  I also bought a Stoney Creek Pattern book to do with snowmen and a Homespun Elegance Christmas ornament.  We spent most of the day looking through the shops that came and had booths and went back several times to the Rosewood Manor booth.

All too soon the time with my friend was over (where did it go) and we had to part until next year. Sigh. I am blessed with my friend and I look forward all year to seeing her. We did spend a lot of time stitching (her more than me, I read) but I did work on an old WIP that my sister asked me to stitch for her that I have procrastinated over. Finally I made some progress on it and hope to have it done by next Christmas for her. Lots of color changes but it will be different to do a picture instead of the samplers I usually do.

Enough for the first week of my vacation it was fun. Next installment, week two on the West Coast. Have some stitching in your day. Marjo

Just one stitch

I have a stressful job, not physically but sometimes mentally I am stressed out. It helps that I have a bit of drive home to work out some of the stress before I get home but I really want to be able to stitch more often in the evening because for me it really is a stress reliever. I have been considering this a lot since I got back from vacation and realized that I don't really have time built into the day to do that on the days that I work. I want to be more intentional about that. I was reading some other blogs today and someone else had their finishes listed and the list was huge. I just can't imagine ever getting that much stitching done in  a year. I will be lucky to add even one more thing to the list for this year. I am not worried about it but realized that stitching truly makes me happy why am I not taking more time to do it.
For a long time I wrote on a board who had a section on folks who stitched "the daily strand" and that was a way to work to finish a piece that had been neglected or one you really wanted to get finished. The commitment was to stitch a strand a day on something.  I think I will go back to the daily strand and see if that will help eke out the time to get  a few stitches done and improve my frame of mind.
Hope your day found you time to stitch.  If so what were you working on? marjo

Retreat with no snow

Could it be? The TNTSL's (my stitching group -  thursday night tea and stitching ladies) decided to move retreat up to a non snow time to see how it would be. We met for lunch on Friday and had lunch at our usual diner in Palmer. Betty, one of the adventurers among us took us to a new store that was jam packed with quilts, clothes and candles etc. It was a great store and none of us could believe we had missed it all these years. Didn't buy anything but got some great ideas of things to do decorating wise ( such as it is here). We made the rest of the trip to the bed and breakfast. The owners were there to welcome us and we quickly unloaded our stuff, our stitching the food and settled into stitching. Several of us have retreat pieces. They are pieces that usually get the most stitching done at retreat for whatever reason. I always take way more than I could ever stitch in 3 days. But I enjoy having something to choose from because if I really mess something up, the joy disappears and it goes back to the WIP pile until I can face it again. I took CHS Alphabets, Blackbird designs Beneath the Sunlit sky and some smaller things I wanted to work on. I spent most of the time on CHS Alphabets but progress is slow for me. I am a very slow stitcher but I don't worry about it.
The sun shined on us and we loved every bit of it. The food was great, company is always good and we got to enjoy stitching outside and soaking up some much needed sun. I stayed a little later as my house was empty so I camped on the porch for the afternoon stitching in the sun. It was great. Having the sun was wonderful but I will be honest with you, getting together with the TNTSL's is the best for me and I don't care what  time of year or where we meet I love my stitching group. They are the best. Retreat was in September back to back with our annual trip to Denali. Wonderful time with both trips.

Hope you have some time for stitching.

August Happenings

The end of August saw us traveling to Minnesota to move our son to college. We took a few days for vacation and since it was our 24th anniversary my husband and I took some time to ourselves to visit some of the lighthouses around Lake Superior and to take in a Twins game. We had a great time and saw lots of new places. Of course I took my stitching and made some progress on CHS Alphabets. I am trying to get that particular piece finished this year so I tend to go to it more often than anything else right now.  This picture shows where I was when I started the trip. More to follow.
Hope this time brings some stitching time for you. Marjo

Where

Have I been? I can't believe it has been this long since I posted on the blog. I have been gone on a road trip and a vacation and a retreat so I have much to share. In the process of getting life back to some semblance of control but hope to have several updates coming. Time did just get away from me but much to share on the stitching front so stay tuned for soon to be photos and updates from the chilly north. Marjo

Something new

Well, new to the rotation even if not new to me. I have decided to pull out some pieces that I bought a while ago from Nancy's Needle that I love and really want to finish. They are done on canvas (as close as I get to needlepoint) with quilt type themes and I love them. I finished a trip around the world a while ago and now I want to do some others to go with it. First I am going to add this one to the rotation as I had started it and never finished who knows why. I think it will be a good drive time stitch as it is larger count than a lot of the other projects I have. Sometimes when we are traveling around the light is not strong enough to do my cross stitch in the car. I want to give this one as a gift to my neighbor who does not read this blog. Hence it is safe to post updates of one of my gift stitching projects.
Along with hedgehogs, I have a fondness for gingerbread men and houses. I therefore had to buy the gingerbread houses that are based on the same them as the Two Cabins. For the Halloween lovers among us there is also Two spooky houses. They are not huge but lots of fun to stitch. I got these all by mail order (what else) already kitted up. I hope to make some progress on this. So much to stitch, so little time.
I hope you have some stitchy time today. Marjo

Surprise

I was so surprised a couple of weeks ago to get this lovely package in the mail.  I had received an email from Carol who read a blog posting about my fondness for hedgehogs. She wanted to share some freebies that she had found and wow did she share. I was blown away but her thoughtfulness.  Not only were there several hedgehog patterns there was also  a sweet Shepherd's Bush kit for a sewing roll that I just love. The colors are so lovely. I cannot wait to get that stitched up. Thank you so much Carol for your very sweet, sweet gifting.  I cannot tell you adequately how much I love it all.  Aren't they just the cutest things??? I love hedgehogs.  Thank you so much for these lovelies.
Hope you have some stitching in your day. Marjo

Progress in pictures

Sorry for the way the pictures look, colors are off due to the gray weather here. We have had rain almost everyday this summer. While we tend to have rainy Augusts here usually May, June and July are sunny and wonderful. Not this year.  It does make it hard to get good shots of the colors on my stitching. I have done a lot of fill in on my CHS alphabets. I decided I didn't want to wait until the end and have all those blocks to fill in. Not done by any means but progress.

My summer stitch a long for the BBD group is a really fun stitch. I love the colors and the design and well just everything about it. I am looking forward to some progress on this and a finish before too terribly long. It stitches up pretty quickly when I can get the time to work on it.

Mary Wigham is just beautiful to me. I am using the thread conversion from Jean at the Attic. She did a wonderful job with the colors and I just love it. I am almost done with the first page and hope to get some more done on it today. Really much prettier in person color-wise.

The other stitching in the rotation is for gifts that I cannot share until after I gift it. I hope to remember to take pictures of the completed product this time. Can't believe I forgot to get a shot of that little frog one...it was so cute.
Off to get a warm drink and settle in with a little bit of stitching. Hope you find time in your day for stitching. Marjo

busi-ness and a rant

I am sorry it has been quite a while since I posted, I have several updates coming now that I can get my camera to work.I have not had a lot of time to stitch lately due to work. I have had the chance to meet with my stitching buddies so some progress has been made. You gotta love those ladies. I got several blocks filled in on CHS Alphabets and am almost finished with the first page of Mary Wigham. I am loving the 45 count now that my eyes have adjusted to it. Not saying I would use it exclusively but would use it again. My idea of starting Victorine Delacroix for my birthday did not work. The kits were filled with the wrong sized linen and the problem was fixed swiftly by The Essamplaire but then I found I didn't have scroll rods that would fit the new size of linen. I have not had time to remedy that situation so that was a non starter for me. I have just stuck with my current rotation with dreams of more whirling around. I did get a great little freebie done that was a frog biscornu for a  friend who collect frog things. It turned out so cute and I forgot to take a picture of it. I will see if she will bring it back to stitch night so I can get a picture to share. It is a free pattern with a flower on one side and 4 frogs on the other, I really enjoyed that one. There are some more gifts in the works but not able to be shared yet. I really like stitching the biscornu's as they are fun and portable. I am trying to post some pictures today so look for more posts and no more rants.  Read no farther if you just don't want to hear it.
I am frustrated today with a lot of things but since this is a stitching blog for me I just want to rant about the stitching industry for a minute. I am not a computer geek by any means but I use my laptop quite a bit and since stitching is a passion of mine I do read a lot about what is published by other stitchers in their blogs, newsletters from various stores I do business with, professional stitching groups such as EGA as some sampler guilds I am a member of. I love browsing the sites and looking for what is latest and greatest by my favorite designers. I love seeing what everyone else is stitching and enjoy spending time with my stitching buddies whenever I can. I live in a remote area and stitching stores are non-existent here. I have to do all my business by mail order by virtue of where I live. I have my favorite shops online and I try to spread my business among several different shops based on their own specialities. I have read how shops are loosing business because of the economy and how many are closing due to the lack of business.  My problem with this is the utter lack of service and communication I have gotten from 3 totally different shops in the last few months. I realize things are hard to come by especially specific specialty threads, or fabrics or whatever. I get that and don't mind waiting for what I want. Really I don't. But I do mind being ignored totally, having orders just not filled with no communication as to why, being told my order is being shipped when in reality the items ordered don't even exist (sold out and no longer available), being told my order will be shipped and not shipping it. That is from 3 different shops recently and I have to wonder if I am being treated this way, and I am a  small consumer for this business no wonder the shops are in trouble.  I do have to wonder though if what I read about shops being in trouble is really something of their own fault.   Oh well enough said. Sorry about that but I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find the status of a few orders I have made recently and when one shop owner suggested that it was my fault that my order had not been filled because I didn't follow up fast enough (why do I have to follow up at all???) that sent me over the edge. Even though I did follow up apparently even that was not good enough as here we are almost 4 weeks to the day that I placed an order and still no sign of it.  Even to Alaska Priority Mail is 3 to 5 days, usually just 3 no matter where you are mailing from. Cannot put all the blame on post office - I always check the post mark. UGH.
I feel like I do need to say that there are still many many stores that give excellent service, great products and are quick to work out any problems either with items shipped or unavailable.  I am always saddened to hear of someone's favorite shop going out of business. I am not trying to bad mouth anyone (no names even hinted at so not to cast aspersions.) Just expressing some frustration here with an industry I love.
Back to stitching.  Hope you find some time today to stitch.
Marjo

4th of July on the beach

Grey clouds could not damper my enthusiasm for being at the beach. Hard to see but there is  a Mother eagle and her baby is on the left. Dad was in a tree just to the left. Sat and watched them for quite a while. Fishing, then feeding the baby then taking turns flying around but always close to the nest. 

Not sure who is walking who.Katachmake Bay in the distance. We hiked from the Coastal Museum down the Slough Trail to Bishops Beach.

Not the beach I would have chosen but to those of us who love the beach, a beach, any beach is not to be sniffed at. My DH and dog of love Kori headed south to Homer, Ak to the beach for the 4th of July. We had a great time and I even got some stitching time in, mostly in the car as the beach and a dog are too messy for my needlework. It was beautiful, did I mention, I love, love, love the beach.

Hope you have time for some stitching. I have now gotten all the flowers done around the border and more of the blue filled in at the bottom of some of the letters. I found that the easiest to do in the car. Got the bottom two corner blocks completed as well. Will not add the year until I am sure that I know the year it will be complete. Happy stitching to you all. Marjo

Progress, not a lot, but progress

I did not get the time to stitch I wanted to on my day's off last week but I did manage a little bit. I  did  get all the flowers done on the CHS Alphabet border and some fill in continued on the blocks. I could do that while I was watching baseball and while in the car running errands. I could not work on Mary Wigham on Sunday as I was not home and I cannot carry it away from the magnifier light since the count is 45 which is  a challenge for me. I did get some more of the white flower completed late in the evening. I have some problems with some gift stitching I am working on but nothing too bad that getting rid of a few frogs would not take care of.  I am organizing my stitching for the weekend so I will stay on track. I am lucky enough to be off 4 days this weekend and I hope to get some stitching and reading done.
Hope you have time for stitching. Marjo

stitching time

I have not touched my stitching at all this week. I had lots of errands to do over the weekend and been too tired to pick up my stitching after work. I have so much I want to stitch and really need to pick it up in the evening if I am ever going to get them done. I still have gift stitching to finish I am hoping to at least get some work done on that this week.
I really missed stitching on Mary Wigham this weekend. I hope to get more time this weekend with her. Now that I can see the 45 count better I am really excited to work on her. I feel like I am making good progress in the limited stitching time I have.
Thursday night is my stitching with friends night. I hope to be able to get together with them this week and get some stitching on the BBD Summer Sal Beneath the Sunlit sky which I did not get to touch on Monday  or CHS Alphabets which has been sorely neglected. I just look so forward to being with my friends it doesn't really matter what I am stitching on just that I am stitching with them.
I broke down and bought the newest Needleprint chart for Hannah Gilpin. I am going to pull the DMC colors and see what I think. I am intrigued by the neutral colors of this one. I have done some monochrome Quakers: Beatrix Potter in Nan's Mulberry by the Threadgather's and Long Dog Mouline rouge in Blueberry by Gloriana. I have never done one in such muted tones of the same shade. I am waiting to see if the Attic does a fiber conversion. I always seem to love what Jean comes up with and I do have a gift certificate from there. They are among my favorite pieces and make me smile every time I look at them on my living room wall. I eventually want to add some of the multicolor Quakers to the wall. That of course would mean I would have to spend some considerable time stitching.

As you can tell we are all a litttle bummed about the lack of stitching progress. Here are the the kids wondering why I am not stitching instead of fussing at them for the mess they have made. 

Hope you are having a better week at stitching than I have. Will update with progress pics after tomorrow nights stitching. Hope stitching is part of your day. Marjo in Alaska

Monday with blackbird designs

I made some progress on the Summer SAL today. It is another fun stitch. This is the before and below is where I ended up at the end of the evening. I love the colors and the higher count fabric (28ct) makes it go faster. The second picture has a truer color than the before but still not quite accurate.
 I made some progress on the birthday stitching as well.
 I finished another book on tape while I was stitching today. It was a reread of The Secret of Chimney's by Agatha Christie. I really need to get some new books to listen to. I am now listening to Diane Mott Davidson's Sweet Revenge again. It is cute and worth a second run but would like something new to listen to. Will have to check out the online offerings. All for now.
I hope your day is full of stitches. Marjo

Summer SAL Blackbird designs update

I spent the evening working on this. Day was full of errands but the evenings usually mean baseball (or Netflix) if it is a travel day. I am loving this piece as well. I know I say that about them all but then why else do it. Not much to show on this even though I spent the evening on it. More of the words completed.
I occasionally do some canvas pieces. Very few, mostly quilt designs. I particularly like the little houses designs by Nancy's Needle. The newest one is the two houses at the beach. That will be the next purchase for summer stitching. I won't get to the beach this year but a girl can dream can't she? They work up quickly so they are great for travel as I don't have to have perfect lighting for these designs. I have done the winter ones and have the Gingerbread houses yet to do. Will work on them at the holidays. Since they are for me they always get pushed to the bottom of the basket. I cannot do painted canvases though I do think they are beautiful. I am a counted thread kind of stitcher.
Hope the week brings lots of stitches. Marjo

Sunday with Mary

I stitched some on Sunday with Mary. I have a poor quality shot of the colors.It is gray and cloudy today so my pictures just won't show true color. I am loving this design. It is quite a lot of fun. I do enjoy the medallion samplers. This is my before and after for this Sunday. The white shows up quite well in real life but not so much in the picture.
I am stitching on Beneath the Sunlit sky today but Mary is really calling my name. I finally got the last color floss I needed for BTSS thanks to Lois at Elegant Stitch. She has helped me out of more than one bind where I was sure I had all the floss colors I needed for something but couldn't find it. The bayberry I needed was not to be found in my box of threads and I was so glad to get it in the mail over the weekend. Of course I am always exited when something comes in the mail from a ONS. :)
Hope your day is full of stitches. Marjo

Weekend stitching

I always have great plans for my weekend stitching. I am off this weekend and am already pulling out patterns and threads to be ready to stitch as soon as I get up in the morning. It may be cloudy and gray outside but I don't mind. I get to stitch this weekend. I am going to work on birthday gifts for my stitching friends tomorrow and then Sunday will be Mary Wigham and Monday will be Beneath the Sunlit sky. At least that is the plan today. I may save Monday for the gift stitching. We will see what really happens. The best laid plans...
I am going to work on the birthday gifts tonight while I watch the Mariners play. I am almost done with one and hope the second one goes as quickly. Having fun with these little designs. Will have 4 more to do when these 2 are done and then it will be Christmas gifts. I hope to start my Christmas gifts by July. I can't wait to share these with you. They are really quite a departure for me but I am looking forward to something a little  different. We shall see.
Thank you for the lovely comments on the Essamplaire pattern I get to start next month on my birthday. The colors are really so pretty in person. I am going to mount the fabric on my scroll rods and I have already sorted the threads onto the thread cards. I was missing a color and Margariet has already sent me the replacement.
If you get the Attic newsletter, she spoke of the use of the Belle Soie silk shading and that it didn't mean to cut it up. I obviously didn't understand that. Plus some of my threads, in particular the blue I was working with do no really have a lighter tone so much. Good to know what she meant by that. I sometimes take things much too literally.  If you don't get that lovely newsletter you can go to the website and it should be posted.  She always has such lovely samplers and generally pretty stuff. I would love to be able to go there and just sit and stitch.
Is anyone planning to stitch the new Quaker Needleprint is releasing? It looks lovely. I am curious what the thread color will be. It is such a muted tone; I couldn't decide what color that really is. I am sure that will find it's way into my workbasket eventually.
Hope your weekend is full of stitching. Marjo

Birthday gifts

I spent Monday working on birthday gifts so can't show that work but thought  I would show you a picture of the New Essamplaire chart that I bought myself for a birthday start this year. It is Victorine Delacroix. The colors are so much better in real life and I love it. Of course I don't need a new start. I have enough WIP's to sink a ship but it is so pretty and it IS my birthday present. Oh, I am continuing with my WIP basket emptying process but I just couldn't resist one or two new starts.

I am still working on CHS Alphabets, Mary Wigham by Needleprint  and BBD Beneath the Sunlit sky but I should be done with the BTSS relatively quickly and that makes room in the rotation. Plus I am getting some of the WIP that are smaller out to go in my travel case that I keep in the car and think I can knock a couple of them out while I wait at appointments. I am never sure why I almost finish something and then put it down.  If I had more time I would stitch over my lunch break but 30 minutes doesn't give me enough time unless I remember to pack my lunch. I do take something to work on everyday just in case it works out but by the time I stand in line to get my lunch, and then eat the time is up and back to work I go
Hope your day is full of stitches. Marjo

Sunday with Mary Wigham

I am loving working on this. I thought I would share my progress after Sunday's work on her. She and I enjoyed the Versus bike races and then went out to enjoy the mountain view from my front porch while I soaked up some sun. This is before. I am still on the fence about the blue. I know the conversion said to use the lighter part of the blue but the light part of that particular skein is very little and I am not keen on hacking up expensive silk. I will try it once and see how it goes.

Here is after. I would have gotten a lot more done but the yellow was incorrect so I finished it then noticed the problem so had to take the inside out and redo it. Mary had made some mistakes but I made different ones so I frogged and re-stitched. I got the next blue two tone motif almost outlined before I had to give up and go to bed. I ended up taking out a bit of the very dark part of the upper blue motif but on the picture it is very light so I think I am going to change it. I love the way the shades look as I am sure the older dyes didn't fade in a uniform color. This is only the second medallion Quaker I have stitched in multiple colors. My other two I used just one color. I am enjoying working on Mary though progress is slow it is fun and what more can you ask from your hobby. The sun is calling me outside so I will take my tea and my stitching to the front porch for a while. I really need to clean house but I have all day so it can wait.  Just a few more stitches.
Hope you have stitches in your day as well. Thanks for checking in with me. Marjo

Moving on...with my stitching

Stitching time has been at a premium lately but try to get at least a few stitches in. Looking forward to the weekend and some serious stitching I hope. I need to get stitching on my BBD stitch a long as well as finish some birthday gifts for some stitching buddies. I hope to spend Sunday working on Mary Wigham. I am stitching her with the conversion to Belle Soie from the Attic Conversion. In looking at the original on the Needleprint blog site I don't think I am using the right blue for the motif I am working on. It is way too dark. I will have to check my stash and see if I have any lighter blue to use. I may have to pull that out so I will work around it for now. There are some bright colors in there and it just makes me smile to think of the young ladies choosing the colors for their designs.  I probably wouldn't have chosen the same ones but I love them in the reproductions.
I have listened to some good mysteries this last week or so. I finished the series by Deborah Morgan about an antique picker set in Seattle. I have enjoyed them a lot. I have listened to all 5 of them and really liked them. I love mysteries and these were a great addition to the read pile.
I hope to get  a few stitches in CHS alphabets as I really want to get that finished as well. It is easy to stitch in the car and on the road so I am sure I will pull it out to go as I think my husband wants to go out for a little shopping tomorrow. I am hoping to do a block a week on the CHS Alphabets so I can get it finished by the end of the year.  It is easy to stitch while watching TV so hopefully I can get some progress on it this weekend. I have so much in my WIP pile that I really want to get done that I need to concentrate on some finishes so that list goes down a little bit.
I will spend the rest of the week to get the gifts done for my stitching buddies. I am enjoying stitching these. I will try to take them to work so I can get a few stitches in over my lunch half hour when I can.  So much to stitch, so little time. Well the sun is shining. I am off to get a cup of tea and head to the front porch chair to soak up some sun..it is not quite 60 degrees here but the sun is shining. I spent yesterday working on Beneath the Sunlight sky out stitching by the  River, lots of sunshine and no bigger wildlife than the birds. Perfect. Hope your day is full of stitches where ever the perfect place for you is.  Marjo

TA DA

Finally a finish. I finished Sail Away yesterday prior to going out to dinner and fellowship with some friends. I thought I was done the night before when I got the last row of flowers in but as I was checking the design top to bottom, I found I had missed several spots of stitches that needed completion like the flag pole on top of the house and the socks and shoes of the little girl. Must be a southern thing, always barefoot.  I had just a few minutes to stitch before bed last night and have almost finished a motif on Mary Wigham. I think I will focus on her for a while.

I joined the Summer SAL on the Blackbird group on Yahoo. Not sure why other than I have tons of BBD that I really want to stitch. I have never been able to keep up with a SAL although I love the concept. I decided to do Beneath the sunlit sky as I am missing the beach badly. I have a thing about herons and this design features one so it just seemed to be the right piece. I pulled the threads yesterday and had purchased the linen when I bought the pattern. It is a lovely green shade. I can't wait to get some time to stitch. I will post some pics when I get a decent start on it. Sorry about the glare - it is cloudy here and I just can't get a decent shot.

And lastly I wanted to share with you a cute little clock I found to use as it seems no matter where I sit to stitch in the living room I can never see the clock. Since I love tea I thought this was the perfect ornament for wherever I was going to stitch. It was at a little consignment shop here in town. I love it.
Hope your Memorial Day was great. I had to work part of the weekend so it was a short weekend for me but I did manage to get some stitching time in which was fun. Hope you have some stitching time this week.  Marjo

Still sailing

I have spent a good bit of time this weekend working on Sail Away.  I finished the the landscape part of it and am working on the picket fence. There are just two more rows after that. I love this piece but am ready to be done. This was part of a SAL and I am definitely bringing up the rear. I found that Stitches N things in Michigan is having a sale and I think the mats for this are included. I am going to check and see. The owner, Deb, is a pleasure to work with and I appreciate her sales on frames and things. May is the shop anniversary month and she always offers great sales.
After I finish Sail Away it will be back to CHS alphabets that I have worked on a little this week as I had several hours waiting this week and it is more portable than Sail Away. I still have a ton to do but it is coming along and I enjoy it as well. I will add Mary Wigham and FAS when these two are scratched off the WIP list. They are waiting patiently in the wings for some attention.
I belong to several Yahoo groups and one of them is for Blackbird designs. They are having a summer SAL that I decided to join. After all I have tons of their charts and love all the ones I have. I deserve a new start since I have been working steadily on WIP's for a while now. I think I am going to do one of the Loose Feathers Beneath the Sunlit sky. I love the beach and that particular design calls to me. Can you tell I am so ready for warmer weather?  I know I won't keep up, there is no need to kid myself, but it will be fun to get a much loved design started.
 Every holiday there are discussions among many of the blogs I read and groups I belong to about starting something new on the holidays. It occurred to me that I should start something new on my birthday this summer. I wanted to join the latest class from the Essamplaire but decided not to as it was such a lovely big project that would just overwhelm me.I am struggling with Mary Wigham  on 45 ct and not sure I could handle it on design that big with so much whitework and cutwork much less the recommended 50, 55 count. Yikes, I am not sure I could see that at all.  On the other hand I decided I would get the newest reproduction from The Essamplaire and use that as my new start for my birthday. The design is Victorine Delacroix sampler. It has the most beautiful colors. The website doesn't do it justice. That will be my birthday present this year and will celebrate with a new start. That is the plan right now anyway, my birthday isn't until July so plans can change. It is nice to plan though.

Changes

I just wanted to let you know that due to inappropriate comments with links to unacceptable areas being left I have gone to comment moderation. Therefore if you leave a comment it will not show up until I have read it and can post them. I am sorry for the inconvenience to us all but that is the only way I can think of to block unwanted messages. Will post stitching updates later. Thanks and enjoy some stitching today. Marjo

First walk of spring

My DH, I and faithful dog Kori took a walk through the neighborhood on a sunny day this week. At this point in the part of Alaska I live we are up to 16 hours and 36 minutes of daylight a day give or take a few minutes (we gain about 5 mins a day). That means the sun doesn't set until after 10pm. I always stay up too late when we start getting so much daylight. Not complaining though.

There is only a small amount of snow left on the ground but snow dog extroidinaire found every single patch as well as every bit of muddy puddle.  He loves any form of water and after all mud doesn't show when you are a lovely shade of chocolate

But above all he loves chasing every leaf that blows by, he absolutely intends to catch everyone and makes me smile every time....95 lbs of kid.
No progress to speak of on Sail Away. I got the lighthouse completed and started the ship. I am really afraid I am going to run out of one of the shades of blue that are the last two flowers in the grass and part of the little ship. I know that Shepherd's Bush will send me more but maybe I won't have to ask.
Hope there is some joy in your day and of course some stitchy stuff. Marjo