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!

To Dye or Not to Dye...I need your help!

Hi to all my blog friends.  I'm so glad that you came to visit today.  I am doing a little happy dance, as I just finished my Weeping Tree sampler.  So now that it's done, I'm wondering if it needs some antiquing.    I am in need of your opinion.  This is stitched on 32 count cream fabric, and I'm wondering if I should dip this in some dye.  I've never dyed a finished piece before, so I welcome you thoughts.  I like it the way it looks now, but I'm wondering if it has a 1990's look, instead of a 1843 look.  

Here is a close up of the little sheep made out of an eyelet variation.  So fun to stitch. 

Take a look at that bird next to my initials.  Funny story about him.  I was outside stitching in the warm sun, when I decided I needed a little refreshment.  So I went to take a drink from my water glass that had been sweating in the summer sun, and plop!...A big sweat drop of water dropped on my pattern.  I didn't get too worried about it, I just brushed it off, and kept stitching.  Later I discovered that the ink had run from my pattern onto my fabric!  Yikes, I was in full panic!  I scrubbed on it, I used a tide pen on it, I tried just about everything I could think of, but to no avail.  There was a faded gray ink spot soiling my fabric..so the bird was the idea I came up to cover it up, and it worked out pretty well I think.

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The Weeping Tree Sampler, by the City Stitcher.  Stitched with suggested colors on 32 count cream fabric.  Now on to other things that happended in October.

Last month I won a giveaway from Marly over at Sampler's and Santa's.  Wow, this was a wonderful package to receive!  Thanks so much Marly.  Go over and visit her...she inspires and entertains like no other. 

I had a fun pincushion making day, with my friend Kathryn (no blog).  Kathryn gifted me with the pincushion on the right, and then together we made the others.  This is the Acorn Pincushion pattern by Crabapple Hill.  What a great way to spend the day!

We went on a family vacation last month, and we spent the day on Daytona beach, playing in the sand with my brother's family, and watching...

the amazing Thunderbirds, and many other great aerobatic feats.  Now people in Daytona, Florida have the right idea.  What a perfect way to watch an airshow!  Forget about hot tarmacs, this was actually fun.

The next day we sailed on a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas. Best vacation EVER!   If you are not a fan of  cruising, (I'm usually in this category), then you really need to try Disney.  They do everything right.  My kids can't wait to go again.  We enjoyed a perfect day on Disney's private island. 

We became pirates for a night, and helped to save the ship.   We posed for a picture with the amazing Mike Super who has a Super de duper magic show, and is a really nice guy too.  All of the shows were amazing.  The best thing about this trip is seeing my son smile the whole time.  He enjoyed every minute of this trip and spent a lot of time hanging out with other kids in the teen lounge.   

My daughter smiled a lot too.  She went sleuthing.  The Disney Dream has this really fun sleuthing activity, where you register a card at this computer screen, and then you run around the ship holding your card up to the pictures.  Sensors in the paintings interact with you in a personal way, animating a unique mystery right before your eyes.  It was incredible.  I can't believe the fun things they have to offer. We swam, ate, and relaxed.  What could be better than that?  More stitching I guess...not a lot of that happened.

As it's so hard to leave something that great, Disney doesn't say goodbye, the characters sing, "See you real soon".  Thanks for visiting my blog today.  I appreciate each and every one of your comments and especially your advice.  I'll see you again in blogland real soon too.  Happy Stitching.

Remember when...

Hi dear blog friends.  How are you all doing?  My life certainly has not been my own the past few month, but in between all the hustle and bustle I've managed to get a few stitches into my linen and some sewing done.  Let's see if you can remember any of these old samplers from the past.  At the moment I'm working on a sampler called, "The Weeping Tree" by the City Stitcher.  It's an oldie, but a goodie from 1995.  I know it's pathetic, but the house took me most of the summer to construct.  I was shocked that I used a whole skein of DMC floss on the brick mortar!  I'm feeling like my mojo is returning while working on this.  Probably because it's stitched on 32 count, and is really easy on the eyes. 

I have a little progress to show on Shores.  I used several colors of red silk on the fish in block 12, instead of making them all one color.  I like the variation it provided.  I'm taking this on vacation in a few weeks, and hopefully I can finish up another block or two.

I'm still working on the Toy Chest.  I took a class on how to finish this piece, and I want to get this done soon, so I can apply what I've learned.  The horse has just about done me in.  It's over one... need I say more?

I started this on one of our summer travels.  Prairie Moon's, For Thine is the Trick and the Treat.  Shepherds Bush had this fabric dyed especially for their shop, and I think it's perfect.  I know that this won't be done this Halloween, but it should be fun to work on during the Fall season.

My quilt guild has been doing a wool ornament class.  We receive several ornies a month to complete.  So far mine are cut out, and that's about as far as I've gotten.  They are really cute done in person, and if I can only keep up, I'll have a really cute feather tree filled with unique wool ornaments in the year 2014.

I am also hosting a block exchange at my quilt guild.  We are making 24 blocks per month.  Here is a stack of exchanged blocks and some I am working on.  These will be for the quilt, Idaho Farm Girl, by Kim Diehl

I was invited by a couple of friends to work on this quilt by Needl' Love.  Of course, I don't have any willpower whatsoever, and I told them to count me in.  I love the colors of this quilt, and can't wait for some time to work on it. 

 I stitched this sampler last winter, and never put it on my blog.  I think this is my favorite Fall sampler, and the frame is stunning.  I can't remember the designer, but if anyone is interested, I'll find the pattern and the name.

I stitched this sampler way back in the 90's, when large count fabrics were all the rage.  I originally  finished it into a wall hanging, but over the years I tired of it.  One day I decided to frame it and I love the way it looks now.  A new frame is a good way to freshen up an old piece.

This is a really old sampler from Oberlin Designs.  I changed quite a bit on this piece.  The fabric, the floss... I added buttons, and silk ribbon pumpkins.  It's bright, but I love this sampler still.

My table is sporting Bent Creek's Fall Snapper.  Also a darling owl that my friend made for me.  It's from the Pumpkin Patch Needl' Love book. 

Now for family happenings.  In July, my daughter celebrated her 11th birthday.  She wanted to have a gymnastics party and watch the new American Girl movie, McKenna.  All the girls brought their dolls.  Wow!  Was it ever cute.  She had a  sleep over with her cousins afterwards....which lasted 3 days, because they were having so much fun.  I'm such a pushover!

We traveled to San Diego for my cousins wedding at the end of July.  It was a gorgeous day in the bay area.  My kids look grumpy here because we were getting ready to fly home soon.   This is the San Diego Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  You can read more about temples here and here.   

My nephew got married at the South Jordan temple a few weeks later.  This is my fabulous brother (the nicest anesthesiologist in the state), his wife, their son, and new daughter in law.  Another beautiful day with the family.

After a weekend in Arizona (no pictures on that trip), we took a very quick trip that was less than 24 hours, to Colorado to visit my husbands 91 year old granddad.  He is amazing.  He still lives at home, cooks his own food, and does most everything for himself.  He taught me how to make English soft boiled eggs.  The lovely lady in the purple shirt is my husbands wonderful sister.  We love traveling with her, and she tempted us to visit the Redwoods the next weekend...

which we did, because we are crazy, and we just can't get enough adventure!  The kids and I flew to Portland, where we were met by my husband.  Then we drove down the coast to Crescent City, (took us about 9 hours), where we enjoyed the Redwoods for one day.  After wearing ourselves out hiking, and sleeping on cots, we  were up at 5:30 AM and made another 9 hour trip down to Oakland California to fly home.  That's how most of our trips have been this summer...2-3 days at most.  It's so fun but wears one out!

There has been much happening at home too.  This is the new Brigham City Temple that was just dedicated a week ago.  One early morning I took my young women group from church to see the bride room.  It's one of prettiest that I have ever been in.  What an amazing experience it has been to have this structure being built in our small town.  We are so blessed as a community.

To celebrate the temple open house, 4000 kids from the temple district practiced for months for a big pageant that they performed for their parents and church leaders.  Yes, I was involved with every one of those practices.  My son was one of the soldiers in this swing number celebrating the military hospital that was here during WWII.  My son danced with a really cute girl!  I was so impressed with his performance.

There wasn't a dry eye in the audience as we celebrated this great country we live in and the new temple in our midst.  

Enjoy a wonderful Saturday wherever you are.  May you enjoy time with your family and have many creative moments too.