Happy Dog-iversary to my girl Sage! I missed posting on the acutal day but just wanted to say how much fun I've had with Sage and all that I have learned about her and dogs in general over the past year. Of course it's been sunny and warm of late but I love this picture of her playing in the snow last winter and wanted to share!
You can read more about my adventures with Sage on my Dog Blog!
Wow, I've been super busy the past few weeks and haven't had an update in awhile but I have managed to get some stitching done in between taxes, dog stuff and a couple dentist visits. I decided to replace the old silver fillings with white ones a year ago and I finally conquered my fear of the chair and just did it. And guess what, it wasn't that bad! Although as I write this my bottom lip still feels a bit fat!
Anyway, let's get onto the stitching! At the last Sampler Guild of the Rockies meeting I started stitching our latest fundraising piece, designed by Tanya of The Scarlett House. Here it is shown with all of the basically 12 stitches that I managed during the three hour meeting. I guess that's a sign of just how much fun we have at our meetings because we talk and laugh the whole time and get very little stitching done!
I did manage to finish this piece and just love the thread colors, the backing fabric and that yummy 40 count Vintage Buttercream fabric. It's been awhile since I worked on 40 count since I've been doing so much 36 count and it's just wonderful stuff. Makes me want to start the project I kitted up on 45 count fabric while at the Attic back in January. But, I digress... here's the stitched piece:
Isn't it great??? It will be stitched into a pincushion with hand dyed ric rack that my friend Katrina dyed especially for this project. There are also some cute beaded pins that coordinate with these colors. :)
I also managed to get some stitching done on my class piece for the Sampler Guild of the Rockies Seminar in April. The vine is done and I've started the flowers. There are 24 flowers each outlined over one with a rice stitch center and varigated tent stitch fill. It's going to be very pretty but I must admit that I'm ready to have the stitching done as I'm just itching to start another big sampler!
And lastly, I missed last week's TUSAL posting so here's my TUSAL for March. I actually took this photo on the new moon day but was too busy to get it posted so please forgive the late posting. Of course, if you want to get in on the fun, you can read all about it on Daffycat's blog.
Well, thanks for dropping by to see what I've been up to. I can pretty much feel my face again so I think it's time to hit the post button and go make dinner. Happy stitching!
That's right, I finished Paradise Lost this week! Here it is in all it's glory...
I just love this piece! It reminds me of a piece that my mom stitched for me when I was little. It's still at my parents' house or I'd take a picture of it to show you. This was my challenge piece for the Sampler Guild of the Rockies as well as for Becky's BAP Challenge. I think I might need to add another piece to my 2012 challenge lists!
I stitched this on 36 ct. Vintage Light Examplar with the called for Needlepoint Silks. I made one change, do you see it?
That's right, I added my black cat next to Eve! I love adding him into pieces that I stitch as a way to personalize them as mine. I used to change something on every piece I stitched, the linen, threads or something else. Now I'm more content to stitch things as charted but a piece like this one just was perfect for personalization like this with all the animals so here he is! :)
I just loved stitching this guy too, saved him for nearly last and it was such a fun addition:
And, here is Tiger wondering what the fuss is about and why she's not in this piece too!
It was such a fun piece to stitch and as I was nearing the end of this piece I started to think about all of the things I want to start next. I want to start Mary Roe by The Scarlett House next and I think I now have everything I need but I think before I start another big project I'd like to do a few little things, like a pincushion for an exchange we are doing at Sampler Guild, the pre-stitching for my Briar Rose Etui, an ornament, etc. Plus, I have Anniversaries of the Heart kitted and ready plus the valentine piece from the new Blackbird Designs book and the rest of Plum Street Samplers Russian series... So, I'm not sure what I'm stitching next quite yet, I think I may savor this finish for a day or two before starting something new.
I thought you might be tired of only seeing Paradise Lost in these posts but never fear, I have a finish to show you! Back in January I attended the Sampler Symposium hosted by Attic Needlework. It was a great time with awesome projects, dear friends and of course lots of shopping! One of the class pieces was A Lady's Trimkeep designed by Paulette of Plum Street Samplers and here's my finish:
A couple weeks ago I had a funeral of a friend to attend and I came home wanting to do something different. I played around with organizing my stash a bit and then got this out and sat down with it. I started it late so it took me two sittings to stitch it but I love how it turned out! And, Paulette's finishing instructions were very clear and easy to follow. I think she said that she would release this chart in the future so keep an eye out for it because it's a quick and fun stitch and it will look so cute in a basket of smalls!
This past weekend I took another break from Paradise Lost on Sunday to start the pre-stitching for a class that I'll be taking in April through the Sampler Guild of the Rockies. It is the Briar Rose Etui taught by Jackie du Plessis. I've had the kit since our February meeting which isn't too long but decided that I really needed to get started on this or I'd be stitching like a mad woman the week before the class. Being that I tend to work on one project at a time and am nearing a finish of Paradise Lost I was reluctant to start this. So I decided to make it a Stitch on Sundays piece. Something that I'll work on every Sunday until it's finished and then I can stitch whatever I want the rest of the time.
It's a really pretty piece with flowers around the outside but there's a lot of outlining too! Jackie's instructions had said to start with the vine but I really wanted to get some of the tone on tone stitching done so I knew the outer border would match. Next Sunday I'll get started on the vine and flowers. They should go faster since they're a color and are done partially in tent stitch. The red thread is to mark the top since the vine is not symmetrical all the way around, this way I hopefully won't mess that up! It was beautiful here on Sunday, almost 70 degrees so I sat outside to do this work as a reward and it was actually much easier to see what I was doing that way too.
I'll be back to working on Paradise Lost next and hope to have a finish to show you soon. As I near the end of a project I seem to speed up but I also start dreaming of what I want to stitch next! I have a couple in mind and a few friends seem determined to turn me into a not one at a time stitcher! LOL! Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
