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.

So much to (tell) show you

I don't know where to even start telling ya'll what I have done and all the changes going on.

So the retreat was awesome as always. I love going on retreat with these ladies; there is nothing I would rather do. We had a bunch of food, did a lot of stitching and even some reading and sleeping. (see previous post for pictures). Wow, I didn't realize how tired and stressed I was until I spent an evening talking to my friends. They are the best. There are changes coming to the group and it makes me sad to know folks are going to be moving away..take deep breath....and I won't get to see them. Oh, sad times ahead but fun and excitement for them so I can't help but be excited for me.

I have changed jobs and have more time to read and do my stitching. I don't have to get to work until a little later but I still wake up early. So I get up and try to do a little stitching them. It has been so productive for me I also finished the BBD Summer SAL that has been languishing all Winter. I did Beneath the Sunlit Sky. I love it. I was also able to finish a Christmas ornament from long ago Merry Stitches by Homespun Elegance on a recent road trip. I am thrilled and now I need to go to get some framing/finishing done. I have 4 pieces to go to the framer and at least that many for finishing. In Alaska it is hard to find a framer that does needlework correctly. I have one lady who has done a good job and will start the trip downtown to get the framing started. I have 2 BBD pieces finished and Sail Away by Shepherd's Bush, and CHS Alphabets to get framed.  I have a hornbook from Exemplars from the heart that I have the frame for that I need to stretch and get framed. I just have trouble getting things straight.

I am working on more from the WIP basket. I decided I really needed something that was full of color since we are still in the gray part of Spring when the snow is gone but the grass is still brownish and the trees are just beginning to bud. I am ready for flowers and color...so I decided I would pull Common Ground by Just Nan out of the basket. I have already gotten the entire border done. I am loving this extra time in my days.
So sorry for the wrinkles but I had taken these projects on my out of town trip so they had to be folded to fit into my carry on bag. Since my friend's luggage got lost a couple of years ago with her stitching in it I have never packed the linen parts except what I can carry on. I am getting ready to put Common Ground on the stretcher bars. The colors are glorious and I am enjoying this immensely. Plus the border matched up just the way it was supposed to. Will post more later.

Have lots of stitchy time in your day.

Needlework accessories

There are several items I use for my stitching every time I pick up needle and thread. I most often use Bohin needles size 28 as I usually use small count fabric and one strand of silk to stitch with. I keep my favorite stork scissors attached to a zinger to my collar for my use. (I love the scissor fobs but I still manage to hunt for scissors unless I am using a needlework stand.) I use qsnaps and scroll frames for all my stitching. I cannot stitch in hand as so many people do. I just can't control the fabric and thread and there goes my enjoyment. I use a small Baby Z lap frame for my qsnaps, a heavier Lapmate stitch frame for scroll rods and the Stitchmate floor stand for big projects at the stitchy spot. I use a Daylight round magnifier floor light that either gives me enough light or light and magnification depending on the needs of the pattern.  Along with my favorite linens and threads these tools are part of all my stitching on a regular basis. I have project bags of many sizes and descriptions and many lovely gifts provided by friends which I have shown you in the past.  Strangely enough, there are also a lot of non traditional tools I use with my stitching all the time.

My computer is my shopping mall. I have a list of all my favorite sites and spend time searching them regularly. Etsy is one of my favorite places to shop. If I can't make something that is a great place to find someone who can. I wanted to show you some of the latest finds from some of my favorite shops on Etsy. 

Some designers have shops on there: I got some lovely needlework cards from Heartstring Samplery for my correspondence. She had some Christmas ones I got that I want to get enough to use  as cards for next year. They are gorgeous, Christmas and samplers, what more could you ask? (Pictures are from Heartstring Samplery, photos are her work as well as the cards in the photos.)

Homespun Elegance, one of my other favorite designers has started a blog and an Etsy shop and I found some special things there as well. These tags will grace birthday gifts this upcoming year. I just loved them. (artists photo)

My electronics...yes, well. Between my Macbook, my Ipod and my soon to be IPad, yes we are a Mac family. I cannot really sew. I can see how it is supposed to go in my head but it never translates to fabric of the sewing kind. Again, I turned to some of my favorite Etsy stores. Dixie's Window worked with me to make special matching designs for my favorite electronics.  In real life I am a jeans, lace and pearl kind of person and she was able to make the perfect wonderful designs using those three elements to house my necessities.  Perfect.  She is working on a couple of more things for me.

I have mentioned that my other favorite pastime is reading. I like journaling and reading and I found two people on Etsy who have helped me with decorating my plain old black journals into something fun as well as my used paperbacks are covered with a little color and attached bookmark. Love it. (Designers picture as well.)

One of the other really pretty things I found was a reading pillow. Susan from SusanKeepsakes was willing to work with me to make a reading pillow that will hold my books and my IPad. How cool is that? This fabric is particularly beautiful in person.

 I have to mention that I don't have an Ipad yet, I am waiting for the next generation to come out soon. I have learned from being an Apple user for a while that second and third generations follow with all the improvements from the original release.  I have the money saved and just waiting for the release. I am just getting ready for it to be absolutely outfitted when I get it.  Have to be prepared you know.Please note that pictures are mine except for the ones where credit is given.

Hope you have some time to use your stitching tools today. Marjo

Retreat updates just a little late

We had a great time on retreat several weeks ago. I made a lot of progress on my pieces but of course not as much as I wanted to. I got the last square done on CHS Alphabets and two of the blocks filled in. I still have 8 blocks to fill in. As I do the fill in I pull the pattern for that block back out and check to be sure I haven't missed anything on it. I am hoping to get a little work done on it today. I did work on Anniversaries of the Heart for part of a day. I got the linen color thread I needed and got quite a bit done on that one but I am a slow stitcher and I am good with that.
We had a great time. Two of our members were wounded and thus unable to attend. We had the place to ourselves and stitched the whole time. We didn't hike, we didn't watch a movie, we just ate, stitched and slept. It was great. We try to do that twice a year and I look forward to it every time. I love to see what everyone else is stitching on and what progress is made.
Dee was the only one with a cross stitch finish this time. This will be the inset for a mirror. It is so beautiful in real life.
Gretchen knitted a dish cloth with a new yarn she bought on the way down. It was a lovely pattern and the colors striped out quite lovely on it. She was working on a teapot design. She was the designated baker for the weekend. When  I worked a lot of overtime she volunteered to be my "personal baker" and made some extra muffins (they were so good) and egg salad as it was coming down to the wire and I was cutting it close for time.  I really appreciated it. We always have plenty of food, no one ever leaves hungry. We took some of it to one of our wounded members so since she couldn't come stitch she could at least snack with us.

Jeannette had several different projects. She was doing some hand quilting on a crazy quilt piece she had started back when we had a visit to the area by Judith Baker Montano and it getting ready to finish it out. The crazy quilt part is done she is doing the quilting now. She also was doing an Alaska themed cross stitch and had knitted, felted and was embellishing a purse for her own use. Lovely work as always.

Joan had her retreat piece and is coming to the end of it. It is a class piece from EGA that didn't get finished and she is determined to get it done.
We had a great time and I am always ready to go back. Have some great stitching time in your day. Marjo

Reading and stitching

My two favorite past times to be sure. I love reading mysteries as you can tell from my sidebar of book lists. I check out all the online bookstores for new and upcoming reads, add then to the notes on my phone and am thus armed whenever I make it to the store to be able to get a good book should one cross my path. I love going to the library but due to budget cuts ours is not open on Mondays which is my only weekday off work. I miss it. What more could you ask than a great big room (I live in a small town) full of free books. I love it. Fortunately for me, the librarian loves mysteries as much as I do so I rarely have trouble getting a copy of the latest bestsellers on my list. Fortunately, I can browse the card catalog online and put books on reserve. My husband walks our chocolate lab at the park across from the library almost everyday so he is the only way I can get library books. He loves to read as well so there is no hardship for him to go to the library for me.  When I can't get one from the library or the used book stores I do hit up Amazon or their branch Audible for books to listen to while I stitch or right before I go to sleep. The timer on the IPOD is a wonderful tool for me. I went shopping at Audible yesterday as I knew my husband was going to be working all day today so I would have plenty of new books to choose from for my listening pleasure as I stitch.  They have recently started releasing (or maybe Audible just picked up) the Ngaio Marsh books. I love old mysteries like that and I stocked up. I listed my newest choices in the sidebar listing of Books upcoming to be read. I recently hit up Etsy for an Ipod cover as mine is getting much the worse for wear. I have had it for years and it goes everywhere with me. I have to laugh at myself as I keep a charge cable in my stitching carrier as I would hate to run out of battery and no way to charge it when I have time to listen and stitch. Not your normal needlework basket I guess. Speaking of stitching, time to shut down the computer,  and put on the water for tea and get to work on my stitching. The dog is asleep, my husband is at work and the cat will sleep on my lap so now it is my turn to stitch.
Hope there is peace and at least a little stitching in your day. Marjo

Did you see????

Did you see Dorothy Walpole is charted and ready for sale at Scarlet Letter? I have been checking back every once in a while to see when the chart would be ready. I recently posted about this wonderful reproduction. I finally saw it was ready for sale and put that one on order. I also got Dorcas Haynes as well.  Jean at Attic Needlework is making Dorothy her May Sampler and I cannot wait to get the color conversion as I think the change in fabric and threads will make it look more like the original. I am so excited. I know, I know I need another sampler like I need a hole in the head but this one I must have. I hope you have something you are excited about to stitch and time in which to stitch it. Have a stitchy kind of day. Marjo