Progress report

Just a quick update. I was able to spend some time stitching last night ( and will be back to it as soon as I post this ) and made some progress on the verse on Matchless Grace. Once I got in a groove it seemed to go much faster. I had a big knot on the back that I didn't catch so I had to take a whole word out. That is why the "came" is missing an 'e'.  I hope to get a few more words done on the verse tonight. There is another whole line of verse and then I just have about 5 little motifs and it will be done.  I am enjoying stitching this even the over one part!  The color on this photo is still not accurate. Maybe tomorrow we have some sunshine and I can get a more true to life picture.
We are doing our Fall Stitching retreat this upcoming weekend. We are just doing a day long retreat at one of our member's house. We will get there early and stay late. We will take food just like always and it will be so much fun. I am always excited to get together for stitching with my friends. We decided this time we would have a stitching challenge just for fun. We were talking about how many of our little group had finished what is fondly known as their 'retreat piece' the last time we got together. The discussion went from there to see what the new retreat piece would be for each one. Somewhere along the way it became a challenge for each of us to bring something we don't usually do to work on. It can be any form of needlework and you don't have to work on it the whole time. We have had some lively discussions about what project each of us will bring to try some new form of stitching... at least new to us currently. It should be fun. I decided to do a Teresa Layman design of Knotwork. I have wanted to try one of those for a while. It was recommended on the Silver Needle website  I think to start with something that doesn't have a lot of detail so I found a little pumpkin with a cat that I am going to try. According to the instructions it takes 3 to 6 hours to stitch 1 square inch of knots. Needless to say I won't get it finished that day but it will be fun to start. I found a small frame to try it out on to keep the material tight (supposedly that is the key) so I will get the fabric basted on to it this week and get the floss pulled. I also want to get some ornaments kitted up completely so I can always have one to stitch on in a lull. I went through and made a list of all the fibers needed so I can pull them tomorrow.  I pulled a mix of Little House Needleworks and Homespun Elegance ornament patterns. They use similar colors so the list of fibre to pull is not as long as you would think for the 9 patterns I pulled. Always planning the next stitch.
Hope you have some stitchy time in your day. Marjo

It's Fall

From my Sunday evening walk, I couldn't resist the colors. This is one of the favorite parts of the path through the neighborhood where I live. I love it mostly because it signals the beginning or the end of my walks. Depending on how tired I am decides whether I am happy to start or to end.
I cannot believe it is already Fall. I have no idea what happened to the summer that's for sure. I have been sadly remiss with updating my blog. I have been stitching and will add some photos for my updates. I tried last night and blogger would not upload the shots. So if you are reading this it is safe to say it finally worked.

This is my not so much of a start of Elizabeth Foster from Marking Sampler. I have wanted to do this for a while and am glad to putting some stitches in it.

One of the others I am working on is Matchless Grace by Heartstring Samplery. I am at the verse. I should have checked that pattern a little closer before I started because I changed to a smaller count fabric and the verse is over one. It has definitely slowed me down.  Please excuse this picture. I took it late last night and it is not even close on the color. It is called Confederate Grey but it is green in real life. I love it and the bright blue flowers just make me smile. I just have 3 more rows of verse and a 3 or 4 small motifs. I would love to have this finished soon.

The other small thing I am working on is a gift so no pictures till it is done.  Next up will be Common Ground from the WIP pile. I need to work on some smaller items for a little while.