Moving on in the stitching front

Finally the map is done and has reached it's destination. So glad to have that finally completed. It took so much longer than I thought it would. My favorite local needlework framer was able to hand cut a mat to cover all that white and even built a box so I could mail it. The final picture I got is not very clear as she already had it wrapped in plastic to be mailed when I got there to pick it up. But it is done.

Now for the moving on part. I went to my huge WIP progress pile to pull out something small that I could actually finish sometime soon with no pressure attached. I love to rotate projects but with the map I didn't do that for the last couple of years. I am hoping to get back to a rotation as that is the way I like to stitch. But I honestly have no rules about what I stitch. 

So next up from the WIP pile is Little House Needleworks Sheep Virtues. This was a project I was working on before the map project started. It was done by the ladies at Shepherd's Bush as a SAL and they supplied fabric and thread conversion differently than charted. I love it. I originally was trying to do one a month but that changed with the map and it got put aside. I am having so much fun with it currently. I love the colors and the design. 

Just finished Faith last night and started on Simplicity which will put me at the halfway mark. 

I have put a few stitches in Dorothy Walpole Sampler by Scarlet Letter and Rose Quaker but very few.

Dorothy Walpole

I love Quakers and although they seem to not be as prevalent as they once were in designs I have several more to stitch and always have one or 2 going at the same time. Currently I have Mary Wigwam and Rose Quaker in the next to be stitched pile. When I want something different I pull out one or the other to stitch. 

Rose Quaker NPI silks

Mary Wigwam silk conversion by the ladies at the Attic. Design by Needlepoint. 

Reminded that I had not updated the blog in a while so decided to work on it. I find the photo uploads a cumbersome process so not sure if it is blogger or my old laptop. I always enjoy sharing my stitching and seeing what everyone else is working on. Hope you have lots of stitchy time in your day. Marjo

Map progress and more (photo heavy)

I am pleased to say that the only thing left to add to the map is the personalization and them to get it matted and on it's way to my daughter in love. Better late than never is all I can say. I am glad to be on the downward slope with this large project. I had to change up a few things to suit what she wanted and I am not a designer but I did the best I could and she approved so it's a go. Yes! So I last posted this is where I was. Restitching the coast and state of Alaska so it would be in approximately the correct geographical spot though not completely accurate (the state is much larger and farther up but I was out of fabric) The shadows you see are the pattern lying underneath. Sorry about that.

As I looked at it I realized I had skipped this part for some reason so had to go back and add the critters in the Gulf of Mexico in there. The crabs just crack me up. 

 There is it all finished except for their names at the top. It is done in DMC on 36 ct fabric over 2 threads. It took a half a yard of fabric to stitch it eh way she wanted it to be. Sigh.

This shows some of the detail of the items I had to design for my sweet daughter in love. I could not find anything that would work in all of the books and the magazines so I just winged it. I did find some small animals that would work in Alaska for a moose and a caribou. I didn't have room to add more since there will be some hearts there to represent where they met. This week I will start the personalization. I know what it is going to say and the alphabet and colors are all picked out but I just wanted a break for this weekend. So I picked up some me stitching and got Rose Quaker out. This is something I have wanted to stitch for quite a while but put off till the map was done. I decided to pull it back out this weekend and add a few stitches. 

 I am stitching this on Lakeside Linens Strawflower 40ct with an NPI silk conversion from Attic Needlework in Phoenix, Arizona. I just love it. Makes me happy just to pick it up and add a stitch or two.
I don't know if I ever showed you the few little things I did get stitched as gifts in between times. This is a set of smalls I stitched for my best friend who lives on the East Coast who has a huge bread bowl that she changes out with smalls for the seasons. The top left is Lizzie Kate Hippity Hoppity, the others are all Shepherd's Bush Joy to Ewe, Friends, and Fall Ewe All. They were a fun stitch and I was happy to be finally contribute to her smalls.

 Then another friend who had moved away from here had a birthday and this was a tiny sampler I stitched and got off in the mail to her- late as usual. It was from Kelmscott design that came as a kit. My friend has stitched several samplers and thought she would like this little thing. It was a fun stitch as well. Finishing is not my forte' so don't look too close. The pillows above I sent to a finisher to be done.

Well that is all I have for now. I will hopefully have an update from the Rose Quaker later this week and will post one last picture of the Map when it is matted before I mail it off to be framed by her grandfather.
We have continued to have computer issues that have kept me from updating but I am hoping they are all resolved and I can get back to posting more often. I hope you all have some stitchy time in your day.
Marjo

Stitchy updates

  No update on Rose Quaker. Alas I started that and then put it away so I could get back to the Map of the USA. I am on the homeward stretch with the Map I am excited to say and hope to get some stitching time in this weekend and get even closer. I am currently putting the water (3 shades of blue) in around the coast line. I am on the last color of that then I need to fill in Alaska. I don't like the items the designer used for our state so I am using some from another pattern by Jeannette Douglas to fill in instead that I feel are more representative of the state. It currently has a miner's cap and an oil well but I am more in love with the eagles and other animals so I will substitute them instead. I then have to add the detail to the upper coastline (boats, crabs and fish) and then I just have the personalization to do. The end is in site of this multi-year project for me. I only get to stitch on Thursdays with my stitching ladies and then some on the weekends depending on my other commitments. Looking forward to someday having more time for my needlework.

The Final Frontier

I know it doesn't look like much but it is coming along and I hope to get a bit more done this weekend. I have done a little bit of crochet this week as this is a much more portable project than the map. I do also have a small scissor fob project that I carry with me to work on if I stop where there is enough light to see the count fabric. Since it is dark a lot of the time here at least while I am off work, the places I meet friends for tea are not brightly lit and so I have to choose my travel projects with that in mind. This week the blanket has gotten some love.

Baby blanket growing

 This is the spot I go sit when I get off work early on Thursdays and sit and stitch before I meet with my stitching buddies. This picture does not do justice to the beauty of this spot even in Winter. I love to sit here and just look at the water. I love beaches but this one is particularly beautiful to me. Even with the water frozen it is beautiful. One of many happy spots I love. I frequently find beautiful spots and put a book on tape on to listen to and spend some time just stitching and soaking up the view. I hope this weekend finds some stitchy time for you in your days.
Marjo

Stitching and a little crochet

I put a few (very few) stitches into Rose Quaker. Going to add a few more stitches in before I am done for the day.  I had too many chores to do to get my stitching done.  I am hoping today brings more stitching time. Soon I will get back to the map. I am too easily distracted away from it after 2 years of working on it.

Rose Quaker 40 ct NPI silks

Last night  I met a friend for tea after work. One thing about Alaska, there are coffee shops all over the place- we love hot drinks (and ice cream!). So when we get together we meet at a coffeeshop close to where I work and catch up over tea. It seems none of the local  shops have much lighting so I typically take a non cross stitch project to work on when we meet over the winter. Come summer light is not an issue in Alaska. Plenty of sunshine all day long.  This time I took  a crochet baby blanket in progress for a coworker having her first baby. It took me a while to get the pattern down as I haven't done that pattern in a long time but I finally remembered how to make the turn. My best friend showed me how to do the stitch and it is a great travel piece. I just need to do one blanket  ahead so I am not struggling to get something done on time for people that I want to gift a little handmade item for their little ones. Got a little bit of progress on this one. 

Baby blanket in progress

Well that is all I have gotten done since I posted last. I hope you have had more stitchy time in your day.  Marjo

New Year's Start

I am not done with the Map but decided on New Year's Day I would have a new start.  That is something I have not done in absolutely years. So this year was my year for a new start. Having made that decision the question was what to start. I have plenty to choose from and could not make up my mind.  I love stitching Quakers so thought I would get the Rose Quaker out and start it. Or I could pull out a WIP Mary Wigham? I have wanted to have the Rose Quaker stitched for quite a while so I went with that one.  I enjoyed my brief time away from the Map but now I need to get back to it. I

Rose Quaker

Mary Wigwam

 have got to get that finished. I am down to the last state and then just a few fishes and the personalization and that will be it. Countdown to a finish.

My little start of Quaker Rose

here's to lots of stithy time in the New Year. Marjo

New Starts, old finishes and still stitching

I had grand plans to keep my blog updated. I really enjoy reading other peoples blogs and seeing what different people are working on and what their choices are for fabric and threads.I really do enjoy it. I had so much I wanted to share and then my "antique Mac" died. Just wouldn't turn on, at all. Dead. Sigh.  The budget wasn't going to absorb a new computer so it became that my husband and I would share a computer. That was all well and good, well except that he lives on the computer...yes, that is why I had my own to begin with. I remember now. We don't do well with one computer considering if he is home he is on the computer. Sigh. It has taken me a while to work this out but finally I have worked it out and I am back in blogging. Sorry, more than you wanted to know I am sure.

On the stitching front I have not gotten the Map of America done yet. Still working on it. It has been my focus for quite a while, over a year. I am on the downhill slope finally. This is a huge piece. I

The Great Lakes are filled in. 

East Coast is done. 

 always seem to gravitate to really big pieces. Always. This is big even for me. It seemed like it would go so fast when I started it. Ahem. Not so much. But I have persevered. I am done with the lower 48. I have the Hawaiian Islands completed and have the outline of Alaska completed. The end is in sight. I have to still do the personalization. I hope to be able to get a mat cut for it by our local framer. It is the Map of the USA by Sue Hillis on 36 count flax linen. It is a half yard of fabric. I am so late with this but it will get done.

ready to add Alaska and Hawaii

I have been stitching on this to the exclusion of anything else for the most part. I am used to stitching a rotation and have really missed the variety of things to stitch. So I decided that I deserved a break and did some other gift stitching. Now that I know it has been received I can post pictures of that. 

Lizzie Kate Hippity Hoppity

Fall Ewe All by Shepherds Bush

Friends by Shepherd's Bush

Joy to Ewe by Shepherd's Bush

So for 2015 I have very few finishes but lots of progress on my big design. This little pillows were a gift for my best friend to put in her grandmother's bread bowl.  

I hope to be able to blog a lot more often. I am off to stitch and hope this finds you with lots of stitchy time in your day. 

Marjo