Spring in Alaska

NeWell, we are well on our way in Summer but during what passes for Spring here my husband and I took a trip to Seward, Alaska, a few hours south of where we live. Just a note, the pictures I add are not black and white, they were just taken at a time when the colors had not come back to the land so it seems very shades of gray. Which it is for part of the year.
We went whale watching and were surrounded by Humpback whales. It was truly awesome. We drove around the area but were unable to do some of the hikes we had planned because the roads were closed due to ice. Will have to go back for those hikes.
We hit the shops up in the town, there is a sewing store, a knitting store and a book store. We had a good time checking them all out....well my husband liked the knitting and book store (he knits but doesn't quilt or sew). This year I am going to venture out of my comfort zone and do the Alaska Quilt Shop hop quilt. I am not much of a quilter but I love this one and have to give it a try. I love all the berries and blossoms of Alaska and that is what this is all about. It is gorgeous in my opinion. We will see what I can come up with. I started collecting the blocks with the block from the Seward shop.

Alaska Shop Hop Quilt

Seward Shop pattern

We drove around and found many areas where the water was overtaking the ice and starting to flow again. This picture doesn't do it justice.  The weather had been snowing as we drove down but the sun came up by the time we went out on the water.  We had supper after we got off the boat and had a lovely view from the restaurant. Overall a great weekend get away.

waterfall by the side of the road

view from our table at dinner

Next time I will have more stitching to share. Hope you have some stitchy time in your day. 

Marjo

June, really?

I am having a hard time keeping up with this year. It seems to be flying by no matter how I drag my heels. Since last I posted I have been on vacation and otherwise just worked a lot and stitched a little. I continue to pile up charts that I really want to stitch but am slow on the discipline to sit down and spend time stitching. I got completely off schedule with my rotation over the week I was on vacation. I met my best friend in Park City, Utah. We had so much fun. We read and stitched and hiked a good bit. It was so warm, it was wonderful. I took some of my rotation but not all of it, the big samplers do not tend to make the trips with me. I did get some progress made mostly on my travel piece.
While we were in Utah we visited 3 different cross stitch stores. We had a great time. I managed to pick up a few things from Shepherd's Bush which is just a lovely store. The ladies were very helpful to us as my friend needed help with finding just the right color floss for a project she was working on. I bought a couple of charts and scored one of their T-shirts...I am a huge fan of their T-shirts over the years and was excited to find a new one to add to the collection. Next time I will have to post a pic of my stitchy stash.

Lizzie Kate Fat Men

Lizzie Kate
This has been such a fun stitch. I am really enjoying it.

Dorothy Walpole by Scarlett Letter

Once I got back I started back trying to work on my rotation. This is Dorothy Walpole after taking a bit out that I was counting challenged over and restitched. I love this sampler. I hope to get some work done on it this weekend and make some more noticeable progress. Photo is washed out color wise for some reason, sorry about that. I will try to do better the next time. 

I am almost done with my Thursday night stitch project. I should be done with it by the end of the month. Finally some progress on something. I took advantage of the Stoney Creek Sale to get the bell pull hardware to finish it with. Next for our stitching group will be the Crewel Work class piece.

I hope you find some stitchy time in you day. 

Marjo

Stitching finishes finished

I LOVE to stitch, I mean it, I love it really I do. Finish it into anything, not so much. I can see what I want to make something in to but it never seems to translate into reality. Therefore I send some things out to be finished. These are the last two of some that I sent out quite a while ago. They came back in the mail yesterday. I love mail when it is stitching related.

Trip around the World Nancy's Needle

Shepherd's Bush Eggs

I love the quilt sampler's by Nancy's Needles. I have several of her patterns. They are so much fun as a change from cross stitch when you feel the need for just a little something different. The colors are great and stitch up fairly fast.

And just in time for Easter are this cute design by Shepherd's Bush. I loved this when I stitched  it and I am so thrilled to have it back.

Well, that is the only finish I have to share. I am off to stitch, hope you find some stitchy time in your day,
Marjo

Retreat!

Our TNTSL group had a one day, all day, stitch all day retreat at one of the members houses. It was so much fun. We had plenty of food, great conversations, and all day to stitch as you please. We always try to have some stitchy magazines and catalogs to look at if someone needs to take a break. We had great meals and laughed a lot. Stitching all day, what could be better than that. Only one member had a finish to show for the day. This is a double sided quilt made out of fabrics on hand by one of the group. 

the only finish is this fun double sided quilt

The other side of same quilt

I believe this beauty is off in the mail to a neice of the makers. Another fun quilt finish. 

Cake pops as part of our treats

After a morning of heavy stitching we had to take a lunch break. A friend of my son's made the cake pops for us to try. They were a hit with the ladies. Turtle, strawberry and chocolate, so much to choose from.

always plenty of food

our gracious hostess

this is where the day started

I so agonized over what would be the retreat piece as I had finished my last one.  I have so many pieces that are in my WIP pile that I want to finish. I had to sort through and sort through discarding idea after idea. Then I remember this one. Alpine Garden by The Drawn Thread. Any Alaskan who has made it this far through the Winter is ready for some Spring color. Our Springs are short here so we take as much as advantage of it as we can. I am ready for some color so figured it would be best to stitch it. (Gardener I am not). I started this a long time ago. I somehow mis-counted on the middle tree and had to take it down more than once. Hence it lived in the WIP pile for quite a while. This is where the day ended with my progress. I love it and am ready to bring it into the rotation as soon as I get something else finished. Of course I was looking for Spring and all I got finished was the snow.....

The end of the day

There is nothing better for us than a day together stitching. We always enjoy our time together, we eat, talk, laugh and stitch, and stitch and stitch. I wouldn't trade these ladies for anything. The absolute best stitching buddies a girl could have. Already planning when the next one is going to be.....

Hope you have some stitchy time in your day. Marjo

What happened to February?

Boy, I know it has been a while since I posted  but time was really moving fast around here. Since last we gathered here our small stitching group had a stitching retreat.  Plus I am taking classes for some needlework smalls. I am amazed that it is mid March and I have very little to show for it.
I will post later about the retreat. It was a great day. Lots of food, lots of stitching. Wonderful friends. Great day.

Gift stitching

Mystery Sampler EGA- Thursday night project

I am making good progress with my rotation. I have made some progress on each of the pieces. Not a whole lot on any of them because I get so little time to stitch but progress is progress. I want to finish each of the pieces but doubt any but the gift will get finished this year. I am excited to be back stitching my rotation though.
 I have made a good bit of progress on my Thursday night stitching as well. I have several more rows to go on the current project but it is going smoothly so far.

This is the class I am taking through the ShiningNeedleSociety.It
is being taught by Jackie du Plessis. I love the dark
blue of the fibers, they are double dyed blue silk by The Thread Gatherer. As usual I am behind but will hopefully get finished over the weekend, there is not a lot of stitching. .Just wonderful. If you love taking classes but cannot for whatever reason get to the wonderful venues that are provided I encourage you to sign up with the Shining Needle Society. No fees to join, class fees are set by each individual class project/teacher. Take one or many depending on what you want to do. I have done a few, I learn something new every time and always enjoy it.  Many different types of classes are offered. Lots of fun, all completed at home in your bunny slippers.

Rhapsody in Blue 

 I have some books to share with you on needlework. I really love reading and while I love a good mystery (see my sidebar for the recent ones) I enjoy reading about  about needlework, different techniques, the history whatever. I love it. I have read most of the books in our library about needlework (small library)  and am continually building my personal library. I love learning something new about needlework. Ever since I did the small drawn and pulled thread sampler I have wanted to do a larger one. While I have a couple of patterns I thought I would get a book that I found on Amazon. It has some beautiful samplers in it. I will have to gather the materials but it is a definite for future new starts. I will shop for it while I am on my trip to the lower 48 later this year. I have to get something finished before I can start anything else.

one of the samplers I want to stitch

I bought another book on whitework because I am interested in it in general. This is by the Royal School of Needlework. Smaller in size but looks like it has lots of information packed in it. I will have to give you a report when I finish reading it. 

 I love learning about stitching and am wanting to learn to do Schwalm work. I have ordered a book about it which I will share with you when it gets here.













The other two books that I got are historical, one on Boston's needlework as it is used in the home. The other is one in series that I had already collected the earlier ones and enjoyed them. And yes, I really do read all these books, not just collect them. I have purchased quite a few lately so it will be a while before I get all caught up on my reading. But on days when I just am too tired to stitch reading about stitching is at least something.

20th Century embroidery techniques

Boston Needlework

Off to stitch, I hope you have some stitchy time in your day.

Marjo

Making up for last week

Considering how little progress I made last week I am thrilled to report I have a finish this week. I love doing drawn thread and pulled work. I am intimidated by the cutting but love the lacy look it gives. This week I finished my Thursday Drawn and Pulled Thread Band Sampler designed as a Stitch of the Month for our local EGA group. I don't know why I didn't finish it at the time but now I can say TADA! and move on. I am doing another Group project that got passed over in the shuffle along the way. I am really having fun with these projects.
The next one is also a long skinny band sampler that is out of the Needle Arts magazine of EGA that was a Mystery sampler. It is all packed and ready to go for next Thursday.

I am sad to say that the frog was back again this week but not as much and now that all the mistakes are out I do have a bit of progress to report on Dorothy Walpole. I love this sampler and am pleased to finally get a few more stitches in. The colors are wonderful and this is one I hope to finish this year. It is huge so I doubt it but progress is being made and that makes me happy.
I am trying to do one strand a night on ATS but am lapsing behind but will pick it up this evening.

We have gotten lots of snow lately and the birds are cold and hungry. I love to feed the birds but am limited to only the winter months in Alaska, after May the feeders must come down because they attract bears looking for an easy meal. So here is a picture of our little birds and my husband setting up the buffet in the back yard for them. Stay warm. I hope there is some stitchy time in your day.
Marjo

Somedays..

one weeks not so progress

It just doesn't pay somedays for me to even pick up needle and thread. Every Stitch I put in last weekend had to come right back out, every single one. Sigh. The main project had to be entirely removed and then I picked up a smaller piece and realized I had made a mistake on the first part of it so it all had to come out. All of it.  So there was no Monday stitching report because there was nothing to report. A few choice words but I try to be careful about that stuff.

At any rate this weekend went a bit better. I was feeling under the weather so I didn't spend as much time stitching as I usually try to do but at least there was some progress to report.

I am happy to say as January is coming to a close my projects are rotating the way I wanted them to. I had not done a rotation last year as I usually do and it feels good to get back into it this year. I am particularly pleased with the Thursday night stitching.

Stitch of the month 

 I pulled out a few, well several unfinished projects from EGA classes I have been a part of to work on Thursday nights. These are partially completed projects that were group projects, stitch of the month projects or SAL that I just did not complete for one reason or another. So I have them all ready to go and I have so far completed 4 bands on the Stitch of the Month Pulled and Drawn thread sampler one of the members designed for us and have 2 more kitted up ready to go. Progress for the sampler. This is done on a unknown fabric in Potato with DMC 8 and 12 Perle cotton. There are accents of ribbon from Threadgatherer and varigation fiber from Caron. Just a touch of color. I think I will make this into a bell pull.

Next up is a long and narrow sampler that was out of NeedleArts Magazine with the called for DMC done on stitching band. I will work on this after I finish the Stitch of the month is finished. I only have a couple of bands left before I move to the third piece.  The third one is a crewel work piece that was a group project. These are all highly portable and fun to work on. So I have at least 3 to 6 months worth of Thursday nights stitching with my friends planned out and so far I am having a lot of fun with it.

EGA sampler

Bluebird Trail by Crossed Wing Collection

This week was a long languishing project from the Stitching WIP pile, Bluebird Box from Crossed Wing Collection. There is a lot of gray and brown in the box and I am not done yet but I made good progress this week. 

My Yazzi travel bag broke all it's zippers this week so that is currently a dillemma to figure out. I will have to find something that can hang out in the car and survive to keep my stitching projects in. I wonder if that was a problem with those bags and that is why you don't see them so much on the market. It is disappointing to say the least.

Off to work on this week's rotation piece. WIll update soon. Hope you have some stitchy time  in your day.
Marjo