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

Sail Away progress

I forgot

I forgot to show you the cutest little pouch I got from a friend at retreat. In addition she gave us each the cutest little pattern with a button I had ever seen.  Isn't it sweet?

Finally a picture of the biscornu I stitched for a friend's birthday. It took me way longer than I thought it would and I was way too late with it. I had given her the rest of her birthday surprises  but this just took me forever to get finished. Now that she has gotten it I can post a picture. The design is Pansy Biscornu by Cedar Hill.

I made some progress over the weekend on Sail Away. I got the waves put back in and the small part of the hill completed and two trees. I still have the bigger part of the hill and 3 more rows after this so I am closer to be done but not really that close. I am excited because I think if I get a couple of more weekends with it I will be done.  I have so many WIP to choose from and bunches that have not been started that I would love to begin.  I have already been looking at the WIP list to see what I will concentrate on next. I will work on FAS and then something smaller off of the list after I finish CHS Alphabets sampler.  I will continue for a while only using new starts as gifts for my friends. I have a great desire to get more finishes from my WIP list. I may pull out a canvas piece as a change of pace. I only have two starts on canvas. One is a bargello pillow from an older issue of New Stitches and the other is a piece by Nancy's Needle named Two Cabins that I will finish for a friend.  I haven't worked on canvas in a while. I enjoy it as a change from cross stitch on occasion. I am attracted to the quilt patterns that Nancy's Needle uses on her canvas designs.  This small design is not a quilt pattern but cute none the less. I would love to get the bargello pillow done as well. Let's face it, I would really like to get everything on the list done plus all the things I have purchased to work on as well. Oh well, if I live to be really old and keep my eyesight. Hope you have time in your day for stitching. Marjo

Stitching stuff

I found a new little item to use as a accessory tote around. As I have said before I tend to travel around the room (don't have a particular chair I always stitch in) so I have a couple of little things I use to carry pins and needles, a beeswax and regular thread and whatever else I think I need at the time. I found this one on a website called Country Sampler, a store that has quilts and cross stitch. I followed a link there looking for Blackbird designs quilting things and thought this little French tin was just too cute and of course I had to have it. My header shows the wooden one I usually use and if I am traveling to someone else's house to stitch I sometimes take a basket that works really well as well.

Speaking of baskets I saw the one on Ellen's blog for With My Needle that she is making for her new Nashville release Mrs Waddlelow's Huswif. I cannot wait to see the finished project. I love baskets and particularly if it is a bigger basket where I could carry the project in it as I work on it. Anything to just be able to grab and go to get some stitching time in. I am waiting to see what the added parts are before I invest as I want to get matching fabric and fiber to stitch the set on.  I don't like to stitch the baskets unless they can stand up to use. I like looking at them but I love being able to use them. So much to finish but always planning something else. A weakness, I know.
I have made some gift progress which I can't show yet, never know for sure who is checking in on the blog :) I spent last evening taking out the waves on Sail Away as I messed up the count. I hope to get some stitching time in this afternoon and get that redone and a little bit more added. I refuse to let the frogs chase me away from this piece. I really want a non-gift finish. Hope you have a stitchy week. Marjo