Getting my head back in the game!

 

 

Hello!  How do I come back from such a long absence?  I'm just going to jump back in with both feet and hope for the best.  Hopefully someone out there will be somewhat inspired by the progress I've made the past several months.  I finished my Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, by Carriage House samplings!  (Hallelujah chorus singing!) It was stitched with Vicki Clayton Silks, and a few NPI silks.  The fabric is 36 count cream, that I hand dyed with tan Rit dye.  Wow, did it ever feel good to put  the final stitches in this sampler.  This sampler took me just over 5 years to complete, and I dedicated it to my husbands 7th grandfather back.

William Mayne Duncanson was a Captain for the East India Trading Company.  He amassed a fortune during his trading days, and moved to Washington D.C. in 1794.

With that fortune he built a beautiful historic home near the nations capital, which is one of the few houses still standing today.  It was named, The Friendship House or The Maples.  The house was finished in 1796.  William entertained guests such as George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson and was influential in politics and government.  Sadly not long after finishing the home, his business partner swindled him out of his fortune, and he lost his home.  He passed away in much more modest circumstances.  The house was later owned by Francis Scott Key. 

It was fascinating to read his story and to learn more about this relative.  In 2012 a development company bought the home, and they are now building upscale condos around the property.  The home will serve as a gathering place for the residents.  I can't wait to go and see it someday.  It has such a rich history.  I stitched a bit of this history on the bottom of the sampler, and will include a more detailed history with the frame. 

I got a few quilts back from the quilters and I have been busy putting on bindings.  This is a quilt top that my mom made for my 40th birthday.  This quilt is called The Journal Quilt and it's by Wednesday's Best Quilts. 

This is The Garden Fence by Fig Tree Quilts.

This quilt is called "Home is Where the Haunt Is".  It's by Kimberbell Designs, and was a mystery quilt that I signed up for a few years ago. 

This is called "A Vintage Christmas" and it's by Bunny Hill Designs. 

I got this framed a while ago, but never showed it on my blog.  This is called "The Village Alphabet" by Cross My Heart.  This one took a whopping 18 years to complete. 

I absolutely love the way this sampler turned out.  This is a Quaker friendship round robin that many friends stitch on.  It is one of my favorite samplers of all time!  I think the frame goes perfectly with it. 

This is Hillside Traveler, by Little House Needleworks.  This is another favorite sampler.  Do you ever have a sampler that  you wish you could hang in several places in your house at once?  I feel that way about this sampler.

Sorry about the flash showing on the glass in this sampler.  This is The Weeping Tree Sampler by The City Stitcher.  I have this hanging in my kitchen.

This little quilt was easy to do.  I just had to add the boarder and binding.  I quilted it myself, because I need the practice.  The doll clothes were ironed onto fusible fleece, and then cut out.  I made a little bag to put all of the clothes in, and I think I'll keep this out were it can be played with during the Christmas season.  I took this to my guild for show and tell, and after the meeting about 5 ladies ran up to the local quilt shop, and bought the rest of their panels.  It's so cute in person. 

In January, I took a class from Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  She is a fabulous teacher, and if you get the chance to take a class from her, do not hesitate!  I didn't think I would learn that much, as I have been doing embroidery for 30 years, but I found her techniques improved my stitching by leaps and bounds.  We made this wall hanging on the first day.  Wool, is my new obsession.  I have a lot of wool projects in the works right not. 

In February, my daughter talked me into remodeling her room.  It was quite an undertaking!  I guess after 10 years of being in our home, it was time to make the bedrooms more appealing to teenagers.  So this is what my daughters room looked like before...

..and this is after.  I had to do about 15 coats of paint to get it to this point.  I don't look forward to painting over that black someday.  She absolutely loves her room now!  It's so girly, with lots of black Eiffel tower accents.  The best part is, she keeps it really clean!

Unlike my son, who's room was such a disaster, we opted to take things out of it, rather than clean it up for a before photo opp.  It looks like his comforter needs some readjusting in this picture, but at least he made his bed, right?  We added a queen bed to his room, and painted the dresser to match.  I am going to paint his room this summer.  I'm thinking gray and white.  I am a little tired of the tan and red, although it's not bad. 

My in laws moved last summer, and wanted to clear out some of their things, so we inherited this antique type set case.  It's kind of a fun way to display little treasured knick-knacks that you don't know what to do with.  Many of the things in here came from my husbands grandparents, and then we added little special things that have been given to us over the years too.

I made more Abbey Bags.  One for my sewing room, and one for a gift.  They are so much fun to make.

I got some wonderful treasures for my birthday.  I have sweet friends!

One of the wool projects I started is this wool lamb by Buttermilk Basin.  I am working on getting blankets cut out to take on vacation.  It's easy to get them cut out and ironed down, the sewing is the part that takes me forever. 

This little project was intended for Valentines day, but I just got it sewn into a pillow last week.  This comes from the Valentine Need'l Love book.  I still need to make some buttons flowers to tuck into the heart pocket, but once summer hits, I should have time to work on it.

I'll leave you with another fun antique we inherited.  Another summer project on my list is to make a Gail Wilson doll to put on this chair.  I love the way it sits in my stairway.  

I hope this post finds you all well dear blog friends.  May you enjoy each moment with your sewing and do as much of it as you can.  Talk to you all soon!

2012 Goals

Hi to all my blog friends.  It's hard to believe that it has been so long since my last post!  A lot has happened in my life the past 6 months.  My daughter's ballet and school schedule have been responsible for most of my absence, but I also have been put in charge of the 14-15 year old girls at my church.  Teaching on Sunday and having an activity every Wednesday for10 girls, has been really fun and exhausting at the same time.  I have not done a lot of stitching in the past 6 months, which makes for one cranky mom!  The reason I started this blog in the first place, was to be able to post some stitching and sewing goals.  It was a great bonus to meet some wonderful friends and be able to be inspired by your work.  I found myself buying 2 projects to every one I finished. I even found my stitching style changing as I looked at everything out there.  I definitely started to do harder projects, and found myself buying 40 count linen!  Yikes, my eyes are regretting that!  Well, I have a closet that is pretty much out of control, and a stitching drawer that cannot handle one more project!  It's time to make some goals to finish what I have, and hopefully I can be happy with my stash and not be tempted to add to it every week!   
I have been noticing a lot of challenges going on for finishing WIP's, and am going to add my list here. If anyone is working on the same projects and wants to do a SAL, please let me know.  It's always more fun to work on something with someone else.Sorry I didn't bother to iron all my linen before pictures.  You get to see my goals, wrinkles and all.

I really, really want to get this one done soon.  I love this project, but it doesn't love me!  I have had to unpick a great deal on this, for some reason.  Despite that, it's still one of my favorite samplers, and I want to see it hanging in my living room real soon.  This is a sampler called Mary Allen.  I am doing a SAL with Deb.  What do you say Deb, are you ready for more? 

I showed incredible restraint at the Shepherd's Bush sale last Saturday, and this was the extent of my purchases.  The frames were only $7.00 for both!  Can you believe that?  I could not pass them up.  Jolene gave me the little kit in the stocking for one of my fabulous Christmas presents, and I bought the other one at the sale.  One of my goals this year is to start a collection of small pincushions to rest in a bowl.  So many of you have these, and I just love them!

I want to finish Shores this year if it kills me!  Why I put it down in the first place, I will never know, but picking it back up again has been so hard.  My goal is to get one block a month done until it is finished.  My Mom and SIL are going to start a SAL with Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow, so I hope to finish this before starting that OWB  (overwhelming Beast!)

I started this on a plane ride to Philadelphia a year and a half ago.  I'd love to have it framed and displayed by July. 

This is Drawn Threads, Random Thoughts.   I realized that I stitched the center words in the wrong colors, and I haven't been real happy with it since. I don't think it would take long to finish, so it's on the list.  I'll have to get the whole thing done before I decide if I need to frog  the center. 

I started this on Thanksgiving, thinking I could get it done by Christmas (yea, right!)  It's such a cute design.  It's called Joy to the World by Heartstring Sampling, and those cleaver ladies at the  Shepherd's Bush changed the linen and thread colors.  It's wonderful in person.  I want this hanging up for Christmas next year.

I took this class from the Swan Sampler Guild several years ago.  I love this design from Ellen Chester, and I have no idea why I put this away.  I have all of the things in it to make it into a huswife, but it would be lovely framed as well.  I will have to finish the stitching and decide what to do with it. 

This is Little House Needlework's, Hillside Traveler.  This is the one that has been getting most of my attention this week.  I love working on it.  My husband took the kids out for a couple of hours on Monday, and the house was quiet for the first time in months!  I filled in most of the green hill and stitched the little people, and watched  "The African Queen" with Kathryn Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.  It recharged my stitching batteries.  I forgot how much stitching can calm the nerves!

This is a Round Robin that my local stitching group did in 2007.  I have been waiting to have one more friend stitch on it, but I think I will complete the last section so I can get it up on the wall.  This was really fun to do, and each motif was stitched by a dear friend which makes it special.

I think this is my oldest WIP.  I don't know what possessed me to buy this other than I was dazzled by the pretty colors.  This is stitching for the crazy person!  Better get it done before my eyes are completely shot.  I love this design, but it is very tedious to work on.  The Heart's Content, English Carpet.

I had the pleasure of attending the Swan's Sampler Guild retreat this summer.  I intended to post about it, but never got around to it.  It was a wonderful event, and I met new stitching friends, and got acquainted with old friends as well.  Betsy Morgan was a fabulous teacher.  I would love to finish this before next Christmas so I can display it with my antique toys. 

This is another class that I took at a retreat in Park City several years ago.  It's a lovely needle case, and a girl can't have too many of those, right?

I bought this from The Silver Needle, the minute it came out.  I love Halloween, and this Etui by Just Nan was so clever.  I stitched the first section on the way to Quilt market in Houston, and then got sidetracked by quilts, and didn't get back to it.  I want this done by Halloween this year!

I have been doing some mystery quilts with a darling, new shop near my home called"My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe".  The designer is the twin sister of the owner.  So far I have completed the Halloween, and Christmas quilts.  This is the January quilt that should be on my wall right now, but I didn't get it to the quilter's in time.  I start the Valentine one this week.  So I need to get this one completed first.

I worked on this over Christmas.  This is from American Patchwork and Quilting August 2004.   It's a beautiful table runner, and I just need to sew on the tabs and the back.  It's a Blackbird Design.

Bunny Hill's, Vintage Christmas.  I worked on this at the last quilting retreat that I attended.  I am so close to finishing it, just need to do the embroidery, and put it together for the quilter.  If I get it in soon, she should be able to get it back to me before next Christmas. 

Well, I have several other quilts and small projects that need attention, but I think this is enough for the goals this year.  A goal unwritten is just a wish, so hopefully this will propel me to complete these things this year.  If you are still with me, I thank you so much for your comments and support!  I miss all my blog friends, and hope you have a wonderful and great stitching year!  Until next time.

A big surprise, finishes, and a get away!

A surprise from my dear blogging friend, Jolene!

I got the most wonderful surprise in the mail on Friday. Jolene, one of our sail away members, sent me a gift of orange, rust colored stork scissors and a darling card. I was so blown away by her kindness! When I opened the card these wonderful Fall leaves floated into my lap. It was like getting little hugs from a friend. I've never met Jolene, but can you just tell by how generous she is with others, that she is one sweet, kindred friend. I hope to be a friend like her. She makes you feel good and loved, which is a true gift. Thank you a million times Jolene! I can't wait to meet. There are so many bloggers that I feel this way about. To all of you, I thank you for your comments, and inspiration in helping me be a better person. By the way, Jolene is having a fabulous blog give-away. You will definitely want to check it out.

Spooky Sheep by Shepherd's Bush. One of the few finishes I've done lately. Made perfect with Jolene's sweet gift!

Flea Market Find by Blackbird Designs

I've managed to finish another work in progress. I changed the colors of the fabric, and stitched the vine on the right side of the house instead of the left. I also added the date, a couple more motifs around the house, and the mother-of-pearl button. I'm still trying to decide if I like it the button. What do you think? Does it need more buttons to even it out?
I stitched spider-web roses on my vine, and added a few more motifs. I also changed the color of the stem and leaves in the third block to GA Dried Thyme. It went better with my fabric color.

This week I have been trying to make some progress on Sail Away. I'm hoping to finish soon, so that I can work on another Shepherd's Bush Design, Baby Bug Ball.After about a half of an hour of frustration, and staring hopelessly at this project, I discovered why I was off one thread. Can you see that stitch right in the middle, that I went over one thread instead of two? When I discovered it, I just about died! At that moment I certainly wanted to! My kids wanted to know why I was talking like Yosemite Sam! This screw up could not have been in a worse spot since I had completed the water and lighthouse section already. To fix it, it would have meant ripping out half of this section. Thankfully I was cheered up by Jolene's gift, and decided to try and figure out a way to fix the problem. I am stitching the entire hillside over one thread instead of two. It will take twice as long, but it's better than the alternative of ripping this whole section out. Shepherd's Bush, Baby Bug Ball.
I'm stitching this with Jane, my blogging friend from Australia.

Another dear blogger that I love to read, Miss Jane's Stitching, is starting Baby Bug Ball. I asked her if she minded a tag-a-long stitcher. I always work better on something if I can be inspired by someone else's photos. She is on board, and I'm thrilled to be able to stitch this with her. I actually started this about 3 years ago. I worked on it all night, and this is how far I got. I remember being so proud of myself that I got so much done, and then, for some unknown reason, I put it away, and there it has sat in the back of my closet ever since! I have it on my UFO finish list for 2009, so with Jane's incredible photos, and support, I hope to get it done in a timely manner. Thanks so much Jane! I'm excited to stitch with you!

Inside the American Girl museum, Los Angeles

Last month we snuck away to Los Angeles for the day. DD and I wanted to go before Christmas so she could pick out her doll. It was a really quick trip. We were there less than 24 hours. I've been sewing like mad to get some outfits made to put under the tree. It has been a fun endeavor for me! I love sewing doll clothes. I won't show you a picture yet, but I promise I will when it gets closer to the holidays.

Lining up for the doll salon. We did not do this, but I thought it was cleaver and fun!Julie, the doll my DD had her heart set upon!

I was prepared to lay out a lot of cash at this place, but the only thing that my daughter wanted was the Julie doll, and a black fan. I told her she could get an outfit or two, but she was dead set on just having the doll! Now these dolls aren't cheap. I had to do a heck-of-a lot-of- talking to get my husband to agree to buy a $95.00 doll in the first place, so he was thrilled we didn't buy more.Riding the trolley outside of the mall where the American Girl Store is. What a beautiful California Day!

DD made out again at the hardware store last week, when I had another moment of weakness and my husband and I bought her a bunny. Twenty minutes after leaving the store I was wondering what in the heck I was thinking! I don't need more stress with another animal! This little guy is really friendly, and loves to be held like a baby. He hardly gets put down between husband, DD and DS.

A Vintage Christmas By Bunny Hill

Last but not least, I've been working on A Vintage Christmas by Bunny Hill. It is a darling quilt that I've started with my Mom and Sister-in-law. We got together on a Friday last month, and pooled our stashes together to get a quilt cut for each of us. We did buy some of the fabrics that were used in the original, but over all, we saved a lot of money by sharing stash. I am pumped over this quilt! It is so cute. Hopefully I can get it done for Christmas. I am using the "spray starch method" of applique.

Thanks for stopping by to see me! I'm so grateful for my dear blogging friends. I hope all is well with you. Thanks for your sweet comments. I love hearing from you.