Evidence

 Good Morning, all! I thought I would ease back into blogging with some evidence that I have actually been stitching this summer!

My mom had a few pieces framed for me, and I hung one on an existing hanger in our front room. I told Louisiana Man it needed to be hung a bit lower. Louisiana Man hates making nail holes in the wall - or rather, he hates me making nail holes in the wall. He tends to mutter something about it "compromising the structural integrity of the house." o.O

 I have great plans every year to stitch Prairie Schooler designs every month. I finished two March designs I have been working on and off for a year or two.

I also finished the 'Dutch Alphabet' design by Sheepish Designs that I searched high and low for. It's long. Long and skinny. It will definitely break up a grouping of upright rectangle frames!


Yesterday, I was out of sorts. I really think it is just the beginning of this season's seasonal allergies. I self-medicated by starting a new sampler: 'Mary Tillinghast' by Sheepish Antiques (Sheepish Designs).
The peach colors in this sampler looked a bit washed out to my eye, so I bumped the colors up: instead of 950 (dark) and 543 (light), I used 407/3773 (dark) and 950 (light). I am happy with the change so far. Today I will be searching for new yellows. The yellow flowers seem so bright and happy; 3045 and 3046 are not going to cut it.



I shopped Tanya the Sampler Girl's fabulous stash sale, and acquired this gem: Prairie Schooler 12 Days of Christmas! I was so excited to find the non-Santa version. I'm not a big Santa person - I know, that is heresy in the cross stitch world. I might as well come clean and say I am not a snowman person either - do I have any readers left? Santas and snowmen have a bit of the clown-scare-factor to my taste. Don't hate me! lol I have this brilliant plan wherein I stitch two complete sets of the 12 Days - one with blond people and one with brunettes. Then I can lovingly present the appropriate set to my daughters. I may be on a 10-year plan here!

Homeschool is all systems go here - can't you tell? ;)

Stitching update

Sorry about the red bar behind each picture. If I delete it, then the pictures from past posts start showing up in random places in the center and the otherwise "dead" right-had column. I have been stitching. I have been trying to post also, but apparently my blog is too out of date to cooperate nicely with blogger. Not quite sure how to go up about fixing it. Today is a nasty rainy day. The girls and Jerry and I are sick. I have eaten nothing but tomato soup for a week. I thought I deserved a new start today. :) I have been wanting to stitch this Mary Beale Christmas design for a long time. Yesterday I actually picked up 'Lo a Rose,' and put a couple of words and motifs in. I love the design, but hate the fabric I chose. I think I am on a 15-year plan with it. I have always wanted to have an Old Testament tree for Advent. We do readings with the girls based on the idea of the 'Jesse Tree,' but it focuses on Jesus' bloodline, and so leaves out many Old Testament stories. I stitched 'Elijah' and 'Joshua' from Mary Beale's Christmas ornament. I am adding names. I also stitched 'Jonah and the Whale' from another Mary Beale ornament series. I like those slightly bigger ones better, but there are not as many of them. I actually spent some time this afternoon cutting out pieces of foam board for the ornament-making. Well, that's one step closer to a sampler tree! I also separated this post into paragraphs, but it did not work...

Ornaments and Blogging Blahs

I love being part of the blogosphere, but some things have changed lately that encourage me to avoid blogging. 1. I can't figure out how to blog straight from Picassa anymore. (Louisiana Man fixed that) 2. Whenever I upload pictures, suddenly they are all on top of each other, and I have to go in a separate each one. (got fixed somehow) 3. The right-hand sidebar is way, way down at the bottom of the blog. I looked it up on help, and it instructed me to look at link by link to see what the problem could be. Gee, thanks. (Now that is suddenly fixed too!! What is going on? This morning I had to scroll all the way down...Oh, for crying out loud!) (Now it is gone again! AAARRRGGGHHHH!)

Anyway, I have been stitching like..like...like a what? A house a-fire? A banshee? Do banshees stitch?
Next week homeschool starts back hard and heavy, so this week I am indulging in all my fantasy stitching!
The first picture is an WIP ornament from the November/December 1991 Just Cross Stitch. JCS has been publishing ornament for a long time - I have '85, '87 and '88! I love looking back through the older issues (older? I graduated high school in '91!!!) and seeing how the designers have honed their styles over the years; I also lament designers no longer designing. This issue seems to have left off the designers' names. It is fun to try and guess the designers, but they are only guesses. I wonder if the above is a Sheepish Designs, or Nostalgic Needle, or ... Any guesses?

The design below is definitely Sheepish Designs from the 1999 JCS ornament issue. It was designed for a dark blue (gunmetal?) linen, but I used what I had on hand (wood violet) and adjusted the colors a bit.

Who can resist Prairie Schooler? Such classic designs that never looked dated! This is 'Cranberry Christmas' from the 2007 JCS ornament issue. I think I might try to back this one with felt.
This is a Brittercup design from the JCS ornament issue 2006. I stitched this for our puppy dog Hektor, and plan on backstitching his name on the stocking.
This design is so obviously Homespun Elegance! I found this leaflet on e$ay a year or so ago. It is 'Colonial Celebration I' from 1990. There are 10 designs, and I would like to stitch several of them. This design is called 'Williamsburg Couple.' Louisiana Man and I went to Savannah on our honeymoon and again this year for our 15th anniversary. I thought this would be a good commemorative ornament for those trips. I need a wider ribbon for the edging - the turquoise floss I used for stitching it together shows! (I didn't want to waste a color I use frequently just for binding!)
I have always loved this series by Shepherd's Bush! This is the ornament for the JCS ornament issue 2006. I am just using overdyed threads I have on hand. I keep thinking it looks very Americana!

I am going to hop on the treadmill and read a bit more of 'Ross Poldark.' I started watching the mini-series on Ne$flix. It is very dated (an odd complaint about a period piece!), but still enjoyable. I like the book even better, and there are seven more in the series! It has to be a fantastic read to keep me on the treadmill - if only I could stitch and walk!! :)

Tweet Tweet!

Alright, the title is lame.

Here is my first ornament finish of the year - not the first ornament start, no that has already been laid aside.

I confess, I chose a design I knew I could easily finish in an afternoon. As I stitched, I was constantly aware of what an excellent designer Paulette of Plum Street Samplers is. The design is small, yet filled with detail. I stitched this on 32 count antique ivory with the given DMC conversion.

Here is Hector guarding my progress on Sheepish Design's Anonymous Women. I really like this more and more. This was designed by Cindy Bradford, now of Little by Little Designs. As I stitch the bottom portion, I seem to recognize the hand that designed Ann Pennsylvania Peacock. Maybe that is just fanciful! I would love to hurry and finish this up, but I have dutifully laid it aside to work on another piece or two. My definition of rotation is getting looser by the day! ;)

Merry Christmas, Belle Watling?

I was able to get in quite a bit of stitching this week while I was too sick to do anything else. I finished up three more ornaments for Christmas. We decorate our tree on Christmas Eve, but I was thinking of decorating an Advent Tree this year with Old Testament themes. I have been going through various Mary Beale publications and finding many must-stitch ornaments!
The story of Rahab has always intrigued me, and the above ornament is a highly stylized symbol of that Old Testament episode. It is so highly stylized that it makes me think of Belle Watling's apartments in Gone with the Wind! ;)

I enjoy Mary Beale's color schemes, although I usually hold my breath a bit as the first few garish colors meet on linen.

I have had quite a bit of stitching and tea this week, although not under the best of circumstances. Fortunately I have occasionally felt well enough to go out with the puppy and enjoy some autumn sunlight. Hope you all have relaxing, sunny weekends!

Well, knock me over with a feather...

I have cross stitch finishes!

I was in a major cross stitch rut. I was working on an autumn design, and I messed up. I know it can be fixed, but I was just annoyed. But this weekend I jumped back in the saddle. Nothing like a new project to cure the stitching blues! First I stitched Tanya's newest ornament from the 2011 JSC ornament issue. Then I searched through my JCS ornament magazine collection. I probably could have stitched 3 or 4 ornaments in the time I spent going through those magazines! I finally chose a Little by Little design from 2001. The colors are so much brighter than they appeared in the magazine photo! I picked out a Mary Beale ornament to work on this week while the girls are at dance. I just need to find a lighting arrangement for the van.

Hector the pound puppy is doing well. He is healthy and happy and loves his new family. Every mom needs more of this in her life!

That's better!

Finish and New Start

Jerry and I started watching Midsomer Murders on Netflix - again. This time, Netflix's instant viewing unpredictability was a good thing - they have added more Midsomer Murders. Last night I started stitching 'The Harvesters' by Little House Needleworks. I don't have the overdyed orange called for, but I have decided to use one of the dozens of overdyed oranges I have on hand. I also plan to change the little boy into a little girl to represent my daughter.

Cue the Count from Sesame Street: I have 1, 1 lovely Christmas ornament - Ha! Ha! Ha!

Only 11 more to go to meet my Christmas ornament a month goal! WhooHoo! ;) hmmm....

Taking a popsicle break

I have been very sick this week. It is not the flu, but it is pretty crummy nonetheless. And it is requiring a lot of popsicles.

Today I started a Mary Beale ornament, "Mary was espoused to Joseph." I have never been much of a snowman or santa Christmas stitcher. I usually prefer a religious or nature theme. Although I am beginning to like some of the Mary Beale repeated patterns too.

The ornament below was intense! There are a lot of stitches in that little ornament! I love bargello-style designs, and I can never resist Carriage House Samplings. If you remember this ornament from 2005, you know it was charted to say "Dec. 1804." In my sinus infection-induced fog this morning, I thought I would just freehand "Christmas" and see how it fit. I still cannot believe it fit perfectly - and on the first try!

Jerry has run to pick up pizza and calzones since I don't need to do any food prep! Pizza, stitching, "A Touch of Frost," (a mystery series) antibiotics, and then BED!

I have enjoyed looking through all the pictures with your Christmas decorating. I thought I would show you how much I have done this year. Hmmmm...I don't think this picture will win me any awards.... ;)

Have you seen this?

Another ornament done. Well, not quite. I suppose I need to do a bit more before I can hang it!

Speaking of ornaments, have you seen Linda Wallace's trees? Here are two links to a tour of her trees. They each show different things.

http://tennesseesamplers.blogspot.com/2010/12/decorating-with-samplers-for-christmas.html

http://www.marybeale.com/images/lwallace/

One day, one day.....