The Wreath is Finished!

This was a fun, quick stitch! I really enjoyed all the colors.
I am stitching it using DMC, but for this one, I used blended threads for a more subtle effect.

Now that the end is in sight, I have decided to go for it and finish this up before I start any new projects.

Two more little boxes to go, plus the lettering and the border of course.

The next little design is Thankful.

County Fair is Finished!

This one was not one of my favorites, but I think it will blend well into the whole design.

This is how it looks so far:

Not the best picture, but it is getting harder to take such wide shots.

There are 3 more little boxes left.
The next one in the series is Wreath.

Sampler Consortium

I saw this post and thought it looked interesting. I figured I would pass it along.

"The Sampler Consortium is a newly formed, international organization of scholars, historians, curators, educators, genealogists, textile conservators, collectors, dealers, and needlework experts interested in the study of historic samplers and other girlhood embroideries".

If you join before July 31, 2008, the membership is free.

'Tis the Gift is Finished!

I finished it up last night.

It was stitched on 32 count lambswool using Sampler Threads Sable, Grape Leaf, Antique Rose, Grecian Gold, and Clover (instead of Parchment).

I stitched the little gold bits of pollen as French knots. It is hard to tell in the photo, but I think it gives it a dimensional aspect.

I will have to search for a frame. I will try the attic first of course. It is a small piece so it might be easier to find something suitable.

Now I will go back to The Red Thread. The next (9th) square is County Fair.

I have four more squares to go to finish it, but I am losing patience working on it one month at a time. I may just work all the way through it to complete it.

Laser Surgery for Farsightedness

I have been struggling with glasses now for well over a decade, but now things are really getting serious because it is interfering with my stitching!

I have to use high magnification reading glasses as well as my magnifier just to see, and then it is still difficult at night.

Yesterday I decided to look into the laser surgery option. I don't know whether it would be LASIK, LASEK, PKR, or what. He did rule out CK, saying the farsightedness was too pronounced.

It turns out that I am a candidate, but I gather the procedure is more complicated than the one for nearsightedness, and the results although very promising are not quite as certain.
I am convinced of the doctor's qualifications, however this still seems daunting!

Has anyone out there had any experience with laser surgery for vision correction?

Kreativ Blogger Award!

Imagine my surprise to find out I have been nominated for this award by Helen from Stitchery Nook!

Thank you so much Helen!
I understand that now it is my turn to nominate 5 others whose work inspires me.

This is a tough one because I read many blogs every day on many different subjects, but here goes:

Rowyn at Stitching under the Southern Cross

Laurel at An Artist's Journey

Desi at Go to Your Studio and Make Stuff

Chris et al at Strange Maine

Carol et al at Gallery of Samplers

There are so many more!

Yucky Weather and some Progress

We have been putting up with this heat wave for about a week now!

With mid 90's and high humidity, Autumn cannot arrive too soon for me!

In spite of the weather, we tried to get out for a little bit on Saturday.

We went to Pomptom Lakes, NJ where they were having their annual town-wide yard sale.
Not too much success. I did pick up some cheap frames (of course none of them are the sizes that I currently need)! I also found an interesting antique mirror.

We must have gone to about 50 sales. Most of them were junky, but you never know when you will find something good. By the time we worked our way to the older section where most of the antiques were, the weather had done us in!

The heat was so oppressive that every movement was an effort!

Oh well! Hopefully next weekend will be better.

I did make more progress on 'Tis the Gift.

One of the things I changed was the pollen. (I think that is what the little gold specks are). Instead of individual cross stitches, I am making them French knots. It is slower because of that, but I think it gives it a dimensional effect.

Hopefully I will finish it up in a few days.

Quite a Find!

I meant to post this last week, but never got around to it.

The Saturday before last we went out wandering, looking for yard sales and other good stuff. As it turned out there was nothing really interesting near us, so we widened the circle a bit.

Somehow we wound up in the little village of Lafayette, NJ. There was a little merchants village there.

One of the shops was Village Antiques and Collectibles.

This is what I found there.

It turns out that it was a special edition kit by DMC.

It is hard to tell from the picture (fingerprints and smudges included), but it is a 4" deep cabinet.

The most amazing thing about it is the elaborate chimes! I thought it would just strike the hour, but it also has a different chime for the half hour, and yet a different chime for the quarter hour!

The case has a few scratches that need to be touched up, but other than that it is in excellent condition.

I do not know when it came out, but it was signed in 1963.

Very cool!

BLOGGER PROBLEMS!

Blogger is constantly trying to change my font size and constantly double spacing for me!

This is very annoying and very time consuming trying to fix.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

The Best Thing about July!

Blueberries! Glorious Blueberries!

I do not like hot weather, and am therefore not a summer person!

The one thing I do love about July however is the bounty that my blueberries bushes produce.

I look forward to it all year long!

It is truly one of life's wonderful little pleasures to pick fresh blueberries for your cereal every morning!

The challenge is to get to them before the birds!

This year I think the birds are winning!

I was looking through my stash the other day and found this little design, Bountiful Blueberries by Sweetheart Tree.

It is very small, only 43 X 34 stitches. It came with a tiny heart-shaped charm, but the blue beads were missing, so I ordered them.

Now, I am thinking that I might experiment with French Knots instead of the beads. Not ready to start this project just yet, but I thought it would be an appropriate celebration for blueberry season!

Stitching Progress

I have finished stitching the Christmas Chick!

Now for the hard part, finishing him as an ornament!

I have determined that he needs to be finshed as a rectangle. Originally I wanted to turn him into a circle or an oval but that will not work. His little hat throws the dimensions off too much.

Hopefully I can get that done soon. I like to finish an ornament and then put it away until the holidays so it seems fresh.

My next project, (besides my braided rug) will be 'Tis the Gift from La-D-Da.

It is a small design and should stitch up quickly.

I am stitching it on 32 count Lambswool, using Sampler Threads.

I am a little concerned about the Sable (brown). Most of the color is a nice mellow brown, but at the end it goes to a blackish color. I really don't think this looks too good in the border and in the letters. It is just too much of a change in color.

This is the problem I have with the hand-dyed threads. I think they need to be more subtle in the color changes. I was considering ripping it out, but I guess I will let it go and see how it looks.

I have made a small start.

Crummy Weather!

The weather for the long holiday weekend was absolutely dreary!
I heard some fireworks going off Friday night, so I guess they managed to get some in between the showers. All the daytime activities were cancelled however. There were no yard sales, antique fairs, etc.

It turned into one of those "I don't know. What do you want to do?" weekends that no one enjoys!
I did get quite a lot of stitching done in the evenings however.

I finished up Ocean Voyage on The Red Thread. I think that is the oddest looking seagull I have ever seen!
The count was off by a bit. I know there is a mistake in there somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

The next in the series is County Fair.

With that finished, I wanted to sneak in a Christmas ornament before I started anything else.

Earlier, I fell in love with Valerie Pfeiffer's Christmas Chick when I saw it on Helen's blog.

I have made some good progress on it, but there are quite a few partial stitches and outlining that will take some time. It will be several more evenings until it is finished.

I am stitching it on 27 ct Danish linen, using DMC.

I am not sure yet how I will finish it. I have some red velveteen for the backing, and some velveteen piping for the edge, but I am still trying to decide on the shape.

Illuminated House Blessing is Finished!

I had a lot of trouble with the lower border. I made a counting mistake early on, on the left side. I did finally find it, but correcting it would have meant taking out several rows and undoing the left border, so I decided to work with it.

This strategy was going ok until I reached the lower right-hand corner, when it all caught up to me. I had to improvise, which meant a good bit of frogging until I got it to work!

I signed it, washed, and dried it. Now I just have to find a frame for it.



I was going to start a new project, but the timing isn't right. I have to go back to The Red Thread again. Another little box is due! August is Ocean Voyage. It is a small design and should work up quickly.